On the face of it, both appear to be the same but there are some very subtle differences.What we commonly understand about Religion is that it is all about worshipping a particular God or Gods.What most of us do not understand is that at the core of each accepted religion in the world,the basic truth and essence is to attain God/the Supreme Being/the Creator,who dwells actually within us!Many methods have been described to do so,and most have been modified by the so called “guardians”(priests,religious leaders etc)who have done so largely based on their interpretations.Their interpretations were very often coloured by their paucity of understanding the truth as it actually is and resulted in misconceptions being passed down the ages.The “original” saints who understood God and realized Him had formulated sets of teachings which got twisted around to suit the ‘guardians” and disciples they left behind.We,therefore,came to believe that God could be found only by such and such a person or in such and such a place,meaning a temple/church/mosque or any place of worship and that He could only be achieved by resorting to practices laid down by that particular religion.Some religious teachers also tought that if you did not believe in their religion then you had,perhaps sinned and that you would never be able to achieve salvation,that if you did not do what God wanted you to,He would punish you(what you should and should not do was and is often decided by these religious teachers/priests etc.) They even went to the extent of saying that all other religions should not be tolerated as it was wrong to do so.Some waged wars to convert others to their faith.So many unrealized religious leaders have deviated so much as to instill hate in their followers and egg them on to commit acts of terrorism leading to the killing of so many innocent people,even of their own faith.They label it as ‘Jihad”….which ultimately leads to the death of the person committing the act himself.This is the danger of ill understood religion.
Religions,as we can now perceive have deviated from their original purpose of teaching us that God resides inside us,that we are part of Him and that our aim is to go back to Him!This is the essence of spirituality.Religion can lead us to Him by invoking spirituality in us but only if we take the trouble to understand its true essence.
Spirituality teaches us that to know and to achieve God we must learn to know ourselves first,(as we have been made in the image of God) and to look within(and not search for Him outside in temples/mosques/churches or other places of worship only).He is omnipresent and resides everywhere,in each and every being since every being is a part of Him,having originated from HIm.Since He is present inside the breast of every human being,where is the difference between one human being and another?Is it so difficult to fathom that we are all interconnected?we truly are interconnected,as we all originate from the same source and each and every one of us is basically the same,(though we may look different).At the core we are all one.
Spirituality makes us realize that God is very compassionate and whatever He does is for our good.He keeps giving us choices at every step,the type of seeds we sow depend on the type of choices we make.If we choose to be jealous,envious,hateful,wicked,unkind,angry... ultimately the same will come back and haunt us and lead to suffering,hurt,misery,feelings of sadness etc.On the contrary,by sowing seeds of love,affection,help,kindness,compassion…we ultimately experience the same. We,therefore, must learn to be compassionate to our fellow beings,for by hurting them we are actually hurting Him and us in the process.We need to be patient and kind to others.There is so much truth in the saying”this world is like an echo…it all comes back,the good,the evil and the generosity….so give the world the best that you have and the best shall be returned to you”(author unknown)
In a nutshell,by attaining the “spirit”dwelling inside us we attain God as the spirit or soul is a part and parcel of Him.At the present time no religion teaches us the correct method of attaining Him but insists on rituals and dogmas.We,have,therefore,been made to believe that worshipping God only means chanting/singing/preaching to appease Him,then ask God to grant us a favour! Are we not being selfish?
By looking within we can realize God and can become ONE with Him.A spiritual person,once successful in seeking Him within (by the opening of his third eye,at the centre of the forhead) gradually transcends all the so called rituals and ‘sees”the beauty of His creation everywhere,in the beauty of flowers,chirping of birds,the gently flowing water in a river,the myriads of colours in the sky,the beauty of the sun rising or setting.He appreciates the sound of silence by hearing the soothing music,always playing inside his breast!Slowly but surely he progresses to become part of Him when “bliss”at all times becomes a reality in the form of that all pervading light,the light of enlightenment.He learns just “to Be’,when feelings of hate/anger/jealousy/fear cease to have any meaning because for him only love and Bliss matter….love for all in the true sense of the word,since that is all that matters.
Jesus Christ has said “That which is born of the flesh is flesh;that which is born as Spirit is Spirit”.Swami Yoganand Paramhans has so beautifully interpreted it to mean that unless we can transcend the body and realize ourselves as Spirit,we cannot enter the kingdom or state of the Universal Spirit.He further quotes a Sanskrit couplet of the Hindu scriptures:”If thou canst transcend the body and perceive as spirit,thou shalt be eternally blissful,free from all pain”.
All this is certainly possible but with the help of a god realized “guru’/teacher/Swami who has actually traversed this entire path himself and is part of Him.There have been such teachers in so many faiths namely Jesus Christ/Prophet Mohammed/Gautam Budha/Kabir/Guru Nanak….but have we listened to their core teachings? We revere all of them since they knew and felt God,which is what we should strive to do….but only by following their true teachings and by alighning ourselves with our spirit/soul by looking within where He resides.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The Politics Of Religion
The Politics of Religion:
It is of utmost importance to understand that only after God created this entire universe that man could “create”religion and started worshipping Him in different forms .God created man in His mirror image while man,due to his ignorance and ego developed so many faiths and religions.How and why has this come about?
Many of us understand that we are “spiritual beings having a physical experience”on earth,meaning thereby that the essence of our being is the “spirit”or soul which resides in all of us and is in reality a part of God with whom it has to ultimately unite..no matter how long and how many births or incarnations it may take.We continue to repeatedly come back on this Earth based on our karmas and our desires,every time being given a chance to attain Him and evolving further in the process.Unfortunately we have forgotten our connection with Him.Many prophets,saints,gurus have incarnated on this earth to remind us of this truth but most of us do not heed their teachings since what they teach us is at variance to the popular beliefs and teachings in our temples,mosques,churches etc. while some of our so called religious teachers instill in us to differentiate between all other religions,telling us that God belongs to us.They teach us rituals,making us believe that by doing such and such a thing/worshipping in a particular manner/ fasting /wearing a particular type of dress/giving sacrifices/bathing in holi waters etc we are going to achieve God.If this alone were true they should be the first to become God Realized! If by bathing in holi waters alone one gets connected to God,fish and other inhabitants of that water would be the first to realise Him!Sant Kabir pointed this out long time back but when are we going to understand this?
Not only Kabir but ,Jesus Christ/Prophet Mohammed/Guru Nank/Gautam Buddha and so many of the present day saints who have realized God in His entirety have been trying to teach us that that there is only one God who does not belong to any particular religion but to all of us.All of them have come with the same message,that God is within us and that we should realize His presence within us.Since time immemorial they have tried to explain to us the method of uniting with Him.Some of their disciples imbibed the method in its true form and were blessed with becoming One with him while so many others either misconstrued it or twisted or moulded it according to their convenience. Those who believed in Christ called themselves Christians,while believers in Allah came to be known as Muslims,so also Jews,Hindus,Jains,Budhists….so on and so forth and the net result is in front of us……only rituals in the place of religion or people of one faith or religion fighting with those of other faiths or religions. The cause of most of the unrest and wars at the present time(even in the past have been because of this,the crusades being one example and the present ongoing massacres in various parts of the world by misguided and brainwashed terrorists being another).
All God Realized saints tell us that we all come from the same source/Supreme being which obviously means that we are all connected in one way or the other and since He resides inside all of us,we must treat all of His creations as one. Many of us who have an inkling of our previous births may have realized that we were often of a different religion than our present one,meaning that the soul does not differentiate between faiths.Does this not prove that God treats all of us the same way and to Him it does not matter in what form we worship Him?
It can be safely concluded that terrorists do not have any religion since God is all-loving,compassionate and does not expect us to harm or kill innocent beings.
It is of utmost importance to understand that only after God created this entire universe that man could “create”religion and started worshipping Him in different forms .God created man in His mirror image while man,due to his ignorance and ego developed so many faiths and religions.How and why has this come about?
Many of us understand that we are “spiritual beings having a physical experience”on earth,meaning thereby that the essence of our being is the “spirit”or soul which resides in all of us and is in reality a part of God with whom it has to ultimately unite..no matter how long and how many births or incarnations it may take.We continue to repeatedly come back on this Earth based on our karmas and our desires,every time being given a chance to attain Him and evolving further in the process.Unfortunately we have forgotten our connection with Him.Many prophets,saints,gurus have incarnated on this earth to remind us of this truth but most of us do not heed their teachings since what they teach us is at variance to the popular beliefs and teachings in our temples,mosques,churches etc. while some of our so called religious teachers instill in us to differentiate between all other religions,telling us that God belongs to us.They teach us rituals,making us believe that by doing such and such a thing/worshipping in a particular manner/ fasting /wearing a particular type of dress/giving sacrifices/bathing in holi waters etc we are going to achieve God.If this alone were true they should be the first to become God Realized! If by bathing in holi waters alone one gets connected to God,fish and other inhabitants of that water would be the first to realise Him!Sant Kabir pointed this out long time back but when are we going to understand this?
Not only Kabir but ,Jesus Christ/Prophet Mohammed/Guru Nank/Gautam Buddha and so many of the present day saints who have realized God in His entirety have been trying to teach us that that there is only one God who does not belong to any particular religion but to all of us.All of them have come with the same message,that God is within us and that we should realize His presence within us.Since time immemorial they have tried to explain to us the method of uniting with Him.Some of their disciples imbibed the method in its true form and were blessed with becoming One with him while so many others either misconstrued it or twisted or moulded it according to their convenience. Those who believed in Christ called themselves Christians,while believers in Allah came to be known as Muslims,so also Jews,Hindus,Jains,Budhists….so on and so forth and the net result is in front of us……only rituals in the place of religion or people of one faith or religion fighting with those of other faiths or religions. The cause of most of the unrest and wars at the present time(even in the past have been because of this,the crusades being one example and the present ongoing massacres in various parts of the world by misguided and brainwashed terrorists being another).
All God Realized saints tell us that we all come from the same source/Supreme being which obviously means that we are all connected in one way or the other and since He resides inside all of us,we must treat all of His creations as one. Many of us who have an inkling of our previous births may have realized that we were often of a different religion than our present one,meaning that the soul does not differentiate between faiths.Does this not prove that God treats all of us the same way and to Him it does not matter in what form we worship Him?
It can be safely concluded that terrorists do not have any religion since God is all-loving,compassionate and does not expect us to harm or kill innocent beings.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Man,The Creator
Have we ever ever imagined that man could actually be a creator?
When one is born,one comes to this Earth as a pristine,absolutely innocent human being without any feelings of hate,jealousy,malice,fear or discontent and the only manifest emotions are those of happiness(seen as a beautiful smile)or sense of a need(manifested as crying,which subsides when the need has been fulfilled).Gradually and very subtly,thanks to the people surrounding one,be it parents,siblings,friends, so on and so forth negative emotions of fear,jealousy,discontent etc start getting imbibed,laying the foundation for future problems.The once “pure”new born……infant……child... starts developing more ‘worldly”feelings, the core ‘purity”becomes dormant as it gets overshadowed by the conditioned responses. When the mother tries to stop the child from going against her wish she tries to instill fear in his mind and a new negative feeling of fear is born.Similarly so many other negative emotions develop with increasing age depending on the type of exposure the child/young adult faces.The core beauty and purity gets pushed deeper and deeper.
Have we ever tried to wonder what is the result of the seeds sown in such a fashion?The child who has imbibed fear as the dominant emotion grows up to be a very inhibited one, afraid of almost any and everything,scared of taking any chances in life.This results in his taking fear based decisions as he grows.Whenever one is confronted with a problem,one always has two choices,one, based on a positive outlook and the other negative,ie based on a feeling of failure.If one takes a fear based decision,the chances are that one is doomed to failure while the positive based decision will, in all likelihood, lead to a successful result.Hence someone with a negative outlook is “creating”a negative result for himself.As an example,if one is going to appear for an interview and approaches it with a feeling of dread and imagines failure to be the result,his very ‘thought”of failure is likely to attract failure as the likely outcome.
If on the other hand,one were to approach the same interview with the thought of a successful outcome then the mere “thought’of success is likely to attract the same positive response from the universe and the result is most likely going to be positive.His confident and friendly demeanour is likely to get reciprocated by the interviewers.”Thoughts”can be so very powerful tools indeed!
In case the dominant feeling which the child imbibes as a conditioned response is anger or jealousy,his world revolves around these emotions and he views the world either with anger or with jealousy.He is likely to approach every thing with a feeling of superiority or would be given to throwing his weight around,resulting in his rubbing people the wrong way and in all likelihood eliciting a similar response leading to a “creation“of a feeling of frustration or a further need for a reprisal,laying down seeds for future conflicts.
If the child imbibes a sense or feeling of hate in early childhood or even later,owing to the company he keeps,he will be fanning the flames for hate in others as well,ultimately “creating”intolerance,crimes or worse…. killings.
It is now a universally accepted fact that our feelings or thoughts ‘vibrate”and elicit similar responses from people around us.Our vibrations precede the spoken word and I am sure that all of us have faced situations where a person we meet seems to echo our sentiments without a word having been spoken!Again, we are actually “creating”a similar response from the person concerned.Therefore,if we are looking for a response of joy/goodwill/affection from the other person then we need to feel the same way about him.There is so much of truth in the saying ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
Once a lady entered a train compartment and found it full to capacity with no place to sit and no one got up for her.She just kept standing and smiled at the few people who noticed her.Her friendly smile conveyed a feeling of understanding and an unspoken request,which was answered by the people around her squeezing themselves and making place for her to sit!See what humility and courtesy can do!
A warm smile and a body language indicating concern,compassion and affection,is,I think of paramount importance in a doctor-patient relationship as it goes such a long way in instilling a feeling of hope,confidence and faith in the patient.Half the battle for the patient’s recovery is won by the “creation”of such a feeling.Sadly,most often the reverse is seen most of the time.Instead of hope and confidence most doctors manage to instill a sense of fear in the patient.Why does a doctor forget that he could one day be a patient himself…..what would he be looking for in his doctor when that happened?
In the same vein,I think it is important to understand that our ego plays a very important role in “creating’problems for ourselves.There are umpteen examples of arguments,quarrels,disagreements etc getting out of hand,often leading to aggravation of the problem often culminating into physical abuse.If only one of the concerned parties could swallow his false pride or ego and just refrain from reacting or actually apologizing, an explosive situation could possibly be avoided.We see this every day.”Road rage’ is a typical example and is entirely man made…..we fight for every inch of space on the road and imagine that it belongs to us!
We are all aware that false pride and so called “ego’can actually ‘create’situations culminating in blood shed.As responsible people can we not create a sense of harmony?
If,however,the child,based on his good “karmas”is born into a family which is God-fearing,given to good deeds,compassion,forgiveness,love,affection,contentment,tolerance and a sense “feeling”for fellow beings,the child develops similar positive conditioned responses and as he grows into an adult,his actions are predominantly based on a positive outlook and trust.His actions are generally not fear based.Every eventuality or outcome is taken as the will of God,and the belief that it is for his good.He ‘creates”a feeling of good will and spreads a sense of happiness and bonhomie all around.He believes in the goodness of people.
So very often we find people to be unhappy,in fact this seems to be a universal malady.Have we ever stopped to think why this is so?In all probability this is likely to be rooted in unfulfilled desires or our minds being cluttered with so many negative emotions of comparison with others,gossip,discontent,bad feelings about others,reaction to what people say about us,expectations etc.Practically all of these one can do without.We are,therefore,again creating unhappiness for ourselves.If we stop comparing ourselves with others(since there is no end to it),stop indulging in gossip,not think or say bad things to or about others,reduce our expectations from others we would be much better off.In short,our unhappiness is totally created by ourselves.We can choose to be happy by changing our thought process.Every action starts with a thought,if we allow a negative thought to “seat”itself in our mind it will only propagate further and lead to negative actions in us followed by similar reactions from others.To “create”happiness,we should not permit a negative emotion or thought to settle in.
So many times one comes across people who are perpetually ‘sick”,be it headaches,pains here and there,hyperacidity,coronary artery disease,backaches,depression,strokes…..so on and so forth.There is a very big list.We blame circumstances for these and play the victim,while the reality is that we have brought most of these on ourselves.Many medical problems we suffer from are related to ‘stress’.With the ‘hurry,worry and curry”of life,we have forgotten to take care of ourselves,our bodies,our food,nutrition etc.Most of us do not exercise,do not eat a balanced diet,either sleep too much or too little,succumb to the pressures of life,and are actually running away from nature.Most of us have lost even the flimsiest of connections with God.Our spiritual leaders have reduced our religions to mere rituals which actually lead to nothing except giving us false feelings of being religious.(True religion seems to be virtually non existent these days but I shall refrain from discussing the reasons for this).It is not surprising,then, why most people are so sick(physically and mentally).Have we not actually created all these problems for ourselves?
Are we not creating conflicts among ourselves and other nations?If we introspect we would probably realize that it all starts with the little ‘me’,because the real me ie my soul has been trampelled on so often that it has forgotten its connection with Him(the Atma has lost its connection with the parent,Parmatma).If we want to be really happy or to achieve true Bliss we need to reestablish our lost connection with Him.Only when that happens can we achieve what has been eluding us all along and we progress towards achieving genuine happiness and perhaps……bliss!’God helps those who help themselves”…..He has given us the gift of choice,but it is up to us to use this gift judiciously and to gradually peel off the negativity surrounding our soul till that pristine core of ‘me’,lying dormant surfaces again!
When one is born,one comes to this Earth as a pristine,absolutely innocent human being without any feelings of hate,jealousy,malice,fear or discontent and the only manifest emotions are those of happiness(seen as a beautiful smile)or sense of a need(manifested as crying,which subsides when the need has been fulfilled).Gradually and very subtly,thanks to the people surrounding one,be it parents,siblings,friends, so on and so forth negative emotions of fear,jealousy,discontent etc start getting imbibed,laying the foundation for future problems.The once “pure”new born……infant……child... starts developing more ‘worldly”feelings, the core ‘purity”becomes dormant as it gets overshadowed by the conditioned responses. When the mother tries to stop the child from going against her wish she tries to instill fear in his mind and a new negative feeling of fear is born.Similarly so many other negative emotions develop with increasing age depending on the type of exposure the child/young adult faces.The core beauty and purity gets pushed deeper and deeper.
Have we ever tried to wonder what is the result of the seeds sown in such a fashion?The child who has imbibed fear as the dominant emotion grows up to be a very inhibited one, afraid of almost any and everything,scared of taking any chances in life.This results in his taking fear based decisions as he grows.Whenever one is confronted with a problem,one always has two choices,one, based on a positive outlook and the other negative,ie based on a feeling of failure.If one takes a fear based decision,the chances are that one is doomed to failure while the positive based decision will, in all likelihood, lead to a successful result.Hence someone with a negative outlook is “creating”a negative result for himself.As an example,if one is going to appear for an interview and approaches it with a feeling of dread and imagines failure to be the result,his very ‘thought”of failure is likely to attract failure as the likely outcome.
If on the other hand,one were to approach the same interview with the thought of a successful outcome then the mere “thought’of success is likely to attract the same positive response from the universe and the result is most likely going to be positive.His confident and friendly demeanour is likely to get reciprocated by the interviewers.”Thoughts”can be so very powerful tools indeed!
In case the dominant feeling which the child imbibes as a conditioned response is anger or jealousy,his world revolves around these emotions and he views the world either with anger or with jealousy.He is likely to approach every thing with a feeling of superiority or would be given to throwing his weight around,resulting in his rubbing people the wrong way and in all likelihood eliciting a similar response leading to a “creation“of a feeling of frustration or a further need for a reprisal,laying down seeds for future conflicts.
If the child imbibes a sense or feeling of hate in early childhood or even later,owing to the company he keeps,he will be fanning the flames for hate in others as well,ultimately “creating”intolerance,crimes or worse…. killings.
It is now a universally accepted fact that our feelings or thoughts ‘vibrate”and elicit similar responses from people around us.Our vibrations precede the spoken word and I am sure that all of us have faced situations where a person we meet seems to echo our sentiments without a word having been spoken!Again, we are actually “creating”a similar response from the person concerned.Therefore,if we are looking for a response of joy/goodwill/affection from the other person then we need to feel the same way about him.There is so much of truth in the saying ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
Once a lady entered a train compartment and found it full to capacity with no place to sit and no one got up for her.She just kept standing and smiled at the few people who noticed her.Her friendly smile conveyed a feeling of understanding and an unspoken request,which was answered by the people around her squeezing themselves and making place for her to sit!See what humility and courtesy can do!
A warm smile and a body language indicating concern,compassion and affection,is,I think of paramount importance in a doctor-patient relationship as it goes such a long way in instilling a feeling of hope,confidence and faith in the patient.Half the battle for the patient’s recovery is won by the “creation”of such a feeling.Sadly,most often the reverse is seen most of the time.Instead of hope and confidence most doctors manage to instill a sense of fear in the patient.Why does a doctor forget that he could one day be a patient himself…..what would he be looking for in his doctor when that happened?
In the same vein,I think it is important to understand that our ego plays a very important role in “creating’problems for ourselves.There are umpteen examples of arguments,quarrels,disagreements etc getting out of hand,often leading to aggravation of the problem often culminating into physical abuse.If only one of the concerned parties could swallow his false pride or ego and just refrain from reacting or actually apologizing, an explosive situation could possibly be avoided.We see this every day.”Road rage’ is a typical example and is entirely man made…..we fight for every inch of space on the road and imagine that it belongs to us!
We are all aware that false pride and so called “ego’can actually ‘create’situations culminating in blood shed.As responsible people can we not create a sense of harmony?
If,however,the child,based on his good “karmas”is born into a family which is God-fearing,given to good deeds,compassion,forgiveness,love,affection,contentment,tolerance and a sense “feeling”for fellow beings,the child develops similar positive conditioned responses and as he grows into an adult,his actions are predominantly based on a positive outlook and trust.His actions are generally not fear based.Every eventuality or outcome is taken as the will of God,and the belief that it is for his good.He ‘creates”a feeling of good will and spreads a sense of happiness and bonhomie all around.He believes in the goodness of people.
So very often we find people to be unhappy,in fact this seems to be a universal malady.Have we ever stopped to think why this is so?In all probability this is likely to be rooted in unfulfilled desires or our minds being cluttered with so many negative emotions of comparison with others,gossip,discontent,bad feelings about others,reaction to what people say about us,expectations etc.Practically all of these one can do without.We are,therefore,again creating unhappiness for ourselves.If we stop comparing ourselves with others(since there is no end to it),stop indulging in gossip,not think or say bad things to or about others,reduce our expectations from others we would be much better off.In short,our unhappiness is totally created by ourselves.We can choose to be happy by changing our thought process.Every action starts with a thought,if we allow a negative thought to “seat”itself in our mind it will only propagate further and lead to negative actions in us followed by similar reactions from others.To “create”happiness,we should not permit a negative emotion or thought to settle in.
So many times one comes across people who are perpetually ‘sick”,be it headaches,pains here and there,hyperacidity,coronary artery disease,backaches,depression,strokes…..so on and so forth.There is a very big list.We blame circumstances for these and play the victim,while the reality is that we have brought most of these on ourselves.Many medical problems we suffer from are related to ‘stress’.With the ‘hurry,worry and curry”of life,we have forgotten to take care of ourselves,our bodies,our food,nutrition etc.Most of us do not exercise,do not eat a balanced diet,either sleep too much or too little,succumb to the pressures of life,and are actually running away from nature.Most of us have lost even the flimsiest of connections with God.Our spiritual leaders have reduced our religions to mere rituals which actually lead to nothing except giving us false feelings of being religious.(True religion seems to be virtually non existent these days but I shall refrain from discussing the reasons for this).It is not surprising,then, why most people are so sick(physically and mentally).Have we not actually created all these problems for ourselves?
Are we not creating conflicts among ourselves and other nations?If we introspect we would probably realize that it all starts with the little ‘me’,because the real me ie my soul has been trampelled on so often that it has forgotten its connection with Him(the Atma has lost its connection with the parent,Parmatma).If we want to be really happy or to achieve true Bliss we need to reestablish our lost connection with Him.Only when that happens can we achieve what has been eluding us all along and we progress towards achieving genuine happiness and perhaps……bliss!’God helps those who help themselves”…..He has given us the gift of choice,but it is up to us to use this gift judiciously and to gradually peel off the negativity surrounding our soul till that pristine core of ‘me’,lying dormant surfaces again!
Friday, September 12, 2008
ONENESS
What is ONENESS?
Oneness basically means merging with the ONE or uniting with God.It can also be called becoming part of ALL THERE IS.These sound very mysterious but in reality are very simple concepts,just like the unbelievably simple person one becomes on merging with Him.The difficulty is in getting or making this to happen!
This may never happen by just READING books on Religion or spirituality or those on self motivation,since by reading alone one may imbibe tremendous knowledge about a particular subject, but this knowledge is of little use till it is actually channeled correctly.To give you an example,one cannot become a specialist in one’s chosen field till one learns to actually practice it after being taught by a teacher,a surgeon cannot become a skilled surgeon by just watching another one operate unless and until he hones his surgical skill by carrying out operations himself,initially under guidance and later by himself.So many analogies can be given.
Similarly,sermons/lectures/meetings certainly do help in PROVIDING knowledge but this knowledge is not of much use till one learns to ASSIMILATE this knowledge,just like the mere act of eating food is not going to be of help to a person till it is absorbed and assimilated by the body,it is only then that the nutrients/vitamins/proteins etc present in the food are going to help.Someone has very correctly said that “Knowing about others is knowledge while knowing about yourself is Enlightenment”and this is what one wishes to achieve by being ONE with HIM.
How does it Happen?
One comes across so many people who can recite the Vedas/Geeta/Bible etc but have they actually been able to LIVE what they preach?The true purpose of every religion is to teach one the way to the Almighty(to become ONE with Him) and it is a God Realised Guru/Swami/Teacher,who himself has become ONE himself, who can do so.
Why should one aspire for ONENESS?
We have a mind,body and spirit or soul.The soul or Atma is a part of Parmatma to which it always wishes to unite and just wants TO BE,while the body believes in action guided by the mind.The soul never imposes itself,it only “whispers”its wish,interpreted as “intuition” but the body only responds to this whisper when the mind is conditioned for the same.When one realises and starts listening to the soul that one tries to merge with Him for it then dawns upon one that the “whisper” or ‘intuition’ is actually God’s way of communicating with one.As this happens one begins to “get ready” for someone who helps one move forward.It is at this juncture that one starts “seeking”the truth.
Someone has so very beautifully compared us to a bubble in the ocean which is made up of water just like the ocean,of which it is a part,but is separated from it by a very thin membrane,which in our case is our EGO.When the bubble bursts it again becomes part of the ocean and no trace remains of the bubble.Similarly when our ego disappears we become part of the ONE.
Many people may,however,still wonder as to WHY should we turn towards Him?After all,many feel that they have most of the material things they wish to have and for all intents and purposes are happy.But on deep introspection they would probably understand that happiness accruing from material things is transitory and disappears once that object is no longer there.The happiness may then be replaced with feelings of sadness/dissatisfaction/sense of loss etc.
This cycle continues and in its wake leaves behind unhappiness/sadness/hurt etc.If,however,one wishes to remain forever happy then one needs to try to achieve BLISS which one can do only by becoming ONE with Him.Bliss is something which cannot be described but can only be FELT and can occur only on becoming ONE with HIM .Once this feeling has been tasted it is impossible to do without!
What are the external and internal manifestations of ONENESS?
Becoming one with Him takes place very subtly and one gradually notices many changes in one,often appreciated by others even before one does himself.The changes can be both EXTERNAL or INTERNAL.The internal changes are the changes in our thoughts,which finally lead to changes in our actions.One starts to “notice”the beauty of nature(nature’s beauty has always been there for us) to see but for the first time one actually ‘feels’ that beauty.A flower suddenly starts giving a feeling of happiness,a plant’s greenery and shade begins to appear as a gift,the myriad shades of a sun rise or sun set makes one realize the beauty of colours,sunshine starts to envelope one in its warmth…….and rain in its coolness.
Gradually a transformation starts taking place and one starts to actually “see” a person’s inner beauty,ie the beauty of the person’s soul as one becomes much more intuitive and seems to get clarity about many things/people/situations/circumstances and it appears that some sort of an inner communication is taking place.One’s instincts become sharper and often answers to questions appear in the form of “feelings”which act as guides and help in taking decisions which turn out to be “correct”.These feelings could be those of happiness,uneasiness,happiness,joy etc. Often one “knows”about an event before it has actually taken place and one can accurately predict(in one’s mind)about many developments which are yet to take place!(A true God realized soul will,of course, refrain from voicing these thoughts,though).
One begins to realize that people around one are probably not as bad as one thought,one begins to feel for them and when hurt by them,gradually understands what forgiveness is(forgiveness does not actually mean that one has condoned that person,nor dies it mean forgetting the incident,but assumes relevence when one actually feels for that person’s well being and sincerely and genuinely wishes him well)!This feeling occurs because now one has realized that anyone who has caused harm in any way is ultimately going to pay for it based on his bad Karma but the one on the path of oneness dose not want him to suffer because one u now “feels” for him even though harmed by him.Feelings of hate/jealousy/envy become almost non existent and are gradually replaced by those of warmth/love/attachment towards humanity.One stops wishing bad for anyone,and gets enveloped in sadness on seeing someone suffer.A feeling of compassion develops for everyone around him.One genuinely feels happy in someone else’s happiness, material things do not carry as much importance as before and a gradual feeling of contentment and happiness sets in.One now realizes that a sense of greed,which may have been a part of one is replaced by just a sense of need which means that one’s requirements now become “need based” rather than ‘desire based”.(This,however,does not mean that one should not live in comfort or not enjoy the good things in life as long as one remains “connected “to Him.This also does not mean that one should sacrifice everything,one’s home,family,etc and go elsewhere to find HIM.One needs to “realise “Him wherever one is,be it home/place of work/a garden,anywhere).As one starts getting ONE with Him,one KNOWS this to be true,rather than” believing “it to be true.One now KNOWS that ‘whatever happens is for good” rather than believing it be so.One understands that if something apparently does not work out the way one wanted it,one KNOWS that it not working out is for one’s good,and that God in His wisdom has probably planned something better.(What is important here is,however,whether one did one’s very best to achieve what one wanted to do or not.If one has done one’s very best and not achieved what one wanted,one should accept it gracefully).One realises that one is supposed to do one’s duty but not worry about the result(Bhagwat Geeta).With gradual ONENESS one knows this to be the “gospel” truth.
Our decisions, which were earlier based on FEAR are no longer so as the feeling of fear gradually ceases to have any meaning.One learns not to be afraid nor to cause any one else to be so as one’s faith in Him becomes unshakeable.Very soon another transformation takes place,that of looking at the world as an “observer’,which means that one understands that all the events/upheavals/good and bad things which earlier affected one so much are just a part of life and one sees them as one watches a movie,without being actually involved!This is what is meant by being “attached yet being dettached’.This happens because of increasing attachment to Him.For detachment to take place first and foremost,one needs to get attached to Him,only then is detachment possible.This does not mean,however,that one stops loving your near and dear ones,since the love for them still remains.
Along with the above changes,one becomes increasingly humble,as slowly but surely our ego starts taking a back seat as one now knows that we are all part of the ONE and no one is bigger or smaller.This translates into respect for our fellow beings,and the barriers of caste/creed/rich/poor/religion/nationality lose their importance.
All these good happenings are also associated with plenty of trials and tribulations as often after a very smooth run suddenly one gets a “setback” which could be in any form but the one on the True path takes it all in his stride despite the fact that these events could recur.
Another form of test is the one when one often “sees”the earlier births of certain human beings one is associated with and the relationship one had with them in the past life or lives.Initially these feelings are uncanny and may cause some confusion but later one realizes not to attach any importance to them and not to get affected by them.
A great sense of “positivity”prevails as one learns to look at things and developments with a positive frame of mind(every event can be viewed both positively or negatively but the one on the path of ONENESS chooses the positive scenario).This positive feeling attracts positive feelings or vibrations(our emotions are energy particles in motion,positive emotions like love/joy/compassion etc attract similar emotions from people or surroundings while negative emotions like hate/anger/jealousy/greed/fear etc invite the same feelings from those around us.The one on the path to God becomes quite choosy about the company he keeps……he chooses not to mix with those who manifest negative emotions and looses interest in gossip and refrains from making negative comments about others.He looks for faults in himself which need correction rather than blame others or find fault with them.
The above mentioned changes make the one travelling on the path of ONENESS a calm,serene and a very peaceful person.His mind is no longer filled with the clutter of gossip as he has now learned to associate himself with only things and events which nourish his soul,the foremost feeling in his mind is that of LOVE,the highest emotion and closest to God.Slowly at first but quite rapidly later all his conditioned responses,feelings and thoughts,which he learned as age advanced(irritation/anger/jealousy/greed/envy/hate etc)are now replaced with the higher emotions of love/forgiveness and joy.The conditioned responses get peeled off like the rings of an onion till only a beautiful core remains!He becomes like a child,shorn of all negativity,after all an infant is the purest stage of a human being,closest to Him!
All this translates into a being who radiates a beautiful aura of love and affection with tremendously positive vibrations,whatever he utters has a divine quality,his demeanour radiates peace,and his presence inspires confidence………..his foremost emotion is the highest one,that of LOVE and BLISS…..and GODLIKE!
Oneness basically means merging with the ONE or uniting with God.It can also be called becoming part of ALL THERE IS.These sound very mysterious but in reality are very simple concepts,just like the unbelievably simple person one becomes on merging with Him.The difficulty is in getting or making this to happen!
This may never happen by just READING books on Religion or spirituality or those on self motivation,since by reading alone one may imbibe tremendous knowledge about a particular subject, but this knowledge is of little use till it is actually channeled correctly.To give you an example,one cannot become a specialist in one’s chosen field till one learns to actually practice it after being taught by a teacher,a surgeon cannot become a skilled surgeon by just watching another one operate unless and until he hones his surgical skill by carrying out operations himself,initially under guidance and later by himself.So many analogies can be given.
Similarly,sermons/lectures/meetings certainly do help in PROVIDING knowledge but this knowledge is not of much use till one learns to ASSIMILATE this knowledge,just like the mere act of eating food is not going to be of help to a person till it is absorbed and assimilated by the body,it is only then that the nutrients/vitamins/proteins etc present in the food are going to help.Someone has very correctly said that “Knowing about others is knowledge while knowing about yourself is Enlightenment”and this is what one wishes to achieve by being ONE with HIM.
How does it Happen?
One comes across so many people who can recite the Vedas/Geeta/Bible etc but have they actually been able to LIVE what they preach?The true purpose of every religion is to teach one the way to the Almighty(to become ONE with Him) and it is a God Realised Guru/Swami/Teacher,who himself has become ONE himself, who can do so.
Why should one aspire for ONENESS?
We have a mind,body and spirit or soul.The soul or Atma is a part of Parmatma to which it always wishes to unite and just wants TO BE,while the body believes in action guided by the mind.The soul never imposes itself,it only “whispers”its wish,interpreted as “intuition” but the body only responds to this whisper when the mind is conditioned for the same.When one realises and starts listening to the soul that one tries to merge with Him for it then dawns upon one that the “whisper” or ‘intuition’ is actually God’s way of communicating with one.As this happens one begins to “get ready” for someone who helps one move forward.It is at this juncture that one starts “seeking”the truth.
Someone has so very beautifully compared us to a bubble in the ocean which is made up of water just like the ocean,of which it is a part,but is separated from it by a very thin membrane,which in our case is our EGO.When the bubble bursts it again becomes part of the ocean and no trace remains of the bubble.Similarly when our ego disappears we become part of the ONE.
Many people may,however,still wonder as to WHY should we turn towards Him?After all,many feel that they have most of the material things they wish to have and for all intents and purposes are happy.But on deep introspection they would probably understand that happiness accruing from material things is transitory and disappears once that object is no longer there.The happiness may then be replaced with feelings of sadness/dissatisfaction/sense of loss etc.
This cycle continues and in its wake leaves behind unhappiness/sadness/hurt etc.If,however,one wishes to remain forever happy then one needs to try to achieve BLISS which one can do only by becoming ONE with Him.Bliss is something which cannot be described but can only be FELT and can occur only on becoming ONE with HIM .Once this feeling has been tasted it is impossible to do without!
What are the external and internal manifestations of ONENESS?
Becoming one with Him takes place very subtly and one gradually notices many changes in one,often appreciated by others even before one does himself.The changes can be both EXTERNAL or INTERNAL.The internal changes are the changes in our thoughts,which finally lead to changes in our actions.One starts to “notice”the beauty of nature(nature’s beauty has always been there for us) to see but for the first time one actually ‘feels’ that beauty.A flower suddenly starts giving a feeling of happiness,a plant’s greenery and shade begins to appear as a gift,the myriad shades of a sun rise or sun set makes one realize the beauty of colours,sunshine starts to envelope one in its warmth…….and rain in its coolness.
Gradually a transformation starts taking place and one starts to actually “see” a person’s inner beauty,ie the beauty of the person’s soul as one becomes much more intuitive and seems to get clarity about many things/people/situations/circumstances and it appears that some sort of an inner communication is taking place.One’s instincts become sharper and often answers to questions appear in the form of “feelings”which act as guides and help in taking decisions which turn out to be “correct”.These feelings could be those of happiness,uneasiness,happiness,joy etc. Often one “knows”about an event before it has actually taken place and one can accurately predict(in one’s mind)about many developments which are yet to take place!(A true God realized soul will,of course, refrain from voicing these thoughts,though).
One begins to realize that people around one are probably not as bad as one thought,one begins to feel for them and when hurt by them,gradually understands what forgiveness is(forgiveness does not actually mean that one has condoned that person,nor dies it mean forgetting the incident,but assumes relevence when one actually feels for that person’s well being and sincerely and genuinely wishes him well)!This feeling occurs because now one has realized that anyone who has caused harm in any way is ultimately going to pay for it based on his bad Karma but the one on the path of oneness dose not want him to suffer because one u now “feels” for him even though harmed by him.Feelings of hate/jealousy/envy become almost non existent and are gradually replaced by those of warmth/love/attachment towards humanity.One stops wishing bad for anyone,and gets enveloped in sadness on seeing someone suffer.A feeling of compassion develops for everyone around him.One genuinely feels happy in someone else’s happiness, material things do not carry as much importance as before and a gradual feeling of contentment and happiness sets in.One now realizes that a sense of greed,which may have been a part of one is replaced by just a sense of need which means that one’s requirements now become “need based” rather than ‘desire based”.(This,however,does not mean that one should not live in comfort or not enjoy the good things in life as long as one remains “connected “to Him.This also does not mean that one should sacrifice everything,one’s home,family,etc and go elsewhere to find HIM.One needs to “realise “Him wherever one is,be it home/place of work/a garden,anywhere).As one starts getting ONE with Him,one KNOWS this to be true,rather than” believing “it to be true.One now KNOWS that ‘whatever happens is for good” rather than believing it be so.One understands that if something apparently does not work out the way one wanted it,one KNOWS that it not working out is for one’s good,and that God in His wisdom has probably planned something better.(What is important here is,however,whether one did one’s very best to achieve what one wanted to do or not.If one has done one’s very best and not achieved what one wanted,one should accept it gracefully).One realises that one is supposed to do one’s duty but not worry about the result(Bhagwat Geeta).With gradual ONENESS one knows this to be the “gospel” truth.
Our decisions, which were earlier based on FEAR are no longer so as the feeling of fear gradually ceases to have any meaning.One learns not to be afraid nor to cause any one else to be so as one’s faith in Him becomes unshakeable.Very soon another transformation takes place,that of looking at the world as an “observer’,which means that one understands that all the events/upheavals/good and bad things which earlier affected one so much are just a part of life and one sees them as one watches a movie,without being actually involved!This is what is meant by being “attached yet being dettached’.This happens because of increasing attachment to Him.For detachment to take place first and foremost,one needs to get attached to Him,only then is detachment possible.This does not mean,however,that one stops loving your near and dear ones,since the love for them still remains.
Along with the above changes,one becomes increasingly humble,as slowly but surely our ego starts taking a back seat as one now knows that we are all part of the ONE and no one is bigger or smaller.This translates into respect for our fellow beings,and the barriers of caste/creed/rich/poor/religion/nationality lose their importance.
All these good happenings are also associated with plenty of trials and tribulations as often after a very smooth run suddenly one gets a “setback” which could be in any form but the one on the True path takes it all in his stride despite the fact that these events could recur.
Another form of test is the one when one often “sees”the earlier births of certain human beings one is associated with and the relationship one had with them in the past life or lives.Initially these feelings are uncanny and may cause some confusion but later one realizes not to attach any importance to them and not to get affected by them.
A great sense of “positivity”prevails as one learns to look at things and developments with a positive frame of mind(every event can be viewed both positively or negatively but the one on the path of ONENESS chooses the positive scenario).This positive feeling attracts positive feelings or vibrations(our emotions are energy particles in motion,positive emotions like love/joy/compassion etc attract similar emotions from people or surroundings while negative emotions like hate/anger/jealousy/greed/fear etc invite the same feelings from those around us.The one on the path to God becomes quite choosy about the company he keeps……he chooses not to mix with those who manifest negative emotions and looses interest in gossip and refrains from making negative comments about others.He looks for faults in himself which need correction rather than blame others or find fault with them.
The above mentioned changes make the one travelling on the path of ONENESS a calm,serene and a very peaceful person.His mind is no longer filled with the clutter of gossip as he has now learned to associate himself with only things and events which nourish his soul,the foremost feeling in his mind is that of LOVE,the highest emotion and closest to God.Slowly at first but quite rapidly later all his conditioned responses,feelings and thoughts,which he learned as age advanced(irritation/anger/jealousy/greed/envy/hate etc)are now replaced with the higher emotions of love/forgiveness and joy.The conditioned responses get peeled off like the rings of an onion till only a beautiful core remains!He becomes like a child,shorn of all negativity,after all an infant is the purest stage of a human being,closest to Him!
All this translates into a being who radiates a beautiful aura of love and affection with tremendously positive vibrations,whatever he utters has a divine quality,his demeanour radiates peace,and his presence inspires confidence………..his foremost emotion is the highest one,that of LOVE and BLISS…..and GODLIKE!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Rebirth
One has always wondered whether rebirth does actually take place.To me it is a reality,though many doubt that it does,specially in the West.There have been many anecdotal evidences to prove it and lots of books have also been written on this subject.As far as I am concerned I know it to be true from personal experience.
Why does it occur?According to our mythology,when the human soul is about to leave the human body at the time of death,whatever form it wishes to take,it comes back again in that form.The human birth is supposed to be the highest form of creation in which God has bestowed upon us “free will”whereby we have choices to experience virtually whatever we wish to. Therefore the soul,in order to experience a particular type of life,reincarnates in that particular body to experience what it wishes to and evolves further(we are always evolving).This is of course,based on one’s karmas.
By the time one gets a physical birth,one has forgotten that one is a part and parcel of the Almighty,to which one should strive to return.If the soul wishes to experience God it gets born in situations or circumstances where it comes in contact with people who sort of act as “catalysts” to help it evolve further towards God.It is quite likely that at this juncture it meets a Being who teaches and shows the soul the path to God.This Being could well be a Guru/Prophet/Master,whatever one wishes to address him by(like Gautam Budha/Guru Nanak/Sant Kabir/Jesus Christ/Prophet Mohammed or a modern day guru who has actually traversed the path to Self Realisation).If,however,the soul has wished to experience something else,it takes the form of a of a human being with different charectaristics or traits and experiences something entirely different,but always keeps evolving.Sooner or later,(though it may take many births),it will heed the message being constantly communicated to it through intuition/instinct/sixth sense etc to follow the path of Truth,which the soul ultimately starts to seek.
The reality is that many of us are aware of our earlier births and perhaps feel excited about it and start seeing or meeting many of our friends/relatives/well wishers/enemies of an earlier birth and try to reestablish the same connection but one should remember that now the same person who may have been a brother/sister/friend or whatever had that specific role to play as THAT person in THAT particular birth but in the present incarnation the role may not be the same as before!Therefore one should not get too excited about it.The reality possibly is that this is just to pay back our karmic debt to each other and we assume different forms to do so.To give you an example.You find that your boss is overbearing and singles you out for “special” treatment.Perhaps you may not even be aware that this is happening to you only to balance out the way you treated him in an earlier birth, where perhaps you were bossing over him!Similarly,you suddenly find that you are stranded somewhere in dire need of help with no one in sight and you think you are” finished” but miraculously someone appears from nowhere and bails you out.Again a karmic debt is being paid.
The fact that most of the time we do not remember anything about our previous births is actually a blessing.You can imagine what would happen if you started recognizing all your earlier relatives/friends/enemies/well wishers/associates/bosses/subordinates etc and tried to maintain contact with all of them.You could have all types of feelings….. of love/hate/stress/fear with which it would be impossible to cope.In addition present relationships could also get affected.
Learning or knowing about your past life/lives can very well be a part and parcel of your spiritual growth and is often a by product of progress on your path to God Realisation,but here also,Gurus try to dissuade you from trying to unravel earlier mysteries for the simple reason that solving them or remembering your past serves no useful purpose at all as each birth and each relationship has a different purpose than the earlier one and could very well complicate your present life.
Often,some Psychiatrists can get a patient to remember his/her past life but here the purpose is often therapeutic as very often past mishaps could be causes of fear/phobias and a trained psychiatrist could help the patient get over the phobia by making him/her aware of the reason for it.
It is very common for reincarnation to take place in “clusters”,which means that many people you may have known in an earlier birth,may be born again around the time you are and may actually be ‘around you “!There is so much truth in the saying that “The world is a stage”!It actually is as we are all playing our role life after life,in one birth one could be a father, while in the next one might be born as the son to the person one fathered earlier!
If one were to realize this one would take a lot of things in one’s stride.This is one of the reasons why God Realised souls discourage you from saying bad or foul things about anyone(of course,the main reason is that since our Atma is actually a part of the Parmatma,when one says something bad about anyone, one is actually maligning God).
Very often one wonders why one takes a strong liking to someone one meets for the first time and gets a feeling that one has met that person before!But despite one’s best attempts neither can figure out when and where.It is quite likely that one has met someone one knew earlier in a past life.For no apparent rhyme or reason this relationship grows.Again,one must remember that though there is so much of familiarity the purpose of the present meeting may be entirely different from the one in the previous birth.
By the same token,one may come across some one to whom one takes an instant dislike even though one has never met that person before.This again might be a case where paths may have been crossed earlier in an earlier birth.As so often happens,such a person one seems to keep meeting over and over again,one may get irritated,angry or upset but this might just be a situation where both are actually meeting to balance things out.As you progress on the true path you realise that the purpose of such meetings is to reach a state of the highest good for both the concerned parties and you understand that your duty is to even things out,therefore,act in a manner whereby confrontation is avoided and an action done whereby reconciliation can take place and if posible real forgiveness and love.One,however,may fail once,twice or many times(meaning thereby that one has not acted in the manner commensurate with the highest good of both) but such events will continue to take place till the issue is resolved for the good of both(by such repeated events,one is being given a chance to correct oneself)!
Sooner or later one evolves to a stage when one starts “seeking the truth” and with the help of a God Realised soul starts traversing the path towards God and becomes One with Him.Once that happens this cycle of birth and death is broken and one does not come back again as one becomes a part of Him.It does,however,happen that a few chosen few(like Budha/Guru Nanak/Jesus Christ/Kabir/Prophet Mohammed) take birth to guide people and help them towards the path to God.
Why does it occur?According to our mythology,when the human soul is about to leave the human body at the time of death,whatever form it wishes to take,it comes back again in that form.The human birth is supposed to be the highest form of creation in which God has bestowed upon us “free will”whereby we have choices to experience virtually whatever we wish to. Therefore the soul,in order to experience a particular type of life,reincarnates in that particular body to experience what it wishes to and evolves further(we are always evolving).This is of course,based on one’s karmas.
By the time one gets a physical birth,one has forgotten that one is a part and parcel of the Almighty,to which one should strive to return.If the soul wishes to experience God it gets born in situations or circumstances where it comes in contact with people who sort of act as “catalysts” to help it evolve further towards God.It is quite likely that at this juncture it meets a Being who teaches and shows the soul the path to God.This Being could well be a Guru/Prophet/Master,whatever one wishes to address him by(like Gautam Budha/Guru Nanak/Sant Kabir/Jesus Christ/Prophet Mohammed or a modern day guru who has actually traversed the path to Self Realisation).If,however,the soul has wished to experience something else,it takes the form of a of a human being with different charectaristics or traits and experiences something entirely different,but always keeps evolving.Sooner or later,(though it may take many births),it will heed the message being constantly communicated to it through intuition/instinct/sixth sense etc to follow the path of Truth,which the soul ultimately starts to seek.
The reality is that many of us are aware of our earlier births and perhaps feel excited about it and start seeing or meeting many of our friends/relatives/well wishers/enemies of an earlier birth and try to reestablish the same connection but one should remember that now the same person who may have been a brother/sister/friend or whatever had that specific role to play as THAT person in THAT particular birth but in the present incarnation the role may not be the same as before!Therefore one should not get too excited about it.The reality possibly is that this is just to pay back our karmic debt to each other and we assume different forms to do so.To give you an example.You find that your boss is overbearing and singles you out for “special” treatment.Perhaps you may not even be aware that this is happening to you only to balance out the way you treated him in an earlier birth, where perhaps you were bossing over him!Similarly,you suddenly find that you are stranded somewhere in dire need of help with no one in sight and you think you are” finished” but miraculously someone appears from nowhere and bails you out.Again a karmic debt is being paid.
The fact that most of the time we do not remember anything about our previous births is actually a blessing.You can imagine what would happen if you started recognizing all your earlier relatives/friends/enemies/well wishers/associates/bosses/subordinates etc and tried to maintain contact with all of them.You could have all types of feelings….. of love/hate/stress/fear with which it would be impossible to cope.In addition present relationships could also get affected.
Learning or knowing about your past life/lives can very well be a part and parcel of your spiritual growth and is often a by product of progress on your path to God Realisation,but here also,Gurus try to dissuade you from trying to unravel earlier mysteries for the simple reason that solving them or remembering your past serves no useful purpose at all as each birth and each relationship has a different purpose than the earlier one and could very well complicate your present life.
Often,some Psychiatrists can get a patient to remember his/her past life but here the purpose is often therapeutic as very often past mishaps could be causes of fear/phobias and a trained psychiatrist could help the patient get over the phobia by making him/her aware of the reason for it.
It is very common for reincarnation to take place in “clusters”,which means that many people you may have known in an earlier birth,may be born again around the time you are and may actually be ‘around you “!There is so much truth in the saying that “The world is a stage”!It actually is as we are all playing our role life after life,in one birth one could be a father, while in the next one might be born as the son to the person one fathered earlier!
If one were to realize this one would take a lot of things in one’s stride.This is one of the reasons why God Realised souls discourage you from saying bad or foul things about anyone(of course,the main reason is that since our Atma is actually a part of the Parmatma,when one says something bad about anyone, one is actually maligning God).
Very often one wonders why one takes a strong liking to someone one meets for the first time and gets a feeling that one has met that person before!But despite one’s best attempts neither can figure out when and where.It is quite likely that one has met someone one knew earlier in a past life.For no apparent rhyme or reason this relationship grows.Again,one must remember that though there is so much of familiarity the purpose of the present meeting may be entirely different from the one in the previous birth.
By the same token,one may come across some one to whom one takes an instant dislike even though one has never met that person before.This again might be a case where paths may have been crossed earlier in an earlier birth.As so often happens,such a person one seems to keep meeting over and over again,one may get irritated,angry or upset but this might just be a situation where both are actually meeting to balance things out.As you progress on the true path you realise that the purpose of such meetings is to reach a state of the highest good for both the concerned parties and you understand that your duty is to even things out,therefore,act in a manner whereby confrontation is avoided and an action done whereby reconciliation can take place and if posible real forgiveness and love.One,however,may fail once,twice or many times(meaning thereby that one has not acted in the manner commensurate with the highest good of both) but such events will continue to take place till the issue is resolved for the good of both(by such repeated events,one is being given a chance to correct oneself)!
Sooner or later one evolves to a stage when one starts “seeking the truth” and with the help of a God Realised soul starts traversing the path towards God and becomes One with Him.Once that happens this cycle of birth and death is broken and one does not come back again as one becomes a part of Him.It does,however,happen that a few chosen few(like Budha/Guru Nanak/Jesus Christ/Kabir/Prophet Mohammed) take birth to guide people and help them towards the path to God.
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Guru
YesWhen travelling on the path of truth one realises that all along God has been trying to communicate with us but we have been far to busy to understand this.A true guru is one who has been been listening to Him and communicating with Him.The Guru then tries to make his disciple understand this to and fro communication and helps the student move forward in the right direction
Thursday, July 24, 2008
The Guru
The Guru is the one who guides us along the path which connects us to the Divine,a path we all seem to have forgotten.He makes us realise that God lies within and and helps us to to realise Him.He is the one who brings about the union of the Atma with the Paratma.The Atma is the spirit,essentially a part of the Supreme Being.The Guru incarnates just to help those who are "ready'to journey on this path and it is only those who are 'ready" are fortunate enough to come in contact with him for his blessings,based on their Karmas.
The journey is simply beautiful and breathtaking and makes one realise the difference between "happiness" and "bliss".Happiness is a result of fulfillment of material desires while bliss is due to one's close proximity with Him.All this happens when the Guru "iniates'us by bestowing on us "Naam Daan",and teaching us to connect with Him by the Anhad Shabd(similar to The Word mentioned in the Bible,as this is supposed to be the origin of the world).This has been practised by Muslim sufis as well.
The journey is simply beautiful and breathtaking and makes one realise the difference between "happiness" and "bliss".Happiness is a result of fulfillment of material desires while bliss is due to one's close proximity with Him.All this happens when the Guru "iniates'us by bestowing on us "Naam Daan",and teaching us to connect with Him by the Anhad Shabd(similar to The Word mentioned in the Bible,as this is supposed to be the origin of the world).This has been practised by Muslim sufis as well.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The Soul
The soul is the essence of our being,and continues from one incarnation to another and akin to our genetic make up.It is something like a very vibrant energy which is actually very powerful and,therefore,so close to the Divine!Blessed are those who can get a peek into their souls as then they are then in very close proximity to the Almighty.The soul is the "spirit'of God.
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