Friday, March 12, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Atma Bondage , Advaita Vedanta- Swami Vivekananda
According to the Advaita philosophy, there is only one thing real in the universe, which it calls Brahman; everything else is unreal, manifested and manufactured out of Brahman by the power of Mâyâ. To reach back to that Brahman is our goal. We are, each one of us, that Brahman, that Reality, plus this Maya. If we can get rid of this Maya or ignorance, then we become what we really are. According to this philosophy, each man consists of three parts — the body, the internal organ or the mind, and behind that, what is called the Âtman, the Self. The body is the external coating and the mind is the internal coating of the Atman who is the real perceiver, the real enjoyer, the being in the body who is working the body by means of the internal organ or the mind.
The Âtman is the only existence in the human body which is immaterial. Because it is immaterial, it cannot be a compound, and because it is not a compound, it does not obey the law of cause and effect, and so it is immortal. That which is immortal can have no beginning because everything with a beginning must have an end. It also follows that it must be formless; there cannot be any fond without matter. Everything that has form must have a beginning and an end. We have none of us seen a form which had not a beginning and will not have an end. A form comes out of a combination of force and matter. This chair has a peculiar form, that is to say a certain quantity of matter is acted upon by a certain amount of force and made to assume a particular shape. The shape is the result of a combination of matter and force. The combination cannot be eternal; there must come to every combination a time when it will dissolve. So all forms have a beginning and an end. We know our body will perish; it had a beginning and it will have an end. But the Self having no form, cannot be bound by the law of beginning and end. It is existing from infinite time; just as time is eternal, so is the Self of man eternal. Secondly, it must be all-pervading. It is only form that is conditioned and limited by space; that which is formless cannot be confined in space. So, according to Advaita Vedanta, the Self, the Atman, in you, in me, in every one, is omnipresent. You are as much in the sun now as in this earth, as much in England as in America. But the Self acts through the mind and the body, and where they are, its action is visible. ... See More
Each work we do, each thought we think, produces an impression, called in Sanskrit Samskâra, upon the mind and the sum total of these impressions becomes the tremendous force which is called "character". The character of a man is what he has created for himself; it is the result of the mental and physical actions that he has done in his life. The sum total of the Samskaras is the force which gives a man the next direction after death. A man dies; the body falls away and goes back to the elements; but the Samskaras remain, adhering to the mind which, being made of fine material, does not dissolve, because the finer the material, the more persistent it is. But the mind also dissolves in the long run, and that is what we are struggling for. In this connection, the best illustration that comes to my mind is that of the whirlwind. Different currents of air coming from different directions meet and at the meeting-point become united and go on rotating; as they rotate, they form a body of dust, drawing in bits of paper, straw, etc., at one place, only to drop them and go on to another, and so go on rotating, raising and forming bodies out of the materials which are before them. Even so the forces, called Prâna in Sanskrit, come together and form the body and the mind out of matter, and move on until the body falls down, when they raise other materials to make another body, and when this falls, another rises, and thus the process goes on. Force cannot travel without matter. So when the body falls down, the mind-stuff remains, Prana in the form of Samskaras acting on it; and then it goes on to another point, raises up another whirl from fresh materials, and begins another motion; and so it travels from place to place until the force is all spent; and then it falls down, ended. So when the mind will end, be broken to pieces entirely, without leaving any Samskara, we shall be entirely free, and until that time we are in bondage; until then the Atman is covered by the whirl of the mind, and imagines it is being taken from place to place. When the whirl falls down, the Atman finds that It is all-pervading. It can go where It likes, is entirely free, and is able to manufacture any number of minds or bodies It likes; but until then It can go only with the whirl. This freedom is the goal towards which we are all moving.
Suppose there is a ball in this room, and we each have a mallet in our hands and begin to strike the ball, giving it hundreds of blows, driving it from point to point, until at last it flies out of the room. With what force and in what direction will it go out? These will be determined by the forces that have been acting upon it all through the room. All the different blows that have been given will have their effects. Each one of our actions, mental and physical, is such a blow. The human mind is a ball which is being hit. We are being hit about this room of the world all the time, and our passage out of it is determined by the force of all these blows. In each case, the speed and direction of the ball is determined by the hits it has received; so all our actions in this world will determine our future birth. Our present birth, therefore, is the result of our past. This is one case: suppose I give you an endless chain, in which there is a black link and a white link alternately, without beginning and without end, and suppose I ask you the nature of the chain. At first you will find a difficulty in determining its nature, the chain being infinite at both ends, but slowly you find out it is a chain. You soon discover that this infinite chain is a repetition of the two links, black and white, and these multiplied infinitely become a whole chain. If you know the nature of one of these links, you know the nature of the whole chain, because it is a perfect repetition. All our lives, past, present, and future, form, as it were, an infinite chain, without beginning and without end, each link of which is one life, with two ends, birth and death. What we are and do here is being repeated again and again, with but little variation. So if we know these two links, we shall know all the passages we shall have to pass through in this world. We see, therefore, that our passage into this world has been exactly determined by our previous passages. Similarly we are in this world by our own actions. Just as we go out with the sum total of our present actions upon us, so we see that we come into it with the sum total of our past actions upon us; that which takes us out is the very same thing that brings us in. What brings us in? Our past deeds. What takes us out? Our own deeds here, and so on and on we go. Like the caterpillar that takes the thread from its own mouth and builds its cocoon and at last finds itself caught inside the cocoon, we have bound ourselves by our own actions, we have thrown the network of our actions around ourselves. We have set the law of causation in motion, and we find it hard to get ourselves out of it. We have set the wheel in motion, and we are being crushed under it. So this philosophy teaches us that we are uniformly being bound by our own actions, good or bad.
The Atman never comes nor goes, is never born nor dies. It is nature moving before the Atman, and the reflection of this motion is on the Atman; and the Atman ignorantly thinks it is moving, and not nature. When the Atman thinks that, it is in bondage; but when it comes to find it never moves, that it is omnipresent, then freedom comes. The Atman in bondage is called Jiva. Thus you see that when it is said that the Atman comes and goes, it is said only for facility of understanding, just as for convenience in studying astronomy you are asked to suppose that the sun moves round the earth, though such is not the case. So the Jiva, the soul, comes to higher or lower states. This is the well-known law of reincarnation; and this law binds all creation.
People in this country think it too horrible that man should come up from an animal. Why? What will be the end of these millions of animals? Are they nothing? If we have a soul, so have they, and if they have none, neither have we. It is absurd to say that man alone has a soul, and the animals none. I have seen men worse than animals.
The human soul has sojourned in lower and higher forms, migrating from one to another, according to the Samskaras or impressions, but it is only in the highest form as man that it attains to freedom. The man form is higher than even the angel form, and of all forms it is the highest; man is the highest being in creation, because he attains to freedom. ...
excerpts Raja yoga- Swami Vivekananda
The Âtman is the only existence in the human body which is immaterial. Because it is immaterial, it cannot be a compound, and because it is not a compound, it does not obey the law of cause and effect, and so it is immortal. That which is immortal can have no beginning because everything with a beginning must have an end. It also follows that it must be formless; there cannot be any fond without matter. Everything that has form must have a beginning and an end. We have none of us seen a form which had not a beginning and will not have an end. A form comes out of a combination of force and matter. This chair has a peculiar form, that is to say a certain quantity of matter is acted upon by a certain amount of force and made to assume a particular shape. The shape is the result of a combination of matter and force. The combination cannot be eternal; there must come to every combination a time when it will dissolve. So all forms have a beginning and an end. We know our body will perish; it had a beginning and it will have an end. But the Self having no form, cannot be bound by the law of beginning and end. It is existing from infinite time; just as time is eternal, so is the Self of man eternal. Secondly, it must be all-pervading. It is only form that is conditioned and limited by space; that which is formless cannot be confined in space. So, according to Advaita Vedanta, the Self, the Atman, in you, in me, in every one, is omnipresent. You are as much in the sun now as in this earth, as much in England as in America. But the Self acts through the mind and the body, and where they are, its action is visible. ... See More
Each work we do, each thought we think, produces an impression, called in Sanskrit Samskâra, upon the mind and the sum total of these impressions becomes the tremendous force which is called "character". The character of a man is what he has created for himself; it is the result of the mental and physical actions that he has done in his life. The sum total of the Samskaras is the force which gives a man the next direction after death. A man dies; the body falls away and goes back to the elements; but the Samskaras remain, adhering to the mind which, being made of fine material, does not dissolve, because the finer the material, the more persistent it is. But the mind also dissolves in the long run, and that is what we are struggling for. In this connection, the best illustration that comes to my mind is that of the whirlwind. Different currents of air coming from different directions meet and at the meeting-point become united and go on rotating; as they rotate, they form a body of dust, drawing in bits of paper, straw, etc., at one place, only to drop them and go on to another, and so go on rotating, raising and forming bodies out of the materials which are before them. Even so the forces, called Prâna in Sanskrit, come together and form the body and the mind out of matter, and move on until the body falls down, when they raise other materials to make another body, and when this falls, another rises, and thus the process goes on. Force cannot travel without matter. So when the body falls down, the mind-stuff remains, Prana in the form of Samskaras acting on it; and then it goes on to another point, raises up another whirl from fresh materials, and begins another motion; and so it travels from place to place until the force is all spent; and then it falls down, ended. So when the mind will end, be broken to pieces entirely, without leaving any Samskara, we shall be entirely free, and until that time we are in bondage; until then the Atman is covered by the whirl of the mind, and imagines it is being taken from place to place. When the whirl falls down, the Atman finds that It is all-pervading. It can go where It likes, is entirely free, and is able to manufacture any number of minds or bodies It likes; but until then It can go only with the whirl. This freedom is the goal towards which we are all moving.
Suppose there is a ball in this room, and we each have a mallet in our hands and begin to strike the ball, giving it hundreds of blows, driving it from point to point, until at last it flies out of the room. With what force and in what direction will it go out? These will be determined by the forces that have been acting upon it all through the room. All the different blows that have been given will have their effects. Each one of our actions, mental and physical, is such a blow. The human mind is a ball which is being hit. We are being hit about this room of the world all the time, and our passage out of it is determined by the force of all these blows. In each case, the speed and direction of the ball is determined by the hits it has received; so all our actions in this world will determine our future birth. Our present birth, therefore, is the result of our past. This is one case: suppose I give you an endless chain, in which there is a black link and a white link alternately, without beginning and without end, and suppose I ask you the nature of the chain. At first you will find a difficulty in determining its nature, the chain being infinite at both ends, but slowly you find out it is a chain. You soon discover that this infinite chain is a repetition of the two links, black and white, and these multiplied infinitely become a whole chain. If you know the nature of one of these links, you know the nature of the whole chain, because it is a perfect repetition. All our lives, past, present, and future, form, as it were, an infinite chain, without beginning and without end, each link of which is one life, with two ends, birth and death. What we are and do here is being repeated again and again, with but little variation. So if we know these two links, we shall know all the passages we shall have to pass through in this world. We see, therefore, that our passage into this world has been exactly determined by our previous passages. Similarly we are in this world by our own actions. Just as we go out with the sum total of our present actions upon us, so we see that we come into it with the sum total of our past actions upon us; that which takes us out is the very same thing that brings us in. What brings us in? Our past deeds. What takes us out? Our own deeds here, and so on and on we go. Like the caterpillar that takes the thread from its own mouth and builds its cocoon and at last finds itself caught inside the cocoon, we have bound ourselves by our own actions, we have thrown the network of our actions around ourselves. We have set the law of causation in motion, and we find it hard to get ourselves out of it. We have set the wheel in motion, and we are being crushed under it. So this philosophy teaches us that we are uniformly being bound by our own actions, good or bad.
The Atman never comes nor goes, is never born nor dies. It is nature moving before the Atman, and the reflection of this motion is on the Atman; and the Atman ignorantly thinks it is moving, and not nature. When the Atman thinks that, it is in bondage; but when it comes to find it never moves, that it is omnipresent, then freedom comes. The Atman in bondage is called Jiva. Thus you see that when it is said that the Atman comes and goes, it is said only for facility of understanding, just as for convenience in studying astronomy you are asked to suppose that the sun moves round the earth, though such is not the case. So the Jiva, the soul, comes to higher or lower states. This is the well-known law of reincarnation; and this law binds all creation.
People in this country think it too horrible that man should come up from an animal. Why? What will be the end of these millions of animals? Are they nothing? If we have a soul, so have they, and if they have none, neither have we. It is absurd to say that man alone has a soul, and the animals none. I have seen men worse than animals.
The human soul has sojourned in lower and higher forms, migrating from one to another, according to the Samskaras or impressions, but it is only in the highest form as man that it attains to freedom. The man form is higher than even the angel form, and of all forms it is the highest; man is the highest being in creation, because he attains to freedom. ...
excerpts Raja yoga- Swami Vivekananda
Monday, February 15, 2010
Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar Nepal
Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar, Nepal is established as a social institution with a divine objective. It is working in the field of social welfare, spreading spiritual consciousness and to promote the sadhana procedure of awakenibg "Kundalini energy" which is believed to be in subtle dormant state in human body.
Sadguru Narayan Dutt Shrimali(Paramhans Swami Nikhileshworananda) has got the credit of re-establishing the beliefs of ancient jewels of spiritualism and sadhana path in this darkened materialistic world. "Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar" is also trying to spread the spiritual message and legacy of Sadguru Narayan Dutt Shrimali (Paramhans Swami Nikhileshworananda).
After his samadhi, the temple dedicated to him has been established at Mandhikhatara, Kapan, Kathmandu which falls on the premises of Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar Nepal. It will be worthwhile for the forth coming generating to be introduced to the man of the age and his divine efforts aimed at balancing the materialistic and spiritual world. The temple is also popularly known as "Nikhileshwor Mahadevstha".
By the divine blessing and the subtle direction of Swami Nikhileshworananda, the ashram is organising Sadhana, Yagna, kirtan and bhajan programs on various temples and locations. With the event the sadhakas are introduced with proper sadhana procedure which will help the sadhak to enlighten themselves and be capable enought to get the entry to Siddhashram which is the abode to many rishi, munis and enlightened people.
The daily guru worship aka aarati program in morning and evening and yagna have already become regular feature of the ashram. Group worship, sadhana programs are organised on specials days and they aim to spread the divine consciousness around the society and to uplift the sadhana procedure for the attainment of truth.
"Guru Diksha" is also given to the devotees who wants to follow the path of sadhanas. The ancient scriptures have desribed about its importance and it is also the process of being spiritually attached with "Guru- the divine path director". The Guru Diksha is the most integral part needed to walk on the path of sadhanas. This process links our soul with the supreme soul of Gurudev.
Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar also has a monthly magazine, "Siddhashram Monthly" which has the manifesto of promoting the sadhana way for the attainment of the truth and also leading the society to righteousness and it also aims people to do there duties and to live a spiritual life. It also organises meditationa and yoga classes on awakening "Kundalini Energy". We have experience of sadhakas who have experienced the vibration of kundalini energy and they have also witnessed some improvement in there health.
So in a nutshell Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar is a religious organisation aiming at spreading the divine message of Paramhans Swami Nikhileshworananda and it also acts as a divine centre for practising kriya like kundalini shakti, kriya yoga, sadhanas and many more.
Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar
Nikhil Mahadevsthan,
Mandikhatar, Kapan, Kathmandu, Nepal
Sadguru Narayan Dutt Shrimali(Paramhans Swami Nikhileshworananda) has got the credit of re-establishing the beliefs of ancient jewels of spiritualism and sadhana path in this darkened materialistic world. "Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar" is also trying to spread the spiritual message and legacy of Sadguru Narayan Dutt Shrimali (Paramhans Swami Nikhileshworananda).
After his samadhi, the temple dedicated to him has been established at Mandhikhatara, Kapan, Kathmandu which falls on the premises of Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar Nepal. It will be worthwhile for the forth coming generating to be introduced to the man of the age and his divine efforts aimed at balancing the materialistic and spiritual world. The temple is also popularly known as "Nikhileshwor Mahadevstha".
By the divine blessing and the subtle direction of Swami Nikhileshworananda, the ashram is organising Sadhana, Yagna, kirtan and bhajan programs on various temples and locations. With the event the sadhakas are introduced with proper sadhana procedure which will help the sadhak to enlighten themselves and be capable enought to get the entry to Siddhashram which is the abode to many rishi, munis and enlightened people.
The daily guru worship aka aarati program in morning and evening and yagna have already become regular feature of the ashram. Group worship, sadhana programs are organised on specials days and they aim to spread the divine consciousness around the society and to uplift the sadhana procedure for the attainment of truth.
"Guru Diksha" is also given to the devotees who wants to follow the path of sadhanas. The ancient scriptures have desribed about its importance and it is also the process of being spiritually attached with "Guru- the divine path director". The Guru Diksha is the most integral part needed to walk on the path of sadhanas. This process links our soul with the supreme soul of Gurudev.
Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar also has a monthly magazine, "Siddhashram Monthly" which has the manifesto of promoting the sadhana way for the attainment of the truth and also leading the society to righteousness and it also aims people to do there duties and to live a spiritual life. It also organises meditationa and yoga classes on awakening "Kundalini Energy". We have experience of sadhakas who have experienced the vibration of kundalini energy and they have also witnessed some improvement in there health.
So in a nutshell Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar is a religious organisation aiming at spreading the divine message of Paramhans Swami Nikhileshworananda and it also acts as a divine centre for practising kriya like kundalini shakti, kriya yoga, sadhanas and many more.
Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar
Nikhil Mahadevsthan,
Mandikhatar, Kapan, Kathmandu, Nepal
Friday, February 12, 2010
Nepal and Shivaratri
Happy Maha Shivaratri for the all of us. May Lord Shiva bestow us with all prosperity in life and may he lead us to salvation. Today is Maha Shivaratri and it is being celibrated by hindus all over the world and especially in India and Nepal. In Nepal there is a famous temple of Pashupatinath which is one of the most sacred temples for hindus, It is located at Gaushala, Kathmandu. Today at Mahashivarati, the devotees, sadhu, santa, aghori, tantriks, avadhoot etc from all over the world comes to Pashupatinath.They fast for the whole day and night and many of them can be seen taking intoxicant. The best thing about Maha Shivaratri in Kathmandu, Nepal is that people are free to take intoxicant like gaja, bhang, dhatura and there is no disturbance from the police as they themselves celebrate it. It is the most sacred festival for Nepalese people. I personally myself have been there in big queues three years in row to be inside the temple to see Pashupatinath. The queues are big and there are like more then 5 big queues and two different one for male and another for female.Even if u go inside the temple the view is only like 10 paces away. Pashupatinath has 4 faces and four doors. Usually the door at the west is often more opened. Inside Pashupatinath courtyard we have a temple of bhairav and it also has "chausati" which means there are heaps of shivalinga in puzzle format. The holy river Bagmati flows on the eastern side and there is cremation places where people burn the corpse. The view is almost like people cremated on the river of gangas. We Nepalese go there on every occasion and i have some buddhist friends who also goes to worship Pashupatinath. I have seen many many people with different ethnic background but still worshipping Pashupatinath. I can only conclude that Pashupatinath is the symbol of unity for all Nepalese people. Pashupatinath can reunite Nepal. Nepal is heading towards federalism based on ethnic background which may cause the country to split in pieces. I hope Lord Shiva in this auspicious occasion of Mahashivaratri give all the Nepalese people the sense of unity and may peace and prosperity prevail from his eternal blessings
Har Har Mahadev
Har Har Mahadev
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Bhakti Yoga
sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah
The above verse is from chapter 18, sloka 67 of Bhagawad Gita which literally means "Abandon all variety of religion and surrender unto me and i shall release you from your sins so do not grieve". The above sloka is in the chapter "The yoga of Renunciation" while as it carries the meaning of devotion. Krishna has put more emphasis on Bhakti Yoga then anyother yoga, why does he say so.In my interpretation devotion is all about surrender. The greatest devotion is surrender, surrender to the lord. Its hard to surrender because we have one small yet big factor named ego that is there. To surrender means to melt your ego by the flames of devotion. Devotion is the highest state of yoga because through jnana yoga u can only discriminate what is real and what is unreal, between brahma and maya. So when the realisation comes then devotion starts. Adi Shankaracharya has said that the highest devotion is the devotion to the truth, so the highest truth is BRAHMA, so when one surrenders to almighty Brahma and then he eats sleeps, thinks, does everything for him then he goes one step further because devotion initself is a mediation and when the mediation goes deep then a yogi reaches the state of Samadhi which means the meditator and the object of meditation becomes one. The soul is the Brahma so when u meditate upon brahma then u come to the realisation that ur soul is the brahma and brahma is never created nor destroyed but eternal and u will be eternal and u will be liberated from the world. So every great things in spiritualism starts from devotion. Devotion to the truth. So, lord Krishna says surrender unto me leaving the religion behind. Religion is only meant for purification of karma and to walk in the path of the truth but religion cant take u to the truth u need someone to surrender yourself. You need someone to guide you to the truth and its only possible when u surrender yourself to the person who has experienced the truth and in simple term the guide person is called GURU. For Arjuna the guide was the lord himself who is also his guru because he in one of the chapters has mentioned that this knowledge was given to sun god by lord krishna and he gave the knowledge to Manu and thorugh disciple succession it continued but in some point it stopped so for the revival of the knowledge he is giving it to Arjuna. So, one of the best yoga mentioned in Bhagawad Geeta is Bhakti Yoga.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Karma yoga
zकर्मण्ये वाधिकारस्ते म फलेषु कदाचना
कर्मफलेह्तुर भुरमा ते संगोस्त्वकर्मानी॥
In English transliteration:
Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachna
Karmaphalehtur bhurma te sangostvakarmani.
In English translation:
You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action। Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.
I sought out to say some words on Karma Yoga of Bhagawad Geeta but something striked inside my head and that was the above shloka. I grew up listening this verse as it was the opening verse of then famous T.V serial Mahabharata. The reason i am posting this verse is because if its possible to boil down karma yoga in four line then it will be "Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachna Karmaphalehtur bhurma te sangostvakarmani." which literally means you have a rights to perform your prescribed duties but u are not entitled to the fruits of the action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the result of your work and never be attached to not doing your duty.
Everyone has some prescribed duties, u may be somebody's father, somebody's son, somebody's hubby etc. You have your duties to perform because we are always bounded by our duties for eg I being a father cant let my childnren and wife die in starvation because its my duty to give them protection and provide them with there basic needs, Prescribed duties is a broader term because it not only implies duties based on caste but as a whole of humanity. Without work the creaation cannot run, doing your duties is inevitable. Fighting for justice with kauravas was also one of the duties of pandavas being a kshatriya, kshatriya prescibed duties is to fight against injustice and for protection of dharma but Arjuna on the battle field of Kurukshetra decided not to shower arrows to his brothers, uncle and grandshire because he got entangled in the web of attachment to his relatives and not killing them in which the Lord replies that in this world nobody can kill anybody because we all are souls and soul is eternal. So even if Arjuna shoots arrow he is going to take lives of the body not kill them. So, the lord told him to lift Gandhiv and fight because he was not klling anybody in these process and on top of that its Arjuna prescribed duties to fight for the right cause. The line "but u are not entitled to the fruit" means that when one does his prescribed duties, he must do in a sense or in the mindframe that its a duty and the duty has to be done watsoever, duties has to be done even if it leads to profit or loss, happiness or sorrow, so if u do something in the mindframe that it has to be done whether favourable or not then it reduces your attachment to the very work u are doing which is called Deattachment. If u do your work not caring about the result then there will be no attachment left and any kind of unfullfilled desires.
"Karmaphalehtur bhurma te sangostvakarmani."means "Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.", well every series of work that u do leads to another and that leads to another and that leads to another, so the results of the work that u do is never ending because the fruit itself is like a cobweb as any person attached to it cant get out of it, the more struggle it does the more entangled it gets, so to save Arjuna from the miseries Lord Krishna advised him to not take himself as the cause, but from a simpleton view how can that be possible when i do a work and it leads me to some results and i say i am not the cause of the whole thing. The Lord dispels his doubt by saying u can do ur duties not expecting the fruit and not taking urself as the cause but me. He says take the lord himself to be the cause of everything that he does and he is just acting for the gratification of the lord or he is just a means for the lord to do some of his leelas, so when a person just takes himself as the means but takes lord as the doer then how can the karma bind him, for a karma to bind him there has to be a doer and the doer is the lord and karma cant bind the lord and whenever u dont do ur duties because of the motivation of fear and attachment then its a kind of attachment in itself because the basic human emotions is involved, so when emotions are involved bondage is there. So the lord says to Arjuna that he is a kshatriya and his duties is to fight for justice and dharma which means righteousness. So, he tells Arjuna to lift gandhiv and fight thinking that he is doing his duties and that has to be done anyway and also that he is not taking lives from his relatives bodies but he is acting as a means for the lord to annihilate injustice and maintain equanimity.
कर्मफलेह्तुर भुरमा ते संगोस्त्वकर्मानी॥
In English transliteration:
Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachna
Karmaphalehtur bhurma te sangostvakarmani.
In English translation:
You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action। Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.
I sought out to say some words on Karma Yoga of Bhagawad Geeta but something striked inside my head and that was the above shloka. I grew up listening this verse as it was the opening verse of then famous T.V serial Mahabharata. The reason i am posting this verse is because if its possible to boil down karma yoga in four line then it will be "Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachna Karmaphalehtur bhurma te sangostvakarmani." which literally means you have a rights to perform your prescribed duties but u are not entitled to the fruits of the action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the result of your work and never be attached to not doing your duty.
Everyone has some prescribed duties, u may be somebody's father, somebody's son, somebody's hubby etc. You have your duties to perform because we are always bounded by our duties for eg I being a father cant let my childnren and wife die in starvation because its my duty to give them protection and provide them with there basic needs, Prescribed duties is a broader term because it not only implies duties based on caste but as a whole of humanity. Without work the creaation cannot run, doing your duties is inevitable. Fighting for justice with kauravas was also one of the duties of pandavas being a kshatriya, kshatriya prescibed duties is to fight against injustice and for protection of dharma but Arjuna on the battle field of Kurukshetra decided not to shower arrows to his brothers, uncle and grandshire because he got entangled in the web of attachment to his relatives and not killing them in which the Lord replies that in this world nobody can kill anybody because we all are souls and soul is eternal. So even if Arjuna shoots arrow he is going to take lives of the body not kill them. So, the lord told him to lift Gandhiv and fight because he was not klling anybody in these process and on top of that its Arjuna prescribed duties to fight for the right cause. The line "but u are not entitled to the fruit" means that when one does his prescribed duties, he must do in a sense or in the mindframe that its a duty and the duty has to be done watsoever, duties has to be done even if it leads to profit or loss, happiness or sorrow, so if u do something in the mindframe that it has to be done whether favourable or not then it reduces your attachment to the very work u are doing which is called Deattachment. If u do your work not caring about the result then there will be no attachment left and any kind of unfullfilled desires.
"Karmaphalehtur bhurma te sangostvakarmani."means "Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.", well every series of work that u do leads to another and that leads to another and that leads to another, so the results of the work that u do is never ending because the fruit itself is like a cobweb as any person attached to it cant get out of it, the more struggle it does the more entangled it gets, so to save Arjuna from the miseries Lord Krishna advised him to not take himself as the cause, but from a simpleton view how can that be possible when i do a work and it leads me to some results and i say i am not the cause of the whole thing. The Lord dispels his doubt by saying u can do ur duties not expecting the fruit and not taking urself as the cause but me. He says take the lord himself to be the cause of everything that he does and he is just acting for the gratification of the lord or he is just a means for the lord to do some of his leelas, so when a person just takes himself as the means but takes lord as the doer then how can the karma bind him, for a karma to bind him there has to be a doer and the doer is the lord and karma cant bind the lord and whenever u dont do ur duties because of the motivation of fear and attachment then its a kind of attachment in itself because the basic human emotions is involved, so when emotions are involved bondage is there. So the lord says to Arjuna that he is a kshatriya and his duties is to fight for justice and dharma which means righteousness. So, he tells Arjuna to lift gandhiv and fight thinking that he is doing his duties and that has to be done anyway and also that he is not taking lives from his relatives bodies but he is acting as a means for the lord to annihilate injustice and maintain equanimity.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Spiritulity VS Religion
I think Religion and Spirituality are two interrealed terms. Both of them are related with each other as the essense behind the both is the same thing. For me Religion is the basic principles that u follow in life to live a righteous life, to do ur prescribed duties and to do things for the welfare of world. Religion is inevitable as this is what we grew up by and what we will be walking on. Religion leads a man to do his duties properly and to walk in the path of righteousness, religion basically follows the teachings of god or an enlightened person whileas spiritualilty is little broader topic for me, Spirituality is basically doing research, analysis and implementation of the soul or spirit. Our soul is our ultimate consciouness and it is eternal, never born never dead. We people feel all kinds of attachment, pain and pleasure because we identify ourself with body. Relationship, hatred, fondness are all there because of mind, so when a person takes himself as a soul then he is a consciouness in himself and he is eternal, when he gets enlightened on the fact that he is not the body but the soul then he is liberated from this material world.The main cause of bondage in this material world is desire. What we become in our next life is decided by our desire at the time of death. Religion puts us in the right track to get past all the attachments and spirituality leads us to liberation or in simple terms religion is the basis of purification of ones mind and body but spirituality is the process of liberting the soul from this material world. If i were asked which is more important, religion or spirituality then my answer would be spirituality as lord Krishna said in bhagawad geeta ," give up all varities of religion and surrender to me and i shall give you liberation", its obvious to us from the words of the lord that religion is not the most importand thing in any people's life, still people identify themselves with there body, mind and religion and act accordingly. From spirituality context killing in the name of dharma is the most absurd deed because this very own deed leads religion to be a poision. We all humanity should take ourself as soul because two souls are same though they may have an individual identity ans two souls never kill each other only two bodies does, we can make this world a better place to live if Osama Bin Laden, Americans and all other human being take up the idea of spirituality, religion is the not the end goal but spirituality is.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Bhagawad Gita
Bhagawad Gita is the arrays of sacred words spoken to arjuna by lord Krishna. Lord Krishna is the eight avatara of Lord Vishnu and he is taken as the perfect and full avatara by hindus. When the war was about to start Arjuna asked his chariot Lord Krishna to take him between the two sides whom he could see as after the battle there would be many faces that will disappear forever. Arjuna caught up in his own attachment and moha tells the lord that he is not going to fight because in the battle if there is anyone who is going to die, it will be his brothers or relatives. How could he shower arrows to his guru Dronacharya, his kulguru Kripacharya, his grandshire Vishma as they were all senior and respected persons for him. He was in the midst of dilemma and then the lord spoke. The Lord said "u talk like an intelligent person but u are grieving for nothing", the wise never laments nor repents on his deeds, the lord further said that in this world nobody can be killed as the consciousness is the soul and the soul is never born never dead. The body is just an uniform that the soul changes. So its not a good thing to be attached to the body and repent on it as it was never alive. The person that u are seeing are all souls and how can they be killed, they have to shed there body by anymeans someday, its just the matter of when and how, if u dont take there lives and let them shed there bodies somebody else will as u are in the battle field and this is the place to fight for what is right. The Pandavs are there to fight for a higher cause then hastinapur, its for justice, for dharma so arjuna being a kshatriya was his foremost duties to fight for justice. Furthermore the lord says u have to do ur prescibed duties which is inevitable. Its better to do ones duties imperfectly then to do others duties perfectly. Arjuna was kshatriya and his duties was being a warrior and also to save the dharma and fight against injustice and in doing so u shouldnt expect for the fruit of the karma. There is a line that says "do the karmas but dont except for the fruit", as expecting the fruit of the result is an attachment to itself, the best ways to do ur duties is to offer the fruit of karma to me as this way the doer doesnt be the doer but as a means to do the karma and the lord becomes the doer and when one is just a mean but nor a doer, how can a karma bid him then and he explains Arjuna 18 types of yoga and out of them bhakti, karma, jnana and dhyana yoga are the topmost.He further expalins all the yogas to arjuna and he tries to tell arjuna that he is the greatest among men and arjuna still doent take on that so he shows his universal form to arjuna and arjuna being convinced by his words takes his bow and goes for the fight ulimately leading Pandavas to the victory. The essense of Gita cant be explained in a short post, as it is spoken in sutras and out of every sutras 100 meanings can be produced so to explore it and have an understanding u need to have a guru who can not only explain geeta but all the upanishad and vedas to you as geeta is the very essense of what upanishad and vedas are trying to say.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Happenings
From Magh 22/ February 5 2010, till 29 Magh / 12 February Siddhashram Sadhak Pariwar Nepal is having 108 Kundiaya Mahayagnya along with Nikhileshoranada Guru Mahapurana /Nikhil Purana at Bhrikuti Mandap, Kathmandu, Nepal premises...for the betterment and prosperity and peace in Nepal. All people are welcome to this event for the blessings. As per my knowledge there is going to be Lord Shiva Sadhana there, so please dont misout this opportunity to get connected with other people who shares the same passion that u do.
How to get started in spirituality
We all are spiritual in some ways, we all want that inner peace and the inner ecstasy. Its all about reaching that stage where there is nothing but ecstacy, peace. so how could one start in the path of spirituality? well there is only one answer to this i.e to find a guru who has already experienced the divine and can help u to reach it. Our scriptures say that without guru there is no knowledge, guru is not a person but the embodiment of knowledge, even bhagawad gita emphasizes on finding the right guru for the spiritual upliftment. When you find guru try making ur guru happy and when guru is happy then the knowledge is bestowed. I also have a guru and i fall in the disciple succession of his reverend Paramhans Swami NIKHILESHORANANDA, my guru is one of his disciple. So trying find a guru and especially if anyone is interested in sadhana, mantra, tantra then i can help u on the path. Secondly is there is one thing that i recommend will be BHAGAWAD GITA as this book is the song of god, lord Krishna portrays the beautiful essence of vedas in the question and answer format. He uses the essense of vedas to dispel the doubts and insecurity of arjuna and arjuna fights to win the battle of kurukshetra, the words are immortal and i recommend every person who wants to start in the spirituality by reading bhagawad gita but even to understand geeta nicely u have to have a guru, so everything boils down to four letter word "GURU", so to get started in spirituality one has to find a guru and receive the knowledge through Gurus grace
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