Rs. 40/- ANNUAL The Vision A monthly journal started by HH Swami Ramdas in 1933 DEDICATED TO UNIVERSAL LOVE AND SERVICE

VOL. 84 APRIL 2017 NO. 07 ANANDASHRAM, P.O. ANANDASHRAM - 671 531,

VOL. 84 APRIL 2017 No. 07

FULLNESS OF GOD

THE world is not there for me. For me the world is God — Every part of it is Divine, There is none but He and I. I! Where is ‘I’ when all is He? I, you and He are one in Him. ‘Tis all one life, one thought, one form, One is the sound and one is the strain. One is the sun and one is the light. In the silence of all-embracing space Thrills one sole rapture of peace. The air breathes and swings To one immortal tune. Fullness of God — perfection of Truth Alone revealed everywhere In pomp, power and glory. — Swami Ramdas Vol. 84 April 2017 No. 07 CONTENTS From The Editor - 5 Knowledge Makes For Freedom - Swami Ramdas 7 Words Of Beloved Papa Swami Ramdas- 9 Words Of Pujya Mataji Krishnabai - 11 Words Of Pujya Swami Satchidananda- 13 ‘I’ And ‘Mine’ Are False Ideas - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj14 The Illusion Of Ownership - Eckhart Tolle 16 The Discipline Of Universal Love - Swami Sivananda 19 ‘I’ And ‘Mine’ – Cause Of Unhappiness- Shri Brahmachaitanya Maharaj Gondavalekar 21 Misery Comes From ‘I’ And ‘Mine’ - 23 Epistles Of Swami Ramdas - 25 Dear Children - 28 Swami Padmanabhanandaji’s Visit - 30 Anandashram News - 34

THE VISION A Monthly Magazine Anandashram PO Anandashram 671531, Kanhangad, , India Phone: (0467) 2203036, 2209477, 2207403 Web: www.anandashram.org Email: [email protected] [email protected] For free edition of “THE VISION” on the web, please visit: www.anandashram.org Apr 2017FROM THE EDITOR 5

FROM THE EDITOR

There is a marvelous Sufi story that may inspire us to think deep about who we are and where we belong. A lover once went to see his beloved and knocked at the door. “Who is there?” she called out from inside. “This is me”, he replied. “Go away. This house will not hold you and me”, she said. The rejected lover retreated into the wilderness. He prayed and meditated for a long time on the beloved’s words. Finally, he returned and knocked at the door again. “Who is this?” she asked the same question. The lover replied, “This is you”. Immediately, the door opened. This tale succinctly captures the struggles the aspirants undergo until they attain the oneness with the One. In this allegory, the Beloved is the Divine and the lover is each one of us. As long as we think, feel and act in terms of ‘I’, ‘Me’ and ‘Mine’, there will be an unbridgeable chasm between the devotee and the Divine. According to our Scriptures and Masters, this sense of separation is the foremost hurdle in any aspirant’s path towards his fruition of life — a state of fullness (Poornatwam). When someone claims himself to be ‘self-made’, he must be obviously unaware of what he is truly made of. We are all part 6 THE VISION Apr 2017 of the Whole; we all owe our origin to the one and only Source that alone can provide us abiding joy, endless peace and ultimate fulfillment. The sense of ‘I’, ‘Me’ and ‘Mine’ is the self- made prison that limits us from knowing the Illimitable and prevents us from experiencing the unbound and unconditional freedom, peace and joy. How shall we set ourselves free from this state? Let us think together. Every breath we take is influenced by the breaths of everyone else around us. We all inhale the same air. Every morsel of food we eat and every drop of water that quenches our thirst are the precious gifts of the entire universe. We didn’t create them, did we? We came out of our mothers’ wombs with nothing but a great appetite! From the womb to the tomb, our very existence was made possible by the Great Provider — the Universal Power that is inherent in every breath we take and every move we make. As and when we become fully aware of this reality, our veil of separation abetted by the ‘crystallized selfishness’ of ‘I’, ‘Me’ and ‘Mine’ will wither away and we will feel a sense of oneness and belongingness as we progress on our spiritual journey. To sustain this journey of expansion, one needs to get constantly motivated by the inspiring messages Apr 2017KNOWLEDGE MAKES FOR FREEDOM 7 from our Masters and stay focused on our chosen spiritual disciplines. Besides, our vision needs to go inward to realize the root of our very existence — the indwelling Reality. As Beloved Papa says, “One Truth, One Life, is the fact about the universe and everything in it. To tune human life to the knowledge of this Truth is the secret of the unfettered and spontaneous flow of it along the channels of Divine love and service.” This month’s issue of THE VISION carries various articles of Mahatmas on this theme.

KNOWLEDGE MAKES FOR FREEDOM By Swami Ramdas

The soul is free and immortal. By the knowledge of this truth it is released from the bondage of the individual sense and the resultant limitations and narrowness imposed on it, through ignorance. The soul’s freedom means realization of its identity with God, the Universal Spirit. It is now the physical and psychic being of the individual becomes a vehicle for the expression of God’s light, power and peace. Therefore the sole aim of every human being should be to dispel ignorance and attain knowledge. 8 THE VISION Apr 2017

Knowledge breaks all fetters and raises the soul to the highest spiritual eminence. The all-purifying knowledge is gained by worshipping God within the heart. The externalised mind should be drawn within to adore this great Reality. The cravings for ephemeral things of life must die before the fullness of spiritual vision and experience is achieved. When the mind loses itself in the radiance of God, the ego-sense disappears and the soul attains liberation. The ignorant soul is like a bird caught in a cage. By long association, the soul losing the awareness of its free and immortal nature, hugs to the cage of its individuality and lives thereby in a state of pain and misery. The cage was of its own making and it lies in its power to break it and realize its immortal nature. Normally man’s aims and ambitions are centred upon selfish considerations. His entire interest revolves round ‘me’ and ‘mine’. It is this circumscribed outlook that forges the chains of ignorance. The Divine within is forgotten. His life now becomes a restless and hectic phenomenon. The vastness, beauty and glory of it are all lost, for, darkness, inertness and a sense of weakness envelop it. Apr 2017WORDS OF BELOVED PAPA SWAMI RAMDAS 9

Hence the soul should draw its vision inward and realize its eternal, illumined and joyous existence. This is the goal which all beings should strive to reach.

WORDS OF BELOVED PAPA SWAMI RAMDAS

The mother loves her child and feels happy. When love of even one child gives joy, how great must be the joy if one accepts the whole universe as one’s own and loves all alike? To look upon all as our own is called a Sarvatma Drishti, or universal vision. It is like jumping from the small well of family and friends to the vast ocean of universal existence. Universal vision is the mark of God-realization. There is in it absolutely no selfishness, no sense of separateness, no sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Love limited to a small circle is Moha. Love for all is known as Prema. Moha, based on attachment to the body, is a source of bondage, whereas Prema, based on Sarvatma Drishti, is a sign of freedom. *** The idea — ‘I am the doer’ — is entirely false. In fact, ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ is a false super-imposition of ignorance upon us. There is nothing here to shrink from, or be attracted to; love and hate have nothing 10 THE VISION Apr 2017 to do with the Witness. Sinners, we are not. We are the pure, the ever-pure, spotless, self-effulgent, all- blissful and peaceful, Eternal Atman. *** Attachment is when you love some and do not love others. You love those who are related to you, who are your kith and kin. Beyond the pale of that circle you have no love or concern for anyone. But the ideal householder loves all alike. The neighbour in difficulties is considered in the same light as one who is near and dear to him. This is the right vision and in that vision there is no attachment. It is Moha when your love is confined only to your kith and kin and not extended to others. The sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ comes into play here, which vitiates your outlook in life. *** The feeling of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ should go. It is born of the sense of separation from the Reality. *** The whole universe is permeated through and through with God. The visible and invisible worlds are all He. There is nothing and none but He. All, all is He. Such is the Truth; where then is room for the ideas of ‘I’ and ‘you’—’mine’ and ‘yours’? All are He! *** Apr 2017WORDS OF PUJYA MATAJI KRISHNABAI 11

WORDS OF PUJYA MATAJI KRISHNABAI

The essence of religion consists in keeping the mind pure and free from the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. In a pure mind, the light of Truth dawns automatically. *** Papa’s real nature, real Swabhava, is Nirguna Nirvikara Swaroop — nameless, formless, static, void aspect. Before realizing Papa, we are immersed in the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. We say, ‘my’ hand aches or ‘my’ leg aches and so on. But, if we are asked to define who that ‘I’ is, we are helpless. We just cannot pinpoint that ‘I’. The most difficult thing to get over is Deha-abhiman (body consciousness). Like a mountain, it can obstruct your Sadhana. It is this Deha- abhiman that makes one feel that one alone is right and the other is wrong. *** All that you have to do is to change the direction so to speak — instead of prefixing everything with an ‘I’ or ‘mine’, make it ‘You’ and ‘Thine’. Instead of saying ‘mera, mera’ (mine, mine), learn to say ‘Tera, Tera’ (thine, thine). Then, the goal is yours. 12 THE VISION Apr 2017

I don’t want you to discard your attachments. But I wish you to widen the sphere of your attachments. Make your circle of attachment bigger and bigger. You know when any part of your body is suffering from pain, you may pay more attention to that part so that the pain may be removed. By doing this, you are not obliging that part or limb because it is your own limb. Similarly, consider the poor and the needy as your own. If you expand your sphere of ‘mine- ness’ so as to embrace the whole world, then, when serving the world, you will be feeling the happiness you feel when serving yourself. So, I do not ask you to cast off your attachments or feelings of ‘I’ and ‘mine’, but only to expand them. Transform the individual into the universal. This transformation is possible by taking Ram Nam. *** The main reason why you are scared of entering the gates of Papa’s Mansion is because the world outside is the world of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ and you are scared that if you enter the gates and your minds turn towards Papa, you would lose the world you have been hugging as yours. You do not realise that far from losing your world, you actually gain the whole universe which becomes yours when you realise Papa. Apr 2017WORDS OF PUJYA SWAMI SATCHIDANANDA 13

WORDS OF PUJYA SWAMI SATCHIDANANDA

Be rid of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ *** Beloved Papa has made the path very simple for us as He expects us only to chant Ram Nam constantly, to look upon everything and everybody as Ram Himself and accept every situation as brought about by the supreme Will of Ram. He does not want us to renounce the world or the family life and take to the life of a wandering Sannyasi or stay in the Himalayas to do Tapas. He wants everyone to remain where God has placed him or her and do Sadhana in that condition without making any external change whatsoever, but only renounce the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. *** She (Pujya Mataji) made the path still simpler by telling us that there is absolutely no need for us to renounce anything externally, that is, there is no necessity to give up one’s possessions, properties and families. According to her, we are only to achieve inner renunciation, that is to renounce the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. This could be done living in the world, 14 THE VISION Apr 2017 in whatever condition and circumstances we are placed. What is needed is only a change of attitude towards things. Instead of feeling that ‘this is mine’, ‘I did this’, etc., we have only to take it that it is He who does everything and everything belongs to Him and everything is He. Sadhana done with this attitude is sure to bring very quick results without any outward change in us. *** Possess things but do not be possessed by them.

‘I’ AND ‘MINE’ ARE FALSE IDEAS By Sri

Questioner (Q): I am very much attached to my family and possessions. How can I conquer this attachment? Maharaj (M): This attachment is born along with the sense of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. Find the true meaning of these words and you will be free of all bondage. You have a mind which is spread in time. One after another all things happen to you and the memory remains. There is nothing wrong in it. The problem arises only when the memory of past pains and pleasures — which are essential to Apr 2017‘I’ AND ‘MINE’ ARE FALSE IDEAS 15 all organic life — remains as a reflex, dominating behaviour. This reflex takes the shape of ‘I’ and uses the body and the mind for its purposes, which are invariably in search for pleasure or flight from pain. When you recognise the ‘I’ as a bundle of desires and fears, and the sense of ‘mine’, as embracing all things and people needed for the purpose of avoiding pain and securing pleasure, you will see that the ‘I’ and the ‘mine’ are false ideas, having no foundation in reality. Created by the mind, they rule their creator as long as it takes them to be true; when questioned, they dissolve. The ‘I’ and ‘mine’, having no existence in themselves, need a support which they find in the body. The body becomes their point of reference. When you talk of ‘my’ husband and ‘my’ children, you mean the body’s husband and the body’s children. Give up the idea of being the body and face the question: Who am I? At once a process will be set in motion which will bring back reality, or, rather, will take the mind to reality. Only, you must not be afraid. Q: What am I to be afraid of? M: For reality to be, the ideas of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ must go. They will go if you let them. Then your 16 THE VISION Apr 2017 normal natural state reappears, in which you are neither the body nor the mind, neither the ‘me’ nor the ‘mine’, but in a different state of being altogether. It is pure awareness of being, without being this or that, without any self-identification with anything in particular, or in general. In that pure light of consciousness there is nothing, not even the idea of nothing. There is only light. Source: I Am That

THE ILLUSION OF OWNERSHIP By Eckhart Tolle

To ‘own’ something — what does it really mean? What does it mean to make something ‘mine’? If you stand on a street in New York, point to a huge skyscraper and say, “That building is mine. I own it,” you are either very wealthy or you are delusional or a liar. In any case, you are telling a story in which the thought form ‘I’ and the thought form ‘building’ merge into one. That’s how the mental concept of ownership works. If everybody agrees with your story, there will be signed pieces of paper to certify their agreement with it. You are wealthy. If Apr 2017THE ILLUSION OF OWNERSHIP 17 nobody agrees with the story, they will send you to a psychiatrist. You are delusional, or a compulsive liar. It is important to recognize here that the story and the thought forms that make up the story, whether people agree with it or not, have absolutely nothing to do with who you are. Even if people agree with it, it is ultimately a fiction. Many people don’t realize until they are on their deathbed and everything external falls away that nothing ever had anything to do with who they are. In the proximity of death, the whole concept of ownership stands revealed as ultimately meaningless. In the last moments of life, they realize that while they were looking throughout their lives for a more complete sense of self, what they were really looking for, their Being, had actually always already been there, but had been largely obscured by their identification with things, which ultimately means identification with their mind. The ego tends to equate having with Being: I have, therefore I am. And the more I have, the more I am. The ego lives through comparison. How you are seen by others turns into how you see yourself. If everyone lived in a mansion or everyone was wealthy, your mansion or your wealth would no longer serve to 18 THE VISION Apr 2017 enhance your sense of self. You could then move to a simple cabin, give up wealth, and regain an identity by seeing yourself and being seen as more spiritual than others. How you are seen by others becomes the mirror that tells you what you are like and who you are. The ego’s sense of self-worth is in most cases bound up with the worth you have in the eyes of others. You need others to give you a sense of self, and if you live in a culture that to a large extent equates self-worth with how much and what you have, if you cannot look through this collective delusion, you will be condemned to chasing after things for the rest of your life in the vain hope of finding your worth and completion of your sense of self there. How do you let go of attachment to things? Don’t even try. It’s impossible. Attachment to things drops away by itself when you no longer seek to find yourself in them. In the meantime, just be aware of your attachment to things. Sometimes you may not know that you are attached to something, which is to say, until you lose it or there is the threat of loss. If you then become upset, anxious, and so on, it means you are attached. If you are aware that you are identified with a thing, the identification is no longer total. “I Apr 2017THE DISCIPLINE OF UNIVERSAL LOVE 19 am the Awareness that is aware that there is attachment”. That’s the beginning of the transformation of consciousness. Source: A New Earth

THE DISCIPLINE OF UNIVERSAL LOVE By Swami Sivananda

The only Sara Vastu in this world is Prema or Love. It is eternal, infinite and undecaying. Physical love is passion or Moha or infatuation. Universal love is Divine love. God is love. Love is God. Selfishness, greed, egoism, vanity, pride and hatred, contract the heart and stand in the way of developing universal love. Develop universal love gradually through selfless service, Satsang (association with Mahatmas), prayer, recitation of Guru Mantra, etc. When the heart is contracted through selfishness, man loves his wife, children, a few friends and relatives only, in the beginning. As he evolves, he loves the people of his own district, then the people of his own province. Later on, he develops love for men of his own country, eventually, he begins to love other people of different 20 THE VISION Apr 2017 countries. In the long run, he begins to love all. He develops universal love. All the barriers are broken now. The heart expands infinitely. It is very easy to talk of universal love. But when you want to put it into actual practice, it becomes extremely difficult. Petty-mindedness of all sorts comes in the way. Old, wrong Samskaras (impressions) which you have created by your wrong mode of life in the past, act as stumbling blocks. Through iron determination, strong will-power, patience, perseverance and Vichara (right enquiry), you can conquer all obstacles quite easily. The grace of the Lord will descend on you if you are sincere, my dear friends! Universal love terminates in Advaitic unity or oneness or Upanishadic consciousness of seers and sages. Pure love is a great leveller. It brings equality. Hafiz, Kabir, Mira, Gouranga, Tukaram, Ramdas, all have tasted this universal love. What others have achieved, you can also attain. Feel that the whole world is your body, your own home. Melt or destroy all barriers that separate man from man. Idea of superiority is ignorance or delusion. Develop Vishva Prema, all-embracing love. Unite with Apr 2017‘I’ AND ‘MINE’ – THE CAUSE OF UNHAPPINESS 21 all. Separation is death. Unity is eternal life. Feel that the whole world is Vishva-Brindavan. Feel that this body is a moving temple of God. Wherever you are, whether at home, office, railway station or market, feel that you are in the temple. Consecrate every act as an offering unto the Lord. Transmute every work into Yoga by offering its limits to God. Have Akarta, Sakshi Bhava, if you are a student of Vedanta. Have Nimitta Bhava if you are a student of Bhakti Marga. Feel that all beings are images of God. Isa Vasyamidam Sarvam — this world is indwelt by the Lord. Feel that One Power or God works through all hands, sees through all eyes, hears through all ears. You will become a changed being. You will enjoy the highest peace and bliss. Source: Sadhana

‘I’ AND ‘MINE’ – THE CAUSE OF UNHAPPINESS By Shri Brahmachaitanya Maharaj Gondavalekar

Rid yourself of all fear, in the firm belief that protects all. He will surely stand by you if you deliver yourself up completely to His care; that wipes out all cause of worry. Considering Rama as the true and only giver, eschew all fear and anxiety. 22 THE VISION Apr 2017

Never cease striving, harbour no fear, and never let Rama be out of your mind, whatever may befall. Assign all doership and ownership of your life to Rama, by surrendering yourself completely to Him in your heart of hearts; where, then, is the cause for anxiety and anguish? Misery and sorrow spring basically from identifying one’s self with the body. So far we have been doing everything with egoism, which is the root cause of sorrow. Despite our outward claims that we have abandoned all ego, the feeling persists deep in the bottom of the heart, and that is the seed of misery. Obstinacy and insistency, are symbols of inner pride of doership, and this is the cause of unhappiness. Any feeling of unhappiness in life is a sure sign of the existence of ego. There can be no sense of contentedness so long as your effort springs out of the feeling of ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Selfishness is an expression of ‘I-am-the-body’ conviction, and leads to misery and ruin. Every effort made so far has only fed and strengthened the ‘I-am-the-body’ conviction, the source of pain and sorrow. One who entertains that conviction will never find happiness anywhere. It only leads to attachment to interests other than Rama or God. Never yield to this egoism which totally destroys Apr 2017MISERY COMES FROM ‘I’ AND ‘MINE’ 23 peace of mind; for, sorrow reigns where ego resides. Elation at merit and fear of sin also arise from this sense of ego. One who loses himself in passions and desire is in for great misery. Clinging to them destroys one’s higher interest. The flow of ‘desire’ is endless, like that of a river. Desire is mitigated by neither indulgence nor suppression. We consider ourselves to be the body, and so cannot endure pain even for a moment. I have no control over anything or any person that I call ‘mine’; how, then, can I expect the world to conform to my will? We can perhaps gift away all things, but there still lurks the sense of doership and self-esteem, which is precisely what keeps us away from realization of God. Source: Discourses

MISERY COMES FROM ‘I’ AND ‘MINE’ By Swami Vivekananda

Our nature is far beyond misery and happiness, beyond every object of the senses, beyond the imagination; and yet we must go on working all the time. Misery comes through attachment. If a beautiful picture belonging to another is burnt, a man 24 THE VISION Apr 2017 does not generally become miserable; but when his own picture is burnt, how miserable he feels! Why? Both were beautiful pictures, perhaps copies of the same original; but in one case very much more misery is felt than in the other. It is because in one case he identifies himself with the picture, and not in the other. This ‘I’ and ‘mine’ causes the whole misery. With the sense of possession comes selfishness, and selfishness brings on misery. Every act of selfishness or thought of selfishness makes us attached to something, and immediately we are made slaves. Each wave in the Chitta that says ‘I’ and ‘mine’ immediately puts a chain round us and makes us slaves; and the more we say ‘I’ and ‘mine’, the more slavery grows, the more misery increases. Therefore enjoy the beauty of all the pictures in the world, but do not identify yourselves with any of them. Never say ‘mine’. Whenever we say a thing is ‘mine’, misery will immediately come. Do not even say ‘my child’ in your mind. Possess the child, but do not say ‘mine’. If you do, then will come the misery. Do not say ‘my house’, do not say ‘my body’. The whole difficulty is there. The body is neither yours, nor mine, nor anybody’s. These bodies are coming and going by the laws of nature, but we are free, standing as witness. This Apr 2017EPISTLES OF SWAMI RAMDAS 25 body is no more free than a picture or a wall. Why should we be attached so much to a body? If somebody paints a picture, he does it and passes on. Do not project that tentacle of selfishness, ‘I must possess it’. As soon as that is projected, misery will begin. First destroy the tendency to project this tentacle of selfishness, and when you have the power of checking it, hold it in and do not allow the mind to get into the ways of selfishness. Then you may go out into the world and work as much as you can. Mix everywhere, go where you please; you will never be contaminated with evil. Source: Complete Works Of Swami Vivekananda Vol. 1

EPISTLES OF SWAMI RAMDAS

Beloved Ram, May the Lord shower His blessings on you all. …Perfection is the goal. What do we mean by perfection? A clear conception of it is the first necessity, before we can hold it up as our ideal. A free and liberated life filled with peace and joy, in all its movements — unconditioned and unhampered by any circumstance — is, as Ramdas understands it, the goal of perfection. You have to admit that a householder, whom you describe as being pre-eminently unfit for 26 THE VISION Apr 2017 liberation, is not in any way worse off than a so- called, free, homeless wanderer who can do as he pleases, so long as both of them are caught up in the clutches of ignorance and desires. Surely you cannot believe that a particular mode and situation of external life could be the sole condition for the freedom and bliss a man is seeking, so long as his internal vision remains unchanged, so long as the Divine light in him is obscured by the false sense of possession and individuality. You speak of the resignation to God’s will as permitting occasional touches of suffering. Here the term “resignation to God’s will” is misconstrued and misapplied. Where there is resignation to God’s will, there can be no grief or doubt. Self-surrender itself means true liberation. The antagonistic influences are not without us; they raise their hood from within. Resignation to God destroys them… Your work is done under compulsion whereas Ramdas’ is not so. This is your argument to show, that there is a vast gulf between your life and that of Ramdas. Compulsion there is in both cases. Without compulsion Ramdas would not be working. He writes this letter, through utter compulsion. He cannot avoid doing it. While you take the urge for action as either Apr 2017EPISTLES OF SWAMI RAMDAS 27 your own or as that of your employer’s, Ramdas knows, it is God within and without that eggs him on to work. The difference is merely in the attitude towards life and action. No work is without value — whether you are paid wages for it or not. Work becomes joy when you do it without regard for its results or fruit. Since, as you say, you are working in the office only for wages, you get the idea that you work by your own individual power, forgetting that the Divine Shakti within you is propelling you to action. Hence it is that you are dissatisfied with the work which does not yield you the joy which it ought. So long as you maintain this mentality, even if you are called upon to do the work which Ramdas is doing now, you would not be free from the reaction and bondage of work. The remedy lies in the eradication of the lower self or the ego- sense, no matter what action you put forth and what circumstances condition that action. If you surrender to the Divine Shakti in you, and offer up all your actions to Her, your work would be a spontaneous outflow, giving you the experience of pure joy. Know that — reward or no reward — you work in the office or the workshop, because God has appointed you for the task. Very often we are engaged in 28 THE VISION Apr 2017 activities which bring us no tangible, direct profit or compensation; still we are in for them. The worker, who has realised that the Divine Power is reflected in all his actions, is not concerned with their fruit; and, the Divine Mother, to whom he has surrendered, looks after him. He is never made to feel any want, however poor he may be in the external possessions of life. “My devotee perisheth never.” The wages you think that the officer pays you, are then realised to be coming from the Lord Himself for His service, service rendered to Him by the power He has granted you. Yours is not to determine the exact return for your work, but to be contented with what God allows you as your share in the outcome of your toil. You keep working all the time without an eye to the result thereof and through right concentration get absorbed in the work itself, and enjoy freedom and bliss. Love to you and all there.

DEAR CHILDREN

A young lady was waiting for her flight in the airport lounge. As she had to wait for hours, she bought a book and decided to spend her time reading it. She Apr 2017DEAR CHILDREN 29 also bought a packet of cookies. She sat down in an armchair to rest and read in peace. On the armchair next to hers was kept a packet of cookies. A man sat down on the chair next to the chair with the cookies, opened his magazine and started reading. She opened the packet of cookies and ate the first cookie; the man also took one. She felt infuriated but didn’t say anything. She just thought: ‘What a nerve! If I was in the mood I would punch his eye so that he won’t forget this impudence!’ For each cookie she ate, the man ate another one. This was causing her to fume with rage but she didn’t react. When only one cookie remained, she thought: ‘Ah… What will this wretched man do now?’ Then the man divided the last cookie into two halves, took one and gave her the other half. ‘Ah! This is too much!’ She was furious. She picked up her book and things and headed to the boarding gate. When she sat down on her seat in the plane, she looked into her purse for her spectacles, and to her surprise she found her packet of cookies in there untouched! She realized her mistake. She had forgotten that her cookies were in her purse. The man had shared his cookies with her without 30 THE VISION Apr 2017 feeling infuriated, nervous or resentful while she was very upset thinking that she was forced to share her cookies with him. However, there was no time to explain things or to apologize! There are four things that you can’t recover: 1. A stone shot. 2. A word uttered. 3. An occasion lost 4. The time spent.

PUJYA SWAMI PADMANABHANANDAJI VISITS ANANDASHRAM

(Revered Swami Padmanabhanandaji, the General Secretary of Divine Life Society, Rishikesh visited Anandashram from the 3rd to the 6th of February 2017. The gist of his talk given in the Bhajan Hall on the 5th of February is reproduced below.) When I entered Swamiji’s room, the first quote of Papa which I saw was, “The sense of ‘otherness’ sets limits to the Illimitable.” This thought of how we relate ourselves with others has been going on in the mind for some time. I consider this as the core teaching, in fact, the highest teaching of Papa. What is the ‘other’? It is a question often asked Apr 2017PUJYA SWAMI PADMANABHANANDAJI’S VISIT 31 in philosophy. ‘You’ and ‘me’; ‘you’ are other than ‘me’. We conclude our prayers with “ Purnnam- Adah Purnnam-Idam Purnnaat-Purnnam-Udacyate, Purnnasya Purnnam-Aadaaya Purnnam-Eva- Avashissyate”. This emphasizes the absolute fullness from two aspects — ‘that’ (Purnam Adah — that is full) and ‘this’ (Purnam-Idam — this is full). Our entire mundane life is an interaction between ‘this’ and ‘that’ or ‘me’ and the ‘other’. No one can say that he is independent. No one can totally consider that everything is ‘other’ than oneself. We include so many others in us. To a certain extent, we absorb many of those whom we come into contact with. Non-existence of the otherness is there in everyone to a certain degree. The degree of absorption of the non-otherness is the spiritual growing up, to what extent you are able to absorb the others in you. ‘Me’ to ‘we’ is happening at every moment. There is not even a single moment when we are not experiencing this concept. ‘Me’ to ‘we’ is always there, but to what degree? That keeps on changing. I may absorb a person today and after some time may exclude him from ‘me’. Without this exclusion, if we 32 THE VISION Apr 2017 can absorb everything into ourselves, that is called real salvation. There is nothing other than me. You can consider everything is Me. Nothing should be excluded. There is a Gita Shloka which is interpreted in many ways, “Ananyas-chintayanto Maam Yae Janaah Pary-upaasate, Tesham Nithya-abhi-yuktaanaam Yoga- kshemam Vahami-aham” Ananyas Chintayanto Maam means that you must not think of ‘Me’ as different from you. That is to identify yourself with the Lord you worship. Identify yourself with your Guru. There is no separation between the worshipper and the Lord he worships. The seeker and the sought are one and the same. What you are seeking is non-different from you. When we are born, we don’t have the feeling of otherness. We don’t know who is the mother or the father; there is no distinction. I always say that if a tiger comes before a baby, the baby will smile at the tiger. There is no fear. Why there is no fear? Because the baby has no concept of other things and doesn’t make a judgement of other things. Although the child can see that tiger, he doesn’t form any concept. Our lives are filled with concepts. The real Sadhana is to Apr 2017PUJYA SWAMI PADMANABHANANDAJI’S VISIT 33 absorb the other into oneself. All other Sadhanas are to understand that the world is God. Our Shastras speak about the Supreme Reality, and three dimensions. One is the transcendental level, that which cannot be described, inexplicable, limitless and illimitable. How can this Illimitable be brought under limit? That’s why Papa says, “The sense of otherness sets limits to the Illimitable.” The Limitless has to be experienced through a process called Upasana. In our Shastras, ‘me’ is called ‘Swa’ and ‘other’ is known as ‘Para’. The feeling that I (Swa) am different from other things (Para) and that they are different from me is the cause of our problems. Though every day, we include a few people and certain things in us, we are not able to include everyone or everything around us. In fact, Sannyas is the expansion of this diameter. You have a family; you expand that family to include everyone. Then every child becomes your child. You expand yourself. Wherever you are, you should be able to include everything. I-ness should not be there. If it is there, let it include everything. Therefore expand the ‘I’. Expansion is spirituality. It comes by grace (Krupa). Renunciation is total acceptance by God’s Krupa. 34 THE VISION Apr 2017

Inclusion of everything is called Samvarg Vidya. Samvarg means absorption. It leads to an understanding that there is nothing other than That — nothing other than God, nothing other than Papa. That alone is! There is no ‘other’. Either one has to absorb everything or get absorbed into everything. However much we may study about all this, unless grace is there, it will remain as just knowledge. So a prayer for that grace is necessary so that we experience this knowledge and this experience is assimilated into our being. Absorption comes with the grace of the Guru.

ANANDASHRAM NEWS

15,500-CRORE NAMA JAPA YAGNA FOR WORLD PEACE: The total Japa received in the second round of the 15500-Crore Nama Japa Yagna for World Peace in the month of February 2017 is 250 crores. The grand total of the Japa done so far now stands at 15415 crores.

“For the devotee, everything is God. If you want to have anything as yours, let that be God alone. Give up ‘I’and ‘mine’.” — Swami Ramdas LIST OF ASHRAM PUBLICATIONS ENGLISH In The Cave 15 MALAYALAM Thus Speaks Ramdas 30 Arati Book 50 In the Vision of God * Arati Book 10 At the Feet of God 50 Swami Satchidananda 5 Bhagavad Gita* TELUGU Call of the Devotee * The Sayings of Ramdas * Dive Deep Soar High* Arati 10 Cherished Memories 25 Thus Speaks Ramdas 10 Guru’s Grace * At the Feet of God * Dive Deep Soar High * World is God 90 In Quest of God 40 Call of the Devotee 30 Gospel of Swami Ramdas I & II * Jnaneswari 300 Dive Deep & Soar High 45 Gita Sandesh 25 HINDI Swami Satchidananda * Gita Sandesh 25 Glimpses of Divine Vision 30 At the Feet of God 20 Viswamata Krishnabai 30 Glimpses of Divine Vision * God Experience I & II Set 115 Gita Sandesh 25 At the Feet of God 25 God Experience I & II Set 100 Guru’s Grace 55 Guru’s Grace 40 Gita Sandesh* Guidelines * Hanuman Chalisa 25 In Quest of God * Guru’s Grace 30 Hints to Aspirants * Swami Ramdas on Himself 35 MARATHI Hints to Aspirants 40 In Quest of God 60 Swami Satchidananda 12 Guru Krupa * In Quest of God * In the Vision of God 120 The Pathless Path * In Quest of God * In the Vision of God 150 Mundane to Spiritual 40 Krishnabai 30 Thus Speaks Ramdas 15 Prem Sudha 6 Passage to Divinity * Mundane to Spiritual 100 Vishwamata Krishnabai * Prem Sudha (with English) 30 Ramdas Speaks Vol I & V Set 240 Passage to Divinity * Call of the Devotee 35 Swami Satchidananda 30 Stories by Swami Ramdas 25 Poems 50 God Experience Vol I & II Thus Speaks Ramdas * Swami Ramdas on Himself 35 Points to Ponder 30 Swami Ramdas’ Talks 26 Ramdas Speaks I*, II* to V Set 225 KANNADA TAMIL Swami Satchidananda 10 Shraddhanjali 25 Anandashram Bhajanamrutha 35 Arati Book 10 The Sayings of Ramdas * Stories as told by Ramdas 60 Arati Book* At the Feet of God 35 Thus Speaks Ramdas * Swami Ramdas on Himself 25 At the Feet of God 20 Gita Sandesh 35 Vishwamata Krishnabai 30 Swami Ramdas' Talks * Gita Sandesh 25 Glimpses of Divine Vision 30 Swami Satchidananda * God Experience Vol 1 50 Guru's Grace 50 ORIYA The Divine Life I & II * Set 45 Gospel of Swami Ramdas * In Quest of God * In Quest of God 40 The Pathless Path * Guidelines * In the Vision of God 100 The Sayings of Ramdas 25 Guru’s Grace 35 The Sayings of Ramdas 30 FRENCH Thus Speaks Ramdas 20 In Quest of God 40 Viswamata Krishnabai 40 Thus Speaks Ramdas * Viswamata Krishnabai 30 In the Vision of God I & II * Hints to Aspirants 30 Guru’s Grace 30 With my Master 35 Ramdas Speaks I to V Set, I*, II*, III *48 With Divine Mother I to III Set 85 Stories as told by Ramdas * (*) denotes books out of print. World is God * Swami Ramdas’ Talks 12 NOTE: 1. Packing and Postage Extra; Srimad Bhagavata * Swami Satchidananda * Payments may be made by MO or DD favouring “ANANDASHRAM PUBLICATIONS” The Pathless Path * payable at Anandashram PO 671531, Kanhangad, Kerala GUJARATI Viswamata Krishnabai 15 2. GUJARATI books are available with Shri Ramkrishna Seva Samiti, Glimpses of Divine Vision * World is God * Shri Ramkrishna Kendra, L G Hospital Road, Maninagar, Ahmedabad 380008. In Quest of God 50 (Telephone Number 079 25430031) R.N.: 3047/57 || Registered: KL/KSZ/8/2015-17 Lic. No. KL/PMG/NR/WPP/1-1/KSZ/2015-17 Licensed to post without prepayment Date of Publication: 01/04/2017

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH

The sense of ‘otherness' sets limits to the Illimitable. – Swami Ramdas

Edited and published by : Swami Muktananda and printed by him through : Latha Unlimited, Mangalore.