Vedanta Sandesh - April 2012

Monthly eMagazine of the International Vedanta Mission Year 18

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Issue 10

In This Issue

1.

Vedanta Section:

Atma Bodha - Shloka-41

2.

Letter Section:

Understanding Attachment

3.

Gita Section:

4 Components of Karma Yoga

4.

Story Section:

Matsya Avatara

5.

VM Programs:

Mission / Ashram Progs

From Poojya Guruji

Vedanta Sandesh Spreading Love & Light

Monthly eMagazine of the International Vedanta Mission Sharing the message of Vedanta and Sanatan Dharma

Apr 2012 On the Net since 1995

Started by:

Poojya Guruji Sri Swami Atmanandaji

Editor:

Swamini Samatananda

Published from:

Vedanta Ashram E/2948-50, Sudama Nagar Indore-452 009, India

Web:

www.vmission.org.in Email:

vmission@gmail.com

Hari om !

So many people ask this question that when God alone does everything, then why do bad people exist in the world, or for that matter why is anger, jealousy arrogance etc there in all of us. If even a leaf doesn’t move without his wish then why doesn’t he remove all these thorns from the minds & hearts of people, and make this world a beautiful place to live in. Whoever has such questions they need to go deeper into their own understanding of what they mean by God. The problem lies there alone.

What they react to is not about the truth of God, but to their own understanding of what God is. First they entertain some baseless & childish understanding about God, and then keep wondering why 'this God' has done this or that. God just provides us a field, potential and opportunity to do karma; subsequent response is strictly our freedom & discretion. A wise person takes the path of righteousness, while the ignorant ones gravitate towards the easy path of personal whims & fancies, this ego-centric outlook alone is the cause of all insensitivity & sins.

Lets understand this using the example of a Computer. The creative power of God just provides us an amazing hardware and its perfect OS. All software’s are a later installation, and we can just install anything, including a highly destructive virus.

Dont blame the creator of this amazing machine for what 'you' install at a later stage.

Anyways even if we did inadvertently install some negative thoughts, then we can always run some anti-virus s/w and clean ourself. God is that creative power who has given us this amazing capacity & opportunity to install & run just anything. Think! That is the role of God, and having freely & lovingly given to us this amazing portable, evercharged, always on, shoulder-top, with all its astounding processing, memory & multimedia capabilities, including its extremely fast connectivity - God then just lets us free, he is indeed someone who truly believes in you. Thereafter we can indeed make or mar our lives, and he still doesn’t interfere, he continues to believe in us and hopes that all our happiness & sorrows themself will facilitate our better understanding and enlightenment. Let us not expect him to be like the proverbial mother-in-law who interferes in everything that others do. Good teaching is not about interfering and correcting others all the time, but in soft facilitation to help a person to realize and awake; so rest assured God will never interfere, whatever be the intensity of pains & problems of the people of world. God is a magnanimous creator who not only creates this astounding & amazing creation with all its beautiful sun, moon etc, but then also believes in you fully. No one in the world believes and loves you as much as God does, and therefore he never interferes. He does not control the mind of anyone, he just gives this amazing ‘mind’ with all its equally amazing powers to us - freely, lovingly, without any obligations.

Alongwith our amazing mind, he also gave us the instruction manuals, in the form of scriptures; in fact he sent the manual much before we landed here. Those who do not learn the truth of mind, self & the life, alone keep getting all the pains and problems, not everyone. Intelligent people never waste their energies in blaming the God, but they keep humbly learning about life & its truth. When I am the one who has created problems, then it also means that I am capable of setting things right here.

With such an understanding the ball is always in our court, we are truly empowered to do just anything, at anytime, so why complain. The very understanding of such a God culminates in wordless gratitude, blessed existence and loving selfless responses.

Swami Atmananda

Atma Bodha - Shloka 41 Vedanta Section

No Fragmentations exist in Non-dual In the previous sloka the Acharya described the attitude of a Realised person. One who has realised the Supreme Brahman gives up all forms, colors and the like and rests in his own intrinsic form which is all contentenment, consciousness and Bliss Absolute.

In the world the distinction of knower, knowable and knowledge are known to exist, a question then arises how is it possible to achieve the pure contemplation of non-dualism. This is answered next:

41 Gyatrugyangyeybhedah pare naatmani vidyate Chidanandaikarupatvaddeepyate swayameva tat Gyatrugyangyeybhedah: the distinction of knower, knowledge and knowable; pareatmani: in the Supreme Atman; na vidyate: does not exist; Chidanandaikarupatvat: on account of it being sole consciousness and bliss; deepyate: shines; swayameva: of itself tat: that.

The distinction of knower, knowledge and knowable does not exist in the Supreme Atman.

On account of its being but sole consciousness and Bliss Absolute, it shines by itself.

Gyatrugyangyeybhedah: In the state of ignorance I see myself as a limited being and the world of objects as a source of fulfilling this limitation. Such an understanding of the Self and the world gives birth to a triad of an experience i.e. the experiencer, the object of experience and the experience. Such triads of experience are seen at various levels. At the level of knowledge there is a knower, the known, and knowledge, when I look at the world I am the seer, the world is the object of the seen and there is an experience of seeing. (drishta, drishya, darshan), in the seat of meditation I am the meditater, an object of meditation and the experience of meditation and (dhyata, dhyeyea, dhyan), similarly there is karta, karma, kriya i.e. that is the doer, action, and the field of action. In all these cases at the root level we see a sense of limitation which compels one to seek fulfillment. As long as this triad is there samsara and seeking will exist. There is a state of duality, a state of seperate existence of the Self and the world. Any Vedanta Sandesh - Apr 2012

object of experience and the experience is always seperate from the experiencer. There is a always a difference of seeker and sought. As long as this sense of duality will exist so long I the seeker will always need to run behind something for the sake of happiness. There will always be a goal seperate from me to be achieved, that goal which will give me joy and satisfaction. Joy is always seperate from the Self in some object and its experience, which means joy is always somewhere far in the horizon.

But people of knowledge know and reveal that aiming for any goal other than the self is like sailing towards that horizon which as though appears to be there but in reality it has no existence.

Here the Acharya reveals that the Atman is beyond the three components of the knower, the known and the knowledge.

Pare Natmani Vidyate: That which is my true nature is the essence and substratum of everything. I am pervading ev-

erything and everything is born unto me, is sustained in me and dissolves in me. Just like in the dream world, it is created, sustained and glides back into my very Self. As long as I am in the dream state I am the experiencer of the happenings in the dream, when I wake up I am aware that the dream existed in me. The dreamer, the dream experience and the objects in the dream all are me. I see my self as the substratum of the whole dream world. There is no seperate existence of the dreamer and the dream.

Duality exists only when the objective world appears Real to me. One needs to see the world is only as much Real as thr rope in a snake. In Vedanta Brahman is known as the Vivart karana; a cause of the world which is not really seperate from the world itself. Just as the rope is the cause of the snake but not really a cuase because the rope is not seperate from the snake, and nor is the existence of the snake a reality. The existence of the snake in the rope is imaginary and the moment one sees the reality of the rope there is no existence of the snake. Just a right awareness wipes off the snake lock stock and barrel. Similarly the Atman is substratum of all experiences. All the worldly experiences and the world itself is like an imaginary snake. Once the sense of reality towards this snake is dropped one can see the Real nature of the Self as Brahman. In that case since the Atman alone ‘is’ and there is nothing other than the Self there is no seperate existence of the three components of the triad of experiences.

Chidanandaikaroopatvaat: The Atman is of the nature of pure consciousness, Bliss and one without a second. The triad of experience is because of this nature of the Atman.

Being the nature of pure consciousness I am the

substratum of the knower, it is with my light that I am aware of the world and its objects. Being eternal I am the substratum of the whole objective world, and being Blissfl by nature I am the substratum of all experiences.

The nature of knowledge is awakening into this very nature that I am the substratum of everything.

There is nothing other than me. I am one without a second. I alone manifest into all the components of experiences and yet there is no real existence of these experiences.

Deepyate Swayameva hi: The Self is pure consciousness which is selfrevealing. It does not need another source of light to be revealed. If it was not self revealing and was known by another light, first of all there would be a duality of the enlightening light and the enlightened one. Anything that is enlightened by another source of light is considered inert. But the Atman is Self-revealing and one without a second.

This awakening of the self is brought about by Nididhysanam, by contemplation on the Seat of meditation, by retaining continuous awareness of the Real self as Ahambrahmasmi. One should see the Self as the substratum of the triad of experiences. Meditation which culminates in such an awakening of the Self alone is true meditation, otherwise it may become another means to escape into some imaginary world, to be lost in some imaginary identity of the Self.

All sadhanas of rituals, worship, japa, karmayoga , upasana are means to bring about the right atmosphere for contemplation. Having prepared the mind by these sadhanas it is then important to take up shravan, manan and nididhyasan, culminating in pure existence of the Self.

Greetings to all our readers on the auspicious occassion of

Sri Ram Navami Karuna sukh sagar sab guna aagar jehi gavahi shruti santa So mama hit laagi jan anuragi bhayau prakat srikanta.

Sri Rama, the ocean of compassion and happiness, the one with all the virtues, the one who has been described by the Vedas, that Lord has incarnated just for my welfare and for blessing all his devotees with his devotion.

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True Love Long time ago, there used to be a Renunciate. People used to respect him and many used to come and gain knowledge from him.

He was a well known Man of wisdom. He had many disciples. He enlightened the path of spritual aspirants. Even Kings and his courtmen used to come to him to get his blessings and gain knowlege from him.

In course of time the Monk became very old. He was aware it will soon be time for him to leave this physical body. He spent his time in various spiritual activities meditating and sharing his knowledge Knowing this, a huge number of devotees from all parts of the country came there to get the last blessing and words of wisdom from the wise man. True devotees came to get blessings of the Sanyaasi and get some knowledge if possible, while some came expecting to get some miraculous or some materialistic benefit from the Monk. One of them was a very rich fellow. However he was very miserly, greedy and exploitative of others. Hoping to get some more wealth he came to visit the Monk.

The renunciate, who didnt want to meet anybody, seeing this greedy and miserly fellow called him to see him. As soon as the Monk called him, though many many were waiting, the ego of the Rich fellow got all the more bloated. He looked at others with an expression like “see how great I am. The Great Man has called me only�.

The greedy guy wanted to ask the renunciate why he chose him only to come in. Repeatedly he kept on asking this. The monk then replied These people waiting outside will some or the other time, have a chance to get a glimpse of Holy people. Whereas a greedy, cunning, and egoistic person can never get such a blessed opportunity. So I called you in first.

Vedanta Sandesh - Apr 2012

Letter of the Month

Understanding Attachment Hari om A.., All your questions indicate the lack of clarity of the word attachment.

The root of attachment is self-

When you take care of your relatives - children, husband or parents, for 'their' well-being, then it is love, but if you take care of them, primarily for your ego-satisfaction, security or any such personal pleasure, then you will tend to hang-on to those people; such a relationship is always borne out of inner lack, insecurity & weakness; such a relationship is called attachment.

centricity, wherein the concern for yourself dominates everything else.

You may continue to love & serve others, but the

The root of attachment is self-centricity, wherein the concern for yourself dominates everything else. You may continue to love & serve others, but the basic motivation is self-centric. One requires lot of wisdom to turn the tables in favor of selflessness, in everything, whether it is relationships or any other habits. So when you eat with thoughtfulness, for good health, and not merely for the appeasement of your likes, then also it is not attachment, but rather a sattwic & righteous act.

basic motivation is self-centric.

- Poojya Guruji

A sattwic life facilitates vairagya, because with such an attitude you not only start with, but also keep affirming your intrinsic fullness; so appreciate the secrets of a sattwic life, then in spite of any relationships, responsibilities, comforts or gratification etc, your vairagya graph will keep going up, because then you will happily use 'every' thing at 'every' level - only for the happiness & well-being of others. Vairagya neither implies absence of relationships, nor even sensual experiences, but just reveals the fragrance of inner strength wherein you can afford to live for the well-being of others at all levels.

Love & om Swamiji Page # 7

Four Components of No Cause For Grief Karma Yoga Vedanta Sandesh Apr 2012 VedantaSandesh Sandesh- --Mar April2012 2009 Vedanta

Action: Our Privilege Action is the signature of life. Life means action. Wherever action ceases to exist it is as good as being dead. Not even a moment can we live without performing an action. Everyone has roles that must be performed. Even a blade of grass plays its role in balancing the ecological system. Action is that previlege for a human being by which a man becomes an architect of his own life and the world around him. All prosperity, growth, development in technology, blossoming of a personalitiy, all is a reflection of action. So act we must. Act we must in a way that brings about the well being of the Self and all around.

One must understand that action by itself is not binding in any way, but it is the attitude of action that either binds a person or evolves a person on the path of dharma and spirituality. In one of the most significant & famous slokas of the Gita Bhagwan Krishna gives us very important four components of the Art of Action which make the field of action a blessing. Let us see these four components: You have the privilege of performing actions (Karmanyevadhikaaraste): As a human being you have the privilege and the right to perform actions.

Considering action as a burden of life is only a trait of the lazy, escapist, disenthused and the uninspired ones. Infact not only is action our previlege but we are also blessed with the freedom to act. We can perform actions or not perform them or we can choose an entirely different way of performing an action. That is totaly my freedom. We may not have a choice in the situations that confront us but we have the choice to respond to a particular situation in any way we deem fit. Therefore the beauty of living is not in escaping from action, seeing it as a burden or loosely performing an action, but the art of living lies in enjoying and excelling everything that we do.

You do not have a choice over the results of actions (Ma phaleshu kadachan): This sentence has not only confused an average person but also many a scholars interpreting the Gita who interpret it to mean that one should perform actions without expecting the results. This is the most absurd and illogical reflection of this statement.

Never can there be an action which will not result in any fruit of the action. Then what is Lord Krishna’s statement? It means that you have a choice over the actions but you do not have a choice to determine the fruit of the action. There is a cosmic intelligence highly powerful and knowledgable who handles this aspect. An individual’s total focus must be on performing the action with love, enthusiasm and full dedication and with an attitude of dedicating the action to the divine entity called God. There is no doubt that every action will surely bear its deserving fruit and we too must aim for great goals in life, but believing that God gives the fruits of action relieves one of great burdens of a sense of doership and with a light heart one can totally focus one’s energy in performing the action. A person burdened with the sense of doership will constantly worry about the results of action, will be anxious and his energy will be dissipated. Such people who are

too anxious about the result of action and yet do not make the best possible efforts become very gullible to exploitation. Anyone can make them dance to thier tunes. Such people alone are on the look out for astrologers and pandits who can get them their desired fruits without working for it. So intellingent people focus on doing the best that they can and have a humble attitude of leavig the rest to God. Prasad Buddhi: In case of fruits of actions another beautiful concept given by the Gita is to have a Prasad Buddhi for the end result. Just as when we visit a temple we get a prasad. It may be in any form a big laddoo or a small piece of sweet, but any person who has faith and reverance towards god does not see it as an ordinary piece of sweet but it is a blessing from God and therefore one takes it with a lot of respect and humility, and then has it. So too for every believer in God every situation in life is a prasad from God and he accepts it with grace and gratitude. Having performed your action to the best of your ability take the result as a blessing from God. Do not consider yourself to be the author of fruits (Ma karma fal heturbhuhu): One must understand that although you have made efforts in fulfilling an action, never take your self to be the cause in bringing about the fruits of an action. The result of actions are governed by the laws of nature that are not under our control. We live in a world governed by laws that are not created by an individual. We are born according to these laws and the reaping of fruits too is based on these laws. The author of these laws is what we call as God or Iswara. It is by his laws that I get a particular result of action not by my choice. Therefore believing the Self to be the creator of all success only results in a big fat ego. An ego of this kind only takes a person downhill. Such an egoistic person also gets isolated when failures come, because if I am responsible for my success then I am also responsible for my failures. So one musn’t sing the glories of the Self, but take it as a bessing from God and have a feeling of gratitude for all those people and factors who have supported to bring about the result of an action.

Never be attached to inaction (Ma te sangah tu akarmani): The fourth component of this sloka is never take up to inactivity. It is indeed a great previlege of Man to perform actions. While here in this world dream big, dream not only for the self but to do something for others, to do something for the happiness of God who has blessed us with this beautiful life. Life lives with action. No action and life is dead. Just mechanically living, or living an uninspired, disenthused life is worst than an animal life.

So have great dreams and give everything of yourself to it. Challenges, ups and downs, success and failures will always be there, but the spirit of a karmayogi is to live life to the fullest.

These four components make up the package of karma yoga, which makes the field of action a blessing. It is important to understand the nature of actions and their results. A field of Action is not merely a means to fulfill one’s desires and make arrangements to live a comforatble life but it is a divine means to prepare ones mind for a higher knowledge of the Self. A kowledge which requires a condition free mind, a mind free from the bondages of likes and dislikes. Such a mind alone is ready to grasp the subtle truth of the Self.

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Quotes People are not ‘Difficult’ People are ‘Different’. If we can understand this we can save many relationships in life.

Good relations are like needles of the clock. They only meet for sometime but always stay connected.

No poison can kill a positive thinker. No medicine can cure negative thinking.

Don’t make your voice loud, to make others listen to you; make your good attitude so loud that others beg to listen to you.

The greatest mistake of human beings: We listen half, understand quarter, think zero, and react DOUBLE and remember forever.

Be silent in two situations: when you feel one can’t understand your feelings by your words and when one can understand you without any words.

Fighting with the world is easy. You either win or loose. But fighting with a close one is difficult; if you lose you lose, and even if you win you loose.

Repeated success makes a person arrogant, repeated makes a person feel defeated, Occasioanal success and occasional failure makes a person mature.

Vedanta Sandesh - Apr 2012

Stories by Sages

on p u e c n ...

O e m i t a

Matsya Avatara Once a King named Satyavrata was performing a sacred ceremony beside a river. While scooping water from the river he accidentally caught a tiny fish in the palm of his hand. The fish begged him not to throw it back into the river where it would be eaten by larger fish. The king felt sorry for the little fish and took it home to his palace where he put it in a small bowl. Next morning the fish had outgrown the bowl and begged the king to put it in something larger. The king then transferred it into a pond, but it very quickly outgrew that too, so he put it into a small lake. Within no time the fish had outgrown the lake and had to be put into the largest lake in the kingdom. Soon, however it had grown so big that even this was not large enough and the amazing fish had to be put in the ocean.

By this time the king concluded that the fish must be a divine appearance of God. He offered prayers and asked it why it had taken this form. Matsya, the fish incarnation of Vishnu, replied that in seven days a huge devastation would engulf the lower part of the universe. He told the king to call the seven great sages and gather samples of all the herbs and seeds and all kinds of living creatures. He promised that he would send a large boat to save them all. After that the king would fully understand who he was. Then he swam away.

As Matsya had predicted, huge clouds appeared from all directions and began pouring incessant water on land and sea.

Soon the ocean overflowed onto the land. Then Satyavrata and all his companions saw a large mysterious boat floating towards them across the waves. Remembering the words of Matsya, Satyavrata led them aboard it and they found safety. Matsya, who by now was a golden fish of inconceivable size, then appeared in the ocean. Using the giant serpent Vasuki, they tied the boat to Matsya's horn and he towed it, full of all the different species of life, across the waters of devastation. For countless years darkness covered the worlds and together they wandered across the stormy wastes waiting for the waters to subside. During their journey Vishnu-Matsya instructed King Satyavrata and the sages in the spiritual knowledge of the Vedas.

Vedanta Sandesh - April 2009

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Mar’12 VM / VA Programs

Vedanta Mission / Ashram Programs

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Check out the detailed Photo Albums of the various functions on VM News Blog at : http://vmissionews.blogspot.com/

Mar’12 VM / VA Programs

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Unfolding A Rose It is only a tiny rosebud a flower of God’s design; But I cannot unfold the petals with these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers is not known to such as I. GOD opens this flower so easily, but in my hands, they die.

If I can’t unfold a rosebud this flower of God’s design then how can I have the wisdom to unfold this life of mine?

So I’ll trust in God for leading each moment of my day; I will look to God for guidance in each step along the way.

The path that lies before me, only my Lord knows.

I trust God to unfold the moments, just as HE unfolds the rose.

Vedanta Sandesh - Apr 2012

Forthcoming Programs

Gita Gyana Yagna, Dehradun: A week long Gita Gyana Yagna of Poojya Swamini Amitanandaji will be organized at Dehradun from 9th to 13th Apr 2012. The subject matter of the discourses will be Kathopanishad 1-3 and Sthitha Pragna Section of Gita.

Gita Gyana Yagna, Lucknow: A week long Gita Gyana Yagna by Poojya Swamini Samatanandaji will be organized in the Satsang Hall of Hanuman Setu Mandir, Lucknow from 18th to 24th April 2012. The subject matter of the discourses will be Isavasyopanishad and Gita Chapter 12.

Gita Gyana Yagna, Mumbai: A Gita Gyana Yagna of Poojya Guruji will be organized in Mumbai from 30th April to 6th May 2012. The subject matter of the discourse series will be Kathopanishad 2-2, and Gita Chapter 6.

Vedanta Camp, Rishikesh: A Sadhana Camp will be organized at Sw Dayananda Ashram at Rishikesh from 11th to 16th June by Poojya Guruji and Poojya Swamini Amitanandaji. The subject matter of the discourses will be Drg-Dryshya Viveka and Gita Chapter 5. Campers to arrive by 10th evening and leave by 17th morning.

Vedanta Camp, Indore: A week-long Vedanta Camp is being organized at Vedanta Ashram, Indore from 11th to 17th Aug, just after Sri Krishna Janmashtami on 10th Aug. The subject matter of the discourse series will be Sri Ram Gita of Adhyatma Ramayana.

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