Welcome to The Baba Times
Your Window to the World of Philosophy, Religion and Spirituality!
This website is devoted to Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality and Science. We bring in articles on teachings by Great Saints like Sri Shirdi Sai Baba, Adi Shankara, Swami Sivananda, Swami Krishnananda, Aurobindo, Mother of Auroville and others.
LATEST NEWS We are conducting 'Guided Meditation Session' every Saturday at 5.30 PM EST from New York.
This will include discussions on various topics like Upanishads, Philosophy, Spirituality & Meditation through Skype. Please send 'Add Request' to 'DLSNewYork' from your skype account so that you can participate in this Satsang. These sessions are part of Divine Life Society from Rishikesh
Hari Om. The Baba Times Team, Contact thebabatimes@gmail.com
Lord Dattatreya – Master Par Excellence
Spiritual Message for the Day – Lord Dattatreya – Master Par Excellence by Sri Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 5 December 2014 10.30 PST | New York Edition** |
Lord Dattatreya – Master Par Excellence
Divine Life Society Publication: Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals by Sri Swami Krishnananda
(Dattatreya Jayanti message given in the year 1973 on the full moon day in the month of Margasirsha (Nov-Dec))
Lord Dattatreya is regarded as the visible incarnation of the Supreme Being himself in his aspects as Creator, Preserver and Destroyer, which we know as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, respectively. The creative, the preservative and the disintegrating powers of God are supposed to be manifest in the personality of Lord Dattatreya. The name or word ‘Dattatreya’ is constituted of two terms, Datta and Atreya. In Sanskrit, Datta means one who is bestowed as a gift, and Atreya is an honorific which is derived from the name of a great sage called Atri. The son of Atri is Atreya. A descendent of Atri also is Atreya. One who is bestowed as a divine child on the great Sage Atri, by the Gods Brahma, Vishnu and Siva themselves, is Dattatreya. Tradition holds that he was the divine child of Sage Atri, born to his famous consort, Anasuya. He is also, therefore, known as Anasuyanandana, the darling of the great queen of chastity, Anasuya Devi. There is a famous hill in Saurashtra, Mount Girnar, which is dedicated to the adoration and worship of Lord Dattatreya.
Lord Dattatreya is not merely a divine incarnation like Bhagavan Sri Krishna and Sri Rama, but, unlike them, He is held in high esteem as a visible personality, physically available to us for our Darshan, if only we would have the honesty of belief and devotion at his sacred feet. There are wonderful sidelights given to us of the personality Bhagavan Dattatreya.
Four dogs and a cow you will see always with Dattatreya in all portraits and paintings. What are these dogs? Why does he take the dogs with him, wherever he goes? What is this cow and what is this bag? The tradition is this: Dattatreya is perhaps the most powerful of conceivable sages, almost identical with God himself. For all practical purposes we may say that he has all the powers of God, viz., creation, preservation and destruction, being an embodiment of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva themselves. But, he lives as a fakir. The term ‘fakir’ means a beggar owning nothing, except a bag (a Jhola, as you call it), and a stick in his hand, which is sometimes identified with the trident. He goes for Bhiksha or alms, for he lives on alms. The master of all the forces of Nature at whose command are the sun and the moon and the stars, goes begging for his Bhiksha! The spiritual reading of this Bhiksha or alms-begging by Lord Dattatreya is that he is asking us: “Give me all your sins.” He does not beg for rice, wheat and Dal from us. He asks for the sins of our past lives and of our present life, and this is the Bhiksha that he wants. He will collect the sins of all people. He does not want our virtues and good conduct. He asks for our sins, Papam only, and not the merits or Punyam. He puts them in his Jhola or bag and walks off and digests the whole thing. These sages are terrible and their powers are inconceivable.
Lord Dattatreya was the greatest among such sages. His power to protect was such that Mother Earth herself took the form of a cow and pleaded for succor. She said, “O great sage, thou art the only refuge.” And she, in the form of a cow, is supposed to be under the protection of Lord Dattatreya. The four dogs which we see around him are the forms taken by the four Vedas – Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. The Vedas knew the predicament that is going to come upon them in Kali Yuga; they knew that they would be disregarded, insulted and cast aside by people. They, therefore, took the form of dogs, and went to this Sage-Protector for protection from destruction. To Mother Earth and the four Vedas, who thus took shelter under him, Lord Dattatreya gave Abhayam; he bestowed fearlessness upon them. When we go to Lord Dattatreya for protection, not all the three worlds can shake a hair of our body. This is the spiritual meaning of this beautiful symbol that we see portrayed in the pictures of Lord Dattatreya with a cow and four dogs.
It is also given in a famous scripture of our land, the Srimad Bhagavata, that one day Lord Dattatreya was walking along a street like a mendicant, very happy in his mood and lustrous in his face. His joy was such that he seemed to be bursting with happiness. But he had nothing with him except a bag and a staff. The king of that land, known as Yadu, met him on the way. The king did not know that it was Sage Dattatreya. He took him to be a beggar and wondered within himself: “How is this person so happy, even though he has nothing with him! I am an emperor of this vast kingdom, but I have got so much grief on my head. What is this mystery? How it is that, being a king, I am so unhappy, and this beggar is so happy?” He went and humbly prostrated himself before Dattatreya and asked him, “Sir, may I know how is it that you seem to be so happy? What is the source of your happiness, though you seem to be a beggar? Who are you? May I know your whereabouts and a little of your history?” Dattatreya did not say who he was. He merely said, “I am happy because of what I am, not because of what I have.”
Here is the secret of happiness. We are happy in proportion to what we are and not in proportion to what we have. While the king had many things, he was an empty shell inside; on the other hand, Dattatreya had nothing to possess and call his own, but he was everything himself.
The long conversation which Dattatreya and the King Yadu had is recorded in the eleventh book of the Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana. Dattatreya, such a great master, humbly said, “I am a student of Nature.” He did not say that he is a Guru.
You will find that he was a student of everything. He says, “I am a student of Mother Earth; I am a student of the waters of the ocean; I am a student of the air that blows; I am a student of the sun that shines; I am a student of the moon that is luminous in the sky; I am a student of the honey bees that collect the pollen-nectar from various flowers; I am a student of the fish; I am a student of the vulture.” The king was astonished and said, “O God! You are a student of all these things! What does it mean? How are you a student of all these? What lessons did you learn from them?” Dattatreya then gives surprising answers to King Yadu, as follows:
“Earth is my Guru, because I learn the lesson of immense, unlimited and unsurpassed patience from the earth. All the dirt we throw on her face, but still Mother Earth does not complain. How stable she is! I have learnt patience and stability from earth. So earth is my Guru and I am her student.
“Now hear what I have learnt from the waters of the ocean. Whatever be the quantity of water that is poured into or removed from the ocean, neither does it increase nor decrease. The ocean maintains its dignity, fixity and content. Likewise whether people praise me or censure me, whether they talk for me or against me, whatever it be, it makes no difference to me. And, further, I maintain purity of character like the water which is a symbol of purity.
“Fire also is my Guru. Fire burns anything that you may offer. If you offer ghee, it burns; if you offer milk, that also it burns; if you offer dirt, that too it burns. When it burns anything, that burnt stuff becomes pure. It may be a pure or an impure thing that is offered, it makes no difference to the fire; it turns that thing pure. Likewise, whatever enters me through the sense organs is converted by me into the residue which remains after it is burnt by the fire of knowledge.
Likewise, Dattatreya gives a list of twenty-four Gurus, regarding himself as a humble student of the whole of creation. He also teaches us the lesson that the higher is one’s knowledge, the humbler is that person. The larger is our wisdom, the smaller we look in the eyes of people. The nearer we are to God, the farther we appear from people’s eyes. So Lord Dattatreya is here before us as a spiritual magnet and a magnificent embodiment of divine power – the powers even of creation, preservation and destruction. This three-faced God, Lord Dattatreya, is regarded as an embodiment of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. He is regarded as the Guru of Gurus and he is specially worshipped on Brihaspativara or Guruvara, which is the sacred Thursday. Thursday is supposed to be the Guru’s day and we worship the great Guru Lord Dattatreya on every Thursday. May we all become fit instruments for the reception of the unbounded grace of Lord Dattatreya by following his example.
Excerpts from: Lord Dattatreya – Master Par Excellence - Spiritual Import of Religious Festivals by Sri Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
Two Sides of Experience
Spiritual Message for the Day – Two Sides of Experience by Sri Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 4 December 2014 14.28 EST | New York Edition** |
Two Sides of Experience
Divine Life Society Publication: The Secret of the Katha Upanishad by Sri Swami Krishnananda
There are two sides of experience, which pull a person in two different directions:
śreyaś ca preyaś ca manuṣyam etas tau samparītya vivinakti dhīraḥ.
śreyo hi dhīro’bhipreyaso vṛṇīte, preyo mando yoga-kṣemād vṛṇīte.
This is the first precept of the great teacher Yama, the Lord of Death. There are two directions along which the mind of man moves, viz. the outward and the inward. The outward path is the way of pleasure and enjoyment. The inward way is that of the search for Reality. The two terms, sreyas and preyas, used in this instructive sentence, refer to blessedness and sensory satisfaction respectively. The human mind is always after immediate results. It does not care so much for ultimate values. “What does it bring to me now, whatever may happen to me tomorrow? I may even be hanged tomorrow, but today I must have the satisfaction.” This seems to be the usual argument and the wish of the human mind—perhaps of every kind of mind in creation. But the great Master says, it is an utter folly on the part of the mind to assume an attitude of the solution of problems by coming in contact with objects of sense merely because they bring immediate satisfaction.
Satisfaction seems to be a consequence of our being slaves, of not being masters. We are under the pressure of a particular power that rises from within us, which has its own say in every matter. Human satisfaction, therefore, is nothing but yielding to a particular urge. We do not seek for a solution of problems, because we find that they are beyond us, apparently. So we simply want to follow the psychology or the tactics of the ostrich which hides or buries its head in sand under the impression that nobody sees it, though the larger part of its body is outside it.
The human mind is a fool, really. It understands nothing, but yet it assumes an arrogance of all-knowingness and omniscience. Nothing can be worse than this attitude of the mind—knowing nothing and imagining that it knows everything. This attitude is called ignorance. This is called vanity. This is egoism. To assume an attitude of what you are not, that is ahamkara. But the whole of life is nothing but a pretension of this kind. In every one of our activities and attitudes, and even our expressions and speeches and conduct and behaviour, we are hypocritical to the core, if we go deeply into the matter. We do not expose ourselves, because that exposure of our true personality would go contrary to the assumed satisfaction which we wish to acquire through contact of senses with objects. There is, thus, a psychological cloud covering our mind, as psychoanalysts would tell us. This is what we call samskaras in Sanskrit, impressions of perceptions, cognitions, desires, etc.
The great Master of the Katha Upanishad points to the unfortunate position of the human mind when he says that preyas or the asking for sensory gratification is a folly. It is not a wisdom on our part. To ask for any kind of pleasure in the world is not an aspect or form of knowledge, for knowledge is identical with sreyas or blessedness. Your good or real prosperity lies not in your yielding to urges or to psychological pressure, but in your being a controller, a regulator, a restrainer, or a master over these urges.
We mistake enjoyments for acts of freedom, which is far from the truth, says Yama, the teacher of the Katha Upanishad. The man of wisdom chooses the blessed and the good rather than the pleasant and the satisfying to the senses. Both come to you. The blessed and the pleasant—both are before you. You can choose any one. Man is free either to stand or to fall. This is the endowment which God has bestowed upon human nature. Sreyas and preyas—both are at your disposal. Truth is hidden, whereas appearance is visible to the eyes. The hero, the courageous individual bent upon probing into the mysteries of Reality, chooses what is ultimately real and not what appears to be immediately valuable. In the practice, in the search for knowledge, you have to be cautious to see that you do not get entrapped by appearance. The egoistic individual that man is, confined as he is to the perceptions of the senses, takes the world for reality and does not admit the existence of anything beyond and behind the visible scene. The real is the invisible, and the visible is not the real.
The visible, the seen world, is a conglomeration of action and reaction. The world that you see before you, the objects that are presented before the senses, the solid substances and the tangible presentations in front of us, are not what they are. Experience as it is presented through the senses is nothing but a network of reactions. The way in which reactions are set up by objects in their relation to the senses and the mind, produces an illusion in our consciousness. Depth can be seen where there is only a flat surface, as in a cinema, for example. There is only a flat screen. There is no depth or three-dimensional picture. But when you go and see a picture, you see a three-dimensional personality and movement. The senses produce an illusion of experience on account of a particular type of reaction they set up due to a given type of contact established between them and the objects of a given nature at a given moment of time. This is why we say that the world is relative. It is relative in the sense that every experience is dependent on some factor or the other.
The temptations which the scriptures speak of in our search for reality are nothing but the reactions set up by the desires of the mind and the senses. The desires are not exhausted even if there is a tentative discriminative faculty arisen in us. You may be aware of the existence of a higher reality which you have to aspire for—vivekashakti might have dawned in your mind, a sense of vairagya or dispassion for appearances also might be there—but this will not do. The personality of the human individual is deep, far deeper than what it appears on the surface. A withdrawal of oneself from physical contact with objects of sense does not mean renunciation, totally. If you abstain from physical contact with objects by living in a sequestered place, the desire for them will still remain. The rasa or the taste for enjoyment does not cease, even if you are physically weaned away from objects. This is condemned in the Bhagavadgita as hypocrisy:
karmendriyāṇi saṁyamya ya āste manasā smaran
indriy ārthān vimῡḍhātmā mithāchārāḥ sa ucyate.
Futile is the attempt of that seeker who withdraws his physical senses from contact with objects in the name of vairagya or austerity, but allows the mind inwardly to contemplate them in some form or the other. He will not succeed. What you think in the mind is more important than what you physically come in contact with. Yoga is a mental process, a psychological effort; it is not a physical activity of the body.
It is difficult to tread the path of yoga. Nothing can be more difficult than this arduous struggle of the soul.
The three stages of the experience in the practice of yoga are described as physical mastery, psychological mastery and spiritual mastery. The attunement of the physical, the attunement of the psychological and the attunement of the spiritual.
Excerpts from: Two Sides of Experience - The Secret of the Katha Upanishad by Sri Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
The Concept of God in Hinduism
Spiritual Message for the Day – The Concept of God in Hinduism by Sri Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 3 December 2014 17.43 EST | New York Edition** |
The Concept of God in Hinduism
Divine Life Society Publication: The Concept of God in Hinduism by Sri Swami Krishnananda
The earliest statement of the Nature of Reality occurs in the first book of the Rig-Veda: Ekam Sat-Viprah Bahudha Vadanti. “The ONE BEING, the wise diversely speak of.”
The Nasadiya Sukta states that the Supreme Being is both the Unmanifest and the Manifest, Existence as well as Non-existence, the Supreme Indeterminable.
The Purusha-Sukta proclaims that all this Universe is God as the Supreme Person – the Purusha with thousands of heads, thousands of eyes, thousands of limbs in His Cosmic Body. He envelops the whole cosmos and transcends it to infinity.
The Narayana-Sukta exclaims that whatever is anywhere, visible or invisible, all this is pervaded by Narayana within and without.
The Hiranyagarbha-Sukta of the Rig-Veda declares that God manifested Himself in the beginning as the Creator of the Universe, encompassing all things, including everything within Himself, the collective totality, as it were, of the whole of creation, animating it as the Supreme Intelligence.
The Satarudriya or Rudra-Adhyaya of the Yajur-Veda identifies all things, the high and the low, the moving and the unmoving, the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, nay, every conceivable thing, with the all-pervading Siva or Rudra as the Supreme God.
The Isavasya Upanishad says that the whole Universe is pervaded by Isvara or God, who is both within and without it. He is the moving and the unmoving, He is far and near, He is within all these and without all these.
The Kena Upanishad says that the Supreme Reality is beyond the perception of the senses and the mind because the senses and the mind can visualise and conceive only the objects, while Reality is the Supreme Subject, the very precondition of all sensation, thinking, understanding, etc. No one can behold God because He is the beholder of all things.
The Kathopanishad has it that God is the Root of this Tree of world existence. The realisation of God is regarded as the Supreme blessedness or Shreyas, as apart from Preyas or temporal experience of satisfaction.
The Prasna Upanishad says that God is the Supreme Prajapati or Creator, in whom are blended both the matter and energy of the Universe. God is symbolised in Pranava, or Omkara.
The Mundaka Upanishad gives the image of the Supreme Being as the One Ocean into which all the rivers of individual existence enter and with which they become one, as their final goal.
The Mandukya Upanishad regards the Supreme Being as the Turiya, or the Transcendent Consciousness, beyond the stales of waking, dreaming and deep sleep.
The Taittiriya Upanishad regards the Reality as the Atman, or the Self, beyond the physical, vital, mental, intellectual and causal aspects(sheaths) of the personality. It also identifies this Atman with the Supreme Absolute, or Brahman.
The Aitareya Upanishad states that the Supreme Atman has manifested itself as the objective Universe from the one side and the subjective individuals on the other side, in which process, factors which are effects of God’s creation become causes of individual’s perception, by a reversal of the process.
The Chhandogya Upanishad says that all this Universe is Brahman Manifest in all its states of manifestation. It regards objects as really aspects of the one Subject known as the Vaishvanara-Atman. It also holds that the Supreme Being is the Infinite, or Bhuma, in which one sees nothing else, hears nothing else, and understands nothing else except the Self as the only, existence.
In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad we are told that the Supreme Being is Pure Consciousness, in which subjects and objects merge together in a state of Universality.
The Supreme Being knew only Itself as ‘I-Am’, inclusive of everything. As He is the Knower of all things, no one can know Him, except as ‘He Is’.
The Svetasvatara Upanishad says, ‘Thou art without beginning and beyond all time and space’, ‘Thou art That from which all the Universes are born’. ‘That alone is Fire. That is the Sun. That is Air, That is the Moon, That is also the starry firmament, That is the waters, That is Prajapati, That is Brahman.’
That Divine Being, who, though Himself formless, gives rise to various forms in different ways with the help of His Supreme Power for His own inscrutable purpose, and Who dissolves the whole Universe in Himself in the end – may He endow us with pure understanding.
He is the Great Being who shines effulgent like the Sun, beyond all darkness. Knowing Him alone one crosses beyond death. There is no other way of going over there.
Manu says in his Smriti: In the beginning, all this existence was one Undifferentiated Mass of Unmanifestedness, unknown, indefinable, unarguable and unknown in every way. From this Supreme Condition arose the Universe of name and form, through the medium of the Self-existent Creator, Swayambhu.
The Mahabharata says that Narayana alone was in the beginning, who was the prius of the creative, preservative, and destructive principles, the Trinity known as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva – the Supreme Hari. This was the Supreme Seed of all creation, subtler than the subtlest, greater than the greatest, larger than the largest, and more magnificent than even the best of all things, more powerful, than even the wind and all the gods, more resplendent than the Sun and the Moon, and more internal than even the mind and the intellect. He is the Creator, the Father Supreme.
The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata, says: The Supreme Brahman is beyond existence and non-existence. It has hands and feet everywhere, heads, mouths, eyes everywhere, ears everywhere, and it exists enveloping everything. Undivided, it appears as divided among beings; attributeless, it appears to have attributes in association with things. It is the Light of all lights, beyond all darkness, and is situated in the hearts of all beings.
He is the sacrifice, He is the oblation, He is the performer thereof, He is the recitation or the chant, He is the sacred fire, He is what is offered into it. He is the father, the mother, the grandfather, the support, the One knowable Thing, He is the three Vedas, the Goal of all beings, the Protector, the Reality, the Witness, the Repository, the Refuge, the Friend, the beginning, the middle and the end of all things. He is immortality and death, existence as well as non-existence. He is the Visvarupa, the Cosmic Form, blazing like fire and consuming all things.
Srimad Bhagavata says: He is Brahman(the Absolute), Paramatman(God), Bhagavan(the Incarnation).
According to Saiva tradition, God is Pati, the Lord who controls the individuals known as Pasu, with His Power known as Pasa.
According to the Sakta tradition, God is the Divine Universal Mother of all things, Adi-sakti, or the original Creative Power, manifesting Herself as Kriya-Sakti or Durga, Ichha-Sakti or Lakshmi, and Jnana-Sakti or Sarasvati. But the Supreme Mother is beyond all these forms. She is One, alone, without a second.
According to the Bhakti tradition, God is the Supreme Object of Love, in respect of Whom love is evinced as in respect of one’s father, mother, friend, son, master, or one’s own beloved, in the five forms of affection, known as Shanta, Sakhya, Vatsalya, Dasya and Madhurya.
To the Vaishnavas, God is in Vaikuntha as Vishnu. To the Saivas, God is in Kailasa as Siva, or Rudra. To the Saktas, God is in Manidvipa, as the Supreme Sakti or the Divine Mother. To the Ganapatyas, God is Ganesa, or Ganapati. To the Sauras, God is Surya, the Sun. To the Kaumaras, God is Kumara, or Skanda.
To those like Kabirdas, He is the Impersonal, Attributeless One, known by various names for purposes of worship and meditation.
According to the Nyaya and Vaiseshika schools, God is the instrumental cause of creation, like a potter fashioning a pot of clay, but not the material cause of creation.
The Samkhya school holds that there are only two Primary Principles, Purusha and Prakriti, and creation is only a manifestation or evolution of the constituents of Prakriti due to the action of Purusha’s consciousness. There is no other God than these two Principles.
The Yoga school of Patanjali accepts God’s existence as a Special Purusha free from all afflictions, Karma the effects of Karmas and impressions or potencies of a binding nature. But this Purusha, known as Isvara, according to Patanjali’s Yoga System, is not the creator of the world, but a Witness thereof. Nor is He the goal of the aspirations of the Jivas or individuals.
The Yogavasishtha defines Reality as the Consciousness which is between and transcends the subjective and objective aspects in perception and cognition, etc. Consciousness is the Absolute, Brahman, the only existence, of which the world is only an appearance.
The Brahmasutra states that God is That from Whom this Universe proceeds, in Whom it subsists, and to Whom, in the end, it returns.
Bhartrihari prays to that Infinite Consciousness, which is Peaceful Effulgence, which is undifferentiated by the interference of space, time and causal relation, etc., and whose essence is Self-Experience alone.
Excerpts from: The Concept of God in Hinduism by Sri Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
Sri Gita Jayanti
Spiritual Message for the Day – Sri Gita Jayanti by Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 2 December 2014 17.12 EST | New York Edition** |
Sri Gita Jayanti
Divine Life Society Publication: Hindu Fasts and Festivals by Sri Swami Sivananda
THE HOLY Gita Jayanti, or the birthday of the Bhagavad Gita, is celebrated throughout India by all the admirers and lovers of this most sacred scripture on the eleventh day (Ekadashi) of the bright half of the month of Margaseersha (December-January), according to the Hindu almanac.
The message of the Bhagavad Gita, given by the Lord Himself on the battlefield of Kurukshetra even now illumines the path of humanity on its onward march to perfection.
The Gita is the most beautiful and the only truly philosophical song. Its teachings are based on the sacred Upanishads. It contains sublime lessons on wisdom and philosophy. It is the “Song Celestial”. It is the universal gospel. It contains the message of life that appeals to all, irrespective of race, creed, age or religion.
The Gita shows a way to rise above the world of duality and the pairs of opposites, and to acquire eternal bliss and immortality. It is a gospel of action. It teaches the rigid performance of one’s duty in society, and a life of active struggle, keeping the inner being untouched by outer surroundings, and renouncing the fruits of actions as offerings unto the Lord.
The Gita is a source of power and wisdom. It strengthens you when you are weak, and inspires you when you feel dejected and feeble. It teaches you how to resist unrighteousness and follow the path of virtue and righteousness.
The Gita is not merely a book or just a scripture. It is a living voice carrying an eternally indispensable and vital message to mankind. Its verses embody words of wisdom coming from the infinite ocean of knowledge, the Absolute Itself.
The voice of the Gita is the call of the Supreme. It is the divine sound explained. The primal source of all existence, all power, is the manifested sound—Om. This is the Divine Word. It is Nada Brahman, whose unceasing call is: “Be ye all ever merged in the eternal, unbroken, continuous consciousness of the Supreme Truth.” This is the sublime message that the Gita elaborates and presents in all comprehensiveness and in a universally acceptable form.
To be always conscious of the Divine, to ever feel the Divine Presence, to live always in the awareness of the Supreme Being in the chambers of your heart and everywhere around you, is verily to live a life of fullness and divine perfection on earth itself. Such a constant remembrance of God and such an attitude of mind will release you forever from the clutches of illusion and free you from all fear. To forget the Supreme is to fall into illusion. To forget Him is to be assailed by fear. To live in unbroken remembrance of the Supreme Truth is to remain always in the region of light, peace and bliss, far beyond the reach of illusion and delusion.
Mark carefully how the Gita stresses again and again this lofty message.
The Lord declares: “Keep thou thy mind in Me, in Me place thy reason”.
In another verse He says: “Therefore, at all times remember Me and fight. You will surely attain Me, having thus offered yourself”.
And yet again: “Perform thou action, remaining united with Me at heart”.
The Gita guides you to glory with the watchwords: “Be thou divine-minded, devoted to Me as your goal, and let your subconscious mind be divine”.
The Lord gives the following firm assurance also: “I become the saviour from this mortal world for those whose minds are set on Me”.
Such is the most illuminating message of the Gita, seeking to lead man to a life of perfection even while performing his ordained role here. Long has this message been neglected by man. Forgetting the Lord, the world has turned towards sense indulgence and mammon. A terrible price has been paid. O man, enough of this forgetfulness! The Lord has warned you against heedlessness: “If, out of egoism, thou wilt not hear, then thou shalt perish”.
Live in the spirit of the teachings of the Gita. Mere talks or lectures will not help you in any way. Put into practice the teachings of this most sacred scripture and attain eternal bliss and peace.
The Gita may be summarised in the following seven verses:
-
“Uttering the one-syllabled Om, the Brahman, and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body thus, attains the Supreme Goal”.
-
“It is meet, O Lord, that the world delights and rejoices in Thy praise; the demons fly in fear to all quarters, and all the hosts of Siddhas bow to Thee!”
-
“With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes, heads and mouths everywhere, with ears everywhere, He exists in the world, enveloping all”.
-
“Whosoever meditates on the omniscient, ancient ruler of the whole world, minuter than an atom, the supporter of all, of form inconceivable, effulgent like the sun, such a one goeth beyond the darkness of ignorance”.
-
“They, the wise, speak of the indestructible Asvattha, having its roots above and branches below, whose leaves are the metres or hymns; he who knows it is a knower of the Vedas”.
-
“And I am seated in the hearts of all; from Me are memory and knowledge, as well as their absence. I am verily that which has to be known by all the Vedas; I am indeed the author of Vedanta, and the knower of the Vedas am I”.
-
“Fix thy mind on Me; be devoted to Me; sacrifice to Me; bow down to Me; having thus united thy whole Self with Me, taking Me as the Supreme Lord, thou shalt verily come to Me”.
Read the whole of the Gita on Sundays and other holidays. Study carefully again and again the verses in the second discourse, which deal with the state of the Sthitaprajna (a perfected Yogi and sage). Also study the eight nectarine verses in the twelfth discourse.
The study of the Gita alone is sufficient for the purpose of scriptural study. You will find in it a solution to all your problems. The more you study it with devotion and faith, the deeper will your knowledge become, the more penetrative would be your insight, and the clearer your thinking. Even if you live in the spirit of one verse of the Gita, all your miseries will come to an end and you will attain the goal of life—immortality and eternal peace.
Take a resolve on Gita Jayanti that you will read at least one discourse every day. Recite the fifteenth discourse before taking your meals. This is done at the Sivananda Ashram.
Keep a pocket-sized edition of the Gita with you at all times. Mark a few verses in it which inspire you. Everyday, while you wait for your bus or train, or whenever you have a little leisure, pull out the book and read these verses. You will be ever inspired.
May you all lead the life taught by the Gita! May the Gita, the blessed Mother of the Vedas, guide and protect you! May it nourish you with the milk of the ancient wisdom of the Upanishads!
Glory to Lord Krishna, the Divine Teacher! Glory to Sri Vyasa, the poet of poets, who composed the Gita! May his blessings be upon you all!
Excerpts from: Sri Gita Jayanti - Hindu Fasts and Festivals by Sri Swami Sivananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
Knowledge and Power (Brahmana and Kshatriya)
Spiritual Message for the Day – Knowledge and Power (Brahmana and Kshatriya) by Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 1 December 2014 15.36 EST | New York Edition** |
Knowledge and Power
(Brahmana and Kshatriya)
Divine Life Society Publication: Commentary on the Katha Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
The brahmana and kshatriya represent knowledge and power, internality and externality, spirit and matter, consciousness and object. The words brahmin and kshatriya do not signify personalities, but the spirit behind them. In the Atman there is a blending of absolute knowledge and power. “Some philosophers hold that there is no power in the Atman, because power means action, and since He is universal, there can be no question of it, because to us power is always particularised, an exercise of authority. But His is shakti, the capacity; not karma or doing something. The whole universe is a standing example of His power. You know how much force is in an atom; it can blow the world. Then what should be the strength of the cosmos which is full of them? And what should be the power of the Atman who is the controller of their source?
Power is not authority, and knowledge is not omniscience—they are more than that. In the Atman, the existence of one is the existence of the other. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are represented as One, and as Trinity in the Puranas. So also knowledge, power and the transcendence of individuality—symbolised as death being the condiment—are represented in the Atman. The affirmation of individuality is death. But death is not possible in Him, because in His Being all that you conceive of is transcended. To us, existence is regarded as a qualification of something. We say: “I exist” or “you exist”, but in reality, existence is the substance, and is prior to ‘I’ or ‘you’. The predicate, to make sense, is connected to the subject. But general existence is prior to particular existence, which latter is better called formation. In the case of the Atman, existence is general and absolute. This is paramarthika-satta. In it, individuality is ruled out, and so death has no meaning there; death is dissolved in it. “Such Atman—who can know where He really is?”
Excerpts from: Knowledge and Power (Brahmana and Kshatriya) - Commentary on the Katha Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
Path of the Good and The Path of the Pleasant
Spiritual Message for the Day – Path of the Good and The Path of the Pleasant by Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 30 November 2014 13.13 EST | New York Edition** |
Path of the Good and The Path of the Pleasant
(Shreyas and Preyas)
Divine Life Society Publication: Commentary on the Katha Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
There are two things in this world, and people pursue either this or that. These two may be regarded as the path of the pleasant, and the path of the good. Most people choose the former, and not the good. The pleasant is pleasing, but passing, and ends in pain. It is different from the good. But while the good need not necessarily be pleasant, the pleasant is not good.”
Both come to a person, and we are free to choose. Lack of discrimination is the reason for choosing pleasure; confusion of mind causes a wrong choice. When you grope in darkness, you fall into the pit, but you know it only after the fall. Similarly, the sense-world is darkness, and sense-objects come to ruin you, but the misguided mind cannot understand this. “Good comes to a person who chooses the good. But he who chooses the pleasant falls short of his aim.”
“The dull-witted person chooses the pleasant: he wants to pass the day somehow. He does not know where or how the good is. The dhira or hero who is endowed with viveka, the power of discrimination, chooses the shreyas or the ultimate good.” (Kathopanishad 2)
When the pleasant and good come to us, they come together, in a mixed form, so that you cannot understand them. The best example for this is the world itself: you can use it as a passage to eternity, or for your pleasure. Yama tested Nachiketas in the same way as this world tests us. Temptations come every day, in every thing we see. We are caught in them because we are unable to distinguish between right and wrong. We do not know what will happen tomorrow. But our ignorance is so dark that we expect more pleasure, forgetting that death may come any moment. Death is the best teacher; there is not a better one: vairagya dawns by meditation on death. Who prevents us from choosing the good? It is lack of understanding, aviveka or ajnana, which hides the defective side and shows only the pleasant aspects.
At the very commencement, Yama makes a distinction between shreyas and preyas. It is not easy to do this in practical life. Most people unwittingly go for the preyas. This is illustrated by many stories. There once was a fakir who, loudly crying, carried a dog to the king. When some compassionate souls asked him for the reason of his wailing, he said: “My friend who did so much service to me is dying!” “Why?” asked the others. “Because of starvation,” replied he. “But what do you have here in your bag?” “Provisions.” “Why don’t you give them to the dog?” And he answered: “Shedding tears is cheaper.”
Though it is a humorous tale, it reveals a truth. We only shed empty tears, and call out God’s name half-heartedly. This is because very few can part with their possessions.
We think of life as a material event, and evaluate everything in terms of physical relations. We fly into tempers due to them, and pass sleepless nights due to them. And due to them we get confused as to our duty. Positively, they express themselves as attachment to sense-objects; negatively, as inertia or sleep. Who takes to spiritual life risks the danger of becoming a victim to stupour due to sense-control, putting even the mind to sleep. Sadhakas may get addicted to excessive sleep, or become gluttons, due to sense-control, thus just being sensuous in another way. While you deny satisfaction to one sense-organ, others will become powerful, like a river when its natural course is blocked may break open somewhere else, growing more powerful than if it would follow its natural course. If the senses are denied their usual satisfaction, they become uncontrollable.
Seekers who have done sadhana for years may not progress well. Often, a silent complaint is heard from within that nothing has been achieved. This is so because, while they restrain themselves physically, they indulge on the psychic level. So, the most important thing in spiritual practice is honesty to oneself, because the path is of one’s own Self, or Atman, and external aid is of little value. When we get tested by forces physical and celestial, we fail. Only a real sadhaka knows the difficulties. They may look silly, like a child’s cry for his toy, but to him the toy is of deep importance. Seekers are placed in situations that tear their minds apart. Pratyahara, sama and dama in yoga are dams constructed on a river, not allowing any leakage, and when the water level increases, it is very hard to control.
Nachiketas, purposely tempted by Yama, is an example. The Guru places disciples in such situations to train them, to burnish them. They are blessed, because they are given an opportunity to overcome the obstacle, and they are also given strength. But those who practice self-control in seclusion for years, without a proper guru, fail when the test comes as a hard reality, because tests in the spiritual path are not announced like school-examinations. You may be tested any time, on any subject, in any manner. So, one has always to be ready and vigilant. The Upanishad says that one who is not careful falls. It is very easy to fall, and it is even pleasant, but it is very difficult to rise again.
Subtle difficulties present themselves only in the subtle realms. In the physical realm, we have only physical difficulties, the sthanidharmas. Each level has a law of its own, and we cannot know the temptations and difficulties of other realms. They are only theories now. And when they come, they come not as temptations, but look like necessities. When you know that they are temptations, obstacles, you will not fall. They are temptations only so long as you do not understand them. If you know your enemy, you will be careful. So, they come with a mask, and you are deceived.
The shreyas and preyas mentioned can also be called vidya and avidya: knowledge and ignorance. Desire is ignorance because it arises on account of a misunderstanding. Why does a moth fly into the fire? It does so because of its ignorance. It does not understand the structure of fire. Similarly, people go to sense-objects because they do not know that they are harmful. It is said that fire looks beautiful and probably cool to the eyes of the moth. This is what happens to all in regard to objects of desire. They jump into the fire, thinking that it is a soft bed. Why does the mind through the senses move to objects? Because due to avidya it sees something in them, like the moth does in the fire. We see in the objects something which is not really there. The coolness is not in the fire, and yet it is seen by the moth. Children sometimes go and touch a snake, not knowing what it is.
We desire objects, not knowing what they are made of. They appear as one thing, but they are made of something else. The objects are not made in the way the eyes and senses see them. They are not solid; they are not beautiful; they cannot give pleasure. Not only this: they can bind you and hurl you into more and more misery and even cause rebirth. In fact, rebirth is due to unfulfilled desires. But everyone has to pass through every difficulty. Otherwise, they are not known, as they cannot be avoided by mere theoretical understanding. Solid objects are forces and not physical bodies. They appear as solid because our body appears to be solid, but neither of them is. All are forces whirling in space, and they appear as solid due to our sense of touch. When this sense is not functioning, you cannot know solid objects, and so too with all the five senses; they deceive you. This is avidya or ignorance: the inability to appreciate and understand the true nature of things and yet run to them.
Daily life is one dilemma, the conscience speaking of shreyas, and the lower self murmuring that pleasure is desirable in preference to duty. Why do people mostly listen to the latter voice? Because the objects connected to pleasure are visible to the senses, while the side of duty is not so visible. We believe in what we see, but find it hard to believe in the invisible. The senses are connected with objects of pleasure, but duty is something which the senses cannot understand.
Often duty seems to be painful and imposed. The reason is simple: we know pleasure will come by contact with objects, but we do not know what will happen in the other world. Limited to this world of senses, we cannot see the other realms, so we do not concern ourselves with them. And for all practical purposes, we take for granted that they do not exist at all. The ignorant, proud of empty learning, do not pay proper attention towards duty; they do not believe in the ultimate good, in God and the other worlds, but they believe in objects, even though they are perishable, even though they may bring death, humiliation, deprivation, because of their visibility, and this, because of the indivisibility of the good and the other worlds.
Both duty and desire, the good and the pleasant, have to be examined. This position is not one of acquisition, but of understanding, of discrimination. When the disciple understands the true situation, no ordinance by any of them is necessary. When we are awake, we don’t have to be told not to drown ourselves in a river. Nachiketas realised that objects are not to be acquired for enjoyment, but to be understood and studied. The world is not to be possessed. No one can possess the world, because everyone is a part of it; belongs to it in an integral way. So an individual fails when he treats it as an object of enjoyment, for the world and all its objects are an opportunity to train ourselves in understanding.
The world is one of the ways in which God peeps through space and time: “Shreyas or preyas—what do you want?” He asks. Most people are like Duryodhana and want adoration rather than the silent divinity that does not reveal itself to the senses. The more we realise the interconnectedness and harmony of being, the nearer are we to God. The more the separation between man and man, the greater the assumption of the individual, the more are we away from Him. This is what Yama implies in the conversation with Nachiketas: that the silent music of the Spirit is drowned in the clamour of the senses.
Though God is speaking to us daily, we do not hear Him because of the noise the senses set up. We see the colour and the panorama of the world they present us, but not Him. This is the meaning of ‘the other world is not visible’, which includes God also, as well as the astral, causal and the absolute.
Excerpts from: Path of the Good and The Path of the Pleasant - Commentary on the Katha Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
Hinduism and Fatalism
Spiritual Message for the Day – Hinduism and Fatalism by Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 29 November 2014 19.39 EST | New York Edition** |
Hinduism and Fatalism
Divine Life Society Publication: Spotlight on Hinduism and Religious Values by Swami Krishnananda
The charge against Hinduism that it is fatalistic is born of an ignorance of the scientific law of cause and effect, traditionally known as karma, upheld by Hinduism as one of its necessary tenets in the field of its vast compass. Very few, even among Hindus, have a correct knowledge of what true Hinduism is. This is perhaps the fate of the majority of followers of the other religions in the world, also. The interpretation of the law of karma that it inhibits progress by making people slaves to the belief in the inevitability of whatever is to happen is erroneous. The law of karma does not mean that. What it actually implies is that every cause produces an effect of equal force, similar to the force of gravitation in the field of physical nature. Inasmuch as the universe is a balance or an equilibrium of forces and it tends to maintain this balance on any account, a disturbance of this equilibrium by any individualistic action receives a kick back by the power of this equilibrium of the universe in its attempt to restore its lost status quo, and this reaction produced by the universe is really the essence of the law of karma. If it implies any sort of ‘inevitability’ as suspected, it is the kind of inevitability that is involved in the fall of an apple from a tree due to the law of gravitation. This cannot be called fatalistic with the shade of the anathema that seems to be suggested thereby. The force of karma can be overcome by purushartha or the higher creative effort which every individual is capable of and can achieve by a gradual approximation of oneself to the nature of Reality.
The charge of fatalism leveled against Hinduism is therefore unfounded. If well-meaning, highly educated people of today, too, subscribe to this erroneous notion, that would be an added credit to the depth of their knowledge and the profundity of their wisdom!
Excerpts from: Hinduism and Fatalism - Spotlight on Hinduism and Religious Values by Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
Essence of Yoga Vasishtha
Spiritual Message for the Day – Essence of Yoga Vasishtha by Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 28 November 2014 09.33 EST | New York Edition** |
Essence of Yoga Vasishtha
Divine Life Society Publication: The Yoga Vasishtha by Sri Swami Sivananda
If you attain knowledge of the Self or Brahma Jnana, you will be freed from the trammels of births and deaths. All your doubts will vanish and all Karmas will perish. It is through one’s own efforts alone that the immortal, all blissful Brahmic seat can be obtained.
The slayer of the Atman is only the mind. The form of the mind is only Sankalpas. The true nature of the mind consists in the Vasanas. The actions of the mind alone are truly termed actions (Karmas). The universe is nothing but the mind manifesting as such through the power of Brahman. The mind contemplating on the body becomes the body itself and then, enmeshed in it, is afflicted by it.
The mind manifests itself as the external world in the shape of pains or pleasures. The mind subjectively is consciousness. Objectively, it is this universe. By its enemy, discrimination, the mind is rendered to the quiescent state of Para Brahman. The real bliss is that which arises when the mind, divested of all desires through the eternal Jnana, destroys its subtle form. The Sankalpas and Vasanas which you generate, enmesh you as in a net. The self-light of Para Brahman alone is appearing as the mind or this universe.
Persons without Atmic enquiry will see as real this world, which is nothing but of the nature of Sankalpas. The expansion of this mind alone is Sankalpa. Sankalpa, through its power of differentiation, generates this universe. Extinction of Sankalpas alone is Moksha.
The enemy of the Atman is this impure mind only which is filled with excessive delusion and hosts of worldly thoughts. There is no vessel on this earth to wade through the ocean of rebirths other than mastery of the antagonistic mind.
The original sprout of the painful Ahamkara, with its tender stem of rebirths, at length ramifies itself everywhere with its long branches of “mine” and “thine” and yields its unripe fruits of death, disease, old age and sorrows. This tree can be destroyed to its root only by the fire of Jnana.
All the heterogeneous visibles, perceived through the organ of sense, are only unreal; that which is real is Para Brahman or the Supreme Soul.
If all objects which have an enchanting appearance become eyesores and present the very reverse of the former feelings, then the mind is destroyed. All your properties are useless. All wealth lands you in dangers. Freedom from desires will take you to the eternal, blissful abode.
Destroy Vasanas and Sankalpas. Kill egoism. Annihilate this mind. Equip yourself with the “Four Means”. Meditate on the pure, immortal, all-pervading Self or Atman. Get knowledge of the Self and attain immortality, everlasting peace, eternal bliss, freedom and perfection.
A Jivanmukta or a realised soul roams about happily. He has neither attractions nor attachments. He has nothing to attain nor has he anything to give up. He works for the well-being of the world. He is free from desires, egoism and greed. He is in solitude though he works in the busiest part of a city.
May you all drink the nectar of Yoga Vasishtha! May you all taste the honey of wisdom of the Self! May you all become Jivanmuktas in this very birth! May the blessings of sage Vasishtha, sage Valmiki and other Brahma-Vidya Gurus be upon you all! May you all partake of the essence of the bliss of Brahman!
Excerpts from: Essence of Yoga Vasishtha - The Yoga Vasishtha by Sri Swami Sivananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
The Awareness by God is Awareness of Himself
Spiritual Message for the Day – The Awareness by God is Awareness of Himself by Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 27 November 2014 23.35 EST | New York Edition** |
The Awareness by God is Awareness of Himself
Divine Life Society Publication: The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
Yajnavalkya says to Maitreyi, “After departure, there is no consciousness.” “I cannot understand,” Maitreyi says. When I say there is no consciousness, I mean that when the consciousness departs from this individuality of the bodily personality, there is no particularised consciousness.”
To us, all consciousness is psychological consciousness; to us, every consciousness is sensory consciousness. When we make a statement like “I am conscious”, we mean that we are conscious of something – which is psychological perception, sensory perception. Consciousness by itself does not perceive anything. It is the Self, the universal perceiver. “So why did you say that there is no consciousness after the absolution of consciousness from entanglement in this body?” The reason is: yatra hi dvaitam iva bhavati, tad itara itaram pasyati (Bri.U. 2.4.14). ‘You will see another only when there is duality’. If there is something outside consciousness, consciousness can see something; but if there is only consciousness everywhere, what will it see? What does God see, for instance? You can put a more poignant question to yourself, in a more intelligible manner: Does God see anything? What does He see? If the entire creation is pervaded by God, what does God see? He sees nothing; He sees Himself only. The awareness by God is awareness of Himself. The so-called omniscience of God, which we attribute to Him, is actually an all-knowledge of Himself. The very quality that is attributed to God is actually connected with Himself, His own existence.
Therefore when there is no duality, no consciousness outside Its Self – It is Itself all things – there is no knowledge of anything. It is pure Being-awareness.
Who will know the knower? Who will think of the thinker? Who will understand the understander? Who will be conscious of consciousness? No knowledge of anything? All-knowing and yet not knowing anything outside? Knowingly It knows not anything, not-knowing, It knows all things. It knows all things because It alone is everywhere. It does not know anything because outside It, nothing is. You understand the point. God does not know anything, because outside Him nothing is; but God knows everything because He Himself is everything. There is no gulf between the seer and the seen. Therefore the seer alone reigns supreme.
Excerpts from: Yoga of Synthesis - The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad by Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
Tap the Infinite Source of Energy
Spiritual Message for the Day – Tap the Infinite Source of Energy by Sri Swami Chidananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 26 November 2014 22.14 EST | New York Edition** |
Tap the Infinite Source of Energy
Divine Life Society Publication: ** **Seek the Beyond** **by Sri Swami Chidananda
Human birth, higher aspirations and the inspiration to contact great ones and to imbibe their stirring spiritual messages—all these constitute your wealth. All these constitute your good fortune. All these constitute your special unique blessings when compared to those who do not have these things.
Having been born as human beings, countless millions of people lead a life where their human potential is never fully recognised, never fully tapped and utilised. It is frittered and wasted away in miscellaneous petty pursuits and occupations. Thus, even though rich, they are poor. Even though most fortunate, they are the most unfortunate of beings. For they fail to recognise their good fortune and fail to put this great good fortune to proper use, wisely.
However, recognising our good fortune, let us try to see what we can do upon the constructive, positive side in order to build up a source of energy that will constitute an asset to ourselves and a fort out of which we can trap the living waters of a dynamic, progressive life, and what we can do in order to build up such a reserve of energy. It will not be possible to dwell upon all the things that we can do, but even dwelling upon a few of them will be, as it were, a finger pointing in the direction to follow.
A great deal of good will accrue to that human individual who makes up one’s mind that henceforward I will always look upon the brighter side of things and never for a moment continue the habit of looking on the darker side of things. In short, be optimistic. Never say, I cannot do it. Never say, this is not possible. Never say, this is never meant to happen to a wretched person like me.
Who are you to say what is meant to happen to you, what is not meant to happen to you, when there is some higher Power that looks after and governs the life of all beings? Who are you to jump to conclusions as though you have made a window into His omniscience? You are trying to take a higher position: “He knows everything. I know what He knows.”
This is a sort of mentality by which we become our own enemy. Instead of that, why not be positive? Why not say, “Everything is happening for my evolution. I am sure that only good can come out of it. Why? Because I know that the Supreme Being is all-goodness. How do I know? All the saints have said so. All the wise people have said it. All the scriptures of the world say that. He is all-auspicious, all-blessed, the Supreme One, the great and glorious One. There is nothing negative in Him.”
In that way, hundreds and thousands of saints that have come and blessed the earth by their life and teachings through millennia have sung His praises, sung His glories. These great ones have lauded the Supreme Being in unmistakable terms, and this not merely through sentiment or emotion. They have lauded the Supreme Being out of their own personal experience of that Being. Therefore, we can be absolutely sure that that Being is the most blessed one, all-auspicious, all-good. “Therefore, I would be perfectly right and safe if I base my life upon that assumption and proceed with living my life on that assumption.”
The wise person gets rid of the past. They do not allow the past to be iron shackles and chains connected to a great ball of iron: “So what hope is there for me to move forward even one inch? I am cursed to be where I am and to languish and die.” This is the view of the self-defeating, negative-thinking pessimist, who sees only problems everywhere, not knowing that the problem is here. We have transformed ourselves into one great big problem, the problem of the self.
Therefore, shatter this self-created dungeon of darkness and soar high into the brilliant, bright light of the sun of optimism. Hope is one of the things prized by the Christian faith—faith, hope and love. Hope springs from faith also. And you will be abundantly benefited by this alchemy of transferring your base from pessimism to optimism, transforming yourself from a negative-thinking, despairing pessimist to a positive-thinking, hopeful optimist, by which you throw the doors wide open for your ascent, success, progress and highest attainment.
Pranayama also gives abundant energy. Deep breathing and pranayama give abundant energy to the physical system. Go out into the sun and let the breeze play upon your face. Every day, without fail, breathe deeply and let the sun and breeze play upon you. You can thus draw great energy and benefit yourself physically and mentally. When you go out into the bright sun, into the open, your mood no longer can be negative. Your mood changes. The mind becomes converted from a narrow limited state into an unlimited, vast, expanded state when you go out into the expanded open with nothing to obstruct your view in all four directions. Lift up and look up into the lofty imperium. You will be abundantly rewarded.
Likewise, with unfailing regularity, practise pranayama every day. Pranayama fills the body cells and nerve currents with abundant energy by drawing from the endless, immeasurable, infinite, infallible cosmic prana surrounding you. There is boundless cosmic energy all around us.
We are living in a field of great cosmic energy for it is all the manifestation of Mother Sakti. Prakriti or nature is a manifestation of sakti, so everywhere there is a plentiful, perennial, inexhaustible supply of sakti in which we live, move and have our being. Recognising this, through pranayama, create positive suggestions and feel that from the top of your head to the tip of your toenails every cell is being renewed, rejuvenated, transformed, energised and vitalised.
In this way, day by day you will be a new being filled with that radiant life force, the sakti that is not of the created phenomenon, but the uncreated noumenon. Sakti is uncreated, eternal, inexhaustible. It can renew you physically, mentally, psychically, nervously. In every way it can rejuvenate you—lungs, heart, circulation, respiration, the whole of the metabolism. We are rolling in an abundant, inexhaustible wealth that you do not have to lift your little finger to touch. It is so close—an inexhaustible wealth of energy, of light, of life.
Therefore, let us not be rich and be beggars. Let us not be most blessed and fortunate and imagine misfortune. We are heirs to all this abundance, all this great storehouse and treasure of abundance and energy. We are heirs; we have a claim; it is our birthright. This is a fact. This is the reality of your situation at this moment. Realise this and become blessed. May the Supreme Being and Holy Master enable us to do it and never stop doing it. So help me God. Be it so!
Excerpts from: Tap the Infinite Source of Energy - Seek the Beyond by Sri Swami Chidananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \\ Email to BT Digest Editor( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit: The Divine Life Society E-Bookstore
If you would like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
SEND FEED BACK ON THIS ARTICLE \** **Email to BT Digest Editor** **( dlsusa.org@gmail.com)