The importance of performing rituals

Gautam the Buddha went to meet Rishi Kashyap. Rishi Kashyap was performing Yagna along with his hundreds of disciples. Gautam Buddha sat and observed the rituals being performed. On the first sight, Rishi Kashyap was impressed by the blissful aura of Gautam Buddha. After finishing those rituals, Gautam Buddha went for a walk on the banks of a small river. During their spiritual discussions, Budha started talking about the importance of living in the moment and meditation.

Rishi Kashyap knew that Buddha discourages performing rituals and other symbolic prayers. In the confused state of mind, Rishi Kashyap asked, “Dear Sir, are these religious rituals that our ancestors have been performing for ages meaningless?”

Buddha looked at the river and asked, “If someone wants to cross this river then what should he do?”

“If the river is sallow, one can walk across the river. If the river is deep then one can cross the river by swimming or with the help of a boat.”

The higher form of sacrifice

The Saints have wonderful ways of delivering the spiritual message. At times their acts and their talks seem unusual, but all of those are motivated by compassion and goodwill for the benefit of the true seekers.

Once, a prince was riding his well decorated chariot towards the outskirts of his kingdom. Suddenly he saw a small hut, outside which a saintly looking old man was sitting in peace. A few young men were also sitting there surrounding the old man. As he came closer, he recognized the old man who used to be rich minister in his father’s ministry and turned into a Saint a few years ago. Out of respect, he stopped the chariot and stepped closer to the Saint. While touching the holy feet of the Saint, he said, “Dear Sir, I bow to you and your great sacrifice. You have sacrificed your worldly comforts and are living in such a small hut in solitude.”

To the surprise of the prince, the Saint got up and while approaching the feet of the prince, he said, “No prince no, I bow to you as your sacrifice is higher than mine.” 

Importance of peaceful mind

Hindu mythology is an ocean filled with the treasures of wisdom. Our Rishis knew that the best way to convey the deep wisdom of the Vedas is to tell it in the form of a story with a deeper message. It is easier for the human minds to remember the stories and understand the deep purport hidden in those stories. This is the reason our ancestors wrote Puranas to convey the messages of spiritual wisdom hidden in the Vedas and Upnishads.  

Once the circumstances built in such a manner that Sri Kartikeji, who was also the Chief Commander of Devtas Army, had to fight a battle even though Shivji tried to stop him. Upon his return from the battlefield where he saw a lot of bloodshed, Sri Kartikeji became compassionate and emotional. With a heavy voice he asked Shivji, “Dear Father, why does it happen with me that I do not get the deep purport of your advice. Only after the fact, I realize the significance of your words, whereas Ganesha always act upon your words and hence avoid the difficult circumstances in life.

Magnificent bars of spiritual wine

It is very common to divide different religious philosophies of the world into two categories – the Western religions and the Eastern religions. Western religions refers to the faiths that originated within Western culture, and are thus historically, culturally, and theologically distinct from the Eastern religions. A true seeker never compares any of the paths that lead to the Supreme Truth. Different paths have their own beauty, magnificence and importance. All the religions of the world provide a different window view to the same Truth, to the same Light and to the same God.

As mentioned in my last blog, the Saints and spiritual poets of the world have often compared spiritual bliss with a divine wine. I recently came across some beautiful poetic lines from Dr. Mohammad Iqbal, who was a prominent classical poet in the early twentieth century. His grandparents were Kashmiri Pandits, who converted to Islam in the 19th century. Because of family background, he had good understanding of the Vedanta as well as Islam.

Once, upon his return from the European travel, a journalist asked him, ”Sir, now that you have travelled to the western world for many years, what do you think about the Western religions in comparison to the Eastern religions?” 

Wonderful wine of Spirituality

Human mind needs something more than just money, power and wealth. Only good food and gorgeous clothes are not enough. It needs some intoxication in the form of excitement, joy, merriment, enthusiasm or pleasure. Such intoxication is absolute requirement of human mind. Without such a joy, the life seems to be lacking something, it seems to be incomplete.

Human mind is also filled with a lot of worries and negative thoughts – about the memories of the past and about the anxieties of the future. There are two ways to get rid of mental restlessness – either to forget it with the help of external intoxications or to rise above the restlessness of the mind by exploring the real form of peace and happiness within; by exploring the Truth.

It is human nature to seek easier routes for achieving the desired results. This tendency of human mind resulted in the advent of all sorts of intoxications like wine, alcohol, drugs etc from the time immemorial. One can easily buy with money a variety of agents that can help to relieve you of the day to day tensions and tranquilize your mind. 

The ultimate question

From childhood only Hanumanji was different than all others of his kind. He was curious and full of questions about the evolution of world, the nature of mind, the true Self and the real God. He used to ask all such kind of questions to his mother all the time – Mother, please tell me where did I come from, what will happen to me after death, how did this world come into being, if there is God why can’t I see it … and on and on ?

Tired of his questions, his mother used to send him to holy Saints who lived in the forest and who used to perform Saadhna towards realizing the true goal of life. Hanumanji used to go to their ashrams and used to pay due respect at the feet of holy Saints. Then he used to serve them selflessly as per their instructions for days, weeks and months. Then, with their permissions he used to ask his deep spiritual questions. The Saints used to answer his questions up to certain extent and then after a while, Hanumanji’s questions used to confuse them as well. The moment Hunumanji used to see a blank face, he used tell them, “Dear Sir, the Saints are supposed to answer all the questions of the common man. If the Saints fail to pacify the spiritual inquiries of a Saadhak, then who else will help them?” After that Hanumanji used to tie the Saints to the tree and then leave. 

If you want ever lasting happiness

Here is a famous Chinese proverb: 

If you want happiness for an hour- take a nap,

If you want happiness for a day- go on a shopping spree,

If you want happiness for a month- go on a honeymoon,

If you want happiness for a year- inherit a fortune,

If you want happiness for a lifetime– help someone,

If you want eternal happiness – know yourself.

How true ! The worldly happiness like taking a nap or going on a shopping spree for buying luxuries of physical comfort or even the happiness associated with honeymoon is only momentary, short lasting and incomplete. Because you have given so much importance to money and wealth, and it is deep rooted in you that money can bring you long lasting happiness, you might be able to extend that worldly happiness to as long as a year if you inherit a fortune. But if you truly want to have a glimpse of inner satisfaction, peace and complete happiness, then help someone selflessly. When you help someone, the Divinity within smiles at you, which is manifested in your heart as true happiness.

Ambrosia of Satsang

The word Sat-sang has a deep meaning associated with it. “Sat” is the Supreme Truth, the ultimate Reality, the eternal Consciousness, the God. “Sang” means the company. Satsang is the divine company of Truth- the omnipresent, eternal, conscious, supremely peaceful, pure, complete, blissful and divine Truth.

The routine meaning of the word Satsang is associated with the company of Saints who have realized the Supreme Truth, who have realized the true Self. To be around the holy Saints, to listen to their talks, to read their holy scriptures under their guidance, to perform self-analysis of such spiritual wisdom – all of this is commonly known as Satsang.

Life is a mystery and only Satsang can help us to solve this divine mystery. Satsang is the only remedy in this world for the sorrow and restlessness of mind. Only satsang can bring deep long lasting blissfulness amidst this chaotic ever changing material world. Only Satsang can help one to absorb true virtues of life like kindness and selflessness. Only Satsang can make you truly fearless by resolving all kinds of fears including the fear of death. Only Satsang can help you gain some understanding of your own true nature and the reality of this world. Only Satsang can help you gain control over your ever vacillating, thought spinning and restless mind. Only Satsang can introduce you to your own true Self. Only satsang can introduce you to the deep, eternal peace that is ever present within. Only Satsang can introduce you to the divinity within. 

Learn to steal time for meditation

A householder used to pay visit to the Saint once in a while. Every time the Saint used to ask him about his progress in Saadhna. The pious soul always had some excuse or other. One day, when the Saint asked him about the same, he said, “Dear Sir, for you it is easy to make time for saadhna (seeking) as you don’t have family or any such responsibilities. But for us worldly beings, it is very difficult to take time out for Yoga, Pranayama and meditation. But sure, once I retire, I will begin practicing all these methods of seeking.”

The Saint told him a brief story, “During the days of British rule in India, a Britisher was travelling on the horse through a farm. After a while, the Britisher started seeking water for his thirsty horse. He saw from a distance that a villager is taking water out using Aarat – old way of digging water from well wherein the bull is made to revolve around the well and water keeps pouring out from the well. However, it creates a lot of noise. When the Britisher brought his horse closer to the Aarat, the horse jumped back scared with the laud sound. The Britisher told the villager to stop moving the bulls, but ironically the water also stopped. So the villager told the Britisher, “Sir, your horse has to learn to drink water while this pulley is moving with its own sound. If you try to stop the noise of the Aarat pulley, then your horse has to remain thirsty.”

Can Yoga and meditation increase size of your brain ?

Dr Dharma Singh Khalsa is the founding President and Medical Director of  Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation (ARPF). His team performed  years of scientific research on a group of  people who performed singing Yoga meditation that they call Kirtan Kriya. His team’s studies utilized recognized methods to measure aspects of brain health and specialized scans such as SPECT and fMRI, as well as sophisticated memory and blood tests, to determine the results. He presented a summary of his research at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Boston.

Interestingly, he summarized the outcome of his research and the benefits of performing singing yoga mediation into three categories: mind, body, and spirit.

A. Positive influences on Mind:

1. Improved Memory: People with memory loss improved on important memory tests after practicing singing yoga mediation. 

Importance of reading holy scriptures in life

An old farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early, sitting in his garden reading his Bhagavat Geeta. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could. 

One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagawat Geeta just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand, I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bhagawat Geeta do?”

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.”
The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.
This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before here turned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.

Know the goal of life instead of making one

New Year time is the time of year when we make new resolutions and new goals of life. But the wise ones advise to know the true goal of life instead of making one. Whatever new resolution, new goal you will make will be related to your material body and this seemingly real world. But, the true seeker needs to perform Self-analysis to gain understanding of the true goal of life. Under the influence of materialism, very often we muddle up our worldly desires to be our goal in life.

First of all, one needs a clear understanding of the true goal of life – is it just to fulfill material aspirations or desires? Or is there some higher purpose for human life? One should devote some time to investigate the subtle difference between the goal or objective or purpose of life and the aspirations or desires or wishes of life. Unless one realizes the subtle difference between the pious goal and the worldly desires, all the accumulations, accomplishments and knowledge remain fruitless. Unless your worldly accumulations bring you long lasting happiness, unless your knowledge takes you towards eternal blissfulness, unless your friends take you towards eternal peace, it is all useless.