701)
Sri Desa-kala-paricchinna
The Truth unbroken by Time and Space.
The All Pervading Eternal Truth.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
702) Sri
Sarvaga
Present Everywhere and in Everything.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
705) Sri
Sastramayi
The Mother of all Scriptures.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
The
Word verily is greater than name.
The Word in fact makes known the Rig Veda, the
Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda,
The
Atharva Veda as the fourth, the Ancient Lore as the fifth [Veda], the Veda of
Vedas, the ritual for ancestors, calculus,
The
augural sciences, the knowledge of the signs of the times, dialectics, ethics,
political science, sacred knowledge, theology,
Knowledge
of the spirits, military science, astrology, the science of snakes and of
celestial beings.
[The
Word also makes known] heaven, earth, wind, space, the waters, fire, the Gods,
Men,
animals, birds, grass, and trees, all animals down to worms, insects, and ants.
[It
also makes known] what is right and wrong, truth and untruth, good and evil,
what is pleasing and what is unpleasing.
Verily,
if there were no Word, there would be knowledge neither of right and wrong, nor
of truth and untruth, nor good and evil,
Nor
of the pleasing and unpleasing. The Word makes all this known. Meditate on the
Word.
Chandogya
Upanishad VII, 2, 1
The
Word, imperishable, is the Firstborn of Truth, Mother of the Veda and hub of
immortality.
May
she come to us in happiness in the sacrifice! May she, our protecting Goddess,
be easy of entreaty!
TB
II, 8, 8, 5
"The
Person cannot be alone, not merely or mainly on the psychological level but on
the constitutive level, that is, the level on which he can be what he is. Being
is in fact never alone; it always has its own accompaniment, its shadow, so to
speak (really and truly "so to speak"), for this is vac, the Word, the
Firstborn. . . .
The
Vedic Revelation tells us in innumerable texts that vac, the Word is not just a
man-made invention or a mere tool of communication, or even simply an expression
of what Man is. The Vedic Word is indeed this, but is infinitely more. It is
ultimately as important as Brahman and, in a way that has to be properly
understood, it is Brahman itself, not as every being "is" ultimately
Brahman, but in a special manner: the Word is the first offspring of the
Absolute and sprang from it in a peculiar way. In the last analysis God has no
name because He himself is Word.
According
to Vedic Revelation, vac, which was at the beginning, cannot be reduced to a
single one of its dimensions. To begin with, thought and language are here so
intermingled that no separation is possible. Vac is grammatically feminine and
this fact has conditioned a great deal of thinking about the Vedic Word. If an
ontology of sex has any meaning at all, it would find here a decisive basis.
However that may be, vac expresses that total surrender to the source from which
it springs which is characteristically found in the archetype of feminine love,
the feminine feature of love being that of finding not only fulfillment but
being itself in the beloved.
It
would be inadequate to describe vac exclusively as the principle of
intelligibility of the universe, because she is equally the principle of pure
affirmation emerging out of sheer nothingness. Vac is really the total living
Word, that is to say, the Word in her entirety, including her material aspects,
her cosmic reverberation, her visible form, her sound, her meaning, her message.
Vac is more than merely meaning or sound devoid of sense; she is more than just
an image or simply a vehicle of certain spiritual truths. She does not contain
revelation; she is revelation. She was at the beginning. She is the whole of the
shruti. The shruti is vac.
Vac,
indeed, is the primordial mystery combining in herself the three worlds of time:
past, present, and future. Everything that is participates in vac; through her
everything has come into being and her imprint has been left everywhere. No
wonder, then, that every word is sacred and thus powerful>"
Professor
Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience
(P. Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience,
www.cybrlink.com/vedtoc.htm)
We
did send messengers before thee, and appointed for them wives and children:
And it was never the part of a messenger to bring a Sign
Except as Allah permitted (or commanded).
For each period is a Book (revealed).
surah
13:38 Al Rad (The Thunder)
(Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Quran, 1989.)
706) Sri
Guhamba
The Mother that dwells in the Heart.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
Within
the city of Brahman, which is the body, there is the heart, and within the heart
is a little house. This house has the shape of a Lotus, and within it dwells
that which is to be sought after, inquired about, and realized.
What,
then, is that which dwells within this little house, this lotus of the heart?
What is it that must be sought after, inquired about, and realized?
Even
so large as the universe outside is the universe within the lotus of the heart.
Within it are heaven and earth, the sun, the moon, the lightning and all the
stars. Whatever is in the macrocosm is in this microcosm also.
All
things that exist, all beings and all desires, are in the city of Brahman; what,
then, becomes of them when old age approaches and the body dissolves in death?
Though
old age comes to the body, the lotus of the heart does not grows old. It does
not die with the death of the body. The lotus of Brahman, where Brahman resides
in all his glory that, and not the body, is the true city of Brahman.
Brahman, dwelling therein, is untouched by any deed, ageless, deathless, free
from grief, free from hunger and from thirst.
Chandogya
Upanishad
(source: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali, Penguin
Books, Inc., 1969, p. 49-50.)
707) Sri
Guhya-rupini
Beyond the Senses.
Unseen and Secret.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
713)
Sri Guru-mandala-rupini
The Unbroken Line of Divine Messengers.
The Succession of Gurus that is She Herself.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
They
ask thee concerning the Spirit.
Say: "The Spirit
(cometh) by command of my Lord:
Of
knowledge it is only a little that is communicated to you."
If
it were Our Will We could take away that which We have sent thee by inspiration:
Then
wouldst thou find none to plead thy affair in that matter against Us.
surah
17: 85-86 Al Isra (The Night Journey)
(Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an, 1989.)
We gave Moses the Book, and followed him up with a
succession of Messengers;
We gave Jesus, the son of Mary, Clear (Signs),
And strengthened him
with the Holy Spirit.
surah
2.87 Al Baqarah (The Heifer)
(Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an, 1989.)
"The
darshan of a guru is the power that stabilizes the devotee on the path. The
philosophies, teachings and practices that he is given to do are important, but
it is the power of darshan that is his stabilizing influence, enabling him to
unfold easily on the path of enlightenment.
Darshan
is a mystical power emanating from the adept who has gone deep enough within to
awaken this power. By stabilizing that power, he gives psychic protection to his
disciples and devotees, even during their sleep at night. The same power grants
them the ability to meditate without the prior necessity of extensive tapas.
Satguru darshan releases the awareness of the devotee out of the area of the
mind which is constantly thinking into sublimity.
A
beginning meditator is usually aware most of the time in the area of
consciousness where thoughts run constantly before his vision. He finds it
difficult to go deeper. All efforts fall short of the divine life he inwardly
knows he can live, as he is bound by the cycles of his own karma. The satguru's
power of darshan releases the meditator's individual awareness from the thinking
area of mind and stabilizes him in the heart chakra, and he begins to awaken and
unfold his Divinity.
Devout
Hindus sit before a satguru and, in seeing him, draw the darshan vibration from
him, absorbing it into themselves. They are sensitive enough to distinguish the
vibration of darshan from the other vibrations around the guru. They also
believe that any physical thing the satguru touches begins to carry some of his
darshan or personal vibration, and that when away from him they can just hold
the article to receive the full impact of his darshan, for the physical object
is a direct link to the satguru himself. It is darshan vibration that makes a
human being a holy person. When we say someone is holy or saintly we are feeling
the radiations of that divine energy flooding through them and out into the
world.
The
inner life of a devotee has to be stabilized, cherished and well protected by
the guru. The guru is able to do this through his well- developed facilities of
darshan, even if his devotee lives at great distances from him. Unless the inner
vibratory rate of the devotee is held stable, he will not come into his fullness
in this life. If a plant is transplanted too often, it won't come into its full
growth. If the bud is picked before it blooms, it will not flower or give forth
its redolent odor. Yes, the grace of the satguru fires the ability to meditate
in the seeker, the erudite Hindu believes."
Satguru
Sivaya Subramuniyaswami
"GURDAWAARAA
SPEAKS
That
vessel alone is pure, which is pleasing to Him. The filthiest vessel does not
become pure, simply by being washed. Through the Gurdwaaraa, one obtains
intuitive understanding. By being washed through this Gate, it becomes pure.
The Lord Himself sets the standards to differentiate between the dirty and the
pure. Do not think that you will automatically find a place of rest hereafter.
According to the actions one has committed, so does the mortal become (sggs
730).
Gurdwaaraa
is a very sweet name; which appears to have been derived from the word Guru
Duaaraa or Gur Duaaraa as used in the Gurbani (Sri Guru Granth Sahib, SGGS).
Thus, the word Gurdwara consists of two terms namely Guru and Dwaaraa. As the
Gurbani reveals, the first term represents the Self, God, and Guru as being one
and the same. The second term Dwaaraa means door or gate. The integration of
these two terms provide us with a beautiful meaning to the word Gurdwaaraa:
"The Guru's Door or the Guru's Teaching", which is "The Doorway
to Waheguru" (Self-Realization). Again, as the Gurbani asserts, the
Teaching of a true Guru is nothing but the expression of God Himself. Thus, all
these terms such as "The Doorway to Waheguru", "The Guru's
Door", or "The Guru's Teaching" are virtually synonymous.
Gur
Parmesur eko jaan:
Guru is God and God is Guru (sggs 864).
Dhur kee Bani aayee:
The Gurbani emanated from the Primal Lord (sggs 628).
Hayu aapayu bol na jaandaa mai kahiyaa
sabh hukamyu jeeyu: By myself, I
do not even know how to speak; I speak all that God commands (sggs 763).
Now,
after having understood the proper meaning of Gurdwaaraa, imagine, how wonderful
it would be if a Gurdwaaraa could speak, reveal the Lord's mystery, and secrets
that people always seek! The things it would say will include the following:
"Dear
Man, I am the Guru's Teaching (i.e., Guru's Door), through which I am your
Doorway to Infinite Consciousness. Come, and approach me with all devotion,
because devotion to the Guru's Teaching is fire that burns the ignorance. I am
within the cave of your heart. I am your bridge between the earth plane and the
spiritual realm. I am your link between matter and Spirit, bondage and
liberation, attachment and freedom, falsehood and Truth, ignorance and
knowledge, ephemeral and eternal, sorrow and bliss, real and unreal...."
"Dear
Sibling of Destiny, the purpose of your human form is Self-Realization (opening
of the Tenth Gate). The Lord placed the soul to the cave of your body, and blew
the breath of life-force into it. He fashioned your body and revealed the nine
gates to you; but He kept the Tenth gate hidden. Come to me, and the mystery of
this Tenth Gate will be revealed to you."
Gurduaarai
laaiy bhaavnee iknaa dasvaa duaar dikhaaiyaa:
Through the Gurdwaaraa, some are blessed with loving faith, and the Tenth
Door is revealed to them (sggs 922).
"Dear
Seeker, everything exists in the Infinite Consciousness, Waheguru. This
undivided Consciousness exists in all, inside and outside. This pure Awareness
is Truth-Consciousness-Bliss. Know that you are this Immaculate Consciousness.
Due to spiritual ignorance, your deluded mind veils the true nature of the Self
and creates an illusory appearance (division or diversity). However, the mind of
a noble or an enlightened man does not move from this One Reality. Come, inquire
and reflect (Vichaar) on the Shabad. You will attain the intuitive
understanding."
Guru
Duaarai hoyi sojhee paaisee.....: Through the Gurdwaaraa, one obtains
intuitive understanding. By being washed through this Gate, it becomes pure. The
Lord Himself sets the standards to differentiate between the dirty and the pure
(sggs 730).
Guru
Duaare soee boojhai jisno aap bujhaae: He alone comes to understand, who
enters the Gurdwaaraa, whom the Lord Himself instructs (sggs 1234).
"Dear
Soul-Bride, your true Husband is none other than the Creator Himself (Kartaa
Purakh). Due to the false love for material world (ignorance), you have
separated yourself from your Beloved Husband Lord. Come to me; I will counsel
you and prepare you for the celestial wedding with your True Beloved." Guru
Duaarai hamraa viaah ji hoyaa jaa sahu miliaa taa jaaniaa....: When I was
married within the Gurdwaaraa, I met my Husband Lord, and I came to know Him.
His Shabad is pervading the three worlds; when my ego was quieted, my mind
became happy (sggs 351).
"Dear
Friend, know that this present age of material consciousness is characterized by
quarrel, disagreement, cheating, deceit, cynicism, hypocrisy, duplicity,
misinformation, etc.. We are short-lived; not very intelligent and fortunate,
perpetually disturbed and agitated by anxieties. In addition, your mind is ever
flickering, turbulent, swift, restless, obstinate, and so strong that it often
overcomes even one's own intelligence. The most direct and practical method to
reach the perfection of God Consciousness in this present age is the practice of
love and devotion to God (Bhagti). One who engages in loving transcendental
service, he attains the Lord. The true spiritual wisdom is the love of the Self.
I will create in you the faith, love and devotion. I will open to you a world of
Divine inspiration. Come and adore the Timeless Lord with peace, wisdom, and
self control"
.....
Bhgti bhaav maarag bikhraa Gur Duaarai....: O my beloved friend,
dedicate yourself to the devotional worship of your Husband Lord. Serve your
Guru constantly, and obtain the wealth of the Naam. Dedicate yourself to the
worship of your Husband Lord; this is pleasing to your Beloved Husband. If you
walk in accordance with your own will, then your Husband Lord will not be
pleased with you. This path of loving devotional worship is very difficult;
how rare are those who find it, through the Gurdwaaraa. Says Nanak, that one,
upon whom the Lord casts His Glance of Grace, links his consciousness to the
worship of the Lord (sggs 440).
"Dear
Aspirant, the entire creation is continually engaged in singing Lord's glories.
As such, singing His glories is said to be the true eternal faith. All the
religions are said to be in the singing of the Lord's Glorious Praises. You are
given the tongue for this very specific reason. The selfless praises of God is
capable of swiftly cleansing the mental conditioning (false ego), leading the
mind to complete purification. Therefore, in this age of quarrel and hypocrisy
the only means of deliverance is chanting the holy Name of the Lord. There is no
other way. Come and sing God's praises, this alone is the Attal or eternal
Dharma"
Gur
Duaarai Hari Kirtan suneeai Satgur bhet Hari jas mukh bhaneeai...:
At the Gurdwaaraa, the Kirtan of the Lords Praises are sung. Meeting
with the True Guru, one chants the Lords Praises. The True Guru eradicates
sorrow and suffering, and bestows honor in the Court of the Lord (sggs
1075).
"Dear
Brother, you are filled with great grief, sorrow, and sin. Come to me, and I
will listen to you until you are completely free from all pains of this finite
life. You constantly crave for peace or happiness (Sukh). Consequently, all your
efforts and activities are aimed at gaining happiness and attaining freedom from
sorrows. All our endeavors are motivated by impulse to seek out joy-giving
things and circumstances, and avoid any sorrow-giving things and situations.
But, unfortunately, you are trying to find it in wrong places and false objects.
I will show you the source of real and eternal peace. Come."
Jis
no kathaa sunaaihi aapnee si Gurduaarai sukh paavahe:
You cause to listen to Your sermon, find peace in the Gurdwaaraa (sggs 919).
Giaan dhyaan le samsar rahai. Gurmukh ek virlaa ko lahai. Jis no de kirpaa
te sukh paae. Guru Duaarai aakh sunaae: With Divine wisdom and
meditation, one abides in the state of evenness. How rare are those who, as
Gurmukh, attain the One Lord. They alone find peace, whom the Lord blesses
with His Grace. In the Gurdwaaraa, they speak and hear of the Lord (sggs
930).
"Dear
Companion, your unceasing thirst of Vaasnaas (desires) makes you wander and roam
around in ten directions. As a result, your beautiful natural robes of humility,
forgiveness, and sweet speech are torn apart. In lust, anger, greed, attachment,
false ego, and jealousy, your mind has become restless. As soon as you attain
Shabad Surti (Shabad Consciousness), your thirst will be quenched by drinking in
this Ambrosial Nectar. Come, and quench your thirst, once for ever."
Guru
Duaarai devsee tikhaa nivaarai soi:
Through the Gurdwaaraa, He gives (the Ambrosial Nectar of Shabad), and
quenches the thirst (sggs 933).
"Dear
Friend, The Lord's Naam or Shabad is the creator of everything. To forsake Naam
is death. You have invited death by forsaking Him. Without the Naam, one does
not find God, and his life wastes away in vain. The Lord is True, and True is
His Bani. Through the Naam, you can merge with Him. This Naam dwells deep within
the nucleus of all beings. There is no place without this Naam. Meditation on
the Naam is the true Dharma. Of all the religions, the best religion is to
repeat God's name and do pious deeds. So come, and focus your consciousness on
it."
Moorkhaa
sir moorakh hai ji mane naahee naayu. Gur Duaarai naayu paayiai bin satgur
pallai na paai:
The
most foolish of the foolish are those who do not believe in the Name. Through
the Gurdwaaraa, the Name is obtained. Without the True Guru, it is not
received (sggs 1015).
Devan
vaale kai hath daat hai Guru Duaarai paai... Jat sat sanjam Naam hai vin
naavai nirmal na hoi. Poorai bhaag Naam man vasai Shabad milaavaa hoi:
In the Gurdwaaraa, it (Naam) is received..... The Name of the Lord is
abstinence, truthfulness, and self-restraint. Without the Name, no one becomes
pure. Through perfect good fortune, the Naam comes to abide within the mind.
Through the Shabad, we merge into Him (sggs 33).
"Dear
Disciple of God, in order to realize the Self, the first process is to surrender
to your Totality (Existence-Awareness-Bliss) within. The surrender is to
renounce your limited intellect, material cleverness, bondage, illusion that
"I am" this body, pride and arrogance (doership), bad association,
past habit patterns, material lust, expectations and desires, spiritual
ignorance, duality, wickedness, false concepts, and addiction to senses,
followed by dedication of the mind and head to God. Thus, surrender is your
false ego bowing down to Waheguru, the Source. To put it otherwise, surrender is
to discharge your river of separateness into the ocean of Infinite
Consciousness, losing your notions of limitations. Without such total surrender,
one can never completely abide in the Absolute Reality. Therefore, come and take
refuge in the Lord's feet (His Naam or Shabad) and then He will enjoy you. This
you must win by selfless love, not by material logic or philosophical
speculations."
Aap
pat raakhsee meraa piyaara sarnaagat paye Gur Duaare:
My Beloved Himself preserves the honor of those who have come to Gurdwaaraa
seeking Sanctuary (sggs 1249).
"Dear
Mortal, I am crafted in spiritual art. My pinnacles point toward the peaks of
spirituality. My pillars (Shabad) make statements that will never shake and
weaken. The fluttering of my flag (Nishaan Sahib) heralds the fact that, as the
wind is felt not seen, so is the victory of Good over Evil. My dome showers
Divine inspiration from all ends of the cosmos; sit under it and get soaked.
Like a perennial stream, the Ambrosial Nectar (Amrit) of immortality overflows
from my Shabad; drink it in. The vibratory transcendental sound from selfless
Kirtan of my Shabad drives away impure thoughts, just as the lightning pierces
the darkness. In my celestial stillness, meditate on the Lord's Naam within, let
your mind silently rest in peace and reflect upon the secrets of the Self. The
Divine Enlightenment through the Light of the Shabad comes to you every time you
contemplate on it. Thus, the real Gurdwaaraa is realized only through a change
in the inner consciousness. No experience is greater than being in the presence
of Eternal Satguru (sggs) your very soul."
Jaab
lag Shabad na bhedeeyai kiyu sohai Gur Duaar:
Until the soul has been pierced through with the Shabad, how can she look
beautiful at Gurdwaaraa God's Court? (sggs 19).
Thus
speaks the Gurdwaaraa the Guru's Door or the Guru's Teaching: the Doorway to
Waheguru! If all of the above do not take place, then it's not a Gurdwaaraa,
even though our ego-self may dare call it as such. In short, Gurdwaaraa is where
one realizes God.
Harimandar
seyee aakheeai jithahu Hari jaataa:
That alone is said to be the Lords temple, where the Lord is realized (sggs
953)."
Tara
Singh, Reflections on Gurbani
(T. Singh, Reflections
on Gurbani: www.gurbani.org/webart6)
718) Sri
Mahi
The Mother Earth.
Giver of all Life and Food.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
Earth
(Prthivi )
"The
Vedic attitude toward the earth springs from mankind's primordial experience of
being on the one hand a guest, and on the other an offspring, of Earth. The
earth is undoubtedly mother, is close to Man, but at the same time she is also
alien, other and aloof. The earth is the foundation, the basis out of which
emerges all that exists and on which everything rests. The earth is the basis of
life and, when considered as a divine being, she always occupies a special place
among the Gods.
Man
is of the earth and earthly, but the earth is not simply nature, is not merely
geographical or material; it is part of Man himself, so that Man can no more
live without the earth than he can live without a body. At the same time, though
he stands on the earth, he also stands above her. Man is more than earth. The
earth is the mother of Man, but Man is also lord over the earth. Man could be
said to be like the eldest son of a widowed mother, in the traditional Indian
setting.
The
tension between Man and earth is conspicuously present, but there is no
separation. Vedic Man would find any attempt at dominating or subjugating the
earth incomprehensible. The earth is an object of worship and not of
exploitation, an object of awe and not of curiosity (or research, as would be
said in academic circles). Investigation of the earth is of the same nature as
personal introspection. To harm the earth is a masochistic vice. Man is from the
earth and part of the earth, yet he surmises more and more that he is not only
of the earth, not just an earthly thing.
Worship
addressed to the earth is not adoration of a creature as an absolute; that is,
it is not idolatry. It is rather the veneration of the highest value in the
hierarchy of existence, for "undoubtedly this earth is the firstborn of
being." The earth as such is rich and the owner of treasures. Man's work is
not to make a shift in ownership, despoiling, as it were, the earth of her
possessions and transferring them to the toiler. Man's work is to enjoy the
blessings of the earth, because the earth is his home, his own family, his body.
. . .
The
famous Prayer to the Earth, (is) one of the most beautiful hymns of the Veda.
The earth is here called not prthivi but bhumi. This hymn depicts the universal
mother, dispenser of every sort of good. It presents a striking cosmogonic and
the anthropological sequence.
The
origins of the earth come first. When she was as yet hidden in a fluid state in
the bosom of the primeval waters, the seers were already seeking to discern her
by means of sacrifice.
A
geographical description, or, as we could equally aptly call it, a highly
poetical vision of nature, follows. The earth is composed of hills and plains,
of snow-clad peaks, of deserts, oceans, and rivers, of lakes and streams, trees
and plants, rocks and stones. The seasons appear with unfailing regularity and
bring to her their own gradations of climate. Even included is an account of her
fragrance which is described distinctively according to whether it emanates from
plants or from water, from the lotus, from animals, from human beings, or even
from the Gods. We are also told of her underground treasures of jewels and gold.
Third,
earth is the dwelling place of people. It is upon her that in the beginning the
first humans were scattered abroad. It is upon her that they sing and dance and
find their happiness. It is she who diversifies Men's speech into different
languages. It is upon her many paths that men and women pass to and fro and it
is her highways that men use for their wagons and chariots.
Further,
the earth is protected by the Gods; she is the conveyer of Agni, Universal Fire,
and the place where men offer ritual sacrifice. It is upon her breast that men
build their altars and construct their tabernacles and shelters and ritual
posts. It is she in whose praise priests chant their hymns. The earth points
beyond herself by means of the cultic acts of Gods and Men.
She
is, furthermore, the dwelling place of all living creatures, mention of whom is
not omitted. She is the home of cattle and horses, of the beasts of the forest,
of deer and birds, reptiles and two-legged creatures.
She
is, finally, a cosmic giant, a cosmic power, the receiver of prayers and the
bestower of blessings, the protector and the inscrutable judge. Ecology was a
sacred science for Vedic Man.
The
Mighty Earth (Prthivi mahini)
1.
The mighty burden of the mountains bulk rests, Earth, upon your shoulders; rich
in torrents, you germinate the seed with quickening power.
2.
Our hymns of praise resounding now invoke you, O far-flung Earth, the bright
one. Like a neighing steed you drive abroad your storm clouds.
3.
You in your sturdy strength hold fast the forests, clamping the trees all firmly
to the ground, when rains and lightning issue from your clouds.
RV
V, 84
Hymn to the Earth (Bhumi Sukta )
1.
High Truth, unyielding Order, Consecration, Ardor and Prayer and Holy Ritual
uphold the Earth; may she, the ruling Mistress of what has been and what will
come to be, for us spread wide a limitless domain.
2.
Untrammeled in the midst of men, the Earth, adorned with heights and gentle
slopes and plains, bears plants and herbs of various healing powers. May she
spread wide for us, afford us joy!
3.
On whom are ocean, river, and all waters, on whom have sprung up food and
ploughman's crops, on whom moves all that breathes and stirs abroad Earth,
may she grant to us the long first draught!
4.
To Earth belong the four directions of space. On her grows food; on her the
ploughman toils. She carries likewise all that breathes and stirs. Earth, may
she grant us cattle and food in plenty!
5.
On whom the men of olden days roamed far, on whom the conquering Gods smote the
demons, the home of cattle, horses, and of birds, may Earth vouchsafe to us good
fortune and glory!
6.
Bearer of all things, hoard of treasures rare, sustaining mother, Earth the
golden-breasted who bears the Sacred Universal Fire, whose spouse is Indra
may she grant us wealth!
7.
Limitless Earth, whom the Gods, never sleeping, protect forever with unflagging
care, may she exude for us the well-loved honey, shed upon us her splendor
copiously!
8.
Earth, who of yore was Water in the oceans, discerned by the Sages' secret
powers, whose immortal heart, enwrapped in Truth, abides aloft in the highest
firmament, may she procure for us splendor and power, according to her highest
royal state!
9.
On whom the flowing Waters, ever the same, course without cease or failure night
and day, may she yield milk, this Earth of many streams, and shed on us her
splendor copiously!
10.
May Earth, whose measurements the Ashvins marked,
over
whose breadth the foot of Visnu strode, whom Indra, Lord of power, freed from
foes, stream milk for me, as a mother for her son!
11.
Your hills, O Earth, your snow-clad mountain peaks, your forests, may they show
us kindliness! Brown, black, red, multifarious in hue and solid is this vast
Earth, guarded by Indra. Invincible, unconquered, and unharmed, I have on her
established my abode.
12.
Impart to us those vitalizing forces that come, O Earth, from deep within your
body, your central point, your navel; purify us wholly. The Earth is mother; I
am son of Earth.
The
Rain-giver is my father; may he shower on us blessings!
13.
The Earth on which they circumscribe the altar, on which a band of workmen
prepare the oblation, on which the tall bright sacrificial posts are fixed
before the start of the oblation may Earth, herself increasing, grant us
increase!
14.
That man, O Earth, who wills us harm, who fights us, who by his thoughts or
deadly arms opposes, deliver him to us, forestalling action.
15.
All creatures, born from you, move round upon you. You carry all that has two
legs, three, or four. To you, O Earth, belong the five human races, those
mortals upon whom the rising sun sheds the immortal splendor of his rays.
16.
May the creatures of earth, united together, let flow for me the honey of
speech! Grant to me this boon, O Earth.
17.
Mother of plants and begetter of all things, firm far-flung Earth, sustained by
Heavenly Law, kindly and pleasant is she. May we ever dwell on her bosom,
passing to and fro!
18.
As a vast abode, Earth, you have become great. Great is your movement, great
your trembling, your quaking. The Lord all-powerful ceaselessly protects you. O
Earth, grant us to shine like burnished gold, and let no enemy ever wish us ill!
19.
Agni resides on earth, within the plants. The Waters contain Agni; in the stones
is he. Agni abides deep in the hearts of Men. In cattle and in horses there are
Agnis.
20.
Agni blazes and flashes from the height of heaven. To the God Agni belong all
airy spaces, Agni it is whom mortal men enkindle, conveyer of offerings, lover
of the clarified butter.
21.
May she who is clothed with Fire, whose knees are blackened, grant me sharpness
of wit and furnish me with splendor!
22.
May Earth on which men offer to the Gods the sacrifice and decorous oblations,
where dwells the human race on nourishment proper to the requirements of its
nature may this great Earth assure us life and breath, permitting us to come
to ripe old age.
23.
Instill in me abundantly that fragrance, O Mother Earth, which emanates from you
and from your plants and waters, that sweet perfume that all celestial beings
are wont to emit, and let no enemy ever wish us ill!
24.
Your fragrance which has entered into the lotus, wherewith the immortal Gods at
the Sun-daughter's wedding were redolent, O Earth, in times primeval instill
in me abundantly that fragrance, and let no enemy ever wish us ill!
25.
Your fragrance which adheres to human beings, the good cheer and the charm of
women and men, that which is found in horses and in warriors, that which is in
wild beasts and in the elephant, the radiance that shines about a maiden O
Earth, steep us, too, deeply in that fragrance, and let no enemy ever wish us
ill!
26.
Earth is composed of rock, of stone, of dust; Earth is compactly held,
consolidated. I venerate this mighty Earth, the golden-breasted!
27.
Her upon whom the trees, lords of the forest, stand firm, unshakable, in every
place, this long-enduring Earth we now invoke, the giver of all manner of
delights.
28.
Whether we stand upright or sit, whether we stay quite still or walk, whether we
walk with right foot or left, never may we stumble upon Earth!
29.
O purifying Earth, I you invoke! O patient Earth, by Sacred Word enhanced,
bearer of nourishment and strength, of food and ghee O Earth, we would
approach you with due praise!
30.
Pure may the Waters flow over our bodies! That which defiles I fling it upon
our foes! I cleanse myself, O Earth, as with a filter.
31.
Your regions, Earth, to eastward and to northward, southward and westward, may
they receive me kindly, whenever on their paths I travel. Never, when standing
on your surface, may I totter!
32.
Do not thrust us aside from in front or behind, from above or below! Be
gracious, O Earth. Let us not encounter robbers on our path. Restrain the deadly
weapon!
33.
As wide a vista of you as my eye may scan, O Earth, with the kindly help of Sun,
so widely may my sight be never dimmed in all the long parade of years to come!
34.
Whether, when I repose on you, O Earth, I turn upon my right side or my left, or
whether, extended flat upon my back, I meet your pressure from head to foot, be
gentle, Earth! You are the couch of all!
35.
Whatever I dig up of you, O Earth, may you of that have quick replenishment! O
purifying One, may my thrust never reach right unto your vital points, your
heart!
36.
Your circling seasons, nights succeeding days, your summer, O Earth, your
splashing rains, our autumn, your winter and frosty season yielding to spring
may each and all produce for us their milk!
37.
This cleansing Earth, who trembles before the Serpent, who guards the fires that
dwell within the waters, who castigates the god-insulting demons, has chosen for
her mate Indra, not Vrtra, surrendering herself to the powerful one, the potent.
38.
On her are erected the platform and the sheds of oblation; on her is reared the
sacrificial post. On her the brahmins, knowers of the rites, recite their hymns,
intone their melodies.
On
her the priests set forth the sacrifice, that Indra may drink Soma.
39.
On her those sages of old, the Seven Seers who fashioned these worlds,
performing the sacrifice by dint of holy rite and creative Fervor, sang hymns
and lo! the cows came to birth!
40.
May Earth afford us all that copious wealth for which we long! May Bhaga play
his part and Indra go before to show the way!
41.
May Earth, the stage where mortals sing and play with varied shouts and noises,
which resounds with cries of war or beatings of the drum, drive far my foemen
and rid me of all rivals!
42.
Earth is the source of food, of rice and barley; from her derive the five tribes
of men. To rain-steeped Earth, the Rain-giver's wife, be homage!
43.
Her castles are built by the Gods, her plains the arena in which men wage war.
The matrix of all things is Earth. May the Lord of life dispose for our
enjoyment all her regions!
44.
May the Goddess Earth, bearer of many a treasure and of wealth stored up in
diverse hidden places, the generous sharer of riches, impart to us, in addition
to gold and gems, a special portion of her favor!
45.
May Earth who bears mankind, each different grouping maintaining its own customs
and its speech, yield up for me a thousand streams of treasure, like a placid
cow that never resists the hand.
46.
The snake and the scorpion which viciously bite, which, chilled by winter, lie
slothfully hidden, the wriggling worm, all that stirs in the rains may it,
creeping, not creep on us! Instead, may you grant us the blessing of all that is
wholesome!
47.
From your numberless tracks by which mankind may travel, your roads on which
move both chariots and wagons your paths which are used by the good and the bad,
may we choose a way free from foes and robbers! May you grant us the blessing of
all that is wholesome!
48.
She carries in her lap the foolish and also the wise. She bears the death of the
wicked as well as the good. She lives in friendly collaboration with the boar,
offering herself as sanctuary to the wild pig.
49.
The creatures of your forests, dwellers in woods, lions, tigers, man-eaters that
prowl about, hyena and wolf, misfortune stalking around, demons both male and
female, chase them far!
50.
All evil spirits, male and female alike, drive far from us, O Earth, the ones
that grab and the ones that devour, all vampires and all demons! Drive each and
every one to distant realms!
51.
Over the earth the winged bipeds fly, swans and falcons, eagles, birds of all
kinds. On her the wind comes rushing, Matarishvan, raising the dust, causing the
trees to tremble and dragging in his victory train the Fire.
52.
May she in whom the bright and also the dark, the day and the night, associate,
though separate, the far-flung Earth, oft times by rain made fertile, graciously
settle each one in his well-loved abode!
53.
Heaven and Earth and the space in between have set me in a wide expanse! Fire,
the Sun, the Waters, the Gods, have joined to give me inspiration.
54.
Behold me now, victorious! My name is the highest in all the earth. Ruling in
all regions, I subdue all! I conquer!
55.
When at the Gods' command, O Goddess, you unfurled yourself, revealing your
grandeur, then you were imbued with beauty and charm. You shaped and fashioned
the world's four regions.
56.
In village or forest, in all the places where man meets man, in market or forum,
may we always say that which is pleasing to you!
57.
Just as a horse scatters dust, so Earth, when she came into being, scattered the
peoples Earth, gracious leader and protectress of the world, who holds in
firm grasp both trees and plants.
58.
The words that I speak are sweet as honey! My glances meet with fair glances in
return. Vehement am I, swift and impetuous! Those who gnash their teeth I
utterly vanquish!
59.
Peaceful and fragrant, gracious to the touch, may Earth, swollen with milk, her
breasts overflowing, grant me her blessing together with her milk!
60.
The Maker of the world sought her with oblations when she was shrouded in the
depth of the ocean. A vessel of gladness, long cherished in secret, the earth
was revealed to mankind for their joy.
61.
Primeval Mother, disperser of Men, you, far-flung Earth, fulfill all our
desires. Whatever you lack, may the Lord of creatures, the First-born of Right,
supply to you fully!
62.
May your dwellings, O Earth, free from sickness and wasting, flourish for us!
Through a long life, watchful, may we always offer to you our tribute!
63.
O Earth, O Mother, dispose my lot in gracious fashion that I be at ease. In
harmony with all the powers of Heaven set me, O Poet, in grace and good fortune!
" AV XII, 1
Professor
Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience
(Raimundo Panikkar, The Vedic Experience,
www.cybrlink.com/vedtoc.htm)
719) Sri
Ganamba
The Mother of Sri Ganesha.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
Devi
and Women
"It
might seem natural to assume that the presence of so powerful a figure as the
Great Goddess must result in the general empowerment of women. However, the
secondary status of women in the Indian subcontinent suggests that in practice
the adoration of the Great Goddess has had little influence on the position
assigned to women (a condition not unique to the subcontinent).
This
may be attributed to a paradox: while manifestations of Devi include worship of
her associate her with fertility and as "mother," the focus is on Devi
as a nurturer, rather than a child-bearer. For example, Lakshmi is mother of all
but bore no children, neither did Sarasvati. Parvati, consort of Shiva, is
mother of the elephant-headed god Ganesha and the warrior god Skanda, but
carried neither in her womb. Thus, Indian goddesses, while worshiped for their
powers to grant fertility, are not actual role models for Hindu women, whose
primary role is seen to be the bearer of children.
One
legend narrates that Ganesha was created when Shiva breathed life into the dirt
that Parvati rubbed off her body, while Skanda was born from Shiva's seed
preserved by the waters.
While
myths surrounding the Great Goddess have not, thus far, been interpreted to
serve as empowerment for women, today's generation of women may indeed
reinterpret the messages of Devi. As women increasingly adopt leadership roles,
it is possible that they may appropriate the goddess imagery differently from
the past and may employ the goddess myth to redefine their place in society."
Smithsonian
Institution, 1999
"AUM,
GAM NIRMAL GANAPATAYE
To
Your Powers, Ganesha, let all surrender;
Let the left side of memory and the right side of action,
Surrender to You and let Your Enlightenment prevail.
Your
first tooth You have, and four hands: One holding a rope, the second a goad,
The
third is raised in Blessing and the fourth offers Sustenance.
Your
banner is that of a humble mouse. You have long ears and are clothed in red:
Red
decorates You and You are worshipped with red flowers.
You
have Compassion for those who love You,
And
it is for those who love You that You come to this Earth.
You
are the Force the creates, the Energy the prevades and the Spirit that protects.
Those
who seek union with God pray through You;
Those
who seek union with God pray worship You;
AUM,
GAM NIRMAL JESUSYE
To Your Powers, Aum Jesus, let all surrender;
Let the left side of memory and the right side of action,
Surrender
to You and let Your Enlightenment prevail.
You
are the Word that was the Beginning:
You
are the Word that will be the Ending.
You
are He who was born of a Virgin, and died on the cross;
You
are He who absorbs all sins, and who died to live again;
You
are God in Man, and You are worshipped with red flowers.
You
have Compassion for those who love You,
And
it is for those who love You that You come to this Earth.
You
are the Force the creates, the Energy the prevades and the Spirit that protects.
Those
who seek union with God pray through You;
Those
who seek union with God pray worship You;
Shri
Ganesha, SALUTATIONS TO YOU!
Shri
Jesus, SALUTATIONS TO YOU!
He
who is the Beginning of all Worship, SALUTATIONS TO YOU!
He
who destroys all the powers of Evil, SALUTATIONS TO YOU!
Sakshat,
Son of Lord Shiva who is Unending Blessings, SALUTATIONS TO YOU!
Sakshat,
Son of Mary Mataji, who is Unending Joy, SALUTATIONS TO YOU!
SAKSHAT
SHRI ADI SHAKTI MATAJI SHRI NIRMALA DEVI NAMOH NAMAH."
Sahaja Yoga Mantra Book
(Sahaja Yoga Mantra Book
Vishwa Nirmala Dharma, 1996, p. 43-4.)
725) Sri
Daksinamurti-rupini
The Form of Sri Daksinamurti, The Cosmic
Guru.
The Treasure-House of All Knowledge.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
I
bow to Sri
Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her by whose grace the whole world
Is
found to exist entirely in the mind, like a city's image
mirrored in a glass,
Though, like a dream, through maya's power it appears outside;
And by whose grace, again, on the Dawn of Knowledge,
It is perceived as the everlasting and non-dual Self.
I
bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I
bow to Her who, by the sheer power of Her will,
Projects outside, like a magician or a mighty yogi, this
infinite universe,
Which, in the beginning, rests without name and form, like the
sprout in a seed,
And after creation, by the power of time and space imagined
through maya,
Appears to be many, possessed of manifold shapes and hues.
I
bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
To Her whose outward manifestations, though based on Real,
Appear as illusionary, ever changing objects;
Who grants to those who take refuge in Her through the Vedic
"Tattvamasi"
The boon of immediate knowledge of Brahman,
To which attaining, a man returns no more to the realm of birth
and death.
I
bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
To Her whose knowledge, issuing forth through the organs of the
sense
Like the glow of a powerful lamp placed in a pot with many
holes,
Vibrates outside in the shape of the thought "I know";
Whose Light it is that illumines the whole of the universe.
I
bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
To Her who dispels the mighty illusion evoked by Maya's play,
Impelled by which, unseeing, childish, and misguided men
Continually speak, in error, of body, prana, senses and even of
the fickle mind, as "I,"
Though in reality these are all mere emptiness.
I
bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her who, as a man,
In deep and dreamless sleep exists as Ultimate Truth itself,
When outer awareness is obscured, like the sun or moon in Rahu's
grasp,
And the organs of sense are all withdrawn;
And who on awakening, tells himself, "It was I who
slept,"
And sees again the objects he saw before.
I
bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
I bow to Her who, in Her loving-kindness,
Reveals to Her worshippers the eternal Atman,
Which through the changes of waking, dreaming,
and dreamless sleep,
Through childhood, youth, maturity, and old age
Persists as the inexhaustible flow of consciousness,
Revealing Itself in the heart as the ever present sense of
"I."
I
bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru seated before
me,
Who, as a mortal under the sway of maya, and whether awake or
dreaming,
Perceives that the world is composed of multiple entities,
Joined in relation to one another
As cause and effect, owner and owned, teacher and pupil, sire
and son.
I
bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
Beyond whom, for a wise and discerning man, no being exists
superior;
Who has manifested Herself is an eightfold form
As the tangible and insentient earth, water, fire, air, and
ether,
As the sun, the lord of the day, the moon, of soothing light,
and as living man.
This
hymn to Sri Dakshinamurti clearly reveals the Ultimate Truth
As the Soul of everything that has life;
Therefore by hearing it and by pondering on it, by contemplating
it and by reciting it
A man attains unrivalled lordship, acquiring the glory of being
the Inmost Self of all,
And effortlessly receives, without interruption, the eight
unique powers of Godhead.
I
bow to Sri Dakshinamurti in the form of my guru:
Seated upon the earth by yonder the banyan tree;
I bow to Her who bestows on the sages direct knowledge of the
Ultimate Truth;
I bow to the Teacher of the three worlds,
The Lord who dispels the misery of birth and death.
Behold,
under the banyan are seated the aged disciples about their
youthful teacher.
It is strange indeed: the teacher instructs them only through
silence,
Which, in itself, is sufficient to scatter all his disciples'
doubts.
I
bow to Her who is the inner meaning of the scared syllable Om,
To Her whose nature is Pure Awareness;
I bow to Sri Dakshinamurti, stainless and serene beyond measure.
I
bow to Sri Dakshinamurti, the Mine of Eternal Wisdom,
The Healer of those who suffer from the malady of birth and
death,
Who is regarded by all as their own teacher.
I
praise Sri Dakshinamurti, my youthful teacher,
Who, through silent instruction, reveals the Truth of the
Parabraham,
Who is surrounded by aged disciples, mighty sages devoted to
Brahman.
I praise the Supreme teacher, the Essence of Bliss, who revels
in His/Her own Self,
The Silent One, whose hand is uplifted in the benediction of
knowledge.
Shri
Sankaracharya
736)
Sri Muktida
The One who confers Liberation.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"I
prefer to speak of temporary realization of the enlightened condition as
enlightenment experiences rather than enlightenment proper. In Japanese
Zen Buddhism, fleeting intuitions of our true nature are known as satori,
meaning literally "awakening" . . .
I
want to focus on enlightenment as a permanent realization. For it is this
realization, which is also called liberation, that is the avowed goal of
authentic spirituality. Momentary conscious immersions into the enlightened
condition are important sustenance for travelers on the path, but they do not
give us lasting happiness and peace. For the same reason, we also should not
allow other forms of ecstasy (samadhi) to sidetrack us, however
fascinating, uplifting, and even revealing they may be. No experience is
ultimately liberating. Only the kind of radical shift in our identity that comes
with full enlightenment has the power to remove the karmic causes of our
suffering."
Georg
Feuerstein, Lucid Waking
(Georg Feuerstein, Lucid
Waking, Inner Traditions International, 1997, p. 142-43.)
"PREPARE
NOW FOR ETERNITY
Generally,
religions do not expound on the reality of a future life merely as a comfort to
the bereaved or as an opiate for those oppressed in this life. Rather, the fact
of a future life enhances the purpose and meaning of this life. How a person
lives in the world will do much to determine his or her ultimate destiny.
Indeed, it is often taught that life in the world is the only chance to prepare
for life in eternity. The link between deed and retribution is not severed by
death; often it is only in the next life that what has been sown through actions
while on earth is completely reaped. Likewise, a person's qualities of character
survive death: as a person was good or evil in this life, so he will continue to
enjoy goodness or be pained by evil in the next. Therefore, the wise person
lives with an eye to eternity by accumulating merit, repenting for misdeeds, and
seeking to clear up all accounts before the day of his death. Generally, the
proper preparation for the life in the hereafter is seen as extending throughout
one's life, even from one's youth. For one who prepares for death, death is not
something to be feared. But to those who are heedless of this principle death
comes suddenly, leaving them eternally full of regret."
World
Scripture, International Religious
Foundation
(World Scripture, IRF, Paragon House Publishing,
1995, p. 236.)
O
people! Fear God, and whatever you do, do it anticipating death.
Try to attain everlasting blessing in return for transitory and perishable
wealth,
Power and pleasures of this world.
Be prepared for a fast passage because here you are destined for a short stay.
Always be ready for death, for you are living under its shadow.
Be wise like people who have heard the message of God
And have taken a warning from it.
Beware that this world is not made for you to live forever,
You will have to change it for hereafter.
God, glory be to Him, has not created you without a purpose
And has not left you without duties, obligations, and responsibilities....
You must remember to gather from this life such harvest
As will be of use and help to you hereafter.
Nahjul
Balagha, Khutba 67
Now
man is made of determination (kratu);
According to what his determination is in this world
So will he be when he has departed this life.
Shankara,
Vedanta Sutra 1.2.1
Do
not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,
Where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal,
But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven,
Where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and
steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew
6.19-21
Men
who have not led a religious life and have not laid up treasure in their youth,
Perish like old herons in a lake without fish.
Men who have not lived a religious life and have not laid up treasure in their
youth,
Lie like worn-out bows, sighing after the past.
Dhammapada
155-56
Wealth
and sons are the adornment of the present world;
But the abiding things, the deeds of righteousness, are better with God in
reward, and better in hope.
Qur'an
surah 18.46 Al Kahf
As the fallow leaf of
the tree falls to the ground, when its days are gone,
Even
so is the life of men; Gautama, be careful all the while!
As
the dew-drop dangling on the top of a blade of grass lasts but a short time,
Even
so the life of men; Gautama, be careful all the while!
A
life so fleet, and existence so precarious, wipe off the sins you ever
committed;
Gautama,
be careful all the while!
A
rare chance, in the long course of time, is human birth for a living being;
Hard
are the consequences of actions; Gautama, be careful all the while!
Uttaradhyayana
Sutra 10.1-4
O
shrewd businessman, do only profitable business:
Deal only in that commodity which shall accompany you after death.
Sri
Guru Granth Sahib (Sri Raga, M.1, p. 22.)
Relatives
and friends and well-wishers rejoice at the arrival of a man who had been long
absent,
And has returned home safely from afar.
Likewise, meritorious deeds will receive the good person upon his arrival in the
next world,
As relatives welcome a dear one on his return.
Dhammapada
219-20
"The
untrustworthy lord of death waits not for things to be done or undone; Whether I
am sick or healthy, this fleeting life span is unstable. Leaving all I must
depart alone. But through not having understood this I committed various kinds
of evil, for the sake of my friends and foes. Yet my foes will become nothing.
My friends will become nothing. I too will become nothing. Likewise all will
become nothing. Just like a dream experience, whatever things I enjoy will
become a memory. Whatever has passed will not be seen again. Even within this
brief life many friends and foes have passed, but whatever unbearable evil I
committed for them remains ahead of me....
While
I am lying in bed, although surrounded by my friends and relatives, the feeling
of life being severed will be experienced by me alone. When seized by the
messengers of death, what benefit will friends and relatives afford? My merit
alone shall protect me then, but upon that I have never relied."
Shantideva
Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life 2.33-41
737) Sri
Mukti-Rupini
The Form of Liberation.
The Supreme Knowledge of Liberation.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
" "And
then at last, when the remainder of prarabdha-karma has been exhausted (through
the conditioning semblances of physical enjoyment and suffering) the life-breath
(prana) dissolves into the Highest Brahman, which is Inward Bliss."1
Destroyed is ignorance with all its products, in the form of the
superimpositions of the outward layers of one's beings; for since there is no
longer ignorance, there can no longer be a phenomenal body or mind to weave
delusion. There is no longer the basis of an ego . . . The Self abides wholly in
the Self. It has found its "supreme isolation and integration" (parama-kaivalya),
the taste or sap of which is bliss, and which is devoid of the fallacious
appearance of duality, since it is the whole. In this terminal state the Self
forever abides.
The
condition of him who has reached this goal, the goal of Turiya, the
"Fourth," is expressed, or suggested, in numerous direct statements of
accomplished adepts, in the younger Upanishads, in certain so-called Vedanta
Gitas(Vedanta Songs, Hymns, or Rhapsodies), and in many of the stanzas of
Sankara.
"From
me everything is born; on me everything is supported; into me everything is
again dissolved (layam yati: it melts into me, as snow into water.) I am
this Brahman, One-without-a-second.
"I
am smaller than the minutest atom, likewise greater than the greatest. I am the
whole, the diversified-multicolored-lovely-strange (vicitra) universe. I
am the Ancient One. I an Man (purusa: the first and only, primordial
cosmic being), the Lord. I am the Being-of-gold (hiranmaya: the golden
germ out of which the universe unfolds.) I am the very state of divine
beatitude.
"Without
hands or feet am I; of inconceivable power am I; without eyes I see; without
ears I hear; I know all with all-pervading wisdom. By nature detached from all
am I, and there is none who knows me. Pure spiritual essence am I,
forever."2
This
has the ring of some sort of holy megalomania, a schizoid inflation of some
kind, in which the rational individual consciousness has been swallowed
completely by a divine Super-Ego. Actually, however, these formulae are intended
for the sober purpose of meditation. They represent the perfect state, which is
to be attained, and they teach the candidate how to anticipate its attitude.
Through reciting, memorizing, and meditating on such exalted utterances,
contemplating what is expressed in them and becoming identified with their
purport, the candidate for immortality is to become released from his phenomenal
ego.
These
Vedanta Gitas celebrate the bliss of the one who has achieved self-divinization
through remembering his identity with the Self. They announce in aphoristic
stanzas, magnificent outbursts of a kind of transcendental lyric ecstasy, the
sovereign experience of the spirit that has found home." (1. Vedantasara
226; 2. Kaivalya Upanisad p. 19-20.)
Heinrich
Zimmer, Philosophies of India
(Heinrich Zimmer, Philosophies
of India, Princeton U. Press, 1974, p. 448-49.)
739)
Sri Layakari
The
Fifth State beyond Turiya.
The
State where individual and Cosmic Consciousness merge.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"Turiya
An ancient Hindu analysis of consciousness identifies four primary states of
awareness: waking, dreaming, dreamless sleep and a fourth condition known as turiya
(literally, "The Fourth" in Sanskrit.) Attainment of Turiya was
possible only through the practice of meditation. It was viewed as an important
clue to the nature of consciousness.
In
meditations to reach Turiya, the activities of thinking and imagining are
allowed to die down completely, leaving consciousness to reflect upon itself.
Turiya resembles dreamless sleep, in that both states are blissful. Whereas
awareness in dreamless sleep is very dim, in Turiya it is exceedingly bright. In
its clarity, Turiya is said to resemble the transient, spontaneous mystical
experience called ANANDAMAYA.
One
of the oldest and most important texts in the Hindu tradition, the Mandukya
Upanishad, describes Turiya as follows (Prabhavananda and Manchester
translation):
The
Fourth, say the wise, is not subjective experience, nor objective experience,
nor experience intermediate between these two, nor is it a negative condition
which is neither consciousness nor unconsciousness. It is not the knowledge of
the senses, nor is it relative knowledge, nor yet inferential knowledge. Beyond
the senses, beyond the understanding, beyond all expression, is The Fourth. It
is pure unitary consciousness, wherein awareness of the world and of
multiplicity is completely obliterated. It is ineffable peace. It is the supreme
good. It is One without a second. It is the Self. Know it alone!
For
most people, the perfect knowledge of ones self-nature available in Turiya is
obscured in the other states of consciousness. When one is able to retain this
knowledge under all circumstances, one has attained the condition known as turiya-atita
("the state beyond The Fourth"), which is synonymous with living
liberation JIVAN MUKTI."
Leornard
George, Ph.D. Alternative Realities
(Leornard George,
Ph.D., Alternative Realities, Facts on File, Inc., 1995,
p. 283-84.)
741)
Sri Rambhadi-Vandita
Worshipped by the most beautiful Celestial Courtesans.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
742)
Sri Bhava-Dava-Sudha-Vrstih
Ambrosial rain which extinguishes the forest fire of Samsara.
Ends the cycle of births and death.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"The
"competent student" (adhikarin), when approaching the study of
Vedanta, should feel an attitude not of criticism or curiosity, but of utter
faith (sraddha) that in the formulae of Vedanta, as they are about to be
communicated to him, he shall discover the truth. He must furthermore be filled
with a yearning for freedom from the encumbrances of worldly life, an earnest
longing for release from the bondage of his existence as an individual caught in
the vortex of ignorance. This is known as mumuksutra, or moksa-iccha:
"the desire for release." Just as a man carrying on his head a load of
wood that has caught fire would go rushing to a pond to quench the flames, even
so should the adhikarin, scorched with the mad pains of the fire of life in the
world, its birth, its death, its self-deluding futility, go rushing to a guru
learned in the Vedas, who, himself having reached the goal of Vedanta, now
abides serene in uninterrupted consciousness of the essence of imperishable
being. The adhikaran is to come to this guru bearing presents in his hand, ready
to serve, and prepared to obey in every way."
Heinrich
Zimmer, Philosophies of India
(Heinrich Zimmer, Philosophies
of India, Princeton U. Press, 1974, p. 51-2.)
743) Sri
Paparanya-Davanala
Forest fire that burns all sins.
Destroys sins of devotees.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
750)
Sri Mahesvari
The Great Ruler.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
751) Sri
Mahakali
Wife of Sri Shiva.
The Destroyer of Death.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
"If
our cultural background makes it hard to see Shakti as feminine, the silence of
Shiva motionless, uncaused, ineffable, nonattached hardly seems to us
the model of masculine power. Masculine power isnt the same as male behavior,
however. The aggressiveness of a warrior doesnt correspond to Shiva, who has
no need to intrude, conquer, overcome, acquire, or compete. Although he is
called "destroyer of worlds" in the Bhagavad-Gita, what is
meant is that Shiva absorbs the universe back into himself at the end of
creation. This isnt a violent act, any more than it is violent for your brain
to reabsorb the neurochemicals that formed your last thought; in both cases the
foundation for a new creation, a new thought, has been laid.
Shiva
is at least a familiar name in the West, known to be one of the three primal
gods of India, along with Brahma and Vishnu. Each was conceived as a particular
form of the divine: Brahma is the creator of the universe. Vishnu the
maintainer, and Shiva the destroyer. It would be a mistake, though, as I just
explained, to think of Shiva as some kind of apocalyptic avenger, or even as a
being outside ourselves.
God
is within, and the three-part division of the divine is only an image or
metaphor for something that cannot be divided. By analogy consider how an image,
such as the face of someone you love, arises in your mind. The image is created,
maintains itself for an instant, then disappears. We could therefore divide the
mind into creator, maintainer, and destroyer, but the actual experience of
thinking is continuous and unbroken.
So
it is with spirit, which is always experienced as wholeness, but unlike the
mind, spirit cannot be assigned a place the way we conveniently assign mind to
brain. God is neither here nor there, inside nor outside. Shiva is best
understood as omnipresence, a silent awareness that permeates everything. Of the
threefold gods only Shiva is equated with God because God is all-pervading.
In
the setup of things Shiva was given Shakti to carry out the process of physical
creation. This is strikingly evocative of the way the code of life is packaged
in each cell of your body. It exists as DNA, which is silent, inactive, and out
of sight, but also as its biochemical twin RNA which emerged out of DNA to carry
out all the cellular processors that actually build the body at the basic level
of enzymes and proteins. Brain physiology is both silent and active billions
of memories lie stored in the cortex, emerging one at a time as expressed
memory. If you expand this to a cosmic scale, you have Shiva, whose creative
potential remains infinitely greater than any of its expressions, even when
those expressions take the form of galaxies and whole universes.
Shiva
brings pure consciousness to a sacred marriage. It invisibly makes every action
an action of God.
What
would an action of God be exactly? A miraculous intervention, a voice from the
mountaintop? Millions of people have waited for such signs and received none.
Despite my attempts to bring Shiva out of the realm of abstraction, it would be
easy to see him as a ghost, a spiritual concept without flesh and bones. Flesh
and bones are demanded by the five senses. When you pay attention to things
"out there," you judge their reality by sight, sound, touch, taste,
and smell. Yet in spiritual practice there is something called second attention,
which attunes you to things your senses cannot grasp.
Second
attention makes you aware of spirit. It works through intuition, and it is
sometimes called the sight of the gift, although these imply a supernatural
faculty. In reality spirit is constantly sending signals to all of us, but
because our second attention was never developed, we dont take them in.
Intuition is as real as any other faculty, once you have developed it.
What
kind of signals is second attention looking for? Spirit is universal and
constant, like gravity, but has no physical constraints. Shiva reserves for
himself complete freedom to be what, when, where, and how he wishes. Second
attention can detect all five actions that, according to classic Shiva texts,
are characteristic of God when He communicates with the world:
God
creates.
God destroys.
God protects and maintains what has been created.
God covers or conceals His own nature.
God reveals or uncovers His own nature.
The
Indian mind is not linear, and it finds no contradiction in making Shiva the
destroyer in one of his forms and the omnipresent creator-maintainer in another.
Shivas five actions are the framework for any spiritual experience you can
have; they give it meaning and form. Since meaning is completely personal, no
two people have to agree on which action has been manifested at any given moment
this is a private communication between self and Self."
Deepak
Chopra, The Path of Love
(Deepak Chopra, The
Path of Love, Random House,1977, p. 242-45.)
755) Sri
Candika
Angry with evil forces.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
757) Sri
Ksara-Ksaratmika
Eternal and Indestructible.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
758) Sri
Sarva-Lokesi
Queen of all 14 Worlds.
Sri
Lalita Sahasranama
(Sri
Lalita Sahasranama, C. S. Murthy, Assoc. Advertisers and
Printers, 1989.)
Scriptures Speak on Three
Worlds
As threads come out of the spider, as little sparks come out of the fire,
So all the senses,
All the worlds, all the Gods, yea, all beings, issue forth from the Self.
Yajur
Veda
In
heaven there is no fear at all. Thou, O Death, art not there.
Nor in that place does the thought of growing old make one tremble.
There, free from hunger and from thirst, and far from the reach of sorrow, all rejoice and are glad.
Yajur
Veda
This
universe is a tree eternally existing, its root aloft, its branches spread
below.
The pure root of the tree is Brahman, the immortal,
In whom the three worlds have their being,
Whom none can transcend, who is verily the Self.
Yajur
Veda
