This story can be anywhere anytime. There was a big old tree standing alone on the top of a small hill, just like that. Elsewhere there was a donkey standing alone, just like that. All of a sudden a lightning struck and reduced the tree to ashes, just like that. The donkey got enlightened just like that.
Now continue this story, just like that…
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Stand out of my light
One story that has been told over and over again is about the meeting of Diogenes and Alexander, the Great. When told under a spiritual context, it is not to document history but to put across a couple of points that the great masters have to teach. Hence you will hear many versions of the same. This version is my favorite because it marks the height of awareness and consciousness that a person can reach and how much we can simplify our lives. It is also not Rajasic and tells us what true surrender means.
Diogenes was a Greek philosopher who roamed around naked and owned absolutely no possessions. Some say that Diogenes was the Greek name for Dandi. Once upon a time he was living under a tree beside a river. He ate whatever people gave him. People thought he was mad. One day when he dipped his begging bowl into the river he saw a dog drinking water. It glanced at Diogenes from the corner of its eyes as if “What is this animal doing?” It immediately occurred to him that he actually did not need a bowl to drink water and immediately threw it into the river and started drinking water just the way the dog did. The dog immediately accepted him and from that day they both started living together under the same tree and sharing whatever they found to eat.
Now Aristotle had asked Alexander to meet Diogenes. Alexander’s army happened to camp nearby and his military officers reported to him that Diogenes was living outside the village. Alexander immediately sent an officer to invite him. When the officer arrived, Diogenes was lying under the tree and it was past noon.
The officer said, “Alexander, the Great wants to meet you. So please do come with me”. Diogenes said, “Oh!! I love meeting people and would have gladly joined you if I did not have all these guests to entertain all day. So please tell your king that I will not be able to come”. At this the officer looked around and said, “I can’t see a single person here. All the time you are just lying around and mumbling to yourself. Where are your guests?” Diogenes replied, “You see, in the morning, a cold wind rubs past my body and wakes me up. No sooner am I finished talking with the wind, the birds in this tree wake up. You see, there are quite a lot of them on this big tree and I have to talk to each and every one of them and send them of to work. And by that time, the Sun comes. He is my good old friend and I have a lot to talk with him. Further he comes only once a day. When he is gone, I bathe in the river and talk to the fishes. When I am done entertaining all these guests, I am completely beat and collapse. Consider my age. I will not have any strength remaining. And the same story keeps repeating every day”.
The officer had heard that Diogenes was a mad man. So he went back to the camp and reported to the emperor that Diogenes was too busy to meet him without going into the details. Alexander, himself rode down to meet Diogenes the next day. When he arrived, Diogenes and the dog had finished feeding and were lying on their bellies and enjoying the Sunshine beside the river. They did not even care to move when the party arrived. The guard stumped his spear and announced, “Diogenes, do you know who has arrived to meet you?” Diogenes opened one eyelid and drowsily asked “Who?” The guard continued, “Alexander, the emperor of the world.”
At this Alexander spoke gently, “Diogenes, I am pleased to finally meet you. If there is anything you want, please ask me and I will give you all that you want to make your living comfortable”. Diogenes said, “Alexander or who ever you are, I was enjoying the Sun before you came and stood between us. So if you could, please move out of the way and I will be comfortable again”. Alexander felt ashamed and moved aside but the guard felt offended and cried out, “You fool, do you even know who Alexander is? He is the only person who has defeated all the armies in the world.” Now Diogenes moved a bit and said, “You see the wind that breezes past, if it stops moving in and out of your lungs, you are the Emperor and so is everybody else. You see this river flowing. If it stops giving water, you are the Emperor and so is everybody else. You see the Sun shining above your head. If it stops giving light, you are the Emperor and so is everybody else.” Alexander understood the meaning and Diogenes had said everything that was to be said. Before leaving, he made a closing remark, “Had I not been Alexander, I would have liked to be Diogenes.” Hearing these words, Diogenes suddenly sprang up and just like an innocent child said, “Had I not been Diogenes, I surely would not have liked to be Alexander.”
-Retold by AtmaAnanda
Diogenes was a Greek philosopher who roamed around naked and owned absolutely no possessions. Some say that Diogenes was the Greek name for Dandi. Once upon a time he was living under a tree beside a river. He ate whatever people gave him. People thought he was mad. One day when he dipped his begging bowl into the river he saw a dog drinking water. It glanced at Diogenes from the corner of its eyes as if “What is this animal doing?” It immediately occurred to him that he actually did not need a bowl to drink water and immediately threw it into the river and started drinking water just the way the dog did. The dog immediately accepted him and from that day they both started living together under the same tree and sharing whatever they found to eat.
Now Aristotle had asked Alexander to meet Diogenes. Alexander’s army happened to camp nearby and his military officers reported to him that Diogenes was living outside the village. Alexander immediately sent an officer to invite him. When the officer arrived, Diogenes was lying under the tree and it was past noon.
The officer said, “Alexander, the Great wants to meet you. So please do come with me”. Diogenes said, “Oh!! I love meeting people and would have gladly joined you if I did not have all these guests to entertain all day. So please tell your king that I will not be able to come”. At this the officer looked around and said, “I can’t see a single person here. All the time you are just lying around and mumbling to yourself. Where are your guests?” Diogenes replied, “You see, in the morning, a cold wind rubs past my body and wakes me up. No sooner am I finished talking with the wind, the birds in this tree wake up. You see, there are quite a lot of them on this big tree and I have to talk to each and every one of them and send them of to work. And by that time, the Sun comes. He is my good old friend and I have a lot to talk with him. Further he comes only once a day. When he is gone, I bathe in the river and talk to the fishes. When I am done entertaining all these guests, I am completely beat and collapse. Consider my age. I will not have any strength remaining. And the same story keeps repeating every day”.
The officer had heard that Diogenes was a mad man. So he went back to the camp and reported to the emperor that Diogenes was too busy to meet him without going into the details. Alexander, himself rode down to meet Diogenes the next day. When he arrived, Diogenes and the dog had finished feeding and were lying on their bellies and enjoying the Sunshine beside the river. They did not even care to move when the party arrived. The guard stumped his spear and announced, “Diogenes, do you know who has arrived to meet you?” Diogenes opened one eyelid and drowsily asked “Who?” The guard continued, “Alexander, the emperor of the world.”
At this Alexander spoke gently, “Diogenes, I am pleased to finally meet you. If there is anything you want, please ask me and I will give you all that you want to make your living comfortable”. Diogenes said, “Alexander or who ever you are, I was enjoying the Sun before you came and stood between us. So if you could, please move out of the way and I will be comfortable again”. Alexander felt ashamed and moved aside but the guard felt offended and cried out, “You fool, do you even know who Alexander is? He is the only person who has defeated all the armies in the world.” Now Diogenes moved a bit and said, “You see the wind that breezes past, if it stops moving in and out of your lungs, you are the Emperor and so is everybody else. You see this river flowing. If it stops giving water, you are the Emperor and so is everybody else. You see the Sun shining above your head. If it stops giving light, you are the Emperor and so is everybody else.” Alexander understood the meaning and Diogenes had said everything that was to be said. Before leaving, he made a closing remark, “Had I not been Alexander, I would have liked to be Diogenes.” Hearing these words, Diogenes suddenly sprang up and just like an innocent child said, “Had I not been Diogenes, I surely would not have liked to be Alexander.”
-Retold by AtmaAnanda
Monday, October 5, 2009
Why do I meditate?
Once upon a time a great Tao had two disciples – Lao Tse and Chuang Tzu. Both of them had spiritually reached all the heights as their master and very wise and experienced. But they still had a subtle competition between them, each one trying to prove to be better than the other in their master’s eyes. There are many symbolic stories on how the master tried to correct them and here is an interesting one to ruminate.
They lived on a hill in a remote forest. One day, the master and his disciples went to the village to beg for food. While returning, it rained heavily and there was a flash flood. A stream of fast moving water blocked their path. The three of them sat down to meditate. After 15 minutes, Lao Tse got up. He had meditated on the form of a lotus. So he crossed the stream walking over the water as if it were solid ground. Chuang Tzu got up after 30 minutes. He had meditated on the form of a dragon. Quickly he slid like a snake and emerged on the other shore with no effort. The Tao however got up only after two hours. He had a radiant smile on his face and was totally in bliss. He put two steps into the water, fell down and was carried away by the current.
-Story by Sri RajGopal M.,retold by AtmaAnanda
Monday, August 24, 2009
Interview - Part 2
By choosing this life are you not escaping from your responsibilities?
No, in fact I am fully accepting my responsibilities and further expanding them. Escaping is something you do when you are not ready to face reality. A person may use drugs or alcohol to escape temporarily. A person may abandon his life when the going gets tough. For instance, when a close relative dies, when he looses his job, when his business fails, when he commits a crime ... if a person runs away, that is escaping. I have done none of these. I was pretty happy in my social and family surroundings when I took this decision. Further I am now available to take care of my aged parents. When ever there is a need, I attend to it, I am not running away. I have enough capacity to do that. After fulfilling those needs, I am utilizing rest of my time for meditation. This is where I differ from others in a similar position where they feel insecure and run behind money not knowing when to stop. While most fellow beings put up with the evils in the social system either with the pretext of not having time or being afraid of being victimized, I fight for my rights. I got all my dealings with the system like getting my DL, passport, tickets by standing in queue. Not only am I available to the call of my family but I am learning to accept the whole world as my family and trying to attend to everybody’s call. So my responsibilities if anything have expanded. Only thing is I am trying to be less selfish, less self centered, less insecure, less mean and less impatient.
Isn’t seeking for one’s own Moksha the most selfish thing to do?
I am of the opinion that seeking Moksha is the only thing to do. What ever you do in life is either irrelevant or a step towards Moksha. In Bhagvadgita, Lord Krishna says that only one can help himself in the path of Moksha. No body can give it to you as a gift and you can not give it to anybody as a gift. You have to earn it yourself. And it is ever living being’s foremost duty. It is a different thing that most people get disoriented and start running behind money, fame, … That is the game of Maya. When people say that they want Moksha, most of them do not know what Moksha is. They have seen unhappiness in life and they have heard somebody saying that if you attain Moksha you will be never sad again. So when they say that they want Moksha, what they actually mean is that they want to escape the unhappiness around them. Now this Moksha can be achieved irrespective of your marital status, citizenship, work status, profession, wealth, sex, beliefs… Time again people have attained Moksha across all these boundaries to prove this point. The lifestyle that you choose should just be conducive to your evolution at that point. Further, Moksha is obtained through divine grace. It is beyond your control to command when the grace descends on you, but when it descends you should be ready. It is a natural phenomenon like death. No matter how much you love a person or an object, you can not take it with you when you die. You die alone. So is the case with Moksha. If Moksha is selfish, so is dying. Now your question becomes ridiculous.
There are so many poor people in India. May be you can help them instead?
You can help a poor person become rich but that does not end his sufferings. Both rich and poor people are unhappy. Many poor people are happier than many rich people. That has to do with the mind. All the so called social work that people do is to change the standard of living. But the problem of unhappiness stems in the mind. People have to understand these themselves and have to work for it themselves. May be that a great person like the Buddha can help them in some way, but until you attain enlightenment there is almost nothing that you can do to help your fellow beings spiritually!
Why did you pick this Guru? I know of people who are more powerful, more famous than him.
A Guru – Shishya relationship is more complicated and I too do not understand it completely. You do not pick a Guru like you pick a shirt at a store. Neither can a Guru arbitrarily pick a disciple or deny one. The Guru Tatva is more important. And when ever there is a need, God sends a being in physical form to guide an aspirant at that point. Neither of them might have planned to meet but when they meet, both will know it. That is the game of destiny. In fact, your Guru will only show you the path, motivate you and provide you with relevant facts that you are unaware of when you need to make a decision. You have to walk by yourself. May be you both can walk together for a while but soon everybody has to walk to their destination. Each being has a different destination and there are as many paths to it as there are beings.
I never claim that my Guru is the best or the most powerful. That would be like a child claiming that her father is the strongest man in the world. Further for any relationship to be successful, it should not be conditioned on the capacity of others in it. If you marry a wealthy person expecting that he will be showering you with comforts, his money can melt away tomorrow. Power shifts hands. Change happens. But you still stick to the relationship because you have the inner strength to offer and not because you receive from your spouse. That is a true promise. That is where a real relationship differs from a business. If you choose your Guru based on his google pagerank, his popularity or his success numbers, there is only so much that you will get out of it spiritually.
No, in fact I am fully accepting my responsibilities and further expanding them. Escaping is something you do when you are not ready to face reality. A person may use drugs or alcohol to escape temporarily. A person may abandon his life when the going gets tough. For instance, when a close relative dies, when he looses his job, when his business fails, when he commits a crime ... if a person runs away, that is escaping. I have done none of these. I was pretty happy in my social and family surroundings when I took this decision. Further I am now available to take care of my aged parents. When ever there is a need, I attend to it, I am not running away. I have enough capacity to do that. After fulfilling those needs, I am utilizing rest of my time for meditation. This is where I differ from others in a similar position where they feel insecure and run behind money not knowing when to stop. While most fellow beings put up with the evils in the social system either with the pretext of not having time or being afraid of being victimized, I fight for my rights. I got all my dealings with the system like getting my DL, passport, tickets by standing in queue. Not only am I available to the call of my family but I am learning to accept the whole world as my family and trying to attend to everybody’s call. So my responsibilities if anything have expanded. Only thing is I am trying to be less selfish, less self centered, less insecure, less mean and less impatient.
Isn’t seeking for one’s own Moksha the most selfish thing to do?
I am of the opinion that seeking Moksha is the only thing to do. What ever you do in life is either irrelevant or a step towards Moksha. In Bhagvadgita, Lord Krishna says that only one can help himself in the path of Moksha. No body can give it to you as a gift and you can not give it to anybody as a gift. You have to earn it yourself. And it is ever living being’s foremost duty. It is a different thing that most people get disoriented and start running behind money, fame, … That is the game of Maya. When people say that they want Moksha, most of them do not know what Moksha is. They have seen unhappiness in life and they have heard somebody saying that if you attain Moksha you will be never sad again. So when they say that they want Moksha, what they actually mean is that they want to escape the unhappiness around them. Now this Moksha can be achieved irrespective of your marital status, citizenship, work status, profession, wealth, sex, beliefs… Time again people have attained Moksha across all these boundaries to prove this point. The lifestyle that you choose should just be conducive to your evolution at that point. Further, Moksha is obtained through divine grace. It is beyond your control to command when the grace descends on you, but when it descends you should be ready. It is a natural phenomenon like death. No matter how much you love a person or an object, you can not take it with you when you die. You die alone. So is the case with Moksha. If Moksha is selfish, so is dying. Now your question becomes ridiculous.
There are so many poor people in India. May be you can help them instead?
You can help a poor person become rich but that does not end his sufferings. Both rich and poor people are unhappy. Many poor people are happier than many rich people. That has to do with the mind. All the so called social work that people do is to change the standard of living. But the problem of unhappiness stems in the mind. People have to understand these themselves and have to work for it themselves. May be that a great person like the Buddha can help them in some way, but until you attain enlightenment there is almost nothing that you can do to help your fellow beings spiritually!
Why did you pick this Guru? I know of people who are more powerful, more famous than him.
A Guru – Shishya relationship is more complicated and I too do not understand it completely. You do not pick a Guru like you pick a shirt at a store. Neither can a Guru arbitrarily pick a disciple or deny one. The Guru Tatva is more important. And when ever there is a need, God sends a being in physical form to guide an aspirant at that point. Neither of them might have planned to meet but when they meet, both will know it. That is the game of destiny. In fact, your Guru will only show you the path, motivate you and provide you with relevant facts that you are unaware of when you need to make a decision. You have to walk by yourself. May be you both can walk together for a while but soon everybody has to walk to their destination. Each being has a different destination and there are as many paths to it as there are beings.
I never claim that my Guru is the best or the most powerful. That would be like a child claiming that her father is the strongest man in the world. Further for any relationship to be successful, it should not be conditioned on the capacity of others in it. If you marry a wealthy person expecting that he will be showering you with comforts, his money can melt away tomorrow. Power shifts hands. Change happens. But you still stick to the relationship because you have the inner strength to offer and not because you receive from your spouse. That is a true promise. That is where a real relationship differs from a business. If you choose your Guru based on his google pagerank, his popularity or his success numbers, there is only so much that you will get out of it spiritually.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Love and truth
True love is like the sunshine and the water flowing from the river. The Sun does not discriminate to whom he gives his light. The river gives its water to a good person as well as an evil person. Some idiots wash their behinds in the very river that they drink from. The river is all forgiving and gives water to them also. The river continues flowing from the spring to the ocean continuously. It can not stop. I am a dry well. There is no love in me to give. I can not give what I do not have. Pretending to love by putting up a fake smile is hypocrisy. It is all a game of the mind and is of no avail. True love has to come from the bottom of the heart. It is the job of the Guru to break the rock and start the spring of love. The well can not dig itself.
Love is the most powerful weapon. Those who have it know its complete qualities. Those who do not have it can only see the effects when the weapon strikes. Truth is different. Though love is truth, truth is not love. It is possible for everybody to be truthful. It is a choice that they can make. But love is a gift to possess not a choice to make. When a person is truthful, he is like a perfect mirror. Who ever looks into the mirror will immediately see his own reflection. A negative person will see his flaws and hate the mirror for no fault of the mirror. If the mirror can also give love unconditionally then the person will admit his imperfections and take steps to improve himself. But if the mirror is a dry ordinary one, the person will hate it and even destroy it. So one has to be careful while choosing whom to give the mirror.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Self-Interview
I was against the
Why did you quit your job?
I was very happy in my job with Microsoft. One day we had a work shop where the H.R.D were assessing the morale of the employees and were subjecting us to different activities. During one such activity, eight of us were on a discussion table and had to answer certain questions. The H.R. girl asked “How would you change your life if I gave you a billion dollars”. The guys on the table went on saying that they would buy a boat, go on a world trip, open a charity organization, invest in x,y,z… but when my turn came I seriously thought over the question and answered from my heart, “My life would be exactly the same as it is today. I would drive the same car, live in the same place, work the same job and do all the things that I do today. The state of my personal finances might improve but there is nothing more that I need and can do with the extra billion that I can not do now”. So people concluded that I did not need to work any more. I went home thinking what is it that makes me work? I liked my job, my team. I got time to skate and train. My life was balanced and disciplined. I had interesting things to do and intelligent people to work with. It was not the money that drove me and I was not attached to anything. I had every thing to keep me going till Guruji called me back to the ashram. Yes, I had plans of joining the ashram soon after my first visit but every time I brought up the subject, Guruji pushed it aside saying “There is more that you need to do in the
How did you decide that the time was right?
In the real world you will never know when the time is right for things like that. Future insecurity and risk aversion keeps one on postponing such decisions. Working in the
Did your Guruji finally call you?
Well as I said, Guruji had been postponing this question for eight years. I finally decided that I had to take a leap by myself and take complete responsibility for my actions. In the spiritual path, there is a lot of risk and very few succeed. If I fail, I should not blame Guruji for coercing me into the path or such. May be that was the reason that he was postponing the question. Or may be, that I was not ready yet. In any case, I had nothing to loose by engaging in full time Sadhana and developing my Self till the time came. I had come to know by then that your body had to be fit and young to engage in serious Sadhana but working a job can be done even when you were old and broken. I did not ask Guruji, but I just informed him formally as every disciple is bound to. He did not object and there I was back.
Did you get some kind of omen that you were doing the right thing?
Nothing concrete that I can tell as such happened. But it is my belief that when you are doing the thing that you are meant to do, nature co-operates and when you are doing some thing that you are not meant to do, nature throws all kinds of blocks to hamper your progress. So I went along playing the game and testing how it unrolls.
I had sufficient FF miles to get my ticket back home free. My car got sold to a good friend. I distributed my furniture and utensils amongst my friends. My room lease expired naturally. There was no resistance from any front. I had told my intentions to my friends, relatives and all those who mattered and it did not surprise anyone or disrupt their lives in any way. I achieved all my skating goals.
At work, I was supposed to give a month’s notice but we had just finished shipping a major release and the next month was December. In the
Thus, all things fell in place and I was able to wind up all my transactions and clean up without causing any friction.
What did you plan on doing once you joined the ashram?
I had never made any concrete plans as everything depended on what Guruji would ask me to do. In the end every body has to serve. But I had guessed that he would ask me to travel all over
Do you think that you have progressed in any way by joining the ashram?
Spirituality is a slow moving world. It is not like you get out n papers, m patents or get promoted every year. You don’t switch jobs, move places, buy and sell things. You just stick to one thing and keep doing it long enough. I am just like a young kid in this area and need to spend much more time here before measuring progress.
I had already spent some 20 odd years getting this western education before being able to say something in one narrow area. Unless I spend some time educating my self in the matter of spirituality, I have no authority to comment about progress or even to know what it means. Most successful aspirants have spent around 12 yrs with their Guru before learning anything. So I have to be patient and keep working at it.
Do you ever repent your decision?
I never have repented my decision but I do miss my life at Microsoft. The quality of people around you is so much better in that place. As you see, I did not quit because I did not like it there but because I thought that there was something else of higher priority to be done here. I do miss my skating. I do miss working with computers, writing code, going on hikes and visiting beautiful places. I do sometimes thing about my friends there but now it seems like it was in some other life.
But on the other hand, when I am able to lie down under the open sky with only a T-shirt on me in the month of December and count my lucky stars, I do commemorate the decision of moving out of
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Ignorance is no bliss
Voltaire was a French Philosopher, “as wise as it is possible for men to be; …” He met a good Brahmin who said, “I wish I had never been born!”
“Why so?” said Voltaire.
“Because,” he replied, “I have been studying these forty years, and I find that it has been so much time lost… I believe that I am composed of matter, but I have never been able to satisfy myself what it is that produces thought, I am even ignorant whether my understanding is a simple faculty like that of walking or digesting, or if I think with my head in the same manner as I take hold of a thing with my hands… I talk a great deal, and when I have done speaking I remain confounded and ashamed of what I have said.”
The same day he had a conversation with an old woman, his neighbor. I asked her if she had ever been unhappy for not understanding how her soul was made? She did not even comprehend his question. She had not, for the briefest moment in her life, had a thought about these subjects with which the good Brahmin had so tormented himself. She believed in the bottom of her heart in the metamorphoses of Vishnu, and provided she could get some of the sacred water of the
“Are you not ashamed to be thus miserable when, not fifty yards from you, there is an old automaton who thinks of nothing and lives contended?”
“You are right,” he replied. “I have said to myself a thousand times and I should be happy if I were but as ignorant as my old neighbor; and yet it is a happiness which I do not desire.”
This reply of the Brahmin made a greater impression on Voltaire than anything that had passed. He almost concluded incorrectly that Ignorance was bliss.
But the truth behind this story was easily unraveled by Guruji with the power of Kundalini knowledge. Each human is evolving through different Chakras where accumulated Prarabdas start haunting him. In Mooladhara, which possesses the properties of the earth, he suffers from hardships related to the physical body. In Swadistana, he has trouble with his children and such as the Chakra is associated with progeny. In Mooladhara he becomes ambitious and wants to become famous or rich. In Anahata he strives to be a musician, an artist. In Vishiddhi, he wants to become a yogi and no matter how much efforts he puts, he seems to be going no where. These are all passing phases and once Kundalini crosses the Vishuddhi no more Prarabdas daunt an individual.
Monday, March 30, 2009
AnandaKatha
Many great disciples attended upon their Gurus and served them selflessly with full devotion. In my opinion, Ananda was the greatest among them. Though he had a powerful retentive memory, and the rare privilege of listening to the Buddha owing to his close association with Him, he did not strive for his self-realization as long as Buddha walked the earth lest that gave him any more importance than a humble servant of the Buddha.
For the first twenty years after his Enlightenment, the Buddha had no permanent attendant. The few temporary attendants were not very dutiful and their behavior was not highly commendable. They dropped His robe and bowl and as age started catching upon Him, the Buddha asked His disciples to choose one of them to always attend upon Him. All His disciples present offered their services but the Buddha declined their kind offers. Ananda was the only one who was standing in a corner silently and the Bhikshus understood that the Buddha had chosen him to be the attendant and requested him to offer his services. He consented provided the Buddha granted him the following eight boons. Though he called these boons, all of them were selfless and with the best intention to serve his master and his divine cause.
1. The Buddha should not give him any robes that He Himself receives.
2. The Buddha should not give him any food that He Himself receives.
3. The Buddha should not allow him to dwell in the same chamber.
4. The Buddha should not take him with Him wherever He is invited.
5. The Buddha should kindly go with him wherever He is invited.
6. The Buddha should kindly give him permission to introduce visitors that come from afar to see the Buddha.
7. The Buddha should kindly grant him permission to approach Him whenever any doubt should arise.
8. The Buddha should kindly repeat to him the discourses that were declared in his absence.
For the next twenty five years till the Buddha’s last moment, he followed Him like a shadow attending to all His needs with great love and care. Each night he used to go round Buddha’s chamber nine times with a staff and a torch to keep him awake and to prevent the Buddha’s sleep from being disturbed. He remembered Eight-two thousand texts from the Buddha and two thousand from other Bhikshus which formed the knowledge of Dhamma. Buddha’s final words to him were – “You have done merit in the past, Ananda. Quickly be free from Corruptions.” Immediately he put in strenuous effort and attained Arahantship to take a leading part in the First Council, which was composed only of Arahants. It is stated that he was the only disciple who attained realization free from the postures of sitting, standing, walking or sleeping.
A complete contrast to this great disciple has been Ma Anand Sheela (Sheela Birnstiel), who was the personal secretary of Osho, from 1981 to 1985. Having her roots in Gujarat, she joined Osho and soon married a wealthy American disciple and emigrated to the U.S. She wanted Osho to visit the U.S. and finally succeeding in persuading him in 1981 when he had a prolapsed disc.
Ma Yoga Laxmi, Osho’s first secretary had been busy finding a suitable property for Osho, and thus, when the medical emergency arose, the initiative had passed to Sheela who instigated the move to America. She claimed Osho might have died if he had stayed in India and would find the medical assistance he required in America in the event that he needed emergency surgery.
Sheela's husband bought, for US$5.75 million, a 64,229-acre ranch in Oregon, previously known as "The Big Muddy Ranch". His failing health and inspiration from inside made Osho spend more and more time in meditation and his social interactions reduced. As part of his withdrawal from public life, Osho gave Ma Anand Sheela power of attorney to handle the day to day affairs of the ashram and slowly she gained complete control of the commune. She built a custom made trailer complex with indoor swimming pool and other amenities for residence purpose. In the name of her master, she and other followers bought a large number of Rolls-Royce luxury cars, eventually numbering 93 and claimed notoriety. In 1983, Sheela announced that Osho had embarked on a silence vow to save the world from an impending catastrophe and would henceforth speak only with her. Many sannyasins expressed doubts about whether Sheela truly represented Osho. An increasing number of dissidents left Rajneeshpuram, citing disagreements with Sheela's autocratic leadership style.
The initial reactions of the host community ranged from hostility to tolerance, depending on the observer's distance from the ranch. Within a year of arriving, Sheela's followers had become embroiled in a series of legal battles with their neighbors, the principal conflict relating to land use. Sheela was uncompromising and behaved impatiently in dealing with the locals. In May of 1982, the residents of Rancho Rajneesh voted to incorporate the city of Rajneeshpuram on the ranch. The conflict with local residents escalated, with increasingly bitter hostility on both sides, and over the following years, the commune was subject to constant and coordinated pressures from various coalitions of Oregon residents. In 1983 Sheela’s team was about to loose the city election and hence masterminded a scheme to mildly poison the food of the residents of the Dalles county so that the citizens do not turn up for the vote.
Osho ended his period of public silence in October 1984, announcing that it was time for him to "speak his own truths." In July 1985, he resumed his daily public discourses in the commune's purpose-built, two-acre meditation hall. According to statements he made to the press, he did so against Sheela's wishes.
On 16 September 1985, Sheela and her entire management team suddenly left the commune for Europe. Osho held a press conference in which he labelled Sheela and her associates a "gang of fascists." He accused them of having committed a number of serious crimes and invited the authorities to investigate. The alleged crimes, which he stated had been committed without his knowledge or consent, included the attempted murder of his personal physician, poisonings of public officials, wiretapping and bugging within the commune and within his own home, and a bioterror attack on the citizens of The Dalles, Oregon, using salmonella. The subsequent investigation by the U.S. authorities confirmed these accusations and resulted in the conviction of Sheela and several of her lieutenants. The salmonella attack was noted as the first confirmed instance of chemical or biological terrorism to have occurred in the United States.
Osho claimed that because he was in silence and isolation, meeting only with Sheela, he was unaware of the crimes committed by the Rajneeshpuram leadership until Sheela and her "gang" left, and other sannyasins came forward to inform him
Following her acrimonious split from Rajneesh, She remarried a Swiss citizen before she was extradited back to the U.S. Sheela served almost three years of a twenty year sentence in prison. In 1988, she was released early for good behavior and deported. She now lives in Switzerland.
For the first twenty years after his Enlightenment, the Buddha had no permanent attendant. The few temporary attendants were not very dutiful and their behavior was not highly commendable. They dropped His robe and bowl and as age started catching upon Him, the Buddha asked His disciples to choose one of them to always attend upon Him. All His disciples present offered their services but the Buddha declined their kind offers. Ananda was the only one who was standing in a corner silently and the Bhikshus understood that the Buddha had chosen him to be the attendant and requested him to offer his services. He consented provided the Buddha granted him the following eight boons. Though he called these boons, all of them were selfless and with the best intention to serve his master and his divine cause.
1. The Buddha should not give him any robes that He Himself receives.
2. The Buddha should not give him any food that He Himself receives.
3. The Buddha should not allow him to dwell in the same chamber.
4. The Buddha should not take him with Him wherever He is invited.
5. The Buddha should kindly go with him wherever He is invited.
6. The Buddha should kindly give him permission to introduce visitors that come from afar to see the Buddha.
7. The Buddha should kindly grant him permission to approach Him whenever any doubt should arise.
8. The Buddha should kindly repeat to him the discourses that were declared in his absence.
For the next twenty five years till the Buddha’s last moment, he followed Him like a shadow attending to all His needs with great love and care. Each night he used to go round Buddha’s chamber nine times with a staff and a torch to keep him awake and to prevent the Buddha’s sleep from being disturbed. He remembered Eight-two thousand texts from the Buddha and two thousand from other Bhikshus which formed the knowledge of Dhamma. Buddha’s final words to him were – “You have done merit in the past, Ananda. Quickly be free from Corruptions.” Immediately he put in strenuous effort and attained Arahantship to take a leading part in the First Council, which was composed only of Arahants. It is stated that he was the only disciple who attained realization free from the postures of sitting, standing, walking or sleeping.
A complete contrast to this great disciple has been Ma Anand Sheela (Sheela Birnstiel), who was the personal secretary of Osho, from 1981 to 1985. Having her roots in Gujarat, she joined Osho and soon married a wealthy American disciple and emigrated to the U.S. She wanted Osho to visit the U.S. and finally succeeding in persuading him in 1981 when he had a prolapsed disc.
Ma Yoga Laxmi, Osho’s first secretary had been busy finding a suitable property for Osho, and thus, when the medical emergency arose, the initiative had passed to Sheela who instigated the move to America. She claimed Osho might have died if he had stayed in India and would find the medical assistance he required in America in the event that he needed emergency surgery.
Sheela's husband bought, for US$5.75 million, a 64,229-acre ranch in Oregon, previously known as "The Big Muddy Ranch". His failing health and inspiration from inside made Osho spend more and more time in meditation and his social interactions reduced. As part of his withdrawal from public life, Osho gave Ma Anand Sheela power of attorney to handle the day to day affairs of the ashram and slowly she gained complete control of the commune. She built a custom made trailer complex with indoor swimming pool and other amenities for residence purpose. In the name of her master, she and other followers bought a large number of Rolls-Royce luxury cars, eventually numbering 93 and claimed notoriety. In 1983, Sheela announced that Osho had embarked on a silence vow to save the world from an impending catastrophe and would henceforth speak only with her. Many sannyasins expressed doubts about whether Sheela truly represented Osho. An increasing number of dissidents left Rajneeshpuram, citing disagreements with Sheela's autocratic leadership style.
The initial reactions of the host community ranged from hostility to tolerance, depending on the observer's distance from the ranch. Within a year of arriving, Sheela's followers had become embroiled in a series of legal battles with their neighbors, the principal conflict relating to land use. Sheela was uncompromising and behaved impatiently in dealing with the locals. In May of 1982, the residents of Rancho Rajneesh voted to incorporate the city of Rajneeshpuram on the ranch. The conflict with local residents escalated, with increasingly bitter hostility on both sides, and over the following years, the commune was subject to constant and coordinated pressures from various coalitions of Oregon residents. In 1983 Sheela’s team was about to loose the city election and hence masterminded a scheme to mildly poison the food of the residents of the Dalles county so that the citizens do not turn up for the vote.
Osho ended his period of public silence in October 1984, announcing that it was time for him to "speak his own truths." In July 1985, he resumed his daily public discourses in the commune's purpose-built, two-acre meditation hall. According to statements he made to the press, he did so against Sheela's wishes.
On 16 September 1985, Sheela and her entire management team suddenly left the commune for Europe. Osho held a press conference in which he labelled Sheela and her associates a "gang of fascists." He accused them of having committed a number of serious crimes and invited the authorities to investigate. The alleged crimes, which he stated had been committed without his knowledge or consent, included the attempted murder of his personal physician, poisonings of public officials, wiretapping and bugging within the commune and within his own home, and a bioterror attack on the citizens of The Dalles, Oregon, using salmonella. The subsequent investigation by the U.S. authorities confirmed these accusations and resulted in the conviction of Sheela and several of her lieutenants. The salmonella attack was noted as the first confirmed instance of chemical or biological terrorism to have occurred in the United States.
Osho claimed that because he was in silence and isolation, meeting only with Sheela, he was unaware of the crimes committed by the Rajneeshpuram leadership until Sheela and her "gang" left, and other sannyasins came forward to inform him
Following her acrimonious split from Rajneesh, She remarried a Swiss citizen before she was extradited back to the U.S. Sheela served almost three years of a twenty year sentence in prison. In 1988, she was released early for good behavior and deported. She now lives in Switzerland.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Do you remember the greatest lie told by our educators?
All of us have heard the story of the tortoise and hare race. The moral preached is “Slow and steady wins the race”. If you think about it a little, you will figure out that the actual moral is “Fast and unsteady looses the race”. This is a classical example of misinterpretation which almost all great scriptures and parables suffer from due to the limitation of the narrator. This parody is that it is accepted by the majority of the world.
Similarly when somebody says, “I want to see God”, what is it that he actually means? We all know that God is omnipresent which means God is every where and we are seeing him in each impression formed on our mind, but this friend of ours is not able to recognize him. But that still is not his problem. He has a preconceived notion of what God is – A physical form, a light, some glitter, some glamour, some fireworks… He is seeking a sort of spiritual entertainment or an experience out of the ordinary when he sees God. If God comes to him in any other form, he is not ready to accept him as He is because it the set idea in his mind that he is looking for and not actual God. Infinite God cannot be limited by a form.
Now when our friend says “I want salvation”, what does she mean? Most of the times she does not even know what the word ‘salvation’ means but she wants it badly. If we tell her that salvation means that she is forced to sit in one corner of the world and not move till the end of time she will suddenly say, “I can’t sit for more than 15 minutes, my legs start paining”. What she has experienced is that there are pains and unhappiness in the world. She wants to get over it. She has heard some where that by getting salvation one stop’s being affected by the pains. So what she really means is that she does not want the ups and downs of the material world.
There are lots of thoughts which require correct interpretation and only a Jnani will be able to interpret these correctly. Hence utilize the Jnana Yoga sessions of our Guruji in Satsangs, courses and our magazine. Dig into the past issues, his past speeches on tapes, CDs and enjoy the nectar of truth by hearing the right interpretations. This is one way for you to develop your Viveka (discrimination) and this will take your further in your spiritual quest.
Jai Gurudev
Similarly when somebody says, “I want to see God”, what is it that he actually means? We all know that God is omnipresent which means God is every where and we are seeing him in each impression formed on our mind, but this friend of ours is not able to recognize him. But that still is not his problem. He has a preconceived notion of what God is – A physical form, a light, some glitter, some glamour, some fireworks… He is seeking a sort of spiritual entertainment or an experience out of the ordinary when he sees God. If God comes to him in any other form, he is not ready to accept him as He is because it the set idea in his mind that he is looking for and not actual God. Infinite God cannot be limited by a form.
Now when our friend says “I want salvation”, what does she mean? Most of the times she does not even know what the word ‘salvation’ means but she wants it badly. If we tell her that salvation means that she is forced to sit in one corner of the world and not move till the end of time she will suddenly say, “I can’t sit for more than 15 minutes, my legs start paining”. What she has experienced is that there are pains and unhappiness in the world. She wants to get over it. She has heard some where that by getting salvation one stop’s being affected by the pains. So what she really means is that she does not want the ups and downs of the material world.
There are lots of thoughts which require correct interpretation and only a Jnani will be able to interpret these correctly. Hence utilize the Jnana Yoga sessions of our Guruji in Satsangs, courses and our magazine. Dig into the past issues, his past speeches on tapes, CDs and enjoy the nectar of truth by hearing the right interpretations. This is one way for you to develop your Viveka (discrimination) and this will take your further in your spiritual quest.
Jai Gurudev
Only personal experience matters
When Lava and Kusha captured the horse, Lakshmana approached them and asked them to release it saying, “You don’t know how great the power of Sri Rama is!! When the dust of his feet touched Ahalya, she was transformed from a rock back to a woman”. They replied, “Oh Prince we know all that and more. It was the great sage Gautamas words that in Treta Yuga, Sri Rama would step on her. So is it the purity of Rama or the power of the words of the great sage that caused the transformation?” Lakshmana did not have an answer to this.
Similarly in spirituality your direct personal experience is the only thing that matters. You may have learnt all about the Chakras, the different types of Samadhis but unless you have experienced them your self they are all theory and of no avail. When some thing happens when you have your eyes closed, you have no idea if it was trance or sleep. You are confused if you had a vision or just a dream. Some people have a high self esteem and go about bragging that they have reached higher states of meditation. Some people with a low self esteem drag them selves down and conclude that they still do not know how to meditate. Only a realized person who has the direct experience of the truth will be able to judge on where everybody stands and all other perceptions on what individuals think will have no base in reality. Here we have to refer to a Sadguru to discriminate and help us progress from where we have reached. Each person has a different path and intermediary experiences can not be compared.
Similarly in spirituality your direct personal experience is the only thing that matters. You may have learnt all about the Chakras, the different types of Samadhis but unless you have experienced them your self they are all theory and of no avail. When some thing happens when you have your eyes closed, you have no idea if it was trance or sleep. You are confused if you had a vision or just a dream. Some people have a high self esteem and go about bragging that they have reached higher states of meditation. Some people with a low self esteem drag them selves down and conclude that they still do not know how to meditate. Only a realized person who has the direct experience of the truth will be able to judge on where everybody stands and all other perceptions on what individuals think will have no base in reality. Here we have to refer to a Sadguru to discriminate and help us progress from where we have reached. Each person has a different path and intermediary experiences can not be compared.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Changed Perspectives
Once upon a time long long ago people lived simple lives centered around agriculture. A few traders traveled around and there were a few more supporting trades. Sages lived isolated lives in ashrams and gained knowledge by their direct personal experiences. Young princes went to study with them. After learning preliminary techniques of concentrating their minds, they were initiated into different mantras. Only after rigorous practice and hard work they were able to master them and then convert simple arrows (Shastras) into mighty missiles (Astras). One such warrior who could face 10,000 soldiers on foot was called a Rathi and was given a chariot. They were ranked on how many missiles they could launch; how many soldiers they could fight and all this was common knowledge.
The Brahmins on the other hand dedicated themselves to the development of the religious and spiritual sides. They too indulged in rigorous penance and mastered mantras not for military purposes but to serve the society. There were a few people here and there who had possessed occult powers called Siddhis and all these had come by after lots of hard work and disciplined dedication. Some could move around in time and space, communicate with people in distant locations, heal people, change climate, bring rains, grant boons, demonstrate alchemy, teach by intuition, create and destroy life and such. But most of them went on experimenting with themselves, learning from their experience and reached a state of perfection. Hence these selfless people commanded tremendous respect and the common man had accepted them to be evolved beings and could count on them for the development of the entire mankind.
Now enter the modern man of 2009. If he were to go into that society and tell the commoners that a time would come when any idiot can talk to any idiot using a small equipment called a cell phone, any lazy bum can sit on his ass and see all the events that happens in all the corners of the world using a box called T.V, what would be their reaction? The converse problem limits today’s commoners from understanding them. Their society is built around the values of hard work and personal excellence that makes the worthy better than the commoner. Here a commoner possesses unruly power due to the advent of technology and all our society is built around the value of money. All these scientific developments of our current science are built around understanding one particular type of energy waves called Electromagnetic radiation. Sages tell us that there are 33 crores of such waves or vibrations and mankind has understood only a few of them. Now if the sages of the past had understood even a few more of these vibrations, their societies would have been much more advanced and built very differently. All that knowledge was forgotten and today we can just sit and imagine the extent of their progress or sit and brag that we are a far more advanced civilization with our blindfold of ignorance. To know the truth we have to change our perspective and may be then we can rediscover all the forgotten knowledge.
The Brahmins on the other hand dedicated themselves to the development of the religious and spiritual sides. They too indulged in rigorous penance and mastered mantras not for military purposes but to serve the society. There were a few people here and there who had possessed occult powers called Siddhis and all these had come by after lots of hard work and disciplined dedication. Some could move around in time and space, communicate with people in distant locations, heal people, change climate, bring rains, grant boons, demonstrate alchemy, teach by intuition, create and destroy life and such. But most of them went on experimenting with themselves, learning from their experience and reached a state of perfection. Hence these selfless people commanded tremendous respect and the common man had accepted them to be evolved beings and could count on them for the development of the entire mankind.
Now enter the modern man of 2009. If he were to go into that society and tell the commoners that a time would come when any idiot can talk to any idiot using a small equipment called a cell phone, any lazy bum can sit on his ass and see all the events that happens in all the corners of the world using a box called T.V, what would be their reaction? The converse problem limits today’s commoners from understanding them. Their society is built around the values of hard work and personal excellence that makes the worthy better than the commoner. Here a commoner possesses unruly power due to the advent of technology and all our society is built around the value of money. All these scientific developments of our current science are built around understanding one particular type of energy waves called Electromagnetic radiation. Sages tell us that there are 33 crores of such waves or vibrations and mankind has understood only a few of them. Now if the sages of the past had understood even a few more of these vibrations, their societies would have been much more advanced and built very differently. All that knowledge was forgotten and today we can just sit and imagine the extent of their progress or sit and brag that we are a far more advanced civilization with our blindfold of ignorance. To know the truth we have to change our perspective and may be then we can rediscover all the forgotten knowledge.
Osho’s recount of the night he attained enlightenment
After Buddha’s enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, Osho was probably the next person who had documented his enlightenment experience under a special tree. He was a young man of 28 yrs at that time and was practicing serious meditation. There are his own words recorded in some of his speeches.
“The moment I entered the garden everything became luminous, it was all over the place – the benediction, the blessedness. I could see the trees for the first time – their green, their life, their very sap running. The whole garden was asleep, the trees were asleep. But I could see the whole garden alive, even the small grass leaves were so beautiful.
I looked around. One tree was tremendously luminous – the maulshree tree. It attracted me, it pulled me towards itself. I had not chosen it, God Himself has chosen it. I went to the tree, I sat under the tree. As I sat there things started settling. The whole universe became a benediction.”
“The moment I entered the garden everything became luminous, it was all over the place – the benediction, the blessedness. I could see the trees for the first time – their green, their life, their very sap running. The whole garden was asleep, the trees were asleep. But I could see the whole garden alive, even the small grass leaves were so beautiful.
I looked around. One tree was tremendously luminous – the maulshree tree. It attracted me, it pulled me towards itself. I had not chosen it, God Himself has chosen it. I went to the tree, I sat under the tree. As I sat there things started settling. The whole universe became a benediction.”
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