The process of living has the attainment of the Supreme as its purpose and meaning. By the Supreme is meant the Atma. All those who have grown up in the Bharathiya (Indian) culture know that the Atma is everywhere.
But when asked how they have come to know of this, some assert that the Vedas (most ancient spiritual revelations) have taught them so, others quote spiritual texts (sastras), and others rely on the experiential testimony of the great sages. Each of them bases their conclusion and proves its correctness according to the sharpness of their intellect.
Many great people have directed their intelligence toward the discovery of the omnipresent Atma and succeeded in visualizing that Divine Principle. In this country, Bharath (India), those who have tried earnestly to pursue these goals have had evidence of their successful realization placed before them by preachers, pundits or scholars, aspirants, and ascetics. However, among millions of people, we can count only a few who have b...
SWAMI: O, you have come! Well. What is the news?
Devotee: What other news do we have except yours? I heard that Your Kerala tour was most pleasant and wonderful.
I am sad that I was not destined to join.
Swami: Why are you sad for it? Listen to the account and be happy, that is all. Have the confidence and the hope that when such an opportunity next presents itself, you may be able to join. Don’t brood over the past.
Devotee: What is the use of confidence and hope when one is not destined? Hope will cause only greater disappointment.
Swami: Has destiny a shape and a personality so that you can recognise it even before it shows itself? You should not hang on its favour, talking all the time of destiny, destiny, ... How can that destiny itself fructify without your will and wish, taking practical form, as action? Whatever be the destiny, it is essential to continue acting. Action (karma) has to be done, even to attain one’s destiny.
Devotee: If one is destined, everything will come o...
Humanity is essentially divine. However, one believes oneself to be an individual, limited and temporary, because one is entangled in the characteristics of the five elements: sound, touch, form, taste, and smell. This error brings about joy and grief, good and bad, birth and death. To escape from this association with the elements, to rid oneself of the pulls of their characteristics, is the sign of liberation, known as kaivalya, moksha, or mukthi.
The names may change, but the achievement is the same.
While entangled in the five elements, one is attracted, distracted, or disappointed by them, all of which causes distress. Wealth, possessions - vehicles, buildings, etc. - are all transmutations of the elements. One craves them, and when one loses them or fails to get them, one spurns them.
Let us take the five elements, one by one. The living being has the first one, the earth, as its base. Water, the second, is the basis for the earth. Water is produced from fire, the third element, ...
The thoughts of Ravana and Vibhishana
Listening to Surpanakha, Ravana’s lusty passion was aroused, and he became the bondslave of ruinous foolishness; he wriggled out of the feeling of hatred toward Rama and Lakshmana and started planning stratagems to get Sita away from them. He sank in thought and was plunged in anxiety and restlessness, without any effort to quench hunger or thirst. Such was the fatal fascination that haunted him.
While Surpanakha was describing the beauty and splendour of Rama and Lakshmana, there was one person in the audience hall, Vibhishana, who listened to the story with joy in his heart and tears in his eyes. He installed those divinely charming figures in the temple of his heart and yearned deeply for the chance of being in their presence and falling at their feet. “Will they receive me? Can I be saved? Do I deserve to be blessed by them?” he asked himself. He told himself: “They are divine, for certain. They have appeared on earth in human form in o...
Three stages of philosophic discovery
There are three steps in the progression of philosophic enquiry (or Vedantic thought) in India: dualism, qualified nondualism, and nondualism (dwaitha, visishta-adwaitha, and a-dwaitha). It is not possible to advance beyond these three steps by human endeavour. Nondualistic thought is beyond the reach of the common person; it is not so easily comprehensible. To conceive it with the intellect is itself hard. To experience it, a powerful faculty of penetration is needed. Therefore, it is best to start with the dualist step and experience it as the reality behind things; then, the second stage of qualified nondualism is rendered easier to reach.
The individual must progress as fast or as steadily as the community. We pass through boyhood, childhood, adolescence, youth, middle age, and old age; it is an imperceptible but inevitable progress. We experience each only when we are passing through it. So, too, with these three stages of philosophic discover...
Athatho Brahma jijnasa
An aphorism (sutra) enshrines, in a few words, vast expanses of meaning, vast depths of fundamental significance.
The Brahma Sutras build up the science of Vedanta. They gather multicoloured flowers from all the Upanishads and string them together to form an enchanting garland. Each aphorism can be elaborated and explained in a number of learned ways, according to one’s understanding, faith, preference, experience, and pleasure.
Yearning to know
The first aphorism is atha-athah-Brahma-jijnasa. The initial atha has many literal meanings, but in this aphorism, the most appropriate sense is: “Thereafter”. So, the question “after what?” arises. It is obvious that it refers to “the yearning to understand the nature of Brahman (Brahma jijnasa)”. The meaning is: “After such a yearning has dawned”. How can this yearning emerge? It can come into the mind only after one acquires proper qualifications. “Thereafter” means, “after equipping oneself wit...
Universal “I”
Every living being refers to itself as “I”, “I am Rama”, “I am Krishna”, “I am Sita”, “I am Radha”. Each assumes the “I” as their own and uses it whenever they have to designate themself. If birds, beasts, and other living things could speak, they would behave likewise and refer to themselves as “I”. Even mountain peaks, hills, and trees might announce themselves as “I am a hill”, “I am an anthill”, “I am a tree”, if they could speak.
When we spend some time thinking this over, it will be clear that some great mystery is embedded in the expression “I”. The illiterate boor uses it; the sage who has secured the divine vision uses it; even God, it is said, announces Himself as “I”. But who probes into this mystery? And among those who have dared probe, how many have succeeded in unraveling it ? Even if a few have unraveled the mystery, how many among them have used the discovery to transform their lives? Have the celebrated...
For many centuries, the Rama story, Stream of Sacred Sweetness, has been for millions of men, women, and children the perennial source of solace during sorrow, vitality when floored by vacillation, illumination while confounded, inspiration in moments of dejection, and guidance while caught in quandaries.
It is an intensely human drama in which God impersonates as man and gathers around Him, on the vast world-stage, the perfect and the imperfect, the human and the subhuman, the beast and the demon, to confer on us, by precept and example, the boon of Supreme Wisdom. This story plays its tender fingers on the heartstrings of people, evoking lithe, limpid responses of pathos, pity, exultation, adoration, ecstasy, and surrender and transforming us from the animal and the human into the Divine, which is our core.
No other story in human history has had such a profound impact on the minds of people. It transcends the milestones of history and the boundaries of geography. It has shaped and s...
This For millions of men, women, and children, The Rama Story, Stream of Sacred Sweetness, has been for many centuries the perennial source of solace during sorrow, vitality when floored by vacillation, illumination while confounded, inspiration in moments of dejection, and guidance while caught in quandaries. It is an intensely human drama in which God impersonates man and gathers around Him, on the vast world stage, the perfect and the imperfect, the human and the subhuman, the beast and the demon, to confer on us, by precept and example, the boon of Supreme Wisdom. It is a story that plays its tender fingers on the heartstrings of people, evoking lithe, limpid responses of pathos, pity, exultation, adoration, ecstasy and surrender, rendering us transformed from the animal and the human into the Divine, which is our core.
No other story in human history has had such a profound impact on the mind of people. It transcends the milestones of history and the boundaries of geography. It ha...
The eras, classified according to the principles and practices of spiritual progress as laid down in the Hindu dharma, are three:
The Vedic era, during which great importance was laid on rituals (karma). The Upanishadic era, when spiritual wisdom (jnana) was emphasized more than all else. The Puranic era, when devotion (bhakthi) was declared and described as all important. The Vedic age Vedic literature consists of hymns (samhithas), Brahmanas, forest texts (Aranyakas), and Upanishads. Of these, the first three deal with actions (karma) and are known as Karma-kanda, and the last, the Upanishads, are concerned with spiritual wisdom (jnana) and are therefore called wisdom texts (Jnana-kanda).
The groups of mantras in the Vedic texts (samhithas) are full of hymns (stotras) glorifying Gods like Indra, Agni, Varuna, Surya, and Rudra. The Aryans in ancient times earned peace and contentment and the fulfilment of their desires by sacrifices and rituals, which were addressed to these Gods ...
