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Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:06:35 +0000re-sent Nov 2009 Fwd: Dr Harish Chandra's article in Vedoday2050 Aug '08vedoday2050To: vedoday2050 (AT) googl (DOT) com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vedoday2050

 

Volume I, Number 10, August 2008

 

Among all living species, mother-child relationship bears some special features. This is true among us, too. The child feels totally secured with her mother. It's a two-way relationship void of selfishness. Vedic culture is strong on this front. This has led to strong bonding in our family relationships, too. Vedas encourage us to view our tiny soul's relationship with God in the images of the worldly relationships that we are familiar with, such as, our relationships with mother, father, teacher, friend, companion, etc. Let us discuss an important aspect of the mother-child relationship, namely, child's direct relationship with her mother. Every child has a direct link with her mother and nobody can ever become an intermediary between the child and her mother. No child will ever accept this. This is where a number of religions went wrong. They glorified one human being or another between our tiny spirit and the infinite spirit that God is. Christianity is based on accepting Christ as the saviour who was the only son of God. So is the story with Islam where instead of Christ, it is Mohammad and he claims to be 'the last prophet' of God after a whopping number of 100,000+ prophets before him. Can anyone believe that after sending these many prophets God suddenly decided to press the button for once and the final time? But, one billion+ population want to believe this. This is the kind of ignorance that prevails in the present age of science!

 

It has been almost 2000 and 1400 years that these two religions have been in existence, respectively and they have caused rivers of blood flowing with millions of human beings killed in the most barbaric manner. They know it well that such dogmatic ideas will never find universal acceptance among the entire humanity, and therefore, they will remain as a cause of strife, conflict and war in the years to come. But, they want to continue to exist and even attempt to bring more people under the shadow of their ignorance. India has been a civilization in its declining phase during the last 5000 years after its glorious past for several millions of years. The bottom trough came a few centuries ago when to outdo the above two religions the custodians of Hinduism floated the idea of incarnation of God. They declared that Rama and Krsna were God in human forms. Intellectual bankruptcy comes in many colors and shades that it can blind anybody! Let us accept this that the more you glorify one to a super-being, the more he/she will become mythological and the less historical. We have suffered a lot in the last 5000 years and so did the humanity. Nobody has gained except for a tiny minority of the custodians of these religions who have a selfish motive in maintaining the darkness of ignorance. The larger is the size of population in their fold, the more is their strength. The humanity as a whole must rise and throw away the yoke of these religions and bring a new dawn of dharma – a universal religion for the entire humanity. If we rationalize the religions and/or spiritualize the science then what we get is dharma and that's what Vedas talk about. It's high time that we heed the simple, natural and sensible message of the Vedas – that of Veda-Mata (the Mother Veda vide Atharvaveda 19.71.1) to Her children. The mother's words to her children are of pristine beauty and immense utility!

 

Being with the Cosmic Mother Apah

 

Indian tradition consists of Sandhya (also, called Sandhya-Vandanam or Sadhyo-Pasana) performed by every individual twice a day – before the sunrise and soon after the sunset. Sandhya means meditation properly performed – dhyana for meditation, the prefix sam for proper. One wants to be with the Cosmic Mother twice a day – once in the morning before the day begins and then as the day ends. We seek Her inspiration before we set out for the day and after the day gets over. No religion encourages its followers to sit alone in isolation and seek communion with God – to be like a child and enjoy being in the mother's lap. On the other hand, there are religions that do collective military style drill in the name of prayers! It is only the Vedic teachings that encourage us to sit alone and seek communion with God in real time conscious mode.

 

Sandhya begins with the following verse, Yajurveda (36.12):

 

Sanno devirabhistaya apo bhavantu pitaye. Samyor-abhisravantu nah.

 

We want to discuss the word apah here. It's a peculiar word in the Vedas that it appears always in plural and it's feminine in gender. Maharshi Yaska's etymology states its meaning in the Vedas as one who is omnipresent (sarvatra vyapti, i.e. apah), and therefore, it refers to God. In day to day usage, this word means water also. In the above verse, apah is a devi (note that this word is feminine) that quenches all types of our thirsts as water does to our bodily thirst. So, at the outset, the devotee reminds himself in the beginning of the Sandhya that now he wants to be with the Cosmic Mother who gives us everything that we seek, both material and non-material needs. Not only that apah is a multi-dimensional quenching agent, it has another property because of its being omnipresent. Let us consider an instance when we get thirsty Then we begin to search for water. Sometimes, there may be a significant duration that we require to get to a source of drinking water, and hence, we feel the pinch of thirst for quite some time. Imagine that we were under the shower of drinking water so that there could never be such painful moments - no sooner we felt the thirst, it was quenched because we had to go nowhere. That is the nature and character of apah – it quenches our thirst of any kind anywhere instantly.

 

The essence is that God has sent us into this world with wonderful assets of body and mind. The essential substances for our survival are present. What is more essential, is more easily available. For example, air is the most essential life support substance and air is available everywhere on the surface of the earth. We need to make no effort to get air. For water, we have to make some effort and still much more for food. As a child, I was born in my mother's lap who provided everything that I needed. As we grow, we begin to seek one pleasure after another. However, the feeling of genuine contentment gets farther and farther away as a mirage. The devotee has now gained some maturity and begins to understand that the ultimate absolute pleasure can be obtained from apah devi only, the Cosmic Mother, the omnipresent God.

 

The paradox of human life is that what we seek is closest to us but we wander here and there in search for it. We overlook what is next to us. In an earlier issue we had discussed the beautiful Vedic verse yo vah sivatamo rasa... (Rgveda 10.9.2, Yajurveda 11.51, 36.15, Atharvaveda 1.5.2) – the absolute bliss is as easily available to us as is mother's milk to a newly born child. We have drifted far away from the Cosmic Mother. We forget that we are Her child.

 

The Vedas Say:

Apam madhye tasthivamsam trsnavidajjaritaram.

Mrda suksatra mrdaya. Rgveda 7.89.4

 

Its meaning: I am in the midst of water and I have grown old while remaining thirsty. O God! You are the saviour. You are the infinite reservoir of happiness; make me happy.

 

Purport: The human life has a strange characteristic that it never stops from its wants. It wants to fulfil all sorts of pleasure. But, the paradox is that the absolute pleasure is in our closest reach but we do not care to obtain the same, and keep wandering after a mirage-like illusion that the worldly pleasure will quench our thirst, and in so doing, we get old.

 

Where Do We Go Wrong?: We seek pleasures in life. We are ever thirsty for pleasures. There is nothing that quenches our thirst in a permanent sense. The result is that we keep wandering from one source of pleasure to another, endlessly to the extent that we get old enough when our strength to enjoy sensual pleasures diminishes. The wealth that we had gathered laboriously stares at us and we are even unable to enjoy it for the fact that our body has lost its vigor and strength. It never occurs to us that there is something called absolute pleasure and that is with God and He is in our closest proximity. We have to merely seek Him with genuine love and then and there He is with us. The paradox is that we are almost like a fish in water that is thirsty, too. We have nobody to blame except our own ignorance. We must come out of it. The moral is that we must everyday seek out God within us and purify ourselves out of our deeds that our inner self is chaste pure and clean. So, we would be able to 'see' Him and quench our thirst for pleasure in a permanent sense. Once that tastiest sap has been tasted, we will never be thirsty again.

 

- Dr Harish Chandra

B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur)

Ph. D. (Princeton, USA)

 

Vedoday2050 News

 

Lecture Tour UK: Our spiritual director, Dr Harish Chandra is currently on a lecture tour to the UK. He will deliver talks and workshops as follows:

London:

Short Course on “Science of Yoga”

Saturdays, Nov 14, 21, 28 and Dec 5

3 to 5 pm

At Arya Samaj London, 69A Argyle Rd, London, W13 0LY, Tel: 020 8991 1732

 

Balaji Temple, Birmingham:

Lecture on "Essentials of Vedic Teachings and Their Relevance in Modern Times", Sunday, Nov 15, 11 am to 12 noon.

 

Smethwick, Birmingham:

1. SCOPE workshop – Stress Control for Personal Enhancement

Wednesday Nov 18

7 to 9 pm

2. Short Course on “Science of Yoga”

Wednesdays, Nov 25 and Dec 2, 9, 16

7 to 9 pm

At Muskaan Estates, 1 Norman Road, Smethwick, B67 5PP, Tel: 0121 429 9783

 

Liverpool:

1. Short Course on “Science of Yoga”

Thursdays, Dec 10, 17, 2009 and Jan 7, 14, 2010

6:00 to 7:45 pm

2. Short Course on “Vedic Philosophy: Practical and Pragmatic”

Saturdays, Dec 12, 19, and Jan 9, 16

3 to 5 pm

At Greenbank Sports Academy, Greenbank Lane, Liverpool L17 1AG, Tel: 0151 280 7757

 

Birmingham:

1. Sandhya, the Vedic Meditation

Mondays, Nov 9, 16, 23

6:30 to 7:15 pm

2. Short Course on “Vedic Philosophy: Practical and Pragmatic”

Mondays, Dec 7, 14, and Jan 11, 18

7 to 9 pm

At Arya Samaj West Midlands, Erskine Street, Birmingham B7 4SA, Tel: 0121 359 7727

 

Coventry:

SCOPE workshop – Stress Control for Personal Enhancement (three hours)

Sunday, Dec 6 and 13 (To be confirmed)

Tel: 0247 666 1116

Books: We have published a number of books authored by Dr Harish Chandra. You are welcome to look at their brief description at http://www.centerforinnersciences.org/publications.html. They may be excellent gift ideas, besides to gain an understanding of life issues from a scientific perspective. They convey the Vedic principles in a simple and scientific language.

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