Sunday, June 30, 2013

O God, You Alone Know Yourself

Once a debate started among spiritual scholars of Banaras about the God. Every scholar wanted to prove that he knew the God best. Vedantist tried to prove it through Vedas, while others tried to prove it through other Puranas & other spiritual scriptures. Somehow everyone knew only of the some aspects of the God & tried to explain that in his own way. However God is Infinite, Omnipotent & Omnipresent. Nobody can know that Infinite God in totality. Only God himself can know himself fully. In Ramayana, it is said that, “Hari Anant, Hari Katha Ananta”, which means that “God is Infinite & His Stories are Infinite.”

Below verse of Bhagwat Gita also says that:

"svayam evatmanatmanam
vettha tvam purushottama
bhuta-bhavana bhutesa
deva-deva jagat-pate" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Ten verse 15)

"Arjuna said to Lord Krishna: Indeed, You alone know Yourself by Your own internal potency, O Supreme human being, origin of all, Lord of all beings, God of gods, Lord of the universe!"

As per Bhagwat Gita, Supreme God Lord Krishna can be known by His devotees only. Those people who hate the Lord & are of demonic nature, do not know Him. Only those devotees who know Lord Krishna as Purusottama can know about Him who is the creator of all living entities. He is also the supreme controller of everyone & all these universes. He is the origin of all other demigods, so to worship some demigod is indirectly worshiping that Supreme Lord only, though not correctly as we can worship Him directly also. That Supreme Lord is also worshipped by all the demigods so we should directly worship that Lord.



Jai Shri Krishna

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Bend Your Ego

Once there was a very egoistic person. He never used to bend before anybody. He was an atheist & did not believe in God. He used to think that he was the most powerful person & never used to bend his head before anybody, neither before elderly people, neither before saints nor God.

One day he was travelling beside a beautiful, clean river that he felt thirsty. There was a saint who was also moving beside that egoistic person. He asked the saint that he is feeling thirsty & how he can get some water. The saint told him that he is moving beside the beautiful clean river & he can drink as much amount of water, as he can. On this, that egoistic person said, “If I need to drink the water of the river then I shall need to bend down before the river but he never bends before anyone, so how can he bend now before the river.” At this the saint replied that in that case he shall need to go thirsty only.”

To be egoistic is not good. Ego is self destructing. Ravana, Kansa & other such persons were killed due to their egoistic nature only. Ego keeps us away from the great God who is the reality in nature, who can give us the right intellect to understand the mysteries of this universe & can give us the Bliss of the soul.

To be at peace with yourself & be happy at all the times, you need to surrender your ego to the God completely. We need to take complete refuge in God by surrendering our ego at the feet of God. By complete surrender to God we do get freedom from all our sins and sorrows. In God there is no sin or sorrow. God is like the Sun in which darkness cannot exist. God is complete Joy, complete Bliss. When we are surrendering our ego to God, then we are surrendering ourselves to Joy & Bliss.

Whenever our ego separates ourselves from God, we become sad & unhappy & all tensions of life surround us. In any case we should not be egoistic, as to be egoistic is to show our separate existence from God, separate existence from Joy & Bliss. When the subtle veil of ego is torn between you & God then you are full of Joy & happiness. Just think yourself to be an instrument of God & devote fully to God.

So let's surrender our ego in the Divine feet of the God & adore Him only so that He can give us a blissful life.

In Bhagwat Gita also God says that:

"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 unto God fully. By His grace you will attain transcendental peace and the supreme and eternal abode."


Jai Shri Krishna

Sunday, June 09, 2013

God Is Actually Ruling This Universe

Every morning Sun emerges from the eastern horizon & dispels the darkness of night. With the help of light of the Sun whole world gets lit up & all creatures are able to sustain themselves. Sun is the source of energy to this world & it's energy nurtures our earth just like a mother feeds her children. Now just imagine if Sun stops rising in the morning. In such a case all the creatures including us shall come to perish for the want of sunlight & it's energy.

Now who has created this Sun & who in this Universe is ensuring that it rises daily from the east to sustain all creatures? Certainly no human being has done this. Sun was created by the Supreme Power called God & only He is ensuring that it rises daily from the east & that all creation is maintained.

In fact a Supernatural Power exists in this universe which has created us & all other universal forms. He is having supernatural powers, who is omniscient (knows everything), who is omnipresent (who is present everywhere), omnipotent (who is having all the powers & is all powerful), who is Infinite in size, knowledge & powers, one who is imperishable & indestructible. Faith of humans in such a big & great entity having all the powers is known as God.

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.

This whole world has it's existence in that Universal Soul (God) only. God is like the ocean & you are like a wave of that ocean. We all are waves of the same Ocean. There is no higher or lower wave. As the waves and the ocean are one, so are you, part & parcel of God only. One's ego only separates one from the God. Just lose your ego & dive yourself in the ocean of Universal Soul.

When a fire is burning, many sparks come out it. Similarly, all these souls have come out from that Universal Soul. "Mundaka Upanisad" explains that only:

"tat etat satyam yatha su-diptat pavakad
visphulingah sahasrasah prabhavante
sa-rupah tathaksharad vividhah saumya
bhavah prajayante tatra caivapi yanti"

The Supreme God is real and eternal. As many thousands of sparks come from a blazing fire, so many different living entities are manifested from the imperishable Supreme God and then again go & merge into Him.

In Bhagwat Gita also God says that this whole world & it's people are nothing else but part & parcel of Him only. Just like clusters of Yarn-Beads are woven on a thread, so is this whole world threaded in Him. So You are nothing but a "Spark of the Divine".

"mattah parataram nanyat
kincid asti dhananjaya
mayi sarvam idam protam
sutre mani-gana iva" (Bhagwat Gita: Chapter Seven verse 7)

"Sri Krishna said:

There is nothing else besides Me,
Like clusters of Yarn-Beads,
Formed by knots on a thread,
All this world is threaded on Me (universal soul)."

So let's worship that Supreme Power who is ruling this Universe, someone who is all powerful, Infinite in size. One who is all knowledge, one who is imperishable & indestructible.


Jai Shri Krishna

Sunday, June 02, 2013

When Greatest Sinners became Saints

In scriptures, there are many stories, when robbers and murderers were converted to monkhood and to sainthood. Below are two stories in brief of persons, who were great robbers but were converted to saints by the divine people.

Story of Rishi Balmiki :

In ancient times in India, there was a robber named Ratnakar who lived in the forests. He was a cruel hunter and a robber who did all the heinous Karmas in life. Everyone in the forest, from birds to animals to humans was afraid of him. One day, he was looking for a victim in the forest, when he came into contact with great sage Narada, who was chanting the names of God. Ratnakar wanted to rob him but sage Narada advised him to stop stealing and killing the creatures as it was a very sinful act. He advised Ratnakar to start meditating & chanting the names of Lord Rama. Somehow he could not chant the name of Rama so he advised him to chant “Mara, Mara”, which he chanted but it responded in a reverse sequence like Rama, Rama only. Through reciting the names of Lord Rama he became a great saint who wrote the great epic ‘Ramayana’.

Story of Angulimala :

Similarly in the times of Lord Buddha, there was a deadly robber named Angulimala. He was so cruel that after looting people, he used to cut the fingers of people & take it with him. Once that robber and murderer came into contact with Lord Buddha & got converted to monkhood and later to sainthood. Lord Buddha did not judge Angulimala from his appearances and his external behavior. but saw the potential to reform him & make him a saint & did so by his divine capacity.

In Bhagwat Gita also, God assures his disciple Arjuna in many ways & asks him to take refuge in Him & says that He shall emancipate him of sin in all the ways, shall rescue him in his life always. Many times we think that we have done many sins in life & how God shall accept us, but God makes it very clear in Bhagwat Gita that once a person becomes devoted to Him, He does not consider that person a sinner, rather God considers that person to be a Saint as he has taken the right decision in his life to become devoted to God.

Api chet su-duracharo
bhajate maam ananya-bhak
sadhurev sa mantavya
samyag vyvasito hi sah' (Gita: Chapter IX verse 30)

'Even if the vilest sinner worships Me with full devotion, he should be considered a noble soul or saint; as he has taken the right step by worshipping me.'

'kshipram bhavti dharmatma
shasvac-chantim nigachati
kauntey pratijanihi
na me bhaktah pranashyati' (Gita: Chapter IX verse 31)

'He speedily becomes virtuous and secures lasting peace. O son of Kunti, know it for certain that My devotee never falls.'

Through above verse 31, God is telling Arjuna that such a sinful person after becoming His devotee becomes a person of good virtues and always remains in peace & such a peace is not temporary but is ever lasting. God is assuring the son of Kunti (another name of Arjuna, his disciple) that his devotee never falls again in life as He always protects him. So let's all worship the God always so that He can protect us always.



Jai Sri Krishna