This work is an expression of what I have been through, at one point of time in my life; and, also, the making of what I am today, as I am. The expressions, the thoughts, the feelings that surfaced on my mental plane, something that wasn’t the creation of my mind but an evolution of Soul, all of it coming from my heart. However, it remains unexplained in this piece of work as to how I was led to that state of mind and heart, which is something that would have its reflection in my other work “My Journey to Him”.
Having read this book Shri Parashuram Prabhu wrote “Seed 0 is an apt name for your book Om Namo Naaraayanaay. Ego is the seed in a person which leads to one more birth. 'Seed 0' means becoming Zero or Ego-less. Ego-less also is synonymous with desire-less-ness which leads to God realization”. Yes, that is true. Philosophically speaking all beginning and end emanate from and merge into zero. This applies to this Universe as well. In this work I have touched upon the concept of Agya अज्ञ which has dual connotation. One: that I have described in this work in the context of the subject on hand. The other one is in the context of my other works that follow after Seed 0. Those works revolve around one base theme, that is, Removing the Cultivated Ignorance. What that means is something that will become clear to you as you will gradually proceed through those works. But for me to succeed in my objective it would be necessary for the readers to become Agya अज्ञ again. That means they have to first ‘Unlearn’ all that they have learned before and then only begin to learn what I have to offer. Or else, the Cultivated Ignorance cemented through the passage of six generation would continue to haunt them. Another reason for assigning the number zero to this title was in context of my current occupation as an author. Had this not been the beginning nothing hereafter would have followed. To make it understandable let me put it differently. Had my Soul not passed through that process of evolution reflection of which would be seen in this work, there may not have been any other work to follow thereafter; and this statement can be very perplexing to those who might go through all my works; for, they may not see any apparent connection between the two types. Yes, I mentioned two types because the two are poles apart – one that is here in Seed 0 and the rest that you find in Seed 1 to 8. And yet, both types are inter-twined into each other. This is the little understood beauty of this ‘Creation’ of the ‘Creator’ of this Universe.
There are some people who say “I am Brahm ब्रह्म” without fully understanding its true import. These are often intellectually inclined people who have read a plenty, reasoned a plenty, told by some guru this concept “I am Brahm” and were struck by its novelty. These are parrot humanoids[1] that gleefully keep propagating this theory without even understanding it fully well. When faced with the question “granted you are Brahm, Osama Bin Laden is Brahm, and Christian Pope Alexander VI who had sex with his daughter was also Brahm, then why each of them were so very different – is Brahm like these creatures” they tend to give some evasive answer or become quiet. And yet “I am Brahm” is not a baseless concept and you may find the missing link in this work. But then understanding this work would require some level of evolution into spiritual realm.
03 Dec 2009 IST 02:20
On Karma कर्म
20 December 2007
You will find me using Karm instead of Karma, and some of you may wonder if I do not know how to spell that word, or I don’t know what is the rationale behind using this spelling Karma, or I am not aware of finer distinctions between Hindi and Sanskrit pronunciations.
Well, none of these are true. My reasons are:
- I take great pride in phonetically scientific character of my heritage language Sanskrit
- I am well informed about phonetic traditions of both languages, English and Sanskrit
- I am not prepared to blindly follow those so-called learned people who have contributed in thoroughly corrupting phonetic integrity of Sanskrit by bringing it down to the lowly level of phonetically unscientific English.
In Sanskrit script the word is written as कर्म but so-called learned in Sanskrit publicly pronounce it as कर्मा because they read, write, visualize, and think of spelling Karma with the tailing-a[2] which naturally prompts them to pronounce it wrongly as कर्मा which, in turn, prompts many others to copy it. Those learned people do not realize what harm they are doing to our heritage language Sanskrit by thoroughly corrupting it phonetically.
I am not a man to mince my words. Therefore, my words may sound harsh to some but then, considering the immense harm they have done, and merrily continue to do, to the (probably only) language (known to the mankind) which is scientifically phonetic.
Those who are today anxious at our children losing touch with our heritage cannot hope to reverse that pattern, while they themselves are comfortably oblivious of what harm they are inflicting at that very language, which has preserved our heritage in its folds for millenniums.
Do not undermine the importance of language and its purity because a language is at the source of our thoughts, emotions, expressions, and all our literary creations.
16 September 2009
It was the afternoon of 27 Nov 2003. I had just finished the long letter received from কাকাবাবূ[3] from Naini[4]. He ended his letter with these few words: I am now 86 and thinking who am I, where have I come from, and where will I go to?
This set my thoughts racing and what followed was this…
Analogy of a house
27 Nov 2003
Visualize a scenario that the Creator created a house and now He wishes to live in it for a while to experience the fruits of His creation, and then He wants to move on.
The Creator is a busy person and He has so much more to do. This is an ever expanding Universe. It never stops expanding for even a moment. Something is somewhere changing at every moment in this Creation. This makes the Creator a very busy person.
Creator can create replicas of His own self if He can create this vast Universe of extraordinary variety. So He creates tiny little Himself and, in that form, He goes to habitat in that house. Remember, this house is His transit point He is not going to be there permanently.
Let us call this replica tiny little Himself as the Soul and the He Himself, in His original form, as the Supreme Soul. We are not getting into the debate about His ‘form’ or ‘formless’ at this point. We will come about that issue later, at a more appropriate place in this work itself.
So now we distinctly identify the two – the Soul and the Supreme Soul. One happens to be the tiny little part of the other ‘Whole’.
The Soul is me and the Supreme Soul is Him and that happens to be the basic difference. Otherwise, everything else is practically the same. But don’t jump to conclusions.
Other things are same only so long both are in their original form, the Soul and the Supreme Soul, both. But here comes the catch.
While the Supreme Soul remains unchanged, unaffected, uninfluenced by anything else, the Soul does not have the same luxury.
The Soul gets influenced by the environment of the house and that house is this place that we call the earth, or the world, or whatever.
The Soul also gets influenced by other Souls that live in the same house. Now these other souls are again tiny little replicas of the Supreme Soul.
It is the fun and the game for the Supreme Soul as much as that He creates one house at a time and then wants to enjoy the fruit of living in that house in one or many forms.
And it is not difficult for Him to create plenty of new forms because we see Him already having created such a diverse Universe.
So plenty of tiny little replicas come to live in the house, that this world is, and experience the living by the rules of the game. He does not want to alter the rules of living for these tiny little selves.
This is where the game begins that, the replica Souls no more have the same powers as the original Supreme Soul has. He could, but He does not wish to retain those powers, because there would be no fun if armed with those powers.
Without those powers, the replica souls are now on their own. They can be influenced by the environment of the house, that is, the world around. We will soon talk about those influences but a bit later.
With one power that stays with the replica Souls is Free Will, but the Soul does not retain the memory for long enough, as to why that power was given in the first place.
That power was given to Soul to find its way back to the Supreme Soul from the maze that this world is like. Initially, the Soul retains the memory and therefore, works hard to get back to the Supreme Soul, that is, its original abode.
But the attractions of this amusement park called the world is ‘such’ that the Soul soon chooses to exchange its memory with the fun and game of the park!
This choice itself is an expression of use of Free Will by the Soul, which now becomes more interested in the attractions of the amusement park (the world) than the initial goal of return to its original abode (the Supreme Soul).
May 2002
Our soul started its journey long time ago, and we have no recollection of that. It may take long time before the journey is over, and we have no knowledge of that.
Each of us started our journey from the same place. Each of us will end our journey at the same place. Only the duration will be different. In addition, the experience of this journey, for each of us will be different through this entire duration.
We all started with the same attributes, but we acquired different attributes during the course of our journey. We will have to cast-off those attributes in course of this journey itself, and we will have to regain our original attributes once again. Then only we will be able to end our journey.
We have borrowed different attributes, depending on our own choice, from the Mother Nature of this Earth. We will have to return them to the Nature before we can end our journey.
We all, individual souls, were part of the Supreme Soul. We started our journey with the attributes of the Supreme Soul. We borrowed other attributes from Mother Nature and made them our own. We have to return them to Mother Nature. Only with our original attributes, that is, the attributes of the Supreme Soul we will be able to return to Him. We will then merge into Him, the way we once emerged from Him. That will be the end of our journey.
And, how the Soul acquires its visible Character during its Journey through the material World
March 2002
Soul emerges from Supreme Soul. At its origin, it has no character of its own. It descends on this earth encased in this body. Its ego gives it a distinct identity. Its thoughts and actions are guided by this ego. It acquires various traits, in varying degree, through its journey by successive births.
Soul sheds its body at the time of departure from this earth. It does not take with it, in physical form, the traits it acquired during its stay on the earth. In its successive birth, it has to re-collect those traits from the environment of this earth.
During the process of birth and growing up, it collects the traits from its parents and environment. Some traits it re-acquires during the process of its birth. That includes the genes it acquires from its earthly parents. Other traits it re-acquires in the process of its growing up. That includes the environment it receives in form of friends, teachers, surroundings etc.
Each new birth gives it a place in the society. With that, it gets a set environment to grow up. This place and environment is the result of its deeds through prior incarnations. These are not by its choice. It cannot choose its parents. It cannot choose its surroundings at the time of birth and its early childhood.
God also gave it free will. It could use it to navigate itself through the course of life towards its journey to the Supreme Soul. It, however, chooses to use it to interfere with the environment of which it is part of, to its personal advantage. In the process it creates new Karm for itself.
Until it learns to shed all its Karm, it does not regain its freedom that would bring it back to its original state whereby it can hope to become part of the Supreme Soul once again.
June 2002
Every soul has one ultimate goal, but most of us have forgotten it, through the passage of our journey, which takes place into the jurisdiction of Maya. Maya is the veil that separates the Supreme Soul from His Creation. Maya itself is His own creation, and with a very definite purpose. This subject is discussed in fair amount of detail in other works.
A few of us come to remember of this goal after a long arduous journey. That ultimate goal of each human is to search for his way to Moksh, the liberation from the vicious cycle of birth and death. As we live in the jurisdiction of Maya, we tend to forget that this human birth alone can lead us towards that goal.
As the life goes on like clockwork, at times we need an alarm to ring, so that we are reminded of our other commitments. We have a forgotten commitment to our self, which is to seek Moksh.
God and His power of Maya
Aug 2002
God’s Maya is a vast subject. It is simply beyond my ability to describe it fully, let alone comprehend it. I will try to share with you whatever little I have understood of it.
God created this universe through His power of Maya. Maya creates a veil between God and the subjects of His creation. All creatures are the subjects of His creation. Because of the veil, we do not see Him.
By His will, He created us. He also gave us environment rich of natural resources to live in. He gave us several avenues for keeping our-self entertained. He gave us several causes to keep our-self occupied with. Thus began the life.
By the power of Maya, the door between Him and us is kept closed. We live in our own world happily. He made a few simple rules that keep governing us.
Laws of Creation
Aug 2002
One of them is Law of Karm. The law stipulates that every action will have a reaction, in some “form” or other, at some “time” or other, “by” someone or other, “for” someone or other.
He also set in place the mechanics that would regulate the process with mathematical precision of extraordinary finesse. Thus, He set the rules and the mechanics, and separated Himself from its processing. He thus remains detached to the subsequent happenings in that one world while retaining its remote control in His hand[5].
Three major attributes of Mother Nature
Aug 2002
This detachment helps Him retain His attributes unaffected by the Nature of this world. Humans and other creatures, however, are not able retain that detachment long enough. Soon they are influenced by three major attributes of the Nature on this Earth. These three attributes are Satva, Rajas, and Tamas[6].
We mortal souls acquire these three attributes, in varying degrees, depending on our individual appetite. We grow with these attributes as more and more time we spend on this earth. More and more time is spent through numerous births, in different species.
That shapes our character. This character is quite in deviation from its original character. That original character is of the Supreme Soul, whose offshoot we are.
Door that can be opened through our Free Will
Aug 2002
God, however, has not left us solely at the mercy of the environment on the Earth. He has equipped us with something very valuable called ‘Free will’. He gave us this free will so that we keep our-self free from the environment surrounding us.
He gave us this free will so that we try to open that door. Door that is kept close between Him and us! However, we are often too busy to use this free will for opening that door. Our appetite for the charms around us is not fully satiated. Therefore, we do not fully focus our vision towards that door.
Spiritually advanced Souls
Aug 2002
Advanced souls, however, realize the need for approaching to that door. Until we use the entire strength of our free will to reach that door and open it, we stay trapped in the bondage of Karm. Only when we open the door and cross the barrier of Maya, then our soul is able to merge with the Supreme Soul. We call it Moksh, Salvation, Liberation, or whatever; but chhaya (shadow) of Maya is very dense! It is not that easy to cross the barrier of Maya.
Highly elevated souls too have their fall. Moreover, fall they quite deep. That happens because a trace of their Ego has remained within them. Until they are able to crush it totally and are able to submerge their ego in to the Supreme, they run the risk of fall. Having reached the heights it becomes necessary to seek His Grace; so, that He Himself sets aside[7] the barrier of Maya.
God gives us what we want from Him
Aug 2002
This world is like a Playskool (playschool). The Creator has provided us with many objects of play. We are busy playing with those toys. Then the time comes when one of the kids is bored with toys and starts crying for mom. There comes the mom running, leaving all Her other work.
Similarly, when we cry for Him, then only He comes to us, but only if the cry is genuine. When we cry for more toys, He only gives us more toys. These toys are in form of objects of sense pleasures, etc.
World of Maya is akin to an Amusement Park
March 2002
God created this world through his will as we humans create amusement parks. We can stay in the amusement park and keep ourselves entertained as long as we wish by paying for it in terms of money. Similarly, we can stay in this world as long as we want through numerous incarnations by paying for it in terms of joys and sorrows depending on our actions here and, also by paying for it in terms of incarnations in different types of species (yonis) (other than human) again depending on our action here.
At the end of the day, our amusement park has to close and we have to return home. At the end of the creation cycle, this creation dissolves and one day[8] of Brahmaa comes to an end.
Amusement Park opens next day and visitors return for fun again. Brahmaa’s day starts with another creation and souls who had not completed their journey also return.
Few visitors to amusement park find it no more amusing and leave, and they do not return when the park opens next morning. Few souls overcome the desire for return ticket to this world and they do not return for another show.
World is a Stage for Human Drama, a Cuckoo’s nest
Aug 2002
We act in drama or a movie. Role given to us is that of a father or, of a child. We know in our heart that this relationship is limited to our presence on the stage. We know that the relationship with the other person for whom we are acting as the father or, the child will soon be over, as we move out of the stage or, away from the camera. Knowing this, we remain very much involved in the act, portraying the relationship in all its affinity, only until we are acting, but not after that.
Similarly, all of us act in the drama at the stage of this world. We are very much involved in our role; so long we are on the stage of this world. Once out of it, those relationships are lost[9]. We would be dead and gone. And yet, till the last breath, we try to hold on to them, to those relationships.
This is one aspect of God’s Maya[10] that keeps the veil between Him and us. So long the curtain is not lifted; we do not get to see the other side of it. We do not see that our true father is there, on the other side of the veil. He waits for each of us, till we are satisfied with the play that we are now busy enacting, at the stage of this world.
Occasionally, one of us realizes that reaching the other side of the veil happens to be the true objective of our participation in this Act, at the stage of this world. And then, that one soul flies over the cuckoo’s[11] nest!
Everything that happens under the Heavens has a Purpose behind it
Aug 2002
Everything in this world has a purpose. Only we do not always understand it at the time events take place.
If it were the Will of the Creator, that let there be variety in His creation, so let it be! If it is the Will of the Creator, that let there be inter-dependence amongst all the happenings, through the entire process of evolution, who can negate it?
If it is the Will of the Creator, that let the soul pass through the experience of life in various species before attaining the human form, so it be! If it is the Will of the Creator that let the soul experience the life in its various shades like joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, love and hatred, riches and poverty, happiness and misery, destruction and preservation, butchery and protection, and so on and so forth, so it be!
Who are we to judge the Will of the Creator? We cannot even begin to comprehend the enormity of His creation, how would we understand the purpose behind it?
Whatever is happening around us is certainly not against His Laws of creation. If He can create this universe, He can sure stop anything that happens against His Will.
Our intellect has its limitations. Why get into the debate as to why this is happening and that is not? A lot of it is happening around that is predetermined in any case, much of which is based on the past deeds of these souls. Who are we to interfere with the Laws of Nature[12]?
Our goal would be to work towards attaining Moksh. Because, no other form of birth (except human) equips us with the abilities to work towards it. If we do not use this opportunity to our advantage we would not get out of the cycle of birth(s) and death(s).
2. Bondage of Karm: here we use our free will
We convert our Free Will into our Karm
June 2002
God has given us free will. We can use it the way we want it, for good or for bad. Good and bad are matter of our perception and they change for us with time, and they differ for different people and for different cultures. When we speak of good and bad, we speak of them just as plainly they are understood, disregarding their philosophical interpretations.
Therefore, we return to our base issue that God has given us free will and given us the freedom to use it the way we want to use it. However, we need to remember that this freedom is there until we have used it. When we use it, this becomes our Karm. In other words, when we convert our free will into an action, it becomes a deed. Once it becomes our Karm, we have no free will to alter that Karm. However, we have additional free will to negate that Karm or neutralize that Karm in some other way. We also have plenty of other free will to engage our self in plenty of such other Karm.
Once our free will is converted into Karm, it must bear its fruit; this is the Law of Creation. This fruit, that we call result of our work can be as desired by us, or can be as not desired by us, or can be of mixed nature that is partly desired and partly not desired kind. In other words, we have no decisive control over the result of our work, or for that matter, over the fruit of our Karm. This fruit is our fate. Fate, however, is often understood as something on which we have no control. Our fate is our own doing, by our own action, and we truly have no control over it, if we try to undo it. Therefore, if understood in this manner, we have truly no control over it.
We use plenty of free will and give rise to plenty of Karm. That in turn gives rise to plenty of fate, and collectively they become our destiny. This destiny is not served to us on a platter, nor is the whole of it given to us in one lifetime. To mitigate the collective impact of it, it is served to us in instalments over many births. Thus, we ourselves convert our free will into our fate through our own Karm. To experience the result of such Karm we keep visiting this earth repeatedly.
The need to neutralize our past Karm
June 2002
We can also use our free will to end this process. Moksh is that state when we are liberated from the compulsion of revisiting the earth to pay for our karmic debts. Question is how we do it. To seek the answer let us go back to the root of the process. Free will converted into Karm leading to fate places us in this vicious circle, from which we cannot get out. Therefore, free will converted into Karm is the root cause. What would happen if we were to use our free will in a manner that it is not converted into Karm? The answer is that we will not be adding any Karm to our karmic account. It is however, a different issue as to how we do it. That we can deal with later.
Coming back to the point, we must not add new Karm is one requirement. Now what do we do with the Karm that we have already generated in the past? How do we negate it, neutralize them all together? We cannot attain Moksh until the total karmic account comes to a state of zero balance, and we do not have any more karmic debts to pay. So we now need to look at the issue, as to how do we do a task that may seem almost impossible?
The need to stop adding further to our Karmic Debts
June 2002
First, let us see how we stop converting our free will into new Karm and stop adding further to our karmic debts. The obvious answer may look like: well, do not do any Karm. However, is that possible? To sustain our physical body we must do some Karm at least. This body is like a machine, it has to work, and otherwise it would rust and become immobile. Even if we assume for a moment, that the body does not have to do any work, what about the mind? Mind will keep giving us merry go-rounds. It is in the nature of the mind that it cannot be static. If nothing, mind will think of different things. Moreover, we know that physical actions first originate on our mental plane as our thoughts. Then these thoughts become dreams, desires, passions, or anything we may want to call them, and finally they reveal themselves in form of some kind of physical action. The fact that I am writing this is a physical action but it is happening almost simultaneously with the thought. In reality, the thought is emerging first on the mental plane and then it is directing the fingers to type. Only that both activities are happening so quickly one followed by the other that it may almost seem to be simultaneous action, but it is not precisely so. The point is that when the mind thinks, it has to result in Karm eventually. Therefore, the issue has to be dealt with at two levels, at physical plane as well as on mental plane.
Doing Karm without desire for Results
June 2002
Let us first look at the issue on the physical plane. What we are trying to do is to do Karm, and yet not to do any Karm[13]. This may sound paradoxical. It is, on the face of it. It is not, if we go deeper into it. After all what is Karm? Karm is an action that sets a chain reaction. Example: I defeat you. You choose to defeat me. A rivalry begins. I do an act with a desire for result. I attain the result. It is at someone else’s cost. That someone else then tries to do it at my cost. Alternatively, if not possible, then it would be at someone else’s cost. The process goes on. It all begins from the desire for result. Now if we can curtail this desire for result, our actions will assume a different shape and character[14]. Moreover, that will not set a chain reaction. Therefore, the first point is to do Karm without desire for result.
Doing Karm without attachment towards the Work
June 2002
Another aspect is attachment to the subject or object of the work. Example: This is my job. My reputation is at stake with the failure and success of my job. This is one kind of attachment to the job. I am doing this job for my family. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I shall cherish the hope that someday my family will do something for me when I need. If that does not happen at the occasion desired, someone somewhere gets emotionally hurt. This is another kind of attachment with regard to what we all do. Now these attachments must go. If the attachment goes and yet our jobs are done in a detached spirit, our actions will assume a different shape and character. Moreover, that action will not be responsible for setting up a chain of reactions. Therefore, the second point is to do Karm without attachment to the subject or object of the job.
This is major challenge
June 2002
Now these two are very difficult tasks. We should not undermine their challenge. We may train our mind for now and do it well for the time being, but soon an occasion will arise when we will suddenly loose our grip on the issue and become our self as we have originally been.
Let us try to recapitulate what we have been talking so far. We need to do our Karm on physical plane devoid of attachment and desire for results, so that we do not add to our karmic debts any further. We need to do no Karm at mental plane, so thoughts do not become action. We need to neutralize our prior Karm and bring the balance in our karmic account to zero. How do we do it and make this impossible sounding task a reality is something we will discuss later. First, let us examine what is involved in negating our past Karm?
Neutralizing our Karmic account
June 2002
What would involve neutralizing our karmic account and bring the balance to zero? If we did bad Karm, we have to do good Karm to neutralize them. This may sound funny though, if we did good Karm we may need to do bad Karm to neutralize them! Whatever we may want to do we may need to know what the balance is. And we have simply no means of knowing that. We do not know what had been the magnitude of our bad Karm and good Karm so far, through numerous lives that we may have lived in different species. We have no means of knowing how much of bad Karm we have already paid for and how much of our good Karm we have already enjoyed through. We simply do not know what the net balance as of now is and if we are adding or deducting some of it right at this moment as we do something new. However, let us not kid ourselves that if we do not know who else will know, God will not know either, how can He keep track of it all for billions and billions of creatures? We cannot create a creature but God has created them all. Let us not fool our self. Vidhata has it all up in His sleeves.
Who can erase our Karmic account?
June 2002
Ok, so the task is very impossible. That is why it takes us numerous births before we attain Moksh. However, it is possible because at least, one in billion does attain Moksh. How does that happen? There is only one practical way out of this maze that this world is. Before we get into that let us ask ourselves a few questions. Granted that it is near impossible to neutralize past Karm when we have no means of knowing the balance in our karmic account, and also have no way to measure the quantum of accretions to the karmic account through our present Karm. Therefore, we would be asking ourselves the million-dollar question as to who has the ability to erase the karmic account. The answer is not so difficult. The one who keeps the account can only erase it! So it is Vidhata who keeps the account can erase it as well, at His will.
Why would He erase our Karmic account?
June 2002
Why would He do that? Well if He is pleased with us and is satisfied that we have earned it through our devotion towards Him, He might as well decide to do it. After all, our devotion towards Him is also a kind of Karm. In this Karm, we have an attachment too. However, that is not the attachment towards a worldly subject or object. It is the attachment towards Vidhata Himself. In this Karm, we have a desire for result too. However, that is not the desire for result of a worldly object. It is the desire for result for attaining closeness to Vidhata Himself. So, if we divert all our attachments and desires from worldly subjects and objects and direct them towards Vidhata Himself then why would He not use His prerogative to erase our karmic account? Here what we are doing is a Karm. The devotion towards Him is a Karm in itself. And each Karm must yield fruit that is the Law of creation. So this Karm too will yield fruit. The fruit, in this case, will be in form of Vidhata granting us a moratorium on our karmic account. Have we not heard of Governments granting moratorium on loans to farmers and others? Have we not heard of banks writing-off unpaid debts? After all, what we humans do is only a subconscious replication of what Vidhata does!
Karmic effects are spread over several lifetimes to help mitigate impact of our past deeds
January 2002
Good that we do not have the memory of our past live(s). If we did, our past would have haunted our present life.
Our present is based on our past and our future will be based on our present. Generally, this sequence is spread over many life times. Meaning, the result of past actions is experienced over many life times. This helps reduce the impact of the past actions by spreading them over many life times.
At the same time, it offers an opportunity to correct ones actions, through many opportunities that are presented throughout many life times, to help mitigate the impact of past actions. However, quite often, we do the contrary. Not realizing the opportunity so presented; we tend to add more to this spiralling sequence of Karm, primarily inspired by our own ego.
For souls nearing their dissolution into the Supreme, such effects of their unfruitified[15] deeds of previous lives as well as those of present life tend to bear fruits in the present life itself, thereby accentuating the impact in its severity. At the same time, these souls are given the true understanding of how they ought to dissolve their remaining Karm and not add more to it. This happens only with the Grace of God, functioning beyond the capacities of intellect.
Karm and Karm Yog
May 2002
Karm should not be confused with Karm Yog, as some people innocently do. Karm (Karma) refers to our deeds. Karm Yog refers to our doing Karm with the sole objective of union with God.
Karm we can do in any manner we desire. Karm Yog can be done only in one specified manner: doing all our Karm devoid of attachment and desire for result.
This World is very real; giving up worldly ties is very difficult
June 2002
Even if we give up our worldly ties, yet we have to live inside this world. As long as we live in this world, we remain under the jurisdiction of Maya[16]. So long, the body is there, we have to retain it and maintain it, in the environment of this world. The environment is bound to exert its influence on us. Moreover, we have to struggle with it to keep ourselves out of the circle of its influence. This is not an easy task.
The world around us is so very real. We may want to ignore it but it will not ignore us. It will present itself in its numerous shades and colours. Some of them can be very tempting at times. We may exercise very strict discipline to keep our mind and senses out of the circle of its influence. However, can we do so for all the time we will be living under its spell? There will be moments of weakness when our mind and senses will tempt to get a taste of it. Outwardly, we may control ourselves physically but inwardly can we keep ourselves untainted for all the time to come? Therefore, giving up the worldly ties could be very difficult to attain in its true spirit.
Mind has a tendency to keep wandering. It is as difficult to rein it, as is to stop air passing through a hole. Let there be a small opening and air will find its way through. Let there be momentary loss of control and mind will find its way to pass through. Mind cannot remain empty. It must be kept fully occupied to stay out of other interests. Keeping it totally immersed in God so that there remains no space for any desire other than God is a state where we can keep mind from wandering around. Such a state of absorption into thought of God is Yog. Such union with God at mental level with total involvement can only make renunciations (of worldly ties) succeed. Therefore, without such union, true renunciation is so very difficult to attain.
13 August 2002
Having given up worldly ties and nothing else to do physically but to maintain this body may not be difficult in itself to achieve. However, the true purpose of such abandonment of worldly ties would be truly met when the detachment is total at mental level. Absence of work by itself can create a void. When there is nothing to do, it could be difficult to hold the mind at one track. However, if we keep ourselves engaged in work then it may be difficult for mind to keep wandering. Therefore, keeping ourselves on the path that keeps us engaged in work will be a better option.
In this situation, we see the synthesis of two issues critical to attaining Brahm (God). One: removing ourselves from worldly ties, so that they do not consume all our energies and leave us with space for our journey towards God. Two: keeping our selves occupied in work, so that mind and senses do not wander around. Such work is simple work but with a difference. Most our work are guided by our appetite for money, power, position, recognition, etc. This appetite needs to be contained. The desires are to be curtailed. Attachments are to be severed. Thus, works without attachment and desire, coupled with renunciation of worldly ties, can help a person attain Brahm sooner than otherwise.
BhagavadGita does not speak of hell where humans should rot for their misdeeds. All it says that we have to return to this earth to experience life, in all its shades, to fulfil our karmic debts. If we did wrong deeds we return to experience their result in our future lives, here itself on this earth. If we did right deeds, we do return to experience their result in our future lives on this earth.
We do not understand or, try to understand why some souls are born as humans, while others are born as violent and nonviolent animals, birds, reptiles, and insects, etc. We do not want to understand why we experience miseries in our human life, when we did nothing conceivably wrong in our present human birth, to earn those punishments that life delivers us. We also fail to understand why some people seem to enjoy all the pleasures of human life, though their deeds in their present human birth do not seem to make them, deserving of such bounties.
We do not have memories of our past lives; disregard which species we may have been born in those lives. Therefore, we cannot connect our deeds of past lives to our present human life. Should we have the memories of our past lives? If we did what would happen? Let us think about it. Some say oblivion (forgetting) is a blessing! Let us think about that too.
We all seek Freedom, but freedom from what?
April 2000
We all seek freedom in almost every sphere of activity in our life. As children, we seek freedom from the supervision and control of our parents, in almost every walk of our life. As adolescents, we seek freedom from the restrictions placed on our life-style. As adults, we seek freedom from the interference of our superiors at work or, partners in business. As seniors, we seek freedom from limited financial resources to depend on for rest of the life. Therefore, in our youth we keep working, to save for emptiness of our last days[17].
However, do we ever seek freedom from the life and death? Life that brings us joys and sorrow, pain and pleasure, comforts and discomforts, friendship and enmity, comedy and tragedy, faith and betrayal, love and hate, fullness and emptiness, violence and peace, destruction and new beginnings, and so on. The death that we all fear, though we all know we cannot escape it. Death that we try to escape in every possible way, but only if we can escape it, finally!
What is, after all, the freedom from life and death? It is the freedom from the vicious cycle of rebirths. Such freedom brings Moksh. Moksh is Liberation, when our individual soul merges with the Supreme Soul from which once it had emerged, and thus, returns no more to the earth.
Our Desires have brought us back into this World
November 2001
It is our desires that have shackled us and brought us back into the world that we experience around us. If it were not for unfulfilled desires that hold us back, our soul would have merged into the Supreme Soul, and thus would have lost its independent existence.
It is our desires that have made us live the life we have been living. Joys and sorrows, love and hate, pain and pleasure, comedy and tragedy, faith and betrayal, victory and defeat, luxury and poverty, peace and agony, and every other shade of life is product of our desires and attachments.
If only desires end, the cycle of repeated births and deaths end. That is, when there is no desire to return to this world of Maya, but to dissolve oneself into the Supreme Soul. Maya is the mechanism through which, this Creation comes into existence and, retains its individual identity, quite independent of God’s day-to-day interference in the functioning of this world.
Desires are the shackles that can be broken
December 2001
Can the desires end? It is like asking: Can the flow of river stop? One may say: Yes it can, by creating a dam, but only temporarily, not permanently. If we try to stop it permanently, it would break the dam and all barriers. The same is with desires. They can be stopped, only temporarily, but not permanently. If we try to stop them permanently, they would return with much greater might and break the barriers we placed unnaturally.
So we ask our self: Can the flow of river be turned to a new direction? Can the flow be led to the ocean where it would lose its independent existence? The answer would be yes. Once it is led to the ocean, the river merges into it. It needs no more of artificial barriers. Its force is now diluted and dissolved into the ocean, becoming one with it. The same is true with the desires. Our desires can be directed towards the Supreme Soul, whereby every desire becomes the desire to attain the Supreme Spirit.
Our ego, the sense of being ‘Me’, can be surrendered to ‘Him’ whereby it would lose its independent identity – then ceases the desire to experience the world around us. Desires will no more return to us with greater might. That is when we will attain Moksh, that is, liberation from the cycle of repeated birth and death.
Bondage of Karm and Choices before us
December 2002
Must we break away from the chain of Karm? If not, we must keep returning to this world, repeatedly. There is pain and there is pleasure, in this world. Pain is not only physical, but mental too. It is on the rise, as life continues to grow complex.
The continual process of Karm is of our own doing. Deeds, good or bad, generate Karm. The fruit of Karm must take shape. Therefore, we develop good Karm and bad Karm. To experience the fruit of our Karm, we must return to this world. Even if we return for lots of good deeds of the past live(s), we must return. In addition, every such return brings us opportunities as well as exposures to add more good or bad Karm. The process goes on.
Shackles - so we place around us. Should we? On the other hand, should we break away from these shackles? Choice is ours. We like to boast of our free will. Do we employ it for adding more of chains around us or, to release ourselves of that bondage? God has given us the options. What do we do with it?
God has given us Free Will to Seek Freedom from the Cycle of Birth and Death
December 2001
We are born as humans, not animals, nor insects. Many animals live in peace and harmony. Others are bloodthirsty. So are insects. So are humans. What then separates us from animals, insects? Why the Creator of the Universe has endowed ‘we’ humans with greater abilities with regard to our mental faculties, emotional exposures, gift of wisdom, and above all the choice of free will? Where does He expect us to employ this ‘Free Will’ most?
We do not search for the answer to that question. Too often, we spend most of our life meeting the needs of our day-to-day life. Those of us who are endowed with greater abilities often get immersed in giving shape to our ambitions, and in the process, we get quite involved with the thought of augmenting our power, wealth, and prestige. The entire focus of our free will remains glued to those objectives.
God has given us the free will to seek exit from this world of Maya. Maya, that places a veil between the God and us. He has given us the free will to seek Moksh. Moksh is liberation from this world of Maya, as our soul merges with the Supreme Soul and does not return in any form. That is, our freedom from re-births.
Big price to pay for love of God
December 2001
Love is not necessarily attachment. Moreover, attachment is not necessarily love. Love inspires us to give. Attachment compels us to possess. Love releases us - attachment binds us. Love is pure - it seeks nothing. Attachment is selfish - it demands everything. When love (devotion) is for God, it is Bliss. There is no sense of loss; there is no pain.
Attachment is for money, power, position, prestige, man/woman, kids, pets, our belongings, and the life itself. Biggest attachment is towards life. We do not want to part with it. Knowing well it has old age, it has sickness, it has pleasure and pain, it has miseries, it has good and bad times, it has so much that we want and it has so much that we despise. Yet, we want it all. What an attraction it is - the life! We are willing to trade it for the Bliss, where there is no pain, in the realm of God.
However, we are busy. We do not want to try for it. We believe in our ability to achieve what we want - but not this one ... God. It is not only going to Sunday church or daily temple. God does not come to us until we love Him to the exclusion of everything else[18]. Moreover, that is a tall order. We are not ready to pay that big a price. The irony lies here.
Rebirths and Christianity
May 2002
Many a moderns do not believe in rebirth. Their disbelief may have been inspired by Christianity’s popular present day stand on the subject. Handful men engineered such thinking centuries ago. Moderns have remained ignorant of this fact, as the fact itself has remained out of circulation, probably by efforts of those who did not want it known to the masses.
“Christianity initially did endorse rebirth, and then handful of men banned it. Strangely enough, first at the wishes of Empress Theodora, the Council of Constantinople condemned it in AD 543 “If anyone says or thinks that human souls had a previous existence, anathema sit’’ the Council declared”. [19]
In effect, an Empress and the Council of Humans attempted to direct the Creator of this Universe that the Creator must change His Management of Cosmos, because these handfuls of humans did not like the thought of rebirths. Council also told rest of the humanity that if anybody said or thought of it, such person would be accursed (anathema)!
4. Moksh: here we end our Journey 2 Aug 2002 Venezia Italia
“Agya” being the First lesson in knowing God
अ and ज्ञ - these two letters of Sanskrit alphabet stand apart, at a distance from each other. But joined together they make अज्ञ Agya[20] which means: Not knowing, devoid of knowledge or experience. Simply spoken it means ignorant.
Perishable knowledge cannot be carried forward
We travel through whole of our life, from the beginning till the end, and yet remain ignorant! We become learned by reading books, but remain spiritually ignorant. The knowledge that we acquire from books does not remain with us for one whole lifetime; without practice, most of it is lost within matter of years. The knowledge of God, however, is carried forward to the next life. It is therefore, permanent knowledge; all else is transitory knowledge unless, of course, such transitory knowledge returns to the owner by Grace of God and with a purpose (this is not theory, it happens).
Truth of a moment is not eternal truth
What is Truth? That is Truth, which is eternal. What is eternal? That is eternal, which is not transitory. What is transitory? An example: Let us look at a flower. It is a flower now. Tomorrow it will dry up. Day after it will decay. No more we will be able to call it a flower. Therefore, it is transitory. It is the truth of the moment that it is a flower. The truth of this moment that it is a flower will not remain the truth of another moment. Therefore, it is transitory. Something that is truth now and will no more be the truth later cannot be the eternal Truth. Eternal Truth is that which was truth before which is truth now, which will remain truth forever. And there is only one such truth. That truth is God. Therefore, God is the eternal Truth. All else is truth of a moment, not eternal.
A human Guru can at best show the path
The knowledge we acquire from books, and by learning at universities, all that is the knowledge of the kind that is perishable, that has a temporary life. And therefore, they represent transitory truths, not the eternal truth. The knowledge of God is the permanent knowledge. That is the true knowledge. All else is fleeting knowledge. But that knowledge of God cannot be acquired from books, and by acquiring degrees at Universities. That knowledge of God can be acquired from the God, Himself. We humans can only, at best, show the path for approaching to Him.
Until we retain the ego of our perishable knowledge...
But even approaching Him cannot be successful until we retain the ego of our perishable knowledge. All the knowledge we acquired from books and at universities is the foundation of that ego. That ego must be crushed. No one else can crush it permanently. Only we our self can, and that too, only with the help of God – for this we need to surrender our self totally to God, and ask Him to help us.
When we become Agya “again”...
When we become Agya, that is, devoid of ego of our cultivated knowledge and experience, only then we begin to understand God, in true sense! All conditioning of our mind must go. God must be approached with the heart of a child, and the simplicity and faith of a child. God does not descend until the space for Him is made totally vacant, for once He does, He fills our entire being, and there remains no more space to fill anything else! The mind must be totally empty. As long as it is filled with our erudition there is no vacancy for God.
The true knowledge of God sinks within us, only when we “once again” become Agya!
Journey to God is possible with Faith of Child, not with the intellect of adult
In today’s environment, pleasure and pain both have escalated substantially as compared to the times when life was much simpler. We sometimes ask ourselves: Is it possible to continue our Journey to God through these hurdles? Yes, it is possible. And, it is very simple. But, it is only simple to listen to. It is very difficult to learn its true meaning. It is much more difficult to live by that.
For journey to Him, we need to simply ask Him: ‘Please hold my hand and lead me, like a father holds the child and leads him!’ For this, we need the Faith of a child.
Child holding father’s hand is different
There is a difference between ‘child holding father’s hand’ and ‘father holding child’s hand’. Let us visualize the “child holding” father’s hand. Both walking side-by-side on a steep terrain, and there is a ditch by side of the child. Child’s attention is temporarily caught by the beauty of scenery. His grip is loosened for a moment. Hold of his hand gives away. He slips in the ditch. Similarly, there are plenty of attractions and avenues for distractions on this beautiful earth. We adults hold to God with one hand, and hold to the desires of the material world with the other. Our desires and attachments are enough to distract, from time-to-time, our attention from God. The call of desires and the beckon of sense pleasures are enough to let our hold loosen momentarily. And that one moment is enough to let us slip into the ditch that our desires dig for us.
Father holding child’s hand is different
Now let us visualize, “father holding” the hand of the child. Child’s attention is caught to the glimpses of attraction. But his grip is not loosened, because it is not his grip. It is the grip of the father, a firm grip. The child cannot slip away from that grip. Similarly, when God is with us, protecting our interests, worldly attractions will delude us, but they will not be able to finally take us with them into their folds.
Giving up our mental makeup of an adult
But ‘when’ can we have God with us, retaining that firm grip – when we have surrendered our ego totally to Him. That can happen when we give up our mental makeup of an adult, and become enveloped by the innocence of a child. That faith of a child has no vested interest, as we adults often do.
Our adult ego and childlike faith – the two cannot co-exist
Our adult ego and childlike faith cannot go hand in hand. One of them can exist. The other has to die. Child-like faith will not emerge until our adult ego dies. The intellect of adult comes in the way of that childlike faith.
Union with God is possible when we acquire the ‘nature’ of God
Union with God is possible when we assume the nature of God. In God’s nature there is no place for malice towards anyone, there is no desire for acquisition of any kind. God is not emotionally attached to anyone or anything. God is not attached to any work nor has any desire for result of such work. He has created the human being. But, He does not have the desire that human should recognize Him as the creator. When a person fails to recognize Him or, refuses to recognize Him as the creator, He does not punish that person. Reward or punishment comes to the person through his work. If his work is worthy of reward he gets that, and if it deserves punishment he gets that too. But he does not get punished for not treating God with respect.
Compare it with the ‘nature’ of Human
Human on the contrary is quite attached to its power and position. A powerful person may well punish a powerless person, if not treated with respect. Demonstration of power, position, and wealth is a human quality, not a Divine quality. Thus God is not emotionally attached to the person or that person’s work. We are required to inculcate those qualities before we can become worthy of union with God.
Blending well is the key
When we mix yellow in yellow we get yellow. But when we mix blue in yellow we get green. So blue does not mix well with yellow, but yellow does. Similarly, when our soul has acquired the qualities of the Supreme Soul, it can merge with the Supreme Soul and become one, not distinguishable. But when it has different qualities, the Supreme Soul cannot admit it to merge, because if it does, the Supreme Soul will lose its original qualities.
This is when our journey will end
Each individual soul, that we are, had started our respective journey from the Supreme Soul. We have been part of Him. But we are not now. Having come to this world of Maya[21], we have forgotten our original qualities, and we have acquired different qualities in course of our long journey. When we become aware of that, then we would try to shed those acquired qualities, and try to recover our original qualities, with which we had once started our journey. When we are able to get back our original qualities then our journey will come to an end.
The Creator has given His subjects this life to experience Dharm[22], Arth, Kaam, and Moksh[23] through the process of their individual Karm. Without fulfilling each of these we cannot attain Moksh[24].
Every person is born with his or her own dharm. What we are born to do in this life is largely based on what we have been doing so far in our previous lives. In this life we are born to experience the fruits, may be sweet or sour, from our Karm through the journey of our earlier lives. At the same time we get an opportunity to take a step forward towards the final goal of human birth, that is, Moksh.
“Dharm” is perceived by many of us as “religion”. 5000 to 6000 years ago when MahaaBhaarat was written and enacted on the stage of this world, and much more earlier than that when Raamaayan was written and enacted on the same stage, this Sanskrit term Dharm was used in those epics of yesteryear. As far we know, there existed no other religion in those distant past, like Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc. Score of other religions too have cropped up in later days to confuse people and translate dharm into religion. But when dharm was understood in its original sense, religion was not it.
If there was any religion at all in those ancient days, it was to attain God the Creator, disregard what name one called Him by. With passage of time, however, this word has acquired the popular meaning as religion.
Some others amongst us perceive Dharm as duty, which is a concept limited to individual interpretation at a given point of time, because with passage of time, the same individual finds himself changing his earlier interpretation. Besides, in a given situation at the same point of time, what one may consider his duty - the other may not. Duty is somehow connected with the notion of right and wrong conduct, which itself is not only subjective, but also happens to change for same individual with time. What we perceive as right conduct in our adolescence may not appear to ourselves as right conduct when we achieve maturity in life. Being capable of conflicting views, it could not be, generally, one of the goals of human life that Dharm is supposed to be. Therefore, dharm is not primarily the duty. However, in situations it may be used in that sense. And we may find such usage in ancient epics as well.
Without fulfilling our Dharm, that is what we are born to do, we cannot attain Moksh. By using our free will we often tend to give a new direction to our dharm. Thereby we create new Karm. This necessitates at least one more birth to experience the result of such new Karm. In that birth once again we use our free will trying to change our destiny. Thus we book another birth for our self. The process goes on taking the shape of a vicious circle. We forget that we were given that free will to put efforts towards seeking Moksh. Even if we are reminded, we do not pay heed to it. Truly speaking it is far more difficult to employ free will for attaining Moksh, than to employ it for changing the destiny!
All that we remember in our Ego trip is that, we have successfully altered our destiny, by conquering the hardships handed over to us, by a weird concept called destiny, which only weakling like to find shelter in! Least we realize that we are playing in the hands of Maya whose one of the objectives is to let the process of creation continue. If we all were to successfully remember and doggedly act upon to attaining Moksh, this game show will not continue!
“Arth” refers to the resources for sustaining the body through the journey of life. We work to earn these resources. In that sense our occupation in itself can point towards Arth. Work each of us has to do, only the type of work may vary. Without fulfilling this either, we cannot attain Moksh.
“Kaam” is the desire that can manifest itself in various forms.
It can take form of the desire to seek “carnal pleasure”. In that way it can disregard the very purpose as to why, in the first place, it was given to the creatures. That was, to reproduce, to multiply, to keep the process of creation going. To some of us it becomes an obsession.
It can also take the form of desire to “acquire wealth”. In that way it can disregard the very purpose as to why, in the first place, it was given to the humans. That was, to acquire resources adequate to meet the requirements of living. Instead, accumulations for personal gratification, display, or abuse are the uses that we have taken fancy to.
It can also take the form of desire to “acquire power”. In that way it can disregard the very purpose as to why, in the first place, it was given to the humans. That was, to protect the subjects, maintain justice and well being of all. Instead, accumulations for personal gratification, display, or abuse are the uses, which we seem to have taken rather fancy to.
This power again, can be political or religious. That is, “seeking control over peoples’ mind”. Religions that have a mission to promote themselves as a product claiming that only their product works, could well be doing greater harm than good to mankind, as a whole.
Without fulfilling all our desires of any kind whatsoever, we cannot become the worthy candidate for attaining Moksh. For every desire that remains unfulfilled we must return to the Earth. We need to fulfil the desires through the life process on this Earth, disregard what life form we acquire. Or, we need to acquire the capability to end all our desires. Ending does not mean suppressing them. That we suppress today resurfaces tomorrow. Ending the desires is not easy. Desires are product of mind. Mind can be tamed for some duration, but not indefinitely. The only way is to turn the desires towards God. Thereby we retain the desires, but at the same time we give them a new shape and character.
“Moksh”, finally, is freeing the soul from the bondage of birth(s) and death(s) based on its individual Karm.
When the desire to return to this world ends, Moksh approaches. The desire to return ends with the end of desire to enjoy/ desire to participate in whatever we see around us cannot attain God howsoever we may try. There is no real conflict between different routes. If there is a conflict, it is between leaders’ ambition to amass greater following.
Different routes exist with purpose. All humans are not same. Their tastes are not same. Their attitudes are not same. Their appetite for spiritualism is not same. How can all follow the same path? Different paths are necessary to suit individual taste and appetite. Greater the appetite for attaining God, more profound the path is and deeper is its reach.
God has innumerable attributes. We humans perceive him in innumerable ways. God has created humans in innumerable characters. God has created this universe with numerous varieties. Perceptions of this creation are numerous. Innumerable variety is very basic to this creation. But, this all originates from the One and ultimately dissolves in that One. Reality thus is the One – the ultimate reality.
Four Generic Paths
There are few generic paths to attaining God. Gyaan Yog, that is, union with God through the path of knowledge. Karm Yog: that is, union with God through the path of action, while retaining all worldly ties, yet performing actions without attachment and desire for result. Sannyaas Yog: that is union with God through the path of renunciation of all worldly ties. Bhakti Yog: that is union with God through the path of love and devotion.
The last of them, Bhakti Yog is by far the easiest to adopt in human form[25]. The reason is we all remain in the jurisdiction of Maya as long as we live as humans on this earth. The grip of Maya is very tight. Its ways are mysterious. It can make us loose our way with such ease that we may not even realize as we slip away.
Through Gyaan Yog, we may acquire the knowledge of God and may come pretty close to attaining Him. However, from somewhere, quite unnoticed by us, the ego may step in. That little ego can be a mighty tool that may take us away from Him in one swing. Momentary weakness can take us down the ladder. Remember snake and ladder game we played in our childhood?
Through Karm Yog, we may perform our actions, while retaining worldly ties, yet performing them in a detached mode with no desire for result. Thus, we may reach very close to attaining Him after long arduous journey. However, from somewhere, quite unnoticed by us, the desire may creep in. That one moment’s weakness can slip us down the ladder.
Through Sannyaas, we may renounce all worldly ties and devote our self to God in entirety. We may reach near attaining Him. The attraction of worldly matters lurking all around us may from somewhere come to tempt us. We may temporarily loose all our penance in matter of moments. To regain and make up for that temporary loss can take us ages.
Through Bhakti Yog, when we offer our self to God with our love and devotion and total surrender to Him, He becomes the sailor of the ship. In such state when we ask Him to hold our hand and save us from the grip of Maya, He comes to our rescue.
Innumerable are the Faces of the Creator – if only we care to recognize them
Let us look at the National Geographic TV channel. Or, look at the Animal Planets TV channel, for a change. We notice the amazing variety in God’s creation! Yet so little of His creation that we know of. For a moment let us think of its enormity! Come to think of a familiar creature octopus. If He could give it 8 hands, can He not assume 4 hands for Himself? What is not possible for Him?
If He is pleased with our devotion and sincerity, He may choose to reveal Himself to us. And He can assume any form that He has already created or, is yet to create. If He wills, He can ‘reveal Himself’ in the form devotee loves Him most! Can we stop Him do so if we happen not to believe in it? Can we stop Him do so just because we ourselves happen to perceive Him without form? Or, just because we happen to believe that He does not exist!
He does not have to prove Himself to us. His creation, in itself, is the testimony. Do we want to see Him in form of light? He can let us do so if He is pleased with us. We may want to see Him, with form or, without form; with attributes or, without attributes, in any manner we may like, and He can reveal Himself in that manner if He is pleased with us. Key is that He should be pleased with us. Let us not forget He doesn’t get pleased easily. He tests our devotion, He tests our persistence, and He makes us wait and wait till eternity, yet He may choose to reveal Himself with much less.
If we think we will reach Him, the journey may be difficult. It is the sense of ‘Me’ within us, which is bent upon achieving it. There lies the crux of the problem. But if we seek His help and thereby, letting our ‘Me’ dissolve in Him, our journey may be easier. We can’t reach Him, if we wish to. He can come to us, if He Wills. Let His Grace descend on us; that is the way to attain Him.
The point is not whether He has form or no form. The point is that He can assume any form if He wishes. Whether He will assume any form or no form depends on His will. His will to reveal Himself or not, depends on how pleased He is with our devotion. He wishes to reveal Himself to all creatures through His creation disregard whether they want to feel His presence or not. Only to a few, who desire only for Him, He chooses to reveal Himself differently.
How will the devotee recognize Him if He chooses to reveal Himself? Devotee will recognize Him if He reveals Himself in the same form in which the devotee all along aspired to see Him. And this includes no form, similarly as numbers also include zero. We can seek His vision in any form (or no form) we may choose; but let us not think He has only that form (or no form) that our intellect permits us to believe. Let us remember that, our intellect has its limitations and, He is beyond intellect. He cannot be known through our intellect. He can be known through His Will, not our will.
Is God with Form or is He Formless?
Is God with ‘form’ or formless? Both! How can it be both? Why not? God who can create this universe can He not create a form for Himself? Of course, He can. Then, why he cannot be with form? God who can create vast empty spaces in this universe can He not create an empty space for Himself? Of course, He can. Then, why He cannot be formless?
If He is both then which one should I submit myself to? Either. Either? Whichever, appeals to us. With form or without form, the way we wish to perceive Him is same. How can it be same? Why not? The result is same. He knows. He knows that we have submitted our self to him, disregard how. How does he know? Why should that doubt surface? He who teaches all would He not know? He who gave us the eyes would He not see? He who formed the ears would He not hear? When He knows that it is Him we are worshipping disregard how we visualize him, would He not accept if our devotion were genuine? Why not? What else does He want from us? Nothing else He wants from us, except devotion, love. He who has given us everything what can we give him in return except our love and devotion?
Why do we perceive Him with form? For, it is easier to perceive Him with form than without form. Why? Well look at it this way. We love our children. Our children have a face. When we remember them, often their face floats in our memory. When we look at their photo album or video recordings we feel emotional towards them. Suppose these children were to be born to us without a body and without a face, just in form of air, blank empty space. How then exactly we would have perceived them? How would we have remembered them? How we would have looked at their photo albums or video recordings? How emotional would we have felt towards those children of blank empty spaces? For loving someone emotions are very important. It is equally important to have emotions towards God to be able to love Him well. Love without emotions is very difficult. Emotions without a face directed towards empty spaces, is equally difficult.
Does that mean emotions without a body and a face is impossible? Yes and no. Let us look at it this way. Children die when parents are alive. Yet they remain in our memory. The body may have gone. The photo album or video recording may have been lost. Yet the memory stays. Emotions remain. But then, let us not forget that once there was a body and face. That body, that face, its actions, its expressions, which may be no more living, yet memory remains of those. Had never been a body, a face, its actions, its expressions, but a child made of blank air from the very beginning then how would be its memory, can we visualize? For human emotions to cultivate it is necessary to have had a body and face at some point of time at least. For human love, emotions are necessary. Does that mean without emotions it is not possible to attain God? No, it is possible, but relatively much difficult[26].
Total submission to God is not impossible yet very difficult when we have no emotions towards Him. Without total submission God is not attained. It helps to have a body and face to tread on the path of love and devotion filled with human emotion directed towards God. That is where the value of “God with form” lies.
How close are we to God?
In our mind we have many compartments. In one compartment we have the thoughts of our spouse. In another compartment we have thoughts of our kids. In yet another compartment we have thoughts of our family problems and family finances. In another compartment we have thoughts of our work. In another compartment we have thoughts of problems relating to our work. Then we have thoughts of our boss, our colleagues, our salary raise, our importance in the organization, and so many things in so many compartments.
Then we have several other compartments in which we have thoughts of our friends, their families, our relatives, their families, our opponents and their motives, our enemies and their moves, and so on. Then we have other compartments for our ego, our joys, our sorrows, our love, our hatred, our pain, our pleasure, our bitterness, and God knows how many other compartments for how many other matters.
And then, finally, one small compartment for God too. But, curiously it is not always for God alone. Often with God, there are so many other things related to God. For example: sometimes aspirations that God might help us get a raise at work, or solve our difficulties with growing kids or God knows how many such things. So poor God is also not having one full compartment for himself!
Until we clean up all these compartments, make them empty, and, then ask God to come and reside in all of them, Him alone; till then we are not close enough to Him.
Attachment is the one fundamental difference between God and Humans
In human form (yoni) the soul is closest to God in comparison to all other forms (species). In human form the soul understands God most, in comparison to all others forms. In human form the soul tries to create on this earth what God has created in this universe. The human effort is only a miniature form of God’s designs. God is so much like humans, or humans are so much like God, with one fundamental difference. God is unattached to His creation, but humans are not.
This attachment is such a mighty thing that it makes all the difference. It turns humans to God, or to animal. Those who give it up successfully, turn to God. Those who accumulate more of it, turn to animal. When we acquire more of this attachment towards power or position or wealth or lust, new animals are born in human form.
Intellectual Blindness
Blindness is also a state of mind. Mind’s refusal to accept something, which is inconceivable by mind, is its blindness. It occurs when we believe that: ‘what my eyes cannot see; or, what my intellect cannot perceive; cannot be true’.
Seeking where?
We seek elsewhere, what is so near us. God is so near us. Yet, He is so far from us. We do not open the doors of our heart to Him. Blinded by limitations of our intellect, we keep refusing to see it.
Why cannot we ask God to show us ‘the way’ to Him?
God resides in our heart. Yet to seek God we go to Gurus, teachers, guides, discourses, and God knows how many places. Why do we need that? Why do we have to search the One who is within our self? Why cannot we ask Him to help us? Is this because asking Him would require total surrender to him? Is it our Ego that comes in the way? Why cannot we talk to Him who is within our self? Is it because, to do so, we have to tune in with Him? And that we find more difficult than listening to others tell us what to do?
Why cannot we dive deep within our self and try to search for the pearl that lies somewhere hidden within us but at a considerable depth? Why do we have to think of the ways and means to reach Him? Why cannot we feel Him within our self? Why cannot we love Him enough to be able to do so quite naturally?
Why can we not feel that our existence is diluted totally and got mixed in Him? Why cannot we feel Him and our self as one? Rather feel that we have lost our self in Him? Why do we have to be conscious of our own existence in front of Him? Why cannot our entire being feel as if it has lost itself in Him? The feeling of such merger can be so blissful. Is that how the river feels when she throws herself up in the bosom of ocean?
Oh God! Why cannot such feel be permanent? Why do we have to lose it and come back to the world around us? When will our journey end? When? When? When?
Religion has become a product for Marketing Untruth in the name of God[27]
We should beware of such people who tend to market their religion as if it were a product. Like marketing people who say that only our product works, we find religious leaders saying that only[28] their religion can get us the salvation, which happens to be the biggest Untruth ever told in the history of humanity! Such religious leaders are like traders of their respective religion.
Most of them are ignorant of the Truth, in any case, because their spiritual evolution is at a low level. They are only repeating to the masses, which have been repeated to them all the while, by their superiors in their religious hierarchy. Since they are ignorant of the truth, in any case, they cannot show the masses the correct path. A blind man can only lead another blind man into a ditch.
However, those very few who are at the top most level of such religious hierarchy are, at least, supposed to know the Truth, if they deserved reaching that level. If that is so, then why is it that knowingly they prefer to keep the masses ignorant of the Truth? Instead, why they prefer to mislead the masses by Untruth?
It happens to be the biggest Untruth, ever told to the humanity, that only one religion could offer salvation to the entire human race, none others can1! Those who are doing it must have an ulterior motive to grind. Do they have a missionary objective to propagate their religion and raise the number of their followers?
Their objective may not be ignoble in itself as for their desire to amass larger followings, but the mean to attain that end, which they have chosen in form of a lie in the name of God, is undeniably ignoble. Now if they are lying in name of God to fulfil their objective, while occupying such high level respected religious positions, can they be worthy of our following them?
Have they simply forgotten God? All they are remembering now is their prime objective as Management, of that religious organization that they are heading now, to the best of their advantage? That advantage is of what kind? The advantage is over other religions and their respective organizations. Is that not all materialistic, filled with worldly desires, to become the most prominent and control larger followings? Where is the place for God in these ambitions?
In human form (yoni) the soul is closest to God in comparison to all other forms (species). In human form the soul understands God most in comparison to all others forms.
In human form the soul tries to create on this earth what God has created in this universe. The human effort is only a miniature form of God’s designs.
God is so much like humans or humans are so much like God with one fundamental difference. God is unattached to his creation but humans are not.
This attachment is such a mighty thing that it makes all the difference. It turns humans to God or to animal.
Those who give it up successfully turn to God. Those who accumulate more of it turn to animal.
When we acquire more of this attachment towards power or position or wealth or lust, new animals are born in human form.
27 Sept 2001; Aug 2002
Vidhata is the invisible scriptwriter director of the drama that is played on the stage of this world
This world is a stage. We are actors, playing our roles, on this stage. Someone, whom we cannot see while we are performing on this stage, has written the ‘Script’.
When we go to the theatre, we see actors on the stage. However, actors themselves, while performing on the stage, do not see the scriptwriter. Actors only interact with each other.
Be it the drama written by a human scriptwriter or, be it a drama written by the Vidhata, the concept is same. We humans have borrowed the concept from the Vidhata, though we are not consciously aware of it.
However, there is a basic difference. The human scriptwriter director does not permit actors any deviation from the script, at least not at the will of the actor. Vidhata, on the other hand, gives us more of a free hand.
There is another difference. There is always someone from behind the stage to “Prompt” if the actor on the stage happens to forget his dialogue or loses track of his script. Vidhata, however, gives a free hand to us even on that count. He does not prompt us. We have the liberty to make amends as we wish.
So it happens that, many a time we actors get so involved with our roles that we somehow tend to lose track of the script originally written for us. Plenty of such occasions arise and we tend to perform spontaneously based on our impulse, which is momentary. These are those moments when we create our own “Karm” disregarding the script written by the Vidhata.
Such of our performances based on our momentary impulse, place some part of the original script, off track. What follows is very natural. Other actors on the stage, affected by such performances, see the need to ‘react’ in a manner they think fit at that given moment.
Thus, they too create their own ‘Karm’, simultaneously loosing track of the script originally written by Vidhata for them. This sets in motion a chain of actions and reactions.
Sometimes though, some of us are in a better command of our impulses and try to get back to the original script and try hard to stick to it.
Very often, many of us are so enthralled by our spontaneous acts that we tend to take pleasure in adding to our performance more of such acts. We proudly call this liberty as an expression of our free will.
In those moments of exuberance, we tend to take pride in our own creations, howsoever insignificant.
Vidhata, however, does not lose track of any of our Karm. He continuously keeps modifying His script for all those acts and re-acts.
Think of the phenomenal number of actors on this stage that this world is!
Think of all our impulsive Karm, born of our ‘Ego’; and with all their resulting modifications made in the script by Vidhata!
We see the Plot thicken and the Play keep getting expanded to such an extent that the role of these players get extended to a cycle of numerous live(s) that are recorded over a calendar that we happen to call ‘Time’[29].
In this ‘one specific’ role, we understand ‘Him’ as ‘Vidhata’, when the Creator of this Universe chooses to write the script and direct it, unseen by we players.
Some of us call the scripts written by Vidhata as Fate.
Some of us call our acts, born of our momentary impulses, as application of our Free Will.
Some of us call the chain reactions that are set in motion because of such acts as Karm.
Some of us call the modifications made to the original script by Vidhata as our Fate.
Therefore, as we see, Karm, fate, and free will; Karm that results from such free will, and fate created of such Karm; all these are so very inter-woven that we simply cannot look at them in isolation!
This happens to be only a glimpse[30] of the whole story. More may follow in due course of time, God willing!
Salutations to my Guru
The source of all my knowledge and understanding is my Guru, Shri Naaraayan, to whom I offer my salutations:
गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः।
गुरुस्साक्षात परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्री गुरवे नमः।।
A different perspective on GuruSsaakshaat Param Brahm
English transliteration
GururBrahma GururVishnuh GururDeo Maheshwarah,
GuruSsaakshaat[31] Param Brahm Tasmai Shri Gurave Namah.
17 Dec 2008. Here, I have followed the English Phonetic Tradition while representing Sanskrit terms in English alphabet. The reason is obvious – when I am using the language English as the vehicle to convey the pronunciation of Sanskrit terms, I need to maintain proper balance between the phonetic traditions of both languages without causing distortion in either of them as far as possible.
We know of English Phonetic Tradition that makes people pronounce English words with a long-a emphasis as in arm for tailing-a. In other words, when readers see the alphabet-a appearing at the end of any English word (I call it tailing-a) they tend to pronounce it with long-a emphasis as in arm. In other situations, readers tend to pronounce the alphabet-a like short-a as in rural. Keeping this phonetic tradition in mind I have used the spelling Brahma in expectation that readers will tend to pronounce the first-a in Brahma as short-a and the last-a in Brahma as long-a.
One may, however, argue that both-a in Bata are pronounced with long-a emphasis. But then I can hardly help it. For, English as a language has no scientifically phonetic base. It is full of exceptions. For instance, But and Put are written the same way but pronounced differently. Conversely, Centre (tre) and Center (ter) are written differently but pronounced the same way. One can go on and on, the list could be endless. In comparison to this, Sanskrit has scientifically solid phonetic base. Sanskrit terms are pronounced exactly the same way as they are written. But then, with prolonged undesirable influence of English education our people have learned to bring down the phonetic integrity of Sanskrit to the poor level of English phonetics. Thus, they have turned योग into योगा (Yoga). Here again we can go on citing examples and the list can be endless.
Like every language, Sanskrit too has exceptions but then the beauty of Sanskrit is that it has laid down principles that govern the exceptions too. In other words, exceptions do not crop up everywhere as orphans. There are laws that govern grammatical exceptions in Sanskrit.
English translation
The Guru is none other than the creator, Lord Brahma; he verily is Lord Vishnu, the preserver, and he truly is Maheshwar, the destroyer. He is the supreme Brahman himself. To such a Guru I offer my salutations.
Translator
English translation of Sanskrit Shlok (verse) has been reproduced from Chants of India. Dr Nandakumara of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London (England) has done the translation.
None other than
17-18 Dec 2008 & 3 Jan 2009. This clarification has become necessary because vast majority of the Hindus tend to understand this Shlok very differently. They tend to believe that it has one and only one meaning, that is, Human Guru is Brahma, Guru is Vishnu, Guru is Maheshwar, and Guru is Param Brahm…
This line of thinking has been accentuated by Kabir's famous Doha (verse) which conveys that (Human) guru and Govind (Ishwar/God) are both standing in front of him and he is perplexed as to whom he should salute first (touch the feet). Here Govind comes to his rescue and tells him to touch (human) guru's feet first because it is the guru who showed Kabir the path to reach Govind.
So, you have one (human) guru, he has another, she has yet another. Thus, there are numerous (human) gurus. All of them are superior to Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh.
Well, this thought process suits well all (Human) gurus. They assume greater importance than Ishwar. This thought process has gained considerable momentum after advent of Islam and Christianity. Both of these (Political) religions place great emphasis on similar thought process (only by substituting the actors). In Islam and Christianity, Allah and God are unidentifiable much like a vacuum. And humans cannot relate themselves to vacuum. This is how Mohammed/Jesus assumes greater significance than Allah/God in Islam/Christianity. Skeptics and curious, both, are requested to refer to Seed 4 for deeper analysis.
Hindus have lived in close association with Muslims/Christians for centuries. Their outlook has been significantly influenced (corrupted) by these two (Political) religions Islam and Christianity. Many so-called reformers have mushroomed during past few centuries. Most of them have made a good harvest. They have created their own so-called religions and raised an impressive number of followers. They dared not cannibalise Islam/Christianity and therefore, they relied mostly on Hinduism for supply of followers. It had been a number game much the same way Christianity/Islam plays their roles in cannibalising Hinduism and mustering larger number of followers into their respective faiths. Late Dayaanand Saraswati happens to be one such illustrious name who formed Arya Samaj. Again, skeptics and curious, both, are requested to refer to (forthcoming) works for deeper analysis. This is not the place to elaborate on those issues. Those who feel offended by these comments are welcome to stop reading here itself. For, they will not find me toeing the beaten track as they proceed through this work or any of my other works.
Dr. Nandakumara's translation, however, conveys us a different story. According to this, Guru is none other than Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh. I hope you are able to see the difference clearly.
There is, however, yet another school of thought. They prefer the mid-way not committing to either. They argue the conflict arises on account of duality and non-duality. They might want to tell you that subscribers of द्वैत (Dual) Dwait philosophy want to believe in dual system (human guru and Ishwar Guru) whereas subscribers to अद्वैत (non-Dual) Advait philosophy want to believe in single system (only Ishwar Guru). Those taking pride in their accumulated spiritual knowledge may want to go on debating such matters of theory without any true and direct experience of Ishwar. Such people are good for teaching philosophy to others. I call this borrowed knowledge, borrowed from books or from (human) gurus. From them others borrow the same borrowed knowledge. The process goes on and an impressive band of followers are raised. Everyone is happy, the borrower and the lender, both which happens to be an achievement in itself and that makes it so very popular.
Not so popular approach would be to subscribe to a thought process that does not benefit the vast majority and yet, it could be The Truth. To attain this Truth one needs to rise above borrowed knowledge and experience the Truth in its very bare form. And that Truth is: The Guru is none other than the Creator, Preserver and the Annihilator of this Universe. Lest you harbour some wrong notion, I need to clarify that Guru-Shishya Parampara (tradition) has done immense good to Hindu society. I am certainly not against this Parampara as there is simply no better alternative to it. What I am against is the tendency among lesser enlightened Gurus attempting to sell themselves as superior to the Guru of Gurus – the Ishwar.
Let us try to understand this differently. Someone in the Primary school needs a primary teacher. Another attending Secondary school needs a secondary grade teacher. Then you have those attending High School, those preparing for Bachelor's Degree, those aspiring to attain Master's Degree, and then few hopeful of Doctorate. Now, each of these need different type of teachers, a High School teacher, a University lecturer or professor, a guide for Ph.D., and so on. Similarly, one aspiring for Spiritual Knowledge and experience needs a (human) guru of different levels of attainment. In this parlance, a teacher who imparts formal education and a guru who helps gain spiritual knowledge and experience can be perceived as equivalent of each other in their respective fields of expertise. Thus, one needs at different levels of spiritual attainment different human gurus. But then, as the aspirant reaches the peak he needs (non-human) (True) Guru (Ishwar) to open the last door and show the path to attain Ishwar. But you cannot truly appreciate what I am saying here unless you attain that level.
God realized Souls
“Human guru is God may be proper in case the guru is God realized soul”. No, a god realized soul is a god realized soul but not God; for, he is still within the ambit of Maya माया and is susceptible to errors, common to humans.
Destroyer
Destroyer or Annihilator may confuse some and, therefore, it warrants explanation. Let us perceive ब्रह्म (Brahm) as The Supreme Spirit – the same ब्रह्म (Brahm) in the role of The Creator as ब्रह्मा (Brahma) – the same ब्रह्म (Brahm/Brahman) in the role of The Preserver as Vishnu – the same ब्रह्म (Brahm) in the role of The Annihilator as Maheshwar. Now, the question is why annihilator, or what good does He do? Well, you need to perceive Him as the One who triggers the dissolution process to pave the way for another Creation. Think of it this way – what do you do when a building becomes too risky to live in? Don't you pull it down to build a new one in its place? Use the same analogy here and you will understand.
It’s only a limited expression
This happens to be only a limited expression of the Unlimited. I submit my works at His feet. I perceive Him as Shri Naaraayan who, by turns, assumes the roles of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh during different phases of His Creation. No parity can be drawn between this concept and the Christian doctrine of Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Ghost) though some well known Gurus have attempted to do so as it has served them well.
Thoughts
24 December 2007. Thoughts are those, which surfaced on my mental plane on the spur of a moment. I made a habit[32] of scribbling them down on just any piece of paper that I might lay my hands on at that given point of time. They were meaningful to me because they were part of my existence. But then, those very thoughts would have made sense to others only if they were presented in a logical, well organized, easy to understand, and clear manner. This called for rewriting them differently at a later date.
Neither the thoughts occurred in any definite sequence, nor were the later day write-ups done in any particular sequence. Therefore, it is natural that those write-ups may occasionally present some gap. However, from my side, I have tried to bridge those gaps by placing those topics in a sequence that I thought could make it more meaningful. This task was carried out over five years ago.
I have deliberately chosen not to review these writings again[33] because I have come a long way from there, and now, I am not at all in a frame of mind to rework at them. In those days, these writings were shared with many people on the Internet after which I visited Europe. With my return from Europe things changed. Since then, for past five years, I have immersed myself in a different kind of writing altogether. What brought about this change has been discussed in different works, each work referring to some aspect depending on its relevance to that particular work.
Free Will
2001 Dec 11, Tue 12:40 PM, Yogeeta
We are born as humans, not animals, nor insects. Many animals live in peace and harmony. Others are bloodthirsty. So are insects. So are humans. What then separates us from animals, insects? Why the Creator1 of the Universe has endowed us humans with greater abilities with regard to our mental faculties, emotional exposures, gift of wisdom, and above all the choice of free will? Where does ‘He’ expect us to employ this ‘Free Will’ most? Do we search for the answer to that question? Or, do we rather spend all our life remaining preoccupied with the thought of augmenting our power, wealth and prestige? Freedom finally
2000 Apr 30, Mon. 3:25 PM, Shiv Palm Beach
We all seek freedom in almost every sphere of activity in life. But who (and how often) seeks freedom from the life itself, that is, this cycle of birth(s) and death(s)?
Desires are Shackles
2001 Nov 10, Sat 6:15 PM, TTC Subway, Toronto
It is our desires that have shackled us and brought us into this world that we experience around us. It is our desires that have made us live the life we have been living. If only desire(s) end, the cycle of birth(s) and death(s) end.
Shackles at what Cost
2001 Dec 12, Thus 00:17 AM, Yogeeta
Can the desires end? Can the force of water stop? Temporarily yes, permanently no! Can the flow of water be turned to a new direction? Can the flow be led to the ocean where it would lose its independent existence? Can our desires be directed towards God? Can our ego, the sense of being ‘Me’, be surrendered to ‘Him’ whereby it loses its independent identity? Can then cease the desire to experience the world around us? Our desires have shackled us, brought us into this world, and made us live the life we have been living. When our desire(s) end the cycle of birth(s) and death(s) ends
Satisfaction
2001 Nov 30, Fri 6:55 AM, National Park
We must listen to our heart. Heart speaks to us differently at different stages of our life. If our heart says ‘I want more’; give it more. Until one day, it will say ‘I do not want any more’; stop there. Satisfaction... nothing more valuable we will ever find. Except one – God
Robot
2001 Nov 1, Saturday 10 PM, 25 Mabelle Ave., Toronto
Man makes robot, in his own image and makes it move around. There is something inside the robot on which man has its control and, in that manner, man’s existence is reflected in the robot. God creates man, in his own image and makes him move about. There is something inside the man on whom God has control and in that manner, God’s presence is in the man. Man gives robot some intelligence and robot functions partially with its own choice. God gives man some intelligence, man calls it free will and, functions partially of his own choice, thereby generating own Karm. Striking analogy is seen in verse 61 chapter 18 of BhagavadGita. Shri Krishn says2 to Arjun: Lord resides in the hearts of all beings ... through His Maya, makes their body-like machine move about according to their Karm (past deeds)
Vidhata
2001 Sept 27, Thursday 1 AM, Hind Colony
The concept of Vidhata is very different from the concept of God. The image of Vidhata in a Hindu’s mind is quite different from the image of God in a Christian’s mind. Let me try to describe how I, personally, think of Vidhata. To me, this world is a stage. I am an actor, playing my role, on this stage. Someone whom I cannot see while I am performing on this stage has written the ‘Script’. Sometimes I get so involved with my role that I lose track of the script and I perform spontaneously on impulse. These are those moments when I create my own Karm ignoring the script written by the Vidhata. Such pieces of my performance on impulse put some part of the script off the track. Result - other actors on the stage, being affected by my spontaneous act, see the need to react in a manner they think fit at that given moment. Thus they too create their own ‘Karm’, simultaneously loosing track of the script originally written by the Vidhata. This sets in motion a chain of reactions. Sometimes though, some of us are in a better command of our impulses and try to get back to the original script and also, try hard to stick to it. But only too often many of us are so enthralled by our spontaneous acts that we tend to take pleasure in adding to our performance more of such acts (we hear the talk of free will). In those moments of exuberance we tend to take pride in our own creations, howsoever insignificant. Vidhata, however, does not lose track of any of our Karm. He continuously keeps modifying His script for all those acts and re-acts. Think of the phenomenal number of actors on this stage that this world is! Think of all our impulsive Karm(s) (born of our ‘Ego’); and with all their resulting modifications made in the script by Vidhata. We see the Plot thicken and the Play keep getting expanded to such an extent that the role of these players get extended to a cycle of several live(s) that are recorded over a calendar that we happen to call ‘TIME’. In this ‘one’ specific role, I understand ‘Him’ as the ‘Vidhata’, when the Creator of this Universe chooses to write the script and direct it, unseen by we players.
2001 Oct 20, Sat 12:35 PM, Yogeeta
The script written by Vidhata - some people call it Fate. Spontaneous acts of actors on the stage of this world - some people call it application of Free Will. Chain reactions that are set in motion as a result of such acts - some people call it Karm. Modifications made to the original script by the Vidhata - some people call it Fate. So Karm, fate, free will, Karm that results from such free will, and fate that is again created of such Karm - all these are so inter-woven that we cannot look at them in isolation!
Bondage of Karm
2001 Dec 19, Wed 00:55 AM, Yogeeta
Must we break away from the chain of Karm? If not, we must keep returning to this world, again and again. There is pain and there is pleasure, in this world. Pain is not only physical, but mental too. It’s on the rise, as life continues to grow complex. The continual process of Karm is of our own doing. Deeds, good or bad, generate Karm. The fruit of Karm must take shape. So we develop good Karm and bad Karm. To experience the fruit of our Karm, we must return to this world, again. Even if we return for lots of good deeds of the past live(s), we must return. And this return brings us opportunities as well as exposures to add more good or bad Karm. The process goes on. Shackles - so we place around us. Should we? Or, should we break away from these shackles? Choice is ours. We like to boast of our free will. Do we employ it for adding more of chains around us or, to release ourselves of that bondage? God has given us the options. What do we do with it?
Attachments are Shackles
2001 Dec 19, Wed 2 AM, Yogeeta
Love is not necessarily attachment. And attachment is not necessarily love. Love inspires us to give. Attachment compels us to possess. Love releases us, attachment binds us. Love is pure, it seeks nothing. Attachment is selfish, it demands everything. When love (devotion) is for God, it is Bliss. There is no sense of loss; there is no pain. Attachment is for money, power, position, prestige, man/woman, kids, pets, our belongings, and the life itself. Biggest attachment is towards life. We don’t want to part with it. Knowing well it has old age, it has sickness, it has pleasure and pain, it has miseries, it has good and bad times, it has so much that we want and it has so much that we despise. Yet we want it all. What an attraction it is - the life! We are willing to trade it for the Bliss, where there is no pain, in the realm of God. But we are busy. We do not want to try for it. We believe in our ability to achieve what we want - but not this one ... God. It is not only going to Sunday church or daily temple. God does not come to us until we love Him to the exclusion of everything else. And that’s a tall order. We aren’t ready to pay that big a price. The irony lies here.
Intellectual Blindness
2001 Dec 12, Wednesday morning, Yogeeta
Blindness is also a state of mind. This happens when we believe: what my eyes cannot see; or, what my intellect cannot perceive; cannot be true.
Seeking where?
2001 Dec 12, Wednesday morning, Yogeeta
We seek elsewhere, what is so near us. Blinded by limitations of our intellect we keep refusing to see it.
Journey to Him
2000 July 26, Wed 9:40 PM, Yogeeta
In today’s environment, pleasure and pain both are escalated substantially as compared to the times when life was much simpler. Journey to ‘him’ through these hurdles - is it possible? YES. And, is there a solution? Yes, and it is very simple to listen to. But it is extremely difficult to truly understand it and learn to live by it! These sound like paradoxes? Well, make no mistakes. It would all sound very simple. So simple that you would think ‘you know what it means’. And then you will conclude ‘it simply cannot work; because if it did, everyone would reach Him’. And, you give up. Let us take a familiar example: Faith can move mountains. You may have heard it. You may hear it again. But you will never try it. You would conclude in your mind ‘sounds good, but not for me’. So what is that simple solution that will work but you will not try it? For it requires undaunted Faith. Faith is the key. As a small child has it towards his father. For journey to Him, simply ask Him: ‘Please hold my hand and lead me - like a father holds the child and leads him!’
World is Playskool
2001 Dec 28, Fri 00:05 AM, Yogeeta
This world is like a Playskool. The Creator has provided us with many objects of play. We are busy playing with those toys. Then the time comes when one of the kids is bored with toys and starts crying for mom. There comes the mom running, leaving all her other work. Similarly, when we cry for Him, then only He comes to us, but only if the cry is genuine. When we cry for more toys, He gives us more toys.
Karmic Wheel
The flash: 2000 April, one evening while in meditation, 402-725 Don Mills, Toronto – Penned: 2001 Dec 28, Fri 2:35 PM, Yogeeta
The Creator created this Universe. He also created tools that regulate the events in His creation. Stars and heavenly bodies are part of the mechanism that monitors universal Karmic wheel. ‘Time’ is the calendar, with no known limits to the mankind, in which the Karmic effects are recorded and set in motion. Think of a huge machine; one pulley is set in motion and that in turn, sets the next and so, the process goes on!
Goal of Human Birth
2002 Jan 7 Mon. 5:15 PM, Yogeeta
The Creator has given His subjects this life to experience Dharm, Arth, Kaam, and Moksh through Karm. Dharm is individual - doing what one is born to do. But we ourselves seldom know what it actually is, with regard to this present life! It is possible to know, only at the right time, through the knowledge that leads to light! What we are born to do in this life is largely based on what we have done so far in our previous lives. To experience their fruits, may be sweet or sour. Also to take a step forward towards the final goal of human birth, that is, Moksh. Some perceive Dharm as religion. 5000-6000 years ago (MahaaBhaarat) and even before (Raamaayan) when this Sanskrit term was used, there was no Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and score of other religions around to confuse people and to warrant its use in that sense. If there was any religion at all, it was to attain God, the Creator disregard what name one called Him by. Some others perceive Dharm as duty, which is a concept limited to individual interpretation at a given point of time, because with passage of time, the same individual finds him changing his earlier interpretation. Besides, in a given situation at the same point of time, what one may consider his duty, the other may not. Duty is somehow connected with the notion of right and wrong conduct, which itself is not only subjective, but also happens to change for same individual with time. What we perceive as right conduct in our adolescence may not appear to ourselves as right conduct when we achieve maturity in life. Being capable of conflicting views, it could not be, generally, one of the goals of human life. Arth is resources for sustaining the body through this life. We work to earn these resources. Kaam is the desire that can manifest itself in various forms. It can take form of the desire to seek carnal pleasure. In that way it can disregard the very purpose as to why, in the first place, it was given to the creatures: To reproduce, to multiply, and to keep the process of creation going. To some of us it becomes an obsession. It can also take the form of desire to acquire wealth. In that way it can disregard the very purpose as to why, in the first place, it was given to the humans: To acquire resources adequate to meet the requirements of living. Instead, accumulation for personal gratification, display or abuse is the uses that we have taken fancy to. It can also take the form of desire to acquire power. In that way it can disregard the very purpose as to why, in the first place, it was given to the humans. To protect the subjects, maintain justice and well being of all. Instead, accumulation for personal gratification, display or abuse is the uses, which we seem to have taken rather fancy to. This power again, can be political or religious: Seeking control over peoples’ mind – religions that have a mission to promote ‘themselves as a product’ claiming that only their product works could well be doing greater harm than any good to the mankind as a whole. Moksh, finally, is freeing the soul from the bondage of birth(s) and death(s) based on its individual Karm. When the desire to return to this world ends, Moksh approaches. The desire to return ends with the end of desire to enjoy/ desire to participate in whatever we see around us in this world. Participation can be for good causes, like benefiting the mankind! For that too, the soul has to return, until that desire ends. The desire to return ends with the end of attachment towards the life in this world and to whatever else or whoever else we interact with in this world. Even if we have the attachment towards life only to do well to others, we have to return. Attachment with all, deeds or creatures must cease. With this, finally, the soul, when advanced adequately through the process of its evolution, merges into the Supreme and becomes ‘One’ with Him.
Face of the Creator
2002 Jan 8 Tue 4:50 AM, 20 Yogeeta
Look at the National Geographic TV channel. Look at the Animal Planets TV channel and the like. The variety in His creation is simply amazing! Yet so little of His creation that we know of. For a moment think of the enormity! Come to think of a familiar creature octopus. If He could give it 8 hands, can He not assume 4 hands for Himself? What is not possible for Him? If He is pleased with your devotion and sincerity, He may choose to reveal Himself to you. And He can assume any form that He has already created or, is yet to create. If He wills, He can ‘reveal Himself’ in the form devotee loves Him most! Can we stop Him do so if we happen to not believe in it? Can we stop Him do so just because we ourselves happen to perceive Him without form? Or, just because we happen to believe that He does not exist! He does not have to prove Himself to you. His creation, in itself, is the testimony. You want to see Him in form of light? He can do so if He is pleased with you. You may want to see Him, with form, without form, with attributes, without attributes, in any manner you may like, and He can reveal Himself in that manner if He is pleased with you. Key is that He is pleased with you. Mind you, He doesn’t get pleased easily. He tests your devotion, He tests your persistence, and He makes you wait and wait till eternity, yet He may choose to reveal Himself with much less. If you think you will reach Him, the journey may be difficult because, it is you who is bent upon achieving it. But if you seek His help, letting your ‘Me’ dissolve in Him, your journey may be easier. We can’t reach Him, if we wish to. He can come to us, if He Wills. Let His Grace descend on you; that is the way to attain Him.
2002 Jan 8 Tue 3:05 PM Yogeeta
The point is not whether He has form or no form. The point is that He can assume any form if He wishes. Whether He will assume any form or ‘No Form’ depends on His will. His will to reveal Himself or not, depends on how pleased He is with your devotion. He wishes to reveal Himself to all creatures through His creation disregard whether they want to feel His presence or not. Only to a few, who desire only for him, He chooses to reveal Himself differently. How will the devotee recognize Him if He chooses to reveal Himself? Devotee will recognize Him if He reveals Himself in the same form (which includes no form, as numbers include zero) in which the devotee all along aspired to see Him. You can seek His vision in any form (or no form) you may choose; but do not think He has only that form (or no form) that your intellect permits you to believe. Remember that, your intellect has its limitations and, He is beyond intellect. He cannot be known through intellect. He can be known through His Will, not your will.
The Spread of Karmic effects
2002 Jan 7 Mon. 3:40 PM Yogeeta
Good that we do not have the memory of our past live(s). If we did, our past would have haunted our present life. Our present is based on our past and our future will be based on our present. Generally, this sequence is spread over many life times. Meaning, the result of past actions is experienced over many life times. This helps reduce the impact of the past actions by spreading them over many life times. At the same time it offers an opportunity to correct ones actions, through many opportunities that are presented throughout many life times, to help mitigate the impact of past actions. But quite often, we do the contrary. Not realizing the opportunity so presented; we tend to add more to this spiralling sequence of Karm, primarily inspired by our own ego. For souls nearing their dissolution into the Supreme, such effects of their unfruitified deeds of previous lives as well as those of present life tend to bear fruits in the present life itself, thereby accentuating the impact in its severity. At the same time these souls are given the true understanding of how they ought to dissolve their remaining Karm and not add more to it. This happens only with the Grace of God, functioning beyond the capacities of intellect.
Everything Has a Purpose
2002 Jan 5, Sat. 2:20 AM, Yogeeta
Everything in this world has a purpose. Only we do not always understand it at the time events take place. If it is the Will of the Creator that let there be variety in His creation, so let it be! If it is the Will of the Creator that let there be inter-dependence amongst all the happenings through the entire process of evolution, who can negate it? If it is the Will of the Creator that let the soul pass through the experience of life in various species before attaining the human form, so it be! If it is the Will of the Creator that let the soul experience the life in its various shades like joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, love and hatred, riches and poverty, happiness and misery, destruction and preservation, butchery and protection, and so on and so forth, so it be! Who are we to judge the Will of the Creator? We can’t even begin to comprehend the enormity of His creation, how would we understand the purpose behind it? Whatever is happening around us is certainly not against His Laws of creation. If He can create this universe, He can sure stop anything that happens against His Will. Our intellect has its limitations. Why get into the debate as to why this is happening and that is not? Let common people perform their duties, as they perceive them. A lot of it is happening around that is predetermined in any case, much of which is based on the past deeds of these souls. Who are we to interfere with the Laws of Nature? Our goal would be to work towards attaining Moksh. Because, no other form of birth (except human) equips us with the abilities to work towards it. If we do not use this opportunity to our advantage we would not get out of the cycle of birth(s) and death(s).
[1] I have explained the concept of “Parrot humanoids” in some other work in fair detail.
[2] 'a' at the tail of a word, 'a' at the end of a Sanskrit term while presenting it in English alphabet
[3] Kakababu, in Bengali, means uncle – he was my father’s friend.
[4] Those who have seen legendary Ashok Kumar and Madhubala’s ‘Mahal’ would remember Naini
[5] He then gets to work on other worlds. Modern science has finally started recognizing that this Universe is continually, and has been continually, growing and expanding. Ancient sages, however, had recognized this long ago and had documented it. For, they were more in tune with the Mother Nature and their higher self.
[6] Reference to BhagavadGita Adhyaay-14
[7] This happens to be only a glimpse of the story. God willing, some day we may proceed further on this discussion.
[8] Reference to BhagavadGita Chapter 08 Shlok 17
[9] After death, all earthly relationships are lost unless two specific souls desire strongly to unite once again. In that case, those two souls will meet again in some future incarnation to fulfil the desire. Desires are “Agam Karm” - to experience the result of which a soul must take birth again.
[10] Maya माया creates a barrier between God and us. God remains a mystery to man. Man remains so much involved in the environment of this world that he forgets as to who he is; where he comes from, where he is supposed to go.
[11] The cuckoo’s nest is the crazy world.
[12] We cannot set things right for our own selves, but we want to set things right for everyone else. We want to bring justice to those who, in our limited perception, do not have it. We want to feel for our self that we are doing something good to others. We want others to feel that we are doing ‘good’ for the rest of the world!
[13] Reference to BhagavadGita Adhyaay 4 Shlok 18 and 20
[14] Reference to BhagavadGita Adhyaay 4 Shlok 18 and 20
[15] In absence of an appropriate word I have used “unfruitified” by which I mean “deeds for which fruits haven’t yet been received” (un-fruit-ified)
[16] Maya is the mechanism through which this Creation comes into existence and, retains its independent identity, not requiring God’s involvement in the day-to-day functioning of this world.
[17] We tend to mistakenly believe that good money can buy us freedom, and to earn that we immerse ourselves into our work. With that grows our latent ambitions, our inherent desire for growth and success, and the joy that comes with recognition, prestige, and power, and the illusory satisfaction that comes out of good life that money can buy. We do not wish to recognize the void in our life that is supposedly filled by preoccupation with our work.
[18] It could be quite easy to present a distorted interpretation of this when people do not understand its true import, which cannot be understood by reading the few lines written here, as it would require an essay by itself.
[19] Hindu View of Christianity and Islam, Ram Swarup ISBN 81-85990-66-2 [2000]
[20] A (pronounced as U in But) and Gya (pronounced with a nasal tone). When added they make Agya (both A in Agya are pronounced as U in But).
[21] Maya is the mechanism through which this Creation comes into existence and, retains its independent identity, not requiring God’s involvement in the day-to-day functioning of this world (b) Maya is the veil that keeps God out of the sight of His subjects (c) Maya is the environment that makes us forget our origin and become part of the environment in which we live.
[22] Dharm can also be described as “What we are born to do in this life”. To explain this satisfactorily, we would require yet another essay on it.
[23] Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha are the familiar anglicized spellings of Sanskrit terms Dharm, Arth, Moksh, and Kaam; where the underlined A is incorrectly pronounced as ‘A’ in Bata, while it ought to be pronounced as U in But.
[24] Moksh is liberation, final emancipation, freedom from life and death cycle.
[25] Refer to Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 12 Shlok 2 to 5
[26] Refer to Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 12 Shlok 5
[27] Beware of such people who market their religion as a product. Those who say only our product works; only our religion can get you salvation. Such traders of religion are either ignorant of the Truth or, lying despite knowing it. If ignorant, they cannot show you correct path. If lying, they are not worthy of your following 2002 Jan 5, Sat 3:20 AM, Yogeeta
[28] I want to read a statement from “The Coming of the Third Millennium” which was issued by the Pope very recently in relation to the situation in Asia: “The Asia Synod will deal with the challenge for evangelization posed by the encounter with ancient religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism. While expressing esteem for the elements of truth in these religions, the Church must make it clear that Christ is the one mediator between God and man and the sole Redeemer of humanity”. ISBN 8185990603
[29] Time - The calendar that the mankind has been able to design for its own use knows of few thousands of years only. The calendar that the Creator of this Universe has designed for monitoring the events of this Cosmos has no known beginning to the mankind, nor do the humans know where it will end.
[30] Glimpse - No ‘one’ thought process reflects at the whole story – it only represents one aspect of it. We need to learn and then connect various aspects together to finally get the whole picture.
[31] To be pronounced with soft tone as in Taiwan, Taliban, Taj Mahal, Tantr, Taoism, etc may be appropriate for the next edition of this book. Incidentally, how is Telugu, Tamil, Tamil Nadu are pronounced - soft tone?
[32] My ex-colleague turned friend Ashok Bhaseen persuaded me to develop this habit
[33] I did not want to modify them
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