Sunday Statements

Hari Om

Saturday Satsang

Hari OM

Study of the scriptures augmented with frequent listening to the learned exponents and a few direct contacts with the authoritative Masters is found to be very helpful in the beginning. This regular study of the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavad-gītā, and other such spiritual literature is called svādhyāya.

Repetition of a sacred word (mantra), with or without the help of a rosary or beads (mālā), continuously fixing our mind on the divine and spiritual suggestions of the ‘mystic word’ is called japa. This technique keeps the mind uplifted, away from the world of objects and their distracting fascinations, on to the reviving climb to the final spiritual illumination. The mind becomes quiet and gets more and more introverted.

When the thoughts have been nourished by study (svādhyāya) and rendered quiet and peaceful by japa, to rest this hushed mind at the altar of the Self in a joyous mood of choiceless contemplation is meditation (dhyānam).

The great Ācārya Śaṅkara advises, ʻAfter listening, study and japa, practise meditation. After emerging from meditation, engage in listening, study and japa. After japa, meditate again. At the end of the meditation, pursue japa. One who is thus well trained with japa and meditation, on such a steady seeker the supreme Auspiciousness (Para-Śiva-Parameśvara) showers His graceʼ.

While listening (śravaṇam), we only participate in spiritual life. When we study (svādhyāya), we get involved in the ideas to which we listen. In japa, our involvement deepens, and in meditation, we come to get ourselves totally committed to the ideal, which is the goal of all spiritual seekers.

These sādhanās minimise the mental agitations, thus weakening the impenetrable thought barrier between our sense of ego and our divine status as the infinite Consciousness – our essential nature.

Thursday Thoughts

Hari OM

I was in conversation with another on a matter of politics. A difficult subject when there is not an intellectual distance from the subject. The partner in that talk was not sufficiently reserved. They were deep in their desire to repeat almost verbatim what was being touted in their chosen news channel and political party. 

I have no objection to others having a different political stance. I do take exception to not being listened to intelligently and not having thoughtful and independently considered responses. What happened, though, was that my sentences were constantly interrupted with rehearsed diatribe in place of counter-argument directly related to the points under discussion. The same methodology now being employed by so many governments. Just keep talking at them and over them until they lose the will to live. I was reminded of this...

I despair at a world that is currently in a state of constant attack with words, that does not know how to debate in a proper manner and to allow for a difference of opinion without seeing that as some kind of assault. A world too ready to take umbrage, misinterpret, and twist facts so far out of shape they become unrecognisable.

It leaves me wondering how things will progress with the COP26 meeting that is about to commence here in Glasgow...

Whispering Wednesday

Hari OM

While watching a program earlier this week related to charity and NEED, I found myself having some flashbacks to my counselling practice and how often I heard that word. Going out on a small limb here, I would say that 80-85% of the people who sat before me in angst about not having their needs met were actually talking about their wants and wish-for... not necessarily their actual needs.

Does that sound harsh? It ought not to do so; a key role in counselling is not simply to listen. That is, of course, the primary purpose, permitting people to think out loud to rationalise their inner turmoil. However, second to that is the guidance and clarification aspect.

Attentive listening often revealed that the main complaint lay within the person sitting before me insofar as they had an expectation of another and were disappointed when that expectation was not met. Now, often, that expectation was valid. We all deserve to be listened to by those we are closest to, and we definitely all deserve to be treated with a basic level of respect and civility. Beyond that, in truth, everything is a negotiation between various personalities and social histories.

What has to happen is that we clarify our own motives and purpose in life before seeking to build relationships with others. All too often, the 'needs' that brought folk to my practice were actually disappointments and frustrations at not getting what they WANT - which may or may not be a genuine need.

The difference is that a need functions to sustain and maintain life at a tolerable level; "I want" is the cry of the unhealed seeking that healing from outside when it requires to be adressed from inside. Wanting something and needing it are not equal.

In daily life, regardless of the more serious matter of relationships, we are faced at every angle with want versus need. It is as simple as whether we want a piece of chocolate as to whether we actually need it. That might seem simplistic, but think about it for a few moments - or longer. Make a saadhana for yourself for, say, three days, and take active note of how often you find your thoughts are of wanting something - doesn't matter what it is - and then assess your actual need for that thing. First, you might note that you have become so habituated to reaching for that thing - no mindfulness! Then, on assessment, you may discover that a great deal of what you have available to you is not actually needed for life. It is convenient, comfortable, enjoyable... but is it really needed?

Textual Tuesday

Hari OM

The schema of study devised at Chinmaya Mission is the subject of this post each week. To see all texts referred to, click the label below ("SuggtdReading")

TATTVABODHA is the next on the list. This is the technical primer, in which the basic tenets of Advaita are laid down, along with principles of science to support the thinking. It is here that we learn about the tanmatras, the very elements from which creation is derived. 

We learn also of the biology of who we are as physical beings and spiritual beings, assessing the koshas - the bodies that come together to form our physical presence. 

It is in this text, also, that we comprehend the senses and how they affect our inner body and how it all relates to the spiritual body, called the jiiva. How all the assessing itself is processed via the antaH karana, the mental structure consisting of four parts and how it is that we can actually have control of these things... if we choose to do so.

Meditative Monday

Hari OM

One can never be reminded enough...

Sunday Statements

Hari Om

Saturday Satsang

Hari OM

To perceive the insignificance of our self-asserting egoistic arrogance, we have to step away from the ego for a moment and, in our detachment, learn to observe it through the microscope of pure discrimination. ⠀
⠀
Our permanent proximity to the ego has given our own ego-myth far greater importance than it deserves. Let us examine this more closely. We all feel that we are irrevocably real and unquestionably substantial as individuals in our own homes. ⠀
⠀
But let us analyse this further. My home is denoted by a number on the door among many such doors on the street; my street is a road or byroad off the main road; the main road is one of the many roads in the city, and the city is a mere spot on the map of the district. The district, again, is a jot in the state; the state is a fraction of the country; the country is part of a continent; and many continents make up this globe, the world.
⠀
We know that the world is one of the innumerable heavenly bodies that constitute our galaxy, each one separated from the others by billions and trillions of miles. We are told that there are millions of such galaxies in the universe. This total space, with all its many galaxies, is but an insignificant portion of the total Reality. ⠀
⠀
Therefore, in the context of this universe, what importance, significance, substantiality, or relevance can I claim for my numbered house? In this house, what space do I occupy? There may be five rooms in the house, but all that I occupy at any given time is a fraction of a chair in one corner of one room!⠀
⠀
Yet, how stupidly arrogant and self-assertive I can be, as though besides myself there were nothing more superior, nothing more important. In Reality, how microscopic is my structure and personality compared with the Lord of lords, the supreme Reality, the all-pervading! ⠀
⠀
The rediscovery of myself to be nothing other than the limitless, homogeneous mass of Consciousness, absolute and eternal, is the only remedy for curing the sorrows caused by the ignorance of my own real nature.

Swami Chinmayananda

Thursday Thoughts

Hari OM

We approach the period of the year in which many cultures celebrate with lights, in one form or other. The common thread of light breaking the darkness of the winter months (as these are mainly generated from northern hemisphere cultures) should not escape us. Neither that the light is associated spiritually with inner renewal and strength. 

Traditionally all the lights in these places were naked - that is to say, made by oil lamp or wax candle. Nowadays, we have the convenience (and comparative safety) of electricity. That convenience allows for a greater number of lights, quite often. To the point of garishness and competition! Sometimes whole neighbourhoods get involved in creating brightness and pattern with these power lights. Yet, in doing so, one cannot help but feel that the spiritual essence is lost. Even if one has a simple array in one's own front room, that string of bulbs simply cannot convey that essence nor call to the spirit within us to the same degree as a single naked flame can. 

Soon it will be Diwali; a friend has multiple 'battery candles' to put all around her home. Pretty, but lifeless. My own saadhana of lamps will be restricted to no more than a dozen, but they will be actual flames, flickering and requiring safety precaution, but so much more full of life. 

Of course, one could have a single electric bulb and wonder at the magic in its physics. I do not condemn electricity. I do wonder how many stop to appreciate that the act of lighting a diya is itself a prayer opportunity, that the care of the wick and flame are prayer opportunities, that the watching and waiting for the flame to expire naturally is a spiritual opportunity? 

Then again, each of us must make the occasion what we wish...and it must be acknowledged that not all wish a celebration to be filled with spiritual gratification.

Whispering Wednesday

Hari OM

It was not so much a single word that whispered away at me this week, as a concept. You see, the autumnal weather of the last several days - no, make that 'weeks' - has actually been of the sort that has one being fully contemplative.

That is to say, all one could do was sit and look out at it and wonder... the leaves are turning the characteristic shades of yellow, orange, red and brown and are blown indelicately by a strong wind. They are smothered for many of these days in various degrees of mist and the hills behind them have been rarely seen due to those mists. The rain has been everything from a mere mizzle to a full-pelt washing machine gush. There was to be no going out and sitting by the shore to ponder the puzzles of the planet. 

Instead, the concept of life-cycle has been foremost in scrutiny. We so readily watch this sort of spectacle every year. A great deal has been written for and about the autumnal months, much of it lyrical and sentimental. 

This is the effect of the fall of the year from the height of its summer down into the depths of its winter. The transition time. Every season has transformation, of course, but it does not escape the authors of those writings that herein lies a great analogy for our own lives. I, for example, am very much in my autumn and bordering winter. One could fall to being maudlin, be like the rain and the mists and let life become like the leaf litter... or one might opt for the brighter, crisper choice, knowing that the sun is actually ever-present and while it cannot penetrate the clouds, it can still rise in our personality and spirit. To face winter is no bad thing - it means one has lasted the full year. How long the winter will be, nobody can tell, but it too can be "still and crisp and even." If one turns one's mind to it.

Textual Tuesday

Hari Om

The schema of study devised at Chinmaya Mission is the subject of this post each week. To see all texts referred to, click the label below ("SuggtdReading")

The next text suggested for you to consider studying is the SAADHANA PANCHAKAM, which is deceptively small but packed to the gunnels with words to live by!

This little text is a complete description of living a spiritual life. The title is translated as 'daily practice in five verses.' Each of the five shlokas is broken into eight padas (sentences), bundled into four lines per shloka. Each of those eight contains an instruction. Thus, everything from how to begin to advanced practice and outcomes is depicted here in forty steps.

The very first line states clearly that one must study the scriptures daily; the second injunction is that one follow the instructions in those scriptures and the duties they allot; the third step is that one performs all actions as a worship to the Higher and then the fourth is that in doing these things, one purifies one's mind in readiness for higher knowledge.

Just those opening stanzas alone take much to practice, and the shloka goes on to acknowledge that daily living must also be attended to... A tiny text with enormous potential!

Meditative Monday

Hari OM

I gaze through the window. Thick fog is brightened in one small patch with the oranges and reds aflame in the leaves and berries of a Rowan. 

That becomes my focus. My breathing slows, deepens, and thoughts narrow, finding descriptions for the beauty before me. Internal praise in the ways of PrkRti, how Nature knows and accepts and moves along without complaint. Contemplation on remaining bright in the darkest of days, simply by being one's own true self. 

Tomorrow, it is possible the sun will shine, but the oranges and reds aflame in those leaves will remain as they are, untouched by the extremes of the environment. They will move through their phases at their own pace, and finally, those leaves will fall and become the nourishment for that from which they sprang.

Sunday Statements

Hari OM

Saturday Satsang

Hari OM

We cannot transcend the vāsanās by merely suppressing the instrument (body, mind and intellect) since the cause which produces them, namely the vāsanās, can never be annihilated by destroying the effects. As long as the vāsanās, our habitual thought patterns and values, are powerful, the equipments will assert themselves time and again even if we succeed in suppressing them for a while.

Exhausting the vāsanās is the spiritual practice by which the ego rediscovers its essential nature of freedom and peace. This unwinding of the vāsanās cannot be successfully undertaken merely through meditation at a fixed time each day.

Unless we are careful in our contact with the world at every moment at our body, mind and intellect levels, the unwinding cannot be completely successful.

Through meditation, no doubt, the subtle vāsanās are wiped out. But the grosser ones can be loosened and removed only in the fields of activity where we reaped these vāsanās. Hence niṣkāma karma (acting with detachment, without selfish, desire prompted motives) is absolutely unavoidable.

When we identify ourselves with the higher in us, the lower is automatically controlled. This is a natural law of life. That which is superior controls regulates, governs, and orders the lower. Thus, the intellect with its desires governs the moods of the mind, which in its turn controls the sense organs; and the sense organs regulate the play of the sense objects around the individual.

That which lies higher than the intellect is the Self, Consciousness. When a person succeeds in identifying himself with the Spirit in him, all his intellectual restlessness, emotional cravings, and physical appetites wither and fall away like petals from the flower upon the emergence of the fruit.

The subtlety of his awareness and feeling increases, and he recognises life's oneness in its different manifestations.

Thursday Thoughts

Hari OM

Do you, I wonder, have an interest in what brought me here to you? Over on the 'magazine' blog that I call Doses of Wild YAM, I have been building up a series of memoir posts, reflecting on my relationship with Advaita and my time at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, the gurukula of Chinmaya Mission in Powai, Mumbai.

It has been eight years already since departing that place after the most intense, satisfying, confronting yet strengthening experiences one could imagine. It is deeply personal - yet is also universal, which is why I am working through it now. 

Which is proving to be more of a challenge than I expected. It is almost impossible to extricate the personal effects without delving to some degree into the philosophy and that is a hurdle for readers who do not necessarily wish to (or can) follow some of the reasoning. The thought processes are not always clear - perhaps even to this writer! Yet I persist, for it is cathartic and I think that a large part of any such experience is about the sharing of it. The thinking out loud and ruminating on those effects and any delayed settling of the experience. 

Indeed, it is part of saadhana. So it is being done. If it is of interest, and you are not already familiar, you can take up the reading of it from this index page.

Whispering Wednesday

Hari OM

विद्याभ्यास

On Tuesday for a good few weeks ahead now, I will be sharing with you a 'library list' - the study schema as devised by Gurudev to best work one's way into the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. The English word study has been whispering away at me since deciding to embark on that list. We have that word as well as the word read. How else to describe the process of learning?

You will not be surprised to learn there are several words in Sanskrit for the process of inculcation - ah there's a good word in English! Indeed, as I typed it I realised that this was the closest we have to the word shared above, which is one of my personal favourites - VIDYAABHYAASA. It quite literally means 'knowledge practice.' Elegant, practical and fully descriptive of what we are at when we take up a subject to delve deeper into it and - hopefully - grow from that experience as we gain understanding and insight. 

Long before knowing this word itself, it described the imperative need within me to constantly seek. Though that, too, could be described by mumukshutvam - having the 'hair on fire' to gain knowledge.

Do you have mumukshutvam, the drive for vidyaabhyaasa?

Textual Tuesday

Hari OM

The schema of study devised at Chinmaya Mission is the subject of this post each week. To see all texts referred to, click the label below ("SuggtdReading").

It is worth pointing out (again) that the majority of these texts gain benefit from being read within a study group situation and if you would like to take up such an opportunity there may well be one close to you. Just contact your local CM centre. There is no harm in reading alone - though in the same manner that reading a maths or physics or biology text, there will come a point where the complexities and interconnections and all the subtleties might escape notice or risk being misinterpreted. Not only that, sharing views and thoughts on a text with others is great fun!

Anyway, the next text in line for reading after Kindle Life is BHAJA GOVINDAM. (That link is to the index in 'chapter one' of AVblog, where the original discourse posts have been sorted in reading order.) This text was covered in some depth on the earlier blog and you are encouraged to take a look. 

The shlokas were mainly written by Sri Adi Shankara himself, but it is considered that some verses were added by one or more of his four closest disciples. The prompt to compose these verses came, it is fabled, when Bhasyakaara came upon some pundits just blindly teaching by rote some Sanskrit grammar whilst clearly not paying attention to the meaning and intention of the words. This great Mahatma and teacher was greatly disturbed at how the texts got twisted and wrongly used, not to mention that there was a total lack of application of the philosophy behind the texts, that being Advaita. It might be said then, that this is a hymn of reprimand!

After the initial tirade of what is being done wrong and how to see that for ourselves, we are then given warnings and pointers for self-improvement. It is a rousing and entertaining text as much as an instructive one!!!

Meditative Monday

Hari OM

Gurudev's words here point to relaxation within in order to improve our meditative quality...

"Take your time, or time will take you and drain away your strengths. Take a minute, maybe two, throughout your busy day for slowing down to meditate on something beyond the worldly problems and things. Find a quiet place and wait with a receptive heart. ⠀⁠

⠀⁠
Why the worry? What is the hurry? Take your time and roam — picking from the wayside fields that which heals your within. Take some time to walk on grass, to look at flowers, to admire the trees, wondering and pondering upon the wonders stretched around you, up to the horizon! ⠀⁠
⁠
Slacken your pace just so that you may see the view. Take your time, or time takes you. Employ time, or else time will employ you; in the former, you are the master of time; with the latter, you are a slave of time, your employer.⠀"
⁠
- Swami Chinmayananda

Sunday Statements

Hari OM

Saturday Satsang

Hari OM

It is unavoidable that we must make a practical programme for our spiritual development. This does not mean a mechanical routine or a dry sadhana of japa, study, prayers or meditation. These are, of course, to be diligently pursued, but the progress depends not upon the quantity of sadhana practised, but upon the quality of the bosom which we offer for the sadhana.

Unless our motives and intentions, our urges and impulses are pure, sattvika and clean, there can be no progress at all. This is the tragedy of the many. We must not fall prey to this sad calamity in our spiritual life.

The highest goal of us, as seekers, must be to unfurl in us the entire beauty, strength, grace and glory of the Spirit. In the total symmetry of personality alone, the spiritual glow can come to kindle the flame of joy within us.

Therefore we must put all our efforts to live physically a well-controlled life of love and service, emotionally a quiet life, intellectually a life of higher ideals and nobler purposes.

As we grow, we shall get initiated, by itself, into the ampler fields of greater power and glories.

Thursday Thoughts

Hari OM

Mentioned on Tuesday was Gurudev's goal of spreading ancient and previously protected knowledge as far and wide as he could. Having gained approval from those whom he respected (his own Gurus) he set out from the Himalayas to set up discourses in public spaces in the cities. 

He is quoted as saying that he wished to bring Hindus back to Hinduism. Not the ritualistic, superstitious and fractious form that had come to dominate, but the philosophical and intelligent living form that so many Indians themselves did not know existed. For a long time, the pundits and less generous swamis wished to keep their flocks in ignorance. This is the case with many religious institutions and not just Hinduism. "Don't tell them they can actually walk their own path!" As so often, this came down to power and wealth - as well as the unfortunate twisting and misuse of caste. 

Gurudev had been a fighter for independence, and once he'd overcome his atheistic period, a proud Hindu. However, his was the Hinduism that was inclusive, not exclusive. He believed that all peoples of the world had a right to the understanding of AV and when he was questioned as to why he would teach women, foreigners, Muslims, Christians or Sikhs, he was clear. All who are ready for the knowledge must receive that knowledge. Those who come to Vedanta are spiritually aware and ready for the unification that it provides. He also said, "Anyone learning Advaita gains the deepest insights to their own faith structure - they become better Muslims, Christians and Sikhs...and human beings."

He, along with another great Mahatma but also a statesman few could ever equal, one M K Gandhi, must be somewhat despairing of how India is currently shaping - how Hinduism is once again being twisted out of shape... and that is all I will say here on this subject.

Whispering Wednesday

Hari OM

Yesterday you were introduced to a book titled Kindle Life. I was struck by the word kindle. To light, to inflame, to excite... we associate it mostly with fire but it can certainly be applied to rousing interest or emotion. This may be why a certain e-reader carries this as its name... to ignite the imagination, to inspire knowledge through the words it contains.

Personally, I find it difficult to think of this word without the associated descriptor of kindling - the small twigs or other combustible material that is required before any fire can be started. Is this the part the words play when we are learning from a text? Or what about the part we play in it - is our interest, our desire to absorb new knowledge also part of the kindling? Are our mind and the words the twigs and leaves and cast-off wool or paper that easily catch a flame and bring it into full burn? Then, with a fire, once it is alight, sparks arise and glow brightly - are we those sparks, emblazoned from the heat of our new understanding and burning with the desire to learn even more, thus returning to the fire to be 'burned' further?

Ah... see how this imagination has been kindled?!!

Photo by Hans Isaacson on Unsplash

Textual Tuesday

Hari OM

Advaita Vedanta is a philosophy - that too, a rather advanced one. However, as with all complex subjects, there are ways into it and different levels so that all who brush up against it can leave with at least a little gain to their understanding and knowledge. If nothing else, it will prompt them to question and begin deeper searches for themselves.

The traditional method of gurukula - master and disciple - is likely to be unavailable to most in the early stages. Or, indeed, is foreign to many. Gurudev knew this but also felt that all who could, should have available to them the means to begin their studies of this subject.

Thus was devised a schema of study. Just as you might receive from your school or college a list of the required texts, plus some 'desirable reading' items, so is the case with building your library for AV. Indeed, so powerful and worthy is the schema that was devised, it has been emulated by many other Vedantic institutions. All the texts referenced (other than those authored entirely by Chinmaya, or Maharishi, or Sivananda, or Sadguru...) have been in existence for a long time and can be approached in all different ways. However, the supremely logical and functional system from CM does mean that anyone can read and gain much, albeit without the aid of classes or a master to lean upon for guidance. 

Over the next few weeks, I shall introduce the titles and an intro to the texts. Many of the prakaranas (starter texts) have already been discussed in Chapter One of AV-bloggy and you can find there the links to CM centres where you can purchase the books.

Kindle Life. This is actually authored by Gurudev himself and was written as a response to those in Indian society who questioned his bringing what was considered protected knowledge to 'the masses.' That too in the English language! The thing was that, as an inevitable legacy of pre-independent India, this was the most widely spoken language. Gurudev wished to reach as many people as possible. 

Thus we find set out in this deceptively simple book the arguments for why one might study AV, why one ought to make the study, what its benefits are and how it might be approached. Then it lays out some of the basic tenets of the philosophy and indicates how to apply them to daily living.

To be fair, it is very much a book of its time, but still an important one and certainly recommended if at all you are wondering 'why bother with philosophy?'

Meditative Monday

Hari Om

The entire purpose of meditation is to "return 'ome" to the fullness of our being, The One True Self. The source of all consciousness. This is represented in the letter-symbol A-U-M.

If you cannot visualise the OM in your inner, centre brow, then it can be useful to have an image or an ornament with the OM on a shelf or small table (or dedicated altar) that you can gaze upon and study and impress it into your thoughts. It can be useful, indeed, to create your own on paper with pen and ink or brush and paint. Make of the creation itself a meditation. Allow the fluid to flow from the instrument to the page with nothing but Love in your thoughts. 

Remember to keep a note in your journal as to how this felt - and whether and for how long OM resonates with you after.

Sunday Statements

Hari OM

Saturday Satsang

Hari OM

Meet life as it reaches us. With or without the things our minds demand, our life can be a glorious joy, a brilliant success. But for this, we must discover something else to depend upon. That something else is everything, the glorious Rādhe Śyāma. Seek this Lord in the smiles of your friends, in the glow of angry eyes, in the storms of passion. He is everywhere, in everything.

Stretch out your hand. Let Him hold it all along. Drown yourself in Him. Become
one with Him. Dive into Him. Dissolve into Him. The joy that creeps into you – may it
grow to engulf you into It. Melt therein to end yourself. The end of our self is the discovery of our own Self. This process is called the mystic death – the death that gives life reality. Live in and through this great death, the glorious.

Sigh, weep, laugh, smile, sing, worship, meditate. You are never away from Him. You are in Him; with Him; at Him; you are Him alone. Why not meditate? Why look out and complain? Look within.

Joy-tears or grief-tears, they blur the vision. Be equanimous. Be simple. Refuse to be happy or sorrowful. Give up your body to exhaust its prārabdha (destiny).

Hold on to Him alone.