Grace Navigate through Crisis

Dear Sadhaka,

Blessings from the Masters of unbroken lineage of love-light, wisdom and bliss.

I have been receiving shocking calls from our students about losing jobs, insecurity, trauma, health break-down, differences in the family relationships etc. Naturally, my concern deepened in the depth of prayer during meditation. The Divine Mother, through our Gurudev, has blessed a powerful mantra of a wonderful combination of Ganapati- Hanuman-Sarasvati-Lakshmi, with a yantra too. I am sharing this with all our sadhakas.

Please follow the method of meditation given here and freely share the message to the entire mankind going through the crisis. (click on the image below for better viewing)

Meditation sequence:

- Sit in a comfortable posture with back, neck and head along the same straight line.

- Travel through the body and relax.

- Focus on your heart centre and breathe deeply 12 times as if you are breathing only to your heart -- Anahata Pranayama.

- Focus on Guru Chakra, just above the space between the two eye-brows. Feel the presence of your Gurudev and seek the blessings.

- Focus on your heart centre and experience the yantra given.

- Feel the bright yantra and mentally worship and offer pranams.

- Chant the Mantra with the meaning and the feeling for 108 times (you can chant any number all through the day).

- Conclude with a prayer as below (click on the image below for better viewing)

After the prayer, experience as if you are receiving special blessings from Divine Mother in the form of Confidence-Intelligence-Harmony.

Stretch both the hands out and generously share this benevolent energy with one and all, who are going through the crisis.

Let us do this practice individually, as family, or in group and build up the energy field to ward-off all the negative effects of the crisis. Keep in touch with me and when we cross over the crisis, let us conclude this practice with a collective homa, offering the mantra again back to the Divine Mother.

Dear Sadhaka, this is a special message received from the Masters to save the sincere sadhakas from the ill-effects of the economic crisis. Please practice with devotion, dedication and heart-full of Divine love. Let the bright energy radiate and bring solace to the ailing mankind.

Those who would like to take up this practice, please inform us at Email ID: sadhanasangamatrust@yahoo.co.in for further guidance and to inform you about participating in the homa so that you will receive homa prasada of this Anushtthana.

Please circulate this to as many friends/relatives or needy persons as possible.

With Yogic Fragrance
Sri Pattabhiram

(for exact pronunciation of the above Mantra hear it from Guruji's voice by clicking on 'Play' below)

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Guruji's Colum

Pranayama is a process through which you expand your consciousness, be in touch with the divinity, and be in harmony with the universal energy. This energy has all the powers. It can heal and grace you. Doing pranayama means, developing an intimate relationship with that energy. How to begin? We have to begin with acknowledging that energy. Accept that energy, and receive that energy with love. Before understanding and practising nadi shodhana pranayama or nerve purification pranayama, let us understand our constitution, the structure that God has designed.

In the human brain, there are two hemispheres—the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. The left hemisphere has important centres—logic, analysis, inquiry, argumentation, exploration etc. The right hemisphere contains spiritual centres, intuitive centers, creative centers and emotional centers in it. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body.

If you see carefully the life patterns or the moods in a day, you experience that your moods keep on changing every two or three hours. The mood changes from negative to positive, from extrovert to introvert, from outgoing to withdrawn. When the moods change, the working pattern in the mind changes from left hemisphere to right, or right to left. At that time, the breathing pattern also changes from the left nostril to the right nostril or the right to the left. Whenever you experience a change in your mind, you can feel the shift of your breathing. This is creating a series of problems for all of us.

Of the 72,000 nerve channels that work in our body, three are very important. These are called ida, pingala and sushumna. They are also called chandra nadi, surya nadi and amruta nadi. If you see from the physiological point of view, to the left side of the spine, there is a set of nervous system travelling and it is called ida nadi. The pingala is running along the right side of the spinal column. The sushumna is at the centre of the spinal column. These are in the sookshma shareera, the subtle body, and not in the sthoola shareera, the physical body. You can roughly equate these three channels in the sthoola shareera with the para-sympathetic nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system and the central nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system inhibits or controls an action. The sympathetic nervous system accelerates an action. The heart too is controlled by the two nervous systems, the sympathetic and para-sympathetic.

Let us understand it by an example. You are walking and a dog chases you. What happens? The sympathetic nervous system becomes very active and the walking pace is accelerated. It makes your heart work more and more. The heart-beat increases. By chance, if the activity of increasing the heartbeat goes on, what will happen? The heart will burst out like the tube of a vehicle. So, up to some point, the sympathetic nervous system should work. After some time, that activity should be controlled by the para-sympathetic nervous system, which starts inhibiting or controlling the accelerated activity. This system is working in the physical body.

The chandra nadi stimulates the mind to become introvert. It makes the mind philosophical, or suspends a personality in a state of “not-feeling-like¬-doing-anything.” The surya nadi does just the opposite. It influences the mind to go out, to indulge in activity, to logically argue. The chandra nadi takes you inside and the surya nadi brings you outside. This pattern is going on continuously in us.

When you inhale through the left nostril, you activate the right hemisphere. When you exhale through the right, you relax the left hemisphere. When you inhale through the right nostril, you activate the left hemisphere, and when you exhale through the left, you relax the right hemisphere. It means, you are activating and relaxing each hemisphere by turns. In that way you activate both of your hemispheres, you activate both the parts of your personality and you relax both the hemispheres and both sides of the body. Thus one activates both intellect and intuition. Bhavana and vichara are being developed equally, side by side. When they are developed together, there is harmony and joy.

By doing nadi shodhana pranayama you can stay in the right mood. It creates a rhythm in the mind. Before doing pranayama, it is desirable to have a smooth and free pranic flow, in both the nostrils; then you can enjoy the pranayama in a better way. It is possible only when you do it consciously.

Before and after pranayama, feel the quality of breathing and the mental state. After doing pranayama, just be with yourself for sometime. Don’t do anything. When the body, mind and intellect become calm, serene, steady and still, feel your true nature. It is only when you sit still without doing anything with yourself, you will be able to find out who you are and what your nature is.

My sincere request to all of you is to learn the practice of this pranayama through an expert, or attend our programs, experience the benefits and teach this pranayama to as many as possible.

In the service of Parampara,
Sri Pattabhiram

Sadhana

Sadhana is important. It will give you a comprehensive knowledge of life with all its currents and cross-currents. It is amazing to observe that most of the people enveloped in sloth and lethargy are not aware that life on this earth is but a brief moment, and that moment should be utilized to purify the way of the soul. Those who don’t do their duties and yet expect the best in life are fools who live in a fool’s paradise.

In life’s primitive paradise, fools aspire to live for a long time. They live perpetually on charity. They are beggars who are burdens to society and even to themselves. These beggars are envious of one another and habitually suspicious of each other, like dogs living upon their master’s favours, showing their teeth, growling, barking, and trying to chew up one another. Their very existence is described as a struggle. Their paradise lacks peace, equilibrium and tranquility.

I worked hard in my life and attained something that gives me solace. I found out that life is mingled with sorrow and joy; both of these feelings should not be allowed to disturb the course of life.

A human being is not imperfect, but incomplete. Man’s essential nature is a limitless horizon. The call to inner Truth is present in him with all profundity, but his analytical logic is shallow.

Peace can’t be attained through mere speculative philosophy or logic. I am willing to believe that philosophy is useful for comprehension of the Ultimate Reality, but I don’t admit that philosophy alone can lead us to the ultimate goal. However great the philosophy may be, it must be supplemented by faith, emotion, and strict discipline of the functions of the will.

A sadhaka has to go through a series of internal experiences. When a sadhaka’s convictions are filtered by the systematic and organized way of sadhana, the mind becomes penetrating and one-pointed. An aspirant must control the dissipation of the mind. Conquest over the senses and the mind helps one to attain freedom from the charms and temptations of the world. Free from worldly distractions, nothing remains in the mind but the longing to know God.

One such an exclusive longing awakens, one becomes absorbed in contemplating and meditating on God. Through constant contemplation and meditation, one begins having glimpses of the Truth, and these experiences strengthen his faith. Growing internally, that exclusive faith becomes the source of inner strength, enabling the aspirant to move along the path until perfection is achieved.

The first detachment achieved by the aspirant is physical, inspiring him to develop the power of instinctive love and knowledge that helps him to relate with the world and nature. Nature has her own laws and helps all creatures to receive her blessings and grace in many ways.

The human mind is complex with all its typical moods, manners and weapons. The purpose of sadhana is to be free from the magic wonders of the mind and remain free all the time.

Freedom is a divine gift lent to mortals. A seeker of Truth should first have freedom from all time-honoured taboos. Mental freedom is an accepted fact and is definitely higher than physical freedom. Free spirit is godly and that alone can claim kinship with God.

The potential to realize the Truth is present in every person. In some it remains dormant, while in others it is awakened. The more one directs one’s awareness towards the Divine Force, the more one realizes the emptiness of the objects of the world. That realization helps one to withdraw one’s mind from the external world, and to compose oneself for inner exploration.

All sadhanas, all practices, are meant to purify and strengthen the mind that disturbs your being and prevents you from being aware of the Reality that is within you. To be spiritual means to be aware of the Reality all the time, to be aware of the Absolute Truth all the time, and to be aware of the Lord within you all the time.

(Excerpts from Swami Rama's book, "Sadhana")

Antardarshana

yoga-anga-anushtthaanaat-ashuddhi-khsye-jnaana-deeptihi-aaviveka-khyate

(Patanjali Yoga Sutra)

The meaning of this Sutra is: By establishing oneself in any aspect of yoga, the impurities wean away and the wisdom blossoms. What are the aspects of yoga? It is said thus: The eight limbs of yoga are--yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi. I would briefly talk about the Sutra.

There is a misconception about practicing yoga. The impression is, one should first take up yama, then niyama and then.... Actually it is not so. Yoga is a flower having eight petals. Any flower, when it blossoms from bud, doesn’t open out its petals one by one. Gradually, all the petals would open out. In the same way, you take up any aspect of yoga, or any petal of yoga, slowly there would be a flowering of a personality. All the petals would blossom depending on yoga-anga-anushthana.

To understand it better, let us take up a yoga-anga called yama. Out of five in yama, let us take the first--ahimsa. To get established in ahimsa, it takes many lives. Gandhiji took up only two of yama: ahimsa and satya. His practice of these two granted liberation of the whole country from its alien rulers! In fact, it was a side-effect of his own evolution. It made him a Mahatma! Just imagine the power of yoga-anga-anushthana. If you too want to get established in any yoga-anga, make modest beginnings. Don’t take up vows which you can’t accomplish. If you want to practise ahimsa, begin from your home.

To take up any sadhana, the prime importance should be laid on creating the environment. Through continuous practice, try to create the external as well as internal environments, not by force, but by gentleness. It is possible that you make mistakes; don’t worry. Grow as you do mistakes, and march ahead. When an INSAT satellite failed a few years ago, the head of that organisation had said, “We would learn more from mistakes than from successes.” Just see how successful they are now. In that way, every aspect of life is a satellite-launch. We stop growing if we don’t learn lessons and march ahead.

If you want to practice satya, it is subjective. You can’t always prove it to others but you can experience it in you. You can’t even teach it, but you can stay in it. Try to stay in it, not teach it. The environment plays a very important role in creating a vibrant atmosphere. In that atmosphere, the seed of truth grows. In everybody’s deeper layers of consciousness, the seed of truth is present. The reason why we are having problems with ourselves is, we are not providing the right environment in the deeper layers of our consciousness. That is why, there is no sprouting of the true personality. If you are watchful enough, you would see only weeds in the deeper chambers of our being. Ironically, we are nourishing them. In order to give strength and vitality to the seed so that it grows, we have to remove the weeds. The removal of weeds is done by following yama and niyama. Niyama is creating the external environment, like cleanliness, exhibiting happiness... Staying in yama means practising, one or more of, ahimsa, satya, non-stealing, non-possessiveness.. Yama is the Lord of Death too. Taking up sadhana also means learning the art of dying. Learning to die at every moment – means seeing life afresh.

Staying in yama will help us to see the life in its totality. For this, one needs to follow an element of ahimsa in one’s awareness. I am not saying that you follow ahimsa in its totality. I don’t say that you behave in a particular way in order to practise a code of conduct. Ahimsa is that where there is no ‘himsa’. If I start condemning people, if I irritate them, disturb them and hurt with harsh words, that is himsa. These too are the acts of violence. It would harm you more, internally, than the one whom you are harming.

I have different yardsticks for others and for myself. If I apply the same yardstick for others as well as for myself, then I stay in ahimsa. Ahimsa practice is to treat everybody as a part of your own being--your husband/wife, children, parents, inlaws, friends/foes... If I hurt you, it would take the form of tension in myself and it would not allow me to keep quiet; it starts disturbing me. I get agitated and disgusted. I become even frustrated and fearsome. Violence breeds further violence. That is why, sage Patanjali asks us to sprinkle the fragrance of ahimsa in our attitude, in our behaviour. I don’t ask you to practice ahimsa to the extent our sages have lived; just see how far you can practice. If you practice ahimsa, the effect would be a calm and quiet mind.

In this way, you can correct every aspect of your gestures. The way you sit, the way you talk, the way you snub people, the way you pick and choose things for yourself and deny certain things to others. If you sit with a hunch back, try to sit straight. If you are curt, try to be sonorous in your words.

With regard to practicing Satya, it is becoming sincere to your inner being. Find out whether you are true to yourself. If you are leading the life of a hypocrite, try to be straight and, at the same time, polite. Be in a feeling, “I am what I am; I don’t hide anything.” In order to deal with the external world, people lie a lot. In order to hide one lie, we would roll out a chain of lies. But the human consciousness can’t tolerate this and it would bring out the truth one day or the other. It can’t accept anything that is untrue.

As you continuously stay in yoga-anga-anushthana, the pseudo personality that you have built over the years, over so many lives, would lose its strength and the true seed starts getting its nourishment; when it grows, it would be a magnificent tree, giving shelter to so many tired souls. May you be blessed.

Concept of God in Hinduism

The ultimate goal of every Hindu is to attain Moksha or liberation – liberation from the cycle of births and deaths and union with the Ultimate Reality, which the Vedantins call Brahman – the Absolute. Brahman is indescribable, for it is by its very nature formless, unlimited and infinite. The Ultimate Reality is One but different people with different backgrounds try to understand, experience and describe it in their own language. As Sri Ramakrishna says, it is like water called in different languages by different names. If there are three and four ghats on a lake, the Hindus who drink water in one place would call it ‘jal’; the musalman drinking it from another place would call it ‘pani’ whereas the Englishman drinking it from a third ghat would call it water. In essence all the three denote one and the same thing, the difference lies in the name only. In our studies of the various religions of the world we find that in their highest reaches, the experiences of mystics and sages of all religions are the same.

So the question arises that if Hindus accept that the Ultimate reality is the formless Brahman, how can one explain the innumerable forms of gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon? It is very simple. To achieve the spiritual union with the Supreme Soul, there are believed to be three main paths, bhakti yoga (through devotion), Jnana yoga (the path of wisdom or intellectual path) and karma yoga (the path of action).

The most common of these paths is the path of Bhakthi or devotional worship. The absolute God cannot be grasped by the human mind. For a philosophical man, his symbol may be highly abstract as the Vision of the infinite sky or a vast expanse; something that appears unlimited. A person who cannot think in such abstract terms prefers to have more concrete symbols. So he gave forms to the Reality. The Reality is presented according to the understanding of the devotee all the while reminding him that it is through the worship of the form that he is to reach the formless aspect of the divine. So the devotee chooses a form of the Brahman in any of His manifestations and realises God through love and devotion. Image worship does not mean that some inert object like wood stone or metal is being worshipped. The image is also not a mere icon. It is a symbol of the Lord.

There is a very interesting story of how Swami Vivekananda explained the concept of image worship to the king of Alwar. The young king was apparently not a very religious man, but the Prime Minister wanted him to meet the Swami whom he believed to be a great intellectual as well as a man of realisation. The king said in half joking manner to the Swamiji, “God many exist, but I do not understand why people worship images: He is not the image.” Vivekananda explained that it really did not matter. Hinduism gave one that freedom. We can start with meditation on any form, just so it is the same thing day after day – not one thing today and another tomorrow. Even if the experience comes through meditation on God with form gradually we reach stage of formlessness. Those who can worship the Absolute were most free to do so, but Hinduism did not put down those who needed an image in front of them to focus their devotion on. Seeing that the king was not yet convinced, Vivekananda looked at the wall and asked an attendant to take down the picture on the ground and spit on it. Such an act was akin to treason and the whole audience was absolutely stunned at the command given by the Swamiji.

Swamiji seeing the baffled look on the faces of the ministers and others, laughed and said, “You think that if you dishonour the picture, you will be dishonouring the king?. But the king is not in the picture. You, his subjects, who love and respect him, think that by dishonouring the picture you are dishonouring the king himself”. Then turning to the kind he said, “Maharaja, you are sitting in that chair, nothing of you is there in that picture. But because of a little likeness, some suggestion, the artists capability of representing you in this manner, your subjects seeing you in the picture feel that dishonouring it is akin to dishonouring you. It is exactly the same with image worship. It is not that the image is God. But it is through the image that God is being worshipped. The picture or image is only a suggestion, a symbol.”

Thus it must be understood that the image is not considered God, as is often misunderstood; it is the symbol (or pratika) of Godhead. In order to get the devotee to concentrate his mind totally on God, such an image (or pratima) helps in the first and early stages of worship. In this stage of apara bhakti, the devotee asks or prays for something in return. The higher stage is para bhakti where the devotee is consumed with love for his Ishta-Devata. He sees Him everywhere and is intoxicated by his vision of Him to the exclusion of all else. His love is all consuming. He perform no poojas or rituals but dances with joy at the all pervading ecstasy of divine love. In this stage of bhakti the bhakta sees no other deity, believes in none else. He is mad in the eyes of the world but reaches divinity through ekanta bhakti or single-minded love for Divinity in the form of his Ishta Devata. Such bhakti elevates the Bhakta until at the final stage he becomes one with Divinity.

Bhakti or devotion can be of any form where each devotee worships and adores God in his own way. The devotee could look upon God as a child does his father as can be seen in the devotion of Dhruva towards Vishnu, or he could treat God as a close personal friend as is seen in the relationship of Arjuna and Krishna. In dhaasya bhava, the devotee looks upon God as his master in the same as Hanuman looked upon Sri Rama. One could cite the example of Meera or Andal who saw Krishna and Vishnu as their husbands, when one talks of Kanta bhava.

- Asha Sunilkumar (Excerpt from the magazine 'Mahima')

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Guruji's Column

Dear Friends

Let me share something simple and realistic with you in this editorial. You can directly apply the message that I am going to share in your daily life. Now-a-days, everything comes in handy, like the mini visa card. It’s something similar to that.

We are all engaged in some activity or the other, almost for the major part of the day (say, 12 to 14 hours). While doing so, we unconsciously attach ourselves in successfully accomplishing the task at hand, be it a financial crisis in the family, or problem at work place, strain in the relationship etc. This attachment causes anxiety and as a result we do revolve. That means, despite our best efforts, the problem remains and requires our attention again. But friends, let me tell you, if we start revolving around anything, we will never evolve. Revolution causes “chakkar”. Because of this, we get into all kinds of unethical, unlawful and illegal activities and we slip off the path.

The very purpose of our life is to evolve and not revolve. However, we just do the opposite. That’s why teachers like me are kept constantly engaged and busy. As a first step, if you just stop revolving, leave alone making efforts to evolve, you can see a qualitative improvement in the way you handle things. Your fear disappears and your confidence sees new heights.

To put it simple, you can’t escape action. So, do it. But don’t involve yourself while doing any thing, for involvement causes anxiety and in the anxiety, we lose our wisdom. Tell me: Are we all active just to lose wisdom? Are we all active to further complicate the existing problems? If not, do all our work with this understanding. Let me also tell you the secret of success. If you want to succeed in all the three – kaaya, vaacha and manasaa—they have to be aligned and brought out as a single force. This can happen only when you understand the concept of evolution.

I believe my message might have reached you in its essence. Hope to see a brightly lit face with a wonderful smile when I meet you all in person next. Till then, take care.

In the service of Parampara,
Sri Pattabhiram.

Pain & Pleasure

Pain & Pleasure are two opposites that we experience in daily life, but they are relative terms. When one sees the horizon through the window, it appears very limited, but when one goes to the roof, he finds a vast horizon around him. In the same way, when one learns to expand his vision, the meaning of pain and pleasure also changes. Pain and pleasure are two concepts created by our mind and senses when they contact the objects of the world. But when the sense of discrimination is applied, they vanish because one’s values change. Pain and pleasure change their values when one attains a higher dimension of life. One feels pain and pleasure according to his inner strength, endurance, tolerance and purpose of life. One’s experience of pain and pleasure is dependent on what is important to him. For example, a mother experiences pain when she gives birth to a baby, but she goes through that pain because she wants to accomplish something higher.

Pain and pleasure have the same source. In the absence of one, the other appears. For example, if one loses his pen he feels emotional pain, but finding it gives a pleasant feeling. That which creates pain today can be a source of joy in the future.

In Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna that he should transcend both pleasure and pain and attain a state of equilibrium. He urges Arjuna to let go of the pain he is experiencing because of his narrow mindedness. Pleasure and pain, victory and defeat, gain and loss should be regarded with detachment and equanimity. Sri Krishna tells Arjuna to stand and fight with an inner peace based on that understanding.

In the modern world people become confused about what is right, and they are uncertain about which duties should be given the highest priority. The important is always important; therefore it should be attended to first even though it may seem to be painful. In performing one’s duty one should learn to go beyond his identification with pleasure and pain, loss and gain, and all the pairs of opposites.

Swami Rama

(Excerpts from the teachings of Swami Rama)

Guruji Visit to Mumbai

A Sadhaka Reports:

The Mumbai chapter of Sadhana Sangama organized two programs in Chembur. One for the general public of Chembur and the second for the residents of the Staff Colony of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).

The First Program was on Dhyana Yoga at Saraswati Vidyalaya, Chembur. This program has now become an annual feature and the School Management is very helpful for holding such programs. We take this opportunity to thank the Board of Trustees of the School Management for giving this facility absolutely free to Sadhana Sangama Trust for conduct of the program for 5 days.

We had the morning Satsang with Guruji at Mr. Raghuram Kamath’s Residence and Guruji spent this time with the core group to evaluate the progress made by sadhakas in the spiritual arena and give his guidance for the future conduct of activities. Mr. Niranjan Hemmady also took a lot of interest and expended several hours of dedicated time to ensure success of the programs in Chembur.

Mr. Kannan, Sri Vidya Teacher, arranged for Gayatri Mahamantra Program for three days at his residence at Mulund.

We had arranged a retreat at Karla 1.5 km from Lonavala with Guruji. This provided the core group members an opportunity to spend time with Guruji informally and clear their doubts encountered while practicing the concepts of Meditation and Yoga.

Dr. B.K.Das, a Research Scientist with BARC arranged for a 5 day Program at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, a Government of India Organisation at the residential colony Anushakti Nagar. We are very thankful to the entire management of BARC and the Committee Members of the Yoga Club for creating such a conducive environment for the conduct of the programme.

There were 10 yoga teachers attending the program and about 150 other participants. All the yoga teachers were from the Scientific Fraternity who attended the programme with their families. The vibrations of the program were so positive that Guruji commented at the end of the program that he was delighted to get such a positive vibration from the intellectual participants. Dr. G.A. Rama Rao, the Convener, on the last day said that they were ready to host such a program as an annual event, which was very encouraging and heartening.

In all these programmes Guruji insisted on the importance of being in ‘ATHA’ i.e. NOW. He said past is gone and buried, present is the time we have to live in and future is yet to come. Nobody knows what is in store for us in the Future.

HE SAID IT IS NO USE PLANNING AND HE DOES NOT PLAN FOR THE NEXT DAY LEAVE ALONE FOR THE FUTURE.

He said think if a child is trained to become an Electronics Engineer, but his calling is Yoga and he took yoga. Think what will be the state of the parents. He then pointing to himself said that he is giving his own example.

Then Asked the Question – Now You Tell me what all the planning did. Did it Help?

He said, do not plan for your children what you could not achieve in your life, we all try to plan for our children our unfulfilled desires. If we cannot do something in life we try to fulfill through our children. He suggested please do not do that. Let the child decide for himself what he wants and guide him in that direction with best suggestions and facilities he can be given. He said if you do not throw the child in water how will he learn to swim. He said look at your child as a gift from God and that he has been sent here with a mission -- let him find his way – everything has meaning and the expression, everything is for our good.

There are incidents that strike us only when Guruji highlights to us. He kept repeating ‘Atha’ in his Lecture for full 5 days and we were interpreting it as normal phenomena but he stirred us with his comment – I do not plan for the next day. THIS SENT OUR MINDS RACING TO THE CONCLUSION HE WANTED US TO REALISE.

There is another instance of Guruji’s insight into Sadhakas mind – He said there is an area in all of us, which we need to free from negative vibrations and link us to the divinity. Meditation is the process where we free our conditioned mind from the negative vibrations.

That means no success can be achieved without MEDITATION and every inventor must be meditating on the concepts to make an invention and that is why all Scientists do RESEARCH – They Search for the solution by searching again and again, only when they empty their minds do they get the results which are already present in the universe but it is not realized by any of them till that time.

Antardarshana

(Patanjali Yoga Sutra)

The meaning of this Sutra is: "Then one sees his own true nature". This is with reference to the previous Sutra: Yogah chitta vritti nirodhah. When one controls the modifications of the mind, then he really sees what his true nature is; he sees who he is.

If it is really difficult to understand this way, let us try to understand it from an example. You might have seen a pond; presently most of the ponds have become sites of waste dump or have been used for residential purposes or as playgrounds. Many ponds have been filled with lot of waste things. The moment you reach a pond to see how clean or clear the water is, you feel like running away from it. Because, it contains that much filth. In the same way, one’s chitta is filled with lot of unwanted filth.

The constituents of mind (manas, the questioning faculty; ahamkara, the sense of I, chitta, the store house of memories, samskara, vasana, etc; and buddhi, the discriminating faculty of the mind) are called antahkarana. When this antahkarana is sensitive, transparent, then the inner bliss, the inner source, the truth abode, the true personality, shines forth. The inner Lord is able to shine forth only when the outer sheaths that cover the Lord are made transparent.

To see it more clearly, take the above example of pond. When the constituent of the pond, i.e., water is clear, then whatever the water contains is visible. Its visibility is again dependent upon the disturbance at the surface; i.e., its waves caused by wind, etc. Since we relate this pond with our chitta, the chitta doesn’t have any waves as we see in the external world. But this chitta is disturbed by our own acts, by our own association to the things external / internal, by our own whims and fancies, by our own likes and dislikes. It is like throwing stones in a pond. The moment a stone is thrown, it disturbs the water’s posture. When you see yourself in the troubled water, your reflection also is distorted.

You might have seen your distorted facial reflection in so many mirrors. In some mirrors, you look handsome, but in some, you don’t look that handsome. Some mirrors are concave and some are convex mirrors. The reflection is really adjusted according to one’s requirement. In that conditioned mind, in that conditioned chitta, the reflection of the True Personality is not possible. If at all it can reflect, it reflects only the distorted picture of the True Personality.

If this is the case in all of us, what is the role of a sadhaka now? The role is, first of all, to stop throwing the stones. In other words, reduce the disturbing tendency. You must watch your trikarana a bit carefully. Speech, thought and action are called Trikarana. Observe your talk. Is it creating harmony? Or, is it creating disturbance in you. It definitely disturbs others too, if it disturbs you. Leave aside the disturbance that you do to others in the first instance. At least, look at how it is disturbing you. You can do continuous experiments with your talk. Observe how the words are spoken – does it contain the grace of love? How is it received by others? If your talking is curt, becomes aware of that curt tone. The mere awareness will set the things right. Become aware of the tone of the talk. The moment you become aware, you move on to the next higher plane: the thought process. Observe what the intention of your thoughts is. Is it to defame others? Is it to boast of yourself? What is the pattern of your thought process?

If you do these two observations with love; naturally, your actions would become graceful. If you are in the habit of walking hurriedly, talking hurriedly, as your awareness increases, your actions would definitely slow down and the pace of actions, would come down to a manageable level. Presently, if you are a person of hurry, definitely, there is arrogance, whether you like it or not. If you want to reduce this arrogance, reduce the speed. In order to reduce the speed, you need to become aware of yourself in total. If it is not possible to be in the wakeful state always, atleast try it every now and then; one day, I am sure, you too will become Buddha, a fully awakened being.

In this process, every now and then, you will see a spark of your true nature. That is why it is said: then, you will see your own true nature. To say it in other words: Then, you will establish in your True Self. There is no problem with the True Self. But the ‘mere self’ is creating all the problems for you.

What is this ‘mere self’? it is that which is carved out of the experiences of the external world. Its intention is getting ‘quick bucks’ and ‘instant relief’ without caring for what would be the repercussions, whether it imbalances its own nature or the nature of the external world. It doesn’t worry. It needs comforts quick. That ‘mere’ personality is the ‘mere self’. When you stop throwing stones in a pond, the disturbing waves at the surface would slowly subside. Then alone would you see what your chitta contains. After you see the constituents of your chitta, then comes the next step: how to clear it of the dirt? That is why, Patanjali says, “You must make efforts of staying there and that is practice.” What is ‘There’? After seeing the ‘mere self’ you start experiencing the True Self; but you must try to be there with your efforts of cleansing yourself of your impurities. That practice is called abhyaasa. So, the emphasis is not merely to do bujanga-asana or shalabha-asana or some rounds of nadi-shodhana pranayama. The practice of staying ‘There’ is the goal. See the deceitful ways of this ‘mere self’, how it runsaway from seeing itself. It feels shy of itself. So, be courageous; stay in the art of ‘seeing’; go on practicing so that you establish yourself in your own True Self.

May your practice guide you and all.

Sri Pattabhiram

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Guruji's Column

Blessings from the Parampara. Of late, during the programmes, many people ask me as to why one should take to meditation? What’s wrong with the present life style? With so many advancements, especially, in communication and medicine, does meditation stand a chance at all? It is an interesting question which I would like to address.

Man needs both medication and meditation because both come from the root ‘medi’ which means ‘to attend’. Medication attends to our physical problems and meditation to the emotional, psychological and mental problems. Medication has a very, very limited role to playing our lives. I am not ignoring its importance, its utility and its widespread use. What I mean to say is that it can diagnose and treat only the symptoms and not the cause. So long as the cause remains in us, the problems (effects) cannot be suppressed for long; it is common sense. So one has to deal directly with the cause and not with the effects only. If you learn to get hold of the cause, you can influence and control the effects. Wisdom lies here.

One many wonder how come meditation has any relevance in the conduct of our day-to-day affairs and to our problems and physical ailments. Take it from me, it has. It works like this. Many of our physical ailments are psycho-somatic in nature. So if you want to come out of them, you have to treat the cause, viz., the mind. If the mind is disciplined through the techniques of Pranayama, Japa and meditation, one can experience significant change in the quality of life. It is the abstract things that are within us-such as our feelings, emotions, attitudes etc. –that cause problem to us. Medication is useless here. It is only MEDITATION that plays a significant role here. If we see carefully, its meditation alone that makes life complete. If you want to be rich in life, to enjoy life, to understand life, then take to meditation and see for yourself the results.

Also medication will not be effective without meditation. Why so? Because it is so. That’s why. You ask any physician that if he advocates the same medicine, for the same problem, with equal amount of potency to two person, whose body constituents are exactly the same, will the recovery also be the same? The answer will be a definite “NO”. This means that our physical body has a direct relation with the mind. Now the question comes as to what we actually do in mediation and how it is different and higher as compared to medication. A compassionate nurse attends to the patient without any partiality whether he is a Muslim, Hindu or Christian. A nurse’s entire focus will be only on treating the disease and nothing else. In the same manner, during meditation, we start nursing all our feelings, sentiments, attitudes etc., with a view to refine them and bring the best out of ourselves and share the completeness that is within us with our near and dear ones. If you vow to do meditations regularly with this insight, let me assure that you regain your purity, innocence and wisdom. Meditation guarantees your communication with the Centre within you.

I would like to reiterate the assurance given to me by my Parampara: You do your meditation regularly; we’ll organize your entire life. Till today, I’m fulfilling my promise to the Parampara and so do they. Hope you will also continue in the same way as we do.

In the service of Parampara,
Sri Pattabhiram

Faith & Strength

Swami Vivekananda

He is an atheist who does not believe in himself. The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himself.

The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in themselves. That faith calls out the divinity within. You can do anything. You fail only when you do not strive sufficiently to manifest infinite power. As soon as a man or a nation loses faith, death comes.

Faith, faith, faith in ourselves, faith, faith in God, this is the secret of greatness. If you have faith in all the three hundred and thirty millions of your mythological gods, and in all the gods which foreigners have now and again introduced into your midst, and still have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you.

Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin-to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be.

Be free; hope for nothing from any one. I am sure if you look back upon you lives, you will find that you were always vainly trying to get help from others, which never came. All the help that has come was from within yourselves.

Never say, ‘No’; never say, ‘I Cannot’, for you are infinite. Even time and space are as nothing compared with your nature. You can do anything and everything, you are almighty.

Ye are the children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth-sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion, that you are sheep; you are soul’s immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal.

Never mind the struggles, the mistakes. I never heard a cow tell a lie, but it is only a cow-never a man. So never mind these failures, these little backslidings; hold the ideal a thousand times; and if you fail a thousand times make the attempt once more.

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength. Teach men of the strength that is already within them.

If there is one word that you find coming like a bomb from the Upanisads, bursting like a bomb-shell upon masses of ignorance, it is the world, fearlessness.

If you look, you will find that I have never quoted anything but the Upanisads. And of the Upanisads, it is only that one idea strength. The quintessence of the Vedas and Vedanta and all lies in that one world.

Be strong, my young friends, that is my advice to you. You will be nearer to heaven through football than through the study of Gita. These are bold words, but I have to say them, for I love you. I know where the shoe pinches. I have gained a little experience. You will understand the Gita better with you biceps, your muscles, a little stronger.

This is one question I put to every man … Are you strong? Do you feel strength? - For I know it is truth alone that gives strength … Strength is the medicine for the world’s disease

This is the great face: Strength is life; weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery, weakness is death.