Srirangam: Gateway to Heaven

To devotees, particularly Vaishnavites, the Ranganath aswamy temple at Srirangam near Trichy in Tamil Nadu is their sacred gateway to heaven.

Among the 108 temples in south India that are of utmost importance to Vaishnavites, Srirangam tops the list. Here, Vaishnavai saint Godha Devi is believed to have merged with the idol and attained salvation. According to legend the idol rose up from the celestial Milky Ocean. It is a large, monolithic black statue of Vishnu, reclining on Adsesha, the divine serpent. It was received by Brahma and left in his custody till Vishnu as Ram gave it to Vibheesana, the noble brother of the slain demon king Ravan.

Vibheesana wished to carry it back to Sri Lanka. Rama told him that it was not to be placed down under any circumstances. VBibeesana needed to rest and perform his ablutions. He found a little boy and asked him to hold it. When he came bach he found that the boy had placed the idol down and it was rooted to the spot. An angry Vibeesana chased the boy who was actually Vinayaka. The boy ran across the River Kaveri and sat atop a hill where he is worshipped today as Ucchipillaiyar.

The idol lay there for ages, deep in the forest, covered with vegetation, till a prince of the Chola dynasty. Dharma Varma, stumbled upon it and built a shrine to protect it. During the Muslim invasion, temple priests erected a wall and hid the idol and fled with a smaller deity. For 50 years, they moved from place to place and finally hid it in a ravine at Tirupati, another major Vaishnavite pilgrimage destination. Once the invaders left, the priest returned to Srirangam and reinstalled the idol. Since then subsequent kings of the Chola, Pandya, vijayanagar and Hoysala dynasty from the 10the century onwards, have made significant additions to the temple. Today, the Srirangam Ranganatha Swami temple is spread over 156 acres, making it the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world.

The number of festivals at Srirangam temple surpasses those celebrated in other south Indian temples. Vaikuntha Ekadasi is the most important festival here. Hindus believe that the doors of heaven remain open throughout that specific day and a visit to any shrine of Vishnu this day ensures unfettered entry into heaven. At Srirangam temple the Paramapadha Vaasal or Sorag Vaasal, the Gateway to Heaven, is thrown open on Vaikuntha Ekadasi day at 4:15a.m. for darshan. Busloads of devotees descend on Srirangam and wait for hours to get a glimpse of the Ranganatha idol. Preparations for the vaikuntha Ekadasi here commence in October itself when the first of the 47 pillers of a grand mandapam (stage) is erected in the presence of shloka-chantin priests. Festivities begin well in advance, lasting nearly a month.

Most festivals coincide with seasonal changes, thus providing a strong market for the agricultural and horticultural offerings of that season. To the residents of Srirangam, Lord Ranganatha is a live entity. They address him in the first person; they visit him as they would visit a family member. When they enter the temple, it is with a sense of ownership there! It is as though they have made the journeyr from the temporal to the spiritual, a hallowed journey that infuses them with extraordinary strength to face life’s challenges.

Finding Your Voice

The story of caedmon, the first documented poet to compose in the English language in the late sixth century, is about an ordinary man whom God took aside from his busy everyday activity and from his own limited sense of who and what he was, and spoke to him in the quiet of the night.

Caedmon worked as a lay brother in the community of Abbess Hilda of Whitby. The singing of psalms and hymns played central role in the community, and at a feast it was an accepted tradition that all should sing in turn.

It bothered caedomon so much that he knew no songs and could not sing that whenever this began, he would quietly slip away.

Once frustrated by his inability to contribute to the songs of praise to God, he left the gathering and went to the stables, falling asleep among the horses.

As he slept, he dreamt that someone addressed him by name saying, “caedmon, sing me something”. He answered “I cannot sing” that is why I left the feast and came here…. The voice insisted. “Nevertheless you must sing”.

Feeling strangely compelled to obey, Caedmon asked, “What shall I sing” And was told: “Sing. His hymn was new, pouring from his heart: “Now we must praise Heaven kingdom’s guardian/ the maker’s might and his mind’s thoughts, the work of the glory-father as he established the beginning of every wonder. He first shaped for men’s sons. Heaven as a roof, the holy Creator; then middle earth mankind’s guardian, eternal Lord afterwards prepared for men the earth the Lord almighty”

Walking from his sleep, Caedmon remembered all that he had sung in his dream. He went to his superior and told him of the dream. His superior took him to Hilda, who recognizing the grace of God at works, instructed Caedmon to set aside his secular clothes and to take monastic vows.

She received him into the community and ordered that he should be instructed in sacred history and the scriptures. He learned all he could by listening to the lesson, and then”…. Memorizing it and ruminating over it, like some clean animal chewing the cud, he turned it into the most melodious verse, and it sounded as sweet as he recited it that his teachers become in turn his audience”

He composed more verses in the same manner, “praising God in a worthy style”, and went on to become a creative and dynamic force in the spiritual community a poet and a beloved teacher.

It was Caedmon’s fear of not measuring up – maybe to his standards or to those of those around him – that held him back. It was his trusting the ‘voice’ that allowed him to make that first attempt.

Even if only just one of Caedmon’s poems survives, that it is still in publication some 1,300 years after his death and continues to touch us, speaks of how even a small legacy can have a huge impact.

Caedmon’s story tells us too of our ordinary selves, afraid to find our true voice; but by heeding the call of ‘the other’ – divine prompting, - we can give voice to out previously withheld beautiful creativity  - whatever shape or form this takes.

Big Bird of the Storm

When there is a severe storm, birds with small wings are caught up in it, but large birds with strong wings fly upwards and save themselves from becoming victims of the storm.

On the basis of this phenomenon there is a saying in the English language. “Big birds of the storm.” This applies to people of high thinking, to those who can save themselves from the environmental storm. That is they can live on their own without becoming affected by the external world.

Who are the ‘big bird’ of the storm? They are the ‘big bird thinkers’ who can live independently, drawing on their own mental resources. Big bird thinkers are those who do not become angry even when provoked. They are those who maintain their positively even in negative situations, who can control their thoughts in such a way that they can see all men and women as human beings, whether friends or foes, and who can keep the peace even if others turn violent.

‘Big bird thinkers’ are those who are so mature that nothing can distract them from their objectives, who give well considered responses when in adverse situations, rather than simply indulging in an emotional backlash.

There is a saying in Hindi “Kuttu bhonkte rehte hain our hathi chalta rehata hai” – the elephant walks on without being disturbed by barking dogs. This is the best illustration of one who has the capacity for ‘big bird thinking. Life is full of storms, full of barking, full of untoward situations – these things are due to the laws of nature and no one is in a position to abolish the laws of nature. So you have only two options; either to waste your time and energy by constantly stopping to reactionary behavior or to ignore all undesirable situations and try to live like the elephant in the adage. Elephant style living is the only successful way to live in this world.

‘Big bird thinking’ is only another name for spiritual thinking. Spirituality is not something mysterious; it is positive thinking. All spiritual people are positive thinkers and all positive thinkers are spiritual in nature. Spirituality and positive thinking are almost synonymous with each other.

There is a beautiful story in Hindu mythology: Once a man became furious and he kicked Ram in the chest. Ram’s response was quite unique. He said: “Mere lokhan seene se tumhare komal paunwen ko chot to nahi lagi?” I hope your soft leg was not hurt by my iron chest.

Spiritual behavior is friendly behavior towards every human being – to both friends and foes alike. Spiritual behavior is like the behavior of flowers that can live with all their fragrance in the neighborhood of thorns.

An Urdu poet has beautifully expressed this: “Gulshan parast hoon mujhe gul hi nahi azeez, kaaton se bhi nibah kiya jar aha hoon mein” –I am a lover of nature, I don’t only love flowers, but I can live normally with thorns as well.

Spirituality is good for the all round development of the individual’s personality, for it makes you free of tension and friendly towards all. Spirituality is the way to all kind of success.

Positive thinking makes you a ‘big bird thinker’ and ‘big bird thinking’ imbues the human character with spirituality. Although this is an inner wquality, it is this inner quality that has the power to better all your external affairs.

Invest in Karmic Deposits

Just as matter cannot be created or destroyed but merely transformed into another form, our body after our passing away from this life is transformed into another form. There is no end, no finality to our lives. There is just transformation.

It is proven in Buddhist tantric experiments that the natural elements of nature, earth, wind, fire, water and space – have qualities of the mind and also support vital systems of our body functions. It is also proven that there is continuity of our mind from one birth to another. There have been reports of instances where a child quite naturally yet vividly remembers the place of birth and some of the critical happenings of her past life. Therefore, there could be direct linkage of elements to our psychophysical state.

If we conclude that there is afterlife, the question arise “What kind of births could we take?”

According to Buddhist teachings there are six realms in which we can reborn - As hungry ghosts, animals, humans, demigods and god realms. It is not to say that there are different worlds that we are born in or anything like that. All these counties rebirths are the direct effect of our affected emotions. The reason for being born in these realms is driven by the resulting karmic accumulations. Being born in the hell realm is due to our affected emotions of hatred, being born as hungry ghosts is due to greed; envy and jealousy leads us to birth in the asura realm, pride into the god realm, confusion as animals and ignorance as human beings. Even for those born in god realm, there is intense suffering as the good effect that has given them this birth will be born out someday and they will have to be reborn in lower realms. This is because they are not in a position to neither accumulate anymore good karma nor clean their accumulated bad ones, being in a state of mental blankness.

Now the good news -It Is birth only in the human realm – with its freedoms and advantages of being born with sense faculties at a place where dharma teachings can be obtained (perhaps obsolete in this interest era) and with the right intent and faith – that  spiritual trajectory and, therefore, possibility of good rebirth is possible.

All this simply means that if we wish to be born in higher realms we can undertake practices in this life to achieve the end we want. We can tweak the stacked up causes before us to our advantage to have the desired good effect. And these practices essentially lead us to doing good deeds of body, speech and mind, in the process accumulating deposits of good karma in our spiritual bank account.

Accumulate good karma by doing good deeds without an ulterior motive of personal gain or gratification or to show off. However, the true fruit of this merit is deposited into your account only after such deeds are dedicated to the wellness and Buddhahood of every sentient being. While it is good to increase the ‘bank balance’ in this way and add to credit, it is important to keep an eye on the debit side of the entries as well!

What better investment can we think of in this materially driven world than investing in the mother of all investments, where accomplishment and returns are guaranteed – the investment in good karmic deposits?

Cleverness and Wisdom

Zomo the rabbit, though not big or strong, was known to be very clever. Zomo decided it was time he was known for wisdom too, so he approached Sky God.

Sky God told him he would have to earn it by bringing him the scales of the Big Fish Of The Sea; the milk of the Fearsome Wild Bull Cow, and the tooth of the Mighty Leopard.

Zomo confidently agreed. He begin playing his drum so loud at the shore, that the drumbeats went down to the bottom of the sea. Big Fish, dancing to the irresistible rhythm, flipped right out of the water. Zomo drummed faster and faster; Big Fish danced faster and faster so fast that its jingling scales fell right off. Embarrassed, it jumped back into the sea. Zomo grabbed the scales and ran.

Back in the forest, Zomo climbed a palm tree till Wild Bull-Cow showed that it wasn’t really big and strong, daring it to knock down the little palm tree. Enraged, it charged and its horns stuck in it, so Zomo slid down, turned his drum upside down filling it with milk before it got free.

Zomo then ran to the top of the hill where Mighty Leopard lied, sprinkled some fish scales and a few drops of milk on the path, and slipped, rolling down the hill, hitting a rock. Its tooth immediately popped out. Zomo caught it and hopped a way to Sky God.

Sky God smiled, ‘You are clever enough.” He said. “But not wise…. Three things in this world are worth having: Courage, good sense and deep understanding of things and creatures,” said Sky God. “Little rabbit, you have lots of courage, a bit of sense, but absolutely no understanding. So next time you see Fish, Cow or Leopard …. Better run fast!”

Like Zomo, we imagine that cleverness can easily bring us to wisdom, or that they are sister states of being. Actually they are more like distance relatives.

Cleverness is satisfied with short-term gains; wisdom acts from a wider perspective. Wisdom is founded on confidence rather than arrogance,; learning from experience, yet forever open to the power of new possibilities.

Most of us are good at being clever, and are encouraged to be so, appreciated for being so. Being clever has made us more powerful. We can build organizations, cities, countries. We can also destroy them.

How does it make sense to say, “He is a wise man but he does foolish things”

Wisdom is not just thinking intelligently, but living intelligently. More than just being effective in daily life, it means we choose our values and basic priorities well and we live by them. It means we can fail, but learn from mistakes. It means we take responsibility for the intended as well as unintended consequences of our actions.

When cleverness does serve wisdom, knowledge, information and experience can be distilled in a meaningful way.  Often cleverness, recognized in showy brilliance, involves resourceful accepting reality, putting things in perspective ten contexts – dependent; wisdom is timeless, free of context. Cleverness mostly is a means to wisdom, recognizing the interrelatedness of everything, is always for the good of all.

A Reshuffling of Atoms

What is death?

In nature there is no such thing as death but only a reshuffling of atoms. Death occurs only when there is a need for atoms to maintain the balance of energy in the universe. This organism has no way of finding out that it was born at a particular point of time and is going to die at another point of time, and also that it is living at this moment and not dead.

If you ask me the question “Are you alive?” I would say that I am alive. Because the question is born out of the idea of how a living human being functions, acts, and thinks. That is an idea, so naturally, if you ask dead?” I would say I am very much alive, because that question brings all the knowledge that we have about the behavior patterns of living human beings. But we have no way of experiencing the fact that this is a living thing. You see, thought id dead. It is trying to capture something that is living pulsating.

Does the body have the understanding minus the thoughts?

The heart does not for a moment know that it is pumping blood. It is not asking the question. “Am I doing it right?” It is just functioning. It does not ask. “Is there any purpose?” To me, that question has no meaning. The questions, “Is there any meaning?” Is there any purpose?” take away the living quality of life. You are living in a world of ideas.

Is there life after death?

When people ask me whether there is any such thing as reincarnation, my answer is that there is reincarnation for those who believe in it, and there is no reincarnation for those who do not believe in it. If you ask a fundamental question, “Is there any such thing as reincarnation as the other laws in nature like gravity?” my answer would be negative. It is not as much part of nature as gravity is. But if you want to believe that it is so, it is a different matter.

 The belief in reincarnation is born out of the demand that something will continue after your so-called death. It is the same mechanism which wants to know what will happen after death. For exactly the same reason you are asking the question. “Is there any meaning is there any purpose in life?” For some reason that mechanism, that movement of thought, does not want to come to an end.

You have seen people dying there. So, the belief that there is a centre here, that there is a spirit here, that there is a soul here, is what is responsible for that belief, that there must be something beyond. But if you want to know if there is anything beyond you have to die now. When the question or belief about that comes to an end, death will take place here right now. Clinical death will take place.

Then the question whether there is an afterlife would not at all arise, because the living organism has no way of knowing that it is alive. The belief has to go. The end of belief is death.

Thought is your energy. Mind shattering conversation with the man.

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