Varnashrama

Let us remember, God is seated in the soul, heart of all jivas. The Vranashrama dharma of the Rk Veda, Purusha Sukta, Mandala X is misinterpreted by the later pundits, and advantage is taken of this by politicians in India after Independence to create vote bank? The Lord, Virat Purusha is by Him Self the Brahmana at the face level shining knowledge, kshatriya protecting the Universe and takes avatara as Ram and Krishna and the as Buddha rests in peace! There is none besides Him, and everything else is vibration of Energy, Prana, Chaitanya. It is all Ananda if one knows this.

People forget that the entire varnashrama in India was like the Temple foundation and Gopuram of 7 tiers. Foundation was teh people producing food, milk and clothing. The temple was was a home for all with the seven prajnya levels governing the people of all classes. Brahmins were very few teaching (teachers and purohits), dispensing medicines (vaidyas) and the rest were all indivisible part cooperating and coordinating social and economic life in unity as on festive occasions and temple festivities like rathotsava and there was no class conflicts It is the Congress divided people brought in liquor shops and paid money for votes and created the anti-brahmin poisonous seeds! The Communists and Socialists along with Congress widened the gap and destroyed our cohesive society.

Should We Blame God For Our Sufferings?

  We have heard people blame God for their failure, misery and sufferings. Yes. There are many cases where the suffering people seem to be quite simple, ordinary, pious and God-fearing. They have done their part of duty sincerely, served family and society well. But, still they are suffering. Whom to blame? There is the karma theory and the present suffering is due to past karma, prarabhda; but, we do not what sin has been committed in the past to suffer now? How can we explain cancer, brain tumor or heart problems that need lakhs or even million of rupees for treatment and the patients are poor and cannot afford? other diseases Should they not curse God and their fate?

   Curse God for the ailments and see.  Will the diseases disappear? Yes. according to Narayaneeyam, this method also works wonders! One Bhattatiri cursed Guruvayoor Krishna a hundred time taking his name and his adventures and adding insult that he is unable to cure a small ailment. Lo! the hundredth episode and curse changed the life! The arthritis disappeared! God does not bother whether you curse Him or praise Him. His name on your lips is enough! 

   There is another method of getting cured of these diseases that accrue according to karma. Doctors cannot cure mental afflictions for they cannot diagnose them. Physical ailments also go un-diagnosed, at times, and the patients die! Well it is Lord's will! But, it is not the way to say that, some argue. Why should God take away your life? The answer is simple. Anymore suffering may be intolerable or have many unexpected complications on family finances and even affect others' lives in the family. May be the person is in coma for a long time, or disabled and nobody to take care, may be death is welcome? Any way, death is a solution.

  There is another perspective to death here. Death is inevitable once born here. This is a rule. Everybody has to die any day and nobody knows when. But why not live with the knowledge of this inevitability and work out for liberation, mukti moksha while time is still there. Scriptures show the way! Take to Bhagavad-Gita and see how it works wonders!.  

As Life Unfolds!

   It seems destiny rules our life. The genes, the DNA chain and the RNA, eyc hold the clue. One single sperm impregnated into a cell in a woman's womb does all the trick! Every step of our life seems to be decided and could easily be deceiphered from the  horoscopes. The Birth-Star has a lot to say,but we do not know the physics and chemistry of stars. The rays of these stars decide our character! Our physical stature and form are well planned and is there already mapped in the genes. Whatever happens in later life is also given to us in premonition, but we fail to figure it out! What is surprising is the wheel of time, kaal chakra, Sudarshan in the hands of Vishnu, that is actually deemed to be Mahalakshmi. It is the wheel, birth chart  that contains all the details like the tree from seed to tree and seeds, again! There is lot to know and understand here.
   Life is a mystery, so also, the world, mysterious! This mystery unfolds as one matures and learns the trick of 'veiling power of maya'. As a child we are totally innocent and gradually lose innocence and that curiosity and become much and more ignorant, as a result of which we suffer. Knowledge about the true nature of our existence never dawns! it is only a Buddha, that too, a prince, married and having a son left the luxuries of the palace and wandered in the forests for seventeen years and got enlightenment. So far none else during the last 2800 years! Will He, the enlightened, ever reveal the secret? No, He will not speak! However, we have great many Sadgurus, Swamijis, and Missionaries hailing the Gods, the scriptures and the Messengers, all ignorant of the 'Self'. They go on talking comfortably seated and enjoying the goody-goodies of life and talk philosophy? None, so far enlightened? WE fools sit in front of them and go hearing their blah, blah. None of us dare venture into forest, or at least a retreat in Ashrams and serve a guru and wash off our sins, ego, selfish nature, greed, jealous, attachment, and the like. We do not have the purity of thoughts (chit shuddhi), clean mind (manah shuddhi) and, we will never know what is selfless service (nisvaartha seva). The first step towards enlightenment and emancipation is renunciation of attachment and vain search for worldly attainments and sensuous life (vairagya) that comes only after acquiring right knowledge, and wisdom (viveka)- discrimination as to the right and the wrong, and finally, renunciation (vairagya)- discarding all that is unreal, illusory and fleeting! This is almost an impossible task for the mortals covered by avidya, moha, ahankara, pride or mada and jealous (matsarya) and other hundred kourava gunas. One has to transcend the lower levels of existence by study of scriptures (svadhyaya), meeting with learned sadhu pious people like saints (satsanga), engaged in contemplation on higher knowledge (para vidya) concerning the Self, Soul, or Atman, sitting alone in solitude and chant divine words (dhyana/ tapah). There is no other go but to practice solitude! 

   As children our first two decades are lost in play and studies. Moreover, we imbibe what is there in the family tradition and have no alternative to follow the footsteps of elders! The next few decades, say three or four, go in pursuit of a profession for a living and maintenance of family. It is only after one crosses sixty years of age that some relief comes, that too, only by God's grace, not otherwise! There are more miseries than a comfortable life for most of the people since they get embroiled in worldy pursuits and find it difficult to extricate themselves. Many unforeseen happenings shake the elderly due to misfortune! Diseases, losses, disappointments destroy all peace. These are attributed to prarabhda karma. There is no use blaming others, or blaming God for our misfortune! But, who knows? What is the remedy? The only remedy is to trust in God; accept what comes your way, seek guidance from a learned sage. There is no alternative.

   "A Guru comes your way when there is an ardent prayer", says the Kularnava tantra. Unless the child cries, the busy mother will not hear it. There are many who do not believe inall these. It is their will and pleasure; who cares? The Gita says, samshayatma vinashyati, meaning, those who doubt (the Lord's words) get destroyed!

How To Overcome Suffering.

   'Desire' is the cause of suffering. This is an oft-quoted Buddha's statement. But nobody ever defined what is desire and where does it arise. The scriptures assert, "Desire is brahmn', and as such, the desire is of the divine origin! It is 'shivechhe'! Desire arises in jiva due to divine proddence. It is, in other words, the embedded nature of the jiva. Just as the seed sprouts and blooms at the appropriate time, things happen. But for the divine order, nothing exists here! "The Lord wills"! Whatever we find here is the product of desire that manifests in jivarashi. There is no compulsion for anything and from anybody to do anything here! Everything happens here according to divine will. So the sufferings of the jiva may also be attributed, in a way, to the divine! But, it is not so!. The joy is due to the divine order and the suffering is due to the 'ajnyan', ignorance of the true nature of the jiva. Once the jiva realizes the true nature the jiva revels in joy, supreme bliss without any suffering!   
 The jiva (living being) that gets a physical form and grows and dies has to face the problems associated with growth, ageing and death. Suffering is inevitable at every stage of life. Even delivery of a baby is not a happy even when the person is bearing pain and crying! Happiness comes to the mother only when she sees the lovely baby in her hand. But the entire life is again a problem of feeding the baby from time to time, looking after its health, education and the problems never end. There is again a problem of the second child or the third? Besides, the problems go on and on. Search for a suitable match and celebration of marriage, grandchildren and taking care of them. We have seen old people who go abroad when their children send air ticket and enjoy for few days only to realize the boredom, and crave to return as early as possible. These days, they say, it is difficult to adjust to the new generation, their life style, ways of thinking, attitude and and all that! Where is happiness. Day is followed by night and night again opens up another day of fight or flight? There is no end to the social, economic, political wranglings and buzz!   

    Now, as to solutions to problems, the jiva has to realize the true nature of this world and learn to remain aloof as a witness, sakshin. The Bhagavad-Gita teaches us to be of equanimous mind, sthita-prajnya. One has to establish in one's self, oneself? One has to realize the fact that everybody wears a mask and nobody reveals his/her true nature and goes on adjusting to circumstance; people learn to laugh and cry as situations arise and conditions prompt them. Nobody is true to one's self and has to put on a show. Ultimately, everybody says, "the show must go on". People die and the friends and relatives cry for a few hours and at the most, a few days and soon forget all. This is beautifully described by Bhagavan Shree Krishna in His revelations to Arjuna. He says, "People celebrate births and deaths and asks, 'what is the true state of existence'? Finally, He says, there is neither birth nor death! It is all my magical play. The supreme Lord asks Arjuna to realize the Self, just surrender and forget about everything.

   We have seen Sage Ramana having a cancerous wound, bearing severe pain, ignores it, and even tells, 'it (the pain) is for the body and not to Ramana', and asks his doctor (who comes every day to change bandage and cries seeing the wound) not to cry! Osho, maharishi Mahesh Yogi and many realized persons have also suffered! Saint Ramakrishna suffered pain due to throat cancer. There is a short video clip where the Kannada film star, a celebrity, Raj Kumar had arthritis and pain in knees and says, "I ignore the pain"! Now, when realization comes, there is no pain or pleasure to the jiva. The jiva rests calm with its self, unperturbed by the happenings outside of it! The jiva realizes that whatever happens happens and it has nothing to do with the happenings. The soul, Atman, is pure, unblemished, immortal, eternal and unborn, too!

   At best a doctor may administer some sedative, morphine or such soothing anesthetic medicines and the pain is not experienced by the sick jiva. But the pain recurs soon after the anesthetic effect is over.  This painless state can also be experienced in deep sleep and the doctors give sleeping pills to patients. But, a Yogi takes to yoga and stays in samadhi and experiences a higher state of existence- beyond body and mind! This realization puts an end to all sufferings of the jiva. It also enables the jiva to return to its pure crystal clear state  of Light!

    

Predicaments- Physical Ailments and Mental Afflictions

   The jiva (a living being), whether a plant, animal, bird or just all living beings including man (called prani because of prana) once embodied in gross form have to undergo troubles and turmoils! There is no escape from the clutches of maya (time and space restrictions, cause and effect and limited ability to know, understand and face the forces of nature). Seasonal changes and extremes of weather conditions have to be tolerated in order to survive and the jiva normally gets acclimatized! Each and every specie has to safeguard itself from the onslaught of the fellow creatures as well as the invading ones, and this included the humans! The nature's fury on the one hand, and the jiva's limitations on the other, bring lots of ailments- physical (diseases) and mental (fear). The modern civilization may boast of many advancements in medicine and surgery and boast of achievements. But all these go to a naught when it comes to mass destruction during earthquakes, floods and famines, and fast spreading contagious diseases like plague, dengue, meningitis,  and now this cancer which is taking a heavy toll. 

    The body-mind complex along with the nervous system do work restlessly from birth to death. They show symptoms of some error in the system now and then due to food and this can be rectified. But the underlying factors are many; these are tension, anxiety, fear, anger, and every thought, desire, and action creates unseen pressure within. Some are deep-rooted maladies associated with the vasana of previous births, too. It is difficult to figure out them and the jiva suffers. In fact, the jiva finally arrives at the conclusion that there is nothing to enjoy or be happy here! This is a mrutyu koopa, a place of suffering, sickness, old age, and death. This is the reason why the sages look to escape the rebirth. Whether one accepts of not, the jiva has to pay for all its actions and it cannot remain quiet without doing action! Bhagavad-Gita clarifies these points.
 If the jiva suffers for no reason or does not know the cause whom should one look to? The answer is clear. There is a higher power that runs our life. There are the astrologers who blame the planetary positions and ask for chanting appropriate mantra and perform havan and homa. The scientists blame the virus and germs, the genes, and the like. The doctors blame the air and water pollution, poor sanitary conditions, and the  pundits quote shastra and advise yantra, mantra tantra and other methods to appease the gods and goddesses to keep ourselves healthy and happy.
   The most significant answer, solution to most of our physical, mental and other afflictions have come from our ancient Indian sages like Shushruta, charaka, Chakrapani, Dhanvantari, Chyavana Maharishi. We have ayurveda, mantra therapy, faith healing, music therapy, havan and homa to appease Gods, naturopathy, yoga and a host of other treatments for mental afflictions, as well as, physical ailments. Modern allopathy is considered only preventive than curative, where as, homeopathy is considered the only way to root out the diseases. Most of the ailments are due to self-inflicted causes, lack of disciplined life, wrong life style, even sitting, standing and sleeping postures!). But the most important are the blemishes of the soul that comes along with the genes! These can be cured by yoga shastra, meditation and ayurveda.
   Mental afflictions are mainly attributed to Moon's position in relation to earth. The Waves and Tides and mental (thought) waves are similar. There are remedies for most of these mental or psychological problems. So also, there are solutions to the problems of tension, anxiety, headache, etc in Indian system of medicine and many advocate accupressure and accupuncture. It is dangerous to run to pharmacists and drug the body with chemicals; most of the people suffer from side effects of tablets that are too strong for Indian patients. The drug cartel is only interested in business and making money while the gullible Indian patients are a good market. Even drugs prohibited in USA are sold here and the persons authorized to check them are corrupt and do not bother! 

  Mind is the culprit. keep it clean, empty the trash can. The best advise given here is take to yoga under a trained teacher.and Cleanse the trash can, the mind. Keep it calm and quiet. Quietude is brahmn. Do not indulge in wasteful exercises, loos talks, or get involved in matters that do not concern you. Do not think or talk about persons whom you do not know or present in front of you. Seeds of rebirth are sown every minute. as we go on thinking. Hence do not entertain any thoughts and this can be done by constant yoga. Second, remember you are the master, not the mind, the buddhi, the ahankara that rules your life misusing the senses! If one conquers this by techniques of yoga, not a single germ or virus dare enter your boy, let alone cancer of meningitis! Faith healing is the best. Trust in God and go ahead! Never ever go to Hospitals! Subhashita says, Yamaraja, the God of Death, takes away only prana, but his brother, vaidyaraja takes away both your wealth and prana.  

Predicament (contd.)

  There are startling details about this world and the problems the jivas face on earth in many epics. The Pancharatra is one such where we find Sage Agastya goes into a long period of strenuous penance and visualizes the Lord (gets darshan of Vishnu) and asks Him about the predicaments of the jivas (living beings) on this earth. Ahirbudhnya Samhita gives more details about this. There are similar questions and answers in Shaiva agama shastra and vaishnava agama shastra. There are the specialized scriptures dealing with the redress of the grievances of the Jivas. These are the mantra shastra, tantra shastra, and the yantra shastra. Srividya is a source of all these! Yoga shastra gives detailed account of the problems and solutions, and so also, the Atharva Veda. 

   Why should the jiva suffer and who is responsible for the problems the jivas face after the embodiment of the soul? There are many mysteries involved and the scripture speak in a language that cannot be understood by common people. There are secrets, coded words, symbols and all these need be decoded with the help of an attained Guru. It may go into several volumes if we start discussing them here. However, a few hints may be given in these blogs.

   First of all, the jiva arrives here as a speck of stellar dust, an energy particle that inheres within itself all the knowledge! The Rk Veda simply puts it as Atmai vedgm sarvam | meaning, Atman knows all. But, we can never know or understand what is Atman!| In order to help us, the Veda further gives a clue. Atma eva brahma | meaning, Atman and brahmn are one and the same. But,here again, we do not know what is brahmn. 'Brahmn' is not a character depicted in epics, the Creator Brahma (chaturmuka brahma). Hence, we are back to square one. However, one need not be disappointed because, there is an entire treatise on Brahma sutras and this will greatly help us. Finally, an attained person comes our way to help us, only if we ardently desire and cry for help.The supreme Lord will send a Guru to help us and and also liberate us from the predicaments. 

   In simple words, the predicaments of the embodied soul are either of ones own making or that of an unknown (adrushta) hand.  Desire is said to be the cause of all predicaments! But where does the desire come is a problem.  The problem becomes more complicated when the soul gets embodied all on its own and there is no body to explain why and how. Science comes to our help to some extent here. It is an eternal action going on in the space- starting from the condensation of mass of stellar clouds into galaxies and formation of stars, clashes of stars, and the consequent waves like electromagnetic and gravitational waves along with elements like oxygen, hydrogen, helium as also gold silver, platinum, iron. .Nuclear energy is a significant factor here. The soul, Atman is supposed to be this energy particle that later on gets embodied in various diverse forms- living and non-living beings! Brahmn is that which does not come within our grasp and there is not even an alphabet or word to signify that! Whatever that appears as the primordial, primeval, or the earliest wave form, sound, or alphabets like a, u, m also do not exist at that point of time. In fact, even time does not exist! There are volumes and volumes of scriptures on these abstract things, including soul, 'silence',  'sound', matter and energy.

(to be contd.). 

Predicaments of the Embodied Soul

   We have dealt at length how the jivatman takes a journey on this earth at the behest of paramatman. This is one view.Once it arrives on this transient world of changes- birth, growth and deaths, it get stuck unable to go back to where it came from. Actually, the soul, the Atman, or the core of the substance is a particle of stellar dust- full of Energy, Light, Force, Knowledge, ability to transform itself, enter in and out of matter (like air, water, fire, soil, plant or any available space) and take any gross visible form, at will! It arrives in a subtle state and becomes gross and unable to get back to its primeval sate (without some assistance like yoga, as stated in the Bhagavad-Gita) These views are not restricted to just one or two sources like the epics, or scriptures like the Veda, and the Brahma sutras. The Bhagavad-Gita dwells at length on these issues of births and deaths and problems of the jiva in between!  We just recapitulate them here laying stress on some interesting ones. There is much mystery involved in these and nothing is certain!

   There are the agama shastra (more than 200), upanishads (108), puranas (18), etc. that give an idea about the jivatman at different levels of existence. But, here we are concerned only with the human beings on this earth, and not the departed souls, sages, siddhi purusha and saints or the devi devata. The human beings are composed of partly spiritual and partly, or mostly, material constituents. It is essentially the materialistic, at the outset, but governed by mind, buddhi, ahankar and moods and thoughts, ideas (chitta-vrutti) that do not come within the material components.
    The Vedanta puts the human body as the product of panchabhuta- akasha (space) vayu (air), agni (fire), jal (water), and pruthvi (earth or soil, meaning food). The scientists, on the other hand, put it the other way- elements and compounds, cells, tissues, organs and the body (made of blood, tissues and bones). Each cell (andanda) is a universe and each body (pindanda) made of these is also a universe by itself. The universe (brahmanda) consisting of galaxies, stars, the sun and moon are no different from the life forms and the constituents that go to make the jivas! The agama shastra explain these as the yantra, mantra, and the tantra (like science and technology- theory and practicals) and these are important when it comes to the problems of healthy body and a healthy mind of the jiva.
    The jiva is supposed to live a hundred and twenty years like Ramanujacharya, or at least, 80 like Madhvacharya, if not jut  24, like Shankaracharya! How long one lives is not important, but how one lives is important. In fact, not even how one lives, but to know why one lives and what brought him/her here is more important. More than all these, how to get out of this rut, a death-knell, mrutyu koopa, earth where all have to necessarily suffer sickness, old age, and death is all the more important! The human life is very precious in this sense of the term! But, if we try to understand how people are born and live and die in different parts of the world it is really tragic! The wise have to show the way. But, it is not easy, since nobody knows what governs one's life. Whether it is divine will, one's own karma, or destiny or luck, or what else? But, it is certain that nobody is happy on this earth and everybody dies in a state of total disillusionment! This study involves more than one factor- spiritual, philosophical, psychological, sociological. economic, political, ecological, environmental, and many other complicated issues are involved here. Let's analyse some of these here.  

   The human body is just a product of food and its structure and composition is all chemical components- bones, blood and tissues, nervous system and the various organs working with a powerful machine called the brain. But, no one knows the architect and person who devised this universal form of a man and a woman on a single drawing table- with one chromosome X or Y making all the difference! The formation of the body from a single sperm impregnated in the cell of the lady's womb is still a mystery despite the advancement made in the study of cells (molecular biology and DNA studies). 

   The population of the world is about 830 crores and much of it is found in Asia (India and China sharing almost 260 crores and another 100 crores in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia). Much of these populations are living close to fertile river valleys/ basins, lake-sides and deltas. Not all the countries are densely populated! There are still plenty of  suitable land for people to live and work happily. But, the humans are yet to evolve into humane level! Hence the predicament.

    The basic premises of the jivatman assuming a human form is that the supreme  Lord only takes a journey and assumes the form He likes! Hence there is no difference whatsoever whether the jiva is a fish or a frog, ant or an elephant, a bird or a butterfly in the strict sense of the term! But, the tragedy is that man does not know the secret of this creation and has been suffering untold miseries from birth to death. The moment he/she realizes the secret of creation that jiva becomes completely happy and joyful!

     The predicaments of the jiva are primarily due to hunger and thirst, and diseases or ailments. The body is supported by food and water. Both food and water is scarce, though not really so; it is due to ignorance, avidya, that jiva suffers. There is pollution of air and water that kills. People congregate and suffer scarcities. Greed and selfishness are the other factors governing the distribution of resources. Modern civilization has brought prosperity and, also untold misery in its stride, side by side. Poverty and plenty co-exist and people suffer due to concentration of wealth in a few hands.      

   These perspectives are important. Philosophical treatises are there to explain the way man has come down the lanes! Human history is full of wars, pestilences, nature's fury, such as floods, famines, and other calamities. These add to the misery of man. Theses are tapa-traya (suffering due to self-inflicted, nature-inflicted, and community inflicted, besides many afflictions?). The main problem of man is ignorance and the sheer inability to cope with the situation; and, there is no clear-cut answer or solution to the problems. Many are man-made disasters, like the wars, exodus of refugees, etc. for instance. Each jiva comes with a baggage of desires, unfulfilled dreams, and seeds of prarabhda karma.  Each jiva is at different levels of existence (consciousness), and traveling or stationed midway in the eternal journey (jeevan yatra). No generalization is possible and there is no single solution to cover all jivas, too!
(to be contd.)