Vedantham : ( 07/11/2012. )

Friday, Nov 29, 2013. Vedantham : Our Relationship with the Lord : -7. Hanuman :- Hanuman says, "O  Lord, at moments when I  am steeped in my body consciousness I  am Thy slave;  when  I  identify with the mind and intellect, i.e.; as a Jeevatma,  I  am the part of Thee;  and when in my Svarupa, that is as the Spirit, I  am Thyself." Thus our relationship with the Lord can be explained in three different ways according to state of our Self-Consciousness. There are moments when even the greatest Seer is conscious of the sorrows of physical pains and even of the inclemencies of the weather. At such moments even a Jnani falls prostrate at His feet and mentally seeks the mercy of the Lord. There are moments when he is conscious of some inner mental agitation or irresistible poetic outbursts or high intellectual flight and recognises within himself a might and a power almost equivalent to that of the Lord. It is ...

Perfect Identity : To such a one in his perception he is but 'That'. As that he has once for all dropped all his wrong identifications with his body or the psychological entity.  He becomes 'Pure Spirit', and as 'Spirit' his relationship with the 'Lord'is one of "PERFECT IDENTITY" : there cannot be perfect relationship, as "Relationship" denotes the existence of at least a pair of things. Though the "Vedanta student sought Truth within himself, yet in his discovery of it as though in his own bosom, he experiences himself ad the "Whole". This type of student is served by the school of philosophy  called "Non-Dualism"of Swami Adi Sankaracharya. These three kinds of our relationships with Truth have been beautifully described in "Ramayanam", when "Hanuman", the greatest devotee of "Sri Ramachandra"explains his relationship with "Sri Ramachandra". Next...

The perfect student of Vedantham has reached the Guru after discovering in his discrimination that neither his body nor his psychological personality can be sufficiently sacred and divine as to satisfy himself. He has come to feel that some power subtler than the mind and the intellect is playing hide-and-seek with in him, and that it is really the dynamic Life Centre which vitalise the other coatings of matter that come to envelope and hide it. The Guru endorses the disciple's vague and accidental conclusions. The Master of Vedantham provides the disciple with arguments and convictions and leads him to this Seat of Life, the "SELF", "THAT LIES WITHIN THE SEEKER HIMSELF". When the disciple comes to understand fully the depth and significance to the Guru's mystical words and comes vitally and intensely to first hand experience the GREAT GRAND TRUTH THAT he is "THAT", he gains "PERFECT KNOWLEDGE". Next :- Perfect Ide...

"MAN IS GOD" :- It is only in the daring declaration of the perfect philosophy that discusses the vital and final experience of man in the realms of the spiritual, the "Vedantham",  that we find an unequivocal emphatic declaration that "MAN IS GOD." To a student of  of "DUALISM" and QUALIFIED MONISM this may appear fantastic, for the former views  "TRUTH"  with reference to his body, while the latter views "Truth"from the psychological personality.  Next : "Great Grand 'Truth' that he is 'THAT'. " :- Continues....

Based on this concept of the two classes of men, we have our philosophy two views of life and approaches to 'Truth;' the 'Dualism'of " Sri Madhavacharya"  and the 'Qualified Monism "Sri Ramanuja."The former concludes that the Lord and his Devotee  would remain as two distinct entities and relationship of the devotee to the Lord is one of complete surrender in love and reverence. The 'Supreme Goal' of man is in reaching His feet and Eternally remaining there ever in His 'Seva'( Service ). The latter, however, argues in a different line and arrives at the conclusion that the Devotee is a part of the "Whole," the "Lord". Continues...  

Thursday, Nov 07, 2013. Our Relationship with the Lord : 2. There is yet another class of men who have slightly grown up and have come to recognise that they are not only the bodies but also creatures endowed with mind and intellect. Such men, have, therefore, come to recognise the existence and workings of the psychological personalities in them. To them, they being not merely their bodies. Man is not a perishable ineffectual worm but is a sacred creature possessing almost Godly powers evident in the manifestations of the mind and the intellect. They review the achievements of science and poetry; they recognise the thinkers and discovereers; they make into account the total victory man has sdo far gained over the mighty Nature and come to conclusion that man, as a thinking creature, who has a glory and a might, is not much inferior to the Gods. Thus, to man of this degree of development their relationship with the GOD ( Paramatma ) is that they are a part  ...

To the ordinary man, his body is himself.   His identification with the body is deep and strong. He lives for the body, and knows no other mission in life than sensuous joys. To such a one, living such a low level of existence, the only relationship he could have with the Lord ( Eternal Truth/  Reality/ God...so on) must be one of separate -ness and slavery. Continues...