M.O.K.S.H.A.

2009-12-08T09:08:00.004-08:00

What is Maya? Why is it difficult to conquer?

Maya means that which is not. It doesn’t mean that this world isn’t real. It just means that this world promises happiness but never delivers, because happiness is not to be found in the material world. It is just like a mirage in a desert. It promises water but there is no water. But that does not mean that real water doesn’t exist. The concept of real water exists, but it cannot be found in a mirage.

Likewise, the concept of true, eternal happiness exists but it cannot be found by focussing on this world. Then what about those who realise God or Parabrahman or Enlightenment? Don’t they find ‘the water of happiness and bliss’ in this very world? Yes, they do. But they have reached an evolved stage of consciousness, and while physically living in this world and knowing its transitory and illusory nature, they get emotionally and intellectually tuned in to the spiritual dimension. Nothing man-made or Brahma-made, nothing worldly, can ever make the soul happy. For the soul is a spiritual spark of Krishna and unless it does an about-turn, unless it turns towards Paramatma (Supersoul), it will forever remain in distress.

Nobody in this world is happy. If a material person says he’s happy, he or she is merely pretending. It’s just not possible. The world’s richest person, the world’s most famous person, the world’s most powerful person have their own problems.

So Maya promises the kind of happiness that is not to be found in the world and drives you crazy. To one man she says earn 1 crore rupees and you’ll be happy. To another she says earn 10 crore rupees and you’ll be happy. And some fools want to make 100 crores or 200 crores. Even if you receive all the crores of rupees in this world, you will still not be happy unless you are God-conscious. And if you are God-conscious, you will be happy even if you are a pauper.

A palace without God is a hut. A hut with God is a palace.

Remember, money that comes automatically and without unnecessary chase and endeavours is money sent by God.

Of course, one can exert more and earn more money; there is no problem in doing this. For Krishna has given us independence and He is not going to interfere in the way we function. It is actually our wish. And this is more often the case in Kali yuga, because usually it is seen that the more money a person has, the more is the distance created between him and God. It is the influence of Kali yuga that will actually help you become rich; but will not help you become a devotee. So anyone who is being attracted to Krishna is actually the most fortunate soul around. Others who are only attracted to money and fame are the most unfortunate. They will get these because God has chosen to punish them further. We should pity them and keep satsanga (sat = truth; sanga = company; preferably the company of Krishna devotees).

We can choose Krishna; or we can choose Maya. We can’t choose to serve both. Moreover, greed can never be satisfied.

Try to understand the following stories:

Seven jars of gold

There was a man in ancient India who was a poor barber. The king was pleased with him and appointed him as the royal barber. The barber was happy and lived a contented life with his wife.

One day, as he was passing through a jungle, he heard a voice. A yaksha (a class of demigods) called out to him.

‘What do you want?’ asked the barber.

‘I want to ask you if you’d like to have seven jars of gold,’ said the yaksha.

‘Sure,’ said the barber, ‘who wouldn’t?’

‘Ok,’ said the yaksha, ‘go home. You will find the seven jars there.’

The barber rushed towards his home, and true to the yaksha’s words, seven huge jars of gold were standing in his living room. His wife too was overjoyed. But he saw that while six jars were full of gold, the seventh jar was only half-full. This imbalance made the barber uncomfortable.

He asked his wife to collect all the gold they had saved over the years, and he threw the gold necklaces and rings into the seventh jar. It was still only half-full. He borrowed money from the king, bought more gold, and threw it into the seventh jar. The jar was still half empty.

He sold his house; bought more gold with the money; took a house on rent; tried filling the seventh jar, but it just swallowed all the gold and remained half empty.

The king saw that the barber was becoming increasingly unhappy.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked the king, ‘did a yaksha give you seven jars of gold?’

‘Yes, my lord,’ said the astonished barber, ‘how did you know? And ever since I have been unhappy.’

‘The seventh jar, which is half empty, symbolises our mind, our greed,’ said the king. ‘The yaksha had tried to tempt me too, but when I asked him if the gold can be used to help people, he just vanished. You know, the jars are cursed. You can’t spend the gold. You can only become unhappy trying to fill the seventh one. Go, return the jars to the yaksha, and you will regain your lost happiness.’

Our minds are also like the seventh jar. The more we get, the more we want; and our mind is never satisfied. But if at all you wish to be greedy, be greedy for God-realisation. That is the best use of the natural emotion called greed.

The magical conch shell

A businessman in ancient India is given a conch shell by a sage who is pleased with his service. The sage says that it will give him a gold coin every night if he asks for it. He’s happy and takes it home to proudly display it to his wife.

Come dusk, he locks himself up in his room, sits prayerfully, and says, ‘Dear conch shell, please give me a gold coin.’ Immediately, a gold coin materialises on the floor and he’s overjoyed. He takes the coin to a goldsmith who confirms that it’s real.

Many nights pass like this and he is happily collecting gold coins. One night, another sage is passing by, and he hears the businessman talking to his wife and praising the conch shell to the high heavens. The sage knocks on the door and the businessman welcomes him.

‘I heard you have a conch shell that gives one gold coin every night?’ asks the sage.

‘Yes, sir, but please don’t tell anyone,’ says the businessman in a hushed tone.

‘I won’t,’ says the sage, ‘but I have a better conch shell. It can give much more.’

‘Really?’ says the businessman.

‘Yes,’ says the sage, ‘in fact it’s so kind it doubles up whatever I ask of it.’

‘That’s great!’ says the businessman.

‘Watch,’ says the sage, removing his conch shell from his cotton bag, ‘dear conch shell, please give me one hundred gold coins…’

‘Why not two hundred?’ asks the conch shell.

‘Two… two… hundred… and it’s… it’s even talking!’ stutters the businessman.

‘Yes,’ says the sage, ‘it talks too…’

‘Please, sir,’ says the businessman, ‘please give me this conch shell. I will give you mine in exchange.’

The sage agrees.

After the sage has departed, the businessman tells his wife: ‘Darling, no point taking one gold coin every night, how boring and slow, I am going to ask for a thousand gold coins right now. I might even become king, who knows?’

‘You did a smart thing by exchanging. The sage is a simpleton. And it’s also a talking conch shell,’ she says.

‘Dear conch shell,’ begins the businessman, ‘give me a thousand gold coins!’

‘Why not two thousand?’ asks the conch shell.

‘Ok, give me two thousand.’

‘Why not four thousand?’

‘Ok, give me four thousand.’

‘Why not eight thousand?’

By daybreak, they realise that the conch shell promises but never delivers. It just keeps doubling up whatever they ask, and doesn’t give anything.

Your mind is exactly like the second conch shell. It says: Get a new car, then and only then will you be happy. You get a new car and you are bored after a few days. It says: Get a better music system, even Harish has a modern music system. You get it and you are bored after a few days.

Understand: The mind will promise and never deliver. Happiness is not a state of mind; happiness is a state of God-consciousness or God-realisation.

Maya is eternal; we individual souls are eternal; Krishna is eternal. We got eternally trapped in Maya because of our past foolishness. Maya is the domain of space-time, and everything we perceive with our five senses: touch, taste, sight, hearing and smelling, is nothing but Maya. Whatever we see is Maya. Even space-time is material, though very subtle matter. So are our minds and intellect. There is nothing spiritual about them. The only thing spiritual in us is the atma, and the Paramatma. But the atma will stay trapped in Maya as long as the mind is thinking that it can get out of Maya with its own puny efforts. We can get eternally released from Maya, and personally associate with Krishna in Goloka Vrindavana (Krishna’s Supreme Abode, aka Krishnaloka) if we understand the wisdom buried in the following pages and use our wisdom and God-given intellect to stage The Great Escape.

Why did we get trapped in Maya?

Perhaps because long time ago we asked Krishna: What is Maya? Or perhaps we asked Krishna: What is the concept called Eternal Time? And there was no way Krishna could answer these questions without making us experience Maya and Time.

Goloka Vrindavana is a Timeless domain, and Time revolves eternally around this central axle of Timelessness, just like the wheel of your car revolves around the stationary axle. The wheel cannot move if the axle also moves. So the axle of Krishna’s Ultimate Home is Timelessness; and the wheel of Time is Samsara or The Material Universes which revolve eternally around it.

The wheel of your car will stop when you apply the brake; and likewise in your life, the wheel of Maya will stop when you apply the spiritual brake: which is devotional service to Krishna.

When you become a fully-evolved Krishna devotee, the wheel of Eternal Time and Eternal Maya will stop for you — though it will continue moving for those who haven’t yet become devotees — and you will become an Eternal associate of Krishna in Goloka Vrindavana after you leave this present material body.

Anyway, coming back to why we got trapped by Maya, an interesting story from the life of Sage Narada can help us understand our position.

Swami Harshananda

to be continued.......

2009-12-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

Whenever we buy a TV or a laptop or a DVD player, it comes with an instruction manual — on what to do and what not to do. This way the instrument stays healthy and serves us well.
Likewise, the human body is also an instrument, a yantra (machine), in which the atma (soul) and the paramatma (Supersoul) are travelling together. Now, the best and most healthy use of this body-machine, this bio-engineered miracle yantra, is mentioned in the foremost of instruction manuals: The Bhagavad Gita.
Here, I would also like to add Srimad Bhagavatam, for that is the ripened fruit of Vedic wisdom. If the Bhagavad Gita is an undergraduate study, the Srimad Bhagavatam is a postgraduate study. But you can’t understand the magnificence of the Bhagavatam and you can’t be introduced to its inner mysteries unless you have understood the Gita and tried to live by the Gita. Also, the inner mysteries of the Gita are also revealed to you in proportion to your devotion and surrender to a devotee of Krishna, who Himself is the devotee of a devotee of Krishna. Hence, a guru is needed, for this is not mere material knowledge — this is the king of knowledge, the raja margam, the royal path to God, and is best understood in the presence of a lover of Krishna.
God is Who? Bliss is Where? / Swami Harshananda Page 6

In fact, this trans-sensual, transcendental knowledge percolates down from a long lineage of acharyas from Time immemorial. The original guru is Lord Krishna Himself.
Shaastram (spiritual scriptural injunction) can also be considered a weapon, as in shastra (weapon), and is designed to destroy the eternal influence of Maya.
Ekam shaastram devaki putra gitam means: There is only one true shaastra (scripture or the right way to God) and it is the Gita sung by Devaki’s son, Krishna.
Eko devo devaki putra eva means: There’s only one God; and he is Devaki’s son, Krishna.
Eko mantras tasya naamaani yani means: There is only one sound vibration, one mantra — the holy names of Krishna.
Karmapy ekam tasya Krishnasya seva means: There is only one duty; and that is devotional service to Krishna.
All other scriptures are childish, and are maybe 1500 or 2000 years old, but the Gita is eternal. Krishna says in the Gita that He spoke it to the sun-god, Vivashvan, millions of years ago. Since Krishna is Eternal and is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, only what He has said has any eternal validity.

God is Who? Bliss is Where? / Swami Harshananda Page 7

Scriptures floated by messiahs etcetera, and by the marketing agents of a few saints of the past are not valid. But in Kali Yuga (the Age of Hypocrisy, Ignorance, Delusion, Untruth, Quarrel) many scriptures will be floated to misguide the gullible public; and Vaishnavas, Krishna-lovers, and true spiritual scientists should ignore them. There is no need to argue with anyone about this. Just write this with indelible ink on your heart: Krishna is God. So the Gita is the only authentic scripture, and is a mystical science that guides us on how to go back to Krishna. If anyone thinks or says otherwise, keep away from him or her. Don’t convince him. Instead, spend your time in discussing and tasting the bliss of the Gita and the Bhagavatam with fellow devotees. Or analyse these alone in the solitude of your room. This is perfection of human life.

Swami Harshananda

to be continued.....

2009-12-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

Also, when you are in prison, you aren’t bothered if you have malai koftas or palak paneer or poori sabji for dinner. Fame and money are just like that. Prisoners are comparing their respective wealth in this mundane material world; and the wise man laughs at them. Plus the greatest fool is someone who doesn’t even know that he is a prisoner.

Maya is like that. It has made us forget that we are actually prisoners in this transitory, ever-changing material world. But when someone realises that he is a prisoner, all he wants to do is escape from his pitiful state. All the great devotees, great saints, the great acharyas, the great souls of the past realised that this material dimension comprising of the five elements (sky, air, fire, water, earth) is actually a prison; and also felt that the only release is God-realisation. So they strove for that: for Eternal Freedom from material bondage. So should we.

This is the only perfection of human life. The human form is very difficult to obtain. So Patanjali Maharaja, in his Yoga Sutra, mentions: Athatho Brahma Jignyasa. This means: Therefore [since you are fortunate enough to be born a human being], try to cultivate a healthy curiosity regarding ParaBrahman (Eternal Truth) and the existence of God.

This going back to Godhead is the only happiness, the only escape, and the only thing worth striving for in this material world.

God is Who? Bliss is Where? / Swami Harshananda Page 3

There is no point striving unnecessarily for money, power, fame, prestige, honour and respect, when everything is transitory. These will vanish in sixty or hundred years and one will again be cast into the material world in any of the 84 lakh (8.4 million) species. Today’s king is tomorrow’s ant.

So beware of the gifts of the material world — they are temporary and do not give us any lasting benefit. If any of these gifts (or all of these material temporary gifts) comes to you automatically or with minimal natural efforts, then it is by the grace of God and should be accepted. Use them in the service of God. If any of these doesn’t come automatically, then that too should be accepted as God’s grace. God has a holistic vision, a 360 degree vision (or infinite degree vision), and we can’t understand His ways and His reasons from our limited points of view. We shouldn’t even try to. An ant cannot understand an Einstein. The distance between God and us (because of our ignorance) is much vaster.

We should develop love for God without questioning His motives. This is called Acceptance, and this is the first step towards spiritualising our lives. We can’t reach 100 % Acceptance overnight. It will take a lifetime or even more. So we have to patiently develop the wisdom in us to see that God runs the universe with immaculate precision.

God is Who? Bliss is Where? / Swami Harshananda Page 4

Spiritual efforts are never wasted; material efforts are always wasted. Even if you accumulate billions of material virtues, because you are a generous doctor or a great philanthropist who donated billions of dollars or rupees to charity, you will only reach Svarga (Heaven or Paradise); and when the balance of your virtues (punya) are over, you will be thrown again into the material prison where you have to begin again from zero.

But if you make spiritual efforts, and try to become a devotee, and if you reached, let’s say, 1 % spiritual evolution in this birth, then the next time around, you don’t have to begin from zero, for you will begin from 2 %. Plus you are guaranteed a human birth in a rich family or in a family of saints. This is God’s especial favour to they who focus on realising Him.

Acceptance of God’s will is the first step. In the beginning, nobody can accept God’s will fully. Practise your spiritual efforts and when you realise God, a 100 % Acceptance will magically dawn on you. This is always a happening, and it cannot be manipulated. It is also the last step, and is called Iswara-pranidhana (knowing everything to be God’s will and surrendering to His designs), or atma-nivedana (surrendering one’s soul at His Lotus Feet).

But acceptance doesn’t mean that we sit lazily and don’t put in our best efforts in whatever vocation we are placed in; on the contrary it means we put our best foot forward and dedicate our work-hours and the results of such work to God.

God is Who? Bliss is Where? / Swami Harshananda Page 5

You have done your duty and it is up to God to decide whether you get a banana or a mango or a verbal thrashing from your boss for your sincere efforts. We should try and practise contentment. This is not a day’s job. Maybe an entire lifetime might be spent in trying to reach this state. But it is worth it.

to be continued.....

Swami Harshananda

GOD IS WHO? BLISS IS WHERE?

2009-10-09T12:43:00.000-07:00

Ancient wisdom and stories for modern souls

By Swami Harshananda

INTRODUCTION

Ekam shaastram devaki putra gitam

Eko devo devaki putra eva

Eko mantras tasya naamaani yani

Karmapy ekam tasya Krishnasya seva

There is only one true scripture or spiritual treatise that explains how to get back to God.

The spiritual spark, the soul, the ultimate in consciousness, which is our true self, has got separated from God, and it is out duty to go back to Him. (It got separated infinite ages ago, and nobody can find out when it happened, so never ask: When did I first fall into the trap of Maya or Divine Hypnosis? The question can’t be answered. We are in Maya because we didn’t want to be with God, as we wanted to lord over material nature. So God granted our wish. Now we want to go back to God, and He will grant our wish.)

Maya means prison. There is no point asking on which date you got thrown into prison — that won’t help you. But the mere recognition that you are in prison (this material nature is known as Durga, or prison, because we all made mistakes and have been given an opportunity to rectify ourselves), and the mere realisation that you are in material bondage is enough to help you plan an escape.

(TO BE CONTINUED...)

Stop, look, read and reach God

2009-10-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

A few points to tickle your two terabyte brain:

Happiness is not a state of mind; happiness is a state of God-realisation.

God remains invisible to material senses; and is visible only to spiritual or transcendental senses.

A human birth is hard to attain; and is achieved only after transmigrating for trillions and trillions of births in lower species like amoebae, bacteria, plants, insects, mosquitoes, dogs, cats and many others.

All the 33 crore or 330 million demigods living in ‘so-called’ Heaven or Paradise thirst for a human birth because God-realisation is very easy only in the human format.

This human birth is either a springboard to God’s Supreme Abode; or a parachute that takes your soul to lower species — it all depends on how you use it.

God is a verb who’s beyond all verbal arguments.

This world is called dukkha-alayam (dukkha = misery; alayam = home or abode); God’s home is called ananda chinmaya rasa (abode of transcendental bliss).

You have had infinite human births with their infinite sufferings; and you can intelligently decide to taste infinite bliss now.

Wake up your spiritual potential — it’s now or never.

You have sacrificed God on the altar of temporary pleasures, a little money, a little fame, a little power and prestige — it’s time to do a 180 degree turn and sacrifice trivial pleasures for eternal bliss.

You have had infinite parents, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, lovers etc throughout your infinite births — but you haven’t yet realised that you are the imperishable atma (soul) that can find peace and bliss only when it connects itself to the Eternal Lover, Paramatma (God).

You have postponed meeting God infinite times, thinking that ultimately you will reach God, but you won’t because you are gathering bad karma every second, and this habit of postponement will not help you reach bliss.

Stop, look, read and reach God.

Yours in Godliness,

Swami Harshananda