Experience The Fullness Of The Universe -Sri Sri Ravishankar TOI30XI09

Upanishad means to sit close. You can sit close to someone on the physical plane but there may remain a huge distance in the mind. The Upanishads talk about mental proximity.

In the Isha Upanishad, Isha represents the "I" or energy and "sha" is the completeness: the full, silent, vast, divine. The invocation begins with an exclamation of fullness, or "That is full". What is that fullness which is being invoked? It is the state of meditation, a state of being that is neither the state of dreaming, sleeping nor waking. After the experience, the master tells the student: "That is fullness." The invocation ends thus: "Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti." No happiness or knowledge can happen without peace. The first step to peace is to realise that everything is complete.

The world that we see, of the senses, is but a small part of totality. Completion is like the zero, full and complete. Completeness settles the mind so you can reflect and this turning of the mind inward is spirituality

Isha the divine permeates the whole universe and is addressed as energy, not as a person. Everything is permeated in that one consciousness. Wake up and see that the whole universe is infinite and that your inner space is as complete as this universe. See that the universe is permeating your spirit; nothing is dead. Honour your body and enjoy this world by renouncing it. Just step back. Clinging to it brings you misery. Renunciation is protection for your soul. Pleasant and unpleasant events, though they may appear different, are both made of the same divinity. Unpleasant events make you stronger, while pleasant events expand you. Renunciation is being in the present moment totally. Realise that the universe is permeated with love and abundance and that your needs will always be taken care of.

Cultivate the strength to renounce in misery and be willing to do service when happy. Aspire to live for 100 years doing your work. Life here is to get over your karmas, which you can do only in this body; and the knowledge you get, impart to others. Do your action 100 per cent, but don't be feverish about it. Whatever you have not given or loved, you will come back to do it. Keep doing your work and keep renouncing.

We cannot really know the entire universe and its magnanimity because of our limited ability to perceive. The brain works on a frequency channel; our sense organs have limited capacity but the universe, like the divine, is limitless. In this limited time we call life we keep on doing our work.

Those who do not realise or attend to the self in life live in darkness and when they leave the world they will be in darkness also. When you leave the body in meditation, you achieve a higher plane.

How do you know if you have realised the Self? The atma is motionless; it is the substratum of the universe and everything is in it. It is space that is faster than the speed of light, faster than the mind; you can never comprehend the Self through the senses. The seer, the one who sees, who feels, understands, is the Self. This cannot be comprehended through the senses, yet every action in the universe is run through consciousness. A seed sprouts because there is consciousness in the seed. The entire universe is filled with this prana or life and you are the container of this, not the content.

An excerpt from commentaries on the Ishavasya Upanishad.

 

COURTESY: SPEAKING TREE, The Times of India, 30 November 2009

The Sound of Solace SLS Class Material Present Tense (TOI 030709)

MASHA HASSAN, Speaking Tree, The Times of India

 

The vibrating strains of Azaan always have an enchanting effect on me; they resonate in my mind, filling my soul as well as the atmosphere with their sound of solace .

I don't offer namaz (being too young for it). Yet, the prayer makes me feel like surrendering myself submitting to the spirit of Islam that stands for peace and purity, humility and discipline. The term 'submission to God' is a deep and divine term when it is followed in true spirit. We are not expected to visualise God but to worship Him and adore Him as a Protector.

I wake up everyday, my eyes opening to the serene sound of the Azaan, every word finding its way into my consciousness as the new day dawns with the promise of a new beginning. I don't know Arabic, but the words and their impact are so evocative that it is easy to recognise and submit to the One Power that protects and guides us, and surrender and submission to the Almighty is but an expression of Divine trust.

The day goes on with nothing but a daily routine. My holidays are going on, but with the 10th boards ready to occupy my mind, I tend to frown a lot, worrying about the future. The evenings are meant for tuitions but the brighter side is that on my way I can hear the beautiful sound of the evening prayer. The sounds of solace give me a feeling of protection and this prayer tells me that someone is out there to hear and know. It takes me to a different world, a world that may not be real in this day and age but is still alive and these prayers have kept it alive in a conventional kind of way.

Salat or Salawat is the name given to the formal prayer of Islam that serves as a formal method of remembering Allah. The prayer, one of the obligatory rites of the religion, is performed five times a day - at dawn (fajr), noon (dhuhr), in the afternoon (asr), at sunset (maghrib) and nightfall (ishaa). Prayer is also cited as a means of restraining a believer from social wrongs and moral deviance.

These prayers are a medium and it helps us to remind ourselves of a God who looks over us. Whatever we do, we will receive compensation or otherwise in the here and now. Heaven and Hell are not places to which we are destined to go, but they are states of our own mind. Any religion, which can successfully help us overcome material influences, has to be scientific, and spiritualism is just that.

For me spiritualism is not a compulsion or a daily routine. It is a feeling I get when I smell a flower or look at the clouds. For me helping an animal is spiritual. I remember the day when I helped a cow with a broken leg. It was hard to move her from the middle of the road but my father, determined, called the Sanjay Gandhi hospital and meanwhile we gave the cow water to drink. Seeing her being rescued from pain and the maddening summer heat I felt liberated as it brought me closer to the Almighty and His Creation. It was like offering a prayer and being rewarded, too. The happiness and joy I felt at that time was immense. That is spiritualism to me; that is my namaz.

(The writer is a tenth class student in a Delhi school.)

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4729763,prtpage-1.cms

 

 

Take a leap of faith in total surrender TOI-ST 250609

C V R Joga Rao

 

"Please recite Gajendra Moksham for me." We get occasional SOS calls from our daughter software professional in the US whenever she is faced with a

persistent illness or an intractable situation at the workplace.

My wife and I sit down in prayer and recite the celebrated Bhagavatam story of the Elephant King. We believe in the efficacy of this prayer, for it has seen us through many a crisis in our nearly four decades of family life.

The story is well known: King Indradhyumna is a devout Vishnu Bhakta. Vanity over his devotion to God brings upon him Saint Agastya's curse and he is born as Gajendra, the proud elephant king. In order to redeem His devotee entangled in mundane pleasures, divine play is enacted by way of Gajendra getting caught by a crocodile while playing with members of his royal household in a forest lake. He fights the crocodile with all his might but in vain. Weary, anguished and helpless after struggling to free himself for long, the elephant laments why no one has come forward to save him. He prays to God, in the context of his past sanskaras :

"God is the Universal Self which is eternal and has no beginning or end. He is the cause as well as the effect for the universe that is but His illusory play with Himself playing all the roles like actors on a stage. He is omnipresent, omniscient and Almighty. He is beyond speech and thought and can be realised only by the yogis who have exhausted all vasanas and steadfastly see Him in their mind's eye..." But there is no Divine response.

Gajendra is distressed why the omnipresent and Almighty God who is said to come to the rescue of the destitute is not answering his prayers and has not granted darshan or given him relief. He now begins to doubt His existence. As he deeply contemplates over this, realisation occurs within him that God alone is the protector for the universe; all his doubts vanish like mist before the Sun and he entreats Him for ending his agony in a spirit of total surrender. The Supreme Lord soon appears, kills the crocodile with His Sudarshana Chakra and releases Gajendra.

Similarly, man, egoistic and proud of his power and pelf, struts about the world unmindful of God until defeat and dejection make him realise his limitations. He turns to God for instant solution to his problems and when it does not happen, he loses faith in Him. Instead of surrendering to His will and praying for relief, he specifies solutions and action plans without realising that God being Almighty and Omniscient will give relief in His chosen way.

Like the Ramayana's Sundarakanda and the Hanuman Chalisa , recitation of Gajendra Moksham is a common ritual among Hindus as it offers solace for the distressed. It is particularly dear to people in Andhra Pradesh because of Bammera Pothana's soulful rendering in Telugu of Vedavyasa's Bhagavata Purana. Pothana was a gifted poet but led a simple farmer's life. His intense devotion to Rama and a divine vision impelled him to undertake this gigantic task. He faced many a hurdle as he declined royal patronage. Legend has it that when he reached an impasse in describing the Vaikuntham scene in Gajendra Moksham and rested for the day, Rama Himself took the form of Pothana and completed the poem.

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4697194,prtpage-1.cms

Soundarya Lahiri And Inner Beauty TOI-ST

3 Jun 2003, 0001 hrs IST, Sri Sri Ravishankar

Consciousness is beauty and Creation is an expression of
consciousness. Beauty is present in all creation. Eastern philosophy
believes beauty is the nature of things, while western thought sees it
as perception. Perhaps beauty is both subjective and objective.

The East emphasises subjectivity; it sees beauty as the nature of
existence — as Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, an objective phenomenon. In
the West, where objectivity is emphasised, beauty is seen as a
subjective phenomenon. But as the old proverb goes, beauty lies in the
eyes of the beholder. Beauty bridges the subject-object divide.

Be calm and serene; turn within and you can get a glimpse of beauty.
Every experience of beauty is happening within, and is superimposed on
the object outside. Beauty is a state of mind. If your mind is calm
and collected, it perceives beauty everywhere. If agitated, even the
most beautiful things can annoy. Perception of beauty varies with the
level of intelligence. For an average person, garments and accessories
are the symbols of beauty. For the more sensitive, the sparkle in your
eyes or a smile on your face is beautiful. Others see beauty in
innocence. A child captivates your attention with its innocence and
smile.

For the intellectually inclined, beauty lies in intelligence. However
good looking a person is, she will not be found attractive for long if
she lacks wit and intelligence. Whenever the mind is captivated, it is
close to the Self or pure consciousness. That's why temple idols are
decorated with clothes and jewellery and the room is enhanced with
incense, flowers and food is offered to lure the mind away from the
five senses and make it still.
Dispassion to one's Self, dedication to society and devotion to God is
the secret of undying beauty. Without dispassion, beauty is
short-lived. But possessiveness turns beauty into a mirage. Devotion
and wonderment is simply appreciating beauty without possessiveness.
You see a beautiful painting and you want to own it, you want to take
it home with you, but then you hang it on your wall and after a while
you don't even look at it.

Adi Shankara in the Soundarya Lahiri — 'Waves of Beauty', speaks of
the god of love, Kama, aiming at you with five flower arrows which aim
to awaken the five senses, giving rise to a 'wave' of beauty which
creates bliss — you start appreciating everything from a thorn to a
snail to even a sea urchin. The rishis have always adored beauty and
made it a characteristic of the Divine. Satyam or truth, Shivam or
benevolence, tranquillity and divinity, and Sundaram or beauty.

Shyness enhances beauty while shame kills it. Valour enhances beauty;
arrogance des-troys it. There is a certain beauty in maturity — so
looking beautiful is not the sole prerogative of the young. Often
beauty is recognised only when it is uncommon. But to nature lovers,
everything in nature is beautiful. Beauty is not just in the flowers;
it is in the thorns of a cactus, too.

Beauty creates a thrill, it wakes up the sleeping consciousness.
Beauty can also bring ecstasy and draw you into deep meditation.
Beauty is not limited to excitement and activity, it also permeates
sleep. Look at a sleeping baby, Buddha or Vishnu. There is un-
fathomable beauty there. Not just knowledge but even ignorance,
foolishness has a certain beauty.
To be able to perceive truth or beauty in creation, calmness is
essential. An agitated mind can neither see the truth nor appreciate
beauty. That's why Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram always go together. The
whole of Creation is nothing but 'Waves of Beauty'.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1962.cms

Waves of divine beauty TOI-SE

BHANUMATI NARASIMHAN

The nature of the Self is described as Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram:
Truth, Tranquillity and Innocence, and Beauty.

Spirituality is a journey from the outer world of names and forms to
the subtle world of energies, to the innermost core of our being, the
Self.

Satyam or Truth is multidimensional, unchanging in time and space. It
is the substratum, the basis of entire creation. Shivam is the
embodiment of calmness and tranquillity, innocence and benevolence.
Shiva is always mentioned along with Shakti. Shakti is the primordial
energy responsible for entire creation. Energy is the feminine aspect
and is addressed as Mother Divine, the Devi. Like the sea and the
waves, though seemingly separate, they are essentially the same. Like
the light and the lamp, dancer and the dance, Shiva and Shakti, the
creation and the creative impulse are inseparable.

Sundaram is beauty. We move from recognising beauty outside to beauty
within. Adi Shankaracharya in his composition Saundarya Lahiri (Waves
of Beauty), glorifies the incomparable beauty of the Divine Mother.
Here he speaks of Apangat or Kama, the god of love, an archer with a
bow and five flower arrows. When Apangat hits you with his arrow of
flowers, a wave of beauty is created inside you.

The five flowers represent the five senses through which you
experience something that is beyond the senses. You experience a wave
of beauty rising deep inside you; you have dissolved into the
formless. Rather, you are formless. You have come back to your nature.

When you look at beautiful scenery, your eyes shut and you sink into
that ocean of beauty. When you smell a fragrant flower, the flower
remains outside, the fragrance disappears in a void, and you drop into
being. That is beauty. When you hear beautiful music, you become fully
immersed in it and you no longer know what is being played. You are
lost in the formless divinity within.

In this way, Adi Shankara has described the beautiful journey from the
gross to the subtle, the outer to the inner, the form to the formless,
and the limited to the infinite, non-dual consciousness.

Established in such a state, you start appreciating everything from a
thorn to a snail and a sea urchin. Dispassion to one's Self,
dedication to society and devotion to God is the secret of undying
beauty. Without dispassion, beauty is short-lived. Possessiveness
turns beauty into a mirage. Devotion and wonderment is simply
appreciating beauty without possessiveness. You see a beautiful
painting and you want to own it, you want to take it home with you,
but then you hang it on your wall and after a while you don't even
look at it. Adi Shankaracharya was an embodiment of dispassion. He
could fully cognise and experience beauty in entire creation.

Beauty creates a thrill; it wakes up the sleeping consciousness.
Beauty can also bring ecstasy and draw you into deep meditation.
Meditation is complete relaxation, like a cool shower for the mind. It
is the act of getting in touch with your own divinity, getting back to
your nature. Your nature is truth, innocence and beauty.

To be able to perceive truth or beauty in creation, calmness is
essential. An agitated mind can neither see the truth nor appreciate
beauty. That's why Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram always go together. The
whole of Creation is nothing but 'Waves of Beauty'.

(The writer is director, Women & Child Welfare Programmes, The Art of
Living Foundation.)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4335256,prtpage-1.cms

Vande Mataram : Aurobindo's Interpretation

Translation by Shree Aurobindo

Mother, I bow to thee!   
Rich with thy hurrying streams,   
bright with orchard gleams,   
Cool with thy winds of delight,   
Dark fields waving Mother of might,   
Mother free.   

Glory of moonlight dreams,   
Over thy branches and lordly streams,   
 Clad in thy blossoming trees,   
Mother, giver of ease   
Laughing low and sweet!   
Mother I kiss thy feet,   
Speaker sweet and low!   
Mother, to thee I bow.   
   

Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands   
When the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands   
And seventy million voices roar   
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?   
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,   
To thee I call Mother and Lord!   
Though who savest, arise and save!   
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove   
Back from plain and Sea   
And shook herself free.   
 

Thou art wisdom, thou art law,  
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath  
Though art love divine, the awe  
In our hearts that conquers death.  
Thine the strength that nervs the arm,  
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.  
Every image made divine  
In our temples is but thine.  

Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,  
With her hands that strike and her  
swords of sheen,  
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,  
And the Muse a hundred-toned,  
Pure and perfect without peer,  
Mother lend thine ear,  
Rich with thy hurrying streams,  
Bright with thy orchard gleems,  
Dark of hue O candid-fair  

In thy soul, with jewelled hair  
And thy glorious smile divine,  
Lovilest of all earthly lands,  
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!  
Mother, mother  mine!  
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,  
Mother great and free!  

 http://www.indianchild.com/vande_mataram.htm

I Have a Dream - Speech by Martin Luther King Jr.

In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvellous new militancy which has engulfed our community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realise that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realise that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And... even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character... I have a dream that one day... right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.... I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together." This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And this will be the day ^ this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing./ Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,/ From every mountainside, let freedom ring!/ And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true... And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! Excerpted from the `I Have a Dream' speech delivered on August 28, 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3677641,prtpage-1.cms