Journey of Life

       Vedanta holds that, 'Life is a journey to be accomplished with single-minded devotion, dedication, steadfastness, and un-wavering mind; it is, as if, an offering to the Lord Almighty who created us with a purpose. Finally, it is a total merger with ‘That’. It is all contemplation, mind tuned towards sublime bliss; the mind turned away from the gross, mundane, sensate world. There is no more hankering after the sensual desires once the ‘Reality’ is felt ‘within’. The mind is under the supervision of Consciousness, ‘Sakshi’ the inner eye that perceives the fickle and irrational behavior. ‘Buddhi’, intelligence keeps the mind under control; thereby, the Mind that keeps the senses under its command to irrational errands will thus be checked'.             Efforts are being made here to describe the basic concepts and explain rhe formulae (Sutras) that are useful to our young friends who want to know about the ‘mysterious’ ways of functioning of our mind. For this purpose, we go deep into the origin of the Universe and evolution of Man so that we can understand in-depth the whole intricacies of the mind. This book is of immense value to all those who want to correct themselves for, methods are given here to know how to achieve success and happiness in life. 

       After all, it is in the ‘Mind’. If one is fully aware of his mind and moods, one can easily cross the hurdles of life. Life is what one makes out of it. It is said, that it is in the ‘becoming’ that is more important from what is ‘being’; but it is essential to know what is this ‘Being’. So, go through this work carefully and take full advantage of the wisdom of our ancient Sages and make your life happy, joyful, and peaceful; enjoy the bliss. Not only the ancient wisdom but modern science too is explored here in order to understand the mysteries of modern man. In spite all the progress made in science, the life of man still remains vain, unfulfilled, wanting, and keeps one in constant search of the real meaning and purpose of life. Thus, a number of questions are raised and answered in this book.
        Modern life is full of stress. At every step, man is not sure of himself and anxiety kills him. Mind management is, in fact, very useful in combating illness and diseases emanating from stress. Now it is found that the much- dreaded cancer and heart attack aredue to stress and these can be prevented by the technique of mind control. Unknowingly tension and stress accumulates leading to illness. One has to be cautious of his pursuits in life if he wants to enjoy it in peace. It is observed that psychosomatic problems are better solved by ‘placebo effect’ through mind management than psychiatric treatment!      

        Some of the ‘Great Principles’, the Mahat tattvas, are repeated in different contexts to drive these into the minds of our ignorant selves and knock some sense to the unconscious mind indulging in mundane things. Many important mantras that are panacea for all our ills are also repeated several times. Elaborate description of the ‘cosmogony’ is given in order to locate the insignificant stature of ‘human’ life in this universe. The bloated ego of man makes him an imaginary giant, who can destroy this world by his wickedness but cannot sustain it by his humility, love, piety, compassion, and fellowship.

        The Hindu philosophy of life believes in 'Karma' and 'Rebirth' (Metempsychosis). Except for Charvaka, all other doctrines are united on this. It is only Charavaka, who is a materialist and secular, who does not offer any reason or theory to support his version of evolution of man and a reasoned theory of man and the universe. Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya and Yoga believe in the authenticity of the Veda and accept dualism or Vishishta Dvaita siddhanta. Purva mimamsa, and Uttara Mimamsa advocate ‘Advaitism’. Samkhya philosophy considers that Prakruti and Purusha account for everything. Purusha is the individual soul, of which there is an unlimited number. Primordial Prakruti is matter consisting of the twenty-four principles ranging from the three gunas-the tamas, rajas and sattvic, down to the gross earth.  By the joinder of Purusha and Prakruti, spirit and matter, samsara is the result and their divorce is the goal to be reached! Both are real entities that get on without any controlling factor, force, or power.

       This brief introduction would suffice to know the cause of all the myriads of problems of the world and the problems that the individuals face in crossing the ocean of sansara. One should always remember that life is to live and to enjoy. Life offers plenty of opportunities. Enjoy life fully; know what it is, its limitations, its futility, and then reject it as of no avail in attaining to greater heights and gaining permanent happiness, the 'mahat-anand' ('Supreme Bliss'), eternal happiness, i.e., ‘sat, chit, and anand’. At every corner of the road there is a new vista and a new road. Pause for a while, take a view at the vista point, gaze at the horizon, look to your inner voice for guidance and move on and take a fresh journey to success and happiness. Never be disheartened by failures or stumbling blocks or hurdles; these are the testing stones. There is always light at the end of the tunnel. If you do not want to travel this way again, turn to God. Make an earnest prayer to put an end to all this drama! Make your self fit to get His 'Divine Grace' by your pure thoughts, action, and total submission. Total surrender is essential. Always remember that nothing is possible without His grace. It is only He who will redeem you. Realise your 'Self' yourself.

      Another important thing is that a good guide, a Guru, is required in all these matters, especially for spiritual attainments. If you get a ‘Guru’, well and good! You are lucky at that for he will guide you; otherwise, be your own “guru”. There is none better than your own Self. The Lord sits within you as “Antaryami”, and guides you if you sincerely seek Him and carefully hear Him.  When you sincerely pray for Him you will hear ‘anahata dhvani’ in your right year at the appropriate time. He may direct a spiritual leader to guide you, or He will appear in your dream and initiate you. Such mystic experiences are common.

      As one proceeds with the practice of Meditation regularly, Revelations come in dreams. Mystic powers appear very early in spiritual practice, 'sadhana'. Those who surrender to Him enjoy the Supreme Bliss. Faith is all that is required. ‘No faith, no life’ is the rule of spiritual life! In fact, it is 'faith' that appeared first during the creation and that 'faith' sustains this universe. Now that a large number of Indians have settled abroad, there is every possibility of their being left out from the mainstream of Indian life, the Hindu ‘way of life’, i.e., the Vedic or Spiritual Life (sanaatana dharma) is very important. The Hindu Philosophy and Hindu Religion are the oldest in the world like the Chinese Philosophy and religion. It is almost five thousand years old, may be more than that. There has been a thorough degeneration, deterioration in the quality of human life; values have changed during the last few centuries and it is a bad sign!  In fact, the quality of human life has been declining since the Krita Yuga, called the Golden Age. And, all our problems are due to our neglect of 'Truth' and 'Righteousness' ('Ritam' and 'Satyam').

         In the Krita Yuga, an age of illumination and harmony, it was all a transparent life of ‘Ritam’ (Order) and ‘Satyam’ (Truth). People could see through and through others and could see and understand the minds! In Treta Yuga, called the Silver Age, it was all ‘Virtues’, values of life; come what may, Sri Ram stood for values in life. Values started declining. Sattva guna declined giving place to preponderating Rajas. And, in the Dvapara Yuga, called the Copper Age, it was all ‘Dharma’ and Shri Krishna stands for ‘Consciousness’. Values had declined further over the ages and we see the behavior of Duryodhana and Shakuni in Maha Bharat. Sri Krishna took birth to kill Kamsa and restore Dharma. He has been striving for establishment of ‘Dharma’, righteousness, values in life, as we can see it in Maha Bharat. Sri Krishna says, “I will take repeated births to re-establish Dharma, (Dharma Samsthapanarthaya … sambhavami yuge yuge”). In Kali Yuga, called the Iron Age, it is total devastation of values and spirituality. It is preponderance-ponderance of Tamas, loss of values of life-‘Ritam’,‘Satyam’ and ‘Dharma’. 

     Today, life has become senseless, wayward, aimless, goal-less and nobody knows what he wants; it is all confusion and complexes. Ego rules the roost. Everybody wants freedom, liberty, and independence without knowing the meaning, without understanding what it means to be free, independent. And, the result is that they are ‘neither here, nor there’. They are a confused lot. The present-day children face lots of problems in their lives due to conflicting values, languages, cultures, and life styles. It is here that a sense of purpose, a sense of direction or goal is needed to make life more meaningful, make it more fruitful. Having got the human life form, it is an evolutionary process to make life more divine, spiritual, and thereby enable one self to enjoy the ‘Bliss’, eternal happiness- “Sat Chit Anand”.

      There is, thus, no doubt that this ‘make-believe’ sensate world of gimmicks is the ‘Leela’ of the Lord! Our children, particularly those living abroad, should not get lost in this maze! They should not lose sight of the ancient wisdom of the Sages and the warnings given in the Vedas and Upanishads. It is appropriate that the Knowledge and wisdom of the age-old Scriptures come handy to open our eyes to 'Reality' of life. This book strives to bring home the fact that what all we see, hear, and know is not real. Lord’s Grace alone can guide us in these days of strife, darkness and ignorance. He alone can guide us from untruth to truth, darkness top light, and death to immortality. Shree Harih, Om! Tat Sat!