Sunday, October 21, 2012

Intelligent Businessman

Once there was a businessman who had a flourishing business. He was a rich man with all the amenities of life. He had a beautiful family with lovely children. He was living a happy life when suddenly due to bad luck he had a big loss in business. Loss was such that he had to mortgage everything & ultimately lost his home also. All the members of the family, especially his wife started weeping at the loss of business & home but the businessman was not perplexed & was as calm as usual.

Seeing her husband so unconcerned about everything, said to him: "There is so big a problem that has come upon all of us but you are not worried at all; your heart seems to be that of a stone!! You don’t care that we have lost even our beautiful home also." At this the man said, "O.K. now I shall tell you why I am not worried? Last night, I dreamt that I had become an exalted king, I was having a palace of gold & was having everything of life, enjoying life to the fullest when you woke me up. Now I am really wondering whether I should weep for that Kingly status & a palace of gold or to the loss in life that has occurred to us.”

The businessman was really an intelligent man & knew philosophical truth that the waking state is as unreal as the dream state. Loss & gain in wakeful state are as real & as unreal as it is in dream state. Both does not remain forever. Only real thing is the one eternal substance, and that is the Self or Atman which never changes. In fact what we call life is nothing but a prolonged state of dream only which dissolves at the end of life.

This dream body of ours is not true as it dissolves when we wake up & dream state is over. Similarly this gross physical body of ours is also not permanent & true as it dissolves at the time of death. But our Self, our Soul which is beyond any type of body, is real & true as it remains even when dream or gross physical body is dissolved. Below verses of Bhagwat Gita says about this truth only.

"na-asato vidyate bhavo
nabhavo vidyate satah
ubhayor api drsto ’ntas
tv anayos tattva-darshibhih" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 16)

"Sri Krishna said: The unreal has no existence, and the real (Soul) never ceases to be; the reality of both has thus been perceived by the seers of the truth."

As per Bhagwat Gita we should not get disturbed in life due to success or failure in it. We should remain calm at mind in all circumstances. Below are few verse which explain that.

"yoga-sthah kuru karmani
sangam tyaktva dhananjaya
siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva
samatvam yoga ucyate" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Two verse 48)

"Sri Krishna said: Perform your duty equi-poised, O Arjuna, abandoning all attachment to success or failure. Such an equanimity is called yoga."

"samah satrau cha mitre cha
tatha manapamanayoh
sitosna-sukha-duhkhesu
samah sanga-vivarjitah"

"tulya-ninda-stutir mauni
santusto yena kenacit
aniketah sthira-matir
bhaktiman me priyo narah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Twelve verse 18-19)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, One who is equal to friends and enemies, who is equipoised in honor and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and distress, fame and infamy, who is always free from contaminating association, always silent and satisfied with anything, who doesn’t care for any residence, who is fixed in knowledge and who is engaged in devotional service—such a person is very dear to Me."

So we should have such an attitude in life that we do not get perturbed in all the conditions, whether it is success or failure, loss or gain. We should be equipoised in life. As per Bhagwat Gita such an equipoise person in life can only know the real truth of life.

Jai Sri Krishna

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Water the Roots

“Once a rich man employed a new servant in his house. Servant’s duties included everything of the house, as well as, gardening of the beautiful lawns, trees etc. in the house. On the first day, in the early morning in the house, owner asked the servant to do watering of all the plants in the garden. Poor servant had never done jobs in gardening, so he took a long plastic tube & started putting water on the leaves of all the trees in the garden. He went on putting water on each & every leaf of each tree & doing so the water tank in the house got empty.

Seeing no water coming in the taps of the house, the owner of the house enquired about, what was the matter. Suddenly owner realized that new servant has wasted all water in the garden. He immediately came to the garden & enquired from the servant, “why he was putting water on the leaves of each plant?” The ignorant servant said that he was obeying his master’s instructions only to water the plant. The owner got angry & told him that he has asked him to water the roots of each plant & not to put water on each & every leaf of each plant. The poor servant did not knew that by putting water in the roots only, each branch, each leaf of the tree is nourished & not by putting water on the leaves of the plant!!!!!!"

In our understanding of God, we also do such mistakes that we start watering the leaves instead of the roots. God is one supreme & that God has created all this creation of humans, demigods etc. In this world, there are many demigods but we should worship the One who has created all these demigods. We should know that “One Supreme God” & worship Him. That One God is the root of this world tree. If we shall worship the root cause of this world, we shall automatically worship all other demigods.”

In Bhagwat Gita Lord Krishna tells us, how by worshipping the One Supreme God, one can worship all other demigods.

"yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah
shraddhayarcitum icchati
tasya tasyachalam shraddham
tam eva vidadhamy aham" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Seven verse 21)

"Sri Krishna says to Arjuna: I am in everyone’s heart as the Super soul. As soon as one desires to worship some demigod, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to that particular demigod (deity)."

"sa taya shraddhaya yuktas
tasyaradhanam ihate
labhate cha tatah kaman
mayaiva vihitan hi tan" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Seven verse 22)

"Sri Krishna says to Arjuna: Endowed with such a faith, he endeavors to worship a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone."

"antavat tu phalam tesam
tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam
devan deva-yajo yanti
mad-bhakta yanti mam api" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Seven verse 23)

"Sri Krishna says to Arjuna: Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My Supreme planet."

"sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
mokshayisyami ma suchah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Eighteen verse 66)

"Sri Krishna says to Arjuna: "Abandon all other supports and look to me for protection. I shall purify you from the sins of the past; you do not grieve."

"ye tu dharmamritam idam
yathoktam paryupasate
sraddadhana mat-parama
bhaktas te ’tiva me priyah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Twelve verse 20)

"Sri Krishna says to Arjuna: Those who follow this imperishable path of devotional service of Me and who completely engage themselves with faith, making Me the supreme goal, are very, very dear to Me."

In Bhagwat Gita Chapter Ten, Lord Krishna is saying that he is the source of all beings & gods. Not even that as per Lord Krishna, all these universes & creations spring from but a spark of His splendor only. As per Him, He is seated in hearts of all living entities. He Himself is Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva & Lord Brahma. He Himself is Sun, Moon, Wind & Fire. He Himself is Rama God too. He Himself is Lord of wealth - Kubera. He Himself is Spiritual word Om. He Himself is river Ganges. Among women He Himself is manifested as Goddess of fortune (Lakshmi), Goddess of wisdom (Saraswati) & other Goddesses of fame, memory, intelligence, steadfastness and patience. As per Lord Krishna His opulence is limitless.



So let’s know that one One Supreme God from whom all other Gods, demigods have evolved. Let’s worship & devote ourself to that supreme deity only as by watering the roots (doing worship to the Supreme Lord), all the leaves shall automatically be watered (all other Gods & demigods shall automatically be worshipped).

Jai Sri Krishna

Sunday, October 07, 2012

Vanity or Egotism is Not Good for One’s Life

Once there was a powerful ‘Spiritual Guru”. He had a very devoted disciple who had staunch faith in the supreme powers of his Guru. He had so much faith in his Guru that he once simply walked over the river by simply chanting his Guru’s name. His Guru on seeing his disciple’s feat thought “Well, is there such a power in my mere name? Then how great and powerful must I be!” The next day, the Guru also tried to walk over the river chanting...”I......”I....”I, but no sooner did he step into the river water than he sank down and was soon drowned; for the poor man did not know how to swim even.”

So though Faith can bring miracles while vanity or egotism is not good for a person’s life & brings about the destruction of a person. Ego is nothing but to feel oneself more important than others, to feel different & superior to others. Such a feeling of finding oneself different from others is nothing but the ignorance & such an illusion is called ego. We all are part & parcel of the Omnipresent Soul & that one same soul is present in all of us. So if we are able to realize that soul within all of us then we cannot find ourselves different from others.

Human beings generally crave for Name, Fame, Pleasures of life etc. which satisfies one's ego & these are the Idols in one's life which a person adores very much. But these Idols do not do any good to one self as it obscures one's real 'Soul nature', which is divine with unlimited powers & is always blissful. Such craving for Name, Fame & Sense pleasures drowns one's self respect & obscures the divine being from our sight. These worthless temptations destroy one's reputation & always give delusion by which a person is not able to know his Divine Self.

Below is a verse of Bhagwat Gita which tells how an egoistic person behaves:

"ahankaram balam darpam
kamam krodham cha samsritah
mam atma-para-dehesu
pradvisanto ’bhyasuyakah" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Sixteen verse 18)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, Bewildered by false ego, strength, pride, lust and anger, these egoistic people become envious of the Supreme Lord, who is situated in their own bodies and in the bodies of others, and blaspheme against the real religion."

Below is a verse of Bhagwat Gita which tells how surrendering one's ego one can achieve the God:

"tam eva saranam gaccha
sarva-bhavena bharata
tat-prasadat param shantim
sthanam prapsyasi sasvatam" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Eighteen verse 62)

"Sri Krishna said: O Arjuna, surrender your ego fully unto the God. By His grace you will attain transcendental peace and the supreme and eternal abode."

As a rope that is burnt retains its shape intact, but has become all ashes, so that nothing can be bound with it; similarly, the person who feels one with everyone & is devoted to God, retains only the form of his egoism, but not has any idea of vanity (Ahamkâra).

So Let's shed our ego & not be egoistic, as it shall not do any good to one self. Let's surrender our ego in the Divine feet of the God & adore Him only so that He can give us a blissful life.



Jai Sri Krishna