Ganesha My Sweet Lord



Lord Ganesha



|| Sri Ramakrishna Sharanam||

In attempting to write this blog on this very interesting topic my thoughts nostalgically find itself in Chennai three years ago. Amidst the beating sounds of the tuk-tuk (mini taxis in India) and the annoying  intrusions of the multiple horns blaring for attention, my senses wafted towards the soothing incense that permeated the air from down below. And suddenly everything was interrupted by about three or four significant thuds to the ground.

I immediately made my way to the window of my hotel room to find a sizeable gathering around a dainty shrine which housed a deity of Lord Ganesha. The thuds originated from the coconuts that were slammed against the stoney and broken asphalted surface. Rather mechanically, everybody started tapping the side of their heads with a clinched fist as the priest broke the silence with the harmonious ringing of the bell and the melodious rendition of Aum Suklambaradarham Vishnum.

Aum
Shuklambaradharam Vishnum
Shashivarnam Chaturbhujam
Prasannavadanam Dhyaayeth
Sarvavighnopashantaye

Suklambaradaram - one who wears a white garment
Visnum - all pervading
Sasivarnam - one who has a brilliant complexion (like the full moon)
Chaturbhujam - one who has four hands
Prasannavadanam - one who has an ever smiling and benevolent face
dhyayet - I meditate upon
Sarvavighnopashantaye- for the removal of all obstacles

It is no wonder then, that those who pass this shrine on their way to whatever activity they are going to engage in to offer their pranams and love to that Lord who has the ability to remove all obstacles. In South India Lord Ganesha is commonly refered to as Pillayar and eulogized as Mudalvana (one who is first worshipped).

Shrines like the one outside my hotel are very common in every village, town and city in India. You will be fooling yourself if you think that you can travel more than 100m without embracing some form of Ganesha. The iconography of this most unusual yet magnetic form of the divine finds itself on shop signage, doorways, car dashboards, wedding cards, temple architecture, shrines and many unthought-of places.
It is through the obsession of man to have a life free of challenges and obstacles that Lord Ganesha is propitiated throughout the length and breadth of the world, not only by Hindus but other religious denominations as well.

There is no prayer, function or activity amongst most Hindus that will take place without first offering their pranams to Ganesha to ensure that whatever obstacles that may obstruct that activity about to be undertaken should be removed.

However I am reminded that last year during the Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations, revered Maharaj Swami Vimokshananda in his discourse mentioned that although worshipped for His grace in removing all obstacles, He is also known for placing obstacles in the path of devotees. The dichotomy of benevolence and malevolence surely arises from His mercy to help His devotees discriminate between their needs and desires.
We must not forget our role and purpose of god realisation - to search for that divinity that is within each and everyone of us. Often enough we are gripped with chronic materialism and focus our attention and resources in that direction. It is then that the Lord will place obstacles to dissuade you from going down the wrong path for your own good and protection.
 



Lord Vinayaga



We are all in search of joy and bliss. But along the journey in this material plane we enjoy just temporary jolts of joy interrupted ever so much by pain and despondency.  I refer back to Maharaj's discourse when He said that Lord Ganesha’s favorite food is the Modaka or Modagam as pronounced in Tamil - a sweet dumpling prepared by the millions to be offered to the Lord as his most preferred dish on his special day.
This Modaka (Moda means joy) is what we all desire at every moment in our life’s journey. The bliss that we seek is possible if we follow some simple rules as displayed through the form of Ganesha.
The large ears and small mouth asks us to speak little and listen more, the small eyes are personification of concentration. The axe dictates we should chop away at the bonds of attachment , the one broken tusk to suggest that we keep the good and get rid of the bad and the small mouse (representing desires) as his vehicle is most significant as it strongly implies that we must bring our desires under control. Bring our desires under control makes way for a clean clear mind which will act as a mirror and reflect the divinity that is within you.  You can thus enjoy the Modagam of divine bliss.

The other form that Vinayagar is worshipped as is Aumkar or Aum. Aum is said to be the sound with which the entire creation resonates in. It is the frequency at which divinity is spread and permeates the universe. So if we want to attract divinity and the prosperity of the Universe it is wise that we modulate on this frequency of Aum rather than challenge or oppose it.

It is on this note that i would like to sign off this blog and invoke Lord Vinayagar in prayer for the welfare of all in this creation. May he preside over your life so you may obtain the modaka of immortality is my sincere prayer.
With Love and Prayers always
Aum Gam Ganapataye Namah

The Journey from Kurukshetra to Gokul Brindavan

|| Sri Ramakrishna Sharanam||

The more we sit down and reflect on the Gita, the more we see ourselves as Arjuna, trapped between the fields of confusion and doubt sown with the seeds of despondency. As we engage with this world devoid of a spiritual foundation we create more demons and plenty nutrition for the despondency which eventually overwhelms us. All we do as we live this mundane life is continuously trim the weeds of pain, allowing just periodic pelts of joy. The rains of circumstances further bring woes in midst’s of your troubles clouding all hope, forcing one to recess into the foetal position and cry.  Oh yes, even mighty men have not escaped the lethal release of the tear ducts taking strain from a gutted heart or a grief stricken mind.

Bala Krishna

Who said all was rosy in the world. Those you who trust and open your hearts out to unconditionally will hurt you the most. That’s what the Veeraboga Sarithram has been saying all along, that we will see a 180 degree phase shift in this dark time. Many psychologists have referred to man as a social being, saying that relationships and interaction with people are an integral part of his existence. However the dynamics of these relationships is often the cause of the Kurukshetra in our lives.

Shree Krishna had presented the Gita to Arjuna as the panacea of human misery clearly unlocking the serum of joy within each of us to douse the flames of anxiety and despondency. Truth be told, the Lord never related anything new to Arjuna but only made him understand his true nature and his ability to awaken the latent divinity within him.

The Bhagavad Gita in my opinion is the ultimate reference book in the field of psychology placing Shree Krishna as the father of psychology. When he speaks of the mind being the friend as well as the enemy we get a sense that he portrays the mind is an instrument of immense influence in our lives and spiritual development.  It is the nucleus of our emotions. Emotions are like a person wearing sun shades. The colour of the shades will determine the colour with which one perceives the environment. If our mind is constituted with grief and sorrow then irrespective of the environment we are in, the perception will be grief and sorrow. The same applies vice versa.

Then the ideal would be to construct the mind in perpetual joy to ensure that we see the world that way. What then is the thread of weakness in our mind’s activity that does not allow us to configure perennial joy?  I would highlight one very significant obstacle as expectation (fruits of our actions). It has become a norm of sorts that whenever we perform any action we expect something in return. In other words, we participate in conditional activities which favour us with a handsome reward.

If the result is positive then we ok, but let the result be negative then all hell breaks loose. Giants have crumbled over emotional turmoil and grief. We must act with unconditional love, never expect anything return for your actions. Shree Krishna said:  “You are entitled to act, however the fruits of your actions you are not entitled to”. Be like Surya (the Sun), always giving indiscriminately your love and affection with no thought what so ever about the return.  That is the secret of happiness and joy. Shree Ramakrishna said if you repeat the word Gita several times, the secret of its message is revealed “Gita Gita Gita”. If you look closely you will see the words Tagi, which roots in Sanskrit Tyagi (meaning to renounce or sacrifice).

Krishna in Brindavan

Renounce the fruit of your actions and you can be on your way to perennial joy. What do we substitute in return for the fruit of our action? The Lord said “Perform all actions as an offering to me alone”. Make every action as worship to the Lord. Build in your heart and mind Gokul Brindavan.  A village of eternal happiness, play along the Yamuna with Krishna, dancing with the Gopis, sleeping perched under the canopy of a banyan tree with the tranquilising effect of the flute. The days and nights are seamlessly impregnated with his blue complexion and radiant love. Take joy and happiness from that alone. Live with Krishna every moment of your life that is the only fruit you need. 

The journey of our life is beautifully portrayed in the Srimad Bhagavatam when the most poetic description of the arrival of Shri Krsna is penned. I can extract mentally the jubilation the universe experienced, right from the devas, gods, and goddesses as they eagerly awaited the appearance of  Bala Krishna, the Paramathma, unmanifest Brahman to take human birth by his grace and mercy for the salvation of his beloved children. The Bhagavatam says even Yamuna rose her waters to take darshan of his divine lotus feet.

Even in his birth a very profound message he has delivered to us. He was born at midnight (referred to many as the ghostly time) in a jail cell in the dark phase of the moon to shackled parents. Bhagawan firstly dispelled the myth as any time being inappropriate and inauspicious.  By his will all the chains were broken and he was carried on a basket by his father across the raging Yamuna to Gokul to be raised by Nanda Baba and Ma Yashoda. The place Brindavan as I explained in the paragraphs above was heaven on earth.

Bhagwan Krishna on Vasudev's head

The profound message in the above narration is that from our eternal immortal state we are all born into bondage of this material limited body. By our own will and thirst for liberation we must cross the ocean of samsara (this life) with the Lord firmly fixed in our minds (like how Vasudeva had Shri Krishna in a basket  on his head). With this type of approach even any challenges that may pose an obstacle to your progress in spiritual life will bow at your feet (like the raging Yamuna in flood bowing to the feet of Krishna).

Finally, you must realise that like Krishna spending just a few hours with Vasudeva and Devaki, and growing up with Nanda and Yashoda in Brindavan. Our material parents are only temporary like everything on this earth, we must journey through this maya to reach our Gokul and live with our real eternal parents, the divine mother and father.

So in essence our life’s purpose is to journey from Kurukshetra to Gokul.  From the battlefield of life to the eternal abode of our father.

May this Krishna Janmasthami bring you eternal joy and bliss is my sincere prayer. Happy Krishna Janmasthami to all!!!



Bhagawan Sri Krishna The World Teacher

||Sri Ramakrishna Sharanam||

                                                                                                    



Bhagawan Sri Krishna



I felt like a little kid waiting in anticipation for his favourite show to start as the glorious Gita Week commences today. Although the Gita Jayanti celebrations actually take place in the month of December we must applaud the individual responsible for introducing the Gita discussions 8 days prior to the advent of its orator.

It in a sense it gives us a chance to understand Krishna of the Gita and Krishna of the Bhagavatam. Like in life we often hear people speak of how one plays different roles in life, like father, friend, son, teacher etc we have an opportunity to analyse in this week Krishna as the Jagat Guru (world teacher)

The great sage Veda Vyasas  shines as an author beyond comparison  as he dishes out to the readers the most youthful and serious personalities of the Lord with immaculate skill through the Bhagavatam and Gita.

If I had to sample the entire world without discrimination I would return with knowledge that every person in his/her life would have suffered from heartache, mental confusion, depression, despondencies which would have resulted in terrible and major setbacks in one’s life.

We are so careful and weary of physical ailments but totally neglect mental and emotions of the heart. Medical professionals will tell you that many of the physiological ailments are a direct result of psychological events.

When we are born our parents do their duty by immunising us against physiological diseases but fail to immunise us against the greatest threats to our lives being a weak mind and heart.

That is what world physician Shree Krishna came to dispense, the immunisation against weakness and all that saps the inspiration, energy and joy from your life.

We see a complete change of disposition from prankster Krishna to Teacher when he assumes charge of the crisis Arjuna created for himself.

The manner in which the Gita is packaged brings forth just the pure spoken intense knowledge of the Vedanta devoid of the flowery poetry. We find many opt for the light easy reading of the Bhagavatam.

 But in essence Shree Krsna declares that the cause of the despondency, weakness and pain in this world can be attributed to attachment, desire and expectation. Take a while and reflect upon this and see if it is not true. Everything in life is by the will of God alone. There is nothing that you and I can do to change that. Sri Ramakrishna explained in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna a story how a man went through many hardships but felt no pain because at every step of his life he repeated by the will of Rama. (meaning all by his divine grace alone)

On Thursday last week I had the blessed opportunity to have a discussion with revered Swami Vimokshanandaji Maharaj over a lovely cup of tea. In our discussion Maharaj disclosed that in his Gita classes he has completed chapter 5 after 5 years of discourses.

Therefore it will be an injustice to this glorious work of Sage Veda Vyasa to say that I can give you the explanation of this eternal wisdom in a single blog. What I will attempt however is to give you the essence of the lords philosophy in mitigating the pains, weakness and despondencies that subdue and attenuate our intrinsic blissful nature.

• Why do you worry without cause? Whom do you fear without reason? Who can kill you? The soul is neither born, nor does it die.
• Whatever happened, happened for the good; whatever is happening, is happening for the good; whatever will happen, will also happen for the good only. You need not have any regrets for the past. You need not worry for the future. The present is happening...
• What did you lose that you cry about? What did you bring with you, which you think you have lost? What did you produce, which you think got destroyed? You did not bring anything - whatever you have, you received from here. Whatever you have given, you have given only here. Whatever you took, you took from God. Whatever you gave, you gave to him. You came empty handed, you will leave empty handed. What is yours today, belonged to someone else yesterday, and will belong to someone else the day after tomorrow. You are mistakenly enjoying the thought that this is yours. It is this false happiness that is the cause of your sorrows.





Lord giving Arjuna Instructions


• Change is the law of the universe. What you think of as death, is indeed life. In one instance you can be a millionaire, and in the other instance you can be steeped in poverty. Yours and mine, big and small - erase these ideas from your mind. Then everything is yours and you belong to everyone.
• This body is not yours, neither are you of the body. The body is made of fire, water, air, earth and ether, and will disappear into these elements. But the soul is permanent - so who are you?
• Dedicate your being to God. He is the one to be ultimately relied upon. Those who know of his support are forever free from fear, worry and sorrow.
• Whatever you do, do it as a dedication to God. This will bring you the tremendous experience of joy and life-freedom forever.(this synopsis was taken from the net)

I pray through this small presentation I have wet your appetite to take up the reading of these beautiful works of Vedanta that help us migrate from this bonded life to that of an eternal state of freedom and bliss(ananda)

Aum Namo Bhagavadev Vasudevaya

Mothers the nucleus of creation

Mother Luxmi

                                                                    

Since the beginning of this month I have not been able to escape the elaborate publicity that has flooded our space in terms of the Women’s day celebrations that will unfold throughout the country on August 9.

What a lovely thought to appreciate and recognise women for their efforts in the freedom struggle of our country. On this day in 1956 the country and world had a preview of woman power when women marched onto the lawns of the Union buildings to show their dissatisfaction against the pass laws.

However from a pure Hindu perspective we have never showed any disrespect or discrimination towards women. In fact we have but placed her on the highest pedestal of the social order. There is a beautiful saying which reads  Maata, Pitha, Guru, Devam which when translated means , Mother, father, Teacher and then God.

It is indeed a remarkable co-incidence that this event took place right in the midst of a period in Hindu practice when so much praise and worship is dedicated to the divine mother. We are currently in the month of Aadi and will be celebrating Luxmi Pooja on 12 August followed closely in a few weeks by Navarathri (a full 9 night festival to mother).

Woman or the feminine aspect plays a very important and interesting role in Hindu philosophy. The feminine aspect of the divine is respectfully referred to as Shakti or the power. There is god, but that which is the force with which this god acts is known as Shakti.

You will notice that when gods are addressed they are always done with the name of the Shakti first, like Uma Maheshwara , Luxmi Narayana, Radhe Krishna and so on.

Another wonderful example which we will come across soon is that of Lord Srinivasa. During the holy month of Purutassi Lord Srinivasa is worshipped extensively with devotion for his grace. The word Srinivasa means the one who houses Luxmi(Sri) in his heart.

Mother Luxmi Devi is renowned the world over for bestowing prosperity in the form of material and spiritual wealth. Would we all not like to have the Divine Mother Luxmi reside in our hearts? Look how prosperous Lord Srinivasa of Thirupathi is.

We need to prepare our hearts to house the divine mother. She is the most beautiful, merciful and gracious of all therefore our hearts need to match that of the Lord of Vaikunta. We need not doubt that it is possible.

We need to utilise our hearts to act in the following manner:

Serve the Lord in the whole of humanity, in the sick, and destitute. Feed the hungry, have no fear, provide protection for yourself and others, raise dharmic children ,create wealth through honest means and dispose of it in a dharmic way, act with love and faith in god so victory is certain and seek knowledge and truth.  In acting this way you would have espoused the eight qualities of the Mother Luxmi who is known as Ashta Luxmi (eight forms).



Astha Luxmi



                                                                       

1. Adi Lakshmi:  Mother Lakshmi resides with Lord Narayana in the Vaikuntha, the abode of Lord Narayana.  Divine Mother’s this form is normally seen serving Sri Narayana.  Lord Narayana is omnipresent.  Adi Lakshmi serves Sri Narayana is symbolic of her serving the whole creation.  Though Sri Narayana is attended by innumerable devotees, still she personally loves to serve the Lord.  Actually mother Adi Lakshmi and Narayana are not two different entities but one only.  Many a place we see her form sitting in the lap of Sri Narayana.
2. Dhanya Lakshmi:  Dhanya means grains.  This includes all kind of purified food containing all essential vitamins, minerals, protein, calcium, carbohydrate and so on.  With the grace of mother Dhanya Lakshmi one gets all essential nutrients grains, fruits, vegetables and other foods.
3. Dhairya Lakshmi:  This form of mother Lakshmi grants the boon of infinite courage and strength.  Those, who are in tune with infinite inner power, are always bound to have victory. Those who worship mother Dhairya Lakshmi they live and lead a life with tremendous patience and inner stability.
4. Gaja Lakshmi:  In the holy book of Srimad Bhagavata the story of the churning of the ocean by Gods and demons is explained in detail.  Author, the Sage Vyasa writes that Lakshmi came out of the ocean during the churning of the ocean (Samudra Manthan).  So she is known as a daughter of the ocean. She came out of the ocean sitting on a full-bloomed lotus and also having lotus flowers in both hands with two elephants by her sides, holding beautiful vessels filled with milk and pouring it over Sri Lakshmi.  Many a time we see Sri Lakshmi standing in the lotus and elephants are pouring nectar over her. During the festival of the lamps or the Deepavali along with Sri Lakshmi the Ganapati or the Elephant God also gets worshipped; that signifies the protection from evils as well as abundant grace and blessings for additional prosperities!
5. Santan Lakshmi:  In the family life, the children are the greatest treasure. Those who worship this particular form of Sri Lakshmi, known as a Santan Lakshmi, are bestowed with the grace of mother Lakshmi and have wealth in the form of desirable children with good health & long life.
6. Vijay Lakshmi:  Vijay is victory.  Vijay is to get success in all undertakings and all different facets of life. Some are strong physically but weak mentally while others are economically rich but poor in their attitude and cannot exert any influence. Vijay is to have all encompassing victory. Vijay is to rejoice glory of our real nature – Vijay is to conquer the lower nature.  Hence those, with grace of mother Vijay Lakshmi, have victory everywhere, at all time, in all conditions. Victory to Vijay Lakshmi !!
7. Dhana Lakshmi:  Dhana is wealth.  But as per Rigved’s Purush Shukta Dhana is not only a wealth in coins and currency.  Even Sun and moon, fire and stars, rains and nature, oceans and mountains, rivers and streams, all these are our wealth, so are the progeny, our inner will power, our character and our virtues. With the grace of mother Dhana Lakshmi we will get all these in abundance.
8. Vidya Lakshmi: Vidya is education. Education is not mere studies to receive the degrees and diplomas certificates from the educational institutes or universities. It is also the knowledge of scriptures and self. So we may attain the goal of life being self realisation.

 It is my sincere prayer, as we celebrate this all important month recognising the women of the world may we all also aspire to create an abode in our hearts for the Divine Mother. May prosperity through her divine grace be upon all. May women all over be respected as the Divine mother.  Jay Mata Di!!!. Happy Womens Day South Africa.