The most important, holiest, and the greatest of all mantras in the Vedic religion is the Gayatri mantra, Brahma Gayatri mantra, into which a young boy is initiated at the time of being invested with the sacred thread. And the import of the mantra is a prayer for enlightening and illumining the intellect. The last line prays to the Most High exactly for this: "Graciously illumine our intellect."
Man is body, mind and intellect. The outer physical part is the body. The inner part, the psychological part, is mind and intellect. If the intellect retains its independence—it is not caught, held and overcome by the mind—then the independent intellect is able to function as an observer, as a moderator, as a regulator, as a wise counsellor and as a guide. It becomes a very great helping factor.
But if the intellect loses its independence and is overcome and controlled by the mind with its vagaries—various fancies and imaginations and schemes and cravings—then the intellect gradually becomes deficient in its power to be the helpful inner guiding factor to the individual concerned. For in giving in to the mind the intellect loses its relationship of superiority, and its status becomes one of being manipulated. The mind is no longer an instrument of the intellect. The intellect becomes an instrument in the hands of the clever and deceptive mind.
This is not as it should be, and it is the source of much tribulation and trouble, botheration and vexation to the individual. So we always have to be alert and careful and observe the state of our interior. We should do everything that we can to make the intellect the superior factor, the governing and deciding factor, and not let it be overcome and controlled by the mind. The great Gayatri mantra says, "Illumine our intellect." That is our best friend.
However, let us suppose that due to its carelessness and not being alert and vigilant, the intellect has somehow played into the hands of the mind. Let us suppose that unfortunately we have failed to recognise that this correct condition of the interior is an indispensable necessity, that it is very important and has to be acquired, retained and maintained. In that situation, is there some solution, some way out?
Emphatically, yes! There is a way out. For, fortunately for us, we have a factor higher and superior to both the mind and the intellect that make up our psyche. And that third factor, which is superior even to the intellect, is a silent witness to both mind and intellect.
It is a witnessing factor that stands apart. And because of its unique position as something apart, unlike the intellect it can retain its integrity, be itself and, therefore, be in a position to govern and guide not only the intellect, but even the mind. If its powers are developed, this third factor becomes the crucial factor, the most important factor.
And this witnessing factor is the Spirit, the breath of God. Herein lies our solution. Identify with this third factor, this important factor, this witnessing spiritual factor. Refuse to be drawn into a state of identification with not only the body, refuse to be drawn into a state of identification with even the mind, with even the intellect, with even the psyche.
"I am higher than the mind, I am higher than the intellect. I can help the intellect to free itself from the mind, if need be." In this way, we must understand our interior, the life and the power of this higher third factor, which is beyond even the psyche and which is superior to the mind as well as to the intellect. Therein lies the possibility of uplifting ourselves to a state even higher than this unseen inner dimension of our being. Therein lies the key and the solution to be master of the entire situation—which is your rightful role in this entire set-up of the human personality.
Claim your rightful role! Play your rightful role. Assume charge. Be firmly established in this role. Exercise it. Let it play the most important part in your life, in your daily activities. In this lies your real good. In this lies true inner success. May God and Gurudev help us to do this!
Monday, April 07, 2008
Be Master
Friday, April 04, 2008
Life is a Pilgrimage
Courtesy:http://www.teosofia.com/Mumbai/7209pilgrimage.html
Those who are students of religions and mysticism of the East as of the West, will be familiar with two similes used for the human soul: that of the traveller, and that of the pilgrim. Often man is depicted as a traveller who is visiting the Earth to enjoy himself, to learn to gather experience. Sometimes that traveller is called the wanderer because he is a stranger in a strange land, and unaware of the manners, customs, even language of the country he is visiting; he wanders here and there, coming upon objects and events that puzzle him and whose meaning he is trying to seek. In more profound and truer mystical traditions man is compared to a pilgrim. It is said that the human soul is on a pilgrimage; he has undertaken a journey that has a sacred purpose. He is bound for a holy place and therefore life is not for mere enjoyment; the soul has an objective that must ever be kept before his vision.
These two ideas are not conflicting: The human soul is on a journey; all human souls are seeing sights, learning lessons and gathering experience; all are moving from stage to stage of evolution. But many souls do not recognize that they are bound for a particular destination, that there is a purpose to life, and that purpose is holy and sacred. Most men and women are wanderers; they live aimlessly, not even knowing why they live. Some are travellers who think they know the object and the goal of life. But with such it is more an instinctive belief, some old intuitive urge, and their minds are not clear as to the reality of their travels. In this class there are also those whose urge prompts them to live nobly, and they say, "What does it matter what is to become of the soul; let me do that which I think to be right, and the rest must take care of itself."
Because all men and women are travellers, though they be often wanderers, all are bound to find out in time that life is a pilgrimage; that the human soul is bound for a holy place, and to reach it in proper fashion one must take the right road and walk that road in the right manner. Between the wandering traveller and the deliberate pilgrim there is a gap, and evolution fills that gap. As one evolves and grows, one recognizes more and more that life has a purpose, that life is sacred. How does any man or woman come to this recognition? Two common phenomena—or to be exact, two aspects of one phenomenon—bring about the change. Living the ordinary life, every man, every woman, comes upon events and occurrences day after day, and the inquiring mind asks questions and seeks answers. There are lazy minds who say, "It is not for us to ask; who are we that we should question?" Fortunately, such lazy minds are few. Most minds have not altogether lost their alertness and so they inquire, "What is the meaning of this event? Why did this happen? How did that occur?"
If they persist in questioning until they obtain answers, they are bound to come upon the fundamental idea that life is neither a meaningless farce nor a ghastly tragedy, but that events have meaning and life has a purpose. The difficulty is that even among those who have an alert and inquiring mind, outer events, occurrences in the lives of others, even of neighbours and friends, do not bring them to a realization of life's purpose. Only when in their own personal lives an out-of-the-way event takes place, do they begin to ask—why and how? Especially when, in their own experience, suffering and sorrow overtake them, they inquire, "Why should this be?" Because we are not always able to connect our pain and suffering to the actual cause that produced them, we get puzzled. Pain and suffering are useful, inasmuch as they compel people to pause and to inquire. We do not always, day by day, ask why and how this or that happens. But we are compelled from within to inquire when pain results, when that happens which we do not like. And then the first vague perception arises in us: Life cannot all be meaningless. That is the first negative stage; the next is a positive stage, when our search has led us to assert: Life has a purpose and a meaning, it has a goal and an objective, life is a pilgrimage, and the human soul is a pilgrim.
Modern science assigns to Nature a purpose. The old idea that all processes of Nature result from "a fortuitous concurrence of atoms" is given up; nowadays scientists speak of design in Nature, of a living, throbbing Nature working out a mighty Pattern, and the working out is called evolution. Science yet does not know what the ultimate Pattern will be, but science recognizes that Nature is working out a Pattern. The ancient Scientists, Sages and Seers, Mystics and Occultists, knew the beginning, the middle and the end of that Pattern. The Great Masters of Theosophy are the direct heirs and descendants of those Gnyanis of old, and therefore in the philosophy of Theosophy we come across a description of evolution, vaster and more comprehensive than what modern science is able to offer us.
Theosophy teaches that Life is a pilgrimage and that each of us is a pilgrim. In the ancient days, to impart the lesson of this truth to the masses, the religious teachers instituted the custom of pilgrimages. They advocated that people should visit certain holy places—Tirthas—and thus recognize themselves as Tirthikas—pilgrims. Nowadays, like all other venerable institutions of old, this one of pilgrimage has become a formality and a farce. The main purpose of the old Teachers in instituting pilgrimages was to bring men and women to the realization that Life was a pilgrimage, and each holy place, Tirtha, represented a stage in the long evolution of the soul. These places are symbolic representations of the path of soul-evolution; just as the very idea of pilgrimage indicates purposive evolution, so do these places symbolically represent important stages in human evolution.
The path of pilgrimage is a very long one and more than one life is required to complete the process. The human soul is the Eternal Pilgrim. The whole of life, from eternity to eternity, is a Pilgrimage. There are two implications of this expression—the Eternal Pilgrim. One is that evolution is a very long process. The human soul is not merely an eternal wanderer, whirling and whirling aimlessly, but is a pilgrim, and on his pilgrimage must look upon all events as holy and sacred, and perform all duties as if they were sacraments. A true pilgrimage, from beginning to end, is a sacred process. And in this conception we come across the ethical and practical application of the subject.
What constituents in our makeup are the pilgrim? Theosophy teaches that the Spirit in man is duad, Atma-Buddhi, and this is the Eternal Pilgrim. It leaves its high spiritual, innocent but ignorant state and descends into dense and denser matter; it passes through kingdom after kingdom, unfolding potential faculties. Atma-Buddhi is the pilgrim who, as he moves on his pilgrimage, gathers knowledge and experience, till he acquires self-consciousness at the middle point of his pilgrimage. In the first half of the pilgrimage, it moves by what is called natural impulse inherent in it. It moves onwards and downwards till it reaches the human stage.
At that stage it acquires free-will, the power to choose, the faculty of thought and reflection, the quality of discernment and discrimination. Then it takes its further pilgrimage in its own hands and marches onward, not by natural impulse any more, but by self-induced and self-devised ways and means. Now, the self-consciousness acquired by the Eternal Atma-Buddhi, if not looked after, if not maintained and sustained, will die. By our self-effort, we have to make that self-consciousness immortal. As Atma-Buddhi, each of us is immortal and divine; but Arma-Buddhi does not know itself as itself; by the power of Manas, we know ourselves and that particular knowledge gives every human being the opportunity to know himself as immortal and divine.
This point of the radical difference between human beings and all else in Nature must be understood. Unless we are convinced, through perception and understanding, that by our own self-effort we can guide our own life, and that there is sufficient knowledge which any of us can acquire, we will not be able to succeed.
So that is the second great lesson, the first being that Life has a purpose and a meaning, a sacred and holy purpose—a pilgrimage. Secondly, as self-conscious human beings we have to make the effort ourselves. We need no outside support and help; all we need is the guidance of adequate and true knowledge.
The task before us is to make the whole of life a sacred and holy process. We do not know our long past, and it is not necessary to know the coming future. Our task is to be alive and to act in the present. The past sleeps in us and we carry it with us through life. The present is that past awake. From that past comes not only our bad Karma and evil fate; from there also come our opportunities, and every event in our lives is an opportunity. We need an incentive and an inspiration to make our present sacred and holy. That inspiration is to be found in one word—Duty. Dharma in Sanskrit offers us a better conception of what we have to do—that duty must be performed according to Law; that there must be order and harmony in the performance of every duty; that the performance of duty is the highest religion; that each one, according to his or her own nature and calling in life, must act, and such action alone will be duty. Law, order, religion, inner quality—all these are conveyed in the word Dharma, which ordinarily we translate as duty.
When we look around us and study life with the light of Theosophy, we find that good men and women are unhappy and do not grow and progress because their conception of duty is not accurate. Some think that duty means slavery. To be a slave to anyone is to go away from the Path of Duty; and we cannot enjoy our own freedom and liberty when we enslave others. Liberty obtained through right duty alone is true; otherwise obtained, it is not liberty, but licence.
The Path of Duty, the performance of Dharma, is the central lesson of the Bhagavad Gita. Numerous are the lessons on Dharma that Krishna teaches to Arjuna, but two are fundamental; they may be called the principles of the Life of Dharma or Duty. First:
It is better to do one's duty, even though it be devoid of excellence, than to perform another's duty well. It is better to perish in the performance of one's own duty; the duty of another is full of danger. (III, 35)
Now our own duty is Sva-Dharma and its implication is important—the duty of the Sva, the Inner Self, to all outer events, to all other beings. In the doing of our duty there can never be rejection, or even the non-recognition, of the soul in man, the soul who is man. There is confusion and unhappiness because in doing their duties most people do not take into account their own soul. They want to please somebody, irrespective of what is good or true. To give way to others is as wrong as to insist on having our own way. The correct attitude is to consult the soul, to see that the integrity of the soul within us is not destroyed. But how can we consult the soul, if we do not know that we are the soul?
Theosophy says to each individual, "Within you is the Immortal Divinity, pure and wise; it is hemmed in, covered over, with mounds of likes and dislikes, tons of desires and feelings; it is buried by your slavish attitude to life and to others. Purify your likes and dislikes, cleanse your desires and elevate your feelings, break the fetters of slave-mentality, and the soul will shine forth." Just as a person, when he resolves to go on a pilgrimage, gathers necessary material, so also anyone desiring to make his life holy by right performance of duty needs the knowledge of his own soul. When he knows that he is the soul capable of controlling his thoughts and desires, then will he be able to understand and practise the second teaching about Dharma that Krishna gave to Arjuna: "Thy concern is with action only, not with its fruit. Do not be incited to actions by the hope of their reward, nor let thy life be spent in inaction." Not caring for the results, duty must be performed because of the demands of the soul within. This is difficult, but only for a time. Very soon such difficulties will vanish.
To make life a pilgrimage, now and here, is to tread the path of Dharma, to walk the way of duty. Knowledge is necessary and Theosophy has made that knowledge available. Many people study and know intellectually, but they do not apply; those who are sincere and earnest are vigilant; they inquire and they seek aid from co-students, from others who, like them, are endeavouring to practise, to walk the path of duty. Mutually helping one another, all of us grow in the perception and understanding of our own duty. We also begin to learn that there exist today, even in this dark Kali-Yuga, the Emancipated Ones, who retain the integrity of their own emancipation by themselves performing their duty towards Orphan Humanity. Their teaching and their example offer the pattern of a Perfect Pilgrimage. They stand for us as the perfect Eternal Pilgrims, untouched by the ravages of time, unaffected by the movements of space—Pillars of Immortal Light who have survived the wreck of civilizations.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Ramana Maharshi

Sri Ramana Maharshi (December 30, 1879 - April 14, 1950) was a Tamil saint considered by many to have been a jivanmukta (one who is liberated while still living in their body). He left home for the temple town of Tiruvannamalai at the age of 16, and subsequently lived in a cave on the nearby sacred mountain of Arunachala. The following video contains rare archival footage of Sri Ramana Maharshi during his later years.
http://www.indiadivine.org/support/index.php?_m=downloads&_a=viewdownload&downloaditemid=26
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Sri Devi Khadga Mala Stotram
Sri Devi Khadga Mala Stotram
Om Asya Sri Sudda Sakti mala maha Mantrasya
Upasthendriya adhistayi Varunaditya Rishih Daivi Gayatri Chandah
Satvika Kakara bhattaraka pitha sthita
Sri mat Kamesveranka nilaya
Sri mat Kamesvari devata
Aim bijam, Klim saktih, Souh kilakam
Sri Devi prityarthe Khadga Siddthyarthe jape viniyogah
Dhyanam
Tadrisam Khadgam apnoti
Yena hasta sthitena vai
Astadasa Mahadvipa
Samrad bhokta bhavisyati
Hrimkrasana Garbhitanala Sikham
Souh Klim kalam bibhratim
Sauvarnambara dharinim varasudha
Dhautam trinetrojvalam
Vande pustaka pasam ankusadharam
Sragbhusitam ujvalam
Tvam Gourim Tripuram Paratparakalam
Sri Cakra Sancarinim
Hridayadevi, Sirodevi, Sikhadevi, Kavaca Devi, Netra Devi, Astra Devi
Nitya Devis
Kamesvari, Bhagamalini, Nityaklinne, Bherunde, Vahnivasini, Mahavajresvari, Sivaduti, Tvarite, Kulasundari,
Nitya, Nilapatake, Vijaye, Sarvamangale, Jvalamalini, Citre, Mahanitye, Paramesvara Paramesvari
18 Gurus
Mitresamayi, Sasthisamayi, Uddisamayi, Caryanathamayi, Lopamudramayi, Agastyamayi, Kalatapanamayi,
Dharmacaryamayi, Muktakesisvaramayi, Dipakalanathamayi, Visnudevamayi, Prabhakara devamayi,
Tejodevamayi, Manojadevamayi, Kalyanadevamayi, Vasudevamayi, Ratnadevamayi, Sri Ramanandamayi
1st Enclosure

Anima Siddhe, Laghima Siddhe, Garima Siddhe, Mahima Siddhe, Isitva Siddhe, Vasitva Siddhe, Prakamya
Siddhe, Bhukti Siddhe, Iccha Siddhe, Prapti Siddhe, Sarvakama Siddhe, Brahmi, Mahesvari, Koumari,
Vaisnavi, Varahi, Mahendri, Camunde, Mahalaksmi, Sarva Samksobhini, Sarva Vidravini, Sarva karsini, Sarva
Vasamkari, Sarvonmadini, Sarva Mahankuse, Sarva Khecari, Sarva Bije, Sarva Yone, Sarva Trikhande
Trilokya mohana cakra swamini Prakata yogini
2nd Enclosure

Kamakarsini, Buddhyakarsini, Ahamkarakarsini, Sabdhakarsini, Sparsakarsini, Rupakarsini, Rasakarsini,
Gandhakarsini, Cittakarsini, Dharyakarsini, Smrityikarsini, Namakarsini, Bijakarsini, Atmakarsini
Amrtakarsini, Sarirakarsini, Sarvasa paripuraka cakra svamini Gupta yogini
3rd Enclosure

Ananga Kusume, Ananga Mekhale, Ananga Madane, Ananga Madananture, Ananga Redhe, Ananga Vegini
Ananga Kusume, Ananga Malini, Sarva sanksoghana sadhaka cakra swamini Gupta tara yogini
4th Enclosure

Sarva Samksobhini, Sarva Vidravini, Sarva Karsini, Sarva Hladini, Sarva Sammohini, Sarva Stambini
Sarva Jrumbhini, Sarva Vasamkari, Sarva Ranjani, Sarvonmadini, Sarvarthasadhini, Sarva Sampattipurani
Sarva Mantra Mayi, Sarva Dvandva Ksayamkari, Sarva Soubhagya Dayaka Cakra Swamini
Sampradaya yogini
5th Enclosure

Sarva Siddhiprade, Sarva Sampatprade, Sarva Priyamkari, Sarva Mangalakarini, Sarva Kamaprade
Sarva Duhkha Vimocani, Sarva Mrityu Prasamani, Sarva Vigna Nivarani, Sarvanga Sundari, Sarva
Soubhagya Dayini Sarvartha Sadhaka Cakra Swamini Kulottirna yogini
6th Enclosure

Sarva Jne, Sarva Sakte, Sarvaisvarya pradayini, Sarva Jnanamayi, Sarva Vyadhivinasini, Sarvadharasvarupe
Sarva Papa Hare, Sarva Ananda Mayi, Sarva Raksa Svarupini, Sarvepsita Phala Prade, Sarva Raksakara
Cakra Svamini, Nigarbha yogini
7th Enclosure

Vasini, Kamesvari, Modini, Vimale, Arune, Jayini, Sarvesvari, Kaulini, Sarvarogahara Cakra Swamini
Rahasya yogini

Banini, Capini, Pasini, Ankusini
8th Enclosure

Maha Kamesvari, Maha Vajresvari, Maha Bhagamalini, Sarva Siddhiprada Cakra Swamini
Ati Rahasya yogini
9th Enclosure

Sri Sri Maha Bhattarike, Sarvananda Maya Cakra Swamini Parapara Rahasya Yogini
Goddesses controlling the nine wheels / enclosure
Tripure Waking , Dreaming and Sleeping states
Tripuresi The controller of these three states
Tripurasundari The beautiful one among all these three states
Tripura Vasini The one who lives in all these three states
Tripura Srih The riches of all these three states
Tripuramalini The sequences of all these states experienced by all people
Tripura Siddhe The achievements possible in all these three states
Tripurambe The experience of the cosmos in Her three states unifying all the experiences of all life
Maha Mahesvari The great cosmic controller
Maha Maha Rajni The great cosmic empress
Maha Maha Sakte The great cosmic power
Maha Maha Gupte The great cosmic secret
Maha Maha Jnapte The great cosmic memory
Maha Mahannande The great cosmic bliss
Maha Maha Skandhe The great cosmic support
Maha Mahasaye The great cosmic expression
Maha Maha Sri Cakra Nagara Samrajni The great transcendental conscious empress of the wheel of Sri Cakra
Namaste Nameste Nameste Namah
Monday, March 17, 2008
Emotions, Mind, and Ego by Swamy Rama
Emotions
All of your emotions are related to the four primitive fountains. From these four urges or motivations rise the six main streams of emotions.
Learn to have an even temperament by not losing your temper every now and then.
Sadness and loneliness are two companions on the path of sadhana. Your mantra is your great companion and you should never have to face moments of despair.
Emotions, if properly directed, can lead you to the highest state of ecstasy.
Mind
All sadhanas have a central theme: to have an orderly mind that does not create obstacles to the path of unfoldment within and does not hinder success in the external world.
The body is your physical instrument for living in the external world. Your mind or internal instrument is antah-karana. The antahkarana has four faculties that function in the interior world: manas (active mind), chitta (subconscious; storehouse or reservoir of subtle impressions or samskaras), buddhi (intellect), and ahamkara (ego, the sense of “I-am-ness” or individuality). Manas has five subtle senses and five gross senses to experience the external world—the world of objects. Coordinating the four faculties requires real effort and makes the mind creative, useful, and productive.
These four faculties of the mind should carefully be observed and their functioning should be analyzed in day to day life. As you keep accounts and know how much money you have spent and what your reserves are, you should also be able to keep account of the functions of the mind, both within and without.
Thought, action, and speech are the three main objects to be observed. How am I thinking and feeling, how am I speaking, and what motivates me to speak? Is the way that I am speaking helpful for me and others?
Thoughts come and go—do not brood on them. All thoughts have some origin. Find out from where they arise. If you throw a pebble into a lake, it will create ripples twice; first, when you throw it, and then again when it settles at the bottom of the lake.
Don’t allow thoughts to settle in the lake of your mind. If an unpleasant thought comes, let it go. Don’t get disturbed. Otherwise, you will lose the constant battle waged by your thoughts. Be friendly to your mind and don’t create animosity toward it.
Any creative thought enveloped with selfless love and selfless service toward others, if not expressed and executed, is like a treachery and an abortion. If creative thoughts are not brought into action, frustration arises, which can create repression. One day that repression is projected through the body as a disease or ‘dis-ease.’
Wherever you go, you will carry your mind with you. You have to start working with it, wherever you are. It is of no use knowing God, for he always exists everywhere. It is of no use knowing the world, because it is already there, and it has been known and analyzed by many in the past. The mystery lies between the two, and that is the mind. The mind can transport you to a higher realm of wisdom, and can come in touch with the collective consciousness.
Sadhana is for the mind. If the mind is trained, you have attained. If the mind is not purified with a definite discipline, it will suffer from the age-old epidemic of hallucination. Those who do not know sadhana, go on quarreling with the mind until the last breath of their lives.
Unless the mind is trained in a coordinated way by understanding all of its modifications, it remains unruly, disorderly, and enveloped in its primitive dharma. An untrained mind interferes with the spontaneous feelings arising from the heart.
Mind is the cause of both bondage and liberation. A one-pointed mind can help one go within and unveil the mystery of inner life, whereas an undisciplined mind remains dissipated.
An outwardly oriented mind runs from one object to another, hoping to find peace and happiness in the external world. Lacking inner awareness, the mind refuses the guidance and inspiration of the subtle Divine Force. A mind not guided by divine illumination stands as a wall between the aspirant and his goal. Having such a mind, one fails to study the inner dimensions of life, and as a result, considers the external world to be the sole reality.
To attain perfection here and now, one must undertake some spiritual discipline. Without practice one cannot attain control over the modifications of the mind. Unless the mind is made one-pointed, one cannot unfold one’s inner potentials.
The method of making the mind one-pointed is called meditation. Through meditation, an aspirant withdraws his mind from the external world, focuses on a given internal object, and develops an interest in delving within.
Once an aspirant has attained freedom from the distractions originating in the conscious part of the mind, he can have a better grasp of the thought constructs that originate from the unconscious mind. Through undisturbed, prolonged practice, a student dives deep and becomes familiar with his inherent potentials. He observes how the experiences of the external world are a mere reflection of the inner world.
There is no conflict in life. Conflict lies in the mind. The mind needs training. Even though a trained mind is not capable of leading one to the summit, it will remove all the obstacles along the way. A free mind is the grace of the Lord.
When an aspirant has understood the conscious part of the mind, and has attained mastery over it, he naturally performs his actions skillfully and efficiently. Compared to the unconscious, the conscious part of mind is very small; however, there is close interaction between the unconscious and the conscious mind.
Enjoy life moment to moment and do not get disturbed. That which is not going to happen will not happen, and that which is going to happen is going to happen. Therefore, tranquility should not be disturbed. A mind that is balanced and tranquil cannot be a workshop of the devil.
Never identify yourself with your mind, its objects, emotions, speech, or actions.
The doer is different from the deeds. Never identify with your actions, thoughts, and emotions, but remain in eternal delight by establishing yourself in your essential nature that is peace, happiness, and bliss.
Ego
A person walking on the path of self-transformation should be aware of the dangers of egoism. Even while practicing the great virtues of truthfulness and nonviolence, a person can feed the ego. The ego related to the realm of spirituality is more subtle and injurious than the ego related to one’s worldly success.
During the period of seeking, the student may become too intellectual, ignoring sahaja bhava (spontaneous intuition); conversely, he may become too emotional; ignoring reason. An emotional trip is as dangerous as an intellectual trip; each feeds the ego.
A person becomes a slave to his ego when he thinks of selfish gains. A selfish person dwells in a state of doubt since his conscience constantly reminds him of his wrong attitude. On the one hand, he is pulled by his selfish desires, and on the other, he is alarmed by his inner voice. He is torn apart by these two forces.
Do not ever condemn yourself in any way. Learn to appreciate and admire yourself, but see that you do not feed your ego. It is the arch enemy on the path, though it can be polished with some effort.
Acknowledge your weak points, let the power of discrimination counsel your ego, and make a strong resolution to overcome your weaknesses. While working on the removal of weaknesses, you have to be very vigilant. Ego does not want its weaknesses exposed. The more you hide your weaknesses, the more they grow. Remind yourself that you are on the path of inner purification and self-discovery. It requires great courage. Stand firm during this internal battle, and support your Atman, even at the cost of dismounting the ego and all its retinue.
A human being is miserable if he fails to unfold and use his inner potentials. In order to unfold his inner potentials, he must purify the ego or surrender it to the higher Reality. After renouncing slavery to the ego, he can emerge from the confines of body, senses, and mind.
Only a profound method of meditation can help to purify the ego. A purified ego does not create barriers.
By practicing diligently, one may attain concentration of mind, one may speak the truth, and one may serve others, but one cannot realize the Truth unless one surrenders one’s ego to the higher Self. Only after rising above egocentric awareness, can one find the universe within. Only then can one learn to love all and exclude none. One who does not love one’s fellow beings, cannot love God at all.
Humanity is suffering from ego-born differences and inequality. People discriminate against their own brothers and sisters simply on the basis of race, religion, caste, or complexion. In order to be free from these problems, a political settlement alone is not enough.
When all human beings understand that their suffering has been brought on by ego, only then will they resolve all their differences. They will throw aside the confinements of race, caste, religion, and sectarian feelings. Instead of identifying themselves with a particular group or community, they will identify themselves with all human beings. They will love all as their own family members.
The ego is very useful in helping you to function in the world, but it’s not very useful as far as deeper happiness is concerned. The ego is that which separates you from the Reality, from the Truth, from the ultimate Source.
The most important step toward self-transformation is to shed one’s ego, to surrender it to the higher Reality, and thereby attain the light of discrimination and pure faith.
Once ego surrenders itself to the highest Truth, you have attained victory, and spiritual illumination is yours. Soon after the victory over ego, all other virtues, such as humility, love, selflessness, compassion, and kindness, spontaneously unfold. These virtues are prerequisites for self-transformation. When these virtues blossom, a human being becomes a saint. These saintly qualities send a silent invitation to the Lord of Life.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Sri Chakra - Ultimate in the Power of Imagination.

This Article forms the First of the Series I intend to publish on web.
There is a plethora of articles and journals on the web & tonnes of pages of literature relating to this Tantric image.
But from a personal and academic vantage point , it is persumed that quite a few have a vague understanding of the Chakra Rahasya.
First, Please Concentrate on the Chakra image for 10 minutes per day for three consecutive days....
The article shall continue...



