Two Hikers and a Porter

By a Porter

On a sunny day, the porter came to the base of the mountain with his mule. Today two hikers were his customers.

While hiking, he found their conversation a little boring because they were not talking about sports, politics or any kind of gossip. They were joyfully talking about a person called ‘Sri Ramakrishna’ and now and then referring to a thick book that they were carrying.

Curious porter continued to listen to these simple, loving and joyful hikers. As time went by he started enjoying their association and spiritual conversations. 

On the way back, hikers took a break to meditate in the woods. Porter also sat with them imitating but could not still his mind. He miserably failed to calm it down. This was the first time he came face to face with the rebellious inner world. He became anxious and wanted to know more …..

After a while conversation continued….

Comment on "Mysticism of Sound and Music" class (Tuesday, July 08, 2014)

by Srikanth S.

I have some points for discussion regarding Tuesday's class on "Mysticism of sound and music" and hopefully someone may get interested to drop in his/her views about these.
 

Swamiji presented that the sense of taste is more or less available in all, whereas the sense for music is not. I humbly disagree with this view. Over 99% of humanity listens to some kind of music but only the genres differ. So one who likes classical music will find it difficult to appreciate rock music and vice versa. Similarly not everyone likes a particular food item. Some foods can be appreciated only after taste has been acquired over repeated attempts. So the sense of appreciation of music and taste is prevalent amongst almost all, but only they are directed towards a particular kind in each human being. Swamiji supported his viewpoint, stating that the nuances of musical notes are lost on many untrained people. But the same can be said about taste also: many nuances of taste in the food are lost to the untrained people. Just like there are virtuosos in music, so there are in taste field too: the big bucks that restaurants pay to such trained minds in taste is a pointer.

Religious Liberty, Equality, and Solidarity Revisited

by Charlie (Prana) Feldman

A while ago, I sent in a blog entry on religions and the archetypes of liberty, equality and solidarity. I now think I can simplify this by saying that Hinduism emphasizes liberty, or freedom to choose from many paths toward God-realization; Buddhism emphasizes equality, in that we are all said to be potential Buddhas; and the Abrahamic religions emphasize solidarity, saying that loyalty to the given path (and interpretation of scripture or ecclesiastical body) is the best or only way to attain God's favor.

This ties in with the Vedantic idea that different religions suit people of different tendencies.

Particle World: ONE, two, ... Creation

By Abhijit

My friend, much has been talked about the "free" electron. Such an electron flew unrestrained, undetected, ever-oblivious of the world.  Without the world, there was no me nor mine; no knower or known; no creation, nor non-creation. "What covered it? Where was it? In whose keeping?" The Veda reveals: "tadānīm!"

My friend, much has been talked about the electron-proton bond. The electron slowly opened up her eyes to the undeniable presence of the distant proton. O what Rajas came about! The bounty of happiness was full of promise. Yet there was the relentless drag of inertia..... And thus began the story of (+) and (-), of harmony and chaos, of states and transitions. And sure enough, from duality came multiplicity and from thence, my friend, came you and me and all this.

But much was talked about as to "why" and "how" could the freedom depart and bondage arrive. Indeed, there was a lot of fuss. But the wise one, with closed eyes, retreating deep within, left behind only a smile, curious and glowing. The Veda reveals: "tadānīm!" The Ganges tide of pure bliss is ever ablaze; it can still be seen.

Kabir Mala (a garland of Sant Kabir's couplets)

by Moomookshoo

Sant Kabir Dasji (c. 1398/1440 - 1518 CE) is undoubtedly one of the greatest Vedantic poets of all time. There are many references to Kabir Dasji in the Gospel and the Complete Works. The following is a humble attempt to render some of Kabir Dasji's couplets into English. The original couplets are given within "/* */".  The poetic depth and the enchanting play of words of Kabir Dasji's couplets are hard to translate. These are best appreciated in his  original inimitable words.

1. /* Kabira va din yaad kar, pug oopar tal sheesh
Mirta lokme aayeke bishar gaya Jagdeesh
  */

Kabir, remember the day of your birth,
When you came to this sorrowful earth,
Head first and feet last,
Forgetting the Lord and your past!
[cf. Gita 4.5 and 9.33]

 2. /* Raat gavaya soye ke, divas gavaya khae,
       Hira janaam amol tha kauri badle jae
   */

The night was lost sleeping,
And the day was lost eating.
Thus, the life that could have bought the Priceless,
Was spent on  things that are worthless!
[cf. Gita  5.22 and 7.23]

Sri Ramakrishna’s Teachings

By Ben Baker

(Originally given as a speech at the Vedanta Society of Providence at the  Symposium on Sri Ramakrishna’s Birthday Celebration March 2, 2014)

I’m a student of philosophy and law, and my approach to Sri Ramakrishna’s teachings and other topics often discussed in this center is fairly conceptual. Those who have heard me speak before will correctly guess that this talk will try to shape in theoretical space something we learn from and about Sri Ramakrishna. But, I’ll try not to let things get so abstract that they float away out of sight.

At its broadest, the question I want to explore is just one version of a most fundamental one for anyone moved by Sri Ramakrishna’s life and teachings; how does one properly understand the idea of the Self? Anyone who has seriously sat and thought about it knows that the Self, conceptually, is a slippery thing. Both in ordinary language and in the words of wise and spiritual individuals, the term “Self” seems to capture different things at different times, and even at a given time it proves difficult to precisely delineate the boundaries of one’s “Self.” Today I’d like to hone in on the idea of Self, not by building or defending a fully comprehensive definition, but by describing three different perspectives from which to view the Self. To my mind, each of these visions of Self has its own validity to it, and all three can be readily drawn from the words and actions of Sri Ramakrishna. It is worth considering each of these descriptions of “Self” in turn, since they each carry an important lesson that we can use in our own journey through life, guiding us, in the spirit of Sri Ramakrishna, towards Self-realization. He maintains firmly that Self-realization is our ultimate goal, and in his overflowing kindness and humanity he would do what he can to lead us there, but we are quite liable to lose our way if we are conflicted in our ideas about what the Self is (before we even come to ask what it is to realize the Self).

Unity

by Candace Breen

We are all one,
Our blood runs
Together like the rivers and streams.

Although our tongues,
May differ,
We all speak
The same language of love.

Our shades of skin,
Are a tribute to
The beauty
That is God
Represented in each of us.

We are not,
Our ever-changing bodies
But spirits entwined
In harmonious dancing.