New Member Introduction: Taina Kilpiainen

[S. V. Subrahmanian]

Ms. Taina Kilpiainen,

Shri Jaldharji wrote:

>I hope you (and all the people who have recently joined the list) find it
>useful and informative.  I hope you don't feel shy about asking questions
>even if you think they might be trivial.  One drawback to this list or he
>Internet in general is that it cannot take the place of the personal
>guidance of a Sadguru.  I don't want to discourage you but this could be a
>big problem if you have no access to that sort of thing.

I am not contradicting what is above, but I would like to add a few lines
that I feel from within.

One day I was praying in front of Shiva and was asking him that he help me
to know myself.  And all of a sudden a thought cropped into my mind - I am
asking someone outside of me to help me know myself.  Do I ask someone my
name ?  Who can know me better than myself ?  Based on these thoughts I
write the following.

The Self is the Brahman.  It is supreme.  It is your Sadguru.  Don't wait
for a Guru to come into your life.  Treat your own Self as your Guru and
approach "IT" with humility and worshipful attitude.  For "IT" is the true
Guru (Sadguru).  You don't BECOME Brahman after you meet a Guru, you already
are the Brahman.  It is that Brahman that manisfests itself as a physical
Guru or sacred texts or noble thoughts.  When the mind is turned towards
God, the mind itself will slowly lead one towards God, then the mind itself
can act as a guide towards God.

One day I was overwhelmed with this idea and I wrote a small poem, I shall
share it with you:

Self is God, Self is Guru
Abide forerver, O mind! in the Self

Trust in the Self, O mind,
Hearken its wisdom call
It seeks naught, needs naught,
Fears naught at all.

>From Self does thought rise
And into Self does it fall
Eternal witness, it is the
Screen behind images all.

Self is silent, Self is solitude,
Self is solemn and pure
It is the Love by which
All three worlds endure.

In every grief, every despair,
Every anguish filled scream
Hear the silent call of the Self
To awaken from this worldly dream.

Self is the compassionate
Wish-fulfilling tree
It holds the key that will
Make us ever free.

Ever existing, all knowing,
Bliss is it
Renouncing the world,
Abide forever in it.

Self is God, Self is Guru
Abide forerver, O mind! in the Self

-------------------------------

Shri Jaldharji wrote:

But even then
>there is always hope.  Krishna Bhagawan says in the Gita that even those
>who try yoga (where yoga stands for the spiritual disciplines in
>general) and fail will be reborn into situations where it is easier to
>advance spiritually and will eventually attain the final release.  The
>question to ask oneself is "Am I a little further along than I was
>yesterday?"  If there is progress, it is a victory and the speed at which
>the progress occurs doesn't matter.

Shri Jaldharji, please permit me to express a different opinion here.  I
have seen your earlier postings - you are very erudite and worthy of
respect.  Please pardon me for saying differently, for with my current state
of maturity I feel this way (maybe I am wrong, but I feel so):

Smt. Taina, I do not recommend doing spiritual practices with a view to
attaining liberation in some distant birth or after accumulating lots of
merits or slowly progressing.  Undue haste is to be avoided true, but there
should be any slack in the intensity of effort.

What helps most in Sadhana is not the exact choice of the Sadhana, but in
the sincerity and intensity.  We should undertake the quest with the spirit
of knowing here and now, not in a distant future.   When Siddharta the
prince went to the Bodhi tree he said to himself:

Beneath this banyan bough
I take this sacred vow:
Let derma(skin), bones, body dissolve,
Until the mystery of life I solve
>From beneath this tree,
I shall never be free.

He emerged out as Buddha.  Sri Ramakrishna also said that unless one yearns
for God as much as the fish would yearn for water when it has been removed
from it, one cannot hope to attain God.  Like the watchmen wait for dawn, or
the deaf to hear a song, or a deer that pants for water, yearn for God, that
alone can bestow His Grace.

Krishna's promise is for people inspite of the above, not instead of the
above.  It cannot be used by people to slowly phase out their Sadhana over
many births, in a cleverly planned way.

With love,

S. V. Subrahmanian
svs_shankara at hotmail.com
---------------------------------------
Help ever.  Hurt never.

________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

Archives : http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l.html
Help     : Email to listmaster at lists.advaita-vedanta.org
Options  : To leave the list send a mail to
           listserv at lists.advaita-vedanta.org with
           SIGNOFF ADVAITA-L in the body.