Bharatham : Uthishtatha-Jagratha : (wef-05/11/2012. )

 5. Discrimination : 2. There are in the world innumerable instances of conflicts of duties, all of which can be solved only by the exercise of one’s own intellect. It might be that one’s intellect is not always as high as it ought to be. But that does not matter. It is only the genuine effort that a man makes to arrive at a correct decision that counts. He is saved from the liability of sin if his conscience is clear, and if he has made a genuine effort. God knows full well that the intellect of the highest of human beings is limited. If God is to accept only the correct solution, nobody in the world will be able to offer it. God knows it, and, therefore, God will approve of every solution coming from any individual, provided there has been a genuine, sincere effort made by him, without any selfish motive, for the purpose of being helpful to another. Thus, ultimately, it is the conscience that decides in each case the duty that one has to perform. Next : 6. C...

 5. Discrimination : 1. Again there is another kind of difficulty regarding duty. We are often in a condition in which different duties come into conflict. This refers obviously to our duty to the world. It was such a conflict that Arjuna had, and he had to get his instructions from Krishna. These instructions constitute the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. The conflict really arises because one sometimes is unable to find out which duty is to be emphasised more than the other. For instance, to take an ordinary example, we speak of Ahimsa or non-injury. Suppose a tiger is attacking a man. Is it the duty of an onlooker to kill the tiger, or to let the tiger attack the man? The principle of Ahimsa might be interpreted to mean Ahimsa or non-injury to the tiger as well. In that case the man would die. If he kills the tiger and saves the man, he will be saving one soul at the expense of another. Can he be sure that the soul of a man is superior to the sou...

4. Obligations For instance, when a person was a babe, he was brought up by his parents. In his helplessness of an infant if he had been neglected by the mother, or by other persons, he would certainly not be alive to grow. This obligation which he has already received is a debt which has to be discharged. In other words, there is no human being who has not been obliged to his neighbours for something or another. Beyond the help received from the neighbours, or human beings, there is the help received from nature itself. Seasonal rains are responsible for the growth of food grains. In our scriptures they speak about the Devas, or the gods, that are responsible for the benefits conferred upon man in the form of rains, etc. Therefore, it is said in the Bhagavad Gita that if one does not discharge one’s duties to the Devas but lives only for himself, he is like a thief, because he gets something for which he does not pay anything at all. Next : 5. Discrimination ...

3. Aspects of Duty Likewise, when we examine what we should do, or should not do, to the people around us, we cannot think of the different indwellers in the different bodies because we cannot have a conception of them. One can only think of one’s neighbours’ bodies and neighbours’ minds. As long as a person refrains from causing any injury to another person’s body, and as long as he refrains also from causing trouble to another’s mind, he may be said to have performed a part of his duty. This is a negative aspect of one’s duty to one’s neighbours, but there is also the positive aspect. One should do as much as one can to promote real happiness in one’s neighbours. Giving solace to the afflicted and serving the sick, etc., constitute some of the positive aspects of one’s duty. Now it may be asked why one should help another. The answer is that one has already received help from many others from childhood and that at least for the purpose of returning the obligation...

2. Basic Principles We may, therefore, say that duty varies from time to time according to the stage of development reached by society. Yet, underlying all these different forms of duty observable in different periods of time, there are certain fundamental principles which do not get changed. For instance, the idea that one should love another as oneself is a duty which underlies all other forms of duty. In short, we can say that there are one’s duty to the community and one’s duty to oneself. What should one do to make oneself happy and what should one do to see that he does not create unhappiness to his neighbours? That is the essence of real duty. When one thinks of oneself, one has to ask the question of what one is. One is not the body, or the mind, or the dweller in the body only. One is all these as long as one is in the world and alive. Therefore, one has a duty to one’s body, a duty to one’s mind, and a duty to the indweller. Sri Swami Sadananda T...

1. Introduction : It is very difficult to explain what duty means. There are different notions about duty, not only in different countries, but also in the same country, among different grades of society. We may say that duty comes up only when society has been formed. In a state of nature, where society is not organised, the idea of duty does not arise because, as in the animal world, there will be the attempt on the part of the strong to subdue the weak. If you ask a tiger what its duty is, it might say that its duty is to kill all that can be killed and eaten. Therefore, it is only after human society has been organised that the idea of duty arises. It dawns upon the human mind because of the necessity to preserve oneself against one’s enemies. There is a danger of the strong attacking the weak, and, therefore, civilized man requires that some control should be exercised by the strong over themselves lest they should do harm to the weak. Sri Swami Sadananda T...

The scriptures say that the last Avatara, out of the ten important ones, is the Kalki Avatara, which is meant for removing the ignorance in humanity.  So long as one is in sleep, one is not aware of the waking consciousness. As one has to awaken into the waking consciousness so as to be freed from the sleep, even so humanity has to be awakened from its slumber of ignorance to the waking consciousness of Divinity, which is the purpose of the Kalki Avatara. As said by the Lord in the Bhagavad Gita, "Sambhavami Yuge Yuge", at every juncture He incarnates Himself to teach mankind the correct path to evolve into Divinity. The ten Avataras teach to negate the animal in man and to transcend the human into the divine by leading the Divine Life of selfless service, universal love, purity, truthfulness, sincerity and adaptability. May His blessings be upon you all and may we all realise the goal of life in this very birth. END Sri Swami Chidananda To be cont...

In the Rama Avatara, Sri Rama killed many Asuras under the instructions of his Guru Vismamitra, and by his Grace Sri Rama followed Sattvic virtues like truthfulness, love, compassion and purity. Similarly, we should serve our Guru with love, sincerity and obedience for attaining liberation or God-realisation. Then comes the Krishna Avatara, which is also called the Purna Avatara. Sri Krishna served humanity in all respects, without distinction of caste, creed or sect. For instance, He served as an ambassador, and went on a peace mission to avert the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. He washed the feet of guests who attended the Rajasuya sacrifice performed by Yudhishthira and also cleaned the plates of the guests after their meals. He also served as a charioteer to Arjuna during the Mahabharata war. Sri Krishna practised and preached the gospel of selfless service, in the Bhagavad Gita. Thus the Krishna Avatara provides the spiritual aspirant with ...

The third great lesson we learn from Parasurama’s life is this : The Kamadhenu (the milch cow) which was in the possession of his father Jamadagni Rishi is stolen by a king. In order to avenge this, Parasurama kills the kings. He thinks his father would be pleased with his conduct, but he finds a different attitude in his father. He severely reprimands him :  "You have forgotten your own Dharma. You are a Brahmin, and the foremost duties of a Brahmin are forbearance and forgiveness. We should never retaliate. Bear patiently with everything. Since you have swerved from your duty, as an expiation, you should undertake a countrywide pilgrimage." Parasurama has to go round Bharatavarsha on such a pilgrimage. From this we learn that we should first completely annihilate our bestial nature and then, when we have become human beings truly, we should learn to subserve ourselves to our Guru, and then we should destroy all the evil propensities in us that stand ...

You know how, in obedience to his father’s command, he cut off his mother’s head. His brothers had refused to do this. But, Parasurama had perfect faith in his father. This faith gave birth to implicit obedience and perfect subservience to the higher will. In the spiritual path, the Guru is our father. We should learn to subserve our will to his will. We should have implicit obedience as our great motto. This can come only out of perfect faith, faith in the divinity of our Guru. Parasurama had it. And, therefore, pleased with his obedience, when his father asks him to choose a boon, Parasurama without hesitation says: "Let my mother live." She gets back her life. Then Parasurama killed many great kings, who were proud, haughty and were inimical to Brahmins. In this description we have the perfect picture of a mixture of Rajas and Tamas. This is the very antithesis of Sattva, represented by the Brahmins. In our Yoga Sadhana we should never fo...

Then comes the Vamana (the Dwarf) Avatara. The animal nature is completely gone now. The person is completely human. But he is greatly limited. He is a dwarf. His capacities are greatly limited. He got himself lodged in such narrow limits that he goes to a king and begs of him three foot-measures of land. Vamana’s assumption of the universal form suggests to us that the same man is capable Of transcending all limitations and realising his unity with Brahmam. Next we have the Parasurama Avatara where we have the Man. Now bestiality is completely shed; and humanity has supervened. We get three object-lessons from Parasurama’s life. Sri Swami Chidananda To be continued  ...

 Kurma (Tortoise), Varaha (Boar), and Nrisimha (the Man-lion) :- The next Avatara is the Kurma (Tortoise) Avatara. The tortoise lives in water; but is able, to an extent, to live on the shore, too. This corresponds to the first-stages of man’s career from bestiality to humanity and from humanity to divinity. He likes to live sunk in ignorance, but does not seriously mind the light of truth. Then comes the Varaha (Boar) Avatara. Here the evolution has taken the Jiva completely away from this worse-than-beast stage, away from the aquatic prison, and the boar, though considered as the lowest among the animals, is yet an animal and lives on mother earth, basking in sunshine and breathing fresh air. The Nrisimha (the Man-lion) Avatara represents the crown of animal-creation; the lion is the king among animals. And, the composite personality of Nrisimha (the man-lion) is suggestive of the beast in man. What is the great characteristic of this Avatara? It was t...

1. Matsya (Fish) Avatara As you know the first of the ten Avataras is Matsya (Fish) Avatara. The fish lives in water, shut out from the two elements that we consider as most important for the preservation of life—pure air and sunlight. And yet if you liberate the fish from its aquatic prison and place it in life-giving sunshine surrounded by fresh air, it is greatly distressed and would die in a few minutes. Similarly, the man who is sunk in worldliness, who is worse than a beast, cannot bear the sunlight of godliness and fresh, pure air of divine life. He revels in his own dark region deprived of all spiritual light. Sri Swami Chidananda To be continued  ...

Introduction : From time to time great ones have come, who have systematised this Cosmic plan and formulated a method so that individuals in whom this purpose has been awakened may make use of this method and reach the goal quickly, that they may consciously achieve this process in themselves. These methods have come to the various religions of humanity. Gradually, these religions have had a greater and ever-widening group of followers. These great groups exist all over the world as the great section of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians, and so on. But the one inescapable fundamental fact about these religious remains that all these various religions are but methods which seek to work out in some way or other the ascent of man from birth and death to Immortality. The ten Avataras of the Lord, which are described in the scriptures, are an order calculated to teach us a sublime spiritual lesson. Sri Swami Chidananda To be continued  ...

The prayer : "Asato Maa Sat-Gamaya, Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya, Mrityor Maa Amritam-Gamaya" epitomises the purpose of the Lord’s Creation, the grand culmination of going back into that Transcendence out of which these countless names and forms have been evolved as a blissful act of play by the One without a second. The plan of the Divine Will is that out of the One infinite, names and forms may flow out and for a time there may be a blissful play of this divine multiplicity and then once again, when the Divine Wills, there may be a going back into the pristine glorious source. Multiplicity is the antithesis of eternal Truth which is ever One. It is unreal. It is in the nature of darkness. This cycle of becoming and perishing, birth and death, is the characteristic of this world-play. Thus, a going back into the original grandeur of Brahmam means an ascent from this unreality into that Supreme Reality, from this darkness of ignorance to the Light of Knowled...

Monotheism and Polytheism Reconciled Part-15. That experience is peace, that experience is unutterable bliss, that experience is silence—a depth of silence where no articulate words are possible. For that experience this rare gift of the human status has been given. That is what makes it the most supreme of all gifts in spite of all things that may seem to be the contrary of peace and bliss. It is what makes the supreme gift of our human status unparalleled in value. Knowing this to be so, may we apply ourselves with all earnestness, with total sincerity, with humility and determination. May we apply ourselves to making the highest and best use of this status, and thus putting it to the highest use attain the highest joy. May this be the quest, and may full success be granted. May the quest cease to be, and may the experience absolute prevail in all its fullness at all times. To be established ever in that great experience is the vision of the ancients of thi...