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

Sri Sarada Devi: Practice meditation

Thus spake Holy Mother:
"Practise meditation, and by and by your mind will be so calm and fixed that you will find it hard to keep away from meditation."
She would say "Japat Siddhi" i.e. regular practice of japa leads to realization. Blessed are those who pray to her and receive her boundless love.

The Nature of Brahman

“A man had two sons. The father sent them to a preceptor to learn the Knowledge of Brahman. After a few years they returned from their preceptor’s house and bowed low before their father. Wanting to measure the depth of their knowledge of Brahman, he first questioned the older of the two boys. ‘My child,’ he said, ‘you have studied all the scriptures. Now tell me, what is the nature of Brahman?’ The boy began to explain Brahman by reciting various texts from the Vedas. The father did not say anything. Then he asked the younger son the same question. But the boy remained silent and stood with eyes cast down. No word escaped his lips. The father was pleased and said to him: ‘My child, you have understood a little of Brahman. What It is cannot be expressed in words.'

"Men often think they have understood Brahman fully. Once an ant went to a hill of sugar. One grain filled its stomach. Taking another grain in its mouth, it started homeward. On its way, it thought, ‘Next time I shall carry home the whole hill.’That is the way shallow minds think. They don’t know that Brahman is beyond one’s words and thought. However great a man may be, how much can he know of Brahman? Shukadeva and sages like him may have been big ants; but even they could carry at the utmost eight or ten grains of sugar!
-The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Sri Ramakrishna: Love of God grows through selfless work

Man cannot really help the world. God alone does that.

He has created the sun and the moon, who has put love for their children in parents' hearts, endowed noble souls with compassion, and holy men and devotees with divine love. The man who works for others, without any selfish motive, really does good to himself. There is gold buried in your heart, but you are not yet aware of it. It is covered with a thin layer of earth. Once you are aware of it, all these activities of yours will lessen. Through selfless work, love of God grows in the heart. Then, through His grace, one realizes Him in course of time. God can be seen, one can talk to Him, as I am talking to you.
(Ramakrishna : Prophet of New India)

Swami Vivekananda: Love is its own end

Love is its own end. It can never be the means. The man who says, "I love you for such and such a thing", does not love. Love can never be the means; it must be the perfect end. What is the end and aim of love? To love God, that is all. Why should one love God? [There is] no why, because it is not the means. When one can love, that is salvation, that is perfection, that is heaven. What more? What else can be the end? What can you have higher than love?

I am not talking about what every one of us means by love. Little namby-pamby love is lovely. Man rails in love with woman, and woman goes to die for man. The chances are that in five minutes John kicks Jane, and Jane kicks John. This is a materialism and no love at all. If John could really love Jane, he would be perfect that moment. [His true] nature is love; he is perfect in himself. John will get all the powers of Yoga simply by loving Jane, [although] he may not know a word about religion, psychology, or theology. I believe that if a man and woman can really love, [they can acquire] all the powers the Yogis claim to have, for love itself is God. That God is omnipresent, and [therefore] you have that love, whether you know it or not.
(Complete Works, Volume IV, Vedanta and the West)