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God, whether fact or fiction

11/26/2021

The existence of God may be a subject of debate. To talk of God is not belief. Man, a finite being consciously feel for something unknown. They begin to unravel the mystery of infinite. They hear from the depth of their soul its irresistible call. Though the human body is finite the heart does not throb to its infinite capacity because the infinite reveals Itself in the inmost recesses of the human heart. It is man who seeks God for its own sake.

What is God:
The difference between man and man and between other animate and inanimate objects lies in the degree of divine manifestation. But there is unity of existence. In fact, at soul level and material level, there is no difference between she or he. It is only temporary appearance which is different. God is both with and without form and yet transcends both. He alone can say what else he is. God with form and God without form are like ice and water. Under the intensifying influence of the deep devotion of his worshipper, the Infinite reduces himself as it were, into the finite and appears before him as a Being with form.

God comes before us in the form of the needy, the sick, the poor, the wretched, is not a stranger to us, at all. Our salvation consists in the salvation of all who are the veritable manifestations of God.
Divine expresses into four cosmic powers – Wisdom, Strength, Harmony and Work – which are the bases of the four types of personality in the human mind. The wisdom of ancient India saw four powers of the creative. God manifests in four types of human beings, and called them as Brahmana, the Kshatirya, Vaishya and Sudra.

Why God:
The thought of God has a wonderful effect on the human soul. It wholly transforms a man’s character. Those who establish them based on the highest purity, unselfishness and intense love. The divine love – in any form whether any deity or guru, gradually grows to perfection.

What Hinduism says:

Vedanta says, “I am not this body. I am not this mind. I am distinct from body, mind, sheaths and the three states. I am the Immortal, Infinite Self.” Watch the breath, it repeats Soham – “I am He”, or Shivoham – “I am Shiva”.
The law of karma is one of the fundamental doctrines, not only in Hinduism, but also in Buddhism and Jainism. As a man sows, so shall he reap. All action bears fruit sooner or later, in this life or in coming lives. A virtuous action produces pleasure as its effect. An evil deed causes pain. If you sow the seed of an evil action, you will reap a harvest of pain and suffering. If you sow a seed of virtuous action, you will reap a harvest of pleasure. If you make others happy through service, charity and kind acts, you sow happiness like a seed and it will give fruit of happiness. On the other hand, if you make others unhappy through harsh words, insult, ill treatment, cruel acts, oppression etc., you sow unhappiness like a seed and it will give you the fruit of pain, suffering, misery and unhappiness. This is immutable law of karma.
Shrimad Bhagavad Gita says, one should renounce all desires (including for sex) and attachment and not life and action. Do not slip down into the valley of the senses. Renunciation ought to begin with things nearest and dearest. It is that false ego, which one must give up, viz, the idea that engenders in one this false personality. One, “whoever does the work to be done without resort to its fruits, he is the Sannyasin and Yogi.

How to move to find God:
A man cannot have both enjoyment of monetary sensual pleasures and enjoyment of permanent spiritual bliss. This world is not an illusion. It is a relative realty, while Brahman is an absolute Reality.

Unless the person is purified and become as little child, he shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven i.e., bliss. Purity is freedom from unholy desires. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The nearer a man approaches his goal, the more he captures his lost purity. He has less and less to conceal. Secretiveness becomes alien to him. A pure soul willingly lets others know. He is not disturbed by the shame of the guilty. His nudity is not nakedness. A pure soul is often an enigma to the worldly-minded. Innocence does not resist evil simply because it does not see it.

We are deluded about good or evil and caught in the net of the manifold, because of our ignorance. Know yourself and cut off your own cocoon of petty desires and demands.
Pledge yourself to the observance of ahimsa, satyam and brahmacharya (non-violence, truth and celibacy) to the best of your ability.
Make a strong resolve to lead virtuous life, to do good, to be good and serve your neighbours.
On the basis of strong will and firm determination, a state of high purity is attained by the effulgence of spiritual practices. Sadhana or spiritual practice is the cessation of wandering, the return from aberration, in order to rest in one’s native home. This requires great viveka and vichara shakti, true renunciation and persistent practice.
Vairagya is burning the boats, cutting the last thread od attachment with the world. Real vairagya is an attitude of the mind, a state of self, and the externals like the ochre robe or the recourse to forests are but accessories and not essentials. Vairagya is not a negative withdrawal from the world, but a positive approach towards reality. Renunciation alone can make you fearless and happy.
One has to annihilate his ego until he finds God in all beings. Intuition is direct awareness of reality.
See that humanity receives from you something in return for what it gives you. Regain the rapturous serene light of self-realization by living beyond the body. See God, the only Truth. Tear through the veil of appearances. Look through. Feel yourself identified with truth and sing songs of joy in Godhead. Seek no more for God somewhere, but see him everywhere. Equip yourself with four means: practice, hearing, reflection and meditation.
“Arise, awake and sleep not till the goal reached” – this was the clarion call of Swami Vivekananda. The first step is always to overcome inertia (inactivity, lethargy) by setting in a tremendous activity, next control, followed by calmness, and finally going to the source, from which it started.

It is conscious union with the divine, but it is also the divinization of the material body itself. You are part of Divinity. Feel it, realize it and all ties will drop away and you will be free.

Reference: Voice of Babaji – by V T Neelakantan, S A A Ramaiah, Babaji Nagaraj

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Science in Sanskrit Syllables

11/4/2021

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Science in Sanskrit Syllables
According to NASA, Sanskrit is the most scientific language, suitable to develop computer programming for their Artificial Intelligence program. The grammar also makes Sanskrit suitable for machine learning and even artificial intelligence. The first research paper published in this regard was by NASA scientist Rick Briggs in 1985. In Germany, 14 of the top universities teach Sanskrit. North America - primarily the US - has the largest number of Sanskrit academic institutions. Sanskrit is taught in several other countries such as Russia, Japan etc.

Sanskrit is co-original with the Vedas. The Vedas cannot be studied without the six Vedangas of which the first three deal with the spoken aspects of the language. These are Siksha (how to pronounce the letters of the syllables), Vyakarna (grammar, meaningful word formations), and Niruktam (certain fundamental root words). The fourth, Chandas describes the formation of sentences in metrical form. The remaining two Vedandas are Kalpa and Jyothisha, deal with space and time.

What is Akshara:
It is fascinating to trace the science in Sanskrit syllables. Traditionally, syllables (not letters) in Sanskrit are called Akshara, meaning "imperishable (entity)": "atoms" of speech, as it were. Akshara denotes the set of letters of Sanskrit. Akshara (aksha + ra) represents the A to Z of the wheel of creation itself which is characterized by the union of Shakti (aksha) and Shiva (ra) respectively. The sounds and thoughts which manifest from the mantras and sacred syllables (bijaksharas) reflect the power of speech and the power of thought which grows exponentially when they are illuminated by the light of Shiva or intelligence.

Science in Akshara:
Each akshara is mapped to a concept or significance. The collection of aksharas could form a set of concepts forming a ‘periodic table’ and by stringing Aksharas in suitable order and composition, one could use sound as a very powerful tool. Select words and seed Mantas (Bijaksharas) in Sanskrit are then interpreted using this conceptual basis. The concept and significance of each Sanskrit syllable has been properly dealt with in an article named - Akshara – The Forgotten Periodic Table by Sai Venkatesh Balasubramanian and Gomathi Balasubramanian.

The sound of akshara does not ever get destroyed. There are two aspects of non-destruction:

the aksharas retain their sound.
the aksharas retain their individual meanings in composed words. For example, the word "guru" - one who dispels darkness (ignorance) of the mind (person). "gu" means darkness and "ru" means the act of removal.

Number of Aksharas:
Aksharas are classified mainly into two types: Svara and Vyanjana. A consonant derives its name from the sound when the basic vowel "a", is sounded with the consonant. In Sanskrit and in other Indian languages, each consonant has a generic form in which its pronunciation will not have any vowel sound associated with it.

Svara (pratyahara aC): Vowel – 5 short vowels, 8 long vowels & 2 support vowels. Svara akshara: are also known as prana akshara; i.e., they are main sounds in speech, without which speech is not possible. Panini referred to svara as ac pratyahara. Later they became known as ac Akshara.
Vyanjana (pratyahara haL): Consonant – these are 33 in number. The grouping is based on the natural ordering of sounds such as Guttural, Palatal, Cerebral, Dental & Labial (five each). The last one has ten syllables.
Guttural (Velar - 5) - Using the back of the tongue against the soft palate.
Palatal (5)- Using the flat of the tongue against the back of the hard palate.
Cerebral (Retroflex - 5) - Using the tip of the tongue against the top of the hard palate
Dental (5) - Using the tip of the tongue against the top front teeth.
Labial (5) - Using the lips.
Semi-vowels (4), Sibilants (3) & Aspirate (1).

3. Swarayukta-vyanjan¡ni – Consonants with vowels - Any of the consonants can form a syllable with any of the vowels. Each vowel has a special shape associated with it for use with a combining consonant. This is known as a "matra" or simply vowel extension. A matra, when added to the basic shape of a consonant, results in a syllable consisting of the consonant and the vowel.

Samyukta-vyanjan¡ni – Conjunct consonants - It represents a syllable made up of two or more consonants from the basic set.

Vasishiha presents a Sanskrit syllable of 68 letters, Panini suggests that there are 63 or 64 letters. Atreya counts 59 letters, while Apishali and Pari list 56 letters each. The Taittirya Pratishakhya presents 51 letters which include 48 aksharas used now-a-days.

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God, whether fact or fiction

Science in Sanskrit Syllables

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