Is reading scriptures enough?

Once a college professor went to meet a Saint. Trying to impress the Saint, the professor said politely, “Sir, I am fond of reading scriptures. I just finished reading Ramayana and Srimad Bhagwatam. Now, I started reading Mahabharata. It is such a wonderful scripture. It is very interesting and teaches a lot of beautiful lessons in life”

Saint remained unimpressed, and uttered, “What will you call someone who is always busy in opening the wrappers – grasp the sweet and keep it aside. Then begins to open next wrapper?”

“I would call it a time waste, Sir”, replied the professor.

“My dear friend, you are doing the same. Words of a scripture are just a wrapper around the gist or purport or a deep spiritual message. Reading scriptures is good, but not for satisfying the intellectual hunger, not for impressing others and not without a goal. Firstly, you should have a clarity of goal about why are you reading the scriptures and then only you should spend time on reading the scriptures.”

The man remained baffled and silent. The Saint continued, “What if a student begins to go to the library and begin reading books one by one – without interacting with other students without guidance from professors and without any goal? Do you think such a student will succeed?”

Four happiness hormones

A Yogi and a young doctor had an interesting conversation.

The doctor said to the Yogi, “Sir, you are telling that yoga and meditation results into happiness. I have done my research and found that happiness levels in humans are controlled by the hormones.”

“Interesting, please tell me more about these hormones”, replied the Yogi.

“There are four hormones that control the level of human happiness, namely endorphins, oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin. We should keep the level of these four hormones healthy in order to be happy all the time. The first one, endorphins is released in the body when we exercise. This hormone helps the body to cope with the pain that is associated with different body moments and stretching. It is also found that laughter also generates endorphins.”

Search your jewel within

In the olden times, traders used to travel far distances for trading precious goods. One of such trader was trying to sell a rare diamond in a city and exposed it to a small crowd. One spectator from the crowd turned greedy and thought of a plan to steal the precious stone. He tried to introduce himself to the trader and asked, “Where are you going, Sir?”.

“Well, I am going to Calcutta.”

“What a coincidence. I am also going to Calcutta. Can I give you a company.”

“That will be my pleasure.”, replied the trader.

Both travelled together during the day and stayed in a Dharamshala during the night. After midnight, the thief used to wake up and searched for the precious diamond everywhere. But he couldn’t find it. This episode continued for three days and three nights. 

Unearned and undeserved grace – Kripa

A Saint was visiting the US and a wealthy man came to meet him – Sir, I came to this country empty handed 20 years ago. In last 20 years, I worked very hard, and I have earned millions. Not only that I helped many of my employees to become successful. Even this temple where you are residing is founded by me only. I am the biggest donor of this temple. But, still it seems His grace is missing on me – I am suffering from diabetes, my wife is not happy with me and very often complains about getting divorce. My son is in the influence of bad social circle. I need some help.”

The saint  started smiling and called another gentleman who was serving in the temple. He asked, “Hey Madhav, when did you come to US?”

Get rid of your shackles first

Three friends were drinking in the evening at the outskirts of a small village. After drinking for a while, they were walking towards the village that was on the bank of a huge lake. While pointing at a boat anchored on the bank of the lake, one of the friends said, “My dear friends, it has been a while since we went on a boat together. Let’s go for a small ride like we used to do in the olden days.”

Everyone agreed and they all jumped on the boat. They kept rowing the boat into the darkness of the night. After a while, they got tired and one of them said,” It seems we have come quiet far and are getting tired now. I think we should return now or else we will get lost in the lake.”

The other one said, “Since we are tired, let’s rest for a few hours and then we will go back.”

Make your big problem small

A saint visited a small village in northern India. The villagers were telling the saint about all the problems that they face in day to day life – beginning with the water problem, electricity problem and leading eventually to the social and domestic problems.

All of a sudden, the saint closed his eyes and sat in a peaceful posture. All the villagers also sat around the saint and there was a complete silence. After a few minutes, saint opened his eyes and looked around. He pointed at a huge stone lying under the tree and he asked, “can someone bring the stone closer to me so that I can sit on it and give you the solutions to your problem.” 

The first villager got up. While trying to lift the stone, he said “Oh man, its too heavy. I cannot even move it”. Second one got up to try and said, “it’s a little heavy, but I think I can move it”. The saint told him to sit down. He pointed at a heavy built strong man. He went close to the stone and commented, “Oh, this is not at all heavy. Even my son can lift it.”  He pointed at his teen aged son to come forward. The little boy heard that the stone is not heavy and he came to the front with full confidence. He came closer and instead of lifting the stone, he started rolling it towards the saint.

Meditation brings happiness or happiness brings meditation

It is everyone’s experience that when we are happy, we feel complete from within, we feel at peace with ourselves and we can easily close our eyes in those moments of happiness and can enjoy without any external stimuli. However, the dilemma is that such happy moments are very short because most of the times those are derived from the fulfillment of a desire that we have chased. Such moments of happiness are short lived and once again you come back to your original state. The art of meditation can definitely introduce you to an avenue where you can prolong the moments of real inner happiness for as long as you want. 

There is a notion that in order to get rid of your depression, one should do mediation. But the problem is that when one is tense or depressed, one cannot concentrate, one cannot focus on the inner world, one cannot calm the mind, one cannot enjoy the inner peacefulness. Human mind generates a cloud of thoughts which over shadows the blissfulness emitting from deep within from “Anandmay Kosha”. Only way to blow off the cloud of thoughts is to equip the intellect with the wisdom of the Self. Once the intellect is armed with strength and purity, it will help to settle the clouds of thoughts- or in other words mind is calmed. It is only when the clouds are settled one can sit in meditation originating the thoughts of peace and blissfulness.

Stop running! It's time to guage

The chase for material success has caught an immense pace in recent times. Modern man is running more than ever in pursuit of wealth. In modern family, husband and wife- both are earning for more and more. It is quite logical as well. They have modeled their life based on the lifestyle of the rich and famous. They need a kick on daily basis- kick of a momentary pleasure- to get away from their mundane life. They have experienced that kick when they buy new clothes to fill their closet. They went out for dinners and had a good time. So, they need more money for enjoying more dinners in future. They have experienced that kick when they buy bigger cars, bigger home and so forth. This is based on their own experiences and based on the experience of the rich and famous that they follow. They think more money is needed to bring them those kick of momentary pleasures on daily basis. So, everyone is running in pursuit of money, money and more money.  

Our own relationship with God

“Sir, do you know God?”, asked a curious seeker to a Saint.

With a pleasant smile on his face, the master replied, “Son, which God are you talking about? The God that lives in heaven up there or the God which is inside you or the God which is omnipresent or one of the God out of 360 Million Gods that our culture believes in or the God that other cultures believe in?”

With a confused face, the seeker raised his eyebrows in curiosity and gave a blank face. With a heart filled with compassion, the Saint continued,” Son, the word God doesn’t refer to something that can be easily conceived by any one of the five human senses. Hence, unlike other words that we use during communication, word God has its own meaning for each one of us. The meaning is subjective in nature and is dependent on the subject who is using this word.”

“There are two kinds of people in this world – the believers and the seekers. The first kind, just believe on the description given by a prophet or a messenger of God or by the parents or by the priests or by the society. With those set of preconceived notions and assumptions, such believers keep on strengthening those assumptions on the name of sect or religion. They form their own beliefs about God, in fact, I would say they borrow their beliefs from others and then keep on building upon it. Most of the people fall into this category. In the past, so many saints realized the great relationship with the Supreme being and attempted to describe to others. Believers totally believed those Saints and thought that we just have to follow them, imitate them and their words are the only way to realize the God.”

Living in Body consciousness vs Soul consciousness

On the last day of a spiritual retreat, Baba addressed a small group of devotees.

“We are not humans striving to have divine experiences, in fact we are all divine having these temporary human experiences. We are the Truth, we are the Sat-Chit-Shant Anand swarup pure Aatma (we are the eternal-Conscious-Peaceful-Blissful pure soul). This little change in your thought process will lead you a long way in your spiritual pursuit. Most of the seekers pursue their spiritual journey with an understanding that we are human and we need to strive to have divine experiences or divine blessings from God. This is body-consciousness. When you reverse this thought process and pursue the spiritual goal with an understanding that you are a divine soul and you have just worn this body temporarily to have some human experiences, then you begin to live in soul consciousness,”

True independence

US celebrates their independence day on 4^th of July. Indians celebrate their independence day on 15^th August. Similarly most of the countries in the world celebrate freedom in one form or other. The celebration of freedom signifies the deep inherent desire of every human being which doesn’t want to be controlled by any restrictions. Many of the fortunate societies have attained freedom from dictatorship or imperialism or other forms of suppression. But, let’s talk about the true freedom for an individual being.

The importance of rituals

A businessman invited the holy man during the inauguration prayer ceremonies on the opening ceremony of a new factory. Usually Baba don’t accept such invitations, but looking at the faith and devotion of the invitee, Baba agreed. On the day of Yagna ceremony, Baba reached before time and sat on the side quietly, while observing the happenings all around. At the set time priest came and performed the Yagna rituals while chanting Sanskrit mantras and left. Everyone left after a while, but the Baba keep sitting in his own bliss.

Once everyone left, the businessman came and sat next to Baba. Baba asked, “So, how did the Puja go?”

With a satisfying smile on his face, the invitee replied, “Sir, I am glad it is over without any hindrance. Everything went as per the plan. Now I feel relaxed.”

Baba started laughing and said, “Son, the purpose of this puja was to introduce you to the ever present peaceful blissful Divine within, while performing the puja. But it seems you are more peaceful after the puja. I have observed that before the puja and during the puja, you were quiet tense – ensuring all Samagri (materials required for Puja) is available, flowers are placed in correct manner, guest are being taken care of and other formalities. Priest came and chanted a few mantras on your behalf, performed all the rituals and you are thinking puja is done. Have you ever thought, what is the real purpose behind it?”

Deep Sleep and Meditation

A true seeker always keeps alive the spirit of inquisitiveness. One always wonders how is it that we feel rejuvenated after a few hours of deep sleep. What exactly happens during deep sleep? How is deep sleep different than dreaming state? Several people have researched about these questions in the western world and have written multiple books, but none of the theory could fully satisfy all the questions around the deep sleep.

All the theories to explain the workings of deep sleep  begins with an assumption that this world is real and we go to a state of deep sleep and then come back to this world. But the Yogis and Rishis of India says that it is the other way round – the deep peaceful, restful and blissful state of consciousness, that we call deep sleep, is the reality. Because of our body-mind-sense complex, the virtual multi-dimensional reality appears to be the real world temporarily and then again we go back to our original state. This world is what appears to be true temporarily because of the sensations carried by our five senses to the mind, and then it disappears.  In the middle, sometimes the mind keep working even without the active sensation from the senses and we call it a dreaming state. Eventually, after some time, even the mind settles down and we again enter into deep sleep. The seer, the consciousness, is always present.

Only your experiences comes for your rescue

A true seeker is a scientist of inner worked. He has to research on his own to find the presence of the true divine within, to realize the highest form of peaceful happiness within. One cannot be just dependent on the research performed by others or just read thesis written by others for the art of inner exploration. Learning from other’s experiences will help you, but totally relying on the experience on others won’t bring you closer to your own real Self. Inner divine exploration is more of an art rather than science. But it is very logical in nature and hence referred to as science also.

A master observed that a disciple has a lot of potential, but he is always engaged in reading scriptures, memorizing the hymns from the holy books and trying to impress others by rephrasing the knowledge that he gained from other sources. He observed that disciple is hardly spending any time in seclusion, sitting in meditation and performing Self analysis. Out of compassion, one morning master called the disciple to his room and said, “Son, sit here close to me. I want to tell you a story.”

For a true seeker, it’s light everywhere!

“Dear Sir, please guide us so that we can also see the divine presence of the almighty everywhere, just like you,” requested a seeker.

With a pleasant smile on his face, the holy man started with a short story, “It was dawn and darkness was about to engulf every corner of the house. The master of the house called the servant, Ramu and instructed, 

“just go with these lanterns in every corner of the house and place it where ever you see the dark.” Ramu placed the lantern on his head and went from room to room and returned after a while. “Sir, there is no corner in the house with darkness. The whole house is already lighted up.”

“Similarly, son, the true seeker can see the presence of divine in each and every being while carrying the lantern of divine inner wisdom. Because of the presence of the lighted intellect, a true seeker never judges others. In fact, he tries to see the presence of divine, positive qualities in others.”

Sab jag Ishwar roop hai, bhala bura nahi koi I

Jaisi jiski bhavna, tesa hi fal hoi II

Whole world is manifestation of the God, there is no good no bad, 

As is your attitude, so is the results of your actions (on your inner existence).

Treat your stay in this world like a hotel

Saints are filled with compassion and always try to give easy keys to open the inner locks. A holy Baba visited a village and villagers offered him to live in a Dharamshala (olden day’s hotel). That evening all the villagers gathered around the holy Baba with an expectation to hear a few words of wisdom.

Pleased with the service and love offered by the villagers, the holy Baba said, “Let me give you an easy key that will help you alleviate your seeking to next level and will enhance inner peace.”

The villagers sat down quietly and with inquisitive ears started listening to the Saint. Baba said, “Treat this world as if you are visiting a huge endless hotel and you are renting it for a short while. One day, we all have to leave everything and move on. While living in this hotel, we can make use of all the facilities with gratitude, but nothing belongs to us. We cannot even carry a small needle with us to the next journey. We can mingle with other companions, but always remember that they are also the travelers like us. We are staying together for a short life, and then everyone will move on to their own journey.”

Natural means of a healthy body and happy mind

A seeker of true happiness treats the body as a temple of the divine spirit. A healthy body helps in keeping the mind happy and a healthy mind keeps the body healthy. Along with this, a healthy body and a happy mind, together helps the being to realize the divinity within.

God has provided us with a lot of natural means to keep the sanctity of this bodily temple. The body is made up of five basic elements – earth, ether, water, fire and space. The sages of India realized thousands of years ago that by maintaining the proper balance of these five basic elements, one can live a healthy and happy life. Let’s analyze how easily we can make use of these natural health tips for leading a happy life.

Purity of antah karan or inner senses

The Rishis of India have defined many kinds of meditation suiting different personalities. Deep concentrated contemplation is also a form of meditation that is suggested for the intellectual kind of seekers who give importance to logic and understanding. Such seekers read holy scriptures and listen to the talks of Saints till the time something touches them deeply and then, they sit in the contemplation of the deep meaning behind those words.

Shabdaà  -->  Arthaà  --> Tatvaà

Shravanaà  --> Mananaà  --> Nityadhyasanaà

By delving deep into the artha (meaning and purport) of the shabda(words) , such seekers dive into the realm of Tatva. Fortunate are those who tread this form of spiritual journey. For such seekers, here is a deep thought of spiritual wisdom.

Tree of Life

A lot of Saints describe the beautiful analogy of human life with a tree. When we look around, we find that there are people who are strong and stay steady in all the circumstances of life. Those are the people who also contribute to the welfare of others and the society as a whole. While there are others who are flimsy and emotional. They can be shattered by minor adversities. They always seek help of others.

Let’s see the similarities between a tree and the human life. The strength and sturdiness of a tree is dependent on the depth of its roots. Deeper are the roots, healthier is the tree. Roots symbolizes the spiritual depth of a being. One who remains in solitude for a few moments on regular basis while contemplating on the Self. One who meditates on the inner realms while enjoying the bliss and peacefulness of the consciousness, surely has deep and strong roots. The superficial people, who remains distant from the spiritual Truth, who are always restless while seeking the momentary pleasures of the world, have very shallow roots.

Vedas-a treasure of secrets of life

Vedas are considered to be the bible of Hindus. The Sanskrit word véda "knowledge, wisdom" is derived from the root vid- "to know". It is a large body of knowledge text composed in Sanskrit. Vedas contains the sublime secrets of life. Vedas are also called śruti ("what is heard") literature, distinguishing them from other religious texts, which are called smṛti ("what is remembered"). Vedas were not written by anyone, but were heard by the Vedic Rishis while in deep meditation. This text has been carefully preserved since ancient times. Vedas are called Marai in parts of South India. Marai literally means "hidden secret".    

Scholars believe that they were written down some 2,500 years ago, though the tradition often dates them to the beginning of Kali-yuga (3000 BCE). Initial Veda was a one huge body of text with more than a hundred thousand shlokas. Later, it was divided into four vedas by Rishi Veda Vyasa and hence is his name, one who divided the vedas. These four are now known as Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda.

Living Yogis in the modern age

The Rishis and Yogis of ancient India used to meditate not only for hours, but for days; not only for days, but for weeks; not only for weeks, but for months and years at a time. But, an inquisitive mind asks – what about food, their daily chores – don’t they have to get up for that?

Those are not just stories. Ancient wisdom was capable of imparting some of the wonderful powers to humans – which modern man calls super natural. Even in the present age there are many instances where Yogis meditate for months without water or food, without even getting up.

In 2005, a young boy of age 14 in Nepal, told his mom that he is going for meditation and will return after attaining self-realization. He told his mom not to worry about him or his health. He went outside the town and sat under a tree. He continued his meditation for more than 6 months without moving from his meditative posture. His name is Ram Bahadur Bomjon and he is 26 years old now. He can sit in meditation like ancient day Yogi – for months at a stretch.

Role of science and spirituality in our pursuit of happiness

What do you think can contribute significantly in the pursuit of happiness- Science or Spirituality? I know that most of you would answer in favour of science. With its spectacular progress in last couple of centuries, science has definitely made human life much easier, healthier and comfortable with its innumerable inventions. Not only that, science has also provided human race with countless means of entertainment. It is no surprise that most of the younger generation is fervent enthusiast of Science.

Another factor that helped you in deciding in favour of science might be the ignorance of true meaning of spirituality and its misinterpretation as part of religion. There are wide spread myths that science is logical, while spirituality is only based on beliefs and superstitions; science can be applied usefully in human life, whereas spirituality is mere set of esoteric impractical philosophies.

History of Yoga

In order to grasp the essence of Yoga, understanding about the history and evolution of Yoga would definitely help. Yoga is one of the oldest art, or you can say science, or philosophy of the world that originated in Indian subcontinent thousands of years ago. Practice of Yoga is very beneficial not only for maintaining the physical health, but also for rejuvenating your mental, moral and spiritual health. The philosophy of Yoga is as ancient as the civilization. According to one of the classical texts of Yoga known as HathaYoga Pradipika, Lord Shiva is the first teacher of Yoga when he preached the Ashtang-Yoga to Mata Parvati. As per Bhagavad-Gita, Lord Krishna is referred as the first teacher of Yoga.

A significant milestone in the history from where Yoga revived itself is considered to be the era of Maharshi Patanjali who systematized Yoga, its meaning and its related knowledge through his Patanjali Yoga Sutras around 400 A.D. So, for discussion on the historical development of Yoga, it may be divided into three phases:

Pre Patanjali Period [Before 400 A.D.]

According to Hindu culture beliefs, Yoga is an eternal philosophy – it has always been there. However, the historical evidences of Yoga were seen up to 4500 B.C. The main sources related to Yoga during those times are Vedas, Upanishads, Smrti, Teaching of Buddha, Jainism, Panini, Epics and Puranas.

The supreme secret of true happiness

First of all, let me shed some light on the meaning of true happiness. I am not referring to the momentary and shallow form of day to day happiness. True happiness is the sublime state of mind that is totally peaceful, fulfilled, ever-lasting and blissful. Once you achieve authentic happiness, you are elevated to a higher state of mind where no anxiety, no worry, no sadness, no unhappiness can touch you. You are not impacted by the vagaries of external world because when you find the true ambrosia within your heart, you are not dependent on the external happiness any more.

Well…. you might think that I am sort of becoming philosophical. Such happiness is only talked about in our religious scriptures, after death, in heavens. You may ask if it is possible to realize such a blissful state of mind while living on earth.

Optimistic attitude of a true seeker

Life is full of avenues and opportunities as long as you keep your hopes alive. A seeker is always optimistic and never gives up. A seeker with an open mind keep on listening to different saints, continue to read one scripture after another, keep on exploring different forms of sadhna with a fire in his belly to realize the true Self and finally attains the goal – the goal of achieving liberty while living, not after death. 

This principle is not only true in the spiritual world, but also in the material world. Let me tell you an inspiring story.

This is the story of a boy from Kentucky. At age 5, his father died. At age 16, he quit school. At age 17, he had already lost four jobs. At age 18, he got married. He joined the army and washed out there. At age 20, his wife left him and took their baby. He became a cook in a small cafe and convinced his wife to return home. 

Two types of seekers

In this dualistic work of happiness and sorrow, positive and negative, peace and restlessness, there is only way to transcend, there is only one way to achieve harmony and blissfulness- that is to seek; seek the higher goal, seek the Truth, seek the true Self, seek God.

There are only two kind of people in this world – those who are the seekers and those who are not.

Let’s talk first about those who are not. They are just contended in the worldly achievements and worldly pleasures. They believe this world to be true. They have no curiosity, no inquisitiveness to know the Truth. Even though they are always restless while running for outer pleasures- they don’t have any desire for peace or lost lasting happiness. While participating in the race of worldly achievements, they don’t have time to pause and think for a moment.  Either they are busy making money or thinking of ways to spend it- let’s plan an excursion trip, let’s go for a movie, let’s do a party, let’s go out to eat, let’s invite friends and what not? They don’t want to keep their mind unoccupied even for a moment because they don’t know how to deal with an unoccupied mind.  

This world is an Echo-Point

A disciple was traveling with his master to spread the message of love, compassion, harmony and inner peace. On the way, while crossing over a beautiful hill came across an echo point while crossing the hill. The excited disciple started shouting loud and to his amazement, the echo vibrated in the surroundings.

“This world is also an Echo-point, son.” Whatever you give to this world, the same comes back to you”, commented the master.

With the eyes filled with curiosity, the disciple sat down and started paying attention to the master’s words of wisdom.

“When you give love and laughter to this world, this world embraces you with love and laughter. And if you give pain and sorrow to this world, same feelings will echo back to you. Let me tell you a story of Winston Churchill and Alexander Fleming.

Neither sorrow, nor happiness is real

A philosophy professor came up with an interesting question for his students at the time of final exams. The class was already seated and ready to go when the professor picked up his chair, plopped it on top of his desk and wrote on the board:

"Using everything we have learned this semester, prove that this chair does not exist." A panic wave transcended  across the hall. Fingers flew, erasers erased, notebooks were filled in furious fashion. Some students wrote over ten pages in an hour attempting to refute the existence of the chair. One member of the class however, was calm and quiet. He closed his eyes for a moment and delved inside to calm his mind in the source of intelligence. He wrote a line and within minutes, handed over his paper to the professor and walked out while smiling.

Spiritual eating habits

In Vedic culture, a lot of importance is given to the act of eating. It is believed that as we eat, so is our thought process. The food that we eat becomes part of us- not only the minerals and vitamins become part of our physical body, but the subtle part of the food becomes part of our thought process. So, a lot of emphasis is given on taking pure and saatvic food. When we offer food while chanting prayers and while paying our gratitude to Mother Nature and the omnipresent God, the food gets purified and become Prasad.

One of the reasons that the modern man is facing restlessness and depression is that just for the sake of taste and time-saving, modern man gets into the habit of consuming all kinds of tamsi food while watching TV. Such common practices leads to all sort of chaos in the society as well. As per our Vedic culture, food is considered as medicine for the illness of hunger and as the sustenance of life.

When we chant holy prayers, our mind becomes pious and peaceful in the remembrance of Paramatma that has made the food available to us in nature. Eating such saatvic food with peaceful mind helps the true seeker in not only attaining physical and mental strength, but also in attaining the goal of spiritual blissfulness.

Here are a few Mantras that a true seeker chants before eating the meal.

   Harir Daatha Harir Bhoktha, Harir Annam Prajaapatih I

   Harir Vipra Shareerast, Bhoonkte Bhojayathe Harih II

   

  O Lord Hari, You are the food, You are the enjoyer of the food, You are the giver of food.    Therefore, I offer all that I consume at your Lotus Feet.

Surya Namaskaar

There are many customs that are integral part of Vedic culture that pertains to showing our gratitude to the Nature (Prakirti) that manifests in the form of Sun, Moon, rivers, forests and animals around us. Since times immemorial Sun worship was a central and integral part of religious practice on the Indian subcontinent.  This is evident in the presence of Konarak and Arasavelli (A.P.)  Sun temples.

There are numerous references of praising the Sun for the purpose of good health and prosperity, in Vedas. Some of these Vedic hymns were incorporated into "Nitya Vidhi" (Daily routine prayers) for the well being of an individual, through the salutations to the Sun. These daily procedures were termed as Surya Namaskaar (literally translates as "sun salutations").