Samsara

 

Hinduism Many Paths to One God   Reincarnation, Samsara and Karma Hindus believe in reincarnation - a belief that the soul is eternal and lives many lifetimes, in one body after another. The soul is sometimes born in a human body, sometimes in an animal body and sometimes in a plant body, etc.. Hindus believe that all forms of life contain a soul, and all souls have the chance to experience life in different forms. The Hindu tradition perceives the existence of cyclical nature of the universe and everything within it. The cosmos follows one cycle within a framework of cycles. It may have been created and reach an end, but it represents only one turn in the perpetual "wheel of time", which revolves infinitely through successive cycles of creation and destruction. Within this cycle of creation and destruction of the universe, the soul (atma) also follows its own version of cycle called samsara, the cycle of rebirth in which individual souls are repeatedly reincarnated. The Sanskrit word samsara means "the repeated passing of souls through different worlds- gross or subtle." Thus, samsara means going through the cycle of repeated births and deaths. Under the influence of karma, the soul moves upwards and downwards on the wheel of rebirth, the round of birth, death and rebirth undergone by all living beings. It is a cycle of transmigration from one living form into another. The One Entity-blissful, entire and all pervading-alone exists, and nothing else; he who constantly realizes this knowledge is freed from death and the sorrow of the world-wheel. -- Natchintanai Only by a tranquil mind does one destroy all action, good or bad.Once the self is pacified, one abides in the Self and attains everlasting bliss. If the mind becomes as firmly established in Brahman as it is usually attached to the sense objects, who, then, will not be released from bondage? -- Yajur Veda The Life of my life, whose nature 'tis to hold the fire in His hand, essence of Truth of purest gold, who neither comes nor goes, the Mighty One who doth all souls pervade-in this great world, for those who thus meditate on Him, all future births will end. -- Natchintanai The concept of samsara is first mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The belief in samsara is connected with the Hindu belief in karma. The law of karma states that just as every action has a cause, so actions have reactions that are impossible to escape. Karma is the cause of our particular destiny, the law of nature that ensures that we become what we think or do. Misfortunes in our present life are the result of acts that we have committed in the past. Suicide, according to the law of karma, is not therefore an option: karma cannot be escaped or deferred and its effects will only be worse if we try to avoid it. When a caterpillar has come to the end of a blade of grass, it reaches out to another blade, and draws itself over to it. In the same way the soul, having coming to the end of one life, reaches out to another body, and draws itself over to it. A goldsmith takes an old ornament. and fashions it into a new and more beautiful one. In the same way the soul. as it leaves one body, looks for a new body which is more beautiful. The soul is divine. But through ignorance people often identify the soul with the mind, the senses and the emotions. Some people even identify the soul with the elements of earth, water, air. space and fire. As people act, so they become. If their actions are good. they become good; if their actions are bad, they become bad. Good deeds purify those who perform them; bad deeds pollute those who perform them. Thus we may say that we are what we desire. Our will springs from our desires; our actions spring from our will; and what we are, springs from our actions. We may conclude, therefore, that the state of our desires at the time of death determines our next life; we return to earth in order to satisfy those desires. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:4.3-6a Our actions in our present lives determine our fate in the lives that follow, and consciousness itself is believed to be a karmic memory, contained by vijnana, the higher conscious mind, throughout the many incarnations of atman, the soul. Desire is the cause of karma, and it is because we still have desires to operate in the realm of action, to live normal lives in the world, that we are constantly reborn into the cycle of samsara, the endless chain of reincarnation. Death is a key part of this cycle and is treated with specific importance. Death is the last samskara (cycle of life) referred to as the 'last sacrifice'. The tree of eternity has its roots in the sky, and its branches reach down to earth. It is God; it is the immortal soul. The whole universe comes from God; his energy burns like fire, and his power reverberates like thunder , in every part of the universe. In honor of God the sun shines, the clouds rain, and the winds blow. Death itself goes about its business in fear of God. If you fail to see God in the present life, then after death you must take on another body; if you see God, then you will break free from the cycle of birth and death. God can be seen, like the reflection in a mirror, in a pure heart. When the senses are calm and the mind is motionless, then your heart is pure; you have reached the highest state of consciousness, in which you are unified with God. If this state of consciousness is firm and secure, so it can never be bro- ken, then you are free. To calm the senses and still the mind, you must abandon the self. You must renounce 'I' and 'me' and 'mine'. You must suppress every desire that surges around the heart. You must untie every knot of attachment. A hundred and one lights radiate from the heart. One of them shines upwards to the crown of the head. This points the way to immortality. Every other light points to death. Katha Upanishad 6.1-5. 10-11, 13-16 The law of karma governs the universe and all beings within it; it acts impersonally and binds each individual soul (atman) to the world and in addition to the cycle of transmigration. brahmanda bhramite kona bhagyavan jiva guru-krsna-prasade paya bhakti-lata-bija "According to their karma, all living entities are wandering throughout the entire universe. Some of them are being elevated to the upper planetary systems, and some are going down into the lower planetary systems. Out of many millions of wandering living entities, one who is very fortunate gets an opportunity to associate with a bona fide spiritual master by the grace of Krishna. By the mercy of both Krishna and the spiritual master, such a person receives the seed of the creeper of devotional service." Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya 19.151 According to the Bhagavad Gita, the soul assumes bodies, or sheaths, as long as it still yearns to live and act. Only by completely renouncing action and the external illusion of the world can we be free of karma, and thus find moksha, or release from reincarnation. However, Bhagavad Gita also teaches that our actions need not necessarily produce a negative karmic result if we act disinterestedly, so that we are unconcerned about the fruits or rewards of our deeds. Disciplined action is the way of truth (dharma) and the path to brahman (the godhead). By offering our every action, thought, and word to brahman, the ill effects of karma are nullified and the atman (the soul) is free of egotistical desire. You cannot attain perfection by merely shirking action. Indeed it is impossible even for a moment to be utterly inactive. All living beings are driven to action by their own natures.  Those who withdraw from action, while allowing their minds to dwell on sensual pleasures, are deluding themselves; they can never follow the path to perfection. Fulfill your duties; action is better than inaction. Indeed, you should strive to maintain the health and strength of your body. Yet selfish action will enslave you. Act selflessly, without any thought of personal gain. When human beings were created, the obligation of selfless action was also created. God promised that through selfless action human beings would fulfill their deepest desires. Good people, who share the fruits of their work, are freed from all their sins.   But those who keep the fruits of their work for themselves, consume sin. Every selfless action is inspired by God; he is present in every good deed. All life turns on this truth. Gita 10, 13-16 All worldly existence is subject to the cycle of samsara, which is thought of as having neither beginning nor end. According to Hinduism the goal of human life is to be free or liberated from repeated births and deaths. Such liberation is called moksha or mukti in Sanskrit. Moksha can be attained only through God-realization. Moksha is the end of the death and rebirth cycle and is classed as the fourth and ultimate artha (goal). It is the transcendence of all arthas. It is achieved by overcoming ignorance and desires. It is a paradox in the sense that overcoming desires also includes overcoming the desire for moksha itself. It can be achieved both in this life and after death. Hinduism teaches that the ultimate solution to life's basic problems is to be released from karma and gain freedom from this cycle of rebirth. Consider those who in the course of many lives on earth have become free from desire. By this we mean that all their desires have found fulfillment within the soul itself. They do not die as others do. Since they understand God, they merge with God. 'When all the desires clinging to the heart fall away, the mortal becomes immortal. When all the knots of desire strangling the heart are loosened, liberation occurs. As the snake discards its skin, leaving it lifeless on an anthill, so the soul free from desire discards the body, and unites with God who is eternal life and boundless light. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 4:4.6b Resource: 1sthollistic.com

Samadhi: The Height of Divine Consciousness

 By Sri Chinmoy

Above the toil of life my soul is a bird of fire winging the Infinite.

Samadhi is a spiritual state of consciousness. There are various kinds of samadhi. Among the minor samadhis, savikalpa samadhi happens to be the highest. Beyond savikalpa comes nirvikalpa samadhi, but there is a great gulf between these two: they are two radically different samadhis. Again, there is something even beyond nirvikalpa samadhi called sahaja samadhi.

In savikalpa samadhi, for a short period of time you lose all human consciousness. In this state the conception of time and space is altogether different. For an hour or two hours you are completely in another world. You see there that almost everything is done. Here in this world there are many desires still unfulfilled in yourself and in others. Millions of desires are not fulfilled, and millions of things remain to be done. But when you are in savikalpa samadhi, you see that practically everything is done; you have nothing to do. You are only an instrument. If you are used, well and good; otherwise, things are all done. But from savikalpa samadhi everybody has to return to ordinary consciousness.
Even in savikalpa samadhi there are grades. Just as there are brilliant students and poor students in the same class in school, so also in savikalpa samadhi some aspirants reach the highest grade, while less aspiring seekers reach a lower rung of the ladder, where everything is not so clear and vivid as on the highest level.

In savikalpa samadhi there are thoughts and ideas coming from various places, but they do not affect you. While you are meditating, you remain undisturbed, and your inner being functions in a dynamic and confident manner. But when you are a little higher, when you have become one with the soul in nirvikalpa samadhi, there will be no ideas or thoughts at all. I am trying to explain it in words, but the consciousness of nirvikalpa samadhi can never be adequately explained or expressed. I am trying my best to tell you about this from a very high consciousness, but still my mind is expressing it. But in nirvikalpa samadhi there is no mind; there is only infinite peace and bliss. There nature's dance stops, and the knower and the known become one. There you enjoy a supremely divine, all-pervading, self-amorous ecstasy. You become the object of enjoyment, you become the enjoyer and you become the enjoyment itself.

When you enter into nirvikalpa samadhi, the first thing you feel is that your heart is larger than the universe itself. Ordinarily you see the world around you, and the universe seems infinitely larger than you are. But this is because the world and the universe are perceived by the limited mind. When you are in nirvikalpa samadhi, you see the universe as a tiny dot inside your vast heart.
In nirvikalpa samadhi there is infinite bliss. Bliss is a vague word to most people. They hear that there is something called bliss, and some people say that they have experienced it, but most individuals have no firsthand knowledge of it. When you enter into nirvikalpa samadhi, however, you not only feel bliss, but actually grow into that bliss.

The third thing you feel in nirvikalpa samadhi is power. All the power of all the occultists put together is nothing compared with the power you have in nirvikalpa samadhi. But the power that you can take from samadhi to utilise on earth is infinitesimal compared with the entirety.

Nirvikalpa samadhi is the highest samadhi that most realised spiritual Masters attain. It lasts for a few hours or a few days, and then one has to come down. When one comes down, what happens? Very often one forgets his own name and age; one cannot speak or think properly. But through continued practice, gradually one becomes able to come down from nirvikalpa samadhi and immediately function in a normal way. Generally, when one enters into nirvikalpa samadhi, one does not want to come back into the world again. If one stays there for eighteen or twenty-one days, there is every possibility that the soul will leave the body for good. There were spiritual Masters in the hoary past who attained nirvikalpa samadhi and did not come down. They attained their highest samadhi, but found it impossible to enter into the world atmosphere again and work like human beings. One cannot operate in the world while in that state of consciousness; it is simply impossible. But there is a divine dispensation. If the Supreme wants a particular soul to work here on earth, even after twenty-one or twenty-two days, the Supreme can take that individual into was another channel of dynamic, divine consciousness and have him return to the earth-plane to act.

 Sahaja samadhi is by far the highest type of samadhi. In this samadhi one is in the highest consciousness but, at the same time, one is able to work in the gross physical world. One maintains the experience of nirvikalpa samadhi while simultaneously entering into earthly activities. One has become the soul and, at the same time, is utilising the body as a perfect instrument. In sahaja samadhi one does the usual things that an ordinary human being does. But in the inmost recesses of the heart one is surcharged with divine illumination. When one has this sahaja samadhi, one becomes the Lord and Master of Reality. One can go at his sweet will to the Highest and then come down to the earth-consciousness to manifest.

Even after achieving the highest type of realisation, on very rare occasions is anyone blessed with sahaja samadhi. Very few spiritual Masters have achieved this state. For sahaja samadhi, the Supreme's infinite Grace is required. Sahaja samadhi comes only when one has established inseparable oneness with the Supreme, or when one wants to show, on rare occasions, that he is the Supreme. He who has achieved sahaja samadhi and remains in this samadhi, consciously and perfectly manifests God at every second, and is thus the greatest pride of the Transcendental Supreme.

The Puranas

The Puranas
By Dr.E.Krishnamacharya, M.A., Ph. D

This is an introduction to the Puranic lore, which explains the many intricate points of the features of the Purana literature. This is of real importance for those who want to study them for their inner significance which is artistically hidden in their symbols and allegories. It is precise to say that these symbols and allegories explain the various scientific aspects of our very existence on this planet.

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The Puranic literature covers the major portion of the ancient wisdom of India. The main object of the Puranas is to render the proper import of the Vedas in the form of the description of some historical events symbolised and allegorised to suit the need of explaining the various truths of the Veda. Veda forms the centre of the circumference of the basic human consciousness and it is better understood through the Puranas. The Vedic literature is itself so extensive and compact that it requires a specialist to comprehend and provide the import to others. To an ordinary reader, it appears quite like a bush of valuable, yet unapproachable truths. Here the Puranas come to our rescue. In lucid language they give out the import of the whole Vedic literature. They narrate, describe, explain, exemplify, symbolise and divulge the Vedic literature in an engagingly magnificent manner. They are to the reader like the surface of the still waters of a deep lake in the bosom of which we can gauge the mysteries of the paramount heights of the Vedic skies, reflected.

The Puranic author finds the gateway between the cosmic and the mundane worlds. According to him, the behaviour of the whole cluster of the universes is cyclic and these cycles render a formula. To him the history is a materialisation of the cyclic mysteries of the universe. The author imbeds this formula in a historical incident. A detailed description of the seasons, necessarily imbeds the formula of the year in it. So also the detailed version of a Purana imbeds the cosmic wisdom enough to reveal the Puranic formula. This formula is quite helpful for us to approach the Vedic import with ease.

The very composition of a Purana means an epic. Any Purana is composed according to the given formula which imbeds five essential features:

1) The unfolding of a cosmos into an egg of various universes with all the details of the evolution of the solar systems and planets thereof. This aspect is called “SARGA”.

2) The stages of creation in its secondary stages called “PRATISARGA”.

3) The order of evolution of the creative intelligences descending upon this earth, which is called “VAMSA”.

4) The nodes and demarcation of time during the process of creation which is called “MANVANTARA”.

5) The dynasties of the divine intelligences descending as ruling forces from the solar and lunar centres. This is called “RAJAVAMSANUCHARITA”. The plan contains a microscopic as well as a bird’s eye view of the whole expanse of one creation from its emanation to its merging.

A few words about the authors of the Puranas. Parasara, the son of Sakti, is the first author, who compiled the Vishnu Purana. He is the grandson of Vasistha. Before him the Veda was in its hay day; when the Puranic keys were used orally by the Gurus to divulge the secrets of the Veda. Parasara could foresee the Kali age in which the human beings have their comprehension blurred by mere intelligence and lose synthesising power in the light of the analytical faculty. Hence he could find the necessity of imbedding the puranic keys from the oral tradition in the form of written books. He was well versed in the vedic lore and was a pastmaster of the eighteen cosmic formulae which he edited in the form of the Vishnu Purana. His son Veda Vyasa developed the remaining seventeen formulae into separate books elaborately. Then he also composed the grand Itihasa, the Mahabharata, the scope and the field of which is dazzling to the human comprehension. This book contains the synthesis of the eighteen Puranas in its eighteen books. It also contains the Bhagavadgita of eighteen chapters, which covers the total import in the grand synthesis which is known as Yoga. In the end, Veda Vyasa found his work too intellectual and involved to be carefully followed. He felt a sense of dissatisfaction with what he had contributed to posterity. In a nutshell, he composed the aphorisms of Brahma, but again, he found them too stiff and concise to be easily followed. Then he received a new inspiration from Narada and composed the grand and final book on the Vedas with a particular stress on the Sama Veda. It is the Bhagavata Purana.

For the information of the reader, we enumerate the eighteen Puranas hereunder:

  1)    MATSYA Purana or the formula of the great Fish God.

  2)    MARKANDEYA Purana or the allegory of the Man who survives the deluge.

  3)    BHAVISHYA Purana or the key to the future.

  4)    DEVI BHAGAVATA or the formula of the Divine Essence as the Mother.

  5)    BRAHMA Purana or the formula of the self-expanding principle.

  6)    BRAHMANDA Purana or the formula of the Cosmic Egg.

  7)    BRAHMA VAIVARTA or the formula of the precipitation of the expanding principle into the universes.

  8)    VAMANA Purana, the formula of the Physical Dwarf as a potential God.

  9)    VAYU Purana, the formula of the Cosmic Pulsation.

10)    VARAHA Purana or the formula of the Great Boar which lifts up the Divine Essence     from passive nothing to active something. 

11)    AGNI Purana, the formula of the Mystic Fire as the Light  of the Vedas.

12)    NARADA Purana, the formula of the Messenger of Gods.

13)    PADMA Purana, the formula of the expanding lotus-pattern.

14)    LINGA  Purana, the formula of the Divine Symbol of Abstraction.

15)    GARUDA Purana, the formula of the Greatest Cycle represented as the bird of the eternal periodicities.

16)    KURMA Purana, the formula of the stellar dome.

17)    SKANDA Purana, the allegory of the Celibate Hero.

18)    VISHNU Purana, the formula of the Consciousness of Pervasion.

Of all these, the Vishnu Purana is the first and all-comprehensive. It contains all the eighteen formulae, edited into the synthesis of the eighteen formulas.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into  fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into every widening thought and action.

    Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore, “Gitanjali”.