Avadhuta Gita - Page 4

I just want to know whether our ancient literature talks about `Ghosts'. If so what are the characteristics of such Ghosts. Has any body in this forum done any research or experience of Ghosts.

Please enlighten further.

All the best

__________________
‘Let Noble Thoughts come to us from all sides’ – Rigveda 1-89-i

Sri Raghy,

In real life situations, one's knowledge may not come to one's help always.At times even though a person has sufficient knowledge, another person has to intervene or help.

In one Bhaagavata session the acharya gave an example for this...

A tanker lorry carrying diesel ,but on the way when it needs diesel, it has to go to the nearest diesel station only. The load it carries is not going to help it at that time.

But ..even if, in some cases , the knowledge and its display starts as a pretense in initial stages , gradually with increasing knowledge and satsang, one comes to practice the same with conviction.


Greetings

stanza 21
know this:That which has form is unreal(because it is limited bi its form);that which is formless is eternal.He who exemplifies this truth in his own life will no longer be subject to rebirth.

stanza 22

the sages say that the Reality is one and unchanging.When craving is renounced,unity and diversity cease to exist in the mind.

Craving;according to Vedanta, the whole world is nothing but a projection of the mind;cessation of desire,dissolution of the mind and illumination occurs simultaneously

this is a very nice explanation of the meaning of Samadhi

RVR,

Ghosts especially holy ghosts are our pithru loka residents who come to bhu-loka every important days like amavasya for example and during Mahalaya Tarpanam period.Usually the pindam is offered to crows which are vahanas for pithru(ghostly bodies) for that time period.

Our ancestors soul genes or atma pancha bhootham, help us enormously in our day to day life as well as in our spiritual quest for moksham.

For those who have died prematurely without fulfilling their duties and desires,the ghost can become a host in a living body or stray over hither and thither to trouble people,giving anxious moments in ones life.In my school an old tree was considered haunted and really weird things used to happen.

By keeping a seance,one can recall a dead persons spirit,and give information,provided the spirit is a holy one.God forbid if an un-holy spirit enters the medium during seance,then we all have to run like where is my towel and my clothes(thunda kaanum thuniya kannum).

Thanks.

Nachi Naga.

Stanza 23

How can a man attain samadhi as long as he thinks of himself as something other than the Atman?but on the other hand,samadhi is not possible for a man who thinks of himself as the Atman.
How can Samadhi be attained as long as man thinks that Atman exists and yet does not exist?
And what need is there to attain samadhi if all are one and by nature free?


samadhi--this superconscious sate is of 2 kinds; savikalpa and nirvikalpa.In nirvikalpa samadhi,knower-knowledge-knowable become unified: but this does not occur in savikalpa samadhi.
Here Dattatreya means to say that being Atman,it is illogical to think that one would have to practise samadhi.


i am going to attach another explantion of samadhi by Sri Sathya Sai Baba(which i had put in this thread yesterday)

Samadhi (self-realization) is the ocean to which all sadhana (spiritual practice) flows. Every trace of name and form disappears in that ocean. The one who serves and the one who receives the service, the one who meditates and the one who is meditated upon - all such manifestations of duality is dispelled and destroyed. One will not experience even the experience. This is to say, one will not be aware that he/she is experiencing! This is the fruit of the highest meditation, the dearest moment of all those who yearn for God. It is the sign that the grace of the Lord is fully upon that individual.

- Divine Discourse, Prasanthi Vahini


Stanza 24

You are the ever- pure and unchanging Reality.You are bodiless,birthless and imperishable.
"I know the Atman" or "I do not know"...why do you think in such terms.

Stanza 25

The Atman, the true nature of being has been establish by the great Vedic dictums ,such as Thou art That and I am Brahman.The body consisiting of 5 elements is unreal--this has been declared by the Upanishads saying"Not this,Not this"


Vedic Dictums
Consciousness is Brahman(Prajnanam Brahma)--Aitareya Upanishad(3.1.3) of the Rig Veda

I am Brahman(Aham Brahmasmi)---Brihadaranyaka Upanishad(1.4.10) of the Yajur Veda


Thou Art That(Tat Tvam Asi)---Chandogya Upanishad(6.8.7) of the Sama Veda


This Atman Is Brahman(Ayam Atma Brahma)---Mandukya Upanishad(2) of the Atharvana Veda

Not this Not this--- it is a process of elimination or negation since the Atman cannot be described in a positive way.
"This Self is that which has been described as Not this, Not this.it is imperceptible, for It is never perceived;undecaying, for It never decays;unattached for It is never attached;unfettered--It never feels pain and never suffers injury"
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.5.15)

Stanza 26

Truly everything in this universe is filled through and through by your Atman alone.
Thus there is no meditator or meditation in your mind.
How is it that you are meditating without any sense of shame?

Stanza 27

How can i speak of or worship that Supreme Beautitude which I do not know as an object of knowledge?For I myself am that Supreme Beautitude--The Ultimate Reality, which is full by nature and all pervading like space.

Stanza 28

I am not the cosmic principles.I am that selfsame Reality, which is devoid of inference and reason and free from subject and object.How can I know my Self?

Dr Renuka,

Can you please explain more about stanza 26, more specifically about meditation.

Long back I attended a Transcendental Meditation course at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi center. But somehow I could not continue further and I left it .
My earnest feeling is it is very difficult to control the mind through meditation. To tell bluntly `Mind is like a Monkey'.

All the best

__________________
‘Let Noble Thoughts come to us from all sides’ – Rigveda 1-89-i

Dear RVRJi,

actually i am another monkey only...even i feel mind especially mine cannot be still even for a moment.

i am going to type the explanation given for stanza 26 from the book itself

Shame: There is a chance of misunderstanding this utterance of Dattatreya.People may think meditation is useless, which is not true.The purpose of meditation is illumination.But Dattatreya was a knower of Brahman and he instructed from his level of realization.
His idea is: A human being by nature is free and one's meditation presupposes a shameful forgetfulness of one's true divine nature.