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by
Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL
No.85
March: 2008
OUR ACTIONS ARE OUR OFFERINGS TO GOD
QUESTIONS FROM READERS
QUESTION 1 FROM SRI DHANESVARA DAS
It is my strong belief that the current dominant culture that we live in is an anathema to spiritual life, and it makes progress difficult. Too many distractions. To many other things to do that impact sadhana. etc.
ANSWER: A very pertinent and universal observation indeed. Regarding the influence of the dominant culture and the distractions, may I suggest that you relook from a different angle?
Instead of distractions being “anathema to spiritual life’, they are indeed the very basis of sadhana. Nothing in this creation of the Lord is served to us which are detrimental to our progress. It is God’s way of strengthening our determination and belief. Through them, we learn. The tough lessons in our classes are not to discourage our learning. They are the very basis of our process of learning.
No doubt, it is not as easy as it sounds, but that attitude is what is called for and has to be practiced with diligence.
The wisdom lies in understanding the negatives, overcome them and move towards the positive goals. A sadhak should not look at obstructions as obstructions, but as guidelines from The Lord to decide the right moves. That is God’s intention. If one has determination and trust in God, then more the difficulties, closer He stands beside the sadhak. With that faith the sadhak redoubles his efforts. That trust is the true expression of sharanagati, the intelligent sharanagati.
QUESTION
2 FROM Ms KALPANA V
Respected Sir, Kindly give us a message for The Mahashivaratri.
ANSWER:Let me repeat what I had earlier said:
Listen you all, to the dum dum sounds of damaru
The Divine Call to wake up you out of slumber.
Let loose your grip of the little pleasures of world,
See! The fire of Mahakala has already destroyed them all.
Be not a slave of your body of slithering passions,
-Soon to turn into mere burnt ash.
What difference it makes bedecked with jewels or with
-Matted locks and a dried skin?
Swallow the poison of pride
And control your passions in the coolness of soma
Let the flowing waters of Ganga cleanse your soul.
The Divine hand urges you to surrender at the feet of the Lord.
The Abhaymudra is His assurance to freedom.
Siva blesses you.
QUESTION 3 FROM Sri ANIL DOSHI
I am receiving your e-mails regularly and I do read them and study them. However, I am not able to locate any sermon/gospel from this e-mail to enlighten me further. I shall appreciate receiving life-enriching enlightenment from your e-mails.
ANSWER: It is rather intriguing as to why you are looking for sermons or gospels as you call them. Perhaps in our society, we have too many Gurus(?), who are too happy in sermonizing and traditionally most of us have a surface approach to religion.
As we discussed in the pages of AHWAN, the sanatan philosophy or hindu dharma or the vedantic religion is an evolved religion and not – repeat not- a dictated religion. It evolved with the mankind and with the whole creation itself. That is why it became a way of living. It is important to remember that.
Unlike the teachers of some other faiths, what the ancient rishis or gurus conveyed to their pupils is their own personal experiences at the physical, mental and psychic levels to serve as guides. But the emphasis was for the disciple to be in yoga in all its aspects and chart out his own course of action and understanding based on his shraddha and level of consciousness. As in a Chinese proverb, they did not dole out fish to the hungry but taught him how to catch fish.
Using their advice, the scriptures as the base, each man is expected to work out his own relationship with Brahman and his own way of living life. Some modern day gurus who dictate out ‘do’s and ‘don’t’s without transforming the disciple’s antahkarana, mostly confuse him. Their advices do not stick very long.
The Lord resides within you. He is the Guru of all gurus. He is the only one capable of giving you sermons. Until you have tried to discover him within you and established communication with Him through Yoga, who will sermonize you?
Once you have started walking on your own, the external gurus go only to refine your thoughts and actions, put you back on the road if you have strayed away, giving you the benefits of their own experiences. But make no mistake, the journey is all yours.
Therefore make sankalpa to live life spiritually, and plunge whole heartedly into sadhana. Guide lines are available in various articles in AHWAN as well as in our other scriptures to read.
Soon with the grace of the Lord within you, your life will start blossoming. Your thoughts and actions shall be enriched by dharma. Sermons will flow automatically. This is an arduous but very satisfying journey, easy path for the brave hearts.
QUESTION 4 FROM Ms DEVI DAT
Why it is unclean to pray at your alter room or in any temple when women see their monthly period...God is said to be here there and everywhere and what is so wrong to pray in yr alter room at that time of the month...
ANSWER::It is all about the state of one’s mind and the level of understanding and mental consciousness. God Himself does not get contaminated by our uncleanliness in habits or the state of our minds. All these rituals and practices are for the benefit of the devotee only. It is for our need that we follow them.
The place of worship is a place dedicated to God to whom we pledge absolute purity of body and mind. Human nature being as it is, a clean body, clean attire etc produce automatically a cleaner and happier frame of mind. One can concentrate better. If the physical conditions of the devotee is one of uncomfortableness, unclean and irritation, it would seriously affect the prayer. What good would that do? Therefore entering into the puja room with these conditions be better avoided. God can be remembered from anywhere and in any condition.
However if the devotee is strong willed enough to overcome all external feelings and can cultivate single minded devotion, there is no prohibition of any kind in approaching God.
There is another very practical and sensible view to this for the benefit of common people. Going through our daily activities, we do get unclean. For the sake of preservation of our body it is necessary to clean ourselves regularly. By interweaving the daily beneficial chores from taking bath to wearing a clean clothing etc, right unto the religious rituals is a very clever way of forcing people not to neglect their personal hygiene. That is how sanatan dharma is regarded as a way of life. Intelligent people obey these practices.
QUESTION 5 FROM SRI NAGENDRANATH MOHANTY
What are Mahavakyas?
ANSWER:: This is only popular observation. Mahvakyas are profound utterances relating to the truth mentioned in our Vedas. Ofcourse every sloka in the Vedas is profound in itself but which one is a mahavakya and which one is not depends on circumstances, level of awareness and search by the individual seeker. Generally accepted ones as four mahAvAkyas or four aphorisms are:
'PrajnAnam brahma' that is 'consciousness is
Brahman' coming from Aitheraya Upanishad.
‘Tat tvam asi' 'you are that' coming from ChanDogya Upanishad.
‘Ayam Atma Brahma’ this self is Brahman', comes from this ManDukya UpaniShad and
‘Aham brahmAsmi' 'I am Brahman' coming from BrihadAranyaka UpaniShad.
Others may hold different views. But that is not important. Meditating on these four utterances coming from different Vedas, to arrive at the essential truth they convey ( jnana tattvartha darshanam) is important. They all lead to identification with Brahman.
