Never regret a day in your life

 

Good days give happiness

Bad days give experience

Worst days give lessons and

Best days give memories.

Today is the best day. 

Make use of today and hope for the best.

EXCELLENCE

Excellence is a concept. Excellence is a drive from the inside and not outside. It is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction. The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates your work or not. Here I bring to your memory the story of a sculptor who wanted to carve a perfect statue without ant scratch marks, no traces at all.

Excellence is an ownership (Ownership without actually owning a thing) that we all take in the work that we present to our colleagues, which is one of the traits of a leader. A leader shows his excellence by his humility, by eating last and always says "after you".

Similarly all of us have to look inside and discover our Self and find out who we are by asking constantly with all sincerity and seriousness, "Who am I"? This cannot be explained and all of us are ignorant of this fact. Once we gain spiritual knowledge we will get clarity and come out of delusion which is bothering us at present.

Try to get inner peace and harmony and you will certainly gain 'Ananda' all the time.

Be blissful.

S.SEKAR

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BHAGAVAD GITA AND VISHNU SAHASRANAMAM

Why do Spiritual Doctors prescribe chanting 

Vishnu Sahasranamam more than reading 

Bhagavad Gita?

Bhagavad Gita is the quintessence of 

Mahabharata and a sermon by Lord Krishna, 

while Vishnu Sahasranamam is a prayer sung

by Bheeshma as his parting message to 

Pandavas. 

Actually Sri Krishna himself requested 

Bheeshma to reveal these stostras to Pandavas. 

Bheeshma was surprised and Questioned 

Krishna,"why are you choosing Me at this stage

in My life for This., while You yourself 

could do this.?"

Then the Lord clarified: "Mine is like water of 

the Ocean.,which is not potable. When the 

message is through you,it is like Rain from the 

Cloud formed out of water from the ocean.This 

of course can quench the thirst. Moreover, I am 

the quintessance of Vedas. Whatever I say 

would appear as though I am Extolling myself. 

On the other hand, if you, a realised soul, 

speak about it, t has universal acceptance."

Thus we can conclude that "Bhagavad Gita is 

like the root of a tree, while Vishnu 

Sahasranamam is the Fruit from it."  

Be blissful.

Wishing you the most and more.

S.Sekar

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

WHAT I LEARNT FROM "BHAGAVAD GITA"

Everyone of us can develop Cognitive intelligence , involving conscious intellectual activity such as thinking, reasoning or remembering. A person has an ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills.

The second one is Emotional Intelligence which involves intense feeling. A person having feelings that are easily excited and openly displayed. Many of us are emotional characters and show our feelings in many situations.

The third is Moral intelligence where we are concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour and the goodness or badness of human character. It is derived from the code of interpersonal behaviour that is considered right or acceptable in a society.

The fourth is Social intelligence relating to society or its organisation. Society is for activities in which people meet each other for pleasure. It is the ability to get along well with others and to get them to cooperate with you. A toxic behaviour indicates a low level of Social intelligence - the inability to connect with people and influence them effectively. For example a company can be a million dollar corporation - having put up huge factories but if they let out the waste gas (flare) into the atmosphere without building chimneys and if they allow waste water go into open drain without treating them by installing waste water treatment plant for pollution control, they are deviating from Social responsibility.

Finally and most important one to be cultivated by all of us is the Spiritual intelligence. By reading and understanding "Bhagavad Gita" one gets Spiritual knowledge. If you have a Guru who has read the Gita already and profess knowledge and who himself has practiced the same for some time and is also a practitioner of Gnana yoga it will be beneficial for us. Our brain has Neurons and full of energy which has to be activated. 

Spiritual intelligence is synchronous processing of the whole brain. 

Emotional intelligence is parallel processing of the right brain. 

Cognitive or intellectual intelligence is serial processing of the left brain.

By reading and understanding the underlying concepts contained in "Bhagavad Gita" one will get Spiritual intelligence. 

Spiritual intelligence results in a sense of deeper meaning and purpose , combined with improvements in a wide range of important life skills and work skills. It is a higher dimension of intelligence that activates the qualities and capabilities of the authentic Self (or Soul) in the form of wisdom, integrity, compassion, joy , love , creativity and peace. Studies in neuroscience confirm that spiritual intelligence is correlated with hemispheric synchronisation and whole brain activation. The resulting whole-brain coherence optimises brain function, and results in greater fulfillment , increased creativity, sharpened intuition , more empathy and compassion , and improved performance in a wide variety of work skills and life skills. 

There is another learning that you are a constituent of energy inside you. Cosmos or outer space consists of waves which is filled with energy. When you read "Bhagavad Gita" line by line and understand the content and do meditation, your Mind will be filled with Positive energy. The neurons in your mind unleashes and gets connected with the energy waves around you in the Cosmic system and gives you the mental strength to face all challenges in your life happily.

Benefits that you get by reading "Bhagavad Gita" are many. 

Some of them are:

You will be a cool person all the time. 

You will be Calm, Cheerful and Confident at all times. 

You will be peaceful at all times , In spite of Provoking circumstances. 

You will have an equanimous mind and treat the pair of opposites the same Viz. Success and Failure, Good and bad, Win and Lose, Gain and Loss. 

You will have Satvic qualities, eat Satvic food, remain cool and calm and have satvic manners. 

You will have crystal clear clarity of your mind and a doubtless belief in YourSelf. 

You are ready to face the future with Happiness. 

You will see Life as a blessing, which will make others to seek your guidance and advice.

You will understand yourSelf and attain Poornathvam or Fulfillment.

You will get to know the truth inside you and claim "Aham Brahma Asmi" (I am God Myself).

Hope I have given enough explanation on what I learnt from "Bhagavad Gita" which in turn will make you to dwelve into it and understand the hidden secrets for your own betterment in Life. Don't you fell the Urge inside You to look immediately for "Bhagavad Gita" study? One should have the Grace of God even to Study "Bhagavad Gita". I consider Myself lucky to have gone through it with my guru swami Paramarthananda.

Be blissful.

S.Sekar - On a Spiritual Path.

Cat has Nine Lives but I have only one.

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

SATPURUSHA AND BHAKTHI (Uddhava Gita)

Lord Krishna talks about the importance of Satsanga or the company of holy people in the spiritual cause and spiritual growth. Thereafter he defined who is a Satpurusha so that we can identify and associate with a Satpurusha. He told 30 virtues of a Satpurusha. When we have association with such people who value 30 virtues, unknowingly we will also develop all 30 virtues because of our association with them. He has talked all these virtues up to 33^rd verse. From 34^th verse he talked about improving our devotion towards the lord. Bhakthi is an important discipline. Five topics of Bhakthi are described in Bhagavad Gita. They are Karma yoga, Upasana yoga, Gnana yoga, Bhakthi and Values. They are very important virtues. Every sloka/verse of Bhagavad Gita/ Uddhava Gita can be connected to one of the virtue topics. Gnana yoga is pursuit of Self knowledge as it gives liberation and others are supportive in nature. Bhakthi, Values, Karma yoga and Upasana yoga prepares the mind. The medicine is Atma gnanam. We can consume this medicine only by doing Shravanam, Mananam and Nidhithyasanam. In all devotional exercises Karma, Upasana and Gnana yoga will be involved. The atmosphere is one that of devotion to God which will get converted into devotion to Scriptures which in turn will give me Knowledge. Eswara Bhakthi will get converted into Sastra Bhakthi. By the time we come to Gnana, eswara teaching will be like eswara himself. Scriptures are words of eswara enlightened about our own real nature. At the grossest level is karma yoga in which Bhagavan is invoked in various idols (verse no 34); Symbols of God like the deity in the temple or the photo in your pooja room. Daily cleaning the pooja room is necessary. Krishna says may you develop reverence towards my devotees also. One who has converted his body into a temple is a true devotee. He decorates the body with vibhudhi, kumkum and chandanam make it a temple of god. The Jivatma inside is none other than god. Mahavakyam starts there itself. A devotee who is constantly worshipping the lord is invoking the lord in the temple of his body. In Vaishnava devotees are called Alwars. By immersing in the devotion or in the thought of the lord Alwars are respected as much as bhagavan himself.

TDS is a worry replacement skill. TDS can be described as thought displacement skill. Sometimes certain thoughts like fear, worry take charge of my mind and I am not able to push them out. Mind becomes my own master. I am not able to control my mind. Krishna says, may you practice Upasana yoga. Thinking of lord at regular intervals our mind will bring the lord personified which will displace my other thoughts. When Rama comes into my mind Kama goes away. May I spend some time daily keeping the lord in my mind for a length of time. After I do this repeatedly I will be able to see a sea change in myself for sure. Whatever you acquire in life may you dedicate it to the lord. Never gain ownership of anything. All your worry is on objects and people in the world. Whenever we have got a fencing (of certain areas and certain people) it indicates a dangerous Samsara. Mamakara is a serious problem. Practice by saying,”I use everything. I am not the owner of anything. Bhagavan is the owner and has given me things for my use. He can take away anything from me without giving advance notice to me”. That is the way we have to prepare our mind. I should know that I am a tenant in my own house which is Bhagavan’s temple. I should convert my house into a temple. I should dedicate everything to the lord who is my survivor. I should place myself for the service of the lord by going to temple and doing service. All forms of social service are also a part of devotional exercise.          

Be blissful

S.Sekar

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

PANCHADASI BY VIDYARANYA (Sloka 39)

From verse no 32 Vidyaranya points out that the primary means for Atma Gnanam is Vedanta Vichara only which means doing Shravanam and Mananam.

Many students of Vedanta gain knowledge through vichara under the guidance of a Guru. Some students gain knowledge through Shravanam and Mananam. This is called Aparoksha Gnanam. There are some others who are not able to gain this knowledge. Guru and Shastra together are able to give knowledge to a student who is a serious seeker. Students who are not able to gain knowledge have some obstacles preventing them. Obstacle in the shisya’s mind is there. In tharka sastram it is defined clearly.

Tharka is logic (reasoning). Tharka will not reveal the truth. We should never use logic as an independent means of knowing the truth. Tharka must be used to extract message from the Vedanta.

For example Tharka is like a juice crushing machine. Vedanta sastra is like the sugarcane. Use tharka sastra and enquire Vedanta. Shruthi and Smirithi combined will give the answer to us. We will get the right message Viz. “Aham Brahma Asmi.”

Be blissful.

S.SEKAR

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

26102019

UDDHAVA GITA (Satpurusha, Bhakthi)

In the first part of the chapter 6 lord Krishna pointed out that Adwaitha Atma Gnanam alone is the means of liberation. All spiritual seekers will have to come to Adwaitha gnanam as presented in Vedanta. He should come to the conclusion that Adwaitha Vastu is no other than myself. I should know that Brahma satyam Jagat mithyam (mithya meaning names and forms). Everyone has to come to this knowledge to attain Moksha which is the only means of attaing Moksha. I can relax only after discovering this fact. This is what Krishna said in CH 6 up to verse 21. Krishna says that spiritual seekers will be very few only. Among those only very few will gain the knowledge says Krishna. This is the only method of attaining the lord. By preparing the mind you can make this knowledge easy to gain. It is easy for the prepared and difficult for the unprepared mind. From 22^nd verse onwards he says if you are not ready for Vedanta you need not worry. You can come to Karma yoga which is saguna bhakti. Krishna says by going to satsanga of knowledgeable people one can develop values.

Then Uddhava asks Krishna who is a satpurusha?  

Krishna has enumerated 30 virtues of a satpurusha. Those who have and who also value these virtues are to be associated with Satpurushas. I should start my Bhakthi exercise and make my Bhakthi a refined one. Artha and Ardhartha bhakthi is unrefined (bhakthi with a purpose) and I use for finite worldly benefits. They are called Sakama Bhakthi. I have to soon replace Sakama bhakthi with Nishkama Bhakthi. I gradually reduce family centric prayers and Me centric prayers and start praying for the whole humanity. This is Sarve Bhavanthu Sukinaka pooja wherein my Ahamkara (strong attachment to body mind complex) and Mamakara (strong attachment to family, possession and position) are gradually reduced. So long my Mamakara and Ahamkara are not diluted Moksha is far away for me. The notion that I am an individual is Jiva Bhava. Moksha is replacing Jiva Bhava by Brahma Bhava. Our destionation is from Jiva Bhava to Brahma Bhava. Aham Mama centered is Raga and Dvesha (likes and Dislikes). I am interested in me and my spouse as per my likes and dislikes. I extend this to my children and grand children and my thoughts are centered on me and my family. This is reinforcement of Jiva Bhava. I should know that Jiva Bhava and Spiritual wisdom are diagonally opposite. While strongly retaining the Jiva bhava when I study the Vedanta this study will be an academic study only. I can’t be liberated as Vedanta will never bless me. Jiva bhava and Brahma bhava will never coexist. Finite and infinite cannot coexist. One of the methods of dilution is converting all our poojas and prayers into Universal prayer and for the whole humanity. Sarve Jana Sukino Bhavanthu should be my prayer; Loka samasta sukino bhavanthu. It is difficult but we have to practice. We require a refined attitude wherein we include the whole humanity in our prayer. Exercises are mentioned in Vaidiga karma kanda. The same vaidiga karma becomes unpopular (doing sandyavandanam, agnihothram nithya karma). Vyasa said it should be replaced by Agama sastra forms of devotion in which worship of different deities are involved. Afterwards Sankaracharya talked about worship and 6 forms of deity. They are Shiva (saivam), Vishnu (vaishnavam), Shaptam (sakthi, Sri Vidya pooja), Ganapathya (ganapathi worship), Koumaram (name of Subramanya) and Sowram (surya devatha where surya is visible). Sankaracharya accepted all of these and said Chathurmasya is a Vedic ritual. If you don’t know Vaidiga karma it does not matter. It is ok to replace it by Agama pooja. In uddhava Gita Lord Krishna talks about Vaishnava form of worship. All these poojas are not for Moksha and meant only for preparing the mind. Thereafter all people will have to come to Vedanta by doing Shravanam, Mananam and Nidhithyasanam. One may start with Bhagavad Gita and then Upanishads and thereafter Brahma sutra. Ultimately we have to come to the knowledge “Aham Brahma asmi”. We should come to the conclusion Aham satyam Jagat Mithyam. One who acknowledges this fact is called a smartha. A Smartha knows that ‘I have to come to Aham Brahma asmi’. Whoever accepts this fact is called a Smartha. Adi Sankaracharya is a Smartha. Whoever is following Sankaracharya’s teachings is a Smartha. I have to purify my mind through Nishkama pooja.  

Be blissful

S.Sekar

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com