Lesson from a Terrapin

There was a boy who found a terrapin, more commonly known as a turtle. He started to examine it but the turtle pulled in its head and closed its shell like a vice. 

The boy was upset and he picked up a stick to try to pry it open. The boy's uncle saw him struggling and remarked, "No Johnny, that's not the way! In fact, you may kill the turtle but you'll not get it to open up with a stick." 

The uncle took the turtle in into the house and set it near the fireplace. It wasn't but a few minutes until it began to get warm. Then the turtle pushed out its head, then stretched out its legs and began to crawl. 

"Turtles are like that," said the uncle, "and people, too. You can't force them into anything.”

 

Be they turtles or people, if you first warm them up with some real kindness, more than likely, they will do what you want them to do." “A drop of honey attracts a thousand bees.” “A drop of vinegar repels all bees.”

The Language of Forgiveness

‘The second spiritual law of peace, my son, is that ‘repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation are preconditions for grace to take roots and bear fruits in our lives. ‘The light of sun and the grace of God are freely available to all. But if the windows and doors are closed, the light of the sun cannot enter the room. Similarly, if our hearts and minds are closed, the grace of God cannot enter into our lives. Repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation are the keys to open the doors of our hearts and minds to divine grace…. 

‘Through repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation we also humble ourselves. Humility opens our hearts and minds to the grace of God. ‘Repent, the Kingdom of God is at hand.’ This was the call of Sadguru Jesus Christ to humanity…

‘Repentance is turning away from sins and turning towards God. It is an essential prerequisite for the light of grace to shine forth in one’s heart and life. We have already seen that without divine grace there can be no lasting peace and happiness in one’s life…

‘An unforgiving mind is the breeding ground of many human problems. Much of our ailments today are psychosomatic in their origins…. 

‘An unforgiving person is prone to psychosomatic sicknesses. The World Health Organization, WHO, estimates that more than 60% of sicknesses in the present world are psychosomatic in their origins……. 

‘The term ‘Kingdom of God’ implies a grace-filled existence. It is within us and among us. It begins within one’s own self, here and now. ‘Begin with self and begin within self’ has to be the methodology of anyone who seeks the Kingdom of God. This is a truth upheld by almost all religions and their enlightened saints and sages….

‘One of the major tragedies of India and of the modern world is lack of forgiveness and reconciliation. India is a deeply wounded country; wounded by her own caste and class prejudices and exploitations, wounded by communal conflicts and violence, and wounded by external aggression and foreign subjugation. India needs forgiveness and reconciliation to be healed from within…

‘Without forgiveness there can be no reconciliation, and without reconciliation there can be no inner healing, and without inner healing, there can be no peace. Without peace there will be no development, growth and happiness. The nation will continue to suffer from poverty, illiteracy and sickness and other evils, even if it has the best of political leaders to rule…. 

‘Religions and religious communities in India have to learn and promote the art and science of forgiveness and reconciliation…

‘Forgiveness needs repentance. One needs to be really sorry about one’s wrong deeds, about the falsehood one was party in spreading, and about the damages one has done to others knowingly or unknowingly…

‘Love is the source of forgiveness. It is also the inspiration for forgiveness…. We have seen that true love is always forgiving. It does not keep an account of the wrongs done by others. Without love, forgiveness is impossible…..

‘Our ability for love comes from the divine love that we receive from God, the source of love. We need the grace of God even to forgive ourselves and others. It is here one can experience the importance of God’s universal ‘atonement’ in, with and through the Christ-Spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation…. 

‘As we have seen earlier, this Christ-Spirit and Christ-Consciousness has its ‘divine standard’ in Jesus of Nazareth. But this Christ-Consciousness is neither confined to Jesus of Nazareth the Christ nor is it limited to Christian Churches. It is available to anyone anywhere anytime who seeks, knocks and asks for it, irrespective of his or her religious affiliations…

‘I myself am a living witness to this truth. I was never a ‘Christian’. I do not belong to any ‘Church’. Yet, I could experience this Christ-Consciousness in my life. God’s free gift of His Christ is often misappropriated and made a saleable commodity by Christian Churches….. Liberating Christ from these narrow sectarian Christian Churches is an urgent need of the era. The world need Christ not Churchianity….

‘Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda, a great Hindu saint who was sent by his guru to America to serve as a ‘spiritual link’ between Christianity and Hinduism, had a deep insight into this distinction between the Christ-Consciousness and Jesus the Christ….

‘He wrote in his book ‘Man’s Eternal Quest’: “I am glad that Christianity was not called ‘Jesusism’ because ‘Christianity’ is a much broader word. There is a difference between Jesus and Christ. Jesus is the name of the little human body in which the vast Christ Consciousness was born. Although the Christ Consciousness manifested in the body of Jesus, it cannot be limited to one human form. It would be a metaphysical error to say that the omnipresent Christ Consciousness is circumscribed by the body of one human being.”…. This beautiful book is also there in our library… 

‘You can also read the book ‘One Christ and Many Religions’ by Dr. S J Samartha so that you can understand well this difference between Jesus of Nazareth and Christ, the eternal Word of God…..

‘Christ-Consciousness enables one to forgive one’s offenders and bless them just as Jesus the Christ was able to do from the cross, rising above the agony of his own suffering death. India needs this Christ-Consciousness, not Christianity, to be healed of her inner and historical wounds and to be made whole and healthy. What India needs is not the western Christian religion, but the eastern Jesus the Christ, and the Christ-Consciousness embodied by him…..

‘Forgiveness is the key to health, happiness and peace. For India, this is very important. We need to forgive and forget what happened in the past and look ahead with hope and confidence. History does not march backward, but forward… No individual, no religion and no nation can ever achieve greatness by fighting over the wrongs committed in the past. This is where India’s spiritual hospitality and heritage have to play an important role. A spirituality of peace is also a spirituality of love and forgiveness. Mother India has to draw strength and vitality from her deep spiritual resources and treasures in this historic task.…. 

Excerpts from Integral Revolution

MEMORIES OF A JOURNEY

This was a memorable journey. I got into Kochi airport at Nedumbassery early. Going through emigration quickly, I came near the boarding gate. As the boarding lounge was not opened, and having realized I had a couple of hours to board for Doha and onwards to Dallas (USA), I spread a sheet on the cold tile floor in a secluded corner near the boarding lounge around 2 a.m., and lied down to rest. I fell into a deep sleep. Fortunately the search party of the Qatar Airways found me and rushed me to the plane after all had been boarded. At Doha all destined to the USA had to go through 3 security check-ups, the last one being extremely thorough. In the plane I had a burly young man with great girth close to my seat. He literally overflowed into my seat. As my dream of a comfortable sleep over the 15-hour flight to Dallas dashed, and as I was resigned to accepting my plight and settling down for the long haul, a merciful air hostess accommodated him in a seat that had more space for him to maneuver. 

As each seat had its own entertainment system with screen in front of them, most passengers were busy selecting and watching the movies they wanted. As I had to catch up with sleep I decided to sleep most of the time. Outside of sleep I meditated or observed the behaviors of others. My sleep was interrupted for meals from time to time. The vegetarian meals I had were nothing much to write home about. But the upuma was exceptional and delicious. After the meals I watched on the map for a few minutes the flight path of the plane over various countries. Interestingly the plane flew over near St. Louis, my final destination, before reaching Dallas. The Dallas International airport was very user-friendly. The immigration process for me was very simple. It took only a few minutes. After putting the right passport page on a monitor, a few simple questions were asked, and at the end a small piece of paper with my picture was printed out. The security man at the immigration exit briefly examined the paper to make sure it was my true picture. He was kind of curious to know why I was in India for about 10 months. I told him I was helping and serving people there as part of my mission. A nephew was waiting for me at the airport exit, and I accompanied him.

Reaching his house after a 15-minute drive, my niece was waiting for me with all kinds of my favorite fruits and vegetarian foods. She thought I had lost weight and wanted me to put on 10 pounds in two days. I wished her good luck. Their daughter, Tina, wheelchair-bound with a neurological problem was very fond of me as I paid her a lot of attention. She wrote on her i-pad a touching story about me entitled Pappan’s Story. I plan to keep the printed story with her picture as a precious memento. I would like to say that unlike many disabled kids she was extremely well taken care of. During the time I was there, I also watched three movies with a social message in the comfort of a home theater. With these three movies, I got the quota of movies for the entire year. In the one movie (Spirit) Mohanlal, a chronic alcoholic, quits alcohol for his deaf and dumb son. This movie is very timely as alcohol is destroying Kerala. In the second movie (Apothecary-Hospital), Suresh Gopi ordering unnecessary expensive tests, and unethically experimenting with new drugs on his patients in collaboration with some American pharmaceutical company for big money, gets subjected after a serious brain injury in an accident to the same treatments he was providing his patients. When he comes out of the coma, he realizes what he was doing, and picks up the courage to confront the administration that includes his own colleagues. It is also my thinking that the medical field is gradually losing its credibility and integrity. In the third movie, (Ayalum njanum Thammil), Prithviraj, playing the role of a compassionate physician at Redemption Hospital is saved by Dr. Samuel, his mentor, from a medical censure. As a doctor, Prithviraj, lets his animosity, legitimate though it is, toward a corrupt police officer come in the way of treating his daughter’s serious illness. Dr. Samuel in the nick of time treats his daughter and saves her life. This picture gives a mixed message to an already confused world. Both doctors are good in their profession. They work among the poor unconcerned about their financial reward. But both are flawed in that one goes against his Hippocratic oath in treating a patient in order to take revenge on her father, and the other uses bad means, even though only once, to attain a good end.

From Dallas I reached St. Louis. At the airport I had a little comedy of error. There were women waiting for their loved ones. Among them was my wife. I had a slightly delayed response in recognizing my wife as she had a very short haircut, and as her clothing was typically American. Of course I was cautious in that I did not want to be thought of staring at women. I think my wife recognized my predicament and called my name. I was also consoled by the fact that she also wondered about my quickly recognizing her. She had preceded me to the USA two months before.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti 

Laws of Peace

‘The first spiritual law of peace is that ‘the source of true and lasting peace and happiness in the world is the grace of God that is available to all who surrender themselves willingly and consciously to Divine Providence’….. Please repeat it..’

The Baba told Atma Prakash who repeated it verbatim. 

‘Good. You have a very good memory. It is a special gift of God” the Baba told his disciple and continued:

‘We must remember always, as we have already seen earlier, that our understanding of God and the true attributes of God are evolving realities. It varies according to the level of consciousness, especially of those who are given the grace to have an insight into the nature of the one true God. As we very well know, human beings are very much limited in their capacity to grasp the Ultimate Reality. Only divine grace alone can give us an insight into the true nature and attributes of God. Here too, one has to be very humble….

‘Pride is the biggest block in the path of truth and grace. Humility is the key to spiritual growth and enlightenment….

‘We need to learn to be humble. We also need to learn to let go. Renunciation and transcendence are essential for spiritual growth. But the most important virtue needed for our spiritual growth is humility. Humility is learnt often through humiliations.… We have already learnt some of these spiritual principles…

‘Self-surrender, Saranagathi, is the sure way to gain an insight into the nature of the one true God. This is also the path taught by all religions….

‘Self-surrender brings divine grace into one’s life. This divine grace is available to all alike. It is the source of true and lasting peace in one’s life and in the world. ‘Know God, know peace. No God, no peace’ is a dictum that contains within it the wisdom and experience of saints and sages from all religious traditions….

‘Thus, sooner or later all sincere seekers of truth and peace will come to realize and experience the reality that the source of true and lasting peace and happiness is the grace of God that is available to all who surrender themselves willingly and consciously to Divine Providence, that is, to the grace of God’ the Baba said and closed his eyes. He remained silent for few minutes.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *     *     *

‘I had gone through an encounter with death at the prime of my life. I was an atheist at that time. But, experiences thereafter have taught me that life is a gift and grace of an ever loving God, given to us free..’ the Baba said. 

He continued: ‘Getting up in the morning everyday in itself is a miracle… The heart beats, the lungs breathe and millions of cells in our body function without our knowledge or permission…..

‘An awareness of this mystery of life in itself will lead us to an act of ‘self-surrender’ to this ever compassionate love-force, God. We are here because of divine grace, we live because of divine grace, everything in the world exists because of divine grace, yes my son, because of divine grace....….

‘The source of true peace and happiness is also this divine grace. This is the first spiritual law of peace…Have you understood this well?’ The Baba asked Atma Prakash.

‘Guruji, you mentioned that humility is often developed through humiliations. Can you please explain this to me?’ Atma Prakash requested his guruji.

‘Humiliations are painful experiences, my son. It affects our ego directly. Ego has a tendency to react first and fast negatively. The result will be anger, resentment, hatred or revenge towards those who humiliate us….

‘But instead, if we consciously control our tendency to react negatively, and send out some positive vibrations to the offender, we will find that the ego gets humbled and purified in the process’ the Baba replied.

‘Thank you, guruji.’ Atma Prakash prostrated before his guruji and got up.

He went for a long walk into the forest. At any time he has something serious to reflect on, he went to the forest for a long walk.

He was reflecting on what he learnt today, especially on what was said by his guruji about developing humility through humiliations. 

This was indeed a new insight for him.

Excerpts from Integral Revolution

Double Standard World

I wanted to say this since long, but somehow, I kept myself on hold for reasons unknown to frontal me. Most of this world seems to show double standards and a hypocritical style in its treatment of various situations. I felt this many times, but I felt this lot when I was watching the sainthood ceremony of Mother Teresa. The thing that was pinching me most was that this recognition was in return of two approved miracles of healing. In a country where people become saint just by wearing saffron clothes, a lady who worked for downtrodden people with the greatest commitment possible was supposed to do certain miracles to be called a saint by people of her own religion. Interestingly the entire world media was watching, heads of many states or their reps were there. No one dared to say that true sainthood is her deeds and not the two isolated case studies of healing. 

That’s how religious ceremonies are there in all religions. We have a habit of dramatizing things in order to possibly acquire more followers. Ultimately in the race of dramatizing, the urge of proving my drama better than someone else’s drama becomes strong and people start fighting for silly reasons. Some say that the GOD is formless while others argue that a form is a must for common people to allow them the rituals to be performed and be satisfied with that. Formless or Formed, the drama element and rituals are no way less in any of them. 

More than this I won’t say at this moment. Find such dramas around you and think if in some way you can be a contributor to the true cause these concepts were made, rather than being carried away by the paraphernalia. 

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

Philosophy of Peace

‘We will discuss in our next seven sessions about a holistic philosophy of peace that is so much needed in this present era. Your own life-mission, my son, is to be a prophet of peace in a violent world…. You have to lay a strong foundation for a new World Order for a culture of peace…

‘People all over the world are hungering and thirsting for peace today. They seek peace through acquisition of wealth and power, and also through enjoyment of pleasures, only to be disillusioned at the end. They come to realize late in their lives that wealth, power or pleasure is not the real source of peace. These are often obstacles in the path of true peace. But this realization comes sometimes quite late in life, when there is no possibility of retracing one’s steps and reorienting one’s life….

‘Nations talk of peace in terms of absence of war. They create strong Armies, Navies and Air Forces, and pile up more and more deadly bombs and missiles as deterrents of war….. Religions are promoting divisions and conflicts rather than harmony and peace in the world…..

‘All things put together, we realize that nation-states and religions, as they are today, cannot create a culture of peace in the world.’ The Baba looked at Atma Prakash. 

He was listening attentively.

‘Then how can we hope to find peace in the world, guruji?’ Atma Prakash asked.

The Baba seemed to be reflecting on the question. 

Then he said: ‘First of all we will need a holistic spiritual philosophy of peace. That is what we are trying to provide through the seven spiritual laws of peace that we will be discussing later….

‘We will also need sovereign spiritual persons and integrated basic communities of peace. They will have to live by and promote this spiritual philosophy of peace. Such sovereign spiritual persons and integrated basic communities will be the catalysts and seedbeds of a true and lasting culture of peace in the world….’

The Baba stopped and looked into the eyes of Atma Prakash who was all attention…..He continued:

‘More than 80% of people all over the world believe in the transcendental dimension of life and follow one religion or the other. That means religion still plays an important role in the lives and affairs of people all over the world. This will also imply that peace in the world will be impossible without peace among religions in the world. For us in India, it is very important to remember this truth if we are to build a great new India of peace, prosperity and power….. 

‘Religion is very important for us. We cannot root them out from the society, as they tried to do in erstwhile USSR. Religion gives meaning and purpose to our lives. Without it, we can be totally lost…

‘Gandhiji had very rightly pointed out: “To try to root out religion itself from society is a wild goose chase. And were such an attempt to succeed, it will mean destruction of the society. Superstitions, evil customs, and other imperfections creep in from age to age and mar religion for the time being. They come and go. But religion itself remains, because the existence of the world in a broad sense depends on religion. The ultimate definition of religion may be said to be obedience to the law of God”. These words of the Mahatma shows the importance of religion for humankind…

‘But today religions have also become divisive and destructive forces. We need to go beyond religion to spirituality if we are to find a way out of the present crisis. It is spirituality that can unite religions and humanity at large. Spirituality is also the goal and aim of all religions. We need today, more than any other time before, a spirituality of unity and peace. 

‘We need to build our nation and the world on the strong foundation of a socio-spiritual philosophy of peace. I have over the years formulated seven spiritual laws that can together provide a strong foundation for such a socio-spiritual philosophy of peace. I have termed these seven spiritual laws of peace as ‘Sapta Rishi’ and the socio-spiritual philosophy constituted by them as ‘Dharmodaya’, my son.’ The Baba stopped and was silent as if recollecting his thoughts. 

Excerpts from Integral Revolution

BS 315 010916 INSANE CULTURE

We have an insane culture that breeds pervasive distrust ending in paranoia, a major mental disorder. Historically we had immoral laws that defended racism and casteism resulting in violations of major human rights. Currently we have immoral laws that bar women from places of worship and priestly roles in religious institutions. Interestingly, these discriminatory laws are made on the basis of our own interpretations of revelations or traditions.

Three insane categories that are widely used to distinguish cultural groups are race, caste, and class. While I admire Gandhiji in many respects, I wonder how he missed the blatant discrimination so obvious in casteism, even though he condemns superiority, discrimination, or privileges on the basis of caste or varna. His argument for varna (social class; literally it means color) on the basis of idealistic spiritualizing of the problem is not at all convincing. Eminent social reformers like Sri Narayana Guru and B. R. Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Indian Constitution and the first law minister of India, rightly challenged Gandhiji’s views on caste/varna.

Ambedkar, an intellectual giant who acted on integrity, principles, and convictions and who has not yet been given the place he rightly deserves in our society, made his last speech to the Constituent Assembly entrusted with the task of writing the Constitution of India on November 25, 1949. His speech was remarkable in that he sounded three warnings related to anarchy (unconstitutional methods of achieving social and economic objectives), hero-worship, and social democracy beyond the basic political democracy that came with independence. These warnings are very relevant especially today.

With blind westernization that has nothing to do with modernization, the way the new upper and middle class rich spend money to impress others on occasions of weddings, birthdays, death anniversaries, and other occasions of celebrations is scandalous when many persons do not even have the very basic necessities of life. Some celebrate these occasions on borrowed money. There are persons who borrow knowing well that they would not be able to pay their loans back. With run-away materialism symbolized by mindless consumerism, lifestyle diseases are becoming common in affluent sections of our society. 

When I experience certain Christians putting on airs of importance and status of prestige by diligently setting apart themselves from common persons lest they be diminished, I wonder if they know the teachings of Christ who said if anyone did anything worthwhile however small to the least human being, he/she did it to him. The irony of it all is that these very same people would talk highly and eloquently about, say, Mother Theresa who incidentally will be canonized in four days precisely on account of her dedicated life to the least humans. They also will be the first persons who will be burning candles in front of her shrines that will, I am sure, sprout all over shortly. When I visit some persons in Kerala I am reminded of a British comedy series called Keeping Up Appearances that used to be broadcast on Public Broadcasting system in the US where the lady of the house would go to any length to impress her neighbors by presenting herself as better cultured than others. Her laid-back husband would grudgingly chug along with her antics in order not to court her displeasure.

The pleasure of being oneself for who one is while taking care of others in the best way possible is the best medicine one can give to oneself. That kind of genuineness and authenticity is the best gift each one of us can give to God, and that also is the best antidote to insanity that is present in cultures all over the world.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti