Holy Bhagwat Geeta is a song divine, the nectar of God churned after the torrid war of Mahabharat fought at Kurukshetra millenniums ago in India. It is gift of God to humanity to find the path leading to self control, mind and body discipline, devotion and self- realization. It is an ocean of wisdom for it is a book containing the highest esoteric principles. It is the essence of all Vedas, the sea of knowledge. Rishi Ved Vyasa has composed this timeless jewel.
Bhagwat Geeta’s language oh! so sweet and lucid yet the thoughts so profound that they exhibit and reveal new facets of Truth every time one attempts to read or listen to it. Therefore it remains ever-fresh, young and ever new! The Geeta scripture should be intently studied. After reading the text, its meaning, ideas, concepts, ideals and precepts should be gathered and held in mind till it percolates and is absorbed fully and ingrained in the psyche.
There was a time when my interest in this exclusive scripture was aroused and I read it many times in the past. Each verse is so full of education that is becomes imperative to be brought into practice in our daily life. Out of so many, for us some verses are favourites whose essence should be remembered throughout as they will serve as a beacon or torch of light in normal as well as difficult days in our lives. The essence and its daily practice is the key.
I have recently started to read this book once again to understand it better. During the last week although I was reading a few verses of Bhagwad Geeta carefully and trying to follow its principles, one fine evening unsuspectingly I was overwhelmed by a spate of gloomy and lonely thoughts. When I was at work, my mind would want to finish that task quickly so that I could go on to next frantically. I was also thinking of some relatives in the family more than usual. Whenever I was alone, a shooting pain would jolt me unbidden and a few drops of tears would fill up my eyes. This happened many times and I continued to hold myself back from further sliding. I was unable to retain my joyful nature and equanimity and slowly my mind nose-dived into a whirl pool of gloomy waters! My heart became heavy with some kind of unknown, unbearable weight and I could tolerate it no more. All this lingered for a few days and when I knew on one late evening that it was time for me to get out of that kind of pitiable frame of mind and salvage myself as soon as possible, I went in my room and sat in a comfortable posture on my bed, cross legged and closed my eyes.
I tried to uplift and alleviate myself by the process of prayerful meditation and tried very hard to know and stop what was troubling me so much. I pacified myself with counter positive thoughts and self-inquiry but to no avail. When my self-help techniques failed me, I opened my drawer and took out my rudraksh mala, my rosary, and began to repeat the mantra ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ with dedication. Chanting of this powerful mantra had its own effect as was visible to me in just a few moments. The uneasiness and anxiety began to dissipate and fritter away and I regained some of my calm and comfort. The heaviness began to recede and my mind got connected to Shri Mahavatar Babaji, the immortal divine being and my Param Guru. He is extremely receptive to his disciples’ bidding, cry or call and is very prompt to respond to their earnest needs. Immediately his imperceptible presence surfaced in my mind as he responded to my silent request to God for mitigating the unbearable suffering that I was undergoing. A quick interlocking of our minds and his magic began to cast a spell on me! I became very light and felt absolutely free from all mental troubles. And in no time, as unbidden, a curious sense of tranquillity and relief came to replace the pain.
The omniscient Guru instinctively comprehended my problem and the complex issues involved with it completely. He is possessed with so many unusual incomprehensible yogic powers that we can never even imagine leave alone understand them. As he is able to peep into our many previous lives as well many lives of future with great ease, his counsel and advice is always perfect. Obviously, it never misses the point. The Master’s vision is so very far- sighted and extremely subtle and awe inspiring in nature. He pinpointed out to me that since the past 3 to 4 days my subconscious mind was ruffled because it is engaged primarily with the minds of some people who are remembering me. Although they are benefiting from it as they are receiving very healthy and beneficial vibrations while I am being depleted in energy and wellness because of their low levels of consciousness. No wonder I was feeling exhausted and out of focus, I just realized. He asked me to disconnect my mind immediately from them and fix it on Him. After doing what was asked of me, I was resurrected and instantly re-vitalized.
He made me understand a commendable piece of knowledge when He said this to me, “It is good to think of bygone happy times of your life but if you repeatedly remember it thereby creating sadness and melancholy for yourself, why think of it at all? What is the purpose of it
If your mind is not constructive in either planning for future activities or on thoughts of God realization, then you are sure to afflict yourself. A yogi neither thinks too much about his past nor does he worry and anticipate about tomorrow. This is wondering of mind. Put your mind into joyful, constructive activities and re-join your mind on God thoughts. The mind must have enough courage in itself to break the flow of redundant and repetitive thoughts so that it can receive and harvest uninterrupted flow of soul-realization and thoughts of Divine, your true companion and soul-mate!”
I was further counselled by my revered Guru,
“A yogi should always keep his mind intact on God alone, even though he does not retain people in his mind, yet the other people do attune their minds to yours sturdily and compel you to think of them with compulsion. The yogi must be clever enough to know and become conscious regarding this subtle invasion from outside and become vigil for future. Or else losing of liveliness and vigour is inevitable.”
At this juncture, I made up my mind that in future I will restrain and be in charge of my mind and not be a victim of some outside invasions by unknown factors. I then implored and asked Him what should I write in my article as I had no creative ideas or imagination whatsoever nowadays because of mental fatigue. I could no longer push myself forward and required a helping hand. So He told me to read Bhagwad Geeta. I accepted his advice humbly without any drop of doubt or reluctance.
And just then, in a flash I recollected a dream that I saw in the early hours of morning about a year ago, when I and Babaji were walking up the stairs in a white house and my mind would get distracted again and once again and how Babaji would give me a helping hand (Ref- What is the purpose of my life?) Everything started falling in place in my translucent mind after it became sparky again by His Grace. In all humility I knelt down in my heart as a token of gratitude, reverence and thanksgiving. My mind was like a bright sunny morning and there was brightness everywhere. I sat in the same posture for quite long until I don’t know when. After that I read the Geeta and I was able to understand it so much better. I read chapter 6 with full attention and wish to quote just 3 verses out of them. I used to read them with great curiosity and interest in the past also and I still get very inspired by them.
Chapter 6
Arjunauvach
Yoyam yogastvaya proktah samyen madhusudan I
Atsyaaham n a pashyami chanchaltwastithim sthirim II 33
Arjuna said, Krishna, owing to restlessness of mind, I do not perceive the stability of this Yoga in the form of equanimity which you have just spoken of.
Chanchalam hi manah Krishna pramathi balvaddridham I
Tasyaham nigraham manye vayoriv sudushkaram II 34
For Krishna, the mind is very unsteady, turbulent, tenacious and powerful; I consider it as difficult to control as the wind.
Sri Bhagwanuvach
Asanshaya mahabhaho mano durnigraham chalam I
Abhyasen tu Kaunteya vairagyen ch grihute II 35
Sri Bhagwan said: The mind is restless no doubt, and difficult to curb, Arjuna; but it can be brought under control by repeated practice of meditation for mind control and by the exercise of act of dispassion, O son of Kunti.
The following day when I was resting in the afternoon when the house and the whole surrounding was very still and quiet, very deep peace entered me. My whole house was radiating Divine Peace and for some time I was completely immersed in illuminating thoughts and peaceful vibrations. I was resting in my bed with complete sense of relaxation when a flash of Light struck me in the space between my eyebrows which then gently spread all over my eyes and head and I uttered, “I am Light, I am Joy, I am Ananda”
https://spiritinlife.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Header_1903x300.png00spiritinlifehttps://spiritinlife.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Header_1903x300.pngspiritinlife2009-10-01 04:20:042021-02-28 12:02:11How to cope up with waves of mental distractions-I?
Dear all, the following articles need repeated dipping into because it cannot be comprehended easily. After reading the post several times, the thoughts and content need to be contemplated upon, imbibed and then brought into life-practice. It is only after practicing that we understand something thoroughly. For example, when we want to mine diamonds, first of all we have to search for the right place. We then have to dig the Earth after which layer after layer of mud, stones and pebbles are removed. Similarly, our mind is a compact, tightly packed mountain of mud. It needs to be loosened, separated, sieved and unwanted elements are to be thrown out until the time the desired aim is met.
Knowledge is of two types- Worldly and spiritual knowledgeCorrespondingly, Paroksha and aparokshagyan in Sanskrit and Hindi. Paroksha in Sanskrit means something which is tangible and seen with eyes and by aparoksha is meant something seen without eyes and is intangible. Paroksha gyan is worldly knowledge, seen and manifested while Aparoksha Gyan is that knowledge which is seen without eyes. God is seen without eyes and the world with our eyes. If you want to seek God, have knowledge about God, want to know and have Him, want to sense and feel Him then we need aparoksha gyan.
Insight and deeper understanding of Aparoksha Gyan is arrived at when we ponder over a thought or the words of wisdom of men of great stature who have had a grand vision and exemplary mission in their life. Spiritual wisdom can be achieved by the layperson also provided he makes many repeated attempts and persists in trying to understand, ruminates and mulls over a thought many times until the under wraps and relevant meaning is revealed to him and eventually becomes his own knowledge.
It depends on the devotion of time and attention given by us and the vehement zeal we possess. Great preserved knowledge shrouded in scriptures can be understood by us by repeated efforts of reading and studying it diligently. And along with that, one must also have God’s grace to make things easy. If the grace of God has not been bestowed on the sadhak yet and if the sadhak perseveres, makes many sincere attempts, then God is pleased and bestows his blessing in the form of insight, refined understanding and correct meaning of shlokas and mantras. Therefore the foremost requirement is effort.
Adi Shankracharya was a man of great wisdom, yet he worshiped Devi or Divine Mother and Lord Shiva to please them to get additional knowledge and greater depth of understanding of the ancient scriptures written by sages like Ved Vyas and Maharishi Markandey or for that matter even Rishi Narada. And after reading the scriptures, he churned and churned the knowledge, imbibed it until it became his own.
The mind of man is covered with ignorance, lethargy and obscurity because of which the rays of illumination are unable to penetrate. Divine Illuminations are sparks of light which destroy ignorance.
Although we identify ourselves with only the physical body out of unfamiliarity, in reality we are composed of many other bodies or sheaths as well. And eventually what are we?
Thought or idea in Sanskrit it is termed sankalpa!.Sankalpa is also resolution of mind but here it only means a thought. As our sankalpa so our karmasactions.
How ignorance sets in and builds up slowly? How to remove avidya, ignorance?
As we go on creating new karmas, each new karma or action in turn creates a thin layer or sheath around us. If we do disgraceful, demeritorious karmas or deeds, the layers that are formed in our aura or energy field are dark, cloudy and heavy. On the contrary, when we begin to do more and more glorious, meritorious and worthy actions, the prevailing dark and thick layers begin to thin out and disintegrate slowly allowing the positive illuminating cosmic rays of Golden Light to penetrate inside our mind and give illumination. Correspondingly we get better knowing and clarity to our choked and unlit mind.
Sri Raman Maharishi used to often say that our mind is like a well. Go on taking out bucket after bucket of water until nothing is left inside it. The buckets of water, he hinted at, were the worldly thoughts and ‘nothing left’ means silence, a state of thoughtlessness, quietude and peace. (Refer- Awareness-the art of right living) Over a considerable passage of time, with continuous practice of concentration and various suitable meditation techniques and methods and simultaneously performing good actions, a resultant very positive state of mind is arrived at by the yogi when only the effects of our good karmas are being carrying out and the effects of bad or negative karmas are wiped out. At this point, the soul is freed from the heavy, unbearable load of its own wrong doings and ignominy out of sheer ignorance, mental lethargy and lack of interest. Age old unconsciousness of presence of God within is wiped out and knowledge of God in us is slowly re-established.
This whole long procedure of change in our mind can be compared to this simple example. Suppose I hide a brilliant diamond under a pile of clothes on my bed. Obviously, the shine and brilliance of the diamond cannot be seen. But if one wants to retrieve the diamond and look at its glitter, one will have to make efforts to achieve that. And what is that effort? The effort is to start removing each cloth one by one until only the diamond remains lying still on the bed. We have drawn parallels here to understand that the diamond is our Spirit and the layers of clothes are the layers of ignorance and darkness created by the individual himself.
When we deliberately put our mind on words of spiritual wisdom, it produces wondrous results. It begins to affect us and continuous repeated thoughts begin to make a dent on our thinking mind. Good thoughts compel us to do good actions and vice versa. Good actions save us from the misery of unimaginable pain, agony and sorrow. So let’s make sure that we distinguish between the two.
The mind is by nature frivolous and restless. It cannot stay still even for a few minutes. Our mind is like a sponge. (Ref- Learning a pleasure) It absorbs a multitude of thoughts floating in the atmosphere around us. Each mind in the universe is like a radiating or emitting machine. It sends out waves of good or bad thoughts which float and are suspended in the atmosphere for a long, long time. The suspended thoughts can either be harmonious or inharmonious. Many a times we accept, absorb and assimilate undesired thoughts of doubt, fear, greed, uneasiness, unholy deeds, ingenuity and so on. However, a trained and seasoned mind can distinguish between his own thoughts and unwanted thoughts that have entered the mind from outside. With silencing of mind during meditation, the alien thoughts should be rejected and holy thoughts of peace, goodness, compassion, knowledge and wisdom should be procured and assimilated. During periods of isolation and meditation, we must train our mind to join and connect with the illumined and God-realized souls and the wisdom which is previously theirs can be ours.
Chapter 4
In Bhagwat Geeta, Bhagwan Sri Krishna explains to Arjun.
Shreyandravya mayadhygya gyan yagya paramtap I
Sarvam karmakhilam Partha gyane parismapyate II 33
Arjuna, sacrifice through Knowledge is superior to sacrifice performed with material things. For all actions without exception culminate in Knowledge, O son of Kunti.
Tadwidhi pranipaaten pariprashnen sevaya I
Updekshyanti te gyanam gyaninstatwadarshinaha II 34
Understand the true nature of that Knowledge by approaching illumined souls. If you prostrate at their feet, render them service, and question them with an open and guileless heart, those wise Seers of truth will instruct you in that Knowledge.
Yagyagyatva na punarmohammevam yasayasi pandava I
Yena bhutanyasheshena drakshyasyatmanyatho mayi II 35
Arjuna, when you have reached enlightenment, ignorance will delude you no more. In the light of that Knowledge you will see the entire creation first within your own self, and then in Me.
# Adi Shankaracharya
# Thought or idea, Sankalpa
# How ignorance sets in and builds up slowly?
# How to remove avidya, ignorance?
# Sri Raman Maharishi, our mind is like a well
# Divine Illuminations are sparks of light which destroy ignorance
# Age old unconsciousness of presence of God within is wiped out and knowledge of God in us is slowly re-established
# Good thoughts compel us to do good actions and vice versa
https://spiritinlife.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Header_1903x300.png00spiritinlifehttps://spiritinlife.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Header_1903x300.pngspiritinlife2009-09-15 06:00:282021-06-05 18:03:57The importance and power of deep study
Dear readers, in the last few days, many of us might have been immersed in the festive season but I was unable to work on and compose my post with full attention span and ease because of the blaring, boisterous noise of the Ganesh Utsav celebrations, a festival getting bigger and louder by each year in my neighbourhood. However, my namaskar and pranam to the Lord of buddhi, riddhi and siddhi to eliminate and remove all the obstacles and hurdles on our way to spiritual uprising and awakening for all of us.
The relentless noise and crowd has not deterred me but has made me recognize the fact that we have two types of sadhana- the inner and the outer sadhana. Or antarmukhi sadhana and bahirmukhi sadhana respectively. The outer sadhana consists of rituals, ceremonies and many possible visible actions to appease and please the deities and God. Such a pooja, aradhana or vandana is fine, it is so much better than doing any detrimental and immoral acts but the doer always has some wish, craving or fancy to fulfil, some type of yearning from the Lord and they in most cases are rewarded. (Refer What is the purpose of my life? ) The outer sadhana is easy to perform but the results and gains are diminutive, short term and perishable with no alteration in the person’s present level of wakefulness and consciousness. Years and years may pass by but the admirer or devotee of God and deities shows no signs of alertness, progress and transformation. On the contrary, the requests and wants multiply with each year.
On the other hand there is inner sadhana in which we cast, shape, train and discipline the wandering nomadic mind to be hushed, silenced and become desire-free. Instead of asking, one thanks and is appreciative and grateful to God for whatever one has. The aspirant by now knows that asking tangible material objects and fulfilling gratifying wishes are in no way an answer to his lingering complex life problems. Even though the inner sadhana is tougher but has very enduring, influential effects and then asking God to make us desire less is a difficult thing to ask conversely and it is no mean task by any standards. It is easier said than done I must agree. Praying to God for contentment and peace is a very wise, sane and a prudent thing to do as the wisdom of the sages goes.
Peace in the mind is sought after and achieved by the aspirant at the preliminary stage. Before he really embarks on the extensive, stretched and challenging spiritual journey, he is like any other regular person, one in the faceless millions. The average, worldly wise man wishes to possess, hoard, amass and consume tangible objects and they could be things, articles, objets d’art or money, wealth, fame, power, success etc.
Man has been given many incarnations to live by Mother Nature in order to develop and advance his soul to the state of higher perceptions, realizations and progressive living. (Read The process of liberation to know how the soul gradually evolves on the ladder of human evolution) Because he resides in a physical body for too long during this process, he becomes accustomed to living in the physical encasement for a very long duration, his consciousness becomes gross and undivine. And contamination, corruption and other impurities are harboured in his mind during his physical tenement. All the time his mind is engaged in worldly pursuits and it is not joined and tied with divine awareness and untarnished realizations. Hence his mind knows no peace at all and is perpetually active in gain-loss, joy-sorrow, fortune-misfortune, birth-death etc activities .
In fact, all humans are looking for pleasure and delight in some enterprise, adventure and endeavour, not realising that his soul wants peace and not some other acquisitions as the primary requisite for his earthly survival. And if, by probing and introspection, one day when we do come to an understanding that it is not worldly happiness after all but stability and equanimity of mind that should be acquired first.
Out of stability and equanimity is born peace.
And the sensory world is full of dualities, happiness and sorrow are two sides of the same coin and one has to undergo and experience both the feelings and emotions. Unfortunately, almost all of us do not ever realize it even once in our long life the importance of inculcating peace in our lives consciously like other efforts that we undertake.
But those seekers of peace and self- realization, on their way at a mature stage of advancement, do realize and it dawns on them that I must now not seek and run after impermanent outside happiness and gratifications but must attain permanent peace which comes from within. Hence the mind slowly quietens down and the old desires begin to fade away and die a slow death on its own. The mind seeks happiness and joy in pursuits of inward journey primarily. After which it becomes passive, reflective, and introspective and finds solace in gaining knowledge of self, deeper realizations, devotion, compassion and other such understated activities. And controlling one’s senses and the mind are the seeker’s favourite activities and liking now. The past wandering and restless mind is no longer asking or demanding things of the world as he is satisfied with his fate and is a content soul by now. On the contrary, he carries out actions which bring him relief from its non-stop agitation and restless activities of worldly pre-occupation, attachments and acquisitions. The mind becomes peaceful and is at rest with oneself. Hence we say “peace of mind”.
The ordinary person transforms into a sadhak as he seeks lasting peace. He turns his mind inwards and questions, seeks and finds his answers of self inquiry and dives to find inner peace within himself. At such a stage, the seeker is not yet above the dualities and pairs of opposites of this ever-changing momentary and brief- natured world. The ever-changing quality of the world, the duality of opposites, create agitation and disturbs his mind. The disturbance is also caused by the inevitable sanchit karmas (the previous lives’ accumulated, unmanifested karmas ) They are still manifesting in the ongoing life-stage and negative results of past karmas crop up again and again at set phases, thereby disturbing the equilibrium of his newly found peace. However, with the grace and help of the Spiritual Masters and blessings of heavenly deities, he is able to conquer and prevail over to reap the fruit of the backlog of his past sanchitkarmas with considerable ease. As and as the unmanifested karmas begin to bear fruit, he becomes lighter and the mind becomes calmer and composed, because of the lessening of the weight of the load and deeper revelations. When all the sins and misgivings of all the previous lives are burnt to dead ashes, the soul involuntarily comes to a stable, restful and relaxing state. To substantiate this, now let’s read the shlokas from Bhagwad Geeta
Chapter 7
Icchadweshsabuthen dwandmohen bharat
Sarvabhutani sammoham sarge yanti parantap 27
Oh valiant Arjuna, through delusion in the shape of pairs of opposites (such as pleasure and pain etc), born of desire and hatred, all living creatures in this world are falling a prey to infatuation.
Yesham twantgatam papam jananam punyakarmanam
Te dwandmohanirmukta bhajante maam dradhvrta 28
But those men of virtuous deeds, whose sins have come to an end, being freed from delusion in the shape of pairs of opposites (born of attraction and repulsion) worship Me with a firm resolve in every way.
Progressively, at one point, the mind becomes completely captivated and entrenched in God thoughts by the process of sublimation and gets finer and refined in its taste, likes and sensibilities. Nevertheless, at this last crucial stage also, there are a few left over vasanas (refer- How to have lasting peace within our hearts-I) of desires and egotism or self-centredness. As a kind gesture of grace, God permits and facilitates the fulfillment of all the remaining desires so that the soul is completely freed of all its bondage of previous actions. And after the blazing of all the desires, the last remaining remnants and impact of the severest enemy called ‘ego” in us is taken to task. The ego is the last enemy on the battle field to leave the jeeva or embodied soul after a prolonged battle of many, many lives. The delusion that “I am”, “I can”, “I will” , “I”, is very thin and the very fine thin subtle layers of “ego thought particles” sticking and covering one’s soul at last drops off with considerable passage of time. To give you an example, let’s consider this.
If you have ever pealed a pod of garlic, you must have noticed that after peeling the thicker outer skin there is a very thin inner membrane which sticks to the single garlic piece. It is sticky, transparent and light yet it doesn’t peel off easily and is of the same colour as the garlic. Similarly, the last remaining egotism is so well ingrained and entangled in our consciousness and nature, also called vasana that we are not sensitive towards it and aren’t aware of its presence at all. All the same, it exists and has to be separated to isolate the soul from its pervading blemishes and patchy and itchy impurities. Once this task is achieved, the soul eventually begins to glitter in its own radiance!
After the ego is shed, the duality of you and I, sorrow-happiness, bad-good, pure-impure etc evaporates as the mind is purified and cleaned by the seeker’s meritorious karmas and guru kripa. At this particular stage it is mandatory for the sadhak or spiritual aspirant to perform good meritorious karmas and selfless acts, deliberately and consciously, so that we do not sow and reap any ill effects or ill results at all in future. We must ensure that we perform only positive karmas to have a happy and harmonious life ahead. If we do so, nature is in our favour and there is no more suffering, hurdles, sickness perpetuating and invading us constantly. Even if some people wrong us, cheat us, or act with mean manipulations, we must not react and retaliate-this is the advice of the Gurus to us. After sometime those people suffer in many ways in terms of physical, mental and emotional illness and deprivation, while our life is good in every sense. Good luck and nature will always side with people who are good at heart and pure in actions.
At such a higher stage of spiritual level of consciousness and vast knowing, peace flows very gently and reaches us from very high subtle planes in the ether directly in our heart and is sublime and mellifluous to sense, feel and touch. It is very soothing, genteel and endearing in nature and cannot be exchanged with anything of this world, and it is very, very precious. It is awe-inspiring.
The quality and duration of peace at the mental level and the heart’s level is different. Peace is enduring and is received directly in the heart centre at this advanced and evolved stage because by this time the heart of the sadhak is completely purified by a long period of practice of saatvik pure karmas, meditation, chanting, japa, charity, love, compassion and service to mankind. There is no malice, grudge, revenge, envy, greed, pride or materialistic desires remaining in him any longer. In place of all these unwanted things, there is a priceless gift of God presented to us in our heart and that gift is of permanent and lasting nature –It is lasting peace in our heart!.
It’s because the heart centre is purified and energized and it is the seat of the Lord- the giver of bountiful peace. Such a wonderful person is called a yogi, a person whose mind is always connected to and remains one with God. The yogi has peace at all times whether he is asleep or awake, working or resting although there may be a brief period of ripples of mild perturbation from unexpected quarters, but he soon brings his attention where the Lord resides, i.e. in his heart and God talks to him and soothes his soul for all the abrasions caused by external agencies. The vibration of the aura of such a yogi is of deep calming peace which has a positive impact on other people’s mind and heart. He can convert people with his good conduct, behaviour, speech and selflessness. His speech is full of love and kindness and he is good to everybody. He never retaliates in spite of someone being harsh, self-centred or hurtful. Instead he prays unselfishly for the wellbeing and happiness for all. The yogi is generous and pious and ever willing to help others in times of distress, any need and agony. And God always blesses such pious and devout souls. Saints, yogis and mahatmas fall in this category.
Lord Buddha
From the fountain of peace of the blissful yogi flows the gushing cool waters of serenity, tranquility and joy.
https://spiritinlife.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Header_1903x300.png00spiritinlifehttps://spiritinlife.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Header_1903x300.pngspiritinlife2009-09-01 08:37:462021-02-28 12:02:11How to have lasting peace within our hearts?-II
Earlier I was asked to express myself and write something about my beautiful inward journey by revered and holy Master Mahavatar Babaji. It is because of Him that I have resumed writing on my blog with the same zeal, conviction and self-belief. It is their prasad that is being distributed to all readers, seekers, devotees, pilgrims and aspiring souls through the medium of this blog. But unlike last time, the posts are not addressed to my daughter but are for all the readers who visit my blog, those who are interested in uplifting their dormant souls, for those who are treading on the path of self discovery and for those also who are about to realize God in this very life.
And let me also tell you that all the readers of this blog are my companions, my co-travellers or yatris and I wish to build a relation of friendship and mutual respect. Therefore, express yourself without hesitation, talk to me, ask questions so that we can tread on this path with feelings of mutual support, help, admiration and brotherhood.
There will be 2 posts publishing every month on Ist and I5th and they will be addressed to you starting on this very auspicious day of Sri Krishna Jayanti or Janamashtami, the special day on which we celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna. The upcoming posts are going to be a little advanced in nature and substance so it is requested that you please go over each post many times. Although there will be only 2 posts every month, please do read books and study material on similar topics for comprehensive understanding by other thinkers, saints, philosophers and writers on such topics.
The series of the following posts have been named ‘The Door to Heaven’ (segment B) and the articles should be read accordingly keeping the theme of the title in mind.
The Door to heaven opens when you have peace, profound peace, peace that comes from deep within yourself. There is a place, a spot in the centre, at the heart centre which is the receptacle and fountain of sustainable peace. Become aware of that!
Now imagine this. When there is a rainfall, if the rain drops fall in a deep vessel little by little the vessel fills up. That is possible only if we allow the water to collect, that it does get accumulated. Once accumulated it can be stored or else the rain water goes to waste if we do not keep the vessel in the open area for water to stand. Similarly, peace when procured with deep connection with your inner self stays with you.
Collect and store godly peace within you in your heart and make it last!
And please know and realize that peace generated with a shallow and impure mind is artificial and does not sustain for long.
Hold on to your enduring peace!
Now aren’t the temples of deities and Gods kept clean and very neat? And so should be our minds. But what if there exists impurity of mind?
What is this impurity of mind? Where does it come from? How to get rid of our impure thoughts?
Impure thoughts come from ‘vasanas’. Vasanas are the fixed tendencies of past performed karmas whose impact is still lingering and they make our mind cloudy. Vasanas are like the glass shield around us, although things are transparent and visible to us from our side but we are cut off from the outer world. They shield the mind from the thought and glory of God. So in spite of our meritorious karmas, God is still far away from us. We have sanskaras of many past lives and in our near last or last life, the main aim of spirituality is to tear away the very thin film, the jelly like transparent film over our mind to break free and experience God without any obstruction. This is possible only when we take refuge in God after surrendering the remaining traces of existing egoism or false self completely.
Vasanas are the chains of bondage for salvation of our true Self or Spirit. They give us rebirth and delusion and the soul may again get lost in the mire and web of cycles of recurring life and death because of them.
Vasanas are desires, very subtle egoism, so subtle that one can never see them present in oneself, leave alone discard them consciously. It can manifest as stubbornness, considering one self to be absolutely right and intelligent, rejecting other people’s views and ideas, their will and wish, suppressing others and overlooking other people’s feelings and emotional needs. Or desires of material objects like money, fame, land, house, clothes, food and other such sensory objects.
Proper guidance is required to re-mould the whole thought process for removal of lingering vasanas with only love and supreme devotion towards the Almighty, which give us detachment from worldly cravings and not by willful exertion or pressure of any type. The mind should be re-trained gradually to seek joy and satisfaction in peace prevailing within, which is the real source of happiness. Lasting peace is obtained from the source within.
The vasanas buried very deep within are the last remaining seeds of very subtle ego of the ‘jeeva’ or the individual self which separates it from ‘Brahma’ our strotra or origin of existence.
Pray to God for their extinction immediately. Pray now!
When self-realization dawns on the seeker or ‘shishya’, the layers of the vasanas automatically dry up one by one with the kripa or grace of the holy spiritual masters because of our faith in them. New karmas of ego-less nature should be constructed and the joy of liberation should be sought now and here.
There are many munis, rishis and maharishis in the past who could not realize God in its full glory and magnificence as they had erred because of their vasanas or very sublime ego which went unacknowledged. Sometimes their shishyas or disciples have succeeded while their masters have erred. Unless complete mastery over the mind is not attained by containing oneself with God’s peace and bliss, the mind is tied to the sensory world, one cannot attain ‘Brahma Gyan’ or the sacred knowledge of the true Self. The rishis and others may have been able to describe Brahma very beautifully in verse, rhyme or metre stoically, but the very subtle realization of Atman did not dawn on them sadly!
Brahma chetna– Consciousness of the Supreme cannot come even if one writes books after books on Brahma. It comes with the enlightenment and illumination of the Spirit when the Divine Light falls on us with Guru Kripa, only then are we blessed with Brahma darshan. God realization is different from explanation and description of God in theory and words verbally.
Finally, one has to submit and surrender one’s egoism completely at God’s sacred feet without which salvation is virtually impossible.
Till the end, purification of our mind has to be done and that too on a regular basis for all the conscious sadhaks because of the pervading impurities in our environment. Impurities of thoughts are like the unseen dust particles that float around us which we inhale. Likewise, the people around us have impure minds, their ignorance is contagious and very infectious. The vibrations of unholy people enter us and stick to us like a thick layer of fine dust and dirt. It needs washing and cleaning regularly by means of good and holy company or satsanga, introspection, reading spiritual books, keeping positive environment and remembrance of god in thoughts and deeds through meditation and service to others.
What should the disciple do when he realizes and acknowledges the existing vasanas or very old patterns of habits? How can he get rid of them now?
By helping himself with his own efforts, he should change himself by giving up those vasanas and surrender his ego. The journey starts when you want to begin or initiate the effort, no one else can do it for us, so let’s do it now.
What should the disciple do when he loses his enduring peace?
He should immediately disconnect himself from the source of agitation which is in his mind or outer environment, focus on his breathe to quieten his mind and plunge inside in the deep ocean of infinite peace!!!
Conclusion-Disconnect your mind from the ever changing, ever fleeting world from time to time and take a journey inside to attain lasting peace by freeing your soul from the restlessness of the transitory world. There is a very deep reservoir of never- ending joyful, rejuvenating and recharging peace within all of us. That kind of peace comes from only God. And God is peace!!!
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A series of actions taken towards achieving a particular end is known as a process. And by liberation here is meant setting free of the human soul from ignorance, bondage and incessant suffering from repetitive cycles of life and death helplessly. After which is finally lived a Life Divine of pure joy, peace and calmness and happiness.
To begin with, please know that the whole process of human evolution is climbing up the steps of the ladder one by one. The soul climbs each step little by little and unfolds by itself, sometimes falling and sometimes taking double steps on it. In some exceptional cases, by leaps. Literally and figuratively, the ladder is our spinal chord which is the extension of the human brain. Look at the structure and formation of the spinal chord bones carefully. It looks like a ladder. The human soul starts from the base of the spine at the ‘muladhar’ or coccyx centre and slowly, over a few thousands of centuries moves up the upper chakras or energy centres until it reaches the top crown centre, the ‘sahasrar’, the central place at which Divine Illumination takes place. So the climb is from the base to the summit, to the peak of the evolution ladder. Lord Krishna’s peacock feather in the forehead is a symbol of the opened and charged ‘crown centre’ and not just a myth of history. Interesting, isn’t it?
Let me now please make an attempt to explain in very simple terms the complete process of human awakening, ascending and liberation of the soul to freedom of life in Spirit.
The process-Souls at the very base of the ladder
People who are in a deep slumber of ignorance and unawareness are at the base. They generate and earn very bad karmas and have negative energy collected at the base of the spinal chord in the coccyx centre. The seeds of bad fruits of past performed actions are deposited there slowly. These seeds someday will have consequences as ill- effects at their conducive time and space. And those who have performed humongous unpardonable actions will take a very long time to correct their mistakes. It will take them thousands of lives to rise and evolve from sub human consciousness of existence to higher knowing. At present their consciousness, intelligence and acts are those of animals because they afflict pain and suffering to others, are insensitive and lack human tenderness and understanding. They are unable to differentiate and discriminate between good and bad, moral and immoral tendencies. All their thoughts and actions are carried out without any remorse, guilt and regret and their tendencies of bad karmas drive them to do further bad karmas. Such wretched people are unstoppable and the punishment from the Universal Law is a troubled mind, anxiety, fear, pain of all sorts, sorrow, sickness and deprivation in material, physical and emotional condition. Their end is also very pathetic, ungracious and painful. People of this class are at the very base of the ladder and the pyramid of human evolution. They repeat their mistakes so often that it takes them aeon or excessive years to purify their souls through the medium of pious actions, enlightenment is much, much far away from them. They die and are re-born many, many times in pitiable living conditions because Nature gives them repeated chances to realize their follies and improve and better their lives. So forgive them for they know not!
This goes on for many, many lives when at the turning point of some favourable life, man realizes that he must mend his ways after carping and living through tribulation, affliction and agony of all sorts.Thenceforth, begins the upward journey of atonement, purification, cleansing as well as redemption. The soul improves his or her life by being good and kind to others and begins to develop faith in God and goes out of his way to create righteous and praiseworthy actions. His mind and heart is cleansed and he is prompted and propelled more towards God and religious activities. He no longer wants to sin and err and he arrives at a stage when he is at the brink of salvaging himself completely from sinning. This all takes a very long time if you translate the transformation in terms of time. Nevertheless, a desire to realize the sacred nature of God is born in him eventually. Then begins the ascend of the Soul.
The ascent of the soul
There comes one particular birth which is very crucial because the soul cries, pleads and begs to God to release him from erring and suffering anymore and it wishes to have a perfect life by perfecting himself by leading a pious and pure life. In that particular life in which he is redeemed and liberated is a very hard and trying one for him because of his huge backlog of karmas or ‘sanchit karmas’.
Sanchitkarmas are the unmanifestated, accumulated karmas of many previous births or incarnations which we carry in a dormant state in every life with us. This backlog has to be cleared now and more and new meritorious actions have to be re-created side by side by the aspirant in spite of already existing innumerable virtuous karmas in our ‘purse’ of karmas to create a new Divine life. To free oneself from suffering for once and all and attain everlasting bliss, the prior condition is that the soul must have a large reservoir of good deeds and not a single sin in his personal account of karmas!! That is the pre-condition of Mukti or salvation.
Now what are the prominent characteristics of a soul which is being liberated?
Such a ‘about to be liberated’ soul charts out and scripts its own destiny. All its vitality is used up from the very start to resist the bad people with whom he is unable to get along because of contrary views and ideologies. So there is always a conflict and clash of ideas going on. The good soul is criticized for being the odd one out but he gradually distances himself from the bad souls around him without caring about public opinion and intensifies his sadhana and refuses to mingle with evil minds. The sadhana for perfection takes many years to bear fruit as a lot of time is expended in exhausting the past karmas because one has to pay the debts of negative karmas first and also create new positive karmas alongside. So do not worry or get frustrated when on your path of sadhana, you find that you are not making any progress because of a lull or life is very harsh and difficult to bear. Just carry on by walking on the ascending steps enthusiastically. Don’t stop, go on…
This is also reflected in the sadhak’s life as he may have a long, stagnant phase, encounter lack of opportunities, ill luck and sometimes lack of material success also and he is isolated from the society for being the maverick in the madding crowd. For him situations do not change for a long time and he has to wait patiently may be a few years, for times to turn around for a change favourably. Such a courageous person does not like to complain as he has the capacity to endure everything because he knows that the wheel of time though not visible is still moving and one day good times will favour him. He will be victorious in his mighty endeavours is his conviction.
Such a determined and dauntless soul is unstoppable as he rises and soars high to reach the summit, the chosen destination when all the unborn seeds and ripened fruits of the past sins and misgivings are finally burnt to ashes. With God’s Grace and Guru’s blessings as well as with the tapas of his sadhana, one day all the seeds of the misdeeds performed knowingly and unknowingly of many, many previous lives and of the present life also are burnt and exhausted. He now flies up and soars like the phoenix in the open, clear, blue, and vast sky!!
Slowly, the total impact of bad karmas begins to fade away gradually. There are good signs seen as life begins to be kind to him now. The obstacles and difficulties begin to dwindle and slowly luck favours him. Happy developments initiate and replace stagnant, irritating and difficult situations. His sadhana also gives rich results and culminates into a peaceful and smooth life. The ego is completely destroyed, his senses are in control, he exercises self-control and his mind is cleansed of all egocentric desires completely. He forgives everybody whom he had blamed for his bad luck and rough times. He also comes to terms with life and is at peace with himself once and for all. He accepts God as the Supreme Power in the Universe, the real maker and doer of all things seen and unseen.
The door to the third eye is flung open for him because of the force of his accumulated and present life very good karmas and guru’s kripa. The Lord is very pleased with his lovable child and showers his mercy on him.
He is liberated of all the mental, physical and emotional pain and suffering finally. Divine uninterrupted Peace which comes after realizing God is his best companion now and he is afraid of nothing in this world. Boldness and fearlessness are his features and characteristics henceforth.
The dormant spiritual energy, called the Kundalini Shakti (refer-Kundalini Shakti-I) in Yoga is awakened by Guru’s kripa. The lower chakras are purified by cleansing and the upper chakras opened and energized gradually with the help of Naam jaap and recitation of God’s Holy Name. The inert extremely fine nerves near the third eye are activated by the electric current passed through dormant nerves from the ‘muladhar’ to ‘sahasrar’ in the process of awakening by ‘Shakti Paat’ or transmission of Godly electrical currents by his guru’s mere thought or touch. And subsequently his spinal chord is repeatedly recharged and energized by Divine Light by performing and practicing meditation techniques, pranayam and mantras given by Guru. New cells in the brain are activated by which development and refinement of skills is observed in the life of the sadhak. (Related many posts –Mental prosperity,A Fine Vessel & Rays of Light)
Subtle understanding and Divine perceptions is only possible when these dormant nerves and energy centres are opened and charged as the Light Rays in the form of electric currents travel through these nerve channels called nadis. Meditation is the tool which connects the soul to the Supreme Soul and thereby to Cosmic Consciousness, the transcendental state of Divine Perceptions and Enlightenment.
The secret, priceless knowledge of God and Mother Nature is bestowed on him as sheer Grace. Such a brave heart is flooded with God’s Light and Illumination and he is freed from all deficiencies, mental entrapment and delusion at last. His spine is bleached and purified by compassionate, chaste and ethical actions performed regularly for a very long period of time. And also actions like- meditation on God, pranayam, praying, peaceful and loving thoughts, compassion, friendship, mutual co-existence and charity. Such a refined soul does not err and falter anymore because by now all his actions are performed merely with the will of God alone. His actions are always offered to God as he surrenders willingly at His Holy Feet. His actions only reap calmness, goodness, love, joy and peace for himself and to others certainly. The Spirit shines forth and the communion with omnipresence is revived as he visits the abode of God within himself many times in a day with the grace of God and the holy Gurus. He is always protected by being under the shade and protection of his Guru’s armoured guardianship and shield.
His mind is calm and and nature serene and he is always attuned to God’s will as he is at higher levels of awareness, subtle perceptions and wider understanding and illumination. He is able to envision what is going to happen in future and can also peep in his and other people’s previous lives at God’s will. Such a person is empowered and brings about concrete changes in his environment and in people but very silently. He can also liberate others if it is the will of God with his unbreakable tuning and link with Divine Gurus. Such a soul is blessed by both- God and the Gurus. The obligation and debt of his body towards God and nature is at last paid up. The rest of his life is dedicated solely for God’s work, humanitarian acts of peaceful purposes. Blessed are such souls who on being liberated do not live and spend the remaining life in isolation in caves and mountains for bliss and ecstasy but dedicate their lives uplifting other suffering souls in this crazy and chaotic world!!..
The liberated Ones
We cannot stop at this juncture my sweet child, please be a little more patient and try to know a bit more on this subject which is laden with mystery and intriguing secrecy. Please let me reveal this to you as it is the will of God that I must tell you something also about the still higher evolved souls whom we call ‘Avatars’.
Who are Avatars? What do they do? What are their characteristics? Where do they reside?
Divine beings or Avatars are emancipated souls and are at the pinnacle of evolution ladder. Divine Souls are those souls who are already liberated aeon back and do not have a physical body at the moment. They subsist on pure light and mere thought or ideational thought or sankalpa and exist on seraphic planes far, far away from the earth. They are sometimes sent to the physical/material world for specific purposes from time to time by God or because of an intense prayer of a devotee or because of the call of crying souls who wish to be atoned and redeemed and released from the chain of ceaseless births.
Avatars are still present there in the celestial world in the highest spheres as mereCosmic White Light and very subtle vibration of thought. They travel in the outer space at the speed of light and communicate with their comrades by thoughts only via intuition. Though so far away from the earthly plane, their perceptions are extremely acute and intense and they can hear the feeble whimpering voice of despondent or needy souls. They are capable of travelling from one plane to another with ease, though they prefer the celestial sphere for their meditative, peaceful and blissful state of existence.
They are always totally committed to world peace, uplifting of humanity at large, preservation of the planet and its environment and also preserving the sacred knowledge of God-realization and our sacred scriptures. And stopping the evil forces from annihilating, stopping them from thwarting the peace processes initiated by countries in conflict and zonal wars, punishing the terrorists, mercenaries and the mass killers. (Ref-Peace- the quality of our soul) Apart from liberating the suffering souls individually from their centuries old ignorance and somnambulist existence, they work either alone or in a group quietly and still wish to remain in shrouded secrecy from public gaze. Though they do not reside in their physical encasement, they operate from the outer world and communicate with other souls in the physical world via sixth sense, telepathic communion, intuition and very subtle yet powerful thought power. They also show the way, direct, guide and take them by hand by mysteriously hinting the scientists by planting ideas, suggestions and answers in their minds in the field of Aero and space, science and agricultural researches and developments for humanitarian and world welfare causes. Their silent and unknown work for reforms and evolutionary progress of our planet goes on never endingly.
Such personages are very thoughtful, caring and loving in nature. The Divine souls love to meditate deeply for long hours on God, consider love and peace to be the highest attributes and qualities of man. When we attune our mind with such awakened souls, they give us samadhan or solutions, ideas through perceptions and thought waves. They preach love in this world which is the essence of all religions. They pray for peace for our earth as well for our Universe. They come forward immediately and operate from their plane to meet exigencies like natural disasters and catastrophes on our planet. They all very much rejoice on their celestial plane when a soul is finally liberated on earth. In the astral world such an event is celebrated with joy and much gaiety. When the newly liberated soul reaches the astral world after dropping his physical case on the Earth, he is given a warm and hearty welcome because of vigorous and determined attempts and onslaughts endured by the individual to redeem himself.
Isn’t it incredible to know so much about the other existing subtle worlds in our Universe and the liberated souls living out there and also to learn that we are not struggling alone in our mighty endeavours?? Someone is there to take away some of our heavy baggage from on our shoulders and give us some respite?
So, my dear child, do not wonder why are there so many weird people? And why should I be nice to others while what we receive from them is not good at all. No, dear. Be good to all because we all are the children of one God. When we do good to others, we do good to ourselves.
When we perform unbiased, unselfish and loving acts, we redeem our souls. When we think of God and his blissful nature, we are only trying to emulate Him and thereby changing our destiny by transforming our ordinary consciousness to Divine Consciousness!
So love God, bring Him very, very close to your heart and always remember that He is there with you forever, watching over you silently and hearing every tiny little whisper of your tender heart and its agony! He has the ear to hear even the feeble whimper of an ant who is climbing on the wall striving hard to reach the top! You just have to call out his Holy Name with all your soul and pure heart and you shall be liberated!!
One has to really wish for oneself, have a very, very deep and earnest desire to liberate itself only then salvation is possible!
Today is 20th of May, 2009 and it is your birthday. A very, very happy and auspicious birthday to you, my beloved child. I pray to God this day that on every birthday you find yourself standing on higher and higher steps of spiritual progress and advancement and joyful awakening. May God bless you, Mandira. May we not only celebrate your birthday, may we CELEBRATE LIFE!!
Once again, let me from deep within my heart and innermost soul thank the source, origin and inspiration of this beautiful collection of reminiscence to the Divine Guru, our Param Guru, His Holiness Shri Mahavatar Babaji, the immortal Soul, the ever youthful and everlasting Spirit residing secretly in the mountains of mighty Himalayas, far away from the eyes of the world and its gaze, seen and visible only to a few. Mandira, you are a gift to me from Him because He saved my life and brought me back from the clutches of untimely death before you were born years ago. In a vision in the hospital bed while I was about to die, He revived me by infusing life-force back into me. Though I did not recognize who this very Mahatma was. I saw him very vividly with an ochre cloth around his waist, a wooden pole, danda in hand and very long copper coloured hair uptil his knees. His face had deep eyes with compassion. I had the opportunity of the fortunate beginning of a long spiritual journey with Him since a few years but had the good luck of his Divine darshan while recuperating then. He foretold me in a very mysterious way in a dreamlike state of subtle vision about your arrival in future. If you really see we both are alive because of His Grace and mercy!! We owe our lives to the Holy Master! How can we ever thank Him enough for everything that He has done for all His ashirwad and Kripa on us? Words can never suffice.
This blog with the theme ‘Celebrate Life’ is offered at His Lotus Feet as a remembrance and devotion to our beloved Mahavatar Babaji. My sincere heartfelt prayer to Him on this special day and hour that his kripa and blessings be always there on me and all of us and the whole world family, now and always.
May God bless us all! May God give us peace, joy, health, mental happiness and spiritual progress too.
Om Namo Bhagwate! Om Namo Bhagwate! Om Namo Bhagwate!!
(Chant this mantra repeatedly silently or aloud for a long time for releasing your soul from all the chains and bondage of the mind and its long, lingering ignorance)
https://spiritinlife.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Header_1903x300.png00spiritinlifehttps://spiritinlife.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Header_1903x300.pngspiritinlife2009-05-20 04:59:352021-05-04 21:09:21The process of liberation or Mukti
‘Shreyas karmas’ are the ones which are difficult to perform and not very pleasant in the initial stages but are highly beneficial for us in future. While ‘Preyas karmas’ are those karmas which are very pleasing and enjoyable in the beginning but produce ill effects in future in long term.
The beneficial or ‘Shreyas karmas’ are advantageous, benign, health giving and have positive and wholesome effect in our lives. They give peace, longevity and abundance. So perform only positive actions. But this path of selective good actions is sometimes long and arduous. Our feet get tired, we lose hope and courage, we find ourselves alone with no companion, people ridicule us as majority of them do not validate our views, and finally we see that there is no energy left in us to walk up the steep hill.
But do you know my lovable child, that you should never give up your ambition because our aim is very blessed and unselfish. Our motives very pure and therefore God provides us help in accomplishing our benign goals. Although the greedy and selfish man also works hard to achieve his goals and selfish intentions, but God never provides him any encouragement or support.
God provides help only to his sweet children by giving them ‘shakti’ or force in their minds by planting thoughts of determination, fortitude, discrimination, goodness and self-belief to continue walking on the rocky path of God-realization. Whoever makes attempts to redeem, purify and wants benediction, God promotes and backs up every little effort of ours so that we make consistent and considerable progress for atonement, self discovery and God realization.
God is non-doer, a silent spectator and is responsible for nothing that we do. We are responsible for whatever actions we take whether physical or mental or otherwise. But when you invoke God by the perfume of your virtuous acts, He blesses you like a Father to a son for your good acts and supplants fatigue with good energies, high spirit, a fine intellect and extraordinary physical and mental energies to cover up the gaps when we take giant strides to make our spirit blossom.
But those people who harbour evil thoughts, jealousy, anger and shrewdness, they all live in hell. They emit a foul smell as they have a very small heart. Such people slowly become lazy in nature, they do not get success in their goals and their mind gets constricted. They fall and regress and further regress on the ladder of human evolution.
Now there is one question which may crop up in our mind in the process of salvaging ourselves. Which actions should we chose from so many possibilities as sometimes our mind gets blurred? There is always a choice that we have to make and we do not know what is right for us? What is the criteria of selection?
We should only choose to do those karmas which will raise our soul higher, which will produce enthusiasm and zest in our lives and which will make our life a blissful paradise.
What sort of life should we lead to enable us to do the right actions?
Our life must be simple, it should have sweetness. It should have love in abundance. Our life should be brimming with devotion, love and goodness for all!!
A few lines in Hindi are flowing spontaneously at this point in my mind summarizing the topic of all the three posts. I hope you will appreciate my small effort in expressing myself what I wish to say. It goes something like this..,
Agar atma prakash karna chhate ho to shubh, hitkari, swarthheen karam karo.
Nishkam karam mukti ka dwar hai, rasta hai.
Nishkam karam man ko shanti deta hai.
Nishkam karam-bandhan se mukti deta hai.
Nishkam karam do dilo ko jodta hai. Raag, bhaye ko door bhagata hai.
Nishkam karam punyai ka ambar lagata.
Nishkam karam se Arjun ko Krishna mil jata hai.
The translation in English.
If you wish to have Divine Illumination, then perform beneficial, selfless actions.
Selfless acts are the door to salvation, is the path of salvation.
Selfless acts give peace of mind.
Selfless acts free us from the bondage of results of our actions.
Selfless acts join two hearts. It eliminates anger and fear.
Selfless acts add to your treasure trove of virtuous acts.
With selfless acts, Arjuna (devotee) finds his beloved Lord Krishna (God)
Please refer the last post for more description and explanation)
https://spiritinlife.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Header_1903x300.png00spiritinlifehttps://spiritinlife.blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Header_1903x300.pngspiritinlife2009-05-10 00:10:012021-02-28 11:47:35Our lives are in our hands-III
In a secluded place in Hrishikesh, quite some years ago, a man named Shivendra used to worship Lord Shiva. He liked to wonder in the forests sometimes and he used to also meditate there. One evening, while walking in deep thoughts, he lost his way in a thick forest.
As it became dark in the evening and the forest was dense, he was unable to find his way back. He became nervous and worried. With an intense prayer in his heart, he began to call Lord Shiva. After about half an hour or so, in that quiet and peaceful environment, he heard some footsteps, after which he saw a sannyasi, an ascetic in ochre clothes standing next to him smiling gently. He was carrying a bowl and was holding a staff and wearing wooden sandals. The sannyasi was very fair and tall and his body emitted golden glow. Furthermore, his face beamed extraordinary peace and serenity and he had a sort of magnetic enchantment inducing towards him.
Presuming him to be a realised mahayogi, he knelt down humbly at his feet. The sannyasi glanced at him with a questioning gesture. Shivendra understood this and spoke, “Maharaj, I have lost my way. Since the past three hours, I am searching my way. Can you please show me the path?”
Hearing this, the sannyasi began to laugh loudly scaring Shivendra profusely.
“My son, which path have you lost? I only know one path and that path leads man to progress. Do you want that path of life?”
Shivendra nodded his head in affirmation. The sannyasi made Shivendra sit beside him on a huge rock. For three to four hours, he had a fruitful conversation with Shivendra. During that period, his mind and body were at complete rest and he became very attentive. He perceived and understood what was the underlying existing cause behind this entire universe. He was given the sacred knowledge of liberation. The ‘beej’ (seed) of the ‘sansara’ (sensory world) is Brahma (Atman) he was told. The sannyasi also explained to Shivendra the difference between a good and an evil man, a friend and a foe and how to discriminate between the two.
They spent a considerable time in mutual company and he was a recipient of a great treasure of knowledge and Shivendra got profound joy and satisfaction in it. With a lot of love, the sannyasi said, “My dear son, whatever I have told you never forget it. Whenever a good man comes to you show him the path of brotherhood and mankind. Give love to all. Instil their lives with peace, faith, happiness and progress and make their lives abundant. The more people you reach out, the better it will be.”
He further added, “Do not discriminate between people on the basis of country, religion, caste or creed. Follow only the religion of brotherhood of mankind.” After saying this he again repeated, “Will you lose your way now?” Lovingly he patted his back and before he asked for his leave, Shivendra asked his name. He replied, “Kandhari.“
So what do we gather from the real life incident of an ascetic who lived at the foothills of Himalayas and had the great fortune of the blessed company of the Mahasiddha, paramyogi Mahavatar Babaji? This incident can also be viewed as an allegory as we find so many cryptic meanings in this incident when we draw parallels.
What are the shrouded realizations? Can you stop and think for a moment, please?
Now not only was Shivendra lost, we too are lost in the world’s maze of illusion or Maya. The dark and dense forest here can be compared to Maya. We also have to revoke and retract our steps and find our way back home. If you are a pathfinder, you will need a guide and a path illuminator in the form of a Divine Guru. The Guru asks us to retrace our steps from the materialistic and illusory world to the Divine world and teaches us to be good by serving God through human beings. Mahavatar Babaji hates it if we waste our precious time in frivolous, trifling and wasteful activities. Instead, he advocates us to utilize each and every moment in activities and pursuits which will help us grow in Spirit.
And how can all this be attained?
We can start by first taking a firm resolution and setting our goal to achieve the Divine Abode. Once our aim is laid down and set firm, the next thing the aspirant has to do is to perform suitable actions in synchronization to them. If a student has the ambition to top the class, he brings his whole mind and attention to perform only those actions which will fulfil his ambition. He does not perform contrary actions obviously. So we too should perform only those actions by which we will surely progress and move upwards.
God has given us intellect and discrimination power to sift. With intellect, we must discriminate what is good and what is not good for us. Which actions will help me to push me up on the hill of ascent? Ask yourself this and think.
What is good for me on long term basis? Perform only those actions.
Sometimes it so happens that we choose to do actions which are beneficial for us on short term basis. But the impact after some years is miserable. For example, acquiring the habit of spending more than your means is a wrong action for sometime we may enjoy being spendthrift, but the impending results will be difficult to bear. Such actions are called “Preyas”, pleasant ones. On the contrary if you decide to save your money wisely you may feel the pinch today. But after a few years, there will be peace of mind and relief. Such actions are called “Shreyas“, beneficial Ones.
The same thing goes for man. He comes in the world, gets entangled in the jungle of sensory world and loses his way. Initially there is enjoyment but the later stage is of untold misery, sickness, suffering and unhappiness. But a wise man comes to the world and finds out first the path to God by disciplining his senses and mind through self-control, discarding ego and contemplation on God, devotion, service, charity, kindness, good behaviour and many such virtuous acts. Such a person is a Yogi. And once he realizes God, there is no entrapment. His soul is free and he is a happy man for the rest of the life.
(Mahavatar Babaji, the Himalayan Yogi is an immortal soul. He has many names given by people with love and reverence like Babaji, Mahavatar Babaji, Mahamune Babaji, Kandhari and many more. (I have written posts dedicated to him titled, ‘The Light of the world, Sri Mahavatar Babaji-I’ & II. Read that post to know more about his Divine form and Divine’s work carried out by him even today)
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Our actions are what we are. Our actions are what we will be, our actions build our future lives. Our actions determined where we were even before many, many years in the bygone eras and times. Actions determine the character of a person. We are judged by God by the type of our performed actions. We are judged by God by the intentions of our actions. Actions are the Force which will push the soul either upwards or downwards on the wheel of life and death on the cycle of evolution!!!!
My dear Mandira, this evening I want to draw your attention on something which I feel you should be knowing by now. It is very important that you understand a few fundamental concepts and principles of Divine Laws on which our lives rest. Unless you know and understand them, you will not be able to take charge of your life. The following three posts will be an explanation of this so please try to link each post with the other and then understand the principle in totality. It will start with a mundane example but will lead you to very crucial fundamental principles of spirituality. So let’s start from this point-
If you look around yourself, perhaps you must have marked that most of the time our immediate environment is not agreeable and pleasurable as people are having altercations with co-workers, squabbling with neighbours, having some dispute with one or the other or else people are at loggerheads with relatives and opponents. We are not able to give, share, understand other people’s problems and pains, lack sympathy and shirk to co-operate. Just observe all that what I have brought out to your notice. Why do you think this is quite common no matter where you go? Did you ever find out why does man not live in adjusting and co-operative manner? It sometimes pains me to see that there are so many people who are not caring, are unconcerned, unhelpful and are self-serving to the core. What could be the real reason behind all this you must know.
Man by nature is born selfish. He is by nature covetous, acquisitive and egocentric. And the reason behind his improper behaviour and attitude is- ignorance and lack of understanding. He does not know that his actions are an outcome of his ignorance.
As we sow, so we reap. So actions based on being cunning, selfish and hate not only create unhappiness for oneself but by the act of the Supreme’s Law of action and reaction, his actions are all the time shaping and building a future life for him which will degrade his soul and as a punishment he will regress in future coming lives by encountering poverty, disease, sorrow and inadequacies. Each soul is responsible for oneself. There is so much poverty all around us and one seeks to know why is it so? It is of course because of greed and exploitation by a few and nonetheless also due to the wrong doings of the sufferers at some point of time for which he is paying now.
Whenever a soul performs a wrong action, a thin layer of dark energy covers his Soul. And the brain gets proliferated with dark dense dots of negative energy and he in turn, cannot perform deeds wisely and his intellect gets contaminated under the dark cloud of darkness. On the contrary, when we do actions and activities whether in a group or solo like generosity, helpfulness, love and kindness and unselfishness, the already existing layers of darkness and ignorance over our Soul is dispersed, gets thinner and our brain is polished little by little. That’s why good natured people, irrespective of lack of material wealth or good health are spirited people. Wherever they go, they beam happiness and make everyone light. Such people are morally upright, fearless and will always perform righteous acts as prescribed in our scriptures.
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After knowing what happens in the other unseen world and how the two types of energies act on each other in the Universe, the next possible query in your mind now would be – okay, I know the working of the forces of God behind my physical eyes. But in spite of what is happening around me, I want to have peace of mind. And in this disorganized and unstable world! So now the question is – What should I do to have it?
At this point, I ask you- Have you ever made conscious efforts to beget peace? And did you ever experience very deep and sustained peace Mandira? Even if it was for a few minutes? Recall that.
If not, then my advice to you is that you must certainly attempt this rewarding endeavour. You will know its significance once you experience it yourself. You see, we make all sorts of efforts to achieve material goals, but we do not really know and understand how important it is to try and attempt to procure and attain peace in our lives.
When you do get a glimpse of deep peace at an an advanced meditative stage as a mature sadhak later, then hold on to it. It is evasive and slippery, it slips away. Let that deep peace linger and spread in your whole body, complete mind and in all your daily activities profusely and be cautious to retain it after that!
The next question is how?
There are some ways by which you can have lasting peace by adopting and practicing some actions and habits in your daily life. I have incorporated and followed them for quite some time now and have found impressive results. You too can adopt and follow them for a good, healthy, enriching and balanced life. In this way, you will enhance your spiritual life also.
Firstly, disconnect and release your mind from material objects and materialistic thoughts. This tendency makes our mind impatient and restless. In this category also fall people who are not good and add nothing substantial to your well-being. Do not spend your time in discussing worthless people and their doings with others. You will gain nothing out of it. Distance yourself from their unproductive life activities. Only pick up good things from them. Please do not give unnecessary importance, time and energy to material goods and related thoughts, I repeat.
You can never be fully satisfied without Divine peace!
There is a thin line which divides need from greed!!
Have regards for superior thoughts. Infuse your mind with thoughts which have gravity, depth and meaning. They should serve the purpose of guiding your line of thoughts and your life in the right direction. From superior thoughts of wisdom, take your mind and anchor it on thoughts on God. In this way the mind becomes pure. Mind is matter and the thoughts lingering with worldly matters has impurities. But the worldly mind becomes pure with contemplation and absorption of sublime divine thoughts. The mind should be thrown in the fire of knowledge and wisdom. After burning, the residue is the sediments of impure, fleeting thoughts of this transitory world and the gold is now clean and it shines! Like wise our mind, over a long, continuous period of isolation from worldly tendencies and inclinations becomes transformed and purified for a higher purpose. So internalize your mind by bringing it back to its source again and again till it rests in God permanently. This needs regular and uninterrupted practice.
When you perform your daily activities, involve your mind completely in it. No job is done well unless we give our heart and soul to it. But once the job is done, disconnect your mind and take a relief. After refreshing your mind, go on to the next task. If you are stormed by bouts of uneasiness and disruption of peace, then immediately bring your mind on your breath. Focus your attention on your breath. Observe your breathe and be a witness to it. As you watch the flow of incoming and outgoing breath, the uneasiness, anxiety or anger and all other negative emotions shall subside and pass away. Calmness and peace shall return to you soon. Make it a habit of calming your mind many times a day by observing your breath and not by other de-stressing methods to improve your moods.
Continuous practice of the mind for uninterrupted peace, discovering thoughts of God’s nature by regular practice of meditation, penance, maintaining silence, fasting on saatvik food, internalization makes the mind firm and steady.
A pure, stable, anchored mind in God with senses in control, one who performs good deeds attains lasting peace in spite of the disharmony, strife, chaos and instability in this world. Practice this!!
Do not carry the weight of the load of your past. Leave your past behind. Let your past be past.
Discard immediately all those thoughts which arise in the mind that are impure, repetitive, fruitless and unprofitable.
Give love to all. That is God’s love which you shall distribute to whom so ever is worthy.
Spread kindness. Kindness in words, thoughts and deeds. Be kind to animals, animate and inanimate objects too. Speak words to people which are pleasing to their heart, mind and soul. Your words should have balming effect on them.
Meditate on God. Meditate on Self. Do self inquiry and correct yourself again and again. Meditate deeply for long lasting peace. Deep breathing and meditation clears your mind of fogginess and also clears your future path.
As I wrap up and conclude this topic, I feel like telling you something in brief. A precept which you may need to know at a later stage of advancement and development. Have you heard the word -Soliloquy? Compare these two words ‘soliloquy and dialogue’. Dialogue is with the mind while soliloquy is with our Spirit, our soul. After soliloquy there is only peace. One is at peace with the world, with people and with own self. This is a state of Nirvana- nir (without) vana (speech), a speechless state of mind, a quiet and silent mind. Complete freedom from the noise of our own loud incessant, futile thoughts which are self created. The clouds over the sun when dispersed facilitates the sun to shine brightly. Like wise the noisy, cloudy thoughts when calmed down makes our Spirit shine. The shining Sun here is our luminous Spirit, our very own Atman.
God is the all pervading force in the Universe as well as in Nature in its pure, undiluted, sublime form. While Mind is matter and gross in nature. It completely dissolves in God, in the Spirit, in the Light, in sublime Self. The mind at last arrives at a stage where it has no conflict, no rebellion traits, no upheaval, no unrest, no agitation, and no fuss at all. Only Peace prevails. Attain that!!
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During one of the dynamic meditations these days, Sri Paramhansa Yogananda or Guruji helped me to grasp the subtle working of the unseen underlying forces in this Universe.He made me understand that there is a fine balance of two types of energies in the world which are responsible for its peace, harmony and stability. The moment the bad or evil forces begin to take charge and spoil the work of God, the Divine forces, through saints in this as well as in the astral world escalate their task of counter balancing and reinforcing the good energies by their mere ‘will’ or ‘thought’. The explanation and elaboration of this principle is as follows-
In this Universe, out of God’s powers, were created two types of forces. One which is good, conducive, progressive, evolutionary and constructive in nature called the Divine Force or Devik shakti (Godly forces). And the other which contradicts it by opposing it, the ungodly force or asuric shakti (Demonic forces). It is regressive in nature and causes turbulence, chaos, conflict, confusion and destruction in the environmental field and in the space in which we live. The two forces are constantly at play in the Cosmic Creation in various forms in nature as well as in man.
In short, we can call them positive energy and negative energy. Still better, positive forces versus negative forces to make it easy to understand for this purpose.
And in this world there are 3 types of people-
Very good people who do only good actions. Very few in number. Just to understand things, we can denote and call them ‘The white people’ for the sake of our convenience and simplification.
Very bad people who do only bad actions. A huge number. The black people.
Mix type- who do good as well as bad actions both. Again a large number. They are grey people.
So we have just a few people who are highly virtuous and contribute mightily to the pool of positive karmas in the universe. But remember, it is the quality and great intensity of their karmas which makes all the difference. Humanitarian acts of compassion, friendship, love, forgiveness, service, philanthropy, charity of material wealth for a spiritual cause, revival of ancient art and science of god-knowledge are acts of great contribution for sustenance of humanity and creation on this earth. So though there are just a few who can perform such great acts but their impact on the world scene is tremendous and is great in measure, scale and intensity. The godly, humanitarian and saintly people fall in this class.
Next are those large number of men, who because of their degenerative nature carry out acts which are regressive in nature for our society and evolution of man. Acts of repression, anarchy, creating political turmoil, abuse and subjugation of women, inhuman acts of treachery, opposing development of society by selfish people and individuals who cause infliction to others in thoughts, deeds and mind are of this class.
Lastly there are the ‘grey people.’ Such people under the influence of their past good deeds in this or past life are bent to do virtuous acts of religion, charity and goodness. But as this tendency is not yet firmed up strongly because of deeply buried hidden tendencies of greed and craving for honour, money or fame, they have friends, relatives, associates and co-workers with whom they join in acting in wrongful acts of sins, corruption, cheating, lying and impunity to law. They sometimes also do very rewarding acts and at the same time, they are prone to act in very harmful ways also. They do ‘mix karmas.’
People are all the time acting and sending out these two types of energies and thus creating new patterns of vibratory energies in the Universe composed of different qualities. The effects and consequences are here for us to see in the manifestation of social, political, moral and spiritual conditions of our society.
A society degenerates when truth, goodness and morality begins to decline and shows signs of positive growth in every sense in all areas when goodness, truth and fairness increases and prevails.
There is a constant fight, a tug of war between good and bad forces where Divine forces act upon the ungodly forces to establish Dharma or righteousness, order, balance, peace, harmony and goodness. Or else the evil forces, whose primary assigned role is to destabilize the harmonizing order and energies will be a victor. As long as the tussle between these two forces is going on, the balance seems to even out.
However, it is the intervention and acting of the ‘grey people’ during the ‘balance time’ which causes tremors, agitation, disorder, violence and storms in the Universe. Normal life goes out of gear and order.
The so called ‘grey people’ are the ones who are responsible for the tilting of the delicate balance of both energies in the surroundings and prevailing normal conditions. When they do good actions by coming in contact and associating with good people, the positive energies increase. And the negativity decreases so there is order, calmness and peace. But when the grey people out of greed, egoism or ignorance align with bad people to gain some selfish motives, it spoils the balance by tilting the needle of the balancing scale towards the bad forces. And the needle begins to tilt towards the other side and the result is destabilization of good energies.
God is a silent spectator. He has given us the power of ‘free will’. It is up to us whether we exercise the given gift of free will or not. Free will also means we may or may not take the initiative to carry out an act. Man is free to do or not do something. God is impartial and loves all alike.
When the silent spectator, God perceives the leaning of the forces more towards the dark forces or when the balance of the forces has gone out of control and it has begin to affect adversely or harming peoples’ right of peaceful living and freedom, or when people are exploited and looted by the corrupt and liars, God does step in quietly. He intervenes by choosing some savants, saviours and samaritans who are deliverers, defenders and who serve the Lord. Through them The Lord brings about positive changes in the social set-up although the culprits and offenders are unable to see or understand this. They obviously cannot comprehend the subtle acts of God operating in their surroundings. They continue to strike, play dirty tricks, resort to unscrupulous acts, malpractices etc but finally they fail in their misdeeds. The power of God is such that all their efforts go to waste and they eventually lose by running out of luck and goodwill. Once again dharma, fairness and righteous living are re-established and peace and stability restored.
So we as believers and devotees of the Almighty must always preserve trust and faith in God and at the same time endure and even suffer sometimes to oppose the bad forces in order to stop those wicked people from becoming stronger so that they do not rout the Divine forces and bring about chaos, indifference and deterioration in our society. If we too do not allow the acts of bad people to take place and if we oppose them, this will be our good karma and it will be accounted in our credit.
So my dear child,
We must never ever align, associate or side with ungodly people and we must always do what God has told us through the scriptures like Geeta or Bible. These scriptures are for our guidelines and navigation. Spirituals laws are clearly written in them by the do’s and don’ts. And God will be pleased with us and will favour and protect us if we obey these laws. Our life will be filled with contentment, stability of mind and righteousness. There will be no guilt, sorrow, disease and remorse.
But please know that all this takes time to re-set and realign the two forces in nature and we must be faithful, patient and must possesses fortitude. We must trust in God.
Remember what Sri Krishna had said in Bhagwad Geeta Chapter IV verses 7 and 8
Yada yada hi dharmasya glanirbhavati Bharat
Abbhyuthanam adharmasay tadatmanam srijamyahum-7
Paritranaaya sadhunam vinashayay ch dushkrutam
Dharamasansthapnarathaya sambhavami yuge yuge-8
Arjuna, whenever righteousness is on the decline, the unrighteousness is in the ascendant, then I appear.
For the protection of the virtuous, for the extirpation of evil doers and for establishing Dharma (righteousness) on a firm footing from time to time.
While I am wrapping up this post, I am overwhelmed and soaked with gratitude. It is a day of revelation, a day of awakening for me. It is Guruji’s blessing falling over me and a gift to all of us who read this blog on this blessed day!!
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4a.m. Today is 7thof Mar. It is the mahasamadhi day of Sri Paramhansa Yogananda. I reverentially dedicate this post in his remembrance at his Lotus Feet.
As 7th March was approaching, I was remembering Sri Paramhansa Yogananda’s life or Guruji, as he was lovingly addressed, and was wondering how did he manage to accomplish so much in such a little time. That too in such a chaotic and unpredictable world? He was born for and worked towards the world wide mission of reviving the long lost, ancient science of Kriya Yoga of God-union. He united the Eastern philosophy with the western culture and ideology by showing similarities and propagated the conviction of oneness of both religions. He stressed the unity and brotherhood of mankind which is the only way to open the door of permanent peace in the world.
It was no mean a task for him as an Indian in the 30’s to land up all alone on the soil of America, a foreign country with no resources in hand. He knew nobody in America and had no trace or any idea as to how he could approach anyone and begin his spiritual work where no-one understood his language or when in those days one was not even exposed to the western world and its converse culture? Yet, by the time he took mahasamadhi in 1952, he was a well known spiritual figure and one of the pioneers of spiritual sciences on the world stage. He had initiated 1 lakh devotees into Kriya Yoga Deeksha in U.S. alone apart from so many others in India including Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and others. He established the SRF and YSS centres in Washington and California as well as in Ranchi and Dakshineshwar, India. He toured and visited many cities and towns in USA, Mexico, U.K, and also India lecturing on spiritual subjects and topics giving answers to questions, healing their bodies, souls and minds.
He conceived and designed many essential and informative spiritual lessons and life skills in the form of home lessons (Yogoda Satsanga Lessons in Self-realization. They are still in circulation and can be obtained from the YSS centres for aspiring devotees and practitioners of Yoga and Self-realization. He undertook the formidable task of translating and interpreting the Geeta and the Bible from the standpoint of Kriya Yoga. And so much more spiritual contribution was made by him that it is not possible for us to assess his gigantic reserve and enrichment to the existing pool. Now this is not an easy task if you really ask me. Recalling and recounting all this, I thought to myself…
In what way and manner do the great ones lead their lives?
How do they add so much value to a normal human life?
How do they accomplish so much in an average span of human life?
Are their minds very extra ordinary and special? If so, then how?
Can I too, enhance and escalate my present life by choosing and picking and then acting upon some special kind of actions or karmas which will attach added value, purpose and depth to my life also? I am wondering, really wondering??
I also thought of Lord Krishna. How could He compose and create the perennially new, ocean of wisdom ‘Bhagwad Geeta’ then?
I was extremely fascinated by great figures like Krishna, Arjuna and some other Mahabharat characters. More so when I used to watch the serial Mahabharat on TV. When I watched this engrossing epic, I really became ponderous and was very curious to know-
How could Krishna remain so unperturbed and composed in spite of the ongoing mass killing and ghastly scenes at the battlefield of Kurukshetra? How could he inspire the despondent Arjuna to resume the fight of dharma or righteousness? How was it possible at all for Arjuna to realize God and have a glimpse of the Divine nature of Krishna in such a disrupting and blood shedding times?
How did Krishna still retain peace, which he transferred to Arjuna and resolved his mental turmoil erupting in his mind?
Why did stalwarts and good souls like Bhishma pitamaha, Karna, Dronacharya not leave Duryodhana? He was depending mainly on these three great fighters who were also great people and were noble at heart.
Why could they not forsake the sinful men, the Kauravas? Had they done so, there would have been no war at all.
How can anyone have peace of mind when he is all the time surrounded by egoism, antagonism, unrest, disagreement, discord, jealousy and rivalry?
In short, I mean I need to know, is it possible for us to maintain peace and still surge ahead with our aspirations and intentions with existing conflict and antagonistic elements around us?
To be continued…….
(Read ‘Autobiography of a Yogi and ‘Whispers from Eternity’ among his best known work & Paramahansa Yogananda-In memoriam. Personal Accounts of the Master’s Final Days)
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The frantic pace of my life these days and the struggle to achieve the desired goals of bringing a positive change in my external environment has given rise to many questions. However, these questions were soon drowned in the hyper activities occurring these days. Even nights are mostly spent in thinking about how to inch towards my aims.
The questions which my mind is raising these days are:-
I have tremendous peace within me. God’s Light, or even a fraction and a speck of that Light gives me profound tranquility. However, the present task that God has assigned to me is of the bipolar world. A world where there is only impurity, profanation, devilry, offence and wrong-doing. To bring about a positive change, a constructive alteration in the current scenario and to bring order and harmony in this sinful world seems so difficult and remote!
Why has God chosen me? Why do I have to go through so much mental agony and weariness and not others? Why are there such few good and so many unscrupulous and mendacious people? If I have earned my peace of mind, when will I reap the harvest and be with myself?
Simply put, why doesn’t God give me isolation so that I can enjoy the serenity and uninterrupted calmness which I have earned with my endeavours? Why so much struggle in bringing about peace in the world? Why so much struggle and conflict in my life? Why do I have to involve myself with activities which are contrary to my sensibilities and taste? Why?
Oh! It has got so late tonight. The whole world seems to be sleeping except for me. It is already 2.00 a.m. and I am writing in my notebook because I have just been relieved and I have found my answers in God’s own peculiar and unique ways.
Before falling asleep I remembered God as I do everyday, who resides in me as pure Light. I first acknowledged His presence and expressed my gratefulness for all the help and support I am receiving from unexpected quarters these days for the task that he has assigned to me. I wish to attune myself perfectly well so that I am able to receive maximum help sent by God through various mediums. So, I blessed those people from the core of my heart whom I just visited a few hours ago because their genuine good vibrations reached and touched my heart. They meant good for me today. I also prayed for some more people whom I thought need God’s transmission of unseen protection and spiritual nourishment. They are with me in our struggle to bring about necessary social changes.
With these thoughts I lulled myself to sleep. As I put my head on the pillow, in my left ear very explicitly, I heard the sound of a gong of the astral bells ringing in a far off land. We all have heard the bells ringing with a beat, a rhythm in the temples and it is a ritual which we like. The sound of temple bells have a deep impact on our heart and the mind too. Even these bells that were ringing in my extra sensory ear were very enchanting as my attention became completely fine tuned to its sound. They were originating from the much higher energy centres in the energized spinal cord I felt. The continuous reverberating sound of the bells produced profound comforting calmness over me and I soon realized that I have got untied from the unremitting sense of body consciousness. I became very light and was raised to higher domains of deeper peace. I felt so free….very free….completely free….although for a few moments but I was in a different and distant space of freedom and weightlessness.
As my concentration on the sounds of the bells became sharper, I began to hear the sound of Om originating along side the sounds of the bells. I could hear the bells ringing as well as the sound of Om both together at this stage. The sacred sound of Om gave me tremendous peace; I considered myself truly blessed at this Divine hour.
After a while, the ringing of the bells stopped and only the sound of Om was reverberating in my ear clearly. Om…… Om….. Om…… Om…… Om……Om……mmm……….m.
These vibrating sound waves then began to circulate from my head to my arms, torso, legs, toes and then to each body part and every cell of my being. Each cell of my body began to vibrate with the sound and current of flowing Om which left me permeated with complete silence and infused with quietude. I experienced before long what I had read many years ago in scriptures – ‘Naad Ghosh.‘
Naad means dhwani, sound, an indescribable word and ghosh means to announce, promulgate or proclaim .
I remember well I must have stayed in this state for sometime when…..
I received my answer from God in explicit spoken words “Dukh mei sukh chupa hai, andhere mei prakash, asatya mei Satya. Jeevan ek sangram hai. Jeevan sangarsh hai. Prakash ko pane ke liye andhkar se guzarna padta hai. Satya ko janane ke liye asatya ko jaanana padega aur sukh pane ke liye dukh sahana padega. Yahi jeevan ka sangharsh hai.”
“In sorrow is hidden happiness, in darkness Light, Truth in falsehood. Life is a conflict. Life is a struggle. To attain Light, one has to go through darkness. To know the Truth, one must know falsehood and to achieve happiness, one must go through sorrow. This is the struggle of life.”
I have found my answers to the ongoing conflict and turmoil in my mind. I am at ease with myself. I am now at peace with myself !
Peace for me! Peace for you! Peace for all!!
# Om, the giver of peace
# Naad ghosh
# Life is a conflict # Life is a struggle.
# To know the Truth, one must know falsehood
# Principle of Soul evolution
Updated on 07.05.21
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My conclusion and comments today after reading and revising this article written twelve long years ago on 10.03.09.
I have come an extremely long way in my quest to know and realize the highest fundamentals of Truth. The sadhana of Om has got so much deeper now. My realizations are so many, extremely deep and touching the deepest layers of the unconscious mind, may be just one speck of imagery which should be removed for complete disintegration of my past. Reverberating sound of Om has helped disintegrate some of the lingering, excruciating dots of memories of a few past life times; they were buried and concealed in an unseen nook and were isolated. They were at my current stage of advance and peaked consciousness, acting as an unseen shackle and hindrance in yoking and uniting my super sensitive mind through and through with Omnipresent God, Parmeshwar forever.
Om has dissolved even that tiny crystal of one impending memory; in its place I have planted seeds of regeneration in the form of peace, hope and love.
I realized Om has deep peace, very deep peace within it. Peace heals, Om heals and restores, rehabilitates the fragmented pieces of life.
Om sound heals the deepest possible level of one’s mind, it recharges the DNA of our broken cells and regenerates the body, mind and our Spirit. We revive our life.
The rhythmic, ebb and flow of the divine sound Om is healing, recuperating and divinizes our whole being. The fall and rise of one invocation in the chant of sound Om is one cycle. Continuous, rhythmic, cyclic sound waves create positive, recharging and healing impact on the practitioner by generating subtle electrical waves from those sound waves of Om. The extremely gentle vibrations of Om touching the body inside and outside and beyond its boundaries cause a rhythmic pattern of revitalizing deep peace.
Send these peaceful sound waves of those areas of body, mind or Spirit which need to be repaired, regenerated or bounced back to life. Or to others.
Om chanting before and after meditation amplifies the reverberation of its sound waves in your atmosphere. It echos thus recharges the far off places also with positive, healing vibrations in the Universe.
Conflict,Peace & Deep struggle of conflict and peace. It begins with a specific episode of one main incarnation in segments-1, 2 and 3. They are titled Conflict, Peace and Deep struggle of conflict and peace. The whole process is described when a Soul is entangled in a conflict, it longs for peace but peace is not easily attainable.
The Soul has to go through a deep struggle to free itself from the opposite forces in nature. This is a principle of Soul evolution. Every Soul has to redeem itself to become free of anti-God forces which are in the way of the Soul to bloom. The Soul has to go through the struggle with fortitude and determination and take truth and virtues as its weapons to conquer evil.
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A healing Raga- Hansdhwani
Purpose of listening to this Raga-Hansa means a swan and dhwani means sound, the sound of the swan. The Raga is to distill your mind and clear out all doshas, impurities of the mind. When you meditate with invocation and repetition of Om, you progress in the spinal chord and become free of many impurities. When God wills, a fraction of the five elements or panch tattvas disintegrate from your spinal chord and return to the atmosphere thus freeing you of the impending effects of your karmas which are detrimental and obligatory .
Positive side effects after reading this post on Om– Some people may face uneasiness, upheaval or disturbing phases of mind temporarily. Ignore it, instead focus on calming your mind and remain patient, it is a temporary phase. Seek guidance within, you will receive. Awakening of Omnipresent in you is a blessing from God. Some may even fall into a samadhi state as I went into which I have described here; such is the power of Om.
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Whatever we wish to achieve in life should be firmly determined first. Only then success is assured. Determination and firmness of purpose comes from the power of Spirit which makes our mind resolute in nature.
We must set high goals in life with a meaningful purpose touching larger issues and serving larger people. Petty goals and petty means demean our souls. It is a loss to our dignity and self respect.
Unpreparedness of mind should be dealt with, first of all. To become mentally prepared we must search our souls to know what our goal in life is at present. To know and determine the exact goal, to ascertain whether we are doing the right thing, or to excel in all our pursuits we must first surrender ourselves at the Lord’s feet. The Lord, the Master of the Universe knows what is really right for us and after that we can pick up our chosen destination and decide on our set goals.
Once the period of confusion, self-doubt and unpreparedness is over, we must be thoroughly determined to achieve our large goals after receiving God’s consent, Grace and kind blessings.
Determination makes us empowered with a quality which later creates a carved out path for ourselves. And that quality is- fearlessness.
There are going to be speed-breakers, unexpected mental barriers and other tiring deterrents. But the faith in oneself and the Power of the Almighty clears the path and the road is well defined and uncluttered by now.
Now my dear, can you recall and think of some known characters from the past who had firmness of purpose and determination resembling fire?? You think on this and in the meantime I will tell you whom I consider worth mentioning here, who really had fiery determination and also enjoys a place in man’s history. And that is Panchali from Mahabharat period.
Panchali knew that the rightful heir of Hastinapur was Yudhishtir and that their kingdom was usurped by Duryodhan and his coterie of evil minded associates. The Kauravas grabbed the kingdom from the Pandavas by cheating them in the game of dice. Panchali was disgraced and insulted in the court-hall by Duryodhana, Karna, Dushshasan and the other wicked people present there at that foreboding time. She felt very lonely and had only Krishna for her timely help on her side. She was anguished and felt helpless at her own plight.
After the humiliation, Panchali avowed that she will avenge every misdeed of theirs. And she did. In the war of Kurukshetra, she asked her beloved husband Arjun and Herculean Bhima to kill Karna and Duryodhana respectively for their unforgiving abuses and demeaning acts towards her and relieve her from her agonizing vows. She called them cowards because for everything that they had won was won by fraud, cheating, plotting, conspiracy and treachery.
Panchali was determined to regain her dignity, self respect and lost glory which she eventually did. All that was possible because of not only her devotion towards Krishna but because of her unshakable resolution and fiery determination to win back her lost pride and honour.
And have you thought of some more extra-ordinary persons who have achieved what they set their eyes on because they possessed fiery determination?
The atmosphere was filled with vedic mantras as special poojas were being organised and conducted by devotees in the outside complex as well as inside the hall. I was listening to the rhythmic sound of mantras recited by the pujaris, the Brahmins as I sat there facing the idol in the hall.
Gently my eyelids shut as I began ‘naam smaran’ or repeating the holy name. I was uttering mutely…Nityananda, Nityananda, Nityananda….
My mind was soon interiorized with the help of the ongoing chanting when after a brief spell I heard these words inside me, “Chanting band karo.”
“Stop the chanting.”
I obeyed immediately and I sat there with a restful mind. A few moments were spent like this when….
At the point of concentration in between the two eyebrows of my forehead, I saw a Jyot, a Divine Flame in oval shape glowing radiantly. It was lemon yellow in colour. The flame had a thin outer ring of blue colour. Or to be a little more precise it was more close to cobalt blue, which quickly disappeared and only the yellow flame remained there. The flame was steady. I saw it glowing continuously.
Ah! What do I say what I saw!? Words can never translate what I experienced in those moments. How am I to say what I saw? What can I say how I felt at that moment? And whenever I recall those peerless moments in the temple, my whole being fills up with deep tranquility and joyful peace! I recapitulate those moments even now in times of solitude and repose to connect with the Eternal and relive that sense of oneness with it. Words cannot describe what your soul has felt. They will always fail me to express such sublime moments of oneness with Divinity!
The preparation and foundation I realized later, for further higher experience had been laid with the glimpse of Light and with this my mind was elevated to higher sources by this time. I understood sitting there that Sri Nityananda Swami had prepared the ground for me for higher and deeper revelations of spiritual sciences and enriching experience. Something more is yet to come. And so….
The quiet, mute conversation now began with the omnipresent Guru. He informed me by speaking very gently, “Yeh Divya jyot hai.”
“This is the sacred flame of God.”
It occurred to me that it was a confirmation of the spiritual phenomenon which took place just a few seconds before, or else I would have not fully understood what exactly had happened .
He continued, ” Mei tumhara param Guru hun. Param Guru Param Siddha Yogi hota hai.”
“I am your Param Guru. Param Guru is a Param Siddha Yogi”
I bowed down reverentially in my heart at the blessed moment with a feeling of deep gratitude and thankfulness directed towards him. I stooped down to touch his feet, which always beam divine beatific rays, as though he was actually present in his physical body in front of me. I today realize that I had become a recipient of God’s blessing through Shri Nityananda on that very special day. So far I had known only about Kripa- Prasad, but for the first time it dawned on me that this is ‘Hari Prasad’ – God’s blessings in such wonderful ways. I was very, very pleasantly awakened with such a rewarding experience!
After this, the oval shaped flame expanded to become a small circle and covered my upper portion of the face and forehead and the malleable energy in its circumference was touching my skin while I felt its tingling on my cheekbones very vividly. I even felt the sensations on the eyelids and forehead. I was deeply absorbed in this experience sitting there with my eyes closed and did not care at all about what was happening around me as the minutes that were floating were too blissful to barter with anything else and was not worth its match really!
At this stage, Swami Nityananda enlightened me by giving me knowledge of various stages of spiritual progress by the human soul. He began by revealing “Divya gyan Param Guru se hota hai.”
“Sacred knowledge is imparted by Param Guru only”.
These words of wisdom from the great soul were like immortal drops of elixir, words that infused life and vigour in me because they were spiritually awakening in every sense. I became more attentive now as I wanted to gather every little piece of the priceless pearls that were falling in my lap one by one.
At this point, the circle of the halo extended and became bigger than even before as I felt the soothing warmth of the extremely light and gentle tingling sensation of the halo touching my shoulders. The scattering rays sat lightly over my both shoulders. And there I sat, unmoved soaking myself in the balsamic rays and felt lighter and lighter. I was further gratified by the following upcoming words of spiritual wisdom from the kind-hearted saint.
“Guru aur Ishwar ek ho jata hai is awastha par. Yahan par shanti hai.”
“Guru and God become one at this stage. There is Peace here.”
Soon the ethereal halo became much larger, big enough to encircle me wholly and completely by now. I was so enamoured by it that I can’t really tell! I felt the emollient rays of Light which were falling and descending all over me like satin-soft light showers of featherweight rain drizzle. They were too, too endearing and alluring. And they continued to fall till they touched my knees and the rest of the body by now. I sat there bathing under the thick canopy of soul-soothing Divine rays. I took a spiritual bath under the shower of Divine Light and felt profusely blessed at that stupendous moment. I was completely dissolved with gratitude for my Guru and God both. God’s blessings came as a real surprise and I was receiving them like the thirsty dry earth that sips the first rain drops of the rainy season hungrily! My thirsty soul never once wished for the rains to stop! A memorable time of my life written with indelible ink!
It was the sheer Grace of God which was flowing towards me through the benevolent saint of Ganeshpuri. Had he not intervened and explained to me in explicit terms through his soft spoken mellifluous words, I would have not known and understood the matchless value of this valuable experience.
He went on to speak these weighty words of enlightenment to illumine me once again. ” Yahan aakar, Guru bhi nahi rahta, Brahma hota hai. Is awastha mei kewal nishabad brahma hota hai. Shanti ke baad maun, shunya hai. Yeh satya ki khoj hai. Brahma hamara strot hai. Hum wahin se aaye hai aur punha usme leen hona hai. To dhyan karo, is Ishwar ki Jyot par dhyan karo.”
“After arriving at this stage even the Guru is not there, only Brahmn remains. At this stage there is the Absolute Truth, absolute Brahma, Immutable Brahma, Unchanging Atman our Spirit. This is the beginning of the search of the Truth. Brahma is the source of our Origin. We must immerse in it again. So meditate on the Light of God!Meditate on the golden glow of illuminating Light!”
So my dear child kindly listen to me now. Surrender completely in your heart and mind at the Lotus Feet of your spiritual master. He is the messenger of God for his devotees. He will show you the path of salvation and the road to illumination. God’s Grace is received by those who have complete trust in their spiritual mentor and who are ready to obey them unconditionally. One can chant this mantra for moksha thus freeing his soul from bondage of karmic consequences.….
Om Namo Bhagwate Nityananda. Om Namo Bhagwate Nityananda.. Om Namo Bhagwate Nityananda….
Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu.
Gururo Devo Maheshwara.
Guru sakshat para Brahma
Tasmai Shri Gurvai namah.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti Om.
(Please read the previous post to know who is a Param Siddha Yogi)
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