People Who Attain God
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THE SPH NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
ये त्वक्षरमनिर्देश्यमव्यक्तं पर्युपासते ।
सर्वत्रगमचिन्त्यञ्च कूटस्थमचलन्ध्रुवम्
॥१२=३॥
ye tv akṣaram anirdeśyam avyaktaṁ
paryupāsate |
sarvatragaṁ acintyaṁ ca kūṭa-sthaṁ
acalaṁ dhruvam
But those who worship with
awareness the imperishable, the
unmanifest, that which lies beyond
the perception of senses, the all
pervading, inconceivable,
unchanging, the non-moving
and permanent,
POWERFUL COGNITION
Everything else in this material Universe may come and go, appear and disappear, while the Divine remains forever.
सन्नियम्येन्द्रियग्रामं सर्वत्र समबुद्धयः ।
ते प्राप्नुवन्ति मामेव सर्वभूतहिते रताः
॥ १२=४॥
sanniyamyendriya-grāmaṁ sarvatra
samabuddhayaḥ |
te prāpnuvanti mām eva sarvabhūta-
hite ratāḥ
Those who worship by
restraining their senses,
and are working with even mind
for the benefit of mankind,
they too attain Me.
POWERFUL COGNITION
When one has realized the formless nature of the Divine, its imperishability and its unmanifest nature with controlled senses, one works for the enrichment of mankind. Therefore, a person who is established always radiates and the person who radiates is always established.
INTRODUCTION
Kṛṣṇa is saguṇa brahman, the physical Cosmos, who showed Himself in this form to Arjuna, in His viśvarūpa, Cosmic form. Kṛṣṇa is nirguṇa brahman as well, the formless consciousness. In both the form and the formless, He is Kṛṣṇa, the Divine consciousness who has all the attributes that He talks about here.
The Divine is imperishable.
It is akṣaram. Everything else in this
material Universe may come and go,
appear and disappear, while the Divine
remains forever.
It is unique and incomparable and cannot be benchmarked against anything, as it is supreme. It is avyaktam, unmanifest and acinytam,
Inconceivable, and therefore cannot be
comprehended by the senses. It
cannot be grasped by thoughts and
mind, which is why one's mind-body
needs to be transcended to glimpse
the Divine. The Divine resides
everywhere and is omnipresent.
The true devotee sees his Lord
everywhere. Rāmakṛṣṇa describes the
love of a true devotee this way: 'It is
the love of a chaste wife for her
husband, the attachment of a miser
towards his hoarded wealth, the
craving of a worldly person for sensual
pleasures, all rolled into one and
directed towards the Lord, creating
devotion.'
The true devotee, who follows either
path with completion, with his senses
focused on the Lord, experiences Him
and also experiences the bliss of
enriching humanity. The devotee sees
the Lord in everyone he meets. His
experience of His Lord becomes His
expression of love to all.
Kṛṣṇa’s beloved Radhā tells the
gopīkās (cowherdress who were
around Kṛṣṇa), ‘I don’t know what
has happened to me.
I see Kṛṣṇa in everybody. I feel that
everybody is Kṛṣṇa. I don’t know
what is happening.’ One of the
gopikās answers, ‘You have devotion
as the very black eyeliner in your
eyes!’
It is like this: When you
wear dark glasses
everything appears dark;
when you wear green-
tinted glasses, everything
appears
green. In the same way,
when you have devotion as
your very eyeliner,
whomsoever you see
appears as Kṛṣṇa, appears
divine! Here, Kṛṣṇa says,
the person established in
super consciousness space
of completion and the
person who radiates
devotion and lives for
enriching are the same.
They are not two different
groups.
FORMLESS OR FORM?
Kṛṣṇa does not create two groups. Arjuna presents two groups as the reality that he sees: those who are established and those who are radiating. Kṛṣṇa says both are the same. He does not divide them into two groups, those who are established and those who radiate, or those who are complete and those who enrich. Kṛṣṇa says, a person who is established always radiates and the person who radiates is always established. It is a virtuous circle.
Rāmakṛṣṇa says, 'When a bell rings, each stroke has a sound form of its own. But even when the bell stops ringing, we continue to hear the sound. That's how God appears, both as form and as formless.'
Once again, Kṛṣṇa makes the
point here. When one has
realized the formless nature of
the Divine, its imperishability
and its unmanifest nature with
controlled senses, one works for
the enrichment of mankind.
Once the experience of the
formless divine happens, it is no
different from the experience of
the form. Both lead to the truth
that one is a part of collective
consciousness. The expression of
this realization is one of deep
humility and compassion. It is
manifested as deep gratitude
and surrender. One learns to
flow with the energy of this
Universe. One no longer
struggles against the currents of
life.
When we are full of ego we tend to control. We believe we can bring order to an otherwise chaotic world. It takes only a moment to realize that this entire Universe and planet Earth function not because of us, but in spite of us. Millions and millions of stars and planets in this Universe function in apparent chaos. But understand, the Universe is always in order.
We want to be in order but we are truly chaotic. Only when we surrender to the will of the Universe, we fall into the cosmic order. Things go well for us. When we give up wanting, we get what we want. When we get what we truly want, it enriches mankind. Because when we surrender, Kṛṣṇa takes care. Kṛṣṇa is not the Kṛṣṇa whom you think He is. He is not the single form you are used to. He is the Super conscious energy, the Cosmic Energy, Parāśakti.
GOALS:
Impress upon the
students that god is
the superconscious
energy that pervades
everything. Therefore,
god can be realised
both in the form and
in the formless. This
realization should lead
to gratitude within us
and devotion towards
all of mankind and all
life forms.
ASSESSMENTS
❖ What is the collective consciousness?
❖ What is the difference between
experiencing divine in form and
in formlessness?
❖ What is the difference between
love for a fellow being and
devotional love? Can we control
our live experiences?
❖ What is the best attitude to have
towards life's ups and downs or
chaos?
ART OF THE DAY
ART OF THE DAY:
FEEL OF BLISS
MATERIALS NEEDED
Clay
PROCEDURE
Let us do clay modeling. Let us create a clay model that depicts God in his formless form. Each child has the freedom to define God, or Supreme Being or Brahman in the most convenient way he/she is comfortable. We will attempt to give form with the clay to the formless.
INFERENCE
The ancient Hindus gave one of the best representations for the formless, infinite, attributeless God in the form of a three dimensional oval shaped cosmic egg. This shape was called “lingam” which in sanskrit means distinguishing symbol. Thus the Shiva linga is a symbol of that which is beyond all symbolism.
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:
PROCEDURE:
Let us discuss a few natural and
supernatural concepts: Sublimation,
Deposition, Combustion,
Materialization and Teleportation.
‘Sublimation’ is a phase transition
when a substance changes directly
from a solid to a gas without passing
through the liquid state. For
example: moth balls, dry ice, air
fresheners and iodine.
‘Deposition’ is the phase transition
in which gas transforms into solid
without passing through the liquid
phase. When a substance deposes, it
changes directly from gas to solid.
For example: snow, dry ice, hail
stone.
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:
PROCEDURE:
‘Combustion’ is when matter turns into
light and heat energy. Eg, steam energy,
paper burns to give light and heat.
‘Materialization’ is the creation or
appearance of matter from nothing. Eg.
a gem appears on the hand from
nowhere.
‘Teleportation’ is the transfer of matter or energy from one point to another point without traversing the physical space between the two points. Eg. an object disappears from one place and reappears somewhere else without being physically transported. Let us watch at least one YouTube video that demonstrates each of the above phenomena or explains the concept.
ACTIVITY OF THE DAY:
INFERENCE:
All the above concepts
demonstrate that matter can
change its form. Matter can
become energy. Energy can
become matter. All matter at its
core is energy. The source or
form of energy may differ eg.
light energy, wind energy,
thermal energy, sound energy,
electrical energy, kinetic energy,
potential energy etc. but the
energy itself is one and the same -
it is cosmic energy. This
superconscious energy is what all
cultures and religious traditions
refer to as "God". Therefore,
everything is God. To love god is
to have loving devotion towards
all beings.
WORKSHOP OF THE DAY
WORKSHOP OF THE DAY:
VAAKYARTHA SADHAS
Topic of discussion: "Is the Universe orderly or chaotic?"
Conclusion:
God, the superconscious energy
pervades everything: it is both in the
form and in the formless.
- BHAGAVAD GITA -
BOOK XII, VOLUME IV