Are you a Disciple or Companion?

Knowledge has an end. Knowledge completes. So also does discipleship. For the disciple is aimed at acquiring Knowledge.

Once you cross the water, however nice the boat is, you get off the boat. After twelve years, the disciple completes his studies. The master does a ceremony called Samavartha, where he tells the disciple that he is ending the discipleship and asking him to behave at par with him, and let the Brahman dynamically manifest.

Sakha is a companion in life and death; it never ends. In the path of love there is neither beginning nor end. Sakha only wants the beloved. He doesn't care about the Knowledge or liberation. Love is incomplete because of longing. And so it is infinite, for infinity can never be complete.

Arjuna was a sakha to Krishna and although Krishna was the perfect Master he was a sakha too.

What are you, a shishya (disciple) or a sakha (companion)?

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 - Verse 5

Chapter 1 -- Verse 5

Verse: dhrishtaketus cekitanah
kasirajas ca viryavan
purujit kuntibhojas ca
saibyas ca nara-pungavah

Translation: There are also great, heroic, powerful fighters like Dhrishtaketu, Cekitana, Kasiraja, Purujit, Kuntibhoja and Saibya.

joseph-- a vaishnavite

Extract from The Hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/religion/article105812.ece

Joseph, who has Master's degrees in Sanskrit, Tamil and English, has been lecturing on Visishtadvaita for many years. His son is also a practising Vaishnavite.

D.A. Joseph's calendar is full, a lecture on Visishtadvaita lined up for each day of the week. Joseph's spiritual quest began when he was just nine. He had many questions, to which he found no satisfactory answers.

The answers came some years later, through Veeraraghava Iyengar, a Sanskrit and Tamil scholar, who became his Tamil teacher, when Joseph was in class ten, in St. Mary's school in Madurai.

The curious Joseph's first questions to his teacher, were not about his lessons, but about why Veeraraghava Iyengar wore his dhoti differently, why he had a tuft, and why he sported the Vaishnavite mark on his forehead. The teacher explained the significance of these to the inquisitive student. One thing led to another, and soon Joseph began to question his teacher about his religious beliefs.

Joseph's father arranged for private tuitions for his son with Veeraraghava Iyengar. Little did he know that while the boy studied his lessons diligently, he also plied his teacher with questions on philosophy. Gradually Joseph was drawn towards Visishtadvaita and he was convinced that he now had answers to all the spiritual questions that had been nagging him.

Joseph was lucky in his marriage. The girl Fatima Mary, whom his family had chosen for him, was also inclined towards Vaishnavism. A Ph.D in Marine Biology, she gives him valuable inputs for his lectures.

Joseph, who has Master's degrees in Sanskrit, Tamil and English, has been lecturing on Visishtadvaita for many years. His son is also a practising Vaishnavite.

What has he gained by being a steadfast believer in Vaishnavism? “My spiritual thirst was quenched when I understood Ramanuja's Visishtadvaita. And I've gained the friendship and affection of erudite Vaishnavite scholars and math heads.”

Joseph has switched religions, but hasn't changed his name. A Vaishnavite preceptor told him not to. An Iyengar speaking on Visishtadvaita was not likely to draw attention. But a Joseph espousing Visishtadvaita would make people sit up and take notice.

Voices of criticism

Joseph was in Chennai recently, to speak at the Triplicane Parthasarathy Swami temple, on ‘Ramanuja and Koorathazhvan.' When the lecture was arranged, voices of criticism were heard. Why should a Joseph speak on Koorathazhwan? Was there no one else available? This criticism is nothing new as far as Joseph is concerned. Even his guru Veeraraghava Iyengar had been criticised for teaching a Christian boy. But Veeraraghava Iyengar had weathered the storm of protests and argued that Ramanuja was one of the first social reformers, long before such reform was even thought of. How could those who swore by him, reject a student, simply because he happened to be born in a non-Vaishnava family?

Criticism, however, has followed Joseph all his life, but in the end he has always won over his critics through his writings and his knowledge of Visishtadvaita.

Once, Joseph's lecture had been arranged in Srivilliputtur. When news got round that a man with a Christian name was going to speak on Andal, Hindu right wing organisations threatened to disrupt the proceedings. Riot police had to be called in. Sriperumbudur Varada Ethiraja Jeer happened to be in Srivilliputtur at the time. He went to the venue, and said to the protestors, “If Joseph is not a Vaishnavite, then who is? Attacking him is like attacking me.” Joseph then gave his discourse, and even those who had threatened him conceded that Joseph had indeed spoken well on Visishtadvaita.

Joseph points to the huge audience in the Triplicane temple, some of whom are orthodox, as proof that voices of criticism are fewer these days and not so loud. His lecture at the temple is not in the usual style of discourses. It's in very simple Tamil. He says he deliberately keeps it that way, in order to reach more people.

He's also unconventionally dressed, unlike the usual tufted speaker. To dress in an orthodox style would put off youngsters, Joseph argues. Why the special concern about the response of youngsters? “They aren't aware of what a rich heritage they've inherited, whether in terms of philosophy, literature, art, science or logic.” He mentions a student of engineering, who asked him if Vedanta Desika and Ramanuja were the same person!

People may go to Joseph's lectures drawn by curiosity. But at the Triplicane temple, they did not stay on till the end only out of curiosity. They stayed and applauded because of the content of the lecture.

* * *

Nuggets from the lecture

W hen Peria Nambi lay dying, he put his head on Koorathazhwan's lap. This was more pleasing to him than dying in Srirangam.

When Kidambi Achan went to Koorathazhwan to learn a verse from Nammazhvar's Thiruvaimozhi, Koorathazhwan could not proceed with the verse, because every time he thought of Lord Krishna's simplicity, he dissolved into tears.

Compassion is the defining quality of a Sri Vaishnavite, and Koorathazhwan was second to none in this respect. He became lachrymose when he saw a snake swallow a frog

Bagvatgeeta verse1

Chapter 1 -- Verse 1

Verse: dhrtarastra uvaca
dharma-ksetre kuru-ksetre
samaveta yuyutsavah
mamakah pandavas caiva
kim akurvata sanjaya

Translation: Dhrtarastra said: O Sanjaya, after assembling in the place of pilgrimage at Kuruksetra, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do, being desirous to fight?

Ancient Idol of Lord Vishnu found during excavation in an old village in Russia’

Ancient Idol of Lord Vishnu found during excavation in an old village in Russia’s Volga Region

Posted January, 2012

MOSCOW: An ancient Vishnu idol has been found during excavation in an old village in Russia’s Volga region, raising questions about the prevalent view on the origin of ancient Russia. The idol found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to VII-X century AD. Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovsk region was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so far believed to be the mother of all Russian cities.

“We may consider it incredible, but we have ground to assert that Middle-Volga region was the original land of Ancient Rus. This is a hypothesis, but a hypothesis, which requires thorough research,” Reader of Ulyanovsk State University’s archaeology department Dr Alexander Kozhevin told state-run television Vesti .

Dr Kozhevin, who has been conducting excavation in Staraya Maina for last seven years, said that every single square metre of the surroundings of the ancient town situated on the banksof Samara, a tributary of Volga, is studded with antiques.

Prior to unearthing of the Vishnu idol, Dr Kozhevin has already found ancient coins, pendants, rings and fragments of weapons.

He believes that today’s Staraya Maina, a town of eight thousand, was ten times more populated in the ancient times. It is from here that people started moving to the Don and Dneiper rivers around the time ancient Russy built the city of Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine. An international conference is being organised later this year to study the legacy of the ancient village, which can radically change the history of ancient Russia.

Some Conclusions by others:

The discovery of an ancient Vishnu idol in an excavation in Russia only confirms certain ideas I have always had about the Vedic ancient and glorious land and culture.

The report says that the area in which the idol was found is called Staraya Maina. In the Rig Veda, there is a passage that goes, Itham ascati pasyat syantham, ekam starayath mainaa-kaalam. This translates into Staraya Maina is the name of the land of the 45 rivers (on whose banks the noble Rishis conducted the famous Horse Sacrifices), where the sun god descends into one fifty two forty seven. While the first line identifies a location, the second line talks about the exact latitude and longitude at which the solar spectrum produces interference lines at one, fifty two, and forty seven.
The extreme precision of the calculations show the advanced science of the Vedic period, and also a thorough knowledge of SI units (it has been conclusively proven that French scientists stole the system from the Indians.

The discovery of the idol confirms the location in Russia, identified in the Rig Veda as rus soviath sapthamahanagaratham (the ancient and holy land of the 722 flying vehicles). The ancient connections between the Russians and the Indians has been unequivocally confirmed. In Russian orthodox Christianity, worship is conducted very much like in Vishnu temples. The Russians refer to the feast of Vizhnyir Ekoratsya Vikhunh, directly corresponding with Vaikhunda Ekhadasi.

The Russian language also owes a lot to Sanskrit, whose origins 50,000 years ago roughly correspond with the language of the people of the Smritzyi archaeological site, along the banks of the now-dried up Vernstokhlin (Varnasatyakhalini) river system.

It is common knowledge in the archaeological community that the Parashurama Sutra, the basis of all government policy in the erstwhile Kerala kingdom of Vaazhappazhaa, contains the lines Sthulyam Kaamyunishancha kalanam brighahaha. The links between the ancient Russians and Indians almost certainly aided by the 60,00 odd scholars of the University of Vexalate (Sk. Vekhshalatha, Ru. Vekholotsla), in modern-day Central Afghanistan, in the 17th Century BCE, is said to have transferred political ideas through the land of the Vanga (Ru. Vangnya) in modern-day West Bengal.

The Vishnu idol is depicted with a hammer in one left hand while the deconglated seventh arm on the right side holds a reticulated sickle. This hammer and sickle imagery is also found in the Parashurama Sutra, conclusively placing the origin of great and popular Russian political ideology in Vedic India.

The Bringdunthaladeena Upanishad also mentions Kaamyunishcham in its list of land sacrifices, where under the directions of the King, all the land in the country was donated to the performance of sacrifices where Brahmins continuously tickled horny silk-rats (Gandharvamooshicam) until they collapsed in orgiastic exhaustion. The text also clearly identifies a group of scholars referred to as the Paalita Buryam, who oversaw the functioning of the King.

For years, western historical study dominated by Greco-Capitalists, has sought to undermine the Vedic Indian contributions to what came to be 19th and 20th Century world politics. The Greco-Capitalists also attributed the ideology of Communism to the work done by Karl Marx, one of their own. It has been well documented that Marx indeed visited Kerala and West Bengal, and had thorough understanding of the Parashurama Sutra, a copy of which he picked up in the old-book-stall near the Cochin airport. Later on, as part of the larger Greco-centric Capitalist conspiracy, Marx took all the credit himself.

In 1952 in Soviet Russia, an archaeologist, Prof. Varely Smirzkoff of Odessa University found artefacts near the ancient Belarussian town of Kozhikodz. He was the first to speculate that the ruling political ideology of his country could well have had its origins in Vedic India rather than Modern Europe. Stalin funded Smirzkoff’s research until Smirrzkoff was suddenly found to have stolen over 500,000 paper clips from work over the course of his tenure at Odessa University. He was sent to Siberia, and with him went almost all academic proof that would have certainly brought Russia and India closer together.

This recent discovery should resurrect the pioneering work started by Prof. Varely Smirzkoff, who died of Contracted Poloniumitis of the nose, in 1964.

quote

Worrying is like a Rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere.

Wisdom from sri sri

If there is water available but no one is thirsty, who would drink water? Isn’t it? Similarly, the questions ‘Who am I?’ ‘What do I want?’ should first dawn in our minds.

What does everyone want? Everyone wants to be peaceful, happy and contented. Who doesn’t want to be happy? Now, what is the way to be happy?
If the mind keeps wavering between the past and the future, how can it be peaceful? We need to put effort to bring our mind to the present moment. This is called Yoga.

Maharishi Patanjali has said ‘Yoga Chitta Vrutti Nirodha’ (Yoga is the act of restraining or freeing the mind from the clutches of its modulations). There are five types of modulations of the mind, which can be painful or not painful.

The first modulation is Pramaana - always thinking if this is right or wrong, wanting proof for everything. There are 3 kinds of proof the mind looks for- Pratyaksha (experiential proof),Anumaana (inferential proof) and Agama (scriptural proof).
The second modulation is Viparyaya - wrong understanding. We spend three-fourths of our time in Viparyaya. Either our opinions about people will be wrong or their opinions about us will be wrong. You think one person is bad and another person is good, but your opinions change after some time. Not knowing things as they are is Viparyaya.
The third modulation is Vikalpa – imagination, hallucination. It is imagining something that is non-existent. Some people imagine that something has happened to them and become afraid. A twenty-year-old youth had come to me. Though he was healthy, he felt that he had a lot of diseases. Doctors checked him and found that everything was fine, but he still wouldn’t believe it. Illusion about the existence of something that is non-existent is Vikalpa.
The fourth modulation is Nidra – Sleep. If you are not doing anything, you feel sleepy. Nowadays, people sleep even when they are working! A lot of people in the parliament are seen sleepy and yawning.
The fifth modulation is Smruti – Memory, remembering all that has happened in the past.

We have to become free from these five modulations. Only then does the mind become pleasant. How is that possible? It is possible through Pranayama and by being aware that all that has happened so far is like a dream. You brushed your teeth, took bath and ate breakfast in the morning. At this moment, look back and see, you will feel that they are like a dream.
Similarly, you celebrated Diwali and Ugadi last year and many other festivals in the past. You had many worries, challenging times and pleasant times. You have passed through all of them and come here. This moment, how does all that appear to you? (Response from the audience - Like a dream!) This is Vairagya (dispassion).

Similarly, some more decades will pass, and some days will be good and some days will not be so good. We need to observe ourselves if we are able to keep our mind balanced through the ups and downs. This is Yoga. ‘Tada Drusthu Swarupe Awasthanam’ – the seer reposes in the self.

Yoga is not just doing asanas (postures); asana is one of the limbs of yoga. The benefit of asanas is that the body becomes healthy and strong, the breath becomes quiver-free, the mind becomes pleasant, the intellect becomes sharp, self-realization happens in the consciousness, and intuition improves. There are countless benefits. That is why we must do Yoga and meditation for a short while every day.

Today, people from all corners of the world have benefitted from this and have come here (to the satsang venue). There are also thousands of people watching the webcast everywhere.

There is a lot of ignorance everywhere in our country. There are a lot of superstitions. Some people believe that one should not keep a Shiva Linga at their home and it should be kept in a temple. Who said that Shiva Linga cannot be kept at home?
A few other people cut a flower into a few pieces and keep a piece of the flower on the photos of a few Gods. They think that if they keep a flower on one God’s photo, the other Gods would get angry! God is one but the names are many. Why do we get ourselves into this mess? Just as the light from the sun gives rise to seven colors, all the forms belong to the same Divinity. Do not keep such differences in the mind.
God doesn’t want the coconuts that you offer. Our lives must be like the coconut. The shell covering around the coconut prevents any harm to the coconut, even if it falls from a great height. It acts as a shock absorber. Our behavior must be like that. However a person behaves with us, we must always have good behavior from our side. We must not react if someone criticizes us. We must not have the ‘Tit for tat’ attitude. If the shoe bites our feet, we must not bite the shoe!
If someone is behaving badly, we must understand why that person is behaving badly. If we react and also behave badly, it is not a sign of intelligence. People who react like this land up in jail and regret their behavior.

We must remove ignorance and blind beliefs. Go to villages and tell people to send their children to school. Karnataka should have one hundred percent literacy.

The other type of ignorance is to convert to another religion. There are a lot of people who are converting their religion because they get money for converting or they are told that by converting to this religion, you will be relieved of all your sins and cured of all your diseases. All religions talk about the same message of love.
In all the traditions of our country, they have spoken some very important knowledge. The knowledge discussed in Basavanna’s Vachanas (Basavanna-a twelfth century Kannada philosopher) cannot be found anywhere else. A very fortunate thing about being born in Karnataka is you are endowed with the gift of Vachanas (works of Basavanna). There is a lot of precious knowledge in the Vachanas. For knowledge to transform into experience, you have to meditate.

We have to fight against injustice. Corruption has reached such alarmingly high levels that it makes one feel that it cannot get worse than this. A CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) officer said that twenty-four lakh crore rupees of Indian black money is in international banks. We say that India is a poor country and invite people to set up businesses here. Some people in our country take the money from here, deposit it into international banks and rule the country as well. Innocent people get fooled by their talks and keep on electing such people again and again.
If all the black money comes back, there would be no poverty. Some people advise me ‘Guruji, you should stick to the spiritual path and not get into politics’. Tell me, should I keep quiet or should I speak about this? (Loud answer from the audience - Yes, please tell us!).

Other nations are ready to help in providing details about the black money stored in their banks, but our government is not giving the consent.
Corruption is everywhere, from villages to the central government. It takes so much time and effort to get a file cleared, to get a No-Objection certificate. There are good officials and politicians too, but they have become helpless. If this situation has to change, all of us have to take a pledge that we will neither give nor accept bribe. If any officials are sitting here, take a pledge that you will not take bribe for at least a year. If someone asks for a bribe, go in a group of around ten people. If our country has to improve, this is the only way.

Elect good candidates during an election. It is wrong to use money power or muscle power. It is not hard-earned money that they give. It is our money that they give. This should not fool us. It is not that all politicians are bad. There are good officials and politicians too, who need our support.

We must rise above the limits of caste and religion and work towards the improvement of the society. We must be ready to support whoever has faced injustice, irrespective of their caste or religion. Only then, we can be said to be devotees. A devotee of God also has devotion towards the country. A patriotic person should become a devotee of God, only then can the devotion towards the country be considered as authentic.

We must remove the lack that is in our country. All the farmers here must do Organic farming. We have experts who can help you get a good price for your produce. They will also help you with chemical free farming. We must protect the seeds, water and the soil from getting contaminated with poisonous chemicals. The prices of vegetables increase and come down drastically in short periods of time. This is due to lack of proper planning.

We need to remove uncleanliness and unhygenic conditions from our environment. There is so much dirt and filth everywhere. The mind and the surroundings must be clean. In other countries, the surroundings are clean. In our country, though the minds of people are clean, the surroundings are dirty. Have you seen, no animal or bird pollutes the environment? All forests are clean irrespective of the number of animals there. However, human beings pollute themselves as well as the surroundings. Do not think this is the job of the government. We need to work with them to keep our surroundings clean. Spend two hours every fortnight. Make a group of fifty to hundred people and clean up your neighborhood.

Participate in satsangs. This will purify you within as well as transform the atmosphere. Seva (service) brings outer cleanliness and meditation brings inner cleanliness. Both are needed.

There are records saying that the Britishers took away nine hundred shiploads of gold from our country. Do you know who built the first airplane? It was Subbaraya Sharma Shastri from Anekal district in Bangalore. He went to Mumbai and flew the first airplane there. The British put him and Navroji, the person who provided the finances, into jail. Wright brothers flew a plane thirty years after this. There is a lot of such knowledge about India, which is available on BharatGyan.com.
The Britishers took away so much gold then; now it is our own countrymen who have kept a lot of black money in international banks. If we get the black money back, there would be no need to pay tax. Three generations can live in abundance the whole of their lives. I think a big revolution needs to happen for this.

We seem to have lost the ability to think about our country. We get stuck up with petty promises of name, fame and position. If we focus on the big picture, about the well-being of our country, then our well-being is included too. Why are we forgetting this? If the foundation of spirituality is not there, our lives will be very dull and dry.

During my school days, there were Subashitas (Sanskrit couplets) and other great knowledge in our curriculum. All of them have been removed now, in many states. This needs to be taught to our children. We need to bring these back.

In Madhya Pradesh, the idea of including Bhagavad Gita in the curriculum was opposed. They filed a case saying that it belongs to a specific religion. Fortunately, the High court said that the Bhagavad Gita just talks about how one should progress in their life. Our children should be taught this knowledge. Only then can we achieve a violence free society.