Monthly Archives: November 2009

Once the success of knowledge has been demonstrated by an action, everyone need not to experiment and rediscover the wheel. Since most of the people are engaged in their worldly pursuits like agriculture, manufacturing, software development etc, they need not to be learning the pure knowledge or the technical knowledge. Thus they are advised to develop faith and trust and follow the successful people (Guru) so that they can save energies for the worldly pursuits, which are equally necessary for the world. Therefore, the path of devotion has been described as the easiest path for most of the people as requires minimum commitment from the people, yet it can provide the benefits of the knowledge.

– An extract from http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Three-Paths-of-Salvation-Are-Better-Than-One?&id=854777

– I strongly recommend the reading of the entire site slowly since there is more hidden in the writing than is evident from the initial reading – Mani

Kabir – The couplet
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??? ???? ??? ??? ??, ???? ??? ?? ??? ||

transliterated:
Charan bandagi charan seva, mool kamal bistaar |
Kahe Kabir Dharm Dass se , utare sir ke bhar ||

Translation:
Service and salutation at the feet of the guru are the root of the lotus (of devotion) |
Said Kabir to (devotee) Dharam Dass – this is the best way to remove all stress from the soul ||

My understanding:
Need I say more? Kabir, here, has further simplified the entire process of finding salvation – simple devotion. But he does not advocate blind devotion or surrender without reason.

The first part of the first statement addresses the confusion – it is up to us to find the RIGHT teacher, the proper guru. Once we find the Teacher, we are then directed to leave it to the teacher’s experience and wisdom to understand what we perceive as issues or problems, and then teach us the best way to navigate through the apparent morass.

I am an expert at my chosen profession, and yet need to often reach out to others to solve apparently intractable problems in my chosen profession, after having devoted a major portion of my life to date coaching myself to be the best at my chosen avocation.

Why, then should I even hesitate to ask for help at understanding the greater puzzle of life, and the mysteries of the sublime?

There are very few Masters, who, through a life of selfless service, have begun to understand the true meaning and purpose of this Great Gift we call human life. It is but a natural extension of the basic thought to reach out, search for, find and then question these Masters on the best way to understand and achieve the purpose of this Life.

Would you agree?

Different things delight different people. But it is my delight to keep the ruling faculty sound without turning away either from any man or from any of the things which happen to men, but looking at and receiving all with welcome eyes and using everything according to its value.
– Marcus Aurelius 121-180, Roman emperor and stoic philosopher in “Ta eis heauton” (The things you say to yourself), VIII.43

Kabir – The couplet
???? ???? ?? ?????, ???? ??????? ?? ??? |
????? ????? ??????, ????? ???? ??? ||

transliterated:
Hira tahan na kholiye, jahan kunjaron ki haat |
Sahaji gaanti baandhiye, laagiye apni baat||

Translation:
Open not your diamonds in a vegetable market, (where their value is not recognized)|
Ties a tight knot to the bundle, and keep to your own counsel ||

My understanding:
This is sane advice from the Teacher. It is sensible to not share anything where it will not be received. As the old saying goes, ‘When in Rome, be like a Roman!”

This is not to say that we need to lose values – it is only to keep them to ourselves in spaces where they do not have value. This is an important value to have – for if we cannot protect our values, and the reason we have them, there is no value we receive.

Visualize a ray of the infinite light flowing into you from behind, through your medulla oblongata (at the base of the brain). Let it flow into your body and activate everything you do and say.

God is in all things the real Doer. Meditating on this thought will help you to realize its truth. Feel the divine ray flowing into and through your body. Concentrate especially on the forward flow of that energy to the point of super-conscious awareness between the eyebrows. Then imagine it flowing out to the world through the spiritual eye, blessing others, your surroundings and the whole world.

Then affirm deeply: “Thou, Lord, art the Doer. Energize, and, through energy, magnetize everything that I say and do.”
– Material Success Through Yoga Principles – by Swami Kriyananda

Kabir – The couplet
????? ???? ???? ? ???? ??, ??????? ??? ???? ?
?? ???? ???? ???? ??, ????? ??? ??? ?

transliterated:

Kabira Kiya Kutch Na Hote Hai, Ankiya Sab Hoye |
Jo Kiya Kutch Hote Hai, Karta Aur Koye ||

Translation:

Says Kabir – Nothing happens by my doing, it happens oblivious of my effort |
What does happen, happens because it must – driven by the Will of The Supreme ||

My understanding:

This, in essence, is the underlying principle of the collective soul – each individual soul is a part of the larger whole. Whole in itself, it still exists because of the larger collective existence, and finds completeness only as part of the whole.

So do our actions – when we act focused only on our self, driven by desire, and focused on possession, the act does not in any sense satisfy.

Action driven by the common good, for the benefit of a group or set larger than the self, however difficult or seemingly against the sense of desire (or Maya), does leave the self with an all-permeating sense of deep satisfaction, and an after-glow that lasts for ever.

So, as taught by the many saints this world has produced, let me once again exhort all of us to work to the good of everyone, and we will for sure find that good comes back to us in much greater quantity and for longer than if we had acted only for ourself!