Changing Times

Times are changing fast and so is the matrix in relationships. This includes the whole spectrum- from marriage to religion.

Marriage: Just read about Brad Pitt and Agelina Jolie signing their pre-nuptial agreement which safe guards their individual wealth in case of split in future. This is quite a common feature in the western societies nowadays.  However, such marital agreements are not usual in the Indian subcontinent as yet. But don’t be a surprised if very soon we hear of these things in our good old country too. Can't blame anybody, as the institution of marriage is seeing difficult times. All individuals want to safe guard their interest and rightly so.

Religion: The other such change is seen in the world of religion. I must confess of taking the liberty of adopting the worldview and nomenclature to term 'Sanatan Dharma' as Hindu religion in the narrow sense. 
The word closely connected with religion is, Guru. Unfortunately it has been so abused and misused in today's world, that the very word makes people skeptical. All you get is raised eye brows, frowns and smear at the mere mention of the word, GURU. Ironically, this very word is meant to stand for spirituality, purity and bliss. 
In fact, the change had started to take place way back, somewhere in the medieval period. During Tulsidaji's times, the term SADGURU had to be used to distinguish between the real and fake Guru's. 

Ramcharit Manas, speaks about this in very clear manner.  We see two such deceitful and phony characters, posing as sages and trying to act as Gurus; one in Bal kanda and the other in Lanka kanda.
In the first kanda we see King Pratapbhanu, who is a powerful and well loved ruler. Once, while roaming in the dense forest running after his hunt, the king looses his way. There he saw a heritage where a fraudulent lived acting as a great sage. The king falls in the trap of this Kapat muni, a false anchorite.

               फिरत बिपिन आश्रम एक देखा I तह बस नृपति कपट मुनिबेषा II 
                                                                         [ Bala-Kanda II157II ]

Although wise, Pratapbhanu couldn't see through the evil sage who promised to take complete care of the king. His faith and surrender in this fake Guru finally leads to the fall of not only his kingdom but of his entire clan.

The second example is from Lanka kanda where Kalanemi a demon ally of Ravana, took the deceitful garb of a hermit to misguide Hanumana. 
Tired and fatigued, seeing the beautiful ashram of kalanemi, Hanumana thought of resting there for a while and quenching his thirst. 

             मारुतसुत देखा सुभ आश्रम  I मुनिहि बुझि जल पियै जाइ श्रम II 
             राच्छस कपट बेष तह सोहा I मायापति दुतहि चह मोहा II 
                                                                        [ Lanka-Kanda II56II ]           
             
Hanumana, the Bhuddhi mataam varishtham, the very embodiement of intelligence, was  of course too smart to be caught in the trap of Kalanemi. Finally, in one twist of his strong tail Mahabir knocks the impostor down.  



Caution: Sadly this is so true in our present times too. The faith of people is being shaken up and for very obvious reasons. It's hard time for upholding the true dharma.  
Logic says, caution is the word and the remedy. Taking the example of Hanumana, its time to slay the demons acting as spiritual and religious guides. And its encouraging to see that happening .    

                                                      Ж

Master - सद्गुरु सत्य रूपी तप से भरा होता है              
            SadGuru is one who is brimming with penance of truth.
                                                                                                           

       

                                                                                                        

Dev Bhumi

Few pictures from the Dev Bhumi; Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh.
On one side the wonderful wise words of Master and on the other side, the serene beauty of the Himalayas.


 Instead of whisking away to some foreign destination, its worth to take some time out, to visit the beauty in our own country. 

Skyline from the katha Pandal

India is a country where every element of nature is revered and worshiped.

Giant Peepal tree in a police station compound 

Religion is not confined to any place or time, its part of everyday life.

Small Shiv temple; familiar sight all over the place.

Unknown Sadhus, roam around quietly without pretensions, come and sit in the katha.

Sadhus at the katha 

Many unknown faces sit right behind doing their thing and listening to the katha.

Sitting behind, undisturbed.

Master says never forget your roots. Give respect to all but have firm faith in your own.

SadGuru

सत्य की राह दिखा रहा है
प्रेम की सुधा पिला रहा है
करुणा का पाठ पढ़ा रहा है
जीवन का मतलब समझा रहा है

जल की तरह सब को भरता है
आश्रितों का जीवन सफ़ल करता है
सुनहार की तरह तराशता है
हौले हौले हमको निखारता है

ना ईर्शा ना द्वेष ना निंदा ना मत्सर
हरसू  यही अभ्यान चलाता यहाँ पर
हर रोग की नवज पकड़ता है
धीरे धीरे इलाज वो करता है

कोई डॉक्टर भी नहीं कर पायेगा
कड़वी से कड़वी दवा वो प्यार से पिलायेगा
अपने जैसा हमको बना छोड़ेगा
बिन किये ये वो मूह ना मोड़ेगा

लगता है फ़ना कर रहा है
मुझसे नया व्यक्त्तित्व उभर रहा है
झीगे को मरना ही होता है
तितली का प्रकटन य़ू ही होता है

सदगुरु की करुणा क़हा तक ग़ाऊ
शब्द कम पड़ेगे सच बतलाऊ
सहजो का मत दिल को भाने लगा है
गुरु का चुनाव समझ आने लगा है
गुरु का चुनाव समझ आने लगा  है

                                            : नीना 

Truth

     
                                         
                                                             

An affirmation – Truth has different levels and hence not easily understood.

               On one hand, a verse from Taittiriya Upanishad says,

              " Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava

               Acharya Devo Bhava, Attiti Devo Bhava.."

               It means Regard mother, father, teacher and guest as God.

On the other hand, Saint Goswami Tulsidasji tells Meerabai to give up all relations. Giving advice to Meerabai, who was in a dilemma, and replying to her question, Tulsi advised her in a verse which meant:

"...Abandon those who cannot understand you and who do not worship Rama or Shyama, even though they are your dearest relatives. Prahlada abandoned his father; Vibhishana left his brother Ravana; Bharata deserted his mother; Bali forsook even his Guru; the women of Vraja, disowned their husbands to get to their Krishna. Their lives were all the happier for having done so. The relation with God and the love of God are the only elements that are true and eternal; all other relationships are unreal and temporary…"

One might wonder at this apparent contradiction. A layman might get confused and wonder what the right thing to do is. So drastically different the two messages are. Then what is the truth?

Master says, " there are two things; one is gross truth (स्थूल ) - something which can be seen and comprehended by limited human eyes. The other is subtle truth (सूक्ष्म )- which is not visible through naked eyes, but that doesn’t deem it from being so.” 

Let me make it simple by giving a simile-

If you were to ask me, what exactly I’m doing right now. I would say,” right now, I’m sitting on my chair, typing on the computer.”

Now, nothing can be more honest than the above sentence. But in the same breath if I was to say, " Right now I’m also going round and round in circles...” how many of you would believe me?

Whether you believe or not but that’s the fact. I am rotating at this moment. How is that possible? Well, I can scientifically prove it.

The Earth is never still! Got the idea, a school student knows this.....

Earth's rotation: the rotation of the solid Earth around its own axis. 
Earth spins steadily – and moves at a constant rate in orbit around the sun – we as an earthly passengers move right along with it.

we are rotating along with Earth

The circumference of the Earth at the equator is 25,000 miles. The Earth rotates in about 24 hours. Therefore, if you were to hang above the surface of the Earth at the equator without moving, you would see 25,000 miles pass by in 24 hours, at a speed of 25000/24 or just over 1000 miles per hour. 

Earth is also moving around the Sun at about 67,000 miles per hour.
[the above figures taken from the net]

This was a simple example to prove that something which can't be seen by physical eyes (except by astronomer) or grasped easily, is still the 'Truth'.

Human life is to progress

Let's go back to the main affirmation, by presenting the view of Swami Vivekananda, a great soul of our times.  He who spread Vedanta in the west says:

“ this world is good as far as it is a means to perfect ourselves, and as soon as it has ceased to do that it is evil, nothing but evil. So wife, children, husband, money, dollars or learning are good, as long as they help us forward; but as soon as they have ceased to do that they are nothing but evil”.

In the Manas it is given rather vehemently : Perish that property, house, happiness, friend, mother, father, or brother, who does not gladly help one turn towards Lord Rama. 

   जरउ सो संपति सदन  सुखु सुह्रद मातु पितु  भाइ I 

             सनमुख होत जो राम पद  करै न सहस सहाइ II
                                                               (AYODHYA-KANDA,185)

Here Rama also means the one ultimate Truth.

The Vedas deem the highest Truth as progression; evolution and this Human life is the best place (and only place) for achieving this. Everything else becomes subservient to this highest truth, although they are right at their own level. Sometimes to see the subtle truth we need a minuscule view, something that our normal eyesight might miss.

or like Master says: to understand the scriptures ( शास्त्रा ) we need to sit at somebodies feet.