SELF KNOWLEDGE

CONTENTS

1. PRAYER

2. KAUPINA PANCHAKAM (MEDITATION)

3. INSIGHTFUL INTROSPECTION

4. SNIPPETS OF WISDOM

5. CHILDREN'S CORNER

6. SUBHASHITANI

VOLUME :008 AUGUST 2019 NO. 1

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वागथार्िवव संपृक्तौ वागथर्प्रितपत्तये।

जगतः िपतरौ वने्द पावर्तीपरमेश्वरौ॥ १-१

“In order to gain mastery in expressing the word and its meaning , I worship the Primeval Parents of the Universe , Parvati and Paramesvara , who are inseparable as the word from the meaning.”

- Raghuvamsam (Kalidasa)

जाग्रत्स्वप्नसुषुप्त्यािदप्रपञ्चं यत्प्रकाशते ।

तद्ब्रह्माहिमित ज्ञात्वा सवर्बन्धैः प्रमुच्यते ॥ १७॥

“That which illumines the fields of experiences such as waking , dream and deep sleep - knowing That Brahman to be one’s own Self , the wise is liberated from all limitations or bondage.”

Kaivalya Upanishad

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KAUPINA PANCAKAM

MEDITATION

SWAMI SUDDHANANDA To be in meditation is not to dismiss , not to destroy , annihilate , disregard or negate anything in this creation. Your attempt either to negate or to assert are both your imagination and indulgence, your pain and suffering. The moment all attempts cease , you are one with GOD Himself - call it Saguna Isvara or Nirguna Brahma. Really, you cannot name it because the moment you name , it becomes Saguna , no more Nirguna . The moment you name it , how can it be nameless? Therefore your every speech , every perception , every thought is GOD . Every bit of naming is Isvara Himself . You can never move away from the lap of GOD. You can never move away from the body of God , eternally being a part of it . To be in meditation is not to create a new condition , but to be with that Primeval , Primordial , most ancient but ever fresh state of Being .Every moment the body is changing, thoughts are changing whereas the consciousness remains changeless. Individually again , the body might have changed but at the level of Total Body, there is no change . It remains constant. In the body of God nothing is born, nothing is dead , just as , in the body of the ocean the waves are neither born nor dead .

The ocean is celebrating itself a constant state of water always .You do not call it a changing ocean . It is always constant . The dance of Nataraja is the graceful dance of Siva-soumya Tandava . The creation is a beautiful , graceful dance of God Himself. There are infinite moods but nobody stands isolated. Nothing remains untouched by the All-Pervasive. Can you thus see yourself as you are and dance away in the realm of the greatest dancer Nataraja , being a part of the dance as well as the Dancer?

The whole creation is in constant movement, yet there is total steadiness because there is no movement for the Infinite . The movement is possible from a place to an other place where you are not . But ‘you’ are All-Pervasive and All-Pervasive cannot have any movement . So at once mobile and immobile , moving yet not moving, dancing yet absolutely steady .

The thoughts can never limit the Awareness , All-Pervasive . Therefore this’I’, the individuality can sacrifice itself ultimately at the altar of God and thereafter He alone is . That sacrifice is no sacrifice at all , just feel that God alone is .Where you saw the isolation there itself, now you see the cosmic celebration , the Divinity itself . There is no more any attempt to dismiss a dress or to create one . Your sense of being without the name or the word ‘I’ overwhelms the creation .

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KAUPINA PANCAKAM

MEDITATION

SWAMI SUDDHANANDA When you see This as it is , you are moving with the cross section of the creation . The innermost and the outermost or in and through everything is the same Awareness. The body is a part of God Himself . God alone is and the dance continues . In one form or the other everything continues to exist . The particular form shall disappear , this body shall die but the Totality will not throw this body outside of itself . If you see the annihilation of your body as a part of God Himself , then you are already merged in the Totality . There is no further sacrifice in the name of God.

Long before the body collapses , you give it to Him to whom it belongs , because you abide in your Self , the awareness , as you are . Then the speechless you speak , thought-less you think, perception less you perceive and egoless you continue .

SNIPPETS OF WISDOM When you are driving a car, you start it in first gear and keep shifting gears as you proceed depending upon the speed . But each time while changing gears you touch neutral in between to ensure smooth driving . In the same way when you are changing roles in life if you keep touching the neutral , the ‘Self’ you will have a smooth ride . Any change in speed involves a touch of neutral to avoid noise - inside or outside !

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When a child is trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle ,first he may misplace the pieces , but with trial and error learns soon to place each piece in the right place and the pattern emerges. In the same way , when we learn to place the objective world , the body , the mind , and the thoughts in their own places we get the right picture without any distortion . Thus the puzzle can be solved! - Swami Suddhananda

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INSIGHTFUL INTROSPECTION N.PRABHAKARAN

For an average individual, happiness in life means he must be well off in educational qualification, job, marriage and sufficiently propertied. If a major disaster takes place in his personal life, the individual will be thrown off and would definitely think about the relevance of his notions of where his happiness actually lies that he had about life. Then comes a stage where he introspects about his life. If he is fortunate, he comes across a right Guru who gives direction to his life by teaching Self-knowledge. The mental agony that an individual undergoes on account of life's problem is a blessing in disguise. The teachings of the Guru enable him to recognize a thought pattern in his mind. He learns from the Guru that mind is nothing but thoughts and that the thoughts can be broadly grouped under mano (doubting perception), buddhi (intellect – which is decisive), chitta (memory) and the ahankara (the – ‘I’ thought). The nature of mind is sometimes doubting, sometimes decisive, sometimes present with irrelevant thoughts and most of the time is under the spell of ‘I’ thought, which takes credit for either good or bad things done by the individual. The first three aspects can be understood easily and the final aspect of mind – the ‘I’ thought, is so deceptive that it takes considerable time to understand.

In some instances, the understanding happens only after considerable damage. The student experiences that the same thought when repeated becomes an emotion. Upon introspection and further observation, if the disturbing thought appears again, he becomes aware of it and by repeated practice, the individual develops the habit not to react to such thoughts. Being with Guru, his conviction grows that he has a thought which needs to be managed without being overpowered by it.

The root cause of the human problem lies in the non-recognition of Self. Their identification with the body-mind mechanism is total which in turn develops a false sense of individuality called 'I' thought, because the focal point of his interaction with the world starts from the 'I' thought rather than from who he really is.

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Your Mother , your tradition , the eternal flow of wisdom waits for you to recognize it as a part of your life . If you do not recognize it , your life will be a harsh landscape with a few cacti blooming , but will miss out the fragrance of dense ,deep serene wilderness. Pause for a while in life to question all your actions , beliefs ,education and achievements . Eternity is absolutely in no rush for it is a continuous ‘NOW’ ! - Swami Suddhananda

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INSIGHTFUL INTROSPECTION N. PRABHAKARAN

The understanding becomes easy if the student has a prepared mind. The unprepared mind also develops the sensitivity after being with the Guru for a period of time. Fortunate are those who recognize “Self” early. This understanding helps us to face the day-to-day life with so much ease and confidence.

It is here that a Guru, who is not a person, but Self personified, a living Reality, helps us to shift our understanding from body-mind mechanism to the Self – the Happiness, and that the apparent life’s problems are nothing but the creation of our own mind. This teaching should not confined to the few students of Vedanta but to the entire world as a whole for a happy living. It has been a wonderful journey for me with apparent ups and downs. Whatever I am now is because of the teaching and I am grateful for the teaching and the Guru Parampara which have helped in more ways than one. The word grateful is too weak to express my feelings.

CHILDREN’S CORNER

God's calculation

Once two persons were sitting near a temple and chit chatting. It was getting dark and cloudy. By then another person came there and asked if he could join them. They replied: “Oh, with pleasure!” They were talking as friends. Suddenly it started to rain. They were all stuck there. The third guy felt hungry and told the other two. “Oh, we too are hungry,” they said. He had three rotis and I had five. “Let’s all of us share the rotis!” said the second guy. Then a question arose as to how to share 8 rotis among three of them. The first person suggested dividing each roti into three pieces so as to make 24 pieces in all. Then each one of them would get 8 pieces.Everyone liked the idea. They divided the rotis into 24 pieces and ate 8 pieces each to satisfy their hunger.

After that, they all fell asleep.In the morning, the third person thanked the other two persons for allowing him to spend some time with them. He was very grateful to them for sharing their rotis and being helpful. Out of happiness he gave them 8 gold coins and went away.

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CHILDREN’S CORNER

God's calculation After his departure, the first person said:“O.K. Let’s share the gold coins. 4 coins to each one of us”. The second person disagreed and said: “since I shared 5 rotis, I should get 5 gold coins and you must get 3 coins as you gave 3rotis only”. Slowly the arguments grew and ended up in a big fight. They went to see the village head for justice.The village head said: “Leave the coins with me. I will think over your problem and render judgement next day”. During the night God appeared in the dream of the village head and asked him what kind of justice was he going to deliver next morning.

The village head said: “the second person’s stand in the ratio of 5:3 appears to be logical to me”. To that answer, God laughed and told him that he did not analyze their narration carefully.Then God said: “ as per My judgement the first person must get only 1 gold coin and the second person must get 7 coins! The village head was surprised. God explained to him that the first person, no doubt, made 9 pieces out of his 3 rotis , but, he ate 8 pieces himself and shared only 1 piece, whereas the second person made 15 pieces from his 5 rotis and gave away 7 pieces for sharing.

Hence the ratio 1:7 is My calculation and My justice.Next day, the village head accordingly delivered justice and explained to them the rationale behind his decision. From this story we need to understand how we look at things and how God looks at them totally differently. From what we possess and how much we are willing to share out of it with others is the way God looks at the action. A donation of Rs 300 from someone having Rs 3000 is valued more by God than a donation of Rs 3 lakhs from someone having Rs 3 crores.

It is not important how much we possess but how much we share with others that is more important.

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SUBASHITANI

दा #कि&'(ोऽह ंगज इव मदा2ः समभवम् तदा सव8झोऽ:ी<भवदव=ल?ं मम मनः ।

यदा #कBCत् #कBCत् वुधजनसकाशादवगतम् तदा मूखIऽ:ीJमJत Kर इव मदो मे Nपगतः ॥

Knowing a little, I got blind with pride like an elephant. Then I got proud thinking myself omniscient. When I learnt bit by bit from the learned and realized that I am ignorant, the pride subsided like fever.

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