Why The Deep-Seated Hatred

A sutra from Ishavasya Upanishad says: “He who sees the entire world of animate and inanimate objectsin himself and also sees himself in all animate and inanimate objects, because of this, does not hate anyone.” Dislike or hatred of another is the basis of deep-seated complications. The word hatred means the desire to destroy the other. Love means being willing to sacrifice oneself for another, if necessary. In the way we all live there is an abundance of hatred and no music of love.

The feeling which we call love is, in fact, a form of hatred. In making love we make another our means for happiness; and hatred begins. In making love we live for our own self; to serve our own selfish end. We do something for another only when we have some hope of getting something from him - we desire the fruit; otherwise we do nothing. That is why our love may turn into hatred at any moment. If a small obstruction crops up that gets in the way of the fulfillment of our desire, our love will be changed into hatred. Love which can be turned into hatred and contempt is only concealed hatred. There is only hatred within, and the outer covering is just a semblance of love.

The Ishavasya presents here a very important sutra which makes love possible; otherwise not. Without understanding and acting upon this sutra, there is no possibility for the flower of love to open. This sutra says that hatred will come to an end only when a person begins to see himself in all animate and inanimate objects, and begins to see all animate and inanimate objects - the whole existence - in himself. Remember, the Ishavasya does not say that love will be born then but says, "Then hatred will come to an end."

If there is no hatred, love blooms of its own accord - spontaneously, naturally. It is like removing a stone blocking a small stream: once removed, the stream flows of its own accord. Similarly, the stone of hatred weighs on us and we are unable to see our faces reflected in the mirrors of all animate and inanimate objects; nor can we become mirrors reflecting all those objects in ourselves.

The person for whom the whole world becomes a mirror, himself becomes a mirror for the whole world. They happen simultaneously. The Upanishad says that when this happens, hatred disappears but it doesn’t say that love is born then, because love is eternal, it is our nature. Neither is it born, nor does it die.

Love is the nature of life, so it has neither birth nor death. Clouds of hatred are born and die. Love is covered when those clouds are born; it manifests itself when they disappear, when they are no more. But love is eternal, so the Upanishad does not talk of the birth of love, it says this much only: hatred dies and disappears.

But how? The sutra is not as easy as it appears. Mostly, there is great depth and intricacy hidden within easy matters. This sutra seems to be straightforward and easy. The whole statement is completed in two lines only. It says, the person who sees himself in all objects - animate and inanimate - and begins to see all objects in himself, will have his hatred destroyed. But to make all his mirror, or to be a mirror for all, is the greatest alchemy and art. There is no greater art. The Heartbeat of the Absolute, courtesy: Osho International Foundation, www.osho.com

Karthikai Deepam At Thirvannamalai

Karthigai Deepam at Thiruvannamalai Arunachaleshwara Swamy temple

Karthigai Deepam festivities at Thiruvannamalai Arunachaleshwara Swamy temple are the most famous one and popularly known as Karthikai Brahmotsavam. Karthigai Deepam festivity at Thiruvannamalai temple spans for 10 days. The celebration begins with Dwajarohanam on the day when Nakshatra Uthiraadam prevails at sunrise. Most of the time, Nakshatra Uthiraadam prevails 10 days before the main Karthigai Deepam day.

Karthigai Deepam should not be confused with Bharani Deepam which is inaugural ritual of Karthigai Deepam. Bharani Deepam is done before sunrise at 4 a.m. . Bharani Deepam day falls one day before or on the same day of Karthigai Deepam. Bharani Deepam is lit inside the temple premises when Bharani Nakshatra prevails. In most years Bharani Deepam is lit at 4 a.m. on the same day of Karthigai Deepam.

Karthigai Deepam is lit after sunset at 6 p.m. with the flame taken from Bharani Deepam. In the evening flame is carried at the top of the hill to light the Karthigai Maha Deepam.

Karthigai Deepam is also spelled as Karthikai Deepam.

Wherever I Look You Are There

By: M N Kundu
The word ‘nanak’ means fire in Persian and significantly, Guru Nanak brought heavenly fire to kindle the lamp of divine light in the heart of humanity. It was the light of divine love wherefrom sprang his doctrine of holy deed above bookish creed, spiritual illumination above illusive ego and saintly life above external indications. Hence he proclaimed, “Truth is higher than everything, but higher still is true living,” which consists of continuous meditation, sincere work and sharing the proceeds. Therefore continuously focus on essential divinity, work sincerely and give something generously away to others.

A mystic experience of ‘Alakh Niranjan’ – the Invisible One, without a second beyond all dualities of delusion and shaped his ideals and precepts. The ultimate reality is sagun, possessing all attributes, as well as nirgun, beyond all attributes and all-pervading. Hence he sings, “You are the ocean, all-knowing, all-seeing. How can I, a fish, perceive your limits? Wherever I look, there you are.”

The ephemeral world owes its existence to cosmic will and it reveals the Omnipresent. He is also revealed through shabad or cosmic vibration, the Onkar. Hence chanting forms an important part of his teachings as it is divine expression through which truth is revealed. We find in him a perfect synthesis of dualism of bhakti with absolute non-dualism reflecting essential singularity of the ultimate Being.

From this depth of realisation sprang his non-sectarian creed, “No one is Hindu; no one is Muslim.” He stood for the essential divinity expressed through humanity. Sectarian beliefs and rituals create manmade barriers and unending hypocrisy, he pointed out. He spread divine humanism with all-embracing love.
The time of his advent witnessed quarrels over religious trifles and deviation from the true spirit of religion. He advised all to dwell at the feet of the Lord in love. As non-sectarian he said, “God is neither Hindu nor Muslim.” His mystic communion with God was through the language of heart. When priests at Haridwar asked him about his caste he gave a poignant reply, “My caste is the caste of wood and fire.” And he advised the Muslims also to make mercy their mosque, sincerity their prayer-carpet and justice their Holy Quran.

Nanak said that the human mind follows either of the two directions, manmukh or gurumukh. Manmukhi or following dictates of the mind cultivates self-pride or egoism associated with lust, anger, craving, jealousy and delusive materialism. While gurumukhi or follower of the teachings of the guru lives life with deep, divine anchorage, protected from delusive reality. Hence he stressed the need for awareness to overcome the ocean of delusion.

Innate simplicity characterises the keynote of his teachings. He advised to take the name of Akal Purukha, the Eternal On, repeatedly with utmost devotion and live a life of service and sacrifice with sincere humility. For him the soul is the bride and God is the bridegroom and our brief life is intended to make a union of the two.

He wanted his disciples to grow in meditation with japa which involves eightfold sadhana of purity, silence, concentration, realisation, patience, faith, satsanga and living the mantra in daily life. He said, “I belong to no sect and adore but one God, I see Him in earth below and heavens above and in all directions and all are my brethren in One Beloved.
GURU NANAK JAYANTI On 28/11/2012

Why We Gamble During Diwali

By: Narayani Ganesh
God does not play dice with the universe, remarked Albert Einstein. Doesn’t She? In Indic cosmogony, Parvati not only plays dice with the universe, she is engaged in an eternal game of winning and losing with Shiva, her partner. It’s a game spanning the cosmic cycle of creation and destruction, of fragmentation and reunification. It is Cosmic Lila, Divine Play, the Grand Illusion, Maya.

Sculpted panels at the rock cut temples at Ellora, Maharashra, portray the cosmic couple engrossed in a game of dice. At first, there is the One, the Ardhanarishwara, the female and male principles merged in a single entity. Since Parvati wished to play dice, the One became two as Parvati and Shiva, and lo, there were two players. One partner losing meant destruction on a scale unimaginable – yet, the sparring divine couple continue the game or call it quits only till they resume play once again, never mind the risks. In play, Parvati gets miffed when she thinks Shiva is cheating while Shiva assures her that he is not. Once again the die is cast, there is either passionate reunion or fervent separation and so they play on.

Don Handelman and David Shulman in ‘God Inside Out: Siva’s Game of Dice’ recreate the conversation between Parvati and her attendant who asks, why play at all? “…it was wrong of you to play dice with him; haven’t you heard that dicing is full of flaws?” Parvati replies, “I won against that shameless man; and I chose him before for my lover. Now there is nothing I must do. Without me, he is virupa – ugly, formless. For him, there can be no separation or conjunction with me. I have made him formed or formless, as the case may be, just as I have created this entire universe, with all its gods. I just wanted to play with him for the sake of the game, to play with the causes of his emerging into activity.”

So why does Shiva play, if winning doesn’t come easily? The authors say that if Shiva did not play, there would be no universe. Period. The constant configuration, destruction and recreation of the cosmos are part of a continual process. Depending on whether what is in progress is Creation or Dissolution, Shiva performs either the Ananda Tandava, dance of bliss or the Rudra Tandava, dance of agitation. Meantime, the cosmic couple is either separated or is coming back together in erotic reunion, in a cosmic flux.

Though it is Shiva who loses the game of dice most of the time, it is not failure on his part , for each attempt to become whole is a pilgrimage towards the original union, the Big Bang - although recreating the exact primordial circumstances that led to the first creative burst is difficult, with change being a constant. Divine Play is Cosmic Lila on a grand scale, where the grand illusion means there is no room for exactitudes.

Mythical accounts abound of how Parvati would pay nocturnal visits to her temples to play dice. One such story is set in Kathmandu, where Parvati as the deity Taleju, would play dice with King Jaya Prakash Malla. Whatever be the dynamics of the Shiva-Shakti relationship and extent of play, without their lila, there would be neither phenomenology nor ontology.
Gambling during Diwali is considered auspicious, not the least because it emulates - however weakly - the cosmic interplay of Parvati and Shiva. It’s not about winning or losing but how you play the game.

Dharma Of Money

Can money buy Grace? When the basics are covered, extra money can buy extra food, clothes, houses and whatever else. However, you can live in only one house at a time, wear one set of clothes at a time, and eat as much as your stomach can hold at a time. Therefore money is useful to buy goods and services and there is nothing wrong with money, per se. It is after all the core need and everybody’s entitled to earn it in order to have some kind of purchasing power.

Our scriptures go as far as to declare it as artha, one of the four purusharthas of human life-- dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Yet, money corrupts. Why? According to Sri Sathya Sai Baba this is because the basic and first principle of dharma is bypassed. It is on the basis of dharma that the balance purusharthas have to be worked out.

The key concept is righteousness. Is the money that you earn acquired and used in a righteous way? Everybody has the right to earn a living and be recompensed for their labour. The trouble starts when money becomes the ultimate goal and end in itself. This leads to a distorted perspective that in turn could lead to hoarding of wealth. According to Baba, “Wealth accumulated beyond unreasonable levels intoxicates the self and breeds destructive desires and habits. Riches, when one comes by them, have to be revered as something given on trust, and the surplus must be used for the betterment of society and for helping the needy and less fortunate.’’

Scriptures say that a portion of one’s wealth ought to be earmarked for charitable purposes and such an attitude of benevolence earns valuable merit. It is believed that only when you give, you get -- sometimes ten or hundred-fold. However, for all the noble exhortations of sacred scriptures, the thrall of money weakens even the best resolve. Excessive wealth is not only seen as a symbol of worth, it creates a false sense of status and power.

The gains of material wealth are never reliable or lasting. Moreover, unrighteously acquired wealth is bound to lead to karmic consequences. Every act, whether good or bad, will germinate with time, according to scriptures. Sri Sathya Sai Baba would say that man’s primary endeavour should be to earn the Grace of the Lord, which can confer everything, both material and spiritual. Baba says, “Tthe riches that you should strive to amass are not fields, factories, bungalows or bank- balances but the wisdom and experience of oneness with the grandeur of the Force that runs this universe, without a hitch. Arjuna is called Dhananjay by Krishna because he won (jaya) the wealth (dhan) that saves man and not that which can be taxed, stolen or transferred. The method of winning these riches is through practice of sadhana.., and living a righteous life.’’

Man strives hard and unceasingly for accumulating the riches of the world. However, all these riches that are so sought after do not have the quality of eternal nature – for ultimately it all turns to dust! The material world is but transitory; hence to invest too much into it at the cost of spiritual growth could prove detrimental. It would be well worth our while to take some time off to pause, and try earn that inner wealth too, that can make Dhananjayas out of us. Then we could call ourselves masters of that wealth which truly counts.

Grasping The Present Moment

By Sadhu Vaswani
Life is often compared to a book, each chapter representing one particular phase of our life; but there is one major difference between my life and my book; I cannot turn back the pages of my life. I cannot revisit the past except in my memories. Nor can I read the final chapter of my life before its due time. Life has to be lived in the present.

Two sisters were travelling by train from Jammu to Kanyakumari. Due to adverse weather conditions, the train halted at a station in central India, until conditions improved, and the tracks were cleared. The passengers were stuck on the train for hours together. The older sister was annoyed, irritated and frustrated; she railed and ranted; she complained bitterly to the TTE and the conductors, who were helpless themselves; she sulked endlessly and became a source of annoyance to all her fellow travellers.

The younger sister on the other hand, refused to allow her spirits to be dampened by the delay. She went around cheerfully, making friends with the others, exchanging jokes, playing with children, starting singing sessions in different carriages, conducting quiz contests to keep young people occupied, and generally spreading good cheer all around. Strangers responded to her, sharing their food with her, inviting her to join their group, and enthusiastically joining her efforts to 'organise' games for the entertainment of all.

When the train finally reached its destination, the older sister was morose, depressed and tired. She felt that her time had been wasted. As for the younger sister, she had had the time of her life! She had made so many new friends, she had had such new experiences, and she had managed to retain her good mood and her good humour all along. She had enjoyed the journey, despite the delays and the setbacks and all the little inconveniences. She had made the most of the present.

Living in the present maximises all the possibilities that life offers to us. We are able to focus on what is happening around us, and savour all those little joys and pleasures that are available in the here-and-now.

The past is over and done with; the future is in God's hands; the best that anyone can do is to live in the present, wisely and well. Every day will have its own share of challenges, difficulties, rewards and achievements: why should we complicate matters by dragging our regrets of the past and fears of the future into the present?

The trouble with most of us is that we hardly ever dwell on the happy experiences that we have had in the past. Most of us seem to have a permanent love affair with the sorrows, regrets and failures of the past. We hold on to these bitter memories, refusing to let go. In a beautiful sonnet on the theme of remembrance, Shakespeare compares this attitude to repaying old debts that have already been settled long ago!

Imagine that you have taken a housing loan, and have paid it off diligently over a period of years. After the whole thing is over, will you keep transferring money to your loan account just because you like to dwell on your own past? Is that not futile and foolish, apart from being a waste of your money? So why dwell on past memories that are negative and bitter? This too, is emotional waste of a high order!

The past is over and done. The future is yet to come. What is real is the present moment. Let us make the best use of the present. Let us make it beautiful.

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