Today's calamity

[Guest guest]

Namaste all,

 

Dear members,

 

Whether the world is Satya or Mithya, Advaitins live in it and cannot remain

totally unconcerned about what happens in it.

 

Let us pray for the departed souls and let us pray to the Almighty to give us

strength to work for rehabilitation of those remaining behind.

 

Ravi

Dr. Ravindra S. Shivde,

Shivde Hospital,

Old Pandit Colony, Nasik 422002

Maharashtra, India

Phone (0253)2578019, (0253)2315725

Telefax (0253)2570519 mobile 9823053441

E- Mail: shivde

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

The calamity is the pursuit of Mithya; the remedy is to live

as sat-svarUpa/Atma-niShTha. All spiritual seekers pursue every

opportunity that comes their way.

 

Dec. 26th is Dattatreya Jayanti (Margashirsha Purnima) and

may your prayer be fulfilled.

 

durjanaH sajjano bhUyAt.h

sajjanaH shAntimApnuyAt.h |

shAnto muchyeta bandhebhyo

muktAshchAnyAnvimochayet.h ||

 

May the wicked become virtuous,

May the virtuous gain tranquillity.

May the tranquil be freed,

May the free liberate others (in bondage).

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder

 

 

advaitin, Ravi Shivde <shivde@s...> wrote:

> Namaste all,

>

> Dear members,

>

> Whether the world is Satya or Mithya, Advaitins live in it and

cannot remain totally unconcerned about what happens in it.

>

> Let us pray for the departed souls and let us pray to the Almighty

to give us strength to work for rehabilitation of those remaining behind.

>

> Ravi

> Dr. Ravindra S. Shivde,

> Shivde Hospital,

> Old Pandit Colony, Nasik 422002

> Maharashtra, India

> Phone (0253)2578019, (0253)2315725

> Telefax (0253)2570519 mobile 9823053441

> E- Mail: shivde@s...

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Yes Dr. Ravi Shivde,

 

Let us all pray together for loka kalyaanam.

astoma sadgamaya

tamasoma jyotirgamaya

mRityormaa amRitam gamaya

On ShantiH! ShantiH! ShantiH!

 

Let us bow down to that powerful forces beyond our control

Let us recognize His play in all these happennings

Let us provide as much solace and help to all our fellow beings to the

best that we can.

Let us recognize that serving the needy is serving Him, thanking Him

what He gave us to share with others who are less fortunate.

Let us see oneness in all - In oneness there cannot be disparities and

discriminations - that is the advaitic vision and let us live upto the

vision.

Question we need to pose all the time is not what I should do to help

the situation- If I cannot do anything in person on in kind let me

sitdown and pray with full heart for the strength and courage for those

who are facing the calamities. That is the advaita in the dvaita.

 

My pranaams

Sadananda

 

 

 

--- Ravi Shivde <shivde wrote:

> Namaste all,

>

> Dear members,

>

> Whether the world is Satya or Mithya, Advaitins live in it and cannot

> remain totally unconcerned about what happens in it.

>

> Let us pray for the departed souls and let us pray to the Almighty to

> give us strength to work for rehabilitation of those remaining behind.

>

> Ravi

> Dr. Ravindra S. Shivde,

> Shivde Hospital,

> Old Pandit Colony, Nasik 422002

> Maharashtra, India

> Phone (0253)2578019, (0253)2315725

> Telefax (0253)2570519 mobile 9823053441

> E- Mail: shivde

>

>

>

>

>

>

 

 

=====

What you have is destiny and what you do with what you have is self-effort.

Future destiny is post destiny modified by your present action. You are not only

the prisoner of your past but master of your future. - Swami Chinmayananda

[Guest guest]

advaitin, Ravi Shivde <shivde@s...> wrote:

> Namaste all,

>

> Dear members,

>

> Whether the world is Satya or Mithya, Advaitins live in it and

cannot remain totally unconcerned about what happens in it.

>

 

Namaste Ravi-Ji:

 

Agreed.

 

> Let us pray for the departed souls and let us pray to the Almighty

to give us strength to work for rehabilitation of those remaining

behind.

>

 

IMO this statement does not satisfy the advitin principles, because

with such a statement we are placing the responsibility of salvation

on "OTHER entity (Almighty)" than you yourself. As an advaitin you

are part of that as well.

 

Therefore, in my view we must make the necessary changes in the

present to for a better future for all.

 

Identifying the problem is the rate-lmiting step in the equation for

solving any problem. This applies across the board from personal to

speritual living.

 

ramadaasasvaami says -

aviddya guNe maanavaa umajenaa |

bhrame cuukale hiita te aakaLenaa ||

parixeviNe baaNdhale dR^iDha naaNe |

pari satya maithyaa ase koNa jaaNE ||

 

Meaning (Liberal) - It is all because of avidyaa one can not realize

the truth. However, accepting the false/forged currency can never

really work. After all whose fault is it, if you accept the forged

currency without proper evaluation?

 

Therefore, I would like to say, uttiSHTata jaagrata praapya

varaannibodhata || kaTha upa. I.iii.14 ||.

 

Meaning - Wake-up and learn by approaching to the learned ones.

 

tasmaata vicaara karaavaa |

devakoNa to voLakhaavaa ||

aapalyaa aapaNa shodha ghyaavaa |

antarayaami ||

 

Meaning (Liberal) - Find out the truth for yourself.

 

Just my personal resolutions/babble for the New Year.

 

Regards,

 

Dr. Yadu

[Guest guest]

Namaste dear all:

 

I join everyone to offer my condolences to all those who are affected

by the series off tsunamis today morning. The news report from the

Associated Press (AP) states the following: "A gargantuan earthquake

centered off the west coast of Indonesia unleashed a series of

tsunamis Sunday morning that crashed into coastal towns, fishing

villages and tourist resorts from India and Sri Lanka to Thailand and

Malaysia, killing more than 10,000 people and leaving many more

missing. The 9.0 magnitude earthquake was the strongest in 40 years

and the fourth largest since 1900, according to the U.S. Geological

Survey."

 

The above natural calamity seems equivalent to the Hindu terminology

of `praLayam – the great floods.' In the Vedic Cosmology, praLayam

refers to an end of a cycle of the manifestation of the Brahman and

the world is dissolved by the Ocean. Those who are interested can

see this interesting discussion in the Bhakti List at the following

URL:http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/nov99/0014.html

 

The author of this post refers to the book, "A dialogue on Hinduism"

by SrI V.N. Gopala Desikan. According to this book that there are

actually three types of pralayas:

 

The first one is the continuing pralaya which we have everyday people

dying, trees and plants withering, the animals dying. This is called

daily pralaya or continuing pralaya. This essentially will also

include other natural calamities like what is witnessed in Asia.

 

The second type of pralaya occurs at the end of a kalpa namely at the

end of one day of Brahma. Here the first three lokas of the seven

namely, Bhuloka, Bhuvarloka and Suvarloka, get destroyed.

 

The third type of pralaya happens at the end of the life of Brahma.

This is when all beings chetanas and achetanas rest in the Lord in a

very subtle form.

 

This cycle of birth and death take place sometime in unnoticeable

smaller scale and at other times they happen in very large scale.

This is part of the mystery of life and Brahman only knows the

answers to the question - WHY? As advaitins (or even as scientists),

we have no means of knowing why such natural disasters occur and why

only a section of the population of the world get affected by those

disasters. As human beings, whenever disaster takes place in any

parts of the world, our hearts want to express our sympathy and

prayers to those who are affected. This is human nature and the

kindness and goodness are kindled by the Lord to open our hearts to

show our emotions.

 

I suggest that we turn our attention to Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11

where the Lord shows His Comic form to Arjuna after providing the

Divine eyes to him to see the Visvarupam. In verses 7 and 8 Lord

Krishna states:

Ihaikastham jagatkritsnam pashyaadya sacharaacharam;

Mama dehe gudaakesha yachchaanyad drashtumicchasi.

Now behold, O Arjuna, in this, My body, the whole universe centred

in the one including the moving and the unmoving—and whatever else

thou desirest to see!

Na tu maam shakyase drashtum anenaiva swachakshushaa;

Divyam dadaami te chakshuh pashya me yogamaishwaram.

But thou art not able to behold Me with these, thine own eyes; I give

thee the divine eye; behold My lordly Yoga.

 

The Lord reminds Arjun (and all of us) that through the ordinary

eye (sense organs) he can't witness the His Cosmic Form. He can see

Him only through the eye of intuition or the divine eye. Lord Krishna

tells all of us that the inner divine experience can only be attained

through intense devotion and concentration.

Dr. Oppenheimer, the famous physicist was known as the father of the

nuclear bomb. He was also the first to witness the first nuclear

explosion which was carried out under his supervision. Oppenheimer

was clinging to one of the uprights in the control room and suddenly

the passage from Bhagavad Gita, flashed into his mind. The famous

quote by Oppenheimer again comes from Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11: "If

the radiance of a thousand suns Were to burst at once into the sky,

That would be like the splendor of the Mighty One...I am become

Death, The destroyer of Worlds" to describe his emotions as he

watched the rising fire ball of the first above-ground nuclear

explosion.

 

Oppenheimer, the moral conscience of those who had worked on the

Manhattan project often made the point that "the physicists have

known sin, and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose."

 

Though natural disasters such as the earthquake can happen at any

place at anytime, with modern science, it is possible to alert the

people to some extent. Tsunamis are quite common in the Pacific Ocean

regions and advance tracking mechanisms are available to enable

people to get prepared well in advance before major disaster strikes.

Let us hope that the governments of heavily populated Indian Ocean

regions take similar measures soon so that we can minimize the loss

of human life.

 

Warmest regards,

 

Ram Chandran

 

Note: Yaduji, please note that prayers are starting part of showing

our responsibility. By doing the prayers, we open our heart and help

everyone around us to open their heart. Let us not fail recognize

that during natural disasters, human hearts are truly opened and

spontaneous help from many come without anyone asking!

 

advaitin, "ymoharir" <ymoharir> wrote:

>

>

> IMO this statement does not satisfy the advitin principles,

because

> with such a statement we are placing the responsibility of

salvation

> on "OTHER entity (Almighty)" than you yourself. As an advaitin you

> are part of that as well.

[Guest guest]

Namaste Sadaji and All

It is true we must endeavour to serve all seeing the lord in them.

One of the lines in Chinmaya Mission pledge reads ' Service to the

people is service to the lord of lords'.

However, even to do that Ramakrishna Paramhamsa would say you need

commandment. He would ask ' Is the world such a small thing that you

can go and help it?'. Even to serve ( without the thought that I am

serving) one needs to pray for grace from the depths of the heart, And

then, when the equipment is ready, no doubt, the lord will help serve

humanity through it in ways seen and unseen.

Thanks for Guiding us with the most appropriate prayer

Many namaskarams to all

Sridhar

 

advaitin, kuntimaddi sadananda

<kuntimaddisada> wrote:

>

> Yes Dr. Ravi Shivde,

snip

> Let us recognize that serving the needy is serving Him, thanking Him

snip

> the situation- If I cannot do anything in person on in kind let me

> sitdown and pray with full heart for the strength and courage for those

> who are facing the calamities. That is the advaita in the dvaita.

>

> My pranaams

> Sadananda

>

>

>

> --- Ravi Shivde <shivde@s...> wrote:

>

> > Namaste all,

[Guest guest]

PraNaam Yaduji,

 

Yaduji wrote

> IMO this statement does not satisfy the advitin principles, because

> with such a statement we are placing the responsibility of salvation

> on "OTHER entity (Almighty)" than you yourself. As an advaitin you

> are part of that as well.

 

 

In my humble opinion, one does not deflect from the Advaitic tradition by

praying to an 'Almighty', which is just another name for One's Self. What is

wrong in praying to Oneself?

> Therefore, in my view we must make the necessary changes in the

> present to for a better future for all.

>

> Identifying the problem is the rate-lmiting step in the equation for

> solving any problem. This applies across the board from personal to

> speritual living.

 

The 'Almighty', is also a problem solving tool.

> ramadaasasvaami says -

> aviddya guNe maanavaa umajenaa |

> bhrame cuukale hiita te aakaLenaa ||

> parixeviNe baaNdhale dR^iDha naaNe |

> pari satya maithyaa ase koNa jaaNE ||

 

Shri Ramdas Swami was a confirmed advaitin. He states in ManAche shlokas-

 

bhute pinDa brahmAnDa he aikya ahe. (The jivas, their bodies and the Cosmos

are One.)

 

But this did not deter him from praying to Shri Ram for relieving the

suffering of common people in Maharashtra. Many other sages from Advaitic

tradition have prayed to the Almighty in times of Crisis.

 

Shri Shankara quenched a storm by praying to river Narmada.

 

Shri Kammu Baba of Mumbai (Kabir Gharana), advised his disciples to pray

unabashedly even for relieving personal troubles. He used to recite the

following couplet;

jalla tu jallal too

saheb-e-kamaal too

mushkil-kushan-too

aayee balaa ko Taal too

(Thou art the light, the effulgent. Thou art the Master of Miracles. Thou

art the solver of problems. Ward off the evil which has fallen!)

 

With best wishes

Ravi

[Guest guest]

No words can possibly convey my personal sadness for the tsunami

disaster.

 

A close friend he usually visits Colombo every Christmas. Since last

two days I have been trying to establish contact with him or his

family without any success.

 

We are trying to help in every possible way through the local group.

 

I offer my personal condolences and prayers for the same.

 

Yadunath

[Guest guest]

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everything is pre programmed

Avan anri oru anuvum asaiyathu

tsunami also

namasivayam

--- ymoharir <ymoharir wrote:

>

> No words can possibly convey my personal sadness for

> the tsunami

> disaster.