Wishing You And Your Family A Very Happy Deepavali
And
A Peaceful & Prosperous New Year
Importance of ‘Goal of life’, it’s Necessity and Benefits
Have a permanent 'GOAL of Life'
If you live a spiritual life, having a Goal of Self Realization or to have divine vision of God is very important. How can you keep traveling directionless without any destination?
Destination (Goal) is very important. The next thing is to get a road map. Road map gives you clarity and right direction. Guru, Shastras, saints are road map.
Always ask the question WHY? Why am I doing this activity and HOW will it benefit my spiritual progress. Goal will give you clarity. You will observe that what ever you do is now more meaningful. All spiritual or religious activities including meditation will be more beneficial if they are done with one goal – Self Realization or to have divine vision of God. Goal will not allow you to get side-tracked & give undue importance to useless activities.
What should NOT be the goal of life.
Many sadhaks or spiritual aspirants, when asked about their goal of life, find it difficult to answer spontaneously. Some have goals like spreading their master's or Guru's words / work, increasing the strength of foundation in members i.e. devotees and financially, some think that serving their Guru is the only goal of life (without understanding the true meaning of 'serving a Guru'), some want to teach shastras or some yogic kriyas, asanas, pranayams, etc, etc. Some of them want peace of mind, some want to stay fit and healthy. These cannot be THE GOAL of life. The Goal of Life is only one – SELF REALIZATION or to have Divine vision of God.
NECESSITY of Self Realization as the ONLY Goal of life.
If you want to teach anything, you first need to read it, understand it, apply it and master it. Without understanding Gita, how can say that Gita is the best and very valuable and so I am distributing it for free. In order to teach meditation, you should know what is mediation and what is the final state of meditation and when the process of meditation ends permanently. Study the lives of great saints and avatars. Lord Buddha, Adi Shankaracharya, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Maa, Swami Vivekananda, Lord Swaminarayan, or Lord Mahavir. All of them had something in common in their lives. First they isolated themselves, meditated without caring for samsara (society), realized their true nature, established themselves in Atma Sthiti and then started to preach or teach the world.
Take the e.g. of Swami Vivekananda: Narendranath did not do anything for society, he followed his Guru Sri Ramakrishna's instructions, meditated, and experienced samadhi. Then Sri Ramakrishna gave him his siddhis and ordered him to take care of rest of his spiritual brothers and then complete the work which his Guru gave him. He than took the name of Swami Vivekananda and we all know what has he done to Hindu Dharma and to the world. All other examples given above also lived in similar way. In short, Swami Vivekananda did not do anything for society on his own, but after Self realization, Swami Vivekanada (a totally different identity) got instructions from his Guru Sri Ramakrishna and served the world.
In the same way, doing pranayama or asana is good for health and can be the first step in Yog, but cannot lead to you self realization.
Similarly for spreading teachings or giving discourses can be helpful but cannot bring you or others salvation. Remember, a patient CANNOT treat a patient. One who is not realized, cannot make others realize their true nature.
I do not say, serving or teaching or giving discourses is not beneficial, it definitely is, but it should not be the goal of life. You cannot accept students and become yourself a Guru. Giving discourses on Guru's instruction, helping others solving doubts is a different issue and taking responsibility is another.
Sri Ramakrishna says, “One cannot teach men without a direct command from God”
An Excerpt:
“A man's ego is destroyed after three croaks, as it were, if he gets into the clutches of a real teacher. But if the teacher is an 'unripe' one, then both the teacher and the disciple undergo endless suffering. The disciple cannot get rid either of his ego or of the shackles of the world. If a disciple falls into the clutches of an incompetent teacher, he doesn't attain liberation.”.
Lives of saints are an example of what a realized saint is capable of doing after Self Realization and getting direct orders for God. When God assigns you any work, he also gives you the ability to complete the given work. In case of Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna transferred his Siddhis to Swami Vivekananda so that Swami Vivekananda can accomplish the given task.
BENEFITS of having Self Realization as the ONLY goal of life
There are many benefits. Just the point a few, here are some:
You will always be focused on your Goal. As a result, sooner or later, you will definitely meet (Self Realized) Guru and thereby increasing chances of getting realized in the present life.
Gradually, you will gain Clarity. Clarity in thought and in meditation. Due to clarity, you will not be trapped or get distracted or give undue importance to any useless or unnecessary activities like promotion, marketing of so-called spiritual goods, appealing for donation and doing door-to-door marketing for your foundation to raise money (in the form of donation) for any good looking project like building of schools, hospitals, etc. In these activities adarsh is ucchatam but Tatva Jnana is of nimnatar kaksha. (These activities may look to be highly moral and ethical, but the spiritual knowledge or spiritual essence is of very low grade). There are ever so many Gurus in the world who rob the wealth of their disciples. But I consider that Guru a rare one among Gurus who removes the afflictions of the disciple’s heart. (Sri Guru Gita - 162).
Ensures and accelerates spiritual progress. Actually, reverse is true. Not having self realization as the only goal in life will delay or slow down or some times stop your spiritual progress.
Lesser dependence on human beings and only dependence on God, who is permanent and the most near and dear to you.
Vairagya is an ananda. Vairagya is the absence of Bhogya padarth (worldly ojbects) in mind. Since you do not have any demand, you will also feel deep peace and bliss flowing through you throughout the day.
Finally, you will reach your Destination. You will realize your true nature
Think … Realize … Awaken Yourself … & Act
It is time to take a decision.
Give your life a direction.
Let this New Year be the beginning of new life.
Question: What is the root cause of bondage?
Swami Ramsukhdasji: In true worship, one does not consider things to be their own, and does not expect any reward for him self. Where a desire exists to get comfort, respect, praise, or any other personal gain, there is bondage. Several years passed by in giving discourses, yet I did not know the root cause of bondage. It was much later that I came to the understanding that desire to get anything from anyone is bondage. If you want others to be favorable towards you, it means you are inviting sorrow. It is all a desire for pleasure and enjoyment. Therefore Beware!! Of them. Desires only lead to bondage, and not love. Those who wish to get something from another are cheats and pleasure seeking and they get entangled in worldly bondage.
Therefore to get rid of bondage, give up your desire and serve others. This is the real Art of Living in this world. It is God Realization through selfless, unattached action. We should totally give up the idea of getting anything from others.
Condt from How long is the interval between death and re-birth?
Bhagavan would never admit that differences in mode of expression or formulation of doctrine between the various religions signified real contradiction, since the Truth to which
they point is One and Immutable.
D.: Is the Buddhist view that there is no continuous entity answering to the idea of the individual soul right or not? Is this consistent with the Hindu doctrine of a reincarnating ego? Is the soul a continuous entity which reincarnates again and again, according to the Hindu doctrine, or is it a mere conglomeration of mental tendencies?
B.: The real Self is continuous and unaffected. The reincarnating ego belongs to a lower plane, that of thought. It is transcended by Self-realisation.
Reincarnations are due to a spurious offshoot of Being and are therefore denied by the Buddhists. The human state is due to a mingling of the sentient with the insentient.
Sometimes it was not a question of reincarnation but grieving over the death of a loved one. A lady who had come from North India asked Bhagavan whether it was possible to know
the posthumous state of an individual.
B.: It is possible, but why try. Such facts are only as real as the person who seeks them.
L.: The birth of a person and his life and death are real to us.
B.: Because you wrongly identify yourself with the body, you think of the other also as a body. Neither you nor he is the body.
L.: But from my own level of understanding, I regard myself and my son as real.
B.: The birth of the ‘I’-thought is a person’s birth and its death is his death. After the ‘I’-thought has arisen, the wrong identification with the body rises. Identifying yourself with the body makes you falsely identify others also with their bodies. Just as your body was born and grows and will die, so you think the other also was born, grew and died. Did you think of your son before he was born? The thought came after his birth and continues even after his death. He is your son only in so far as you think of him. Where has he gone? To the source from which he sprang. So long as you continue to exist, he does too. But if you cease to identify yourself with the body and realise the true Self, this confusion will vanish. You are eternal and others also will be found to be eternal. Until this is realised there will always be grief due to false values which are caused by wrong knowledge and wrong identification.
On the death of King George V, two devotees were discussing the matter in the hall and seemed upset.
Bhagavan said: What is it to you who dies or is lost? Die yourself and be lost, becoming one with the Self of all (on the ego’s extinction).
And finally, about the importance of death. Religions stress the importance of the frame of mind in which a person dies and his last thoughts at death. But Bhagavan reminded people that it is necessary to be well prepared beforehand; if not, undesirable tendencies will rise up at death, too powerful to be controlled.
D.: Even if I cannot realise in my lifetime, let me at least not forget on my death-bed. Let me have a glimpse of Reality at least at the moment of death, so that it may stand me in good stead in the future.
B.: It is said in the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter VIII, that whatever is a person’s last thought at death determines his next birth. But it is necessary to experience Reality now, in this life, in order to experience it at death. Consider whether this present moment is any different from the last one at death and try to be in the desired state.
Source: Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi in his own words by Arthur Osborne, Chapter Two.
Neighbour: "Revered Sir, we are sinners. What will happen to us?"
Sri Ramakrishna: "All the sins of the body fly away if one chants the name of God and sings His glories. The birds of sin dwell in the tree of the body. Singing the name of God is like clapping your hands. As, at a clap of the hands, the birds in the tree fly away, so do our sins disappear at the chanting of God's name and glories.
"Again, you find that the water of a reservoir dug in a meadow is evaporated by the heat of the sun. Likewise, the water of the reservoir of sin is dried up by the singing of the name and glories of God.
"You must practice it every day. The other day, at the circus, I saw a horse running at top speed, with an Englishwoman standing on one foot on its back. How much she must have practiced to acquire that skill!
"Weep at least once to see God.
"These, then, are the two means: practice and passionate attachment to God, that is to say, restlessness of the soul to see Him."
On other occasion during discussion with a devotee named Sub-Judge, Sri Ramakrishna said,
One must have such faith that one can say: 'I have uttered the name of God; I have repeated the name of Rama or Hari. How can I be a sinner?' One must have faith in the glory of God's name."
Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
Recently, I have made some change in the way posts are delivered through Feedburner email subscriptions.
Recently, there was a mass email titled ‘URGENT - Protesting Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne, Australia on 06 OCT (Thurs)’.
It was repeated again the next day. I have configured feedburner to deliver post(s) in a single email on the next day, the post(s) are published.This was not a spam, and was done by me. First one was send one urgent basis, as a mass mail to all subscribers. Email received next day was a regular copy of post published on the blog.
I request you to kindly add both the email id’s to safe list and add to contact to ensure that email lands in your inbox or in the filter.
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Namaste
INDIASPIRITUALITY
Namaste, dear supporters of Hinduism.
The Melbourne Festival organisers and the Back to Back Theatre are continuing with the play ‘Ganesh Versus the Third Reich’, which has denigration of Lord Ganesh, Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu.
Our volunteers have observed denigrations in the play as follows :
Forum for Hindu Awakening strongly believes that the very theme of this play is flawed, as it denigrates Hindu Deities by humanising them. The play uses descriptions of Hindu Deities that are contrary to those in Hindu Scriptures.
Hence, Forum for Hindu Awakening has urged the play’s organisers to cancel the play immediately. In the event of non-cancellation of the play, Hindus will stage protests in front of the Malthouse Theatre in Melbourne from 6 Oct 2011 (Vijayadashami). We appeal to supporters of Hinduism to continue their peaceful protests against this play and to join us at the Malthouse Theatre for the protest. For details about the protest demonstration, please write to us at Melbourne@ForumforHinduAwakening.org
Dharmo rakshati rakshitaha !
Kind regards,
Seekers at Forum for Hindu Awakening
Source: Email from Shri Gauravbhai, Member of Forum for Hindu Awakening.
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