Pearls of Wise

27/02/2018 25. Purification of mind :- "There is no use in merely making a noise if you want to establish the Deity in the shrine of your heart, if you want to realize God.  First of all purify the mind.  In the pure heart God takes His seat.  One cannot bring the holy image into the temple if the droppings of bats are all around.  The eleven bats are our eleven organs: five of action, five of perception, and the mind. "First of all invoke the Deity, and then give lectures to your heart's content.  First of all dive deep.  Plunge to the bottom and gather up the gems.  Then you may do other things.  But nobody wants to plunge.  People are without spiritual discipline and prayer, without renunciation and dispassion.  They learn a few words and immediately start to deliver lectures.  It is difficult to teach others.  Only if a man gets a command from God, after realizing Him, is he entitled to teach." Thus conversing, t...

27/02/2018 The main cause of all bondage is ignorance. Man is not wicked by his own nature — not at all. His nature is pure, perfectly holy. Each man is divine. Each man that you see is a God by his very nature. This nature is covered by ignorance, and it is ignorance that binds us down. Ignorance is the cause of all misery. Ignorance is the cause of all wickedness; and knowledge will make the world good. Knowledge will remove all misery. Knowledge will make us free. This is the idea of Jnana-Yoga: knowledge will make us free! What knowledge? Chemistry? Physics? Astronomy? Geology? They help us a little, just a little. But the chief knowledge is that of your own nature. "Know thyself." You must know what you are, what your real nature is. You must become conscious of that infinite nature within. Then your bondages will burst. Studying the external alone, man begins to feel himself to be nothing. These vast powers of nature, these tremendous changes occurring...

27/02/2018 Day 5. Like every other story in our scriptures, the stories of Devi also have powerful messages to convey. Unfortunately we often miss out on proper understanding and are intoxicated by the rituals. During Navaratri we hear stories of Devi killing several Asuras. Mahisha, Sumba, Nisumba, Droomralocha, Chanda, Munda, Rakthabeeja etc. If we study the Lalitha Sahasranamam, we understand Devi is not another female but the feminine powers in us that we need to invoke. She represents the intuitive and motivational wisdom. Now, let us see who these Asuras are. Mahishasura represented by a buffalo stands for the inertia or lethargy in us. When overwhelmed by him we eat and sleep like a buffalo, without motivation to do or achieve. For us to achieve, we need to desire growth as well as dedicate our efforts to it. Hence our Ichasakthi should combine with Kriyasakthi. When we put both to work for us, Divinity will come to us. Our sages have advised us to sta...

27/02/2018 1. Introduction : 1.2 1. Lord Krishna—The Supreme Lord -2. His enchanting form with flute in hand is worshipped in the myriad homes of India. It is a form to which is poured out devotion and supreme love from the hearts of countless devotees not only in India but also in the West. He was a noble embodiment of all the great qualities of head and heart. He was the towering genius of His age. He was a great historical figure. His sports of childhood contain countless object-lessons for all thinking men. He was a glorious and extraordinary personality. Every word of Lord Krishna’s teachings and every act of His is full of sublime and grand object-lessons of momentous import to humanity in a variety of ways. Worship of Sri Krishna has been practised in India from the very commencement of the world’s culture. It is a part of the Veda itself. It is not a new cult. Sri Krishna has become the most common object of worship in the whole of India. Even in Latvia (E...

27/02/2018 I am supposed to be here to introduce to you, under the auspices of  'The Yoga Society' of this Academy, a way of the assessment of values, which we may regard as a little removed from the usual manner of the human outlook of life, a system of living whose physical expression is the Yoga-Asanas. We are here to bestow a little thought upon the impact that Yoga can have on human life as a whole and the relevance it has to the objectives of human existence. There is a need for a reorientation of the assessment of values, at least from the point of view of Yoga, and this necessity for re-orientation arises on account of the very nature of Yoga itself. Literally, or grammatically, Yoga means 'Union'. The definition or the explanation of the word does not go beyond this simple implication, 'Union is Yoga'. But union with what? And who is to be united, with what? This is not easily explained, and it is left to us to go into the depth of the suggest...

27/02/2018 There, as long as Sita was looking at Shri Rama, living in Shri Rama, for Shri Rama (the Ego thinking of God only), she never knew the difference between Ayodhya and forest. But in one little moment, she turned her attention outwards and there stood the Golden deer – the delusory golden deer. And once we see that delusion, we do not want God, we want that delusory thing only. Sita got stung by the desire, rejected Shri Rama, sent him away saying, “I want that Golden deer.” Shri Rama goes. The deer is killed no doubt, but it starts crying out and Sita asks Lakshmana also to go. He hesitatingly goes. It is at this time that Ten-headed monster, Ravana, comes in the guise of a sanyasi Bhikshu. See the anti-thesis. Dasharatha, who has conquered the ten indriyaas, is in Ayodhya, and Dashamukha is in Lanka. We are like Ravana. Our attention is constantly turned outwards through the ten indriyaas. Materialism enters the bosom of a seeker in a deceitful form. Ravana, the...

27/02/2018 It is in this context that the science of Yoga had known the presence of an interim subtle force and a subtle factor that pervades the entire system. They call it Prana and actually Prana is almost identical with the term "life"—because in describing the process of death they sometimes refer to it as "his Prana departed and he passed away"; because, with the departure of the Prana from the body, the man loses his life. So Prana the life force, that subtle inner something, is the factor that makes a difference between a living person and a dead body. When the Prana is there, the body is alive; when the Prana departs, the body is no longer alive. With the departure of Prana, the body becomes dead and soon disintegration and decomposing starts. It is the presence of Prana that makes life dynamic, progressive and vital. Therefore, the ancient Rishis discovered that it is Prana which is the link between the outer, visible, gross, physical body and th...

  27/02/2018 If we acknowledge that there is a necessary and useful role for “doubt”, it becomes obvious that faith, which is also a necessity, cannot be absolutely “blind” or “unlimited”. While it may be true that progress of any kind, in exceeding the limits of what the intellect can currently grasp, may require what appears to be a blind faith in the possibility, yet there needs to be a form or character of faith that is not rigidly dogmatic while holding onto limited and circumscribed ideas or notions. Sri Aurobindo explores therefore the character of the faith required: “And yet faith is necessary throughout and at every step because it is a needed assent of the soul and without this assent there can be no progress. Our faith must first be abiding in the essential truth and principles of the Yoga, and even if this is clouded in the intellect, despondent in the heart, outwearied and exhausted by constant denial and failure in the desire of the vital mind, there must be ...

16/02/2018 24. Futility of mere lecturing :- "What can you achieve by mere lecturing and scholarship without discrimination and dispassion? God alone is real, and all else is unreal.  God alone is substance, and all else is nonentity.  That is discrimination. "First of all set up God in the shrine of your heart, and then deliver lectures as much as you like.  How will the mere repetition of 'Brahma' profit you if you are not imbued with discrimination and dispassion? It is the empty sound of a conch-shell. "There lived in a village a young man named Padmalochan.  People used to call him 'Podo', for short.  In this village there was a temple in a very dilapidated condition.  It contained no image of God.  Aswattha and other plants sprang up on the ruins of its walls.  Bats lived inside, and the floor was covered with dust and the droppings of the bats. The people of the village had stopped visiting the temple.  One day after dusk...

16/02/2018 It is said that it is much better to avoid getting your clothes dirty by not going into a dirty place, rather than getting your clothes dirty and later on having to come home and wash them with soap, hot water and clean them. If you kept off from dirt and kept your clothes clean, there will not be any necessity of this process. In the same way, Dato’ K. Padmanaban Ji, said, you all know that prevention is better than cure. Rather stay healthy and prevent disease than become ill and try to get yourself treated to get cured of your illness. He said that in this ancient science of Yoga, we have a preventive system of avoiding falling ill and keeping healthy; and in this context, he had an interesting point to make that great many of the really serious types of modern illness that twentieth century man is subject to (which are even called killer diseases that take away human life more than many other types of illnesses) have their origin in tension and stress. Stress a...

16/02/2018 "Why did God create this evil world?" He did not create this evil world at all. We have made it evil, and we have to make it good. "Why did God create me so miserable?" He did not. He gave me the same powers as [He did] to every being. I brought myself to this pass. Is God to blame for what I myself have done? His mercy is always the same. His sun shines on the wicked and the good alike. His air, His water, His earth give the same chances to the wicked and the good. God is always the same eternal, merciful Father. The only thing for us to do is to bear the results of our own acts. We learn that, in the first place, we have been existing eternally; in the second place that we are the makers of our own lives. There is no such thing as fate. Our lives are the result of our previous actions, our Karma. And it naturally follows that having been ourselves the makers of our Karma, we must also be able to unmake it. The whole gist of Jnana-Yoga is ...

16/02/2018 Generally, the tradition of worship of Deities in India is according to a sort of protocol which the devotees associate with the importance of the Deities. For instance, worshippers of a particular Deity, such as Ganesa, Siva, Vishnu, Surya or Skanda, will place their own Deity as the first in importance and every other Deity as secondary. There is another tradition according to which the order of worship places Ganesa as the first, to be worshipped on any occasion, and then Devi, Siva, Vishnu, Surya and Skanda. This order may get slightly changed in different circles of religious belief. But the discourses recorded in this book do not follow any of these patterns but a chronological arrangement according to the festivals that come one after the other, seriatim, during the course of the calendar of the year, that is, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. The functions and festivals repeat themselves every year on specific days or dates. ...

16/02/2018 Day 4. Hinduism is a religion of multiplicity and innumerable pathways to the eternal truth. Upanishads form the cornerstone in guiding us to discover the purpose of life. A variety of scriptures in various tracts, direct us to highest dimensions of our existence. Today, we see ourselves as a mixture of two factors. On one side is our qualifications, wealth, professional status etc. and on the other is our inner qualities and character. However, there is an increasing disparity between qualification and quality. Education does not necessarily translate into improved values. For us to be acceptable, appreciated and admired it is important that we chisel out the negativities in us. The pictures of Goddess Kali depicts her with a furious face and garland of human heads. This is not to create a fierce female to be afraid of, but the multiple heads are just representations of all negative qualities in us like kama, krodha, lobha, moha, mada, matsarya et...

16/02/2018 1. Introduction : 1.1. 1. Lord Krishna—The Supreme Lord -1. Salutations to Lord Krishna, the Supreme Lord, who is the Indweller of our hearts, who is Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute, who is the Soul of this universe, who bestows Immortality on His devotees, who is the source for everything and who took a human form for the benefit of the gods and His devotees, to destroy wickedness and to establish righteousness. I bow to that Para Brahman, the Supreme Self, from whom is born this mysterious universe, by whom alone it is upheld, and in whom alone it is dissolved, who is Lord Krishna Himself. Lord Krishna was the highest incarnation of the great Vishnu. He was the unique and crowning incarnation of all. He was the Purna Avatara, the Perfect Incarnation. He had sixteen Kalas or rays. He was a noble scion of the illustrious Yadava dynasty. He was a world-teacher. He was the one Lord of love. He was a lover of men. His divine form holds ...

16/02/2018 Read about the vedantic wisdom of the Ramayanam... In Ayodhya, (yudhdha means conflict, Ayodhya means where there is no conflict) to King Dasharatha was born the Supreme Lord, Shri Rama as a baby. Shri Rama grows up in Ayodhya and then goes out of Ayodhya with sage Vishwamitra to protect the yagnaas. Shri Rama gets married to Sita. Janaka is her father. Janaka found her while ploughing the mother earth, the most improbable place to come out from. Ultimately, she goes back to mother earth. So here is someone who came from no-cause and goes back to no-cause, and this is called, in Vedanta, as ‘ Maaya’. Thus Shri Rama, the Atman, the Self, gets wedded to Maaya. Once ‘Self ‘ gets wedded to Maaya, the Ego, ‘I’ cannot remain in Ayodhya. Conflict must necessarily start. Thus Shri Rama goes to jungle with Sita. Jungle means the forest of pluralities, conflicts, in which you and I live today. To be continued ...

16/02/2018 Spiritual and religious seekers throughout history have struggled with doubt in various forms. There is self-doubt as to the capacity of the individual to succeed in the task he has taken up. There is also doubt in the ideas and forms of the teaching itself, which undermines the faith of the seeker in that particular line of understanding. Most treat doubt, therefore, as a weakness and there arises then an attempt to suppress doubts and to feel guilty if one harbors doubts. Sri Aurobindo, however, takes another view of the matter and observes that doubt is actually an essential part of the spiritual development of the individual and should be recognised for its utility along the way and during various stages. The mind and emotions tend to fasten on a specific formulation of development, and given the limitations of the mental being, it is certain that these formulations will neither be comprehensive, complete nor perfect. If the seeker remains fixated on these partia...

06/02/2018 23. Discrimination and dispassion :- About half past ten Narendra and his Brahmo friends were meditating in the Panchavati.  After a while Sri Ramakrishna came to them.  M., too, was present. The Master said to the Brahmo devotees: "In meditation one must be absorbed in God.  By merely floating on the surface of the water, can you reach the gems lying at the bottom of the sea?" Then he sang : - Taking the name of Kali, dive deep down, O mind, Into the heart's fathomless depths, Where many a precious gem lies hid.  But never believe the bed of the ocean bare of gems If in the first few dives you fail; With firm resolve and self-control Dive deep and make your way to Mother Kali's realm. Down in the ocean depths of heavenly Wisdom lie The wondrous pearls of Peace, O mind; And you yourself can gather them, If you but have pure love and follow the scriptures' rule.  Within those ocean depths, as well, Six alligators, lurk - lust...

06/02/2018 It is always rational to take the side of things which you can understand — to take the side of fact. Transmission of thought is perfectly understandable. Therefore we are able to take up the [concept of] transmission of thought, and not of hereditary impressions of protoplasmic cells alone. We need not brush aside the theory, but the main stress must be laid upon the transmission of thought. Now a father does not transmit thought. It is thought alone that transmits thought. The child that is born existed previously as thought. We all existed eternally as thought and will go on existing as thought. What we think, that our body becomes. Everything is manufactured by thought, and thus we are the manufacturers of our own lives. We alone are responsible for whatever we do. It is foolish to cry out: "Why am I unhappy?" I made my own unhappiness. It is not the fault of the Lord at all. Someone takes advantage of the light of the sun to break into your house a...

06/02/2018 Day-3 Let us take a closer look at acquiring the “skill” as we talked about yesterday. It is possible to acquire some skills with training and practice, but those skills don’t necessarily relate to a person or his whole personality. Real skill is in being able to provide interesting and inspiring communication, maintain a balance in attitudes and courage in facing adversities. True wisdom comes through the right relations and friendships. Good friends always provide an impetus for positive transformation, while bad company would pull you down. You can contrast the alliance of Arjuna with Krishna and Karna with Duryodhana. Karna was a warrior mightier than Arjun, but the wrong association forced him to support the evil acts of Duryodhana. It cost him his life in return. He could not ask for Dharma to protect him as he was on the side of Adharma at crucial situations. The true wisdom that comes to us from good friends and alliances represent Saraswati....

06/02/2018 Sure Ways For Success In Life : Have a simple and unassuming manner of life. Live not to eat, but eat to live. Bear no envy. Commit no slander. Speak no falsehood. Practise no deceit. Harbour no malice. You will be ever joyful, happy and peaceful. Righteousness is the rule of life. Lead a virtuous life. Strictly adhere to Dharma. Human life is not human without virtues. Study the lives of saints and draw inspiration from them. Cultivate a melting heart, the giving hand, the kindly speech, the life of service, equal vision, and impartial attitude. Your life will, indeed, be blessed. Lead a simple life. Lead a regulated life. Lead a hard life. Take hold of each day as if it were the last day, and utilise every second in prayer, meditation and service. Let your life become a continuous sacrifice to God. Live in the present. Forget the past. Give up hopes of the future. Understand well the meaning of life, and then start the quest. Life is thy greatest gift. Util...

06/02/2018 Kalidasa, in his Raghuvamsa and Kumarasambhava, points out that God is the Supreme Being, is prior to the forms of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, who are three aspects or phases of God, and that Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, being three forms of one and the same Reality, are equal to one another in every respect, without inferiority or superiority among them. Bhartrihari prays to that Infinite Consciousness, which is Peaceful Effulgence, which is undifferentiated by the interference of space, time and causal relation, etc., and whose essence is Self-Experience alone. Madhusudana Sarasvati blends Advaita Vedanta and Bhakti-Rasa, and he is the author of the most polemical and authoritative Advaita text, known as the 'Advaitasiddhi', and of an unparalleled compendium of the various processes and stages of devotion to God, known as 'Bhaktirasayana'. His commentary on the Bhagavadgita is a monument of a fusion of knowledge of the Impersonal Absolute with devotion t...