12. SATSANGAM

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12. SATSANGAM

(Read, Understand, Appreciate, Internalise and Assimilate to reach

the Ultimate)

 

SIGNIFICANCE OF 108 (Contd.)

 

The point in question could be interpreted in a slightly different

way as well. Every human body, as we have already quoted, measures

96 fingers placed horizontally from toe to head. According to some

of our scriptures, the self in the solar orb is a composite of 12

parts. The innermost self, Pratyagatman residing in every individual

and the Pratyagatman or the self in the solar orb are one and the

same. This is what the Taittiriya Upanisad teaches: Yashchayam

purushe yashchasavaditye sa ekah. Here also the figure obtained

through the addition of numbers 96 and 12 points to the oneness of

jiva and Ishvara.

 

Swami Vijnanananda, one of the direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna,

used to put forth another interpretation. Though amusing, it has a

practical bearing. He would say: a jiva or an individual soul while

living in mother's womb before his birth as a complete baby,

remembers all his deeds in past lives and the miseries he had

suffered all through those lives as a result of his bad actions

(karma). Further, he keeps on thinking that all his past lives had

gone in vain because of his failure to realize God in those lives.

He takes frequent pledges that he would, in no way, waste his

ensuing birth and would be constantly remembering the Lord and

taking His name through his every in-breath and out-breath.

Normally, a healthy man breathes 21,600 times through the 24 hour

span of a day. But the moment a jiva comes into contact with the

ephemeral world, all the vows he took in the embryo sink into

oblivion. The oblivion or forgetfulness wipes off the last two

zeroes of the figure! The figure thus stands 216. Hence, a person

generally repeats the name of the Lord twice daily, morning and

evening. In each sitting he performs japa for 108 times and remains

satisfied that he is performing his duty.

 

In the book In Search of the Cradle of Civilization, the authors

say: The decipherment of the Rig-Vedic code has shown that,

remarkably, the Vedic poet-mathematicians had discovered the

astronomical significance of the number 108, which is one-half the

number of hymn groups [216], is roughly the average distance between

the Sun and Earth in terms of solar diameters. It is also the

average distance between the Moon and Earth in terms of lunar

diameters. These values can be obtained by simple measurements with

the naked eye. For example, if a pole of a certain height were to be

separated from the observer by a distance that is 108 times this

height, its angular size would be exactly equal to that of the Sun

or the Moon. The above discovery also would seem to explain why 108

beads are used in Hindu rosaries. A full round on the rosary

represents a symbolic journey from the earth to the sky.

 

We breathe on an average 21600 times in one day. Let the half hours

of night go. Thus, it becomes 21600/2 = 10800 times we breath in day-

time.

 

The Lord says to the devotee: " You take my name once, and for every

name taken once I will multiply it by hundred times on my behalf for

you. "

 

Thus 108 * 100 = 10800

Spiritual life

 

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 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!

Shirdi Sai Baba's Words

 

" Demolish the wall of difference that separates you from God, and

then the road for your meeting will be clear and open. The sense of

differentiation as I and Thou, is the barrier that keeps away the

disciple from his Master, and unless that is destroyed the state of

union or at-one-ment is not possible. God is the sole owner of the

body. Nobody else is our Protector. His method of work is

extraordinary, invaluable, and inscrutable. His will be done and He

will show us the way, and satisfy our heart's desires. It is on

account of former relationships that we have come together. Let us

love and serve each other and be happy. He who attains the supreme

goal of life is immortal and happy; all others merely exist and live

so long as they breathe. "

 

Be wherever you like, do whatever you choose, remember this well

that all that you do is known to me. I am the Inner Ruler of all and

seated in their hearts. I envelope all creatures. I am the

Controller - the wire-puller of the show of this Universe. I am the

mother - origin of all beings - the harmony of the three gunas

(attributes), the propeller of all senses, the Creator, Preserver,

and Destroyer. Nothing will harm who turns his attention towards me,

but Maya will lash or whip him who forgets Me. All the insects,

ants, the visible, movable and immovable world is my Body or form.

 

CALL

 

We divinities on earth - sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it

is standing libel on human nature. Come up, O lions, and shake off

the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits

free, blest and eternal; ye are not matter, ye are not bodies;

matter is your servant, not you the servant of matter.

 

.... Swami Vivekananda

 

Sri P Gopi Krishna

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