Sunday, October 22, 2017

RENAISSANCE OF HINDUISM - PART III - FOUR TYPES OF PEOPLE - 4 TYPES OF YOGAS



RENAISSANCE OF HINDUISM
PART  III

FOUR TYPES OF PEOPLE
4 TYPES OF YOGAS


There is a Utopian fallacy  in people’s minds that all people are born equal and must be looked at as equals till they are alive.

The actuality in creation is - All people are not born equal. Each individual is Unique and is incomparable to anyone else. This is the beauty of creation. If two people are equal – one becomes redundant. That is not the intention of creation.

Even our finger prints are extremely Unique. No one on earth can show finger prints of anyone else – which exactly looks like mine. Why is it so and why finger prints should not be the same for all, who can explain? That is the feature of creation. We must accept it whole heartedly. There is no other option for us.

Almost all other features are also unique, though human eyes fail to see the distinctiveness between one and another sometimes. I am not the same as any of you. Neither is any of you the same as anybody else.

Sameness is non-existent but broad similarities do exist.

Human beings vary in colour from pure white to pure dark. All colours of the universe are seen in human skin colour across the world – except perhaps the colour of pure water – which is said to be colourless, but, we may say, that colourlessness of pure water also is a colour. I have not seen people with the color of water – but all other colours can be seen in the skin colours of people all over the world.

People of each region are generally of one colour – but of different shades of that colour. If the skin shades vary too much, skin related complexes, superiority or inferiority, are seen among people. Fairness creams are therefore a big business. There are no creams which erase the complexes.

Many of our characteristics differ and differentiate people into various categories. Some people are more thoughtful, more reasoning and more analytical. Some people are more emotional. Some people are more workaholics. Some people use their inner energies much more and are more self centred.

We are not talking of selfish, arrogant, power-hungry, violent type of people in this classification but we are talking about people who want to be good, humane, peaceful, non-violent, compassionate, joyful and so on.

These types of people find the purpose of their life through different means. Lord Krishna gave four different ways, which are life-fulfilling for these four different of noble people.

Lord Krishna used these 4 different human traits commonly observable among human beings and prescribed 4 different methods for the 4 different types of persons - for experiencing the ultimate possibility in himself/herself – which fulfills their life immensely.
 
The 4 methods are (1) Jnana Yoga  (2) Dhyana Yoga (3) Bhakti Yoga and (4) Karma Yoga.

Jnana Yoga is suitable for people who are willing to seek the ultimate truths about (i) the Universe and (ii) about the Self – always unbiasedly, absolutely logically, with great, flawless reasoning and discarding illogical, superstitious beliefs, while accepting supra-logical, rational explanations of great cosmic and individual phenomena.

They are willing to listen to and learn from evolved or enlightened Jnanis or Gurus. Or they study and tread the path prescribed in the Bhagavad Geeta and the Upanishads for Jnana Yoga.

Jnana Yoga needs the ability to discern and accept certain higher logic in respect of the  unseen and un-understood phenomena of the Universe and the self

People who blindly discord higher logic in respect of universal phenomena are unsuitable for Jnana Yoga. People who accept blind superstitious beliefs are also absolutely unsuitable for Jnana Yoga.

These phenomena are not by any means ILLOGICAL phenomena but are SUPRA-LOGICAL phenomena, which need to be experienced by certain higher means. These are within the competence of Jnana Yogis.

Jnana Yogis search for the ultimate truths concerning the Universe and the self through the processes of Sravanam, Mananam and Nidhidhyasanam.

They are willing to go to a Great master, sit with him as his disciple, listen to him and seek clarifications - which process is called Sravanam.

Then, they recall, recite and imbibe all that they have heard and understood -  and this is called Mananam. During Mananam, they try to ensure that  they are able to understand all that the Guru has told (or what they have read in the Gita, the Upanishads and so on).

Then, they go into some sort of Meditation on what they have understood. This is called Nidhidhyasanam, in which, they search for the deeper meanings and hidden truths about the Universe and the self.

Here, they use a higher Logic (or supra-logic) which is beyond the means of ordinary logic which comes into play at some point in Nidhidhyasanam.  This logic is beyond the reach of the five senses and the ordinary logic of the mind. Universe itself is pleased with the sincere seeker at some point of time and it reveals to him the deeper truths on its own initiative.

A Great Guru can hasten this process. Various scriptures like Upanishads and the Geeta  also can hasten this process.

An ordinary scientist uses LOGIC with precision. But, sometimes, even he is aided by supra-logic and nature reveals to him also, its higher truths to the extent he is seeking.

The difference between him and the Jnana Yogi is that the Jnana Yogi is a seeker of the Ultimate or the Highest truths concerning the self and the Universe. He is not bothered about the individual physical objects, big or small. The latter are the subject matter for the scientist.

Karma Yoga - is suitable for most honest people and is practiced and preached in many world cultures/religions of today, with some variations. The basic tenet of Karma yoga is - Do your duty selflessly, towards – (i) yourself, (ii) the rest of humanity and (iii) the world. When you do this, at some point of time, you will realize some of the ultimate truths of the Universe, in course of your selfless  work itself.

Karma Yoga is different from ordinary Karma. Karma means action. Karma Yoga means selfless action. This important distinction must be clearly understood.

Karma involves you into various bondages, due to the various attachments that you develop while doing the Karma. Karma Yoga releases you from all such attachments and bondages.

Karma, which binds you, can be of 3 types : (i) positive or Good karma (called Punyam), (ii) Nagative or Bad Karma (called Paapam) and (iii) Neutral Karma, which is neither good nor bad.

All three types of Karma result in Karmaphalam or consequences/Results of karma.

Punyam and Paapam (Good and Bad Karma) are motivated by a desire to do good or bad to others. Such Karma results in 2 types of consequences.

One is Drishtaphalam which you experience directly or evidently as your Karma’s direct consequence. Another is Adrishtaphalam which is the result chosen for you by a Universal Power which is usually called the Karma Phala Daatha.

While you as Individual can choose the Karma that you perform, the consequences of Good and Bad Karma and their timing, especially the Adrishtaphalam, cannot be chosen by you. These are chosen for you by certain invisible Natural laws, that is, by the superior Universal phenomenon called Karma Phala Daatha.

For example, you steal another person’s money. It is Bad karma. Assume, you are not detected and punished by People or Police. So, Drishta phalam is that – you get away with the stolen money.

But, Adrishtaphalam catches up with you in ways and times unknown to you. Someday, you may be badly beaten up by somebody, or suffer an accident or some such negative happening.

You cannot directly relate this to your earlier Bad Karma of stealing. Nobody tells you that this bad accident is due to that bad karma. But, it is.

Likewise, for past good karma, you will get some positive benefit which also cannot be related to a specific, earlier good karma. Life goes on with such unrelatable results, which are actually, your adrishtaphalams for earlier good and bad karmas.

Neutral karmas are like – eating food, dressing up, walking, running etc, which are neither good nor bad karmas. They too have consequences. But, they generally have only direct consequences.  There are again – (i) individual Karma (ii) group karma (iii) national karma and so on. An Individual in a group suffers/ enjoys his group karma’s results – unless, he clearly dissociates from the group karma and sometimes, even if he dissociates. Karma theory and karma yoga are a little complex to understand but are highly scientific in nature.

Bhakti yoga - involves total surrender to an unknown universal power (call it God or by any name). This is prevalent in most world religions, but in different ways.

Bhakti yoga is suitable to you only if you are willing to surrender yourself totally and unconditionally to the divine or even to a Guru or to a superior person.

Highly logical and reasoning persons can never surrender their EGOs and are not fit for Bhakti Yoga. They find Bhakti as some sort of Madness or weakness. For them, it is.

For those who can unconditionally surrender their EGOs to a Higher self, Bhakti, though an emotion, is extremely logical. Surrender can be to a divine being, or to a Guru or to a benefactor or even a spouse. The logic in Bhakti yoga is visible only to the Devotee but other onlookers may find no logic in their Bhakti or devotion.

Religions try to enforce Bhakti and prayer on all people including those whose minds cannot surrender to an unseen God. It doesn’t work at all. Questioning minds find surrender a foolish superstition. Likewise, minds pursuing money, power, sex etc cannot  involve in Bhakti and prayer but will pretend, when forced by religion.

Mass prayers look impressive for onlookers but they don’t work on the reasoning minds or on the unseen God. It is easier for them to go for war with people who don’t agree with your brand of Bhakti or God – than to really involve in selfless surrender and prayer. Killing others (so called non believers) proves their Bhakti to their God, because, real Bhakti to their God is otherwise unprovable.

Leaving this exhibitionist  Bhakti aside – real Bhakti is between the Devotee and the divine and they don’t care about who wants proof. For them, their divine exists and loves them and they want to be with their divine. Many Bhakts desert food, sleep etc and may look suicidal in their Bhakti – but that is how Bhakti really is.

Love is akin to Bhakti. For many mothers, their innocent child looks like the very God and their love towards their child is a sort of Bhakti. Many mothers do what are normally impossible things for their child. That is why, we say – God sits in the mother. Actually, God sits in the innocent child, and is prompting the mother. A Great Bhakt almost always becomes like such an ideal mother towards his God. Such Bhakti may look like madness, but is extremely life-fulfilling. A Great Jnani is no greater than a great mother or a great Bhakt. Life is more fulfilling to the latter than to the former – simply because selfless, positive emotion is always more fulfilling than the best of logic. There is of course a catch. When the cosmic truths are actually experienced within and not merely understood logically by the Jnani, the Jnani also becomes like a Bhakt.

Dhyana Yoga - is in essence, internal exploration for ultimate truths. All truths are within you. You can find them there, if you know how to explore there. Here also, a Guru can guide you to a certain extent.

Beyond that, you must go deeper and deeper inside and find the truths yourself. Patanjali’s Yoga sutras or Ashtanga Yoga is a great way for Dhyana Yoga or “Yoga”. You can find it in detail my book - “Comprehensive Treatise on Patanjali Yoga Sutras”, the electronic version of which is available on www.Amazon.in.

Let us see some slokas from the Bhagavad Gita propounded by Lord Krishna :

Dhyana Yoga Sl.30 :

Yo maam pasyathi sarvathra sarvam cha mayi pasyathi |
Tasyaaham na pranasyaami sa cha me na pranasyami   ||

Meaning :

He who experiences me in all and all in me, he never loses me nor will I ever lose him.

Sanyasa Yoga.Sl.18 :

Vidyaa vinaya sampanne brahmane gavi hastini |
Suni chaiva swapake cha panditaah samadarsinah  ||

Meaning :

Wise man endowed with Humility treats absolutely equally – a Brahmana, a Cow, an Elephant, a Dog, an Outcaste and a great learned man.

At this level, Dhyana Yoga, JnanaYoga, Dhyana Yoga and Karma Yoga all become the same. The paths are different. But, destination is same.

As we can see, these words have come straight from Lord Krishna himself. His life epitomizes these principles perfectly. Born a Kshatriya and brought up in Yadava household, he treated Kubja, Kuchela, Vidura and Sanjaya with great compassion and affection.

And Lord Krishna says emphatically that these truths he is revealing in the Gita are nothing new but have always been coming to us, from great sages, from the very beginning.

Many great sages have retold them to us at different times. Not one or two, but, hundreds of them or even thousands of them.  The Indian timeline is full of such great sages.

 *  *  *  will continue  *  *  *

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

THE BASIC FOUNDATIONS OF ANCIENT INDIAN CULTURE ( OR HINDUISM ) - WHO IS BRAHMAN / CREATOR ? - HOW TO REACH HIM?




THE BASIC FOUNDATIONS

OF 

ANCIENT INDIAN CULTURE
(OR HINDUISM)


Hinduism  was always based on a Few Basic, Timeless, Cultural tenets which were and are always applicable to the whole world. These are not narrow religious tenets but are Universal Principles. Let us discuss a few of them here.

OM

Aano bhadraa krathavoyanthu viswatah

This comes from Rigveda and means Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides of the Universe.

This has been the motto of the great, ancient Sages of India. In accordance with this motto, India has always remained a Land of seekers  of truth rather than of blind believers. They accepted great thoughts from wherever they came.

If a seeker of truth and founder of truth is to be called a founder of a religion, India had hundreds of them in the most ancient past. But, each founder of truth encouraged his disciples to seek the great truths himself, the Guru pointing out the path only. He did not say, follow me blindly. Guru was needed to show the path. Guru was needed to train you and encourage you  to tread the path to a certain distance. But, beyond that, you have to discover the ultimate truths yourself.

India had accepted many noble thoughts from all over the world as in the famous daily prayer below :

OM

Sarve bhavanthu sukhinah
Sarve santhu niraamayaah
Sarve bhadraani pasyanthu
Maa kaschith duhkhabhaag bhaveth
Om Santhih Santih Santih

Meaning:

OM
1: May All be Happy,
2: May All be Free from Illness.
3: May All See what is Good and Auspicious,
4: May no one Suffer.
5: Om ! Let there be Peace, Peace, Peace.

When we say, “ALL”, the first person who should (i) become Happy, (ii) become free from illness (iii) see all that is Good and Auspicious and (iv) not become part of suffering – is the SELF, who is selflessly praying for all others- human beings,  animals, birds, insects, trees and all other beings.

Om Santhih, Santhih, Santhih means – peace and freedom from three types of suffering.

First type of suffering is – “Adhyathmika” or internal and is inflicted by ourselves on ourselves, either knowingly or unknowingly.

Second type of suffering is  - “Adhi-bhouthika” or suffering due to physical reasons.

Third type of suffering is  - Adhi daivika or providential, unexpected, unanticipated or we may say, God-inflicted. We may also say, the third type of suffering is - Karma-inflicted, which we will explain in a later post. From all the three types of suffering, we seek release and peace for all beings.

The readers can easily see that this is a Universally applicable prayer and can be recited by anybody, anywhere, any time. It has no narrow religious connotations or boundaries. It surpasses all barriers like caste, creed, religion,race, language and so on. It is a truly Universal Prayer addressed to the Creator or the Powers of the Universe. They are all around YOU and they definitely are listening to your prayer. What they do - depends on the intensity and sincerity in your prayer.

Indian Sages had deep bonds of relationships with the Powers controlling the nature. By propitiating these powers controlling the nature, they got huge insights into the secrets of the Universe, secrets of  the Human being and the Ultimate power pervading the entire Universe. This Ultimate Power pervading the universe was called by them as ‘Brahman’. Other powers controlling the nature were called Devas or Gods.

Hinduism unequivocally proclaims that Brahman is just one. There is no second. He creates other Powers to control each function of the Universe.

Such Powers of Universe controlling each major function of the universe were identified by different names – like, Siva, Vishnu and Brahma.

There are also Indra, Varuna, Agni and many others. Many such Devas exist, who control each one function of the Universe. Brahman is the only ultimate Power who creates and distributes his functions among the Devas. All Devas are his various faces or his various representations for specific purposes.

This is explained briefly in one sloka of Isaa vasyopanishad, which says, everything in the universe comes from one single totality and whatever you take away from or add to it, it remains the same totality (or, Completeness).


“Poornamadah, Poornamidam,
Poornaath Poornamudachyathe,
Poornasya Poornamaadaaya,
Poornamevavasishyathe”


Meaning :

Om, There, is completeness, Here too, is completeness, From one completeness comes the other completeness. If one completeness is taken away from another completeness, yet, Only completeness remains.  Om, Peace Peace Peace.

This ancient sloka is extraordinary and reveals many truths in itself, when properly understood. It explicitly proclaims the oneness of the supreme power which is Brahman itself and which is the creator of all Universe and all beings from out of itself.

You and I are all part of this totality; and when we completely realize it and experience it, we are entitled to identify ourselves with and call ourselves as that “completeness” or totality. All of our seeking is intended for this purpose.

This truth about ourself is also stated in many Upanishads - in what are famously called as Mahavakyas or the Greatest Truths. 

Let us look at the most famous 4 of them:

Aham Brahmasmi : “I am the Brahman”. This is not being proclaimed by someone unknown to you. ‘You’ are proclaiming it. You must realize and experience that you are the Brahman. And YOU are. This is the fact. What about me? I am Brahman, in myself too. We are like Drops in the Ocean who are entitled to say, I am the Ocean. The total identification with the TOTALITY is the only important criterion. Once you experience yourself as Brahman, where are any narrow dividing boundaries between you and others? There exist none.

Thath Thvam Asi : “You are that”. You are searching for the  creator of this Universe who is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and so on. But, you must know and experience that - ‘YOU’ are that which you are searching for. See and experience yourself in the totality and the totality in yourself. This is the truth you must experience. We must not forget the analogy of the ocean drop identifying with the Ocean. We are all drops in the ocean of Brahman. We are therefore entitled to call ourselves as the Brahman.

Prajnaanam Brahma : So, what is Brahman in you? Is it your Body, or your Mind? Neither. It is your Prajna or superior Consciousness which runs your Body and Mind both. What can get you to that superior consciousness?

There are essentially 2 methods. One is, a realized Guru through his teaching, can show you the path. You can get there through the 3 steps called, Sravanam, Mananam and Nidhidhyasanam. This is the method of Jnana Yoga.  

Another Method is internal exploration through Meditation. You may call it Dhyana Yoga or just Yoga. Don’t say, nobody is there to teach me. If you become a sincere seeker, either you will find the Guru or the Guru will find you. The Universe itself may become a teacher to you. But first, become a sincere seeker and don’t throw the responsibility for this on others. You create your destiny by your own efforts.

Ayam Atma Brahma : My ‘Self’ or Atma and BRAHMAN  are one and the same. This realization comes through intense Sadhana through either of the above 2 methods.

These Mahavakyas from the Upanishads, form the foundation of the culture which existed in the ancient India.

The reader, who is un-initiated into the ancient Indian culture, usually gets perplexed with this narration. I agree that this foundation of Indian culture is a little tough to grasp, tough to realize and experience in its entirety and therefore, the intense, individual Sadhana or individual seeking is essential for each person.

Realization and experience may come in a day or in a year or in several years or several births, depending on the focus and sincerity in your seeking. The ultimate truth is put at a distance from us by the universe, through various lures and attractions that the Universe itself offers.

You can’t get at these ultimate truths by arguing, by use of mundane logic, by ordinary scientific principles, which are good to explore the physical Universe, but not enough to experience the creator of the universe. For that, you must transcend the mind itself – and come to a place where you discover yourself for the first time.Know thyself first and you will also know thy creator.

*  *  *  will continue   * * *