Indian Mythology - Which is the priceless treasure? - Me, My Guru

Contd...........

But if we ask for some object of the world, then what ever ‘punya’ we accrue by virtue of pooja gets exhausted in exchange for our desire. So, nothing in ‘us’ changes. This is like using the earned money on ‘expenses’. So...........”

Her voice trailed and she sat there silent staring at the ground for long time to come. Some of us, me included were touched by what she just said. She had said it earlier too – many times but hadn’t given the reason and explanation. Today, she explained clearly as to why not to ask something materialistic against our ‘punya’. But still......... our immediate needs look so important and real that we still prefer them to change in our attitudes.........i mean, that can wait right?

...I know that priceless wealth is in thee,

But I do not have a heart to leave the tinsel that fills my room....

(Geetanjali, Rabindranath Tagore)

As already noticed by Nobel laureate Tagore, our heart tugs for tinsel of the world. This quote of Tagore she had quoted so many times and I loved it every time I heard it and today it seemed to reflect what I felt. It so clearly described the turmoil I felt at this cross roads. In fact, there was no confusion. I was very clear. I wanted what I wanted. Well, realization and other such things can wait! I mean the whole world enjoys and celebrates these goodies of life, then why should I lag behind?

Such thoughts kept pounding my brain for long time to come and she thankfully was lost to us.  In a way, each was in a space that we longed to be in ...........

 “Expectation is always better than Realization!” she used to say so often. Then I used to wonder how? But in a strange way I doubted if our today’s session fitted that bill and gave us, if not us at least me that experience. I expected a lot from this session. I didn’t know what. I wasn’t sure of what to expect. Yet my whole being was celebrating the ‘joy of expectation’ like never before. But, I can’t be sure of what I received now. It seemed to fall flat with a thud! It seemed to fall far short of my expectations. Here, the realization was far far below what I expected. Technically as I didn’t know what to look forward to, any ting should have come as a welcome shower but, no, surprisingly I felt a bit let down by her explanation. Was it the information that didn’t live up to my expectation or that knowledge she gave regarding our desires and how to go about getting them? Well, the disappointment was so strong that I didn’t and couldn’t analyse my thought process and get to the root of my suffering. I was left with my suffering or rather I let my suffering take over my senses........

This is what they called ‘maya’ and like Shiva, I need to go into deep meditation to be untouched by it......but for now............

Concluded...............

related posts http://kantipadam.blogspot.in/search?q=thief+a+shiva+bhaktha
 

Avunu Nizam....

Contd.....

Avunu Nizam - on dogs and pigs...

There are 2 ways we can take this story and it’s moral.

The one who is comfortable with his vices and enjoying his passions would say “Who are we to overcome Maya if even Mahavishnu was bound by it?” and then go back to their self destructing way of thinking, acting and living.

The other, who’s understood the futility and impermanence of life, says “Maya is so powerful that it could cloud Vishnu also for a set period of time. Then what of me – a simple soul wrapped in this mortal body. I should work more on sadhan and be in sadhan with much more regularity as the chances of me faltering are so many. I need to be ever alert and hang on to Him because only His Grace can save me from faltering”. This man works on his vices without giving any excuse for their need or use and rises up to his Divine potential.

You are what you read!

Tagore summed up the same nature beautifully in his Nobel winning poem Gitanjali

“....I know that priceless wealth is in thee,

But I do not have the heart to leave the tinsel that fills my room....”

Meaning, inspite of knowing that He is the Be All of all the Wealth of this Universe and ONLY thing worth knowing, pursuing, loving and wanting and desiring, we are ever attracted to and tempted to pursue the routine of this life and its existential requirements...

Divinity is the possibility.

Just commit yourself to one, reach out your hand and realise it. You don’t have to leave your life and run to Himalayas to do this. As you are wading and working through your materialistic life also cater to your inner self. Work on various techniques taught to overcome your weakness. Don’t use Reiki only to get things of this world....Reiki should be a tool to free you from the wants of this world – ultimately. If not completely atleast minimise the needs and wants of your life....and don’t expect others to work out this miracle for you. You owe this to yourself.

“Arise, awake and rest not till the goal is reached...” – Upanishad!

Contd.....

Mythology and myths of India and their misinterpretations

[Note: - Dear Madhumita, its long since you’ve asked a question .Your questions are treat to answer .Thanks to your question I came up with couple of blogs/posts that was highly appreciated one on fear and the other on the explanation of Poornamedam….God bless you.]

The great epics of Ramayana, Mahabharata and any mythological stories of India have to be read, understood, digested and lived from a spiritual angle to benefit from it completely .The great truths have been beautifully interwoven in the story form so that it is easily remembered, passed on from one generation to another and made it easy to be applied in one’s life simply by following the actions of the “good characters” in their epics.

  Sage vyasa after completing writing Mahabharata stated with pride "what’s not here can never be. And all that’s in the universe is found here." Such confidence and yet so true. All the modern day stories are just a fragment of either Ramayana or Mahabharata nothing else.

So, it’s not only important but also our ‘Dharma’ duty to understand and see these scriptures from spiritual angle to benefit completely from them. When we read these stories from physical level or logically understand them there seems lot of scope for misinterpretations and many Questions to be raised .In the process, these have been used to malign the Vedic philosophy which is termed as ‘Hinduism’ by all those who don’t know or understand Hinduism but when we see them under the light of ‘Spiritual Reason’ or ‘Adhyatm’ then all the contradictions just vanish.

Few Parts of Ramayana are explained for tour understanding

S.No	Situation in Ramayana	How it is at Physical Level	What it means at spiritual level
1.	King Dasharath , father of Rama Has three wives kausalya, Sumitra and kaikeyi	You accept this situation as common with all Kings i.e. multiple wives	King Dasharath represents human life or existence filled or married to three wives which are three gunas viz Satvic , Rajasic and Tamasic
2.	Sita asking Rama to get “Golden deer” for herself and there by going away from Rama.	1. Wife should not ask for such wishes. 2. She let troubles enter her life because of greed. 3.Wife should be satisfied and should not be making lots of demands from her husband	Rama tries to explain Sita that Golden Deer is against nature and hence should not be persuaded yet she is adamant and demands it here Rama Represents  “Purusha” or the “Divine” and Sita “Atma” or the “Human soul” Golden deer represents all the tinsel  that’s found in the world in short attractions of this world which is “Maya” by seers .When the “soul” Desires things of the world, divine (Here husband Rama) goes to fulfill that wish but in the process, the soul is Left all alone in the forest of “Maya” where in lie the beasts of fear, ego, and anger etc .Forest represents life situation. Since “Husband” is not present we as a human soul are open to temptation and fall in the clutches of “Maya” represented by Ravana in this case and hence are separated from our husband, the divine.
3.	Sita is asked to test her purity by entering the pyre	This is widely found reason to talk vely of Rama	When the “Soul” stays in the proximity of “Ravana” Who is “demon” or temptation of this world then to return back to the divine we need to go through the purification process called as “Agni Pariksha” which is nothing but the situations of the life which we need to face with equipoise and come out of it unharmed. In short we need to reclaim our place with the divine by proving our purity (Which is called as healing of Karma.)

Note: - Madhumita this is in response to your query.

What various incidents mean in Ramayana?

…contd…..

Golden Deer

Golden Deer – cause of suffering : Golden Deer is a form taken by Marichi – a rakshasa sent by Ravana. Ravana is the Lord of Golden Lanka with hundreds of concubines. He represents 5 geat weakenss like lust, greed , anger, power personified and Golden Lanka – the ultimate of enjoyment and abundance of material riches. It means and shows how people lose their dharma as they become lost in the run to accumulate the yellow metal – gold.

He has 10 heads doesn’t mean he has 10 physical heads. No – it is simply impossible to live like that. Imagine with one mouth, if we are driven by the lust for taste like crazy, how much more we would be physically glorifying enjoyment with 10 heads. 10 also represents our ten indriyas (sense organs which are considered 10 mouths through which we enjoy life). Even if you close mouth, through eyes and ears and other organs we live on. That’s what is Ravana.

Marichi is a rakshasa – a temptation sent by the epitome of vice to tempt Sita to want it. As long as soul is happy being with its lord it is safe, happy and peaceful. But knowing that golden deer doesn’t exist wanting it, Sita represents the soul wanting the things of this world sending her lord to get it – means we seek favours from God – the favours in the form of things of this world and send him away from ourselves. When he is gone, we are open to temptations by the Ravana – the temptations of the world and are held prisoner in Golden Lanka. The world is so beautiful with all the tinsel that it looks rich and full of prosperity when in actuality it is just greed and lust personified. But we are in the midst of abundance (gold) and yet suffering and that suffering is the consequence of our own stupidity.

Agni pariksha – If we want to go back to our husband – the Divine we need to prove our purity by giving ‘Agni Pariksha’. Understand it correctly here. We get tainted with karmic bondage or psychic impressions when we live in this world. And we need to put them in the fire – the fire of ‘Tapas’ – the severe penance. Penance and meditation is nothing but giving our ego related attitudes and the cause of all these desire as ‘ahuti’ (offering) in the fire. (clearly explained about different stages of sacrifice in reiki meet and explained about the final sacrifice where I even sacrifice the benefits and knowledge of sacrifice into the sacrificial fire). Then we come out of this fire as pure and can reclaim our |Divinity and that ‘self-realization’ or ‘moksham’ is nothing but ‘that vam asi’ That which is I am. It means I realize Brahman and become Him.

But moksham, does it stop everything?

No. Even if we have realized as long as we are in this world and operating through this body, we need to reap the effects of karma and that can come as ‘slander’ (here washerman doing that for Sita). Jesus was crucified, Paramahamsa called Madman, Meera characterless and even AdiShankaracharya had to face the brick-bats of his enemies. These people were purity personified and yet the world and people being what they were treated them badly because they could see only their own limitations and intentions in these people. How can you expect a man who is blind from birth to know that a rainbow with seven colours exist? He would call a person who says so a liar, a cheat. A thief would be suspicious of everyone he meets. You see what you are! How can a person who himself is full of fear, ingratitude and irresponsible give credit to others? How can he praise others? How can he not envy others?

Washerman was called Rajak. His name represents ‘Rajo guna’ and hence can’t see (sattva) Sita’s sattva guna and thereby calls her names. Even when the cause of our temptation or cause of our karma - ravana is dead, the washerman's character and his act says that we are driven by our nature. Even names of every character explaines their character and guna in these epics – Ramayana and Mahabharata.

…contd…..

The Veil

To sum up ego’s (or that which doesn’t exists) plight would simply mean :

Obstinate are the trammels, but my heart aches when I try to break them.
Freedom is all I want, but to hope for it I feel ashamed.
I am certain that priceless wealth is in thee, and that thou art my best friend, but I have not the heart to sweep away the tinsel that fills my room.
The shroud that covers me is a shroud of dust and death; I hate it, yet hug it in love.
My debts are large; my failures great, my shame secret and heavy; yet when I come to ask for my good, I quake in fear lest my prayer be granted.
- Tagore
To know the game area of ego, various manifestations of ego and to ultimately beat it in its own game is all that we need to know........bye the way, why don't you try to jot them down?
as you come up with your posts, i go to write mine,
revathi

Sadhan – On its continuance!

 

Sadhan – On its continuance!

Very few are the blessed ones who get to hear that the path of “sadhan” exits!

Very few of them “walk that path”!

Fewer still are the ones “who can walk after taking baby steps”. Yes, many drop out just after taking few baby steps!

Still, fewer in number are the ones who continue, albeit slow but keep walking this path! Blessed are these ones who walk with perseverance and faith!

In single digit are the ones who continue till the end! This is yet to see!

We started this “Sadhan zone 2023” with just few among you being enthusiastic.

More than half have dropped out!

Now, to see how many of you will make it till the end of Dec 2023??

*******   

# sadhan, mindfulness, upanishads, the Truth, The Path to the Ultimate, purpose of human life, On God, finding God, realization, freedom, purity, essence of religion, spirituality, living spirituality, 

also read: https://kantipadam.blogspot.com/search?q=tinsel      

 

Oh God!

Where to find God?

At the start of the Universe, God started placing various things at strategic points. He kept fire in wood. Man found it. He kept precious gems at the bottom of the sea and He found man finding them out. He kept planets outside this world and He found man reaching them in no time.  He placed items as far as possible and yet found man reaching them sooner than later. When it was finally time to place Himself, He was lost in thought. He knew however far He kept Himself from the man, man would reach him sooner or later. He knew man would always reach out to Him in the external world as he was used to getting everything from the external world. So only place where man would never search for him would be within him. So, He placed Himself in the heart of the man. So man after attaining everything in the world still finds something basic missing and goes in search of God. And since he is used to searching for everything outside he does so with the God and remains a failure in spite of life long search. He succeeds only when he goes within!

You can call anyone in the world through your phone but try calling your own number. You’ll find it engaged for ever. Like-wise, it’s easier to win the world but knowing ‘self’ is the most difficult of all journeys that we undertake.  But certainly it is the only journey worth taking. And the returns though are intangible most priceless in the world!

But I want to enjoy this world.

I haven’t yet got even little of anything that I wish for.

I am not yet old enough for ‘Moksha’.

What about my family? How can I not fulfill my responsibilities towards them?

These and such excuses are bombarded the moment I say ‘know thyself’ or ‘realize self’. And all I can say is ……

“….I know that priceless wealth is in thee

But I do not have the heart to leave the tinsel that fills my room….”

  -Rabindranath Tagore – Geethanjali

Listen to Arziyaan from Delhi 6 to wrap up all this explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xug3oU072KA

if you want translation then its at http://www.hindilyrics.net/translation-Delhi-6/Arziyan-Sari-Main-%28Maula-Maula...%29.html

...contd.....