The glance worth a million words!

The night of Shivaratri with all it's auspiciousness and grandeur shines with splendour in the presence of the Guru. When a glance through  the car that stopped by, spoke a million words, though in silence.

As His glance met the longing eyes for a few seconds, time came to a standstill and extended to infinity and yet seemed to move at a pace like it had never moved faster ever!

What can compare the tears of joy to the tears of this world...

Kimvachaniyam Kim Avachniyam - Cannot be described in words, yet one cannot stay without describing them

How could one describe the loving eyes of the mother meeting the eyes of her new born. Well, then the eyes of the Master glancing through makes the task all the more arduous.

The charm of the Guru is incomparable, indescribable and yet the most beautiful gift that one could get in this human birth...

The Eternal Witness

 We have been given a body to realize the indweller, instead, we end up spending valuable time in upkeep of this body and tending to its pleasures

We have been given a mind to perceive the beauty outside and inside, instead, we end up spending valuable time in getting caught up in the worldly scenes

We have been given an intellect to discriminate between the right and the wrong, instead, we end up spending valuable time in judging and blaming others

We have been given a memory to remember our true nature, instead, we end up spending valuable time in holding on to the miseries and negativities of the past

We have been given an ego to expand our sense of belongingness to everyone, instead, we end up spending valuable time in trying to prove our worth and gain attention

The Self in the background witnesses all this, untouched awaiting our arrival!

The 2 sides of contentment

While we spend a major part of our life living to earn, we often forget to question the purpose of why we are doing what we are doing!

The purpose of all the efforts we put in to earn a livelihood is to be comfortable and therefore be happy...

I got to see 2 opposite sides of the spectrum this lockdown.

While companies are resorting to pay cuts and retrenchments, there is an underlying fear amongst many. I heard many who were earning lakhs every month be fearful of losing a few thousands every  month because of pay cuts..

On the other hand, when I was out distribute food grains to daily wage workers under the initiative by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji, I met a laborer who had not received any earning for quite a few days. I asked him out of curiosity on how he was managing.

He had a smile of contentment that radiated more than a millionaire would have. He calmly responded. Every day the Divine comes in some form and takes care.Some day a fruit vendor gives away a couple of bananas and some day foodgrains reach us the way you have got it today.

I was amazed at the faith and the knowledge a simple laborer brought out. Even more so the state of contentment that many earning in lakhs did'nt possess.

He continued...I have nothing to lose. No bank balance, no mutual funds, no house loans to repay. I work to my 100% every day and then sleep to the fulfillment of my heart. The Divine is so caring. He always seems to be taking...

A feeling of gratitude took over teaching me to be grateful for what I have rather than what may be lost. As a tear trickled down my eye, I could'nt resist handing him another baggage of grains. That's all I could do as a beggar in front of a man who was so rich in his heart...

Significanace of Guru Poornima by Swami Chinmayananda and Aadi Shankaracharya

A young seeker once questioned Swami Chinmayananda:

'Whatever you teach is there in the books.
What do I need a Guru for?'
Swamiji replied: “Why don't you ask this question to the books?'

The very fact that we have such questions such as the one asked by the young seeker indicate that we need teachers to teach us. Is there anything we do well, with confidence, or mastery if it has not been taught to us? If, for every perfect act in the world we need the guidance of an instructor, we can well understand the need for a guru on the spiritual path. On this path we have to deal with the subtlest forces and enormous confusions of the vehicle called the mind with its varied moods and delusions!

Consider – the full moon day in the month of Ashada as per the Hindu calendar, is Guru Purnima – a day of veneration to the Guru. Followers of Buddhism also celebrate this day in honour of Lord Buddha who gave his first sermon at Sarnath on this day. Hindus celebrate this day as Vyasa Purnima, as not only was Sage Veda Vyasa born on this day, but is also said to have commenced the great work, Brahmasutras, on this day.

                       

"Worshipping that Guru with deep devotion, when he is pleased with your surrender, humility and service, approach him and ask him to explain what you must know.

तमाराध्य गुरुं भक्त्या प्रह् वप्रश्रयसेवनैः।
प्रसन्नं तमनुप्राप्य पृच्छेज्ज्ञातव्यमात्मनः॥ [- विवेकचूडामणि ३४]

tamārādhya guruṁ bhaktyā prahvapraśrayasevanaiḥ,
prasannaṁ tamanuprāpya pṛcchejjñātavyamātmanaḥ.
[- Vivekacūḍāmaṇi 34]

Commentary :
"It is clear that no amount of enquiring into or discussing with a Teacher is of any avail unless the student has taken enough time to tune himself up to the Teacher. Spirituality is not something that we can start discussing and arguing among ourselves to while away an idle hour. It is to be understood in an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity – for this understanding is an attempt at comprehending the deep experiences of the Master expressed not so much through his words.

Shri Adi Shankaracharya, in his composition 'Vivekachoodamani' explains that a seeker should approach the Teacher and learn, first of all, to love him, trust him and later on, through love-inspired acts of service, become receptive and establish a rapport filled with reverence. Thus, Vedanta is almost over-emphasising the method of approaching the Teacher

These days, unfortunately, we find seekers who think nothing of calling the Teacher over the phone to enquire from the Teacher about the goal of life, the path, the means and so on. Such telephone-tuition is not possible in spirituality and the seeker of a spiritual life and religious truths should approach the Master in an attitude of reverence and surrender

Unfathomable are the ways of the Divine

As I left for my Monday morning office today, just a few meters of drive away from home it seemed like curtains all the way through.

A huge crane moving right in front of my car, for some reason decided to back throw its arm on to my car's windshield, smashing the mirror and bonnet completely, and the fork of the crane arm, plunging into my car onto my face.

While a mind within me said that this was it, another voice prompted me to duck down and stay calm...and so I did. As I sit back and look at the car body and my own, they seem to be poles apart, one trashed and the other unscathed. How, Why, I dont know...

Immediately after the incident, I remembered a story that H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji had once narrated.

A Master and disciple were once out in the woods, when it started raining heavily. They ran back to their hut to find it half submerged in water. The disciple was full of complaints..."I meditated, served people, etc for so many years and in return, O God, you could not even save my hut for me"
, How cruel are you". The Master was on the contrary singing the praise of the Divine..."How considerate are you Oh God that despite the vast devastation, you saved half the hut so there was some place for us to find shelter in."

And it was today that the story made sense to me. For every situation in life, we have 2 options.
1) Lament over the loss
2) Be grateful for the Grace

Its like an arrow was to severe the head away, but blew away the cap. The Grace of the Master works that way. Unfathomable are the ways of the Divine!

The mind game or the games of the mind!!!

Albert Einstein said  "We have been all wrong.  What we have called matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses.  There is no matter."   

He just quoted from 7000 year old Vedanta ( which he was proficient in ) which clearly stated Maya, the illusion often mistaken for reality.

Time is in essence a grand illusion that has taken a hold of our consciousness and conditioned our reality to believe in it, thus we then become enslaved by the illusion and suffer the karmas associated with it. 

Though various theories and concepts about "Maya" or the grand illusion exist, the fun being that the human mind, yes, our own mind that gives rise to, entertains and sustains this "Maya".

The mind that wishes to be on top of others, be in control of situations, prove its worthiness to others, lead one into negativity and habits, delusion and sorrow has itself no existence when questioned into.

Is the mind thriving on this world as its fodder or is it that the mind has created this world as its fodder!!!

Ever eluding its self destruction, the mind merrily creates bodies for the fulfillment of its desires and destroys the same body in an attempt to fulfill it.

It continues the cycle with uninterrupted diligence using the "Maya" or the delusion as the support for its existence.

What has got me here? Have I ever been here before? What am I trying to achieve? What will I do if I achieve what I want to..

Will the mind ever be satisfied!!!!!

It will merrily sing its way to searching a new body for continuing the vicious cycle and furthering itself to darkness and delusion!!!

Oh mind...When will you be a "no mind"!!!!

The continuous search...

While mythological stories always caught my attention since childhood, understanding the significance behind the stories gives them an absolutely new dimension.

What also attracted my attention off late was the life history and commentaries of saints from the Indian tradition, peculiar amongst them being Adi Shankaracharya...

A shloka that really mesmerized me during the sanskrit biography of Adi Shankaracharya was...

आकाशात् पतितं तोयं यथा गच्छति सागरम्
सर्व देव नमस्कारः केशवं प्रतिगच्छति

AkAshAt patitam tOyam yathA gacchati sAgaram
sarva dEva namaskArah kEshavam pratigacchat

And its beautiful connotation:

Is this all that our existence counts for? One minute here, gone the next? Totally wiped out, non-existent? Yes, perhaps if we identify ourselves with our bodies. If not, then we are the souls, a spark of the Eternal Consciousness, The Divine Consciousness, whatever we choose to call it and hence immortal. So just as the drops of rainwater which fall into the streams flow into the river, thence into the river, sea and finally merge into the oceans, so too we, the individuals souls - Atma - (drops of rainwater) eventually merge with the Paramatama (The Eternal Consciousness) once we are liberated from the bondage of this physical body.

Now there is a different context to this shloka too. It is a very beautiful comparison between the drops of water which fall as rain and make their way into the mighty oceans. Similarly, the prayers offered to the different deities we worship eventually make their way to the ONE and only God. This is a shloka which makes a very strong case for universal brotherhood and the Unity of God, no matter what route we take to reach HIM/HER. All Gods are one. So all religions, all rituals, all forms of prayers eventually lead to that one, single God. Therefore all religions are only different means to the ONE end.

While all great teachings point to one direction, they also tend to deepen the hole of mystery.

What is this world about? Where are we headed? What are we here for?

My search continues...