From My Spiritual Diary-32:

* The misfortune that befalls a man on account of his egotism can be realized if you only think of the condition of the calf. The calf says, ‘Hamma! Hamma!’, that is , ‘I, I’ ! And just look at its misfortune! At times it is yoked to the plough and made to work in the field from sunup to sundown, rain or shine. Again, it may be slaughtered by the butcher. In that case, the flesh is eaten and the skin tanned into hide. From the hide, shoes are made. People put on the shoes and walk on the rough ground. Still that is not the end of its misfortunes. Drums are made from its skin and mercilessly beaten with sticks. At last its entrails are made into strings for the bow used in carding cotton. When used by the carder, the string gives the sound, ‘Tuhu, Tuhu!’, that is ‘Thou! Thou!’ O Lord! It is Thou!’ It no longer says, ‘Hamma! Hamma!’ (‘I’, ‘I’). Only then does the calf’s troubles come to an end, and it is liberated. It does not return to the world of action. (Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa)

* Is not feeding people a kind of service to God? God exists in all beings as fire. To feed people is to offer oblations to that Indwelling Spirit. But that one should not feed the wicked, I mean people who are entangled in gross worldliness or who have committed heinous crimes like adultery. Even the ground where such people sit becomes impure to a depth of seven cubits. (Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa)

* Mother would say that it matters much more what the person who cooks, what the person who serves, thinks at that time. If he has beautiful thoughts and fine emotions, the food will be better digested, it will be more nourishing. (M.P.Pandit)

Meditation is a mysterious ladder

There are certain basic questions which everyone muses over at some stage in his/her life. What is the purpose of my birth? Why do some people have an easier time than others? Where did I come from and what is my destination? People often struggle to find the answers and those who do so get contentment. For this, one should dive deep ‘within’.

Yielding to worldly distractions, people seldom try to notice what goes on ‘inside’. If they contemplate, they will see that the mind is being constantly bombarded by sense perceptions. Very often, it is not until a person reaches a point of great distress that he realizes it is time to take stock of his life. It is in this context that meditation comes in. It is a practice by which there is constant observation of the mind. It is a mysterious ladder which leads from earth to heaven, from falsehood to truth, from darkness to light, from pain to bliss, from restlessness to abiding peace, from ignorance to knowledge, and from mortality to eternity (according to Swami Sivananda). It helps to discover that the infinite well of wisdom that lie inside men.

However, the mind is an elusive animal difficult to tame. Meditation creates positive channels in the mind and eradicates destructive influences. It is a scientific process but, the goal is spiritual. Through it the play of the mind can be seen. Good and evil, friend and enemy are all in the mind only. Every man can create a world of virtue or vice, pleasure or pain, out of his imagination. There is a power or an energy in each person and this can be tapped. Meditation unleashes this immense potential in each individual.

A virtuous life prepares the mind as a fit instrument for concentration and meditation. Without the aid of meditation, one cannot liberate oneself from the trammels of the mind and attain immortality. During this experiment (of meditation), worldly thoughts are shut out and the mind is filled with the divine presence. It is no doubt a trying discipline but intense training will bring success.

Swami Vimalananda, in a lecture, said that, in this spiritual exercise, thoughts should be fixed on God and the mind gradually withdrawn from worldly objects. One can get the meditative mood easily if the practice is systematic during the same hours daily. But no violent effort should be made to control the mind; it should be allowed a little freedom for a while; divine thoughts should flow gently. After some time, one who takes to this path will realize that it acts as a tonic, opening the avenues of intuitional knowledge and helps develop a strong will-power – while an inner voice will guide him.

Courtesy: The Hindu, August 9, 1995

From My Spiritual Diary-31:

· It is said in the Bhagavata that the Avadhuta chose a kite as one of his twentyfour gurus. The kite had a fish in its beak; so it was surrounded by a thousand crows. Whichever way it flew with the fish, the crows pursued it crying, ‘caw! caw!’ When all of a sudden the fish dropped from its beak, the crows flew after the fish, leaving the kite alone. The ‘fish’ is the object of enjoyment. The ‘crows’ are worries and anxiety. Worries and anxiety are inevitable with enjoyment. No sooner does one give up enjoyment than one finds peace.
· Brothers may live happily, but they get into trouble when the property is divided. Dogs lick one another’s bodies, they are perfectly friendly. But when the householders throw them a little food, they get into a scrap.
· One cannot know the truth about God through science. Science gives information only about things perceived by the senses. (Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa)
· Think not about yourself but only for others. That is renunciation, that is religion, that is all. You have died, why do you think of yourself? Have you not given everything over to Mother? Why then think of yourself again? Never care for position. Give up all such ideas. Work is worship. Everything is in the life we live, not in position. Mother knows the heart and sees the heart and arranges things accordingly. Let your light so shine that everybody can see it. Let your work be silent and in secret and your Mother who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. The fowls in the air have their nests to rest, but the Son of man had nowhere to lay his head. Jesus had no position, and millions and millions of hearts are his place, or he is the place where millions of weary souls go for rest. (Swami Turiyananda)
· Even the very causes of all the pleasant and the unpleasant incidents in our lives are in fact parts of a jigsaw puzzle, which remains incomprehensible till the last piece falls into place. And that last piece is the regaining of our spiritual nature and the realization that we are essentially identical with the Lord who is omnipotent, transcendent and also immanent and that all existence is spiritually one. (Swami Atmaramananda)

From My Spiritual Diary-30:

· Success is for one who is flexible, accommodating – without compromising on principles – not for the rigid.
· The Divine alone is our friend, true support.
· To make your life meaningful, to reach your goal, you have to organize your life around your Ideal. Proceed to draw up the priorities as best permitted by your life circumstances.
· For an earnest seeker wanting to make a success of his life, there are no small things which can be neglected and big ones which alone are to be given importance. Remember it is the small which prepare you to handle the big. Your habits, your trends are shaped by the way you feel and act in apparently insignificant matters. They are the tests of your sincerity. And without sincerity you cannot truly hope to make a success of anything.
· It is better to avoid being unpleasant, unless you are forced to be frank or obliged to be forthright.
· We will not speak falsehood; we are not obliged to tell the whole truth in every situation, either. What is wholesome is that we do not mislead others. Silence is often the best way out. Indeed, for that, one must have a moral stature.
· If you are obliged to give advice, do it in a spirit of disinterested service. Do not claim unquestioning action in terms of your direction. Even if the person who approaches you is well intentioned, he may find himself too weak to act up or the situation may change. In any case, do not bind him to your advice. Best is to abstain from giving advice, except when imperative. (M.P.Pandit)

From My Spiritual Diary-29:

Ø It is pride born of ignorance that blinds our vision. In fact, glory pervades everything, but we cannot see Him because we are reluctant to cast off the veil of nescience that covers our vision. Remove the veil and you will find Him everywhere self-manifested.
Ø
Ø The name you take or the thought you have at the time of your death will determine your destination after death.
Ø
Ø At the time of death, a man loses his wits and becomes very much depressed. If he can but utter once the name of God at that time, it will be enough… He will have nothing to worry about as God will take charge of him. Unless one has acquired the habit of thinking of God constantly by long practice, everything becomes confused in the end on account of the pangs of death, and one cannot then think of God even once. So what is necessary is to recite His name, meditate on Him, and pray to Him constantly.
Ø
Ø We very often notice that people are in the grip of a terrible fright at the time of death; this happens because their minds are not absorbed in holy thoughts and are not centred on God… The glory of God’s name not only saves us from all these fears but also delivers us for all time from the clutches of death. (Swami Vijnanananda)
Ø
Ø It is the ideal man that is the ideal of man, and there is one way to achieve it – to strive for it in the manner in which others have striven, with their example shining before us. Such an ideal carries with it all necessary hope and encouragement; for, what man has done, man can do. (Prof.M.Hiriyanna)
Ø
Ø Life is a mission. Life is sacred. Treat life with the respect and care it deserves and life will treat you with the same consideration. Life is what you make of it. (M.P.Pandit)

From My Spiritual Diary-28:

() A public worker must be honest and above board. Don’t find fault with others. Rather, look at your own faults. Men cannot see and do not want to see their own frailties. They make all sorts of useless arguments to support their misdeeds.

() Every Indian will have to qualify himself to become a leader of men which means that he is to be a man of character, selfless, high-souled and large-hearted. And he has to love his countrymen. We have to train ourselves to work for the good of the people. One has to exercise self-restraint and remember God. He will give us strength to act.

() Selfishness has got the whole nation in its grip… He who sacrifices his life for the good of the many is truly alive.

() It is the duty of everyone to donate a certain portion of his earned ijncome for public welfare. For that is the law of nature. You will get back whatever you give.

() The goal of life is Self-realization. You should be content with getting what is barely necessary for sustaining your life, and do the work of God without any eye for reward.

() Every substance has three aspects: name, form and essence. So long as we are unable to transcend the realm of name and form, we cannot reach the core of Truth or the essence. It is only when we realize the Atman (Self), the ultimate Truth behind all things, that we attain evearlasting peace.

() It is pride born of ignorance that blinds our vision. In fact, glory pervades everything, but we cannot see Him because we are reluctant to cast off the veil of nescience that covers our vision. Remove the veil and you will find Him everywhere self-manifested.

From My Spiritual Diary-27:

Ø The best time for meditation is midnight. You can achieve results very soon by practicing meditation at that time. Nature is in a quiet mood then and that makes concentration easier.
Ø
Ø Look, God is all-pervading and all-powerful. There is nothing that cannot be granted by Him. Whatever people seek from Him, He supplies like a servant, as it were. That is the reason why one should not ask Him for anything. You should remain satisfied with whatever He is pleased to give on His own.
Ø
Ø Why should you pray to Him for paltry things like worldly riches? Pray to Him that He may give you strength to become pure and unselfish, and the power to realize the Truth.
Ø
Ø It is the desire that is the root of all evil. You cannot have contentment so long as you are subject to worldly desires. When the desires are gone, you are free.
Ø
Ø After death, worldly desires continue to remain in a subtle form. Death only destroys the gross body, but the senses, mind, and intelligence all remain in a subtle form. In that subtle body, sense enjoyments are all the more acute. After the subtle state comes the causal state, even then the mind and other phenomena exist in a form of “seed”.
Ø
Ø Desire is the cause of rebirth. If you get rid of all your desires, you will not be born again.
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Ø My only advice to you all is to forsake idleness. An idle brain is the devil’s workshop. You must do everything with concentration and diligence.
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Ø The world is not a place where we can afford to be inactive and lazy. It is only when you devote yourself to work with no selfish end in view that you can have real comfort or rest. Go on doing your work like a brave man. The western nations make good use of their time, and therein lies the secret of their strength in this world. If you, too, make good use of your time, you would achieve great results. God is behind you. Always remember Him in everything you do. Every action has its inevitable result; we cannot afford to forget that.

From My Spiritual Diary-26:

Ø One who can detach his mind from material things will see the light of God and His presence in everything. Worldly attachments draw people away from God and scorch them in the wild fire of the world.
Ø
Ø Repeat His name, my brother, repeat it as much as you can. You will have nothing to fear.
Ø
Ø God is Truth, and to realize Him you have to be completely truthful in your words and deeds. Hold fast to the way of truth, do harm to no one, and God will draw you to His sheltering care. Truth must be adhered to strictly. There should be complete harmony between preaching and practice. What comes out of your lips has to be acted upon. You cannot realize God unless you are perfectly and transparently sincere.
Ø
Ø What would you gain by listening to numerous discourses on God? After listening to one or two discourses that may appeal to you, plunge yourself in spiritual practices. It will not be any use if you hear a lot and do not act up to anything of it. You should make every endeavour to reflect in your life whatever little you have heard.
Ø
Ø What you require is a good deal of faith, reliance and patience; and with all this, you will gradually reach the goal. You should hold fast to faith and never lose it.
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Ø Faith is the foundation of spiritual life.
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Ø Purity, Truthfulness and Honesty should make the corner-stone of your life. And there should be Faith. With these, a man will have contentment in life, whatever circumstances he may happen to be in. Contentment in all circumstances is the mark of religious life. (Swami Vijnanananda)

From My Spiritual Diary-25:

Ø Never give way to evil thoughts. When they creep in, repeat the name of the Master fervently and you will be rid of them.
Ø
Ø Unless one can restrain one’s passion, anger etc. it is impossible to get anywhere near God. One’s duty is to lead an honest, pious and selfless life and above all to conduct oneself as the servant of God. … You should serve the people without hoping for anything in return. If you remain steadfast in your faith, have no prejudice against other faiths and hold fast to truth, then the Divine Mother will guide you and lead you on steadily irrespective of the situation you may be in.
Ø
Ø You should pray to the Mother to make you pure in heart. She will set things right. Make your heart pure and everything will be all right in due course. When purity of heart is attained, you will have a taste of spiritual joy. That joy is incomparable. The worldly pleasures are but a speck of dust when weighed against that mountain of concentrated joy.
Ø
Ø The man who has lost his moral character is really dead… One who has lost his moral anchorage will suffer for it in many, many lives to come.
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Ø When the mind is overcome with evil thoughts, it becomes dejected and inactive like a mouse in the grip of a cat. But why should you suffer it to be like that? In such situations, you should summon up within you the strength of a lion and shake off all evil thoughts. It is no excuse to say that your mind is not unde5r your control. Why should you let your mind take the upper hand?
Ø
Ø You are the master of your own mind; keep it pure.
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Ø The greatest duty of man is to keep his mind centered on God. With every breath, we should think of Him.
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Ø The function of the heart is to love and that of the head is to discriminate between truth and untruth, between what is and what is not. Love and discrimination have to be combined. For the realization of God, both are necessary. (Swami Vijnanananda)

From My Spiritual Diary-24:

Ø Man has these three attitudes: animal-like, man-like and divine. Demoniac attitude and animal-like attitudes are the same – that is, extremely selfish. The divine attitude is its opposite, selfless. Everything will have to go from the animal state to the divine state one day. That is why the Lord is enumerating the traits of both. When this is known, one can understand one’s own state of mind and that of the others. All these are milestones in the divine life. One should know them by heart. (Mahendranath Gupta, author of ‘The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’, after reciting Chapter XVI of the Gita, gives the above meaning).
Ø
Ø One should exercise control over the tongue. SHAMA (Mental Restraint) and DAMA (Control of the Senses) are divine qualities.(Gita 10:4)…. Many people take a vow of silence for practicing self-control. It is a must. (Mahendranath Gupta)
Ø
Ø Be simple and truthful. Whenever you find time, you should meditate. You should make your utmost effort to practice it. Only then can you succeed. Simplicity, truth, vow of silence and sweet speech – all these must be practiced. (Mahendranath Gupta).
Ø
Ø …Since you have taken refuge in the Master, you are on the right path. He came to the world to save people. Go on repeating his name and peace will be yours. All the sins of the body and the mind are washed away if one looks at him for some time. He can see through your mind; he understands everything, confide in him. But don’t approach him with selfish desires….He will do what he thinks is good for us…. The purer a person is, the more will the Master reveal himself to him. (Swami Vijnanananda)

From My Spiritual Diary-23:

Ø Weakness is an innate tendency in human beings. If you say, “I am weak, I am weak,” the weakness will not go away. Rather, a person can become strong by wholeheartedly cultivating positive thoughts: “Why should I be weak? I must be strong.”…. Shun that thing immediately which you think makes you weak. Accept the thing with earnestness which you think will make you strong. (Swami Turiyananda)
Ø
Ø Everything happens by the will of God. This may lead one to think that the individual has no scope for moral effort. This is not correct. The individual is given a limited freedom to function within certain limits. Suppose a person has a calf. He ties it to a peg with a long rope to grace round about. It is given the freedom to go up to a certain extent but not further. If it exhausts the grass, then the owner either lengthens the tether or removes the peg to another place. So also, we are given a certain amount of freedom which we all feel within and which our moral nature helps us to intuit. If we use it properly, we evolve into higher and higher stages and if we do not, we stagnate and degenerate. Our higher evolution depends on our proper use of this limited freedom.
Ø
Ø How are we to know God’s will? Let us take that He has kept it away from us in His wisdom and let us not pry into it. To know God’s will beforehand is to paralyse moral effort through which alone man evolves. God has given us the power to strive for what is right and He has given us the scriptures to enlighten us as to what is right and good. With the aid of the scriptures, we must strive to our utmost, and we shall know God’s will, at the end, when success or failure attends the effort. Whether it be success or failure, we have to take it with resignation, that is without elation or depression, accepting the ultimate results of our efforts as God’s will. So we can know God’s will only at the end and not beforehand, and it is good that this is so, we were to know for certain beforehand that we would die at the end of a year, it will paralyse all our actions and even make life a bundle of fears. But if we accept in a general way that we shall die only when God wills, without however knowing when His will is going to be operative, we shall face even dangers without fear, and when death actually comes we shall be well prepared for it. (Swami Tapasyananda)

Obstacles to Progress

Spiritual texts and those who have attained Self-realization (Jivanmukta) reiterate untiringly that man’s ignorance is the root of his bondage. This can be likened to a parent teaching his child a lesson any number of times with patience till it learns. It is out of concern that both the Jivanmukta and the parent take such pains to repeat what may seem so simple and obvious repeatedly. A Jivanmukta’s compassion for the suffering humanity is boundless and hence he guides those who seek his guidance by explaining in ways each seeker can understand that ignorance about the true nature of the Self (Atman) is the cause of his sorrows.

In his discourse, Sri P.M.Vijayaraghava Sastrigal said as it was difficult to undertake austerities like yoga intensively in this age, a spiritual aspirant should follow the recommended practices in daily life to the extent possible. Like the tortoise which won the race by overtaking the hare in the oft-related story, which highlights THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINED EFFORT, a seeker of liberation has to WORK TOWARDS IT STEADILY THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE. Even if success may come only after several lives, each step taken towards the goal will take him steadily towards liberation and so he must strive relentlessly without resorting to quick-fix solutions. It is important to remind oneself that no effort in this direction is in vain.

One desirous of liberation must also know the impediments to spiritual progress. There are so many distractions that if one fails to check them it is very easy to stray from the spiritual path without one’s realization. Broadly, everything that is non-Self (Anatma) is considered detrimental to the goal of liberation and one must know how to overcome them.

It is essential to be patient also because it is a continuous process requiring alertness in life situations. Besides, the effect of one’s past Karma will also cause obstacles which one must be cautious of. This can be in the form of latent tendencies in the mind which will impel one to act in ways that are detrimental to spiritual progress.

It is also necessary to remind oneself constantly that one is responsible for one’s situation in life.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, February 6, 2008 (Religion)

Gems from Swami Vivekananda-9:

Be brave and be sincere; then follow any path with devotion, and you must reach the whole. Once lay hold of one link of the chain, and the whole chain must come by degrees. Water the roots of the tree… and the whole tree is watered.

Gems from Swami Vivekananda-8:

The foundation of all knowledge is in every one of us.

The Eternal Conflict

The Vedas are the manual for human beings to follow the path of righteousness and attain salvation. Scriptures enjoin a methodical and disciplined life while prohibiting certain actions that are not righteous. The Vedic vision lays emphasis on spiritual upliftment through rejection of material values. Among the four Purusharthas or goals of human life – Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire) and Moksha (liberation) – wealth and desire are tangible and perceptible, while Dharma and Moksha remain beyond one’s perception and senses. That is why human beings are drawn towards wealth and desire though salvation is not attainable without dharma.

Though wealth seems to be a source of joy when it becomes a cause of worry, anxiety, pain and sorrow, pursuit of wealth and desire becomes a habit with many and this ubiquitous drive brings about a general fall in values. Since human beings have the right of free will, one has to be careful in exercising this privilege so that moral value is not violated, said Swami Satyavratananda in a lecture in Chennai.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains in detail the divine and demonic traits that inhere in human nature and this is symbolic of the eternal conflict between evil and good. The distinctive qualities of those who seek divine perfection and of those who aim for power, glory and easy life are enumerated and it is pointed out that divine qualities lead to salvation while demonic traits led to bondage. It is also implied that it is easy to accumulate sin through bad deeds that are done because of ignorance. Since sin obstructs spiritual pursuit one has to avoid sin.

Evil tendencies are predominant in demonic people and these are reflected as lack of respect to God, Vedas, truth or Sastras. There is a blurring of the sense of right and wrong because of egoism and confusion regarding what is to be done and what to be avoided. Defiance of Vedic law deprives one not only of inner purity but also purity of thought and word. Honest self-appraisal can bring to focus both evil and good tendencies in the individual who can consciously avoid the evil and cultivate the good.

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, Feb.4, 2008