Thought for the Day:
"" Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati
Meditation and Spiritual Progress Speech by H.D. Paramahamsa Omkarananda Saraswati
Meditation Cures Fundamental Defects Like Greed and Egoism
The God-loving person in an ashram is characterized by three main principles which are: hilarity in all circumstances, situations; dynamism which does not let pass one second unprofitable, for every moment is a moment of the Divine, and precious to him; and enthusiasm. These are the three special characteristics of the God-lover.
Meditation increases his inner insights constantly. Meditation means: being a thinker who constantly thinks of the presence of the omnipresent, omniscient, all-seeing Divine as being of endless dimensions, qualities, powers etc. For all he needs in life, the God-loving person turns to the Divine in himself. As we know, God is in him, and God is everything.
A normal person pursues outer objects to enjoy them, seeking wealth and strength and power in them. Constantly the normal person is in search of something, or eats, or drinks. He seeks to be at a nice place here or there, and does something in order to be happy. At least he has the idea that he will be happy with this or that if he attains it: He thinks by possessions and enjoyments he will gain happiness. But as we easily can see: There is no guarantee of happiness anywhere. In spite of this, constantly he strives for outer things. He wants a car. He thinks this makes for his power, honour, prestige, and he can be proud of it. He wants this and that. And he always searches for it in the outer world.
The Fundamental Cure for Moral and Other Ailments
We observe drug-addicts turning into criminals for getting the money they need for their drugs. First they steal the money from father and mother, then from the neighbours, then here and there, from cars or houses, then from banks, and never shrink from any crime to procure drugs for themselves.
The normal human beings also act like the addicts, always trying to get this and that, procure, procure, buy, buy, having endless needs and increasing their needs and desires endlessly, running and hunting and hasting, always in need of something or someone to love or hate or quarrel for themselves.
The God-lover turns always to the Divine. If he is in need of joy he turns to the Divine, in need for peace he turns to the Divine, in need of happiness, or of beauty, or love - for everything he turns to the Divine.
A sleeping person enjoys everything in himself. Mr. Zimmermann wants joy. He needs but fall asleep and thus will discover joy in himself. He seeks liberation from his fears and problems. He turns inside. He sleeps and again enjoys timeless and spaceless peace, silence, rest, a sense of fullness. In this state nothing is lacking. Just the same a God-lover does: He constantly turns inside for peace.
What you experience in deep-sleep state as silence is God Himself. If we consciously experience this, it is filled with Light, Beauty, it is all-seeing, omniscient, omnipotent. A normal person fears powerful people, being weak, and thinks a powerful person can kill him or create problems or suppress him. The God-lover turns inside and is in some kind of sleep-state, needs not to fear anything, has no weakness and anxieties. Here in this state there is no enemy. Nobody is more powerful than this state itself. Such state is without problems. The God-lover constantly goes inside, into God-consciousness, and discovers there his power and beauty. What is ugliness? Lack of beauty. Does a sleeping person experience any lack? No lack. Inside the soul is all perfect, unlimited beauty. There is no lack, no need, no desire. It is a perfect state. In such a perfect state the true God-lover lives, seeking always this state. For everything he turns towards God, and he finds God in everything, as Love and security. In this state of oneness with the Divine is absolute security.
The normal person is harassed by all kinds of insecurities: insecurity with respect to this and that haunts him or her. The God-lover turns to God in himself and finds absolute security, silence, peace, joy, beauty and love.
The Divine essentially is love. This love does not need two persons, one who loves, and the beloved. The worldly person does so and ends up in illusions, hallucinations, problems, divorces, quarrels. Here in the Divine one enjoys absolute Love, perfect Love. Here nothing is lacking, no hate, not the slightest trace of it, no contradictory emotions and sentiments are here, no bad fate. Here is an absolutely perfect state.
For everything one must turn inside, to the Divine. All meditations lead to this inner experience of the Divine. Thus you do not commit criminal or immoral deeds to get something, like wanting to take away land from your neighbour, or anything, or seeking sensuous joys which are followed by maladies etc. or wanting to drink wine and eat cakes.
The God-lover however is the most joyous person without any desires, for he turns inside for everything. The Divine is his endless wealth. God is his father and mother, and infinitely more still than that. There is every satisfaction in the Divine, total fulfillment, absolute Fullness. Thus life becomes simple, no needs are left. A few pieces of dress are enough for the whole life, and he is always rooted in ease, joy, hilarity, power. Divine power, beauty, eternal life is there, and he does not know of death. Body comes, body goes. He knows that. But he is even glad if the body goes because the body causes problems and dies. For everything he turns inside. Every person brings him closer to the Divine.
During meditation, his intelligence stays on the content of these mantras. He is a thinker, constantly thinking, his discernment power is growing and blossoming, illuminates everything. For everything he goes to the Divine inside, all possible goods inside are his endless treasures. It is a perfect state. Such a perfect state is not to be had within the world of time and space, in this world.
Mahalakshmi as Parabrahma-Svarupini
What is Parabrahman? Infinity, Eternity, the Absolute, nameless, formless, all-perfect, Fullness, all spiritual and divine powers and qualities you may think of. SHE is eternal, invisible, but in spite of this visible through all things which can be seen with sense-organs in the universe, embodied in all and everything, Life of life, Soul of souls, and in spite of this SHE is transcendental, absolute Perfection beyond everything.
Thus this Infinity and Eternity, this absolute Light and Consciousness, this Beauty is Mahalakshmi - Parabrahma-svarupini. The form of the Divine Mother is indescribable Beauty, Infinity. All the space is filled with this Beauty, and still this unlimited beauty of space is but a small carpet on the immeasurable infinite Beauty of the Divine Mother. This is Parabrahman, the Great Self, Absolute Reality, the Infinite Being or Existence, Consciousness, Joy. All these go together like heat, warmth, light, colour. Such an infinite omnipresent all-loving Divine Mother we adore. We give our adoration to such a Divine Mother, we meditate on such a Divine Mother.
This Parabrahman is our own Self. Mahalakshmi is our own Self indwelling in us as Life of life, Intelligence of intelligence, Soul of our soul. She is our own Self.
Parabrahma and Paramatma are one and the same. Paramatma-svarupini can be said for Mahalakshmi. Man without Ego Is God - God with Ego Is Man
Somebody says he does not know what ego is. One can easily see what ego is. Take an example. There is a poor worker in a great palace of a king. If he comes to the town or to other people, he tells, "I am from the palace, I must return home to the palace." He behaves as if the palace is his own, the dignity of the palace, he feels is his dignity. He identifies with it and expects that everybody must recognize his dignity because he is of the palace, whilst he is just a small servant there. But he boasts of it and is proud. This is egoism. The palace does not belong to him, and he has not the dignity which belongs to the palace, no glory which the palace has. Identification with the body is just like that. Man identifies himself with this body and says, "This is my body!" He does not realize that this body does not really belong to him, but he is just dwelling therein, for some time, it is given as a residence to him, and he is rather the employee than the owner. He has it but temporarily in tenancy, as leasehold, it belongs rather to Nature, or God. But in spite of this, we think from egoism that we are that body which factually does not really belong to us. This fact however is realized by the intelligence of a God-lover, and this liberates him from egoism.
"Do you not know that I am two meters tall, and the son of the municipal president?" "Do you know that that I am catholic by education and very pious, and that all other religions and gods are false, heretical?" "Look here my nose is more beautiful than all other noses, I am better than all, and all should recognize this, my opinion is better than all others." - All such identifications are signs of egoism, and egoism adopts what is not one's own. The whole body is maintained by Nature, it belongs to God, and we are but temporary indwellers in it. We easily forget this and identify with this body and offer resistance to death. Death comes and takes the body away, if we want it or not, and the dead body becomes useless. Everybody falls victim to death when the time has come. Egoistic persons however identify with the body and weep or smile according to physical states, the states of the body. All this is egoism, arrogance, pride, vanity. As long as these are there, man is victimized by darkness of any kind, dark powers, suffering, sorrow, problems. One should do away with egoism by unfoldment of great humility, great spiritual understanding and knowledge. Spiritual knowledge makes clear facts that we are not the body, that the body is not our property, that we are but tenants in it for some time and it belongs to Nature and God. Don't Be Arrogant, Respect the Opinions of Others
This here is no place for egoism, arrogance, pride, vanity. One should tolerate opinions of others, even if they are different from ours. People are different and have different needs and opinions, and it is egoism to make the world turn around our own person. There are powers beyond our power. To do away with this egoism and self-centeredness is prerequisite of spiritual progress. By ignorance, darkness, egoism man causes much unrest to himself and others, and also to Nature. Every kind of egoism must be removed. This is the precondition of spiritual progress towards God-experience. Overcoming Normal Illusions by Imposing the Divine Image on Everyone and Everything
A normal person lives in illusions, suspicions, rumours, false fears and imaginations constantly, but the God-loving person tries to be faithful to the Reality, constantly being in love with what is invisible for the physical eyes but more real than the bones of the body. This Reality he sees everywhere, imposing the image of the Divine to each person, seeing the Divine in the person first.
Take an example: There is a lion cut from a piece of marble by a famous sculptor. This lion is moreover painted on its surface and looks like a living lion. The expert of arts sees the lion first, then only the marble from which it is cut. In the same way the God-lover sees in the others first the Divine, then only the other person, and the Divine is for him more real and more important than the phenomenal person in a physical body. And this image of the Divine he sees in everything, even in space, in every corner of the room, in trees, in plants, in things, in everything he sees the Divine Image first. He cultivates this vision, and thus all the usual imaginations and illusions, suspicions and fantasies of human life disappear.
Professors of Indology or of Indian Philosophy discover that in the Upanishads is said that all is Om and Om is everything, without however seeing the consequences of this knowledge. If you recognize that whatever is there inside and outside, everything you see, hear, think, is nothing but God and God Himself, then you know a tree to be God. You stand before the tree and state, "You are all, you are Brahman, you are Shiva, you are the Divine Mother." If you really say like that, then the tree reveals the Infinite and Eternal. - Brahman is in the tree and hears what you say and works from inside. The tree as tree has no idea of it. But Truth is everywhere, the Divine is everywhere. Om is in all, and all is in Om, and the consequence of this is that you must live a new kind of life from now. Your life is ruled by your vision of the one Reality in all and everything. If your behavior, if your thoughts and feelings are not in harmony with this greatest science, this supreme wisdom, you commit a sin. If you live like a normal person here on earth in time and space, and still say that all is God and God is all, it is sinful for you, because you do not want to live up to your best and real knowledge. Sin starts where you live against your own better knowledge.
- Swami Omkarananda
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