Scriptures, Prayers, Saints & Great Teachers related posts -worth sharing

Maya and Freedom

Maya and Freedom

by Swami Vivekananda
(Delivered in London, 22nd October 1896 )
"Trailing clouds of glory we come," says the poet. Not all of us come as trailing clouds of glory however; some of us come as trailing black fogs; there can be no question about that. But every one of us comes into this world to fight, as on a battlefield. We come here weeping to fight our way, as well as we can, and to make a path for ourselves through this infinite ocean of life; forward we go, having long ages behind us and an immense expanse beyond. So on we go, till death comes and takes us off the field--victorious or defeated, we do not know. And this is Maya.
Hope is dominant in the heart of childhood. The whole world is a golden vision to the opening eyes of the child; he thinks his will is supreme. As he moves onward, at every step nature stands as an adamantine wall, barring his future progress. He may hurl himself against it again and again, striving to break through. The further he goes, the further recedes the ideal, till death comes, and there is release, perhaps. And this is Maya.
A man of science rises, he is thirsting after knowledge. No sacrifice is too great, no struggle too hopeless for him. He moves onward discovering secret after secret of nature, searching out the secrets from her innermost heart, and what for? What is it all for? Why should we give him glory? Why should he acquire fame? Does not nature do infinitely more than any human being can do?--and nature is dull, insentient. Why should it be glory to imitate the dull, the insentient? Nature can hurl a thunderbolt of any magnitude to any distance. If a man can do one small part as much, we praise him and laud him to the skies. Why? Why should we praise him for imitating nature, imitating death, imitating dullness, imitating insentience? The force of gravitation can pull to pieces the biggest mass that ever existed; yet it is insentient. What glory is there in imitating the insentient? Yet we are all struggling after that. And this is Maya.
The senses drag the human soul out. Man is seeking for pleasure and for happiness where it can never be found. For countless ages we are all taught that this is futile and vain, there is no happiness here. But we cannot learn; it is impossible for us to do so, except through our own experiences. We try them, and a blow comes. Do we learn then? Not even then. Like moths hurling themselves against the flame, we are hurling ourselves again and again into sense-pleasures, hoping to find satisfaction there. We return again and again with freshened energy; thus we go on, till crippled and cheated we die. And this is Maya.
So with our intellect. In our desire to solve the mysteries of the universe, we cannot stop our questioning, we feel we must know and cannot believe that no knowledge is to be gained. A few steps, and there arises the wall of beginningless and endless time which we cannot surmount. A few steps, and there appears of wall of boundless space which cannot be surmounted, and the whole is irrevocably bound in by the walls of cause and effect. We cannot go beyond them. Yet we struggle, and still have to struggle. And this is Maya.
With every breath, with every pulsation of the heart, with every one of our movements, we think we are free, and with very same moment we are shown that we are not. Bound slaves, nature's bond-slaves, in body, in mind, in all our thoughts, in all our feelings. And this is Maya.
There was never a mother who did not think her child was a born genius, the most extraordinary child that was ever born; she dotes upon her child. The child grows up, perhaps becomes a drunkard, a brute, ill-treats the mother, and the more he ill-treats her, the more her love increases. The world lauds it as the unselfish love of the mother, little dreaming that the mother is a born slave, she cannot help it. She would a thousand times rather throw off the burden, but she cannot. So she covers it with a mass of flowers, which she calls wonderful love. And this is Maya.
We are all like this in the world. A legend tells how once Narada said to Krishna, "Lord, show me Maya." A few days passed away, and Krishna asked Narada to make a trip with him towards a desert, and after walking for several miles, Krishna said, "Narada, I am thirsty; can you fetch some water for me?" "I will go at once, sir, and get you water." So Narada went. At a little distance there was a village; he entered the village in search of water and knocked at a door, which was opened by a most beautiful young girl. At the sight of her he immediately forgot that his Master was waiting for water, perhaps dying for the want of it. He forgot everything and began to talk with the girl. All that day, he was again at the house, talking to the girl. That talk ripened into love; he asked the father for the daughter, and they were married and lived there and had children. Thus twelve years passed. His father-in-law died, he inherited his property. He lived, as he seemed to think, a very happy life with his wife and children, his fields and his cattle, and so forth. Then came a flood. One night the river rose until it overflowed its banks and flooded the whole village. Houses fell, men and animals were swept away and drowned, and everything was floating in the rush of the stream. Narada had to escape. With one hand he held his wife, and with other two of his children; another child was on his shoulders, and he was trying to ford this tremendous flood. After a few steps he found the current was too strong, and the child on his shoulders fell and was borne away. A cry of despair came from Narada. In trying to save that child, he lost his grasp upon one of the others, and it also was lost. At last his wife, whom he clasped with all his might, was torn away by the current, and he was thrown on the bank, weeping and wailing in bitter lamentation. Behind him there came a gentle voice, "My child, where is the water? You went to fetch a pitcher of water, and I am waiting for you; you have been gone for quite half an hour." "Half an hour!" Narada exclaimed. Twelve whole years had passed through his mind, and all these scenes had happened in half an hour! And this is Maya.
In one form or another, we are all in it. It is a most difficult and intricate state of things to understand. It has been preached in every country, taught everywhere, but only believed by a few, because until we get the experiences ourselves we cannot believe in it. What does it show? Something very terrible. For it is all futile. Time, the avenger of everything, comes, and nothing is left. He swallows up the saint and the sinner, the king and the peasant, the beautiful and the ugly; he leaves nothing. Everything is rushing towards that one goal, destruction. Our knowledge, our arts, our sciences, everything is rushing towards it. None can stem the tide, none can hold it back for a minute. We may try to forget it, in the same way that persons in a plague-stricken city try to create oblivion by drinking, dancing, and other vain attempts, and so becoming paralysed. So we are trying to forget, trying to create oblivion by all sort of sense-pleasures. And this is Maya.
Two ways have been proposed. One method, which everyone knows, is very common, and that is: "It may be very true, but do not think of it. `Make hay while the sun shines,' as the proverb says. It is all true, it is a fact, but do not mind it. Seize the few pleasures you can, do not look at the dark side of the picture, but always towards the hopeful, the positive side." There is some truth in this, but there is also a danger. The truth is that it is a good motive power. Hope and a positive ideal are very good motive powers for our lives, but there is a certain danger in them. The danger lies in our giving up the struggle in despair. Such is the case with those who preach, "Take the world as it is; sit down as calmly and comfortably as you can and be contented with all those miseries. When you receive blows, say they are not blows but flowers; and when you are driven about like slaves, say that you are free. Day and night tell lies to others and to your own souls, because that is the only way to live happily." This is what is called practical wisdom, and never was it more prevalent in the world than in this nineteenth century; because never were harder blows hit than at the present time, never was competition keener, never were men so cruel to their fellow-men as now; and, therefore, must this consolation be offered. It is put forward in the strongest way at the present time; but it fails, as it always must fail. We cannot hide a carrion with roses; it is impossible. It would not avail long; for soon the roses would fade, and the carrion would be worse than ever before. So with our lives. We may try to cover our old and festering sores with cloths of gold, but there comes a day when the cloth of gold is removed, and the sore in all its ugliness is revealed.
Is there no hope then? True it is that we are all slaves of Maya, born in Maya, and live in Maya. Is there then no way out, no hope? That we are all miserable, that this world is really a prison, that even our so-called trailing beauty is but a prison-house, and that even our intellects and minds are prison-houses, have been known for ages upon ages. There has never been a man, there has never been a human soul, who has not felt this sometime or other, however he may talk. And the old people feel it most, because in them is the accumulated experience of a whole life, because they cannot be easily cheated by the lies of nature. Is there no way out? We find that with all this, with this terrible fact before us, in the midst of sorrow and suffering, even in this world where life and death are synonymous, even here, there is a still small voice that is ringing through all ages, through every country, and in every heart: "This My Maya is divine, made up of qualities, and very difficult to cross. Yet those that come unto Me, cross the river of life." "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This is the voice that is leading us forward. Man has heard it, and is hearing it all through the ages. This voice comes to men when everything seems to be lost and hope has fled, when man's dependence on his own strength has been crushed down, and everything seems to melt away between his fingers, and life is a hopeless ruin. Then he hears it. This is called religion.
On the one side, therefore, is the bold assertion that this is all nonsense, that this is Maya, but along with it, there is the most hopeful assertion that beyond Maya, there is a way out. On the other hand, practical men tell us, "Don't bother your heads about such nonsense as religion and metaphysics. Live here; this is a very bad world indeed, but make the best of it." Which put in plain language means, live a hypocritical, lying life, a life of continuous fraud, covering all the sores in the best way you can. Go on putting patch after patch, until everything is lost, and you are a mass of patchwork. This is what is called practical life. Those that are satisfied with this patchwork will never come to religion. Religion begins with a tremendous dissatisfaction with the present state of things, with our lives, and a hatred, an intense hatred, for this patching up of life, an unbounded disgust for fraud and lies. He alone can be religious who dares say, as the mighty Buddha once said under the Bo-tree, when this idea of practicality appeared before him and he saw that it was nonsense, and yet could not find a way out. When the temptation came to him to give up his search after truth, to go back to the world and live the old life of fraud, calling things by wrong names, telling lies to oneself and to everybody, he, the giant, conquered it and said, "Death is better than a vegetating ignorant life; it is better to die on the battle-field than to live a life of defeat." This is the basis of religion. When a man takes this stand, he is on the way to find the truth, he is on the way to God. That determination must be the first impulse towards becoming religious. I will hew out a way for myself. I will know the truth or give up my life in the attempt. For on this side it is nothing, it is gone, it is vanishing every day. The beautiful, hopeful, young person of today is the veteran of tomorrow. Hopes and joys and pleasures will die like blossoms with tomorrow's frost. That is one side; on the other, there are the great charms of conquest, victories over all the ills of life, victory over life itself, the conquest of the universe. On that side men can stand. Those who dare, therefore, to struggle for victory, for truth, for religion, are in the right way; and that is what the Vedas preach: Be not in despair; the way is very difficult, like walking on the edge of a razor; yet despair not, arise, awake, and find the ideal, the goal.
Now all these various manifestations of religion, in whatever shape and form they have come to mankind, have this one common central basis. It is the preaching of freedom, the way out of the world. They never came to reconcile the world and religion, but to cut the Gordian knot, to establish religion in its own ideal, and not to compromise with the world. That is what every religion preaches, and the duty of the Vedanta is to harmonise all these aspirations, to make manifest the common ground between all the religions of the world, the highest as well as the lowest. What we call the most arrant superstition and the highest philosophy really have a common aim in that they both try to show the way out of the same difficulty, and in most cases this way is through the help of someone who is not himself bound by the laws of nature, in one word, someone who is free. In spite of all the difficulties and differences of opinion about the nature of the one free agent, whether he is a Personal God, or a sentient being like man, whether masculine, feminine, or neuter--and the discussions have been endless--the fundamental idea is the same. In spite of the almost hopeless contradictions of the different systems, we find the golden thread of unity running through them all, and in this philosophy, this golden thread has been traced, revealed little by little to our view, and the first step to this revelation is the common ground that all are advancing towards freedom.
One curious fact present in the midst of all our joys and sorrows, difficulties and struggles, is that we are surely journeying towards freedom. The question was practically this: "What is this universe? From what does it arise? Into what does it go?" And the answer was: "In freedom it rises, in freedom it rests, and into freedom it melts away." This idea of freedom you cannot relinquish. Your actions, your very lives will be lost without it. Every moment nature is proving us to be slaves and not free. Yet, simultaneously rises the other idea, that still we are free. At every step we are knocked down, as it were, by Maya, and shown that we are bound; and yet at the same moment, together with this blow, together with this feeling that we are bound, comes the other feeling that we are free. Some inner voice tells us that we are free. But if we attempt to realise that freedom, to make it manifest, we find the difficulties almost insuperable. Yet, in spite of that it insists on asserting itself inwardly, "I am free, I am free." And if you study all the various religions of the world you will find this idea expressed. Not only religion--you must not take this word in its narrow sense--but the whole life of society is the assertion of that one principle of freedom. All movements are the assertion of that one freedom. That voice has been heard by everyone, whether he knows it or not, that voice which declares, "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden." It may not be in the same language or the same form of speech, but in some form or other, that voice calling for freedom has been with us. Yes, we are born here on account of that voice; every one of our movements is for that. We are all rushing towards freedom, we are all following that voice, whether we know it or not; as the children of the village were attracted by the music of the flute-player, so we are all following the music of the voice without knowing it.
We are ethical when we follow that voice. Not only the human soul, but all creatures from the lowest to the highest have heard the voice and are rushing towards it; and in the struggle are either combining with each other or pushing each other out of the way. Thus come competition, joys, struggles, life, pleasure, and death, and the whole universe is nothing but the result of this mad struggle to reach the voice. This is the manifestation of nature.
What happens then? The scene begins to shift. As soon as you know the voice and understand what it is, the whole scene changes. The same world which was the ghastly battle-field of Maya is now changed into something good and beautiful. We no longer curse nature nor say that the world is horrible and that it is all vain; we need no longer weep and wail. As soon as we understand the voice, we see the reason why this struggle should be here, this fight, this competition, this difficulty, this cruelty, these little pleasures and joys; we see that they are in the nature of things, because without them there would be no going towards the voice, to attain which we are destined, whether we know it or not. All human life, all nature, therefore, is struggling to attain to freedom. The sun is moving towards the goal, so is the earth in circling round the sun, so is the moon encircling round the earth. To that goal the planet is moving, and the air is blowing. Everything is struggling towards that. The saint is going towards that voice--he cannot help it, it is no glory to him. So is the sinner. The charitable man is going straight towards that voice, and cannot be hindered; the miser is also going towards the same destination; the greatest worker of good hears the same voice within, and he cannot resist it, he must go towards the voice; so with the most arrant idler. One stumbles more than another, and him who stumbles more we call bad, him who stumbles less we call good. Good and bad are never two different things, they are one and the same; the different is not one of kind, but of degree.
Now, if the manifestation of this power of freedom is really governing the whole universe--applying that to religion, our special study--we find this idea has been the one assertion throughout. Take the lowest form of religion where there is worship of departed ancestors or certain powerful and cruel gods; what is the prominent idea about the gods or departed ancestors? That they are superior to nature, not bound by its restrictions. The worshipper has, no doubt, very limited ideas of nature. He himself cannot pass through a wall, nor fly up into the skies, but the gods whom he worships can do these things. What is meant by that, philosophically? That the assertion of freedom is there, that the gods whom he worships are superior to nature as he knows it. So with those who worship still higher beings. As the idea of nature expands, the idea of the soul which is superior to nature also expands, until we come to what we call monotheism, which holds that there is Maya (nature), and that there is some Being who is the Ruler of this Maya.
Here Vedanta begins, where these monotheistic ideas first appear. But the Vedanta philosophy wants further explanation. This explanation--that there is a Being beyond all these manifestations of Maya, who is superior to and independent of Maya, and who is attracting us towards Himself, and that we are all going towards Him--is very good, says the Vedanta, but yet the perception is not clear, the vision is dim and hazy, although it does not directly contradict reason. Just as in your hymn it is said, "Nearer my God to Thee," the same hymn would be very good to the Vedantin, only he would change a word, and make it, "Nearer my God to me." The idea that the goal is far off, far beyond nature, attracting us all towards it, has to be brought nearer and nearer, without degrading or degenerating it. The God of heaven becomes the God in nature, and the God in nature becomes the God who is nature, and the God who is nature becomes the God within this temple of the body, and the God dwelling in the temple of the body at last becomes the temple itself, becomes the soul and man--and there it reaches the last words it can teach. He whom the sages have been seeking in all these places is in our own hearts; the voice that you heard was right, says the Vedanta, but the direction you gave to the voice was wrong. That ideal of freedom that you perceived was correct, but you projected it outside yourself, and that was your mistake. Bring it nearer and nearer, until you find that it was all the time within you, it was the Self of your own self. That freedom was your own nature, and this Maya never bound you. Nature never has power over you. Like a frightened child you were dreaming that it was throttling you, and the release from this fear is the goal: not only to see it intellectually, but to perceive it, actualise it, much more definitely than we perceive this world. Then we shall know that we are free. Then, and then alone, will all difficulties vanish, then will all the perplexities of heart be smoothed away, all crookedness made straight, then will vanish the delusion of manifoldness and nature; and Maya, instead of being a horrible, hopeless dream, as it is now, will become beautiful, and this earth, instead of being a prison-house, will become our playground; and even dangers and difficulties, even all sufferings, will become deified and show us their real nature, will show us that behind everything, as the substance of everything, He is standing, and that He is the one real Self.

 

Re: Swami vivekananda & Ramana Maharishi related posts -worth sharing

KALPANA MADAM,
NAMASTHE.
Your Post of the above Title I have seen, it is GOOD. Are U a devotee of RAMANA MAHARSI. I am a devotee. I like his teachings. I used to go Occassionally for the last 5 years to RAMANASHRAMAM. His philosphy is same as the SANKARACHARYA"S Advaita philosophy. His main Theme is
'SELF ENQUIRY'( Atma vicharana).
Thank u.
Nischel

 

Inter-personal relationship in the Bhagavad Gita

First: Sridhar, a brilliant young man from a well to do family, was meritorious through- out his educational career and had no difficulty in pursuing his studies right up to the doctorate level. He then joined as a lecturer in a college. Within one year problems started erupting. He regularly quarrelled with his colleagues, did not rise up to the management's expectations and was insensitive to the needs of his students. The assessment report, both from the students and his colleagues at the end of the first year, left the management with no option but to part with this otherwise talented asset. Lacking in introspection even at this stage, Sridhar wrongly diagnosed the reasons for his failure as want of adequate qualifications for the high post and so obtained an additional doctorate in an allied subject. These brilliant academic achievements easily won him a respectable status in another institution. Things seemed to smoothen a bit in the beginning but soon the same old problems recurred and within two years he had to leave that institution also. He now goes about from one educational institution to another with two heavy bundles, one of which he calls his 'Qualification Documents' and the other, 'Supporting Documents.' But from his very haggard looks, body language and the diffident appearance, the interviewers quickly size him up and politely deny him a placement.
Second: Shekar was a boy from a family of very moderate means. After completing the higher secondary course, he obtained a diploma in computers and was placed in a software company in a small position. He worked very hard and had an excellent rapport with his colleagues and his boss. Within two years he was provided an assignment abroad and after 10 years of unchequered career, he now trots around the globe with plenty of potentialities to rise to further heights.
These two cases are not isolated ones. We see them happening everywhere, at all times. A person with good inter-personal relationship becomes successful even if he is not endowed with very high intelligence and talents. The old method of assessing a person's ability was through the computation of his 'Intelligent Quotient' or I.Q. Later on, researchers found out that intelligence alone cannot be the measure of a man's ability and so evolved a concept called the `Emotional Quotient' or E.Q. The more balanced a man was in his relationship with others, the more successful he was, even though he might not possess extraordinary intelligence or talents. However, the latest concept of S.Q. or `Spiritual Quotient' is by far the most comprehensive method of computation and enables the assessment of a person's overall ability not only in terms of his intelligence and emotions but also in terms of his moral values and spiritual eminence.
The UNESCO document on Education for the 21st Century entitled 'Learning: The Treasure within' speaks of four pillars of learning. The third of these pillars is `Learning to Live Together'. Unless a person learns to live amicably with others in his work place and family, he will not be considered to be a fully educated person in the modern sense of the term.
Indians are noted for their high intelligence. It is a well-known fact that the average I.Q. of an individual Indian is high but the collective I.Q. or the average intelligence of an aggregate of Indians is much less. This explains why, even though there are so many bright people in the country, the progress of the nation is not correspondingly high. The development of a nation is not so much in the achievements of a few individuals, commendable though they may be in themselves, but in her collective efforts. In contrast to this, the countries which have progressed much higher and faster have been found to have people with better collective IQs. They have understood the importance of inter-personal relationships and TEAM spirit _ Together Each Achieves More.
Let us visualise a highly successful person and jot down the qualities that we may expect of him:
1. He should have an optimistic mindset.
2. He should be able to motivate his colleagues and juniors, especially during crisis.
3. He should be able to prioritize service above his selfish interests.
4. He should take the responsibility upon himself and not put the blame on others.
5. He should be free from prejudices, strong personal likes and dislikes while dealing with others.
6. He should be rigorously rooted in his fundamental convictions and principles.
7. He should be pleasant in his dealings.
8. He should respect the freedom of people around him.
9. He should lead others through example rather than through commands.
10. He should be concerned about and be interested in the welfare of others.
This 10-point formula can serve as an excellent guide to work out a framework for inter-personal relationship.
The Bhagavad Gita, though popularly known to be a spiritual scripture, deals with these so-called secular aspects of human life as well. Dr. Chandrashekar, a Nobel Laureate of repute, confessed that he was an agnostic but read the Bhagavad Gita daily because it taught him to live amicably with the society.
Let us now see how the Bhagavad Gita satisfies all the above criteria of the 10-point formula on Interpersonal Relationship.
1. Optimistic Mindset
As a man thinks, so he becomes. If he thinks positively, he develops a positive outlook towards life and vice versa. The Gita says, 'Man is constituted of Shraddha or faith. As is his faith, so he verily is.'<SUP>1</SUP> The word shraddha here means the sum total of all the positive aspects of a human personality. A man with a positive outlook overcomes almost all the problems of his life because of his attitude.
2. Motivation
The Gita begins with a very despondent note. In fact, the first chapter is captioned 'Arjuna Vishada Yoga' or the 'Yoga of Arjuna's sorrow'. Seeing the overwhelmingly large number of forces arrayed against him in the battle field which includes the elders and relatives of his family, Arjuna, the greatest warrior on earth, totally loses faith in himself and decides to lay down his weapons and is ready even to eke out his livelihood by begging. A more depressing picture of life than this cannot be imagined. But even in such a situation, Sri Krishna's mind is very clear. He scornfully laughs at Arjuna's weakness and exhorts him to give up his plans of abandoning the battle field:
'O Arjuna! Whence has this loathsome stupidity come upon you in this crisis? This attitude is unworthy of a noble person like you. . . Abandoning this base faint-heartedness, rise up, O dreaded hero!'<SUP>2</SUP>
Thus Arjuna is motivated to recover his lost self-confidence. Swami Vivekananda says that if a person reads this one shloka, he gets the merit of reading the entire Gita, for in this one shloka lies embedded the whole message of the Gita.<SUP>3</SUP>
3. Service Above Self
No social system can progress without sacrifice on the part of its people. As Swami Vivekananda says, 'Great things are done by great sacrifices only.'<SUP>4</SUP>
Echoing these very sentiments, Sri Krishna remarks that the performance of sacrifice is the fundamental teaching of all the scriptures. Further he clarifies that a sinful and self-indulgent person's life is lived in vain since he fails to fulfil his obligations to the cyclic law of mutual dependence and service.<SUP>5</SUP>
4. Taking Responsibility Upon Oneself
Very often we find that when an undertaking is successful everyone wants to take the credit for themselves and when it fails, they put the blame on others. Sri Krishna teaches us to take the whole responsibility on our own shoulders in both success and failure. He says that one should uplift one's lower self by one's own higher self. One should not deprive and degrade oneself. For a man is his own friend and is his own enemy. When he subdues his lower self by his higher self, the self acts like a friend, but when he has lost his higher self by the dominance of the lower one, the self functions as his enemy.<SUP>6</SUP>
5. Equanimity
More often than not, an organization breaks or fails because of partiality in dealings. An unbiased dealing with all the people around ensures a healthy and happy work atmosphere. Sri Krishna advises us to look upon friend and foe, honour and insults, praise and blame alike with an equanimous state of mind.<SUP>7</SUP>Further he considers that man to be excellent who looks with an equal eye upon his friend, foe, comrade, stranger, a neutral person, an ally, good people and even the evil ones.<SUP>8</SUP>He describes the man of same-sighted- ness as possessing spiritual insight,<SUP>9</SUP> and says that though he is serving the world, he is actually serving God.<SUP>10</SUP>
In fact this is a pet theme of Sri Krishna and he repeats it in several places. He treats this equanimous vision as real perception,<SUP>11 </SUP>and concludes that a man with such a vision attains the highest in life.<SUP>12</SUP>
6. Holding on to One's Center of Gravity
A balanced man will not be easily swayed by others' opinions, but will hold on to his own convictions. He would not be agitated by the criticism of others, nor would he disturb others by his criticism. He would not get things done through coercion or extortion. Sri Krishna eulogises a person with such qualities as dear to him--one who causes fear to none and whom none can frighten, who is free from the agitation of the moods caused by euphoria, anger and excitement.<SUP>13</SUP>
7. Pleasantness in Dealings
One should be extremely careful in the use of words to maintain a pleasant relationship with others. More often than not a person loses friendship because of his rashness. An unpleasant word once uttered causes an injury which no medicine can heal. Sometimes even time cannot heal it. Sri Krishna says that we should not speak even truthful words in a harsh manner. It is a graceful art of life to use the right type of words in the right situation at the right time. Says Sri Krishna: 'Speaking only words that are inoffensive, true, pleasant and beneficial constitute the austerity of speech.'<SUP>14</SUP>
8. Freedom to Others
One cannot think of a better message to the world than the Bhagavad Gita. It has withstood the test of time through several thousands of years and its importance is being recognized today because of its relevance. But its author Sri Krishna was humble without trying to impose his ideas on Arjuna or others. After delivering his message, he simply asked Arjuna to reflect on his teachings with the help of his 'profound wisdom' and accept only as much of the teachings as he deemed fit.<SUP>15</SUP>
This idea of giving freedom to others is a coveted asset to any successful organizer and it enhances his quality and strength. Dele- gation and decentralization in a gradual and systematic manner is the key to implementing this idea in practice. Delegation and decentrali- zation are both rooted in a common quality of placing faith in others. Such a faith expresses itself in the form of granting freedom to others in the workplace and family. This also requires humility on the part of the person giving freedom to his colleagues and subordinates.
9. Teaching by Example
A leader can command others only by virtue of his moral authority and not through asserting the powers vested on him by virtue of his position. If he does not follow his own words, it is vain for him to expect others to follow him. Unless a man is himself totally dedicated, he cannot expect the people around him to work wholeheartedly. Sri Krishna explains this by saying that ordinary people follow the standard set by the leaders and imitate them.<SUP>16</SUP>
10. Welfare of Others
If a person is not interested in the welfare of the others, he can neither be happy nor would the others around him. Swami Vivekananda says that the easiest way to make ourselves healthy is to see that others are healthy and the easiest way to make ourselves happy is to see that others are happy.<SUP>17</SUP>Sri Krishna says that he is the best man who out of a sense of identity with others perceives the same self in all and feels their joys and sufferings as his own.<SUP>18</SUP> Conclusion
Thus we find that the Bhagavad Gita is an excellent guide to ensure successful inter-personal relations and to forge a harmonious environment in workplace and society.

 

Text of Hindu prayer in U.S Senate July 12th

Hello All,

By now most of you might have heard/read about the uproar raised by religious conservatives here in U.S of A over the recitation of hindu prayer in the senate. I was curious as to what in the prayer could have elicited such harsh comments found....

here Hindu to open Senate with prayer - AFA ActionAlert
and here :Family Research Council: Sunday, July 15, 2007 "LH07G02"

googling for text of hindu prayer in U.S senate did not yield any result. Finally thanks to USA today sponsored blog here is the text

Thanks the Congressional Record, we can now share the full text of the prayer that the protesters didn't want anyone to hear:
Let us pray. We meditate on the transcendental Glory of the Deity Supreme, who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky, and inside the soul of the Heaven. May He stimulate and illuminate our minds.

Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality. May we be protected together. May we be nourished together. May we work together with great vigor. May our study be enlightening. May no obstacle arise between us.

May the Senators strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world, performing their duties with the welfare of others always in mind, because by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life. May they work carefully and wisely, guided by compassion and without thought for themselves.

United your resolve, united your hearts, may your spirits be as one, that you may long dwell in unity and concord.

Peace, peace, peace be unto all. Lord, we ask You to comfort the family of former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson. Amen.





the entire blog can be read at



Christian protesters disrupt Hindu prayer in U.S. Senate - On Deadline - USATODAY.com

 

Re: Text of Hindu prayer in U.S Senate July 12th

What really incensed me is the following in the American Family Association's petition/news letter:

quote"This is not a religion that has produced great things in the world; Look at India, Nepal there is persecution going in both of those countries that is gendered by the religious belief that is present there and hindu dominates in both of those countries"

"Mr. Zed enjoys more religious freedom in this country than christians in India/Nepal"

I am not very knowledgeable about hindu contributions to the world and my education in india was secular enough to not focus on Hindu positive contributions to human kind, all my religious beliefs were kind of passed down from parents/family.

I ask the more knowledgeable people here what their response is for the quote from AFA.

 

More Devotee experiences with Mahaperiavaa

Why Did He Faint? (Translated by Shri. SaiDevo of KanchiForum)
Author: A. Thiyagarajan, Chennai-80 (in Tamil)
Source: Sakthi Vikatan issue dated Mar 03, 2007
Publisher: Viketan Publications

When I had gone to Kanchi MaTham once, I heard about this incident from an arcakA (priest).

Maha Periyavar was camping in a village near Trichy, about 45 years ago. When he started for the usual Chandramouleesvara puja one day, he told the manager of the MaTham, "Within a short while, the Akhiladeswari Koil (temple) arcakAs will come here. Provide them bhojana (food) and bring them to me around two o' clock." Then he told a siSya (disciple), "Arrange it with the sthapati (sculptor) to carve a two-foot Vinayaka statue."

As directed by Periyavaa, the manager received the arcakAs with honours when they came in the afternoon, fed them and then took them to the sage. Periyavaa inquired them about their welfare.

The head priest told him, "The arcakA who goes daily in the morning to open the sanctum sanctorum of Sri Akhilandeswari for public darshan, faints and falls down as he opens the door. He recovers only after ten minutes. Since this happens daily, the other arcakAs are hesitant to attend the puja."

Periyavaa said at once, "Tomorrow I shall come to the temple myself. You can open the temple after my arrival." He gave them prasAda and bade them farewell.

Periyavaa went to Sri Akhilandeswari temple at 5:30 hours the next morning. The arcakA fainted as he opened the door. He recovered after ten minutes and then got up and went about his work. Periyavaa sat in niSTa (meditation) for sometime. Then he called the head priest and said, "From tomorrow, ask him to enter the sannidhi (building where the deity is installed) by opening the side door!" He also explained the priest the way to do it and asked for the arcakA to enter the sanctum two minutes after opening the door.

When the sthapati came with the Vinayaka statue at four in the evening, Periyavaa asked him to build a stUpi (tope) and install the Vinakaya statue on the tope in such a way that the lines of sight of both Akhilandeswari and Vinayaka met each other on the same plane. Sri Vinakaya was installed in the temple opposite (his mother) Sri Akhiladeswari according to Agama rules and pujas were performed to Him. The incident of the arcakA fainting did not continue thereafter. The Vinayaka statue is still located directly opposite AmbaaL's sannidhi (so the mother's first look every morning falls on her first son).

Attached is the original PDF document of the Sakthi Vikatan article in Tamil.

Glossary:
stUpaH - stUpi in Tamil; a tope, a monument

 

Sai Satcharitra

This is a link to read the complete Sai Satcharitra online (in English)

Sai Satcharitra - Shirdi Sai Baba Web Site

Mythraeyi

 

Mahaswami-Miracle beyond Medical Science

Hi All,
Pls find attached an interesting episode, a testimony to Mahaswami's incredible powers.

Rgds,
sash

 

Hello everybody,

Have anyone heard of Gnanaguru VenugolaSwamigal?

He has established Thabovanam, in Punjai Puliampatti(Erode Dist). Actually it is about 60km from Coimbatore, on the road to Sathiamangalam.

If anyone is interested I would love to share my experience with u. I had just heard of meditation before, but after seeking his blessings and following his discourse, I now know what is the power of 'dhyanam' and power of our thoughts.

Maybe, what I know, is just the tip of an iceberg, but I m learning.

 

deivathin kural in the kamakoti site

hi all,

for the followers of kanchi maha periyaval, a good news (the deivathin kural which is considered as the 5th vedam after the rig, yejur, sama and atharvana) deivathin kural written by his holiness maha periyaval of kanchi is now available in kamakoti.org. for those who cannot read the book.u can subscribe it everyday in your mail box or everyweek in your mail box. also u get the announcements of the mutt activities. may his holiness shower his blessings on all of us. get benefited