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by
Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL
No.88
June: 2008
KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, REALISATION AND CONSCIOUSNESS
QUESTIONS FROM READERS
QUESTION 1 FROM Brig J S AHUJA
I feel obliged to receive your mails. They are really providing spiritual food for our body. But we all have to do something more to make this great country most prosperous with least corruption , and where every citizen should take pride in identifying himself as Indian first and Indian last ……rise above the caste system and religion etc.
ANSWER: You are quite right in saying that the various anomalies in our society, concerning directly our lives, often demand priority over a spiritual approach to life.
But it need not be the true character of a mental state, trained and refined over lives after lives in the sanatan philosophy, which the people – at least in this part of the world – have had the previlege to be already in possession.
Patriotism, freedom from evils of corruption and narrow mindedness etc. are certainly to be practiced and never to be abandoned. Our scriptures have been most emphatic even in these issues. However what we have been looking through them is not merely a physical display per se, but ‘happiness in life’ through them. They have their importance in one dimension of our existence, but the knowledge already with us has proved that true happiness can only come, when searched and found in all ‘other’ dimensions as well. It calls for simultaneous and imperative search in the essential totality.
As a matter of fact, the human thought process has already concluded that a spiritual approach to life is not a separate way of life, but is the very solution to life. It is the very tool through which happiness from all aspects of life can be dug out.
Sounds too idealistic? That is because with the passage of time, this knowledge has slipped into general amnesia, now calling for revival by awakened minds.
It is not impossible but was once very much in the grasp of human minds and still is in some people in India and a few in other parts in the world in spite of being phoo- phooed by the so-called western culture.
Life’s problems were always there, will be there always. We still (though often casually) remark of the amazing Indian society, which always has displayed an inherent serenity, composure, wisdom and peaceful contentment and goodness even in the midst of abject misery. We see it still pronounced in life in our villages, in the hills, amongst the ‘primitive’s. It is not a small thing but remnant of a higher wisdom flowing from time immemorial and once governed all our actions.
It is not an escapist thought, not even an alternate thought, but the solution itself. It is the difference between a mirage and real oasis.
People say, annachinta chamatkara- the hunger for food (material needs) being so over-powering, where is the place for metaphysics? Yet the spiritual approach to life, rightly understood and practiced is the only lasting solution to human unhappiness. Practice of dharma is a practical approach to sort out all anomalies.
Even if a few take it upon themselves, what an awakening it will be!!
QUESTION 2 FROM Mr DARYL
Mr Mohanty, I am rather skeptical of the effectiveness of prayer in healing and as cause for good health. Please pardon me of being personal. Have you experienced any physical cure through prayer?
ANSWER:Thank you. It is good to ask rather than harbour a nagging doubt. Many of us, irrespective of faith, pray to God whenever in any kind of trouble- physical or mental-, and we have been doing that since thousands of years. If proof of the pudding were not in eating, people would have stopped eating pudding.
The body and mind are their own healers of all abnormalities. The power of self healing is to day a recognized fact. Prayer works indirectly. God consciousness provides strength and support to the mind.
However, it is naïve to single out prayer out of context as the solution to good health. The sanatan philosophy as it always takes a holistic approach, emphasizes on physical, mental and psychic practices simultaneously along with prayer. Pranayama and yogic exercises are essential practices. Type of food we take is another. Great elaboration is available in our scriptures as to desirable food habit- and description of satvic food. Not by any means less important is the external and internal purity (saucam) of body and mind.
In nutshell a yogic life style, to the extent it is practiced, is the key to good health and well being.
But in right spirit of things, it is childish to pray to God simply for physical well being. Pray for His grace for your spiritual development. If that prayer is sincere and one uses his body and mind for that purpose, following the path of Dharma, then the Divine assists in maintaining the continuity of one’s efforts by creating conducive physical and mental environment. Deterioration of mind and body of a sincere sadhaka, through disease etc, till the right time has arrived is not in divine scheme of things. When a person misuses the body or when he has earned by being in service of the Lord righteously in this life, then it is time to move into a fresh body. The present one withers away fast. In both circumstances it is a win-win situation for the sadhaka.
You asked for my personal experience. By no way I can say that my sadhana is complete. But the little Brahman consciousness that has sipped into my being has brought great benefits. For quite many years any compulsive need to visit a hospital has not arisen. This is not a matter to boast. I know of many who have also reaped similar benefits. So can you. So can everybody else.
Having a long life with healthy constitution, though desirable, is in itself no great deal. More important is, firstly how the life is lived. Secondly, whether one has remained body conscious all one’s life or has raised oneself to life’s higher dimensions of existence. Wise men have such priorities in life.
QUESTION 3 FROM SRI SAI SHANKER BALARAM
Vanakam Sri Bimal Mohanty, Thanks you for replying my email. Do you heal people spiritually? When you heal people how is it done do you need them to be there with you?
ANSWER: No body heals anybody. The only healer is the Lord Himself. Most people who project themselves as healers, only project their ego. All healing is done by the interaction of the efforts of the sufferer with the divine power of Brahman, the Lord Himself. The true so called healers are only intermediary agents or facilitators (nimitta).
When such facilitators try to help the sufferers, the starting point is to work on the antahkarana (mind, intellect and ego-self) of the sufferer helping it to understand the cause of suffering, the purpose of the suffering, and the body itself and the way the Divine works at the various levels of our existence including the body. Please definitely read “Dimensions of our existence” parts 1 & 2 in September and October 2006 issues of AHWAN.
Then the sufferer has to work upon himself and with the grace of the Divine, has to literally pull himself out of the miserable condition. The so-called healer merely assists and guides by counseling all through the process. At the end, the body, mind and the psyche of the sufferer gets transformed and a new life begins.
In counseling, personal one-to-one contact is most effective, but remote counseling is also possible.
(An important point to remember is that spiritual healing is a holistic process and not to be attempted in emergencies.)
Meditation also heals the body as it works on all dimensions (psychic, mental and physical) of our being. Therefore meditation has to be a way of life as common place as breathing, eating etc. If once a while it is skipped, no great harm is done provided the wayward, quickly returns to the right path. Suggested reading are articles “On Meditation” and “Preparations for sadhana” in AHWAN old issues.
QUESTION 4 FROM SRI CHINMOY BHATTACHARYA
Sir, To have Ramrajya (governance by Ram’s ideals), needs a Ram at the helm of affairs. Do you think we should opt for autocracy instead of democracy to have better governance as in ancient India?
ANSWER:Autocracy or democracy, both have their good and bad points. An individual ruler, if his or her actions are guided by Dharma (righteousness as defined in sanatan philosophy) can bring prosperity to the kingdom. But if he or she has abandoned dharma, the people would suffer. Rama and Dharma were inseparable from each other. Hence Ramarajya has become synonymous with good gevernance and peoples’ prosperity.
What is true at individual level, is also true at group level or democracy. A group can abide by dharma and bring prosperity to the nation. But the group may abandon dharma and bring all round misery to every one it rules over. Those who ignore and destroy dharma eventually destroy the society and the nation.
Dharma is the key. Respect for dharma and living by it is the only solution to the humanities problems.
Any ruling system will bring benefits to its people if it follows the principles of dharma. But if distanced from dharma, there is no happiness for the people at large.
The truth about the influence of dharma in governing a nation can be verified from the way we govern our individual lives. In life, one may have various vocations or ways of living. One may chose commerce, education, agriculture or anything. Different ways and means may be adopted in achieving material success. Yet happiness and peace in life will ever elude you. The reason is dharma or righteousness again. Unless every action is viewed and acted upon with a spiritual approach, conforming to the tenets of dharma, life will always remain full of upheavals, unhappiness and struggles with no permanent solution.
A spiritually conscious person will most likely not have material richness to show off, low social visibility, but you will find him living a more contented life, constantly adding to his inner richness.
People who have abandoned their faith in adhyatma- and thereby in dharma – can not manage affairs well, either at individual level, group or nation level.
QUESTION 5 FROM Ms SARADHA
How to love without want anything in return? Because it seems easy with rude things, but subtly is more difficult. Sorry for my English. Thank you
ANSWER:: Please think over again your own question. It is really not so difficult to arrive at a proper understanding.
The doubts arise perhaps because, most of us have a misconception of the true meaning of love. ‘Expectations of any returns’ and ‘love’ are contradictory things. Love is distinct from ‘mere liking’ or ‘being comfortable with’. When you are expecting back even an iota in return, then you are not in love but may be mere liking.
Visualise a mother nursing her sick child or suckling the baby. Do you think a return expectation of any kind from the child is anywhere in her mind? There is no hesitation in her giving.
A sadhak feels the same way for his beloved God. Perhaps not one hundred percent all the time, but surely strives towards that pure emotion. He recognizes the presence of the Lord in everything and everybody around him and extends his love to all. It comes so naturally to him.
