From Swami Sadsivananda

[Guest guest]

HOW SHOULD WE TRAVEL ON THE PATH OF LIFE?

 

 

 

Mati Vani (Words of Sri Anandamayi Ma)

(from Matri Vani, Volume 2)

 

A traveler on the path to the realization of the Supreme Being has to obey his Guru’s instructions so that his journey may be crowned with success. However, in a case where there are no such instructions, one should, according to the dictates of one’s heart, keep oneself engrossed in calling out to God and in prayer and meditation. If someone prays to Him with a sincere and simple heart, God will fulfill his cherished desire. To yearn for Him with his whole being is man’s duty.

 

To invoke That, to be constantly intent on realizing It is man’s duty. At all time in Her arms, in Her embrace—within the Mother. On finding Mother everything is found.

 

There are two kinds of restlessness: one due to worldly activity and the other the restlessness to advance on the spiritual path. The latter is the very means to real peace. That which is tranquility, Atma, God—That becomes known. Only when there is intense hankering after it will supreme peace be found. Eternal bliss is also one and the same thing.

 

It is impossible to invoke God sincerely without a result—this can never happen! He will surely cleanse and purify His own offspring and then take them to Himself. Pray to Him with heart and soul. To the limit of your power, using all the strength and capacity you possess, endeavor to live constantly in His presence. Surrender yourself at His feet. He Himself gives His Kriya (spiritual practice), training the aspirant to go beyond all Kriya in order to reach the Goal. Therefore, try with all your might to concentrate with your entire being on that form of Him to which you can give yourself whole-heartedly and without reserve. Time is speeding away!

To be born as a human being is a rare boon. If in spite of having obtained this great opportunity one does not give time to the contemplation of the Beloved, one will have to ask oneself: “What have I been doing?†To neglect the contemplation of Reality means to take the road of death. ______________________________

THE TRUTH CONCERNING "FREE WILL"

 

 

 

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi and the Path of Self-Knowledge, by Arthur Osborne

Sri Bhagavan was uncompromising in his teaching that whatever is to happen will happen, while at the same time he taught that whatever happens is due to prarabdha, a man’s balance sheet of destiny acting according to so rigorous a law of cause and effect that even the word ‘justice’ seems too sentimental toexpress it. He refused ever to be entangled in a discussion on free will and predestination, for such theories, although contradictory on the mental plane, may both reflect aspects of truth. He would say “Find out who it is who is predestined or has free will.â€

 

He said explicitly: “All the actions that the body is to perform are already decided upon at the time it comes into existence: the only freedom you have is whether or not to identify yourself with the body.†If one acts a part in a play, the whole part is written out beforehand and one acts as faithfully whether one is Caesar who is stabbed or Brutus who stabs, being unaffected by it because one knows one is not that person. In the same way, he who realizes his identity with the deathless Self acts his part on the human stage without fear or anxiety, hope or regret, not being touched by the part played. If one were to ask what reality one has when all one’s actions are determined, it would lead only to the question: Who, then, am I? If the ego that thinks it makes decisions is not real and yet I know that I exist,

what is the reality of me? This is only a preparatory, mental version of the quest that Sri Bhagavan prescribed, but it is an excellent preparation for the real quest.

 

And yet, the apparently conflicting view that a man makes his own destiny is no less true, since everything happens by the law of cause and effect and every thought, word and action brings about its repercussion. Sri Bhagavan was as definite about this as other Masters. He said to a devotee, Sivaprakasam Pillai, in a reply quoted in Chapter Ten, “As beings reap the fruit of their actions in accordance with God’s laws, the responsibility is theirs, not His.†He constantly stressed the need for effort.

 

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WHAT DO YOU CRAVE ?

 

“Grace is the Self. I have already said, ‘If you remember Bhagavan, you are prompted to do so by the Self.’ Is not Grace already there? Is there a moment when Grace is not operating in you? Your remembrance is the forerunner of Grace. That is the response, that is the stimulus, that is the Self and that is Grace.â€

 

[Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, # 251]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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