|| Sri Ramakrishna Sharanam||
Dear Readers
| My Revered Guru Most Revered Swami Atmasthanandaji Maharaj- President of Ramakrishna Mission and Math |
Aum Namo Narayanaya to Master, Holy Mother, Swamiji and each and every one of you , I salute and greet you with humility on this wonderful and auspicious Guru Poorinima day. Even on my most inspired day I could never have crafted such a perfect morning as today. I awoke with great excitement to spend the morning in Pooja and then breakfast with revered Swami Vimokshananda. Having arrived at the ashram I was most honoured to have prostrated before the Master, Holy Mother, my dear Swami Vivekanada and Swami Vimokshananda which pretty much set the mood and tone for the ensuing pooja to Master.
Revered Swami Saradaprabhanandaji joined us, and we all sat for an enlightening breakfast which was populated with stimulating discussions on the divine mother. Having reached home a few hours ago my thoughts have already warped towards the evening’s satsang in anticipation of the melodious bhajans and discourse by Maharaj.
I place myself now in the times of the great discoverers of the world, the likes of Christopher Coloumbus and Vasco da Gama who with immense trepidation but purpose embarked on voyages of discovery which gave much impetus to charting and mapping the world as we know it. In this process many a life was lost, whilst facing innumerable challenges. It is through the immense sacrifices and tribulations of these brave souls that we are able to navigate the vast oceans with relative ease and confidence today.
When we are born in this world, we are totally devoid of past life memories and knowledge of the future. We are like a porous sponges waiting in anticipation to absorb and learn. Our parents and immediate surroundings provide the basis and foundation for our first learning. We then begin a journey on this vast ocean of life coming in contact with various teachers(gurus) who give instruction and guidance through their life experiences so that we may not have to undergo our life with many of the mistakes they did making our journey that much easier.
If engaging with this tangible and palpable world proves so difficult to understand can you imagine trying to understand the spiritual world which is beyond our senses and perception. Without a doubt in mind we need the assistance of one who travelled and experienced this realm. It is trough his experience alone we shall learn. He shall be our remover of ignorance or darkness (gu=darkness or ignorance, ru = remover). He is the knower of truth. He like Columbus and Da Gama has found through his intense sadhanas and practices the best and practical methods for your journey across this ocean of life. When one finds a guru who has descended from an authentic parampara or lineage to the great sage Veda Vyasa (the writer of the Vedas) then he becomes an intrepid traveller of life. He has the grace, protection, love, compassion and sage counsel of his guru. Fear, weakness, restlessness, lethargy and aimless wandering are unknown to a disciple.
Today I want to pay my sincere respect with palms folded and head bowed to my guru , most Revered President Maharaj of the Ramakrishna Mission and Math Sri Swami Atmasthanandaji for his grace, protection and inspiration.
The grace of the Master flows through all initiated monks of the order and we are indeed blessed in Durban to have revered Swami Vimokshanandaji Maharaj and Swami Saradaprabhanandaji Maharaj. I make my respectful and sincere pranams to them .
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| Revered Swami Vimokshanandaji Maharaj President Ramakrishna Centre SA |
| Revered Swami Saradaprabhananda Maharaj Vice President Ramakrishna Centre SA |
On this auspicsious Guru Poorinima day I pray that the grace of your Guru descend upon you and that you attain enlightenment and eternal peace. This is my sincere prayer.
Akhand-Mandalakaram vyaptam yena characharam.
Tatpadam darshitam yena tasmai Shri Gurave Namah.
aum shanti, shanti, shanti
My Salutations to that Guru who revealed to me that Truth, which is unfragmented, infinite, timeless divinity, and which pervades the entire universe – movable or unmovable.
Aum Unna
ReplyDeleteSo tomorrow will be exactly a month since you started penning your blog and what a beautiful weekly read it has become. And then I thought, it's been that long and I hadn't commented yet. And today, being the beautiful day it is - why not?
So last week Friday, I was soo excited about Guru Purnima, it was weird really. Then, this whole week, I thought about the day so often. Alas, on Wednesday evening I succumbed to a nasty flu that would render me so weak.
Yesterday, I asked to be better and to be able to make it for sathsangh today.. This morning, I was so cross with myself that I wasn't fighting hard enough and couldn't even put on a punjabi for a special day like this.. but it was not to be.
But, after reading your blog, I realised... there's alot more to learn, alot more to live and alot more to come. It's a test to ensure I keep my faith, do japa more rigorously and pray that much harder :-)
Lovely blogs again & happy 1 month anniversary for tomorrow!
I know Master, Narayana and Swamiji Vimokshananda are really proud of you too.