I don't remember my infancy
I'm loosing my youth
It's the time when the old age visits
The past and the unfulfilled dreams,
Firing the life forces that still excists within
me as Sparks .
Friday, 24 June 2022
Memories
Sleepless at night I lie on my bed
Listening to my own Feable inner cries
Which were the results of my past actions
Remembering the past was hard
And nothing gushed into my mind
Is it the forgetfulness I don't remember
Darkness, deep darkness the companion of my Memories.
Unknown
A vision that my mind leads me to
The path that my legs make me walk
The air that I breath gives me life
The food that I take gives me energy
What am I doing that I need to
Where am I going that I should go to
No one knows what the destiny lies ahead
Still pride and prejudice makes a Man.
Monday, 21 June 2021
Darkness
Sitting idle staring into the abyss
Came the realisation that I m alone
No friends to share the agony ,
And no agony to be shared ,very blank as a pitch dark sky,
My mind was still and silent.
Silence and solitude the best companions,
Oh I love the tranquil feelings and blessed Iam.
Saturday, 18 July 2020
Baghavan Sri Ramana Maharshi - Who Am I
“Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen,try as you may , Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may to prevent it. This is certain . The best course therefore is to remain silent”.
Ramana Maharshi
In a small town of Thiruchuli , 55 Kms from Madurai, South India. The annual festival of Lord Siva at Bhoominatha temple is being celebrated with great pomp and as the festivities were coming to an end, the idol of Siva was being carried back to the temple late at night around 01:00 Am on December 30th 1879, a clear small cry was heard of a boy just outside the temple walls.
Venkitarama Iyer , Later to be acclaimed by the world as Baghavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was born.
Venkitaraman the second in four children of Azhakammal and Sundhararama Iyer , A successful lawyer and well known for his generosity. Azhakammal a hardworking, gracious and orthodox homemaker. Venkataraman’s twelve years of boyhood passed away happily and in 1891 he was send for higher schooling. However in 1892 his father passed away and the family was scattered. Venkitaraman Was send to his uncles house in Madurai and joined Scott’s middle school, everyone counted that Venkataraman would never be a scholar as he preferred games and athletics than studies.
At this time he heard about Arunachalam from a relative and the name resonated in him, When he read the sacred book Periyapuranam he felt astonished in the tales of renunciation and the union with the divine. This made a big change in Venkataraman and it took his brain by storm., He had a near death experience and this bought about a lot of questions in his mind as what is death , Myself and I etc.
After this incident Venkataraman no longer enjoyed playing as he was before. He was now fully into the divine experiences and all alone. While he was in his house studying Venkataraman all of a sudden sat in a posture and started meditating which he had never done before and this was the start of his great spiritual journey.
With the five rupees his brother gave him to pay the fees , he kept back two rupees in the cupboard with a small note saying “ Iam going in search of the supreme and never to spend money in searching me “. The first place that came into his mind was Arunachalam and he started his journey, in a very wrong train.
Here a Muslim Scholar showed him the right way to Arunachalam and with so little money he somehow , after leaving his home three days ago reached Arunachalam on September 1st 1896.
“Quest achieved and the journey ended “
He threw whatever he possessed into a pond which included three and a half rupees which he acquired on selling his gold earrings.
This was the last time Venkataraman ever touched money in his life, changed the dress to a mere loin cloth, shaved his head and as soon as he was going to enter the big temple, it started raining as if to clean Venkataraman before the initiation.
He stayed at the thousand pillared hall for days and nights for weeks in ecstasy and speechless. A saint named Sheahadri Swamy was the one looking after Venkataraman now. Brahmana Swamy by which Venkataraman now called was irritated by children of his same age and he moved to an unused dark room which had all kinds of creepy , crawlies which even fed on flesh from the thigh of Venkataraman, which he never felt or knew and it left a big scar which remained till his death.
This continued for nearly six months and Brahmana Swamy began to attract pilgrims and devotees.
On February 1897 Swamy left Arunachalam to a nearby temple Gurumurtam and fully settled in bliss , speechless for six months with only a cup of food as meal and certain occasions even skipped that with matted hair all forgotten.
He now had a full time attendant, who looked after Swamy’s affairs and was with Swamy for twenty one years. One day Swamy’s Mother came to see and she was heartbroken to see her son with a wasted body and matted dreadlocks. The boy never looked at her and went away without a word spoken. Till 1916 Swamy lived in a cave called Virupaksha cave which was used by a saint of the very same name in the thirteenth century.
The hall mark of the young sage was his silence that lifted everyone in need and the power of God was radiating from him in tremendous force.
In the year 1902 a government servant named Sivaprakasam Pillai , who came to Arunachalam for some official duty came to know about the young saint and went to meet him. On meeting Sivaprakasam Pillai asked fourteen questions and as swamy was maintaining vow of silence , both questions and answers where written down , later on this was compiled into a book “ Who Am I” and this remains the essence of all instructions given till date and for the many millennia’s to come.
Sri Ramana Maharshi approved several paths but always recommended on self realisation as the greatest to be accompanied by pure devotion.
It was Frank Murphy a westerner in 1922, first wrote articles about Swamy and published in foreign journals. From 1922 till the samadhi, Swamy lived in Ramanasramam that developed around his Mothers tomb.
November 1948 , a tiny lump was found on Ramana Maharshi’s arm which was removed in February 1949, soon another growth appeared and a couple of operations was done on him which made Swamy very weak.
He refused an amputation of the arm prescribed by the Doctors as it could save his life. Swamy was getting weaker and weaker day by day.
On 14th April 1950 at 08:47 Pm Swamy passed away and he became one with the Agnilingam of Arunachaleswaran. Before his samadhi He asked his devotees “ why are you all so attached to this body ? Let it go”and “where will I go ? I am here with everyone for ever”.
Thursday, 16 July 2020
Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa- The Greatest Master
February 18th 1836, Wednesday, A village of Bengal called Kamarpukur witnessed the birth of a child to poor Brahmin parents, who were considered as living sages by the villagers.
The child was named Gadadhar and lived in the simplicity of a village, cows, fields and rural life.
From the very young age Gadadhar would go into a trance on hearing about God, songs and spiritual talks. On his fathers death the family had a bad time and Gadadhar went to Calcutta with his elder brother Ramkumar who had opened a school there.
It was here that Gadadhar came into acquaintance with the modern ideas.
His brother wanted him to have an education as every other boy , but Gadadhar who had already understood that his birth was for a definite purpose and always asked whether he should spent studying material facts or acquire the wisdom that will illumine his heart by which one is satisfied for ever.
It was at this time a very pious lady of immense wealth and influence, Smt Rani Rasamani was on the lookout for a priest to her Kali temple at Dakshineshwar on the east bank of Ganga.
Sree Ramakrishna, the name by which Gadadhar became famous the world over moved with his brother Ramkumar who got appointed as the priest. The proximity of the Ganges, the tranquil atmosphere of the temple and the presence of the Kali , the Divine Mother of the Universe triggered an urge in Ramakrishna for the realization of God.
His thirst for realization was so immense, his sincerity, utter renunciation of worldly matters and devotion cannot be said in words. He had no guidance, no knowledge in scriptures but was pure at heart for the love of divine Mother and became the one passion for Ramakrishna.
Time moved on Ramakrishna yet not realized and the agony of longing for Mother Kali was increasing and he would cry aloud “Days are going in vain for I have not see you Mother “. Doubtful he would ask “is it real or is it not, if you exist why can’t I see you” and he would put more effort into the process of realizing.
As the pain of not realizing became unbearable, Ramakrishna thought of putting an end to his worthless worldly life without the vision of God and seized a sword.
All of a sudden illuminating everything with the splendor the Divine Mother revealed herself and Ramakrishna fell unconscious, after this he became fully intoxicated with God and he was not happy as it was not everlasting and gradually his sense of separation from the Divine Mother vanished and he became her child. Ramakrishna by now completely lost the conscience of the worldly affairs.
At this time he was called back to Kamarpukur as he was suffering from many ailments from the austerities and penance that he had been through and was asked by his Mother to marry and get settled in life. He readily agreed to it as seeing it as the will of the Divine Mother and took Saradhamani as his wife.
During this time he was in extreme sadhana and it was first found out by a renunciated nun and Ramakrishna became her disciple in practicing tantrik rituals. He had so many guides during this period and it was Totapuri a sanyasi of highest vedantic realization came to Dakshineswar and taught Ramakrishna the Advaitha Philosophy.
Under hid guidance Ramakrishna attained the highest nirvikalpa samadhi , a state from which no normal human would return and Ramakrishna was in that state for nearly six months. Totapuri imparted his all knowledge and even being a wandering monk stayed at Dakshineswar for eleven months.
It was at this time people in the village started spreading stories that Ramakrishna had gone mad. Saradhamani went to live with him from the village and found out that Ramakrishna is so loving and her anxiety of the rumors was removed from her mind.
Saradhamani stayed with him to become the first disciple as she was herself a noble soul and they both together traversed the spiritual path. They both looked at each other as God and Guru and later days Sree Ramakrishna used to say , "If Saradhadevi had not been pure and self controlled he would not have achieved the supreme:" And the rest is history, He found a new monastic order firmly established in the consciousness of God , later to become Sri Ramakrishna Mission with the effort of his first few disciples which included Swamy Vivekananda.
During this time Sree Ramakrishna practiced Islam,Christianity and he had the vision of the ultimate at the end of every path and he proclaimed that the end is same but the paths are different.
In the beginning of 1885 Sree Ramakrishna suffered from clergyman's throat which developed into malignant cancer. He was looked after by Saradhadevi and his disciples, With strict advice to maintain silence which he would not listen and spoke with his followers.
It is said that Sree Ramakrishna imparted his knowledge and powers to Swamy Vivekananda and asked him to look after the welfare of the other disciples. Sree Ramakrishna's condition worsened and he annihilated himself into the Divine Mother in the early morning hours of 16th August 1886.
"The boy became a devotee,
The devotee became an ascetic,
The ascetic became the saint,
The saint became the realized,
The realized became the prophet,
The prophet himself became God"
All this happened in a mere twelve years , Thus the humble and loving village boy Gadadhar Chadopadhay came to be known as the Greatest master of the 19th century India has seen, the son of Kali the Divine Mother "SREE RAMAKRISHNA PARAMAHAMSA" .
Wednesday, 15 July 2020
Shirdi Sai Baba - The name of God
He was said to be an incarnation of “Dattatreya” the all three Brahma,Vishnu and Maheswara as a single entity.
Said to be born in the year 1838 which is still under a debate and went into samadhi on 15th October 1918 aged 80 years. The samadhi off Shirdi Baba is situated in Shirdi , Maharashtra. Taking account of his life Baba preached the importance of realisation of the self and disliked the love for material things. The most important teaching was the complete surrender of oneself to the Guru.
He always condemned distinction based on religion and caste. It is unclear if he was a Muslim or an Hindu. The teachings had the elements of Hinduism and Islam. The name given to the Mosque he lived was “Dwarakamyi” and the famous epigrams were “Allah Malik” , “Sabka Malik Ek”.
The birth date and birth place still remains unknown and to an extent most definitive Information regarding Baba is from a book called “Sri Sai Satcharitha” written by Hemandpant in 1922. This itself is a collection on accounts by his disciples and Hemanpant‘s findings.
The real name is unknown and “Sai” was given to him by Malasapathi a priest and later to become a devotee , when he first arrived in Shirdi , a place in Maharashtra, Western India. Sai means a religious person as well as God and Baba refers to Father, Sir and so on.
Baba’s origins are unknown but some say he was born not far away from Shirdi. Baba too has not given any satisfactory and genuine answer to this.
Baba was said to be bought up and trained by a Fakir and also by Vunkusha the Hindu Guru.
Baba said to have arrived at Shirdi when he was around sixteen years old, he had stayed there for three years , disappeared for a year and came back by around 1858 and stayed there till his samadhi.
Around this time he adopted his famous style of dressing , a knee length Kafni and a cloth cap, a typical Sufi clothing. In a predominantly Hindu village this kind of dressing made some indifferences.
For four years Baba lives under a neem tree and wandered in the forest, withdrawn and unspeaking as he underwent long periods of meditation. Eventually Baba took up residence in a partly ruined Mashid, lived a solitary life on begging for alms from visitors.
The fire known a dhuni which he always maintained and from which he gave the sacred ash to guests and devotees and is believed to have supernatural healing powers. He delivered spiritual teachings , recommended Ramayana and Bhagavath Gita for Hindus and Quran for Muslims. Baba maintained a garden called “Lendi Baug “ which is still visited by many.
By the year 1910 Baba’s name and fame began to spread all over and across oceans, devotees grew larger as they regarded him as a Saint with supernatural powers and that he could perform miracles and it grew larger day by day.
August 18 , Sai Baba told Some if his close devotees that he would be leaving the mortal body and by September his condition deteriorated and on 15th October 1918 , on the day of Vijayadashami he breathed his last as a mortal human on earth.
His final resting place known today as Shirdi Sai Baba Temple.
Today an average of 25000 devotees visits the temple every day and during festivities it can reach up to a staggering one lakh.Thursday’s are considered very auspicious and the temple offers free food to all , irrespective of cast, creed and religion as this was one of the ideal principles of Sai Baba.
It is not possible for us to tell everything about Mystics and Sai Baba has not left any spiritual heir as none is competent and can take the place of the incarnation. Devotees claims that he performed many miracles as lighting lamps with water, mind reading , exorcisms, bilocation to mention a few.
It is said that Baba appears in the dreams of the followers and gives them advise even to this day and let us quote what Baba himself told before his samadhi. “You take a step to me with devotion and I will take six steps to you”.
After all who are we, the mere minuscules on earth to look into the life of Great Mystics and analyse.
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