Spiritual Diary: Start living this moment...

"Start living this moment and you will see that the more you live, the less problems are. When you don't live, the same energy goes sour. The same energy which would have become a flower is stuck; not being allowed to bloom it becomes a thorn in the heart..."-Osho

Courtesy: HT City 

TEENS ‘LONELY’ DESPITE SOCIAL NETWORKING

Violent outbursts and stroppiness mask underlying loneliness and despair among the young and connected, shows a Fortis Healthcare Survey

NEW DELHI: Teen angst is far more real than perceived, with one in five students aged 13 to 19 saying life is not worth living, found Fortis Healthcare’s Teen Suicide Survey of 2,364 school-goers. One in four said their families would be better off without them.

      “Our survey underscored the loneliness and isolation in the Facebook and smartphone era, where teens are connected yet isolated because of the superficiality of the status update,” said Dr Samir Parikh, director of the department of mental health and behavioural sciences at Fortis Healthcare. Social media, in fact, help mask isolation and depression. “They cannot replace empathy and attachment behaviour,” said Dr Parikh. I hate you all and I want to die.” 

Emotional outbursts and raging tantrums accompanied by much door-slamming are pretty much a part of the life of every teenager and, by extension, their friends and family. That’s perhaps why most of us shrug off these rants as melodramatic overreaction to anything and everything and complacently assume that when the hormonal spike peters out, so would the angst.

In most cases, the trauma does vapourise almost instantly and the everything is right with the world in a day or two. Friends and family, however, need to watch out darker signs of underlying hopelessness that could point to an emerging emotional breakdown leading to self-harm and, in some cases, suicide.

     One in three 13 to 19 year olds find life too hard to cope with and one in four think — albeit once in a while — that their families are better off without them, found Fortis Healthcare’s Teen Suicide Survey. For the survey, a representative sample of 2,364 school-going teens were questioned online and interviewed by the department of mental health and behavioural sciences, Fortis Healthcare, which also collated the data.

“The findings highlight the loneliness and social alienation of teenagers even in the era of social networking and instant connectivity,” says Dr Samir Parikh, director, department of department of mental health and behavioural sciences, Fortis Healthcare.

“While Facebook and other social media are an excellent for sharing, it has also led to emotions being reduced to a status update. “Like-dislike’, “I’m low-I’m in a party mood,’’ “friends-frenemy”… The easy labelling has led to the lowering of emotional bonding and empathy that comes with sharing time together, leading to physical isolation and despair even among young people who seem to have more friends than they can keep track of,” says Dr Parikh.

    So intense is the loneliness that one in three — 31% — teens feel that no one can help them with their problems and almost two in three — 62% — not having spoken to anyone about their thoughts and feelings, showed the Fortis Survey. Interestingly, among those who had vented, more than half (55%) turned to their friends for help.

Though dark and dreary moods rarely convert into self harm, there is no taking away from the fact that even with the wide under-reporting — largely because attempt to suicide is punishable with imprisonment under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code — India has among the highest in the world, with to about 1.87 lakh people killing themselves in 2010. Recognising that attempt at selfharm is driven by despair and helplessness and not criminal intent, the Law Commission of India has recommended that attempt it be decriminalised.

      Most people who hurt themselves are likely to do it before the age of 30. The Registrar General of India’s data shows 3% of causes of death surveyed (2,684 of 95,335) in people 15 years or older were suicide, of which 40% of all suicides in men and 56% in women occurred at ages 15-29 years, reported Vikram Patel from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the Lancet.

      “Emotions are intensified in adolescents by a complex interplay between genetic, biological, psychiatric and psychosocial factors, which take a trigger to push a child over the edge,” says Parikh. These factors hold true across the world, reports another Lancet study on self harm and suicides in teens.

      “You have to watch out for the red flags — looking dejected for a couple of weeks, persistent irritability, social withdrawal etc — and engage with teenagers to ensure they do not get trapped into a vortex of despair,” says Dr Rajesh Sagar, additional professor, department of psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times

THE SPEAKING TREE: Listening As Spiritual Practice

Marguerite Theophil

If we can tell our story to someone who listens,really listens,we find it easier to deal with our circumstances.Anton Chekov brings home this message poignantly in his short story Misery.Iona Potapov earns his living driving a horse-drawn cab.First to some passengers,then to someone he passes on the street,and finally to a fellow cab driver,this pained man repeatedly attempts to tell the story of his son who died just a week before,but no one wants to listen.

Potapov,we learn,has not really talked to anybody yet.He yearns to tell someone,anyone,about it;how his son suffered,what he said before he died,how he died;the father wants to describe little details of the funeral,of how he went to the hospital to collect his sons clothes.But there is no fellow human being who would listen to his story.

Finally,Iona goes to the stable to feed his mare and begins narrating his story.Chekhov writes,The little mare munches,listens,and breathes on her masters hands, and we feel the desperate sadness in the last words: Iona is carried away,and tells her all about it.

Chekov doesnt lecture us about how sad this is,how wrong;just lays out the story.And we are touched;perhaps shamed.

Listening appears such an easy thing to do,but we know from trying to really listen and trying to be listened to,that it isnt always so.Even those of us who imagine ourselves to be good listeners fall short.If your listening strategy is to launch into commiseration,expressions of sympathy or support,or,heaven help us advising,then you may need to review this.Even telling people Oh yes,that happened to me,too... even if we mean well,may not be the best thing to do.We cut their flow,perhaps through our own need to fix things,our need to get out of the discomfort of anothers pain,our need to appear understanding.And sadly,our needs make us ignore or marginalise the others needs.We need to learn that the greatest gift we can bring to the listening process is ourselves.Yet paradoxically the most important thing to do in order to listen well is to keep ourselves out of the way.

Often children understand better than we do.I once heard a delightful story about a little boy who was late getting home one day.When his mother asked why he was late,he explained that he had stopped to help a friend whose bicycle had broken down.
But you dont know how to fix a bicycle, his mother said.No, the little boy said,But I stopped to be with him while he cried.

Margaret Wheatley,who wrote Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future,has talked about this as an enduring truth: great healing is available when we listen to each other.Listening is such a simple act.It requires us to be present ... we don't have to do anything else.We don't have to advise,or coach,or sound wise.We just have to be willing to sit there and listen.If we can do that,we create moments in which real healing is available.

Real,deep,healing listening can be likened to a spiritual practice that involves developing awareness,some serious un-learning and adopting new practices.Three practices are essential to cultivate for this spiritual discipline : a comfort with silence,non-verbal empathy,and being wholly present to another.

Courtesy: Times of India

How to Control Your Mind? - 9 Easy Steps!

Prof. Pandurangan, V 

What is Mind?: 

What is Mind? Is it part of the Brain? The brain has got physical characteristics which can be visualized, touched, handled and is located inside the skull. There are certain brain control techniques. But what about the mind? It has no physical dimensions. But there appears to be some kind of relationship between the brain and the mind. 

When the brain is non functional, (say when the brain activity is blocked by deep anesthesia or coma), the mind also does not seem to function. Mind is not a gross matter - visible and tangible. The mind can not be seen. The magnitude of the mind cannot be measured. Mind does not require a space to exist. 

Definition of Mind: 

How to define the Mind? The mind is nothing but a “bundle of desires, thoughts, wants and expectations”. As long as a person is alive, he will have the thoughts, desires, wants and expectations. And these are continually changing, minute to minute and day by day. 

If your desires and expectations do not fructify, you are under stress, leading to anxiety, mental tension, frustration and depression. If you want to enjoy stress free life, you need to exercise control over mind. You can not under-estimate the mind powers. 

Mind Control Techniques: 

But how to control your mind? How to control your negative thoughts and desires? Why there is a necessity to control the negative thoughts and desires, thereby attempting to control the mind? Because, the thoughts and desires transform into words and words result in actions. When a person has a lot of negative thoughts, it may lead him to stress, anxiety, depression, negative actions and violent behavior. There are certain mind control techniques / mind control tricks widely practiced, such as Suppression technique and/or Outburst technique, for controlling the mind. 

In the Suppression technique, you are asked to suppress your negative thoughts and desires and not to manifest them. But the fact is, your thoughts and desires are like coiled springs. The more you suppress the coiled spring, the more pressure is built upon it. The moment you let go of your hand even slightly, the coiled spring jumps across much more vigorously. Similarly, the moment you relapse in suppressing your negative thoughts and desires, they come out violently. The situation becomes from bad to worse. 

In the Outburst technique, you are asked to let out your negative thoughts with full force in the open. If you are angry with somebody, you are asked to outburst your anger, say in front of a mirror or in an open park. Once your outburst is over, you may temporarily feel relaxed. But ultimately, this technique leads you to the guilt feeling, which in turn generates a lot of negative thoughts. It is a vicious cycle. These methods employ negative techniques and hence the relief becomes temporary, ultimately leading to more and more negative thoughts, stress, anxiety, cynicism and mental imbalances. 

Other methods involve the techniques called “still the mind” and/or “be a witness to your thoughts”. But for majority of the people (including me), it is very difficult to practice in day to day life, as only a few holy men / yogis can master these techniques. 

Substitution Technique: 

What I recommend and as well as I practice, is the “Substitution” technique. We should understand the nature of mind. As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, mind is the bundle of desires, thoughts and wants. As long as you are alive, your mind will always be with you. Your mind is always filled with thoughts and desires. You can not empty your mind in your day to day life. 

Suppose you enter your bedroom in the night. The room is dark and you can not see anything. Once you switch on the light bulb, the entire room is filled with light and you do not see the darkness. What happened to the darkness? As soon as the light came in, the darkness vanished automatically. You did not attempt to drive away nor suppress the darkness. You only put on the light switch. You enabled the light to come in, which drove away the darkness automatically. Similar is the case with your mind. 

Bring in positive thoughts to your mind, which will automatically drive away your negative thoughts. But the mind can not be empty. Instead of mind full of negative thoughts, substitute them with positive thoughts. When the mind is full of positive thoughts, there is no place for negative thoughts to enter. 

In fact, the phrase “how to control the mind” itself is wrong. It is almost impossible to “control” the mind. The right phrase is “how to regulate the mind”. By practicing the “substitution” technique properly, we can regulate our mind in the day to day life. 

How to practice the “substitution” technique in our daily life? It is not difficult, provided you make a commitment to practice them on a daily basis. There are 9 Steps to practice the “substitution” technique, which I will explain below. 

Step 1 – Keeping Good Company: 

There is a famous quote- “Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are”. Seeking and remaining in good company will keep your mind with positive thoughts. Consider a small example. You are all familiar with mineral water. Imagine that you have a 1-litre bottle which is full of filthy water. You are required to replace the filthy water with clean drinking water, but there is a condition. You can not pour out the filthy water first, wash the bottle and then fill up the bottle with clean water. In such a situation, how can you replace the filthy water with good water? It is very easy. Go to a stream where clean water is flowing. Just keep the water bottle, containing the filthy water, immersed in the stream. 

You will find that after a few minutes, the entire bottle is filled with clean water. How has this happened? The clean water f rom the stream has entered the bottle and driven away the filthy water. You have not done anything extra-ordinary. You have simply brought the filthy water bottle in contact with the stream water. That’s all. Now, compare the water bottle with your Mind. The filthy water can be compared to the negative thoughts and negative desires in your mind. The water stream can be compared with good company (in Sanskrit language, “good company” is called “satsang”). When you remain in the good company, the positive thoughts enter your mind and drive away the negative thoughts. It is similar to the light driving away the darkness in the room. 

Step 2 – Repeat God’s Name Often: 

Choose the name of God you love the most. Whenever you find time, irrespective of where you are, keep on repeating your God’s name mentally. (In Sanskrit, it is called “nama smaran”). God loves music. If you can repeat the name of your God in a musical tune (as per your liking), it is wonderful. This process will drive away your negative thoughts and emotions. 

Step 3 – See Good Sights: 

We should understand one important aspect. Mind can be compared to the CPU of the computer. Whatever we feed in, CPU processes it and gives the output. Garbage in – Garbage out. Quality data in – Quality reports out. The data to the CPU can be fed in through the FIVE input devices, such as the Keyboard, Mouse, Floppy Drive, CD Drive and Pen Drive. Similarly, our FIVE sensory organs, such as the Eyes, Ears, Nose, Mouth and the Hands are the input devices to the Mind. Based on the input information fed by these sensory organs, our Mind reacts. If you see only good sights and positive videos / movies, positive thoughts are developed in the Mind. If you see horror films and negative / filthy programs on the TV (most of TV programs have a lot of these), negative and violent thoughts are developed in the Mind. Read only good and holy books and the books on personality development. Avoid reading horror stories and negative news (newspapers have plenty of them). 

Step 4 – Hear Good Music: 

Tune your ears to hear only good and soothing music and sounds. As far as possible, avoid hearing bad and filthy words, heated arguments and violent shouts. It is better to move away from such places. 

Step 5 – Speak Softly and Positively: 

Always try to speak softly and positively. Don’t hate others. Avoid speaking harsh words. Don’t enter into heated arguments with anybody. It is pertinent to remember Mahatma Gandhi’s reference to the Three Monkeys – First Monkey closing his both EYES with both hands – Don’t see bad sights; the Second Monkey closing his both EARS with both hands – Don’t hear bad sounds; and the Third Monkey closing his MOUTH with both hands – Don’t speak bad words / untruth. 

Step 6 – Eat Moderately: 

Another important aspect which influences your thoughts and the Mind, is the type and quantity of food you eat. A subtler part of the food digested, influences the Mind and the thought process. Always choose nutritious food and eat in moderate quantity. Too much of food not only leads to obesity, but also leads to dullness of the Mind. Avoid alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and drugs, which not only spoil your health, but also adversely affect your Mind. Also avoid stale / pungent food. 

Step 7 – Smell Good Fragrance: 

Try to smell good fragrances, particularly the natural flowers. Avoid / move away from the place where there is a bad / filthy smell. 

Step 8 – Do Good Things: 

Always try to do good things in life. Whenever and wherever you get a chance to help others, however tiny it is, please extend your help. Avoid doing wrong things against your Conscience, as it will lead to guilt feelings in your Mind. 

Step 9 – Go to Good / Holy Places: 

Visit good and holy places. Whenever possible, make a tour to the country-side and / or Mountain ranges, where you can enjoy the natural surroundings. They will refresh your Mind and Heart. Avoid going to gamblers’ dens and other unholy places. 

Try practicing these 9 Habits earnestly and you will feel the difference. Once you learn mind control techniques and practice them effectively, you will always remain in a positive frame of mind, with equanimity and calmness. You can enjoy stress free living. Always remember:

“Hands that Help are Holier, than the Lips that Pray”. 

Courtesy: www.caclubindia.com 

Vedic Mantras: आ नो भद्रा: क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वत: का क्या अर्थ है ?

 मानवीय गुणों के संस्कारों से अनुप्राणित जीवन जीने की व्यवस्था संस्कृति कहलाती है । विश्व परिवार ‘वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्’ की भावना के साथ सब का हित चिन्तन भारतीय संस्कृति का मूल आधार है । इसीलिए वैदिक ऋषि परंब्रह्म से प्रार्थना करते हैं कि हे प्रभु ! हमें सब ओर से कल्याणकारी विचार प्राप्त हों -

आ नो भद्रा: क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वत: |

 हमारे लि‍ए (न:) सभी ओर से (वि‍श्‍वत:) कल्‍याणकारी (भद्रा:) वि‍चार (क्रतव:) आयें (आयन्‍तु).

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side.
- Rig Veda, I-89-i

सर्वमंगल की कामना करते हुए ऋषि कहते हैं -

सर्वेभवन्तु सुखिन: सर्वे सन्तु निरामया: |
सर्वेभद्राणि पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद् दु:खभाग भवेत् ||

अर्थात् समस्त प्राणि सुख शान्ति से पूर्ण हों, सभी रोग, व्याधि से मुक्त रहें, किसी के भाग में कोई दुख न आए और सभी कल्याण मार्ग का दर्शन व अनुसरण करें ।

Courtesy: http://hp.gov.in

THE SERENITY PRAYER

God,
Grant me the serenity;
To accept the things I cannot change;
The courage, to change the things I can;
And the wisdom, to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.

                                        - Reinhold Niebuhr

Covey's success mantra

P P Wangchuck

Stephen R Covey, who passed away recently, and who can be called the guru of good habit lessons, has left behind powerful lessons in personal management and change.
 

Those who have read his book, 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People', will agree that the entire exercise behind it is to make one point clear: that we need to restore character ethic in our society.

For that, Covey's stress is on self-renewal, and he enables one to "square inner thought and outer behaviour, resulting in personal as well as public integrity."

Self-renewal is surely the most important aspect of keeping yourself growing and relevant. Anything that remains unchanged turns into deadwood.

That is why Covey calls self-renewal the best investment, and it has four dimensions: Physical, mental, social and spiritual. Physical renewal is what most of us do and it requires nutrition, exercise and stress management. The next goes to a higher level--- mental development, requiring one to read, visualise, plan and write. Social and emotional up-gradation involves service, empathy and love towards all.

The last but the most important one is practicing spirituality. It involves meditation, commitment and self-less service.

These are not mere leadership traits but a way to grow and be meaningful in life. Life, after all, is nothing if it is not productive and useful. As George Bernard Shaw said, the greatest joy comes from the feeling that you are being used efficiently and productively. "Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch that I have got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."

American spiritual leader N Eldon Tanner too has similar sentiments, "Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth." Great words indeed for all of us to keep in mind and be useful, always.

In the words of Covey, one can be useful only if one can "learn, commit and do"; and again, "learn, commit and do…"

Courtesy: HT

Sarada Devi: The Holy Mother

by Swami Nikhilananda

Reprinted with permission from Living Wisdom: Vedanta in the West edited by Pravrajika Vrajaprana, published by Vedanta Press: Hollywood, 1994, pages 252-258.

HOLY MOTHER, in a unique way, fulfilled the duties of wife, mother, and nun. There have been before in the world the ideal wife, the ideal mother, and the ideal nun, but a combination of the three in one person is rare indeed. Holy Mother was wedded to Sri Ramakrishna at the age of five, lived with him as long as he lived, and ministered to his physical needs in the best tradition of a Hindu wife. She was his companion in spiritual life. She demonstrated that wifely devotion and love are possible without demanding physical satisfaction from one's mate. In spire of her marriage she remained a nun, pure in body and mind, and in uninterrupted communion with God. Though she had no children of the flesh, she had many of the spirit. Like an earthly mother she looked after her disciples' physical comfort. But unlike an earthly mother she was totally unattached in her love and expected no return from it. Truly Sister Nivedita declared that Holy Mother was Sri Ramakrishna's last word on the ideal of Indian womanhood. But why of Indian womanhood alone? She can very well represent the universal ideal of womanhood.

Holy Mother's immaculate purity, her unceasing meditation and prayer, her all-embracing compassion and utter selflessness, endowed her with the delicacy and tenderness of a maiden, a subtle grace and quiet dignity, and with all guilelessness and simplicity.

Her innate motherliness put visitors at ease. To a person coming to her for the first time, she conveyed the feeling that she had been eagerly waiting for him. Holy Mother always inspired reverence but never a feeling of remoteness...

Sri Ramakrishna used to speak of two kinds of illumined persons. One consists of ordinary human beings who through the practice of spiritual disciplines attain the knowledge of Brahman and merge in the Supreme Spirit. They are no longer concerned with the activities of the transitory phenomenal world. The others are God-men, born perfect, who have a special message for humanity. After the realization of their true nature, they remain at the phenomenal level, working for the spiritual regeneration of their fellow creatures. God becomes manifest through God-men. The Infinite sings its melody through their finite minds and bodies. Hence the sport of God as man, the naralila, is so appealing. Reason cannot unravel this mystery, but the heart may enjoy it.

It is extremely difficult for ordinary men to recognize God when he is embodied as man. An apparent victim of hunger and thirst, pain and pleasure, hope and despair, sickness and fear, he weeps, laughs, and suffers without really losing awareness of his divine nature. In the God-man humanity blends with divinity. When living at the phenomenal level the God-man is alert about human affairs, possesses practical knowledge and realism, and observes the conventions of society. Side by side with divine ecstasies, he cultivates humility, magnanimity, ethical sensitivity, love, the spirit of service, modesty, and other similar traits in order to set a model for others. He also shows how one living in the world can rise above it and enjoy inner peace in the midst of life's turmoil and worry.

The life of Holy Mother is a demonstration of these facts. Though an embodiment of divinity, she identified herself of her own accord with the lives of her relatives, the people of her village, and her devotees. She rejoiced at the happiness of others and wept at their suffering. Purposely she often suppressed her true nature, because, as she said, "The excessive manifestation of divinity creates fear in the minds of devotees; they cannot feel intimate." Once a disciple spoke of her being the Divine Mother, and she said, "You always harp on that one theme. I say that I am your mother, and that does not satisfy you." Her language was simple and natural, and her conduct spontaneous and unostentatious. She never lost these characteristics, even while giving initiation or spiritual instruction. In her conduct she was always alert, remembering that in the future people would regard her as an ideal to follow...

Her brothers regarded her as their affectionate big sister, her nieces and nephews as their indulgent aunt, and her disciples as their mother. Many ladies, after visiting her, said that she was just like one of them. Yet she said to a disciple that, even in the midst of all her activities, by a mere wish she could remember her divine nature in a flash, and realize the world to be the playground of maya. If she was constantly conscious of her true self, how could she fulfill her mission?

How humble she was! Once when she was ill an ordinary priest was called in to perform some special worship for her recovery. After the ceremony she took the dust of his feet. When someone told her of his having a loose character, she remarked, "That may be. One must show respect for the brahminical garb. The Master was not born to break traditions."

Often she said to her disciples that she constantly prayed for the total effacement of her ego. And yet she once said openly: "I am the Primordial Power, the Mother of the Universe. I have assumed this body out of compassion for the world. I have been born in every epoch in the past; I shall be born, too, in the future."

She respected the traditions and norms of society. One notices here a difference between Holy Mother and Buddha and Shankara. Buddha repudiated the gods, religious rituals, the scriptures, and the caste system as obstacles to attaining the freedom of nirvana. Shankara accepted all these as preparatory disciplines for the knowledge of Brahman, which he said could be attained only by monks who renounced the world and went beyond rituals, worship, and social convention. Holy Mother, however, though practicing true renunciation, remained a householder and till the end of her life respected the gods, rituals, and social proprieties. She performed religious rites and showed veneration even to a minor deity such as the village goddess Simhavahini. Someone said to her, "Mother, why do you do that? Everything happens by your will alone." The Mother replied, "If you vow to worship gods and goddesses at the time of illness, you can be cured by their grace. Besides, everyone should get his due." Before she started on a trip she consulted the almanac for the auspicious day, according to the Hindu belief. She enjoyed listening to the reading of Hindu religious books.

Generally Holy Mother obeyed caste rules; but she often made exceptions in the case of her disciples, especially about food restrictions. In her opinion devotees of God belonged to a single caste, a spiritual family. About other social matters she used her discrimination and common sense and did not wantonly violate social standards. In most respects Holy Mother lived as a Hindu widow of the brahmin caste, though Sri Ramakrishna had assured her that he was not really dead.

An orthodox Hindu widow is not permitted to remarry and thus leads the austere life of a nun. This austerity is all the more rigorous in the case of a brahmin widow. She avoids such food, clothes, and ornaments that may stimulate her physical desires. Thus she is permitted to eat a full vegetarian meal at midday, but takes only fruit and milk at night. She cannot eat certain foods, such as onions or garlic. A widow in Bengal uses a white sari without a border, cuts her hair short, and gives up. all ornaments. Through these strict disciplines imposed on widows, the Hindu lawgivers constantly reminded them of the ideal of chastity, which is deeply ingrained in the Indian mind. They wanted widows to be living examples of simplicity, nonattachment, and the spirit of unselfish service...

Holy Mother observed some of these rules. Like a Hindu widow, she was a vegetarian, but again, unlike a Hindu widow, she did not cut her hair, wore gold bracelets, put on a sari with a narrow red border, and ate a light supper at night. On many occasions she did nor observe the pollution of food by touch, especially when some of her nonbrahmin women disciples touched her plate. She regarded all her disciples as her own children... For some young widows who were her disciples she relaxed the strict rules about food, saying to one of them, "What good will it do to torture the soul?" To another she said, "If the soul's craving for food is not satisfied, one commits an offense."

Holy Mother condemned the morbid passion for purity, especially regarding pollution by touch, that people show in the name of religious orthodoxy. But she never encouraged or condoned carelessness, and she disapproved of vanity.

Holy Mother was practical and realistic about mundane affairs. She learned to be so from Sri Ramakrishna at Kamarpukur after her marriage, and later at Dakshineswar. For example, she scolded some of her disciples for going on foot to Jayrambati from Koalpara on a stormy night and said, "This kind of rashness is not right." ...

One day Swami Vivekananda dismissed a servant for stealing money. The servant went to Holy Mother at the Udbodhan and said to her with tears in his eyes, "Mother, I am very poor and cannot manage my expenses with my small salary. I have a big family. That is why I acted that way. In the afternoon Swami Premananda came to her house, and the Mother said to him, "Look here, Baburam, this man is very poor. Being harassed by want he stole the money. But why should Naren scold him and send him away? You are all monks and do not realize the afflictions of householders. Take this servant back." When told that this might annoy Swami Vivekananda, she said with firmness: "Take him back; I am asking you to do so.

When Swami Premananda returned to the Belur Math with the servant, Swami Vivekananda said, "See what Baburam has done; he has brought back that fellow." But when he heard what the Mother had said, the Swami did nor utter another word and took him back.

Holy Mother highly disapproved of carelessness and waste. Once, after sweeping the courtyard at Jayrambati, someone threw the broom aside carelessly. She reprimanded the person, saying that the broom could have been treated a little more gently. Everything should be shown Proper respect. On another occasion, at the Udbodhan, she expressed her displeasure because an empty basket was thrown away by one of the inmates. She said to the monks that, being world-renouncers, they might not care for a trivial thing like a basket, but nevertheless it could have been preserved for some other useful purpose. One day she gave a disciple a special dish of food that she had prepared. The quantity was too great. He are what he could and was about to throw away the rest when the Mother asked him to give it to a poor neighbor. Afterwards she said to the disciple, "We should give everyone his due. What is nor edible for man, give to a cow; what is not edible for a cow, give to a dog; what is nor edible for a dog, throw into a lake for fish to eat. But never waste."

Holy Mother urged the monks to shun idleness, and she herself was intensely active both in Calcutta and at Jayrambati. Her life in both places generally followed the same pattern. She always got up at three in the morning, as was her habit during the Dakshineswar days, and did not retire before eleven o'clock at night. . . . At Jayrambati, where she was mistress of the house, she busied herself with various household activities and at the same time talked to her intimate attendants. When she was in good health she also took part in the more strenuous household duties, like scouring utensils, carrying water from the rank, or husking paddy. The Mother herself made the arrangements for the daily worship, such as gathering flowers, at which she was sometimes assisted by her nieces or devotees. After the worship she went into the kitchen and relieved the cook, who would then go out for her refreshment or to attend to any other personal needs. She herself cooked most of the food to be offered to the Master in the shrine. . . . In earlier days Holy Mother with her own hands served all the devotees their meals, and she herself ate only after they had finished eating. Sometimes she worked in the kitchen in the evening in order to relieve the cook from overwork.

One evening an attendant was reading a letter from a disciple to Holy Mother. It was full of eulogy and adoration.. After listening to it she remarked "Often I say to myself, I am but the daughter of Ram Mukherjee. Many of my contemporaries are still alive at Jayrambati. In what respect do I differ from them? Devotees come from unknown places and prostrate themselves before me. J am told that some of them are judges and some lawyers. Why should they come to me in this way?"

The answer to her query was given by herseif. Sne once said: "People call me the Divine Mother. I think, maybe they are right. How otherwise can one explain the strange things that have happened in my life?. . . If I say to myself that a certain thing should happen, the wish is always fulfilled."

There existed an extraordinary relationship between Sri Ramakrishna and Holy Mother. She often spoke of herself as his handmaid and instrument, as one of the many seekers who found refuge at his feet. When a devotee asked her advice she said, "I do not know anything. I repeat only what I have heard from the Master. Read The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and you will know all you need." To another who asked her blessing she said, "The Master will bless you."

How often she asked her disciples to pray for her so that she might not have a trace of vanity! She repeatedly asked the devotees to cling to Sri Ramakrishna in order to avoid the pitfalls of life. One day a disciple, asked about his welfare, said that through her blessing he was well. "You all make the same mistake," she rebuked him. "Why do you bring me into everything? Can't you speak of the Master? Don't you see that everything happens by his will?" Regarding the Master she stated, "He is the Supreme God and the Supreme Goddess. He is the essence of all mantras and the embodiment of all deities." She carried Sri Ramakrishna's picture everywhere and worshiped it daily, seeing in it his living presence. Often she remarked that one should not make a distinction between the physical body and its shadow in a picture. She talked intimately with the Master and fed him in the picture. And yet she did not conceal the fact that she and the Master were identical and that there was no difference between them except in outer form.

Sri Ramakrishna, too, knew Holy Mother's nature. He spoke of her as the bestower of wisdom, as his own Shakti. Once, seeing Latu meditating in the Panchavati, he said to him, "You fool, the deity whom you are contemplating is working herself to death by scouring pots and pans." Here are a few other statements of his about her: "The Mother who is in the temple is the same as the mother who dwells in the nahabat [the small music tower where Holy Mother lived at the Dakshineswar temple]." "If she is displeased with a person, it is beyond even my power to protect him." "If she is angry she can destroy everything." "If anyone gives me an offering, I send it to the nahabat; otherwise, how will the giver attain liberation?" As the culmination of his spiritual practices, the Master formally worshiped Holy Mother as the Divine Mother of the universe.

Holy Mother has been described by such epithets as the Divine Mother, the Mother of the universe, Prakriti, Shakti or Power, Mahashakti or the Great Power, and Mahamaya or the Great Deluder. These epithets are not sentimental expressions but have a noetic meaning.... Like modern science, Hinduism describes Shakti or Energy as the creator of physical objects and the source of the universe. But according to science this inert and nonintelligent energy is a self-creating, self-preserving, and self-dissolving category. It does nor need extraneous help to project phenomena.

According to Hinduism, Shakti is the potency of Brahman and inseparable from it, like fire and its power to burn. The potency is unable to function by itself. Brahman which is existence, consciousness, and bliss, by irs mere presence impregnates Shakti, as it were. Thus names and forms are evolved. The why and wherefore of the infinite Brahman's becoming the manifold creation, or the One's becoming the many, or the Absolutes appearing as the relative, is a profound mystery which cannot be solved by the human mind. After projecting the universe, Shakti casts a spell on the creatures in order to perpetuate the creation. Hence she is called Mahamaya, the Great Deluder. The Creative Energy contains in her womb the seeds of creation and nourishes the creatures after giving birth to them. Finally, at the end of a cosmic cycle, she withdraws the universe into herself.

All women, in a sense, function as the Divine Energy. But her fullest manifestation is seen through the body and mind of a woman of unblemished character. Holy Mother was such a woman. Hence she is regarded as the Supreme Goddess or Great Power, a special manifestation of the Divine Energy. Once a devotee said to her that after her no one would worship the minor goddesses of the Hindu religion. She replied, "Why, they too are parts of me." Conscious of her divine nature, she kindled the sparks of spirituality in her disciples, accepted their worship, and gave them assurance of liberation. 

Swami Nikhilananda, a disciple of Sri Sarada Devi, founded the Ramakinishna-Vivekananda Center of New York in 1933, and remained its head until his death in 1973. Swami Nikhilananda translated the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and other scriptures, and also wrote biographies of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, and Swami Vivekananda. The author of Hinduism: Its Meaning for the Liberation of the Spirit, and Man in Search of Immortality, Swami Nikhilananda also compiled Vivekananda: The Yogas and Other Works. His greatest literary contribution was his translation from the original Bengali into English of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.

"Sarada Devi: the Holy Mother" is an excerpt from the Vedanta and the West article, "Some Glimpses of Holy Mother" which appeared in the September-Octobers 1962 edition of Vedanta and the West.

Copyright © 1994 by Vedanta Press

The power of one - by Aamir Khan

What can I do alone? I am just one among 1.2 billion. Even if I change what good will it do. What about the rest? Who will change everyone? First get everyone else to change then I too will change. These are some of the most negative thoughts I have heard resonating all through my life. The story of Dhashrat Manjhi is a fitting reply to all these statements. It tells us what one man can achieve. It tells us about the power of one. It tells us that man can indeed move mountains.

Gehlor a small village in Bihar was surrounded by rocky mountains. The villagers had to travel more than 50 kilometers to reach the nearest town which was in fact 5 kilometers away, but the path was blocked by a tall mountain. The presence of this rocky mountain plagued the lives of the villagers of Gehlor for decades. One of them, Dashrath Manjhi, decided one day that he would cut a pass through the mountain. He sold his goats, bought a hammer and a chisel, and started hammering away at the mountain. Everyone laughed at him. They ridiculed him, dissuaded him, told him it was not possible. He refused to be swayed and kept at it. It took him 22 years to cut a road though the mountain but he did it.

For a moment let us imagine what he must have gone through on day one of his attempt. One man with a hammer and a chisel against the mountain! How many cubic inches of rock could he have broken on the first day? What did he feel while walking back home that evening? How far did he get at the end of week one? What were his thoughts then? No doubt the task would have seem even more impossible at the end of the first week. What did he feel when people made fun of him and discouraged him? What kept him going for 22 long years?

What you and I have to decide is, do we want to be like Dashrath Manjhi, or do we want to be like the villagers who tried to dissuade him? And there is a clear choice before us. What he was attempting to do was for everyone's benefit. Still instead of joining him, his own fellow villagers made fun of him. So, should we be like those villagers or should we live our life like Dashrath Manjhi, who, with single-minded determination continued to do what he believed he in. Each of us has to ask ourselves this question, and in our answer lies the reality of our future. In our answer lies the answer to the following question as well - Do I want to contribute to nation building? Do I want to be a believer or do I want to be a critic? Do I want to follow my dreams relentlessly and without compromise, or do I want to be a cynical, discouraging naysayer.

I believe….

I believe in India. I believe in the people of India. I believe that each and every Indian loves his/her country. I believe that India is changing. I believe that India wants to change. I believe in the dream that our forefathers saw when they fought for Independence. A dream that they wrote down in the preamble to our constitution.

"WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY, of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation; …

There are many who say that this dream is dead, but I don't agree. While it is true that it has not been achieved, it is equally true that it is not entirely dead. Even today there are thousands of Indians who live by this dream. Many have spent their lives upholding this dream. Most of them are perhaps not even aware that in living their lives in the way that they are, they are upholding the constitution of India, the dream that our forefathers saw.

I think somewhere too many of us have become a little too clever, a little too practical, a little too cynical, a little too materialistic, a little too selfish. Maybe, we need to let go a little. Allow a little space in our hearts for hope, for idealism, for belief, for faith, for trust, for innocence and… for a little madness. If one Dashrath Manjhi can move a mountain, imagine what a 120 crore Dashrath Manjhi can do.

My journey of Satyamev Jayate is coming to an end. But I would like to believe that this is not the end, but is, in fact, a beginning. And in this hope filled moment of a beginning, I would like to bow my head in a prayer that was first expressed by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; 

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; 

Where words come out from the depth of truth; 

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; 

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; 

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Jaihind. Satyamev Jayate.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times