CHANGE YOUR HABITS
SWAMI SIVANANDA SARASWATI
Mind is a bundle of habits. Bad habits and prejudices, hidden in one's nature, will be brought to the surface of the mind when the opportunity comes. If you change the habits you can also change your character. You sow a habit and reap a character. You sow a character and reap a destiny.
Habits originate in the conscious mind but when they become established, by constant repetition, they sink into the unconscious mind and become our `second nature'. Habit can however be changed by a new, healthy, agreeable habit, of a stronger nature. At present you are thinking, "I am the body". Think, "I am Brahman". In the course of time you will be established in Brahmic consciousness.
Do not be a slave to one idea. Whenever you get new, healthy ideas, the old ones must be given up. In the mind there is an internal fight ever going on between `nature' and `will', between the old, worldly habits and the new, spiritual habits.
In the case of aspirants, the fight is between the old samskaras of the sensual world and new, spiritual samskaras. It is a fight between the good impressions of the past and bad impressions of the past. It is a fight between viveka (wisdom) and instinctive mind and indriyas (senses).
Eventually - will, which is pure, strong and irresistible, is bound to succeed. There is no doubt about this. As your reason grows and you become wiser and wiser - by study, by contact with the wise and by meditation - your mind must be well prepared to take up new, healthy, rational ideas and eschew the old, morbid ones.
Mind is your tool. When emotions arise, separate them, study them, analyse them - but do not identify yourself with them. Master your impulses, emotions and moods. Rise from the position of slave to that of a spiritual king.
Just as the repetition of a thought or action leads to perfection, so also does the recurrence of the same process, or the same idea, lead to the perfection of abstraction, concentration and meditation.
Give your full mind to God. Only then will you have realisation. Even if one ray of the mind runs outside, it is impossible to attain God-consciousness. You cannot enjoy peace of mind, you cannot practise meditation, if there is tossing of the mind. Destroy mundane desires through dispassion and surrender to the Lord.
*************************************
Thursday, August 21, 2008
MENTAL FACTORY
SWAMI SIVANANDA SARASWATI
Now I will take you to the most wonderful mental factory. It is very close to you; it is a wonder of wonders. Even a rank materialist, if he is very sincere, will be turned into a perfect theist, instantly, if he closes his eyes for a moment and seriously reflects on the working of this marvellous factory. The Kena Upanishad opens with the following lines: "Who is the director of this mind? Who gives light and power to this mind?" It goes on "Brahman is the mind of minds, the prana (life) of pranas, the eye of eyes, the ear of ears."
What a bold philosophy. At once it raises man to an unerring solution for all the different problems of life. The four mahavakyas (great utterances): "Prajnanam brahma" (consciousness is the absolute); "aham brahma asmi" (I am the absolute); "tat twam asi" (that thou art); "ayam atma brahma" (the self is the absolute), infuse power and joy into the hearts of all hearers. They produce drastic changes in your life. Then you will laugh at the vain pomp, the empty glory and the artificial and miserable life of a rich man.
The eyes and the ears are the gatekeepers of this mental factory they are the `way in' and mouth is the `way out'. Eyes and ears bring inside the mental factory matters for manufacture. Light and sound vibrations are brought inside through these two avenues.
First of all they are made into `percepts' by the mind. They are then presented to the intellect. The intellect converts these `percepts' into `concepts' or ideas. These ideas are expressed by the outside gatekeeper, the organ of speech.
The external physical eyes and ears are mere instruments. But the real visual and auditory centres are in the brain and in the astral body - these are the real senses. Understand this point well. The intellect receives these materials from the mind and presents them to the purusa or atman (the self), who is behind the screen.
The mind is the head clerk of this mental factory. He has ten clerks, the five jnana indriyas (senses) to bring news from the facts outside. The facts are placed by the mind before the intellect, who places them before the purusa (inner self). A message comes back from the purusa to the buddhi (intellect). Buddhi decides and determines, and then gives the answer back to the mind, for execution. The five karma indriyas (organs of speech, hands, feet, genitals and anus) execute the order of the mind who is their master.
******************************************
SWAMI SIVANANDA SARASWATI
Now I will take you to the most wonderful mental factory. It is very close to you; it is a wonder of wonders. Even a rank materialist, if he is very sincere, will be turned into a perfect theist, instantly, if he closes his eyes for a moment and seriously reflects on the working of this marvellous factory. The Kena Upanishad opens with the following lines: "Who is the director of this mind? Who gives light and power to this mind?" It goes on "Brahman is the mind of minds, the prana (life) of pranas, the eye of eyes, the ear of ears."
What a bold philosophy. At once it raises man to an unerring solution for all the different problems of life. The four mahavakyas (great utterances): "Prajnanam brahma" (consciousness is the absolute); "aham brahma asmi" (I am the absolute); "tat twam asi" (that thou art); "ayam atma brahma" (the self is the absolute), infuse power and joy into the hearts of all hearers. They produce drastic changes in your life. Then you will laugh at the vain pomp, the empty glory and the artificial and miserable life of a rich man.
The eyes and the ears are the gatekeepers of this mental factory they are the `way in' and mouth is the `way out'. Eyes and ears bring inside the mental factory matters for manufacture. Light and sound vibrations are brought inside through these two avenues.
First of all they are made into `percepts' by the mind. They are then presented to the intellect. The intellect converts these `percepts' into `concepts' or ideas. These ideas are expressed by the outside gatekeeper, the organ of speech.
The external physical eyes and ears are mere instruments. But the real visual and auditory centres are in the brain and in the astral body - these are the real senses. Understand this point well. The intellect receives these materials from the mind and presents them to the purusa or atman (the self), who is behind the screen.
The mind is the head clerk of this mental factory. He has ten clerks, the five jnana indriyas (senses) to bring news from the facts outside. The facts are placed by the mind before the intellect, who places them before the purusa (inner self). A message comes back from the purusa to the buddhi (intellect). Buddhi decides and determines, and then gives the answer back to the mind, for execution. The five karma indriyas (organs of speech, hands, feet, genitals and anus) execute the order of the mind who is their master.
******************************************
THE SECRET OF YOGA SADHANA
SWAMI SIVANANDA SARASWATI
I solemnly affirm that the disease of birth and death can be removed only through the divine panacea of mind mastery; not through any other means. The path of annihilation of the mind will be most beneficial to you and will never generate the least of pains. If the mind is destroyed by dint of discrimination, then maya (illusion) will not afflict you. There is no other vessel on this earth to sail the ocean of rebirth, than mastery of this turbulent mind.
Tame the mind. Collect your thoughts. Keep the mind serene. Think not of evil. You will enter the realm of deathlessness, dominion of eternal bliss. Withdraw the senses from their objects. Collect the rays of the mind. Direct the mind towards the ajna cakra (or the space between the eyebrows) and fix it there steadily.
Understand the mind; know how to manage it. Mind abhors a vacuum. Aversion and desire, both are binding - two monkeys sitting on the tree of the heart. While they continue to shake and agitate it there can be no peace.
Man falls into the cycle of births and deaths through his own thoughts, his own ignorance. Liberation means nothing but the destruction of the impurities of the mind. If your mind is free and pure, you will not again enter into birth.
Control of the mind is not done in a day but by constant practice and sustained dispassion. Victory will be yours. Become a true hero. Have mastery over the mind. Enter the illimitable realms of bliss. Blessed is he who has controlled his mind and achieved self conquest.
Dispassion, discrimination, renunciation and meditation are enemies of the mind. You can destroy the mind easily, if you possess these virtues. The mind manifests itself as the external world in the shape of pain and pleasure. The mind subjectively is consciousness, while objectively it is this universe. The mind has the potency of creating or undoing the world in the twinkling of an eye.
*********************************
SWAMI SIVANANDA SARASWATI
I solemnly affirm that the disease of birth and death can be removed only through the divine panacea of mind mastery; not through any other means. The path of annihilation of the mind will be most beneficial to you and will never generate the least of pains. If the mind is destroyed by dint of discrimination, then maya (illusion) will not afflict you. There is no other vessel on this earth to sail the ocean of rebirth, than mastery of this turbulent mind.
Tame the mind. Collect your thoughts. Keep the mind serene. Think not of evil. You will enter the realm of deathlessness, dominion of eternal bliss. Withdraw the senses from their objects. Collect the rays of the mind. Direct the mind towards the ajna cakra (or the space between the eyebrows) and fix it there steadily.
Understand the mind; know how to manage it. Mind abhors a vacuum. Aversion and desire, both are binding - two monkeys sitting on the tree of the heart. While they continue to shake and agitate it there can be no peace.
Man falls into the cycle of births and deaths through his own thoughts, his own ignorance. Liberation means nothing but the destruction of the impurities of the mind. If your mind is free and pure, you will not again enter into birth.
Control of the mind is not done in a day but by constant practice and sustained dispassion. Victory will be yours. Become a true hero. Have mastery over the mind. Enter the illimitable realms of bliss. Blessed is he who has controlled his mind and achieved self conquest.
Dispassion, discrimination, renunciation and meditation are enemies of the mind. You can destroy the mind easily, if you possess these virtues. The mind manifests itself as the external world in the shape of pain and pleasure. The mind subjectively is consciousness, while objectively it is this universe. The mind has the potency of creating or undoing the world in the twinkling of an eye.
*********************************
EASY PATH TO GOD-REALISATION
BY SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA SARASWATI
CHAPTER I
TO THE WORLDLY MINDED
Nature of the World
This world is a play of colours and sounds. This sense-universe is a play of nerves. It is a false show kept up by the jugglery of Maya, mind and senses. You enjoy the sensual pleasures for a period of twenty years when the senses are strong. What is this short evanescent period of twenty years in eternity? What is this despicable, jarring, monotonous sensual life when compared with the eternal and peaceful life in the immortal Self within?
Worldly life is chaotic and fragmentary. It is full of noise, troubles, unrest, agitation and tribulations. A worldly man is a spiritual bankrupt, though he may be a very wealthy and extremely intelligent man, though he may hold a very high position, rank or status in society. Spiritual wealth is the real inexhaustible wealth. Spiritual knowledge is the real knowledge. Spiritual life is the real life. A full blown Yogi is the real Emperor of the whole world.
An ordinary worldly man is sunk deep in the terrible abyss of ignorance. He does not know what he is exactly doing. He is under intoxication of lust and gold. But he thinks, "I am a very wise man. I know much better than anybody else." This is delusion due to the influence of Avidya or Maya. He who knows his own Self is really a wise man.
You are helpless when you are a baby. You are also helpless when you are seriously ailing. You are helpless when you become old also. Why then do you boast of your ability, capacity, independence and freedom? Why are you proud and egoistic? Transcend the body and mind and realise the immortal Self. Then only you can be really strong, independent and free. Rise above delusion and illusion through discrimination, self analysis and enquiry of "Who am I"?
Man is pleased with the past. He is always discontented with the present. He hopes for the future. This is human nature. This is life on the earth plane. A sage who has gone beyond time is ever happy and rests in his own All blissful eternal Self wherein there is neither past nor present nor future.
A "True" Story
One moonlit night after supper, young Soni pressed his mother Kamalaji to tell him a very interesting story. Kamala caressed young Soni with motherly affection and began to narrate the following story:Once upon a time in the city of Kalinga there was a famous and renowned printing press called Noman's Press. Mr. Noman was its sole proprietor. The capital invested for the starting of the Press was zero crores of rupees.
The press was equipped with types of different fonts and had very beautiful faces which were all made of superior molten clay. Thus the type foundry section of the press stood unrivalled for its production. The ink used for printing was pure aqua mixed with lime.There were a number of machines well fitted with up to date mechanism. They were all manufactured out of strong cast bamboo sticks well burnt to ashes. The compositors, proof readers and other staff of the Press were, without exception, all blind.
Equipped with such up to date and well organised machinery and staff, the press earned a good will and fame which reached the three worlds, earth, heaven and the nether world. The proprietor Mr. Noman became even wealthier than Kubera, the Lord of wealth. Even the gods envied his wealth and prosperity. Lacs and crores of books with 000,000,000 pages were printed in this press daily. Every sheet of paper of the book had only one side. The press flourished for crores of centuries of a moment's duration of Noman's mental world, serving the humanity with its valuable publications. Young Soni was very much pleased to hear the captivating story and believed every word of his mother.Such is the reality of the world of sensual happiness, and the fate of Mr. Noman will be shared by those who expect happiness from sensual objects of the world.
Is There Pleasure or Pain in the World?
In this scientific era or age of the so called modern civilisation greed, passion, selfishness are increasing day by day, nay, hour by hour. One nation wants to devour another nation. Man has lost his manliness. On account of passion he is under the firm grip of lust—the soft government. The son drags his father to the courts for the division of property. The wife divorces her present husband and marries another, if he happens to be more rich, more beautiful and more young. Chastity or Pativrata Dharma has almost ceased to exist.
The younger brother poisons his elder brother to take possession of his estate. You see cruelty, dishonesty, injustice, atrocity everywhere. No one keeps up his promises. The father has no faith in his son. The wife has no faith in her husband and vice versa.
Young graduates and young doctors come to Rishikesh with earthen pots and orange robes to search caves in Uttarakasi and Gangotri for deep meditation and practice of Pranayama. Some young research students in Science (D.Sc.) and Rajkumars go to the Punjab in silken suits with collars and ties in search of girls for marriage. Is there pain or pleasure in this world? If there is pleasure, why do young graduates retire into forests? If there is pain, why do young men run after wealth, position and women? Mysterious is Maya! Try to understand the riddle of life and the riddle of the Universe. Acquire Viveka. Do Satsanga. Enquire into the nature of the Atman. Study Yogavasishta and the Upanishads. Then you will have a comprehensive understanding of the problems of life.
This is a world of three Gunas. There are three types of men viz., Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic. This world contains people of Tamo Guna in abundance. It is these Tamasic people who are creating mischief always. This is their nature. Let us be silent witness and enjoy the Lila of the Lord. Tamasic people will bark, but they cannot do any real harm to the Sattvic people.
Ponder These Facts
In the whirlpool of fleeting sensual pleasures you have forgotten the purpose of life and the goal. You live more for the body than for the soul. In your pursuit after the phantom shows of worldly vanities, you have annihilated the spiritual instincts and longings of the soul. What a sad state! Mysterious is Maya! Mysterious is Moha! Open your eyes now! Wake up from the long slumber of ignorance. Realise the ultimate Reality and enjoy eternal bliss.
In Kali Yuga people sell boiled rice and trade in the name of religion. Ladies lead an unchaste life. There is dispute between father and son and the son sues his father in the court. Son ill treats his mother. Wife is worshipped by the husband. One thing more, pseudo Sannyasins also do all sorts of mischief.
Ponder over the sufferings of human life. Take a little food. Withdraw the senses from their attracting objects of enjoyment. Sit quietly in your room. Look within. Meditate. You will soon attain the supreme peace of the Eternal.
Wake up from the slumber of ignorance from profound inertia. Cultivate all embracing love. Do selfless service. Be patient. Practise introspection. Develop intense Vairagya. Meditate regularly. You will attain immortality. Regain your lost divinity.
You are not the slave of the senses and desires. You are the mighty Emperor of emperors. Pain is a passing cloud. Sorrow is a fleeting shadow. Sorrow is false. It cannot live. Bliss is true. It cannot die. Rise above desires. Renounce selfishness and egoism. Awake.Arise. Become a dynamic Yogi. Enjoy the Eternal bliss of the soul. Thou art immortal, all blissful Atman. Thou art beyond the reach of pain, grief, sorrow, decay and death.
Think carefully. Decide correctly. Act faithfully. Speak truthfully. Live honestly. Work diligently. Talk gently. Behave properly. You are bound to succeed in any walk of life. You will have peace of mind. You will have a pure conscience. You will get spiritual wealth of an inexhaustible nature.
Maya
In this world some dance in joy, some others weep; some sing, some yell out in agony. Some deliver lectures; some run out to forests clad in rags, with cocoanut bowls in their hands; some go to Paris hotels clad in silken, scented robes; some shut their mouths and take a vow of silence. Oh Lord! I do not know what is there in this world, whether there is Amrita (nectar) or poison. World is a mystery. World is an Ascharya (wonder). World is Anirvachaniya (indescribable). It is neither Sat nor Asat; neither Jada (insentient, inanimate) nor Chaitanya (pure consciousness); neither Bhinna (separate) nor Abhinna (non separate). It is the product of Chit Sakti of Brahman. It is the Karya (effect) of Maya.
When a man is in a dying condition, Ayurvedic doctors give Siddha Makaradhvaja to produce heat in the body and make him talk for a short time. If you take hold of the key of his money box, which he has tied to his holy thread and try to remove it before his eyes he will at once begin to talk to you. He will be irritated and will prevent you from removing the key. Man has got a great attachment to money.
Just as a landlord has two dogs at the door of his house to prevent people from entering his house, so also the Lord has placed two Mayaic dogs, viz., money and lust at His door which prevent you from approaching Him. If you are devoted to the Lord, He removes the Mayaic illusion. The dogs will not bark. You can freely enter His chambers. Money and lust cannot deceive you now.
What is called Maya is only money and lust. Money and lust are two crocodiles in the river which prevent you from reaching the Lord who is on the other side of the river.
Maya havocs through imagination of the mind. Woman is not beautiful but the imagination is beautiful. Sugar is not sweet but the imagination is sweet. Food is not palatable, but the imagination is palatable. Man is not weak but the imagination is weak. Understand the nature of Maya and mind and become wise. Curb this imagination of the mind by Vichara or right thinking and rest in Brahman wherein there is neither imagination nor Sankalpa nor thought.
There is no end for craving (Trishna) in the life of a worldly man. That is the reason why a worldly man is ever restless despite his wealth and comforts. There is always dissatisfaction with his lot. He is ever discontented. Before one craving is satisfied another craving is ready to occupy his mind and this craving agitates the mind and makes a constant demand for gratification. He exerts along with the mind and the Karma Indriyas to possess the objects and enjoy them. He forgets his real divine nature and plunges himself in the ocean of Samsara (worldliness).
Give a good scrubbing to a pig with Pears' soap and a nice bath. Place it on a soft mattress and give it nice dishes to eat. It will not eat. It will immediately run away to eat filth. Even so, if you place the worldly minded man in the company of saints, Yogins and Sannyasins in solitary places with charming scenery, they can never live in peace. They will feel like fish out of water. They will feel like the pig that is put on the mattress.
**********************************
BY SRI SWAMI SIVANANDA SARASWATI
CHAPTER I
TO THE WORLDLY MINDED
Nature of the World
This world is a play of colours and sounds. This sense-universe is a play of nerves. It is a false show kept up by the jugglery of Maya, mind and senses. You enjoy the sensual pleasures for a period of twenty years when the senses are strong. What is this short evanescent period of twenty years in eternity? What is this despicable, jarring, monotonous sensual life when compared with the eternal and peaceful life in the immortal Self within?
Worldly life is chaotic and fragmentary. It is full of noise, troubles, unrest, agitation and tribulations. A worldly man is a spiritual bankrupt, though he may be a very wealthy and extremely intelligent man, though he may hold a very high position, rank or status in society. Spiritual wealth is the real inexhaustible wealth. Spiritual knowledge is the real knowledge. Spiritual life is the real life. A full blown Yogi is the real Emperor of the whole world.
An ordinary worldly man is sunk deep in the terrible abyss of ignorance. He does not know what he is exactly doing. He is under intoxication of lust and gold. But he thinks, "I am a very wise man. I know much better than anybody else." This is delusion due to the influence of Avidya or Maya. He who knows his own Self is really a wise man.
You are helpless when you are a baby. You are also helpless when you are seriously ailing. You are helpless when you become old also. Why then do you boast of your ability, capacity, independence and freedom? Why are you proud and egoistic? Transcend the body and mind and realise the immortal Self. Then only you can be really strong, independent and free. Rise above delusion and illusion through discrimination, self analysis and enquiry of "Who am I"?
Man is pleased with the past. He is always discontented with the present. He hopes for the future. This is human nature. This is life on the earth plane. A sage who has gone beyond time is ever happy and rests in his own All blissful eternal Self wherein there is neither past nor present nor future.
A "True" Story
One moonlit night after supper, young Soni pressed his mother Kamalaji to tell him a very interesting story. Kamala caressed young Soni with motherly affection and began to narrate the following story:Once upon a time in the city of Kalinga there was a famous and renowned printing press called Noman's Press. Mr. Noman was its sole proprietor. The capital invested for the starting of the Press was zero crores of rupees.
The press was equipped with types of different fonts and had very beautiful faces which were all made of superior molten clay. Thus the type foundry section of the press stood unrivalled for its production. The ink used for printing was pure aqua mixed with lime.There were a number of machines well fitted with up to date mechanism. They were all manufactured out of strong cast bamboo sticks well burnt to ashes. The compositors, proof readers and other staff of the Press were, without exception, all blind.
Equipped with such up to date and well organised machinery and staff, the press earned a good will and fame which reached the three worlds, earth, heaven and the nether world. The proprietor Mr. Noman became even wealthier than Kubera, the Lord of wealth. Even the gods envied his wealth and prosperity. Lacs and crores of books with 000,000,000 pages were printed in this press daily. Every sheet of paper of the book had only one side. The press flourished for crores of centuries of a moment's duration of Noman's mental world, serving the humanity with its valuable publications. Young Soni was very much pleased to hear the captivating story and believed every word of his mother.Such is the reality of the world of sensual happiness, and the fate of Mr. Noman will be shared by those who expect happiness from sensual objects of the world.
Is There Pleasure or Pain in the World?
In this scientific era or age of the so called modern civilisation greed, passion, selfishness are increasing day by day, nay, hour by hour. One nation wants to devour another nation. Man has lost his manliness. On account of passion he is under the firm grip of lust—the soft government. The son drags his father to the courts for the division of property. The wife divorces her present husband and marries another, if he happens to be more rich, more beautiful and more young. Chastity or Pativrata Dharma has almost ceased to exist.
The younger brother poisons his elder brother to take possession of his estate. You see cruelty, dishonesty, injustice, atrocity everywhere. No one keeps up his promises. The father has no faith in his son. The wife has no faith in her husband and vice versa.
Young graduates and young doctors come to Rishikesh with earthen pots and orange robes to search caves in Uttarakasi and Gangotri for deep meditation and practice of Pranayama. Some young research students in Science (D.Sc.) and Rajkumars go to the Punjab in silken suits with collars and ties in search of girls for marriage. Is there pain or pleasure in this world? If there is pleasure, why do young graduates retire into forests? If there is pain, why do young men run after wealth, position and women? Mysterious is Maya! Try to understand the riddle of life and the riddle of the Universe. Acquire Viveka. Do Satsanga. Enquire into the nature of the Atman. Study Yogavasishta and the Upanishads. Then you will have a comprehensive understanding of the problems of life.
This is a world of three Gunas. There are three types of men viz., Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic. This world contains people of Tamo Guna in abundance. It is these Tamasic people who are creating mischief always. This is their nature. Let us be silent witness and enjoy the Lila of the Lord. Tamasic people will bark, but they cannot do any real harm to the Sattvic people.
Ponder These Facts
In the whirlpool of fleeting sensual pleasures you have forgotten the purpose of life and the goal. You live more for the body than for the soul. In your pursuit after the phantom shows of worldly vanities, you have annihilated the spiritual instincts and longings of the soul. What a sad state! Mysterious is Maya! Mysterious is Moha! Open your eyes now! Wake up from the long slumber of ignorance. Realise the ultimate Reality and enjoy eternal bliss.
In Kali Yuga people sell boiled rice and trade in the name of religion. Ladies lead an unchaste life. There is dispute between father and son and the son sues his father in the court. Son ill treats his mother. Wife is worshipped by the husband. One thing more, pseudo Sannyasins also do all sorts of mischief.
Ponder over the sufferings of human life. Take a little food. Withdraw the senses from their attracting objects of enjoyment. Sit quietly in your room. Look within. Meditate. You will soon attain the supreme peace of the Eternal.
Wake up from the slumber of ignorance from profound inertia. Cultivate all embracing love. Do selfless service. Be patient. Practise introspection. Develop intense Vairagya. Meditate regularly. You will attain immortality. Regain your lost divinity.
You are not the slave of the senses and desires. You are the mighty Emperor of emperors. Pain is a passing cloud. Sorrow is a fleeting shadow. Sorrow is false. It cannot live. Bliss is true. It cannot die. Rise above desires. Renounce selfishness and egoism. Awake.Arise. Become a dynamic Yogi. Enjoy the Eternal bliss of the soul. Thou art immortal, all blissful Atman. Thou art beyond the reach of pain, grief, sorrow, decay and death.
Think carefully. Decide correctly. Act faithfully. Speak truthfully. Live honestly. Work diligently. Talk gently. Behave properly. You are bound to succeed in any walk of life. You will have peace of mind. You will have a pure conscience. You will get spiritual wealth of an inexhaustible nature.
Maya
In this world some dance in joy, some others weep; some sing, some yell out in agony. Some deliver lectures; some run out to forests clad in rags, with cocoanut bowls in their hands; some go to Paris hotels clad in silken, scented robes; some shut their mouths and take a vow of silence. Oh Lord! I do not know what is there in this world, whether there is Amrita (nectar) or poison. World is a mystery. World is an Ascharya (wonder). World is Anirvachaniya (indescribable). It is neither Sat nor Asat; neither Jada (insentient, inanimate) nor Chaitanya (pure consciousness); neither Bhinna (separate) nor Abhinna (non separate). It is the product of Chit Sakti of Brahman. It is the Karya (effect) of Maya.
When a man is in a dying condition, Ayurvedic doctors give Siddha Makaradhvaja to produce heat in the body and make him talk for a short time. If you take hold of the key of his money box, which he has tied to his holy thread and try to remove it before his eyes he will at once begin to talk to you. He will be irritated and will prevent you from removing the key. Man has got a great attachment to money.
Just as a landlord has two dogs at the door of his house to prevent people from entering his house, so also the Lord has placed two Mayaic dogs, viz., money and lust at His door which prevent you from approaching Him. If you are devoted to the Lord, He removes the Mayaic illusion. The dogs will not bark. You can freely enter His chambers. Money and lust cannot deceive you now.
What is called Maya is only money and lust. Money and lust are two crocodiles in the river which prevent you from reaching the Lord who is on the other side of the river.
Maya havocs through imagination of the mind. Woman is not beautiful but the imagination is beautiful. Sugar is not sweet but the imagination is sweet. Food is not palatable, but the imagination is palatable. Man is not weak but the imagination is weak. Understand the nature of Maya and mind and become wise. Curb this imagination of the mind by Vichara or right thinking and rest in Brahman wherein there is neither imagination nor Sankalpa nor thought.
There is no end for craving (Trishna) in the life of a worldly man. That is the reason why a worldly man is ever restless despite his wealth and comforts. There is always dissatisfaction with his lot. He is ever discontented. Before one craving is satisfied another craving is ready to occupy his mind and this craving agitates the mind and makes a constant demand for gratification. He exerts along with the mind and the Karma Indriyas to possess the objects and enjoy them. He forgets his real divine nature and plunges himself in the ocean of Samsara (worldliness).
Give a good scrubbing to a pig with Pears' soap and a nice bath. Place it on a soft mattress and give it nice dishes to eat. It will not eat. It will immediately run away to eat filth. Even so, if you place the worldly minded man in the company of saints, Yogins and Sannyasins in solitary places with charming scenery, they can never live in peace. They will feel like fish out of water. They will feel like the pig that is put on the mattress.
**********************************
Sivaratri Message
by Swami Krishnananda Saraswati
The Divine Life Society - Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India
[Swamiji Maharaj leads the audience in kirtan for the first three minutes.]
This is the eve of the holy celebration called Sivaratri, which is observed everywhere as a specially sanctified occasion for concentration and for japa sadhana, together with worship. The trinity of the Supreme Being is described as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. The great facet which is Lord Siva in this trinity has a special function to perform. The creative Brahma is assigned the work of producing newer and newer species of entities in the various categories of life that one can conceive of - 84 lakhs [8,400,000] of specialisations known as yonis are supposed to be the mould into which living beings are cast during this continuous process of what is known as creation.
There is also a necessity to see that what is created endures. Otherwise, it will be a lopsided manufacture of entities with no purpose whatsoever behind their coming into being. Birth is coming into being. The word 'being' implies endurance, but this endurance is of a very strange character. It is not a stable or a solid fixity of existence, as we may imagine in our minds what stability is, because this character of endurance of created beings should cope with the simultaneous creation of beings going on at the same time; and, more than that, there is a necessity to see that nothing really endures in a permanent manner.
Brahma's function is to create, to produce newer and newer types of living beings; and a peculiar unintelligible character of endurance that is granted to these created beings is associated with Vishnu - the stabilising force, the sattvika element among the trinity, which balances the two other sides of existence - creativity and transformation. Rudra, or Siva, is the transforming power in this created world.
The simultaneity that is involved in creativity, endurance and transformation gives the entire picture a strange tinge of endurance in the form of a continuity of process. There is no true endurance of anything in this world. The fixity of a moving body is perhaps a good example of the way in which anything and everything in the world survives. The survival is only in terms of a particular pattern introduced into a limited area of the process of transformation. It is not that this process of endurance, which is at the same time a movement, can be made an object of one's consciousness right from the beginning till the end. Just as we can see the Ganga flowing here in front of the ashram - somewhere it appears to be starting near Lakshman Jhula or so and ending somewhere further near Purana Jhari, and we cannot see the prior or the posterior side of this movement of the river on account of the limitation of the faculty of perception - our life in this world is a long, long movement like the movement of a long river, the Ganga or any other river, but as we can have a consciousness or a perception of a limited length only of the flowing process, we can have consciousness of only a few years of our life, which we call life in this world.Life in this world is a little bit of the longer process of life in the universe, which is endless and beginningless, as it were. The endlessness and beginninglessness of the three processes of creation, preservation and destruction suggest the cyclic character of all things in space and in time. Only a cycle can be without a beginning and an end. It is not a linear movement like a beaten track on a paved road leading to some particular destination.
The three divinities - Brahma, Vishnu and Siva - are actually not three different divinities. A single intention of the Universal Being is made to manifest in a threefold manner. As we see in our own bodily individuality, for instance, the three processes are seen to be going on every day. The constituents of our body are not eternally alive. They get destroyed in the process of the growth of the body. They are also renewed, and this renewal of a new life in this organism of the body calls for a transformation of the conditions preceding, which is practically the death of the preceding condition. But the connection of an element which is Vishnu, between the creative and the transforming forces, prevents our consciousness from being aware that there are three such activities going on in the body. We do not know what is happening at all. As if nothing is happening in the body, we feel very secure. There is a continuous upsurge of the movement of the cells of the body – in all the organic parts inside - for the purpose of creating and recreating themselves, in which process they destroy themselves also. There is therefore, a transcendent element present in this transforming process, or what we call the dying process, of one condition for the sake of giving birth to another condition.
Religions, when they become too much socially bound, ritual bound, tradition bound, begin to focus on the supreme object of religion. The basic features of human thinking makes us perceive our gods mostly as a cosmically picturised counterpart of the inner psychological processes. We are unable to imagine that one single entity can behave as a threefold performer of action as creator, as redeemer or as transformer.
"Namo visvarije purvam visvam tadanubibhrate
atha vishvasya samhartre tubhyam tredhasthitatmane"
(Raghuvamsa X.16)
This is the prayer which the gods offered to the Supreme Being in the Kshira-sagara, as recorded in the Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa.
"Prostrations to the Creator, and prostration to Him who sustains after having created beings; prostration to Him who withdraws everything into himself after having created and sustained them; prostration to That which appears in these three forms of creation, preservation and transformation" - is a famous prayer. But the mind of the human being is a composite structure. It is constituted of little-little ingredients of function and, therefore, it cannot easily visualise the indivisibility that is behind the threefold functions of creation, preservation and destruction. We see as many gods as there are inner constituents in the mind; and as many are our needs, so are also the number of the gods. The religions of the world are, therefore, a social and theological reaction set up in the outer world, or in the cosmos, in response to the needs felt by the mind in its inner constituents. Our mind is not an indivisible solidity. Therefore, an indivisibility cannot be thought by the mind.
Even if we stretch our imagination and begin to concentrate on indivisible total, we will find that we create a distinction of some sort or the other - a distinction between that which is thought and the thinking process on the one hand; and it being very, very necessary to picture the god, even the highest one, as being spatially and temporally located. From this point of view of the psychological background of the religious requirements of man, the concept of the trinity has been highlighted in our religion as an object of worship. But when we are able to visualise them as three phases of a single entity, the god of religion becomes one God. But if we are able to see that there is something taking place as birth and coming into existence, survival for a time and then dying some time afterwards - if these three are visualised by us as three different occurrences, and not actually three streams of a single undercurrent of performance - then we have three gods: Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. We attribute to these gods those characters which are associated with their functions.
Lord Siva is pictured in religion in manifold ways. On the one hand, Lord Siva is adored as a most easily accessible god - one who is immediately pleased - on account of which character of his, Lord Siva is called Ashutosh. The goodness of Lord Siva and the quickness of his benedictions many times make religious propounders to imagine that he grants things without thought. So he is also called Bhole Baba - one who is capable of being easily duped by the devotees. But, Lord Siva is not so easily capable of being duped. The Bhole Baba attribute should not be taken as a person who is childish in behavior or ignorant of the pros and cons of action; that is not the meaning of Bhole Baba. It means utter simplicity. Utter goodness goes with utter simplicity.
Stories in the Puranas which bring forward into highlight this particular character of Lord Siva as goodness, simplicity and being quickly pleased are abundant. In the Siva Purana, we have most of these stories. Some of the stories look very humorous, which make us laugh; but, at whom are we laughing? Are we laughing at Lord Siva himself? It looks like that.
When certain behaviors which are incongruous in the ordinary sense are attributed to Lord Siva, we laugh and smile in a gentlemanly manner, imagining thereby that we would not behave in that way. We attribute a sense of wisdom to our own selves which cannot be granted to Lord Siva.
These stories are analogies, and analogies and examples should not be stretched to the breaking point. Every example has a specific limitation, and within the limitation only that example should be taken as valid.
For instance, in Vedanta terminology there is the comparison of this world to a snake appearing in the rope which is Brahman. This is an analogy, and it has a limited scope, and it should not be stretched beyond that limited scope of meaning. The idea is that as an illusion of a snake-like feature can be seen in twilight when actually we see a rope, this world looks like a diversified multifarious reservoir of objects of sense, while actually it is eternal consciousness scintillating in the form of these so-called objects; but it does not mean that Brahman is long like a rope, or there is a tail as the snake has. That is not a permissible way of using an analogy.
Immensely good is God. Sometimes this immense goodness of God may look like breaking the law that He himself has created. Many times it is said that God made the law, and He cannot break the law which He Himself has made. Karma binds, and so on and so forth, are the things told to us. But there is some super-departmental executive power which God has which cannot be bound by departmental laws, which of course are created by His own sanction - under His signature, perhaps. He can suddenly set at naught everything, under special conditions. Normally, He will not interfere in things. Normally, the law of the universe will work. Karma also will operate as it ought to operate. But it does not operate in the case of certain specific aspirations emanating from exceptionally great devotees whose heart has been united to such intimacy with God's existence that the intimacy breaks the distinction between the devotee and the Supreme Being; and when this distinction is no more to be seen, all legal enactments also cease to operate. When intense love pours itself forth, legal mandates cease to operate. But, intense love is not seen in this world. Therefore, laws very strictly bind us.
Intense love is a love that seeks nothing in return for the expression of that love. A give-and-take policy in love – if you do this, I do this; if you do not do this, I do not do this - this kind of affection or love is Gauna Bhakti, as they call it, the secondary devotion that ritualistic devotees entertain in their hearts, and the long train of law will operate in their case; but unconditional affection, which is not seen in this world, which cannot be seen in this world because of the very nature of the world, which therefore transcends the world in many ways, makes God run to the devotee without sending any attendants, messengers, clerks, etc. to ask what the devotee wants.
Narayana Himself ran without even taking weapons in his hand when Gajendra cried, "Narayana, akhila guro bhagavan Namaste!" This story, it appears, was told by Birbal to Akbar. Akbar ridiculed this god who wants to run himself for the sake of saving a devotee while he has immense powers in the form of angels and lesser gods. He has an army of divine forces; one of them could have gone and taken care of this tragedy of Gajendra. Why should he himself run - that also, without weapon in hand? He forgot to take even the Sudarshan-chakra. It had to follow him because it knew that he had forgotten to take it. When Akbar made a sarcastic remark, Birbal said, "No! It is not like that. God himself will run. I shall show you how it is possible, and how it is not otherwise."
It appears the little child of Akbar was under the care and protection of Birbal. He used to take the little child along the lawns for walking, etc. Always the child was with him, the little child. One day Birbal had connived, with the assistance of some friends, to prepare an exact image of this little child, and had it placed just on the precipice of a deep well which was just near the lawn where they used to walk and where Akbar also used to recline sometimes in the evenings. It was twilight and one could not see things properly. That little image looked like the child itself.
"Oh, my child is there!"
"Yes, Your Highness. Your child is there."
He had also arranged, with the help of somebody, to suddenly push that image into the well; and it was done. It was pushed.
"Oh, the child is in the well!" cried Birbal, and he ran immediately.
Akbar said, "No! Your Highness. You have got attendants; you have got police; you have got an army; you have got secretaries. Why are you running?"
"Eh, fool! Don't talk. It is my child."
"Now please, your child is very safe. I have only given answer to your interesting query that God need not himself run when he has an attendant. Now, why did you run for the sake of a little child when you have attendants? You could have told the assistant or the marshal near you to go and find out. But the love that you have for the child is such that no attendant can do that work. Can you jump into the well, Your Highness? You know you cannot do that. Even then you ran as if you will go into the well!"
That is the power of love which is unconditioned. That cannot be seen in this world because everything is conditioned by everything else. If there is something called 'A', it is there because there is another thing called 'B'. If 'B' is not there, you cannot see a thing called 'A'. And 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' - there are millions of things like that. Our consciousness is involved in all this 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D'; and even if it appears that we are immensely fond of one particular 'A' or 'B' or 'C', it is false, because as long as 'X', 'Y', 'Z' exist, they will condition the affection which the mind appears to pour forth on certain things - even if it appears that the affection is almost 100%. There is no such thing as 100% concentration or affection on anything in this world. You can only have this kind of affection in a total existence outside in which there is no 'A', 'B' or 'X', 'Y' - and this also explains why it is difficult to concentrate the mind on an Ishta Devata.
The Ishta Devata is a beloved object of concentration to which we have resorted. But it is Ishta only conditionally; it is not really an Ishta. The dear object of meditation which we have chosen under the instruction of a Guru is only tentatively so, because there are other things in the world which are certainly equally Ishta or desirable, and the mind knows that. Sometimes they are perhaps more desirable than the spirit.
Solid concrete objects are more attractive than abstract imaginations. To the beginner in meditation, the object of meditation appears like an abstraction. The mind knows that it is a thought and that God Himself is not physically or concretely contacted. When God's thought actually solidifies itself into a concrete existence, the world will appear like a chimera - just the opposite of what happens in ordinary circumstances. The world is a very solid object. We can hit our head against the wall and it is so hard and solid, as we know, but this God whom we are contemplating is not so solid. It is a vision that is projected by the mind.
This peculiarity of it not being possible for the mind to accept the concrete reality of the object of meditation, and a simultaneously acquiescing in the reality of the world outside as a solid object, prevents any successful meditation and drawing in the grace of God.
So, Lord Siva is Bhole Baba, Ashutosh, immediately granting boons, but only to those whose love is not hypocritical, whose love is not a double dealing, whose love is not a make-believe, whose love is not to get something ulterior, because God is not an ulterior object or ulterior motive. The simplicity of God is due to the immensity of God's existence and the nearness of this immensity to the soul of the devotee. That is why it looks so simple. Otherwise, it is not so simple. No one can be so hard as God is, if even a little distance is created between the lover and the beloved. God is the beloved.
In this world, the lover and the beloved are not identical things. They are two, and therefore they shall ever remain two, and remain subject to bereavement and destruction. The lover cannot merge in to the beloved, and vice versa. And, until this is done, love is not complete; until that is done, devotion is not complete. It is at that time when the devotion is really complete that the great Lord manifests himself as the child who can sweep your floor, get you the meal that you require, wash your clothes.
We hear instances of this kind in the lives of saints of Maharashtra - like Ekanath, Namdev, etc. Lord Sri Krishna came as a little boy called Sri Kandiya, washed the clothes, swept the floor, and did such menial work for Ekanath and Namdev. When it was discovered that he had come in this form, he vanished.
Our hearts are hard like granite. Whatever be the religiosity and the traditional aspiration for religious life that many manifest, it is actually a dying to live for the sake of God. The destruction that is associated with Lord Siva - he is called the lord of death as he destroys everything, swallows everything in the end of time - is actually the destruction of that element in every one of us, whose presence prevents him from coming near us. What that element is, each one of us has to ransack within our own hearts and see that it is taken out so that the flood from outside unites itself with the flood that is arising from inside. This is God-union.
Sivaratri Vrata is a disciplinary occasion that is instituted in religion for the purpose of an occasional gathering of our spirits for the sake of that which is great and glorious and the ideal of our lives.
Hari Om Tat Sat!
"Om purnam adah, purnam idam, purnat purnam udacyate;
purnasya purnam adaya puram evavasisyate."
Om shantih shantih shantih.
**********************************************
by Swami Krishnananda Saraswati
The Divine Life Society - Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India
[Swamiji Maharaj leads the audience in kirtan for the first three minutes.]
This is the eve of the holy celebration called Sivaratri, which is observed everywhere as a specially sanctified occasion for concentration and for japa sadhana, together with worship. The trinity of the Supreme Being is described as Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. The great facet which is Lord Siva in this trinity has a special function to perform. The creative Brahma is assigned the work of producing newer and newer species of entities in the various categories of life that one can conceive of - 84 lakhs [8,400,000] of specialisations known as yonis are supposed to be the mould into which living beings are cast during this continuous process of what is known as creation.
There is also a necessity to see that what is created endures. Otherwise, it will be a lopsided manufacture of entities with no purpose whatsoever behind their coming into being. Birth is coming into being. The word 'being' implies endurance, but this endurance is of a very strange character. It is not a stable or a solid fixity of existence, as we may imagine in our minds what stability is, because this character of endurance of created beings should cope with the simultaneous creation of beings going on at the same time; and, more than that, there is a necessity to see that nothing really endures in a permanent manner.
Brahma's function is to create, to produce newer and newer types of living beings; and a peculiar unintelligible character of endurance that is granted to these created beings is associated with Vishnu - the stabilising force, the sattvika element among the trinity, which balances the two other sides of existence - creativity and transformation. Rudra, or Siva, is the transforming power in this created world.
The simultaneity that is involved in creativity, endurance and transformation gives the entire picture a strange tinge of endurance in the form of a continuity of process. There is no true endurance of anything in this world. The fixity of a moving body is perhaps a good example of the way in which anything and everything in the world survives. The survival is only in terms of a particular pattern introduced into a limited area of the process of transformation. It is not that this process of endurance, which is at the same time a movement, can be made an object of one's consciousness right from the beginning till the end. Just as we can see the Ganga flowing here in front of the ashram - somewhere it appears to be starting near Lakshman Jhula or so and ending somewhere further near Purana Jhari, and we cannot see the prior or the posterior side of this movement of the river on account of the limitation of the faculty of perception - our life in this world is a long, long movement like the movement of a long river, the Ganga or any other river, but as we can have a consciousness or a perception of a limited length only of the flowing process, we can have consciousness of only a few years of our life, which we call life in this world.Life in this world is a little bit of the longer process of life in the universe, which is endless and beginningless, as it were. The endlessness and beginninglessness of the three processes of creation, preservation and destruction suggest the cyclic character of all things in space and in time. Only a cycle can be without a beginning and an end. It is not a linear movement like a beaten track on a paved road leading to some particular destination.
The three divinities - Brahma, Vishnu and Siva - are actually not three different divinities. A single intention of the Universal Being is made to manifest in a threefold manner. As we see in our own bodily individuality, for instance, the three processes are seen to be going on every day. The constituents of our body are not eternally alive. They get destroyed in the process of the growth of the body. They are also renewed, and this renewal of a new life in this organism of the body calls for a transformation of the conditions preceding, which is practically the death of the preceding condition. But the connection of an element which is Vishnu, between the creative and the transforming forces, prevents our consciousness from being aware that there are three such activities going on in the body. We do not know what is happening at all. As if nothing is happening in the body, we feel very secure. There is a continuous upsurge of the movement of the cells of the body – in all the organic parts inside - for the purpose of creating and recreating themselves, in which process they destroy themselves also. There is therefore, a transcendent element present in this transforming process, or what we call the dying process, of one condition for the sake of giving birth to another condition.
Religions, when they become too much socially bound, ritual bound, tradition bound, begin to focus on the supreme object of religion. The basic features of human thinking makes us perceive our gods mostly as a cosmically picturised counterpart of the inner psychological processes. We are unable to imagine that one single entity can behave as a threefold performer of action as creator, as redeemer or as transformer.
"Namo visvarije purvam visvam tadanubibhrate
atha vishvasya samhartre tubhyam tredhasthitatmane"
(Raghuvamsa X.16)
This is the prayer which the gods offered to the Supreme Being in the Kshira-sagara, as recorded in the Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa.
"Prostrations to the Creator, and prostration to Him who sustains after having created beings; prostration to Him who withdraws everything into himself after having created and sustained them; prostration to That which appears in these three forms of creation, preservation and transformation" - is a famous prayer. But the mind of the human being is a composite structure. It is constituted of little-little ingredients of function and, therefore, it cannot easily visualise the indivisibility that is behind the threefold functions of creation, preservation and destruction. We see as many gods as there are inner constituents in the mind; and as many are our needs, so are also the number of the gods. The religions of the world are, therefore, a social and theological reaction set up in the outer world, or in the cosmos, in response to the needs felt by the mind in its inner constituents. Our mind is not an indivisible solidity. Therefore, an indivisibility cannot be thought by the mind.
Even if we stretch our imagination and begin to concentrate on indivisible total, we will find that we create a distinction of some sort or the other - a distinction between that which is thought and the thinking process on the one hand; and it being very, very necessary to picture the god, even the highest one, as being spatially and temporally located. From this point of view of the psychological background of the religious requirements of man, the concept of the trinity has been highlighted in our religion as an object of worship. But when we are able to visualise them as three phases of a single entity, the god of religion becomes one God. But if we are able to see that there is something taking place as birth and coming into existence, survival for a time and then dying some time afterwards - if these three are visualised by us as three different occurrences, and not actually three streams of a single undercurrent of performance - then we have three gods: Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. We attribute to these gods those characters which are associated with their functions.
Lord Siva is pictured in religion in manifold ways. On the one hand, Lord Siva is adored as a most easily accessible god - one who is immediately pleased - on account of which character of his, Lord Siva is called Ashutosh. The goodness of Lord Siva and the quickness of his benedictions many times make religious propounders to imagine that he grants things without thought. So he is also called Bhole Baba - one who is capable of being easily duped by the devotees. But, Lord Siva is not so easily capable of being duped. The Bhole Baba attribute should not be taken as a person who is childish in behavior or ignorant of the pros and cons of action; that is not the meaning of Bhole Baba. It means utter simplicity. Utter goodness goes with utter simplicity.
Stories in the Puranas which bring forward into highlight this particular character of Lord Siva as goodness, simplicity and being quickly pleased are abundant. In the Siva Purana, we have most of these stories. Some of the stories look very humorous, which make us laugh; but, at whom are we laughing? Are we laughing at Lord Siva himself? It looks like that.
When certain behaviors which are incongruous in the ordinary sense are attributed to Lord Siva, we laugh and smile in a gentlemanly manner, imagining thereby that we would not behave in that way. We attribute a sense of wisdom to our own selves which cannot be granted to Lord Siva.
These stories are analogies, and analogies and examples should not be stretched to the breaking point. Every example has a specific limitation, and within the limitation only that example should be taken as valid.
For instance, in Vedanta terminology there is the comparison of this world to a snake appearing in the rope which is Brahman. This is an analogy, and it has a limited scope, and it should not be stretched beyond that limited scope of meaning. The idea is that as an illusion of a snake-like feature can be seen in twilight when actually we see a rope, this world looks like a diversified multifarious reservoir of objects of sense, while actually it is eternal consciousness scintillating in the form of these so-called objects; but it does not mean that Brahman is long like a rope, or there is a tail as the snake has. That is not a permissible way of using an analogy.
Immensely good is God. Sometimes this immense goodness of God may look like breaking the law that He himself has created. Many times it is said that God made the law, and He cannot break the law which He Himself has made. Karma binds, and so on and so forth, are the things told to us. But there is some super-departmental executive power which God has which cannot be bound by departmental laws, which of course are created by His own sanction - under His signature, perhaps. He can suddenly set at naught everything, under special conditions. Normally, He will not interfere in things. Normally, the law of the universe will work. Karma also will operate as it ought to operate. But it does not operate in the case of certain specific aspirations emanating from exceptionally great devotees whose heart has been united to such intimacy with God's existence that the intimacy breaks the distinction between the devotee and the Supreme Being; and when this distinction is no more to be seen, all legal enactments also cease to operate. When intense love pours itself forth, legal mandates cease to operate. But, intense love is not seen in this world. Therefore, laws very strictly bind us.
Intense love is a love that seeks nothing in return for the expression of that love. A give-and-take policy in love – if you do this, I do this; if you do not do this, I do not do this - this kind of affection or love is Gauna Bhakti, as they call it, the secondary devotion that ritualistic devotees entertain in their hearts, and the long train of law will operate in their case; but unconditional affection, which is not seen in this world, which cannot be seen in this world because of the very nature of the world, which therefore transcends the world in many ways, makes God run to the devotee without sending any attendants, messengers, clerks, etc. to ask what the devotee wants.
Narayana Himself ran without even taking weapons in his hand when Gajendra cried, "Narayana, akhila guro bhagavan Namaste!" This story, it appears, was told by Birbal to Akbar. Akbar ridiculed this god who wants to run himself for the sake of saving a devotee while he has immense powers in the form of angels and lesser gods. He has an army of divine forces; one of them could have gone and taken care of this tragedy of Gajendra. Why should he himself run - that also, without weapon in hand? He forgot to take even the Sudarshan-chakra. It had to follow him because it knew that he had forgotten to take it. When Akbar made a sarcastic remark, Birbal said, "No! It is not like that. God himself will run. I shall show you how it is possible, and how it is not otherwise."
It appears the little child of Akbar was under the care and protection of Birbal. He used to take the little child along the lawns for walking, etc. Always the child was with him, the little child. One day Birbal had connived, with the assistance of some friends, to prepare an exact image of this little child, and had it placed just on the precipice of a deep well which was just near the lawn where they used to walk and where Akbar also used to recline sometimes in the evenings. It was twilight and one could not see things properly. That little image looked like the child itself.
"Oh, my child is there!"
"Yes, Your Highness. Your child is there."
He had also arranged, with the help of somebody, to suddenly push that image into the well; and it was done. It was pushed.
"Oh, the child is in the well!" cried Birbal, and he ran immediately.
Akbar said, "No! Your Highness. You have got attendants; you have got police; you have got an army; you have got secretaries. Why are you running?"
"Eh, fool! Don't talk. It is my child."
"Now please, your child is very safe. I have only given answer to your interesting query that God need not himself run when he has an attendant. Now, why did you run for the sake of a little child when you have attendants? You could have told the assistant or the marshal near you to go and find out. But the love that you have for the child is such that no attendant can do that work. Can you jump into the well, Your Highness? You know you cannot do that. Even then you ran as if you will go into the well!"
That is the power of love which is unconditioned. That cannot be seen in this world because everything is conditioned by everything else. If there is something called 'A', it is there because there is another thing called 'B'. If 'B' is not there, you cannot see a thing called 'A'. And 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D' - there are millions of things like that. Our consciousness is involved in all this 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D'; and even if it appears that we are immensely fond of one particular 'A' or 'B' or 'C', it is false, because as long as 'X', 'Y', 'Z' exist, they will condition the affection which the mind appears to pour forth on certain things - even if it appears that the affection is almost 100%. There is no such thing as 100% concentration or affection on anything in this world. You can only have this kind of affection in a total existence outside in which there is no 'A', 'B' or 'X', 'Y' - and this also explains why it is difficult to concentrate the mind on an Ishta Devata.
The Ishta Devata is a beloved object of concentration to which we have resorted. But it is Ishta only conditionally; it is not really an Ishta. The dear object of meditation which we have chosen under the instruction of a Guru is only tentatively so, because there are other things in the world which are certainly equally Ishta or desirable, and the mind knows that. Sometimes they are perhaps more desirable than the spirit.
Solid concrete objects are more attractive than abstract imaginations. To the beginner in meditation, the object of meditation appears like an abstraction. The mind knows that it is a thought and that God Himself is not physically or concretely contacted. When God's thought actually solidifies itself into a concrete existence, the world will appear like a chimera - just the opposite of what happens in ordinary circumstances. The world is a very solid object. We can hit our head against the wall and it is so hard and solid, as we know, but this God whom we are contemplating is not so solid. It is a vision that is projected by the mind.
This peculiarity of it not being possible for the mind to accept the concrete reality of the object of meditation, and a simultaneously acquiescing in the reality of the world outside as a solid object, prevents any successful meditation and drawing in the grace of God.
So, Lord Siva is Bhole Baba, Ashutosh, immediately granting boons, but only to those whose love is not hypocritical, whose love is not a double dealing, whose love is not a make-believe, whose love is not to get something ulterior, because God is not an ulterior object or ulterior motive. The simplicity of God is due to the immensity of God's existence and the nearness of this immensity to the soul of the devotee. That is why it looks so simple. Otherwise, it is not so simple. No one can be so hard as God is, if even a little distance is created between the lover and the beloved. God is the beloved.
In this world, the lover and the beloved are not identical things. They are two, and therefore they shall ever remain two, and remain subject to bereavement and destruction. The lover cannot merge in to the beloved, and vice versa. And, until this is done, love is not complete; until that is done, devotion is not complete. It is at that time when the devotion is really complete that the great Lord manifests himself as the child who can sweep your floor, get you the meal that you require, wash your clothes.
We hear instances of this kind in the lives of saints of Maharashtra - like Ekanath, Namdev, etc. Lord Sri Krishna came as a little boy called Sri Kandiya, washed the clothes, swept the floor, and did such menial work for Ekanath and Namdev. When it was discovered that he had come in this form, he vanished.
Our hearts are hard like granite. Whatever be the religiosity and the traditional aspiration for religious life that many manifest, it is actually a dying to live for the sake of God. The destruction that is associated with Lord Siva - he is called the lord of death as he destroys everything, swallows everything in the end of time - is actually the destruction of that element in every one of us, whose presence prevents him from coming near us. What that element is, each one of us has to ransack within our own hearts and see that it is taken out so that the flood from outside unites itself with the flood that is arising from inside. This is God-union.
Sivaratri Vrata is a disciplinary occasion that is instituted in religion for the purpose of an occasional gathering of our spirits for the sake of that which is great and glorious and the ideal of our lives.
Hari Om Tat Sat!
"Om purnam adah, purnam idam, purnat purnam udacyate;
purnasya purnam adaya puram evavasisyate."
Om shantih shantih shantih.
**********************************************
Why Did The Divine Descend as RamaSRI SRI SATYA SAI BABA
On April 14, 2008 falls the holy festival of Rama Navami, the day celebrating the Advent of Lord Rama. Bhagavan Baba has often elaborated on the Sacred Life of Lord Rama, and exhorted one and all to emulate the ideals set by the Lord during that Incarnation. Here is an extract from one such discourse delivered by Bhagavan on March 24, 1991.
All objects in the world are liable to change. All living beings must pass some day. But ideals and sacred objectives established in human hearts shine forever. If one has to live up to an ideal, he/she must be prepared to face many ordeals, difficulties, calumnies, trials and tribulations.
These ideals have continued up to the present day to glow in the hearts of the people, because they have been upheld in spite of vicissitudes and ordeals. Aeons may come and go, continents may appear and disappear, people may pass away, but ideals and values remain a perennial source of inspiration to the world….
Common people can derive no benefit if the Formless Absolute remains in Kailasa or Vaikunta. It is not possible to worship the Formless Absolute. Hence, the Rama-Avatar appeared in human form to enable humanity to experience the Formless in a form which is accessible and helpful to them….
Unfortunately, even when the Formless Absolute assumes a form, there are persons, who impelled by their own attitudes, attribute their own human foibles to the Avatar. "When He has the same Form as ours, the same physical features, and eats, talks and moves about like any of us, what is the difference between the Avatar and ourselves?" they ask.
Because of this narrow-minded approach, these persons distance themselves from the Divine. An effort must be made to understand the nature of Divinity. "Daivam maanusharoopena (God in Human Form)" declares the scripture....
Because of this narrow-minded approach, these persons distance themselves from the Divine. An effort must be made to understand the nature of Divinity. "Daivam maanusharoopena (God in Human Form)" declares the scripture....
Why and How Avatars Work
The descent of the Avatar means the Divine coming down to the level of the human. No blemish attaches to the Divine as a result of this descent. There is no diminution in His puissance. Here is the example of a child playing on the ground. If the mother feels it is beneath her dignity to bend, and calls upon the child to leap into her arms, the child cannot do so. But out of her love for the child, the mother herself stoops and picks up the baby. By bending down to take the child, does the mother bow to the child? Likewise, the Avatar descends to the level of the human to bless and rescue those who cannot rise to the level of the Divine. The ignorant assumes that because the Divine has descended with a human form, God has lowered Himself to the human level. This is a case of bending and not kneeling down. It is an act of benediction and not of submission…
The descent of the Avatar means the Divine coming down to the level of the human. No blemish attaches to the Divine as a result of this descent. There is no diminution in His puissance. Here is the example of a child playing on the ground. If the mother feels it is beneath her dignity to bend, and calls upon the child to leap into her arms, the child cannot do so. But out of her love for the child, the mother herself stoops and picks up the baby. By bending down to take the child, does the mother bow to the child? Likewise, the Avatar descends to the level of the human to bless and rescue those who cannot rise to the level of the Divine. The ignorant assumes that because the Divine has descended with a human form, God has lowered Himself to the human level. This is a case of bending and not kneeling down. It is an act of benediction and not of submission…
Similarly, the Avatar does not forgo any of His supreme powers merely because He lives and moves among human beings as a man. Narrow-minded persons view these things differently.
This phenomenon could be noticed in several instances in the case of the Rama-Avatar. In the Ramayana, Rama is depicted as one who, like other ordinary human beings, experienced the pangs of separation from Sita. Why did Rama exhibit such feelings? It is to serve as an example to the common people how individuals should behave in similar circumstances.
The Ramayana is a work which holds out ideals for every home and every family. What should be the relations between a father and a son, how should a husband and wife conduct themselves, how should brothers behave towards each other, what should be the relations between the rulers and the citizens, how should sisters-in-law conduct themselves - all these are exemplified in the story of the Rama-Avatar.
The Ramayana is a work which holds out ideals for every home and every family. What should be the relations between a father and a son, how should a husband and wife conduct themselves, how should brothers behave towards each other, what should be the relations between the rulers and the citizens, how should sisters-in-law conduct themselves - all these are exemplified in the story of the Rama-Avatar.
Sri Rama – An Ideal for Every Man
Rama was prepared to honour a boon given by His father to His step-mother in fulfillment of an old promise. He renounced the throne at the moment of coronation and elected to go to the forest as an exile.
Rama was prepared to honour a boon given by His father to His step-mother in fulfillment of an old promise. He renounced the throne at the moment of coronation and elected to go to the forest as an exile.
Eminently qualified as He was to become the ruler, nevertheless He chose to go to the forest to honour His father's plighted word. This is a glorious example of an ideal life.
Today people would set at nought promises given by the father and place their self-interest in the forefront…
Rama was prepared to face any ordeals and troubles in upholding this sacred principle. Rama was ever active in fulfilling the wishes and responding to the opinions of the people. Highly sensitive even to the remarks of a petty washerman, Rama sent away Sita to the forest out of a feeling that the washer-man's comment might be an indication of the unspoken feelings of many others among his subjects. Rama stands out as an ideal ruler intensely responsive to the wishes of the people…Rama demonstrated the ideal relations that should exist between the ruler and the ruled.
Lakshmana's Unflinching Devotion
Turning to the harmonious relations that existed between the brothers', complying with his stepmother's words, Rama might don the bark of trees, wear the mantle of an ascetic and leave for the forest, there was no such obligation on Lakshmana's part.
Turning to the harmonious relations that existed between the brothers', complying with his stepmother's words, Rama might don the bark of trees, wear the mantle of an ascetic and leave for the forest, there was no such obligation on Lakshmana's part.
But as a younger brother, he felt that it was not proper for him to stay and enjoy life in Ayodhya, when his brother was leaving for the forest. He was ready to renounce his mother and wife and accompany Rama, whom he considered as his life-breath...
The behaviour of brothers today in similar situations would be entirely different. They are likely to indulge in litigation over the sharing of property, and lose them all in carrying the dispute up to the Supreme Court…To such brothers, Rama should serve as an example…
The Lesson from Ramayana
The foremost lesson to be learnt from the Rama-story is how to foster unity and harmony in a family...The reign of Rama was marked by concern for justice and morality. Today the people are bedeviled by distrust and suspicion at every step. "Why should God do this?" Such questions are asked out of narrow-minded doubts. There will be no room for such doubts if the Infinite Nature of the Divine is properly understood. The petty-minded folk who cannot grasp the Omni-competence of the Divine raise such questions. Their entire life is wasted in this manner. Hence, people should get rid of such pettiness…
The foremost lesson to be learnt from the Rama-story is how to foster unity and harmony in a family...The reign of Rama was marked by concern for justice and morality. Today the people are bedeviled by distrust and suspicion at every step. "Why should God do this?" Such questions are asked out of narrow-minded doubts. There will be no room for such doubts if the Infinite Nature of the Divine is properly understood. The petty-minded folk who cannot grasp the Omni-competence of the Divine raise such questions. Their entire life is wasted in this manner. Hence, people should get rid of such pettiness…
Strengthen Your Faith to Acquire Bliss
If the Name of the Lord is not recited in the proper spirit, of what use is all spiritual practice? Faith is the primary requisite. Chanting the Name endlessly, without faith, is utterly useless. Where there is faith, there is Love. Where there is Love, there is Peace. Where there is Peace, there is Truth. Where there is Truth, there is Bliss. Where there is Bliss, there is God. If faith is lacking how can Bliss be experienced? Therefore, strengthen your faith... Develop faith in the ideals of Rama. Rama does not mean the son of Dasharatha. The Atma (Self) is Rama, and hence Rama is referred to as Atma-Rama… Everyone must aim at becoming an ideal person... Ideals, not ostentation, should be the watchword. Develop faith in the Self, and lead a Godly life.
If the Name of the Lord is not recited in the proper spirit, of what use is all spiritual practice? Faith is the primary requisite. Chanting the Name endlessly, without faith, is utterly useless. Where there is faith, there is Love. Where there is Love, there is Peace. Where there is Peace, there is Truth. Where there is Truth, there is Bliss. Where there is Bliss, there is God. If faith is lacking how can Bliss be experienced? Therefore, strengthen your faith... Develop faith in the ideals of Rama. Rama does not mean the son of Dasharatha. The Atma (Self) is Rama, and hence Rama is referred to as Atma-Rama… Everyone must aim at becoming an ideal person... Ideals, not ostentation, should be the watchword. Develop faith in the Self, and lead a Godly life.
- Divine Discourse, Rama Navami Day, 1991.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Significance of Ramnavami
by Swami Sivananda
Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram
SALUTATIONS to Lord Rama, an Incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who is measureless, who is of the nature of pure Consciousness and bliss, who is the consort of Sita, Master of Sri Hanuman, and the Lord of the three worlds, who took His birth at His own will in order to establish righteousness, destroy the wicked and protect His devotees.
Ramnavami or the birthday of Lord Rama falls on the 9th day of the bright fortnight of the month of Chaitra (March-April).
Rama was the Lord Hari Himself, incarnate on earth for the destruction of Ravana. He was well accomplished, beautiful and endowed with royal marks. His glory and prowess were unlimited. He was peerless on earth.
He was free from malice. He was gentle. He was the protector of all His people. He always addressed them in gentle words. He never used any harsh words even when somebody provoked Him. He held sway over the whole world.
Let Sri Rama be your ideal. Ideals are remembered and adored for the purpose of adopting them in your own life. The Ramnavmi celebration or the Vasanta Navaratri every year is an opportune period for us to saturate ourselves with the spirit of Lord Rama. We love and adore our ideals because we express thereby our yearning to unite with them. In our worship of God it is implied that we should be virtuous, good and perfect even as God is. Hence the wise instruction: “One should become divine in order to be able to worship God”. One cannot be a real worshipper of Lord Rama unless one makes an honest attempt to grow in the virtues that the Lord represents. On the other hand, worship of Lord Rama is itself the surest means to develop such virtues.
One who approaches Sri Rama with love and worshipfulness becomes large-hearted, pure in spirit, good-natured and dispassionate in thought, word and deed. A true devotee of Lord Rama is His representative, with His power and His knowledge.
Lord Rama was the prince of the Ikshvaku race. He was virtuous and of manly strength. He was the Lord of the mind and the senses. Brave and valiant, He was yet gentle and modest. He was a sage in counsel, kind and sweet in speech, and most courteous and handsome in appearance. He was the master of all the divine weapons, and a great warrior. Ever devoted to the good and prosperity of His kingdom and His subjects, He was a defender of the weak and the protector of the righteous. Endowed with numerous wondrous powers of the mind, He was well versed in all sciences—in military science as well as the science of the Self.
Deep and unfathomed like the ocean, firm and steadfast like the Himalayan mountains, valiant like Lord Vishnu, He was the joy of Kaushalya. Though fierce like fire on the battlefield, He was calm like the cool breeze of the Mandara Hills, patient like Mother Earth, bounteous like the god of wealth and righteous like the lord of justice himself. In the pains and the griefs of His people, His heart swiftly sympathised with the sufferers. In the festive scenes which held them in joy, He like a father, shared their joys. By His honour and heroism, as well as by His gentleness and love for His subjects, He greatly endeared Himself to the hearts of His people. Such a great person was the Lord Rama!
Lord Rama was the best of men with a sterling character. He was the very image of love. He was an ideal son, an ideal brother, an ideal husband, an ideal friend and an ideal king. He can be taken to embody all the highest ideals of man. He led the ideal life of a householder to teach the tenets of righteousness to humanity. He ruled His people so well that it came to be known as Ram-Rajya, which meant the rule of righteousness, the rule which bestows happiness and prosperity on all.
The noblest lesson embodied in the Ramayana is the supreme importance of righteousness in the life of every human being. Righteousness is the spiritual spark of life. Cultivation of righteousness is the process of unfoldment of the latent divinity in man. The glorious incarnation of the Supreme Being in the form of Lord Rama has exemplified the path of righteousness. Let mankind follow His footsteps and practise the ideals cherished by Him, for it is only thus that there can be everlasting peace, prosperity and welfare in this world.
None but the righteous can be truly happy. None but he who has the correct sense of duty and the will for its implementation can be said to live worthily. One must be imbued with a definite conviction about the supremacy of moral principles, ethical values and spiritual ideals. These ought to guide one’s day-to-day actions and serve as powerful means for the culture of the human personality. That is the purpose of life. That is the way to Self-realisation. That is the message and the mission of Lord Rama’s fife on earth.
To a devotee, Sri Rama is not simply a good and a great person, but God Himself. Rama was the son of King Dasaratha of Ayodhya, but He is also the divine omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient God. The destruction of the ten-headed Ravana signifies the annihilation of the mind or the ten senses. Worship of Lord Rama is worship of the all-pervading Godhead Himself. Read the prayers offered by Mandothari and Brahma in the Yuddha Kanda of the Ramayana. They refer to Rama as the one Creator of the universe, the God of all, the Ruler of the universe.
Devotion to God is not a simple emotion. It is the result of intense dispassion and purity of heart and attitude. You should strive your utmost to possess the good qualities that are extolled in the Ramayana and exemplified in the life of Lord Rama. Otherwise, emotion may rise up in you temporarily to a kind of ecstasy, but you will not experience divine consciousness thereby. Devotion is a fruit which ripens gradually through the processes of self-restraint and virtue. Without intense dispassion there can be no real Sadhana for Self-realisation. Only after detachment from the world of things, is it possible to attain the Supreme Godhead. Remember this.
Devotion has absolutely nothing to do with age, caste, creed, position or sex. Generally, the worldly-minded people say: “We will practise meditation and devotion when we retire from service.” This is a serious mistake. How can you do serious Sadhana after squeezing out all your energy in working? How will you be able to practise the strict Yogic discipline in your old age? Is there any certainty in life? No, the spiritual seeds of discipline and devotion must be sown in you while you are young, while your heart is tender and untainted. Then only will it strike a deep root, blossom forth and bear fruit when you become old and retire. Only then can you bravely face the god of death and meet him with a smile!
I shall tell you the means of attaining the final release from the great cycle of births and deaths. Devotion to Lord Rama is a great purifier of the heart. From devotion arises knowledge. From knowledge comes the realisation of the pure Self. Knowing this perfectly, one goes to the Supreme Abode and merges in the Supreme Self.
Without first developing devotion to Rama who is the Self, who lives in the hearts of all beings, who is all bliss and who is peerless, how can man cross the ocean of worldly life which has sorrow, pain and misery for its waves?
Do thou therefore worship Lord Rama who is Vishnu and the consort of Sita who is Lakshmi. Abandon all foolishness and enmity. Take to the service of Lord Rama.
The Lord is extremely fond of those who have surrendered themselves to Him. He has given this promise in the Ramayana: “To anyone who once takes shelter under Me and solicits ‘I am Thine’, I bestow fearlessness from all beings. This is My vow”.
Even a great sinner who is full of evil qualities and who is fond of other people’s wealth, is freed from all kinds of faults that pertain to worldly life if only he remembers the Lord always. He attains purity and goes to the supreme abode of the Lord.
The Name of Lord Rama is the greatest purifier of the heart. It wipes away all one’s sins. Not only this, but it wipes away the sinful tendencies as well. The Name is sweeter than the sweetest of objects. It is the haven of peace. It is the very life of pure souls. It is the purifier of all purifying agencies. It quenches the consuming fire of worldly desires. It awakens the knowledge of God. It bathes the aspirant in the, ocean of divine bliss. Glory to Sri Rama and His Name!
O Devotee! recite His Name, sing His glory and serve His Lotus Feet. Enthrone in your heart Lord Rama of dark hue, whose image is reflected in the heart of Lord Shiva. Blessed is the pious soul who uninterruptedly drinks the nectar of Sri Rama’s Name which has been churned out of the ocean of the Vedas, which removes the impurities of the Kali Yuga or the iron age, which lives constantly on the lips of Lord Shiva, which is a sovereign remedy or unfailing specific to cure the disease of worldly existence and which is the life of Mother Sita.
Ram-Nam burns ignorance, passion and sin. With or without knowledge, correctly or incorrectly, when the word “Rama” is pronounced it showers a rain of good upon the devotee. Sri Rama is Brahman who takes one across the ocean of worldly existence. Rama is one in across whom the Yogis sport, that is, the Self within.
Lord Shiva tells His consort Parvati: “This Ram-Nam is equal to the Lord’s thousand Names, or repetition of the Mantra a thousand times”.
I call this the anti-gossip tonic. When you find that you are wasting your time in gossip, repeat His Name several times. You can make up for the time lost, and the mind will be slowly weaned away from the habit of gossiping.
Sri Rama is also a wish-fulfilling tree. He will bestow upon you whatever you want! Just read what Lord Shiva further says:
“The seat of all good things, the destroyer of all impurities of this age of darkness, purer than purity itself, the food for the journey of aspirants on the path to salvation, their only resting place, the very life-breath of virtuous men, is the Divine Name of Sri Rama. So say the sages”.
On the auspicious Ramnavmi day take a firm resolve that you will repeat Ram-Nam with every breath and that you will endeavour to lead a righteous life.
Ramnavmi is one of the most important festivals of the Vaishnava sect of the Hindus. However, even those who adore Lord Shiva celebrate the occasion. Some observe a strict fast on the day. Temples are decorated and the image of Lord Rama is richly adorned. The holy Ramayana is read in the temples. At Ayodhya, the birthplace of Sri Rama, a big fair is held on this day.
In South India the Sri Ramnavmi Utsavam is celebrated for nine days with great fervour and devotion. Those talented in the art of story-telling narrate the thrilling episodes of the Ramayana. The Kirtanists chant the holy Name of Rama and celebrate the wedding of Rama with Sita on this great day. It is an extremely colourful ceremony, highly inspiring and instructive, too.
At the Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, Ramnavmi is celebrated for nine days as follows:
1. Spiritual seekers do as much Japa as possible. The sacred Mantras Om Sri Ramaya Namah or Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram are chanted.
2. Devotees read the whole of the Ramayana, either the Sanskrit version of Sage Valmiki or the Hindi version of Saint Tulsidas, during these nine days.
3. Those who cannot recite the entire epic may read this single verse which contains in a nutshell the story of the Ramayana: “Formerly, Sri Rama went to the forests, where Rishis did penance, and killed the illusive deer. Sita was carried away and Jatayu was killed. Rama met Sugriva, killed Vali and crossed the ocean. The city of Lanka was burnt by Hanuman. The demons, Ravana and Kumbhakarna, were then killed. Thus is recited the holy Ramayana”.
4. Devotees greet one another with “Sri Ram” or “Jai Ram-ji-ki”.
5. Those who have adopted Lord Rama as their favourite Deity observe a fast, taking only milk and fruit for all the nine days. Some fast only on the Ramnavmi day itself.
6. On the final or Ramnavmi day, there is a grand worship of Lord Rama in the gorgeously decorated temple. All the Vedic rituals including Laksharchana are performed.
7. A havan is also performed.
8. From four in the morning to late at night, there is Ram and Ram alone everywhere!
9. Leaflets, booklets and books relating to Lord Rama are distributed.
10. Special meetings are held in the evening at which discourses on the life and teachings of the Lord are delivered.
11. Earnest seekers take resolves to accelerate their spiritual progress.
O beloved seekers! time is fleeting. Know the value of time. Time is most precious. Utilise every second profitably. Do not procrastinate. Abandon all idle gossiping. Forget the past. Live every moment of your life for the realisation of the divine ideal and goal. Unfold your latent faculties. Grow, evolve and become a superhuman or a dynamic Yogi. Struggle hard and reach the goal of life.
May you all attain the final beatitude of life through intense devotion towards Lord Rama! May you live immersed in the ecstasy of divine love! May Sri Rama who is as effulgent as a million suns and who is adored by the gods and devotees, protect you all! May the blessings of Lord Rama be upon you all!
Write to the Webmaster Copyright©2006 The Divine Life Society.All Rights Reserved
*******************************************
by Swami Sivananda
Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram
SALUTATIONS to Lord Rama, an Incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who is measureless, who is of the nature of pure Consciousness and bliss, who is the consort of Sita, Master of Sri Hanuman, and the Lord of the three worlds, who took His birth at His own will in order to establish righteousness, destroy the wicked and protect His devotees.
Ramnavami or the birthday of Lord Rama falls on the 9th day of the bright fortnight of the month of Chaitra (March-April).
Rama was the Lord Hari Himself, incarnate on earth for the destruction of Ravana. He was well accomplished, beautiful and endowed with royal marks. His glory and prowess were unlimited. He was peerless on earth.
He was free from malice. He was gentle. He was the protector of all His people. He always addressed them in gentle words. He never used any harsh words even when somebody provoked Him. He held sway over the whole world.
Let Sri Rama be your ideal. Ideals are remembered and adored for the purpose of adopting them in your own life. The Ramnavmi celebration or the Vasanta Navaratri every year is an opportune period for us to saturate ourselves with the spirit of Lord Rama. We love and adore our ideals because we express thereby our yearning to unite with them. In our worship of God it is implied that we should be virtuous, good and perfect even as God is. Hence the wise instruction: “One should become divine in order to be able to worship God”. One cannot be a real worshipper of Lord Rama unless one makes an honest attempt to grow in the virtues that the Lord represents. On the other hand, worship of Lord Rama is itself the surest means to develop such virtues.
One who approaches Sri Rama with love and worshipfulness becomes large-hearted, pure in spirit, good-natured and dispassionate in thought, word and deed. A true devotee of Lord Rama is His representative, with His power and His knowledge.
Lord Rama was the prince of the Ikshvaku race. He was virtuous and of manly strength. He was the Lord of the mind and the senses. Brave and valiant, He was yet gentle and modest. He was a sage in counsel, kind and sweet in speech, and most courteous and handsome in appearance. He was the master of all the divine weapons, and a great warrior. Ever devoted to the good and prosperity of His kingdom and His subjects, He was a defender of the weak and the protector of the righteous. Endowed with numerous wondrous powers of the mind, He was well versed in all sciences—in military science as well as the science of the Self.
Deep and unfathomed like the ocean, firm and steadfast like the Himalayan mountains, valiant like Lord Vishnu, He was the joy of Kaushalya. Though fierce like fire on the battlefield, He was calm like the cool breeze of the Mandara Hills, patient like Mother Earth, bounteous like the god of wealth and righteous like the lord of justice himself. In the pains and the griefs of His people, His heart swiftly sympathised with the sufferers. In the festive scenes which held them in joy, He like a father, shared their joys. By His honour and heroism, as well as by His gentleness and love for His subjects, He greatly endeared Himself to the hearts of His people. Such a great person was the Lord Rama!
Lord Rama was the best of men with a sterling character. He was the very image of love. He was an ideal son, an ideal brother, an ideal husband, an ideal friend and an ideal king. He can be taken to embody all the highest ideals of man. He led the ideal life of a householder to teach the tenets of righteousness to humanity. He ruled His people so well that it came to be known as Ram-Rajya, which meant the rule of righteousness, the rule which bestows happiness and prosperity on all.
The noblest lesson embodied in the Ramayana is the supreme importance of righteousness in the life of every human being. Righteousness is the spiritual spark of life. Cultivation of righteousness is the process of unfoldment of the latent divinity in man. The glorious incarnation of the Supreme Being in the form of Lord Rama has exemplified the path of righteousness. Let mankind follow His footsteps and practise the ideals cherished by Him, for it is only thus that there can be everlasting peace, prosperity and welfare in this world.
None but the righteous can be truly happy. None but he who has the correct sense of duty and the will for its implementation can be said to live worthily. One must be imbued with a definite conviction about the supremacy of moral principles, ethical values and spiritual ideals. These ought to guide one’s day-to-day actions and serve as powerful means for the culture of the human personality. That is the purpose of life. That is the way to Self-realisation. That is the message and the mission of Lord Rama’s fife on earth.
To a devotee, Sri Rama is not simply a good and a great person, but God Himself. Rama was the son of King Dasaratha of Ayodhya, but He is also the divine omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient God. The destruction of the ten-headed Ravana signifies the annihilation of the mind or the ten senses. Worship of Lord Rama is worship of the all-pervading Godhead Himself. Read the prayers offered by Mandothari and Brahma in the Yuddha Kanda of the Ramayana. They refer to Rama as the one Creator of the universe, the God of all, the Ruler of the universe.
Devotion to God is not a simple emotion. It is the result of intense dispassion and purity of heart and attitude. You should strive your utmost to possess the good qualities that are extolled in the Ramayana and exemplified in the life of Lord Rama. Otherwise, emotion may rise up in you temporarily to a kind of ecstasy, but you will not experience divine consciousness thereby. Devotion is a fruit which ripens gradually through the processes of self-restraint and virtue. Without intense dispassion there can be no real Sadhana for Self-realisation. Only after detachment from the world of things, is it possible to attain the Supreme Godhead. Remember this.
Devotion has absolutely nothing to do with age, caste, creed, position or sex. Generally, the worldly-minded people say: “We will practise meditation and devotion when we retire from service.” This is a serious mistake. How can you do serious Sadhana after squeezing out all your energy in working? How will you be able to practise the strict Yogic discipline in your old age? Is there any certainty in life? No, the spiritual seeds of discipline and devotion must be sown in you while you are young, while your heart is tender and untainted. Then only will it strike a deep root, blossom forth and bear fruit when you become old and retire. Only then can you bravely face the god of death and meet him with a smile!
I shall tell you the means of attaining the final release from the great cycle of births and deaths. Devotion to Lord Rama is a great purifier of the heart. From devotion arises knowledge. From knowledge comes the realisation of the pure Self. Knowing this perfectly, one goes to the Supreme Abode and merges in the Supreme Self.
Without first developing devotion to Rama who is the Self, who lives in the hearts of all beings, who is all bliss and who is peerless, how can man cross the ocean of worldly life which has sorrow, pain and misery for its waves?
Do thou therefore worship Lord Rama who is Vishnu and the consort of Sita who is Lakshmi. Abandon all foolishness and enmity. Take to the service of Lord Rama.
The Lord is extremely fond of those who have surrendered themselves to Him. He has given this promise in the Ramayana: “To anyone who once takes shelter under Me and solicits ‘I am Thine’, I bestow fearlessness from all beings. This is My vow”.
Even a great sinner who is full of evil qualities and who is fond of other people’s wealth, is freed from all kinds of faults that pertain to worldly life if only he remembers the Lord always. He attains purity and goes to the supreme abode of the Lord.
The Name of Lord Rama is the greatest purifier of the heart. It wipes away all one’s sins. Not only this, but it wipes away the sinful tendencies as well. The Name is sweeter than the sweetest of objects. It is the haven of peace. It is the very life of pure souls. It is the purifier of all purifying agencies. It quenches the consuming fire of worldly desires. It awakens the knowledge of God. It bathes the aspirant in the, ocean of divine bliss. Glory to Sri Rama and His Name!
O Devotee! recite His Name, sing His glory and serve His Lotus Feet. Enthrone in your heart Lord Rama of dark hue, whose image is reflected in the heart of Lord Shiva. Blessed is the pious soul who uninterruptedly drinks the nectar of Sri Rama’s Name which has been churned out of the ocean of the Vedas, which removes the impurities of the Kali Yuga or the iron age, which lives constantly on the lips of Lord Shiva, which is a sovereign remedy or unfailing specific to cure the disease of worldly existence and which is the life of Mother Sita.
Ram-Nam burns ignorance, passion and sin. With or without knowledge, correctly or incorrectly, when the word “Rama” is pronounced it showers a rain of good upon the devotee. Sri Rama is Brahman who takes one across the ocean of worldly existence. Rama is one in across whom the Yogis sport, that is, the Self within.
Lord Shiva tells His consort Parvati: “This Ram-Nam is equal to the Lord’s thousand Names, or repetition of the Mantra a thousand times”.
I call this the anti-gossip tonic. When you find that you are wasting your time in gossip, repeat His Name several times. You can make up for the time lost, and the mind will be slowly weaned away from the habit of gossiping.
Sri Rama is also a wish-fulfilling tree. He will bestow upon you whatever you want! Just read what Lord Shiva further says:
“The seat of all good things, the destroyer of all impurities of this age of darkness, purer than purity itself, the food for the journey of aspirants on the path to salvation, their only resting place, the very life-breath of virtuous men, is the Divine Name of Sri Rama. So say the sages”.
On the auspicious Ramnavmi day take a firm resolve that you will repeat Ram-Nam with every breath and that you will endeavour to lead a righteous life.
Ramnavmi is one of the most important festivals of the Vaishnava sect of the Hindus. However, even those who adore Lord Shiva celebrate the occasion. Some observe a strict fast on the day. Temples are decorated and the image of Lord Rama is richly adorned. The holy Ramayana is read in the temples. At Ayodhya, the birthplace of Sri Rama, a big fair is held on this day.
In South India the Sri Ramnavmi Utsavam is celebrated for nine days with great fervour and devotion. Those talented in the art of story-telling narrate the thrilling episodes of the Ramayana. The Kirtanists chant the holy Name of Rama and celebrate the wedding of Rama with Sita on this great day. It is an extremely colourful ceremony, highly inspiring and instructive, too.
At the Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, Ramnavmi is celebrated for nine days as follows:
1. Spiritual seekers do as much Japa as possible. The sacred Mantras Om Sri Ramaya Namah or Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram are chanted.
2. Devotees read the whole of the Ramayana, either the Sanskrit version of Sage Valmiki or the Hindi version of Saint Tulsidas, during these nine days.
3. Those who cannot recite the entire epic may read this single verse which contains in a nutshell the story of the Ramayana: “Formerly, Sri Rama went to the forests, where Rishis did penance, and killed the illusive deer. Sita was carried away and Jatayu was killed. Rama met Sugriva, killed Vali and crossed the ocean. The city of Lanka was burnt by Hanuman. The demons, Ravana and Kumbhakarna, were then killed. Thus is recited the holy Ramayana”.
4. Devotees greet one another with “Sri Ram” or “Jai Ram-ji-ki”.
5. Those who have adopted Lord Rama as their favourite Deity observe a fast, taking only milk and fruit for all the nine days. Some fast only on the Ramnavmi day itself.
6. On the final or Ramnavmi day, there is a grand worship of Lord Rama in the gorgeously decorated temple. All the Vedic rituals including Laksharchana are performed.
7. A havan is also performed.
8. From four in the morning to late at night, there is Ram and Ram alone everywhere!
9. Leaflets, booklets and books relating to Lord Rama are distributed.
10. Special meetings are held in the evening at which discourses on the life and teachings of the Lord are delivered.
11. Earnest seekers take resolves to accelerate their spiritual progress.
O beloved seekers! time is fleeting. Know the value of time. Time is most precious. Utilise every second profitably. Do not procrastinate. Abandon all idle gossiping. Forget the past. Live every moment of your life for the realisation of the divine ideal and goal. Unfold your latent faculties. Grow, evolve and become a superhuman or a dynamic Yogi. Struggle hard and reach the goal of life.
May you all attain the final beatitude of life through intense devotion towards Lord Rama! May you live immersed in the ecstasy of divine love! May Sri Rama who is as effulgent as a million suns and who is adored by the gods and devotees, protect you all! May the blessings of Lord Rama be upon you all!
Write to the Webmaster Copyright©2006 The Divine Life Society.All Rights Reserved
*******************************************
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)