Guest guest Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 , " Narasimha P.V.R. Rao " <pvr wrote: > > Dear Lakshmi, > > The Yogananda I mentioned is different. Swami Yogananda is one of the sixteen monastic disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, along with Swami Vivekananda. He was forced to marry, but never slept with his own wife. Swami Vivekananda once said " if any of us (disciples of Ramakrishna) conquered lust completely and in all respects, it is Joginder (Swami Yogananda) " . There is no question of Swami Yogananda being accused of drinking and having women etc. > > Paramahamsa Yogananda is a sishya of Yukteshwar Maharaj and from the lineage of Mahavatar Babaji. They practice kriya yoga. I do not know much about him. For what it is worth, you can read more about Paramahamsa Yogananda in his free+online autobiography, here http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi There were interesting links between Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Paramahamsa Yogananda:- For example, one of the top disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was Mahendranath Gupta (not sure if he was one of the 16 monastic disciples that Narasimhaji refers to) aka Master Mahasaya, who wrote " The Gospel of Ramakrishna " (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahendranath_Gupta), and was the sanskrit tutor to Paramahamsa Yogananda as well; the latter devoted an entire chapter to him in his book : http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi/Chapter_9 Elsewhere in his autobiography Paramhamsa Yogananda also mentions an anecdote of a disciple to whom he gifted a silver cup, who as a young man was told by Swami Vivekandana that the Guru in his life would present him with a silver cup in the future. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi/Chapter_47 Makes you wonder about the Divine connection between all these supremely elevated souls! Best. > * * * > > The link you gave is about neither Swami Yogananda nor Paramahamsa Yogananda, but some propaganda about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa himself, based on some bali he apparently gave. So I am unsure exactly who you wanted to talk about.. > > Best regards, > Narasimha > > Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam > Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpana > Spirituality: > Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net > Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org > Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org > > > - > Lakshmi Kary > > Sunday, September 28, 2008 7:59 PM > Re: Dharma > > > Hare Rama Krishna > Dear Narasimha, > Ive read several apparently derogatory things about Paramahamsa Yogananda- that he ate meat, drank and had women at different times. Some accounts seem very authoratative so I am inclined to believe where there is smoke there is fire. > How can we reconcil he is spiritually special when he was involved in some many other worldly things.? > http://ramakrishnayb.blogspot.com/2008/02/95-where-is-safety-for-fish-and-goats.\ html > Best wishes > Lakshmi > > " Narasimha P.V.R. Rao " <pvr wrote: >  > Namaste, > > I meant it figuratively. > > For the reference on Yogananda, you can read the section on Swami Yogananda in " God Lived with Them: Life Stories of Sixteen Monastic Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna " by Swami Chetanananda. > > * * * > > There have been many great yogis, babas, saints and swamis in the last few thousand years of Kali yuga. But Ramakrishna Paramahamsa stands out in one way. He is one master who mastered every single path. He mastered bhakti yoga, jnaana yoga, karma yoga and even raaja yoga. He worshipped and experienced Rama, Krishna, Kaali and several forms. He even reached the state of nirvikalpa samadhi, where there is no " experience " . He was in sahaja samadhi always. He was able induce tremendous experience in people by mere touch or mere look. Yet he was simple like a child and had zero ego (that is why he could do all that!!!). > > Many " gurus " force their dharma on their sishyas and have no ability to recognize the true nature and dharma of each sishya. They force sishyas to chant the mantra they chant, worship the form they worship and walk the path they walk. Ramakrishna had deep insight into the true nature of each sishya and gave specific instructions. He taught totally different mantras, totally different forms and totally different paths to different sishyas. He even taught contradictory things to different sishyas. When one sishya who needed to mend his aggressive attitude roughed up somebody for insulting his guru, he scolded " shame on you. With your attitude, you did not defend your guru, but brought shame to him. You should learn to be calm and ignore such insults. THAT will place your guru in a good stead and not your aggression " . When another sishya who needed to mend his soft demeanor ignored insults of Ramakrishna by some people and came away silently, he scolded him " shame on you. Shastras say that you should kill one who insults your guru. How can you ignore such wrong behavior? You should give them a piece of your mind. " > > Spiritual sadhana does not mean just chanting a mantra or repeating a procedure everyday for a certain period of time. Spiritual sadhana is a continuous process by which one transforms oneself from inside out and purifies oneself. That way, every action and every thought becomes a sadhana and offers an opportunity for introspection and transformation of internal attitude. > > Anyway, coming back to the point, Ramakrishna is not a normal sadhaka or a normal guru. He belonged to a very special class of sadhakas and he was an exceptional guru to an exceptional group of sishyas. > > Without his [indirect] blessings, I would be a nobody and would be lower than dirt. I would not be able to say anything intelligent or meaningful in spiritual matters. Those who are impressed/inspired by something I write should be thankful to my guru Dr Manish Pandit and to Sri Ramakrishna for showering their grace using me as an instrument and not to me. > > BTW, you are all free to forward my posts that you like to people who may be interested in spiritual discussions. I have no problem. As I said before, I am a servant distributing the wealth of a king (Mother) as asked by the minister (my guru). > > Best regards, > Narasimha > > Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam > Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpana > Spirituality: > Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net > Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org > Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org > > > - > rajarshi nandy > > Sunday, September 28, 2008 2:44 PM > Re: Re: Dharma > > Dear Narasimhaji > > Another wonderly inspired post by you!!!! > > I did not understand one line of your post. You said during the time of Mahabhrata there was tremendous weight on this planet. I could not completely understand what you ment by this. Is it a literal meaning of figuratative meaning? > > Also, could you tell me the name of reference of the book where Sri Ramakrishna says Yogananda was Arjuna. > > Thank you once again for your mails which are an inspiration to us all. > > -Regards > Rajarshi > > > " This above all: to thine own self be true! " - Hamlet > > > --- On Sun, 28/9/08, Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr wrote: > > Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr > Re: Dharma > > Cc: sivacharya > Sunday, 28 September, 2008, 12:11 AM > > > Namaste, > > As Vimalananda says, dharma is indeed personal. Krishna clearly says in > Bhagavad Geeta " Follow your own dharma. It is dangerous to follow someone > else's dharma " . > > Following the path of dharma basically means engaging in the right > action/duty. Right action varies from person to person, from time to time > and from place to place. It is dependent on what nature expects from you, > which in turn is based on who you have been in the past, what actions you > did in the past while identifying with the action, who you affected in the > past (and how) with the actions that you identified with, what debts you > created in the process, and what mental tendencies you accumulated until > now. > > If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person > to kill evil persons, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental > tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to spread the message of > uniformity of all religions, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's > mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to spread the > ritual of homam in the world, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's > mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to make a lot of > money and construct a temple, that becomes one's dharma. > > * * * > > The dharma of a being may change from one life to another. > > At the time of Mahabharata war, it was Arjuna's dharma to kill his gurus, > elders and relatives. The time then was such that there was too much weight > on earth and nature wanted earth to be relieved of some weight. Tremendous > destruction was to take place and civilization destroyed to a great extent, > to welcome Kali yuga and set the tone for it. Arjuna being a great warrior, > it was his dharma to facilitate that. Some people he deeply loved and > respected were on the other side and it was his dharma to kill them. > > When the same Arjuna was born again in the 19th century as one of > Ramakrishna Paramahamsa' s sishyas (Swami Yogananda had been Arjuna in a > previous life, according to Ramakrishna) , his dharma was different in this > new time and place. He was born to renounce material life despite his > aristocratic upbringing and live the simple life of a monk and inspire > generations to embrace a simple life of mental detachment and service to > others. When he is born again (which he has to, as per what Ramakrishna > said), his dharma based on the time and place may be something else. > > * * * > > The tricky question is: How does one decide what is one's dharma? > > Some people have interpreted Krishna's words saying " follow your own dharma > and not someone else's dharma " in the light of castism. Though the concept > of caste (varna) has been there in Hinduism for a long time, the concept of > caste mobility was very much there. Valmiki was a shudra who lived by > killing birds. He became a brahmana and a maharshi later. Vishwamitra was a > kshatrita and a powerful king. He became a brahmana and and a maharshi > later. Basically varna shows one's aptitude. One starts off with the varna > of father, because that is what one is exposed to in childhood. As one > develops in life, one gets one's own varna based on what one does. > > Thus, the misinterpretation of Krishna's words which tells you to know your > dharma from your caste is wrong. Moreover, there are not just 4 dharmas in > the world. Each person has individual dharma. > > Knowing what one's dharma is is very very very difficult. If one is pure > enough, one will *know* one's dharma. In fact, all of us have a part of our > mind that tells us what our dharma is, but it is surrounded by a lot of > noise from other parts of our minds which tell other things. Thus, we get > confused. > > We should make the best judgment combining discrimination and intuition and > decide what is our dharma and follow it sincerely. We may be err, but doing > the best we can is all that we can do! > > More than following dharma, what is of utmost importance is to engage in > actions without identification. *That* alone ensures that we are not > accumulating new karmas, i.e. not increasing the load. We should not build > too much attachment to what we are doing. We should engage in the best > possible actions (based on our best judgment on what our dharma in the given > situation is), with as little attachment and self-identification with the > action as possible. When the action is finished, we should leave the result > to god. We should not think " I did it " , " what will happen now " , " will it > work " etc. Such adherence of nishkama karma yoga (unfication through > untached action) will simplify our ego and purify our consciousness slowly. > As we become purer, our mind will work sharper and tell our dharma clearer. > There is a positive feedback here. This will slowly enable us to see our > dharma clearly and follow it without incurring new karmas. This is not easy, > but not as difficult as people think. > > The bottomline is: Even if one is not following one's dharma, one's sense of > " this is my dharma " gets refined with time if one engages in action with > little attachment. > > * * * > > In deciding one's dharma, one's intellect and intuition are the inputs. > Another external input is the words of scriptures and learned men. One can > derive one's dharma from them. A special place is given to one's spiritual > master. If one surrenders to a spiritual master, one can take the words of > the master to determine one's dharma and follow it sincerely. > > When Arjuna was confused about what his dharma was and thought killing gurus > and relatives was not dharma, he had a guru in Krishna who clarified his > dharma. When Narendranath (Swami Vivekananda) was confused about his dharma > and wanted to renounce the world and go to a secluded place to do sadhana, > Ramakrishna Paramahamsa cried and prevailed upon him to stay in the material > world and do the work of Mother for him. > > One who is not in tune with nature and does not know who one is, what one's > debts are and what nature expects from one can err in the judgment of what > one's dharma is. If one's guru is an elevated soul with a clear insight into > one's inner core, such a guru can give perfect guidance. > > * * * > > Bottomline is that I (or anybody) cannot outline a set of principles and > declare that as the dharma. No, dharma changes from person to person, from > time to time and from place to place. Also, there are no thumbrules to find > out what one's dharma is. But, one can refine one's understanding of one's > dharma by increasing internal purity. By doing various kinds of spiritual > sadhana (like homam, japam etc) and engaging in actions without much > attachment, one can slowly purify oneself and refine one's understanding of > one's individual dharma. > > Best regards, > Narasimha > ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - > Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ homam > Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ tarpana > Spirituality: http://groups. / group/vedic- wisdom > Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro. home.comcast. net > Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAst rologer.org > Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagan nath.org > ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - > > - > " dahiyajiten " <dahiyajiten@ .co. in> > <> > Saturday, September 27, 2008 8:02 AM > Dharma > > > Namaste to all > > > > i just finished my Aghora series > > and in it in last part > > Vimalanda says path of dharma is very personal. > > Can somebody share views on that and how can we approach > > towards it > > Does it has to do something with vedas and upanishads > > > > regards > > jitender > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Dear Lakshmi, This is Kali yuga. While a really spiritual person must continuously try to destroy ego, so many spiritual gurus are there around us with bloated egos which are easily offended at a hint of criticism or overly excited at sycophancy. Such gurus are not of much use. But how do separate the grains from the chaff? It is not easy, especially when there are just a few grains in the middle of a big pile of chaff. Astrology is useful but not that much. Astrologer's mind, which makes the final judgments, works based on his/her prejudices and secret beliefs. * * * In the past, many great souls used intellectual discrimination and intuition to judge one's guru for a long time before whole-heartedly embracing one's guru. In many traditions within Hinduism, this is encouraged. You do not accept a guru in an impulse. You "test" your guru and take your time to accept him. But, once you accept a person as your guru, you follow him faithfully. * * * If you take Narendra (Swami Vivekananda), the celebrated disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, he was a highly rational and skeptical young man. Though Ramakrishna had induced a samadhi in Narendra by mere touch in their second meeting itself, it was not enough to convince Narendra of Ramakrishna's ability and purity. He thought the whole experience could just have been a hallucination/hypnotism and did not jump to any conclusion. As he visited Ramakrishna continuously, received love and knowledge from him and saw that Ramakrishna indeed walked the walk (as opposed to just talking the talk), he was slowly convinced of the purity of Ramakrishna. He then became a tireless soldier who dedicated his life to carrying out the mission of his guru! During the early stages, he even told Ramakrishna bluntly about the latter's visions of Kali, Krishna, Rama etc, "Sir, they could all just be your imaginations or hallucinations". Narendra did not even believe in god with a form and believed only in the formless. Ramakrishna was never offended at these comments. Other sishyas like Joginder (Swami Yogananda) also approached Ramakrishna skeptically and tested him for a duration. These young men who surrounded Ramakrishna weren't blind men led by a blind man. They were all rishis or associates of rishis, who were reborn together for a purpose. They observed Ramakrishna for a while, confirmed that he practiced what he preached and realized that there was a valuable lesson in each action and word of his. They took a while to realize his purity and divinity, but once they realized they became faithful sishyas. He accepted them, loved them and taught them even before they realized his true nature and accepted him fully as their guru. He knew they were skeptical and testing him, but he was never offended (what good is a guru who cannot recognize a worthy student and what good is a guru whose ego is insulted at someone's skepticism). Once they accepted him and became faithful sishyas, each one of them was also transformed into a really pure person who takes the entire life as a sadhana and maintains purity in every thought and action. Each sishya of a Ramakrishna was a role model in spiritual purity. * * * One whose rinas draw one towards a fake guru gets such a guru because that is what his karmas entitle him to. The circumstances we have to face are based on the previous actions. But the current action (freewill) is in our hands. If one can truly believe from the deepest cores of heart that one's guru is pure and like Shiva himself, follows guru blindly and entertains no doubt whatsoever, that WILL pay off oneday. Nature WILL bring light into that person's spiritual life. It is just a matter of time. Thus, I will not be judgmental about other gurus and their sishyas. If a sishya believes in his/her guru fully, so be it. It is not our business. But, if one were to find a guru like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa or Ramana Maharshi or Sri Aurobindo or Srila Prabhupada, it is one's immense luck. However, the point I want to make is that having a great guru is not a guarantee of success and also having a fake guru is not a guarantee of failure! At the end of the day, the measure of success in any sadhana is the purity generated by that sadhana. The measure of the purity is the effacement of ego. If ego is reduced completely or eliminated, one is making progress. This can happen inspite of who is the guru, what one is doing etc. When the full grace of the Supreme Being falls on a person, any medium is sufficient to reflect that grace. Best regards,NarasimhaDo a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaSpirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org - Lakshmi Kary Monday, September 29, 2008 2:06 AM Re: Yogananda (Re: Dharma) Hare Rama Krishna Dear Narasimha. Sorry I got my people and lineages all confused! Was reading about too many people lately. Also last night I saw a documentary on religious leaders, cults etc. People want to see God so badly they are very eager to push anyone who is willing to claim to be special up on a pedestal.That happened with my ex , he got up there,felt it wasn't right and tried to climb down, but his"disciples" didn't want him to. They continued to perpetuate falsehoods about his purity, and all sorts of cover ups. God and Jesus are living in some many places. Sometimes there are several people simultaneously claiming to be Jesus in any psych unit across the world/ Its amazing where and to within whom people see "God". Isnt a spiritual master, guru, living like a mortal in all capacities while telling others how to find realization sort of hypocritical and bizarre? There is one fellow who used to be a heroin addict and now he says he is Jesus and has a huge following. they are willing to do whatever he says and they give him money and all sorts of things. Yesterday I went on the Internet, and looked at some many so called yogis, preachers etc IN the USA I cant begin to tell you the number of religious leaders that were revered as "God" or some other incarnation. India is no different, perhaps worse because people have a natural respect for sadhus , yogis etc and more yogis can get away with pretending to be a renunciate. I believe God appears in different forms in different places and times to attract people who are looking for him and to associate with his devotees.. Now that Documentary TV program and your posts got my mind swimming. What are principles of religion? What is dharma, What is the purpose? Now if there were no laws or rules, social or religious and everyone did what they felt like, we would be living in a hell. At least in Kali Yuga. What was the point of Jesus? Seems he got a lot of uncivilized people to work on basic codes of conduct... thou shalt not steal,lie, commit adultery etc. Whose to say one person is a saint?.. some people(his faithful followers) couldn't understand that Charles Manson was a mad man not a prophet. There are other "yogis" who came to USA, smoking pot, taking drugs, and other ones advised having sex to find self realization and acquiring tons of cars and helping many people trade STDs. Some people ADVOCate mandatory forced marriage of young girls AT puberty, usually to older men.. and its ok for their fathers to teach them a thing or two, before being handed off. One "saint" makes gold, but other people say he molested their young teenage sons.. In itself, being able to perform siddhis or mystic things doesn't make one elevated really. Maybe they have just accumulated the power to manipulate physical matter. Unless a person is pure- it is hard to see who else is pure. And even then, well intentioned people are deceived all the time. People have given up everything they owned and moved into under ground tunnels because their leader( an incarnation of this or that) said the world was ending. Or, time and time again, some swami turns out to molest kids, and or do all sorts of things when no one is looking.. "The Do as I say , don't do as I do"... "He is so pure he doesn't have to obey the rules like everyone else." Whose to say who is pure? I think someone who is 100% serving their GOD day and night, at all times and practicing what they preach has got to be pure.... Self realization after much thought and years meditating/chanting is simple i found... its the realization ,the complete understanding of our relationship to God and to everything and everyone else in our conscious and unconscious universe. But then by the time I die , I'm sure I'll have even more realizations. There was a big article in TIME magazine with some personal letter of Mother Theresa that she didnt want shown publically that showed her apparently having doubts(privately in her heart) I guess as a way to try and discredit her. Was she a saint, coming to India and pushing her views on the poor?People go in circles debating her worth . And I guess these are the things I'm here for in this life, which is different than other peoples path. I keep hoping astrology can "reveal" the real saint the real sadhus..etc Suffering helps one think about these things. Best wishes Lakshmi "Narasimha P.V.R. Rao" <pvr wrote: Dear Lakshmi, The Yogananda I mentioned is different. Swami Yogananda is one of the sixteen monastic disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, along with Swami Vivekananda. He was forced to marry, but never slept with his own wife. Swami Vivekananda once said "if any of us (disciples of Ramakrishna) conquered lust completely and in all respects, it is Joginder (Swami Yogananda)". There is no question of Swami Yogananda being accused of drinking and having women etc. Paramahamsa Yogananda is a sishya of Yukteshwar Maharaj and from the lineage of Mahavatar Babaji. They practice kriya yoga. I do not know much about him. * * * The link you gave is about neither Swami Yogananda nor Paramahamsa Yogananda, but some propaganda about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa himself, based on some bali he apparently gave. So I am unsure exactly who you wanted to talk about.. Best regards,NarasimhaDo a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaSpirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org - Lakshmi Kary Sunday, September 28, 2008 7:59 PM Re: Dharma Hare Rama Krishna Dear Narasimha, Ive read several apparently derogatory things about Paramahamsa Yogananda- that he ate meat, drank and had women at different times. Some accounts seem very authoratative so I am inclined to believe where there is smoke there is fire. How can we reconcil he is spiritually special when he was involved in some many other worldly things.? http://ramakrishnayb.blogspot.com/2008/02/95-where-is-safety-for-fish-and-goats.html Best wishes Lakshmi"Narasimha P.V.R. Rao" <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote:  Namaste, I meant it figuratively. For the reference on Yogananda, you can read the section on Swami Yogananda in "God Lived with Them: Life Stories of Sixteen Monastic Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna" by Swami Chetanananda. * * * There have been many great yogis, babas, saints and swamis in the last few thousand years of Kali yuga. But Ramakrishna Paramahamsa stands out in one way. He is one master who mastered every single path. He mastered bhakti yoga, jnaana yoga, karma yoga and even raaja yoga. He worshipped and experienced Rama, Krishna, Kaali and several forms. He even reached the state of nirvikalpa samadhi, where there is no "experience". He was in sahaja samadhi always. He was able induce tremendous experience in people by mere touch or mere look. Yet he was simple like a child and had zero ego (that is why he could do all that!!!). Many "gurus" force their dharma on their sishyas and have no ability to recognize the true nature and dharma of each sishya. They force sishyas to chant the mantra they chant, worship the form they worship and walk the path they walk. Ramakrishna had deep insight into the true nature of each sishya and gave specific instructions. He taught totally different mantras, totally different forms and totally different paths to different sishyas. He even taught contradictory things to different sishyas. When one sishya who needed to mend his aggressive attitude roughed up somebody for insulting his guru, he scolded "shame on you. With your attitude, you did not defend your guru, but brought shame to him. You should learn to be calm and ignore such insults. THAT will place your guru in a good stead and not your aggression". When another sishya who needed to mend his soft demeanor ignored insults of Ramakrishna by some people and came away silently, he scolded him "shame on you. Shastras say that you should kill one who insults your guru. How can you ignore such wrong behavior? You should give them a piece of your mind." Spiritual sadhana does not mean just chanting a mantra or repeating a procedure everyday for a certain period of time. Spiritual sadhana is a continuous process by which one transforms oneself from inside out and purifies oneself. That way, every action and every thought becomes a sadhana and offers an opportunity for introspection and transformation of internal attitude. Anyway, coming back to the point, Ramakrishna is not a normal sadhaka or a normal guru. He belonged to a very special class of sadhakas and he was an exceptional guru to an exceptional group of sishyas. Without his [indirect] blessings, I would be a nobody and would be lower than dirt. I would not be able to say anything intelligent or meaningful in spiritual matters. Those who are impressed/inspired by something I write should be thankful to my guru Dr Manish Pandit and to Sri Ramakrishna for showering their grace using me as an instrument and not to me. BTW, you are all free to forward my posts that you like to people who may be interested in spiritual discussions. I have no problem. As I said before, I am a servant distributing the wealth of a king (Mother) as asked by the minister (my guru). Best regards,NarasimhaDo a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaSpirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org - rajarshi nandy Sunday, September 28, 2008 2:44 PM Re: Re: Dharma Dear Narasimhaji Another wonderly inspired post by you!!!! I did not understand one line of your post. You said during the time of Mahabhrata there was tremendous weight on this planet. I could not completely understand what you ment by this. Is it a literal meaning of figuratative meaning? Also, could you tell me the name of reference of the book where Sri Ramakrishna says Yogananda was Arjuna. Thank you once again for your mails which are an inspiration to us all. -Regards Rajarshi "This above all: to thine own self be true!" - Hamlet--- On Sun, 28/9/08, Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote: Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> Re: Dharma Cc: sivacharya Date: Sunday, 28 September, 2008, 12:11 AM Namaste,As Vimalananda says, dharma is indeed personal. Krishna clearly says in Bhagavad Geeta "Follow your own dharma. It is dangerous to follow someone else's dharma".Following the path of dharma basically means engaging in the right action/duty. Right action varies from person to person, from time to time and from place to place. It is dependent on what nature expects from you, which in turn is based on who you have been in the past, what actions you did in the past while identifying with the action, who you affected in the past (and how) with the actions that you identified with, what debts you created in the process, and what mental tendencies you accumulated until now.If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to kill evil persons, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to spread the message of uniformity of all religions, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to spread the ritual of homam in the world, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to make a lot of money and construct a temple, that becomes one's dharma.* * *The dharma of a being may change from one life to another.At the time of Mahabharata war, it was Arjuna's dharma to kill his gurus, elders and relatives. The time then was such that there was too much weight on earth and nature wanted earth to be relieved of some weight. Tremendous destruction was to take place and civilization destroyed to a great extent, to welcome Kali yuga and set the tone for it. Arjuna being a great warrior, it was his dharma to facilitate that. Some people he deeply loved and respected were on the other side and it was his dharma to kill them.When the same Arjuna was born again in the 19th century as one of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa' s sishyas (Swami Yogananda had been Arjuna in a previous life, according to Ramakrishna) , his dharma was different in this new time and place. He was born to renounce material life despite his aristocratic upbringing and live the simple life of a monk and inspire generations to embrace a simple life of mental detachment and service to others. When he is born again (which he has to, as per what Ramakrishna said), his dharma based on the time and place may be something else.* * *The tricky question is: How does one decide what is one's dharma?Some people have interpreted Krishna's words saying "follow your own dharma and not someone else's dharma" in the light of castism. Though the concept of caste (varna) has been there in Hinduism for a long time, the concept of caste mobility was very much there. Valmiki was a shudra who lived by killing birds. He became a brahmana and a maharshi later. Vishwamitra was a kshatrita and a powerful king. He became a brahmana and and a maharshi later. Basically varna shows one's aptitude. One starts off with the varna of father, because that is what one is exposed to in childhood. As one develops in life, one gets one's own varna based on what one does.Thus, the misinterpretation of Krishna's words which tells you to know your dharma from your caste is wrong. Moreover, there are not just 4 dharmas in the world. Each person has individual dharma.Knowing what one's dharma is is very very very difficult. If one is pure enough, one will *know* one's dharma. In fact, all of us have a part of our mind that tells us what our dharma is, but it is surrounded by a lot of noise from other parts of our minds which tell other things. Thus, we get confused.We should make the best judgment combining discrimination and intuition and decide what is our dharma and follow it sincerely. We may be err, but doing the best we can is all that we can do!More than following dharma, what is of utmost importance is to engage in actions without identification. *That* alone ensures that we are not accumulating new karmas, i.e. not increasing the load. We should not build too much attachment to what we are doing. We should engage in the best possible actions (based on our best judgment on what our dharma in the given situation is), with as little attachment and self-identification with the action as possible. When the action is finished, we should leave the result to god. We should not think "I did it", "what will happen now", "will it work" etc. Such adherence of nishkama karma yoga (unfication through untached action) will simplify our ego and purify our consciousness slowly. As we become purer, our mind will work sharper and tell our dharma clearer. There is a positive feedback here. This will slowly enable us to see our dharma clearly and follow it without incurring new karmas. This is not easy, but not as difficult as people think.The bottomline is: Even if one is not following one's dharma, one's sense of "this is my dharma" gets refined with time if one engages in action with little attachment.* * *In deciding one's dharma, one's intellect and intuition are the inputs. Another external input is the words of scriptures and learned men. One can derive one's dharma from them. A special place is given to one's spiritual master. If one surrenders to a spiritual master, one can take the words of the master to determine one's dharma and follow it sincerely.When Arjuna was confused about what his dharma was and thought killing gurus and relatives was not dharma, he had a guru in Krishna who clarified his dharma. When Narendranath (Swami Vivekananda) was confused about his dharma and wanted to renounce the world and go to a secluded place to do sadhana, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa cried and prevailed upon him to stay in the material world and do the work of Mother for him.One who is not in tune with nature and does not know who one is, what one's debts are and what nature expects from one can err in the judgment of what one's dharma is. If one's guru is an elevated soul with a clear insight into one's inner core, such a guru can give perfect guidance.* * *Bottomline is that I (or anybody) cannot outline a set of principles and declare that as the dharma. No, dharma changes from person to person, from time to time and from place to place. Also, there are no thumbrules to find out what one's dharma is. But, one can refine one's understanding of one's dharma by increasing internal purity. By doing various kinds of spiritual sadhana (like homam, japam etc) and engaging in actions without much attachment, one can slowly purify oneself and refine one's understanding of one's individual dharma.Best regards,Narasimha------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ tarpanaSpirituality: http://groups. / group/vedic- wisdomFree Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro. home.comcast. netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAst rologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagan nath.org------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - - "dahiyajiten" <dahiyajiten@ .co. in><>Saturday, September 27, 2008 8:02 AM Dharma> Namaste to all>> i just finished my Aghora series> and in it in last part> Vimalanda says path of dharma is very personal.> Can somebody share views on that and how can we approach> towards it> Does it has to do something with vedas and upanishads>> regards> jitender Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Hare Rama Krishna Dear Narasimha, Yes, What you said is good. Especially people should take time and test and be tested before taking a guru. Im not sure but previously people took more interest and care into reading the shastras Vedas ,etc Most people had several gurus for their family. Mostly now a days it seems that many people choose a guru/priest/teacher that will tell them what they want(or accept ) to hear. For example -How many people who choose a guru who said you need to chant 5 hours a day? A person is fortunate to find a guru in a legitimate parampara. If someone can get a good, living ( or fairly current ) guru, then that guru can give a modern interpretation of shastras,etc. Much confusion arises trying to apply the literal words of ancient texts to modern life(kali yuga is actually backwards not "modern") A guru can help the disciple understand the application of shastra in current times. All the best Lakshmi "Narasimha P.V.R. Rao" <pvr wrote: Dear Lakshmi, This is Kali yuga. While a really spiritual person must continuously try to destroy ego, so many spiritual gurus are there around us with bloated egos which are easily offended at a hint of criticism or overly excited at sycophancy. Such gurus are not of much use. But how do separate the grains from the chaff? It is not easy, especially when there are just a few grains in the middle of a big pile of chaff. Astrology is useful but not that much. Astrologer's mind, which makes the final judgments, works based on his/her prejudices and secret beliefs. * * * In the past, many great souls used intellectual discrimination and intuition to judge one's guru for a long time before whole-heartedly embracing one's guru. In many traditions within Hinduism, this is encouraged. You do not accept a guru in an impulse. You "test" your guru and take your time to accept him. But, once you accept a person as your guru, you follow him faithfully. * * * If you take Narendra (Swami Vivekananda), the celebrated disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, he was a highly rational and skeptical young man. Though Ramakrishna had induced a samadhi in Narendra by mere touch in their second meeting itself, it was not enough to convince Narendra of Ramakrishna's ability and purity. He thought the whole experience could just have been a hallucination/hypnotism and did not jump to any conclusion. As he visited Ramakrishna continuously, received love and knowledge from him and saw that Ramakrishna indeed walked the walk (as opposed to just talking the talk), he was slowly convinced of the purity of Ramakrishna. He then became a tireless soldier who dedicated his life to carrying out the mission of his guru! During the early stages, he even told Ramakrishna bluntly about the latter's visions of Kali, Krishna, Rama etc, "Sir, they could all just be your imaginations or hallucinations". Narendra did not even believe in god with a form and believed only in the formless. Ramakrishna was never offended at these comments. Other sishyas like Joginder (Swami Yogananda) also approached Ramakrishna skeptically and tested him for a duration. These young men who surrounded Ramakrishna weren't blind men led by a blind man. They were all rishis or associates of rishis, who were reborn together for a purpose. They observed Ramakrishna for a while, confirmed that he practiced what he preached and realized that there was a valuable lesson in each action and word of his. They took a while to realize his purity and divinity, but once they realized they became faithful sishyas. He accepted them, loved them and taught them even before they realized his true nature and accepted him fully as their guru. He knew they were skeptical and testing him, but he was never offended (what good is a guru who cannot recognize a worthy student and what good is a guru whose ego is insulted at someone's skepticism). Once they accepted him and became faithful sishyas, each one of them was also transformed into a really pure person who takes the entire life as a sadhana and maintains purity in every thought and action. Each sishya of a Ramakrishna was a role model in spiritual purity. * * * One whose rinas draw one towards a fake guru gets such a guru because that is what his karmas entitle him to. The circumstances we have to face are based on the previous actions. But the current action (freewill) is in our hands. If one can truly believe from the deepest cores of heart that one's guru is pure and like Shiva himself, follows guru blindly and entertains no doubt whatsoever, that WILL pay off oneday. Nature WILL bring light into that person's spiritual life. It is just a matter of time. Thus, I will not be judgmental about other gurus and their sishyas. If a sishya believes in his/her guru fully, so be it. It is not our business. But, if one were to find a guru like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa or Ramana Maharshi or Sri Aurobindo or Srila Prabhupada, it is one's immense luck. However, the point I want to make is that having a great guru is not a guarantee of success and also having a fake guru is not a guarantee of failure! At the end of the day, the measure of success in any sadhana is the purity generated by that sadhana. The measure of the purity is the effacement of ego. If ego is reduced completely or eliminated, one is making progress. This can happen inspite of who is the guru, what one is doing etc. When the full grace of the Supreme Being falls on a person, any medium is sufficient to reflect that grace. Best regards,NarasimhaDo a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaSpirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org - Lakshmi Kary Monday, September 29, 2008 2:06 AM Re: Yogananda (Re: Dharma) Hare Rama Krishna Dear Narasimha. Sorry I got my people and lineages all confused! Was reading about too many people lately. Also last night I saw a documentary on religious leaders, cults etc. People want to see God so badly they are very eager to push anyone who is willing to claim to be special up on a pedestal.That happened with my ex , he got up there,felt it wasn't right and tried to climb down, but his"disciples" didn't want him to. They continued to perpetuate falsehoods about his purity, and all sorts of cover ups. God and Jesus are living in some many places. Sometimes there are several people simultaneously claiming to be Jesus in any psych unit across the world/ Its amazing where and to within whom people see "God". Isnt a spiritual master, guru, living like a mortal in all capacities while telling others how to find realization sort of hypocritical and bizarre? There is one fellow who used to be a heroin addict and now he says he is Jesus and has a huge following. they are willing to do whatever he says and they give him money and all sorts of things. Yesterday I went on the Internet, and looked at some many so called yogis, preachers etc IN the USA I cant begin to tell you the number of religious leaders that were revered as "God" or some other incarnation. India is no different, perhaps worse because people have a natural respect for sadhus , yogis etc and more yogis can get away with pretending to be a renunciate. I believe God appears in different forms in different places and times to attract people who are looking for him and to associate with his devotees.. Now that Documentary TV program and your posts got my mind swimming. What are principles of religion? What is dharma, What is the purpose? Now if there were no laws or rules, social or religious and everyone did what they felt like, we would be living in a hell. At least in Kali Yuga. What was the point of Jesus? Seems he got a lot of uncivilized people to work on basic codes of conduct... thou shalt not steal,lie, commit adultery etc. Whose to say one person is a saint?.. some people(his faithful followers) couldn't understand that Charles Manson was a mad man not a prophet. There are other "yogis" who came to USA, smoking pot, taking drugs, and other ones advised having sex to find self realization and acquiring tons of cars and helping many people trade STDs. Some people ADVOCate mandatory forced marriage of young girls AT puberty, usually to older men.. and its ok for their fathers to teach them a thing or two, before being handed off. One "saint" makes gold, but other people say he molested their young teenage sons.. In itself, being able to perform siddhis or mystic things doesn't make one elevated really. Maybe they have just accumulated the power to manipulate physical matter. Unless a person is pure- it is hard to see who else is pure. And even then, well intentioned people are deceived all the time. People have given up everything they owned and moved into under ground tunnels because their leader( an incarnation of this or that) said the world was ending. Or, time and time again, some swami turns out to molest kids, and or do all sorts of things when no one is looking.. "The Do as I say , don't do as I do"... "He is so pure he doesn't have to obey the rules like everyone else." Whose to say who is pure? I think someone who is 100% serving their GOD day and night, at all times and practicing what they preach has got to be pure.... Self realization after much thought and years meditating/chanting is simple i found... its the realization ,the complete understanding of our relationship to God and to everything and everyone else in our conscious and unconscious universe. But then by the time I die , I'm sure I'll have even more realizations. There was a big article in TIME magazine with some personal letter of Mother Theresa that she didnt want shown publically that showed her apparently having doubts(privately in her heart) I guess as a way to try and discredit her. Was she a saint, coming to India and pushing her views on the poor?People go in circles debating her worth . And I guess these are the things I'm here for in this life, which is different than other peoples path. I keep hoping astrology can "reveal" the real saint the real sadhus..etc Suffering helps one think about these things. Best wishes Lakshmi "Narasimha P.V.R. Rao" <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote: Dear Lakshmi, The Yogananda I mentioned is different. Swami Yogananda is one of the sixteen monastic disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, along with Swami Vivekananda. He was forced to marry, but never slept with his own wife. Swami Vivekananda once said "if any of us (disciples of Ramakrishna) conquered lust completely and in all respects, it is Joginder (Swami Yogananda)". There is no question of Swami Yogananda being accused of drinking and having women etc. Paramahamsa Yogananda is a sishya of Yukteshwar Maharaj and from the lineage of Mahavatar Babaji. They practice kriya yoga. I do not know much about him. * * * The link you gave is about neither Swami Yogananda nor Paramahamsa Yogananda, but some propaganda about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa himself, based on some bali he apparently gave. So I am unsure exactly who you wanted to talk about.. Best regards,NarasimhaDo a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaSpirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org - Lakshmi Kary Sunday, September 28, 2008 7:59 PM Re: Dharma Hare Rama Krishna Dear Narasimha, Ive read several apparently derogatory things about Paramahamsa Yogananda- that he ate meat, drank and had women at different times. Some accounts seem very authoratative so I am inclined to believe where there is smoke there is fire. How can we reconcil he is spiritually special when he was involved in some many other worldly things.? http://ramakrishnayb.blogspot.com/2008/02/95-where-is-safety-for-fish-and-goats.html Best wishes Lakshmi"Narasimha P.V.R. Rao" <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote:  Namaste, I meant it figuratively. For the reference on Yogananda, you can read the section on Swami Yogananda in "God Lived with Them: Life Stories of Sixteen Monastic Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna" by Swami Chetanananda. * * * There have been many great yogis, babas, saints and swamis in the last few thousand years of Kali yuga. But Ramakrishna Paramahamsa stands out in one way. He is one master who mastered every single path. He mastered bhakti yoga, jnaana yoga, karma yoga and even raaja yoga. He worshipped and experienced Rama, Krishna, Kaali and several forms. He even reached the state of nirvikalpa samadhi, where there is no "experience". He was in sahaja samadhi always. He was able induce tremendous experience in people by mere touch or mere look. Yet he was simple like a child and had zero ego (that is why he could do all that!!!). Many "gurus" force their dharma on their sishyas and have no ability to recognize the true nature and dharma of each sishya. They force sishyas to chant the mantra they chant, worship the form they worship and walk the path they walk. Ramakrishna had deep insight into the true nature of each sishya and gave specific instructions. He taught totally different mantras, totally different forms and totally different paths to different sishyas. He even taught contradictory things to different sishyas. When one sishya who needed to mend his aggressive attitude roughed up somebody for insulting his guru, he scolded "shame on you. With your attitude, you did not defend your guru, but brought shame to him. You should learn to be calm and ignore such insults. THAT will place your guru in a good stead and not your aggression". When another sishya who needed to mend his soft demeanor ignored insults of Ramakrishna by some people and came away silently, he scolded him "shame on you. Shastras say that you should kill one who insults your guru. How can you ignore such wrong behavior? You should give them a piece of your mind." Spiritual sadhana does not mean just chanting a mantra or repeating a procedure everyday for a certain period of time. Spiritual sadhana is a continuous process by which one transforms oneself from inside out and purifies oneself. That way, every action and every thought becomes a sadhana and offers an opportunity for introspection and transformation of internal attitude. Anyway, coming back to the point, Ramakrishna is not a normal sadhaka or a normal guru. He belonged to a very special class of sadhakas and he was an exceptional guru to an exceptional group of sishyas. Without his [indirect] blessings, I would be a nobody and would be lower than dirt. I would not be able to say anything intelligent or meaningful in spiritual matters. Those who are impressed/inspired by something I write should be thankful to my guru Dr Manish Pandit and to Sri Ramakrishna for showering their grace using me as an instrument and not to me. BTW, you are all free to forward my posts that you like to people who may be interested in spiritual discussions. I have no problem. As I said before, I am a servant distributing the wealth of a king (Mother) as asked by the minister (my guru). Best regards,NarasimhaDo a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpanaSpirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org - rajarshi nandy Sunday, September 28, 2008 2:44 PM Re: Re: Dharma Dear Narasimhaji Another wonderly inspired post by you!!!! I did not understand one line of your post. You said during the time of Mahabhrata there was tremendous weight on this planet. I could not completely understand what you ment by this. Is it a literal meaning of figuratative meaning? Also, could you tell me the name of reference of the book where Sri Ramakrishna says Yogananda was Arjuna. Thank you once again for your mails which are an inspiration to us all. -Regards Rajarshi "This above all: to thine own self be true!" - Hamlet--- On Sun, 28/9/08, Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote: Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> Re: Dharma Cc: sivacharya Date: Sunday, 28 September, 2008, 12:11 AM Namaste,As Vimalananda says, dharma is indeed personal. Krishna clearly says in Bhagavad Geeta "Follow your own dharma. It is dangerous to follow someone else's dharma".Following the path of dharma basically means engaging in the right action/duty. Right action varies from person to person, from time to time and from place to place. It is dependent on what nature expects from you, which in turn is based on who you have been in the past, what actions you did in the past while identifying with the action, who you affected in the past (and how) with the actions that you identified with, what debts you created in the process, and what mental tendencies you accumulated until now.If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to kill evil persons, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to spread the message of uniformity of all religions, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to spread the ritual of homam in the world, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to make a lot of money and construct a temple, that becomes one's dharma.* * *The dharma of a being may change from one life to another.At the time of Mahabharata war, it was Arjuna's dharma to kill his gurus, elders and relatives. The time then was such that there was too much weight on earth and nature wanted earth to be relieved of some weight. Tremendous destruction was to take place and civilization destroyed to a great extent, to welcome Kali yuga and set the tone for it. Arjuna being a great warrior, it was his dharma to facilitate that. Some people he deeply loved and respected were on the other side and it was his dharma to kill them.When the same Arjuna was born again in the 19th century as one of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa' s sishyas (Swami Yogananda had been Arjuna in a previous life, according to Ramakrishna) , his dharma was different in this new time and place. He was born to renounce material life despite his aristocratic upbringing and live the simple life of a monk and inspire generations to embrace a simple life of mental detachment and service to others. When he is born again (which he has to, as per what Ramakrishna said), his dharma based on the time and place may be something else.* * *The tricky question is: How does one decide what is one's dharma?Some people have interpreted Krishna's words saying "follow your own dharma and not someone else's dharma" in the light of castism. Though the concept of caste (varna) has been there in Hinduism for a long time, the concept of caste mobility was very much there. Valmiki was a shudra who lived by killing birds. He became a brahmana and a maharshi later. Vishwamitra was a kshatrita and a powerful king. He became a brahmana and and a maharshi later. Basically varna shows one's aptitude. One starts off with the varna of father, because that is what one is exposed to in childhood. As one develops in life, one gets one's own varna based on what one does.Thus, the misinterpretation of Krishna's words which tells you to know your dharma from your caste is wrong. Moreover, there are not just 4 dharmas in the world. Each person has individual dharma.Knowing what one's dharma is is very very very difficult. If one is pure enough, one will *know* one's dharma. In fact, all of us have a part of our mind that tells us what our dharma is, but it is surrounded by a lot of noise from other parts of our minds which tell other things. Thus, we get confused.We should make the best judgment combining discrimination and intuition and decide what is our dharma and follow it sincerely. We may be err, but doing the best we can is all that we can do!More than following dharma, what is of utmost importance is to engage in actions without identification. *That* alone ensures that we are not accumulating new karmas, i.e. not increasing the load. We should not build too much attachment to what we are doing. We should engage in the best possible actions (based on our best judgment on what our dharma in the given situation is), with as little attachment and self-identification with the action as possible. When the action is finished, we should leave the result to god. We should not think "I did it", "what will happen now", "will it work" etc. Such adherence of nishkama karma yoga (unfication through untached action) will simplify our ego and purify our consciousness slowly. As we become purer, our mind will work sharper and tell our dharma clearer. There is a positive feedback here. This will slowly enable us to see our dharma clearly and follow it without incurring new karmas. This is not easy, but not as difficult as people think.The bottomline is: Even if one is not following one's dharma, one's sense of "this is my dharma" gets refined with time if one engages in action with little attachment.* * *In deciding one's dharma, one's intellect and intuition are the inputs. Another external input is the words of scriptures and learned men. One can derive one's dharma from them. A special place is given to one's spiritual master. If one surrenders to a spiritual master, one can take the words of the master to determine one's dharma and follow it sincerely.When Arjuna was confused about what his dharma was and thought killing gurus and relatives was not dharma, he had a guru in Krishna who clarified his dharma. When Narendranath (Swami Vivekananda) was confused about his dharma and wanted to renounce the world and go to a secluded place to do sadhana, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa cried and prevailed upon him to stay in the material world and do the work of Mother for him.One who is not in tune with nature and does not know who one is, what one's debts are and what nature expects from one can err in the judgment of what one's dharma is. If one's guru is an elevated soul with a clear insight into one's inner core, such a guru can give perfect guidance.* * *Bottomline is that I (or anybody) cannot outline a set of principles and declare that as the dharma. No, dharma changes from person to person, from time to time and from place to place. Also, there are no thumbrules to find out what one's dharma is. But, one can refine one's understanding of one's dharma by increasing internal purity. By doing various kinds of spiritual sadhana (like homam, japam etc) and engaging in actions without much attachment, one can slowly purify oneself and refine one's understanding of one's individual dharma.Best regards,Narasimha------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ tarpanaSpirituality: http://groups. / group/vedic- wisdomFree Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro. home.comcast. netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAst rologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagan nath.org------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - - "dahiyajiten" <dahiyajiten@ .co. in><>Saturday, September 27, 2008 8:02 AM Dharma> Namaste to all>> i just finished my Aghora series> and in it in last part> Vimalanda says path of dharma is very personal.> Can somebody share views on that and how can we approach> towards it> Does it has to do something with vedas and upanishads>> regards> jitender Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Dear Narasimhaji Another wonderful mail. Everyday when I open my mailbox in the morning, I keep searching for your mails. Each one is an inspiration. One more point I would like to add, I had read some books on Thakur in Bengali and in one there was the description of an indicident. Once Swamiji wanted to test Thakur. Since Thakur used to say that he could not handle money (as it represented something grossly material), Swamji deliberately put a note under Thakur's pillow when Thakur was not in the room. Later when Thakur come to sleep in teh bed, he instantly got up as if in pain and said something is very wrong in here, Hriday, who was used to be there, searched the bed and found that money under his pillow. But Thakur never got offended with these things. Infact in one instance, when one of his disciples had come to him for the first time, Thakur asked him to stay over at Dakshineshwar. At night the disciple woke up and saw that Thakur was leaving the room. A doubt entered the disciples mind, he thought maybe Thakur is goinfg towards the Nahabat house where Sri Sarada Ma used to stay. So he quitely decided to follow Thakur and see where he is going, after all it maybe that Thakur used to visit the Nahabat secretly etc etc.. he was genuinely suspicious. Then as he left the room following Thakur at a distance, he saw Thakur going to the Panchvati and sitting down for meditation and there he sat for two hours.Later when Thakur came back, he told that person, who later became his disciple, that he had done very good to test Thakur. Further Thakur said, no one should accept a Guru without testing. And to see and judge a person's sprittuality he has to be observed when he is public and when he is alone. There should be no diference in his words and actions. Etc etc. Every incident in Thakur's life is like an illustration of a deeper point for ordianry people like us. -Regards Rajarshi "This above all: to thine own self be true!" - Hamlet--- On Tue, 30/9/08, Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr wrote: Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr Re: Yogananda (Re: Dharma) Cc: sivacharya Date: Tuesday, 30 September, 2008, 10:18 AM Dear Lakshmi, This is Kali yuga. While a really spiritual person must continuously try to destroy ego, so many spiritual gurus are there around us with bloated egos which are easily offended at a hint of criticism or overly excited at sycophancy. Such gurus are not of much use. But how do separate the grains from the chaff? It is not easy, especially when there are just a few grains in the middle of a big pile of chaff. Astrology is useful but not that much. Astrologer's mind, which makes the final judgments, works based on his/her prejudices and secret beliefs. * * * In the past, many great souls used intellectual discrimination and intuition to judge one's guru for a long time before whole-heartedly embracing one's guru. In many traditions within Hinduism, this is encouraged. You do not accept a guru in an impulse. You "test" your guru and take your time to accept him. But, once you accept a person as your guru, you follow him faithfully. * * * If you take Narendra (Swami Vivekananda) , the celebrated disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, he was a highly rational and skeptical young man. Though Ramakrishna had induced a samadhi in Narendra by mere touch in their second meeting itself, it was not enough to convince Narendra of Ramakrishna' s ability and purity. He thought the whole experience could just have been a hallucination/ hypnotism and did not jump to any conclusion. As he visited Ramakrishna continuously, received love and knowledge from him and saw that Ramakrishna indeed walked the walk (as opposed to just talking the talk), he was slowly convinced of the purity of Ramakrishna. He then became a tireless soldier who dedicated his life to carrying out the mission of his guru! During the early stages, he even told Ramakrishna bluntly about the latter's visions of Kali, Krishna, Rama etc, "Sir, they could all just be your imaginations or hallucinations" . Narendra did not even believe in god with a form and believed only in the formless. Ramakrishna was never offended at these comments. Other sishyas like Joginder (Swami Yogananda) also approached Ramakrishna skeptically and tested him for a duration. These young men who surrounded Ramakrishna weren't blind men led by a blind man. They were all rishis or associates of rishis, who were reborn together for a purpose. They observed Ramakrishna for a while, confirmed that he practiced what he preached and realized that there was a valuable lesson in each action and word of his. They took a while to realize his purity and divinity, but once they realized they became faithful sishyas. He accepted them, loved them and taught them even before they realized his true nature and accepted him fully as their guru. He knew they were skeptical and testing him, but he was never offended (what good is a guru who cannot recognize a worthy student and what good is a guru whose ego is insulted at someone's skepticism). Once they accepted him and became faithful sishyas, each one of them was also transformed into a really pure person who takes the entire life as a sadhana and maintains purity in every thought and action. Each sishya of a Ramakrishna was a role model in spiritual purity. * * * One whose rinas draw one towards a fake guru gets such a guru because that is what his karmas entitle him to. The circumstances we have to face are based on the previous actions. But the current action (freewill) is in our hands. If one can truly believe from the deepest cores of heart that one's guru is pure and like Shiva himself, follows guru blindly and entertains no doubt whatsoever, that WILL pay off oneday. Nature WILL bring light into that person's spiritual life. It is just a matter of time. Thus, I will not be judgmental about other gurus and their sishyas. If a sishya believes in his/her guru fully, so be it. It is not our business. But, if one were to find a guru like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa or Ramana Maharshi or Sri Aurobindo or Srila Prabhupada, it is one's immense luck. However, the point I want to make is that having a great guru is not a guarantee of success and also having a fake guru is not a guarantee of failure! At the end of the day, the measure of success in any sadhana is the purity generated by that sadhana. The measure of the purity is the effacement of ego. If ego is reduced completely or eliminated, one is making progress. This can happen inspite of who is the guru, what one is doing etc. When the full grace of the Supreme Being falls on a person, any medium is sufficient to reflect that grace. Best regards,Narasimha------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ tarpanaSpirituality: http://groups. / group/vedic- wisdomFree Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro. home.comcast. netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAst rologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagan nath.org------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - Lakshmi Kary Monday, September 29, 2008 2:06 AM Re: Yogananda (Re: Dharma) Hare Rama Krishna Dear Narasimha. Sorry I got my people and lineages all confused! Was reading about too many people lately. Also last night I saw a documentary on religious leaders, cults etc. People want to see God so badly they are very eager to push anyone who is willing to claim to be special up on a pedestal.That happened with my ex , he got up there,felt it wasn't right and tried to climb down, but his"disciples" didn't want him to. They continued to perpetuate falsehoods about his purity, and all sorts of cover ups. God and Jesus are living in some many places. Sometimes there are several people simultaneously claiming to be Jesus in any psych unit across the world/ Its amazing where and to within whom people see "God". Isnt a spiritual master, guru, living like a mortal in all capacities while telling others how to find realization sort of hypocritical and bizarre? There is one fellow who used to be a heroin addict and now he says he is Jesus and has a huge following. they are willing to do whatever he says and they give him money and all sorts of things. Yesterday I went on the Internet, and looked at some many so called yogis, preachers etc IN the USA I cant begin to tell you the number of religious leaders that were revered as "God" or some other incarnation. India is no different, perhaps worse because people have a natural respect for sadhus , yogis etc and more yogis can get away with pretending to be a renunciate. I believe God appears in different forms in different places and times to attract people who are looking for him and to associate with his devotees.. Now that Documentary TV program and your posts got my mind swimming. What are principles of religion? What is dharma, What is the purpose? Now if there were no laws or rules, social or religious and everyone did what they felt like, we would be living in a hell. At least in Kali Yuga. What was the point of Jesus? Seems he got a lot of uncivilized people to work on basic codes of conduct... thou shalt not steal,lie, commit adultery etc. Whose to say one person is a saint?.. some people(his faithful followers) couldn't understand that Charles Manson was a mad man not a prophet. There are other "yogis" who came to USA, smoking pot, taking drugs, and other ones advised having sex to find self realization and acquiring tons of cars and helping many people trade STDs. Some people ADVOCate mandatory forced marriage of young girls AT puberty, usually to older men.. and its ok for their fathers to teach them a thing or two, before being handed off. One "saint" makes gold, but other people say he molested their young teenage sons.. In itself, being able to perform siddhis or mystic things doesn't make one elevated really. Maybe they have just accumulated the power to manipulate physical matter. Unless a person is pure- it is hard to see who else is pure. And even then, well intentioned people are deceived all the time. People have given up everything they owned and moved into under ground tunnels because their leader( an incarnation of this or that) said the world was ending. Or, time and time again, some swami turns out to molest kids, and or do all sorts of things when no one is looking.. "The Do as I say , don't do as I do"... "He is so pure he doesn't have to obey the rules like everyone else." Whose to say who is pure? I think someone who is 100% serving their GOD day and night, at all times and practicing what they preach has got to be pure.... Self realization after much thought and years meditating/chanting is simple i found... its the realization ,the complete understanding of our relationship to God and to everything and everyone else in our conscious and unconscious universe. But then by the time I die , I'm sure I'll have even more realizations. There was a big article in TIME magazine with some personal letter of Mother Theresa that she didnt want shown publically that showed her apparently having doubts(privately in her heart) I guess as a way to try and discredit her. Was she a saint, coming to India and pushing her views on the poor?People go in circles debating her worth . And I guess these are the things I'm here for in this life, which is different than other peoples path. I keep hoping astrology can "reveal" the real saint the real sadhus..etc Suffering helps one think about these things. Best wishes Lakshmi "Narasimha P.V.R. Rao" <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote: Dear Lakshmi, The Yogananda I mentioned is different. Swami Yogananda is one of the sixteen monastic disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, along with Swami Vivekananda. He was forced to marry, but never slept with his own wife. Swami Vivekananda once said "if any of us (disciples of Ramakrishna) conquered lust completely and in all respects, it is Joginder (Swami Yogananda)". There is no question of Swami Yogananda being accused of drinking and having women etc. Paramahamsa Yogananda is a sishya of Yukteshwar Maharaj and from the lineage of Mahavatar Babaji. They practice kriya yoga. I do not know much about him. * * * The link you gave is about neither Swami Yogananda nor Paramahamsa Yogananda, but some propaganda about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa himself, based on some bali he apparently gave. So I am unsure exactly who you wanted to talk about.. Best regards,Narasimha------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ tarpanaSpirituality: http://groups. / group/vedic- wisdomFree Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro. home.comcast. netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAst rologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagan nath.org------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - Lakshmi Kary Sunday, September 28, 2008 7:59 PM Re: Dharma Hare Rama Krishna Dear Narasimha, Ive read several apparently derogatory things about Paramahamsa Yogananda- that he ate meat, drank and had women at different times. Some accounts seem very authoratative so I am inclined to believe where there is smoke there is fire. How can we reconcil he is spiritually special when he was involved in some many other worldly things.? http://ramakrishnay b.blogspot. com/2008/ 02/95-where- is-safety- for-fish- and-goats. html Best wishes Lakshmi"Narasimha P.V.R. Rao" <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote:  Namaste, I meant it figuratively. For the reference on Yogananda, you can read the section on Swami Yogananda in "God Lived with Them: Life Stories of Sixteen Monastic Disciples of Sri Ramakrishna" by Swami Chetanananda. * * * There have been many great yogis, babas, saints and swamis in the last few thousand years of Kali yuga. But Ramakrishna Paramahamsa stands out in one way. He is one master who mastered every single path. He mastered bhakti yoga, jnaana yoga, karma yoga and even raaja yoga. He worshipped and experienced Rama, Krishna, Kaali and several forms. He even reached the state of nirvikalpa samadhi, where there is no "experience" . He was in sahaja samadhi always. He was able induce tremendous experience in people by mere touch or mere look. Yet he was simple like a child and had zero ego (that is why he could do all that!!!). Many "gurus" force their dharma on their sishyas and have no ability to recognize the true nature and dharma of each sishya. They force sishyas to chant the mantra they chant, worship the form they worship and walk the path they walk. Ramakrishna had deep insight into the true nature of each sishya and gave specific instructions. He taught totally different mantras, totally different forms and totally different paths to different sishyas. He even taught contradictory things to different sishyas. When one sishya who needed to mend his aggressive attitude roughed up somebody for insulting his guru, he scolded "shame on you. With your attitude, you did not defend your guru, but brought shame to him. You should learn to be calm and ignore such insults. THAT will place your guru in a good stead and not your aggression". When another sishya who needed to mend his soft demeanor ignored insults of Ramakrishna by some people and came away silently, he scolded him "shame on you. Shastras say that you should kill one who insults your guru. How can you ignore such wrong behavior? You should give them a piece of your mind." Spiritual sadhana does not mean just chanting a mantra or repeating a procedure everyday for a certain period of time. Spiritual sadhana is a continuous process by which one transforms oneself from inside out and purifies oneself. That way, every action and every thought becomes a sadhana and offers an opportunity for introspection and transformation of internal attitude. Anyway, coming back to the point, Ramakrishna is not a normal sadhaka or a normal guru. He belonged to a very special class of sadhakas and he was an exceptional guru to an exceptional group of sishyas. Without his [indirect] blessings, I would be a nobody and would be lower than dirt. I would not be able to say anything intelligent or meaningful in spiritual matters. Those who are impressed/inspired by something I write should be thankful to my guru Dr Manish Pandit and to Sri Ramakrishna for showering their grace using me as an instrument and not to me. BTW, you are all free to forward my posts that you like to people who may be interested in spiritual discussions. I have no problem. As I said before, I am a servant distributing the wealth of a king (Mother) as asked by the minister (my guru). Best regards,Narasimha------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ tarpanaSpirituality: http://groups. / group/vedic- wisdomFree Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro. home.comcast. netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAst rologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagan nath.org------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - rajarshi nandy Sunday, September 28, 2008 2:44 PM Re: Re: Dharma Dear Narasimhaji Another wonderly inspired post by you!!!! I did not understand one line of your post. You said during the time of Mahabhrata there was tremendous weight on this planet. I could not completely understand what you ment by this. Is it a literal meaning of figuratative meaning? Also, could you tell me the name of reference of the book where Sri Ramakrishna says Yogananda was Arjuna. Thank you once again for your mails which are an inspiration to us all. -Regards Rajarshi "This above all: to thine own self be true!" - Hamlet--- On Sun, 28/9/08, Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> wrote: Narasimha P.V.R. Rao <pvr (AT) charter (DOT) net> Re: DharmaCc: sivacharya@gro ups.comSunday, 28 September, 2008, 12:11 AM Namaste,As Vimalananda says, dharma is indeed personal. Krishna clearly says in Bhagavad Geeta "Follow your own dharma. It is dangerous to follow someone else's dharma".Following the path of dharma basically means engaging in the right action/duty. Right action varies from person to person, from time to time and from place to place. It is dependent on what nature expects from you, which in turn is based on who you have been in the past, what actions you did in the past while identifying with the action, who you affected in the past (and how) with the actions that you identified with, what debts you created in the process, and what mental tendencies you accumulated until now.If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to kill evil persons, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to spread the message of uniformity of all religions, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to spread the ritual of homam in the world, that becomes one's dharma. If, based on one's mental tendencies and karmic debts, nature wants a person to make a lot of money and construct a temple, that becomes one's dharma.* * *The dharma of a being may change from one life to another.At the time of Mahabharata war, it was Arjuna's dharma to kill his gurus, elders and relatives. The time then was such that there was too much weight on earth and nature wanted earth to be relieved of some weight. Tremendous destruction was to take place and civilization destroyed to a great extent, to welcome Kali yuga and set the tone for it. Arjuna being a great warrior, it was his dharma to facilitate that. Some people he deeply loved and respected were on the other side and it was his dharma to kill them.When the same Arjuna was born again in the 19th century as one of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa' s sishyas (Swami Yogananda had been Arjuna in a previous life, according to Ramakrishna) , his dharma was different in this new time and place. He was born to renounce material life despite his aristocratic upbringing and live the simple life of a monk and inspire generations to embrace a simple life of mental detachment and service to others. When he is born again (which he has to, as per what Ramakrishna said), his dharma based on the time and place may be something else.* * *The tricky question is: How does one decide what is one's dharma?Some people have interpreted Krishna's words saying "follow your own dharma and not someone else's dharma" in the light of castism. Though the concept of caste (varna) has been there in Hinduism for a long time, the concept of caste mobility was very much there. Valmiki was a shudra who lived by killing birds. He became a brahmana and a maharshi later. Vishwamitra was a kshatrita and a powerful king. He became a brahmana and and a maharshi later. Basically varna shows one's aptitude. One starts off with the varna of father, because that is what one is exposed to in childhood. As one develops in life, one gets one's own varna based on what one does.Thus, the misinterpretation of Krishna's words which tells you to know your dharma from your caste is wrong. Moreover, there are not just 4 dharmas in the world. Each person has individual dharma.Knowing what one's dharma is is very very very difficult. If one is pure enough, one will *know* one's dharma. In fact, all of us have a part of our mind that tells us what our dharma is, but it is surrounded by a lot of noise from other parts of our minds which tell other things. Thus, we get confused.We should make the best judgment combining discrimination and intuition and decide what is our dharma and follow it sincerely. We may be err, but doing the best we can is all that we can do!More than following dharma, what is of utmost importance is to engage in actions without identification. *That* alone ensures that we are not accumulating new karmas, i.e. not increasing the load. We should not build too much attachment to what we are doing. We should engage in the best possible actions (based on our best judgment on what our dharma in the given situation is), with as little attachment and self-identification with the action as possible. When the action is finished, we should leave the result to god. We should not think "I did it", "what will happen now", "will it work" etc. Such adherence of nishkama karma yoga (unfication through untached action) will simplify our ego and purify our consciousness slowly. As we become purer, our mind will work sharper and tell our dharma clearer. There is a positive feedback here. This will slowly enable us to see our dharma clearly and follow it without incurring new karmas. This is not easy, but not as difficult as people think.The bottomline is: Even if one is not following one's dharma, one's sense of "this is my dharma" gets refined with time if one engages in action with little attachment.* * *In deciding one's dharma, one's intellect and intuition are the inputs. Another external input is the words of scriptures and learned men. One can derive one's dharma from them. A special place is given to one's spiritual master. If one surrenders to a spiritual master, one can take the words of the master to determine one's dharma and follow it sincerely.When Arjuna was confused about what his dharma was and thought killing gurus and relatives was not dharma, he had a guru in Krishna who clarified his dharma. When Narendranath (Swami Vivekananda) was confused about his dharma and wanted to renounce the world and go to a secluded place to do sadhana, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa cried and prevailed upon him to stay in the material world and do the work of Mother for him.One who is not in tune with nature and does not know who one is, what one's debts are and what nature expects from one can err in the judgment of what one's dharma is. If one's guru is an elevated soul with a clear insight into one's inner core, such a guru can give perfect guidance.* * *Bottomline is that I (or anybody) cannot outline a set of principles and declare that as the dharma. No, dharma changes from person to person, from time to time and from place to place. Also, there are no thumbrules to find out what one's dharma is. But, one can refine one's understanding of one's dharma by increasing internal purity. By doing various kinds of spiritual sadhana (like homam, japam etc) and engaging in actions without much attachment, one can slowly purify oneself and refine one's understanding of one's individual dharma.Best regards,Narasimha------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ homamDo Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAst rologer.org/ tarpanaSpirituality: http://groups. / group/vedic- wisdomFree Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro. home.comcast. netFree Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAst rologer.orgSri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagan nath.org------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- - - "dahiyajiten" <dahiyajiten@ .co. in><>Saturday, September 27, 2008 8:02 AM Dharma> Namaste to all>> i just finished my Aghora series> and in it in last part> Vimalanda says path of dharma is very personal.> Can somebody share views on that and how can we approach> towards it> Does it has to do something with vedas and upanishads>> regards> jitender Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Namaste, > Makes you wonder about the Divine connection between all these > supremely elevated souls! Earlier, I was exerting discretion in sharing personal accounts, but She has been making me drop guard of late, for whatever reason. I will continue in the same vein for a little more time. I had a dream a couple of years ago early in the morning. In the dream, there was a big ritual fire. My guru Manish Pandit and I were sitting in front of the fire. He was teaching me some pranayama techniques in the dream. Suddenly, he changed into somebody else that I could not recognize. It was not anybody I had seen before. I mentioned this dream to my guru after a couple of weeks. First he said he did not know who the other person was and said he would've probably known if I had mentioned the dream soon after it had happened. I left it there. However, when we talked in the next weekend, he referred to my dream and said he had an idea who it was. He gave me a name and asked me to search on the internet for his photo and see if he was the person I saw in my dream. It was a guru from the lineage of Paramahamsa Yogananda (before him). Though he is apparently well-known, I was not knowledegable about this lineage and did not see his picture before. I searched on the internet and found a photo. Interestingly, the photo was very close to the person I saw in my dream. The person that Manish transformed into in my dream looked like a slightly younger version of that photo. When I confirmed this to Manish, he only smiled and said, " Narasimha, there are so many links between various lineages. Leave it for now. " Of course, I do not know much about kriya yoga or about the lineage of Paramahamsa Yogananda. Our lineage of this life starts from Dattatreya. We have a special attachment to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and his lineage and got a lot of our knowledge, inspiration and perhaps experience from them. We do not have any direct link to the lineage of Paramahamsa Yogananda. But, Manish thought there were some other indirect links. Moreover, he guessed who I saw, even though I myself had no idea who I saw, and he guessed correctly. That should count for something! I will not be surprised if there are indeed subtle connections between several lineages that seem disjoint today. By the way, Swami Vivekananda also appeared in the prison cell of Sri Aurobindo (who wrote brilliant commentaries on Veda and Upanishad) and imparted him some Adwaita knowledge to Sri Aurobindo. * * * An interesting coincidence is that a swamiji from Puri contacted me within a few days after I saw that photo. His guru and Paramahamsa Yogananda were co-disciples of the same guru (Yukteshwar Maharaj). He is the keeper of some astrological knowledge that his guru received from Yukteshwar Maharaj. He visited me after a month, discussed that knowledge and spent a day at my house. Thus, some small connection was made with a representative of that lineage soon after the dream. After all, some karmik debts may have been there... * * * I want to make one thing clear. Some things I mention like this may give the impression that my guru has some psychic abilities or siddhis. That may indeed be true. But he always downplays those things and attaches no importance whatsoever. He says, " Narasimha, I am a useless person and lower than dirt and capable of nothing. It is all Her power. She is the connection between every entity in this universe. She may choose an idiot like me as an instrument sometimes and do something using me. I have no special abilities of any kind. Any coincidences you find are just Her grace and not due to me. " I realized in time that this simplicity, humility and lack of ego is not fake. I also realized that this lack of ego is what enabled him to do things that sound impossible or difficult. In fact, I realized that many great saints in the past were like this. Several magical things happened through them, but they did not find any pride in them and retained their humility and sense of surrender to their chosen form of god and believed that god was the doer of all things and they were mere instruments. The day you also start believing that, not for the sake of lecturing or posturing, but from the deep cores of your heart, your sadhana will bear fruit. Best regards, Narasimha Do a Short Homam Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/homam Do Pitri Tarpanas Yourself: http://www.VedicAstrologer.org/tarpana Spirituality: Free Jyotish lessons (MP3): http://vedicastro.home.comcast.net Free Jyotish software (Windows): http://www.VedicAstrologer.org Sri Jagannath Centre (SJC) website: http://www.SriJagannath.org - " Dinesh Nambisan " <dinesh Monday, September 29, 2008 5:54 PM Yogananda (Re: Dharma) , " Narasimha P.V.R. Rao " <pvr wrote: > > Dear Lakshmi, > > The Yogananda I mentioned is different. Swami Yogananda is one of the sixteen monastic disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, along with Swami Vivekananda. He was forced to marry, but never slept with his own wife. Swami Vivekananda once said " if any of us (disciples of Ramakrishna) conquered lust completely and in all respects, it is Joginder (Swami Yogananda) " . There is no question of Swami Yogananda being accused of drinking and having women etc. > > Paramahamsa Yogananda is a sishya of Yukteshwar Maharaj and from the lineage of Mahavatar Babaji. They practice kriya yoga. I do not know much about him. For what it is worth, you can read more about Paramahamsa Yogananda in his free+online autobiography, here http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi There were interesting links between Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Paramahamsa Yogananda:- For example, one of the top disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was Mahendranath Gupta (not sure if he was one of the 16 monastic disciples that Narasimhaji refers to) aka Master Mahasaya, who wrote " The Gospel of Ramakrishna " (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahendranath_Gupta), and was the sanskrit tutor to Paramahamsa Yogananda as well; the latter devoted an entire chapter to him in his book : http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi/Chapter_9 Elsewhere in his autobiography Paramhamsa Yogananda also mentions an anecdote of a disciple to whom he gifted a silver cup, who as a young man was told by Swami Vivekandana that the Guru in his life would present him with a silver cup in the future. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Autobiography_of_a_Yogi/Chapter_47 Makes you wonder about the Divine connection between all these supremely elevated souls! Best. 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.