A view of Vedanta _I

Monday, 30 December 2019

Quote from the True Charm and Power of Vedanta

A view of Vedanta _I

There have in fact, been great Vedantic lechers who have maintained that even in the ultimate there will remain certain permanent distinctions. For example, Sri Ramakrishna used to give this illustration, when the cold wind blows , the water of the sea , which is formless, becomes congealed frozen into ice, that which was formless takes from but when the sun rises again the ice melts away, that which had from becomes formless  Similarly the cool air of devotion makes the formless Divinity take form but when sun of monism rises, then the formed becomes formless . having said that, he used to add “But there is a place where the ice never melts Eternal ice is there, eternal forms of God” Well some will quote this and say “Yes, even in the highest realization of Divinity there can be from and so, although from a logical point of view monism is must satisfying from a religious point of view i am not a monist “ Or another will say, “Yes I admit that the monistic realization is that last state that comes to the soul, but you do not realise  . it by your own efforts-it comes of itself, and anyhow you cannot realize it until you have gone though all the other stages . so for practical purposes you might as well forget monism except when you have to discuss philosophy.

Educator & the student

The Speaking Tree | India | ET

BY J KRISHNAMURTI

People are divided racially, religiously, politically, economically, and this division is fragmentation. It is bringing about great chaos in the world.

There is the spreading violence of man against man… This is what is happening; and the responsibility of the educator is really very great. He is concerned in all these schools to bring about a good human being who has a feeling of global relationship, who is not nationalistic, regional, separate, religiously clinging to the old dead traditions, which really have no value at all. The responsibility of the educator becomes more and more serious, more and more committed, more and more concerned with the education of his students.

What is education doing actually? Is it really helping mankind, our children, to become more concerned, gentler, generous, not to go back to the old pattern, the old ugliness and naughtiness of this world? If the educator is really concerned, as he must be, then he has to help the student to find out his relationship to the world, not to the world of imagination or romantic sentimentality, but to the actual world in which all things are taking place; and also to the world of nature, to the desert, the jungle or the few trees that surround him, and to the animals of the world. (Animals, fortunately, are not nationalistic; they hunt only to survive.) If the educator and the student lose their relationship to nature, to the trees, to the rolling sea, each will certainly lose his relationship with humanity.

Courtesy: KFI

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

But, if He exists?

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.

ILLUSTRATED REVIEW : 7^th Heaven moment of the week south Africa won first test by 107 runs in isl mumbai no 9 socred two goals

 

Different Conceptions of the Divine

Monday, 23 December 2019

Quote from the True Charm and Power of Vedanta

Different Conceptions of the Divine

The various conception that seekers hold about the Divine vary with their growth and knowledge. As a Sanskrit text points out. “The higher castes worship God in the fire, the advanced seekers meditate on Him in their own hearts, the ignorant think of Him in the image and with religious stories, and those who have attained to the infinite realize His presence everywhere “

There are devotees who think of God as always associated with divine forms and attributes. Others consider Him to be formless but endowed with not only omniscience and omnipotence but also omnipresence. Some again combine these ideas and look upon the holy forms as manifestations of the Formless. To them the personal aspect of the Divine is a manifestation of the Impersonal and both are real . There are others again who try to realize the Transcendent Being who , as they hold is in His real nature beyond all forms and attributes but appears to be associated with them . Speaking of the different aspects of God, Sri Rama Krishna remarks; “God with from and without form are not two different beings. He who is with from is also without from. To the devotee God manifests Himself in various forms. Just think of a shoeless ocean-an infinite expanse of water-no land visible in any direction. Only here and there are visible blocks of ice formed by intense cold. Similarly, under the cooling influence, so to say, of the deep devotion of His worshipper, the infinite reduces Himself to the finite and appears before him as a being with from. Again , as on the appearance of the sun, ice melts away, so on the appearance of knowledge. God with from melts away in the Formless.” He says further “God is formless and God is with from too. And He is that which transcends both from and formlessness.”

What lies beyond

The Speaking Tree | Lifestyle | ET

Acharya Mahaprajna

Take a lemon in your palm. You know that it is a lemon by seeing its colour and form. In darkness, you can recognise it by its smell or by touching or tasting it. All physical objects are recognised by the sense organs.

But the colour and form of the lemon are not the lemon. These are mere modifications of the lemon. Each sense organ is capable of recognising only a single modification of an object. What, then, is the object whose modifications alone are known by the sense organs? What is the real nature of objects? Scientists have come to know the particles of which things are made but the real nature of objects continues to evade them. Philosophers are also in search of the basic substance of the universe.

The universe is composed of waves. No sense organ is capable of comprehending what lies behind the waves or modifications.

Therefore, what lies beyond remains a mystery. Both the knower and the known are themselves nothing but waves. Breath is itself composed of waves.

Living bodies are conglomeration of waves. We can perceive the subtle vibrations of our bodies by means of anitya anupreksha, or contemplation on the transitory nature of things.

How can the mind comprehend that which is beyond it? The mind knows nothing except itself.

Like a tape recorder, it communicates only that which has been recorded in it. We are so enmeshed in the world of modifications and waves that we are unable to see anything beyond.

It is our limitation that compels us to search for the soul and this is the starting point of spiritual quest.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

But, if He exists?

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.

ILLUSTRATED REVIEW : 7^th Heaven moment of the week in ISL L.Changte no 7 scored a goal, in Italian series a Orsiline no 7 socred two goal, in Cricket odi India won sedond one day by 107 runs.

 

Worship of the Spirit by the Spirit

Monday, 16 December 2019

Quote from the True Charm and Power of Vedanta

Worship of the Spirit by the Spirit

Add caption

So here was the picture of spirit-of God as spirit; He was formless , but He functioned; He was unpredictable- He could not be governed  by ordinary laws; He had a free will , and nobody could say how . He would work. Actually ,by using the illustration of the wind Christ does not give any very extraordinary idea of God as spirit. But that was not the purpose fo the Christ; his purpose was to give the idea of the spirit as a dynamic entity-as formless and yet with power.

Now , what did Christ mean by worshipping God in spirit and in truth? Probably most Christians find it easier to understand what is meant by truth than by spirit. For instance, in another quotation from john , Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” the word spirit does not occur, and many commentators have said that the truth is this; Christ is the Saviours , God is merciful, and if you believe in Christ, you will enter into the kingdom of heaven. But in the quotation in which we are told to worship God in spirit and in truth these two ideas, spirit and truth have been brought together. What does Christ mean by this? What does he mean by worshiping God in spirit?

Well Swami Vivekananda would say this means recognizing yourself  as Spirit. Some of you may say, No, we are to worship God by knowing Him to be Spirit. But since Christ first said that God is a Spirit and then said that He should be worshiped in spirit and in truth, he certainly meant to give another idea by the second use of the word spirit. So it must be as Swami Vivekananda would interpret it; worship God, feeling that He is Spirit and you are Spirit. That would be the truth-the truth about yourself and the truth about God. Thus if you worship Him in this way you will be worshipping Him in Spirit and in Truth; in your worship there will be no element of falsehood or unreality. If, on the other hand, you do not recognize . Him as Spirit and if you do not recognize yourself as Spirit, your worship of Him is no the truest worship. Just as worshipping God in an idol or thinking of Him only as an object of formal worship would not be to worship Him in truth, in the same way, to worship. Him without thinking of yourself as Spirit would not be to worship Him ‘in Spirit and in truth’

That positive energy field

The Speaking Tree |  India | ET

By Alok Ranjan

Cosmic intelligence is present throughout the universe. The Divine is unlimited and infinite. It is not possible, therefore, to limit divinity to the physical confines of a popular place of worship. One can pray to God anywhere — at home, office or even agarden, and you can rest assured that your prayers would somehow find their way to God.

In fact, when an individual prays in solitude, he is more likely to feel the presence of the Divine within rather than, for example, in a place of worship like a temple where huge crowds performing elaborate and often noisy rituals do not allow one to spend much time in divine contemplation.

Yet, the idea of the daily or weekly ritual of going to a place of worship continues to impel many of us to do so, even if in a hurry. Thousands would tell you that they visited a particular temple and their wishes were granted in a miraculous manner. Maybe temples and other venues of worship are special because of the vibrations present there. One would scarcely feel like praying in a bar or disco, for instance, as the vibrations there are different.

The fact is that, by and large, all those who visit temples are praying and thinking good thoughts. For the time they are in the temple, their hearts are full of devotion and they are at their best behaviour; their thoughts are focused on the deity of their choice and in praying. It creates spiritual field of energy. One feels peace, harmony and solace as the spiritual energy there uplifts one’s consciousness.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

But, if He exists?

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.

ILLUSTRATED REVIEW : 7^th Heaven moment of the week in ISL PITI no 7 scored a goal, Sancho no 7 scored a goal

 

Solitude and Silence

Monday, 09 December 2019

Quote from the True Charm and Power of Vedanta

A belief is true if it has stood, and can always stand, the test of experience, and not because it has been said by a man or written in a book. The essential Vedantic truths belong to this category; they possess universal validity as they are verifiable by all men.

This is forcefully brought out by Sankara in a remarkable passage of his commentary on the Brahadaaranyaka Upanishad dealing with the validity of scriptural statements

The test of the validity of a sentence is not that it just states something about a thing or about an act. What (is it) then? (it is) its capacity to generate certain and fruitful knowledge. A sentence that has theis is valid; while one that lacks it is invalid.

Such truths are far different from the private beliefs of an individual or a group, a sect or a church, held with all emotional intensity and projected for other people’s acceptance with equal fervour. Such beliefs cannot claim; the greatest reward: because they have not paid; the heaviest penalty: involved in being subjected to the rigorous scrutiny of reason and being thrown open to universal verification referring to this unique characteristic of Vedanta. Romani Rolland says (the life of Vivekananda and the Universal Gospel, Third Impression. ) of truth characteristic of these Upanishads . Any reader of this literature cannot also escape being struck by the rational bent and speculative daring of these sages of ancient India.

Solitude and Silence

The Speaking Tree | India | ET

By CHITRANJAN SAWANT

Solitude and silence played a pivotal role in achieving emotional balance in the Vedic social order. The four ashrams made up the cornerstone for a happy life. Social homogeneity was as important as solitude in a gurukul where children and adolescents learnt lessons of life at the home and school of their gurus.

Sanyasins, as a rule, are not subject to any ritualistic injunction. By nature a sanyasi talks little and thinks more. His lifestyle lets him taste the sweet fruit of Ekant from the Brahmamuhurta when meditation is practised. Mantra meditation and abstinence preclude all forms of audiovisual communication. The bliss of solitude is perfect for creating the right ambience towards achieving liberation and enlightenment.

Moving away from the ashrams, we find that even in a military establishment like the National Defence Academy, observance of a quiet period is mandatory for cadets to enable them to recharge their batteries to cope with the training schedule. Silence is energy-giving.

A period of quiet helps us organise thoughts, reflect and introspect, helping one to rejuvenate with a fresh perspective. When you become a chatterbox, you are divorced from silence. If an individual is enamoured of hearing some sound or the other, let him hear the sound of silence. Eventually silence prevails over sounds and provides the perfect environment for lifting spirits through meditation.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

But, if He exists?

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.

ILLUSTRATED REVIEW : 7^th Heaven moment of the week in NBA Suns phx won by 7, India made 170/7 second t20

 

Man and Money

Monday, 02 December 2019

Quote from the True Charm and Power of Vedanta

Man and Money

The story of money runs the story of man

Money is necessary only to fulfill your needs and not more that that but alas, who can fathom the depth of these needs!

Money has no value when it is not used. So , use the money and have value!

Money is auspicious when it is well used.

Money is disastrous when it is misused. Men of intellect use money in one way.

Men of heart use money in another way.

All others use money in any way and every way.

Money can save a man. Money can kill a man , Is money responsible for either? No, it is the man!

Money can bring prosperity. Money can bring adversity. Money is neither good nor bad. Its goodness or badness lies in how one uses it.

Do you say great deeds were done by money?

No. Not at all, They were done by men of muscles, men of intellect , men of heat! Money is only a means.

Money cannot be the aim of our lives. Never. Money will remain a means forever.

Money can bring prosperity Money can bring adversity. Money is neither good nor bad . its goodness or badness lies in how one uses it.

Go back to the womb

The Speaking Tree | Lifestyle | ET

By Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev

Liberation means obliterating you. It means you cease to exist.

You cannot seek liberation out of frustration. The reason why there is so much failure on the spiritual path is simply because they are going into spirituality as they’re frustrated with life, not because they have found life absolutely blissful and now they want to know the very source of life.

So, if such a longing has come, it should come because you have nurtured the innermost longing within you. The deeper nature within you is longing to become boundless. And the only way to become boundless is to destroy individuality; dissolve it. As long as you are individual, there is no question of boundlessness. Individual means it’s a definable state.

Boundlessness means it’s a non-definable state.

Sadhana is a way of establishing your constant longing for liberation. Samadhi is not the ultimate realisation but it brings you just so close and frees you from so many things that rule you normally and the compulsive nature of the body and mind can be taken away by being in a state of samadhi for a period of time.

You will see even when you get back to life, so many things that were strong ‘I must do’ kind of things are now by choice. Everything is by choice. So, life becomes much more conscious rather than being compulsive.

Samadhi is like going back into your mother’s womb. Where you are life but you don’t have the problems of life. Somebody eats for you, somebody does everything for you, you just float around and be fine. That’s samadhi.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

But, if He exists?

I drive joy There was a doctor in Benaras who spent 7 minutes in the morning and evening for mediation on God. Knowing this, his colleagues and friends laughed at him. One day they argued that he was wasting ten precious minutes on something, which he had been misled into believing. The doctor replied, “Well, if God does not exist, I agree that I am wasting ten minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste ten minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 10 minutes joy that I derive 4m.

ILLUSTRATED REVIEW : 7^th Heaven moment of the Mumbai F. Abue no 7 scored a goal