Insignificance - A Significant Mlestone

To realize one's utter insignificance is a critical milestone in life. It opens up significant opportunities for us to connect to something truly grand and important. This realization can come at any stage of our life, and come multiple times, each time helping us realize the majesty of something else that is truely magnificent.

The typical society encourages one to believe and imagine that we are very special and significant. That's what the self centred small mind wants to believe. Break free from the shackles of the petty mind. Connect with the Supreme.

The Sun or the Sunlight?

There is a common misconception that the absolute truth is impersonal energy because if it were a person it would have a form which by definition is limited. Since the absolute truth is unlimited, it must be impersonal formless energy.

Yes, a finite form is limited in space. But an impersonal all-pervading energy is limited in functions of intelligence, control, personality, and reciprocation. One cannot talk to energy, nor exchange affection with it. Energy in itself cannot control things, and so on. Therefore the absolute truth must have both personal and impersonal aspects.

The sun has a form, but its energies pervade much more space than it's form. That doesn't mean that the energies of the sun are more important than the sun. The sun and sunlight have no meaning without each other, in other words, they together are the sun, but the sun is clearly the basis.

Instead of being one or the other, the absolute truth is a person along with his unlimited energies together. The absolute truth person is the source, basis, and the ultimate controller of all energies.

The Emptiness Quotient

The emptiness of our life can be measured by the time we spend transfixed by the grip of Facebook and WhatsApp.

The mind's nature is to run behind the next thing that comes along, and the senses follow the mind. WhatsApp and Facebook provide an unending stream of things to run after, dragging the senses in all directions. How then will the mind get steady?

A serious student of yoga should use his senses - eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and touch - very deliberately and not engage them with anything and everything that comes along.

The mind can be controlled by giving it a goal and using the intelligence to guide it in that direction. Choose a worthy goal and fill your life with purpose and satisfaction.

What is your emptiness quotient today?

The Hallmark of Perfect Spirituality

Spiritual life starts with Sadhana - regulated practices under the guidance of an authentic spiritual teacher for purifying the mind and increasing our attachment to the Supreme. In it's maturity, spiritual life goes beyond regulations into the realm of constant spontaneous engagement. Regulation is required to deliberately engage the mind in spiritual ways when the mind is not completely spiritualised. But when the mind is fully attached to the supreme, it never wanders into non-spiritual or anti-spiritual thoughts.

Ironically, the spiritually perfect people never shun their regulations thinking that they have gone beyond them and become perfect. This is because spiritual perfection is symptomised by extreme humility where one thinks oneself as the most incompetent spiritualist.

Being humble, the true spiritualist has eternal gratitude for the spiritual master and continues to follow the regulations laid down by him, never thinking that he can ever go beyond them. This also sets the proper example for others.

On the other hand, an imperfect spiritualist falls prey to his mind and ego's desires to become perfect and starts thinking that he has become perfect. So he artificially leaves spiritual regulations and starts living by the dictations of the mind thinking himself to be beyond regulations. This causes other immature people to shun regulations as well and lead an arbitrary lifestyle falsely thinking that it is spiritual.

The most fundamental and essential regulation of spiritual life is to chant the Holy Names of God under the guidance of an authentic spiritual teacher. By garnering all our humility, we should take time out, sit at one place, and daily chant the Holy Names on a rosary (chanting beads) a fixed minimum number of times. During chanting, we should not let our mind wander to anything else. Taking exclusive time out daily for chanting and chanting specifically on beads sitting at one place as instructed by the spiritual teacher are expressions of desire to become a humble servant of the Holy Name. Our spiritual advancement and sustenance depends almost wholly on our sincerity and humility in chanting the Holy Names.

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

In this world, spiritual perfection is not about being regulation-less. The mark of a true spiritualist is that he not only follows spiritual practices sincerely, but also dedicates his life to the spiritual upliftment of all others. This spontaneous intense compassion for others, in the specific form of teaching spiritual life to others or setting the perfect example of humility, merely as an instrument of the spiritual teacher and God, is the hallmark of a perfect spiritualist.

Proud of being Wrong

Many times we do what we do, not because it's the best option, but only because our mind craves for it. What's more, choosing the sub-optimal option makes us feel independent - why should I follow someone else's opinion? I am free to choose my way of life. I will decide for myself - always. Thus, it's just egotism that controls our decisions, not timeless wisdom. And we are proud of it.

This false sense of ego and bloated sense of importance about one's own opinion makes us deaf to any principles that are higher than the ones we currently follow. Tragically, we even deride higher principles because they don't comply to our own sense of right and wrong.

It takes a humble disposition to open our minds to sincerely try to understand potentially higher principles even if they go against our current sensibilities.

Do you have the courage to change, no matter what age you are?

The Bhagavad Gita - Fundamental Vedic Principles

The Bhagavad Gita is the essential summary of all Vedic literature. To follow a message that is not supported by the Bhagavad Gita is like rejecting fundamental Vedic principles. Do that at your own risk.

Giving Respect

Expecting respect from others, even subtly, burdens our heart and complicates our lives. Giving all respects to others, no matter who it is, lightens our heart and simplifies our lives.