Hari Om.
As the year 2013 is approaching, I am trying to think in, out and through the “Black Box”. A question that has occupied my mind for a long time – at least since a decade – when I captured the question in my mind in the following picture (in the year 2003).
Life is filled with race – for money, luxury, comfort, security, fame, name, recognition, success etc – all the “so-called” ingredients for a happy life. Most of the humanity seems to be in search of something exquisite, which it fails to comprehend, but engages itself in a race for the above things in the hope that it can achieve that exquisite goal. The above things give security and freedom, I am sure, but do they give unperturbed happiness, peace, contentment?
At times, it appears I know the exact answer to the question; at times, it just eludes me and I am back to where I started. I feel I have raced enough. I cannot say that all that came out of this racing is permanent and ever-lasting happiness and peace, since that is quite contrary to the usual ebbs and tides that characterize a person’s state of mind. But I keep racing. I am planning to do some serious thinking to start the new year fresh with some healthy and happy perspectives and possible answers that I can embrace.
Yours,
Aparna
Aparna,
You and Hari are what we hope to be some day
Anil Aggarwal
HARI OM RESPECTED DIVINE SOUL,
MILLION THANKS FOR SHARING ALL YOUR GOODNESS, THOUGHTS, POEMS, ARTICLES, E-BOOKS, ETC ETC.
MY ALL GOOD WISHES GO TO YOU FOR YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTION, MAY YOU ACHIEVE THE SAME WITH
FLYING COLOURS. YOU ARE ALREADY SPIRITUALLY ADVANCED, AND AMBICIOUS. THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR
VARIOUS EXPERIENCES AT DIFFERENT TIMES. I LIKED SWAMIJI’S SPIRITUAL CALENDAR. (IS IT AVAILABLE IN BOOK FORM ?)
I LIKED POEMS LIKE “EVEN THIS WILL PASS AWAY…”, & SONG OF YOGA SYNTHESIS: “EAT A LITTLE, DRINK A LITTLE” . I READ HYMN IN PRAISE
OF GANESHA FROM ATHARVA VEDA, “ AUDIO … PADHU POTHI ME RAM” IN VOICE OF REV. SWAMI
CHIDANANDAJI MAHARAJ….. IS IT AVAILABLE IN CD FORMAT??? ..
FOR SHARING SO KINDLY ALL THESE, I HEARTILY THANK YOU AGAIN.
MY GURUDEVA (FROM RAMAKRISHNA MATH) SENDS ME SO MANY GOOD THINGS THROUGH SO MANY NOBLE HEARTS LIKE YOURS !!!
TEACHINGS OF ALL THE SPIRITUAL GURUS ARE ALMOST SAME, OR SIMILAR….. SWAMI SIVANANDA’S SACRED WORDS ALSO DIRECTLY ENTER INTO
A SEEKER’S HEART.
MAY LORD BESTOW UPON YOU HIS SPECIAL GRACE SO THAT YOU CONTINUE TO ENLIGHTEN THE SUBSCRIBERS OF YOUR SITE, AND TO THOSE WHO NEED TO ADVANCE ON PATH OF TRUTH.
WITH BEST WISHES FOR NEW YEAR, AND HUMBLE PRANAMS,
YOURS IN THE LORD
CHATURBHUJ L. GURNANI
(ANDHERI, MUMBAI, INDIA)
dear aparna my child
this i have seen in my life right from the day i was born, my parents left me in the care of servant maid in shahabad cement gulbarga dist karnataka she taught me to be tough, when going gets the tough gets going, my parents went to bangalore with my other two younger brothers i never felt bad , only when zulfikar aki was hanged and clemency was not given i hit hard with my fist on the photo of my parents and cried like a baby why are torturing me like in the death cell am i not your own son did you not give birth to me my monther was tough even to day she is tough and asks me to get out of her house since i am a sanyasi, i prostrate and get out of the house she refuses even a glass of hot water due to my sickness but i march on be bold like sw vivekananda and mahatma gandhi and all the great saints, leaders, scientist, enginners, doctors, nurses, and all the great peopl of the worl for 1000 years
i am happy serving humanity in my capacity with out any ego mentally retarded/special need children when they say aaa aaa tears well my eyes they do chakrasan excellenntly and pranayama normal children 200 love me when i came to bangalore before my departure they plead swamiji aap mat jayiye, that is human love animal love is still marvellous when i go go shala and sing song of god all the cows listen, dogs listen to my love and wag their tail, even plants listen to music , trees are god but we are cutting mercillesly in the name of development the whole india will become desert one day and littered with gatrbage
god bless you
swamiji
senior monk and senior social worker
snehalaya
special need children, international public school, farm,cow shed, hospital, trauma center, temple, yoga center more to come
gwalior
OH SWAMIJI !!! ( WHO EVER YOU MAY BE, SR. MONK, SR. SOCIAL WORKER AT SNEHALAY, GWALIOR,) YOU COULD HAVE MENTIONED YOUR GOOD NAME IN RESPONSE TO RESPECTED APARNA HARI’S LATEST POSTING ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING CURRENTLY AROUND… SWAMIJI, YOUR MESSAGE HAS ENTERED MY HEART THROUGH – IN – THROUGH !!!.. YOU ARE HERE IN SERVICE OF ALL LIVING BEINGS, ONLY BECAUSE YOU WERE NEGLECTED. BIG THANKS TO YOUR DEAR PARENTS, GOD HAS FULFILLED YOUR DIVINE WISH THROUGH YOUR GOOD PARENTS, WHO HAD THROWN YOU OUT!!! I THINK VERY FEW INCIDENTS MAY BE IN HISTORY LIKE YOURS…. SWAMIJI, MY THIS BROKEN, BUT HUMBLE HEART BOWS UNTO YOU FROM HERE MUMBAI TO YOU AT GWALIOR.& I IMAGINE, MY HEAD IS TOUCHING HOLY DUST OF YOUR SACRED FEET… I THINK, IF SINCE YOUR CHILDHOOD YOU HAD BEEN WITH YOUR PARENTS, YOU WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THIS MUCH FORTUNATE TO DO THESE PRESENT NOBLE DEEDS. BECAUSE OF YOU, THAT PLACE MUST HAVE BECOME A HEAVEN FOR MANY, HUMANS, ANIMALS , BIRDS ETC. SO MANY MUST BE FEELING RELIEVED AFTER MEETING YOU. SWAMIJI, ONCE AGAIN, MY HUMBLE PRAMAN TO YOU, AND ACCEPT MY LOVE AND BEST WISHES FOR WHAT EVER YOU ARE DOING. MAY YOU CONTINUE THIS TIRELESSLY, SELFLESSLY, BUT JOYFULLY.
EVER YOURS ( WE HAVE NOT YET MET)
CHATURBHUJ L. GURNANI.
ANDHERI, MUMBAI.
CELL: 09833230050
Dear Aparna Hari,
i love to go through everything you send us ,do write to us all that u think of this RAT RACE;we too can use it as an advice to lead our lives
Dear Aparna & Hari,
Nice post, some time i feel i am in same boat ( we all are !)
here is the nice quote from Om Swami ” Acceptance does not mean you no longer work towards what matters to you, it means you do not let your present circumstances or the outcome affect your state of peace.”.
~Umesh
Happy new Year, and ya join the Club. Thinking about it may not do the trick, “Being” can or may do it, and for “Being” one may ask for the Grace of the Lord either thru ardently devoted longing prayers and / or thru contemplation and consistent dwelling regularly on (twice daily or as often as possible basis) or even as a ritual on AATMA Shatakam, aka as The Nirvan Shatakam of Adi Shankaracharya ji or any other Mantram that one may have Faith in, may possibly help too! Let’s not forget that what ever we perceive with our thinking or analyzing mind and body or senses (BMI in Swami Chinmayanandji’s language) is not IT, we are far more and also above and beyond BMI as is also so very beautifully narrated in Nirvan Shatakam by Adi.
Renunciation of thinking mind by coming into NOW (i.e. this moment or task at hand, Karma Yoga in it’s true sense by doing 1 thing at a time with one pointed attention) also may be of help to many; and of course devotional awareness of This Moment (NOW= No Other Way) can also be gradually cultivated by pausing before reactionary mind starts doing it’s thinking with Intellectual Double Edged Sword.
And needless to say, Dhyanam or Meditation or Pranayam and Yoga of all types in any combination or permutation leads us to the same end. The real key is not to make or use this Moment as a Means to an End, and just Be rather than Do or Think!
And for now, if I were you, I’ll also contend with my mere sincere intention at this stage, and attention to higher purpose for greater good may itself follow to manifest at it’s appropriate time and will unfold with better precision and clarity! Till then keep your faith strong and hang in tough, it’s all coming eventually, above all let’s try to be compassionate to ourselves, and radically so, wo ifs & buts and wo shoulds & coulds!!
Manohar’s Jai Sat Chit Ananda