Author: Vasundhara

True meaning of Selfless Service - Gandhi

True meaning of Selfless Service – Gandhi

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True meaning of Selfless Service – Gandhi

 
(1) SELFLESS SERVICE A SOURCE OF JOY

The human body is meant solely for service, never for indulgence. The secret of happy life lies in renunciation. Renunciation is life. Indulgence is death. Therefore everyone has a right and should desire to live 125 years while performing service without an eye on result. Such life must be wholly and solely dedicated to service. Renunciation made for the sake of service is an ineffable joy, of which none can deprive one, because that nectar springs from within and sustains life. In this there can be no room for worry or impatience. Without this joy, long life is impossible and would not be worth-while even if possible.

The soul is omnipresent; why should she care to be confined within the cage-like body, or do evil and even kill for the sake of the cage ? We thus arrive at the ideal of total renunciation and learn to use the body for the purpose of service, so long as it exists, so much so, that service and not bread becomes with us, the staff of life. We eat and drink, sleep and awake, for service alone. Such an attitude of mind brings us real happiness and beatific vision in the fullness of time.

(2) SERVICE MEANT FOR SELF-REALIZATION

I am here to serve no one else but myself, to find my own self-realization through the service of these village folk. Man’s ultimate aim is the realization of God, and all his activities — social, political, religious — have to be guided by the ultimate aim of the vision of God. The immediate service of human beings becomes a necessary part of the endeavour, simply because the only way to find God is to see Him in His creation and be one with it. This can only be done through one’s country. I am part and parcel of the whole, and I cannot find Him apart from the rest of humanity. My countrymen are my nearest neighbours. They have become so helpless, so resourceless, so inert that I must concentrate on serving them. If I could persuade myself that I should find Him in a Hima- layan cave, I would proceed there immediately. But I know that I cannot find Him apart from humanity.

(3) SERVICE LEADS TO SALVATION

I am striving for the Kingdom of Heaven, which is spiritual deliverance. For me the road to salvation lies through incessant toil in the service of my country and my humanity. I want to identify myself with everything that lives. In the language of the Gita> I want to live at peace with both friend and foe. My patriotism is for me a stage on my journey to the land of Eternal Freedom and Peace. Thus it will be seen that for me there is no politics devoid of religion. They subserve religion. Politics bereft of religion is a death-trap because they kill the Soul.

(4) SERVICE SHOULD BE CONSTANT

A life of service must be one of humility. He, who could sacrifice his life for others, has hardly time to reserve for himself a place in the sun. Inertia must not be mistaken for humility, as it has been in Hinduism. True humility means most strenuous and constant endeavour, entirely directed towards the service of humanity. God is continuously in action without resting for a single moment. If we should serve Him or become one with Him, our activity must be as unwearied as His. There may be momentary rest in store for the drop which is separated from the ocean, but not for the drop in the ocean, which knows no rest. The same is the case with ourselves. As soon as we become one with the ocean in the shape of God, there is no more rest for us, nor indeed do we need rest any, longer. Our very sleep is action. For we sleep with the thought of God in our hearts. This restlessness constitutes true rest. This never-ceasing agitation holds the key to peace ineffable. This supreme state of total surrender is difficult to describe, but not beyond the bounds of human experience. It has been attained by many dedicated souls, and may be attained by ourselves as well.

Self-Restraint

Self-Restraint Pathway to God – Gandhi

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Self-Restraint Pathway to God – Gandhi

(1) RESTRAINT SHOULD BE VOLUNTARY

Restraint self-imposed is not compulsion. A man who chooses the path of freedom from restraint, i.e. self-indulgence, will be a bondslave of passions, whilst a man who binds himself to rules and restraints, releases himself. All things in the universe including the sun and the moon and the stars — obey certain laws.

Without the restraining influence of these laws, the world would not go on for a single moment. … It is discipline and restraint that separates us from the brute. If we would be men walking with our heads erect and not walking on all fours, let us understand and put ourselves under voluntary discipline and restraint.

(2) CONTROL OF PALATE

True happiness is impossible without true health and true health is impossible without a rigid control of the palate. All the other senses will automatically come under our control when the palate has been brought under control. And he who has conquered his senses has really conquered the whole world.

One should eat not in order to please the palate but just to keep the body going. When each organ of sense subserves the body and through the body the soul, its specific relish disappears and then alone does it begin to function in the way nature intended it to do. Any number of experiments is too small and no sacrifice too great for attaining this symphony with nature.

(3) CONQUEST OF LUST

The conquest of lust is the highest endeavour of man or woman’s existence. Without overcoming lust man cannot hope to rule over self. And without rule over self there can be no Swaraj or Ramaraj. Rule of all without rule of oneself would prove to be as deceptive and disappointing as a painted toy-mango, charming to look at outwardly, but hollow and empty within… Great causes… call for spiritual effort or soul- force. Soul-force comes only through God’s grace, and God’s grace never descends upon a man who is a slave to lust.

Brahmacharya means control of all organs of sense. He who attempts to control only one organ and allows all others free play, is bound to find his effort futile. To hear suggestive stories with ears, to see suggestive sights with the eyes, to taste stimulating food with the tongue, to touch exciting things with the hands and then at the same time, try to control the only remaining organ, is like putting one’s hand in fire and then trying to escape being burnt. … If we practise simultaneous self-control in all directions, the attempt is scientific and easy of success. Perhaps the palate is the chief sinner. Hence we have assigned to its control, a separate place among the observances.

(4) SUBLIMATION OF VITALITY

All power comes from the observation and sublimation of the vitality that is responsible for the creation of life. If the vitality is husbanded instead of being dissipated, it is transmuted into creative energy of the highest order. . . . This vitality is . . . dissipated by evil . . . thoughts. And since thought is the root of all speech and action, the quality of the latter corresponds to that of the former.

Hence perfectly controlled thought is itself a power, of the highest potency and can become self-acting. . . . Such power is impossible in one who dissipates his energy . . . even as steam kept in a leaking pot yields no power.

(5) RESTRAINT VS. SUPPRESSION

It is harmful to suppress the body if the mind at the same time is allowed to go astray. Where the mind wanders, the body must follow sooner or later. It is necessary here to appreciate one distinction. It is one thing to allow the mind to harbour impure thoughts, it is different thing altogether if it strays among them in spite of ourselves. Victory will be ours in the end, if we non-co-operate with the mind in this evil process. . . . Hence the body must be immediately taken in hand and then we must put forth a constant endeavour to bring the mind under control. We can do nothing more, nothing less.

Restraint never ruins one’s health. What ruins one’s health is not restraint but outward suppression. A really self-restrained person grows every day from strength to strength and from peace to more peace. The very first step in self- restraint is the restraint of thoughts. Understand your limitations and do only as much as you can. . . . Let not what I have told you alarm you or weaken you. Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed.

Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well. There is nothing potent than thought, deed follows word and word follows thought. The world is the result of a mighty thought, and where the thought is mighty and pure, the result is always mighty and pure.

Explanation of evil

Explanation of evil – Ramakrishna

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Explanation of evil – Ramakrishna

 

Questioner: Why does a man have sinful tendencies?
Master: In God’s creation there are all sorts of things. He has created bad men as well as good men. It is He who gives us good tendencies, and it is He again who gives us evil tendencies.

Questioner: In that case we aren’t responsible for our sinful actions, are we?
Master: Sin begets its own result. This is God’s law. Won’t you burn your tongue if you chew a chilli? In his youth, Mathur led a rather fast life; so he suffered from various diseases before his death.

One may not realize this in youth. I have looked into the hearth in the kitchen of the Kāli temple when logs are being burnt. At first the wet wood burns rather well. It doesn’t seem then that it contains much moisture. But when the wood is sufficiently burnt, all the moisture runs back to one end. At last water squirts from the fuel and puts out the fire.

So one should be careful about anger, passion, and greed. Take, for instance, the case of Hanuman. In a fit of anger he burnt Ceylon. At last he remembered that Sita was living in the Aśoka grove. Then he began to tremble lest the fire should injure her.

Questioner: Why has God created wicked people?
Master: That is His will, His play. In His Maya there exists avidyā as well as vidyā. Darkness is needed too. It reveals all the more the glory of light. There is no doubt that anger, lust, and greed are evils. Why, then, has God created them? In order to create saints. A man becomes a saint by conquering the senses. Is there anything impossible for a man who has subdued his passions? He can even realize God, through His grace. Again, see how His whole play of creation is perpetuated through lust.

Wicked people are needed too. At one time the tenants of an estate became unruly. The landlord had to send Golak Choudhury, who was a ruffian. He was such a harsh administrator that the tenants trembled at the very mention of his name.

There is need of everything. Once Sita said to her Husband: ‘Rama, it would be grand if every house in Ayhodhya were a mansion! I find many houses old and dilapidated.’ ‘But, my dear,’ said Rama, ‘if all the houses were beautiful ones, what would the masons do?’ (Laughter.) God has created all kinds of things. He has created good trees, and poisonous plants and weeds as well. Among the animals there are good, bad, and all kinds of creatures – tigers, lions, snakes, and so on.


The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Chapter 2

Is the Realized One aware of happenings

Is the Realized One aware of happenings – Nisargadatta

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Is the Realized one aware of happenings – Nisargadatta

 

Q: The fully realized man, spontaneously abiding in the supreme state, appears to eat, drink and so on. Is he aware of it, or not?
M: That in which consciousness happens, the universal consciousness or mind, we call the ether of consciousness. All the objects of consciousness form the universe. What is beyond both, supporting both, is the supreme state, a state of utter stillness and silence. Whoever goes there, disappears. It is unreachable by words, or mind. You may call it God, or Parabrahman, or Supreme Reality, but these are names given by the mind. It is the nameless, contentless, effortless and spontaneous state, beyond being and not being.

Q: But does one remain conscious?
M: As the universe is the body of the mind, so is consciousness the body of the supreme. It is not conscious, but it gives rise to consciousness.

Q: In my daily actions much goes by habit, automatically. I am aware of the general purpose, but not of each movement in detail. As my consciousness broadens and deepens, details tend to recede, leaving me free for the general trends. Does not the same happens to a jnani, but more so?
M: On the level of consciousness – yes. In the supreme state, no. This state is entirely one and indivisible, a single solid block of reality. The only way of knowing it is to be it. The mind cannot reach it. To perceive it does not need the senses; to know it, does not need the mind.

Q: That is how God runs the world.
M: God is not running the world.

Q: Then who is doing it?
M: Nobody. All happens by itself. You are asking the question and you are supplying the answer. And you know the answer when you ask the question. All is a play in consciousness. All divisions are illusory. You can know the false only. The true you must yourself be.

Q: There is the witnessed consciousness and there is the witnessing consciousness. Is the second the supreme?
M: There are the two — the person and the witness, the observer. When you see them as one, and go beyond, you are in the supreme state. It is not perceivable, because it is what makes perception possible. It is beyond being and not being. It is neither the mirror nor the image in the mirror. It is what is — the timeless reality, unbelievably hard and solid.

Q: The jnani – is he the witness or the Supreme?
M: He is the Supreme, of course, but he can also be viewed as the universal witness.

Q: But he remains a person?
M: When you believe yourself to be a person, you see persons everywhere. In reality there are no persons, only threads of memories and habits. At the moment of realization the person ceases.
Identity remains, but identity is not a person, it is inherent in the reality itself. The person has no being in itself; it is a reflection in the mind of the witness, the ‘I am’, which again is a mode of being.

Q: Is the Supreme conscious?
M: Neither conscious nor unconscious, I am telling you from experience.

Q: Pragnanam Brahma. What is this Pragna?
M: It is the un-selfconscious knowledge of life itself.

Q: Is it vitality, the energy of life, livingness?
M: Energy comes first. For everything is a form of energy. Consciousness is most differentiated in the waking state. Less so in dream. Still less in sleep. Homogeneous – in the fourth state. Beyond is the inexpressible monolithic reality, the abode of the jnani.

Q: I have cut my hand. It healed. By what power did it heal?
M: By the power of life.

Q: What is that power?
M: It is consciousness. ALL is conscious.

Q: What is the source of consciousness?
M: Consciousness itself is the source of everything.

Q: Can there be life without consciousness?
M: No, nor consciousness without life. They are both one. But in reality only the Ultimate is. The rest is a matter of name and form. And as long as you cling to the idea that only what has name and shape exists, the Supreme will appear to you non-existing. When you understand that names and shapes are hollow shells without any content whatsoever, and what is real is nameless and formless, pure energy of life and light of consciousness, you will be at peace – immersed in the deep silence of reality.

Q: If time and space are mere illusions and you are beyond, please tell me what is the weather in New York. Is it hot or raining there?
M: How can I tell you? Such things need special training. Or, just travelling to New York. I may be quite certain that I am beyond time and space, and yet unable to locate myself at will at some point of time and space. I am not interested enough; I see no purpose in undergoing a special Yogic training. I have just heard of New York. To me it is a word. Why should I know more than the word conveys? Every atom may be a universe, as complex as ours. Must I know them all? I can – if I train.

Q: In putting the question about the weather in New York, where did I make the mistake?
M: The world and the mind are states of being. The supreme is not a state. It pervades, all states, but it is not a state of something else. It is entirely uncaused, independent, complete in itself, beyond time and space, mind and matter.

Q: By what sign do you recognise it?
M: That’s the point that it leaves no traces. There is nothing to recognise it by. It must be seen directly, by giving up all search for signs and approaches. When all names and forms have been given up, the real is with you. You need not seek it. Plurality and diversity are the play of the mind only. Reality is one.

Q: If reality leaves no evidence, there is no speaking about it.
M: It is. It cannot be denied. It is deep and dark, mystery beyond mystery. But it is, while all else merely happens.

Q: Is it the Unknown?
M: It is beyond both, the known and the unknown. But I would rather call it the known, than the unknown. For whenever something is known, it is the real that is known.

Q: Is silence an attribute of the real?
M: This too is of the mind. All states and conditions are of the mind.

Q: What is the place of samadhi?
M: Not making use of one’s consciousness is samadhi. You just leave your mind alone. You want nothing, neither from your body nor from your mind.

Nisargadatta Maharaj – I am That
The Supreme, The Mind, The Body
Item 13

Getting out of the maze

Getting out of the maze – Ramakrishna

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Getting out of the maze – Ramakrishna

 

God and His glory & Dangers of worldly life

Master: “God and His glory. This universe is His glory. People see His glory and forget everything. They do not seek God, whose glory is this world. All seek to enjoy woman~and~gold. But there is too much misery and worry in that. This world is like the whirlpool of the Visalakshi. Once a boat gets into it there is no hope of its rescue. Again, the world is like a thorny bush: you have hardly freed yourself from one set of thorns before you find yourself entangled in another. Once you enter a labyrinth you find it very difficult to get out. Living in the world, a man becomes seared, as it were.”

A Devotee: “Then what is the way, sir?”

Prayer and holy company & Earnest longing

Master: “Prayer and the company of holy men. You cannot get rid of an ailment without the help of a physician. But it is not enough to be in the company of religious people only for a day. You should constantly seek it, for the disease has become chronic. Again, you can’t understand the pulse rightly unless you live with a physician. Moving with him constantly, you learn to distinguish between the pulse of phlegm and the pulse of bile.”

Devotee: “What is the good of holy company?”
Master: “It enables longing for God. It gives rise to love of God. Nothing whatsoever is achieved in spiritual life without yearning. By constant living in the company of holy men, the soul becomes restless for God. This yearning is like the state of mind of a man who has someone ill in the family. His mind is in a state of perpetual restlessness, thinking how the sick person may be cured. Or again, one should feel a yearning for God like the yearning of a man who has lost his job and is wandering from one office to another in search of work. If he is rejected at a certain place which has no vacancy, he goes there again the next day and inquires, ‘Is there an vacancy today?’

“There is another benefit from holy company. It helps one cultivate discrimination between the Real and the unreal. God alone is the Real, that is to say, the Eternal Substance, and the world is unreal, that is to say, transitory. As soon as a man finds his mind wandering away to the unreal, he should apply discrimination. The moment an elephant stretches out its trunk to eat a plantain-tree in a neighbour’s garden, it gets a blow from the iron goad of the driver.”

“There is another way: earnestly praying to God. God is our very own. We should say to Him: ‘O God, what is Thy nature? Reveal Thyself to me. Thou must show Thyself to me; for why else hast Thou created me?’ Some Sikh devotees once said to me, ‘God is full of compassion.’ I said: ‘But why should we call Him compassionate? He is our Creator. What is there to be wondered at if He is kind to us? Parents bring up their children. Do you call that an act of kindness? They must act that way.’ Therefore we should force our demands on God. He is our Father and Mother, isn’t He? If the son demands his patrimony and gives up food and drink in order to enforce his demand, then the parents hand his share over to him three years before the legal time. Or when the child demands some paisas (coins) from his mother, and says over and over again: ‘Mother, give me a couple of paisa. I beg you on my knees!’ – then the mother, seeing his earnestness, and unable to bear it any more, tosses the money to him.

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Chapter 2

 

Note: Re ‘woman and gold’
When speaking to women, Sri Ramakrishna warned them against purusha-kanchana, or “man and gold.”
Gauri Ma, one of Ramakrishna’s prominent women disciples, said:
“[Ramakrishna] has uttered this note of warning, against gold and sensuality, against a life of enjoyment, but surely not against women. Just as he advised the ascetic-minded men to guard themselves against women’s charms, so also did he caution pious women against men’s company. The Master’s whole life abounds with proofs to show that he had not the slightest contempt or aversion for women; rather he had intense sympathy and profound regard for them.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teachings_of_Ramakrishna

The Supreme The Mind The Body

The Supreme The Mind The Body – Nisargadatta

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The Supreme The Mind The Body – Nisargadatta

Questioner: From what you told us it appears that you are not quite conscious of your surroundings. To us you seem extremely alert and active. We cannot possibly believe that you are in a kind of hypnotic state, which leaves no memory behind. On the contrary, your memory seems excellent. How are we to understand your statement that the world and all it includes does not exist, as far as you are concerned.
Maharaj: It is all a matter of focus. Your mind is focussed in the world, mine is focussed in reality. It is like the moon in daylight – when the sun shines, the moon is hardly visible. Or, watch how you take your food. As long as it is in your mouth, you are conscious of it; once swallowed, it does not concern you any longer. It would be troublesome to have it constantly in mind until it is eliminated. The mind should be normally in abeyance – incessant activity is a morbid state. The universe works by itself – that I know. What else do I need to know?

Q: So a jnani knows what he is doing only when he turns his mind to it; otherwise he just acts, without being concerned.
M: The average man is not conscious of his body as such. He is conscious of his sensations, feelings and thoughts. Even these, once detachment sets in, move away from the centre of consciousness and happen spontaneously and effortlessly.

Q: What then is in the centre of consciousness?
M: That which cannot be given name and form, for it is without quality and beyond consciousness. You may say it is a point in consciousness, which is beyond consciousness. Like a hole in the paper is both in the paper and yet not of paper, so is the supreme state in the very centre of consciousness, and yet beyond consciousness. It is as if an opening in the mind through which the mind is flooded with light. The opening is not even the light. It is just an opening.

Q: An opening is just void, absence.
M: Quite so. From the mind’s point of view, it is but an opening for the light of awareness to enter the mental space. By itself the light can only be compared to a solid, dense, rocklike, homogeneous and changeless mass of pure awareness, free from the mental patterns of name and shape.

Q: Is there any connection between the mental space and the supreme abode?
M: The supreme gives existence to the mind. The mind gives existence to the body.

Q: And what lies beyond?
M: Take an example. A venerable Yogi, a master in the art of longevity, himself over 1000 years old, comes to teach me his art. I fully respect and sincerely admire his achievements, yet all I can tell him is: of what use is longevity to me? I am beyond time. However long a life may be, it is but a moment and a dream. In the same way I am beyond all attributes. They appear and disappear in my light, but cannot describe me. The universe is all names and forms, based on qualities and their differences, while I am beyond. The world is there because I am, but I am not the world.

Q: But you are living in the world!
M: That’s what you say! I know there is a world, which includes this body and this mind, but I do not consider them to be more “mine” than other minds and bodies. They are there, in time and space, but I am timeless and spaceless.

Q: But since all exists by your light, are you not the creator of the world?
M: I am neither the potentiality nor the actualisation, nor the actuality of things. In my light they come and go as the specks of dust dancing in the sunbeam. The light illumines the specks, but does not depend on them. Nor can it be said to create them. It cannot be even said to know them.

Q: I am asking you a question and you are answering. Are you conscious of the question and the answer?
M: In reality I am neither hearing nor answering. In the world of events the question happens and the answer happens. Nothing happens to me. Everything just happens.

Q: And you are the witness?
M: What does witness mean? Mere knowledge. It rained and now the rain is over. I did not get wet.
I know it rained, but I am not affected. I just witnessed the rain.

Nisargadatta Maharaj – I am That
The Supreme, The Mind, The Body
Item 13

Gist of Sankara's Viveka Chudamani

Gist of Sankara’s Viveka Chudamani by Ramana Maharshi

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Gist of Sankara’s Viveka Chudamani ~ Ramana Maharshi’s Preface In His Full Translation Of The Work

Talks with Ramana Maharshi
Talk 349 – 23rd January, 1937

Sri Sankara’s Path to Salvation 
Through Discrimination

A Note By Sri Ramana Maharshi

(In the new issue of The Vision is published the following note, being the translation by Mr. S. Krishna, of Sri Ramana Maharshi’s preface to His translation of Sri Sankara’s Viveka Chudamani or “Crown-gem of Discrimination”). 

Sri Ramana Maharshi’s Preface

Every being in the world yearns to be always happy, free from the taint of sorrow and desires to get rid of bodily ailments which are not of his true nature. Further, everyone cherishes the greatest love for himself: and this love is not possible in the absence of happiness. In deep sleep, though devoid of everything, one has the experience of being happy. Yet, due to the ignorance of the real nature of one’s own being, which is happiness itself, people flounder in the vast ocean of material existence forsaking the right path that leads to happiness and act under the mistaken belief that the way to be happy consists in obtaining the pleasures of this and the other world.

A SAFE GUIDE:

But unfortunately, that happiness which has not the taint of sorrow is not realized. It is precisely for the purpose of pointing out the straight path to happiness that Lord Siva took on the guise of Sri Sankaracharya, wrote the commentaries on the Triune Institutes (Prasthana Traya) of the Vedanta, which extol the excellence of this bliss; and demonstrated it by his own example in life. These commentaries, however, are of little use to those ardent seekers who are intent upon realizing the bliss of absolution, but have not the scholarship for studying them.

It is for such as these seekers that Sri Sankara revealed the essence of the commentaries in this short treatise, Vivekachudamani, “The Crown-gem of Discrimination”, explaining in detail the points that have to be grasped by those who seek absolution, and thereby directing them to the true and straight path.

LEARNING ALONE WON’T DO:

Sri Sankara opens the theme by observing that it is hard indeed to attain human birth, and one should (having attained it) strive for the realization of the bliss of liberation, which is verily the nature of one’s being. By jnana or Knowledge alone is this bliss realized, and jnana is achieved only through vichara or steady enquiry. In order to know this method of enquiry, says Sri Sankara, one should seek the favour of a Guru, and proceeds to describe the qualities of the Guru and his sishya and how the latter should approach and serve his master. He further emphasises that in order to realize the bliss of liberation one’s own individual effort is an essential factor. Mere book-learning never yields this bliss which can be realized only through enquiry or vichara, which consists of sravana or devoted attention to the precepts of the Guru, manana or deep contemplation and Nididhyasana or the cultivation of steady poise in the Self.

THE THREE PATHS:

The three bodies – physical, subtle and causal – are non-self and are unreal. The Self, or ‘I’, is quite different from them. It is due to ignorance that the sense of the Self or the ‘I’ notion is foisted on that which is not Self, and this indeed is bondage. Since from ignorance arises bondage, from Knowledge ensues liberation. To know this from the Guru is sravana.

To reject the three bodies consisting of the five sheaths (physical, vital, mental, gnostic and blissful) as not ‘I’ and to extract through subtle enquiry of “Who am I?” – even as the central blade of grass is delicately drawn out from its whorl – that which is different from all the three bodies and is existent as one and universal in the heart as Aham or ‘I’ and denoted by the word Tvam (in the Scriptural dictum – ‘Tat-tvam-asi’ – That thou art). This process of subtle enquiry is manana or deep contemplation.

THE BEATITUDE, DIVINE RAPTURE:

The world of name and form is but an adjunct of Sat or Brahman, and being not different from it, it is rejected as such and is affirmed as nothing else but Brahman. The instruction by the Guru to the disciple of the Mahavakya, Tat-tvam-asi, which declares the identity of the Self and the Supreme, is upadesa. The disciple is then enjoined to remain in the beatitude, divine ecstasy of Aham-Brahman – ‘I’ the Absolute. Nevertheless the old tendencies of the mind sprout up thick and strong and form an obstruction (to that state of beatitude). These tendencies are threefold and egoism, which is their root, flourishes in the externalised and differentiating consciousness caused by the forces of vikshepa or dissipation (due to rajas) and avarana or envelopment (due to tamas).

CHURNING THE MIND:

To install the mind firmly in the heart until these forces are destroyed and to awaken with unswerving, ceaseless vigilance the true and cognate tendency which is characteristic of the Atman and is expressed by the dictum, Aham Brahmasmi (I am Brahman), and the dictum Brahmaivaham (Brahman alone am I), is termed nididhyasana or atmanusandhana, i.e., constancy in the Self. This is otherwise called Bhakti, Yoga and Dhyana.

Atmanusandhana has been likened to churning the curd to draw forth butter, the mind being compared to the churning rod, the heart to the curd and the practice of constancy in the Self to the process of churning. Just as by churning the curd butter is extracted and by friction fire is kindled, even so, by unswerving vigilant constancy in the Self, ceaseless like the unbroken filamentary flow of oil, is generated the natural or changeless trance or nirvikalpa samadhi, which readily and spontaneously yields that direct, immediate, unobstructed and universal perception of Brahman, which is at once Knowledge and Experience and which transcends time and space.

LIMITLESS BLISS:

This is Self-Realization; and thereby is cut asunder the hridaya-granthi or the Knot of the Heart. The false delusions of ignorance, the vicious and age-long tendencies of the mind, which constitute this knot, are destroyed. All doubts are dispelled and the bondage of Karma is severed.

Thus has Sri Sankara described, in this Vivekachudamani, the “Crown-gem of Discrimination,” samadhi or trance transcendent, which is the limitless bliss of liberation, beyond doubt and duality, and has at the same time indicated the means for its attainments. To realize this state of freedom from duality is the summum bonum of life: and he alone that has won it is a jivanmukta (the liberated one while yet alive), and not he who has merely a theoretical understanding of what constitutes purushartha or the desired end and aim of human endeavour.

FINAL FREEDOM:

Thus defining a jivanmukta, he is declared to be free from the bonds of threefold Karmas (sanchita, agami and prarabdha). The disciple who has reached this stage then relates his personal experience. The liberated one is free indeed to act as he pleases, and when he leaves the mortal frame, attains absolution, and returns not to this “birth which is death”.

Sri Sankara thus describes Realization that connotes liberation as twofold, i.e., jivanmukti and videha mukti referred to above. Moreover, in this short treatise called Vivekachudamani, written in the form of a dialogue between a Guru and his disciple, he has considered many relevant topics.

 

Affection for me

Affection towards me – Thyagaraja

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Affection towards me – Thyagaraja

 

Devotional Song

 

Main Verse (Pallavi)

Oh Lord! When will You have affection towards me who is an orphan?

 

Middle Verse (Anupallavi)

Oh Lord! Please pardon all my mistakes,
Oh Lord Pattabhirama! Abhirama! 
(Oh Lord! When will You have affection towards me who is an orphan?)

 

Final Verse (Charanam)

Haven’t I believed that You alone are my mother, my father and everything else?
There is no one for me as refuge other than You.
Come down to protect me, Oh Lord,
who is praised by this Thyagaraja!
(Oh Lord! When will You have affection towards me who is an orphan?)

 

Original Song in Telugu:
Name: Abhimaanamennadu
Raga: Kunjari

Sankrit word for Culture and its meaning

Sankrit word for Culture and its meaning

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Sankrit word for Culture and its meaning

Hindu Culture
The Definition of Culture
Talks by Swami Tejomayananda

 

2b. Sanskrit word for culture

We will now look at the actual Sanskrit word for “culture”, and see its meaning and deeper implication.

In Sanskrit, the word for a culture is Samskriti. Kritam means”That which is done”, sam means “very well”; samskriti means “that which is very well made, very well refined”. Therefore, even the Sanskrit language itself is that which is a well-refined, purified language.

In terms of behavior, when we speak of culture we also mean a kind of a refinement. We often say that an individual is “cultured”, his behavior is “cultured”, although he may not necessarily be an educated person.. Many times, in fact, an educated man may be a brute because being truly cultured is different from merely being formally educated. But to fully understand this concept of samskriti, we must understand two other basic points.

The first point is the concept of prakriti, which we generally translate does as “nature”. The inherent nature or tendency of a thing is called its prakriti. For example, animals have urges such as hunger, thirst, feelings of fear or insecurity, and the need for sleep, and they live according to these desires or urges. This is defined as their nature.

A human being also has the same feelings off fear, hunger, thirst, and the desire for progeny. These are natural urges. Therefore, when a person feels hunger and goes in search of food, the action is called prakriti – action in accordance with nature. There is nothing wrong in this.

As long as we are acting according to nature, that is no problem. But there is a difference between the urges of an animal and a human being. The animal’s urges and pursuits are controlled by nature; they remain within limits and never transgress nature. Therefore, the animals behavior is true to its prakriti.

For instance, when a dog has satisfied its hunger, it will not eat anymore. In the ashram where I was studying,  some three or four dogs would remain around the kitchen and dining hall when the food was being served, and afterwards they would be fed. If there was more food than the dogs could eat at that time, they would each dig a hole in the earth and keep the food there until later. When they become became hungry, they would go back, dig up the food, and eat it. Also when dogs are sick, they will not eat food at all, but only different grasses – as medicine. Nature has given them this understanding.

But a human being! Whatever sickness he may have, even if his stomach is upset, the first question he would ask the doctor is, “What can I eat?” He just cannot control his eating. So the difference is that the animals that remain true to their prakriti; they do not transgress it. Even the animals desire for progeny is according to season. Everything is controlled.

In Sanskrit, there is another word, vikriti, which in this context, I will translate as “perversion”. When some urge or desire grows out of proportion and we transgress the control and limits of prakriti, it is vikriti, perversion; no longer prakriti. When I feel tired, naturally I sleep for sometime to revive myself and then again begin to work. Here, the sleep is not a problem, it is not a vikriti. But if one sleeps for 16 hours at a stretch then something is wrong; it is not natural and is therefore because vikriti. These are people who sleep tend to 10 to 12 hours and still say, “I think I got up too early this morning exclamation”!” But 12 hours of sleep is abnormal and unnatural and is called the vikriti.

In the same way, when I am hungry and want to eat, this is prakriti. However, if I continue to eat like a glutton, and in order to satisfy my taste buds I am ready to ready to do anything (kill animals, and even destroying nature to fulfill my desire), then this is perversion.

I once heard a story about a Roman Emperor who was so terribly fond of eating that he used to over eat and afterwards take medicine in order to vomit. Then he would again begin to eat! Even when we hear about such a thing we feel nauseous! This obsession of the emperor with eating is vikriti.

All living beings have natural urges, and as long as they live within their limits, it is not the perversion; it is simple prakriti. In the case of animals, their behavior is controlled by nature itself, back in the case of human beings, that is the difference.

The human being is blessed with the faculty of thinking, which allows a lot of freedom. And what is that freedom? I can either destruct or construct myself; both are possible. Thus this faculty of thinking is a blessing if we use it rightly. If we do not know how to use it properly, it can become a curse. Our prakriti, our nature, can become an obsession, an abnormality. This is why psychology books contain sections on abnormal psychology, dealing with the thought and behavioral patterns of people whose nature has taken the form of perversion.

Definition of Culture : Defining Culture

Definition of Culture – Defining Culture

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Definition of Culture : Defining Culture 

Hindu Culture
The Definition of Culture
Talks by Swami Tejomayananda

The word “culture” is very well known to all of us. But when it comes to defining this word we find that it is not very easy. Swami Chinmayananda has explained that when a group of people live together for a long time in a particular geographical area, living certain values, the special individuality or fragrance that emanates from that group is said to be their culture.

In this definition of culture the four important factors are: that a group of people must exist, that they must live together in a particular area, that they must live there for a long period of time, and that they respect certain common values of life. Only in such a situation will the unique characteristics of those people be created. If the individuals are spread out – one living here, another one there – or if they are constantly roaming about with no values in common, then you will not find any recognizable culture emerging from them.

The special mark or characteristic that develops under the above circumstances is called Culture, which is not characteristic of only one individual, but of the group as a whole.

There is a difference between the community’s and individual’s nature, which I would like to explain. When a certain individual behaves in a particular way, we generally say, “that is his nature“. But when a community responds to different situations in a particular way, we say “it is its culture“. The difference is that with respect to one person’s mode of behavior we call it nature; and with respect to a community, we call it culture. They influence each other, no doubt, for the individual will influence the total, and the total also affects the behavior of the individual. But let us first understand the meaning and significance of each term by itself.

In Sanskrit, we call the individual’s nature samskara. In a family with three or four children, though each is born into the same culture, we find that each individual behaves differently. Then we ask : if they are all born in the same family, the same culture, and in the same country, then why does each person behaves differently? We answer that it is his nature (samskara, svabhava); and his actions are in accordance with those particular tendencies. When it comes to a group, however, we say that the group’s mode of behavior and its response is its culture .

Cultures differ very much from place to place. Even in the Eastern hemisphere, for instance, the Middle Eastern countries are different from the Far Eastern countries, and India is again different from both. When we come to the Western countries, we also find that the European culture is different from the American culture; thus even though we may say “Western culture”, many differences are contained within this generalization.