santhasakke sulabha marga

bhavachitta

http://www.bodhivrukshaepaper.com/Details.aspx?id=1091&boxid=16424375

paramatma sarvashreshta

On saints and sainthood

There is no dearth of ‘devils citing the scriptures” to cheat people. Fraud and deception in the name of God and religion is prevalent everywhere. 

In Indian philosophy, there is a group of seventeen Upanishads, collectively called ‘Sanyasopanishads’ which deals with the subject of asceticism, the qualities of a renunciate, The necessary prerequisites for taking on sainthood, the duties and responsibilities of such persons, the evil effects of forced and premature renunciation, fraudulent renunciation and other such matters.

The basic concept is that renunciation or ‘Sanyasa’, should come in the natural course of evolution of the soul and not be imposed by force from outside. Renunciation is only an accessory to realize the supreme truth and not an end in itself. Here, it is made clear that suppression or repression of man’s worldly needs is not required to be undertaken, either as a misguided effort or as a hypocritical, boastful showcasing of one’s religiosity. It is possible to be ‘in the world’, yet take a detached viewpoint.

These Upanishads say that just as the sun absorbs water from everywhere, just as fire burns up everything in its path, a true Yogi or saint enjoys everything, yet no merit or sin attaches to him on account of his absolute purity.

He is not attached to any worldly objects, nor affected by the praise or censure of people. There is a time for everything in man’s life. A student, first acquiring knowledge, a householder afterwards, discharging familial duties, then a gradual withdrawal from worldly activities, developing an inner conviction of higher things and finally, if the temperament and attitude permits, renunciation.

Of course, there are those rare souls who are born renunciates. But, the Upanishads declare, such a one, an ‘Avadhuta’. If at all there is such a one, he alone is the ever pure, the embodiment of non-attachment, of the form of transcendental knowledge, one who has transcended everything else, standing as the personification of supreme oneness with the ultimate truth, the ‘Self or Brahman’.

How does this renunciation take root? By abstaining from evil, unnecessary activities and concentrating the mind on higher things like the scriptural sayings and the Guru’s teachings.

Now, on the pseudo-saints. The Upanishads denounce them strongly. One who is full of greed and attachments, who puts on the garb of a saint to fill his stomach will go to the lowest of hells. 

He who eats everything and anything, simply attires himself in ochre robes, carries a staff, who is devoid of virtues like tranquility, knowledge, non-attachment, who leads a lazy, unproductive life is the worst sinner . 

Trying to be a saint while still full of greed is like trying to enjoy fruits from the images of fruit laden trees in water. Mean, quarrelsome, misguided, impure, untruthful, such men are to be avoided.

Mirle Karthik, Aug 01, 2014, DHNS:

On facing defeat

Swami Saibaba said, “When defeat and disappointment stare you in the face, you must not give way to weakness or despondency. Never condemn yourself as inferior or useless. Analyze the situation and find out the reasons for defeat so as to avoid it next time. You should have muscles of iron and nerves of steel. Then your resolution will generate the necessary confidence, and that will win over opposition. For the crop of life, courage and confidence are the best fertilizers. Be like lions in the spiritual field, rule over the forest of the senses and roam fearlessly with full faith in achieving victory.” 

He explained, “Do not attach too much value to victory or too much importance to defeat. Even in examinations when you fail, do not be overcome by despair and do silly things like attempting to take your own life. Life is much more precious than that.” 

He assured, “Your destiny does not depend upon examination marks, it depends more on character, will-power and the Grace of God.”

Extracts from Terry Reis Kennedy, Jul 27, 2014, DHNS:

It is said that one of the most dreadful disease among humans living in 21st century is “Overthinking”. As per estimates, an average person has around 70,000 thoughts per day. So, how many of us focus to observe our thoughts? Maybe very few. Do we ever think of putting a brake on or a full stop to our thoughts? Not really. 

Usually we allow them to scatter everywhere, into every corner of our mind, as a result of which our mind crashes. An uncontrolled mind ends up tense, worried and stressed and this causes a lot of damage to the self as well as others. Hence we need to apply a brake if the mind is to become peaceful.

We all have this bad habit of thinking too much about others all the time-- what they did, what they should do, what they should have done, why they said this or that. All these what's and why's rob the mind of its peace, thereby making our lives miserable. Overthinking is like over eating, which makes us constantly heavy from within, thereby preventing us from remaining light and flexible. 

Often, when we overthink, we over-imagine and over react, creating a variety of negative feelings towards people and situations. Under such a situation, it is always better to observe rather than get over-involved and react too quickly, because observing gives us patience and clarity to think and speak succinctly and keeps us focused.

So how does one put a brake on the mind? Most of us understand this concept very well, but when the real moment arrives, we almost fail miserably, because we are constantly being pulled outward by others, due to which an imbalance is caused within us , thereby creating emotional, mental and physical disorder. Hence, the simplest and easiest way to avoid this kind of imbalance is “putting a brake on the tongue first”.

Our mind and tongue are very closely connected, for what is in my mind is automatically expressed through my tongue and my words, positive or negative. If my words are incorrect or inappropriate they create negative feelings and reactions in others and in turn the response of others create further retort from within.

If we wish to stop this daily drainage of energy, we must apply the “Check & Change” method. For that we need to first check our mind. What is in it? Wasteful thoughts, worry, fear, dislike or peace.Then, check the flow of the negative thoughts and change the track into positive. To check means to put a brake and to change means letting the energy of my mind flow in to a more constructive direction. Isn’t it simple?

So c’mon, let’s make our mind our best friend and begin our day with these thoughts daily: ‘I am a peaceful person, I am a being of peace. Peace is my original quality.’ and remain Energetic, Creative and Productive​.

-- Brahmakumar Nikunj, July 26, 2014, DHNS:Öasis

Mind Management

How to train our mind? Every day we come across situations when we do something we wish not to. Most mornings we wake up and go about our activities, because we have to. We start the works, but start wondering how we would finish it. What happens to the energy and initiative with which we start it? All of us want to become Tendulkars, but how? M S Subbulakshmi could have become a famous actress, but she chose to become a famous musician. Mahatma Gandhi chose to bring down an empire to his feet with a simple technique called "Satyagraha". Tendulkar thought he was too short to become a good cricketer. How is all this possible?

The human mind is a wonderful thing. It can be trained, controlled and managed. Mind, with out effort also keeps doing its job, but that where we don't start enjoying it. Here are some simple techniques:

1. Focus your mind. Think about the only thing you want to do in life. Ways and means of doing it start appearing automatically. But focusing our mind is not so simple, as there are ample subjects ever ready to distract us. However, some practice can help in bringing our mind to focus.

2. Think Positive. We always tend to be negative. Is this possible, can I do it, are always flooding our mind, which starts pushing us away from our goals. Say to yourself - Yes, I can do it. I'll try, lest see. Things start moving.

3. Anger Anger is something with which we try to hide our weakness. We get angry, anger does not manifest itself. When we get angry, it is we who lose - because the moment we turn around, the subject on which we got angry would go away. A teacher getting angry in a class soon realises that he is not achieving anything - rather the students start enjoying his outbursts at someones cost.

4. Fear - the fear of future, fear to outcomes, far of the past. We carry a heavy baggage of the past. Leave the baggage, travel light. The journey of life becomes easy and simple. Thoughts of the past, present and future - about which we don't have any control, try to prevent us from moving ahead.

5. Detachment - Detach yourself from the thoughts which are pulling in different directions. Feel what is happening around. Many times its not at all related to you. So why do you get involved?

6. Confidence - Self confidence is something we always take for granted. Can I do this? is a common refrain. Take a piece of paper and start writing down all you did till now. Nothing, may be your first response. Really? Did you not learn to walk? Did you not go to school? Did you not join a Job? Did you not ride a two-wheeler?  All these small things are in reality major achievements. How did we achieve them? So be confident that anything you try can be successful, unless you really try.

7.  Live for yourself, and not for others - You may sacrifice your whole life for others, but do it because you wanted it. Do anything, but do it wilfully and ejoy it.

Start Listening to your sub-conscious mind. Our mind is a manager, a wonderful manager, who can and is guiding us all the  time, but unfortunately we don't have time to listen to it.

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