Body Mind and Soul

There are three vital areas that could enable us to fulfill the purpose of our lives to become self-realized. The three dharmic obligations are: Bhoutika dharma or worldly obligations that are fulfilled through the body, mano dharma that is fulfilled through the mind and intellect and atma dharma that activates and empower the soul. All you need to do is follow four steps:

1              Value the body: We normally value our body for its beauty, youth, health or usefulness, without realizing that it is a walking miracle. From birth to death, the body carries out innumerable life-sustaining activities. The heart beats 86,400 times and lungs breathe 21,600 times every day. All this is possible due to the inexhaustible power called the soul that is enshrined in the body which is making life throb around it. When we are aware that we constantly carry this sacred energy, we will never misuse it to perform actions which are harmful, demonic, criminal or destructive in nature. We follow a strict regimen; Niyama with a definite schedule of time for food, sleep and regular routing of sadhana. Thus we discipline the body.

2              Process the mind: We should examine every thought and emotion scrupulously to check whether it falls within the framework of righteousness with great objectivity and vitality. Chanting Aum , which is the seed mantra or syllable of the soul, energies the mind and transforms it into an impartial witness. This also churns the mind and draws out all thoughts and emotions hidden in its subconscious layers.

This is symbolically depicted in churning the kshirasagara or ocean of milk to obtain the nectaar of immortality. Here, the mind is the said ocean and the sacred syllable Aum, from which the whole universe emerged, is the churner. Our good thoughts, dharma, represent the gods and bad thoughts, adharma, represent demons. As we begin churning the mind by chanting Aum for at least 30 minutes at a stipulated time every-day, cleansing of the mind begins and the negativity within is thrown out and divinity is retained.

3              Eliminate negativity: As we continue our sadhana by chanting Aum with total faith and belief, Shiva in the form of a guru removes all the negativity as soon as it rises up from within us. All negative thoughts, tendencies and feelings we have accumulated over many lifetimes rise to the surface. This negative energy constricting the mind is eliminated through the grace of the guru and our intellect, concentration and memory become razor sharp. We make quick, accurate decisions and complete our tasks at lightning speed. Everyday expands to give us ample time for further sadhana and we become more and more absorbed in the vibrations of it.

4              Create Wealth: As this point you will begin to create nidhi or treasure. As we immerse completely in sadhana, we transcend our senses and the mind blossoms and the heart expands to embrace all beings. We generate only selfless, dharmic desires which benefit all and are instantaneously fulfilled by Cosmic Will. We develop selflessness which is one of the important characteristics of Self-realization and our atma dharma is there by fulfilled.

Devotion Versus Intellect

There are two approaches to the final goal of enlightenment according to Buddhist scriptures. They are the path of devotion and the path of reasoning. Of these two, the devotional path or the path of shraddha is more practicable for the average person. Unshaken positive attention towards an object or a cause is what we are taking about when we use the word devotion. Devotion has been categorized into three types on the basis of characteristics. The first is devotion with serenity. The second is devotion with confidence and the third is devotion with inspiration.

Consider the body, speech and mind of the Buddha and let us understand these with our mental projection of the Buddha: His body full of serenity, the soothing sound of his voice speaking the truth, and his mind, compassionate and all-knowing. Such a perception of the Buddha is devotion with serenity. Attention to speech is devotion with confidence and attention to the mind of the Buddha is devotion with inspiration. When we see or imagine a beautiful status of the Buddha, for example, of the Gupta period, we feel the sense of serenity of not only the face of the image but can feel almost as though Buddha is speaking to us with compassion/. We can get the feel of an atmosphere of simplicity and peace around us.

These three kinds of devotion are also explained in another way on certain occasions. This is to understand them with the help of the Buddhist trinity; devotion with serenity towards Buddha, devotion with confidence towards dharma or the teaching, and devotion with inspiration towards sangha, the spiritual community.

The second way of explaining the three kinds of devotion is a more philosophical way than the first one. One experiences the serene atmosphere, in which the Buddha appears in order to benefit many living beings, and the main act of the Buddha is to show the path he himself found and traversed; one also gets confidence that the dharma is the definite and the only way to enlightenment. Your spiritual friends - the kalyanmitrea circle - are a source of inspiration. This is because you may have found the right path to enlightenment, but without inspiring role models around you, it is difficult to proceed with the experience.

Sometimes there is a tendency in Buddhism to look down on the devotional path in contrast to the philosophical one. In any faith one may find the shift of emphasis between the paths of devotion and philosophy and the idea that the philosophical approach is for the sharper intellect while devotion is for the one with duller intellect. This is too much of a generalization. One thing is clear. Every spiritual seeker cannot be expected to be a philosopher. Therefore, it is important to appreciate the role of devotion. A Mahayana Buddhist sutra states that devotion precedes all the other spiritual qualities because it is devotion that will guard and further develop all the spiritual qualities. For, human beings look forward to the appropriate basis of life, some degree of confidence and a lot of inspiration from many sources.

The acts of devotion are many. One practical way is chanting of name mantras. Mindful repetition of such mantras increases concentration on the one to whom the mantra is addressed and thereby the first step of devotion is taken.

Freedom and Responsibility

Responsibility and freedom go together. If you don't want to take responsibility, you can't have freedom either. The two come together or they go together: If you shun responsibility, you have to accept slavery in some way or other.

Now, you had dreamed about freedom without every thinking that great responsibility will follow. Freedom you have, but you have not fulfilled the responsibility. Hence, sadness lingers around you. You are absolutely capable of removing this sadness. If you were capable of destroying your slavery, your chains, you are certainly capable of being creative.

Freedom means you will have to be responsible for every act, for every breath; whatever you do or don't do, you will be responsible. People are really in deep fear of freedom, although they talk about freedom. But my own experience is: Very few people really want freedom; because they are subconsciously aware that freedoms will b ring many problems that they are not ready to face. it is better to remain in cozy imprisonment. It is warmer, and what will you do with freedom? Unless you are ready to be a seeker, a searcher, a creator...... Very few people want to go on a pilgrimage or to go into deeper silences of the heart, or to take the responsibility of love. The implications are great.

You will have to dispel that darkness; otherwise sooner or later you will enter into a prison. You cannot go on burdening yourself with sadness. Before the burden becomes too much and forces you back into slavery, into imprisonment, change the whole situation by being a creative person. Just find out what is your joy in life, what you would like to create, what you would like to be, what you want to be your definition.

Freedom is simply an opportunity to find a definition for yourself, a true, authentic individuality, and a joy in making the world around you a little better, a little more beautiful - a few more roses, a little more greenery and a few more oases.

Madam Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, used to carry two bags in her hands, always. Either going for a morning walk or travelling in a train -those two bags were always in her hands. And she was throwing something out of those bags - from the window while sitting in the train - onto the side of the train.

People would ask, "Why do you do this?" She would say, "this has been my whole life's habit. these are seasonal flower seeds. I may not come back on this route again, but that does not matter: When the season comes and the flowers will blossom, thousands of people who pass every day in this line of railway trains will see those flowers, those colors. They will not know me. That does not matter.:

"One thing is certain: I am making a few people happy somewhere. That much I know. It does not matter whether they know it or not. What matters is that I have been doing something which will make somebody happy. Some children may come and pluck a few flowers and go home. Some lovers may come and make garlands for each other. And without their knowing, I will be part of their love. And I will be part of the joy of children. And I will be a part of those who will be simply passing by the path, seeing the beautiful flowers."

Household Atmosphere

Wife of the great philosopher Socrates was very ill-nature. His house was always crowded by his followers' and visitors and she detested it. She scorned at guests instead of welcoming them.

One day the gathering was especially large and Socrates was delivering his discourse. His wife felt disturbed by the crowd and got angry. Filled with rage she went up to the balcony and started shouting at his followers angrily shouting them to go away from the house. Socrates signaled his followers not to listen to her and continued with his discourse. This enraged her even more and she started throwing dirty water on the gathering as well as hurling at them.

Socrates did not lose his calm and instead remarked jokingly "Did you all see, till now, clouds were thundering and now it has started raining as well". The people in the gathering broke into laughter.

One of the qualities of great men is their ability to deal with ill-tempered people with gentle humor.

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Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing but nettles from nettles. Most people know that this law works in the physical world and hence act accordingly; but very few people understand that it also operates in the subtle and causal realms, and as a result they do not follow it.

Suffering is always the effect of wrong thoughts in some direction. It is an indication that the individual is out of harmony with himself, with the law of his being. The sole and supreme aim of suffering is to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure. Suffering ceases for a person who is pure. There is no point in burning gold after the dross has been removed.

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Truth when spoken is never soothing is never the truth. Goodness will never create enemies and enmity will never lead to goodness. Wise men speak very rarely and those who talk excessively are never wise.

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A time comes in most men's live when the bell rings for prayer, and unhappy are they who, when it does, have nowhere to carry their heart's supplications.

Augustine Birrell

Justification

A man was very proud of his name - Shersingh (lion-hearted). He was always busy bragging about his bravery. To increase the effect of his stories and reputation he thought of getting a tattoo of a lion on his biceps. A professional tattoo artist was called for this. When the tattoo artist started pinching his needle, Shersing started writhing in pain. He tried to put up a brave face for a while but could no longer bear the pain and scolded teh artist, "Why are you still making the tail of the lion?e was always buHe There are lots of animals without tail, leave teh tail and start drawing other parts of the lion's body."

The result of this adventure for Shersingh was a deformed tattooed creature without head or tail. He sighed and said. "My name and reputation is good enough and I don't need and inscription to prove my courage."

People with weak determination keep telling lies about their valor and courage but when the time comes to perform, they are the first to slime away and hide instead of facing a problem boldly.

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There was a sharp difference of opinion among the inmates of an Ashram. One group emphasized the importance of penance and austerities while the other rebutted stating that life is useless without satisfaction of one's personal desires in full. As there was no agreement either way they went to the Master sage for arbitration

The sage received them and without settling the point went on talking on some other subject. Meanwhile a gentleman came and offered fruits and sweets to the saint. The latter accepted the offering and ate up the entire quantity immediately. After a while, another devotee came and offered presents. The saint took the offerings in hand and threw out the stuff through the window. He then inquired of the welfare of the visitor and went on talking softly and sweetly to him. But the guest found it uninteresting and went away after a while.

A third guest came with usual presents. The holy person took something for himself, distributed the rest amongst all those who were present and engaged the visitor in pleasant talk.

After the departure of this guest, the saint sent three inmates to contact the three gentlemen who came that day with presents to find out their reaction towards the treatment meted out to them and report to him. Their experience was reported to be as follows: - The first gentleman was very much annoyed. He was of the opinion that the saint was utterly selfish. The second guest felt greatly disappointed that the fruits etc which he brought with love had been thrown out and did not feel consoled even thought the great person talked to him sweetly afterward. The third visitor praised the saint profusely adding that he was a real recluse as he had lovingly shared with all what he got. The master wound up the discussions thus:

"The best way to live in the world is to share amongst one and all what the Lord gives and to deal with everyone in a gentle way. It is not correct to lead either a crassly selfish life or be engaged in pursuit of penance and austerities without any thought for the well-being of the body."