An anecdote on GM, from the life of my friend Harsha

Do Not Test Your Mantra: A Story from Childhood
by Dr. Harsh K. Luthar (Harsha)

Thank you Sri Ramji for your post (given below after my story). This comes at an opportune time as on HarshaSatsangh, there has been some discussion of mantras. I am reminded of my own childhood and will share the following story.

Hindus are taught the Gayatri at an early age as soon as the child learns to speak. This is the first mantra that I remember hearing and memorizing when I was around 3 or so. It is held in much esteem of course and is said to bring knowledge, wisdom, and purity. It is also meant to increase intelligence and offer general protection as well. I had deep faith in Gayatri and my first attempts at meditation consisted of simply reciting it over and over again with a focus on the forehead. I used the Gayatri mantra for everything, even for escaping punishment at school when I did not do my homework!

One day, when I was around 11-12 or so, I had not done my homework when I went to school. I wanted to test whether the Gayatri was effective or not and so I made the following experiment. I thought that whenever I have not done the homework and I recite the Gayatri, the teacher never calls on me and I am protected. But how do I know that teacher may not call on me today whether I recite the Gayatri or not. So I decided not to recite and to experiment to see what would happen.

Well the teacher asked all children who had not done their homework to come out in front of the class. I sat in my seat pretending that I had done my home work. The children who had not done their home work were taken care of first. They were beaten by the teacher using a cane (this was typical in India of the 1960s). After the teacher satisfied himself that everyone who had not done the work had been thoroughly beaten and was sobbing appropriately and repenting he started randomly calling on the rest of us. I was sitting there pretending I had done my homework and not reciting the Gayatri as this was my experiment to test the Mantra. The teacher was calling on other students for a while and I thought I was escaping. About 15 minutes before the class ended, the teacher called on me! I was quite stunned! Stammering, I confessed that I could not answer as I had not done the work. The teacher then asked me why I had not come out earlier to accept my punishment for not doing my homework. I had no answer to that.

The teacher decided to make an example of me and called me in front of the class. For the next 15 minutes, I received quite a beating from the teacher. He decided to give me triple that of the other students and used his hands as well to slap me repeatedly (as if the cane was not enough by itself)! On top of the physical pain, the humiliation was quite bad.

I learned many lessons that day. One of them was "Do not test your Mantra!" :-)

~~~~~~~

Gayatri Japa and its Meaning
by Ram Chandran

Hari Om:

Those who belong to the Yajur Vedic Traditions, observe today, Gayatri Japam. Yesterday was the Upakarma day - the first day to begin the study of Yajur Veda. This tradition has been observed from the Vedic time period and is widely observed by the followers of Yajur Veda Traditions. This year, the Upakarma day was the same for the observers of both Rig and Yajur Vedic traditions. The Gayatri Japam is typically recited for 1008 (or 108) times. The Upakarma and Gayatri Japam are considered most important for unmarried youngsters who are entrusted with the responsibility of learning the Vedas.

Gayatri Japam and Meaning
=========================

Aum bhoor bhuwah swaha,
tat savitur varenyam
bhargo devasaya dheemahi
dhiyo yo naha prachodayat.

Oh God! Thou art the Giver of Life, Remover of pain
and sorrow,
The Bestower of happiness, Oh! Creator of the
Universe,
May we receive thy supreme sin-destroying light,
May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction.

Word for Word Meaning of the Mantra Aum = Brahma ; bhoor = embodiment of vital spiritual energy(pran) ; bhuwah = destroyer of sufferings ; swaha = embodiment of happiness ; tat = that ; savitur = bright like sun ; varenyam = best choicest ; bhargo = destroyer of sins ; devasya = divine ; dheemahi = may imbibe ; dhiyo = intellect ; yo = who ; naha = our ; prachodayat = may inspire ; Meaning of Gayatri Mantra

Rishis selected the words of various Mantras and arranged them so that they not only convey meaning but also create specific power through their utterance. Gayatri Mantra inspires wisdom. Its meaning is that "May the Almighty God illuminate our intellect to lead us along the righteous path". All the problems of a person are solved if he/she is endowed with the gift of righteous wisdom. Once endowed with far-sighted wisdom, a man is neither entangled in calamity nor does he tread the wrong path. A wise man finds solution to all outstanding problems. Only those persons who do not think correctly find difficulty and take wrong steps due to foolishness. Chanting of Gayatri Mantra removes this deficiency. The teachings and powers incorporated in the Gayatri Mantra fulfill this purpose.

Hindus believe that righteous wisdom starts emerging soon after the recitions (Japam) of this Mantra is performed. Try chanting the Gayatri Japam silently and attain the eternal peace!

Om Peace! Om Peace! Om Peace!

How VSN helped an aged person recover from paralysis

From a message I found in a discussion group.

Dear Swamins
Sahasra naama paaraayanam , in the houses, is as good as " Vedapaaraayanam" . Those who know Sahasranaamam can recite it ( as a goshti) and the bakthas in the house can also participate ion the recital. Such recital is good to house as the vibration of Bhagavan Naamaas will drive away evil designs, if any, in the house and simaltaneously give solace, pious thinking, well behaviour etc to the members of the house

This was evident when adiyen with some friends recited every saturday evenings in the houses from where we asked to come there and recite, in and around Cuddalore in the years between 1980--1983. One aged person affected by " paralysis" was able to move from the bed , stand and walk subsequently, because of Sahasranaama jabham in that particular house continously for six saturdays( He would listen the paaraayanam with tears from his eyes). Adiyen tried in late 90s, to do sahasra naama paaraayanam in the homes on the dates × convenient to them in West Mambalam. People here, are not somuch interested to recite in their houses/flats.

To begin with, vishnusahasranaamam can be recited and subsequently other stotras can be added , but even for this there was no response

Sarvam Sree Hayagreeva preeyathaam

Dasan
Uruppattur Soundararajan

Nitya Karma and Gayatri Vidya

In Nitya karma, we follow the celebrated Gayatri-Vidya of the Upanishads͵ for attaining Brahman. Even during the Mahabharata war͵ soldiers used to take time off to do Sandhya worship.

Ritual purity is a must. To illustrate this point͵ scriptures mention the tale of King Nala who once did Sandhya Vandanam without washing his feet and consequently lost his kingdom and had to wander in forests half crazy.

The nitya karmas need to be done till death or till one makes Vyuththanam. Vyuththanam (or its later name Sannyasa) is the ideal state of life in the Vedas͵ wherein a person gives up all selfish eshanas (desires/attachment) for putra (children)͵ Vitta(wealth) and Loka(worldly pleasures) and while happily settled in the state of Atmaarama (As the Gita says in sloka 3.7)͵ devotes the rest of his/her life for the welfare of the world͵ maintaining this body only through Bhikshaacharyam (begging). This is the goal that a person performing nitya karmas is striving for. At the time of Upanayanam, the vatu says "Bhavati Bhikshaam Dehi".

Traditionally͵ this is considered much more difficult for women to perform͵ as nature has designed women to have more role than men in childbirth and child rearing (at least in the initial stages of childhood). This is the antithesis of the giving up of the attachment to children͵ or Putra-eshana.

In our religion the performance of rituals is considered a relatively lower form of spirituality. Since it implies that something remains to be attained, for which effort needed to be expended through rituals. In reality Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma (All are Brahman), Neha nanaasti kinchana (There is not an iota of manifoldness in this universe, and never will be too) Mrtyoh sa mrityum aapnoti ya iha naanaiva pashyati (One who differentiates here, goes from death to death) say our scriptures.

The only differentiation we accept is not man-woman but between the Jnani and the Ajnaani. The Jnaani is ever happy in the allpervasive Self and desires nothing else, while remaining ever happy with the universe. The Ajnaani is ever bent on thinking me", "my children", "my house", "my wealth" and is always getting trapped between fleeting moments of joy and sorrow.

In terms of Nitya karmas like Sandhyavandana - both Jnanis and Ajnaanis might perform them however
* Ajnaanis perform them for self purification - an essential step to be eligible for the ultimate step of Sannyasa
* Jnanis like lord Krishna performed Nityakarmas to show an example for common humanity.

We consider Atmajnaanam as the highest form of wealth, above all rituals.

Excerpts from Swami Vivekananda

From a mail - which I had shared with my friend Mohan several years ago.

A pandit asked Swami Vivekananda if there was any harm in giving up sandhyavandanam or prayers performed in the morning, noon and evening, which he had had to do for lack of time. "What!" cried out the swami, almost with ferocity, "Those giants of old, the ancient rishis, who never walked, but strode -the likes of whom, if you are to think [of] for a moment, you would be shriveled into a moth - they, sir, had time and you have none!"… When a Westernized Hindu spoke in a belittling manner of the "meaningless teachings" of the Vedic seers, the swami fell upon him with thunderbolt vehemence, crying out, "Man, a little learning has muddled your brain! How dare you criticize your venerable forebears, how dare you bastardize the blood of the rishis in your veins by speaking in such a fashion! Have you tested the science of the rishis? Have you even so much as read the Vedas? There is the challenge thrown by the rishis! If you dare oppose them, take it up, put their teachings to the test, and they shall not be found wanting! What is making this race contemptible is just such intellectual bigotry and lop-sidedness as you manifest!"(51)

What do we want in India? If foreigners want [the teachings of the Upanishads] we want them twenty times more. Because, in spite of the greatness of the Upanishads, in spite of our boasted ancestry of sages, I must tell you that, compared with many other races, we are weak, very weak. First of all is our physical weakness. That physical weakness is the cause of at least one third of our miseries. We are lazy, we cannot work, we cannot combine, we do not love each other; we are intensely selfish, no three of us can come together without hating each other, without being jealous of each other. That is the state in which we are - hopelessly disorganized mobs, immensely selfish, fighting each other for centuries as to whether a certain mark is to be put on our foreheads this way or that, writing volumes and volumes upon such momentous questions as to whether the look of someone spoils my food or not! This we have been doing for the past few centuries. We cannot expect anything from a race whose whole brain energy has been occupied in such wonderfully beautiful problems and researches! And are we not ashamed of ourselves? Ay, sometimes we are; but though we think these things frivolous, we cannot give them up. We speak of many things parrot-like, but never do them; speaking and not doing has become a habit with us. What is the cause of that? Physical weakness. This sort of weak brain is not able to do anything; we must strengthen it.(52)

What we want, is this Shraddha. Unfortunately, it has nearly vanished from India, and this is why we are in our present state. What makes the difference between man and man is the difference in this Shraddha and nothing else. What make one man great and another weak and low is this Shraddha. My Master used to say, he who thinks himself weak will become weak, and that is true. This Shraddha must enter into you. Whatever of material power you see manifested by the Western races is the outcome of this Shraddha, because they believe in their muscles and if you believe in your spirit, how much more will it work! Believe in that infinite soul, the infinite power, which, with consensus of opinion, your books and sages preach. That Atman which nothing can destroy, in It is infinite power only waiting to be called out. For here is the great difference between all other philosophies and the Indian philosophy. Whether dualistic, qualified monistic, or monistic, they all firmly believe that everything is in the soul itself; it has only to come out and manifest itself. Therefore, this Shraddha is what I want, and what all of us here want, this faith in ourselves, and before you is the great task to get that faith. Give up the awful disease that is creeping into our national blood, that idea of ridiculing everything, that loss of seriousness. Give that up. Be strong and have this Shraddha, and everything else is bound to follow.

Would you believe me, we have less faith than the Englishman and woman — a thousand times less faith! These are plain words; but I say these, I cannot help it. Don't you see how Englishmen and women, when they catch our ideals, become mad as it were; and although they are the ruling class, they come to India to preach our own religion notwithstanding the jeers and ridicule of their own countrymen? How many of you could do that? And why cannot you do that? Do you not know it? You know more than they do; you are more wise than is good for you, that is your difficulty! Simply because your blood is only like water, your brain is sloughing, your body is weak! You must change the body. Physical weakness is the cause and nothing else. You have talked of reforms, of ideals, and all these things for the past hundred years; but when it comes to practice, you are not to be found anywhere — till you have disgusted the whole world, and the very name of reform is a thing of ridicule! And what is the cause? Do you not know? You know too well. The only cause is that you are weak, weak, weak; your body is weak, your mind is weak, you have no faith in yourselves! Centuries and centuries, a thousand years of crushing tyranny of castes and kings and foreigners and your own people have taken out all your strength, my brethren. Your backbone is broken, you are like downtrodden worms. Who will give you strength? Let me tell you, strength, strength is what we want. And the first step in getting strength is to uphold the Upanishads, and believe — "I am the Soul", "Me the sword cannot cut; nor weapons pierce; me the fire cannot burn; me the air cannot dry; I am the Omnipotent, I am the Omniscient." So repeat these blessed, saving words. Do not say we are weak; we can do anything and everything. What can we not do? Everything can be done by us; we all have the same glorious soul, let us believe in it. Have faith, as Nachiketâ. At the time of his father's sacrifice, faith came unto Nachiketa; ay, I wish that faith would come to each of you; and every one of you would stand up a giant, a world-mover with a gigantic intellect — an infinite God in every respect. That is what I want you to become. This is the strength that you get from the Upanishads, this is the faith that you get from there.

Lockdown

For the past 3 weeks, the whole country and almost the whole world is in a lockdown mode - due to fears of Corona virus spread. I feel this is a wonderful opportunity for spiritual enthusiasts to perform sadhana in the seclusion of their homes. This looks like divine providence - to put a stop to the never ending rush of selfish people taking their vehicles for all kinds of travel - without a care for pedestrians or animals. I feel it is an answer to my prayers, for some peace away from all the traffic. Truly "Far from the madding crowd" - with everyone forced to sit up at home! Who would have ever thought that things would come to such a pass! Going out, I see everywhere the roads are near empty - in a hartal-kind of atmosphere. It's so eerie, how things could change so quickly. Many lessons are there to be learnt, from this situation. Only a few months ago had I written a post in my FB page on the joys of not owning a vehicle. I had concluded the post by hoping that soon a time would come when I would be able to fearlessly walk in the middle of the road. And now - through divine providence, the prayers are getting answered! A humble prayer of a pedestrian, to be able to walk in the roads without fear! This is yet another confirmation that the divine takes care of all - and will definitely bring in the right circumstances, at the right time. All that we need to do is to humbly pray - and be humble and respectful with others. And to be sincere in our wishes/writing!


My cousins, who had given up on their native land, and went over to the 'dream land' of America, who have often treated us "poor Indians" with contempt, who had no time for us - for them here's a link.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/as-444-from-australia-fly-home-us-nationals-prefer-to-stay-back/articleshow/75113781.cms

Sri Ramakrishna - on the exalted Gayatri mantra

Excerpted from the Gospel

Bhagavân: For this age Bhakti Yoga, communion with God by love, devotion and self-surrender, as practised by the Rishi Nârada, is enjoined. There is hardly time for Karma Yoga, for doing the works laid upon man by the Scriptures. Do you not see that the well-known decoction of the ten medicinal roots (Dasamul Pâchan) is not the medicine for fevers of the present day? The patient runs the risk of being carried off before the medicine has had time to take effect. "Fever-mixture" is therefore the order of the day. Teach them Karma if you like, but leave aside the head and tail of the fish. I tell people not to bother with the long ritual of Sandhyâ, but to repeat only the short Gâyatri. * You are welcome to talk of work to such people if you must.

Effect of lectures on worldly men.
Give thousands of lectures, you cannot do anything with worldly men. Can you drive a nail into a stone wall? The head will be broken without making any impression on the wall. Strike the back of an alligator with a sword, it will receive no impression. The mendicant's bowl (of gourd-shell) may have been to the four great holy places of India but still be as bitter as ever. But you will learn this gradually. A calf cannot stand on its legs all at once. It falls down, gets up, falls again, and then it learns to stand and run. You do not know who is a Bhakta (godly) and who is worldly; but that is not your fault. When a heavy storm blows, one cannot distinguish Tamarind from Mango-tree.

It is true, however, that no one can absolutely renounce all works without realizing God. The question is, how long should Sandhyâ (rituals) and other ceremonial works be practised? So long as the Holy Name of the Lord does not bring tears of love to the eyes and produce horripilation in the body. When you are uttering "Om Râma," if tears of love come to your eyes, you will know for certain that the term of your Karma (works and duties) is over. You are no longer obliged to perform Sandhyâ and other works. You have risen above Karma. When the fruit appears, the blossom drops off. The true Bhakti is the fruit, while work is the blossom.

When the daughter-in-law of the house is with child, she cannot do much work; so the mother-in-law daily reduces the number of her duties. As the time of her delivery draws near, the mother-in-law seldom allows her to do anything; and when the child is born, she fondles and caresses it and ceases altogether to work.

All rituals end in Samâdhi.
Sandhyâ merges into Gâyatri; Gâyatri into Om, and Om ultimately loses itself in Samâdhi. As the sound of a bell—Ding, dong—gradually fades away into the Infinite, so the soul of a Yogi gradually rises with the Nâda (the sound of Om) and becomes merged in the Absolute Brahman in Samâdhi. Into this Samâdhi eventually enter all Karma,—Sandhyâ, Gâyatri and other works. In this manner the Jnânis are freed from all rituals and religious exercises.

As the Bhagavân was talking of Samâdhi, a strange heavenly expression came over His sweet, radiant face. He lost all outward consciousness.

Renowned Scientist JBS Haldane, on GM

Excepted from "What I Require From Life: Writings on science and life" by J.B.S. Haldane

A few thousand years ago Indians were very keen observers of nature. What is more, when the Rishi Vishwamitra gave the Gayatri mantra to the world, he made it clear that those who recite the mantra have the duty not merely to admire the divine glory of Earth, Air and Sky, but to think about them. If everyone who repeats this mantra would observe and think, India would today be leading the world in natural science, as it sometimes did in the past.

From Garuda Purana : B.K Chaturvedi.
Lord Narayana tells Garuda : The best way to get relief from ghosts is to constantly chant the Gayatri mantra. This mantra is the veritable god in effect and it's chanting protects one's interests.