by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 61
March 2006

 


  Atma
 Knowledge
 Creation
 God
 Spiritualism
 Sanatan

 Questions
 e-mail

ATMA- PARAMATMA- Part 1

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

QUESTION 1 FROM Pt RAVINDER NATH WATTS

About AvatArs (incarnations), Ishtadeva (personal God) and Gurus

ANSWER: For any devotee, the intensity of feeling towards one’s Ishta is quite an admirable feeling and when channeled with understanding, always assists the sadhak to quickly raise himself spiritually. This is another unique aspect of sanatan philosophy where the importance of Ishtadeva is understood and recognized. Without recognizing the presence of Ishtadeva or personal God, devotion or bhaktiyoga is almost impossible.

Is it disrespectful to bracket the Ishtadeva – the Brahman incarnate – along with other religious saints and gurus?

If such an impression is carried, it would be quite erroneous. Through discussions in AHWAN we have often tried to understand the respective concepts regarding the ultimate God, the Brahman, the forms of the formless one (in the form of personal Gods), and the role of gurus who guide us to the same ultimate destination.

All this has to be understood in the context of some important points relating to the descent (avataran) of the divine grace in various forms and manifestations whenever establishment of dharma needs a helping hand and evil needs to be eliminated.

The circumstances are not always the same. Therefore the required effort is not also always the same. Logically under normal circumstances, every created being in the Lord’s creation including you, me and everyone is expected to continuously work for the upliftment and establishment of dharma. The sanatan philosophy through pages and pages of instructions in our scriptures urges everyone to walk the path of dharma. That is everyone’s bounden duty, the undercurrent of our purushartha.

Every each one of us descending from Brahman carry his power to be able to do this duty. But succumbing to maya and different levels of acquired ignorance that we have, we fail to uphold dharma or partially carry out dharmacaran. As a result, duskritas (evil doers) acquire strength and dharma starts getting depleted.

The world then needs more efforts to set things right.

Thus we have the descent of saints as reformers. They with their higher levels of consciousness and again endowed with the grace from the Lord, are able to achieve so much more. Dharma regains strength and gets reestablished in the minds of more people. Remember, that they are also manifestations of Brahman, but their power is limited to what the need of the world is to let the sristi (creation) move on.

But in every Yuga, there comes a time, when the powers of evil gets uncontrollably strong and dharma gets almost wiped out from the minds of majority of ‘beings’. The task is beyond the powers of normal human beings as well as the saints.

Then the world needs the intervention of the Divine Himself to descend and reestablish dharma conquering all the powers of evil. That is the descent of purna avatars or full descent of Parambrahma.

HE is Krishna, He is Rama, He is Shiva, He is Shakti, He is all. It is HIS grace indeed that, in whatever form the situation demands, He assumes that. All His forms become Ishtas to his devotees. Whichever way the true devotee wants Him and feels comfortable with, He never hesitates to oblige him. Whatever form helps to sustain the devotee’s faith, it is wise to remain with that form. They say Yat Yat Sraddha sah eva sah.

But the purna avatars even do not unleash all their powers in the world. What is needed, that is done. And when that is done, they also discard their mortal bodies and leave.

When one understands this concept, one is filled with great joy and admiration for the logic and perfection associated with the divine principles and joy is enhanced with the realization that you, me, and every one is indeed an inseparable part of this grand design and not outside it. The reverence for the Supreme Lord is in no way diminished with this feeling of oneness with Brahman.

When the seers declared ‘aham brahmAsmi’ or ‘soham’, the reverence is in no way diminished and no disrespect is shown. That is the nature of all enlightened minds, which are beyond any parochial considerations or any inferior complex. That openness and freedom of heart and mind is sanatan philosophy for you.

QUESTION 2 FROM (Names withheld)

I had my baby’s horoscope checked and the astrologer predicted bad things…… What Puja can I do to prevent this? I am so worried….like any mother would be….?

ANSWER: I am not an astrologer or a tantrik and therefore cannot specify for you on puja rituals. However from the spiritual viewpoint, I advise as follows which will help you to understand the ways of the Lord much better. I believe, that if you look at things in a rational way, it will certainly create a positive atmosphere for your child and do good to her.

God’s ways are never whimsical and under no circumstances, He allows situations to develop which are detrimental to any of His creations. Whatever happens, happens with His sanction and happens for good.

To begin with, this paranoia you have for misfortune to befall, should be completely banished from your thoughts. No matter what others may say, if you continue to harbour this negative feeling, you will only succeed in releasing a lot of negative vibrations, which will bring no good whatsoever.

On the other hand, you should start developing a strong positive attitude that everything is in the hands of the Lord and He alone knows what is in the best interest of your child. By developing such an attitude, you will be in fact, releasing positive and beneficial vibrations which will protect your child.

When you yourself anticipate misfortune, you are actually expressing your lack of trust and confidence in God’s judgement, as if He does not know what is good for His own creations. When you carry out pujas and other rituals, what you indeed do is to seek favour from the same God with whom your confidence and trust has weakened. How can you then ask Him for any favour?

Pujas and purifactory rituals are per se not wrong. They are at least great positive psychology boosters and provide great mental strength. But their real purpose is to be understood. Every puja is to build a build a bridge between myopic human understanding and the divine ways of the Lord. If we fail to understand this, it becomes a wasted effort.

Even the true and esoteric meaning of the mantras recited during the pujas elaborate on this aspect. But in our ignorance we deduce it cater to our physical needs as we perceive it and then blame ‘fate’ when we fail to get our desired result. (Every word and phrase in Sanskrit language has many meanings and therefore it becomes easier to bend it as we would like to understand it.)

What you should definitely do is very simple. Renew your prayers directly to God and strengthen your trust on Him. Unflinching trust in God is the greatest safeguard against all misfortunes. Faith and trust in God reduces the impact of all unwanted mishaps. That is what they mean when they say duhkham heyam anAgatam. That is what prayer and faith achieves.

Initiate your child to this attitude of yours. Children develop deep trust and faith in God much quicker watching their parents. That again protects them. We may do any number of pujas and rituals. Ultimately it is only the Lord who decides what is best..

QUESTION 3 FROM Sri Enderan A/L Sundram

Lets say I did bad karma… sinful things because of ignorance….have now realized… and …surrender … and pray. Will God accept me?

ANSWER: At the outset let me begin by saying that, at no time any one, even if he has committed the gravest sin, is ever unacceptable to God. God does not turn his face away from any one at anytime. By definition, God is always supportive of each and every individual soul.

We all commit mistakes out of ignorance. Since every ‘cause’ has an ‘effect’, every mistake results in some pain and suffering. This is not to be seen as a punishment but as a lesson to be learnt for the future, so that we may not commit the same mistake again, come out of ignorance and purify our soul. When we realize our mistake, learn the lesson and surrender to God, He bestows on us inner strength so that we can bear the pain and suffering with grace and fortitude. We come out stronger. All mistakes, all suffering, when properly understood, go to assist us in our spiritual development. If you have started reading the articles in AHWAN, this has been explained on various occasions.

QUESTION 4 FROM Ms LAVANYA SINHA

Sir, Why do you ask me to surrender to an unknown force and vague entity, instead of teaching me to stand up and act on my own for my own good?

ANSWER:SharanAgati or surrendering to God, does not mean taking leave of independent and intelligent thinking. It is indeed the highest level of thinking and decision making by our antahkarana (mind, intellect and the ego self). It is the result of right evaluation of all choices and acting in the highest interest of the soul if we believe in self development and evolution and desire for it.

The most conducive environment for our development is created in an arrangement of harmony with the creation so that all its potential benefits can be exploited and optimized for our purpose. By SharanAgati you simply avoid the foolish attitude of trying to conquer a higher and more powerful forces, which are actually working for your own good. That force, that entity, is not your enemy and has no ulterior motive.

Animals and lower life forms also live in a sharanAgati mode subconsciously and mechanically under the guidance of the nature –(The Lord thereby). Man is unique in the sense that instead of involuntarily it has been given the power of understanding to surrender intelligently and voluntarily deciding his own good. That is part of Yoga. That is an intelligent decision to speed up the evolutionary process. That is quicker movement towards peace and end of struggle. SharanAgati is not an act of weakness. Only the enlightened ones with inherent strength within, are capable of voluntary surrender to the Lord. Rest muddle around until the light eventually dawns.

QUESTION 5 FROM Ms Angeline Selazar

Dear Sir, Why aren't men learning to love one another and live in peace? Why are they killing the innocent in the name of religion?

ANSWER: Thousands of years back, from the time of human intelligent consciousness, the sanAtan philosophy gave to humanity some profound truths that can guide men to their highest level of spiritual development. It discovered the matrix nature of the entire creation from humans, plants, animals to distant unknown worlds and galaxies. It also understood the interdependency of the smallest of the small and the largest of the large. It not only declared vasudheiva kutumbakam – the entire world of ours to be one single family but even went beyond to include the entire universe as one entity. All other religions of substance subscribe to similar concepts.

It is not an intellectual propaganda, but borne out of a basic need by which everyone exists and can exist.

Long before the modern world realised the relevance of ecological chain, or the brotherhood of humanity, the seers had declared that each ‘being’ sprouts from that single source and hence each is dependent on the other like the limbs of the same body. Each derives sustenance from the other hence none should destroy wantonly another. I receive, hence I must also give. If I stopped giving, I shall be deprived of receiving. Man cannot afford to live by cutting off the sources that sustain it. If man is deprived of this assistance , he shall stop developing.

The concept of interconnecting matrix explains how each of us is connected together and by this togetherness we derive strength and support each other.

That message was left for all to follow. Ignorance of this truth recognizes separateness and not unity. When we see ourselves separate from each other, conflict and enmity follows. Love dies. Ignorance is the root cause. This is what is known as dharmasya glAni or depletion of Dharma.

But the eternal faith of man also believes in its own capacity of correcting all aberration in human behaviour. It believes in a Divine intervention that manifests to reestablish Dharma. Already there is growing awareness in all societies to stem this downslide. Many right thinking people are raising their voices – however feeble it may sound now- against misuse of religion. Their number is growing by the day. The goodness of human soul is slowly but definitely stirring within many minds. Let no one underestimate its power.

(Further recommended reading: Understanding the creation- AHWAN June 2000 issue, Attempts to describe Brahman part 6 – AHWAN October 2003 issue and Sustaining God consciousness AHWAN October 2005)

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