vedanta sandesh - april 2012

Monthly eMagazine of the International Vedanta Mission

Year 18 Issue 10Bqs!3123

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In This Issue

1. Vedanta Section: Atma Bodha - Shloka-41

2. Letter Section: Understanding Attachment

3. Gita Section: 4 Components of Karma Yoga

4. Story Section: Matsya Avatara

5. VM Programs: Mission / Ashram Progs

From Poojya Guruji

Hari om !

So many people ask this question that when God alone does everything, then

why do bad people exist in the world, or for that matter why is anger, jealousy arrogance

etc there in all of us. If even a leaf doesn’t move without his wish then why doesn’t he

remove all these thorns from the minds & hearts of people, and make this world a

beautiful place to live in. Whoever has such questions they need to go deeper into

their own understanding of what they mean by God. The problem lies there alone.

What they react to is not about the truth of God, but to their own understanding of what

God is. First they entertain some baseless & childish understanding about God, and

then keep wondering why 'this God' has done this or that. God just provides us a field,

potential and opportunity to do karma; subsequent response is strictly our freedom &

discretion. A wise person takes the path of righteousness, while the ignorant ones

gravitate towards the easy path of personal whims & fancies, this ego-centric outlook

alone is the cause of all insensitivity & sins.

Lets understand this using the example of a Computer. The creative power of

God just provides us an amazing hardware and its perfect OS. All software’s are a

later installation, and we can just install anything, including a highly destructive virus.

Dont blame the creator of this amazing machine for what 'you' install at a later stage.

Anyways even if we did inadvertently install some negative thoughts, then we can

always run some anti-virus s/w and clean ourself. God is that creative power who has

given us this amazing capacity & opportunity to install & run just anything. Think! That

is the role of God, and having freely & lovingly given to us this amazing portable, ever-

charged, always on, shoulder-top, with all its astounding processing, memory &

multimedia capabilities, including its extremely fast connectivity - God then just lets us

free, he is indeed someone who truly believes in you. Thereafter we can indeed make

or mar our lives, and he still doesn’t interfere, he continues to believe in us and hopes

that all our happiness & sorrows themself will facilitate our better understanding and

enlightenment. Let us not expect him to be like the proverbial mother-in-law who

interferes in everything that others do. Good teaching is not about interfering and

correcting others all the time, but in soft facilitation to help a person to realize and

awake; so rest assured God will never interfere, whatever be the intensity of pains &

problems of the people of world. God is a magnanimous creator who not only creates

this astounding & amazing creation with all its beautiful sun, moon etc, but then also

believes in you fully. No one in the world believes and loves you as much as God does,

and therefore he never interferes. He does not control the mind of anyone, he just

gives this amazing ‘mind’ with all its equally amazing powers to us - freely, lovingly,

without any obligations.

Alongwith our amazing mind, he also gave us the instruction manuals, in the

form of scriptures; in fact he sent the manual much before we landed here. Those who

do not learn the truth of mind, self & the life, alone keep getting all the pains and

problems, not everyone. Intelligent people never waste their energies in blaming the

God, but they keep humbly learning about life & its truth. When I am the one who has

created problems, then it also means that I am capable of setting things right here.

With such an understanding the ball is always in our court, we are truly empowered to

do just anything, at anytime, so why complain. The very understanding of such a God

culminates in wordless gratitude, blessed existence and loving selfless responses.

Swami Atmananda

Vedanta SandeshSpreading Love & Light

Monthly eMagazine of theInternational Vedanta Mission

Sharing the message of Vedanta and Sanatan Dharma

Apr 2012

On the Net since 1995

Started by:

Poojya Guruji Sri Swami Atmanandaji

Editor:

Swamini Samatananda

Published from:

Vedanta Ashram

E/2948-50, Sudama Nagar

Indore-452 009, India

Web:

www.vmission.org.in

Email:

[email protected]

Gyatrugyangyeybhedah:In the state of ignorance I see myself as a

limited being and the world of objects as a source

of fulfilling this limitation. Such an understanding of

the Self and the world gives birth to a triad of an

experience i.e. the experiencer, the object of expe-

rience and the experience. Such triads of experi-

ence are seen at various levels. At the level of knowl-

edge there is a knower, the known, and knowledge,

when I look at the world I am the seer, the world is

the object of the seen and there is an experience of

seeing. (drishta, drishya, darshan), in the seat of

meditation I am the meditater, an object of medita-

tion and the experience of meditation and (dhyata,

dhyeyea, dhyan), similarly there is karta, karma,

kriya i.e. that is the doer, action, and the field of

action. In all these cases at the root level we see a

sense of limitation which compels one to seek ful-

fillment. As long as this triad is there samsara and

seeking will exist. There is a state of duality, a state

of seperate existence of the Self and the world. Any

object of experience and the experience is always

seperate from the experiencer. There is a always a

difference of seeker and sought. As long as this

sense of duality will exist so long I the seeker will

always need to run behind something for the sake

of happiness. There will always be a goal seperate

from me to be achieved, that goal which will give

me joy and satisfaction. Joy is always seperate from

the Self in some object and its experience, which

means joy is always somewhere far in the horizon.

But people of knowledge know and reveal that aim-

ing for any goal other than the self is like sailing

towards that horizon which as though appears to

be there but in reality it has no existence.

Here the Acharya reveals that the Atman is

beyond the three components of the knower, the

known and the knowledge.

Pare Natmani Vidyate:That which is my true nature is the essence

and substratum of everything. I am pervading ev-

In the previous sloka the Acharya described the attitude of a Realised person. One who has realised

the Supreme Brahman gives up all forms, colors and the like and rests in his own intrinsic form which is all

contentenment, consciousness and Bliss Absolute.

In the world the distinction of knower, knowable and knowledge are known to exist, a question then

arises how is it possible to achieve the pure contemplation of non-dualism. This is answered next:

Vedanta Section

Atma Bodha - Shloka 41

No Fragmentations exist in Non-dual

Vedanta Sandesh - Apr 2012

Gyatrugyangyeybhedah pare naatmani vidyateChidanandaikarupatvaddeepyate swayameva tat

Gyatrugyangyeybhedah: the distinction of knower, knowledge and knowable; pareatmani: inthe Supreme Atman; na vidyate: does not exist; Chidanandaikarupatvat: on account of it being

sole consciousness and bliss; deepyate: shines; swayameva: of itself tat: that.

The distinction of knower, knowledge and knowable does not exist in the Supreme Atman.

On account of its being but sole consciousness and Bliss Absolute, it shines by itself.

41

Page # 5

erything and everything is born unto me, is sustained

in me and dissolves in me. Just like in the dream

world, it is created, sustained and glides back into

my very Self. As long as I am in the dream state I

am the experiencer of the happenings in the dream,

when I wake up I am aware that the dream existed

in me. The dreamer, the dream experience and the

objects in the dream all are me. I see my self as the

substratum of the whole dream world. There is no

seperate existence of the dreamer and the dream.

Duality exists only when the objective world appears

Real to me. One needs to see the world is only as

much Real as thr rope in a snake. In Vedanta Brah-

man is known as the Vivart karana; a cause of the

world which is not really seperate from the world

itself. Just as the rope is the cause of the snake but

not really a cuase because the rope is not seperate

from the snake, and nor is the existence of the snake

a reality. The existence of the snake in the rope is

imaginary and the moment one sees the reality of

the rope there is no existence of the snake. Just a

right awareness wipes off the snake lock stock and

barrel. Similarly the Atman is substratum of all ex-

periences. All the worldly experiences and the world

itself is like an imaginary snake. Once the sense of

reality towards this snake is dropped one can see

the Real nature of the Self as Brahman. In that case

since the Atman alone ‘is’ and there is nothing other

than the Self there is no seperate existence of the

three components of the triad of experiences.

Chidanandaikaroopatvaat:The Atman is of the nature of pure conscious-

ness, Bliss and one without a second. The triad of

experience is because of this nature of the Atman.

Being the nature of pure consciousness I am the

substratum of the knower, it is with my light that I am

aware of the world and its objects. Being eternal I am

the substratum of the whole objective world, and be-

ing Blissfl by nature I am the substratum of all expe-

riences.

The nature of knowledge is awakening into this

very nature that I am the substratum of everything.

There is nothing other than me. I am one without a

second. I alone manifest into all the components of

experiences and yet there is no real existence of these

experiences.

Deepyate Swayameva hi:

The Self is pure consciousness which is self-

revealing. It does not need another source of light to

be revealed. If it was not self revealing and was known

by another light, first of all there would be a duality of

the enlightening light and the enlightened one. Any-

thing that is enlightened by another source of light is

considered inert. But the Atman is Self-revealing and

one without a second.

This awakening of the self is brought about by

Nididhysanam, by contemplation on the Seat of medi-

tation, by retaining continuous awareness of the Real

self as Ahambrahmasmi. One should see the Self as

the substratum of the triad of experiences. Medita-

tion which culminates in such an awakening of the

Self alone is true meditation, otherwise it may be-

come another means to escape into some imaginary

world, to be lost in some imaginary identity of the Self.

All sadhanas of rituals, worship, japa,

karmayoga , upasana are means to bring about the

right atmosphere for contemplation. Having prepared

the mind by these sadhanas it is then important to

take up shravan, manan and nididhyasan, culminat-

ing in pure existence of the Self.

Greetings to all our readers on the auspicious occassion of

Sri Ram Navami

Karuna sukh sagar sab guna aagar jehi gavahi shruti santa

So mama hit laagi jan anuragi bhayau prakat srikanta.

Sri Rama, the ocean of compassion and happiness, the one with all the virtues, the one whohas been described by the Vedas, that Lord has incarnated just for my welfare and for blessing all

his devotees with his devotion.


Long time ago, there used to be a Renunciate. People used to

respect him and many used to come and gain knowledge from him.

He was a well known Man of wisdom. He had many disciples. He

enlightened the path of spritual aspirants. Even Kings and his courtmen

used to come to him to get his blessings and gain knowlege from him.

In course of time the Monk became very old. He was aware it will soon

be time for him to leave this physical body. He spent his time in various

spiritual activities meditating and sharing his knowledge Knowing this,

a huge number of devotees from all parts of the country came there

to get the last blessing and words of wisdom from the wise man. True

devotees came to get blessings of the Sanyaasi and get some

knowledge if possible, while some came expecting to get some

miraculous or some materialistic benefit from the Monk. One of them

was a very rich fellow. However he was very miserly, greedy and

exploitative of others. Hoping to get some more wealth he came to

visit the Monk.

The renunciate, who didnt want to meet anybody, seeing this greedy

and miserly fellow called him to see him. As soon as the Monk called

him, though many many were waiting, the ego of the Rich fellow got

all the more bloated. He looked at others with an expression like “see

how great I am. The Great Man has called me only”.

The greedy guy wanted to ask the renunciate why he chose him only

to come in. Repeatedly he kept on asking this. The monk then replied

These people waiting outside will some or the other time, have a chance

to get a glimpse of Holy people. Whereas a greedy, cunning, and

egoistic person can never get such a blessed opportunity. So I called

you in first.

True Love

Hari om A..,

All your questions indicate the lack of clarity of the word attachment.

When you take care of your relatives - children, husband or parents,

for 'their' well-being, then it is love, but if you take care of them, primarily

for your ego-satisfaction, security or any such personal pleasure, then

you will tend to hang-on to those people; such a relationship is always

borne out of inner lack, insecurity & weakness; such a relationship is

called attachment.

The root of attachment is self-centricity, wherein the concern for yourself

dominates everything else. You may continue to love & serve others,

but the basic motivation is self-centric. One requires lot of wisdom to

turn the tables in favor of selflessness, in everything, whether it is

relationships or any other habits. So when you eat with thoughtfulness,

for good health, and not merely for the appeasement of your likes,

then also it is not attachment, but rather a sattwic & righteous act.

A sattwic life facilitates vairagya, because with such an attitude you not

only start with, but also keep affirming your intrinsic fullness; so

appreciate the secrets of a sattwic life, then in spite of any relationships,

responsibilities, comforts or gratification etc, your vairagya graph will

keep going up, because then you will happily use 'every' thing at 'every'

level - only for the happiness & well-being of others. Vairagya neither

implies absence of relationships, nor even sensual experiences, but

just reveals the fragrance of inner strength wherein you can afford to

live for the well-being of others at all levels.

Love & om

Swamiji

Understanding AttachmentLetter of the

Month

The root of

attachment is self-

centricity, wherein

the concern for

yourself dominates

everything else.

You may continue

to love & serve

others, but the

basic motivation is

self-centric.

- Poojya Guruji

Page # 7

Vedanta Sandesh - April 2009

No

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Vedanta Sandesh - Mar 2012

Action: Our Privilege

Action is the signature of life. Life means action. Wherever action ceases to exist

it is as good as being dead. Not even a moment can we live without performing an

action. Everyone has roles that must be performed. Even a blade of grass plays its role

in balancing the ecological system. Action is that previlege for a human being by which

a man becomes an architect of his own life and the world around him. All prosperity,

growth, development in technology, blossoming of a personalitiy, all is a reflection of

action. So act we must. Act we must in a way that brings about the well being of the Self

and all around.

One must understand that action by itself is not binding in any way, but it is the

attitude of action that either binds a person or evolves a person on the path of dharma

and spirituality. In one of the most significant & famous slokas of the Gita Bhagwan

Krishna gives us very important four components of the Art of Action which make the

field of action a blessing. Let us see these four components:

You have the privilege of performing actions (Karmanyevadhikaaraste):

As a human being you have the privilege and the right to perform actions.

Considering action as a burden of life is only a trait of the lazy, escapist, disenthused

and the uninspired ones. Infact not only is action our previlege but we are also blessed

with the freedom to act. We can perform actions or not perform them or we can choose

an entirely different way of performing an action. That is totaly my freedom. We may not

have a choice in the situations that confront us but we have the choice to respond to a

particular situation in any way we deem fit. Therefore the beauty of living is not in escaping

from action, seeing it as a burden or loosely performing an action, but the art of living

lies in enjoying and excelling everything that we do.

You do not have a choice over the results of actions (Ma phaleshu kadachan):

This sentence has not only confused an average person but also many a scholars

interpreting the Gita who interpret it to mean that one should perform actions without

expecting the results. This is the most absurd and illogical reflection of this statement.

Never can there be an action which will not result in any fruit of the action. Then what is

Lord Krishna’s statement? It means that you have a choice over the actions but you do

not have a choice to determine the fruit of the action. There is a cosmic intelligence

highly powerful and knowledgable who handles this aspect. An individual’s total focus

must be on performing the action with love, enthusiasm and full dedication and with an

attitude of dedicating the action to the divine entity called God. There is no doubt that

every action will surely bear its deserving fruit and we too must aim for great goals in

life, but believing that God gives the fruits of action relieves one of great burdens of a

sense of doership and with a light heart one can totally focus one’s energy in performing

the action. A person burdened with the sense of doership will constantly worry about the

results of action, will be anxious and his energy will be dissipated. Such people who are

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Page # 9

too anxious about the result of action and yet do not make the best possible efforts become

very gullible to exploitation. Anyone can make them dance to thier tunes. Such people

alone are on the look out for astrologers and pandits who can get them their desired fruits

without working for it. So intellingent people focus on doing the best that they can and

have a humble attitude of leavig the rest to God.

Prasad Buddhi:

In case of fruits of actions another beautiful concept given by the Gita is to have a

Prasad Buddhi for the end result. Just as when we visit a temple we get a prasad. It may

be in any form a big laddoo or a small piece of sweet, but any person who has faith and

reverance towards god does not see it as an ordinary piece of sweet but it is a blessing

from God and therefore one takes it with a lot of respect and humility, and then has it. So

too for every believer in God every situation in life is a prasad from God and he accepts it

with grace and gratitude. Having performed your action to the best of your ability take the

result as a blessing from God.

Do not consider yourself to be the author of fruits (Ma karma fal heturbhuhu):

One must understand that although you have made efforts in fulfilling an action,

never take your self to be the cause in bringing about the fruits of an action. The result of

actions are governed by the laws of nature that are not under our control. We live in a

world governed by laws that are not created by an individual. We are born according to

these laws and the reaping of fruits too is based on these laws. The author of these laws

is what we call as God or Iswara. It is by his laws that I get a particular result of action not

by my choice. Therefore believing the Self to be the creator of all success only results in

a big fat ego. An ego of this kind only takes a person downhill. Such an egoistic person

also gets isolated when failures come, because if I am responsible for my success then I

am also responsible for my failures. So one musn’t sing the glories of the Self, but take it

as a bessing from God and have a feeling of gratitude for all those people and factors who

have supported to bring about the result of an action.

Never be attached to inaction (Ma te sangah tu akarmani):

The fourth component of this sloka is never take up to inactivity. It is indeed a great

previlege of Man to perform actions. While here in this world dream big, dream not only

for the self but to do something for others, to do something for the happiness of God who

has blessed us with this beautiful life. Life lives with action. No action and life is dead. Just

mechanically living, or living an uninspired, disenthused life is worst than an animal life.

So have great dreams and give everything of yourself to it. Challenges, ups and downs,

success and failures will always be there, but the spirit of a karmayogi is to live life to the

fullest.

These four components make up the package of karma yoga, which makes the

field of action a blessing. It is important to understand the nature of actions and their

results. A field of Action is not merely a means to fulfill one’s desires and make arrangements

to live a comforatble life but it is a divine means to prepare ones mind for a higher knowledge

of the Self. A kowledge which requires a condition free mind, a mind free from the bondages

of likes and dislikes. Such a mind alone is ready to grasp the subtle truth of the Self.

Page # 9


People are not ‘Difficult’ People are ‘Different’. If we can understand

this we can save many relationships in life.

Good relations are like needles of the clock. They only meet for

sometime but always stay connected.

No poison can kill a positive thinker. No medicine can cure negative

thinking.

Don’t make your voice loud, to make others listen to you; make your

good attitude so loud that others beg to listen to you.

The greatest mistake of human beings: We listen half, understand

quarter, think zero, and react DOUBLE and remember forever.

Be silent in two situations: when you feel one can’t understand your

feelings by your words and when one can understand you without any

words.

Fighting with the world is easy. You either win or loose. But fighting

with a close one is difficult; if you lose you lose, and even if you win

you loose.

Repeated success makes a person arrogant, repeated makes a

person feel defeated, Occasioanal success and occasional failure

makes a person mature.

Quotes

Page # 13Vedanta Sandesh - April 2009Page # 11

Once upon

a time ...

Stories bySages

Matsya Avatara

Once a King named Satyavrata was performing a sacredceremony beside a river. While scooping water from the river heaccidentally caught a tiny fish in the palm of his hand. The fishbegged him not to throw it back into the river where it would beeaten by larger fish. The king felt sorry for the little fish and took ithome to his palace where he put it in a small bowl. Next morningthe fish had outgrown the bowl and begged the king to put it insomething larger. The king then transferred it into a pond, but itvery quickly outgrew that too, so he put it into a small lake. Withinno time the fish had outgrown the lake and had to be put into thelargest lake in the kingdom. Soon, however it had grown so bigthat even this was not large enough and the amazing fish had tobe put in the ocean.

By this time the king concluded that the fish must be a di-vine appearance of God. He offered prayers and asked it why ithad taken this form. Matsya, the fish incarnation of Vishnu, re-plied that in seven days a huge devastation would engulf the lowerpart of the universe. He told the king to call the seven great sagesand gather samples of all the herbs and seeds and all kinds ofliving creatures. He promised that he would send a large boat tosave them all. After that the king would fully understand who hewas. Then he swam away.

As Matsya had predicted, huge clouds appeared from alldirections and began pouring incessant water on land and sea.Soon the ocean overflowed onto the land. Then Satyavrata andall his companions saw a large mysterious boat floating towardsthem across the waves. Remembering the words of Matsya,Satyavrata led them aboard it and they found safety. Matsya, whoby now was a golden fish of inconceivable size, then appeared inthe ocean. Using the giant serpent Vasuki, they tied the boat toMatsya's horn and he towed it, full of all the different species oflife, across the waters of devastation. For countless years dark-ness covered the worlds and together they wandered across thestormy wastes waiting for the waters to subside. During their jour-ney Vishnu-Matsya instructed King Satyavrata and the sages inthe spiritual knowledge of the Vedas.

24.2:ui!Nbs!3123

Mar’12 VM / VA Programs

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Page # 13

Mar’12 VM / VA Programs

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It is only a tiny rosebud -

a flower of God’s design;

But I cannot unfold the petals

with these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers

is not known to such as I.

GOD opens this flower so easily,

but in my hands, they die.

If I can’t unfold a rosebud -

this flower of God’s design -

then how can I have the wisdom

to unfold this life of mine?

So I’ll trust in God for leading

each moment of my day;

I will look to God for guidance

in each step along the way.

The path that lies before me,

only my Lord knows.

I trust God to unfold the moments,

just as HE unfolds the rose.

Unfolding A Rose

Page # 15

Forthcoming Programs

Gita Gyana Yagna, Lucknow:A week long Gita Gyana Yagna by Poojya Swamini Samatanandaji will be organized

in the Satsang Hall of Hanuman Setu Mandir, Lucknow from 18th to 24th April 2012. The

subject matter of the discourses will be Isavasyopanishad and Gita Chapter 12.

Vedanta Camp, Rishikesh:A Sadhana Camp will be organized at Sw Dayananda Ashram at Rishikesh from 11th

to 16th June by Poojya Guruji and Poojya Swamini Amitanandaji. The subject matter of the

discourses will be Drg-Dryshya Viveka and Gita Chapter 5. Campers to arrive by 10th evening

and leave by 17th morning.

Gita Gyana Yagna, Dehradun:A week long Gita Gyana Yagna of Poojya Swamini Amitanandaji will be organized at

Dehradun from 9th to 13th Apr 2012. The subject matter of the discourses will be

Kathopanishad 1-3 and Sthitha Pragna Section of Gita.

Vedanta Camp, Indore:A week-long Vedanta Camp is being organized at Vedanta Ashram, Indore from 11th

to 17th Aug, just after Sri Krishna Janmashtami on 10th Aug. The subject matter of the

discourse series will be Sri Ram Gita of Adhyatma Ramayana.

Gita Gyana Yagna, Mumbai:A Gita Gyana Yagna of Poojya Guruji will be organized in Mumbai from 30th April to

6th May 2012. The subject matter of the discourse series will be Kathopanishad 2-2, and Gita

Chapter 6.

Page # 15

Web Site of the International Vedanta Mission:http://www.vmission.org.in/

International Vedanta Mission News Blog:http://vmissionews.blogspot.com/

This is a Net Publication of the

International Vedanta Mission

Om Tat Sat

vedanta sandesh - april 2012

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