Greetings on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Birthday and Holi

The full moon festival of Holi, celebrated in Phalgun Poornima, heralds the Vasanta-ritu, the spring season.

In Mathura and Vrindavan areas, the festival is for three days .The image of Lord Krishna is placed on a swing (popularly called as “dola”).  The swing is rocked 21 times at the end of the festival.  Thus the festival derives the name “Dolyatra”. Barsana, the birth place of Radha and Nandgaon, the village home of Sri Krishna are marked with the play of “lathmar” holi.  Women dressed up with colourful costumes and long ‘ghunghats’ or veils carrying well oiled ‘lathis’ or sticks to beat their male counter parts who protect themselves with ‘dhals’ or gears.  The famous Bankey Bihari temple at Vrindavan and Mathura’s Dwarakadhees temple are fully flooded with the devotees during the festival of colours.

The state of Bengal observes Phalgun Poornima as the birthday of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu(1486-1533 A.D).
For the devotees of Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna, the event of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s birth on this day is the prime reason for its celebration.

Sri Chaitanya’s plain, simple and practical religion offered a key to solve in a practical way some of the complicated social, political and economic problems that confronted the society in those days.

Democracy of spirit based on love for fellow beings improved the conditions of people and conferred on them the joy of living.  The tenets of love, equality and fraternity as taught by Mahaprabhu were found to be the most significant method of integration.

Sri Sri Thakur used to advise his disciples to read the traditional biographies of Mahaprabhu such as “Chaitanya Charitamrita” and “Chaintanya Bhagavata”.  All through his life Sri Ramakrishna showed great respect even to the descendants of the followers of Mahaprabhu.

We find in the Gospel, Sri Sri Thakur often emphasizing the efficacy of Mahaprabhu’s teachings as to chanting of Lord’s name - “….Chaitanya and Nitai, after some deliberation, made an arrangement to attract the worldly.  They would say to such persons, ‘Come, repeat the name of Hari, and you shall have a delicious soup of magur fish and the embrace of a young woman.’  Many people, attracted by the fish and the woman, would chant the name of God. 
After tasting a little of the nectar of God’s hallowed name, they would soon realize that the ‘fish soup’ really meant the tears they shed for love of God, while the ‘young woman’ signified the earth.  The embrace of the woman meant rolling on the ground in the rapture of divine ecstasy.”

Excerpted from an article by Swami Nishthatmananda, Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

© Smiling Buddha, 2016

India: the ideal of toleration and sympathy

The one great lesson, therefore, that the world wants most, that the world has yet to learn from India, is the idea not only of toleration, but of sympathy. Well has it been said in the Mahimnah-stotra: "As the different rivers, taking their start from different mountains, running straight or crooked, at last come unto the ocean, so, O Shiva, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead unto These." Though they may take various roads, all are on the ways. Some may run a little crooked, others may run straight, but at last they will all come unto the Lord, the One. Then and then alone, is your Bhakti of Shiva complete when you not only see Him in the Linga, but you see Him everywhere. He is the sage, he is the lover of Hari who sees Hari in everything and in everyone. If you are a real lover of Shiva, you must see Him in everything and in everyone. You must see that every worship is given unto Him whatever may be the name or the form; that all knees bending towards the Caaba, or kneeling in a Christian church, or in a Buddhist temple are kneeling to Him whether they know it or not, whether they are conscious of it or not; that in whatever name or form they are offered, all these flowers are laid at His feet; for He is the one Lord of all, the one Soul of all souls. He knows infinitely better what this world wants than you or I. It is impossible that all difference can cease; it must exist; without variation life must cease. It is this clash, the differentiation of thought that makes for light, for motion, for everything. Differentiation, infinitely contradictory, must remain, but it is not necessary that we should hate each other therefore; it is not necessary therefore that we should fight each other. - Swami Vivekananda
(Lectures from Colombo to Almora)

Sri Ramakrishna: Many names of one God

"You may say that there are many errors and superstitions in another religion.  I should reply: Suppose there are.  Every religion has errors.  Everyone thinks that his watch alone gives the correct time.  It is enough to have yearning for God.  It is enough to love Him and feel attracted to Him: Don't you know that God is the Inner Guide? He sees the longing of our heart and the yearning of our soul.  Suppose a man has several sons.  The older boys address him distinctly as 'Baba' or 'Papa', but the babies can at best call him 'Ba' or 'Pa'.  Now, will the father be angry with those who address him in this indistinct way? The father knows that they too are calling him, only they cannot pronounce his name well.  All children are the same to the father.  Likewise, the devotees call on God alone, though by different names.  They call on one Person only.  God is one, but His names are many."

(Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Chapter IV; Advice to householders)

Dive deep taking the name of Kali

A popular Bengali devotional song which would be sung by Sri Ramakrishna in the company of his devotees:

Taking the name of Kāli, 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 Kāli'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, anger, and the rest -
Swimming about in search of prey.  
Smear yourself with the turmeric of discrimination; 
The very smell of it will shield you from their jaws.
Upon the ocean bed lie strewn 
Unnumbered pearls and precious gems; 
Plunge in, says Ramprasad, and gather up handfuls there!

Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Chapter 4

एक सुविचार

आप चाहे कितने भी पवित्र शब्द पढ़ लें या बोल लें, वो आपका क्या भला करेंगे जब तक आप उन्हें उपयोग में नहीं लाते ? - गौतम बुद्ध   

(Image: Cathy Ginter)

Greetings on the 181st birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna

ॐ स्थापकाय च धर्मस्य सर्वधर्मस्वरूपिणे।
अवतारवरिष्ठाय रामकृष्णाय ते नमः॥
ॐ नमः श्री भगवते रामकृष्णाय नमो नमः॥

Salutations to you, O Ramakrishna, the establisher of dharma, the embodiment of all religions, and the paragon of avataras.
Om, salutations to Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna, salutations again and again.

Greetings on the 181st birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna!

Śivastotram: a Hymn to Shiva by Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda expresses profound devotion in this hymn to Shiva, composed by him in Sanskrit. The translation is by Swami Ashokananda.

॥शिवस्तोत्रम्॥

ॐ नमः शिवाय॥
निखिलभुवनजन्मस्थेमभङ्गप्ररोहाः
अकलितमहिमानः कल्पिता यत्र तस्मिन्।
सुविमलगगनाभे ईशसंस्थेऽप्यनीशे
मम भवतु भवेऽस्मिन् भासुरो भावबन्धः॥१॥

निहतनिखिलमोहेऽधीशता यत्र रूढा
प्रकटितपरप्रेम्णा यो महादेवसञ्ज्ञः
अशिथिलपरिरम्भः प्रेमरूपस्य यस्य
प्रणयति हृदि विश्वं व्याजमात्रं विभुत्वम्॥ २॥

वहति विपुलवातः पूर्वसंस्काररूपः
प्रमथति बलवृन्दं घूर्णितेवोर्मिमाला।
प्रचलति खलु युग्मं युष्मदस्मत्प्रतीतम्
अतिविकलितरूपं नौमि चित्तं शिवस्थम्॥ ३॥

जनकजनितभावो वृत्तयः संस्कृताश्च
अगणनबहुरूपो यत्र एको यथार्थः।
शमितविकृतिवाते यत्र नान्तर्बहिश्च
तमहह हरमीडे चित्तवृत्तेर्निरोधम्॥ ४॥

गलिततिमिरमालः शुभ्रतेजःप्रकाशः
धवलकमलशोभः ज्ञानपुञ्जाट्टहासः।
यमिजनहृदिगम्यः निष्कलं ध्यायमानः
प्रणतमवतु मां स मानसो राजहंसः॥ ५॥

दुरितदलनदक्षं दक्षजादत्तदोषं
कलितकलिकलङ्कं कम्रकह्लारकान्तम्।
परहितकरणाय प्राणविच्छेदसूत्कं
नतनयननियुक्तं नीलकण्ठं नमामः॥ ६॥

Translation from Sankrit

May my luminous love fasten firm to Him, to Shiva,
In whom arise visions of glories immeasurable!
May my luminous love cling to Him who is utterly pure, like the sky,
Who is Lord of all, having no lord over Himself!

May my luminous devotion be attached to Him
By whom all delusion is destroyed,
In whom Lordship is forever existent!
May it be attached to Him who, manifesting surpassing Love,
   is named “the Great God.”
The firm embrace of Him—Love Itself—reveals within the heart
The infinity of being, the falseness of the worlds.

I salute Mind which has its support in Shiva,
But has lost its pristine perfection and assumed misshapen forms;
I salute Mind in which all the impresses of the past are blowing
   like a furious tempest,
Stirring up energies violently, like waters lashed into furious waves;
In which flows ceaselessly the dual current of the sense of “I” and “thou.”

I worship Shiva in whom ideas of cause and effect,
Thoughts and impresses and countless varied forms become the Real One.
I worship Him in whom—when the wind of change is calmed—
There is neither within nor without.
I worship Him who is the perfect stillness of the Mind.

He whose thunderous laughter is the flood of Knowledge,
He from whom all darkness is dispersed, who manifests as white radiance,
   who is beautiful as the white lotus;
He who is indivisible, who is sought in meditation;
He who is realized in the heart of men of self-control—
May He, that Lordly Swan of my mind, protect me!
May He protect me, who am bowing before Him!

Him, who destroys sin and removes the dark stain of our age;
Whose benign eyes watch over all who have surrendered to Him;
Who joyously sacrifices Himself for the good of others,
Whose throat is blue from drinking the poison intended for others—
Him, lustrous as the white water lily—
Him I salute!

from The Voice of India, published by the
Vedanta Society of Northern California in the 1940s. (Source: vedantadc.org, Image: vedicstore)

Swamiji on Mundaka Upanishad: The Wisdom of Sage Angiras

In the Upanishads there are certain passages which are called the great words,1which are always quoted and referred to.

In Him, that One — in Him alone, the Atman — exist all other worlds. What is the use of all other talk? Know Him alone. This is the bridge over this life to reach universality.

He [Angiras] goes on to show a practical way. So far it is very figurative.

Just as all the spokes of a wheel meet at the axle, even so in this body is that place from which all the arteries flow andat which they all meet. There, meditate upon the Om that is in the heart. May thou succeed.

May the gentle one with success attain the goal. May you go beyond all darkness to Him who is omniscient, the All-Knowing. His glory is in heaven, on earth and everywhere.

He who has become the mind, the Prânâ, He who is the leader in the body, He who is established in the food, the energy of life. By supreme knowledge the sages see Him whose nature is bliss, who shines as immortality.( Mundaka Upanishad 2.2.8.) 

Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume IX

Swami Vivekananda: The qualities of a disciple

Unto such a disciple, who has controlled his mind, has become peaceful and calm, has given up all this tremendous wave that rises in the mind by desire ("I will do this and that" and all those desires which are at best only disturbing, such as name and fame, which impel mankind to do all sorts of things) — to that disciple in whom all these vexatious desires have been calmed down, the teacher teaches the way which is the science of Brahman, by which he can know that One who never changes and who is the Truth.

Then comes what he [Angiras] taught:

This is the truth, O gentle one, as from a mass of burning flame myriads of sparks come out of the same nature as the fire, even so from this Unchangeable One all these forms, all these ideas, all this creation, come out; and unto Him it [the creation] goes back.
- Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Lecture on Mundaka Upanishad