Constant remembrance of God: Part 2

 Hari Aum.

Om Namo Narayanaya. Sri Krishna sharanam mama.

Sivananda and the Gurus tell their disciples-- 'Be careful what you ask God for, because you might actually get it (and it may not be quite as you expect!)'.

Many moons ago, in August and December 2013, I wrote some posts regarding my aspiration to remember God constantly. I wrote about how this was a great struggle, how difficult it could be to remember the Divine in the midst of daily activity (whether one lives at home or in an ashram or elsewhere).

How hard it is to remember God, I said. How terrible the senses are, how they lead us away from Him I lamented.

Nonetheless, as advised by my Guru, I persevered. I used various methods to compel my mind to remember God and His name as often as possible during the day (by setting myself reminders, putting up pictures, forming habits of repeating the mantra before and after activities etc etc). 

Over the years, I became quite contented with my spiritual life and the way this was progressing. I was enjoying myself, that is, until God came along and set fire to it all.

It appears that He has given me what I asked for-- constant remembrance of the Divine (or at least virtually constant remembrance! Now I am not able to forget Him even if I want to!). This started gradually at first a few years ago, and has now become a near constant feature of my life. The only issue is (as usual), it is not as I had expected. I had a different idea of constant remembrance of the Divine but I have been given something else!

And, true to my nature (which unfortunately can sometimes be argumentative with the Divine), I have said to God "What is this? This is not the type of remembrance that I asked You for! Please let me have things my way (not Your way!)". I cannot be entirely blamed for feeling this way (as I will explain further below). I do understand now why the Gurus say be careful what you ask for. 

Over the years, I have on many occasions-- ardently, sincerely, intensely, repeatedly-- pleaded with God for His constant remembrance. And now that He has given it to me, I find my life has become very surreal.

It is difficult to operate in daily life with constant remembrance of the Divine, especially when it happens in a form one did not expect. It is difficult to pay full attention to daily duties when the Divine is constantly appearing in one's mental space.

I am very far from being like the exalted gopis in devotion to God (I continue to have many inner flaws and am still working upon these), but I can certainly say that I have now experienced a very tiny drop of the frustration that they experienced. 

"Give us back our minds", they cried to Krishna. "We do not wish to think of You any longer, we cannot function this way!". But, He never let them off. As the yogis say, 'Once He has you in His grip, He never lets you go'. I feel slightly like them-- "Give me back my mind" I say to God, "This is not what I expected from You!". 

In the scriptures, it is mentioned that the company of God is very dangerous indeed (that is, if one wishes to live a normal worldly life)-- by hearing of Him, by repeating His names, one gets transformed gradually from within. The process is long and arduous, and with many strange twists and turns, but the end result is the same. 

Sooner or later, He gets you in His grip and then there is no escape. This is the experience of every yogi and spiritual seeker since time immemorial. And it is natural and guaranteed (not a special experience for a few, but rather, the standard experience of the many-- the only thing is one needs to do regular sadhana or spiritual practice and go through the process).

I spoke with a spiritual mentor about this issue some months ago. After hearing my laments, she gently suggested that I should consider embracing this experience (while telling me that others had also been through the same and done so). 

I tersely replied "This is not the way in which I wished for constant remembrance of Divine! I want my mind back, I cannot cope with this at all!". However, over time, I have come to see the wisdom in her words; perhaps there is some truth in what she said.

To explain the difficulty of this state, I would like to give an analogy.

Imagine, for a moment, that you are in a place where you and many people are playing a game of darts. The dartboard, with its pattern of circles and triangles represents the various common goals of life, including health, wealth, family, friends, spiritual life, and so on. You and other players pick up your allocated darts and aim them at this cosmic dartboard.

As you play, you feel your game is going relatively well (aside from the natural ups and downs of life; the occasional dart falls off the board which is ok)-- you've struck your desired targets of health, wealth, job, spouse, children, family, friends, and even spiritual life. You're winning, you feel quite good about your life.

Suddenly, somebody throws a dart at you! That dart was on fire, and so, you now find yourself alight-- your clothes are burning and you feel very uncomfortable indeed. The people around you, however, are oblivious and blissfully carry on playing the game. They cannot see that you are burning-- because this is a mystic fire (and they have not been set alight, at least, not in the same manner as you!). 

You look around in shock-- 'Who threw that?' you ask, 'What's going on, please help me God!', you say inwardly, while unsuccessfully trying to douse the flames! 

Usually if a fire breaks out, there will be a great commotion. People rush to help, and a fire engine may be called-- there is naturally much concern and sympathy for those affected.

But, not so for the person who is set alight inside. No, you burn alone, in your constant remembrance of the Divine. If you dare to raise the topic that you are in distress with the majority of other darts players (and hope for some sympathy-- as you are on fire after all!), they will only look at you unsympathetically and tell you that everything is ok and that you should just carry on playing! But how can one play as normal when one has been set on fire by the Universe?

And, every day, you are naturally expected to carry on fulfilling your duties, even while you try and flap at those flames that are consuming you from within. You must keep throwing your darts-- to maintain health, family, wealth, work, spirituality and everything else. This is dharma, this is karma, this must be done.

You can hopefully now see what I mean about the nature of the problem!

Constant remembrance of anything, even the Divine (whether as Divine Masculine or Divine Feminine or any other form of the God) is actually quite a challenging experience.

Day after day, night after night, all the time, to remember something or someone, be it even the Divine, is no joke. And the remembrance is not even a casual remembrance; it is intense, constant, overwhelming.

So, now the devotee says, "Please God, kindly relieve me of Your constant remembrance! I am sorry that I asked for Your remembrance, I had no idea what I was talking about!"

But, in response, God is silent. Despite many prayers, His response is only silence. In other words, you realise, this is His will and He has no intention at all of removing this experience. It dawns upon you that this was all a part of His plan.

Then one cannot help but think, "What else could I have expected from such a well-known trickster such as Krishna?". He is famed for creating trouble in people's lives, I should have known that something like this would happen!" 

(One even wonders, "Alas, instead of the Divine Masculine form as Krishna, if only I had been drawn to the sweet Divine Mother as my ishta devata, or perhaps the noble and austere Lord Shiva, this calamity might not have happened....this particular type of spiritual problem might not have occurred! I have heard They do not play such tricks upon Their devotees!"-- this may not be strictly true though!). 

So I remember God pretty much all the time currently. Constantly, unrelentingly, and though I try my best to distract myself from thoughts of Him, it does not really work. I find that I have strangely been blessed with what I have been asking for all these years-- constant remembrance of the Divine (as the Divine Masculine). It is not as I had expected but it must be spiritually good as it appears to be in accordance with the will of God.

I am writing this just to say that theory and practice are two different things. The theory of constant remembrance of God is one thing-- it sounds sweet and delightful. The practice, on the other hand, is a different thing altogether. It can be sweet and charming sometimes, and at other times, it is simply terrifying. 

So rest assured, if you are walking the spiritual path, that you will indeed experience the constant remembrance of God. But it may not be exactly as you expect (though ultimately, it is bound to be for the higher good, as after all, it is occurring by the will of the Divine)!

Om Namo Narayayana. Om Sri Durgayai Namah. Om Namo Bhagavate Sivanandaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.

Bala Kanda Part 3: The advent of Sri Rama

Hari Aum.

Om Namo Narayanaya. Om Sri Rama Jaya Rama Jaya Jaya Rama.

Today is the auspicious day of Rama Navami, the celebration of the birthday of the avatar of Lord Narayana known as Sri Rama.

A very happy Rama Navami to all readers; I hope and pray that Sri Rama blesses all of us and the world with peace and prosperity. May the wars everywhere subside and may much-needed calm prevail.

This is the perfect day to continue writing about the Ramayana and to narrate the birth of Sri Rama (many of you may be broadly familiar with this already but let us look at the details as described in the original Valmiki Ramayana).

In the previous post, we discussed King Dasharatha's intense yearning to have a child and his spiritual practice to obtain one. We also learned that the demi-gods (devas) were being plagued by a demonic being known as Ravana. They had sought help from Narayana who promised to protect them and other living beings by taking on an avatar.

Let us now continue our study of the Ramayana....

After pledging to manifest as the son of King Dasharatha to defeat the evil Ravana and establish dharma/righteousness, Lord Narayana disappeared from view. The demi-gods felt a sense of great relief having received His assurance of protection and praised Him with hymns.  

Meanwhile, King Dasharatha continued his fire ritual to obtain a child (blissfully unaware of any of these events related to the demi-gods; he had no inkling that he was about to become the father of an avatar!).

The messenger of Narayana

As the worship continued, an extraordinary being of divine splendour arose from the sacred fire. He towered above the worshippers, dazzling like the sun. His face had a slightly reddish tinge and he was dark in complexion. 

Dressed in red garments, and wearing divine ornaments, he had various auspicious marks upon his person. He resembled a lion both in strength and appearance (in that he was covered with soft hair, including a fine mane of hair on his head, and also had a moustache and beard!) and had a deep and resonant voice like that of a kettledrum!

In his hands, the divine being held a large covered vessel made of shining gold. Within this shining vessel, was a celestial sweet dish (called 'payasam' in Sanskrit) made of rice, milk and sugar. 

The celestial being gazed at King Dasharatha and addressed him, saying that he had come as a messenger from Lord Narayana (or Vishnu). The King, delighted at the appearance of the divinity, bowed low in greeting and asked how he could serve him.

The messenger of Narayana then replied saying that he had brought a divine blessing from the Lord Himself in the form of this divine sweet payasam. He explained that this had the power to grant not only children but also health and wealth! He advised the King to give this sweet to his wives, assuring him that, by this means, they would be blessed with the children they desired.

Dasharatha, filled with boundless joy, bowed again before the dazzling being. Accepting the golden vessel, he agreed to do as advised. He then went around the messenger clockwise as was the custom to express his gratitude and respect.

The divine being then vanished into the flames and the King, losing no time, hastened to the palace. Entering the women's quarters, he met with his wives and explained the wondrous event that had just taken place! They too were overjoyed that their worship had borne fruit and accepted the divine sweet dish with great delight.

The celestial sweet dish

Dasharatha gave a portion of the celestial sweet dish to each of the three queens, Kaushalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi (he gave one half to Kaushalya, then half of the remainder/a quarter to Sumitra. Then, half of the remainder/an eighth to Kaikeyi, and the remaining eighth again to Sumitra; this apportioning has some significance as we will see later). 

Thus were conceived the four sons of Dasharatha and his wives. The King and the Queens, delighted with the divine blessing that they had received, now awaited the birth of their children with great joy and excitement.

The divine monkeys

Meanwhile, unknown to them, great preparations were underway to create a powerful army to accomplish the extraordinary task for which the avatar was manifesting. Telling the demi-gods that Sri Rama would soon be born, the divine Creator, Brahma, commanded them to beget children who would play an important role in His task upon Earth. 

The demi-gods were told to have children filled with divine strength and power, exceptionally skilled in the art of warfare and who would be capable of changing their form at will. These children were to be born of the union of the demi-gods with various other celestial beings (such as apsaras, gandharvas, yakshas, kinnaras and so on). They were to reside upon the Earth, living in the wild forests and mountains in the form of monkeys. In time, they would be called upon to fulfill the purpose for which they had been born. 

Thus, before the birth of Sri Rama, a large number of celestial beings took birth upon the Earth (being born of the devas, their birth and growing up was very quick compared with human beings!).

They were possessed of great size, strength and valour and wandered about freely in the forests. In play, they could uproot trees with ease, agitate the ocean, shake mountains and leap huge distances across land and sea as well as into the sky. 

Apparently unaware of the purpose of their birth, these divine children of the devas, lived happily in the forests, mountains and by the sea.

These divine monkey warriors not only bore a resemblance to their demi-god parents but also possessed their natural skill and powers. For instance, the son of Indra, King of devas, was Vali, who became the King of monkeys. The son of Surya, the sun-god, was Sugriva, the younger brother of Vali, who was as glorious as his father. 

The son of Vishvakarma, the divine architect, was Nala who had a natural talent for building. The Guru of the demi-gods, Brihaspati, fathered Tara, a divine monkey of exceptional intelligence.

 

The demi-god of the wind, Vayu, was the father of Hanuman. Hanuman was unique in many ways-- he was as fast as the wind, of immense power, and blessed with great intelligence. Unlike many of the other monkeys (who tended to be somewhat haughty due to the awareness of their own power), he was also blessed with extraordinary humility (this was perhaps his greatest strength as we will see later). 

Thus, even before the advent of Sri Rama and His brothers, the Earth teamed with divine monkeys, the children of the demi-gods, who were ready to serve Him as He fulfilled the purpose of His avatar.

Birth of Sri Rama and celebrations

Now, let us return again to Ayodhya! Approximately a year after King Dasharatha's worship was completed, a particularly auspicious day dawned. It was the ninth day ('navami' in Sanskrit) of the lunar month known as Chaitra (April-May; and the various planets were powerfully situated in various zodiac signs in the sky, signalling the birth of a Divine being!). 

On this sacred day, the avatar of Lord Narayana known as Sri Rama was born of Queen Kausalya. Shortly afterwards, on the same day, Bharata was born of Queen Kaikeyi. Around a day later, Queen Sumitra gave birth to twin boys who were known as Lakshmana and Shatrughna. 

On the eleventh day after the birth of the children, their naming ceremony was performed in accordance with the scriptures by sage Vasistha, the family Guru. 

Although, Sri Rama was an avatar of Narayana , His three brothers were also divine in nature (they were part-manifestations of the various powers of Narayana; to an extent, their divinity was manifested in proportion to the quantity of celestial payasam consumed by their mothers!).

On the occasion of the birth of children of King Dasharatha and the Queens, there was tremendous rejoicing in the kingdom of Kosala and particularly, in the capital city of Ayodhya. As part of the great celebrations that took place, there was much music, dancing, artistic performance and worship. 

The streets of Ayodhya were filled with people in great spirits. In the heavens above, the demi-gods and divine sages also celebrated and showered flowers upon the city to express their great joy.

The King then gave away great quantities of wealth and jewels as gifts to various worthy recipients including sages, priests, musicians and dancers. The entire city of Ayodhya and the kingdom of Kosala seemed to shine with a divine splendour upon the advent of Sri Rama.

King Dasharatha in particular was filled with a unique ecstasy. With the arrival of his children, and Sri Rama in particular, he felt a peace and bliss that he had never felt before. Thus he regarded himself as being extremely fortunate and blessed.

Thus concludes the description of the birth of Sri Rama. To be continued....

Om Sri Ramaya Namah.

Om Namo Narayanaya.

Hari Aum Tat Sat.

P.S. Just to say, to those who have sent me queries regarding ishta devata and so on from the Vedic astrology chart, I am sorry for the delay replying. I am working my way through the requests received but have taken on some extra work and other commitments hence the delay (apologies but it may take me a month or more to respond to your queries currently).