(Everybody knows the story of Ramayana. But, the inner meaning of Ramayan is a bit different than what is seen outside, says Mukundoor Swami.)
Dasharatha-- dasha is ten and ratha means vehicle; five jnanedriya(our 5 sense organs) and five karmendriya, sum up to ten; Dasharatha was the person who was using the ten indriyas as a vehicle, i.e., whoever gets mastery over his senses, is Dasharatha. Such a person always gets happiness. Happiness is 'Rama'. Rama means happiness, bliss.
Seeta has no parents- neither father nor mother, she came by 'herself'--Jnanambika (Mother of Knowledge). King Janaka was a Sadhaka, he did sadhana, he obtained Jnanambika; King Janaka was also a sage.
Rama broke the bow. Bow is the body, breaking the body here symbolises, crossing over this concrete body to reach the abstract, and thus he got Seeta. Thus, Rama, meaning Bliss and Seeta meaning Knowledge, i.e., Knowledge-Bliss, Jnananaanada was obtained.
Now, to Maya Mruga, the deer, golden deer- never does it stay in a single place. Seeta asked Rama to get it. Rama just killed it ! That means, these wordly desires are Maya; Rama killed it.
Means to say, wherever there is Knowledge-Bliss (jnanaananda), Maya does not exist, it dies.
Ravana had 10 heads. The same 10 senses, jnanedriya and karmendriya. Dasharatha rode over them, using them as a vehicle -- means, he made the indriyas listen to him, had control over them. Where as, the demon Ravana, had the same 10 indriyas in his head. He had in his head nothing but the 10 indriyas. The indriyas were controlling him, he was a slave of those indriyas.
He desired Seeta. But, will knowledge be available to those who are a slave of the indriyas ? Never; she was in the 'ashoka vana'. How can she have 'shoka' ?
Sugreeva, means good-head, means, good thoughts, noble thoughts. Jambavanta, son of Brahma, means, brahmaananda and then Anjaneya (Hanuman)-- one who has good vision, noble vision. All these people are allies of the bliss, named Rama !
Destroying the demon, of ego and selfishness, named Ravana, leads to the combination of noble thoughts, noble vision, and gets Knowledge-Bliss, jnanaananda.
If you struggle and do sadhana, everything is there in this body. If you understand, the whole of Ramayana is here.
Watch out for the sage, Valmiki. He is known as the person who discovered the inner meanings and wrote the epic. Who is he ? Valmika means ant-hill(mound). This body is such an ant-hill. One who extracts the Jnanaanada from this body, is a sage. Valmiki was such a sage. Who else, other than such a person, can get to understand, experience and write such a wonderful epic ?
We read the puranas, get to know only the outer part and play only that is there on the exterior. Nobody bothers to know the interiors and the internal meanings.
(From: Yegadagella Aite)
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Who is God (Deva) ?
God in Sanskrit is 'Deva'
Deva is derived from the root 'divu'
Divu means : 'divu kreeDaa, vijigeesha, vyavahaara, dyuti, stuti,swapna, moda,mada, kaanti, gatishu'
Deva is derived from the root 'divu'
Divu means : 'divu kreeDaa, vijigeesha, vyavahaara, dyuti, stuti,swapna, moda,mada, kaanti, gatishu'
A crude translation would be : Divu is to mean -- game,above-all, business, light, praise, dream, joy, pride, glow,end-of-all
- Deva is one, for whom the whole world is a game; from creation of this world till its destruction, its all a game for Him. He does not have to perspire to create this world. Everything is His leela. So He is known as deva
- Deva is one, who is above everything else, who is taller than the tallest, higher than the highest, bigger than the biggest and greater than the greatest. So He is known as deva
- Deva is one, who takes care of all the day-to-day business of this world, who looks into all the activities of each and every being, without whom, nothing moves --tena vina truNamapi na chalati. Thus He is deva
- Deva is one who is the source of all light, the light through which everything lights up-sun,moon,stars-the light through which everyone sees, the light which sees everyone. Hence, He is deva
- Deva is one, whose praise is sung by all the words spoken by every being. Every sound produced in the universe is nothing but His praise. So, He is deva
- Deva is one, whose dream -is this world; the one who makes us dream, the one who is responsible for dream, sleep and awakening of all beings. Hence, He is deva.
While each and every meaning is more than sufficient to talk about His greatness forever, the remaining meanings can be similarly deduced.
(From, lectures by BG)
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Everything is there in Yoga
'Yegdaagella aite' (everything's there in yoga) book by Belagere Krishnashaastri on Mukundoor Swami
... There was a small stream of water flowing. Water was streaming out between two small rocks. At one end, there were water bubbles getting formed and disappearing; the sound generated by the continuous flow of water was very pleasant.
Swamiji started speaking (laughing) with wonder in his eyes and innocence on his face.
"look, look, its so funny-look at the water bubbles; so many get formed here, go till there and look at that point over there, theres nothing.This is very funny !
Why was it created in the first place ? Why and how did it flow till here ? and why did it vanish suddenly leaving no trace of its existence ? and what did it gain by travelling thus far ?
what was formed, what flowed, and what vanished ? everything is water.
Our story is also similar, isnt it ?For some reason, we are born, in the same stream, go till a point and then, suddenly disappear.Thats all is our life.
Wonder! If you think that everything in this world is a wonder, it is, otherwise, nothing is !"
When he ended, he had explained the secret of creation in such simple words with the example of a water bubble.
**********************************
We were walking through a burial ground. The whole place had bodies burried everywhere.There were samadhis built on top of some of the places where bodies were burried.
Swamiji said, " They say, these dead people have become samadhi here; made samadhi for dead people.
What is samadhi for a dead body ? You should get samadhi when you are alive; if that happens, then, that is Lord Shiva. This body is the burial ground, and Lord exists here; its acceptable only if you get samadhi when you are alive"
**********************************
There was a group of people sitting in front of Swamiji, talking with Him with the same enthusiasm; there was never a shortage of laughter when swamiji was around.
Somebody started speaking about how big Bangalore is. Swamiji was listening patiently asking questions with his usual innocence and wonder-struck eyes.
"Have you been to Bangalore ?" Swamiji asked. Somebody said, yes.
"They say, its very big?"; 'yes, swamiji, its very big'
"The Lord governing this whole state is there, right ?" 'yes, he stays there in a big building'
"This guy(referring to himself), had gone there once !"
"oh.. is it ? swamiji, when did you go?"
"some time back, he (again, himself) wanted to see Bangalore. He started walking and within some 6-7 miles, reached Bangalore. There were shops, hotels, houses. Then, somebody said, 'this is not Bangalore, this is Banavara'" (everyone laughs)
"oh.. what a fool has he been, that he considered Banavara to be Bangalore"
"then, he took a bigger road, and started; he then found a bigger place; buses, trains, shops, buildings..; he roamed around everywhere; then somebody said, 'this is Arasikere' !"
"then, started moving again, wherever he stopped thinking it was Bangalore, it was some other place, Tiptur, Tumkur.. and finally he reached another place"
"There were big shopping malls, so many people....fully crowded, big multi-storeyed buildings, big roads, what not ?"
"Everyone whom I asked, said, that it was indeed Bangalore;
then, I wanted to see the King, who rules; I asked somebody. He showed me the big building, where the King stays"
"...I went inside ! oh.. it was such a nice place ! and then I saw the King who governs the whole of this province !!
He was sitting in a big chair; these eyes are not sufficient to see him; and when I went there.. I had nothing to speak" He stopped.
When we tried to assimilate all his thoughts, we realised, he was talking about the the path of Yoga.
Bangalore is the state of Samadhi--the King is the Lord whom we have to realise--the smaller towns (Banavara, Arasikere) are all the different siddhis obtained while following the path of Yoga.
Our goal is to reach the Lord; we get a lot of siddhis on the path. But, if we stop there or return from there, we will not reach our destination. And when we reach there, we will not have anything to speak, silence would have overtaken speech.
****************************************
... There was a small stream of water flowing. Water was streaming out between two small rocks. At one end, there were water bubbles getting formed and disappearing; the sound generated by the continuous flow of water was very pleasant.
Swamiji started speaking (laughing) with wonder in his eyes and innocence on his face.
"look, look, its so funny-look at the water bubbles; so many get formed here, go till there and look at that point over there, theres nothing.This is very funny !
Why was it created in the first place ? Why and how did it flow till here ? and why did it vanish suddenly leaving no trace of its existence ? and what did it gain by travelling thus far ?
what was formed, what flowed, and what vanished ? everything is water.
Our story is also similar, isnt it ?For some reason, we are born, in the same stream, go till a point and then, suddenly disappear.Thats all is our life.
Wonder! If you think that everything in this world is a wonder, it is, otherwise, nothing is !"
When he ended, he had explained the secret of creation in such simple words with the example of a water bubble.
**********************************
We were walking through a burial ground. The whole place had bodies burried everywhere.There were samadhis built on top of some of the places where bodies were burried.
Swamiji said, " They say, these dead people have become samadhi here; made samadhi for dead people.
What is samadhi for a dead body ? You should get samadhi when you are alive; if that happens, then, that is Lord Shiva. This body is the burial ground, and Lord exists here; its acceptable only if you get samadhi when you are alive"
**********************************
There was a group of people sitting in front of Swamiji, talking with Him with the same enthusiasm; there was never a shortage of laughter when swamiji was around.
Somebody started speaking about how big Bangalore is. Swamiji was listening patiently asking questions with his usual innocence and wonder-struck eyes.
"Have you been to Bangalore ?" Swamiji asked. Somebody said, yes.
"They say, its very big?"; 'yes, swamiji, its very big'
"The Lord governing this whole state is there, right ?" 'yes, he stays there in a big building'
"This guy(referring to himself), had gone there once !"
"oh.. is it ? swamiji, when did you go?"
"some time back, he (again, himself) wanted to see Bangalore. He started walking and within some 6-7 miles, reached Bangalore. There were shops, hotels, houses. Then, somebody said, 'this is not Bangalore, this is Banavara'" (everyone laughs)
"oh.. what a fool has he been, that he considered Banavara to be Bangalore"
"then, he took a bigger road, and started; he then found a bigger place; buses, trains, shops, buildings..; he roamed around everywhere; then somebody said, 'this is Arasikere' !"
"then, started moving again, wherever he stopped thinking it was Bangalore, it was some other place, Tiptur, Tumkur.. and finally he reached another place"
"There were big shopping malls, so many people....fully crowded, big multi-storeyed buildings, big roads, what not ?"
"Everyone whom I asked, said, that it was indeed Bangalore;
then, I wanted to see the King, who rules; I asked somebody. He showed me the big building, where the King stays"
"...I went inside ! oh.. it was such a nice place ! and then I saw the King who governs the whole of this province !!
He was sitting in a big chair; these eyes are not sufficient to see him; and when I went there.. I had nothing to speak" He stopped.
When we tried to assimilate all his thoughts, we realised, he was talking about the the path of Yoga.
Bangalore is the state of Samadhi--the King is the Lord whom we have to realise--the smaller towns (Banavara, Arasikere) are all the different siddhis obtained while following the path of Yoga.
Our goal is to reach the Lord; we get a lot of siddhis on the path. But, if we stop there or return from there, we will not reach our destination. And when we reach there, we will not have anything to speak, silence would have overtaken speech.
****************************************
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
AHAM
'Aham' -- 'I' (am)
(Does Dwaita -duality, and Adwaita-non-duality converge at this point ? )
Aham in sanskrit means aheya - cannot live without
na heeyate iti- aham
I cannot live without me. So, I am 'aham' for myself.
You can live without me; so, you are not 'aham' for me !
Can anybody live without HIM (the Lord ?)
None can live without Him. So, He is everybody's 'aham'
The universal Aham.
In this light, can we try to understand what 'soham' and 'aham brahmaasmi' is.
I am that !
(Does Dwaita -duality, and Adwaita-non-duality converge at this point ? )
Aham in sanskrit means aheya - cannot live without
na heeyate iti- aham
I cannot live without me. So, I am 'aham' for myself.
You can live without me; so, you are not 'aham' for me !
Can anybody live without HIM (the Lord ?)
None can live without Him. So, He is everybody's 'aham'
The universal Aham.
In this light, can we try to understand what 'soham' and 'aham brahmaasmi' is.
I am that !
AUM (OM)
About OM or AUM :
Talking about OM, one wonders why every mantra begins usually with OM. Why is OM known as a symbol of the Lord, and sometimes Lord Himself depicted as AUM.
AUM is made up of 3 letters: A, U and M (अ उ म )
Why is Lord AUM ?
Because Lord is अ, because Lord is उ and because Lord is म
Why is Lord अ (A) ?
अ in Sanskrit indicates negation. Like, Jnana * Ajnana, Vidya * Avidya, etc.,;
to indicate a 'NOT'; to negate something; to say that, 'this is not' jnana, 'this is not' vidya.
Then, what does अ indicate here ?
that Lord is NOT !
What is Lord Not !
Lord is Not this, He is Not that, 'nEti, nEti'
He is not the visible world of water, soil, and fire. He is not the invisible world of space and sound. He is neither 'sthoola jagat' nor 'sookshma jagat'.
He is neither concrete, nor abstract.
He is not anything that our eyes, ears, and all our senses can 'sense'.
He is not anything that human mind, intellect and ego can perceive.
He is above all these, He is above everything.
Hence, he is अ (A).
{Instead of telling 'What is God', OM says 'What is Not God' !
Why is this ? This is the way to explain things that human mind cant perceive. If somebody knows how a cow looks like, the person who is explaining about a buffalo can try to compare cow and buffalo; because he can relate a cow and a buffalo.
But, about Lord, one cannot compare anything with.
The easiest way, Veda found to explain, what God is, was by explaining what He is Not.}
Why is He अ (A) in this manner ?
Because He is उ (U).
What is उ ?
उ is the short form for Uttama (better), Unnata (higher), Upa-Upari (higher and nearer)
Lord is higher, better than anything else in this universe.
He is higher than what humans can apprehend. He is better than the best.
He makes us go higher and makes us better.
He cannot be understood by us. Nobody can comprehend, grasp anything about the Lord completely. He is absolutely unreachable by us !
Thus, He is उ.
Hmm, so, if He cannot be known, why should anybody try to know Him.
Why should anybody have anxiousness to reach Him ?
Should one stop Saadhana ?
No ! He is also म (M).
म is short form of maana, meaning knowledge, jnana. Maanam Jnaanam.
He is knowledge. He can be known !
These are two opposite points. He cannot be known says उ, but He can be known says म.
Yes, He is both.
He cannot be known completely.
To know, that He cannot be known completely, implies that He can be known !
We, at least, came to know that, He cannot be known completely.
Isn't this knowing something about Him ?
He is Jnana-saagar, ocean of knowledge.
We have come here to gain knowledge.
We cannot completely know the ocean.
If we come with a spoon, we will get the water from the ocean that fills up the spoon.
If we come with a tumbler, we will get water as much as can be filled in the tumbler.
We get a bucket, we fill the bucket.
All our vessels have been filled ! The ocean didn't dry up. But, we got an idea of what the ocean is. We have known something about Him.
Hence, He is म (M)
He is अ उ म (AUM).
(Excerpts from Bannanje Govindacharya's lectures)
Talking about OM, one wonders why every mantra begins usually with OM. Why is OM known as a symbol of the Lord, and sometimes Lord Himself depicted as AUM.
AUM is made up of 3 letters: A, U and M (अ उ म )
Why is Lord AUM ?
Because Lord is अ, because Lord is उ and because Lord is म
Why is Lord अ (A) ?
अ in Sanskrit indicates negation. Like, Jnana * Ajnana, Vidya * Avidya, etc.,;
to indicate a 'NOT'; to negate something; to say that, 'this is not' jnana, 'this is not' vidya.
Then, what does अ indicate here ?
that Lord is NOT !
What is Lord Not !
Lord is Not this, He is Not that, 'nEti, nEti'
He is not the visible world of water, soil, and fire. He is not the invisible world of space and sound. He is neither 'sthoola jagat' nor 'sookshma jagat'.
He is neither concrete, nor abstract.
He is not anything that our eyes, ears, and all our senses can 'sense'.
He is not anything that human mind, intellect and ego can perceive.
He is above all these, He is above everything.
Hence, he is अ (A).
{Instead of telling 'What is God', OM says 'What is Not God' !
Why is this ? This is the way to explain things that human mind cant perceive. If somebody knows how a cow looks like, the person who is explaining about a buffalo can try to compare cow and buffalo; because he can relate a cow and a buffalo.
But, about Lord, one cannot compare anything with.
The easiest way, Veda found to explain, what God is, was by explaining what He is Not.}
Why is He अ (A) in this manner ?
Because He is उ (U).
What is उ ?
उ is the short form for Uttama (better), Unnata (higher), Upa-Upari (higher and nearer)
Lord is higher, better than anything else in this universe.
He is higher than what humans can apprehend. He is better than the best.
He makes us go higher and makes us better.
He cannot be understood by us. Nobody can comprehend, grasp anything about the Lord completely. He is absolutely unreachable by us !
Thus, He is उ.
Hmm, so, if He cannot be known, why should anybody try to know Him.
Why should anybody have anxiousness to reach Him ?
Should one stop Saadhana ?
No ! He is also म (M).
म is short form of maana, meaning knowledge, jnana. Maanam Jnaanam.
He is knowledge. He can be known !
These are two opposite points. He cannot be known says उ, but He can be known says म.
Yes, He is both.
He cannot be known completely.
To know, that He cannot be known completely, implies that He can be known !
We, at least, came to know that, He cannot be known completely.
Isn't this knowing something about Him ?
He is Jnana-saagar, ocean of knowledge.
We have come here to gain knowledge.
We cannot completely know the ocean.
If we come with a spoon, we will get the water from the ocean that fills up the spoon.
If we come with a tumbler, we will get water as much as can be filled in the tumbler.
We get a bucket, we fill the bucket.
All our vessels have been filled ! The ocean didn't dry up. But, we got an idea of what the ocean is. We have known something about Him.
Hence, He is म (M)
He is अ उ म (AUM).
(Excerpts from Bannanje Govindacharya's lectures)
From Kenopanishad
"vijnaatam avijaanatam avijnaatam vijaanataam"
This is from Kenopanishad.
The literal translation would be : "One who knows, doesn't know; One who doesn't know, knows"
Briefly, it would mean : The person who thinks, he knows completely about the Lord, does not know anything; and the person who knows that Lord cannot be known completely, knows about Him.
I have tried to translate and put across the points from Bannanje Govindacharya's book, 'talavakaarOpanishad'
According to the book, God cannot be known completely by anybody. If somebody thinks, he knows, then it is foolish. But, the person, who knows that one cannot know Lord completely, knows the truth; he at least knows that Lord cannot be known !
Vandana to Acharya
This is from Kenopanishad.
The literal translation would be : "One who knows, doesn't know; One who doesn't know, knows"
Briefly, it would mean : The person who thinks, he knows completely about the Lord, does not know anything; and the person who knows that Lord cannot be known completely, knows about Him.
I have tried to translate and put across the points from Bannanje Govindacharya's book, 'talavakaarOpanishad'
According to the book, God cannot be known completely by anybody. If somebody thinks, he knows, then it is foolish. But, the person, who knows that one cannot know Lord completely, knows the truth; he at least knows that Lord cannot be known !
Vandana to Acharya
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