Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

 

 

 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was born Gadadhar in the village of Kamarpukur, in what is now the Hooghly district of West Bengal on 18th February 1836. Gadadhar’s parents, Khudiram and Chandramani, were poor and made ends meet with great difficulty. Gadadhar was extremely popular in his village. He was considered handsome and had a natural gift for the fine arts. He, however, disliked going to school, and was not interested in the pursuit of money. He loved nature and spent his time in fields and fruit gardens outside the village with his friends. He was seen visiting monks who stopped at his village.  He would serve them and listen with rapt attention to the religious debates they often had.

 

            When arrangements for Gadadhar to be invested with the sacred thread were nearly complete, he declared that he would have his first alms as a Brahmin from a certain low-caste woman of the village. This was a shock in the days when tradition required that the first alms be from a brahmin, but he was adamant.

            The family’s financial position worsened every day. Ramkumar, his elder brother ran a Sanskrit school in Calcutta and also served as priest in some families. About this time, a rich woman of Calcutta, Rani Rashmoni, founded a temple at Dakshineswar. She approached Ramkumar to serve as priest at the temple of Kali and Ramkumar agreed. After some persuasion, Gadadhar agreed to decorate the deity. When Ramkumar retired, Gadadhar took his place as priest.

            Ramakrishna became a full-time devotee to the goddess spending increasing amounts of time giving offerings and meditating on her. He began to question if he was worshipping a piece of stone or a living Goddess. If he was worshipping a living Goddess, why should she not respond to his worship? At one point he became frustrated, feeling he could not live any longer without seeing Kali. He demanded that the goddess appear to him. He threatened to take his own life with a ritual dagger (normally held in the hand of the Kali statue). At this point, 
he is reported to have seen light issuing from the deity in waves. He is said to have been soon overwhelmed by the waves and fell unconscious on the floor. Gadadhar, however, unsatisfied, prayed to Mother Kali for more religious experiences. He especially wanted to know the truths that other religions taught.

Ramakrishna was initiated in Advaita Vedanta by a wandering monk named Totapuri

Ramakrishna married Sarada, who became his first disciple. He attempted to teach her everything he had learned from his various gurus. She mastered every religious secret as quickly as Ramakrishna had. Impressed by her religious potential, he began to treat her as the Universal Mother Herself.
One extraordinary quality of Ramakrishna’s message was its universality of religion. 

 He developed throat cancer and attained Mahasamadhi at a garden house in Cossipore on 16 August, 1886, leaving behind a devoted band of 16 young disciples headed by Swami Vivekananda

The dreamer

The world is a dream

The waking state is a dream

The deep sleep state is a dream

The dream state is a dream

The dreamer is a dream

dream has no real substance.

Om Namah Shivaya

Om Namah Shivaya
(Panchakshara Mantra)

Om Namah Shivaya (Panchakshara Mantra, five syllables) is a most potent and popular mantra, which is at the heart of the Vedas and Tantra, and is widely used in this and other variations in the Himalayan tradition, as well as by others. While there are other descriptions of the mantra, the following focuses on meanings for mantra meditation leading to Self-Realization.

 

OM/AUM: The three parts of Om (A-U-M) encompass the three states of waking, dreaming, deep sleep, the three levels of gross, subtle, causal, and the three levels of conscious, unconscious, subconscious, as well as the three universal processes of coming, being, and going. Absolute silence beyond the three levels is the silence after AUM. It also refers to Tripura, the one who live in the “three cities” as in Mahamrityunjaya Mantra, as well as the light referred to in Gayatri Mantra.

Namah/Namaha: Adoration, homage, respect. Nothing is mine (as an individual person); everything is thine (as the Absolute Reality). The three levels of Om, the three worlds of gross, subtle, and causal, along with the three states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep states of consciousness, as well as the three levels of conscious, unconscious, and subconscious themselves are “not mine” as the true properties of who I really am. Truly, “nothing is mine.” Rather, everything, all of these triads is “thine” or the “other” as the Absolute Reality.

Shivaya/Shiva: That Absolute Reality that is the ground out of which the others emerge. It is that “ink,” so to speak, that is not separate from the many forms which may appear to manifest or be created from that ink. In the Realization of this, one comes to see that he or she is one and the same with the Absolute Reality. The Mahavakyas, the great utterances, are seen to be true. Shiva (the static or ground) and Shakti (the active or creative) are seen to be one and the same. She (Shakti), while one with Shiva is realized in direct experience as the one in the three worlds (Tripura) outlined in Om.

The Five Sacred Syllables: The Om Namah Shivaya mantra has five syllables: na-mah-shi-va-ya (sometimes called six syllable mantra by including Om). Thus, Om Namah Shivaya mantra is called five-syllable mantra, or Panchakshara Mantra (panch means five). Among other things, these five represent the five elements of earth, water, fire, air, and space. Thus, the Om Namah Shivaya mantra leads awareness in the reverse order from manifestation back to the source from which manifestation arose.

 

40 day practice

The period of 40 days has been widely recognized as an auspicious period both in the East and the West since ancient times. A traditional way to do an extended practice of Om Namah Shivaya mantra is to choose a number of repetitions per day, and to do that for 40 days. The mind likes to have a beginning and end to a practice, a sense of completion, such as comes with a 40 day (or longer) practice.

1. Fixed time per practice session: Mind finds comfort in knowing that it will do the practice of one round of 108 repetitions (or some other number of rounds), and that each round will take a predictable amount of time.
    

2. Same number of rounds: Mind also likes the predictability of doing a certain number of rounds done per day. Mind may resist at times, but once it gets started in the practice, mind likes the habit. 
    

3. Specific number of days: Mind also likes the plan of knowing how many days or months a practice will take to complete. This can be very beneficial in stabilizing a noisy mind, which is a common complaint.

A mala is a set of counting beads with 108 beads. Only 100 are counted, with the other 8 considered an offering to the divine, however you personally hold that. You might choose to do 1, 2, 3, 4, or more rounds of 108 mantras per day, counting with a set of mala beads.

It has been said that there is freedom in discipline; choosing to do a regular practice frees the mind from wondering what practice will be done that day. It is also important not to do the mantra practice with rote repetition, but rather, with feeling and awareness.

By running your own experiment for 40 days, you can decide for yourself whether or not the practice of Om Namah Shivaya mantra is beneficial.

 

Extended practice  

A noticeable level of mantra siddhi (power of the mantra) is said to come with 125,000 repetitions of a mantra (Such an extended practice is called apurascharna). This is equivalent to 1250 rounds of a mala.

Such an extended practice with Om Namah Shivaya mantra can have a tremendous effect in stabilizing the mind in preparation for advancing in meditation. Such a practice simply must be done personally to understand the benefits. It does take quite a commitment to do this practice every day for such a long period, but it is well worth the effort.

In choosing the level of practice per day, it is important to have stability from one day to the next, and to not skip any days. It is best to choose the level that works for you consistently, rather than changing the number from day to day. For example, if two rounds per day is a good number, then it’s better to stay with that amount each and every day, not to do none on one day, but four on the next day.

Bhakti Marga- Hare Rama Hare krishna

Bhakti Marga- The path of Bhakti or Devotion. 

The following conversation between Sri Nãrada Maharishi and Lord Brahma is found in Kali Santarana Upanishad.

At the end of Dwãpara Yuga, Nãrada, after traveling around the world, approached Lord Brahma and asked him, “How may I overcome (the evil effects of) Kali Yuga?”

Lord Brahma said: “You have asked me an excellent question. I shall reveal to you the secret of all the Vedas by which you will cross over the ‘samsãra’ (ocean of life) filled with the bad effects of the Kali Yuga. This secret must be preserved and protected.”

“Bhagavata ãdipurushasya nãrãyanasya nãmoccãranamãtrena nirdhrtakalir bhavati |

 nãradah punah papraccha tannãma kimiti,”   said Lord Brahma

—-By merely uttering the names of the Primeval ‘Purusha’, who is Bhagavan Narayana, one is freed from the clutches of Kali.

 Nãrada asked further, “sa hovaca hiranyagarbhah” |

—-What are those names of Narayana?”

 “HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE |

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE”

—-“O Hari, O Rama, O Hari, O Rama, O Rama O Rama, O Hari, O Hari!

O Hari, O Krishna, O Hari, O Krishna, O Krishna O Krishna, O Hari, O Hari!”

 “iti shodashakam nãmnãm kalikalmashanãshanam |

natah parataropãyah sarvavedeshu drushyate” ||

—Lord Brahma said, “This collection of the sixteen Names (of Narayana) destroys the evils of the Kali Yuga. I don’t see any other effective means (of liberation) in the Vedas.

Jiddu Krishnamurti at 25

 

 

 

A young Jiddu Krishnamurti. An enlightened teacher, who taught what many consider “Advaita”, or the jnana Marga, The way of the mind.

He followed no rituals, taught no mantras or ceremonies, accepted no dietiefied God. 

His main teaching was about the workings of the mind, “The observer is the observed”. That there is no differentiation in consciousness. That all was one. The perciever , the percieving and the perrcieved. 

He was found by the Theospohical society who hailed him as the Maitreya Buddha and groomed him during his childhood. However he lost his brother Nityananda as a kid while with the theosophical society, which made him go through a serious re-thinking about the supposed  Buddhahood. 

Coming into his own in his youth, he dismissed the Maitreya and taking charge of the new order. He travelled the world teaching Awareness.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 76-79(chapter 8, section 2)

Bhakti Doctrines should be contemplated upon

& their wisdom should be practised

Waiting for a propitious time

when pleasure, profits and the likes

dont trouble you

even half a moment should not be wasted

non-violence, truthfullness, cleanliness

faith & such virtues should be cultivated

always in all aspects free from anxiety

God alone is to be invoked

No wisdom- from the Heart Sutra

“THERE IS NO WISDOM AND THERE IS NO ATTAINMENT WHATSOEVER“

There is nothing in this world that can be said to be permanent. Not the world itself, not the body and not even the mind. Wisdom or knowledge is in the terrain of the mind. If the mind itself is said to be temporary than it cannot be in the domain of the truth. As truth cannot be admitted to be temporary. Only that which is permanent can be said to be the truth.

The body cannot attain the truth, the mind cannot grasp the truth by it’s very nature of impermanance, how can a transitory entity touch that which is permanent. The clouds appear to be in the sky, But can the clouds affect the sky or touch the sky. The clouds gather and disperse But the sky remains, unaffected. Such is the nature of truth. There can be knowledge of this truth, as knowledge is a tool of the mind. 

Mind is dismissed, hence knowledge is dismissed, the concept of attainment is dismissed. What remains Is.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 74-75 (chapter 8 section 1)

Debate & Arguments should not be entered into

As there are chances for many diverse views

& are inconclusive & futile

 

Bholenath

Shiva is not called Bhole nath for nothing. Bhole means Innocent and Nath means king. So he’s the primary amongst the innocents or the king of innocents.

Well at first sight shiva looks like a great tapasvi which he is. A lot of people more than reverance and love, fear Shiva, as he’s often taken to be the God of Destruction etc etc Then this funny name for such as man who wanders in graveyards and rubs his body with ashes and has ghouls & ghosts for company. For such a man how can the name bholenath fit in.

But it does, as it’s said none in the world is more innocent than the lord, He’s childlike with no sense of malice or cunningness, no sense of ego & no sense of power or arrogance. Hence BHOLENATH.

There is a story that once there was a Asura or a Demon who was praying for thousands of years, doing intense Penance and chanting Shiva’s name. Shiva the simpleton appeared before him knowing that he was a demon and is upto no good. Still he appeared and asked the Asura to pray for any boon and he shall be rewarded.

The asura by name “bhasmaSura” asked that whatsoever he touched should burn to ashes, without battling an eyelid, shiva granted the boon. Nw since The asura was in the himalayan region where there was only snow, he wanted to test the effects of the boon & knew that if he burnt shiva to ashes there’d be none superior ro defeat.

so he told shiva he wanted to test it on shiva himself. the story goes that since shiva cannot refuse a devotee, and since he cannot himself die since that will bring an end to the world shiva is supposed to have run.

Till vishnu came about disguised as a beautiful woman called “mohini” and danced in front of the demon and tricked him into touching his own head hence bringing an end to his tyranny.

The story is funny and is used only to describe shiva as Bholenath, he’s supposed to be easiest to beget boons from amongst the gods, and also the most gracious. He’s the easiest to pacify. yet all this is just once facet of the lord Shiva.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 70-73 (chapter 7 section 2)

They are dissolved.

The ancestors rejoice

The gods dance in joy

this earth is endowed with a savior.

Amongst them there are no distinctions

based upon caste, culture, bodily, family,

wealth, or of actions.

because they are of his own nature.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 67-69 (chapter 7 section 1)

Devotees with single-mindedness are supreme

even though emotion choking their voice,

their body in horripilation

 &speaking incoherently,

they not only sanctify their family

but also verily the earth.

They sanctify the sacred places,

bring joy to all

& lend authority over the scriptures.

cloud & water

The cloud gathers and the cloud dissolve.

The cloud is reflected in the water.

The water flows.

Brahmotsav Celebrations-Nithyananda

Paramahamsa Swami Nithyananda

to light up your day

Narada Bhakti Sutra 61-66 (chapter 6 section 2)

Practice of Love

Need not worry about the disturbance in the world

surrender the self, the world, knowledge & well being

Till it is not attained

actions need not be abandoned

pursue your love

but let go of the anxiety for the fruits

The stories about women, wealth,

non-believers & enemies

should not be listened to.

Pride, Vanity and other such things

should be let go of.

Having surrendered all actions

even lust, anger, pride etc 

should be targetted at him alone

Transcending the three forms

always as a servant, as a beloved 

dwell on love alone, work on love alone

 act with love alone

 

 

 

s

Narada Bhakti Sutra 56-60 (chapter 5 section 2 & chap 6 section 1 )

Secondary Love Divine

The lowe devotion is threefold

according to individual discrimination

or according to the type of discontent

Better than the other

each preceding one becomes nobler

 

Practice of Love-Divine

Better than all, easily attainable is devotion

because love depends on no other proof

love itself is the proof

it’s the nature of peace

because by nature it is supreme joy

 

 

Shiva’s discourse to Vasishta Maharishi

My intense meditation was broken at this instant,
and my trance gave way to the sight of outward
objects, which I kept looking upon for sometime;
when I observed a flaming fire suddenly rising in
the forest to my view. It was a bright as a big
white cloud, and as brilliant as the shining orb
of the moon.

Vasisht & Rama

Yoga Vasishta is a book compiled from the talks that Vasishta Maharishi had with Rama.

Rama is 16 years of age and completely devoid of all happiness, he’s going through an identity crisis and is wondering what the hell he is doing in the this world and why the hell is he alive and why all people are going crazy over money, power,women etc.

So the book basically is advice given by Rama’s Guru Vasishta on all these factors and more. 

Sri Sri Ravishankar personally recommends reading this book atleast once for any serious seeker of truth and so did Ramana Maharishi. 

In all my years of studying scriprtures. two Books stand out for their massive value and the immediacy of the effect of the teachings. One is Yoga Vasishta and the other “I am That”. Both these book are pure advaitha and can catch a man’s mind and never let it go. It’s poweful, simple and direct.

Here Vasishta describes how the world is created, the crux of the problem, basically how and what and why and when of everything, every question you might ever have is explained in this book. every answer, and THE answer to all questions. 

Rama in the beginning is dense, a little depressed and not ready to listen to yet another discourse, but as vasishta starts speaking in the royal court, not only Rama but all the courtiers are rapt in attention & are in due course liberated.

To casual readers, its can be an amzing fiction too. the stories, the imagery, the concepts, but if absorbed, the ideas given in this book, if percieved directly vasishta’s one and only message, then there is no escape but to experience the truth.

Like he tells Rama in the beginning “by the time I am done with my talking, you will most definitely be liberated”. Its said that if a non seeker, non interested, depressed seeker like Rama can be liberated by just listening to Vasishta, anybody can too….

“Just as the sky is (i.e. appears to be) stained by dust, smoke and clouds, so also the pure Self in contact with the qualities of maya is (i.e. appears to be) soiled by them.”- Vasishta

Narada Bhakti Sutra 51-55 (chapter 5, section 1)

Kinds of Divine love

(Supreme love-divine)

The true nature of love is

indescribable, inexplicable

like a dumb man’s experience of taste 

expresses itself rarely

in a recipient

without attributes, without greed

growing every moment

continous, extremely subtle

is the nature of the experience.

once attained only that is

felt, seen, comprehended,

& contemplated upon. 

 

Nisargadatta: The Way to Self-Realization

The person merges into the witness, the witness into awareness, awareness into pure being, yet identity is not lost, only its limitations are lost. It is transfigured and becomes the real Self, the sadguru, the eternal friend and guide. You cannot approach it in worship. No external activity can reach the inner self; worship and prayers remain on the surface only; to do deeper meditation is essential, the striving to go beyond the states of sleep, dream and waking. In the beginning the attempts are irregular, then they recur more often, become regular, then continuous and intense, until all obstacles are conquered.

via Nisargadatta: The Way to Self-Realization, Part Six.

Narada Bhakti Sutra 49,50 (chapter 4, section 2)

Means for Love

He who renounces even the scriptures

gains unbroken flow of love

he crosses, 

indeed he crossed & helps

the world to cross over as well