Kailash-13

Dear Friends

“Thirukkadayur” is a temple dedicated to the Lord, along the sea, in eastern Tamil Nadu. The Lord’s name here is “Kaalantaka” which means He who ended death (Kaala). Many of us are familiar with the Maha Mrityunjaya Mantram (i.e. “Triyambakam Yajaamahe, Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam; Uruvarukameeva Bandhanaath, Mrityor Mukshiya Maamrithath).  This Mantra finds its origin in the story of Sage Markandeya.

Markandeya’s parents prayed to the Lord for an offspring, and the Lord, pleased by their devotion, appeared before them and gave them two choices (i) they would have a son who would be scholarly and erudite; but who would live no more than 16 years or (ii) they would have a son who would not be intelligent but would have long life. Obviously, they chose the first option; thus was born Markandeya, who was honest, scholarly and an ardent devotee of Shiva. As soon as he turned 16, realizing that his time had come to leave this world, he clung on to the Shivalinga in total prayer to the Lord pleading to save him from the imminent departure. Yama, the lord of death, came with his noose, to take away the boy’s life. Enraged at Yama, for disturbing the boy from His prayer, Shiva appeared and liberated Markandeya from his death. Thus the Lord is called Kaalantaka; He who ended death.  This is the image we find at Thirukkadayur. People, who pray here for long life, are believed to be blessed by the Lord.

We live in what we know to be the real world, so the miracles associated with sages like Markandeya, seem improbable to us. But metaphorically speaking, the lesson in the story is that, if we give up our fears and insecurities, and surrender in total devotion to Him and cling on to His name and glory, we are sure to be liberated from death. But the death here is not the physical death of the body. We come across many situations in life where our little identities with our relationships, our economic situation, our emotional stability etc are challenged. For instance, if our child uses improper language in conversation with us, we feel our identity as a parent is challenged. If some investments that we have in the share market are lost due to a sudden crash in the sensex, our financial security is disturbed and our identity with being a “rich man” is challenged. If someone whom we love dearly, deserts us and goes away, we are sorrowful and our identity of being a “loved person” is challenged. At each of these instances, our little identities that we have created for ourselves are killed by events occurring outside of us. Thus we die thousands of deaths in a given lifetime.  The only escape from these “deaths” is our clinging on to the Lord in total devotion and surrender, and He is sure to end our agonies from these deaths.  He will end our “Kaala”, and take us towards the path of immortality; that immortality which is beyond the body, mind and intellect equipment.

Towards the end of my last post, I had mentioned about my communication and whether it reached the intended recipients the way I wanted it to. The objective there was to elicit response from co-pilgrims. Krishnan responded, with tips on making the communication effective. The subject we are discussing, being abstract in nature, would get more “teeth” with responses. We are into the last 4 weeks before our departure for the “Sumeru” (excellent mountain). There are a few more topics in my mind that could invigorate our thinking faculties, unless there are reverts on specifics coming through responses.

May Lord Kaalantaka end all our “ego” driven identities, and assist us to see ourselves in His Light.

With Prem & Om

PNS Remembrance Day

Hari Om!

Those of us who studied in India know that in our country, on the 30^th of January, each year, at 10.55 am the school bell rings, which is a signal for all of us to stand in silence for 5 minutes, solemnly in remembrance of Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi), who left for his heavenly abode on that day in 1948. Every year thus, as children, we were told to remember the Father of the Nation. But for most people this was only a ritual compelled by the teachers, who in turn are instructed to do this as part of their “duty”. Very few actually do this with reverence to Bapu, maybe because physically or emotionally, they were untouched by his deeds and actions.

Tomorrow, i.e. 22^nd May 2012, is the first anniversary of PNS parting from physical association with us. However mentally he resides in every one of our hearts, in some cases very prominently and in others, at the back of our minds. However, our memories of association with him are still fresh. That is because, in some way or other, he left an impact in our hearts about certain good values, good thoughts, kindness, love and affection, care and learning. That we cherish these qualities from our association with him is not in doubt. As a mark of remembrance and with a view to reinforcing the impact that he created in us, I propose that we all observe a 5 minute silence between 2.30 pm and 2.35 pm tomorrow afternoon (the time when he breathed his last), no matter wherever we are. During those moments, let us recall all the goodness, kindness, love and affection that we carry in our hearts, not only towards PNS but also towards ourselves, because unless we remain serene and calm within us, we cannot display these qualities outside us. So let us use these 5 minutes every year, as a prayer unto ourselves and unto these qualities within us. That is the best way we can remember PNS.

I am sure there will be memories of time that we spent with him, some of which will bring a smile on our lips and some others probably tears as well. But these memories have an underlying appreciation of how PNS touched our lives. I am not saying these words as the son of PNS; far be from it. What PNS meant to me was far beyond my relationship with him. It is similar to many others, who are not his progeny or who had no relation of flesh and blood with him. So without getting entangled into the relationship dogmas, let use the 5 minute prayer as a tribute to these qualities of PNS. 

I am also promoting a PNS Foundation tomorrow; which will be an organization dedicated towards the cause of education, healthcare, talent empowerment and providing succor to the needy. At the moment the path forward is not known clearly, except the intention to create something that can work towards those less privileged than us. As time goes by, I will be able to provide clarity on this. I welcome any of your thoughts on this. I am marking this email as CC to a number of persons close at heart with PNS. If you feel I have missed out anyone, please forward it to them as well. I would not have omitted them intentionally, must have only skipped my mind or I didn't have their IDs.

Please also look at the remembrance section of Times of India tomorrow.

Prem & Om

Suresh

Kailash-12

Dear Friends


This week I was pre-occupied with some personal events which kept me mentally and emotionally attached to memories of someone who is no more physically with us. The chain of thoughts occurring in my mind was different from the ones that energized me to keep writing to all of you each week. Obviously it needed time for disengaging the thought-flow.

This experience made me realize something; mind is constituted of thoughts. These thoughts when they find expression through our thinking process; keep flitting like a butterfly from one flower to another. We tend to identify ourselves with each of these thoughts and start building our towers of happiness or valleys of sorrows on the strength of these identifications. Unlike the butterfly, we do not disengage ourselves from one flower; flit over to the other, only to leave it a little while later to go to another flower. These constant engagements with thought-identifications; result in our joys and sorrows. We become a slave of our thinking habits.  Like a flowing river, we identify with the flowing water, its current and its little ripples. We fail to notice that the river is falling into a gorge a little ahead and we are going to fall with the current. The objective of all spiritual or even self-improvement studies should be to disengage our mind from these thought-identifications and become a witness to them; as though standing on the banks of the river. As we witness these thoughts, their power to engage us in their agitations will cease. We come to realize our serenity and calmness that is permeating within us at all times. We realize the meaning of the phrase-”Om Shanti Om”.

One of the names of the Lord is Yagneshwara; “Yagna-Eashwara”. What is a Yagna? When we perform “havan” at home, we offer various choicest “possessions” to the “holy fire” These possessions are items like butter, sandalwood, cooked-rice, husk, etc. The holy fire is purified by the chanting of divine mantras and slokas, by the priests. At the end of the yagna, the priest offers us the ashes immersed in ghee for applying on our forehead, and this we call as “prasad”. A true yagna is one where offer our thought-agitations, our vulgar passions, our unholy attachments, our unending desire for worldly possessions etc into the “holy fire of knowledge”. This knowledge comes from joining other fellow-devotees in His continuous prayer; learning and reinforcing the truth founded on His kindness and greatness and affirming to ourselves to remain steadfast at His Holy Feet. The peace and calmness generated in our hearts by this devoted joint effort is the “prasad” that comes out of this yagna. This prasad is given by Lord Yagneshwara.

I have learnt that many of the writings that I have shared with you have language impediments for understanding with a few recipients. What is communication? A method, manner or instrument used for conveying an idea from one transmitter to another recipient is a communication. The thoughts or concepts that I have shared with you thus far may not have been properly “communicated” to you because of these language impediments. I consider it more a limitation of my transmission than receiving limitations of my audience. I can only pray and hope that I can convey my thoughts about Him and His Unending Glory in better and more effective communication again and again.

With Prem & Om
Suresh

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Dear Friends 

Those of you who wonder what is Sankalp Pooja, this is a little precursor. 

When we set out to do some action(s), personal, professional or social, we always prepare with the right attitude of the mind with the hope that the action yields the results that we anticipate. This creation of the right attitude of the mind, is called Sankalp. Those of us who are familiar with the rituals in Hinduism will know this from the performance of the priests at various religious and social functions. 

Therefore, now that we are beginning our preparations for the yatra to Kailash, we pray to Shiva, [these two letters, "shi" "va" means the auspicious one; one who helps us keep the "shree" {pure}" in our "vash" {control}, that He gives us the right attitude of the mind in enabling the preparations and remains with us till we reach His Abode and forever thereafter. This Sankalp will be taken by everyone who is going for this auspicious yatra. It is indeed a rare privilege that He has bestowed the thought upon us to undertake this great pilgrimage. {Some of you may not relate to the use of the word "pilgrimage". Pilgrimage is a journey or search for great moral or spiritual significance; at least this is what wikipedia says!!} Then what is this great moral or spiritual significance?

Human beings are constituted of three components; body, mind and intellect. The purpose of the human life is to reach nearer to our origin, which is nothing but peace and happiness. This is easier said than done, because we are living in a world of constant disturbance and a constant expectation of happiness; from things outside of us. Little do we realise that, what we search for and expect is deep within us, in our own bosom. The efforts at undertaking pilgrimage or attending satsang (which is what we will do on Sunday at the Sankalp Pooja) is to make our minds and intellect more and more pure with the aid of our body (thus all our three components work in tandem) and to reach that peace and happiness within us, which is our birthright. 

I hope to share more of such thoughts with you all, again and again, over the next few months. Please feel free to fill this space with your own as well.

I look forward to each one of you participating in the Sankalp Pooja on Sunday 18th (those of you who are in Mumbai) and benefit from this auspicious beginning for reaching the auspicious one!!

With Prem & Om

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Dear Friends

I’d promised myself that every Monday I will put in a new post, but certain personal events over the weekend prevented me from acting upon that promise. I pray that I should be able to keep it up in the next 12-13 weeks.

One of the names of Shiva is Dakshinamurthy. He is called “Aadi Guru” i.e. the first teacher. Of course that form of the Lord is only seen by us in photos or in temples. There was however, one teacher who descended upon our great nation centuries ago, his name was Aadi Sankara”. He was the Lord’s own incarnation who brought His teachings to us through many spiritual literary works.

When we buy any appliance or machine, we get what is called an “instruction manual” sometimes in different languages, to advise us how to use that appliance or machine. The human body, mind, intellect equipment, when it is born; doesn’t come with any “instruction manual”. We learn to use it by default rather than by design. Adi Sankara wrote a few such instruction manuals for different kinds of people with different inclinations; like the Bhaja Govindam for the melodious devotion inclined; Shiva Aparadha Kshamapana Stotram for the prayer inclined; Vivekachoodamani for the learning inclined etc. These instruction manuals teach us about what this triple personality layer, i.e. Body, Mind, Intellect equipment (called BMI) is. I had said in my last post that I will write on this BMI in my next post; here I am.

At the core of our being is the Life Spark in us, our Godhood. This principle is the one which makes our BMI apparatus function in us. With our Body we perform various actions in our daily transactions with various experiences. These actions are determined by how we react to situations and people around us. These reactions are governed by our Mind, which is the seat of our emotions and feelings. While doing so, many a times our actions are determined by our likes or dislikes; i.e. different pairs of opposites. On occasions these actions are wonderful and excellent and at other times very disappointing or disturbing. The difference in the quality of actions is determined by our discriminative Intellect. The Mind is like the water in a flowing river; ever changing course, constantly moving; whereas the discriminative Intellect is like the river’s banks, firm, guiding and channelizing it in the right path. In spiritual literature, “heart” means the Mind & Intellect equipment (M&I) in us and not the anatomical heart that is behind our lungs. When the Life Spark with us is no more, it is the sum total of the residual qualities that we have developed in our heart that determines our journey into our next embodiment, the after-life.

The Kailash Yatra is not a journey out there in the yonder; it is a journey inwards; into our hearts. Let us use the various exercises prescribed for our different personality layers to make this pilgrimage a really Holy one. In doing so, to the extent possible, let us learn a few of the literary gems of the Great Teacher, Adi Sankara, depending upon our own convictions in our hearts, in each one of us.

With Prem & Om
Suresh

Kailash-3

Dear Friends

Those of us who were fortunate enough to make ourselves available for the “Sankalpa Pooja” last afternoon were witness to and experienced the benefits of preparing the “right attitude of the mind” for undertaking the Kailash Yatra. Those among us who missed it due to pre-occupations can be sure that their sankalpa was performed by their other fellow-yatris who prayed for their absent friends.

We understood that the worship of the Lord that we did yesterday was a combination of our actions with our body, mind and intellect. We intellectually understood that the sankalpa was an aid at our self-purification for undertaking the pilgrimage in the right attitude of the mind. We mentally felt one with our fellow-yatris and cultivated the emotion of devotion for the Lord in our actions. We bodily performed actions with our five Indriyas; viz: eyes, ears, nose, tongue and hands. With the eyes we beheld the “linga” form of the Lord and saw his altar decked with floral decorations, with our ears we heard the sacred chantings of the Lord’s glory and His names, with our nose we smelt the fragrance of the flowers and dhoopa that were offered to Him, with our tongue we repeated His names as was instructed to us and our hands were sublimated in our prayers at His holy feet. Thus with “manasa” (mind), “vaacha” (word) and “karmana” (action) we prostrated before Him and sought His blessings in undertaking this great pilgrimage that we have embarked upon.

While we are on the subject of worship, I will now narrate the way Kannappa Nayanar worshipped Lord Shiva. Kannappan, a hunter in a forest, used to worship a shivalinga in the forest. As a hunter the only known food to him was meat of the animals that he killed. So he used to carry meat of these animals in one hand and in the other hand he used to carry flowers. Now he had a dilemma; how could he carry water to do abhishek of the linga? So he filled his mouth with water and used to wash the linga by spraying that water from his mouth, decorate the linga with the flowers and offer the meat at the altar. After he finished his “pooja” and after he left, the priest of the temple used to come and find the linga in such disarray. The priest would then curse the hunter who did this, and perform the pooja in the “prescribed traditional manner”. The priest would mutter to himself that he was such a pure devotee of the Lord whereas the hunter who desecrated the linga was a blasphemous idiot. One day when Kannappan came for his “pooja” he found that Shiva was bleeding from one eye. He was aghast at the Lord’s agony. He therefore took out his hunting knife and plucked out one of his own eyes, affixed it on the linga, and stuck it to the linga with the “vilva” leaves. He suddenly found that the Lord’s other eye was also bleeding; now he was in a fix. Although he wanted to offer his other eye also to the Lord, how could he see the linga while fixing the second eye, because he would have become blind by then? So he put his foot at that point in the linga where the Lord’s second eye was bleeding, for identifying the location, and plucked out his second eye and likewise affixed it at the point where his foot was placed. Pleased with his devotion, Shiva presented himself before Kannappan, restored his eyesight and declared that Kannappan would be known as one of his most ardent devotees. Even today, in Tamil Nadu Shiva temples, Kannappan is worshipped as one of the 64 principal devotees of the Lord.

The principle we learn from this story and from what we experienced yesterday is that no matter whatever rituals or offerings we make and no matter what is the manner and method of our prayer, if our devotion to the Lord is pure, He is sure to bless us with infinite happiness and peace.

Continuing from the knowledge we gained about involving our three personality layers; body, mind and intellect, in the process of realizing our spiritual personality layer; I will take up these three personality layers in my next post. Till then; Om Nama Shivayah!!, With Prem & Om

Kailash-11

Dear Friends

Probably the most common posture in which we find the Lord, is the posture of meditation. With eyes closed and palm extended in blessing, he is the epitome of peace and calmness. When we stand in prayer before Him, there is an inner silence that swells in our hearts. The noisy roar of thoughts that attack our minds constantly because of our incessant thinking, stops for a magical moment and we are peaceful in our within. This silence, which is always there within us; but which we fail to recognize in us because of our compulsive thinking habits; helps us in opening the eye of our minds, which is the Third Eye of knowledge within all of us. Viewed in that perspective, each of us is none other than Him, the Trinetradhari !!

Last week I mentioned about the birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Last week also marked Chinmaya Jayanti. So, instead of writing myself, this week, I am sharing one of his many teachings; this one is about Changing our Vision about ourselves. Over to my Gurudev: -

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"Thayumanvan" is the name of the Lord at a temple in Tiruchirapalli (Trichy) in Tamil Nadu. Translated, this means, He who also became mother. The story goes that one of His devotee ladies was in her labour pain at which time her own mother was not available for help in her delivery. The Lord came to the devotee's help, as her mother, and performed midwifery. The name of the Lord is thus derived. "Ardhanariswarar" is another name for the Lord; it means Lord who is half female. Of course there are many different stories attributed to this form of the Lord. The reason why I am drawing attention to these names is obvious; is the Lord male or female? If you read my earlier posts also, I have referred to the Supreme Reality as "He" not "She". Does it mean that there gender bias for God as well ?!!

In spirituality or philosophy, gender is only an anatomical difference. We are born into a specific gender in the present embodiment, as a result of the predominant gunas or tendencies coupled with the residual desires subsisting in us (or our parents) from our previous embodiment. Scientifically of course, we will be told that, it is the result of X+X or X+Y chromosomes, but let us leave that part to the scientists for the time being. Essentially we are all divine. Our gender reality at birth, in no way, takes us away from our essential divinity. If you recollect one of my earlier posts, I had highlighted about names and forms. Driven by our anatomical conditioning, we have got a form and therefore a name suitable to that form was given by our parents. It is a different matter altogether that there are some effeminate men and some masculine women !! That is probably the result of their gunas or tendencies !!.  Essentially, divinity is gender free. We are one with the Supreme Reality without any gender bias. Obviously therefore the Supreme must also be free of such bias. Parameshwara cannot be complete without Parameshwari. Where He is Appan (Father); She is Amma (Mother). One cannot be thought of in another breath different from the Other. In legal languages, we often say that, wherever in the context, He appears, it must also be read as She. When we use such uniformity in our own transactional world, there cannot be any differentiation in spirituality either. The Supreme Reality blesses one and all without any distinction of color, creed, caste, gender. The form and name that appeals to our conditioned thinking, determines the name, form and gender of that Reality, but THAT itself is one without a second. 

Mr Krishnan mentioned in his response last week that spirituality is such that we will find it difficult to get answers for all our questions that haunt us during a lifetime. But how can we find answers unless we ask questions in the first place. The moot question being "Who am I?". Every other question that comes to our mind would be an extension of this query. Our quest to find ourselves, takes us in different directions; each one only in search of Happiness and Peace. Our presence here in this embodiment is but a small dot in an otherwise long journey of coming and going, and in the process gradually diminishing our identifications with "raaga" and "dvesha"; i.e. attachment and repulsion. Our engagement with this pair of opposites keeps our mind and intellect engaged in this constant journey back and forth. Once this engagement has ended; once we have found the answer to "Who am I", there is no more any need to undertake this journey. All our acts on the physical plane should be meant only for a gradual expurgation of this engagement. 

Today is the 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore; a spiritual, literary and poetical giant. One of his famous quotes reads like this."faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark". If we reflect on this carefully and understand from our daily routine, it becomes clear. Most of us are used to alarm clocks to wake us up. Our knowledge of science tells us that around 5 am to 530 am is the time when the day dawns. Assuming we have woken up to the alarm clock, at say 4.30, after seeing the clock we know that in another hour, it will be dawn. Our faith is conditioned by our knowledge about the clock and science. However, the bird that is sitting on the branch, has no clock and no science. It has got perception that in a short while it will surely be dawn, so it starts chirping outside our window. At that time, hearing the bird chirping, we too know that it will be dawn shortly. The bird has full faith about the dawn whereas we have got derived faith. Let us reinforce our faith in Him (or Her!!) like that bird and grow into our inner peace. Parameshwara is always there, it is our perception which will help us reach Him.

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I have received a few sporadic responses to my posts. Some of you have also mentioned during conversations that you have 'archived' the posts for future reading or understanding. The inspiration for me to start writing to you came from the first post when I wrote about the Sankalpa Pooja. Thoughts about the purpose of our undertaking this wonderful yatra motivated me to share them with you. Of course, the process has also enabled me to grow through this sharing experience. I am sure they have triggered similar thoughts in many of your minds but there is probably some reticence in sharing those or probably issues of articulating them. Please do share your views. As time went on the mailing list has increased with a few of my other spiritually inclined friends, not joining the yatra with us.

Over the last few days I have seen a couple of cremation grounds / 'smashaan bhoomis' with the signage reading 'Shiv Dham' or abode of Shiva. Now, this is a classic dichotomy, we are saying Kailash is the abode of Shiva and here we have cremation places with similar names! There is a popular belief in Hinduism that the Holy Trinity, i.e Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh have divided their tasks as Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer, respectively. The common use explanation will be that, the things that we perceive, the beings that we come in contact with and the events that we experience are created, sustained and destroyed, respectively by these Supreme Beings. From that standpoint, probably the destroyer does live in the cremation places, isn't it?!! But that explanation is far from being correct. 

If we see the consorts, of this Trinity, they are Saraswati, Mahalakshmi and Parvati. Collectively these trinity and their consorts tell us that through the blessings of the first pair, we gain our education and knowledge of the truth of life and its purpose, our material gains on the physical plane are determined by the blessings of the second pair and through blessings of the third pair we gain our ability for reflecting on the nature of the One Reality which is nothing but Him. Thus the roles of the Trinity is that, one creates the eagerness and desire for gaining right knowledge in our minds, one sustains our mind and intellect steadfast on the path as we progress and one destroys all wrong tendencies and ungainly thoughts that impede in this progress; so that we may gain our vision of the Trimurti, Trinethdradhari and Trishuladhari, who is none other than Kailashnath.

But when we speak of knowledge, what is there to know that we don't know already? Actually we are born with infinite knowledge. Our inner nature is that of silence and bliss. But the layers of 'education' that we have created over the years have actually veiled this knowledge, with the result we are now shrouded in ignorance. We assume to 'know' everything about ourselves but really don't. The means of knowing ourselves is called 'contemplation' and for preparing the mind for this contemplation, we undertake all practices of religion including the pilgrimage that we are due to go in a couple of months. Once having gained this knowledge, to remain steadfast and unaffected by various trials and tribulations in our life, the means is called ‘prayer’. Through the prayer founded in right knowledge, the means of reaching the inner calm, tranquility and total bliss, is called ‘meditation’, which is the ultimate objective of the human embodiment that nature has blessed upon us.

Let us use the experiences that we come across in life as a springboard to redirect our energies and attention to gaining the right knowledge, in a prayerful attitude and become one with happiness which is our true nature.

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I turn 50 this week. A simple arithmetic reveals that it is about 26 million minutes!! Naturally, I had no role to play in this passage of time; I just was there, when it passed me by. Which brings us to the question, what is time? Is it the 24 x 7 phrase that we familiarly use nowadays? Actually no; what we have done with our scientific knowledge is to compartmentalize time. Time by itself, like its sister Space, is eternal. So the infinite moments that we let pass by in our finite time on this physical plane, should be purposeful and with a motive to grow to the Higher. Life should be large; not long. There is an advertisement of a popular liquor brand with a byline, “It’s your life, make it large”. Of course the large there has a different connotation, but the phrase by itself is very relevant !! I, of course, thank my parents for providing me with the platform to help me trying to make my life large. I also thank my Guru for his inspiring teaching.

I had shared in one of my earlier posts about a text written by Adi Sankara, titled “Shiva Aparadha Kshapana Stotram”. The import of this text is that, in one part, we seek forgiveness from Shiva for mistakes / sins that we have committed in not remembering Him at all times and in the other part we seek His help in remembering Him and growing larger and better every moment. I will briefly explain this here, in as few words as possible.

In our previous embodiment, we clung on to the fear of passing away from this world without remembering Him at the time of our exit from the world stage. We are propelled into this world into a new embodiment, with unfulfilled desires and passions, as determined by the urges we entertained at the end of the previous embodiment. Thus without remembering the Lord and His glories, we are ordained to come again into this world. Here, from our childhood to youth to old age, at every moment, we are crying for more and more satisfaction from the objects, emotions and thoughts that we come into contact with, without remembering Him and His infinite glory. We constantly live our day-to-day moments of wants fulfillment, from birth to youth to old age to death, always assuming that we are permanently to remain here. We forget that we are merely enacting a role provided to us by Him as determined by our past. The effort that is required to uplift us from this mortal plane to a Higher Consciousness, we refuse to take, with the result we continue to remain in this web created by our own desires and fancies. We seek His forgiveness for our unintelligent acts that we perform in this physical plane. We have forgotten that the Lord is the Ultimate Truth and dwelling on His Glory, making our mind and intellect, pure and calm, if meditate upon Him, our entanglements with objects, emotions and thoughts in this physical plane will cease, and we will climb to the pinnacles of happiness which is His Abode, Kailash. Unfortunately our limited knowledge about the purpose of coming into this world; creates a massive sense of attachment to things and beings, due to which we forget to remember Him in our day-to-day transactions in Life. So in the second part we seek His Grace and support for surrendering unto Him all our ego driven fancies and attachments, and grow into pure and unsullied bliss, through selfless, unattached and dedicated actions in every station of our life.

Our life is divided into different time compartments, birth, childhood, youth, middle age, old age, decay and death. The benchmark of our growth through these various stages / compartments is determined by how we have adjusted to these various automatic time determined events in our life and “lived” rather than “existed”. May the Lord shower one and all with right knowledge and right thinking!

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Last week was Baisakhi, a festival of the Sikhs. The 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh ordained that the Guru Grantha Sahib (the Holy Granth) will be the future Guru of the Sikhs about 300-400 years ago. He felt that human ego could become an impediment if humans were assigned the role of Guru; instead the sacred text should govern their faith and guide them in future.

Sikhs worship God as the nameless, formless, omnipresent, omniscient entity, called Truth. The first line of the Holy Granth starts with the words “Ik Omkar…”, i.e. there is only one divine entity. The text is derived from works of different Sikh Gurus, alongside those of Hindu, Islamic and Sufi saints. The collection of poetry, bhajans, messages, anecdotes, stories etc constitute the entire teachings of the faith. Whenever we visit a Gurudwara, we worship the Holy Granth as Lord Omnipotent. The Granthi (the custodian of the text and the local preacher) narrates from the text and explains its meanings to us ignoramuses!!

In Hinduisim, the Lord is worshipped in the form of a “Shivalinga”. Although the scriptures extol the virtues of the formless, the Nirupa or Nirguna Brahman, our organs of perception cannot relate to Him easily in the formless and nameless. Therefore the Shivalinga is an abstract form of the Lord, which He has made available for us to worship and realize our True Self. Although the “linga” as we see is very small, He is without “adi” or “antha”, i.e. without beginning or end, He is Eternal. There is a story in the puranas, which says that Brahma tried to reach the pinnacle of the Lord’s form as a swan and Vishnu tried to reach the foundation as a boar, but both were unsuccessful. Thus was the beginning less, endless, formless, nameless Lord called Truth (Satyam) established. And that Satyam is Shivam.

Truth is that which never changes, is always the same at all times, whether in the past, present or future. That which is true today under certain given circumstances and which changes tomorrow on the basis of events or happenings, cannot be called truth. That kind of truth is relative; it is conditioned by time and space. The Eternal Truth is the One which is beyond Time and Space, and is called God; “Satnam Waheguru”; Truth is the name of the Ultimate Teacher.

Early in the morning, when we see the orange sun on the horizon, we say “the sun is rising”. In the evening, when we are standing on the sands of the beach, and see the sun dipping into the ocean, we say “the sun is setting”. It is strange, but scientifically the sun never rises or sets. The sun is the same at all times, enlightening, effulgent, radiating its energy around without fear or favor to one and all. It is the earth that is revolving around its axis, and we experience the presence or absence of the sun, depending on whether it is day or night. Thus our experience of the sun is conditioned by the movement of the earth, which is conditioned by time. At that part of time which we popularly call “day” the sun is bright, illuminating and present. At that part of time which we popularly call “night” the sun is absent, so there is no illumination. Similarly although the moon is present in the sky always, because of the brightness of the sun during daytime, we are unable to see or experience the moon. It doesn’t mean that the moon is absent during daytime; it is only that, because of our conditioning during that part of time, we cannot experience the moon.

The phenomenal elements like the sun, moon, stars, planets etc are always there; and they are beyond time. Our own experiences of these elements are governed or determined by our ability to perceive them due to our conditioning at those times. When we are able to go beyond our conditioning; beyond time; we will always be able to experience the joy of these phenomenal elements. Similarly the Lord, who is Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram, is present at all times; our experience of His presence can happen only when we attain Shantam (silence in our within). May He Bless us with His Presence always.

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The primordial sound from which all notes of music originate is “OM”. The Lord who originates, sustains and migrates unto himself, this sound syllable “OM” is called Omkareshwar. Similarly the Lord also is the Master of all dance forms and is called Nateshwar or Nataraj. Thus the Lord is the teacher, performer and spectator of all forms of fine arts, whether it is music, dance or any other “Kala”.

When we visit someone’s house and see a statue of Nataraja on the mantle, we are drawn towards its symmetry in design. The Lord in one-legged ecstasy in his Thandava, with serpents adorning his neck and head as Nagabhushana, the crescent moon on his mane as Chandrashekhara etc evokes a response from us “Wow! How Wonderful!” Now assume that the same statue has a broken leg because the child of the house dropped it and broke it. We are not so wonderstruck looking at that statue because it is not symmetrical or complete anymore. Likewise, early in the morning, around 6-615 am when we are going for our morning walk, we see the golden sun; we bend in obeisance to the sun, gaze into it for a few seconds in silent prayer. Now assume that we left for our walk a little later, say 8.30-9.00 am. At that time, we don’t even want to look at the sun because it is blazing hot and we cannot see it with our naked eyes. In the first instant we say, the Sun is Beautiful and in the second instance we say the Sun is Blazing! We go to our local temple where our favorite bhajan singer is singing a melodious bhajan. We are lost in the ecstasy, and say “How melodious” whereas if the next day, the same singer, due to a sore throat, sings the same bhajan, he sounds hoarse and we don’t like it so much. In all cases, the object of experience remaining the same, our reaction to it changes from a positive extreme to a negative extreme.

Actually the beauty or symmetry or melody that we enjoyed in each of the experiences was because of the quietness or stillness that came into our minds when we witnessed the positives and likewise the opposite reaction was due to the disturbance that enveloped us due to the lack of these positive qualities. Our minds are automatically tuned-in to appreciate these positive experiences and we come to feel the quietness and calmness of our minds, which makes us experience the divinity within us and we come nearer to our Godhood.

While on our Kailash yatra, we are sure to encounter many natural spectacles that will bring to our hearts, this joy and happiness of beautiful experiences. The mightiest of them all will be when we are alone and contemplative in front of Lake Manasarovar or Mount Kailash. To bring in that subjective joy and ecstasy in us at that moment, we must cultivate a constant practice of just savoring the present moment without bringing any thought agitations in our mind. For enabling that, we can learn to calm our minds during the daily pranayama exercise that were taught to us by Nimisha Parikh. We can also do that during our morning walks by training the mind to remain calm without any disturbance.

The more and more we practice, we will be able to capture in our hearts, the ecstasy of being in the presence of the Lord’s Abode whilst at Kailash.

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Ratnagiri, that’s where I am now as I am writing this post. Gem of a mountain or Jewel among mountains, call it whatever you like.

We have embarked on a journey in July to the Best of Gems among mountains, the Himalayas and the veritable centre of the Earth which is Kailash. The pinnacle of our journey, on the physical plane, is the “kailash giri parikrama”, i.e. the perambulation of the mountain. It is said that if a human being performs just one parikrama of Kailash he or she will be rid of all their sins in this lifetime. One other noted mountain, whose “giri parikrama” is considered auspicious, is Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu. There is also a temple of the Lord there and he is called Arunachaleshwara. It is here that the Ashram of Bhagwan Ramana Maharshi is located. He was a revered, learned and selfless saint of India. His teachings centered on one unique question which every person ought to ask himself; “Who am I”?

This question seems so simple to answer; I’m Mr X, son of Y & Z, boss in M/s ABC, student of P school, teacher in R college, brother to Q, husband of S, secretary of T Club etc etc. How quickly we can identify ourselves with various positions, relations, situations in life; remarkable isn’t it? But all of these are ephemeral, constantly changing, never constant. They are all a function of time. Today I am the son of my parents, but when they are no more, the relationship changes to “they were my parents”. Today I am husband of my wife, but when we are divorced, “we were husband and wife”. Today I am boss of ABC, but when I resign and join M/s EFG as its boss, “I am the boss of EFG”, likewise with all these various relational or situational relationships. They constantly change. Therefore my identity with them itself changes from time to time.

Strangely our own identity with the name and form is changing. Scientifically, it takes about 20 to 24 weeks for a foetus in the womb to develop life. Probably that is why abortion is considered illegal after this period. Of course in Vedanta, the moment life germinates in the mother’s womb, life is said to have evolved. Ever since this germination, we grow in our mother’s womb, in the apparent comfort of her protection and care. The moment we are released into this world through our “delivery” we cry, in apparent confusion with the new environment; our identity is now changed. Then at our naming ceremony, our father whispers our name into our ears. Peculiarly the name that our parents decide to call us, is different from the name with which we are christened; thus Vikram becomes Vicky, Prakash becomes Pakku, Albert becomes Albie and so on. The form that our body gains, is also different; some are born or grow to be handsome but some are not. But our own identity with this name and form is always very dear to us. We feel “I am the most important person in this world” although we may not say so; because our intellect tells us there are more important people in this world!! Every time anything happens to our surroundings that challenge our identity with this name, form, relation or situation that we have cultivated for ourselves, we become restless, revolting, aggressive, submissive or display some emotion that conveys our discomfort with this new challenge. Thus our strife, sweat and toil throughout our life is directed to meeting these challenges that we have created upon ourselves.

But real knowledge lies in understanding this “I” in us which is identity free, unhappiness free, disappointment free, sorrow free……total bliss; total happiness. The effort in life must be to realize this “I” in us; not by withdrawing from our day-to-day transactions in life, but through these day-to-day transactions, because the knowledge that frees us from this false identification is the one that removes our ignorance about our true Self, which is the Godhood in us.

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As I was driving by today, I saw a bus-stop hoarding about a program by an Islamic Scholar on the topic “Islam; is it a religion of love and compassion” An immediate question that came to mind is; what is religion? Religion is that which takes us nearer to our origin. What does that mean? The Indian word for religion is Dharma; that because of which a thing is what it is; is called Dharma. For instance the Dharma of Fire is heat and so on in the case of other elements also. Without that Dharma, the thing ceases to be what it is. Such being the philosophical explanation, how then does one reconcile to the use of the term “religion”?

The only religion in the world is called “Sanatana Dharma”, i.e. Universal Religion, which is more than 5000 years old. This is the religion of humanity, without any distinction of caste, creed, gender or any other differentiation. As time evolved, at different geographical locations in the world, at different points of time in history, depending on different socio-political climate prevailing at those places and times, some messengers of God must have prescribed certain acts of goodness that assisted the people populating those regions, to reach God, by whatever name they called Him. These prescriptions and practices evolved as “organized religions”. But the innate teaching in all of them, without distinction, was “love, compassion, peace and happiness. So, we can vouchsafe that every religion preaches the same qualities in every heart, irrespective of which language is used, or which name or form or ideal is worshipped.

Without going into any specific religion, I want to give an example of how religions evolved in time. Some of you may, but many may not be aware, of a practice called “Freemasonry”. The motto in this is; “brotherly love, relief and truth”. This was a practice established some 300 years ago, by masons who were employed in constructing some temples, during the time of some kings in Israel. The practices, using geometrical tools and implements, were used to extol virtues of goodness of heart, love for one and all, provide succor to the distressed and aid in realizing God by explaining the ultimate physical experience of humankind; i.e death. In time, these practices gained the importance of “religion” for the followers. Today, those practices may or may not be relevant, but the moot point is, they taught to the people following the religion at that time, nothing but “love and compassion”.  All organized religions have thus evolved for the same purpose.

Therefore in answer to the scholar’s question, we can say that, the practices may be time, location and people specific, but the ultimate destination is the same in all religions; i.e. “peace and happiness”.

A story that I learnt as a child, to which many of you may relate, is that of Kannappa Nayanar. Kannappan was a hunter who hunted animals in the forest, but he was an ardent Shiva devotee. His practices were unacceptable to the norms that we follow in our society, but his devotion for the Lord was pure and unsullied. I will share that story with you in my next post.