Vedantham : ( 07/11/2012. )

We think that life means the period spent by us between our birth and our death, and what we see and experience around during this interval is life. Supposing there hangs a picture painted on a canvas. In order to see the entire picture painted on it, we have to step back to some distance, and only then can we see the entire view, the rhythm of colours, the beauty of curves, etc. Similarly, when life is viewed in its nearer perspective, we find that it is illogical, nonrhythmic, etc. In detachment we will have to move away from our present life to view the whole Life and understand it as such. [to be cont   d].   

CAUSES AND EFFECTS:- Let us suppose that we have just 'fallen'from Truth or Reality into this momentous and calamitous  misunderstanding, then we should not have such a dissimilar scheme, of each Ego living its own life of special joy and woes. When we enquire, with the causes of great differences  among human beings, we are driven to the conclusion that, having risen from different 'causes', each one of us should manifest as a different 'effect'. Effects depend upon their causes. This life in which we are living is only one of our incarnations. We have had many incarnations in the past, and probably, many more shall come to our lot. From birth to death and from death to birth, the whirl goes on, but we do not appreciate it or understand it because we are viewing life from a very circumscribed point of view.[ to be cont---d]    

1.MISUNDERSTANDINGS:- ----------------------------------------------------- The law of karma has been often misunderstood as the law of Destiny. There is indeed a lot of difference between law of karma and law of destiny. Had our Law of Karma been equal to the Law of Destiny, the Hindu civilization would have been long ago ended like the Roman or the Egyptian civilizations. The Law of Destiny has a corroding effect upon the human heart and in short time it renders its followers to be mere ineffectual lotus-eaters. If a nation depends entirely upon the Law of Destiny to guide it,  it shall fall and become a country of narrow-minded,inactive animals. On the other hand, a people believing in the Law of Karma and who live up to it become a generation of spiritual giants and dynamic citizens. The Law of Karma is based upon the final conclusion that this life is not an end in itself but is just one of the little incidents in the Eternal Existence of each one of us. Amongst us, ea

VEDANTA:-5. So then, this ego, is in fact a myth, a non-entity, a dream, an insubstantial nothing, a phantom, ma mere false shadow of our own Reality. And in our own thoughtlessness, we have surrendered ourselves to the endless tyranny of this shadow of ours lurking within ourselves. "Detach yourself from this shadow. Know your Real self. Kill the tyrant within us. It will bring the real Ramarajya [The kingdom of Perfection] in our bosoms."  This is the clarion call of Vedanta. The methods of eliminating this ghost within us are the processes advocated by all religions. Every spiritual practice is an attempt at the total elimination of this shadow-nothingness within us. All Sastras serve only to teach us the unreality of the non-existent.[to be cont----d] By Swami chinmayananda.   

VEDANTA:-4. If the ego in us  is the Samsarin, if ego is the tormentor, if ego is the enemy, let us spy on him more closely and come to know who he is. Once we know our enemy, we can plan our war against him. Each of you now please ask this question to yourself: "Who is this? Or what constitutes this ego-sense in me?"Is not the 'I'-personality in each of us nothing but the memories of certain facts of life lived in the past such as, I am the son of so and so, educated, lived, loved, hated, taught, etc..? In short, I am the sum -total of all the retained memories of all vivid experiences I have had in the past. The 'I'-concept includes, also, my hopes for the future. Pursuing our enquiry further, we shall. on analysis of the memory bits and hope-flakes, discover that they have only a reality with reference either to the dead past or the unborn future. That means the ego in me has no existence in the present moment; it thrives in the burial-ground

VEDANTA-3. There are in us two distinct personalities : the God and the Man. The birthright of manhood is the experiences of limitations and death. In its very nature Godhood is unlimited and immortal. Our attachment to the false negatives  in us - the manhood - is the cause of all the saline tastes. Detach yourself from the manhood, you regain Godhood. This is the theory of Vedanta, and Upanisads. Jnana Yajna  is an attempt to convince ourselves that by ending the man in us we gain the God within. If there be an enemy concealed  in us, who is the cause of our imbecilities and sorrows, the sooner we unearth and destroy him the earlier we shall come to realise our aim. Who is then this enemy? Unanimously all the sastras and scriptures cry: "It is the ego". "Kill this little  'Í' TO LIVE. "END THE EGO AND END THE WOE" [to be cont---------d] by swami chinmayananda.     

It is in this sense that we consider, and our Sastras declare, that the great Saints, Incarnations and prophets are immortal. They are immortal in the sense that they understood the meaning of life and lived that meaning of life. Their physical bodies have perished yet they live! How is this possible? The explanation is this:-We are all in life acting and suffering as true as our heart is not pure and life is saline to all of us, where as when the heart is pure we feel on the sweetness of life.End all your fears, limitations,  disappointments and come to enjoy the joyous, unlimited, hopeful existence. THIS IS CALL OF THE VEDANTA, the religion of detachment. Detach yourselves from the saline and you shall come to taste the sweetness. (to be cont--------d) BY Swami chinmayananda.         

The religion of detachment:- In one of our most important Upanisads, the Kathopanisad, we have the story of an aspirant reaching very portico of Death, and there face to face with Yamaraj, the seeker enquires about Supreme Knowledge. This must be the spirit of the true student of Vedanta. Life and Death are in reality so close together that it is ordinarily even difficult to distinguish between them. To have courage to continue seeking even after death is real living. To a seeker, if he be honest and persevering, there is no death. ( to be cont----d). 

Last part-14. Religion claims that our real nature is pure knowledge, pure Bliss. But the sense of ego has created  in us the grievous misunderstanding that we are the ego-entities. Whether we like it or not through a slow process of evolution we are every hour creeping towards this goal of Self-realisation. Life 's experiences are wearing us down in a slow mill of sorrow only to make us sit up and realize the foolish delusion in which we have to suffer.Religion is the Science of  all Sciences since it guides us to the Absolute knowledge.[END] BY SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA.

RELIGION:-13. THE EGO- The paths advocated by all religions are the same-renounce the false ego and its consequent variations. The sorrows and size belong to the ego-phantom. Surrender it at the Lord's feet in love. Sublimate the ego in constant vicar. In your discrimination of the real and unreal, the false ego-dream ends. Divinise the ego through an inner revolution brought about by the ending of all nativities in your character and by surcharging yourself with dynamic positive values of a true divine life.[to be cont------d] BY Swami chinmayananda.

Such a one among us mortals is a Godman. He is a saint, a Mahatma, a prophet. Such were all our great masters and such are all true men of religion. Religion promises us a world peopled with a generation of Sri Ramakrishnas, Vivekanandas, Sankaras, buddhas, christs and Mohamads. What more we need? 

The outer world remaining the same. In this very world of imperfections and sorrows, we shall have an unbroken experience of sweet solace and full contentment. We shall gain in ourselves a capacity to remain aloof in a safe island within and watch the fierce storms of passions that madly blast  about all around us, and if we be but true followers of religion, gain through its practices a mental equipment which can seek for itself and gain poise and balance under all circumstances. Thus understanding the real function of religion and secret scheme of its blessings, we can approach it with certainty of gain. What greater gift we can expect of any institution than a heavy presentation of the philosopher's stone, which by its touch can convert all sorrows into joy, all failures into success and losses into gains? A truly devoted heart does not go mad with power, become boastful with success, commit suicide at failures, murder in anger, suffer in jealousy, grow arrogant in wealt

We find that the world of objects remains, function and play their frolics according to a Law over which we have absolutely no control. But objects must come in contact with our mind in order to produce the reaction, which alone is the seed of our experience. So then, if we can control, train and culture our minds in a way that they can only react positively to all sets of objects and under all sets of circumstances, then our reactions would all be positive. Happiness and peace is his /her who has thus trained his/her minds to react positively to the world outside.  [to be cont------d] BY SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA.

This brings us to the question :- What is experience? Is it not the impression left on one when one's mind and intellect come in contact with an object [for objects] and react with it[ or them] at a given time and place? The same object can give different experiences to the same mind on different occasions, in different places or  in a changed setup. But the one common factor in all experiences is that we must have our minds reacting to the world of objects.

RELIGION:-8. The external world of objects remains the same, only the experiences provided by it are different in different individual . For example, a father lives with his wife and two sons under the same roof. They eat the same food, cooked in the same kitchen, listen to the same radio, sit chat, sing, and laugh under the same ceiling fan. But while thus sitting together one Sunday afternoon after lunch, what is the experience of each? It cannot be very difficult for anyone of us to know that the experience is certainly  not the same with all members of that happy family. If the experiences are different  while the objects remain same. What is the cause for this variety? Can we have a uniform experience? [to be cont---d] 

RELIGION:-7. The external world sense-objects has no real joy content. It seems to give us now and then a little joy; but this very sweetness soon gets putrified to sourness and bitterness. In everyone's experience all circumstances have in themselves an atmosfere of sorrow. Religion promises no magical change in the nature of the sense-objects or in the pattern of their arrangements under various circumstances. The world will remain and the nature of circumstances will continue to function according to eternal Law. Religion enables the faithful only to face life with greater liveliness, and lends a psychological balance and a spiritual poise  to the individual. [to be cot----d] By Swami Chinmayananda.

RELIGION:-6. The remedy is simple. We have only to turn inwards. As it is, our entire attention is focused on the external material world and we seek there joy and peace. Naturally we miss them. The finite external objects cannot by their nature, yield for us our demand which is in fact an eternal  joy -a blissful satisfaction that shall be for ever with us. Such a complete Ananda and santi cannot be out there. They can be had only here within each individual. "Turn within! right about turn and you are face to face with what you are seeking". is the saintly advice unanimously  voiced forth by all the great religions of the world. And "it is true; it is true; it is true;"is the repeated endorsement that comes to us from all the mystics and masters.   

RELIGION:-5. Similarly, man stands on the open terrace of life looking outward into the deepening darkness and suffers from cold and loneliness. His own beloved Religion, invitingly bids him to come in. It reminds him of the discomforts on the terrace and appeals to him to turn back. "Renounce the terrace and walk into the lit-up Halls of Joy within where I shall attend to your every comfort,"cries Religion. But the mad master of the house hears not the call of Religion.  

RELIGION:-4. Figuratively it is something like this : a man or woman who has temporarily lost his/her memory stands upon the terrace of his/her own house and despairs at the gathering darkness and the descending chill of the wintry night. He/She suffers agonies. They weep,they sigh. They[ he/she] feel helpless and besieged by pain and sorrow. But a few yards behind them is the balcony window, kept half open, through which they could  see their own warm home where their bed is ready, their dinner is laid and their beloved is waiting with all devotion and love. He/She  has only to turn around to see the welcoming, comforting, inviting sight of their own luxurious home of sweetness and joy. At will he/she can walk in and claim all the bliss of his or her own birth right.  

RELIGION:-3. Every true religion contains two important limbs:- 1. the ritualistic injunctions, and 2. philosophical suggestions. The former alone is accepted generally as Religion [rituals, formalities, etc.] Religion without philosophy is superstition., and philosophy without religion is barren. Both must go hand in hand. Philosophy reinforces the external practices of rituals and formalities and blesses them with a purpose and an aim. Together they bring out the significance of Religion. Religion, in its full significance, has for its content a vivid discussion upon the goal of life and its nature. It is also a description of an elaborate system of spiritual practices by pursuing which men and women of all degrees can start, from their present status of evolution, on the pilgrimage to the goal held out. Vedanta deals vividly and elaborately with Truth. Its discussions, based upon the intimate and personal experiences of the seers, bring us to the conclusion  that the +++S

RELIGION:-2. But to one who has evolved himself into a full grown person, such carvings of the soul flood his/her being and push him/her increasingly towards the limits of his/her understandings and feelings . In the unrest of the soul he/she comes to despair at the wonder and majesty of the most intimate fact with him/her--life. The questions they ask themselves are; Where did I come from? Where do I go? Why have I come? Is life an empty and meaningless incident? Has life a purpose? Is there a mission in life? Only a full grown person, who has lived his/her days experiences intelligently and has throughout kept an alert critical attention upon the incidents of life, can attain an inner maturity in which he/she comes to feel  the soul's unrest. Religion is addressed to such an individual. Religion explains, assures and guides him.her. It lends a purpose to his/her day to day existence, far more divine and nobler than mere eating, drinking, sleeping, laughing and weeping.

RELIGION:-1. Religion is a privilege of human and not an instinct of animals. To animal, life is one round of eating, sleeping and mating. Human, even when he has food, shelter, clothing and recreation, does not feel satisfied. Men and women  yearn for a greater purpose in life. So long as they have not these minimum necessities of life --food,shelter,clothing and recreation--their entire personality strives for them. But once these are satisfied, they sit back as it were to listen to the muffled voice of enquiry from within. These questionings  and innermost cravings of the soul come only to a full grown humanbeings. I mean, even among the bipeds we can recognize the animals ; we have among us tigers, wolves, deer, snakes, scorpions etc. Such men and women, who are lowly evolved fail to listen to the doubts and despairs of the soul-quest from within. Having no such inner voiceless-woe, they need on remedy. [to be continued----] 

BEWARE:-7. We must learn to stop all such confusions in our minds. Mistakes not the container for the contents. All khadicaps do not adorn  a head truly glowing with the spirit of freedom; all sacred robes do not conceal a heart gurgling with love divine. Some magic shown, some eloquence exhibited, some memorized verses chanted or some exaggerated claims  made -these cannot create a divine out of the essentially base and the brutal. The shameless way in which smart magicians, eloquent speakers and students of good memory are today parading in our country claiming themselves to be incarnations, is in itself a sad commentary upon our intelligence. Please remember it is not for them to claim that they are divine; it is for us to come to our own individual, independent judgement of them for what they are worth. Remember this when you next meet one of these cheap claimants to lucrative god-hood. Ignore them as we must the squint in other's eye; suffer them, as we do the summer&

BEWARE:-6. APART FROM THE HONEY IT CONTAINS, A HONEY BOTTLE HAS NO SWEETNESS OF ITS OWN. ANY FOOL WEARING THE GARB OF THE PRIEST CANNOT BE A PRIEST; OR ELSE THE SACRED ROBE, AS IT DRIES IN THE LAUNDRY, MUST ALSO BE CONSIDERED AS A PRIEST. IT IS NOT THE CLOTH THAT MAKES ONE DIVINE; THE CLOTH MAY INDICATE THE SACRED GOAL OF THE WEARER, BUT IT IS THE PERFECTION IN THE MAN MORAL,ETHICAL AND SPIRITUAL THAT MAKES HIM DSERVE ALL OUR RESPECT AND OUR TOTAL REVERENCES.