Prakritim Paramam: Hymn to Holy Mother

Salutations at the feet of the Holy Mother. 1st January 2016 is Sri Sri  Sarada Ma Jayanti. This is the English translation of the hymn- Prakritim Paramam dedicated to Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother, writ­ten by Swami Abhedananda. It sung at many cen­ters of the Rama­kri­shna Order, as the fourth hymn of the evening prayer.

To the Divine Shakti embod­ied in human form, the giver of boons and dis­peller of fear, who quenches the fire of mis­ery and fills with joy the hearts of those who take refuge in Her; to Thee my salu­ta­tions, O Supreme Being, O Mother of the worlds!

Redeem Thy chil­dren, bestow­ing Thy mercy, full of faults, deluded, and with­out merit as we are! A ver­i­ta­ble ship fer­ry­ing us across the ocean of Sam­sara art Thou;
To Thee my salu­ta­tions, O Supreme Being, O Mother of the worlds!

Aban­don­ing the flow­ers of worldly enjoy­ment, always drink, O hon­ey­bee of my mind, the nec­tar of eter­nal peace at the lotus of Mother’s feet—the sure panacea for the dis­ease of world­li­ness. To Thee my salu­ta­tions, O Supreme Being, O Mother of the worlds!

Bestow Thy grace, O great Divin­ity, on us Thy chil­dren, bow­ing in pros­tra­tion before Thee, and grant us shel­ter at Thy feet, O Com­pas­sion­ate One. To Thee our salutations!

Though ever cov­ered with the veil of mod­esty, Thou, O Mother Sarada, art really the Power that bestows spir­i­tual illu­mi­na­tion on human beings. Pro­tect us from sins ever­more, O grace embod­ied! To Thee our salutations!

To Her whose life is fused into one with Ramakrishna’s, whose delight con­sists in absorp­tion in thought and talk of His glory, whose per­son­al­ity is soaked and suf­fused with His spirit; to Her our salutations!

To Her whose nature is sanc­tity, to Her whose life is sanc­tity, to Her who is the very embod­i­ment of sanc­tity; to Her I bow down, again and again!

To the gra­cious Mother Sarada, the embod­i­ment of mercy and the granter of devo­tion and knowl­edge, to Her who is wor­shipped by the chief of yogis, to Her who (with Sri Rama­kri­shna) has given a new rev­e­la­tion for the present age, and who assuages the mis­eries of devo­tees tak­ing refuge at Her feet; to her do I ever bow down in worship. 

Bind­ing our mind to Thee with the bonds of Thy love, Thou does trans­mute our very vices into virtues. Com­pas­sion­ate as Thou art with­out any con­sid­er­a­tion of merit, Thou dost, lo! Take even unwor­thy ones into Thy lap!

Mother, be pro­pi­tious and grant what I in humil­ity beseech. May Thou be ever affec­tion­ate to us, Thy chil­dren; and cast­ing even a drop of Thy love on our long-parched heart, ren­der it cool and peaceful.

Tak­ing shel­ter at the lotus feet of the Mother, Sarada Devi, and Rama­kri­shna, the teacher of the world, I salute them again and again.

Swami Vivekananda on the condition of poor in India

Yesterday Mrs. Johnson, the lady superintendent of the women's prison, was here. They don't call it prison but reformatory here. It is the grandest thing I have seen in America. How the inmates are benevolently treated, how they are reformed and sent back as useful members of society; how grand, how beautiful, You must see to believe! And, oh, how my heart ached to think of what we think of the poor, the low, in India. They have no chance, no escape, no way to climb up. The poor, the low, the sinner in India have no friends, no help — they cannot rise, try however they may. They sink lower and lower every day, they feel the blows showered upon them by a cruel society, and they do not know whence the blow comes. They have forgotten that they too are men. And the result is slavery. -Letter to Alasinga, CW Vol. V

Swami Vivekananda on troubles and tribulations

This is an excerpt from a letter  written by Swamiji to Deewan Sahibji in May 1893.

Often and often, we see that the very best of men even are troubled and visited with tribulations in this world; it may be inexplicable; but it is also the experience of my life that the heart and core of everything here is good, that whatever may be the surface waves, deep down and underlying everything, there is an infinite basis of goodness and love; and so long as we do not reach that basis, we are troubled; but having once reached that zone of calmness, let winds howl and tempests rage. The house which is built on a rock of ages cannot shake.

Ramakrishna's practice of Christianity and Islam

 At a time when the nineteenth century was just seeing the rise of “comparative study of religions” in the modern sense, Ramakrishna ventured into verifying the major religions of the world with the touchstone of experience. He embarked upon experiencing God in and through the paths laid down in the different religions. From now on for more than a decade he was to pass through many a fiery ordeals. He had earlier realized Rama as an incarnation of God. Now he underwent the difficult Tantric disciplines and realized the Divine Mother; then through the path of knowledge he attained the acme of Vedantic realization, a state in which he remained absorbed for almost six months; then he realized God through the path of Islam, and also vindicated the path of Christianity by having a vision of Jesus and realizing him to be an incarnation of God. He would take up one path, remodel himself according to its needs, and see s end; and then he would take up the next, and so on; one after the other lie experientially researched the different paths to God. Finally, his more- than-a-decade long trailblazing experiential researches in religion made him declare, “As many faiths, so many paths.” He pronounced. (Western Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna)

Merry Christmas : Swami Vivekananda on Jesus and Christianity

The Messenger came to show the path: that the spirit is not in forms, that it is not through all sorts of vexations and knotty problems of philosophy that you know the spirit. Better that you had no learning, better that you never read a book in your life.
These are not at all necessary for salvation--neither wealth, nor position nor power, not even learning; but what is necessary is that one thing, purity.

"Blessed are the pure in heart," for the spirit in its own nature is pure. How can it be otherwise? It is of God, it has come from God. In the language of the Bible, "It is the breath of God." In the language of the Koran, "It is the soul of God." Do you mean to say that the Spirit of God can ever be impure?
But, alas, it has been, as it were, covered over with the dust and dirt of ages, through our own actions, good and evil. Various works which were not correct, which were not true, have covered the same spirit with the dust and dirt of the ignorance of ages.

It is only necessary to clear away the dust and dirt, and then the spirit shines immediately. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." Where goest thou to seek for the Kingdom of God, asks Jesus of Nazareth, when it is there, within you? Cleanse the spirit, and it is there. It is already yours. How can you get what is not yours? It is yours by right. You are the heirs of immortality, sons of the Eternal Father.
(Christ the Messenger: Delivered at Los Angeles, California on January 7, 1900)

Godliness in worldliness

I tell you the truth: there is nothing wrong in your being in the world. But you must direct your mind toward God; otherwise you will not succeed. Do your duty with one hand and with the other hold to God. After the duty is over you will hold to God with both hands. - Sri Ramakrishna

Mooji on relationship with a true master

A relationship with a true master or guru is not an easy one, but every day it becomes sweeter and more beautiful as your heart and mind open up to truth. I remember when I met my master, Papaji, there was also some fear coming up inside me, but I knew it was a healthy kind of fear.
There is always a part of the mind that wants to tame people or win them over so they don’t threaten you. You play to be nice, sexy, clever or entertaining. You try everything to be loved and accepted. We are both attracted to and intimidated by the sense of 'other' but the master is not an 'other', he is the pure reflection of one’s own real being. He doesn’t allow any room for your mind-play. Suddenly, in his presence, you feel like you are the ‘other’—a stranger to what is natural and true. The shallowness of ego comes up involuntarily and you will feel out of your depth. In that moment, the pain of not being who you truly are becomes unbearable.
Now the old tricks, the old currency doesn't work here.
It is like having a pocketful of Euros in the middle of the Sahara desert. There is no value for it here and something feels deeply uncomfortable.
This, in fact, is the greatness of the real master.
A defining moment: You must either run away with your loot of fool’s gold or choose freedom.
A true seeker feels that deep energetic discomfort within, but recognises it to be a great opportunity, a chance for freedom from the tyranny of the false. Though they may be trembling in their socks, they say ‘yes’ with trust and courage and enter the master’s presence and grace.
There is nothing to be afraid of really. In fact, the master is not the cause of your discomfort. Such presence only exposes the disharmonies of the ego and invites the seeker to choose liberation.

~ Mooji

www.mooji.org

Swami Vivekananda: The Christ and Buddha Within

Christs and Buddhas are simply occasions upon which to objectify our own inner powers. We really answer our own prayers.

It is blasphemy to think that if Jesus had never been born, humanity would not have been saved. It is horrible to forget thus the divinity in human nature, a divinity that must come out. Never forget the glory of human nature. We are the greatest God that ever was or ever will be.
Christs and Buddhas are but waves on the boundless ocean which I am. Bow down to nothing but your own higher Self. Until you know that you are that very God of gods, there will never be any freedom for you.
(Recorded by a disciple Miss S.E.  Waldo, Complete Works, Volume 7, Inspired Talks)

Ramakrishna on Meditation

Repeat God’s name and sing His glories, and keep holy company; and now and then visit God’s devotees and holy men. The mind cannot dwell on God if it is immersed day and night in worldliness, in worldly duties and responsibilities; it is most necessary to go into solitude now and then and think of God. To fix the mind on God is very difficult, in the beginning, unless one practices meditation in solitude. When a tree is young it should be fenced all around; otherwise it may be destroyed by cattle. 

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Osho on understanding fear

“The question is not of getting rid of anything; the question is only of understanding. Understand fear, what it is, and don’t try to get rid of it, because the moment you start trying to get rid of anything, you are not ready to understand it – because the mind which thinks to get rid of is already closed. It is not open to understand, it is not sympathetic. It cannot contemplate quietly; it has already decided. Now the fear has become the evil, the sin, so get rid of it. Don’t try to get rid of anything.
“Try to understand what fear is. And if you have fear, then accept it. It is there. Don’t try to hide it. Don’t try to create the opposite. If you have fear, then you have fear. Accept it as part of your being. If you can accept it, it has disappeared already. Through acceptance, fear disappears; through denial, fear increases.”

Osho, The Book of Secrets, Talk #60
www.OSHO.com

J Krishnamurthi on fear

Fear Is Non-acceptance of What Is:

Fear finds various escapes. The common variety is identification, is it not?,identification with country, with society, with an idea. Haven't you noticed how you respond when you see a procession, a military procession or a religious procession, or when the country is in danger of being invaded? You then identify yourself with the country, with a being, with an ideology.There are other times when you identify yourself with your child, with your wife, with a particular form of action, or inaction. Identification is a process of self-forgetfulness.So long as I am conscious of the "me" I know there is pain, there is struggle, there is constant fear. But if I can identify myself with something greater, with something worthwhile, with beauty, with life, with truth, with belief, with knowledge, at least temporarily, there is an escape from the "me", is there not? If I talk about "my country" I forget myself temporarily, do I not? If I can say something about God, I forget myself. If I can identify myself with my family, with a group, with a particular party, with a certain ideology, then there is a temporary escape.

Do we now know what fear is? Is it not the non-acceptance of what is? We must understand the word acceptance. I am not using that word as meaning the effort made to accept. There is no question of accepting when I perceive what is. When I do not see clearly what is, then I bring in the process of acceptance. Therefore, fear is the non-acceptance of what is.

- J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

Life Wonderful

Courtesy: Action for Happiness

On Prayer

Give Generously!

Insightful Quote by Ramana Rishi

Zen: the path of paradox

Yoga: the path of joy

“Yoga is a process of rejoicing. It is a movement through happiness. From one state of joy, we move to another state of joy.”
– Swami Krishnananda, Divine Life Society

Living the Now

Quote by Osho

How to see the flower by J Krishnamurti

Teacher: Is the denial of which you are speaking different from a denial which is the restriction of sensation?

Krishnamurti: How do you see those flowers, see the beauty of them, be completely sensitive to them so that there is no residue, no memory of them, so that when you see them again an hour later you see a new flower? That is not possible if you see as a sensation and that sensation is associated with flowers, with pleasure. The traditional way is to shut out what is pleasurable because such associations awaken other forms of pleasure and so you discipline yourself not to look. To cut association with a surgical knife is immature. So how is the mind, how are the eyes, to see the tremendous colour and yet have it leave no mark?

I am not asking for a method. How does that state come into being? Otherwise we cannot be sensitive. It is like a photographic plate which receives impressions and is self-renewing. It is exposed, and yet becomes negative for the next impression. So all the time, it is self-cleansing of every pleasure. Is that possible or are we playing with words and not with facts?
The fact which I see clearly is that any residual sensitivity, sensation, dulls the mind. I deny that fact, but I do not know what it is to be so extraordinarily sensitive that experience leaves no mark and yet to see the flower with fullness, with tremendous intensity. I see as an undeniable fact that every sensation, every feeling, every thought, leaves a mark, shapes the mind, and that such marks cannot possibly bring about a new mind. I see that to have a mind with marks is death, so I deny death. But I do not know the other. I also see that a good mind is sensitive without the residue of experience. It experiences, but the experience leaves no mark from which it draws further experiences, further conclusions, further death.

The one I deny and the other I do not know. How is this transition from the denial of the known to the unknown to come into being?

How does one deny? Does one deny the known, not in great dramatic incidents but in little incidents? Do I deny when I am shaving and I remember the lovely time I had in Switzerland? Does one deny the remembrance of a pleasant time? Does one grow aware of it, and deny it? That is not dramatic, it is not spectacular, nobody knows about it. Still this constant denial of little things, the little wipings, the little rubbings off, not just one great big wiping away, is essential. It is essential to deny thought as remembrance, pleasant or unpleasant, every minute of the day as it arises. One is doing it not for any motive, not in order to enter into the extraordinary state of the unknown. You live in Rishi Valley and think of Bombay or Rome. This creates a conflict, makes the mind dull, a divided thing. Can you see this and wipe it away? Can you keep on wiping away not because you want to enter into the unknown? You can never know what the unknown is because the moment you recognise it as the unknown you are back in the known....

- Krishnamurti on education

http://www.buddhanet.net/bvk_study/bvk208.htm .

An Excerpt from Freedom From the Known by J Krishnamurthi

WE HAVE BEEN enquiring into the nature of love and have come to a point, I think, which needs much greater penetration, a much greater awareness of the issue. We have discovered that for most people love means comfort, security, a guarantee for the rest of their lives of continuous emotional satisfaction. Then someone like me comes along and says, `Is that really love?' and questions you and asks you to look inside yourself. And you try not to look because it is very disturbing - you would rather discuss the soul or the political or economic situation - but when you are driven into a corner to look, you realize that what you have always thought of as love is not love at all; it is a mutual gratification, a mutual exploitation.

When I say, `Love has no tomorrow and no yesterday', or, `When there is no centre then there is love', it has reality for me but not for you. You may quote it and make it into a formula but that has no validity. You have to see it for yourself, but to do so there must be freedom to look, freedom from all condemnation, all judgement all agreeing or disagreeing.

Now, to look is one of the most difficult things in life - or to listen - to look and listen are the same. If your eyes are blinded with your worries, you cannot see the beauty of the sunset. Most of us have lost touch with nature. Civilization is tending more and more towards large cities; we are becoming more and more an urban people, living in crowded apartments and having very little space even to look at the sky of an evening and morning, and therefore we are losing touch with a great deal of beauty. I don't know if you have noticed how few of us look at a sunrise or a sunset or the moonlight or the reflection of light on water.

Having lost touch with nature we naturally tend to develop intellectual capacities. We read a great many books, go to a great many museums and concerts, watch television and have many other entertainments. We quote endlessly from other people's ideas and think and talk a great deal about art. Why is it that we depend so much upon art? Is it a form of escape, of stimulation? If you are directly in contact with nature; if you watch the movement of a bird on the wing, see the beauty of every movement of the sky, watch the shadows on the hills or the beauty on the face of another, do you think you will want to go to any museum to look at any picture? Perhaps it is because you do not know how to look at all the things about you that you resort to some form of drug to stimulate you to see better.

There is a story of a religious teacher who used to talk every morning to his disciples. One morning he got on to the platform and was just about to begin when a little bird came and sat on the window sill and began to sing, and sang away with full heart. Then it stopped and flew away and the teacher said, `The sermon for this morning is over'.

It seems to me that one of our greatest difficulties is to see for ourselves really clearly, not only outward things but inward life. When we say we see a tree or a flower or a person, do we actually see them? Or do we merely see the image that the word has created? That is, when you look at a tree or at a cloud of an evening full of light and delight, do you actually see it, not only with your eyes and intellectually, but totally, completely?

Have you ever experimented with looking at an objective thing like a tree without any of the associations, any of the knowledge you have acquired about it, without any prejudice, any judgement, any words forming a screen between you and the tree and preventing you from seeing it as it actually is? Try it and see what actually takes place when you observe the tree with all your being, with the totality of your energy. In that intensity you will find that there is no observer at all; there is only attention. It is when there is inattention that there is the observer and the observed. When you are looking at something with complete attention there is no space for a conception, a formula or a memory. This is important to understand because we are going into something which requires very careful investigation.

It is only a mind that looks at a tree or the stars or the sparkling waters of a river with complete self-abandonment that knows what beauty is, and when we are actually seeing we are in a state of love. We generally know beauty through comparison or through what man has put together, which means that we attribute beauty to some object. I see what I consider to be a beautiful building and that beauty I appreciate because of my knowledge of architecture and by comparing it with other buildings I have seen. But now I am asking myself, `Is there a beauty without object?' When there is an observer who is the censor, the experiencer, the thinker, there is no beauty because beauty is something external, something the observer looks at and judges, but when there is no observer - and this demands a great deal of meditation, of enquiry then there is beauty without the object.

Beauty lies in the total abandonment of the observer and the observed and there can be self-abandonment only when there is total austerity - not the austerity of the priest with its harshness, its sanctions, rules and obedience - not austerity in clothes, ideas, food and behaviour - but the austerity of being totally simple which is complete humility. Then there is no achieving, no ladder to climb; there is only the first step and the first step is the everlasting step.

Say you are walking by yourself or with somebody and you have stopped talking. You are surrounded by nature and there is no dog barking, no noise of a car passing or even the flutter of a bird. You are completely silent and nature around you is also wholly silent. In that state of silence both in the observer and the observed - when the observer is not translating what he observes into thought - in that silence there is a different quality of beauty. There is neither nature nor the observer. There is a state of mind wholly, completely, alone; it is alone - not in isolation - alone in stillness and that stillness is beauty. When you love, is there an observer? There is an observer only when love is desire and pleasure. When desire and pleasure are not associated with love, then love is intense. It is, like beauty, something totally new every day. As I have said, it has no today and no tomorrow.

It is only when we see without any preconception, any image, that we are able to be in direct contact with anything in life. All our relationships are really imaginary - that is, based on an image formed by thought. If I have an image about you and you have an image about me, naturally we don't see each other at all as we actually are. What we see is the images we have formed about each other which prevent us from being in contact, and that is why our relationships go wrong.

When I say I know you, I mean I knew you yesterday. I do not know you actually now. All I know is my image of you. That image is put together by what you have said in praise of me or to insult me, what you have done to me - it is put together by all the memories I have of you - and your image of me is put together in the same way, and it is those images which have relationship and which prevent us from really communing with each other.

Two people who have lived together for a long time have an image of each other which prevents them from really being in relationship. If we understand relationship we can co-operate but co-operation cannot possibly exist through images, through symbols, through ideological conceptions. Only when we understand the true relationship between each other is there a possibility of love, and love is denied when we have images. Therefore it is important to understand, not intellectually but actually in your daily life, how you have built images about your wife, your husband, your neighbour, your child, your country, your leaders, your politicians, your gods - you have nothing but images.

These images create the space between you and what you observe and in that space there is conflict, so what we are going to find out now together is whether it is possible to be free of the space we create, not only outside ourselves but in ourselves, the space which divides people in all their relationships.

Now the very attention you give to a problem is the energy that solves that problem. When you give your complete attention - I mean with everything in you - there is no observer at all. There is only the state of attention which is total energy, and that total energy is the highest form of intelligence. Naturally that state of mind must be completely silent and that silence, that stillness, comes when there is total attention, not disciplined stillness. That total silence in which there is neither the observer nor the thing observed is the highest form of a religious mind. But what takes place in that state cannot be put into words because what is said in words is not the fact. To find out for yourself you have to go through it.

Every problem is related to every other problem so that if you can solve one problem completely - it does not matter what it is - you will see that you are able to meet all other problems easily and resolve them. We are talking, of course, of psychological problems. We have already seen that a problem exists only in time, that is when we meet the issue incompletely. So not only must we be aware of the nature and structure of the problem and see it completely, but meet it as it arises and resolve it immediately so that it does not take root in the mind. If one allows a problem to endure for a month or a day, or even for a few minutes, it distorts the mind. So is it possible to meet a problem immediately without any distortion and be immediately, completely, free of it and not allow a memory, a scratch on the mind, to remain? These memories are the images we carry about with us and it is these images which meet this extraordinary thing called life and therefore there is a contradiction and hence conflict. Life is very real - life is not an abstraction - and when you meet it with images there are problems.

Is it possible to meet every issue without this space-time interval, without the gap between oneself and the thing of which one is afraid? It is possible only when the observer has no continuity, the observer who is the builder of the image, the observer who is a collection of memories and ideas, who is a bundle of abstractions.

When you look at the stars there is you who are looking at the stars in the sky; the sky is flooded with brilliant stars, there is cool air, and there is you, the observer, the experiencer, the thinker, you with your aching heart, you, the centre, creating space. You will never understand about the space between yourself and the stars, yourself and your wife or husband, or friend, because you have never looked without the image, and that is why you do not know what beauty is or what love is. You talk about it, you write about it, but you have never known it except perhaps at rare intervals of total self-abandonment. So long as there is a centre creating space around itself there is neither love nor beauty. When there is no centre and no circumference then there is love. And when you love you are beauty.

When you look at a face opposite, you are looking from a centre and the centre creates the space between person and person, and that is why our lives are so empty and callous. You cannot cultivate love or beauty, nor can you invent truth, but if you are all the time aware of what you are doing, you can cultivate awareness and out of that awareness you will begin to see the nature of pleasure, desire and sorrow and the utter loneliness and boredom of man, and then you will begin to come upon that thing called `the space'.

When there is space between you and the object you are observing you will know there is no love, and without love, however hard you try to reform the world or bring about a new social order or however much you talk about improvements, you will only create agony. So it is up to you. There is no leader, there is no teacher, there is nobody to tell you what to do. You are alone in this mad brutal world.

http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/view-text.php?tid=48&chid=56794

J. Krishnamurti on Sensations

J. Krishnamurti on Sensations

'' Why do we suffer? There is suffering around you - there is immense suffering. There are so many ways of suffering. Desire in its movement, in its action is a process of fulfillment or denial. There are various forms of fulfillment and various forms of denial, likewise each bringing about different kinds of sorrow. Without understanding sorrow there is no wisdom....and is there an end to sorrow?

So what is the origin of desire? We live by sensation Right? We live by sensation. If I observe the whole process of desire in myself I see there is always an object towards which my mind is directed for further sensation. There is perception, contact, sensation and desire and the mind becomes the mechanical instrument of all this process. So sensation becomes monstrously important and its problems overwhelming and if we do not penetrate deeply and comprehend its processes our life will be shallow and utterly vain and miserable ...and the habit of seeking further sensation....and is there an end to sorrow?

What is sensation? If one may go into it now. The actual meaning of that word is ''the activity of the senses'' Right? - touching, tasting, seeing, smelling, hearing, mind is part of the senses. Sensation like....pain....tears, laughter, having humor, it's all part of sensation. Intellectual, theoretical, philosophical sensation. Art or music....sensation. Good taste, bad taste and so on. Fear is a sensation. The sensation of drugs, alcohol....the sensation of sexuality. The sensation of achieving something. We live by sensation. Be clear on that.

Sensations are going on - inside …..

If there was no sensation both biologically and psychologically we would be dead human beings. Right? we live by sensation. That crow calling that is acting on the ear drum-nerves-and translating the noise into the cry of a crow. That is a sensation. You see a nice sari and shirt. You see it, touch it and there is the sensation of touching it, you say ''By Jove, what a lovely material that is''. There is perception, contact, sensation and desire. My mind is always experiencing in term of sensation. It is the instrument of sensation. Being bored with a particular sensation, I seek a new sensation, which may be what I call the realization of God but it is still a sensation. As you know and as I know every sensation comes to an end and so we proceed from one sensation to another and every sensation strengthens the habit of seeking further sensation....sensations are going on-inside....

You want more and more and more and more and ''the more'' means that the past sensation has not been sufficient .... sensations - I like it or dislike it.....Our sensations are limited and you take drugs and all the rest of it to have higher sensation....the sensation of sexuality....It is not to the experience that we cling but to the sensation of that experience which we had at the moment of experiencing.

Keep it very simple, don't intellectualize it for the moment-we'll do it later. Sir, sensation is ever a reaction and it wanders from one reaction to another. The wanderer is the mind, the mind is sensation. The mind is the storehouse of sensation, pleasant and unpleasant and all experience is reaction. The mind is memory which alter all in reaction. Reaction or sensation can never be satisfied. Sensation, reaction must always breed conflict, and the very conflict is further sensation.

Thought gives pleasure, sensation is turned into pleasure! When there is no identification the senses are senses. Why does thought identify with sensation? Why does thought identify with senses-is that it? Now wait a minute Sir. Why, because of pleasure, ....sensations-I like it or dislike it...If it is pleasurable when the senses begin to enjoy-say ''how nice'' - then thought begins to identify itself with it. Why because of pleasure....the mind is the storehouse of sensation, pleasant and unpleasant and all experience is reaction..... The mind is memory which alter all in reaction. So unless one understands this activity of sensation fear and pleasure will go on. Sensations are ever seeking gratification. If it is pleasurable I want more of it, if it is painful I resist it. So the resistance to pain or the pursuit of pleasure-both give continuity to desire.

What is wrong in watching the beautiful motion of a bird on the wing? What is wrong in looking at a new car....? .....in seeing a nice....face? But desire does not stop here. Your perception is not just perception, but with it comes sensation. With the arising of sensation....comes the urge to possess. You say ''This is beautiful, I must have it'' and so begins the turmoil of desire.

So I am saying when there is time in between sensation and thought....an interval, you understand the nature of desire, the way desire begins-then you know what to do with it. This identification through recognition sets going a process of thinking like a vibration or a wave which has its own continuity. Thought continues as a vibration which may manifest itself afterwards. The vibration of the word takes time to reach your ear and the nervous response as well as the brain response have a split second.

Face the fact, don't move away from the fact. Thought identifies itself with that sensation and through identification the 'I' is built up, the ego and the ego then says ''I must'' or ''I will not''. Thought has given shape to sensation. Desire is born when thought gives shape to sensation, gives an image to sensation. If there is no identification is there a self ? You understand, Sir ?. So you examine this very carefully not to identify yourself with anything.....with sensation...with an experience. Thought tries to take over, to make it permanent. Permanent ?. That's right, which means memory, a remembrance. It is now conditioned. Why it cannot give it up. That's our whole problem. Thought wants to hold on to memories which have created the image. Why has it made the image so valuable ? The whole process of identification - my house, my name, my possessions, what I will be, the success, the power, the position, the prestige - the identification process is the essence of the self.

So if ideas are the result of sensation which they are, if the mind is filled with ideas......then there is a continuance of the mind as a bundle of ideas. As long as we cling to ideas we are in a state in which there can be no experiencing at all. Then we are merely living in the field of time-in the past which gives further sensation or in the future which is another form of sensation.

Thought creates the thinker. Thought is always seeking a permanent state, seeing its own state of transition or flux or impermanence, thought creates an entity which it calls the thinker, the atman,Paramatman, the soul-a higher and higher security. That is, thought creates an entity which it calls the observer, the experiencer, the permanent thinker, as distinct from the impermanent thought and the wide distance between two creates the conflict in time.

Your reactions are there and as long as you have these reactions you are going to pay heavily, you are going to suffer. So that is all. So now how am I an ordinary human being, knowing all my reactions, ugly, pleasant, hateful, all the reactions one has, to bring about an observation in which there is no motive to restrain or to expand reaction? How am I to observe myself without a cause ?.

Sensation is ever a reaction and it wanders from one reaction to another. The mind is memory which alters all in reaction.... As you know and as I know every sensation comes to an end and so we proceed from one sensation to another and every sensation strengthens the habit of seeking further sensation....cause and effect are inseparable ; in the cause is the effect. To be aware of the cause-effect of a problem needs certain swift pliability of mind-heart for the cause-effect is constantly being modified, undergoing continual change....ever changing cause-effect..... Karma is this bondage to cause-effect. Karma is not an ever enduring chain..... there's no permanent continuance of anything.... conditioning itself is impermanent....

So what is the correct action in which there is no will, no choice, no desire - Now is it possible to see, to observe, to be aware of the beautiful and the ugly things of life and not say 

''I must have'' or ''I must not have''?. Have you ever just observed anything ? Is there an action in which there is no motive no cause-the self does not enter into it at all? Of course there is. There is, when the self is not, which means no identifying process takes place.....Effortless observation....choiceless observation.....There is the perceiving of a beautiful lake with all the colour and the glory and the beauty of it, that's enough. Not the cultivating of memory, which is developed through the identification process. Right ?

That means I must put everything in its right place. Right ? But there are all the bodily demands....sex...food put it in the right place. Who will tell me to put it in the right place ?. You understand, Sir ? So I want to find out what is the right place. How shall I find out ? I have got the key to it. Right ? Which is non identification with sensations, that is the key of it. Right, Sir ? So non identification with sensation. Identification with sensation makes the self. So is it possible not to identify with Sensation ? .Yes, sensation.

You want more and more and more and more, and ''the more'' means that the past sensation has not been sufficient.....A mind which is seeking the 'more' is never conscious of 'what is' because it is always living in the 'more'-in what it would like to be, never in 'what is'. ....meditation is actually seeing 'what is'...when no identification....not identified by thought.....There are only sensation.

So we are asking, is there a holistic awareness of all the senses, therefore, there is never asking for the 'more'. I wonder if you follow all this ?. Are we together in this even partially?. and where there is this total-fully aware-of all the senses, awareness of it-not you are aware of it....the awareness of the senses in themselves-then there is no center-in which there is awareness of the wholeness. If you consider it, you will see that to suppress the senses...is contradictory, conflicting, sorrowful....To understand the truth you must have complete sensitivity. Do you understand Sirs? Reality demands your whole being ; you must come to it with your body, mind, and heart as a total human being.........Insight is complete total attention....

When this is a fact not an idea, then dualism and division between observer and observed comes to an end. The observer is the observed-they are not separate states. The observer and the observed are a joint phenomenon and when you experience that directly, then you will find that the thing which you have dreaded as emptiness which makes you seek escape into various forms of sensation including religion-ceases and you are able to face it and be it.

Now is there a living with the sensation fully awakened-they are awakened, they are alive, but the non identifying with sensation deprives, wipes away the self. We said that. Now what is death ? Is it possible to live a daily life with death, which is the ending of the self ?

I wonder if you know what it means to be aware of something? Most of us are not aware because we have become so accustomed to condemning, judging, evaluating, identifying, choosing. Choice obviously prevents awareness because choice is always made as a result of conflict. To be aware....just to see it, to be aware of it all without any sense of judgement.......

Just be aware, that is all what you have to do, without condemning, without forcing, without trying to change what you are aware of......if you are aware choicelessly, the whole field of consciousness beings to unfold.....So you begin with the outer and more inwardly. Then you will find, when you move inwardly that the inward and the outward are not two different things, that the outward awareness is not different from the inward awareness, and that they are both the same.

Everything about us, within as well as without-our relationships, our thoughts, our feelings-is impermanent, in a constant state of flux. But is there anything which is permanent ? Is there ? Our constant desire is to make sensation permanent, is it not ? Sensation can be found again and again, for it is ever being lost......Being bored with a particular sensation, I seek new sensation....every sensation comes to an end and so we proceed from one sensation to another and every sensation strengthens the habit of seeking further sensation. My mind is always experiencing in terms of sensation. There is perception, contact, sensation and desire and the mind becomes the mechanical instrument of all this process. With the arising of sensation comes the urge to possess....and so begins the turmoil of desire....and the habit of seeking further sensation....and is there an end to sorrow ? Is it possible to live a daily life with death, which is the ending of the self ?.... There is only one fact impermanence....every sensation comes to an end....Can the mind, the brain remain absolutely with that feeling of suffering and nothing else....there is no movement away from that moment, that thing called suffering.....Is there an action in which there is no motive; no cause-the self does not enter into it at all ?. Thought identifies itself with that sensation and through identification the 'I' is built up....identification with sensation makes the self. If there is no identification; is there a self ?

So is it possible not to identify with sensation ?

So we are asking is there a holistic awareness of all the senses....? Just be aware....effortless observation....choiceless observation....and to learn, to find out whether it is possible to allow sensation to flower and not let thought interfere with it-to keep them apart. Will you do it ?

Thy life is a death; death is a rebirth.
Happy is the man
That is beyond the clutches
of their limitations.

And when you understand the nature of desire there is no conflict about it. Once you understand all of what is being said, there is complete break from the past. Consider a mill pond which is absolutely quiet and you drop a stone into it. There are waves...it is an outside action....but when the waves are over it is completely quiet again.

Now I realize the state of my own mind. I see that-it is instrument of sensation and desire and that it is mechanically caught up in routine. Such a mind is incapable of ever receiving or feeling the new for the new must obviously be something beyond sensation-which is always the old. So this mechanical process with it's sensations has to come to an end, has it not? Karma is not an ever-enduring chain ; it is a chain that can be broken at any time. What was done yesterday can be undone today ; there's no permanent continuance of anything. Continuance can and must be dissipated through the understanding of its process. So when you SEE this process, when you are really aware of it without opposition, without a sense of temptation, without resistance, without justifying or judging it, then you will discover that the mind is capable of receiving the new and that the new is never a sensation therefore it can never be recognized, re-experienced. It is a state of being in which creativeness comes without invitation, without memory and that is reality. That which is unnamable cannot be recognized. It is not a sensation.

Then you will find there comes love - that is not sensation, intelligence - that is not of time or of thought process and it is only that, that can resolve this immense and complex problem of sorrow....and to have the capacity of freedom that can come upon that thing that is sacred and from there move to something that may be timeless.

.....It's compassion and there is no illusion in it. You want to know the truth in one minute, Sir ? It's compassion and there is no illusion in it...........''

- J. KRISHNAMURTI

http://www.buddhanet.net/bvk_study/bvk001b.htm

Bye Kalam Sāb, We will miss you a lot!

Today, I have lost one of my most endearing role models, one of the greatest Indians ever- APJ Abdul Kalam, a true Karmayogi who served the country till his last breath. May his soul rest in peace.

As a tribute to the great scientist, philosopher, administrator, teacher youth icon, and a greater human being, let's pledge to make his vision a reality.

let's work towards a better India, an India of his dreams!

Tagore's Inspiration: Ekla Chalo Re

Jodi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ase Tobe Ekla Cholo Re -If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone, commonly known as Ekla Chalo Re, is a Bengali patriotic song written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1905. Originally titled as "Eka", the song was first published in the 1905. It was influenced by Harinaam Diye Jagat Matale Amar Ekla Nitai Re, a popular Bengali Kirtan song.

The song exhorts the listener to continue his or her journey, despite abandonment or lack of support from others. The song is often quoted in the context of political or social change movements. Mahatma Gandhi, who was deeply influenced by this song,cited it as one his favorite songs.

Here is the translation in prose of the Bengali original rendered by Rabindranath Tagore himself.

If they answer not to your call walk alone

If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,

O thou unlucky one,

open your mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,

O thou unlucky one,

trample the thorns under thy tread,

and along the blood-lined track travel alone.

If they shut doors and do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,

O thou unlucky one,

with the thunder flame of pain ignite your own heart,

and let it burn alone.

Checkout Shreya Ghosal's serene rendition of the epic poem

HINDI TRANSLATION

तेरी आवाज़ पे कोई ना आये तो फिर चल अकेला रे
फिर चल अकेला चल अकेला चल अकेला चल अकेला रे

यदि कोई भी ना बोले ओरे ओ रे ओ अभागे कोई भी ना बोले
यदि सभी मुख मोड़ रहे सब डरा करे
तब डरे बिना ओ तू मुक्तकंठ अपनी बात बोल अकेला रे
ओ तू मुक्तकंठ अपनी बात बोल अकेला रे

तेरी आवाज़ पे कोई ना आये तो फिर चल अकेला रे

यदि लौट सब चले ओरे ओ रे ओ अभागे लौट सब चले
यदि रात गहरी चलती कोई गौर ना करे
तब पथ के कांटे ओ तू लहू लोहित चरण तल चल अकेला रे
तेरी आवाज़ पे कोई ना आये तो फिर चल अकेला रे

यदि दिया ना जले ओरे ओ रे ओ अभागे दिया ना जले
यदि बदरी आंधी रात में द्वार बंद सब करे
तब वज्र शिखा से तू ह्रदय पंजर जला और जल अकेला रे
ओ तू हृदय पंजर चला और जल अकेला रे

तेरी आवाज़ पे कोई ना आये तो फिर चल अकेला रे
फिर चल अकेला चल अकेला चल अकेला चल अकेला रे
ओ तू चल अकेला चल अकेला चल अकेला चल अकेला रे

Courtesy: Wikipedia, Youtube

Swami Vivekananda on How to Work

To work properly, you have to first give up the idea of attachment. Secondly, do not mix in the fray, hold yourself as a witness and go on working.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, 
January 3, 1896. Complete Works, 1. 88.
Source: Ramakrishna Vivekananda Society

Man Lagyo mero yaar fakiri mein - Kabeer Das

मन लाग्यो मेरो यार फकीरी में            Man Lagyo mero yaar fakiri mein

जो सुख पाऊँ राम भजन में                Jo sukh paoon Ram bhajan mein

वो सुख नहीं अमीरी में                      woh sukh nahin ameeri mein

भला बुरा सबको सुन लीजो               Bhala Bhura sabko sun leejo

कर गुजरान गरीबी में                       kar gujraan gareebi mein

हाथ में तुम्बा, बगल में सोटा              Haath mein toomba, bagal mein sota

चारों दिशाएं जागीरी में                    chaaron dishayen jagiri mein

प्रेम नगर में रहनी हमारी                 Prem nagar mein rehani hamari

भली बन आयो सबूरी में                  Bhali bani aayee saboori mein

आखिर यह तन खाख मिलेगा            Aakhir yeh tan khaak milega

क्या फिरे मग़रूरी में                       kya fire magroori mein

कहे कबीर सुनो बही साधो               Kahe kabir suno bhai sadho

साहिब मिलेगा सबूरी में                  sahib milega saboori mein

 

 

Essence: Material possessions  cannot guarantee peace of mind and the blessings of God. it is the one  who is willing to sacrifice everything  for the sake of God, who are truly blessed.

नव वर्ष, नवरात्र व पारसी नव वर्ष नवरोज़ की मंगल कामनाएं !

जीवन को बहने दो

'आज' फिर न आयेगा

कल  का कुछ पता नहीं 

क्यों ढोते हो लाश 

हे अमर पुत्र सम्राट

आगे बढ़ो 

पहचानो खुद को 

विनीत रसाइली  'रामानन्द'

Love thyself!