Saturday, January 14, 2012

Talk on Origin of Life – Darwin Under Siege at Shridhar University Pilani Rajasthan



Here is the link for a press release of our scientific presentation at Shridhar University.

Talk on Origin of Life – Darwin Under Siege at Shridhar University Pilani Rajasthan 

http://www.prlog.org/11765438-talk-on-origin-of-life-darwin-under-siege-at-shridhar-university-pilani-rajasthan.html

Recently we had posted a full report of our North India tour and can be accessed at: http://mahaprabhu.net/scsmath.siliguri/reports/NI2011.html  

Thanking you.

Sincerely,
B.N. Shanta Swami, Ph.D.
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Sunday, January 8, 2012

THE FORCE YOU HAVE NO CONTROL

THE FORCE YOU HAVE NO CONTROL

 

Baba said, "The force of his karma has driven him here." – Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch.  36.

 

Ramesh was playing cricket. Suddenly the ball hit him on the back of his head. His head reeled. Everything went dark. He fell down in a deathly swoon. He was immediately taken to the hospital and after undergoing various operations and injections, he was brought back to consciousness.


He asked for some-thing to eat. He cried looking with great fright upon the things around him. He began to question the people around him "Who are you?" "What is this?" The nurses realised that he had lost his mind.


He had forgotten all his relatives; he was not able to tell whose son he was. The elderly nurse who brought him back to consciousness played the part of his mother. She adopted him as her son. The man believed that she was his real mother. He cultivated new friendships and made new friends.


Hardly a year had elapsed before he was irresistibly drawn to the cricket field again. He played as good as he used to previously, though he could not recognize any of his old playmates. People marvelled at this strange transformation of the young man.


Like Ramesh who played cricket, man plays the game of life on this earth-plane. Death seizes him. Everything turns black around him. He loses consciousness. Messengers from the other world take him away; and cut him and torture him for the various sins he has committed while on earth. His consciousness is slowly revived on the earth-plane once again when a mother gives birth to him. He cries at the very sight of the strange things around him..


As he grows more and more conscious of the world, he begins questioning, "Who is this? What is this?" He has forgotten his real father and mother-God. The lady who gave him birth here says: "I am your mother." He accepts her as such. Then he develops a new set of relatives and friends.


But very soon he begins to play the same old game of life, as he used to, irresistibly drawn by the previous life's Samskaras. Wise men marvel at this mystery of transmigration. Though the memory of his past birth is lost, the Samskaras and Vasanas are not lost. They lead him onward.




Saturday, January 7, 2012

CONFUSED WHOM TO WORSHIP?

CONFUSED WHOM TO WORSHIP?

 

"So with all earnestness and speed, we should strive to attain our end, i.e., self-realization." – Sri Sai Satcharitra, Ch. 8.

 

Once there was a very pious Brahmin who was utterly devoted to his family deity. He worshipped this deity every day, sitting cross legged in front of the shrine in his home.


One day during his meditation, he observed that the prasad or food offered to the deity, which is customarily eaten by the devotee after worship, was snatched away by a mouse and eaten in front of his very eyes. The Brahmin was astonished to see this and concluded that the mouse was more powerful than the deity. Otherwise, how could it dare to eat the offering? So he grabbed hold of the mouse, and tying it with a string to the place of worship, decided to worship this creature instead of the deity.


He removed the picture of the deity from the shrine, and started worshipping the mouse. One day his cat, jealous of the attention the mouse was receiving, pounced upon the tiny creature. The two had a terrible fight, but of course the poor mouse was killed in the battle.


Now it was quite clear to the Brahmin that the cat was more powerful than the mouse, so he started worshipping the cat whom he had previously neglected. This continued for some time until one day the Brahmin's dog entered the room of worship. Seeing the attention that the cat was getting from his master, the dog became furiously jealous and violently attacked the cat. The unhappy cat was bitten and scratched all over and bled in many places. When the Brahmin considered the situation, it became quite clear to him that the dog was more powerful than the cat.


So he removed the cat from the place of worship and placed the dog there instead. He now began to worship the dog, who was tied with a rope to the shrine. The animal's continual barking, however, was a source of great irritation to the Brahmin's wife. One day in utter exasperation, she threw a brick at the barking dog. It landed on his head with a thump. The poor dog was in great pain and cried piteously over his wound.


The Brahmin, hearing the whimpering of the poor dog, came into the room, and seeing what had happened, concluded that it must be due to the superior power of his wife.


So he decided to let the dog go and to worship his wife. He said to her, "At long last I realize that you are the most powerful. Only you can be the object of my adoration."


The wife was thunderstruck at these remarks, to say nothing of being puzzled and embarrassed. How could she be the object of his adoration, she thought, since all her life she had been made to feel like his servant, constantly at his beck and call? She finally consented, however, since she had no alternative.


Now the Brahmin's wife had become his object of adoration and worship. He addressed her with words of devotion and praised her divine qualities. So devoted was he that he had the impulse to worship her even when she was asleep. He would awaken her and make her take her place at the shrine where he could adore her. Or if she were in the shower, he would call her to come out. No matter what she was doing she would have to stop and come to the shrine to be worshipped.


Finally the Brahmin's wife became so fed up with this farce that she told him the whole thing was nonsense. At this he became furious. "Nonsense?" he echoed. "How dare you criticize my wisdom?" And he yelled at her loudly. The poor frightened woman began weeping bitter tears. Now, seeing his own power, it became very clear to the Brahmin that he was the strongest of all. So he started worshipping himself, saying, "I am God, I am the greatest, I am everything."


But it did not take him much time to realize that he was merely a prey to his desires. It was his desires that were compelling him to action, either good or bad. So since his habit was to worship the most powerful force, he started worshipping his desires. But he quickly gave this up, for he saw immediately that his desires had no strength of their own. It was his senses that compelled the desires to possess and be possessed.


Then the Brahmin started worshipping the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. He was now pondering deeply on these subtle things which he was worshipping. After much thought, he concluded that it was the mind which was responsible for the functioning of the senses. So he began worshipping his mind, and felt proud that he had progressed so far from the ignorant animals he had worshipped only a few months before. But he found that his mind was far from satisfaction, and even farther from perfection. So he catered into his heart.


The heart, in spite of having peace and joy and harmony, was still lacking in absolute fulfillment. He was yearning for the supreme power. He concluded that the heart was not enough, so he entered into his soul.


There, in union with his own soul, he got the first glimpse of his divine fulfillment. He plunged deep into the spiritual life. But the individual soul, he found, is not all pervading or all fulfilling. He aspired for the highest. He went even deeper. Deep within, he discovered the Supreme Self.


Here, at the end of his journey, the Brahmin saw that the Supreme Self is the most powerful.

 

The Supreme Self, which has neither beginning nor end, is all pervading and all fulfilling. The Supreme Self, which is both Creator and Creation, is the Highest.