by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 53
July. 2005

 


  Atma
 Knowledge
 Creation
 God
 Spiritualism
 Sanatan

 Questions
 e-mail

MEASURING THE SPIRITUAL PROGRESS- Part 1.

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

QUESTIONS FROM READERS

QUESTION 1 FROM Prof. Debaprakash Acharya

When you speak of Sanatan or Universal Religion, you base it on Vedic scriptures as authentic. Followers of other religions declare their scriptures to be the only true revelations. One gets really confused. Which ones speak of truly God’s words?

ANSWER: The foundation scriptures of every ‘faith’ which has stood the test of time, contain the basic truth in some form or other. As long as they assist the individual soul to reach the highest level of perfection – the satchidananda – (and that is the one and only purpose of all existence), they will command the respect of humanity and are to be respected.

As to the question of God’s only true revelation or its absolute authority, that is very unlikely to be settled by consensus or public debate.

But there is indeed a wonderful alternative means open to every human individual to arrive at his or her own conclusion

Every faith has its own way of looking at the truth. Each one has something to say. As one is exposed to these views, it is imperative that everyone must contemplate and analyse them using that greatest gift God has given i.e. the ‘intellect’ or viveka. Never should one undermine the power of human intellect. In the journey towards the goal, there is no obstacle which the intellect or viveka is incapable of overcoming (ofcourse with the ever-present grace of the Lord)

In the Bhagavad Gita there is a wonderful utterance by Lord Krishna. Even after detailing out the paths of knowledge, action and devotion, He still says: Buddhau sharanamanwiccha- take refuse of your intellect to know. That is the true spirit of quest.

Unfortunately most humans have this tendency of too quickly pulling down the shutters of their intellect. We love to fall victims of ‘blind faith’ instead of ‘intelligent faith’. The tribes of religious preachers, excepting a very few learned individuals- make it even more difficult by encouraging blind belief and by threatening any one who speaks against their own selfish interpretations which may challenge their authority.

The confusion remains and bursts out in evil consequences time and again.

It should not be so. It need not be so, if only one chooses to become an intelligent follower and not a blind follower. If one only lets one’s intellect or viveka to become its principal guide.

I am not in a position to offer comments on scriptures that guide the other faiths. But I can say the following that applies to sanatan philosophy and leave for your viveka to decide.

The Sanatan philosophy is based on the three foundation scriptures known as prasthAna trayam which are The Vedas (more precisely the philosophical portions i.e. the Upanishads), the Brahmasutras (expounding on Brahman), and the Bhagavad Gita (expounding on the spiritual approach to life).

Being the oldest of thoughts believed to be revealed to mankind, it had the unique potential to influence all other faiths that were subsequently followed by the mankind.

Its comprehensivity covering every aspect of knowledge is its greatest strength.

Their character of revelations as absolute truths, is established by the fact that since the beginning, these three canons have not undergone nor have necessitated, a single change, addition or revision of any kind. While many religious canonical scriptures have incorporated corrections, alterations, additions etc., there has been no need to change in any way the Vedas, the Brahmasutras or the Bhagavad Gita.

The thoughts in them remain universally truthful. They are known as suktas meaning well said- (su =well, ukta= said), so well and truthfully said that no better expression has been necessitated to revise them. Time has proved them to be timeless.

If they had undergone change, they would have been reduced to mere chronicles of changing times and no more be considered timeless and universal. There lies their appeal.

Sanatan philosophy’s strength lies in its open freedom for all – beyond faiths and dogmas and even amongst its followers- to dissent, verify and then reaffirm them, without forbidding anyone from constructively questioning them. That is how it has proved its high degree of intellectual, logical and spiritual refinement.

QUESTION 2 FROM Sri Amulya Ghosh

Sir, If whatever happiness or suffering we get is due to us and result of pre-committed action, then why do people indulge in elaborate shanti yajnas, special poojas to appease Gods etc. Is it not better to face everything bravely on your own?

ANSWER: Atleast two things get achieved, and both are important for enrichment of life. If God is your goal, as any student of psychology will tell you, man needs to be constantly focused on his goal.

Even a moment lived without being aware of life's purpose and goal is a wasted existence. A yogi therefore has to be in constant consciousness with the goal of his yoga. Any activity in life that goes to strengthen this consciousness is beneficial. The underlying principle of spiritual activity of any kind is or should be to keep this awareness alive. The first effects yajnas, tapas, rituals of any kind, even mere leading a righteous life, have is to reaffirm our linkage with God.

Ofcourse, we do undertake activities often with a worldly material purpose. That reveals an inadequacy in our consciousness level.

But it is also a self-correcting process. When we undertake activity even for material purpose, the first gains are basic. We act because we believe that our actions shall be rewarded. That thought pulls us out of despondency and lifts our confidence. An improved confidence results in clearer thinking. We become capable of deciding right actions. Right actions bring right results and with that improved conditions.

Improved conditions bring relief to mind and humility to heart. We turn grateful. Focus turns to God the savior and bestower of good things.

Furthermore, whenever a spiritual activity of any kind is undertaken, even for a limited purpose, its benefits are never limited. If bad deeds (vikarma) result in suffering, good deeds (sukarma) ensure future benefits. Any yajna carried out ( all actions are indeed yajnas) with this understanding, urges you to act rightly, now onwards and in future. If prarabdha (past deeds) can not be erased, the future deeds (kriyamana) starts from here.

Behind all these activities ofcourse the intentions should be right. Show-off yajnas with lot of pomposity and rajasik ego do immense harm than good.

QUESTION 3 FROM Sri Ravi Mathew

.... I just want to ask you how you got too close to God...? I mean how you understood that its your only way and hope?

ANSWER: Your question is interesting. When you ask how does one get too close to God, firstly you presuppose that God is some distance away from us. There lies one of the major discoveries and contributions of sanatan dharma to the world of spiritual philosophy. The sanatan philosophy has this profound truth that we are all IN Brahman and Brahman is WITHIN us. The entire creation with all its perceived constituents are but a single homogenous entity which is Brahman. You neither come close to Brahman nor are ever separated from Brahman. If you have had occasions to go through the various old articles of AHWAN (especially 'Uunderstanding the creation', 'Attempts to describe Brahman' etc.) you may agree with me more.

This truth of 'oneness with Brahman', is the coveted goal of yours, mine and everyone else's.

But at the same time, your question is not entirely irrelevant. Through our ever dynamic movement throughout our existence, from the first spark of consciousness to the final state of satchidananda ( the ultimate truth, its realization and the bliss that follows), we encounter conditions resulting from our own actions, that create layers of veils that temporarily obscures the vision of that truth of oneness.

Yoga is that endevour to lift these veils and keep this truth ever kindled in our hearts and to remind us about it again, and again and yet again. Since everyone, barring none, is indeed part of God or Brahman, it is within the power of everyone to reach that realization sooner or later.

How do we realize that He happens to be our only hope?. Without going into the intricacies of yogic sadhana, the most understandable answer for common people is to reflect on one's own life. We all say 'life is a great teacher' but most do not take this teacher very seriously. One should seriously reflect upon the innumerable incidents of one's own life and if one is sincere, he can easily read the lessons that each incident has handed down to us. The hand of God is ever present throughout the good incidents that drew us closer to him in gratitude and through out the bad incidents - which we could not have survived without Him standing by our side- that again drew us closer to him in gratitude. When even a tiny drop of that wisdom settles in our mind, how can any one with intelligence fail to recognize, at whose feet all our hope lies?