Four Steps to Freedom

Four Steps to Freedom

To know the nature of our true self we should slowly start developing certain qualities and acquire knowledge over a period of time. Let us discuss some important qualities that one should possess

Devotion/Bhakthi – This is most useful quality that one can possess and this does not require any pre-qualification. What it means is that if a person has to learn Vedanta he should have certain basis qualities in himself and because of that he becomes eligible to learn Vedanta (this is a traditional requirement which was followed, the basic qualification for Vedanta is collectively termed as Sadhana Catustaya, two of the qualities are discussed below).

Bhakthi or Love to wards divine has no conditions to it; it is the purest form of emotion that one can possess which keeps him/her always with the lord.  The love towards the divine should be unconditional and this is possible only when a person gives up his ego. It is just that a person has to start liking God and slowly but surely the thought of God will take over the mind. Love is such a powerful tool that it just needs a kick start and once this starts, it pervades each and every thought of a person.

So how should one proceed with Bhakthi? What one can do is that, he can remember God for all the actions that he performs. Suppose he is buying new cloths then mentally thank God for providing the new cloths or otherwise offer the Clothes to the God mentally before wearing, similarly while eating or going to sleep do the same thing. To a person who loves God he knows that nothing in this world is independent of the God, it is only God who is making us to do everything, not even a blade of grass will move without his will, hence he gives up the thought of I’m doing this, to God is making me to do this (agent ship). Finally as he proceeds his individual will ceases to exist and lives a life completely absorbed in the Self (God) and experiences bliss.

In Vedantic point of view the mind has to surrender to the consciousness within. Meaning other than the self-everything is Maya (illusion), hence the mind/body that we have should be used only in the service of the Lord, that is why we see that highly devoted people are highly compassionate, as they see the Lord in each and every one and they know that everything is only God and this existence is because of the Self and later merges back into the Self. Self is the base on which this relative world exists and it will cease to exist if there is no self, sustenance of the universe is dependent on the Self and not the other way around.

The reason we say that it is an illusion is that the world that we is not in the truest form, only the modification of the consciousness has made this apparent world appearing in front of us and hence when the person realizes the pure consciousness within, he understands that only consciousness/self exists and nothing else. Just think that once you realize that nothing is apart from you and everything one and the same, how a person will hate another, it is only love and compassion that will prevail.

Jnana/Knowledge – This is one of the qualities that also come up in Sadhana Catustaya and Vairagya as well which will be discussed later. Having scriptural knowledge about the Self is very important if a person wants to proceed in understanding the Self within, a person following Jnana yoga has to listen, understand and practice the teachings of the Upanishads. This will lead to the realization that his true nature is that of the God and there is none other than the God in existence.

Vairagya/Dispassion/detachment – Proper practice of Bhakthi or Jnana will always lead to viragya, when a person realizes that there is no second to the Self, his ego (false identification that he is separate from the creator) will go away as he see manifestations of God with the underlying realization that everything God, at this stage he would stay with the bliss of the Self perpetually and ignore the impermanent pleasures and pains of the material world

Viveka/Discernment/Discrimination - This is nothing but the quality to differentiate between what is true and false. The point is that with proper Viveka, one will understand and differentiate between the true Self and its manifestations, the world around is like a wave in the ocean, The wave is no different than the water in the ocean, if there is no water then there is not wave, hence the apparent world that we see and live is just a modification of the true self, but it cannot exist without the Self. The person with proper knowledge will be able to discern this and understand that the true nature of the self is beyond any explanation that can be given through a language. Language is not capable of understanding and articulating the true self but only through experience that a person can realize the self. This is viveka that Self is Absolute Existence, Consciousness and Bliss

Goddess Tripura Sundari – Saguna Brahman

Goddess Tripura Sundari – Saguna Brahman

God without any attributes is called as Nirguna Brahman, this God is beyond anything that can be imagined by the mind, whatever the mind is able to imagine or build a model to it, is always finite and not complete in nature, hence how can a mind with its own limitation can theorize about God, who is absolute and without any limitations. All these words that is being typed here is to try to comprehend something infinite, this statement by itself is oxymoron and is not possible. If a mind is able to give a form or build a model to this universe then it is not God (not complete) but only a limitation of our mind which is trying to make sense of God or universe. Nirguna Brahman is absolute existence, absolute consciousness and absolute bliss, which is beyond mind, intellect or any names and forms.

Then what is this universe that we see here, in Vedanta this is explained as Maya or in Trika philosophy this is nothing but Independent energy of Brahman (Shiva) which has manifested as universe and then Nara (man). So man has to understand Shakthi first, so that she will show the path towards Shiva. That’s why in Trika philosophy more importance is given to Shakthi as it is only her who lifts the veil of maya to show the ultimate truth.

In Vedanta the creation is explained in three parts, when Maya covers Brahman it is called Ishwara (God with attributes), the same Brahman covered by Avidya (ignorance) is Jiva (individual souls, man/women etc) and finally Brahman with Guna’s (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas) forms Prakriti (universe). So when one observes the above it is the same Brahman which has transformed into Ishwara, Jiva and Prakriti.

Hence the entire universe that we are in now is nothing but Saguna Brahman, meaning Nirguna Brahman with attributes.

In Sri Vidya tradition Saguna Brahman is nothing but Goddess Tripura Sundari, we see the entire universe as her manifestation and she is worshipped by the way of her Yantra, Mantra and Tantra. Sri Vidya is a complete system by itself and progresses the aspirant towards self-realization. The main benefit is that a Sri Vidya Sadaka gets both material and spiritual benefits. We know about famous Tirupati Temple and it is said that Adi Shanakaracharya installed Sri Chakra in that temple for its prosperity and we know now how much money now it gets on daily basis. That is the reason why Sri Chakra has become synonym with wealth and auspiciousness. What one fails to understand is that when one becomes a Sri Vidya upasaka his material needs are not only taken care but he will start progressing in his spiritual life. When the Avidya of a person is removed, he starts learning Sri Vidya (auspicious knowledge of the Divine mother).

An aspirant has to start with a mantra of divine mother and slowly proceed with breath control and finally meditation. Ultimately it is her who lifts the veil of maya to show us the ultimate truth.  

   

Importance and Limitations of Rituals

Importance and Limitations of Rituals

In this present scenario spirituality is identified with Religiousness and because of this there is lot of confusions in the minds of the people where they are subjected to thousands of rituals in the name of Spirituality/Religion. People are now wasting their time, money and moreover faith on God due to such misconceptions about basic difference between Spirituality and Religiousness.

To put it in simple terms Religiousness acts as a foundation for a person who wants to pursue spiritual path in life. It’s like this we cannot directly go to graduation without finishing our schooling, similarly being religious and following rituals are like schooling and as the person proceeds further he will discard all these rituals and become Spiritual. Further a religious person usually ends up with spiritual life but a Spiritual is not religious/ ritualistic.

Religious process basically focuses on rituals, prayers and certain sacrifices (homa) etc, which are basically a tool to bring his restless mind at peace and to develop disciple. Moreover these practices are generally practiced for material benefits than spiritual benefit. On the other hand rituals lay a strong foundation for a spiritual life as it develops devotion in the mind of a person.

If we keenly observe the rituals that are being followed, you can see that each of them have certain benefits, so let us take some example below

Let us start with a basic ritual like fasting that is followed by many of us, this when we correlate with yoga, it follows the principles of Niyama (virtuous habits, behaviors and observances) and Yamas (Moral living). What are we trying to do in this ritual is that we are trying to take charge over the body and mind urges and there by try to control our mind, also at this time your thoughts are filled with thoughts of divine (as during fasting you are supposed think about the divine), the benefit of this is that you are taking charge of you mind and body by enforcing control over. You will realize that you are no longer a slave to your urges which have disastrous consequences. Again limitation is that only by fasting you cannot become spiritual and more over you should not punish your body by overdoing it. Fasting will not give you the required knowledge that you need for progressing further. But in the current world people are propagating false information’s saying that you fast on a Saturday and your problems will go away.

Another example for a ritual that we can take is for pujas/homas (Idol worship, daily prayers, homas etc). This method is a double edged sword as most of the people get stuck here and never go beyond this point in their life time. Though there is benefit by this method. This is not the final stage. It is this system that has become popular now and wrongly being projected as the ultimate solution to all problems of life. People are cheating others by charging exorbitant amount for these rituals by providing false promises to people saying all their problems will go away if one performs a particular homa or puja. They charge lakhs of rupees and have made situations worse than good for most. What we need to understand is that if a person is destined to suffer something in this life (prarabdha karma) he is bound to suffer/enjoy it. No ritual will work in this regard. But the people with vested interest have elevated these rituals as ultimate.

Contrary to the above opinion the benefits obtained from the above should also be considered now as they play a big role in our life and they help us prepare our-self for the path ahead. Pujas are important as it is here we try to establish a link with the divine. Here we see our-self and God as separate and devote our-self to the divine. When Pujas are done properly our ego reduces, disciple is established, devotion develops, love towards the divine increases and more importantly we can stop accruing new Karmas (Note through this only new karmas can be stopped but the existing karma which needs to be experienced cannot be undone). The reason why this not the ultimate path and is just the tool is that here we see God and our-self as two different beings; we are searching for a God outside which is dualistic in nature. We are giving an image to a God who is infinite; hence we are limiting our-self by giving a form to God who is Absolute existence, Absolute Consciousness and Absolute Bliss, this God is beyond Time and Space and we are trying to conceptualize this God within Time and Space, hence making the God limited (limiting our mind is the point here).

Hence once a person is firmly established in rituals and if his practice is genuine and yearns to progress the divine grace showers on that person and he starts moving into spiritual life, it is here that the person acquires spiritual knowledge (not ritualistic knowledge), by reading Upanishads, Gita and other scriptures which gives him knowledge of the Spirit, with divine grace a Guru will appear for a honest student and he will teach the path of spirituality and the ultimate knowledge saying “You are that”.    

Why I cry for God

Why I cry for God

This is a strange situation that people here cry for everything in the world, we cry that we are not rich; we cry that we do not own a house or have a high paying job or that our family life is not good etc.

It has become such a situation that we are now crying for everything for small or big things. We are ready to struggle for money, prestige, health, property etc; we know in the heart that this is not the ultimate solution to life problems, meaning when we have A, we want B, when we have B then we want C. Thins keeps going on until we realize that we want everything which is impossible to achieve. Then we start crying that I did not get this or that.

The fundamental problem with this is that we are behind something which we assume it to be the source of our happiness. But in reality they are not. We can see so many people who say if I have X money with me I’m happy and once they get it, they are not happy or maybe happy for a brief time and again they want something else for their happiness. This is a never ending cycle and we are caught in it. So what does this got to do with our title would be the question? The answer is that it has everything to do with the title. We are now in a situation where we are agonizing our-self due to desire and have not understood what the source is for our happiness. Moreover why are we crying about the never ending cycle of desire is the question which is need of the hour to be addressed. The same issue can be looked by three different ways i.e: from the view point theist, atheist and agnostic.

Let us try to understand how these three people look at the above problem and try to see what we can learn from them

Theist – A theist is a person who believes in the existence of a GOD looks at everything as God or his creation. Based on his mental modification he will either view the entire world around as Gods creation and we are here to live within this creation in a manner that befits his expectation. This is more of a dualistic view of the world where we see God and our-self as two different beings and one tries to please the other. Even in this situation what he will try to do is that, he will try to lead a life which is moral in nature as he believes that there is a God and he will punish me if I do anything wrong, otherwise genuinely he feels blessed to be born and spends his life in service others as he yearns to see the God, as he knows that whatever is created by God is also subject destruction by the same God. He will not see any point in worrying about any worldly desires as he by heart will know that God will take care if he follows his Swadharma (one’s own righteousness).

From an Advantic point of view a Theist will see everything as God and he does not separate himself from the world around himself. Hence there is no point of hatred here and he automatically starts loving everyone and derives pleasure by serving others.

But the problem arises when a theist aware of the God and his creations succumbs to mental impurities like desires, anger etc. He though aware of the fact becomes attached to worldly things and with attachment, rises suffering as he is trying to hold on to something which is not permanent and is not the permanent source of joy. Instead of holding on to God who is the source of everything he is holding on to his projection which is ever changing, anything which changes cannot be permanent source of our happiness, as once the object or temperament changes the same object that which was the source of pleasure will become a source of pain and moreover both mind and the observed are objects to our Self, As we are the witness of mind/body and not mind/body. So when with an impure mind a theist slowly forgets about the God and cries for the worldly things. If he really did cry for God, meaning to see him or understand him, there would not be any suffering, meaning anything that comes in his way would be seen as Gods play or he may be indifferent to the surrounding as he feels that the apparent suffering is just an illusion where there is no point in worrying about it or he experiences compassion towards others and serves them as he sees God in everyone. But the point is that he will be out of this suffering as he will no longer bother about the problems of the mind and body as he will always stay with God (no mind state with the realization of the self)     

Continued