jabdakhata

Therefore Shiva Linga is possibly contemporary to Vedic rituals, or even earlier than that. It is likely that the worship of Shiva which needs minimum of paraphernalia, was developed to suit the needs of the poor who could not perform costly Vedic rituals as performed by Kshatriya princes and therefore needed a low cost alternative. This is the reason why Shiva worship is so easy. it just needs some local flowers, some water etc as offering in contrast with Vedic sacrifices. In place of altars we have the lingams and the Yoni on which the Lingam is placed - depicting the eternal reunion between Shiva, the Brahman and the shakti, its power. This was possibly prevalent even among the so called non Vedic tribes like Kiratas, Chandalas, Nishadas and Yavanas. We have read in Mahabharata several examples of how Shiva or Mahadeva was the prefered God of all the so called non Aryan tribes including Rakshasas. This is because He was easy to worship, did not need any elaborate rituals and coul

Swami Vivekananda attended Paris Congress in Aug-Sep 1900 as a delegate. Even though Paris Congress was merely a session of the scholars who were involved with several topic and themes like history of religion, it was important for two reasons - 1) It formed a platform for the scholars to come together and exchange ideas on a host of  issues and topics relevant for the modern age, possibly for the first time 2) It had a good visibility among all the leading intellectuals and formed one of the basis for further academic research of the later period into various aspects of the religious history. However it was neither as critical nor as important as the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, nor it enjoyed visibility. In his words in a letter written to Udbodhan -  Congress of the History of Religions recently sat for several days together. At the Congress, there was no room allowed for the discussions on the doctrines and spiritual views of any religion; its purpose was only to inquire i

Here is what Sri Ramakrishna revealed about his vision on Swamiji, as recorded in Sri Sri Ramakrishna Leela Prasanga by Swami Saradananda (Translation - Ramakrishna the Great Master by Swami Jagadananda and Ramakrishna the Divine Play by Swami Chetanananda). He saw him to belong to the realm of akhanda or indivisibility, far above the realm gods and goddesses, a divine sage ever immersed in meditation, one of the seven ever pure, ever blissful souls who are ever immersed in the contemplation of the absolute. He himself of course was the divine child seen in the vision. But who were those seven sages - were they the saptarshis of the Hindu Purana or the four sages Sanaka etc. along with others like Kapila who had occupied a position far above gods and goddesses, i.e. were higher than brahmarshis who belonged to the realm of Brahma, below the realm of indivisibility. We do not know but below is the vision outlined. One day I found my mind was soaring high in  Samadhi  along a lumin

Here comes the tales of some extra ordinary feats of the baby Krishna. Some of them are corroborated in the Mahabharata in the Sabha Parva by Sishupala who was disparaging the achievements of Sri Krishna. Mahabharata in its present form misses some sections of the interchange between Bhisma and Shishupala during the Rajasuya sacrifice. Bhisma was perhaps recounting the exploits of Sri Krishna in order to justify his receiving the arghya and Shishupala countered them in his own style. The first exploit is that of killing of Putana. Putana was sent by Kamsa to kill suspected babies by poisoning. According to Vishnu Purana she was a child killer. According to Harivamsa she was the nurse of Kamsa, while Bhagavatam shows her as a demon or an ogre. Bankim Chandra thinks Putana was a bird. He cites the exchange between Shishupala and Bhisma where Shishupala dismisses Krishna’s feats esp. that of killing of a vulture as a child. Also Putana in Sanskrit means a bird. Dhirendra Paul while cons

In the late nineteenth century we saw a huge decline facing Hinduism. Its people had forgotten the true meaning and purpose of religion and were fighting amongst each other as petty sects. Islamic rule had already crippled Hindu enthusiasm for reforms and orthodoxy became the bane which led to a mass disillusionment among the educated class. Scientific ideas and materialism held great dangers, esp. for the dogmas and Reforming religions like Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj placed formidable challenge. Christianity as state religion attacked almost every aspect of Hinduism which was looked down upon by Christian missionaries who launched a vicious propaganda as they saw a great opportunity to convert. Even the most educated scholars among Elite ruling class estimated that it would be a matter of time before Hinduism as a religion vanishes in thin air and Christianity becomes the religion of masses. But they underestimated the resilience of Hinduism. In a remote hamlet about 160 miles away

While in America Swami Vivekananda had encouraged his brother disciples to go ahead and work tirelessly among people, to alleviate their suffering. Some of his brother disciples were skeptical in the beginning but then they began to see the truth as they were enlightened beings themselves. Some of them like Swami Akhandananda wholeheartedly jumped into the fire leaving aside everything else. And in this way his mission was born. Just as Buddha had established the Sangha to propagate the four noble truths and the eightfold paths and developed a monastic order for the first time in the world, Vivekananda developed Ramakrishna Math and Mission with the objective of spreading the doctrine of his guru Sri Ramakrishna. In this respect an interesting anecdote goes like this – One day Ramakrishna in Dakshineswar had been discussing the Vaishnava philosophy to his devotees and said that they (Vaishnavas) emphasize on three aspects – Vaishnav Seva (Service to the devotees of the Lord), Jive Da

Swami Vivekananda had mentioned in many places that Lord Buddha was his Ishta Devata. In fact in his childhood he had a vision that a serene looking monk approached him while he was meditating in his room one day but he being afraid of the monk got up from his meditation and the monk just disappeared within him. He later realized that he must have seen the Buddha. He was devoted to Buddha for primarily two reasons – 1) Buddha’s struggle and search of truth in the early life resonated with his early life struggles to find the truth 2) Buddha’s uncompromising approach towards Truth and Rationality. Buddha rejected anything that was not rational or logical. He constructed his sermons on logic and rationalism and rejected conventional theories of Brahmanical Hinduism that advocated either physical austerities or life of enjoyment and luxury here and hereafter, material prosperity through sacrifices or Yagnas for the appeasement of gods. This quest for truth and lifelong devotion to ratio

A beautiful parable in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna where through a simple story the master teaches us a profound truth. The parable is based on the everyday life in a village, a household where matriarchy rules in the form of a domineering mother in law, who has several daughters in law. It is the mother in law who is the decision maker in every affair. She dispenses what every daughter in law gets to eat as food, esp. during the lunch. She has an earthen pot which measures the quantity of rice that each daughter in law should get. Goes without saying that the measure of the earthen pot is not adequate to fill the stomach of the daughters in law and they are not quite happy about it. However the daughter in law in a typical rural household of eighteenth or nineteenth century had no voice of her own to protest. So she had to forebear the ignominy of the autocracy that would deprive her of every possible enjoyments. Here in the story our daughters in law are helpless but then deliver

Swami Vivekananda had asserted that secret behind all successes in work is concentration. It is a common knowledge that when we are free of all distractions and of calmer disposition we are able to focus better and the outcome of the endeavour is also the best with a focussed approach. When we have distractions galore we perform very badly. Sometimes the task is hand is never accomplished when we have too many distractions in the form of thoughts or work. That is why modern theories acknowledge that multi tasking is a key source of waste. Only when we are able to concentrate, we do the work better. The magnitude or the scale of success depends on the amount of concentration. if we are able to concentrate fully into a task we do it in the best possible way. That is why Sister Nivedita said that the greatest contribution of her guru was that he was able to remove all distinctions between sacred and secular. From a non dual plane there is indeed no difference as both are rooted in Maya,

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California. Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta. We perceive gross matter through our senses and the gross matter has a name to identify and a form to distinguish it from the rest. These names and forms are superimposed on pure consciousness. We perceive the existence of others as well as that of us - our thoughts, feelings, desires etc. because of the reflected or the borrowed consciousness - chidabhasa. This is the consciousness aspect of Brahman. The sun shines and reflects upon everything but its reflection is more pronounced on shining surfaces like the mirror, not on dull objects. Similarly Brahman as consciousness is everywhere but is r

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California. Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta. The veiling power of Maya is the most powerful, it hides and obscures.  "Why" we are veiled cannot be asked, because if we know that we are veiled, we are not veiled. All causation is within Maya so Maya cannot be known from within Maya. Even the lower animals are nothing but pure consciousness, only their body-mind is a poor reflector of it. They are not fit enough for realization. One of the major purposes of evolution is to come to a body mind step by step that is fit enough for realization of ones true self. The mother nature holds our hand to lead us towards the freedom, throug

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California. Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta. The pure consciousness is ever awake, ever witness in the three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep. In deep sleep it is the witness of the absence, the void. Pure consciousness is nearest to the subtle body, the mind and hence it gets reflected and illumines the mind-intellect as the reflected consciousness, thus imparting the I sense or the individuality/ego. The jiva, which is the other name of the pramata is a limited self. That limitedness is super imposed on the unlimited, pure consciousness through adhyasa or superimposition. The limited individual sense covers or obscures the real

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California. Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta. The veiling power of Maya separates the witness from the mind body internally to let us think that we are mind body, whereas in reality we are mind-body-witness. The veiling power separates Brahman from the external universe. So all names and forms appear as distinct from Sachidananda and the witness appears as separate from the individual. In reality witness and individual are the same as Brahman and visible universe. In reality the rope is still the rope, we perceive it as the snake in the darkness out of ignorance. There is an interesting conversation between Sri Ramakrishna and Hari (Later Sw

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California. Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta. Brahman in Vedanta depicts everything external to the Self, the all pervading consciousness everywhere and the  and Atman is referred to the Self, but in reality both are same. Brahman is Atman and Atman is Brahman. There is no time, space or causation in Brahman/Atman. Atman is everywhere. Atman never comes and goes because all space is within it. It has no beginning and no end as all time is within it. It is not caused by anything - so not effected by causation. The Atman has five sheaths or coverings - the gross body made of food or annamaya kosha, the subtle body of vital forces, mind and i

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California. Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta. The question may arise that if we are pure consciousness in reality what is that which thinks itself to be ignorant? Pure consciousness is never ignorant. How then are we forgetting our real nature? The reflected consciousness is also known as chid-cchaya. There is no relationship between I sense and pure consciousness. The relationship which apparently exists is born out of error. Pure consciousness remains for ever, unending and unchanging. When the spiritual aspirant sees light, it is the light of the pure consciousness which is always shining. We are unable to see that light because our min

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California. Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta. Question is, how pure consciousness gets stained or impure? How is the pure witness consciousness maligned with disease, death, sins and all forms of decay? The answer is - the self that is reflected is never stained by the quality of the mirror. The quality of the mirror decides the quality of the image, i.e. the reflected consciousness or the individual. The pure witness consciousness is unaffected. The reflected consciousness gets identified with the mirror, so if the mirror is good the reflected consciousness thinks itself to be good. If the mirror is bad, the reflected consciousness think

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California. Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta. The analogy that can be provided is that of a ball of iron and the glowing fire. The ball of iron gets heated by taking the heat from the glowing fire. This ball of iron is the body mind (ego/individuality) while the fire it catches is the reflected consciousness. The fire from which it derives the heat is the pure consciousness. The other analogy is that of a mirror and the image. The mind body (ego/individual) is the mirror while the reflection is the reflected consciousness or the jiva, the individual soul. The pure consciousness is reflected and appears as the reflected consciousness. 

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California. Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta. The pure consciousness is everywhere, also in external objects. Then the question that may arise is - How do we identify ourselves with our body, mind and senses and not with external objects? The witness consciousness is reflected in the mind just as sun is reflected in a pool of water or in any shining object. The mind borrows consciousness to illumine senses and the senses in turn illumine the bodies, just as moon borrows sunlight to illumine night (as if sun directly shines as the light of knowledge, as pure consciousness and that is called as day or enlightenment while moon illumines me

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California. Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta. Three fundamental principles - differences between Drig or Seer and Drisya or Seen 1. There has to be a seer and a seen (subject & object). The seer and the seen are different. 2. The seer sees many but itself is one in relation to what is seen. The seen stands for multiplicity. 3. The seer is relatively unchanging while what is seen changes The eyes are the seer while external universe is seen with its forms, colours and shapes. Similarly all sense organs are "seers" and external universe is "seen" through them by touch, hearing, smell, taste. The mind is th