Om Namah Shivay

My gift to Lord Shiva... got His name tattooed on April 7, 2012.

So happy :D

Thank you for walking with me oh Lord!

Caterpiller to butterfly

The caterpillar, during its metamorphosis must endure the pain and hopelessness, unaware of the existence of freedom and beauty of the future butterfly in it.

Being a Hindu...

To understand who is a Hindu and who is not, we will have to understand what actually Hindu Dharma is.

If we go back to origins of Indian history, we will see that there was no dharma called Hindu existed till Muslims came to India. It was only Sanatan Dharma. Here,  we do not have a proper English term to mean the word “dharma” . “Religion” is a European word meaning a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith . Broadly in Europe it means to believe in God is to believe that he wrote a book; only one in all those ages, and to go to Church is the minimum of religion.  

 Whereas our Sanatan Dharma do not have any unidirectional ideology, rather it is totally based on the continuum process of evolution.  Sanatan means eternal or universal.  This dharma is and has always been democratic in nature allowing an individual to adopt any philosophy or way to self-realization.

It is not possible to dissociate Sanatan Dharma from Bharat Varsha. Because it evolved from Bharat, Brahma vidhyam tasyam ramate iti bharata- one who is always reveling in what the truth is…

Bharat is more than a geographical area, Bharat is a vision, a philosophy…so is Sanatan Dharma. The whole vision of Indian culture is to transform from samsara, bondage to Nirvana, which mean freedom.

For better understanding, please read the quotes below:

Sri Aurobindo wrote – “But what is the Hindu religion? What is this religion, which we call Sanatan, eternal? It is the Hindu religion only because the Hindu nation has kept it, because in this Peninsula it grew up in the seclusion of the sea and the Himalayas, because in this sacred and ancient land it was given as a charge to the Aryan race to preserve through the ages. But it is not circumscribed by the confines of a single country; it does not belong peculiarly and for ever to a bounded part of the world. That which we call the Hindu religion is really the eternal religion, because it is the universal religion, which embraces all others. If a religion is not universal, it cannot be eternal. A narrow religion, a sectarian religion, an exclusive religion can live only for a limited time and a limited purpose. This is the one religion that can triumph over materialism by including and anticipating the discoveries of science and the speculations of philosophy. It is the one religion, which impresses on mankind the closeness of God to us and embraces in its compass all the possible means by which man can approach God. It is the one religion which insists every moment on the truth which all religions acknowledge that He is in all men and all things and that in Him we move and have our being. It is the one religion, which enables us not only to understand and believe this truth but also to realize it with every part of our being. It is the one religion, which shows the world what the world is, that it is the Lila of Vasudeva. It is the one religion which shows us how we can best play our part in that Lila, its subtlest laws and its noblest rules. It is the one religion, which does not separate life in any smallest detail from religion, which knows what immortality is and has utterly removed from us the reality of death…”.

Now read this quote from Hinduism and the Clash of Civilizations by David Frawley : “the Eternal or Universal Dharma. Dharma means universal law, the fundamental principles behind this marvelous universe like the Law of Karma. Sanatana means perennial, referring to eternal truths that manifests in ever-new names and forms. Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world because it is based on the eternal origins of creation. But it is also the newest religion in the world because it adjusts to new names and forms to every generation and looks to living teachers not old books, as its final authority”.

Who is a Hindu?

In Merutantra, the word ‘Hindu’ has been defined as 'Hinani Gunani dushyati iti Hindu.' The one who destroys the inferior Raja-Tama components or guns is a Hindu. Thus, to be a Hindu is to follow a way of life that enhances the spiritually pure Sattva component and Sattva predominant qualities like love, humility, courage, expansiveness, etc. and overcomes the spiritually impure Raja-Tama predominant attitudes like anger, attachment, jealousy, greed, lust, pride etc.

According to Merutantra  one can be a Hindu by his actions (karma) or birth (Janma). Since to be a Hindu is an attitude, a Karma Hindu is a true Hindu. He is Hindu by action and thought, a follower of Dharma and spreads Dharma, which is a sāttvik or spiritually pure way of life. 

Following which, I would also like to add that in sanatan Dharma, no one is even Brahman, Kshytriya, Baishya or Sudra by birth! 

Atri defines brahminhood very clearly in smritis:

"By birth, every man is a Shudra (an ignorant person). Through various types of disciplines (samskaras), he becomes a dwija (twice born). Through the studies of scriptures, he becomes a vipra (or a scholar). Through realization of supreme spirit (brahmajnana), he becomes a brahmin."

A  Brahmin has to attain highest spiritual knowledge by following an  extremely difficult path of discipline of body, mind , and intellect. People irrespective of their birth or class, who dedicated to such an austere life were recognized as brahmins. A great example of this is the case of Vishwamitra, a warrior (kshatriya), who became a brahmin after attaining brahmavidya, and composed the Gayatri mantra, the most sacred hymn of the Hindus.

Thus, the very essence of Sanatan dharma lies solely on the concept of Karma. That is why the birth factor is irrelevant. The one who is on the path of self-realization, freedom from the bondage of birth-cycle is following Sanatan Dharma, and so a true Hindu by Karma.

Shiva Sutra: Activities vs Actions

The greed to become somebody and the fear of ending up as nobody, is the greatest stress of our life.

Our life is the permutation and combination of the amount of greed and fear. Buddha says that all our activities are caused by greed and fear. Both greed and fear are the symptoms of inner shallowness.

Activities provide an escape from our inner void caused by our ignorance and shallowness. The distorted perception of self create the inner void and shallowness in us. We try to justify our inner void with activities. Till the time we learn to face that inner void, we will remain involved with activities to escape...we will remain bored with life. We get involved in activities to avoid ourselves.

When Buddha asks us to face our inner void, it is called abhi mukhi, which Shiva refers to as Chaitanya Atma.Which means you learn to see yourself with awareness. When we see the self with complete awareness we also see the greed/fear that is inducing our activities.

Learning to face  the self, then identifying the greed and fear behind the activities, and facing those traits with full awareness...when we do so, our activities become actions. Actions, that are results of pure intentions of a fully aware self.

যখন কেউ ডাক শোনেনা, আমি একাই চলি...চলতেই থাকি...

Does Santa Hate Poor Kids?

They have a point though!

A Yogi friend from Tumblr had answer a certain question with such lucidity and simplicity that I wanted to share it here.

Q: there's a fine line between letting go of emotions and repressing them, but sometimes it's difficult for me to know if I'm really letting something go or just burying it deeper. Any help?

lashla

 

Letting go of an emotion, like fear, does not mean you never feel fear again. That would be repression. Instead, it means you never feel fear the same way again.
Fear occurs. Sadness occurs. Happiness, loneliness, joy, jealousy, anger, they all happen. It is part of the range of human experience. As you come toward peace, sure they may happen less. But there are plenty of stories about gurus and enlightened Beings displaying intense emotions.
So what does it really mean to let go of an emotion? It means you let go of toying with it.
You feel happiness and you have to toy with it. You try to hold onto it so it doesn’t leave. You pet it and admire it and when it changes (like all things must) you mourn it.
Similarly, you feel fear and you can’t help but toy with it. You immediately react against it with anger or pain, you feel this way or that way about it. Either way, fear becomes your focus. You keep trying to reject it and by doing so, it remains present.
Why is it that happiness departs more easily than fear? Because you reject fear but embrace happiness. You aren’t afraid to experience happiness, you open yourself to it. But you are afraid of experiencing fear, sadness, anger, or other typically repressed emotions.
When you are no longer afraid to open yourself to your experience of the moment, whatever it contains, then you stop toying with it. Whatever emotion comes, comes. When it leaves, it leaves.
This stability creates a feeling in you. You watch moods and moments transition from one to the next to the next. But You are still continuous. The feeling that such a continuity creates evades description. Most saints and yogis have simply called it Peace.
Don’t worry about the fine line, for no such line exists. Don’t worry if you’re really letting go. If you have doubts about letting go then the only thing you know for sure is that you haven’t let go of your doubts.
Silence your doubts, if only to better hear over the noise of your mind. Go inward, meditate, and find out if there’s anything actually there anyway. The buddha was quite insistent that everything was emptiness. And yet so full it seemed to krishna!
Namaste, sister. I hope this helped a bit. :)

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Source:http://lazyyogi.tumblr.com/

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