Fall not into the Mind Trap!

Our mind is full of desires. It is always seeking for more and better things. It is rarely content. It is a bottomless cup and can never be fulfilled by any amount of power, name, fame or wealth. Even in meditation, our mind sets goals, seeks new things to be achieved and when these are not attained, it goes back to its discontented self and forces us to give up meditation.

When we do meditation, our mind goads us into goals – let us develop occult powers!  Would it not be fantastic if we had perfumes ooze out of our hands at our command? Have metal bend when we focus on it? Or read someone’s mind?  Produce sweets with a wave of a hand? Or travel astrally anywhere in the Universe without passport, visa, tickets or expenses?  People would be in awe as we sit in deep meditation for hours and touch our feet in respect! We could speak for hours on spirituality and meditation and have an admiring crowd of followers!

Meditation has nothing to do with such goals. Meditation is watching the mind and thoughts passively and understanding that we are not our mind or thoughts. It is an act of going beyond the mind to  know the reality of Soul and God. In meditation, we do not entertain the desires of mind, we do not chase desires. In fact, we actually stop identifying ourselves with our desires. When we chase goals in meditation, we are fooling ourselves and others.

Do not fall into the trap of mind. The mind cannot give us knowledge or wisdom. It is full of desires and lusts and can lead us only to falsehood. The mind leads us through endless cycles of ‘I want, I want more, I want what you have and I want all that he has!’ When we fall into the mind’s trap, we are caught in the endless cycle of wants and discontent, jealousy, envy and vengeance. The mind is never content and always wants more. This story of the man who pleased the Gods with his devotion brings home this important point:

Once upon a time, a man pleased the Gods with his devotion. So they blessed him with a wonderful boon.  He was granted a magic conch shell which would grant him anything he wished for. He asked for a palace and a magnificent palace appeared in front of him.  He asked for good food and a delicious banquet was laid out before him.  He was very happy and content with what he had and enjoyed all good things that he desired. 

The news of this man’s good fortune  spread wide and far. A priest from a nearby village wanted this conch very badly. So he visited him and halted at his palace for a day. He brought with him a conch called Maha- Shankha or the Great Conch. He showed it to his host with great pride and said:  Your conch is nothing compared to mine. Like you, I also did great tapas and pleased the Gods. So they granted me this Maha-Shankha.  It is unique. When you ask one thing, it grants two.

The man’s greed was awakened. He asked the priest to show him the Maha- Shankha. The priest placed the Maha-Shankha in front of him and with folded hands said: O Great One, grant me a palace. The Maha- Shankha replied: Why one? Why not two? The man was impressed and begged the priest to exchange the conch with him. The priest graciously conceded and then soon left. As soon as the priest left, the man ran searching for him. The Maha- Shankha only spoke but did not perform. When asked for one, it responded -why not two and when asked for two, it asked - why not four!

The mind is a Maha-Shankha. Every time blessings pour on us from God, the mind will ask: Why only so much? Why not double? The mind produces only thoughts and words. There is no reality in the mind. It is all lies. It sets fire to our greed and other vices. Let us not fall into the trap of the mind. Let us understand what the mind is and overcome it by SitaRam Mantra, meditation and teachings of the Guru.

Creating Sacred Space for Meditation

Just as brushing teeth and bathing are essential for physical hygiene, external cleanliness and robust health;   cleansing of mind is essential for good mental health and hygiene. Mantra japa and meditation are one of the means by which we cleanse our mind and loosen its hold over us. When we do mantra japa, we chant the mantra silently within ourselves and allow the vibration of the mantra to work through the physical, mental and emotional bodies and heal us. When we meditate, we watch our minds passively and see the onrush of thoughts in our mind. We do not judge ourselves by our thoughts. We merely watch them without reacting with the understanding that we are not our thoughts or mind. By not identifying with our mind, we learn to control the direction of our thoughts and actions and do the right thing even if the mind screams at us to do otherwise. Meditation is an extremely essential part of our life and must be done daily with sincerity.

It is important to create a special place where we sit for mantra japa and meditation.  It can be a corner of a room or a worship room where we sit daily for meditation. It is highly recommended for beginners to sit for meditation in the same place and at the same time. By doing so, they condition their body and mind to automatically go into the meditative state without much effort. This training is very much like drinking tea at 4 noon daily and we know when it is four o’clock and our body demands tea without looking at the watch.

When we meditate in the same place daily, the place gets charged with the meditative energy. Each time, we sit for meditation in the same place, the place gets charged more and more. These energies can be easily felt when we enter this place from other areas of our home. So we create our own sacred place for meditation. When we enter this sacred space and sit for meditation, our mind calms down easily and we have a good meditation. Over a period of time, the vibrating energies of this place help us to go deeper into meditation effortlessly.

Once we decide on a spot or room for meditation, it becomes a permanent spot.  We should use this spot only for meditation and not for any other activity unless there is an emergency. When we do other activities in the sacred spot, we change the energy of the place. Every place has its own energy. The energies of a play ground are very different from that of a kitchen. The energies of a meditation room are different from that of the living room. Almost all of us have experienced the calming and peaceful energies of a temple or a place of worship.

The energy of the meditation room must be maintained and increased by regular meditation. With each meditation session that we have in our sacred space, the energy build- up increases. We can also enhance the energy of the meditation spot or room by other means:

Placing pictures of Gods, Gurus and Saints which inspire us to meditate better

We can play soft meditation music, mantra, classical music or chants by the Guru 

Burn incense or fragrances or camphor

Keep an oil lamp or ghee lamp or candle lighted

Placing crystals

Keeping fresh flowers

Keeping the place clear of all clutter

Have like minded friends gathered in for silent meditation once a week or month

Through meditation we experience that we are not the mind or thoughts but the soul. This great secret which is known to all is rarely experienced by anyone. This can be easily experienced when we meditate regularly.  Let us create our sacred space and do our SitaRam mantra japa and meditation regularly. Let us receive Grace and know that we are the Atman.

Finding the Greatest Treasure of the Universe

The Rishis of yore, the great saints,  Men of God, the ancient texts and  sacred scriptures, all teach us the same truth – that the Almighty Power of God which exists everywhere, also exists within us. The entire Cosmos is contained within ourselves.  The macrocosm reflects the microcosm within us. This can be experienced by us in the depths of meditation when we go within ourselves. Then we discover the great truth about ourselves – that we are One with the Light and what is within us is also everywhere around us.  The Universal Soul and the soul within us are same and they exist together in unity and non-duality at all times. To know and experience this truth is finding the greatest treasure of the Universe. By doing so, we become ONE with the Universe and Divinity. We feel and experience the combination of the Eternally Formless with the eternally formed.

We learn through repeated experience  and disillusionment that money, gold, silver, land, diamonds etc  do not satisfy us as we keep yearning for more and more. Such wealth is not a treasure. Something which is eternal and fills us with contentment and bliss is worth searching for and is the greatest treasure of the universe.  The story of the woodcutter and the sage teaches us this great truth:

Once, there lived a poor woodcutter who lived at the edge of the forest. He used to go into the forest daily and cut wood and sell it in the market to earn his living. Every day, he would pass by a Sage sitting in meditation under a large tree in the forest. The joy, peace and contentment on the face of the Sage used to attract the woodcutter but he never dared to speak to him. One day, he decided to seek blessings from the Sage. The Sage asked him: Go deep into the forest and went into meditation again. That day, the woodcutter went deep into the forest and found many large sandal wood trees. The sandal wood he cut and sold on one day gave him enough money for a week. So he began to cut sandal wood just once a week. 

After some days, the woodcutter recalled the words of the Sage and decided to go deeper into the forest. There he found a silver mine. He was very happy. He collected some silver and ran back to the Sage to give his thanks. The Sage merely repeated his words: Go deeper into the forest.

The next day, the woodcutter went further to the silver mine and found a gold mine in the deep forest.  He pinched himself to make sure he was awake.  He wanted to collect all the gold he could and become a rich man. Then suddenly, he recalled the words of the Sage: Go deeper into the forest. So he went deeper into the forest. The path was not easy. He could hear the howls of wild animals. It was very dark in some places. But something within him kept on pushing him to move deeper into the forest. At times he felt that he could easily sell the gold and silver and have a comfortable life and why go so much within and face danger?  But he persevered and finally came across a diamond mine. 

The woodcutter was delirious with joy. He sat under a tree and reflected. Just weeks before he was very poor and could barely earn enough to feed himself and his family. Now he was the richest man in the country. And it was all because of the blessings of the Sage. The Sage knew that the sandalwood trees, silver, gold and diamonds were found here. Yet he sat under the tree in meditation. Surely he had something far more valuable with him!  He went back and fell at the feet of the Sage and asked for his blessings again. The Sage touched his face lovingly and said: I was waiting for this day. Now sit here in meditation. Go deep within yourself. On the way you will see beautiful things, lights, colors, siddhis  and powers. The path will sometimes be dark and dangerous and you may feel scared. But keep on going deeper. You will then find Yourself – that You are one with God! This is the greatest treasure of the Universe!

Let us also seek the greatest treasure of the Universe. Let us be regular in our practices of SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru and go deep within ourselves. We too will find the great treasure waiting for us to uncover it.

How to have better meditation

All of us have heard of the benefits and blessings of meditation and would definitely like to have a better meditation. In order to have a good meditation, we must first have basic knowledge of “what is meditation” and how it works. We should also know “what is not meditation”. The previous blogs give information on what is meditation, how to do simple meditation, why we need to meditate and what is not meditation.  Now let us look into other factors that help in having better meditation:

Be regular and sincere in meditation. Mediate daily and if possible at the same time. This helps our mind and body to settle down more easily and flow with the practice of meditation. In meditation, we build up energy slow and the move gradually and smoothly to  the next level. If we miss out meditation even one day, we suffer a huge loss. Our energy comes down and it takes effort of many days to make up the level. Do not skip the daily meditation for small and silly reasons. Give meditation  highest priority in your daily routines.

Good health is essential. We should take proper care of our body and keep it fit. Light physical exercise, specially walking, is very good. Sufficient sleep, rest and relaxation and  good physical hygiene  are also essential. When our body is fit and relaxed, we can meditate better.

The kind of food we eat creates the type of energy we receive. We become what we eat. Eating the right foods also help in meditation. Fresh vegetarian food which is satwic is good for meditation. Fresh grains, pulses, vegetables, fruits and milk  are very good for the body and give the body  energy that is close to the primary source of energy of this world – the sun. Non vegetarian food carries the energy of low consciousness of the animal and brings down our energy levels. A non vegetarian who meditates will have to put in extra efforts to transform the energy of the non vegetarian food he eats into higher form of energy. Foods that are spicy and oil creates excitement in us and are not good for meditation.

It is good to create a meditation space. We should keep a special corner reserved for meditation, where we sit daily and meditate. We must keep this place clean and light oil lamp/candle and incense there. We can also keep pictures of God and Guru here. When we meditate in such a place daily, we charge the place with our energy and it helps us in reaching the meditative state easily. Our meditation asan or seat  (cotton or woolen blanket) also get charged with our energy and should not be shared with anyone. An asan helps us to sit comfortably and prevents the energy of meditation from getting earthed.

When we sit for meditation, we should do deep breathing for a few minutes and sit with our back straight. The easy posture with crossed legs and  relaxed hands with palms over each other is one of the best postures for meditation as it holds the circuit of energy created by mediation within our body and ensures that no energy is leaked into the atmosphere.

Right company or satsang is essential. Keeping in touch with Guru, reading sacred scriptures, reading  the teachings of Enlightened Masters inspire us to meditate regularly. We should reduce our television watching, mobile phone talks and newspaper reading. We should be in company of like-minded people who are focused on meditation and God.

Meditation takes us beyond our desires, thoughts and mind to our soul. It is not for seeking occult powers or other gains. We should meditate regularly and allow the meditation to grow at its own pace. With the right understanding of how to meditate well, let us practice the SitaRam mantra, meditation and follow the teachings of the Guru and lead a peaceful and happy life.

Beyond Reason or Logic

The Enlightened – Trailinga Swami – Part 7

There is so much of noise and confusion in the world today as differences are emphasized all the time. The feelings of superiority, color, caste, race, status, sex, wealth, power, position etc create walls between us and we vent out our anger and frustration through word and action. The Man of God dissolves his ego and self into the Divine Light and sees the world as a stream of  Light. For him, all creation is play of Light of God. There is no difference or distinction or discrimination in his mind towards anyone. He is full of divine love and silence.  Such was the state of Trailinga Swami who saw no distinction between himself and others and gave up even his clothes and remained in smiling silence most of the times.

During the times of Trailinga Swami, the British ruled India. The British Officers labelled Trailinga Swami as a nuisance and a social disgrace due to his nudity. There are many hilarious incidents related to British Officers and Trailinga Swami. Once, an official complaint was registered against Trailinga Swami and a policeman was sent to arrest the holy man. The police man set off for the completion of his duty and came back with a report that the holy man kept disappearing whenever he neared Trailinga Swami to arrest as instructed.  The logic and intellect of the Magistrate could not accept such a statement from the policeman and a large search party was sent to bring in the culprit. When the search party was looking out for the holy man, Trailinga Swami appeared in front of the Magistrate laughing hilariously. An Indian official informed the Magistrate that Trailinga Swami was a great Siddha and viewed all creation as one.

The Magistrate wished to test this statement and offered Trailinga Swami a plate full of meat to eat. He was aware that meat was forbidden for Hindu Saints. Trailinga Swami agreed at once with a smiling face and also requested the Magistrate to have his food. The Magistrate agreed and served Trailinga Swami the plateful of meat which was eaten with gusto. After eating his meal, Trailinga Swami squatted and defecated into the palm of his hand and offered the ‘food’ to the Magistrate to eat. The Magistrate was shocked and swore aloud. He swore even more when he saw that the offering in Trailinga Swami’s hand had transformed into fresh, fragrant sandalwood paste. Now wholly convinced of the heights of spiritual stature of Trailinga Swami, he protected the holy man throughout the district. 

When this Magistrate was transferred to another district, a new Magistrate took his place. He too reacted to the nudity of Trailinga Swami with outrage and had him arrested and jailed. The following morning, the Magistrate visited the prisoner to tell him off. As he entered the jail grounds, he was greeted by the smiling prisoner who was ambling about. The Magistrate was outraged and demanded to know who let out the prisoner from his cell. No one had. Trailinga Swami remarked that early in the morning, he wished to urinate and came out. The Magistrate was infuriated and had Trailinga Swami locked in an even more secure cell. As the Magistrate left, he felt someone follow him and turned to see Trailinga Swami walking behind him.

Trailinga Swami told the Magistrate: This world is created by the Infinite Consciousness and is filled with unlimited possibilities. There are many things you are ignorant about. The one who has reached the heights of yoga has merged himself with the Infinite Consciousness.  He cannot be bound by anyone or anything. You cannot do anything to me. Your power and authority have no value before the Power of Infinite. The Magistrate bowed humbly before the greatness of Trailinga Swami and issued orders to leave the holy man alone.

The actions and words of a Man of God are beyond reason or logic and are guided by Divine Directions. They teach us that, indeed, there is a God and He is all pervading. Let us work to reach God with our regular spiritual practices of SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru.

Training of Mind

Our mind is a part of us. We identify ourselves with our minds so intimately that we see our body and mind as our base identity. We see our thoughts and mind as us and rarely connect ourselves with our soul. We  know the truth that body is a temporary home for the soul. We also know that the mind produces thoughts, yet we identity ourselves with our thoughts completely. Training of body and mind are important for good health. In order to have good health, we need to exercise and eat right foods. We need to control and command our body to exercise, bend and stretch. We need to guide and control our tongue to the right foods. In order to have vibrant mental health, we need to have control over our mind and thoughts.

Our mind is the eternal monkey leaping from here to there in an instant. Our mind dwells in the past and in future. It talks eternally of possibilities and ifs and buts. It rarely dwells in the present now. It does not discuss things that are currently happening. It is full of desires. It has endless lists of wants and demands. It rages, lusts for, plots for vengeance, has attachments, goes into depression when its wants are not fulfilled. It is pulled in all directions by  the five senses and leaps and darts around to fulfill its  desires. The mind is goaded by the ego into senseless talk of self importance, self delusions, self grandeur and judgement. Every single thing around in the outside world attracts the mind and the mind measures everything with judgment of like, dislike and wanting and not wanting. It is not at peace and does not let us live in peace.

We often feel that the mind is a part of us and  therefore should obey our commands . When we order it to be at peace it should be and when we ask of it to meditate, it should. But this rarely happens. The mind runs around as it is pulled by the five senses all the time. It is a logical and understandable question when we seek to know: Why do I need to meditate? It is ‘my mind’. Then it should listen to me and meditate by itself. Why does it keep scattering around all the time like sands on a beach?

Ramana Maharishi was once asked this question and he gave the answer in his inimitable style. At the time when the query was raised, a squirrel had given birth to several babies. The mother squirrel was caught and eaten by a cat and Ramana Maharishi’s great love and compassion took over and the newly born babies found a divine mother to take care of them. A cage was placed in the meditation hall and the baby squirrels were placed inside it safely and taken care of. A few days later, the baby squirrels escaped from the cage and at the same time the cat came into the meditation hall. Ramana Maharishi got up quickly and caught all the baby squirrels one by one and placed them safely inside the cage and locked the door firmly.

Ramana Maharishi then explained to the devotee who asked the question about mind: These baby squirrels are not mature enough to know the dangers of the world. They are not aware of the danger from the cat and that they can be eaten in a trice.  When they are older and mature, they can sense danger, run and ride. Till such time, we have to keep putting the baby squirrels inside the cage and protecting them. It is the same with our mind. Our mind does not know that when it goes to the outside world, it  keeps suffering.  So it keeps running out of ignorance. When it is mature and then it goes out for a walk, it will be safe. Until then, we must pull our mind inside within us. We must make effort and meditate. Once we are strong in our meditation, it is safe to let the mind outside. It can sense dangers, run and hide and protect itself.

The external world is full of pitfalls and dangers. Our mind can easily get entrapped anywhere and everywhere. Our mind is not capable of meditating by itself. We have to train our mind by mantra japa, meditation and following the teaching of the Guru. Only by taking the mind within and guarding it, we can keep it safe till it is mature and strong to move in the world without getting hurt or destroyed.  Let us not waste a moment and be steady and regular in our practice of SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru.

Meditation – The Art of Slowing Down

We are always in a hurry to learn quickly or achieve results fast. If we attend a dance class, we wish to perform on stage within six months; if we go for computer studies, we wish to create software by the time our course ends. This need for quick results is utilized to the maximum effect by Advertising World. They give us creams for  becoming fair within four weeks, whiter teeth within ten days, longer and thicker hair by a month and an hour glass figure within six months. With help of science and technology, seeds produce fruits, crops and cereals in shorter periods of time. Machines and computers help us to quicken our work and give faster results. We live in a state of constant motion mentally and physically. This leads to greater stress which pushes us to a quicker death at a younger age though science and medicine has helped tremendously in healing of body.

Meditation is the state of being aware. We sit in a state of awareness and watch our mind and thoughts without reaction. We see the parade of our thoughts – of our desires, pain, happiness, lust, greed, attachment, vengeance, of past and future. We see our hopes and ambitions rise from deep within us and reach out for fulfillment  When we sit in meditation, we watch our thoughts in full technicolor parade dancing in front of us. We do not react. We do not pass judgement. We simply watch in a detached manner and continue with the mantra we are chanting within us or keep watching the breath. By doing so, we learn about our mind, our thoughts and  desires. Regular meditation helps us to know our mind and thoughts and to transcend the mind and thoughts and reach the inner self – the Soul.

To sit in witness of our thoughts in a detached manner is not easy. We need to train ourselves to sit in meditation. It takes courage to watch the ugliness of our thoughts and be detached. We need to be sincere and truthful to ourselves. We have to acknowledge and let go of our thoughts, desires, ambitions and pains. This takes time and regular effort. Meditation is done to know self and not for fulfilling the desire of our ego in announcing to all that we also meditate. Our mind is in an eternal hurry to achieve its goals and ambitions. If we expect the results of meditation to be achieved in a short period of time, it is not possible. We will surely miss out meditation. We need to slow down and learn to be still by watching our mind with detachment. Only by taking time, we can master our mind and the self. This truth is given in this story of the student who wanted to master the art of sword fighting in a short time:

An ambitious young man wanted to learn the martial art of sword fighting of South India. He went to a famous master and sought to become his disciple and learn this wonderful art. He spoke at length about himself to the master – of how clever and intelligent he was, how sincere and hardworking he was and how he would be the best ever student the master had in his lifetime of teaching. 

Then the young man asked the master: Now that you know about me, please estimate the time it would take a person like me to learn and master the martial art of sword fighting.  

The master replied casually: 10 years!

The young man was taken aback and said: Master, I wish to learn quicker than that. I will work  harder.   I will double my efforts. I will be extremely regular and disciplined. Then how much time will it take me to master the sword fighting?

The master thought over for a few minutes and then replied: 20 years! 

Learning and mastering certain arts and attaining knowledge and wisdom take their own time. We cannot hurry the process. The more we try to speed up, the more time we lose! Meditation is an art and must be practiced with patience. Sincerity and regularity in meditation helps us to slow down the thoughts of our mind and know ourselves better. The process goes on at a speed that is the right one for our personal development. It takes its own course. The only factors that we can control are our daily efforts and letting go of expectations. Meditation helps us to slow down our thoughts so that we can look at them objectively and think and act and not react. When we think and act, we have a better chance at success in all the work we do. Let us be sincere and regular in the SitaRam mantra japa, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru.

Cleanliness

Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Except for worship of God which is the primary duty of man, being clean is the next most important thing in our lives. We always give importance to bath, fresh clean clothes and personal hygiene.  Cleanliness is a hallmark of a civilized man. Initially man learns to clean his body, clothes, his home and  surroundings.  

As man progresses, he learns to clean his mind and his emotions.  He learns to watch and observe his thoughts, words and deeds and correct himself where necessary. He works on himself and gives up all negative qualities from within – anger, lust, attachment, greed, pride and vengeance.  He first learns to control his negative actions, then his speech and  finally  learns control at the thought level where he does not think wrong of anyone.

Cleanliness is a matter of inner inclination. Some people are clean by nature. When we are clean, we are free from diseases. We are healthy and happy. We are cheerful. This helps us to work well and in a disciplined manner.  Cleanliness is also a highly developed habit. Many people are very clean. And we find that many animals are also very clean and fastidious about personal hygiene. In order to be fully clean, we should also take care of the cleanliness of all our surroundings. This is an incident from the life of a royal horse which brings home the lesson of cleanliness:

Once upon a time, in a kingdom in India, a king had an excellent stable of horses. The finest horse was the King’s personal horse. The royal horse was bathed daily behind the palace. The grooms took him daily to the same shallow pool near the river and washed him. On a particular day, before the royal horse was taken for his bath to the shallow pool. Just a short time before, a very dirty horse had been washed in the same pool. He was a wild horse and had been just captured and never had a proper good bath in his life. The royal horse sniffed the air. He can smell the filth of the wild horse that had bathed there and fouled the water. He was disgusted and neighed and galloped back to the stables.

The grooms tried their best to get the royal horse back and bathe him but he did not cooperate. So they went to the King and complained that his favorite horse had suddenly turned rouge and was unmanageable and stubborn. The King was worried that his stallion had fallen sick and hence refused to bathe, be clean or obedient. He was definite that his noble steed would never let himself sink into dirtiness. So something was surely wrong. He sent his wise minister to look into the matter.

The minister went to the pool near the river. He saw the royal horse tied up there near a tree and the grooms trying their best to bathe him. The horse was in perfect health. He noticed that the horse was trying to breathe as little as possible. So the minister sniffed the air and found a slight dirty smell. He traced this dirty smell to the pool of water. Then he came to know that a very dirty horse was bathed there. The King’s horse was extremely clean and refused to bathe in the filthy smelly water. So he ordered the grooms to take the royal horse to the river itself and wash him there. The royal horse bathed happily in the clean water of the river and returned back pleased with himself. He refused to let himself sink into dirtiness!  

We should also follow the example set by the royal horse. We should be fastidious about our physical cleanliness and keeping our homes and surroundings clean. We should take even greater care to keep our mind, thoughts and emotions clean. Only in a clean and empty mind, the Light of God can seen burning brightly. The clean inner self helps to unveil the presence of divinity within us and merge with the Universal Light. Let us be regular in the practice of SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru and achieve the external and internal cleanliness.

What Meditation is NOT!

The word ‘meditation’ is used in all sorts of conversations. It was commonly used in the past and today too. Only a handful of people really know the meaning of meditation. Meditation is misunderstood and many practices are done in the name of meditation which is not really meditation. There is a great deal of wrong information, misconception and misguidance floating around the net and in life in the name of meditation. Let us try to understand some of these myths about meditation:

Meditation is for religious people! This excuse is used by many as a reason for not meditating. They claim they are not religious and hence will not meditate. In reality, everyone should meditate. It should be taught from a young age and all should practice it. This will help us to face the stress and competition in the world today. It should be taught in schools, colleges, companies and business schools as part of syllabus.  Housewives should also meditate as they bear the brunt of tensions of the entire family.

Meditation belongs to Eastern and Hindu Philosophy! I find that practicing it is disrespectful to my religion or beliefs. Meditation does not belong to any place – east or west. It is not the property of any religion or country or race. It is not trademarked by anyone. Every living being has a right to meditate. It is the property of all mankind. The soul within us is a spark of the Universal Energy. Every soul has a right to know from where it originated and where it has to return to. Meditation is a method by which we connect to our soul and the Universal Energy. It takes us back home to God.

Meditation is concentration! Meditation is generally confused with concentration.  Concentration is focusing our thoughts on a single topic or thing and it makes our mind strong and one pointed. Meditation is done in order to make the grip of mind on us weaker. We stop identifying ourselves with our mind and thoughts and go beyond the mind into the reality of awareness of Being. By meditation, we train ourselves not to be disturbed by the mind or thoughts. This helps us to focus on our work at hand and complete it efficiently in a shorter time.

Meditation is contemplation! Contemplation is to think deeply about something. It is to consider, reflect or muse on a topic. For this we need to use our mind and weight pros and cons of the matter on hand. Anything done by using the mind is not meditation. Contemplation is not meditation. In meditation, we disregard the mind and watch the activities of the mind without participating in it.

Meditation is chanting mantras! I cannot meditate as I will not use Hindu mantras like Om or SitaRam. Om is universal sound vibrating in the Universe and found in all religions. SitaRam mantra is the combination of the negative and positive aspect of Energy of God. It does not belong to any religion. When ANY mantra is chanted properly, it leads to a meditative state but chanting of mantra is not meditation.

Meditation is prayer! We all pray to God for material and spiritual gains. Praying is not meditation. In meditation we become thoughtless and empty and the light and love of God fills us. This is real prayer.

Meditation means the Lotus posture!    The lotus posture gives stability to body. But this posture is not easy for westerns and the elderly. Simply sitting with a straight back helps. Those who cannot sit on floor can sit on chair or sofa too. Once we are established in meditation practices, we can be in meditative state in any posture and in any place.

Meditation is relaxation! Relaxation is releasing the stress from body and mind but does not bring any inner transformation in us. It is just one of the advantages and aspects of meditation. In meditation, there is a relaxed awareness. We are not stressed by our thoughts or mind as we watch them passively. Meditation brings an inner transformation as we know that we are not our mind and thoughts.

Meditation means going to jungles and mountains or leaving the family! This is a favorite excuse for not meditating. In the beginning we need a clean corner to sit and meditate. Later on the meditative state remains with us everywhere - in the market and at work. We can practice meditation at home or school or workplace. There is no need for isolated places. We need to be sincere. That is all.

With the right understanding of meditation, let us do our SitaRam mantra, meditation and follow the teachings of the Guru and have the life that God intended for us.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is dhyan. It is going within self and being in awareness for a period of time. We meditate with a mantra, or breath or sacred words. Whatever method we may follow, the result is same. We do the mantra, or watch the breath or think over the sacred words with awareness. The mind will definitely run about and whirl around. But we sit in one place and keep doing what we have to do and sooner or later, the mind calms down. The speed at which the thoughts are created and rush about decrease and with regular practice we have periods of time when there are very few thoughts in our mind and we are wholly at peace.

Meditation is not difficult or complicated. It is just that most of us do not understand what meditation is. Meditation means being aware or conscious. It is not concentration or focus on anything. Meditation helps us develop concentration. We train our minds daily to keep on doing the mantra or watch the breath despite the mind trying its best to disturb us and drag us away from the mantra or breath. We learn to keep doing what we have to do, despite the cries and urges of the mind. When we get up from meditation and move on doing our daily routine, we are able to apply the same technique. We are able to pick a task and complete it despite the mind urging us to keep the work down and go online or gossip on the phone or  chat with our neighbor.  This ability is called concentration and it comes with meditation. But meditation is not concentration. Meditation is being in awareness and not reacting to the mind.

Meditation teaches us to live in awareness of now. We train ourselves not to live in the past or in the future. The average man spends his entire lifetime living in past or in future. He lives in conjectures and ifs and buts and whys. He is unable to enjoy the present moment and beauty of life as it is now. A housewife will be preparing and serving breakfast but rarely her focus in on the taste of the hot delicious food she had made. Her thoughts will be on lunch preparation, what to make and which ingredients to buy and how to prepare. When she sits to eat lunch, her focus is on dinner and not on the lovely taste of the food she is eating. By doing so, she lives in the future and does not enjoy the present. Meditation trains us not to live in past or future, or react to thoughts of past or future but be in awareness of now. So the stranglehold of the past and future is loosened and we are able to breathe freely and relish life as it is now.

The quality of our thoughts governs our life. When our thoughts are full of anger, lust, hatred, jealousy, vindictiveness and attachment, we are unable to live in peace. Our body reacts to such thoughts, our blood pressure shoots up, the digestion is affected, the endocrine glands are hit and do not function normally, our muscles are knotted and painful, our head aches and our sleep and rest are disturbed. Our relationships with everyone around us gets blown off due to the stress of our thoughts. We can neither eat or sleep or love or live in peace. When we learn to meditate, we learn to be in awareness and not react to the thoughts that rush through us and torment us. Our body and mind are in a state of rest. In the state of Samadhi, there are no thoughts and the body and mind are relieved from enormous pressure and stress. During such times, the body and organs get rejuvenated.

Meditation trains us to relax our body and mind by not reacting to our thoughts. It teaches us to focus on the task at hand despite the pulls of desires of mind and body. It teaches us to observe our thoughts and think and act and not react. Hence we have a better chance at maintaining loving relationships. The vibrations of the mantra chanted during meditation have their own effect and help us to raise our levels of consciousness and enter the realm of thinking and living with divine wisdom and love. Meditation improves all aspects of our life. Let us meditate regularly and reap the  blessings of meditation. Let us practice the SitaRam mantra japa, meditation and follow the teachings of the Guru and receive divine grace and blessings.

Ego Blasting – Blessings of Darshan

The Enlightened – Trailinga Swami – Part Six

Ego finds its ugly way in the lives of all – whether it is a man or woman or child, whether it is young, middle-aged or an old person; or rich or poor; learned or illiterate; king or commoner. Each of us think we are the best and deserve the highest level of respect and obedience from others. We expect the entire Universe to get up and salute us as we pass by. We demand that God obeys our orders and fulfills all that we desire. As we are the only deserving, we insist that Saints and Gurus recognize and reward us for our personal greatness. All the time, our identification is with our body and not our soul. We measure our greatness with wealth, popularity, gender, common rules of culture and find saints wanting. 

Saints have no body identification and have overcome the ego to merge with God. They are beyond rules of society, wealth and power identification and gender bias. They choose to remain in society to teach mankind how to overcome the ego and walk towards God. When we have darshan of Saints, they give us peace of mind and love. They also blast our ego! For without ego blasting, we do not bow in front of God or Men of God. When we see the life of Trailinga Swami, we can see many instances of darshan where the ego of the various persons was smashed and they were made aware of the incandescent presence of the Divine Being of Trailinga Swami.

At a certain place on the banks of the Ganges, the Queen was bathing in the river when she noticed a naked Sadhu nearby. She screamed in alarm and her body guards captured the sadhu. When Trailinga Swami was caught, the people around the King warned him of the Divine Powers of the sadhu. But the King was full of anger and arrogance. He planned for the entire town to assemble and curse the sadhu repeatedly. That night, the King had a dream. Lord Shiva appeared and spoke angrily to the King. He said the King had wronged the sadhu by insulting him and demanded that the King leave the holy city of Kashi ( Benaras) immediately and never return again. In the morning, a subdued and chastened King went to Trailinga Swami and humbly sought forgiveness, which Trailinga Swami granted at once.

A local woman used to worship Lord Shiva in the Hanuman Ghat daily, seeking healing for her sick husband. One day, she saw a naked man pass by. She cursed him and his nudity and insulted him saying he was an animal and should be in jungle with other animals. The nude man simply ignored her and went away peacefully. That night, she had a dream. Lord Shiva informed her that as she had insulted a great being, all her worship was wasted. Only Trailinga Swami could now grant her the healing she sought for her husband’s stomach ulcers. The next morning, the woman searched in many places till she found Trailinga Swami and fell at his feet. He blessed her and gave her some ashes. She applied them on her husband’s stomach, and to the amazement of all, her husband was healed immediately.

Once the King of Ujjain visited Benaras and was leaving by a boat. He noticed Trailinga Swami floating in the water and asked him to be brought in. Trailinga Swami saw the beautiful bejewelled sword of the King and asked to see it. He admired it and then with the mischievousness of a small child, threw it in the waters of the river. The King was enraged and wanted to punish the saint. Trailinga Swami just jumped into the river and brought out two identical swords and asked the King to choose his. The King stood humbled as he did not know which one was his. Trailinga Swami said: O Foolish King, your sword is so important to you but you do not know which is yours. You are full of delusion and ego. You cannot carry this sword with you when your body dies. Then why are you so angry and why are you so attached to the sword? The now wiser King sought forgiveness from the Saint.

Men of God like Trailinga Swami walked the dusty lanes of Benaras in the hot sun in order to teach us to leave behind our ego and rise above our body consciousness and desires to reach out to God. Let us draw inspiration from such great men and do our spiritual practices of SitaRam japa, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru and reaching our goal of enlightenment. 

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How to Meditate

Meditation or Dhyan is basic and essential to spiritual growth. Meditation is advised by all cultures and religions.  All Saints, Men of God, Avatars and Gurus speak of meditation and recommend meditation as it helps us to overcome the vagaries of the mind and have a successful life in the material world and spiritual world.

Meditation is done in many ways. Some of us do meditation with mantra, some with a passage from a  sacred scripture, some with inspirational words, some with the image of a favourite form of God and some watch the incoming and outgoing  breath. The result of all forms of meditation is same. It is being aware of what is going in your mind and in your life. Meditation is doing an action with awareness.

Let us do a simple meditation. We sit on the asan and do deep breathing for a few minutes. Then we pray to God and Guru to bless us with Grace and Love during meditation. Our backs are straight and our eyes are closed. We start chanting the SitaRam mantra silently. As we chant the mantra, our thoughts run in all directions. They run in a chaotic manner at lightning speed. We are chanting the SitaRam and suddenly we are planning the dinner menu. Oh, the rice stock is over and we must order! There is a list of items to buy. Must call the Grocer. He is such a cheat! Nowadays all are cheats. See the Government. Oh, what is there to see? Must watch the new serial on the T V..... Damn – Why such thoughts  flood my mind? I must focus on the mantra. SitaRam, SitaRam, SitaRam.... Gurudeva please forgive me for such ugly thoughts and lack of focus when I try to meditate....  As usual one thought leads to another and our mind jumps to a connecting topic. We whizz through past, present and future with great speed. We think of everything but the mantra. 

Then what should we do? How do we meditate? How do we overcome our mind? It is very simple. Keep doing the mantra and watch your mind with AWARENESS. DO NOT REACT TO THOUGHTS. JUST WATCH THEM.  As your mind wanders from topic to topic, keep chanting the SitaRam mantra. Watch the mind as if you are watching people walk in the market or as if you are channel surfing. There is no emotion involved in it. It is mere watching.

There will be times when we forget to watch our thoughts and mind and we  start reacting to the thoughts. Oh, how dare he say that to me? I will show him what the truth is!  He will pay for what he has done to me. She thinks she knows all? Let it be. I will show her how much she knows.... When you become aware that you are no longer watching but participating and have forgotten the mantra, bring your attention back to the mantra and start chanting again. When we keep doing this exercise of bringing back the mind and focus to mantra chanting again and again, a time comes when  we stay with mantra for longer periods of time and there is less wandering of mind.

We also become aware of how angry, judgmental,  vengeful, attached, lustful and egoistic we are. When we watch the mind and keep chanting the mantra, we become aware of the quality of thoughts but we do not react. Then we find that the power of thoughts to disturb us goes away. We also understand that we are not our mind. We are not our thoughts. We are not our ego.

As we sit for our daily practice of meditation, we chant the mantra and watch ourselves within awareness in a passive manner. Over a period of time, the speed at which the thoughts are churned out within us slow down and a time comes when there are gaps between our thoughts. During this time we lose awareness and feel we have fallen asleep. This is Samadhi state of meditation.  During such gaps, the awareness within us or our consciousness rises to a different realm of existence. Here, we absorb peace, wisdom, love and knowledge and come back to body consciousnesses  Though we do not recall at earlier stages about what we received or where we went, the knowledge and wisdom are available to us at the time of our need and when we get up from meditation, we feel loving and peaceful.  

Anyone can practice this simple meditation and get excellent results. Let us do our daily SitaRam mantra japa, meditation and follow the teachings of the Guru and have a better life.

Intelligence of Metal Parts

The Enlightened – Trailinga Swami – part 5

For a man of God, everything is God.  All creation, whether it is animate or inanimate is made up of the same  Divine Consciousness.  Every particle of creation – animate or inanimate, is full of Divine Intelligence and recognises and responds to the needs of Men of God. Great saints and siddhas like Trailinga Swami are dear to God as they move about in the world to bring the word of God to people and show the eager men and women, the way back home to God.  Many men and women filled with ego and ignorance could not see the greatness of Trailing Swami but mere metal  parts responded to the insults heaped on Trailinga Swami’s head as it has no ego and self importance. The incident of Trailinga Swami and the railway train is awesome and hilarious and brings home to us our pitiable state that we are unable to see the greatness of his being whereas the metal railway train could!

Trailinga Swami was a sadhu who had no possessions. He wore no clothes. He rarely ate. He definitely did not have money. Once, he boarded a railway train without a ticket. The ticket collector was angry with the naked sadhu and asked him to  get down immediately. At that time, the train had stopped between two stations and was waiting for clearance from a crossing guard. The ticket collector forced Trailinga Swami to get down at that point. Trailinga Swami was agitated and got down and walked in the direction of the next oncoming train. One crippled man called out to him from doorway of the next compartment to  take him along with him. With seemingly great anger, Trailinga Swami kicked the lame man and continued walking to the next station which was a few miles from that spot. When the lame man got up, much to his amazement, he was able to walk  with ease. He threw down his crutch with a great shout of joy and ran after Trailinga Swami.

Trailinga Swami and the now healed cripple reached the station and Trailinga Swami sat under the shade of a large tree. In the meanwhile, the crossing guard gave the signal for the train to move and the driver started the train. But the train refused to move. The engineers worked on it all afternoon but found no problems. The mechanics came and checked. The master mechanic and senior engineers too came from the nearest city and checked. All of them were bewildered at the train not moving though there was absolutely nothing wrong with the mechanics of the engine.

In the meantime, all the passengers of the train got down and walked to the station to wait in shade rather than bake in the heat of the metal compartments. They saw Trailinga Swami sitting there comfortably and wondered how he knew that the train would not move. The now healed cripple announced to the people that the train would not move as it was aware of the insult to the great saint. After Trailinga Swami was thrown out of the train, the train refused to start. He told the officials to request Trailinga Swami to board the train and the train would surely start moving. The harassed officials decided to try this suggestion as they had worked all noon with no success. As soon Trailinga Swami boarded the train, the engine started up, and the train moved off swiftly towards the  next station.

Science tells us that even metals respond to proper treatment, care and love in usage. When metals are mistreated and not cared for, there is a breakdown at the cellular/atomic level of the metal and the metal starts to slowly disintegrate. The innate intelligence of non living things is recognized today. The lives of great masters show us this truth from the instances in their lives. We regard ourselves as the highest creation of God and yet do not recognize the greatness of Men of God and God. Let us make ourselves worthy of the Great One who has created this Universe and the teeming life forms in it and live a life at our maximum potential. This is possible when we do our SitaRam japa, meditation and follow the teachings of the Guru.

Be Moderate

Desires for fulfillment of basic needs of life, for comforts, luxuries, power, fame, wealth, family are there in varying degrees in all of us.  Some of us have more desires and some less. But all of us have desire for wealth and comforts of life. It is not wrong to have desires. But where greed overtakes us, life becomes difficult and later on intolerable. There is no end to fulfilling desires. Though we may gather sufficient wealth,  and have status, position,  etc., we still remain unsatisfied and discontent. 

The wants of the body for sufficient and healthy food, clothes, shelter and sleep must be fulfilled. The need for education and knowledge must be provided for. As we move on  in life, our needs increase. Those who are moderate in their desires and needs can fulfill them and be content. The desires and needs of the mind are endless. These are based on ego and its need to be bigger and better than others, to prove its point of view and establish its superiority and supremacy. The rage of the mind, the need to control others,  the anger, lust, vengeance, attachment, the drive for wealth & position are all needs of the mind that is controlled by the ego. It is very difficult to fulfill the needs of the mind. It is impossible to keep the mind happy and content. Only when we are moderate in our needs, in our greed for wealth and ready to share our wealth and happiness with others, we will find fulfillment and contentment in our lives. The story of the poor farmer and the buried treasure teaches us this truth:

There was a prosperous village and the wealthiest of the villagers decided to bury his entire savings in form of a huge lump of gold in his fields for safety and protection from the thieves and bandits. So he duly buried it in a nearby rice field. Time passed, things changed and the rich farmer died   and the village became poor. Most of the people abandoned the village and went elsewhere searching for jobs. The rice field was abandoned and unused. A poor farmer decided to plough the field and grow rice there. As he was ploughing, he struck the long forgotten buried treasure. He thought it was a large rock and dug around it and uncovered the beautiful shining gold. It was high noon and he was scared to take it home with him. So he covered it again and waited for nightfall.

As soon as the darkness fell, the poor farmer went to the fields. He dug up again and uncovered the golden treasure. He tried to lift it but it was far too heavy. He tied ropes around it and tried to drag it out. But it was huge. He could not move it. He was frustrated. He was poor and needy and had found a great treasure. But he was unable to remove it and take it with him. 

The farmer sat down and thought over deeply. He decided to break the lump of gold into four parts. Then he would carry the gold piece by piece back to his home. He decided to use one lump for himself for his daily requirements, one lump to be kept aside for emergencies, one lump for investing in farming business and one lump for distributing among the poor and needy and other good work. With a calm mind, the farmer divided the huge lump into four smaller lumps. Then it was easy for him to carry them home on four separate trips. And he lived happily ever after.

Nature is a huge warehouse which provides for all our needs, but not our greed. Let us learn to be moderate in our needs and have judicious usage of resources and gifts given to us. Let us learn to share  what we have with the needy. When we use our wealth in the right manner and share, we are blessed with contentment and peace. Let us follow these teachings and other teachings of the Guru, follow the practices of SitaRam mantra and meditation and live a peaceful and happy life.

The Gardener who compelled the Lord to visit him

Extreme Bhakti - Saavtaa Maali

Our general grouse today is lack of time for spiritual practices. In the everyday mad rush of life, we do not have time for anything. From the moment we wake up till the time we fall asleep, we are engaged nonstop in some activity or the other. We have so many goals to fulfill,  so many people to meet and impress, so many projects to complete, wealth to earn, etc., that we rarely have time for God. Those of us who practice japa and meditation usually cut short this time when we are overworked or when there is an emergency. We are generally overworked and our spiritual practices always suffer. Saavtaa Maali- a great saint from Maharashtra teaches us how to attain God even while being busy in everyday activities of life.

Saavtaa Maali was the grandson of Daivu Maali who was a great Vithal devotee and a Varkari.  A Varkari worships Lord Krishna in the form of Vittala of Pandarphur, and  lives an ideal life doing his duty.   A Varkari  is moral, follows a strict vegetarian diet, fasts on Ekadashi, has self restraint, has no discrimination based on caste or wealth, reads  holy  books and attends regular bhajans and kirtans.  Saavtaa was born to Parasu and Nangitabai. They lived in Aran village of Maharashtra. Saavtaa was brilliant from childhood and learnt scriptures and religious practices. He composed many abhangs or hymns at an early age. Later on Saavta got married to Janabai. They were likeminded and worshipped Lord Vittala together. They both worked together in their farm. They had a happy and ideal marriage.

The ill traditions, superstitions and religious fanaticism in the society bothered Saavta very much. He took the task of reforming the society through his ideal life and the abhangs. Saav means  pure character and behaviour. Saavtaa means one who is of pure character and behaviour. Saavta Maali displayed this purity from very young age. He had immense love for Lord Vitthala and sang His name while working in the farm, while ploughing the land, sowing seeds, watering, pruning and harvesting vegetables, fruits, grains and flowers. He saw the form of the Lord everywhere – in the water, in the bunds, in the seeds, buds, plants, fruits, flowers, tree, leaves and grains. He sang : Kaanda mulaa bhaaji | Avaghi Vithaabai Mazhi |(Onion, radish vegetable | I find my Lord Vitthal in that too |)

Saavtaa Maali taught people to seek God through everyday work, duties and responsibilities. He was always busy tending to his duties at home, at farm and to the community. He never visited Pandharpur even once. It is said that Lord Vitthala got tired of waiting for Saavtaa Maali to come to Him. So He came to  visit Saavta Maali and give him darshan and blessings. Such was the bhakti and surrender of Saavtaa Maali.

Saavtaa Maali created a balance between daily life and devotion, self realization and popularity, duty and exemplary behaviour. He spoke against blind faith and religious rituals, display of wealth and power. He taught people about purity of mind, contemplation of real doctrines of religion, sterling behavior,  good judgement, fearlessness, patience etc. He taught everyone that the easiest path to God is chanting the name of God at all times and constant remembrance of God while doing daily work.  He told all: Karme Ishu Bhajava (Find God through Work). It was not essential to renounce house and family. One can realise  God living and working in this material world. His sang in one of his abhang  –Vaikunthicha Dev aanuyaa Kirtani (Let us get God down to earth from heaven through Kirtan). He translated these words into reality and showed mankind that God is a willing slave to those who are devoted to Him.

Let us learn from the life of Saavtaa Maali to do our work and duties thinking of God and seeing Him everywhere. Let us always take the name of God in our mind. The japa of SitaRam, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru put us on the same track. Let our bhakti be so strong that the Lord comes to us and gives us darshan.

Mourning death!

Death is an inevitable part of life. We are born, we live for some time and then we die. When anyone close, a dear one or near one dies, all the family weeps and cries. The wife wails about what would happen to her without her husband; the son mourns as he now becomes the bread winner with additional responsibility of taking care of the home; the daughter weeps as there is no one to lavish love on her and get her married off well;  the old parents cry as there is no one to take care of them in their old age. No one thinks of the dead person or where his soul is travelling or in what condition the departed soul is in. Each one weeps only for the loss of his or her comfort and happiness and added burdens.

All relatives of the dead person mourn his death with bitter tears and promise to do anything to have him back alive. But when it comes to actual action of sacrificing self in return, all hesitate and refuse.  All cling to life and fight to live. No one is bothered about the dead person and his soul. Of course  life goes on, millions have been born and have die and will be born and will die. The daily routines go on and with time, the pain eases  and wounds heal. We must understand the truth that as long as we are alive, we have our duties to do and must do them cheerfully and willingly as an act of worship of God. We have been given time to complete our duties and must utilize this time in the right manner. The story below illustrates this truth:

There lived a good man called Sethdas. He loved his family and relatives and had a large circle of friends. He had a thriving business and earned immense wealth. He was generous and kind to all. One day, he suddenly fell sick and died in a short period of time. His parents, wife and ten year old son were crying bitterly next to his dead body. The news of his death spread quickly and a steady stream of visitors came in with their condolences.

Sethdas and his family were disciples of a great Guru. When the Guru heard of the death of his disciple, he immediately came to visit the grieving family. Seeing the Guru, the wife began to sob inconsolably: O Gurudev, my husband has died at such a young age. I am feeling so helpless and miserable. What will happen to all of us, to our child? I will do anything to make him alive again. The Guru tried to console the weeping woman and the old parents. But the loss was too recent and too much for them to accept his comforting words.

Eventually the Guru said: Get me a glass of water. He sat near the dead body and placed the glass of water next to it. He said: Anyone who wants that Sethdas come back to life may drink this water. Sethdas will come to life, but the person who drinks the water will die instead. The silence was deafening.  The Guru looked at the wife, young song and the old parents and said: Sethdas was the sole breadwinner. One of you can easily die instead of him and allow the whole family to live in peace and prosperity.

The old father said: I have a responsibility to my old wife. Who will take care of her ? The old woman said: My daughter is pregnant and comes for delivery soon. I have to take care of her. The young widow wept aloud and said: I have to live for my son and he is to young to die for his father. My son has his whole life in front of him.

The Guru replied: It seems all of you have a long list of duties to do in this world. It seems only Sethdas could be spared. So God took him away. Now shall we proceed with the final rites? It is getting late.

Death comes at any time of its choice and it does not announce its arrival. Those of us who are spared and given time to live for more time to live have duties to fulfil.  Let us live in the right manner by doing the SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru. If death has spared us today, it means we have some work left to do. Let us do our work well and offer the fruits of our efforts to God and Guru.

For Love conquers All

The Enlightened – Trailinga Swami – Part 4

Nature follows Her rules and regulations strictly and does not stop for anyone or anything. Life, birth, death, pleasure, pain, sorrow, bliss, sicknesses all comes in our lives one after another. These are the results of our present and past karma. Karma or law of justice is same for all creation and never changes. The entire cosmos is suspended in space by the Dharma of God. Men of God like Trailinga Swami take birth and live among us to teach us to that even laws of karma can be transcended by a Man of God  and nothing is impossible for one who is One with all Creation and Creator.

After his guru gave up his body, Trailinga Swami stayed in Pushkar for some more years doing sadhana, he travelled to Nepal and continued his sadhana there. Nepal has witnessed numerous miracles and people there till today speak of Trailinga Swami with awe and respect. There is an incident of the King of Nepal, a tiger and Trailinga Swami. Once the King went on a hunting safari in a forest abound with tigers. He was skilled hunter and located his prey quickly. But he was unable to aim and shoot the tiger. He kept missing his target and started chasing it. The tiger ran with the King  chasing it and halted at a place where a yogi sat under a tree. The tiger went up to the yogi and the yogi stroked the frightened animal while the King looked on in amazement. The yogi gestured to the King to come to him and gave him this marvelous advice: O King, give up your fear. This tiger will not harm you. God has created everything. Give love and He will always give you love. Always remember this. 

Trailinga Swami demonstrated the great power of love through this incident.  The King returned back to his kingdom and spread the news of the great yogi and the tiger. Many people travelled to the jungle for the darshan of this great saint and received numerous blessings and healings. Trailinga Swami’s fame began to spread. Trailinga Swami had the habit of blessing and helping people and walking away without a word to a new place. He moved away from the forest towards the city of Nepal where further miracles happened.

One day, the princess of Nepal went to the Pashupatinath temple of Lord Shiva at Kathmandu for worship. She conducted a special puja for her getting an excellent husband and a happy marriage. She garlanded the Shiva Linga with a special garland which she had herself strung. When she came out of the temple, she saw surprised to see a naked sadhu wearing the garland she had offered Lord Shiva. He pointed out to the garland and shouted aloud: You should marry me!  She felt humiliated and accused the sadhu of stealing the garland from the Lord inside. The sadhu asked her to go in and check. When she went inside, she found the garland still draped over the Shiva Linga. She came rushing out and found the sadhu wearing the garland. She was astounded. How was it possible?

The sadhu raised his hand in benediction: Go home. I accept your offering of worship. You will find a good husband! The princess returned home and told her father, the King of her extraordinary experience. The King replied: It must be Trailinga Swami. While you were praying in the temple, we received an excellent proposal for your marriage. The princess was married and had a blessed life with her husband.

There is a beautiful example of how mother nature provides for the enlightened master who is one with all creation. Trailinga Swami stayed for some time at the Markendeya Ashram in Northern India on the banks of River Narmada. There he met a powerful saint of that region called Kaki Baba. One day Kaki Baba saw the river water turning into milk and Trailinga Swami drinking it. He understood that Trailinga Swami had the power to turn water into milk and also that Mother Narmada wanted to show Her love for the saint by providing him milk. He dipped his hand into the milk to drink it as prasad and found that the milk had turned into water in his hand!

There is no goal higher than enlightenment and having received the gift of human birth, we should work hard and achieve this goal. Let us be inspired by the lives of great saints like Trailing Swami and continue with the practices of SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru till we are overflowing with Divine Love and become One with it.

Rising beyond Human Limitations

The Enlightened – Trailinga Swami – Part 3  

Men of God like Trailing Swami come to earth and live with us to teach us to rise above human limitations through sadhana. We are sparks of the Light of Universe. We have clothed ourselves with endless desires and limitations of mind.  We have cut ourselves from the Source of Love and Light and suffer. Through sadhana, we must peel over the multitudes of layers of ignorance, desires, lust, anger, jealousy, attachment, ego etc and let the inner light blaze through. We are ready to perform endless number of poojas or prayers to fulfill material wants. How much more so should we be focused and hardworking in order to achieve the Ultimate Power of the Universe?  

Trailinga Swami stayed on in Benaras for over 150 years. His love and compassion for the suffering of mankind lead him to perform many miracles to help the people.  He  did not mix much with people and avoided crowds. He rarely spoke and was in mouna or silence. But he always helped – he blessed thousands of people and healed them of dreadful sicknesses, solved their problems, commanded the lame to walk, and even restored life to the dead many times. His very name was taken in awe by the common man of Benaras.  His identification with the Brahman was so complete that he was called the Lord Shiva of Benaras.

Trailinga Swami always remained completely nude. Great masters do things for reasons known only to them. Perhaps it was to teach the people to rise above body and sex identification. Those who did not know about him found his nudity and huge body offensive. One day, Trailinga Swami was walking along a street when a Magistrate and his wife were present. The wife found the sight of Trailinga Swami’s nudity disgusting and asked her husband to call the guards and have him arrested. The guards obeyed the order of their Superior Authority and surrounded Trailinga Swami to arrest him. In the meantime, a large crowd gathered to watch the fun. Suddenly, Trailinga Swami disappeared.  All were amazed that he managed to disappear though surrounded by such a large crowd. After a short time, he appeared again in the same spot with a smiling face. The Magistrate was furious. He shouted at Trailing Swami and insulted him: Why do you do such things? You have such a strange body. Why do you walk around nude? Do you have no sense? You are a nuisance to all of us.

Trailinga Swami did not reply to this onrush of insults. He just went away and the Magistrate did not arrest him. That night, the Magistrate had a dream. In that dream, he saw a sanyasin wearing a tiger skin and carrying a trident. This sanyasin was rushing towards him in a rage to kill him.  He said to the Magistrate: How dare you insult Trailinga Swami? He is a great Spiritual Master. I will not let you remain in this holy city of Benares. The Magistrate was terrified and was screaming in his sleep. His attendants hearing his cries, rushed in and woke him up. The following day, the Magistrate went to Trailinga Swami and fell at his feet and sought forgiveness. The great Master forgave him at once.

We should never insult a God realized Master or Guru. By doing so we are subject to immediate kickback from the law of Karma. The Master or Guru does not punish us. The punishment comes from God, who loves the Master or Guru more than He loves Himself. The Master or Guru forgive us quickly for they know only compassion.  Despite the Infinite Compassion, God does not forgive as He does not like his chosen instruments to be insulted or mocked at. Many such incidents have happened in the life of Trailinga Swami due to his nudity. Rules and regulations are made for governance of society and keeping law and order. Masters like Trailinga Swami are above rules and regulations of the government and of Nature.

We expect results of our efforts in any field to give quick results and are  disheartened when we do not get instant results in the way we want. This path is not for those who want things instantly as it is a path of inner transformation. We must take inspiration from  the long years of spiritual practices of Trailinga Swami and work steadily and regularly with our japa of SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru and rise above human limitations.

Preparing to receive God

We have heard and read that God is everywhere and in everything but He blesses us by visiting us. We are taught to prepare ourselves all our lives for this fabulous event. We perform our daily worship, visit temples, offer charity, meditate, do mantra, observe penances, etc., so that we are ready for that momentous moment. We never know when God visits us, so we need to be ready to receive Him at any time. Though we tell ourselves that we are always ready, we give greater importance to our daily routines and priority to our personal comforts. And when He does arrive, we are not there to receive Him. Later on we rush and look around only to see clear signs that He had arrived and left! Let us look at this story of the priests and their preparation for the visit of God:

There was a huge temple which was very famous and had a hundred priests to look after it and attend to the devout and visitors. One night the chief priest had a dream and God told him that He would visit their temple the next day. The chief priest did not believe his dream. He had dutifully performed his job in the temple for many decades and offered prayers and worship on behalf of the devout. He offered food and fruits to God and took them home to eat. He offered his prayers to God and seen them vanish into emptiness. For sure, it was just a dream. But what if that dream came true and God did come? He confided about this dream to other priests. They jeered at him but finally they all decided to clean up the temple and be ready just in case God did really turn up.

The entire temple and premises were thoroughly cleaned and decorated with flowers, flags and festoons.  Lamps were lit everywhere and fragrant incense was burned. Sumptuous food was prepared and a variety of fruits and sweets were kept ready. All day long the priests keep looking at the road leading to the temple but God did not come. It was evening and they gave up hope. They decided to have the wonderful feast they prepared for God and all of them gorged on the delicious food. They laughed and joked: We know God is in the stone idol in the temple and we have been worshiping Him for years. Is He ever going to come?

After the heavy meal, they were all sleepy and went to bed early. At midnight, a chariot came to the gates and its sound was heard. One of the sleeping priests heard it and called out to others. The others mocked at him and said it was the rumbling of the clouds. They went back to sleep again. Then the sound of  the chariot halting at the gate was heard and the sound of someone climbing up the steps of the temple and knocking at the door. Another priest who heard these sounds called out to his associates. They were angry with him for disturbing their sleep and said it was the sound of the wind knocking at the door.

The next morning the priests were astounded to see a few footsteps on the steps of the temple. There were also chariot wheel marks on the road and at the gate. The footprints on the steps were uncommon and unknown. The priests burst into tears and rolled on the ground where the chariot had halted. The entire village gathered at the temple gates hearing the wailing of the priests. The priests told them the truth: God had knocked on the door of the temple last night but we were comfortable in our beds and rationalized the sound of the wheels and the knocking for thunder and wind and slept away!

God knocks on the door of every home and heart. His grace visits us. But we keep our doors shut. Even when we hear a knock, we rationalize it and go back to sleep. The grace of God is available to all of us. We must make effort to keep the premises clean. We should keep a clean body, clean mind, pure thoughts, do mantra and meditate and be ready. This is in our hands. His Grace pours on us when He wants it so. When He comes, He comes on His own accord. So let us be ready  to receive Him with our daily practices of SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru.

Leaping to conclusions!

We are excellent in leaping to conclusions. We collect information through our five senses – the sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. But when we interpret the data, it is through our past experience and knowledge. Our knowledge and experience are not all-encompassing. Hence our conclusions are not always right. Generally, when we leap to conclusions, we also break our leg. And this is a painful condition. It takes time to heal and we have to suffer through the period of recovery.

We use our knowledge in our day-to-day life to understand, judge, forecast. This knowledge and experience which we use are for similar fields where it is easier to understand and forecast. A criminal investigator can understand and judge the actions of a criminal as per the criminal’s past deeds and patterns. A stock broker can judge the stock market trends as per past conditions and current patterns. In our personal lives, we tend to judge situations and people about whom we do not have much information or knowledge and generally get incorrect conclusions. Though we have plenty of experiences from sprains of jumping to conclusions, we are unable to stop ourselves from doing so. General observations can be made correctly but to make particular and specific observations, we need to have the same level of knowledge and wisdom as the object about which we are making observations. This story of Buddha and the Old Sage tells us this truth:

Once, Buddha was travelling with his disciples to attend a meeting in a far off town. They had to cross a river to get to the other side and continue their journey on foot. They reached the river  and found several boats tied up near the banks but no ferry men. So they waited patiently for someone to arrive and ferry them across the river. As they were waiting, an old sage came there. He too looked for someone to ferry him across. Buddha informed him that they too were waiting and invited him to join them. The old sage replied that he needed to travel urgently and declined the invitation.  He took his leave and walked over the waters of the river briskly and reached the other side safely.

The disciples of Buddha were wonder struck  How could the old sage walk across the river like that? Indeed the old sage was a powerful man if he could walk on the water without drowning. He surely had many other siddhis too!  Oh, what of their master? Buddha was enlightened. He was powerful. He had many siddhis. They had heard stories of how Buddha had stopped a rutting elephant charging at him by just a loving look. Were those stories true? Or were they circulated by Buddha himself or his close disciples to attract people? If Buddha was all powerful, why did he not walk across the river?  Oh yes, he did not as he was sure he would drown when he walked on the water. But then, the peace and power on his face was genuine. Oh, what was the truth about Buddha?

Buddha heard the murmured discussions and smiled. In the meantime, a boat man came and they all got into his boat. The discussions amongst the disciples increased. Finally one of the disciples picked up  courage to ask Buddha: O Master, the old sage walked across the waters easily. If you are enlightened, how is it that you did not walk across the water?

Buddha replied with a loving smile: If I had walked across the water, what would you all have done? I have the power and ability to  walk on the water of the river and cross it safely. But how would that be beneficial to you?

The disciples were crestfallen. The Master lived and waited like an ordinary man for their sake. They were not enlightened. They needed all the material comforts and help which Buddha could forsake easily. Yet they judged him and found him lacking as they thought only from their level of growth. The input received from their sight was right but the interpretation of the input was incorrect due to lack of knowledge and wisdom. 

Only when we do the SitaRam japa daily, meditate and follow the teachings of the Guru, can we clear our minds understand the happenings of life as they are. Then our interpretations will be correct and true. Let us do our spiritual practices sincerely and be calm and peaceful.

All Deserve Respect

Creation comes from the Consciousness of God. This vast Universe, the multitudes of galaxies, the endless number of forms – living and non living are all made from the very fabric of God Himself. What we are is a spark of Divinity! What we see around us in multitude of forms are all twinkling lights of God. The glory and majesty of God are splashed across the cosmos in multi -forms, multi -shapes, multi -colours and multi -functional creation. We are made from God as is all creation. Hence all creation must be respected and revered.

It is possible to respect and revere all creation as God and as part of ourselves only when we experience the divinity within us and see it radiating throughout the Universe. This is the main goal of human existence. To arrive at this point, we need to learn to respect all creation at the basic level – that all creation has feelings like us and just like we do not like to be disrespected or hurt or insulted, we should also not disrespect, hurt or insult any part of creation. We should accord the same honour and respect to all that we seek for ourselves. 

We are taught by our parents and elders at a young age to speak politely and give respect to all. From very young age we are taught to listen to others and understand and then reply politely. Respect through actions, respect through speech and later on respect at even thought levels are taught to us. When we give respect to others we receive respect. Many would argue that some persons are not worthy of being given respect. So why respect them and receive insults and disrespect in return? We should give respect as the light of Divinity is present in all creation and the same light is within us. We should give respect as it is our standard of behaviour and character and it does not depend on the behaviour or character of another person or thing.

All religions teach their followers to respect each other and all life forms. If this very simple rule is followed, there would be less hatred, hostility, need for vengeance and warfare between people and nations. Merely making a statement is not enough. Respecting all life should be taught through practical daily rules. Hinduism teaches respecting all life and creation in various ways. The Sun, Moon, Wind, Water, Fire and Earth are designated as Gods. We are taught to respect and revere these forms and use them wisely. Various trees and plants such as Pipal tree, Tulsi plant, etc., are worshipped. This is to teach that plants are sacred and must be taken care of. All flowers, fruits, vegetables, grains, grass, cereals and pulses are offered as naivedya  or offering to God. Hence they are respected. Many animals and birds are placed alongside Gods as their vehicles and hence worshipped – eg – mouse for Lord Ganesh, bull for Lord Shiva, swan for Mother Saraswati, owl for Mother Laxmi, the tiger and lion for Mother Parvati, the Serpent for Kundalini Shakti etc. Hence we are taught to respect and worship all birds and animals. The worship rites including invoking God within self before start of worship and it is drummed into us that divinity is within us and must be invoked and we should rise higher to our real noble nature. The cow which gives us milk and nurtures us is a gentle creature and is seen as abode of Divinity. When we wake up in the morning, we invoke Devi Laxmi in our palms and offer respect to Mother Earth before putting our feet on the ground. Such daily practices help to use all resources wisely and with love and respect.

Many of our problems today are caused by misuse and pollution of natural resources – trees, plants, animal life, bird life and insect life. We have desecrated and destroyed forests, water bodies, land and desert. Many species of birds and animals are now extinct and many on verge of extinction. Our greed for profit has made us exploit our own species and a great deal of poverty and pain that we see across globe is due to our own lack of foresight and disrespect for mankind.

Let us follow the very simple rule of do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Let us  honor and respect all as we want it for us. When we do the SitaRam mantra, meditation and follow the teachings of the Guru, it becomes easy for us to see the Oneness and Sanctity of Life and we automatically respect all.