Measuring Spiritual Growth

By Jaya Row

Shakespeare echoed the central theme of the Upanishads when he said in ‘As You Like It’ – “All the world’s a stage, / And all men and women merely players; / They have their exits and their entrances...”. Vedanta speaks of sakshi bhava or ‘witness attitude’ as a measure of spiritual growth. Objectivity is the key to material success, happiness as well as growth to one’s potential. Maintain the attitude of an observer, never getting entangled. Be impartial in all circumstances, non-partisan; unbiased, unprejudiced. Be like a spectator in a boxing match. If you jump into the ring you could get beaten up by both parties.

You are an actor in the drama of life. Play your role wholeheartedly, dispassionately, perfectly and exit gracefully when the time comes. Don’t get entangled in a make-believe world.

Atman, the spirit, is completely objective. It enables all your activities but has nothing to do with their functioning. Just as fuel propels all cars to move but does not determine their performance. Electricity is the same in all gadgets but is not responsible for manifestations.

At Kurukshetra, Arjuna is overwhelmed by emotion. Grief-stricken, he refuses to perform his duty. He asks Krishna, his friend and mentor, for help. Krishna’s opening remarks in the Bhagwad Gita are,“The wise do not grieve either for the living or the dead. All grief is because of wrong identification and attachment”. You believe that the cause of your misery is out there in the world. You blame the spouse, kids, the government and even the weather for your unhappiness. As long as you believe the world is causing you sorrow, there will never be a solution to your problems.

You are responsible for your sorrow. As long as you identify with the body, mind and intellect, you will be unhappy. These instruments are matter as world is also matter. Matter affects matter, just as magnet attracts iron. You are neither body, mind nor intellect; you are spirit. The world does not have the power to affect the spirit but you think it does because of your involvement with body, mind and intellect. Just remember you are atman and interact with body, mind and intellect. Then you will remain a sakshi, witness, of everything but never get involved.

You go through three states of consciousness – waking, dream and deep sleep – all projections of your mind. The real you is atman, the fourth state. Live life as if you are re-entering a dream, knowing its illusory nature, tongue-in-cheek, objectively, joyfully. Do what you have to do, without involvement, entanglement or heartburn.

Objectivity is the secret of enjoyment. You are able to enjoy a tragic movie because you know you are not a part of it. Had you been even remotely connected with the happenings in the movie you would suffer. Practise objectivity by observing the world around you. Observe external objects, people around you, their appearance, emotions, and thoughts. Then shift your attention to your own body, mind and intellect. You will be in an oasis of peace and tranquillity in the midst of turbulence around.

The mind is the realm of emotions and feelings; the intellect is of reason, discrimination and judgement. The mind is involved, attached and partisan. The intellect is capable of remaining objective, unbiased and unprejudiced. Use your intellect, strengthen it so you are objective in all situations. From such an impersonal viewpoint, you will find life entertaining.

A Rationalist View Of God

By Atul Sehgal

Rigvedic hymns offer a succinct account of the nature of God in true, scientific terms. They describe God as a spiritual substance pervading the entire, infinite universe. As a spiritual entity, God is omnipresent and every material object of the universe is contained in this spiritual substance or medium. The terms that denote this are ‘sarvavyapak’ and ‘vyapta.’

Imagine a small piece of chalk dropped in a glassful of water. Within seconds, water will percolate the chalk piece. Once water has been fully absorbed by the chalk, it can be said that water pervades all space within the glass tumbler including the chalk piece and also that the chalk piece is contained in water. Water represents the spiritual substance called God and the chalk piece, a material object of the universe.

Rigveda and Atharvaveda describe God as the most subtle substance existing throughout the universe. They talk of three cardinal entities in the infinite universe. These are: i) inanimate and eternal material nature (matter) composed of five elements – earth, water, fire, air and ether ii) countless souls existing as animate eternal spiritual finite entities and iii) one eternal, animate infinite spiritual entity called God.

The soul is subtler than matter and God is subtler than soul. Matter is made of particles –electrons, protons, neutrons and positrons. The soul being subtler than matter can reshape, relocate and work upon finite portions of matter, but God as the most subtle spiritual substance holds complete control over matter and souls. This control comes through centrifugal action which is directed from within outwards. God regulates the existence of soul by providing it physical body and enabling it to refine itself and evolve through enlightenment. The process of enlightenment culminates in salvation of soul. The process of refinement and evolution involves association of soul with a physical body through a process of birth, growth, ageing and death which repeats itself.

If God is understood as supreme, infinitesimal, all-pervading spiritual substance, his power over matter and soul becomes clear. Then, we would not need to regard God as an object of obeisance through blind faith; rather we would understand God scientifically. Superstition would yield place to scientific enquiry and curiosity, which would be satisfied rationally. This would make way for true communion with God and true tapping of his infinite beneficent energy which action is called ‘worship’.

The soul, Vedas say, is endowed with limited knowledge, understanding and intellectual prowess. God, on the other hand, is omniscient. Because the soul is limited by understanding, souls residing in human bodies perceive God in multifarious ways. Out of their ignorance about the real nature of God, they begin to view the formless God through totems, images and forms. This ignorance further creates multiple schools of religion and faith, many of which differ sharply on basic precepts and premises. This is precisely the reason why there is so much strife and discord in the world in the name of religion.

If only we human beings began to understand the simple, matter-of-fact metaphysical truths expounded in Vedas, they would easily converge to a common, shared understanding of God and God’s relationship with matter and living beings. That would enhance peace, harmony and empathy among human beings and would surely make this earth a much better place to live in, thus facilitating the physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual evolution of us human beings towards the goal of salvation.

Look Up

THE BUZZARD



If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner.

The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet.

Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

THE BAT



The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.
THE BUMBLEBEE




A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.
PEOPLE

In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee.

We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up!


That's the answer, the escape route and the solution to any problem...

Just look up!

--------------------------------
Sorrow looks back,
Worry looks around,
But faith looks up!
Live simply,
Love generously,
Care deeply,
Speak kindly, and
Trust in our Creator,



Who loves us.

Life Is Like That

"Not everything that counts can be counted,

and not everything that can be counted counts."

"Your only limitations are those you set up in your mind,

or permit others to set up for you."

IF EVERYONE IS HAPPY WITH YOU,
THEN SURELY YOU HAVE MADE MANY COMPROMISES IN YOUR LIFE,
BUT IF YOU ARE HAPPY WITH EVERYONE
SURELY YOU HAVE IGNORED MANY FAULTS OF OTHERS.......!!!!
Life is of two days...
One day will be in your favour...
One day will be against you...
Be Thankful to God and don't feel proud when a day is in your favour...
And trust God and be patient when a day is against you...
Generosity is to help a deserving person without his request,
and if you help him after his request,
then it is either out of self-respect or to avoid rebuke.
The only way to do great work is to love what you do.
If you haven't found it yet, keep looking..
Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart,
You'll know when you find it.

RAM NAAM

Ram Naam

Once a Guru or teacher was teaching Vishnu sahasra naam
to a group of boys aged between 8 and 12 years.
Guru chanted the slokam :

Sri Ram Ram Ramethi Rame Rame Manorame
Sahasranaama Tathulyam Ram Naam Varaanane

and told the students, "if you chant Ram naam three times,
it is equivalent to chanting the whole Vishnu Sahasranaam or
chanting Lord's Naam 1000 times. One of the boys was very
naughty and always had questions about everything the teacher
said. Immediately he asked " Guro, how can three times become
equal to 1000 times? I do not get the logic. Please explain to us
how that equation of 3 naam =1000 naam works".

Guru was not only smart, but was a great devotee of Lord Ram.
In one moment, Guru knew how to explain the validity of the
unusual equation.
He said: Lord Shiva says that the name of Lord Ram is the
sweetest of all the words & chanting this name would be
equivalent to chanting the whole Vishnu Sahasranama or
thousand names of Vishnu .

Here is the interesting calculation by which we can prove that
3 times chanting of Rama naam becomes equivalent to 1000
times chanting or chanting the whole Vishnu Sahasra naam.

Take the name Ram. It has two Sanskrit letters Ra and Ma.
When you take the consonants in Sanskrit alphabet,
Ra is the second consonant in the group of five consonants
Ya, Ra, La, Va, Sha and
Ma is the fifth in the group of five consonants Pa, Pha, Ba, Bha, Ma.

When you substitute the value of RA and MA as 2 and 5
RAM is equivalent to 2x5 = 10. Then,
Sri Ram Ram Ram (iti) is equivalent to........................
2x5 x 2x5 x2x5 = 10x10x10 = 1000.

The boy was happy with the answer and started learning Vishun
Sahasranaam with full concentration and devotion.

Jai Shri Ram!
Sree Seetha Lakshmana Bharatha Shathrugna Hanumath
Sametha Sree Ramchandraswamine Namaha.