MIND AND BODY ARE INSEPARABLY ONE

 

Intelligence is much more flexible than the mask of matter that hides it. Intelligence can express itself either as thoughts or as molecules. A basic emotion such as fear can be described as an abstract feeling or as an tangible molecule of the hormone adrenaline. Without the feeling there is no hormone; without the hormone there is no feeling. In the same way, there is no pain without nerve signals that transmit pain; there is no relief from pain without endorphins that fit into the pain receptors to block those signals. The revolution we call mind-body medicine was based on this simple discovery: Wherever thought goes, a chemical goes with it. This insight has turned into a powerful tool that allows us to understand, for example, why recent widows are twice as likely to develop breast cancer, and why the chronically depressed are four times more likely to get sick. In both cases, distressed mental states get converted into the bio chemicals that create disease.

In my medical practice, I can see two heart patients afflicted with angina pectoris, the typical squeezing, breathless pain that is typical of heart disease. One patient will be able to run, swim, and perhaps even mountain-climb, totally ignoring his pain or not even having any, while the other nearly faints with pain when he gets up out of his armchair.

My first instinct will be to look for a physical difference between them, but I might or might not find anything. Cardiologist expect anginal pain to appear when at least one of the three coronary arteries is 50 percent blocked. This blockage is almost always in the form of an atheroma, a lesion on the inside of the arterial wall built up by dead cells, blood clots, and fatty plaque. The 50 percent blockage is only a rule of thumb, however. Some angina patients are disabled by pain when they have only a single small lesion barely obstructing blood flow in one artery, while other patients suffering from massive, multi blockages of up to 85 percent have been known to run marathons. (Angina is not always caused by physical blockage, I should add. Arteries are lined with a layer of muscle cells that can go into a spasm and squeeze the vessel closed, but this is a highly individual reaction.)

In mind-body terms, my two patients are expressing their different interpretations of pain. Every patient stamps his condition with a unique perspective, and pain (or any other symptom) emerges into awareness only after it interacts with all the past influences at work in the mind-body system. There is no single response for all people or even for the same person at two different times. Pain signals are raw data that can be turned to many purposes. High exertion athletics, such as long-distance running, subject an athlete to pain that he interprets as a sign of accomplishment (“no pain, no gain”); but the same pain, inflicted under other circumstances, would be completely unwelcome. Track runners admire a coach who pushes them to their limits; they might hate the same treatment in boot camp.

Medicine is just beginning to use the mind-body connection for healing—defeating pain is a good example. By giving a placebo, or dummy, drug 30 percent of patients will experience the same pain relief as if a real painkiller had been administered. But the mind-body effect is much more holistic. The same dummy pill can be used to kill pain, to stop excessive gastric secretions in ulcer patients, to lower blood pressure, or to fight tumors. (All the side effects of chemotherapy, including hair loss and nausea, can be induced by giving cancer patients a sugar pill while assuring them that it is a powerful anticancer drug, and there have been instances where injection of sterile saline solution have actually led to remissions of advanced malignancy.)

Since the same inert pill can lead to such totally different responses, we must conclude that the body is capable of producing any bio chemical response once the mind has been given the appropriate suggestion. The pill itself is meaningless; the power that activates the placebo effect is the power of suggestion alone. This suggestion is then converted into the body’s intention to cure itself. Therefore, why not bypass the deception of the sugar pill and go directly to the intention? If we could effectively trigger the intention not to age, the body would carry it out automatically.

We have extremely exciting evidence to prove that such a possibility exists. One of the most dreaded diseases of old age is Parkinson’s, a neurological disorder that produces uncontrollable muscle movements and a drastic slowing down of bodily motion such as walking, eventually resulting in a body to stiff that the patient cannot move at all. Parkinson’s has been traced to an explained depletion of a critical brain chemical called dopamine-producing cells of the brain have been destroyed chemically by certain drugs. Imagine a patient afflicted with this type of Parkinson’s in an advanced stage of frozen motion. Trying to walk, he can only take a step or two before halting in place, as stiff as a statue.

However, if you draw a line on the floor and say, “Step over that,” the person will miraculously be able to walk right over it. Despite the fact that the production of dopamine is completely involuntary and its stores are seemingly exhausted (as shown by the fact that his brain cannot signal his leg muscles to take another step), merely by having the intention to walk, the brain is awakened. The person may freeze again after only a few seconds, but again you can ask him to step over an imaginary line, and his brain will respond. By extension, the infirmity and inactivity exhibited by many old people is often just dormancy. By renewing their intention to live active, purposeful lives, many elderly people can dramatically improve their motor abilities, strength, agility, and mental responses.

Intention is the active partner of attention; it is the way we convert automatic processes into conscious ones. Using simple mind-body exercises, almost any patient can learn in a few sessions to convert a racing heartbeat, asthmatic wheezing, or free-floating anxiety into a more normal response. What seems out of control can be brought back into control with the proper technique. The implications for aging are enormous. By inserting an intention into your thought processes, such as, “I want to improve in energy and vigor every day,” you can begin to assert control over those brain centres that determine how much energy will be expressed in activity. The decline of vigor in old age is largely the result of people expecting to decline; they have unwittingly implanted a self-defeating intention in the form of a strong belief, and the mind-body connection automatically carries out this intention.

Our past intentions create obsolete programming that seems to have control over us. In truth, the power of intention can be reawakened at any time. Long before you get old, you can prevent such losses by consciously programming your mind to remain youthful, using the power of your intention.

***

Source: BOOK ON “AGELESS BODY, TIMELESS MIND” - A PRACTICAL
ALTERNATIVE TO GROWING OLD BY DEEPAK CHOPRA

FOR FREE DOWNLOAD AUDIO BOOK – AGELSS BODY, TIMELESS MIND

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THE DHAMMAPADA - Twin Verses

                                Twin Verses

Our Life is shaped by our mind, we become what we think.
Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheel of a
cart follows the oxen that draw it.
Our Life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think.
Joy follows a pure thought like a shadow that never leaves.

                                                     ***

“He was angry with me, he attacked me, he defeated me,
He robbed me”- those who dwell on such thoughts will
never be free from hatred.
“He was angry with me, he attacked me, he defeated me
he robbed me” - those who do not dwell on such
thoughts will surely become free from hatred.

                                                    ***

For hatred can never put an end to hatred; love alone can.
This is an unalterable law.
People forget that their lives will end soon. For those
Who remember, quarrels come to an end.

                                                    ***

As strong wind blows down a weak-rooted tree, Mara
the Tempter overwhelms weak people who, eating too
much and working too little, are caught in the frantic
pursuit of pleasure.

                                                   ***

As the strongest wind cannot shake a mountain, Mara
Cannot shake those who are self-disciplined and full of
faith.

                                                 ***

Those who put on the saffron robe without purifying
the mind, who lack truthfulness and self-control, are
Not fit to wear this sacred garment.
But those who have purified their minds and are
Endowed with truth and self-control are truly fit to
wear the saffron robe.

                                               ***

The deluded, imagining trivial things to be vital to life,
Follow their vain fancies and never attain the highest
knowledge.
But the wise, knowing what is trivial and what is vital,
set their thoughts on the supreme goal and attain the
highest knowledge.

                                              ***

As rain seeps through an ill-thatched hut, passion will
seep through an untrained mind.
As rain cannot seep through a well-thatched hut, passion
cannot seep through a well-trained mind.

                                             ***

Those who are selfish suffer here and hereafter, they suffer
in both worlds from the results of their own actions.
But those who are selfless rejoice here and rejoice
Hereafter; they rejoice in both worlds from the results
of their own actions.

                                              ***

Those who are selfish sufer in this life and in the next.
They suffer seeing the results of the evil they have done,
and more suffering awaits them in the next life.
But those who are selfless rejoice in this life and in the
next. They rejoice seeing the good that they have done,
and more joy awaits them in the next world.

                                             ***

Those who recite many scriptures but fail to practice
Their teachings are like a cowherd counting another’s
cows. They do not share in the joys of the spiritual life.
But those who know few scriptures but practice their
Teachings, overcoming all lust, hatred, and delusion, live
with a pure mind in the highest wisdom. They stand
without external supports and share in the joys of the
spiritual life.

                                            ***

OUR BODIES ARE COMPOSED OF ENERGY AND INFORMATION

To transform the patterns of the past you must know what they are made of. Your body appears to be composed of solid matter that can be broken down into molecules and atoms, but quantum physics tells us that every atom is more than 99.9999 percent empty space, and the subatomic particles moving at lightning speed through this space are actually bundles of vibrating energy. These vibrations aren’t random and meaningless, however; they carry information. Thus, one bundle of vibrations is coded as a hydrogen action, another as oxygen; each element is in fact its own unique code.

Codes are abstract, and so ultimately is our cosmos and everything in it. Chasing the physical structure of the body down to its ultimate source dead-ends as molecules give way to atoms, atoms to subatomic particles, and these particles to ghosts of energy dissolving into an empty void. This void is mysteriously imprinted with information even before any information is expressed. Just as thousands of words exist silently in your memory without being spoken, the quantum field holds the entire universe in unexpressed form; it has been that way since the Big Bang, when billions of galaxies were compressed into space millions of times smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. Yet even before that infinitesimal dot, the structure of the universe existed in unmanifest form.

The essential stuff of the universe, including your body, is non-stuff, but it isn’t ordinary non-stuff. It is thinking non-stuff. The void inside every atom is pulsating with unseen intelligence. Geneticists locate this intelligence primarily inside DNA, but that is only for the sake of convenience. Life unfolds as DNA goes out into the cell and imparts bits of intelligence to thousands of enzymes, which then use their specific bit of intelligence to make proteins. At every point in this sequence, energy and information have to be exchanged or there could be no building life from lifeless matter.

The human body derives its primary energy by burning sugar, which is transported to the cells in the form of glucose, or blood sugar. The chemical structure of glucose is closely related to common table sugar, sucrose. But if you burn table sugar, you don’t get the exquisite, complex structures of living cell; you just get a charred lump of ash and traces of water and carbon dioxide in the air.

Metabolism is more than a burning process; it is an intelligent act. The same sugar that remains inert in a sugar cube supports life with its energy because the body’s cells infuse it with new information. The sugar may contribute its energy to a kidney, heart, or brain cell, for example. All of these cells contain completely unique forms of intelligence—the rhythmic twitching of a heart cell is completely different from the electrical discharges of a brain cell or the sodium exchanges of a kidney cell.

As marvelous as this wealth of diverse intelligence is, at bottom there is one single intelligence shared by the whole body. The flow of the intelligence keeps you alive, and when it ceases to flow, at the moment of death, all the knowledge stored in your DNA is rendered useless. As we age, this flow of intelligence becomes compromised in various ways. The specific intelligence of the immune system, the nervous system, and the endocrine system all start falling off; these three systems are now known by physiologists to function as the master controls of the body. Your immune cells and endocrine glands are outfitted with the same receptors for brain signals as your neurons are; therefore, they are like an extended brain. Senility cannot be looked upon, then, simply as a disease confined to our gray matter; when intelligence is lost in the immune or the endocrine system, senility of the whole body is creeping in.

Since all this happens at an unseen, unmanifest level, the losses go unnoticed until they have progressed to a very late stage and are expressed as a physical symptom. The five senses cannot go deep enough to experience the billions of quantum changes that create aging. The rate of change is at once too fast and too slow: too fast because individual chemical reactions take less than 1/10,000th of a second, too slow because their cumulative effect will not show up for years. These reactions involve information and energy on a scale millions of times smaller than a single atom.

Age deterioration would be unavoidable if the body was simply material, because all material things are prey to entropy, the tendency of orderly systems to become disorderly. The classic example of entropy is a car rusting in a junk yard; entropy breaks down the orderly machinery into crumbling rust. There is no chance that the process will work the other way—that a rusty scrap heap will reassemble itself into a new car. But entropy doesn’t apply to intelligence—an invisible part of us is immune to the ravages of time. Modern science is just discovering the implications of all this, but it has been imparted for centuries through spiritual traditions in which masters have preserved the youthfulness of their bodies far into old age.

India, China, Japan, and to a lesser extent the Christian West have given birth to sages who realized their essential nature as a flow of intelligence. By preserving that flow and nurturing it year after year, they overcame entropy from a deeper level of Nature. In India, the flow of intelligence is called Prana (usually translated as “life force”), which can be increased and decreased at will, moved here and there, and manipulated to keep the physical body orderly and young. As we will see, the ability to contact and use Prana is within all of us. A yogi moves Prana using nothing more than attention, for at a deep level, attention and Prana are the same—life is awareness, awareness is life.

***

Source: BOOK ON “AGELESS BODY, TIMELESS MIND” - A PRACTICAL
ALTERNATIVE TO GROWING OLD BY DEEPAK CHOPRA

***

FOR FREE DOWNLOAD AUDIO BOOK PLEASE VISIT FOLLOWING WEBSITES

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http://rapidshare.com/files/74914037/Ageless_Body__Timeless_Mind_-Part_2.mp3

THERE IS NO OBJECTVE WORLD INDEPENDENT OF THE OBSERVER

The world you accept as real seems to have definite qualities. Some things are large, others small; some things are hard, others soft. Yet none of these qualities means anything outside of your perception. Take any object, such as a folding chair. To you the chair isn’t very large, but to an ant it is immense. To you the chair feels hard, but neutrino would whiz through it without flowing down, because to a subatomic particle the chair’s atoms are miles apart. The chair seems stationary to you, but if you observed it from outer space, you would see it revolving past you, along with everything else on Earth, at a thousand miles per hour. Likewise, anything else you can describe about the chair can be completely altered simply by changing your perception. If the chair is red, you can make it appear black by looking at it through green glasses. If the chair weighs five pounds, you can make it weigh two pounds by putting on the moon or a hundred thousand pounds by putting it in the gravitational field of a dense star.

Because there are no absolute qualities in the material world, it is false to say that there even is an independent world “out there.” The world is a reflection of the sensory apparatus that registers it. The human nervous system takes in only the most minute fraction, less than one part per billion, of the total energy vibrating in the environment. Other nervous systems, such as that of a bat or a snake, reflect a different world, coexisting with ours. The bat senses a world of ultrasound, the snake a world of infrared light, both of while are hidden from us.

All that is really “out there” is raw, unformed data waiting to be interpreted by you, the perceiver. You take “a radically ambiguous, flowing quantum soup,” as physicists call it, and use your senses to congeal the soup into the solid three-dimensional world. The eminent British neurologist Sir John Eccles pierces the sensory illusion with one startling but irrefutable assertion: “I want you to realize that there is no color in the natural world and no sound nothing of this kind; no textures, no patterns, no beauty, no scent. . . . .” In short, none of the objective facts upon which we usually base our reality is fundamentally valid.

As disturbing as this may sound, there is incredible liberation in realizing that you can change your world—including your body-simply by changing your perception. How you perceive yourself is causing immense changes in your body right now. To give an example: In America and England, mandatory retirement at age 65 sets an arbitrary cutoff date for social usefulness. The day before a worker turns 65, he contributes labor and value to society; the day after, he becomes one of society’s dependents. Medically, the results of this perceptual shift can be disastrous. In the first few years after retirement, heart attack and cancer rates soar, and early death overtakes men who were otherwise healthy before they retired. “Early retirement death,” as the syndrome is called, depends on the perception that one’s useful days are over; this only a perception, but for someone who holds it firmly, it is enough to create disease and death. By comparison, in societies where old age is accepted as part of the social fabric, elders remain extremely vigorous—lifting, climbing, and bending in ways that we do not accept as normal in our elderly.

If you examine old cells, such as ones that form liver spots on the skin, through a high-powered microscope, the scene is as devastated as a war zone. Fibrous streaks run here and there; deposits of fat and undiscarded metabolic wastes form unsightly clumps; dark, yellowish pigments called lipofuscin have accumulated to the point where they litter 10 to 30 percent of the cell’s interior.

This scene of devastation was created by sub-cellular processes that went wrong, but if you look through less materialistic lenses, you will see that old cells are like maps of a person’s experience. Things that made you suffer are imprinted there, along with things that brought you joy. Stresses you long ago forgot on the conscious are still sending out signals, like buried microchips, making you anxious, tense, fatigued, apprehensive, resentful, doubtful, disappointed—these reactions cross the mind-body barrier to become part of you. The clogged, toxic deposits in old cells don’t appear uniformly; some people acquire much more than others, even when there is little genetic difference between them. By the time you reach age 70, your cells will look unique, mirroring the unique experiences you processed the metabolized into your tissues and organs.

Being able to process the raw, chaotic vibrations of the “quantum soup” and turn them into meaningful, orderly bits of reality opens up enormous creative possibilities. However, these possibilities exist only when you are aware of them. While you are reading this book, a huge portion of your consciousness is engaged in creating your body without participation. The so-called involuntary or autonomic nervous system was designed to control functions that have slipped out of your awareness. If you began walking down the street in a daze, the involuntary centers in your brain would still be coping with the world, keeping on the lookout for danger, poised to activate the stress response at a moment’s notice.

A hundred things you pay no attention to—breathing, digesting, growing new cells, repairing damaged old ones, purifying toxins, preserving hormonal balance, converting stored energy from fat to blood sugar, dilating the pupils of the eyes, raising and lowering blood pressure, maintaining steady body temperature, balancing as you walk, shunting blood to and from the muscle groups that are doing the most work, and sensing movements and sounds in the surrounding environment—continue ceaselessly.

These automatic processes play a huge part in aging, for as we age, our ability to coordinate these functions declines. A lifetime of unconscious living leads to numerous deteriorations, while a lifetime of conscious participation prevents them. The very act of paying conscious attention to bodily functions instead of leaving them on automatic pilot will change how you age. Every so-called involuntary regulation, from heartbeat and breathing to digestion and hormone regulation, can be consciously controlled. The era of bio-feedback and meditation has taught us that—heart patients have been trained in mind-body laboratories to lower their blood pressure at will or to reduce the acid secretions that create ulcers, among dozens of other things. Why not put this ability to use in the aging process? Why not exchange old patterns of perception of new ones? There are abundant techniques, as we will see, for influencing the involuntary nervous system to our advantage.

***

Source: AGELESS BODY, TIMELSS MIND By Deepak Chopra.

THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

Rama often times uses the word "Vedanta," a name. It is this name which makes some people prejudiced against hearing anything from Rama. One man comes and he preaches in the name of Buddha; many man comes and he preaches in the name of Buddha; many people do not like to hear him, because he brings to them a name which is not agreeable to their ears. Be more considerate, please. In the twentieth century it is high time to rise above names. What Rama brings to you or what anybody else brings to you, take it on its own merits. Be not confounded by names, be not mislead by names. Examine everything by itself, see if it works.

Accept a thing and believe in a religion on its own merits. Examine it yourself. sift it. Sell not your liberty to Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed or Krishna. If Buddha taught that way or Christ taught this way, or if Mohammed taught in some other way, it was all good and all right for them; they lived in other times. They mastered their problems; they judged by their own intellects; it was so grand of them. But you are living today you shall have to judge and criticize and examine matters for yourselves. Be free, free to look at everything by your own light. If your ancestors believed in a particular religion, it was perhaps very good for them to believe in that, but now your salvation is your own business, your redemption is not the business of your ancestors. They believed in a particular religion which may or may not have saved them, but you have to work out your own emanicipation. Whatever comes before you, examine it per se, examine it by yourself, not giving up your freedom. To your ancestors only one particular religion may have been shown, to you all sorts of truths, all sorts of religions, all sorts of philosophies, all sorts of sciences are being demonstrated. If the religion of your ancestors is yours on the ground of its being laid before you, so is the religion of Buddhism yours on the ground of its being placed before you, so is Vedanta yours on the ground of its being put before you.

Truth is nobody's property; truth is not the property of Jesus; we ought not to preach it in the name of Jesus. Truth is not the property of Buddha; we need not preach it in the name of Buddha. It is not the property of Mohammed; it is not the property of Krishna or anybody. It is everybody's property. If one man drinks the fresh waters of the spring, you can drink the same fresh water. Such should your attitude be towards all religions. Rama brings Vedanta to you, not with the intention of nick naming you Vedantin, no. Take all that, assimilate it, make it your own, you may call it Christianity--names are nothing to us. Rama brings you a religion which is found in the streets, which is written upon the leaves, which is murmured by the books, which is whispered in the winds, which is throbbing your own veins and arteries; a religion which concerns your business and bosom; a religion which you have not to practise by going into a particular church only; a religion which you have to practise and live in your everyday life, about your hearth, in your dining room, everywhere you have to live that religion. We might not call it Vedanta, we might call it by some other name-- the term Vedanta simply means the fundamental truth; the Truth is your own, it is not Rama's more than yours, it does not belong to the Hindu more than to you. It belongs to nobody, everybody and every thing belongs to it.

Some people say that Vedanta teaches pessimism, Vedanta teaches hopelessness, it teaches idleness, laziness. Rama requests those people to keep this logic with them and not to sell their intellect to others; keep it to themselves and see whether the teachings of Vedanta lead to life, energy, power, success or something else. Ask not whether the Indians live it or not. Rama tells plainly that it is not the exclusive property of the Indians, t is everybody's property. It is your own birthright.

The Secret of Success is manifold. There are phases of the secret.

I. PRINCIPLE OF SUCCESS
    
    Work

Without work you can never succeed. Intense work, according to Vedanta, is rest. All true work is rest.

LOGIC: The body works automatically, as it were, the mind is absorbed in the work to such a degree that "I am working" is entirely gone, the small enjoying ego is absolutely lost, the credit seeking little self is absent. This incessant work unwillingly leads you to the highest yoga.

***

There is not necessity of your retiring into the forests and pursuing abnormal practices to realize Vedantic yoga.

****

Vedanta preaches in order that you may have success you must through your acts, by your own body and muscles, cremate them in the fire of use. You must use them. In other words all work is nothing else but making your body and mind illusions, practically nothing from the stand point of your own consciousness. Rise above them and that is work.

***

If you avail yourself of that higher mood, you can always keep yourself at your best and the work through your hands will be perfect, most beautiful. That higher mood, or that higher secret, Vedanta lays before you; it is nothing else but being in perfect harmony with the universe, being in tune with the Divinity, practically living in the true Atma or God within you, and being raised above the little ego or selfish desires.

***

Vedanta requires you to work for its own sake. In order that your work should be successful, you should not mind the end, you should not care for the consequences or the result. Let the means and the end be brought together, let the very work be your end. Vedanta wants you to be at rest in your inner Self. Let the inner soul be at rest and the body be continually at work -- the body, subject to the laws of dynamics, being in action, and inner Self always at statistical rest. It is our selfish restlessness that spoils all our work. Follow work for the sake of the peace or nirvana connected with it.

II. PRINCIPLE OF SUCCESS
  
     Unselfish Sacrifice

Let your work be for work's sake, you must work. In your work should your goal be, and thus Vedanta frees you from fretting and worrying desires.

People say, "First deserve and then desire."

Vedanta says, "Deserve only, no need of desiring."

Truth crushed to earth shall rise again. No seed can spring up and multiply without suffering destruction as to its form and appearance. So the second essential to success is sacrifice, crucifying the little self, renunciation.

The Black objects absorb all the colours in the rays of the Sun. They give out no colour, they renounce nothing, they throw back nothing, and they are dark, black. The White objects absorb nothing, claim nothing, they renounce everything. They do not try to keep selfish possession.

Be always a giver, a free worker; never throw your heart in a begging, expecting attitude.

Never feel that anything belongs to your little self; it is God's your real Atman's.

As long as you keep your desires in your pocket, there is no safety or rest for you. Renounce your desires rise above them and you find double peace--immediate rest and eventual fruition of desires. Remember that your desires will be realized only when you rise above them into the supreme reality. When you consciously or unconsciously lose yourself in the Divinity, then and then only will the time be ripe for the fulfillment of desires.

III. PRINCIPLE OF SUCCESS
       
        LOVE

So long as you are in perfect harmony with nature, so long as your mind is in tune with the universe and you are feeling and realizing your oneness with each and all, all the circumstances and surroundings, even winds and waves, will be in your favour. The very moment you are at discord with the All, that very moment your friends and relatives will turn against you, that very moment you will make the whole world stand up in arms against you. Understand this divine Law of Love and practice it. Love is a vital principle of success.

IV. PRINCIPLE OF SUCCESS
      
       CHEERFULNESS

Vedanta inculcates that you should not bother yourself about surroundings and circumstances. Know the Law and shake off all fear. The very influence of the magistrate puts everything in order, just as the very presence of the sun wakes up all Nature, enlivens rivers, plants, birds, beasts and men. Similarly, when you plant yourself firmly in the Truth, when you install yourself in the position of the disinterested supreme judge, your very Atman, when your glorious Self shines in its full splendour, all the circumstances, all your surroundings, will take care of themselves, everything will be enlivened and put in order in the genial light of your presence.

If you go on doing your duty, if you are faithful to your work, bother not yourself about the outside aids and helps. They are bound to come to you, must come to you.

Allow not the sense of duty to throw you of the balance or damp your spirits. Remember that all duty is, after all imposed on you by yourselves. Ultimately you are your own master. You yourself chose your position, offered your services, and created your superiors.

V. PRINCIPLE OF SUCCESS
    
    FEARLESSNESS

Dispel the fear inducing attachment to the body. Keep in your mind the light of Truth ever ablaze, no devil of fear or temptation will approach you. Believe in the Law of Divine.

VI. PRINCIPLE OF SUCCESS - SELF-RELIANCE

Self-trust is a fundamental principle of bliss. Vedanta teaches you not to call yourself a groveling, sneaking, miserable sinner or wretch. Vedanta wants you to believe in your innate power. You are Infinite. God Almighty you are, Infinite God you are. Believe that. What inspiring truth. Believe in the outside and you fail. That is the law.

When we rely upon Self and trust nothing but the Atman, all things flock to us. If you think yourself a poor, sneaking vermin, that you become, and if you honour yourself and rely on your Self, grandeur you win. What you think, the same you must become.

Do not pleasure make yourselves cringing, sneaking, miserable creatures. As you think, so will you become. Think yourselves to be God and God you are. Think yourselves to be free and free you are this moment.

Think yourself to be Divinity, have a living faith in your Divinity and nothing can harm you, nobody can injure you.

According to Vedanta, all your world being but your own creation, your own idea, why think yourself a low, miserable sinner? Why not think yourself into a fearless, self-reliant incarnation of Divinity.

Have a living faith in the truth, a right knowledge of things around you, take all your circumstances at their own worth and realize the spirit to such a degree that this world becomes unreal to you.

VII. PRINCIPLE OF SUCCESS
 
       PURITY

The Law of Karma retaliates and baffles you when you want to abuse it for selfish ends. Do not dictate your will to God. Let God's will be done in reference to bodily wants. Banish all worldly motives of work. Cast off, exercise the demands of desires. Make all your work sacred. Rid yourself of the disease of attachment or clinging. Attachment to one object detaches you from all. Work minus desire is a synonym for the highest Renunciation or worship.

Your heaven is WITHIN you. You play the part of an impure, unchaste adulterer when you stoop down to indulge in outside so called objects of pleasure. Tell the external enjoyments, "Get behind me, Satan, I will take nothing at thy hands." Are you not really the source of all joy?

****

Source: IN WOODS OF GOD-REALISATION by Swami Rama Tirtha
OR COMPLETE WORKS OF SWAMI RAMA TIRTH Volume-I.

FROM THE PEARLS WISDOM OF SWAMY TIRTHA



FROM THE PEARLS WISDOM OF SWAMY TIRTHA

Simple living and high thinking

Try to make great and good men of yourselves. Do not expend your energies, do not waste thought on building beautiful and grand houses. Many of your houses are large and grand, but the men in them are very small. There are large tombs in India, but what do they contain? Nothing but rotten carcases, crawling worms and snakes.

Do not try to make your wife, your friends and yourself grand, by wasting energy on big houses and grand furniture. If you take this idea, if you realize that, if you perceive and know that the one aim and goal of life is not in wasting energy and accumulating riches, but in cultivating the inner powers, in educating yourself, to free yourself, to become God, if you realize that and expend your energies in that direction the family ties will be no obstacle to you.

***

The wages of sin is death.

Do any kind of wrong, do any mischief, harbour in your mind any kind wrong, do these wrong deeds, commit these sins even at a place where you are sure nobody will catch you or find you out …. You must be visited with pain and suffering.

The wages of sin is death.

In the most solitary caves commit a sin and you will in no time be astonished to see that the very grass under your feet stands up and bears testimony against you. You will in time see that the very walls, the very trees have tongues to speak. “The moral law is that you must be pure. Harbour impurity and you must suffer the consequences”.

The kingdom of Heaven is within you.

***

Elevate the mind by hitting it upward

On the playground, in India, we place an instrument called gulli, which is thick at the middle and sharply pointed at the ends, with both ends raised above the ground, and we strike one end with a bat and the gulli rises at once in the air a little; then we deal it a very hard blow with the bat and it goes flying right into the air to a great distance. There are two processes in this game. The first is to raise the gulli and the second is to make it fly into the air. If the mind is to be brought into the divine communion, first of all it is to be raised just a little, and the second process is to shoot it far off into the spiritual atmosphere.

***

The records of Truth

Christ spoke orally only to eleven disciples, but those words were stored up by the atmosphere, were gathered up by the skies and are to-day being read by millions of people. Truth crushed o earth shall rise again.

***

Carping injures self

Remember it always that when sending out thoughts of jealousy and envy, of criticism, of fault-finding, or thoughts of smacking of jealousy and hatred, you are courting the very same thoughts yourself. Whenever you are discovering the mote in your brother’s eye, you are putting the beam into your own.

***

It is strange, very strange, that people want to rob each other, as for worldly wealth, but as for higher wealth (spiritual religious riches), when they are presented with it, they want to kill their donors.

***

The reading of books and learning all knowledge is one thing; to acquire the Truth is another. You may read all the sacred Scriptures and yet not know the Truth.

***

Death asks, not “What have you?” but “Who are you ?” Life’s question is not “What have I?” but “What am I ?”

***

To give is a better bargain than to get.

***

The rope-dancer at first rides the rope, single, alone. When highly practiced he takes with him a boy or some heavy object and dances on the rope. So, after living a single life and acquiring perfection, a man may allow others in his company.

***

SOURCE: THE STORY OF SWAMI RAMA – THE POET MONK OF THE PUNJAB
BY PURAN SINGH – GANESH & Co., Madras. 1924

AGELESS BODY, TIMELESS MIND

Your body is aging beyond your control because it has been programmed to live out the rules of that collective conditioning. If there is anything natural and inevitable about the aging process, it cannot be known until the chains of our old beliefs are broken. In order to create the experience of ageless body and timeless mind, which is the promise of this book, you must discard ten assumptions about who you are and what the true nature of the mind and body is. These assumptions form the bedrock of our shared worldview.

They are:
1. There is an objective world independent of the observer, and our bodies are an
aspect of this objective world.

2. The body is composed of clumps of matter separated from one another in time and space.

3. Mind and body are separate and independent from each other.

4. Materialism is primary, consciousness is secondary. In other words, we are physical machines that have learned to think.

5. Human awareness can be completely explained as the product of biochemistry.

6. As individuals, we are disconnected, self-contained entities.

7. Our perception of the world is automatic and gives us an accurate picture of how things really are.

8. Our true nature is totally defined by the body, ego, and personality. We are wisps of memories and desires enclosed in packages of flesh and bones.

9. Time exists as an absolute, and we are captives of that absolute. No one escapes the ravages of time.

10. Suffering is necessary—it is part of reality. We are inevitable victims of sickness, aging, and death.

Each assumption of the old paradigm can be replaced with a more complete and expanded version of the truth. These new assumptions are also just ideas created by the human mind, but they allow us much more freedom and power. They give us the ability to rewrite the program of aging that now directs our cells.

The ten new assumptions are:

1. The physical world, including our bodies, is a response of the observer. We create our bodies as we create the experience of our world.

2. In their essential state, our bodies are composed of energy and information, not sold matter. This energy and information is an outcropping of infinite fields of energy and information spanning the universe.

3. The mined and body are inseparably one. The unity that is “me” separates into two streams of experience. I experience the subjective stream of thoughts, feelings, and desires. I experience the objective stream as my body. At a deeper level, however, the two streams meet at a single creative source. It is from this source that we are meant to live.

4. The biochemistry of the body is a product of awareness. Beliefs, thoughts, and emotions create the chemical reactions that uphold life in every cell. An aging cell is the end product of awareness that has forgotten how to remain new.

5. Perception appears to be automatic, but in fact it is a learned phenomenon. The world you live in, including the experience of your body, is completely dictated by how you learned to perceive it. If you change your perception, you change the experience of your body and your world.

6. Impulses of intelligence create your body in new forms every second. What you are is the sum total of these impulses, and by changing their patterns, you will change.

7. Although each person seems separate and independent, all of us are connected to patterns of intelligence that govern the whole cosmos. Our bodies are part of a universal body, our minds an aspect of a universal mind.

8. Time does not exist as an absolute, but only eternity. Time is quantified eternity, timelessness chopped up into bits and pieces (seconds, hours, days, years) by us. What we call linear time is a reflection of how we perceive change. If we could perceive the changeless, time would cease to exist as we know it. We can learn to start metabolizing non-change, eternity, the absolute. By doing that, we will be ready to create the physiology of immorality.

9. Each of us inhabits a reality lying beyond all change. Deep inside us, unknown to the five-senses, is an inner most core of being, a field of non-change that creates personality, ego, and body. This being is our essential state—it is who we really are.

10. We are not victims of aging, sickness, and death. These are part of the scenery, not the seer, who is immune to any form of change. This seer is the spirit, the expression of eternal being.

These are vast assumptions, the makings of a new reality, yet all are grounded in the discoveries of quantum physics made almost a hundred years ago.

***
Source: BOOK ON “AGELESS BODY, TIMELESS MIND” - A PRACTICAL
ALTERNATIVE TO GROWING OLD BY DEEPAK CHOPRA

VEDANTA - ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY

Vedanta an ancient philosophy enunciates the eternal principles of life and living. Living is an art, a skill, a technique. Few have understood it to be so in the span of human history. Nevertheless, you need to learn and practice the technique of living. As you would for playing a musical instrument or flying aircraft.

The world today is unaware of this process of learning. It is not taught in a school or university. Nor in a moral or religious institution. Thus people go through a mechanical way of living merely following a routine of their predecessors. They lack this fundamental knowledge of living. And become victims of stress and strain.

People everywhere have lost the pleasure in action. They try to find peace and happiness by abstaining from action. Hence, everyone looks forward to week end and vacation. Even seeks premature retirement from work. This is a human weakness. Do not fall a prey to it. If you cannot find a peace and happiness in action you can never find it through abstaining.

The world presents two distinct classes of people. One class is active, productive and prosperous. The Western world seems to fit into this category. But by their own admission they have lost their peace of mind. While the other class of people is relatively peaceful and happy but without much action. Since they lack action they are not productive, prosperous. Some of the eastern countries face this problem.

Thus, there is action without peace on one side and peace without action on the other. One wonders if it is possible to combine dynamic action with mental peace. Vedanta provides the answer. The few who have imbibed the knowledge of Vedanta, learnt and practised the technique of living, live a dynamic life of action while enjoying perfect peace and happiness within.

What is Vedanta (Ancient Philosophy)?

Vedanta literally means culmination of knowledge. Veda means knowledge, anta means end. The knowledge of your real Self. The Self within its supreme. Presently obscured by your body, mind and intellect. You are aware of the body, mind and intellect and not your real Self. Vedanta helps you to unfold your Self. Discover the true nature of your inherent Being. Your real Being is divine. He abode of absolute peace and bliss.

Vedanta is a systematic knowledge which explains the meaning and purpose of your existence in the world. A knowledge that is founded on its own authority. It trains you to think for yourself. To analyse, investigate and realize the quintessence of life. Not to submit yourself to blind faith, superstitious belief or mechanical ritual. Ultimately, it leads you to spiritual Enlightenment.

The knowledge of the unknown can be gained only through the use of known factors. Therefore, to unravel the mystery of God you need to use the world of objects and beings known to you. Start with the study of the world, the individual and the relationship between them.

How are you to relate with the world to find peace and harmony? It is not the world that bothers you as you believe it to be. But your relationship with it. You need to learn the principles of right living. Change the character of your action from selfishness to selfless service. Mend the quality of your emotion from preferential attachment to universal love. Raise your knowledge from the mundane to the supreme Self within. Thus you all reach the culmination of human life, the ultimate state of peace and bliss, the goal of religion.

Young men and women ought not to be pestered with Thou shalts and Thou shalt nots. Whatever is forced is never forceful. Dos and don’ts are not designed for human beings. Desire for anything increases with restriction and prohibition. Static precepts, susperstitious beliefs and mechanical rituals are being thrust on people. It frustrates them. Rather, they need to be educated with the knowledge of life and living. The higher values of religion have to be presented systematically and logically to the modern intellect. The philosophy of Vedanta answers the requirements of seekers of truth. The process may take time but is sure to elevate them.

@@@

Sources: VEDANTA TREATISE by A. Parthasarathy.

STEP BY STEP PRANAYAMA TECHNIQUES

NADI SHOODHANA PRANAYAMA

Hand Position: Nasagra Mudra (nose tip position)

Hold the fingers of the right hand in front of the face.

Rest the index and middle fingers gently on the eyebrow center. Both fingers should be relaxed.

The thumb is above the right nostril and the ring finger above the left. These two digits control the flow of breath in the nostrils by alternately pressing on one nostril, blocking the flow of breath, and then the other.

The little finger is comfortably folded. When practicing for longer periods, the elbow may be supported by the left hand although care is needed to prevent chest restriction.

Nadi Shodhana Pranayama (psyhic network purification)

Technique-1: Preparatory Practice

Sit in any comfortable meditation posture, preferably siddha / siddha yoni asana or padmasana. (Those who cannot sit in a meditation posture may sit against a wall with the legs outstretched or in a chair which has a straight back).

Keep the head and spine upright.

Relax the whole body and close the eyes.

Practise yogic breathing for some time.

Adopt nasagra mudra with the right hand and place the left hand on the knee in chin or jnana mudra*.

Close the right nostril with the thumb.

Inhale and exhale through the left nostril 5 times.

The rate of inhalation/exhalation should be normal.

Be aware of each breath.

After 5 breaths release the pressure of the thumb on the right nostril and press the left nostril with the ring finger, blocking the flow of air.

Inhale and exhale through the right nostril 5 times, keeping the respiration rate normal.

Lower the hand and breathe 5 times through both nostrils together.

This is one round.

Practice 5 rounds or for 3 to 5 minutes, making sure that there is no sound as the air passes through the nostril.

After practicing for 15 days go on to technique 2.

Technique 2: Alternative nostril breathing

In this technique the duration of inhalation/exhalation is controlled.

Close the right nostril with the thumb and breathe in through the left nostril.

At the same time count mentally, “1. Om; 2. Om; 3. Om”, until the inhalation ends comfortably. This is the basic count.

Breathe deeply with yogic breathing. Do not strain.

Close the left nostril with the ring finger, release the pressure of the thumb on the right nostril and while breathing out through he right nostril, simultaneously count, “1.Om; 2. Om; 3. Om”. The time for inhalation and exhalation should be equal.

Next, inhale through the right nostril, keeping the same count in the same manner.

At the end of inhalation close the right nostril, open the left nostril and exhale through the nostril, coming as before.

This is one round.

Practice 10 rounds.

   

Ratio and Timing:

After a few days, if there is no difficulty, increase the length of inhalation / exhalation by one count. Continue in this way, increasing the inahaltion / exhalation by one count as sit becomes easy, until the count of 12:12 is reached.

Do not force the breath in any way and be careful not to speed up the counting during the exhalation to compensate for shortage of breath. At the slightest sign of discomfort reduce the count.

After perfecting the above ratio, it may be changed to 1:2. For example, breathe in for a count of 5 and breathe out for a count of 10. Continue extending the breath by adding one count to the inhalation and two to the exhalation, up to the count of 12:24. This ratio establishes a calming rhythm for the brain and heart, assisting the treatment of cardiovascular and nervous system disorders specifically, and stress related conditions generally.

     When this technique can be performed with complete ease move on to technique. 3

Technique 3: with Antar Kumbhaka (inner retention)

       In this technique antar kumbhaka or internal breath retention is introduced.

       Inhale through the left nostril for a count of 5, close both nostrils and retain the air in the lungs for a count of 5.

       The glottis may be slightly contracted to hold the air in the lungs.

       Open the right nostril, inhale slightly and then exhale for a count of 5.

       Inhale through the right nostril for a count of 5 and retain the breath for a count of 5 with both nostrils closed.

       Open the left nostril, inhale slightly and then exhale for a count of 5.

       This is one round.

       Practise 10 rounds.

Ratio and Timing:

       The maintenance of a strict ratio during inhalation, kumbhaka and exhalation is of the utmost importance.  The ratio will change as the ability to hold the breath for longer periods of time develops.  After mastering the ratio of 1:1:1, increase the ratio to 1:1:2.

         For example, inhale for a count of 5, perform internal kumbhaka for a count of 5 and exhale for a count of 10.  After some weeks of practice, when this ratio has been mastered, increase the ratio to 1:2:2.  Inhale for a count of 5, do internal kumbhaka for a count of 10 and exhale for a count of 10.

       After mastering this ratio, gradually increase the count by adding one unit to the inhalation, 2 units to the retention and 2 units to the exhalation.  The count of one round will be 6:12:12.  When this has been perfected and there is no discomfort, increase the count to 7:14:14.  Gradually increase the count over a period of one or two years to 24:48:48.  Therefore, gradually increase the ratio to 1:3:2, and then 1:4:2.

*Explanatory Notes on
Jnana Mudra (psychic gesture of knowledge)

Assume a comfortable meditation posture.
Fold the index fingers so that they touch the inside root of the thumbs. Straighten the other three fingers of each hand so that they are relaxed and slightly apart. Place the hands on the knees with the palms facing down.
Relax the hands and arms.

Chin Mudra (Psyhic gesture of consciousness)

Chin mudra is performed in the same way as jnana mudra except that the palms of both hands face upwards, with the backs of the hands resting on the knees. Relax, the hands and arms.

Sequence: 

One of these two mudras should be adopted whenever practicing meditation / pranayama techniques.

Benefits: 

Janana mudra and chin mudra are simple but important psycho-neural finger locks which make meditation asanas more powerful. The palms and fingers of the hands have any nerve root endings which constantly emit energy. When the finger touches the thumb, a circuit is produced which allows the energy that would normally dissipate into the environment to travel back into the body and up to the brain.

When the fingers and hands are placed on the knees, the knees are sensitized, creating another pranic circuit that maintains and redirects prana within the body. In addition, placing the hands on the knees stimulates a nadi which runs from the knees, up the inside of the thighs and into the perineum. This nadi is known as gupta or the hidden nadi. Sensitising this channel helps stimulate the energies at mooladhara chakra.

When the palms face upward in chin mudra, the chest area is opened up. The practitioner may experience this as a sense of lightness and receptivity which is absent in the practice of jana mudra.

Variation: 

Jana and Chin mudras are often performed with the tip of the thumb and index fingers touching and forming a circle. Beginners may find this variation less secure for prolonged periods of meditation as the thumb and index finger tend to separate more easily when body awareness is lost. Otherwise, this variation is as effective as the basic position.

Practice note: 

The effect of chin or jana mudra is very subtle and it requires sensitivity on the part of the practitioner to perceive the change in consciousness established. With practice, however, the mind becomes conditioned to the mudra and when it is adopted the signal to enter a meditative state is transmitted.

Note:

The word jana means “wisdom” or “knowledge”, thus jana mudra is the gesture of intuitive knowledge. Chin on the other hand, is derived from the word chit or chitta which means “consciousness”. Chin mudra, therefore, is the psychic gesture of consciousness.

Symbolically, the small, ring and middle fingers represents the three gunas or qualities of nature; tamas - inertia; rajas – activity and creativity and sattwa , luminosity. In order for consciousness to pass from ignorance to knowledge these three states must be transcended. The index finger represents individual consciousness, the jivatma, while the thumb symbolizes supreme consciousness. In jana and chin mudras the individual (index finger) is bowing down to the supreme consciousness (the thumb), acknowledging its unsurpassed power. The index finger, however, is touching the thumb, symbolizing the ultimate unity of the two experiences and the culmination of yoga.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Asana Panayama Mudra Bandha
By Swami Satyananda Saraswati of Bihar School of Yoga.
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THE TURKEY AND THE ANT

John GAY 1685 - 1732

A Turkey, tired of common food,

Forsook the barn, and sought the wood,

Behind her ran an infant train

Collecting here and there a grain.

'Draw near, my birds', the mother cries,

'This hill delicious fare supplies.

Behold the busy negro race--

See. millions blacken all the place!

Fear not; like me with freedom eat;

An eat is most delightful meat,

How blest, how envied, were our life

Could we but 'scape the poulter's knife!

But man, cursed man, on turkey preys

And Christmas shortens all our days.

Sometimes with oysters we combine,

Sometimes assist the savoury chine,

From the low peasant to the Lord,

The turkey smokes on every board.

Some men for gluttony are curst,

Of the seven deadly sins the worst.

An ant, who climbed beyond her reach,

Thus answer'd from a neighbouring beech;

'Ere you remark another's sin,

Bid they own conscience look within;

Control thy more voracious bill,

Nor, for a breakfast nations kill.'

-- John Gay

COMMENTS:

In a simple poem, Gay has well brought out the difficulty of analysing oneself. In his poem there was a turkey living in a barn. The turkey was tired of eating grains. One day is left the barn in search of different food. The young ones followed the mother bird. Soon they reached a hill. the hill was full of black ants. The turkey started devouring them. It persuaded its little ones to eat freely. For a breakfast they consumed millions of ants. The turkey was quite unaware of it. But at the same time, it criticised the gluttony of men. It cursed man for consuming turkey for christmas. Herein lies the paradox. The turkey accused man for destroying a bird once a year, whereas it was killing a nation of ants for a breakfast. The turkey was committing the same fault, a million times graver, yet was ignorant of it. The poet tries to drive home this problem of recognising one's own iniquity.

Here is a practical suggestion. The moment you find a defect in another remember to look within yourself. Understand, behind every flaw that you recognise in another you have the same perhaps far more pronounced in your own personality. Do not consume all your life merely criticising the flaws and failings of others.

"Judge not others" cautioned Christ. The energy you waste in judging others is just what you need to make you live up to your own ideals. Observing a small blemish in a person what a strong tendency people have to overlook all his good traits! In the present society each member concentrates his attention on the faults of another. What defiles a person is not what goes into him but what comes out of him.

****

EVEN THIS SHALL PASS AWAY

Once in Persia reigned a king,
Who upon his signet ring
Graved a maxim true and wise,
Which, if held before his eyes,
Gave him counsel at a glance
Fit for every change and chance.
Solemn words, and these are they;
“Even this shall pass away.”

Trains of camels through the sand
Brought him gems from Samarcand;
Fleets of galleys through the seas
Brought him pearls to match with these;
But he counted not his gain
Treasures of the mine or main;
“What is wealth?” the king would say;
“Even this shall pass away.”

‘Mid the revels of his court,
At the zenith of his sport,
When the palms of all his guests
Burned with clapping at his jests,
He, amid his figs and wine,
Cried, “O loving friends of mine;
Pleasures come, but not to stay;‘Even this shall pass away.’”

Lady, fairest ever seen,
Was the bride he crowned his queen.
Pillowed on his marriage bed,
Softly to his soul he said:
“Though no bridegroom ever pressed
Fairer bosom to his breast,
Mortal flesh must come to clay –
Even this shall pass away.”

Fighting on a furious field,
Once a javelin pierced his shield;
Soldiers, with a loud lament,
Bore him bleeding to his tent.
Groaning from his tortured side,
“Pain is hard to bear,” he cried;
“But with patience, day by day,Even this shall pass away.”

Towering in the public square,
Twenty cubits in the air,
Rose his statue, carved in stone.
Then the king, disguised, unknown,
Stood before his sculptured name,
Musing meekly: “What is fame?
Fame is but a slow decay;Even this shall pass away.”

Struck with palsy, sore and old,
Waiting at the Gates of Gold,
Said he with his dying breath,
“Life is done, but what is Death?”
Then, in answer to the king,
Fell a sunbeam on his ring,
Showing by a heavenly ray,
“Even this shall pass away.”

By Theodore Tilton

Commentary by Swami A Parthasarathy

Theodore Tilton presents the king of Persia as a picture of detachment.  The king carved a great maxim on his ring:  EVEN THIS SHALL PASS AWAY.  Rooted in the highest values of life, he lived a life of true renunciation.  He would not identify with the best or the worst of things that this world offered him.  The king was bountifully blessed with wealth and woman, name and fame.  He faced also the pangs of disease, decay and approaching death.  But all along he maintained his serenity and objectivity in life.

       The world is an admixture of fortune and misfortune, pleasure and pain, virtue and vice.  The inevitable pairs of opposites in life are inexhaustible.  Your mental equilibrium and intellectual equipoise should remain unaffected by these fluctuations.  You become established in that state by your attunement to higher values.

       The great king of Persia achieved that exalted state.

       Lessons we learn from this poem:

1]  Experience every aspects of your life fully.

2]  When you go on experiencing your life fully, thee is no lingering of past experiences.  This is called as sanyas or true meaning of detachment and this is ephemeral and goes away.  .

THE PANDIT WHO COULD NOT SWIM - Tales and Parables of Sri Ramakrishna

Once several men were crossing the Ganges in a boat. One of them, a pandit, was making a great display of his erudition, saying that he had studied various books-the Vedas, the Vedanta, and the six systems of philosophy. He asked fellow passenger, "Do you know the Vedanta?" "No, revered sir." "The Samkhya and the Patanjala?" "No, revered sir." "Have you read no philosophy whatsoever?" "No, revered sir." The pandit was talking in this vain way and the passenger sitting in silence when a great storm arose and the boat was about to sink. The passenger said to the Pandit, "Sir, can you swim?" "No", replied the pandit. The passenger said, "I don't know Samkhya or the Patanjala, but I can swim."

***

What will a man gain by knowing many scriptures?
The one thing needful is to know how to cross the river the of the world.
God alone is real, and all else is illusory.

***

SOURCE:

TALES AND PARABLES OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA

THE WAY FOR FULFILLMENT OF YOUR DESIRE by Swamy Rama Tirtha

       The very moment that you rise above the desire, the object of desire seeks you; and the very moment that you assume the craving, seeking, asking, begging attitude, you will not have, you cannot have the object of desire. Rise above the thing, stand above it and it will seek you. That is the Law.

       It has been said, "Seek and it shall be given you, knock and it shall be opened unto you." That is misunderstood. Seek and you will never find, knock and it shall never be opened upto you.

      "First seek the kingdom of heaven and everything else will be added upto you!" 
That is the Law.

Law of Karma

       The Law of Karma says that man is the master of his own destiny. We make our own environments and circumstances. Every child is the father of his father; every daughter is the mother of her mother. These statements seem to be paradoxical; they appear to be preposterous; oh, but they are the whole Truth and nothing but Truth.

       According to the Law of Karma, when you desire things, so long as you go on craving and yearning for them, they are denied upto you. But after a period of craving and yearning, after a period of desiring, willing and wishing, there comes a time when you become tired of that willing, wishing and desiring, when you turn back to it, and become disgusted and hopeless, then it is brought to you. That is the Law of Karma.

       You know that in order that a man make progress, he will have to raise one step and bring the other down, lift one foot and drop the other. Similarly in order that the Law of Karma may reign, in order that your desires may be fulfilled and realized, there must come period when you rise above the desire, when you give up the desire; and thus it is by keeping off the wish and giving up the wish that the wish is satisfied. Usually the writers on the Law of Karma lay all the stress upon the positive side and ignore the negative side of the question. Rama tells you that all your wishes must be fulfilled; all your desires must be fructified. Everything that you long for must be brought before you, but there is one condition. Before it is realized, there must come upon a state where you give up the desire, and when you give up the desire, then will the desire be satisfied.

Swamy Rama Tirtha

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: Excerpts from the book on "In Woods of God-Realization Vol.II"
by Swamy Rama Tirtha.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~