Guest guest Posted August 6, 2004 Report Share Posted August 6, 2004 Dear Rakesh We will ask our list members to respond to you directly or via our list.......regards jay - Rakesh Sharma rakesh300 Pure in body & mind?? Dear Sir, I fail to understand the meaning of " pure in body and mind " which I found in the foll. paragraph of Swami Vivekananda. Also I found these words in many preaching of swamiji. What exactly they mean? =========================== It is in love that religion exists and not in ceremony-in the pure and sincere love in the heart. Unless a man is pure in body and mind, his coming into a temple and worshipping Shiva is useless. The prayers of those who are pure in mind and body will be answered by Shiva, and those who are impure and yet try to teach religion to others will fail in the end. External worship is only a symbol of internal worship, but internal worship and purity are the real things. Without them, external worship would be of no avail. -Vivekananda From " Teachings of the Hindu Mystics, " © 2001 by Andrew Harvey. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com. =========================== Any help is highly appreciated. Sincerely yours, Rakesh Sharma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 6, 2004 Report Share Posted August 6, 2004 Dear Rakesh, Namaste What is in your heart, what you really want, manifests in your life. The closer you are to your self, Shiva, God, the sooner and more profoundly this happens. Why would you want to harm yourself? So desires for things which have no permanence are of no real use, and only cause pain when they leave. Pure means you see the truth and it is what you want, body/mind it is the same. Love alone endures and love alone gives peace. Humbly, Bob Dear Sir, I fail to understand the meaning of " pure in body and mind " which I found in the foll. paragraph of Swami Vivekananda. Also I found these words in many preaching of swamiji. What exactly they mean? =========================== It is in love that religion exists and not in ceremony-in the pure and sincere love in the heart. Unless a man is pure in body and mind, his coming into a temple and worshipping Shiva is useless. The prayers of those who are pure in mind and body will be answered by Shiva, and those who are impure and yet try to teach religion to others will fail in the end. External worship is only a symbol of internal worship, but internal worship and purity are the real things. Without them, external worship would be of no avail. -Vivekananda Any help is highly appreciated. Sincerely yours, Rakesh Sharma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 9, 2004 Report Share Posted August 9, 2004 Om Namah Sivaya Dear Rakesh, It is essential that a devotee needs to be pure both internally and externally. This is why many Hindu Temples have strict rules; For external purity : people need to have a bath, they need to wear clean washed cloths and need to wash their feet properly before enter a Temple. For internal purity : people should only eat pure Vegetarian food for the whole day, drinking and smoking prohibited and most importantly just after the entrance of a temple there is a place called Pali Pedam, literally means sacrificial place, people should try their best to leave behind mental impurities and ego before they proceed to worship the deity. Tirumantiram (verse 2214): Enemies of Thoughts For God In their bewildered thoughts Are the lions three (lust, anger, greed) In their bouncing thoughts Are the jacklas four (mind, intellect,will and egoity) In their sensory thoughts Are the elephants five(taste,sight,touch,sound,smell) These the foes(internal and external) Of the contending mind. Sri Ramakrishna's saying : 'In the path of Bhakti, self-control comes of itself and it comes very easily. The more one's love of God increases, the more insipid become the pleasures of the senses'. A typical Hindu temple is really the projection of our body and mind.In a big South Indian Hindu temple, the huge tower represents the mind, you could see many dolls of gods and demons all over it, this represents good and evil thoughts in our mind. The tower gate is our mouth. Just after the tower gate you could see a tall pillar, this is called Flag tree, but it actually represents the Spinal column (spine), you could see 32 marks: our spine is formed of a series of 32 bones called vertebrae. During festival season, a flag of the deity will be raised at the top of the tree (represents Sahasrara where one can realise God) and from there a white rope goes round the marks to the bottom of the tree, this represents Sushumna nadi(through which Kundalini travels up during Spiritual progress). Sri Ramakrishna's saying : 'Characteristic of God-vision is that a great spiritual current rushes up along the spine and goes towards the brain. If then the devotee goes into samadhi, he sees God.' 'Unless the Kundalini is roused, spiritual awakening never takes place.' There are six special rooms in a temple, representing six Chakras, Muladhara, Svadhishthana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha and Ajna. The main deity is dark in colour and no sunlight could enter the room. The room represents our heart and the deity represents Atman (which is identical to Siva). The dark colour represents we couldn't see God due to Avidya and the lamp in the room (you can't really see the deity without it) represents we need to kindle the lamp of True Knowledge in our heart to realise God. Tirumantiram (verse 1823):Jiva is Siva Linga For the Bounteous Lord This heart is the sanctum holy, The fleshly body is temple vast The mouth is the tower gate; To them that discern, Jiva is Sivalinga; The deceptive senses but the lights that illumine. comments:This fleshly body is a unique temple; the mouth is its tower gate; and the heart is the holy sanctum for the Bounteous Lord. For those who can vision, jiva is the Siva linga, and the senses the illuminating lamp. A great devotee : Vayilar Nayanar was a Siva Bhakta lived in South India more than 1000 years ago. He constructed temples mentally and did Manasic (mental) worship. He built the temple of non-forgetfulness, lit the shining lamp of Self-illumination, bathed the Lord in the waters of immortal Ananda (bliss) and worshipped Him with the elixir of supreme love. Thus he obtained salvation. Here is the life of a Para Bhakta, a supreme devotee. He had transcended the stage of idol worship. He had attained great purity of heart and clarity of inner psychic vision so that, without the aid of a symbol and without the help of rituals, he could raise his mind to the sublime heights of the Abstract. Sri Ramakrishnaya Namah Vivekananda Centre London http://www.vivekananda.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 31, 2004 Report Share Posted August 31, 2004 Dear List Please respond to this question directly to Rakesh - Rakesh Sharma rakesh300 Vivekananda Centre Tuesday, August 31, 2004 05:37 Re: Pure in body & mind?? Dear Jay, Almost 4 weeks have passed since I've posted my question. I'm desperately looking for the explanation from your end. I've also posted my qn. to the vivekanada groups at but so far no reply from their end too. I request you to give me atleast rough idea or your perception in the meaning of " PURE IN BODY & MIND " . Thanks & best regards, Rakesh Sharma ---Reply----------------------------- Dear Rakesh I will Re-post this message on Sri Ramakrisha list. Some of our members are well versed and I am sure one of them will respond to you regards jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 31, 2004 Report Share Posted August 31, 2004 Purity in its perfect sense means purity of body, mind and intellect. Body can be kept pure by eating properly and by not resorting to negative foods such as alcohol, drugs and also by avoiding excessive consumption of even healthy foods. Body should be kept healthy and strong so that body serves as an active instrument for the mind to implement its decisions. Mind is pure when when it is controlled from getting astray. Otherwise mind acts like a monkey jumping from subject to subject. A mind strongly focused towards God is purest. In order for the mind to be pure, we need to stay away from all unhealthy and negative thoughts, which means we need to lead a pure, incorruptible, noble life. Mind is the basis for everything. It is mind that feels pleasure and pain, excitement and depression. All misery arises becasue we identify ourselves with our body and mind. Body can only implement what the mind orders and so if we can control the mind and channelit towards proper thoughts and deeds, the body will automatically be doing positive acts. The greatest challenge for anyone is to control the mind so that senses are controlled and thoughts are focused on God. Eventually the Sadhaka, or the spiritual aspirant goes beyond mind and is one with the reality, or he is in a state of self-realization. --- Vivekananda Centre <vivekananda wrote: > Dear List > Please respond to this question directly to Rakesh > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been > removed] > > > Read only the mail you want - Mail SpamGuard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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