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The Sadguru
| **Baba Times Digest© | 1 July 2014 13:49 EST | New York Edition** |
The Sadguru
Divine Life Society Publication: Guru by Sri Swami Sivananda
(from the book Bliss Divine)
The Guru is God Himself manifesting in a personal form to guide the aspirant. Grace of God takes the form of the Guru. To see the Guru is to see God. The Guru is united with God. He inspires devotion in others. His presence purifies all.
The Guru is verily a link between the individual and the immortal. He is a being who has raised himself from this into That, and thus has free and unhampered access into both the realms. He stands, as it were, upon the threshold of immortality; and, bending down he raises the struggling individuals with his one hand, and with the other lifts them up into the empyrean of everlasting joy and infinite Truth-Consciousness.
THE SADGURU
To be a Guru, one must have a command from God.
Mere study of books cannot make one a Guru. One who has studied the Vedas, and who has direct knowledge of the Atman (Self) through Anubhava (experience), can alone be enrolled as a Guru. A Jivanmukta or liberated sage is the real Guru or spiritual preceptor. He is the Sadguru. He is identical with Brahman or the Supreme Self. He is a Knower of Brahman.
A Sadguru is endowed with countless Siddhis (psychic powers). He possesses all divine Aisvarya (powers), all the wealth of the Lord.
Possession of Siddhis, however, is not the test to declare the greatness of a sage or to prove that he has attained Self-realisation. Sadgurus generally do not exhibit any miracle or Siddhi. Sometimes, however, they may do so in order to convince the aspirants of the existence of superphysical things, give them encouragement, and instill faith in their hearts.
The Sadguru is Brahman Himself. He is an ocean of bliss, knowledge, and mercy. He is the captain of your soul. He is the fountain of joy. He removes all your troubles, sorrows, and obstacles. He shows you the right divine path.
He removes your veil of ignorance. He makes you immortal and divine. He transmutes your lower, diabolical nature. He gives you the rope of knowledge, and takes you up when you are drowning in this ocean of Samsara (cycle of birth and death). Do not consider him to be only a man. If you take him as a man, you are a beast. Worship your Guru and bow to him with reverence.
Guru is God. A word from him is a word from God. He need not-teach anything. Even his presence or company is elevating, inspiring, and stirring, His very company is self-illumination. Living in his company is spiritual education. Read the Granth-saheb (the holy scripture of the Sikh religion). You will come to know the greatness of the Guru.
Man can learn only from man, and hence God teaches through a human body. In your Guru, you have your human ideal of perfection. He is the pattern into which you wish to mould yourself. Your mind will readily be convinced that such a great soul, is fit to be worshipped and revered.
Guru is the Moksha-dvara (door to liberation). He is the gateway to the transcendental Truth-Consciousness. But, it is the aspirant who has to enter through it. The, Guru is a help, but the actual task of practical Sadhana (spiritual practice) falls on the aspirant himself.
GRACE AND SELF-EFFORT
Realisation cannot come to you as a miracle done by your Guru. Lord Buddha, Lord Jesus, Rama Tirtha have all done Sadhana. Lord Krishna asks Arjuna to develop Vairagya (dispassion) and Abhyasa (practice). He did not say to him, “I will give you Mukti(liberation) now”. Therefore, abandon the wrong notion that your Guru will give you Samadhi and Mukti. Strive, purify, meditate, and realise.
Guru-kripa-grace of a Guru-is very necessary. That does not mean that the disciple should sit idle. He must do rigid Purushartha, spiritual practices. The whole work must be done by the student. Nowadays, people want a drop of water from the Kamandalu (water-pot) of a Sannyasin and desire to enter into Samadhi immediately. They are not prepared to undergo any Sadhana for purification and Self-realisation. They want a magic pill to push them into Samadhi. If you have got such delusion, give it up immediately.
The Guru and the Shastras can show you the path and remove your doubts. Anubhava (direct experience) of the Aparoksha kind or direct intuitive knowledge is left for your own experience. A hungry man will have to eat for himself. He who has a severe itching will have to scratch for himself.
No doubt, the Guru’s blessing can do everything. But how can one have his blessings? By pleasing the Guru. A Guru can be pleased with his disciple only if the latter carries out his spiritual instructions implicitly. Carefully follow, therefore the instructions of the Guru. Act up to his instructions. Then only will you deserve his blessings, and then alone his blessings can do everything.
Excerpts from:
The Sadguru - Guru 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
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Brahman – The Self
| **Baba Times Digest© | 30 June 2014 22:00 EST | New York Edition** |
Brahman – The Self
Divine Life Society Publication: Mantras 4-8: Kenopanishad – Essays on the Upanishads by Swami Krishnananda
Brahman should be known to be other than what can be expressed by speech, thought of by the mind, seen by the eyes, heard by the ears, or revealed by life’s functions. The nature of Truth can be known through denials alone.
We cannot call Brahman sat, because it is the opposite of asat. It cannot be called asat, because it is the opposite of sat. It cannot be called sadasat, i.e., a combination of sat and asat, because this becomes self-contradictory. It cannot be said to be beyond sat and asat, because this is unintelligible. Thus we are cornered in every way, and all definitions of Brahman become impossible. The only way of ascertaining it is, therefore, to deny everything that we know through the senses or through the mind.
Brahman is sometimes called in the Upanishads asat or non-existence, because the seers of the Upanishads wanted to make it clear that Brahman is nothing that exists according to our conceptions of existence. Brahman is also called many times asamprajnata or the unconscious or the unknown, because it is nothing that is known to us, and it is not knowledge as we understand knowledge to be. It is therefore called super-being or transcendental being, super-consciousness or transcendental consciousness. It is called sat or Being because the world is asat or non-being or perishable. It is called chit or consciousness because the world is achit, jada or unconsciousness. It is called ananda because the world is Duhkha or sorrow. It is called great because everything else is small. Thus, every characteristic which we attribute to the Divine Being is the opposite of what we experience here. But we cannot know exactly what the Divine Being is as it is in itself.
Our knowledge of the perfected condition is the result of a logical deduction from our imperfect experiences. Its experience is admitted because nothing can be accounted for without such an admission. It is the one factor that gives meaning to life and explains our thoughts and behaviours, speeches and actions. Brahman, therefore, should not be mistaken to be anything that is experienced by any individual in any of its conditions.
The experience of Brahman means the destruction of individuality. The expressions of individuality are always partitioned into the knower and the known.
The upasana (devoted worship) of a personal Divinity, no doubt, integrates the mental consciousness, collects its rays, makes it one whole being, raises the individual above the pains of the world. But it is not the same as brahma-sakshatkara (realisation of Brahman), because, in upasana, duality is not destroyed. Every object of upasana is based on purusha-tantra; the nature of the object of upasana depends upon the desire of the upasaka. The objects of upasana, therefore, differ from one person to another; but Brahman cannot differ like that. Brahman is vastu-_tantra_. Its knowledge is unshaken and dependent on nothing. It is the grand, immobile Self-existence. Upasanas are, therefore, helps, means, to the knowledge of Brahman. But the object of upasana is not Brahman.
The nature of the object of upasana is not characterised by pure consciousness, but it is defined by the devout thought of the upasaka. Truth, as it is in itself, is, chinmatra-svarupa (of the nature of pure consciousness alone), not defined by thought. The word Brahman is derived from the root brimh, which means to swell, to grow great, to pervade all space, to be complete and perfect. All qualities that we attribute to Brahman are the effects of our devotion. Even the best qualities super-imposed on Brahman are what we consider as the best. The realisation of the Absolute means the renunciation of all our ideas, good or bad, great or low. It is to rest simple and silent, calm and undisturbed, in the state of wanting nothing. It is to be nothing at all, in the strictest sense. Supreme attainment is the result of supreme renunciation. When we, as persons, become non-existent, we are said to exist as Supreme Existence.
Conceptions, perceptions and forms of experience given rise to by personal interests cannot have ultimate value. Perfect and disinterested existence means the renunciation of all particularised forms of experience. It is not possible to bring down the Self to the level of what it is not and what is less than it. Knowledge, desire and action connected with the human being are guided by the Self and therefore they cannot guide the Self; they are dependent. Whatever is expressed is mortal, and whatever is not the Self is expressed.
Excerpts from:
Brahman -The Self - Mantras 4-8: Kenopanishad – Essays on the Upanishads 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
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Thought and Action is Vitally Connected
Spiritual Message for the Day – Thought and Action is Vitally Connected by Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 29 June 2014 16:56 EST | New York Edition** |
Thought and Action is Vitally Connected
Divine Life Society Publication: Chapter 22 – True Spiritual Living by Swami Krishnananda
The system of yoga lays down a kind of discipline that compels us to take a total view of things – not only of ourselves as individuals or personalities, but also of things outside with which we are apparently connected.
It is the rise of the ‘whole’ towards a larger ‘whole’. Purnamadah purnamidam, says the Upanishad. Everywhere there is a sense of fullness. Even an atom is a completeness by itself; it is not a part of anything. We may say the atom is a part of a molecule, but that is only a way of expression. The atom, by itself, is complete, self-sufficient – like a solar system. Everything, even a cell in the body, is self-complete, though many cells make up a larger body. Every stage in yoga is a complete step, a full-fledged activity of the mind in that particular stage or level.
So, the first and foremost of precautions that we have to take here is that our understanding and emotion do not move in different directions. Sometimes they even move in opposite directions, which should not be the case. While the intellect may be denying something vehemently on a scientific basis, the emotion may be affirming the very same thing, contradicting what the intellect is asserting, and so on. Many of the students of yoga are sufficiently prepared intellectually but are not prepared emotionally and, therefore, there is not much success. The emotions are driven towards things which the intellect vehemently denies in its own way, and there is no use when the intellect works in one manner and the emotion works in another manner.
How are we to discover or find out if our understanding and feeling go together? This is a great and difficult task before us, because many of us are incapable of making a subtle analysis of our nature. If a person is half-sleepy and unintelligent, incapable of judging things properly, what good will it do to the army if he is made a general or a commander-in-chief? The battle inwardly fought is more serious than all the battles that history might have seen in the world.
In the Mahabharata, towards the end, there is an incident where the Pandava king Yudhishthira, having won victory in the Mahabharata war and having been crowned emperor with all glory, pomp and éclat, starts crying and weeping. Why was he crying? He was responsible for the whole war – in one sense, at least – and through the thick of the battle he had moved through his brothers with his army, and won the war with great difficulty. Everyone regarded it as a righteous war. Now he had been crowned king, the whole country was so joyous and jubilant over this happy event, and this man was crying! What had happened to him? Sri Krishna was sitting near him. He asked, “What are you crying for?” “Oh! What is the good of all these things that I have now! I have killed all my brethren, and I have a blood-stained kingdom. All my kith and kin, my dear ones, have gone. My grandfather, my Guru, are no more. What for is this kingdom? Why have I come here? And why am I here as a king?” He was weeping. Then, Sri Krishna turned to Yudhishthira and said, “My dear friend, I am very sorry for your state of mind. You are under the impression that you have fought a battle, engaged yourself in a very vehement war and killed many people; but do you know that you have not fought any battle or won any victory? The battle is still to be fought and the victory is still to be won – because now a battle is going on in your own mind, and that is indeed a more serious battle compared to the outer battle that you apparently fought, for which you are crying. Neither have you destroyed enemies, nor have you won victory. Your enemies are still inside you, and victory has not yet been won; that is why you are weeping. Your enemies are working inside.”
The yogi takes, therefore, a very serious notion of everything. There is nothing simple, unimportant or insignificant which the yogi can take as a sort of diversion or a hobby. Even if it is an act of sweeping the floor, it is important for him, because every thought and every action is vitally connected with what we are.
There are many secrets which are not open to our minds. Yesterday while reading a book I came across a very interesting passage, from Rousseau, the great thinker: “Why are you searching for the cause of evil? You are he.” And the sentence goes on: “You are responsible not only for the evil that you have done and are doing, but also for the evil that you are suffering from.” This is something horrible. We are also responsible for the evils we are suffering from, not merely for what we are doing. Yes. He opened up a psychological Pandora’s box when he made this statement, because we are very cozy under our blankets of comfortable thinking, due to which we think that the sufferings that we are undergoing are not our own making, that they are thrust upon us by others. Experience is the essence of this law which works in the universe, and no experience will come to us, impinge upon us or become our own unless we have a part to play in that drama of experience.
This is the reason why the yogi takes everything very seriously and never complains of circumstances, conditions, persons, things, etc., outside him, because for him there is no such thing as ‘outside’. He is in a very tremendous expanded atmosphere where everything seems to be connected with him, and with this attitude it is that he takes to a persistent practice of the higher stages of yoga.
In the working of the physiological system in our body, we cannot say which works first and which works afterwards. The respiratory system, the circulatory system, the heart, the head are all working simultaneously, though they are apparently different from one another. We cannot say the head thinks first and the heart is afterwards; everything is always. Similarly, the stages of yoga are stages only for the purpose of logical distinction, and they are not a chronological order that is laid before us. With this grounding, the yogi takes up the task of what he has to do next.
Excerpts from:
Thought and Action is Vitally Connected - Chapter 22 – True Spiritual Living 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
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Parable of The Well-Cooked Feast
Spiritual (Story) Message for the Day – Parable of The Well-Cooked Feast by Sri Swami Sivananada
| **Baba Times Digest© | 28 June 2014 21:39 EST | New York Edition** |
Parable of The Well-Cooked Feast
Divine Life Society Publication: Parables of Sivananda by Sri Swami Sivananda
Once upon a time there lived a Brahmanishtha Guru with a certain disciple of his. They were both living in one and the same Kutir. The disciple duly studied and mastered the various scriptures. He also served the Guru day and night.
His proximity with the Guru made him think that he was the only beloved disciple of the Guru. This further led him to believe that the other disciples, who were wandering hither and thither all through the year and occasionally visited the Guru, were not truly devoted to the Guru. All that only strengthened his ego.
One wintry night, the disciple returned to the Kutir after finishing some outdoor work. He heard the voice of another disciple, an occasional visitor, inside the Kutir. He knocked at the door. The Guru asked, “Who is that?” The disciple replied, as usual, “It is I, please open the door.”
The Guru replied, “I am enjoying a well-cooked feast. There is no room for a second one in my feast.”
The disciple misunderstood the Guru. He thought he was belittled and insulted before an occasional visiting Gurubhai, almost a stranger for all practical purposes. So, being annoyed and offended, he left the place immediately and went about wandering aimlessly.
As days rolled by, his heart, mind and ego got thoroughly burnt by the fire of separation from the Guru. His heart and mind, his very being as well, were cooked well by the fire of Viraha (separation). He forgot himself and went almost mad with Guru-Bhakti.
One day, all on a sudden, he rushed towards the Guru’s Kutir and kept on knocking at the door aloud: “Gurudev, Gurudev” in a rich love-laden tone. That very sound drowned even the Guru’s usual and formal question, “Who is that?” His mind was filled with the presence of his Gurudev alone. He was blind to everything, nay, neither he nor the universe existed for him; only the Guru existed.
The Guru knew well the voice of his disciple. He could no longer wait. He, too, rushed out and affectionately embraced the disciple, saying “I am now enjoying a well-cooked feast. There is no room for a second one in my feast.”
God is omnipresent and non-dual. There is no room for a second one to exist by Him. There is no room for that little self of man in this vast universe.
As long as the little ego persists, you, too, should be wandering in the dark, undergoing all hardships like the proud disciple. In that state your being religious, your visiting temples and places of worship, your observing austerities - all those things cannot make you the beloved of God.
You should have Ananya-Bhakti, love of God for God’s sake. Mere service of God with the thought “I am serving God” cannot become Ananya-Bhakti.
When your ego is consumed by the fire of Viraha, when your heart and mind are well cooked in that fire, nay, when your love for God is well cooked over the fire of separation, and becomes delicious and palatable to Him, when, in that state, neither you nor this universe exist to you, but only He exists filling your heart and mind, then and then alone, will you become the beloved of God. He will then rush towards you and embrace you like the Guru embracing the disciple.
Then both of you will enjoy a well-cooked feast at which there will be no room for a second one.
Kill the little self and say: “O Lord! All this is Thy Own Self”
Excerpts from:
Parable of The Well-Cooked Feast - Parables of Sivananda 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
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Secret of Surrender
| **Baba Times Digest© | 27 June 2014 15:50 EST | New York Edition** |
Secret of Surrender
Divine Life Society Publication: How to Develop Bhakti by Sri Swami Sivananda
Sakrudeva prapannaya tavasmeeti cha yachate;
Abhayam sarvabhutebhyo dadamyetad vratam mama.
“I remove all fears of all beings even if they come to Me only once and seek My refuge; calling themselves as Mine-This is My vow.” -Sri Ramachandra’s vow.
Throughout the Gita there is a ringing note that surrender and devotion are absolutely necessary for the attainment of God-consciousness. In reality, the nine modes of devotion (Navavidha Bhakti) are reducible to one, viz., Atmanivedan. The following Gita Slokas will impress on your mind the importance of devotion and self-surrender:
Tameva saranam gachha sarvabhavena bharata;
Tatprasadat param santim sthanam prapsyasi sasvatam.
“Flee unto Him for shelter with all thy being, O Bharata; by His Grace thou shalt obtain supreme peace, the everlasting dwelling-place. “ (18.62)
Manmana bhava madbhakto madyajee mam namaskuru;
Mamevaisyasi satyam te pratijane priyosi me.
“Merge thy mind in Me, be My devotee, sacrifice to Me, prostrate thyself before Me, thou shalt come even to Me. “ (18.65)
Sarvadharman parityajya mamekam saranam vraja;
Aham tva sarvapapebhyo mokshayishyami ma suchah.
“Abandoning all duties come unto Me alone for shelter; sorrow not, I liberate thee from all sins.” (18.66)
Slokas 65 and 66 of Chapter XVIII are the most important Slokas of the Gita. The gist of the teaching of Lord Krishna is here. If anyone can live in the true spirit of these Slokas, he will realise the goal of life soon. There is no doubt of this.
The self-surrender must be total, ungrudging and unreserved. You must not keep certain desires for gratification. Mira says: “I have given my whole heart, mind, intellect, soul, my all to my Giridhar Gopal.” This is perfect self-surrender.
A real devotee will not ask the Lord even for Mukti. So long as the subtle desire for liberation lingers in one’s heart he cannot claim himself to be a true devotee of the Lord. Though the desire for emancipation is of Sattvic nature, yet the devotee has become a slave of Mukti. He is still selfish and so is unfit to call himself a sincere lover of God. He has not yet made total, unreserved self-surrender. To ask for Mukti is a variety of hypocrisy. Can a true devotee dare ask anything from God, when he fully knows that He is an ocean of love and compassion?
A real devotee never complains anything against God. A raw Bhakta speaks ill of God when he is in distress. He says, “I have done 25 lakhs of Japa. I am studying Bhagavata daily. Yet God is not pleased with me. He has not removed my sufferings. God is blind. He has not heard my prayers. What sort of God is Lord Krishna? I have no faith in Him.”
A real Bhakta rejoices in suffering, pain and destitution. He welcomes grief and sorrow always, so that he may not forget God even for a second. He has the firm belief that God does everything for his good only. Kunti Devi prayed to Krishna: “O Lord! Give me pain always. Then only I will remember Thee always. “
In Puri a saint who completely dedicated himself to Lord Hari was seriously ailing from chronic dysentery. He became quite helpless. Lord Jagannath was serving him for months in the form of a servant. The law of Prarabdha is inexorable. Nobody can escape from the operation of this infallible law. But He becomes a slave of His devotees when they entirely depend upon Him.
Self-surrender does not mean retirement into the forests. It does not mean giving up of all activities. Tamas or inertia is mistaken for self-surrender. This is a sad mistake. What is wanted is internal surrender. The ego and desire must be annihilated. This will constitute real surrender. The Rajasic mind stands obstinate to effect complete self-surrender. Obstinacy is a great obstacle in surrender. The lower nature again and again raises up to assert itself. There is resurrection of desires. Desires get suppressed for some time. Again they manifest with redoubled force. Man is dragged hither and thither by these desires. Believe in the divine possibilities. Completely dedicate yourself to the Lord. Have full trust in Him. Rest in peace. All cares, worries, anxieties, tribulations and egoistic efforts will terminate now.
Look at Prahlada’s surrender and faith in God! He completely resigned himself to Lord Hari. No other thought, save thoughts of God occupied his mind. He had His full Grace and benediction even though he was ill-treated by his father in a variety of ways. Yet his faith in Narayana was not shaken a bit. The Name of Narayana was always on his lips. Such must be the faith of every devotee.
The lower nature must be thoroughly overhauled. All old, wrong habits must be completely destroyed. Then the surrender becomes complete. Do not make plans and speculations. “Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.” Keep the mind and the intellect passive. Allow the Divine Will and Grace to work through your mind and Indriyas. Become silent. Feel His Grace and Love and enjoy the Divine Ecstasy. Be at ease.
Pray to God fervently, “O Lord! Make my will strong to resist all temptations, to control my Indriyas and lower nature, to change my old evil habits and to make my surrender complete and real. Enthrone Thyself in my heart. Do not leave this place even for a second. Use my body, mind and organs as instruments. Make me fit to dwell in Thee for ever. “
Give up all ideas of duty and responsibility. Allow the Divine Will to work unhampered now. This is the secret of surrender. You will feel yourself a changed being. This exalted state is ineffable. A great transformation will come upon you. You will be enveloped by a halo of divine effulgence. You will be drowned in indescribable bliss, peace and joy. Your old little self is dead now. You are now a changed spiritual being. Your individual will is merged in the Cosmic Will. You are now illumined by the Divine Light. All ignorance has melted now. Enjoy the immortal, divine life wherein there is neither despair nor fear, neither hunger nor thirst, neither doubt nor delusion. Shine in Divine Splendour and Glory, O my beloved Visvanath! Radiate peace and joy all around.
Excerpts from:
Secret of Surrender - How to Develop Bhakti 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
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The One Appearing as Many
Spiritual Message for the Day – The One Appearing as Many by Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 26 June 2014 17:00 EST | New York Edition** |
The One Appearing as Many
Divine Life Society Publication: The Great Drama of Creation by Swami Krishnananda
(Spoken on June 22, 1997)
Visitor: Swamiji, last time you told us about Lord Siva showing the Vishwarupa wherein a number of Krishnas were coming out of him, and in the same Mahabharata Krishna showed the Vishwarupa with a number of Rudras coming out of him.
Swamiji: It is only one being appearing as two things. There is no Siva and there is no Krishna; there is only one being appearing as this and that. He can put on any dress and manifest himself. There are no two Gods. There is only one, and you can call Him by any name. It is the Supreme Being. On this side it is Siva, on that side it is Krishna, and on another side it is also Devi. In the Devi Mahatmya, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, Indra, everybody started coming out from her body, so He can manifest from anything.
Visitor: But there have been times when these gods have been confronting each other.
Swamiji: They do not confront each other. You do not understand them properly.
So much heat the sun is creating, and so many floods he will create afterwards. Now, why is he doing two contradictory things? There is such a burning heat, and then there is such a flood that everything is destroyed. They are not conflicting; they are two interconnected things.
The whole complex of space, time and causation as God has created is operating systematically, like an organism of the body. So where is the vainglorious importance of a human individual? The universe is operating, not me, not anybody else. If this consciousness can be maintained by us, the world shall be our friend. If the body is not a friend of the finger, it will not lift. I do not say my body is lifting the finger but “ I am lifting the finger”.
This cooperation between the physical organism and its parts is to be seen everywhere in the universe. The world operation is a mystery and the basic controller of even our breath. Can anybody answer the question of why the heart is not sleeping when we are sleeping? There is a cosmic force which keeps the individual intact for a purpose which is beyond the understanding of human nature.
This is high psychology, cosmology, and creational philosophy, which is simply stunning if you think over it. You will hold your breath in admiration. You are an official in the government of the universe which orders the local governments to operate in a particular way. All operations in the world are internally connected.
These little things that I am saying are like a healing balm to the troubled mind of a person. It will calm your heart, and make your mind peaceful. You will be confident that after all, things are not so bad as they appear. There is some benefactory influence operating in the universe. There are friends in the universe. It is not true that all are enemies only. The sun and the moon and the stars and the breath and the Ganga and the Himalayas, they are our friends.
There were great saints who could speak to the trees and to the leaves. There was a saint in Italy, called Saint Francis of Assisi. Birds, wolves and jackals would gather at his feet when he gave a sermon. He was speaking to Jesus Christ, he was speaking to God, but all these came from the forest.
Sri Krishna blew the flute. That flute drew all the cattle and all the people. Men, women, children ran, because it was the flute of the cosmos – God calling. When God calls, everybody runs like rivers running to the ocean.
Visitor: We do not find in our actual life all these gods, flute, and…
Swamiji: How will you see it when you are not opening your eyes?
Visitor: My eyes are wide open.
Swamiji: You are opening the physical eyes, but the inner eye is not opening. Your intellectual eye, emotional eye, spiritual eye should open. You are not seeing yourself with your eyes.
Visitor: I may not be of that level, but…
Swamiji: Now that you are able to understand what I am saying, it shows that you are also in that level. You are intelligent enough to understand what it means. The only thing is, you are unable to coordinate your daily life with the universal life. You are creating segments, a separation between the secular and the spiritual. There is no such thing. There is no secular, and there is no spiritual. They are one organic whole. Life is one. You cannot separate them. It requires a little bit of meditation, deep thinking.
There is a need for every person to be alone to oneself for a few minutes every day. You cannot be so busy that you forget your own self. When you get up in the morning, you should think, “Who am I? From where I have come? What kind of person am I? Before I became a very important official, what was I? When I retire, what am I going to be? Who took care of me when I was a little child in the cradle? Now who is going to take care of me when I am old and unable to walk? How in the middle I have become very important?”
These forces which are playing a great drama of this creation are utilising us for their purposes. We are the ambassadors of God. We have been sent here for a purpose. The purpose is not to violate the law of the universe and assert an independence on our own. The ambassador is beholden to the government which sends him, and if the government calls him, he has to go back. Though he is stationed in one country, he belongs to another country altogether.
So we are on the Earth, but we belong to high heaven, which is another realm from which we have come. There are levels of existence: earthly, astral, celestial, cosmical, causal, the Absolute. There are many levels of being, just as there are molecules, atoms, electrons, magnetic forces, and then powers which are commensurate with all things. If you go on diving deep into the material objects in the world, you will find basically they are one. Though millions of bubbles may be there in the ocean, at the root they are one ocean. So all these individualities of ours – animate, inanimate, whatever – are like bubbles in the sea of cosmic existence, which is ruled by a Supreme Intelligence.
You are intelligent, I am intelligent; we have intelligence in us. This intelligence is a drop of cosmic intelligence. Just as a drop of water is a part of the ocean, our intelligence, our intellectuality, our rationality, whatever it is, is a drop in the sea of the universal intelligence. We are called jivas, individuals, because of the droplet of intelligence that we have got; and the universal intelligence is God.
Without the organic cooperative activity of the body, no limb can operate, and whatever we are today is due to a blessing we have received due to the good karma that we did in the past. If we are enjoying life today with status, with finance, with power, with good health, and everything is okay, it is because we have done some good deeds in the past. We cannot deserve comfort which we have not given to other people. There is no such thing as free service. All of you are great people today because you have done great deeds in the previous birth, though you may not remember what deeds you have done. Now, if you want to become still greater in the next birth, in this birth you must do good deeds because you are exhausting all your virtuous deeds of the previous birth by enjoying them this birth. What about the next birth? Whatever you have done now will come there. So you should not imagine from your individual point of view that everything is okay in one second.
The whole universe is the kingdom of heaven, and we are living inside it. The joys of life, the happiness we feel in our own heart is the pura punya phala, the result of good actions that we have performed. We have done great charities, great good deeds, and great services in the previous life. Therefore, now we are like a king. And if we want to become a greater king in our next birth, we must do some more work now in this birth.
What can be a greater service than prayer to the Almighty God? Be grateful. We have to show our gratitude to the Creator of the universe, and He will show us His willingness to serve us. It is difficult to get a thing in the world; it takes time. But to contact God it takes one second because eternity does not require time to come here. That is the blessing.
Excerpts from:
The One Appearing as Many - The Great Drama of Creation by Swami Krishnananda
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Understanding The Mahavakyas
Understanding The Mahavakyas by Sri K.R.S.Raman, Chennai India
| **Baba Times Digest© | 26 June 2014 16:23 EST | New York Edition** |
Who is a brahmin?
Brahmin is one who believes in the Vedas and follows its tenets.
What do the Vedas reveal?
Vedas reveal the attributes of brahman and how to attain it.
W** hat is brahman(m)?**
Pragnanam Brahma! The highest form of knowledge is brahmam.
When I want to know of brahmam, you are introducing another concept Knowledge?
Well, the easiest way to identify brahman is “Aham Brahmasmi”. I am brahman!
But you are my Guru and you have a name which is not brahmam.
It is not that I am alone brahmam.
“Tat Tvam Asi”. You are also that brahmam!!.
Now is it clear?
How can it be clear?
When I ask about brahmam, you have simplified it by saying that you are brahmam and so am I.
Oh! what I actually meant is that the ATMAN in each one of us is the brahmam
“Ayam Atma Brahman”!!
(Contributed by Shri. K.R.S.Raman)
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The Importance of Understanding
Spiritual Message for the Day – The Importance of Understanding by Swami Atmaswarupananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 25 June 2014 22:22 EST | New York Edition** |
The Importance of Understanding
Divine Life Society Publication: Early Morning Meditation Talks by Swami Atmaswarupananda
When Gurudev formed his forest university, he called it the Yoga-Vedanta Forest University. He wanted both Yoga and Vedanta to be taught—Vedanta primarily being the philosophy, Yoga primarily being the practice. However, in his teachings, Gurudev concentrated primarily on practice or doing. Indeed, he didn’t have too much patience with those who spent too much time on philosophy; sometimes he referred to them as dry-Vedantins.
So too with us. The important thing is to practice, not spend too much time on philosophy. And yet Gurudev did call it Yoga-Vedanta, because there is also an importance in developing our understanding, even if it seems somewhat esoteric and unnecessary compared to our normal practices. Because the truth is, unless we develop some understanding of what we’re seeking, even if we discover it, we won’t likely be able to recognise it.
Therefore, every morning when he comes here, while Pujya Swami Chidanandaji always ends up by telling us to do some practical Yoga, he always begins by offering worshipful homage to the Supreme Reality. In other words, he lifts our minds up to That which is beyond our minds. And frequently in offering worshipful homage he describes the Supreme as unknowable and unthinkable. Therefore, our first understanding must be that what we are is, in the final analysis, unknowable, ungraspable to the mind.
What is it then that we can know about God? Brahman is described as Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. God we cannot know, but we can be aware of our existence. We know that we exist, or we say “I am.” And Swamiji has told us that there is no harm in “I am.” Hold on to your existence. It is only after “I am” that we get into trouble. The problem is when we identify with lower forms and forget our sense of pure existence.
This unfortunately is our plight. We who are ultimately unknowable, we who can know ourselves as Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, have lost ourselves in identification with a body and mind. What is the purpose of understanding this? It is to recognise that the purpose of all our spiritual practices is to lead us back to that sense of existence, that sense of pure “I am” or the conscious presence.
Therefore, we should ask ourselves the question, “When I am repeating God’s name, am I getting that sense of Pure Existence?” We probably are, but it is not recognised, and so we just repeat God’s name mechanically without recognising that its purpose is to lead us back to our sense of existence.
This is the purpose of all our spiritual practices. When we’re studying Vedanta, it isn’t just to add more information to our brain, but rather to recognise the pure existence that it is trying to show us. Ramana Maharshi said that the enquiry of Who am I? is a direct route back to our sense of existence, our sense of “I am.”
Therefore, while both Gurudev and Swamiji want us to concentrate on doing, on our practices, it is important to recognise what their purpose is, which is to lead us back to our sense of existence, our sense of “I am.” And it is from that point that we can ultimately recognise our true source, which is beyond words, beyond thoughts, but is the Reality.
Excerpts from:
The Importance of Understanding - Early Morning Meditation Talks by Swami Atmaswarupananda
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All Life is One
| **Baba Times Digest© | 24 June 2014 17:42 EST | New York Edition** |
All Life is One
Divine Life Society Publication: Life is One by Sri Swami Chidananda
There was a poet who once wrote, “You cannot pluck a little flower without the shaking of a star.” All life is one. There is one common consciousness which links the life of all beings into one great cosmic unity.
There was once a Sufi mystic who was established in this state of cosmic consciousness. He was a gardener. One day a friend of his came to visit him. In the conversation that they were having he was distracted and the sharp gardening tool which he was using hit his leg. His friend was startled , for he saw, oozing out of the wound in his leg, not red blood but a thin, pale fluid. It was the sap of plants. This Sufi mystic was in an absolute rapport, a perfect harmony with all life. He was at one with the plants, He had entered into their very consciousness. His life and their life was entirely one.
Many other stories could be told about mystics who have attained this state of absolute consciousness with all life. One such cosmic being was sitting in that state one day in the courtyard of a great temple situated on the bank of a river. A ferryboat was carrying passengers across the river. One disembarking passenger queried the ferryman regarding the cost of the fare. First there was a discussion. Then hot words. Then a lively argument. Suddenly the passenger lunged forward and hit the ferryman. And this mystic sitting nearby was so sensitive that the blow caused him to fall over unconscious. It was as though the passenger has delivered the blow on him.
There is another poem in which the poet says,
“One touch of nature makes all life kin.” The poet here refers to the original nature in which all forms of life are related to the One. Vedanta proclaims the oneness of all existence. Vedanta declares that there is one divine principle present in all things. The first Sloka of the first Upanishad says, “Whatever exists is pervaded by the one great Cosmic Being. That Being permeates, saturates and pervades all things in the universe.” Even modern science is now confirming this great truth. At the back of all this diversity the back of all this multifariousness, there is something common to all life. If you touch it, you experience cosmic consciousness.
The Vedantic method is deductive; the scientific method is inductive. The Vedantic method starts with the one and proceeds to the many. The scientific method starts with the many and proceeds to the one. Now it seems almost as though modern science, especially modern physical science, is proposing a theory which corroborates nearly verbatim the central thesis of the ancient Sakta school of philosophy in India. The Sakta philosophy states that energy or force is the very nature of pure Consciousness. Man borrows light from another Source of intelligence. Without this light the intellect would be inert, for it is that light which illumines the intellect and enables it to function. Man borrows it from pure Consciousness. It is, therefore, pure Consciousness which lies behind man’s intellect. Pure Consciousness alone is real.
The intellect is conscious when man is in the waking state, semiconscious when he is in the dream state and unconscious when he is in the deep sleep state. This consciousness is not continuous. The consciousness of ‘I am’ , on the other hand , is always present even in the deep sleep state. “I slept well,” you say on waking up in the morning. So the consciousness is continuous. You affirm the existence of an ‘I’ at all times: waking, dreaming and sleeping. The ‘I’ principle is the substratum upon which all the three states of your consciousness are supported. This ‘I’ principle is common to all sentient beings . It is a mysterious factor which binds life into one great cosmic unity. Ponder upon it. For eventually you must know everything about it.
Excerpts from:
All Life is One - Life is One by Sri Swami Chidananda
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Philosophy of the Mind
| **Baba Times Digest© | 23 June 2014 17:50 EST | New York Edition** |
Philosophy of the Mind
Divine Life Society Publication: Philosophy of the Mind by Sri Swami Sivananda
“Bhoomir-apo analo vayuh kham mano buddhirevacha, Ahamkara itiyam me bhinna prakritirashtadha.” According to Sankhya cosmology, mind is the fourth principle that has emanated from the self-asserting principle Ahamkara or egoism or Asmita. Prakriti or Avyaktam (matter in an unmanifested state) is styled as ‘Ashtangi’ or eightfold Prakriti (Prakritirashtadha). Mind is one of the eight limbs or Ashtanga. Mind is itself a word whose meaning is extremely vague, one incapable of being clearly defined except in terms of some questionable and speculative hypothesis. No one can point to a mind and say: “That is what I mean the word mind shall denote.”
Mind consists of a bundle of faculties, as the faculties of cognition or perception, volition or will, imagination, judgment, reason, understanding, memory, etc. Character concerns the affective or conative (natural tendency or impulsive) organism of the mind. Knowledge concerns the cognitive organism. There are different channels of communication through which the cognitive and conative faculties are directed. There is only one mind which has diverse names according to the plane on which it functions, viz., the subjective mind, the objective mind, the universal mind (cosmic consciousness), or the superconscious mind, the subconscious mind, the instinctive mind, the spiritual mind. The Vishaya or function of the mind is cognition (Sankalpa-Vikalpa or will, thought, doubt).
The ‘doubting mind’ is collective aggregate of all Jnana-Indriyas or organs of sensation or perception. Mind is below Will and above Prana or energy or matter. Mind is a relative manifestation of the Absolute. Mind is positive to Energy and Matter, but negative to Will, which is again positive to mind, but negative to Atman. Mind when purified becomes your real Guru. You will hear the voice of silence. You will get answers for your unsolvable problems. A pure mind is no longer subtle matter but the Brahman itself. The original home for the mind is Omkara in the Sahasrara or thousand-petalled lotus. Mind has become impure by your own desires. How the pure Brahman has become the impure Jiva is a life problem that has baffled all human efforts for a clear, correct and satisfactory solution. This is a quest which has no answer. This is the mystic side of nature. You cannot solve celestial, divine problems, that belong to supramental planes, with the finite intellect of the physical plane. Develop intuition. Acquire transcendental wisdom. Look within through cosmic consciousness. Then you will get a real, solution.
Through the searchlight of the concentrated mind, you will have to behold the treasures of the soul or Atman. Just as rays permeate solid bones or blocks of wood, the concentrated mental rays of a focused mind will pass through the different forms of matter and reveal their real nature.
During cosmic consciousness, you are aware of the oneness of life. You will find that there is no such thing as dead matter, but that all is alive, vibrating and intelligent. You will see the universe as all-Atman, which is the essence or background of this sense universe, of this world of Dvandvas or opposites, of this world of mere conceptions or ideas, of this world of names and forms.
In Svarga or paradise or heaven, you are in the ‘thought world’. You feel or experience no pain. Why? Because you get whatever you think or imagine. Your desires are immediately gratified. Your thought matter instantaneously materialises, crystallises and precipitates before you. You are satisfied. But this is not real.
The science of Raja Yoga or mental Yoga deals with the methods of controlling the ever oscillating mind under the command of the will, which is in the center of Atman. Manoyama (control of the mind) is superior to Pranayama (control of the breath); but the Adhikaris or qualified persons for practice of Manoyama should be very intelligent with bold understanding and tremendous will. Sit on Padma or Siddha Asana facing east or north. Make Trataka or Dharana (concentration) on Trikuti, the space between the two eyebrows with closed eyes. Control the force of thought by meditation on Pranava or Om and its meaning. Practise regularly from 1/2 to 2 or 3 hours daily. You will become a Yogi and an Atma Jnani soon.
Excerpts from:
Philosophy of the Mind by Sri Swami Sivananda
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