Practical Vedanta

 Quote from the True charm and power of Vedanta

 

Practical Vedanta

 

One question is generally asked and it is this that this may lead to a tremendous amount of difficulty. Every one of us will think. I am God and whatever I do or think must be good, for God can do no evil. In the first place, even taking this danger of misinterpretation for granted, can it be proved that on the other side the same danger does not exist? They have been worshipping a God in heaven separate from them, and of whom they are much afraid. They have been born shaking with fear, and all their life they will go on shaking. Has the world been made much better by this? Those who have understood and worshipped a Personal God, and those who have understood and worshipped an Impersonal God, on which side have been the great workers of the world—gigantic workers, gigantic moral powers? Certainly on the Impersonal. How can you expect morality to be developed through fear? It can never be. “Where one sees another, where one hears another, that is Maya , When one does not see another when one does not hear another, when everything has become the Atman, who see whom who perceives whom? It is all He and all I, at the same time. The soul has become pure.  Then and then alone we understand what love is. Love cannot come through fear, its basis is freedom. When we really begin to love the world, then we understand what is meant to brotherhood of mankind and not before.

 

So it is not right to say that the impersonal idea will lead to a tremendous amount of evil in the world as if the other doctrine never lent itself to works of evil , as if it did not lead to sectarianism deluging the world with blood and causing men to tear each other in pieces. “My god is the greatest God, lt us decide it by a free fight. “ that is the outcomes of dualism all over the world. Come out into the broad open light of day come out from the little narrow paths, for how can the infringe soul test content to live and die in small ruts? Come out into the universe of Light. Everything in the universe is yours stretch out your arms and embrace it with love. If you ever felt you wanted to do that, you have felt God

 

Is freedom from karma possible?

By Nayaswami Devi

 

Recently, a friend commented that karma doesn’t always come back to us immediately but hangs around for a while. It isn’t like a credit card company keeping track of charges and payments each month. That’s why we need a ‘Master Card’ to help us work through our karma over many lives. The ‘Master Card’ is the guru: God’s agent acting in this world to guide each soul to freedom.

 

Another friend related a dream he once had. In it, he was walking along a beach with a child’s plastic pail and shovel in his hand. He suddenly came upon a huge mound of tarlike black material, and he knew that this was his past karma that he must remove to be free. He began laboriously to chip away at the sticky mound, filling his little pail only halfway after much effort.

 

He persisted at the task, when, almost at the point of giving up, he heard a loud racket coming from the other side of the tremendous pile before him. Quickly running to see what was making the noise, he saw his guru on a backhoe with a huge bucket, joyfully scooping up vast quantities of the ‘tar-ma’ and throwing it into the sea.

 

 

By our own efforts, the task of removing our past karma seems nearly impossible. Still, we must earnestly do our part.

 

A discouraged disciple once said to Paramhansa Yogananda that working out all our karma seemed hopeless, that “one might as well try calming the waves on the ocean.”

 

Yoganandaji answered: “It is a big job, I grant you. Still, it isn’t nearly so difficult as it looks. What is it that causes the waves on the sea to rise and fall in the first place? It’s the wind. Without wind, the surface grows calm automatically. Similarly, when the storm of delusion abates in the mind, the waves of action and reaction subside automatically. What you must do is still the waves of your mind by deep meditation. Then, in meditation, rid yourself of the consciousness of ego-involvement.”

 

The wind is what keeps the waves crashing. The wind is the breath. In the Bhagwad Gita, Arjun says to Krishn that the mind is restless and more difficult to control than the wind. Krishn replies that it can be controlled by yog practice and mental dispassion. The deeper meaning of this passage is that by calming the breath, through pranayam and meditation, we gain control over our mind and transcend ego-identification. The seeds of our karma can then not find soil in which to take root in our consciousness.

 

Here is a technique for using the breath to overcome past karma:

 

1) Inhale deeply and concentrate all your energy at the point between the eyebrows.

 

2) Feel that you are burning away faults, bad habits, negative thoughts or tendencies — fruits of your past karma.

 

3) Exhale completely. Keep your breath out as long as you can comfortably. Feel completely free within yourself.

 

4) When you breathe in again, think of a positive image or memory, and let it fill your mind.

 

5) Repeat this several times in a row. Practice this daily until you feel a release from some karmic burden.

 

Act with the thought that God is the Doer. Desireless action is the pathway to freedom.

 Krishn tells a reluctant Arjun that he must fight the impending battle of good against evil. He explains that by selfless action we are playing our part in this world and fulfilling our destiny. “Therefore, strive conscientiously during the performance of all actions, whether physical or spiritual, to act without attachment. By activity without self-interest, one attains the Supreme.”

 The grace of the Guru, meditation and breath control, action without attachment to the results — these are the keys to overcoming karma. In these ways we can remove the mound of our past karma and open the doors to soul freedom.

 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 7 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 7 minutes a day. But, if He exists? I am afraid you are wasting your entire lifetime. I prefer to waste 7 minutes rather than a lifetime. Why should you grudge me the 7minutes joy that I derive 4m.-

 

ILLUSTRATED REVIEW : 7th heaven moment of the week Goa no 7 scored  a goal, n Kerala no 77 scored a goal