Students! The Ageless Person, beyond delusion and darkness, has to be cognised by every person through their own effort. You have taken birth as inheritors of this estate of eternal bliss. You are the dearly loved children of the Lord. You are as pure and as sacred as air. Don’t condemn yourselves as sinners. You are lion cubs, not sheep. You are wavelets of immortality, not bodies compounded from matter. Material objects are there to serve you and do your bidding: you should not serve them and do their bidding.
Don’t think that the Vedas lay down a bundle of frightening rules and regulations and laws. Every one of them has been laid down by the Lord, as law-giver. All elements in the cosmos, every particle everywhere, are acting every moment as ordered by Him. This is what the Vedas inform us. No worship can be higher and more beneficial than serving such a Lord. One has to offer love to Him, more love than one bears to anything else in this world and the next. He must be loved as...
Soon after the propagation of Vedanta through the Upanishads and other texts, the sages (rishis), steeped in austerities (tapas) and spiritual experience gained therefrom, composed the codes of law (smrithis), expatiating upon the codes of conduct for the people during the various stages of life as well as when they occupied various statuses in society. The codes of law, however, did not acquire the authority that the Vedantic texts had, for they dealt with rights, responsibilities, duties and obligations.
Ancient law codes and Atmic reality
Such codes of law can be found in sacred scriptures adored by followers of other religions. They consider such social codes and individual guidelines given by their prophets and seers as valuable and binding. We, too, revere them and should continue to revere them as regulations set up for the good of society and the progress of humanaity. For we must admit that they were framed by outstanding sages and well-wishers of the people.
But, in the proce...
Knowing, knowledge, is Veda (Vetthi ithi Vedah). That is, from the Vedas, one can know the code of right activity and the body of right knowledge. The Vedas teach one’s duties from birth to death. They describe one’s rights, duties, obligations, and responsibilities in all stages of life - student, householder, recluse, and monk. In order to make plain the Vedic dicta and axioms and enable all to understand the meaning and purpose of the do’s and don’ts, the Vedangas, Puranas, and epic texts appeared, in course of time. So, if one is eager to grasp one’s own significance and true reality, one has to understand the importance of these later explanatory compositions also.
This is why the ancients taught the Vedangas and other related texts even before the pupils learned the Vedas.
This was a must in the hermitage schools of the past. In those days, the Indians (Bharathiyas) studied the Fourteen Spiritual Subjects (Vidyas). The Vedas were learned by rote. The master of the Vedas...
The difference in teachings about the name or form of God (Iswara) are not very important. We need not quarrel over those distinctions and differences. Instruction on God is service enough.
Indians (Bharathiyas) do not accept the view held by others that the world and the universe of which it is a part came into being some thousands of years ago and will meet with dissolution sometime in the future. Nor do they accept the statement that the universe was born out of the void (sunya). They believe that the projection (nature or prakriti) is not born of vacuity but has always been full and complete (purnam). It has no beginning or end; it has only gross and subtle forms. It is no sign of enlightenment to infer that, since there is no evidence of the full and complete, there must be a void in the beginning. There are other levels of existence to consider.
For example, you are not entirely the body; in the gross body there is a subtle body, the mind, and also another body, which is more sub...
Of course, the blind king and his queen, Gandhari, were expecting Vidura to call upon them, for they had learned that he had come to town. So when Vidura entered, the king embraced him and shed tears of joy.
He couldn’t contain himself. He listed one by one the calamities that overtook him and his children and lamented over fate.
Vidura admonishes Dhritharashtra
Vidura tried to console him with profound teachings of the scriptures. But he soon discovered that the petrified heart of the old man would not melt at the application of cold advice; he knew that his stupidity could be overcome only by hard blows. So, he changed his tune and resorted to blame and abuse.
Hearing this, Dhritharashtra was alarmed. He expostulated, “Brother! We are burning in agony at the loss of our hundred sons, and you prick the wound with the sharp needles of your angry abuse. Even before we taste the joy of meeting you after so long a time, why do you try to plunge us deeper into distress? Alas! Why shoul...
Who can overcome the decrees of fate?
In the palace, Vidura asked about the welfare of all of his kinsmen. Then Kunthi Devi, the queen mother, came in and, casting her endearing looks at him, said, “At last, we see you, O Vidura!” She could say no more.
After some time she resumed, “How could you stay away so long, ignoring the children whom you reared with so much love, as well as myself and others who revere you so much. Through your grace, my children are rulers of this land today. Where would they be today if you hadn’t saved them on many a critical occasion? We were the target of many a disaster, but the greatest one was your being away from us. That affected us most. Even the hope of seeing you again was extinguished in us. Now, our hearts have sprouted again. Aspirations scattered by despair have come together. Today, our joy has attained fullness. O, what a happy day!” Kunthi sat for a while wiping her tears.
Vidura held her hands and could not resist his own tears, a...
People must dedicate themselves to dharma and always be engaged in dharma, so that they may live in peace and the world may enjoy peace. One cannot acquire real peace, nor can one win the grace of the Lord, through any means other than the dharmic life. Dharma is the foundation for the welfare of humanity; it is the truth that is stable for all time. When dharma fails to transmute human life, the world is afflicted by agony and fear and tormented by stormy revolutions. When the effulgence of dharma fails to illumine human relationships, humanity is shrouded in the night of sorrow.
God is the embodiment of dharma
God is the embodiment of dharma; His grace is won by dharma. He is ever fostering dharma. He is ever establishing dharma. He is dharma itself. The Vedas, scriptures (sastras), epics (Puranas), and traditional accounts (ithihasas) proclaim aloud the glory of dharma.
In the scriptures of the various religions, dharma is elaborated in language familiar to the adherents. The duty o...
Meanwhile, one young student-disciple ran in with a bundle of palm leaf scripts and placed it in Viswamitra’s hands. He turned over a few leaves and passed it on to a reverend old hermit sitting by his side. The master asked the old man to read it aloud, so that all might hear.
He read that Emperor Janaka of Mithila had resolved to perform a celebrated rite (yajna), expressive of the highest glory of righteousness, and that he was praying to Viswamitra to give him joy by his gracious presence with his disciples. When they heard this, all exclaimed, “May it attain fulfilment!” Viswamitra said, “Sons! Now that we can travel through the forests free from fear of demonic gangs, I have decided to start traveling tomorrow to Mithila with all the ashram residents” When he heard this, Rama said, “Master! It is really a source of delight. Since you don’t need us for anything more, we’ll return to Ayodhya, if you permit us to do so. Please allow us to leave.” Viswamitra said...
Q. You were talking of strict regimen. Men should also follow a strict regimen, right?
A. Of course! They are also flesh and blood, bone and marrow; they are also afflicted with illness. Each and every person who is afflicted with birth and death and suffering from this cycle is in need of this medicine. And whoever helps himself to this treatment has to follow the regimen. Man or woman, whoever neglects the regimen cannot get rid of the illness. People cannot afford to say that they are free from it; they have to stick to it closely and observe it strictly. Even if they have had initiation into the spiritual path of Brahma-realisation, if they are devoid of virtues like equanimity (sama) and control of the outer senses (dama), they cannot save themselves, whether they are men or women.
Q. But Swami, why do many scholars who are learned in the scriptures (sastras) declare that women have no right to acquire knowledge of Brahman (Brahma-vidya)? What is the reason?
A. There is no reason ...
Everywhere now, one can hear the cry “world peace”, “world peace”, but the number of people who can tell how it can be attained is very small! No one can even picture correctly what exactly peace means. For, if one has acquired true peace and experienced it, the turmoils and confusions of the world will not be cognized at all. You cannot be aware of its absence if you have it. Peace (santhi) means, “the giving up of the activities of the senses”. How can such peace be spread and “promoted” by anyone who has gained it? It can be experienced, but it is incapable of being exchanged from person to person. The best that can be done is to show the way to others, to inform others of its sweetness. How can another’s hunger be appeased by your eating your food? The diner alone derives satisfaction from the dinner. Peace is also of such a nature. Each has to earn and experience it for themself, so that all may have it. Love and fortitude are enough to confer peace. But don’t ...
