Gratitude to all the Gurus in our lives-2

Living with spiritual knowledge.                         I will continue this post from my previous one:

Buddha the enlightened one.
who lived with spiritual knowledge and became a legend.

Gratitude to all the Gurus in our lives-1.

I will be writing about the glory of spiritual Guru in this post.
Only Guru, "a spiritual Guru" can teach how to live in accordance with the spiritual knowledge. It is a rare and very important aspect of life. 

Gathering this knowledge is tough, but to live with this is all the more tedious task. Only the enlightened one can show us the way, as we human are very vulnerable to all the temptations and deceits and always ready to fall pray to deviousness of bluffers. 

There are ample of stories (teachings) of Buddha "the enlightened one and his disciple on this subject", on internet. 

 Guru who has realized the Truth, is accomplished to impart the supreme knowledge. So one must try to please guru in every possible way.  Lord Shiva (one of the God in trinity) admonished, “If I am angry, guru can save you but if Guru is angry, than no God, not even I can save you.” 

And that makes the whole difference. The Guru won't let you fall into abyss of immorality. A spiritual awareness is needed in every aspect of life. 

 Only the Guru can impart the spiritual knowledge. I have already mentioned this in my previous post: Understanding divinity on earth. 

The Guru raises his disciple's consciousness to a certain level and then passes over the spiritual knowledge through integration of mind, and in turn the disciple surrenders totally to Guru and becomes one with him.  The Guru leads him onto the path of ultimate reality with the help of  Spiritual knowledge.

To explain how to live with this knowledge, I have to narrate one story about Raja Janaka, (as Guruji did in his book).

Raja Janaka was a Self-Realized King. His life taught us to have detachment in any circumstances and have a pure attention based on dharma (inner religion and moral conduct.

 King Janaka was called ‘Vidheha’ (means also ‘dead’ or liberated from the body’).

 The Milk Story or Lesson about Detachment. Great sage Narada asked him one day, ‘ Revered Sir, how are you called as Vidheha, you live in this world, how can you be a Vidheha?’ Raja Janaka said,’this is very simple. I will tell you about it in the evening. Now, please do this little job for me. There is milk in this bowl. You take this bowl & come along with me. Please see that not a single drop of milk is spilled on the Earth. Then only I will tell you why I am called Vidheha’. Narada took the bowl & followed Janaka everywhere. He had to be very careful because the bowl was such that by the slightest movement the milk might have spilled. He got very tired. When they returned in the evening,

Narada asked ‘Please tell me now, I am quite fed up with carrying this bowl & following you everywhere at the same time.`

Raja Janaka said, `First of all tell me what you have seen?’

Narada, `Nothing except this bowl of milk so that it won’t spill.`

Raja Janaka, “Didn’t you see, there was a big procession in my honour, then there was a court wherein, there was programme of dancing? Didn’t you see anything?

Narada said, “No sir, I have not seen anything”.

Raja Janaka, `My child, likewise with Me, I also see nothing. All the time, I just watch my attention. Where is it going? Making sure that it won’t spill away like the milk.`

“This sort of attention one has to develop: chitta nirod’. Nirod means the saving of your attention, so your attention should not be on saving money & worldly things and all that, but attention itself must be saved. As you watch your money, as you watch your road when you drive, as you watch your child, when it is growing, as you watch the beauty of your wife, or the care of your husband, all put together you watch yourself – your attention.”

With spiritual knowledge comes a whole new understanding of eternal/non- eternal and real/non- real, moreover one stop identifying oneself with the objects of external world including one’s own body. Non-attachment to this mundane world is the immediate outcome of spiritual knowledge.

According to Vedas - the  knowledge, worldly or spiritual is in the human mind and in many cases it is not being discovered, but remains covered, but when the covering is being slowly taken off, we say "We are learning," and the advancement of knowledge is made by the advancement in the process of uncovering. They maintained that knowledge is inherent in man, no knowledge comes from outside; it is all inside our mind.

    The religion and spirituality acknowledged ‘intuition’ a direct source of knowledge, they maintained “Chetna” consciousness as the highest source of knowledge, and all scientific ways of gathering knowledge come as secondary to it. They believed that knowledge acquired by the cognitive method is only partial and thus cannot be foolproof, and to prove their point cites the classic example of mistaken identity of rope as a snake. We might misjudge rope as a snake in dark light and then automatically our first instinct would be of fear and panic, we would either run away from it or would try to kill it, and both are wrong as they are based on the wrong perception. And this proved that we should not totally rely on our sense organs, our inferences and most importantly on our limited faculties of reasoning.

On a lighter note/mode, I think I must acknowledge modern day father/ Guru "wikipedia", without which, we are in lurch. Just at a click of mouse, a whole lot knowledge becomes handy. 

And I think I should call "youtube" as a foster mother rearing her millions of children and teaching them from cooking classes to grooming to etc, etc... well anything under the sun. 

We are privileged people to born in this century of booming social media. 
Now if our father, and mother are from social media then I think, facebook, twitter, instagram, and linkin are our siblings and they are the only few I know, but there could be more step ones also... who knows:)
Enjoy the modern day huge family. 

 Pic and inputs from web.

Gratitude to all the Gurus in our lives-1.

Psalm in praise of enigmatic "Gurus" of our lives. 
On this auspicious day of Budh purinama. I am dedicating my post to all the gurus, we came across in our lives, whether educational, religious or spiritual. They all are the requisite force in our lives.

Beautiful mother

Mother is the first guru, we learn most of our first lessons from her. She is the one, who gave her womb, and the best years of her youth to rear us, she protect us from the enmity. She teaches us first lessons on ethics, morality,  and the do and don'ts. She introduces her children to religion, faith, goodness and kindness.She emits an aura of love and kindness, though sometimes she has to admonished them, for their own good. Here I must mention that I was lucky to had one of the best mother in the world (I know every child must be thinking of that). But I have more reasons to say this, as now looking back in retrospect, she never taught us cheating, back-lashing, snubbing, sneering and most importantly compromising on truth and ethical values. I had always seen her praying with folded hands for her children. She had tremendous faith, which was unflinching even in the extremely bad circumstances. God, really tested her, in so many different faces, and relations, but she remained rooted to her values. I am really thankful to her for not teaching me revenge, lust and jealousy. Maybe I am at the receiving end for not practicing it all, but still I am happy as I am.
Myself and fortunately my kids really appreciated her power of endurance for all the ills, which sometimes she had to take, for being simple and unpretentious.

Father showing us the way.

Father is the second guru, in our lives, who provide us food and shelter. He is our strength, and  pillar of support. He gives a sense of security and dependency to his family. Again I am thankful to God for giving me the best father, who had sown the seeds of religion and spirituality in me. He was a learned man, scholar in Sanskrit and had tremendous knowledge of Vedas and Upnishads. I always used to look up to him, when got stuck in unpleasant situation. He got unflinching faith in religion and spirituality. He was a kindhearted and gentle person. I learned my first lessons on charity, bhakti (prayer) and scripture knowledge from him. I can never, ever forget his line, when he said," Rita, whenever you are tired of taking obnoxious situations in life, always look at earth, just see how much the impertinent, she can withstood". I want to tell him, "see, Dad I am doing that, and had not compromised on values and morality you instigated in me." It is ok, that I have not gathered fame, wealth, and luxuries in my life, people can sneered at me if they want, but I am happy as I am. (A simple daughter of a simple father).
As a child, I have never seen him fighting or plotting against his elder sibling for money and land. He always had been very respectful to them, and helped them without a second thought. My parents, are the invaluable gifts and gurus of my life given by God. I feel privileged to had them then. and now in my memories. I know fully well, that nothing could have been better than them, no wealth, no luxuriousness.

Teacher guiding us 

Outside home, teachers in school, and colleges are our Gurus. They also worked hard on us, always wanted us to do better. They worked hard on us, for us and with us, so that we can learn and excel in our lives. It would be like showing a candle to sun, if I would say anything in praise for them, because how much and no matter what, I would say, would ever suffice to show their indispensable value in our lives.
Now it is the time to pay respect to our religious Gurus, they help and direct us how to lessen our karmic burden in this birth. We all have certain karmic burden or obligation to give in this present life. All our governing planets come and sits stealthily in their particular house, either ascending  or descending to certain degrees and holding that person captive to their whims. I am not judging, their good or bad merits, but suggesting that this karmic burden can be lessened to a certain extent by following preaching of religious Gurus.
I will be taking up Spiritual Guru in my next post -Gratitude to all the Gurus in our lives-2.

Religious Gurus doing "Havan" rituals for the welfare.

pics from net.

Spiritual Knowledge

Guru initiating his disciple

UNFOLDING SPIRITUAL SECRETS

Spiritual knowledge changes the whole perception about the world. You will come to realize that nothing is superfluous. There is an inherent divine design in everything. Things, even relationships that appear real are not that way. I will cite one example- a modern day fad line is:  Enjoy to the fullest, there is only one life, you cannot take anything along with you.
 Now the saints or seekers would say, yes live to the fullest, let not even your single breath should go waste. Life is precious and being a human being is all the more precious. God has given us this opportunity, and you may not get another chance, rise above the flimsy pleasure, which are transient, and look for bliss. And you do take your karmas along with you, like a whiff of smell. So it is the sensual pleasure/serenity.  Though I do agree that there is nothing wrong with seeking pleasure, but how much, and without compromising your ethics or morality is very important. There is a very thin line between desire and obsession.

Spiritual knowledge…

SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE refers to the knowledge of our pure self, the knowledge of our being. Furthermore to find answers to these spiritual inquiries…“who I am, and what is my relation to the cosmos and the universe as a whole” is the spiritual knowledge.

     It is generally referred as enlightenment, where one gets the knowledge of one’s self and its relation to the universal consciousness. This awareness is the experience beyond time and space, and it can be identified with the limitless and the eternal consciousness, from where the whole universe emanates. This intuitive experience considers as the valid proof, and confirmation of the divine self- God, and it is like experiencing bliss, something very pure, reminiscent of the divine ecstasy. This experience is hindered by the layers of ignorance that have gathered on soul, due to which one is not able to see one’s true self; all pure, all divine, all shining.

    The Spiritual knowledge can change one’s whole perspective towards self and whole world as such. One is filled with unbounded happiness. Each one of us is capable of this spiritual contemplation, and experiencing its spiritual wisdom, love and the joy.

     The spiritual vision is not obtained by means of physical senses and not through the psychic faculty, but through a subtler faculty arising from the contemplative concentration, usually referred as the ‘spiritual eye’.  This awareness is beyond the mental as well as beyond the worldly perceptions. This knowledge is referred as ‘awakening’ in the Vedas and the Upnishads.

    The Hindu religion presents two kinds of knowledge - praoksh gyan (second hand) and prataksh gyan (direct knowledge).

 The Prakosh gyan is the second hand knowledge obtained from scriptures and books. Whereas praktaksh gyan is gained by the direct experience; knowledge that one discovers or the knowledge that dawns upon us.

Now the imperative questions are:

What is spiritual knowledge and what is the source of this knowledge?

How the spiritual knowledge is different from the worldly knowledge?

Why it is the sole purpose of life?

Generally speaking worldly knowledge can be described as- the understanding of someone or something, which includes gathering of information, facts, and whole description. This can be acquired with the help of the practical or theoretical description gained with the help of education or experience, whereas the spiritual knowledge means knowledge of self, and which dawned upon us, and this is the knowledge of the very core of our being and its relation to the divinity.

     The acquisition of spiritual knowledge is different from the gaining of worldly knowledge, where one needs the help of sense organs, mind and intellect and involves communication, and reasoning, and importantly the capacity of acknowledgement.

     Scientifically speaking, “knowledge” is based on- method of inquiry, collection of data, experimentation and lastly formulation and making of hypothesis, and whereas philosophers define knowledge as the justified true belief, based on the complex cognitive process, perception, and reasoning. 

    Many of us would probably agree that term ‘knowledge’ truly involves: Certainty, evidence, practicality, broad agreement, moreover, it also includes belief, truth, justification and subjective experience. In an attempt to define knowledge, it is helpful to remember that the human mind is believed to be capable of two kinds of knowledge, rational and irrational knowledge.

Here I want to request readers, not judge or doubt it, with your limited cognitive powers. It is all the marvel of Faith and Beliefs, which has made miracles possible for centuries till date, much beyond the realms of the human mind and is universally true or the ultimate truth. It means that you cannot explain it, as it is beyond the power of senses, but can only experience it. 

    The scientists failed to grasp the power of faith and totally dismiss these phenomena as irrational. They want to rationalize everything through intellect, but one need ‘Mind’, the core center of our emotions to fathom it.  

   Generally speaking, there are three main focal points around on which the whole life process rotates: Creation, expression and comprehension, (Sarjan Kendra, Bhav Kendra, Vichar Kendra). They are individually representing the three different main focal points of living beings- reproduction, expression, and comprehension. Now if we start from plants or immobile things, they have only "creation" faculties active, as only reproduction is possible, whereas in animals and birds, they have a more evolved system "expression" faculty is also possible with creation.

But considering human beings, they have all these three faculties active, and highly evolved. With creation, and expression, they have highly developed comprehension faculty. With these three aforesaid highly necessitating life force human beings have the power of Chetna,-consciousness, which happens to control all these three main focal points and keep the crucial balance between them.

    With this power of consciousness, we can comprehend the ULTIMATE TRUTH or GOD; which is experienced as so valuable, so real, that in comparison, all the other things appear false, profane and worthless. 

“To realize GOD is the sole purpose of Life…”









I am thankful to the artist, who has drawn this beautiful painting, and made it available on the net.

FIRST RAIN

Feel the rain

An ode to first Rainfall in smoldering Delhi

The first rainfall is like a promise of romance.
Everything looks good, feel good. one seems to forget all those turmoil of emotions associated with it. Like we try to ignore  forthcoming  problems which comes with rain. I am referring to  clogged pits, pots, and those non- ending construction garbage lying on the road sides. I myself had been. has been and will be witnessing it (all the tenses- past, present and future) have applied to it. It was always there, now for so long that its presence doesn't affect me any more rather its absence startles me, as construction work and clogged waste pipes are very much part of Delhi now. 
I think Delhi will be a new entrant in guinness book of records under the title of  "city with long construction -work period" if there at all is a such title, I can only vouch for Delhi, maybe other cities in India are in the race to win it and become first:-) 
Don't you  think it is same like love, where one seems to ignore all the pending problems associated with enigma called "LOVE". 

When I got up in the morning and went out in the balcony of my house, I felt very good, as it must have been raining the previous night, air was filled with the smell of wet earth.

This one just an ode to the first rainfall in smoldering Delhi.  

          First Rain: 

The rain has always electrified us...

The Earth looked beseechingly towards the sky. There was no sign of Monsoon yet. Her heart cried. It has been such a long,  long wait, almost eternal. Everything around Her or on Her, is crying out for relief from this scorching heat. The sun is not  being very kind to Her lately. Her only savior is ‘Monsoon’ now. Suppose Monsoon would not come, suppose He failed to keep  His promise, as done previously many times. She dreaded and tried to keep away from negative thoughts but Her disappointment  was apparent.

The last two months have been very exhausting for Earth, the Sun never seems to go down. It goes on and on, day after day, from  east to west, scorching relentlessly, and licking up all the dewdrops before she could even moisten her lips. Her patience  showed cracks on her surface. “But things will be different, when he comes”, she thought hopefully.

Suddenly the light, pleasant breeze started blowing, slightly touching and cajoling Her. She could sense that He is not far away;  He has already sent a messenger. She had a strong premonition that He would be on time this time.

Now She could hear Him clearly; all in His triumphant glory; flash of lightening and then there is another peal of thunder.  “Oh! He is already flirting with me”, She chuckled.

At last He came, shadowing Her with dark clouds and started kissing Her sporadically with his fat water drops and touching Her  almost everywhere. She rose to meet Him, unable to hold Her thirst. She is aware of Her sensuality and He is conscious of Her  naked desire. He is passionate. He rolls and growls; He rumbles and grumbles; He trembles with lust and burst upon Her in  deafening thunder and She shamelessly surrenders to quench her thirst.

It is the time for LOVE. He showers all His love on Her and She blushes all over in riots of colors’. The nature is reborn from this eternal copulation.
An eternal bliss I suppose.

pic from web.

MOVING TOWARDS REALITY- 2

Unfolding spiritual secrets…

Meditating on universe.

Sometimes a story can teach much more than entire philosophical treatises 

One such religion is Buddhism, which for centuries has used stories and parables to help people develop awareness. This culminates in the teachings of Zen Buddhism, which has used short stories extensively to arise in people a new understanding of reality. I will start this post with a Zen story, because that's how Guruji started this chapter..Zen stories are the ancient words and deeds of Zen masters, which have been passed through the ages, crossing the dynasties and cultures of forgotten peoples, originating with the Buddha himself. The insights that these stories seeded, as time rolled on, flowered into invaluable instructions for those wanting to reach liberation. These stories tend to be humorous, paradoxical, multi-layered, enigmatic, and written in a kind of rascally spirit. They’re  tantalizing riddles that are sure to puzzle and captivate anyone. We need to experience something directly in order to really learn what it’s about. This is wisdom, as opposed to knowledge much like you’d acquire in a class at school, a parrot-like type of learning that serves as a nice basis for establishing the necessary foundation for certain larger tasks, but which can serve little real use elsewhere particularly in advancing your well-being. 

This particular story he related:

Empty your cup

An overflowing cup.

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”  He meant over the years we have gathered knowledge taught in school or acquired by us, but that is superfluous and is not going to serve any purpose in spiritual advancement, for that we have to empty ourselves. (And this can only be achieved with Guru's blessings.) 
In my post Metamorphosed in mount Abu, I have mentioned experiences which are out worldly and beyond the reach of our limited contemplation. Though I shouldn't be telling you, as these experiences are too personal, and not to be disclosed. But I think my this post demands it. 
My first experience was: when we visited Mount Abu, which is a small beautiful hill station situated in Aravalli hills, Rajasthan. It does not boost of much rainfall and during that time, we heard that it was having drought for the past six- seven years. But refreshingly when we visited this place, it was covered with thick layers of clouds and drizzling, giving a surreal beauty to the whole place. There was no sign of sun even in the days to come. I requested Guruji, that since this place is very famous for sunrise, I want to see it, it was around 10.am. and we were suppose to catch the evening train back to Delhi, same day. He told me affirmatively that "how can I show you Sun in this weather, and he went inside the Ashram" I was very much disappointed, A moment later I saw clouds broke and a beautiful sun peeped through them in its all full glory.  OMG!!! what a phenomena. And when I went inside, He was sitting pensively with a mysterious smile on his face. The second one was, when he put his hand on my head like giving me blessings and told me strongly that "Rita, forget everything." And there I was, interestingly almost forgotten most of my acquired knowledge, which indeed reappeared, but after sometime and with much labor. (it was like emptying my cup at that moment). 
There is one more experience I would like to share, though it is not spiritual, but a much needed lessen to me. The first one I related in  my close encounter of different kind. meeting my soul-sister and the second one I am going to tell you now. It happened on Kanya pujan day. A small boy of around 2-3 year old came with group of girls asking for kanjak, and as it happened that his small feet got hit by door. After that he kept on repeating and showing me his injury. See aunty I got hit, I said lovingly, yes I know, I saw it, but after repeated reminders of his hit feel, I got impatient, and said, it is ok, rise above it. I am giving you so many gifts, still you are not getting over it. And then I realized in a flash of second that, this is what I have been doing for the last four years. I am continuously reminding God every time I kneel, that I am having bad knee pain. (as I have already mentioned in Triple S in Chicago.) Well, doing the same thing, and forgetting all the blessing I am getting from almighty. After that incident I stopped this habit of saying anything about my injured knee. It is really noticeable that all of us do get answers to our problems from our immediate environment, which we generally failed to grasp. So it is our shortcoming and not the universe, or nature or God. Which ever name you want to give. Which is out there, inside and outside us, omnipresent, omniscient, and benevolent. 
But it is our mistake that our vision is too narrow that we failed to see the beauty of totality, and that's where we are different from the seekers, saints or spiritualists. 

Becoming one with universe.

Pics from web.
Zen story from web.

MOVING TOWARDS REALITY

Dear Readers/friends

Let me introduced to you my forth-coming book. 
I have broken this spiritual journey into many stops or HALTS. These are very necessary steps to contemplate your journey and to look forward for destination. The big question is why to take this journey and why not to settle for an ordinary life comprising satisfying your body needs or sometimes religious and spiritual. I think it is an utmost desire of everybody to advance in life, an inborn or innate. A very few people would love to stand still and get stagnated, there are only two choices either to move forward or back ward. So in my view moving forward is a better option.

seeking Brahman

The ultimate reality

This book is about an arduous journey taken by an ordinary seeker in quest of Brahman. The voyage is full of conquering hurdles, and combating tons of persistent fears and doubts. It is a challenging but an alluring passage. During the course one has to fight the demons of uncertainties, confrontation from outside and inside forces, laced with loads of emotional turmoil resulting into utter loneliness. But in spite of its complexity, it is quite alluring, resulting in persons gravitating towards spirituality. The force is so strong that they are ready to forgo anything they posses, including their much cherished ego. 

 Moreover once this choice is made there is no going back, and one can never be sure that whether he has chosen this path or his destiny has chosen him.

The beauty of this up heals task lies in the merits of each step taken, which is filled with immense contentment.

 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This book is loosely based on my Guruji’s (SWAMI STAYADEVJI MAHARAJ) books and discourses. Our Guruji, was a spiritual leader, philosopher, and writer par excellence, it is a very difficult task for me to do justice to his work. I tried my level best to do it.

I want to keep this book as a raw, unpolished as a child because that is how I met him, around (40 years back )both in age and in mental status.  We all have tendency to lean towards security, faith and love, that’s what I did many years ago gravitating towards him and still doing it in my own way, though he is not physically present with us.

In this difficult endeavor, I had to consult many more spiritual leaders, religious books, and sacred text like BHAGWAT GITA and SHIV PURAN. 

 My heart felt thanks to each and every notion I borrowed from their text. All I can say in ode to them is “Knowledge cannot be invented; it can only be rediscovered and resurrected.


I started this journey by becoming a seeker from a traveler. 
Traveler became seeker. and traveler became seeker part 2.

PART-1.

            STARTING THE JOURNEY

Facing  our  reality.                         ……………. 

Commencing the important task. ………………... … 

1 HALT: WORKING ON SELF

Facing  our true self  “I”.                             …………… 

Road to self-enhancement…                  ……………..

Accessing our Auras and Chakras.       …………….

2 HALT: BONDING WITH PEOPLE

Coming out of cocoon .                                ………….

Treading towards sacred zone 'Love'    ………..

                        

 PART-2.

3 HALT: LOOKING BEYOND MUNDANE

 Finding "GURU" or divinity onEarth.              …  ..  

Under the patronage of Guru.                  ………… 

                                 PART-3.

4 HALT: MOVING TOWARDS REALITY

Unfolding spiritual secrets…    ……………......      

                                  PART-4.

5 HALT: REACHING FINAL DESTINATION

THE HIGHEST GOAL BRAHMAN………………    

When I started this book I was quite naive about the hardships and the "power of prayer" to combat
difficulties, physical, mental or spiritual. That is why I have not included these chapters on power of Prayers in book but during the course I have realized one can not move an inch forward unless one passes these steps also. Ma Shakti an incarnation of (cosmic energy) is required in every form to move forward, without which one is listless, and motionless.
So you see dear friends I myself is between step -3 and trying hard to reach for step-4.
But why to take and not settle for whatever I got. No answer till now...
Whether I have chosen this journey or I am the CHOSEN ONE...no answer till now.
When I got frustrated I ask GOD "Why me"?
But when I see glimpses of His blessings. Then again I ask "Why not me"?
So dear friends let me find my answers of my quest, only then I can do justice to this book.
Until then, come and travel with me, whether physical, mental or spiritual.
I promise you I WON'T BORE YOU.
Till then
bon voyage