Bhaje Govindam 8

Health and Happiness - Dr Dwarakanath

In the sloka attributed to Surendra the disciple of Sankara, he explains the vain clinging of human relationships and he clarifies that it is not unnecessary but the need for us to know its real limitations are. According to him, the distinction of 'You' and 'I' consist only so long as there is the body. Before one's birth, there is no such relationship as 'father' and 'mother', but once the body came into existence, we have relations. Who were we previously? Who were our parents, brothers, sisters, friends, uncles, aunties, grand-parents, cousins, etc., earlier? What are these illusory forms? What is this Maya? One has to wake up from this dream, open one's eyes and try to see the reality. If one succeeds in seeing that one reality behind all the creation, then the problem is solved once and for all. The mirage will disappear and one finds liberation. One has to understand and be aware of oneself vice- versa one's relationship with the other individual and at the same time the Maya that is binding both of them.

It does not mean that one should not have such bonds, but one should understand the fragility and its limitations, as most of such relations related to body rather than soul. Soul mate does not at all refer to wife-and-husband relation, father & daughter relation, mother & child relation but any soul which gets enriched by the experience and relation to the other soul in spirituality is a soul mate. It is, therefore, important to know oneself before forging any relationship with the other individual. While making use of the rational intellect by asking such questions as to whence and whither have we come from and who are our parents, etc., we should root out our misconceptions and reach to the roots of reality. it is definitely a difficult task to overcome this state of mind at the moment, but through consistent Sadhana (Practice) and rational approach, one develops the ability to look within oneself totally to get freedom from these bonds.

Thus, having successfully dismissed all the sense-passions from one's mind, turn the mind inwards for a close and critical observation of oneself to find out answers to the above questions, one would understand the hollowness of the world of names and forms and the enchantments of the objects and their vanities around us. This is to realize the strong clutches of the Maya upon the human at large. The influence of which is the root of all these vicious cycle of happiness and sorrow in all human life, which in turn prevents human from its ultimate goal, Realization. In our next part of analysis, we shall continue the search, on the finding of oneness in us from the clues Sankara left in his Advaita philosophy!

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When Tears Turn the Life

Smart Plus - Rakesh Mittal I A S 

My spiritual master, Swami Bhoomanandji, comes to Delhi every year in the month of October/November. After public discourses for about two weeks, he pays house visits to his close devotees. Normally these visits exceed the originally planned number due to last minute requests.  Devotees consider his visits a privilege and invite their friends and relatives to attend them. Swamiji undertakes such visits with great fondness and usually speaks on subjects which are highly relevant to day-to-day life. This generates a lot of interest and he receives requests for more visits. Of course, he tries to accept them to the extent possible.

During one such visit in 1992 held at a posh colony of New Delhi, I was also present with many others. Swamiji gave a short talk and thereafter invited devotees to ask questions. Among the devotees present, there was an elderly lady whose husband had died recently. The husband had been a diplomat and had held several important posts. He had lived a full life. It appeared that there had been a deep bond between the husband and the wife. Naturally, this death came as a great shock to her, which she was unable to bear. She was not able to accept the reality and sought Swamiji’s guidance in the matter. She told Swamiji that she felt like weeping all the time and memories of her husband occupied her mind constantly.

Swamiji could understand the grief of the lady. He tried to console by telling her that death was a natural phenomenon, more so when one is in an advanced age. One of the spouses has to go first and in her case it happened to be the husband. He saw no cause for undue grief in such a natural happening. He did not go into the philosophical aspects of death and dealt with her problem in a humane manner. He also told her that if she felt like weeping, there was nothing wrong with it. After all, nature has provided us with tear glands for a purpose and we must make use of them whenever necessary. There should be no feeling of guilt in weeping. In fact, he advised her to weep regularly till she overcame her grief. However, he added that more important than weeping was her attitude and tears should help in making it positive. Fortunately, this had an impact on the lady and after about a week she invited Swamiji to her home. I happened to be there also and found the lady greatly changed. This set me thinking about the role of tears in life, including my own. Normally, I am against weeping but I distinctly remember to have wept bitterly on a few occasions in my life and every time I emerged a stronger person. In fact, such occasions turned the course of my life and, needless to say, it was for the better.

Here, I would like to classify weeping into two kinds. One is negative weeping and the other positive. If the process of weeping leads to depression, fear and frustration, I would call it negative weeping. It changes life for the worse. On the other hand, if the process of weeping leads to introspection, courage and determination, it can be called positive weeping. It turns the life for the better. Thus tears are the turning points in life. It is up to us how we use them for our elevation or depression.

Coming to the attitude towards weeping, it can be said that a wise person, having understood the fundamentals of life will see no occasion to weep. For him good or bad events of life are alike.  However, this kind of attitude is not expected from ordinary mortals. For them there is a clear distinction between good and bad events. It is for them that weeping helps. In fact, it is healthier to weep than to camouflage grief. Weeping helps in overcoming grief and if such a person gets the company of the wise, tears turn the life for the better. This is what happened to the lady who came in contact with Swamiji in New Delhi.

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The Biggest Arabian Storming

Message of Peace - Justice P K Shamsuddin


         The humiliation by Muslims burned within almost all the tribes and clans in the peninsula. The continued effort of the Tribes men finally paid off. The attitude of these tribes however could satisfy the Meccans and finally they were able to fix a definite date to attack Medina. The same leaders went to Ghatafan clan of Ghylan and the tribes of Banu Murrah and some others also. It seemed that they were not happy with the practically big force they could so far mobilize. All these who joined hands with them had fought against the Muslims some day. It was their wish that Mohammed and his companions be completely swept out of the Arabian Peninsula. They worked upon a common plan and strategy. They wanted to make double sure that the final victory be on their side. All the parties marched towards Medina. The expedition consisted of 4000 infantry men cavalry of 300 and a camel force of 1000. This huge army was led by Abu Sufian
The flag of Meccans and the leadership of the battle was given to Uthman Ibn Talhah whose father was killed for carrying the same flag in the battle of Uhd. The tribes of Banu Fazarrah had sent a large number of infantry and enough camels under the leadership of Qyayyah. The tribes of Ashja and Murrah had sent 400 soldiers each under the leadership of Harith Ibn Awf and Miaar Ibn Rukhyah. The tribes of Banu Zaad had more soldiers and more cavalry. With the spirit of revenge filled all over, this huge army marched towards Medina under the general leadership of Abu Sufian.
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Chathurashram for a New Age – 4

Blooming Stars - Swami (Dr) Snehananda Jyoti

             In paramarthashram, both husband and wife turn toward each other and become one, and as one they turn toward God. It is the ideal partnership. Of course God comes first even in this triangular relationship. Each spouse has to give preference to God over the other spouse. There is joy in all this knowing God designed it this way. Our God is a God of marvelous completion and building rather than a God of incomplete design and tearing down. In creation God wanted man and woman to gloriously complete each other. According to Judeo-Christian reckoning, God made humankind in his image and likeness, male and female ….. God saw everything he had made, and indeed, it was very good (Genesis 1: 26-27; 1: 31). God brought man and woman together. He intended that “a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh (Genesis, 2: 23-24). Jesus said:  “…The one who made them at the beginning made them male and female, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matthew 19: 4-6). 
In no uncertain terms the Bible states that God wanted man and woman to start and end life together. Somehow the Hindu and Christian tradition evolved erroneously giving woman an inferior and subordinate role, denigrating sexual intimacy between a husband and a wife, giving primary place to celibacy, and glorifying celibacy in one’s striving for holiness and perfection. This tradition and the persons behind it screwed human psyche up royally, and burdened humans with unnecessary guilt. It is high time that the most beautiful human relationship – the one obtaining between a man and a woman in marriage - should be rescued and put in its God-given perspective as we strive for perfection and maturity in holiness. In the Hindu tradition especially a woman does not have a fair chance as a young girl is ruled by her father, as an adult by her husband, and as a mother and an older woman still by her husband or her son. In this Ashram a husband and a wife in equality have an excellent opportunity and time to explore each other in a fresh commitment, to make up for the lost opportunities in the hustle and bustle of married life, rearing up  and settling their children, dispensing of due obligations to their parents and siblings and to greater society. This ashram is also ideal for married couples who can be introduced to Brahma Tantra Yoga where their complementary sexual energy channeled into a blissful and unitive relationship with God in utter surrender and selfless abandonment.
 (To be continued)

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Miracles on Sale

Life's Lessons - Joseph Mattappally

What’s the price of a miracle? Believe it or not, it is a simple truth that miracles are sold in distinct shapes. We have religious institutions, personality experts, corporate schools and isolated God men, all simultaneously handling wholesale deals of miracles too. Prices vary as to the size and magnitude of the requirement.

Sometimes back, I happened to go through a strange story of a little girl, who went to a drug store to buy a miracle for her sick brother. She was hardly eight years when she happened to hear her parents talk about her sick brother. They had decided to sell their house and move to an apartment, just to raise some money for a major operation, which the boy badly needed. She heard her Daddy say to her tearful Mother with desperation, "Only a miracle can save him now." Little Tess immediately withdrew to her bedroom and took out a jelly jar from its hiding place and began counting all the coins in it. It was her long time saving chest. Three times she counted the collection and then slipped out through the back door of the house and rushed to the drugs store six Blocks away.

It took some time for her to get the attention of the Pharmacist, who was seriously talking to a middle aged man. She waited patiently. Neither her scuffing noise nor her throat clearing sound could catch his attention. Finally she took a coin from the jar and banged it on the glass. That did it!

"And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. "I'm talking to my brother from Chicago, whom I haven't seen in ages," he said without waiting for a reply to his question.

"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone.  "He's really, really sick …… and I want to buy a miracle."

"I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.

"His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says that only a miracle can save him now.  So, how much does a miracle cost?"

"We don't sell miracles here, little girl.  I'm sorry, I can't help you," the pharmacist said, softening a little.

"Listen, I have the money to pay for it.  If it isn't enough, I will get the rest.  Just tell me how much it costs."

The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, "What kind of a miracle does your brother need?"

"I don't know," Tess replied with her eyes welling up. "I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation.  But, my Daddy can't pay for it, so I want to use my money.

"How much do you have?" asked the man.

"One dollar and eleven cents," Tess answered. "And it's all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to."

"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man, "A dollar and eleven cents - the exact price of a miracle for little brothers."

He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her and said, "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let's see if I have the kind of miracle you need."

That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a neuro-surgeon from Chicago. The boy’s operation was completed in his hospital without any charge and her brother went back home quite fine. Only little Tess and the surgeon knew how much it costs for a miracle for brothers. Everybody learned how coincidences transform into miracles, but……but only a few could see the miracle as blooming out of a jelly jar of pure trust.  

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Fear in Freedom

Views and Words - Dr K S Radhakrishnan 

Freedom is one of the necessary preconditions for creativity. A society can be creative, only if it enjoys freedom; same is the case with individuals too. A free person and a free society should be able to actualize whatever remains in potential form. So, the best form of management is exploring the creativity of one and all in that organization. Here, both the organization and all the members of that organization should be free. An organization consisting of free members alone is a free organization; only such an organization turns creative in management, in political affairs, in social affairs and even in industrial development. A developed society in its real form is a society that enjoys freedom, in the sense that it is able to exercise self-regulation.
A self-regulated society alone will be able to effect changes in a creative form in the context in which it exists. Take for example the case of management: we want to get the best product, the best result etc. but the best can be produced only if all the members of that organization, right from the last grade to the Managing Director are exercising their free will. The exercise of free will means that a person in that organization must be able to concentrate, must be able to organize and focus his attention on the goals directed by that organization. Then only an individual can be creative and only a creative individual is able to contribute something effective and valuable to that organization. What happens now days is that we are fixing targets to be achieved. In the process of achieving a target, the individual is bound by issues other than the target because if he is not able to achieve the target, he will be thrown away from that organization. This naturally generates fear. A person who is overpowered by fear can never be a free man. Man must necessarily be free from all sorts of fears including fear of God. The very concept of fear of God has been the contribution of the Jewish tradition. When Jesus introduced His Gospel, He really changed this position and He identified with those persons, who were then treated inferior. Such an identification give those persons, a sense of freedom because they get rid of the fear that has already been created by a philosophical position which says that God is something different from man and man cannot attain the position of God. ¬¬Jesus has made it clear that if a person is able to experience God he should also be able to establish His kingdom on earth. Jesus explains that when one experiences heaven on earth he gets freedom from all the fears that have been created by distinct forces.
This philosophy is never different from right management principles. A management expert must be able to guide others to exercise their free will in tune with the objectives of the organization. When an individual gets tuned to this style, he really turns a contribution to the whole organization. This is what effective management means. But now-a-days what happens is that we are separating the management tactics from the employees; such a separation creates fear in the minds of employees. A person who is afraid of his superiors may not be able to extract the good aspects of his own potentiality. So, in every sense, the management has to make everyone in that organization, free.  If a teacher can make a student free from fear of a subject, quite sure that such student must be able to produce the maximum to the subject as well as to the society. (Contd.)

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Bhaje Govindam - 7

Health and Happiness - Dr Dwarakanath

Sankara, like most great masters, was surgically precise with his disciples! This sloka is attributed to Sureshwaracharya, Sankara’s famous disciple! Unless one has not attained ultimate Jnana (knowledge), one cannot get rid of the great delusion. A person may go in pilgrimage to holy places, bathe in the holy Ganga or even at the meeting point of Ganga with the ocean or distribute gifts in charity, but only after realizing what is truth or having a glimpse of god, that one is relieved from the vicious cycle of birth-death-birth.

  The knowledge acquired from book-learning does not mean anything, but the same knowledge born out of knowing the truth will emancipate one from the hold of birth and death. Once it is achieved, the mind will become free from all attachments. One may be well read, have good command over many languages, adept in making discourses, yet if the same person is a victim of delusion and attachment, then it does not mean that one has acquired Jnana. All the above actions are wonderful exercises for developing healthy habits and attitudes to life and these may help one on to the path of study and contemplation, but without knowledge of the infinite reality, liberation from sense objects will not be achieved. Generous and positive actions may give some gainful results, but not liberation from birth even in hundred years. It is true from any school of thought that one wishes to refer, even these positive actions, one has to perform with faith, dedication, devotion and sincerity. Pilgrimages, vows, charities, etc., are all exercises to prepare the seeker's mind for the great path of meditation and through meditation, until the highest is actually apprehended, total freedom from the natural human weaknesses can never be gained, not even in hundred lives.

A yogi is like a child, who is, in his innocence does not know the difference between good and evil and, at times, behaves like a mad man, who does not care for the world. The known and recent example for this kind of mental status is Sri Ramakrishna paramahansa, Sri Ramana maharishi, Sri Lahiri mahasaya, Sri Shirdi sai baba, etc. They used to be in divine joy, not caring about the surroundings. One can attain this kind of bliss and maturity of heart and mind only when one is completely immersed in God-consciousness. The mind waits for a chance to become prey to the deceitful senses. It gets attracted only to impurities with constant contemplation and pursuing the path of devotion, one has to try to wash out the impurities of the mind. Once the mind is devoid of any kind of impurity, it becomes subservient to the soul, the moment one liquidates one's identification as an individual, the person will become like a child, forgetting the body-consciousness. 

Although one may appear like a child or a madman, in fact, one is not so. it is an aberration to call a realized soul in such a fashion, because one is beyond the dwandas like love and hatred, evil and good, joy and sorrow etc. These are all related only to the body but not to the soul. Soul is always in satchidaananda, but we do not realize, as we have covered it up with our ajnana (ignorance) born out of our attachment to materialistic objects.

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