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, INDIA 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’ - Swami Vivekananda 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, Kerala, 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’.