Guest guest Posted March 23, 2003 Report Share Posted March 23, 2003 Respected Devotees, This is in response to Sri Soundararajan's "scary question" regarding the origin of Sriman Narayana. His restless nights are something that I can very much relate to, since I went through the same stuggles several years ago when I began my own quest for spirituality. I would like to share a little of what helped me come to resolution with this experience, in the hope that this will help provide some solace to him and others. My apologies in advance for any errors or misconceptions on my part: As educated human beings in general, and as South Asians in particular, our knack for science, engineering, and medicine have expected us to be able to provide solutions in a prompt and effective way based on our education and the resulting experience that has come with it. Consequently, we have conditioned ourselves into turning to rational analysis and intellectual contemplation for providing us with all the answers. So, whether it is our next big project at work, or the Mysteries of the Universe, we rely on the same set of tools - our mind and our education - to try and provide us with the answers that we seek. But, to our AchAryas, our minds and intelligence are not seen in this same light. According to them, while our upanishads revel in the glory of the human birth in its being able to apply the mind - rather than just relying on instinct as is the case with most other creatures on this earth - this mind is also seen to be unruly and easily swayed and distracted. One upanishad, the Chandogya Upanishad, likens the mind, and the manas (subtle body) that operates it, to a beautiful and colorful bird that can be enjoyed and appreciated in full flight. But, just as any bird, if left to operate freely, it can literally run away from us and lead us on a chase to re-capture it, just as it does when it asks difficult questions of itself and goes off onto seeming never-ending intellectual speculation. So, to make this bird-like mind still be beautiful in its creativity, but conditioned to not run away from its master, the soul, we require something to tether it, something that will allow us to guide it and pull it back in place when it starts to take us on those "scary journeys". This something is not a conditioning of the mind, because its very nature is to fly, but rather is the conditioning of the one who tethers it, its master, the soul. So, to realize God, to truly know Him within our heart of hearts to be the Eternal Love that is the source of all That is and Is Not, requires not a journey led by our minds, but rather one that is led by our heart, for it is our heart, our True Nature, which already has all of the answers to all of the questions to experiencing Sriman Narayana. And the way to master this this heartfelt experience, is through the willingness to cultivate two important qualities, vinayam (commitment) and vidhEyata (a humble willingness to follow). And both these qualities should be directed towards the only one who can make us experience God within our Hearts, the only one who can provide us with the solace that will remove the doubts and fears of our unruly mind, the only one at whose feet we can place our heads at night and rest comfortably in the knowledge that He will lead us on the right path leading to God. This person is the one whom the Lord Himself blessed us with out of His Boundless and Unconditional Love for all of us, Bhagavad Sri Ramanuja. If we place ourselves in the care of our Sri Ramanuja by serving our AchAryas, He becomes the "tether" that helps us to maintain control over our mind such that we can guide it on a good and spiritually fulfilling journery. We soon find ourselves becoming less dependent on our mind as being the source for answers, but see it in its true light as merely a tool for the soul to learn about, enjoy and serve the Divine. The answers to questions such as the immortality of God become irrelevant as mental exercises, because we can be rest assured that through Ramanuja katAksham (Ramanuja's Grace), our hearts will one day open to the wisdom that is already part of our svarUpam, our True Nature. By serving Ramanuja through service to our AchArya, we become the masters of our minds and bodies, and live a life on earth of peaceful and loving contemplation of God, seeing everything and everyone as having their source in Sriman Narayana, and seeing every moment as an opportunity to revel both in the Wondrous Mystery and in the All-embracing Love that are His Very Nature. I hope this helps. adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan Mohan > ______________________ > ______________________ > > Message: 1 > Fri, 21 Mar 2003 09:14:25 -0800 (PST) > vimalkumar ranganathan <panardasan > A very Scary Question!! > > > Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama: > > Respected Vaishnavas, > > When I ponder over this question that I am going to present, I always get a very unsettling, unhappy, even a shocking or a jittery feeling. The question is this: WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF GOD?? > > Well, every "thing" should have an origin, atleast according to human perception. If Sriman Narayana is God, what about his origins, I mean, has he always been resting on the bed of Sesha?? The question thats arising in my mind is, shouldn't he have an origin, or something that created him?? > > Well, if you cite the First Law of Thermodynamics which states, "Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed", and somehow relate that energy to God, then I can be partially convinced. Only partially because, the human intelligence (ahem!!) in me will then question the origin of that energy!! > > Can I take convunce myself by saying that since I am only "human" and anything that's linked to being human, be it thoughts, perception, or whatever, is subject to being imperfect?? And therefore understanding those high issues is beyond the realm of my limited, imperfect intelligence?? > > I was thinking about this last night when I was just about to sleep, "who created God??", and trust me, I didn't have good sleep at all, infact I woke up to a nightmare. > > I request all of you learned souls to kindly address my question, > > 1) Philosophically > > 2) Logically > > 3) Scientifically, > > or anything that best addresses the issue. > > AzhwAr EmperumanAr Jeeyar ThiruvadigalE Saranam. > > Adiyen Yathindra Pravana Dasan, > > Kidambi Soundararajan. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 23, 2003 Report Share Posted March 23, 2003 Srimathe RAmanujaya Namaha Dear Shri Swami, Thanks for that excellent post. Kindly accept my pranams. Yatheendra Pravanam Vandhe RAMYA Jamataram Munim Adiyen Ramanuja DAsan, Lakshmi Narasimhan ramanuja, "Mohan Sagar" <mmsagar@e...> wrote: > Respected Devotees, > > This is in response to Sri Soundararajan's "scary question" regarding the > origin of Sriman Narayana. His restless nights are something that I can > very much relate to, since I went through the same stuggles several years > ago when I began my own quest for spirituality. I would like to share a > little of what helped me come to resolution with this experience, in the > hope that this will help provide some solace to him and others. My > apologies in advance for any errors or misconceptions on my part: > > As educated human beings in general, and as South Asians in particular, our > knack for science, engineering, and medicine have expected us to be able to > provide solutions in a prompt and effective way based on our education and > the resulting experience that has come with it. Consequently, we have > conditioned ourselves into turning to rational analysis and intellectual > contemplation for providing us with all the answers. So, whether it is our > next big project at work, or the Mysteries of the Universe, we rely on the > same set of tools - our mind and our education - to try and provide us with > the answers that we seek. > > But, to our AchAryas, our minds and intelligence are not seen in this same > light. According to them, while our upanishads revel in the glory of the > human birth in its being able to apply the mind - rather than just relying > on instinct as is the case with most other creatures on this earth - this > mind is also seen to be unruly and easily swayed and distracted. One > upanishad, the Chandogya Upanishad, likens the mind, and the manas (subtle > body) that operates it, to a beautiful and colorful bird that can be enjoyed > and appreciated in full flight. But, just as any bird, if left to operate > freely, it can literally run away from us and lead us on a chase to > re-capture it, just as it does when it asks difficult questions of itself > and goes off onto seeming never-ending intellectual speculation. > > So, to make this bird-like mind still be beautiful in its creativity, but > conditioned to not run away from its master, the soul, we require something > to tether it, something that will allow us to guide it and pull it back in > place when it starts to take us on those "scary journeys". This something > is not a conditioning of the mind, because its very nature is to fly, but > rather is the conditioning of the one who tethers it, its master, the soul. > > So, to realize God, to truly know Him within our heart of hearts to be the > Eternal Love that is the source of all That is and Is Not, requires not a > journey led by our minds, but rather one that is led by our heart, for it is > our heart, our True Nature, which already has all of the answers to all of > the questions to experiencing Sriman Narayana. And the way to master this > this heartfelt experience, is through the willingness to cultivate two > important qualities, vinayam (commitment) and vidhEyata (a humble > willingness to follow). > > And both these qualities should be directed towards the only one who can > make us experience God within our Hearts, the only one who can provide us > with the solace that will remove the doubts and fears of our unruly mind, > the only one at whose feet we can place our heads at night and rest > comfortably in the knowledge that He will lead us on the right path leading > to God. This person is the one whom the Lord Himself blessed us with out of > His Boundless and Unconditional Love for all of us, Bhagavad Sri Ramanuja. > > If we place ourselves in the care of our Sri Ramanuja by serving our > AchAryas, He becomes the "tether" that helps us to maintain control over our > mind such that we can guide it on a good and spiritually fulfilling > journery. We soon find ourselves becoming less dependent on our mind as > being the source for answers, but see it in its true light as merely a tool > for the soul to learn about, enjoy and serve the Divine. The answers to > questions such as the immortality of God become irrelevant as mental > exercises, because we can be rest assured that through Ramanuja katAksham > (Ramanuja's Grace), our hearts will one day open to the wisdom that is > already part of our svarUpam, our True Nature. By serving Ramanuja through > service to our AchArya, we become the masters of our minds and bodies, and > live a life on earth of peaceful and loving contemplation of God, seeing > everything and everyone as having their source in Sriman Narayana, and > seeing every moment as an opportunity to revel both in the Wondrous Mystery > and in the All-embracing Love that are His Very Nature. > > I hope this helps. > > adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan > Mohan > > > > ____________________ __ > > ____________________ __ > > > > Message: 1 > > Fri, 21 Mar 2003 09:14:25 -0800 (PST) > > vimalkumar ranganathan <panardasan> > > A very Scary Question!! > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.