Where did I come From?

Manifestation of God is the universe. Brahmn is manifestation as father. Brahmamayi, the mother, is of Brahmn. Creation started with them. Existence on earth is a manifestation of His Supreme Energy.

When an individual first appears in the womb of the mother, matter appears instantly. At that stage mind lies in a state of inertia. But mind and matter are but one. With their gradual manifestation the differences in them are identified. From that state the individual is in the domain of nature and a series of phenomena determine one’s every development. Sometimes it seems mechanical.

Life is God’s Divine Play. There is no birth or death. Everything goes on changing form in the stream of eternity. Being ‘born’ with a human body in this world is itself destiny. One who has a taste for God’s Love wants to be born again and again with a human body because the taste of His Love cannot be possible other than in that human birth.

Your psychosomatic mind-body existence is essentially feminine, responding back and forth to the polarity of life. Gender differences are despite the fact that they originate from the same natural elements.

Human life is meant to feel His Divine Play and thereby understand the nobility of the Creator. The mystery of birth will be unfolded only when the sweetness and beauty of the God’s Divine Play, which is the eternal Truth, is realized by turning consciousness inward.

When you take on a body in the realm of nature the power of yoga Maya, the Divine Creative Force is bound to create restrictions and obstacles in the course of life for individuals, families, societies and even for nations.

Substance is one. The universe as we find it today is the result of a long process of steady evolution. The world is only a small speck. You proceed from the general to the particular, but ultimately the general and particular become one. Mahanaam or God’s Name within, is there is everyone. Your body is the shrine of God.

Have no fear. The entire paraphernalia of nature is the creation of the Supreme Being, the Truth. For Divine Play, God has appeared as many in the mind’s mirror. The Divine Play is intrinsically bipolar having positive and negative, ups and downs, good and bad. Oscillations between them provide the basis for all the creative possibilities of the Play. When you are in the domain of nature, you have to acquiesce in prarabdha, the evolutionary process of your life and eventually two become One.

God never created you for suffering or bondage or agony. Rather He suffers for you because when you were born you forgot His purpose. Your ego is the root cause of suffering and bondage. Complete surrender to God is the only way to get rid of ego and know your purpose, which is to enjoy this Play of the Divine. Then you will understand what birth is?

Space and time exist only in your mind. Space and time each have infinite dimensions. Every segment of space is present in every other segment. Every split second also is present in every other second. So space and time are both ubiquitous. Time is ceaseless duration and space, unfettered expanse. Matter is One. Indistinguishable, it wears different looks on different occasions. There is no dichotomy of matter and spirit; they are one integer that is the only Reality.

The Anthropoid Principle

What if I had not married this partner? What if I had studied law instead of medicine? These are the questions our imagination raises while mulling over decisions we’ve taken. There is apparently no limit to this rather futile extrapolation into the past. It would lead to the most bizarre point of “What if my parents were not to have met at all?” The rational conclusion after such deliberations is that there surely is some deterministic programme that affects our existence and what follows.

If one were to keep extending the “What if” thought process the creation of the universe, too would also be just one of limitless possibilities. The conditions required for creation of the universe are so specific and exacting, like the mass of the proton, the value of gravity, and all critical values of various forces. This line of thought inspired the now famous anthropic principle in 1973.

The Participatory  Anthropic Principle states not only that the universe had to spawn humanity or some intelligent, information gathering life from but that we are necessary for its existence, as it takes an intelligent observer to collapse the universe’s waves and probabilities from superposition into relatively concrete reality.

This principle shifts the focus to a programme that deliberately effects creation. If this determinism was vital to creation itself and also to the past – like our parents meeting inevitably – then it stands to reason that it must also play a critical role in unfolding the further. This brings us to the oft-debated issue of free will. Do we truly exercise free will in our lives? Is the predetermined, too?

Logically, for any event to take place, there are so many factors out of our control that must complexly interact to yield the expected output. At an individual level, what makes one think and then work in a specific direction? The so-called free will may just be an illusion when in reality, thoughts and actions gravitate towards a pre-fixed path. This line of thought surely deals a body blow to our ego, when viewed dispassionately; one cannot help but realize that even being alive tomorrow is a presumption. Free will therefore is also based on certain assumptions and conditions. So, unconditional free will may not exist. The free will that we take pride in is restricted to making a choice within the frameworks and circumstances that are tossed up by factors beyond our control.

All our thoughts, actions and decisions are based on the identity that we have generated as we course through life. The destiny that we talk about is of this identity. The desire to know what is in store tomorrow stems largely from a deep sense of insecurity that is fuelled by the ego. Is the identity that is purely subject of perception, our true self? The true nature of our self is merely consciousness that observes. Time and space are apparitions necessary for the un-manifest consciousness to become manifest.

Past, present and future are correlates of time. They are imaginary compartments that help establish a chronology. They are as much a figment of the imagination as time itself. Free will remains the free will of an imaginary entity and its ego. Whether the future is scripted or not becomes a moot issue if the true nature of the self becomes clear – a speck of the unqualified consciousness that exists beyond time and space.

River of Enlightenment

Long before the universities packaged the deeply spiritual science of Hindustani music into classroom textbooks, the masters used very little verbiage to communicate its essence.

They explained little, but when they did it was in the form of idioms, proverbs, hyperboles and adages. \but these would show you the world!

For instance, lesson one, they would say, ‘paanee karo’, asking you to repeat. Like the word simran or internal repetition in scriptures, you were to repeat the notes, phrases, scale and words, not just a few time, not for some time, but for hours – nay, for years, till your words and musical phrases flowed to perfection.

Renowned master Ustad Amir Khan Saheb woruld often not and hand over the so-called ‘simple’ prescription to his disciples: Human sapaat… karte raho: the word sapaat means ‘straight’, and he referred to the straight up and down movements of the scale or the raga, to be repeated at length till the gems of enlightenment about its inner nature began to flash through your mind in intuition and the raga shed its heaviness, flowing out of you like a river of enlightenment.

Once, when Khan Saheb had just finished singing a big raga seated among his disciples, Pandit Amarnathji smiled at him and said, “Khan Saheb, you have turned the singing into light music,” at which one of his gurubhais saw red, thinking it an affront. But Khan Saheb smiled at Panditji affectionately, saying, “I appreciate your understanding”. He knew what he meant to say. That the greatest of music ‘sound’ simple though an immense amount of hard labor had gone into reaching its state of lucidity.

On another occasion, after he performed the muhurat fo rGaram Coat, a film whose music was composed by Panditji, his disciple, Ustad Amir Khan Saheb, asked, “Son, how long did you take to compose this song?” It was the beautiful, ‘Jogia sepreet ki ye dukh hoye’ A Meera bhajan sung by Lata Mangeshkar. “About 15-20 days”, was the reply. To which Khan Saheb said, “If you were to take the same amount of time to compose your rendering of any raga before each concert, how would it be …?” It was the same lesson in ‘simplicity’.

Beyond the rational mind, it was repetition alone that took you to the highest peak in your sadhana – to Samadhi state, union with the supreme. The very words aalaap and taan in the Hindustani khayal refer to dhyana or concentration on the raga’s form till the point of its dissolution in the mind during singing, both slow and fast. Aalaap means to expand or ‘spread the notes wide’ during slow unfolding of the raga’s scale, and taan means to ‘stretch them taut’ in the faster portion in dhyana, forgetting all else. And in the process, taking along his listeners as well!

Pandit Amarnathji would say that the image of the rage’s scale in your mind should be horizontal, not vertical, taking of the raga’s inner direction during meditation, which is meant to take you to another kind of ‘high’ – and to ‘mental release’. Finally, as he said, “meditation means not to concentrate on anything when you sing”.

That is why, when Panditji sang it, the raga was no longer a ladder-like scale. It was an aural poem.

New Life for Vivekananda

New life for Vivekananda? It’s time. Ever since I was young there has been a halo around the name of Swami Vivekananda, as there was around his master’s Sri Ramakrishna. Recognition outside India meant a lot a hundred years ago; it was an enviable kind of validation. But to be candid, none of this reverence affected my life. Vedanta was just an arcane term, and the flight of modern Indians was towards science, upward social mobility and personal freedom. I imagine that anyone who took the step of joining the Indian Diaspora followed the same wave that carried me to America.

It was years before I realized what I’d run away from and now Vedanta means a lot to me. It is the map to higher consciousness, never surpassed by later history yet frequently validated in fresh, new ways. Vivekananda did that a century ago. We honor his memory for it, but that’s incidental, for the spiritual path implies action, not salute to memory. Vedanta is either here and now or it is nowhere.

Which means that without new life Vivekananda’s legacy will be inert. The only viable memorial is to put his model of spirituality into practice. I’m avoiding the phrase “put his ideas into practice”, because Vedanta, once reduced to ideas, is equally lifeless. So what would Vivekananda ask us to do today, here and now?

First, to put into practice his famous adage. Jiva is Shiva. A lifetime can be richly devoted simply to these three words. They tell us that individual God-realization is possible; also that external deities exist only to point inward. Further, they imply that inner transcendence is the path to reach the Absolute. None of this is news, and it would be easy to gather countless aspirants who strive to put these words into practice in their daily lives. What is the secret of success, since so many of these aspirants fall short of the goal?

The secret is – there is no goal. The present moment is the home of Vedanta and also the home of self-realization. The present moment isn’t heading anywhere; it has no goal or end point. Seen as Vivekananda would see it, the now is eternal; it is the only time that renews things only; the rush of events, both physical and mental, and the background of consciousness which acts like the screen upon which experience is registered. Experience is passing scenery; consciousness is silent observer. For most, these two are jumbled together. Caught in the rush of experience, they’ve lost the silent observer and so cannot walk through the door that opens to the transcendent.

Vivekananda’s work was mainly occupied with revealing the transcendent. He left many inspiring reminders to point us in the right direction: You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself. And the goal of mankind is knowledge… no knowledge comes from outside: It is all inside.

Reminders in this case are actually goads to action. The first duty of every person is to develop a true self. This cannot be done without the inner knowing that Vivekananda embodied, as did Vedic sages. The time is always right for transcendence. No worldly accomplishments are substitutes nor as worthy as the project of developing a true self. The best way to honor Vivekananda + begins at this very moment, with each of us.

New Life for Vivekananda

New life for Vivekananda? It’s time. Ever since I was young there has been a halo around the name of Swami Vivekananda, as there was around his master’s Sri Ramakrishna. Recognition outside India meant a lot a hundred years ago; it was an enviable kind of validation. But to be candid, none of this reverence affected my life. Vedanta was just an arcane term, and the flight of modern Indians was towards science, upward social mobility and personal freedom. I imagine that anyone who took the step of joining the Indian Diaspora followed the same wave that carried me to America.

It was years before I realized what I’d run away from and now Vedanta means a lot to me. It is the map to higher consciousness, never surpassed by later history yet frequently validated in fresh, new ways. Vivekananda did that a century ago. We honor his memory for it, but that’s incidental, for the spiritual path implies action, not salute to memory. Vedanta is either here and now or it is nowhere.

Which means that without new life Vivekananda’s legacy will be inert. The only viable memorial is to put his model of spirituality into practice. I’m avoiding the phrase “put his ideas into practice”, because Vedanta, once reduced to ideas, is equally lifeless. So what would Vivekananda ask us to do today, here and now?

First, to put into practice his famous adage. Jiva is Shiva. A lifetime can be richly devoted simply to these three words. They tell us that individual God-realization is possible; also that external deities exist only to point inward. Further, they imply that inner transcendence is the path to reach the Absolute. None of this is news, and it would be easy to gather countless aspirants who strive to put these words into practice in their daily lives. What is the secret of success, since so many of these aspirants fall short of the goal?

The secret is – there is no goal. The present moment is the home of Vedanta and also the home of self-realization. The present moment isn’t heading anywhere; it has no goal or end point. Seen as Vivekananda would see it, the now is eternal; it is the only time that renews things only; the rush of events, both physical and mental, and the background of consciousness which acts like the screen upon which experience is registered. Experience is passing scenery; consciousness is silent observer. For most, these two are jumbled together. Caught in the rush of experience, they’ve lost the silent observer and so cannot walk through the door that opens to the transcendent.

Vivekananda’s work was mainly occupied with revealing the transcendent. He left many inspiring reminders to point us in the right direction: You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself. And the goal of mankind is knowledge… no knowledge comes from outside: It is all inside.

Reminders in this case are actually goads to action. The first duty of every person is to develop a true self. This cannot be done without the inner knowing that Vivekananda embodied, as did Vedic sages. The time is always right for transcendence. No worldly accomplishments are substitutes nor as worthy as the project of developing a true self. The best way to honor Vivekananda + begins at this very moment, with each of us.

Gone in less than 60 Seconds

Most of us have been told: “Be aware. Increase your awareness. Awareness is such an important thing. It you are unaware, you will miss life. Only total awareness will bring you peace and happiness and will help you get rid of sorrow, misery, unhappiness, anxiety and stress.”

We are able to spot unawareness in others easily. We frequently say “He is so unaware. It’s obvious what he needs to do, but he just can’t see the point. If only he were more aware, life would be so easy for him and others.” And thought this sort of awareness about our environment and its components – people, their reactions and emotions, the weather, external events, one’s abundance or lack of assets and relationships are important, what is more crucial is internal or self awareness.

To be aware, one needs to be conscious or mindful of all things external and internal. The biggest deterrent to awareness is our own mind. We spend a large portion of our lives inside our minds. Give yourself five or 10 minutes to observe where you are. Try and see how long you are living in reality. You will soon realize that within a few seconds you are already gone from your present location into the deep recess of your mind. Into memory, into the past or future, into emotions, and into dramas that are being played in the theatre of mind.

To become aware is not easy. That is why the Buddha said “If you can watch your breath for 60 minutes, without a moment’s distraction, you are already enlightened. For most of us, six or 60 seconds seem impossible, what to say of 60 minutes?

Awareness begins by sitting quietly in one place and watching one’s thoughts. On an average, it has been said that about 60,000 thoughts arise in the human mind every day. So there is very limited space or time for many things that we need to do. As we watch our thoughts without getting attached to them or getting involved with them, thoughts tend to lose steam and disappear. It is attachment to thoughts that gives them energy to sustain and grow.

As we detach ourselves from our thoughts, the numbers of thoughts that keep coming also become less. And when the number of thoughts get reduced at the production stage itself, then there is space and time for us to focus on the external and internal environment and to become aware of those around us, and above all, to become more aware of ourselves. Certainly, all this requires tremendous effort and will.

Once we become aware of ourselves, our journey of self-discovery, for Truth for God and for bliss starts. Till such time we are only living in our minds, believing everything the mind tells us, following up on every small and big thought that hits us, arguing, rationalizing, justifying, imploring, hoping, wishing, worrying, agonizing, celebrating, while life is passing by, in the real world and we are not connected to it. We are far removed from it.

Start with a three or five minute awareness exercise today, and see where it leads you. And see how difficult it is, and see why awareness is such a difficult thing, not because of someone or something outside us, but because of our own selves.

God can be realized through all paths. All religions are true. The important thing is to reach the roof. You can reach it by stone stairs or by wooden stairs or by bamboo steps or by a rope. You can also climb up by a bamboo pole. ----- Ramakrishna Paramhamsa

Dowry is Bad

Meaning: The line of Athervaved 14/1/27 — that man becomes impure who makes use of the money and material brought by the woman; in other words to take dowry is a great sin.

Message: The Empire of ‘agni’ or fire is throughout the world because it sustains and nurtures mankind by its heat energy for cooking and warmth. No work is possible without energy. Similarly a person who is profound and bright like the fire, becomes reputed and receives love. Those who are like the Sun, like kings and are brave they too receive respect, honor, name and fame. The Sun gives light, dispels darkness and nourishes the whole world. Men of excellence work for the welfare of all by the light and power of their virtues by destroying the ignorance and wickedness in the world. Just as a king protects the country, looks after the interests of all, and deals with all like a well-wishing friend and therefore becomes popular, similarly a king-like person also remains busy in the interest of the family and the society and protects them and serves them with the feeling of ‘aatmavat sarvabhooteshu’ i.e. everyone has the soul within him or her just like his. A brave man defends his country and society at the cost of his life.

For such virtuous men, the scriptures have given the permission to marry and enjoy marital bliss. Only those who are knowledgeable, well-built and diligent should marry a beautiful, virtuous woman of good qualities and fulfill the responsibility of a householder. Like the fire, sun and king, they should make arrangements for the sustenance of the family. They should keep their wives happy with clothes, ornaments, money and provisions. Only a prosperous and cheerful husband can fulfill all the wishes of the wife. Like the sun, he should be industrious and dynamic, should earn sufficiently to fulfill the needs of the family and like the king should keep his wife and family contented, happy and protected. Only therein lies the glory of householdership.

Marriage should always be between deserving and cultured man-woman. A lazy and ignorant man always remains poor and unhappy and always looks for free helpings. Such men make marriage also a trade for earning money and resort to the meanness of collecting dowry forcefully from the bride’s family by sheer force. What can be lower than this? Whatever money and material is given to a woman at the time of her marriage is hers only and in Nepalese society called ‘streedhan’ i.e. woman’s property. The husband has no right at all to make any use of this. The difference between something given willingly as a gift to the daughter, and that collected under duress is like the difference between heaven and hell. It is an indication of the lowest level of man’s character to demand dowry and to use various tricks to get it. Not only is taking dowry crime, but also it leads to man’s spiritual downfall and crumbles to dust his respect, honor, name and dignity. No one can be meaner and wicked that those who plan to run their family with the wife’s money.

Man’s honor is restricted to his diligence only.

To Persevere and Let Go

Perseverance and letting go are both positive qualities that we all possess. However, despite their being life-enhancing qualities, these are often complementary and even antagonistic to each other, and need to be employed in sequence, and at  the right time, rather than in isolation for us to achieve success peace and harmony.

“Try, trying till you succeed” is something we’ve all been taught in school. Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration, we’re told, to highlight the importance of hard work. And work we must, for that is the very nature of life Karma Yoga, as outlined in the Bhagavad Gita by Krishna speaks highly of work as a form of worship. Swami Vivekananda persuaded his followers to work ceaselessly till the goal is reached.

Success is determined by a combination of factors. Hard work is only one of them. Besides hard work, we also need talent, inspiration, creativity, luck and destiny. While most of us work hard, true success and joy come only to some, while most others have to remain content with whatever they get.

This brings us to the relationship between perseverance and letting go. Perseverance is the quality of sticking to one’s job and to one’s goals, come what may. Letting go, on the other hand, is exactly the opposite. It consists of putting one’s faith and trusts in a higher power, whether we call it God or destiny waiting patiently for results. While these two qualities may seem to be opposites they are, in fact, not go; they are complementary to each other.

Every venture, dream and project needs divine grace for its successful completion. Those who decline to believe in the power of the unknown are likely to continue struggling and will have to depend solely on their own efforts. They could meet with limited success, often hitting roadblocks which seem insurmountable or which drain away tremendous amounts of time, energy and money. The human mind and the ego are such that giving credit goes not come easily. This is not only true where other people are concerned, but our mind and ego often do not even want to acknowledge the power that runs the universe, day in and wanting to find it difficult to let go and trust.

Hard work and perseverance are absolutely necessary, doubtless. But somewhere along the course, after having exhausted all human possibilities, one must learn to sit back, be detached form the outcome of our efforts, and hand over our endeavors to a higher power. How and when to do this is purely an intuitive or instinctive phenomenon. When we sincerely let go, not out of laziness, complacency and lethargy but after having done our very best, it is then that the process of life shifts to another plane, with the unseen hand coming into play. And the power or destiny works in myriad ways. A chance meeting, something overheard or read in the newspapers, the stirring of a memory, a different thought process, and sudden release of funds that had dried up – something is likely to happen, which would put our work and project back on track.

When success becomes palpable, it is important to remember and acknowledge and give thanks to existence, without proudly proclaiming that everything was achieved only by our own perseverance.

You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems and suffer and understand for all that is life. Surely, life is not merely a job, an occupation; life is something extraordinary wide and profound, it is a great mystery a vast realm in which we function as human beings.

Spread Ripples of Love

Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu once visited Vrindavan where he observed the holi festival. After his return to Bengal, he pondered deeply and decided to introduce the festival but in a different form. It came to be known as Dolyatra.

What is the significance of Dolyatra? Winter is over, and people are active once again. They plan to do so many things for the benefit of society. Similarly, when they think of Krishna, their minds are filled with joy. The very thought of Krishna produces ripples of joy in in people’s mind and these vibrations of joy also produce a corresponding vibration in Krishna’s mind. They think, “Oh Krishna! I love you – but you also love me, that I know.” In this way the ripples of joys in their own minds also create vibrations of joy in His mind.

Shri Chaitanya said to his followers, “Go to the Krishna temple on that day, and apply red powder and red color to Krishna. Then you should play with the red powder and color amongst yourselves.”

And those who gave red powder and color to others would also feed them with malpoa, the delectable sweet. So it is neither Holy festival nor Phaguya – it is the Dolyatra of Shri Krishna.

In the days of Mahaprabhu, the prevailing rule was to seek the prior permission of the person to whom you were going to give the red powder. If that person gave permission, then only could you smear him with colored powder; and then treat them to malpoa.

In Sanskrit there are two similar words: Varna and raga. Though the meanings are approximately the same, they are not completely synonymous. Varna means color what is called rang in Bengali. But the word Varna does not indicate the color which will color other objects as well; an object has its own color but its color may not necessarily that particular color which can dye other objects also. So the inner spirit of the science of color in Vaishnavi Tantra is this – which each and every expression of this universe has its own rhythm, its own vibration, its own sound, and its own color, and thus it has its own form as well. And as it has its own sound, it has a particular sweetness of its own.

When Tantra was first formulated, there was only one science of Tantra; but later various cults emerged according to their respective philosophical viewpoints. Each had a different name although their inner spirit was the same; for instance, Buddha Tantra, Jain Tantra and in later times, Shiva Tantra, shakti Tantra Ganapatiya Tantra and vaishnaviya Tantra. The inner idea is form and color – both raga and Varna – in the rhythmic expressions of parama purusha, and those cosmic rhythms also have a sweet sonic vibration.

The sonic vibration is instrumental in giving expression to various other forms in this universe as well. To find the answer to questions of “why”, just as the devotees run towards His sonic expression which the Vaishnavas call His flute sound, they also run towards the expressions of His color. They think, I will color my mind with the same color in which He manifests Himself before me, and move towards Him. If I can color my mind in His color, I will be very close to Him.

Reviving Ancient Tradition

Agni is not only fire and the name of a god, but also the name of the Agni-cayana ceremony itself, and the name of the bird-shaped altar constructed during the ceremony. Some leading Namboodiris were concerned about the weakening and possible disappearance of their Vedic traditions. I began to urge that their largest ceremony, the 12 day Athiratra-agnicayana, which had occurred in 1956 and had never been witnessed by outsiders, should be performed once more so that it could be filmed and recorded. The Agnicaayana was performed from April 12, to 24 in 1975.

Why should I a philosopher and Sanskritist, have spent ears of my life with an obsolete ceremony? Am I weary of the present? Or am I merely tired of words and meanings, and have turned to sounds and activities? If I look at the issue negatively, this may be so, though my turning is still a turning of words. However, from a positive point of view, I have long stood in awe of this unique survival, so archaic yet so sophisticated, so close to the early history of man and so lovingly preserved through millennia that elsewhere saw the birth and death of entire civilizations.

While pyramids, temples, cathedrals, and skyscrapers were build and fell into decay, languages and religions came and went, and innumerable was were fought, the Vedas and their ritual continues to be transmitted by word of mouth, from teacher to pupil, and from father to son. What a triumph of the human spirit over the limitations of matter and the physical body! A continuity verging on immortality – though not of any individual person. And so I found myself involved not merely in the past, but in the present and the future as well….

The time had come for the leading Namboodiri ritualists to be willing, indeed eager, to reveal and elucidate to me these cultural treasures which had always been hidden from outsiders. Here was a unique opportunity indeed a responsibility to continue the oral tradition by means of a book.

To the extent that there is obsession in ritual performance, its explanation does not seem to pose much of a problem.

An activity that has to be performed painstakingly and in accordance with strict rules can easily become obsessive. Ritualists may be obsessed by rites, stockbrokers by the market, or mathematicians by proofs. I have been obsessed by the Agnicayana, at least to some extent, or else I would not have completed this book. There is scope for obsession wherever there is serious concern. The more complex the domain, the greater the concern that mistakes have been made.

The Agnicayana performance of 1975 was followed by a long series of expiation rites for mistakes that were or might have been committed. No anxiety or discomfort was felt, however, unless it was due to the excessive heat. Like solidarity, obsessive-ness may be a side effect of ritual. It is not a necessary feature.

Biologists have used the term “ritualisation” with reference to certain types of animal behavior. Some anthropologists have denied that there is any connection between such ritulisation and human rituals. As far as I can see the question is wide open.

Man Must Earn Gold

Meaning: According to the Yajurved 8/63 — to run the household properly men must earn gold, animals and money by their efforts. The household is not complete without them. The progress of family-life lies in diligent work.

Message: No work in this world can be carried out without money, then how can the household run without it? The reality is that man earns money as a householder only and simultaneously provides for the economic and other needs of those in brahmacharya ashram, vanaprastha ashram and sanyas ashram. To earn the money for the family’s expenses and to put that money to good use, both are important. Without that, proper administration of the household will become impossible. It is necessary for man to earn for maintaining his family, but the means for the income must be pure.

There are four media for earning: farming or agriculture, business, service and labor. The earning form agriculture can be considered pure, only when there is no exploitation of the laborers and they are paid proper wages. The earning of a businessman is pure when he does not adulterate the goods and does not sell at exorbitant rates by creating artificial shortages. He should charge only the proper interest and pay full taxes to the government. A person in service whether big or small, should discharge his duties with sincerity, should not accept bribes and should not take advantage of the property of the government or the institute for personal use. A laborer must not shirk work and work with full dedication. Money snatched from the poor, the orphans, accumulated by exploiting others and earned through improper means, is impure. For the happiness and prosperity of the household, economic purity is very essential.

Just as one should be alert and cautious about the (purity of) means for income, similarly one must also pay careful attention in putting the income to good use. The husband and the wife are two wheels in the chariot of the household. Whereas it is the duty of the husband to earn, it is the wife’s duty to do various works in the house. If the husband treads the wrong path, is given to addiction or is suffering from disease, the economic arrangement for the family will break down and all will suffer hardships.

Religious books have beautifully described the good use of money as ‘…. Dharmaya yashasearthaaya aatmane swajenaayacha.’ The earned income should be divided into five parts. One part should be given for religion and one in donation for achieving fame. With that only the activities of vanaprastha ashram and sanyaas ashram are carried out and arrangements made for schools for brahmachaaris and so on. One part should be ploughed back into business for earning more or should be kept in reserve for future. The remaining amount should be used for self and near ones.

Those householders who strictly stick to purity in earning and are discreet as described above in using the income always remain happy, contented and prosperous.

Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the deep, unshakeable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.

Getting Inspired By Shakti

Both Maya, the female form and Mayapati, the male form need to be invoked with equal devotion. Durga is the energy aspect of God. With Krishna, she is Radha, with Vishnu, she is Lakshmi, with Rama, she is Sita and with Shiva, she is Parbati.

Reading verses from the Devi Mahatmya is the customary practice during the Navaratri season. The usual understanding is that it is all about Mother Durga slaying the demons so that we can live peacefully. Lakshmi gives us lots of wealth so we can be rich and Saraswati enriches our knowledge and students propitiate her to clear examinations. Devi Mahatmya is narrated by Rishi Markandeya.

The disturbing factor in every individual’s life is broken down in epa or commotion and aavran or veil. Mala is like dirt on a mirror. Dirt has to be rubbed off with great efforts. Vikshepa is like clouds covering the sun. These clouds could gather forces, and destroy everything. A single desire can destroy many families and generations. Uncontrollable desires which enter the mind can lead to disastrous consequences.

In the first section of the Devi Mahatmya, two demons fight Shakti; they are Madhu and Kaitabha, who come out of the dirt of Vishnu’s ear. They personify lust and anger, spite and praise – they come in pairs. Lust and anger are companions and so are spite and praise. One gives rise to another.

The next category is Vikshepa, symbolized by Mahishasura and Raktabija, Vikshepa is pramaad or sloth and ichcha or desire. The mind is sluggish like a buffalo which can lie in water for hours on end. Desires are similarly endless. Mahishasura is the slothful buffalo and Raktabija is the mind with endless desires. Drops of blood from Raktabija get transformed into thousands of demons. When one is killed another croups up just like desires that gives rise to millions of desires. If you cut off one or two desires, others come up because the root is still there. Kali elongated her tongue and enveloped the earth with it so that million demons walked over it and she then sucked in all of them.

Desires come from within, even if a person is looking idle or is sleeping. That is why the lazy buffalo and active desires are a pair: Desire is a hidden enemy which tosses the mind and opposes our spiritual progress.

Aavran is to be unconscious of one’s own Self. To forget one’s real goal in life. This is ajnana or ignorance. The first two stages are of an enemy that can be seen or felt. We get lustful, greedy and angry because we are ignorant of our real self. We get lazy and desirous because we are unaware of Truth. Behind all of these is ignorance.

The 18 chapter of the Bhagavad Gita are divided into three sections, and each section is of six chapters. The first six chapters talk of karma yoga because selfless service destroys lust, anger and greed. The next six chapters deal with bhakti yoga because devotion to God and guru helps us overcome sloth and desire. The last section, gnana yoga, leads to knowledge of self.

Hence invoking the Mother Goddess Durga, especially during the Navaratri season, is an opportunity to recognize the need to overcome ignorance with the help of energy or Shakti.

Compassion for all Life

All faiths contain distilled wisdom and they promote inherent compassion. They are engaged in the quest for truth and triumph of devotion. I believe that these qualities are the base of all spiritual traditions. At the same time, some negative elements have also penetrated into the system of these orders.

No practicing religion can be happy with ignoring the suffering of some and alleviating the suffering of a few others. No religion can discriminate between one human being and another, and adopt systems and strategies that ignore some, which results in affluence for ignore some at the cost of increasing misery for others. I understand that all religions believe in the need to end the suffering of all beings. The strategies of harmonious coexistence must therefore, flow from fundamental perceptions or original teachings of the founders of religions.

Inter-religious dialog is the need of the hour, but dialogs should not be for the sake of dialog; we must address the pressing problems that we face. These include the sustainability of our life support system and related to that are ecological issues. Sustainability is based on the utilization of natural resources and human skills and continuity of human Endeavour for common benefit of all life forms.

Natural resources are limited; therefore it will be illogical to believe that there can be unlimited resources of enjoyment. If there are limits to resources, there have to be limits to consumption, as well as equity in access to what are needed to sustain life and make life meaningful.

If it is accepted that there are limits to what is available for consumption, it has to be accepted that multiplication of wants and an attitude that looks upon multiplication of possessions as the hallmark of culture and civilization are untenable.

A system which denies essentials to many can be maintained only with violent means and suppression. It is, therefore, important that compassion is developed as the basis of espousal of any faith. This Holiness the Dalai Lama while addressing a conference in Amsterdam in 1990 has coined the term “compassionate economy”.

Ecological responsibility has a bearing on spiritual responsibility. Spirituality to me is a process of looking inwards and ecology is to do with relationship between organisms and environment.

Buddha said: - “Sequential dependence of air on space, or water on air, of earth on water, of life on earth.” Buddha’s message is of harmonious interdependence. Ecological responsibility includes responsibility to preserve the ecosystem on which all life depends to abstain from polluting and poisoning the air, water and earth which sustain life, to minimize depletion and to maximize efforts to replenish and include all life in our view of the universe.

The source of the universally acclaimed Buddhist concept of compassion can be found in the phrase from a sutra: “For the benefit of many and for the happiness of many …..” Buddha taught us that instead of focusing all thoughts and acts on ourselves or on the circle of our family and friends, we should go beyond the circle must think of many and must work for many. Infinite compassion and meditation on this, followed by Bodhisattva conduct are the highest sadhana of a Mahayana practitioner..

The Satisfaction of Loss

The Bhagavad Gita talks of the capacity we have to take joy and loss equally. But we find happiness only in one, no the other. Profit, victory, success are pleasure. Loss is not.

Loss is deprivation. It is to be looked down on; to be avoided at all costs. It is a sign of failure. It is considered a tragedy. A sportsman losing his gold or a lover losing his beloved is used with great dramatic and emotional effect.

Yet there is a satisfaction which can be experienced in loss. Melancholy is not altogether negative. It can be dignified and can demonstrate character: Wordsworth calls it ‘majestic pain’, such that the immortals feed……

You might wonder, how can one experience satisfaction in loss? It seems counter-intuitive to think that in loss there can be peace. But there can be peace in loss. Because in that situation there exists something other than the result: It is the action. Deep satisfaction can arise from having done the best one could possibly do.

Swami Parthasarathy talks of the joy of action well-accomplished. To strive, to struggle, and to not succeed must be your motto, he says. This seems a bit strange. What use is struggle if it doesn’t result in success?

Results are not under our control. Just because you did your best doesn’t mean you get the reward. There is no such law. If this is so, why would one work? Because even though results are never guaranteed, satisfaction can be! You can be entirely content by doing your action perfectly. The pain of loss will be offset with the bliss of satisfaction with oneself. If you have left no stone unturned, done all you could possibly do and yet failed, there is still a great feeling of satisfaction within. The action itself brings satisfaction. There lies the importance of dedication in work. That you worked hard and gave what you could makes you strong enough to bear the loss, if any. The peace continues despite the loss. The pain will not be accompanied by sleepless nights. Sorrow will not give rise to agitation. That much can be guaranteed in a world of very few guarantees.

Satisfaction in loss can be experienced in yet another way. When one knows, finally, that nothing can be done, craving ends and you experience peace. The result has come in, the suspense is at an end and nothing remains to be done. You have done what you could. The mind is at rest.

This of course is not too misconstrued as the martyrdom of self-pity usually demanding others’ pity too! It is not about wearing one’s heart on one’s sleeve and using one’s misfortunes as a talking point, or enjoying one’s pain. It is not game to be played to avoid effort. It is not complacency with the less-than- perfect. It is simply finding happiness which is within our control instead of depending on factors over which we have no control. It is a peace that comes, spontaneously, out of a job well done.

There is tremendous power in action. “May you live a hundred years working,” says the Isavasya Upanishad. Action brings about satisfaction. Prosperity and purifies the personality. Then losses and gains become insignificant. And happiness becomes consist. That’s why it is said that to be a ‘loser’ is not all that terrible – in fact it could do you good.

Spiritual Intelligence

Conventional intelligence is linked to the capability of an individual to assimilate and convey facts as well as manage challenging situations. Intelligence Quotient, IQ measures the brain’s ability to grasp, retain and recall factual knowledge. Emotional Intelligence, EQ, measures the ability to understand and maturely manage people and challenges. Spiritual Intelligence, SI, expands the horizon beyond the ego. It attunes one to larger circle of awareness and influence. Spiritually evolved people remain connected with a sense of universal oneness. This enables them to respond to trying situations and issues in a remarkably composed manner.

The first-hand experience of MK Gandhi of the social injustice prevalent under the racial regime of apartheid is abasing in point. Louis Fischer in his biography of Gandhi, recounts what Gandhi thought was the most creative experience of his life as the night that he spent crouched and shivering in the cold at the Maritzburg rail station in Natal, South Africa, unable to even reach for his own overcoat while empathizing with a poor black family who were thrown out of a train.

This is incident transformed Gandhi’s level of awareness, attuning him to a larger purpose in life. Spiritual intelligence transcends the realm of objective knowledge and one’s own identity. It invokes a sense of oneness across all forms of life. However, success in higher learning and knowledge assimilation runs the risk of promoting one’ sense of importance and superiority. This can only be avoided if we acknowledge the existence of a higher power.

Raman Maharshi regarded the illiterate as being more fortunate as they are less likely to be victims of pride and egoism that comes from reading and writing – as it happens with some. Spiritual scientist Albert Einstein states that the main purpose of education should be to bring morality in actions and subdue one’s ego, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was hardly educated. Yet the most erudite and scholarly felt humbled in his presence. Many a time we tend to ignore simple solutions to life’s challenges. Warren Buffet, the celebrated businessman, captures the significance of simplicity when he says, “There seems to be a perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult!” Einstein said “Not all that counts in life can be counted and not all that can be counted counts”, which aptly captures this truth.

Abiding by the philosophy of simple living and high thinking can help us tap and deploy the innate resource of spiritual intelligence within. Responding to the demands of life using spiritual intelligence paves the way for a deeper awareness of the cosmic consciousness linking all of humanity. To energize this intelligence, it is important that we cajole the mind to go within instead of its habitual tendency to focus outwards.

Connecting intuitively to the core of our being promotes the expression of our spirit. Intuitive wisdom can provide remarkably simple solutions to many complex challenges of life. It makes us more receptive to the power of wisdom that is always available within and around us. Steadily, but surely, we can them abide by the wise counsel for peaceful and happy living, “Let sincerity and not seriousness be the guiding basis for all our actions and responses in life.”

Overcoming the Mind

There was a great rishi, a former king who gave up everything to go to a forest to meditate. There was also a king who had conquered many territories and peoples. One day, the king set his heart on gaining power over the rishi to make him obey his commands. People thought it was strange that the king would focus on conquering a rishi, who had neither property nor kingdom.

When the king failed to attract the attention of the rishi who was in deep meditation, he shouted, “Fight! I have come to challenge you.” The rishi surveyed the scene calmly, saw the great army and said, “Fight!? I ran away from my worldly life for fear of fighting my one great enemy. My soul shudders and heart quivers when I hear the sound of my enemy’s name.”

Finally, the kind became angry and shouted. “Is your enemy stronger than I am?” The rishi replied, “Yes, Even the thought of this enemy destroys my soul. I left everything to escape from this enemy”. The king said, “Tell me the name of this enemy of yours.” The rishi said, “There is no use in telling you who it is. You will never be able to conquer him.”

The king replied, “If I cannot conquer him I will consider myself a failure.” The rishi then told him. “This great enemy of whom I am speaking is the mind.”

From that day on, the king tried everything to overcome the mind. He tried all kinds of techniques to gain control over his own mind. Years passed and still he could not conquer the mind. Finally, the king had to admit that he had failed and that the mind is truly the strongest enemy.

The only way to overpower the mind and still it is through the help of someone who has done so already. Such enlightened beings give us a lift to contact the Light and Sound within us; this helps uplift our soul beyond the realm of mind.

The rishi found that doing spiritual practices alone in the jungle did not help him overcome the mind. The mind still tempted him with the countless desires of the world. The mind knows that contact with the soul will render it harmless. Thus the mind will find all kinds of excuses to keep us from meditation. It will make us think of the past. It will make us feel depressed. It will make us feel like doing work instead of meditating. It will find a million excuses.

Use the tendency of the mind to form positive habits. The mind likes habits. If we tell our mind that we need to sit for meditation each day at the same time and place, a habit will form. Soon we will find compelled to sit for meditation at that time each day. If we will miss meditation, we will start to feel like something is amiss. When we learn to concentrate fully, wholly and solely into the Light and Sound, we will experience bliss, peace and joy. We will want to repeat meditation again and again because of the wonderful experience we receive.

Get Rid of Anger

Anger deprives a sage of his wisdom, a prophet of his vision.

Anger dissolves affection… Therefore, we should subvert anger by forgiveness.

You can overcome the forces of negative emotions, like anger and hatred by cultivating their counter-forces, like love and compassion.

Life is for Living

We are humans. And why do we call ourselves human? We call ourselves humans because we have a different structure than animals, a different form. But we are the same thing inside this form. Eth animal is carrying inside what the human is also carrying inside.

Nature created a human form and from this human form we have to become human beings. Nature gave a tool to our human form; the mind. And from this mind our discovery begins. When we go inside ourselves, we can discover our potentials, our capacities and our nature. We must organize our lives with our minds. If we know ourselves, slowly our human form will progress, will grow. \the capacities and the quality of our consciousness will grow.

Earlier, humans lived in the jangle, eating fruits and roots, like animals. Their form was human but with no awareness of life. Slowly, the sense of awareness awakened through the process of evolution. The man who was living in the jungle started changing and, with awareness, he reached the level where we are now. Evolution is a natural, spontaneous process. It is continuing because we are still lacking many things.

We have reached a level where we are able to create a system to maintain our life; but life is not for that. What are we learning in our schools? We are learning to maintain ourselves as we are, to maintain the systems the cultures, the religions, the philosophies. Our maximum level of thinking is that.

If we are simply maintaining all this we are not living. Life is to live, not just to maintain. A different education is needed, but this education is not available in any school. There is no school which teaches how to smile, how to organize our emotions, how to work with our minds. All that education is doing is to maintain what exists.

The whole process is based on self-awakening, self-knowledge, but we are not making any effort to know ourselves. We are just worried about the maintenance of external things.

Nature however continues our process of evolution. Now, in this present period, people are awakening they don’t want to live for the maintenance of life. Other doors are opening, we are exploring of other sides of life. \that is our spiritual path; this is our spirituality, the spiritual process of life.

With this awareness, life will enter into a living process. And once the living process starts, love will be with you, peace and harmony, every thing that is good will be with you.

In this process of maintenance there is no love, peace, harmony, joy or bliss; only struggle. In the maintenance process we always worry about losing.

When we awaken, we begin to live with wisdom. Every problem carries the solution to solve it. If the problem is inside, the solution is also inside, but we need patience to discover that.

Age has nothing to do with it. Ask yourself if you want to live a better life or not, if you want to know more about yourself, or not; if you want to live this life knowing yourself or without knowing yourself. This is what we must learn. Don’t live a life with ignorance; live with awareness, with knowledge. Then you can grow, and then you can progress and fulfill the purpose of life.