Transcending happiness and misery

 

Quote from the true charm and power of Vedanta

Transcending happiness and misery

In the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita  or for that matter in all scriptures of the world , no advice is given to objectively reduce suffering or to escape from it. Instead it has been shown how one can transcend it. The Bhagavd Gita recommends forbearance and equanimity in both happiness and misery. Both are inevitable one must not identify oneself with them. A yogi following the path of concentration of mind aims at achieving such a mastery over his mind that he may withdraw his mind at will form misery or suffering. An adept who has achieved perfect control over his mind, does not allow his mind to register the feeling of suffering. He aspires to get established in a state of such superlatives bliss with the help of yoga that he may not be shaken from it by the severest of sorrows.

According to the Upanishads, there cannot be happiness in the limited. All pervading unity alone can conduce to happiness. Where there is duality there is fear. But for him who sees unity and established in it, there cannot be any delusion or sorrow. This is the ultimate solution of the problem of suffering and prophets and incarnations, saints and sages had solved it by being established in such a state beyond duality. Sri Ramakrishna had suffered from painful throat cancer, and yet he was ever established in his blissful real Self beyond all sufferings. He himself had confirmed it to one of his disciples. Hari who was able to detect Sri Ramakrishna’s transcendental state by carefully observing him. Mahapurush  Maharaj had so perfectly realized his identity with his deathless disease less blissful conscious Self , that in spite of severe breathlessness, he never felt that he was suffering . For him, his body was not be , it was something separate from him

 

 

Create golden moments through self-realisation

By Deepa D Nair

 

Ramana Maharshi connected the search for ‘who am I?’ with two concepts: self-realisation and self-surrender. ‘Self’ can be defined in two ways: the True Self and egoic self. When awake, we see the world; in normal sleep we see dreams; and in deep sleep, there is hardly any disturbance. Still, as we wake up the next morning, we can easily recognise the period of deep sleep we experienced and the dreams we had.

 

So, what is me? Am I all the experience during these three different phases, or the underlying witness who observed all the events in these phases? What remains unchanged in all this is the True Self.

 

 

The Self is ‘Sat’, the pure existence that is present in all these phases. The witness does not experience death. Then why do we not remember our past lives? It is only because of the existence of the egoic self. The True Self which is blinded by the evolutionary garbage accumulated over millions of years is the egoic self. The memory of the Self is thus lost. Persistent effort is needed to see the light of the Self. Then the fear of death too will vanish.

 

So, the True Self is Sat, which is a state of fearlessness and of the nature of continuous existence. It is also ‘Chit’, pure awareness, consciousness. Being aware helps us create moments of ‘Anand’, unaffected by ego, judgments, and thoughts. Understanding the characteristics of the True Self – Sat, Chit and Ananda – helps create golden moments. Each golden moment is the best that one can give to oneself, because it imparts bliss to life.

 

Supreme Creator is the unique force that has created this entire universe in the best possible way, to suit the needs of everything that has been created. He is the embodiment of supreme love. Unconditional giving without any expectation is true love. ‘Love is God’ goes the famous saying of the Gospel. This force of creation is ever-existent, extremely aware of its creation and always in bliss, even in a disaster. The True Self, which is a small creator, is a speck of the larger creative force – God. Thus, Tat Tvam Asi, you are that. This mahavakya helps in understanding the concept of self-surrender.

 

Whom would we love to surrender to? To the one who is fearless, ever-present, creative, blissful and capable of supreme love. Thus, only self-surrender is the way. It also calls for taking more responsibility on the self. Each golden moment should be laden with responsibilities towards the Self and to the universe, opening an internal revolution that can exceed the pace of physical evolution.

 

The measure of our true potential is the extent to which we realise ourselves and surrender to the will of the universe. It depends on the number of golden moments we can create in a lifetime. Each golden moment is full of fearlessness, awareness and extreme bliss. True love starts with the creation of peace with oneself. Only when we are at peace can we generate golden moments for ourselves and the universe.

 

The writer is secretary, Social Welfare and Social Education, Government of Tripura

 

IF HE EXIST

 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.-

 

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