Pearls of Wise

3. -Talks No -643. What is the true meaning of renunciation? Subjugation of lust, passion, greed, etc., is common to all and forms the essential preliminary step for any course. Does not freedom from passions indicate renunciation? Or is renunciation different, meaning cessation of the active life? These questions are troubling me and I beg lights to be thrown on those doubts.” Bhagavan smiled and said: “You have said all. Your question contains the answer also. Freedom from passions is the essential requisite. When that is accomplished all else is accomplished.”  Talks No- 425 Devotee .: Is success not dependent on Guru's Grace? Maharishi .: Yes, it is. Is not your practice itself due to such Grace? The fruits are the result of the practice and follow it automatically. There is a stanza in 'Kaivalya' which says, "O Guru! You have been always with me watching me through several reincarnations, and ordaining my course until I was liberated." The Self manifests e...

3. The world is the field of action. Through action one acquires knowledge. The guru instructs the disciple to perform certain works and refrain from others. Again, he advises the pupil to perform action without desiring the result. The impurity of the mind is destroyed through the performance of duty. It is like getting rid of a disease by means of medicine, under the instruction of a competent physician. Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna are the three principal nerves. All the lotuses are located in the Sushumna. They are formed of Consciousness, like a tree made of wax-the branches, twigs, fruits, and so forth all of wax. The Kundalini lies in the lotus of the Muladhara. That lotus has four petals. The Primordial Energy resides in all bodies as the Kundalini. She is like a sleeping snake coiled up-'of the form of a sleeping snake, having the Muladhara for Her abode'. (To M.) The Kundalini is speedily awakened if one follows the path of bhakti. God cannot be seen unless She ...

1. The culture of a people must continuously serve them, nourishing their inspirations, guiding their actions and providing consolation and comfort, balance and equanimity in both their joys and sorrows. A culture when sustained through its religious practices, if it has no elasticity, will come to choke the growth of the community and the people will then outgrow that culture. If an unyielding iron ring is put around a growing tree, in time, as the tree grows, the ring will be swallowed up into the very dimension and growth of the vigorous tree. Our Bharatiya culture, as expressed through Hinduism, never died through all these millenniums, only because our culture had the required elasticity to embrace all the new dimensions into which our society grew during the march of time.  Swami Chinmayananda To be continued  ...

7. She too falls in love with the king. But the king decides not to commit to the relationship without the consent of his son. This wise decision, inspired by a culture in which love and regard for the son is given more importance than lust, inspires modern society to THINK. Today, man tempted by uncontrollable lust and desire, very easily breaks off all relationships, totally disregarding all other minds obligated to him. This causes a great deal of unrest, which is very common in our society today. Emotions need not be forcibly suppressed, rather, they can be managed wisely in a manner that does not cause any difficulty for ourselves and for others. How beautifully this is illustrated by Sri Vyasa in this story! Today society has a false belief that Man is a slave of his emotions. No, if he can control his emotions, he can make intelligent use of them. This capability is inherent in his mind. Veda Vyasa helps us recognize this truth vividly,  through this story. Swami Udit Cha...

(Delivered at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, January 31, 1900) 18. The drama, in India, was a very holy thing. Drama and music are themselves held to be religion. Any song — whether it be a love-song or otherwise — if one's whole soul is in that song, one attains salvation, one has nothing else to do. They say it leads to the same goal as meditation. So, Valmiki dramatised "The Life of Rama", and taught Rama's two children how to recite and sing it. There came a time when Rama was going to perform a huge sacrifice, or Yajna, such as the old kings used to celebrate. But no ceremony in India can be performed by a married man without his wife: he must have the wife with him, the Sahadharmini, the "co-religionist" — that is the expression for a wife. The Hindu householder has to perform hundreds of ceremonies, but not one can be duly performed according to the Shâstras, if he has not a wife to complement it with her part in it. Swami Vivekananda ...

3. This does not mean, however, that we should ignore the life in the physical plane of matter. Matter is the expression of God or Brahman for His own Lila. Matter and Spirit are inseparable like heat and fire, cold and ice, and flower and fragrance. Sakti (power) and Sakta (he who possesses power) are one. Brahman and Maya are inseparable and one. A life in the physical plane is a definite preparation for the eternal life in Brahman. World is your best teacher; the five elements are your Gurus. Nature is your mother and director. Prakriti is your silent master. World is the best training ground for the development of various divine virtues such as mercy, forgiveness, tolerance, universal love, generosity, nobility, courage, magnanimity, patience, will-power, etc. World is an arena for fighting with the diabolical nature and for expressing divinity from within. The central teaching of the Gita and the Yoga-Vasishtha is that one should realise his Self by remaining in the world. ?Be ...

3. But our ancients experienced something without which no other experience is possible. They declared, "We have not bothered ourselves about searching, observing, experiencing and becoming aware of facts in this passing projection or manifestation. We have made our quest in another dimension of the human being, and we have discovered the fact of awareness. "But for awareness, nothing can be cognised. But for awareness, no knowledge is possible. Knowledge itself has as its basis the knower. The knower can be the knower only if It is a centre of luminous awareness, knowing all things. It shines everywhere as awareness—prajnanam brahma. That ultimate Reality is awareness, consciousness, which existing all things become known to exist. Without consciousness there would be nothing, no knowledge. Nothing is possible. Because the irreducible, axiomatic reality or the truth is that there is a great awareness—chaitanyam sashvatam santam vyomatitam niranjnanam (…who is pure Conscio...

(Spoken on October 19, 1972) 9. But the Truth value of all things is the undying value that is invisible to the physical eyes and incapable of cognition through the apparatus of the mind and the senses. There is something within us that we do not know ourselves – some mystery within us, on account of which we love life. What is the most dear thing to us? Life itself. All activities are for the sake of living. All possessions are for the sake of living. And what kind of living? We want a free and unhampered living, which we call a life of happiness. Our aspiration, therefore, is to manifest in our life a quality called happiness which is unending in space and in time. This is only a theoretical and academic acceptance to most people. Learned men, scholars and protagonists of religion do accept that truth and righteousness are the supreme meanings of life. But no one knows what Truth is, and no one can define what righteousness is. Inasmuch as its very conception is difficult, it beco...

It is the stated goal of the Integral Yoga to shift the standpoint of consciousness to the divine standpoint, and to have the knowledge, power and bliss of this higher consciousness permeate and transform the outer life in the world. Whereas in the traditional Yoga of knowledge, there is considerable focus on achieving the higher consciousness, it is frequently tied to an abandonment of the outer life. Samadhi is the mechanism by which the direct experience of these higher states of awareness can most easily be accessed, and thus, for both the integral Yoga and the Yoga of knowledge, Samadhi, the yogic trance, is an important tool of leverage. For the integral Yoga, Sri Aurobindo’s suggestion that once established, the consciousness achieved in Samadhi can, through training and repetitive practice, become accessible to the waking consciousness, is an important point, as it maintains the significant role of Samadhi, yet does not require abandonment of the outer life as the goal or en...

For those who pursue the traditional Yoga of knowledge with the goal of abandoning the outer life, it is not of much concern that there is a break between the inner consciousness of the dream-state of Samadhi and the outer consciousness of the physical mind and the senses dealing with the outer world. For the practitioner of the integral Yoga, however, this gap in consciousness is not acceptable as a permanent obstacle. Sri Aurobindo observes that in fact, the gulf can be bridged and the consciousness of the inner mind and vital can be integrated with the outer consciousness and their powers brought to bear on the life of the world: “But this gulf, this break is not inevitable. In the first place, it is only in the untrained psychic being that the experiences of the trance are a blank to the waking mind; as it becomes the master of its Samadhi, it is able to pass without any gulf of oblivion from the inner to the outer waking. Secondly, when this has been once done, what is atta...

(Spoken on October 19, 1972) 8. The second defect of the mind is to associate quality with a relationship. Though we know that quality is an inherent truth behind a quantity, we cannot understand what that quality is. For example, we say a flower is blue. Now, the blueness is a quality of that flower, but this blueness is incapable of perception unless there are other things different from blue. If everything in the world is blue, there will be no such thing as blue colour. So the existence of a quality of an object as we conceive it is only a relationship of one quantity with another quantity, so that even this so-called quality has become a camouflage of quantity. The third thing is the relationship that we try to establish between one thing and another thing, which is very artificial. There is no such thing as a physical relationship of one thing with another thing because the moment one physical body relates itself organically with another physical body, the two bodies be...

It is in dualities that we have inner and outer—action and inaction, remembrance and forgetfulness. In that state of absolute faith in the non-dual, all-pervading presence of the one Reality that is subtler than the subtlest, the self-created delusion of distinctions and the self-created delusion of the dual throng, the pairs of opposites, cease to exist, and God alone exists. So there is no possibility of there being such thoughts and such concepts as near and far, past and present, inner and outer, presence and absence, when whatever is is an eternal, all-pervading, non-dual IS of the Supreme Being. Modern science prides itself in being impartial observers and relentless pursuers of truth. They want facts, facts that are verifiable, tangible, reproducible any number of times given the same circumstances. So they say, "We are the seekers of truth. We are in search of practical realities, of verifiable and provable facts, not in presumptions or assumptions." They are s...

2. Therefore, sages and seers, Rishis, prophets and saints who have realised their inner Self by discipline of the mind and the organs, by Tyaga and Tapas, by Vairagya and Abhyasa, by leading a life of self-denial, self-sacrifice and self-abnegation, have emphatically, without a shadow of doubt, like an Amalaka fruit in the hand, declared that a life in the Atman or pure Spirit alone can bring everlasting peace, infinite bliss, supreme joy, eternal satisfaction and immortality. They have prescribed various definite methods for Self-realisation according to various temperaments, capacities and tastes of individuals. Those who have implicit faith in their teachings, in the Vedas and in the words of the Guru or spiritual preceptor march fearlessly in the field of spirituality or Truth, and obtain freedom or perfection or salvation. They do not come back to this Mrityu Loka (mortal world). They rest in Satchidananda Brahman or their own Svarupa. This is the goal of human life. ...

(Delivered at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, January 31, 1900) 17. After Rama regained his kingdom, he took the necessary vows which in olden times the king had to take for the benefit of his people. The king was the slave of his people, and had to bow to public opinion, as we shall see later on. Rama passed a few years in happiness with Sita, when the people again began to murmur that Sita had been stolen by a demon and carried across the ocean. They were not satisfied with the former test and clamoured for another test, otherwise she must be banished. In order to satisfy the demands of the people, Sita was banished, and left to live in the forest, where was the hermitage of the sage and poet Valmiki. The sage found poor Sita weeping and forlorn, and hearing her sad story, sheltered her in his Âshrama. Sita was expecting soon to become a mother, and she gave birth to twin boys. The poet never told the children who they were. He brought them up together in the B...

6. Our culture was not inspired by one individual alone. It owes its origin to the wealth of knowledge of so many great souls, men and women alike, authentic with their own, true, personal experiences in their lives. The holy Vedas and Upanishads are known in the form of sounds and words (Mantras). It is only through the understanding of the Upanishads, that you truly understand the soul of India. The Upanishads are more than a hundred in number and  written in Sanskrit. The essence of all these Upanidhads is capsuled by Maharshi Veda Vyasa in the form of Srimad Bhagavad Gita, which is the heart and soul of his greatest epic Mahabharata. Mahabharatha, with its one lakh slokas in 18 Parvas, is undoubtedly the greatest literary work in the world. Long, long back, the’ Kuru Vansh’ King Santanu was living a lonely life after his beloved wife Ganga devi left him taking their son Devavrata along with her. At a time when the king is tormented by lust, Satyavati devi , the ...

4. In the battlefield of our life, we are not fighting against other people but we often have to choose between right and wrong and try and do things that are appropriate to situations. Most problems occur in our life because we do not have a guide, a book or a road map that tells us which way to go. If the Bhagavad Geeta is followed, listened to and understood, it will help us to make the right choice. It is a very clear guide that outlines for us various alternatives and paths that one is faced with. It clearly demarcates the right path that one should choose when faced with a doubtful situation. Shakespeare expressed this very beautifully in one of his famous masterpieces. He said “To be or not to be is the question.” Our situation very often in life is the same, when we do not know how to act, deal with others and face life’s problems. Often we think we know the right path but when it is time to act, we develop doubts. We often have second thoughts and start v...

2. There are signs by which you can know whether a man has truly seen God. One of these is joy; there is no hesitancy in him. He is like the ocean: the waves and sounds are on the surface; below are profound depths. The man who has seen God behaves sometimes like a madman; sometimes like a ghoul, without any feeling of purity or impurity; sometimes like an inert thing, remaining speechless because he sees God within and without; sometimes like a child, without any attachment, wandering about unconcernedly with his cloth under his arm. Again, in the mood of a child, he acts in different ways: sometimes like a boy, indulging in frivolity; sometimes like a young man, working and teaching with the strength of a lion. He who has surrendered his body, mind, and innermost self to God is surely a holy man. He who has renounced 'woman and gold' is surely a holy man. He is a holy man who does not regard woman with the eyes of a worldly person. He never forgets to look up...

Talk 81. Thinking is the world. It creates the world -----------------------------------------------------. We think and our thoughts appear as the external objects. That the world had been before we were born and continues to be after we are dead, and that science and history bear evidence to this fact, does not alter the truth that even these scientific and historical facts are our present thoughts or notions --- notions which haunt us as long we are in jagrat. All the worlds and the billions of ages which they have lased, tumble down like a pack of cards the moment we lay our heads on the pillow and sail off from jagrat, and with them come down the history of the people who preceded and the world which preceded the people, etc.,, Yet, notwithstanding the total pralaya of our jagrat thoughts, the complete blotting out of the universe --- in our beds ---- we continue to BE, to travel to new lands and cross new seas, though lands and seas are, like jagrat, our own creation...

(439) Devotee .: Rama asks: "Brahman being Pure, how can maya arise from Him and veil Him also? "Vasishta replies: "In pure mind associated with strong dispassion this question will not arise." Of course in advaita (non-dualistic) philosophy there can be no place for jiva, Isvara and maya. Oneself sinking into the Self, the vasanas (tendencies) will entirely disappear, leaving no room for such a question. Maharishi .: The answers will be according to the capacity of the seeker. It is said in the second chapter of Gita that no one is born or dies: but in the fourth chapter Sri Krishna says that numerous incarnations of His and of Arjuna had taken place, all known to Him but not to Arjuna. Which of these statements is true? Both statements are true, but from different standpoints. Now a question is raised: How can jiva rise up from the Self? I must answer. Only know Your Real Being, then you will not raise this question. Why should a man consider himself se...

1. All, without exception, perform work. Even to chant the name and glories of God is work, as is the meditation of the non-dualist on 'I am He'. Breathing is also an activity. There is no way of renouncing work altogether. So do your work, but surrender the result to God. Prayer and the company of holy men. You cannot get rid of an ailment without the help of a physician. But it is not enough to be in the company of religious people only for a day. You should constantly seek it, for the disease has become chronic. Again, you can't understand the pulse rightly unless you live with a physician. Moving with him constantly, you learn to distinguish between the pulse of phlegm and the pulse of bile. God and His glory. This universe is His glory. People see His glory and forget everything. They do not seek God, whose glory is this world. All seek to enjoy 'woman and gold'. But there is too much misery and worry in that. This world is like the whirlpool of the V...

3. Arjuna had several other doubts and questions and the discussion in the Bhagavad Geeta then turns not only towards his duty but towards other aspects of life like how one should live in this world, other paths of worship etc. A detailed description of the Lord Himself and His qualities are found in the Geeta. The path of Self-realization is also expounded. The Geeta is really the most important text in Hindu religion since it teaches us how to live in this world, how to become better person and how to obtain a higher status not only in a secular way but also in a spiritual way. Ultimately the Geeta also shows us the path to Self realization or realization of the Supreme. It contains the essence of all the Upanishads. We have several Upanishads that deal with the subject matter of the Supreme Self or Brahman. They teach us how to unfold the divinity within us and reach the Supreme Self. The Upanishads are fairly complex and deal with a very subtle subject. In the Bhagavad G...

5. Hari Om! Unfortunately, the Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and Epics are considered ,or rather demoted to be merely the religious texts of the Hindus.  This led to the separation of other religions from these precious treasure houses of Knowledge, beyond time and space. We must understand that our ancient Scriptures do not proclaim the glory of one specific God, His kingdom or His commandments. They offer nothing less than the complete science of Spiritual Psychology. They talk about living minds, our own minds. The mystery of mind and its power are still unknown to modern Science.  Various behaviours, cultures and differences add to its mystery. Where has it come from? How each individual mind gets different and unique character and culture? What happens to the thoughts after death? How much freedom and influence do we have on our mind? Our great Scriptures give scientific answers to all these questions. Swami Udit Chaithanya To be continued  ... ...

(Delivered at the Shakespeare Club, Pasadena, California, January 31, 1900) 16. Then Rama with Sita and his followers left Lanka. But there ran a murmur among the followers. "The test! The test!" they cried, "Sita has not given the test that she was perfectly pure in Ravana's household.'' "Pure! she is chastity itself" exclaimed Rama. "Never mind! We want the test," persisted the people. Subsequently, a huge sacrificial fire was made ready, into which Sita had to plunge herself. Rama was in agony, thinking that Sita was lost; but in a moment, the God of fire himself appeared with a throne upon his head, and upon the throne was Sita. Then, there was universal rejoicing, and everybody was satisfied. Early during the period of exile, Bharata, the younger brother had come and informed Rama, of the death of the old king and vehemently insisted on his occupying the throne. During Rama's exile Bharata would on no account ascend the...

1. What is life? Is it merely the act of breathing or respiration or digestion or excretion or the acts of metabolism, anabolism, catabolism, the constructive or destructive changes that ever go on in the physical organism or human body or economy of nature? Is it mere thinking or planning or scheming to earn money or name and fame? Is it the act of procreation to keep up the line? Is it the sum-total of all these processes? Or is it the movement of the protoplasm in the unicellular organism, amoeba, with its single nucleus? Scientists and biologists have a very different conception of life. Philosophers like Sri Sankara have quite a different conception of life. Life is of two kinds, viz., life in matter and life in the Atman or the Spirit or Pure Consciousness. Biologists, physiologists and psychologists hold that life consists of thinking, feeling, knowing, willing, digestion, excretion, circulation, respiration, etc. This kind of life is not everlasting. This is attended w...

1.  May the divine grace of the Supreme Being and the loving and compassionate benedictions of the Holy Master grant that we many all live a life of simplicity and dignity, truthfulness and fearlessness, compassion and loving kindness—a life of ceaseless remembrance of God and continuous inner meditation in the midst of outer physical action and activity! May God and Gurudev give us the gift of a synthesis of the inner and the outer. May they grant us their insight that there is neither the inner nor the outer, but there is only one single undivided God-principle to which everything is an inseparable part of Itself.  Swami Chidananda. To be continued  ...