An interesting article by Paramahamsa Yogananda

http://www.crystalclarity.com/content.php?page=pyarticle2

Forced disillusionment ....

Today I saw Deepa Mehta's "Water".

It portrays the life of widows in the early 19th century in India. Widows were denied even the most simple pleasures of life and forced into a life of piety for their "sins" that brought upon them such a fate. The could not touch other people at times, they could not laugh aloud, they were forced to keep their head's shaved and wear only white. They could not even eat what they wanted. They were forced to live a life of so called "sanctity" so that they could achieve a better "life" in future lives :)

There is one old widow "Bua" whose desires and dreams are so childlike, like someone whose life just stopped years ago. Her only memory in her entire life is of her wedding and all the different sweets that she got to eat. White, round rosogulla's, piping hot Gulab jamun's, jalebi's ... And her only desire is eat a sweet. Daily she craves for a ladoo, so childlike is the the fevour, intensity and simplicity of her desire ....

At her deathbed the only thing she can think of is eating a ladoo. Not God, not heaven, not even a better life in future.

No society with all it's "age-old wisdom" can force this fate on anyone. Like Vivekananda says existence goes "from truth to higher truth". Even if God himself came down in all his infinite beauty and grace it is of no use to her; she only wants a ladoo.

The Laws of Karma ....

I see a lot of comments on the blog. Thanks all ... I've been busy winding up my thesis ... But here is an interesting (?) question ...
Is the law of Karma the same always ? Or is it slightly dependent on the circumstances ? Is it the same if a person stole money for medicne for a sick child and if someone stole for not so dire a need, like say have a party.
How do we define dire? If we think of it really, nothing is so dire. If the child died, he would be born again ...
And if it's all in the mind maybe I have the same dire need to have the party that the other person has to save his child. This is not so funny given how important people think their social status is.
So does that make stealing in both these cases of equal karmic significance?

The Mind !

The mind is the single biggest friend or the worst enemy ever that you can have.

About and hour ago I was terribly worried over something work related. I imagined all the bad things that could ever happen, worked up more worry, more worry and finally get frustrated of it all.
Then I sat for a while and read a bit from one of Babaji's books. And then I calmed down. And felt a lot better.
None of the circumstances have changed, since I started worrying ... All my "troubles" are still as existant or non-existant as they ever were ...

The fear of something is always worse than the thing itself. I am sure everyone know's what I'me talking about.
The mind should be given just enough freedom not too little not too much.

Satguru

Only recently am I beginning to understand the real significance of the Guru in one's life. The Sadguru is like the conscience amplified. He's the one that's been there, done that ... He knows the forest and all it's ways. He also knows you and knows how best to coax and convince you. He can be a taskmaster if needed, or he can be a personification of love.

Yogananda's guru Sri Yukteshwara Giri is an excellent example of an ideal Guru.

Then there is the Guru tatva. Like Dattatreya, Babaji, SriKrishna and anything in the universe that you learn something from, an ant - industrious and persistent, the sunset - surreal and awe-inspiring, mountains - eternal and unwavering ...

Then there are people like Ekalavya or the little Dhruva whose Guru's are mostly in their head!

Anything that inspires you to "a better existence" has the guru tatva.


The grace of the guru-tatva can bestow a satguru who can "hold my hand" to eternity ...