Yogananda (Dharma)

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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.

 

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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

 

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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.

 

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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

 

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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