The Devi insists that liberating knowledge can be attained here in this world

[Guest guest]

, " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org> wrote:

>

> " The third idea that I will present before you is that, unlike all

> other races of the world, we do not believe that this world was

> created only so many thousand years ago, and is going to be

> destroyed eternally on a certain day. Nor do we believe that the

> human soul has been created along with this universe just out of

> nothing. Here is another point I think we are all able to agree

> upon. We believe in nature being without beginning and without end;

> only at psychological periods this gross material of the outer

> universe goes back to its finer state, thus to remain for a certain

> period, again to be projected outside to manifest all this infinite

> panorama we call nature. This wavelike motion was going on even

> before time began, through eternity, and will remain for an

> infinite period of time. "

>

> Swami Vivekananda

>

 

Dear All,

 

Imagine an immortal eagle flying over the Himalayas only once every

1,000 years; it carries a feather in its beak and each time it

passes, it lightly brushes the tops of the gigantic mountain peaks.

The amount of time it would take the eagle to completely erode the

mighty Himalayas is said to be the age of the present manifestation

of the universe.

 

This article is based on a lecture delivered by Swami Vivekananda at

Jaffna in 1897. It is the second lecture in the series of lectures

he gave from Colombo to Almora. It is titled " Vedantism " . The full

lecture can be found in " Lectures from Colombo to Almora " or in

the " Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda " Volume III, pages 118-135.

 

i regard this lecture to be important in understanding liberation

and eternity. Unlike the end of the present manifestation of the

universe, eternity continues and so do liberated souls. It is only

on Earth it is possible to attain life eternal and our present great

fortunate as devotees of the Shakti confirms our relentless quest

for liberation that is on the verge of success.

 

The Devi Gita resolves the paradoxical tension -- between the ideal

of devotion, with its goal of loving service, and the ideal of

knowledge, with its goal of realizing absolute oneness -- by

insisting that knowledge of the Goddess is the final goal of

devotion, as well as dispassion. Devotion without knowledge will

lead to the heavenly paradise of the Goddess, the Jeweled Island,

but no further. Dwelling in the Jeweled Island, however, inevitably

leads to liberating knowledge of the pure consciousness that is the

Goddess. Dispassion without knowledge, incidentally leads to

virtuous birth. The Devi insists that liberating knowledge can be

attained here in this world, while still living. Seeking such

knowledge alone makes life worthwhile, and the attainment if

knowledge completely fulfils the ultimate purpose of existence.

 

For those who have begun to meditate on the Adi Shakti in the

Sahasrara Chakra within and begun understanding their own divine

nature through Her teachings on Earth, Swami Vivekananda makes so

much sense.

 

regards,

 

 

jagbir

 

 

-----------

 

 

Swami Vivekananda

This eternal Bliss is the goal

 

The word `Hindu' originally meant `those who lived on the other side

of the river Indus (in Sanskrit, Sindhu)'. Alternate names for the

people following the religion can be `Vaidikas', followers of the

Vedas, or `Vedantists', followers of the Vedanta. So, let us have a

brief overview of the Vedas. The Vedas is not the utterance of

persons.

 

The Vedas do not owe their authority to anybody, they are themselves

the authority, being eternal -- the knowledge of God. They were

never written, never created, they have existed throught time; just

as creation is infinite and eternal, without beginning and without

end, so is the knowledge of God without beginning and without end.

And this knowledge is what is meant by `the Vedas' (`Vid' -- to

know). The mass of knowledge called the Vedanta was discovered by

personages called Rishis. The Rishi is a seer of thought. He is the

discoverer of the eternal Vedas. The Rishis were spiritual

discoverers.

 

The Vedas are divided into two principal parts, the Karma Kaanda and

the Jnaana Kaanda -- the work portion and the knowledge portion, the

ceremonial and the spiritual. The Karma Kaanda consists of the

duties of man, duties as a student, duties as a householder, duties

as a recluse, and the various duties of the various stations of

life. The spiritual portion of the religion is the second part, the

Jnaana Kaanda. This is called `Vedanta' -- the end of the Vedas, the

gist, the goal of the Vedas. The essence of the knowledge of the

Vedas was called by the name of Vedanta, which comprises the

Upanisads. All sects of India which comes within the fold of

Hinduism must acknowledge the Upanisads of the Vedas. They can have

their own interpretations, but they must obey the authority. All the

various symbols used for worship come from the Vedanta. They are all

present in the Vedanta as ideas, which these symbols represent.

 

Next come the Smritis. These are books written by the sages. These

are subordinate to the Vedanta. The Smritis have varied from time to

time. As essential conditions changed, as various circumstances came

to have their influence on the race, manners and customs had to be

changed, and these Smritis, as mainly regulating the manners and

customs of the nation, had also to be changed from time to time. But

the basic principles in the Vedanta, like the dynamics of the soul,

which are eternal do not change.

 

Then there are the Puraanas. They deal with history, cosmology,

symbolic illustrations of philosophical principles, and so forth.

They were written to popularise the religion of the Vedas. They give

the lives of saints and kings and great men and historical events,

etc. The sages made use of these to illustrate the eternal

principles of religion.

 

There are still other books, the Tantras. These are very much like

the Puranas in some respects, and in some of them there is an

attempt to revive the old sacrificial ideas of the Karma Kaanda.

 

All these books constitute the scriptures of the Hindus. When there

is such a mass of sacred books in a nation and a race which has

devoted the greatest part of its energies to the thought of

philosophy and spirituality, it is quite natural that there should

be so many sects. These sects differ very much from each other in

certain points. But there are some essential principles which are

common to all sects and which constitute the core of Hinduism.

 

First is the question of creation. The idea of Hinduism is that this

nature, Prakriti or Maayaa is infinite, without beginning. The

creative energy is ever active. There never was a time when that

energy did not work. The Sanskrit word for creation, properly

translated, should be `projection'. There is the law of cycles. The

whole of this nature exists, it becomes finer, subsides; then the

whole thing is again projected forth, only again to become finer and

finer, until the whole thing subsides, and again comes out. Thus it

goes on backwards and forwards with a wave-like motion throughout

eternity. Time, space and causation are all within this nature. To

say, therefore, that it had a beginning is utter nonsense. No

question can occur as to its beginning or its end. Therefore,

wherever in the Hindu scriptures the words beginning and the end are

used, it means the beginning and the end of one particular cycle; no

more than that.

 

What makes this creation? Brahman. There is no suitable word in

English. He is eternal, eternally pure, eternally awake, the

Almighty, the All-knowing, the All-merciful, the omnipresent, the

formless, the partless. If this is so, then why is there partiality

in the world? Why is one person happy and another person unhappy?

Who makes it? Vedanta says: We ourselves. There is a cloud shedding

its rain on all fields alike. But it is the field that is well

cultivated is the one that takes the best advantage of it. The fault

is not on the cloud. The mercy of God is eternal and unchangeable.

It is we who make the difference. We reap what we have sown in

several previous births.

 

This leads to the next concept. Life is eternal. It is not that it

has sprung out of nothing. That cannot be. Each one of us is the

effect of the infinite past. Each one comes to work out his own past

deeds. This is the law of Karma. Each one of us is the maker of our

own fate. We, and none else are responsible for what we enjoy or

suffer. We are the effects, and we are the causes. We are free

therefore. If I an unhappy, it is of my own making, and that shows

that I can be happy if I will. The human will stands beyond all

circumstance. Before it -- the strong, gigantic, infinite will and

freedom in man -- all the powers, even of nature, must bow down,

succumb and become its servants. This is the result of the law of

Karma.

 

The next question is: What is the soul? There are differences of

opinion among the various sects, but there are certain points of

agreement. The souls are without beginning and without end, and are

immortal by their very nature. Also, all powers, blessing, purity,

omnipresence and omniscience are buried in each soul. In every man

and in every animal, however weak or wicked, great or small, resides

the same omnipresent, omniscient soul. The difference is not in the

soul, but in the manifestation. This is the greatest idea that India

has preached -- brotherhood of all creation. The Sanskrit word for

soul is Atman. The Atman is separate from the mind. This Atman goes

through birth and death, accompanied by the mind, the Sukshma

Sharira (the subtle body). And when the time comes that it has

attained to all knowledge and manifested itself to perfection, then

this going from birth to death ceases for it. Then it is at liberty

either to keep that mind, the Sukshma Sharira, or let it go for

ever, and remain independent and free throughout eternity. The goal

of the soul is freedom.

 

What is heaven? Hinduism also has the concept of heavens. But, these

are not infinite. They are just repetitions of this world, with a

little more happiness and a little more enjoyment. There are many of

these heavens. Persons who do good works here with the thought of

reward, when they die, are born again as gods in one of these

heavens, as Indra and others. These gods are the names of certain

states. They also had been men, and by good work they have become

gods; and those different names like Indra and so on are not the

names of the same person. It is a position, and remains in it only a

certain time. He then dies and is born again as man. But the human

body is the highest of all. It is this earth, which is the Karma

Bhumi (the place of work); it is this earth from which we attain to

liberation. Even the gods have to be born as men to become

liberated.

 

The goal is to become liberated. So long as time and space works on

you, you are slaves. The idea is to be free of external and internal

nature. Nature must fall at your feet, and you must be free. No more

is there life; therefore no more is there death. No more enjoyment;

therefore no more misery. It is bliss unspeakable, indestructible,

beyond everything. And this eternal Bliss is the goal.

 

How did the soul come to earth? What caused this bondage? The answer

to it in the scriptures is ignorance. Ignorance is the cause of all

this bondage. It is by ignorance that we have become bound;

knowledge will cure it by taking us to the other side. How will that

knowledge come? Through love, Bhakti; by the worship of God, by

loving all beings as the temples of God. He resides within them.

Thus, with that intense love will come knowledge, and ignorance will

disappear, the bonds will break, and the soul will be free.

 

Swami Vivekananda

This eternal Bliss is the goal

[Guest guest]

> >

> > " The third idea that I will present before you is that, unlike

> > all other races of the world, we do not believe that this world

> > was created only so many thousand years ago, and is going to be

> > destroyed eternally on a certain day. Nor do we believe that the

> > human soul has been created along with this universe just out of

> > nothing. Here is another point I think we are all able to agree

> > upon. We believe in nature being without beginning and without

> > end; only at psychological periods this gross material of the

> > outer universe goes back to its finer state, thus to remain for

> > a certain period, again to be projected outside to manifest all

> > this infinite panorama we call nature. This wavelike motion was

> > going on even before time began, through eternity, and will

> > remain for an infinite period of time. "

> >

> > Swami Vivekananda

> >

>

, " jagbir singh "

<adishakti_org> wrote:

>

> Dear All,

>

> Imagine an immortal eagle flying over the Himalayas only once

> every 1,000 years; it carries a feather in its beak and each time

> it passes, it lightly brushes the tops of the gigantic mountain

> peaks. The amount of time it would take the eagle to completely

> erode the mighty Himalayas is said to be the age of the present

> manifestation of the universe.

>

> This article is based on a lecture delivered by Swami Vivekananda

> at Jaffna in 1897. It is the second lecture in the series of

> lectures he gave from Colombo to Almora. It is titled " Vedantism " .

> The full lecture can be found in " Lectures from Colombo to Almora "

> or in the " Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda " Volume III, pages

> 118-135.

>

> i regard this lecture to be important in understanding liberation

> and eternity. Unlike the end of the present manifestation of the

> universe, eternity continues and so do liberated souls. It is only

> on Earth it is possible to attain life eternal and our present

> great fortunate as devotees of the Shakti confirms our relentless

> quest for liberation that is on the verge of success.

>

> The Devi Gita resolves the paradoxical tension -- between the

> ideal of devotion, with its goal of loving service, and the ideal

> of knowledge, with its goal of realizing absolute oneness -- by

> insisting that knowledge of the Goddess is the final goal of

> devotion, as well as dispassion. Devotion without knowledge will

> lead to the heavenly paradise of the Goddess, the Jeweled Island,

> but no further. Dwelling in the Jeweled Island, however,

> inevitably leads to liberating knowledge of the pure consciousness

> that is the > Goddess. Dispassion without knowledge, incidentally

> leads to virtuous birth. The Devi insists that liberating

> knowledge can be attained here in this world, while still living.

> Seeking such knowledge alone makes life worthwhile, and the

> attainment if knowledge completely fulfils the ultimate purpose of

> existence.

>

> For those who have begun to meditate on the Adi Shakti in the

> Sahasrara Chakra within and begun understanding their own divine

> nature through Her teachings on Earth, Swami Vivekananda makes so

> much sense.

>

> regards,

>

>

> jagbir

>

>

>

 

 

" Lalita: Yoga and Esoteric Meaning

 

As has been mentioned numerous times, Lalita's subtle form (her

mantra) is essential to this particular Hindu goddess. Because the

Srividya tradition places so much emphasis on the liturgical listing

of names, Lalita's 1,000 names and their symbolism give much insight

into the esotericism of this goddess. Here, we will only examine the

two names by which the goddess is most commonly known.

 

" Lalita " means, literally, one who plays. She is Mahasakti whose

body consists of pure sattva, and she is the most supreme example of

Parabrahman.

 

" Tripura " literally means " Three Cities. " Following this definition,

Lalita is often identidfied with the image of the Trimurti: Brahma,

Visnu, and Siva. While she is all of these gods in one (creator,

maintainer, destroyer), Lalita also transcends them as she is beyond

conceptualization. Here, we are witness to the three-fold nature of

the goddess, which can be found on both gross and subtle levels. On

a gross level, Lalita is everything that is three-fold in this

universe, including (to name a few) the three worlds, three

energies, and three sattvas. Thus, her presence pervades the entire

manifest world of names and forms.

 

On a more subtle level, Lalita is the nature of Siva, Sakti, and

atman. Since she is the nature of all three, there is no difference

amongst them. Thus, Siva is Sakti and Sakti is Siva; the two are one

and the same in a constant union: Pure Consciousness does not exist

without the Creative Energy. Furthermore, each individual atman is

no different than either Siva or Sakti. The atman is, itself, the

union of the two and is, itself, Absolute Divinity.

 

Relating the above to cognition, Lalita is, at once, the knower, the

process of knowing, and the object of knowledge. The Sri Vidya

tradition claims that these three categories do not differ from one

another but are all one and the same. Thus, once the " knower " begins

the " process of knowing, " that " knower " actually becomes the " object

of knowledge. " When one realizes the non-duality of this triad and

realizes that s/he IS the knowledge for which s/he is searching,

s/he gains a glimpse of the Absolute. In this realization, one

travels from the manifest world back into the Bindu Point and into

the Absolute Consciousness. By knowing (and becoming aware of) the

process by which the Absolute manifests itself out from the Bindu

Point, one is able to take that process and reverse it so that one

may travel back into the Supreme Drop of Consciousness.

 

If we translate this into " Lalita language, " once a believer gains

the knowledge of Lalita through worship and ritual, s/he actually

becomes the goddess herself. Since the mantra (Lalita's subtle form)

IS Lalita, the process of reciting the mantra is the actual

evocation of the goddess from the depths of one's own being. Thus,

by worshipping Lalita and reciting her mantra, one actually becomes

the goddess herself. One gains a glimpse (however large or small) of

oneself as the Absolute, as the Supreme Consciousness herself.

 

All of the above eludes to the goal of yoga; that is, the cessation

of the movement of the mind and concentration on a single point in

order to, eventually, reach the state of moksa (liberation). The

final goal is realizing the Absolute; knowing oneself to be God,

experiencing in full the presence of Lalita. This entails a journey

from the manifest world into the Bindu point. While the concepts

expounded upon above make sense intellectually (at least somewhat),

in order for their meaning to be complete, one must experience them.

This experience necessitates the discipline of Yoga to find the one-

pointedness of concentration which will open the door to the

realization of the Absolute. Just as one must look past Lalita's

physical form in order to gain access to her subtle, all-pervading

subtle form (her mantra), one must also peel away the gross,

material layers of reality in order to discover the subtle layers of

consciousness which pervade the universe. Yoga is the discipline

which allows its practicer such an opportunity. "

                                               

www.rochester.edu/