Ahimsa, Sathyam & Brahmacharyam

Monday, 27th November 2017

Accordibg to the Indian Darsana-s, purpose of life is Moksha or Mukthi. Here Mukthi means freedom from sorrow. The desires are the reason for all sorrows. So freedom from the desires is Moksha.

How to attain the freedom from desires?

It is not easy. But through constant effort it is possible to grow in this path. Yogasutra points out three most important values following which freedom from desire can be achieved. 1. Ahimsa  2. Sathyam  3. Brahmacharyam.

1. Ahimsa means non-violence. The mind must be free from all kinds of hatred, competition, comparison, possessiveness etc. It is not easy to attain this stage. But constant effort to purify the heart from having hatred and violence will provide such a growth.

2. Sathyam means accepting the reality as it is. If you want to know whether you have hatred inside you, you must be truthful. If you are a pretentious person, you will not be able to know yourself. You have to be truthful to yourself if want to know your faults. The qualitative growth is the after effect of such truthful understanding of your short comings. So truthfulness is essential quality for a spiritual seeker.

3. Brahmacharya means having only attention on learning. You can learn when you are not distracted by sensual pleasures. You cannot learn seriously while involved in sensual enjoyments. Over-sensuality destroys your attention and other internal skills. So the real happiness and internal joy is when you keep away from sensual pleasures. Then you will have the maturity for involving in serious learning.

So, observing Ahimsa, Sathyam & Brahmacharyam is the direct method for attainung Moksha. Freedom from sorrows can not be attained quickly. But slowly through constant Observation and Self Management it can be achieved gradually. The self management is essential basic skill to develop all these three qualities.

Through Observation & Management, develop Ahimsa, Sathyam & Brahmacharyam in you..

Be happy always.. which will help you to do your work perfectly and hence leading ultimately to success..

The Prayer is Not All..

Monday,  20^th November 2017

The life means your activities, from the moment you wake up in the morning, up to the moment you fall asleep at night. How to manage your time and activities is the task for all human beings in this world. Nobody is getting extra two hours a day. A day means 24 hours for all. But how to plan your activities of the day effectively is the skill you need to develop. Around 16 hours a day is what you get to be active. Filling this time with high human values is what you have to do for the success of life.

A young man asked me, what the importance of prayer is. This seems to be a simple question. But this is not so simple. Because many people think that prayer is the way to achieve anything in life. That is a wrong idea. If you pray for passing an examination, without preparing properly, no doubt, you will fail. Then the believer might have a justification that it is only because the prayer was not strong enough to make God listen to it. If you pray without preparing for the examination, no God is going to listen to you. 

Each action has its own effect. That is a natural law. If you want to achieve something, you have to try for it according to the law of Nature. If you want to pass the examination, you have to try accordingly. You have to study the syllabus, lessons, question papers and practice writing answers in the given time. This practice and training is the action which will lead to the result of passing the examination.

Does it mean that prayer is in vain? No. Not at all. Prayer will connect you with the higher consciousness. The after effect of the action called prayer is to establish the connection with the higher consciousness. You may call it God, Paramatma, Paramapurusha, Maheswara or Eswara. Whatever be the name, it no matter. Your prayer has an effect and it will motivate you for the process of action in the world. For example, as we said before, when a student is preparing for examination, his/her process of preparation will be motivated by the sincere prayer to Maheswara.

Do not expect for miracles during the prayer. Maheswara is not for showing miracles. He is working through the laws of Nature. He is the one who maintains the law of Nature. So, we have to respect the laws of Nature. The law of Nature is that to do your work properly for achieving the after effect of it. Action and its after effect. This law needs to be accepted and respected. So each day, you have to plan your activities for achieving the result.

Mind is nothing but the compilation of your thoughts. Whether you know or not, the thoughts occur in mind. Man can observe and manage them. (OM) When you channelize your thoughts towards Maheswara, it is prayer. When you channelize them for achieving your purposes in life, they become effective activities.

So the hours in each day need to be planned according to your purpose in life. Initially, it is very important to have a clear purpose in life. And plan your activities accordingly. At the same time, spend some time for establishing a sincere connection with Maheswara as well.

The gist of today’s article:

1. Have a purpose in life.

2. Prayer is not the way to achieve it; but it is a way to establish the connection with the higher consciousness.

3. What you have to do is to plan your activities according to your purpose of life.

4. You have only the hours from your wake up to the sleep, for effectively functioning in life. 

The Hindu Gods

Monday, 13^th November 2017

The Hindu Gods are not historical characters. They are symbols.

No one can ever believe that Lord Shiva is sitting on Mount Kailas with Parvati, Ganesh and Subrahmanian. They are symbols of ideas.

How can one imagine that there is truly an ocean, full of milk and Lord Vishnu is lying on the serpent bed which is on the waves of Milky Ocean?  Is He so powerless to get a more comfortable bed?

Goddess Saraswati is holding a Veena always in her had! Goddess Parvati has bow with sugar cane, five flower arrows etc. to hold in her hands!

Some Gods/Goddesses have four hands; three eyes; four, five, eight, sixteen or sixty four heads; and some have animal heads etc. How weird..!

But it is important to understand that these Gods are not historical personalities. They never existed anywhere, at anytime. They can never appear in front of human beings, except in stories.

They are symbols. They represent ideas. They communicate with the on-looker in a special poetic way.

They remind the Saadhaka, the experiences he/she had during the period of Saadhana / spiritual practice. 

Religion may give temporary relief

Monday, 06^th November 2017

Karl Marx wrote in 1843 that “Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”

This famous quotation from Karl Marx is not against religion. But it shows the real nature of it. He explains that man starts believing in super natural powers, when he experiences the real suffering in life. (That is not the only occasion of worship. You worship as a sign of thankfulness for the rewards you received from Nature. And you also worship when you realize the psychological necessity of worship as well. Worship is mostly not for getting any things from the worshiped; but for the action of worship itself; because the attitude behind the action of worship is often fulfilling.) Karl Marx points out that many a man tries to get rid of suffering through religious belief, at the same time, the belief itself is an expression of their sufferings. In other words, they believe because they are suffering. How shallow that belief is! “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creatures..” The creatures are still oppressed. But they could make a sigh of temporary relief. That was the effect of religion. (Karl Marx understands the world as a struggle for power. He observed the power from outside; but his time, in Europe, was not matured enough to understand the power from within or psychological power. In fact the oppressed are oppressed because of their ignorance. When they get the right knowledge, their internal power helps them to come up.) “..the heart of heartless world..” The world is still heartless; but there found a hearty moment for a temporary relief. “..and the soul of soulless condition.” The condition remains as soulless still; but there found a temporary soul in religion. So instead of finding a permanent relief, man tries for a temporary relief through religion; just like using opium for temporary intoxication.

Karl Marx wrote about organized religion. But now a days, all religions are becoming more and more organized and religious fundamentalism is getting strong footage in the minds of devotees. So it is time for everybody to search for the truth behind the concept of religion.

People are very much anxious about their future. The anxiety makes them slaves to the superstitious believes. There comes the existence of all Multi National Religious Companies. Most of the people find out the easy way by believing in some religion or miracles and expect relief from their difficulties. Day by day, this will lead them to failure and, as a result of it, increased dependency to religion.

Only Wisdom can give permanent relief from suffering. Not God can save you, unless you take responsibility of your own life. Observe your mind and actions. Correct them to get rid of suffering. The actual wisdom is that “the suffering is quite natural in life and man cannot lead a life without facing sufferings in the world.” Accepting this reality makes each one strong enough to face any difficulties.

Sufferings come from three sources:

1. From other human being; like from enemies or Government etc.

2. From Nature; like natural calamities, flood etc.

3. From man’s own activities; as an after effect of your own action.

The reaction of an individual cannot be the same in all these circumstances.

Observe the situation and Manage it wisely.

Observe and Manage. (OM).

Realization is the best way to get rid of sufferings permanently.