Ekam Sath

Even Bad things, Griefs,
sorrows and cursing

are a naughty myth
the single truth
being
even this shall pass away.

Krishnamachari Santhanam

Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagath

Let the eye see
Let the nose smell
Let the tongue taste
and the ears hear
and the skin feel
I am in a rented house
and this is the rent I pay to the land LORD.
Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagath.

Krishnamachari Santhanam

Mind

Mind is an obstacle in realising the self. Rituals and other kriyas can be a serious deterrent to realise the self at the later stages of sadhana. God/Self/Nirvana/Realisation whatever you may like to label it can not be known with intellect neither with the mind. It has to be truly experienced and felt and all this talking and writing will only lead to confusion as words are but thought forms and there are so many dimensions to the one reality.

Krishnamachari Santhanam.

Humility

Saint Narada is most known for creating mischief and quarrels between people (although the quarrels always lead to good things and makes everyone happy). Apart from his mischief making, however, Narada is also well known for his supreme musical talents - according to Hindu mythology, he introduced people to the gift of music. Narada always appears with a Veena in his hands and constantly chants the name of Lord Narayana. Even today, In India, when a religious discourse or a Yakshagana (a type of dance-drama or an opera) is held, the programs begin after invoking the name of Narada.

Saint Narada, wasn't without flaws, however. He was proud of his musical skills, but looked down on others who were less skilled than he was. Once he went to the kingdom of Lord Krishna. Krishna knew of Narada's arrogance and wanted to teach him a lesson on modesty and respect for others. Krishna asked Narada to play his Veena before an assembled audience in his court. Narada played the Veena brilliantly and delighted the audience with his music. At the end of his performance, Narada turned to Krishna and waited for the God to express his appreciation of Narada's music. Krishna, instead, turned to Hanuman, the monkey God, who was sitting in the audience, and asked him what he thought of Narada's music. Narada, unaware of Hanuman's divine status, was very unhappy that Krishna, instead of expressing his appreciation, sought the opinion of a mere monkey. "What does a monkey know about music?" Narada thought.


Krishna reading the mind of Narada said, "Oh Narada, I understand your concern, but first, let us find out if this monkey really knows anything about music. Give him your Veena and let him play it." Narada became even angrier because musicians consider their musical instruments sacred. Narada didn't want to share his Veena with anyone, especially not a monkey. He couldn't refuse Krishna's request however, and reluctantly handed the Veena to Hanuman. Hanuman began to play the Veena and sang beautiful hymns in praise of Lord Rama. The Monkey God's singing and playing was so sincere and so devoted that the entire audience was mesmerized. Even the great musical genius Narada was compelled to appreciate Hanuman's music. Being a person of enormous wisdom, Narada began to realize the lesson that Krishna was teaching him. Narada asked Krishna's forgiveness for not respecting the greatness of Hanuman and for underestimating Hanuman because he was a monkey.

Be Yourself. Never imitate.

One day, Saint Gorakhnath and his followers were walking down in a forest, when they happened to pass a dirty lake.
Saint Gorakhnath saw a few small fishes in the lake. So, he stopped and then bending forward towards the lake,
he caught a small fish with his hands and then gulped it down his wide open mouth.
His followers, who were watching his actions carefully were really taken aback to
see their spiritual master consuming non-vegetarian – Fish !!!

So, they thought that if our master can have fish, so why cant we too?
And in turn they all looked for fishes in the dirty lake and like their master gulped a few down their throats.

Saint Gorakhnath who was silently watching the antics of his followers, then started moving ahead and so did his followers.
On the entire way Saint Gorakhnath was quite.
Finally after walking down quite a distance they reached a fresh water lake.
Seeing the fresh water lake, Saint Gorakhnath walked towards it and on reaching there,
he did some kriyas and out came the small fish alive which he had consumed earlier.
He spat out the fish into the fresh water lake and then looked towards his followers
and said - "NOW YOU ALL TOO DO THE SAME ! "....which of course none of the followers could do !!!

Dosa Meditation

A young boy of 7 years old came to Ramana and asked him, "Can you explain to me what is meditation?Whenever I ask my parents they tell me that I need not bother about it now."I will come to know when I grow up." Ramana said," I shall tell you,but you sit quietly by my side."

A little later someone brought a carrier full of Dosa ( a preparation of rice and lentils-something like a pancake) and placed it before Ramana who would not eat anything unless equal quantities are distributed to all the people present. Ramana took a small piece himself, gave one full Dosa to the boy by his side in a leaf and ordered the rest to be distributed to the devotees present.

He told the boy," Look here,till i raise my finger and say "Hoon" you will go on eating and you should not finish it before I give the signal. The moment I give the signal hoon no portion of the Dosa should reamin and you should stop eating.

The boy was looking with concentration on Ramana for the signal and was eating in big pieces first and later in small bits.Suddenly the expected signal came. The boy put the entire balance Dosa in the mouth and atopped eating. Ramana then said,"what you now did is the process of meditation.You were looking at me all the time but were eating the Dosa. Similarly keep your mind onepointed on God but continue with your normal duties."

Let your normal activities like walking,eating,talking etc., go on but your mind should be concentrated on God all the time. That is Meditation.

Krishnamachari Santhanam

Advaithic simplicity

To be frank all this advaitha talk without a deep conviction of the truth behind it can be the worst bane. There are many who just read JK and Uk and don't understand a fig about the reality behind it , so it becomes a play of words like there is no you, no me everything is bliss etc., Major waste of time.

My Master explains Advaitha simply by way of this parable.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa taught through simple stories and parables, the loftiest truths for an easy grasp of it.

One such story was about a clever villager. One of the common trades in the Indian villages in those days was dyeing. One takes a white cloth to a dyer and has it dyed in the desired colour by having the cloth dipped in the mixture of the respective vat.

One day a dyer who travelled from place to place set foot in the village. However this dyer sought to a strange way of dyeing. He just had one vat but produced multiple colours according to the preference of the villagers. It was supposed to be a magical tub in which he soaked the cloths. People were amazed with the same tub producing different colour cloths. One clever villager approached the dyer with his piece of cloth and asked him to colour the cloth according to the colour of the dye in his tub!

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa using the above story said that God gives everyone different things according to their preference. However if one would want to know Him, one would have to be intelligent like the clever villager.

God has no Name Or form or Colour. He does not belong to any relegion,caste or creed. He can not be known by the intellect or dissected by the mind. He is pure consciousness,Awareness and bliss.

You can feel him and grasp him. If you try to know him through your mind alone you will fail. That is why even great seers like Ramana Maharishi kept the fire of devotion intact in them as without that the heart will not have the mosture of Love for the seeds of Advaitha to germinate.