[ramakrishna] Fencing With Two Swords

[Guest guest]

The easier path to renunciation is to be found in Sri Ramakrishna's teachings

also. He says that one who has tasted palm candy wouldn't fall for jaggery

again. In other words, when bhoga(desire for sense enjoyment) is complete,

renunciation comes spontaneously. This he demonstrated to us through the life of

his spiritual son, Swami Brahmananda, so that we donot lose hope. The solution

to renunciation is to develop the higher taste and the lower tastes drop off

slowly. In the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda tradition, sublimation is insisted upon

and not suppression. Of-course, self effort cannot be ruled out. That is why the

monks of the Ramakrishna Order speak of Jnana-mishrita-bhakti/bhakti tempered by

knowledge. Each one must understand his state of development of body and mind

and progress steadily without indulging in comparisions. I think there is no

reason to lose hope; today or ages later, realisation must come! Let's stick to

our knitting, therefore, and who knows when Mother glances affectionately at us

!!

 

Regards,

Debajit.

--

 

On Tue, 21 Nov 2000 19:09:57

jaguarxox wrote:

>Sri Ramakrishna says in the Gospel (p. 696):

>

> " Unless a devotee is of the heroic type he cannot pay attention to both God

>and the world. King Janaka lived a householder's life only after attaining

>perfection through austerity and prayer. He fenced with two swords, the one

>of Knowledge and the other of action. "

>

>In this quote (and others), Sri Ramakrishna advocates stern renunciation for

>serious devotees- almost to the point that unless we are devoting all our

>energy and doing sadhana most of our waking hours- our chance of seeing God

>is rather slim. This makes sense in that unless we have given up other

>pursuits and desires the mind will not be focused enough to attain samadhi

>(or for a Bhakta: Mother will not bestow Her grace until we have given up

>everything for Her love only). If we really believe that we are in essence

>Divine and that Divinity is pure peace, fearlessness, and bliss- why would we

>pursue anything else? Like Sri Ramakrishna's story about the thief who knows

>there is a pile of gold in the next room from where he is sleeping- would he

>be able to sleep or would he be thinking of every possible way to get to that

>gold? In that sense I realize I really do not have faith in the religion I

>follow- it would require a radical disregard for all pleasures and pursuits

>that I take to be " normal " life- and an unbreakable determination to realize

>this Divinity at all costs. The householder's life is really such a hollow

>pursuit when we understand where the real Truth lies...and virtually

>impossible for us to attain this realization when the mind is scattered here

>and there with all these useless pursuits, pleasures, and responsibilities.

>

>While Swami Vivekananda was a great exponent of karma yoga, I realize this

>message was primarily for an asleep nation mired in tamas. Of course we need

>rajas in order to overcome tamas. But isn't his message ultimately the same

>as his Master's? That we must RENOUNCE to find peace- not just internally, as

>some modern gurus expound, but externally as well? Doesn't the real message

>of renunciation always become diluted for the sake of householders? How many

>of us are deluding ourselves to think we are like King Janaka, the 'heroic'

>type? Or that we can pursue God a few minutes a day and find realization? I'm

>really asking myself if I have complete faith in this teaching- and if so-

>why aren't I doing more to get that 'mountain of gold' that lies within me?

>Shouldn't I learn to fence with at least one sword first before trying to

>fence with two?

>

>

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Look to the Self For all Answers

 

By SWAMI SUNIRMALANANDA HOW

are we to be free from diseases, suffering, and

life's travails? This question has tormented human beings

since the dawn of time. To remove suffering,

we should know its causes.

In ancient India some people, called Charvakas,

believed that the body was

everything. Their ideal was to enjoy

the world by any means, as death was the end. `Live to

enjoy!' they said. But they suffered all right!

Then came the atomists, the Vaisheshikas. They

said, like all future Indian

philosophers, that death is not the end:

there is afterlife. Vaisheshikas scientifically analysed and

divided everything to its smallest component

called anu, atom. They considered the

atom to be the final ground of

everything. ``God? Soul? Nothing is true. Only adrishta

or fate is acceptable'', they declared.

Then came the logicians or the Nyaya people. To them,

the earlier ones were materialists.

They said that the body and the atom

were insentient. Can a stone jump of itself?

So they believed in both the soul and the body. Their

conception of the soul, however, was elementary. To

them, that which says `I' was the

soul. And everything depended on

logical deductions - the `smoke implies fire'

logic. However, can you overcome suffering through

logic? Next

came the Samkhyans, the speculative philosophers.

They went beyond the atom and the soul and said that

the idea of sentient and insentient is correct.

But, for the first time, the

Samkhyans boldly ruled out physical reality

- there is nothing physical at all! What you call matter is

Prakriti, Prakriti is a combination of three

qualities: equilibrium (sattva),

dynamism (rajas) and inertia (tamas).

It is a permutation and combination of these three

qualities that does everything. Prakriti does everything for

the sake of billions of Purushas. We

are the Purushas, but think we are

Prakriti, the insentient, and suffer. Separate

Purusha from Prakriti; all suffering ends.

The Yogis had something simpler: `You suffer because

countless thought waves rise in your mind.

They force you to act; and when you

act, your acts are recorded inside

the unconscious mind. Until all your records are

cleared, you can't be free. Action produces reaction, and

so you suffer. So control the thoughts and

attain peace'. Then came the workers,

the Purva Mimamsakas. They said: `A

brain-dead man too has a body and mind. But

he's a vegetable. Why suffer? Don't you want heavenly

happiness? Then, work!' They called their work karma

or yajna; `Do this, you will get

this', was their philosophy. Finally

came the Uttara Mimamsakas, of whom Shankara

was the greatest. They declared: `Owing to ignorance

you think you are the body and mind. So you suffer.

Behind both is the Self. You are

that! The moment you know this, all

suffering will go! Hold on to the unreal, and

you will suffer. Hold on to Truth, and you enjoy bliss!'

Compare this with the latest discoveries. The

human genome has been decoded and the

ultimate frontier of life has been

reached. In the genome, the

hereditary-instruction bearer, the secret of life is written in

about 3.1 billion letters. `Study the arrangement

of nucleotides - the `rungs' of the

long DNA ladder in your genome. Find

out where the base pairs don't go together;

locate the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

Tinker with the troublesome genes, and you are free

from disease and suffering'.

Evidently, though scientists are already

working on the next frontier, Protemics, these aren't final. Why? Because

the gene is not conscious. Dead matter

can't create life. Ancient Indians

knew it and so they went after the

sentient element and discovered the Atman.

How did the ancient Indian scientists account for

hereditary diseases like Alzheimer's, diabetes, etc? They

too initially dwelt on the body. But

soon they discovered prana - the life

force. If prana is disturbed, there's

disease, they said. Control prana by concentration. But

what about hereditary ailments? They searched, and

discovered the cause in the unconscious

mind. In this was encoded the secret

of life. How? We live, act, and die.

But all actions are recorded in the unconscious mind.

Actions bear fruit. But when? Hence the rebirth theory.

We can't explain deformed or demented

children without accepting

reincarnation. Finally, who reaps the

fruits of actions? The body or mind?

Neither. What else? It is the Self. All answers to

suffering are in the Self. Self gets bound, thinks it is the

body, performs bad actions, and

suffers. To be free from

all suffering, perform good actions. This nullifies bad ones

and you will be free.

 

 

 

 

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