Tasting Which Nothing Else Tastes Better

By Moomookshoo

The inspiration for this poem comes from  the meeting between Swami Vivekananda and Robert G. Ingersoll described on page 186 of the second volume of Complete Works. However, this poem is not a historical account of that meeting. Instead, it describes an imaginary journey of a man from the “orange” world view to the “mango” world view. The title is based on Gita 6.22.

Tasting Which Nothing Else Tastes Better
Once in the olden times,
Somewhere in the Western climes,
There was a very good and learned man,
A very intelligent and “rational” man.
He worshiped “reason” in every season,
Any deviation from reason, for him, was treason!
He was very happy and content with his “world”,
Which he thought was very “rational” and “bold”.
He thought his world was complete and whole,

Unfortunately,  he left out his very own soul!

The world to him was a juicy orange,
His goal, to squeeze out all the juice from this orange.
To this tangible orange,
So  great was his attachment,
He refused to step out of this comfort range,
Even for a moment!
Satisfaction with this concrete, near-at-hand orange,
He called “rational”;
Searching  for anything beyond this familiar range,
He thought was “irrational”.
Time rolled on in his “reasonable” world,
Turning the wheels of his predictable world.
One season followed another, sure as ever,
But then there was a change,  a breath of fresh air,
In his familiar world of four seasons,
Arrived a great Sage from the land of six seasons!
He eagerly showed  his prized orange
To this great Sage dressed in orange!
The Sage patiently heard him out,
And then smiled, and took out
A golden fruit from the land of six seasons,
Never before seen by our man of only four seasons!
It was a fruit very strange
Not at all like his familiar orange.
This golden fruit could not be easily squeezed,
But had to be patiently peeled.
The perseverance was richly rewarded, however,
By a taste that satisfied one for ever!
Words cannot describe that taste,
Known only to one who experienced that taste.
With time it tasted better and better,
And afterward, nothing else ever tasted better!
Having tasted that golden fruit,  our man felt a change –
The golden fruit  no more looked strange,
It felt closer than even his once familiar orange!
He fondly looked back at his orange, once more,

Which he needed no more.

The orange had played its role,

But now he found completeness in his very own soul!
He was now wiser and knew better,
Having tasted something better.

Thus, finding completeness in his very own Self,
He softly whispered to himself,
“As there are seasons beyond four,
So are there truths beyond ‘reason’ for sure!”
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A Working Hypothesis from Retreat on Patanjali’s Way

by Charlie

I learned an important lesson from Pravrajika Gitaprana’s retreat on Patanjali’s Way. Up until now I have felt that I needed to have proof of such things as Thakur being an Avatara or meditation leading to God-realization. I have felt that without proof, I could not accept these things. I have never felt comfortable with the idea of faith, or belief without proof.


But Gitaprana said in the retreat at one point that we need to have a working hypothesis instead of finding one objection to an idea and picking it apart. When she said this, I realized that I can accept the above ideas as a working hypothesis without needing proof ahead of time. This has the same effect as having faith, but with the idea that some day, I may experience these things for myself and find the proof. Without a working hypothesis, we can’t do much of anything. This clarifies for me on an intellectual level why I am doing what I am doing.

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The Third Twin

By a Wanderer
 
(A story with fictional characters in real setting) 
 
We are twin sisters. She loves roaming, and I love eating. Recently, we attended a retreat by a Swami in Rochester. I was promised that the food will be awesome and evening dessert will be the best. We both sisters were attending the classes. However, my mind was always dreaming of the next meal. One evening I couldn’t resist the delicious desert and ate more than I should. Next morning, my stomach was bothering. Just to divert my attention from stomach pain, I attended the class. Swami: “We perceive the world with our senses and mind. Senses have limited strength, and the mind is clouded by desires and wants. As I change,the world view changes. Our awareness governs our behavior. Limitations of senses need to be felt penetratingly. Senses cannot take us any further. Following the senses will lead to suffering. God cannot be perceived by senses. God cannot be subject ofphysical science.”

It was intriguing. I thought, “Yes; it is true I cannot perceive everything by senses. Senses are weak. Every time we listen to the senses it brings disaster. My stomach pain was also the result of sense gratification.” That night I didn’t go nuts but still could not avoid my pull for dessert. I ate two cheese balls instead of eight.
 
Next day, I was attentive and asked few questions. Swami answered them all with patience and smile. My sister was proud to see me involved in the class.

Swami: “Whatever one accepts as real that affects one’s life. One’s life is centered around one’s conviction. Seeing name and form brings suffering. Learning to see unity in diversity is important. All the variety is created by name and form. Name and form are continuously changing. Transcend the changing aspect, then you perceive the unchanging Self.See the appearance of variety but be aware of unity. If you identify with variety, then you go from death to death. If you connect to the underlying unity, then you go from life to richer life. How do you achieve this? Bychanging your surroundings or by enhancing sense pleasure? By purifying mind alone you can recognize the unity. Pure mind doesn’t criticize. Pure mind develops the ability to see from others’ views.”

Swami: “Mediate on the lord in the heart. By constant practice, ego will be kicked out, and it will be replaced with God.”

Swami: “There is NO OTHER WAY. This is the only way. Realize the Self in all and become the owner of permanent joy and peace.”

Swami: “Sense organs only perceive changes. It perceives sensation=impact=change. All senses belong to the same gang of a thief. Together they deceive us. Go beyond senses.”
Retreat ended. My mind was still dwelling on “NO OTHER WAY. This is the only way”.
My sister told me the comment made by one of the retreat participants. She told, “This retreat had made a big impact on your twin sister”
I told, “Yes indeed, I felt as if the old me is dead.Your twin sister is dead and reborn again as your “third twin” who is equipped with the knowledge of Death and beyond as told in Katopanishad.

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A Snake and the Mantra

 By a Wanderer

(Phew, what a relief! It’s not the same “Snake and Rope”)

In the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramakrishna tells a parable of a snake to explain how to deal with the wicked. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Parables_of_Ramakrishna/The_Parable_of_the_snake_that_refused_to_hiss

He says, “A man living in society should make a show of anger to protect himself from evil-minded people. But he should not harm anybody.”
The primary message from this story is clear, “You must hiss at wicked people. You must frighten them, lest they should do you harm. But never inject your venom into them. One must not injure others.”
Interestingly, this short parable also talks about importance of repetition of Holy Name (Japa) as discussed below.


1. The brahmachari said: ‘Look here. Why do you go about doing harm? Come, I will give you a holy word. By repeating it you will learn to love God. Ultimately you will realize Him and so get rid of your violent nature.’

Message: These words are filled with the grace of Guru. As if he is saying, “Come, I will teach you how to mesmerize infinite Brahman. The way I charmed you by a mantra, likewise you can mesmerize the Lord of the universe by chanting His holy name.”

2. The snake bowed before the teacher and said, ‘Revered sir, how shall I practice spiritual discipline?’ ‘Repeat that sacred word’, said the teacher, ‘and do no harm to anybody’. As he was about to depart, the brahmacharisaid, ‘I shall see you again.’

Message: Above conversation gives two instructions “Repeat the Holy Name” and “Do not harm.” And the last one is the assurance from Guru “I shall see you again”

3. About a year later the brahmachari came that way again and asked about the snake. The cowherd boys told him that it was dead. But he couldn’t believe them. He knew that the snake would not die before attaining the fruit of the holy word with which it had been initiated.
Message: By repeating holy name one can attain the final goal before death. It shows the power of Japa.

4. The snake had developed the quality of sattva; it could not be angry with anyone. It had totally forgotten that the cowherd boys had almost killed it.
Message: A simple japa or repetition of a holy name can bring a big change. The snake developed sattva(purity and goodness). Anger and violence lost their control on it. It did not find fault with others (The snake forgot that cowherd boys had hurt him).

5. Snake: ‘Yes, revered sir, now I remember. The boys one day dashed me violently against the ground. They are ignorant, after all. They didn’t realize what a great change had come over my mind. How could they know I wouldn’t bite or harm anyone?’

Message: Instead of harming them, the snake had forgiven them. In return, it could only give love and no hate. This is the power of Holy name.


Emphasizing the redeeming power and efficacy of Japa, the Holy Mother used to say, ‘Japat Siddhi! Japat Siddhi! Japat Siddhi!’ By repeating the holy name alone, one can attain realization.

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When Death Met Its Death

 by Disciple
Kathopanishad’s protagonist is a young boy Nachiketa, who on account of being honest, proceeds to face his own death embodied as Yama. Curiously, Yama was missing at his abode, perhaps aware of the portending meeting with this prodigy. Having been made to wait for three nights without food (makes us wonder whether we see day/night and need food after death), Yama as a gesture of making it up to Nachiketa, agreed to grant three boons, one for each night that he had waited.

Nachiketa was either smart as he did not ask the boons in reverse order of what he had actually asked or he made spiritual progress very fast seeing through the true nature of things (so we were told). As first boon, which itself is an intelligent concatenation of multiple wishes, he made sure he will go back to his father alive who would be pacified and also recognize him.  As second boon, he wanted to know the method to attain heaven to enjoy happiness. Yama graciously gives two extra boons here: naming this method by the name Nachiketa besides granting a garland to him.

Now the third boon struck Yama as a thunderbolt as Nachiketa innocently asks what happens after death. Yama tempts Nachiketa with other objects that any ordinary person would love to possess: wealth, power, beautiful women or men (as the case maybe), long life etc. It is unclear why Nachiketa would fall for these as he had already covered most of these through his second boon. Yama was unwilling to lose control over Nachiketa (just as he had control over all the mortals) by revealing this knowledge to him. It could also be seen as Yama testing Nachiketa of how serious he was for this knowledge and what price he was willing to pay. Much to the dismay of Yama (or happiness if he was testing), Nachiketa views all these “enjoyable” things as trash, thereby establishing his credentials as the rightful recipient of this knowledge.

Yama then proceeds to teach Nachiketa what the real nature of man is, elucidating methods to realize it and what happens after its realization. Swami Yogatmanandaji, in his class in Rochester retreat, explained each verse in detail and at the end of a particular verse that mentions Atman as the cause of life-forces in a person, he anticipated questions galore, but unsurprisingly the plethora of questions that followed were about rebirth introduced in the subsequent verses. For some reason, Swamiji was in a combative mood with logicians and he used rank-bad examples with illogical conclusions to show “drawbacks” of logic itself amidst peals of laughter from the audience. However, later Swamiji addressed the issue of drawback of logic in a “logical” way stating that logic is built upon our mental framework and is therefore, limited by it.

The Upanishad concludes, like a happy ending in any story, with Nachiketa attaining immortality by knowing the true Self and it exhorts us to achieve the same by following this path.  Thus rendering Yama ineffective, Nachiketa became an embodiment of death to the Death itself! In the words of the Upanishad, Etad vai etat – (To Yama) this (Nachiketa) is verily that (Yama or death)!

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