Vethathiri International Academy: Message from VIA in New York

Message from VIA in New York

We meet for group meditation at the SKY Education and World Community Center in New York. [regd. Sept.2003]
The experience of linking our mind with our life force, as taught by Sri Vethathiri has permanent benefits.
We are all well aware of the stressors in our life. Spending a part of the day in Meditation is a gift to yourself that opens your eyes to see all that is right in your life, to see the beauty and feel gratitude for the divine providence all around you.
Group meditation and exercises not only makes friends out of strangers because of our common desire for health and happiness, it also has the power of strengthening the harmony and peace in the environment.
http://www.skymeditation.org/

A Frog jumps into the Blog...

This morning my conscience sweetly kicked and abused me ‘til I succumbed and took the broom and mop for an overdue floor-swabbing session. As I righteously swabbed away, I saw a dead frog – one of those cute ones, just barely an inch long -- in the corner of the room, facing one wall of several in the room that has a window above where he is lying. Poor thing, he died trying to get up to the window and out of the room. Don’t we all? Someone inside commented. Mm. yes, good enough analogy: he died in tragic ignorance that he is already in the world he wants to be in, he just can’t see it so he didn’t believe it; he couldn’t perceive that he was actually in the only place there is. Now, if he had had a wise guide he might have been told to calm himself, stop leaping inanely and suicidally against that wall, and go stand in the middle of the room. From there you can see out a number of windows to that beautiful place you wish to be, and you can also see that though you are in a room, the room itself is embedded in the larger area that contains it. So…. You need not die desperately trying to get out of the room; leave the corner and go stand in the center and enjoy the view. In fact the room can be a great place to stay if we keep it clean and beautiful, filled with love and happiness. We all live in a ‘room with a view’; just open your eyes and occasionally enjoy looking at the unlimited, glorious garden that lies farther out. Swamiji often used the expression, saying: man has ‘cornered’ himself with false concepts that are the reason for misery. Life is wasted in futile searches for an imagined 'deeper' or alternative reality, state or place. Do you pity that poor frog, which could have lived longer and much more happily if he weren’t deluded? Pity the many of humankind also who are always unhappy where they are, and die 'cornered' like the frog, and for your own life, do something different!

Swamiji's personal quest:

Dear friends,

Amongst humankind there are different motivations that drive one onto a spiritual path. In India these motivations have led to the approaches traditionally called ‘bhakti’ and ‘gnana’; these are usually translated as the devotional and the intellectual respectively. Bhakthi and gnana are well-known, having been exhaustively described and discussed by scholars and saints, but I am speculating on the motivation, the kind of personality type, that has led to these different approaches. Motivated by a wisdom-quest, Sri Vethathiri perseveringly applied his intellect to strenuous introspection and contemplation, in time succeeded in realizing God and Self and went on to be a brilliant philosopher-guide and guru. In contrast to the motivation for a devotional approach that is the usual religious attitude, he wasn’t motivated to cleanse himself of impurity or sin, by a craving for redemption or salvation, nor was he a man of self-effacing humility. Such motivation leads one into the devotional attitude and approach of the ‘bhakta’: one who triumphs by expunging himself in God (or a transcendental reality), backed by the certainty that man is nothing before God. Yet other bhaktas are simply motivated by a naturally arising yearning to be close to God alone and hence aloof from man, to do nothing but worship and adore that supreme power by whatever name. This is not to mention the fringe of god-intoxicated, mystical savants, whathaveyou…

The distinctive motivation leading to the gnana approach is an inner drive to enlarge the self to the ultimate extent possible rather than efface it. This attitude reflects in Vethathirian philosophy as the attainment of understanding is the focus: it all tends toward living the best possible life in consequence of enlightenment. In Swamiji’s autobiography he repeatedly stated that there were basically 3 questions that “haunted” him throughout his youth and into adulthood: what is God, what is life, and why is there poverty? These questions are the only questions: the transcendent reality, the immanent reality and the entire social question: what is the right way to live? These questions were his guiding star: they preoccupied him for years and when he was satisfied that he had thoroughly resolved them, he rested; there was his fulfillment of life, his enlightenment and completion. He was transformed into a joyful ‘gnani’. I have lived with him for years and assure you that in his enlightened lifetime he was the happiest person imaginable: intellectually dynamic, naturally and effortlessly virtuous, and lived truly ‘at play in the fields of the lord’!

To wrap this up, just the other day I found myself reflecting that my fascination with Swamiji AND his teachings was motivated by my own search for satisfactory answers in life -- akin to his own motivation, and I think this is likely true of all his students. His type of personality and the nature of his own quest set the tone for the practices he prescribed and supplied a dialectic approach. Hence, as this weblog indicates, his exposition has led to a scientific theory as well as a philosophical system. Thank you for sharing this; any comments?

It just won't go away...!

The totality is described as plenum, force, consciousness and time. The limitless substratum is 'dust' --of, by and in space. Swamiji often compared this to water: Water is apparently a fluid continuum, (really IS a continuum for practical purposes), yet it is known to consist of separate molecules. Similarly, the cosmic substratum (the 'background') is a fluid continuum, yet comprised of 'dust' (spinning quanta of space) in space. The difference is that at the gross level we can detect and separate oxygen and hydrogen out of water, but the dust is undetectable and inseparable from the space background. Ref. to the book: The History of the Universe and Living Beings, p.6 Reminds you of... some of the ancient Greek philosophers...reminds you of ...some from India too....

But....the means is not the end.

Bhakti and gnana – devotion and wisdom -- are traditional ‘paths': both have characteristic tools, but these tools carry the risk of becoming obstacles to transcendence and transformation.

Bhakti prescribes the worship of supreme power in form and name; to the extent one identifies and attends to that, one is away from the mundane and aimed toward a greater power. Use of these tools can confer great happiness, self-forgetfulness, and a sublime emotional gratification. Yet it should not be a dead-end: that personification, description and name should not be allowed to be an end or considered exclusive - that is the risk of the symbol of the divine becoming an obstacle.

Gnana yoga’s tool is ideas, concepts: mastery of metaphysical concepts poses a challenge and there is a feeling of satisfaction when complete to a degree. Life can be ‘figured out’, and one is saved from a lot of confusion and becomes mentally more peaceful and accepting. Herein lies the obstacle: mastery of concepts and an appealing philosophy of life to console oneself aren't the goal – not moksha neither mukti.

The examples of removing obstacles are in spiritual literature galore: Ramakrishna Paramahansa smote the Kali standing in front of him with the sword; and one Zen master reportedly said, "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him!" No doubt there are many other such examples through history.

Self and God realization is the ultimate self- transformation toward which every method is a means, not an end in itself. Liberation from suffering may be approached by certain means and methods, but entails far more inner work than can be told or taught either in words or forms; also utmost sincerity, inborn talent, perseverance and the indispensible, mysterious benediction of divine Grace.

Just got to thinking...

If I look around me, and look within me, it appears we have become adept at self-deceiving and enthusiastic in self-justification. I suppose that in this way we can assuage our fears of failure or error. In our era we have learned to be judgmental, acutely critical, and the ego cries to be protected from criticism focused on oneself; the critical faculty turned within would be too shaming to bear: the result? perhaps a loss of self-confidence or self-respect so that self-deceit and justification are a protective measure. We couldn’t allow ourselves to be as critical of ourselves as we are of others! We are able to block out and escape from much of what we don’t like to contemplate, but when forced to confront our own imperfections we tend to resort to denial, deceit or justification. Self-deceiving: adj. 1. refusing to recognize the truth, usually because to do so would be painful or difficult 2. cherishing self-indulgent beliefs about yourself Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation.

Sharing umaspace

The ‘spiritual’ life is nothing but an extension of the ordinary life. We step to the edge of the ordinary life and stand there, looking in and looking out in wonder, and that is the fascination.

We humans have made life charming for ourselves – we have made our pleasures and our pains all to order and dwell in their midst. We cry over our pain, our suffering, but feel it’s worth living when we have our pleasures at hand; sometimes it seems our pains are only to throw our pleasure into relief and so define pleasure, make it enjoyable. Is lack of pain, or relief from pain, the only pleasure? Or is pleasure, happiness, the basic state, only perturbed by temporary pain of one sort or another? Peel away at the layers...it’s one more kind of pleasure!

*********

Two articles: Center and Circumference part I and II, have been posted in the Spiritual Teachings section in the site: http://www.skymeditation.org /vin_academy.asp

As always, would love to have your comments and feedback.

More on Love: “even doing nothing is doing something..”

Everything is an active interplay; nothing is really passive.

Swamiji often used fruit on the tree to illustrate the concepts of love and compassion: love is holding the fruit, compassion is the feeding, the perfect nourishing of it. So love appears to be passive, compassion is active. Right? But even the love, the holding, must exert a resistance to being separated. It's an action of Will in the form of resistance.

The existence and functions of Will are a great mystery! any thoughts on it to share??

Vethathiri -- a Joyous Communicator

Vethathiri Maharishi was remarkable, far beyond the ordinary in his wisdom and discernment and he wasn’t made to be reclusive in enjoying his vision of reality. He was made, some may even say born, to share it; he was a communicator par excellence – a writer, an orator, a poet – and imparting his knowledge and wisdom was his delight and forte. A real communicator needs an audience, the other side of the equation. However, many human beings who feel themselves to be somehow more knowledgeable than the ordinary lot do not merely share: they impose, insist, at the worst they intimidate and manipulate others, playing on the insecurity and ignorance of their audience. They need approval and compliance, perhaps even reverence and obedience. Obviously, they are not the noblest, nor truly enlightened who need these rewards of power through control over others. Those such as Vethathiri deeply enjoy sharing all they possess and whatever they know without any thought of reward or praise for it; the chance to release it to someone who is receptive is his reward. As he used to say: as a mother wishes, even craves, to breastfeed her baby, so is the feeling of a gnani who yearns to share his wisdom with all.

Friends for life!

As we know and perceive only causative, linear relations in space and time, and even our abstract concepts are perforce relevant to that, we consequently describe our God as the ultimate concept in space and time: i.e. plenum, force, consciousness and time – to say God is infinite, eternal and non-contingent expresses the ultimate as transcending space-time, using these terms as we have no other concepts we can comprehend. We maintain that this infinite, eternal and non-contingent Being gives rise to our world of causation in space/time and thereby establish a spiritual as well as scientific base for our perceived universe. It would be possible to describe a purely abstract, un-perceived universe such as in string theory, but this too is defined in terms related to our oldest and only friend: space-time!

Vethathiri International Academy

Message from VIA in New York

Vethathiri Inernational Academy new link

Love and Gratitude...

Choose your section of interest:

A Frog jumps into the Blog...

Swamiji's personal quest:

It just won't go away...!

But....the means is not the end.

A "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"??

Just got to thinking...

Sharing umaspace

More on Love: “even doing nothing is doing something..”

a Vethathirian verity

Archive

What needs to be remembered....is the Dance!

Vethathiri -- a Joyous Communicator

Friends for life!

VIA Executive Committee

VAZHGA VAIYAGAM! VAZHGA VALAMUDAN!

Vethathiri International Academy

Message from VIA in New York

Vethathiri Inernational Academy **new** link

Love and Gratitude...

Choose your section of interest:

A Frog jumps into the Blog...

Swamiji's personal quest:

It just won't go away...!

But....the means is not the end.

A "riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"??

Just got to thinking...

Sharing umaspace

More on Love: “even doing nothing is doing something..”

a Vethathirian verity

Archive

What needs to be remembered....is the Dance!

Vethathiri -- a Joyous Communicator

Friends for life!

VIA Executive Committee

VAZHGA VAIYAGAM! VAZHGA VALAMUDAN!

Vethathiri Inernational Academy new link