Welcome to the 2023 Sripanchami issue of e-Sanai

 

by Sri Sandip Dasgupta

Joy Babathakur! Joy Babathakur! Joy Babathakur!

Welcome to the Sri Panchami edition of our e-magazine. This is the auspicious day on which the Supreme Absolute One decided to come to this mundane world and shower the Knowledge of Oneness on each and every one of us – to prepare us for the forthcoming Satya Yuga.               

During one of our recent satsangs, I asked Ramenda (Sri Ramen Basu) the question: “How can we know if we are functioning in the plane of Absolute Consciousness/Aami Bodh and not using our mind?”. Ramenda immediately referred me to Sri Sri Babathakur’s formula of four A’s (Adaptation, Adjustment, Accommodation and Absolute) and explained it very lucidly to all the participants. The explanation appealed to me so much, that I decided to transliterate his explanation and publish it in this editorial.

a) Start with adaptation – adaptation of our thinking. Remember the Master’s august proclamation ‘All divine, for all time, As It Is’. Try to see the Divine in each and every object, every action around us – that is Aami Bodh, not Amaar Bodh. They are all expressions of the Absolute Consciousness (Please refer to last year’s Saraswati Puja editorial wherein I had stated that everything has “I inside” and is “Powered by I”). Divine action is not for personal gain. It is rather to offer the results of all action to that Divine who has given us the power and resources to perform actions. Remember the Divine before starting any action, and while performing any action, try to attach some part of your mind to the Divine. Think of Karma as “Karo Ma” or that the action is being performed by the Divine Mother. Think of Dharma as “Dhoro Ma” – or hold onto the Divine Mother. This adaptation of external action will help develop our inner faculty.

b) Adjustment of the inner faculty – mental adjustment. While trying to do the adaptation mentioned above, our minds will constantly be fighting our efforts to adapt – through contradictory thoughts. The mental adjustment calls for us to repeatedly state:

-  I am not the body, the body is not mine.

-  I am not the sense organs, the sense organs do not belong to me.

-  I am not the mind, the mind does not belong to me.

-  I am not the prana, the prana is not mine.

-  I am not the buddhi, the buddhi doesn’t belong to me.

-  I am not the Ahamkara, the Ahamkara doesn’t belong to me.

But who am I? That Supreme I-Reality, Saccidananda Swaroop -- and so is every one else! So, you cannot have any liking/disliking when you are functioning in this plane – because liking/disliking is created by the mind. Through this mental adjustment, we learn how to live in this One Consciousness/One Bodh!

c) Accommodation – comes when our mental adjustment is complete and we start living in the plane of consciousness, where Brahma/Atma/Ishwara resides. This is achieved through constant practice after we have begun making mental adjustments.

d) Absolute – to surrender ourselves and merge with the Absolute Saccidananda Sagar. This is achieved through Para Vidya. This is what is mentioned in the Poorna Mantra – we come from the Poorna/Absolute and merge back to the origin/Poorna.

Joy Babathakur! Joy Babathakur! Joy Babathakur!

 

The Journey of Life

by Smt. Mandira Lahiri

 

The mystery of life at some point or the other puzzles everybody. When I was a little girl, I would often ask my mother that if we all must eventually leave this world, why must we come here at all in the first place? My mother would calmly reply, “That's the way of life. We don’t come here of our own free will, and we can’t leave this world of our own free will. Everything happens according to Divine Will.” This answer did not satisfy me completely, but my little mind understood that something very big was working behind this world phenomenon. Ours was a close-knit family and my parents were my role models. They were devout people who led a simple and pious life. I saw them accepting the highs and lows of life with equal vigor. They believed that no aspect of life is to be shunned, and reiterated that the adverse circumstances in life help refine people. As I grew up, the diversity of the world, and the suffering, miseries, instances of selfishness, struggles and challenges that I witnessed within it, baffled me no end.

In the course of time, when I came in contact with Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur, my thoughts underwent a change. In His magical voice he explained, “Good and bad exist side by side. You are not noticing the good. You do your bit and don’t worry about others. All files are different. This is a ‘Sportful Dramatic Same Side Game of Self-Consciousness’, so just play along. Do everything properly but in a detached way. Just be a Witness Consciousness. You cannot even see the back of your head, therefore why bother? Instead, just dwell more on your big-I.”

Presenting few relevant lines from Ashtavakra Gita----“He who has known that adversity and prosperity come through the effects of past actions is ever contented…. He who knows that happiness and misery, birth and death are also because of past actions--- becomes free from care and is not attached even though engaged in action.”

Excerpts from The Speaking Tree in the Times of India (TOI), Bangalore, dated 11/12/22 written by Humayun Taba about Taoists----“The Taoist’s focus is not on ‘personality development’ but on deep character transformation. Taoists have valuable insights for our times--- for sane living by way of unfixing our opinions and opening our minds; to bring balance between activity and repose; check the distractions of hyper-busyness; reduce overthinking and rediscover natural living. To tame the restless monkey mind with its purposeless activities, one needs solitude and to look at one’s pre-occupations with a critical eye.”

Some excerpts from The Speaking Tree in the TOI, Bangalore, dated 19/12/22 written by John Hierl which help us to navigate through the journey of life:

“No matter what the challenge in life, we always need to stay aware of the nature of thoughts that we harbor when things start to prove difficult: Do we think in defeatist terms and put ourselves down as losers? Or are we willing to take on any difficulty and build on the successes we have already achieved in life? We must be honest with ourselves and put things in the right perspective for the sake of our spiritual evolution.

We are part of God and at the same time always one with It. The Divine’s Lila is playing Itself out through us, whether we are aware of it or not. Therefore, by looking beyond the immediate goals ahead, we become motivated to work for a higher cause: to realize the Self.

Life is not about our performance in the outside world, but about keeping our focus on the Atman. In so doing we gain inner peace, strength from within and the will to carry on. Why should we then still feel the need to fulfill finite and passing desires which do not make us happy in life?”

Hermann Hesse in his book ‘Siddhartha’ writes about the young Brahmin Siddhartha’s search for Self-realization. Disturbed by the contradictions between his comfortable life and the harsh reality around, he takes to the life of a wanderer. But subscribing to an ascetic life, and shunning all temptations, does not give him a sense of fulfillment either. In despair, he goes to the riverbank and sits there quietly. And then in the silence he could hear himself, his inner self. In the end he grasps the wholeness of life, experiencing the sense of fulfillment and wisdom which come with it.

I strongly believe that the handholding of a Sadguru helps one to go through the vagaries of life. In the book, ‘The Science of Oneness’ Prajnanpurush Sri Sri Babathakur (Sadguru) elaborates:

“The Supreme Guru is verily the Absolute, Divine-Being or Divine-Self, Brahman/Atman personified.

The Guru by his divine glance creates all the worlds, nourishes all things and Himself is the essence of all scriptures.

It is high time for all to remember and worship Guru and God, not only for the good of a particular section of people, but also for the good of entire universe. Humanity, as a whole, is now in complete delusion--- delusion of pride of material power or atomic power pertaining to diversity and relativity, which in the guise of so-called modern civilization, full of tension etc., is very difficult to get rid of or to overcome. This is called the effect of ‘nescience’ or ignorance.

Men are born, not only to experience or suffer from the train of miseries of transmigration, but also to realize their True Nature, which is ‘All Divine for All Time, as It Is.’ Unfortunately, they are not yet able to reach that state. Divine-Self which is all-pervading Reality, out of love and bliss, manifests Himself in the form of human being and appears before all seekers of Truth, Liberation, Perfection and Realization, as Sadguru to help all of them to rise from transmigratory existence to Divine Existence, and thereby transcend the cause of the bondage of rebirth due to the hypnotic influence of triple gunas or forces of Prakriti (Nature).”

To break the cycle of cause-and-effect, Sadguru again reiterates on page 86 of the same book: ‘Human life wants lasting peace and infinite bliss or joy or happiness. But he does not know how to get that. The joy he gets from objective enjoyment or in contact of objects through senses is not lasting or permanent. Without Divine help human life cannot progress perfectly, cannot experience the perfection and his True Nature which is ‘All Divine for All Time, as It Is.’ This term is very comprehensive. It covers the essence of all sayings and all philosophy. You are eternally one with the Almighty God, though you cannot always realize it due to some causes. And all such causes are not fully known to you. Lord, in the nature of Guru, appears before you and makes you conscious of all such causes. Then you can easily get over the effect of your actions. You can easily become free from the reactionary effect of your thought, action and behavior or treatment.’

Sadguru has constantly reminded us of the fact that the culture of ‘Science of Oneness’ is the only panacea to overcome the miseries of the world. As I progress in my journey of life, I realize that the above mentioned words of our Sadguru holds true for one and all. His teachings will help us overcome the obstacles that life throws at us and complete our sojourn successfully.

Absolute Faith comes from Absolute Consciousness

The following is a transliteration by Sri Ramen Basu of a story narrated by Sri Sri Babathakur (appearing in Swajnaugrahasudha Vol. 2, pages 10 - 14).

Faith, and the extreme urge for liberation are resources for the devotee. The devotee does not care much about reasoning and discrimination. It is the Jnanins and the Yogis who prefer reasoning and spiritual discrimination. Blind faith is of no relevance to them. It is however only the devotee who understands how through steadfast faith, can one unite with the Ishwara.

The faith of the devotee is Absolute. Adverse circumstances cannot diminish his faith. For such a faithful devotee, what impediments remain to deter him from realizing God and from attaining Direct Experience? Certainly such faith can be attained as a result of virtuous deeds, through Sadhana performed in many previous lives, and by the mercy/grace of the Lord. On the topic of the Lord and His devotees, Sri Sri Babathakur narrated another beautiful and thought-provoking story to the audience concerning the cultivation of devotion and faith.

The faithful devotee is usually someone of a very plain and simple nature. There is a beautiful story about a faithful devotee. A traveling sage while wandering around, took shelter under a tree on the outskirts of a town a little further down from the junction of four roads. He sat under that tree for quite a few days. Not very far from his seat lay the habitation of a village, with its shops, open-air markets, and working people going about busily with their daily chores. The sage’s seat was a little concealed from the view of the villagers. From his seat, the sage would daily observe customers buying sweets at a nearby sweet-shop. That sweet shop, though not usually crowded, had some regular customers who frequently bought sweets. Besides this, the sage used to observe a farmer who would visit the sweet-shop each morning with a milk jar. The farmer would pour some milk into a big vessel without ever measuring the milk. The middle–aged owner/confectioner of the sweet-shop in turn would stick his hand inside his money-sack, and without ever counting the cash he held in his fist, hand it over to the farmer in lieu of the milk. Every day, the sage would watch this exchange between the confectioner and the farmer and wonder why do these two individuals who do business with each other, not follow the basic rules of transaction? That is, neither does the confectioner measure the quantity of milk he receives, nor does the farmer measure the quantity of milk he delivers. Also neither does the confectioner count the amount of money he pays for the milk, nor does the farmer count the money he receives for the milk. Observing this phenomenon taking place daily, a curiosity and desire arose in the sage’s mind to unravel the secret behind nature of these transactions. The worldly people are generally materialistic. They pursue a livelihood compelled by the need to feed themselves, and labor to earn a living so that they can make ends meet. Observing the confectioner and the farmer however not adhering to the norms of business transactions, confounded the sage.

Wandering one day, the sage stopped by the sweet shop to meet the confectioner. The confectioner on seeing the sage received him kindly, asked him to take a seat, and offering him a couple of sweets, said humbly – ‘You are a sage, and we are poor householders. How can we possibly serve you? Hence, please accept these couple of sweets and give us your blessings that we cultivate devotion for the Lord.’

Pleased with the behavior of the confectioner, the sage asked him in Hindi - ‘How many sweets do you sell daily at your shop, and how much is your profit? How do you meet your family’s needs with the amount of money you earn? Do you have any other means of earning?’

Listening to the sage’s queries, the confectioner humbly replied – ‘Oh revered sage, we are a family of eight: my old parents, one widowed sister, a blind brother, my wife, me and our two children. By the grace of the Lord, we are able to sustain ourselves hand-to-mouth from the earnings of this shop. I have neither any land nor any savings. The earning from this shop is my only resource.’

Having observed the nature of the daily transaction which took place at the sweet shop between the confectioner and the farmer, the sage was surprised by confectioner’s answers. He next asked the confectioner - ‘Look! I have noticed each morning while sitting under that tree, a farmer giving you some milk without measuring the amount of milk he gives, and you accepting that milk without ever measuring its quantity. How do you guess the quantity of the milk you receive from the farmer? Again, you pay the farmer for the milk without counting how much money you’re giving him, and the farmer too accepts that money without counting it. Neither of you ever keeps account of the quantity of milk delivered, the price paid for it, and whether or not you’re profiting or losing from your daily transactions. How can you possibly conduct business in this manner?’

Hearing the words of the sage, the confectioner was surprised and said – ‘Oh revered sage! I do not understand the reason behind your query. The business we conduct between ourselves is plain and simple one, based on mutual faith. It is not a business based on detailed reckoning. I have faith that the farmer won’t cheat me on the measure of milk, and the farmer also believes that I won’t cheat him over the payment for the milk. Since long, we have conducted our business with each other based on the strength of this faith.’

Listening to the confectioner’s words, the sage could not believe that the confectioner and the farmer didn’t deceive each other in their transactions. He told the confectioner – ‘Neither is it possible for the farmer to supply you with the same quantity of milk each day, nor is it possible for you to pay the same amount of money to the farmer each day. Most likely, both the amount of milk delivered and the money exchanged vary from day to day’.

The confectioner laughingly replied – ‘Yes it is true that on some days the amounts transacted are more, and on other days they are less. But on the average, they remains the same, not much more or much less. That’s because the bond of our mutual faith is very firm. Neither one of us is motivated by self-interest. Deceiving or to try to cheat the other, does not arise in either of our minds. Hence on some days the farmer gets paid more for delivering a lesser quantity of milk, and on some other days he receives less money for delivering a greater quantity of the milk. On average, neither of us registers a loss. By the grace of the Lord, we have been able to maintain peace and good will toward each other; and with the mercy/ grace of sages and saints such as yourself, we are keeping well’. Listening to these words of the confectioner, the sage left silently. A few days later, the sage while heading out somewhere, ran into the farmer who used to supply milk to the confectioner. He posed the same questions to that farmer that he had previously asked the confectioner.

Responding in the same way as the confectioner, the farmer told the sage – ‘Our relationship is a very close one, just like that of kith and kin. We conduct business with each other based on mutual faith. We do not deceive each other. On the average, we do not incur any loss. By the grace of the Lord, we get by with whatever we have. Neither are we very greedy, nor do we harbor any excessive cravings. We are satisfied with whatever the Lord blesses us with. We sustain ourselves by the fruits of our labor. We don’t blame, criticize, or hurt others. We never create any cause of suffering for others. Getting along harmoniously with one another, we view and accept all as our own. We believe that the Lord shall not be displeased with us. It is His kindness that ensures our survival. It is His grace that has bestowed life unto us, and the strength to work hard for our living. The Lord has graced our minds with plain and simple faith. It is His blessings that has provided us with the intellect to recognize and accept others as our own selves. What more could poor men like us possibly ask for or receive from Him? It’s His grace that enables us to be content with whatever we have. The kindness of the Lord pervades this world. Everyone in this world owes his sustenance to the Lord’s grace. We are village-folks. All of us more or less sustain ourselves by virtue of our toil. We live in harmony with each other. Within the limits of our capabilities and resources, we try to serve each other through good and bad times. This is what is our natural practice and our simple duty.’

Much surprised on hearing these words of the farmer, the sage took leave of the farmer without saying anything. A few days later, he went back to the confectioner and asked him a few questions. The confectioner’s responses to the sage’s queries were nearly identical to those of the farmer’s. Listening to these responses, a strange realization dawned upon the sage, which was – in any situation of life, if human beings live righteously according to the simple, plain laws of nature, they can attain the grace of the Lord. The sage experienced that the realization of the farmer and the confectioner was in no way inferior to his own realization of the Lord achieved through the renunciation of domestic life a long time ago, and the performance of arduous penance ever since. Arriving at this new state of awareness, absorbing this new light of realization, and thanking the Lord, the sage after expressing his gratitude to all the villagers, left the village singing the glory of the Lord.

In the ensuing period, the sage would in response to the queries of his devotees, recount this novel experience, and narrate how he derived the right lessons from it.

By observing the daily behavior of the confectioner and the farmer, the sage had come to realize the implied meaning of the dictum ‘Faith helps one unite with Hari, while debate/argument distances one from Him’. Absolute Faith is one of the means of attaining peace in life. Even if one gets cheated owing to a betrayal of trust, one should not abandon his faith in others. Faith shall eventually and inevitably triumph. Disbelief is the work of nescience and ignorance; it is the wealth of the mammon. But faith is knowledge and the work of devotion; it is divine wealth.

There is neither peace nor happiness for the disbelievers. The question of liberation does not arise for them. But for the believer, even if he is temporarily deceived or sustains loss, the end-result is right or auspicious. His peace and happiness gradually grow, and he finally becomes entitled to liberation. This is one of the signs and characteristics of the mercy/grace bestowed by the Lord.

Pleased with the service of a devotee, the Lord blesses the the devotee by making him His own. The worthy devotee does not wish for the form of the Lord that’s full of divine riches; he instead hankers for the form of the Lord that’s full of love, beauty and bliss. That devotee humbly prays to the Lord – ‘O Master, you are merciful. Everything is possible by your will. Still please do not dazzle me with your riches; your riches are too glamorous for me. Its use is also very complicated; only you can possibly use it properly. It is not possible for humans to handle your riches. Hence I do not aspire for your riches; please out of mercy/grace, bestow upon me a little of your devotional love, and I shall be blessed. Let me be your humble and earnest devotee, please accept me as such.’

This humble prayer of the devotee is heard by the Lord. So He makes His devotee humble, earnest, and materially poor.

 

Transliteration submitted at the holy lotus feet of Sadguru Sri Sri Babathakur by Sri Ramen Basu.