Urban Monks on Spirituality, its Impact on Life and Secularism

 

 

Urban Monks on Spirituality, its Impact on Life and Secularism

[Compilation for a discourse at Sri Ganesha Temple, Nashville, USA, by N.R.  March,  2021]

Most significant journeys in a human life begin at a certain point at which the person recognizes the need to undertake the journey, assesses his or her available resources and accounts for the possible difficulties as well as the potential rewards. The journey into the spiritual life can sometimes begin in mysterious ways. A profound thought may suddenly appear in the mind, one may read a great book, a stunning sight in nature may strike one dumb with awe, an insightful comment from a friend may touch a part in the person that had never been previously reached, meeting with a great saint or a word of wisdom from them may occur, a meaningful glance, a bit of inspiring music-any number of apparently random things can get a person thinking about the ultimate meaning of life.

In this context I would like to draw your attention to an event in my life while serving Tata’s in India when Kanchi Sankarachaya Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati, popularly known as Maha Periyava   visited Indore and delivered  a spiritual talk to local  populace in his mission to spread his spiritual  teachings in the hinterlands of India, on the subject  ”What is the purpose and goal of life?”,  in which I actively participated as a host. Being a senior Executive (Dy.GM) of TATA Exports I occupied the prominent place on the dais, while my GM presided.  Sankaracharya then advised me, for what reasons I do not know, that I should focus some part of my life on Spirituality and also spread the message to others if not then at least after retirement. Probably he was then impressed by my active participation and quotes from scriptures!  This   sermon (Upadsesa)  of Jagadguru often bothered me, having migrated to USA and living in the district of Albany. After retirement, I settled in Nashville. Inspired by the philanthropist temple fathers of Sri Ganesha temple and their enthusiasm in spreading Hindu Culture and Spirituality even after retirement, I too got motivated and started self-study of Upanishads and Gita, during recouping after surgery and resting on bed. That was the beginning of my contribution to HR Forum with which you are all well acquainted!

The true spiritual path is an attempt to seek out and find definitive and non-relative ideals. The sections that follow are meant to serve as a possible catalyst that can spur a person to begin the spiritual journey. Spiritual Gurus explain to us "What is the Spiritual Life?" and introduces a beginner to the psychological, social and personal circumstances that help lead a person to search for meaning. Then they guide us on "Spiritual Practices," and various practical approaches to the spiritual life.  They also suggest to us reading material from Spiritual Gurus like Swami Vivekananda, Swami Aurobindo Swami Sivananda, Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Chidananda etc., who chose not retire to forest in seclusion but work  with society, sharing their griefs and leading  them to brighter and better life.

Spirituality is a broad concept with room for many perspectives. In general, it includes a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and it typically involves a search for meaning in life. As such, it is a universal human experience—something that touches us all. People may describe a spiritual experience as sacred or transcendent or simply a deep sense of aliveness and interconnectedness.

Some may find that their spiritual life is intricately linked to their association with a church, temple, mosque, or synagogue. Others may pray or find comfort in a personal relationship with God or a higher power. Still others seek meaning through their connections to nature or art. Like your sense of purpose, your personal definition of spirituality may change throughout your life, adapting to your own experiences and relationships.

Christina Puchalski, MD, Director of the George Washington Institute for Spirituality and Health, contends that "spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred."

According to Mario Beauregard and Denyse O’Leary, researchers and authors of The Spiritual Brain, “spirituality means any experience that is thought to bring the experiencer into contact with the divine (in other words, not just any experience that feels meaningful).”

Nurses Ruth Beckmann Murray and Judith Proctor Zenger write that “the spiritual dimension tries to be in harmony with the universe, and strives for answers about the infinite, and comes into focus when the person faces emotional stress, physical illness, or death.”

While spirituality may incorporate elements of religion, it is generally a broader concept. Religion and spirituality are not the same thing, nor are they entirely distinct from one another.  In spirituality, the questions are: where do I personally find meaning, connection, and value? In religion, the questions are: what is true and right?

Many spiritual practices recommended for cultivating spirituality are similar to those recommended for improving emotional well-being. This is because there is a connection between the two—emotional and spiritual wellbeing influence one another and overlap, as do all aspects of wellbeing. Spirituality is about seeking a meaningful connection with something bigger than yourself, which can result in positive emotions, such as peace, awe, contentment, gratitude, and acceptance. Emotional health is about cultivating a positive state of mind, which can broaden your outlook to recognize and incorporate a connection to something larger than yourself. Thus, emotions and spirituality are distinct but linked, deeply integrated with one another.

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and hope.” Thomas Merton

 

Like other reflective practices, mindfulness (such as Yoga) can be a tool to discover how spirituality manifests in your life. Mindfulness teaches you to be aware of what is happening in your body and mind in the present moment and open to it with curiosity and kindness. This allows you to explore beliefs, perspectives, and experiences in a new way that might lead to new insights around spiritual questions. 

 

"Spirituality is the aspect of humanity that refers to the way individuals seek and express meaning and purpose and the way they experience their connectedness to the moment, to self, to others, to nature, and to the significant or sacred."

 

How Is Indian Culture Spiritual? 

 Writers and speakers generally say that Indian culture is spiritual. What does it mean? Does it mean that all the people of India are spiritual? India has its own share of wicked people, non-spiritual people, evil people. But if this statement has any meaning, it means this: that the direction of Indian culture is towards the high spiritual Truth hidden in every human being and that the honor the nation gives to any person depends upon the spiritual quality of that person. You can study a culture by asking the question: What is the highest human excellence that is appreciated in that culture? In one culture it is military power, in another culture it is intellectual strength, in another it may be money. In India, all these are respected, but the highest respect goes to a person of God, one who has realized oneness with all through spiritual development. Throughout history, India has maintained this quality; the highest person in India is a person of God, a person of spiritual realization. Indian hearts recognize in that person someone great and in this recognition there is no distinction of creed, no distinction of religion — any religion showing high spiritual quality will receive adoration from the people of India. It is not creedal, it is not dogmatic, it is just spiritual; that person — whatever may be his or her origin in a particular race and particular religion — has gone beyond the many. That is why many Muslim mystics and mystics of other religions are honored in this country. They represent the spiritual development of the human being, the spiritual fulfilment of humankind.

 

This was the background of the developments in Indian culture, commencing from the Vedic period. Very few cultures have received this philosophical and spiritual stimulus from behind. That is why there has been a succession of great teachers, great spiritual luminaries, throughout Indian history. Even in the most difficult and tumultuous period of history India did not fail to produce great spiritual teachers. Take the sixteenth century—Babar’s invasion. The whole of North India was shattered. There was so much suffering and killing, so many men and women were taken away as slaves at that time. In Babar’s history you will find the story. At that very time, in that very Punjab, where these events largely took place, India produced a Guru Nanak. He could see all the problems going around, the sufferings of the people; and he had referred to those issues in his own songs as well.

 

Guru Nanak provided a new type of approach to the challenge that India faced at that time, harmonizing the new elements that had come. Several times has India achieved this harmony!  New people come. When the Greeks came, India took from the Greeks their great ideas and developed a synthesis of Indian and Greek cultures at that time. Foreign invaders came, they brought their culture. Slowly India assimilated them and became richer with such assimilation.

 

All the religions that took birth in India were living side by side in harmony and cooperation; and there were many such religions. First came the Vedic religion, and this religion itself contains many facets. Then arose, in the sixth and fifth centuries BC, the great Buddhism and Jainism. These were all wonderful developments—great spiritual teachers instructing people how to live in peace with oneself, in peace with others.-- Swami Ranganathananda in Prabuddha Bharata July 2010 page 17 -18

 Are you growing spiritually?

"Are you growing spiritually? Can you love others? Can you feel oneness with others? Have you peace within yourself and do you radiate it around you? This is called spiritual growth, which is stimulated by meditation, inwardly, and by work done in a spirit of service outwardly".

--Swami Ranganathananda

 

 

A Close Relationship of Spirituality and Human Values

Because of their residual tendencies (vāsanās), a large number of people fail to live a truly value-based life despite belonging to spiritual organizations. Aware of it or otherwise, their life has some hypocrisy. There is a mismatch between their ideals and their actuals. As a result, religions and spiritual traditions have often got a bad name. Many an atheist would say he is a better human being than people professing to be religious, spiritual or whatever!

Sincere self-application pays. We as seekers must realize that we have come to this world with a baggage. Though it is our good fortune to receive a lot of guidance from saintly figures, our habits make it very difficult to take full advantage of the precious directions. Some of our habits may have their roots in our previous lives.

No matter what, we need to strive to weaken our bad habits and eventually eliminate them. As a verse in Viveka-choodāmani says, we are like a piece of sandalwood that, at present, is giving out foul smell. Certain contact with moisture has led to the growth of fungus all over the piece of sandalwood. By rubbing it against some sandpaper, this fungus layer will be gone and the innate, natural fragrance will fill the air around. Satsangs and sincere effort to follow the teachings of the Vedānta are the way to uncover the divinity in us.

The relation between spirituality and excellent human values is both ways: as we grow in spirituality, our conduct will be more and more value-based; when our behavior is anchored in noble values, we rise higher in spirituality. No wonder Shri Krishna supplies 20 human values in Geetā and calls them ‘wisdom’ itself! (He does not say they lead to wisdom.) In other words, it is difficult to distinguish between human excellence and spiritual elevation. Which among them is the means and which the end is difficult to decide. The dividing line between the means and the end becomes blurred.

Somebody once remarked, “A man does not become spiritual by merely going to temples.” A friend of his quipped, “No man becomes spiritual by merely avoiding temples either!” We must see thus that the very many tools (exercises, practices) that religions provide cannot be blamed per se. When they are used properly, they bless us with inner unfoldment. When they are a mere show, they of course fail. Earnestness therefore is the backbone of true spiritual growth and eventual liberation.

--Swāmi Chidānanda

 

Success in Spiritual Life Needs a Strong Will to Transform Oneself. A strong will to transform oneself is an important prerequisite for success in spiritual life.

Sri Ramakrishna teaches that the mantra purifies our mind, but we have to struggle to grow in purity and not let our mind slide back to its old ways. Even if we have done something wicked we should not dwell on the past, but dwell in the present, be steadfast in our spiritual practice and make an agreement with God: "If a man repeats the name of God, his body, mind, and everything become pure. Why should one talk only about sin and hell, and such things? Say but once, 'O Lord, I have undoubtedly done wicked things, but I won't repeat them.' And have faith in His name."

Weak-willed people often go back to their old undesirable ways. Sri Ramakrishna teaches that a seeker ought to exercise his will and steadfastly practice spiritual disciplines without giving in to weakening thoughts: "Suppose a man becomes pure by chanting the holy name of God, but immediately afterwards commits many sins. He has no strength of mind. He doesn't take a vow not to repeat his sins. A bath in the Ganges undoubtedly absolves one of all sins; but what does that avail? They say that the sins perch on the trees along the bank of the Ganges. No sooner does the man come back from the holy waters than the old sins jump on his shoulders from the trees. The same old sins take possession of him again. He is hardly out of the water before they fall upon him. Therefore I say, chant the name of God, and with it pray to Him that you may have love for Him. Pray to God that your attachment to such transitory things as wealth, name, and creature comforts may become less and less every day--Prabhudda Bharata

There have been several people of great achievements in Social Excellence. But ultimate fulfillment in life will come only from Spiritual Excellence. This is having the true knowledge about oneself as the pure Consciousness, ever unattached and beyond all cause-effect relationships.

Swami Vivekananda was a perfect blend of Social and Spiritual Excellence. By following his teachings, we also can strive to inculcate these concepts in our life and attain both these aspects of Human Excellence.

Spirituality need not be confined to forests and caves. As Swami Vivekananda said, it should enter the marketplace, and the field and the factory. When all activities are infused with the leaven of spirituality, a silent revolution will come about. The real satya-yuga will begin. For this, continuous effort in this direction—to focus one’s life on God, and give it a spiritual orientation—is highly necessary--Swami Smaranananda.

Abstract Yoga is an art of excellent living. The principles of Yoga help the practitioners to achieve higher aims of life.  The overall study ends with the conclusion that practice of Yoga has an important role in human life as the individual practicing Yoga can achieve the excellence.

"The true Vedantic spirit does not start out with a system of preconceived ideas…. each man has been entirely free to search wherever he pleased for the spiritual explanation of the spectacle of the universe." – Romain Rolland (French Nobel Laureate)

The person who has achieved the utmost excellence in his life is a man of harmony. Krishna presents a vivid picture of such a man at several occasions in the Bhagavad Gita. In his personality and life, we see harmony between pair of opposites like gentleness and fearlessness, renunciation and service, faith and rationality, meditation and work, etc. Usually we meet two kinds of noble people – the meditative introverted that seeks renunciation and the ever active social worker. A harmony of both of these in the same person is the epitome of Human Excellence.

Human Excellence can be broadly classified as Social Excellence and Spiritual Excellence.
Social Excellence requires three qualities – (1) Knowledge of ways to uplift mankind, (2) Capacity to put the knowledge into practice, and most importantly, (3) Strength of conviction. Conviction (shradda) is the most important factor and is the seed of all good action. Conviction is of three things – (1) Conviction in the potential of oneself, (2) Conviction in the power of goodness, (3) Conviction in the potential of the world and society.

There have been several people of great achievements in Social Excellence. But ultimate fulfillment in life will come only from Spiritual Excellence. This is having the true knowledge about oneself as the pure Consciousness, ever unattached and beyond all cause-effect relationships.

Swami Vivekananda was a perfect blend of Social and Spiritual Excellence. By following his teachings, we also can strive to inculcate these concepts in our life and attain both these aspects of Human Excellence.

If you are lending a helping hand to a poor student, or planting a tree, or researching a creative idea to clean the environment, or nursing a patient in a hospital during this critical coronavirus times, you are in every way serving is that which is given to the right person, in the right way, and at the proper time.--Sister Nivedita

To lead the spiritual life it is not necessary to withdraw into the forest, hide oneself in a cave or go to a mountain top. What is needed is the renunciation of false ideas, of identification with the false human personality. It requires renunciation of ego, Abhimana, Ahamkara, renunciation of desire, renunciation of attachment, renunciation of Mamata and Asakti (mine-ness and attachment)--Swami Chidananda Saraswati.

Spirituality in Life by Swami Krishnananda

 (A Message issued on the occasion of Swamiji's 54th Birthday in April, 1976.)

The philosophy and culture of India is one of ananda, or Bliss. “From Bliss-Absolute we have come; in Bliss-Absolute we are rooted; and to Bliss-Absolute are we destined,” says the Taittiriya Upanishad. It is not a message of pain, agony and distress. Pessimism is unknown to India’s culture. It is a culture of exuberant positivity of approach, an approximation to God in the end, who is the greatest of positivity. Life is held to be a movement from joy to joy, and it is this that we call the evolutionary process of the soul. It is movement from a lesser truth to a higher truth, which is a better way of putting things than to repeat the hackneyed tradition that we move from error to truth. In the glorious kingdom of God, which is within everyone, there cannot be any ultimate error. Error is only a misplacement of values. It has no ultimate existence and cannot have an absolute value. Absolute error is unthinkable, and it cannot be. Absolute falsehood does not exist. Everything is a relative representation of God’s perfection and so everywhere, even in the so-called erroneous movements of material, psychological and social forces, there is an element of God present, urging all these processes towards Perfection. To our culture, which is the culture of God, the culture of Perfection, all the duties of life become a manifestation of happiness. The glorious gospel of the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, which may be regarded as the tripod of India’s message to mankind, provides us with the hopeful exhortation that we can never be helpless at any moment of our life. Our culture is the blossoming full moon, the real purnima of hope after hope, aspiration after aspiration. May we recall to our minds, once again, the message of the saints and sages of all times and climes, who have plumbed into the depths of the Great Reality of the universe, that we exist in God, live in God, breathe in God, move in God and perform the functions of our life in the Kingdom of God.

The great message of the Christ that “the Kingdom of Heaven is within you” should be a miraculous and revolutionary teaching to all those who think in terms of the temporal, and always evaluate things from the historical point of view. A kingdom cannot be inside anyone. Can you imagine a kingdom being situated within anyone? And, yet, a great incarnation spoke this truth to mankind: “The Kingdom of Heaven is within you.” Either it is a contradiction in terms or a super-mundane fact which the human understanding cannot fathom. “That which is external is also the internal” is also a message of the Chhandogya Upanishad, which is echoed in the statement of the Christ that the Kingdom of Heaven is within us. The whole cosmos is vibrating within every cell of our personalities. Everything that is everywhere is also within us and is inseparable from us. This was the foundation of the doctrine of God’s supreme perfection given to us by Acharya Sankara also, on the basis of the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahma Sutras. Everything we need is in us. Everything required by us for our existence, every movement in evolution towards perfection, is implanted in our being. When we were born we brought with us everything that is necessary for us, and we carry all these necessities with us wherever we move in this world. We cannot be separated from these needs or standing necessities; they are inseparable from our vital existence.

This is the spirit of true spirituality. There is the letter of the teachings of spiritual life, and also the spirit of these teachings. The letter of the teaching is what is generally practiced by the masses in the world, but the spirit is missed. The letter is easy to understand, but the spirit is difficult to follow. What is the letter of the teaching of spiritual life? What does the letter of religion say? It says: You must love God, you must believe in the existence of God, you must speak the truth, you should be honest in your dealings with your brethren, and you should be living a life of purity, goodness and truthfulness. But the letter of the teaching has been so construed, on account of the very constitution of the human mind, that the life of the spirit, or the life of God, or the life of spiritual aspiration, has been covertly, without one’s knowing what is happening, separated from the day-to-day activities of life, so that we are one thing on the street or in the shop and another thing in the temple or the church. Thus, we have two ideals before us, the ideal for the marketplace and the ideal for the church or the temple. This is the traditional and organized creed of what you may call the churches of religion.

Religion today appears to be shaking from its very roots, because the edifice of popular religion is built on a sandy basement and has no substantial support at the bottom. The so-called religious man does not really believe in God. The religious mind has taken advantage of its apparent belief in God or concept of God as an instrument in the personal fulfilment of its wishes and ambitions. To most of us, God is an instrument, not the aim or goal of life. Our asking for God is not because He is all-in-all, but because He is a tool for the fulfilment of our ulterior motives. We have desires and desires, in all the levels of our personalities. We are made up of desires: kamamayoyam purushah. We do not possess or have desires; we are made up of the desires. Every fibre of our being is constituted of desire alone. Therefore, this desire-full personality contrives a tool in the form of the concept of a God in Paradise, in Brahmaloka, Vaikuntha or Kailasa, for its own fulfilment. God’s existence is travestied; it becomes a blasphemy of the very notion of God. We are told, again and again, that God is the goal of life and not a means to the satisfaction of the needs of the individual.

We now have to be taught the primary lessons of life itself. We are still in need of the initial educational process, which has to set right the very thinking method of our mind. There is something wrong with us at the very root itself. We think in terms of the body, the personality and its external relationships. These relationships subtly interfere with every activity of our life, including the ‘activity’ of the ‘practice of religion’. It is very unfortunate that ‘religion’ has become a sort of ‘activity’, a kind of ‘work’ among the many other duties in life. The religious consciousness is not a work, it is not a function, it is not an action proceeding from our individual being, because the personality of the individual is an effect; it is of the nature of a process of becoming, tending towards something else transcending it. Therefore, any activity proceeding from this procession of individual existence cannot be identified with the religious consciousness which is the emblem of God’s Being.

God is Being. We call Him the Supreme Being. The human mind cannot conceive the meaning of true being. We have a very wrong notion of even what ‘being’ is. When we say that something exists, something is, we associate ‘being’ as a kind of adjective of the object that is said to exist. The chair exists. When we say that a chair exists, the chair is the subject and its existence is the predicate. We have conceived existence as a predicate of the chair which is the subject. But existence cannot be a predicate of anything. It is always the subject. It is presupposed by the notion of every other individual thing in the world. Existence precedes even the notion of chair; it cannot be a predicate of it. On the other hand, when we understand the situation metaphysically, philosophically or spiritually, the chair hood of the so-called object is known to be the predicate of the existence which precedes it. And because of a peculiar twist of character in human thinking, we also conceive God as a predicate to our temporal life. God is an appendage to all our needs, necessities and desires. Therefore, God does not seem to be helping us, at least openly. We have misused our relationship with God. We have conceived Him as a kind of attribute to our individuality, a very sorry state of affairs. God cannot be an attribute. He is the Supreme Substantive. He is the Reality. The Supreme Being that God is, is the presupposition of even our thought, of ‘being’. That is why we say that God cannot be thought through the mind.

If such an unthinkable presupposition of all human understanding is the nature of God’s existence, what should be the character of religion, which is the way to God? It should be characterized by all the attributes which ‘being’ can have, though in varying, lesser degrees. These sublime characteristics of true religion are inclusiveness—not rejection—and the capacity to transmute every lower phase in the higher, by way of understanding and appreciation.

Thus, the practice of religion is the practice of God-consciousness in some degree or the other. It is to flood our personality with something super-mundane, super-personal and super-individualistic. When we become religious seekers, we are touched by the non-temporal not only in our personal life but also in our social existence. To be a seeker of God is not easy. You cannot just receive initiation into a mantra from a Guru and think that you are at once a religious adept. When you receive initiation, you are led into a new way of living and being. Your life is to get transformed, and there has to be a complete trans-valuation of values. Unless that essential condition is fulfilled by the disciple, the initiation will not reveal the needed light.

The law of evolution from matter to life, from life to mind and from mind to intellect, whether in its individual or social form, is initially a law permitting a diversity of being in an apparently multitudinous variety, which gradually rises upwards into lesser and lesser intensities of diversity and objectivity of character, until there is only a universalized consciousness confronting a universal object as the vast creation. But this consciousness has to become its object; a unity of knowing with being, the oneness of self with all existence is the goal of the evolutionary processes. The cosmic consciousness realizes that the cosmos is itself.

This is the message of Bharatavarsha, the message of India’s culture, the message of true spirituality, the message of Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, and the message of all the mystics, saints and sages of the world. God bless you all! Peace be to the whole world!

Importance of Keeping a Spiritual Diary

By Swami Sivananda

The keeping up of a daily spiritual diary is an indispensable requisite and of paramount importance. Those who are already in the habit of keeping it know its incalculable advantages. Diary is a whip for goading the mind towards God. It shows the way to freedom and eternal bliss. It is your Guru. It is the eye-opener. It develops the Manana-Sakti or the power of reflection. It will help you to destroy all your evil qualities and to be regular in your spiritual practices. If you regularly maintain a diary, you will get solace, peace of mind and quick progress in the spiritual path. Those who desire to grow in morality and spirituality, those who wish to evolve rapidly must keep a daily record of their actions.

All great men of the world keep diaries. The life of Benjamin Franklin is known to you all. He kept a daily diary. He noted down the number of untruths and wrong actions for which he was responsible during the course of the day. In course of time, he became a perfect man. He had perfect control over his mind. Mahatma Gandhi used to advise the students to keep a daily diary always.

A big thief is hiding himself in your brain. He has snatched away your Atmic pearl. He is giving you immense worries and troubles. He is deluding you. The thief is your mind. You must not be lenient towards him. You must kill him ruthlessly. There is no other sword sharper than this diary to kill him. It checks his happy-go-lucky ways and destroys him eventually. All your daily mistakes will be corrected. A good time will come when you will be entirely free from anger, untruth, lust, etc. You will become a perfect Yogi.

Your father and mother gave you this body. They gave you food and clothing. But this diary is superior to your parents. It shows the way to freedom and eternal bliss. It gives you solace, satisfaction and peace of mind. Turn the pages of your diary carefully once a week. If you can record your actions every hour, your growth will be rapid. Happy is the man who keeps a daily diary for he is very near to God. He has a strong will and he is free from defects and mistakes.

By keeping a spiritual diary you can then and there rectify your mistakes. You can do more Sadhana and evolve quickly. There is no other best friend and faithful teacher or Guru than your diary. It will teach you the value of time. At the end of every month calculate the total number of hours you spent in Japa, study of religious books, Pranayama, Asanas, sleep, etc. Then you will be able to know how much time you are spending for religious purposes. You have got every chance to increase the period of Japa, meditation, etc., gradually. If you maintain a daily diary properly, without any fault in any of the items, you will not like to waste even a single minute unnecessarily. Then alone will you understand the value of time and how it slips away.

Compare the total of the last month with those of the previous months. Find out whether you have progressed in your Sadhana or not. If you have not progressed, increase your practice daily. You can do more Sadhana and evolve quickly.

In maintaining a diary, you should not utter any falsehood anywhere. You are keeping it only for your own benefit. It is the diary of a religious aspirant who is treading the path of truth to realize Truth. Acknowledge your faults openly and endeavor to rectify yourself in future. You should not neglect to record everything in your diary. It is better if you compare the progress of your work of the present week with that of the previous week. If you are not able to do so once a week, you must at any cost compare it once a month. Then you will be able to make various adjustments in different items, increase the period of Japa and meditation and decrease the time of sleep.

Self-punishment consists in giving up the night meals and in doing fifty Malas of Japa more than the usual number. The filling in of the form should not be a mere routine work. The annexed form is only a specimen for guidance. These items should be copied on a foolscap size paper neatly with columns drawn for all the days of the month.

Do not be ashamed to mention your mistakes, vices and failures. This is meant only for your own progress. Do not waste your precious hours. It is enough that you have wasted so many years in idle gossiping. Enough, enough of the troubles you had all these days in satisfying your senses. Do not say, "From tomorrow, I will be regular." That "tomorrow" will never come. Be sincere and start doing Sadhana from this moment. If you are really sincere, He is ever ready to help you and give you a push in your spiritual march.

He who regulates his life on the above lines is sure to become a Jivanmukta or a Yogi in this very birth. Do it practically and see how you progress spiritually.

 

Kanchi Maha Periyava Quotes - Important Teachings Of Kanchi Mahaswamigal

 [Kanchi Maha Periyava (20 May 1894 – 8 January 1994), or the Sage of Kanchi or Kanchi Mahaswamigal, was the 68th Jagadguru of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. This is a collection of important teachings of Kanchi Maha Periyava.]

He is the Paramatman in whom all auspicious qualities are fully affirmed in a superlative measure. Even as the ocean is the repository of all waters, Isvara is fullness, the All. There is no other to him. He is the All without a second. That is Advaita. Idam Sarvam Purusha Eva, all this is the Paramatman, says the Sruti.

When a dispute is settled, not by the judgment of a court, but by agreement, the parties to the dispute part as friends. Similarly, we must mentally become ripe and get ourselves detached from our attachments.

For that purpose we require the grace of Ishwara. Sri Shankara Bhagavatpada, in his Shivananda Lahari prayed to Ishwara to save him with his grace or mercy without minding his disqualifications.

Let us each pray to Ishwara to bless us with His grace, for that alone will accompany the soul and be a source of constant strength.

What is the obstacle to one-pointed meditation? The answer is the unstill mind.

All problems are caused by the mind, by the desires arising in it. It is not easy to control the mind and keep it away effectively from desire.

If we ask the mind to think of an object, it seems to obey us for a moment, but soon it takes its own course, wandering off. The mind must be kept under control. Thinking and non-thinking must be governed by your will. Only then can we calm that it is under our control, that we are masters of our own consciousness.

Now we keep crying for no reason. If the mind is under control, we will keep smiling even if there is cause for much sorrow. And under the gravest of provocations it will not be roused to anger and will remain calm.

Kanchi Maha Periyava Quotes on Six Internal Enemies

The first three of the six internal enemies are kama, krodha and lobha. The remaining three are moha, madha and matsarya. The six internal enemies together are known as Shadripu.

If you think about the six enemies, they are all born from desire.

What is Moha? It is the state or remaining under the spell of something, losing one’s mind over it, due to one’s desire for it.

Madha is also based on desire. It is vanity and haughtiness over is the state or remaining under the spell of something, losing one’s mind over it, due to one’s desire for it. indulgence in objects of desire and the arrogance that results from the satisfaction when a desire is fulfilled.

Matsarya is jealousy. Why do we become jealous of someone else? It is because the other person has something that we do not have. When we are deprived of something, such as money or influence, we feel jealous. The desire to possess what is missing is the cause of matsarya.

So all the six internal enemies have the same root, desire.

Therefore, to end the deva-asura war that is constantly afflicting us, we have to get rid of the asura called desire, the root enemy.

The only way that jiva can attain the peaceful state is through the destruction of desire.

 

Kanchi Mahaswamigal Teachings on Samam 

The mind always remains agitated by constantly thinking of those, which it thinks give pleasure. That is why we do not know the joy of peace. If we realize the blemish in the objects of enjoyment and discard them with disgust, we can make the mind remain steady in the athma, which is of the form of peace.

Constantly think of the blemish caused by ‘vishya vratham’ (the objects of the enjoyment of the five senses – sound, touch, form, taste, smell) and discarding them and controlling the mind is called ‘samam’ – samauchyathe.

Putting it briefly, ‘samam’ means controlling the mind. The reason why the mind goes after objects of enjoyment is the impression of previous expressions carried over through several births. Even after the death of the physical body, that impression enters into the subtle body and when life takes another birth and enters a new body, it becomes active again. Therefore, if those impressions are completely given up, the mind will of its own calm down.

Some More Quotes of Kanchi Maha Periyava

There is mangala or an auspicious air about happiness that is characterized by dignity and purity.

One must be cheerful all the time and not keep growling at people on the slightest pretext. This in itself is extremely helpful, to radiate happiness wherever we go and exude auspiciousness. It is better than making lavish gifts and throwing money about.

To do a job with a feeling of lightness is anayasa.

To be light ourselves, creating joy wherever we go, is mangala.

We must be like a lamp spreading light and should never give cause for people to say, “Oh! He has come to find fault with everything.”

Wherever we go we must create a sense of happiness.

We must live auspiciously and make sure that there is happiness brimming over everywhere.

Man undergoes troubles and pains in a greater measure than other animals; but that is compensated for by this capacity to acquire Jnana, which makes for the realization of Truth and the experiencing of Aananda or Supreme Shanti.

Our duty is worship Him in this way with devotion, and if we do so, He reveals His true nature to us. Bhagavan says: Bhaktyaa Mam Abhijanaati Yaavaan Yaschaami Tatvatah

The word, Bhaktya, meaning through devotion, shows that bhakthi is the means for the realization of the truth of God's nature.

To say 'I have devotion to God', and not to act up to His commands is meaningless. Performance of prescribed duties is the sign of true devotion. Doing one's Karma, one should dedicate it to God.

When our shirt loosely fits us we can take it off easily. But if the shirt is tight, the taking off might have to be made with some effort. And when we are required to take off our very outer skin, imagine how difficult it could be. Just as the skin is sticking to our body, our mind is sticking to us, but in deeper proximity!

A dirty stinking sticky cloth becomes pure when the dirt, stink and stickiness are off the cloth. It is not necessary to look for another cloth. The same cloth, when the dirt, etc. are off, becomes the pure cloth. So also for our Jiva we don’t have to look for a new entity called Brahman; if we can remove the present dirt and stink of the mind, that should be enough. The same person will emerge as the pure Brahman. But that is exactly the formidable task – to remove the dirt and stink that is so deeply adhering to mind!

The process of developing detachment from objects of affection – changing over from raga to vairagya – should start when we are still in the full enjoyment of our senses.

All of us take care to keep our bodies and our clothes clean. But do we bestow any attention on our inner or mental cleanliness?

Inner impurity is the result of desire, anger and fear.

It is common knowledge that when one is in the presence of one’s mother, one keeps all evil thoughts under control. Similarly in the presence of the Divine mother we should control our evil thoughts.

We can cleanse our hearts only by the holy water of meditation of the Divine mother.

When the heart is so cleansed, it will learn to distinguish the real from the unreal, which will result in the end of births.

A day spent without a conscious attempt to clean one’s heart, is a day wasted.

Impurity of cloth or body will lead to disease which will last only for one lifetime. But impurity of heart will lead to diseases which will afflict the soul for several births.

A mother may tie the hands of her child who has the propensity to pick up nd eat mud. This seeming cruelty of the mother is for the good of the child. Similarly troubles are verily God’s grace to save us.

In the entire picture of life, troubles form but a tiny spot.

In our inability to visualize the past and the future, we complain when we suffer in the present.

A proper perspective will enable us to understand our present plight in its proper setting.

While desire fulfilled leads to further desire, desire frustrated turns into anger, like the rebound of a ball thrown at a wall. A person in the grip of desire are anger loses his reasoning power and consequently all his actions will be in the wrong direction. When desires become subordinate to the mind, the mind begins to dwell upon the Atman undisturbed and a person steeped in the contemplation of the Atman realizes the Supreme.

Doing well through thought, word and deed is truthfulness. All that does ill is untruthfulness.

It is not enough that you speak to a man what is good for him. You must speak with affection and the one to whom your words are addressed must find them acceptable.

If you speak harshly nobody will listen to you even if you mean well. Thus words that serve no purpose do not constitute a truth.

 

Your speech must be beneficial and, at the same time, capable of bringing happiness to the man to whom it is addressed. This is truthfulness.

--By Abhilash Rajendran Sunday, January 31, 2021

 

 Jagadguru  Jaggi Vasudev: Spirituality and Secularism

[No country lives with so many religions as India does. The conflict in the world today is between one man’s belief and another’s. It is not good versus evil as it is often projected to be]

 

We live in the only religion-less culture in the world. And this is not an accident; it has been consciously designed this way. God was never the highest goal in this country. Nor was heaven. The supreme goal was always liberation — Mukti. And the spiritual practitioner was always a seeker, never a believer.

Over a period of time, the spiritual process has grown concretized, and this sometimes looks like religion. So the nexus between religion and power is actually a recent phenomenon in this culture. The two have never been associated with each other, simply because spirituality here could never be organized.

The great sages of this land consciously set up the spiritual process in such a manner to ensure that religion never became a power-center. Even the priest was never given the power to convene an assembly of people; he was always summoned by lay people on those occasions when they needed him.

Once it happened. Gautama Buddha was sitting in a large congregation of disciples. It was early morning and the sun was yet to rise. A Rama bhakta stood in the shadows. He was a great devotee. He wasn’t just a temple-goer; he had actually built many temples. But age was passing and a little doubt had come. Just suppose there was no God, his whole life would have been wasted. So he asked a single question: ‘Does God exist?’ Gautama looked at the man and uttered an emphatic ‘No’. His disciples gave a big sigh of relief. For the first time, they had heard their master give a clear answer to the question. 

That evening another man came. He was a Charvaka, an out-and-out materialist. As there are missionaries of God who go about spreading the word of God, this country has had missionaries of no-God as well. This man was an expert, a professional. He had defeated many scholars in debate. But he was growing older and just a little doubt had crept in. He asked the same question: ‘Does God exist?’ Gautama looked at the man and replied, ‘Yes’. His disciples were in turmoil. In the morning the master had said no, and now he had said yes! What was the game about?

In this culture, we have always known that whatever you believe, it has nothing to do with reality. You believe there is God; it is just your nonsense. You believe there is no God; it is still your nonsense. Either way you believe something that you do not know. If you see that you do not know, the longing to know will burn within you. When the longing comes, seeking will happen. And when that seeking happens, knowing will happen eventually, because what you’re seeking is not sitting on top of the Himalayas, it is right here within you.

Spiritual practitioners in this country have had a role to play in determining people’s consciousness, and sometimes they have played this role responsibly and at other times, irresponsibly. So there have been pluses and minuses. But the alliance of religion and political power has never been an issue in Indian life. Only now we have reached a stage when various sects in this culture have started competing with each other — whether for expansion or for survival — and the result is a constant jostling for power.

It is indeed unfortunate that the religions of the world — which should have been a source of peace — are responsible for the maximum amount of conflict on the planet. Every culture, every group has their own concept of God and this has been a basic point of conflict. All the ‘God-people’ are constantly quarrelling. In India, we have about three hundred thousand gods! With our fertile imaginations, we have made up concept upon concept of God. It is a very rich culture — which also means it is rich enough to confuse the hell out of you! But that’s good because confused people are always better than those who have drawn wrong conclusions. Those with conclusions are in constant conflict; confused people usually hesitate to fight!

There is an important difference between belief and faith. Belief means you have made up a thought — or picked it up somewhere — and invested in it. That might serve you well in a social situation. But as a seeker of truth, it doesn’t work. Being a seeker actually means you do not know. But you still generate the faith that you could know. And this faith could make your mind, body and energy one-pointed enough to penetrate your ignorance.

But the formation of religion is based on belief. This can give rise to both theistic religions and atheistic religions. There isn’t much difference between the two. They are ideologies, in which the adherents believe they are in possession of the truth. Those who believe they possess the truth are unwilling to see that what works for you need not be the way for everyone. They are unwilling to see that when you say you ‘believe’ you are clearly admitting you do not ‘know’. Belief masquerading as knowing is the problem. People don’t understand that if you have to quote other authorities about life or truth, it’s a sure sign that you yourself know nothing about it!

Once you have a belief, there is invariably a confrontation with someone who holds another belief. So the tussle goes on, and it is a basic survival instinct that makes people align with one side or the other, depending on which is able to command more power — whether political, military, or sheer goon power on the streets.

The conflict in the world today is not between good and evil, as people often project it to be. The conflict in the world is always between one man’s belief and another man’s belief. What we forget is that belief is cultural. What you believe or disbelieve has nothing to do with reality. It has simply got to do with how much influence somebody has had upon you. If only people were identified with their humanity, rather than with their religions and communities, it would be possible to sit down and settle these issues. But sadly that isn’t the case.

The only solution is to address the question of human well-being scientifically; to present the inner mechanics of human nature not as a philosophy or belief system, but as a technology. 

Right now, people are just trying to bullshit themselves into inner well-being. Anyone can hijack the peace within you at any moment; anyone can make you angry, hateful or violent. This is a terrible form of slavery. Happiness has always been an internal phenomenon. But right now, though the source is within you, the switch is in somebody else’s hands — in the hands of the stock market, your wife, your children, and your neighbor. You’ve given it to everyone but yourself. What you call the Creator or God or the source of creation is right within you. So if you really want to know reality, you must just turn your attention inward. There is a simple way to begin to experience how this source of creation is functioning from within you.

If this experience comes into your grasp, everything about you will be transformed. A belief system, a creed, an ideology or a dogma, will be entirely redundant.

Sri Aurobindo writes that the mission for modern India is,“The recovery of the old spiritual knowledge and experience in all its splendour, depth and fullness is its first, most essential work; the flowing of this spirituality into new forms of philosophy, literature, art, science and critical knowledge is the second; an original dealing with modern problems in the light of the Indian spirit and the endeavour to formulate a greater synthesis of a spiritualised society is the third and most difficult. Its success on these three lines will be the measure of its help to the future of humanity.”