VedantaSandesh_Mar2020 by Vedanta Mission

Monthly eMagazine of Vedanta Mission

Vedanta Sandesh Mar 2020

Year - 25

Issue-9

Cover Page

V edanta Sandes h

The cover page of the Mar 2020 issue of Vedanta Sandesh is yet another beautiful creation of God - the Pied Kingfisher - Ceryle rudis. Male birds are identified with a double band across their breast, while females (in the pic above) have a single breast band that is often broken in the middle. Male also have a black crest and crown. Both of them have a white stripe above the eye, black larger stripe across the eye extending on nape, and white throat and collar. Bill is black, long and similar to a dagger. Eyes are dark brown. Legs and feet are blackish. The Pied Kingfisher is estimated to be the world's third commonest kingfisher. It is a specialist fish-eater. It has evolved two unique strategies. It hunts by hovering stationarily over the water and then dives down bill first directly below to catch fish. The Pied Kingfisher can also deal with prey without returning to a perch, and can catch a second fish, or eat small prey in flight. These adaptations mean that this kingfisher can hunt over the sea or in estuaries that lack the perches required by other kingfishers. This picture was taken by Poojya Guruji Swami Atmanandaji at Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur in Jan 2020. Glory be to God who has created this amazing creation. Om Namah Shivaya. Om Tat Sat

Ăą

CONTENTS

V edanta Sandes h

Vedanta Sandesh Mar 2020 1.

Shloka 5

Message of P. Guruji

7-8

Sadhana Panchakam

9-13

Letter 14-15

Gita Reflections 16-20

The Art of Man Making

Jivanmukta 27-29

Story Section 30-31

Mission / Ashram News

21-26

32-46

10.

Forthcoming Progs 47

11.

Links 48 3

Ã±

Monthly eMagazine of Vedanta Mission Mar 2020 : Year 25 / Issue 9

Published by

Vedanta Mission Vedanta Ashram, E/2948, Sudama Nagar, Indore-452009 (M.P.) India vmission.org.in / vmission@gmail.com

Editor:

V edanta Sandes h

Swamini Samatananda Saraswati

Ăą

v[k.MkuUn:iL; rL;kuUnyokfJrk%A czãk|kLrkjrE;su HkoUR;kufUnuks·f[kyk%AA Deities like Brahma and others taste only a particle, of the unlimited Bliss of Brahman and enjoy in proportion their share of that particle. Atma Bodha - 58

Message from Poojya Guruji

Isavasyam Idam Sarvam

Isavasyopanishad opens with an awesome statement that everything is

pervaded by Ishwara, everything, without any exception, is potentially divine. He alone is. God has a divine power by which he can manifest as just anything. He is the abhinna-nimitta upadana karana - one who is both the material as well as the intelligent cause. Generally, in our day to day world, we see that an intelliegent creator is different from the material which he uses to create the creation. But this format can not be replicated in the case of the creation of the world, which all started with the existence of one non-dual divinity. Subsequent creation was his idea, his dream, and the material is his creative power alone. It all boils down to the fact that he is basically both the intelligent cause as well as the material cause. This is something profound. This makes everything Ishwara himself. What an awesome statement of the Upanishads. I, you and everything - living or

V edanta Sandes h

non-living - everything is potentially divine. It is God himself.

This philosophy of life changes all the paradigms of our existing social

systems. It changes our self-identity, it changes our perceptions of the world, it

Ăą

changes our relationships, it changes our goals, and also changes our understanding of God. If we all are basically one infinite divinity, then the real goal of life is not some extraneous achivement but a subjective awakening. There is no question of any likes or dislikes, because everything is basically one divinity. Yes, the manifestations differ, and every manifestation is unique and specific. One has to use his or her discretion to use what one needs to, but there is always an awe that it is one divinity which has manifested as various names & forms to facilitate our vyavahara.

Isavasyopanishad further says that if you realize this to be a fact, then

never let the disctinctions in names & forms obstruct your basic vision and thus make the best of your life. Om Tat Sat.

V edanta Sandes h

Sarve Bhadrani Pashyantu.

Ăą

Sadhana Panchakam

V edanta Sandes h

- : 9: -

Swamini Samatananda 9

Ăą

Sadhana Panchakam T he first sloka of Sadhana Panchakam speaks of

the fundamental preparation a sadhaka must do in order to be

ready to enter the portals of self-knowledge. The journey of Self-Realization is a very subtle journey and requires a mind which is very sharp and sensitive. As we saw, the initial steps discussed in the first sloka pertained to getting introduced to the Vedas and living a holistic life by practising karma and upasana. Having lived a holistic life, having seen the world and it’s experiences very closely, one discovers the insignificance and ephimeral nature of the objective world, thus bringing about an intense desire to know the real nature of the Self. Thus the Acharya then says, once a strong desire to know the Self has risen then one should leave the home seeing it insignificant like a blade of grass.

futx`gkÙkw.kZa fofuxZE;rke~% Give up attachment to the house like a blade of glass. A person’s house is a personal heaven and therefore attachment to one’s home is a natural phenomena for all human beings. A V edanta Sandes h

home is not just the security of four walls but it is an invita-

Sadhana Panchakam tion to love and security. We work all our lives to make a house which caters to all our physical and emotional requirements, be it the fundamental requirements or luxory and comforts or warmth and love of the family, our house is our heaven. At the emotional level my home is where I can be myself. It is a cofort zone where I feel secure, wanted and loved. It is the place where we all get the knowledge of values of life and how we should live. Our samskars are passed on from generation to generation in the secure shelter of a home and family. It is the place where our dreams are born, where we work to fulfill our dreams, where we laugh, where we cry, we bring about good health and good knowledge. Such are the many physical and mental comforts of a home that often it becomes a binding feature creating a mind set of similar expectations elsewhere too and if not available then we avoid all such places where homely comforts are not available. Here the Acharya says, invoke a strong desire to know the Self and to avail this knowledge one must leave the comforts of home and go in search of a Guru and knowledge. In this case one needs to see what is the significance of leaving one’s family and home in order to get self-knowledge. If having one’s own home is so nice why should we leave it? Can we not get Self knowledge in the comforts of our house? Why should we V edanta Sandes h

leave the house? All this needs to be understood. There is no

Sadhana Panchakam doubt that living at home with our family has a very important role to play. This is the fundamental building block of our personality. The maximum part of our life is lived in our homes. But when it comes to gaining spiritual knowledge, the nature of the knowledge is such that ultimately not only do we have to discover a higher truth about the Self which is beyond the boundaries of me and my family, me and my home, but at the same time we have to discover the whole world is my extension. The whole world is my family, the whole world is born of me. This is the divinity and magnanimity of my real nature. And to realize this truth surely the first step is to come out of the cocoon of a small family and small home and break the shell of our individual ikes and dislikes. The truth is that we all will leave the world one day and so we all will have to leave our homes too one day. The purport here is that we make the best use of a home by making a foundation of good values, of righteousness, good physical health but then ulimately home is not the goal of life. At the end of the day we must aim for higher spiritual knowledge and for this we must be ready to leave the home when the time comes. Having a house should not become a cause of attachment and obstacle in our spiritual evolution. There is no doubt that a home and family is the basic unit of society. It is the V edanta Sandes h

first teacher of our life. But it is a means not the goal. There-

Ăą

Sadhana Panchakam fore the Acharya says after having built a good foundation of life one must get detached from the house, leave the house and go to a Gurukul of spiritual learning. The scriptures speak of Brahmacharya ashram, Grihastha ashram, Vaanaprasth ashram and then Sannyaas ashram. We must all aim for Sannyas one day. All the ashramas are sequential phases of spiritual evolution. We must understand the significance of each ashrama and live each one to the fullest. Then aim to leave all attachments towards home and family and walk alone on the path of self knowledge. The goal of life is not making some arrangements of food, clothing, shelter, family and society. Going through the phase of Grihastha ashrama is going through the experiences of worldly life and seeing very closely the nature of the objective world and then dedicating this human opportunity in discovering the true nature of the Self. This being the goal, the scriptures suggest to leave the comforts of a home

V edanta Sandes h

and go in search of knowledge.

Ăą

Mail from Poojya Guruji Creating the Creation The Question: > > Poojya Swamiji, > Hari om ! Did God created all life forms in one go? If yes, then how did he put the various souls in different body forms? Was it a random occurrence or was it a planned pattern? Either way, what is the rational for the choice and whether it involved some biasness on Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part? > > With warm regards > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Reply: Hari om !

All beings are created in one go. This is called Yugapat Shristi. God creates the entire diversity & beings necessary to keep the entire

V edanta Sandes h

delicately balanced eco-system going.

There is no biasness whatsoever in creating different forms. Even an ant has a profound role to play. We know today that the tiny

Ăą

little grass is so very important for soil conservation etc. So to brand something as higher or lower is basically not very correct. We may at times say some yoniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s are higher & some lower, but that is only to motivate a person to help inculcate some good values. Everything which God has created is good, required & in fact extremely essential. The hue & cry about the dwindling Tiger population in India is in fact because of the realization of its profound role in maintaining the delicate eco-system. So we do not look down upon anything or anyone. Perception of bias is in fact a conditioned response which reveals the conditioning of the perceiver rather than some fallacy in the creation. The rational of diverse creation can only be to sustain the creation. Basically every soul is divine, so there is no problem on that count, and everyone has a very important role to play, so that also discounts all fears of bias.

Love & om !

V edanta Sandes h

Swami Atmananda

Ăą

Gita Reflections

V edanta Sandes h

bZ’oj% loZHkwrkuka ân~ns’ks·tqZu fr"BfrA Hkzke;u~ loZHkwrkfu ;U=k:<kfu ek;;kAA (Gita 18/61) 16

ñ 16

Ishwar Sarvabhootaanam... (bZ'oj%

loZHkwrkuka------)

Swamini Samatananda

V edanta Sandes h

Oh Arjuna ! The Lord resides in the heart of all beings; revolving all the beings through Maya, (as though they are) mounted on a machine.

Ăą 17

Gita Reflections

angati : In this section of the 18th chap-

ter of the Geeta the Geetacharya suggests ‘Remember Me-The Ishvara’ constantly. As Sri Krishna gives this suggestion as a very important means to be connected to the Lord, a question arises that how should we remember the Lord constantly? Should we meditate upon him, should we chant his name continuously, should we remember him in and through our actions or should we remember him as intimately connected to us expressing in and through our personality. This has been answered in the following sloka.

In this sloka Sri Krishna gives us the most intimate address

of the Lord. Ishvara is the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent cosmic power in whose presence the entire cosmos is created, sustained and even destroyed. At the individual level all our senses, our pranaas, mind and intellect function with the grace of Ishvara and at the worldly level too, all creation and sustainance takes place in perfect order with the grace of Ishvara. Generally our faith directs us to temples and pilgrimages whenever we wish to connect to God. Sri Krishna says Ishvara resides in the hearts of all beings and so to connect to Him we just need to look inward rather than look for him only in temples and rituals outside. Although temples have a significant role in ultimately turning us

V edanta Sandes h

inward to see the Lord, but that is just the begining. But Ishvara is said to reside in the heart of all beings. Wen it is said ‘in the

ñ 18

Gita Reflections Heart’ it does not mean the physical organ but it is the core of our personality the intellect, where consciousness manifests. The core of the personality where existence of the ‘I’ is recognized, where consciousness manifests. This is applicable not just to a human being but to all beings. Thus it is said ‘sarva bhootaanaam’. This being the truth worship is not just limited to idols in the temples, or rituals alone but respecting the presence of God in every being, wheather it is a human being or an animal, or a tree or a bird, wheather it is a sinner or a saint, Ishvara is present in every being. The only difference is that it is only a saatvik man or a wise man alone who are capable of seeing Ishvara as manifested consciousness within. A Sattvik person is one who has a pure mind. A mind free of individualistic likes and dislikes, a mind which is God-centric, focused and subtle. Although God resides in the hearts of all living beings yet it is only the ones with a pure mind who can see God as their atma. Just as the glory of a silver ornament which has got oxidized cannot be seen. This shine can be seen when it gets polished and the underlying beauty of the silver is revealed. So also Ishvara resides in the hearts of one and all as the life principle which enlivens our entire personality, but as our mind is veiled by worldly attractions and attachments due to which we are unable to see the underlying divinity of Ishvara. Thus Sri Krishna says-Hey Arjuna ‘Hriddeshe tishthati’. Residing in the heart of a living being, what does the Lord do? V edanta Sandes h

Sri Krishna says,”Bhraamayan sarva bhootaani”...Ishvara enliv-

ñ 19

Gita Reflections ens all living beings. He is the life principle with whose blessings all inert things made of Maya come alive. The physical body, the sense organs, the pranas, the mind and intellect every faculty comes alive with the borrowed consciousness. The one who lends this consciousness is the Atma. The Lord activates everything like yantraroodhaani maayayaa....like the fan, the bulb, the air-conditioner all have been activated by electricity. Here one must understand that Ishvara is only blessing all beings with the life principle, Ishvara does not decide what type of actions we must perform and how we must perform. That is totaly the free will of all human beings. Just like the electricity acivates various instruments but the electricity does not determine how and when to use electricity. Likewise Bhagwan does not make a puppet of the world, but we as human beings have been given the freedom to use our discretion about right and wrong while performing actions. Similarly the fruits of actions are also decided as per the law of karma. Ishvara has inbuilt the law of karma in the universe and then everything gets rolling. In this manner life factor in each one of us at the individual level is the Lord of all our sankalpas and our activities. This at the cosmic level, the Supreme functioning as the cause of all the total

V edanta Sandes h

bodies is called Ishvara.

Ăą 20

- 24-

The Art Of Man Making

V edanta Sandes h

Meet Chapter Three

P.P. Gurudev Swami Chinmayanandaji 21

Ăą

The Art of Man Making

he despondent Arjuna, after suffering for

a while in the suffocating depths of neurotic- anxiety condition, came to be for a time in the tenacious grips of hysteria. He even touched the outer margins of hysterical coma. Lord Krishna, through a slow but steady process of re-education of the patient in mystic truths, revived the Pandava Prince sufficiently, that Arjuna could make a very valid and pertinent question as to what is the nature of this ultimate perfection state. What is the nature of this man of Perfection? We had an elaborate, acccurate and living picture of the man of perfection-or Man of God-as he dynamically lives in the down-town world of contentions and competitions. Freedom from the world within and from the world without is achieved because of the individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lack of desire and attachment. But we all have them; we are very much under their constant tyranny. How can we get rid of them-how are we to win a subjective retreat over our sizzling passions? If we can do this, of course, we too can gain this covetable state of equipoise and continuous bliss of inspired living. But how? In Chapter two we also learnt that the sense-organs of a true Muni are totally under his control because his mind entertains

V edanta Sandes h

no desire to enjoy the objects. These desires are the expressions of the Vasanas-the impatience stood away in our unconscious

Ăą

The Art of Man Making and our sub conscious mind. When Vasanas are good noble, desires tickle us to noble activity; and Vasanas are bad ignoble desires push us over into criminal activity. Where Vasanas are eliminated there shall be neither good nor evil; neither noble nor ignoble actions spill from our selfishness, our vainful ego. Actions that spring forth into expressions in such men are very divinely-inspired actions and invariably God-prompted-pure loka-seva: service of him thrugh service of his creation around us. Such divine actions of service to the society becomes sullied in us due to our selfihness, when passion discolours our actions and disfigures their final results. These selfish passions arise from the subconscious and the unconscious urges in each one of us, gathered by us through our past thoughts and actions. And there is none who has no Vasanas-and, therefore, none can remain without participating in actions, both good and bad. Vasana exhaustion, therefore, becomes the main scheme in self-improvement. How can we eliminate them? Before elimination how are we to purify them? Even purified Vasanas will produce noble actions....leaving their own noble vasanas nad crustations. We are in chains wheather the links are of rusted iron or polished gold. In the third chapter of the Bhagwad Geeta, we have the secret psychological method of eliminating vasanas, while expressing the most powerful ones in us now V edanta Sandes h

present.

Ăą

The Art of Man Making The theory is simple-so simple that it generally escapes our recognition. In the din of roaring activities, while we are in the work-a-day world, the onslaught of our immediate demands is so powerful, incessant and overwhelming that we have no chance to see the obvious law in action in us. When any action is undertaken with ego and ego-centric desires-”I” and “I want” attitudes-that action leaves its impressions as a vasana in us, prompting a repitition of the same action. Thus, one drinks with an attitude of “I am enjoying”, “I like it”, “I want to have it”. Then you find him growing in his habit of drinking. An innocent village-woman in hospital takes an ounce of brandy daily for six weeks and yet she does not develop the habit because she was taking it daily only for improving her health-as a medicine. A criminal mind becomes a proffessional murderer with each added man slaughter, while an army officer, though he has killed many never becomes a murderer! He, in the battle, killed not for his own ego and ego satisfaction, but in the defence of his country. Examples can be multiplied. It is a fact that an act in itself cannot leave any impressions upon us-but selfish acts, prompted by personal desire-gratifications do generate vasana-encrustra-

V edanta Sandes h

tions.

The Art of Man Making The third chapter of the Geeta very subtley indicates this truth and suggests how best man can immediately grow in peace nad tranquility by acting in a spirt of ego surrendered, selfless enthusiasm born of dedication to a higher ideal. Just as the rustic lady-patient took her “medicine” dedicated to her quick recovery and just as the army officer shot dead many an enemy, dedicated at the alter of his country, If man has a higher ideal, surrendering to which he can act, no action can bring new Vasanas-nay, the existing Vasanas they then explode away into their actions. This secret of Vasana-exhaustion is called in the Hindu Shastras as karma yoga. If we fix our vision high and act in a spirit of surrender and dedication, the mind gets purified, and the Vasanas get automatically exhasuted. These Vasanas, the storehouse of our repressions and suppressions, once exploded out into noble activities, thereafter the bosom becomes calm, and the resultant quite mind is the field of intense thoughts and inspirations. Such a peaceful mind discovers in itself automatically its meditation-poise. This “alert mind” is the theatre for all intutional discoveries-a new light of clear perceptions comes to such a mind-the deeper Reality stands vividly revealed. A mind at poise is the sure instrument for material success, the smooth V edanta Sandes h

and straight run-way for spiritual take-off.

The Art of Man Making Arjuna has been born with active and dynamic Vasanas as a Kshatriya, and has to exhaust them in tireless exertions in heroic wars and doing exploits in the service of the nation and its culture. He must act, and not run away from the immediae problem facing him. How ever painful and hopeless they maybe. Such problems are the meat of the youth. By facing them industriously, with calm courage and cool judgements alone can the young ones grow up in their inner personality-strength. The path of action called Karma Yoga-is a highly scientific way of life which all of us can easily adapt, when once we have understood itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s total implications. The world of objects and beings remaining the same, everyone of us in what ever condition we may be at present can learn and slowly grow to unbelievable heights, gathering to ourselves a new stature undreamt of by

V edanta Sandes h

anyone around at any time.

Ăą

Jivanmukta Wandering In Himalayas

V edanta Sandes h

Pashupathinath

Excerpts from the Travel Memoirs of Param Poojya 27 Swami Tapovanji Maharaj

Ăą

Jivanmukta T

he extinction of worldly desires and the enjoy-

ment of spiritual peace are the result of one’s devotion to Gyana. A Gyani enjoys Brahmanand (Supreme Bliss) without interuption, not after death but in this life itself. It is beyond word to define Brahmananda, but it can be experienced by the knowers of Brahman. By tasting a particle of salt, one can infer the taste of a mountain of salt. Similarly from the enjoyment of worldly pleasures, which are but the infinite simal part of Brahmananda, common people can guess at the greatness of Brahmananda itself. The mind that gets agitated on accout of the desires to enjoy worldly pleasures gets calm and sattvik, as a result of such enjoyment, and in that sattvik state of mind Brahmananda is experienced in how so ever small a measure. Thus what is called worldly pleasure also is Brahmananda. Vyasa and other learned men hold that there is no pleasure esxcept Brahmananda. Even as we speak variously of pot-space or house-space the same joy is spoken of differently according to differences of touch, hearing, or other condonings. Worldlyness transforms the unlimited inseperable eternal Brahmananda into something limited, seperable-destructable. How can those great one’s who enjoy uninterrupted Brahmananda and are ever content

V edanta Sandes h

hanker after the fleeting pleasures of the world? Brahmananda is unrelated to worldly things. It becomes self-realization. So it

ñ 28

Jivanmukta is in no way affected by the pains of acusations and the like. If anybody still argues that there can be no joy except through the experience of earthy pleasures, He should be classed with the owl that avers there is light only in the night and not in the day time. The state of knowledge which is the sole source of ever-lasting peace can be attained only by right thinking and not be merely by meditation(dhyana) or samadhi. Some are under the impression that the practise of meditation is the be-all and endall of existence. And that a man who practises it for half an hour or hour daily has completed his spiritual duty. They are labouring under the mistake that the person who reaches the state of Nirvikalpa samadhi for a min or two has attained salvation. Only when we examine wheather this man of nirvikalpa samadhi has achieved an unwavering state of spiritual devotion can we evaluate the reality of his liberation. Meditation and samadhi may be regarded as co-operative factors contributing to the perfection of Gyana; But they are neither Gyan nor the cause of Gyana. One may attain that exalted state of Gyan, when one finds oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self in everything and everything in oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s self-only through cultivating detachment and vedantic thinking. Neither hatha samadhi, nor jada samadhi can take him to

V edanta Sandes h

that goal where one experiences eternal contentment.

Ăą 29

V edanta Sandes h

STORY Section 30

Ã± 30

Ghrishneshwara: T

here was a pious Brahmana Sudharma who

had no progeny as his wife Sudeha was barren. She proposed that her younger sister Ghusma/Kusuma- a staunch devotee of Shiva - to wed her husband and made them agree. Eventually, Kusuma gave birth to a boy. But the elder sister became jealous and one day threw the child in a nearby pond; but a Shiva Linga was immersed in the pond too. Kusuma wept at the loss of the child and intensified her faith to Maha Deva. A few days hence, the dead body of the child floated and there was commotion all over in the village. Maha Deva granted his vision to Kusuma and conveyed that he would punish Sudeha but Kusuma requested Shiva to pardon her sister. The ever merciful Shiva brought life to the dead son and the entire village realised the miracle of the dead boy coming back alive . Kusuma prayed to Shiva that he should stay in the pond for ever and that was the origin of Ghrushneshwara or Kusmeshwara Jyotirlinga,which is some thirty km away from Aurangabad in the village of Verul or Yelur where River Yela flows. The Jyotirlinga of Ghrishnashwara as also accompanied by Devi Parvati as Grishneshwari. It is stated that the Patel of the Village secured a treasure in a snake-pit and enabled the construction of a Temple to house V edanta Sandes h

the Jyotirlinga.

Ăą 31

Mission & Ashram News

V edanta Sandes h

Bringing Love & Light in the lives of all with the Knowledge of Self

Ăą 32