InnerRealisation

Nirupana 18

The feeling ‘I know a lot’ is ignorance. Once it is understood that this is pure ignorance, it does not matter whether one talks a lot or not at all. When you go to sleep, you are sleep itself. You are not separate from the sleep. On waking up, the knowledge ‘I am’ dawns upon you and instantly creates the world. When you are asleep, you are pure ignorance. What would happen if one day this ignorance does not wake up? Then who would be there to die? Ignorance sleeps and wakes up every day! What is the meaning of the removal of ignorance? You can take any meaning you like. But what is the real situation? You, who are awake, go to sleep. That means the knowledge itself becomes ignorance. You have to understand the true import of this fact. (Here, ignorance implies the Absolute, and knowledge implies the sense ‘I am’.)

When Brahman is liberated, Parabrahman stays as He is. That which is the cause of this itch (happiness and misery) is Brahman. When the itch disappears, it is Parabrahman. What I am, here and now, is awakened ignorance. The base for all things is ignorance that is called sleep. Wakefulness is the child of ignorance. If there is ignorance, only then there can be knowledge.

The faith that ‘you are’ is created in you. It has come uninvited. Faith or devotion means love. It is the love for the Self. The certitude that ‘you are’ is the pure and holy manifestation of Paramatman. It is jnana.

Recognition of the body comes through this faith in the Self. The holy names are for that certitude of the Self. Do not worship the impermanent i.e. the body. The use of this body is to nourish the faith in the Self. The fragrance of ‘I am’ coming through the body is God. One who believes he is the body faces death.

You have different kinds of beliefs. You become according to what you believe. How very powerful is the effect of beliefs! Be aware of that fact. Your faith that ‘you are’ is of the nature of the Guru or God. It is in your heart in the form of light (knowingness). The light of the Self never dies. One whose Self-light does not die, will he ever die? He may not live in today’s form, that is all. The form is illumined by this light. The sense ‘I am’ is God. It is called saguna-Brahman (the manifest with quality). It is contained in Parabrahman (the Absolute without quality). You are Brahman. The great mantra given to you is the expression of Brahman. It is your own nature. You must invoke It by the mantra. It will surely reveal Itself.

One who wins a big lottery becomes happy. He considers himself a rich man. It took only a moment for this to happen. If this is so, why does not the Guru’s mantra bring about such instantaneous change? With faith in the Guru, fear of death vanishes forever. Thereby the fear of birth also vanishes. As you nurse in your heart the faith of your beingness, your conduct will go on changing. The belief that ‘I am a meager human being’ changes to ‘I am Brahman’. Then the work is done. The Guru’s word is perfect knowledge. It is the state of Being – it is movement as well. Hold onto it tightly. All other means cannot even come close to it.

— Nisargadatta Maharaj
Sunday, March 26, 1978
Excerpt from: Meditation with Nisargadatta Maharaj

Everything works in mutual harmony with the Divine Plan.

We are a part of that universal scheme — just as important as the sun and the moon and the stars.

We have to do our part; we must play the role that is assigned to us by the Divine, not what we want to play.

When you use your own willfulness in opposition to the will of God, you spoil this drama.

You do not contribute your share to fulfill the great plan of this universe.

Why not say: “Let me do what God wants me to do.” I think you will be much happier, much more peaceful, much better off.

Paramhansa Yogananda
The Divine Romance
@everyone
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सब कुछ ईश्वरीय योजना के साथ परस्पर सामंजस्य में काम करता है।

हम उस सार्वभौमिक योजना का हिस्सा हैं – सूर्य, चंद्रमा और सितारों की तरह ही महत्वपूर्ण।

हमें अपना काम करना है; हमें ईश्वर द्वारा सौंपी गई भूमिका निभानी है, न कि वह जो हम निभाना चाहते हैं।

जब आप ईश्वर की इच्छा के विरुद्ध अपनी इच्छाशक्ति का उपयोग करते हैं, तो आप इस नाटक को बिगाड़ देते हैं।

आप इस ब्रह्मांड की महान योजना को पूरा करने में अपना योगदान नहीं देते।

क्यों न कहें: “मुझे वही करने दें जो ईश्वर मुझसे करवाना चाहता है।” मुझे लगता है कि आप बहुत अधिक खुश, बहुत अधिक शांतिपूर्ण, बहुत बेहतर महसूस करेंगे।

परमहंस योगानंद
दिव्य रोमांस

When once you have heard the voice of God, you are on the way to the highest states of consciousness. You will know God as immanent and,,,
“”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
So, from tonight, get busy! Pray with all the devotion of your heart, and you will see God; you will see Jesus or Krishna or the saints. But you must make the supreme effort to behold Them in meditation, or you will not be able to reach that divine state. I hope that you will try. When a halfhearted man plays the piano, the result is halfhearted, without inspiration. But when an individual who has practised and practised and practiced plays the piano, everyone says, “Oh, how wonderful!”
When an ordinary man puts the necessary time and enthusiasm into meditation and prayer, he becomes a divine man. My Master used to say: “The little cat that goes into the jungle becomes a wild cat.” The little man with small thoughts who goes into the jungle of books becomes absorbed in intellectualism about God; he doesn’t find the nectar of God-realization. But the little man who meditates, who constantly thinks of the joy of God, who constantly prays to Him, becomes one with the Infinite.
When once you have heard the voice of God, you are on the way to the highest states of consciousness. You will know God as immanent and transcendent, personal and impersonal. You will worship Him as Spirit, and love Him in manifest form as the Nearest of the near.
Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda.
The Divine Romance. P.386-387.
[Personal And Impersonal God]

There are two kinds of seekers:
those who are like the baby monkey
and those who are like the kitten.

The baby monkey clings to the mother; but when she jumps, it may fall off.

The little kitten is carried about by the mother cat, content wherever she places it. The kitten has complete trust in its mother.

I am more like that; I give all responsibility to the Divine Mother. But to maintain that attitude takes great will. Under all circumstances — health or sickness, riches or poverty, sunshine or gray clouds — your feeling must remain unruffled.

Even when you are in the coal bin of suffering you don’t wonder why the Mother placed you there.

You have faith that She knows best. Sometimes an apparent disaster turns into a blessing for you.

Paramahansa Yogananda
@everyone
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साधक दो तरह के होते हैं:
वे जो बच्चे बंदर की तरह होते हैं
और वे जो बिल्ली के बच्चे की तरह होते हैं।

बच्चा बंदर माँ से लिपटा रहता है; लेकिन जब वह कूदती है, तो वह गिर सकता है।

बिल्ली के बच्चे को माँ बिल्ली अपने साथ लेकर चलती है, जहाँ भी वह उसे रखती है, वह संतुष्ट रहता है। बिल्ली के बच्चे को अपनी माँ पर पूरा भरोसा होता है।

मैं उससे ज़्यादा वैसा ही हूँ; मैं सारी ज़िम्मेदारी देवी माँ को देता हूँ। लेकिन उस रवैये को बनाए रखने के लिए बहुत इच्छाशक्ति की ज़रूरत होती है। सभी परिस्थितियों में – स्वास्थ्य या बीमारी, अमीरी या गरीबी, धूप या धूसर बादल – आपकी भावनाएँ अविचलित रहनी चाहिए।

यहाँ तक कि जब आप दुख के कोयले के डिब्बे में होते हैं, तब भी आपको आश्चर्य नहीं होता कि माँ ने आपको वहाँ क्यों रखा है।

आपको विश्वास होता है कि वह सबसे अच्छा जानती है। कभी-कभी एक स्पष्ट आपदा आपके लिए आशीर्वाद में बदल जाती है।

परमहंस योगानंद

The Kena Upanishad records an episode in which the devas (Vedic gods, headed by Indra) were taught a great lesson by Brahman, the Supreme . They had once scored a victory over the asuras (demons) and they thought it was by their own prowess that they won.

In order to relieve them of this conceit, Brahman appeared yaksha (spirit) before them.

He placed a blade of grass before Agni
(the fire-god) and asked him to burn it.

Agni (who could burn down anything
whatever on earth) could not burn even
that blade of grass. This was because in
the presence of the yaksha (and, as willed
by him) Agni lost his powers (momentarily).

Similarly Vayu (the wind-god) was
immobilised and could not blow off even
a blade of grass (placed before him by
the yaksha). The devas were non-plussed
at this strange happening and did not
even know who the yaksha was.

At this juncture , Uma (Shakti), daughter of Himavat, appeared before them as
a most beautiful lady, and said,
“This is Brahman, to be sure , and in the victory of Brahman , indeed do you glory thus”.

Thus the truth was convincingly
demonstrated by Brahman in the form
of the yaksha that all powers in the world,
including that of the devas were derived
solely from Him (Brahman) .
Brahman was higher than all the gods.
It was the real source of victory for the devas and defeat for the asuras.

The Sruti(Taittiriya Upanishad, Section II.) makes it clear that Brahman is the ultimate source of all power and all action in the world :

For fear of It (Brahman) the wind blows,
for fear of It the Sun rises,
for fear of It Agni, Indra , and Death, the
fifth, run (to do their allotted work).

✅ Mountain Path. EDITORIAL (Excerpt)
JAYANTHI ISSUE DECEMBER 1996
Vol 33 , Nos.3 & 4

The Self never undergoes change; the intellect never possesses consciousness.

But when one sees all this world, he is deluded into thinking,
“I am the seer, I am the knower.”

Mistaking one’s Self for the individual entity, one is overcome with fear.

If one knows oneself not as the individual but as the supreme Self, one becomes free from fear.

~ Adi Shankaracharya
Source : Atma Bodha: 26-27

Repeat the Name of God in the innermost core of your heart, and in all sincerity, take refuge in the Master. Do not bother to know how your mind is reacting to things around. And do not waste time calculating and worrying whether or not you are progressing in the path of spirituality. It is Ahamkara to judge progress for oneself. Have faith in the grace of your Guru and Ishta.

“When you live life, not for God but for itself, every moment of it is incurring a debt to Him. Those debts pile up, day after day. Borrow from the commonly unknown bank of God, the universal Spirit, and clear your debt to Him. You can get the loan only for the asking. And you will not be hounded for payment of interest either. This is the only bank that makes loans and does not worry the recipients with the demand of interest, because the Universal Bank is always ready to invest in the betterment of its own property, the world, and to look after the interest of its tenants. If you do not pay off the debts you have contracted by your life in matter, isolated from God, suffering will be your sentence.”

– Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda
(The Divine Romance, page 308, “The Known and the Unknown”)

PRACTISE DEEP MEDITATION AND RETAIN ITS EFFECTS

Deep meditation and perfect control of feeling by holding on to the calm aftereffects of meditation – these lead to SAMADHI, the ecstasy of Self-realization and oneness with God.

But the ecstasy of SAVIKALPA SAMADHI, in which you enjoy bliss within but lose external awareness of the body and the world, is not enough.

What you want is NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI, or conscious ecstasy. That is the highest state, in which you remain outwardly fully conscious and active as well as inwardly fully perceptive of your God-union.

It took me a long time to achieve that supreme level of consciousnes. Lahiri Mahasaya and Master used to be always in that state. In NIRVIKALPA SAMADHI you can perform all your duties and face all the tests of life without ever being disturbed.

~ SRI SRI PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA,
HOW FEELINGS MASK THE SOUL,
THE DIVINE ROMANCE, Pg 229

Q: I can understand that the outstanding events in a man’s life, such as his country, nationality, family, career or profession, marriage, death, etc., are all predestined by his karma, but can it be that all the details of his life, down to the minutest, have already been determined? Now, for instance, I put this fan that is in my hand down on the floor here. Can it be that it was already decided that on such and such a day, at such and such an hour, I should move the fan like this and put it down here?

Sri Ramana Maharshi : Certainly.

Whatever this body is to do and
whatever experiences it is to pass through
was already decided when it came into existence.

Q: What becomes then of man’s freedom and responsibility for his actions?

Sri Ramana Maharshi:

The only freedom man has is to strive for and
acquire the jnana
which will enable him not to identify himself with the body.

The body will go through the actions
rendered inevitable by prarabdha and
a man is free either to identify himself with the body and
be attached to the fruits of its actions,
or to be detached from it and
be a mere witness of its activities.

Q: So free will is a myth?

Sri Ramana Maharshi :

Free will holds the field in association with individuality.
As long as individuality lasts there is free will.
All the scriptures are based on this fact and they advise directing the free will in the right channel.
Find out to whom free will or destiny matters.

Find out where they come from, and abide in their source.
If you do this, both of them are transcended.
That is the only purpose of discussing these questions.
To whom do these questions arise?
Find out and be at peace.

~ From Be as you are book