Why do we Pray? - A Prayer - A Self-Study - A healer!

Why do we pray?  An innocent child once asked me.  I replied, we have to pray so that God keeps us safe and happy.   She countered asking ‘ Will God not know to keep us safe if we don’t pray?’  .  I blinked.  God created us and we are his children.  We are made the way he made us to be born, raise and lead each of our lives the way we were created.  Each one of us was created with certain limitations and blessings.  We count our blessings and regret for our limitations.  To over come such limitations, we pray to god to heal us, to refine us and to re-make us.  Our situations and circumstances are the results of our own actions and thoughts.  However, there are various external things that contribute to what we are pushed into.

Example, though we are driving in the right direction, in the correct speed, following all rules,  a drunken driver coming in the wrong way may push us to an accident that changes our life in a split second.   A minor earth quake may shake off the very house we built with care.  A holiday may destroy the whole life with a cloud burst similar to that happened in Uttarakand floods.  An evil terrorist may gun down a self-less soldier fighting for our Nation.  Anything may happen.  Life is so trivial.  Death is not the only suffering.  The very passage of life, the bridge between each one’s birth and eternal sleep is defined by our own destiny or fate.  Those who do not believe in destiny,  may think that what ever is to happen will happen.  This is also destiny.  Then why do we pray?

Prayer gives us a sense of hope.  We have God who would listen to us without questioning back our intentions or expectations.  We can crib, cry and beg God for anything that we want in life.  Though he gives us or not, the hope and faith, that we have asked and will get makes us go through positive vibrations.  These vibrations are so important that we keep ourselves with positive thinking.  The affirmation makes it important to concentrate on things that can make our lives better.  We cannot change our destiny.  But instead of brooding over a tragedy, or a making a misery out of a disappointment, we need to be internally strong and make the best of the opportunities out of our adversities.  Then alone life will find a meaning.  And for this Prayer helps.

Prayer heals.  The way we pray, we let all our emotions come in true form in front of the God’s altar.  We thank God for blessings.  We fight with God for putting us through test, we feel that we have him to hear to us and heal us within.  There is a promise felt in a prayer.   We hear answers when we question things with God.  We feel solutions around us for every problem.  We hear the responses within.  Our mind comes into equilibrium of thoughts when ever we get derailed from the path set before us.  Prayer is the key to this process.    Daily prayers make us strong because of the vibrations they create.  Prayers control our emotions, especially negative emotions like anger, hopelessness, revenge, frustration and falsehood.  Prayer makes us feel that God will take care of charge of things that are not in our control.  Prayer also gives us a strong hope that God will punish who are not righteous to us.  Prayer makes us think with common sense and calmness of mind.  It gives us a time in solitude to introspect our own selves peacefully.  Prayer is nothing but an assurance to one self that things will be alright and there is a supreme power guiding us.  Sometimes, the supreme power is very much within you. 

I leave it to God, when it is beyond me!

And the Miracle does happen!

Aaradhana- A Prayer to Ramana Maharishi - A Tribute

A Tribute and Prayer to Sri Ramana Maharishi

Date: 27 April 2014

Awakened with an unending spiritual power

Direct path of self-enquiry and understanding

At the foothills of the Holy Arunachala Hills

Started an era of spiritual heart of the world

The real quest for truth and zeal to live

there is nothing to rule others or just themselves

greatest power is at the command of the man

penetrated to the utmost death of one's inner self

Mind is nothing but a bundle of thoughts

the thought of 'Who am I' subsidies this

As he said, I cannot go away, where can I?

When my thought and soul is here in the hills?

64 years after the great saint of south attained

his physical exit from this free thoughts world

We still remember his sayings and thoughts

for they guide us towards good respected deeds

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In the vision of death, though all the senses were benumbed, the aham sphurana (Self-awareness) was clearly evident, and so I realised that it was that awareness that we call "I", and not the body. This Self-awareness never decays. It is unrelated to anything. It is Self-luminous. Even if this body is burnt, it will not be affected. Hence, I realised on that very day so clearly that that was "I"

The real feet of Bhagavan exist only in the heart of the devotee. To hold onto these feet incessantly is true happiness. You will be disappointed if you hold onto my physical feet because one day this physical body will disappear. The greatest worship is worshipping the Guru's feet that are within oneself

Today 27. 04. 2014 happens to be Ramana Maharshi's Aradhana Day. On this day, so many years ago, thousands of people all the way up to Mumbai saw a brilliant star with a luminescent tail paint the night sky, right at the moment he attained Maha Nirvana. Take a moment to prostrate before the greatest enlightened soul to have walked the Earth. It's really such a blessing!

The French photographer Cartier-Bresson was visiting Ramana's ashram as Ramana neared death. He noted the following astronomical event which appeared in the night sky over the sacred mountain Arunachala as Ramana died:

I saw a shooting star with a luminous tail unlike any I had ever seen before moving slowly across the sky and reaching the top of Arunachala, the mountain, disappearing behind it. We immediately looked at our watches. It was 8:47. We raced to the ashram only to find that the master had passed in to Mahanirvana at that exact minute. Nor was this experience only documented by a select few … All the English and Tamil papers which arrived this morning from Madras referred to the meteor which had been seen in the sky over the entire state of Madras at 8:47 on the night of April 14 by a large number of people in different places. These eyewitnesses had been struck by its peculiar look and behavior

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Om Shanthi Om!

A healthy body makes worthy thoughts....

It had been quite sometime, I even thought of writing in here.  With many changes happening since July in life., I could just not muster energy or thought to write down or in fact muse around the most interesting aspects of my life.  With a craving for change in career, I have put back a comfort zone of a corporate that gave me many things in life, financial freedom, liberty at work, travel across the globe, accolades beyond expectations, immense client value and above all a great professional satisfaction.  Despite all this, I wanted to move on.  The general human tendency wanting for a change.  I learnt very early in life that Change is the only constant thing in this world.   I moved on from HP to IBM, another corporate with the same kind of work, new people., new work time zones and something and everything that I wanted to transform ....yet, I very well knew that a IT career or the Corporate environment is just going to be the same, and it is in me that a change is very much needed.  The perspectives of my thinking that need to change with time and experiences, with people and values we make in life.   It was easy to be said than done.  As I was going through this introspection of one's life, a internal search for an integral eternity , suddenly things changed. 

 

A elderly person, father like Father in law, left us to heavenly abode like a flash.   Everything happened in within 3 days that it just didn't digest at all.  The man who was giggling at the family weddings over the weekends, fighting with us for the last scoop of ice creams like a wild little child,  the person who proudly announced to everyone on each of our achievements, the man who used to run to buy cakes for his grandchildren every week end suddenly disappeared.  The facts of the Vaishanvism in the family, the trust that once was managed by the ancestors, the tanjore paintings done by ancestral ladies of the family in the Perumal temple of Saidapet, everything flashed giving us a new recognistion. The stress was too much to handle both physically and mentally. 

 

The sickness of body overtook my strength of mind, and I got hospitalized,  As I was lying silently in the hospital bed and thinking again and again on what I want to make in life, I was lost.  There are hundreds of things that we want to do, we want to achieve, we want to bring in a change, a meaning to someone, a difference in some one's life.  Probably in our very own.   Yet, we get caught in the societal norms, social obligations, financial needs, and materialistic living.  The very goal of spiritual realization is pushed again to a back seat for a later day.   What is that we want to make in life?   A inner peace, a spiritual life, a materialistic wealth, a perfect health, a sound mind, a peaceful soul?   Is it not too much to ask for?  Does any one have everything that they need, or want or ask for?   Only when you know the meaning of self contentment that you would realize the meaning of everything that was defined by the mind in its sublime surrender to the body and soul.  The harmony between mind, body and soul is not difficult to attain.  It is difficult to maintain and consistently feel its uniformity.  However,  the bridge between life and death, the very essence of each one of us having to cross the bridge, finish the travel in our own ways, makes meaningful lives.   Each one of us are born with a purpose, a karma and a responsibility to finish that karma.  And in this journey, we play the various roles that we have to enact , and then exit the way we are destined to.  This is not an emotional out pour of a soul, that quite frequently searches for a real meaning of life.  These are the thoughts of the individual who is often misjudged, misunderstood and mistaken.   The very purpose of this self introspection is not for any one but for us to deal with our own actions and consequences.   Once we realize this, we will not do any harm to any one, think no evil, do no evil and live no evil.

 

Sarvey jana sukinobavanthu!

Benefits of Writing Sri Rama Jayam

Rama Koti is a divine Prasad of Rama Nama Japam and Rama Nama Sankirthanam in Rama Namavalli .

As my husband started the New Year, with writing the Sri Rama Jayam after I mentioned that my grandmother used to write when we were young, my half baked knowledge on the same, made me do a bit of research on what exactly does this practice do to oneself. I was amazed to gather the below information which I would like to share with my readers as the first post of this year!

• Writing Sri Rama Jayam is called Likitha Japam- Writing Meditation. This gives one a complete sense of surrender to an inner conscience and peace while writing the golden words.

• You can write this in any language of your choice. It is the connecting chords with the divine and your inner self.

• In the olden days, the finished Rama Jayam books used to be buried in the foundations of the temples while under construction. It is believed that it used to add divine energisation to the Temples along with laying a strong foundation for a spiritual life of the writers

• It is believed that a calmness engulfs as one indulges in writing the Sri Rama Jayam bringing in more clarity of mind, tolerance and strength to withstand obstacles in life

• The mantra forms an unending stream of bliss and a inner noise proclaiming that the Universe is just expanding giving in more opportunities and prosperity

• As you write this matra – in small measures, every day, as and when possible, with due respect, it makes everything else of life’s needs fall in place automatically., just like a miracle of nature guiding its forces

• The mythological references states that the name of Rama is more strong and divine than the Lord Rama himself. When something is started with Om, Sri Ganesh, Sri Rama, they actually wade away all evil.

• Vedas tell that as the sun dispels the darkness, the chanting of Rama Nama dispels all evil and obstacles of life. It is a way of liberation and salvation of human suffering.

• When you think, that all roads are blocked to walk away from day to day problems, writing ‘Sri Rama Jayam’ gives you the most needed clarity of thoughts to find a way out of odd situations

• Preserve the completed books carefully and donate them to temples. These books are preserved for many years and used during Temple expansions

• Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt Pettadipathi’s in olden days used to give one small ‘Kamatchi Amman’ coins to who ever gives one completed book of ‘Sri RamaJayam’ as a token of god’s grace

• Ramacharitra Manas, Vibhishana Gita and Gita Press and Chinamay Mission discourses talk about the divinity of Rama Nama japa. It is called a writing tapas

• It is said that ‘Crores’ of Rama Mantras in the books are collected and placed in a crypt and used during Yagna’s in the Rama Mandir’s in India. Rama Mandir in Wadala Mumbai preserves them for future.

• Writing competitions of the one lakh Rama Jayam used to be nostalgic memories of growing years of many hindu children. These were preserved as treasures to pass on to their future.

• Hindu way of living is seeing humanity in everything around. Writing Rama Jayam gives you a inner awakening towards to human mind, being kind , calm and serene.

• Chanting Shastra Namavalli, Lakshmi Shastra Namanarchana and above writing Rama jayam is considered a soul-ful experience wading away fear and pain from lives

• The act of writing ‘Sri Rama Jayam’ is important and keep his thoughts while doing so, is more important than the script, language or number., though for all longevity of the process a number in mind is planned while making a start

• A selfless and non-expectation while writing gives you more happiness and potential than expecting something writing. For you are a god’s child, and God knows what you want and will give you what you are destined for and deserve. You don’t need to ask God for anything.

• Devotion of service of life and its varied forms is devotion to God. So there is no right or wrong way of writing this. The very thought and process to write is a connection with god and finds a inner meaning.

• It is a gateway to higher consciousness and spiritual upliftment. The chanting of Ram Mantra protects you with divine flow of energy transforming a balanced progress in your materialistic well being and spiritual wellness

• Ram Ramapati Bank in Varanasi and Ram Ram bank in Lucknow where Ram bhaktas deposit Ram naam in thousands and lakhs. More info is available in the following links.http://www.indiaprofile.com/religion-culture/spiritualbank.htm and http://ia.rediff.com/news/2003/dec/08spec.htm

• Sri Tulshidas writings say that ” If you place Ram naam in the tip of your tongue ( which is like the gate of the temple) then you will see both inside and outside shining with light ”

• “Shri Ram Jaya Ram Jaya Jaya Ram” is a siddha mantra and whoever uses it will reap a harvest that he himself can never expect. Numerous saints and ordinary people have benefited from this mantra from times immemorial. In this age of Kali yuga it is a medicine which can fade away sins and all other unwanted things in life. It is advised that we chant Rama nama even when we visit Hanuman temples.

Thanks to many people who throwed more light on this Endeavour making my first post of the year valuable.

Watching B.R.Chopra's Mahabharat ....after close to 15 years again

Last few holidays, I spent my time watching B.R.Chopra's Mahabharat...in fact showing it to my child who was curious to know the characters of the great epic.  I probably could not explain to lot of her questions and found it more interesting and easy to make her watch "Mahabharat" on YouTube.   Believe me, the television scenes that I watched almost 15 years ago were so fresh and alive in front of me, and  it is not about a sharp memory, but the kind of involvement we had those days to this great serial of all times in the history of Indian Television.   As a strong believer, that "Kalachakram" will have answers to all questions, every time I saw the same repeatedly saying how the Past and our own destiny will impact our very future, is in fact a strong lesson to many of us as grown up adults today.

The epic with its poise and grandeur have every thing that no management institution can explain, it has every political angle of administration that no parliament today could adapt every bit of "Rajanithi" proclaimed years and years ago.  

The most important takeaways any day of this great epic would be

• Dharmam (Justice)
• Honesty
• Integrity
• Trust
• Passion and Love
• Determination
• Truthfulness
• Tolerance
• Acceptance
• Perfection
• Timelessness
• Priceless
• Abundance
• Honour and Self-Respect
• Relationships
• Emotions
• People
• Borders and Wars

As a parent, I thought it is my responsibility to introduce this great epic to my child, for few reasons.

1.  Indian History is not only the most ancient but also the most tolerant and politically strong heritage

2.  Every problem will have a solution, and Mahabharat teaches you to think from all angles

3.  Be it your relation, friend, or a teacher, if for Justice, it is right to fight against them.  This is a very big lesson that today's world of selfish and greedily attitudes should learn from this beautiful history of all times

4.  Truth alone wins.  What ever may be the battles of life, stand by truth and it wins

5.  Lot of lessons to handle relationships, emotions, patriotic feelings, war with wisdom and integrity to the land and the people, friendship and sacrifice, secrets and mazes of life, unwind at ease in Mahabharat, which will be difficult to explain to our modern day kids. 

I have grown up watching this great epic, and I strongly believe that lot of my actions and judgements are purely driven by self-conscious effort of what I learnt from this great television serial.  To us, it wasn't a serial, it was a visual way of teaching what no historical books or reading could have done.   Swami Vedanta tries to explain "Bhagavat Geeta" in all his lectures.  BR.Chopra ever lasting Mahabharat should be retelecasted for generations and generations for it is the core of Indian Heritage that all children should be exposed to.   It is an immense treasure of knowledge that every parent should pass on to the children.  For what stands as a testimony to the truth of life, is not the wealth but the wisdom we pass on to our generations to come.  I would request all my friends and readers of this blog to attempt the same, for our children will find direction, a sense of responsibility, an understanding to the lives realities, and a sharp thinking capability to handle any life's given situation.   With all gratitude to the whole team of Mahabharat who are for ever green in the Indian Television history, I end...

Spirituality as part of Self-Management

Gone are the days when spirituality is considered as an activity during our last lap of our lives. Today it became quite evident that a bit of self-realization, spiritual understanding is essential to combat the stresses of our every day to day activity. Not only individuals, but also Corporates’and Government is taking measures to bring in ways and means to combat the pressures of the modern world.

Everything in this world is moving at rapid pace. Even the wait at signals for seconds, seems to be too much of a waiting for people. The countdown begins everywhere and for everything. Catching the school bus, carpool on time, swiping in time at offices on time, planned cooking or surviving in pre-cooked food, back to back conference calls and meetings, deadlines and deliverables, just like that updating attendance to social events and functions, doing hundreds of things and not giving a closer watch to anything has become a routine to many people in this modern world.

The end result: Ill-health, unwarranted lifestyles, unsatisfied relationships, broken families, below expected work performances, loss of friends and extended family, lack of social recognition, unplanned finances and meager savings and retirement plans. The outcome: Stress and Burnout.

There is an absolute need to stop. Just stop for a while and re-assess where this life is heading to. Is this stress worth? Speaking to lot of my friends who settled in west over the decades do tell me, that irrespective of the so-called hi-lifestyle and happiness they project to people back home in India, most of them go through immense stress of balancing life within very limited resources, chasing deals and second hand goods, demanding children and socialializing and expectations of the people back home to support, understand and share the wealth, which in reality is just a myth. Finally they end up feeling nowhere, not belonging to the country they left behind, nor totally absorbed in the country they migrated to, for they still want to be Indians, dress that way, eat the Indian food, follow Indian festivals and rituals. The challenge is not being able to break the bridge at some point and adopt in totality. The stress of synchronization is immense in families spread across the world.

So how does the spirituality help in this self- management? The good old rituals of getting up early, eating on time, leaving to work on time, come back by sun set., sit in the verandah and update each other the happenings in the family, spend some time together in prayers, and having family dinners together and sleeping early used to be stress-free. But now, working different time zones, different cultures and different technologies, and companies, have disturbed the whole fabric of a routine life.

Spirituality is all about self-realization. Getting more organized and believing in the strength of a super power that guides us, and reinstating the fact that, “no matter what, what is destined to happen, would happen”. Spirituality in truth understands the purpose of your existence. Visualizing what you want to be today, tomorrow, in the next few years, towards the end of your life. Spirituality is attaining an immense happiness coupled with satisfaction on the life lived...For there is absolutely no evidence that we can relive the life that once gone by?

The spiritual quest can be in any way. Some do meditation and yoga. Some go to temples and spend time. Some go to lectures and gurus for seeking guidance and setting up a path. It is not an entertainment that provides refreshment to life. It is an endeavor to make life more easy and meaningful. Re-questioning oneself time and again, on what is that we want in this life will create a pattern of understanding the urge within. The urge is absolutely connecting to the divine. Here the divine can be of any religion, any practice, any culture, any methodology, any path, but as long as the divine spells out the truth of what you want to achieve in life, it is fine.

Spirituality unknowingly brings in a disciplined way in which each one of us can lead our lives. It connects you not just to any God or Religion of your choice, but to your inner-self. All of us would accept the fact that what we portray in our professional lives, we are not the same in our personal lives. It is not a split personality. It is all about being as expected in professional lives and being natural in personal lives. For example, though I may be angry with my boss, I would still smile at him and say that I would do the task assigned for I may not like the idea of getting into the wrong books…at the same time, I take the liberty to express my anger and frustration with my spouse and do not mind fighting with him openly, for we take our own people for granted. Spirituality gives strength to gain a balance in these two ways of handling a similar issue or expectation.

I always write to myself, that “when it is beyond me, I look upon God”. This goes with the Management concept of “Line of Control”. What is within my ability and line of control can be controlled. What is external to my control, I leave it as an unknown unknown. Same time, make contingency plans and mitigation strategy to handle unknown unknowns. So acceptance of this fact becomes an important way to handle things. Stop getting frustrated for the things not in your control and making adequate space and giving thought to handle known unknowns is possible through a spiritual path. Yoga provides a way of life that helps to maintain good health, physical exercise and mental strength. Prayers provide a solace to people burdened with the day to day stress…the belief that there is super natural power that could help is always a hope and a way of leaving things to an external control and focusing on the things in hand. In one way, some of our ancient practices have a scientific reason and logical meaning to follow even today.

Thus, spirituality as a method of self-management supersedes every other management practice as this control individuals and their way of life. After all management is all about people doing different things in different ways. As long as it is in the most organized and fruitful manner, there is no harm in practicing an old trick that will do the trade :-)

Thanks to Sundar, who suggested that I should write on Spirituality and I thought I would write something that is very much applicable to me as well :-)

Swami Parthasarathy- Vedantha Cultural Association

You have to see it to believe it.... this is one thing that strongly came into my mind to recall in this post, those beautiful evenings of one full week I spent watching the octogenarian speaking on Bhagavat Gita. Swami Parthasarathy every year delivers a week long recitation of Bhagavath Gita in Chennai and lectures on Vedanta. Curiosity was the beginning to go to his lecture and believe me, I was glued. His way of reciting and explaining our traditional values was amazing. Unlike Christians who read Bible from very young age and Quran which is inculcated into Muslim children, we are not forced to read Bhagavat Gita being born in Hindu family. But the moment I started listening to him, I realized that I wasted three decades of my life not valuing something that is of total enlightenment and a repository of high human values and a knowledge system. That is what transformed in me when I heard him on Chapter 16 of Bhagavat Gita... our own goldmine of knowledge

It is almost 2 months and I hardly found time to write on this beautiful topic....Swamiji talks about Infinite human bliss, and the quest for acquisition that is driven by the intrinsic and extrinsic illusion which is called Maya. He reminds that mind should be fixed on truth... divine rise to the highest goals in life...and the demonic sink to the lowest level. Its not what you do but how you do matters,..emanation and values you set define you... Experiencing the world matters and inspiring qualities are to be practised. There are 26 qualities of a divine person and these qualities properly guides us to stop wickedness. Vidhya or the knowledge goes with Vinaya (Respect). The knowledge goes with humility... Humility leads to humanity within us. The 6 general qualities of demon including ostentation, arrogance, self-conceit, anger, harshness and ignorance. The pithiest of all is when one doesn't even know that they cant control their anger.

After a storm, there is calm. Harshness means being impatient, disrespectful and impertinent and ignoring the knowledge and higher values of life.

Verse 5 - Divine nature is deemed for liberation, the demoniac for bondage, grieve not, you are born of the divine nature 'O, Pandava'.... intellectual bondage is rigidity, fanatic beliefs, full of perceptions, emotions and thoughts.

Verse 6- Two created things and beings in this world...they are demonic and divine.. learn the SRT- Satvic, Rajas and Tamas which means state of mind in poise and serenity, never quiet and state like sleeping.....learn to live beyond

Verse 7- Demoniac people do not know action from inaction, neither purity nor good conduct nor truth is found in them.

Intellectual brilliance judges what has to be done for every action before it is done. No proper action can be taken without proper conviction.

The verse 8 says the world thinks without reality, without foundation, without lord, born out of mutual union caused by lust, what else? Reality is which persists and exists in past, present and future. Ability to realise it is a blessing. Trouble with most folks is not ignorance but their knowing as many things as they don't know.

Verse 9 says holding this view, the ruined souls of small intellect of fierce deeds come forth as enemies for the destruction of this world.

You need Buddi (intelligence) to understand buddi( intellect). Intelligence is external knowledge, intellect is inbuilt, developed by yourself, by questioning everything and taking things for granted is a sure no...

Routine existence following herd and no intellect scraps all religions if not used with intellect for humanity to survive.

Amazing... its just few of them that I could recollect, but believe me... you should hear him in person to appreciate the volume of knowledge swamiji can share with us... his daughter disciple Sunandaji is also truly outstanding... cant believe that its written more than thousand years ago and its still applicable to mankind of all times... only wish we find more of Swamy Parthsarathy's in this world to spread this divine knowledge that is beyond human intelligence to understand the whole of universe. God bless !

Treasure Hunt- My age old sketches and paintings

While searching for something, found something so interesting. Almost an 18 year old rough notes with Maths and Hindi inbetween stored within its pages some seriously forgotten art of my school days....It was really nice to find them, especially the Geeta Upadesh... ironically, as I keep attending Swami Parthasarathy's speech and explanation of Chapter 16 from Bhagavat Geetha whole of this week at Kamaraj Memorial....this was quite a coincidence!