An Enchanting and Enriching Experience

Dr. M. Lakshmi Kumari

By the grace of Swamiji I was given a wonderful opportunity to study Swamijis works in detail, when the most famous publishers of Kerala D.C. Books requested me to compile Swamijis message for daily reading covering the whole year,essentially 366 pages of Swamijis inspiring thoughts, if necessary with a footnote or commentary. My first thought was, oh!! What is there? I can just pick up 366 quotations and present them. Then came the detailed letter that each message should be one full page, it must include special pages for important days, it should contain stories,letters etc. That brought the realization that it is not an easy joke. First effort was to find out someone to copy down from Malayalam complete works. Fortunately one of our well-wishers Smt Padma who is extremely fond of writing came forward, followed by another friend Sri. Sudhakar to check up with and compare with English. Step 2 was to bring some order into the arrangement of thoughts. A lot of mental shuffling went on till a beautiful pattern emerged. That was to arrange the thoughts, taking inspiration from the magnificent gateway to Vivekananda Literature which Swamiji himself has provided. His famous quotation “Each soul is potentially divine……etc.,”. That brought to mind the picture of “the ascent of man” from small m to capital M, passing through the gate way and on to the ladder of Swamijis life giving and soul stirring message. The gate way first leads us to one’s own Self and then to unravel the mysteries of the world without. Then starts the real ascent through Karma, Bhakti,Raja yoga and Jnana.

As I started this ascent myself I could feel giddiness at the immensity of the ascent and some resting places had to be created. And there they were when Swamiji speaks of our great Bharat and her glory. Then comes his message to the youth to ready themselves for the regeneration of the country. The ascent continues from Karma to one moves to Bhakti yoga which naturally circumambulates Sri Ramakrishna and Swamijis observations of his Master. Then comes the Raja Yoga, just a sample to excite the interest common reader. Again comes a landing platform to ease the stress on our mind meditating on Sri Buddha and Swamijis adoration for the great Master. At last we are the foot of the steep ascent of Jnana Yoga. Swamijis, wonderful insights into the Upanishadic lore and how climbing on to the Everest of Advaita is a must to establish peace and happiness in the world at large. In the light of this knowledge religion assumes a different form altogether, of Self-realization. At last the soul is ready to merge with the Source from where it came out. And there ends the story of the ascent of man into Godhood.

A Bridge between the Ancient and the Modern

Sri Sarada Devi (1853 - 1920)

(Hinduism has a rich and sacred history dating back thousands of years. The values and teachings of our ancient scriptures are timeless and have a universal relevance. Dr M Lakshmi Kumari, former President of the Vivekananda Kendra, shows us how Sri Sarada Devi made these ancient precepts relevant for the modern man.) All of us are in a way bridges. Every father and mother, every human being is a bridge that spans two generations. Each generation has to hand over the keys to the next generation by which they can unlock their inner potentialities and possibilities. But what sort of keys do we hand over to our children? These days we have only one key, by which our material possibilities can be unlocked, made more productive and pleasurable, though not satisfactory. Within a short time that key starts rusting. With it we cannot open our homes, least of all our hearts. We seem to have lost the key by which we can unlock ourselves and through us the entire universe. 

This has been happening from time immemorial and hence Sri Krishna declares, 'I take birth again and again when dharma declines and adharma gains supremacy.' When men forget their duty of handing over the key of satya and dharma, asuric forces take over and the whole society slips into decay. Avatars come to remove the rust from our keys and to hand over the right keys to us by which human welfare can be restored. What keys did Mother give us? What bridge did she construct for us so that our lives get a new meaning and become fulfilled?

Every bridge spans either the two banks of a river or the chasm between two peaks. With reference to human life, a bridge takes us from one set of values to another. Holy Mother's was such a beautiful bridge by which anybody could cross over the mighty ocean of samsara. Rarely do people of her calibre appear who can construct such a wonderful bridge. Sarada Devi was, like many of us, born and brought up in a rural household, exposed to much penury and hardship. But the rays of light of good breeding were part and parcel of her upbringing and she grew up as an extraordinarily sensitive and kind-hearted daughter. All the wonderful human qualities that mark a super-human being manifested in her effortlessly. Today we seem to have lost the fragrance of these natural character-building traits. Neither our parents nor teachers have the time or the capacity to inculcate these qualities, the hallmark of a good human being, in us. Here is something for us to contemplate - what have we lost?

Equipped though Holy Mother was from childhood with the best of materials to build the bridge of human understanding, yet there was one lacuna and that needed to be filled up. The strength of the human bridge lies in God consciousness, the realization of the Truth of the atman within and without. The Light hidden within had to be brought out. From a little known village girl she had to be transformed into the Divine Mother, to play her full part as an avatar with her husband. She had to become the Mother of the rich and poor, fallen and downtrodden, sannyasis and dacoits! For this she had to become one with the Light of knowledge, love and action. She went to Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineshwar. She was his shakti, first as his dutiful wife, then as his dedicated disciple and to manifest divine motherhood. Every word and action of hers bore the imprint of divinity. On her bridge, one is led from untruth to Truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.

In the arati song of Sri Ramakrishna there is a line 'jnananjanavimalanayanavikshanemohajaya,' - the purity of Sri Ramakrishna's eyes adorned with the collyrium of knowledge dispels delusion. What was there in Mother's eyes which could transform human beings in toto? What collyrium did she use to remove the delusion in others? lt was premanjana, the collyrium of love. That was the bridge through which she drew the dacoit into her heart. Because of that premanjana in her eyes she saw everyone as her own. This is what mothers of today need to learn.

Holy Mother's biographers extol her life of absolute purity. There was not one black spot on her. Her purity was centred on the realization of Truth with its byproducts of samabhavana and samadarsitva, same-sightedness and universal love. Mother never asked for anybody's credit card of worthiness before she consoled and enriched them with her love. Those who came to rob her were themselves robbed, of their inner impurities. Let us imbibe this lesson of true love from her.

This divine vision was Sri Ramakrishna's gift to Sarada Devi when he made her part of his very being through the Shodashi Puja which marked the culmination of his sadhana. Thus Mother received the whole of his spiritual effulgence. She was the fittest recipient of this unusual legacy, because she was none other than Prakriti (Primordial Power), Parama (Supreme), Abhaya and Varada (She who grants fearlessness and fulfils desires). She was the Bhavatarini whom Sri Ramakrishna worshipped in the temple. Otherwise how could she give, in such a simple homely way, truths which rishis had realized after long and severe austerities? Even Sri Ramakrishna had to climb so many difficult steps before he could enter the sanctum sanctorum of the Divine Mother's heart.

She was a perfect being without any selfishness or self-interest or self-glorification of any kind, so her thoughts, words and actions did not cast any shadow anywhere. There was only benediction in front and blessing behind each and every movement of hers. Is it not a great lesson to those who are unhappy and dissatisfied in life?

The eternal bridge that Holy Mother made connected the ancient and the modern. How can someone who lives in the present make use of the ancient? One has to clearly understand the nature of this bridge which spans time and space with values, never dying and ever valid. Holy Mother acquired these values through extraordinary self-denial and service to Sri Ramakrishna. It was her genius that she could make it applicable for all times to come. No wonder that we find all the epithets of the great Mother of the Universe in her.

Three Facets of Truth

'Satyam sivamsundaram' - these are the ancient facets of eternal Truth that we find on the wonderful modern bridge that Holy Mother has given to us. Truth alone makes human life valuable. 'Nanyahpanthavidyateayanaya,' there is no other way, as our rishis repeat again and again. Satyam, truth alone was dear to Mother and she learned early in life to centre her being in it. This Truth made her see everything as her own, soaked in the divinity that she herself experienced abundantly and at all times.

Modern science tries to express Oneness as interrelated, interconnected, interdependent and so on. But can it express it as aptly as 'vasudaivakutumbakam,' the universe is one family, especially when demonstrated by an all-knowing Mother like her?

The second span is sivam - auspiciousness. Mother was the image of auspiciousness and today even her pictures radiate the same. Everything she said or touched was auspicious. All of us should keep a photo of Holy Mother somewhere in our homes to make them auspicious.

Satyam is also sundaram, Truth is beauty; Mother was beautiful. Her life exemplifies Vedantic truths that adorn human life with a rare beauty. Holy Mother never extended her hand to anybody for anything. The only thing she ever wanted was that Sri Ramakrishna fill her heart and mind with premasudha rasa, the nectar of divine love. Sitting in the nahabat, a small room at Dakshineshwar, she became the Divine Mother and embraced humanity through her love and understanding. She shows us how to expand and be really global by assimilating truth, goodness and beauty in everyone.

We should walk on this eternal bridge which spans the ancient and the modern. Modern science has come full circle and now reverts to the concepts of voluntary simplicity, frugal consumption and so on, based on its new understanding of the interconnection of the whole universe. The Upanishadic dictum, 'tenatyaktenabhunjita,' enjoy by renouncing, provides the spiritual foundation. India has preserved these values from time immemorial.

Our ancient values based on satyam and dharma can even today provide all that is necessary to make human life worthwhile. Fortunately for us our avatars continue to provide bridges making use of the ancient values so that even today we can cross the ocean of samsara. Let us pray to Holy Mother to give us courage and strength of conviction to use the wonderful bridge that she has built for us.

(Reprinted from: "Eternal Mother"; published by Sri Sarada Math, India, 2004)

Vishwa-Bhanu

Click Here - http://www.scribd.com/doc/62176853/vishwa-bhanu-1

Vishwa-Bhanu

The activities report for the month of October and November for the project Vivekananda Kendra Vedic Vision Foundation
Click here : http://www.scribd.com/doc/116015693

The Elevating Spirit of Indian Music

By Dr. M. Lakshmikumari (Served as president of Vivekananda Kendra, India)

From ‘Jyoti’ magazine Published by The Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa

Like the unique Vedanta philosophy, the ancient yet vibrant Sanskrit language, the all-encompassing system of Yoga, Indian music is yet another exercise of the Indian mind in its path of exploration into the mysteries of Nature and of Ultimate Truth.

The word Bharata (India) – which is condensed out of the musical expression Bhava, Raga and Tala, rightly emphasises the inalienable relationship between the thoughts, words and actions of human life, and music in India. On one side, it can be said that it is the music within, the Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Knowledge- Bliss Absolute) that finds manifold expressions outside in man’s life. Viewed from the other side, it is the sublimation of actions, words and thoughts that lead one to hear the same music within.

Sound as the Source of Creation

In India, music is considered as a subtle divine thread capable of linking the Jeevatman (individual soul) with the Parmatman (Supreme Soul), a concept originating in the Tantric idea of Sabdabrahman, the primeval source of creation. This idea finds expression in the eloquent words of the renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin, ‘Indian music reflects Indian life having no predetermined beginning or end but flowing without interruption through the fingers of the composer-performer.’

To fully understand the beauty, depth and elevating qualities of Indian music, one must therefore understand, if not experience, these concepts at least to some extent.

It is believed that the Supreme Being is of the nature of Sabdabrahman or Nadabrahman. This Ultimate Sound Principle gets manifested as its vibrations. Through the Samyoga and Viyoga i.e. the union and separation of these vibrations, Sabdabrahman creates the world of ‘forms’, from the sub-atomic to the biggest and the mightiest! The entire cosmos is the manifestation of Sabdabrahman. That being so, in uniting the entire creation, lies ‘Naada’. As the Naada evolves, differentiates and expands from the subtle to the gross, it gives rise to articulate sounds- ‘Varnas’, ‘Srutis’ and ‘Swaras’ – and moves on to create ‘Ragas’, capturing the ‘Bhavas’ (moods) of the mind. From Varnas arise by permutations and combinations, the world of ‘forms’.

Today scientific substantiation of these concepts has been forthcoming through the experimental demonstration that different geometrical figures can be produced by manipulating sound! That means it is possible to reduce all ‘physical forms’ to ‘sound forms’ and vice-versa. In other words, form is sound made manifest. According to the Tantras there are 50 basic sounds out of which the world of forms has come into being.

Classification of Sabda or Sound

Nowhere in the world has the science of Sound and Music been studied so deeply and exhaustively as in ancient India. Panini, Patanjali, Bhartruhari, Nandikeswara, Anjaneya and Bharata are outstanding among those who have contributed to the unravelling of the mystery of sound, music and creation. The ‘Sabda’ itself is classified into Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari.

1.The grossest of these four is Vaikhari, the dense audible sound.

2. Madhyama is the stage where thought takes the form of sound or word.

3. Pashyanti is the preceding stage where ‘thought’ assumes a ‘form’ where sound vibration becomes ‘visible’ in the mind. At that stage, there is no impress of language on the form. That is, here the barrier of language has no meaning.

4. Beyond it lies the subtlest, highest and most transcendental stage of Para where neither thought, nor names nor forms find a place, as there are neither waves nor wavelengths there. It is the ultimate unifying substratum – the undifferentiated, yet potential sound of Sabdabrahman. This is the stage of Godhead – sans thought, sound or form, the goal of deep meditation.

No wonder that such a concept and understanding of music developed into a form of worship (Nadopasana) and has carried many on its wings to self-unfoldment and merger with the Ultimate Truth or Parabrahman. From the unmanifest to the manifest, from the manifest to the unmanifest, thus goes the cycle of Naada (sound), stretching from Eternity to Eternity – linking everything without any distinction of desa-kala-nama-roopa (place, time, name, form). Only in the land of Nataraja (cosmic dancer; Shiva), Saraswati (goddess of learning), the Veena (stringed musical instrument), Murali (flute), could such a sublime concept have been conceived, creating a vibrant life, science and tradition in music.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa had beautiful visions bearing on this principle. He used to see a long white thread proceeding out of himself.

‘This mass would open and within it he would see the Mother with a Veena. Then, she would begin to play and as she played he would see the music turning into birds and animals and worlds and arrange themselves. Then she would stop playing and they would all disappear. The light would grow less and less distinct till it was just a luminous mass, the string would grow shorter and shorter and the whole world would be absorbed into himself again.’

What an incomparable vision! A condensed drop of the entire philosophy of sound and music.

From where and how did Indian music originate?

Our ancient seers living in communion with Nature must have ‘seen’ and heard the music in myriad ways and forms. In the rising sun, in the light of the stars, in the heights of the snow-clad Himalayas, in the thick forests, in the thundering clouds, in the gurgling Ganges – in the cries of birds and animals, in the blooming of flowers, dropping of petals, ripening and sweetening of fruit, in birth, growth and decay of created beings, anywhere and everywhere, they would have felt the resonance of the one Naada. Capturing this music in Nature, they must have felt their souls ringing in harmony with them and instinctively realised the same Naada vibrating within them. With joy and thrill, they must have picked up the basic notes and built around them their grand repertoire:

SA -from the cry of the peacock with its two sounds of lower and higher pitches

RE -from the cry of the bull

GA-from that of a goat

MA-from the cry of the Krauncha bird

PA-from the voice of the Koel in spring

DHA- from the neighing of the horse, and

NE-from the cry of the elephant.

It is said that Lord Shiva in his cosmic dance produced from his Damaru various types of sounds and the great saint, Patanjali, grasped them in his Maheshwara Sutras and explained the formation of the universe. According to this view, the origin of the 7 basic notes can be traced back to Shiva.

According to some others, the 7 keynotes, which form the units of music all over the world, personify 7 levels of human consciousness. Out of this consciousness springs forth the stream of life, essentially consisting of one’s aspirations to reach that sanctum of happiness, bliss and fulfilment within. In a particular direction, it is called music, in another, dance, in a third, painting, in a fourth, poetry. But among all the fine arts, the finest is indeed music. One, who has understood Naada as the very basis of music, realises it as the subtlest of vibrations, which forms the life-current in each and every cell in his body. It is this omnipresent Naada, which, following particular rhythms, curves and waves, flows through our life, enriching us with experiences. If one tries to discover it within and manifest it without, it becomes the fittest musical instrument in the hands of the Supreme and his life itself turns into a music with a rare melody of tune and rhythm.

Sound used in Spiritual Practice or Upasana

The study of Indian music has its own practical lessons to impart to our every day life. To learn music is a discipline in itself, controlling one’s body, breath, voice, one’s very nature itself. In childhood, learning music helps one to develop a rhythm and order in his daily activities. Through Upasana of naada, he catches glimpses of the unity in diversity. In the second stage, by enriching the Bhavana (feeling) in the music, one can control and sublimate the emotions of the mind. As the evening of life approaches, music turns into a source of peace and joy. Equanimity and tranquillity of mind come as by-products of an advanced musical mind. If one is a true Upasaka (earnest student), before long, from the outer music he will turn towards the inner and start enjoying the subtlest of music – the Anahata Naada, the soundless sound – in the innermost chamber of one’s heart. Thus, music can truly form the vehicle to take man from the gross to the subtle, from the finite to the infinite. As his life’s vibrations become attuned to the divine, his soul’s music reveals to him the music in the creation and of the creation. He finds the entire universe resounding with the Eternal notes – Soham Soham.

The chords of life can be tuned properly as in a musical instrument with self-effort. If one masters this art of tuning, and brings out the best of Swaras without any Apaswaras, then his life becomes attuned to the Supreme Music and he would sing the soul-stirring music of love, compassion and understanding.

Veenaavaadana tatwajnaha;

swarajnaana vishaaradah;

Talajnachaaprayatnena;

param brahmaadhigacchati

“One who plays the Veena with full knowledge of the basic principles of sound, the science of tune evolution and the beat of music could attain Parabrahman without much effort.”

There is no aspect of life where music cannot play its role. The soothing of the nerves and the calming of the mind that music brings about are marvellous. Just as a mother can sing her child to sleep through her lullabies, at every context in life, whether in the farms or factories, in games or studies, music can bring in a sense of unity and harmony. In India, we have established long long back, that through proper combinations of Swaras we can create Ragas, which have the capacity to call forth forces of Nature such as the rain, fire, etc. Stones can be melted, glass can be broken, and lamps can be lighted. Trees and plants can respond to the music of one who has attuned himself to the Eternal vibrations.

The Glory of Indian Music

Today, Indian music has caught the attention of musicologists, scientists and other learned men. With more and more research in the field of Indian musicology, more and more hidden treasures are surfacing. In spite of all the ups and downs it has gone through the several centuries of its growth, Indian music has retained its highly aesthetic and elevating spirit and its unique individuality.

Rightly has Shakespeare said of music:

“The man that has no music in himself, nor is moved with sweet concord of sweet sound, is fit for treason, stratagems and spoils.”

Nearer home, we have the Lord Himself proclaiming:

Naaham vasaami Vaikunthe,

Na yogi hriday gaavati

Madbhakta yatra gaayanti

Tatra tishthami Naarada

“I dwell not in Vaikunth (heaven), nor in the hearts of Yogins, nor in the sun; but where my devotees sing, there, O Narada, do I reside.”

That is the uniqueness of Indian music. May that all-pervading Nadbrahman, remove all the Apaswaras (discordant tunes) from our lives and fill it with pleasing, unifying and harmonising Swaras so that the music of our lives may flow melodiously, taking us from untruth to Truth, from darkness to Light, from death to Immortality.