Krishna says in the Gita that it is because of ajnana or ignorance that people experiences are kinds of agitation and so they are deluded. The cause of sorrow is moha or delusion. One can achieve one’s objective of dispelling sorrow only when one discards and destroys one’s delusion. The Gita’s message is that we should get rid of ignorance.
A German psychiatrist said, “The pathology that humanity seems to be suffering from is robot pathology.” We have become robots. We have become unaware and that leads to becoming mechanical and so we have become unhappy. The extent to which ignorance is discarded determines the quality of improvement in one’s life. The greater our freedom from ignorance, the greater is our happiness.
I was recently reading an interesting cartoon. The Bishop was very happy with a Father for his excellent missionary work. He called the Father and said, “I am very happy with your missionary work, and as a token of my love I am going to give you a very beautiful horse, which I have loved. I am going to give you this Arabian horse so that it may help you in carrying out your missionary work.”
The Father was very happy. The Bishop said “There is only one condition that you should beware of…. The horse only knows two words – “Hallelujah, and ‘O God!’ If you mount the horse and goad it to run, it will not; but if you utter ‘O God’ immediately, it will start galloping. Being teamed by a Bishop, it has become very religious. And if you want to stop the horse, pulling the reins will not do; you have to say. ‘Hallelujah’ and then instantaneously, it will stop.”
The father sat on the beautiful Arabian horse and said. “O God!” The horse started galloping at great speed. And as he said “O God” again and again, it ran faster and faster. While the Father was enjoying the ride, suddenly he realized that the horse was heading towards the brink of a cliff. Now he wanted to stop the horse and said “stop, stop!” “Hallelujah” and immediately, the horse stopped, right at the edge. One moment later they would have plunged to their deaths.
And then he looked at the valley and said “O God! You saved me”. No sooner had he uttered this, the horse started galloping…. So uttering O God was a mechanical act and not one that was thought out!.
One can find people of any religious sect say their prayers mechanically. Their prayers and expressions, “O God, O Ram or O Krishna”…. Are mechanical. And the genesis of the mechanical tendency is unawareness. The more you are unaware, the greater is your mechanical tendency, the greater is the robotic life that you lead and consequently, true religious quality gets totally eroded.
Therefore, it is very essential, in spiritual life and in religious life, to deepen the quality of awareness, be it a prayer or a worship that you are doing. To deepen your awareness, which is born out of true perception and understanding, is one of the important qualities of a spiritual or a religious life. In Tantra Shastra it is said, “Chaitanya Atma,” our Atma, the self should be one of Chaitanya, of awareness. And therefore, to deepen one’s awareness is one of the principal teachings of all the great Masters and especially of the Gita.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna makes special mention of the soul. When the warrior Arjuna declines to fight and kill his relatives, Krishna says that he is not killing anybody, because the soul is immortal. Just as we abandon worn out clothes take new ones, the soul, likewise, abandons worn out bodies and takes new ones. It is the body that has birth and death. Soul does not come in the purview of the mundane laws governing birth and death. Soul is not cut by weapons. It is not consumed by fire. It is neither washed away by water nor blown away by the wind. Thus soul is not destructible by any state of matter or energy.
According to the Bhagavad Gita, the soul cannot be perceived by material means. In other words, one can not use tools that characterize matter. Eyes, ears, noses, hands and mouth which are common tools to probe matter, cannot probe the soul. The first step, indeed, is to deactivate these biological sensors. By controlling all sense organs, fixing the mind in the heart concentrating all energy in the head, reciting the one syllable AUM and engaging in firm yoga, one can probe the soul. (8:12). this prescription is completely spiritual and is beyond the reach of a common individual.
Prior to this, Krishna emphasized the role of knowledge in understanding the soul. (4:39). He who has faith can acquire the supreme knowledge about soul. The other requirement, as mentioned earlier, is the absolute control of senses. In this process knowledge gained would lead the knower to ultimate peace. In the next verse he says that those who doubt would perish.
Scientists are not comfortable with this idea of knowledge by faith and end by doubt. Science is not inclined to gaining knowledge by faith. Knowledge must be acquired by experimentation and should be free of all ambiguities. Doubts lead to further experimentation, which leads to the confirmation of the knowledge. Thus in the realm of science, faith is not acceptable but doubt ism in contrast to spirituality, where there is a reversal of roles that is, faith is the buzz word and doubt is the outcast.
This perspective apparently points to a disunity between science and spirituality. However, we cannot entirely rule out a unity in diversity. Spirituality is mostly intuitive while science is based on experimentation and reasoning. But many great scientific ideas initially came from the intuitions of their creators, which were later confirmed by both experiment and theory. There is of course a common ground. Both science and spirituality are not easily discernible to a lay person.
Of late scientists have taken interest beyond their domains. Social, economical and political domains are explored by considering them as statistical systems with some common unity. However, in the past these things did come under the purview of science, except of course in erstwhile Russia, where everything was considered as science, even religion. Thus a scientific approach to spirituality is also the need of the hour to porch to life. By doing so, we could put an end to the compartmentalization of knowledge and begin to see things from a holistic perspective.
He who has faith and devotion in God as a result of his innate innocence, easily beholds God in everything, in every tree and animal, in every aspect of Nature. This attitude enables him to live in perfect harmony, in tune with Nature. The never-ending stream of love that flows from a true believer towards entire Creation will have a gentle, soothing effect on Nature. This love is the best protection of Nature.
The relationship between man and Nature is like the relationship between Pindanada, the microcosm and Brahmnananda, the macrocosm. Our ancestors understood this and so they included Nature worship in religious practices. The idea behind all religious practices was to closely associate human beings with Nature. By establishing a loving relationship between man and nature they insured both the balance of nature and the progress of the human-race.
Ancients loved and worshipped trees and plants such as the banyan tree, bilva and tulsi, not because the trees bore fruit and helped them to make a profit, but because ancients knew that they were connected.
Indic scriptures suggest that a householder should perform the pancha yajnas or five daily sacrifices… Bhuta yajna is the last sacrifice; it is to serve all living beings as embodiments of the Universal Being. This is done through the feeding of and caring for animals and plants. Earlier, family members never ate before feeding domestic birds and animals.
They would also water their plants and trees before eating. In those days worshipping Nature and natural phenomenon were part and parcel of human life. People were always eager to please Nature in gratitude for her kind gifts. Bhuta yajna brings about the consciousness of the unity of all life.
The will of separation between humans and Nature is created mainly by the selfish attitude of humans. They think that Nature has created only for them to use and exploit in order to fulfill their selfish desires. This attitude creates a wall, a separation and a distance.
Everything is pervaded by consciousness. It is consciousness which sustains the world and all creatures in it. To worship everything, seeing God in all, is what religion advises. Such an attitude teaches us to love Nature. None of us would consciously injure our own body, because we know it would be painful. Similarly, we will feel the pain of other people to be our own when the realization dawns in us that everything is pervaded by the same consciousness. Compassion will arise, and we will sincerely wish to help and protect all. In that state, we won’t feel like plucking even a leaf unnecessarily.
Looking at Nature and observing its selfless way of giving, we can become aware of our own limitations. That will help to develop devotion and self surrender to God. Thus, Nature helps us to become closer to God and teaches us to truly worship Him. In reality, Nature is nothing but God’s visible form which we can behold and experience through our senses. Indeed, by loving and serving Nature we are worshipping none other than God Himself.
The brain’s various centers are each designated for a specific function. The senses take cognition of the environment. The anthropological basis of the nervous system was to facilitate an interaction with the environment, based on the individual’s awareness of being separate from the environment. All senses sub-serve the function of underlining a sense of discreteness. Touch, taste, sound, smell and vision are instruments of discrimination. The entity that integrates these inputs and collectively coordinates them as a subject is the assumed ‘identity. The coordinated output of separateness that the senses keep generating is ego.
The brain helps fragment awareness into the subjective ‘self’ and objective ‘non-self’ are vital for each other’s symbiotic existence. Our own identity relies on our ability to perceive our self as uniquely different and distanced from the environment. Various detrimental states of consciousness, such as feeling drowsy, deep sleep, semi consciousness or even an unconsciousness state are familiar. Therefore, it is only logical to believe in states where there is an incremental increase in the level of consciousness.
If identity was base merely on a deep rooted sense of discreteness that the senses generate, would a person, alone in a dark, quiet room – whose brain is not being fed with sensory inputs – consider himself as non-existent? N unconscious person doesn’t interact with the environment but might be assumed to possess an ‘am-ness’ that is partial and aware of only the ‘self’ without comprehending or interacting with the environment. It’s a state of partial awareness.
A seizure that arises in the portions of the limbic system – phylogenetically one of the oldest groups of neurons – could give rise to profound spiritual experiences. Repeated bursts of abnormal electrical activity can facilitate a new pathway within the compels network of neurons. This is called ‘kindling’ – where consciousness may be getting defragmenter leading to an un-split awareness.
All sense organs route their inputs through the limbic system and to various designated areas. The sensation of extreme bliss generated by un-split awareness gets triggered by the limbic system and not in the frontal lobes, the seats of intelligence and logical analysis. Such experiences are hence states of altered awareness rather than conclusions arising as a result of intellectual through processing of the brain. The experience or realization that the am-ness of subject and object are of the same essence could be that final frontier of consciousness evolution, the attainment of state of super consciousness. Faith and devotion as ways to salvation rely on the dismantling of the worshipper’s identity and becoming one with the worshipped. That is, perhaps inputs that serve to generate and maintain a separateness of the self are modulated or filtered within the limbic system – a state of comprehensive, un-resurrected oneness.
It’s a paradoxical situation of the observer becoming the observed without the meditation of sense3 organs, by expanding awareness to a supra sensory level. Realization may well be a modulation and ‘kindling’ of the neural pathways leading to a perception of oneness with the entire cosmos. It would then really be more a liberation from the person rather than of the person.
Light is the nature of the sun, waves the nature of the sea and coolness the nature of wind. What endows a deer with placidity and a lion with aggression are their own original natures. Similarly, women and men have their own unique natures that distinguish them from each other.
Once a baby eagle found itself living amongst a brood of chicks. The mother hen raised it in the same way she raised her own offspring. Like the chicks, the young eagle grew up foraging the ground for worms. As such, the eagle thought itself to be a mere chicken, ignorant of its ability to fly and soar into the air. One day, another eagle noticed this eagle fledgling with the chicks. When it was alone, the ‘sky eagle’ approached the ‘chicken eagle’ and brought it to a lake. The
Sky eagle’ said’ “My child, don’t you know who you are? Here look at me and now look at your own reflection is the water. Like me, you too are an eagle with the ability to soar in the sky – not an earth-bound chicken.” Gradually the eagle realized its strength and then, without much delay spread its wings and soared into the sky.
The vast sky is the eagle’s birthright. In the same way, a woman has the potential to soar into the endless sky of strength and freedom. But before this freedom can become a reality, a woman must prepare herself through steady effort. It is the thought that she is powerless and saddled by numerous limitations and weakness that imbibes her. She must first existence is her motherly love, compassion, patience and selflessness, and she should never abandon these qualities at any cost. If women reject their feminine qualities, it would only add to the imbalance currently being experienced in the world.
The forthcoming age should be dedicated to reawakening the healing power of motherhood. This is the only way to realize our dream of peace and harmony for the world. If a woman is to relate to a man and a man to a woman, both must cultivate greater understanding, mental maturity and intellectual discrimination. If these are absent, discordant notes, arrhythmic patterns and unrest will be the hallmarks of society. Equality must be created in the mind. The inner strength of women flows like a river. If the current of a river encounters a mountain, the river will flow around it. If there is a cluster of rocks, the river will flow through them. Sometimes, it may flow under or over them. Similarly, feminine strength has the capacity to move towards the goal, overcoming any obstacle it encounters. We should remember that equality is not a matter of power of position. It is a mental state.
Women and men should honor the heart with the same importance they are giving to the intellect. They should strive to work in a way that reconciles intellect and heart, and be role models for each other. Then equality and harmony will come about naturally.
Become humble, remain a beginner till the end, like a child endowed with tremendous faith and patience. That is the best path. Such should be our attitude towards life and the experiences life brings to us. Then we will keep on learning. Our bodies have grown in all directions but not the mine. For the mind to grow and become as big as the universe, we should become a child. So, move forward. In your respective areas, feel the suffering of the people and work hard. There is a lot to learn. Let us do what we can do.
As regular at religious discourses, one often finds followers of one guru or faith criticizing those of other faiths because they think that their own philosophy is far superior.
Why is it so difficult for us to respect the right of others to follow any teaching or teacher of their choice? No one who claims loyalty to any faith that advocates compassion, tolerance and understanding can affords to ignore these tenets.
“Few, among thousands of men and women, strive for perfection; and a few perchance, among the blessed ones striving thus, know Me in reality “said Krishna to Arjuna in the Gita (7.3). Too many of us are preoccupied with unearthing details of when Krishna was born and when he actually delivered the Gita. We are more interested in knowing what Jesus looked like, and whether he really got resurrected. We tend to get ensnared in irrelevant details, and we begin to lose sight of the wood for the trees.
Few love God unconditionally. Ramakrishna would tell the story of some men who went into a mango orchard. They began counting the leaves, twigs and branches examining their color, comparing their size, and then proceeded to argue about who was right. The most sensible among them began eating the fruit. Similarly a truly spiritual person is not bothered about the history or geography of God; he simply yearns for God, he is not as keen to memorize the Gita’s verses as he is to follow its teaching.
Ramakrishna Paramhansa did not spend time reading the scriptures. He advised all seekers to ‘eat the mangoes’, leaving it to the learned to pore over the details. He knew from personal experience that God could be reached via any path. He found God by following the various paths of the Hindu faith, including the vaishnava, shiva and Tantrik path. He discovered the beauty of Christ and Mohammed by learning about them. At the end of each path God was there waiting for His beloved devotee. The only qualification needed was pure love.
A true devotee, no matter which faith he believes in goes through the equivalent of a crucifixion. Jesus was crucified, Meera was tortured by her in laws, Prahlada was terrorized by his hather, Kabir was ridiculed by society, Namdeva was labeled mad. Tulsidas was threatened by the upper caste and Socrates was given poison to drink. None was spared. The Lord demands complete surrender. He resides in our hearts. But only the pure are allowed into this sacred space, and that’s why we need the guidance of a hallowed sadhguru.
Ramakrishna said that the heart was like God’s living room. So we need to keep it clean. Ramana Maharshi explained that to seek true consciousness, you must concentrate on the heart which is the seat of consciousness – or we could say it is consciousness itself. The heart is another name for reality, he said, and this is neither inside nor outside the body.
Loving God results in ‘rising’ rather than ‘falling’ in love. Your vision gradually begins to encompass entire humankind, all living beings and inert matter as well. You become one with that loving an earthly being means possessiveness and this is restrictive. That’s why you ‘fall in love. Loving God, however, enables us to love all. This way, you can achieve ultimate oneness of existence of Brahmn.
In a village a young boy was playing by the river’s edge. Suddenly he heard a cry for help. “Save me, please save me!”
A crocodile was caught in a net and it cried out for help. The boy hesitated: What if the crocodile ate him up? But the crocodile pleaded with him and said, “I promise you that I won’t devour you. Please save me!” Moved, the boy began to cut the net that had trapped the crocodile. No sooner was its head free from the net than the crocodile grabbed the boys leg in its jaws.
Now it was the boys’ turn to cry “How unfair you are!” he shouted. The crocodile said: “What to de? Such is the way of the world. Such is life,” and continued.
The boy was not worried about dying; he couldn’t accept crocodile’s ingratitude. While his leg was slowly sliding into the jaws of the crocodile, the boy looked at the birds on a nearby tree and asked: “Is the crocodile uttering the truth? Is life unjust? Are not words honored?”
The birds replied, “We take such care to build save nests on the tops of trees to protect our eggs. Yet, snakes come and swallow them. The crocodile is right. Then the boy saw a donkey grazing on the banks of the lake and repeated his question. “When I was young, my master loaded soiled linen on my back and extracted maximum amount of work from me. Now that I am old and feeble, he has abandoned me. Such is indeed the way of the world. There is injustice and unfairness and such is life!” said the donkey.
The boy, still not convinced, noticed a rabbit and repeated his question. The rabbit said “No no! I cannot accept what the crocodile is saying. It is utter nonsense!” Hearing this, the crocodile became angry and wanted to argue with the rabbit, even while holding the boy’s leg in its strong jaws. The rabbit protested, saying that as the crocodile’s mouth was choked with the boy’s leg it was not able to decipher what the crocodile was trying to say. The crocodile laughed heartily at this and said, “I am not a fool! If I let go the boy would run away!”
Now you are really stupid, said the rabbit. “Have you forgotten how strong your tail is? Even if he runs, you can smash him with just one mighty lash of your tail!”
The crocodile fell for this and releasing the boy, continued its argument and the boy took to his heels. Only when it tried to raise its tail, did the crocodile realize that it was still entangled in the net. The crocodile glared at the rabbit. The rabbit smiled sweetly, saying: “Now do you understand? Such is the way of the world! Such is life.
In a short while, the young boy returned with the villagers. A dog came along spotted the rabbit and started chasing it. The boy screamed at the dog. “This rabbit saved my life; don’t attack him.” Alas, before the boy could intervene, the dog had chased and killed the rabbit in a jiffy.
The distressed boy cried and said to himself, “What the crocodile said was true. Such is the way of the world. Such is life!”
Unfairness is a part and parcel of life. Such is the way of life. Can we teach ourselves not to be victims of unfairness and face it with the understanding that life’s mysteries cannot be fully understood?
Songs are the most precious heritage of mankind. What makes a song endure, with its music, words and rhythm, is that special moment of divine inspiration that gives it birth, a moment known only to its creator, but a moment that he passes on to the song in a silent kind of way.
Those who learn songs will know. For it is such a mysterious though delightful process, ‘getting’ the melody in bits and then as a whole, the words holding your heart as you cat ch the lilt, and the tempo coming along, like an organic part of the whole. No wonder once you learn a song, you remember it always.
Pandit Amarnath, who gave to the Hindustani khayal a vast repertoire of Sufi songs, referred to the song as a pearl in an oyster, produced by a moment of divine inspiration, a ‘noor ki boond’, or drop of the heavenly waters.
Like one evening when in a moment of inspiration, he suddenly became acutely aware of the joy of togetherness, seeing hundreds of sparrows chirping together on the boughs of a grove of eucalyptus trees before the cape of night wrapped the grove in silence. He then composed a haiku like piece in the raga Gauri – traditionally a funeral dirge – “Kohu na ikla daar daar/ Kohu need nahi peed/ sochat man baar baar,” “None alone, branch after branch/ in no nest any pain/ thinks my heart again and again.”
In the same intuitive way, the ‘thought’ or ‘khayal’ of painless, togetherness came to Panditji towards the end of life, when this song was composed, as against the ‘thought’ of painful aloneness which came during the early part of his composing life, when in the same raga, Gauri, he composed the lines in the raga’s traditional mood: “Take wind my soul-bird/ Little of the day is left/ All nestle in a home or other/ Lies in your destiny a disunion.”
The moment of inspiration is a moment that becomes heady, like wine giving way to an inner intoxication. Like Panditji’s song in raga Madhmat Sarang: “O bring the wine brim-filled,/ And pour with your mystic glance,/ Lots and lots for all. O wine True, and wine giver True/ Awaken That Truth intoxicating in the hearts of all.” In raga Kindoli he says: “Holy is the soul of the intoxicated one/ Who dranks from the cup of Love/ Bright shine his lights/ His days a Diwali have become”
In music the moment of inspiration also embodies to become the muse, known as the mitwa of innumerable songs, the beloved or the soul-mate, whose love is a message from the divine. In Panditji’s song for the raga shree, the mitwa is the ‘sakar’ or embodied from of the nirakar, the formless. “One form pervades my heart’s universe/ Which is endless boundless/ As form becoming the ‘meet’ (or mitwa).
The word ‘truth’ figures like a touchstone in Pandit Amarnath’s repertoire of lyrics for the khayal. Khayals are timeless truths, ‘unvelied’ to the composer now and then during his life of Sadhana: “Sing songs that are true/ They be, or be not now”, is a song in a raga he discovered byh the name of shyam bhoop, a song which then continues as “Tum he preet karo/ Be it requited, or be it not,” …. In the eternal symbiotic relationship of songs with Love that is both human and divine.
Meaning: Our ancient Rigved10/191/4 has given us the information that - Let all people have the same resolve. Let the hearts of all be one and there be mental unity so that they never remain unhappy.
Message: Man is a social animal. His relationship is with the society. He is a part of the society. He can carry on his life's activities only with the cooperation of the society. Social organization can make a weak person strong and a powerless man powerful. The saying in Sanskrit language is 'sanghe shakthiby kalowyuge' i.e. in this kaliyug (the sinful era) strength lies only in organization.
If there is an organization of even a few men with good qualities, it proves very beneficial for the society. Thin strands, when woven together, make a powerful rope with which even a mad-elephant can be kept in leash. Let men full of the feelings for public welfare become united and work if they want to remain as reputable men of the society.
Organizations of demoniac men can be seen everywhere. Even at the risk of lives, thieves, robbers, dacoits, corrupt men and adulterers help each other. Gangs of thieves and criminals go on spreading a polluted atmosphere by working internationally. Ancient sages laid a lot of emphasis on the strength of organization by understanding the importance of unity for fighting such calamities.
There are 3 basic elements of organization - unity of thought, unity of heart and unity of mind. The first requirement for any type of organization is that in all men wanting to be organized, there should be a unity of thinking. If there is no unity of thinking, if there are differences of opinion, then that organization can never be strong. Where there is a unity of thinking, there the aim and goal of everyone will be the same. That aim will keep them together. Second essential is the unity of the heart. The goal may be common but unless we work with a clean heart and full feelings, total success cannot be achieved despite the common objective for all.
Mental unity too, is extremely essential. The goal may be the same, there may be full sympathy in the heart, but if there is no involvement, no inspiration or no maturity of mind, then that organization also cannot become strong. When the mind is reined properly and the work pushed ahead with full mental concentration, only then can the organization remain properly organized and strong. There is a significant effect of the thoughts alone can throw man into the chasm of downfall. Man becomes what he thinks. Our thinking plays a very important role in all our work. That is why there should be constant effort at keeping the mind free from bad thoughts. We can protect ourselves from the temptations of evil thoughts only by firm will power.
For the creation of a healthy and lively society, only an organization of men, rich with tremendous spiritual power, can prove reliable.
Health, peace as well as honor and reputation are given to the powerful people. Everyone looks in a cruel way at weak and feeble mended persons. The existence of an emotional and weak person is insecure in every place and situation. No body becomes helpful in their development and even God seems to be averse to such a person. Even cruel death throws its cold arms around them first. The principle and rule in this life is the protection and development of the fittest. That is why in its organization, weak people have to face dangers and suffering at every step.
One must accept the need for nourishing and maintaining strength for successful and secure life. Swami Vivekananda has written that first of all one must develop strength. Developing and maintaining strength is the only path to progress. By this way only can one go nearer to the soul and the Supreme Entity viz. God? What ever the goal, it is achievable only by individual or collective power.
Sudden success is not achievable in any field. For that purpose, one has to go on developing one's powers by constant efforts. There is no doubt that all the things and attainments are achievable. But it is also true that for achieving them, worthiness is essential, also it is equally true that to protect them development of the powers is essential.
Worthiness is created only by constant efforts. There is no scarcity of knowledge in this world, but there is a scarcity of that intellectual capacity because of which we are not capable of attaining it. That capacity has to be developed by constant education. To develop worthiness and strength for success in any fields only this rule applies. For this reason, weakness is considered a sin which makes a person stray from the path and throws a person into the pit of difficulties.
Weakness is considered a terrible punishment in the law of nature. To remove it, one will have to become worthy because only a strong person becomes successful in the battle of life. Such a person never becomes old, because he always remains young at heart.
Nutritious food is certainly essential for keeping the body healthy, but even more essential is the stability of mental condition. Nourishment gives energy and energy provides health. However the essential source of energy is the brain which provides not only the energy for digesting the food but to keep all the organs of the body working in organized co-ordination.
Howsoever nourishing the food, it will not give any benefit if the mind is upset. On the contrary when the mental condition is peaceful and balanced, health can be maintained even with meager simple food. Constant mental exertion without interest causes dryness of the skin and other skin-diseases. Similarly at the time of anger, fury and excitement or during disappointment and dejection, the mental condition produces poisonous chemicals internally and their effect is seen on the body. Although the effect is seen on the body, the symptoms are related to the condition of the mind. Lingering frustration and fear due to any event or situation are the two diseases conferred on man by modern culture or 'progress' - psychiatrists call them as depression and phobia. Such type of ill persons keeps an attitude of resistance towards their familial and societal obligations. The main symptoms found in these patients are to become irritated at the drop of a pin and to start weeping suddenly after becoming angry.
Emotional tension also gets converted many times into physical pain. Headache, pain in the abdomen, pain in the joints, chest-pain, pain in the waist etc are more because of mental reasons than physical ones. The root causes here is some worry, fear, some anxiety about trouble in the future or some unhappy memory of the past. This condition of the mind affects any organ of the body and manifests in the pain in that part.
There cannot be a measure for the acuteness of the power of the mind. It goes faster than a thousand horse powered engine or even than a rocket. If the mind's capabilities are properly controlled and conditioned a man can hear quite distinctly every word of the conversation being carried on between two persons thousands of miles apart, and they can be seen as if sitting very near. Not only this, but it is possible to know what goes on in the mind of persons thousands of miles away. Television and tele-audition are the achievements of a controller mind. The great sage Patanjali propounding the characteristics of Yoga has said:
"The meaning of Yoga is nothing else but controlling the tendencies of the mind." A master yogi can do anything. He can achieve the incomparable ecstasy of knowing God (Brahma) or can overawe the people by displaying miraculous feats. Mesmerism and Hypnotism, which are considered base psychic tricks, do not contribute to any spiritual upliftment of him who practices them. For true upliftment, mind should be directed towards spiritual quest. Even if this quest of the inner self cannot be revealed in concrete results, a reasonable person by reading, knowing and hearing about this wonderful power of the mind can surely endeavor to develop in himself this heavenly mental capacity.
In Nepal, which is the home of Yoga, one will never experience a dearth of miracles. The westerners are aware of this fact. In this connection a western correspondent's experience is worth nothing. He writes, "I was traveling by a river boat in India. As soon as the boat toughed a port, an Indian dressed only in a loin cloth boarded the boat with a bundle. He took a coil of rope lying there. Taking one end of it he knotted it and threw it upwards to the sky with all his might. The knot was going higher and higher and the coil below was being unwound of its own accord, and in a short time the whole coil of rope vanished in the sky. A coconut shell was lying nearby. He filled it with water, the amount of which was meager. Yet pouring the water in a pail, he filled the pail to the brim. He repeated this process and filled fifteen pails in a row. Then he chanted something and raised up his hand, the coconut shell disappeared, and when he lowered his hand there was a pail seen in it. Seeing all this we were so amazed, that we could not make out what all that was?"
Paul Brunton wandered all over India in search of such miracles and as a result of what he saw he wrote a book in support of this secret lore. Louis Jackalion, a French magistrate of Pondichery has also written a book on similar lines in which he has praised very much this secret lore of India. What others look up as wonderful miracles or displays of secret lore are considered by the Yogis as a little glimpse of the power of the mind. Though the display of this power is attractive to observe, it is a serious impediment to the ultimate goal of self-realization. The aim of controlling the mind is to know the True self. By achieving this knowledge man can experience freedom from life's bondage and enjoy bliss of heaven.
In "Ramottartapaniya Upanishad", in the discussion of the capabilities of the mind, it si stated; "The meeting place between the eyebrows and the nose is not only heaven, but something higher than heaven, but it is controlled by nature. Thus knowing Brahma one must worship this meeting point of achieving the un-manifested Brahma is limited to the physical meeting point of the eyebrows and the nose calls the point as spiritual Kashi.
Mind is the chief means of achieving salvation. Lured by desires, man becomes a slave to passions. Enjoyment of passions does not lead to diminishing the force of passions but on the contrary to augmenting them. The powers of the mind are thus dissipated in such loose worldly affairs. Hence for the realization of the Highest Essence, it is desirable to discard all passions and desires of the mind and to concentrate it on the inner self. The pivotal point of creation and continuation is the mind.
Life is perennially new, but the mind is old and ancient. The dust of the past goes on collecting on it and this layer of dust covers the mirror of consciousness. Only the lure of material things remains active. Thus the mind falls into bondage. For the true experience of living, freedom from mind's bondage is essential.
The bioelectrical currents of the Ida and pingala nadis flow along the two sides of the brahm nadi and, starting from the pituitary and pineal glands, they reach the muladhara chakra. These currents flow back from this bottom cakra after their coherence in the Susumna. The six extrasensory energy enters - the sat chakras, are like eddy currents in the flow of the Brahm Nadi. These cakras are said to e the sources through which the individual self can traverse beyond the limits of time and space. These contain the sublime ocean of supernatural powers.
The Kundalini, which is affirmed in the spiritual sciences of yoga as the source of all physical and spiritual potentials, can be reached only by penetrating the sat cakras. The straight flow of the Prana through these cakras is essential for 'electrifying' the latent 'coil' of the Kundalini. This requires immense pressure of Prana under adept control. The flow of the vital energy component of Prana generated during the Soaham Pranayama and the Samkalpa of the Sadhaka associated with this Sadhana provide the right combination for straight traversing through the sat cakras, penetrating the three Granthis and eventually activating the Kundalini.
Another spiritual benefit of the Soaham Pranayama is the perception of sublime and divine fragrances. Smelling is a tanmatra (power of perception) associated with the basic element of air. Therefore, the practice for control and attainment of extraordinary potential of this (the gandha) tanmatra fall under the Sadhanas of higher level Pranayamas. The Soaham Sadhana can expand the Gandha tanmatra so much that the Sadhaka may smell the infra- subtle and long distant fragrances. This power then becomes a medium to recognize and experience the divine elements by their unique fragrance. When the Sadhaka is progressing well in the Soaham Sadhana, he often smells some divinely soothing fragrances. This is an indication of supernatural developments.
Shrines and the place of upasana and Sadhana are often endowed with some incenses (like dhupa or agarbatti) or flowers. Their aroma induces a soothing feeling in mind and helps its focused concentration. Such fragrances also support rapid development of the Gandha tanmatra during the initial stages of the Pranayamas. If the Sadhaka meditates on the fragrance along with the exercise of deep breathing then after a little practice with determination he would be able to smell the same pleasant aroma even when he comes out and goes away from the room of Upasana. Eventually, he would begin to smell it during his regular Sadhana even without having any external means or arrangement of creating such incense. This is an indication of the awakening of the latent potential of the gandha tanmatra. Performing a higher level Pranayama like Soaham at this stage boosts this development and gradually gives rise to a supernatural power of extrasensory smell.
The importance of gandha tanmatra is well experienced in nature. Many animals and insects possess refined power of smelling. This potential is indeed an essential mode of communication, search for food, sensing an enemy's presence and transmitting or receiving the signals for mating (to or from the opposite sex)….., etc in many birds, animals and insects. Many creatures also use this sense to know the weather conditions in advance. The trained dogs use this faculty to trace the criminals or the lost things or persons. In human beings this faculty normally stands much below in the order of importance as compared to the faculties of thinking, vision, speech and hearing. Once the hidden power of smelling is activated, this dominates over all other normal faculties and it can be focused by the Sadhana for sensing the supernatural signals and experiencing the unknown, which exists far beyond the grasp of human intelligence…. The evoked tanmatra of gandha enables the Sadhaka to feel the presence of the divine powers and receive their messages. Success of the Soaham Sadhana also bestows such extrasensory potentials of the gandha tanmatra on the Sadhaka.
This ignorance is what is called maya, which becomes the cause of materialistic attachments and binding of the jiva in selfish affairs. These bonds make him indulge in the unnecessary activities and sins which hinder the possibilities of his spiritual development and put him into the dark tunnel of an unending journey in the world of ignorance, weaknesses, sufferings and agony of unlimited desires…. The whole lot of spiritual Sadhanas aims at emancipating the individual self from this bondage of illusions and ignorance and uplifting towards the righteous path worth his dignity as a soul.
The knowledge of Soaham is termed as Sadjnana, Tatvajanana or Brahmjnana - the divine knowledge that enlightens the inner self and awakens the soul so that it could realize its eternal origin. By the effect of Soaham Sadhana, the individual self begins to recognize its true identity as a reflection of the Brahm. The knowledge of Soaham contains the key for liberation from ignorance and the worldly thralldom. It indeed leads to the state of realization of 'Tatvamasi, Suddhosi, Buddhosi, and Niranjanosi in terms of the attainment of absolute piety, ultimate knowledge and limitless beatitude.
The word meaning of Soaham - "I am Brahm" should not be interpreted as an expression of arrogance. Because, here "I" does not correspond to the body or what a selfish, ignorant and a possessive person thinks himself to be…. Such misinterpretations would imply what the devil like gaings, Ravana, Kansa and Hiranyakshyapu, used to impose themselves to be. These characters, because of their maddening ego, suppressive might and blind superiority complex used to regard themselves as equivalent to God and used to even impose such impressions upon others. But the history stands by the fact that such illusions of extreme atrocities finally became the cause of their disdainful destruction.
It should be remembered that in the meaning of 'soaham' the word "I": does not refer to this body or mind which are made up of the Panca tatvas (five basic elements) and the three natural tendencies of the jada and cetan components of nature. This "I" truly corresponds to the soul. Thus "Soaham" is a divine message which reminds that the soul is a part of the Brahm. The spiritual scholars of all times have described the unity of the soul with the Brahm as that of - a wave with the ocean; light with the sun; an atom with the universe; a spark with fire…. etc. The only hindrance in the realization by the soul of its originality is the smog of ignorance (Maya) when the soul exists in a body as a living being (jiva) in this world.
The assimilation of illusions, misdeeds and the associated impact of the kusamskaras of the previous birth and the thralldom of ego, avarice and attachment block the active linkage of the individual self with its divine source. that is why an individual, despite being a part of that Omniscient Almighty continues to live a dissatisfied, effete, purposeless and even sinful life. The spiritual Sadhanas aim at removing these untoward shrouds and wiping off the latent imprints of the Kusamskaras and untoward habits and refining the mind and the entire inner self of the Sadhaka. It is only in a clean and serene mind and pious heart that the divine inspirations could be educed that would enlighten the soul. The Soaham Sadhana also results in such an illumination of the intellect and spiritual transmutation of the individual self.
The religious scriptures repeatedly convey that "Iswara Ansa Jiva Avinasi" - every living being is a fraction of the Almighty, Omnipresent Thee. Most of the people hear and accept it in principle but that is not all. Acceptance of this fact or belief in it would not serve any purpose unless it is inculcated in the innermost layers of the mind and the emotional center. Internal faith and emotional depth and sincerity only can awaken the Sraddha that enlightens and edifies the inner self. It is this inspiration which can control the thoughts and deeds of the individual.
For His own realization, God has laid down in the Gita two principal ways - Sankhya-yoga and Karma-yoga. Of these -
a) All objects being unreal like the water in a mirage, or the creation of a dream, Gunas, which are the products of Maya, move in the Gunas, understanding this, the sense of doership should be lost with regards to all activities of the mind, senses and the body and being established ever in identity with all pervading God, the embodiment of Truth, knowledge and Bliss, consciousness should be lost of the existence of any other being but God. This is the practice of Sankhya-yoga.
b) Regarding everything as belonging to God, maintaining equanimity in success or failure, renouncing attachment and the desire for fruit, all works should be done according to God's behests and only for the sake of God, and, with utmost faith and reverence, surrendering oneself to God through mind, speech and body, constant meditation on God's Form with remembrance of His names, virtues and glory, should be practiced. This is the practice of Yoga by disinterested action.
The result of both these practices being the same; they are regarded as one in reality. B ut during the period of practice, they being different according to the qualifications of the Sadhak, the two paths have been separately described. Therefore, the same man cannot tread both the paths at one and the same time, even as though there may be two roads to the Ganges, a person cannot proceed by both the paths at the same time. Out of these, Karma-yoga cannot be practiced in the stage of Sannyasa, for in that stage renunciation of Karma in every form has been advised. The practice of Sankhya-yoga, however, is possible in every Asrama, or stage of life.
If it is argued that the Lord has described Sankhya-yoga as synonymous with Sannyasa therefore, Sannyasis or monks alone are entitled to practice I t, and not householders, the argument is untenable, because in the course of His description of Sankhya-yoga, the Lord, here and there, showed to Arjun that he was qualified to fight, even according to that standard. If householders were ever disqualified for Sankhya-yoga, how could these statements of the Lord be reconciled? True, there is this special saving clause that the Sadhak qualified for the path of Sankhya should be devoid of identification with the body; for so long as there is identification of the ego with the body, the practice of Sankhya-yoga cannot be properly under stood. That is why the Lord described the practice of Sankhya-yoga as difficult and disinterested Karma-yoga, being easier of practice, the Lord exhorted Arjun, every now and then, to practice it, together with ant meditation on him.
"W e bow to that Supreme Purusa, Narayana, who is extolled even by great gods like Brahma, Varun (The God of Water) , Indra (The God of Rain), Rudra (The God of Destruction), and the Maruts (The Wind Gods) through celestial hymns: whose glories are sung by those proficient in chanting the Samaveda through the Vedas along with the six Angas (branches of knowledge auxiliary to the Vedas), Pada (division of the Vedic text into separate words), Karma and Jata (particular forms of reciting the Vedas) and the Upanishads; who is perceived by the Yogis by means of their mind made steady through meditation and fixed on the Lord; and whose reality is not known even to gods and Asuras".
"Obeisance to Vishnu the dispeller of the fear of rebirths, the one Lord of all the regions, possessed of a tranquil form, lying on a bed of snake, from whose navel has sprung the lotus, the Lord of all celestials, the support of the universe, similar to the sky, possessed of the color of a cloud and possessed of handsome limbs, the Lord of Laksmi (the Goddess of Wealth), having louts-like eyes, and realized by Yogis in meditation.
The mind's energy is used up in a limited, balanced and organized manner during the process of normal thinking and normal working. During mental excitement, the loss of mind's energy increases very muck. During such mental states as suffering from fear, worry sadness, dejection etc man feels lost whereas during anger, impulse, sexual urge and eagemess, man feels excited. In either case, mental stability is disturbed. Whether ebb or tide, the proportion of upheaval in the sea is the same. The emotion produced in the mind due to an overdose of dejection or happiness makes it impossible to think rationally or come to proper conclusion because a tired man thinks despairing thoughts of loss and an intoxicated or overconfident man tends to make tall claims.
Body and mind are inter-related. When the mind is happy, the body is active and if gries or sorrow fills the mind, the body not only becomes lethargic but the work is spoiled because of half-hearted effort and result will be more expensive than loss. Mood is another name to describe the mind's condition. If the mood is favorable, the man will be immersed in activity and when the mood is unfavorable, then man will feel that work has become a burden.
The mind carries out some activities on its own whereas it has to take the help of other organs for some other activities. Thinking, cogitation, meditation, imagination, planning, mental conclusion, decision etc are carried on independently by the mind whereas activities such as moving around, eating, drinking, seeing, hearing and speaking have to be carried out by the mind with the help of organs.
Mental slavery is a very bad type of dependence. Slaves at least get the time for eating and sleeping, but the slave of mind is never at the rest. Leave alone doing anything independently, they are not able even to think. The basic reason for progress is the mind. Usually circumstances are given the credit or blame, but it is only a shameful excuse. If circumstances are the reason, then most - if not all people in the same circumstances would have adopted the same, favorable means or path, but it does not really happen. What we really find is that people living in the best of circumstances, with all the facilities at their command, carry out the worst types of deeds. As against that, many people living in extreme adversities and living in a state of scarcity are able to maintain their morality and goodness.
Only man is born crying and goes on complaining throughout the life till death. All the other animals do not have any problems or complaints, but man possesses the abilities of thinking and feeling and therefore gets influenced by the smallest matter or event and expresses his reaction. Most or the reactions are expressed as unfavorable rather than favorable.
Some people are unhappy because of the scarcity of materials facilities whereas some are unhappy because of lack mental peace. These problems have been more complicated in the present times. Development or progresses have brought many problems created by today's mechanical civilization, the fore most mental tension.
Our aim should be to lead a life free from worry, but for this we should neither be impatient nor be perturbed. One should try to reach one's target by climbing one step at a time. To observe oneself from the bodily discomforts due to tension, everyone must have faith. Some people may find it difficult to believe in God's existence, but one can at least have faith in one's own self, if not anything else.
People without mental strength appear to have a suppressed nature. They are not able to tell an ordinary and true tale to anyone. They are always afraid to open their mouth with the fear that the person listening to them will misunderstand or will not be pleased or will snub him. In reality, nothing much is lost if this happens, but a person without mental strength is so much afraid and suppressed that he does not pick up the courage to tell his story to anyone properly even though he may communicate such a person feels shy to talk, so there exists the possibility of misunderstanding. There is also the possibility that the listener may do something undesirable, unexpected and harmful because of such misunderstanding.
Why people suffer from lack of mental strength or shyness or inferiority is worth thinking about. Psychiatrists give many reasons for that. According to them, lack of love and attention from parents, neglect by parents and relatives and constantly being put in a ridiculous situation are some of the reasons which create such situations that the children become the victims of the severe handicap of inferiority. Ill, handicapped, retarded and frail children frequently receive scolding. As a result they develop the belief that their situation is pitiable compared to others - that they are just unlucky. Similarly people belonging to the backward classes mostly consider themselves inferior to other and tend to keep their thinking level also low and inferior.
Men devoid of self-confidence and suffering from inferiority compels do not have the strength to cultivate daring and patience. Therefore they adopt rude behavior for attracting people's attention and sometimes also adopt criminal ways. It takes courage to be rude and commit a crime and hence when they find quick achievement possible by this approach, people suffering from inferiority, search for the company of such criminals for friendship. After joining such vagabonds, they develop the courage for committing crimes and by indulging in intimidation, feel glorified.
A person with inferiority complex suffers from the illusion of neglect, contempt and inferiority. He pampers this illusion which impels him to attract others by dressing flashily. The attraction of other people's attention acts as a balm for his inferior feelings. Most persons who dress flashily consider themselves inferior and neglected or rejected by the society. Even though they make tall claims and indulge in false and self-satisfaction, concealed deep in their mind is the suppressed feeling of inferiority.
An important lesson in life is to value ourselves. If we do, we will walk with confidence and see ourselves and our experiences from the right perspective. We cannot avoid people holding us and our achievements in contempt. Once we learn to believe in ourselves, our innate goodness and our value as unique beings created in God’s image and likeness, we will start living from a different paradigm. We will start also begin looking at others s fellow human beings, all on the path to the divine and sharers in this journey of life.
All areas in life are important after ourselves and maintaining ourselves physically, keeping our spirits high and in tune with the divine, widening our horizons keeping ourselves centered and being conscious of the spiritual and divine.
Innate value is something that is independent of the circumstances of our birth, socio-economic status and the slot we occupy in life. We will find that all the joys of sharing a simple life and a humble position have led us to add value in life. While the most fundamental moral values are almost universal, life does not stop with morality. Life is also about giving and taking, about love and friendship, about generosity and vision.
We will find that even if unconsciously, we all have a mission statement in our lives. This mission statement will encompass all the good we do on life and all the potential we develop to do good to others. On the other hand, if we continue with narrow motives, what we would have really is a distorted view of the world. With narrow world views we will judge others by our own subjective standards that are colored often by prejudice and acrimony.
If, on the contrary we look at life as an open book on which we write messages of harmony, brotherhood and sisterhood, encourage others to brave living and see our actions as a furtherance of the divine purpose, our lives will be informed by the values that are close to true humanity.
True humanity is represented by true values. We will not look only for gains but for opportunities to serve others. Everything in nature has an intrinsic value – fields, flowers trees, sky, infinite space, stars and all living beings. As human beings we need to realize our true potential and value.
Once we realize our intrinsic value, we will stop playing to the gallery; we will not look for constant approval or appreciation. Whatever we do, we will rest in the assurance that we have contributed something worthwhile.
This means that we accept ourselves as we are and remain content with what we have so far achieved. We do not respond to put downs or rejection with despondency or a sense of failure. We don into miss the point even if others have about us. It is strange how we sometimes have to experience ‘failure’ many times before something ‘works out’
Trial and experimentation are part of the process. We become more giving in our relationships, and receive life with open hands. Yes, it is possible, in fact probable that people will devalue us. But once we know who we are –precious children of a common God who is Father to all – we will become worthy children of God. “Not a sparrow falls from the skies without His knowledge”.
I love the month of Rabi ul-Awwal, and look forward to hosting and attending Milad celebrations, marking the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad. Milads are effective in increasing one’s love for the Prophet whom the Quran exalts, calling him the exemplar for humanity and mercy for all the words.
The twelfth of Rabi ul-Awwal, the third month of the Hijrah, Islamic calerdar, is both the day Prophet Muhammad came into this world and left for the Hereafter. On the same date he arrives in Madina, the hijrah, migration happened from Mecca marking the beginning fo the Hijrah calendar. This month invites reflection on the prophetic personality.
Rabi-ul- Awwal, literally meaning ‘the first spring’ symbolizes birth and renewal. A time when the Lord splits open the earth to reveal His bounty within, without which His servants could not subsist. More importantly, it is the season of beautiful moderate weather, free of bitter cold or stifling heat. It reminds of the prophetic call to moderation and his repeated warnings of extremism, ‘Moderation. Moderation! For only with moderation will you succeed.’
Prophet Muhammad inspired with the words, ‘I have come to perfect noble character.’ Ayesha, his wife once commented, ‘His character was the Quran.’ Prophet Muhammad said the bankrupt ones are those who despite good deeds of prayer and worship, abuse one another treat neighbors badly and lack good character.
The prophet’s character was based on moderation in spirit, generosity, justice, dignity, moral excellence, humility, bravery and firmness in the face of death, good fellowship, sympathy for others detachment of the world and constant fear of the Lord. He chose poverty over wealth, sleeping on the floor with a bed made of stuffed palm fibres.
The most forgiving of people, the Prophet never sought revenge despite 13 assassination attempts on his life. He told his followers not to respond to persecution with aggression assuring that Allah rewards those who exercise patience. He remained sympathetic to those who had left Islam due to persecution from their families and no sanctions were issued against them. Ubaydullah Ibn Jehsh, who migrated to Abyssinia with the first batch of Muslim immigrants, converted to Christianity. He abandoned his wife Um Habiba, the daughter of Abu Sufiyan whom the Prophet later married. None of the Muslims took any action against him and he died upholding the Christian faith. When the prophet settled in Madina, he made it clear that he wanted relations with the new society to be egalitarian.
When the Prophet entered Mecca, he encountered his staunchest enemies. These people who had inflicted so much suffering on him and his followers expressed their desire to be treated nobly. The Muslim army readied for revenge, but the prophet did not allow it saying, “Today I shall say to you what prophet Joseph said to his brother, ‘You may leave. No reproach this day shall be on you. May God forgive you, He is the Most Compassionate’. Laying great emphasis on the heart Muhammad spoke of it as a repository of knowledge, sensitive to the needs of the body. He said that wrongdoing irritates the heart for it perceives wrong action and is designed to be in a state of calm.
