Your true essence is Ram

A young IAS officer came to know about the arrival of a Brahmnishta Saint in the town. Under the influence of his saatvic (virtuous) sanskaars, he went to meet the Saint. The Saint was sitting in a room with about a dozen devotees and talking about the significance of reciting the holy name (Naam japa).

At the end of the discussion, the Saint told the devotees to clarify their doubts and ask questions. The Officer asked, “Dear Sir, please tell us an easy and practical method of realizing our Aatman and the God.”

With a smile of his face, the Saint said, “Son, reciting the holy name of God while contemplating upon his essence is the easiest and practical way to realize the true Self. Recite Ram... Ram … Ram every day and fill your heart with the love and devotion for that holy name.”

“Sir, we already know that. Please tell us something new.”

“Oh you donkey, don’t just keep on asking questions for the sake of asking.”

There was a complete silence in the room. Even the Saint closed his eyes in silence. With a heavy heart, the Officer stood up and left the scene.”

A sincere new year wish

New-year time – the time of joy and freshness; the time to celebrate and welcome the new year with a lots of hope, optimism and enthusiasm; time to be with friends and family; time to make new resolutions; time to thank God for all the blessings and pray for more. Yes, once again it’s that time of the year which brightens us all.

A true seeker of inner happiness also remembers that along with the festivities and celebrations, it’s the time for some calibration – the time to review and grade ourselves against the true goals of human life – the goal of realizing the Truth; the goal of Self realization; the goal of achieving inner peace and true happiness.

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.

Stories of a Yogi – Shri Malladahali Swami

From time to time, many Yogis and great souls have incarnated in India who led an exemplary life and who are source of inspiration for million of seekers around the world. One such great soul was Sri Raghavendra Swamiji ofMalladihalli popularly known as “Malladihalli Swamiji”. During his lifetime, he taught Yoga to more than 4.5 million people all over the world. He recently passed away in the year 1996. He used to call himself “Thiruka” (a beggar) and urged the people to donate freely to his projects to help the poor, downtrodden and orphans. Here are a few inspiring glimpse from his extra ordinary life.

Early life

Right from his infancy, he had been a chronic asthmatic. He was just wheezing day and night. His parents tried a lot of medicines and did whatever they could, but the boy was just wasting away. When he was about 11 or 12 years of age, a Yogi came by and the parents asked him to heal the boy. The Yogi said, “Anyway this boy is not going to be of any use to you. If you keep him with you, he will die. Give him to me; I will take him with me.” This yogi was Palani Swamy. He usually used to walk alone and generally didn’t recruit any disciple. But he took compassion upon this boy, took him along and trained him in the ways of Yoga. The boy not only grew out of his ailment, he grew into a physically strong wrestler who lived a happy life till the age of 106.

Rise above the ego and the attachments

In a green forest deep in the Himalayan valley, where the soft breeze sweeps across the green trees with a message of joy, there lived a mighty bull. During the morning hours, as he diverted himself among the green grass, he discovered an amiable friend in a cat. The cat amused him with his playful hide and seek; he told him stories of the jungle – the terror of the lions, the gossiping of foxes, the deceitful demeanor of the wolves and the jovial dances of rats.

During the siesta hours of the afternoon, as the bull rested serenely in the mountain cave, he discovered a tiny little rat playing in the vicinity. Slowly, he persuaded the rat to shun off all the fears of him and continue with his frolics and dances. The Bull was sensitive to life and an aspirant of universal love. Slowly the rat became friendly and brought even his tiny rattish children to amuse the grand personality of the Bull.

Does our Karma decide our Destiny?

This is an age old topic of discussion among the wise ones: Does our destiny decide our Karma or our Karma makes our destiny? Recently I came across a beautiful story from the Puranas about this topic that I would like to share.

In Sata-Yuga, it was a tradition to have Gyan Yoga discussion during festivals and all the auspicious occasions like marriages. When all the Deities assembled to participate in the marriage ceremony of Sri Ganesha, one of the Deities remarked, “it is the result of our past pious Karmas that we got an opportunity to participate in Sri Ganesha’s marriage ceremony. Then Prajapatiji said, “It might be that we were destined to perform those pious Karma as a result of which we are here today. It might be the result of our destiny.”

Hearing this Sri Ganesha said, “We got the topic of discussion for our spiritual discussion on the auspicious occasion of this marriage and it is: Does our destiny decide our Karma or our Karma makes our destiny? When we look at our past, this question arises in our mind- what is the root cause of the situations that we are in today? Is it our destiny or is it our past Karmas?”

What if a modern religion is made today?

If a modern religion is to evolve today, how would it be? In my opinion, if a modern religion is to evolve today, it would be treated like modern Science, with universality in nature. It would apply to all, irrespective of your culture, beliefs, creed, geographical location or limited set of holy scriptures. It would be one for all. Such a religion would be based on logic, practicality in life and experimentation – not just on beliefs and faith. Such a religion would be more of a way of life that could enhance peace, harmony and happiness in the society rather than creating friction.  

Such a religion would encourage openness and would try to embrace all the philosophies and dogmas related to the spiritual Truth about the Self and the God. Such a religion would allow free flow of thoughts without the boundaries of beliefs and faith.  Such a religion would encourage evolution of new philosophies. Such a religion would encourage discussion and questioning as opposed to just believing. Such a religion would encourage and respect living Saints or the Scientists of inner world who attempt to explore the inner world in search of supreme peace and inner happiness.

Complex knot of conscious and unconscious substance

The Sages of India, thousands of years ago, beautifully described human consciousness as a complex knot (or combination) of conscious (Chetan) and unconscious (jad) substance – Chit-Jad-Granthi. We are all spiritual and conscious beings having worldly human experiences. On the same thought, there is a famous quote by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin – “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience."

The conscious component of our Being pulls us towards the Divine and inspires us to engage ourselves in helping others, paying reverence to Saints, listening to Self-realized ones, read holy scriptures, remember God, be peaceful and blissful while conducting in the worldly affairs. Whereas the unconscious, earthy component of our psyche drag us towards enjoying worldly momentary sensual pleasures, being selfish, over sleeping, over eating, being restless, being angry, hurting others and all other sorts of negative emotions.

Divine laws of inner happiness

In order to lead a serene, healthy and happy life it is important that we are aware of the laws that we are all governed by at different planes of existence. Ignorance of laws is no excuse. If we break a law, we have to bear the consequences. At social level, we are all bounded by the laws of the society, state or nation. At the broader level, our body being part of nature, we are also bounded by the laws of nature. And at even broader and subtler level, we are all bounded by the divine spiritual laws of existence, because after all, we are all spiritual beings.

In order to lead a serene life in the society, we should be aware of the social laws of the society in which we live. For example, if we are travelling, we should be aware of the traffic laws of the country that we are visiting or else, we will be in trouble.

Why does meditation seems so difficult?

Holy Master was glorifying meditation to a small group of disciples. While telling about the importance of meditation he said, “When during the night time you go to sleep, you take rest in the Antaryami Parmatma (Supreme God dwelling in your heart), your physical energy gets revived and you feel fresh in the morning. This is everyone’s experience. Then you should also believe me when I tell you that if you learn to take rest in the same Antaryami Parmatma (Supreme God dwelling in your heart) while you are awake, by means of meditation, not only your physical energy will be rejuvenated, but also your mental and spiritual energies gets rejuvenated. With such revived inner consciousness you will find inner peace and wholesome blissfulness within.”

One of the disciples asked candidly, “Dear Sir, it is not that we don’t believe you. We try to learn and do mediation. But, it seems very difficult for us to sit and do meditation. Why is it so?”

Time to begin our own journey to inner Truth

Gautam, the Buddha once visited a small village on the outskirts of river Ganges. A lot of people from all around gathered to have a glimpse of the Self realized one and listen to his talks. Just being around the completely peaceful one and listening to his talks gave glimpse of inner peace and inner happiness to the people. Soon his fame spread all over and a lot of people started to gather for listening to Buddha’s discourses.

Whenever anyone used to ask Buddha about the existence of God, he used to enter into a long silence without saying much. His disciples were all confused about the existence of God as most of the Buddha’s talks were around explicating the Dharmas constituting reality.  During his discourses, Buddha hardly spoke anything on the subjects of metaphysics, reincarnation, life after death and God.  

Two wise aspects of looking at this world

“Dear Master, we have heard during your discourses that the true goal of spiritual practices is to realize the true Self and the God. However, we live in this world wherein we have to conduct from the time we wake up from bed in the morning till the time we go to the bed at night. How should we view and conduct in this external world?”

The master appreciated the sincere depth of the question silently and then said with a voice filled with compassion, “Son, you have asked a very relevant question. One good question benefits a lot of seekers. That is the reason most of our Upnishads are in the form of question answer session between a Self-realized Saint and a true seeker.”

After a brief silence, the master continued, “Yogis and Self-realized Saints look at this world in two manners based on the stage of their progress in their spiritual pursuit– “This apparent world is not real; it is made up of the same stuff as a dream; it is only an illusion.” Or  “This world is all divine; There is presence of God in every atom of this world; Every emotion, every thought, every moment is divine.”

Is Hinduism polytheist or monotheist?

People often ask- there are so many Gods in Hinduism (360 million as per scriptures), then how do Hindus say that they believe in One God. The answer to this question depends on how you define God.

The truth of the matter is the moment you try to define God, it becomes something limited. Even though one should not try to limit God with one definition or one name, but one can always try to describe God with its attributes. Self-realized Saints, Rishis, Munis and sages of India have tried to ascribe many different attributes of God like omnipresence (present everywhere), eternal (never born and never dies), omniscience (infinite knowledge), omnipotence (unlimited power), Supreme Consciousness, complete and blissful.

Poetry: I am conscious and blissful, the auspicious one.

The sublime message of inner world that cannot be communicated with the help of pros, can beautifully be presented in the form on poetry. In one of such a glorious verse in Sanskrit, the proponent of Advaita Philosophy, Adi Shankara recited about his authentic and blissful nature. In these wonderful verses, the 8th century Saint attempted to negate his false Self and point at his own eternal conscious blissful Self. The mystics tell us that whatever you can see or witness with the help of your senses, cannot be you or your authentic Self. For example, you see your ears, your nose, your body, so you are not this body. In this manner, the Saint depicted the glory of the eternal conscious blissful Self.

[Mano budhyahankara chithaa ninaham, Na cha vyoma bhoomir na thejo na vayu,
Chidananada Roopa Shivoham, Shivoham.]

If there is one God, then why are there so many religions?

The younger generation, who thinks by logic, often ask a question that if there is one God, then why are there so many religions? This question often comes with a valid supporting argument that Science is universal, scientific facts are universal – for example, gravity acts in same way on everything, properties of matter are universal, then why can’t the religions agree on one universal God ?

Let me begin by telling a parable.  Six blind men were asked to determine what an elephant looked like by feeling different parts of the elephant's body. The blind man who felt a leg said the elephant is like a pillar; the one who felt the tail said the elephant is like a rope; the one who felt the trunk said the elephant is like a tree branch; the one who felt the ear said the elephant is like a hand fan; the one who felt the belly said the elephant is like a wall; and the one who felt the tusk said the elephant is like a solid pipe.  There was a conflict among them. But finally a wise man resolved the conflict by telling them, “All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently is because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all the features you mentioned.”

Spirituality in daily life

Contemporary man only relies on the outer eyes – believes whatever eyes can see or other senses can perceive. While leading the mundane life, modern man forgets the art of wondering, the art of appreciating the beauty of nature or being thankful for all the blessings in our lives. It is because of the habit of relying on all the scientific gadgets (TVs, iphones and what not) that modern man has lost its ability to wonder, to awe or to admire in daily life. In fact, Science itself has that limitation- Science can only analyze the facts that can be perceived by five senses. Science cannot measure the beauty of a flower, the purity in the eyes of a child, the love in the heart or the happiness in the mind.

Science can analyze a drop of water and can tell you that it constitutes of hydrogen and oxygen. However, it cannot tell that how much nectar is hiding in that drop of water. How much satisfaction a drop of water can give to a thirsty mouth. Scientific gadgets can provide you with bodily comforts, but the peace, the satisfaction and happiness of mind can only be achieved when you begin to realize the importance of spirituality in life.

The wholesome approach for God realization

A disciple asked the master, “Dear Sir, in the past, I have heard from many Saints that praying to God, singing the songs of his glory and Naam japa (Bhakti Marg) is the  superior most path of realizing the God. But, you always stress upon the wisdom of the Self (Gyan Marg) in your discourses. I am a little confused – Can God be realized just with the help of sharp intellect?”

The master started laughing and said, “Son, if God realization could be achieved with the help of sharp intellect, then Attorneys and Professors would be carrying the secret in their pockets. The Self realized Saints of Sanatan Dharma praises all the paths that lead to inner peace and to God – be it Gyan Yoga (path of knowledge), Karma Yoga(Path of selfless service), Dhyan Yoga (Path of Meditation) or Bhakti Yoga(Path of Devotional love). However, the spiritual wisdom has it’s own importance in all the paths. Even in daily worldly life, there is an importance of wisdom. Come with me and let me show you, how.”

Nature of a true seeker

Kabirji, , highly revered mystic of India who lived in 15^th century, to me represents the epitome of spiritual wisdom, devotion and the wisdom of life. The longer the Saint lives, the more benefit humankind can gain. Saint Kabirji lived for about 120 years and hence the fragrance of his wisdom in the form of his deeply meaningful poetic versus is alive even today and will remain alive for a long time. He is probably the most quoted poet in India. 

Once Kabirji was giving discourse to a usual gathering of seekers about the nature of a true seeker – how the seeker should be? It is very interesting to see how beautifully he recited these lines full of mysticism. He started with comparing the ego-less nature of a seeker to a pebble, then compared him to soil on earth, water and then finally he said the nature of a true seeker should be same as the nature of the one  that he is seeking - the omnipresent God.   

True meaning of success in human life

It is unfortunate that modern day society measure success of human life only in terms of money and wealth. It is ironical that even though we see all around us and experience that ample wealth doesn't bring forth inner peace and long lasting happiness, still we continue our never ending pursuit for more and more material gain.

Just like children give importance to toys and goodies, and are always hungry for more toys and chocolates. Similarly some people never grow up beyond the want and hunger for more wealth.  Only a few grow up to realize that once you have certain amount of stability and financial comfort in your life, wealth doesn’t matter any more. After certain point in life, what matters is the amount of your inner silence, love, wisdom, equanimity, satisfaction, inner peace and inner happiness.