Spiritualism

Today is the 122^nd birthday of Srila Swami Bhaktivedanta the founder of ISCKON. 

A man who touched incredibly lofty heights, wrote several books on Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Srimad Bhagavadam and other spiritual and interesting books and constructed 108 Srikrishna temples besides making 14 lecture tours around the world all this between the age of 56 and 80 years.

He was already suffering from high blood pressure and heart trouble when at the age of seventy he made his trip to USA in 1966.

He was a true servant of god and should serve as a role model for all of us.

Spiritualism

 One who wants to go back to godhead should always think about god all the time. This type of trance is called Nirvikalpa.

He or she should pray to god always that he/she should be freed from repeated births and deaths in this material world.

Thus after death he/she will first shed this gross body and become a permanent resident of the subtle world. Gradually once he/she graduates from the subtle world after several birth’s he/she will reach the causal world. 

The next stage will be to shed this subtle body too after repeated births and deaths and attain the true self which had been cocooned for so long within these three causal, subtle and gross bodies.

Once the soul/self is realized, the next step is to go back to god.

Spiritualism

The goddess of all opulence when she was appeased by her devotees gave the following things to them:

The sages-                 Food for spirits namely the Vedas.

The Gandhravas-      Beauty, grace, sweetness and talent for arts.

The Vidhyadharas-   Knowledge

The Siddhas-             Yogic powers

The Yakshas-    Capacity to successfully exploit the wealth of the earth.

Rakshas     Intoxicating drinks.

Demi gods  Strength, power, immortality. 

Spiritualism

The past is over and the future is uncertain. The only thing that we have is the present to be molded as per our desires. We should make the best use of this circumstance to dovetail our thoughts towards God.

According to Paramahansa Yogananda, the soul is covered by three layers. The first is the causal body which is intelligence. The second is the subtle body which envelops both the soul and the causal body. This consists of the senses and the mind. The third which envelops the soul, the causal body and the subtle body with its thick cocoon is the gross body which actually we all identify with. We say ‘’I am-----person.’’ Actually our soul has got into this material body this time. It has had and will have trillions of births before it reaches god for good.

This gross and material body which we discard at the time of our death is made up of five elements- The ether, the air, the fire, the water and the earth.

Swami Sriyuktsehwar acquired a subtle body after death and became a missionary to help those subtle bodied entities who wanted to discard even that body and acquire the causal body.

HE HAD ACTUALLY MET SWAMI YOGANANDA PARAMAHANSA AS A SUBTLE BODIED ENTITY.

The substratum of all the bodies is the self. It is the witness to all that we experience and do. Just like a dark room is suddenly illuminated by a bulb of light similarly the dark matter which we call as our body is illuminated just by the presence of the self. Self is also called consciousness. Without it we are dead and nothing.

The solid mass of meat, fat and nerves in our skull which we call as brain is as gross as the whole body. However the subtle body of mind and senses and the causal body of intelligence regulate and control it and it in turn controls the rest of the body.

Just like the pearl is lying hidden in an oyster, diamond in a coal mine, gold jewelry in an iron box similarly the self lies hidden within various layers of the body.

Just like pottery is nothing but mud, sugar is nothing but sugarcane juice, gold jewelry is nothing but gold, and a piece of cloth is nothing but thread similarly the whole universe that we experience in various forms is nothing but the self.

The whole universe emanates from the self alone. Hence mundane material things should not attract any one.

Spiritualism

There is a very interesting story supposedly from

Parsi holy scripts.

A Mahatma (holy man) once descended from his cave in the high mountains and walked into the city. As he was very pious and totally guileless he was enamored to watch small kids laughing and playing in a pond.

So besotted with this sight did the sage become that he sat down on one of the steps leading to the pond and began enjoying this lovable sight.

Suddenly he spotted another small kid. This boy was also sitting on the steps watching this spectacle, with a forlorn expression on his face.

Curious the sage went to the child and asked ‘’Kid, why don’t you play with the others…?’’

The boy replied ‘’ I am blind…cannot see….’’

The sage was shocked. After all he was a holy man totally unaware of the unending waves of happiness and distress in the material world. Alarmed the monk went to the only person known to him ‘’GOD’’.  

‘’Almighty…’’ he grumbled ‘’how is this possible in your kingdom..?’’ he wailed ‘’can’t this kid have eyes..?’’

God smiled benignly, because now he was on a conversation with one of his favorite devotees.

‘’Mahatma {holy soul}….’’ God replied ‘’ I am Parmatma {Supersoul}. What you find perplexing is quite clear to me. Just like because of your deeds you became a Mahatma similarly because of his own deeds this kid has become blind. Each gets what he or she deserves.’’  

The sage was speechless. He did not know what to say. But he then suddenly recalled that he could ask boons from God.

‘’God….’’ He said ‘’you said I can ask you anything.

God smiled ‘’ Yes…’’

‘’In that case lord…’’ the sage said humbly ‘’please give this kid its eyesight back.’’

God nodded ‘’As you wish…’’

Lo and behold, the boy began seeing again. The sage thanked god profusely. God said ‘’The fact that you asked a boon not for yourself but for someone else makes you  a Mahatma.’’

The sage humbly saluted God and then asked the kid to go and play with the others.

And then the sage was in for a shock.

THIS BOY JUMPED INTO THE POND AND BEGAN STRANGLING AND DROWNING THE OTHER CHIDREN.

God calmly whispered into the horrified sage’s ear

‘’Now you know why this kid could not see…?’’

Actually it was god’s causeless mercy which had resulted in the boy being blind. God knew the mentality of the kid. He had taken away the kid’s eyesight to prevent that particular soul from being further enveloped by new crimes. In a way the kid was working his past karma by being blind.

The horrified sage begged of another boon from god ‘’ Please take away the boy’s eyes.’’

GOD OBLIGED.

-

Spiritualism

There is a very interesting story supposedly from

Parsi holy scripts.

A Mahatma (holy man) once descended from his cave in the high mountains and walked into the city. As he was very pious and totally guileless he was enamored to watch small kids laughing and playing in a pond.

So besotted with this sight did the sage become that he sat down on one of the steps leading to the pond and began enjoying this lovable sight.

Suddenly he spotted another small kid. This boy was also sitting on the steps watching this spectacle, with a forlorn expression on his face.

Curious the sage went to the child and asked ‘’Kid, why don’t you play with the others…?’’

The boy replied ‘’ I am blind…cannot see….’’

The sage was shocked. After all he was a holy man totally unaware of the unending waves of happiness and distress in the material world. Alarmed the monk went to the only person known to him ‘’GOD’’.  

‘’Almighty…’’ he grumbled ‘’how is this possible in your kingdom..?’’ he wailed ‘’can’t this kid have eyes..?’’

God smiled benignly, because now he was on a conversation with one of his favorite devotees.

‘’Mahatma {holy soul}….’’ God replied ‘’ I am Parmatma {Supersoul}. What you find perplexing is quite clear to me. Just like because of your deeds you became a Mahatma similarly because of his own deeds this kid has become blind. Each gets what he or she deserves.’’  

The sage was speechless. He did not know what to say. But he then suddenly recalled that he could ask boons from God.

‘’God….’’ He said ‘’you said I can ask you anything.

God smiled ‘’ Yes…’’

‘’In that case lord…’’ the sage said humbly ‘’please give this kid its eyesight back.’’

God nodded ‘’As you wish…’’

Lo and behold, the boy began seeing again. The sage thanked god profusely. God said ‘’The fact that you asked a boon not for yourself but for someone else makes you  a Mahatma.’’

The sage humbly saluted God and then asked the kid to go and play with the others.

And then the sage was in for a shock.

THIS BOY JUMPED INTO THE POND AND BEGAN STRANGLING AND DROWNING THE OTHER CHIDREN.

God calmly whispered into the horrified sage’s ear

‘’Now you know why this kid could not see…?’’

Actually it was god’s causeless mercy which had resulted in the boy being blind. God knew the mentality of the kid. He had taken away the kid’s eyesight to prevent that particular soul from being further enveloped by new crimes. In a way the kid was working his past karma by being blind.

The horrified sage begged of another boon from god ‘’ Please take away the boy’s eyes.’’

GOD OBLIGED.

Spiritualism

Remember one should be good to others on his or her way up because he/she is certainly going to meet the same people on his/her way down.

When a person is more successful than his/her counterparts then he/she should be careful not to rub the others on the wrong side.

When one is down and out one should be careful but when one is successful one should be extremely careful because all eyes would be on him/her. It is always easier to tumble down than climb up.

A person who is humble after attaining success becomes even more successful.

It is very difficult to attain success but it is several times more difficult to sustain success.

Remember whenever a person who is just an unknown entity in this huge cosmos starts thinking that he/she is an almighty god pulls his/her strings.