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Krishna simply means the most attractive -- the Self or the Being. Radheshyam represents infinity. Radhe is individual life and Shyam is infinite life. Krishna is the Self of every being and when our true natural Self shines through our personality, skills and abundance follow.
It is said that Krishna used to steal butter. What does this signify? Butter is the final product of a process: the milk is first made into curd and then the curd that is well churned becomes butter. And like milk or curd, life is the process of churning through so many events, happenings and instances. Finally butter comes out, which is the saintliness in you.
whole essence of it is to maintain that balance, to be joyful, happy and centred. You can have a big smile when everything is smooth in your life; if you can smile even in adversity then you have achieved something in life. It is like how Krishna stands with one foot firmly on the ground, the other is raised, poised; this is how dance can happen. This depicts the way to live life in perfect balance. When you are buried in the mind, dance cannot happen. Witnessing the disturbances of the mind helps us to rise above them. So whenever you are disturbed, instead of thinking that this should never have happened, simply surrender.
In the Bhagwad Gita Krishna says, “Why is it that so many are not able to know me? The reason is that they are constantly stuck between their cravings and aversions.” One who intensely craves for someone or has too much hatred for someone, falls into the trap of moha, attachment. When such a person has a problem in his life, be it regarding money or relationships, for example, then his mind is completely engrossed with the problem and he spends his days and nights, even years, worrying over it, but he is not able to overcome it.
For this, Krishna says, ‘Those whose punyas, meritorious deeds, begin to bear fruit are freed of all their sorrow, and they begin to get drawn towards me. Those whose sins are not cleansed remain stuck in ignorance and delusion”. If you walk towards the light, the darkness of ignorance automatically starts to disappear. But sin is that which does not let you move towards the light. And this is what causes misery, pain and suffering. When a person completely understands that I am not the body, I am pure Consciousness, then such strength dawns in him. Once you have faith in the Divine, then that is it. Then you should not doubt it one bit. This is what knowing the Divine truly means.
Krishna is the symbol of all possibilities, the total blossoming of all aspects of the human, and the Divine. Janmashtami is the day when you enliven that virat swaroop, the cosmic nature of Krishna in your own consciousness once again. Letting your true nature manifest in your day-to-day life is the real secret of Krishna’s birth.
Each of us wants some peace and happiness in life. Still, happiness often evades us. “Is there a simple, straightforward roadmap to get happiness and peace in life,” I asked Swami Paramarthanandji in Chennai. He replied, ‘Reducing PORT is the best way’. PORT stands for Possessions, Obligatory Duties, Relationships and Transactions. How to reduce these?
Happiness is a state of mind; it does not come from possessions alone. There are severe limitations of happiness sought in objects. First, deep effort and some pain are involved in acquiring objects. Many waste their entire life in pursuit of desirable objects. There is no guarantee that even after getting those objects or positions, you would be happy. You may feel ‘let-down’ after spending so much of effort. You may think, ‘this is not what I laboured for’. Also, objects of desire keep changing, and so also our goal posts. The chase continues and every new possession brings with it own burden. If someone has a house with swimming pool and ten bed rooms; imagine his plight in maintaining it. He is busy all the time cleaning, fixing, protecting. Does the house serve us, or do we serve the house? Again, objects make us dependent on them. For instance, once we are used to a particular standard of living, it is inconvenient not to have certain objects such as air conditioners in our life. Hence objects usually create bondage.
Relationships are meant to make our life happy. But do they? We have to maintain some blood relations for social cohesion, but we create other new relationships, which complicates life. Every new relationship has to be maintained. You have to remember to wish people on their birthdays and anniversaries, participate in functions like marriage and engagement, or reach out in case of sickness or loss. Also you are experience sadness or pain when the person with whom you have a relationship does not reciprocate. It is said that grief is never caused by outsiders or unknown people. It is caused by people with whom you have a relationship. Depending on your attitude, your relationships might cause you more pain than pleasure.
Every possession and every new relationship creates its own obligatory duties. You have to insure your vehicles, for example, remember to send it for regular service. Similarly we have to attend to the expectations of relationships. These add to our list of obligatory duties. We cannot avoid basic, minimum obligatory duties towards the office, business, parents, spouse or children. But our optional duties also become obligatory when you maintain too many possessions and relationships. We should also be careful in accepting new roles in life just for the sake of ego-satisfaction. If you are made President or Secretary of a Society, you may feel good, but that adds to your obligatory duties also. Performance of each of these duties becomes a transaction. This way we try to cope with large number of transactions in our life, and get exhausted at the end of the day. Where is the time to be happy.
This is not to say that you should have no objects or relationships in your life. However, the idea is to be aware of their limitations and try to strike a balance. The mind will be peaceful only if you are able to discriminate between what is necessary and what is unnecessary in your life.
Reducing Possessions, Relationships, Obligatory Duties and Transactions (PORT) is a practical way to look at life and happiness. That is the PORT of call for happiness.
A distinguishing characteristic of a person who lives with God is his forgiving nature. Has someone wronged him, exploited him? If so, he forgives even before forgiveness is asked. And
Have I fallen out with someone and been separated from him by a gulf so wide that it cannot be bridged? he lives a life of beauty and blessedness. Such a person is indeed rich.
I was reading about the Niagara Falls. A bridge had to be built across the Falls. For this, they needed to fix a rope across the river to start the suspension bridge. The waters of the river were too swift and turbulent to take the rope across in a boat. What did they do? They flew a kite across the river. When it reached the other side, a cord was tied to its string. Finally, a rope was tied to the cord. That was the beginning of the. A telephone wire can be the string of the kite—and a bridge suspension bridge that spans the Niagara Falls. Let me fly a kite to him, of loving thoughts and forgiveness of reconciliation built by a mere phone call. Forgiveness is the precious lubricant which keeps all our relationships smooth and friction-free.
Let us learn to forgive. Thomas Fuller said, “He that cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself, for every man has the need to be forgiven.” An individual grows or evolves to higher levels of consiousness in the measure in which he is able to express the quality of forgiveness. All our great ones have been men and women of forgiveness. Even so, forgiveness is not the monopoly of the great. Simple souls, humble men and women have practised the art of forgiveness to perfection.
A house in which a man and his ten-year-old daughter lived was attacked by outlaws. The father died in the scuffle. The outlaws spared the life of the girl, Melanie, but blinded her. Ten years later, Melanie was sitting by the roadside, when she heard footsteps and a voice which frightened her. “Who is it?” she called out, “Be careful, because I am blind.” “I know you are,” replied one of the outlaws. “I am the man who killed your father and blinded you. I just tried to hold up a passer-by and he shot me. I am going to die. I beg you to forgive me.”
Melania shuddered with anger but controlled herself, forgave the criminal and exhorted him to repent. When the man was dead, she groped for his eyes and gently closed them like a loving daughter.
Part 5 of 5
Forgiveness, in contrast to retaliation, is not an instinctive or spontaneous impulse. If we are hurt, almost as a reflex, we are conditioned to think, “I’ll fight back – I’ll do to you what you did to me.” On the other hand, forgiveness has to be cultivated. It is a well-considered, well-thought out emotional choice that we make to forgive freely, those who have hurt us. Because forgiveness does not just consist of mouthing the words, “I forgive you.” It involves letting go of anger, resentment, hurt and bitterness. It allows us to heal the other – and be healed ourselves in the process.
The ‘F’ of Forgiveness is Freedom. Forgiveness sets us free from the hurts, which otherwise would continue to prick us, for as long as memory lasts. Today at 2 pm, observe a Moment of Calm in unison; think thoughts of forgiveness towards everyone.
Swami Sivananda upheld ethical and spiritual values. In his words, these are to serve, love, give, purify, meditate and realise – a synthesis of the upanishadic principle of oneness of reality, ‘Ekam eva advitityam Brahmn’. Absolute reality, Brahmn, manifests as trinity of individual self, world and Iswara -- jiva, jagat and jagdish. The one and non-dual reality is perceived as substratum in and through these threefold manifestations to become one with humankind, nature and Iswara.
Unity based on eternal unity of the Self, according to Sivananda, is a logical synthesis and outcome. He proposed unity in all spheres of activity, the yoga of synthesis based on four main spiritual paths for God realisation – karma yoga, bhakti yoga, raja yoga and jnana yoga for harmonious and integral development of body, heart, mind and intellect that constitute the composite human being. “Excel in service, expand in love, advance in knowledge and realise the Self.” Swami Sivananda hailed unity of religions and the ideal of brotherhood.
He embraced allopathy, homoeopathy and ayurveda in his life. He studied modern medicine at Thanjavur Medical College. He edited the health magazine ‘Ambrosia’ and served poor farm hands of Malaya (now Malaysia) with compassion in selfless service. Like Hahnemann, he could see the limitations of even modern systems of medicine, albeit differently, as it does not offer ultimate solution to our problems and higher goals. While Hahnemann established the science of homoeopathy, Sivananda, earlier known as Kuppuswami, took to monastic life, practiced intense austerities and shone as a yogi, saint, sage and jivanmukta. Nonetheless, his subtler vision endeared him to homeopathy and as representative of Indian culture he also propagated ayurveda in his books on health and hygiene.
Sivananda synthesised western and eastern philosophies, religion and spirituality, social and spiritual practices, yoga and vedanta, poetry and prose, English and Sanskrit, art and science, object and subject, theory and practice in his life and creations. He was a practical vedantin, The Sivananda Ashram grew around him at Rishikesh in 1932 and subsequently, the Divine Life Society and later, the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy were established.
He summarised his teachings in a trio of universal prayer, twenty spiritual instructions and science of seven cultures -- health, energy, ethics, will, heart, psychic and spiritual. His universal prayer “Let us behold thee in all these names and forms; Let us serve thee in all these names and forms” reflects his innate spiritual vision of oneness and service dedicated to the non-dual divine spirit. He would say, recognise the presence of divinity within and without and attain divine consciousness through divine living. And toward this end, one has to start right from the beginning, in childhood.
His unique message is practical spirituality -- the threefold essence of spiritual practice lies in cultivation of virtues and eradication of vices, continuous remembrance of God’s name and spiritualisation of all activity. With the objectivity of a scientist, intuition of a clinician and compassion of a saint, Sivananda communed with one and all, to show the way to divine life and attainment of Self-realisation, the highest goal of human life. Swami Sivananda is remembered as an ideal sage than as an ideal medical professional. This is because life in eternity is more subtle, pervasive and blissful than worldly, secular life.
July 31 was the 50th maha samadhi anniversary of Swami Sivananda. The author is a board member of The Divine Life Society.
Among path finders to the Eternal, Sankara stands out. He spent his entire life, short though it was, in urging his felowmen to move from the ephemeral to the abiding, from the fleeting panorama of temporal life to the spiritual felicity of life eternal. So far as earthly living and its demands go, there is no distinction between humans and animals.Sankara explains that there is no difference in the behaviour of humans and animals so long as the moving factors are appetition and aversion, and activity consists in a going forth towards external sense objects. However, man is endowed with a certain other characteristic which, if properly cultivated, will make for a distinction. Sankara defines it as the eligibility for karma, willed action and knowledge. He cites a scriptural text: “The Atman is expanded only in man. He, indeed, is endowed with intelligence. He gives expression to what is known. He sees what is known. He knows what is to come. He knows the visible and invisible worlds. He perceives the immortal through the mortal; thus is he endowed. But with the other animals, eating and drinking constitutes their knowledge.”
t is because of this special ability to discriminate and discern the truth that birth of a human being is said to be precious. It is in virtue of this endowment that man quests for the eternal, and eventually succeeds in gaining it.
Sankara sets forth the qualifications that would make one eligible for the quest eternal -- discrimination of the eternal from the non-eternal, non-attachment, having virtues like calmness, equanimity and a longing for liberation. All this only implies cultivating the right philosophical attitude. What blinds us is attachment to selfish enjoyments. The mind longs for them and so is unable to see the truth when it is in the grip of passion; it cannot understand even empirical truth, and so it goes without saying, says Sankara, that, the mind needs to be thoroughly cleansed before it can realise the truth of the inner Self.
The mind that has been freed of passions should be strengthened by cultivation of the cardinal virtues. With the right attitude and having gotten rid of defects, the mind must acquire whatever is excellent. Then the aspiration for release will firmly get established in the mind. This aspiration should not be confused with any passionate desire.
Explaining this point, Suresvara, a disciple of Sankara's, says that the longing for supreme happiness which is release, is not attachment; if this be attachment, then the wish for solicitude and so on, could also be thought to be so, which is not the case.
Release which is regarded as the highest value is the same as the Supreme Self which is the sole reality, according to Sankara's vedanta known as Advaita. It is the reality that is referred to in the Upanishads by such terms as Atman and Brahmn. One may deny everything else, but not the Self, for it is the very nature of one who denies. In the empirical world it appears as limited and as many. As conditioned by the psychological complex called the body and by things that constitute the world, it is spoken of as anubhava or experience. Courtesy: Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.
Her beauty is such that it drew even lord Siva from His penance. It is said in the Mooka Panchasati that She wandered on the banks of the river Kampa. There was a reason for this. It is on riverbanks that sages did penance, and this further sanctified these places. But the Goddess, who roamed the banks of the river, will take up residence in the hearts of human beings, if their hearts are pure. We cannot win Her grace by costly offerings. But if we have pure thoughts, She is automatically pleased, and showers Her mercy on us, said Goda Venkateswara Sastrigal, in a discourse.
Lord Siva burns the stoola sareera (gross body), the kaarana sareera (causal body) and the sookshma sareera (subtle body). He does this so that we may realise Him. He thus gives us gnana. But the Divine Mother grants us our worldly desires and also then takes us towards liberation. While human beings may give us what pleases the senses alone, the Goddess makes us think of our atma, and not think of that which pleases the senses alone. She does give us what we desire on this Earth, but She also shows us the path to liberation. She recommends to the Lord to grant us liberation and gets for us His grace. Once we obtain Her grace, liberation is guaranteed to us. Therefore even to think of Her, one must have performed good deeds, for the very thought of Her will eventually lead us on the right path. Her effulgence and radiance attracted even Lord Siva. She is the One who fulfils our desires just by casting Her glance on us.
The Upanishad asks: “What force makes the eyes to perceive or the ears to hear? Who is responsible for speech utterances?” It then unfolds a story as the most convincing answer.
The celestial beings once became self-conceited after a victory over the evil forces. They began celebrating it in a grand manner, without a thought about the Supreme Brahman who had made this victory possible. At that time, an apparition appeared in the sky and wondering who or what it was, the celestial beings asked fire (agni) and wind (vayu) to investigate. When these two approached the apparition, it asked them who they were and what was it they could do. Fire boasted of his power to burn and wind of his ability to blow away with force. The apparition then placed a blade of grass in front of them so that they could display their powers. Both tried with all their might but without any success. Shorn of the very faculties which boosted their confidence, they understood that a far greater power had tested them.
The Kenopanishad goes on to say that the apparition disappeared and Umadevi explained to the celestial beings that the apparition was the Supreme Brahman and that they were celebrating only Brahman’s victory and not theirs. The story instils humility in beings, who are deluded by their attainments and forget the source which enables them to function and achieve in life.
‘It is my perception, my effort,’ is the refrain that governs human achievement. When one pauses to think and investigate how all this is possible and what is one’s own contribution one is released from the clutches of ego and infused with humility.
