(Aug 31,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – The Wheel of Divine Life by Sri Swami Sivananda

 The Wheel of Divine Life

Divine Life Society Publication: The Wheel of Divine Life by Sri Swami Sivananda

Salutations to the Supreme Guru, the Immortal Spirit, the common unifying entity, present in all. Salutations to the torchbearers of knowledge divine. Salutations to all seekers of Truth who live the life divine. Adorations for all holy aspirations. Benedictions for the fruition of every noble endeavour.

The eternal mysteries of the human spirit, the ever restless and dissatisfied emotional being of man, the inadequacies of the temporal existence, the failure of the intellect to solve the problems of life satisfactorily, the baffling gulf that separates great ideals from rude realities—all tend to turn one’s mind towards God. Divine life is the process through which one progresses towards the realisation of God, and achieves the remedy of all the ills that life is heir to.

Guru is the guide who leads the aspirant on the way, and the aspirant is the pilgrim who toils on the ascent of divine life.

A progressive refinement of the mental and moral make-up of man is the primary objective of divine life. It begins with dedication to some fundamental principles such as truth, purity and non-injury, the practice of which automatically entails the voluntary enforcement of self-discipline, and ensuing of the process of purification. The implementation of these three fundamental principles in the daily life of the individual, in an impeccable manner, itself constitutes the vital part of divine life.

Human nature has two sides, the negative and the positive, one trying to preponderate over the other. There are invariably the "Dr. Jekyll" and "Mr. Hyde" elements in every man. When the "Hyde" element dominates, one becomes a social derelict, bringing upon oneself and others all the evil consequences of the boundless passions and destructive sadism of the instinctive part of one’s being. Yet, there are people who have in them a remarkable measure of the "Jekyll" element, which distinguishes them as great benefactors of society, and who are by far in a better position to be in peace with themselves and with others, too.

The positive ultimately overcomes the negative, though, in common experience, the negative forces hold an irrepressible sway over frequent phases in the lives of the most of the people. But not so with those who have made a beginning in walking the way of reason, of discretion, prudence, divine life. In them, the discriminative mind tries to rule over the instinctive part of their being. Viveka (discrimination) guides their actions, Vairagya (dispassion) sanctifies their motives, and Mumukshuttwa (longing for liberation) inspires their endeavours—each of the three deriving its strength and light from the spiritual part of their being.

To follow the path of truth, purity and non-injury is implicative of the highest form of self-discipline, amounting to neutralising every negative propensity emanating from the lower nature. Truth necessarily indicates, apart from the chastity of speech, the right sense of values, the courage to implement into action what one knows to be true, though it may not be entirely conducive, or may be even detrimental, to one’s material good. Truth also means the strength of will to abide by all positive principles, a sense of justice, an unbiased mind, and recognition of the pervasiveness of its subtle essence in all life.

Purity is the touchstone of divine life, which should have the power of transmuting all that is negative into the positive. The practice of purity covers the entire range of the culturing of emotions, and whatever is implied by self-restraint. It means the practice of the "Shat-Sampat," namely, control of mind and the senses, tranquillity, forbearance, faith and concentration. Purity is physical and mental, since both are inter-related. Purity of thought naturally leads to purity of action. Purity of motive, of life in general, is preliminary to the practice of truth.

Non-injury is love, indicated counter-wise. Here self-restraint (Yama) is again incumbent. The meaning of non-injury is complete only when it is implemented wholeheartedly—in thought, speech and action. The principles of love, compassion, mercy, fellowship and goodwill are all entwined in the term "non-injury." Unless these principles are fully practised, the virtue of non-injury remains artificial.

Whilst love is a direct expression for non-injury, its logical fruition is in service. That much-maligned term, "love," which is overly misapplied to sensual tomfoolery, selfish attachment, circumstantial sentimentality, emotional fixation and superimposed self-pity, is, indeed, a rare plant that grows only in the garden of divine life and that has to be continuously tended and nurtured to make it enblossom in all its glory. Love and service are inseparable. So, too, with understanding of, and respect for, the feelings of others. One cannot be said to possess love for humanity and yet be selfish and callous to the suffering of others. Thus selfless service is divine love in action.

If you are able to cultivate and practise these three basic tenets of divine life, which, in reality, traverse the entire gamut of practical spirituality, then you are on the road of Self-realisation, the ultimate goal of human aspiration. Even a rudimentary success in this path is greatly conducive to one’s peace and happiness, the worthiness of existence, to the betterment of human nature, to the good of society and the world at large. A collective awareness of the great importance of divine life, with all its pragmatic values, can surely contribute, in a large measure, to the promotion of world peace, solidarity and fellowship.

Brahmavidya is, in other words, the knowledge of divine life, the central ideal of all spiritual aspirants. In this alone lies the salvation of mankind. May the blessings of the Divine Guru be upon all.

Excerpts from:

The Wheel of Divine Life by Sri Swami Sivananda

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(Aug 30,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Nididhyasana by Sri Swami Krishnananda

 Nididhyasana

Divine Life Society Publication: Discourse 5 - Commentary on the Panchadasi by Sri Swami Krishnananda

God cannot be conceived as finite. Nor is it possible to conceive the infinite. No contact with Brahman is possible, ordinarily. Vikalpatva or nirvikalpatva, that is finitude or infinitude as associated with Brahman, may be considered as futile arguments in the case of quality, action, species, objectivity and relation. Guna is quality, kriya is action, jati is species, dravya is object, sambandha is relation, vastu is anything whatsoever. Hence, in any one of these categories that we find in this world, the same difficulty will arise if we start envisaging these things either as finite or as infinite.

Nothing finally can be looked upon as either finite or infinite. If we think that a thing is neither finite nor infinite, it is inconceivable. Anything that is relative cannot be conceived. The modern science of relativity also takes us to the same conclusion that it is not as it appears to us. That is why it is called maya – a jugglery-like thing that is appearing before us. If we try to probe into it, we will find it is not there at all, as night vanishes when the sun rises or darkness vanishes when the flash of a torch is thrown on it. It is because our knowledge is not operating, the whole thing looks very solid, so three-dimensional, so real. If we throw the flashlight on our understanding, we will find it vanishes. It cannot be conceived at all as either existent in this manner or existent in that manner – neither finite, not infinite, which means to say that it is not there at all. Such is this world.

The category of finitude and infinitude, and the category of relation of one thing with the other are all imagined by the conditioning factors of the mind. Brahman is above all that we can imagine in our mind. This kind of study that we have made is called sravana. We have heard a lot about the nature of the world, the nature of the individual, the nature of Brahman. We have studied Ishvara, jagat and jiva in some measure. What is the nature of these great principles God, world and individual?

But mere hearing or studying  is not sufficient. When you return home, you must ponder over this deeply. The ideas that have been made to enter into your mind through the medium of your hearing should enter your heart. They should become objects of deep investigation, Self-investigation. The mind withdraws into itself all the ideas that it has collected by hearing and deeply bestows these considerations. That is called manana.

Sravana is hearing, learning, studying. Manana is deep thinking. If you merely hear and go away and again hear tomorrow, it will be what is humorously called ‘Eustachian philosophy’, which means that what you hear through one ear goes out through the other ear. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj used to say there are Eustachian philosophers. They understand nothing. It does not go inside.

Unless we bestow deep thought on what we have heard, that knowledge which we have gained by hearing will not be part of our nature. We will be sitting independently as we were earlier, and knowledge will be outside in space. So it has to be brought into the depths of our understanding by deep reflection. That process is called manana. Even that is not sufficient. We have to become that knowledge itself.

The deep association of ourselves with this knowledge is nididhyasana. Firstly, we hear and study. Secondly, we bestow deep thought and investigate into the substance and essentiality of what we have heard and studied, and make it a part and parcel of our daily thought and understanding. But when this process goes on continuously day in and day out, it becomes the very spirit of our nature. We do not merely know, we actually become the existence of it. Knowledge is not merely a property that we have gained by hearing or studying. It is not a quality of our intellect, as an academic qualification. It is our very substance. Knowledge is Being. Chit is Sat. So when knowledge that we have gained by sravana and manana becomes our very substance itself, we move like God Himself in the world. That is jivanmukta lakshana. That condition is nididhyasana tattva, a continuous flow of knowledge without break, which becomes the essence of our person. This is called nididhyasana.

Deep meditation, which is nididhyasana is, in the beginning, involved in three processes – the meditating consciousness, the object on which meditation is carried on, and the process of meditation. Therefore, three things are involved – triputi. There is someone who is meditating, there is something on which meditation is being carried on, and some process of knowledge is linking the subject with the object, connecting the meditator with the object meditated upon. So when we meditate, in the beginning we will have a consciousness of three things. We will feel that we are there contemplating, meditating. We will feel that there is something on which we are concentrating. And we will also know that there is a relation between us.

When by deep concentration – going further, deeper – the consciousness of our being there and the consciousness of a process going on also are dropped, our consciousness merges into that object, and we become the very object itself. The very artha, the very target, the very ideal, the very aim becomes us. We are not contemplating something; we have become that. That becoming of the identity of our consciousness with the very object which we are concentrating upon, losing the consciousness of an individuality and the process of concentration – the identity of the subject with the object, the merger of the consciousness perceiving with the object concentrated upon – is called samadhi.

Excerpts from:

Nididhyasana - Discourse 5 - Commentary on the Panchadasi by Sri Swami Krishnananda

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(Aug 29,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – Preparing for the Practice of Yoga by Sri Swami Krishnananda

 Preparing for the Practice of Yoga

Divine Life Society Publication: The Path to God-Realisation Part 1 by Sri Swami Krishnananda

(Spoken on July 12, 1990)

In our perceptions of the world of persons and things, there is a continuous negation taking place of the indivisibility of the Self. It is so because of the fact that perceptions are based on a divided consciousness. There has to be a division between the subjective side and the objective side, between the perceiver and the perceived, in order that there may be perception at all.

This dichotomy between the location of the seer and the seen is precisely the contradiction of the indivisible nature of the Self. Thus, we may say that we are perpetually negating the existence of the Self in everything that we do and in everything that we see, cognise, or perceive through our sense organs. 

The moment the Self is negated, the consequence thereof follows automatically: the character of non-Self inundates us. We become at once other than what we are. The greatest fear is the loss of one’s own Self, and that fear is perpetually on our head like a Damocles Sword – because of the fact that there is a continuous negation of the Self taking place in our perceptions through the sense organs.

It is, therefore, no wonder that we are unhappy throughout our life. We have fears from all sides – tapa, as we call it; adhyatmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika tapa harass us. We have fear from our own psychophysical constitution: It may fall ill, or it may even die. That is a fear that we have in regard to our own self. We also have fear of the people around us; very little can be said about their behaviour because it is very whimsical, conditioned by changing factors and circumstances of life. And above all, there is fear of nature, whose wish and will are not known to us even a little. From every side there is insecurity, as it were, and, therefore, there is not a moment of peace for anyone in the world. 

Perceptions are of two kinds. These categories may be designated as general and abnormal perceptions. If we can see a thing, be conscious of its existence but not be emotionally disturbed about it, we may consider it as general perception. But if any perception disturbs our feelings, this is certainly not a normal perception. It is not normal because we seem to be dualistically involved in the knowledge of the existence of some person or thing in front of us, and not indivisibly involved or, more properly, normally involved. Unless we are free from it, we cannot actually even commence the practice of yoga. 

The world perception is not spiritual. It is so because the character of Selfhood cannot be recognised in any object, in spite of the fact that every object has a Self of its own. 

In the same way as in every pool of water, multiple though the pools be, the same sun is reflected, the Universal Self is reflected in every individual person as the Self of that particular person or thing. Therefore, everyone has a Self – not a Self, the very Self Itself. Yet, in perceptions, the Self is not recognised. Neither can you see my Self, nor can I see your Self. You see me as a personality seated here, and I also do the same thing in regard to you. If this is the way in which the world goes on, world experience cannot be regarded as spiritual experience. Therefore, we call life in the world as samsara, which means an aberration from the nature of Selfhood; a deviation from truth. We move away from the centre of our personality, away from the root of the Self, to that which is other than Itself. 

If there is certainly nothing other than the Self, then what is the meaning of the deviation of consciousness from the Self to the not-Self? The not-Self actually is not a person or a thing. It is the manner in which consciousness adapts itself to persons and things outside. Your judgment of values is what will determine the spirituality or the unspirituality of things. The things in the world are neither spiritual nor unspiritual; they just are, as they ought to be. But the perceptions differ on account of the non-recognition of the Selfhood, or the character of subjectivity in things. 

Any kind of abnormality of behaviour, whether psychologically or ethically, will prevent the general perception of things. We cannot see things as they are. We always see things as they are not. The well-known dicta of the principles of yama – ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, aparigraha – may be considered as the first principles of ethical and moral practice, which is an endeavour on our part to restrain ourselves in many a manner.

The art of self-restraint, which is practically the whole of yoga, right from the beginning to the end, is constituted of a systematic extrication of consciousness from its connection with the layers of involvement in its perceptions – to repeat, general as well as abnormal.

Thus, the practice of yoga, which is the art of the realisation of God or the Universal Self, is, on the one hand, a direct endeavour to concentrate the mind on a well-conceived ideal which is called abhyasa, and simultaneously on the other hand, it is a negation of anything which may intrude into this consciousness of the concentration on the Universal Ideal. With these two phases of our practice, known as abhyasa and vairagya, we should go ahead, driving the chariot of our personality to the abode of God Almighty. 

Excerpts from:

Preparing for the Practice of Yoga - The Path to God-Realisation Part 1 by Sri Swami Krishnananda

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(Aug 28,2014) Spiritual Message for the Day – A Sermon on Sadhana by Sri Swami Sivananda

 A Sermon on Sadhana

Divine Life Society Publication: A Sermon on Sadhana by Sri Swami Sivananda

The life of a spiritual aspirant in the world is verily like a fierce struggle and fight with deadly serpent. Samsara or worldly life is a terrible and deadly serpent. Man must keep constant and alert watchfulness lest the Samsara-sarpa take you unawares. Keep the twin eyes of Viveka (discrimination) and Vichara (enquiry) wide open. At time the man becomes poisoned in the course of his Vyavahara (worldly activities). He must retire periodically from the worldly atmosphere and take recourse to Satsanga (association with the wise), Sadhana, seclusion and silent meditation. This is the spiritual Sanjivini (a herb) for you to revive yourself and enter the daily spiritual life again without fear. Satsanga and seclusion are the magic herbs which remove completely all poison of worldliness from you. With their help you will keep yourself safe. 

The Supreme Lord of all creations gives to the Jiva this precious human body in which to cultivate all the good things of life. The Jiva listening to the promptings of its lower nature allows the body to get into the possession of innumerable evil Gunas (qualities). They dominate the person and make the Jiva helpless. The evil qualities take such strong hold upon him that later on when he tries to acquire virtues and to develop Yama and Niyama, there commences a regular challenge. The old vicious Vrittis (thought waves) and Samskaras (impressions in the subconscious mind) do not allow virtues to gain entry. They revolt and push them out, but when the aspirant in this helpless condition prays sincerely to the Lord for strength, then the Grace of the Lord gives him the necessary inner force which enables him to throw out his old viciousness and to obtain the fruits of Sadhana. 

Desire is a great obstacle, a great barrier in the path of Self-realisation. Control of mind means really abandoning desires. If one wants to discipline the mind perfectly well, one must give up all desires without reserve, all longings for worldly objects and building castles in the air. The monkey-like mind will always be restless, desiring something or other. Just as the fish taken out of water tries to get into water by some means or other, so also the mind will always entertain evil thoughts. Killing all the desires ruthlessly, controlling the mind, freeing it from the surging emotions and bubbling thoughts one can attain the one-pointedness of mind. Such a mind will be as calm as a lamp in a windless place. One who attains such a state of mind can meditate for a long time. Meditation will come by itself. 

If one allows one's mind to run towards the worldly things as per its own wish and to entertain unholy thoughts and evil desires one will surely meet with destruction in the end. 

Therefore give up desire. Have always that one idea to attain that supreme abode, the abode of joy, peace, bliss and immortality. Practice Sadhana. Be regular in your Yogic practices. Strive to attain that Goal. You will rejoice for ever. 

Excerpts from:

A Sermon on Sadhana by Sri Swami Sivananda

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