Ousting Evil From Our Midst: Different Ways

The concept of evil, as well as the approach to dealing with evil is different in eastern and western religious traditions and culture. The East believes that it is God's job to deal with evil. The individual has nothing to do with it; he can only pray. It is the gods who will take action to oust evil from our midst.

In Tibetan Buddhism and Taoism, for example, there are specific deities responsible for counteracting evil forces, like Avalokateshvara in Tibetan Buddhism and the God Shui-kuan in Taosim. In Hinduism, it is Goddess Durga who destroys the evil Mahishasura with one 'Hmmkar'. There are also a number of other Hindu deities including Shiva, Narasimha in the Vaishnava tradition, Hanuman, Kali, Bhairava, and Pratyengeera who have, from time to time, come to the rescue by overpowering evil forces. So the power of prayer is appreciated; one needs only to pray and deities will take care.

The eastern approach will doubtless seem odd if not completely incomprehensible in the West where there is a much more action-oriented approach to dealing with evil. In the Abrahamic traditions, it is viewed as the responsibility of the individual to take action against evil and to deal firmly with one's enemies. The Old Testament law of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" goes back as far as Moses (Exodus 21:22-25). This principle clearly favours activism when it comes to dealing with one's enemies.

Though Christianity professes ideals like "turning the other cheek" and "loving thy enemy" (Matthew 5:38-45), it is still action-oriented and responsibility to handle evil is left to the individual.

In Islam, the "devil" is pelted with stones by pilgrims as part of a ritual during Hajj. Here, evil is symbolically perceived as an external threat to religion. So stones are pelted to drive it away. However, in some interpretations and in Sufism, jehad is more an internal exercise, non-reactive approach on the spiritual path.

The philosophy of simply staying surrendered to God and letting God take care of the problem is deeply embedded in the consciousness in the East. When Hindus see something evil, they leave it to God. A verse says: "Evam eva tvaya karyan, asmat vairi vinashanam" which means "It is your job to destroy my enemies".

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, "Mayaivaite nihatah purvam eva/ nimitta-matram bhava savya-sacin" which means "I have already killed the Kauravas (the enemy). You simply be the instrument and take credit for it".

The main idea is that to deal with evil, there needs to be some avatar, some great man, who will come and take care of it. Anyone who deals with evil is therefore raised to the level of a god, so that human beings can remain passive and non-violent. At the most, to ward off evil people put demonic figures or scarecrows on rooftops but these have no scriptural references. There are many superstitious practices to ward off evil around the world, especially in folklore.

The non-violent and non-retaliatory approach evidenced in India's tradition is due in large part to the under- lying philosophy embedded in the Hindu consciousness that God will take care of any evil or enemy. This philosophy, however, has often served as an excuse for passivity.

Don't Be Stuck With Guilt Pangs Forever

How to redeem myself from a nagging sense of guilt?

There can be different kinds of guilt. It could have something to do with past action the memory of which haunts you, creating mental pressure.

Another kind of guilt is to do with present action, when you continue to do something that you feel is wrong, unable to stop it. Then again, you may categorise guilt depending on the kind of wrong it involves: violent actions like murder and rape, stealthy actions like lying, lack of restraint like overeating and oversleeping. Some actions may involve you alone while others might involve others. You could even feel guilty about not paying taxes to the government.

To get rid of guilt, first understand that you must first discontinue those actions that make you feel guilty.

But how can i stop myself from doing undesirable actions?

There is a way. Evaluate the cause and the consequences of the practice, its degrading and weakening effects on your mind and body. You must always weigh its deeper and long-term harmful effects against its immediate attraction or pleasure. Initially, you may at times allow it physically. But denounce it mentally, sternly. Every time you fail in your resolve you must feel bad about the failure. This repeated assertion and condemnation will strengthen the mind against the indulgence.

With regard to any action done by the body, we feel, “I have done it. I had willed it”. That means, we identify our ‘ego’ as the cause of the action. Imposing this causality on our own self is called kartrtva (doership). Consequently, we associate ourselves with the results of the action also. If something bad results, we feel penitent thinking that we are the cause for it. In the case of something good or great taking place, we feel similarly elated. This egoistic association with the results or fruits of an action is called bhoktrtva (enjoyership or sufferership). Both these notions will have to be dissolved. And that can take place only through enlightenment.

What do you mean by enlightenment?

Enlightenment is that stage where the ego drops and the bondages cease. You understand the role of Nature (prakrti) and the illusory role of the ego. Guilt is only a kind of kartrtva-bhoktrtva feeling. Free yourself of all affectations.

Can’t we get rid of guilt without spiritual illumination?

Our mind has got unlimited power to assimilate any input. We tend to say “time heals”. What heals is the mind itself by virtue of its own healing power. It is ignorance that causes suffering. You suffer unduly because you do not know what lies within you. The Self within you - which you constantly refer to as ‘I’ - is the supreme power that has created this entire universe. The more and more you dwell upon the magnificence of this ‘I’ - your true identity - the more you will imbibe its brilliance, strength and vastness. Whenever you are assailed by some wrong thoughts or constrictions you would like to overcome, whenever you fail to imbibe some virtues or qualities you would like to have, sit in a place, close your eyes and contemplate upon the supreme power within you. Whenever the senses become turbulent, moderate them by the application of your mind.

If the mind is confused, treat and direct it with your intelligence. When everything fails, close your eyes and dive within.  By Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

Waste Not, Want Not, Says Conventional Wisdom

In the mid 80s while travelling with friends along Italy's Amalfi coast i observed a seagull gliding above the rocky cliffs. There was nothing particularly unusual about the seagull but on this occasion I noted with some surprise, that it travelled hundreds of yards with little effort. A mere tilt of its wing, slight shift of its body, took it up or down, right or left.

But for expended body heat, minor muscle exertion, a turn of the head, the distance covered by the gull was accomplished with little or no waste.

At the same time I remembered camera footage of the space shuttle launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the great plume of smoke exhausted by it.

Human waste, to a certain extent, defines human evolution. We have become what we are in accordance with our waste and that we waste has prevented us from evolving to where we could be without waste.

Many a tale has been told of ascetics who eat one bean a day, drink a glass of milk several times a month or eat leaves upon occasion. Whether exact tales or not such stories do focus on the basic inadequacies of the human digestive system and suggest it can be improved upon by “conscious” effort and conditioning.

Beyond this and within reach of the average man are day-to-day episodes of forgetfulness, anger and dishonesty that may constitute wasted energy which, if made available to us, would assist a personal and collective rise in evolutionary possibilities.

Waste in relation to man refers to all energy baring quantities which pass by us or through us without our exerting a controlled intention over them.

For the sun, sunlight is a waste product which defines the sun's nature as a sun. Were our sun or any sun to cease giving off light it would no longer exhibit the nature of a sun. That man wastes as he does defines man's nature as a human. By this definition, a mankind without waste would no longer be mankind as we know it to be. Would a mankind undefined be more evolved or less? Is definition wasteful? Does a sun sans light become more or less evolved in its world?

We fight waste because we believe it is the right thing to do. Waste looks, smells and sounds bad. Our extensive efforts to increase computation speeds which generate less heat and therefore less waste address the evolution of computers and many computation systems.

Our eventual discovery and application of the human bio-electric system as the power source we “plug into” to run personal computers implies an evolutionary advance for both man and the computer.

I tell my eldest son, guard your words, don't waste your tears, clean your room, finish your chores, from what you have learned today write me a story. The intention behind these activities is to evolve him from the world of the child to that of the man.

Are instructions such as these, once fulfilled, equivalent to evolutionary milestones? Can I assure my son that his adherence to these standards will do much to guarantee a less wasteful and therefore more evolved life?

As it is with so many aspects of life, waste may or may not be wasteful. For us absolute judgments are difficult to ascertain due to the brevity of our lives and the very long cycles even the smallest action must pass through before it reaches maturity or what we perceive as maturity.

“Waste not, want not”, perhaps, or perhaps not. I wrote this article, to avoid wasting time, while waiting for a plane. Thomas Easley was artist-in-residence at The Times of India in the 1990s.

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty! You’ve Slept For So Long

Sleeping Beauty is a popular fairy tale. Parents often read aloud the story of the enchanting beauty who fell into a deep slumber and the handsome prince who awakened her with a kiss.

We too are sleeping. Sleeping Beauty slept for a hundred years, but we have been sleeping for eons. She was sleeping at the physical level, but we are sleeping at the level of the soul. As a woman saint of India, Sahjo Bai, has said in a verse: "O Sahjo, the trumpet of our breathing sounds day and night./ The fool is lost in deep slumber while those who are/ awake do not rest even for a second".

Our soul is like that of Sleeping Beauty, lying dormant for ages. It requires the kiss of a prince to awaken us. That kiss will not awaken us at the level of the mind and body, but it will rouse us spiritually.

What does it mean to be asleep spiritually? We presume that awareness of this physical world means that we are awake; but even scientists and doctors are recognising that there is more to creation than earth and other planets, and the stars we see through a telescope.

They are discovering that our soul can enter into realms that are teeming with life and experiences that we never dreamed existed. As long as we remain unaware of them, we are asleep. Our soul is awakened when it experiences these inner realms.

How can we wake up?

Fortunately, experiences of the Beyond are not limited to those who have near-death experiences. There are easier methods like meditation, contemplation and prayer. To learn this technique, we need someone who has journeyed into the Beyond who can teach us how to try it ourselves.

Those who have journeyed into the Beyond have left records of their experiences. These inner universe travellers are saints, mystics, masters and prophets. They have shown the way.

Meditation is concentration. It can be practised by anyone of any age. We withdraw our attention from the outer world and focus it within to get in touch with God. The light and sound of God leads us from physical consciousness to higher consciousness.

Saints and mystics describe the soul as a drop of God. By bringing the soul to the point of the body called the seat of the soul, it contacts the streams of light and sound, the creative vibration that emanated from the Creator, and brought Creation into being.

It created the physical universe, earth, human beings and all forms of life. The Sikhs call it Naam, the Muslims refer to it as Kalma, the Sufis call it Baang-e-Asmani, the Greeks call it Logos, the Hindus call it Nad, Bani, Jyoti or Sruti. The process by which the soul is brought into contact with the current of light and sound reverberating within is called meditation.

Meditation is taught to us by a living master. He helps us focus into the Light and Sound of God. He helps us focus our attention at the seat of the soul, thus enabling our inner eye and inner ear to open, so that we see the Divine Light and hear the Harmony of Harmonies within. He shows us how to rise above body consciousness and explore the regions of Light.

It is the Living Master who awakens us to God. We are all Sleeping Beauties until this awakening takes place.

Hands That Heal Mind, Body And Spirit

Nature has gifted our bodies with an inbuilt mechanism to heal itself. The hands, especially, have immense healing capability. That hands possess innate healing power is evident in an Atharva Veda verse: "Gifted with the divine power, our left hand is empowered to heal skilfully by removing all barriers in the free flow of joy.

The right hand is still more powerful and dexterous as it contains all the divine gift of therapeutic capability - the healing touch of which ensures detoxification, harmonization, well-being, joyful life and salvation.

Our healing hands possess 10 healing fingers branching from them..." The inherent healing power of the hands has been deftly exploited in various drugless therapies including Quantum Touch, Acupressure, Su Jok, Shiatsu (Japanese from shi, meaning finger, and atsu, meaning pressure), pranic healing and Reiki. Amongst these, Reiki, the ancient healing system rediscovered by Mikao Usui in early twentieth century Japan, is popular worldwide as a way to treat physical, emotional and mental disorders.

The word ‘Rei' means universal and ‘ki' means life-force energy or the prana. Reiki simply involves tapping into universal life-force energy and laying on of hands on a few body areas. Once you have learnt the technique, and you have gone through an attunement process whereby you are able to source the universal life-force energy, you can channel its amazing power through your hands, to heal yourself or others, just by intent, as and when desired.

What causes illness in the body? Several factors seem to be responsible for illness:

1. Harmonic imbalance caused by restricted inter-movement of energy within the endocrine glands due to their partial or complete blockage.

2. Perforation of the aura - subtle energy shield around the body - by negative emotions, permitting the disease to enter and manifest in the body, thereby also affecting the mind adversely because of its interrelationship with the body.

3. The vibration frequency of body cells falls below healthy levels, causing the body to go weak and become susceptible to disease.

4. Diseases carried by inherited genes. How does Reiki address the causes? Recent medical evidence and scientific investigations verify the existence of this life-force energy and the role it plays in proper functioning of the immune system as also in the healing process. Just place your hands on a body part and connect to the universal life-force energy by intent. It would trigger the energy to flow from your palms through the meridians and clear the pathways to the endocrine glands.

Flowing through the affected parts, an uninterrupted supply of prana to the energy centres is revived, the energy blocks are removed; the vibration frequency of the cells raised to healthy levels and the immune system gets balanced. This subtle experience provides healing not only at the physical, mental and emotional levels; it also gradually heals your spirit.

Easy to learn and simple to manoeuvre, Reiki healing is being explored by many, the approach being one of faith and curiosity. Reiki does alleviate many kinds of ailments, provided it is done with practice and the patient is open to its healing powers. Hands as extensions of our mind and body play an important role in healing through touch, tapping energy resources and channelising the energy for positive effect. The Dehradun-based writer is a Reiki healer.

Management Of Change Brings Stability

There are two sources of stress, internal and external. Internal stress involves thoughts, values, beliefs and opinions. External stress involves wrong exercises, faulty breathing habits, unhealthy eating habits, pollution and sleep problems.

Nobody can avoid stress in life. One has to minimise stress. That is possible if one can work on both internal and external stress. The most important factor is our mind and how it looks at life.

At the end of one of my programmes, a lady danced for three hours in sheer celebration. Then she came and sat next to me and told me how happy she was. As she was drinking coffee, the beverage spilt on her beautiful saree. Immediately, she screamed, saying her joy from the three-hour dance was gone.

Looking at this incident, i learnt that three hours of happiness was invalidated by a sorrow lasting for a few seconds. If our mind can work like this, the reverse is also possible. The three hours of sorrow can be invalidated by a few seconds of joy.

The secret of being happy is to recollect happy incidents in life. Weaken the effect of unhappiness by distancing yourself from its pictures. Can you undertake the following acts in your life? Understand the mind. Transform the mind. Transcend the mind.

Transforming the mind involves the understanding that there is no complete satisfaction in life; there is only a possibility to improve upon the existing state of affairs. We don’t have to win every time in order to be happy; happiness does not depend only on success. Learn to respond and not to react to events and incidents in life. If one continues reacting, reaction becomes a habit. Then an egoistic and reactive "I" emerges. It will have its own foolish logic.

A dog and a cat had an interesting conversation. The dog said, "I am so lucky that the owner of the house serves me and the children of the house adore me. So i feel they are God".

The cat also said, "The owner of the house pets me, the children of the house adore me, and the servant maid serves me. So i feel i am God".

Effective management of change is an art. For this, you need to cultivate leadership qualities. To be successful in life, one has to have the leadership quality to manage change.

In esoteric teaching there is an important law called the law of three. The positive effort you put in is called the first force. As you put in positive force there is a negative force that would affect the positive force.

This negative force is called the second force. If one conti-nuously puts in positive effort, there would be a third force that would descend and transform the negative force into a positive force. This is called the law of three.

If you do not continue exerting a positive force, the negative force will take over. So the law of three urges us to be open to the negative force, but to continue applying the positive.

Meeting The Challenge Of Changing Patterns

"We once saw a man draw some black dots. We looked and could make nothing of them but an irregular assemblage of black dots. Then he drew a few lines, put in a few rests, then a clef at the beginning, and we saw these black dots were musical notes. On sounding them we were singing”. This observation set me thinking. There are many black dots and spots in our lives. We cannot understand why they come — unexpected bad news, sudden deaths, illnesses, unsavoury encounters, brushes with the uncouth... We wonder why God permitted them in the first place. Then, other experiences come flooding in, equally unexpected: good tidings, experiences of goodness, compassion and mercy.

Maybe God has been adjusting the dots. He has been drawing the lines he wants, separating the good from the bad, lifting us above what is low and unseemly. He puts in the rest in the proper places. The black dots no longer remain an irregular assemblage. They are drawn into a larger pattern, woven into a wider harmony.

When we look down a long avenue of trees, we are amazed to look from one end of the avenue to the other at the rich greenery, the large boughs, the arching leaves. Sometimes, the trees seem to groan under the burning heat of summer, yet they provide shade to the hapless who take shelter under their outstretched arms.

There are seasons, when the trees shed their leaves and remain brown and seemingly barren. Then once again, they suddenly turn green in spring. Fresh new leaves appear. All is verdant, green, inviting once again.

When we look back along the long avenues of our years, our experiences are quite similar. There are good times and bad. There were times for growing roots deep into the ground to withstand the winters of our lives. There were times to shed leaves, experiences, persons and situations that were poisoning our lives. There were times to shift our alliances and allegiances to bring them more in tune with God. There were times to go deeper in search of water and the source of life.

We all have to deal with change in our lives. Change is really an opportunity to grow. The unexpected always comes along. The unexpected could also come in the form of the beautiful and the inspiring. We all know what joy meeting an old friend by chance can bring us.

An unexpected phone or letter that encourages us can light our day. An experience of quiet joy and peace may come to us through a sudden shaft of light from the window. Affirmation from a friend or loved one could lift us, when the lowness of some around us is getting us down.

Change and difference are a part of life and the mystery of being unsure never leaves us. It is no secret that deer, squirrel and owl are not alike, that birds do not fly in lines and fish don’t all float at the same level. We choose the level at which we live our lives, the heights that we touch and the depths to which we stoop.

We cannot determine the times of sunshine and the times for cloud and rain. Our spiritual experiences may not always be pristine and un-diluted light. We all cannot escape the darkness and gloom. But the closer we move to God, the better we learn to handle change.

Meditation Is A Way To Quieten The Mind

For a jnani, meditation is the natural state. Having realised the nature of the Self to be pure consciousness, the Self of all beings and things, he is ever in that state of awareness. He is naturally and effortlessly established in the Self like an effortless awareness of being a human being. We do not have to reiterate every morning the feeling “I am the body. This is my natural state and i am aware of it’’.

Similarly, the jnani has the awareness that “I am Satchidananda, pure consciousness, the infinite reality”. He abides in the awareness of His True Nature through all times of the day and night, in and through all phases of his life. As a waker, dreamer or sleeper the jnani blissfully, naturally and effortlessly abides in the awareness of the Self.

For the jnani, meditation is not a process. He does not have to put forth any effort for he now has nothing further to gain. He has experienced the Vedic declaration that everything is Brahmn, the infinite.

For a seeker who perceives duality and considers it to be real, meditation is a process. Such a seeker feels he has to constantly and diligently be aware of the Self. The seeker has gained the objective knowledge of the Self. Even after such an intellectual appreciation of the Truth, the mind tends to revel in the world of sense objects.

As a first step towards this establishment in the Self, the attention of the mind is turned away from sense objects towards the Self, culminating in the pure consciousness being the nature of the Self. Krishna says that when a perfectly quiet mind, free from the longing for the objects of the world, is turned towards the Self, it abides in the Self.

This practice of bringing the wandering mind again and again in the Self is to be done slowly and steadily. By such practices the impressions in the mind in the form of likes and dislikes get discarded and sattva guna becomes a predominant quality of the quietened mind. The sattvic mind is fully and firmly established in the Self, there will not be any perception of differences. The limitation hold no more sway over him.

Meditation can be done in five steps:

1. Seek solitude: Through karma yoga, prayer and solitude develop a mind which loves solitude. A mind that wants nothing from the world and possesses nothing. Know the nature of the Self to be bliss and desire to experience it.

2. Relax: Select a clean and solitary place for meditation. Place a thin and soft cushion, sit erect in a comfortable posture. Close your eyes and relax.

3. Have the right attitude. Mentally prostrate to your teacher with reverence. Sincerely pray to God to seek His blessings. Be cheerful. Be a sincere seeker of truth. Drop all other identities.

4. Withdraw the mind. First withdraw the mind from the world of objects by not contemplating on the sense stimuli you receive from the world. Through discrimination, drop all wanderings of the mind in the past and future. Bring the mind to the present moment. Chant OM.

5. Fix the Mind in the Self; witness the quietude. Take the help of the scriptural pointers like “I am unattached”, “I am pure consciousness”. If the mind wanders, bring it back to the Self, Just be.

Complete Submission To The Eternal Entity

Spiritual progress depends on three factors: pranipata, pari-prashna and seva. Pranipata means complete surrender to the eternal entity, Parama Purusha. The attitude that “whatever is, is from Parama Purusha and nothing is mine” is pranipata. The person who has ego, who thinks that his intellect, wealth and other things are his own, is the greatest fool. A person boasts of learning, intellect and fortune. But nothing is eternal. Therefore, he who boasts of anything of this world is a fool for he is submitting to false vanity of intellect.

Whatever is, is of Parama Purusha; nothing is yours. Hence surrender to Parama Purusha. Submission to the eternal entity is pranipata. All works of creation belong to Him. We are only His media.

Before doing any work, you think that Parama Purusha is doing this work through you. However, the individual entity should not get entangled in the trap of maya. Don’t exult in your post, position, beauty, wealth, honour or knowledge. All belong to the Divine Entity, Parama Purusha; nothing is yours.

Pariprashna means those questions which are responsible for our spiritual elevation. Pedantic questions waste enormous amounts of time and energy and they are generally useless. Questions that seek answers that help us evolve spiritually are pariprashna; these questions are useful for progressing on the path of self-realisation. Questions that are not pariprashna are not beneficial in the long run.

What is the import of seva? The root meaning of the term seva is “service”. But service in the field of Yoga is not the same as in the commercial sphere. In the commercial sphere seva means mutual exchange. Give some money, take some article - it is something mutual. You are giving something and you are receiving something. The shopkeepers give you some article, and receive some article in exchange. You give money, and receive some goods or money in exchange. So this sort of service is mutual. But in the field of spirituality seva is not mutual. It is unilateral. You are giving everything to Parama Purusha, and in return you are taking nothing.

Seva means “selfless service”. Service is there where there is no desire to get anything in return. When there is a desire to take while giving, it is not service, but business. Any kind of business is attached to give and take. When a commercial establishment tells you it is “at your service”, it is not service, it is business, because the person does not give anything without taking something. So in true service there is only giving and no question of taking. Even if somebody gives in return, the attitude should be not to take anything.

The word prapatti is generally used by devotees. It means “full self-submission”. Everything is done by Paramatman, by the Divine Entity. Aprapatti, on the other hand, means the mental attitude that all is done by individuals and not by Parama Purusha. With these three factors, you will get spiritual elevation. Except for these, nothing else will benefit you in any way.

You have come for a very short span of time into this world. Therefore, utilise the time to the maximum. Serve the world with the feeling of service. Render service in all spheres of life, whether physical, psychological or spiritual. Let our service be strengthened by complete submission to the eternal entity, Parama Purusha.

Eternal Love And Unity Of All Humankind

At the deepest level, there is but one religion. Science and faith together constitute the dual knowledge system that propels the evolution of civilization. Each is an “effulgence of the Sun of Truth”.

Successive dispensations of a loving and purposeful Creator have brought the earth’s inhabitants to the threshold of their collective coming-of-age as a single people. The oneness and unity of humanity is of foremost importance. That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith.

Know the reality of eternal love. There are four kinds of love. The first is the love that flows from God to man: it consists of the inexhaustible graces, the Divine effulgence and heavenly illumination. Through this love the world of being receives life. Through this love man is endowed with physical existence, until, through the breath of the Holy Spirit - this same love - he receives eternal life and becomes the image of the Living God. This love is the origin of all love in the world of creation.

The second is the love that flows from man to God. This is faith, attraction to the Divine, enkindlement, progress, entrance into the Kingdom of God, receiving the Bounties of God, illumination with the lights of the Kingdom. This love is the origin of all philanthropy; this love causes the hearts of men to reflect the rays of the Sun of Reality.

The third is the love of God towards the Self or Identity of God. This is the transfiguration of His Beauty, the reflection of Himself in the mirror of His Creation. This is the reality of love, or ancient love; in other words, eternal love. Through one ray of this love all other love exists.

The fourth is the love of man for man. The love which exists between the hearts of believers is prompted by the ideal of the unity of spirits. This love is attained through the knowledge of God, so that men see the Divine Love reflected in the heart. Each sees in the other the beauty of God reflected in the soul, and finding this point of similarity, they are attracted to one another in love. This love will make all men the waves of one sea, this love will make them all the stars of one heaven and the fruits of one tree. This love will bring the realisation of true accord, the foundation of real unity.

Love that is subject to transmutation is not eternal love; this is merely fascination. It is subject to change.

Today, you will see two souls apparently in close friendship; tomorrow all this may be changed. Yesterday, they were ready to die for one another, today they shun one another’s society. This is not love; it is yielding of hearts to the accidents of life. When that which has caused this “love” to exist passes, the love passes also; this is not in reality love.

All love originate from God. These rays are from the Sun of Reality; these are the Breathings of the Holy Spirits; these are the Signs of the Reality.

“This is the Day whereon the Ocean of God’s mercy hath been manifested unto men, the Day in which the Day Star of His loving-kindness hath shed its radiance upon them, the Day in which the clouds of His bountiful favour have overshadowed the whole of mankind. Now is the time to cheer and refresh the down-cast through the invigorating breeze of love and fellowship, and the living waters of friendliness and charity”.

Submit To The Divine in Love

God is within, in the deep recesses of our heart, in the form of the two sounds, Mahanaam or great name. One sound, Gopal, apprises you of the Supreme; the other sound, Govinda, of the Beyond. The Mahanaam is our real Self, the Guru. The human mind is only the pragmatic self which cuts into pieces the Integral Existence that is Mahanaam, and therefore exhibits multiplicity.

No earthly guru can initiate a person or, in other words, give diksha. Mahanaam spontaneously manifests as and when it chooses to do so. The Divine Will, which is the outward manifestation of Sri Satyanarayan, is the sole creative and sustaining principle in this universe. As Divine Power, or Energy, Maha-naam is revealed to our senses in various forms. It is the Shabdabrahmn. Shabda means sound, Brahmn refers to God, the Essence of Existence. Mahanaam is identical with Truth.

The matrix of all multiplicity, Mahanaam is the eternal refuge of all existence. The two sounds, Gopal Govinda, epitomise the bipolarity of our life in this world overflowing with the joy of infinite existence. Existence, consciousness, joy... this is the order of progressive manifestation of the Infinite. In Existence as Existence, the two sounds are in perfect identity. That is Satyanarayan, symbol of Truth, and Mahanaam is His joyous manifestation.

Submit to Mahanaam in love; do your work with Him as the Agent. Have patience with the vicissitudes of life which are tokens of His Infinite Love. Don’t restrain, don’t indulge. Be natural, shorn of all inhibitions. Work is worship when the sole frame of reference is the Soul, the vibrant Mahanaam. No one can come into this world without the two sounds of Mahanaam vibrating within.

Mahanaam is prana or life. Gopal Govinda is the warp and woof of your existence. The respiratory function is set into motion by its spontaneous vibration. If you closely follow the track of respiration you may be led to a rediscovery of the vibration of Mahanaam.

Other than Name, there is nothing. Name is the Supreme Authority. Name is the Guru. Name is God. Name is Almighty and Truth. No need of going to anybody, going anywhere. You have become full of Him. Remember Mahanaam with love and complete self-surrender. That is the only way.

As soon as the veil of ego is lifted creative power evolves in the mind of the seeker and Mahanaam disappears. My role is that of a witness. The seeker sees the Mahanaam, which is the Name of Self, dwelling in the seeker’s heart and constantly chanting the Mahanaam. The resonant sound of Mahanaam is heard by the seeker at the time of revelation.

You can turn yourself into a Vrindavan. The mind in the state of Manjari (like a budding seed) tastes the Rasa (relishes Divine Love) of Govinda (God within). That is what is meant by residence in Vrindavan.

The region of repose of respiration within the body, which is Void, is the place where from out of Void emerges Name. Therein lie Vrindavan and Govinda. It has no contact with the body in as much as it transcends mind. The concentrated mind is Buddhi (absolute, discriminative, intuitive). This state is possible only when one goes beyond mind or when one reaches the Void. I am kissing myself, kissing kiss itself. The mind flowers into a sheaf (Manjari), the intelligence grows transparent (conscious), and the life force becomes Joy.

Whatever You Are Is Nothing But Food

According to eastern mystic tradition, all that you think you are is nothing but food. Your body is food, your mind is food, your soul is food. Beyond the soul there is certainly something which is not food. That something is known as anatta, no-self. It is utter emptiness. Buddha calls it shunya, the void. It is pure space. It contains nothing but itself; it is contentless consciousness.

While the content persists, the food persists. By 'food' is meant that which is ingested from the outside. The body needs physical food; without it, it will start deteriorating. This is how it survives; it contains nothing but physical food.

Your mind contains memories, thoughts, desires, jealousies, power trips, and a thousand and one things. All that is also food; on a more subtle plane it is food. Thought is food. Hence when you have nourishing thoughts your chest expands. When you have thoughts which give you energy you feel good. Somebody compliments you, and look what happens to you — you are nourished. And somebody says something uncomplimentary about you, and watch — it is as if something has been snatched away from you...

The mind is food in a subtle form. The mind is the inner side of the body; hence what you eat affects your mind... You can watch it yourself. Eat something and watch, eat something else and watch. Keep notes, and you will become aware and surprised to find that each thing that you digest is not only physical, it has a psychological part to it. It makes your mind vulnerable to certain ideas, to certain desires.

Since long, there has been a search for a kind of food that will not strengthen the mind but will help it to finally dissolve; a kind of food which, instead of strengthening the mind, will strengthen meditation, no-mind. No fixed and certain rules can be given, because people are different and each one has to decide for himself.

Talk less, listen only to the essential, be telegraphic in talking and listening. If you talk less, if you listen less, slowly you will see that a feeling of purity will start rising within you. That becomes the necessary soil for meditation. Don't go on reading all kinds of nonsense.

Leave a few gaps in your mind unoccupied. Those moments of unoccupied consciousness are the first glimpses of meditation, the first penetrations of the beyond, the first flashes of no-mind. And then if you can manage to do this, the other thing is to choose physical food which does not help aggression and violence, which is not poisonous. Become bigger, become huge. Why are you living in tunnels? Why are you creeping into small dark black holes? But you think you are living in great ideological systems. You are not living in great ideological systems, because there are no great ideological systems. No idea is great enough to contain a human being; being-hood cannot be contained by any concept. All concepts cripple and paralyse.

Your body is not poisoned as much as your mind is. The body is a simple phenomenon, it can be easily cleaned. If you change your poisonous foods you will be surprised; a new intelligence will be released in you. And this new intelligence will make it possible not to go on stuffing yourself with nonsense. This new intelligence will make you capable of dropping the past and its memories, of dropping unnecessary desires and dreams, dropping jealousies, angers, traumas and all kinds of psychological wounds.

Excerpted from The Book of Wisdom. Courtesy: Osho International Foundation. www.osho.com.

Balance Cosmic Energy For Maximum Benefit

A thundershower brings great relief from the scorching heat of the sun. The pitter-patter of raindrops falling fills the air with its rhythm. The sun, storehouse of energy, ceases to be our favourite for a while. A few days of clouds, rain, thunderstorm and showers are enjoyed by all. Very soon, however, we eagerly look forward to sunlight as the dull weather brings down our energy levels.

It’s the balance of energies in the cosmos that keeps us on our feet. We absorb these energies in the form of prana, the life force, and reach it to the various organs for them to work in unison. So our absorbing the energies from the cosmos keeps us physically alive. Any imbalance affects mental and physical health.

By learning to balancing these energies, we could derive maximum benefit from what is available to us in forms of vibrations in nature. A blend of these sounds and vibrations activates the chakras, the main energy centres in our body, thereby bringing about complete health and harmony between the cosmic vibrations and our chakras.

Chakra literally means a wheel or circle. In the human body energy flows through three main channels or nadis, namely sushumna, pingala and ida. Pingala and ida start from the right and the left nostrils respectively. These move to the crown of the head and then course downwards to the base of the spine. These two nadis intersect each other and also with sushumna. These junctions of the nadis are called chakras which regulate the body mechanism.

The ‘Kundalini Pranayam’ performed regularly energises and balances the chakras. Each major chakra has a sound to activate the energy of that particular area and open itself to receive maximum benefit from cosmic energies:

1. Mooladhara chakra: Moola or root is the adhara or source of support. From here, prana reaches energies to every nook and corner of the body. It is situated in the pelvis. Colour: red, sound vibration: ‘lam’.

2. Swadhishthana chakra: This controls the functions of reproductive and excretory organs. Sva signifies the vital force and adhishthana means abode. It is situated above the organs of generation. Colour: saffron, sound: ‘vam’.

3. Manipura chakra: Situated in the navel region, this chakra controls every organ below the diaphragm and helps to increase digestion and assimilation to maintain perfect health. Colour: red, sound: ‘ram’.

4. Anahata chakra: Anahata means the unbeaten. Situated in the cardiac area this improves heart and lung function. Colour: green, sound: ‘yam’.

5. Vishuddhi chakra: This signifies purity and enables all the glands to function to their optimum and maintains perfect hormone balance. Colour: violet, sound: ‘ham’.

6. Ajna chakra: Ajna means command. Situated between the eyebrows, this chakra is vital in stimulating the pituitary gland and slowing down the ageing process. It has the shape of the crescent moon. Colour: silver-white, sound: ‘om’.

7. Sahasrara chakra: Sahasra means one thousand. This works towards mind and body balance and promotes total health. Colour: rising sun, sound: ‘mmmmm’.

Taking the most comfortable position, close your eyes and visualise each chakra and its colour as you inhale and chant the particular sound as you exhale. Regular practice of ‘Kundalini Pranayama’ brings about complete harmony in the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual energies, thus keeping oneself in tune with cosmic energies.

Exploring A Reality That Lies Beyond Perception

Swara means note literally, but it holds a deeper significance than its western definition... It is not a mechanical pitch, but rather, an utterance that comes from deep within the human body...

The ancient western position on music was that it was made up of patterns of sound with regular melodic intervals which reflect the simple ratios by which the world is organised and make sense to our organs of perception. Western theory is thus built around perceptible, rational ideas which the human mind can see, recognise, and find proof for.

Musicologist Lewis Rowell has written that Indian music is rooted in a fundamentally different assumption - that there is a continuous, unseen, and constantly changing reality which is the backdrop for all human action and perception. It is what shapes our karma or destiny, and helps explain why seemingly inexplicable things happen to us.

The notes in Indian music are thus not categorical, separate, self-contained entities, but are connected through a subtle, elusive continuum of notes that can barely be identified by the human ear. They are, in the metaphysical sense, part of that reality which lies beyond perception. These in-between notes are called srutis, and they are the essence of Indian music.

In a very literal sense, these srutis are the half notes and quarter notes that fill the intervals between two notes. But that would be a grossly incomplete description. There is much more to the sruti, for it can entirely change the reality of the notes. For instance, how you reach a particular note is as important as the note itself. It may be arrived at from below, or above, after caressing that hidden note that hovers next to it, and it will evoke a completely different sensation than if the musician were to meet the note directly.

This explains why Indian music cannot be learned from textbooks. It has to be taught by a guru who can explain these nuances, coax the right note out of the student and help her achieve it. How would even the most articulate text manage to explain that you have to meet the swara gradually and lovingly and with a touch of foreplay?

The ancient scriptures were preserved in the oral tradition, where each phrase and utterance was memorised through a complex set of mnemonics and then recited with great emphasis on delivery, so that future generations got it just right. Yoga, also an ancient and secret discipline, was passed down from teacher to student, not through textbooks.

The Indian classical musical tradition relies on a similar oral tradition where the teacher is a key player and often viewed with the same reverence with which one would treat a priest or a monk.

But there is only so much that can be taught. It is finally up to the student to understand the secrets of swara. The singer may have perfect pitch but may or may not get to the next level. It is only when the student gets a feel for the notes that her music will truly shine forth...

Hindu musicians... believe that the first element to emerge, long before life populated the universe, was the sound Om, which embodies that universal spirit some call God. Perhaps this is why the sensation experienced, both for the artist and the connoisseur, when a musician enunciates the swara in its ultimate and precise form, is very similar to the feeling one has when one sits in a quiet temple, church, or mausoleum, and experiences that sudden epiphany.

The Three Devis And Creative Energy

Durga is one version of the all-pervading Shakti, the powerful manifestation of the Supreme Energy. The eternity of this supreme manifestation of divine female power is considered to be pervading infinite space and time. The everlasting and all-pervading Shakti also presides over the processes of creation, conservation and annihilation.

Concepts of creation, preservation and annihilation are crucial as “many-body” operators in physics. Almost all physical systems are many-body systems. The smallest many-body entity is a physical system with only two constituents. Atoms, atomic nuclei, molecules, solids, liquids, gases and the universe constitute important physical many-body systems. We, too, live in many-body systems that include family, our society and the world. However, these are not studied as physical systems, although some enthusiastic students of the subject do show some interest in them.

Maha Shakti or Supreme Energy is manifested chiefly in three forms: Maha Saraswati, Maha Lakshmi and Maha Kali. The three devis represent three important facets of life: Creation, conservation and annihilation. Learning and wisdom play a far more important role than details of one’s birth.

Maha Saraswati stands for creation. The creative person who pursues knowledge and wisdom continues to live with the grace of Maha Lakshmi, who is responsible for the sustenance of life. Maha Lakshmi bestows her grace and bounty.

Finally, Maha Kali, responsible for annihilation, completes the cycle.

Physical energy has several forms. There are transformations among the different forms of energy. In the process, however, the indestructibility of the energy, and consequently matter, is not affected. The stability and functionality of different forms of energy and matter depend on the distribution of these in the atom, which is the source of all forms of energy and matter, the complete knowledge of which still remains elusive.

This is also true with regard to the Universe. In spite of several propositions and expositions about the universe and its finiteness or infiniteness, the subject is still mysterious. This fact emphasises the boundless or infinite limits of knowledge.

We are not bound by finite dimensions. We live free, and we are surrounded by infinite space, time and knowledge. It’s all there, we only need to reflect on the metaphysics of it. Science is normally handled within only space-time dimensions. With knowledge included, it becomes philosophy or metaphysics. Research in science is increasingly also revealing to us the infinite nature of knowledge: the more we know, the more there is to know and so on.

What we might refer to as super-space is spanned by space, time and knowledge, all having both real and imaginary components; the imaginary components are the reciprocal or momentum space, frequency and ignorance respectively. That we are in this situation is not our doing. In this context, the concept of a Supreme Power is important.

Philosophy and science have a common characteristic. Both are born of doubt and also evolve with creation of more doubts.

Understanding the correlation between the seemingly contrasting aspects of science and philosophy is important in enabling further exploration of the mysteries and nature of space, time and knowledge.

Mercy, Forgiveness, Freedom From Fire

Ramadan is a month whose beginning is Mercy, whose middle is Forgiveness and whose end is freedom from fire, according to Hadith of the Prophet. Ponder on the inherent logical sequence... We cannot be exempt from fire without first being forgiven. And to be forgiven, we must be graced by Allah's mercy.

The theme of the first 10 days is mercy of Allah. Can we expect to receive mercy if we only deprive our bodies of food and drink? Of course not. Because Ramadan is meant for spiritual development through fasting.

Physiologically, by fasting, the body eliminates toxins efficiently and the mind becomes clear for "power thinking" so that one may ponder on the meaning of the Qur'an, Hadith and the necessity of Zhikr. One must also do some self-analysis to monitor and correct one's behaviour if necessary. With meditation the mind becomes quiet and so should our tongues.

Allah is looking for a sincere commitment from us... Ramadan does not end at every iftar. It ends only on sighting the hilal of Shawwal. So hard spiritual work must carry on for the whole of the month.

One must plead for mercy and sincerely try to receive it because without it, we are stuck at stage one and our prospects of "freedom from fire" will be bleak.

Therefore, stage one is for sincere confession to Allah that we are weak and sinful and that we desperately need His mercy. We have only about 10 days to qualify to stage two.

The next 10 days of Ramadan are about forgiveness. We must now beg for Allah's forgiveness because we have broken so many of His rules and covenants and disobeyed His commands during the year, knowingly and unknowingly. We must say istighfaar day and night and ask in every sajda for forgiveness. We must be afraid that if Allah does not forgive, we will surely be losers. Here again, Allah will be assessing the degree of sincerity in our repentance. He looks not for lip service but for soul service. We must also be forgiving to other people's mistakes and tempers.

The last 10 days of Ramadan are about freedom from fire.

Instead of just focusing on Laylat Al-Qadar - the night of power - one should intensify supplications for the remaining period of Ramadan. If possible and affordable then do go for Umrah... it will be probably the most spiritually fulfilling experience you will have, aside from Hajj. And Umrah in Ramadan is equivalent to having done a Hajj with our Rasool.

At the completion of the last fast, be optimistically hopeful that you will be alive to give similar pious worship during the forthcoming Ramadans. And if you remain guided in your life then you'll be admitted to Paradise, insha'Allah, by the Ryan gate of Paradise!

The month after Ramadan is Shawwal. Those who fast just six days of this month get the reward of fasting the whole year. So if one has missed fasting for 12 years of his life, just six days of Shawwal fasting gives one an opportunity to make up for our past deficiency of fasting days.

"Your good deeds are accepted during Ramadan. So are your invocations. You must invoke your Lord in right earnest with hearts that are free from sin and evil. That Allah may bless you, observe fast and recite the Holy Qur'an".

"Anyone who may cultivate good manners in this month will walk over the bridge in qiyamat though his feet may be shaking".

Before The Sun Sets, Know Who You Are

Though restless and battered by complex problems, disillusioned and dissatisfied, many of us continue to remain engrossed with the exterior. Whereas, undeterred by social pressures, the Bauls, saffron-clad folk singers of rural Bengal, sing on "Why do you run after mirages? Look within yourself to attain happiness and tranquillity. Peace does not come from outside. You cannot discover peace by owning the world”.

The Bauls travel from village to village singing with their ektara, which is a simple one-stringed instrument, and drum called dubki. The Baul songs of joy, love and longing for union with the Divine deliver the message that God lives within every human being. The songs imply the importance of human soul or the "maner manush" which the Bauls perceive as the true God within every one of us. Hence the Bauls find no difference between people. Universal brotherhood is a fundamental of Baul ideology. They find no reason not to be at peace with all of mankind regardless of how people perceive the Supreme Being or the manner in which they practise a faith.

The Bauls reject the rigid rituals and the social mores of mainstream society. On account of this unconventional approach, the Bauls derived their name from the Sanskrit word "Batul" which means "afflicted with the wind" or "mad". It is this "madness" and their acceptance of the Oneness of all life that sets the Bauls apart from most.

The Bauls believe that authentic worship of God takes place only deep within each person where God is enshrined. Individual inquiry is stressed, emphasising the importance of a person's physical body as that which enshrines the Supreme.

The essence of the Baul belief is that God is hidden inside each one of us and neither priests nor rituals can help us to find God there. For the Bauls, searching within for God, the true soulmate, is a lifelong journey. They meditate through their songs searching for answers from within. The philosophy of their living path is intertwined with their songs. Their search for God is a personal one and they believe it to be something that each individual should carry out for himself.

The Bauls believe that God must first be perceived before being experienced and realised through the pursuit of inner enlightenment. With this goal in mind, the songs they sing and the accompanying dances are meaningful meditation focused on the soul.

The Bauls believe that the body is a microcosm of the universe in which the Supreme Being resides and the essence of innermost being or "self" makes human nature divine. The Bauls profess that when you search for God, you are searching for "self" within. Though God assumes various personal forms to reveal Himself, God is actually within every human heart. If you desire to attain the knowledge and realisation of the Supreme Being, then you should focus on the inner being.

God is present in every moment and closeness with God is possible to experience during one's lifetime through surrender to Him. Understanding that thought, emotion, feeling and self-image are not only gifts from God but manifestations of God. So, the Bauls sing: "Harvest before the sun sets. Know thyself before you sail for the unknown".

Organise Your Thoughts, Emotions And Energies

Everything we have created on this planet was essentially first created in our minds. All that you see which is human work on this planet first found expression in the mind, then it got manifested in the outside world.

A well established mind, a mind which is in a state of samyukthi, is referred to as a Kalpavriksha or wishing tree. If you organise your mind to a certain level, it, in turn, organises the whole system. Your body, your emotions, your energies, everything gets organised in that direction. If you do this you are a Kalpavriksha yourself. Anything that you wish will happen.

Once we are empowered with a potential like this, it is very important that our physical, emotional, mental and energy actions are controlled and properly directed. If it is not so, we become destructive, self-destructive.

Right now, that is our problem. The technology which is supposed to make our life beautiful and easy has become the source of several problems. What should have been a boon is turning out to be a curse. If life has to happen the way you think it should happen, first of all how you think and with how much focus you think, how much stability is there in your thought and how much reverberance is there in the thought process - all these will determine if your thought will become a reality or not.

Today, modern science is proving that the whole of existence is just a reverberation of energy. It is a vibration. Similarly, your thought is also a vibration. If you generate a powerful thought and let it out, it will always manifest itself.

To create what you really care for, first, what you want must be well manifested in your mind. Once you can maintain a steady stream of thought without changing direction, definitely this is going to happen in your life. It will definitely manifest as a reality in your life.

So, either you make this human form into a Kalpavriksha or you make it into one big mess. You must be clear as to what is it that you really want. If you do not know what you want, the question of creating it doesn’t arise.

What every human being wants is to live joyfully, he wants to live peacefully, in terms of its relationship he wants to be loving and affectionate. All that any human being is seeking for is pleasantness within himself, pleasantness around him.

Once your mind gets organised, the way you think is the way you feel: your emotions will get organised. Once your thought and emotion are organised, your energies will go the same way. Then your very body will get organised. Once all these four are organised in one direction, your ability to create and manifest what you want is phenomenal.

You have the power to create, you are the Creator, in so many ways. The whole technology of Isha Yoga is just about this - transforming yourself from being just a piece of creation to the Creator himself. This is not in search of God, this is in search of becoming a God. This is not in search of Divine, this is in search of becoming Divine.

Twenty-five years of Isha Yoga, developed by Sadhguru is as an invigorating process to transform yourself and the world.

Dharma Of Physics And Metaphysics

You have a physical body. As a student of the Buddha, you also have a dharma body. You have to take care of your physical body and dharma body. That dharma body not only serves you, it serves many people in society, so take care of your dharma body by the study and the practice of the dharma.

We have to feed the dharma body by our practice. We have to take good care of it so that it will be vigorous, solid, because when the dharma body is strong, we don't suffer. You suffer because your dharma body is too weak, and when you come to me, you learn ways in order to make your dharma body strong by the practice of the dharma every day, by the practice of walking mindfully, sitting peace-fully, eating happily, and so on. So the dharma is not just a dharma talk. The dharma should be the living dharma.

A book about the dharma is the dharma also, but it is not the living dharma. The living dharma is seen in our daily life. While you walk, you sit, you smile, you work, you speak, the dharma should help you to be more joyful, calmer, more compassionate, friendlier, and when others see that, they recognise it is the living dharma. It's not the dharma through words in a book or speech; it's the living dharma, so when you smile to the other person with compassion, and forgive him for the mistake he had committed, then you are expressing the living dharma.

You don't say anything, you just look at him and smile with compassion; you are expressing the living dharma. And that's more precious than the oral or written dharma. And by looking at other people with the eyes of compassion, or forgiveness, or helping people to suffer less, you are generating the living dharma.

The living dharma always makes you happy and makes other people around you happy. And that is why it is very nice to receive the living dharma from the Buddha, from your teacher, so that you may begin to cultivate that living dharma in you. The dharma body is like a tree, like a plant, you have to take care of, to cultivate every day so that it becomes a strong plant, a strong tree.

It will bring flowers and fruit that make you happy and make people around you happy. That is why taking care of the living dharma in you is very important. People can see your physical body, but they may not have seen your dharma body. When you speak, when you act, when you think, the dharma body may manifest, because the dharma body can manifest in compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and you can also help other people to cultivate their dharma body. This is a wonderful thing.

If all of us continue to consolidate our dharma body and help other people to nourish their dharma bodies, we are wonderful continuations of the Buddha. The Buddha is in us, and is recognisable. The Buddha can be recognised through his dharma body that all of us have in us. When your dharma body is clear, is powerful, you are a happy person. You can help many people to suffer less. Remember each of us has a physical body, but we also have our dharma body.

Sita's Empathy For Tribal Traditions And Cultures

In the Valmiki Ramayana, Sita strongly advocates peaceful coexistence with tribal populations and ancient cultures while entering the dense Dandaka forest.

Sita's importance is generally understated. However, the Ramayana in the Bala Kanda describes itself as a biography of Sita: Sitayascharitam mahat. Its other name was Paulasya Vadham or Killing Ravana which was in effect the conclusion of Sita's story, an action perpetuated on account of her kidnap and confinement.

Who was Sita? Literally, Sita means 'furrow as in ploughed field'. In this sense she was a fertility goddess. She was also personified in later works including the Harivamsha Purana.

Her function as a goddess of fertility was naturally preservation of life on earth. Valmiki preserves her original connection with nature all through the Ramayana. Violence as such was not part of her nature; at least, not till she was provoked.

In her infuriate form she turns into Shakti but still it is not her inherent nature and function as goddess of fertility.

In the ninth Sarga of Aranya Kanda, disturbed by Rama's killing spree, Sita coolly but bluntly tells him that he

was committing adharma or adhering to immoral behaviour in troubling the vanacharas, who were the forest dwellers.

Sita tells Rama that the three evils that kama generates were perpetuation of untruth, adultery and treating others cruelly. He was committing the third sin.

Rama had entered the forest armed with weapons. Weapon in the hand might instigate the kshatriya to use it for the heck of it, without any valid reason. Maybe he would use weapons even on spotting the innocent vanacharas and hurt them without any valid reason.

Sita told him that he must not think of killing the rakshasas -- who were also tribals or vanacharas -- without any provocation or enmity, just because he had promised the rishis of Dandaka forest to eliminate them. People would not approve of such killings committed without reason nor appreciate such acts of violence.

The only purpose of carrying weapons in the forest should be to protect those who were in trouble. Holding of weapons and vanavas (residing in the forest) are contrary to each other. How would you reconcile two things -- violent cruel action of kshatriyas and tapa which means showing mercy to living beings? Hence we must respect the desha dharma or culture of the locals and adhere to tapa form of living.

Adherence to dharma begets artha, adherence to dharma leads to bliss. Through dharma you achieve what you

desire. Dharma is the essence of life. In the Tapovana, place marked for religious austerities, we must follow the dharma of non-violence. This is the culture of forest dwellers.

Sita advised Rama that he could revert to his kshatriya nature and way of life once he returned to Ayodhya. Relinquish-ing the kingdom, Rama had sought refuge in the vana or forest where he ought to live like a muni or sage, interrelating peacefully with nature.

Sita symbolises mother earth for King Janaka found her while ploughing the field. In the end, Sita vanished into the womb of the earth. The function and nature of mother earth is to nurture, not to kill; it epitomises qualities of non-violence and mercy.

In Vedic literature, Sita is described as the wife of Indra, the warrior God. Rama too imbibed this nature and became vanquisher of demons.

Teaching Through Story Imparts So Much More

Sufi teaching looks at the purpose, potential and meaning of life, and recognizes that we have an essential nature that is spiritual; we are on an earthly journey in order to uncover this essential self. Yet, though the potentiality for transformation of the self lies within us, it is not usually accessible because of our limited perception and our strong identification with our everyday, surface selves.

Sufis have traditionally spoken of the need to develop an "organ of perception" which, once developed, allows a person to apply herself more completely and effectively to life. One of the ways this development is best achieved is through 'teaching stories', a term used to describe those stories and anecdotes deliberately created as vehicles for the transmission of wisdom. While such stories are collected and transmitted in almost every tradition, the way of the Sufis is particularly significant to any story-lover or story-worker.

Idries Shah wrote that Sufi teaching stories are "works of objective art" - used to transmit to us a higher knowledge. Usually, we cannot perceive this higher knowledge because we are not really prepared for it. Our preparation can be helped by not only getting to know the stories, but also by revisiting them and familiarising ourselves with them; by "soaking in story" so as to be ready for their meanings to be revealed to us, slowly, as we become ready for deeper knowing.

In workshops designed around such stories, most people want to 'crack open' the meaning of these stories; they are eager and in a hurry to get at the core meaning. It is hard for them to understand that with these kinds of stories, the timing is different for each of us, and that the stories give out the 'higher level' insights only after a patient engagement with them, through reflection and contemplation.

When we decide "Ah, this is the meaning", we could end the chance of further, deeper impact of the story on our inner being. Allowing our logical mind to deal with teaching stories in a way which is customary to it, and imagining we have understood all there is to understand, we can find ourselves in a situation like the boy in the story who had dismembered a fly into its components and then wondered where the fly itself had gone.

Many Sufi stories and poems may be interpreted as being related to psychological processes. That is a valid consideration which is often useful for developing one's understanding, but this does not mean that its meaning is fully drawn out by this method. It may contain a great deal more. We are too easily satisfied with surface answers, mainly because the more profound ones are often revealed slowly, over time.

Renowned psychologist Robert Ornstein says that teaching stories, with improbable events, lead the reader’s mind into new and unexplored venues, allowing her to develop more flexibility and to understand this complex world better.

Psychologists have found that teaching stories activate the right side of the brain. The left side that we mostly use provides the 'text', or the component pieces of an event or experience; the right side provides 'context', the essential function of putting together the different components of this experience.

Poet Kahlil Gibran once said, "The real teacher leads you not to himself, but to the threshold of your own mind". Teaching stories are known to act as these Real Teachers.

Rejoice In The Wonderful Dance Of Life

My son's self-esteem is very low. He is not able to get a job, which makes things worse. I am worried. What shall I do?

Studies of successful people show that self-confidence is the most important factor in life. It can be easily understood by the stool model. Think of a stool. If one of its four legs is weak, the stool as a whole will be weak. The four legs represent self-confidence, that is generated by the following: Feeling good, taking responsibility, being accountable and developing skills.

Feeling good involves being authentic and not insincere. Our life is a struggle involving pretensions of what we are not and in the process we do not feel good.

A manager appeared to be busy on his phone and computer at the same time. Two persons sitting in front of him were waiting to be attended to. The manager continued pretending to be busy. Once he was satisfied that he would have made a suitable impression, he turned to them and asked what he could do for them. One visitor informed him that he had come to repair his telephone while the other said that he had come to repair his computer.

Why do we pretend? A pretending self creates false images in us and, ultimately, instead of boosting confidence, ends up lowering our self-esteem. Self-esteem will improve if the pretending self is dropped.

Responsible children invariably possess good leadership qualities. It is the duty of parents to inculcate responsibility in their children and make them accountable. Such responsibility motivates them to develop new skills. This, in turn, builds self-confidence in them.

A research study on various successful people proved that their success was not because of knowledge or family background, but because of their ability to see gaps in any given opportunity; just the way a creeper grows on tree trunks and creates its own path for growth.

The ability to see gaps or potential and work on those gaps is the real skill in successful living. For example, even a concrete bridge may collapse if it is repeatedly pecked by a sparrow at a particular spot a sufficient number of times.

Successful people adopt the right strategy at the right time in any given situation. Even in competition they do not create conflicts, but harmony. Successful people are able to see potential gaps in any particular business. Spotting these gaps and exploiting them call for a great skill. This is the strategy of successful people.

Keep yourself alive; rejoice to see the miracle around. See the gaps which opportunity invites to see. Cash in on the richness of life and see the dance of life. Feel good about the fact that you are alive.

During the rush for diamonds in Africa, there was a race to go there to try one's luck. One man sold his farm to go there and hunt for the valuable gems; he found none and lost all his money, too. The person who bought his farm found diamonds right there and became rich overnight. There are always ‘diamonds' of opportunity around us. Let us be alert enough to cash in on them. By Swami Sukhabodhananda

Anger Is A Distortion Of Your True Nature

If all is God, why is there imperfection in the world?

Negative emotions like lust, pride, attachment, anger, ego, greed and jealousy are distortions of love. These distortions manifest in animals also, but they have no way to go beyond them as they are bound by Nature. Endowed with the power of discrimination, human beings can move from these distortions to a state of pure love. Every sincere seeker wants to get rid of anger and reach a state of perfection.

What can you do when anger rises in you?

You may remind yourself a hundred times that you shouldn’t get angry, but when you feel the anger, you are unable to control it. It comes like a thunderstorm. Emotions are much more powerful than your thoughts and the promises you make. Anger is a distortion of our true nature. It is part of this creation, but we still call it a distortion because it doesn’t allow the Self to shine forth fully. And this is what sin is. Anger is a sin because when you are angry, you lose your centredness; you lose sight of the Self. Anger is a sign of weakness. A strong man doesn’t get angry easily. When you focus on other’s mistakes, you are bound to get angry. The cause of anger is the lack of total knowledge of what is happening inside that person. Showing anger itself is not wrong, but being unaware of your anger only hurts you. There is a place for showing anger, but when you get angry yourself, you are shaken completely.

Are you ever happy with the decisions you have made or the words you have spoken when you are angry? No, because you lose your total awareness. If you are completely aware and you are acting angry, that is fine. In fact, anger is an instrument. It is useful when you are able to control it. It can work wonders when you know how to use it and where to use it.

Spiritual practices help you maintain your centredness. This is where a little knowledge about ourselves, about our mind, our consciousness, and the root of distortion in our nature will help. It is when you are exhausted and stressed that you lose your nature and get angry. Breathing techniques and meditation are effective in calming the mind.

Meditation is letting go of anger from the past and the events of the past. It’s accepting this moment and living every moment totally with depth. Often anger comes because you don’t accept the present moment. You look for perfection; that is why you are angry at imperfections. Even when someone commits a mistake, know that she is not the culprit; the stress inside is causing her to make that mistake. Just this understanding and a few days of continuous practice of medi-tation can change the quality of our life. Usually, you give your anger freely and your smile rarely as though a smile is expensive. To the ignorant, anger is cheap and a smile is costly. To those of knowledge, a smile is free - like sunshine, air and water - and anger is expensive. Make your smile cheaper and anger expensive.

Universal Appeal Of The Legend Of Ram

Hey Ram! With these last words, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi breathed his last. What would he have thought of the current controversy over the historicity or otherwise of Ram, the epic hero?

It would be interesting to ask: What is the historicity of the wind or cosmos? Behind visual reality, there exists something one can call supernature. Beyond history, there is the realm of metahistory.

How can man with his arrested sensibility, give expression to eternal life or eternity, in a language which is itself man-made? When we do not have a recorded or authentic history of language how shall we be able to understand the word ‘history’ used in language?

The word Ram means causing rest, charming, loving and delightful. Gandhi knew from the core of his heart that Ram is the hidden centre of all apparent reality. It is the unchanging reality, underlying a shifting reality.

Ram is part of metahistory. Ram possesses highest power but never reveals himself as a possessor of power. People with inferior power exhibit their power in mindless activity and vanish like a bubble.

Much of Bapu’s philosophy was based on the substance of Indian thought. He did tend to believe in avatars or incarnations and believed in the saving power of the name ‘Ram’ in salvation through Lord Krishna. For Gandhi, the legend of Ram is so deeply embedded in the Indian way of life that it is difficult to think of India and Indian culture without any mention of his name.

The metahistory of Ram has inspired many poets and artists to depict his character with all its glory and transcendental splendour. After having understood the superficiality of so-called history Oswald Spengler had said in his book, The Decline of the West, that history should be the business of a poet.

The first such epic is the Ramayana, composed by Sanskrit poet Valmiki who is believed to be a contemporary of Ram. The whole of the Ramayana consists of 24,000 stanzas or 96,000 lines. It is a great work of art with many dramatic passages. Apart from the Ramayana other important epics of Sanskrit literature which characterise the life of Ram are Raghvansh by Kalidas and Uttar Ramcharit by Bhavbhuti. Ram gained immense popularity through the writings of Tulsidas, too, who depicted Ram’s character with such devotion and sincerity that Ram became the inseparable part of the collective unconscious of the people.

Abhinand, Kshemendra Jaidev, Pravassen, Kritivas Kambhan and at least 40 other poets have eulogised the greatness of the legendary Ram through their writings. So it is not difficult for any one of us to utter the name of Ram consciously or uncons-ciously as Gandhi did. Although Gandhi was acquainted with the basic tenets of all religions, he was deeply moved by Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.

Gandhi’s passion for sustainable living and development was inspired by eternal and universal principles of faith in the oneness of religion and humanity.

Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence, truth and simple living was derived from a belief in the power of the very same principles epitomised by Maryada Purushottam Ram - the ideal personality - immortalised in the legend’s story, the Ramayana, narrated in as many languages, forms and cultures as its plural versions.

Meditation In Khayaal: Here And Beyond

There are only two ways of meditation in the khayaal", Pandit Amarnath would tell his students. "One is the meditation on the 'Sa', the primordial note or the aadi swara, as the This, Here and Now, the manifest, and the other, the meditation on 'Sa' as the That and Beyond, the unmanifest".

The first meditation concentrates on 'Sa' as the brahmanda or universe of notes at the micro level of the 'bindu' and expands to its fullness at the macro level, to the ananta apaar, the Endless and the Beyond. The other method starts with 'Sa' as shunya, or nothing. The nothing is actually everything, a state of the vastness of the universe, of the brahmanda of its notes, but itself without a sense of time or space, progression or history.

To begin with, all meditations in raga music are based on 'Sa', the parental note from which are born the rest of the notes, quite like the colour white, from which are born all the other colours. From 'Sa' and the handling of the 'Sa' begins and ends all meditation.

The slow portion of the aalaap (from aalaapanaa, to spread) or badhat (from badhanaa, to grow or expand, the slow musical progression) of Panditji's guru, Ustad Amir Khan Saheb's khayaal was a mystic expansion of 'Sa', from the seed or 'bindu' of the musical universe, opening the mythical lotus of the swaras petal by petal, dwelling on each note till the elixir flowed. When it reached the point of endlessness, this meditation became an ecstatic liberation from everything, including the awareness of its own self.

For Pandit Amarnath, the 'Sa' in meditation was the flip side of the 'bindu'. It was shunya, or 'nothing'. Everything started from nothing, nothing being the required state of the deconditioned or unconditioned mind at the beginning of meditation. This is a tough meditation indeed, because the swaras or notes have to be constantly created without any sense of the manifest universe or brahmanda of swaras.

Shunya or zero in eastern philosophies is symbolic of fullness rather than emptiness, and the beginning of any meditation on the zero is the awareness of the universe in all its fullness and not its emptiness, in its experience of the eternal. This is why Panditji's khayaal, from the moment he evoked the 'Sa', called out to the entire universe at a go, and his note-petals unfurled, one by one, like the unravelling parts of a puzzle that take their predetermined positions in a vast design moving consistently with its own self. This was the macro-cosmic form of meditation.

The complimentary nature of the two meditations is interesting, one starting where the other leaves off... with one meditation, the manifest, coming down to tell the story of Infinite Compassion and the other, the unmanifest, moving away to tell the story of Infinite Pain.

But in their approach to the lyric or shabda, it is just the opposite. Panditji speaks of This and Now, and Khan Saheb, always, of That and Beyond.

A khayaal lyric from the raga Meghranjani illustrates this beautifully: the first two lines or asthaai are by Khan Saheb, and the next two lines, the antaraa, are by Panditji, who completes one of the Ustad's incomplete lyrics. In translation, the asthaai speaks of "The one Omkar, the Formless,/ Which is spread into the universe", and the antaraa of: "And That which we see before us, as proof and as the World,/ Is That which we meditate upon again and again..."

Beyond The Subtle With Heartfelt Kirtana

To proclaim loudly the glories of Parama Purusa, the Supreme Consciousness, is ‘kirtana’. The Parama Purusa does not ask for kirtana; then why do people engage in kirtana?

There is a subtle science behind kirtana. Human beings always strive to proceed from the crude to the subtle; they always seek the subtle amidst the crude and in the subtle, they always seek the subtlest; this is how they advance towards greater and greater subtlety.

Harmonious music inspired people to dance with joy. With human evolution, music, too has evolved from the cruder to more subtle forms, giving birth to simultaneous expres-sion in dance movements, with rhythm and melody an integral part of the symbiosis.

Songs began to reflect a definite system with the introduction of the various ragas and raginis. This was largely done by Sadashiva. Later a perfect blending of song and dance through tala (metre) was developed. Shiva first introduced the dance of tandava and His cosmic partner Parvati developed another special dance known as lalita lasya. This is how, in the process of the artistic endeavour to advance from the crude to the subtle, people developed what is called aesthetic science; and as a result of this subtle development, people no longer appreciated the cruder expressions of life.

Once people had heard something rhythmic and melodious, they could no longer appreciate any crude song or music. The continuous progress from the crude to the subtle, and from the subtle to the subtlest aspects of life, comes within the scope of aesthetic science, and in this process of move- ment ultimately we reach a state in which our refined tastes, feelings and expressions transport us into the realm of Eternal Beauty.

Then those who attain such a state will no longer possess the ability or capacity to taste the beauty of anything: the beauty of music, or the beauty of dance will no longer remain an object of experience for them; because at that time they will have attained a state so intoxicated with joy that they will lose their limited identity, and thus their ability to experience anything. The exalted state beyond aesthetic science is called mohana vijinana or supra-aesthetic science.

The diverse schools of music or dance that people have developed so far, and the many more varied branches of music and dance that will be developed in future, are all meant to provide joy to people through aesthetic science. But kirtana was first created by devotees to give joy to Parama Purusa, and in the process of pleasing and delighting Parama Purusa, the devotees lost themselves. Thus kirtana belongs to the category of supra-aesthetic science.

What is supra-aesthetic science? It is the endeavour to ensconce the microcosmic entity, the individual rhythm in the eternal being, the infinite rhythm of Parama Purusa. So, among all forms of sangita or music, kirtana is the best. Sangita means dance, song and instrumental music. Kirtana is not just song; dance is also a part of it, as also instrumental music. This combination of dance, song and instrumental music creates such a pure and heavenly atmosphere that a person will forget himself. This is the charm and unique characteristic of kirtana.

Forget About Knowledge: Just Be Yourself

How can i be myself if I don't know myself?

Whether you know or not, you cannot be other than yourself. To be yourself, knowledge is not needed. A rosebush is a rosebush. Not that the rosebush knows that it is a rosebush. A rock is a rock. Not that the rock knows that it is a rock. Knowledge is not needed. In fact, it is because of knowledge that you are missing being yourself.

Knowledge is creating the problem. The rosebush is not confused. Every day it goes on being a rosebush. Not even for a single day does it become confused. It does not start some morning growing marigolds; it goes on being a rosebush. Knowledge is not needed for being. In fact, you are missing your being because of knowledge.

I was reading about a certain man named Dudley: To celebrate Uncle Dudley's 75th birthday, an aviation enthusiast offered to take him for a plane ride over the little West Virginia town where he had spent all his life. Uncle Dudley accepted the offer.

Back on the ground, after circling over the town 20 minutes, he was asked: "Were you scared, Uncle Dudley?" "No", was the hesitant answer, "but i never did put my full weight down".

In an airplane, whether you put your full weight down or not, the weight is carried by the airplane. Whether you know yourself or not is not the point. Knowledge is disturbing you. Just think if there was a rock also on that airplane with Uncle Dudley, the rock would have put the whole weight down. Uncle Dudley is unnecessarily worried. He could have rested, he could have relaxed just like the rock, but the rock has no knowledge and Uncle Dudley has knowledge.

The whole problem of huma-nity is that humanity knows, and because of knowing, the being is unnecessarily forgotten.

Meditation is how to drop knowledge. Meditation means how to become ignorant again. Meditation means how to become a child again, a rosebush, a rock. Meditation means how just to be and not to think.

When i say to you to be yourself, i mean meditate. Don't try to be anybody else. You cannot be! You can try, and you can deceive yourself and you can promise yourself and you can hope that someday you will become somebody else, but you cannot become. These are only illusions that you can go on having. These are dreams. They are not going to become realities ever. You will remain yourself whatsoever you do.

Why not relax, Uncle Dudley! Put your full weight on the airplane. Relax. In relaxation, suddenly you will start enjoying your being, and the effort to be somebody else will stop. That is your worry how to be somebody else, how to be like somebody else, how to become like a Buddha, how to become like Patanjali. You can only be yourself. Accept it, rejoice in it, delight in it. Relax.

Zen Masters say to their disciples, "Beware of Buddha. If you meet him on the way, kill him immediately". What do they mean? They mean there is a human tendency to become imitators. There is a book, Imitation Of Christ. In a way, that title is very symbolic. It shows the whole mind of humanity. People are trying to imitate, to become somebody else.

Nobody can become a Christ. There is no need. Existence will be bored if you become Christ. It wants somebody new, something original. It wants you, and it wants you to be just yourself.

Excerpted from The Alpha and The Omega. Courtesy: Osho International Foundation. Website: www.osho.com.

Seeking Someplace Other Than Heaven And Earth

BEIJING: Standing in the courtyard of the Temple of Heaven with the rain pouring down on my hastily acquired flimsy umbrella, the crowds of tourists viewed through sheets of water appeared to me like receding ghosts. On either side of the circular hall of prayer for good harvests - washed clean to reveal a brilliant blue - stood the hall of the Earthly Mount and the Imperial Vault of Heaven. Each of them stood on a square yard, the square representing Earth and the circle, Heaven.

Why did Shakespeare come to mind? "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,/ than are dreamt of in your philosophy". This was Hamlet's response to his friend who expres-sed bewilderment over seeing his father's ghost. The rain-drenched people one could see, mirage-like, were no ghosts. But all were here in the temple built and venerated by the Ming and Ching dynasties, admiring the thought and effort that went into creating the hallowed spaces heavy with symbolism and numerology.

Chinese wisdom spans a gamut of philosophies from I Ching, Confucius and Buddhism, to Neo and New Confucianism, Maoism and communist-style capi-talism. But popular culture tends to take refuge in the more user friendly, simplistic fortune cookie-generated "Confucius says..." pearls of wisdom. As they say, humour, like oxygen, can lift your spirits even in the most trying of circumstances specially when it is loaded with practical tips.

In Imperial China's Temple of Heaven complex, the architectural design symbolises the connection between Heaven and Earth. The Temple of Heaven was a place for emperors to pray for good harvests. The emperor, "son of Heaven", also prayed here for atonement of his people's sins. The temple complex is encircled by two consecutive walls. The outer wall has a taller, semi-circular northern end, representing Heaven, and the shorter, rectangular southern end represents the Earth.

Incidentally, the numeral nine, so special in Indic culture - in navaratri, navagriha, navadaniya, navaratna, navarasa and so on - has a unique place in Chinese tradition, too. The Forbidden City, for instance, has exactly 9,999.5 rooms - deliberately falling short of the 10,000 rooms in the Jade Emperor's Heavenly palace, stressing the need for humility and acceptance of human limitations. The number nine, the highest value single digit, also represents the emperor. The numeral is woven into the design of the Earthly Mount in the temple complex, a round plate surrounded by a ring of nine smaller plates, and another 18 plates and so on, amounting to nine rings with the outermost having 81 plates (9X9). The deep blue roof tiles that cover the temple buildings denote Heaven and the theme is the need for Earth to reach out to make that connection.

The rain having abated, we walked out of the Temple of Heaven towards the parking lot, and saw seven stones displayed on the grass, fenced off for security. We were informed that each of the seven stones - contrary to myth that they are meteorites - represents the seven peaks of the Taishan mountains, where traditional Heaven worship was offered in ancient times.

There was no sign here, however, of a Shangri-La or Shambala. But the hotel was yet a good one hour's drive away, and there was ample time to take refuge in an imagination that offered generous glimpses of neither Heaven nor Earth but of what lay beyond...