rote rote din bhi beeta

रोते रोते दिन भी बीता
रोते रोते रात
तुम तो आए
मिल न पाये
हो न पायी बात

Pain and Suffering

Can this pain,
take me beyond suffering ?

QnA-5

Q: What is a Spiritual Experience ?
A: there is no such thing as spiritual experience

Q: What do u mean, what do u mean, You mean all this false, all this i feel, I felt, all is this peace, and all this is what is going on in me, all this is false ?

A: No, I just mean that it is just another experience.

Q: What!! How can you say this?

A: It is a belief. The belief is based on knowledge that you have acquired, which is at the basis, of it being named spiritual or sensual or material. You have read few things and there is a tacit understanding that these things are sacred, pure and holy thats all. When some life experiences fit these knowledge categories you classify them as spiritual. You want to feel important and sacred and distinct thats why you attach this label spiritual experience.

Q: Well, but then every experience is classified or named, so knowledge and experience go hand in hand, dont they ?

A: Tell me the belief that something is spiritual or not, tell me the underlying belief that something is spiritual, is it spiritual ?

Q: No Its not, its a belief

A: Ok so the basis of spiritual and sacred beliefs, then is something which is non spiritual and non sacred, or for that matter just a normal belief, right ?

Q: Well that way everything is belief, and the basis of one belief is another belief, this foolish

A: well, the fact that you believe you are, tell me is the fact that you exist, You are, or I am, is it also not a belief ?
"If all beliefs are in me, am I too just a belief" ?

Q: Well then can you tell me who am i, is the I AM also a belief ?

A: and what do u expect, and if i answer this wont this be just another belief ?

Q: I think I got it , thanks

A: :-)

Kali: The goddes of time

Beholding at the beautiful face of kali, I said to my self, she is Time personified.
What can be a better representation of divinity? If god of space is omnipresent, sarvya vyaapi. He is present in the 'x y z' of space, he becomes Vishnu (it literally means present everywhere).

Kali is the godess of time. So kali is the 't' axis of divinity.

Time has its layers. At all layers time is movement of something. The Outermost layer of time is cosmic time, movement of celestial bodies. At the closest level it the revolution of earth i.e. day and night. At a still farther level it is the revolution of earth, months seasons years etc. This is cosmic layer of time.

There is another layer of time which is biological layer of time, which is your very own body which rejuvenates, ages and all these layers are connected. Like human body is affected directly by day and night it is also connected with months if you are deeply sensitive to the lunar movement it can be felt. So like a cambium tissue in plant is keeping track of how many times earth has moved around sun, your body is also keeping track of how many years and months have passed by.

The subtlest layer of time is felt at the movement of Thought(breath). This layer of time is the layer where Kali can be directly perceived. Every successive movement of unattended thought , unconscious thought, is movement of time. All this movement happens in the zone of Kali. Deep sensitivity in this zone leads to unlocking of Shakti (energy).

Complete understanding of this movement of thought, establishes us in the zone of Kali. Kali dancing on Shiva's body gives us the message to subdue every rising thought(movement) with attention(energy). To subdue all knowledge(Shiva), that is rising due to movement of thought with pure perceptive energy is the message of Kali.

This zone of Kali, is pure perception, is pure attention, is the "power of Now". Kali is the stillness in which all movement is perceived, Kali is the paper on which all text is written.If vishnu is Vishraam of Vaikuntha , Kali is the Viraam of Shamsana.

या देवी सर्वभूतेषु विष्णुमायेति शब्दिता
नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः


Kali is the Vishnu Maya, all movement in space is through time.
Om tat sat.

Sikh Aarti Kirtan Sohila

Some nice early morning discussions on Time and its nature, and i was reminded of this gem. Much gratitude followed when I found a rendition of this aarti on youtube
(embedding of this disabled)
A movie version of this arti is here, this is nice too but clipped and with filmy background.

I want to comment but its foolish for me to add words to what Nanak has already said so well ! Gagan mein thaal rav chand deepak !

jeevan

जीवन पल पल मर रहा है
फिर भी कल कल की आशा ले कर जिंदा है
सोचता है पल पल
वो कल आयेगा
जब वो जीवन में जी पायेगा
इस आशा में जीवन, जीवन को घूँट जाता है
क्यों जीवन आख़िर, जीना चाहता है ?

Jindagi

जिंदगी पल पल
मौत के करीब जाती है
बदकिस्मत है देखो
मौत से मिल नहीं पाती है

Upadesa Saram Text

I am surprised how my wish materialized! I thank my good friend through this blog, who sent me this text and commentary :). There are a few typos in the sanskrit text though. I will correct them over weekend. May be with my comments on Upadesa Saram. Thanks again Nari :) no words :)

Some of my fav verses are in bold font.
*****************************Upadesa Saraam उपदेश सारम रमणा ***********************

1
कर्तुराज्ञया प्राप्यते फलं |
कर्म किं परं कर्म तज्जडम ||

It is by the will of God that actions happen and also the fruits thereof. The sense of doership is not superior. It is ineffective. Every action is impersonal.

2
कृति महोदधौ पतनकाराणम |
फलमशाश्वतं गतिनिरोधकम ||

In the vast ocean of cause and effect, actions happen and impermanent results follow. If one takes them as "my" actions the idea of having free will gets strong. This sense of personal doership gives rise to a feeling of guilt or pride and effectively blocks the spiritual understanding that everything happens according to the will of God.

3
ईश्वरार्पितं नेच्छया कृतम |
चित्तशोधकम मुक्तिसाधकम ||

When there is total acceptance that all actions happen purely by will of God, and if the fruits and the consequences are accepted as His grace the mind gets purified and attains freedom from expectations.

4
कायवाङमनः कार्यमुत्तमम |
पूजनं जपस्चिंतनम क्रमात् ||

Accepting and understanding that God has created the world for his sport and God is playing the lila through billions of body mind organisms is better than chanting the sacred names of the Lord which in turn is superios to worshipping the image of the Lord with body, mind and speech.

5
जगत इशधीयुक्तसेवनम |
अष्टमूर्तिभ्रिददेवापूजनं ||

When there is an understanding that God himself has become the manifestation; when, by His grace, one feels His presence in the phenomenal existence one obtains the blessings of worshipping the Lord of eight fold forms without neglecting ones duties.

6
उत्तमस्तवादुच्चमंदतः |
चित्तजं जप ध्यानमुत्तमम ||

Understanding that nothing happens according to "my" will and merely witnessing the billions of body-mind organisms act under God's will is excellent. It is superior to singing the glories of the Lord or reciting His sacred names.

7
आज्यधारया स्त्रोतसा समम |
सरलचिन्तनम विरलतः परम ||

When there is an understanding that God's will prevails all the time and witnessing happens without any "one" to witness, it is like the stream is true meditation. It is much better than meditating with an assumption that one has free will.

8
भेदभावनात्सोहमित्य्सौ |
भवनाभिदा पावनी मता ||

The non-dualistic approach of understanding that "I AM" is God is far more superior than the dualistic approach of assuming the difference between God and the "me" and struggling to be one with Him.

9
भवशून्यसद्भावा सुस्तितिः |
भावनाबालात भाक्तिरुत्तमा ||

By the grace of God or the Master when one is firmly established in the "I AM" devoid of the thinking mind, with an impersonal knowing that there is no "me" to get involved, that is Supreme Devotion.

10
हृस्थले मनः स्वस्थता क्रिया |
भक्तियोगबोधास्चा निस्चितम ||

The dissolving of the thinking mind in the Heart, purely by the grace of God or the Master, is true devotion, Yoga and understanding.

11
वायुरोधनाल्लीयते मनः |
जलापक्षिवाद्रोधसाधनम ||

Through the act of regulating breath the mind is subdued, just as a bird is restrained when caught in a net. This helps in checking the involvement of the thinking mind at that moment.

12
चित्तावायवाश्चित्क्रियायुताहः |
शाखयोर्द्वई शक्तिमूलाका ||

Thought and breat have their origin in Consciousness.

13
लायविनाशने उभायरोदाने |
लायगतम पुनर्भवती नो मृतम ||

When the mind is absorbed, in work or otherwise, and the thinking mind is not active it may be said that the mind is in control temporarily, only to become active again. When through the deep understanding that, "God is the doer and no 'one' has any control over thoughts and actions" the thinking mind is totally annihilated then it can be said that the thinking mind in that body-mind organism is dead and only the working mind remains.

14
प्रानबन्धनाल्लीनमानासम |
एकचिंतनान्नशमेत्यदहः ||

The thinking mind can be temporarily suspended through the control of breath. It can be annihilated only when there is total understanding that God's prevails at all time and the different forms are only puppets having no free will of their own. With this understanding three beautiful things happen: there is no 'one' to feel guilty or proud, to get frustrated or to have a sense of enmity. Life becomes simple.

15
नष्टमानसोत्क्रुष्टयोगिनः |
क्रित्यमस्ति किं स्वस्थितिम ||

The Sage, whose thinking mind has bee destroyed by the total acceptance of the fact that nothing happens unless it is the will of God, and Who rests Who rests in the "I AM" does all the actions with the knowledge that Consciousness alone functions through the billions of body-mind organisms.

16
दृश्यवारितमं चित्तमात्मनः |
चित्वदर्शनम तत्वदर्शनम ||

With the realization that the "me" that was all the time considering itself a separate entity is only a dreamed character, a manifestation of Consciousness, the mind turns away from objects and gets focused on the "I AM". That is true vision of reality.

17
मानसं तु किं मार्गणे कृते |
नैव मानसं मार्गे आर्जवात ||

When the enquiry, "What is the thinking mind?" occurs, the thinking mind will understand intuitively that it has no free will and stops thinking itself to be the doer and gives way to the feeling of "I AM". This is the direct path.

18
व्रत्तयस्त्वहं - वृत्तिमाश्रीताः |
वृत्तयो मनो विद्याहम मनः ||

In the ordinary man when a thought occurs the ego takes delivery of it as "my thought" and gets involved. The thinking mind is nothing but the ego identifying with a thought and getting involved. In the enlightened Sage, when a thought arises, witnessing happens and involvement with the thought does not take place. Ramana Maharshi says, "The Sage has no thinking mind and therefore there are no 'others' for him".

19
अहमयं कृतो भवति चिन्वतः |
अयि पतात्यहं निजविचारनम ||

When one enquires, "Where ahs the 'me' come from?" it will vanish into consciousness revealing the truth that the "me" has really come from Totality as part of the Diving Hypnosis. Consciousness has created the ego and Consciousness will annihilate the ego by initiating the process of self-enquiry.

20
अहमि नाशभाज्यहमहंतया |
स्फुरति ह्रास्त्वयम परमपूर्णसत ||

When we accept that God's will prevails all the time and not the individual will, the "me" as the doer gets smaller and smaller till it gets completely merged in Consciousness.

21
इदमहंपदाभिख्यमन्वहम |
अहमिलीनकेप्यलयसत्तया ||

When the sense of personal doership disappears with the total acceptance that "All there is, is Consciousness" the thinking mind ceases to exist during the waking hours as in deep sleep. What remains is the light of pure Consciousness, the indestructible "I AM".

22
विग्रहेन्द्रियप्राणधीतामः |
नाहमेकसत्तज्जडम ह्यसत ||

Our true nature is God. It is not the body or the senses, or the mind, or breath, or ignorance. These are inert. They totally depend on Consciousness for existence and action.

23
सत्वभासिका चित्कवावेतरा |
सत्तयाहिचिच्चिताया ह्याहम ||

Seeking generally begins with the seeker wanting to know God through various means until Totality or the Master makes him understand the error of usurping the pure subjectivity of God and reducing Him into an object. Ramana Maharshi says, "Only Consciousness knows itself because Consciousness is all there is. The ego cannot know God. It can only merge into Consciousness through understanding and surrender.

24
ईशाजीवयोर्वेशाधीभिदा |
सत्स्वभावतो वस्तु केवलं ||

The impersonal and identified Consciousness are essentially the same. The Sage has no ego or the thinking mind and is not attached to any form; the man of ignorance feels that the ego and the form are real and is totally asleep to the Self.

25
वेषहानतः स्वात्मदर्शनम |
ईशदर्शनम स्वात्मरूपतः ||

When the impersonal consciousness liberates the identified consciousness from the sense of doership and thereby brings about realization that the Source is all there is, it can be said that the individual had a vision of the Lord as the Self.

26
आत्मसंस्थितिः स्वात्मदर्शनम |
आत्मनिर्द्वयादात्मनिष्ठता ||

When the doership of the ego is totally annihilated the vision of the Self occurs. There is an impersonal knowing that the Self is all and the firm abidance in the Self happens.

27
ज्ञानवर्जिताज्ञानहीनचित |
ज्ञानमस्ति किं ज्ञातुमंतरम ||

True knowing is the understanding that Consciousness functions through all the living beings. This knowledge is beyond the intellectual "knowledge" or "ignorance". After enlightenment, when there is clear understanding that only Consciousness acts what else is there is to be known?

28
किं स्वरूपमित्यात्मदर्शने |
अव्ययाभावापूर्नाचित्सुखम ||

When one enquiresm, "What is my true nature?" one begins to realize that one's true nature is beyond birth, death and decay. It is God or Consciouness.

29
बन्धमुक्त्यातीतम परं सुखं |
विन्दतीह जीवस्तु दैविकः ||

When the "me" understands and accepts that it is God who functions through all the living beings it goes beyond the thoughts of freedom and bondage.

30
अहमपेतकं निजविभानकम |
महदिदंतपो रमणवागियम ||
When the me disappears in terms of doership and it is realized that "Conscious is all there is", that is excellent tapas, Ramana says this.

Folk meets Classical

Folk rajasthani with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt ji, lending his mohan veena magic.

Mahabharata Gita Karma

The original name of Mahabharata was "Jaya" as coined by Vyasa. This Jaya, is the original victory after the original fight(Maha Bharata). The original fight is the fight to find your origin. The original fight, is the fight between "you and yours". The fight between "you" and your idea of "you"(yourself).

Your understanding of you is totally based on "your", your language, your nation, your state, your relationships, your name, your job, your family, your body and your mind. In this "your" lies, the mistaken identity confusion. This miss identification then becomes the source of suffering and violence. Interestingly all that you think is yours is transient and changing(chala चल ), but somewhere deep inside you know that, that You is unmoving still(sthita स्थित ) and is the fulcrum around which the whole universe(your life experience) revolves.

In this battle field, the perception and knowledge acquired about perception, clouds the perceiver, it makes him suffer, it thrives on threat and worry. Krishna is the inspiration, he gives you the courage to challenge all you know about you. Repeated inquiry into this leads to dis identification (destruction) of yours. This destruction of knowledge, this destruction of clouded cognition is the battle of battles. When the "I AM" is pitted against all that what you call "mine" mahabharata happens, and naturally there is fear, naturally there is despondency and diffidence, this is because the "I" was mis-identified with "Mine", in this process, the avidya haunts him and makes him feel weak, because he thinks destruction of Mine will destroy I. (arjuna vishaad अर्जुन विषाद )

This battle is every moment, every second. In every cell, in every nerve. In every experience, in every thought, in every cognition.

Post this battle, you see yourself, without the crutches of yours. When the "I" looks at the source of the I and in this process is freed from identification with mine. When your idea of yours and the you as defined by yours changes, the Self emerges from the yourself. Established in this state(sthiti स्थिति ), one becomes sthit pagnya(स्थित प्रज्ञ). All action now coming from inaction is karma-sanyaas(कर्म संन्यास ).

Till your action is centered on yours, till then your action will be frustration, it will be pursual, when the idea of "your" vanishes, all action comes from inaction. Then action has no bondage thus this action is born out of renunciation. This is karma phal parityaga(कर्म फल परित्याग).

This knowledge about the knower destroys(moksha-sanyaasa मोक्ष संन्यास) all knowledge and is the knowledge of all knowledge(राज विद्या).

Om Tat Sat.

Upadesha Saram - Ramana

I will try and write thoughts on this sometime later, the english translation is here

Light Swan

गगन मंडल मे हंसा डोले
सोऽहं सोऽहं पंख पखारे
इक ओंकार की सब धुनें हैं
जगत के बन्धन तोड़ चला मैं ... गगन मंडल मे हंसा डोले

त्रिये नैन, अब भेद उडे हैं
तोड़ के जनम मरण के ताले
ब्रह्मानंद सहोदर सुनके
अनहद अनहद वाणी बोले ...गगन मंडल मे हंसा डोले
--By Shivraaj

UG Speaks-2

The mystical experience,is within the framework of the knowledge.
and that I consider,its a very petty little experience. You experience what you know, that does not, in anyway free you from the knowledge you have acquired. So you are still you see, caught up in this idea, and you owe everything to the one who that has helped u to experience this thing, you are still dependent on that, you have not actually freed yourself from that, thats why i call it mystical experience.

That itself is an extraordinary thing, because it awakens some sort of an intelligence there in you. And from then on, you look at everything differently you experience the same old things, in different thing in a different way and try to share that experience with somebody else or you interpret the texts you see, in a different way, in a more meaningful and in a more expressive way.

But I said to myself, that this has nothing to do with what I have been interested in, this is a petty little experience and then when you still continue and try to go beyond, you have no way of going beyond that mystical experience because that has a strangle hold on you exactly way the other experience had strangle hold on you.

There is no way you can get out of that trap, because that becomes more important to you, because it is your own experience what you consider to be the experience of others has becomes your own experience and that you see throttles and chokes you all the time and the struggles to get out of it is more difficult than what it was before.

Love emotion

इश्क एक तरफा में यूं मसरूर हो जाऊँगा मैं
राम तुम होगे शमा काफूर हो जाऊँगा मैं

मैं तुम्हे देखूं तो देखूं, तुम न मुझको देखना
तुने गर देखा मुझे, मशहूर हो जाऊँगा मैं

मैं तुम्हे चाहूँ तो चाहूँ, तुम न मुझको चाहना
तुने गर चाहा मुझे, मगरूर हो जाऊँगा मैं

मैं अगर मांगू कभी तो, कुछ न देना तुम मुझे
वरना फिर प्रेमी नहीं मजदूर हो जाऊँगा मैं

-स्वामी राम

Kabir Bhajan

Who can say this better than Kabir :)

हम हैं इश्क मस्ताना
की हमको होशियारी क्या!
रहें आजाद इस जग में
हमको दुनिया से यारी क्या !

जो बिछुड़े हैं, पियारे से
भटकते, डर बदर फिरते
हमारा यार है हममे
तो हमको इतेजारी क्या ?

ना पल बिछुड़े पीया हमसे
ना हम बिछुड़े पियारे से
उन्ही से नेह लागा है
हमको बेकरारी क्या !!

कबीरा इश्क का माता
दुविधा दूर कर दिल से
जो चलना राह नाज़ुक है
हमें सर बोझ भारी क्या!

Kind regards and thanks to kabaadkahana people for putting this up !

Thinking it through

Thinking creates the illusion of thinker.
When there is no thinker, there is no thinking
Thinker is the thinking.

By thinking thinker cant end, by thinking, thinking cant end.

To think or not to think, that is not the question.
Thinking cant lead you to this.

Think it over.

Tere Ishq Nachaya: Bulle Shah

The beauty of traditions in India is, that almost everything becomes a pursuit to transcend. Art architecture music poetry drama dance have all become prayers of the prayerfulls.

This deep absorbtion in creation and celebration, rooted in limitless joy(worship) still continues to enchant us and give us moments of deep withdrawal and ecstasy, perhaps not as much as their creators felt but none the less rife!

These emissaries of joy are the real harbingers of the Indian tradition, they point again and again that the true pursuit is not in getting, but in letting go. Such has been their impact that they continue to live through their words, their songs, their prayers, their teachings, to all those who can lend their ears to them.

Sufism is a great example of the seam less convergence of Bhakti Advaita and Indo Islamic principles. Sufi mystics with the strength of their own inner experience shook the foundations of orthodoxy and espoused the message of harmony.

Most of this tradition's activity was in Punjab and Afganistan. A great master named Bulle Shah composed several beautiful verses in his ecstasy. One such is tere ishq nachaya.

End Game

Death doesnt come
Life doesnt happen

Arithmetic

One plus One is two
You and Me
When there is no "Me" ?
Is there any "You" ?

When I become
You also come
This being of me
is, "IT","You", "He".

When this is true,
There is no me!
nor there is you
then this question, asketh who ?

When there is none
then we are one
But in that one-ness
one is none

How then that none
becometh one ?
and in that one
then two is spun !

Then You are None
and You are One
and You are two
and thats the fun

Marriage Bondage

An engagement too long
is an expectation too much
Unfulfilled, Empty, Blank

Joy it is
of presence and discovery
But attention always
is on the culmination

A seed sown
watered with tears,
has sprouted,
but awaits flowering

Freedom hurts!
This knowledge is ignorance
This bondage is liberation