Guest guest Posted December 3, 2001 Report Share Posted December 3, 2001 Respected Sadanandaji, You replied : > Shree Amaresh - you have yearning mind. That is all that is needed. Do not worry about different masters and to whom you have to surrender. They all point to the same thing. Just have an open mind and surrender yourself to your ishTa devata or the form of the Lord > that appeals to your heart and surrender your self to that Lard - taking that Lord's name. Study the scriptures with ruthless discrimination - until you have clear understanding of the scriptures Taking all guru-s as His manifestations. He will show you the right path that is conducive to your heart. Ultimately Guru is the Lord > within. You yourself will discover the right guru at the right time. The flower need not go in search of a bee, the bee shall come provided the flower is intelligent enough to open itself with full bloom. That is the Law of Nature. > > Hari Om! > Sadananda The following doubts still remain in my mind : 1. You advised me to not to worry about the different masters, but to concentrate on my ishtadevata and take his name in all actions. I have two doubts regarding this: I remember Vivekananda to have said that it is difficult to get the Lord's grace, but easier to get a Master's grace. So is it not easier to surrender to a Master? Of course though i have been under various gurus in the kundalini,surat shabd yoga, raja yoga traditions, i have never felt like surrendering totally to any living master. I am more drawn to gurus like Ramana, Aurobindo, Ramakrishna, Shankara, Vivekananda or Shirdi Sai Baba. The second confusion is regarding surrendering to my ishtadevata. Again the problem is my undecisiveness. I am at various points of time drawn to various gods. Sometimes it is Kali, other times Krishna or Shiva or Vishnu. I am unable to decide. If at some point of time i decide on krishna, after just 3 or 4 days I get drawn to Kali and so on. Regarding taking the Lords name too I am drawn to 3 different mantras of the Divine. I am unable to decide on one. So how can i remove my confusion? 2. Another doubt i have is regarding my sadhana. I feel more comfortable with a synthesis of jnana, bhakti and karma. If the problems i mentioned in point no.1 gets resolved I will be on a good track in bhakti yoga. regarding jnana yoga too I feel fairly confident. However i have a doubt in Karma yoga. The Gita lays great emphasis on Swadharma. Vinobaji in his Talks on Gita has laid the greatest emphasis on swadharma. I am however confused on its exact meaning. Does it mean to accept whatever circumstances, career we find ourselves in? Do i continue with the job, situation i am in though i dont like it? Do i do it in the spirit of yajna? Or should i be proactive and try to change my circumstances/career? Will it then not be against my swadharma? Please clarify. Thanking you in anticipation. amaresh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 3, 2001 Report Share Posted December 3, 2001 Shree Amaresh Greetings. I am currently on some serious Official vacation! - I mean attending some conference in Hawaii. will be back to my desk this friday and will be leisurely adress the points you have raised. Hari Om! Sadananda >amaresh <agni >advaitin >advaitin > Re:Advise of Sri Sadananda >Mon, 03 Dec 2001 18:23:19 +0000 > > Respected Sadanandaji, > >You replied : > > Shree Amaresh - you have yearning mind. That is all that is needed. Do >not >worry about different masters and to whom you have to surrender. They all >point to the same thing. Just have an open mind and surrender yourself to >your ishTa devata or the form of the Lord > > that appeals to your heart and surrender your self to that Lard - >taking >that Lord's name. Study the scriptures with ruthless discrimination - >until >you have clear understanding of the scriptures Taking all guru-s as His >manifestations. He will show you the right path that is conducive to your >heart. Ultimately Guru is the Lord > > within. You yourself will discover the right guru at the right time. >The >flower need not go in search of a bee, the bee shall come provided the >flower >is intelligent enough to open itself with full bloom. That is the Law of >Nature. > > > > Hari Om! > > Sadananda > > >The following doubts still remain in my mind : > >1. You advised me to not to worry about the different masters, but to >concentrate on my ishtadevata and take his name in all actions. I have >two doubts regarding this: I remember Vivekananda to have said that it >is difficult to get the Lord's grace, but easier to get a Master's >grace. So is it not easier to surrender to a Master? Of course though >i have been under various gurus in the kundalini,surat shabd yoga, >raja yoga traditions, i have never felt like surrendering totally to >any living master. I am more drawn to gurus like Ramana, Aurobindo, >Ramakrishna, Shankara, Vivekananda or Shirdi Sai Baba. > >The second confusion is regarding surrendering to my ishtadevata. >Again the problem is my undecisiveness. I am at various points of time >drawn to various gods. Sometimes it is Kali, other times Krishna or >Shiva or Vishnu. I am unable to decide. If at some point of time i >decide on krishna, after just 3 or 4 days I get drawn to Kali and so >on. Regarding taking the Lords name too I am drawn to 3 different >mantras of the Divine. I am unable to decide on one. So how can i >remove my confusion? > >2. Another doubt i have is regarding my sadhana. I feel more >comfortable with a synthesis of jnana, bhakti and karma. If the >problems i mentioned in point no.1 gets resolved I will be on a good >track in bhakti yoga. regarding jnana yoga too I feel fairly >confident. However i have a doubt in Karma yoga. The Gita lays great >emphasis on Swadharma. Vinobaji in his Talks on Gita has laid the >greatest emphasis on swadharma. I am however confused on its exact >meaning. Does it mean to accept whatever circumstances, career we find >ourselves in? Do i continue with the job, situation i am in though i >dont like it? Do i do it in the spirit of yajna? Or should i be >proactive and try to change my circumstances/career? Will it then not >be against my swadharma? Please clarify. > >Thanking you in anticipation. > >amaresh. _______________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 10, 2001 Report Share Posted December 10, 2001 >Respected Sadanandaji, > > >The following doubts still remain in my mind : > >1. You advised me to not to worry about the different masters, but to >concentrate on my ishtadevata and take his name in all actions. I have >two doubts regarding this: I remember Vivekananda to have said that it >is difficult to get the Lord's grace, but easier to get a Master's >grace. So is it not easier to surrender to a Master? Of course though >i have been under various gurus in the kundalini,surat shabd yoga, >raja yoga traditions, i have never felt like surrendering totally to >any living master. I am more drawn to gurus like Ramana, Aurobindo, >Ramakrishna, Shankara, Vivekananda or Shirdi Sai Baba. Shree Amaresh Surrender to any one - either to the Lord or to a guru is not easy. What is that one surrenders - ones mind and intellect - to do that two requirements have to be met. First, I should have complete faith in the object of my surrender. Second which is also related to the first is that I should have unconditional love for the object of surrender. Both need to be cultivated. It is easier to have faith in the Lord than in the teacher since Lord being the all mighty, the mind cannot find fault with him. Where as Guru whom I see as another human being with all limitations associated with a human being is not readily accepted by the mind. It requires lot more acceptance on the part of ones mind. Hence long association with the guru is a prerequisite before one takes the other as his Guru. Love for the Lord - we gain from childhood - and also by reading stories of the Lord through bajanas and through prayers. When one is difficulty people desparately pray to the all mighty. Only when rational intellect starts questioning then mind needs to understand the nature of the God and what it implies in order to have more intellectually oriented Bhakti towards that Lord. Fortunately a Hindu is blessed by so many mythological stories of the Lord and one gets attracted to hear His stories. The whole Indian Culture is tuned - from music to dance to most of the art forms are turned towards Lord. Love for the Lord or ishTadevata comes again by practice only. Krishan says in Geeta - dyaayato vishayaan pumsaH sanghasteshuupa jaayate| by constant thinking on any particular object one gets attachment to that object. This works both ways - If the object is the Lord Himself then by constant thinking of the Lord one develops that love for the Lord. >The second confusion is regarding surrendering to my ishtadevata. >Again the problem is my undecisiveness. I am at various points of time >drawn to various gods. Sometimes it is Kali, other times Krishna or >Shiva or Vishnu. I am unable to decide. If at some point of time i >decide on krishna, after just 3 or 4 days I get drawn to Kali and so >on. Regarding taking the Lords name too I am drawn to 3 different >mantras of the Divine. I am unable to decide on one. So how can i >remove my confusion? Please understand all are one and not many - Donot get entangled in various forms and names. Just take any name that appeals to you and stick to it. Normally the one that is traditionally brought to you through your family - particualarly father/mother - the one whom you think instantly when you are in trouble. That is the form that mind is most comfortable with. Then stick to it see that form in all forms - There is no reason to cluttering the mind with varous forms and names since all forms and names are just one that supreme Brahman. > >2. Another doubt i have is regarding my sadhana. I feel more >comfortable with a synthesis of jnana, bhakti and karma. If the >problems i mentioned in point no.1 gets resolved I will be on a good >track in bhakti yoga. regarding jnana yoga too I feel fairly >confident. However i have a doubt in Karma yoga. The Gita lays great >emphasis on Swadharma. When you develop the love for the Lord - all sadhana merges into one - jnaana, bhakti and karma are all not different. Understanding Him is j~naan and praying him Bhakit and working for Him is Karma. He alone is real and everything is His glory. Why worry? > Vinobaji in his Talks on Gita has laid the >greatest emphasis on swadharma. I am however confused on its exact >meaning. Does it mean to accept whatever circumstances, career we find >ourselves in? Do i continue with the job, situation i am in though i >dont like it? Do i do it in the spirit of yajna? Or should i be >proactive and try to change my circumstances/career? Will it then not >be against my swadharma? Please clarify. > >Thanking you in anticipation. > >amaresh. Shree Amaresh - every teacher teaches the same thing. Whereever you are placed is the right place - Just leave it to Him and he will guide you. When He is everywhere, where do you have to go to find him than where you already are! Just offer everything - whatever you think whatever you feel and whatever you do and whatever you speak - everything offer it you as your prayer. That is bhakti that is j~naana and that is karma yoga. Since you are going to offer it to Him, the Lord of Lord, make sure it is your best - That is the best form of surrendering. Surrenderance is complete only when there is no more I to surrender - you cannot surrender yourself two times - once you surrender there is no more I to surrender again. Of course until then we only try to surrender. But at least that is the right path towards Him. tanu manu dhanu sab kuch tera Hai! Hari Om! Sadananda -- K. 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