by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 49
March . 2005

 


  Atma
 Knowledge
 Creation
 God
 Spiritualism
 Sanatan

 Questions
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UNDERSTANDING DEATHLESSNESS OR AMRITATTVA Part2 - (A practical approach to GOD concept)

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

QUESTIONS FROM READERS

QUESTION 1 FROM SRI S K DAS

HOW CAN YOU MEDITATE ON THE DIVINE (WHICH IS INFINITE) BY YOUR MIND WHICH IS FINITE?

ANSWER: I hope by this time you would have contemplated a little more on the four articles on form and formlessness that have recently appeared in AHWAN. That would make my answer simpler.

As you would have understood by now, the Divine is neither confined to forms nor to formlessness. These being concepts of mind and God is not a subject of any specific concept.

Ofcourse the limited mind has no power to hold God in its grasp. It is merely an enabling step. Knowing its limitation God also manifests in myriad physical forms so that the limited mind can relate to Him. Have we not noticed how an adult parent does not hesitate to crawl in all fours in front of the baby urging the baby to crawl first before it can walk? But all these are stages.

The gift of mind which God has given to man, has this unique ability to reach and then surpass its own reach and constantly expand its horizon. It ventures beyond physical to psychic. Of course its own powers can not reach that level on its own. But when one is in Yoga with sincerity and shraddha it is the Lord who extends his grace, and the intuitive mind understands the concept of infinite formlessness and then eventually goes even past it. God’s grace is always available to a true Yogi to cross these barriers of physical mind. Do you remember from Bhagavad Gita (viswaroopa darshan yoga), how Krishna gave divyachaksu or enlightened eyes to Arjuna so that he can see his universality? That divyachaksu is not an additional physical eye, but His grace, that made Arjuna transcend his physical limitation- so can you, me, or any one.

QUESTION 2 FROM Ms GERALDINE

Presently I am undergoing a lot of turmoil in life, getting battered from all sides. I implicitly trust in God but still can not cope. Please give me some encouraging words.

ANSWER: ‘Absolutely Since I do not know the details, I can not give any specific advice. But in situations like this, thoughts that invariably work in a positive way are all available in Sanatan philosophy. I suggest you some of these, which I had shared recently with another person who was also facing difficult times.

1.These specific suggestions will definitely help you. Since you are a person in already God consciousness, your true sincerity will be tested by this. Hence please contemplate on these –one by one- with seriousness.

2. Nothing in life happens without a purpose. Whenever a situation comes in life, it always carries a hidden message. At that time most of us may not understand that message. But after continuous and positive contemplation over a period of time, the realization dawns. Keep searching for that message. Keep searching for that hidden message.

3. All situations (even the worst calamities, death, separation etc.) put a barrier against even greater misfortunes which might have followed if this would not have happened. Strange but true. With our lack of knowledge of the total picture we take time to understand this. Good fortune is always next in the queue.

4. Whenever we face a situation, we always like to think that it is me or I, who is confronted with. This is the greatest obstacle that drains away all your confidence. One must always remember –always- that you are never alone facing all these. God is beside you, standing beside you, may be with his assuring hand behind you on your shoulders. Feel His hand. He will guide your next steps. That trust and belief is the key.

5. Greater the misfortune, nearer are you to GOD. He never abandons any one.

6. Do not blame any one for the circumstances. Many unknown factors, including your acts of commission and omission, are responsible for inviting the situation. Clean your heart forcefully from any trace of hatred towards any one. Learn to be unperturbed about the whole thing. Do not worry if you do not see it this way in the beginning. That is natural. But keep trying. With the cloud of hate over you, the right solution will take longer time. Miracles have happened. One does not know. Only God knows. Hatred blinds you to see GOD’s hand in work. Without hatred you will live and act under positive vibrations.

7. You are nearest to God when the crisis is deepest. That is the way HE loves. We do not like bad times. But bad times is GOD’s way to push you up the ladder to become a stronger and better human being.

8. Miseries are nature’s law that helps you to atone the mistakes that you have committed knowingly or unknowingly in the past. The sooner you suffer it out the better it is.

9. Remember, only that much burden of misery will fall on you, as GOD knows, your back can carry- not a bit more that may prove to be the proverbial straw on the camel’s back. It is not in the divine scheme of things that we perish under the burden of misery.

10. Do not brood about your future, or financial worries. Everything gets sorted out in the right way. Leave that to GOD. Do you really trust his capabilities? If you still worry, you are indirectly doubting God- perhaps He does not know what He is doing. If you distrust GOD who is there left to help you? How can you regain your confidence?

11. In every crisis, it is the time for having a dialogue with your conscience, the inner voice of God and reason- the time for introspection. Recognise your own mistakes and ask God what do I do now?

12. Keep your God consciousness always burning. Prayers and meditation greatly help. But often we do these things mechanically. Try to increase your shraddha (putting into it love, sincerity, determination and understanding etc.)

QUESTION 3 FROM SRI AVINASH PARASHAR

If my mind were not so wayward, I would not have faced so much suffering. Why does my mind always leads me to wrong path?

ANSWER: Please refrain from being in this blaming mode and develop a negative attitude to your mind or ‘manah’ as we say in sanskrt. If you remain in a blaming mode you will not be able to see the total picture as to the origin of suffering, its nature, and what is more ‘how to gain control to avoid further suffering’.

In any case, mind is not the only element that is involved in perpetuation of misery. Mind works in combination of your entire internal instrument – the antahkarana – or collectively the mind, the intellect and your ego self. Let us try to see the total picture as we have discussed variously in the pages of AHWAN. (If you revisit the various articles on www.ahwan.com this should be amply clear.)

All experiences in life are broadly of two kinds - preyas ( the immediate pleasure giving but ultimately ending in dissatisfaction and pain), and shreyas ( not very enjoyable on the face of it but ultimately brings lasting good). When the sense organs come in contact with sense objects, the experience is first received in the ‘mind’. But mind is only a ‘neutral’ tool. It looks at the intellect (viveka) to interpret the experience. The intellect has the discerning power to evaluate the quality of the experience. It does so by comparing it with its own stored data of memory (smrti). If it has the memory of the pain of burning when in contact with fire, it will know that the experience will be painful etc. The memory need not be only of physical experience. Mental and psychic experiences are also added to memory and the intellect takes into account all that it has experienced in the past.

But the decision to go ahead with the experience or not, is taken by the ego or ahamkara (also referred as the individual will). Ego is the powerful force within us.

Ego not only has the inputs from viveka to work upon but also has the inner voice, the divine presence within us, which with its absolute knowledge that it possesses, constantly urges the ego to always go for shreyas and keep away from preyas. Remember here the example of the two birds from Mundaka Upanishad. (Also please see November 2004 issue of AHWAN- Questions from Readers).

Ego has therefore two choices. It can either shut out the inner voice and in its arrogance, makes its own choices and fall for preyas, that brings quick sense gratification, or, restrain itself by listening to the inner voice and opt for shreyas. The former lands the individual in misery while the latter wisens him and delivers him from misery. ( Please also read AHWAN May 2001 issue- Listening to inner voice).

All depend upon the decision of the pompous ‘ego’. When our ego is turned towards the world only, and when we think that we know best, all independent and powerful, we invite misery. But we can also turn GODward, surrender ourselves to the superior knowledge of the divinity within each of us and steer away from misery.

That is all that the wise men do. They control their ego, and act in conformity with the divine principles (dharma), knowing very well the play of mind, intellect and ego. When they do, all things work out for the better.

QUESTION 4 FROM SRI SHIRISH KAMATH

They say in Kaliyuga dharma is depleted and adharma is more. Does not mean that we are all very unfortunate people to have taken birth in Kaliyuga, compared to those who lived in Satya and other Yugas?

ANSWER:: We are neither fortunate nor unfortunate. Not that you and I did not exist in other yugas. There is no point also in imagining that in previous yugas, evil or adharma did not go out of control. Otherwise there would not have arisen the need for the Lord to incarnate Himself to set things right.

The jiva or individual soul, goes through its journey to satchidananda that may encompass many yugas until the final liberation. That is the belief. Every yuga provides a different set of conditions to assist the jiva in its journey. Consequently the progress of the jiva in different conditions shall be different in nature, pace and fulfillment. It may be faster or slower, more or less, but it is progress nevertheless in our uninterrupted journey to the final destination. There is no point in lamenting on conditions prevalent around us. A wise man makes the best use of the conditions with his focus unwavering and fully understood. Our scriptures even have documented the nature of effort to be resorted to – different for different yugas, that is practicable and best suited for the prevailing conditions.

The moot point is that the divine expects the jiva to remain constantly in the path of dharma as the only means for its evolution and liberation irrespective of the environment.