Magic of Vedic Mantras

New year is the time, when we look forward to enrich life, not only by exchanging gifts , but also by exchanging new ideas. Life changing new thoughts can open up the horizon of our out looks. If we understand  some powerful Vedic thoughts,  they may help us to deal with life in a more harmonious and balanced way. Such thoughts are certainty most welcomed in today's world, when in the midst of all opulence and comforts , human soul is crying for something more real and enduring.This is the right time to welcome some perennial wisdoms from eastern traditional  paths.Unlike academic philosophy , the perennial philosophy , is based on spiritual practice  and moral discipline, leading to a personal experience and realization of great sages, saints and enlightened beings.Their findings are preserved in ancient spiritual scriptures, (Veda, Upanishad, Bhagawad Gita), in Sanskrit.
Theses eternal truths (Maha vakyas) are very inspiring. One such truth says, " Listen, you are all children of God. You are immortal and blissful souls ", (Shrinwantu Vishwe Amritasya Putra).Tha same Vedic truth is also expressed in a little different way,  which says, "Thou art That ", tat tavm asi.
Both these statements  speak of the relationships between individual souls and Supreme Soul.Explaining them in a more lucid way, Aldous Huxley said, "Atman, the individual self is one with Brahman, the Absolute principle of all existence, and the last end of all human beings, is to discover the fact for himself, to find out who he really is. "
Modern man  feels miserable and helpless, with diseases, anxiety and finally with fear of death.These hallucinations can be removed , and one can be fearless, just by realizing that, man is not body, his body dies , but his soul is immoral and divine.
Another such powerful statement which can counter today's religious fanaticism says, "Truth is one, sages call it by different names "(Ekam sat vipra bahuda vadanti), Today we see, in the name of religion, so much of bloodshed, and wide spread hatred  all over the world.To remove such ignorance from human heart ,how beautifully Bhagawad Gita , with its all embracing approach says, "In whatever way, people are devoted to Me, in that way I manifest Myself to them". It says religions are like different roads to the same goal, so how does it matter, if someone takes some other route to reach the same goal.
Today the need of the moment is not one religion,but mutual respect and tolerance of the devotees of
different religions.
These eternal truths are like burning torch, which should be handed over from one generation to the next generation.Hurdles can be over comed by remembering the inspiring message of swami Vivekananda, "Arise,Awake,stop not till the goal is reached" .

Paths are many, goal is one

Dilemma of human life is beautifully expressed in these few lines of Tagore,s poem. "The sun, moon, the Stars hurry  across the sky.Restless river runs towards the ocean, why don't you compel my life run regularly in search of the ocean of nectar?"(gitanjali).This is the urge of every human heart. In life, we all want to touch the shore of peace and happiness, but do not know  how to reach that shore.
In nature, plants, animals all are blessed with a programmed goal in  life, except human beings.Even endowed with superior intelligence, and will power, human beings are most miserable creatures on to this earth. Like hungry souls, remain ever dissatisfied.
We all are searching paths to be happy, peaceful and liberated. Paths  shown by enlightened souls are many and varied in nature, but they all aim at the same goal. And that goal is to have liberation , through self realization. They say, our worldly sufferings and joys are projections of our own mind. And as soon as we purify our mind from all delusions( attachments, aversions, body consciousness etc.)  and ignorance , our inner divine soul  shines with joy and peace , and reflects inner peace all around.

Bhagawat Gita refers about three main paths, they are  Gyan yoga, Bhakti yoga and Karma yoga.( path of knowledge, devotion, and selfless actions.) Teachings of Gyanyoga yoga  is found in the early Upanishad. This path aims at the realization of the individual self ,s oneness with the Supreme self, Brahman.Advaita philosopher Adi Shankara, gave primary importance on the path of knowledge. Here the devotee realizes, that he is not his body, senses or mind, he is only a divine soul, one with Brahman, who is beyond name and form, who is impersonal and every where.Shri Ramakrishna  described it through a story of a salt doll. When the salt doll went to measure the ocean, it melted and losing its identity became one with the ocean. Same thing happens to a Gyan yogi, he loses his identity and becomes one with Brahman in samadhi. But to worship God as unlimited, unmanifested 

consciousness is very difficult to follow.Unless body consciousness is totally given up, one can not reach the point of samadhi.  

The path of devotion or  Bhakti marg, is a sweet and simple way to worship God. Here God is worshiped with a form and a name. Devotee turns his body consciousness towards divine, and what ever he does , he does it to please God, with whom he establishes a loving human relationship. He may worship God as his friend, beloved , child or as a servant.By loving surrender, the devotee  brings God  very near to his heart. An important part of Bhakti marg is chanting and dancing with God,s name. It started with Maha prabhu  Sri Chaitanya, who was born in 16th century in Bengal, and later got much prominence  byKrishna bhakta swami Prabhupada, who was the founder of International society for Krishna consciousness.Chanting purifies mind, brings great joy and attracts others to the Divine.This path is said to be very suitable in present time (Kali yug) , when people are more attached to worldly things.
About the path of action (karma yoga) ,Bhagawad Gita says, "your work is your responsibility, not its result. Never let the fruits of your action be your motive, nor give into inaction. Set firmly in yourself, do your work, not attached to any thing. Remain even minded in success and in failure.Even mindedness is true yoga".( chapter 2, verse, 47-49). In this path,  a karma yogi, does selfless service  for wellbeing of others, and action becomes the mode of his prayer.
The great karma yogi, Swami Vivekananda asked us to take the position of a giver in life. What ever is needed, love, help,service or encouragement, we must be ready to give our service unconditionally.

By giving , one becomes richer.Every thing comes in life, when following a spiritual path, we awaken our sleeping soul, and fill up life with self conscious activities.Buddha also said, Nirvana can be achieved by giving unconditional love, compassion and forgiveness to all.

Spiritual paths  never propagate to renounce worldly duties, or to deny life,s gifts. They teach us ,to perform all duties with perfection, with right discrimination  and to  be the master over our body, mind and senses, so that we do not harm or pull down others by our actions.
 To balance life , with efficiency and detachment, with good will and with purity of mind, is the teaching of spiritual paths.One may chose his path ,which suits his nature and tendencies, and should follow it with utmost sincerity and dedication.
Life is uncertain, every moment is precious. Keeping those inspiring words of Swami Vivekananda, in mind, "Arise! Awake! Stop not till the goal is reached," we all can proceed towards the goal of life, and also can help others to evolve.

Mind, misery and mindfulness

"There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart,s desire, and the other is to get it."This famous saying of George Bernard Shaw is so relevant today. All through life, we are all running to get our heart,s desire.That can be a Andy car, an attractive partner, a beautiful house, a high position or something else, and the list goes on. If we do not get it , we feel angry, frustrated and blame others.  If we get it, we do not want to lose it, and that probability makes us anxious and fearful.Buddhist scholar Atisha advised, "you will have to depart leaving every thing behind. So do not get attached to any thing." Buddha realized , the root cause of human sufferings originate in our own disillusioned mind.Out side situations may trigger our delusions more, which are already present in mind. So the only remedy is to make mind free from all delusions.
Buddha said, ignorance, desirous attachments and anger, from these three main delusions, all other delusions , like pride, jealousy etc.come up.Ignorance is not to know the truth. Life is impermanent.But an ignorant mind  does not want  to believe in that truth , and wants to cling to life with desirous attachments. Or seeing the difference in outer manifestation, often we forget our inter connectedness. The life energy , which flows through all living beings, manifests it self in many forms.But ignorant mind  ignores that truth, becomes self centered, and selfish and brings much sufferings in his and in other,s live,s too. How delusions bring gradual down fall in life, is clearly described in Bhagawat Gita."Attachments breeds desires, from desires anger is born. Anger leads to delusions, from delusions memory gets clouded, which destroys intellect.When intellect goes, one is ruined, (chapter 2/ verse 62'63). Buddha said, happiness and sorrows are state of mind. By over coming mind ,s delusions one can be ever peacefull.
But deluded mind thinks, inner peace comes from out side, through favorable situations or from people. So without correcting his or her own deluded mind , he tries to fix outer situations or tries to change others,which is not possible. So problems never get solved. It reminds the story of a foolish King, who wanted to cover the earth , to be free from dirt. The problem was solved by an old, wise man .He advised  the king , just to cover up his own feet with a pair of shoes. This advise is applicable in our life too. To find peace and happiness , we must change our own mind, and not to waste our valuable time and energy in trying to transform others.
Buddha,s instructions are simple, powerful and scientific. He said, always to watch one,s own mind very carefully. When ever an unpleasant feeling comes up, one must know, that is the beginning of some delusion anger, attachment, aversion or some thing else. Before that feeling gets strong, one should take a few deep breaths, to calm down his or her mind. Then recalling the fault and danger of being angry, one should try to change the direction of that destructive energy, in a more constructive way.Many unpleasant situations can be avoided by one,s skillful and timely intervention.By practicing values like patience, forgiveness, and compassion , one can open up his or her heart to others, and can accept situations more peacefully.
But that does not mean that, one should not take practical steps to improve the situations. But to expect that, ever thing should happen according to my will, is also not a very practical and wise expectation. We are not in control, of what happens to us , or we can not stop unwanted things to happen in life. But just by taking care of our own mind, and by controlling our thoughts, action and speech, we can elevate life and also can help others to evolve.
Our patient acceptance also help those, with whom we are being patient.Not being judged and being accepted , they may relax and come up to our expectation , with their good qualities.
Actually we should be thankful to our problem makers,  because for them we try to develop our inner strength and stability. Challenges inspire us to develop our  inner potentialities. With inner stability, one becomes calm, composed, and dutiful, never gets over whelmed in gain and victory, nor does he break down in loss and defeat.
Buddha,s mindful meditation helps to calm down mind effectively.Sitting straight, concentrating on inhalation and exhalation one can be still in body and mind, and also can be thought free and peaceful.Slowly the thought of "I" and "Mine" disappears, mind expands and embraces all with loving kindness. Thoughts may come like passing clouds. But as the sky remains unaffected by passing clouds,so is the meditative mind remains undisturbed by thoughts and remains ever peaceful. Simple and beautiful advise from Buddist scholar Atisha is for every body. He said, "All ways keep a smiling face, a loving mind , and speak truthfully with out malice." 

A Story of two friendly birds

A Story of two friendly birds

At some point in life, one question invariably comes in every mind; and that question is, “what can be the best way to deal with life?” To counter uncertainty of life, should I only accumulate more and more material possessions to safe guard myself? Or renouncement is a better option? Some people will prefer the middle path, may be that can be a better decision. Our ways may differ, but our aim is the same. We all want to be happy peaceful & secured. We may go on experimenting with many different paths; though success is not always guaranteed.  

In our ancient scriptures, often we find, difficult questions are answered simply through some attractive stories or through some similes. There is a Upanishadic story of two identical birds, which answers the above mentioned complex question in a simple but in a little mystical way.

The story says; two identical and friendly birds, are sitting on a same tree, one on a higher branch and the other one on a lower branch. The bird on the upper branch, is sitting peacefully, and watching everything around him. He looks calm, non-judgmental, relaxed and happy. But the other bird on a lower branch looks much disturbed. He is busy in eating sweet and sour fruits, which is making him happy and sad by turn.

Though he wanted to have constant joy, but the fluctuation in his emotions made him miserable. 

Being exhausted, he looks up. He finds his friend on the upper branch looking relaxed, happy and peaceful. He comes close to him. And a strange thing happens. Being very near to him, he finds lights coming out from his friend’s feathers, are being reflected beautifully in and around his own body; and making him instantly happy, cheerful, and relaxed. With this magical change he finds peace & realizes his inner identity with his friend. 

The message of this story is, to find true happiness in life, we must realize our oneness with our creator; from whom we come, by whom we are sustained, and finally who lovingly takes us back on his lap. Temporary activities of impermanent life have some relative value. They serve purpose in two ways. Firstly they satisfy our physical and worldly needs. Secondly, if they are performed with a pure mind, and good intention, then they can help us to evolve towards higher dimension.

Bhagwad Gita says, human beings have two dimensions; one is called para prakriti, which is our higher nature of intelligence & consciousness. This is very powerful & subtle energy. The other is apara prakriti, our lower nature, which connects us to the sensory world. They are inferior, because without support from para prakriti (consciousness & intelligence), they cannot be sustained, they are meaningless. Like body without soul, or matter without spirit have no meaning. All our worldly duties can bring freedom of joy, only when we constantly try to establish our inner connection with our creator through our worldly activities.

We create misery in life, by separating ourselves from our creator. Creator is not separate from his creations; he manifests in various ways through his creations. Being in body consciousness, when we forget our spiritual nature, our oneness with God, and take this impermanent world as the only truth, we feel miserable and make our dear ones miserable too. As Tagore said. 

“You lay buried in my heart, 

I failed to see you.

I cast my eyes out word,

Did not look within.” (Amar hiar majhe)

This impermanent life, is a play of light and shadow, joys and sorrows. They come and go. Paramahansa Yogananda said, “The inner fountain of our ever joyfull nature, only can make us happy; and which can be found through regular practice of deep meditations”. Many great philosophers, poets, yogi’s expressed the same truth in different ways. Buddha said,  Buddha nature is present in all; and anybody can have realize  his Buddha hood, by his own sincere efforts. Uttering the truth of Upanishad, Karma yogi Swami Vivekananda said, “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature external and internal.”

One may ask, in life, we have to work, make a living, and discharge our responsibilities. And when we work, interact with others, opposite feelings (like pain and gain; joys and sorrows) are bound to come up.   

 Bhagwad Gita says, we should not give up action, but must bring a change in our attitude. Mind must be trained to be stable, free from attachments and aversions. Unless mind is free from these delusions, we can never find truth. We can never be happy in worldly life, or in spiritual life. When work is done with pure intensions & with proper discriminating power, then work is sure to become sublime and will lead us to the path of freedom. 

Shri Rama Krishna, beautifully compared life’s activities with a boat, which carry us over to the other shore. The boat can cross the river safely, if there is no hole in it, and water cannot come in. Like that with perfect control over body and mind, one can cross the river of life, and can reach the shore of enlightenment safely. As Yogananda truly said, Roam in the world as a lion of self control, see the frogs of weaknesses do not kick you around.   

Handling Power

Handling Power

Power is stimulant energy; which works like an instant tonic and boosts up self-esteem in people’s mind. As power gives rights and responsibilities both; so a person with power, gets a great opportunity to do selfless service for others.

But problems start with powerful people; when they love to use their rights alright, but forget their responsibilities towards others, and miss the golden opportunity to act for well being of all. 

Power game is seen everywhere. Parents are more powerful then children, teachers are more powerful then students. High ranking officers, politicians, wealthy people, all hold power with different degrees. 

Some earn power with their own efforts, some are born with it, (being born in rich families), and some are lucky to get it by circumstances. When one tastes power, he does not want to lose it. So there is always an element of fear of losing power works in the subconscious minds of power holders. May be that is why, often they grab their rights and tend to be selfish, self-centered and arrogant. They easily forget their responsibilities towards others. Then power loses its shine and glory; and brings sufferings. 

Actually power itself is neither good nor bad. But good and evil results come by the right and wrong application of power. 

Mahabharat points out that, by purifying and strengthening one’s inner abilities, one can learn to handle power better.

To form any perception or to deal with externally acquired power; we use our two instruments, body and its sense organs and mind. Here by using three very significant Sanskrit words, Mahabharat explains, the right ways to handle power. These words are:-

“Mada”, “Dama” and “Sama”. “Mada” means pride, which comes with power and blurs the vision of the power holder, and he does wrong things, which bring lot of sufferings to all.  

“Dama” and “Sama” mean; perfect control over body and mind. It means having perfect control on body and mind one never gets influenced by pride or arrogance, and can discharge responsibilities successfully. To deal with anything successfully, one needs some prior training.

Keeping it in mind, in ancient Indian tradition, Kings always had some spiritual gurus, to guide them in right direction, so pride and power could not distract them from the path of performing their noble responsibilities towards their countrymen. Powerful kings like Rama, Bharata, Ashoka Shivaji and many others are known as “Rajarshi”, which means Royal Sages. They had great power, but they were trained to be mentally detached from pride, greed, and selfishness. Combination of power and rishihood (saintly qualities) made them Rajarshi. With little spiritual training, their concept of “I” expanded, it included all others in it. 

According to Bhagavad Gita, this value oriented attitude, can be developed by all. With little spiritual training,  self control and self introspection one can perform his duties better. Zen monk Thick Nhat Hanh said, “true mental health and happiness can only be obtained, if we throw out the notion of self, and relate to people in the light of inter being”. (The Path of Emancipation)

Today, we see misuse of power in every level of society. Corruptions, oppressions, injustice and exploitations are happening everywhere. Common people are often harassed by high officers, and are forced to give bribes, when they come for legitimate sanctions of some deals. Poor countries are often exploited by rich ones, and constant conflicts and tensions are being created all over the world.

Mishandling of power creates misunderstanding and conflicts, which can be stopped, if we care to develop little Rajarshi qualities in us.

Power gives us a great opportunity to do service selflessly. As a fruit laden tree, always bends down, like that one with power should learn to be humble, and should feel fortunate to get a chance to do something good. 

Bhagavad Gita teaches, one should perform all his duties as a trustee of God, and be humble by realizing that only with God’s will one gets some power and position to serve others. The world is to give. And by giving, one becomes truly rich. This is nature’s law. We see flowers bloom to bring fruits, water evaporates, to come back as rain and make this world green and fertile. Power of love is the greatest power on earth. With the touch of self-less love, all actions become sublime. As Tao wisdom truly says,

 “Mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power”. 

In glory of Guru

In glory of Guru

The Sanskrit word “Guru” means the person who dispels darkness of ignorance from our mind. In one famous Sanskrit shloka the Guru is placed at a higher position than God. God, who is the creator, sustainer and destroyer (Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh) is unreachable without the path opened up by the Guru. Hence the immediate and most critical role of the Guru is acknowledged as more important than anything or anyone else. Without a guru’s guidance, one cannot progress on the path of spirituality. When one is blessed by a satguru (true guru) appearing in one’s life, the guru not only takes on the task of guidance but also the karmic burden of the shishya (the disciple). And the momentous task of guiding us from ignorance to knowledge, from darkness to light, and from mortality to immortality is a selfless one.

Through worldly life, our vision generally remains clouded in ignorance under the influence of maya (illusion formed of material energies), and what we take to be real is but a fleeting material manifestation. What we take to be the self is also a similar accumulation of material energies. In forgetting our spiritual nature, we get attached to our false ego, and develop a sense of identity formed of labels rather than the essence of one’s soul and its path. As puppets of material energy, we manifest anger, pride, greed and other soul degrading impulses. When our soul’s multi-lifetime journey gets stuck in the mud of materialism, only a true guru can excavate us, and can get our spiritual wheel moving on the path to liberation. 

We may encounter many great teachers who come into our life to give us knowledge about specific skills that help us make a living, or even become better human beings as we operate in the external world. We respect and acknowledge them as shiksha gurus (teachers of skill-based learning). But a diksha guru is one who sets us on the inward journey of subtle energy realms and like a mirror, brings awareness of our imperfections, and the needs of one’s individual spiritual journey, and then provides us with tools drawn from self-experience and realization that move us forward. Our worldly joy and peace also depends much on our inner stability and purification of our mind. And only a true guru who is self-realized can provide us the training and the tools of inner purification. 

The Bhagawad Gita says that whenever virtue subsides, and wickedness prevails, God manifests from age to age, to establish virtue and to destroy evils (4/7).

The manifestation of God is said to take place in many forms – the concept of avatars is defined as a partial manifestation (anshavatar) or a complete manifestation (purnavatar).  Great gurus such as Parashuram are said to be anshavatars of God whereas Krishna is said to be a purnavatar. So God also manifests partially in the human form of true gurus, who manifest the six Godly qualities of splendor, virtue, glory, opulence, knowledge, dispassion and work as an instrument of God. Paramhansa Yogananda said, “a true guru, who has attained union with God, is qualified to lead others to the goal”. 

Such a guru, by transferring his spiritual energy (shaktipath), can bring in an instant, a spiritually uplifting experience that creates an enlightenment experience for the deserving disciple. 

As it happened in the life of Swami Vivekananda, who was an atheist and a non-believer in idol worship.  As a young man when he went to meet Sri Ram Krishna, with an intension of arguing with him about the existence of God. Sri Ram Krishna could read his mind and so without getting into an argument, wanted to make him experience a state of grace that was available to him. He touched him on his shoulder and in a moment, passed his spiritual energy to Vivekananda who instantly went into Samadhi for several hours. When he came out from his Samadhi, his lived experience of this state of grace transformed his being and through his guru’s grace, he experienced his higher consciousness and oneness with the supreme soul. Later in his life, he repeatedly mentioned that if in all his teachings, if he ever uttered a word of truth, it is not his but his guru’s. Such humility and devotion to his guru was the force for him to do great service for humanity all through his life. Such astonishing experiences have happened in the life of many enlightened souls. But spiritual progress happens only when disciple’s sincere devotion and effort matches with his guru’s sincere responsibility.

As in the originator of the lineage of Paramhansa Yogananda, Babaji had assured Lahiri Mahasaya (Paramhansa Yogananda’s guru), that “like a mother bird guarding her young; I followed you, as your soul sailed over the sea of life and death. And as you reincarnated, grew up, and began seeking God, I was ever there watching you”. 

Describing the sacred guru-shishya relationship, Paramhansa Yogananda said; the spiritual soul contact between guru and disciple is one of eternal, unconditional divine love and friendship, bearing no taint of any selfish consideration. Devotion to guru is not personality worship. We learn to breakdown the ego through the path of devotion. Success of spiritual sadhana depends 25% on devotee’s effort; 25% on guru’s guidance and 50% on God’s grace. 

To find a true guru is a very difficult task. Especially in today’s world, we find an over abundance of self-proclaimed gurus. They pull crowds by showing miracles (siddhis), or promises of liberation. But often they are not liberated beings themselves and are tied to worldly desires of fame and money. Yogananda ji said the path of spirituality is not a path of circus, neither can a blind person can show the path to another blind. So one must be very discriminative in choosing a real guru. 

The tradition of showing respect to guru, is a deep rooted concept in Hindu culture. Every year a day designated as Gurupurnima day (a specific full moon) is celebrated all over India for showing great respect to gurus. 

Devotion towards guru is beautifully expressed in few lines of Kabir’s (a mystic poet from the 15th century) doha (verse). He said “if guru and Govinda (God) stand together, I will bow down to my guru first, as he guided me the way to reach Govinda (God). Thus the path to God realization rests upon the abilities of the guru and the devotion of the shishya – that is a primary step on the path to spiritual enlightenment.

Edited by Prodeep Bose