The moon and our spiritual life

 The sacred day of Guru Purnima is celebrated every year in India. That day people honour their spiritual masters, seek blessings and express gratitude by offering flowers, fruits and donations to their respected gurus and seek their blessings. The day is also observed for introspection through meditation.

This age old tradition is being followed from Vedic times. It is believed the great sage Veda Vyasa, who compiled four Vedas, and wrote the epic Mahabharata, was born on that day. So the day is also known as Vyasa Purnima. Spiritual Yoga knowledge which started with lord Shiva was carried by Vyasa for the benefit of all. The day is also celebrated by Buddhists because Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon on that day.

“Guru Purnima” is a combination of two Sanskrit words. “Guru “means one who removes darkness and ignorance from students' minds. And “Purnima “means full moon". Every year, Guru Purnima day has special astrological significance,  when the earth has the most cool, positive energy of the moon and can help the human mind to be more receptive to spiritual knowledge.

This year the day was observed on tenth July, when I went to my guru Paramhansa Yogananda ‘s meditation centre and joined in group meditation, which was truly a blissful experience for me. On that special day, I also remembered two enlightened souls of India, Swami Vivekananda and Paramhansa Yogananda, who in their short life span, could inspire the whole western world with the immortal spiritual knowledge of India.

Swami Vivekananda went to America in the year 1893 to give his powerful speech at the World Parliament  of religions in Chicago. His powerful  speech, combined with his rich baritone voice and charismatic personality won the hearts of million of Americans instantly. He was the founder of Ram Krishna Mission, which does selfless services for health care, education, spiritual services and many social activities all over the world.

Yogananda went to the west in 1920. With his  powerful  and inspiring writing and lectures, he flooded the western world and introduced India’s ancient meditation technique, called “Kriya Yoga. “ “Kriya “is a special breathing technique (pranayama ), which awakens the chakras and brain. Through the practice of  kriya , the soul awakens to its divine nature, and feels its unity with divine spirit. He described the soul as a radiating ray of the infinite spirit, and said, “By practising Kriya Yoga , you carry a portable paradise within you.” He established the main S.R.F centre (Self Realisation Fellowship) in L.A. And now all over the world, Kriya meditation centres are established. He was also the first prominent Indian, hosted in the White House by the president in1927. His Autobiography Of A Yogi, is listed as one of the best100  spiritual book in the world, and translated into more than 25  languages and read by millions.

On the blessed Guru Purnima day with all  great gurus we also seek blessings of our parents and teachers, who shower unconditional love and guide us in life. On the sacred day of Guru Purnima, we pray that each soul can be the channel of divine light to bring peace and joy in today’s turmoil world.

The soul of a tree

I was pleased to know from my six year old grand daughter Emma, that her favourite pastime hobby is to swing by holding the hanging branches of a Banyan tree. It also happens to have been my favourite childhood activity too.

The reason the Banyan tree makes the best swings in nature is also why it has a special place in Indian literature and philosophy. The branches have the capacity to gradually touch the ground, go deeper into the soil to connect with the roots, and together they give strength and longevity to the main tree and create an extraordinary canopy of thick leaves and are among the largest trees on the planet. This unique characteristic of a Banyan tree conveys a beautiful metaphor used in Indian philosophy to describe the nature of consciousness - that while each branch is separate it also has the capacity to connect to the source and in fact, there is one consciousness even as it is embodied across a multitude of individuals. Man’s creation of artificial intelligence - which, like a banyan tree is interconnected and always learning and growing, is a shared construct. Is it our consciousness that powers intelligence or intelligence itself that becomes conscious? Or are they facets of something entirely larger. The Banyan tree works as a swing just as well as it works for a metaphor for consciousness of artificial intelligence.

Spiritual masters say, by stilling the mind through meditation, realisation of our  connectivity, and our one divine source  can be manifest in our mind. As the moon and stars get reflected on the calm surface of the water, by stilling the mind, one realises the divine connectivity of all living beings. That only makes us loving and compassionate to each other. Then only barriers between people, religion, and nations will begin to fall.  As the Sufi poet Rumi beautifully wrote “ you are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop “.