"Think of me, be my devotee, worship me, offer obeisance unto me; certainly you will come to me, I promise this in truth to you, being dear to me"
Geeta (18:65)
So nice of him. Krishna is so kind to us indeed!
Complete surrender to Lord is the most important attribute to be close to Krishna.
What does this "Surrender" means?
Surrender to Lord means to donate Lord everything what all we have; body, mind, money, and above all ego, the "I".
Surrendering the body to Lord means to understand that my this body is an attribute of Lord and what all has to be done by this should be a prayer to Lord. Nothing should happen by this physical thing, which may not be pleasing to Krishna.
Surrendering the mind to Krishna means thinking of him, his attributes, pulling it away from worldly affairs and tending it towards the Lotus feets of the Lord.
Thinking always about him and doing all which should please him.
Surrendering Money to Lord means treating it as a gift of the Lord to do good in the world for him. It does not means giving up it. It means doing with what all should please him.
And finally and most important attribute is surrender of ego or "I". The absence of doership in what all we do. Doing everything with this notion that I am just the proxy on behalf of Krishna, who is running this world.
Believe, this "I" is biggest enemy of spritual growth. It puts a curtain between you and your real self. Throw away this and see your real self. The real self which is a shadow of Krishna himself. Just like a drop is a shadow of ocean. A small drop has all the attributes of ocean and when it meets with ocean it becomes one with it. Similarly the real self is shadow of Krishna, it always cries for the supreme master, the Krishna but we have put it behind deep curtains of ignorance. Let us throw away this curtain and let the drop recognise its true self.
"Relinquishing all ideas of righteousness, surrender unto me alone; I will deliver you from all sinful reactions, do not despair"
Geeta (18:66)
But how to surrender to Lord?
"I am the original generating cause of all causes, everything emanates from me; comprehending this the spiritually intelligent endowed with devotional sentiments become devoted unto me"
(Geeta 10:8)
Till I am in ignorence of the worldly pleasures, I can not surrender. Till I donot know who am I, I can not surrender. By thinking it deeply and silently, slowly my mind will start moving away from this world and will start tending towards the lotus feets of the supreme Lord. The curtain which has been their between me and my real self will start getting away. Let the strong breeze of Krishna Name throw away that curtain and I can recognise myself.
Let me do constant japa of him, let me always think of him.
This whole world is an extension of Lord Krishna.
Whole life we keep on running behind name, fame, money and comfort. But can worldly things give us happiness and pleasure?
When I was school going kid, I was so much stressed with my learnings and home-work etc, that I used to think when I will be in college, I will enjoy. When I was in college, I thought when I will join job, I will enjoy. After I joined service, I thought I will enjoy life once married. After getting married the tension came that I should earn enough money so that my kids can get proper education, I should have home, car and my retired life should be comfortable.
So I reached from state of kid to old age, thinking that I will enjoy life in future. But when? Life has gone!
I wasted my whole life in trying for something which is very brittle, which is always in future.
I am always in future, never in today. That is the big ignorance.
I was reading a discourse by Swami Nithyananda. He says "Tomorrow never comes....it be always today or always this moment. both past and future is non existant things".
So much truth is there in these lines.
If I am in this moment, I will be able to hold so much of energy, which I wastes in dreaming and planning for my pleasures in future. I can tend this energy to throw away the dust which is obstructing me from realising me, myself!
Let me be in this moment! Let me surrender to Lord!!
Krishna you are everything, what all I do I do for you, what all I think, I think for you. I am in your hand. Help me, protect me...like you helped Gajaraj (elephant) from Magar (crocodile), protect me like you protected Draupadi in court of Kauravas.
I know you will be there to save me, because you are the one, who eats forest fruits from Shabari, you are the one, who runs bare feet to protect gajaraaj, you are the one, who breaks his own pleadge (of not touching weapon) in Mahaabhaarat war to protect the pledge of your bhakta (Bhishma, who took pledge that he will force krishna to take weapon). How sweet are you! how merciful are you!!
Show me the path, my master, my guru, my all in all!!! Help me surrender to you, help me so that I can complete my worldly duties properly and take me with you, where you are, in your param dhaam, in a state of absolute bliss and peace....
"Asato ma sad gamay
Tamso ma jyotirgamay
Mriyor ma amritam gamay"
"...from illusion lead me to the truth, from darkness lead me to light, from death lead me to immortality"
(Yajur Veda, Brihadaranyáka Upanishad, 1.3.28 )
Hari Om Tatsat
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Who is Krishna
Who is Krishna?
A good question indeed!
We have heard so much about him, as a child who used to steal maakhan (butter), who used to run away with cloths for gopis, while they were taking bath, or as a hero of Mahabhaarat, who instrumented the victory for Pandavas.
Mostly we remember him as a philosopher, who preached Gita.
So much contrast, a playful person and at the same time very serious person.
As per Puraans, he is the "Poorna Avataar" of Lord Vishnu. But he came as human on this planet so he has all the sixty four qualities, described by shastra for a "complete man".
I saw the advertisement for Raymond Suitings. It talks about the "Complete Man".
Who is the "complete man"?
In my view, nobody except Krishna can be one.
I saw a conversation on a news channel in between Swami Agnivesh and classical dancer Sonal Man Singh.
Sonal Man Singh said, a person wasted his/her life if he/she does not indulged into the masti of krishna charita, does not became mad with masti of his flute and does not realised him with his/her emotions with eyes full of tears and heart totally impatient to have a glimpse of his sweet face.
She certainly has visualised him!!.
Scriptures says, he is so beautiful even Kaamdev is reluctant to get compared with him.
Scriptures says, he is so knowledgeable even Goddess Saraswati is reluctant to speak infront of him.
Scriptures says, he is who, after getting whom, nothing is left to get!!
Ok Ok....but who is he?
So much description is given about him, without telling about him.
Scriptures says, "He is Poorna Para Bramha".
What else anybody wants to know about him?
One common question, if he is a "Poorna Avataar", then why he acted like a human?
Simple because he wanted to give a lesson that how an ideal person should be. In Geeta, he says "All the persons follow me, so if I do anything improper the universe will be destroyed". If he would have acted as a God here then people woyuld have thought that because his godly powers he did all that, how we can do that?
He came as an human being here, he acted as an human being and left this planet as an human being.
There was a teaching in whatever he did.
Ok, forget about all that.
I donot want to put any logic here. It is Janmashtami time. The time when he came on this planet. Time for feasting and cherishing and enjoing!!
Forget about all logics. Logic is dry, there is no masti in that.
Just see, how beautiful is he, his face, his hands, his legs. How blissful is his flute.
I remember Madhurashtam by Vallabhacharya. In the perfect state of bliss, when he would have got indulged into the sweetness of Krishna, he would have written these lines:
adharam madhuram vadanam madhuram,
nayanam madhuram hasitam madhuram,
hrdayam madhuram gamanam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram"
His lips are sweet, His face is sweet. His eyes are sweet, His smile is sweet. His heart is sweet, his walk is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (1)
vacanam madhuram charitam madhuram,
vasanam madhuram valitam madhuram,
calitam madhuram bhramitam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
"His words are sweet, His character is sweet. His garments are sweet, His navel is sweet. His movement is sweet, His wanderings are sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (2)
venur madhuro renur madhurah,
panir-madhurah padau madhurau,
nrtyam madhuram sakhyam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
" His flute is sweet, His dust is sweet. His hands are sweet, His feet are sweet. His dancing is sweet, His friendship is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (3)
gitam madhuram pitam madhuram,
bhuktam madhuram suptam madhuram,
rupam madhuram tilakam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
"His singing is sweet, His yellow dress is sweet. His eating is sweet, His sleeping is sweet. His form is sweet, His tilaka is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (4)
karanam madhuram taranam madhuram,
haranam madhuram smaranam madhuram,
vamitam madhuram samitam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
"His activities are sweet, His liberation is sweet. His thieving is sweet, His loving sports are sweet. his offerings are sweet, His peacefulness is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (5)
gunja madhura mala madhura,
yamuna madhura vici madhura,
salilam madhuram kamalam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
"His gunja-mala is sweet, His flower-garland is sweet. Is Yamuna is sweet, His ripples are sweet. His water is sweet, His lotuses are sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (6)
gopi madhura lila madhuram,
yuktam madhuram bhuktam madhuram,
hrstam madhuram sistam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
" His Gopis are sweet, His pastimes are sweet. His meeting is sweet, His food is sweet. His happiness is sweet, His etiquette is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (7)
gopa madhura gavo madhura,
sastir madhura srstir madhura,
dalitam madhuram phalitam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
"His cowherd boys are sweet, His cows are sweet. His herding-stick is sweet, His creation is sweet. His trampling is sweet, His fruitfulness is sweet.Everything issweet about the Lord of sweetness." (8)
In my view no better prayer for him.
Just forget everthing.
Who is Krishna?
Krishna is playfullness of an innocent child, Krishna is sound of every celebration, Krishna is silence of an ascetic.
Krishna has not gone anywhere. He can not go. He is as addicted to his Bhaktas, just like his Bhaktas are addicted to him!!
So sweet about Lord of Sweetness!!
He is here, inside all of us. Let us become addicted to him, his everything, what he does, how he plays his flute, how he dances with Gopis and how he preaches Gita.
And we will come to know who Krishna is!!!
HARI OM TATSAT!!
A good question indeed!
We have heard so much about him, as a child who used to steal maakhan (butter), who used to run away with cloths for gopis, while they were taking bath, or as a hero of Mahabhaarat, who instrumented the victory for Pandavas.
Mostly we remember him as a philosopher, who preached Gita.
So much contrast, a playful person and at the same time very serious person.
As per Puraans, he is the "Poorna Avataar" of Lord Vishnu. But he came as human on this planet so he has all the sixty four qualities, described by shastra for a "complete man".
I saw the advertisement for Raymond Suitings. It talks about the "Complete Man".
Who is the "complete man"?
In my view, nobody except Krishna can be one.
I saw a conversation on a news channel in between Swami Agnivesh and classical dancer Sonal Man Singh.
Sonal Man Singh said, a person wasted his/her life if he/she does not indulged into the masti of krishna charita, does not became mad with masti of his flute and does not realised him with his/her emotions with eyes full of tears and heart totally impatient to have a glimpse of his sweet face.
She certainly has visualised him!!.
Scriptures says, he is so beautiful even Kaamdev is reluctant to get compared with him.
Scriptures says, he is so knowledgeable even Goddess Saraswati is reluctant to speak infront of him.
Scriptures says, he is who, after getting whom, nothing is left to get!!
Ok Ok....but who is he?
So much description is given about him, without telling about him.
Scriptures says, "He is Poorna Para Bramha".
What else anybody wants to know about him?
One common question, if he is a "Poorna Avataar", then why he acted like a human?
Simple because he wanted to give a lesson that how an ideal person should be. In Geeta, he says "All the persons follow me, so if I do anything improper the universe will be destroyed". If he would have acted as a God here then people woyuld have thought that because his godly powers he did all that, how we can do that?
He came as an human being here, he acted as an human being and left this planet as an human being.
There was a teaching in whatever he did.
Ok, forget about all that.
I donot want to put any logic here. It is Janmashtami time. The time when he came on this planet. Time for feasting and cherishing and enjoing!!
Forget about all logics. Logic is dry, there is no masti in that.
Just see, how beautiful is he, his face, his hands, his legs. How blissful is his flute.
I remember Madhurashtam by Vallabhacharya. In the perfect state of bliss, when he would have got indulged into the sweetness of Krishna, he would have written these lines:
adharam madhuram vadanam madhuram,
nayanam madhuram hasitam madhuram,
hrdayam madhuram gamanam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram"
His lips are sweet, His face is sweet. His eyes are sweet, His smile is sweet. His heart is sweet, his walk is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (1)
vacanam madhuram charitam madhuram,
vasanam madhuram valitam madhuram,
calitam madhuram bhramitam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
"His words are sweet, His character is sweet. His garments are sweet, His navel is sweet. His movement is sweet, His wanderings are sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (2)
venur madhuro renur madhurah,
panir-madhurah padau madhurau,
nrtyam madhuram sakhyam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
" His flute is sweet, His dust is sweet. His hands are sweet, His feet are sweet. His dancing is sweet, His friendship is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (3)
gitam madhuram pitam madhuram,
bhuktam madhuram suptam madhuram,
rupam madhuram tilakam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
"His singing is sweet, His yellow dress is sweet. His eating is sweet, His sleeping is sweet. His form is sweet, His tilaka is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (4)
karanam madhuram taranam madhuram,
haranam madhuram smaranam madhuram,
vamitam madhuram samitam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
"His activities are sweet, His liberation is sweet. His thieving is sweet, His loving sports are sweet. his offerings are sweet, His peacefulness is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (5)
gunja madhura mala madhura,
yamuna madhura vici madhura,
salilam madhuram kamalam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
"His gunja-mala is sweet, His flower-garland is sweet. Is Yamuna is sweet, His ripples are sweet. His water is sweet, His lotuses are sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (6)
gopi madhura lila madhuram,
yuktam madhuram bhuktam madhuram,
hrstam madhuram sistam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
" His Gopis are sweet, His pastimes are sweet. His meeting is sweet, His food is sweet. His happiness is sweet, His etiquette is sweet. Everything is sweet about the Lord of sweetness." (7)
gopa madhura gavo madhura,
sastir madhura srstir madhura,
dalitam madhuram phalitam madhuram,
madhuradi-pater akhilam madhuram
"His cowherd boys are sweet, His cows are sweet. His herding-stick is sweet, His creation is sweet. His trampling is sweet, His fruitfulness is sweet.Everything issweet about the Lord of sweetness." (8)
In my view no better prayer for him.
Just forget everthing.
Who is Krishna?
Krishna is playfullness of an innocent child, Krishna is sound of every celebration, Krishna is silence of an ascetic.
Krishna has not gone anywhere. He can not go. He is as addicted to his Bhaktas, just like his Bhaktas are addicted to him!!
So sweet about Lord of Sweetness!!
He is here, inside all of us. Let us become addicted to him, his everything, what he does, how he plays his flute, how he dances with Gopis and how he preaches Gita.
And we will come to know who Krishna is!!!
HARI OM TATSAT!!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Silence
Silence is Peace.
Silence is Brahman or the Absolute.
"Ayam Atma Shantah"
Atman is Silence. Behind all noises and sounds Is Silence—thy innermost Soul. Silence is thy real Name. Silence strengthens thought-power. Silence is intuitive experience. Silence helps the intuitional Self To express itself. To go into Silence is to become God. Enter into Silence And become one with the Supreme Soul.
—Swami Sivananda.
I was going through autobiography of Mahatama Gandhi. He says "Silence has great powers". He used to do "Maun Vrata" or remain Silent on every Sunday.
Confucius said, "Silence is the true friend that never betrays."
From where the Power came out of Silence?
Observing Silence makes sure, a person tries to explore the inner-self. Energy flow starts taking place inwards to explore the unexplored.
"Observe Silence" was the teaching of Raman mahirshi.
When a person starts observing silence, his outer consciousness tends inwards. It starts a flow of energy towards inside to explore the consciuousness, to modulate it, just like modulating the milk results in butter similarly modulating the inner-self results in the path to enlightenment. Here the modulator is "Silence".
I read a message by Swami Tapovanam, he says "Silence is Brahman, it is your inner-self".
Swami Ramdas says "Silence is Brahman,It alone exists. Sounds are modulations of Silence. Similarly, forms are expressions of the Formless. Truth or God alone is."
As per Yajur Veda, Maitri Upanishad 6.22-23, "There are two ways of contemplation of Brahman: in sound and in silence. By sound we go to silence. The sound of Brahman is Aum. With Aum we go to the End, the silence of Brahman. The End is immortality, union and peace. Even as a spider reaches the liberty of space by means of its own thread, the man of contemplation by means of Aum reaches freedom. The sound of Brahman is Aum. At the end of Aum is silence. It is a silence of joy. It is the end of the journey, where fear and sorrow are no more: steady, motionless, never-falling, everlasting, immortal. It is called the omnipresent Vishnu. In order to reach the Highest, consider, in adoration, the sound and the silence of Brahman. For it has been said: "God is sound and silence. His name is Aum. Attain, therefore, contemplation, contemplation in silence on Him."
During every auspicious occasion we chant, "Aum Shantih Shantih Shantih Aum"
Yajurveda Shanti Mantra says "OOOM, May there be Shantih in the sky and space. May there be Shantih on land and in the waters.May herbs and foods bring us Shantih. May God bring us Shantih. May there be Shantih throughout world. May the Shantih be Shantih. May God give me such Shantih".
One thing is confusing here, what do we mean by silence? Is it "Soundlessness"??
Soundlessness is an physical attribute. Though this lead to peace, but that is physical. But yes physical peace is also needed to go towards inner peace, atleast in the beginning of sadhana.
But this shantih is a Upvasa... "to be close to oneself" .....desirelessness. It is not "soundlessness". When desires getting dying down a person starts feeling more and more connected. This state leads to enlightenment.
"Maun Vrata" or observing silence, as Gandhiji used to do on every Sunday, leads to a sadhak to be close to its innerself, its true self!
Swami Chinmoy said" Life needs and wants victory, but the victory that we achieve in the world of sound does not last for long. This victory is very fleeting. The victory that we achieve in the world of silence is everlasting, and each time a victory dawns in this inner world we feel that we are being prepared for a higher and more fulfilling victory in tomorrow's Dawn.
An ordinary man thinks either that silence cannot be achieved or that it is of no avail. But a seeker knows that silence can be achieved on the strength of his inner cry. He also knows that silence is of tremendous importance, for without silence we cannot see the face of Truth or grow into the very image of Truth and Light. Silence is within, but we have to discover it.
Unless and until we discover our inner silence, we cannot feel that we are of God and for God. Inner silence is not just the absence of thoughts. No! Silence is the blossoming of our indomitable inner will. Silence is our inner wisdom light. This wisdom light is our conscious and constant surrender to the Will of our Inner Pilot, who inspires us, encourages us and guides us to the Shores of the Golden Beyond.
Silence is preparation, our preparation for God's examination. We come to know God's Hour only when we observe silence, only when we dive deep within. An unaspiring person does not and cannot know God's Hour. If God's Hour dawns in his life he fails to notice it. But a seeker who practises silence every day for half an hour or an hour knows when God's Hour is going to
strike. And God not only tells him when the Hour will strike but also, like a private tutor, helps the seeker to pass his inner examination.
Silence is our protection. When we live in silence, we are protected by God's mightiest Power, His all illumining Light. At that time the negative forces of fear, doubt, anxiety, worry, insecurity and selfishness can have no access to our inner being. We are protected by God within and without at every moment.
Silence is our transformation. When we observe silence consciously, our outer being is transformed. This transformation is a great achievement for Mother Earth. When a human being is transformed, Mother Earth feels that she has achieved something momentous, something that can be kept for eternity for the rest of humanity to treasure. And this transformation becomes a
foundation for a higher and mightier achievement in the ever continuing process of evolution.
Silence is our will power. This will power conquers the very pride of ignorance-night and manifests the Light of Divinity's Delight in aspiring souls who want to climb up to the highest Pinnacle and bring down the message of Immortality to earth.
Our human mind says, "Silence is emptiness; it is sheer emptiness and nothingness." But our aspiring heart knows that silence is the fulness and plenitude of our Eternity's Height and Infinity's Light.
Silence is our Truth consciousness, our highest Reality. This Reality in the inner world is our divine Love, our supreme Love for the world at large. And this Reality in the outer world is the supreme Glory of the Supreme for aspiring humanity.
Here we are all seekers. At times we are prone to watch our weaknesses, incapacities, limitations and imperfections. When we do this we are bound to be disappointed with ourselves. But our inner silence illumines us. It says, "Don't be disappointed."
It is God within you who is going through a series of experiences in and through your imperfections." When we realise God, we see that these imperfections were necessary at the time for our evolution. And then, when they were no longer necessary, these imperfections were turned into perfections. From darkness we enter into Light. From the unreal we enter into Reality.
From death we enter into Immortality.
Silence tells the seeker in us to love, to love himself. It tells us it is wrong to hate ourselves because of our imperfections. When the seeker loves himself, loves the Divine within himself, he eventually realises the Ultimate Truth.
Then he comes to realise that it was not he who loved the Divine in himself, but it was God the Lover who loved God the eternal Beloved Supreme within him.
In Heaven God is Silence dream. On earth God is Reality sound. In His Silence, God prepares Himself. Through His cosmic Sound, God manifests Himself. The transcendental Silence is our Source, and the emanating sound is our manifestation. The higher we go, the deeper the silence we enjoy. And the deeper the silence we enjoy, the more fulfilling the manifestation of our divinity.
Bow to the enlightened Masters who gave this treasure of knowledge to us to recognise the true self.
HARI OM TATSAT!
Silence is Brahman or the Absolute.
"Ayam Atma Shantah"
Atman is Silence. Behind all noises and sounds Is Silence—thy innermost Soul. Silence is thy real Name. Silence strengthens thought-power. Silence is intuitive experience. Silence helps the intuitional Self To express itself. To go into Silence is to become God. Enter into Silence And become one with the Supreme Soul.
—Swami Sivananda.
I was going through autobiography of Mahatama Gandhi. He says "Silence has great powers". He used to do "Maun Vrata" or remain Silent on every Sunday.
Confucius said, "Silence is the true friend that never betrays."
From where the Power came out of Silence?
Observing Silence makes sure, a person tries to explore the inner-self. Energy flow starts taking place inwards to explore the unexplored.
"Observe Silence" was the teaching of Raman mahirshi.
When a person starts observing silence, his outer consciousness tends inwards. It starts a flow of energy towards inside to explore the consciuousness, to modulate it, just like modulating the milk results in butter similarly modulating the inner-self results in the path to enlightenment. Here the modulator is "Silence".
I read a message by Swami Tapovanam, he says "Silence is Brahman, it is your inner-self".
Swami Ramdas says "Silence is Brahman,It alone exists. Sounds are modulations of Silence. Similarly, forms are expressions of the Formless. Truth or God alone is."
As per Yajur Veda, Maitri Upanishad 6.22-23, "There are two ways of contemplation of Brahman: in sound and in silence. By sound we go to silence. The sound of Brahman is Aum. With Aum we go to the End, the silence of Brahman. The End is immortality, union and peace. Even as a spider reaches the liberty of space by means of its own thread, the man of contemplation by means of Aum reaches freedom. The sound of Brahman is Aum. At the end of Aum is silence. It is a silence of joy. It is the end of the journey, where fear and sorrow are no more: steady, motionless, never-falling, everlasting, immortal. It is called the omnipresent Vishnu. In order to reach the Highest, consider, in adoration, the sound and the silence of Brahman. For it has been said: "God is sound and silence. His name is Aum. Attain, therefore, contemplation, contemplation in silence on Him."
During every auspicious occasion we chant, "Aum Shantih Shantih Shantih Aum"
Yajurveda Shanti Mantra says "OOOM, May there be Shantih in the sky and space. May there be Shantih on land and in the waters.May herbs and foods bring us Shantih. May God bring us Shantih. May there be Shantih throughout world. May the Shantih be Shantih. May God give me such Shantih".
One thing is confusing here, what do we mean by silence? Is it "Soundlessness"??
Soundlessness is an physical attribute. Though this lead to peace, but that is physical. But yes physical peace is also needed to go towards inner peace, atleast in the beginning of sadhana.
But this shantih is a Upvasa... "to be close to oneself" .....desirelessness. It is not "soundlessness". When desires getting dying down a person starts feeling more and more connected. This state leads to enlightenment.
"Maun Vrata" or observing silence, as Gandhiji used to do on every Sunday, leads to a sadhak to be close to its innerself, its true self!
Swami Chinmoy said" Life needs and wants victory, but the victory that we achieve in the world of sound does not last for long. This victory is very fleeting. The victory that we achieve in the world of silence is everlasting, and each time a victory dawns in this inner world we feel that we are being prepared for a higher and more fulfilling victory in tomorrow's Dawn.
An ordinary man thinks either that silence cannot be achieved or that it is of no avail. But a seeker knows that silence can be achieved on the strength of his inner cry. He also knows that silence is of tremendous importance, for without silence we cannot see the face of Truth or grow into the very image of Truth and Light. Silence is within, but we have to discover it.
Unless and until we discover our inner silence, we cannot feel that we are of God and for God. Inner silence is not just the absence of thoughts. No! Silence is the blossoming of our indomitable inner will. Silence is our inner wisdom light. This wisdom light is our conscious and constant surrender to the Will of our Inner Pilot, who inspires us, encourages us and guides us to the Shores of the Golden Beyond.
Silence is preparation, our preparation for God's examination. We come to know God's Hour only when we observe silence, only when we dive deep within. An unaspiring person does not and cannot know God's Hour. If God's Hour dawns in his life he fails to notice it. But a seeker who practises silence every day for half an hour or an hour knows when God's Hour is going to
strike. And God not only tells him when the Hour will strike but also, like a private tutor, helps the seeker to pass his inner examination.
Silence is our protection. When we live in silence, we are protected by God's mightiest Power, His all illumining Light. At that time the negative forces of fear, doubt, anxiety, worry, insecurity and selfishness can have no access to our inner being. We are protected by God within and without at every moment.
Silence is our transformation. When we observe silence consciously, our outer being is transformed. This transformation is a great achievement for Mother Earth. When a human being is transformed, Mother Earth feels that she has achieved something momentous, something that can be kept for eternity for the rest of humanity to treasure. And this transformation becomes a
foundation for a higher and mightier achievement in the ever continuing process of evolution.
Silence is our will power. This will power conquers the very pride of ignorance-night and manifests the Light of Divinity's Delight in aspiring souls who want to climb up to the highest Pinnacle and bring down the message of Immortality to earth.
Our human mind says, "Silence is emptiness; it is sheer emptiness and nothingness." But our aspiring heart knows that silence is the fulness and plenitude of our Eternity's Height and Infinity's Light.
Silence is our Truth consciousness, our highest Reality. This Reality in the inner world is our divine Love, our supreme Love for the world at large. And this Reality in the outer world is the supreme Glory of the Supreme for aspiring humanity.
Here we are all seekers. At times we are prone to watch our weaknesses, incapacities, limitations and imperfections. When we do this we are bound to be disappointed with ourselves. But our inner silence illumines us. It says, "Don't be disappointed."
It is God within you who is going through a series of experiences in and through your imperfections." When we realise God, we see that these imperfections were necessary at the time for our evolution. And then, when they were no longer necessary, these imperfections were turned into perfections. From darkness we enter into Light. From the unreal we enter into Reality.
From death we enter into Immortality.
Silence tells the seeker in us to love, to love himself. It tells us it is wrong to hate ourselves because of our imperfections. When the seeker loves himself, loves the Divine within himself, he eventually realises the Ultimate Truth.
Then he comes to realise that it was not he who loved the Divine in himself, but it was God the Lover who loved God the eternal Beloved Supreme within him.
In Heaven God is Silence dream. On earth God is Reality sound. In His Silence, God prepares Himself. Through His cosmic Sound, God manifests Himself. The transcendental Silence is our Source, and the emanating sound is our manifestation. The higher we go, the deeper the silence we enjoy. And the deeper the silence we enjoy, the more fulfilling the manifestation of our divinity.
Bow to the enlightened Masters who gave this treasure of knowledge to us to recognise the true self.
HARI OM TATSAT!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Fearlessness
Most of us reamins unhappy most of the time.
Sometimes it is anxiety of something, sometimes jealousy and sometimes fear of something.
Anxiety is the state of mind in which we gets panic. Panic that I am lagging behind in something, panic that I am not physically fit, panic that what will happen if things go wrong tomorrow....
Jealousy is another great killer of inner-self. Why someone else is doing better than me, this, as well as the pride of something, results in jealousy.
If we see deeply, both Anxiety and Jealousy comes from Fear.
Anxiety comes out of fear as something is going wrong or I am in poor health or I am not doing as good in job as my peers or bad health and so many other fears. This fear results in anxiety and panic.
Jealousy also comes out of fear. Fear that somebody else is going ahead of me. Fear that because of something, I will loose something tomorrow!!
So we see that Fear is the cause of all mental illness. To be in enlightened state, a person should be fearless.
But how?
There is always tension (fear) in life. Problems at home, in job, in market, about health about wealth...and so on so forth.....
No body seems to be out of this loop.
How to overcome fear?
Have you seen how peacefully a child sleeps in the lap of his parent, even at a noisy, crowded place? The hustle-bustle disturbs everyone, but not the child, due to his implicit faith in the protection of his parent.
So we see that the child is fearless because it is there in his inner-self that he is in safe hands. Somebody is there to protect him.
Can we draw some conclusion here? If we are convinced that “somebody” is taking care of us, we will be fearless.
But who is that “somebody”?
All of us strive diligently to overcome our many fears: financial, familial, social, academic and physical. However, the necessary security measures like insurances, helmets and health check-ups fail to free us from a disconcerting sense of insecurity within us. Why?
We are never sure that we are protected. We are never sure that we are in safe hands. From where that assurance can come?
All fear originates in an unbalanced, unrealistic material conception of life. The material aspect of our life has its importance; we need to feed, cloth, house and provide for ourselves and our loved ones. This is the aim of life.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.4.2) says:
"Fearlessness is the fruit of perfect Self Realization - that is, the recovery of nonduality".
Currently we are occupying material bodies and inhabiting this material world. The more we harmonise with our spiritual nature, the more we become fearless. Understanding that we are, at our core, spiritual and, hence indestructible, fills us with an unshakeable selfsecurity; we recognise that worldly upheavals that affect our material assets have no power whatsoever to hurt us.
By chanting the holy names of God like the Hare Krishna mantra etc., we progressively experience both our own spiritual identity and God's protective presence and guidance in our life. The more we enrich our faith by meditating on holy name, the more our devotion for Krishna increases. And when we make our life's work a devotional offering for His service, we focus more on the object of our service.
This shift of focus releases large reserves of mental energy, which are choked by our worry about the future. Chanting gives us the calmness to see that almost all fears are more perceived than experienced. The more we become free from fear of the future, the more we can fully absorb ourselves in our present duties.
Spiritual principles and practices empower us to access and utilise even our material talents better. Ultimately spirituality is the only way to conquer the greatest of all fears - death. For a mature devotee, death is not a fearful termination of existence, but a joyful reunion with God. Just as the child stays peaceful amidst chaos, let us become tranquil amidst ups and downs by empowering ourselves with spiritual devotion.
Acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression or discouragement. Because we possess such fear, we also are potentially entitled to experience fearlessness.
True fearlessness is not the reduction of fear; but going beyond fear.
In order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience fear. The essence of cowardice is not acknowledging the reality of fear. Fear can take many forms. Logically, we know we can't live forever. We know that we are going to die, so we are afraid. We are petrified of our death. On another level, we are afraid that we can't handle the demands of the world.
This fear expresses itself as a feeling of inadequacy. We feel that our own lives are overwhelming, and confronting the rest of the world is more overwhelming.
Then there is abrupt fear, or panic, that arises when new situations occur suddenly in our lives. When we feel that we can't handle them, we jump. Sometimes fear manifests in the form of restlessness: doodles on a note pad, playing with our fingers, or fidgeting in our chairs. We feel that we have to keep ourselves moving all the time, like an engine running in a motor car. The pistons go up and down, up and down. As long as the pistons keep moving, we feel safe. Otherwise, we are afraid everything is badly wrong.
There are innumerable strategies that we use to take our minds off of fear. Some people take tranquilizers. Some people do yoga. Some people watch television, or read a magazine, or go to a bar to have a beer. From the coward's point of view, boredom should be avoided, because when we are bored we begin to feel anxious. We are getting closer to our fear. Entertainment should be promoted and any thought of death should be avoided. So cowardice is trying to live our lives as though death were unknown.
There have been periods in history in which many people searched for a potion of longevity. If there were such a thing, most people would find it quite horrific. If they had to live in this world for a thousand years without dying, long before they got to their thousandth birthday, they would probably commit suicide. Even if you could live forever, you would be unable to avoid the reality of death and suffering around you.
Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (VII.3): "Out of thousands of people only a few strive for perfection; and out of thousands that so strive, only a few realise the truth of my true Being". In verse 19, the Lord says "Striving through several births, the wise one realises Me as existing in every being; such a Mahatma is rare to come across".
That explains self-surrender, the surrender to the supreme self, the ultimate reality, the joyous journey towards bliss and ecstasy.
This self-surrender is the key to fearlessness. When our inner-self is convinced that Krishna is there to protect me, we will be fearless.
Chogyam Trungpa in his book "Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the warrior" says that Fear has to be acknowledged. We have to realize our fear and reconcile ourselves with fear. We should look at how we move, how we talk, how we conduct ourselves, how we chew our nails, how we sometimes put our hands in our pockets uselessly. Then we will find something out about how fear is expressed in the form of restlessness.
We must face the fact that fear is lurking in our lives, always, in everything we do.
On the other hand, acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression or discouragement. Because we possess such fear, we also are potentially entitled to experience fearlessness. True fearlessness is not the reduction of fear, but going beyond fear. Unfortunately, in the English language, we don't have one word that means that. Fearlessness is the closest term, but by fearless we don't mean "less fear", but "beyond fear".
Going beyond fear begins when we examine our fear: our anxiety, nervousness, concern, and restlessness. If we look into our fear, if we look beneath its veneer, the first thing we find is sadness, beneath the nervousness. Nervousness is cranking up, vibrating, all the time. When we slow down, when we relax with our fear, we find sadness, which is calm and gentle. Sadness hits you in your heart, and your body produces a tear. Before you cry, there is a feeling in your chest and then, after that, you produce tears in your eyes. You are about to produce rain or a waterfall in your eyes and you feel sad and lonely, and perhaps romantic at the same time. That is the first tip of fearlessness, and the first sign of real warriorship.
You might think that, when you experience fearlessness, you will hear the opening to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony or see a great explosion in the sky, but it doesn't happen that way. In the Shambhala tradition, discovering fearlessness comes from working with the softness of the human heart.
The birth of the warrior is like the first growth of a Reindeer's horns. At first, the horns are very soft and almost rubbery, and they have little hairs growing on them. They are not yet horns, as such: they are just sloppy growths with blood inside. Then, as the reindeer ages, the horns grow stronger, developing four points or ten points or even forty points.
Fearlessness, at the beginning, is like those rubbery horns. They look like horns, but you can't quite fight with them. When a reindeer first grows its horns, it doesn't know what to use them for. It must feel very awkward to have those soft, lumpy growths on your head. But then the reindeer begins to realize that it should have horns: that horns are a natural part of being a Reindeer.
In the same way, when a human being first gives birth to the tender heart of warriorship he or she may feel extremely awkward or uncertain about how to, relate to this kind of fearlessness. But then, as you experience this sadness more and more, you realize that human beings should be tender and open. So you no longer need to feel shy or embarrassed about being gentle. In fact, your softness begins to become passionate. You would like to extend yourself to others and communicate with them. When tenderness evolves in that direction, then you can truly appreciate the world around you. Sense perceptions become very interesting things. You are so tender and open already that you cannot help opening yourself to what takes place all around you. When you see red or green or yellow or black, you respond to them from the bottom of your heart. When you see someone else crying or laughing or being afraid, you respond to them as well. At that point, your beginning level of fearlessness is developing further into warriorship.
When you begin to feel comfortable being a gentle and decent person, your reindeer horns no longer have little hairs growing on them -- they are becoming real horns. Situations become very real, quite real, and on the other hand, quite ordinary. Fear evolves into fearlessness naturally, very simply, and quite straightforwardly.
The ideal of warriorship is that the warrior should be sad and tender, and because of that, the warrior can be very brave as well. Without that heartfelt sadness, bravery is brittle, like a china cup. If you drop it, it will break or chip. But the bravery of the warrior is like a lacquer cup, which has a wooden base covered with layers of lacquer. If the cup drops, it will bounce rather than break. It is soft and hard at the same time.
"Of the material, there is no endurance and of the spiritual, there is no cessation". Beyond the stage of material activity that preoccupies our mind lies a vast, unexplored realm of spiritual tranquillity. We are spiritual beings, souls, originally from a spiritual world, the kingdom of God, who is our eternal loving father.
So we come to the conclusion; to have a good life, and to have a good after-life, we needs to be fearless. That fearlessness can come only with complete devotion and surrender to the Lord.
Let Krishna lead us to that path!!
Hari Om Tatsat!!!!
Sometimes it is anxiety of something, sometimes jealousy and sometimes fear of something.
Anxiety is the state of mind in which we gets panic. Panic that I am lagging behind in something, panic that I am not physically fit, panic that what will happen if things go wrong tomorrow....
Jealousy is another great killer of inner-self. Why someone else is doing better than me, this, as well as the pride of something, results in jealousy.
If we see deeply, both Anxiety and Jealousy comes from Fear.
Anxiety comes out of fear as something is going wrong or I am in poor health or I am not doing as good in job as my peers or bad health and so many other fears. This fear results in anxiety and panic.
Jealousy also comes out of fear. Fear that somebody else is going ahead of me. Fear that because of something, I will loose something tomorrow!!
So we see that Fear is the cause of all mental illness. To be in enlightened state, a person should be fearless.
But how?
There is always tension (fear) in life. Problems at home, in job, in market, about health about wealth...and so on so forth.....
No body seems to be out of this loop.
How to overcome fear?
Have you seen how peacefully a child sleeps in the lap of his parent, even at a noisy, crowded place? The hustle-bustle disturbs everyone, but not the child, due to his implicit faith in the protection of his parent.
So we see that the child is fearless because it is there in his inner-self that he is in safe hands. Somebody is there to protect him.
Can we draw some conclusion here? If we are convinced that “somebody” is taking care of us, we will be fearless.
But who is that “somebody”?
All of us strive diligently to overcome our many fears: financial, familial, social, academic and physical. However, the necessary security measures like insurances, helmets and health check-ups fail to free us from a disconcerting sense of insecurity within us. Why?
We are never sure that we are protected. We are never sure that we are in safe hands. From where that assurance can come?
All fear originates in an unbalanced, unrealistic material conception of life. The material aspect of our life has its importance; we need to feed, cloth, house and provide for ourselves and our loved ones. This is the aim of life.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (1.4.2) says:
"Fearlessness is the fruit of perfect Self Realization - that is, the recovery of nonduality".
Currently we are occupying material bodies and inhabiting this material world. The more we harmonise with our spiritual nature, the more we become fearless. Understanding that we are, at our core, spiritual and, hence indestructible, fills us with an unshakeable selfsecurity; we recognise that worldly upheavals that affect our material assets have no power whatsoever to hurt us.
By chanting the holy names of God like the Hare Krishna mantra etc., we progressively experience both our own spiritual identity and God's protective presence and guidance in our life. The more we enrich our faith by meditating on holy name, the more our devotion for Krishna increases. And when we make our life's work a devotional offering for His service, we focus more on the object of our service.
This shift of focus releases large reserves of mental energy, which are choked by our worry about the future. Chanting gives us the calmness to see that almost all fears are more perceived than experienced. The more we become free from fear of the future, the more we can fully absorb ourselves in our present duties.
Spiritual principles and practices empower us to access and utilise even our material talents better. Ultimately spirituality is the only way to conquer the greatest of all fears - death. For a mature devotee, death is not a fearful termination of existence, but a joyful reunion with God. Just as the child stays peaceful amidst chaos, let us become tranquil amidst ups and downs by empowering ourselves with spiritual devotion.
Acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression or discouragement. Because we possess such fear, we also are potentially entitled to experience fearlessness.
True fearlessness is not the reduction of fear; but going beyond fear.
In order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience fear. The essence of cowardice is not acknowledging the reality of fear. Fear can take many forms. Logically, we know we can't live forever. We know that we are going to die, so we are afraid. We are petrified of our death. On another level, we are afraid that we can't handle the demands of the world.
This fear expresses itself as a feeling of inadequacy. We feel that our own lives are overwhelming, and confronting the rest of the world is more overwhelming.
Then there is abrupt fear, or panic, that arises when new situations occur suddenly in our lives. When we feel that we can't handle them, we jump. Sometimes fear manifests in the form of restlessness: doodles on a note pad, playing with our fingers, or fidgeting in our chairs. We feel that we have to keep ourselves moving all the time, like an engine running in a motor car. The pistons go up and down, up and down. As long as the pistons keep moving, we feel safe. Otherwise, we are afraid everything is badly wrong.
There are innumerable strategies that we use to take our minds off of fear. Some people take tranquilizers. Some people do yoga. Some people watch television, or read a magazine, or go to a bar to have a beer. From the coward's point of view, boredom should be avoided, because when we are bored we begin to feel anxious. We are getting closer to our fear. Entertainment should be promoted and any thought of death should be avoided. So cowardice is trying to live our lives as though death were unknown.
There have been periods in history in which many people searched for a potion of longevity. If there were such a thing, most people would find it quite horrific. If they had to live in this world for a thousand years without dying, long before they got to their thousandth birthday, they would probably commit suicide. Even if you could live forever, you would be unable to avoid the reality of death and suffering around you.
Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (VII.3): "Out of thousands of people only a few strive for perfection; and out of thousands that so strive, only a few realise the truth of my true Being". In verse 19, the Lord says "Striving through several births, the wise one realises Me as existing in every being; such a Mahatma is rare to come across".
That explains self-surrender, the surrender to the supreme self, the ultimate reality, the joyous journey towards bliss and ecstasy.
This self-surrender is the key to fearlessness. When our inner-self is convinced that Krishna is there to protect me, we will be fearless.
Chogyam Trungpa in his book "Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the warrior" says that Fear has to be acknowledged. We have to realize our fear and reconcile ourselves with fear. We should look at how we move, how we talk, how we conduct ourselves, how we chew our nails, how we sometimes put our hands in our pockets uselessly. Then we will find something out about how fear is expressed in the form of restlessness.
We must face the fact that fear is lurking in our lives, always, in everything we do.
On the other hand, acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression or discouragement. Because we possess such fear, we also are potentially entitled to experience fearlessness. True fearlessness is not the reduction of fear, but going beyond fear. Unfortunately, in the English language, we don't have one word that means that. Fearlessness is the closest term, but by fearless we don't mean "less fear", but "beyond fear".
Going beyond fear begins when we examine our fear: our anxiety, nervousness, concern, and restlessness. If we look into our fear, if we look beneath its veneer, the first thing we find is sadness, beneath the nervousness. Nervousness is cranking up, vibrating, all the time. When we slow down, when we relax with our fear, we find sadness, which is calm and gentle. Sadness hits you in your heart, and your body produces a tear. Before you cry, there is a feeling in your chest and then, after that, you produce tears in your eyes. You are about to produce rain or a waterfall in your eyes and you feel sad and lonely, and perhaps romantic at the same time. That is the first tip of fearlessness, and the first sign of real warriorship.
You might think that, when you experience fearlessness, you will hear the opening to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony or see a great explosion in the sky, but it doesn't happen that way. In the Shambhala tradition, discovering fearlessness comes from working with the softness of the human heart.
The birth of the warrior is like the first growth of a Reindeer's horns. At first, the horns are very soft and almost rubbery, and they have little hairs growing on them. They are not yet horns, as such: they are just sloppy growths with blood inside. Then, as the reindeer ages, the horns grow stronger, developing four points or ten points or even forty points.
Fearlessness, at the beginning, is like those rubbery horns. They look like horns, but you can't quite fight with them. When a reindeer first grows its horns, it doesn't know what to use them for. It must feel very awkward to have those soft, lumpy growths on your head. But then the reindeer begins to realize that it should have horns: that horns are a natural part of being a Reindeer.
In the same way, when a human being first gives birth to the tender heart of warriorship he or she may feel extremely awkward or uncertain about how to, relate to this kind of fearlessness. But then, as you experience this sadness more and more, you realize that human beings should be tender and open. So you no longer need to feel shy or embarrassed about being gentle. In fact, your softness begins to become passionate. You would like to extend yourself to others and communicate with them. When tenderness evolves in that direction, then you can truly appreciate the world around you. Sense perceptions become very interesting things. You are so tender and open already that you cannot help opening yourself to what takes place all around you. When you see red or green or yellow or black, you respond to them from the bottom of your heart. When you see someone else crying or laughing or being afraid, you respond to them as well. At that point, your beginning level of fearlessness is developing further into warriorship.
When you begin to feel comfortable being a gentle and decent person, your reindeer horns no longer have little hairs growing on them -- they are becoming real horns. Situations become very real, quite real, and on the other hand, quite ordinary. Fear evolves into fearlessness naturally, very simply, and quite straightforwardly.
The ideal of warriorship is that the warrior should be sad and tender, and because of that, the warrior can be very brave as well. Without that heartfelt sadness, bravery is brittle, like a china cup. If you drop it, it will break or chip. But the bravery of the warrior is like a lacquer cup, which has a wooden base covered with layers of lacquer. If the cup drops, it will bounce rather than break. It is soft and hard at the same time.
"Of the material, there is no endurance and of the spiritual, there is no cessation". Beyond the stage of material activity that preoccupies our mind lies a vast, unexplored realm of spiritual tranquillity. We are spiritual beings, souls, originally from a spiritual world, the kingdom of God, who is our eternal loving father.
So we come to the conclusion; to have a good life, and to have a good after-life, we needs to be fearless. That fearlessness can come only with complete devotion and surrender to the Lord.
Let Krishna lead us to that path!!
Hari Om Tatsat!!!!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Why Worship
When I was a student of XI standard, one day at College, our hindi teacher while discussing on some topic, said that "God wants sycophants. He is pleased with sycophancy, thats why you see all the prayers praise him like anything".
Though I was not part of the conversation, these above words came into my ears. I started thinking on this....yes it seems to be correct...always we say, "God you are so handsome so beautiful so merciful"....all great words....God gets pleased only with them who praises him...then what does this mean....God wants Sychophants!!
So it is a Give and Take approach...you give good words and get what you want!!
I had this question in my mind for many years, and then one fine day I just got a thought and then perhaps got the answer also!
Why do we worship? What is the purpose?
The word comes from the English word worth-ship which means "to ascribe worth or value to something or someone." Means something give and take.....I praise God, he becomes happy and gives me some boon...so we both are happy!! God is behaving to have human weaknesses ...sychophancy etc.
Then perhaps Worship is not the correct word for Prayer.
Yes we praise God, all of us do so but actually we do not tell this to God, we are trying to tell this to our inner-self to convince ourselves that God is great!
So that a person himself becomes convinced that God is great...God is Powerful...God is merciful...
This may seems to be a little odd to some people, but just take in following manner, suppose a person is in some emergency, he will pray to God, this prayer will give him strength and this strength will give him confidence to overcome the odds.
From where this strength came?
What happens is that after repeating prayers to the God, when our inner-self is convinced that God is there to help me, this firm faith gives the strength. He feels connected...wow! no need to worry the supreme power is there to protect me!!!
All scriptures talk about firm faith. When our inner-self is fully convinced, our faith in God become firm and this helps in going to next level of spiritual growth.
Without this inner-convincing, devotion will never come and sadhak (devotee) may loose its goal of supreme.
In Sanaatan Traditions, this stage is known as Bhakti...when Bhakti reaches to complete devotion, it leads to Gyana, which enlightens an individual.
The bhakti starts with asking for some materialistic things from God, but as it matures, all these demands goes away.....Inner-self becomes convinced that no need to ask anything for this mortal body.....for any other thing, God himself will take care...why ask? He is omipresent, omniscience, omnipotent...he knows my requirements...so no need to ask for anything! He will even take care of my this mortal life also!!
When a sadhak is in this stage, it means that now he is connected to the supreme.
We hear about different philosophies...Dvaita, Advaita etc.
I feel that a person starts with Dvaita...Bhakti comes in this stage...as the sadhak matures dvaita turns into advaita...he become enlightened!
Even the great sage of Advaita philosophy Aadi Shankara sang the song..."Bhaj Govindam"...
So we came to the conclusion, Why pray? Pray so that we are convinced that God is there to help us, to build us the firm faith, to get connected and to go beyond the give and take approach, to develop the inner-consciousness and to be enlightened!
HARI OM TATSAT!
Though I was not part of the conversation, these above words came into my ears. I started thinking on this....yes it seems to be correct...always we say, "God you are so handsome so beautiful so merciful"....all great words....God gets pleased only with them who praises him...then what does this mean....God wants Sychophants!!
So it is a Give and Take approach...you give good words and get what you want!!
I had this question in my mind for many years, and then one fine day I just got a thought and then perhaps got the answer also!
Why do we worship? What is the purpose?
The word comes from the English word worth-ship which means "to ascribe worth or value to something or someone." Means something give and take.....I praise God, he becomes happy and gives me some boon...so we both are happy!! God is behaving to have human weaknesses ...sychophancy etc.
Then perhaps Worship is not the correct word for Prayer.
Yes we praise God, all of us do so but actually we do not tell this to God, we are trying to tell this to our inner-self to convince ourselves that God is great!
So that a person himself becomes convinced that God is great...God is Powerful...God is merciful...
This may seems to be a little odd to some people, but just take in following manner, suppose a person is in some emergency, he will pray to God, this prayer will give him strength and this strength will give him confidence to overcome the odds.
From where this strength came?
What happens is that after repeating prayers to the God, when our inner-self is convinced that God is there to help me, this firm faith gives the strength. He feels connected...wow! no need to worry the supreme power is there to protect me!!!
All scriptures talk about firm faith. When our inner-self is fully convinced, our faith in God become firm and this helps in going to next level of spiritual growth.
Without this inner-convincing, devotion will never come and sadhak (devotee) may loose its goal of supreme.
In Sanaatan Traditions, this stage is known as Bhakti...when Bhakti reaches to complete devotion, it leads to Gyana, which enlightens an individual.
The bhakti starts with asking for some materialistic things from God, but as it matures, all these demands goes away.....Inner-self becomes convinced that no need to ask anything for this mortal body.....for any other thing, God himself will take care...why ask? He is omipresent, omniscience, omnipotent...he knows my requirements...so no need to ask for anything! He will even take care of my this mortal life also!!
When a sadhak is in this stage, it means that now he is connected to the supreme.
We hear about different philosophies...Dvaita, Advaita etc.
I feel that a person starts with Dvaita...Bhakti comes in this stage...as the sadhak matures dvaita turns into advaita...he become enlightened!
Even the great sage of Advaita philosophy Aadi Shankara sang the song..."Bhaj Govindam"...
So we came to the conclusion, Why pray? Pray so that we are convinced that God is there to help us, to build us the firm faith, to get connected and to go beyond the give and take approach, to develop the inner-consciousness and to be enlightened!
HARI OM TATSAT!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
How to please God
How to please God? It is a very interesting question. But before the question of How? first the question should be Why?
So now there are two questions, Why and How to please God?
God is to be pleased so that we can go beyond the worldly affairs. So that we can be cool, calm and healthy in this life and get bliss. If this world has joy, it has sorrow and pain as well. The life is nothing but a bubble of time, which can explode anytime and then nobody will be of help except one's own karma. No friend,relative or close one will be of any help. Help can come only from the Lord.
We should know that I am not this body, I am the soul. The realization is enlightenment and for this reason God needs to be pleased.
If karma are dedicated to God, he will be realised.
"...those who dedicate me everthing...I takes care of them". Lord announces in Gita.
So the God needs to be pleased. Now question is How?
"Life is full of sorrow", declares Buddha. And to get rid of it, all the desires needs to be overcome.
How the desires can be overcome?
"..These senses are very strong O Arjun...they captures the mind just like strong winds capture a boat in the sea"..(Lord in Gita)
There are two ways in my opinion.
One way is to leave everything and take Sanyasa. Search for Lord and dedicate everything to him. Leave all what you have, this will help in detachment with the senses and slowly the mind will move towards Lord.
But this path may not be practical for all. As per Sanataan Dharma, only the last phase of life is for Sanyasa, then what is the alternative?
In daily life also a person can be a Sanyasi.
".....He should be like lotus leaf in water...though it is in water, but water can not stay on it."
"...just like tortoise squeezes himself, similarly when a person squeezes his senses from outsoide world, he realizes me"
(Lord in Gita)
Let me ask one simple question from you!
When two people can be friends?
Two people can be friend when they have some similar habits. Two people who have totally different qualities can never be friends.
There is a tradition in India to match horoscope before marriage. Some minimum matching of behavior is needed before marriage process goes ahead.
Similarly If I wants to please God, then I must have some minimum number of habits which resemebles God, then only I can be close to him.
Just like a person with good qualities and habits attracts everybody around him, similarly such person attracts God also.
So we have drawn some good conclusions here:
we need to please God so that we can go beyond the cycle of life and death, joy and pain etc.
We can please God by simply changing some of our habits by incorporating those, which may attract God towards us! So Simple!!!! Isn't It?
Let us see some satsang by Shri Chinmoy.
He says:
"What I am is aspiration. If I want to please Him more, then I must never consider my life a sad failure, but rather a constant experience of His. If I want to please Him most, not only in one but in every aspect of life, then I must feel that, unlike me, He sees my life, inner and outer, as the Song of His own Life Breath, the Song of His perfection, growing into His own perfect Perfection Absolute."
He says further:
"The easiest and most effective way to please God is by constant and unconditional self offering. Let us try. We shall, without fail, succeed. Lo, God is standing right in front of us. He is pleased. God is really and truly pleased with us."
Comments for discussions are welcome!
So now there are two questions, Why and How to please God?
God is to be pleased so that we can go beyond the worldly affairs. So that we can be cool, calm and healthy in this life and get bliss. If this world has joy, it has sorrow and pain as well. The life is nothing but a bubble of time, which can explode anytime and then nobody will be of help except one's own karma. No friend,relative or close one will be of any help. Help can come only from the Lord.
We should know that I am not this body, I am the soul. The realization is enlightenment and for this reason God needs to be pleased.
If karma are dedicated to God, he will be realised.
"...those who dedicate me everthing...I takes care of them". Lord announces in Gita.
So the God needs to be pleased. Now question is How?
"Life is full of sorrow", declares Buddha. And to get rid of it, all the desires needs to be overcome.
How the desires can be overcome?
"..These senses are very strong O Arjun...they captures the mind just like strong winds capture a boat in the sea"..(Lord in Gita)
There are two ways in my opinion.
One way is to leave everything and take Sanyasa. Search for Lord and dedicate everything to him. Leave all what you have, this will help in detachment with the senses and slowly the mind will move towards Lord.
But this path may not be practical for all. As per Sanataan Dharma, only the last phase of life is for Sanyasa, then what is the alternative?
In daily life also a person can be a Sanyasi.
".....He should be like lotus leaf in water...though it is in water, but water can not stay on it."
"...just like tortoise squeezes himself, similarly when a person squeezes his senses from outsoide world, he realizes me"
(Lord in Gita)
Let me ask one simple question from you!
When two people can be friends?
Two people can be friend when they have some similar habits. Two people who have totally different qualities can never be friends.
There is a tradition in India to match horoscope before marriage. Some minimum matching of behavior is needed before marriage process goes ahead.
Similarly If I wants to please God, then I must have some minimum number of habits which resemebles God, then only I can be close to him.
Just like a person with good qualities and habits attracts everybody around him, similarly such person attracts God also.
So we have drawn some good conclusions here:
we need to please God so that we can go beyond the cycle of life and death, joy and pain etc.
We can please God by simply changing some of our habits by incorporating those, which may attract God towards us! So Simple!!!! Isn't It?
Let us see some satsang by Shri Chinmoy.
He says:
"What I am is aspiration. If I want to please Him more, then I must never consider my life a sad failure, but rather a constant experience of His. If I want to please Him most, not only in one but in every aspect of life, then I must feel that, unlike me, He sees my life, inner and outer, as the Song of His own Life Breath, the Song of His perfection, growing into His own perfect Perfection Absolute."
He says further:
"The easiest and most effective way to please God is by constant and unconditional self offering. Let us try. We shall, without fail, succeed. Lo, God is standing right in front of us. He is pleased. God is really and truly pleased with us."
Comments for discussions are welcome!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Who is Supreme? Shiva or Vishnu?
Since ages, this fight is there, that who among the "Gods" is supreme? Shiva or Vishnu?
Devotee of each tries to demean others. Everybody has some logic. Everybody gives reference to some holy scripture. A general person is confused, who is greater?
When I was young, I also thought on this many times. If you see scriptures devoted to Shiva, it says Shiva is greatest and other Gods prays him, similarly Scriptures related to Vishnu says same for Vishnu......all this is quite confusing.
To whom should we worship? Who is the "True" God?
One day I saw one program on Television. It was based on a Novel by Jawahar Lal Nehru "Discovery of India".
In the end a few singers sang some shlokas from Vedas. It was very pleasing to ears and I searched a lot for the source until one fine day I got that. It was Hiranyagarbha Suktam from Rigveda (10:121).
It says:
In the beginning was the Divinity in his splendour, manifested as the sole Lord of land, skies, water, space and that beneathand he upheld the earth and the heavens.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he who bestows soul-force and vigour,whose guidance all men invoke, the Devas invoke whose shadow is immortal life-and death.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he who by his greatness became the one King of the breathing and the seeing,who is the Lord of man and bird and beast.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he through whose glory the snow-clad mountains rose,and the ocean spread with the river, they say.His arms are the quarters of the sky.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he through whom the heaven is strong and the earth firm,who has steadied the light and the sky’s vault,and measured out the sphere of clouds in the mid-region.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he to whom heaven and earth, placed in the lightby his grace, look up, radiant with the mind while over them the sun, rising, brightly shines.
Who is the deity we shall worship with our offerings?
When the mighty waters came, carrying the universal germ, producing the flame of life,then dwelt there in harmony the One Spirit of the Devas.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he who in his might surveyed the waters, conferring skill and creating worship- he,the God of Gods, the One and only One.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
Father of the world - may he not destroy us who with Truth as his Law made the heavens
and produced waters, vast and beautiful.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
Lord of creation ! no one other than thee pervades all these that have come into being.May that be ours, for which our prayers rise, may we be masters of many treasures!
Such a beautiful Richa from Rigveda......
Perhaps the answer was here. I got that.
So no confusion left...there are no two or three or many...only one. The Lord of Lords, the King of Kings......
One day I was just looking into Gita. Tenth Chapter is called Vibhuti Yoga. I liked this very much because Lord tells about himself.
He declares "....I am the Vishnu among twelve sons of Aditi......I am Shankar among eleven Rudra......."
So Krishna declared that he is Vishnu and he is shiva....wow!
Then again confusion.... Vishnu has taken birth through Aditi..so he is mortal so How God?
But in the tenth chapter itself Krishna continues "...........you treat me among the best of any thing that you see or feel or realize". So he is just trying to say that I am the best and nothing is beyond me...So he only one called through different names.
Now perhaps I see that doubts are getting cleared a little.
He and alone he is the Lord, he has manifested himself as Vishnu or Shiva or many other devas. You can call him by any name.
Krishna again declares ".........those who worship different deities and gods...actually do not know that actually they are worshipping me only................"
Wow....all doubts cleared.
Then there is reference in Bhaagwatam. Lord Vishnu declares ....."It is me who is Shiva".
Is there any doubt still that both are one and same?
As Kaliyuga came on this planet, the great masters secluded themselves in caves and forests and the people became ignorent. And so the fight started that who is great.
There is a beautiful story in Raam Charita Maanas by Goswami Tulsidaas. When Lord Raam
was doing worship of Lord Shiva at sea shore to gain victory over Lanka. Mother Sita asked Lord Raam that what this Lingam will be known in future...Lord replied, "It will
be Rameshwaram.....meaning "Ishwar of Raam"
Mother Paarvati asked Lord Shiva that Lord Raam has worshipped and named that as
Raameshwaram that is Ishwar of Raam. Shiva smiled and said that Raam is great. The actual
meaning of Rameshwaram is not "Ishwar of Raam....but that "whose ishwar IS
Raam".....see the beauty of words.
So what do you mean by Rameshwaram......
1. that who is Ishwar of Raam
2. or that whose iswar is Raam.
To silent the people who fight each other on the issue that who is great, Raam declares
that "whoever tries to be my devotee and hates Shiva....can not realize me even in
dreams."
Then there is one more doubt...we read through scriptures..he get angry...or get happy
or get sad. He is showing human like behaviour. How he can be God?
These scriptures primarily Puraan were written by great sage Ved Vyasa. The motive was
that in Kaliyuga, people will not be intelligent enough to understand the deep
knowledge of Veda. Hence he tried to gave that knowledge through stories in Puraan.
Each one of us is a different individual. No two people are alike in all their habits. Hence as per their interest they worship Shiva or Vishnu or any other deity. But as we have seen earlier Krishna says in Gita:
".........those who worship different deities and gods...actually do not know that actually they are worshipping me only................"
Any doubt left?
The narration in Puraan that they show human like behaviour is because so that the reader can understand it in better way. If I have to teach a person then I have to talk
in a manner so that he/she can understand it as per his/her intelligence. I have to put
myself in his/her place and then explain.
This is the reason that God shows human behaviour. He shows it so that we can understnad about him. Actually he is above all such things.
Again reference from Gita....
Lord says..."...I love nobody and I hates nobody..............but those who are in me..I am in them"
Such a beautiful sentence....."those who are in me..I am in them"
Any doubts left on this topic?
Devotee of each tries to demean others. Everybody has some logic. Everybody gives reference to some holy scripture. A general person is confused, who is greater?
When I was young, I also thought on this many times. If you see scriptures devoted to Shiva, it says Shiva is greatest and other Gods prays him, similarly Scriptures related to Vishnu says same for Vishnu......all this is quite confusing.
To whom should we worship? Who is the "True" God?
One day I saw one program on Television. It was based on a Novel by Jawahar Lal Nehru "Discovery of India".
In the end a few singers sang some shlokas from Vedas. It was very pleasing to ears and I searched a lot for the source until one fine day I got that. It was Hiranyagarbha Suktam from Rigveda (10:121).
It says:
In the beginning was the Divinity in his splendour, manifested as the sole Lord of land, skies, water, space and that beneathand he upheld the earth and the heavens.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he who bestows soul-force and vigour,whose guidance all men invoke, the Devas invoke whose shadow is immortal life-and death.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he who by his greatness became the one King of the breathing and the seeing,who is the Lord of man and bird and beast.
Who is the Deity we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he through whose glory the snow-clad mountains rose,and the ocean spread with the river, they say.His arms are the quarters of the sky.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he through whom the heaven is strong and the earth firm,who has steadied the light and the sky’s vault,and measured out the sphere of clouds in the mid-region.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he to whom heaven and earth, placed in the lightby his grace, look up, radiant with the mind while over them the sun, rising, brightly shines.
Who is the deity we shall worship with our offerings?
When the mighty waters came, carrying the universal germ, producing the flame of life,then dwelt there in harmony the One Spirit of the Devas.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
It is he who in his might surveyed the waters, conferring skill and creating worship- he,the God of Gods, the One and only One.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
Father of the world - may he not destroy us who with Truth as his Law made the heavens
and produced waters, vast and beautiful.
Who is that Deity to which we shall worship with our offerings?
Lord of creation ! no one other than thee pervades all these that have come into being.May that be ours, for which our prayers rise, may we be masters of many treasures!
Such a beautiful Richa from Rigveda......
Perhaps the answer was here. I got that.
So no confusion left...there are no two or three or many...only one. The Lord of Lords, the King of Kings......
One day I was just looking into Gita. Tenth Chapter is called Vibhuti Yoga. I liked this very much because Lord tells about himself.
He declares "....I am the Vishnu among twelve sons of Aditi......I am Shankar among eleven Rudra......."
So Krishna declared that he is Vishnu and he is shiva....wow!
Then again confusion.... Vishnu has taken birth through Aditi..so he is mortal so How God?
But in the tenth chapter itself Krishna continues "...........you treat me among the best of any thing that you see or feel or realize". So he is just trying to say that I am the best and nothing is beyond me...So he only one called through different names.
Now perhaps I see that doubts are getting cleared a little.
He and alone he is the Lord, he has manifested himself as Vishnu or Shiva or many other devas. You can call him by any name.
Krishna again declares ".........those who worship different deities and gods...actually do not know that actually they are worshipping me only................"
Wow....all doubts cleared.
Then there is reference in Bhaagwatam. Lord Vishnu declares ....."It is me who is Shiva".
Is there any doubt still that both are one and same?
As Kaliyuga came on this planet, the great masters secluded themselves in caves and forests and the people became ignorent. And so the fight started that who is great.
There is a beautiful story in Raam Charita Maanas by Goswami Tulsidaas. When Lord Raam
was doing worship of Lord Shiva at sea shore to gain victory over Lanka. Mother Sita asked Lord Raam that what this Lingam will be known in future...Lord replied, "It will
be Rameshwaram.....meaning "Ishwar of Raam"
Mother Paarvati asked Lord Shiva that Lord Raam has worshipped and named that as
Raameshwaram that is Ishwar of Raam. Shiva smiled and said that Raam is great. The actual
meaning of Rameshwaram is not "Ishwar of Raam....but that "whose ishwar IS
Raam".....see the beauty of words.
So what do you mean by Rameshwaram......
1. that who is Ishwar of Raam
2. or that whose iswar is Raam.
To silent the people who fight each other on the issue that who is great, Raam declares
that "whoever tries to be my devotee and hates Shiva....can not realize me even in
dreams."
Then there is one more doubt...we read through scriptures..he get angry...or get happy
or get sad. He is showing human like behaviour. How he can be God?
These scriptures primarily Puraan were written by great sage Ved Vyasa. The motive was
that in Kaliyuga, people will not be intelligent enough to understand the deep
knowledge of Veda. Hence he tried to gave that knowledge through stories in Puraan.
Each one of us is a different individual. No two people are alike in all their habits. Hence as per their interest they worship Shiva or Vishnu or any other deity. But as we have seen earlier Krishna says in Gita:
".........those who worship different deities and gods...actually do not know that actually they are worshipping me only................"
Any doubt left?
The narration in Puraan that they show human like behaviour is because so that the reader can understand it in better way. If I have to teach a person then I have to talk
in a manner so that he/she can understand it as per his/her intelligence. I have to put
myself in his/her place and then explain.
This is the reason that God shows human behaviour. He shows it so that we can understnad about him. Actually he is above all such things.
Again reference from Gita....
Lord says..."...I love nobody and I hates nobody..............but those who are in me..I am in them"
Such a beautiful sentence....."those who are in me..I am in them"
Any doubts left on this topic?
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Thoughts on Gita Chapter 1 (Part II)
(Continued from last posting)
Now both the armies are there facing each other. On one side is our samskaras and fruits of Karmas represented by Kauravas and on the other hand is our self consciousness represented by Pandavas. The army of samskaras are being lead by Duryodhana or by lust, greed, anger, fraud and all unethical things. On the other hand army of self consciousness is being led by Arjun, our inner self, who has all the confidence because of “Sat Chitta Swarupa” The Lord Supreme Krishna. It seems that the army of Kauravas is stronger than the army of Pandavas. Those who are enlightened knows that this is wrong as the forces of inner self are much more stronger than the forces of all samskaras.
Duryodhana goes to Drona and asks him to have a careful look on the army of pandavas. The commander of kaurava army is Bhishma and the commander of Pandava army is DhrishtaDumnya. Incidentally DhristaDumnya was disciple of Drona himself and now both are facing each other in battle field.
It happens some times that to justify our wrong deeds, we start giving it a justified cause. So that we can console ourselves that we are right. The leading of Kaurava army by Bhishma can be understood by this. Bhishma was enlightened and a great bhakta of Krishna. But still he was forced to lead Kaurava army.
Duryodhana tells to Drona that the our army lead by Bhishma has unlimited powers and this army of Pandavas have limited powers. Then he goes on telling that from all side please protect Bhishma.
From here we can understand a few important things. First is that our Buddhi in the influence of samskaras, try to overcome the desire to enlightenment by portraying in a manner that it is on the correct path. For this it hides itself behind the mask of Bhishma or something through which, it can assume that I am correct. On the other hand, it also tries to protect that mask as it knows that it is the Mask, through which it can survive in front of the forces of enlightenment.
Though the Buddhi tries to convince itself, it knows that it is week.
Then Sanjay reports to Dhritarashtra that seeing Duryodhana confused, Bhishma blew his conch. Here there may be two meanings; one that he wanted to produce confidence in Duryodhana and another that perhaps he thought that the auspicious sound of the conch may throw away all the bad out of Duryodhana. And then following him all the Braves from Pandavas blew their conch.
The sound of conch is supposed to cleanse a person from inside and as the battle field got filled up with noise of the Pandava Conches, the maligned souls of kauravas got shaken.
Here maligned souls means a soul which is under deep impressions of samskaras and fruits of karmas and so lost its true identity of “Sat-Chitta-Anand”.
Arjun asks Krishna to take his chariot in between the two armies so that he can see all the armies of Kauravas.And so the Lord guides the chariot in between the two armies.
It is just like The Lord directing the soul that these are your enemies in the path of enlightenment, see them carefully and be ready with the entire arsenal to fight with them. Yes, entire arsenal because this army of samskaras and the sense organs are very strong and as Krishna says later in Gita that these sense organs hijack the buddhi just like the wind and thuder overtakes a ship in the Sea.
Now here the “Vishaad” yoga starts. After seeing his own relatives, friends, cousins etc. on the other side of battle field, Arjun fells deep into remorse “Oh, for whom all the luxury of the earth is needed, I am getting ready to fight with them only……without them how I can enjoy these luxuries”?
This represent the “Antar-dvanda” or the “Inner-conflict” of the Buddhi. It wants to get enlightenment but still do not want to clean the dust, because of which, it is not able to recognize the true nature of self.
This shows that how much difficult it is to overcome the armies of senses.
First of all we do not know our true self. Then once we know, but do not try to recognize that. If we try to do, all except a few gets defeated by the armies of senses and past samskaras. But a few who have complete faith in the holy feat of Lord, gets enlightenment.
(to be continued)
Now both the armies are there facing each other. On one side is our samskaras and fruits of Karmas represented by Kauravas and on the other hand is our self consciousness represented by Pandavas. The army of samskaras are being lead by Duryodhana or by lust, greed, anger, fraud and all unethical things. On the other hand army of self consciousness is being led by Arjun, our inner self, who has all the confidence because of “Sat Chitta Swarupa” The Lord Supreme Krishna. It seems that the army of Kauravas is stronger than the army of Pandavas. Those who are enlightened knows that this is wrong as the forces of inner self are much more stronger than the forces of all samskaras.
Duryodhana goes to Drona and asks him to have a careful look on the army of pandavas. The commander of kaurava army is Bhishma and the commander of Pandava army is DhrishtaDumnya. Incidentally DhristaDumnya was disciple of Drona himself and now both are facing each other in battle field.
It happens some times that to justify our wrong deeds, we start giving it a justified cause. So that we can console ourselves that we are right. The leading of Kaurava army by Bhishma can be understood by this. Bhishma was enlightened and a great bhakta of Krishna. But still he was forced to lead Kaurava army.
Duryodhana tells to Drona that the our army lead by Bhishma has unlimited powers and this army of Pandavas have limited powers. Then he goes on telling that from all side please protect Bhishma.
From here we can understand a few important things. First is that our Buddhi in the influence of samskaras, try to overcome the desire to enlightenment by portraying in a manner that it is on the correct path. For this it hides itself behind the mask of Bhishma or something through which, it can assume that I am correct. On the other hand, it also tries to protect that mask as it knows that it is the Mask, through which it can survive in front of the forces of enlightenment.
Though the Buddhi tries to convince itself, it knows that it is week.
Then Sanjay reports to Dhritarashtra that seeing Duryodhana confused, Bhishma blew his conch. Here there may be two meanings; one that he wanted to produce confidence in Duryodhana and another that perhaps he thought that the auspicious sound of the conch may throw away all the bad out of Duryodhana. And then following him all the Braves from Pandavas blew their conch.
The sound of conch is supposed to cleanse a person from inside and as the battle field got filled up with noise of the Pandava Conches, the maligned souls of kauravas got shaken.
Here maligned souls means a soul which is under deep impressions of samskaras and fruits of karmas and so lost its true identity of “Sat-Chitta-Anand”.
Arjun asks Krishna to take his chariot in between the two armies so that he can see all the armies of Kauravas.And so the Lord guides the chariot in between the two armies.
It is just like The Lord directing the soul that these are your enemies in the path of enlightenment, see them carefully and be ready with the entire arsenal to fight with them. Yes, entire arsenal because this army of samskaras and the sense organs are very strong and as Krishna says later in Gita that these sense organs hijack the buddhi just like the wind and thuder overtakes a ship in the Sea.
Now here the “Vishaad” yoga starts. After seeing his own relatives, friends, cousins etc. on the other side of battle field, Arjun fells deep into remorse “Oh, for whom all the luxury of the earth is needed, I am getting ready to fight with them only……without them how I can enjoy these luxuries”?
This represent the “Antar-dvanda” or the “Inner-conflict” of the Buddhi. It wants to get enlightenment but still do not want to clean the dust, because of which, it is not able to recognize the true nature of self.
This shows that how much difficult it is to overcome the armies of senses.
First of all we do not know our true self. Then once we know, but do not try to recognize that. If we try to do, all except a few gets defeated by the armies of senses and past samskaras. But a few who have complete faith in the holy feat of Lord, gets enlightenment.
(to be continued)
Thoughts on Gita Chapter 1 (Part I)
Gita Chapter 1
In this chapter we see the sorrow of Arjun. Because he and his family were denied of any share in Kingdom and were sent to twelve years in forest, Arjun was full of hatred against his cousins and relatives. But when the time came to take revenge, his hatred got converted into remorse, partly may be because keeping that anger for so long in himself, he became used to that and when the time came for it to vent out, he started feeling helpless as he was used to be with this suppressed anger since so many years and so did not wanted to separate that anger with himself.
Another factor was that perhaps he became doubtful of his victory as Kaurava Army was much larger and having more able Generals. Consistent denial of his rights had great impact on him and so he might have became an “escapist” because his mind telling him that he can not win because in so many years he and his brother are getting defeated again and again by forgery and tricks by Kauravas.
We can see this in our daily lives. A person becomes helpless, if he/she do not know about his own powers. This mind is very strong. It tells a person that you are powerful, it gives a person confidence, and this same mind makes a person cheat, fraud, fearful and helpless. A mind in influence of suppressed emotions makes a person coward.
Arjun was in a dilemma. Time has come for which he and his brothers were waiting for so long. But when armies were facing each other, the emotions in Arjun made him to decide “I will not fight”.
Here many questions come in mind. First is that why the war? It resulted in death of almost all the able men of the time. Krishna went to Kuaravas that if five villages are given to Pandavas, they will be happy and the war will be averted. But Kauravas were not ready to give even a inch of land.
Buddhi is the wisdom which is a combination of all the samskaras and influence of all the five senses. And our inner wisdom is our consciousness which is the real us, the soul. To remove the differences between these two is called enlightenment.
When our buddhi becomes frustrated with the existing samskaras and organ senses, it looks deeper into it for help. Then our inner consciousness or Krishna removes the dust and so the soul can recognize itself.
There is always a fight in each one of us between our consciousness and our buddhi. This is the Mahabharat. External senses and samsakaras are the Kauravas, Our Buddhi is Arjun and the inner self is Krishna. When Buddhi looses interest in external senses it becomes introvert to itself so that it can recognize the real self. That is the right time for enlightenment and just one push will do the rest, like Krishna did to Arjun.
Initially it becomes very difficult as we become used to live with our samskaras and become fearful to part with them and so Krishna is needed.
As he says “Leave everything and come to me….I will make you free.”
What does this means? Leave everything….leave the fruits of senses, leave the samskaras and look towards me…..and you will be enlightened. That is what Krishna’s message is.
First chapter of Geeta is also known as “Vishaad Yoga”. “Vishaad” means remorse. Arjun had became so much frustrated that his buddhi was not working. He had forgotten his duties and that was the perfect time. That is why Krishna waited till Arjun reaches that state.
Dhritarashtra was blind from birth so the throne was given to his younger brother Pandu. Dhritarashtra was never happy with that but could not do anything on his own. When Kauravas (his sons) became young, through them he wanted to get back the throne. His sons got the throne by hook and crook and that resulted in the great war. Perhaps Dhritarashtra was also interested in the war so that if his sons win then they will be the legitimate rulers. Kaurava army was large and supported by great warriors like Bhishma, Drona etc. So Dhritarashtra was interested in war and asked Sanjay to narrate what all is going on in battele field.
Sanjay had got the ability to see the battle field from Sage Ved Vyasa. So he narrated the battle happenings to Dhritarashtra.
(To be continued)
In this chapter we see the sorrow of Arjun. Because he and his family were denied of any share in Kingdom and were sent to twelve years in forest, Arjun was full of hatred against his cousins and relatives. But when the time came to take revenge, his hatred got converted into remorse, partly may be because keeping that anger for so long in himself, he became used to that and when the time came for it to vent out, he started feeling helpless as he was used to be with this suppressed anger since so many years and so did not wanted to separate that anger with himself.
Another factor was that perhaps he became doubtful of his victory as Kaurava Army was much larger and having more able Generals. Consistent denial of his rights had great impact on him and so he might have became an “escapist” because his mind telling him that he can not win because in so many years he and his brother are getting defeated again and again by forgery and tricks by Kauravas.
We can see this in our daily lives. A person becomes helpless, if he/she do not know about his own powers. This mind is very strong. It tells a person that you are powerful, it gives a person confidence, and this same mind makes a person cheat, fraud, fearful and helpless. A mind in influence of suppressed emotions makes a person coward.
Arjun was in a dilemma. Time has come for which he and his brothers were waiting for so long. But when armies were facing each other, the emotions in Arjun made him to decide “I will not fight”.
Here many questions come in mind. First is that why the war? It resulted in death of almost all the able men of the time. Krishna went to Kuaravas that if five villages are given to Pandavas, they will be happy and the war will be averted. But Kauravas were not ready to give even a inch of land.
Buddhi is the wisdom which is a combination of all the samskaras and influence of all the five senses. And our inner wisdom is our consciousness which is the real us, the soul. To remove the differences between these two is called enlightenment.
When our buddhi becomes frustrated with the existing samskaras and organ senses, it looks deeper into it for help. Then our inner consciousness or Krishna removes the dust and so the soul can recognize itself.
There is always a fight in each one of us between our consciousness and our buddhi. This is the Mahabharat. External senses and samsakaras are the Kauravas, Our Buddhi is Arjun and the inner self is Krishna. When Buddhi looses interest in external senses it becomes introvert to itself so that it can recognize the real self. That is the right time for enlightenment and just one push will do the rest, like Krishna did to Arjun.
Initially it becomes very difficult as we become used to live with our samskaras and become fearful to part with them and so Krishna is needed.
As he says “Leave everything and come to me….I will make you free.”
What does this means? Leave everything….leave the fruits of senses, leave the samskaras and look towards me…..and you will be enlightened. That is what Krishna’s message is.
First chapter of Geeta is also known as “Vishaad Yoga”. “Vishaad” means remorse. Arjun had became so much frustrated that his buddhi was not working. He had forgotten his duties and that was the perfect time. That is why Krishna waited till Arjun reaches that state.
Dhritarashtra was blind from birth so the throne was given to his younger brother Pandu. Dhritarashtra was never happy with that but could not do anything on his own. When Kauravas (his sons) became young, through them he wanted to get back the throne. His sons got the throne by hook and crook and that resulted in the great war. Perhaps Dhritarashtra was also interested in the war so that if his sons win then they will be the legitimate rulers. Kaurava army was large and supported by great warriors like Bhishma, Drona etc. So Dhritarashtra was interested in war and asked Sanjay to narrate what all is going on in battele field.
Sanjay had got the ability to see the battle field from Sage Ved Vyasa. So he narrated the battle happenings to Dhritarashtra.
(To be continued)
Friday, May 2, 2008
Some starting thoughts on Gita
Shri-Mad-Bhagwat-Geeta or simply Geeta is one of the most sacred books. It means the "Song of the Lord". There are many Geetas, like Ashtavakra Geeta, Avadhoot Geeta, Raam Geeta etc. but Shri-Mad-Bhagwat-Geeta is more famous among masses. Geeta was narrated by Lord Krishna to his disciple Arjun in the battle field of Kurukshetra.
The question here is that who was there in the battle field to note down what Lord is saying to Arjun. Sanjay was having powers to see the battle field and tell what is going on there to Dhritrashtra, but even then nobody was noting it down, then how The Geeta reached to all of us?
Swami Nithyananda says that a Mantra-Drishta Rishi is one who realizes the deep secrets in deep meditation state. Geeta is a part of Mahabharat, firstly narrated by the great sage Vyasa. Vyasa was a mantra-drishta Rishi. He is also known as Ved Vyasa because he divided Veda into four Vedas for the benefit of people in Kaliyuga.Vyasa Passed on Geeta to his disciple and through "Smriti" we got it.Geeta has 18 chapters and each chapter deals with some topic. In brief, The Geeta has essence of whole Sanatana Dharma Philosophy.
What is Sanatana Dharma? Sanatana means "Eternal" or that which is always there. The term Hindu is never mentioned in any of the holy scriptures, then from where this term "Hindu" came? When Alexander from Masedonia came to attack India in 3rd Century BC, they started calling all people living across river Sindhu as "Sindhu", later when Arabians came to India this word Sindhu got changed into "Hindu". It was not the name given to any religion but to all the people in a particular geographical area acroos river Sindhu.
There are many commentaries avaiable on Geeta by many enlightened souls. As per my limited knowledge, I feel that Commentry by Swamy Gambhirananda is one of the most deep. Also by Swami Akhandananda Sarswati is equally "Goodh" or that which gives great insight on hidden secrtes.Other good commentaries include by Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Prabhupada and by mahatamas of Gaudiya Sampradaya of Udupi and Mathura.
Then there is question that why Geeta came in battle field. The story of Mahabharat says that Arjun got sentimental after seeing his relatives and friends in the battle field and so wanted to escape out. To remove his "Vishaad" or remorse, the Lord gave him the gyan of Geeta. Now question comes that why Arjun got remorse in battle field, why not before? The preparation for battle must be in progress for long time and also this was not first time that Arjun was face to face with his cousins and other relatives. After there 14 years of "VanVaas" or "Forest Stay" they had faced each other when Duryodhana and others had attacked KIng Viraat after getting the clue that Pandavas are hiding in his palace. Then also a fierce battle had happened and Arjun defeated all the Kuravas in that battle, but he did not got this remorse, then why at
Kurkshetra? One reason may be that Lord may have thought to let Arjun reach his maximum limit of "Agyaan" so that in that he should be able to understand the "Geeta" in a better way or another reason may be that perhaps Lord wanted to give this "Gyan" to people and Arjun was just a "Nimitta" or the medium. As Kaliyuga was not far away so Lord would have decided that in this peroid people with their limited intelliegence may not understand Upnishad or Vedas so the essence he told in the form of "Geeta".He says in Geeta that this knowledge has been lost so I am narrating it again. It clearly means that Arjun and Mahabharat were only the "Nimitta" through which Lord send its message.
The question here is that who was there in the battle field to note down what Lord is saying to Arjun. Sanjay was having powers to see the battle field and tell what is going on there to Dhritrashtra, but even then nobody was noting it down, then how The Geeta reached to all of us?
Swami Nithyananda says that a Mantra-Drishta Rishi is one who realizes the deep secrets in deep meditation state. Geeta is a part of Mahabharat, firstly narrated by the great sage Vyasa. Vyasa was a mantra-drishta Rishi. He is also known as Ved Vyasa because he divided Veda into four Vedas for the benefit of people in Kaliyuga.Vyasa Passed on Geeta to his disciple and through "Smriti" we got it.Geeta has 18 chapters and each chapter deals with some topic. In brief, The Geeta has essence of whole Sanatana Dharma Philosophy.
What is Sanatana Dharma? Sanatana means "Eternal" or that which is always there. The term Hindu is never mentioned in any of the holy scriptures, then from where this term "Hindu" came? When Alexander from Masedonia came to attack India in 3rd Century BC, they started calling all people living across river Sindhu as "Sindhu", later when Arabians came to India this word Sindhu got changed into "Hindu". It was not the name given to any religion but to all the people in a particular geographical area acroos river Sindhu.
There are many commentaries avaiable on Geeta by many enlightened souls. As per my limited knowledge, I feel that Commentry by Swamy Gambhirananda is one of the most deep. Also by Swami Akhandananda Sarswati is equally "Goodh" or that which gives great insight on hidden secrtes.Other good commentaries include by Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Prabhupada and by mahatamas of Gaudiya Sampradaya of Udupi and Mathura.
Then there is question that why Geeta came in battle field. The story of Mahabharat says that Arjun got sentimental after seeing his relatives and friends in the battle field and so wanted to escape out. To remove his "Vishaad" or remorse, the Lord gave him the gyan of Geeta. Now question comes that why Arjun got remorse in battle field, why not before? The preparation for battle must be in progress for long time and also this was not first time that Arjun was face to face with his cousins and other relatives. After there 14 years of "VanVaas" or "Forest Stay" they had faced each other when Duryodhana and others had attacked KIng Viraat after getting the clue that Pandavas are hiding in his palace. Then also a fierce battle had happened and Arjun defeated all the Kuravas in that battle, but he did not got this remorse, then why at
Kurkshetra? One reason may be that Lord may have thought to let Arjun reach his maximum limit of "Agyaan" so that in that he should be able to understand the "Geeta" in a better way or another reason may be that perhaps Lord wanted to give this "Gyan" to people and Arjun was just a "Nimitta" or the medium. As Kaliyuga was not far away so Lord would have decided that in this peroid people with their limited intelliegence may not understand Upnishad or Vedas so the essence he told in the form of "Geeta".He says in Geeta that this knowledge has been lost so I am narrating it again. It clearly means that Arjun and Mahabharat were only the "Nimitta" through which Lord send its message.
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