Holy words of Swami Vivekananda - I

He is an atheist who does not believe in himself. The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himself.

---Vivekananda

The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves. That faith calls out the divinity within. You can do anything. You fail only when you do not strive sufficiently to manifest infinite power. As soon as a man or a nation loses faith, death comes.

---Vivekananda

Faith, faith, faith in ourselves, faith, faith in God, this is the secret of greatness. If you have faith in all the three hundred and thirty millions of your mythological gods, and in all the gods which foreigners have now and again introduced into your midst, and still have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you. (III. 190)

---Vivekananda

Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin-- to say that you are weak, or others are weak. (II. 308)

---Vivekananda

Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, you will be. If you think yourselves strong, strong you will be (III. 130)

---Vivekananda

Be free; hope for noting from any one. I am sure if you look back upon your lives, you will find that you were always vainly trying to get help from others, which never came. All the help that has come was from within yourselves. (II. 324)

---Vivekananda

Never say, `No'; never say, `I cannot', for you are infinite. Even time and space are as nothing compared with your nature. You can do anything and everything, you are almighty. (II. 300)

---Vivekananda

Ye are the children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth-sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal. (I. 11)

---Vivekananda

Never mind the struggles, the mistakes. I never heard a cow tell a lie, but it is only a cow-never a man. So never mind these failures, these little backslidings; hold the ideal a thousand times; and if you fail a thousand times make the attempt once more. (II. 152)

---Vivekananda

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength. Teach men of the strength that is already within them. (II. 300)

---Vivekananda

If there is one word that you find coming like a bomb from the Upanisads, bursting like a bomb-shell upon masses of ignorance, it is the word, fearlessness. (III. 160)

---Vivekananda

If you look, you will find that I have never quoted anything but the Upanisads. And of the Upanisads, it is only that one idea strength. The quintessence of the Vedas and Vedanta and all lies in that one word. (VIII. 267)

---Vivekananda

Be strong, my young friends, that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to heaven through football than through the study of the Gita. These are bold words, but I have to say them, for I love you. I know where the shoe pinches. I have gained a little experience. You will understand the Gita better with your biceps, your muscles, a little stronger. (III. 242)

---Vivekananda

This is the one question I put to every man .... Are you strong? Do you feel strength? - for I know it is truth alone that gives strength. ... Strength is the medicine for the world's disease. (II. 201)

---Vivekananda

This is the great fact: Strength is life; weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery, weakness is death. (II. 3)

---Vivekananda

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Example of saints

We must cultivate intense yearning for God – the unceasing, uncompromising quest for God that we find in the lives of saints and sages. Sri Caitanya was a great scholar in has younger days. But at the prime of has youth he underwent a sudden conversion and became an ardent lover of God. His love for God was so intense that he could not forget Him even for a second. His whole life was spent in spiritual inebriation. His ecstatic devotion finds its expression in a small poem he wrote in which he says:

          Ah, how I long for the day

          When, in chanting Thy Name, the tears will spill down

          From my eyes, and my throat will refuse to utter

          Its prayers, choking and stammering with ecstasy,

          When all the hairs of my body will stand erect with Joy!

          Ah, how I long for the day

          When an instant’s separation from Thee, O Govinda.

          Will be as a thousand years,

          When my heart burns away with its desire,

          And the world, without Thee, is a heartless void.

          Prostrate at Thy feet let me be, in unwavering devotion

          Neither imploring the embrace of Thine arms

          Nor bewailing the withdrawal of Thy Presence

          Though it tears my soul asunder.

          O Thou, who stealest the hearts of Thy devotees.

          Do with me what Thou wilt –

          For Thou art my heart’s Beloved, Thou and Thou alone.10

          Prahlada was an example of the saints praised in the Puranas. Even from childhood he had intense devotion for Lord Visnu. His demoniacal father tried all In his power to turn the boy to the worldly path. But the young boy braved all the cruel ordeals an went on with his ecstatic praising of the Lord. When the Lord appeared before the boy and asked him what he wanted, he said:

May I think of thee with that strong love which the ignorant cherish for the things of the world, and may that love never cease to abide in my heart. 11

        

My Lord, should thousands of births fall to my lot, may I still always possess an unshakable and unflinching devotion to Thee. 12

          In modern times Sri Ramakrishna stands as an unparalleled example for intensity of yearning for God. His longing for the vision of God in all His aspects was so great that he didn’t sleep for six years. He spent his time day and night in various spiritual moods which were so intense that people thought that he had become mad. His was indeed divine madness. In the book The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna which contains his authentic teachings and conversations, we find the idea of yearning for God stressed very much. Indeed we may say that it was the chief discipline that Sri Ramakrishna prescribed for all aspirants. The following passage is a typical example.

The Master (to Bankim and others): One must have for God the yearning of a child. The child sees nothing but confusion when his mother is away. You may try to cajole him by putting a sweetmeat in his hand; but he will not be fooled. He only says. ‘No, I want to go to my mother.’ One must feel such yearning for God. Ah, what yearning! How restless a child feels for his mother! Nothing can make him forget his mother. He to whom the enjoyment of worldly happiness appears tasteless, he who takes no delight in anything of the world-money, name, creature comforts. Sense pleasure-becomes sincerely grief-stricken for the vision of the Mother and to him alone the Mother comes running, leaving all Her other duties.

Ha, that restlessness is the whole thing. Whatever path you follow, whether you are a Hindu, a Mussalman, a Christan, a Sakta, a Vaisnava, or a Brahmo-the vital point is restlessness. God is our inner Guide. It doesn’t matter if you take a wrong path-only you must he restless for Him. He Himself will put you on the right path.

Besides, there are errors in all paths. Everyone thinks his watch is right; but as a matter of fact, no watch is absolutely right. But that doesn’t hamper one’s work. If a man is restless for God he gains the company of sadhus and as far as possible corrects his own watch with the sadhus’ help ……..

Bankim (to the Master): ‘Sir how can one develop divine Love?’

Master: Through restlessness-the restlessness a child feels for his mother. The child feels bewildered when he is separated from his mother, and weeps longingly for her. A man can weep like that for God he can even see Him.

At the approach of dawn the eastern horizom become red. Then one knows it will soon be sunrise. Likewise, if you see a person restless for God, you can be pretty certain that be hasn’t long to wait for His vision. 13

All the intimate disciples of Sri Ramakrishna had this burning passion for God. Balaram was one among them. His first meeting with Sri Ramakrishna is very revealing.

The day following his arrival in Calcutta, he started for Dakshineswar. There was a great crowd in the temple-garden owing to the presence of Keshab Chandra Sen and his Brahmo followers. Balaram sat in a corner of the Master’s room, and when the party went to cat, Sri Ramakrishna called to him and enquired if he had anything to ask, ‘Sir,’ said Balaram, ‘does God really exist?’ ‘Certainly’, replied the Master. ‘Can anybody realize Him?’ ‘Yes,’ said the Master, ‘He reveals Himself to the devotee who thinks of Him as his nearest and dearest. Because you do not get any response by praying to him once, you must not conclude that he does not exist, ‘But,’ again interrogated Balaram, ‘why can’t I we Him when I peay to Him so much?’ Sri Ramakrishna asked with a smile: Do you really consider Him as dear to your heart as your own children/’ ‘No, Sir,’ said

Balaram after a moment’s pause, ‘I never felt for him so strongly.’ The Master said in an animated voice, ‘Pray to God thinking him as dearer than your own self, Verily, I tell you. He is most attached to His devotees. He cannot but reveal Himself to them. He comes to man before He is sought. There is none more intimate and affectionate than God.’ Balaram got new light from these words. ‘Every word of what he says,’ he thought within himself, ‘is true. Nobody ever spoke to me so forcibly of God.’ 14



Swami Yatiswarananda A monk from Ramakrishna monastic

Collected from a compiled book

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Divine discontent

We must rouse a tremendous divine discontent, the discontent the mystics of all ages speak of. Unless we are able to rouse in the soul this divine discontent which can destroy all our attachments to worldly things and desires, we will not be able to get real yearning for spiritual realization. There can never be any real peace in the world, though we must play our part in it as best we can. There must never be any kind of slackness in our striving nor any kind of satisfaction with our state of bondage. Such forms of satisfaction are very dangerous for all spiritual aspirants. We must consciously keep burning the fire of hankering and yearning for the higher life. We must never waste our energies for anything lower. We must never prefer the peace of lethargy to this restlessness for spiritual achievement.

There can be no security unless we have already proceeded very far towards the ultimate goal. Any devotee may come to grief or have a nasty fall at any moment before he has attained to self-realization. So we should never risk to much relying on our own strength before having advanced considerably.

Spiritual practice and prayer must be intensified. Constant prayer, day and night, constant meditation, constant thinking of higher thoughts would do us immense good. The mind of the beginner must be kept constantly busy with divine ideas so as to create the habit. After having created the right habit the path becomes smoother, and there is less strain in the life of the spiritual aspirant.

We must give our whole mind to God, not merely a bit of it. Sri Ramakrishna used to say: ‘If I want to buy a piece of cloth worth one rupee, I will have to pay one rupee and not one paisa less. Otherwise I shall not get it.’ So also in spiritual life, if you don’t pay full attention, you simply don’t get anything. If after practicing meditation perfunctorily for a few months or even years, you find that you have got nothing spiritually, you have nobody else to blame.

What we need is perseverance. There must be steady, regular practice. Let us rather die in the struggle to keep our body and mind pure than give it up. What does it matter even if we die? What matters is that we realize the Truth, that we attain our full stature, our utmost, we will have fulfilled our duty. Then the rest must be left to the Divine, Here true self-surrender and resignation to the Lord have their place.

The man who has intelligence for his charioteer and the well-controlled mind for reins, attains the end of the journey, that supreme abode of the Divine’, says the Katha Upanisad. We should never be contented or satisfied with ourselves and think we have done our best. It may have been our best for the time being, but we should pray to the Divine for greater and greater strength to be able to do more. Today I may be able to lift only ten pounds, but I can ask for the strength to lift a hundred pounds. My capacity can be increased, even if I think I have already done my best and I am doing my best, because this ‘best’ is not a fixed quantity.



Swami Yatiswarananda A monk from Ramakrishna monastic

Collected from a compiled book

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The power of reality

It is often very difficult to have yearning for God in the beginning, and the reason is that God does not seem a reality to us. With most of us this body is our soul, and it is for the enjoyment of this body on the material plane-it need not necessarily be a very gross form of enjoyment-that we are most anxious. Religion to most of us is something highly amateurish and a kind of fashion, just like so many other fashions. But if some day, through our spiritual striving. God comes to be a reality, we feel that our whole being responds to that reality and longs for it alone. If the world is real to us, it absorbs our entire attention. If something else is real, that too does the same. That which we take to be real for the time being affects us, stirs up our feelings, draws out our will, it occupies our whole intellect. In fact, our whole being responds to this reality.

If we carefully study our own lives and the lives of saints, we find a great difference. It is the ‘reality’ that affects the minds of both, both, but the reality is something different to the saint from what it is to us ordinary people. To us this world is real; to them the spiritual world alone is real. Their whole life is filled with this one idea: how to realize the Divine, how to make Him a reality instead of an intellectual and vague concept. if we are able to appreciate what the saints call ‘reality’, we can also appreciate why they are ever ready even to lay down their lives for the sake of God-realization.

We should not, however, blindly imitate the saints. They may appear rather unconventional or strange in their behaviour. But, as we have said, all their thirst for God is based on a clear conception of reality. Those of us for whom this sense-bound world alone is real, should be careful in our spiritual struggles. For us success largely depends on the regularity and intensity of our daily spiritual practice. Very often we are so careless in this. Without steady practice nothing can be attained in spiritual life. Spiritual life must be a life of dedication to the Highest, a life of consecration and sacrifice and one-pointed ness. So, we should be more wide-awake and more careful about our own thoughts for our own benefit and fore the benefit of others to whom our thoughts of just, greed or violence are worse than poison-gas. Indeed, the havoc we create by our impure thoughts is far worse than that created by poison-gas. By our impure thoughts we affect people who do not even know impurity. But by our pure thoughts we help others in their struggle after purity.

Swami Yatiswarananda A monk from Ramakrishna monastic
Collected from a compiled book

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Strive for the Highest

We all have an opportunity to follow saner and better ways, but we cling to our particular toys and do not let go our hold. So we have to suffer, and we suffer until we learn the great lesson life teaches us again and again, in innumerable ways, and come to act wisely. Just as most people try to achieve their worldly ambitions and ideals, we should strive for spiritual life and illumination, but this most people won’t do. And it depends solely on our own choice whether we take up the worldly life or the spiritual life, whether we lead a life of slavery and fear or that of freedom and fearlessness.

We must strive to achieve something that is higher, that is not subject to change and decay. But we very often choose the path of avidya (ignorance) willfully and deliberately because we cling to our phantoms of physical and emotional enjoyment which, after all, we shall have to give up sooner or later. We all, one day, must let go the hold, and if we do not do this of our own tree will, the toy will be torn away from us, and this will mean great sorrow, and in many cases, a broken heart. For most people this is the only way in which they can be made to learn their lessons, but it is very painful and usually takes many lives. We should try to live a spiritual life, knowingly, consciously, deliberately, in a spirit of dedication and singleness of purpose. This will of ours may be directed towards the higher channels of life or towards the lower ones just as we please.

          If we are able to rouse tremendous enthusiasm in our-selves for the goal to be attained, then only shall we get the necessary energy to strive for it and do our utmost. In the world of the spirit you very often find people with a chaotic brain. They do not care to follow any definite system, and like to drift on the boundless sea of their emotions and impulses. So they attain attain practically nothing, in fact, just as little as the out-and-out worldly-minded people do. No person with a muddled brain can have any success in the world, and much less so in the spiritual world. Settle once for all what you really want. Very often we want to attain peace, but follow a path that can only end in restlessness and trouble. There is a saying in Bengal: There are some people who, when they want to go towards the east, start walking towards the west; and if you ask them why they do so, they reply, “Because I want to go towards the north.”

Swami Yatiswarananda A monk from Ramakrishna monastic
Collected from a compiled book

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No lasting satisfaction in the world

Very often when we get a thing, we find that we never really wanted it. We may have been seeking it, but when we get it we may actually find that the desire has vanished, and some other desire has taken its place. Many people mistake the true nature of their yearnings and giver them worldly direction, whereas in reality no human yearning can ever find satisfaction in anything that is not permanent and unchanging, however much people may try to deceive themselves on this point. The old void haunts them again and again and mostly in a more terrible and relentless form than before. People seek happiness outside in external objects, in the physical aspects of men and women. But true happiness lies within ourselves; it is our inalienable heritage. External things can never bring time. We commit the mistake of looking at a certain span of time instead of looking at the whole of our lifetime. Temporary happiness there is, no doubt, in worldly relations, in human love and human affections. But temporary happiness can never mean real happiness, rather it is the opposite of it. True happiness is the intrinsic nature of the inner Self. Let us Have the desire to know our nature, to know our true Self. In Self-realization alone lies real blessedness.

         Even though the higher Self of man is a part of the Divine and is actually inseparable from it, still the devotee gives more importance to God than to his own soul. To him God alone is the repository of all peace and blessedness. We should try to look within and find Him seated within our own hearts. This body of ours is the living temple of God. This is a conception we find stressed again and again in all the scriptures. The best temples of the Divine are, however, the great prophets and seers. That is why they exert the greatest influence. Those who have realized the Truth in their own souls alone can teach others the way to realization. The Lord is always at the back of our minds, at the back of our personality, and only if we can pray with a fervent heart will the prayer be heard, otherwise not. We should never think in terms of worldly understood, is no real index of spiritual life, no proof whatever of spiritual progress or realization. Spiritual happiness is of a different kind, it is the ‘peace of God which passeth all understanding.

          We should not ask God for the things of the world. Suppose He grants them. The material things may bring troubles too. When we approach this great boon-giver we should never ask Him for worldly things connected with personal wishes and desires. We may approach the Lord just for saving our souls from getting drowned in the ocean of worldliness and infatuation for material things. Ordinarily, if we feel unhappy, we would rather adjust ourselves to our unhappiness and cling to our desires and fancies than change our ways and come to Truth and Bliss. We are so body-bound that we stress physical enjoyment more than anything else and are not prepared to renounce it. Rather we go on clinging desperately to its different forms although we get nothing but kicks and blows again and again. Such is the tremendous power of Maya or ignorance.

          The Great Father or the Great Mother is witnessing the children at play. It only when the child gets tired of its toys and childish occupations that the Lord really comes to it and draws it away from the play-land of illusion. Children play with sweets, with dolls, with toy-soldiers, with toy-houses, with toy-cars, and nothing can be done by the Lord until they get tired of these and turn away from them in utter disgust. God takes it as great fun. And then, one day, the child has become a little grown-up and cries, ‘What have I done with my life?, and the Lord says, ‘Yes, what have you done, my child? Who asked you to do it? Who asked you to get hurt and get entangled with your toys? Who did it all?’ And then very often it is already too late, and the child sits in the ruins of its shattered life and wails.



Swami Yatiswarananda A monk from Ramakrishna monastic

Collected from a compiled book

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Spiritual aspiration is a rare blessing

In the field of religion also there is a kind of aristocracy. The great saints and sages, the illumined souls in all religions, Form a class by themselves. But unlike worldly aristocrats, these spiritual aristocrats are always witting to share their riches with others. They are only to glad to give to others what they themselves enjoy. But the pity is few people care for the great treasures of spiritual life. Most of the people would rather wallow in the pigsty of the world than enjoy the cosy warmth of the spiritual mansion. You can tale a horse to the water, but you cannot make it drink if it does not want to. So you need not look around to see how many people are following the spiritual path. If and try to fulfil its conditions. If others don’t pay any heed to that call, you cannot do much about them. A parting of ways is inevitable in spiritual life.

Samkaracarya says; ‘A human birth, desire for emancipation, and contact with holy men-these three are very rare and are attained only through the grace of the Lord.” But even these three advantages are not enough. We must be eager to profile by these and must be willing to sacrifice everything for spiritual life. There must be the readiness to undergo any hardship, pay any price, to achieve the supreme goal of life.

We should look upon it as a great fortune that, for some reason or other, our mind possesses an attraction for the higher and eternal things, and should see that we steadily and gradually proceed along the higher path, never flagging till we reach the goal. Our spiritual fervour is to be maintained, but we very often run the risk of becoming slack. Thus spiritual striving stops in most people after they have taken to the spiritual life for a certain time. Their minds are too restless and too outgoing to keep up this spiritual fervour and intensity for a very long time, and to go on steadily and doggedly with their spiritual practice and readings and studies. So we should be on our guard. Dogged tenacity is the one thing needed for spiritual life. All progress can only be had through great steadiness and tenacity, never allowing ourselves to flag or to become lukewarm. Wordsworth says in one of his famous poems, ‘Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting.’ In another ode, he says, ‘The world is too much with us; late and soon, getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.’ We should not spend all our tine in this state.

Swami Yatiswarananda A monk from Ramakrishna monastic
Collected from a compiled book

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Purushartha-The Purpose of Human Life

The world Purushartha is a derivative of two constituent words., namely Purusha (meaning the Self) and Artha (meaning the purpose or goal of life). The term is reflective of the fact that human life entails the pursuit of certain goals which makes it complete. This fact is resounded in the Dharmasastras Mahabharata. Early literary traditions dealing with the purpose of human life outlined the “Trivarga”, that is Artha, Kama and Dharma as principal goals of human life. However, generally the term Purushartha indicates the four values that must be incorporated in human life to make it meaningful. Manu identifies the four Purusharthas as Artha (wealth); Kama (pleasure); Dharma (virtue) and Moksha (liberation). The four Purusharthas have been the subject of much speculation and study resulting in canonical works of Indian philosophy like the Kamasutra of Vatsyayana (treating Kama, particulary as sensual grafication), the Arthasastra of Kautilya (treating Artha as material accomplishments), the Dharmasashtras of various authors, notably that of Manu (treating Dharma as religious, social and personal ethics) and the principle Sutras of the six orthodox schools of philosophy or Darshanas, all of which are concerned with the attainment of Moksha, often referred to as the Parma- Purshartha or chief end of human life. A life devoid of goals would be rendered meaningless, hence, an aspiration for the attainment of the four Purusharthas is essential. However, human beings should persevere to strike a balance in pursuance of the first three Purusharthas in order to realize the ultimate goal life… that is Moksha.

Artha

Artha refers to material possessions. It also signifies the acquisition of wealth and worldly prosperity. Artha contributes directly to the material well-being of an individual therefore, pursuance of the same entices human beings. Though it is generally agreed that Artha is required to fulfill the necessaties of life, one is expected to pursue it within consciously set limits so as not to give in to avarice. If Artha becomes the predominant goal of human life then the higher goals of Dharma and Moksha would remain steeped in Kama or the gratification of the senses and disregard the evolvement of the spiritual Self. One philosophical view on the pursuit of Artha suggests that the path of spiritual growth and that of material pursuits are not mutually exclusive. According to this argument the Universe is a reflection of abundance, that is, of God’s bounty. Therefore it is not necessary for a spiritual seeker to abandon all material pursuit and thrive in penury. Rather, if an individual is encumbered with thoughts of securing basic necessities of survival then his pursuit of spiritually may be adversely affected. However, it is important not to get attached to the acquisition of wealth. Artha must be pursued with a degree of detachment. Ideally, one should be able to rise above the obsession of generating material wealth and ought to pursue the attainment of Artha in moderation. This is possible when the human mind is disciplined to function without the desire of self-indulgence. One of the Pali texts tell us that one who enjoys one’s wealth as well as uses it in serving others enjoys abiding happiness. Kautilya echoed the same sentiment when he remarked that charity depended on wealth or Artha and is therefore important in a man’s life.

Kama

Kama is generally understood as the desire for pleasure. The Kamasutra defines Kama as the enjoyment of objects through the five senses, viz. that of hearing, feeling, seeing, tasting and smelling. Kama or the urge to satisfy one’s desire is a strong motivational force that influences human action. Manu identifies Kama as human desire which may assume various forms such as desire for wealth; power; recognition or sensual pleasure. The human soul must wade through the web of desires to reach the higher the web of desires to reach the higher spiritual level. It is advised that either one fulfills all desires then moves towards relinquishment of material bonds or transcends the desires lurking within and progress towards spiritual evolution. However, if one suppresses one’s desires it may vent itself in undesirable forms and related spiritual progress. The guidance of a spiritual mentor may enable one to harness Kama and forge ahead towards spiritual realization.  

Dharma

The term Dharma refers to righteous living. It may be understood as the duties that one ought to accomplish in one’s lifetime. The Mahabharata defines Dharma as an ethical concept that distinguishes the good from the bad, the right from the wrong. In Mimamsa Dharma is explained as that regulatory force which guides the acquisition of Artha and the enjoyment of Kama along the principles of righteousness. The human life is aimed at fulfilling certain duties and Dharma is the subtle essence that guides human action along the path of goodness and justice. A conscious practice of Dharma in all activities of life enables one to progress towards of Dharma in all activities of life enables one to progress towards Moksha. Dharma also refers to Varnashrma Dharma, that is choice of duty on the basis of one’s the basis of one’s aptitudes and stage in life.

Moksha

Srimad Bhagavad Gita outlines Moksha as the highest goal of human life. It is the highest stage in the spiritual evolution of man in which one is able to experience all happiness as streaming from within the Self. It is a stage in which realization of the Self, contentment with the Self, Self satisfaction and Self-fulfillment dawns on one. One who strictly observes the principle of Dharma in the attainment of Artha and enjoyment of Kama achieves the transcendental experience called Moksha. In this superior state the mortal spirit realizes its communion or Ekatvam with the Immortal Spirit. The individual self realizes that it is but a part of the supremeself. However, it is the Guru, who guides the individual to imbibe the principles of Dharma in all actions and goals of life thereby guiding one towards the attainment of Moksha. Without the divine guidance of a Guru, human action may waver from the path of righteousness and fail to attain the coveted end that is Moksha.

Smt. Narayani Devi

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Spiritualism: Some Thoughts

Although the notion of spirituality is shrouded in abysmal mystery, a good section of the society the word over has a firm belief in the existence of a spiritual world which has absolute control over the physical beings. All things, they believe, that happen to living beings during their worldly existence are by the will of someone with superhuman powers. Further, they consider that every life is a “dual being” consisting of two components-physical and spiritual(Kazlev:2005). The physical element, that is, the body disintegrates at death, but the spiritual component continues to remain exactly as it was, but in another form of existence. On the general eschatology, Richard Cavendish in the Encyclopedia of the Unexplained (1934:234) says, “The soul is a duplicate of the body…(and) the lodging house of the spirit, or animating intelligent principle… upon passing over, you find yourself still possessed of a substantial body…amid scenery similar to, though generally more beautiful than, that which you knew on Earth… there is no “judjement of the dead”, but persons who have led evil lives will find themselves drawn into squalid and degrading regions where others like them dwell and from which they need to be rescued by “higher spirits” dedicated to missionary work. They also believe that living beings can communicate with the spirits and get their blessings if pleased with prayers, sacrifices and other acts as commanded by the concerned dogma or belief. The spiritual or supernatural belief in the human mind is as old as the human race itself. This has been being continuously and variably interpreted over the years by different religious groups producing various dogmas. Today, these dogmas and doctrines are ruling the human mind although differently in different groups of believes. If we critically look at various acts carried out on the basis of spiritual faith, we find that cruel urge. We often hear of animals, sometimes even humans, being killed in the name of sacrifice to please Gods and Goddesses. We even witness elderly persons being brutally exterminated in public on the suspicion that they have been practicing witchcraft. We further find that some beliefs are diagonally opposed to certain others which often trigger communal disharmony between the groups. Such acts of cruelty and small- mindedness are but the result of the growth of conflicting and disagreeing spiritual, particularly religious beliefs. Perhaps, it will requires ages, may be a reincarnation of some great soul, to glorify these differences. Turning to the other side of spirituality-imagine you are alone at a tranquil time sitting on your sofa or lying on your bed, try to answer these- why does the room look as it is? The window is on the left, why not on the right? The door is one the right corner of the room-why not on the left? The tube light is one the left wall of your room, why not on the south wall? On a second thought, you find that because they were designed by some architect to be as they are. Now, answer these- why do you look as you are? A slender girl with a long nose, curly hair, dusky complexion, a pair of straight legs, a pair of dark twinkling eyes, and an amiable nature. Did you or your parents want them to be as they are? Presuming that your answer is, “I don’t know, I never did nor did my parents do”, your curiously to know is “Then who did these?” yes, there must be someone who wanted human beings to be having two legs with knees and two hands with elbows and fingers of various lengths and sizes, some hair on the top of the body, a heart and, of course, a soul to drive all these organs. The moment you are convinced that someone, some supernatural being must have designed and engineered the whole human body and infused the soul to it, you begin to believe that there is a creator who has created not only the human beings, but also all other living beings that you see around you. With this in mind, you start finding numerous reasons to believe and be convinced that there is a celestial world where these superhuman beings live and perform all these activities Once you reach the above stage, you find yourself to be developing a sense of piousness and loyalty towards your creator. Further, once you are convinced that the same creator is all powerful and can do so many things for you and the entire living world, you developing an innate willingness to approach with all your inner self. When you are satisfied with your prayer, you obtain a divine feeling and an enormous amount of confidence to live, to force any eventuality of life and to do your works. This is the most valuable thing that you obtain as a true spiritualist. The relation between life and death, I believe, should be taken as Sir Oliver Lodge(Raupert:1919) puts it,”…the short period of earth- life is sufficient to save or damn a soul…death has power to convert an ordinary man into either angel or demon…”

References *** Kazlev, M.Alan(2005): Spiritualism:added 13 May 2000, last modified 19 September 2005. Website: http://www.kheper.net/topics/bardo/spiritualism.html *** Cavendish, Richard (1974): Encyclopedia of the Unexplained; London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.pp.234. *** Raupert, J. Godfrey(1919): The new Black Magic. New York: Devin-Adair Company.pp.22-23.

 

Dr. Rajeev K. Doley

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The 108 Holy Names of Srimati Tulasi Devi

With the grace of my Gurudeva I am here quoting the 108 holy names of Srimati Tulasi Devi. In scriptures there are hundreds of examples describing the glory of the names of Sri Krishnapriya Tulasi Devi. If anyone chants these names in the evening along with watering Tulasi Plant and performing Arati and singing Tulasi Vandana, he/she will certainly get the pure bliss of Sri Bhagavan Krishna.

• Om Sri Tulasyai Namah                                
• Om Nandinyai Namah
• Om Devyai Namah
• Om Shikhinyai Namah
• Om Dharinyai Namah
• Om Dhatryai Namah
• Om Savitryai Namah
• Om Satyasandhayai Namah
• Om Kalaharinyai Namah
• Om Gauryai Namah
• Om Devagiitayai Namah
• Om Draviiyasyai Namah
• Om Padmiyai Namah
• Om Siitayai Namah
• Om Rukminyai Namah
• Om Priyabhuushanayai Namah
• Om Shreyasyai Namah
• Om Shriimatay Namah
• Om Manyayai Namah
• Om Gauryai Namah
• Om Gautamarchitayai Namah
• Om Treayai Namah
• Om Tripathagayi Namah
• Om Tripadayai Namah
• Om Traimuurtyai Namah
• Om Jagatrayayai Namah
• Om Trasinyai Namah
• Om Samshrayayai Namah
• Om Sarva Devatyai Namah
• Om Vishvashrayai Namah
• Om Sugandhinyai Namah
• Om Suvasasayai Namah
• Om Chandrabhagayai Namah
• Om Yamunaapriyayai Namah
• Om Kaveryai Namah
• Om Manikarnikayai Namah
• Om Archinyai Namah
• Om Sthayinyai Namah
• Om Danapradayai Namah
• Om Dhananavatyai Namah
• Om Sochyamanasayai Namah
• Om Shuchinyai Namah
• Om Shreyasyai Namah
• Om Priitichintexanyai Namah
• Om Vibhuutyai Namah
• Om Aakrityai Namah
• Om Aavirbhuutyai Namah
• Om Prabhavinyai Namah
• Om Gandhinyai Namah
• Om Svarginyai Namah
• Om Gadayai Namah
• Om Vedyayi Namah
• Om Gatrayai Namah
• Om Gtriyayai Namah
• Om Garbhavarinyai Namah
• Om Shobhanayai Namah
• Om Samyai Namah
• Om Dviradyai Namah
• Om Aradyai Namah
• Om Yagyavidyayai Namah
• Om Mahavidyai Namah
• Om Guhyavidyai Namah
• Om Kamaxyai Namah
• Om Guhyavidyai Namah
• Om Kamaxyai Namah
• Om Kulayai Namah
• Om Shriiyai Namah
• Om Bhuumyai Namah
• Om Bhavitryai Namah
• Om Savitryai Namah
• Om Saravedavidamvarayai Namah
• Om Sha.Nkhinyai Namah
• Om Chakrinyai Namah
• Om Charinyai Namah
• Om Chapalexanayai Namah
• Om Piitambarayai Namah
• Om Prota Somayai Namah
• Om Saurasyai Namah
• Om Axinyai Namah
• Om Ambayai Namah
• Om Sarasvatyai Namah
• Om Prabhayai Namah
• Om Sarasyai Namah
• Om Sarasivasayai Namah
• Om Sarasvatyai Namah
• Om Rasinyai Namah
• Om Kalinyai Namah
• Om Shreyovatyai Namah
• Om Yamayai Namah
• Om Brahmapriyayai Namah
• Om Shyamasundarayai Namah
• Om Ratnaruupinyal Namah
• Om Shamanidhinyai Namah
• Om Shatanandayai Namah
• Om Shitikanthayai Namah
• Om Prayayai Namah
• Om Dhatryai Namah
• Om Shri Vrindavanyai Namah
• Om Krishnayai Namah
• Om Bhaktavatsalayai Namah
• Om Gopikakriidayai Namah
• Om Harayai Namah
• Om Amritaruupinyai Namah
• Om Bhuumyai Namah
• Om Shri Krishnakantayai Namah
• Om Shri Tulasyai Namah

 

Smt. Shatarupa Dasi

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9 steps to go closer to God

We all worship God. We all want His company, we all try to go closer to Him. Here are 9 steps which helps one to systematically go closer to the pathway towards "Practice of the Presence of God":

    1) Listening to God's glories.
    2) Chanting and singing God's glories.
    3) Constant rememberance of God and His glorires.
    4) Service of the Divine in all beings.
    5) Ritualistic worship.
    6) Prostration and courtesy to all beings, seeing all beings as temples of God.
    7) Considering oneself as the servent of God.
    8) Freindship towards all-seeing God in all
    9) Surrender of oneself and everything to God
Saintofindia- Desk

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Guru Gita- Shloka I- An Explanation

  Akhanada- Mandalaakaaram Vyaaptam Yena Charachaaram. Tatpadam Darshitam Yena Tasmai Shri Gurave Namaha.  I offer my salutations to the reverent Guru who revealed to me the Truth that is indivisible, infinite, of timeless divinity and which pervades the entire universe – living and non living. Meaning of the words:  Akhanda – unfragmented/indivisible; Mandalaakaaram – one infinite whole; Vyaaptam – all pervading; Yena – by which; Characharam – movable and immovable/living and non living; Tatpadam – that state; darshitam – has shown; Yena – by whom; tasmal – to that; Shri—glorioius; Gurave—Guru; Namah—my salutations.  Guru Gita is a scripture that enfolds 182 verses and is authored by Sage Vyasa. It forms a core part of the Skanda purana. It is in the form a conversation between Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati in which the Lord explains the significance of a Guru who leads the disciple along the spiritual path, through alleys of darkness towards eternal light. It is believed by spiritual aspirants that a recitation of the Guru Gita heals the soul of its sufferings and ushers in lasting peace. The couplets of this sacred document are a repository of spiritual nectar that destroys all path towards self realization and absolute peace. The word Guru can be broken into two syllabus, Gu meaning darkness an Ru which suggests the force that dispels darkness. Sri Adi Sankaracharya in Sri Guru Ashtakam explains the significance of the word Guru in these words,  Gu karascha andhakaroo Ru sthan niroodhakrith, Ajnaana graasaka guru Brahmaiva na samshayaha  The first Shloka of the Guru Gita introduces us to the essence of the guru which is indivisible, which is omnipresent which pervades all things- living and non-living. Guru embodies the eternal truth and awakens a realization of the same in his disciples through either Paroksha Anubhuti (indirect realization) or Aporoksha Anubhuti (direct realization). The term akhanda refers to the undivided, invisible spiritual essence that is an attribute of the Guru. An invocation of this holistic essence cures all delusions of the human mind and bestows upon it the knowledge that the human soul is the inherently indivisible as it is but a component of the unfragmented spiritual essence.  Guru is a reflection of Brahman, who is eternal and indivisible. It is mentioned in the scriptures that Brahman is “ekam eva adviteemyam” meaning it alone exists and is indivisible. Hence the spirit of Guru is indivisible and everlasting. Brahman is all pervasive…and forms the very bedrock on which the entire universe rests. Just as an earthen pot is made of clay, likewise the universe is made of Brahman. In simple terms, if the existence of the earthen pot is attributed to the clay that creates it then the existence of the universe has to be accredited to Brahman. Guru who personifies the spirit of Brahman forms the essence of the Universe which constitutes of the living and the non-living, the movable and the unmovale.  The Guru, being an embodiment of the Brahman, symbolizes the ultimate reality. The Guru stands for “Tat Tvam Asi” which means the self-in its original, pure, primordial state- which is wholly or partially identifiable or identical with the ultimate reality that is the genesis of all universal phenomena. He leads the disciples towards a realization of the ultimate reality i.e., the Brahman through Paroksha Jnaanam and ultimately through Aparksha Jnaanam. Paroksha Jnaanam is evoked in the human soul when one realizes the Brahman through the words of guru Aporksha Jnaanam is a higher spiritual state in which one, by the grace of Guru, perceives oneself as embedded in the Brahman. Thus, the Guru cures us of our pandemic ignorance and showers on us the light of knowledge. Knowledge of who we are… how we are to relate to the world and how to achieve abiding peace. Most importantly, the Guru teaches us how to transcend the mundanities of the world and reach the abode of infinite bliss.  Guru and God are manifestations of the same Divine spirit. The Guru embodies both the Saguna (characteristics) as well as the Niriguna (qualities) of the Supreme Being. As the human mind may find it difficult to engage itself with an intangible essence, the scriptures guide the human being to seek refuge in the feet of a Guru and worship his physical body as the manifestation of the divine spirit and therefore worthy of devotion and veneration.  As an abstract creator, God eludes human imagination. When the divine spirit enshrines itself in a human temple, the human mind can relate to it more intimately. Thus, God assuming the form of a Guru leads us towards our ultimately destiny. He is a personification of the divine light that removes the darkness clouding our soul, i.e., Maya. He helps us to detach ourselves from materialistic pursuits and evokes the divinity within. It is the Guru unravels the spiritual splendor lying dormant within each human being and guides the human mind being towards realization of the absolute truth.

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Exploring Dream World and its Spiritual Connection

From time immemorial, dream is considered as one of the common is considered as one of the most common but fascinating experiences of mankind in general. It is an established fact that every one of us experiences dream during sleep but only a few remember it while others forget it completely. However till the beginning of nineteenth century, dreams were reflections of disturbed sleep. It was Freud, the famous psychologist / philosopher who revolutionized the concept of dream. Freud in his book titled “The Interpretation of Dreams” argued that the motivation of all dream content is wish-fulfillment.

However, Carl Jung another renowned philosopher did not exactly agree with Freud’s view, rather was of the opinion that the scope of dream is somewhat larger reflecting the richness and complexity of the entire unconsciousness, both personal and collective. Again Calvin S. hall considered that a dream images are visual representations of personal conception.

Now let us take a stroll down the memory lane and examine a few specific instances from the biography a few divine saints so as to co-relate the meaning and significance of dream, if any, from spiritual perspective or angle.

At first let us take a look at a very strange dream of Vrajavidehi Mahatma Swami Dhananjoy Das Kathia Baba Maharajji, when he was only five years of age. In that dream, during early dawn, he felt as if he is the incarnation of their family deity Sri Sri Radhamadhav. After that several years passed by. Swami Dhananjoy Dasji also got deeply engaged in following the rigors of ascetic life under his childhood dream. At that his Gurudev just smiled gently and replied “Can you not understand even a little bit of it? This dream is not just an illusion; however, its truth will unfold before you in due course of time”. It appears that Sri Radhmadhav Himself appeared before him to make him realize the strange but real truth. It cannot be simply a case of wish-fulfillment or sequence of thought for a small boy.

Similarly we learn from the biography of Sri Ram Das Kathia Baba Maharajji about a dream seen by one by one of his disciples, Sri Abhay-babu when he was staying at Gayadham. In the dream, he was Sri Kathia Babaji along with another saint. Sri Kathia Babaji told him by another pointing towards the other saint, “He is a very noble-minded saint, you can stay with him, His company would be very beneficial for you”. After few days Sri Abhay Babu came to Vrindavan and incidentally got introduced to Sri Bijoy Krishna Goswamiji and started staying with him. However, sometime later he could realize that Swami Goswamiji was none other than the saint he saw in the dream. At that Kathia Babaji over there and told him about the dream. At that Kathia Babaji immediately replied, “Yes, it was me who appeared in your dream. Now you could realize that the dream was a real one. You have also met the saint you saw in your dream. He is really a very honest saint, his company will do you a world of good. Come on, let me also meet him along with you”. Likewise Kathia Babaji used to appear before him or in other words it is Sri Kathia Babaji who is rather inducing Sri Abhay- Babu to see the dream. Here both the subject and the object of dream are conscious of the dream content.

Again let us take another instance from the biography of Sri Dhananjoy Dasji Maharaj. It was probably in the year 1933--a few months before the Vrajaparikrama was to begin. Sri Ananta Dasji Maharaj was deeply absorbed in meditation somewhere near the bank of river Narmada. There he saw a dream that his Gurudev had fallen sick. He saw the same dream consecutively for three nights. At that he became very anxious to meet his Gurudev and hence went to Vrindavan. But Sri Santa Dasji was not there and therefore he had to go to Shivpur where his Gurudev was undergoing treatment. The moment Gurudev saw Sri Ananta Dasji, he instantly got up and told the attending doctor that soon he would be cured without any medicine because his eldest son had arrived. So the dream Sri Ananta Dasji saw must be as a result of Gurudev’s wish and not the other way around.

In another instance we see that when the internal conflict between Ashram Committee and Swami Dhananjoy Dasji was at its peak, then on the night before fire broke out in the temple premises, Ma Anandamayee saw a horrifying dream in which Sri Thakurji(deity) of that temple appeared before her in a fire ravaged condition. However, she did not disclose this to anyone but could sense something very ominous.

At that time only, one devotee who was deeply absorbed in meditation at a lonely place somewhere near Guwahati, one night saw Swami Santa Dasji Maharaj in his dream and that matted hair on his head was cleanly shaved. The conversation that took place between him and Sri Santa Dasji is reproduced here in the form of question and answer and everyone came to learn about the dream from the letter that the devotee wrote to one of the sadhus staying along with Sri Dhanajay Dasji during that time.

Devotee- “Why are you looking like this? And why have you cut your matted hair?” (In fact, at that time Sri Dhananjay Dasji had cut his matted hair because of the tragic incident) Sri Santa Dasji- “I don’t need this now.” Devotee- “Are you aware of all events there at he Vrindavan Ashram?” Sri Santa Dasji- “Yes, I know.” Devotee- “Do you know that Sri Dhananjoy Dasjinis passing through a very difficult phase of mental agony?” Sri Santa Dasji- “Yes I know everything.” Devotee- “Can you not solve the problem?” Sri Santa Dasji- “Right now I can solve this.” Devotee- “Then why are you not doing anything?” Sri Santa Dasji- “I am just looking forward to my Gurudev (Sri Kathia Baba). Let see what he does.”

And then we learn that immediately after Sri Bijoy Krishna Dasji left for Vaikuntha, there was no one to carry the spiritual torch forward because during his lifetime no one was chosen for that purpose. After that, one of the disciples Sri Paramananda Saraswatiji one night got some spiritual instruction from his Gurudev in a dream and afterwards this was materialized through physical revelation of this Gurudev in subtle from.

Then again we come across a true and starting revelation of a dream in which one honest Vaishnudev Sadhu, Sri Madhavdasji of Brahmakunda at Vrajadham saw Lord Krishna telling him to meditate under a Kadamba tree at a place near Davanal Kunda during Brahma Muhurta (wee hours) on the Panchami Tithi (the fifth day of lunar cycle) and keep praying for Him and Lord Krishna assured him His of darshan (vision of God ) at that place.”

This Sadhuji narrated the whole dream to Mahanta Maharaj Sri Dhananjoy Dasji and requested him to allow him to meditate at that place which was under his supervision so that no one disturbs him during medidation or prayer. Accordingly, on the night before the Panchami Tithi, the Sadhu observed fast and sat under the Kadamba tree and started praying. He also kept some sweets in a bowl wrapped in cloth hanging from the branch of the tree in the hope of offering it to Lord Krishna. In the morning, everyone passing through that place saw Sadhuji still sitting there in deep meditation. But sometime later, this Sadhuji was seen lying down in a prostrating posture as if saluting God. On being asked by fellow devotees, Sadhuji told them to inform Sri Dhananjoy Dasji about his Darshan of Lord Krishna and that soon he would be leaving this mortal world. In the mean time Sri Dhananjoy Dasji also arrived at the place and some time later Sadhuji also left for the heavenly abode.

Similarly we learn from the biography of Swami Santa Dasji Maharaj that immediately after Swami Ram Das Kathia Baba had left this mortal world, one contractor was engaged for the ongoing construction work of the Ashram at Vrindavan. Swami Santa Dasji used to send money regularly from Kolkata for the construction work. But in between, for quit some time, he could not send money. By that time, the contractor had also spent some good amount from his own account. Sometime later, he also started doubting whether he would he get back his money or not. A few Vrajabasi also started instigating him by telling, “Afterwards, the contractor started hesitating to continue the construction work. At that time only, one night the contractor saw someone telling him in his dream, “Do not be scared, you will get back all your money. Not even a single paisa will be left as debt. You just continue the construction work of the Temple”. And really, after few days only, Swami Santa Dasji got a huge sum of money as fee for court case and cleared all the debt of that contractor. So it appears that there is no explanation for such a dream from materialistic point of view. It must have a spiritual connection and it must be none other than Sri Kathia Baba himself appearing before the contractor to console him.

Finally we learn from the writing of one Vaishnav devotee from Punjab named Sri Vishnudas Jerath that the whole chain of events leading to the consecration of Sri Vrindaban Beharijiu – the idol of Sri Radha Krishna at Kathia Baba ka Sthan, Vrindaban can actually be traced to a dream experienced by him. He writes that initially he had a feeling that dreams are nothing but reflections of incomplete task in our day to day life and so he never attached any special significance to it. But after that special dream, he felt an unusual attraction and motivation for consecration of the smiling idol of Radha Krishna he saw in the dream and bought an idol of Radha Krishna from Jaipur. But even after several attempts, he could not consecrate the idol and his financial condition also forced him to give up the idea. After that we come to know from the book “ Sharanagatabatsal Sribhagawan” how that idol was brought to the Vrindaban Ashram and was consecrated. On being invited, Sri Vishnudas Jeerathji also came to Vrindaban Ashram on the day consecration and then he saw the temple, his idol and surroundings. It immediately reminded him of the exact scenario he saw in the dream. Most surprisingly, when he saw the marble idols of Sri Ramdas Kathia Babaji and Sri Santabas Kathia Babaji in a nearby room, it reminded him that these were the saints who used to appear often before him in his dream to motivate him for consecration of the Idol he purchased from Jaipur.

Many of us experience dreams of similar nature in our real life situations. So if we analyze all these dreams we find that there is a real truth lying behind these dreams. These dreams cannot just be a mere wish- fulfillment or simply a visual manifestation of sequence of thought but rather an indication of what is going to happen in near future or a present state of affair. Thus in general, these dreams related to spiritual matters have real implications and at the same time these are most probably a measure of the state of mind or spiritual progress of a person. In fact, the supra-conscious intellect or God or Supreme Brahman as we call him, has no timescale he is above and beyond time, so it is said that all events past, present, future appear before him as one. It is a difficult concept to comprehend but a simple analogy can make things a bit clearer. Like in a cinema, an event of the past also appears as if it is happening now i.c. past and present appear as one.

Similarly to God, because of his supra-conscious intellect, all events as one or in other word as known events. We common men are engrossed with nescience or abidya and as such we cannot see beyond certain time-frame whereas in dreams these limitations sometime break open and we can see things of the past or future or an event occurring unknowingly at some other place. The more enlightened a person is spiritually, his dream will have more realistic dimension with regard to past, present or future.

Even through dreams are of various types like day-drams,lucid-dreams or prophetic-dreams etc, dreams related to spiritual matters may be to some linked to prophetic type but not exactly because of its communicative aspect was not covered by an of the famous western philosophers.

Again there may be a very narrow difference between spiritual dreams and physical appearance or vision of divine objects. In some spiritually enlightened souls, the latter aspect may take precedence over the other. Thus we see in Swami Santa Dasji’s life that on several occasions, he had these sort of visions like Lord Shiva and Durga appearing before him, Lord Krishna appearing before him on the fateful night before his Mahanatai ceremony etc.

Thus most probably there are two aspects of a dream. Firstly dream may originate with the person who is dreaming and secondly it may originate from the spiritual content of dream i.e. the object of a dream. Western thinkers emphasized mainly on the first aspect whereas Indian saints have reflected more on the second aspect like their Egyptian and Greek counterparts who consider dream as dream as a supernatural communication or divine intervention. Sri Dhananjoy Dasji’s childhood dream of Sri Radhamadhav’s incarnation, the case of Sri Ananta Dasji’s dream for three consecutive nights or Sri Abhoy-babu’s dream lesson or Lord Krishna Telling Sadhuji about how to get his Darshan or the contractor being consoled or the smiling face of the idol of Radha Krishna motivating Sri Vishnudas Jerath clearly points towards that aspect.

Dr. Santosh Dev

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Spiritualism in the Success of life

Success in human life could be defined as the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals. But we need a more spiritual approach to success and to affluence, which is the abundant flow of all good things to human life. With the knowledge and practice of spiritual law, human beings put themselves in harmony with nature and create, joy and love. We all know success is a journey, not a destination; we may calm ourselves successful when we acquire all the required materials including good health, energy and enthusiasm for life, fulfilling relationships, creative freedom, emotional and psychologist stability. Still we may remain unfulfilled unless we nurture the seeds of divinity inside us. When we begin to experience our life as the miraculous expression of divinity, not occasionally, but all the time- then we all know the true meaning of success.

All of creation, everything that exists in the physical world, is the result of the unmanifest transforming itself into the manifest. Everything that we behold comes from the unknown. Our physical body, the physical universe... anything and everything that we can perceive through our senses is the transformation of the unmanifest... unknown and invisible into the manifest.. known and visible.

The source of all creation is divinity (or the spirit); the process of creation is divinity in motion (we the mind); and the object of creation is the physical universe (body). These three things --spirit, mind and body, all come from the same place; the field of pure potentiality and that is purely unmanifest.

The first spiritual law of success is the Law of pure potentiality, where we discover our essential nature and known who we really are. In that knowing itself is the ability to fulfill any dream that we have, because we are the eternal possibility, the immeasurable potential of all that was, is and will be. If we want to enjoy the benefits of the field of pure potentiality and if we want to make full use of the creativity which is inherent in pure consciousness, then we will have to have access to it. The main way to access the field is through the daily practice of silence, meditation, and non-judgment. Spending time in nature will also give us access to the qualities inherent in the field infinite creativity, freedom and bliss.

The second spiritual law of success is the law of giving, which is also called the law of giving and ruling, as the universe operators through dynamic exchange. In this universe nothing is static. The flow of life is nothing other than the harmonious interaction of all the elements and forces that structure the field of existence. This harmonious interaction of elements and forces of life operators the law of giving. Every relationship is one of give and take, giving engenders receiving and receiving and engenders giving. What goes up must come down, what goes out must come back. In reality, receiving is the same thing as giving, because giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. In every seed is the promise of thousands of forest. But the seed must not be hoarded. It must give its intelligence to the fertile ground. Through it's giving its unseen energy flows into material manifestation.

Practicing this law is actually very simple, if we want joy, we must give joy to others, if we want love, we must learn to give love, if we want attention and appreciation. The easiest way to get what they want. If we want to be blessed with all the good things in life, we should learn to silently bless everyone with all the good things in life.

The third spiritual law of success is the law of “karma”. Karma is both action and the consequence of that action. It is cause and effect simultaneously, because every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind. If we want to create happiness in our lives, we must to sow the seeds of happiness. Therefore, karma implies the action of conscious choice making. Whenever we make a choice, we must ask ourselves two questions-what are the consequences of this choice that we are making? And will this choice bring fulfillment and happiness to us and also to those who are affected by this choice?

The fourth spiritual law of success is the law of least effort. It is based on the fact that nature’s intelligence functions with effortless ease and abandoned carefreeness. This is the principle of least action of no resistance. Hence it is the principle of harmony and love. If we observe nature at work we will see that least effort is expended. Grass does not try to grow, it just grows. Fish does not try to swim, they just swim, flowers just not try to bloom, and they bloom. Birds does not try to fly, they fly. This is their intrinsic nature.

Nature’s intelligence functions effortlessly, frictionlessly, spontaneously. It is non-linear; it is intuitive, holistic and nourishing. And when we are in harmony with knowledge of our true self, we can make use of the law of least effort.

When we remain open to all points of view, not rigidly attached to only one-our dreams and desires. Then we can release our intentions, without attachment and just wait for the appropriate season for our desire to blossom into reality. We can be sure that when the season is right, our desire will manifest. This is the law of least effort.

The fifth spiritual law of success is the law of intention and desires. Intention is the real power behind desire. Intent alone is very powerful, because intent is desire without attachment to the outcome. Desire alone is weak, because desire in most people is attention with attachment. Intent is desire with strict adherence to all the other laws. If we learn to harness the power of intention, we can create anything we desire. We can still get result through effort and through trying but a cost. The cost is stress, heart attacks and the compromised function of our immune system. Therefore, we must follow the following five steps for fulfilling our desires:

 We should slip into the gap- to enter our self in that silent space between thoughts, to go into the silence- that level of Being which is our essential state.  We must establish in that state of Being to release our intention and desires.  We must remain in the state of self-referral. This means remain established in the awareness of our true self-our spirit, our connection to the field of pure potentiality.  Relinquish our attachment to the outcome. This means giving up rigid attachment to a specific result and living in the wisdom of uncertainty. It means enjoying every moment in the journey of our life, even if we don't know the outcome.  Let the universe handle the details. Our intentions and desires when released in the gap between have infinite organizing power. We must trust that infinite organizing power of intention to orchestrate all details for us. The sixth spiritual law of success is the law of detachment. The law of detachment says that in order to acquire anything in the physical universe we have to relinquish our attachment to it. This law accelerates the whole process of evolution. When we understand this law, we don’t feel compelled to force solution. When we force solution on problems, we only create new problems. But when we put our attention on the uncertainty and we witness the uncertainty while we expectantly wait for the solution to emerge out of the chaos and confusion, then what emerges is something very fabulous and exciting. We should look at every problem we have in our life as an opportunity for some greater benefit. We can stay alert to opportunities by being grounded in the wisdom of uncertainty. When our preparedness meets opportunities, the solution will spontaneously appear. What comes out of that is often called "good luck". Good luck is nothing but preparedness and opportunity coming together. When the two are mixed together with an alert witnessing of the chaos, solution emerges that will be of evolutionary benefit to us and to all those that we come into contact with. This is the perfect recipe for success and it is based on the law of detachment. The seventh spiritual law of success is the law of drama, which says that we have taken manifestation in physical form to fulfill a purpose. The field of pure potentiality is divinity in its essence and the divine takes human form to fulfill a purpose. Through the use of this law, by expressing our unique talents and fulfilling the needs of our fellow humans, we begin to create whatever we want, whenever we want it. We become carefree and joyful, and our life becomes an expression of unbounded LOVE.

Sri Jadav Chandra Nath

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The Bhagabad Gita- Shloka I-A Note

               Dharma-Kshetre Kuru-Kshetre
                    Samaveta yuyutsavah
             Mamakah Pandavas Caiva
                 Kim Akurvata Sanjaya
                                                              
 

Translation: Dhritarastra says: O Sanjaya... what did my sons, desires of battle, and the sons of battle, and the sons of Pandu do after assembling at the holy land of righteousness i.e., Khurukshetrra

The first chapter of Srimad Bhagvad Gita begins with the words of King Dhritarastra in which he asks Sanjaya, who had been bestowed with clairvoyance by Vyasdeva, to narrate the scene of the scene of the ensuring battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The question posted by Dhritarasatra is suggestive of the victory that he wishes for his sons yet it also reveals the worry that troubles Dhritarasatra's mind owing to the potential threat posed by Arjuna's acquition of divine weapons (that he had acquired by appeasing Lord Shiva). The prowess of these weapons were already proven when Arjuna had employed them to defeat the Gandharvas to release Duryodhna, even through the latter had become his and his brothers' antagonist in course of time, and also when Arjuna, by virtue of these weapons, defeated the Kauravas single handedly when they had attacked the city of Virat- a place where the Pandavas were residing incognito during the thirteenth year of their exile. All these thoughts distressed Dhritarastra's mind and with a heavy heart he entreated Sanjaya to relate the events of the battle field to him.

As Sri Kashmiri Bhattaji Maharaj suggests probably Dhritarasta was poundering on whether his sons, having witnessed the presence of the dauntless Arjuna and the mightly Bhima in the enemy ranks, have been intimidated into reconsidering their decision to fight and mulled the prospects of peaceful settlement with the Pandavas or stood steadfast in their resolve.

The events documented in the Mahabharata are drawn from a conversation that took place between the holy sage Vaisampayana and Arjuna's great-grandson Janamejaya and begins with Dhritarastra's address to Sanjaya which transports us to the sanctified land of Kurukshetra where the mighty battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas is to commence. Kurukshetra is acclaimed as the place of origin of dharma or righteousness. The Vedic scriptures proclaim the significance of Kurukshetra as a befitting place for performing sacrifice. From time immemorial Rishis have chosen Kurukshetra as an apt location for the performance of scared sacrifices. It is claimed by the scriptures that the death of those who depart this world as Kurukshetra should not be moaned as their souls find repose in Heaven thereafter.

The phrase dharma- kshetra kuru- kshetra used by Dhritarastra is loaded with deeper meaning. Dhritarastra was well aware of how King Kuru, the great ancestor of the Pandavas had transformed Kurukshetra to a blessed realm of spirituality and righteousness. King Kuru had made a golden plow from his chariot, borrowed Lord Shiva's bull and Yamraja's buffalo to till the land of Kurukshetra so that it may yield the eight religious virtues viz. truth; yoga; kindness; purity; charity; forgiveness; austerity and celibacy. Moved by the arduous penance of King Kuru, Lord Indra promised him that anyone who died fighting or performing penance at Kurukshetra would be admitted heavan. Therefore, Kurukshetra is both a battlefield as also a land of piety. It also the sanctified land where Parashurama had performed atonement for his action of vindictiveness against the Khsatriyas. According to Sri Kashmiri Bhattaji Maharaj, Dhritarashtra was perhaps wondering as to whether Kurukshetra, being the place where righteousness prevails, would favour the fourtuness of the Pandavas and prove inimical to the Kauravas as their intention was unrighteous.

Sri Baladadeva Bidyabhusana, a prominent Gaudiya Vaishnava Acharya in his commentary on the Shloka reinforces the fact that the same reflects Dhritarastra's perturbed state of mind. The fact that Lord Krishna Himself had chosen to be the charioteer of Arjuna and that the cause of the Pandavas was virtuous filled Dhritarastra's mind with doubt regarding the victory of his sons- the Kauravas. In the Shloka, Dhritarastra addresses his sons as mamakah while those of Pandu as Pandavas, which seemingly indicates his closer affinity towards his own children and his desire for their success. However, well aware that only righteousness shall prevail in the holy land of Kurukshetra he doubts the success of his progeny. Further, Sri Baladeva Bidyabhusana refers to the word Kshetra as fiels of cultivation. Just as the weeds growing in a paddy field must be uprooted, similarly in Dharma- kshetra kuru- kshetra all acts of unrighteousness must be eliminated in order that righteousness may triumph. The shloka therefore predicates the fall of the unrighteous embodied by the Kauravas and the victory of truth and righteousness represented by the Pandavas.

The first Shloka of the Bhagbad Gita introduces us to the eighteen day saga in the course of which Adharma (unrighteousness) was quelled and the victory of Dharma (righteousness) was secured. In recent times, there has been an attempt to understand the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas at the Kurukshetra not just literally but also symbolically with respect to its pertinence to the spiritual advancement of man. In this regard Arjuna has been perceived as the Atman, Lord Krishna as Brahman, the potent force that guides the human spirit and Arjuna's chariot as representing the body. Swami Vivekananda while commenting on the significance of the Kurukshetra war remarked, ''When we sum up its esoteric significance, it means the war which is constantly going on within man between the tenencies of good and evil''. Mohandas Karmachand Gandhi, in his commentary on the Gita, interpreted the battle of Kurukshetra in terms of its practical implications on the lives of humans. He says ''...the battlefield is the soul an Arjuna, man’s higher impulses struggling against evil''. Thus the battle of Kurukshetra bequeaths a moral for the posterity that the tussle between the good and the evil is never ending … but victory is secured only by those who are righteous and virtuous.

Sri Dedatta Banerjee

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Response to Welcome

Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions; and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honour of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance.
Swami Vivekananda Monk from Ramkrishna monastry
At the World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago.
11th September, 1893

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Purity of food and drink

At the first step, he must give his attention to taking pure food and drink. The foods which are originally and elemished and have many defects and evil effects that may cause obstruction or impediment to the path of spiritual advancement, must be avoided. Food becomes impure from the causes, namely, (1) by nature and origin of the food itself, upon which Rajas and Tamas predominates, as in the case of garlic, onion, egg, fish, meat, beef, carrot etc; (2) owing to its contact with wicked and accursed persons whose minds are filled with heap of rubbish, such as excessive lust, anger, greed, malice, etc; and (3) from outer physical impurities, such as dirt, nail, hair, urine of small house-lizard etc. Such polluted foods must be shunned by the spiritual aspirant.

Because the pure greatly the Sattva elements of the mind, and the Sattava elements being highly purified, stable and constant memory or intuition of the Nature of the Self or Soul is revealed and illuminated within. This has been said in the Sruti texts ---
'Aharshuddhou sattvashuddhi
sattvashuddhoudhruba srimit'  ( Chandagya Upanisad - 7/26/2)
The predominance of sattva is absolutely necessary for spiritual development. Because, the materials which we receive through our food, mould ore mind or mental elements to a great extent. Foods upon which the influence or Raja or Tama in the minds of lust, anger, greed, pride, malice and other evil propensities. So the food which a spiritual aspirant eat, has to be particularly taken care of.

Shankracharya, however, has explained the meaning of 'Ahar'(Food habit). The word purification of food means the acquiring of the knowledge of sensations untouched by the defects of attachment, aversion, and delusion. Therefore, such knowledge being purified, the 'Sattva'(good) material of the possessor of it -- the internal organ will become purified, the 'Sattva' being purified, and unbroken memory of the Infinite one who has been known in His real nature will result.

Therefore, the discrimination in the choice of good is absolutely necessary for the attainment of the higher state of mental composition which cannot be easily obtained otherwise.

Dr. Amar Prasad Bhattacharyya

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The Aim of Education

To live is not merely to breath, it is to act, it is to make use of our organs, our senses, our faculties, and of all those parts of ourselves, which give us the feeling of our existence. The man who has lived most, it is not he who has counted his greatest number of years, but he is, who has most thoroughly felt life.

In this topic I would like to give some reflections on education. What is education? What it’s relation with life and what is the aim of education?

The aim of education is a complete living. The education of a human being should begin at birth and continue throughout his or her life. In fact education is as a process of moral training. Education is an effort on the part of the older generation to pass on to younger generation all the good habits and wisdom acquired through experience. Indeed, if we want this education to have its maximum result, it should begin even before birth in this case it is the ‘Mother’ herself, who proceeds with this education by means of two fold action. For mother’s own improvement and secondly, child to be born depends very much upon the mother, who forms it, upon her aspiration and will as well as upon the material surroundings in which, she lives. To see that her thoughts are always beautiful and pure, her feelings should always be possibly noble and fine, her material surroundings be as harmonious as possible and full of a great simplicity. This is the part of education, which should apply to the mother herself.

Education must have five principal aspects corresponding to the five principal activities of the human being. 1- The physical, means to say. (1) Control and discipline of the functioning of the body. (2) An integral, methodical and harmonious development of all the parts and movements of the body. 2- The vital education has two principal aspects. The first concerns to developments and use of the sense organs. The second is the progressing awareness and conrol of the character. 3- The mental, the psychic and the spiritual. These phases of education must continue, completing one another until the end of one’s life.

There are some parents who know that their children must be educated and try to do what they can. To educate a child, it is to educate oneself, to become conscious and master of oneself. So that one never sets a bad example to one’s child. It is above all through example that education becomes effective, sincerity, honesty, straightforwardness, courage, disinterestendness, unselfishness, patience, endurance, preseverance, peace, calm, self-control are all things that are thought infinitely better by example than by beautiful speeches. If we wish to be respected by a child, have respect for oneself and be worthy of respect at every moment, when your child, asks you a question do not give him a stupid or silly answer under the pretax that he can not understand you; “Nature will that children should be ‘children’ before they are men. Childhood has ways of seeing thinking feeling peculiar to itself. Nothing is more absurd than to wish to substitute ours in their place”. To educate the child, to act in the present thinking that if the child is able to use his powers in the present of education is to develop team and Co-operative spirit, a feeling of community life. The second purpose of education is to develop civic efficiency. The third purpose of education is to develop truth, beauty and goodness in the child. The fifth task of education is to harmonize the personality of the individual.

Generally speaking schooling is considered to be all the mental education that is necessary. And when a child has been made to undergo, for a number of years, a methodical training which is considered for mental development. A true mental education, which will prepare man for a higher life, has five principles phase. These are in brief- 1- Development of the power of concentration, the capacity of attention. 2- Development of the capacities of expansion, widening, complexity and richness. 3- Organization of one’s idea around a central idea, a higher ideal that will serve as a gulde in life. 4- Thought control, rejection of undesirable thoughts to become able to think only what one wants and when one wants. 5- Development of mental silence, perfect claim and a more and more totally receptivity inspirations coming from the higher regions of the being.

According to Rousseau, nature, man and things are three.sources of education. He says. “plants are developed by cultivation, men by education.” With these words I am ending my topic.

Chhaya DeshmukhLecturer in English, Gopi Radha balika Inter College. Varanasi 

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The Immanence of Guru

Introduction:

There are two types of power (Shakti) which act in this world: one is the external power which helps in sustaining the creation, engaging the creatures (Jivas) in worldly life, indulging them in the worldly enjoyments (Pravritti Marg). The other Shakti attracts them towards the inner self that is the path of attaining salvation by renouncing earthly pleasures and interests (Nrivritti Marg). The power that helps in achieving the path of renunciation is called Guru-Shakti. According to the scriptures, the scriptures, the sastras, and the discourses of the great sages, at the time of the creation of the Universe, along with the external power which created the Jivas, the power which helps in renouncing the worldly enjoyment for attaining salvation called the Guru Shakti also started to flow. The essential fact is that being a part of paramatman, Jiva is not contented with his existion state, it wishes to rise above the life which it is leading. Perfect happiness and contentment can be attained in the state of Sri Paramatman. With the help of determined efforts, Jivas can rise above their present state and reach the state of Sri Paramatman; this state is reachable only in the human body because Sri Paramatman has given this privilege only to human beings. He has fully equipped us for this task. The Guru-Shakti takes the Jivas to the supreme goal. But the Shakti cannot workin abstraction; it needs a medium to work. So it has to accept a human body to undertake the task of emancipating the afflicted Jivas. The holy body which is adopted by the Guru-Shakti for showing us the right path, I.e. ‘Sri Gurudeva”, should be revered. But we should also realize that Gutu is not just the body. Guru is the Shakti that resides in that body. It is Omnipresent, Omniscient:it always remains with us wherever we go. The body of Sri Guru is not eternal; it is not always possible to feel the physical presence of Sri Gurudeva everywhere. But as the Supreme Being He is always with us and observes our each and every action. Sri Gutudeva is the embodiment of the Almighty (Sri Paramatman). One, who can reveal oneself (atman) to the followers, is the Guru. According to Vedas only the paramatman can reveal Himself. So if Sri Guru is not the Paramatman how can he reveal himself to his followers? Guru is the merciful form of the Supreme Being (Sri Bhagaban), Jivas are the part of Sri Bhagaban and Sri Bhagaban has to take all his children to His abode. Without having a human body how can He emancipate His children? For the gracious bestowal of His ceaseless flow of benevolence, the Supreme Being takes up His abode in the humble human body. When a disciple realizes his Guru is not different from the Supreme Being, he becomes capable of attaining salvation. A Guru teaches how to find the way to the home of God. Therefore he himself must have traveled in this path to truly know it before he can teach others how to reach the God. He is actually transferring his enlightenment to his Disciples. The word Guru describes a spiritual teacher or master. He has the power and the wisdom to eliminate spiritual ignorance in a disciple. A true Guru is the one who has attained the extreme degree of spiritual development before acting as a Guru. The Guru gives initiates the disciples onto the way of salvation, he thus only sows the seed. But if the disciple does not sprinkle water on the seed by earnestly devotion himself to sadhana he cannot be expected to reap the rewards soon. At the time of initiation (diksha) the power of the Guru is infused in the disciple. This power at first remains mixed with other things from which it later separates itself. The power of the Guru passes to his disciple. Being a disciple or pupil of somebody implies inculcating the power of that person. Meaning of the Word Guru:

Guru is God, say the scriptures. Indeed, the ‘Guru’ in Vedic tradition is looked upon as one no less than a God. ‘Guru’ is an honorific designation of a preceptor as defined and explained variously in the scriptures and in ancient literary works including epics. The English word ‘Guru’ has its etymological origin from the Sanskrit term. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines it as “Hindu spiritual teacher or head of religious sect; influential teacher; revered mentor”. Basically the Guru is a spiritual teacher leading the disciple on the path of “God-realization’. In essence, the Guru is considered a respected person with saintly qualities who enlightens the mind of his disciple, an the initiatory mantra and one who plays the role of the instructor in rituals and religious ceremonies. The original Sanakrit, word Guru is made of two words. Gu means darkness and Ru means tight that is by destroying the darkness of illusion the Guru gives the Jivas the light of wisdom thus helping them in their way to attain the Supreme being. Jivas are attached to the material things and in their ignorance they consider those illusions to be the only truth. Only Guru can give the taste of the heavenly ambrosia which is eternal; Guru shows the way to overcome the attractions of illusory world (triguna Maya). Whenever Jiva crosses the ocean of the world (sansar samudra) he will realize the theology of self realization (sri bhagabat tattwarasamrita), and will become enlightened. Thus the Guru sends his disciple to the abode of God. Only Sri Guru alone can remove the darkness of ignorance from human beings and thereby turn them sway slowly from all the paths leading to temporal pleasures having the characteristics of Sattva, Raja, and Tama. He thus helps men to be able to feel transcendental happiness which is perpetual. Ultimately, the Guru sends such men to God in the abode of the immortals; this is the first and last word about Guru-Tattva (teachings of spiritualism). Sri Bhagabana (God), therefore as the Supreme being, advised Arjuna to rise above the three primal qualities I.e., Sattva, Raja, and Tama (Nistraigunya Bhabarjuna). “Sri Gurudeva is the only friend of mine in the present as well as the after life” – keeping this maxim always in mind, obey the instructions of the Guru with a calm state of mind. Very soon you’ll realize the real welfare behind his advice. It is only through the mercy of the Sri Guru that one can get devotion. If absolute trust and faith are placed with the Guru, reverence and devotion will automatically follow. Without Guru one can also proceed in the royal path of self-realization. But then the Journey would be full of obstacles and pitfalls. It would take long time to reach the destination. This sadhana would be similar to trying to cross the ocean in a small boat. Guru is like a huge steamer to which one tie one’s boat and relaxes. That huge steamer is sure to take the disciple to other shore. The dangers are minimized and the delay cut down. If we are fortunate enough to find such a Teacher, then a lofty kind of love can begin to blossom in our heart. Everything that happens between the Guru and the4disciple happens through love and compassion. The path to God is long and arduous. Jivas must dissolve their entire ego in their new role as spiritual disciples. It usually is much easier to gain a victory over another country than over one’s own ego. Guru knows all our problems and helps us to overcome them with utmost love and care. Why do We Need A Guru?

This is the most fundamental and common question. We need him to worship God and to attain salvation. It’s often said that if you worship God. He will help you in your sadhana. So why do we need to follow a Guru? A spiritual aspirant must understand the need of a qualified Guru to halp him or her proceed in the royal path of realizing the God. It is not possible for ordinary men to comprehend and grasp the essence of scriptures or religious philosophy (e.g. Vedanta, Yoga, and The Gita) by merely reading the books or listening to religious to religious talks. For any kind of education, the role of the teacher is most important because it is the teacher who shows us the right way to master the subject. Brahma vidya is the most difficult of all learning because it deals with the ultimate knowledge of the supreme reality. It is extremely difficult to gain this knowledge. It is impossible to grasp this knowledge by simply reading books, listening to speeches or giving lectures on them. According to the Vedas, Brahma vidya can only be made attained by the special grace of the Supreme Being Himself. The only way to attain this supreme knowledge is by taking shelter under the tutelage of a Sad Guru. Serve him earnestly, and if you can please him with your service, he will give you his blessings and lead you towards that knowledge. With the help of reading, meditation or rituals a person can earn some special powers but without the benevolence of a Sad Guru he can never attain the salvation. Sruti says a person can realize God if and only if the God reveals Himself to him. Guru is the embodiment of that God. God adopts the body of the Guru to emancipate the distressed people. If we think God as fire, jivas as ghee, then Guru is like the spoon; that is ghee like disciple is offered to fire like God by the spoon like Sad Guru. Sad Guru plays the role of a medium which communicates between paramatman and jivas. Guru is not confineed to a particular body. The Guru-shakti scatters itself in all living beings. Now the question arises how can we find a Sad Guru? How Do You Recognize Your Guru?

It becomes imperative on our part to understand and consider the basic qalifications of a spiritual teacher. Mundaka and brihadaranyaka Upanishads have eulogized the following four qualifications of a true Guru; The Guru should be shrotriya, l,e, well versed in scriptures. If he is to teach religion he must have a proper grasp of the subject as expounded in the genuine ancient texts and scriptures. This does not mean mere knowledge of the books, but the Guru must have imbibed the truths of the scriptures in his daily life. His actions, speech and thoughts must express these truths in his day-to day behavior. Not only his words but even his actions should convince the people of the spirituality manifested through him. The Guru must be able to handle all types of people who may come to him for salvation. For this he must continue his study and sadhana through out his life. The second important qualification of the Guru is that he must be Brahma-Jnani. He must be an enlightened soul himself, is ignorant then how can he guide his disciples towards knowledge! A blind man cannot lead another blind one to his goal; chances are that both will end up in a ditch. This separates the spiritual Guru from the teachers of secular subjects where the instructor does not need particularly good character or virtue. Brahma vidya is itself a very pure knowledge and hence the Guru must pure in his soul and completely devoted to God. Anyone and everyone can’t be a Guru. A huge load of solid timber floating on water can carry men and animals across the bank, even through rough waters; but a piece of worthless ordinary wood sinks as soon as one steps on it, drowning both itself and the person. Therefore in every age the God incarnates Himself as the Guru, to teach to the humanity the secrets of God and the self. The third qualification of the Guru is that he should not be smitten by desires or selfishness. His character must be spotlessly clean. He should have such virtues as compassion, love, generosity and altruism. He should be able to see the divinity all around and also be capable of understanding its manifestations in his various disciples. Therefore he should not hate or look down upon any sadhaka, for he knows that in many aspirants divinity might be hidden under the dirt of ignorance. In every case he guides the disciples to the same goal of Self realization. A Guru looks into the nature of the people before making them his disciple. All men look alike. But have different natures. Some have an excess of sattva, others excess of rajas and still others an excess of tamas. Accordingly the Guru gives different instructions to the different spiritual aspirants. Therefore faith in Guru’s words and instructions is most important for one’s spiritual progress; howsoever odd or contradictory his instructions may appear! The fourth qualification is linked to the third. The Guru should be stainless and pure. He should simple and guileless. He should have conquered greed and lust totally. Before resorting to a Guru the first thing that you must ensure that be belongs to a continuous and unbroken line of Gurus. In that case even if the Guru is not sufficiently powerful, the Guru-shakti passes into the disciple. In (Biological) Science, it is sometimes seen that a disease or a special faculty is transmitted directly to the grandson instead of being transmitted to the son. We regard one as a great soul (spiritually) if he belongs to distinguished tradition; otherwise he will lack the power to deliver others from this sansar. We must have our links established with the ‘Guru-Parampara’. Even if a Guru belonging to a Parampara is not powerful enough, the disciple may still imbibe the power as a result of the Parampara. Everybody does not have the capacity to initiate others. Simply belonging to the Guru-parampara doesn’t give one that power. The guru should be truthful and under no condition should he deviate from the righteous path. Therefore the Guru must renounce all worldly pleasures and cravings of the senses. Privilege, name and fame should not affect the character of the Guru in the least. He should be easily accessible and approachable to all his minor and major disciples.

The Qualities of a Disciple:

A good disciple should be respectful towards his Guru. The person should subdue all his passions. He or she should be of a gentle disposition and be interested in the sacred task of serving others. A person who can serve his Guru with complete devotion, be subservient to all the wishes of his Guru and does not think of his personal comfort can be a good disciples. A disciple should give up egotism because egotism is the most powerful hindrance in the way to total surrender of the self. A seeker of Good must be willing to fully trust and follow the advice of his Guru. He must learn to follow his Guru’s advice while learning at the same time to become free of any kind of attachments and make wise use of his mind and intuition. However, it is possible for an advanced Disciple to realize the spiritual guidance of his beloved Guru. Hence the physical presence becomes unimportant. A true Guru can guide all of his disciples without being physically present. A Guru never dies, as he becomes one with the God, all the Divine Bliss he receives from God is forwarded to his serious disciples until their souls merge in God himself.

Unknown

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