Silent Saint as Guiding Spirit

Dec 15, 2004, 12.00am IST
R K Langar.

Gopinathji, the shaivite saint of Kashmir, spoke very little. But whatever he spoke was rich with sublime values and guided his devotees on both the worldly and spiritual life. According to him, man must first become morally sound before entering spiritual life. The saint spelt out the desirable qualities of an ideal person in three Kashmiri words: sezar, pazar, shozar — straightforwardness, truth and purity. With these three divine traits, a person would become eligible to raise himself to the highest level of perfection with self-effort and divine grace. Gopinathji attached great significance to God's grace for self-elevation. He was a celibate, but Gopinathji advised his devotees not to shun married life in the search of godhood for it can be attained irrespective of his status or station in life. Spiritual enlightenment can be achieved wher-ever you are depending upon the intensity and sincerity of your sadhna.
The twin purpose of human life is self-perfection and service to humanity — sadhna and seva. Man should be ever willing to help remove the miseries of afflicted persons. The greatness of a man is in helping his fellow beings irrespective of who they are. One should not undertake special exercises for awakening the kundalini, the spiritual power


lying dormant within. Love for God and working for the good of others awakens the kundalini on its own. There can be no spiritual progress as long as man is attached to worldly gains and has not given up worldly desires.


Gopinathji believed that silence is God. He became emancipated after seven years of yoga sadhna when he remained in solitude and observed complete silence. He emphasised on silence and vichara. Gopinathji's consciousness can be des-cribed as a state when man thinks, speaks and acts with a pure and pious mind. Such a person becomes a practitioner of truth and righteousness. He lives for others. The easiest way of uprooting one's ego was by surrendering oneself to God, by living a disciplined and regulated life without compromising on principles. To those who studied scriptures, his advice was that one should live the teachings of scriptures; their study alone would be of no use. He said that all human beings are equal in the eyes of God and God-realisation is available to all and not only to a select few.


By calling Brahmn a tree and its branches the different religions, Gopinathji upheld the Vedic thought that truth is one; only, the wise speak of it in different ways. No founder of any religion has deviated from this fact and if there is any misinterpretation regarding oneness of ultimate reality, it is due to the followers and not the religion. In fact they are themselves imperfect who perceive imperfection in religion. The truthful and selfless person acquires purity of mind which is a precondition for God-realisation. In silence one hears the inner voice and it comforts the restless mind.


The truly great saint's message is heard at distant places without his being physically there. Gopinathji spent his entire life in Kashmir but his followers can be found everywhere. Some of his devotees consi-der him in the lineage of Rama, Krishna and Buddha. A devotee abroad states that Gopinathji exercised spiritual power unequalled since the time of Jesus Christ. Gopinathji is known to have cured devotees of dreaded diseases. His followers declare that they feel his presence whenever they are in distress. There could not have been a larger tribute to Gopinathji than this. Known as a miracle man, he was, according to media reports, noticed guiding our troops during the recent Kargil war.

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Four Easy Steps To Meditation

Dec 29, 2004, 12.00am IST
SWAMI NIKHILANANDA.

The first step in meditation is being mindful of what we are doing. Learn to meditate while performing action, with a sense of seva and an awareness of being an instrument in the hands of a higher power. Any action giving a feeling of joy and a sense of performing duty is meditation. It is not necessary to go to Haridwar or Rishikesh to meditate, or even sit at one place for meditation. With such an attitude, even when a person fights for his country, he is in meditation. Observe great singers, dancers and artists; when they perform, they tune themselves becoming instruments in the hands of the Lord, free of any ego or pride. This state of joy is meditation in action.


The next step in meditation is at the level of feel- ing; to experience love for God and for all His creatures. Meera Bai and Tulsidas were in a cons-tant state of meditation, because they loved and saw God in everything around them. When we express deep feelings of love and respect towards anyone we love and revere, in thought, word or action, we are in meditation.


Sage Narada once saw a gopi sitting alone, lost in thought. She was yearning to be with her beloved Krishna. The sage asked if she had studied the scriptures and learnt how to reach the Lord, or whether she had gone through the different stages of meditation to attain the ultimate state of oneness with Him. The gopi innocently said that she only knew that she was in love with Krishna, and whenever and wherever she thought of her Lord, she found herself with Him. Through devotion and love alone she experienced ultimate bliss.

Meditation is feeling compassion, friendship, humility, and love for the One principle pervading all beings and objects of this world. When Jesus Christ was being crucified he cried: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. In that state of forgiveness, Jesus was in meditation. We experience meditation in understanding the true nature of the Universe, through the intellect or buddhi. The philosophy of division sees differences, creates hatred, violence, misery, and agitation in the mind. This cannot give us peace and quietude. The Vedanta philosophy of Oneness views the whole cosmos and every thing in it as pervaded with Ishwara. Through touching, seeing, smelling, hearing and tasting we commune with God alone. See the whole Universe as one family — Vasudhaiv kutumbakam. In this understanding of Oneness, we are in a state of meditation.

The highest state of meditation is at the level of just being. To reach that state of meditation, we do not have to do anything, because being is meditation. That is why we are called human beings. In this state we identify with the core or divinity in us — the Principle of Consciousness and Bliss. A person in this state of joy is in a state of meditation by just being aware of the present moment. Learn from the past, plan for the future but live in the present, aware of your real Self.
For peace, happiness fulfilment, practice meditation in action, feeling, understanding and just being. To achieve the best, perform actions with complete awareness and mindfulness, combined with a sense of service. Consider yourself an instrument in the hands of a higher power. Love is divine; love is giving, not demanding. We do not fall in love; we rise in love with God. Realise your oneness with all living beings, nature, and the cosmos. Succeed in the practice of meditation and experience the joy and bliss of being.

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A Christmas Carol To Only Connect

Dec 28, 2004, 12.00am IST
Christopher Mendonca.

Christmas is a season of connectedness — of human beings with God and with one another. The expression of our connectedness, however, sometimes tends to get ritualistic. Parties, celebrations and family dinners often allow us to structure our time, leaving us feeling good as long as we are in company. But we get lonely once the ritual is over. One way of escape from this loneliness is to discover that our connectedness results not so much from what we do together but from realising what we are. The celebration of Christmas is basically about who we are.


We are not only specks of cosmic dust, linked by a biological, mineral and chemical consciousness. Our human condition is also characterised by relationships, the bonds that we forge with one another in many ways. We are spiritual beings, too, and we need to remain aware of this fact. Unfortunately, we often make our relationships convenience-driven, constantly manipulating both mind and body to keep up appearances. Life is seen as being able to function effectively. So when the body and mind begin to become dysfunctional we are gripped with anxiety, tension and anguish; we are not at peace. We sense we are losing control and desperately try to regain it, often with little success.


If, in spite of the fellowship we experience, we are lonely, we are not in communion. In loneliness we try to escape from our uniqueness and try to merge our personal identity with the crowd. But one can be lonely even in a crowd. A community of individuals is hardly a community at all; it's a place where egos are jostling for advantage, competing for much the same goods held together by a reluctantly accepted set of rules to limit the damage. Educated into complete conformity and reduced to homogeneity of opinions and habits, virtue is identified with uncontroversial ordinariness and a nervous cultural sameness.


If we are willing to go beyond our individuality and accept the solitude of the human condition, we can experience a communion with fellow pilgrims journeying within to discover the Supreme inside of us. Christmas tells us that God is with us. But it also shows us that finding him is possible only if we are willing to go beyond images, words and thoughts, giving up trying to fashion a god according to our image and likeness, and behold him instead as the God who is at the centre of our being.
This is the secret of the shepherds and the three wise men. They were willing to go beyond the outward form to the substance of things. So when a care-giver connects with someone whose body is wasting away beyond recognition, and a mother can still recognise the face of her son beyond his disfigured and contorted body, when we are able to see in an AIDS victim basic human dignity that has remained untarnished, when we can connect with the poor and marginalised for no other reason than the discovery that we are bonded together by our participation in the life that comes as God's gift, then we know that we have found the Saviour. This is the God who dwells in us and whose coming we celebrate at Christmas.


Silent Night is a popular Christmas carol. It speaks of the Silence that is so characteristic of God's presence. Listen to the silent music of another's heart until you find a rhythm or pattern that emerges, and then gradually begin to make from within you a sound that matches the melody and rhythm of what you hear. Then you will experience a communion, a oneness of being that binds you together. It will be your best loved Christmas carol.

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Stay Tuned to the Beauty of Nature

Dec 17, 2004, 12.00am IST
Shammi Paranjape.

Life is not as ordinary as it seems. You just have to look around you to feel the magic. A Chinese proverb says: "The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on water, but to walk on earth." Every so-called ordinary day is suffused with the extraordinary; we just don’t take notice. "It is God who moves the dew to drop, the lotus to bloom, the butterfly to flit and the Sun to rise. That is all the power, all the wisdom, all the love, all the miracle that ever was, is, and will be," says Sathya Sai Baba.


There is continually wonderful activity happening in Nature around us all. Caught up as we are in the hurly-burly of our daily existence, we don’t make the effort to observe. When did we last pay attention to the full moon glittering in the night sky, or to the millions of twinkling stars? Flowing water is taken for granted and its beauty or value is realised only when there is water shortage and the tap goes dry. Remaining conscious of divine gifts will not only make life enchanting, it will also make us value God’s gifts and hence prevent misuse or wastage.
Nothing should be taken for granted, least of all Nature’s bounty, because Nature is the very crucible of life. All that sustains life on earth — sunlight, air, food and water — come from Nature. Real wealth is not in coins and currency but in our natural resources that are so necessary for our very sustenance. So the more we stay in tune with Nature and its rhythms, the more we stay tuned to ourselves. Sathya Sai Baba says: "Humanity is a limb of Nature and Nature is a limb of the divine... Imbibe wisdom from the sky, the clouds, the mountains, the rivers, the seasons, in fact from all beings and things. Education is no book affair. The universe is the university for those who care to watch and learn."
Appreciation of the beauty of God’s creation nourishes our inner spirit because Nature is a reflection of God and revering Nature is to revere the Creator. It was the belief that God is sarva-vyaapi and resides in every atom of creation that impelled our ancients to worship Nature and its five elements. The story of Bhakta Prahlad underlines the truth that God is Omnipresent. Prahlad, a great devotee of Lord Narayana was in a constant state of bliss, chanting the name of Hari. His father, the tyrant Hiranyakashyap, swollen with false ego, tried every evil device to stop this incessant chanting. He failed. In the end, utterly exasperated, he asked Prahlad: "Who is this God that protects you? Where is He?" Prahlad told his father that God was everywhere in the cosmos from the microcosm to the macrocosm. "Is your God then in this pillar, too?" he taunted his son. "Yes", said Prahlad.


Hiranyakashyap struck the pillar angrily with his mace and Lord Narayana in the terrifying avatar of Narasimha — half-man, half-lion — emerged. Ultimately, Nature is the best teacher. There are not only lessons to be learnt but also joy to be experienced. The galleria of Nature is meant to acquaint us with God’s glory and then lead us on to the Supreme artist behind it all. This can be done by seeking from Nature the marvellous inspiration for infusing truth, beauty and goodness — satyam, shivam, sundaram — in our lives and thus sanctifying ourselves. Ideally, we should be able to appreciate and enjoy these divine gifts within the parameters of dharma, with a deep sense of gratitude, never forgetting that whatever beauty He creates, the Creator Himself remains far more beautiful than all of his creations.

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Top Down Approach Of Integral Yoga

Dec 10, 2004, 12.00am IST
Sudip Talukdar.

Integral yoga or the yoga of self-perfection, as the name implies, synthesises the collective potential of traditional disciplines like bhakti, gyan and karma yogas, to reorient human nature into bringing the supramental or the highest octave of consciousness, down to the earth plane.


Each of the other yogic systems develops a particular faculty, geared towards liberation of the appropriate part. In bhakti yoga, for instance, one approaches God with unconditional love, devotion and veneration. Karma yoga offers every activity to the Divine in a spirit of selfless service, without any expectation.

Integral yoga, which is more comprehensive in its sweep, aims at the total perfection of not one but all parts of the being. It directs the flow of consciousness from soul downwards into the lower levels, rather than begin from the bottom up, purifying as it descends. This can prove effective only by the instrumentality of like-minded souls, jointly engaged in the endeavour. The core group will act as catalyst in 'Godward' progress. Sri Aurobindo saw this as being "decreed and inevitable in the evolution of earth consciousness".

Integral yoga strips successive layers of the body and mind of every vestige of inertia, falsehood, and lower nature, down to the very innards of its tiniest cell, in order to unclog channels for the descent of divine consciousness. Once empowered, it taps into and coopts nature to help hasten its ongoing evolution of (divinised) beings.

Every voluntary or involuntary effort, activity or drive to better individual or community life, is yoga. It is nature operating through human agency to materialise progress and growth. As a sentient being, man is capable of cooperating with this inexorable evolutionary movement and bring about desired changes in a compressed time frame, which, left to itself, would have taken eons.


The key is integral yoga with a three-fold approach: intense aspiration for the Divine, rejection of all that is inimical to the path and total surrender or opening oneself to the Divine. It perceives Godhead as the fundamental unity permeating every atom of diverse creation, or the centrality of the spirit underlying nature, growth, life, material and non-material phenomena. Developed and perfected by Sri Aurobindo in 40 years of unbroken sadhna, it aims at nothing less than the transmutation of matter, a tectonic shift from the earlier quest of sages to help man rise above his mundane limitations.

The Mahayogi — who had plumbed the heights and depths of life as revolutionary, political leader, statesman, philosopher, poet-writer and spiritual genius — long realised that unless basic faultlines and destructive patterns ingrained in the human psyche were eradicated, the world would never be free of strife. That virtually implied recasting the flawed genetic script before humankind was rid of its demons of base passions and impulses, lying at the root of global unrest today.


"The object of my yoga", Sri Aurobindo wrote, "is to remove absolutely and entirely every possible source of error and ineffectiveness... in order that the Truth I shall show to many may be perfect and effectiveness in order that the work of changing the world... may be entirely victorious and irresistible. It is for this reason that I have been going through so long a discipline... busy laying down the foundation, a work severe and painful".

A B Purani quotes Sri Aurobindo mentioning once how he encountered "the formidable resistance of the inconscient", while engaged in the task of opening up human cells to the Divine light. The Mother, who took up from where the Saint left off after his samadhi, indicated in her notes that "body consciousness" residing in its aggregate of cells, imprinted with fixed impressions, was the most impervious to change. Without overcoming which, Supramental transformation would be incomplete.

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