Spirituality, Religion ....

Review of Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali’s Child Revisited by Prof. Jeffery D. Long

2011-02-10T03:30:00.001-08:00

Review of Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited by JEFFERY D. LONG published in Vedanta Kesari Nov 2010 issue.

Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kàlì's Child Revisited by Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana,

published by Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited, 41, UA Bungalow Road,

Jawahar Nagar, Delhi - 110 007. 2010, hardback, pp. 410 + xxi, Rs. 995.

Dr. Jeffery D.Long is an Associate Professor and Chair, Religious Studies, Elizabethtown College. He is also Co-Director, Asian Studies Minor, Elizabethtown College. Elizabethtown, PA 17022, USA

In their long-awaited, in-depth, and meticulously crafted response to Jeffrey Kripal's highly controversial work on the life and psychology of Sri Ramakrishna, Kàlì's Child, not only have Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana thoroughly demolished the earlier book's thesis—which stands revealed as a house of cards, built on a foundation of faulty translations and tendentious speculations asserted as facts—they have also made an important contribution to the future of Ramakrishna studies, and to the study of Hinduism and of Indian culture more broadly. In their hands, the story of Kàlì's Child becomes a cautionary tale—a case of what can happen when deeply held cultural biases are allowed to go unchallenged in scholarly work on materials from a context very different from that of the author—and a

chapter in the longer story of how Sri Ramakrishna has been seen by interpreters from both inside and outside the community of his devotees, as well as from the very different cultural vantage points of India and 'the West'.

Interpreting Ramakrishna embodies many characteristics of the Vedanta tradition that its authors inhabit. Unlike another recent critique of academic scholarship on Hindu traditions with which it will inevitably be compared—the incendiary Invading the Sacred (edited by Krishnan Ramaswamy, Antonio de Nicolas, and Aditi Banerjee)–Interpreting Ramakrishna eschews ad hominem attacks, focusing solely on the work of the author at hand. There is no 'reverse psychoanalysis' of Jeffrey Kripal. Nor is there any attempt to ascribe motives either to him, his teachers, or the academy of which he is a part. Instead, one finds a very precise, careful, and detailed deconstruction of Kàlì's Child. Although no author would enjoy seeing his work put through the proverbial grinder in this way, it is clear that the authors of Interpreting Ramakrishna are not engaged in a personal attack.

Instead of engaging in acrimonious personal attacks, Tyagananda and Vrajaprana are far more interested in pursuing the important question—which could be characterized as the refrain of this book (p. xiv)— 'Why do we see what we see? Why do we interpret the way we interpret?' For the central issue of the Kàlì's Child controversy is not merely a matter of contested facts—though these also abound, as Tyagananda and Vrajaprana go out of their way to document exhaustively, particularly in their lengthy fifth chapter (pp. 269-347). The central issue is a clash of worldviews and cultural assumptions that have the effect of actually shaping the phenomena which scholars perceive.

Kripal is not the first academic scholar of Hinduism to see psychopathology in the life and experiences of Sri Ramakrishna. As Tyagananda and Vrajaprana document, his is only the most recent and famous (or infamous, depending on one's perspective) in a lineage of psychoanalytic responses to Ramakrishna, going back to Sigmund Freud himself (p. 33- 34). And many of these responses have not involved the translation errors or other issues plaguing Kàlì's Child. In other words, even when there is agreement upon the basic facts at hand, where one person sees a highly enlightened and spiritually realized being in an advanced state of samàdhi, another person sees a deeply troubled and mentally ill individual in need of extensive therapeutic treatment. Both, it seems, are highly stubborn perceptions that cannot easily be swayed by argument, any more than one can be swayed into saying that the sky is not blue. They are effects of prior metaphysical commitments that are so deeply embedded in the psyche of the perceiver as to have become part of the mental equipment— the computer software, if you will—with which the perceiver's reality is constructed.

As a consequence of this situation, Tyagananda and Vrajaprana are aware that no truly 'objective' approach to Ramakrishna— or to any topic, for that matter—is possible. In articulating and operating from this insight, the authors of Interpreting Ramakrishna are consistent with the very latest academic theories on the nature of interpretation. The idea of postmodernity is precisely that no truly disinterested foundation for knowledge exists.

But postmodern thought is a doubleedged sword. For if there is no such thing as an objective foundation for knowledge, is it not the case that one interpretation is as good as another? Who is to say if Ramakrishna experienced nirvikalpa samâdhi, or a psychotic breakdown? Indeed, a common defence of Kripal's work that I have often encountered in conversation with my academic colleagues is that Kàlì's Child is 'his interpretation.' If one interpretation is as good as another, then what is the problem? Those of us who are in the tradition of Ramakrishna can have 'our' Ramakrishna and Kripal can have his, and we can all be happy.

This relativistic approach is seductive, particularly for those of us who are in the Vedanta tradition, due to its seeming kinship to Ramakrishna's very own teaching—yato mat, tato path ['As many faiths, so many paths']. We all inhabit different conceptual frameworks, and we all perceive and approach reality accordingly. Therefore, let a thousand flowers bloom. So Christians can see the highest reality as Christ, Buddhists can see it as Buddha Nature, Muslims can see it as Allah, Vaishnavas as Vishnu, Shaivas as Shiva, and so on. The adherent of Vedanta can see Sri Ramakrishna as an avatar or enlightened sage and the psychoanalyst can see him as a deeply troubled man.

As I have argued elsewhere, though, neither the Vedanta of Sri Ramakrishna nor postmodern thought (at least in some of its forms, postmodernity being a highly diverse intellectual movement) implies a radical relativism that would deny a substrate of shared reality at the basis of all our perceptions. As in the famous Jain parable of the blind men and the elephant, while each blind man perceives the elephant differently—as a tree trunk (if he feels a leg), or a snake (if he feels the trunk), or a rope (if he feels the tail), or a spear (if he feels a tusk)—there is, nevertheless, an elephant really there. It is not that no objective reality exists. But our ability to perceive and express it is always relative and limited. Even a fully enlightened being, whose perception would be perfect, would find him or herself limited by the power of language and linguistically limited concepts when faced with the task of expressing that perception to others.

Analogously, when approaching a text, although interpretations may vary greatly, perhaps even to the point of radical incompatibility and incommensurability, there is still an agreed upon collection of lexical items called 'the text' that enables all interpreters to know what the others are talking about. It would be quite bizarre, for example, if a reader of the Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathàmrta were to come away from the text concluding that it was about rocket science, or the contested results of the 2000 US Presidential election. If an interpreter were to come to such a conclusion, other readers would conclude that this person must have been reading a different text, or that there must be something seriously wrong with this person's reading ability. The burden would be on that eccentric reader to demonstrate (by some, presumably convoluted, reasoning process) the validity of his very unusual interpretation.

While Tyagananda and Vrajaprana acknowledge, and find both deeply interesting and important, the fact that interpreters from different cultural frames of reference both can and do arrive at radically different conclusions about Sri Ramakrishna, in the case of Kàlì's Child, they make a convincing case that, in terms of the plain meaning of Bengali words and phrases—as well as with regard to widely held Hindu understandings of such things as the meaning of the symbolism of the liîgam and the yoni and the relationship of Vedanta and Tantra—interpretations are offered and conclusions reached that are almost as preposterous as seeing the Kathàmíta as being about rocket science or the Florida vote recount.

Kàlì's Child, for example, portrays Ramakrishna as a misogynist, with a deeply held dislike for women due to his having been sexually abused by women in his village as a child. Tyagananda and Vrajaprana point out that there is no evidence in any of the textual sources for such abuse ever having occurred— it is a speculation that is presented as a fact. And there is abundant evidence in the accounts of Ramakrishna's female disciples for his having treated them with great warmth and kindness—accounts that are ignored in Kàlì's Child, but which Tyagananda and Vrajaprana cite extensively (pp. 258-267).

Kàlì's Child also sets up a strong opposition between Vedanta and Tantra that is puzzling to those who are familiar with these strands of Hindu tradition in practice. The goal seems to be to present a Tantric Ramakrishna who is made over in a Vedantic mould by Swami Vivekananda and others with an aversion to Tantra in the subsequent Vedanta tradition. This despite the numerous, explicitly Vedantic teachings of Ramakrishna that can be found in the original sources, and the positive references to such Tantric practices as the worship of Kàlì that can be found in the works of Swami Vivekananda. That both Vedanta and Tantra are ways of teaching and realizing non-dualism is largely ignored. What has been most shocking to insiders of the Ramakrishna tradition (and other interested Hindu participant-observers of the Kàlì's Child controversy) is that mistakes of such a magnitude could be not only forgiven, but accepted and widely acclaimed, among academic scholars of religion. It is here that the question of the relativity of the cultural lenses one wears comes to bear upon this issue. Coming from an environment in which most readers do not know Bengali, for example, it was very easy for scholars to accept the claim of Kàlì's Child to be 'recovering' a long-suppressed text.

Similarly, given the highly organized cover-ups of scandalous behaviour by priests in Christian organizations—and the fact of the scandalous behaviour itself—a portrait of a scandalously behaving holy man whose faithful followers cover up his sins through a campaign of obfuscation was, and remains, entirely believable to the average Western reader of Kàlì's Child—a reader who is conversant neither with the original Bengali texts in question (texts that are widely read and loved in India) nor with the Master whose life and teachings these texts record.

Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana have, therefore, performed a much needed and valuable service for the Ramakrishna tradition by pointing out, with scholarly precision, the errors of translation and interpretation on which Kàlì's Child is based, and to scholars of Hinduism and Indian culture more broadly by showing how easily cultural biases can distort the representation of traditions beyond recognition, leading to a tragic situation of misunderstanding on both sides.

Review of Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited

2011-02-03T03:11:00.000-08:00

(Published in American Vedantist Vol.16 No.3 2010)

………

Review Article

William Page

Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited, by Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana, with a Foreword by Huston Smith. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, 2010. Hardback, 410 pages, with appendix, notes, bibliography, and index. Rs. 995.

When Jeffrey J. Kripal published Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna in 1995, it caused a furor. This was a study of Sri Ramakrishna based on Freudian presuppositions. It maintained that Sri Ramakrishna's mystical experiences were caused by repressed homosexual tendencies that he himself did not recognize. In developing this thesis, Kripal speculated that Sri Ramakrishna was sexually abused as a child by itinerant sadhus, as a boy by the women of Kamarpukur, as a young man by Mathur Babu and the Bhairavi Brahmani (not both at the same time, presumably), and even by his Vedantic guru, Tota Puri.

No wonder the book provoked an uproar. One wonders how Hriday and Haladhari got left out of the ongoing orgy.

Not even with a pair of tongs

The fury in India was intense. Ironically, even most educated Indians never got to read the book. Published by the University of Chicago Press, it was expensive and generally unavailable in India. What Indians did read, in January 1997, was an explosive review by Narasingha Sil in The Statesman headlined "The Question of Ramakrishna's Homosexuality." It criticized Kali's Child in language that occasionally became very unscholarly indeed, and set off a firestorm of outraged letters to the editor.

"The book reviewed should not have been touched even with a pair of tongs," one reader fumed. "Deserves to be thrown in the dustbin," huffed another. "Muck dumped in putrid detail," snarled a third. Much of the wrath was directed at The Statesman for publishing the review ("filth," "trash," "garbage," "rubbish"), although Kripal of course received a fair share of vilification ("sick," "diseased," "perverted"). There were calls for the government of India to ban the book. Kripal himself received a great deal of hate mail ("Dear Mr. Perverter"), and even death threats, which shook him.

And may I digress to express a personal concern. The abuse that was hurled at Kripal from India, like the frenzy over the Babri Mosque, made me ashamed to be associated with Hinduism. Of course devotees were hurt by Kripal's claims; but devotees should be made of sterner stuff. We aspire, after all, to Vedantic equanimity.

What should we do when somebody maligns our guru—or, worse, our Chosen Ideal? The obvious answer is to strike a middle path between the responses of Yogin and Niranjan. When people criticized Sri Ramakrishna, Yogin remained silent; Niranjan threatened to swamp the boat. Sri Ramakrishna scolded Yogin for not reacting, and Niranjan for overreacting.

The message is clear: Follow a middle path between quiescence and violence. Stand up for your guru, rebut the criticisms, and defend him firmly in a dignified, dispassionate, and rational way.

That's exactly what Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana do in Interpreting Ramakrishna.

Facing the brute

When the controversy over the Sil review erupted, the Ramakrishna Mission was reluctant to get involved. They believed that doing so would simply give Kripal's book more publicity and fan the flames. And there was another reason. Spiritual aspirants have to keep their minds on a high plane. From the viewpoint of Ramakrishna devotees, the allegations in Kali's Child were on a very low plane indeed. Nobody wanted to touch them—not "even with a pair of tongs." One senior swami wrote that he was able to read only three pages of that "horrible stuff" before having to put the book down. Another said that since the book had been published in America, it was up to the Americans to respond to it.

Eventually that's what happened. While Kali's Child was excoriated in India, in the United States the reaction was exactly the opposite. Devotees were naturally appalled, but devotees are a minority in America, and the book was greeted with widespread acclaim by much of the academic community. Kripal had drawn his conclusions from studying M's Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita in the original Bengali; the academic community couldn't read Bengali; so there was no way they could check his conclusions even if they had been inclined to do so. And there's a tendency in some American academic circles to stand up and cheer whenever somebody tears down an established icon.

It was not until Swami Atmajnanananda, an American-born swami fluent in Bengali, addressed the issue in an August 1997 article in an academic journal, that a major counterattack got under way. (On a personal note, I will be forever grateful to Swami Atmajnanananda for clearing up, through personal correspondence, doubts I myself developed after reading Kali's Child.) Atmajnanananda questioned Kripal's competence in Bengali and his knowledge of Bengali culture—two key elements to an understanding of Sri Ramakrishna.

Enter Swami Tyagananda. In 1998 he was assigned to the Boston Vedanta center, with auxiliary duties at Harvard University. What was his surprise to find that the claims made in Kali's Child were defining the discourse about Sri Ramakrishna within the American academic community. He was fresh out of India and hadn't even read the book. But he quickly rectified this omission, and joined forces with Pravrajika Vrajaprana to produce a 124-page photocopied rebuttal, "Kali's Child Revisited; or, Didn't Anyone Check the Documentation?" This was distributed at a meeting of the American Academy of Religion in 2000. It fleshed out in greater detail Swami Atmajnanananda's contention that Kripal's book was based on mistranslations from the Bengali and misunderstanding of Bengali culture.

More than just a rebuttal

Interpreting Ramakrishna is an impressive new book that elaborates upon the points presented earlier and adds new ones as well. With a masterful command of detail, it provides an exhaustive and thoroughgoing rebuttal of the allegations contained in Kali's Child.

But it's far more than just a rebuttal. It casts its net wider and strikes deeper. Among other things, it contains a history of the debate that Kripal's book provoked; a wide-ranging discussion of the difficulties of translation and interpretation, especially in a cross-cultural context; and an examination of the possibilities for Ramakrishna studies in the future.

The book begins with a concise but comprehensive survey of the entire body of literature on Sri Ramakrishna, starting with the first collection of his teachings published by Keshab Chandra Sen in 1878 and continuing up to the present. In addition to the traditional interpretations, we encounter the Teutonic ponderosity of Max Muller's "dialogic process," Romain Rolland's Gallic gushings, the imaginative embellishments of Dhan Gopal Mukerji, and much more. This chapter will be of great interest to devotees who, like myself, have been unable to access many of the books and articles written about Sri Ramakrishna over the years. The authors summarize and evaluate all this material in an insightful, magisterial, and even-handed way.

Hijacked by the Freudians

Beginning with an article by Walter Neevel in 1976, Western scholarship on Sri Ramakrishna was hijacked by Tantric enthusiasts and Freudian psychoanalysts, and it's never been the same since. (This is my interpretation, not the authors'.) Western scholars love Tantra. They think it's sexy. By contrast, they're indifferent to Vedanta because they find it arid and boring. I mean, where's the fun in nirvikalpa samadhi? Much more exciting to be giggling about lingams and yonis.

Freudian psychoanalysis has been criticized even on its home ground for being subjective, unscientific, unreliable, and quirky. Tyagananda and Vrajaprana marvel at the hubris of Western scholars who assume that a North European thought-system rooted in secular materialism and sexuality can begin to comprehend the workings of a 19^th-century rural Bengali mind grounded in deity-rich Hinduism and committed to celibacy. (48-49)

Such considerations did not deter writers like Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, who psychoanalyzed Sri Ramakrishna in 1980 and found him to be disturbed, depressed, delusional, hallucinatory, and homosexual. It doesn't make us feel any better to know that Masson also thought the Buddha was depressed; otherwise, why so much emphasis on suffering? (50-53)

The homoerotic hypothesis

Enter Jeffrey Kripal. At the age of 27, he arrived in Kolkata in 1989 to continue his study of Bengali, having already studied Tantra, psychoanalysis, and mysticism. He spent eight months as the guest of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, with access to their library.

Kripal had studied the Kathamrita in the original Bengali and found passages that led him to suspect that Sri Ramakrishna had homosexual tendencies. Because of his own tendency to sexualize his translations and his ignorance of Bengali culture, the more he read, the more convinced he became that he had discovered something that generations of Bengali readers had missed.

He may have fallen into a trap that Tyagananda and Vrajaprana call cultural monovision. (241) This occurs when people come to a foreign country and project their own culturally conditioned preconceptions upon the local culture. I live in Thailand, and I see this a lot. Americans come here and think that Bangkok is just like Los Angeles, and the Thais are just like Mexicans. Westerners often come to Asia, see men holding hands in the street, and assume that they're homosexuals.

Tyagananda and Vrajaprana cite more than one example of cultural monovision in Kali's Child. Here's one: "One can imagine," Kripal writes, "how upset Narendra must have been with Ramakrishna's desire to call him Kamalalaksa, one of those effeminate Vaisnava names meaning 'Lotus Eyes.'" (KC 26) But it's Kripal who views the epithet as effeminate, not Narendra. Narendra was a Hindu. Hindus are accustomed to hearing male deities referred to as "lotus-eyed"—including Shiva, who can hardly be considered effeminate. (295)

At some point in his studies, Kripal formulated his thesis: that Sri Ramakrishna's mystical experiences were caused by homoerotic energies of which he was unaware. This raises an obvious question: How could you possibly prove such a thing? How can you demonstrate, in any empirically verifiable way, a causal connection between "homoerotic energies" and mystical experience?

This issue points to a glaring need in contemporary psychological studies. Instead of psychoanalytic theorizing, what we need is a rigorous, scientific study of mystical experience, and especially of samadhi: its prerequisites, its causes, any physiological factors that may facilitate it, any mental factors that may fuel it, its objective and subjective symptoms, and its measurable outcomes. This is a job for the neuroscientists.

Three M's and an S

Kripal doesn't succeed in demonstrating a causal connection between homosexuality and mystical experience, but he does try to prove that Sri Ramakrishna was a repressed homosexual. As Tyagananda and Vrajaprana show repeatedly, he does this by mistranslating Bengali expressions, usually slanting them toward a sexual interpretation; by misunderstanding aspects of Bengali culture, usually through ignorance; and by misinterpreting events by viewing them through his own cultural lens. That's a lot of misses. He also speculates, often quite imaginatively, and later treats his speculations as if they were established facts. The cumulative effect can be convincing, especially since Kripal has a seductive prose style and is skilled in dialectic.

One example illustrates all four of these shortcomings. It's not in Kali's Child, but comes from a later book, Roads of Excess, Palaces of Wisdom, published by Kripal in 2001. Referring to a passage in the Lilaprasanga, Kripal writes that the youthful Swami Abhedananda "misunderstood the doctrine of nonduality and used it in an immoral fashion (we are told no details)….These energies possess definite erotic dimensions—hence their 'immoral' use in what I suspect was a sexual practice of some sort (and that is not at all clear, but 'immoral' is often a euphemism for 'sexual' in the texts.)" (REPW 254, quoted in IR 99.)

Tyagananda and Vrajaprana note that "used it in an immoral fashion" is a mistranslation. The text actually says that Swami Abhedananda "sometimes…did actions contrary to good behavior." There's a difference between immorality and improper behavior, and in this case there was nothing immoral—or sexual—about it. The offense Swami Abhedananda committed was eating chicken.

Westerners will laugh, but the authors explain that eating chicken was considered opprobrious by Hindu Bengalis even up until recent times. (99) In this one example we see all the flaws manifested in Kali's Child: mistranslation, misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and speculation.

No demonizing, please—we're Vedantists

Some devotees may be tempted to demonize Jeffrey Kripal, but that would be alien to the Vedantic tradition. Everybody who has met Kripal—and I haven't, although I once had a long and vigorous correspondence with him—says that he is a very engaging and personable fellow. I have no doubt that this is true. Nor do I doubt that he is sincere in wanting to attain a fuller understanding of Sri Ramakrishna. He may be horrendously misguided, and consequently deluded, but in one way some of us are in his debt. There's a point at which serenity segues into complacency, and sometimes we get complacent. Kripal's book challenged those of us who read it, shook us out of our complacency, forced us to think, roused us to defend our beliefs. We owe him for that.

After eight long years of being bruised and battered by the controversy over Kali's Child, Jeffrey Kripal finally closed the book on it and went on to more rewarding endeavors. Currently he is actively involved with the Esalen Institute. I wish him well.

A landmark in Ramakrishna scholarship

Interpreting Ramakrishna is bound to become a landmark in Ramakrishna scholarship, and Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana are to be congratulated for a prodigious achievement. For this they should get the Vivekananda Award. The book will undoubtedly prove to be the Ramakrishna movement's definitive response to the allegations contained in Kali's Child. Will it mark an end to the hijacking of Ramakrishna studies by the psychoanalytic school?

Probably not. But the psychoanalytic school dodges the issue. The real issue is not what psychological factors may have been involved in Sri Ramakrishna's mystical experiences. That's just a sideshow. The real issue is whether he actually experienced a transcendent reality, known in some circles as God. That's what Vedantists believe, and at our present level of scientific development it can't be proven or disproven in any empirically verifiable way.

In their final chapter, the authors express the hope that there can be a meeting of the minds between the community of devotees and the academic community of secular-minded scholars. To me this hope seems somewhat forlorn. The gulf between the secular and the Vedantic worldviews is too great to bridge. Despite attempts to "dialogue" and be civil to each other in public, I've always had the feeling that each side walks away from every encounter secretly thinking the other side is stupid.

Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana are more optimistic. They're much more familiar with the thinking of both communities than I am, so I may very well be wrong. I hope I am. I hope that there can be a meeting of the minds. But I wouldn't bet the ashram on it.

………

William Page is a retired teacher of English who has been associated with the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of Massachusetts since 1960 and is currently a member of the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society of Thailand.

spiritual aspiration and sentimentality

2010-11-27T01:10:00.000-08:00

Ordinarily speaking, spiritual aspiration ought to be balanced through the intellect; otherwise it may degenerate into mere sentimentality. . . .

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 7/Inspired Talks/Sunday, June 30

This World is a Circus Ring....

2010-11-27T01:06:00.001-08:00

"THIS WORLD IS A CIRCUS RING" (New Discoveries, Vol. 6, p. 156.)

From Mrs. Alice Hansbrough's reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda's conversation with Miss Bell at Camp Taylor, California, in May 1900:

MISS BELL: This world is an old schoolhouse where we come to learn our lessons.

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA: Who told you that? [Miss Bell could not remember.] Well, I don't think so. I think this world is a circus ring in which we are the clowns tumbling.

MISS BELL: Why do we tumble, Swami?

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA: Because we like to tumble. When we get tired, we will quit.

Swami Vivekananda on Guru Nanak and Guru Govind Singh

2010-09-16T08:30:00.001-07:00

Swami Vivekananda on Guru Nanak and Guru Govind Singh

Guru Nanak

This [Punjab] is the land which, after all its sufferings, has not yet entirely lost its glory and its strength. Here it was that in later times the gentle Nanak preached his marvellous love for the world. Here it was that his broad heart was opened and his arms outstretched to embrace the whole world, not only of Hindus, but of Mohammedans too. Here it was that one of the last and one of the most glorious heroes of our race, Guru Govinda Singh, after shedding his blood and that of his dearest and nearest for the cause of religion, even when deserted by those for whom this blood was shed, retired into the South to die like a wounded lion struck to the heart, without a word against his country, without a single word of murmur. [Complete Works, 3.366]

Guru Nanak was like that, you know, looking for the one disciple to whom he would give his power. And he passed over all his own family—his children were as nothing to him—till he came upon the boy to whom he gave it; and then he could die. [Complete Works 8.264]

````````````````````````````

There was a great prophet in India, Guru Nânak, born [some] four hundred years ago. Some of you have heard of the Sikhs—the fighting people. Guru Nanak was [the founder and also] a follower of the Sikh religion.

One day he went to the Mohammedans' mosque. These Mohammedans are feared in their own country, just as in a Christian country no one dare say anything against their religion. . . . So Guru Nanak went in and there was a big mosque, and the Mohammedans were standing in prayer. They stand in lines: they kneel down, stand up, and repeat certain words at the same times, and one fellow leads. So Guru Nanak went there. And when the mullah was saying "In the name of the most merciful and kind God, Teacher of all teachers", Guru Nanak began to smile. He says, "Look at that hypocrite". The mullah got into a passion. "Why do you smile?"

"Because you are not praying, my friend. That is why I am smiling."

"Not praying?"

"Certainly not. There is no prayer in you."

The mullah was very angry, and he went and laid a complaint before a magistrate and said, "This heathen rascal dares to come to our mosque and smiles at us when we are praying. The only punishment is instant death. Kill him".

Guru Nanak was brought before the magistrate and asked why he smiled.

"Because he was not praying."

"What was he doing?" the magistrate asked.

"I will tell you what he was doing if you will bring him before me."

The magistrate ordered the mullah to be brought. And when he came, the magistrate said, "Here is the mullah. [Now] explain why you laughed when he was praying".

Guru Nanak said, "Give the mullah a piece of the Koran [to swear on]. [In the mosque] when he was saying 'Allah, Allah', he was thinking of some chicken he had left at home".

The poor mullah was confounded. He was a little more sincere than the others, and he confessed he was thinking of the chicken, and so they let the Sikh go. "And", said the magistrate [to the mullah], "don't go to the mosque again. It is better not to go at all than to commit blasphemy there and hypocrisy. Do not go when you do not feel like praying. Do not be like a hypocrite, and do not think of the chicken and say the name of the Most Merciful and Blissful God". [Complete Works 9.233]

```````````````````

Guru Govind Singh

One great prophet, however, arose in the north, Govind Singh, the last Guru of the Sikhs, with creative genius; and the result of his spiritual work was followed by the well - known political organisation of the Sikhs. We have seen throughout the history of India, a spiritual upheaval is almost always succeeded by a political unity extending over more or less area of the continent, which in its turn helps to strengthen the spiritual aspiration that brings it to being. [CW, 6.66]

Then and then alone you are a Hindu when you will be ready to bear everything for them, like the great example I have quoted at the beginning of this lecture, of your great Guru Govind Singh. Driven out from this country, fighting against its oppressors, after having shed his own blood for the defence of the Hindu religion, after having seen his children killed on the battlefield—ay, this example of the great Guru, left even by those for whose sake he was shedding his blood and the blood of his own nearest and dearest—he, the wounded lion, retired from the field calmly to die in the South, but not a word of curse escaped his lips against those who had ungratefully forsaken him! Mark me, every one of you will have to be a Govind Singh, if you want to do good to your country. You may see thousands of defects in your countrymen, but mark their Hindu blood. They are the first Gods you will have to worship even if they do everything to hurt you, even if everyone of them send out a curse to you, you send out to them words of love. If they drive you out, retire to die in silence like that mighty lion, Govind Singh. Such a man is worthy of the name of Hindu; such an ideal ought to be before us always. All our hatchets let us bury; send out this grand current of love all round. [Complete Works, 3.379]

`````````````````

While walking to and fro, Swamiji took up the story of Guru Govind Singh and with his great eloquence touched upon the various points in his life—how the revival of the Sikh sect was brought about by his great renunciation, austerities, fortitude, and life - consecrating labours—how by his initiation he re-Hinduised Mohammedan converts and took them back into the Sikh community—and how on the banks of the Narmada he brought his wonderful life to a close. Speaking of the great power that used to be infused in those days into the initiates of Guru Govind, Swamiji recited a popular doha (couplet) of the Sikhs:

sava lakh ka ek chadauo

jab guru gobinda naam sunuo

The meaning is: 'When Guru Govind gives the Name, i.e. the initiation, a single man becomes strong enough to triumph over a lakh and a quarter of his foes." Each disciple, deriving from his inspiration a real spiritual devotion, had his soul filled with such wonderful heroism! While holding forth thus on the glories of religion, Swamiji's eyes dilating with enthusiasm seemed to be emitting fire, and his hearers, dumb - stricken and looking at his face, kept watching the wonderful sight.

After a while the disciple said: 'Sir, it was very remarkable that Guru Govind could unite both Hindus and Mussulmans within the fold of his religion and lead them both towards the same end. In Indian history, no other example of this can be found."

Swamiji: Men can never be united unless there is a bond of common interest. You can never unite people merely by getting up meetings, societies, and lectures if their interests be not one and the same. Guru Govind made it understood everywhere that the men of his age, be they Hindus or Mussulmans, were living under a regime of profound injustice and oppression. He did not create any common interest, he only pointed it out to the masses. And so both Hindus and Mussulmans followed him. He was a great worshipper of Shakti. Yet, in Indian history, such an example is indeed very rare. [Complete Works 6.515]

````````````````````````````

Quote from the Bible on quiet spirit

2010-08-31T23:40:00.001-07:00

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided
hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it
should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and
quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. -- Peter 3:3-4
KJV

In search of wealth...

2010-07-25T20:27:00.001-07:00

"In search of wealth in this world, you are the only wealth I have found, I sacrifice myself unto you, God. In search of someone to be loved, you are the only beloved I have found, I sacrifice myself unto you, God." Let us repeat this day and night, and say, "Nothing for me, no matter whether the thing is good, bad or indifferent. I do not care for it. I sacrifice all unto God."

Swami Vivekannada : Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.102.

The more opposition there is, the better...

2010-07-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

The more opposition there is, the better. Does a river acquire velocity unless there is resistance? The newer and better a thing is, the more opposition it will meet with at the outset. It is opposition which forestalls success. Where there is no opposition, there is no success either.

Swami Vivekananda, From "Memoirs of European Travel," written in Bengali. Complete Works, 7.372.

Interpreting Ramakrishna : Another book on Ramakrishna

2010-07-22T02:27:00.000-07:00

Google pointed to a new book today:
Interpreting Ramakrishna: Kali's Child Revisited by Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana, with foreword by Huston Smith
ISBN(Hardbound): 8120834992, 9788120834996

Published by Motilal Banarsidass
Book's website : http://www.interpretingramakrishna.com

It is particularly interesting to note what Francis X.Clooney has said about the book:

Interpreting Ramakrishna is a substantial and conscientious work of scholarly and religious reflection, the best resource we have for understanding Sri Ramakrishna today. Instigated by recent debates about Ramakrishna's identity and significance, the book fruitfully invites us to step back and take a much longer perspective, noticing a century's worth of Ramakrishna scholarship by devotees, monastic writers, and academic scholars. But the book also looks forward to how we — with all our varied interests and perspectives — can most fruitfully reflect on Ramakrishna in the 21st century. We can only thank Swami Tyagananda and Pravrajika Vrajaprana for showing us how to remember, think clearly, and write constructively about Ramakrishna, with an honesty that is critical, unpresuming, and in fact deeply spiritual. —Francis X. Clooney, S.J.
Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School

Dhammapada 165 ~ By oneself one is purified

2010-07-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

Sole responsibility

"By oneself one does evil. By oneself one is defiled. By oneself one abstains from evil. By oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity are personal matters. No one can purify someone else" (Dhammapada 165).

Next to the Four Aryan Truths and the Eightfold Aryan Path, this is perhaps the most important of Buddha's philosophical teachings. It is uncompromising truth: our life is in our hands and ours alone. Yes, we can be influenced by others and even have others affect our life--but it is our choice to do so and we determine to what degree we will be affected. Certainly we reach into the world around us and take to ourselves various elements, but we do that intentionally.

Those who wish to escape responsibility insist that something is beyond their control, that they could not help themselves in a certain situation. But even those situations and that susceptibility were determined by them previously. For example, if a person builds a brick wall incompetently and it falls on him and injures him, they certainly did not build it with that as their purpose, but their incompetence brought the injury about, so at the root it was all in their sphere, none else. What about those harmed or even killed in "natural disasters"? That was their karma which they themselves created, and on a subliminal level they understood all the implications when they created that karma.

Another example occurred to a healer friend of mind. It was his practice to tune in with the inner mind of a person before attempting to heal them (actually, he taught them to heal themselves). When he tuned into a little girl who was severely retarded, to his shock a deep, male voice shouted: "Leave me alone, I know what I am doing!" He realized this was the voice of the child's former personality, and that the retardation was for a purpose--she was retarded by her own choice. Occasionally he would tune in and ask: "Have you learned what you need, yet?" "No," would be the answer. Then one day her inner mind said: "Yes. You can help me now." And that girl became totally normal. So here we see that it is all our choice, even when another factor enters our life and changes it.

Buddha spoke these words to people who had already produced in themselves a significant degree of awakening. Yet they (yes, by their choice) still carried with them mistaken ideas from past religious experience, including the fundamental bane of most religion: the attribution of responsibility to forces other than themselves, especially the reflexive attribution of everything to God. But now they had chosen to approach Buddha to be freed from those childish beliefs, and he did not fail them. Those clinging to the errors of the past accused Buddha of being atheistic, but he was not. You might just as well call someone atheistic if they said God had nothing to do with their cooking failures. Being the Source of all, everything involves God. But there are certain areas in which human beings control everything, and their life is one of them. God has manifested all the worlds and the various forms in which we incarnate. God has also woven various "laws" into the fabric of relative existence which operate at all times without exception. The universe is a great interactive school of learning set up so the students can teach themselves--a kind of ultimate Montessori school. The use, misuse, or neglect of the school and the opportunities it offers are solely the choice of each student.

Morality

Buddha gave another not very popular teaching: one of the signs of awakening is the ability to feel shame--yes, guilt. Morality is of prime concern in the dharma of Buddha, despite the fact that Westerners flock to Buddhism (or a deformation thereof) to get away from "Judeo-Christian morality." Vain hope! All Eastern religions have moral principles far more complex and realistic than those of Western religions. The difference is, they are voluntary and are not forced on others. That is of course, a better situation, but anyone who thinks they can shake their guilt by "turning East" are self-deluded.

The practical side to moral principles is the capacity of the individual for both defilement and purification. Therefore Buddha taught:

By oneself one does evil.

No one else is involved in the final analysis, for we act solely from our own ever-free will. Even a bent or perverted will got that way by the person's own past choices. So their apparent bondage is the result of the exercise of free will. It is habitual with people to blame environment, other people, disadvantages, etc., but action is done only by each one of us. That is why in one of the Pali sutras there is a section which contains statements such as: "There shall be lying, but we shall not lie. There shall be killing, but we shall not kill. There shall be stealing, but we shall not steal." This is the way it must be understood. We are not herd animals, even though society is usually nothing more than a herd. We are individuals with our own minds and wills. If we choose to run with the herd, it is still all our doing. A sensible aspirant knows that all around him people will be engaging in adharmic actions, and that should not influence him in the least. Yes; there will be wrongdoing, but we shall not do wrong. Wrong actions condition the mind and will to wrongdoing, but that is our choice. We do not do wrong because our wills are weak, but because they are strong and we have pointed them in the wrong direction.

By oneself one is defiled.

Much of this has just been covered. Eastern religion understands that wrongdoing does not anger God, but that it brings negative results--karma--into our lives, and even worse, it defiles our minds and hearts, darkening and distorting them. This latter is the worst part, because karma can be exhausted, but defilement stays on, inclining us to more of the same negative actions.

By oneself one abstains from evil.

Again, this is not a group thing--it is totally individual, although we can certainly draw inspiration from others to apply our free will in the right direction. Still, it is a completely personal, private matter. People who cannot stand alone on their own simply will not succeed in the pursuit of higher life. It is not for weaklings, whiners, or cowards. That is why spiritual teachers often use examples from military life, and the Bhagavad Gita is set on a battlefield.

By oneself one is purified.

Purification is possible--this is Buddha's message of hope--and it can be fully accomplished by us, by our free will. In Parsifal, Parsifal touches the spear to the wounded side of Amfortas, saying: "That which wounded alone can heal." The spear represents the will of the individual. Of course we must know the way to purify ourself, not just cover up the wounds. Meditation is the supreme healer through self-purification.

Purity and impurity are personal matters.

No, we did not inherit a propensity to evil from Adam, ancestors, "racial memory" or "collective unconscious" (oh, come on), our parents or society. Many people try to blame traumatic experiences, but those experiences came about because they were their karma--results of their past deeds committed through free will. There are no victims, only reapers of personal karma. Good and evil, purity and impurity, are our choice alone.

No one can purify someone else.

How important this is! False religion and false gurus pretend to be able to purify us and forgive our sins. NOT AT ALL. It is a destructive mythology, no matter how sincere it may be. No one takes away our sins--not even us. We must purify ourselves. Sometimes in yogic treatises it will be stated that a practice burns away of washes away impurities, but it is the individual's engaging in the practice that purifies. And that is a matter of will and action.

Actually we see this principle in the life of Jesus. Many times when people were healed by his touch he would assure them that their own faith was what healed them. This was not modesty, but honesty. Their faith and their effort in coming to him was a healing karma, and even more it was an opening, an allying of their will with his. So their healing was their doing, although Jesus was the instrument.

We are the answer to our own problems once we know the way to higher life and consciousness.

Excerpt from Vivekananda's letter

2010-06-29T23:49:00.001-07:00

Never during his life did Ramakrishna refuse a single prayer of mine. Millions of offenses has he forgiven me. Such great love even my parents never had for me. There is no poetry, no exaggeration in all this. It is the bare truth and every disciple of his knows it.

Swami Vivekananda in Letter to Pramada Das Mitra. Written in Bengali from Ghazipur on March 3, 1890. Complete Works, 6.232.

selfishness and misery

2010-06-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

With the sense of possession comes selfishness,
and selfishness brings on misery.

Swami Vivekananda : Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.100

God is one who can alter the destiny of people

2010-06-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

How to recognize God when he assumes a human form?

Vivekananda: God is one who can alter the destiny of people. No sâdhu, however advanced, can claim this unique position. I don't see anyone who truly recognizes Ramakrishna as God. We sometimes feel it hazily, that is all. To realize Ramakrishna as God and yet be attached to the world is inconsistent.

Swami Vivekananda : Selections from the Belur Math Diary. Complete Works, 5.325.

the pains and the miseries

2010-06-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

All this that you see, the pains and the miseries, are but the necessary conditions of this world. Poverty and wealth and happiness are but momentary. They do not belong to our real nature at all. Our nature is far beyond misery and happiness, beyond every object of the senses, beyond the imagination. And yet we must go on working all the time.

Swami Vivekananda : Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.100.

There is not one spark of real enjoyment there...

2010-04-08T09:20:00.001-07:00

The idea that the gratification of the senses constitutes enjoyment is purely materialistic.There is not one spark of real enjoyment there; all the joy you find in it is a mere reflection of the true bliss.

Swami Vivekananda at a retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 25, 1895. Complete Works, 7.16.

The Lord looks into a man's heart...

2010-04-08T09:18:00.001-07:00

The Lord looks into a man's heart and does not judge him by what he does or where he lives.
p. 204 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Seek the science of the maker and not that of the made.

2010-04-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

Do all as a sacrifice or offering to the Lord. Be in the world, but not of it, like the lotus leaf whose roots are in the mud but which remains always pure. Let your love go to all, whatever they do to you. .... Do not want this world, because what you desire you get. Seek the Lord and the Lord only. The more power there is, the more bondage, the more fear. How much more afraid and miserable are we than the ant! Get out of it all and come to the Lord. Seek the science of the maker and not that of the made.

Swami Vivekananda in Complete Works Vol 7: Inspired talks

If in this hell of a world...

2010-04-03T09:22:00.001-07:00

If in this hell of a world one can bring a little joy and peace even for a day into the heart of a single person, that much alone is true. This I have learnt after suffering all my life. All else is mere moonshine.

Swami Vivekananda in a Letter to Swami Brahmananda. Written in Bengali from Benares on February 18, 1902. Complete Works, 5.177.

Plunder and fight as you may...

2010-03-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

Plunder and fight as you may, the enjoyment that you seek can be found only in peace; and peace is only in the renunciation of sensual pleasures. Enjoyment lies not in physical development but in the culture of the mind and the intellect.

From "The East and the West," originally written in Bengali. Complete Works, 5.534.

"It is much easier to refrain from error - in speech or in activity - than to seek forgiveness for ..."

2010-03-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

It is much easier to refrain from error - in speech or in activity - than to seek forgiveness for the word quickly spoken.

Edgar Cayce Reading 1669-1

Vivekananda's Quote from Thousand Island Park retreat

2010-03-17T02:54:00.001-07:00

Bless others when they revile you. Think how much good they are doing you; they can only hurt themselves. Go where people hate you, let them thrash the ego out of you, and you will get nearer to God.

Swami Vivekananda at a retreat given at the Thousand Island Park, USA. June 25, 1895. Complete Works, 7.15.

Vivekananda on Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga

2010-03-02T23:54:00.000-08:00

It is a most difficult thing to give up is the clinging to this universe; few ever attain to that. There are two ways to do that: one way is called neti neti ("not this, not this"), the other is called iti iti ("this, this"). The former is the negative, the latter is the positive way.

The negative way is the most difficult. It is only possible to people of the very highest, exceptional minds and gigantic wills who simply stand up and say, "No, I will not have this," and the mind and body obey their will, and they come out successful. But such people are rare.

The vast majority choose the positive way, the way through the world, making use of all the bondages themselves to break those very bondages. This is also a kind of giving up; only it is done slowly and gradually, by knowing things, enjoying things and thus obtaining experience, and knowing the nature of things until the mind lets them all go at last and becomes unattached.

The former way of obtaining non-attachment is by reasoning, and the latter way is through work and experience. The first is the path of Jñāna Yoga, the second is that of Karma Yoga.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.97.

Holy Mother and the Calf

2009-11-16T03:03:00.001-08:00

RECORDED BY SURENDRANATH SIRCAR

Very early one morning a calf was pitifully crying in the outer courtyard of the Mother's house at Jayrambati. The calf was kept separated from its mother for the purpose of milking the cow. On hearing its cry the Mother rushed out, saying, "I am coming, child, I am coming. I shall release you just now." Coming to the courtyard, she freed the calf. I was wonderstruck on seeing this revelation of the compassion of the Divine Mother towards all beings. Alas! Only such an anguished cry can bring about the release of the soul.

The Gospel of the Holy Mother, p.235

Excerpt from Gospel of Holy Mother

2009-11-06T01:03:00.000-08:00

RECORDED BY SMT. KSHIRODBALA ROY

Lady doctor Pramoda Dutta of Calcutta, a relation of mine, hailed from the same place as myself. Her husband, too, was a doctor. They were Brahmos. One day Dr. Pramoda Dutta expressed her desire to see the Holy Mother. She very much pleaded with me to escort her to the Mother's house. So, one day we were ready for the visit. Instead of wearing her professional robe, she put on a Sari with red border. She did not even wear shoes. She sprinkled a little Ganges water on her head before she started for the Mother's house.

Going to the first floor in the Mother's house, one could see in the room adjoining the stairs, a photo of the Holy Mother in meditation posture. As her eyes fell on this picture, Pramoda Devi inquired, "Whose photo is this?" I said, "It is the Mother's." She gazed at it for long and remarked, "She's Radha herself." I felt inclined to laugh, for being a Brahmo how could she utter this! On the first floor she met the Mother and saluted her. After a while the Mother asked Sarala-Didi "Bring that boy and get him examined by her." Now I do not remember whose child it was. As the Mother uttered these words, Pramoda Devi quietly asked me, "How could she guess that I was a doctor?" The child was brought before her. At 4 p.m. sweets were offered to the Deity and the Mother distributed the Prasada to all except Pramoda Devi. I could not but feel embarrassed at this. Now, Pramoda Devi was repeatedly telling me, "She gave Prasada to all, but why not to me?" I said to her, "Why don't you ask the Mother?" I did not dare to give her the Prasada that was in my hand. Later Pramoda Devi said to the Mother, "Mother, you distributed Prasada among all; but why didn't you let me have a little of it?" The Mother said, "You are a Brahmo, dear. How can I give you Prasada unless you ask for it?" Pramoda Devi said, "Give me a little Prasada." The Mother too had kept apart one Rasagolla, and she now gave it to Pramoda Devi. The latter tied the Prasada at the loose end of her Sari, saluted the Mother, and returned home. She said to her husband, "Look, the place where I had gone today is a heavenly abode. The person I saw and whose feet I touched there is verily Radha. I have brought a little Prasada for you. I shall give you only if you accept it respectfully." Dr. Dutta said, "What does it matter to the Universal Mother if an insignificant person like me does not eat Her Prasada?" Saying this, he took the Prasada in his palm, touched it by his head, and ate. Pramoda Devi, too, described to him her experience in detail, and said repeatedly, "Today I visited Vrindaban and saw the holy feet of Radharani. I have been blessed."

The Gospel of the Holy Mother p.206

Swami Vivekananda on Health and Happiness...

2009-10-17T05:32:00.001-07:00

The easiest way to make ourselves healthy is to see that others are
healthy, and the easiest way to make ourselves happy is to see that
others are happy.

Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Vol. I p. 146

"What is this maya?"

2009-10-14T21:56:00.001-07:00

Question: "What is this maya?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "Whatever you see, think, or hear is maya. In a word, 'woman and gold' is the covering of maya. There is no harm in chewing betel-leaf, eating fish, smoking, or rubbing the body with oil. What will one achieve by renouncing only these things? The one thing needful is the renunciation of 'woman and gold'. That renunciation is the real and supreme renunciation. Householders should go into solitude now and then, to practice spiritual discipline in order to cultivate devotion to God; they should renounce mentally. But the sannyasi should renounce both mentally and physically."

P. 291 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Excerpt from Gospel : worldly man's idea of God

2009-10-08T05:11:00.001-07:00

Question: "Do you know what a worldly man's idea of God is like?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "It is like, the children's swearing by God when they quarrel. They have heard the word while listening to their elderly aunts quarreling."

p. 265 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

The Gospel of the Holy Mother Sarada Devi

2009-10-04T22:03:00.001-07:00

Books related to Sri Ma Sarada Devi :

Excerpt from CW : Going beyond formal worship

2009-10-03T08:55:00.001-07:00

Thus, working through the plane of the senses, you get more and more entry into the other regions, and then this world falls away from you. You get one glimpse of that spirit, and then your senses and your sense-enjoyments, your dinging to the flesh, will all melt away from you. Glimpse after glimpse will come from the realm of spirit. You will have finished Yoga, and spirit will stand revealed as spirit. Then you will begin the worship of God as spirit. Then you will begin to understand that worship is not to gain something. At heart, our worship was that infinite-finite element, love, which [is] an eternal sacrifice at the feet of the Lord by the soul. "Thou and not I. I am dead. Thou art, and I am not. I do not want wealth nor beauty, no, nor even learning. I do not want salvation. If it be Thy will, let me go into twenty million hells. I only want one thing: Be Thou my love!"
-- Vol 6. Fromal Worship

Excerpt from CW : Vivekananda on Ramakrishna

2009-10-03T08:53:00.001-07:00

The man at whose feet I sat all my life—and it is only a few ideas of his that try to teach—could [hardly] write his name at all. All my life I have not seen another man like that, and I have travelled all over the world. When I think of that man, I feel like a fool, because I want to read books and he never did. He never wanted to lick the plates after other people had eaten. That is why he was his own book. All my life I am repeating what Jack said and John said, and never say anything myself. What glory is it that you know what John said twenty-five years ago and what Jack said five years ago? Tell me what you have to say.
Mind you, there is no value in learning. You are all mistaken in learning. The only value of knowledge is in the strengthening, the disciplining, of the mind. By all this eternal swallowing it is a wonder that we are not all dyspeptics. Let us stop, and burn all the books, and get hold of ourselves and think.
-- Vol 6, Formal Worship

Excerpt from CW

2009-10-03T08:50:00.001-07:00

So what does it mean . . . ? You say, "Lord, give me my bread, my money! Heal my diseases! Do this and that!" Every time you say that, you are hypnotising yourselves with the idea, "I am matter, and this matter is the goal." Every time you try to fulfil a material desire, you tell yourselves that you are [the] body, that you are not spirit. . . .

Thank God, this is a dream! Thank God, for it will vanish! Thank God, there is death, glorious death, because it ends all this delusion, this dream, this fleshiness, this anguish. No dream can be eternal; it must end sooner or later. There is none who can keep his dream for ever. I thank God that it is so! Yet this form of worship is all right. Go on! To pray for something is better than nothing. These are the stages through which we pass. These are the first lessons. Gradually, the mind begins to think of something higher than the senses, the body, the enjoyments of this world.

Vol 6 : Formal Worship

Sri Ramakrishna on duties

2009-09-27T06:56:00.001-07:00

Question: "But how can we persuade our minds to renounce?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "You are a goswami. It is your duty to officiate as priest in the temple. You cannot renounce the world; otherwise, who would look after the temple and its services? You have to renounce mentally. It is God Himself who has kept you in the world to set an example to men. You may resolve in your mind a thousand times to renounce the world, but you will not succeed. God has given you such a nature that you must perform your worldly duties. Krishna said to Arjuna: 'What do you mean, you will not fight? By your mere will you cannot desist from fighting. Your very nature will make you fight.'"

P. 255 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Anecdote in Ramakrishna's life

2009-06-25T21:13:00.001-07:00

"There is a charming anecdote in the life of Ramakrishna of one of the wandering monks who used to visit the temple at Dakshineswar on the Ganges, where he lived. He used to come out of his cell twice a day and sit on the edge of the Ganges as though he were a spectator in the theater, and clap his hands and say, "Bravo! Excellent!" as though the whole universe were an enormous theatrical performance."
-- Christopher Isherwood, James J. Berg, and Claude Summers (2007), Isherwood on Writing: The Lectures in California, Univ Of Minnesota Press, p.65 ISBN 978-0816646937

master oogway on destiny

2009-06-19T02:59:00.000-07:00

one often meets one's destiny on the path taken to avoid it. -- Master Oogway

Edgar Cayce Reading 2683-1

2009-06-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

. . each soul has a mission in the earth, and is in expression a manifestation of the thought of God, of the First Cause. Thus all stand upon an equal basis before Him.
Then, ye have no right to condemn self or to judge others.
Let all be done rather, then, as an appreciation of the love, the thought as may be expressed in appreciation to that Creative Force called God.
And the greater lessons may be learned from His manifested activity in the earth through Christ Jesus.

Edgar Cayce Reading 2683-1

A Letter of Swami Ramakrishnananda

2009-06-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

Thiruvalikeni [Triplicane, Chennai]
14.08.1904

Dear friend Chokkalingam Pillai,

I was glad to go through your letter describing your mental state. It is extremely good that you want to become a genuine Yogi. But even before you try to become a Yogi, it is absolutely necessary to do certain things. Is it possible to build a house before the construction of the foundation? First, you have to do your duty to your soul, and to your wife and children, if you have any. You have to do your duty to your relations, friends and neighbours. You have to be charitable, honest in earning wealth and truthful. Not only that; your soul and body itself should have intense devotion and love for God. You have to continue like this till you acquire all the virtues mentioned above. You should certainly know that people do not have the right to enter the house of Yoga till the body and mind become extremely pure. Yoga is not controlling the breath, doing pranayama or practising certain special ‘postures’. Annihilating all the desires in the mind is yoga. Only pure-minded persons can throw out the results of evil desires from their mind. Therefore, my dear friend, you should always try to become pure-hearted by doing properly your duties to your parents, wife and children, friends and neighbours. First of all you should try to become an ideal householder. Only then you can truly become a Yogi. Otherwise, it will never be possible.

With loving blessings, your dear friend.

Ramakrishnananda

(Source : Vedanta Kesari, January 2009, p.37)

Concentration and Breathing

2009-06-06T10:05:00.001-07:00

( Excerpt from : Concentration and Breathing )

In training the mind the first step is to begin with the breathing. Regular breathing puts the body in a harmonious condition; and it is then easier to reach the mind. In practicing breathing, the first thing to consider is Âsana or posture. Any posture in which a person can sit easily is his proper position. The spine should be kept free, and the weight of the body should be supported by the ribs. Do not try by contrivances to control the mind; simple breathing is all that is necessary in that line. All austerities to gain concentration of the mind are a mistake. Do not practice them.

The mind acts on the body, and the body in its turn acts upon the mind. They act and react upon each other. Every mental state creates a corresponding state in the body, and every action in the body has its corresponding effect on the mind. It makes no difference whether you think the body and mind are two different entities, or whether you think they are both but one body— the physical body being the gross part and the mind the fine part. They act and react upon each other. The mind is constantly becoming the body. In the training of the mind, it is easier to reach it through the body. The body is easier to grapple with than the mind.

The finer the instrument, the greater the power. The mind is much finer and more powerful than the body. For this reason it is easier to begin with the body.

The science of breathing is the working through the body to reach the mind. In this way we get control of the body, and then we begin to feel the finer working of the body, the finer and more interior, and so on till we reach the mind. As we feel the finer workings of the body, they come under our control. After a while you will be able to feel the operation of the mind on the body. You will also feel the working of one half of the mind upon the other half, and also feel the mind recruiting the nerve centres; for the mind controls and governs the nervous system. You will feel the mind operating along the different nerve currents.

Thus the mind is brought under control—by regular systematic breathing, by governing the gross body first and then the fine body.

The first breathing exercise is perfectly safe and very healthful. It will give you good health, and better your condition generally at least. The other practices should be taken up slowly and carefully.

Excerpts from "The Methods and Purpose of Religion"

2009-06-06T08:48:00.000-07:00

( Excerpt from : The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda ~ Volume 6 ~ Lectures and Discourses ~ The Methods and Purpose of Religion )

That is the one principle of Vedanta. Vedanta declares that religion is here and now, because the question of this life and that life, of life and death, this world and that world, is merely one of superstition and prejudice. There is no break in time beyond what we make. What difference is there between ten and twelve o'clock, except what we make by certain changes in nature? Time flows on the same. So what is meant by this life or that life? It is only a question of time, and what is lost in time may be made up by speed in work. So, says Vedanta, religion is to be realised now. And for you to become religious means that you will start without any religion work your way up and realise things, see things for yourself; and when you have done that, then, and then alone, you have religion. Before that you are no better than atheists, or worse, because the atheist is sincere—he stands up and says, "I do not know about these things—while those others do not know but go about the world, saying, "We arc very religious people." What religion they have no one knows, because they have swallowed some grandmother's story, and priests have asked them to believe these things; if they do not, then let them take care. That is how it is going.

Realisation of religion is the only way. Each one of us will have to discover. Of what use are these books, then, these Bibles of the world? They are of great use, just as maps are of a country. I have seen maps of England all my life before I came here, and they were great helps to me informing some sort of conception of England. Yet, when I arrived in this country, what a difference between the maps and the country itself! So is the difference between realisation and the scriptures. These books are only the maps, the experiences of past men, as a motive power to us to dare to make the same experiences and discover in the same way, if not better.

This is the first principle of Vedanta, that realisation is religion, and he who realises is the religious man; and he who does not is no better than he who says, "I do not know", if not worse, because the other says, "I do not know", and is sincere. In this realisation, again, we shall be helped very much by these books, not only as guides, but as giving instructions and exercises; for every science has its own particular method of investigation. You will find many persons in this world who will say. "I wanted to become religious, I wanted to realise these things, but I have not been able, so I do not believe anything." Even among the educated you will find these. Large numbers of people will tell you, "I have tried to be religious all my life, but there is nothing in it." At the same time you will find this phenomenon: Suppose a man is a chemist, a great scientific man. He comes and tells you this. If you say to him, "I do not believe anything about chemistry, because I have all my life tried to become a chemist and do not find anything in it", he will ask, "When did you try?" "When I went to bed, I repeated, 'O chemistry, come to me', and it never came." That is the very same thing. The chemist laughs at you and says, "Oh, that is not the way. Why did you not go to the laboratory and get all the acids and alkalis and burn your hands from time to time? That alone would have taught you." Do you take the same trouble with religion? Every science has its own method of learning, and religion is to be learnt the same way. It has its own methods, and here is something we can learn, and must learn, from all the ancient prophets of the world, every one who has found something, who has realised religion. They will give us the methods, the particular methods, through which alone we shall be able to realise the truths of religion. They struggled all their lives, discovered particular methods of mental culture, bringing the mind to a certain state, the finest perception, and through that they perceived the truths of religion. To become religious, to perceive religion, feel it, to become a prophet, we have to take these methods and practice them; and then if we find nothing, we shall have the right to say, "There is nothing in religion, for I have tried and failed."

Excerpt from Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

2009-02-03T03:39:00.001-08:00

"Why does one slip from the path of yoga?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "While thinking of God the aspirant may feel a craving for material enjoyment. It is this craving that makes him slip from the path. In his next life he will be born with the spiritual tendencies that he failed to translate into action in his present life."
P. 533-534.The Gospel Of Sri Ramakrishna.

Teachings of Swami Vivekananda - Karma Yoga

2008-12-08T02:32:00.001-08:00

Karma Yoga is a method of purifying the mind through work. ... All fear and all desire to enjoy here or hereafter must be banished for ever by the Karma Yogi. The karma without desire of return will destroy the selfishness, which is the root of all bondage. The watchword of the Karma Yogi is "not I, but Thou," and no amount of self-sacrifice is too much for such a person.

Written during Swamiji's first visit to America, in response to questions put by a Western disciple. Complete Works, 8:152-53.

Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

2008-11-17T21:50:00.001-08:00

Oh, if only you knew yourselves! You are souls; you are divine beings. If ever I feel like blaspheming, it is when I call you human beings.
Sayings and Utterances. Complete Works, 5:417.

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-11-16T09:10:00.001-08:00

"How does One realize the Atman?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "You asked me about Self-realization. Longing is the means of realizing Atman. A man must strive to attain God with all his body, with all his mind, and with all his speech. Because of an excess of bile one gets jaundice. Then one sees everything as yellow; one perceives no colour but yellow. Among you actors, those who take only the roles of women acquire the nature of a woman; by thinking of woman your ways and thoughts become womanly. Just so, by thinking day and night of God one acquires the nature of God. P. 429 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Sri Ramana Sayings

2008-11-13T02:39:00.001-08:00

In the vast ocean of cause and effect, actions happen and impermanent results follow. If one takes them as 'my' actions the idea of having a free will gets stronger. This sense of personal doership gives rise to a feeling of guilt or pride and effectively blocks the spiritual understanding that everything happens according to the will of God.

When there is total acceptance that all actions happen purely by the will of God, and if the fruits and the consequences are accepted as His grace, the mind gets purified and attains freedom from expectations.

Accepting and understanding that God has created the world for His sport and God is playing the lila through billions of body-mind organisms, is better than chanting the sacred names of the Lord, which in turn is superior to worshipping the image of the Lord with body, mind and speech.

When there is an understanding that God himself has become the manifestation; when, by His grace, one feels His presence in the phenomenal existence one obtains the blessings of worshipping the Lord of eight-fold forms without neglecting one's responsibilities.

Understanding that nothing happens according to 'my' will and merely witnessing the billions of body-mind organisms act under God's will is excellent. It is superior to singing the glories of the Lord or reciting His sacred names.

When there is an understanding that God's will prevails all the time and witnessing happens without any 'one' to witness, it is like the stream of ghee (clairified butter) or the flow of a river. This is true meditation. It is much better than meditating with an assumption that one has free will.

The nondualistic approach of understanding that 'I AM' is God is far more purifying and superior than the dualistic approach of assuming the difference between God and the 'me' and struggling to be one with Him.

By the grace of God or the Master when one is firmly established in the 'I AM,' devoid of the thinking mind, with an impersonal knowing that there is no 'me' to get involved, that is Supreme Devotion.

The dissolving of the thinking mind in the Heart, purely by the grace of God or the Master, is true devotion, Yoga and understanding.

Through the act of regulating breath the mind is subdued, just as a bird is restrained when caught in a net. This helps in checking the involvement of the thinking mind at that moment.

Thought and breath have their origin in Consciousness.

When the mind is absorbed, in work or otherwise, and the thinking mind is not active it may be said that the mind is in control temporarily, only to become active again. When, through the deep understanding that "God is the doer and no 'one' has any control over thoughts and actions" the thinking mind is totally annihilated, then it can be said that the thinking mind in that body-mind organism is dead and only the working mind remains.

The thinking mind can be temporarily suspended through the control of breath. It can be annihilated only when there is total understanding that God's will prevails all the time and the different forms are only puppets having no free will of their own. With this understanding three beautiful things happen: there is no 'one' to feel guilty or proud, to get frustrated or to have a sense of enmity. Life becomes simple.

The Sage, whose thinking mind has been destroyed by the total acceptance of the fact that nothing happens unless it is the will of God, and Who rests in the 'I AM' does all the actions with the knowledge that Consciousness alone functions through the billions of body-mind organisms.

When the enquiry, "What is the thinking mind?" occurs, the thinking mind understands intuitively that it has no free will and stops thinking itself to be the doer and gives way to the feeling of 'I AM.' This is the Direct path.

In the ordinary man when a thought occurs the ego takes delivery of it as 'my thought' and gets involved. The thinking mind is nothing but the ego identifying with a thought and getting involved. In the enlightened Sage, when a thought arises, witnessing happens and involvement with the thought does not take place. Ramana Maharshi says, "The Sage has no thinking mind and therefore there are no 'others' for him."

When one enquires, "Where has the 'me' come from?" it will vanish into Consciousness revealing the truth that the 'me' has really come from Totality as part of the Divine Hypnosis. Consciousness has created the ego and Consciousness will annihilate the ego by initiating the process of Self-enquiry.

When we accept that God's will prevails all the time and not the individual will, the 'me' as the doer gets smaller and smaller till it gets completely merged in Consciousness.

When the sense of personal doership disappears with the total acceptance that "All there is, is Consciousness," the thinking mind ceases to exist during the waking hours as in deep sleep. What remains is the light of pure Consciousness, the indestructible 'I AM.'

Glory of the Sadguru

2008-11-03T03:58:00.001-08:00

Kuresh Bhatt was a highly learned, a good quality ascetic and a famous
intellectual. The sharpness of his arguments, the flow of his learned
utterings were capable of shattering the ego of all other learneds. He
had cultivated great respect among all intellectuals. He possessed
many 'Siddhis' in Yoga and Tantra, but his heart was longing for the
real spiritual bliss. This tormented him for many days. But
along with that he also had somewhere in some corner, the ego of
being such a learned and respectful "pandit".

To seek spiritual bliss, on one hand, and the ego of being a learned,
on other hand, created a dilemma within himself. He was not
able to decide whom to make his Master for such a path.
Finally, after pondering patiently on the topic, he decided to go and
seek refuge under the guidance of Acharya Ramanuja. Acharyaji, in
those days, was one of the prominent learned sage and saint, and was
recognised for his wisdom in all directions.

He went to Acharyaji along with his curiosity, but, unfortunately,
Acharyaji
rejected him because of his ego. He tried many times only for being
rejected every time by the Acharya.
One day he was sitting besides Acharyaji, when one of the Acharya's
so-
called sister "Atula" approached him and asked,
"Brother (Acharya ji), I struggle a lot while cooking in my in-law's
home. If you
have any suitable cook, do lend me one, so that I would be freed from
this trouble."
Pondering for a while, Acharyaji's gaze struck Kuresh bhatt. He
said,
"Kuresh, I cannot make you my disciple, but yes, if you wish you can
go and become a cook for my (this) sister."

The wealthiest of all, intellectual of all, ascetic of all, possessor
of many 'siddhis' as Kuresh was, people sitting around were greatly
struck at such a proposal for him.
Although Kuresh was egoistic, yet he was aware of the essense of
the 'Shastras'. He knew the secret of the blissful eye of the
SADGURU. Without wasting a second, Kuresh accepted the proposal and
said,
"Prabhu..! if not a disciple, you are atleast providing with an
opportunity of becoming your servant. This is much for me."

From that very second and for many years he cooked 'chappatis' for
Atula
and his other in-laws' home members. With his love and affection, he
cooked food for everyone; side by side in his mind, he used to remain
engross in meditation of the SADGURU. The continuity of his such
prayers, washed of all the ego making his spirit one with the
SADGURU. His heart was, then, filled with ATMAGYAN and BRAHMAGYAN.

Day came when Acharyaji, himself, approached to Kuresh and said,
" 'Vatsa', now you have become my disciple without any efforts."

Kuresh's life was filled with the blissful nectar of SADGURU's
blessings.

Really is the blessing of the SADGURU such, that it makes the life of
a disciple purest of pure.

Jai Gurudev.
(Ref..'Akhand Jyoti'-2004 'Patrika' from Gayatri Parivar)

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-10-21T03:04:00.001-07:00

"Why do we not feel intense restlessness to realize Him?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "A man does not feel restless for God until all his worldly desires are satisfied. He does not remember the Mother of the Universe until his share of the enjoyment of 'woman and gold' is completed. A child absorbed in play does not seek his mother. But after his play is over, he says, 'Mother! I must go to my mother.' Hriday's son was playing with the pigeons, calling to them, 'Come! Ti, ti!' When he had had enough of play he began to cry. Then a stranger came and said: 'Come with me. I will take you to your mother.' Unhesitatingly he climbed on the man's shoulders and was off. Those who are eternally free do not have to enter worldly life. Their desire for enjoyment has been satisfied with their very birth." P. 385-386 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Holy Mother

2008-10-19T21:31:00.001-07:00

The effect of Karma can be counteracted to a great extent by Japa and austerities.
C111 & TN321 In the Company of the Holy Mother. By Her Direct Disciples. Calcutta : Advaita Ashrama, 1980 & Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

2008-10-17T04:56:00.001-07:00

Good and evil have an equal share in molding character, and in some instances misery is a greater teacher than happiness.
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume I p.27

Teachings of Holy Mother

2008-10-12T21:10:00.001-07:00

Do you know the significance of Japa and other spiritual practices?
By these, the power of the sense-organs is subdued.

TN290 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977

Excerpts from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

2008-10-04T22:50:00.001-07:00

Volume 5/Notes from Lectures and Discourses/Evolution

Patanjali says that these struggles remain only through our ignorance, and are not necessary, and are not part of the evolution of man. It is just our impatience which creates them. We have not the patience to go and work our way out. For instance, there is a fire in a theatre, and only a few escape. The rest in trying to rush out crush one another down. That crush was not necessary for the salvation of the building nor of the two or three who escaped. If all had gone out slowly, not one would have been hurt. That is the case in life. The doors are open for us, and we can all get out without the competition and struggle; and yet we struggle. The struggle we create through our own ignorance, through impatience; we are in too great a hurry. The highest manifestation of strength is to keep ourselves calm and on our own feet.

Teachings of Holy Mother Sarada Devi

2008-10-02T09:28:00.001-07:00

You make some progress in this life, a little more in the next, and so on.
It is the body alone that changes ; the Atman remains the same.

TN330 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

2008-10-02T09:23:00.001-07:00

It is good to love God for hope of reward in this or the next world, but it is better to love God for love's sake.
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume I p.12

Teachings of Holy Mother Sarada Devi

2008-10-02T09:21:00.001-07:00

Whenever people discuss good or evil, all those who are present have to take a little share of the good or evil.
In the Company of the Holy Mother. By Her Direct Disciples. Calcutta : Advaita Ashrama, 1980

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-10-02T09:20:00.001-07:00

"Yes, sir. The disease has indeed become chronic"[Then what is the, way?]

Sri Ramakrishna: "Give God the power of attorney. Let Him do whatever He wants. Be like a kitten and cry to Him with a fervent heart. The mother cat puts the kitten wherever she wants to. The kitten doesn't know anything. It is left sometimes on the bed and sometimes near the hearth." P. 344 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Holy Mother Sarada Devi

2008-10-02T09:17:00.001-07:00

It is a complex always to be suspecting impurities.
The more you emphasize your obsession, the more obsessed you become.
It is true of all things.

C153 & TN336 C & TN- In the Company of the Holy Mother. By Her Direct Disciples. Calcutta : Advaita Ashrama, 1980 & Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Holy Mother Sarada Devi

2008-10-02T09:12:00.001-07:00

Does one achieve everything by practising Japa and meditation for a few days? Nothing whatever is achieved
unless Mahamaya clears the path.

TN350-51 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother;
Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Holy Mother Sarada Devi

2008-10-02T09:06:00.001-07:00

The intelligence of a man is very precarious. It is like the thread of a screw. If one thread is loosened, then he goes crazy. Or he becomes entangled in the trap of Mahamaya and thinks himself to be very intelligent.
TN350-51 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Excerpts from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

2008-09-29T09:11:00.001-07:00

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda ~ Volume 5 ~ Notes from Lectures and Discourses ~ The Evils of Adhikarivada

This attempt at compromise proceeds from arrant downright cowardice. Be bold! My children should be brave, above all. Not the least compromise on any account. Preach the highest truths broadcast. Do not fear losing your respect or causing unhappy friction. Rest assured that if you serve truth in spite of temptations to forsake it, you will attain a heavenly strength in the face of which men will quail to speak before you things which you do not believe to be true. People will be convinced of what you will say to them if you can strictly serve truth for fourteen years continually, without swerving from it. Thus you will confer the greatest blessing on the masses, unshackle their bandages, and uplift the whole nation.

Teachings of Holy Mother - Sarada Devi

2008-09-08T01:45:00.001-07:00

Everything depends on one's mind. Nothing can be achieved without purity of mind.
TN282 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-09-07T21:20:00.001-07:00

There is not other refuge but that great Teacher, Satchidananda. -
P. 168 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Vivekananda - Cheerfullness

2008-09-04T01:21:00.001-07:00

By the practice of cleanliness, the Sattva material prevails, and the mind becomes concentrated and cheerful. The first sign that you are becoming religious is that you are becoming cheerful. When a man is gloomy, that may be dyspepsia, but it is not religion. A pleasurable feeling is the nature of the Sattva. Everything is pleasurable to the Sattvika man, and when this comes, know that you are progressing in Yoga. CW Vol. 1 P. 264

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-09-04T01:19:00.001-07:00

He who has realized God does not look upon a woman with the eye of lust.
P. 168 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Holy Mother - Sarada Devi

2008-08-17T10:05:00.001-07:00

These earthly ties are transitory.
Today they seem to be
the be-all and end-all of life,
and tomorrow they vanish.
Your real tie is with God.

TS74 Thus Spake the Holy Mother. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1971.

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-08-17T10:04:00.001-07:00

"Besides, the children may be disobedient. There is no end of difficulties. Now, sir, what is the way?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "It is extremely difficult to practice spiritual discipline and at the same time lead a householder's life. There are many handicaps: disease, grief, poverty, misunderstanding with one's wife, and disobedient, stupid, and stubborn children. I don't have to give you a list of them. But still there is a way out. One should pray to God, going now and then into solitude, and make efforts to realize Him." P. 326 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Holy Mother - Sarada Devi

2008-08-17T10:03:00.001-07:00

The happiness of the world is transitory.
The less you become attached to the world, the more you enjoy peace of mind.

TN226 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977

Teachings of Holy Mother - Sarada Devi

2008-08-12T02:53:00.001-07:00

The whole world is a dream; even this (the waking state) is a dream ... What you dreamt last night does not exist now.

TN302 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda.
Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations.
Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-08-11T01:22:00.001-07:00

"But still there are the eight bonds."

Sri Ramakrishna: "They are not eight bonds, but eight fetters. But what if they are? These fetters fall off in a moment, by the grace of God. Do you know what it is like? Suppose a room has been kept dark a thousand years. The moment a man brings a light into it, the darkness vanishes. Not little by little. Haven't you seen the magician's feat? He takes string with many knots, and ties one end to something, keeping the other in his hand. Then he shakes the string once or twice, and immediately all the knots come undone. But another man cannot untie the knots however he may try. All the knots of ignorance come undone in the twinkling of an eye, through the guru's grace."
P. 298 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Holy Mother - Sarada Devi

2008-08-11T01:20:00.001-07:00

In one word, one should desire of God desirelessness.
For desire alone is at the root of all suffering. It is the cause of repeated births and deaths.
It is the obstacle in the way of liberation.

TN369 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother;
Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

2008-08-11T01:18:00.001-07:00

A true Christian is a true Hindu, and a true Hindu is a true Christian.

Sayings and utterances. Complete Works, 5:415.

Teachings of Holy Mother - Sarada Devi

2008-08-11T01:17:00.001-07:00

However strong or beautiful this body may be, its culmination is in those three pounds of ashes. And still people are so attached to it.
Glory be to God.

TN261 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-08-11T01:10:00.001-07:00

Even while one is performing one's duties, the mind should be left with God.

P. 162 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

2008-08-11T01:09:00.000-07:00

By the grace of the Guru, a disciple becomes a pandit even without reading books.

Sayings and utterances. Complete Works, 5:414.

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-08-11T01:07:00.001-07:00

"Can one ever bring God under control through wealth?"
Sri Ramakrishna: "He can be tamed only through love. What does He want? certainly not wealth! He wants from His devotees love, devotion, feeling, discrimination, and renunciation." P. 322 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-08-11T01:04:00.001-07:00

You must remember that nothing can be achieved except, in its proper time. P. 162 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Holy Mother - Sarada Devi

2008-08-11T01:03:00.001-07:00

The difference between a great soul and an ordinary man is this: the latter weeps while leaving this body, whereas the former laughs.
Death seems to him a mere play.

TN253 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Holy Mother - Sarada Devi

2008-08-10T23:57:00.001-07:00

However spiritual a man may be, he must pay the tax for the use of the body to the last farthing
(i.e. undergo suffering and death incidental to the embodied state).

TN253 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Holy Mother - Sarada Devi

2008-08-06T10:35:00.001-07:00

Do you notice this human body?
Today it is and tomorrow it is not.
And the world is full of misery and pain.
Why should one be eager
to have another birth?
The body is never free
from its attendant troubles.

N204 Swami Nikhilananda. Holy Mother. New York: Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center, 1982.

15 laws of Life - Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

2008-08-05T01:28:00.001-07:00

1. Love Is The Law Of Life: All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore, love for love's sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.

2. It's Your Outlook That Matters: It is our own mental attitude, which makes the world what it is for us. Our thoughts make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.

3. Life is Beautiful: First, believe in this world - that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you do not understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!

4. It's The Way You Feel: Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God.

5. Set Yourself Free: The moment I have realised God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

6. Don't Play The Blame Game: Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.

7. Help Others: If money helps a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.

8. Uphold Your Ideals: Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

9. Listen To Your Soul: You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

10. Be Yourself: The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves!

11. Nothing Is Impossible: Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin - to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

12. You Have The Power: All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.

13. Learn Everyday: The goal of mankind is knowledge... now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man 'knows', should, in strict psychological language, be what he 'discovers' or 'unveils'; what man 'learns' is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.

14. Be Truthful: Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything.

15. Think Different: All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.

Conversations with Sri Ramakrishna - Knowing God

2008-08-02T02:09:00.001-07:00

Can anyone ever know God?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "Who can ever know God? I don't even try. I only call on Him as Mother. Let Mother do whatever She likes. I shall know Her if it is Her will; but I shall be happy to remain ignorant if She wills otherwise. My nature is that of a kitten. It only cries, 'Mew, mew!' The rest it leaves to its mother. The mother cat puts the kitten sometimes in the kitchen and sometimes on the Master's bed. The young child wants only his mother. He doesn't know how wealthy his mother is, and he doesn't even want to know. He knows only, 'I have a mother; why should I worry?' Even the child of the maidservant knows that he has a mother. If he quarrels with the son of the Master, he says: 'I shall tell my mother. I have a mother.' My attitude, too, is that of a child." P. 299 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Holy Mother

2008-07-30T07:13:00.001-07:00

Sri Sarada Devi, the holy mother, says: Don't be afraid my child, these earthly ties are transitory. Today they seem to be the be-all and end-all of life, and tomorrow they vanish. Your real tie is with God. God is one's very own. It is the eternal relationship. He is ever looking after you. Call on the Lord who pervades the entire universe. He will shower His blessings upon you.

Teachings of Ramakrishna

2008-07-29T10:02:00.001-07:00

A man becomes liberated even in this life when he knows that God is the Doer of all things. - P. 159 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-07-28T04:09:00.001-07:00

"What is this maya?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "Whatever you see, think, or hear is maya. In a word, 'woman and gold' is the covering of maya. There is no harm in chewing betel-leaf, eating fish, smoking, or rubbing the body with oil. What will one achieve by renouncing only these things? The one thing needful is the renunciation of 'woman and gold'. That renunciation is the real and supreme renunciation. Householders should go into solitude now and then, to practice spiritual discipline in order to cultivate devotion to God; they should renounce mentally. But the sannyasi should renounce both mentally and physically." P. 291 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-07-28T04:08:00.001-07:00

By repeating a hundred times, 'I am a sinner', one verily becomes a sinner.
P. 159 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Teachings of Holy Mother

2008-07-28T04:05:00.001-07:00

The body means the existence of desire, otherwise it would not have existed. It all ends when one no longer has any desires. C84 In the Company of the Holy Mother. By Her Direct Disciples. Calcutta : Advaita Ashrama, 1980

Teachings of Holy Mother

2008-07-24T05:16:00.001-07:00

Rebirth is inevitable so long as one has desires. It is like taking the soul from one pillow-case and putting it into another. Only one or two out of many men can be found who are free from all desires. TN292 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Holy Mother

2008-07-24T05:14:00.001-07:00

Desire may be compared to a minute seed. It is like a big banyan tree growing out of a seed, which is no bigger than a dot. TN292 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Teachings of Swami Vivekananda

2008-07-21T09:44:00.001-07:00

There is a thorn in my finger and I use another to take the first one out, and when I have taken it out, I throw both of them aside. I have no necessity of keeping the second thorn, because both are thorns after all. So the bad tendencies are to be counteracted by the good ones, and the bad impressions on the mind should be removed by the fresh waves of good ones, until all that is evil almost disappears, or is subdued and held in control in a corner of the mind. But after that, the good tendencies have also to be conquered. Thus the 'attached' becomes the 'unattached.'

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, December 20, 1895. Complete Works, 1:55-56.

Teachings of Holy Mother

2008-07-21T09:05:00.001-07:00

As long as a man has desires there is no end to his transmigration. It is the desires alone that make him take one body after another. There will be rebirth for a man if he has even the desire to eat a piece of candy. TN292 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

I am the Witness....

2008-07-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda ~ Volume 5 ~ Notes from Lectures and Discourses ~ Sadhanas or Preparations for Higher Life

No breathing, no physical training of Yoga, nothing is of any use until you reach to the idea, "I am the Witness." Say, when the tyrant hand is on your neck, "I am the Witness! I am the Witness!" Say, "I am the Spirit! Nothing external can touch me." When evil thoughts arise, repeat that, give that sledge-hammer blow on their heads, "I am the Spirit! I am the Witness, the Ever-Blessed! I have no reason to do, no reason to suffer, I have finished with everything, I am the Witness. I am in my picture gallery — this universe is my museum, I am looking at these successive paintings. They are all beautiful. Whether good or evil. I see the marvellous skill, but it is all one. Infinite flames of the Great Painter!" Really speaking, there is naught — neither volition, nor desire. He is all. He — She — the Mother, is playing, and we are like dolls, Her helpers in this play. Here, She puts one now in the garb of a beggar, another moment in the garb of a king, the next moment in the garb of a saint, and again in the garb of a devil. We are putting on different garbs to help the Mother Spirit in Her play.

When the baby is at play, she will not come even if called by her mother. But when she finishes her play, she will rush to her mother, and will have no play. So there come moments in our life, when we feel our play is finished, and we want to rush to the Mother. Then all our toil here will be of no value; men, women, and children — wealth, name, and fame, joys and glories of life — punishments and successes — will be no more, and the whole life will seem like a show. We shall see only the infinite rhythm going on, endless and purposeless, going we do not know where. Only this much shall we say; our play is done.

Excerpts from Complete Works

2008-07-05T05:28:00.001-07:00

Volume 5 ~ Notes from Lectures and Discourses ~ Sadhanas or Preparations for Higher Life

.......tremendous determination to struggle a hundredfold more determination than that which you put forth to gain anything which belongs to this life, is the first great preparation.

And then along with it, there must be meditation. Meditation is the one thing. Meditate! The greatest thing is meditation. It is the nearest approach to spiritual life — the mind meditating. It is the one moment in our daily life that we are not at all material — the Soul thinking of Itself, free from all matter — this marvellous touch of the Soul!

There are no problems....

2008-07-05T05:24:00.001-07:00

"I want to let you in on a little secret. There are no problems. There are no problems. There never were any problems, there are no problems today, and there never will be any problems. Problems just mean the world isn't turning the way you want it to. But in truth, there are no problems. Everything is unfolding as it should. Everything is right. You have to forget about yourself and expand your consciousness until you become the whole universe. The Reality in back of the universe is Pure Awareness. It has no problems. And you are That."

~ Robert Adams, Silence of the Heart

Excerpts from Complete Works - Karma Yoga

2008-07-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

By the continuous reflex of good thoughts, good impressions moving over the surface of the mind, the tendency for doing good becomes strong, and as a result we are able to control the sense-organs. Thus alone is character established, then alone do we get to truth.

Class on Karma Yoga. New York, December 20, 1895. Complete Works, 1:55.

Holy Mother's Teachings

2008-06-24T01:27:00.000-07:00

The grace of God is the thing that is needful. One should pray for the grace of God. TN301 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Tremendous Power in Practice - Swami Virajanandaji

2008-06-20T05:12:00.001-07:00

There is a Bengali saying: "Bring the food to my mouth; it is too much for me to move! Bless your fathers and their meritorious acts!" Nowadays, most people belong to that category. Nobody wants to exert himself; everybody wants to gain his ends gratuitously or by some crafty trick. Especially in regard to things spiritual people seek to avoid all effort and toil, which they dislike, and have everything done for them by others. After sitting with closed eyes for an hour or so, for a few days or a few months, thy grumble and complain, "Alas! I am achieving nothing, I can't collect my mind; I don't feel I am making any progress." And so on. Swamiji used to say, "Is god a vegetable, a bunch of spinach, or a fish, that you throw down a few coins and buy Him?" Why be so impatient for immediate results? Go On striving, and your effort will bear fruit of itself in the fullness of time. Men of the world pay wages if you work for them; and will not God do so if you work for Him? Faith, steadfastness, sincere love, patience and perseverance are needed. Does a seed sprout up into a tree and bear fruit as soon as it is planted? One has to bestow much toil and attention and continue to do this for a long while before one can reap the fruits in due season.

The Reality cannot be attained if one is impatient. The supreme Self-alone is the only reality, essence and Truth; and everything else – the manifested universe – is unreal, no essence and deceptive, and therefore fit only to be rejected. Great patience and perseverance are needed for the knowledge of this fact to become established.

Even if there are not many good past impressions, favorable ones can be created by virtue of constant effort, earnestness and practice. There is tremendous power in practice. Practice becomes firm and abiding if continued long and uninterruptedly with faith and devotion. Whatever you practice becomes in course of time your second nature. Then it is no longer necessary to exert yourself to accomplish a desired thing, for it is automatically done. If you continually practice the remembrance of God, prayer, Japa and meditation, they then come out from the heart, without the exercise of any conscious will or effort, even while you are engaged in other work. The mind remains pointed that way like the needle of a compass. Hence attachment to worldly objects disappears and dangers and calamities cannot ruffle the mind of such a person. Even at the moment of death the mind remains calm and absorbed in God. Such a one has not to be born and to die again and again, as he becomes merged in the supreme state of Beatitude.

Practice japa and austerities with all your heart as much as you can. You should, however, have it firmly fixed in your mind that God can be realized solely through His grace, and not as a result of your practicing so much Japa and austerities. Spiritual practices are meant merely for tiring the wings, so to speak. A bird wants to rest as soon as its wings are tired. After flying far out over the sea, the bird discovers that there is no other resting place except the mast of a ship, as it perches there. But unless the feeling tat God is the only refuge grows into an unshakable conviction, no one can take shelter completely in Him and know Him to be his all-in-all.

Onward! Onward! Do not look this way or that. Do not pay the slightest heed to psychic phenomena like the seeing of light or visions, etc. As you continue practicing meditation, varieties of such occult experiences may come of themselves, and you may see all manner of supernatural things and also derive some joy from them. But do not stick there; for in that case you will never be able to progress much further. Always keep your whole attention fixed on the Ideal; and let your whole desire and aim be how to increase your devotion and love for God, how to merge your mind in Him and how to gain direct realization of Him in this life.

Go on practicing Japa and meditation with great devotion, perseverance and patience. Gradually the mind will become tranquil and meditation will deepen. You will feel a craving for your meditation, so that if you fail to do it any day, everything will taste insipid and you will feel out of joint and extremely uneasy, like and addict mission his drug at the accustomed hour. You will long to remain immersed in meditation, alone.

Source : Toward the Goal Supreme; Swami Virajananda

Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

2008-06-15T21:05:00.001-07:00

"Sir, is it necessary to have a guru?"

Sri Ramakrishna: "Yes, many need a guru. But a man must have faith in the guru's words. He succeeds in spiritual life by looking on his guru as God Himself. Therefore the Vaishnavas speak of Guru, Krishna, and Vaishnava*. P. 241 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Holy Mother's Teachings

2008-06-15T21:03:00.001-07:00

Is faith so cheap, my child? Faith is the last word. If one has faith, the goal is practically reached. TD10 The Temple Dedication Souvenir, 1981. Dakshineswar: Sri Sarada Math, 1981.

Aratis and Bhajans

2008-06-14T09:48:00.001-07:00

Excerpts from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

2008-06-13T02:02:00.001-07:00

Nobody will come to help you if you put yourself forward
as a leader. ... Kill the ego first if you want to succeed.

Letter to Alasinga Perumal. From USA: May 6, 1895.
Complete Works, 5.83.

Holy Mother's Teachings

2008-06-13T02:01:00.001-07:00

Certainly you will have doubts. There will be questionings and faith will return again. That is how faith is established. C305 In the Company of the Holy Mother. By Her Direct Disciples. Calcutta : Advaita Ashrama, 1980

Holy Mother's Teachings

2008-06-12T03:12:00.001-07:00

My child, I bless you from my heart that you live long, attain devotion, and enjoy peace. Peace is the principal thing. One needs peace alone. TN315 Swami Tapasyananda and Swami Nikhilananda. Sri Sarada Devi, the Holy Mother; Life and Conversations. Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1977.

Holy Mother's Teachings

2008-06-11T01:31:00.001-07:00

One who makes a habit of prayer will easily overcome all difficulties and remain calm and unruffled in the midst of the trials of life. A43 Swami Aseshananda. Glimpses of a Great Soul; a Portrait of Swami Saradananda. Hollywood: Vedanta Press, 1982.