Symbolism

SOURCE : TIMES OF INDIA
An elephant's trunk has the strength to uproot a tree as well as the finesse to pick up a needle. Ganesha's trunk symbolises the fact that the wise person has both immense strength and fine discrimination. Ganesha has large ears. The wise person hears all. He has four hands. In one hand he holds a lotus, the symbol of enlightenment. In the other hand he holds a hatchet. That is, the old karma, all your sanskars, the accumulated good and bad of past deeds get cut when enlightenment comes. The third hand holds laddus, the round sweet-meats. They are the rewards of a wise life. Ganesha is never shown eating the laddus. The wise man never partakes of the rewards of his deeds. He is not attached to them. The fourth hand is shown blessing the people. The wise man wishes the best for everyone. Ganesha has only one tusk; the other is shown broken. There is an interesting story as to how Ganesh happened to get an elephant's head and how one tusk got broken. The symbolism of the broken tusk is that the wise person is beyond duality. We tend to think that we end when our bodies end in the material world. We are the first person. All else is different. This duality is created by the mind which creates the ego to help us survive in this world. This 'me-other' duality is the screen keeping us from realising our real Self, which is beyond body and mind. Once we transcend this duality, we see the entire Universe as a single whole and we become aware of our true Selves. The single tusk of Ganesha symbolises this non-duality. Wisdom allows us to see all as one and ourselves an integral part of the whole. Ganesha is shown sitting with one foot on the ground and the other resting on his knee, above the ground. The wise person is of this earth, yet not entirely of this earth. Ganesha is shown seated on a rat. The reason for saying that Ganesha 'rides' on the rat is that the rat is among the greediest of all animals. It will keep nibbling at whatever is available, eating everything it can. Scientifically, too, the rat's teeth keep growing and it has to keep chewing on something to keep these within limits. The rat is a symbol of our senses, which are never satisfied. They crave new experiences, new tastes. Left uncontrolled, they keep growing forever. The wise person rides on his senses. He keeps them under control. Ganesha is often shown seated in front of a tray of sweets. In these images the rat is shown sitting in front of Ganesha, perhaps a bit to one side, looking up at him. The senses of the wise person are under his control and the rat dare not eat the sweets without the permission of Ganesha. Ganesha is the son of Shiva and Parvati, the God governing the life-force and the earth-mother. This symbolises the spirit and body of the wise person. Finally, the wise person has the dignity of an elephant. When we say "Aum Ganeshaya Namah" before starting anything what we are saying is that "In what we are about to do, let wisdom be our guide". In a sense, Ganesha is our most powerful god, and he is usually remembered before starting any rituals for other deities.

The `Mahabharata' has a deep underlying symbolism.

SOURCE : TIMES OF INDIA

Imagine Draupadi as the human body. The Pandavas, the five senses, are wedded to it. Their first cousins, a hundred in number, the Kauravas, are present in the form of the tendencies of the mind. Yudhishthir thinks that he is a good gambler and so would win over the Kauravas. The senses also think that they can win over the tendencies of the mind. The Pandavas keep gambling till they lose everything, including themselves and their beloved wife, Draupadi. Likewise, we lose everything when we gamble with our tendencies, and, like the Pandavas, end up in spiritual exile. The body is demeaned, like Draupadi was, and only divine intervention can save it. However, our body does not abandon us, even when we lead it into exile. However, there are some good tendencies also. There are many good people in the Kaurava camp. But, Krishna advises Arjuna to kill all of them, implying that all tendencies, both good and evil should be exterminated. They are already dead, he says. You are only an instrument in making this evident. If a person has to gain enlightenment he must overcome all the tendencies of the mind, good or bad. These do not have an existence, apart from what we have given them they are already dead. However, we keep them alive by our own acts, and, by our own acts, we can kill them all. Only then will we be free. Kurukshetra is the world in which we live this life, witnessing a war between our senses and our mind's tendencies. Dhritarashtra symbolises the mind, which gives birth, in a sense, to our tendencies. He was blind ^ as the mind is to its tendencies. His wife, Gandhari, was not blind but chose to blindfold herself. Even when we have a choice to see, we choose not to see. None of the Pandavas were born of their mother's husband, Pandu. Their mother, Kunti, had been given a chant, which invoked various gods who fathered the Pandavas. The Sun was the father of Karna. Dharma, the god of duty was the father of Yudhishthir and Indra the king of gods was the father of Arjuna. The god of wind, symbolising strength, was the father of Bhishma and the Ashwini Kumars were the fathers of Nakul and Sahdev. Our senses are basically part of our divinity, the instruments born to keep us in this form. The original name of their mother was Pritha, signifying Prithvi, the Earth, and she took the name Kunti when Kuntibhoja adopted her. So, the Pandavas were born through the conjoining of the Earth and the divine the body and the spirit. Karna was born of the Sun-god and the Earth mother. He is a symbol of our ego. Like him, our ego is also armoured. Only the guru's intervention could get the armour removed. Similarly, the guru helps the seeker in killing his ego. Krishna's form, too, is symbolic. Deep blue is the colour of eternity. It is the colour of the sky, and of the deep ocean. Yellow is the colour of the earth. A deep blue god-image enclosed in yellow clothes symbolises the spirit clothed in the body. Krishna, then, is a symbol of the body and spirit, a symbol of you and me in our enlightened form. When we become aware of our true self, we realise that there is no difference between us and Krishna or Vishnu, of whom he is an incarnation, as, indeed are we.

Krishna and Kali Become ONE

Osho

The whole problem of man is how to meet with the woman, and the whole problem of the woman is how to meet man. A Far Eastern myth says God created man and woman together not as two beings; they were joined in one body. But then there were conflicts. The woman wanted to go to the East and the man was not willing. Or, the man was ready to do something and the woman wanted to rest. They complained and God separated their bodies. Since then, every man is searching for his woman, and every woman is searching for her man. Now it is such a big crowd that it is very difficult to find your woman, or man. The myth says that if you can find, everything fits; you again become one. But it is very difficult to find. But there is a way to find your woman, because the woman is not outside. There are only parallel similarities outside. When you fall in love with a woman, what happens? Somehow the outside woman fulfils your inner woman’s image, maybe not a 100 per cent, but enough to fall in love. When you fall in love with a man, what happens? Something inside you clicks and says, “Yes, this is the man, the right man”. It is not a logical conclusion, it is not a syllogism. It is not that you find out all the pros and cons about the man and then you decide, or you compare the man with all the other men in the world, then you decide. Something happens out of the blue. Suddenly you see that this is the man whom you were waiting for You carry an image of man, you carry an image of woman inside. You are both, and you go on looking outside. Nobody is going to fit 100 per cent, because the woman that you find outside has her own image about you; you have your own image. It is very difficult to fit with each other. So marriages are always on the rocks, and people, by and by, learn how to carry on peacefully. The whole Tantra method is: how to allow your inner man to meet with the inner woman. And when this becomes a circle, when this inner copulation happens, a great orgasm, a great explosive orgasm begins which knows a beginning but knows no end. Then you live an orgasmic life. Then you are no more finite, you become infinite. Break the barrier of words. Now, i am talking to you; i am using words. You can listen to my words — then you have not listened to me. You can listen in such a way that the words are no more a barrier, but become vehicles. They no more create problems, but you listen exactly between the words, between two words, in the gaps. You listen to my silence; then words and their barriers are broken. Limits are overcome. Language creates duality, language exists through duality. It cannot indicate the nondual. If i say ‘day’, immediately i create night. If i say ‘life’, immediately i create death. If i say ‘good’, bad is created. If i say ‘no’, yes is existing. Language can exist only through the opposite. That’s why we see life as always divided — God and devil. Drop language, drop this linguistic pattern. Once language is no more on your mind and you look directly into reality, day IS night. The Bauls sing: My skin and bone are turned to gold/ when the inner man and woman meet,/ when Krishna and Kali become one./ My skin and bone are turned to gold,/ I am the reservoir of love,/ alive as the waves. Excerpted from The Beloved. Courtesy Osho International Foundation

A Mystic Faith Soaked In Universal Love

Farida Khanam

Sufism is the form which mysticism has taken in Islam. The term Sufism embraces the philosophy and practices in Islam which aims at direct communion between God and man. The Islamic values of love, peace and kindness, embodied in the Prophet of Islam were embraced by Sufis. They devoted their lives to spreading these virtues all around the world. The original intention of Sufism was to deliver man from slavery to worldly passions by destroying the power of the flesh and uniting souls to God by spiritual ties. The Sufi movement’s origins lie in asceticism. In one sense selfdenial was a reaction to the worldliness of some of the faithful who were absorbed in the pursuit of worldly goals. Sufis felt the need to help the poor and the helpless. During the reign of the Abbasids a rich minority enjoyed all the comforts of life, while the majority lived as poor peasants and labourers. Sufis reiterated that God was all-loving and all-merciful; that God wants people to love one another, be merciful and compassionate. They raised such questions as how we are justified in expecting love and compassion from God, while we have nothing to offer to our fellowmen but hate and ill will. Sufis spread the message of harmony, brother-hood, peace and friendship. The Sufis hold that despairing of love and mercy is a greater fault than committing sin. For, as we learn from traditions, everything in life is mortal, except for God and good deeds. All worldly things are characterised by impermanence. Good deeds alone can bring us salvation. The Qur’an says: “Do not despair of My mercy. God turns to those who repent and surrender themselves to Him” (39.54). Shaykh Nizamuddin Awliya devoted his life in saving mankind from sin and suffering. He believed that, in the eyes of God, no deed was of greater significance than freeing fellow human beings from their misery and helping the helpless. Once someone asked Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti what was the highest form of religious devotion in the eyes of God. He replied: “Develop river-like generosity, sun-like bounty and earth-like hospitality”. Love is most important. Sufis conceive God as the beloved and man as the lover. According to Ibn Arabi, no religion ranks higher than the religion of love. Love is the source and the essence of all creeds. Therefore, a Sufi thinks that all the evil thoughts which breed dislike, hatred and religious division and prejudice must be replaced by love. When he has come to his last stage of enlightenment, his self is annihilated in the complete sense. This is the stage when he comes closer to God, and naturally he becomes a servant to God’s people. He rises above vested interests, above all biases and predilections. A realised Sufi has no other interest but his love of God and world brotherhood. Love of God is a process that purifies the human personality. That is, the soul comes to realise itself, in the sense that the latent natural potential of the soul is ultimately awakened and, in the words of the Qur’an, it becomes the ‘serene’ or ‘pure soul’. A heart filled with God’s love will necessarily be filled with the love of other human beings, all the creatures of God. As Bayazid Bistami says: “A Sufi belongs to the sect of God”.

Let’s Live Every Moment So We Die Well, Too

Sadhguru

Spiritual longing comes to you not because you think of God. If people think of God, they will not become spiritual, they will only think of how to acquire more. If God comes and blesses them, they will want more money, property, health, everything. Only when you think about death, these questions come up: What is this about, where will i go, what will happen to me? This wanting to know will come naturally. Yoga is not just about life; when we talk about living well, we are also talking about dying well. Dying gracefully, joyfully, is important. It is the final thing you get to do; but most people are doing it horribly. When we say a spiritual possibility, a space, there is also room to die. Spirituality is a means to live; it is also a means to die because living and dying are not different. Right now i can say you are living, or i can say you are dying. The process of dying is on; one day it will be complete. It is just that so much negativity is attached to the word “death”. But death is a part of life. One who does not know how to die, or is unwilling to die, cannot live. If you are afraid of death, you will only avoid life, you cannot avoid death. Every day of your life you need to be aware that you are mortal. In Shoonya meditation everything that you consider as “myself ” will become nothing; it is as if you die. Again, when you open your eyes, it is all there. If you practise this consciously, twice a day, when the time to die comes, it will no more be a big issue. The process you refer to as life is something that can be constantly improved upon. Not everybody is living with the same quality, level of understanding and grace. Even if you live a thousand years and do everything that you wish to do, still something better could be done. This is the way of life. But death is perfect and absolute when it happens; death does not need anybody’s assistance. You don’t have to think about it; you don’t have to reflect upon it. But the limited nature of life needs to be reflected upon. So always the first training for a spiritual aspirant is to go and sit in the cremation ground. You are just like a miracle happening and one day you are gone. Busy in between, but you are like a bubble: when the bubble is on, it is so real; one prick — gone! Look at this life right now: inhalation, exhalation. If the next inhalation does not happen, that’s it... That is how fragile this life is. People always think death is something that happens to somebody else; it’s not so, it will happen to you and me. If you remind yourself every day that you will also die, you will move towards knowing higher perception. If you are aware of the mortal nature of your life, is there time to get angry with somebody, to quarrel or do anything stupid? Once you are conscious that you will die, you will want to make every moment of your life as beautiful as possible. Those who are constantly aware of the fragile nature of existence, they don’t want to miss a single moment; they will naturally be aware. They can’t take anything for granted; they will live purposefully, becoming aware.

Remove All The Pressure That Builds Up Within You

Sensei Sandeep Desai

The secret behind T’ai Chi’s popularity is its ability to improve the lives of people of many different ages and occupations. It can progressively increase the potential inherent in most of us and reduce the harm caused by living a stressed-out life. T’ai Chi can be practised to improve health, reduce stress and experience being alive. Its martial arts aspects appeal mostly to the young. Many people operate under a tight set of deadlines and put in excessively long hours at work. In doing so, they often go without adequate rest or sleep, which depletes them for their tasks. It then requires them to put in yet more hours at work in order to make up for the deficits. Short T’ai Chi breaks can relax your system sufficiently and help you attend to your work in a more functional and healthy way. How does T’ai Chi manage this? The neurological overload caused by lack of rest slows down your ability to think creatively or make accurate observations. Your capacity to send correct signals to your subconscious mind gets diminished. Your subconscious mind is like a slave. It will obey any order you give it. That is the thought behind hypnotism. Therefore, it is important to refrain from telling our subconscious mind anything that will impede our progress. T’ai Chi, by relaxing your nerves, regenerates your subconscious mind, restoring its ability to function at normal speed. Changing the internal environment brings about space in your mind that often acts as a precursor to sudden problem-solving insights. We often find ourselves in a situation where we work hard on a complex problem all day and can’t quite figure out what to do about it. After a good night’s sleep, however, the solution seems to appear out of nowhere. Artists and writers often practise T’ai Chi to uplift their creative mood or to spruce up their body and mind. T’ai Chi provides a thorough stretch to the muscles of the neck, back and shoulders, melting strains and pains that you acquire during work. Nagging pain in these areas increases your susceptibility to anger, frustration, and depression, which impedes your thinking and ability to relate positively with your colleagues. By increasing oxygen delivery to the body, T’ai Chi increases blood and energy circulation to and from the brain. When the brain doesn’t receive sufficient blood, you experience difficulty while making decisions. When enough blood gets to the brain, you can easily bring in new ideas, energies and plans necessary to achieve your objective. People in the 30 to 50-year age group constitute the largest section of the workforce. This midlife phase is the toughest but also the most productive phase of life. You feel you have the experience and energy to face life’s challenges. During midlife, the pressure is on! Your working, social and family responsibilities mount year after year. If you allow all this to drop, you will not be able to realise your potential. What we often forget is that we all possess latent powers like energy, skill, sound judgment, creative ideas and even physical strength and endurance, in greater measure than we realise. Through stillness and movement, T’ai Chi taps into these powers, giving you the much-needed confidence to endure ever-increasing pressures with a smiling face.

Progress Towards Parama Purusha

Shrii Shrii Anandamurti

Every movement in this world is characterised by speed and pause, pause and speed, like the earthworm’s movement. We tend to determine human development by observing external progress. But if we are stuck at the same place where we initially started our journey, that is not progress. By building a road you do not progress. You will have to move along the road. So, too, we must progress in the psychic realm. In the process of movement, we will reach a stage when the mind becomes non-existent. Unless the mind reaches that supreme point, we will remain imperfect. This path of movement is divided into four stages: yatamana, vyatireka, ekendriya and vashiikara. Yatamana is the stage when the spiritual practitioner makes sincere efforts. Time passes and you might say, “I am trying”, but if your effort lasts for three, four, five or 25 lives it may lead to regress. So to say, “I am trying”, is not enough. Yet, the benefit of the first stage is that at least we make constructive efforts. This is yatamana. In vyatireka the feeling is “I must succeed”. Firm determination is the precondition for success. When the Buddha practised sadhana for long but still did not attain the final goal, he sat down the second time and resolved: “Unless I attain the supreme height of enlightenment, I won’t move an inch from this posture, even if my body withers, and my bones, flesh and skin are destroyed”. This is the stage of vyatireka. You gain a degree of temporary control over some psychic propensities (vrttis). It is often noticed that many saints and monks who give up hearth and home have a weakness for food. They are pleased with anyone who offers them delicious food and drink. Others, however, who have overcome their weakness for food, get angry if their visitors don’t pay obeisance to them. These are all weaknesses of the mind. This is vyatireka. The third stage, ekendriya, means gaining full control over a particular vrtti (psychic propensity). Once controlled, it will never return, will never cause further degeneration. For example, if a person gains full control over the vak indriya, the organ of speech, whatever he says will come true. This is vak siddhi. In the final stage, vashiikara, all the psychic vrttis are brought well within control. Suppose someone wants to know what happened 20,000 years ago. The moment the desire to know arises, his mind will return to the distant past and will see what really happened then. Or if someone wants to know what is written on a particular page of a book printed in a certain country; he sends the mind to that page and comes to know the contents. This is absolute vashiikara siddhi. About the man with vashikar, people may think that he is a very well-read person, but actually he comes to know things from his vashiikara siddhi. He can project his mind anywhere to know anything. At that stage everything comes within his perfect control and he attains a kind of godhood. But if he fails to surrender himself to Parama Purusha, after acquiring various occult powers, he will develop ego. He will curse those he hates and thus, unknowingly, will gradually degenerate. So after attaining vashiikara siddhi, you should surrender your unit soul to Paramatma. Then you will become one with Parama Purusha, you will become Parama Purusha.