Monday, August 26, 2013

WELCOME TO THE JANMASHTAMI ISSUE OF E-SANAI


By Sri Sandip Dasgupta

Welcome to the Janmashtami edition of our e-zine. This is the auspicious day on which Lord Krishna came to this earth to destroy the evil that had pervaded the universe.  Sri Sri Babathakur is another incarnation of Lord Sri Krishna - One who came down to this world to shower the “Light of Oneness” amongst us so that we can live and experience our life with the awareness of “Knowledge of Oneness”. When we live life with this awareness, we all march slowly and steadily towards the Ultimate goal of reaching our True Source – the Absolute One, which is the substratum of all mankind and Universe.

Sri Sri Babathakur has repeatedly told us that this world is nothing but the “Sportful dramatic sameside game of Self Consciousness”, where the Absolute One/Supreme One I-Reality has created diversity (Individual I-Reality) all around for the sake of enjoying the game being played by the individual I-Reality entities.  In other words, the Absolute One has created all the diversified entities so that the individual entities can play the game created by the Absolute One.  The individual entities are all like the two sides of the same coin – hence Sri Sri Babathakur’s reference to the “sameside game”. The same Absolute One is also the One that is watching the game being played by the individual entities.  It enjoys the game, yet remains unaffected by the game and its results.  The individual entities get affected by the results of the game because they believe the individual entities to be real, owing to the lack of Self-Knowledge, the Knowledge of the Substratum/Oneness.  Sri Sri Babathakur has repeatedly urged us to be conscious of the real substratum/the Supreme Oneness within us, which is playing this game.  This awareness will allow us to surrender fully our actions and results to the Absolute One, who is the Supreme cause of all events in this Universe.

Does that mean we give up all actions and meditate in a room all along, hoping that enlightenment will suddenly appear to us?  Not at all!  On the contrary, He has urged us to perform all our actions while fully being aware that we are not the ones performing the actions.  We are merely instruments of the Lord, performing actions on His behalf, and with the results of our actions also belonging to Him.  Sri Sri Babathakur has urged us to be sincere in all our actions.  In one of his discourses, He has stated that Lord Sri Krishna had urged Arjuna to fight the battle of Mahabharata, because he wanted Arjuna, a Kshatriya, to be sincere with himself.

So, let us resolve to work on our daily tasks sincerely, yet be conscious of the fact that we are performing all acts on behalf of the Lord, and the results of those actions belong to Him.

On another note, there is proposal to form a Satsang group (using audio/video phone conferencing technology) for the devotees residing in Europe and Middle East. The group will be led by Tapas and Jasmine Rajderkar.  Interested devotees may contact rajderkarj@yahoo.co.in or trajderkar@yahoo.com
 

Aren't We All Dreaming?


by Sri P.C. Lahiri

I met a gentleman who is a very quiet person, having a distinctive, unusual style of his own in everything he does. He is slower than the average person in walking, talking, eating, reading, drinking etc. Doctors and others call him a schizophrenic. When all got to talking, he stood up and started pacing the room up and down in his very slow gait and style, absorbed in his thoughts, and with a slight smile on his face. One of the householders said aloud to him, “You have again started dreaming.  Stop it. Come and sit next to us.” He slowly stopped in his steps and mumbled to himself, “Aren’t we all dreaming?”

Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur (hereinafter referred to as the Master) says, ‘An executive conscious force or power, known as cosmic conscious energy of Infinite Self, shapes all lives and dictates all functions and their results with the consequential movements of cause and effect. In fact nobody thinks, acts and knows anything by himself, but impulses, thoughts, actions, experience and knowledge occur spontaneously in all lives. And the ego sense gathers around itself and refers to itself the flows of all the actions and movements of nature.’  The aforementioned quote appears on page 86 of the book titled 'Knowledge of Knowledge - Volume 2'.

We have to read the above few lines again and again in solitude to understand the real import of it. If we think that we are playing the roles of ‘doers’, ‘enjoyers’, and ‘sufferers’ in this world drama -we are simply dreaming in the waking state!

 Saccidananda Shakti of Saccidananda Satta (cosmic conscious energy of Infinite Self) shapes all lives and is the master of all its functions and results.  And the cardinal law that governs this play of lives of all kinds in this universe is the principle of “cause and effect”.  This principle is again framed and executed every second by the same energy; yet the Infinite Self and Its conscious energy are but One Supreme Reality---the Absolute Self I-Reality. If I fall prey to this apparent game as a player without accepting the underlying Oneness, then the law of “cause and effect” shall be my governing law.  Once this law takes over my being, I start fighting with the variety and 'many-ness' of this universe.  Why? Because all it is really is an imagined dream of my mind!  Imagination varies from mind to mind, time to time, place to place, event to event, so on and so forth. There are innumerable minds in simultaneous operation in the world going through innumerable events, places, thoughts, actions, results etc.  Then all the laws governing this world drama govern me. The whole concept of relative good-bad, right-wrong, proper-improper, day-night, this and that become fully applicable in my life. In this scenario, my trials and tribulations will never end. I will ever remain a struggling agent going through numerous phases of ups and downs - life after life -as per the law of cause and effect.  Debit and credit statement created by my actions shall rule over me, life after life.  As long as my dream of physical existence (accompanied only by inner and outer senses but bereft of central and transcendental nature) continues in this widely divergent world scenario, I shall have no respite. Life in the world whirlpool shall continue. 

On the other hand, if I start solving the world puzzle by accepting myself at the very first step as the Infinite Self and lead my life with this acceptance, then I will gradually become a witness to the ‘sportful dramatic sameside game of Self-Consciousness’.  Self-Consciousness which verily I am (nay, I is) shall be my guiding principle instead of the law of cause and effect.  This will not happen overnight, but as the habit sinks in by constant practice and perfectly settles down as my very nature, pure Self-Consciousness (i.e. my True Nature) shall reveal, instead of the mixed nature that is revealing now due to the admixture of three gunas (qualities).  Individuality refers to itself as ‘I am’, but the Supreme or the Absolute cannot say ‘Supreme am’.  It has to say ‘Supreme is’.  So if I consider (or to start out, even imagine) myself to be the Absolute - then the Absolute that I verily is, shall reveal one day. The dream of imagination or effortful consideration shall also end one day.  Why? Because That verily I am (is).

By constantly being in a dream and making efforts, the superimposition of the dream cannot go - i.e. until and unless a guiding hand or higher knowledge gradually wakes me up and makes me fully aware of the Reality that verily I am (is). 

We have heard an extremely interesting story of ten consecutive dreams narrated by the Master wherein an individual in one sleep goes through ten very divergent life situations by falling off to sleep in one situation and waking up to another situation in another life/place in that very sleep. Master had cautioned the gathering to listen to the whole story very carefully as He would be asking a question based on it at the end of the narration.  We were engulfed by Master’s mesmerizing narration.  He has nothing to prove to anyone, no brownie points to score in this dramatic sameside game.  Each dream was leading to the next one once the dreamer was falling asleep in the previous dream. We all were desperately trying to remember each aspect of each dream story within the whole narration.   After two dreams within dreams were narrated by Him, we divided the load of remembering the next ones amongst us so that nothing was missed.  This is the functioning of ego, the individual I, which wants to score brownie points by answering the end query instead of being calm and cool to really soak in the narration with its implied meaning.  Each story was captivating, sportful, dramatic and comprehensively consumed us. At the end of the narration He asked, “Have you all heard attentively?”  We gladly nodded in assent. In came the question---"Which one of these ten stories is true?"  Each of us frantically started recapitulating the story that she/he was assigned to remember - all in the hope of finding some clue to help us figure out which of the stories was true.  We however found no clue.  In came the Master's answer--- only the dreamer is true, the dreams are false.

We were intoxicated enough by the dreams to not realize that they were merely dreams and hence could not real.  All lives including the one we are presently experiencing are false, the real entity is our True Self without which none of this panorama is possible. Our very Existence is the eternal Truth.  Dream itself is the cause and effect as we see in the ten stories; each story is the cause of the following one.  Similarly, each story is the effect of the previous one.  Since our very alluring dream sequence has gone on for innumerable lives in various forms, we are not only enamored by it but also reluctant to get out of it. It is like the eating of thorny bushes in the barren deserts by the camel.  The thorns cut the gums, blood oozes; the salty taste is enjoyed by the camel, feeling that the thorns are very tasty. We are bleeding due to self-created anxiety, fear, tension, suffering and worries in this dream world, yet do not want to get out of it even if a Man of Wisdom shows us the way to freedom - not only through His talks but also by living with absolute freedom in the same world where we are bleeding to our end.   Consequently, we are taking a long time to wake up.  We can however reduce this time by developing a strong urge to wake up to the Absolute Self I-Reality, our very True Nature - especially since we have been given the science to follow directly by the Man of Supreme Wisdom. 

Shall we still keep on dreaming?   
  

Universality and Individuality


by Smt. Sushmita Devi

The Universe is indifferent - indifferent to the puny selves, the miniaturization of the whole. These are apparently harsh words to read, but they are none-the-less true if seen in the perspective of the ultimate Oneness. Each individual has but a very limited vision and understanding of the world they live in, not to speak of the Universe.  In order to enlarge, expand or extend the understanding of the role of an individual in the whole, some non-physical experiences are needed... the spiritual aspect of the cohesion of a single life with the Universe needs to be perceived.

The first step is to become aware of the non-physical aspects of one’s individuality.  There are as many ways to become 'aware' as there are ways to proceed to a physical destination.  The easiest is to start with one’s own body.  How much of its functioning is done with awareness?  Very little indeed!  A lot of the bodily functions happen automatically – without any conscious thinking.  Do you think, now I need to send out some bile to help the liver to function?  Or can you tell your peristaltic movement of the bowels to hurry up? Or do you have to think - I need to blink a given number of times to keep the lenses of the eyes moist?  No, we take it for granted that the body will function independent from our conscious thoughts. Isn’t it marvelous?  When Divine plays, It plays the game of diversity so well that everything else is forgotten for some time.  Self is always the background conductor, but through individualization, it is forgotten – only forgotten that is, yet never absent!

Then, what is it that makes us individual? The individual part can to some extent be derived from genetics for form and certain qualities; that’s why arranged marriages were conceived.  Then the socio-economic and racial aspects were drawn into the equation.  As long as the modes of transport were few and slow, the system worked quite well.   With the advance of technology and faster means of transportation, the fantastic Divine Creation called Mother Earth came into view as smaller... and today, in the 21st Century, it is no longer so easy to maintain the genetic characteristics of a group of people.  Nor is it possible for any given area of land (i.e. a so-called nation) to remain aloof from the global impact.  The Oneness is bound to rapidly approach through scientific developments, although the individual minds still need the concept of time to evolve.

All the above relates to the physical world in which a plethora of countries can no more claim their ‘independence’. The Earth is an organic Whole.  Wholeness is also an integral part of spiritual teaching – be it through worship of a deity or a physical entity, or through the Path of Knowledge (the subtler and subtle-most kind) propounded by a Sage or Wise individual, a true Sadguru.

It is fortunate for any individual to be in the presence of a Sadguru, for through the words of a Saintly individual, the idea of Wholeness becomes intelligible and may be put into practice in life. India, in that respect, is the foremost recognized country where spirituality is an integral part of daily life in a variety of ways. The sages of yore, and even the present ones, have an aim to harmonize the thoughts and action of people, so that they can live in harmony and become ever more aware of the all-important, non-physical aspects of life.

The road from individuality to universality to Ultimate Oneness is beautifully expressed in a mantra dating back several thousand years. It proclaims that, that which was Whole, is Whole and will always remain Whole, and that the emanations appearing as single units have a certain limited existence, but that they, in the end, must return to the vital Wholeness.  In Sanskrit it says:

Om Poornam Adah Poornam Idam
Poornaat Poornam Udachyate
Poornasya Poornam Aadaay
Poornam Evaa Vashishyate

The aim of a human life in due course is to realize that one is part and parcel of the Wholeness from which it emanated.  Until that is achieved, let individuality play its game of diversity with joy - never however forgetting that it is temporary and that Oneness is the true nature of all.  As one of Sri Sri Babathakur's dictums go:  "It (individuality) is the sportful dramatic sameside game of Self Consciousness".  

OM HARI OM

The Concept of Indian Temple Architecture


by Sri Ajit Halder

The temples in India reflect the awareness of the Hindus towards their relationship with the divine, and hence are powerful expressions of the Hindu quest for spirituality. This article is an attempt to explore the sacredness of the architectural form of an Indian temple. Various interpretations have been put forward to link Hindu beliefs to the physical structure of a temple, as also the connection between cosmology and the construction of a temple.  In this article, emphasis will be given to the fact that a temple is a sacred place for activities of worship, making offerings to a deity, and congregation of devotees for community worship.

Temples are devasthanam (i.e. dwellings of Gods), and are constructed by humans based on their experiences of designing a typical house.  It is, therefore not surprising that the architecture of a temple has been largely influenced by the pattern and style of a human residence.  Humans endeavor to make their homes comfortable by adding to them the necessary facilities (e.g. an easily distinguishable entrance gate, a covered space serving as a reception room to welcome friends and visitors, a hallway leading to the main living area of the master of the house, and other functional rooms). So is the concept of a Hindu temple; its plan and structure is similar to that of a house. Thus for a temple, we notice the torana (entrance gate), the mandapa (devotees’ meeting hall), the garbhagriha (inner chamber where the deity resides and is worshiped), the eye-catching shikhara (spire reaching up to the heavens) and the surrounding minor temples. The symbolism and significance of each component item of a temple will be elaborated in the succeeding paragraphs.

A Hindu temple is not an inert structure; it isn’t merely a huge conglomeration of blocks of stones, bricks and mortar.  It is rather alive with the chanting of the worshipers and the presence of hordes of curious visitors who come to admire the elegance of its architecture.  This should not be surprising, for devotees regularly visit temples as holy shrines all year long and particularly on auspicious days to make offerings to their chosen deity and to pray for the receipt of divine blessings.

In Hindu tradition, deities such as Krishna and Radha are represented in human form, and consequently, a Krishna temple becomes their house on earth.  The images are placed in shrines with doors and curtains to give them privacy at night and during times of rest.  There are temple rituals associated with the daily activities of waking, dressing, bathing and feeding the Gods.  In large temples, deities share their residence with servers, the priests and Pandas, and many temples have kitchens, dining rooms and store rooms. These facts support the proposition that temples are Gods’ homes on earth.

Temples are visible, concrete proofs of human attempt to bring themselves closer to the divine by creating a special space to hold this powerful and precious contact.  The use of materials like stones, marbles etc. clearly reflect human longing for an enduring relationship with divinity. A Hindu believes that the world created by God is sacred everywhere, and a Hindu home with a shrine for worship is indeed a miniature temple.   One may note that after many millennia of human religious consciousness, it is only in the last few thousand years that people have devoted huge efforts and resources towards the construction of temples.

Principles of architectural tradition may be found enshrined in treatises like the Shilpa Shastra.  Yet every temple is the result of a great deal of thought, planning and devotion, and much of the fineness of temples is owed to craftspeople, stone masons, the combined efforts and toil of society as a whole, and to the Gods themselves (who many Hindus believe, revealed their sacred plans of temple design to human in dreams).  Many Indian kings took on divine characteristics as part of their duty to patronize the construction of temples.

Temple as a replica of Cosmos

The design and construction of a temple is a form of art in a grand scale, and takes one’s mind away from the mundane to have a feel for the cosmos.  Humans seek to create a temple - the realm of the Gods taking residence on earth - in a way that worshipers can enter it physically as well as spiritually.  The temple architecture strives to reproduce the patterns of the universe – the towers, spires thrust upwards to the heavens.  In the mandapa, performances (story-telling, devotional songs and plays based on mythological stories) are held to re-enact myths and rituals that link the religious practices of the remote past to the worship of the present time.

Hindus believe that Mount Meru stands at the center of the world as a Cosmic Pillar.  Mountains are held as the sacred abodes of Gods.  Mount Kailash is revered by the Hindus as the abode of Lord Shiva.  Temples are attempts to capture a divine presence, a touch of the Cosmos for earth-bound humans.  A mandala (meaning a circle) provides the details of a cosmic diagram, and this has been used as the ground plan for the famous temple of Angkor Vat in Cambodia to reproduce the form of the Cosmos.

Temple Site

The site of a temple is chosen with due care – on the bank of a holy river (e.g.Vishwanath temple in Varanasi on the bank of Ganges); at the confluence of rivers (e.g. the Nag Vasuki, Mankameshwar and Hatkeshwar Nath temples near the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers in Prayag, i.e. Allahabad); and amongst mountains (such as the famous Kedarnath and Badrinath temples in the Himalayas).

Temple Architecture

There are two main traditions of the Hindu temple – i.e. the North Indian (Nagara), and the South Indian (Dravida) type - distinguished by the position of the tower (Shikhara). In the Nagara style, the tower rises above the garbha griha, and the main entrance gate is of a lower height.  In the Dravida style, the main gate (called gopuram), supports the lofty tower consisting of progressively smaller storeys of pavilions.  Each storey is richly decorated with figures from mythology (e.g. the Rameswaram and Meenakshee temple gates).

Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi

Meenakshi Temple in Madurai
 The six main parts of a temple will be quoted here to reinforce our concept of temple architecture.

1)       The Inner Chamber – is where the image of the idol, murti, is placed and devotees believe that God resides inside the image.

2)       The Tower – The Shikhara represents the rising tower over the inner chamber and is the most prominent and the visible part of a Hindu temple.

3)       The Mandapa – also called ‘Naata Mandira’ (hall for temple dancing) refers to a pillared outdoor hall for public rituals.  Devotees use the hall to sit, meditate, pray, chant or watch the priests perform the rituals of worship.  The hall is usually decorated with paintings of Gods and Goddesses.

4)       The Front Porch – usually has a big metallic bell hanging from the ceiling.  Devotees entering or leaving the porch ring the bell as part of worshiping the deity.

5)       The Ambulatory Walkway - around the walls of the garbha griha. The devotees use the walkway for circumambulation around the deity as a mark of respect.

6)       The Reservoir – for temples far away from a river, a reservoir of fresh water is built on the temple premises.  The water is used for rituals as well as for taking a ritual bath to cleanse the body before entering the temple.

This article attempts to draw attention to the harmony and majestic beauty of Indian temple architecture and to the sacredness of a temple as an abode of Gods.  Additionally, a temple may kindle a vision of the Cosmos in the mind of the worshiper.  It is hoped that the article will inspire and stimulate interest in the mind of the readers to visit (or re-visit) a temple and appreciate the beauty of the holy site from a new, enlightened approach.