Why Worry. Learn to come out of worry.

We have got responsibility about our family and we should take care of them. But we should not worry. Caring is our duty. Worrying is not our duty. Lord Krishna says in CH VI of Bhagavad Gita that worrying people has a behavior of Asuri Sampat. The only way to avoid our worries is to surrender to God. The future of my family will be decided by their Karma. Their Adhirshta Punyam and Papam will influence their future. My prayer to Bhagavan is, “O Lord give me the strength and the capacity to go through whatever I get according to my karma palan”. A baby does not worry about the future. A true Bhakta and a Gnani plans for the future. They do not worry about the future. Avadhuta gives an example of a householder who is of worrying type. This is an indication of the absence of Bhakti and gnanam. A Gnani has transcended the 3 Gunas (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas – or balance, activity, and inertia – which comprise the Prakriti or sentient and insentient nature).

Avadhuta Dathrathreya makes a beautiful statement. Among the entire human race only two groups are happy. First is the Children and the second is Children like Adults. All the others are always worry ridden. Every Gnani is soaked in the syrup of highest ananda (paramananda). A child who is ignorant is blissful. Atma Gnanam is required for enjoyment. Worldly knowledge without Self knowledge will give you only imagining capacity.

One of the topics in spirituality is to spend some time in seclusion. Learning to spend some time without the company of any person will be helpful when the time comes. One of the spiritual sadana is to spend some time with yourself. You can go for a walk alone for some time. You can spend some time alone in an ashrama for 2 to 3 days. I went to Ramanasramam in thiruvannamalai in July 2016 and spent three full days from 04^th July to 6^th July 2016. We have to deliberately spend some time alone to fight the problem of loneliness. A sanyasi should learn to live alone. Ekaki chare is a sadana. It can avoid several problems of relationship. This is advised because one of the expressions of Samsara is fear, worry and a sense of insecurity. Once in a while you start to feel lonely. Loneliness is an expression of samsara especially as we grow old. I call it a FEDEREL problem. FE is Fear. As we grow old fear increases. DE is depression. Another indication for depression is MBBS. Life becomes Meaningless (M), Burdensome (B), Boring (B), and a Struggle (S). You tell others that life is not good. RE is regret. You play the past at regular intervals. L is loneliness. We feel that the younger generation does not understand us. Loneliness is a serious expression of Samsara. We try to escape from our problem. Moksha is defined as being comfortable with myself. In life, people will come into our life and people will go from our life. Like a train journey people will get into the train and people will get out of the train when the destination comes. Even our relatives will also go away. Our children have their own family and will be with their family. Spouse also cannot be all the time together with you. We should be ready to live alone even without our spouse and come to terms with life.

S.Sekar
Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

LESSONS FROM KITE FLYING

"Even a simple phenomenon when viewed with heightened awareness, can unfold new avenues of learning". Every moment, every encounter, every activity and every experience have within it an unspoken message. There is something even in nothing, and there is everything in something.

                

1) Freedom & Discipline – The entire significance of kite’s freedom comes from it being disciplined by the thumb and a finger that is holding the string at the other end. If the hand holding the string let go of it, the kite will fall into directionless death. Freedom has no meaning without discipline. Freedom without discipline is licentiousness.

2) Detached attachment- Flying a kite is all about fun and excitement. It demands complete emotional participation. Even when an adult flies a kite, the child in him or her comes to the surface. His or her gestures are always exaggerated. Yet, when the kite gets snapped off the thread, nothing can be done. You become a mute spectator. Genius is in knowing when to let go. Nothing teaches this lesson better than kite flying. So, stay attached while flying the kite, but accept it’s snapping away with detachment. Detach yourself from the result, but intensity attaches you to the process. Knowing very well that death will detach you from a relationship you cherish, stay attached to it when the person is still around. Practice detached attachment.

3) Risk against all odds- The kite does not rise with the wind, but against the wind. Sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right; sometimes upwards and sometimes it has to fall to rise… but finally it finds itself up in the skies. Life is never going to be free from obstacles and challenges. Yet, when you live up to your potential, you rise against all odds. Compared to the 100 meters dash, a 110 meter hurdle race will just a take little more time and effort; nevertheless, we will go past the finishing line. Go past the finishing line, against all odds.

Be blissful.

S.SEKAR

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

FOCUS ON HIS FEET

A man who is determined to avoid sinning must resort to nine observances. He must control his indriyas and speak the TRUTH always. He must give to others GENEROUSLY. He should keep his mind and body PURE. He should be KIND to all living beings. He must do JAPA and TAPAS. He must observe BRAHMACHARYA. He must control his MIND. Through these NINE observances, a man’s sins are burnt up. This is saamaanya dharma. Other than this, he should be Calm, Cheerful and Confident at all times. He should have endurance power (titiksha), control his anger, and remain peaceful even under provoking circumstances. By following the above mentioned, he will attain excellence in Life and Living.

A better way is to reach the feet of Lord Narayana through Saranagati (surrender). If a man does this, then just as dewdrops are dried up by the Sun, so will his sins dry up? Through service to Him and to His devotees, the sins of a man who surrenders are destroyed. In addition, this grants a man total freedom from sins. The nine observances do not give this complete freedom from sins.

The practice of serving the Lord and His devotees is an ancient practice, resorted to by great men. Suka says that Pareekshit must know about this path that leads to freedom from sin. In his Gita Bhasya, Ramanuja says that one must do what one’s elders did, and also do it the way they did. Just as great people served Him and His bhaktas, we too should serve God and devotees. If a pot that once contained arrack is washed in the Ganges, does it get purified? It cannot become pure, because it once had contained arrack. Similarly, if you have no Bhakti towards the Lord, you may atone for your sins, but you will never attain absolute release. You will remain in the same state as a pot that once contained arrack.

Bees go from flower to flower. Likewise, the human mind wavers thinking of many things without focus. That mind must be trained to focus only on His feet.

Be blissful.

S.Sekar

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

SCRIPTURAL STUDY IS FOR WHAT REASON

All the puranas contain a message, which is fundamentally given in Vedas. Vedas are the original scriptures called Sruthi. All other scriptures are called Smrithi and derived from Vedas. Smriti is “that which has been remembered” supplementary and may change over time.

The aim for Veda Vyasa is to promote Vedic teaching through purana. Uddhava Gita is a part of Bhagavatha purana. Veda purva focuses on Dharma sastra. Veda anta focuses on Brahma sastra.

The equation is

Sat Gunani (noble thinking) + Sat Karmani (noble action) + Sat Bhavana (noble attitude) = Dharma sastra.

Being a Vaidiga, we have to follow dharma sastra. Omission of duty called Dharma will attract papam and one will forfeit being born a human. Dharma if followed will give all kinds of benefits. It is an all round well being for you. Spiritual growth is an invisible internal transformation. Desire for spiritual growth should be there within you. The very desire for gaining spiritual knowledge is due to Dharmic way of life in your previous janma. The opportunity for gaining spiritual knowledge will come to that person who follows Dharmic way of life. If you have the interest within you and the opportunity comes for you then spiritual knowledge is not far away from you. Dharma sastra gives Gnana yogyada. Brahma sastra will give Gnanam. Uddhava Gita contains both Dharma sastra and Brahma Sastra. Avadhuda Gita is inside Uddhava Gita.

Scriptural study is not for information. Scriptural study is for transformation in my thought, word and deed (action).

Quality of life depends upon what I am and not what I have. Possession does not give quality but depends up on my way of living. Our tradition considers our internal transformation as the most important.

Our janma is to exhaust our punya papam. Let us learn to endure and move on, gain self-knowledge, and transform ourselves.

Be blissful.

S.Sekar

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

SPIRITUAL JOURNEY – THINGS TO KNOW

While travelling through our spiritual journey we should learn one important point. Scriptures talk about various disciplines for those who are entering or starting their spiritual journey. They are:

Those who have only spirituality and no other worldly things and possessions. Those who lead the life of a Sanyasi even while living in Grihasthasramam.

A spiritual beginner can pursue Artha and Kama but follow Dharmic way of life. He should do Pancha Maha Yagna; Contribution to various segments. He can earn well and contribute well. Greater the contribution greater the internal growth and greater the pleasure for him. He should continue to be exposed to scriptural teaching and attend spiritual discourse. Finally, renunciation and detachment to things and beings including family members is required. He should not be over attached to his spouse also. Detachment should gradually grow. Detachment should give ananda. It should not be suppression of attachment. Scriptures say that one should gradually go out of attachment. Our mind should grow out of attachment. It is called Vairagyam. Vairagyam is talked about in Bhagavad Gita and Uddhava Gita.

We should have the endurance to go through choiceless difficulties that we are faced with. Old age is a choiceless problem. When there are choiceless difficulties in life, we should allow them to go through because of our endurance. We should avoid impulsive solutions. Before arriving at aggressive solution, always try a peaceful solution first. Use aggressive remedy as a last resort only. If I follow these principles then I have “Kshama”.

All difficulties in life are because of our own past Karma. Our past karma work through our own family members. Even during extreme pain or difficulty, we should follow Dharma. We can follow Dharma when everything is favourable. Even in poverty, we should not violate dharma. Earth (pritivi) sustains all living beings because of endurance.

In Uddhava Gita Chapter II Avadutha in a dialogue with Yadhu Maharaja tells about the lesson learnt by him from 24 Gurus. The lessons are performing noble actions, noble values and noble attitude. Every follower of Veda or he who is a Hindu requires Dharma as a way of life. Dharma gives many benefits to humanity. The next higher level Dharma can give internal peace and happiness, which is unique, compared to gross happiness coming from the external world. Dharma can give you material well being, inner peace and joy. The 3^rd and the most important benefit is the spiritual benefit, which a spiritual seeker will enjoy. It will also give the greater benefit of Moksha. Dharma will produce a desire for scriptural study. Brigadharanyaka says Dharma will take one to a Guru and make him read Sastras. Dharma will help in deriving the benefit of spiritual knowledge. Dharma is a versatile way of life. In the 16^th Chapter of BG Dharma is called by the name ‘Deivi Sampat’ that will convert a human being into a divine being. Manushya will be converted into a Deva. The whole world will revere him, admire him and worship him. Dharma will lead a person to attain liberation. Incurable difficulties will be there in life. We should learn to endure them without losing our internal peace and joy. We should have the capacity to live in a moral way in spite of difficulties in life. It requires internal guts for a person. In and through all these difficulties the capacity to endure and contribute to the world is required for my own survival. We should pay back to the world, family, scriptures and Acharya. Taking should be compensated by giving also (paropakaraya palanthi virusha). Even if we do not have the resources to contribute Veda says still you can contribute by praying sincerely. Sarve Bhavanthu Sukinaga should be the prayer. Para upakara is required. If we offer help sincerely, it will benefit the universe.

Be blissful.

S.SEKAR

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com 

OUR LIFE - Part II

Learning can stop when breathing stops; not even a breath before.

Life is something of what happens to us and everything else of how we respond to it. Every event that we encounter in life offers infinite learning possibilities and it is up to us to discover from it, its intrinsic wisdom. If we learn from the event, it becomes an experience and our maturity expands; else, the event simply passes by meaninglessly. Even insignificant events when translated into a learning opportunity can create experiences that are very significant to our life.

Robert Bruce after six consecutive defeats learnt about resilience of seeing a spider not giving up its pursuit to spin its web. He went ahead and won the battle while fighting it for the seventh time. Einstein, Archimedes and Newton gave the world great discoveries that changed the course of human lifestyle by merely experiencing the experience of insignificant events’ yet unfolded significant discoveries.

Our maturity level is always one leg below the new events we encounter in life. If we learn and mature from them, only then we move higher to take the next challenge of life. If we just go through them by being upset, worried, tensed, scared and disturbed, then we have learned nothing from them and similar events will keep recurring until we learn the lessons they had to offer. The very purpose of any event that we encounter is to provide us with the maturity that is needed for us to take up the higher challenges of life.

Be blissful.

S.Sekar
Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com

OUR LIFE

Our life will be either an example or a warning to others. So is the life of others; either an example or a warning to us. Essentially, every human life, yours and mine and that of others, is either a lesson on how to live (example) or a lesson on how not to (Warning).

It is true that a lot can be learnt from reading books, but nothing compares to how much we can learn out of studying people. Every human life is living encyclopedia. A human life and the associated experiences are a living testimony to the otherwise theoretical understanding of life.

• Observe your father to learn discipline. 
• Observe your granny to imbibe Willpower. 
• Observe your mom to situational leadership. 
• Observe your granddad to learn delegation. 
• Observe your sibling to learn to Forgive and Forget. 
• Observe your child and learn to live in the present. 
• Observe your Guru to inherit selflessness. 
• Observe your servant to understand contentment. 
• Observe your employee and learn to go the extra mile. 
• Observe your boss to understand the power of vision.

We can learn that the “Messenger is the Message” from the life of Christ. We know “Holistic Abundance” is possible from life of Krishna. We realize “Compassion to every form of life is the way “from the life of Mahavira. We learn Faith from the life of Prophet. We learn selfless love from Radha, Bhakti from Meera, Surrender from Hanuman, Resoluteness from Mahatma Gandhi, Resilience from Lincoln, The power of dreams from Martin Luther King , Impossible is possible from Steve Jobs, the Power of ne from Mother Teresa, Humility from Dalai Lama, Altruism from Bill Gates, Persistence from Edison and so on… every human life is learning opportunity.

The key is to keep the student within us alive. The key is to be like blotting paper’ ever ready to observe and absorb. The seeker within you should keep seeking. From anybody, from anything, from any situation we can learn. For most people learning stops when schooling stops. Then, they just stagnate and vegetate. If you wish to actualize and maximize our potential, then learning is a lifelong quest.

Learning can stop when breathing stops; not even a breath before.

Wishing you most and more

Have a great day

S.Sekar

Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com