Ranjit Kulkarni's Blog, page 15

Raja Yoga

My notes from ‘Vedanta: Voice of Freedom” – a selected compilation from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

“Raja Yoga” – Chapter Highlights reproduced below:

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The teachers of the science of raja yoga declare not only that religion is based upon the experience of ancient times, but that no man can be religious until he has had the same experiences himself. Yoga is the science which teaches us how to get these experiences. It is not much use to talk about religion until one has felt it. If there is a God we must see Him; if there is a soul we must perceive it; otherwise it is better not to believe. It is better to be an outspoken atheist than a hypocrite.

The science of raja yoga proposes to put before humanity a practical and scientifically worked out method of reaching this truth.

They all declare that they have found some truth higher than what the senses can bring us, and they invite verification. They ask us to take up the method and practice honestly, and then, if we do not find this higher truth, we will have the right to say that there is no truth in the claim.

But before we have done that, we are not rational in denying the truth of their assertions. So we must work faithfully, using the prescribed methods, and light will come.

The science of raja yoga proposes, in the first place, to give us such a means of observing the internal states. The instrument is the mind itself. The power of attention, when properly guided and directed toward the internal world, will analyze the mind and illumine facts for us.

It is easy to concentrate the mind on external things. The mind naturally goes outward. But it is not so in the case of religion or psychology or metaphysics, where the subject and the object are one. The object is internal— the mind itself is the object. It is necessary to study the mind itself— mind studying mind.

The goal of all its teaching is how to concentrate the mind; then, how to discover the innermost recesses of our own minds; then, how to generalize their contents and form our own conclusions from them. It never asks what our religion is— whether we are deists or atheists, whether Christians, Jews, or Buddhists.

The mind is universal. Your mind, my mind, all these little minds, are fragments of that universal mind— little waves in the ocean.

He who knows and controls his own mind knows the secret of every mind and has power over every mind.

Such is the power of yoga that even the least of it will bring a great amount of benefit. It will not hurt anyone, but will benefit everyone. First of all, it will tone down nervous excitement, bring calmness, enable us to see things more clearly. The temperament will be better and the health will be better.

Those who want to be yogis and practice hard, must take care of their diet at first. But for those who want only a little practice for every day, business sort of life, let them not eat too much; otherwise they may eat whatever they please.

Give up all argumentation and other distractions. Is there anything in dry, intellectual jargon? It only throws the mind off its balance and disturbs it. The things of the subtler planes have to be realized. Will talking do that? So give up all vain talk. Read only those books written by persons who have had realization.

The first step is not to disturb the mind, not to associate with persons whose ideas are disturbing. All of you know that certain persons, certain places, certain foods, repel you. Avoid them.

The body must be properly taken care of. The people who torture their flesh are diabolical. Always keep your mind joyful. If melancholy thoughts come, kick them out. A yogi must not eat too much, but he also must not fast; he must not sleep too much, but he must not go without any sleep. In all things only the man who holds the golden mean can become a yogi.

The same faculty that we employ in dreams and thoughts— namely, imagination— will also be the means by which we arrive at Truth. When the imagination is very powerful, the object becomes visualized. Take up an idea, devote yourself to it, struggle on in patience, and the sun will rise for you.

Every wave of passion restrained is a balance in your favor. It is therefore good policy not to return anger for anger, as with all true morality.

Never talk about the faults of others, no matter how bad they may be.

Do not recognize wickedness in others. Wickedness is ignorance, weakness. What is the good of telling people they are weak? Criticism and destruction are of no avail.

Never quarrel about religion. All quarrels and disputations concerning religion simply show that spirituality is not present.

Analyze yourselves and you will find that every blow you have received came to you because you prepared yourselves for it. You did half and the external world did the other half. That is how the blow came. That will sober us up.

A man says something very harsh to me, and I begin to feel that I am getting heated. And he goes on till I am perfectly angry and forget myself and identify myself with anger. When he first began to abuse me, I thought, “I am going to be angry.” Anger was one thing and I was another. But when I became angry, I was anger. These feelings have to be controlled in the germ, the root, in their fine forms, even before we have become conscious that they are acting on us.

To control our passions we have to control them at their very roots. Then alone shall we be able to burn out their very seeds.

Meditation is one of the great means of controlling the rising of these waves. By meditation you can make the mind subdue these waves. And if you go on practicing meditation for days and months and years— until it has become a habit, until it comes in spite of yourself— anger and hatred will be controlled and checked.

Meditation is the means of unification of the subject and object. Meditate: Above, it is full of me; below, it is full of me; in the middle, it is full of me. I am in all beings and all beings are in me. Om Tat Sat. I am It. I am the Existence above mind. I am the one Spirit of the universe. I am neither pleasure nor pain. The body drinks, eats, and so on. I am not the body. I am not the mind. I am He. I am the witness. I look on. When health comes I am the witness. When disease comes I am the witness. I am Existence, Knowledge, Bliss. I am the essence and nectar of knowledge. Through eternity I change not. I am calm, resplendent, and unchanging.

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The 4-Hour Work Week

I read this much-celebrated book ‘The 4-Hour Work Week’ by Timothy Ferriss lately.

Perhaps it is intended for a younger audience but for me, a writer close to fifty after twenty five years of corporate life, most of the details in the book were too much work to read. I found only the last section – liberate – truly meaningful and valuable, perhaps again got to do with stage of life. Besides the last ten years and the pandemic have made most of the stuff on outsourcing and remote work outdated. The steps on finding niche market are mainstream now, and sound a bit like a set of get rich quick tips. Overall I was disappointed, maybe because I expected more after all the five stars and bestseller rankings.

Nevertheless, there were some very profound and meaningful, wise lines in the book, especially in the Liberate section at the end, which I have reproduced below.

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The goal is to be neither the boss nor the employee, but the owner.

It is far more lucrative and fun to leverage your strengths instead of attempting to fix all the chinks in your armor.

There is not enough time to do all the nothing we want to do.

Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another.

Freedom is like a new sport. In the beginning, the sheer newness of it is exciting enough to keep things interesting at all times. Once you have learned the basics, though, it becomes clear that to be even a half-decent player requires some serious practice.

ONCE YOU ELIMINATE the 9–5 and the rubber hits the road, it’s not all roses and white-sand bliss, though much of it can be. Without the distraction of deadlines and co-workers, the big questions (such as “What does it all mean?”) become harder to fend off for a later time. In a sea of infinite options, decisions also become harder—What the hell should I do with my life? It’s like senior year in college all over again.

Common doubts and self- flagellation include the following: Am I really doing this to be more free and lead a better life, or am I just lazy? Did I quit the rat race because it’s bad, or just because I couldn’t hack it? Did I just cop out?

In the process of searching for a new focus, it is almost inevitable that the “big” questions will creep in. There is pressure from pseudo-philosophers everywhere to cast aside the impertinent and answer the eternal. Two popular examples are “What is the meaning of life?” and “What is the point of it all?”

There are many more, ranging from the introspective to the ontological, but I have one answer for almost all of them—I don’t answer them at all.

What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.

It still leaves the question, “What can I do with my time to enjoy life and feel good about myself?” I can’t offer a single answer that will fit all people, but, based on the dozens I’ve interviewed, there are two components that are fundamental: continual learning and service.

Service to me is simple: doing something that improves life besides your own.

There is no right answer to the question “What should I do with my life?” Forget “should” altogether. The next step—and that’s all it is—is pursuing something, it matters little what, that seems fun or rewarding. Don’t be in a rush to jump into a full-time long-term commitment. Take time to find something that calls to you, not just the first acceptable form of surrogate work. That calling will, in turn, lead you to something else.

Focus on life outside of your bank accounts, as scary as that void can be in the initial stages. If you cannot find meaning in your life, it is your responsibility as a human being to create it, whether that is fulfilling dreams or finding work that gives you purpose and self-worth – ideally a combination of both.

You’d better slow down. Don’t dance so fast. Time is short. The music won’t last. When you run so fast to get somewhere You miss half the fun of getting there. When you worry and hurry through your day, It is like an unopened gift thrown away. Life is not a race. Do take it slower. Hear the music Before the song is over.

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Bhakti Yoga

My notes from ‘Vedanta: Voice of Freedom” – a selected compilation from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

“Bhakti Yoga” – Chapter Highlights reproduced below:

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Bhakti yoga is a real, genuine search after the Lord, a search beginning, continuing, and ending in love. One single moment of the madness of extreme love of God brings us eternal freedom.

“Bhakti is greater than karma, greater than yoga,” because these are intended for an object in view, while bhakti is its own fruition, “its own means and its own end.”

To him who has experienced it, this eternal sacrifice of the self unto the Beloved Lord is higher by far than all wealth and power, than even all soaring thoughts of renown and enjoyment. The peace of the bhakta’s calm resignation is a peace that passeth all understanding and is of incomparable value.

In this state of sublime resignation, everything in the shape of attachment goes away completely, except that one all absorbing love for Him in whom all things live and move and have their being. This attachment of love for God is indeed one that does not bind the soul but effectively breaks all its bondages.

Bhakti yoga is the science of higher love. It shows us how to direct it. It shows us how to control it, how to manage it, how to use it, how to give it a new aim, as it were, and from it obtain the highest and most glorious results— that is, how to make it lead us to spiritual blessedness.

Stand as a witness, as a student, and observe the phenomena of nature. Have the feeling of personal nonattachment with regard to man, and see how this mighty feeling of love is working itself out in the world.

“Wherever there is any bliss, even though in the most sensual of things, there is a spark of that Eternal Bliss which is the Lord Himself.”

The Lord is the great magnet, and we are all like iron filings. We are being constantly attracted by Him, and all of us are struggling to reach Him.

The chief thing is to want God. We want everything except God, because our ordinary wants are supplied by the external world. It is only when our necessities have gone beyond the external world that we want a supply from the internal, from God.

What do we want? Let us ask ourselves this question every day: Do we want God? You may read all the books in the universe, but this love is not to be had by the power of speech, not by the highest intellect, not by the study of various sciences. He who desires God will get Love. Unto him God gives Himself.

The soul can receive impulse only from another soul, and from nothing else. We may study books all our lives, we may become very intellectual, but in the end we find we have not developed at all spiritually.

In studying books, sometimes we are deluded into thinking that we are being spiritually helped. But if we analyze ourselves we shall find that only our intellect has been helped and not the spirit. That is the reason why almost every one of us can speak most wonderfully on spiritual subjects, but when the time of action comes, we find ourselves so woefully deficient. It is because books cannot give us that impulse from outside. To quicken the spirit, that impulse must come from another soul. That soul from which this impulse comes is called the guru, the teacher, and the soul to which the impulse is conveyed is called the disciple, the student.

The conditions necessary in the taught are purity, a real thirst after knowledge, and perseverance. In the teacher we must first see that he knows the secret of the scriptures.

The second condition necessary in the teacher is that he must be sinless.

The third condition is motive. We should see that he does not teach with any ulterior motive— for name or fame or anything else— but simply for love, pure love for you.

God is both Personal and Impersonal as we are personal and impersonal.

Prayer and praise are the first means of growth. Repeating the names of God has wonderful power. A mantra is a special word or sacred text or name of God chosen by the guru for repetition and reflection by the disciple. The disciple must concentrate on a personality for prayer and praise, and that is his Ishta.

After prayer and praise comes meditation. Then comes reflection on the name and on the Ishta of the individual.

It is in love that religion exists and not in ceremony— in the pure and sincere love in the heart.

External worship is only a symbol of internal worship, but internal worship and purity are the real things. Without them, external worship would be of no avail.

Unattached, yet shining in everything, is love, the motive power of the universe, without which the universe would fall to pieces in a moment. And this love is God.

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Mindset Aspects of Creativity and Writing

When I first started writing, more than the actual writing, I spent a lot of time on reading about writing. Later, after reading a lot about writing, I realised that my time is best spent in the actual writing, going forward. But at that point in time, when I was new to writing, publishing and overall question of why one writes, those readings were quite useful. They allowed me to create a mental framework about what to expect from writing, and let me pursue my writing without distraction and with satisfaction.

One of the books (and authors) I read a lot at that time was ‘The Successful Author Mindset’  by Joanna Penn. Coming from two decades of corporate life and with a strong academic background, everything I did seemed to have a need for success within. A sorry plight now when I look back, but true nonetheless. Hence, even as an author, being successful was perhaps important then, though no one had much of an idea of what success meant as an author, except being on some bestseller lists, perhaps?

In any case, long story short, and my rambling apart, this was an interesting book. And like many interesting books that teach me something, I made notes out of it. This one was a big bunch of notes, so I thought I will post them in the form of sets based on the topic those notes cover. So here are some notes on the Mindset Aspects of Creativity and Writing.

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Embrace self- doubt as part of the creative process. Be encouraged by the fact that virtually all other creatives, including your writing heroes, feel it too with every book they write.

After writing, this need for validation can spill into publishing decisions. Am I good enough to get an agent and a publisher? Am I good enough to be read and loved by readers? Am I good enough to win prizes and thrill critics? Am I good enough to sell millions of books, get fantastic reviews and to make a living with my writing?

It makes indie authors chase after the latest marketing fad, hoping that it will help them get noticed in a sea of books. It drives authors to read their own book reviews even though the good ones will puff you up and the bad ones will bring you down, and ultimately, they are just someone else’s opinion.

This need to be heard, for validation and ultimately, love, will never go away.

We also have to learn to self- validate, to understand that the writing process is the point, rather than the reception of our work or the rewards that may or may not come.

For indie authors, validation comes from sales and reviews from a growing readership. This need can turn into a constant rechecking for the latest reviews, with days ruined by a one- star review and obsessing over what could have been different. The only antidote to all this is to keep writing.

It’s also a good idea to reframe the fear. Because, actually, no one really cares what you’re up to.

We identify with our work, so we feel that rejection of the book is essentially rejection of us as people.

Our most powerful writing comes from the subconscious, that part of the brain we access when we shut down that inner critic and just let the words come.

Ignore what you (or other people) think you should write, and look at your bookshelf. What do you love to read? What do you choose as a guilty pleasure? Be honest with yourself, even if you come from a literary background. What’s fun for you? Then go write that.

Don’t write what you know, write what you’re interested in, and you will never run out of ideas.

All human experience has already been cataloged in countless books. But your thoughts have not been written before, and your story has not been told before. You are the original aspect of creativity, and what you bring to the world will be different to what others bring, even on the same topic.

Cultivate an abundance mentality and you will be far happier. Find authors in your niche who serve the same audience as you. Read their books and recommend them to your readers. Give without expectation of receiving.

There are pros and cons with all of these ways to spend time, but ultimately, writers write, they don’t just talk (or tweet or blog or Facebook or Instagram) about writing.

I write because I want some kind of immortality, because otherwise I’ll have nothing to show for the years that pass. I measure my life by what I create, and every day, I’m grateful that I am not stuck in my old corporate consulting day job.

Our family and friends may love us but they are unlikely to understand our need to write, unless they are creatives themselves.

It’s tough, but generally our family and friends are not our potential readers.

Finding your voice is about knowing yourself, and letting yourself be the writer you really are.

***

 

Jnana Yoga

My notes from ‘Vedanta: Voice of Freedom” – a selected compilation from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

“Jnana Yoga” – Chapter Highlights reproduced below:

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What is the force that manifests itself through the body? It is obvious to all of us, whatever that force be, that it is taking particles up, as it were, and manipulating forms out of them— human bodies.

So that something was called the soul— the Atman, in Sanskrit. It was the Atman which through the bright body, as it were, worked on the gross body outside. The bright body is considered as the receptacle of the mind, and the Atman is beyond that. It is not the mind even. It works the mind, and through the mind, the body. You have an Atman. I have another. Each one of us has a separate Atman and a separate fine body, and through that we work on the gross external body.

Religion begins with a tremendous dissatisfaction with the present state of things, with our lives, and a hatred— an intense hatred— for this patching up of life, an unbounded disgust for fraud and lies.

A man may say very harsh things to me, and I may not outwardly hate him for it, may not answer him back, and may restrain myself from apparently getting angry, but anger and hatred may be in my mind, and I may feel very badly toward that man. That is not nonresistance. I should be without any feeling of hatred or anger, without any thought of resistance. My mind must then be as calm as if nothing had happened. And only when I have got to that state have I attained nonresistance, and not before. Forbearance of all misery, without even a thought of resisting or driving it out, without even any painful feeling in the mind or any remorse— this is titiksha.

Where is God? Where is the field of religion? It is beyond the senses, beyond consciousness. Consciousness is only one of the many planes in which we work. You will have to transcend the field of consciousness, go beyond the senses, approach nearer and nearer to your own center, and as you do that, you will approach nearer and nearer to God.

If one proposes to teach any science to increase the power of sense enjoyment, one finds multitudes ready for it. If one undertakes to show the supreme goal, one finds few to listen to him. Very few have the power to grasp the higher— fewer still, the patience to attain it.

Upon the same tree there are two birds, one on the top, the other below. The one on the top is calm, silent, and majestic, immersed in his own glory. The one on the lower branches, eating sweet and bitter fruits by turns, hopping from branch to branch, becomes happy and miserable by turns.

The upper bird is God, the Lord of this universe, and the lower bird is the human soul, eating the sweet and bitter fruits of this world. Now and then comes a heavy blow to the soul. For a time he stops the eating and goes toward the unknown God, and a flood of light comes. He thinks that this world is a vain show. Yet again the senses drag him down, and he begins as before to eat the sweet and bitter fruits of the world.

Again an exceptionally hard blow comes. His heart becomes open again to divine light. Thus gradually he approaches God, and as he gets nearer and nearer, he finds his old self melting away. When he has come near enough, he sees that he is no other than God, and he exclaims: “He whom I have described to you as the Life of this universe, as present in the atom and in suns and moons— He is the basis of our own life, the Soul of our soul. Nay, thou art That.”

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The Law of Mentorship

Excerpts from ‘7 Divine Laws To Awaken Your Best Self’ by Swami Mukundananda

The Law of Mentorship – Having a good mentor in any field helps us set goals, shorten the learning curve, receive encouragement, stay focused, avoid pitfalls, and much more.

The first point to check is that the guru should be an expert in the theoretical knowledge of the scriptures. The second point is that the guru must have practically realised the Truth.

While searching, it is possible we took shelter under a guru but realised later that this person was not a genuine saint. In that case, we should not hesitate to quietly become neutral and move on.

While finding your guru, do keep in mind that the guru’s teachings should be in accordance with your samskaras. Even genuine saints have dissimilar teachings. We should look for a teacher who teaches a path that suits our samskaras.

We will get connected to a true guru by the grace of the Lord when our longing for spiritual growth is intense enough.

Finally, what should we do if we have not found a genuine guru? Should we wait for that day to come? No, we should not wait for a guru; we must immediately begin on the path with full earnest. In the future, as we become eligible for divine grace, we will be led to our spiritual teacher. But until then, we should begin the journey with whatever knowledge we have garnered from saints and scriptures.

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Karma Yoga

My notes from ‘Vedanta: Voice of Freedom” – a selected compilation from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

“Karma Yoga” – Chapter Highlights reproduced below:

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One of the greatest lessons I have learned in my life is to pay as much attention to the means of work as to its end.

Our great defect in life is that we are so much drawn to the ideal; the goal is so much more enchanting, so much more alluring, so much bigger in our mental horizon, that we lose sight of the details altogether.

With the means all right, the end must come. We forget that it is the cause that produces the effect. The effect cannot come by itself. And unless the causes are exact, proper, and powerful, the effect will not be produced.

To work properly, therefore, you have first to give up the idea of attachment. Secondly, do not mix in the fray. Hold yourself as a witness and go on working.

As a rule, the desire for name and fame seldom brings immediate results; they come to us when we are old and have almost done with life. If a man works without any selfish motive in view, does he not gain anything? Yes, he gains the highest. Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not the patience to practice it.

All outgoing energy following from a selfish motive is frittered away. It will not cause power to return to you. But if selfishness is restrained, it will result in development of power.

Be unattached. Let things work; let brain centers work; work incessantly, but let not a ripple conquer the mind. Work as if you were a stranger in this land, a sojourner. Work incessantly, but do not bind yourselves.

Do you ask anything from your children in return for what you have given them? It is your duty to work for them, and there the matter ends. In whatever you do for a particular person, city, or state, assume the same attitude toward it as you have toward your children— expect nothing in return. If you can invariably take the position of a giver, in which everything given by you is a free offering to the world, without any thought of return, then your work will bring you no attachment. Attachment comes only where we expect a return.

If you want to be a householder, hold your life as a sacrifice for the welfare of others, and if you choose the life of renunciation, do not even look at beauty and money and power. Each is great in his own place, but the duty of the one is not the duty of the other.

Our duty to others means helping others, doing good to the world. Why should we do good to the world? Apparently to help the world, but really to help ourselves.

To go out and help others is, therefore, the best thing we can do, although, in the long run, we shall find that helping others is only helping ourselves.

The desire to do good is the highest motive power we have, if we know all the time that it is a privilege to help others. Do not stand on a high pedestal and take five cents in your hand and say, “Here, my poor man!” But be grateful that the poor man is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself.

It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver. Be thankful that you are allowed to exercise your power of benevolence and mercy in the world, and thus become pure and perfect.

He works best who works without any motive— neither for money, nor for fame, nor for anything else. And when a man can do that, he will be a Buddha, and out of him will come the power to work in such a manner as will transform the world. This man represents the very highest ideal of karma yoga.

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Bheeshma: Death, and Life, by Choice

One of the striking features of Bheeshma’s life was that he had the benediction to choose his time of death. One might feel that this was a blessing, which in fact it was. But the other side of it also meant that unlike others who have to wait for death irrespective of what happens in their life, Bheeshma had the ability to call death in the event of he not wanting to live anymore. Given the extreme nature of his vows and the tragic events unfolding in his life, right from his youth and even after he had lived more than the average human lifetime, it wasn’t abnormal to expect that a lesser human might have chosen death much earlier than Bheeshma, convincing himself that he had done and lived enough. It is conceivable that Bheeshma had done enough much before the war.

But the greatness of Bheeshma lies in the fact that he did not choose death based on his own frustrations. At every point, he chose life based on what others need and how he can do his duty. He chose to live not for himself, but for the responsibility he had towards others. And he chose to do it with an attitude of devotion and service, knowing fully well what was in his destiny. In a sense, it was a life by choice. The benediction of death by choice and not choosing it till the time was right and till his duty required life, also meant that his was a life of sacrifice and dharma by choice.

It turned out that after the epoch making event of the ninth day when Bheeshma’s valour forced Krishna to almost wield weapons to protect Arjuna, Arjuna himself, in his attempts to stop Krishna from doing so, promised Krishna that he will fight with all his heart and skills, and on the tenth day, cause the grandsire to fall. Promises are often made in the heat of the moment, and hence on the night of the ninth, when the time came to devise the strategy for executing this promise on day ten, the question was how. How were the Pandavas going to fell a warrior as mighty as Bheeshma, who not only was unbeatable, but due to his benediction could not be killed till he desired to die? The path was again provided by Krishna who told Yudhishthira to go and ask Bheeshma himself as he had told him before the war began.

So the Pandavas and Krishna went to Bheeshma’s camp and asked him actually how he could be slain. When Bheeshma saw his favourite grandchildren, not only was he overcome with emotion but, with Krishna in tow, he also took it as a sign of the Lord’s will. He told them without mincing words that he would not use his weapons if the warrior in front of him was a woman. He then added that for him, Shikhandi was as good as a woman as he was born a woman, and was Amba in his previous birth.

One would wonder why a commander would tell the opposing army’s generals how to fell him. Isn’t this match fixing of some kind? But these are Vedic times when war was not a win or lose proposition, but a test of skill to establish dharma. Strategies could be known but they needed to be executed. Moreover the question was raised to Bheeshma who was an epitome of both skill and dharma. Besides, he was a devotee and a warrior, and, therefore, had no qualms of surrendering in front of his Lord, if that was His will.

So with the key to Bheeshma’s felling in their hands, the Pandavas went back. While the Pandavas hesitated, Krishna suggested that Arjuna should fire arrows at Bheeshma by keeping Shikhandi in front and he would not counter attack. This was the only way Arjuna could keep his promise. On the tenth day, the strategy was devised with that single objective. It turned out to be one of the fiercest days of the war as multiple Kaurava warriors like Ashwatthaama, Dushasan, Drona, Duryodhana tried their best to counter the Pandava strategy to isolate Bheeshma so that Arjun with Shikhandi in front could get a clear shot at him. At the same time, Bheeshma knowing what was in store valiantly fell thousands of Pandava warriors, giving his best shot on what he knew would probably be his last day of battle. But like so many other instances, Bheeshma’s felling was preordained and the Lord had decided that this would happen. Shikhandi and Arjun played their roles as instruments for that, and, eventually, towards the end of the day, Bheeshma was full of arrows on his back. He did not even face Shikhandi and that resulted in his body falling from his chariot on a bed of arrows sticking out from his entire body and stuck to the ground.

Hostilities were called off early on the tenth day when Bheeshma fell. When the news spread, both the Pandavas and the Kauravas gathered around Bheeshma on his bed of arrows. The Gods from heaven showered their blessings on a warrior devotee that the world may never see again. Arjuna provided him with a pillow of arrows around his head and also used his skills to provide water from the ground when he expressed he was thirsty. It was said that his mother Ganga was responsible for this. It was a momentous and one might say, decisive, event in the war of dharma. The grandsire had fallen and the Pandava side had a definite edge in the war.

But even in that state, Bheeshma did not give up his life. He meditated on his bed of arrows despite all the bodily pain and suffering, waiting for the war to get over, and for Yudhishthira to get crowned as the emperor. He knew that he might still have a contribution to make.

One might argue that the contribution that he made after the war was equal in measure, for generations to come, if not more than his contributions on the battlefield.

After the war ended, Yudhishthira was frustrated with the unprecedented damage and loss of lives that it had caused. Moreover, on realising that Karna was the eldest Pandava, he felt even more that he was responsible for, what he felt in hindsight, a needless war. He had a strong urge to renounce the world and not take up the role of emperor. He approached Krishna whom he found meditating. He wondered when the whole world meditates on Him, who would He meditate on? Krishna advised him to take the counsel of Bheeshma, whose knowledge of the duties of a king as well as wisdom of the scriptures was unparalleled and the world may never see again soon.

It was then that Bheeshma provided him a detailed treatise on what was Raj Dharma, the duties of a king, over a long period of fifty plus days. It was his own life that was a true example of Raj Dharma and it led to Yudhishthira eventually ruling Hastinapur for many years, not for himself, but for the welfare of others who needed it. It was also a fitting end to Bheeshma’s life with his Lord Krishna right in front of him. That was when the grandsire withdrew from his body and, in that blessed vision of the Lord, chose death and left the body in that elevated state. Bheeshma had, for once, chosen death over life, demonstrating how to live and how to die.

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God and Man in Vedanta

My notes from ‘Vedanta: Voice of Freedom” – a selected compilation from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda.

“God and Man in Vedanta” – Chapter Highlights reproduced below:

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So, from the very first, Advaita had no antagonism with the various sects existing in India. There are dualists existing today, and their number is by far the largest in India because dualism naturally appeals to less educated minds. It is a very convenient, natural, commonsense explanation of the universe. But with these dualists, Advaita has no quarrel. The dualist thinks that God is outside the universe, somewhere in heaven, and the Advaitist, that He is his own Soul, and that it would be blasphemy to call Him anything more distant. Any idea of separation would be terrible. He is the nearest of the near. There is no word in any language to express this nearness except the word Oneness. With any other idea, the Advaitist is not satisfied, just as the dualist is shocked with the concept of Advaita and thinks it blasphemous. At the same time the Advaitist knows that these other ideas must be, and so he has no quarrel with the dualist, who is on the right road. From his standpoint the dualist will have to see the many. It is a constitutional necessity of his standpoint. Let him have it. The Advaitist knows that whatever may be the dualist’s theories, he is going to the same goal as he himself. There he differs entirely from the dualist, who is forced by his point of view to believe that all differing views are wrong.

The Vedantist gives no other attributes to God except these three— that He is Infinite Existence, Infinite Knowledge, and Infinite Bliss, and he regards these three as one.

The ideal of man is to see God in everything. But if you cannot see Him in everything, see Him in one thing, in that thing you like best, and then see Him in another. So on you can go. There is infinite life before the soul. Take your time and you will achieve your end.

The Infinite, the Impersonal, is like the clay in the example. We and the Ruler of the universe are one, but as manifested beings, men, we are His eternal slaves, His worshippers.

I came to see my beloved. The doors were closed. I knocked and a voice came from inside, “Who art thou?” “I am so- and- so.” The door was not opened. A second time I came and knocked. I was asked the same question and gave the same answer. The door opened not. I came a third time, and the same question came. I answered, “I am thou, my love,” and the door opened.

Where shall we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being? “Thou art the man, Thou art the woman, Thou art the girl, and Thou art the boy. Thou art the old man tottering with a stick. Thou art the young man walking in the pride of his strength. Thou art all that exists”— a wonderful living God, who is the only fact in the universe.

Of course, the impersonal idea is very destructive; it takes away all trade from the priests, churches, and temples.

The body is not the Real Man; neither is the mind, for the mind waxes and wanes. It is the Spirit beyond, which alone can live forever.

Why does man look for a God? Why does man, in every nation, in every state of society, want a perfect ideal somewhere, either in man, in God, or elsewhere? Because that idea is within you. It was your own heart beating and you did not know; you were mistaking it for something external. It is the God within your own self that is impelling you to seek for Him, to realize Him.

Two wheels joined by one pole are running together. If I get hold of one of the wheels and, with an axe, cut the pole asunder, the wheel I have got hold of stops. But upon the other wheel is its past momentum, so it runs on a little and then falls down. This pure and perfect being, the soul, is one wheel, and this external hallucination of body and mind is the other wheel, and they are joined together by the pole of work, of karma. Knowledge is the axe that will sever the bond between the two, and the wheel of the soul will stop— stop thinking that it is coming and going, living and dying, stop thinking that it is nature and has wants and desires— and will find that it is perfect, desireless. But upon the other wheel, that of the body and mind, will be the momentum of past acts. So it will live for some time, until that momentum of past work is exhausted, until that momentum is worked away, and then the body and mind will fall, and the soul will be free.

The man who has in this life attained to this state, for whom, for a minute at least, the ordinary vision of the world has changed and the reality has been apparent— he is called the “living free.” This is the goal of the Vedantist, to attain freedom while living.

What makes us miserable? The cause of all miseries from which we suffer is desire.

Wealth does not belong to anybody. Have no idea of proprietorship, possession. You are nobody, I am not anybody, nor is anyone else. All belong to the Lord. God is in the wealth that you enjoy. He is in the desire that rises in your mind. He is in the things you buy to satisfy your desire. He is in your beautiful attire, in your beautiful ornaments.

He works who is not impelled by his own desires, by any selfishness whatsoever. He works who has no ulterior motive in view. He works who has nothing to gain from work.

If a man plunges headlong into foolish luxuries of the world without knowing the truth, he has missed his footing. He cannot reach the goal. And if a man curses the world, goes into a forest, mortifies his flesh, and kills himself little by little by starvation, makes his heart a barren waste, kills out all feelings, and becomes harsh, stern, and dried up, that man also has missed the way. These are the two extremes, the two mistakes at either end. Both have lost the way. Both have missed the goal.

Work incessantly, holding life as something deified, as God Himself, and knowing that this is all we have to do, this is all we should ask for. God is in everything. Where else shall we go to find Him? He is already in every work, in every thought, in every feeling. Thus knowing, we must work. This is the only way. There is no other. Thus the effects of work will not bind us.

If we examine our own lives, we find that the greatest cause of sorrow is this: We take up something and put our whole energy on it— perhaps it is a failure, and yet we cannot give it up. We know that it is hurting us, that any further clinging to it will simply bring misery on us; still we cannot tear ourselves away from it. A bee came to sip honey, but its feet stuck to the honeypot and it could not get away. Again and again we find ourselves in that state. That is the whole secret of existence.

We are caught, though we came to catch. We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked.

That is the one cause of misery: We are attached; we are being caught. Therefore says the Gita: Work constantly; work, but be not attached, be not caught. Reserve to yourself the power of detaching yourself from everything, however beloved, however much the soul might yearn for it, however great the pangs of misery you would feel if you were going to leave it. Still, reserve the power of leaving it whenever you want.

Attachment is the source of all our pleasures now. We are attached to our friends, to our relatives. We are attached to our intellectual and spiritual works. We are attached to external objects so we get pleasure from them. What, again, brings misery but this very attachment? We have to detach ourselves to earn joy. If only we had the power to detach ourselves at will, there would not be any misery. That man alone will be able to get the best of nature who, having the power of attaching himself to a thing with all his energy, has also the power to detach himself when he should do so. The difficulty is that there must be as much power of attachment as that of detachment.

We get caught. How? Not by what we give, but by what we expect. We get misery in return for our love— not from the fact that we love, but from the fact that we want love in return. There is no misery where there is no want. Desire, want, is the father of all misery.

The great secret of true success, of true happiness, then, is this: The man who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish man, is the most successful. It seems to be a paradox.

Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give. It will come back to you— but do not think of that now. It will come back multiplied a thousandfold, but the attention must not be on that. Yet have the power to give. Give, and let it end there.

Be, therefore, not a beggar; be unattached. This is the most difficult task in life.

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Disturbance

At 4 PM Sri heard the thud of the basketball on the external wall of his house, and it shook him. He tried to neglect it, but he couldn’t. He tried to focus on his work, but he couldn’t concentrate.

The basketball thuds kept getting louder. The screams of the boys accompanied the thuds. The rattling of the basket when the ball hit it. The screeching of the shoe steps when the boys rushed to grab the basketball. The cheers of a basket. The shouts of a pass. The hushes of the misses.

Sri went to the adjacent room of his house and opened the window.

“Boys, please play elsewhere. This is disturbing me,” he said. But the boys didn’t listen. They heard him but neglected him. They said they will reduce the noise but didn’t. For a few minutes, they tried to reduce their decibel levels. The rush of adrenaline on passing the basketball took over soon.

When Sri closed the window and went back to the first room, the thud of the basketball on its wall started again. Sri got earplugs. He got earphones. He put on some music. But nothing helped.

He stepped out this time.

“Boys, I told you to go and play elsewhere,”  he admonished them again.

“But uncle, this is the basketball court,” they argued.

“You are thudding your ball on my wall. It is disturbing me. If you don’t stop playing, I will complain to your parents,” he warned them. “Go somewhere else, right now,” he said with a tone of finality.

The boys stopped for a while. They went out of the basketball court and played something else.

But the next day, they were back. At 4 PM, the thud of the basketball woke Sri from his siesta. This time he lost it. He had had enough of this. He walked out in a frenzy of rage.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to play here?” he scolded. He held one of the kids by the ear. Another by the collar. “Can’t you follow instructions?” he yelled and held another boy by his hair. The boys shrivelled in fear. They struggled to set themselves free.

“Leave them Uncle, we will not play here,” the remaining boys cried in unison.

Sri tightened his grip on the boys he had held. They groaned in pain.

“This is the last warning I am giving you. Next time don’t complain I didn’t warn you. I don’t want to see you here again,” he shouted. “Basketball is a dangerous game,” he said and pushed the boys he had held free. One fell on the floor. The other’s head banged on the wall. They groaned in pain.

Sri walked off from the court back to his room. He heard painful cries and hushed voices of the boys from outside. He waited for them to subside. It was silent after a while. The boys had gone away.

The next afternoon, he stayed awake till 4 PM. He sat at his desk with sweat on his forehead and a racing pulse. He waited to hear the thud on his wall, but there was no thud. No rattling of the basket. No screeching shoes. No frenzied passing. No screaming in excitement.

Basketball is a dangerous game, he told himself. He remembered. He stared at his comatose boy, unresponsive, insentient. The silence was killing. As was the noise. Within and outside. He looked at the basketball in the corner and shed a tear.

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