WHO IS A GOOD INDIVIDUAL?

"Goodness cannot be tasted like a fruit or some edible material! If one asks how sweet the fruit is you cannot explain it in proper terms! You will ask him to eat and experience the taste!! !n the same way one has to experience goodness in many ways before he considers others as good or bad! People who are sincere, simple pious,gentle, of good habits and customs,service minded,treat others with love and respect in your opinion can be considered good!!Company of such people shall give you pleasure and satisfaction and a realization that they are genuinely good!! you should not be carried away by mere appearances for appearances are deceptive! There are bad people but outwardly looking good!! there are also villagers with rugged and rough exterior who are as good as gold and as gentle as lamb!! It is our company and movement with them that will reveal the truth about them! It is only after that experience that we can recommend them to others! Otherwise our name will be under cloud!!
 

WHAT IS " RAMA RAJYA "

"" Rama Rajya" was the state of society during the Rule of the Avatar Sri Rama! The word means a society which existed by following the rules of Dharma or righteousness! Sage Valmiki,says of Rama: ' Ramo vigrahavan Dharmaha" Rama is the embodiment of Dharma! Dharma is defined as a way of life where people scrupulously follow the rules and directions of the Vedas and other sasthras of Sanathana Dharma!!The vedas abound in mandatory directions like, 'Sathyam vada. Dharmam chara' and the like! The four Purusfarthas, Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha are the directions towards which all human beings travel. The idea is that one should lead a dharmic life and earn Money or artha. He should satisfy his desires-kama-through money earned through Dharma' When Dharma is followed and by money earned through Dharma desires are fulfilled , man is eligible for Moksha or Emancipation! It is said that Money has FOUR Dayadis! ' chatwaro dhana dayadaha Dhrmagni nrupa taskaraha' ie Money has to be shared by Dharma, Fire, King and thief! In other words if money is not spent on Dharma it willbe consumed in fre or taken away by the king, or robbed by the thef! It is only an illusion to think of Rama Rajya in the present society! it is Kaliyuga now noted for all evils, bad and cruel acts affecting all human beings on earth! During the Krutha Yuga Dharma stood on four legs! In Thretha Yuga it came down to Three legs! In Dwapara yuga It stood on two legs. Now, in Kaliyuga Dharma is standing on one leg only according to sasthras and Bhagavatha Purana!  Lies, cheating, fraud, dishonesty, murder, rape abuse of women, eve teasing, stalking, revenge,insincerity, selfishness, ego, greed, aggrandizement, miserliness,attachment and a host of evil tendencies are plaguing the society of today all over the world! This is as it should be in Kali yuga as per the Sasthras! These qualities shall grow from bad to worse by the end of Kali Yuga when there will be the DELUGE and dissolution of the Universe! A new age or Yuga will start afresh! So,establishment of Rama Rajya is not at all a possibility at present  At best we can follow the principles of Dharma like speaking the truth and being honest  helping others in distress and following other good principles individually! However much we may try it is practically impossible to bring in Rama Rajya!!"

DIFFERENT TYPES OF DEVOTION

"A True devotee of God always submits himself to the will of God!! There are various types of devotion that are enunciated in our Sanathana Dharma! They are Vandanam ,Smaranam ,Archanam ,Padasevanam, Dasyam, Sakhyam, Atmanivedanam  Keerthanam and others! The master -servant feeling is called Dasyam! The devotee is the servant of the Lord carrying out the dictates of his lord!  When he considers God as his mother or father he is the child totally depending on the lord for everything! This is called 'Vatsalya Bhava!! When the devotee goes a little beyond he considers God as the whole and himself a part of the whole or a chip of the same block! He does not want to say that he is the " Brahman' because he wants to retain his identity and enjoy the Supreme Bliss or Ananda! These types of devotion and Bhavas are brilliantly experienced by the azwars and nayanmars of the south! Sri Ramakrishna too considered himself as the child of his Mother Kali whom he worshiped!! His, we can say, is vatsalya Bhava! One of the azwars considers himself as a mother and God as the child and sings a lullaby for HIM!! There is also a nayika -nayaka bhava where the devotee considers himself as a lady love waiting anxiously for the lover and suffering the pangs of " Viraha" separation from the Lover! In every thought, word and action the devotee submits himself to the divine will and chants his name constantly!! Bhakthi after all is intense and extraordinary LOVE for God with different ramifications but with God at the center! Sri Ramakrishna considered his wife Sri Sarada Devi as the personification of his mother Goddess Kali and worshiped her!! Devotional fervour in a person should make him see god in every creature and extend his pure love without any hesitation!!"

 

CAN YOU TAKE ANY THING WITH YOU FINALLY?

"Man enters the stage of Life with nothing!! He exits the stage equally with nothing! In between Life and demise he acquires various assets, qualifications,beliefs, and other things for his satisfaction! All these versatile factors in man are useful during his life time and are of no value when death overtakes him! Says Thomas Gray, the English Poet " All paths of Glory lead but to the Grave"! Existence of man on earth is uncertain! Any thing can happen at any time! Mortal man is quite unaware of his own transient stay in the world! He thinks he will live for ever with his wife and children and his assets and other property!  He becomes more and more materialistic and does not think of his spiritual self! Our sages and seers have stated very clearly that nothing follows man when he leaves this world! This body made of the Five Elements merges into those Elements and disappears! What follows the person is the good and bad he has done on the surface of earth when he lived! The greatest wonder on earth is that man, seeing every person dying, thinks that he will live on for ever This is what Dharmaraja told the yaksha when he was questioned in the Mahabharatha! Our Life is compared to the momentary flash of lightning! " Vidyth chalam Jivitam" What is the purpose of this Life? asks a devotee! Your travels,riches, prosperity,kingdom,sons, wife, friends and relatives,body and home--- all these things are of momentary existence!  So, go in for prayer and worship of Lord Siva the consort of Parvathi! The vasanas, the feelings or the tendencies to which man was attached very intimately go with him along with his papa and punya he has earned during his life time!! It is the effect of these karmas that he has to experience in his next Birth!!"

WHAT IS KARMA YOGA OR PATH OF ACTION ? ( CONTD)

Elaborating on karma yoga, Krishna declares that one who lives in the Self has no use for any Karma or duty. He is not affected by the non performance of any duty. Unless one reaches this stage he has to perform his duties. Krishna urges Arjuna to do his duty without expectation of any reward. " Jnanis are of two types", the Lord tells Arjuna ' Those who go far from the madding crowd, live in the forest and meditate on the Self. They do notaffect others either by action or non action. The second type need not do any action as they are ideals for others in performing their duties". King Janaka despite being an intellectual continued performing his duties! When sage Yajnavalkya created a fire to test his disciple Janaka, he was unperturbed and declared that he was meditating on the Self but not not bothered about the burning city Mithila!

       The Lord says that the elderly should be cautious in their actions since people follow them. " There is nothing in the three worlds that I need. But I perform my duty!" says Krishna to Arjuna. " People follow the evil in others but not the good. Both the Jnani and the ignorant require karma or action. " If karma is recommended for both, what difference is there in their methods?" questions Arjuna. Krishna replies that  Jnani need not perform karma but he should not spoil others by his non action. "He should act perfectly and set an example to others. The ignorant is under the illusion that he is intimately connected with worldly things. But the Jnani is unaffected with mundane affairs. He surrenders every thing worldly and spiritual to me without ego and attachment and not expecting any return. Such people are saved by me from all cares & anxieties"explains Krishna to Arjuna!

        Arjuna raises a relevant doubt. " If all actions are predetermined by past karma what is the use of controlling our actions?" Krishna replies that control over one self reduces the speed of action. Sensory organs lead man astray to hatrsd, anger and enjoyment.They are very strong enemies of man Arjuna wants to Know what causes man to do what he does not want and forces him to do what he desires. " Desire and anger are man's inveterate enemies. They are caused by RajoGuna. They are insatiable They force man to commit more sins", replies Krishna.

         The Lord continues, " Three types of people exist in the world. The Sathwiks are the best. The Rajasiks are moderate and the Thamasiks are the worst. All the three are subject to Anger and Desire but in varying degrees.Like smoke that is blown away by the wind Anger & Dsire are repulsed by the Sathwiks. The second type  are like a  dirty mirror with dense dust that cannot be cleansed in a single birth. In the third worst type Anger and Desire are inextricably intertwined like the layer in the womb of the mother They can never get salvation without Divine Grace" The entry points of Anger and Desire are the mind and intellect. you have to control them in the beginning itself. It is through theoretical and practical knowledge one can control them. Understand these aspects properly and fix your mind on the Absolute Self!" concluded Krishna.

 

Make Believe World

 "From time immemorial the world is considered as illusory --not Real! The great maxim " brahma Satyam, Jagan mithya" affirms this idea!  In sri Dakshina Murthy Stothra Adi Sankara says " viswam darpana drusyamana nagari thulyam!"  the entire Universe is akin to the sight of a town in the mirror! It is only the image or reflection of the real object! As we live in this illusory world we are surely in a make-believe existence!  It is MAYA or Illusion that compels us to consider the real as false and the false as real! When man emerges out of this maya he realizes his self and knows that he is the ATMA that has no death at al!! Lord krishna tells Arjuna on the battle field that he should not confuse the body with the soul or atma! All of us think that our body is the atma or soul and suffer the consequences This is just a simple example! But to realize that we are in a make believe world is extremely difficult! Our cinema experience is another example! We admire the hero,his heroics, songs, laugh at jokes, feel sad at the sufferings in the theater on the silver screen! For over a few hours in the theater we think it is all real but soon after coming out realize that it is all make-believe!! " ALL THE WORLD IS A STAGE and ALL MEN and WOMEN MERELY PLAYERS" says Shakespeare!!!!"

IN SEARCH OF REAL HAPPINESS.

Every individual in the univrse wants happiness. He wants to be happy with his family and kith and kin. But happiness has eluded him from time immemorial!  There is none in the world who can say that he is perfectly happy. Life is not a bed of roses nor is it a bed of thorns. Man's existence alternates between happiness and misery, joy and sorrow, sunshine and storm, good and evil, right and wrong,light and darkness etc. It is the arrangement of the Providence. you cannot understand the significance of one without the other! Happiness cannot be enjoyed without sorrow. It is only then one can realize what happiness is! It is the same with other qualities.

       Man by nature is ' ananda swarupa' embodiment of happiness. He is expected to be happy always. when we meet a person we enquire whether he is happy. But we never ask him whether he is sad or miserable.That is because we expect every one to be happy and cheerful. What is this happiness? How can we define it? It is a state of mind when the person is totally satisfied in attaining some thing that he intensely desires.The child is happy with the doll and ball. The boy is happy with his games and studies. Man is happy with his wife and children. In later life people are happy with retirement and relaxation. According to the different stages of man the objects that give him happiness change. The ball and other objects are no more the source of happiness for ever to the changing life of man.

        Do these words, enjoyment, pleasure, gladness and a few others, express the sense of real happiness? Not at all. They are sensory perceptions felt by the sensory organs. These perceptions do not survive for long.They are transient. A cup of good coffee satisfies you. You are happy. A picture is dear to you. you enjoy. A dish is very nice and tasty. You are glad. You are pleased with some good sight and its impressions. But  these feelings and impressions do not live long and just vanish after some time. You cannot call them as real happiness. They are trivial pleasures and experiences mistaken for real happiness!

         Adi Sankara describes in one of his famous sthothras that man transcends  all the mundane experiences and sufferings in life. He defines what Man is. He calls him  "chdananda rupa sivoham sivoham" Man cannot identify himself with his body. the real "I " is not the body. It is the Atma or soul enshrined in every creature in the universe. It is in the body and not in the body. It is the silent witness to what all happens inside the body. It is unaffected by what th body suffers, enjoys, or experiences. It is Existence, Awareness, and Bliss concretised! Unfortunately man confuses the Atma with the body. He is enveloped with maya or illusion Material, transient, and changing pleasures cannot be called happiness. Real Happiness is that which exists for ever and does not change at every moment.

          Real Happiness that lifts man to regions of fulfilment is called Bliss or Ananda! It is the supreme state of ethereal happiness that man is expected to experience and enjoy! It is the ideal goal and purpose for which man is created! But most of us fritter away our time and energy in pursuit of trivial and transient pleasures. in short, man has to realize himself and feel that He is  'ananda' himself, the indestructible atma, always in Bliss!

           In Taittiriyopanishad, Bhrugu, son of Varuna is directed to research and understand what Brahman is! He performs tapas and finds out that annam (food), prana, manas, and vijnana or knowledge do not correspond to Brahman! It is Ananda or Bliss alone which can be called the Brahman. " anando brahmethi vyajanath." Dedicated and sincere effort shall lead man to realize his self and enjoy the eternal Bliss or Ananda! This Bliss is real Happiness, not others! it is this Bliss that our sages and seers realized in abundance!