Youth Retreat Thoughts

By Ratana  (participant in Youth Retreat held at Vedanta Society of Providence, July 25-27, 2014)
During this retreat we went over the Noble Eight Fold Path. This is a system used by the Buddhists to control one’s mind. The ultimate goal of this path is to attain release from suffering. In order to reach the goal we are instructed to follow the right wisdom, ethical conduct, and concentration.

To begin on the path, we must first realize that suffering is an unavoidable part of life. No matter how much we try to fix the world, suffering will always be a part of it. Therefore, we must turn inwards and adjust our own perception. We have to WANT to be free from suffering – this is what is meant by having the right view.

But training the mind to follow the guidelines of the Noble Eight Fold Path is not easy. It requires a certain vigilance. It is difficult to carefully watch thoughts that arise in the mind if we suddenly become angered when we feel that we have been wronged or when a friend wants to engage in idle chatter/gossip that does not fall in line with what is deemed right speech.

The Noble Eight Fold Path necessitates that we adhere to an extremely logical code of behavior in order to overcome this sort of restlessness of the mind. Our emotions, intentions, speech, and actions should line up with each other. This means that at all times we should be thinking of the ultimate goal: release from suffering. If at the beginning this is not possible, then practicing the path will help steer the mind in that direction. In this way, thought and behavior reinforce and influence one another.

The Noble Eight Fold Path makes us work towards the ultimate goal ourselves. We cannot rely on others to do the work for us. Instead there is emphasis on experiential learning and using the path to help guide out decisions.

www.vedantaprov.org

A Logical Extension

By BeJoy

What are dreams made of? Is dream furniture made of wood, nails and fabric? Are dream people made of flesh and blood? How preposterous is that! We all know dream objects are not for real, they are made of mind-stuff.

Now what stuff is the real world made of? That cup I see on my desk, what stuff is it made of? Actually, what I see is nothing but light of different shades and hues as presented to the retinas in my eyes. Beyond that, the cup is indeed a bunch of electrical signals through the nerves. Do we know what those neural currents look like? A further hodgepodge of processing in the brain and –Voila!– the cup shows up in the mind! The cup exists only in the mind. And it is made purely of mind-stuff, the same stuff that dreams are made of. Indeed the whole world exists only in the mind!

I brought this up with a dear friend of mine who, I must say, is quite sharp. “True, the world exists in the mind,” he readily agreed, “but there ought be something in the external world causing that cup to show up in your mind.” I just could not resist a smile at this point of time. My dear, dear friend, if the world is in the mind then what in world could exist outside of the mind? The gross is not the cause of the subtle, indeed its the other way around. The gross external world is a product of the subtle mind-stuff just like fabrics of different shapes and sizes are products of the subtle cotton-stuff.

So far so good. Now, what is this “logical extension” we are to talk about? It’s been said that there is something called the spirit, which is subtler than the mind. And that nothing can be subtler than the spirit. Then we have to infer that the whole world is made of nothing but spirit. This is purely a spiritual world!

But how do we know that there is such a thing called spirit and that spirit is subtler than mind-stuff? Good question, but that’s a subject for someone else’s blog post.
www.vedantaprov.org

Two Hikers and a Porter

By a Porter
On a sunny day, the porter came to the base of the mountain with his mule. Today two hikers were his customers.

While hiking, he found their conversation a little boring because they were not talking about sports, politics or any kind of gossip. They were joyfully talking about a person called ‘Sri Ramakrishna’ and now and then referring to a thick book that they were carrying.

Curious porter continued to listen to these simple, loving and joyful hikers. As time went by he started enjoying their association and spiritual conversations. 

On the way back, hikers took a break to meditate in the woods. Porter also sat with them imitating but could not still his mind. He miserably failed to calm it down. This was the first time he came face to face with the rebellious inner world. He became anxious and wanted to know more …..

After a while conversation continued….

Hiker-1: “Sri Ramakrishna says pure mind, pure intellect and pure Aatman (soul) are one and the same. What is the meaning of it?”
Hiker-2: “Let me give you an example. Imagine you are driving on a highway that is being patrolled by several cops. Will you speed?”
Hiker-1: “No. I will put on the break and drive within speed limit.”
Hiker-2: “Now assume that you have to drive on the same highway every day to your work. You never speed because of the cops.”
Hiker-1:” Yes, speeding is gone. “
Hiker-2:” Then, are cops required?”
Hiker-1: “No. Their presence or absence have no meaning.”
Hiker-2:” Now speeding and cops, both are gone what remains?”
Hiker-1: “The driver!”
Hiker-2: “Now apply this to your question.  Speeding = Mind, Cops = Intellect, Driver= Aatman (Soul)
Your impure mind was wandering (car speeding). Now you used your intellect (cops) and did not allow it to wander. With regular practice you brought your mind under control. “
Hiker-1: “Got it! Mind is there only when it is wandering. Now it is still. It is pure. Like a still water in pristine lake.”
Hiker-2: “Correct! Now tell me, is intellect required?  Is it still active and running behind the mind?
Hiker-1: “Intellect is no more required. Its purpose is over.
Hiker-2: “What remains?”
Hiker-1: “Pure Aatman – Pure Soul.”
Hiker-2: “Correct! When speeding is gone, cops are gone, only driver remains. Similarly when mind is gone, intellect is gone, only pure Aatman remains. When mind and Intellect are like still water, you see the reflection of the luminous Aatman in pure mind as well as in pure intellect. Pure mind, pure intellect and pure Aatman are the same.”

Porter was amazed to hear this conversation.

They arrived at the base. Hikers were ready to leave.  Porter was sad because he will be missing the holy company. He asked them how he can learn these beautiful teachings and get the same joy as he has seen on two cheerful faces. To his amazement, they gave him that thick book and said “Please read this book daily. This will give you immense joy.”  Porter’s face lit up, as if he found a key to the joy that was locked within. He started turning the pages with the resolve to read this book every-day ……..the book was “The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.”
www.vedantaprov.org

Comment on “Mysticism of Sound and Music” class (Tuesday, July 08, 2014)

by Srikanth S.

I have some points for discussion regarding Tuesday’s class on “Mysticism of sound and music” and hopefully someone may get interested to drop in his/her views about these.
 
Swamiji presented that the sense of taste is more or less available in all, whereas the sense for music is not. I humbly disagree with this view. Over 99% of humanity listens to some kind of music but only the genres differ. So one who likes classical music will find it difficult to appreciate rock music and vice versa. Similarly not everyone likes a particular food item. Some foods can be appreciated only after taste has been acquired over repeated attempts. So the sense of appreciation of music and taste is prevalent amongst almost all, but only they are directed towards a particular kind in each human being. Swamiji supported his viewpoint, stating that the nuances of musical notes are lost on many untrained people. But the same can be said about taste also: many nuances of taste in the food are lost to the untrained people. Just like there are virtuosos in music, so there are in taste field too: the big bucks that restaurants pay to such trained minds in taste is a pointer.

In this context, I began to wonder why we glorify this sense perception of sound whereas the same is not accorded for taste, touch, smell or sight. There are terminologies like Nada-Brahma etc. but no such terminologies exist regarding other sense perceptions. Being a bit more detailed, if one is attached to music (again to only a particular genre called classical music and that too preferably Indian) he or she will be respected in spiritual field, whereas if one is attached to a good sight or taste or smell or touch of any particular object or place, it is called attachment and could be seen as a psychological problem. Why? One strong reason could be that most of the classical music composers in India were devotional and also the players borrowed lyrics written by saints. So the classical music and spirituality got intertwined. Such mechanism was absent for music in other parts of the world. Hence Indian classical music and spirituality are seen as synonymous by many. But does it mean there is no trance-like state achievable in other sense perceptions or genres of music similar to the one achieved through Indian classical music? I doubt it. To state only one particular type of sense perception originating only in one geographical place as superior to others in spiritual context is somewhat untenable. So can we reach God through rock music?

www.vedantaprov.org

Religious Liberty, Equality, and Solidarity Revisited

by Charlie (Prana) Feldman

A while ago, I sent in a blog entry on religions and the archetypes of liberty, equality and solidarity. I now think I can simplify this by saying that Hinduism emphasizes liberty, or freedom to choose from many paths toward God-realization; Buddhism emphasizes equality, in that we are all said to be potential Buddhas; and the Abrahamic religions emphasize solidarity, saying that loyalty to the given path (and interpretation of scripture or ecclesiastical body) is the best or only way to attain God’s favor.

This ties in with the Vedantic idea that different religions suit people of different tendencies.

www.vedantaprov.org