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Daily Reflections

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I wish to post the quotes from Shri Parthasarathi Rajagopalachari, the Master of Sahaj Marg, a spiritual organisation with its headquarters in Chennai. I am quite impressed with these quotes.


Change Yourself:
Questions have only answers, and they have no meaning. What we really need are solutions to our problems of life, which can come by changing ourselves – because in any problem, even in mathematics, if you change one part of the equation, the other changes, if there is a solution. And it is the wisdom to change ourselves first, instead of waiting for the other fellow or the other situation to change.


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Forgive yourself:
Spirituality teaches you another great moral lesson: charity begins at home. This means you must be charitable to yourself. Nobody can forgive you if you are unable to forgive yourself.
 
Evolution:
Now, as far as the evolution beyond the human life is concernced, science has no answer, of course; but spirituality says, and our Master has also said, that once the human evolves into the next stage, then again evolution is automatic.
 
Turnaround:
We must pay more attention to the call of the heart, the call of the voice from within. We have to turn our attention through the five senses which God has given us, from outside to inside. Without this turnaround, spirituality remains but a subject about which we speak, about which we disuss, about which we undergo trainning, but to which we pay no heed, and therefore we remain where we are.
 
External Worship:
This is the sad truth behind external worship. It makes you think of God in space and time, which means you are binding Him within space and time, which means you are mortalising the immortal, which means you are materialising the nonmaterial, you are giving shape to the formless, you are giving name to the nameless. This is the ultimate sacrilege, when dealing with one we think is eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, nameless, formless, attribute-less.
 
Head and Heart:
The head is the instrument or institution which gives us the ability to think properly, decide properly: which is right, which is wrong – what should I do, what should I not do. The heart is that which gives us the power. It is like the engine of the car and the steering wheel of the car. One gives power, one gives direction.
 
This controversy on Saguna Brahma upasana is existing from time immemorial. The ideal form of worship (Bhakti) according to Adi Sankara is identifying oneself with that Nirguna Brahman as told in his work, Viveka Choodamani. But he himself as well as other saints have understood the limitations of a common man and suggested to have some name and form to that Brahman and worship to facilitate concentration on the Ideal and forget his worldly thoughts at least during the prayer. But this worship, if done sincerely, will gradually lead to realise that Advaita Brahman which is nameless and formless. This is our religion's faith. Such graduation may not, in most cases, happen in one birth. That is no case to argue that worshipping the God giving Him some name and form is useless. It all depends on the level of spiritual maturity one has secured till the current birth(Janma).
 
Forgive yourself:
Spirituality teaches you another great moral lesson: charity begins at home. This means you must be charitable to yourself. Nobody can forgive you if you are unable to forgive yourself.

Sri. Murari, Greetings.

I don't know about that. I never forgive my own mistakes. Not even once. When I was 7 years old I was playing throwing a stick around, hit a kitten accidently; it died. Sometimes, even now I feel miserable for that and regret playing carelessly on that day.... from there, I have never forgiven any of my mistakes. Thankfully I haven't done anything seriously though. But still, we can't readily forgive ourselves; we may seek an apology but if we offended someone, only the offended person can forgive us. Well, that's the way I see life anyway.

Cheers!
 
External Worship:
This is the sad truth behind external worship. It makes you think of God in space and time, which means you are binding Him within space and time, which means you are mortalising the immortal, which means you are materialising the nonmaterial, you are giving shape to the formless, you are giving name to the nameless. This is the ultimate sacrilege, when dealing with one we think is eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, nameless, formless, attribute-less.

Sri. Murari,

That is the beauty of Sanadhana Dharma. I can call God as 'Piththaa' meaning 'mad person' and still worship. I can afford to pray to God in my own terms. I don't have to get baffeled by the huge phenomenal power; I can ask that huge phenominal power to stay in a tumeric cone when I perform poojas. Well, that's exactly it is done. I don't even do that; I ask my wife to make the tumeric cone and she makes the roughly conical, small tumeric figurine. That's where the 'avahanam' starts before the actual pooja. There is nothing sad about this. If you really believe in God, that God will come down to any shape, in any size to accept your prayers. One has to actually try it. That is the power of our own mind.

Cheers!
 
Sri. Murari, Greetings.

I don't know about that. I never forgive my own mistakes. Not even once. When I was 7 years old I was playing throwing a stick around, hit a kitten accidently; it died. Sometimes, even now I feel miserable for that and regret playing carelessly on that day.... from there, I have never forgiven any of my mistakes. Thankfully I haven't done anything seriously though. But still, we can't readily forgive ourselves; we may seek an apology but if we offended someone, only the offended person can forgive us. Well, that's the way I see life anyway.

Cheers!
Dear sir,
I agree and I too do not want to. By not forgiving, we can become cautious of not repeating that mistake but we should not be cursing ourselves for the mistake done. I think this is in this context that quota has been said.

Regards.
 
Sri. Murari,

That is the beauty of Sanadhana Dharma. I can call God as 'Piththaa' meaning 'mad person' and still worship. I can afford to pray to God in my own terms. I don't have to get baffeled by the huge phenomenal power; I can ask that huge phenominal power to stay in a tumeric cone when I perform poojas. Well, that's exactly it is done. I don't even do that; I ask my wife to make the tumeric cone and she makes the roughly conical, small tumeric figurine. That's where the 'avahanam' starts before the actual pooja. There is nothing sad about this. If you really believe in God, that God will come down to any shape, in any size to accept your prayers. One has to actually try it. That is the power of our own mind.

Cheers!
Dear sir,

This is the start like studying in school where everything has to be explained through pictures and examples. When you move on to higher levels and you
have to move on, things can be explained in technical terms and the student will be able to learn that. Otherwise he has to remain in school only.

So you start with worship by personalising god, for whatever reason - concentration, limitation of mind etc.,- but the truth and reality can be only one.
I think the above quote is meant for those who refuse to go beyond the present level and try to pull down the reality to that level.

regards.
 
Ultimate Character:
We have to be cognizant of the fact that without external help, my character is what I am born with; in a sense, it has been impressed on my soul, stamped on my soul by the nature of the samskaras that I have brought with me. Therefore, men are born, men die. Meditate, remove everything progressively, and then you will find that from
a character, with which I was born, if my sadhana is perfect, regular, I will find I am a soul which has no character.
 
Murari said:
Spirituality teaches you another great moral lesson: charity begins at home. This means you must be charitable to yourself. Nobody can forgive you if you are unable to forgive yourself.


And Raghy said:

.... But still, we can't readily forgive ourselves; we may seek an apology but if we offended someone, only the offended person can forgive us. Well, that's the way I see life anyway.

The need for forgiving yourself arises only when you have feeling of guilt. If you start readily forgiving yourself for anything and everything that you have committed it will end up as a comedy. There will be no need to live a righteous life. As Raghy said, you can only seek an apology and it is for the affected person to forgive you.
 
Dear Murari,

You have said

Evolution:
Now, as far as the evolution beyond the human life is concernced, science has no answer, of course; but spirituality says, and our Master has also said, that once the human evolves into the next stage, then again evolution is automatic
.

I am unable get what you mean. Can you please elaborate?
 
Dear Murari,

You have said:

External Worship:
This is the sad truth behind external worship. It makes you think of God in space and time, which means you are binding Him within space and time, which means you are mortalising the immortal, which means you are materialising the nonmaterial, you are giving shape to the formless, you are giving name to the nameless. This is the ultimate sacrilege, when dealing with one we think is eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, nameless, formless, attribute-less.

If you are talking about idol worship here, (1)according to the science which you are ready to accept as the final arbitrator, the idol is nothing but a lot of atoms(energy and mass?),a lot of space and the interplay of forces. Can you call the atom and the forces mortal?
(2)Where is the evidence that God is non-material or for that matter material? Where is the evidence that He is formless and nameless? What exactly is a name?(A small digression here: A learned assembly of scientists were discussing about the basic building block of life called DNA. A scientist who started his presentation, began with these words" Ladies and Gentlemen, Human being is the most evolved life form on the earth and.............". Before he could finish his sentence a research student sitting in the last row quipped, " May be sir, but we have not asked Amoeba for its opinion") It is perhaps your perception of God. My perception of God can be different. Mr. Raghy's perception can be still different. So there is no case for being judgmental about the namelessness, formlessness or the non-material attribute-less nature of God. Your guess is as good or as bad as my guess. We can say only that much. When you call it sacrilege you presume it to be sacred in the first place which I need not accept. God is unintelligible. This was emphatically said by the Vedas as yadA vAchA nivarthanthE, apprApya manasA saha. Dear friend our scales are pathetically inadequate depending on how you try to measure up God. Abstract ideas like God require a representation so that our mind can grasp it and move ahead. Like the number 2 represents 1 + 1 the idea conveyed in any mathematical equation is abstract but serves a useful purpose, like when I buy 2 mangoes paying twice the price of one mango. Perceive please.

Cheers.
 
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Dear Murari,

So you start with worship by personalising god, for whatever reason - concentration, limitation of mind etc.,- but the truth and reality can be only one.
I think the above quote is meant for those who refuse to go beyond the present level and try to pull down the reality to that level.

This is the argument of one side. The other side may say, those who are unable to visualise things, those who are unable to use gross and physical entities to easily understand much more complicated abstract ideas are the people who refuse to grow up. Who is pulling down what becomes a matter of opinion and perception.

When I say the shirt is red in color, it is my perception. The red color has caused a certain sensation in my eyes which were interpreted by my brain by comparing with the first "red" impression I got in my life and has given me the result as Red. You may also see the same shirt and call it red because your perception also should have come through the same route. But still what sensation you got in your eyes and what I got may be very different. The "sensation" that you got on seeing the shirt may be similar to the sensation that I got on seeing a black shirt. Still we go by the standard in the world and call it red. We are encased in a body which is unique and we know so little about it.

I may pat myself thinking that I am able to perceive God as a nameless formless attribute less entity whereas Mr.X unable to do that and so I am superior to X. But God only knows what is the truth.

Cheers.
 
Sri. Murari, Greetings.

I refer to your message on post # 11. Personally I wouln't be comparing faith in God to education. They are two different acts altogether. Either one has faith in God or does not have faith in God. As far as I know, that is the very basic truth. Nothing more or nothing less. Faith is either present or is absent; it can't be quantified. If there are two persons and if both have faith in God, there is no way one has a 'higher level of faith' than the other.

If I have faith in God I can see God in anything and everything. I may and will see God in something I like the most; often times I will too. That's how we name our child with a Baghavan Nama. That is not reducing God in any fashoin at all. God can be and will be worshipped an any fashion, any form and in any shape. If God is limitless, God worship can be limitless too. God can not be pulled down to a lower level; but God exists at that lower level too. God doesn't give a hoot how I express my faith. Expressing my faith is my personal business; if I really believe it, God would accept my prayers no matter how it is done. All these rituals and procedures are made to make the worship attractive and to infuse bakhthi in more people; there may be persons who would pray in seclusion, the way he /she likes.

Further more, one doesn't even have to faith in God. For example, i have no faith in God. I could be wrong. But my lack of faith doesn't matter to God, if here is a God. If I look back my life, I wouldn't wish my life to anyone; but people would say I am absolutely lucky to be where I am today. Sure, that would be quite true. So, if there is God, although I have no faith, this God seem to have a lot of faith in me!

Worship of any kind is good for a faithful person. Faith is the most important thing; there is no higher or lower level in faith. For God to love and to have faith in a person, that person need not even have faith in God.

Cheers!
 
Dear Murari,

You have said:



If you are talking about idol worship here, (1)according to the science which you are ready to accept as the final arbitrator, the idol is nothing but a lot of atoms(energy and mass?),a lot of space and the interplay of forces. Can you call the atom and the forces mortal?
(2)Where is the evidence that God is non-material or for that matter material? Where is the evidence that He is formless and nameless? What exactly is a name?(A small digression here: A learned assembly of scientists were discussing about the basic building block of life called DNA. A scientist who started his presentation, began with these words" Ladies and Gentlemen, Human being is the most evolved life form on the earth and.............". Before he could finish his sentence a research student sitting in the last row quipped, " May be sir, but we have not asked Amoeba for its opinion") It is perhaps your perception of God. My perception of God can be different. Mr. Raghy's perception can be still different. So there is no case for being judgmental about the namelessness, formlessness or the non-material attribute-less nature of God. Your guess is as good or as bad as my guess. We can say only that much. When you call it sacrilege you presume it to be sacred in the first place which I need not accept. God is unintelligible. This was emphatically said by the Vedas as yadA vAchA nivarthanthE, apprApya manasA saha. Dear friend our scales are pathetically inadequate depending on how you try to measure up God. Abstract ideas like God require a representation so that our mind can grasp it and move ahead. Like the number 2 represents 1 + 1 the idea conveyed in any mathematical equation is abstract but serves a useful purpose, like when I buy 2 mangoes paying twice the price of one mango. Perceive please.

Cheers.
Dear sarju,
The quotes i am posting here are from Sahaj Marg, which I mentioned in the first post of this thread.
The word "sacrilege", I feel is a bit harsh, but i didn't want to dilute the quotes from the original source.
Dear raghy and sarju,
I would like to clarify that I am not against the idol/image worship, but according to me, it forms a lower level in spirituality.

I would like to quote some excerpts of Vivekananda's speech in World Parliement of Religions in chicago in 1893:
[FONT=} ]"....... As we find that somehow or other, by the laws of our mental constitution, we have to associate our ideas of infinity with the image of the blue sky, or of the sea, so we naturally connect our idea of holiness with the image of a church, a mosque, or a cross. The Hindus have associated the ideas of holiness, purity, truth, omnipresence, and such other ideas with different images and forms. But with this difference that while some people devote their whole lives to their idol or a church and never rise higher, because with them religion means an intellectual assent to certain doctrines and doing good to their fellows, the whole religion of the Hindu is centered in realization. Man is to become divine by realizing the divine. Idols or temples or churches or books are only the supports, the helps, of his spiritual childhood; but on and on he must progress.[/FONT]
[FONT=} ]He must not stop anywhere. ‘External worship, material worship’ ?,’ say the scriptures, ‘is the lowest stage,’ struggling to rise high, mental prayer is the next stage, but the highest stage is when the Lord has been realized."[/FONT]
According to me, the idol worship is lower ladder in the upward journey of spirituality. But sadly, the people are firm struck at this level which is evident
from the way people practice spirituality.

regards
 
Sri. Murari, Greetings.

I refer to your message in post #18. I am not going to analyse that message. I have no interest to debate with Swami Vevekananda. Not because I am afraid of loosing my debate; but because, Swamy is not here to represent himself. It is not right to debate Swamy Vivekananda's words with you.

Let us say, the persons who conduct pooja after performing the 'avahanam' to a tumeric cone are sadly stuck to the lower ladder with respect to spirituality. I hope you are familiar with that kind of pooja methods. Kindly tell me, what is wrong with someone struck to the lower ladder in the journey of spirituality? In what way they are affected? Importantly, what does faith in God have to do with any of this, please? What about the position of a person who doesn't have faith in God? Where would that person be in the ladder of spirituality, please? I know I posed many questions. Kindly pardon me for that. These questions are inter-connected. That's why I have to pose these questions. Kindly share your point of view with respect to those questions, please. Thank you.

Cheers!
 
Ego and God:
Spirituality is all about how to find my God within myself and hand over my existence to Him. All that it involves – and of course that 'all' must be with capital letters – is to hand over the ego. The only thing that stands between an individual and God is e-g-o, ego. And when ego is given away, thrown away, surrendered, we have G-o-d in its place.


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