Spiritual life

[Guest guest]

All our spiritual teachers declare unanimously that the soul in its

essential nature is pure spirit. Owing to ignorance, the spirit

forgets itself and becomes identified with the ego, with the mind and

the senses, with attachments and aversion, with the sense objects,

with the body and its functions-all products of ignorance.The ego,the

mind and the body may be defiled but the spirit ever remains pure,

enlightened and free. The Katha Upanishad declares : " As the sun,

which forms the eye of the universe is never defiled by the external

impurities seen by the eyes, so the one Self that resides in all

beings is never touched by the evils of the world. "

No impurity can affect our primary nature which ever remains pure. It

is our secondary nature that becomes impure, and it can and should be

purified. Spiritual life is the cleansing of this secondary nature of

ours, cleansing of the masks, the coverings of the ego, the mind and

the body. So there is certainly hope for every one of us. It is

rightly said that that every saint has a past, so has every sinner a

future.

A glorious illustration of how even the most sinful man can become

righteous and attain the highest illumination and peace through the

grace of the Supreme Spirit is seen in the life of Girish Chandra

Ghosh. His self-surrender and devotion to Master transformed him to

such an extent that during his last few days of his life when he was

suffering from asthma, he would say: 'This body does not belong to

me. It is the Master's. It will remain as long as he keeps it " . He

breathed his last on February 8, 1912. His last words were:'Master,

you have come. Please destroy my worldly intoxication. Victory to Sri

Ramakrishna! Let us go'. Thus Girish Chandra Ghosh left the stage of

the world as he had left the stage of the theatre-with the flourish

and heroism of a seasoned actor.

 

-The passage taken from " Adventures in Religious Life " by Swami

Yatiswarananda and " They lived with God " by Swami Chetanananda .

 

Glory to the Lord!

[Guest guest]

....Speaking on the precept barring the use of intoxicants, Suzuki

Roshi gave it a surprising interpretation... " This means don't sell

Buddhism. Not only liquor but spiritual teaching is intoxicating. "

 

.....from " to shine one corner of the world " -moments with Shunryu

Suzuki.

[Guest guest]

Ramakrishna, suk_4uk wrote:

> All our spiritual teachers declare unanimously that the soul in its

> essential nature is pure spirit. Owing to ignorance, the spirit

> forgets itself and becomes identified with the ego, with the mind

and

> the senses, with attachments and aversion, with the sense objects,

> with the body and its functions-all products of ignorance.The

ego,the

> mind and the body may be defiled but the spirit ever remains pure,

> enlightened and free. The Katha Upanishad declares : " As the sun,

> which forms the eye of the universe is never defiled by the

external

> impurities seen by the eyes, so the one Self that resides in all

> beings is never touched by the evils of the world. "

> No impurity can affect our primary nature which ever remains pure.

It

> is our secondary nature that becomes impure, and it can and should

be

> purified. Spiritual life is the cleansing of this secondary nature

of

> ours, cleansing of the masks, the coverings of the ego, the mind

and

> the body. So there is certainly hope for every one of us. It is

> rightly said that that every saint has a past, so has every sinner

a

> future.

> A glorious illustration of how even the most sinful man can become

> righteous and attain the highest illumination and peace through the

> grace of the Supreme Spirit is seen in the life of Girish Chandra

> Ghosh. His self-surrender and devotion to Master transformed him to

> such an extent that during his last few days of his life when he

was

> suffering from asthma, he would say: 'This body does not belong to

> me. It is the Master's. It will remain as long as he keeps it " . He

> breathed his last on February 8, 1912. His last words were:'Master,

> you have come. Please destroy my worldly intoxication. Victory to

Sri

> Ramakrishna! Let us go'. Thus Girish Chandra Ghosh left the stage

of

> the world as he had left the stage of the theatre-with the flourish

> and heroism of a seasoned actor.

>

> -The passage taken from " Adventures in Religious Life " by Swami

> Yatiswarananda and " They lived with God " by Swami Chetanananda .

>

> Glory to the Lord!