WORDS OF SRI ANANDAMAYI MA-17QUESTION: Are there grades (krama) in knowledge?SRI MA: No. Where knowledge is of the Self (Svarupa Jnana), how can there be various kinds or grades? Knowledge of the Self is one. Proceeding step by step refers to the stage where one has turned away from the pursuit of sense objects and one’s gaze is entirely directed towards the Eternal. God has not yet been realized, but the treading of this path has become attractive.
Along this line there are dharana, dhyana and samadhi.
The experiences at each of these stages are also infinite. Where the mind is, there is experience. The experiences at different stages are due to various forms of desire for Supreme Knowledge. The mind that has formerly been en-grossed in material things, and arguing that one cannot know whether God exists or not, had come to deny Him, is now turned the other way. Therefore, is it not natural that light should dawn upon it in accordance with the state it has reached? These states are known under various names. When do the visions that one gets in meditation cease? When the Self stands Self-revealed (Svayam Prakasa).
QUESTION : Does the body survive when the ego-mind has been dissolved ?
SRI MA: At times the question is asked: "How does the World-teacher give instruction? From the state of ajnana?" If this were so, the mind would not have been dissolved, the threefold differentiation (triputi) of the knower, the knowing and the known, could not have been merged. So what would He be able to give you? Where could He lead you? But there is a stage where this question does not arise. Is it the body that is the obstacle to Supreme Knowledge? Is there even a question of whether the body exists or not? At a certain level this question is simply not there. On the plane where this question arises, one is not in the state of Pure Being, and one thinks this question can be raised and also replied to. But the answer lies where there is no such thing as questioning and answering where there are no ‘others’, no division. And so, how can one possibly approach the Supreme Teacher and receive instruction? Similarly, the teachings of the sastras and other Scriptures have then become quite useless. This is one aspect of the matter.
To speak of grades (krama) in knowledge, as if one were studying for a university degree, is presenting the matter from the point of view of sadhana. Where the Self stands revealed, there can be no question of this. Yet, where there is personal effort, like the practice of meditation or contemplation, it will certainly bear fruit. But in the state of Self-illumination, there can be no such thing as attainment or non-attainment: though being there, it is not; and though it is not, yet it is - just like that.
Some say a last vestige of the mind remains. At a certain level this is so ; however, there is a stage beyond, where the question of whether a trace of the mind remains or not, does not exist. If everything can be burnt up, cannot this last vestige be consumed too? There is no question of either ‘yes’ or "no’: what is, IS. Meditation and contemplation are necessary because one is on the level of acceptance and rejection, and the aim is in fact to go beyond acceptance and rejection. You want a support, do you not?
The support that can take you beyond, to where the question of support or supportlessness no longer exists, that is the supportless support.
What is expressible in words can certainly be attained. But He is THAT which is beyond words.
Om Namah Shivay
Powerful Motivational Words that Renew Your Spirit and Bring Solace during Life’s Difficult StretchesWhen stormy winds blow, the courageous set sail to discover new islands of divinity and strength within themselves.It is a great truth, that in our journey across the waters of life, from the shores of birth to the shores of death, we have all to sail through many a turbulent storms and navigate through many a difficult passages.
During such times, when life bogs us down, when we feel overwhelmed, when a cloud of despondency and hopelessness envelops our thoughts, powerful words of motivation from the great ones who have preceded us, bring much needed strength and solace.
“The entire purpose of manifest existence is simply to facilitate the realization of who and what you really are.”
- Metta Zetty
One such guiding light is Rabindranath Tagore, one of India’s greatest spiritual thinkers and author of her national anthem, in whose life, struggle and sorrow were constant companions; and who after having lost his wife and two children in quick succession, emerged from this period of great strife, to compose the Nobel Prize winning prayers of Gitanjali.
These motivational words have been taken from his beautiful book Glimpses of Bengal.
It seems to me that the subdivisions of time and space are only mental illusions. Every atom is immeasurable and every moment infinite.
There is a Persian story which I was greatly taken with when I read it as a boy – To show the illusory character of time, a faquir (a monk) put some magic water into a tub and asked the King to take a dip. The King no sooner dipped his head in than he found himself in a strange country by the sea, where he spent a good long time going through a variety of happenings and doings.
He married, had children, his wife and children died, he lost all his wealth, and as he writhed under his sufferings he suddenly found himself back in the room, surrounded by his courtiers. On his proceeding to revile the faquir for his misfortunes, they said: “But, Sire, you have only just dipped your head in, and raised it out of the water!”
The whole of our life with its pleasures and pains is in the same way enclosed in one moment of time. However long or intense we may feel it to be while it lasts, as soon as we have finished our dip in the tub of the world, we shall find how like a slight, momentary dream the whole thing has been. . . .
Enveloped in our sorrows we forget that the world that we see around us is not the complete picture. It is only a partial view of reality, much like the horizon, which obstructs our view of the islands that lie just across.
“The most important lesson that man can learn from life is not that there is pain in this world, but that it is possible to transmute it into joy.”
- Rabindranath Tagore
Beyond this transitory physical life, lies a far greater and permanent reality – that we are each an eternal and immortal soul – that has existed through all times; that has never been born; that never dies, and that persists across the portals of physical death.
Just like friction is needed to bring fire out of two dry sticks, so too do we need the friction of circumstances to reacquaint us with this divine soul that resides within each of us. We only go through the motions of birth and death, trials and tribulations, happiness and sorrow, to discover and uncover our true self. The world merely serves as a tool to help us in this process. It is like forgetting your true identity and going to a fair to rediscover yourself.
So remember, in times of trials and tribulations to keep your perspective – know that these difficult times too shall pass, for they are only momentary experiences in an ocean of infinite existence.
Om Namah Shivay
महेशान्नापरो देवो महिम्नो नापरा स्तुतिः। अघोरान्नापरो मन्त्रो नास्ति तत्त्वं गुरोः परम्॥ ३५॥
There is no God higher than Mahesha; there is no hymn better than this one. There is no `mantra' greater than `OM' and there is no truth or principle beyond one's teacher/spiritual guide .
I am neither god, nor a demon. Neither human, animal, or otherwise.
I do not carry identities, or am limited to any identities. I transcend all that.
I am neither good, nor evil.
I am not your subjective morals. I transcend that.
You discover me, and yet, when you discover me, you will realize just how much more you have yet to discover.
And every discovery reminds you just how much is there to discover.
I am part of you, and also part of the universe. I unite for I am everything.
I am that moment you discover when all the lights are off.
You can hear me only in silence.
I am to be discovered.
I am beyond divine.
To discover Shiva. One has to first not fear the darkness, for it is when all light is gone, that you see the light of Shiva.to discover Shiva, one has to first not fear silence, for it is when all is silent, that you will hear the drum of Shiva.The mind is to be in a state in between thoughts. It is a state when worry and regret do not exist. It is in the exact present, free and calm that is can focus on the third eye.It is in this state that one can hear his voice and see his light.It is in this state that one can finally tune in and be connected to the universe.Om Namah Shiva
Kedarnath, Yamunotri close for wintersDEHRADUN: The sacred portals of Kedarnath and Yamunotri shrines in Garhwal Himalayas were closed on Saturday for winters after elaborate rituals held amid chanting of vedic hymns.Gates of Kedarnath, the most important of the four Himalayan shrines located in Uttarakhand were closed at 6 am for the season, the first after a devastating deluge ravaged large parts of Kedar Valley last year.
As the ancient shrine was closed for devotees, a procession left with a symbol of Lord Shiva for Ukhimath, the village where the deity will be kept and worshipped during the whole of winter when the high-altitude shrine becomes snowbound and inaccessible.
The procession will halt at Gauri Kund and Guptkashi before it reaches Ukhimath on the fourth day.
Aum Namah Shivaya!Lord Shiva looks straight to the heart.What one looks like, what colours one wears, this does not mean much to Him.He 'sees' the basic svabhav ( propensity) of a person.The loving and kind, he in turn loves,the unkind he helps to find their Divinity, one way or the other.
Ultimately all is His. ultimately we are returned to Him..
