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God, World and Soul
God, World and Soul by Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 4 March 2014 13:53 EST | New York Edition** |
God, World and Soul
Divine Life Society Publication: In The Light of Wisdom by Swami Krishnananda
“The control of the vrittis of the mind is yoga.” - Patanjali
The Twofold Process of Perception
There is a twofold process involved in perception—the mental and the spiritual. The mind and consciousness (which should not be confused with each other), function simultaneously in the process of perception. Quick and rapid as the photographic film is, in receiving the impressions from outside, quicker and more rapid still is the mind in its functions. Faster than light and faster than electricity can the mind travel. We cannot catch up with the speed of the mind, and so we do not know that there is motion at all. It is similar to a motion picture in which the individual pictures move so rapidly that the human eye sees the scene as being in motion. This rapid movement of the mind towards the object is for a purpose. The mind pervades the form of the object by a movement.
How the mind travels is a very interesting subject, and there has been a lot of controversy as to the constitution and function of the mind. Many think that the mind is within the body and cannot go outside. If everything is within us, and nothing is outside us, how are we to come in contact with things outside? This led people to the conclusion that the mind can function within the body and yet extend its operations outside the body. Just as a lamp may be located in a particular spot but it can shed its light around a larger area, the mind does not actually give up its location in the body but it can stretch its arms outside to a certain extent.
What enables the mind to perceive an object is not merely the physical proximity of the object, but also the interest that the mind has in the object. We may be sitting in a railway car with many people, and yet although they are so near, we may not even be fully aware of them, because we are not interested in them. Physical proximity may be necessary, but more important is mental interest, because attention follows interest. Where there is no interest, there is also no attention. This also explains memory; we cannot remember a thing in which we are not interested. Interest, physical proximity, the phenomenon of physical light, and a healthy constitution of the sense organs—all these factors must come together in the process of the perception of an object.
The Vrittis
But there is a more essential element than even these, namely, consciousness. The two features of perception are—knowledge and knowledge of a form. A mountain in front of us, for example, is a specific type of knowledge that we have. It is called determinate perception, specifically related to a particular object or a group of objects. This limitation of perception to a particular object is the work of the mind, but the illumination behind it is the work of consciousness. So, there is a twofold feature of perception—the form and the consciousness of form.
Specification of an object, called a vritti and the awareness of the specification is the twofold feature of a perception of any kind. The mind has a vritti of a mountain, a vritti of a person and a vritti of this or that. A vritti is nothing but a mould into which the mind casts itself with reference to an object in which it has interest and which it cognizes.
Mind can go on cognizing many things, because there are many forms in the world. Therefore there can be many vrittis, and these many vrittis get piled up in the lower layers of the mind. Just as honeybees have two stomachs, one for actual digestion and the other merely to store, the mind seems to have at least three ‘stomachs’. One is for receiving, one for storing and another for digesting, one may say. This is what the psychologists call the conscious, subconscious and unconscious levels. The mind rarely digests anything—it only stores.
The situation is comparable to a retail shop and a wholesale shop. The subconscious is the retail shop, and the unconscious is the wholesale shop. Many things are there deep in this unconscious, but a little of it is stored for daily purposes in the subconscious, and the things immediately needed are kept just in front. That is the conscious level. The shopkeeper also has many things inside, but one cannot see them. These are the stored-up vrittis of the mind. Our personality is made up of nothing but vrittis.
These vrittis are illumined by the consciousness inside. Life is given to the vrittis by consciousness, just as seeds germinate in the earth when there is rainfall, proper temperature, manure, etc. Vrittis activate themselves when consciousness enlivens them; otherwise they lie buried like dead seeds. In the act of perception, a vritti, or a form of the mind, functions in respect of an object and the consciousness underlying it. This consciousness in relation to the perception of an object may be said to be the adhidaiva of that object, while the object is the adhibhuta. This consciousness immanent in the vritti, which is necessary for the perception of the object, may be said to be the adhidaiva of that object. It is the presiding deity in oneself, without which one cannot know the object. The location of this consciousness in the perceiving subject is the adhyatma.
The adhyatma, adhibhuta and adhidaiva are interrelated, like the three angles of a triangle connected by three sides. One is not independent from the other.
When this psychological fact is extended to the universe as a whole it becomes God, world and soul. Adhyatma, adhibhuta and adhidaiva are nothing but the seeds of the development of thought in the concept of soul, world and God—individual, universe and Creator. There is a consciousness underlying both the seer and the seen, on account of which there is perception of an object. We have to be aware of ourselves, and we have to be aware of the object. The link between these two is consciousness, which should transcend the subject and the object. It has to be simultaneously present in the seer, the seen object and the seeing process as well; otherwise there would be no knowledge of objects at all. If we are bereft of consciousness, there is no perception. If there is no connection of consciousness with the object, there is no perception, and unless there is a movement of consciousness through a vritti towards an object, there is no perception.
We may also ask whether there is really a movement of consciousness towards the object. Movement is another name for a process. Does consciousness also undergo a process or is it a part of the process? It cannot be, because a process can only be known by a processless being. If consciousness is a process, there should be another processless consciousness behind it. The process is not of consciousness—it is rather of the vritti. Vritti is a process, but not consciousness itself. The consciousness that is behind the seer, the seen and the process of seeing is ‘being’ rather than a process. It is existence as such. Adhidaiva, by which we may understand the presiding consciousness above the tripod of seer, seeing and seen, is not subject to change as the phenomenon of the object or the process of perception are. This presiding deity of the subject-object relationship is called adhidaiva.
Excerpts from:
God, World and Soul - In The Light of Wisdom by Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition or audio CD, 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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What is Hinduism
God, World and Soul by Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 3 March 2014 13:53 EST | New York Edition** |
What is Hinduism
Divine Life Society Publication: - What Is Hinduism? by Swami Krishnananda
If you ask all the Hindus, “Tell me what is Hinduism,” they cannot tell you. They will say, “We are Hindus.” “But tell me what is Hinduism.” That they cannot answer because they are floating on the surface of religious outer performance and ritual, and the in-depth significance of it has not gone into their minds. You will find this problem everywhere. You will find it perhaps in every religion. He is a Muslim; he is a Christian; he is a Hindu; he is a Buddhist. If you ask him, “What essentially is the essence of your religion?” he cannot give a reply. They will never be able to answer that question because they have not given time to think properly.
What proof have you got that you are a Hindu? If you say, “I believe in the Vedas,” does it mean that whoever believes in the Vedas is a Hindu? There are great German scholars who believe in the value of the Vedas. Do you call them Hindus? So, that definition is not good. “I pray to Narayana.” Then, whoever prays to Narayana becomes a Hindu? There are Muslim saints who worship Lord Krishna, and yet they are not Hindus, so that definition is also not good. You will find it is such a comprehensive interrelated complex that any straightjacket answer will not be sufficient.
In Hinduism you will find the essentials of every other religion also, in some level. There are levels of Hinduism; it is not one compact thing. At one level, you will find the idea of Christianity is correct. At another level, you will find even Islam, Zoroastrianism, Judaism or Taoism is correct. It all depends upon the layers of religion; and all the levels, Hinduism accepts. The only thing is, it will not consider any level as final. This is why it is a very comprehensive religion and, therefore, you cannot even call it by the name Hinduism. It has no name at all. They call it Sanatana Dharma. Sanatana Dharma means eternal religion.
Hinduism is only a post-European concept. Europeans have given that name. We do not call ourselves by that name. ‘Hindu’ comes from the word ‘Sindhu’. When Greeks and Persians came to India some years before Christ – Alexander and Jerious, and other Persian kings and Greek invaders came – they crossed the Sindhu, and they wanted to know who these people staying in this country are. They did not know their name. They said that river is called Sindhu, and all those people who are on the other side are Sindhus. In Persian,‘s’ is pronounced as ‘h’, so ‘Sindh’ becomes ‘Hind’, so they pronounce it as ‘Hindu’; and in Greek it has become ‘Ind’. The word ‘India’ has come from the word ‘Sindhu’ only. ‘Sindh’ becomes ‘Hind’, ‘Hind’ becomes ‘Ind’. So the words ‘Hindu’ and ‘India’ have both been created by these historical conditions, historical circumstances.
Really, this is Bharatvarsh. We call it Bharatvarsh. Even now they say ‘Bharat’. It is not India. ‘India’ is a historical exigency. Similarly, the word ‘Hinduism’ – there is no such thing as that. It is Sanatana Dharma – eternal religion. It is eternal religion because it accepts every level of religious thought. It does not reject any level, but it does not consider any level as final. That is the whole point.
Excerpts from:
What Is Hinduism? by Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition or audio CD, 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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God Present Within Us
God Present Within Us by Swami Krishnananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 2 March 2014 13:53 EST | New York Edition** |
God Present Within Us
Divine Life Society Publication: - The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
The Field of Comprehension
Our observations and perceptions are mostly partial, one-sided; and this defect or limitation that is imposed upon the process of perception gives us a wrong picture of the object—even if it be God Himself, the supreme object of knowledge. We may call it the field of comprehension.
The thought of God is the most difficult thought. As a matter of fact, any thought is difficult when it is attempted to be made comprehensive. The difficulty is not in the fact that the object here is God—the difficulty is in the structure of the mind itself. There is a common defect present in all perception. The object is looked upon as an object only and bereft of any other implication in its existence. That objects are simply located in a particular place is a fallacy, and this fallacy is at the root of all our knowledge.
We cannot think God. Our minds are not so made as to enable us to contemplate God as He is in Himself. But the Bhagavadgita insists that liberation is impossible until and unless meditation becomes practicable on the true God.
And who is this true God?
We are not merely mortals, individuals, but we have a superhuman element within us, and this is the deepest adhyatma in us. That is God present within us. The root of our personality is God Himself. The mind has to be united with God—this is called yoga. Ultimately yoga means union with God.
The Absolute or Brahman has to be comprehended in its integrality, totality, unity, in its blendedness and completeness—not merely in transcendence, but also in immanence and inclusiveness of everything. The adhyatma (subject) is not isolated from the adhibhuta (object) or the adhiyajna or the adhidaiva.
The adhiyajna or the field of activity, service and relationship of any kind is one of the manifestations of God Himself, so that the concept of God includes the concept of human society, and it cannot exclude it. So social welfare, social thinking, the humanistic approach is incomplete without the introduction of the divine element into it.
“How then are we to contemplate the Supreme Being?”
The imperishable, eternal is called the Absolute—aksaram brahma paramam. Inasmuch as everything is perishable, the tendency of the whole universe is to overcome this perishable character of itself and attain the imperishable Brahman. The adhyatma is the essential nature of an individual_._ Your essential nature is naturally not what appears on the surface of your personality.
The innermost essence and the basic rock bottom of the individual is adhyatma, and it is inseparable from the imperishable Brahman. The atman is Brahman; kutasta is the same as the Absolute. Just as the root of the wave in the ocean is the ocean itself, the root of personality, the Overself, the kutastachaitanya, is Brahman, the Imperishable. All activity which forms part of the field of adhiyajna is called karma in a cosmical sense. There is only one activity ultimately, and that is the movement of the cosmos towards its ultimate end. All actions, the so-called activities of individuals, are facets of cosmic activity. This is the supreme yajna and is called adhiyajna—the transcendent purpose behind all activities.
The principle of karma gets transformed into yoga, known as karma yoga, when all actions are realized as expressions of cosmic activity. There is no such thing as my activity or your activity. They are only outer manifestations, through the individualities of persons, and there is only one agent behind action—God Himself—and neither are you the doer, nor am I the doer. If the actions do not belong to you, the fruits thereof also cannot belong to you. That is why the Gita again insists upon our abandonment of the fruits of action. If, by any kind of egotistic affirmation of yourself, you assert your agency in any kind of action, there would be a nemesis following from this false notion of action—a reaction set up by this individual notion of activity or personal agency. This nemesis or reaction is what is known as karma bandhana, or the bondage of karma, which becomes the source of sorrows of various types, including transmigration. So the creative impulse, which is the source of all forms of action in this world, is the ultimate karma. This alone can be called real karma, and all other karmas are included in this supreme karma.
The perishable form of the world, the objectness that is present in objects is called adhibhuta. There is a reality hidden in appearances, and this appearance aspect is called adhibhuta, while the reality that is responsible even for the appearance is the imperishable Brahman. Their essential nature is eternity and infinitude, but their name-form complex, which is in space and time, is the perishable aspect—this is called adhibhuta.
The adhidaiva is the presiding principle behind all individuals, the supreme consciousness that is at the base of all individualities—not the mind, but consciousness. The element within you, the superhuman principle, the divinity implanted in the heart of all individuals, ruling your destiny, guarding you, protecting you, directing you in the proper way is the adhidaiva.
The divine incarnation is the adhiyajna. The blessedness of humanity rests in the extent to which it is able to be guided by the divinity that is immanent in human society. Human individuals cannot achieve ultimate success merely with the power of their hands and feet. Success is a name that we give to an achievement which is of a permanent nature. That which is today, but shall pass away tomorrow, cannot be called a victory.
Today we are looking up with dazed eyes as to what is going to happen to us in the future, because we are always depending on the strength of our arms, the power of our understanding or intellect, the ratiocinating faculty minus the divine element in us. Man minus God is a corpse, and a corpse cannot be expected to win any victory or achieve success. God creates the world and also takes care of it. He is the Creator and also the Preserver, and He preserves the world that He has created by means of His incarnations. Anything in this world that is superb, magnificent and beyond the ordinary in power, in knowledge and in capacity of any kind should be regarded as a divine manifestation.
God incarnates Himself at every juncture or crucial moment, for the solidarity of mankind, for the establishment of righteousness and the abolition of unrighteousness. There is an eternal manifestation of God. As God is eternity, His manifestation also is timeless. God is the only friend of man, truly speaking, because perishable individuals cannot be regarded as true friends—they pass away. We must realize God as the true friend, as incarnate divinity, as a presence which is perpetually before us, guarding us and taking care of us in every respect, providing us with everything that is required at any moment of time. Contemplating God in this manner, we realize His presence even in society.
Hence the necessity to conceive God as a totality and comprehensiveness and not merely as an external object bereft of relationship with the subject and human society. Such yoga is supposed to be the means of the liberation of the spirit from this mortal tabernacle (residence, dwelling place).
Excerpts from:
God Present Within Us - The Spiritual Import of the Mahabharata and the Bhagavadgita by Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition or audio CD, 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 Yoga of Action
The Yoga of Action by Sri Swami Sivananda
| **Baba Times Digest© | 1 March 2014 13:53 EST | New York Edition** |
The Yoga of Action
Divine Life Society Publication: - Bhagavadgita – Summary of Third Discourse by Sri Swami Sivananda
In order to remove Moha or attachment, which was the sole cause of Arjuna’s delusion, Sri Krishna taught him the imperishable nature of the Atman, the realization of which would grant him the freedom of the Eternal. A doubt therefore arises in Arjuna’s mind as to the necessity of engaging in action even after one has attained this state.
Sri Krishna clears this doubt by telling him that although one has realized oneness with the Eternal, one has to perform action through the force of Prakriti or Nature. He emphasizes that perfection is attained not by ceasing to engage in action but by doing all actions as a divine offering, imbued with a spirit of non-attachment and sacrifice.
Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna that the man of God-vision, , need not engage in action, as he has attained everything which has to be attained. He can be ever absorbed in the calm and immutable Self. But to perform action for the good of the world and for the education of the masses is no doubt superior. Therefore, action is necessary not only for one who has attained perfection but also for one who is striving for perfection. Sri Krishna quotes the example of Janaka, the great sage-king of India, who continued to rule his kingdom even after attaining God-realization.
Prakriti or Nature is made up of the three qualities—Rajas, Tamas and Sattwa. The Atman is beyond these three qualities and their functions. Only when knowledge of this fact dawns in man does he attain perfection.
The Lord tells Arjuna that each one should do his duty according to his nature, and that doing duty that is suited to one’s nature in the right spirit of detachment will lead to perfection.
Arjuna raises the question as to why man commits such actions that cloud his mind and drag him downwards, by force, as it were. Sri Krishna answers that it is desire that impels man to lose his discrimination and understanding, and thus commit wrong actions. Desire is the root cause of all evil actions. If desire is removed, then the divine power manifests in its full glory and one enjoys peace, bliss, light and freedom.
Excerpts from:
The Yoga of Action - Bhagavadgita – Summary of Third Discourse by Sri Swami Sivananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition or audio CD, 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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Vidyaranya and Rene Descartes
Vidyaranya and Rene Descartes on Consciousness
| **Baba Times Digest© | 21 July 2013 13:34 EST | New York Edition** |
Vidyaranya and Rene Descartes on Consciousness
Weekly Spiritual message from Divine Life Society New York
Vidyaranya also known as Mādhava Vidyaranya is variously known as being a kingmaker, patron saint and high priest to Harihara Raya I and Bukka Raya I, the founders of the Vijayanagar Empire in India. He was the 12th Jagadguru of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham from 1380 to 1386 A.D
René Descartes lived during 31 March 1596– 11 February 1650 A.D) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the ‘Father of Modern Philosophy’, and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day.
The impossibility of denying the existence of consciousness is the main subject in the initial verses in Panchadasi by Vidyaranya. We may doubt everything. We may even deny everything, but we cannot deny consciousness – because it is consciousness that doubts and it is consciousness that is denying things. When all things go because of the denial of all things, then what remains? There remains the consciousness of having denied everything and the consciousness of doubting all things. Even if we feel that we do not exist – we are annihilated or we are dead, for instance – even then, we will feel that at the back of our imagination of the annihilation of our personality there is a consciousness of the annihilation of personality. Even if we say that there is only a vacuum, and there is nil, and finally nothing exists in the world, there is a consciousness that affirms that nothing exists. Hence, it is impossible to obviate the predicament of a consciousness interfering with all things.
Cartesian doubt is a form of methodological skepticism associated with the writings and methodology of René Descartes. Cartesian doubt is also known as Cartesian skepticism, methodic doubt, methodological skepticism, or hyperbolic doubt. Cartesian doubt is a systematic process of being skeptical about (or doubting) the truth of one’s beliefs, which has become a characteristic method in philosophy. This method of doubt was largely popularized in Western philosophy by René Descartes (1596-1650), who sought to doubt the truth of all his beliefs in order to determine which beliefs he could be certain were true.
Descartes, knowing that the context of our dreams, while possibly unbelievable, are often lifelike, hypothesized that humans can only believe that they are awake. There are no sufficient grounds by which to distinguish a dream experience from a waking experience. For instance, Subject A sits at her computer, typing this article. Just as much evidence exists to indicate that her composing this article is reality as there is to demonstrate the opposite. Descartes conceded that we live in a world that can create such ideas as dreams. However, by the end of The Meditations, he concludes that we can distinguish
dream from reality at least in retrospect.
One of his popular declarations states that ‘you can doubt everything’ but you can never doubt the doubt itself, because otherwise the doubt itself falls ! and there is no doubt !
It is amazing to note how these two people were connected in concept although they were separated in space and time, one lived in India in 1300 AD and the other in France in 1500 AD.
Read More
Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda
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Knowledge As a Means to Freedom
Knowledge As a Means to Freedom
| **Baba Times Digest© | 4 July 2013 22:11 EST | New York Edition** |
| **RELATED TOPICS \\ Knowledge is Freedom | Independence Day** |
New York: We are celebrating the 4th of July Independence Day today here in USA. What exactly is Freedom? It is interseting to turn to Philosophy and Religion to see their perspective.
If our search is for freedom, knowledge is regarded as an endeavour towards the achievement of this freedom. The institutions of the world, whether they are educational, social or political, are instruments for the implementation of this endeavour towards the attainment of human freedom. The only way to resolve the issue of bondage seems to be in the ‘knowledge’ one has to attain to understand the cause of the bondage ! This may be also regarded as an advancement in knowledge. So, the increase in knowledge is, in a way, equivalent to the increase in the capacity of a person to achieve freedom. But freedom from what, is the basic question. If this question cannot be answered, we cannot also know what knowledge is, and impliedly what education is, because education is the process of the acquisition of knowledge. Truly speaking, knowledge is a percentage or degree of absorption of one’s life into the character of one’s knowledge. Knowledge is valuable to that extent alone to which it can be accommodated in one’s personal life and remains as a basic foundation for one’s search for the ultimate purpose which one is apparently longing for. It is very easy to be comfortable in life. But it is difficult to be happy in life. Society can deceive us into the notion that we are well off. When we conform to the standards of social ethics and idiosyncrasies, naturally we are supported by society. But society is only one segment in the vast circle of human endeavour. It is not the whole of the reality that is pictured before our minds.
The moment we move away from ‘Exoteric’ way of thinking, that is to say, as things appear to us we adjust ourselves to the situtaion. But the things may not be what they appear to be! And we feel we are bound and we have no independence. A little analysis will help if we understand the ground reality of the situation and then react, which will greatly enable us to feel more free and we will move to real Freedom !
Picture Source: Washington DC and Fire works en.wikipedia.org
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Nelson Mandela and Plato
Nelson Mandela and Plato
| **Baba Times Digest© | 29 June 2013 14:20 EST | New York Edition** |
| **RELATED TOPICS \\ Nelson Mandela | Reuters Report | Plato’s Cave** |
New York: Reuters reports that the U.S. President Barack Obama met the family of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s ailing anti-apartheid hero on Saturday, offering words of comfort and praising the critically ill retired statesman as one of history’s greatest figures. Baba Times brings in his philosophy and famous quote “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others”
A brief note on Plato’s Allegory is appropriate here.Plato’s famous work on ‘The Republic’ illustrates the analogy of the Cave, Plato’s cave is an allegory presented on “our nature in its education and want of education”. In this analogy people who were chained inside a cave could only see shadows cast by real people outside the cave and these people mistake the shadows for real. They think ‘particularies’ are prior to ‘universal’ and actually it is the other way around. How is it connected to Nelson Mandela’s quote? When one of the chained people was allowed to go out of the cave to see the ‘real’ world, his amazement was beyond belief. He saw real people, Sun light, movements ! He came back in and explianed to others and pursuaded to them to be free, cast off their chains ! But the others would not beleive him and they still thought the ‘shadows’ are real.
Wikipedia notes on Mandela: Mandela served 27 years in prison, first on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife. Becoming ANC President, Mandela published his autobiography and led negotiations with President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and establish multiracial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory.He was elected President and formed a Government of National Unity in an attempt to defuse ethnic tensions. As President, he established a new constitution and initiated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses.
Mandela preached ‘real’ freedom and not just casting off the ‘chains’ like the Cave people in Plato’s allegory.
Picture Source:Mandela in May 2008 en.wikipedia.org
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Student Swami Krishnananda
Swami Krishnananda as a student
| **Baba Times Digest© | 29 June 2013 12:01 EST | New York Edition** |
| **RELATED TOPICS \\ New York Times Reports | Student Swami Krishnananda | Higher Education** |
WASHINGTON D.C — On 27 June 2013 The House passed legislation to hold off a doubling of student loan interest rates effective on July 1, instead it will try the rates to prevailing market trends and ending federal subsidies. The bill, although approved largely along party lines, 221 to 198, leads to what is sure to be the next showdown with the House Republicans, Senate Democrats and President Obama, with a hard deadline looming in little more than a month and putting Students at various levels of difficulties.
Some facts about these issues (according to New York Times): At stake is a subsidized loan rate of 3.4 percent for more than 7.4 million students with federal Stafford loans, which will jump to 6.8 percent if Congress fails to act. Democrats fixed the 3.4-percent rate before Republicans took control of the House in 2011. Last June, Republicans buckled under political pressure and extended the subsidized rate for one year, just two days before its expiration. What ever it is, which ever side of the aisle wins, there is no doubt that innocent students are put in trouble.
At this time of crisis, Baba Times would like to bring in some aspects of Student life in ancient Vedic period and experiences of Great Saints as students, which hopefully help us to take the right decisions and help our next generation and future of our very existence. The education for a student started very early in vedic period and the students were living in the Guru (Teacher) Ashram (House) and the students helped to maintain the ashram, assist Guru’s wife in daily chores, bring fire wood. This helped them to go through life experiences and formed a strong practical foundation. Some of the fundamental concepts that were taught are ‘discrimination’ (Viveka) which was also considered as ‘Illumination’ and ‘Light’, Religion, Spirituality, Science, Logic, Intellectuality, Physical educayion, Personality development and social studies. There were no actual ‘fees’ for the eductaion, all students paid back by service !There is an interesting circular logic here, when they pay back through service, they also learn and some additional knowledge is being gathered which in turn have to be paid back by more service and that is why we say that the students are ever indebted to the Teachers !
Swami Krishnananda of Divine Life Society is well known for his works and commentries made on Upanishads, Philosophy and Religion. It is interesting to note that some of his early student life actually reflects the becoming of the great Saint and the difficulties he went through his early life. Swamiji physically hails from the South Kanara district on the Western coast of South India. In his Purvashrama, he was the eldest son of a family of six children, four of them being his younger brothers and one a sister. Known by the name Subbaraya, he was born of orthodox Shivaralli Brahmin parents. In the educational field, he surpassed all of his classmates in every class. He had early education at St. Francis Xavier’s School at Darbe in Puttur town. But then, his was not a case of “all work and no play” and he was no mere bookworm. As a young student, Subbaraya was fond of playing at Ramayana with his younger brothers and friends. Subbaraya himself took the role of Rama, his brother that of Lakshmana or Sita, and the others were given other suitable roles. Thus they formed a troupe and he used to lead this play during the midday lunch-hour recess or after school hours, with bows and arrows prepared from the branches of trees. He enjoyed this play and so did the others too. Swami Chidananda Maharaj has presented these facts in his ‘The Making of a Scholar-Saint – A Mini-Biography of Swami Krishnananda’, a Souvenir released on Swami Krishnananda’s 75th Birthday.
We pray to our Gurus and Saints that the current crisis on Student Loans will be resolved amicably and enable our students to acheive greater success in their career !
Picture Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Great Dome en.wikipedia.org
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Immigration, Religion and US Congress
Immigration, Religion and US Congress
| **Baba Times Digest© | 27 June 2013 17:45 EST | New York Edition** |
| **RELATED TOPICS \\ Paul Ryan, Congressman | Manusmriti | USCIS Rights** |
Washington DC: The United States Senate moved forward with a comprehensive immigration measure with sufficient votes to advance in that chamber and its supporters hope to acheive a final vote before the July 4 Religious scriptures both Christian and Jewish among others contain description on immigration indirectly saying that “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens.” In this sense both the Bishops and the White House are in agreement. But there are other sides to look into the definition of ‘strangers’ and ‘citizens’ from the point of view of the Bible and other scriptures.
Manusmriti is a textual work under Dharmasastra of ancient Vedic Sanatana Dharma, generally known in English as the Laws of Manu on ‘how to lead the life’ or ‘way of life’ by various sects and classes of society. In Verse 134 we find a description of a ‘citizen’ as “Fellow-citizens are called friends (and equals though one be) ten years (older than the other), men practising (the same) fine art (though one be) five years (older than the other), Srotriyas (though) three years (intervene between their ages), but blood-relations only (if the) difference of age be very small”.
The text is supposed to be a discourse given by sage Manu, to his seers, fellow rishis after the great floods between the banks of the rivers Saraswathi and Drishadvati some 10,000 years ago. The text guided them to face such calamities and help them organize harmonious social life with “guidelines for all the social classes”
One of the four varnas state that “Knowledge is more important than birth in a clan” which directly relates to immigration issues today. It makes sense to understand that anyone from either lower class or higher class to the other easily, if those charcteristics and functions are performed. manu also goes in depth on Taxation and fiscal policies ! The Manusmriti defines the Tax codes clearly by stating that it has to be imposed such that it should not result in any disincentive for productivity and at the same time inadequate collection of revenue to cover the State expenses and social welfare and tax should be collected in small installments and compared to an act of a leech that sucks blood ! Very apt example in ancient times ! It is interesting that the views of ancient scriptures and the modern politics align and hopefully the illegal immigrants will appreciate these facts and become main stream citizens and share the tax burden.
| **READ MORE \[Economic Impact](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_impact_of_illegal_immigrants_in_the_United_States) | IRS View | Latest from CBS News** |
Picture Source: en.wikipedia.org “Matsya pulls a boat carrying Saint Manu and Saptrishi during floods or Pralaya”
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Spirituality and Life
Spirituality and Life by Swami Krishnananda
Created on Tuesday, 4 June 2013 17:06
(A Message issued on the occasion of Swamiji’s 54th Birthday in April, 1976.)
The philosophy and culture of India is one of Ananda or Bliss. “From Bliss-Absolute we have come; in Bliss-Absolute we are rooted; and to Bliss-Absolute are we destined,” says the Taittiriya Upanishad. It is not a message of pain, agony and distress. Pessimism is unknown to India’s culture. It is a culture of exuberant positivity of approach, an approximation to God in the end, who is the greatest of positivities. Life is held to be a movement from joy to joy, and it is this that we call the evolutionary process of the soul. It is movement from a lesser truth to a higher truth, which is a better way of putting things than to repeat the hackneyed tradition that we move from error to truth. In the glorious kingdom of God, which is within everyone, there cannot be any ultimate error. Error is only a misplacement of values. It has no ultimate existence and cannot have an absolute value. Absolute error is unthinkable, and it cannot be. Absolute falsehood does not exist. Everything is as a relative representation of God’s perfection and so everywhere, even in the so-called erroneous movements of material, psychological and social forces, there is an element of God present, urging all these processes towards Perfection. To our culture, which is the culture of God, the culture of Perfection, all the duties of life become a manifestation of happiness. The glorious gospel of the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita, which may be regarded as the tripod of India’s message to mankind, provides us with the hopeful exhortation that we can never be helpless at any moment of our life. Our culture is the blossoming full-moon, the real ‘Purnima’ of hope after hope; aspiration after aspiration. May we recall to our minds, once again, the message of the saints and sages of all times and climes, who have plumbed into the depths of the Great Reality of the universe, that we exist in God, live in God, breathe in God, move in God and perform the functions of our life in the Kingdom of God.
The great message of the Christ that “the Kingdom of Heaven is within you” should be a miraculous and revolutionary teaching to all those who think in terms of the temporal and always evaluate things from the historical point of view. A kingdom cannot be inside anyone. Can you imagine a kingdom being situated within anyone? And, yet, a great incarnation spoke this truth to mankind: – “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you!” Either it is a contradiction in terms or a super-mundane fact which the human understanding cannot fathom. That which is external is also the internal, is also a message of the Chhandogya Upanishad (Section VIII), which is echoed in the statement of the Christ that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us. The whole cosmos is vibrating within every cell of our personalities. Everything that is everywhere is also within us and is inseparable from us. This was the foundation of the doctrine of God’s supreme perfection given to us by Acharya Sankara also, on the basis of the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavadgita and the Brahma Sutras. Everything we need is in us. Everything required by us for our existence, every movement in evolution towards perfection, is implanted in our being. When we were born we brought with us everything that is necessary for us and we carry all these necessities with us wherever we move in this world. We cannot be separated from these needs or standing necessities; they are inseparable from our vital existence.
This is the spirit of true spirituality. There is the letter of the teachings of spiritual life, and also the spirit of these teachings. The letter of the teaching is what is generally practised by the masses in the world, but the spirit is missed. The letter is easy to understand, but the spirit is difficult to follow. What is the letter of the teaching of spiritual life? What does the letter of religion say? It says: you must love God, you must believe in the existence of God, you must speak the truth, you should be honest in your dealings with your brethren, and you should be living a life of purity, goodness and truthfulness. But the letter of the teaching has been so construed, on account of the very constitution of the human mind, that the life of the spirit, or the life of God, or the life of spiritual aspiration, has been covertly, without one’s knowing what is happening, separated from the day-to-day activities of life, so that we are one thing in the street or the shop and another thing in the temple or the church. Thus, we have two ideals before us, the ideal for the marketplace and the ideal for the church or the temple. This is the traditional and organised creed of what you may call the churches of religion.
Religion today appears to be shaking from its very roots, because the edifice of the popular religion is built on a sandy basement and has no substantial support at the bottom. The so-called religious man does not really believe in God. The religious mind has taken advantage of its apparent belief in God or concept of God as an instrument in the personal fulfilment of its wishes and ambitions. To most of us, God is an instrument, not the aim or goal of life. Our asking for God is not because He is all-in-all, but because He is a tool for the fulfilment of our ulterior motives. We have desires and desires, in all the levels of our personalities. We are made up of desires: “Kamamayoyam purushah”. We do not possess or have desires: We are made up of the desires. Every fibre of our being is constituted of desire alone. Therefore, this desireful personality contrives a tool in the form of the concept of a God in Paradise, in Brahmaloka, Vaikuntha or Kailasa, for its own fulfilment. God’s existence is travestied; it becomes a blasphemy of the very notion of God. We are told, again and again, that God is the goal of life and not a means to the satisfaction of the needs of the individual.
We now have to be taught the primary lessons of life itself. We are still in need of the initial educational process, which has to set right the very thinking method of our mind. There is something wrong with us at the very root itself. We think in terms of the body, the personality and its relationships external. These relationships subtly interfere with every activity of our life, including the ‘activity’ of the ‘practice of religion’. It is very unfortunate that ‘religion’ had become a sort of ‘activity’, a kind of ‘work’ among the many other duties in life. The religious consciousness is not a work, it is not a function, it is not an action proceeding from our individual being, because the personality of the individual is an effect; it is of the nature of a process of becoming, tending towards something else transcending it. And, therefore, any activity proceeding from this procession of individual existence cannot be identified with the religious consciousness which is the emblem of God’s Being. God is Being. We call Him the Supreme Being. The human mind cannot conceive the meaning of true being. We have a very wrong notion of even what ‘being’ is. When we say that something exists, something is, we associate ‘being’ as a kind of adjective with the object that is supposed to exist. The chair exists. When we say that a chair exists, the chair is the subject and its existence the predicate. We have conceived existence as a predicate of the chair which is the subject. But existence cannot be a predicate of anything. It is always the subject. It is presupposed by the notion of every other individual thing in the world. Existence precedes even the notion of chair; it cannot be a predicate of it. On the other hand, when we understand the situation metaphysically, philosophically or spiritually, the chairhood of the so-called object is known to be the predicate of the existence which precedes it. And because of a peculiar twist of character in human thinking, we conceive God also as a predicate to our temporal life. God is an appendage to all our needs, necessities and desires! So God does not seem to be helping us, at least openly. We have misused our relationship with God. We have conceived Him as a kind of attribute to our individuality! A very sorry state of affairs! God cannot be an attribute. He is the Supreme Substantive. He is the Reality. The Supreme Being that God is, is the presupposition of even our thought, of ‘being’. That is why we say that God cannot be thought through the mind. And if such an unthinkable presupposition even of all human understanding is the nature of God’s existence, what should be the character of religion which is the way to God? It should be characterised by all the attributes which ‘being’ can have, though in varying, lesser degrees. These sublime characteristics of true religion are inclusiveness – not rejection – and the capacity to transmute every lower phase in the higher, by way of understanding and appreciation.
So, the practice of religion is the practice of God-consciousness in some degree or the other. It is to flood our personality with something super-mundane, super-personal and super-individualistic. When we become religious seekers, we are touched by the non-temporal not only in our personal life but also in our social existence. To be a seeker of God is not easy. You cannot just receive initiation into a Mantra from a Guru and think that you are at once a religious adept. When you receive initiation you are led into a new way of living and being. Your life is to get transformed and there has to be a complete transvaluation of values. Unless that essential condition is fulfilled by the disciple, the initiation will not reveal the needed light.
The law of evolution from matter to life, from life to mind and from mind to intellect, whether in its individual or social form, is initially a law permitting a diversity of being in an apparently multitudinous variety, which gradually rises upwards into lesser and lesser intensities of diversity and objectivity of character, until there is only a universalised consciousness confronting a universal object as the vast creation. But this consciousness has to become its object: a unity of knowing with being, the oneness of self with all existence is the goal of the evolutionary-processes. The cosmic consciousness realises that the cosmos is itself.
This is the message of Bharatavarsha, the message of India’s culture, the message of true spirituality, and the message of Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, the message of all the mystics, saints and sages of the world. God bless you all! Peace be to the whole world!
[Extracted from Swami Krishnanda Maharaj’s discourses Divine Life Society]