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#1138 - Wednesday July 17, 2002 - Edited by Jerry
R.K.
SHANKAR
from the I AM list
A Brief Introduction to
the Life of Adi Shankaracharya
0 Adi Shankaracharya was a jnani. He became a monk when
He was only 7 years old. His Guru was Sage Govinda.
Of course, the Guru was a jnani Himself Shankara
attained Self-Realisation around the age of 16.
1 The Guru commanded Shankara to reestablish Vedic
religion in the whole of India. He argued with many
scholars, defeated them and made them His disciples.
He established Advaita Vedanta for the first time.
2 He wrote commentaries on Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads
and Brahma Sutra He also wrote some original
Sanskrit Texts like Atma Bodha, and a few others.
A Brief Narration of the Way Sri Bhagawan happened to
render Sanskrit Atma Bodha into Tamil
1 There was a Muslim Tamil Scholar who knew Sanskrit a
little. This Muslim Scholar had rendered the
Sanskrit Atma Bodha into Tamil. One day, the 2 books
containing these Tamil renditions arrived by post.
One devotee by name MSR, handed over these 2 books to
Sri Bhagawan alongwith the daily post.
2 Sri Bhagawan as usual read all the posts that arrived
on the day. Then, He started repeatedly perusing
these 2 books of the Muslim scholar. At that time,
Sri Bhagawan seemed to be doing so, prompted by some
inner urge. Then, Sri Bhagawan handed over those 2
books to be kept in the Library.
4 Then, He asked a devotee by name VR to bring the
original Sanskrit text 'Atma Bodha' He then started
repeatedly browsing through the Sanskrit Text.
5 Then, He spontaneously rendered the first 2 Atma
Bodha Sanskrit verses into 2 Tamil 'Venpas' (a Type
of Tamil Verse containing 4 lines, like say, sonnet
in English containing 14 lines) and recorded them in
a paper.
6 KS, a devotee, was watching this and asked Sri
Bhagawan, "It looks as if Sri Bhagawan is repeatedly
perusing some book. Which book is that?" Sri
Bhagawan then showed His first two '4-line Tamil
renditions' of Atma Bodha.
7 Seeing them, KS said, "It will be good, if in the
same way, the balance (66) verses are also written."
Sri Bhagawan then replied, "Right, right. Why all
this?" Sri Bhagawan said so because usually He never
took any initiative to do anything. His Nature was
always to be silent even physically.
8 But, something must have been prompting Him from
within.
2 days later, He rendered the next few Atma Bodha
Sanskrit verses into Tamil verses and showed them to
VR.
9 He said to VR, "If I keep quiet thinking why I should
write, this does not seem to leave me. One after the
other these come and stand (rise from within) before
Me (my mind). What do I do?"
10 After writing a few more verses, He said to VR,
"Hereafter, this will not leave me! Bring a notebook
for me to record these Tamil renditions!" Thus
saying, He showed even the Introductory Verse to VR.
11 Within very few days, Sri Bhagawan completed
rendering all the 68 Sanskrit Atma Bodha verses into
68 Tamil 4-line verses.
12 Then, He looked at the people there and said, "40
years ago, a small notebook containing some Malayalam
(a South-Indian language) writings reached here. In
that notebook, these Sanskrit Atma Bodha verses were
there. Then, no thought arose (in Me) to render them
into Tamil."
13 One devotee then replied, "For everything, should not
the (right) time come?" For that Sri Bhagawan said,
"Yes, Yes! Now when I write one 4-line verse,
another 4-line verse appears (before my mind).
14 He further said, "It also looks as if I had read this
Atma Bodha earlier. Has anyone written this Atma
Bodha as 4-line Tamil verses before?"
15 "No one has written these as 4-line Tamil verses
until now", said Sri Muruganar. (Sri Muruganar was a
Tamil Teacher in a school, and a great poet in Tamil,
and of course, a great devotee of Sri Bhagawan) And
continuing, he further said, "What surprise is there
in these verses appearing one after another before
Sri Bhagawan? This is only similar to the way the
Vedas appear at the beginning of each cycle of
creation before the mind of Brahma (the God of
Creation)"
16 It is the Hindu belief that creation occurs through
the God of Creation, namely, Brahma. And, Brahma
creates the world as per the Vedas. And, these Vedas
appear automatically before Him at the beginning of
each cycle of creation, to enable Him to create the
world according to the Regulations of the Vedas.
17 For that Sri Bhagawan said smiling, "That is right!
But, I hope no one comes to fight with me, saying
that he only composed these Tamil 4-line verses." Sri
Bhagawan said thus, because in India it is usual for
people to fight even on false grounds, on account of
jealousy or for getting the fame that some Divine
verses were first composed by them
18 Very few books were written by Sri Bhagawan of His
own volition. Most of them were written by some
persistent inner prompting. But unfortunately, the
incidents of how He was prompted from within, have
been recorded only in the case of a few books of Sri
Bhagawan.
_______________________________________________________________-
VIORICA WEISMAN
Parental problem solved ?! I don't know.
Hello Everyone ....
A couple of days ago I had the pleasant surprize to
discover that there is a Sivananda Center in Jerusalem;
so , glad to discover my like-minded neighbours , I
called at the specified number to ask for information.
'Hello !" , I said to the child who answered the phone ;
but , oh, a little dissapointed that perhaps the single
phone number that I found was wrong.
"Hello!"
"I think ...I called the wrong number ?..."
I don't remember exactly what the child said as I was
sure the number was wrong.
Then I called the Sivananda Center in Tel Aviv to ask
them their Jerusalem number. I received the same number
that I have already had.
"... Are you sure this is the right number ?! I tried
it and I talked with a child ", I asked.
"You talked with a child ? And what did he say ? Are
you sure the number was wrong ? Have you listened to the
child ?"
"....?? I don't remember ..."
"You should have listened to the child. God is a child
also. You could call again and listen to the child.
Maybe the number was not the wrong one. "
" So. So . So this is what I do. What am I doing ?! ",
I
thought to myself.
"I AM is God " , "You are awareness. Awareness is
another name for you. " (Ramana Maharshi)
And ? What do you think I am doing ?
I don't listen to a child , this is what I am doing. I
post Ramana's teachings for about one year and a half
almost daily and I have to call somebody in Tel Aviv to
hear that God is also a child and I don't listen to a
child.
Bringing my thoughts to my children ....I suddenly
understood that I looked on them as children . But God
is there too ! Do I listen to him ?
Parental problem solved ?! I don't know.
_________________________________________________________________
MARK OTTER
Hi Gang,
This a commencement speech that someone sent me. I'm
posting it because I like it and I agree with it. (It's
sweet and I think that's a good thing.) I don't have
much to add to it, and I don't need any responses
unless you want to respond.
Love, Mark
Commencement speech
made by Pulitzer Prize-winning
author Anna Quindlen at Villanova University:
I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is
all I know. Don't ever confuse the two, your life and
your work.You will walk out of here this afternoon with
only one thing that no one else has. There will be
hundreds of people out there with your same degree;
there will be thousands of people doing what you want
to do for a living. But you will be the only person
alive who has sole custody of your life.Your particular
life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk,
or your life on a bus, or in a car, or at the computer.
Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your
heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.People
don't talk about the soul very much anymore. It's so
much easier to write a resume than to craft a spirit.
But a resume is a cold comfort on a winter night, or
when you're sad, or broke, or lonely, or when you've
gotten back the test results and they're not so
good.Here is my resume: I am a good mother to three
children. I have tried never to let my profession stand
in the way of being a good parent. I no longer consider
myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen.
I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I
have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I
am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without
them, there would be nothing to say to you today,
because I would be a cardboard cutout. But I call them
on the phone, and I meet them for lunch. I would be
rotten, or at best mediocre at my job, if those other
things were not true. You cannot be really first rate
at your work if your work is all you are.So here's what
I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life,
not a manic pursuit of the next promotion, the bigger
paycheck, the larger house.Do you think you'd care so
very much about those things if you blew an aneurysm
one afternoon or found a lump in your breast? Get a
life in which you notice the smell of salt water
pushing itself on a breeze over Seaside Heights, a life
in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk
circles over the water or the way a baby scowls with
concentration when she tries to pick up a Cheerio with
her thumb and first finger. Get a life in which you are
not alone. Find people you love and who love you. And
remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up
the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter.Get a life in
which you are generous. And realize that life is the
best thing ever and that you have no business taking it
for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you
want to spread it around. Take money you would have
spent on beers and give it to charity. Work in a soup
kitchen. Be a big brother or sister.All of you want to
do well. But if you do not do good too, then doing well
will never be enough.It is so easy to waste our lives,
our days, our hours, our minutes. It is so easy to take
for granted the color of our kids' eyes, the way the
melody in a symphony rises and falls and disappears and
rises again. It is so easy to exist instead of to live.
I learned to live many years ago. I learned to love the
journey, not the destination. I learned that it is not
a dress rehearsal and that today is the only guarantee
you get. I learned to look at all the good in the world
and try to give some of it back because I believed in
it, completely and utterly. And I tried to do that, in
part, by telling others what I had learned. By telling
them this:Consider the lilies of the field. Look at the
fuzz on a baby's ear. Read in the backyard with the sun
on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a
terminal illness, because if you do, you will live it
with joy and passion as it ought to be lived
-- Anna Quindlen
__________________________________________________________________
JULIE JOHNSON
from Dr.Hawkinsgroup list
Following are just a few of my notes from the lectures.
Again, these are my words interpreting what Dr H said,
however, some of them are quoted exactly. I will compile
another set on some of the other topics (karma,
suicide, etc) as time permits. Hope this is beneficial.
The lecture was so wonderful, I just wanted to share a
portion of it with all of you.
With much love & affecton to you all,
Julie Johnson
Notes from Dr. Hawkins
lecture, July 13, 2002, Sedona,
AZ
Dr H is writing a book calibrating the great theologians
& religious leaders. It is also about the nature of
God. He asked that we do some group calibrations on 21
questions regarding God and the universe. We numbered
off 1, 2, 1, 2. We asked each other if we could work
together. Dr H then began asking the questions. It was
very intense, the energy that was generated with all of
us calibrating at one time. We got very high-level
results, with only 1 or 2 2-person teams getting
negatives the entire time.
Appreciation of Beauty Dr H spoke at length on the value
of appreciating beauty in all its forms. Seeing the
sacredness and having a reverence for beauty. The
awareness of the beauty of God in all things. The great
cathedrals calibrate at 700. Going into one of these can
raise your level of consciousness, just by virtue of
its beauty, and the sacrifice it took over decades to
create it. This is one way into the 500's.
Vegetarianism: At certain levels it is karmically wrong
to eat meat, as it goes against your moral ideals. It
has to do with your intentionality. However, at higher
levels, you understand the purpose and mission of the
animal, which is to serve God by surrendering its life.
"For Thee, Oh Lord, I surrender my life to Thee." By
surrendering its life, the animal engages in an act of
worship, it reaches the potentiality of its own
divinity. By eating the meat, we are ensuring its
evolution and continued being. We are to thank the
animal for surrendering its life. You are not killing
the animal, as there is no such thing as death. It is
leaving its body, and does not realize it has died. It
just goes into another body. Over & over again, this is
the animal soul act of worship. Animal Grace.
Health: Your life duration is already determined. You
have no reason to be concerned with it, as it is already
set. You can, however, increase the longevity of your
karmic lifetime through spirituality. Pesticides are not
good for the body, but when compared with spiritual
power, it really is nothing to be concerned with. Your
spiritual power is much greater. Illness is cyclic. It
comes and it goes. It has a karmic life that must wear
out.
__________________________________________________________________
HEIDI
If one could sit perfectly still, for about 30 minutes,
one could readily see, just how itchy and twitchy the
body ordinarily is. Having never done so, one could
barely perceive it, let alone know it.
The results of all this random movement, is a huge loss
of energy, which again, is barely noticeable, except
that by some point in the day - earlier or later - one
simply feels more "tired" than one thinks one
"should"
feel, and now has a "complaint" to add to their bag of
complaints they carry around from day to day.
The same thing occurs in the mind. Having never really
stilled the thoughts for any appreciable period of time,
one scarcely realizes that what passes for "thinking",
in them, is just the same itchy/twitchy behaviour that
occurs in the body. But, because most people value and
believe the words flowing through their brains - when
they are actually flowing therein - they do not notice
the random motion of mind to be tiresome, worthy of
complaint, in the same way they do in the body. That is,
as can be witnessed herein, on this or any list in a
very demonstrable way, what "moves" someone to reply to
a post (and 99% of all posts are >reactions< to other's
posts), is the same "flow of energy" that results in
bodily itches and twitches, but to the "replier", the
itchey/twitchey behavior is much more "highly valued",
and therefore not seen as something to better control.
But, the results, at some point in the day - earlier or
later - is the same as in the body. One simply feels
more intellectually "tired" than one thinks one
"should"
feel, and now has another "complaint" to add to their
bag of complaints they carry around from day to day.
This situation only gets worse as one ages. One begins
to notice more and more, just how tired they ARE -
bodily, emotionally, mentally - but never realizes that
a lifetime of random energy flows throughout the body,
has resulted in this deplorable situation, and what's
worse, simply racks it up to, inevitable "old-age".
From one view, what's really going here, is that an
almost constant, life-time of unrestrained energy
out-flow - from all the centers of activity, body,
emotions, intellect - without a corresponding, almost
artificial self-mirroring, or self-observation, depletes
one's energy reserves, to the usual dismay of the
individual.
Someone asked: "What is there to talk about anyway?"
One
thing to talk about, is the easy-to-observe yet
never-talked-about compulsion to TALK. And, further, why
is it so difficult and almost painful to just "sit
STILL" and "shut UP"? Maybe the better question is
"Who
is it that wants to talk?"
Someone, belligerently replied: "Because Life is running
this show, kids - believe it or don't!"
_______________________________________________________________________
GENE POOLE
Camus' Sisyphus:
http://english.uindy.edu/english_331_docs/camus.htm
Another look at Sisyphus... a
little deeper than the
bare-bones version:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/9366/sisyph1.htm
DAVID
BOZZI
Why Psychiatry Has
Failed
We can fly to the moon and tap genetic secrets, but
human beings are as badly behaved and as miserable as
ever. Is it because shrinks rely too much on words? By
Peter Watson
http://www.newstatesman.co.uk/site.php3?newTemplate=NSArticle_NS&newTop=Section%3A+Front+Page&newDisplayURN=200207010018
______________________________________________________________________
DIANA AND SARLO
Can anyone assist?
I think it goes:
"A hairsbreadth of difference, and the universe is set
at odds."
Is this the Tao Te Ching?
Thanks
--diana
There are a couple of versions of this on
http://www.spiritwalk.org/hsinhsinming.htm, from
Seng t'san, different
translations:
The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.
When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.
and
The Ultimate Way is without difficulty; it's only averse
to discrimination: Just do not hate or love, and it will
be thoroughly clear. A hairsbreadth's miss is as the
distance between sky and earth.
--Sarlo
_______________________________________________________________________
HEIDI
"the Simpson's" is a Life-Humor-factory knockoff.
I've learned more from the Simpson's than I ever learned
from the 4thway, Advaita, or the Bible!