Archive for December, 2010

SAMBHAVAMI YUGE YUGE (I AM BORN FROM AGE TO AGE) – PART II

Sunday, December 19th, 2010

The Divine Mother Sree Rama Devi began Her sadhana with the simple repetition of the name of Sri Ram. Then practicing various sadhanas She actually saw with Her physical eyes, the form of the personal God. And finally transcending all forms, She reached the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, the peak of Advaitic realization. And from that dizzy heights of Super consciousness, the Mother has come down amongst us for the mankind. Generally such God-men do not descend from the supreme Blissful state in which they have established themselves. Even if these men of wisdom choose to remain in the world, they who have seen the truth will instruct in knowledge only to their chosen and deserving disciples. For those who have not purified themselves by service of the Guru, it is difficult to get guidance from advanced soul.

It is said that when sages who have practiced austerities, impart knowledge to their immature pupils, the power they have accumulated through their tapas gets diminished on account of their taking upon themselves the burden of sins of their disciples. The life stories of several mahatmas of India, are illustrations in point. Mother bestows knowledge to all alike to the deserving as well as to the undeserving, as though all are her beloved children. Such is the excellence of Her grace. Her magnanimity is so great that the world not seen the like of it in the past. Like the common human gurus, Mother gives instructions by word of mouth. But in addition to this, She like the rishies of yore actually transmits spiritual knowledge and bliss to her devotees. The light of Atman gets reflected in the antakarana in accordance with its nature. The purer the antakarana, the greater the effulgence of the Atman that shines forth. Transcending the antakarana the radiance of the Atman in all its characteristics, qualities, blazes out in the Mother. She accepts or rejects the intellect as she chooses. It so happens that sometimes, in Her, effulgence of the Atman comes out through the sense without even a touch of the intellect. This phenomenon is clearly seen in the Mother, when She begins to talk as soon as She comes down from Her Samadhi. And it is because of that on such occasions, Her words are considered as those of God. The Yogi has transcendental knowledge when his intellect gets united with the Atman. He cannot completely destroy his antakarana as long as his casual body does not perish. Even though he knows the means of putting an end to the casual body which partake of the nature of maya, yet as long as the mortal coil remains the yogi is under the control of this delusory power of God (Maya).

Though the incarnations of God play as if being bound by maya yet they are far beyond its domination.

Therefore, the divine light manifests in its full splendour even in the physical bodies of the incarnations of God. That is why their surroundings too considered holy. Only avatharas, like the Mother could guide human beings to the attainment of the illumination, whether they are worthy or unworthy, women or men, foolish or wise, good or bad, sinful or sinless. The light that shines in Her does not suffer any increase or diminution. If one reflects on the Upanishadic Knowledge and spiritual experience that have come from the Mother, it becomes certain that She is the great Guru incarnate.

The advaitic experience, such as “I am the supreme Brhman”, or all this is Brhman”, is the summit of a spiritual practice. Dualism, qualified monism, and pure monism are three progressive stages of realization in the spiritual path. Any soul born as a human being is competent to do Dwaita Upasana or worship of a personal God different from the worshipper, and seen as the Supreme Master of the Universe. In so far as ordinary sadhakas are concerned, Mother asks them to begin with the attitude of duality, and then gradually takes them to the realization of absolute monism. From the repetition of the Divine name, up to the contemplation of the unqualified Absolute, the Mother teaches different methods of God-realization, to suit different temperaments of spiritual aspirants. In Her teachings, the Mother combines Bhakti, Jnana and Karma. Mother is so catholic in Her temperament and disposition that She encourages with Her blessings the words and modes of sadhanas of the saints and sages of all religions; in fact She repudiates none. Under the Mother’s training all Her follower’s become qualified to have the highest Advaitic realization of Brahman which is beyond the ken of personal experience, where one who realizes goes beyond personality and become That. Mother perceives the spiritual growth of particular persons and gives them suitable sadhanas and inculcates in them the great fact that the real self or the seer which is pure knowledge is different from the seen and the realization of this Truth is itself Liberation.

Tamas and Rajas , which render impure, the limiting adjuncts, such as the intellect etc. have to be destroyed and the satva element has to be developed and strengthened so that when the Upadhies have been conjoined to the Atman, the Sadhaka gets the supreme illimitable knowledge through intuition. The mother does not show any discriminatory differences such as her own disciples or others; She is kind and compassionate to all alike without any distinction what-so-ever.

Mother’s samadhi is such that it enkindles divine aspiration in those who behold it, and it intensifies the spiritual yearnings of all aspirants. Sri.Ramakrishna and Sri Chaitanya have in the last centuries blesses the world through their samadhies. If only we just see God-realized souls, and hear their wise words, our ignorance would be destroyed. Mother has had visions of God several times in her life. To see these visions is to remain in the plane of duality. But the true state of Her realization is so high that transcending dualism, she has through perfect purity experienced in Her all the aspects of God or reality. Or rather She Herself has become the Divine in all Its diverse expressions.

The omnipotent Iswara really has no name and form . yet He assumes qualities and forms in accordance with the conceptions of His devotees. It is to such forms which God has taken in response to the yearnings of his devotees, the unbroken line of saints have offered their adorations. The realization of all these forms in the span of a single life, is quite remarkable and preceded by only a very few examples. Probably this may be due to the divine determination, that succeeding avataras should express in an ever-increasing measure the infinite attributes of the Lord. When the Mother goes into samadhi, the various aspects of God, such as Sri Krishna, Sri. Rama and Devi become apparent. And the characteristics of such divine manifestations are recreated in Her. Her physical body gets surcharged with a celestial radiance that spreads out over the surroundings. In that dissemination of light, some visitors have several wonderful experiences. Like electricity, it works swift changes in us throwing us to spiritual heights producing an unearthly delight. Many eye-witnesses have left us detailed descriptions of the behaviour of Sri. Ramakrishna in the state of Samadhi, and it is surprising to observe that they exactly tally with that of Mother in that mood. Whenever Mother happens to be in samadhi, there a special spiritual awakening takes place creating in the hearts of all aspirants a fresh blossoming of spiritual enthusiasm. The angle-wings of the Mother’s affection, shelter and protect all; because She looks upon all people as Her children.

“The foolish disregard Me, when clad in human resemblance, ignorant of My supreme nature, the great Lord of Beings” says Sri Krishna in the Bhagavat Gita. Pious persons, not being misguided perceive the veiled God-head in the Avataras. The Guru is not to be looked upon as a mere mortal being; he is embodiment of God’s grace. Good men take this view and attain blessedness.

In this world, the majority is house-holders and the house-holder is the prop and support of the other three stations in life. Even the welfare of the world depends upon the grahasthashrama. That is why Mother gives such a great importance to it. She conducts herself in this ashrama, as it existed in its pristine purity during the time of the vedic Rishies. If worldly life is seen as based or founded on spirituality, and if it is made a means for realizing the Divine life on this earth, then the apparent dichotomy between the material and the spiritual entirely vanishes. We realize then, that only the spiritual life deserves to be called true human life. It is to set an ideal example, that Mother leads the life of a house-holder.

The whole world is an expression of pure consciousness, and one should see nothing but God in the Universe. Seen in this manner, one comes to know, that there is no world divorced from the Divine. As a consequence of this perception, one would feel that to live in the world is to live in and for the Divine. For instance, when one cognizes the rock in the form of the carved image, the image also is perceived as rock. So too when one is aware of the spiritual basis of the universe, then one realizes that the universe also is Pure consciousness. To develop this vision, this eye of knowledge, the Mother recommends mainly two important pathways.

The first method is to feel without a doubt that we are Brahman, the infinite, perfect, indivisible existence, knowledge and bliss, and to take our stand on this indubitable truth. Since the not-self is different from the self, one could easily determine that the world is nothing but name and form. We mistake ourselves to be within the physical body, the sense, the mind, the intellect, the egoism or jiva-hood. All these adjuncts are limited by time and space, and they are not the self which knows them. In the same way, to apprehend that the self is different from the states of waking, dream deep sleep and the five sheaths, and then to be the self requires great discrimination and renunciation. Therefore, for the common man who is not expected to have the aforesaid qualifications this way is not suitable.

To them, Mother recommends the path of devotion or surrender to God, the Supreme Being. In fact the world does not bind man. On the contrary, it is man who attaches himself to the world. Worldly desires spring from the intellect and egoism. The imagination that in all actions one is the doer and the enjoyer, is the very substance of egoism. In Truth, all actions and movements in this universe, are actuated by Iswara who is the doer, enjoyer and the Lord. When one forgets this truth, at that very instant, egoism, which is the source of all worldliness springs into being. As long as there is the ego, it is impossible to realize God. The royal road to destroy ego, is the path of surrender to God. “All belongs to the Lord; He is my Master; He is my object of love; I am his servant”. These are the thoughts that a devotee should always have. Thus offering his all at the feet of the Lord, he should feel that his senses, mind and intellect are but the instruments of the Lord. It is God’s will that is being worked out in this world. When such ideas take possession of the devotee then his ego completely wears away. When the ego dies, the antakarana becomes pure, and consequently his thoughts words and deeds are also purified. Then actions are done in the spirit of surrender to God. Hence they do not bind the doer, and all actions become desireless. As the triple karmas are based on continuous remembrance of God, the mind begins to enjoy the bliss which is the nature of God. When we experience spiritual bliss, worldly pleasures cease to attract us, and hold us in thralldom. Actions in the world would be performed as one’s own duty. When it is found that the Lord dwell in all karmas, they automatically tend to be benevolent. Actions, done with the thought that they are impelled by God, become powerful, fruitful and unattached. Owing to unbroken meditation on God, the anthakarana takes on the nature of pure awareness. And when this happens the devotee is transformed into a liberated soul.

Mother does not advise people to give up the world. Her admonition is that one should not lead a worldly life as a slave of ego, since all miseries are caused by an ego-ridden life. So, the Mother tells us that we should lead noble, honest, unselfish and fearless life, surrendering everything to God, thus becoming the rightful successors of such lion-hearted heroes like Sri. Rama and Sri. Krishna. The mother wants all our women who are the daughters of Rishies, to acquire power through chastity, and to follow in the foot-steps of Sita and Savitri, and thus to be powerful enough to preserve dharma.

“I am born from age to age “. This is the divine promise made by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavatgita. May the Lord shower His grace on the world, so that all people may know and follow the Mother, an incarnation of the Supreme Goddess, Maha Sakti, who has taken birth to establish righteousness on this earth.

– Kumarakom P. Parameshwaran Pillai

SAMBHAVAMI YUGE YUGE ( I AM BORN FROM AGE TO AGE) PART I

Sunday, December 5th, 2010

All sentient beings ardently desire happiness without even the least admixture of sorrow. And man, who has acquired the power to think and to reason out, endeavours to seek this untainted joy in the objects of nature wrongly hoping that he so assiduously aspires after. Modern scientific civilization is mainly based on an ever- increasing knowledge of the secrets of nature, and utilizing material objects as a means for obtaining sensual pleasures. Even though man, in Francis Thomson’s words “drew the bolt on Nature’s secrecies”’ and has gone a long way towards mastery of nature in order to make his physical and mental life free from woes, yet inspite of all the scientific advancements he could not completely satisfy his soul’s hunger for lasting happiness. His incessant efforts in this direction clearely indicates that he has not as yet reached anywhere near his goal. For, once you get what you seek for your struggle automatically stops. After all this infructuous search for joy you are at last faced with the disconcerting fact that you cannot get abiding bliss through material means. For instance, one may pour ghee into the burning fire but the flames shoot up with redoubled vigour. In the same manner the more you pander to your sensual pleasures the more they grow and become infinitely insatiable. And ultimately thwarted desires dry the well-springs of healthy happiness in life. Consequently, anger, greed, lust and other base passions multiply. And owing to ajnana or nescience, the propensity to seek in vain, happiness in mundane things, becomes tenacious and thus the vicious circle gets started, and man helplessly turns round and round for ever in the wheel of births and deaths.

We are passing through strange times, and never before has there been such a plethora of instruments and gadgets intended to multiply physical comforts. Real refinement and good- taste have disappeared from all walks of life. As a result of this, man has necessity to exert to the utmost for acquiring even elementary requisites such as food, clothing, dwelling, education and health. The insatiable thirst to invent newer and more up-to-date devices to get pleasant sensations from material objects, has brought things to such a pass, that man has become a slave to them, and runs after them in sheer madness. The sole aim of all thoughts and activities has come to the acquirement of only bodily needs. And in this feverish attempt to get these things, truth and morality are flung to the winds, and no reluctance is shown to indulge in all the base passions. Besides this, the depraved men of the present day take also an asuric pride in such indulgences. Everywhere, in all departments of life from the governance of big empires, to the management of little families we find deplorable decline of what the Bhagavat Gita calls “divine qualities” and a pernicious growth of “demonic characteristics”. It is true that modern science has done good things for humanity, and has to its credit many precious additions to its stock of knowledge. But all such scientific discoveries have unfortunately turned out to be the causes of the destruction of human civilization. Thus the development of modern nuclear physics, has presented to the world such deadly weapons as the hydrogen bomb. When these destructive things are utilized and controlled by the slaves of passions and of wrath, human civilization itself is in jeopardy, and may be blotted out from the face of this earth at any moment. Thus in trying to gratify desires through dependence on external nature man has brought about quite a lot of misery and fear in this world. All this is the result of an ignorant extroversion.

Now, let us turn our gaze inwards, and ask ourselves the questions, “who is it that desires happiness?”, “what is the nature of the joy we long for?”, “why do we try to avoid misery?”. It is the utter disregard of these significant problems that makes for the miserable condition that we are in.

Paranchi khani vyatrnat svayambhu stasmat paran pasyati nantaratman kaschitdhirah pratyagatmanamiksda mvrtta chaksuramrtatvamicchan “The self-existent has pierced the doors of sense outward, therefore one sees things outwardly and sees not in one’s inner being. Rarely a sage desiring immortality, his sight turned inward, sees the self face to face” (Sri Arabindo). The indriyas or the senses, are created in such a way that they always tend to be out-going. The objects of sense attract those who concentrate on them. Attraction develops into desire and desire breeds anger. From anger delusion is born and by delusion right reason is shattered. With the destruction of discrimination, there is a loss of understanding of the Atmatatva. He who constantly dwells on the objects of sense, gets himself removed farther and farther away from self-knowledge and in the end completely forgets the fact that in reality he is the infinite truth, knowledge and bliss. As he has forgotten the great truth of his being, he mistakenly takes himself to be his body and nothing more. Only that rare courageous soul who is firm in mind understands that he is really Atman, and that his essential nature is Bliss itself, and to establish himself in this bliss, he has nothing else to do but to know this great truth of his existence. Such a sage is indeed immersed in that uncaused eternal delight or ananda, which is the very essence of his self. The Jeevatman we mistake ourselves to be is but a reflection of that infinite indivisible knowledge and bliss. That is the reason why we have an insatiable longing for happiness, and an inveterate hatred for misery. The reality of man is veiled over by his antahkarana or his inner prakriti, and that is why every man should make an effort to conquer his inner prakriti, and to remove the darkness that hides the face of the truth. The whole of nature could be classified into two categories, the inner and the outer. The outer is the gross, and the inner is the subtle, and the former has evolved from the latter. Thus the subtle prakriti is the cause, and the gross prakriti is the effect. If we conquer the subtle, the gross can be easily subjugated, when the inner prakriti is subdued, the outer prakriti of itself will be brought under control.

After all, man is a part of Nature or the Cosmos, and as such what is in the Macrocosm is contained in the microcosm too, which is himself. In addition to this, sentient beings have instruments of knowledge which may be called the inner nature. And this instrument of knowledge has reached its perfection and full evolution in man. In the immensely vast, infinite ocean of matter which is the universe before us in its totality, the sun, the moon, different whirlpools of (matter, or more accurately) electrons. And man’s physical body is just another tiny aggregate of swirling electrons.

From an atom to a star, everything is an expression of that power which our ancient rishies called ‘Prana’. It is this prana that moves everything; electricity, magnetism, atomic energy are all different modifications of Prana. Sa(prana) visvakarma, Visvatma visva rupah, prajapatih, srsta, dhata vibhurvishy, samharta, mretyurantakah.” Thus the creation and dissolution of this gross universe, and all kinds of motion and actions are being produced by Prana. Pranasyedam vase sarvam tridiveyet pratistitam”. So says sruthi.

Continued in the next article.

– Kumarakom P. Parameshwaran Pillai