Monthly Archives: March 2013

Misery is not absence of happiness, but limited happiness. For as happiness recedes misery pours in.
– Swami Sri Ramananda Saraswati

Kabir – The couplet
कबीर सोई सूर्मा, मन सून मांधे झूझ ।
पंच प्यादा पारि ले, दूर करे सब दूज ।।

transliterated:
Kabir soyee soorma, man soon maande jhoojh |
Panch pyaada paari le, door kare sab dooj ||

Translation:
Says Kabir, he alone is the true warrior, who can battle the mind without fear |
Overcoming the shields of the five senses, he finds final victory over all duality ||

My thoughts:
Chasing after happiness, we forget to define what we really want. If happiness is the fulfillment of desire, it is truly ephemeral. The fulfillment of one desire quells the one, but gives birth to many more.

To want is to succumb to desire. And where desire lives, there thrives misery. For when we have it all, we find misery in not having something to want!

Then, should we be really be chasing happiness, or finding satisfaction? Happiness is the other face of misery, while satisfaction has peace as its shadow.

The five sensual desires – greed, anger, lust, attachment and pride – feed desire and drive want. Each step towards those accomplishments drives us deeper into the folds of misery (hidden behind the momentary happiness), and further away from the Eden of satisfaction.

Desire strengthens the mind – subdue desire, and the mind forever can become quiet. That is when we can truly realize the real us, and begin the conversation with the self that will lead to true salvation.

For the truly satisfied one has no emotion left but love – and that love will attract all that is required for attaining unending bliss.

Minus the mind, I no longer have the ‘other’ in me fighting my every step, misleading me at every turn. That is when I have begun the journey to self-realization, and have finally conquered duality.

Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with Vision is making a positive difference.
– Joel Barker

Kabir – The couplet
कबीर माला काठ की, कही समझावे तोहि ।
मन न फिरावे आपना, काहे फिरावे मोहि ।।

transliterated:
Kabir maala kaath ki, kahi samjhaave tohi |
Man na firave aapna, kaahe firave mohi ||

Translation:

Says Kabir, thus spoke the rosary of wooden beads |
Your mind does not want to move, why move me through your fingers?

My thoughts:

We hear this thought often – practice what you preach, do unto others what you would have them do to you, be like the blade of grass in the wind (supple, and yet and anchored), say not what you do not think right, and so on.

We often pick up work based on our perception of the end result, without taking into consideration the effort that is required.

Or we act without really putting in the effort to think through the purpose driving the act.

If we want to meditate, we need to have the proper end goal. If we cannot take on the life of the monk, then we should stay away from attempts to practice their rigors. And if we want to practice their rigors, we have to agree to the accompanying change of lifestyle and taking on the world as our family J

Nothing is wrong – unless the driving thought behind it is the wrong one!

Remember that daya, compassion, and Maya attachment, are two different things. Attachment means the feeling of ‘my-ness’ toward one’s relatives…Compassion is the love one feels for all beings of the world. It is an attitude of equality…But one thing should be remembered: Maya keeps us in ignorance (of our divine nature) and entangles us in the world, whereas daya makes our hearts pure and gradually unties our bonds and attachments.

– Sri Ramakrishna

Kabir – The couplet

जीवित सम्झे जीवित बुझे, जीवित ही करो आस ।
जीवित कर्म की फाँसी न काटी, मुए मुक्ति की आस ।।

transliterated:
Jeevit Samjhe Jeevit Bujhe, Jeevit He Karo Aas |
Jeevit Karam Ki Fansi Na Kaati, Mue Mukti Ki Aas ||

Translation:
Understand this while yet alive, realize it while you still have time|
If you break not the bonds of attachment now, how can death liberate you?

My thoughts:

While alive, we tie ourselves to the bindings we impose on ourselves – the bond of family, the bindings of friendship, the demands of duty, the need to be heard, the desire to feel good through the positive reinforcement of our perceived image in the eyes of others, the clutches of material possessions, the size of our bank balance, the glory of our social position, the magic of our own perception of our value.

If chasing all of this, we completely ignore the true joy we feel when we give up all and roam free, able to breathe air without restriction or worry.

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said it perfectly – when I remove the “my”, desire transforms into satisfaction. The same act, performed without ego, moves perception from self-pandering to true bliss.