The Moment of Action is NOW

We are excellent at making plans. Plans for work, home, saving, earning, doing a specific task, for self change, giving up bad habits like overeating, tobacco, smoking and drinks. We enjoy making plans so much that we use all the new years in the calendar to make resolutions for making plans and changes. We have the English Calendar New Year, Tamil New Year, Gujarati New Year, Marathi New Year, the first month of the Muslims and so many others. We use all of them and keep making plans. There is an irresistible excitement in making plans – the first step, the second step, the obstacles and hindrances and how to overcome and come out with flying colours. It is particularly satisfying to imagine the effect of the final results on others – the looks of jealousy and envy at our achievement and the great satisfaction of being better than the others. Year after year passes and we still make plans. We rarely put them in action. Only those plans which cannot be avoided are implemented. All others are there – in a rosy state in our mind and when we are mentally down, we pick them up and polish them and live in an imaginary world where we achieve all and are king amongst men! Our entire lives are spent in this manner. The man who simply dreams rarely achieves it. The man who achieves is the one who understands the significance of the dream and takes the action NOW. This story tells us the importance of taking action now; else it gets delayed forever:

A man came home tired after work. He took bath and got ready to have dinner. As his wife served him the food, she sat next to him and talked to him of the events of the day. She spoke of her activites during the day and then came to the topic of her brother. She relished speaking about her beloved brother and said: My brother has become a follower of Mahavir.  He speaks of renouncing the world and becoming a bhiku. The man laughed and said: He is just speaking? Then he will never renounce the world. 

The woman was hurt as her husband was speaking scornfully of her brother. She retorted: So you think you know everything? You have never met Buddha or Mahavir and have never made an attempt to understand their teachings. What knowledge do you have that you speak so ill of my brother? My brother is a great scholar. He understands the teachings of Mahavir. My brother does daily worship, meditation and reading of sacred scriptures. But you my dear husband, you do not do puja or read sacred scriptures. You know nothing and you sit on judgement on my brother!

The man stood up. He had half eaten his food. He walked out into the street. His wife ran after him and asked: What are you doing? Are you crazy? Come back and finish your dinner and rest. The man replied: I have renounced.  The man walked away. He did not come back. He had not prepared himself by sadhana for taking sanyas or renouncing the world. But the significance of renunciation stuck him and in that very moment, he gave up all and walked away. He reached the place where Mahavir was camped and surrendered himself to him.

The wife, her brother and his wife all came to meet the man who renounced all. They tried to convince him to come back saying it was a spot and hasty decision and he had not prepared himself for it. The wife tried emotional blackmail by weeping and crying. Her brother said: I have been preparing myself for twenty years and I did not succeed. It is not possible for you. So come back home. Her brother’s wife said: You must be a responsible man. When you cannot take care of your wife and leave her, how can you take care of the world. The man replied calmly: When you want to do something, you must do it. Not keep planning for years. There is no way I change myself now.

When we do planning with clarity, we must understand that all changes take place NOW and not in future. No one changes in future. Anything which has to be done or achieved, must be done right now. This moment is the right moment. Things can happen only at this moment. Not in any other moment. So let us reaffirm our faith in God, Guru and our practices and start our journey right now.

He sang for the Emperor of the Universe

Work! Every single living entity works. From the ant to the elephant, from the fish to the tiger- all creatures have their own share of daily work.  Birds, insects, animals, reptiles, plants and man have to work to eat, survive and be safe. Anyone who claims that they have achieved greatness by cooking, cleaning, washing and  doing such work are deceiving themselves. Even a mouse gives birth and takes care of its little ones. All other creatures live and survive by instinct and their nature. Only man is given the right and ability to rise above his human nature to the Divine level. We can use work as a means of attain the grace of Divinity. Let us see the example of the life of Swami Haridas and his disciple Tansen:

Tansen, the singing legend was one of the Navratnas or Nine Gems of the court of Emperor Akbar of Dehli. Tansen was a singer par excellence.  He had a mastery over the tones, pitch, beat and the ragas or tunes.  The Indian ragas are not just musical pieces. They are connected to the times of the day, the seasons and other natural events. Those who had mastery over the ragas could invoke the feelings and sentiments of the raga. Legends claim that when Tansen sang the Raag  Megh Malhar – this raga invokes the rain bearing clouds –it rained! When he sang the raga Deepaka, the candles in the court of Akbar light up by themselves. The beauty of his singing would calm down wild animals and make them sit and listen to him peacefully.

Emperor Akbar admired the singing of Tansen. He gave him the title Miyan. He always thought that Miyan Tansen was the greatest singer of that time till it occurred to him one day that Tansen also had a Guru who would be definitely greater than him. He wished to meet the Guru of Tansen and hear him sing. Tansen replied that his Guru was Swami Haridas. Haridas lived alone in a hut on the banks of the river Yamuna. But no one could order or request him to sing. Haridas sang when he wanted to. So if Akbar wanted to hear Haridas, he would have to go and hide behind his hut and wait for the Guru to sing and listen secretly.

Tansen and Akbar reached the hut of the Haridas at two in the morning. At three, there was a sudden outburst of heavenly notes. Haridas was singing. His song was like the song of the birds, the murmur of the trees and the swaying of the wind. It was incredibly beautiful.  He sang in ecstasy and his singing put his listeners into the same state of ecstasy. Akbar was hypnotized by the song of Haridas and was moved to tears. He even forgot that Tansen was there. After the Guru stopped singing, they moved from there back to the Royal Palace. Then Akbar asked Tansen: You are one of the best singers today but your Guru far surpasses you. How is it possible?

Tansen replied: O Great One – I sing for the Emperor of India but my Guru sings for the Emperor of the Universe! 

When Tansen sang, a part of his attention was focussed on the appreciation and gifts which Akbar used to shower on him. Singing was his business. When Tansen sang, a part of him was always checking out the outcome or the results of his singing. Haridas was a great devotee of the Lord. When bhakti overwhelmed him and his entire being was shaken by it, grace poured into him and he sang in love and gratitude to the Lord. The overwhelming grace which was the result of bhakti and surrender flowed effortlessly through his singing and soaked his listeners and raised them to greater heights of consciousnesses with ease. 

We need to learn this wonderful lesson on karma (action or work) and bhakti from Swami Haridas, the Guru of Tansen. We can sanctify our work and our lives by doing the work in praise of God or working for God. When the inner focus is on God, the work we do attains great heights of perfection and purity.

Even pretentious bhakti works!

From childhood we are taught to pray and love God. We learn by imitating our parents. We see our parents and elders bow in front of God at the worship corner at home and at places of worship. We also bow in the same way as we instinctively understand that what our parents and elders are doing is right. We see them worship God by offering flowers, fruits, milk and food. We also do the same. We hear the elders chant mantras, prayers and songs of adoration of God. We too learn to do the same. Love for God is natural in all of us. We learn the ways of practicing bhakti by looking at elders.  Bhakti has to be learnt.

Our elders are not perfect in their practices. We also learn the same imperfect practices from them. God and His Nature are a great mystery and it is difficult for us to understand and love Him in the perfect manner. Until our vices melt away and our ego drops off, our love for God will not be perfect. Till then, all the bhakti we practice is not pure. It is pretentious!  Meerabai, Kabir, Tulsidas, Jnaneswar, Shankara and other great saints practiced bhakti in its purest form. We have a long way to go before we reach those levels. Does that mean we stop our spiritual practices and stop loving God? No. We continue to love God and do the best we can. For every step that we take towards God, He takes a thousand towards us. By daily and regular practices of love for God, we reach the state of perfection some day. This story speaks of the blessings of even pretentious bhakti:

There was a shortage of fish in a particular area. A fisherman who needed fish to feed his family decided to sneak into a rich man’s estate and cast his net into the private lake which was in the woods.  The estate was well protected with many guards. The guards heard the fisherman go in and cast the net and created a racket. The owner also came running out. They carried lighted torches and sticks and began searching for the thief.

The fisherman was terrified and ran to save his life.  He could feel the others close in on him. He did not know what to do. As he was running, he saw the ashes of a fire under a tree. He dashed to the tree and smeared himself with the ashes and sat still pretending to be a holy man.  The group of men chasing him passed him by and did not notice him. The next morning, the search began again and the rich man and his servants searched the estate everywhere. The thief could not be found but they found a holy man covered in ashes, meditating serenely under a tree. 

The news spread like fire and all the village came to know that a wise sage was meditating under a tree in the rich man’s estate. People from the village came for his darshan. They saluted him and offering him fruits, flowers and sweets. Many offered him silver and copper coins and sought his blessings. His smile and hand lifted in blessings gave the people of the village immense peace and satisfaction that their prayers would be answered.

The fisherman was taken aback at the devotion expressed by the people. He thought: I am not a genuine holy man.  Yet these people show such devotion and love to me. They offer me so much. When I practice true faith, how much more love and respect they will offer me! Wisdom dawned upon the fisherman and he became a genuine seeker of God. He practiced sadhana and realised God one day. He lived in supreme peace and wherever he went, people got faith and peace by just being with him.

If pretentious bhakti done to save his life brought the fisherman so much of spiritual awakening, we can imagine the effect of real sadhana on our lives. We have the benefits of a Paramguru to guide us, the Siddha SitaRam Mantra and meditation. We are guided by the teachings of the Guru. Let us make full use of the blessings bestowed on us and practice till deep endless love for God overflows us and merges us with Him.

Desirelessness

Desires! Our lives are plagued by them. In the past, our wants were few and our desires were also few. As man progressed in commerce and science, new inventions took place. These inventions were commercialized, advertised and sold and our desires also increased.  Regular exposure to media, advertisement, drop in values of simple living and high thinking has increased our desires to Himalayan heights. Some of us work hard to realize our dreams and fulfil our desires. Others seek to achieve them through grace of God only. Yet others grab and seize the objects of desires from others and fulfill their own desires. Whether we work or pray or steal or grab, we seek for fulfilment of our ever increasing desires.

We must realise that it is impossible to be content and satisfied when we chase desires. When we achieve a desire, there is happiness only for a short period of time and then restlessness sets in. We begin chasing new desires. It is normal to want something bigger, better and newer each time. It is also human nature to want something that is opposite to what we sought the first time. After all we are well known for our contrary nature. This story of a man who did tapas and sought boons from Lord Shiva teaches us a great deal about desires and their fulfilment. Most importantly, it teaches us what to seek from God when we do tapas!

Sunder was extremely devoted to worship of Lord Shiva. He had been worshipping Shiva since he was a child and spent many hours daily in prayers and worship of the Shiva Linga. His lifetime of devotion bore fruit when the Lord appeared in front of him and said: I am pleased with your devotion. You can ask for three blessings or three gifts. You are entitled only to three boons. Sunder had worshipped Lord Shiva all his life and he had forgotten why he had started his rigorous tapas. His daily routine of pooja and worship was demanding and his worship was an obsession. He had forgotten what he wanted and so he thought over for some time.

After some deep thinking Sunder asked Lord Shiva for a particular gift. Then his mind screamed that it would not do.  He had asked a gift for his wife and felt it was not suitable, so he cancelled that wish. He was angry with his wife as he felt it was due to her the wrong wish came to his mind. In that fit of anger he said: O Lord, Kill my wife! Immediately, she was dead.  Sunder was shaken. In a fit of anger he wished her dead and now she was dead. He realised that he loved her very much. Hate and love alternate in any relationship and we generally tend to both love deeply and hate our partners. Sunder was sure he could not live without his wife. So he asked the Lord: O Lord, please revive her again. I love her very much and I cannot live without her. Two boons were used up – one for killing the wife and one for reviving her. Only one boon was left. So he asked the Lord to wait and give him time so that he could think over carefully and ask for an appropriate boon.

So Lord Shiva waited. Years passed and the Lord would come to Sunder after intervals and say: Now ask for your third boon. And Sunder would say: Please wait my Lord. I do not know what to ask. Sunder was unable to decide. There were so many desires but only one boon. He could not sleep. He became insane with stress and tension.  He took the advice of the wisest people around him about what to ask. But he was not satisfied with their answers. Then finally he asked the Lord: Please advise me on what to ask. I am going insane with so much thinking.

Shiva said: There is only one worthwhile boon to be sought in life. Ask for desirelessness. When you have this boon there is nothing else you would want or need or seek in life. You would be wholly content. Else you will keep asking and contradicting yourself like you did before.

The Lord’s advice is worth remembering. When we pray or seek anything from Divinity, seek ‘desirelessness’. It makes life peaceful, content and blissful.

Contentment

Contentment is a rare gem which is difficult to find in today’s world of endless desires, extensive opportunities and a vast array of objects of desire. The more we work to fulfil our desires, the more objects we collect or wish to collect and the more property we stand to lose. We spend a great deal of time in protecting our assets from natural dangers, theft and robbery. In the meantime, driven by competition, jealousy and need to be superior to others, we work at acquiring more and more assets. There is no peace in our lives and there is definitely no contentment.

Many people do not have anything and are forced to be content with what they have. This is not contentment, it is compromise. To have things in abundance and not be attached to them and be balanced under all conditions is being truly content. When we learn to be content before losing everything, then there would be no need to lose things to learn this truly important lesson. When we are content, no one can steal anything from us. Our belongings can be stolen or seized from us but not our contentment. Our inner balance and peace cannot be disturbed. We are always in equilibrium. The story of the Guru and his disciple given below teach us a very important lesson about contentment:

A Guru and his disciple were travelling since many months. They went from village to village and sang the praises of God and spoke of His greatness. People gathered around them to hear and learn about God and praise God along with them. But now the rainy season was setting in and travelling was difficult. So the Guru and his disciple were returning back to their hut. A storm was blowing and rain was fast approaching. As they reached their hut, they saw the wind carry away half of the roof. It was a small hut and now it had only half a roof and the dark clouds were still there in the skies and the wind was blowing strongly.

The Guru and disciple had no choice but to stay put in their home. The storm has still not blown away and the nearest village was far away. The disciple could not contain his anger and frustration any more. He burst out: We spent the last eight months singing the name of God and telling all His Glories. See what He gives us in return! Sinners sleep well at home in their comfortable warm beds and sadhus like us have their roof torn off from their huts. Is this how God rewards us? Is this storm also not sent by Him?  There is no justice in this world!

Then the disciple turned around to see what his Guru was doing. His Guru was kneeling with folded hands and looking up at the sky with tears of joy in his eyes. There was peace and supreme contentment in his face. He was singing in ecstasy: O Lord, you are very compassionate. The winds could have blow away the entire roof and also the hut. But You stopped it. You have left us with half a roof. We still have a place to sleep in comfort while the storm rages around us! Only You, my Divine Father can be so loving and thoughtful to His children! There was a world of difference in the approach and attitude of the Guru and his disciple. They entered the same hut. They both slept there. The Guru slept soundly and in great peace. The disciple kept tossing and turning. He grumbled and complained constantly about the blowing wind. He had no sleep despite being physically tired out from the long walk to his home in the storm.

The Guru woke up at brahmamuhurta (predawn time). It was cool and beautiful. The wind has dropped and the rains had stopped. The skies were clear. The moon sailed majestically through the clouds lighting up the skies with a cool brilliance. The sight moved him very much and he sang in praise of God: O God, if I had known of the beauty of the skies and the moon, I would have myself ripped off the roof to enjoy it. There would have been no need for You to rip off the roof to show the me the beauties of the skies and the moon. When we can sing like this under difficult circumstances, we are truly content and have the right approach to life

Contentment comes only when we are able to give up our vices and live in love, gratitude and surrender to God. Let us earn this rare quality by practicing the SitaRam Mantra, meditation and teachings of the Guru. In this world of endless desires and even more greater variety of products, contentment is a shining gem which is difficult to acquire but not impossible. Let us work for it and acquire it.

Always be on the Alert!

Vigilance or alert awareness is vital to spiritual growth. When we walk on the Divine path, we must be vigilant in thought, word and deed. We must take care of our physical body, eat pure and best food that we can afford, exercise and keep it healthy. We must take care to speak the truth and not hurt or harm others. We must not gossip nor speak with any malicious intent. Our thoughts should be pure. If we are not vigilant, laziness, sloth, inertia and other vices will overtake us. Our mind will keep churning useless thoughts and we will speak words which are ugly, hurtful and useless. Our actions will be mediocre. Only when we are vigilant, we will be able to correct ourselves immediately and make self-correction a part of our lives. This is the story of Punna and Buddha. It is about the importance of vigilance and its role in enlightenment. 

Punna was a slave girl. She used to work late past midnight and rise early and continue with her work. Once it was nearly midnight when she finished her day’s work. She had just finished pounding rice for the next day’s meal. She was worn out and paused to rest for a few minutes when she noticed that some monks were returning back to their monastery.  She wondered why the monks were up so late. She was poor and a slave. She had to work hard to survive but the monks were not servants. There was no need for them to be up so late in the night when they could sleep well in their comfortable beds. She felt that perhaps someone was sick or had an accident and hence they were up at such a late hour.

The next morning, Punna made a pancake from the left over rice flour and was about to eat it when she noticed Buddha passing by her master’s house. Buddha had come to Punna’s village and was giving regular discourses in the forest where his group of disciples were staying. In the mornings, he went about seeking alms from a few homes. Punna always wanted to make an offering to Buddha. She never had a chance to make an offering to Buddha as he rarely came when she had something and when she saw him, she did not have anything to offer. Now she had with her a freshly made coarse pancake. It was unrefined food eaten by the servant and slaves. She was afraid to offer it to Buddha but her intense desire to offer him something gave her courage to offer it to him.

Punna was very delighted when Buddha accepted her pancake. He took it and sat down in a suitable spot and ate it in front of her. There was appreciation on his face as he ate the food. Punna waited till Buddha had finished eating. Then she asked him about the monks she saw the previous night. She wondered why they were up so late and what they could be doing at such an hour.

Buddha replied to her: Punna, you do not have time to sleep because you have work to do. You are always vigilant and do work given to you at all odd hours as you wish to please your master. You sit up late at night pounding rice without taking rest. My disciples are also always vigilant. They sleep less as they work hard at being vigilant and mindful.

Buddha explained further to her about being vigilant. The status or power or birth of a person did not matter. Everyone should be vigilant whether it be a king or slave or monk. Only when one is vigilant, one is aware of the working of the mind, desires and ego which overturn the balance and peace in one’s life. Punna sat at the feet of Buddha and reflected on his words deeply. She attained enlightenment on the spot.

When we wish to walk the spiritual path successfully, we must be disciplined and vigilant day and night. Such vigilance helps to destroy the negative qualities and vices in ourselves. We never know when ego, attachment and ignorance can overtake us. Till the time that we are established in the reality of our Divine Nature, eternal vigilance is essential. Japa and meditation are forms of vigilance where we watch ourselves and see clearly the motive for any thought, word or deed and are able to change and transform ourselves. 

Act with Awareness

The soul undergoes birth in various wombs on earth – animals, birds, insects, etc. All creatures except man live by instinct and nature. They are bound by their instincts. It is only man who rises above his bodily nature and is able to realize his true nature that he is one with God. Man is bound by his desires and vices and whenever he commits acts in fits of anger, vengeance, lust, passion, greed, possession and lack of knowledge, he binds himself and the others around in twisted knots of karma which spiral out of control. One wrong leads to a backlash which again leads to another act of  revenge which again results in greater vengeance. The parties involved need to understand, have the knowledge of what they are doing and the wisdom to stop this spiraling cycle of karma. Only when they consciously put an end to the cycle of hatred, they are able to break the karmic consequences and stop the suffering. It takes a great deal of pain and suffering to understand that when we hit another in vengeance, we are cutting off our own knees. There is one such incident in the life of Buddha where two people wreak vengeance on each other and Buddha helps them to finally put an end to it:

A husband became unhappy and impatient with his wife as she was not able to bear him any children even after many years of marriage. The wife was also troubled and anxious as she was not able to give her husband the children he wanted so badly. She feared that her husband would leave her and take another wife. Before he took any such action, she persuaded her husband to marry again and bring home a young healthy wife to bear him children. But there was great pain and anger in her though she was sweet and polite on the surface. The pain of not having a child and being neglected by her husband was too much for her. Each time the new wife got pregnant, she put some drugs into the food of the pregnant woman and caused her to miscarry. By the time the second wife figured out what was happening, it was too late. Her body and systems had got damaged by the poison of the drugs and multiple miscarriages.

Before the second wife finally collapsed, she swore that she would make the first wife pay for her misdeeds. The karmic bond they had formed by the wrong deeds of the first wife and the pain and agony of the second wife caused them to be born and meet again. In one lifetime, one was a cat and the other a hen; in another life time one was a leopardess and the other a doe and each time they tried to kill each other’s babies. This caused more hatred between them and further strengthened the bonds of negative karma between them. Finally they were born as a daughter of a nobleman and an ogress. One day the ogress in her fury chased the nobleman’s daughter and the baby. The mother ran desperately to the monastery where Buddha was staying and fell at his feet. She begged him to save her child from the vicious ogress.

Buddha made both of them sit in front of him and admonished them. He explained to both of them about their past lives and how their mutual hatred began and how it continued and why they kept attacking and killing each other’s babies. If they had inculcated compassion and forgiveness in their first life, all this suffering, pain and killing could have been avoided. Their hatred for each other kept on escalating and binding them in the ugly cycle of kill and avenge. The lady and the ogress felt great remorse for the past hatred filled activities. They sought forgiveness from each other. Finally the cycle of kill and avenge was broken and they made peace with each other.

We may or may not believe in reincarnation. But the law of returns or karma always works. When we sow good, we reap good. We sow hatred, it only brings back multiple-fold hatred. Let us live in awareness and do away with the vices in us. Let us bring out the qualities of selfless love, compassion, forgiveness and peace which are the qualities of our soul and allow them to shine through in the acts of our daily lives. Let us act in awareness!

You are what you feel

Our mind creates our own personal heaven or hell. We may be in the best suite of a palatial hotel. But if our mind is discontent, the beauty of the rooms is a waste. We are restless, angry and frustrated despite being surrounded by endless luxuries and riches.  We stand in front of Shri Panduranga (Sri Krishna) in Pandharpur and do not see His Beauty and Compassion. Our mind is full of hatred and irritation for the greedy priests and teeming crowds which surround us and we wish to rush out of the temple at the earliest. The divine vibrations of the holy sanctuary where countless saints sang the glory of the Lord and where He manifested Himself physically and performed many miracles are not felt by us as we live in our own ego ridden hells of our minds.

We are what we feel. We may be healthy and fine but if we feel depressed and down, we become sick. A physical beautiful face and flawless skin are of no use if the person is ill tempered and foul mouthed. Such a person looks beautiful, but is in fact ugly. A kind and loving heart shows on the face and such a person is admired and loved even if not beautiful. A happy smile makes the face glow. Our health and happiness depend greatly on what our minds dwell on most of the times.

Our ego controls our mind. When the ego is strong, the mind is full of vanity, anger, pride, greed, attachment, lustful and materialistic. When bhakti or love of God increases in us, the hold of the ego lessens, and wherever we are, our minds and thoughts are focussed on God and His Goodness. When the thoughts dwell on God at all times and the Holy Name of God, the mantra, vibrates in us continuously, we are in a place of bliss and peace of our own making. Sri Ramakrishna speaks of a story of two friends who made their own heaven and hell with their minds and feelings:

Once, two friends – Jagat and Jiva- went out for a day in town. On the way, they saw a tent erected outside the temple and there was a gathering and people were hearing the sacred story of Srimad Bhagwad. Jagat suggested they attend the reading and gain sacred knowledge and wisdom. Jiva was not ready and went away saying he wished to see dancing girls.  Jagat sat at the temple hearing the stories of the Lord. Jiva wandered around and found a house of ill fame, where women were dancing and men were admiring them and drinking endless glasses of wine.

As he was drinking wine, Jiva felt disgust at himself and the dancing hall. He said to himself: Shame on me! I am such a fool. If I had listened to Jagat, I would have been at the holy place, listening to the stories of the Lord and His Leelas and gaining wisdom and grace. Jiva’s mind was full of remorse. Though he sat in front of the dancing girls, he was unable to drink or enjoy the dance. His mind was recounting the various Leelas of the Lord; of Sri Krishna’s birth, His miraculous escapes from the demons, the great love of His mother Yashoda for Him, the bhakti of the Gopis and the Lord’s Life in Vrindavan.

In meantime, his friend Jagat was sitting at the temple hearing the stories of the Lord. But within himself he was angry and fuming at himself. He thought: My friend is having a grand time and enjoying life. I am such a fool that I am sitting here. His mind was entirely focussed on the women at the dancing hall, the music, drinks and excitement there. In due course of time, both died. Jagat who sat at temple thinking of dancing girls went to hell and Jiva who was at the dancing hall thinking of the Lord and His leelas went to heaven. Man gets what he feels and thinks about.  Divinity judges us by what is in our heart and not where we are sitting or where we live.

Everything depends on our mind. Let us beguile our mind, cleanse it and purify it by doing the SitaRam Mantra Japa and dhyana. Following the Guru’s teachings and obeying him helps to cleanse, charge and calm the turbulent mind.  When SitaRam vibrates in our mind, we are always protected – from external dangers and from the dangers of our own mind! Let us feel only Divine Love at all times and live in that state.

Kaka Bhusundi - Guru Mahima

Uttarkand - Sri Ramacharitamanas

The greatness of the Guru – Guru Mahima is taught and emphasized in the Uttarkanda of Tulsi Ramayana – Sri Ramacharitamanas. In the Uttarkanda, the last chapter of Sri Ramacharitamanas, Tulsidas speaks about the Mahima or Importance of the Guru and Bhaktiyoga through the teachings of Kaka Bhusundi. The importance of the Guru and the respect that should be given to him are given to us through the words of Lord Shiva.

Each guru was once a disciple and then became a Guru. The original Guru who had no Guru is Sri Dakshinamurthy – Lord Shiva. The importance and status of a Guru are highlighted by Lord Shiva in the instance given by Kaka Bhusundi.  Devotion to God and what  it entails cannot be understood by us unless it is taught to us by God who is the very source of Love. It is very difficult to understand God as an abstract philosophy. Only those who have experienced and merged with God know the way and the beauty and purity of God. Only such people can teach us how to walk the path of God. Such persons are called Gurus. A person who has realised God and comes back to the world to teach about God is verily God himself. No one can merge in the Flame and Source of Love without becoming One with It.

Bhusundi narrates his own life story and his journey to extreme Rama Bhakti. When he speaks of his life, we can see reflections of our own lives and experiences in his narration. He was born in Ayodhya and was an arrogant young man.  Though he lived in Ayodhya, he did not have love and respect for Sri Rama. He was impolite and rude to servants and devotees of Sri Rama. He was a follower of Lord Shiva. He met a Guru who was a great Shiva devotee and had utmost respect and love for Sri Rama too. The Guru overlooked the arrogance and pride of Bhusundi and accepted him as a disciple and gave him Lord Shiva’s mantra. He also imparted to him teachings, knowledge and wisdom.

The Guru saw the misbehaviour of his disciple towards the servants and devotees of Sri Rama. He would reproach him and explain to him that reward of Shiva Bhakti is bhakti of Sri Rama. But Bhusundi was full of ego and could not accept what his Guru said. He felt he knew better than his Guru. He thought of his Guru as a kind but misguided soul who did not know about the greatness of Lord Shiva. His Guru knew what was going on in his mind and tried his best to correct him. Once when Bhusundi was doing japa in a Shiva temple, his Guru came in. Bhusundi did not get up and prostate to his Guru. He ignored him and continued his japa thinking of himself as a great devotee of Lord Shiva immersed in his worship.

Seeing the disrespectful behaviour of Bhusundi, Lord Shiva was angry and spoke out aloud in the temple: You stupid fool! I've had enough of your arrogance. Now I'm going to curse you, and you'll not escape from this curse! When the Guru heard that, he became very worried, and young Bhusundi also started to tremble in his seat. Lord Shiva continued: As you were too lazy and dull-witted to stand up and offer your Guru due respect when he entered, I'm going to turn you into a  fat, lazy python and you can dwell in the hollow of a tree! Hearing the terrible curse, the Guru was overcome with fear and compassion for his ignorant disciple. He prayed to Lord Shiva and sang the stuti  or hymn –‘Namami shamishana nirvanaroopam’ for mitigating the curse. The Lord was pleased with the Guru and blessed him with boon of undying devotion. The Guru asked that Bhusundi be forgiven. The Lord blessed that though Bhusundi will undergo many thousands of births in lower forms but he will remember his past and in end achieve undying love of Sri Rama.

The lesson for us to learn from this narration is that the Guru is always compassionate and forgives those who insult him. But God will never forgive those who insult the Guru and such people will undergo millions of lives in lower forms and suffer endlessly. Because of his Guru, Bhusundi achieved deep bhakti of Sri Ram but had to undergo the sufferings of the curse of Lord Shiva. Let us look into ourselves and see the countless number of times our egos proclaimed that we know better than the Guru and judge him and find him wanting. Let us recall the various instances where we have been disrespectful to the Guru because of our ego. Let us repent and not do such things again. Only Guru can intervene and protect us from our own misdeeds and failures due to our ego.

Gupta Navaratri– Ashadh Navaratri

Navaratri or the festival of nine days is celebrated four times a year as per the Hindu Calendar. Most of us are aware of the Navaratri of Rama Navami and the Navaratri of the Goddess Durga.   We are not generally aware of the other two Navratris. The four Navratris are: 1. Chaitra or Basant Navaratri 2. Ashadh or Varsha Ritu Navaratri 3. Aswin or Sharadiya Navaratri 4. Magh or Sishir Navaratri

The two main Navratris which are popular and well known are called Pratyaksha Navaratri or Prakat Navaratri. These are open and celebrated by all. These fall in the Hindu months of Chaitra and Ashwin. The other two Navaratri which fall in Magh and Ashadh are called the Gupta or Secret Navaratri. They are not widely known and hence not popular festivals. They are celebrated by only those who know about them and their spiritual importance. The four Navaratri which come after every three months are a reminder to us to be connected with the Divine Energy at all times and to renew and replenish our body, mind and souls with higher ideals and spiritual fervour. 

Worship during the Gupta Navaratri is very powerful. The peculiar combination of the planetary forces brings about spiritual vibrations and a specific atmosphere which are conducive to sadhana and tapas. Japa, meditation and pooja done at this time gives excellent results. The Gupta Navaratri of Ashadh or Varsha Ritu Navaratri is from June 20 to June 28 2012. Rituals and worship in Gupt Navratri differ from region to region in India. Ashadh Navratri is religiously celebrated in all parts of India but in different ways. 

As it is Gupt Navaratri means ‘unheard of’ or ‘secret’ Navaratri, there are no grand celebrations in this Navratri like other two Navratri. Ashadh Navratri is basically an occasion to delight Goddess Durga with Tantra-mantra and with offering other invocations. Like the popular Navratri or Durga Pooja which falls in Ashwin Month (Octover/November), Gupt Navratri of Ashadh month is also dedicated to nine forms of Devi Shakti.  The mode and rituals of worship are different from the Durga Pooja.

During the Gupta Navaratri of Ashadh, Sri Krishna, Sri Balaram and  Devi Subhadra come together stay together as in the form of Sri Jagannath and his companions. Sri Krishna is Sri Maha Vishnu Himself and Sri Balaram is AdiShesh Nag on whom the Lord rests and sleeps in Yog Nidra.  AdiShesh Nag also balances the earth on His head.  Devi Subhadra is Shakti Herself. When both brothers and sister come together, it is a celebration of love, peace and balance. There is no lust or anger or other vice in their relationship. They celebrate their love together and in all temples of India, processions of Sri Krishna, Sri Balaram and Devi Subhadra are taken out - the Rath Yatra. Devotees throng in thousands and celebrate the divine love of the brothers and sister. We learn to respect Mother Earth and the power which upholds Her – the AdiSheshNag and the power of Sri Narayan which nurtures the Earth and its beings and Shakti who is cause of all creation.

We have another very important lesson to learn from the reunion of Sri Krishna, Sri Balaram and Devi Subhadra. As the earth is flooded with the energies of Sri Narayan and Shakti and we worship the divine brothers and sister, we are filled with the same peace, love and compassion as they have. We let go our anger, hatred, jealousy, attachment, vengefulness and ego and spend the Navaratri in peace and worship. When the Navaratri ends, Guru Purnima comes in a few days. The tapas of Navaratri prepares us to receive the grace of the Guru during the Guru Purnima. The Guru is compassionate and pours grace on all. But it is up to the disciples to prepare themselves to receive the grace and this Navaratri which comes before Guru Purnima prepares us to receive the love, grace and wisdom of the Guru in full.

Things are not what they seem!

This Universe is God. The size and complexity of the Universe is mind boggling. With all the modern means of communications at our disposal, we are still unable to comprehend the complexity and size of our planet, the solar system and our galaxy. We are also aware of the innumerable number of galaxies out there. When we compare our physical size with our earth we are extremely minute and when we compare earth with the universe out there, the earth is very minute. Things are not what they seem and knowing all this, we still strut around in our own self importance and ego.

There are over 84,00,000 unique species on earth. Each one has been provided with food, water and suitable environment for living its life on earth. There are sets of complex plans working simultaneously with great precision to keep the planet and the Universe running smoothly. We can only marvel at the Master Planner who plans and executes all this with such accuracy. And our knowledge covers only the life on earth. The Hindu Sacred Scriptures speak of spectacular worlds teeming with complex and varied forms of life. 

We can never hope to understand in full the range and complexity of such detailed planning of life in the Universe. We can only trust that the Power behind all detailed planning takes care of our own needs. We see Divinity work in compassion and justice for all and understand that it is same for us. Things are rarely what they seem.  We live in expectations and if any event shifts even a little bit from our efforts and plans, we do not understand why and blame God for everything. When any good event happens we are overjoyed and when something bad as per our thinking happens we are sad. We must understand that Divinity has its own plan for us and it is the best plan for us. So let us accept events as they take place and flow with river of life. The story below illustrates this truth:

There lived a poor farmer with his son. He had some land, a small hut and a horse which he had inherited from his father. One day the horse ran away and the farmer had no animal with which to work the land. His neighbours felt sorry for him and visited him to express their regret at the loss. The farmer thanked them for the visit and said: How do you know it is a misfortune? Everyone felt that the man did not wish to face the reality and hence was deluding himself with such words. But it was good that he felt this way as it would help him to face his loss.

A week later, the horse returned back to the farmer’s stable and it brought with it a beautiful mare for company.  The neighbours were very happy for him and they understood the meaning of the reply the farmer had given to them before. They went and congratulated him on his good fortune.  He replied: How do you know it is a blessing? The neighbours were taken aback and thought that the man had gone mad. They wondered why the farmer did not see the hand of God and His blessings behind the event.

A few weeks later, the farmer’s son decided to break the mare in. As he was riding her and trying to control her, the animal buckled wildly and threw the boy off. He fell down on the ground with force and broke his leg. The neighbours came in with condolences and presents to visit the boy. The chief of the village came in to present his condolences on the misfortune of the farmer. The farmer thanked everyone for the visit and asked: How do you know that is a misfortune? Everyone was definite that the farmer was mad with sorrow. He did not seem to know the difference between misfortune and fortune.

A few months later, the King of the land sent his generals to recruit more soldiers for the army. All the young men in the village were forcibly recruited into the army except the farmer’s son as he was unfit due to his leg which had not mended as yet. There was a big war with the neighbouring kingdom and all the young men of this village died. The farmer’s son recovered and could walk properly and use his leg well. The mare was sired by the horse and gave birth to two healthy foals which the farmer sold at a good price. The farmer went around and visited all his neighbours to console them as they were always considerate and helpful to him. When any of them complained, he said: How do you know it is a misfortune? When someone was overjoyed with something, he would ask: How do you know it is a blessing? The people of the village came to understand that things were not what they seemed. Life has many meanings which go beyond mere appearance. Things are not as they appear, but all that happens, happens only for good. We need to reflect back and see the truth and blessings of Divinity’s plans.

Practice – not just preach!

The great teachers and Gurus always emphasize practice of spiritual truths and not just preaching. Unless one practices the truths and experiences them, there will be no power in the words or speech. Unless a man speaks with conviction of experience and knowledge of the truth, his words are hollow and will hold no sway. It is very easy to find out the persons who simply talk with eloquence and those who speak with conviction of regular spiritual practice. There is strength, confidence, assurance, sincerity and fervor when one speaks with the reality of experience.

Besides the path of spirituality, even at home or work place, the principle of “practice what you preach” is extremely valid. Ask any parent. He will say with a wry smile that every child knows when to point out the truths of the parent not practicing what he preaches to the child. Ask any employer. He too will verify that unless he does not practice what he preaches, the employees will not respect him.  When we hear someone speak about God and spirituality, we too can understand if the person practices what he preaches or not. Eloquence and the right vocabulary, knowledge of scriptures and ability to quote are all essential. But what really matters is the actual practice and the wisdom which comes from practice. Without practice, we cannot reach our goal.

Books, scriptures, talks, lectures are means by which we find the path to God. Their function is pointing out the way. Once we know the way to reach God, we have to walk the way and make effort to reach the goal. Knowing the way without taking action is of no use. Sri Ramakrishna gives a lovely example of this:

A man received a letter from home. This letter contained a list of items and presents which he had to buy to send to his relatives. As he was about to go shopping, he found that he had misplaced the letter. He searched for it anxiously and others who were with him also searched for the letter. After a long search, the letter was finally found. He was very happy that he had found the letter. With great eagerness, he opened the letter and read it.  He was asked to buy five kilos of sweets, a piece of cloth and few other things. Once he knew the list and where he should go and buy them, he no longer needed the letter.  

The letter is needed as long as the contents are not known. Once the contents are seen, we must act on them and not preserve the letter or simply speak about it. Scriptures teach us the path to God. After we collect the information, we must start our practices. Then only we can realise our goal.  Splendid oration from sacred scriptures may enthral the audience for a short time but will not have any positive impact as they are not backed by personal experience of practice. Study of holy texts for mere purpose of showing-off is futile.

The almanac give the forecasts of rainfall for the year. Even when we squeeze the book with all our might, we will not get a drop of water. Books show the way – but we must practice. Reading my advice on anger management will not get rid of your anger unless you put in efforts. When we read about the vast array of blessings of the SitaRam mantra, it sounds very enticing and exciting. But knowing them verbally or having them writing on paper does not help. We must take the mantra and practice regular and regulated japa for getting the results and grace of SriSitaRam.

“Talk talk and no power“makes us suffer in life and unfit to walk the Divine path!

Overcoming Mental Conditioning

We are all controlled by our past conditioning. We have lived in a certain style and in certain conditions. We were taught and we practiced a certain way of life and religion. We carry the burden of these conditioning with us all our lives. Our past crises, our decisions and actions affect us in a negative way in the present now. The more negative mental conditioning we carry, the more negative circumstances we create in our lives, and more we suffer from lack of abundance which is our birthright. Our past mental conditioning remains with us consciously or subconsciously. Sometimes, our mind shuts down our past and we bury our past conditioning for sake of survival. 

We grow up with strange beliefs: Worship of God must be done on Fridays/Sundays/Saturdays only; Germans are cruel; all Easterners are very pious; all Westerners are materialistic; all Jews are stingy; all Arabs are rich due to oil money etc. We have other peculiar conditionings which come from the circumstances of our lives – men are good/not good; women suffer and must overcome/ fight for their rights; meat is the best food and all vegetarians are rabbits  who eat carrot, etc. We become easily programmed to believe in all sorts of rubbish. We do not investigate and see the truth for ourselves. We simply accept that the fault is with others and not us. Our conditioning helps us to survive in the situations that we are placed in life. But when we wish to rise higher or change ourselves, they are a stumbling block in our progress. We are unable to understand why we do not progress as we generally think what we do is right and that we are perfect. We tend to overlook our own faults and the ghosts of our past in order to survive and cope up with life. The only way we can overcome our mental conditioning is to face and examine them and see them for what they are. We must face the truth about ourselves- that we hid behind the ghosts of our past and we face and overcome them. This story of a man who remarried and was harassed by the ghost of his wife, gives us the secrets of freedom of overcoming our mental conditionings:

A man lost his wife. He loved her very much. As she lay dying, he promised her that he would remain true to her memory and never marry again. He remained true to his word but after some years met another woman with whom he fell in love with and married her. On his wedding night, the ghost of his dead wife appeared and stood next to him. He was shocked but kept quiet. The ghost was unable to take the man’s betrayal and used to visit him daily and recount the happenings between the man and his new wife. Unable to take it anymore, the man went to a Sage. The Sage remarked that the Ghost was very intelligent and when she appeared before him the next time, he should pick a handful of grains from a sack of rice and ask her to count the grains in his hand. When the ghost came that night, the man followed the Sage’s advice. He held out his hand full of grains and asked the ghost to tell how many were there. The ghost disappeared immediately and never returned again.

Our mental conditioning projects issues and problems and we are caught in them. The mind projects from the past and we see only what we are already aware of. For that loving husband, the ghost was a creation of the mind. Most of our problems in life are also a creation of our mind. Let us face our own ghosts of past and stop projecting them. Then our problems disappear. SitaRam Mantra Japa and meditation and following the teachings of the ParamGuru help us to break through the past mental conditioning. The divine vibrations of the mantra give energy and the will power to face our own past and ghosts and help us to let them go. The past memories are washed off and we are empowered by mantra to face the present and future with a new perspective, knowledge and wisdom.

Let go to reach out to Divinity

We have endless desires. They are with us from the time we are born. The need for more colourful toys, then the ones which make more noise, later on bigger and better ones than others – we can see even tots collecting and holding on to things. When a sibling or a friend takes away a toy – there is chaos in the house and calm reigns only when the toy is restored to the original owner. As we grow older, the variety and nature of toys and possession we desire and collect change. But the desire for possessions does not change till death. Even at the point of death, we yearn to keep the wealth, name and fame safe with our families.

Desire and need for possession, wealth, name and fame is a spectacular and elaborate trap. Once we are in the maze, each turn takes us to a larger and more worthy possessions and desire. We are led to bigger and better items. Initially, we collect things as we feel the need to improve on what we have. Then we want to possess those things which are better than our neighbours. Then we want to be the best in the locality, then state, then country and then the world.  This need to possess becomes an obsession which is a cancerous growth. It consumes all our time, energy and efforts. We do not have time to enjoy simple pleasures of life, even enjoy what we have worked for and have accumulated as we are always on the look out to see what is bigger and better than what we have now.  Family, relationships, friendship, love, even personal health and peace of mind are sacrificed on the altar of desires and possessions. Relationship with Divinity – if at all there is one – is only a means to an end. We seek God only to get more and more of what we want and not what we need or require. We do not love God for what He is but for what He can give us. Unless we learn to enjoy what we have without this crazy desire for newer and better models, we will live our lives without being able to enjoy ourselves in any way – love, laughter, song, dance or bliss. Sri Ramakrishna speaks of one such example:

Once, a woman went to visit her weaver friend after a long time.  The weaver was weaving a beautiful rug from many different colour silk threads.  Both friends were very happy to see each other. They hugged each other and the hostess went to bring refreshments for her friend. The friend was alone in the room and looked at the colourful gleaming bundles of silk threads. The colours shone and twinkled and she was tempted. She picked up a bundle of gleaming silk thread and hid them under one arm.

The weaver returned presently and offered a variety of delicious foods and drinks to her friend. As they were talking and laughing, the weaver looked at her work in progress and realised that a bundle of silk thread was missing and that her friend had taken it. She wanted her bundle of thread back without accusing her friend. She told her friend that she was very happy and began to sing and dance. She laughed joyously and asked her friend to join in her dancing. When they danced, the weaver raised both arms and danced and asked her to friend to copy her. But the guest danced with one hand pressed to side and gesturing with the other arm. She said: This is all I know of dancing.

When we have possession and objects of desire, we hold on to them and are unable to let go. Then our expression of joy is also stilted.  We have fear in our hearts and keep holding on to the objects of desire. Like the friend in the story who held on to the stolen bundle of silken thread, we hold on to what we feel is dear to us and we are unable to raise both hands in dance, prayer or surrender to God. We are unable to express our basic nature - Bliss and Happiness. We move about in life like a physically challenged person instead of walking with energetic strides and moving freely. Only when we learn to let go and reach out to Divinity, we are able to move in life with energy, laughter, love and bliss. Let us let go and reach out to Divinity. It is the best gift we can give ourselves.

God is beyond all the Three Gunas

There was a thought in the Vast Consciousness and this brought about Creation. Since nothing existed apart from Consciousness, all creation is made up of consciousness.  Life in form of plants, insects, animals, birds, fishes, man, etc., came into being when forms were created with matter. These forms had a mix of the three gunas and a spark of the Supreme Soul and Universal Shakti entered the matter to give it life.  When the eternal living entity – the soul – comes in contact with material nature, goodness, action and sloth bind it. The soul which is contained in the body is conditioned by the three modes and governed by it. 

The Eternal Power is the Purusha. The created is the Prakriti. Purusha is beyond the gunas of satwa, rajas and tamas – goodness, action and sloth. Our actions in this material world are dictated by the mixture of the three gunas within us. At any point of time, one of the gunas is more and the other two are less.  At that point of time our thoughts, action and reaction are governed by the guna which is prominent. That is why we find ourselves to be a mixture of contradictions. There are times when we are very kind, loving and peaceful. There are other times when we are passionate, enthusiastic and zealous and want to take action, do work and achieve results. Yet there are also times when we are lazy, sleepy and could not care less about anyone and we have no second thoughts about inflicting pain on others verbally or by action. We have to reduce the tamas in us steadily and then the rajas and let the satwa be prominent at all times. This makes us good and spiritual people. But when we wish to realise God and be one with Him, we have to go beyond the three gunas- that is into our original state of Consciousness from which we were created. Then only we can merge with the Eternal Consciousness. 

Sri Ramakrishna illustrates the qualities of the three gunas in this little story he used to tell:  Once, a rich man was travelling with a lot of treasures and wealth. He had to pass through a dense forest which was inhabited by robbers. As expected, he was surrounded by three robbers, attacked and all his wealth and possessions were seized from him.  The first robber said: We have taken everything from this man. Let us kill him so that he does not go to the police and complain about us. Saying so, he lifted his sword to kill the rich man. The second robber stopped him and said: It is of no use killing him. Let us bind him with a rope and leave him here. Then he will not be able to go to the police and we can escape and be safe. So the robbers tied the rich man with a stout rope and left him and went away.  After a while the third robber returned back to the rich man and untied his ropes and released him. He led him out of the forest to the highway and said: Follow this road and you will reach home easily. The rich man was grateful and offered shelter to the third robber. The third robber refused as he was on the wanted list of the police. Once again, he pointed the right direction to the rich man to reach home and went away.

The first robber who said : We have taken everything from this man. Let us kill him so that he does not go to the police and complain about us – is tamas. It harms and destroys. The second robber who suggested tying up the rich man with topes is rajas. Rajas entangles us in a variety of activities and we forget God. The third robber who set the rich man free from the entanglement of the rope and guided him out of the forest and set him on the way to his home is Satwa. Satwa shows us the way to God. Satwa is full of goodness, love and compassion. But the rich man had to leave even Satwa behind and go home alone.

The path to the House of God has a long flight of stairs. Satwa is like the last step of the stairs. Next to it is the doorway to the House of God. To enter the House of God, we have to leave the flight of steps behind, even the last one and enter in. Only when we are beyond the stairs made of tamas, rajas and satwa, can we enter the Home of God. We cannot attain knowledge of Divinity unless we transcend all the three gunas.

Speak NOT ill of others!

All of us want a good life. A good life results from what we do and not what we possess or what happens to us. For having a good life, we should do good, refrain from doing bad or evil to others by thought, word or deed and seek peace. One of the easiest ways to fall or slip from grace of God is gossiping. We are very fond of gossiping. We speak exaggerated truth and false information about others for the sake of enjoyment of the scandals and false excitement.  There is a certain satisfaction for most of us to put others down, to spread scandals about others and speak malicious stories.  But we do not realise what kind of evil karma we incur when we do so. It is the same rule which never changes – we get what we give. We speak evil of others and we take on their negative karma on us. We carry our own burden of karma and also the karma of those about whom we gossip.  The following story warns us of the consequences of speaking evil:

Once, a sage sat in front of his home weaving a basket. He heard someone calling out ‘RamRam’ and walking along the road but could not see him. He asked his sister who was calling out the name of God. His sister replied that it was a miserable brahmin who was living with his own daughter in an immoral manner. The sage said: You are the 100th person to repeat this scandal. He looked out for the brahmin who was passing by and called out to him. He said: Go home in peace, your curse has been lifted! His sister understood that there was story behind the words of her brother and questioned him. So the sage told her the story:

The brahmin who passed by calling ‘RamRam’ was living with his widowed daughter. They were both generous and kind hearted. They would regularly invite sadhus and saints and offer food with love and respect. Their generosity was well known. Once, a sadhu came to their home to visit them. The father and daughter served him well. The sadhu was very pleased with their seva or service and decided to bless them. He  looked into them to see their future. He saw a horrifying sight and knew he had to tell the truth to them and help them. He called the brahmin and told him that after his death he would be tortured by a mountain of leeches in hell. On hearing this terrible prediction, the brahmin was shaken and fell at the feet of the sadhu and sought a means of escape this terrible suffering. The sadhu said: Once when you were cooking food, a leech fell from the roof into the cooking pot and died. No one noticed this and the same food was offered by you to a realised sage. There is a rule that whatever is given to a realised sage comes back to us a thousand fold. So there is a mountain of leeches in store for you.

The sadhu gave an antidote to escape the terrible fate in store for the brahmin. He asked him to conduct himself in such a manner with his widowed daughter that all thought ill of them and spoke badly of them. When a hundred people had slandered them, all the bad karma would be distributed over them and the brahmin would be freed from this terrible end. The brahmin behaved accordingly in public and all mistook him and spoke evil of him and his daughter. The sage’s sister was the 100th person who spoke evil of him and by doing so, the curse earned unknowingly was lifted off him.

When we indulge in unwarranted gossip and blame game in fits of anger, we dig our own grave. We take on the bad karma of other person provided he does not shout or scream back in return. When we look back at the various events in our life, we find that we have totalled up a horrifying amount of karma just by bad mouthing other persons. We must learn to speak the truth but speak sweet without anger, hatred and malice. We must overcome the need to put down others. The SitaRam Mantra helps us overcome this disease of the tongue and mind to speak evil of others. Let us pray to the Guru and Sri SitaRam to help us over this terrible sickness and bring forth the light of love, truth and sweetness from within. Really – do we need to add more negative karma to our already heavy burden by speaking ill of others?

Determination

We all like to be successful. The need to be successful in all fields of life makes our life worth living. Many factors help in making us successful: intelligence, talent, clear goal, determination and so on. When we look closely, we see that many intelligent people are not successful as they are not clear in their goals or determined. Talent or lack of it, is often used as excuse by lazy people who do not wish to work hard for their success. Even when goals are clear and defined, the success is not guaranteed. But when a person is determined to succeed, he is successful in whatever he undertakes.

Determination comes with a dogged will to continue doing the task till it is complete.  Determination is backed by strong will and discipline. More than that, determination is backed by renunciation. We need to let go of other needs and desires, the other urges and pulls which could eat into our time and effort. Unless there is a level of renunciation and detachment in us, we will find it difficult to overcome impulses and base desires.  The only person who can influence you or argue with you is yourself. No one else can shift you from your goals. Let us see such a story of a determined farmer:

Once in a certain part of the country, there was a drought. There was a river flowing, but it was at some distance from this place. All the farmers began to cut long channels to bring water to their fields from the river. One farmer was very determined and stubborn. He decided to work steadily and continuously till his channel reached the river and the river water flowed into his fields. He set to work at dawn and continued working. After some time, his daughter came to call him for his bath. He refused and continued digging.  It was past noon and the sun was high. His wife came to him and called him to eat lunch. She was annoyed at him that he did not have his bath or come home to have his food. She was angry that he overdid everything and that when he wanted to do something, he did not care about time or place or family. 

The farmer was furious with his wife and chased her away. The crops were drying and the cattle were dying. He feared for his family – for providing food for them and taking care of them. The thoughts of the grim future without food, water and starving staring at them in face had made him take a vow that he would not think of bath and food and would work continuously to link his fields to the river. The man worked the whole day with utmost dedication and determination. His detachment was very strong and no thoughts of drink, food or rest entered his mind. By evening he managed to link his long trench to river. He watched with great joy and as the river water flowed into his fields. He went home with utmost peace. He went home, had a bath, a smoke and his dinner. Filled with contentment, he slept well at night. The determination of the farmer showed strong renunciation and he was able to overcome the temptations of the daughter and wife calling, his tiredness, lack of food and rest. There was another farmer who was also digging a channel to bring water to his field. His wife came to him and asked him to come for lunch and some rest. He could continue another day as there was no need to overdo things. The farmer went home and tomorrow never came. With such mild determination nothing much can be achieved in life. 

We require strong determination and detachment in order to realise God. Unless there is no intense yearning, the mind will seek sensual pleasures and the body will follow willingly.  Just knowledge about the greatness of God or spiritual practices is not enough. We need an indomitable will to succeed and renunciation to overcome the pulls of attachment, greed, lust, ego, jealousy, pride etc. The Siddha mantra of SitaRam, meditation, following teachings of the ParamGuru help to attain grace which will increase our determination and detachment.  The man who is attached to his possessions can never realise God. So we must learn to live in this world like the lotus in the pond, without getting wet or dirty, yet drawing nourishment from the waters and soil below. With determination we can be successful in the main goal of human life – self realisation.

The Silent Guru

Dakshinamurthy – Incarnation of Lord Shiva

The quest to know about self and about God is an eternal quest. This quest requires the help of a Guru. A Guru is one who knows about God and who is enlightened. Only the  one who has merged with God and has come back into the body can show the way to God. It is said that only God knows God and hence God took the form of the Guru to instruct mankind about God. Dakshinamurthy is the Adi Guru or the original Guru who did not undergo discipleship. Every Guru was a disciple and received knowledge from his Guru before he became a Guru. There is a natural flow of knowledge and wisdom from Guru to disciple. The flow of this knowledge started from Dakshinamurthy.

The concept of the teacher or the Guru is presented in Dakshinamurthy.  Lord Shiva took this form in order to satisfy the thirst of knowledge of the Rishis who were created by Lord Brahma. 

 Sanaka, Sanatana, and Sanandana   and Sanatkumara were the manasputra or the mind born sons of Lord Brahma. They were pure minded and had no material desires. They sought to learn about the nature of Divinity and how to attain enlightenment.  Lord Shiva manifested as Dakshinamurthy in order to impart knowledge and wisdom to them. Dakshinamurthy means ‘One who faces south’.

He appeared as a young boy sitting under a banyan tree. His face was radiant like clear crystal and very peaceful. The magnetic vibrations of wisdom, knowledge and peace that emanated from Him drew the four sages to him. They understood that he was the real Sadguru and went thrice around Him in respect and prostrated before Him. They sat at His Feet and began to ask Him a multitude of questions about the nature of Reality and the means of attaining it. The Lord felt fatherly love and compassion for them and He answered their questions patiently. The sages were sincere and earnest and already had wisdom and maturity.

As Dakshinamurthy answered their questions, more questions rose in the minds of the sages. They continued asking further questions. The question and answer session continued for a whole year and still their doubts did not abate and the Lord kept his flow of answers flowing in His great compassion. Since their doubts did not lessen at all, the Lord went into meditative state and assumed the Supreme Silence. As soon as the Guru assumed silence, the disciples also merged in Supreme Silence and in the true state of the Self. Dakshinamurthy is also shown being surrounded by the great seven sages who sit in deep silence. The Guru transmits the Supreme Truth through silence. 

Dakshinamurthy is the personification of spiritual wisdom and knowledge. His teaching is through the subtlest form of speech called para vak – sound which is beyond the physical hearing. Para vak can be felt in the vibrations of silence. The silence which envelopes the entire cosmos is called the para vak. This endless silence is beyond the human intelligence, logic, queries and meaningless questions. His teachings are beyond words and thoughts and the listeners sit in silence and let the wisdom light up their inner self.

When we sit in front of the Guru, it should be with utmost reverence and in silence.  We should not talk or ask endless questions. We should ignore the chatter of our mind and allow the vibrations of the Guru to permeate our entire self and flow with the peace which emanates from his being. The light of wisdom and knowledge enters us automatically when we are in such a state. All the doubts and uncertainties in our minds disappear and we get the full benefit of darshan of the Guru. The finest and highest level of teaching takes places in silence when the mind is stilled. Let us do our japa practices and daily meditation sincerely and by doing so, silence the endless chatter of our monkey mind and absorb the wisdom of the Guru.

The Way Out is the Way In

It is common sense that the way out of any problem is the way by which we entered into the problem. We need to sit still and think over the problem we are stuck in: What happened? Why are we stuck in this way? How did we enter into the problem? We must accept the truth that we created our problem and we are responsible for it – not our parents or spouses or kids or relatives or our neighbor or our neighbor’s brother’s wife’s father or the neighboring country or the tsunami in Japan. Since we are responsible for putting ourselves in the problem, we are also responsible for finding a solution – a way out of the problem. Only we can do it. 

We suffer from bouts of anger, greed, lust, thirst for revenge etc.  We face these daily. Let us step back and see how it came and how we entered into it and became enslaved by it. When we reverse the direction of entry, we find the exit. It is so simple and yet complicated as we rarely acknowledge that we are directly responsible for our troubles and stresses in life. Instead of looking for the entry door to exit, we search for other means to solve the problem – which is primarily blaming others and trying to change others. Hence we generally fail in finding the right solution to the problem.

The stupidity of the human mind is seen in the behaviour of the bee. The bee enters the room through the door but wont exit the same way. It will fly around and try to leave through the window even though the glass doors of window are closed. Unable to find its way out, the bee will buzz around aimlessly in the room bumping into walls, furniture and fittings. We see the desperation and the frustration in the bee as it buzzes around. It becomes more and more scared and blind. There is no point in our shouting or directing its way out. It loses all normal capacities and intelligence. We too behave just like the bee when stuck with a problem.

This story is about how Buddha demonstrated the concept of solving a problem in this particular manner. He came to the assembly carrying a kerchief. As he looked around, he tied five knots in the kerchief.  He then asked if the kerchief was the same it was before the knots were tied. One of his chief disciples answered: The nature of the kerchief is the same but the form of the kerchief has changed due to the knots.

Then Buddha pulled at the kerchief and asked if he could untie the knots by doing so. The disciple answered: No, you will tighten it if you pull the kerchief from both ends. Please let me come close and take a look at the way so that I can understand how they have been made. Then only I can find out how to open them. Buddha was very pleased with him. He said: This is the most fundamental thing we need to understand when we have to fix anything. We must understand how we got into it and rather than asking how do we get out of it. If we do not know this truth of how we got in, we will make matter worse and the problem gets unbearable.

Let us learn to look at our own problems. We have created them with certain weakness and expectations or lack of certain qualities. We know how we went in. When we reflect with a calm mind, we will know the same way out. By doing so, we understand that we are responsible for our own happiness and our pains. Then we do not shove the blame on others. We work on self transformation. We reach the peaceful place within us which is bliss – which is the very nature of soul. We are happy as a desire is fulfilled. But this happiness can go away. Bliss is the nature of our soul. It needs no cause. It just exists. We are blissful for no reason. This bliss cannot be taken away from us as it is the core of our existence.

Let us learn to find the way out. It is the same way as we went it. When we see the bee in action, it is funny and frustrating too. When we reflect on our past behaviour we find that we have spent most of our lives buzzing. We are not bees. We are divine beings on a human sojourn. Let us learn to live with happiness, peace and balance and finally go back home.

Knowledge frightens most people

The enlightened are a rare and small group of people. They are wise and loving and peaceful. They are able to deal with problems of life with peace, balance and justice. The grace and power of the Light glows in them and they attract all life. Animals, birds, plants and Nature bow to the Light in them. There are many people who have little minds and are unable to take in the wisdom, knowledge or powerful charisma of such people. They try at first to befriend them and then slowly take over their power, popularity and position. The unique stature of the enlightened comes from their knowledge of truth and reality. This is not a position to be taken over by force or bribery or vast advertisement over media. One needs to have undergone the practices which bring one to this special level where one realizes that the Light is within and that all world is made up of the same Light. One must have experience of Truth of God.

The enlightened have always faced treachery and betrayal in their group and followers.  They are persecuted and hounded. Their enemies who are  narrow minded and unable to accept higher truths always try to destroy them. They overcome such hurdles in life with grace, compassion and truth.  These incidents are from the life of Buddha of how he faced hindrances and obstacles from a petty minded ignorant follower:

Buddha’s brother Devadatta was his disciple. Devadatta wanted Buddha to declare him as his successor. Buddhahood is based on self realisation. It is not a title to pass on. Buddha was already helping Devadatta as much as he was helping others in the group. Devadatta was not enlightened and there were many enlightened disciples in the group of Buddha. Buddha explained the truth to Devadatta that he could become a Buddha but there was no question of succeeding Buddha.  

In anger and hurt, Devadatta left Buddha’s group. As he was a prince, he had a small group of followers who left with him. Devadatta formed another group and became the leader. He imitated Buddha’s speech and mannerisms. But there was no light in his heart and no peace in his eyes. There was no radiance around him and no bliss within him.  Those who came with him saw him for what he was – an egoistic man who was hungry for name, fame and power. They left him one by one and went back to Buddha. He was left alone and blamed Buddha for all his misfortunes. So he plotted to kill Buddha.

Once Buddha was sitting on a rock at the bottom of a hill and meditating. Devadatta hid himself up the hill and rolled a huge rock down the hill in the direction of Buddha. That rock would have surely crushed Buddha. But when it came near Buddha, it moved away and changed course. The rock seemed to recognise the enlightened master and changed course to prevent killing him.  Devadatta was mad with anger when he saw this unnatural phenomenon.  He plotted once again to kill Buddha.

Devadatta’s father had a mad elephant that was always tied up with heavy chains. Hardened criminals were thrown into the elephant’s cage and the elephant trampled them to death.  Devadatta  bribed the mahut – the keeper of the elephant to  take elephant to the place where 

Buddha was sitting in meditation. The mad elephant came raging towards Buddha in great speed but when he neared Buddha, he suddenly slowed down, bent his knees and saluted at Buddha’s feet with his head.

The rock and the mad elephant showed more sensitivity to the enlightened radiance of Buddha than his enraged egoistic brother. Devadatta was denser in mind and intelligence than the rock and the mad elephant. He could not see Buddha for what he was. He was not ready to work for Buddhahood either. He just wanted to destroy Buddha and take over his name, fame and popularity. History repeats all the time and the enlightened will always face enmity from narrow minded people who fear knowledge.

It is how you say it!

Communication arises when a man wishes to say something to convey his inner feelings. There is an intent which is unexpressed within him which manifests as a thought in his mind. This thought expresses itself as an emotion showed by the eye or face or gestures and then the vocal speech or words are spoken out. We can see this in a baby who communicates well through his facial and body gestures and later on learns to speak language.

Syllables make up words and words have meanings. All syllables are sacred as they come from the Divine Vibration of the Universe. We must use words carefully as they have definite meaning and impact on the minds and bodies of others. We have been taught this from childhood and are drilled into the right usage of words. By the time we are adults, we have a good level of understanding of words and their impact and take care in using them.

Words express our inner feelings and thoughts. We do not have much control over our thoughts and our thoughts find their way of expression through the eyes, tone of voice, facial expressions, hand gestures and body language. However well we may use words, our inner feelings express themselves through our voice tones and body language. We convey less through our words and more through the tone of our voice and body language. We are not externally aggressive. But our anger and other feelings find their way through the tone of voice.

In the past, there was direct face to face communication. We also have voice communication through the telephone. We could see the hidden or masked feelings of the other persons and understand their feelings. Nowadays we use text messaging, sms, and internet communication. It is no longer face to face talk but the Facebook messages. The tone of the voice is well masked,  but the intent of the person is not. Hence the feelings of love, anger, pain, disgust, vengeance etc all come through the way the words are expressed in black and white. The words written are socially appropriate and politically correct, yet we can feel the hostility simmering in them. Let us see a story about how important it is to say it the right way:

The king of the animals, the Lion lived in palace, which was a vast and smelly cave in a mountain. Once he called all his subjects to his court. The animals trooped in and were engulfed by a terrible nauseous smell. The bear could not breathe and held his nose. The lion noticed this and was offended. He gave the bear a blow which knocked him senseless.

The Lion turned to the monkey and asked: Does my court smell that bad? The monkey being a monkey tried to curry favour with the royal regent. He replied: Not at all your highness, I think your court smells like a jasmine garden. The Lion knew this was not possible and was angry with the monkey. He knocked him down senseless too.

The other animals began to quietly slink out of the cave. The fox too followed all others. The Lion saw this and caught the fox by his tail and pulled him back. Baring his teeth at the fox, he asked: Tell me, does my court smell? The fox forced a loud sneeze and replied carefully: Your Majesty, I have a terrible cold. I cannot smell a thing so I cannot tell you whether your court smells or not. Because of his clever reply, the fox was awarded an important post in the court of the Lion.

Most of our problems in life would get solved if we learned to communicate in the right way. In order to communicate rightly, we should learn to express our feelings without hostility or rancour.  There will always be differences of opinion between people. This does not make anyone good or bad nor give us right to dominate or insult the other person in any way. At the basic level, we must learn to use the right words to communicate well and at the most subtle level, we must rid ourselves of anger, lust, greed, attachment, envy and pride so that when we speak, our inner selves reflect peace and purity. It is very important to check how we say the words when we communicate.

Illusion and Reality

This world is an illusion.  What we sense around us and what we experience are only illusions. To our senses, this world is real and we can touch, feel, taste and smell it. To say that the world is maya or illusionary is not escapism or inability to cope up with reality. Understanding this concept helps us to realize the truth of our nature and the cosmic reality.

None of us would like to have the validity of the life that we are living questioned in any way. The world we experience through our senses feels real enough. But the input data that we get from the scientific means of communication and the sensory organs may just scratch the surface of reality. The stream of information outpouring from the media reflecting the politics, social scenario, advertising only confuse rather than clarify. Physics now tells us there is no mass but only vibrating particles and what we feel by touch is not solid as it seems. The goods we buy are not what is reflected in the advertisements or the contents label; our appearances are not what they are and people rarely speak or do what they think. Our religious and political leaders give us knowledge and we are indoctrinated into a way of life which makes it very difficult for us to understand or accept the greater reality. And on the top of it, is our expectation from people, situations and God which makes all life very hazy and illusionary. 

Sri Ramakrishna used to tell a very apt story of a tigress in order to illustrate the world of maya or illusion that we live in. Once a tigress chased a flock of goats and pounced on one to kill it. At that moment, she gave birth to a cub and died. The cub was adopted by the goats and grew up to be one of them. The goats ate grass and the cub copied them. They bleated and the cub bleated too. It pranced around like the baby goats. Time passed and soon it grew to be a young adult who lived as a goat.

One day, another wild tiger attacked the same flock of goats. He was amazed to see a young adult tiger living with the goats. The goats scattered around bleating in fear. The young adult also did the same. The wild tiger chased the young adult and finally seized him. The young adult bleated in fear. The wild tiger dragged him to the water and showed their reflections in the water. The young adult was amazed to see that he looked just like the wild tiger. But he was still goat like in his behaviour. So the wild tiger took on the task of teaching him to be true to his nature – of being a wild tiger.

The wild tiger hunted and brought raw meat and fed the young adult. The young adult could not swallow the raw meat and blood and began to bleat again. Gradually, by regular training, the young adult learnt to eat meat and like the taste of blood and relish eating meat. He learnt to roar like a tiger. Now he was no different from his mentor. So they went together to the forest and lived and hunted together.

We are like the grass eating tiger. We think that we are mere humans and not a spark of divinity. We feel lost and bound. We doubt our capacity to get knowledge and wisdom. We are very sure we do not have depths of love and surrender towards God. When we meet the Guru, the Guru teaches us about our true nature and the necessary spiritual practices needed for us to realise our true nature. We realise that we are not the body. We realise that we are souls and we have a borrowed body. We understand that we are a spark of the Infinite and are Infinite. When the Guru’s grace descends on us, we have inner experiences of our true nature and who we are.  The Guru gives knowledge and experiences of the real and unreal. He teaches about illusion or maya and  the reality of the Light. Real knowledge takes us beyond the appearances into the reality as it is. Then we see and experience the world in a very different and wonderful way. In this Universe, God alone is real. All other things are an illusion.