Showing posts with label Spirituality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spirituality. Show all posts

Ascent to Spirituality


First and foremost question which strikes our mind instantly is the spiritual identity of a life. Life is restricted to the cycle of birth, development and death. The span between birth and death may be a prolonged one or may be followed by an immediate succession. Some fellow worshippers of knowledge understand this trend easily and consider the divine power as an immortal entity. Some other individuals remain in the clutch of confusion for a long time and fail to recognize the divine as any separate entity. Varieties of qualities in humans; such as intellect, knowledge, clarity of thought, forgiveness, truthfulness, control over the senses and mind, joy and sorrow, birth and death, fear and courage, non-violence, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame, and infamy; all develop from the supreme sense which implies a command upon memory, intellect and ego.[1] Combination of all such qualities may vary considerably. Combination of such qualities finalise the nature of an individual. Some of the combination may be wiser and some other combination may be demonic.

The yoga of devotion makes the individual linked to the divine power and with such inclination a devotee gains the sense of divine omnipresence quite easily. Such individual considers the diversity of all the living forms as a form radiated out from the divine. All such forms even remain restricted to the divine and get merged to the source after completion of life. It is similar to the act of the formation of clouds at the ocean bed and development of streams due to down pour from the clouds. All these acts jointly ensure the cyclic movement of water from ocean to mountains and again from mountains to oceans through streams. Intermediate results may be of many types and many forms, but the real identity of water droplet remains unchanged.

Whatever we acquire in the form of knowledge will enrich the society in different ways and even it will enrich our efforts of feeling the omnipresence of the divine power. Lord describes himself as an inseparable entity of different forms and capacities which remain prevalent in the surrounding. Lord Shiva, for an example, among Rudras is divine. Every individual in this universe are capable of feeling the oneness with the divine, but they may not be capable of accommodating the source as we may not be able to accommodate the sun in our immediate surroundings. We can feel the warmth and illumination of the sun from a safest distance. Before reaching the ground such radiation is even filtered by the realm of atmosphere. We are absolutely incapable of assimilating the ultraviolet radiations at even a fraction of a percent. Such radiations are competent enough in killing any life forms. On the other hand we cannot think about birth and manifestation of any life form without the sun.

The person having true knowledge of the cycle of creation and destruction keep faith on the divine power and start exploring the existence of such power within the self. Two types of individuals see such a divine power in two different ways: one can recognize it as an inseparable part of the self and other can recognize it as a separate entity having no linkage to the self.

It is more important for an individual to realise the Divine omnipresence; that sense is the only positive impulse which is capable enough in linking up the living form to the nature with perfect band of participatory efforts; such effort will bring desired results during every instances of the functional involvement of the individual in society. Vedic rituals, medicinal herbs, worships of all types and cultivation of knowledge are nothing but different aspects of realising the omni-presence of divine power.[2]   One can recognize the role of the divine power in different realms of creation and destruction.

Person having noble conducts in society remain there in the memory of individuals for a considerable time and may secure a prominent position in the history of development. Such an individual even secure a prominent position amongst nobles because of noble deeds. They even imply a notable influence upon the social conducts. Their contribution in terms of knowledge enrichment may even become the part of the treasure of Vedas. The only lord worshipped by people is the divine power or the creation element (Purush). Common individuals do not know that they worship the supreme creation elements in varying forms. All actions, conducts, rituals and worships should be aimed ultimately towards worshiping the supreme creation element (Purush).  We can even maintain our utter faith on the role of such a creation element in making the process of all the creations true.

Even sinners come out of the clutches of sin after knowing the ultimate fate of such sins and start residing in the process recognizing the presence of creator element (Purush) by the side of the holy creations. They even start recognizing the wider form of the divine manifestation and start delivering their duty in the society with an altered conducts. They quickly get the shelter of the divine and start defining their role in society.

The mighty wind blowing everywhere rests always in sky. In the same way all the organisms rest always in the divine lord and get manifested accordingly when time permits. At the end of one creation cycle all the organisms duly created will be merged into the realm of materials and energy and the entire collection of such kind of lump will be directed towards any of the black hole towards which the centrally located star system will feel the power of attraction. The situation of such a dramatic withdrawal of the diversity of creation may be initiated at any moment. None of the creations and destructions of any types are ever capable of binding the divine power in them. This creator power (the PURUSH element in accord to Sankhya Philosophy) remains independent of the realm of creation and destruction. It ensures the process without being involved actively in the entire process of manifestation. Buddhism adopted changes incorporated in Vedic rituals and other traditional doctrines, which remained in practice through Vedic, Sankhya and Yoga based rituals.[3]

Divine power of such a doer type may often remain non-recognisable because of the non-association of such power in the process of creation. We often recognize the intellect and soul holding such intellect as the creator element. The soul and intellect can have a reflection of the creator superconscious doer element but it cannot be ascribed directly as a doer. We also recognize the soul of an individual as a non-destroyable entity as that of the divine power.  It is similar to that of a stream of water joins the other and a beam of light joins the other. All such sources lose their individual identity before joining. Similar the thing is true regarding diffusion of soul in the surrounding when any individual dies. Band of energy get absorbed in the celestial collection and may be utilized at some other instances randomly during some other phases of creations.

Because of this reason material world moves through series of changes and one change is followed by series of other changes of varying degree and intensity.

Is there any clear distinction in the process of socialisation of human beings during which we may witness activation of a Divine Power (in the form of a Prophet or AVATARA) amongst us? What kind of indications may be there depending upon which we start claiming omnipresence of such power beside us during all instances? The Bhagavadgita highlighted it clearly during discourses in the fourth chapter.[4] Even the purpose of such manifestation is narrated by the Divine Power.[5] People, along with clear understanding of the ways and means of this divine manifestation, succeed in keeping oneself devoid of material attachment to the nature and remain contented thoroughly; by doing so they enjoy the optimum liberation.

Expectations in General

What we want from our immediate surrounding will finalise our comprehensive approach with which exploration of resources and technologies will be advanced. Our effort of linking up resources and technology will confer the effort with which we also want people to get associated with us. Our kind of will inflicted primarily with a sort of bias will generate a sort of agony in the mind of other community or ethnic group of any distant location. One sided aspiration of progress may even give birth to the sort of agony and misconduct. It may even give birth to group clashes and other oppressive conducts of varying types. We are witnessing similar kinds of unrest which are mushrooming at different out pockets of our society. We are, keeping pace with the progressive trend of conflicts, becoming bound to tackle such problems day by day. 

It is also obvious that replacement of armed forces by the acts and conducts of nonviolent resolution may not bring immediate result as some of the countries are badly inflicted with an intention of grabbing resources, lands and technologies of other states without taking care of the aspirations of people settled in the state. Violation of such kinds of basic rules may bring nations back to the war front as some of the leading nations remain indulged in such kind of proxy war, cold war and armed operations. Leadership characters of those conflicting states may also put other nations in trouble as the flow of resources, man power and currencies went on linked and interlinked day by day since last couple of decades. Bringing them out of such network will be easy to say but difficult to implement.

At some instances we may come across the situation during which some of the small and marginal stakeholders living within the jurisdiction of a state may claim that they are in the verge of extinction due to non-supportive policies of the Nation State. Lack of any kind of inclusiveness in the entire framework of development plan may give birth to such kind of separatism and unrest with which some of the states like India are suffering. Addressing all such wills and wishes while keeping the issues of National Security intact is really a matter of deep concern and is open for arranging an intensive study and scholastic interventions. We cannot go on dreaming about any rapid solution to such kinds of burning issues. Boroland of Assam, for an example, is receiving extensive in-migration of different types of Non-Boro Community and are agitating against such kind of state sponsored or some sort of illegal in-migrations. Their demand for a state to safeguard their cultural and social integrity is still a burning issue which puts even India Government in trouble.

We have examples of such kinds of unrest and agony in plenty. It also indicates that the state policy lacks some sort of inclusive efforts with which such kinds of issues would have been addressed effectively. Plans were made as a fraction of the large segments with an anticipation of gaining participation from the reference community but their faith, cultural blend and spiritual orientation utterly kept aside. It was also a plan inflicted with partial motive force of development which gained a negative response from the community members. Expectation of such type, as state planners are coining, should have some sort of comprehensive study and a kind of acculturation with which active participation of the community will be advanced. We are here to sort out such kinds of comprehensive planning process impregnated with resolutions of Peace and Nonviolence to make up our mind for comprehensive and collective progress.

To understand our expectations in a better way it would be better if we move on through an incident which was recorded during execution of a welfare activity at a village level. A farmer named Budhu received a pair of bullock from a nationalized bank. Because of certain health problem he has lost one bullock within a span of one year. Another unpaired bullock became useless. Bank wanted to recover the loan amount form him. He had two alternatives. With the help of the primary teacher of the nearby primary school he has submitted an application to the Branch Manager of the bank requesting him to provide a bullock or to take the living one back.

          The application was of a peculiar type. This incident took place in a village under Nimdih Block of Saraikela, Jharkhand.  Logically Budhu admitted his problem and requested a support from the financial institution. Bank had no such provision of allocating fund for a single bullock or to take the live bullock back. Because of that reason application of Budhu was kept aside. He appeal for a solution remained buried under the heap of pending applications.           After a gap of five years, a new bank officer took the charge of that branch. By that time loan amount which remained in the name of Budhu became a major amount. By paying such amount one can purchase two pairs of bullock similar to those assigned to Budhu. The scheme under which Budhu received such support was under the scheme of Integrated Rural Development Scheme sanctioned by the Government. The matter went to the judiciary. Coming out of the problem and giving any adequate remedy was not in the hand of Bank, Government or even Budhu himself. The only annoying thing happening was the expenses upon the bullock which had no adequate financial return.

          There was another Ashram School Teacher working in the locality. He was even popular amongst villagers because of his timely services. He came to know about the incident. The fellow teacher used to move frequently in the surrounding villages. Because of that reason he had another farmer like Budhu having only one bullock alive. He had arranged a meeting of both the farmer to sort out the problem. Both the farmer decided to work together in a condition of exchanging bullocks for alternate period of six months. Legal proceedings went in the favour of Budhu. There was adequate scope for Budhu to take another pair of bullock from the bank. But the offer was not considered fruitful by the fellow farmer because of his bitter experiences that he went through recently.

          This incident tells us about the limitations of the support services of bank, government or any other welfare institutions. Coming out of the boundary for delivering timely relevant service requires flexibility. The kind of such flexibility is lacking in the present day system of support mechanism. Ultimately farmer, other socially active group and social workers came close to sort out a solution which can give immediate ease to the victim. Because of lack of certain technological input, the problem became a big one. There are instruments that can be handled efficiently even by using a single bullock. That sort of technology was absolutely unknown to both the farmers as well as to the officials.  Installation of any system, monitoring of the same for a stipulated time span, giving support services to the reference group for a selected period of time and helping the person in gaining adequate pace in the production practices are some of the components which should have adequate place in the planning of extending any financial support. Loss of any kind at any place should be considered as a loss to the Nation State.

It is absolutely clear that people involved in the welfare activities rarely bring themselves perfectly in the forefront with adequate enthu; they even lose regulations upon the system due to complications of the planning and implementation process of schemes; lack of spiritual blend in the entire system of financial regulation and execution of the same is another matter of serious concern.

 


[1] Bhagvadgita X – 4-5;

[2] Bhagvadgita IX – 15-18:

Cultivators of knowledge worship supreme lord as an entity. They recognize the diversified forms of such divine power at different instances. Divine power is the worship, Vedic chanting, the fire , the butter and the rituals. Divine is the object of knowledge, the creator element and the Pranava (Om). It is the basis of everything that we see. It has its presence as a creator as well as destroyer element in the universe.

[3] Tadeusz Skorupski (2015). Michael Witzel (ed.). Homa Variations: The Study of Ritual Change Across the Longue DurĂ©e. Oxford University Press. pp. 78–81. ISBN 978-0-19-935158-9.

[4] “Whenever there is a decline in righteousness and a corresponding increase in unrighteousness, The Lord manifest and become active amongst us on earth”

……The Bhagavadgita IV 7.

[5]  “Lord manifest and dwell amongst us to fulfill various purposes; it is not confirmed but can be proposed; to protect the righteous, to annihilate the wicked, and to re-establish the principles of dharma; the Divine Lord appear on this earth, time to time and age after age” ….. The Bhagavadgita IV 8

 

An Ascent To Spirituality

 


This publication can be considered as an effort of linking up different schools of Religion to exhibit the relevance of the growth of Spirituality in all segments of human activity. It also aspires to link up different units of human efforts deviated towards exploring all possible initiatives of the growth of Spirituality at different segments of society.

Linking people to their immediate context, making them confident about their sincere alignment towards the Divine almighty for which they are meditating, making them aware of the globally active creator and destroyer elements in the universal context and to pave a path of human unity are some of the p...

Source: Publisher


My Fast as a Protest

 


One fasts for health's sake under laws governing health, fasts as a penance for a wrong done and felt as such. In these fasts, the fasting one need not believe in Ahimsa. here is, however, a fast which a votary of non-violence sometimes feels impelled to undertake by way of protest against some wrong done by society, and this he does when as a votary of Ahimsa has no other remedy left. Such an occasion has come my way.


When on September 9th, I returned to Delhi from Calcutta, it was to proceed to the West Punjab. But that was not to be. Gay Delhi looked a city of the dead. As I alighted from the train I observed gloom on every face I saw. Even the Sardar, whom humour and the joy that humour gives never desert, was no exception this time. The cause of it I did not know. He was on the platform to receive me. He lost no time in giving me the sad news of the disturbances that had taken place in the Metropolis of the Union. At once I saw that I had to be in Delhi and 'do or die'. There is a apparent calm brought about by prompt military and police action. But there is storm within the breast. It may burst forth any day. This I count as no fulfillment of the vow to 'do' which alone can keep me from death, the incomparable friend. I yearn for heart friendship between the Hindus, the Sikhs and the Muslims. It subsisted between them the other day. Today it is non-existent. It is a state that no Indian patriot worthy of the name can contemplate with equanimity. Though the Voice within has been beckoning for a long time, I have been shutting my ears to it, lest it may be the voice of Satan otherwise called my weakness. I never like to feel resourceless, a Satyagrahi never should. Fasting is his last resort in the place of the sword - his or other's. I have no answer to return to the Muslim friends who see me from day to day as to what they should do. My impotence has been gnawing at me of late. It will go immediately the fast is undertaken. I have been brooding over it for the last three days. The final conclusion has flashed upon me and it makes me happy. No man, if he is pure has anything more precious to give than his life. I hope and pray that I have that purity in me to justify the step.


Worthy of Blessing

I ask you all to bless the effort and to pray for me and with me. The fast begins from the first meal tomorrow. The period is indefinite and I may drink water with or without salts and sour limes. It will end when and if I am satisfied that there is a reunion of hearts of all the communities brought about without any outside pressure, but from an awakened sense of duty. The reward will be the regaining of India's dwindling prestige and her fast fading sovereignty over the heart of Asia and there through the world. I flatter myself with belief that the loss of the hope of the aching, storm-tossed and hungry world. Let no friend, or foe if there be one, be angry with me. There are friends who do not believe in the method of the fast for the reclamation of the human mind. They will bear with me and extent to me the same liberty of action that they claim for themselves. With God as my supreme, and sole counsellor, I felt that I must take the decision without any other adviser. If I made a mistake and discover it, I shall have no hesitation in proclaiming it from the housetop and retracing my faulty step. There is clear indication, as I claim there is, of the Inner Voice, it will not be gainsaid. I plead for all absence of argument and inevitable endorsement of the step. If the whole of India responds or at least Delhi does, the fast might be soon ended.


No Softness

But whether it ends soon or late or never, let there be no softness in dealing with what may be termed as a crisis. Critics have regarded some of my previous fasts as coercive and held that on merits the verdict would have gone against my stand but for the pressure exercised by the fasts. What value can an adverse verdict have when the purpose is demonstrably sound? A pure fast, like duty, is its own reward. I do not embark upon it for the sake of the result it may bring. I do so because I must. Hence, I urge everybody dispassionately to examine the purpose and let me die, if I must, in peace which I hope is ensured. Death for me would be a glorious deliverance rather than that I should be a helpless witness of the destruction of India, Hinduism, Sikhism and Islam. That destruction is certain if Pakistan ensures no equality of status and security of life and property for all professing the various faiths of the world, and if India copies her. Only then Islam dies in the two India's, not in the world. But Hinduism and Sikhism have no world outside India. Those who differ from me will be honoured by me for their resistance however implacable. Let my fast quicken conscience, not deaden it. Just contemplate the rot that has set in beloved India and you will rejoice to think that there is a humble son of hers who is strong enough and possibly pure enough to take the happy step. If he is neither, he is a burden on earth. The sooner he disappears and clears the Indian atmosphere of the burden the better for him and all concerned.


I would beg of all friends not to rush to Birla House nor try to dissuade me or be anxious for me. I am in God's hands. Rather, they should turn the searchlights inwards, for this is essentially a testing time for all of us. Those who remain at their post of duty and perform it diligently and well, now more so than hitherto, will help me and the cause in every way. The fast is a process of self-purification.


Harijan, 18-1-1948, p. 523


My Saviour


THOUGH MY reason and heart long ago realized the highest attribute and name of God as Truth, I recognize Truth by the name of Rama. In the darkest hour of my trial, that one name has saved me and is still saving me. It may be the association of childhood, it may be the fascination that Tulsidas has wrought on me.


But the potent fact is there, and as I write these lines, my memory revives the scenes of my childhood, when I used daily to visit the Ramji Mandir adjacent to my ancestral home. My Rama then resided there. He saved me from many fears and sins. It was no superstition for me. The custodian of the idol may have been a bad man. I know nothing against him. Misdeeds might have gone on in the temple. Again I know nothing of them. Therefore, they would not affect me. What was and is true of me is true of millions of Hindus. (H, 18-3-1933, p6)


When a child, my nurse taught me to repeat Ramanama whenever I felt afraid or miserable, and it has been second nature with me with growing knowledge and advancing years. I may even say that the Word is in my heart, if not actually on my lips, all the twenty-four hours. It has been by saviour and I am ever stayed on it. In the spiritual literature of the world, the Ramayana of Tulsidas takes a foremost place. It has charms that I miss in the Mahabharata and even in Valmiki's Ramayana. (H, 17-8-1934, p213)


Best Worship

I myself have been a devotee of Tulasidas from my childhood and have, therefore, always worshipped God as Rama. But I know that if, beginning with Omkar, one goes through the entire gamut of God's names current in all climes, all countries and languages, the result is the same. He and His law are one. To observe His law is, therefore, the best form of worship. (H, 24-3-1946, p56)


One God

I laugh within myself when someone objects that Rama or the chanting of Ramanama is for the Hindus only, how can Mussalmans therefore take part in it? Is there one God for the Mussalmans and another for the Hindus, Paris or Christians? No, there is only one omnipotent and omnipresent God. He is named variously and we remember Him by the name which is most familiar to us.


My Rama, the Rama of our prayers is not the historical Rama, the son Dasharatha, the King of Ayodhya. He is the eternal, the unborn, the one without a second. Him alone I worship. His aid alone I see, and so should you. He belongs equally to all. I, therefore, see no reason why a Mussalman or anybody should object to taking His name. But he is in no way bound to recognize God as Ramanama. He may utter to himself Allah or Khuda so as not to mar the harmony of the sound. (H, 28-4-1946, p111)


To me...Rama, described as the Lord of Sita, son of Dasharatha, is the all-powerful essence whose name, inscribed in the heart, removes all suffering-mental, moral and physical. (H, 2-6-1946, p158)


Curative Power

An apt question is as to why a man who recites Ramanama regularly and leads a pure life should ever fall ill. Man is by nature imperfect. A thoughtful man strives after perfection, but never attains it. He stumbles on the way, however unwittingly. The whole of God's law is embodied in a pure life.


The first thing is to realize one's limitations. It should be obvious that, the moment one transgresses those limits, one falls ill. Thus a balanced diet eaten in accordance with needs gives one freedom from disease. How is one to know what is the proper diet for one? Many such enigmas can be imagined. The purport of it all is that everyone should be his own doctor and find out his limitations. The man who does so will surely live up to 125. (H, 19-5-1946, p148)


Ramanama cannot perform the miracle of restoring to you a lost limb. But it can perform the still greater miracle of helping you to enjoy an ineffable peace in spite of the loss while you live and rob death of its sting and the grave its victory at the journey's end. Since death must come soon or late to everyone, why should one worry over the time? (H, 7-4-1946, p69)


The practice of nature cure does not require high academic qualifications or much erudition. Simplicity is the essence of universality. Nothing that is meant for the benefit of the millions requires much erudition. The latter can be acquired only by the few and, therefore, can benefit the rich only.


But India lives in her seven lakhs of villages-obscure, tiny, out-of-the-way villages, where the population in some cases hardly exceeds a few hundred, very often not even a few score.


I would like to go and settle down in some such village. That is real India, my India. You cannot take to these humble people the paraphernalia of highly qualified doctors and hospital equipment. In simple, natural remedies and Ramanama lies their only hope. (ibid)


Purity of Thought

Mere lip recitation of Ramanama has nothing to do with cure. Faith cure, if I know it correctly, is blind cure, such as the friend describes and thereby ridicules the living name of the living God. The latter is not a figment of one's imagination. It has to come from the heart.


It is conscious belief in God and a knowledge of His law that make perfect cure possible without any further aid. That law is that a perfect mind is responsible for perfect health of he body. A perfect mind comes from a perfect heart, not the heart known by a doctor's stethoscope but the heart which is the seat of God. It is claimed that realization of God in the heart makes it impossible for an impure or an idle thought to cross the mind.


Disease is impossible where there is purity of thought. Such a state may be difficult to attain. But the first step in the ascent to health is taken with its recognition. The next is taken when the corresponding attempt is made. This radical alteration in one's life is naturally accompanied by the observance of all other nature's laws hitherto discovered by man. One cannot play with them and claim to have a pure heart.


It can be said with justice that possession of a pure heart should do equally well without Ramanama. Only, I know no other way of attaining purity. And it is the way trodden by the sages of old all over the world. They were men of God, not supersitious men or charlatans. (H, 9-6-1946, p171)


Spiritual force is like any other force at the service of man. Apart from the fact that it has been used for physical ailments for ages, with more or less success, it would be intrinsically wrong not to use it, if it can be successfully used for the cure of physical ailments. For, man is both matter and spirit, each acting on and affecting the other.


If you get rid of malaria by taking quinine, without thinking of the millions who do not get it, why should you refuse to use the remedy which is within you, because millions will not use it through their ignorance?


May you not be clean and well because millions of others will not be so, ignorantly or, may be even cussedly? If you will not be clean out of false notions of philanthropy, you will deny yourself the duty of serving the very millions by remaining dirty and ill. Surely refusal to be spiritually well or clean is worse than the refusal to be physically clean and well. (H, 1-9-1946, p286)


To repeat Ramanama and to follow the way of Ravana in actual practice is worse than useless. It is sheer hypocrisy. One may deceive oneself or the world, but one cannot deceive the Almighty. (H, 23-6-1946, p186)



Spiritual Experience

 


Some aspects of experiences

(1) Blessed Feelings of God's Presence

I believe it to be possible for every human being to attain that blessed and indescribable state in which he feels within himself the presence of God to the exclusion of everything else.


I hold that complete realization is impossible in this embodied life. Nor is it necessary. A living immovable faith is all that is required for reaching the full spiritual height, attainable by human beings. God is not outside the earthly case of ours. Therefore exterior proof is not of much avail if at all. We must ever fail to perceive Him through the senses, because He is beyond them. We can feel Him, if we will but withdraw ourselves from the senses.


Seeing God face to face is to feel that He is enthroned in our hearts, even as a child feels a mother's affection without needing any demonstration. Does a child reason out the existence of a mother's love? Can he prove it to others ? He triumphantly declares "It is". So must it be with the existence of God. He defies reason. But He is experienced. Let us not reject the experience of Tulsidas, Chaitanya, Ramdas and a host of other spiritual teachers, even as we do not reject that of mundane teachers.


There is not a moment when I do not feel the presence of a Witness, whose eye misses nothing and with whom I strive to keep in tune.


If I did not feel the presence of God within me, I see so much of misery and disappointment every day that I would be a raving maniac and my destination would be the Hoogli.


(2) Vision of God

What is the vision of God? It does not mean seeing something with the physical eye or witnessing a miracle. Seeing God means realization of the fact that God abides in our hearts. The yearning must persist until one has attained this realization, and will vanish upon realization. Realization is the final fruit of constant effort. God is there in the tabernacle of the heart.


We cannot see God with these eyes. God is spirit without body and is, therefore, visible only to the eye of faith. If there are no evil thoughts troubling our mind and no fears but constant cheerfulness in our heart, that is an indication of God's presence in ourselves. Indeed He is there at all times but we fail to notice His presence as we have no faith, and thus undergo much suffering. When once we have cultivated real faith, calamities cease to upset us.


One who looks upon the universe as various facets of God, will certainly have the beatific vision. All our knowledge and spiritual exercises are fruitless, so long as we have not had this vision.


When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator, I try to see Him and His mercies in all these creations.


(3) His Light and Music

The fleeting glimpses that I have been able to have of Truth can hardly convey an idea of the indescribable Lustre of Truth, a million times more intense than that of the sun, we daily see with our eyes. In fact, what I have caught is only the faintest glimmer of that Mighty Effulgence. I feel the warmth and sunshine of His Presence.


The sun in heavens fills the whole universe with its life-giving warmth. But if one went too near it, it would consume him to ashes. Even so, it is with Godhead. We become Godlike to the extent we realize non-violence; but we never become wholly God.


My firm belief is that He reveals Himself daily to every human being but we shut our ears to the "still small voice". We shut our eyes to the Pillar of Fire in front of us. I realize His omnipresence.


The Divine! Music is incessantly going on within ourselves; but the loud senses drown the Delicate Music which is unlike and infinitely superior to any we can perceive or hear with our senses.


When this Inner Light corresponds with the promptings of the smaller Inner Voice, then that flash has a mark of inspiration.


(4) The Inner Voice

The Inner Voice defies description. But sometimes we do feel that we receive an inspiration from within. The time when I learnt to recognize it may be called my prayer time, say about 1906. I recollect it. For the rest, never did I feel at any time in my life that I had some new experience. My spiritual growth has been unnoticed like the growth of hair on our heads.


Nobody has to my knowledge questioned the possibility of the Inner Voice speaking to some and it is a gain to the world even if one person's claim to speak under the authority of the Inner Voice can be really sustained. Many may make the claim but not all will be able to substantiate it. But it cannot and ought not to be suppressed for the sake of preventing false claimants. There is no danger whatsoever, if many people could truthfully represent the Inner Voice. But unfortunately there is no remedy against hypocrisy. Virtue must not be suppressed because many will feign it. Men have always been found throughout the world claiming to speak for the Inner Voice. But no harm has yet overtaken the world through their short-lived activities. Before one is able to listen to that Voice, one has to go through a long and severe course of training, and when it is the Inner Voice that speaks, it is unmistakable. The world cannot successfully be fooled for all time. There is, therefore, no danger of anarchy setting in, because an humble man like me, will not be suppressed and will dare to claim the authority of the Inner Voice, when he believes that he has heard it.


Man is a fallible being. He can never be sure of his steps. What he may regard as an answer to prayer may be an echo of his pride. For infallible guidance man has to have a perfectly innocent heart incapable of evil. I can lay no such claim. Mine is a struggling, striving, erring, imperfect soul.


(5) Divine Messages

[There were two occasions when Gandhiji heard Divine- Messages. The first was in 1933 and the second in 1936. Both were connected with the problem of untouchability. Gandhiji tells us:]


The first question that has puzzled many is about the Voice of God. What was it? What did I hear? Was there any person I saw? If not, how was the Voice conveyed to me? These are pertinent questions.


I saw no form. I have never tried for it, for I have always believed God to be without form. But what I did hear was like a Voice from afar and yet quite near. It was as unmistakable as some human voice, definitely speaking to me, and irresistible. I was not dreaming at the time I heard the Voice. The hearing of the Voice was preceded by a terrific struggle within me. Suddenly the Voice came upon me. I listened, made certain that it was the Voice and the struggle ceased. I was calm. The determination was made accordingly, the date and the hour of the fast fixed. Joy came over me. This was between 11 and 12 midnight. I felt refreshed.


Gould I give any further evidence that it was truly the Voice I heard and that it was not an echo of my own heated imagination? I have no further evidence to convince the sceptic. He is free to say it was all self-delusion or hallucination. It may well have been so. I can offer no proof to the contrary. But I can say this that not the unanimous verdict of the whole world against me could shake me from the belief that what I heard was the true Voice of God. . . . For me the Voice was more real than my existence. (1933)


One experience stands quite distinctly in my memory. It relates to my twenty-one days' fast for the removal of untouchability. I had gone to sleep the night before without the slightest idea of having to declare a fast the next morning. At about 12 o'clock in the night something wakes me up suddenly and some voice-within or without, I cannot say-whispers, "Thou must go on fast." "How many days ?" I ask. It says: "Twenty-one days." "When does it begin?" I ask. It says: "You begin tomorrow." I went quietly off to sleep after making the decision. I did not tell anything to my companions until after the morning prayer. I placed into their hands a slip of paper announcing my decision and asking them not to argue with me as the decision was irrevocable. Well, the doctors thought that I would not survive the fast. But something within me said I would and that I must go forward. That kind of experience has never in my life happened before after that date.


This I know that all that glitters is not gold, and also that if a man has really heard the Voice of God, there is no sliding back, just as there is no forgetting it by one who had learnt to swim. The listening in must make people's lives daily richer and richer. (1936)


(6) An Ideal Sage

That man alone can be called truly religious or moral whose mind is not tainted with hatred or selfishness, and who leads a life of absolute purity and of disinterested service; and that man alone can be called truly wealthy or happy either. Only such man can do good to mankind; for Truth is the foundation of all that is good and great. To a true servant of humanity the question never arises as to the best form of service. When we have realized the majesty of the Moral Law, we shall see how little our happiness or unhappiness depends on health and success and fame and the like. As has been said by Emerson, 'even the pains and griefs of good men contribute to their happiness, while even the wealth and fame of bad men cause misery to themselves as well as to the world'. 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you.'


He is a real devotee who is jealous of none, who is a fount of mercy, who is without egoism, who treats alike cold and heat, happiness and misery, who is ever forgiving, who is always contented, whose resolutions are firm, who has dedicated mind and soul to God, who causes no dread, who is not afraid of others, who is free from exultation, sorrow and fear, who is pure, who is versed in action and yet remains unaffected by it, who renounces all fruit, good or bad, who treats friend and foe alike, who is untouched by respect or disrespect, who is not puffed up with praise, who does not go under when people speak ill of him, who loves silence and solitude, who has disciplined reason.


The Yogin is therefore one who reflects all these attributes in his life, who, in the midst of raging storm and blinding spray, will keep his vision of the sun undisturbed, who will look difficulties and death in the face, who goes with the same mind to the shambles and the scaffold and whose mind is so serene that thunder rocks him to sleep.



Blessings of the Divine



I had now given up all hope of returning to India in the near future. I had promised my wife that I would return home within a year. The year was gone without any prospect of my return, so I decided to send for her and the children.


On the boat bringing them to South Africa, Ramdas, my third son, broke his arm while playing with the ship's captain. The captain looked after him well and had him attended to by the ship's doctor. Ramdas landed with his hand in a sling. The doctor had advised that, as soon as we reached home, the wound should be dressed by a qualified doctor. But this was the time when I was full of faith in my experiments in earth treatment. I had even succeeded in persuading some of my clients who had faith in my quackery to try the earth and water treatment.


What then was I to do for Ramdas? He was just eight years old. I asked him if he would mind my dressing his wound. With a smile he said he did not mind at all. It was not possible for him at that age to decide what was the best thing for him, but he knew very well the distinction between quackery and proper medical treatment. And he knew my habit of home treatment and had faith enough to trust himself to me. In fear and trembling I undid the bandage, washed the wound, applied a clean earth poultice and tied the arm up again. This sort of dressing went on daily for about a month until the wound was completely healed. There was no hitch, and the wound took no more time to heal than the ship's doctor had said it would under the usual treatment.


This and other experiments enhanced my faith in such household remedies, and I now proceeded with them with more self-confidence. I widened the sphere of their application, trying the earth and water and fasting treatment in cases of wounds, fevers, dyspepsia, jaundice and other complaints, with success on most occasions. But nowadays I have not the confidence I had in South Africa, and experience has even shown that these experiments involve obvious risks.


The reference here, therefore, to these experiments is not meant to demonstrate their success. I cannot claim complete success for any experiment. Even medical men can make no such claim for their experiments. My object is only to show that he who would go in for novel experiments must begin with himself. That leads to a quicker discovery of truth, and God always protects the honest experimenter.


The risks involved in experiments in cultivating intimate contacts with Europeans were as grave as those in the nature cure experiments. Only those risks were of a different kind. But in cultivating those contacts I never so much as thought of the risks.


I invited Polak to come and stay with me, and we began to live like blood brothers. The lady who was soon to be Mrs. Polak and he had been engaged for some years, but the marriage had been postponed for a propitious time. I have an impression that Polak wanted to put some money by before he settled down to a married life. He knew Ruskin much better than I, but his Western surroundings were a bar against his translating Ruskin's teaching immediately into practice. But I pleaded with him: 'When there is a heart union, as in your case, it is hardly right to postpone marriage merely for financial considerations. If poverty is a bar, poor men can never marry. And then you are now staying with me. There is no question of household expenses. I think you should get married as soon as possible.' As I have said in a previous chapter, I had never to argue a thing twice with Polak. He appreciated the force of my argument, and immediately opened correspondence on the subject with Mrs. Polak, who was then in England. She gladly accepted the proposal and in a few months reached Johannesburg. Any expense over the wedding was out of the question, not even a special dress was thought necessary. They needed no religious rites to seal the bond. Mrs. Polak was a Christian by birth and Polak a Jew. Their common religion was the religion of ethics.


I may mention in passing an amusing incident in connection with this wedding. The Registrar of European marriages in the Transvaal could not register between black or coloured people. In the wedding in question, I acted as the best man. Not that we could not have got a European friend for the purpose, but Polak would not brook the suggestion. So we three went to the Registrar of marriages. How could he be sure that the parties to a marriage in which I acted as the best man would be whites? He proposed to postpone registration pending inquiries. The next day was a Sunday. The day following was New Year's Day, a public holiday. To postpone the date of a solemnly arranged wedding on such a flimsy pretext was more than one could put up with. I knew the Chief Magistrate, who was head of the Registration Department. So I appeared before him with the couple. He laughed and gave me a note to the Registrar and the marriage was duly registered.


Up to now the Europeans living with us had been more or less known to me before. But now an English lady who was an utter stranger to us entered the family. I do not remember our ever having had a difference with the newly married couple, but even if Mrs. Polak and my wife had some unpleasant experiences, they would have been no more than what happens in the best-regulated homogeneous families. And let it be remembered that mine would be considered an essentially heterogeneous family, where people of all kinds and temperaments were freely admitted. When we come to think of it, the distinction between heterogeneous and homogeneous is discovered to be merely imaginary. We are all one family.


I had better celebrate West's wedding also in this chapter. At this stage of my life, my ideas about brahmacharya had not fully matured, and so I was interesting myself in getting all my bachelor friends married. When, in due course, West made a pilgrimage to Louth to see his parents, I advised him to return married if possible. Phoenix was the common home, and as we were all supposed to have become farmers, we were not afraid of marriage and its usual consequences. West returned with Mrs. West, a beautiful young lady from Leicester. She came of a family of shoemakers working in a Leicester factory. I have called her beautiful, because it was her moral beauty that at once attracted me. True beauty after all consists in purity of heart. With Mr. West had come his mother-in-law too. The old lady is still alive. She put us all to shame by her industry and her buoyant, cheerful nature.


In the same way as I persuaded these European friends to marry, I encouraged the Indian friends to send for their families from home. Phoenix thus developed into a little village, half a dozen families having come and settled and begun to increase there.



Spirituality

 



All Are God Given And True


I believe in the fundamental Truth of all great religions of the world. And I believe that if only we could, all of us, read the scriptures of the different Faiths from the stand-point of the followers of those faiths, we should find that they were at the bottom, all one and were all helpful to one another.


Belief in one God is the cornerstone of all religions. But I do not foresee a time when there would be only one religion on earth in practice. In theory, since there is one God, there can be only one religion.


The one religion is beyond all speech. Imperfect men put it into such language as they can command, and their words are interpreted by other men equally imperfect. Hence the necessity for tolerance, which does not mean indifference towards one's own Faith, but a more intelligent and pure love for it.


What Is Hinduism?


If were asked to define the Hindu creed, I should simply say: Search after Truth through non-violent means. A man may not believe even in God and still call himself a Hindu. Hinduism is a relentless pursuit after Truth and if today it has become moribund, inactive, irresponsive to growth, it is because we are fatigued and as soon as the fatigue is over Hinduism will burst forth upon the world with a brilliance perhaps unknown before. Hinduism is the most tolerant of all religions. Its creed is all embracing.


Hinduism tells every one to worship God according to his own Faith or Dharma and so it lives at peace with all the religions.


The Buddha's Contribution To Humanity


God's Laws are eternal and unalterable and not separable from God Himself. The Buddha disbelieved in God and simply believed in Moral Law. Great as Buddha's contribution to humanity was, in restoring God to His Eternal place, in my humble opinion, greater still was his contribution to humanity in his exacting regard of all life, be it ever so low.


The Message Of Jesus


What does Jesus mean to me ? To me, He was one of the greatest teachers, humanity has ever had. To his believers, he was God's only begotten Son.


There is one thing which came to me in my early studies of the Bible. It seized me immediately. I read the passage: 'Make this world the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and everything will be added unto you'.


I tell you that if you will understand, appreciate and act up to the spirit of this passage, you would not even need to know what place Jesus or any other teacher occupies in your heart. If you will... clean and purify your hearts and get them ready, you will find that all these mighty Teachers will take their places without invitation from us. That, to my mind, is the basis of all sound education. Culture of mind must be subservient to the culture of the heart. May God help you to become pure.


The Distinctive Contribution Of Islam


Islam's distinctive contribution to India's National Culture is its unadulterated belief in the Oneness of God and a practical application of the truth of the Brotherhood of Man for those who are nominally within its fold.


Real Religion Transcends All These Religions


Religion should pervade every one of our actions. Here religion does not mean sectarianism. It means a belief in ordered moral government of the universe. It is not less real because it is unseen. This religion transcends Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, etc. It does not supersede them. It harmonises them and gives them reality.


Religion Should Be Based On Humanity


Religion is to morality what water is to the seed that is sown in the soil. Just as the seed is choked under the earth when it is not duly watered, so too the morality which is devoid of the fertilising influence of religion gets thin and dry and is ultimately destroyed. In other words, morality divorced from religion would be an empty thing.


There is no religion higher than Truth and Righteousness. If we commit sins with the name of God on our lips, can we hope to win the grace of God ? Suppose one man admits the existence of God, but lives a life of falsehood and immorality, while another knows not the name of God but lives a life of truth and virtue, can there be any doubt as to which should be regarded truly religious as well as moral?


All Worship The Same Spirit


The Allah of Islam is the same as the God of Christians and the Ishwara of Hindus. Even as there are numerous names of God in Hinduism, there are many names of God in Islam. The names do not indicate individuality but attributes, and little man has tried in his humble way to describe mighty God by giving Him attributes, though He is above all attributes, Indescribable, Immeasurable.


Living faith in his God means acceptance of the brotherhood of mankind. It also means equal respect for all religions. It would be height of intolerance...to believe that your religion is superior to other religions and that you would be justified in wanting others to change over to your faith.


All worship the same Spirit but as all forms do not agree with all, all names do not appeal to all. Each chooses the name according to his associations and He being the Indweller, All-powerful and Omniscient, knows: our innermost feelings and responds to us according to our hearts.


Man's Conception Of God Is Limited By His Mind


Man can only conceive God within the limitations of his own mind. What matters then whether one man worships God as Person and another as Force? Both do right according to their lights. None knows and perhaps never will know what is the absolutely proper way to pray. One need only remember that God is the Force among all the Forces. All other Forces are material. But God is the Vital Force or Spirit which is all-pervading, all-embracing and therefore beyond human ken.


One Spirit, Many Forms


The need of the moment is not One Religion, but mutual respect and tolerance of the devotees of the different religions. We want to reach not the dead level, but unity in diversity. The Soul of religion is One but it is encased a multitude of forms. Truth is the exclusive property of no single scriptures.


The forms are many, but the informing Spirit is one. How can there be room for distinctions of high and low where there is this all embracing, fundamental unity underlying the outward diversity? For that is a fact meeting you at every step in daily life. The final goal of all religions is to realise this essential oneness.


Hindu Dharma is like a boundless ocean teeming with priceless gems. The deeper you dive the more absolutely proper way to pray. One need only remember that God is the Force among all the Forces. All other Forces are material. But God is the Vital Force or Spirit which treasures you find. In Hindu religion God is known various names. I have accepted all the names and forms attributed to God, as symbols connoting one Formless Omnipresent Rama. To me, therefore, Rama described as the Lord of Sita, son of Dasharatha, is the All-powerful Essence whose name, inscribed in the heart, removes all suffering, mental, moral and physical.


The Spirit Behind Image-Worship


I value the spirit behind idol-worship. It plays a most important part in the uplift of the human race. I break down the subtle form of idolatry in the shape of fanaticism that refuses to see any virtue in any other form of worshipping the Deity save one's own.


Proper worship is not image-worship; it is the worship of God in the image.


A Mantra Of Universal Significance


If only the first verse in the Ishopanishad were left intact in the memory of the Hindus, Hinduism would live for ever ....


The verse means that all that there is in this universe great or smal1, including the tiniest atom, is pervaded by God, known as Creator or Lord. Isha means the ruler, and He who is the Creator naturally by very fight becomes the Ruler too. (Enjoy that which He gives. Do not covet the riches of anybody.)...


The truth that is embedded in this very short Mantra is calculated to satisfy the highest cravings of every human being whether they have reference to this world or to the next.


If it is Universal Brotherhood, not only brotherhood of all human beings, but of all living beings, I find it in this Mantra. This Mantra tells me that I cannot hold as mine, anything that belongs to God and if my life and that of all who believe in this Mantra has to be a life of perfect dedication, it follows that it will have to be all who believe in this Mantra, has to be a life of continual service of our fellow creatures.


The Gita and forgot all its contents, but had a copy of the Sermon, I should derive the same joy from it as I do from the Gita.


The Gita Has Ever Been My Light And Hope


I must confess to you that when doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me m the face, and when I see no one ray of light on the horizon, I turn to the Bhagawad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me and immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of external tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teaching of the Bhagawad-Gita.


Let the Gita be to you a mine of diamonds, as it has been to me. Let it be your constant guide and friend on life's way. Let it light your path and dignify your labour.


Broad Religious Toleration will Break The Barriers And Lead To Peace


Tolerance gives us spiritual insight, which is as far from fanaticism as the North Pole from the South.


True knowledge of religion breaks down the barriers between Faith and Faith. Cultivation of tolerance for other Faiths will impart to us a true understanding of our own. Tolerance obviously does not disturb the distinction between right and wrong, or good and evil.


The golden rule of conduct ... is mutual toleration, seeing that we will never all think alike and we shall always see Truth in fragment and from different angles of vision. Even amongst the most conscientious persons, there will be room enough for honest differences of opinion. The only possible rule of conduct in any civilised society is, therefore, mutual toleration.


Source: Light of India or Message of Mahatmaji by M. S. Deshpande