What is Vedanta

 

What is Vedanta

  

Vedanta is one of the world’s most ancient spiritual philosophies and one of its broadest, based on the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of India. It is the philosophical foundation of Hinduism; but while Hinduism includes aspects of Indian culture, Vedanta is universal in its application and is equally relevant to all countries, all cultures, and all religious backgrounds.

Vedanta affirms:

The oneness of existence,

The divinity of the soul, and

The harmony of all religions.

A closer look at the word “Vedanta” is revealing: “Vedanta” is a combination of two words: “Veda” which means “knowledge” and “anta” which means “the end of” or “the goal of.” In this context the goal of knowledge isn’t intellectual—the limited knowledge we acquire by reading books. “Knowledge” here means the knowledge of God as well as the knowledge of our own divine nature. Vedanta, then, is the search for Self-knowledge as well as the search for God.
What do we mean when we say God? According to Vedanta, God is infinite existence, infinite consciousness, and infinite bliss. The term for this impersonal, transcendent reality is Brahman, the divine ground of being. Yet Vedanta also maintains that God can be personal as well, assuming human form in every age. Most importantly, God dwells within our own hearts as the divine Self or Atman. The Atman is never born nor will it ever die. Neither stained by our failings nor affected by the fluctuations of the body or mind, the Atman is not subject to our grief or despair or disease or ignorance. Pure, perfect, free from limitations, the Atman, Vedanta declares, is one with Brahman. The greatest temple of God lies within the human heart.

Vedanta asserts that the goal of life is to realize and to manifest our own divinity. This divinity is our real nature, and the realization of it is our birthright. We are moving towards this goal as we grow with knowledge and life experiences. It is inevitable that we will eventually, either in this or in future lives, discover that the greatest truth of our existence is our own divine nature.

Vedanta further affirms that all religions teach the same basic truths about God, the world, and our relationship to one another. Thousands of years ago the Rig Veda declared: “Truth is one, sages call it by various names.” The world’s religions offer varying approaches to God, each one true and valid, each religion offering the world a unique and irreplaceable path to God-realization. The conflicting messages we find among religions are due more to doctrine and dogma than to the reality of spiritual experience. While dissimilarities exist in the external observances of the world religions, the internals bear remarkable similarities.
According to the Vedanta teachings there are four paths we can follow to achieve the goal of understanding our divine nature.  These paths are known as the Four Yogas. We can choose a path based on our personality or inclination, or follow the practices of the paths in any combination.

Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti Yoga is the path of love and devotion. The devotee approaches God through a loving relationship. This path emphasizes practices such as prayer, chanting, and meditation on God as a loving presence in our lives.

Jnana Yoga

Jnana Yoga is the path of knowledge. In this path the seeker uses reason and discernment to discover the divine nature within by casting off all that is false, or unreal. This practice shows us that the Supreme Reality resides within.

Karma Yoga

Karma Yoga is the path of selfless work. Those who follow this path do work as an offering to God and expect nothing personal in return. Karma Yoga teaches us to practice detachment and equanimity in our work, and to understand that the results of any actions are beyond our control.

Raja Yoga

Raja Yoga is the path of meditation. Meditation is an important practice in all of the paths as it allows us to experience higher states of

Charvaka’s hedonism, an elixir of happiness

As long as you live, live happily, beg, borrow or steal, but relish ghee, clarified butter.” This is an oft-quoted maxim of Charvaka Darshan, which doesn’t actually reflect the universality of sukhvaad, hedonism and somewhat trivialises the profundity of this outright iconoclastic school of Indic philosophy.
Before proceeding further, let’s understand the concept of hedonism. Hedonism is the ethical theory that pleasure, in the sense of the satisfaction of desires, is the highest good and proper aim of human life.
Ethical or evaluative hedonism claims that only pleasure has worth or value; pain or displeasure has disvalue, the opposite of worth. Jeremy Bentham asserted both psychological and ethical hedonism by saying, “Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do.” Here, one must mention that hedonism is not completely an exclusive idea propounded by the Charvaka school.
Like Charvaka, Greek philosopher Epicurus also put a great emphasis on pleasure.
  To an uninitiated, Charvaka’s hedonism may appear to be a tad too sensual, corporeal and even carnal. But it’s too general an understanding of a deeper philosophy that humans need to stop desiring anything they don’t naturally need. Humans have been hankering after things they don’t require and, in a bid, to fulfil all the utterly elusive desires, we tend to lose the simplest joys that constitute a healthy and fulfilling existence. It’s like a proverbial Urdu couplet, ‘Na Khuda hi mila, na visaal-e-sanam/ Na idhar ke rahe, na udhar ke hum’ – ‘Neither did I realise god, nor did I find the company of my beloved/ I lost on both the fronts.’
The hedonism of Charvaka had a humanitarian streak to it. Charvaka believed that a joyful existence needs nothing else and individualistic happiness can pave the way for universal happiness. This is of paramount importance. No individual seems to be intrinsically happy. We’re constantly stressed out. To quote Pakistani poet Abdul Hamid Adam, ‘Ulajh ke rah gaya girdaab-e-jahan mein/ khushiyaan aayeen dabe paaon, chal deen sargoshi se’ – ‘Lost in the vortex of life/ I couldn’t discern when joys came tip-toeing and went surreptitiously.’ This is a universal lamentation felt by every rueful individual towards the fag-end of his life. What have we gained in life in this rat race of so-called success and accomplishments? Sadly, cipher; not even a zilch. We’ve deprived ourselves of life’s little joys and innocuous pleasures.
Charvaka exhorts us not to resist or resent the natural flow of happiness, for happiness is but an occasional episode in the painful drama of life. Ergo, enjoy life to the hilt, indulge in pleasures and welcome all that’s good. This is a grateful acceptance of positive energy.
We’re all sullen-faced, sulking souls because we’re too much into the ethical conundrums of good and bad and moral and immoral dilemmas. That palpable vibrancy and vivaciousness is seriously lacking in our lives. A measured hedonistic approach to life can bring back that estranged exuberance. Mind you, Charvaka’s hedonism is neither svairachaar, bohemianism, nor is it nihilistic. It’s an elixir and existentialism of universal happines
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The MYSTIRES OF YOGA

 

Quote from the true charm and power of Vedanta

 

 The MYSTIRES OF YOGA

 

From very ancient times the general mass of the people in all countries has associated religion with mysteries, miracles, and supernatural phenomenon. In early days people believed that evil spirits wee the cause of all diseases, and priests were often summoned to exercise the Devil. Even today there are persons everywhere, who will seek the help of priests, Sannyasins, or Yogis for the cure of physical ailments. This practice is common not only among the ignorant but extends to the educated classes. Even rationalists and those who are proud of their practical wisdom sometimes fall back on supernatural remedies as a last resort, when all other efforts have failed. There is also a tendency, especially among the rich to seek the advice of those professing religion on short cuts to worldly success. Many of them visit Sadhus simply for the purpose knowing, if possible, what further material rewards the future holds for them; to them; Religion and Astrology mean the same thing! In the west a large number of person who are ignorant of the real conditions in India still think of Hinduism in terms of astrology or Palmistry; for them every Indian they meet in a train or on board a ship is a potential fortune-teller!

 

Is it then a matter for any wonder if there are adventurers, everywhere, ready to take advantage of this “mystery mongering” Propensity often majority of men and women? In almost every country these charlatans ply a flourishing trade in the name of Religion. There is the story of the “Swami “in a large American city who among this various courses of Instruction advertised also; “Course of ten lessons for the attainment of Nirvana-Ten Dollars “! When upbraided by a fellow Indian for practicing such a hoax, the ‘swami” tried to justify his action by saying that after a long and fruitless search for all honest job, he had at last hit upon this device because he saw no harm in trading on the credulity of fools!

Where all can savour the joy of being alive

By Daisaku Ikeda

 

While Covid continues in one way or another to impact all sectors and aspects of society, the nature of that impact differs significantly depending on the conditions in which people find themselves.

 

Our real priority now is to face head-on the issues the pandemic has exposed, such as the need to rebuild the economy and livelihoods and reweave the social fabric so that it can support people’s lives in the years and decades to come. In considering this challenge, it is worth mentioning the words of UN Secretary General António Guterres last June: “We heal together when we all get the care we need.”

 

Here, I sense a commonality of spirit with the way of life that is the ideal of the Soka Gakkai International – a commitment to realising dignity and happiness for both oneself and others. The teachings of Mahayana Buddhism include an episode that resonates with this worldview and sensitivity to life.

 

 

On one occasion, Vimalakirti, a disciple of Gautam Buddha deeply respected for the way he interacted with people in various conditions of life with no sense of difference or distance, fell ill. Learning of this, Shakyamuni had some of his followers visit Vimalakirti. They asked Vimalakirti how he had fallen ill.

 

Vimalakirti replied: “Because all living beings are sick, therefore, I am sick,” and offered the following analogy to fully communicate what he meant: “It is like the case of a rich man who has only one child. If the child falls ill, then the father and mother too will be ill, but if the child’s illness is cured, the father and mother too will be cured.”

 

As it turns out, Vimalakirti was not actually suffering from any specific illness. Rather, his empathy – his feelings of shared pain that could not be extinguished so long as others suffered without relief – manifested itself in the form of illness. For Vimalakirti, this sharing of pain with those in distress was evidence that he was continuing to live as his authentic self. He was attuned to the vital truth that our individual security cannot be realised in isolation from the conditions of privation faced by others.

 

When we consider the Covid crisis in the light of this Buddhist perspective, it naturally leads us to question what it means to live in happiness and health at a time when so many people throughout the world are being severely impacted by illness and its accompanying effects.

 

This year marks seven years since the adoption by the UN of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to accelerate the recovery from the pandemic, it is important to flesh out the core spirit of the SDGs – the determination to leave no one behind – by adding a further vision of building a society where all can savour the joy of being alive. The feelings of relief and even joy that well up in a person who is aided in passage to safe haven after having been caught in the undertow of life’s trials and having given in to despair.

 

We must aim to construct a society in which such feelings – the palpable sense that it is, indeed, good to be alive – are shared by all.

 

 The writer is honorary president of the Soka Gakkai and founder of the Soka schools system

 

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.-

 

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Law of our Destiny

 

Quote from the true charm and power of Vedanta

 

 Law of our Destiny

 

Let us try not to run away from anything. God will give us strength. He never fails us, if we can only remember to call upon Him. The trouble is that when difficulties arise, we forget our spiritual nature, our faith is shaken our mind becomes clouded and we grow fearful. Therefore we must make it the habit of our life to keep close to the Ideal. That is religion. We must do it not only in the hour of devotion and prayer, but also in the hour of activity. We must follow the law, knowing that even the thoughts we hold in the darkness and which no one else may perceive, each contributes its share towards the molding of our destiny. If we have harmful thoughts, although they may not express themselves in action, yet they will create a poison in our system and affect us more than they affect the person towards whom they are turned. We call it a natural tendency. A man thinks it is natural for him to be angry when someone provokes him; but it is quite unnatural for one who understands himself. He does not need to control himself even, for his understanding will dispel all darkness and feelings of anger will not rise.

 

Bliss is Eternal

By Swami Kriyananda

 
What everyone really wants is bliss. Happiness is counterfeit: too much of it diffuses one’s very concept of bliss. To a mind full of attachments, bliss seems almost a threat. A cottage by the sea is something the ego, at least, can handle without effort. But bliss? Bliss requires total absorption. Few people are ready to be all that happy! They need suffering, to spur them towards ever higher aspiration.

 

A bird, after 20 years of living in a cage, would be afraid to leave it. Were the cage door opened, the bird would cower at the back, dreading the flight that is perfectly natural for it. Man, at the thought of absorption in bliss, faces two major challenges. First, to his mind, bliss implies a need for exerting high energy. Second, the concept of absolute consciousness seems overwhelming to him.

 

If you have attained a certain degree of refinement, you would be unwilling to return to living like others who limit their pleasures to the table, their bar room and the bedroom. Creatures at every stage of evolution cling to what is familiar to them. Familiarity gives them their sense of security. And, so, they may meet the call to higher awareness with stout resistance.

 

The principal challenge bliss presents is the demand that one’s ego be abandoned. Human beings define themselves in terms of their bodies. They think of themselves as having a specific age, name, nationality, sex and social position. These do not, however, truly define us at all. In infinite consciousness, not even self-awareness, ultimately, is lost; it is simply transformed. Nothing, in essence, can be either created or destroyed.

 

 

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.-

 

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The Sources of Healing Power

 

Quote from the true charm and power of Vedanta

 

 The Sources of Healing Power

 We must not give up. We all have latent within us a love for the true, for the perfect. We all want that which is unlimited and eternal. There is an inner longing which drives us constantly. Even the mistakes we make are due to our effort to find true happiness, but we seek it, in the finite, so we suffer. The Eternal is not to be found in the perishable. If we desire a real cure for our ills, physical or mental, we must seek it in the imperishable. The Source of life is not outside and separate from us. It is within us. The kingdom of God is within and we are told to soak that First, then all else will follow. Do we believe it? If we do, then we shall turn towards it naturally,. Whenever we feel any lack or any distress: instead of turning towards the external, we shall turn towards the internal.

 

A wise man goes within himself in his joys and his sorrows. He strives to unite himself more closely with his Source in every experience of life. He knows that all his power comes from there and he takes no credit to himself. No man can become a channel of divine power so long as his ego is in the ascendancy. He may be able to heal temporarily, but it will not last. To become a true channel he must attune himself with God through humility, through purity, through an utter lack of self –consciousness

 

A slow and steady ascent of spiritual awakening

 

By Jayant B Dave

 Just as a little baby slowly grows into an educated and cultured being, religious or spiritual consciousness too evolves gradually, starting from inanimate objects in nature. Religion and spirituality focus on the substratum of every object or being. Spirituality is that condition of consciousness which focuses on the spirit of things, rather than forms or bodies of things, says Swami Krishnananda.

 

Matter is the lowest rung of the evolutionary ladder in nature, and it is characterised by a total absence of perceptible consciousness. All-pervading consciousness is present here but in a dormant form due to the absence of the mind, subtle body, principle required for its manifestation. Matter though inert reacts and transforms as per its inherent characteristics due to the chit, latent consciousness, present therein.

 

Matter effloresces into microbial and plant kingdom consciousness. Life is pulsating here, but there is a complete absence of thoughts, instincts and self-consciousness. Here we find dream-type intermediate consciousness.

 

 

The animal kingdom is the next stage of evolution, where we find thoughts and instincts due to the mind principle that helps manifestation of consciousness. But instinct is about living in the present without regard to the past or future, due to the absence of logic or reasoning attributable to intellect. Consciousness does not manifest as self-consciousness.

 

The topmost rung of the evolutionary ladder is the human being, characterised by a well-defined mind and intellect that distinguishes pros and cons and correlates past, present and future. Consciousness manifests here as self-consciousness, which means ‘I know that I Know’. The human being is at the highest stage of evolution that nature has reached in the world.

 

Religious consciousness is quite different from this natural evolution. It starts from human status. There is a universality behind it due to the perception of Atman, pure Self, beholding all things in terms of pure Self existing in all.

 

Religious or spiritual consciousness is usually absent in humans, because self-consciousness is blended with ego and reason, due to attachment with the gross and subtle bodies. Hence, there is difficulty in arousing religious consciousness that aims at the integration of all existence.

 

Religious consciousness is one degree of God consciousness. The lesser the connection we feel between ourselves and another, the lesser we are religious or spiritual. Total independence or non-connection with objects outside is opposite to religious consciousness.

 

Friendliness is a good quality, but it is only an ethical manifestation, to be one with the existence and characteristics of an object. We impose characteristics of inner uniformity outwardly with the code of law, regulations, and rules. This is just the foundation. Once this psychological affirmation of innate unity is clear, we have to put this into practice in our daily life.

 

Yog is a way that enables us to gradually transform our physical, mental, and psychological consciousness into religious or spiritual consciousness. Religious consciousness is a gradual blossoming of the longing for perfection. One need not reject the body, society, or the world but transcend these relative manifestations to merge into the ocean of satchidanand, one and non-dual reality. (The writer is president, Divine Life Society, Vadodara)

 

Today is Swami Krishnananda’s birth anniversary

 

 

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.-

 

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Essential of Spiritual Life

 

Quote from the true charm and power of Vedanta

 

 Essential of Spiritual Life

 

The person who follows the path of selfless activity has to possess devotion, discrimination and concentration along with non-attachment. Aspirants of the other paths too, besides being endowed with common moral qualifications, should have-it may be in varying degree-all-these indispensable laments of spiritual life. Thus it is practically impossible in draw a dividing line between different types of aspirants and the paths they pursue. For example, evenness of mind which Sri Krishna speaks of as Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita is a virtue which all Yogis alike should possess. We may further quote the following verses of the Gita to illustrate the common features of the Yogas

 

“Content with what comes to him without effort, unaffected by the pairs of opposites, free from envy, and even minded in success and failure the wise man is not bound even though he be acting.

“Resigning mentally all deeds to me, the divine Being, having Me as the highest goal, and resorting to the devotion of right knowledge, ever fix your mind on me

“The Yogi who, being established in unity, worships, Me dwelling in all beings-he abides in Me, whatever his mode of life may be

All these words of Sri Krishna are more or less applicable to every type of Yoga. There is a conscious or unconscious combination of all noble attributes in the perfect ones as also in all real aspirants.

 

A simple method to attain Self-realisation

 

By Anup Taneja        

 
Paul Brunton, who visited Ramana Maharshi’s ashram in 1931, placed before the latter two fundamental questions: Is it necessary to renounce the world and move to secluded jungles or mountains to realise the Truth? What method should be pursued to attain Self-realisation?

 

In response to the first question, the Maharshi said that solitude is in the mind of a man. One might be in the thick of the world and yet maintain perfect equanimity; such a person is always in solitude. Another may stay in the jungle or mountain-top but still be unable to keep the mind calm. Such a person cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude, thus, is an attitude of the mind; a detached man is always in solitude.

 

Ramana Maharshi further said that the life of action need not be renounced in case the seeker is able to meditate for an hour or two every day. This is because the spiritual currents generated during meditation will continue to flow even in the midst of one’s work. Then the seeker can perform his worldly activities in that very current at high efficiency and output levels. Thus, while the seeker is engaged in search of God ‘within’, ‘outer’ worldly activities go on spontaneously.

  
Replying to the second question, the Maharshi said that the method of Self-inquiry is the simplest and direct method for Self-realisation. He explained that the first and foremost of all thoughts, the primeval thought in the mind of every man, is the thought ‘I’. It is only after the birth of this that any other thought can arise at all. The thought ‘I’ is also known as ahankar, ego, feeling of one’s personality. Therefore, the seeker desirous of attaining jnana must constantly ask himself the question, ‘Who am I?’

 If you meditate on this question, said Ramana Maharshi, and “begin to perceive that neither the body and brain, nor desires are really you, then the very attitude of inquiry will eventually draw the answer to you out of the depths of your own being”. Something else will spontaneously arise from behind your mind and take complete possession of you. That ‘something’ is the Pure Self – infinite, divine and eternal.

 

The mind, according to Ramana Maharshi, is a mere bundle of thoughts and has no concrete existence. Further, there can be no thoughts in the absence of the thinker, the ego. Through constant self-inquiry, when the seeker delves deep into the innermost recesses of his being, the ego gets dissolved and merges in Pure Consciousness. When this happens, the seeker attains the exalted state of Self-realisation.

 

Ramana Maharshi illustrated the process of annihilation of the ego by giving the example of the stick that is used in cremating bodies in the cremation ground. The stick that helps in pushing the bodies into the funeral blaze is itself in the end consumed by the same blaze. The stick is the ego and the blaze is the fire of jnana, Pure Consciousness, which abides in eternity and destroys ignorance. Therefore, the seeker who wishes to extricate himself from the vicious cycle of transmigration, “must retreat into his impregnable citadel” by realising his identity with the Pure, Immortal Self, the One Ultimate Reality.

 

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.-

 

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Spiritual Healing

 

Quote from the true charm and power of Vedanta

 

Spiritual Healing

 

All real healing is quite involuntary. It comes from the central reservoir of life, and that reservoir is shut off when our consciousness is fixed on the physical. If we are overcome by aches and pains and look to material means only for relief, this may come or it may not but even if it comes, it will be merely temporary. There can be permanent healing only when we turn to the Source of all supply which is within.    We must learn to retire within. We must learn to retire within ourselves when there is any trouble. Whatever overtakes us –whether it is physical illness, nervous excitement or mental disturbance-we must not reach out to the external world for help, we must try rather to make ourselves more fit for the manifestation of the divine Spirit. If we can draw close the cosmic Source within ourselves, we shall be relieved from our aches and pains and darkness. 

 

That inner Light the wise men say is the cure for all ailments, but we do not seek help there. We seek everywhere else; we turn to the spiritual Source as a last resort. Yet until we bring ourselves into contact with That, we shall have no real peace or rest or strength Mediation therefore becomes a vital factor in all healing. I have known many instances of involuntary cures, through mediation, and it is easy to explain them. The power of mediation enables me to transcend the physical to forget the limited self with its endless concerns and occupations, which now absorb and distract the mind.

 

Your response to situations can immortalise you

By

  Sudhamahi Regunathan

 

One of the elements in storytelling is to keep a little secret going till the end. Some call it suspense, others call it the climax. As a story is being told, there comes a twist, an unexpected challenge, and the plot intensifies. The listener typically asks, “And then what happened?” and there comes a turn of events. O’Henry was known for the sudden twist at the end of his stories.

 

Adikavi Valmiki wrote his famed story of the Ramayan, which has inspired many generations, with a difference. It may be surprising to learn that in the very first chapter, he tells the entire story of the Ramayan, with all the details. If he has missed out anything, he repeats the entire story in the third chapter again, right to the end when Ravan is slain and Ram returns to Ayodhya and is coronated.

 

Whether you read the Ramayan with devotion or as a piece of literature, the mind could feel an ennui since the story is completely revealed at the very beginning. But the charming thing about reading Valmiki is that interest never flags. Why?

 

 

The secret lies in framing the question. The Ramayan begins with Valmiki asking Narad, who was visiting his ashram, a question that he had been pondering over. “Who, in this wide world, is endowed with all qualities? Who is he who knows the right from wrong, is courageous, abides by dharma, is full of resolve, committed to Truth, has integrity in his actions, is full of moral rectitude, a man of knowledge, powerful, humble, who has subdued his senses, is gentle and soft spoken, splendorous, has a generous heart but when provoked can make even gods tremble?” Valmiki wonders if there can be one person who has all these qualities and more.

 

Narad agrees that it is a rather difficult question, but yes, he does know of such a person. And he proceeds to tell Valmiki the entire story of Ramayan. Valmiki hears attentively. The conversation comes to an end and feeling edified and happy, Valmiki proceeds to river Tamasa for a dip when he sees two krauncha birds in great harmony. Even as he is appreciating them, a hunter kills one, leaving the other helpless in grief. An enraged Valmiki pronounces a curse. And suddenly he finds his curse has found poetic expression.

 

He is struck by the metre and rhyme in his curse … Then Brahma himself comes to tell him, “I was the one who created this situation and also gave you the power of expression so that you may tell the story of the Ramayan.” And then Brahma tells him the story of Ram all over again.

 

So within the first three chapters, the entire story is told twice. That is because the focus of the Ramayan is not on Ram killing Ravan. It is on the qualities of Ram and his character. The storyline is but a series of challenges that come his way … challenges to his integrity, courage, generosity, his commitment to Truth and so on.

 

It does not matter which trajectory your life takes; it does not matter who behaves how. What matters is your response. And that is what immortalises men and women.

 

 

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.-

 

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DHYANA AND SAMADHI

 

Quote from the true charm and power of Vedanta

 

            DHYANA AND SAMADHI

We have taken a cursory view of the different steps in Raja-Yoga, except the finer ones, the training in concentration which is the goal, to which Raja-Yoga will lead us, We see, as human beings, that all our knowledge which is called rational is refereed to consciousness. My consciousness of this table, and of your presence, makes me know that the table and you are here. At the same time, there is very great part of my existence of which I am not conscious. All the different organs inside the body, the different parts of the brian-no body is conscious of their

When I eat food, I do it consciously, when I assimilate it, I do it unconsciously. When the food is manufactured into blood, it is done unconsciously. When out of the blood all the different parts of my body are strengthen, it is done unconsciously. And yet it is I who am doing all this; there cannot be twenty people in this one body. How do I know that I do it, and nobody else? It may be urged that my business is only in eating and assimilating the food, and that strengthening the body by a man comes out the very same man the food done for me by somebody else. That cannot be because it can be demonstrated that almost every action of which we are now unconscious can be brought up to the plane of consciousness. The heart is beating apparently without our control. None of us here can control the heart; it goes on its own way. But by practice men can bring even the heart under control until it will just beat at will slowly or quickly or almost stop. Nearly every part of the body can be brought under control. What does consciousness are also performed by us , only we are doing it unconsciously. We have, then, two planes in which the human mind wake First is the conscious plane, in which all work is always accompanied with the feeling of egoism. Next comes the unconscious plane where all work is unaccompanied by the feeling of egoism. That part of mind work which is unconscious work , and that part which is accompanied with the feeling of egoism is conscious work. In the lower animals this unconscious work is called instinct. In higher animals and in the highest fo all animals man, what is called conscious work prevails.

 

Time doesn’t flow, it doesn’t stop, it just is

By Jasmine Sehgal

 

The idea of time is not easy to grasp, its nature is a great mystery. All actions and events that happen are ordained to follow a linear order of time; they have a beginning, peak and an end. Ancient Indic scriptures have used the word ‘Kaal’ for time.

 

According to Vaisheshik, one of the six theist schools of Indic philosophy, founded by Maharshi Kanad, who proposed the atomistic approach to understanding the universe, kaal is an abstract entity. It is one of the nine kaaran dravyas, causative elements of creation. They are: mann, mind; atman, consciousness; kaal, time; and disha, space; and the panchbhutas, five elements – akash, ether; vayu, air; agni, fire; jal, water; and prithvi, earth. Prashastapada, the famous commentator on Vaisheshik Darshan from 500-600 BCE, spoke about kaal to be eka, one, in number – a continuum. Acharya Charaka stated: ‘Kaalah punah parinamah’, kaal is the process of parinaam, transformation.

  
Theoretical physicist Albert Einstein’s relativistic theory relates matter and energy by the following equation: E=mc2, where E: energy, m: mass, and c: speed of light. So energy and matter are really the same thing. It is just the transformation of one into another. Einstein’s one-time teacher and colleague, Hermann Minkowski, introduced the relativity concept of proper time, ‘The actual elapsed time between two events as measured by a clock that passes through both events.’ Two events are nothing but transformation, close on heels.

 

Everything happens for a reason and the only reason for time to exist is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.

 

Talking of the qualities of time, Maharshi Sushruta said that time is swayambhu, it’s just there; Anadi madhya nidhanah – it is without a beginning, peak and an end; and Sookshmatam kalaam na leeyate – it does not stop in subtlest fractions.

 

Time is quantised for practical purposes of planning and execution of all activities. Another theoretical physicist, Carlo Rovelli, putting forth his idea of time, has stated that it is the human brain, not just fundamental physics that determines what we call the flowing of time and the sense of the speed at which it flows.

 

The term ‘space time continuum’ refers to the interpretation that time and space are without a beginning, peak and an end and are in continuity. Time doesn’t evolve into anything; it’s just there, all, at once.

 

Modern physicists believe that time does not ‘flow’, it just ‘is’. This view of time, according to Paramahansa Yogananda, is consistent with the philosophical view mentioned in the Bhagwad Gita: God is the Eternal Consciousness, unchanging and indivisible, in which the illusions of time, change; and space, division; present an infinite variety of forms interacting in a progressive mode of past, present and future.

 

The writer is an Ayurveda practitioner

 

 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.-

 

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