Strong and silent string

Aug 3, 2010, 12.00am IST

Radha Kumar.

While driving from Brisbane to Sydney, apart from feasting my eyes on the beautiful images of the rich countryside, sign boards that simply said " Stop, rest, revive!" at regular intervals also caught my attention.

 

The terms almost seemed like friendly advice to us, caught up as we are in our self-indulgent hectic lifestyles. In the hustle and bustle, the very purpose of life is often pushed into oblivion. We are all the time chasing targets, meeting deadlines, competing, climbing, running, and getting exhausted. Do our trajectories have a central idea or purpose?
 

We could look to an interesting parallel in music. During the process of fine-tuning a musical instrument like the sitar, it is absolutely important that the strings are tuned keeping the naad or the sound of a single string called the "Jod ka taar" as the anchor. This string is tuned to note shadj or sa and the rest of the strings are beautifully blended to its sound such that it evokes harmonious music. Perfectly tuned strings then create different raagas.
 

Inlife, too, we are all operating to different vibrations evoking very distinct emotions. Sometimes states in life are as vibrant as a raag Basant, melancholic as raag Bhairavi, intense as raag Darbari, heroic as raag Sohini, vigorous as raag Hamir, simple as raag Yaman, or complex as raag Puriya Dhanyashri. Nevertheless the effect of the combination of swaras captures the mind and this melodic output draws out the senses to a state of meditative contemplation. Just like each stage in our life evokes diverse experiences, every raag has a very unique effect on listeners. The artiste, submerging himself in the melody, transports his audience to share the same experience. Thoughts merge and are in sync with the rhythm and music thus taking it far away from the challenges and stress of day-to-day life.

 

The magical outcome is the result of fine-tuning to a basic sur whose sound blends with our mind. When we adopt this method of fine-tuning to living, anchoring our lifestyles around our core values, not falling prey to herd instinct, it will definitely keep our thoughts anchored, focused and disciplined. It gives you a unique identity and more importantly peace of mind that you are on a path that you wish to embark on. Again, the basic sur here is the focus point, the base or the foundation. It only provides the silent support or the harmony but at the same time, it is the sound that amalgamates all the sounds of the strings and the tones of various raags so that melodious music is created.

In this entire process there is also embedded a deep philosophy. The creative rendering of the various ragas happens on the Baaj ka Taar, the first string, while the Jod Ka Taar, the second string gives the continuity. When the artiste very aptly uses the support of this silent string while his fingers move with practised dexterity in the first string the result is pure melody or naad. In the hectic pace of life it is imperative that we get acquainted with the silent Jod ka Taar and always stay in tune with its silent presence. But that will happen only when we stop, rest and revive ourselves in the journey of life!

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Walking the pathless path

Aug 26, 2010, 12.00am IST
Deepak Chopra.

Sometimes a lesson has to be repeated for thousands of years, not because it wasn't learned the first time but because new people arrive on the scene.

The lesson I'm thinking of was Siddhartha's, a prince on the Nepalese border of northern India. He dropped everything and hit the road, becoming the original, or at least the most famous dharma bum. He travelled from master to master with his begging bowl, seeking enlightenment. As Gautama the monk he became impressively austere. Instead of a loving wife, a warm bed, and feasts, he tried the opposite: solitude, sleeping by the wayside, and subsisting on whatever scraps of food he could beg for.

It's still an appealing choice, because we equate austerity with virtue. If the stress of a chaotic world is too much, perhaps harmony lies along a different, quieter, more solitary road. But the moral of Siddhartha's tale led a different way. Leaving home didn't bring enlightenment, nor did austerity, poverty, starving his body, or trying to force his mind to be still. Instead, Siddhartha became someone entirely transformed – the Buddha – when he hit upon a new road, the one called "the pathless path".

The pathless path isn't a straight line; it doesn't even lead from point A to point B. The journey takes place entirely in consciousness. A mind overshadowed by fears, hopes, memories, past traumas, and old conditioning finds a way to become free. This sounds impossible at first. How can the mind that is trapped by pain also be the tool for freeing itself? How can a noisy mind find silence? How can peace emerge from discord?

The Buddha offered his answer, which is a variant on an even more ancient answer from the seers or rishis of Vedic India: transcend the personal mind and find universal mind. The personal mind is tied to the ego, and the ego is forever swinging from pleasure to pain and back again. But if you look at awareness when there is no pleasure or pain, when the mind is calm while simply existing, a fascinating journey begins. You have made the first step on the pathless path.

This is not to dismiss the other path, the one that takes you away from home into a retreat, ashram, meditation centre, or holy place. They have their own atmosphere; seekers have stopped there for a long time; therefore, the mind can breathe a different kind of air, so to speak, an air of tranquillity and peace. When you arrive at such a place, two things usually happen. You soak up the peace, enjoying the contrast with your busy life at home. At the same time you notice how loud your mind is, how much chaos it has absorbed. So these holy places cannot do the work for you. They can only suggest what the pathless path is about.

Kabir sang of spiritual travellers: "There is nothing but water in the holy pools./ I know I have been swimming in them./ All the gods sculpted of wood or ivory can't say a word./ I know, I have been crying out to them./ The Sacred Books of the East are nothing but words./ I looked through their covers one day sideways./ What Kabir talks of is only what he has lived through./ If you have not lived through something, it is not true."


These lines don't deny the worth of spiritual journeying, but they tell us that there is no substitute for first-hand experience. Where you go to find it is irrelevant. The true seeker after truth discovers, sooner or later, that truth was seeking him all along.

DeepakChopra.com

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Face to face with fear

Aug 9, 2010, 12.00am IST
MARGUERITE THEOPHIL.

A woman dreams every night that she is being chased through an old haunted house by a huge, hideous monster. Night after night, it endlessly chases her, coming so close that she feels its icy breath on the nape of her neck.

Then one night, though she runs madly, the monster corners the terrified woman. Just as it reaches out to tear her apart, she turns around, finds her voice and screams, "What are you? Why do you chase me? What will you do to me?"

At that, the monster stops, straightens up, and with a puzzled expression, shrugs and says, "How should I know? It's your dream."

The Tibetan Buddhist teachings of Chogyam Trungpa state plainly that in order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to face our fear; in fact, "the essence of cowardice is not acknowledging the reality of fear." In his Shambhala teachings, he holds that discovering fearlessness comes, paradoxically, from "working with the softness of the human heart".

We open ourselves vulnerably to what we are afraid of, and learn from the challenges and lessons it brings.

Fear has many names like dread, worry, panic, anxiety, and it manifests itself in varied ways as in avoidance, procrastination, perfectionism, judgement, control, agitation and violence. Fear usually prevents us from living up to our true potential. Whether we are afraid of the dark, of being abandoned, failure, commitment, flying or public speaking, fear can affect nearly every decision we make.

In 'Embracing Fear', psychotherapist Thom Rutledge tells us that sometimes fear is part of the problem, sometimes fear is the problem – but when we are really paying attention, fear is usually part of the solution.

We easily forget that fear is an essential part of our nature; an alarm system, there to get our attention, to push us out of harm's way. So we need to learn to distinguish between unhealthy or neurotic fear that holds us back, and healthy fear that helps us to move on. Unhealthy fear is persistent, exaggerating and even inventing potential dangers; healthy fear stands guard responsibly, informing us immediately of real danger. While unhealthy fear nags us endlessly about everything that could possibly go wrong now, tomorrow, the day, week, month or year after, or years later even, healthy fear inspires us to do what can be done in the present.

It is only through facing, exploring, accepting and responding to fear that we free ourselves from its paralysing grip. If befriending or embracing our fear seems too much, then as a first step, one can simply acknowledge it: Yes, I feel fear. I recognise it, but I do not have to be led by it.

We can also work with our fear by recognising it as a sign of the inner work we need to do. What is this fear waking me up to? What am I being asked to develop in myself? What old habits and reactions must I abandon or transform?

What scares or threatens us can easily cause us to become aggressive and selfish, to react in violent ways, to step off the Path. Most spiritual traditions teach us that fear is to be 'met' if we are to understand it in any measure and work with it to grow in understanding. On the way to achieving compassion or equanimity or peace or fearlessness, we are called upon to face and get to know that which is disturbing, threatening, disagreeable or fearful; only then can we reach and experience what those end states really are.

The writer is a Mumbai-based personal growth coach. weave@vsnl.net

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Direct experience is best

Aug 7, 2010, 12.00am IST
Ashok Vohra.

Known variously as 'the awakened one,' Tathagata or 'the one who has attained the highest truth', and Sakyamuni or 'the sage of the Sakyas,' the Buddha has had great impact on those exposed to his teachings.


Written down some 400 years after his death, Buddha's philosophy came to be classified into three pitakas or baskets. Vinayapitaka prescribes rules for conduct of monks; Suttapitakas contain the conversations of the Buddha about practical methods of spiritual attainment; and the Abhidhammapitakas deal with Buddha's teachings on psychology and ethics.


The Tathagata has no "theories". His teachings are not about theory but praxis. Secondly, Buddha regards all metaphysical discussion concerning the ultimate nature of reality, atman and Brahmn as "vain talk". The aim of such talk, according to him, is to satisfy curiosity while ignoring ground realities. He considered some metaphysical questions to be unnecessary and useless, while what he upheld could not be answered in logical terms.


The first type can be illustrated by the kind of questions asked by an injured person who has been brought to a physician for treatment. Before describing the nature of his injuries he wants to know the colour, caste and creed of the person who has injured him. These questions ignore his immediate needs and are a waste of time.

The second kind of questions relate to the nature of Self, soul, Brahmn or ultimate reality. The Buddha maintained silence when faced with opposing questions like: Is there Self, or no Self?' He was silent because these questions relate to direct experience, they are beyond logic, and can be known only by intuition. They are not the subject matter of discursive knowledge.

However, Buddha's silence does not mean that he denied the existence of anything abiding, permanent and unchangeable. In a sermon he asserts: "There is an unborn, unoriginated, unmade, an uncompounded; were there not, there would be no escape from the world of the born, the originated, the made, and the compounded."


Buddha held that the nature of enduring, simple reality couldn't be defined, for the nature of reality is beyond sense experience. Like a colour, say red, it can only be experienced, not described. Likewise you know the nature of reality by venturing into your inner self. When we try to define reality we reach the limits of language. The only thing we can say (as Wittgenstein said) is: "What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence."


Buddha, therefore, advises: "Be ye lamps unto yourselves. Be ye a refuge to yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external refuge." Only those bhikhus shall know the nature of ultimate reality and attain nirvana, who "shall look not for refuge to anyone besides themselves" and who are "anxious to learn".

Those who are anxious to learn must experiment and accept their own findings. They should be guided neither by external dogmas nor creeds, nor by alien doctrines and theories, no matter how profound they may be. They do not have to believe the experiences of others, howsoever authentic they may be. They should trust their own experience. Nothing is to be accepted on authority even if it is of the Buddha, what to talk of Vedas or realised ones.


To the Buddha, self-verification through self-experience is the way to "peace of mind, to higher wisdom, enlightenment, to nirvana". Nirvana is not an afterlife experience. It is here and now.

(The writer teaches philosophy at Delhi University)

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Linking up above

Aug 19, 2010, 12.00am IST
Christopher Mendonca.

A magazine I picked up recently had the following title on its cover page: "Towards a Spirituality rooted in Religion". I said to myself: "Shouldn't it be the other way round?"

The word 'religion' itself derives from the Latin religare meaning "to bind" or to link. It signifies the outward manifestation of an inner attitude, the expression of our being "linked" to the divine which we have experienced deep at the centre of our being.

Rituals, it would seem are an indispensable part of religion and are often identified with it. They serve a useful purpose as a pedagogical tool, and are meant precisely to keep alive the initial experience from which they emerged. Experience precedes the ritual. Ritual however has no meaning once it is separated from experience.

Our spiritual experiences grow deeper in proportion to our experience of being loved and being able to love in return. The progressive and in the end complete loss of self in the act of Self- giving enables us to connect with the divine for whom the whole of creation is just the outpouring of the Divine self. Truly, in God "we live, move and have our being". In love there is no room for fear. One of the characteristics of a genuine spiritual experience is therefore the absence of fear.

The experience of fear is so necessary for 'self-preservation'. At the physical level it enables us to ward off dangers and minimise threats to life. Yet, we often continue to experience fear long after the threat has disappeared and sometimes even when there is no threat at all. When this happens there has been a subtle shift in the origin of our fear. It is the ego that is struggling to preserve itself. At the physiological level it manifests itself in stress. It is not surprising, therefore, that meditation techniques are prescribed as the antidote to stress. Stress abhors unpredictability and it is so easy for one to use the 'predictable' ritual to soothe the pain of the wounded ego. But the ego is not easily deceived. At this point religion parts ways with spirituality. Religion degenerates into magic. A spirituality based on such a religion is nothing more than a caricature. Meditation on the other hand as the art of learning to "pay attention", becomes the link between the ritual and the spi-ritual.

In a New Testament scripture text that is familiar to most Christians, St Paul describes love, among other things, as 'never quick to take offence' and 'keeping no score of wrongs'. Love gives one the freedom not to see another's transgression as a personal offence. That knocks the stuffing out of the other's aggression – real or imagined. There is no room for fear because no threat has been perceived. One can then love in freedom. It is the practice of meditation that enables us to slowly begin progressively functioning not from our 'ego' but from our true Self. The true Self is God and God is love.

When religion is based on true spirituality, we are able to understand that differences need not cause divisions. Returning to our contemplative traditions and meditative practices is the surest way to eschew violence in the name of religion. It allows us to restore the original purpose of the ritual which is to enable us connect to the experience of God within. We need no security other than the awareness that we are in God and God is in us. Perfect love casts out all fear.

The writer teaches the practice of Christian meditation.
visit www.wccm.org.

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Keeping good company

Aug 15, 2010, 12.00am IST

As we go through the biographies of great souls, we find that whenever the supremely benevolent have incarnated on earth, slanderers have left no stone unturned in maligning them.

The intellect becomes mean with the association of slanderers but remains stable in the association of equals and becomes superior with the association of those who are superior to us. You reap fruits according to the kind of company you keep. Therefore, you should always be careful in selecting the company you keep.

Long ago, there lived a man named Chajju Bhakta in Lahore. One day he was with his friends when a fruit vendor down the lane shouted, "Acche san ... tare, acche san ... tare ... (buy good oranges)" Chajju Bhakta asked his companions, "Do you hear what that man is saying?" They said: "He is selling santaras (oranges) Bhaktaji!" Bhaktaji said, "You did not understand. Listen carefully, he is saying. 'Acche sang...tare ( good company redeems).' He is saying that those who associate themselves with good people are redeemed, while those who fall into bad company meet with destruction."

Bhaktaji told a story to illustrate this: A crow and a swan had become friends. One day the crow took the swan to its house and made him sit on a dry and wilted Babool tree. The place stank of dung, flesh and bones that were scattered all around.

The swan said, "Brother! I cannot stay in such a dirty place, even for a moment. If you know of any pious place, you take me there."

The crow then took him to the secret grove of the king and made him sit on the tree, and then sat near him. Beneath the tree he was resting. As the swan looked down, he saw the king sitting under the tree with his head exposed to the sun. A swan is kind by nature, and out of compassion it spread out its wings to provide shade to the king who felt some relief from the sun. A crow, however, is uncaring by nature. So it dropped its excreta on the king's head. The king shot an arrow upwards which brought the swan down, while the crow flew off quickly. The dying swan said: "O King! I am not the crow that dropped the excreta. I am the swan that lives in pure water, but due to the company of the mean crow, my life has been ruined."

In the Sundara Kandam, Section 45.4 of the Sri Ramacharitamanasa, Rama says to Vibhishana, "May providence keep us from the company of the wicked! It would be better, O respected one, to live in hell." (Because the company of the evil leads to the cycle of birth and death and repeated relegation to hells.)

Evil company destroys good virtues and is feared by those who recognise this truth. All scriptures and great souls have taught the jiva with great emphasis on the importance of staying clear of bad company. Bad company leads one to degeneration very quickly. For example, one has to make great efforts to climb a tree, but there is no effort required in falling down. Similarly, one has to make great efforts to attain spiritual power and earn the wealth of sadhana; but all our efforts carried out for over a long period of time will come to naught in a moment by keeping the company of slanderers.

(Satsang: Asaram Bapu. For e-satsangs visit www.ashram.org)

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Life, gross and subtle

Aug 21, 2010, 12.00am IST
P V VAIDYANATHAN.

Life is complex, its nature is duality, it's complicated, unpredictable, and it's multi-dimensional. But more than that, life is a combination of the subtle and the gross. The gross, though easy to comprehend, has its own set of problems and the subtle is difficult to comprehend.

For example, the body is gross, the mind is subtle. Again, the mind is gross in comparison to the soul, or being. While moving from thoughts to words to actions, we are moving from subtle to gross. Actions and words are such that anyone can understand and control them, but thoughts are difficult to control or understand. Emotions, feelings, and intuition belong to the subtle world, while doing is usually of the gross world. Even in emotions, anger, jealousy, greed, and worry are gross and easy to acquire, while love, patience, honesty, forgiveness and altruism are subtle, and difficult to cultivate.

The gross elements in life are useful, but without the subtle elements, their use is limited or is accompanied by much pain and sorrow. For example, any medicine that doctors use to cure an illness is a gross thing. While medicines do their job quickly and efficiently, they also cause a lot of side effects, and can even prove fatal. The same effect or cure can be achieved by going deep into the mind, using positive thoughts, energies, emotions and feelings to boost one's own immunity and fight the disease. This subtle level treatment is without any side effects, but takes time, and is not possible for everyone. Only those who are highly meditative and who can see inward, can harness their subtle energies and bring them together in a strong manner, to achieve this. But one can at least combine both, to get better results.

Once we are aware that life has these components, we can literally feel the days when the body is loaded with negative energy, and is feeling unmotivated, lethargic, tired, listless, and futile. Such are the periods when you need to sit quietly and meditate, go deep into your inner recesses, and find your innermost being or soul, which is a powerhouse of energy. If we don't, then these frustrations will eventually act on our appetite, sleep and our immunity, making us victims of disease — stress, acidity, hypertension, insomnia, diabetes and cancer.

A rose is the gross element. Its fragrance is the subtle element. A flower is incomplete without fragrance. Similarly, human beings can exist as physical bodies for 70 or 80 years, but they can be fruitful, or life can be meaningful, and they can be existentially successful only if they are able to discover their fragrance. A human being is declared as being alive or dead only on the basis of the presence or absence of his sukshma sharira or subtle energy. Apart from this subtle energy running through us, there is no difference between someone alive or dead.

Our aim should be to acknowledge and get in tune with this subtle force or energy, what is known as prana, or soul or atma. It is by connecting to this that we get an inkling of the subtle elements, and can harness unlimited potential and energy, to live our lives with joy, happiness, good health and peace. Otherwise, we will go on living at the gross level, finding life only good in phases, often finding life meaningless and frustrating.

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Of passion and compassion

Aug 18, 2010, 12.00am IST
Osho.

We know what passion is hence it is not very difficult to understand what compassion may be. Passion means a state of biological fever – it is hot. You are almost possessed by biological, unconscious energies. You are no longer your own master, you are just a slave.

Compassion means you have transcended biology and physiology. You are no more a slave, you are master. Now you function consciously. You are not driven, pulled and pushed by unconscious forces; you can decide what you want to do with your energies. You are totally free. Then the same energy that becomes passion is transformed into compassion.

Passion is lust, compassion is love. Passion is desire, compassion is desirelessness. Passion is greed, compassion is sharing. Passion wants to use the other as a means, compassion respects the other as an end unto himself or herself. Passion keeps you tethered to earth, to mud and you never become a lotus. Compassion makes you a lotus. You start rising above the muddy world of desires, greed and anger. Compassion is a transformation of your energies.

Ordinarily you are scattered, fragmentary. Some energy is being absorbed by your anger, some by your greed, by your lust, and so on. You are left hollow, empty.

All your energy keeps on going down the drain. When all these energies are no longer being wasted they start filling your inner lake, your inner being. You become full. A great delight arises in you. When you start overflowing you have become a Buddha and you have come upon an inexhaustible source.

Compassion is a key word, but you will understand it only if you go deep into meditation. Meditation is the key to transform passion into compassion. You will have to become more conscious. Right now you are unconscious.

We live like robots... The more like a robot you are, the better you function, the better the society feels with you – because it is a society of robots. To be awakened, alert, conscious is dangerous. It is a society of blind people; to have eyes is to invite danger.

But without creating consciousness you will never be able to know the beauty, the blessing that existence has bestowed upon you. You will never know the great opportunity that has been given to you to grow, to become. You can be sunlit peaks and you are just dark holes!

Socrates says, "If you know that you don't know, that is a great beginning. Then it is possible for you to know." To be aware that "I am ignorant" creates the possibility of seeking, searching in your own interiority for the truth – for your truth.

Compassion is the ultimate transformation of passion. You are in passion, but you go on thinking that you are right as you are. You go on defending yourself. And anything that disturbs your comfortable, mechanical life, you go against...

When you come to me you don't come to be awakened, you come to me so that you can dream beautiful, sweet dreams. That is your purpose in coming; that is not my purpose in being here. Once you are here you are caught. Then, slowly, slowly i start taking your dreams away. Then, slowly, slowly i go on destroying your illusions. Once your illusions are dropped, your dreams shattered, a great awakening is waiting you for you – a great awakening which makes you a Buddha. And compassionate.

Excerpt from Walking in Zen Sitting in Zen.

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Freedom from biology

Aug 22, 2010, 12.00am IST
Swami Sukhabodhananda.

What happens to our soul when our body turns to ashes on the funeral pyre?

Our physical body is called sthulashariram or gross body. Our limited self is called sukshmashariram or subtle body. There is a third entity called karanashariram or casual body. Now the sthulashariram is the abode of jeevatma, the spirit of life. It is not the body, but it gets identified with the body. The soul, along with the mind, is the seat of consciousness. The body is only a vehicle, and when it is consigned to flames after physical death, the soul is set free from its mortal coils. Then it searches for another body that will be its vehicle for another lifetime. At the end of this search, depending upon its karma, it is assigned to a particular body. The soul begins life anew in that body. In reality, the soul is immortal.

For example: The space in the room appears limited by the room. Is the space enclosed within the four walls of the room or is the room a small enclosure in the vast unlimited space of the universe? The room is a tiny speck in space. But we say there is space in the room. Think of the jeevatma as space and of the body as the walls of the room that encloses part of the space. Now suppose the walls of the room crumble down. Will the space previously contained within the room suffer any damage or dissolution? No, the space returns to its state of continuity which had earlier with the space outside the walls. To realize this is gnanodayam or the dawn of knowledge.

Doesn't the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth negate the law of karma?

No, it does not. It means the soul is on an unending journey of evolution. The question is whether you want to hasten this process, or you want to allow this process as it happens at its own pace. For example, if you are into agriculture, you pump water into your fields when there is no rain for a long period. The water enriches the process of crop growth which would otherwise be slowed down by delayed rains. Irrigation technology speeds up the agricultural process. Likewise, there are spiritual methods to enlighten the process of birth and rebirth.

Is time a dimension of the world of life even after death?

When you are conscious of the soul's essential transcendence of physical dimensions, you are beyond the confines of time. But if you don't have this awareness, that is, if you are operating from ignorance, you are subject to time, even though you have the potential to transcend it. For example, we know that space is not limited by the walls or the roof of a room. But space, not being conscious, is incapable of extending itself to its vast expanse outside until an external agency brings the walls down. It stays confined within concrete boundaries. The liberation that the heightened consciousness leads to is called jeevan mukti – liberation from biological life. If we remain ignorant of our true nature, we remain in bondage to our body nature with its trappings of kama or sexual desire, krodha or anger, lobha or non-restraint, and moha or greed. True knowledge liberates, whereas ignorance binds.

Student, " Where can I find God?"

Master, "Right in front of you"

Student, "Then why don't I see him?"

Master, "Why doesn't a drunkard recognise his own house? Find out what you are drunk with, and then you will find God in front of you."

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Life, a laughing matter

Aug 27, 2010, 12.00am IST MURALI A RAGHAVAN.

Humour relieves boredom, eases tension and enlivens the atmosphere. Laughing at oneself is a good way to keep one's ego in check. Yet `serious' spiritual seekers tend to think that humour and spirituality are poles apart. This is far from the truth.

Evolved masters have a sense of humour, and they often use humour to drive home a point. Gurus like Kanchi Paramacharya, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Chinmaynanda and Swami Dayananda Saraswati sprinkled their talks liberally with humour.

Swami Chinmayananda was once scouting for a suitable venue in Chennai to hold his Geeta Gyana Yagna. Most temples, under the dominant influence of Brahmins, were reluctant to help out. Finally, one of his disciples rushed to him with the news that a Muslim was ready to make available his empty bungalow for the purpose. "But there is a problem," said the disciple, "the house is believed to be haunted." On hearing this, the Swami quipped: "What a wonderful opportunity! I've never seen a ghost in my life!"

Every morning, Ramana Maharshi would walk up the Arunachala hill. Once a stranger spotted him all alone, and wishing to have darshan, he walked faster and managed to overtake the Maharshi and stood in front of him, blocking his way. With folded palms he said " Swamiji, this is a great day for me. You have blessed me with your darshan." The Maharshi responded: "This is really funny. What darshan you're talking about? It is you who have come before me and given me your darshan."

On another occasion a group of American devotees who were seated at a distance from Maharshi because of the crowd, asked him whether they could move forward so that Maharshi's grace will be upon them. Maharshi replied that he has no objection to their moving forward but his grace was always there for everyone irrespective of proximity. The group, nonetheless, pushed forward and almost came near him. After some time the devotees requested Maharshi to place his palms on their head so that they can receive the grace in full measure. An amused Maharshi said: "Next you might ask me to sign a bond and take me to court if you imagine that the grace has not worked!' The entire gathering burst into laughter.

While delivering a discourse on the Gita Swami Dayananda Saraswati narrated the following story: There were three terminally ill patients and the doctor asked them to express their last wish so that he could arrange to fulfill them. The first patient said that he would like to meet the priest and confess. The second said that he would like to meet his entire family. The doctor took care of the requests. He turned to the third patient who muttered: "I'd like to see another doctor."


A scholar approached Kanchi Paramacharya and boasted that he was an expert on the Gita. The seer asked him if he could spare some time to hold a 10-day discourse at the local temple. The scholar assented. On the first day 50 people were came to hear him and the attendance dwindled on subsequent days. The scholar said to Paramacharya and said: "What sort of a town is this? No one seems to be interested in the Gita. On first day there was a crowd of 50, second day 25 and on the third day there were only two persons to listen to me!'
With a twinkle in his eye the seer remarked: "Why fret? When Krishna spoke the Gita there was only one person to listen to him!"

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Nothing belongs to me

Aug 20, 2010, 12.00am IST
TNN.

Who is responsible for action that takes place? If you think that you are, you will need to reflect on the question. Never consider yourself as the doer of actions.


God himself is the doer and the one undergoing action. You have not made this world and the weight of this world is not over you. If you surrender to the One who has made this world and who is taking care of this world, then whatever you do will be noble and good for everybody.

Krishna said to Arjuna in the Bhagvad Geeta: "Give up your pride, beliefs and attachment to body and then come to my rescue. I am all-knowing and am the supreme soul. By doing so, you will experience divine peace and reach the supreme blissful state."

By believing God to be the doer, the karta and the one undergoing action (Bharata), one surrenders to God completely. If you feed a beggar and then think that you were the one who fed the poor beggar, then this reflects petty behavior, it's tamas. A believer in rajas or action will think that he was fortunate to feed the beggar and thanks God for giving him this opportunity to offer his service.

While a believer of satva or truth will think that he was just a mediator, it was God who gave strength to his hands to feed the God who is in the beggar. Your heart will become pure if you believe that by serving your mother or a guest or anybody else you are actually serving God in another form. Don't think that you served the helpless mother or guest. Those people appear to be helpless in their physical form but in reality the all-knowing God is present in them. God is the doer and the one undergoing action.

You will be successful every time you believe in the presence of God behind every action. One enjoys meditation, japa, worship or service when there is the belief that, "My dear Lord is doing and He only is getting that done!"

Whenever you come in submission to God knowingly or unknowingly, your work becomes divine, you are able to complete work without being worried and after completion also you feel the sweetness of that work. The result of selfish and evil work is unhappiness, depression and loss of peace of mind.

People may praise an officer using attractive words even if he is not praiseworthy, in order to get their work done. The officer then starts thinking that he is indispensable to the work being done. But when that officer retires, nobody recognises him.

God is the only true officer of all. If somebody praises you that you are a big person, then you should understand that you are not big, He is big who is making your heart beat and brain work.

If you sit down for meditation for two hours and spend the rest of 22 hours in inflating your pride, there will be no spiritual growth. It is good to devote time to prayer and meditation, but the rest of the time one should think: "There is the hand of God in whatever work is being done, that very God is the doer and is the one undergoing action." If you start contemplating on this thought, then you will soon realise the true self of God.

There is nothing mine in me, whatever is there is yours.
www.ashram.org
(Discourse: Asaram Bapu)

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Guru is a circuit breaker

Aug 6, 2010, 12.00am IST
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

A city without streets, a king without treasure, a merchant without business and a life without a guru are all considered the same. Why the emphasis on guru? Why do you need a guru?


Life sometimes seems very complicated. There is pleasure, pain, happiness, suffering, generosity, greed, passion and dispassion. When our life is full of such opposing values, our mind sometimes becomes unable to handle these complications and just breaks down.


It is then that you need wisdom to guide you through troubled times. Guru is that wisdom. You might have noticed you give great advice when you are not involved in a situation but the same is not true when you are in trouble. This is because wisdom dawns when you are out of the mess. Guru is one who is out of the mess. He watches the chaos, amidst the chaos.

Guru is like a circuit breaker. When you cannot handle life, your guru comes and saves so that you remain sane and balanced. If there is a compelling desire that bothers you, your guru is there to offer solace. You offer all your desires and pain to your guru. Having a guru means being able to relax and smile all the time, walk with confidence, be fearless and have a vision. That is wisdom.

Guru is a tattva -- an element, a quality inside you. It is not limited to a body or form. Guru comes in your life in spite of your refusing or being rebellious. The guru principle is so vital in life. There is an element of the guru in every human being. That wisdom in each has to be invoked, awakened. When this element is awakened, misery in life disappears. In our consciousness, wisdom comes to life when guru tattva comes to life. When we have no desires of our own, then the guru tattva dawns in our life. Wake up and see that our life is changing every moment and feel grateful for whatever you have received.


Guru Purnima is to review your growth. This review will give you encouragement. If you think you haven't grown enough on the spiritual path in the past few years, then you have not utilised the knowledge. If you feel you are stuck somewhere, then the realisation that you are stuck is also growth.
That is why we celebrate Guru Purnima. It is the day when the devotee arises in full gratitude and feels grateful for the great knowledge he has received from the Master. It is time to review how much knowledge you have ingrained in your life and how you are growing in knowledge. This may bring about a realisation for scope of improvement, which in turn will bring humility in you. Be grateful for the way this knowledge has transformed you. Just think how you could have been without this. Gratitude and humility together make bloom a genuine prayer inside you.


On Guru Purnima, remember all gurus of the past. When your life is full, you get a feeling of gratitude then you start with the guru and end up adoring everything in life. On Guru Purnima the devotee wakes up in full gratitude. The devotee becomes like an ocean moving in itself. Guru Purnima is a time to celebrate and rise in devotion and gratitude.

www.artofliving.org

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Minimum qualification

Aug 1, 2010, 12.00am IST

Shri Shri Anandamurti.

As the sphere of knowledge increases, many secrets of the world do not remain secret. Yoga is one such. By dint of practising yoga one comes in contact with the causal factors of many secrets.
The great Yogi Sadaìshiva systematised different branches of yoga. His spouse, Paìrvati, was also a yogini; and for the welfare of humankind Shiva and Paìrvati created a practice. The questions placed before Shiva by Paìrvati and the answers given by Shiva collectively form the shaìstras.


Many important questions were placed before Shiva. These questions were known as nigama, and the answers were known as aìgama. The collective name of aìgama and nigama is Tantra. Once Paìrvati asked Shiva, "O Lord, for many duties, many posts, there are prescribed minimu m qualifications; what is the minimum qualification for attaining salvation?" Shiva said that the minimum qualification for salvation is nothing but a human body and a human mind. That is enough. Shiva said: "For attainment of salvation one should know oneself, and by knowing oneself one attains salvation."
What is Self-realisation? The human mind has three types of movements. The first is extro-internal projection, that is, an external object moving towards the inner side of existence. The second type is intro-external. The sentiment comes from the inner side and is expressed in the physical world. And the third one is movement of mind towards Spirit. "To know" means subjectivisation of external objectivity. When the external object becomes one with the objective portion of the mind, it is called knowledge.


What is Self-knowledge or Self-realisation? In this case the mind knows the spirit, that is, movement of mind is towards spirit. Now, how can the mind know the spirit when the Supreme Spirit, P arama Purusìa is the Omniscient Entity, the only Omniscient Entity?


The Supreme Entity, Parama Purusìa, is Omniscient. He not only sees what you do, He also sees what you think, what you are contemplating, what the thought-waves of your mind are. He i s Omniscient, and you are His object. He sees what you do. He is the subject, and you are the object. Then how can the mind know Him? That is, how can the mind be the subject and He the object? He sees your mind; how can your mind see Him? How can your mind accept Him as the object and your mind remain the subject?
What is the secret? It is that whatever you are doing, whatever you are thinking, you should always remember that that action of yours, your thoughts, is being witnessed by Him. If you remember this, He remains the subject and you remain the object. But wh at happens? Because you are always thinking of Parama Purusìa, indirectly He also becomes the object; although actually He is the subject and you are the object, because He is the all-witnessing faculty.


Shiva said that the minimum qualification is a human mind and a human body, and with the help of this human mind and human body one may attain salvation. One may come in His contact; because it is only the human mind that can think that Parama Purusìa is witnessing all activities and one's thoughts. Wh en one is established in this stance, it is said that one has attained salvation.

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A mantra that cheers

Aug 19, 2010, 12.00am IST
LILASHAHJI.
Is there anyone among us who does not wish to be happy? That's unlikely. However, happiness and sorrow do not drop from the skies. Your thoughts are the cause of happiness and sorrow. Even if you are in a happy state, and a sad thought enters your mind, you suddenly feel unhappy, isn't it?

If you want to be ever cheerful, remember the following mantra: "Even this shall pass." Let this be inscribed indelibly in your heart. With the practice of this mantra you can remain alert in the event of both pleasure and pain and stop yourself from getting engrossed in them. Then, you can establish yourself in the supreme bliss equanimity.

Pairs of opposites such as pleasure and pain, honour and insult, joy and sorrow affect the body. They will come and go in greater or lesser degree so long as the body exists. Do not be overwhelmed by them. You are the absolute Self, imperishable Atman while pleasures and pains are fleeting. How can they ever affect you? They have no existence of their own. In fact, they appear on the ground of your existence. You are distinct from them. Hence witness them, withstand them, and let them pass away. Be ever blissful and peaceful.

There is no object that brings pleasure or pain. They are creations of your mind, your thoughts and feelings. With the help of these thoughts be absorbed in your own eternal Being, the Truth absolute and be always peaceful.
You are the Supreme Bliss, Brahmn personified. It is your Self that dwells in all. The happiness that appears in the world is in fact just a glimpse of Self-bliss. It is your inner bliss but because of your ignorance, you think it is obtained from external objects of sense pleasures. Just as the sun's reflection in water is not the real sun but is merely an illusory appearance thereof, so also is the pleasure experienced through sense-enjoyments – it is not real bliss. It is illusion, not real.

Supreme Brahmn alone is existence, consciousness and bliss absolute. It is the One absolute reality which appears as existence, consciousness and bliss in different beings. But one who has a pure heart beholds the Lord as the One, non-dual Reality. A person prayed to Swami Ramatirtha, "Swamiji! Bless me that i become king of the world." Swami Ramatirtha asked him, "What will you do if you become so?" The man replied, "I will be pleased and happy."

Swami Ramatirtha said, "Suppose you become a king, you will still come across many miseries in your life since the things through which you seek pleasure are themselves transient. They never remain with anybody forever, then how will they stay with you? Better than that, if you renounce the desire for seeking pleasure from transient things you will attain supreme bliss right now. That would be greater than the happiness you can derive from your dream kingdom."

The mind becomes peaceful when it overcomes desires; then you can experience imperishable bliss. True peace lies only in the renunciation of desires.

A content person alone can remain happy. Even a millionaire is bankrupt without contentment. A content person is the wealthiest of all. He alone attains peace. Appreciate the present. Overcome greed and be content with what you have. Give thanks to God. Then you could help others achieve bliss.

http://www.ashram.org/

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A dualistic interpretation

Aug 23, 2010, 12.00am IST
Pranav Khullar.

Implicit in bhakti or devotion is surrender to a personal deity. Herein lies the metaphysical doctrine of tattvavada, a uniquely dualistic interpretation of the nature of reality as advocated by Madhvacharya.


Madhva's philosophy of making a distinction between the Absolute and individual soul also known as the dvaita school of Vedanta, proposes bhakti as an imperative, as the only means of merging with the Self. This dualistic metaphysics is the basis of the theistic-Vaishnavite schools of thought
Madhva's concept of Five Distinctions is his elaboration of the dualistic vision of reality. The Panch Bheda doctrine provides the logical and empirical basis for philosophy of realism , tattvavada, by looking at the difference between one jiva or individual being-soul and another, the difference between Ishwara the Creator and jiva , the difference between jiva and jada or inanimate , between Ishwara and jada, and between jada and jada By formulating an uncompromising dualism at all levels , especially the rigid separation of Creator and individual soul, Madhva not only lays down the pristine purity principle of God , but also goes on to emphasise bhakti as the only means to bridge the gulf between the Absolute and empirical world.


While Sankara's advaita sees the external world as maya or illusion, vyavaharika or a sort of temporary reality, and Ramanuja's vishishtadvaita views the outer phenomena and objects as a projection-spark of the Absolute, Madhva focuses on difference as the only genuine pramana or experience of every being -- everything and everyone is different, our experiential life recognises only that , as is borne out by pratyaksha or our sense perception. Madhva says other realities are also not created by the Creator, but exist simultaneously with the Self. This kind of bipolar consciousness, where the knower and the object of knowledge remain distinct, lays the foundation for his theistic view of life as well.


Madhva asserts that jnana or knowledge is not capable of giving liberation, as the empirical world and its bondages are willed by Brahmn, whom Madhva identifies with Vishnu. In contrast to the Knowledge Principle of Shankara, Madhva says that moksha is possible only through Grace, the Grace of the Creator, whose is the only independent tattva or reality in the dvaita system. All other beings are termed dependant realities, not created but co-existing with Vishnu the Creator, and will continue to coexist in their distinction, even after realisation.


Madhva contends that sublimation of the world is not only impossible, but not required since the time-space framework model is all there is; even God as Vishnu loves it the way it is. According to Madhva knowledge of the Self experienced intuitively by the sakshi or witnes, the energy of atman, does not imply the illusory character of the physical world as Sankara held. The realisation of God as the Prime Mover, on the contrary, further establishes the yathartha or factual character of the world we live in.
The notion of bimba-pratibimbavada -- source as Vishnu and reflection as all dependant beings -- puts Madhva's dvaita school of thought as the philosophical fountainhead of later Vaishnavite bhakti traditions. For, bhakti, according to Madhvacharya, is one of the greatest spiritual values for the average person.

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The saint and the scorpion

Aug 30, 2010, 12.00am IST
SWAMI CHIDANANDA.

One day a sadhu went to the river to bathe. There he noticed a scorpion struggling in the water. Scorpions cannot swim and the sadhu knew that if he did not save the scorpion, it would drown...


Therefore, carefully picking up the scorpion, the monk rescued it from drowning and was just about to set it down gently on land when the scorpion stung his finger. In pain, the sadhu instinctively flung his hand and the scorpion went flying, back into the river. As soon as the sadhu regained his composure from the sting, he again lifted the scorpion out of the water. Again, before he could set the scorpion safely on land, the creature stung him. This drama went on for several minutes as the sadhu continued to try to save the life of the drowning scorpion and the scorpion continued to sting his saviour's hand before reaching the freedom of the riverbank.


A hunter watched as the saint carefully and gingerly lifted the creature out of the water, only to fling it back in as he convulsed in pain from each fresh sting. Finally, the hunter said to the sadhu, "Forgive me for my frankness, but it is clear that the scorpion is simply going to continue to sting you each and every time you try to carry it to safety. Why don't you give up and just let it drown?"

The sadhu replied: "My dear child, the scorpion is not stinging me out of malice or evil intent. Just as it is the water's nature to make me wet, so it is the scorpion's nature to sting. He doesn't realise that I am carrying him to safety. That is a level of conscious comprehension greater than what his brain can achieve. But, just as it is the scorpion's nature to sting, so it is my nature to save. Just as he is not leaving his nature, why should I leave my nature? My dharma is to help any creature of any kind – human or animal. Why should I let a small scorpion rob me of the divine nature which I have cultivated through years of sadhana?"


In our lives we encounter people who harm us, insult us, plot against us, whose actions seem calculated to thwart the successful achievement of our goals. Sometimes these are obvious acts, such as a co-worker who continually steals our ideas or speaks badly of us to our boss. Sometimes these acts are subtle – a friend, relative or colleague who unexpectedly betrays us or who we find has been surreptitiously speaking negatively about us behind our back.


Slowly we find that our own actions, words and thoughts become driven by anger and pain. We find ourselves engaged in cunning thoughts of revenge. Before we realise it, we are injuring ourselves by allowing negative emotions dominate us. They insulted us or plotted against us or sabotaged a well-deserved achievement at work. But we injure ourselves more deeply and more gravely by allowing our hearts and minds to darken.


Our dharma is to be kind, pure, honest, giving, sharing and caring. Others, due to ignorance, lack of understanding or due to the way in which their own karmic drama is unfolding, may act with malice, deceit, selfishness and indifference. But we must not let their actions or their ignorance deprive us of fulfilling our dharma. We must not allow ourselves to be lowered by their ignorance, their habits or their greed. The darkness in their heart should not be allowed to penetrate into the lightness of our hearts.

Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh

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Destroy your mind

Aug 30, 2010, 12.00am IST
LILASHAHJI.

Destroy your mind. Only then you can know Vedanta.


Vidyaranya Swami says, " Mind verily is the root of the tree of samsara with thousands of sprouts, branches and leaves. To suppress sankalpas -- thoughts and imagination -- it is essential to devitalise the mind by forceful effort and destroy it. By doing so, the tree of samsara will wither away."


Vasishtha says, "An unrestrained mind alone is the cause of degeneration while a controlled mind causes progress." Restraint of mind is the only means to control it to uproot disquietude and agitation. The mind is like a poisonous snake sitting with its hood raised in the forest of the heart. It is filled with the deadly poisons of resolves and counter-resolves. I pay my obeisance to the one who has overcome the poisonous snake that resides in the mind and liberate the mind so that it becomes free of vices. Once rid of the poison, the mind is as perfect as a full moon." The mind of an enlightened one gets destroyed while that of an ignorant one is boound and fettered, unable to experience freedom. Unless the mind is controlled through steadfast practice towards realising the Supreme Truth, it keeps wavering, flitting about without direction.


When the mind is not restrained, it develops a penchant for power and influence. The root cause of this is the feeling of imperfection in oneself. With the eradication of the sense of identification with the body, one becomes free from attachment to it, which in turn leads to the complete eradication of the sense of 'mine-ness' regarding relations of the body and the objects related to it.


How can desires stay in the mind of one who has been freed from ego and the sense of 'i-ness' and 'mine-ness' regarding the objects of samsara? His desires are destroyed like the lotus that withers in autumn. He whose desires have been eradicated is liberated. It is only those who have cultivated ways of reining in the mind and using it at will who can be counted as being wise and fortunate.


The mind is the seed of the forest of samsara. One who has destroyed this seed has nothing to fear anymore. Just as a lion roams fearlessly even in the midst of various ferocious animals in the forest, so also does he move about blissfully, free from pairs of opposites, and fearless even in the midst of obstacles, troubles, pleasures, pains, honour and dishonour.


Every one us us wants to lead a happy, blissful and peaceful life forever but unless we learn to control the mind, happiness and peace would be impossible to achieve. It is is not enough to merely listen to discourses and read scriptures for hours on end. One needs to practice what one has heard sages say. By doing what one wishes to do without a thought to whether actions are commensurate with the requirements that take one on the right path, how can one become liberated?


The one who completely assimilates the knowledge imparted by saints and scriptures, attains liberation. He becomes the master of not only his mind but of the three worlds as well.


Hence control the mind by means of the techniques imparted by great saints. If you overcome your mind, you have overcome the world because the mind alone is the root cause of all that one experiences in the world. It is only when the mind attains the state of no-mind-ness (amani bhava) that one becomes happy, blissful and altruistic in life.

www.ashram.org

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Consciousness as guide

Aug 19, 2010, 12.00am IST
SWAMI BRAHMDEV.

There are infinite levels of consciousness; all is consciousness. This play is infinite; the Divine is infinite; the levels are infinite. God is infinite so everything is infinite. We cannot say that there are ten levels, twenty levels: it's infinite.

That's the idea. Life is a journey to the infinite. You can never say that you have already reached it, that this is the end. It is always a beginning.

Time means the distance between two things. Most of the time we are in the past and when we are in the past, we create a distance. So if we want to go out from the time, we must get free of the past. Or maybe we are in the future, and then again we create a distance between the future and ourselves. We wait for the future and we don't live now, in the present.

Time is now, but we create a distance: we are either in the past, or in the future. If we want to get free from time, we must get free from past and future. We have to be always in the present, with the present time in our hands.

If we become servile, we lose our freedom with our way of thinking. If we don't hold on to anything, we are free. If we learn to leave, we will be free.

We hold on and then we say we are not free. Learn to leave fast, never possess, get free from past and future: time will be with you and you will be fully free.

It would be easier to do so by realising the value of life, of existence. We don't know the importance of our lives, and that's why we waste the present moment.

We are always absent from life. We are in the past or future, with memories of the past and fears of the future. This is normal human life, the way of living: always absent from the present.

The power, the joy of the present is so strong, so beautiful and big, that you will not miss your memories. Why do you invoke memories? Because you miss something and when you miss something, you open the album. The power of now, of the present is so great and full that you won't miss anything.

When we live in the present our capacities grow more. Generally, we have memory of the past to enable us to remember the past. When we live in the present we do not need to rely on memory.

The ultimate aim of nature's process of making the human consciousness grow is to give us the realisation, to increase our consciousness. That's the only object of life. All the rest are processes or experiments with or without love, with or without suffering. All the tools of nature are working to make humanity more conscious.

Spirituality means to live with that consciousness. Everything is moving and changing but we are witnesses watching the play, not disturbing it, not interfering, just enjoying.


The Self is a big word. Bring your Self to the front seat so you can direct your own movements. That's why Sri Aurobindo said: "To grow your consciousness, grow your awareness, your understanding, your knowledge. If you exist with consciousness, with good understanding, with knowledge, you are able to give direction to your movements. Then, you can tell your mind where to go.


But now you have no control: if the mind wants this, you go there."
Life is movement and the movement needs a guide. Consciousness is the guide
As told to Sudhamahi Regunathan. Swami's email: aurovalley@gmail.com

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Say, enough is enough

Aug 23, 2010, 12.00am IST
HOMAYUN TABA.

It is no longer `cool' to use the word 'contentment' for the simple reason that currently, the constantly heard or read words are aspiration, acquisition, more, and growth. It's time, therefore to revisit the meaning of contentment.

True contentment does not ask us to end aspiration or advancement, but asks us to appreciate and enjoy what we've got before we can focus on getting more. Many, after getting something for which they hankered after, immediately begin a new search for something different; the process never seems to end. At times we even forget why we needed something or someone. Discontent can become an addiction. "Being human," says philosopher Husserl, "is a characteristic of a being who faces the question: After satisfaction, what?"

Things, people and situations do diminish in charm or utility; you often feel the need for change. It is perhaps not practical to say: "I am content with my typewriter and have no desire for a computer."

However there seems to be a tendency to be dissatisfied with whatever one has, from possessions and relationships, to one's city or country. Is the grass really greener on the other side? Unlikely. An untested belief is that the grass is greener on the other side.

There are two dynamics operating here. The locus can be internal; the person in general is restless, unhappy and dissatisfied. Or it is triggered by external factors; one's discontent is caused by what one sees, desires, or is tempted by.

Contentment was regarded as a sadhana, a spiritual observance, its focus being the mobilisation of one's own mechanism of resistance to acquiring, intended to help one arrive at a state of needlessness. This is not easy even for sages.

It is helpful to see contentment as a state of being that brings with it a certain measure of wakefulness. This creates a sense of comfort with whatever one has at the moment -- and is a cure for dwelling on what one lacks.

Contentment carries a component of thankfulness. When you go to a pharmacy and realise that there are many medicines you can do without, you feel grateful for your state of health.

Contentment may be described as a place between boredom and greed, between the burdensome and need for the novel. In Sanskrit, contentment is referred to as santosh and better translated as fulfillment, distinguished from ashutosh - one who gets satisfied easily but perhaps also temporarily.

Contentment looks into the essentials, requiring a certain eye that takes time to develop. I would go a step ahead and say it is an art.

In this age of quantity and variety, how else could one find protection against the virus of discontent? Masters across cultures have invited us to observe the beautiful effects of contentment, an invaluable asset that helps us find a positive orientation in life.

Everyone cannot be a mahatma; we could at least try to find contentment in whatever way we can. "To know you have enough is to be rich," offered Lao-Tzu; and so say the Taoists, Thoreau, Zen masters, and Sufis.

Contentment offers us a method, a particular angle of viewing certain kinds of truths that are better approached and achieved by this path. Contentment does not mean closing your eyes and ears to reality, or shunning the new; it focuses on being discerning, so that we become 'open-eyed perceivers'.
Where do we draw the line and say 'enough is enough' so that we can achieve balance between what we can acquire and what we can use, big or small? The wisdom of life as always, consists in the elimination of non-essentials.

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Bani, the ultimate guru

Aug 6, 2010, 12.00am IST
KULBIR KAUR.

Bani, the Divine Truth, is the voice of God and is the manifestation of the Formless Lord

Once Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, and his companion Bhai Mardana went to a village. In that village lived a thug in the garb of a holy man. Sajjan thug had built a mosque for Muslims and a temple for Hindus. He would serve travellers well by offering them food and shelter. But once it was night, he would kill them, taking possession of all their things.
Sajjan thug welcomed Guru Nanak and Mardana and took care of all their needs. He waited patiently for nightfall so that once they fell asleep he could carry out his usual criminal operation. However, the thug found that Mardana was playing on a Rabab and Guru Nanak was singing a hymn, a sacred Bani. The melody was beautiful. Mesmerised by the sight of the two men engrossed in devotion, and overwhelmed by the lyrical offering, the thug was now beginning to feel liberated. He fell at the Guru's feet, asking for forgiveness. After that, Sajjan not only devoted his entire life to reciting the Holy Name but also turned his house into a dharamshala, a haven for pilgrims, thus becoming a true Sajjan. Such is the impact of Bani or the Divine Word.

Bani or Gurbani refers to sacred compositions of gurus and devotees that have been compiled as the sacred Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Bani, the Divine Truth, is the voice of God and is the manifestation of the Formless Lord, says Guru Amar Das: "Hail, Hail, the Word of the Guru;/ Which is the Formless Lord Himself;/ There is none other, nothing else;/ To be reckoned equal to it." Recitation of Bani or even listening to it with devotion brings about the possibility of enlightenment. Bani, in the form of Shabad, arranged in 31 ragas, is poetry of love and devotion and the source of ultimate happiness.

Bani is also the spiritual and ethical guide. 'Sarang ki Var', Bani of Guru Ram Das, addresses the question: "What is the purpose of life?" Life is ridden with conflict - conflict between good and evil, worldly attachment and the pleasure of knowing the Supreme Being. But what are the causes leading to the conflict?

The root cause of conflict is haumai or man's ego that can bring only suffering. Man takes pride in his achievements but in reality it is the Lord, the Creator of the whole Universe who controls and determines each action. To understand the Hukam, His command, remembering His Name removes haumai and brings humility.


When you surrender to His Will, all doubts are removed and one gets answers to all the questions beyond human comprehension and control. The significance of Hukam or the Divine Order, is well expressed in the first Bani of the Guru Granth Sahib. The Japuji Sahib says: "All come within the Hukam, none beyond its authority. They who comprehend the Hukam, O Nanak, Renounce their self-centred pride." To surrender to His Hukam is the only way to realise the Truth.
The central theme of Bani is Nam simran, that is, the repetition of the Name of the Formless Lord which is Shabad, the Divine Truth. Shabad combined with classical music, Shabad-kirtan, creates a serene and a heavenly atmosphere, taking the devotee to the higher realm, allowing him to merge slowly in the Truth. Recitation of Bani or Shabad in the form of kirtan is an essential part of every Sikh's life. And why not, when Bani is the Ultimate Guru, both spiritual as well as moral.

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