DREAM ON, BUT SLEEP IS VERY IMPORTANT, TOO.

Everybody dreams. Some remember their dreams; others don't. The brain never sleeps; neural pathways are always active, whether mediated by ego during waking state or without it, as happens during sleep. Activation of neural pathways produces dreams. During sleep, we go through four to five cycles of deep sleep and dreaming episodes, each of roughly 90 minutes duration. Electro-encephalography (EEG) studies done on the human brain during sleep, show that deep sleep is characterised by production of low frequency (1-4Hz) Delta waves, known to help produce life and mood-enhancing chemicals. At this stage, we are totally unaware of our surroundings. But, dreaming episodes characterised by Rapid Eye Movement (REM), are of light sleep kind, from which one can be woken up quiet easily.

Dreams are both internal and external. Since ego, the director, is absent during sleep, neural pathways have free run. Thus, day-long experiences or existing memories are the driving force for internal dreams. When there is sanyam or tremendous thinking activity on a particular thought during waking time, it leads sometimes to solution-dreams. Several great inventions and discoveries have come through such dreaming process. Externality of dreams comes because brain is both receiver and transmitter of human thought. Hence during sleep, memories or signals from knowledge-space impinge on the brain and may modify neural pathways. This can give rise to strange dreams of events and places never visited or interacted with. This is also the mechanism of getting prophetic dreams of which there are many instances.

Why don't we remember dreams? Brain scientists say part of it is to do with creating long-term memory. But it is dreams we remember that make life interesting. We still don't make life interesting. We still don't know why we dream. A possible answer may lie in how synapses behave during sleep. Synapses are connections between two neurons; they allow the transfer of information through passage of neuro-chemicals across the synaptic cleft, the distance (about 0.02 micron) between neuron and synapse that exchanges neuro-chemicals. Scientists have found that during deep sleep, the synaptic cleft widens by about 20%. Perhaps it helps in allowing the cerebro-spinal fluid to flow through it and to remove toxins from the brain.

The more we dream during the night, the less restful is the sleep. A really restful sleep is deep sleep without dreams. This helps in flushing out toxic material from major part of the brain. Besides this, the increase of synaptic cleft may also help in explaining the dreaming process. During sleep, neural pathways are active without ego, so circuit production is quiet random. But only those pathways produce circuits in which neural connections are still strong. Thus 'loosened' synapses or those with increased synaptic cleft might not take part in the information transfer and hence, in the dreaming process. So dreams could be random in nature. Besides, this loosening of neural pathways may also explain the removal of some memories of day-long experiences. Sleep is therefore necessary to remove clutter or irrelevant information from the brain.

Too often, we have dreams connected with our suppressed desires; most are based on unfulfilled emotional needs and pyschological knots based on strong memories that do not get loosened during sleep and cause recurring dreams. Resolution of these knots through wisdom allows the loosening of strong memories and helps in brain detoxification, producing dreamless sleep.

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WHAT YOUR INTENTIONS ARE ALL ABOUT.

An intention is an idea, vow, promise, yearning, or intense aspiration that you intend to carry out. We announce our intention to marry, to take legal action, or say that it wasn't our intention to hurt someone's feelings. But just having an intention or stating it, is no guarantee of actioning it; so many forces are at work, that may delay or derail the final result. The word 'sankalp' has several connotations but mainly - an orientation of the mind or heart; intention, determination, decision, wish, resolve and will-power.

Why will-power? Because even your will weakens over time; whereas sankalp acts as a strengthening element. The yogic view sees sankalp as resolve or promise to oneself, embedded in the subconscious mind, repeated frequently so that it becomes a reality. Intention, though, can be wholesome or otherwise; malevolent intentions are designed to harm life, property or reputation. Good intentions are to promote materialistic goals and Mahasankalp, higher intentions, are for enlightenment of self and others.

Sankalp could be to realise materialistic wishes, and Mahasankalp is meant for achieving Self-knowledge and enlightenment. Most sadhanas are done with this intention. And by implication, the mundane sankalpas should, in a way, help in the fulfilment of the Big Intention. From intention to final action, there are certain phases. Many intentions remain unfulfilled, because there is no resolve - the drive, zeal, or will-power to activate them. Even after activation, one needs to sustain the flow, to have stamina, to not to be discouraged, to see it through. Additionally, there is need for conviction and discipline, and all this depends on one's character. Most early enthusiasms wane in the absence of discipline to carry things through. That's why Buddhists emphasise the discipline of Right Effort.

In Zoroastrian tradition, Ahura Mazda is represented on earth by fire. The incence holder is placed on a pedestal with three steps, signifying the 'intent' of devotees to follow the three sankalps of good thoughts, good words and intent to do beneficial deeds according to the Law of Asha, Truth.

Invention in Islamic tradition is niyyat, often stated before daily prayer, or while donning the two-piece cloth and saying, "I do this for Hajj". It's like saying: "I am putting my will behind this act". In case of unmindful intentions, the Quran (2:225) states that God will not call you to account for your thoughtlessness or unintentional oaths, but for the intention in your heart - believing, feeling and meaning.

In Judaism, intention, Kavanah, refers to sincerity of devotion and the mental state while absorbed in prayers.

Intention accompanied by offering is meant for fulfillment of a wish or gaining merit before performance of prayer or ritual, whether 'lower', for material gain, or for higher spiritual achievement. In the spiritual domain, intention can have two dimensions - emotional, yearning to connect to Divine Grace and mental, as when saying: "Mera yeh sankalp pura kare Ishwar". Here there is intentional surrender of one's efforts to Divine will. This is like saying, Inshallah, God willing.

Sankalp finally refers to sincerity of promise. To most, it sounds like a truism today, says Rabindranath Tagore, "When we are told the moral goodness of a deed comes from goodness of intention". Integrity has largely to do with purifying our intentions.

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GOD'S FAVOURITE PEOPLE.

There is a beautiful story from Persia of a man who prayed to God to show him who was the most devoted to the Lord, God appeared and told the man to visit the home of one of His devotees in a certain village. So the man set out to the place where God directed him. When he arrived, he found the devotee had never undertaken the pilgrimage to Mecca. When he asked the reason for his not visiting the holy city, the man told him that he had saved money to undertake the pilgrimage, but a neighbour approached him begging money for his starving family. The devotee gave him the money he had saved. The visitor then said, "Your pilgrimage has been accepted. By serving your fellow beings, you are a true devotee and servant of God".

By serving selflessly, we expand our hearts from our own self to our family, to the community, our country, the world and ultimately the cosmos. Selfless service comes from an understanding that we are all members of one large family of God. True selfless service encompasses helping more than our own physical family; it includes all humanity.

We are often moved and inspired by reports of those who have risked their lives to save someone. We honour heroes who have died for their country. Service is one of the great acts one can do in this lifetime. It is rare that the average person has to face the choice of giving up his or her life physically in order to save someone else. But there are numerous opportunities that offer themselves to us daily in which we can help someone. The sacrifice may be of our time, of our money, of our resources or of our skills. But there is no dearth of chances to work selflessly for the good of humanity.

People who have helped others selflessly have helped improve the quality of life on this planet. Throughout the ages, some have worked tirelessly to cure diseases or to make discoveries and inventions to make people more comfortable and safe. Others have given their lives for the freedom and rights of others. Some have devoted their lives for the spiritual upliftment of others. Each of us in our own sphere can use our God-given talents and our knowledge and skills selflessly to make a contribution to make the world a better place for all and become God's favourite.

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HOW TO OVERCOME YOUR DIFFICULTIES?

Are you worried? Are you miserable? Worries and miseries are twin evils that go hand in hand. They co-exist in this world. If you are miserable, you are worried. We must face facts. Although we cannot run away from them, we must not let these twin evils of worry and misery overcome us. We must overcome them. We can do so by our human efforts, correctly directed with determination and patience. With proper understanding and carefully applied intelligence, we should be able to subdue our emotional feelings and do away with worries and miseries. Our worries are of our own making. We create them in our minds, through our inability or failure to understand the danger of our egoistic feelings and the inflated and false values we attach to things in their perspective, in that nothing is permanent in this world and that our own egoistic self is our wild imagination running riot in our untrained mind, we should be going a long way to finding the remedy to eradicate our worries and miseries. We must cultivate our minds and hearts to forget about self and to be of service and use to humanity. This is one of the means whereby we can find real peace and happiness.

Many people have longings and hankerings, fears and anxieties which they have not learnt to sublimate and are ashamed to admit them even to themselves. But these unwholesome emotions have force. No matter how we may try to bottle them up they seek a release by affecting the physical machinery resulting in chronic illness. All these can be repelled by correct methods of meditation or mental culture, because the untrained mind is the main cause of such worries.

Whenever you have worries in your mind, do not show your sulky face to each and every person you come across. You should reveal your worries only to those who really can help you. How nice it would be if you could maintain your smiling face in spite of all the difficulties confronting you. This is not very difficult if only you really try. Many teenagers worry too much when they are jilted by a friend of the opposite sex. They may even plan to commit suicide, compelled by the plight of frustration and disappointment. Some even end up in lunatic asylums. Many such broken-hearted youth lead miserable lives. All these unfortunate events happen due to lack of understanding of the real nature of life. Somehow or other, departure or separation is unavoidable. This may happen of a life career; sometimes in the middle and sometimes at the end; it is certainly unavoidable. When such things happen one must try to find out where the cause lies. However, if the separation is beyond control one must have the courage to bear it by realising the nature of life. But on the other hand, it is not difficult for anyone to find new friends, to fill the vacuum if one really wants to.

"Wheresoever fear arises, it arises in the fool, not in the wise man", says the Buddha. Fears are nothing more than states of mind. One's state of mind is subject to control and direction' the negative use of thought produces our fears; the positive use realises our hopes and ideals, and in these cases the choice rests entirely with ourselves. Every human being has the ability to completely control his own mind. Nature has endowed man with absolute control over but one thing, and that is thought. This fact, coupled with the additional fact that everything which man creates begins in the form of a thought, leads one very near to the principle by which fear may be mastered.

A noted British anatomist was once asked by a student what was the best cure for fear, and he answered, 'Try doing something for someone'. The student was considerably astonished by the reply, and requested further enlightenment whereupon his instructor said, "You can't have two opposing sets of thoughts in your mind at one and the same time". One set of thoughts will always drive the other out. If, for example, your mind is completely occupied with an unselfish desire to help someone else, you can't be harbouring fear at the same time.

"Worry dries up the blood sooner than age". Fears, worries and anxieties in modernisation are natural instincts of self-preservation. But constant fear and prolonged worry are unfaithful enemies to the human organism. They derange the normal bodily functions. If you have learned how to please others, you always will be in a good mood. This is because your mind does not allow worries to be accomodated in it.
The Voice of Nature: For the sake of material gain, modern man does not listen to the voice of nature. His mental activities are so pre-occupied with his future happiness that he neglects the needs of his physical body and entirely forgets the present moment for what it is worth. This unnatural behaviour of contemporary man is the immediate result of his wrong conceptions of World Order of human life and its ultimate purpose. It is the cause of all the frustration, anxiety, fear and insecurity of our present times. One who really likes to have peace should not disturb another man's freedom. It is wrong to seek happiness by disturbing and deceiving others.
If man is cruel and wicked, always lives against the laws of nature and the cosmos; through his acts, words and thoughts, he pollutes the whole atmosphere. As a result of such mis-deeds and thoughts, nature may not produce things which man requires for his living but instead man may be faced with epidemics and various kinds of disasters. If, on the other hand, man lives in accordance with this natural law, leads a righteous way of life, purifies the atmosphere through the merits of his virtues and radiates his loving kindness towards other living beings, he can change the atmosphere in order to bring about better results for the happiness of man. You may be a very modern busy man, but do not forget to spend at least a few minutes a day in reading some valuable books. This habit will give you a lot of relief and enable you to forget your worries and to develop your mind. At the same time, you have to remember that you have a religion also. Religion is for your own benefit. Therefore, it is your duty to think about your religion and to spare a few minutes a day to fulfil your religious duties.
Mental Health and Criminal Tendencies: In relation to health, it is not AIDS, or cancer, that is the most alarming of the ailments of our age. These sicknesses are now under control, and there is every hope that a cure for them will be found in the near future. Actually, the most alarming of all is the prevalence and increase in all kinds of mental ailments and disturbances. We are forced to build more and more hospitals and institutions for the mentally sick and neurotics of various kinds. There are many more who do not receive any treatment, but who are in great need of it. 
It may be asked why the criminal element within our society is mentioned in the same breath as the positive and far-reaching results stemming directly from the research work of Freud is the recognition that criminals and delinquents are also mentally sick people, more in need of treatment than punishment. It is this liberal outlook on the problem that is the basis of all 'progressive' social reform, and which open the way for reclamation rather than revenge.
Know Thy Neighbour: We can never know how other people live; we may not even know anything about the lives of people of different social levels from ourselves or of lesser or greater wealth. If we are healthy we cannot know what it is like to be sick and if we are invalids we cannot understand the energy of the strong. Such lack of experience makes for intolerance, because tolerance is born only of understanding and without experience there can be no understanding. Hence it is a good thing for us to get as wide an experience as is possible of all aspects of life, and especially to travel and let us make sure we do not always travel in luxury!
Man's Unhappiness: The Buddha thought that all man's unhappiness comes from wanting extraordinary things, the pleasures that money can buy, power over other men, and, most important of all, to go on living forever after one is dead. The desire for these things makes people selfish, so that they come to think only of themselves, want things only for themselves, and are not worried what happens to others. The only way to avoid this restlessness is to get rid of the desires; but when a man achieves it, he reaches a state of perfection and calm.
We do not enjoy pleasures but were ourselves overcome by pleasures (i.e., by endless anxiety in seeking those pleasures all our energies were sapped). We suffer more than we enjoy in seeking the pleasures of this phenomenal world.
Time Will Heal Our Wounds: Trouble passes. What has caused you to burst into tears today will soon be forgotten; you may remember that you cried but it is unlikely that you will remember what you cried about! As we grow up and go through life, if we remember this we shall often be surprised to find how we lie awake at night brooding over something that has happened to upset us during the day, or how we nurse resentment against someone and keep on letting the same thoughts run through our minds about how we are going to have our own back against the person who has harmed us. We may fall into a rage over something and later wonder what it was we were so angry about. And even if we do remember, we realise what a waste of time and energy it has all been, and how we have deliberately gone on being unhappy when we could have stopped it and started to think about something else.
Whatever our troubles, however grievous they may appear, time will heal our wounds. But surely there must be something we can do to prevent ourselves from being hurt in the first place. Why should we allow people and troubles to drain our energy and make us unhappy? The answer is, of course, that they do not, it is we who make ourselves unhappy. You may have had some trouble in your office or the place where you work but you should not bring or extend such troubles to your home and create a bad atmosphere among your loved ones who are innocent.     

CONSCIOUSNESS AS A GUIDE.

There are infinite levels of consciousness; all is consciousness. This play is infinite; the Divine is infinite; the levels are infinite. God is infinite so everything is infinite. We cannot say that there are ten levels, twenty levels: it's infinite. That's the idea. Life is a journey to the infinite. You can never say that you have already reached it, that this is the end. It is always a beginning. Time means the distance between two things. Most of the time we are in the past and when we are in the past, we create a distance. So if we want to go out from the time, we must get free of the past. Or maybe we are in the future, and then again we create a distance between the future and ourselves. We wait for the future and we don't live now, in the present.

Time is now, but we create a distance: we are either in the past, or in the future. If we want to get free from time, we must get free from past and future. We have to be always in the present, with the present time in our hands. If we become servile, we lose our freedom with our way of thinking. If we don't hold on to anything, we are free. If we learn to leave, we will be free. We hold on and then we say we are not free. Learn to leave fast, never possess, get free from past and future: time will be with you and you will be fully free.

It would be easier to do so by realising the value of life, of existence. We don't know the importance of our lives, and that's why we waste the present moment. We are always absent from life. We are in the past or future, with memories of the past and fears of the future. This is normal human life, the way of living: always absent from the present. The power, the joy of the present is so strong, so beautiful and big, that you will not miss your memories. Why do you invoke memories? Because you miss something and when you miss something, you open the album. The power of now, of the present is so great and full that you won't miss anything.

When you live in the present our capacities grow more. Generally, we have memory of the past to enable us to remember the past. When we live in the present we do not need to rely on memory. The ultimate aim of nature's process of making the human consciousness grow is to give us the realisation, to increase our consciousness. That's the only object of life. All the rest are processes or experiments with or without love, with or without suffering. All the tools of nature are working  to make humanity more conscious.

Spirituality means to live with that consciousness. Everything is moving and changing but we are witnesses watching the play, not disturbing it, not interfering, just enjoying.

The Self is a big word. Bring your Self to the front seat so you can direct your own movements. That's why Sri Aurobindo said: "To grow your consciousness, grow your awareness, your understanding, your knowledge. If you exist with consciousness, with good understanding, with knowledge, you are able to give direction to your movements. Then, you can tell your mind where to go. But now you have no control: if the mind wants this, you go there".

Life is movement and the movement needs a guide. Consciousness is the guide.

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DOES SPIRITUALITY HAVE TO BE ESOTERIC?

Many believe that Vedanta is abstruse, obscure, arcane. That it is too high, is not practical, it is for another age or another stage - one hears this chorus from non-believers. Is religion not really for the common person going about his common duties, something for some special types? Is it all esoteric stuff beyond the reach of the general populace? Spirituality is for the everyday person. Religion and spirituality are far too important to be exclusive list.

Religion is something that concerns the very essence of our personality; it is for all of us, for all the time. It is the art of knowing our Self and relating to the world. It is the attitude with which we do our work, live in families, and deal with the world. It is not something that separates us from the world but teaches us to relate to it. Life needs to be learnt. Living is an art, a skill, says Swami Parthasarathy. There are two ways to relate to the world - with our emotions, whims and fancies, moods, hopes and desires, that is, with manas, mind. Or we could relate with our buddhi, intellect. The intellect is discrimination, reason, judgment and analysis.

The world throws us stimuli. The body, the senses, register the stimuli. The mind reacts. It either likes it or it doesn't. It becomes happy or unhappy. Maybe it is sad or envious, loving or angry. This is natural. The mind will react. Up to this point there is no problem. The problem will start if the mind will force or propel the body into action. One can feel whatever one wants. That is one's prerogative. But when that converts to action, the consequences become inevitable. One can hate someone all one wants. But if one does something about it, there are consequences. Similarly one can love someone all one wants. But if one does something about it, the consequences will start. 

Since action is going to bring results, we ought to consider action carefully. Randomly performed actions will bring random results. Actions that are well considered bring about desirable results. The quality of the action is the quality of the fruit or result. Hence one ought to choose action carefully. If I perform this action, will it bring the result I am looking for? If I shout at my child now, will I get him to study? Or is there another way?

This requires discrimination, knowledge. Discrimination is the intellect and it is built with knowledge of the scriptures. Knowledge tells us of cause and effect relationships. Intellect helps us apply them to real life situations. To try to live without this knowledge is like going to unknown territory without a map! One would never reach one's destination. Scriptural knowledge is like a GPS. It tells us whether the turn we are about to take will lead us to the destination or not. 

To deprive ourselves of this knowledge and call it esoteric deprives us of the knowledge we are all heir to, the wisdom of the past. This, in combination with the knowledge of the present, will take us to a glorious future.

-Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy- 

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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LEAKING AND OVERFLOWING.

What is the difference between leaking and overflowing? - When you leak, you feel tired. When you are overflowing, you feel fulfilled. Overflowing is a delight. Just as trees bloom in flowers, that is overflowing! When the tree has too much, only then does it flower; it has to share. It is an unburdening. A tree in bloom seems to be relaxed, unburdened, relieved, happy. Whenever you are overflowing, whenever you share, you never feel tired afterward. In fact you feel more energetic, more in tune, more at home. Everything settles, unburdened. You grow wings; you can fly in the sky. You are so weightless; gravitation disappears. The feeling is so totally different from the feeling when you leak, dissipate, and energy is lost.

You can take sexual orgasm as an example. If you are making love to your partner mechanically, and there is no love sharing - then your energy will dissipate, simply leak out of you. Afterwards you will feel simply tired, not fulfilled. When you love the person and you are overflowing, you want to share your energies with the other person. It happens spontaneously. It just happens; you are not the doer - you become vehicles. You are possessed by something greater than you, higher than you. Then it is not leakage. Then you are overflowing from all over. It is not local, it is not sexual, it is total.

This will make you stronger. You will not decide in the wake of your love-making that you are against sex, that the so-called saints are true and right and you should take a vow of celibacy, and you decide to become a monk and move to a monastery - no. If there has been an orgasmic flow and your energy has been simply shared and has overflowed, you will feel grateful; in that moment you can bless the whole world. Your face, body, your mind, everything will be at a calm altitude - a new plenitude of being. A benediction will surround you. Prayer arises in such moments - gratefulness, gratitude. One becomes religious in such moments. To me, religion has arisen out of a deep love orgasm. Hence, Tantra remains the ultimate in religion, the last word, because that is the highest peak man has attained of attunement, where ego disappears. The ego is very solid, like a stone. In love one becomes liquid, flowing all over.

Leakage is frustrating - sexual, non-sexual, but it is tiring. Sometimes somebody is with you and you feel tired - just the presence of that person. You don't want the person, you are bored; and you start 'leaking', you start dissipating your energy. Then when the person is gone, you feel simply tired, shaken, as if he has taken too much out of you and he has not given anything in return. But if you love the person, if you are happy that the person has come to see you and meet you, you feel enhanced. Energy becomes more alive, you feel more vital. You feel rejuvenated.

Avoid leakages, and remain available for overflows. Anything can be energy-giving, and anything can be energy-destroying; it depends on your attitude. A religious person is always overflowing whatsoever the situation. Even if death comes to him, death will find him in a deep orgasm.

[Abridged from The Search. Osho Times International Foundation, www.osho.com]. 

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MAN, MIND AND SPIRITUALITY.

Faith came into being with the sensitive and sensible Man thinking deeply of matters relating to Birth and then the inevitable end, Death. It started with an immediate insight that everyone born should die one day. Death has always been defying understanding and it shall remain an enigma forever. This led to the belief in many that there must be something, which is beyond surmise, which would perhaps be understood intuitively with some kind of deep and committed envisioning. Perhaps Good and Bad are posited first. Primarily the sense of right and wrong through a specific sense may be called a religious sense. Then Divine Supreme is posited. With that Good and Bad came to be understood in depth leading to the insight that in after-life, that is life after death, the being which has had a span of life would be assessed by his/her deeds in the broad and never 'scientifically' 'defined' categories, Good and Bad. We the ordinary people think these are just relative terms. The seers knew intuitively that they were best left for the judgment of the Supreme Being.

Great sages and seers, drashtas, as they are called in Devabhasha, language of Gods, Sanskrit, wrote out long and inspired visionary experiences to reveal to us what they envisioned in an inspired effort to illumine what is dark in the likes of us. They invariably believed in a Supreme Being and showed time and again in their envisioned narratives what should be viewed as Good and what its dangerous opposite is. Belief and Faith are aspects of Theism. Theism is a dynamics of thinking, which believes in these intriguing concepts, intriguing because of lack of basic understanding. This cannot be served on a platter and this is where the concept of intimate one-to-one relationship with God through a mental state and contributory way of living called Bhakti emerged.

When bad is done, wrong is committed, it would be brought to book. It would be punished. This belief acts as a deterrent to bad deeds. While asking people to cultivate belief and have faith in God, the sages and seers went on to explain the consequences of bad deeds, also called evil-doings. This is what we now call a two-pronged approach to instil Faith. While detailing the fruits of right action and good deeds they also told us with deep concern how evil would be 'punished'. In our languages we have punya and paapa. The western world has near equivalents like 'merit' and 'sin'. 

Spirituality is a quality of mind, and a way of thinking, specially given to a human being. Exercising this faculty, man tries to mull and find the relationship between a human being, himself, and the Supreme Being. This attribute of mind leads man to a quest, a search, with yearning to delve deep ino the complexities of life and existence. Man is unique in creation in that he is bestowed with discrimination, judgment and capacity to choose between several courses of action. Spirituality surfaces in man when he intently wishes to know the purpose of human life. When he is befuddled and is intent on trying to understand the declarations and caveats of his elders, teachers, the wise and the knowing ones, he is led into spirituality. 
Right from his early childhood he finds himself presented with alternative courses of action and even belief. There comes a time when he mulls as to why things should be so, why there should be joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain and all the dualities. Religion, Faith and things like that appear to answer the many riddles to the mind. Discretion, judgment and reason are there to help him make choices according to the situations and conditions he is paced amidst. Either with his own inner resources or with the exposure he has, one begins to be drawn towards things subtler than reason like faith, god or spirituality. Thus, spirituality boils down to a faculty, a stance, a condition of the mind. This spirituality is either imbibed or intutited instinctively with the stage and condition of one's own inner evolution.
The lamp of jnana is essential both for physical welfare and spiritual well being and the soul's journey upward. When worldly desires and turbulent physical pleasures suffocate the psyche all around and all along, there would come a day when the individual is confronted with questions like 'Who am I?' 'What is the purpose of life?''Does life end with the burning ghat, the crematorium or the burial ground?' Answers to every one of these questions have to be found by the individual all by himself or herself. It is at this juncture that the lives and teachings of great sadhakas, seers, saints and mahatmas help us to find a little light for the mind groping in darkness. It is only with a sincere effort that we can realise the greatness of our forefathers, the seers (drashtas), sants and munis. Jnana, knowingness, is gnosis as opposed       

MANTRA YOGA: A TOOL FOR GREAT INNER ORDER.

A wealthy man named Raghunath lived in South India. He not only had material wealth but also spiritual wealth. One night he was robbed of his wealth. His close friend visited him to offer his sympathy. Raghunath said, "They have robbed my material wealth but not my real wealth. They have robbed my perishable wealth not my imperishable wealth". The real wealth is love, devotion and purity. If one has these, one will experience life differently. God gives us problems to humble us and to tumble us. When bad things happen to good people, they become better and not bitter.

Raghunath further elaborated to his friend, "All the wealth that I had was a loan from the Lord. I was only a trustee. Nothing is mine, everything is thine. He has the right to take it whenever he wants". Detachment is a great wealth. Devotion is the real asset in life. Why does man not work for such a wealth? This is due to the fact that the mind has not been purified. Impure mind craves impure things. Mantras help us to purify the mind and uplift the quality of life.

Mantra yoga is all about working on purifying the mind. The object of yoga is to lift a person off the psychological mess he rests upon. Everyone accepts that one has a body that is useful. But few realise that the condition of the mind really determines the quality of one's life. To a good body, everyone says yes. But to a good mind, people say no. This ignorance is killing the quality of life.

Each one of us lives in two worlds; the outer and the inner, the visible and the invisible. Just as a person can become better in the company of good people, he can conversely be affected by the company of bad people. In the same way, our mind is affected by where we visit mentally. people don't give importance to this reality. We frequent mentally a different inner world that is as real as the external world. Mantras help us to purify the inner world. Our mind has a capacity to imagine. This can be good or bad. Our imagination projects a reality. This projected reality appears to be the only reality. This projected reality is superimposed on the external reality, i.e., the internal projected reality is superimposed on the external reality. Now the external reality is not seen and only the projected reality is seen. It is this confusion that causes us to suffer. 

Mantras chanted with devotion and understanding purify the mind. With the mind purified, whenever we imagine we know what our mind wants, what are the imaginations of the mind so that we can catch them as they are created and hence don't get  blown by our internal subjective reality. If we uncheck these imaginary processes, then they become mechanical. A negative system is thus created. These negative systems in turn take over our lives. We lose control and the negative system will sit on the throne of our life. 

One will become more unconscious and suffer from this mechanical process. For example, if one goes on seeing unpleasant things in life, this becomes a habit. Then a negative system is created. Then one will helplessly see the negative. The system will start justifying why one is doing what one is doing. The system will try to protect itself. The system will try to protect itself. The system gets into survival mode. Then one will not live in the cosmos but in chaos. 

Mantra yoga is a great science to dismantle this negative system and create a great inner order. When the inner world of our mind is orderly, then one will see the external world more orderly.

--Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy--

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NO SPECIAL PLACE TO EXPERIENCE INNER WEALTH.

Globalisation and trans-country migrations arise from the notion that doing business with or moving to greener pastures would not only aid material prosperity but also enable the accumulation of inner wealth. But some of us do know that just changing the outer circumstances of our life does not bring inner peace; neither does it bring us freedom from conflict. In fact many who emigrate, find a new set of problems and a new set of inner conflicts to resolve. All this is part of life. Inner wealth is far removed from the consumerist dream of having more and making that norm for experiencing happiness. Life is all about challenge and growing in inner strength. So, just a change of place might not bring the desired results. We don't need to live in a palace to realise and arrive at the inner wealth that comes from hard work, discipline, moderation, remaining calm and finding an inner equilibrium that makes us rich on the inside.

There is a parable in the Gospels comparing the kingdom of heaven to a merchant who found a pearl of great price and having found it, sold all that he had for that pearl of great price. Once we experience inner wealth, we will no more want to cling to all our possessions and will give up many of our ambitions to be the first and the best. Our focus will shift from ourselves to the other - how we can reach out to people and help others in concrete ways.

Charity, true charity, is not about giving to others from a position of superiority. The kind of giving that people practice can be demeaning if we look down on those we help, whether monetarily, emotionally or psychologically. On the contrary, if we have found or cultivated inner wisdom and resources to become real givers, we will experience an inner peace that comes from the knowledge that real life is not just for some, but, for all, without exception. 

Sometimes, inner wealth comes with maturity. Once we become aware of our human weaknesses and failures, we are more accepting of weaknesses in others. We become more tolerant, more open, and look at our neighbours in a different way. Tolerance and acceptance are attributes that enrich inner wealth. Sometimes, we have the sinking feeling that things are going all wrong and we have no control over the way the the world is unfolding. We experience a sense of alienation from this world, but have not yet shored up our inner resources to make a difference. 

We could begin with small things in our life. Today, we could do something different like seeing people and situations with more understanding. We might give a listening ear to those who wish to be heard. We might start looking at other perspectives with respect. It is never too late to create inner wealth. We can begin at any age and time of our lives. Once our hearts and minds are open and our prime motivator in living becomes spiritual rather than just material, we will find that the core of our inner being changes. We can then strike 'gold' in our spiritual lives. We will however, have to change the nature of our search to find that pearl of great price! 

--Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy--

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RELEVANCE OF RAMAKRISHNA TO MODERN LIFE.

Life is full of problems; modern life is full of modern problems. None is free from them except two: the perfect being who has transcended them and the perfect idiot who does not understand them. All other human beings in between these two extremes, at various levels of evolution, are beset with them. And, ironically enough, our modern world, not withstanding all the wonders that have been wrought by science and technology, in spite of raising our civilisation to higher levels of comforts, has also multiplied them. If lack of basic amenities of life worries certain segments of the world society, a surfeit of them is threatening life on earth itself in other sections. Both these, though it may appear rather strange, are the creations of the modern civilisation. Problems and worried beget tensions. Tensions adversely affect the individuals, often forcing them to react more adversely, thereby getting entangled more deeply.

If a disease is to be rooted out, any sensible doctor knows that it should be tackled at the root-level and not at the symptom-level. The various problems that our society is facing at the individual level (like alcoholism, drug-addiction, sex-perversions and orgies), social or national level (like exploitation, crimes and violence, group animosities and conflicts based on pride and prejudice) and the international level (like wars and violations of human rights) are all, in the ultimate analysis, simply the symptoms of a sick mind. Hence all our problems have to be tackled at a more fundamental level and more fundamental solutions have to be found and applied. This is exactly what Ramakrishna Paramahamsa has given us. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-1886) is the brightest star that rose on the spiritual firmament of the India of the nineteenth century. Born of pious parents in the  tiny village of Kamarpukur in a remote part of Bengal (b. 18th February, 1836), he spent his early life there itself. Ever since he shifted to Calcutta in 1852 to assist his elder brother, until his Mahasamadhi on the 16th August, 1886, it was a long life of total dedication to God. Starting his life as an unknown temple priest - which vocation was not considered as a very honourable one - he rose to be a world-teacher of religion and spirituality, by dint of intense austerity culminating in a uniquely comprehensive spiritual experience. From simple image worship right up to the highest flights of Advaita philosophy, the whole gamut of Indian spiritual life was traversed by him. Not being satisfied with it, he experimented with alien religions like Christianity and Islam and found, to his amazement, that they too lead to the same super-conscious mystic state. Being thus armed with the direct experience of Truth through the known paths of various cults and religions, he proclaimed the great message of his life: HARMONY; harmony of all aspects of life, within the framework of the ultimate spiritual welfare of man. He specially prepared a band of disciples under the leadership of Narendranath (Swami Vivekananda) to give a practical shape to his teachings and spread them far and wide for the benefit of humanity. Through Sri Sarada Devi, his consort, he exhibited to the world the possibility of raising conjugal life to the highest spiritual level and the nature of universal motherhood.

Thanks to Mahendranatha Gupta (pseudonym, 'M'), Ramakrishna's teachings have come down to us in abundance. M's book, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, is an all-time classic by any standards. Even a cursory glance at the book will reveal the refrain of Ramakrishna's teachings: Kama-Kanchana-tyaga, 'renunciation of lust and lucre'. To our 'modern' friends, the products of a 'modern society', which is deifying sex and material wealth, day in and day out, this solution of Ramakrishna may appear to be simply ridiculous. But, it is often the ridiculously simple things that are the greatest truths of life!

True, Ramakrishna was a village rustic, 'uneducated' in the modern sense of the term. But the subtlety of his intellect or the range and the depth of his wisdom were beyond compare since they came from the beyond. Scholars of repute and confirmed agnostics would be disarmed by his simple, yet majestic, teachings because he always spoke out of the fulness of intuitive wisdom. When Ramakrishna used the word kama-kanchana-tyaga or 'renunciation of lust and lucre', he did not use it in the absolute sense. He was not that naive as to attempt to fit the same helmet to everyone's head! His was a cap with an elastic band. It could even change its colours and hues if need be. But it never lost its 'capness', the head that cared to wear it. If the young men who were earmarked by him for a life of total renunciation and dedication were advised 'not even to look at the picture of a woman' or to look upon all women as aspects of the Divine Mother, the householder couples were directed to live like 'brother and sister' after the birth of one or two children. It is good to remind to remind ourselves here that he worshipped his own wife as the Divine Mother and remained absolutely chaste throughout his life. If he himself had practiced renunciation of money to such an extent that he could not even bear the least touch of metal, or reject outright the fabulous gifts by his admirers, he permitted a young disciple of his to earn money to take care of his mother. He even admonished severely an errant householder who had squandered his ancestral wealth by fast living and had abandoned his family, leaving them to the mercy of others. In other words, he tailored his teachings to suit the needs and capacities of his disciples, but always leading them, gradually though, to higher levels of spiritual perfection. To him none was damned, none was too bad to be reformed. He knew that everyone was groping at lower levels of development and had to be led up to higher ones.
It should not be presumed that Ramakrishna has given individual solutions to every conceivable modern problem. No sage, saint or god-man has ever done that. What Ramakrishna has done is to give a basic and time-tested solution, after verifying it in his own life. Given the will and the honesty, and a modicum of intelligence , anyone can easily derive and devise the right solutions to his problems from this basic teaching. Almost all the problems that the modern man is facing, whatever be their ramifications, can ultimately be traced to two basic infirmities of the human mind: lust and greed. It is these two that manifest themselves through various desires. These desires, when unfulfilled, lead to frustrations and complexes. When fulfilled, instead of getting satisfied, they grow further in intensity even as fire that consumes inflammable substances does. It is a strange fact that as desires are fulfilled in arithmetic progression, they seem to grow in geometric progression! Fulillment or satiation can never catch up with the desires. This will again lead to the same old result of frustration with all its concomitant evils.
If thus, the fulfillment of all desires to one's utter satisfaction is utterly impossible, total abandonment of all desires is a chimera except for the spirituality perfected being. So, the only way left for an ordinary person is to regulate his lust and greed, within the permitted perimeters of Dharma (the law) as sanctioned by the scriptures and gradually overcome them through disciplines prescribed for them. This is all that Ramakrishna means when he uses the word kama-kanchana-tyaga and hence, none need be scared of it. 
If only our modern man can give this time-tested principle a fair degree of trial, he will not only understand that it works, but also that it reduces our problems, frustrations and tensions to manageable proportions, if not eliminate them. It is not possible, in a short essay like this, to deal with all our problems. We can at best give a direction to the line of thinking, point out fresher or newer vistas for solving our problems. No one has ever heard of venereal diseases among dogs or juvenile delinquency among kittens! Why not man, the crown of God's creation, take a lesson or two from the animals kingdom? They are not gluttonous or lecherous. They always keep within the limits of their biological instincts. (Even if they are transgress, it is pardonable since they are, after all, beasts and not 'brainy beings' like us)! So, placing a limit on our lust and greed, and trying to gradually transcend them is a primary solution even for our complex problems. Given the chance it deserves, it can certainly prove its worthiness to us in our lives - both individual and social, as also national and international.
As already pointed out, the central message of Ramakrishna's life is harmony. More often than not, this word 'harmony' has been restricted to harmony of religions and philosophies only. But Ramakrishna's life and message being the very epitome of universalism, cannot stand such constrictions and confinements. Harmony os notes is a well-known concept in music. When various notes differing in pitch and volume, coalesce, without jarring one another in any way, harmonious music is a feast for the ears. So also, when various aspects of our personal life and social life, so coalesce as to bring out the very best in us, it produces that 'divine music' or the 'music of the spheres'. And this is harmony in the truest sense of the term. It is this harmony that Ramakrishna has really taught.
It is common knowledge that the overwhelming majority of us consider ourselves as a combination of body and mind. Whatever we do, or want to do, we achieve through these two. Spiritual teachers, especially in the post-Vedic India, almost invariably relegated, even derided, the role of the body, often picturing it as filthy and as a formidable obstacle to spiritual progress. But Ramakrishna's approach is refreshingly different. He advises us to care for the body since the Lord Himself resides in it! And the body is a great aid in obtaining spiritual experience. Don't we cautiously protect even an ordinary wooden box if we knwo that it contains gold ornaments or jewellery? Ramakrishna practically demonstrated this principle in his life by arranging for treatment, nursing and nourishment, of his wife or disciples whenever they fell ill. He too, unhesitatingly, underwent treatment whenever he was sick.
But, with all this, he never approved bestowal of too much attention on it, lest it develop into inordinate body-consciousness which is a great obstacle to spiritual progress, the ultimate goal of life. His discouragement of Hatha Yoga should be viewed from this angle. Speech is the second aspect of our personality. We know that speech can make and unmake human relationships, can bring bliss or cause blisters on the mind.
Following in the footsteps of the great ancient sgaes, Ramakrishna gives us a simple prescription : Speak the truth; but do it gently so that it does not hurt. In a society where even educated and civilised people have assiduously cultivated the art of speaking untruths and half-truths to a degree of sophistication unknown - perhaps - in our previous history, this simple remedy of Ramakrishna may appear like the blabbering of a Simple Simon. But, here we ever, even for a moment, stopped to think of the disastrous consequences if everyone starts telling lies to everyone else? Again, one cannot say that one can tell a lie or the truth as it suits one. You cannot declare that fire does not burn, then, keep your hand in fire and expect not to be burnt! So, the truth, suavely, is an eternal truth that deserves to be taken in all seriousness.
Mind is the third, and perhaps, the most important, aspect of our personality. It is the quality of our mind that makes or mars our life. Uninformed people sometimes talk flippantly that Ramakrishna, himself being a 'non-intellectual', disdained and discouraged intellectualism. Far from it. Though he had little schooling, he had 'heard much', as he himself confesses, from great intellectuals and sincere seekers. And, he had a photographic memory! He used to delight in explaining religio-philosophical truths and would even encourage his disciples to read tough texts like the Ashtavakra Samhita or have friendly debates and discussions on metaphysical topics. What he really disliked and discouraged was dry intellectualism meant for public consumption and not for self-realisation.
As regards the cultivation of emotions and the aesthetic spirit, Sri Ramakrishna was a supreme artist. Himself an adept in various fine arts like music, painting and clay-modelling, he could also appreciate the beauties of nature. It is now a well-known fact that his very first samadhi (super-conscious experience) was brought about the sight of an exquisitely beautiful scene of nature. He was sensitive to high class poetry and would often improvise lines, very aptly, when the matchless compositions of the poet-mystics of Bengal (like Ramprasad and Kamalakantha) were being sung. He exulted in singing devotional songs in his golden voice and delighted in listening to good music as that of Narendranath or Trailokyanath. As regards the purity of emotions he was the last word. The whole philosophy of his life was, that all our faculties - physical, vocal, intellectual, aesthetic and emotional - should be directed to one single purpose of life, viz., God-experience. If this is not harmony of life and harmony in life, what else can it be?
Rama upheld the highest principles of Dharma in his life. Krishna fought relentlessly to destroy the enemies of Dharma and gave us a dynamic philosophy of work. Buddha and Mahavira quietly brought about the burial of the meaningless labyrinth of ritualism and substituted it with simple moral values based on non-violence and mutual love. Shankara heralded a revolution in metaphysical speculations and restored intellectualism to a respectable position. Chaitanya, Guru Nanak and a galaxy of saints of the Bhakti Schools, brought back sanity into a society driven by caste-prejudices and ridden with superstitions and strengthened the social fabric by preaching a philosophy of mutual love and respect. Everyone of them, without exception, fulfilled the needs of his times, both by precept and by practice.
The same Supreme Power that manifested through these incarnations, saints and sages either partially or otherwise, has come down once again to show us the way, away from the way leading to total destruction of mankind, the way to universal fulfillment through individual fulfillment by a harmonious development of all aspects of human personality. And in this, the role of self-control as taught by him cannot be over-emphasised.
Sri Ramakrishna's message of harmony and self-control, is admirably tailored to fit the modern society which is now in the throes of greed, lust and consequent conflicts often leading to conflagrations. May be, we are too near him in time to understand the true impact of his tremendous message. But, if the vision of Vivekananda is to be believed, the world is already Sri Ramakrishna's! Even if we do not believe this, we can ignore Sri Ramakrishna's message of harmony and self-control only at our grave peril.
--Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy--
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PRTHU'S TWO BOONS.

Srimad Bhagavatam tells the story of Prthu, a righteous king. Lord Vishnu appears before Prthu and tells him that he can ask the Lord for anything he desires. Prthu says, "You are called Varada, because You are the giver of boons. Some people will ask for worldly joys. But that kind of joy is present even in hell. Will a sensible person ask for such things? He will ask only for moksha". The Lord then asks Prthu if he wants moksha. But Prthu says that he doesn't! He then explains why. "Here, I listen to Your devotees sing Your praises. If I attain moksha, will I have this joy? Listening to the words of Your devotees gives me great happiness. If listening with two ears affords me so much pleasure, will the pleasure not be magnified if I have ten thousand ears? So give me ten thousand ears".

Prthu then goes on to say that celestials ask for wealth, and they pray to Lakshmi for wealth. But Lakshmi Herself is with the Lord. The Lord is the embodiment of all wealth. A man who has heard the Lord being praised will want to hear more and more of such praise just once, then he must be less than human, says Prthu. Besides the joy of listening to the Lord's devotees, Prthu has yet another request. The second boon he asks for is the opportunity to serve the Lord the way Mahalakshmi does. Lakshmi never leaves Him and never serves anyone else. Likewise, Prthu also does not want to be separated from the Lord. Prthu says he will not ask for anything from the Lord. The Lord being the father of everyone knows what a person needs. Does not a parent know what the child needs? Thus Prthu, through his two requests, shows that he is a jnani.

--Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy--

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NEUROTIC BELIEF CREATES EXTRAORDINARY IMBALANCE.

You know, there are those people who are serious rather neurotically; they think is they follow a certain principle, belief, dogma or ideology and keep practicing it, that they are serious. That belief breeds on extraordinary state of imbalance. So one has to be extremely alert to find out what it means to be serious. One can see that ideologies play a tremendous part in the life of man throughout the world and that these ideologies do separate men into groups; they divide people and by their very nature these ideologies become 'authority'. Those who assume power in these ideologies tyrannise, democratically or ruthlessly; this is observable throughout the world. Ideologies, principles and beliefs, actually prevent cooperation. Division inevitably comes about if you believe in a particular ideology, whatever it may be (nationalistic or religious). 
An ideologist is not a serious man. He does not see the consequences of his ideology. So, to be really serious one has to put away completely, totally, these nationalistic and religious divisions, deny that which is utterly false and perhaps as an outcome f that there might be a possibility of being really and truly serious. We have to build a totally different world - a world that has nothing whatsoever to do with the present world of manias and conflicts, of competition, ruthlessness, brutality and violence. It is only the religious mind that is a truly revolutionary mind; there is no other revolutionary mind, whether calling itself revolutionary from the extreme left or centre; it is not revolutionary. The mind, which calls itself left or centre, is only dealing with a fragment of the totality and is even breaking that fragment into various other parts; it is not a truly revolutionary mind at all. 
The really religious mind - in the deep sense of that word - is truly revolutionary because it is beyond the left, right and centre. To understand this and cooperate with each other is to bring about a different social order; and it is our responsibility. If we could put away all these immature, childish things, I think we could be the salt of the earth; and that is the only reason for which we have come together, there is no other reason. You are not going to get something from me, nor I from you. That which is absolutely essential is not possible around an ideology. I think that is fairly obvious, historically and factually. What is going on in the world indicates this, the division and conflict of ideologies; you, knowing of an ideology however superior, however great, however noble cannot possibly bring about cooperation; perhaps it can bring about a destructive tyranny, of the left or right, but it cannot possibly bring this cooperation of understanding and love.
Cooperation is only possible when there is no 'authority'. You know, that is one of the most dangerous things in the world 'authority'. One assumes 'authority' in the name of an ideology, or in the name of an ideology, or in the name of God, or Truth, and an individual, or group of people, who have assumed that 'authority', cannot possibly bring about a world order...Seriousness entails non-acceptance of any authority, including the speaker (referring to himself).
[Abridged from Jiddu Krishnamurthi Talks and Dialogues, Saanen 1968, 1st Public Talk 07th July, 1968. Courtesy: KFI].  
--Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy--
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TAP INTENTION IN SEVEN SIMPLE WAYS.

Here are seven attitudes to harness the power of intention:

1. Stay rooted to reality. Don't believe in hype, superstition, tarot, astrology or star signs to lure you into believing things about yourself or others that aren't true. Don't for a second believe that some guy with a beard and booming voice and deep burning eyes has some 'power' to alter your reality either. He doesn't. If he really did, he wouldn't be desperate enough to lure you into swallowing his hype today.
2. Accept your reality, howsoever bad it may be. Open your eyes and see yourself, warts, tears, scratches and all. I know it takes courage to say, "This is exactly how bad my situation is", but believe me, it's critical for you to see the truth about yourself first and accept it for what it is.
3. Don't waste time in questioning the power of intention. Suffice to know it's there, it's inside you, and it's available to you. Intention is part of the great intelligence that runs our life and powers our being. Think of it as a helping hand that comes and gives you that final nudge, push, inspiration, courage or support.  
4. Believe that you have the power to change your situation. This is most critical. Even if you are in the most desperate crisis, you still have a huge power to change things over time. Replace the "I am helpless" attitude into "I can and I will" assertion. Even a simple and honest utterance of that statement can start off a process that will eventually lead to fulfilment of your goals. 
5. Do everything in your physical power first before you approach that higher power inside. It's only when you strain and strive, when you sweat and toil that the inner gates to your own being open up and you tap the pure spirit of intention. That higher power within helps you only after all your personal efforts have been applied and your goal is still unreached. Ask any athlete, any top ranking student or any achiever. He/she will tell you that the state of grace happens only when every sinew is strained to the seams, when the heart is beating to its loudest ever, when the brain is straining to solve the question paper and having tried its very best, is still struggling for the answer.
6. Remember to say a heart-felt 'thank you' every time it comes and helps you. Remain humble, simple and grateful. Know you remain big only as long as you understand how small you really are.
7. Stay tuned to that awesome power. Once you start tapping intention, keep flowing with that instinct. It will silently guide you, remove your rough edges and transform you completely. There's no greater philosophy than living with that divine power everyday, every minute of your life.

--Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy--

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DEVOTION.

We have to direct our Karma and Jnana in such a way as to make Karma Yoga and Jnana Yoga part of our lives. You may have gadgets, like helmets, goggles, etc., for reasons of safety; but are useless if we do not have the right attitude towards safety. Yoga is mistakenly thought only to consist of a series of postures relating to physical movement and well-being. Yoga is an attitude of mind; a certain approach towards life and living. It is necessary that we cultivate such an attitude, with the help of which our Karma can become Karma Yoga and Jnana can become Jnana Yoga. That attitude is devotion.

Therefore one's attitude towards Karma matters a great deal. Elaborate preparation is needed to develop the right attitude to assimilate the teaching of Vedanta and reach the goal. It is the predominant aspect of Karma Yoga. When the intellect is suffused with devotion, we will eventually acquire the knowledge that liberates a person. That is Jnana Yoga.

It is possible to look at devotion from yet another perspective between Karma and Jnana is the mind - the seat of all emotions, attitudes, fixations and ideations. In fact, all action originates in the mind. Any radical transformation becomes possible only at the level of the mind, where all action begins. The inner organ, the mind, has to be purified in order that one may develop the right attitude of action, as well as intellection. The ability to achieve this depends upon the emotional state of the person. The attitude of devotion enables such inner transformation and growth, which is essential in one's pursuit of the goal. 

Bhaja is the verbal root from which the word Bhakti is derived. Thus, Bhakti is spontaneity, along with relish and love towards actions, like the daily prayer through which the individual relates to Isvara. When there is love towards the things of the world, one is called a worldly person. Having love for God makes one a spiritual person. Love is the most fundamental guiding force of human heart. When our love is directed towards Lord, we call it devotion. Devotion is essentially a matter of directing the capacity to love that is present in the human heart. When this love is directed towards wealth or money, one turns into a miser, and when it is directed towards the pleasures of the flesh, the person is drawn into the vortex of worldliness rolled by sensate values. 

The gradual shifting of the focus of love from the objects of the world to Lord is the path of devotion. True inner growth lies in developing love for Lord and learning to relish that love. In fact, mahatmas who have gained self-knowledge experience only the emotions of love and compassion in their interaction with the world. A devotee relishes everything connected to God; prayer is indeed a form of relishing on the other hand, if we were to eat it slowly and in little bits, it can be savoured unhurriedly. He loves to employ some or all of the sense organs and the organs of action in the service of the God. Gradually, the devotee begins to love contemplating upon the God's name, form, glories and exploits.

We are worldly people and tend to relish all that this world offers. If we understand God and the world and learn to relate to both correctly, we relish that any relishing of world is detrimental to our well-being we are advised not to invest our emotion in the world. If our understanding grows of God, proportionately relsihing of everything related to God grows we grow into Bhakti gradually. Devotion is based in the two aspects of human life, Karma and Jnana, right perspective begins with the right attitude. There are people who imagine that God goes without food if we do not offer anything in worship. It is not the service to God; it is simply service one-self only. Worship is that in which one expresses true love and devotion to God and the manner in which we relate to the God.

---Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy---

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DESIRE AND LONGING.

Arjuna raises a question: "O Krishna, I don't want to do bad, but something is forcing me to do it. Therefore, what is that force which propels a person to do something even though he does not desire it to happen?" Krishna replies: "You may say, I do not desire it but I am doing it, but deep within your unconscious you are desiring it". Like lot of smokers will say, "I don't want to smoke Swamiji". This is so often a spoken value. Therefore, what Krishna answers is, 'understand Arjuna, it is nothing but desire. There is a desire and that desire is propelling you, and if that desire is not fulfilled the kama itself becomes krodha, anger'.

There are two types of desires - desire out of happiness and desire for happiness. Desire for happiness leads you to samsara. But the desire out of happiness is different. If you have desire for happiness that means you have come to a conclusion that you are not happy. When you have formed this conclusion, you are never looking into yourself. Nagarjuna, a great master of Buddhism, says very clearly that desire for enlightenment is also an obstacle for enlightenment. That is why in Buddhist teachings, at the end of the whole teaching - and I have never found a more meaningful statement than this - in one section of the Buddhists, they say, 'if you come across a Buddha, kill him' - in the sense, let not Buddha become an ideal which you start imitating and so destroy your uniqueness.

And if you see the great masters, each one was great in his own time. If enlightenment is going to happen, it is going to happen here. And you should be available here. Understand the paradox. That is why Nagarjuna says, "Have a longing but not a desire". And he makes a distinction between longing and desire. Longing is being in the here, you have thirst. Desire is what Jiddu Krishnamurthi called 'future psychological time'. Therefore, longing is being here. The whole process is int the here and now and not in the future. Krishnamurthi used to say, negative psychological time and just be in the here and now. And if you are here, you will find a different quality of receptivity opens up. The moment you are happy with what is, then you have a desire which is our happiness. You have to be receptive to the happiness which is always bubbling here. 

Desire is always an enemy. What is desire? "I am going to become happy" - that is always an enemy. He calls desire fire, and if you add ghee to fire, it becomes more, it never says enough, therefore, desire also goes on increasing. For a stupid man nothing is an enemy. But for a man of understanding this is an enemy. Where does this great rascal exist? It exists in yourself only. Its abode is in your sense organs, mind and your intellect. 

The sense organs are superior to sense objects; mind is superior to the sense organs - they are running according to the mind, so the mind is superior. And compared to the mind, your buddhi is superior. Because of the conviction, your mind is running; therefore, superior to even the buddhi, he says, is that atma, that chaitanya, which cannot be defined, which can be only experienced. 

[Based on an article written by Swami Sukhabodhananda, published in The Times of India dated 15th November, 2012].

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VISHNU ADDRESSES PRTHU.

King Prthu wanted to do Asvamedha Yagas and successfully completed 99 such yagas. But Indra stole the horse just before the hundredth yaga, since a person who completes 100 Asvamedha Yagas can ascend to Indra's throne. Prthu's son tracked down the horse and brought it back, but again Indra stole it. The purohits conducting the yaga told Prthu that they could make Indra lose his power. But Brahma arrived and advised the purohits and Prthu to leave Indra alone and Prthu did not hurt Indra. Lord Mahavishnu then appeared before Prthu and lauded his decision to forgive Indra and not harm him.

"Sadhus will never treat anyone as an enemy", said the Lord to Prthu. "They know that the body and the atma are different. So you must always control your senses and do your dharma. "A king's duty is to protect his subjects and if he fails in this duty, then he will be sinning gravely. Such a sin can never be got rid of". The Lord then spoke about Jnanis. " A jnani does his duties, but remains unattached to the results. My love for such jnanis is indescribable. Such jnanis are unaffected by joy or sorrow. They are in control of the mind and the senses. As for a king, he should protect his kingdom".

The Lord then elaborated on the duties of a ruler. "If a king does not protect his subjects, but collects unfair taxes and is different to their welfare, then one-sixth of the sins of the subjects will go to his account. His punyas will go to the account of the people, and the ruler will be left with nothing good to his credit. A man does not reach Me through yagas. He must have good thoughts and good conduct. Your conduct has pleased me, King Prthu, for you are a jnani".

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LORD GANESH; GOD OF GOOD BEGINNINGS.

Human beings often find a mismatch between their wants and desires and the world around them, where they feel a lack of control and where the odds are stacked against them. A god like Ganesha offers the all-important promise of a good beginning. Child of the divine couple, Parvati and Shiva, Ganesha's creation story is entertaining enough to have been recounted to generations of children by family story-tellers. The most popular version is Parvati to stand guard as she bathed. So diligent is the clay-child in carrying out his duty that he fails to recognise Shiva, the all-powerful Lord of the universe, and bars him from entering his own home. An enraged Shiva, too, fails to recognise the child created by his wife, and beheads him in one fell swoop. A distraught Parvati begs him to return the child to life, which the Lord does by transplanting an elephant calf's torso. And hence is born a beloved deity whose myth and cult have transcended boundaries and continue to grow with each passing Ganesha Chaturthi. Not only is he charged with good beginnings; to ensure them, he has the agency to remove obstacles, and create them where needed.

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NO ESCAPING THE BIG BOSS.

When the rich and famous are caught cheating, the common man feels good. He feels, at last justice has prevailed. Riches bring a feeling of resentment in others unless they are available to all. The rich might flaunt their wealth. However, if we are true to our pure nature, our instinct would be to share it with others. This is selfless action. Selfish actions are condemned by all whether they are well versed in scriptures or not. It comes from loving all, arising from the feeling of devotion and the realisation that the world is an illusion and nothing is mine.

A guru asked two of his disciples to kill two pigeons where none could witness their act. One disciple went to the forest and wrung the bird's neck and came cheerfully to the guru but the second disciple explored the whole forest, the village, nearby hills and river and came back tired saying that wherever he went he saw two eyes of the pigeon staring at him. "Those frightened eyes followed me everywhere, looking at my actions. You had said that no one should witness the killing but even when I closed its eyes, they appeared in the sun, clouds, sky, moon, water, hills, trees, birds. There was not a space where those eyes did not follow me. I could not kill it".

There is no escape from Nature. All its elements witness our actions and thoughts. That is why sages called them devatas. All Vedic samskaras are held in the presence of Nature's elements whether it is marriage, funeral or worship. Natural forces regulate the outside and the inside; devatas rule all our organs. No thought or action goes unnoticed. However, we can appeal for mercy, just as a convicted prisoner appeals to the president. For, isn't life, too, one big jail where we are prisoners of our own thought, action and deed? 

Chanting God's name, accepting teachings of scriptures, becoming selfless, loving God and His creation, accepting all that comes our way calmly and realising that the world is an illusion, are ways of appealing. seeing our changed behaviour, the compassionate One reduces our suffering and we soon find that our outlook has changed and our difficulties seem so tiny. 

A saint regularly visited the local jail to help inmates understand the goal of life, mystery of God and His ways. One day the jailor took him to a miserable inmate who kep saying how unjust God was. Someone had looted and murdered a village merchant with whom he was not on good terms. But since people had seen this man (the one convicted of the crime) with the victim, he was assumed to be the nurderer. Due to circumstantial evidence, he was given life imprisonment. The saint met the jailor, lawyer, neighbours and relatives of the convict and saw that everything pointed towards him. Puzzled, the saint started spending more time with the inmate. One day the inmate began recalling his earlier life in which he had caused the death of a man but escaped punishment as it was deemed to be a case of suicide. Wondered the saint: Was this man paying in this life for his past actions? Is there no escape from God's watchful eyes?

It is a difficult question to answer. However, it is beneficial to perform only such actions as are deemed to be positive - and that do not hurt another - whether one is being watched by God or not.

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