YOGA

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GREAT WORDS

Question: Can householders attain liberation?

Amma: Yes,while remaining in the house, they should live for God. It is possible to carry on a spiritual life while living in the world. The only thing is that one must perform actions selflessly without any attachment. One should not worry about the past or the future. Live in the present, surrendering your actions and their fruit at the feet of the Lord. Perform your duties as sincerely as possible, keeping in mind that all is entrusted by God. Be satisfied with whatever is provided by the Supreme. Anyhow, when we act with an attitude of surrender and devotion, it will bear the best fruit. But do not confuse your mind thinking of the fruit. If you perform your duties in the present, sincerely and wholeheartedly, considering it as your duty entrusted by God, then the future will become your friend. Live today with dedication then tomorrow will be your friend. Get rid of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ and consider everything as God’s.

-AMMA

www.amritapuri.org

GREAT WORDS

You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? O man, because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.

-Sreramkrishna

SANSKRIT RELATED

MUSIC RELATED

 Sopanasangeetham is a musical art form performed with the accompaniment of Idaykka especially in the temples of Kerala. Sopanasangeetham is recited only when the inner sanctum sanctorum of the temple is closed for customary ceremonial offerings to gods and goddesses.

Only the ‘Maaraar’ and ‘Pothuval’ community had the privilege of doing this. It is also sung with the accompaniment of another musical instrument named ‘chengila’. It is customary to sing this song, from the time the inner sanctum sanctorum closes to the time it opens, in praise of the respective god or goddesses, the temple is dedicated to. The lyrics are either in Malayalam or Sanskrit. The 24 songs in ‘Geethagovintham’,which is known to be India’s first light music composition.

YOGA SCIENCE

The First Steps.

Raja-Yoga is divided into eight steps. The first is Yama -- non - killing, truthfulness, non - stealing, continence, and non - receiving of any gifts.

Next is Niyama -- cleanliness, contentment, austerity, study, and self -

surrender to God. Then comes Asana, or posture; Pranayama, or control of

Prana; Pratyahara, or restraint of the senses from their objects; Dharana, or fixing the mind on a spot; Dhyana, or meditation; and Samadhi, or

Super consciousness. The Yama and Niyama, as we see, are moral trainings; without these as the basis no practice of Yoga will succeed. As these two become established, the Yogi will begin to realise the fruits of his practice; without these it will never bear fruit. A Yogi must not think of injuring anyone, by thought, word, or deed. Mercy shall not be for men alone, but shall go beyond, and embrace the whole world.

The next step is Asana, posture. A series of exercises, physical and mental, is to be gone through every day, until certain higher states are reached. Therefore it is quite necessary that we should find a posture in which we can remain long. That posture which is the easiest for one should be the one chosen. For thinking, a certain posture may be very easy for one man, while to another it may be very difficult. We will find later on that during the study of these psychological matters a good deal of activity goes on in the body. Nerve currents will have to be displaced and given a new channel. New sorts of vibrations will begin,the whole constitution will be remodeled, as it were. But the main part of the activity will lie along the spinal column, so that the one thing necessary for the posture is to hold the spinal column free, sitting erect, holding the three parts -- the chest, neck, and head -- in a straight line. Let the whole weight of the body be supported by the ribs, and then you have an easy natural posture, with the spine straight. You will easily see that you cannot think very high thoughts with the chest in. This portion of the Yoga is a little similar to the Hatha - yoga which deals entirely with the physical body, its aim being to make the physical body very strong. We have nothing to do with it here, because its practices are very difficult, and cannot be learned in a day, and, after all, do not lead to much spiritual growth. Many of these practices you will find in Delsarte and other teachers, such as placing the body in different postures, but the object in these is physical, not psychological. There is not one muscle in the body over which a man cannot establish a perfect control. The heart can be made to stop or go on at his bidding, and each part of the organism can be similarly controlled.

The result of this branch of Yoga is to make men live long; health is the chief idea, the one goal of the Hatha-Yogi. He is determined not to fall sick, and he never does. He lives long; a hundred years is nothing to him; he is quite young and fresh when he is 150, without one hair turned grey. But that is all. A banyan tree lives sometimes 5000 years, but it is a banyan tree and nothing more. So, if a man lives long, he is only a healthy animal. One or two ordinary lessons of the Hatha-Yogis are very useful. For instance, some of you will find it a good thing for headaches to drink cold water through the nose as soon as you get up in the morning; the whole day your brain will be nice and cool, and you will never catch cold. It is very easy to do; put your nose into the water, draw it up through the nostrils and make a pump action in the throat.

                           -Swami vivekanandha

GREAT WORDS

God laughs on two occasions. He laughs when the physician says to the patient’s mother, ‘Don’t be afraid, mother; I shall certainly cure your boy.’ God laughs, saying to Himself, ‘I am going to take his life, and this man says he will save it!’ The physician thinks he is the master, forgetting that God is the Master. God laughs again when two brothers divide their land with a string, saying to each other, ‘This side is mine and that side is yours.’ He laughs and says to Himself, ‘The whole universe belongs to me, but they say they own this portion or that portion.’

   -Sre ramkrishna

KRISHNATTOM

Krishnattom-by P.K.S.Raja-part-1

Krishnagiti was written between 1655 A.D. and 1658 A.D. by the then Zamorin Raja of Calicut, Manavedan Raja. During this period, both Vilwamangalam Swamiyar and the Zamorin Manavedan Raja were staying at Guruvayur. Vilwamangalam Swamiyar was such an ardent devotee of lord Guruvayurappan that he could see the lord in flesh and blood whenever he wanted. One day the Zamorin requested the Swamiyar to help him and show him the Lord. Swamiyar replied that before committing anything he will have to consult Guruvayurappan and get his consent. The next day the Swamiyar told him that Guruvayurappan has given his consent and the Zamorin can see Guruvayurappan playing in the early hours of the morning at the platform of the Elanji tree. When as per this agreement, the Zamorin saw the real Guruvayurappan, he was so excited that he forgot all the environment and decorum, rushed to the Elanji tree and embraced the lord. The lord immediately disappeared saying ' Vilwamangalam did not tell me that this will happen ' . However, during the melee, the Zamorin got one peacock feather from the head gear of Lord Krishna. Then probably to atone for the inadvertent discourtesy shown by him to the Lord, he immediately went to the sanctum sanctorum of Lord Guruvayurappan and pledged that with that feather of peacock, he will make a headgear , compose Krishnagiti in the form of a dance drama and dedicate it to Lord Guruvayurappan. Accordingly with single minded application, he wrote Krishnagiti in eight cantos, and without any assistance did the choreography, all the costume make up including Krishna's headgear, facial make up, details of instruments for the background music and prepared the list of all and sundry articles required for staging the dance drama. He himself selected the artists for the Arangetam and trained them to perform the dance drama. It is to be noted that the Arangetam of all the eight plays viz., Avatharam, Kaliyamardanam, Rasakrida, Kamsavadham , Swayamvaram, Banayuddham, Vividavadham and Swargarohanam were performed near the sanctum sanctorum of the Guruvayur Temple. On the ninth day, Avatharam was repeated as the Zamorin felt that it was not auspicious to end the series with the demise of Lord Krishna. This practice of performing Avatharam after Swargarohanam is being continued to this day.

Originally the performance of Krishnattam was strictly restricted to the Guruvayur Temple, palaces of the members of the Zamorin's family , temples and houses of Namboodiri Brahmins within the jurisdiction of the Zamorin's empire. Performances outside the jurisdiction of Zamorin were strictly prohibited. Only recently, about thirty to forty years ago this restriction was removed. Now it can be performed anywhere in the world. In fact a few years ago the troupe went even to Europe and gave performances. Also the Zamorins used to take the original headgear prepared by Manavedan Zamorin along with them when they went out on important occasions, particularly when they went to fight with the neighbouring rulers. But this was lost at the time of invasion of Hyder Ali.

The Zamorin adopted in Krishnattam many features from the dance dramas which were prevalent in Kerala at the time of introduction of Krishnattam. These were Koodiyattam and Ashtapadiyattam. Of this Koodiyattam is most important and is still prevalent in Kerala.

ONAM MESSAGE

“maaveli naadu vaaneedum kaalam
maanusherellaavarum onnupole”

The time when Mahabali ruled the country,
All of mankind lived as one.

GRIHASTHARAMA

Question: Can householders attain liberation?

Amma: Yes, while remaining in the house, they should live for God. It is possible to carry on a spiritual life while living in the world. The only thing is that one must perform actions selflessly without any attachment. One should not worry about the past or the future. Live in the present, surrendering your actions and their fruit at the feet of the Lord. Perform your duties as sincerely as possible, keeping in mind that all is entrusted by God. Be satisfied with whatever is provided by the Supreme. Anyhow, when we act with an attitude of surrender and devotion, it will bear the best fruit. But do not confuse your mind thinking of the fruit. If you perform your duties in the present, sincerely and wholeheartedly, considering it as your duty entrusted by God, then the future will become your friend. Live today with dedication then tomorrow will be your friend. Get rid of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ and consider everything as God’s.

-Satguru --Mata Amritanandamayi Devi

GREAT WORDS

There are three kinds of devotees: superior, mediocre, and inferior. The inferior devotee says, ‘God is out there.’ According to him God is different from His creation. The mediocre devotee says: ‘God is the Antaryami, the Inner Guide. God dwells in everyone’s heart.’ The mediocre devotee sees God in the heart. But the superior devotee sees that God alone has become everything; He alone has become the twenty-four cosmic principles. He finds that everything, above and below, is filled with God.

                                             -Sreramkrishna.

MOHANIYATTOM

                                      
                            

BEGINER YOGA POSE

VEDANTA

MAYA AND FREEDOM

Swami vivekanandha

(Delivered in London, 22nd October 1896)

 Part-1

"Trailing clouds of glory we come," says the poet. Not all of us come as trailing clouds of glory however; some of us come as trailing black fogs; there can be no question about that. But every one of us comes into this world to fight, as on a battlefield. We come here weeping to fight our way, as well as we can, and to make a path for ourselves through this infinite ocean of life; forward we go, having long ages behind us and an immense expanse beyond. So  on we go, till death comes and takes us off the field — victorious or defeated, we do not know. And this is Mâyâ.

Hope is dominant in the heart of childhood. The whole world is a golden vision to the opening eyes of the child; he thinks his will is supreme. As he moves onward, at every step nature stands as an adamantine wall, barring his future progress. He may hurl himself against it again and again, striving to break through. The further he goes, the further recedes the ideal, till death comes, and there is release, perhaps. And this is Maya.

A man of science rises, he is thirsting after knowledge. No sacrifice is too great, no struggle too hopeless for him. He moves onward discovering secret after secret of nature, searching out the secrets from her innermost heart, and what for? What is it all for? Why should we give him glory? Why should he acquire fame? Does not nature do infinitely more than any human being can do? — and nature is dull, insentient. Why should it be glory to imitate the dull, the insentient? Nature can hurl a thunderbolt of any magnitude to any distance. If a man can do one small part as much, we praise him and laud him to the skies. Why? Why should we praise him for imitating nature, imitating death, imitating dullness imitating insentience? The force of gravitation can pull to pieces the biggest mass that ever existed; yet it is insentient. What glory is there in imitating the insentient? Yet we are all struggling after that. And this is maya.

The senses drag the human soul out. Man is seeking for pleasure and for happiness where it can never be found. For countless ages we are all taught that this is futile and vain, there is no happiness here. But we cannot learn; it is impossible for us to do so, except through our own experiences. We try them, and a blow comes. Do we learn then? Not even then. Like moths hurling themselves against the flame, we are hurling ourselves again and again into sense-pleasures, hoping to find satisfaction there. We return again and again with freshened energy; thus we go on, till crippled and cheated we die. And this is Maya.

So with our intellect. In our desire to solve the mysteries of the universe, we cannot stop our questioning, we feel we must know and cannot believe that no knowledge is to be gained. A few steps, and there arises the wall of beginningless and endless time which we cannot surmount. A few steps, and there appears a wall of boundless space which cannot be surmounted, and the whole is irrevocably bound in by the walls of cause and effect. We cannot go beyond them. Yet we struggle, and still have to struggle. And this is Maya.

With every breath, with every pulsation of the heart with every one of our movements, we think we are free, and the very same moment we are shown that we are not. Bound slaves, nature's bond-slaves, in body, in mind, in all our thoughts, in all our feelings. And this is Maya.

There was never a mother who did not think her child was a born genius, the most extraordinary child that was ever born; she dotes upon her child. Her whole soul is in the child. The child grows up, perhaps becomes a drunkard, a brute, ill-treats the mother, and the more he ill-treats her, the more her love increases. The world lauds it as the unselfish love of the mother, little dreaming that the mother is a born slave, she cannot help it. She would a thousand times rather throw off the burden, but she cannot. So she covers it with a mass of flowers, which she calls wonderful love. And this is Maya.

We are all like this in the world. A legend tells how once Nârada said to Krishna, "Lord, show me Maya." A few days passed away, and Krishna asked Narada to make a trip with him towards a desert, and after walking for several miles, Krishna said, "Narada, I am thirsty; can you fetch some water for me?" "I will go at once, sir, and get you water." So Narada went. At a little distance there was a village; he entered the village in search of water and knocked at a door, which was opened by a most beautiful young girl. At the sight of her he immediately forgot that his Master was waiting for water, perhaps dying for the want of it. He forgot everything and began to talk with the girl. All that day he did not return to his Master. The next day, he was again at the house, talking to the girl. That talk ripened into love; he asked the father for the daughter, and they were married and lived there and had children. Thus twelve years passed. His father-in-law died, he inherited his property. He lived, as he seemed to think, a very happy life with his wife and children, his fields and his cattle. and so forth. Then came a flood. One night the river rose until it overflowed its banks and flooded the whole village. Houses fell, men and animals were swept away and drowned, and everything was floating in the rush of the stream. Narada had to escape. With one hand be held his wife, and with the other two of his children; another child was on his shoulders, and he was trying to ford this tremendous flood. After a few steps he found the current was too strong, and the child on his shoulders fell and was borne away. A cry of despair came from Narada. In trying to save that child, he lost his grasp upon one of the others, and it also was lost. At last his wife, whom he clasped with all his might, was torn away by the current, and he was thrown on the bank, weeping and wailing in bitter lamentation. Behind him there came a gentle voice, "My child, where is the water? You went to fetch a pitcher of water, and I am waiting for you; you have been gone for quite half an hour." "Half an hour! " Narada exclaimed. Twelve whole years had passed through his mind, and all these scenes had happened in half an hour! And this is Maya...