Fwd: Vrata: Sacred Vows

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Hare Krsna Vrata: Sacred VowsVrata, taking of sacred vows, is the eighth niyama and something everyHindu must do at one time or another during his lifetime. Thebrahmacharya vrata is the first, pledging to maintain virginity until marriage. Thevivaha vrata, marriage vows, would generally be the next. Taking a vowis a sacred trust between yourself, your outer self, your inner self, yourloved ones and closest friends. Even though they may not know of the vowyou may have taken, it would be difficult to look them straight in theeye if you yourself know you have let yourself down. A vow is a sacredtrust between you and your guardian devas, the devas that surround thetemple you most frequent and the Mahadevas, who live within the ThirdWorld--which you live in, too, in your deep, innermost mind, in theradiant, self-luminous body of your soul.Many people make little promises and break

them. This is not a vrata, asacred trust. A vrata is a sacred trust with God, Gods and guru made ata most auspicious time in one's life. Vrata is a binding force, bindingthe external mind to the soul and the soul to the Divine, though vratais sometimes defined generally as following religious virtues orobservances, following the principles of the Vedas, of the Hindu Dharma. There arevratas of many kinds, on many different levels, from the simple promisewe make to ourself and our religious community and guru to perform thebasic spiritual obligations, to the most specific religious vows.Vratas give the strength to withstand the temptations of the instinctiveforces that naturally come up as one goes on through life--not tosuppress them but to rechannel them into a lifestyle fully in accord with theyamas and niyamas. The yamas should be at least two-thirds perfectedand the niyamas two-thirds in effect before vratas are

taken.We must remember that the yamas are restraints, ten clues as to whatforces to restrain and how to restrain them. Some people are betterthan others at accomplishing this, depending on their prarabdha karmas,but the effort in trying is the important thing. The practices, niyamas,on the other hand, are progressive, according to the perfection of therestraints. Commitment to the first yama, noninjury, ahimsa, forexample, makes the first niyama, remorse, or hri, a possibility in one's life.And satya, truthfulness, brings santosha--contentment, joy and serenity inlife. The first five practices, niyamas, are tools to keep working withyourself, to keep trying within the five major areas they outline.If one wants to progress further, he does not have to take on a guru--tostudy scriptures or develop a spiritual will or intellect--that wouldcome naturally, nor to take simple vratas, to chant Aum as japa and

toperform certain sadhanas and penance. These are all available. But aguru naturally comes into one's life when the last five yamas--steadfastness,compassion, honesty, a moderate appetite, and purity-- give rise tothe last five niyamas--siddhanta shravana (choice of lineage), mati(cognition and developing a spiritual will with the guru's guidance),vrata (sacred vows before a guru), japa (recitation after initiationfrom guru) and tapas (austerities performed under the careful guidance of aguru). We can see that the last five practices are taken on two levels:guru involvement, and community and personal involvement.

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