Welcome to the 2010 Raas Purnima issue of e-Sanai

By

Sri Sandip Dasgupta

Joy Babathakur. Joy Babathakur. Joy Babathakur.

Welcome to the Raaspurnima issue of e-Sanai. With this issue, we are completing our second year of existence. With His everlasting blessings, we are now receiving articles from many new people and this is very encouraging for us. The effort that our editors (Smt. Sroddha Patranabis and Sri Anjan Dasgupta – even after having relocated to India) have put into this magazine is simply commendable. On the advice of Saccidananda Society, Kolkata, we are renaming our magazine as e-Sanai.

Coincidentally, it is also the first anniversary of the departure of the mundane existence of our Master. However He had always told us that He is “Nitya Vartaman” – always present. In the past year, I can personally say that I have thought much more about Him, His teachings and tried to reflect on them more than ever before. I can also honestly say that when I have done that sincerely, my mind has cleared up significantly and I have been able to function much better as an individual. That in my mind is indeed “Nitya Vartaman” as He continues to guide us and function amongst all of us, all the time.

According to Sri Sri Babathakur, ‘Raas Leela’ means Divine Sport. It was enacted at Vrindavan on Raaspurnima. It was a spiritual performance on the transcendental level, the plane of YogaMaya. Lord Krishna had expanded himself in many forms and stood besides each Gopi (milkmaid) placing His hands on the shoulders of the gopis on both sides of Him and then began dancing in their midst. Each gopi thought that Krishna was dancing with her alone’.

Sri Sri Babathakur’s august proclamation “All Divine For All Time As It Is” is actually a summation of the Raas Leela that is happening all of the time in this world. If we consider each and every individual in this world to be the “individual I-Reality”, then all the players of this world are nothing but Sri Krishna personified – only that we are not aware of that true nature. Personalities like our Master are ever conscious of their true nature and are constantly reminding us of that because of divine love. Sri Sri Babathakur further proclaimed that this Leela is happening all the time, ceaselessly – and while this Leela is happening, the Divine itself doesn’t change. Perhaps this will be better clarified by some examples from our mundane world:

• Can we draw a circle without a center? However there can be many many circles with the same center! In some respects, the circle owes its existence to its center. Even if you change the circle (expand, color it etc.), the center remains as it is.
• A gold ornament owes its existence to the gold that it is made up of. The same gold ornament can be melted and transformed into a completely different ornament – but the original gold always remains the same.
• A wave in the ocean, owes its existence to the water. The wave changes in shape, size, appearance – but the water remains the same.

Just like the circle, the gold ornaments and the wave – each individual “I-Reality” owes its existence to the “Absolute I-Reality” – Brahman/Absolute, whose nature is Sat-Cit-Ananda (Always True, Always Conscious and full of Bliss). Therefore Sri Sri Babathakur repeatedly told us to keep some time away in daily life to meditate on our true nature and to get a taste of that Bliss that is present in Saccidananda. We do get similar bliss in our sleep – but we are not conscious of it at that time and hence do not receive the same benefit that we would were we to reflect on the ever present “I”, consciously.

Meditation: A Spiritual Perspective

By

Sri Subbu Venkatakrishnan

Meditation has now become a household term. Whether used in mockery or in seriousness, there is certainly some faint idea associated with “meditation” that is floating around in circles both social and individual. Even killers meditate, it seems, considering their record of pre-meditated murder. Techniques, benefits, workshops of meditation are offered around the clock by people of all walks of life. But for the spiritual seeker, one who recognizes that there is in this world something more than what meets the eye, something great, complete, Self-full, the word “meditation” should signify a specific step in his transcendental search. In order to clarify what the ancient sages intended by “meditation,” we shall examine the process from a spiritual standpoint.

Before meditation even becomes a point of interest to the student of Life, it is necessary that he be molded rightly, that he understands the full implication of the word in his spiritual progress. The Vedas place a high degree of emphasis on the preparedness of the student before he can be considered a serious seeker of Truth. A seeker of Truth should be endowed with the qualifications of: Viveka —discrimination between that which is eternal and that which is changing, Vairagya — having the capacity to objectively reject the ephemeral and hold tightly to the eternal, Shat Sampatti—the six-fold divine qualities, namely, mind-management, sense-management, forbearance, withdrawal into oneself, faith in the teaching and the teacher, and contentment, and Mumukshutvam — an intense desire for liberation. A seeker endowed with these qualifications duly approaches a teacher and asks to become a disciple, that is, he subjects himself to the discipline of a life of intense study.

Having assumed the role of a disciple, he desires to rid himself of his spiritual ignorance, which may be described as threefold. First, in the form of outright nescience: “I do not know the Truth.” Second, in the form of doubts: “How can this be the Truth?” And third, in the form of partial knowledge: “This is not my experience.” In Vedic literature, these three aspects are respectively addressed by the stages of Shravanam, Mananam, and Nidhidhyasanam. Shravanam refers to hearing the Truth from a teacher who is both well-versed in the Vedas, as well as committed to expounding this Truth, with no other agenda but the welfare of his disciple. Mananam is where the seeker removes all doubts from his understanding by reflecting on the Truth, using the logic presented by the Vedas. Only in the final stage of the student's development do we find the word for meditation: Nidhidhyasanam, or Abidance-In-Truth.

From a spiritual standpoint, meditation is a noun and not a verb. It is a state of religious transformation, effected by the willing student's single-pointed devotion to achieving the full potential of the life he has been given. Thus enthralled by the possibility of his own emancipation from the manifold limitations imposed by his own ignorance of his true Self, he cannot but be ever-absorbed in the contemplation upon that Supreme Goal with which he is one. And therefore, all he sees is God, all he hears is His name, all he does is a worship, all he speaks is a song of love. The meditation of the true spiritual seeker is not a set of breathing exercises performed with crossed-eyes on a specific seat at an appointed time of day, but an integrated and continuous practice of remembrance: remembrance of the Truth, remembrance of his true nature, remembrance of their unity. Meditation is love; a love that is neither restricted to individual acquaintances nor buffeted by the winds of unhealthy attachment, but a silent, prayerful, unifying depth of the seeker's being that is in love with everything. He is now attuned to the source of his deepest contemplations, and in that inner Alone-ness, resting smilingly in what he now knows to be Life's divine play, he is utterly, eternally happy.

Law of Causality

By

Sri Ramen Basu

As with material science, the ‘Law of Causality’ also holds in true for the spiritual science. What is Causality? Shortly defined, it is that cause begets effect, and effect in turn begets cause. Like the number 8, it narrows and enlarges itself over and again endlessly. Subjective and objective laws have the same reasoning as also the same concept. For a person unaware of spiritual science, it is rather difficult, if not impossible, to relate a cause with an effect. In material science Newton’s third Law says ‘Every action has an equal and opposite reaction’. In spiritual science the very same law exists, but whether the reaction is equal and opposite or not, is sometin that only a true spiritual scientist, a Satguru, can say. This is so because both the actions and the effects happen on a subtler level than in physical science.

Presume that most non-spiritual scientists don't bother about such things - they go ahead with whatever their minds dictate. Mind has an outer and and an inner aspect. The outer aspect of mind is governed by Tamas and Rajas gunas, for their qualities are directly connected to the worldly aspects of life. The inner aspect of mind is, when connected to the pure Conscience, governed by Sattva guna, and is Pure Intelligence or Iswara. When Sattva has impurities, it represents the perceptible human life.

Sri Sri Babathakur, as a spiritual scientist, could interpret the cosmic phenomenon consisting of Conscience (Viveki Budhi), Prescience (Pure Sattwa), Science (impure Sattwa) ending in nescience. To take the other way around, one may say there are both an ascending and a descending path working simultaneously. The descending path goes from Conscience (full awareness) - passing through the steps of prescience (mixed) and science (material), ending in nescience. The ascending path goes from nescience to Conscience - passing by science and prescience. As can be seen, both science and prescience are the middle steps on both the ascending and descending paths, and are thus the two steps non-realized souls may evolve to through a bit of self-effort combined with Blessings

Sri Sri Babathakur, in His treatise ‘Atma Tattva’, wrote about ‘Samskaras’ (inherent tendencies) and action of the mind-body complex according to the triple gunas. Life science is the science of samskaras and life style habits, which in turn are activated by Daiva (destiny) and Purusakar (self-effort ). The inborn/transmigrated samskara is the root cause of any action. All experiences of past lives leave subtle markings in the storehouse called 'Akashik record' (heavenly record), which can be visited in deep trance (Samadhi). The Daiva - a part of it - acts as the cause, and the Purusakar part prompts activity in the present life. These samaskaras are divide into three parts namely: 1) Prarabdha (inherent tendencies), 2) Sanchita (present actions) and 3) Anagata (future action). Prarabdha samskar is the cause of present life, which again is divided into three parts 1) Ichha Prarabdha , 2) Anichha Prarabdha and 3) Pareccha Prarabdha.

As only the present is known to spiritually ignorant persons, let us look into three kinds of Prarabdha: Ichha Prarabdha, Anichha Prarabdha and Parechha Prarabdha. Ichha Prarabdha is the compulsive obsessive action of persons, who knowingly act without realizing the ensuing results. This is very difficult to circumvent, for the Lord wants the results of this behavior pattern to be experienced as they may contain necessary teachings for the course of evolution. The pain/sufferings generated from such kinds of actions will act as reminders for the reprieve, the sadhana or tapasya of the person concerned.

Anichha Prarabdha compels a person in spite of unwillingness, to become engaged in bodily desires and become enraged when he/she fails to control it. In Sri Bhagavat Gita this is called the enemies of the spiritual aspirant. However, by changing habits this can be circumvented.

Parechha Prarabdha bound persons out of compassion, and undertake some actions for the benefit of others. Such actions don't carry permanent results for a Realized Soul. However, ordinary persons must experience both pain and pleasures from such actions. Actions beget results. Sri Sri Babathakur mentioned three kinds of results: 1) auspicious [Sattvic], 2) mix of auspicious and inauspicious [impure sattvic] and 3) inauspicious [Tamasic]. The action is determined according to the prevalent guna at that paticuclar time and for the person concerned. Thus a realized soul (the Jnani) knows that the triple gunas of Prakriti is the doer and not the ‘I-impersonal’ and thus the action carries no reactionary effect, whereas the spiritually ignorant thinks he/she is the doer and experiencer and the effect is therefore carried along.

To transcend the law of triple gunas which influences the action of humans, one must seek help from the injunctions of the Shastras or Guruvani, which supposedly is Pure Sattva, the very nature of a genuine Sadguru. By aligning one’s own thoughts and behavior with those of a Sadguru (whether present in the body or not), one should take recourse to His words and songs. It is far easier to follow an ideal and to surrender to the Divine than to struggle with intellectual machinations, which often represent a bar to progress on one's chosen spiritual path. ‘Seeing is believing’ it is said - so even if progress towards Realization seems slow, one is sure to advance by reminding oneself of the above mentioned steps. Practice makes perfect, if it is done dispassionately with full awareness. Dispassion and discrimination go together to strengthen awareness of the underlying Conscience. Man can overcome nescience, the need for objects, pleasures, riches and name and fame, but only after realizing the limitations of them all. That becomes obvious when one studies the life of Sri Sri Babathakur and His revealed spontaneous utterances.

Habit (Avyas) is the second nature of Jivas . So along with the ‘samskaras’ of the past, a person can change it by creating new habits, change one's life style. When one becomes aware that prevailing habits will hurt or deflect one from one's purpose of life (which is to Realize the Self), one should surrender to the teaching of a Sadguru such as Sri Sri Babathakur.

A person may fail, if the samskaras are strong. If the self-effort fizzles out due to the vagaries of the mind, the role of heart becomes important. Love one and all, see one and all with the eyes of Love. One ought to nurture the words 'Indivisible One Consciousness' and accept, adjust and accommodate that to be That. The principle of ‘all in all’ to ‘One in all’ and ‘all in One’ makes mankind ready for ‘One in One’. The steps are usually jagged with hindrances of old habits, but one must be patient. Create new habits in the fashion lovingly inculcated by Sri Sri Babathakur. The essence of Sri Sri Babathakur is none other than His words and songs. By singing and following His words with devotion, the path becomes sweet and the striving for change becomes less arduous. With the purification of ego and mind (enabled by following the words of the Sadguru), mind and intellect become ready for Divine Knowledge and absorption in the Self.

A child’s grasping the hand of the Mother, trusting her to guide him/her on the path of life is parallel to holding the hand of Sri Sri Babthakur. We, the devotees/followers, when walking along without support, are often unsteady and are likely to slip many a times. Truth is bound to dawn on us if we stick to His teaching. Wrong habits, determined by Daiva-purusakar complex, have to be eliminated and we must get up again, leaving the old habits through creating new habits.

Let me conclude the article by quoting some pertinent sayings of Sri Sri Babathakur from the lecture on Saraswati Puja day, on February 13th, 1986 as noted by Smt. Bani Chakravarti in ‘Smritigatha’, vol 2:

"Sportful dramatic sameside game of Self Consciousness"
"All Divine for all time as It Is"
"All acceptance/all embrace is the means for the realization of the Supreme Divine Self – the Absolute I-Reality"
"God Reality, Brahman Reality, Atman Reality and Absolute I-Reality’ all are one and the same Truth and Reality"
"Absolute I-Reality is the most easiest one for the perfect Self Realization and Self Identity of one and all as per the present day need"
"All sorts of understanding and awareness in life finally culminate into I-Reality"
"The best and the highest of the scriptural knowledge is intellectual knowledge, hence indirect knowledge, whereas Absolute I-Reality is the Direct Knowledge , Knowledge of Knowledge, Oneness of Knowledge /Knowledge of Oneness".

'Let your kindly light shown above in Your words be the guidelines of days to come' is my prayer to Sri Sri Babathakur for help in removing my shortcomings. Kowtowing to Him in loving remembrances of the days that flew by.

The Concept of Love Divine in Hinduism

By

Sri Ajit Halder

The word Love in general parlance and Love in the context of the title of this article deserves our thorough understanding - for Love is an emotional feeling that emanates from the heart and flows towards another person or to an object of adoration. Before we elaborate on the subject, we should all be aware of the fact that it is God who has placed Love as an instinct in our hearts.

Love is a many splendour feeling and we are deeply interested to know what True Love really is. The quest for Love is ever growing in our minds. The dictionary offers a spread of the meanings for the word ‘Love’, and these are: deep warm affection, attachment, liking or fondness, holding dear to somebody or some material object - but its connotation is much wider.

We all understand that worldly Love is a force of attraction operating on the human level. On the human level it joins two individuals (lovers), friend and friend, parents and children, husband and wife. On the higher, spiritual level, it is Love Divine as it unites a human with God.

Thus there are two kinds of love that are dear to humans; Worldly Romantic Love and Love. Divine. There is no doubt what the human soul is longing for: it is Divine Love, because the power of Divine Love is a healing force that brings peace to our world. For humans it is a common experience to fall in love with an individual of the opposite sex and enjoy a pleasurable feeling. It is not, however, that easy to turn our mind to spiritual love, to experience the bliss of Love Divine - because that would imply making a ‘quantum’ leap to a higher spiritual level towards divinity.

To ensure a smooth progression from human love to Love Divine, it will be worthwhile to understand the relationship of Radha and Krishna, regarded as a projection of human love and as the embodiment of love, passion and devotion. This knowledge will serve as the preparation necessary for the development of Love Divine in our hearts. With this objective in mind, this article will discuss the topic of Love in three inter-related parts: Worldly Love, Love Divine, and interposed between the two parts will be Loving Devotion, i.e. Prema Bhakti, which we find vividly described in the Hindu mythology of Radha-Krishna. We will study the feature of each kind of Love mentioned above.

WORLDLY ROMANTIC LOVE
This kind of love is limiting because it is formed from the personality of two human beings. As such this duality is fragile with highs and lows, togetherness and separations. This relationship is much like a roller-coaster ride, which both thrills and chills but is short lived. It may so happen that romance evaporates and one lover goes his/her own way and the other partner is left to despair. This feeling of dissatisfaction and of emptiness will turn the mind towards enjoying more lasting love, divine love.

Romantic love is a blend of erotic and pragmatic, with a dash of emotional feeling shared between two individuals. This worldly love is high on the priority list of modern human beings; this is of a fleeting nature and lasts as long as both parties are in agreement. Worldly love based upon physical attractions and passion is short-lived, unsatisfactory and inadequate because the objects of such love are material forms which are impermanent and limited. There is one beneficial feature of worldly love pleasurable though it is between two individuals of opposite sex. The loving relationship may lead to the intimate union of partners; from which the prospect of the birth of a new baby may arise, thereby prolonging human life on earth.

Worldly love gives one the pleasure of enjoyment meant to satisfy the senses, whereas Love Divine gives us the joy that symbolises the soul’s intense longing for the ultimate union with God - thus realising the true goal of human life. The image of Krishna and Radha as the universal symbol of the lover and the beloved inspires humans to bring an aspect of the sublime, the spiritual and the divine in their love on the worldly plane. We should emulate the love of Radha for Krishna. This love is so divine and so pure that most of Krishna’s images are considered complete only when Radha (the word meaning ‘one who does worship’ or aRADHAna of Krishna) stands by his side. In the next paragraph we will discuss the salient points of .Radha-Krishna Prema to serve as an inspiration to all humans.

LOVING DEVOTION OF RADHA-KRISHNA
Krishna is the complete and perfect man of the Hindu mythological traditions. He was born as the child of Basudeva and Devaki in a human family but was brought up in Vrindavan by the cowherd family of Yoshoda and Nanda Raja to escape the tyranny of his uncle Kamsa. God took a human form as the avatar ‘Krishna’ to redeem mankind from evil forces. Enters Radha into the life of Krishna and Radha’s passion for Krishna symbolises the soul’s intense longing and willingness for the ultimate union with God. Shri Krishna is not only the ultimate object of all love, but also is the topmost enjoyer of all loving relationships. To humans, he is the model of spiritual loving relationships or pastimes (known as leela) and lovers of the world engage in their own pastimes. Like Radha-Krishna engaging in sublime loving pastime in kadamtala on the bank of the Jamuna, lovers of the world meet in gardens or on the bank of a river like the Ganges to exhibit loving exchanges. The path of Bhakti Yoga is a step towards fulfilling divine love and is also the principal means to attain loving devotion for Krishna.

BHAKTI YOGA, DEVOTIONAL WORSHIP
Bhakti is loving devotion for God, and is another name for Prema Bhakti which is Love expressed to the Supreme Lord. In Hinduism Kama, the pleasurable aspect of love between two individuals is selfish, physical love while Prema, refers to elevated love. In essence, Bhakti Yoga is all about getting in touch with the Divine Being - in the form of Lord Krishna or Sri Vishnu - by following the outpourings of one’s heart. In our act of loving devotion, we are conversing with God anytime, anywhere - and we receive Divine Inspiration for peace of mind. The whole purpose of Bhakti Yoga is love and devotion as the path to Moksha, i.e. salvation from worldly bondage.

Now is the time for recapitulation: in worldly love, our emotions are active but they act on the human plane and are directed to mundane things. In Bhakti Yoga all our emotions are lifted to a Divine plane and our feelings are transferred from mundane to the level of Love Divine.

LOVE DEVINE
In Love Divine, God becomes the object towards which our love, our emotion, our affection and our sentiments are directed. Divine relationship is an expression of purity. It requires surrendering to a higher purpose, and is everlasting.

The word Love is an abstract form of idea, but the real source of love is God who as spirit pervades the whole universe, He is the inmost self of all beings - thus humans are assured of everlasting life through union with Him. In Divine Love one partner is God, a steady lover of humankind. Our constant thought then should be: ‘Love is God; God is Love so Live in Love. When one holds on to this principle of love, one will attain the state of non-dualism. Ekatma Prema (non-dual love) is true love.

The long term value of Divine Love is that two partners will become one in sacred union with God. You will become unified and sanctified resulting in a higher vibration which leads to a higher spiritual gain. Live in Divine Love; in Love Divine, God is your partner all the time - eternal, never changing, which makes this love, permanent.

There should not be any apparent difference between Love Divine and worldly love. The beauty of the love flowing from the heart of one individual towards another is as spiritual as the love of a devotee of Lord Krishna because the former has the love for God residing in the other person. As a support of this assertion, I quote from the Gita, Chapter Eighteen, Verse sixty-one:
‘Ishwara Sarvabhutanm Hriddese Arjuna Tishthati’ – the Lord resides in the hearts of all persons.


I know of no better way to conclude this article than to sing Charles Wesley’s lovely hymn:

Love Divine, all Loves Excelling
Joy of Heaven to Earth comes down
Fix in us thy humble Dwelling,
All thy faithful Mercies crown.

Wesley’s hymn asks Love Divine to choose the humble human heart as its residence in preference to its native heaven. It is fervently hoped that we humans will change from glory into more glory with divine grace and God’s love.

Reflections on a colored eye

by

Sri Ramen Basu

Any incident occurs in the four dimensional plane. Just a kite flying, the incident carries its meaning to the eyes of the individual concerned as per his/her tendencies of the mind - especially to those eyes wearing colored glasses or jaundiced eyes (due to biases and prejudices), the perception becomes tainted or distorted. Usually the subject matter gets twisted according to the conditioned nature of the mind, and the thought patterns are confused due to the coloring of the eye. As for example kites to some means freedom in an open sky, for others it is the body of a human being in the hands of the Lord who is playing with it.

Color is the root cause of how we interpret the object we observe. Why is it so! Information arrives though our eyes and an image forms in the mind by pattern recognition - formed through the existing image stored in memory space. We need a reference screen where the image shall be formed, and only then can it be compared to the image stored in our memory cells. The cognition part of the sense perception not only depends on the physical part of the sense-organs, but also on the inherent or developed psychological part of the organ. The inner part of our sense organ is called Purusha and the outer part is called Prakriti. That background sky of consciousness on which the play of Purusha and Prakriti occurs is called ‘I-reality’ as enunciated by Sri Sri Babathakur.

Our brain has two pathways from the outer to its center, namely:
1. Through intellect - i.e. through rational and logical modes
2. Through heart feelings - i.e. through subjective & lyrical modes

Logical reason and emotive feelings, respectively, are the true indicators of these pathways. From heart feelings is the Truth experienced totally, not from intellectual brilliance. Applying logic is a divisive way to reach the Truth. Since Truth resides in the 'sky' of Consciousness, Truth is thus felt by the heart and not reasoned out by the head. At the deep recesses of the brain-cavity or intellect, the heart feelings reside there, since it is the home of the Lord or the Truth which is homogenous. The light of Self-consciousness is the only tool available for us to manifest the Lord Awareness.

Truth is perceived through clear eyes… not through colored or jaundiced ones. To uncorrupt the mind is to make the mind clear and pure - free from any color. But that requires a basic teaching to be inculcated through the help of a Master, a Self-realized Soul.

An African folklore says: When one sees one’s own reflection without fear, then one becomes free. Adi Shankara had the same truth as presented in his famous Dakshinamurti Stotra; ‘the world as we see it, is like a city within’. Jesus also said, ‘The Kingdom of God is within You’.

The Reflection theory in optics, in material science, has its parallel in Vedanta. Sri Sri Babathakur, in his treatise ‘Knowledge of Knowledge’, Vol 1, talks about the theory as ‘Pratibimbobad’ or ‘Reflected Image theory’, one of the four independent theories of Vedanta. Our rishis’ basic tenet are propounded as follows : “…as is the relation of reflected image of the face with the mirror, so is the relation of Jiva and creation with Pure Consciousness.” The seers of yore realized the Self within. The Consciousness/the Self, in order to become the creation, became Iswara or Lord of Creation. At the center of Jiva the Lord is reflected, and outwardly the reflection of Jiva is Jagat (World).

To recognize the coloring within you is the first step, to recognize the kind of bias or color is the next step. This would require self-analysis and self-examination. We need to consider all that we perceive as belonging to the Lord (You) and not to the unaware. ‘All acceptance means all surrender’ that is what Sri Sri Babathakur had taught us, and that is what ought to be followed by us throughout our life spans. Some basic truths are given:

Change the thought pattern of the lower mind gradually, in and through a regularly change of mental habits or thoughts on the Higher Self. To understand the Nature of the Higher Self, Satsang is needed in the beginning to keep mind focused on the spiritual path. Singing and listening to the praises of the Self/Lord is a most helpful way to do so. Formation of the habit to remember one’s essential True Nature steadily results in unity or merger with one’s Self.

Through experience we realize that the conventional social mind is the source of all troubles, whereas Sri Sri Babathakur’s words cleanse it. If we reflect upon and nurture His words more and more, the realization of the Self dawns on us automatically. The more we spend time in that endeavor, the better and faster the cleansing process will happen. The crux of all this is to clean the reflected surface, i.e. the intellect. Intellect‘s reflection is mind; mind’s reflection is Jiva and the creation.