In defense of Dr. Sarkar

by Seeker

According to the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Girish Ghosh declares that even the feces of Sri Ramakrishna, whom he considered an incarnation, were very pure. To this, Dr. Sarkar replies that he is never bothered by the human feces and it is same to him whatever be its source. With his expertise in medicine, he could truly see it as just a material. We often categorize the objects into "pure" and "impure" and steadfastly hold on to this fictitious dichotomy. We ought to be aware of this demarcation as far as their utility is concerned, but without forgetting the substratum underlying this duality. Sometimes this compartmentalization takes a morbid turn of respecting a reverential person at the cost of hurting an ordinary person. It is also not uncommon amongst devotees to treat someone, who has not followed their own methods of devotion or does not cherish their ideals, as someone who needs to redeemed although this person may be more spiritually elevated than themselves due to his/her having followed a "secular" path sincerely. It could be argued that Dr. Sarkar, through his dedication in material research, had come to some state of equanimity that was perhaps absent in many other devotees, nevertheless he was and will be treated as a "kid" amongst the "adults" for having taken the unconventional path of science to reach that state. An illustration in Sri Ramakrishna's life:

Tasting Which Nothing Else Tastes Better

By Moomookshoo

The inspiration for this poem comes from  the meeting between Swami Vivekananda and Robert G. Ingersoll described on page 186 of the second volume of Complete Works. However, this poem is not a historical account of that meeting. Instead, it describes an imaginary journey of a man from the "orange" world view to the "mango" world view. The title is based on Gita 6.22.

Tasting Which Nothing Else Tastes Better

Once in the olden times,

Somewhere in the Western climes,

There was a very good and learned man,

A very intelligent and "rational" man.

He worshiped "reason" in every season,

Any deviation from reason, for him, was treason!

He was very happy and content with his "world",

Which he thought was very "rational" and "bold".

He thought his world was complete and whole,

Unfortunately,  he left out his very own soul!

A Working Hypothesis from Retreat on Patanjali's Way

by Charlie

I learned an important lesson from Pravrajika Gitaprana's retreat on Patanjali's Way. Up until now I have felt that I needed to have proof of such things as Thakur being an Avatara or meditation leading to God-realization. I have felt that without proof, I could not accept these things. I have never felt comfortable with the idea of faith, or belief without proof.

The Third Twin

By a Wanderer

 

(A story with fictional characters in real setting) 

 

We are twin sisters. She loves roaming, and I love eating. Recently, we attended a retreat by a Swami in Rochester. I was promised that the food will be awesome and evening dessert will be the best. We both sisters were attending the classes. However, my mind was always dreaming of the next meal. One evening I couldn't resist the delicious desert and ate more than I should. Next morning, my stomach was bothering. Just to divert my attention from stomach pain, I attended the class. Swami: “We perceive the world with our senses and mind. Senses have limited strength, and the mind is clouded by desires and wants. As I change, the world view changes. Our awareness governs our behavior. Limitations of senses need to be felt penetratingly. Senses cannot take us any further. Following the senses will lead to suffering. God cannot be perceived by senses. God cannot be subject of physical science.”

A Snake and the Mantra

 By a Wanderer

(Phew, what a relief! It's not the same “Snake and Rope”)

In the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna tells a parable of a snake to explain how to deal with the wicked. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Parables_of_Ramakrishna/The_Parable_of_the_snake_that_refused_to_hiss

He says, “A man living in society should make a show of anger to protect himself from evil-minded people. But he should not harm anybody."
The primary message from this story is clear, “You must hiss at wicked people. You must frighten them, lest they should do you harm. But never inject your venom into them. One must not injure others.”
Interestingly, this short parable also talks about importance of repetition of Holy Name (Japa) as discussed below.

When Death Met Its Death

 by Disciple

Kathopanishad's protagonist is a young boy Nachiketa, who on account of being honest, proceeds to face his own death embodied as Yama. Curiously, Yama was missing at his abode, perhaps aware of the portending meeting with this prodigy. Having been made to wait for three nights without food (makes us wonder whether we see day/night and need food after death), Yama as a gesture of making it up to Nachiketa, agreed to grant three boons, one for each night that he had waited.

Nachiketa was either smart as he did not ask the boons in reverse order of what he had actually asked or he made spiritual progress very fast seeing through the true nature of things (so we were told). As first boon, which itself is an intelligent concatenation of multiple wishes, he made sure he will go back to his father alive who would be pacified and also recognize him.  As second boon, he wanted to know the method to attain heaven to enjoy happiness. Yama graciously gives two extra boons here: naming this method by the name Nachiketa besides granting a garland to him.

A New Time Share

By a Wanderer  (A story with fictional characters in real setting)

We were all set to go for our yearly vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We have a beautiful time share right on the beach. I, my wife, three kids and two dogs; we were all excited. Everything was going according to plan until last week. Right before our departure, an unexpected series of events forced us to cancel the whole trip.  Everything fell apart.

While searching for an alternative, I came across a sign board for a retreat “Meditate-A-Thon” - a two-day residential meditation retreat at Vedanta Society of Providence. I registered for both of us. This was the first summer when we were doing something without kids. My wife was reluctant to attend, but in the end she agreed to participate.

Retreat began with Swamiji's short talk. Thought of long meditation sessions gave me shivers down my spine (unfortunately it was not awakening of Kundalini). I was uneasy but couldn’t talk because of silent retreat. At last, I decided to deal with - 'I' and 'my mind'. Two days of complete silence. Slowly, serenity of the environment took over. I determined to stay instead of running away.