If anybody steals your shirt, give him the cloak also - A moment of mindful relax

In these pages I will report, every week, a story from “Vedanta through stories”. Vedanta is the hindu philosophy of life, and comes from the Vedas, the sacred books of Hinduism. These stories make it easier to understand the teachings of the Vedanta, as they always show a moral.

The book is “Vedanta through stories”, by Swami Sambuddhananda edited by Ramakrishna Math (Khar, Mumbai) and it comes from India. It was available in the library during my yoga teacher training course and I used to read it during moments of relax. At the end of the course, my teacher gave it to me (with many other little gifts!).

I hope these stories will light you up as they did with me. They always have a spiritual meaning we can put into practice in our lives.

If anybody steals your shirt give him the cloak also

Pavhari Baba was a great saint of Ghazipur. He used to live in a cage on a bank of the Ganges and spend most of his time in penance and meditation. One day while he was busy with his meditation, a thief entered his cave and stole the only dish and lota (water pot) he possessed. When after a few minutes, Pavhari Baba had finished his morning prayers and meditation and got up from his seat where he saw the thief walking away from the cave with these two articles. He reflected that the thief must be in great need, and seeing that he had not taken his blanket as well, took it uo and began to walk in the direction of the thief, trying to catch him up. The latter, however, thinking that Pavhari Baba wanted to catch hold of him, started running. The saint said, “Don’t be afraid of me in the least. I am not going to hand you over to the police. You must be in greater need than I, and I am coming to give you my blanket which you have left behind.” The thief, amazed at the great generosity of the saint, came and fell at his feet. He turned over leaf completely, abandoning his evil ways of life. It is said that the thief later on became a saint of high order.

 

Karma

 “For every action there is a reaction.”

While working on the article on Swadhishtana chakra, I though it would be interesting to share some notions about karma, since this chakra is commonly related to past karmic experiences.

The word Karma, as many of you already will know, means “action”. In western country we have a slightly uncorrect view of the karma, many of us believing that good actions will immediately bring us good things while bad actions will bring us unhappiness or bad things or will be punished very soon (have you ever seen on tv the show “My name is Earl”?). This can be true somehow, but is not the complete view on karma; karma is like a package we, as souls, bring along our travel during all of our lives.

Every thought, desire, feeling causes a reaction or a ripple in the whole universe; there is a law of compensation that brings balance and establishes peace and harmony in nature. Things do not happen by accident, but follow each other in a regular order. You might think of an earthquake that makes many victims and this is not good; although, as the earth moves and shakes, nutritive elements are brought to the top, so that the soil can become more fertile and this is the other side of the medal. A silver lining in every cloud.

Iccha is the desire and the feeling, Jnana is the knowledge and Kriya is the willing and all these three forces produce karma.

Karma is of three kinds as follows:

Sanchita are the “accumulated actions” or rather, all the karmas one has accumulated in the past. These can be seen in the character, tendencies, inclinations, desires and attitudes of a person.

Prarabdha are the “fructifying actions”. It is the portion of the past karma that is presented as the integrity your physical body.

Kriyamana are the “current actions”. It is the karma that is done here and now and that will have ripercussions on your future.

“The self efforts of today become your destiny of tomorrow;

self efforts and destiny are one and the same thing.”

Instinct is the result of past experiences; tendencies are the result of past actions.

Our memories from previous lives are concealed by nature and there is a reason for it: would you be ok if you would get to know that you committed sinful actions in your past? You would no longer enjoy this life, making a bad use of the present moment.

You can make a comparison: do you remember every single moment of you life during childhood, when you where very little? You probably do not remember every single detail, but experiences, knowledge and sensations are stored in your subconscious mind. But you would never say you did not have a childhood just because you don’t remember everything.

As yogis, we can remember our past lives meditating on Swadhisthana chakra, as this chakra is said to be connected to the brain centre where this kind of memories are stored. Also during dreams we might have a glimpse of our past lives but this may require practice, even if dreams are usually a remodeling of the feelings, thoughts and experiences of the day.

Mantras and Chants: the Gayatri mantra

Mantras are a very important part of my personal practice. They can bring joy and can help concentration, as well as relaxation. Some are prayers or invocations to the gods, but I think all of them have a deeper meaning that can be found in the words. Most of them refer to the real self within us, which is one with the cosmic consciousness. The words with their meanings but most importantly the way they sound when repeated out loud or in your mind, create vibrations that calm the mind, allowing a deeper state of meditation.

It is good practice to start and finish the yoga practice chanting the Om Kar (repetition of the sound om, also spelled as aum), one mantra (a feminine one at the beginning and a masculine one at the end) and Om Shanti, to send peace to myself, everyone and everything. In this way you kind of create a space in that time between the beginning and the end of the lesson, that is only dedicated to yoga.
Translation, meaning and possible associations are given also.

Gayatri Mantra

Om Bhur Bhuvah Swaha, Tat Savitr Varenyam,

Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yo Nah Prachodayat.

It is one of the most important mantra from the Vedas and is a verse from a sukta of the Rigveda (Mandala 3.62.10). This is a feminine mantra.
The mantra is dedicated to Savitr, the sun before sunrise - a metaphor to indicate the vivifing power of the light within. The word Savitr in Vedic language can be reported as impeller, rouser, vivifier.
Gayatri indicates an ancient meter in which the verse is composed and is also the name of a feminine deity strictly related to Savitr.

Word by word:

Om: the divine sillabe, the "logos" of the beginning from where (or when...) everything started.
Bhur: existance; material realm; female energy (Shakti)
Bhuva: the form of light that sees itself; consciousness; male energy (Shiva)
Swaha: hail to
Tat: that
Savitr: morning sun before sunrise; enlightened self
Varenyam: to be worthy; to be wished for the best; excellent
Bhargo: splendour
Devasya: attribute or quality
Dhimahi: single point of focus; concentration on one thing
Dhiyo: intellect
Yo: who or that
Nah: we; ours
Prachodayat: propel; inspire.

Bhur, Bhuva and Swaha are often referred to as Past, Present and Future.
The mantra seems not to be dedicated to a deity of the sun (the star, the one that shines in the sky) but to the effulgent self within. It is an invocation to your own self to awaken as it is, complete.

The meaning you can refer to when meditating using this mantra can be given as: we meditate on the effulgent glory of the radiant light that is the self, made of both shiva and shakti. May it enlighten our minds.

Vedas and Upanishads

“The Vedas are the most precious gift the West has ever been indebted to the East.”

Vedas and Upanishads are some of the most important books in hindu philosophy, even if there are other traditions that follow other books. For the hindus, there are not better nor worse religions; everyone that has a belief is welcome and accepted and every religion is equally sacred for them. Even if you believe in nothing, you still believe in something: you believe that there is nothing! At the end what really is important is to have faith, not a specific belief in a god.

The Vedas are the oldest literature of Hinduism, with no certain time of generation. Hindus say it to be between 100 and 5000 BC. The origin and development of the Vedas was both from what is heard and wich is recorded as a memory. It is said that Rhishis (old sages) heard the teachings from the cosmic insight and then they narrated it to their disciple, which than chanted the teachings to their followers and so on, until it was written down so that everybody could benefit from the teaching. These teachings are given in the form of mantras and include political and administrative topics, diet, ethics, karma, morality, chants and mantras to the Gods.

The word VEDA means KNOWLEDGE and specifically the knowledge of life, of daily living. In a specific sense, Veda refers to the four massive collections known as Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda while in a more generic sense Veda can refer to the vedic literature. These book can be read but it is difficult to fully understand them without appropriate comments on the side and even in ancient times the Rishis used illustrations (Puranas -> Old Stories) to let the common man have a grasp of the teachings in the Vedas. 

Upavedas means “knowledge applied to use” and is used to designate the subjects of certain technical work and include archery (Dhanurveda), architecture (Shtapatyaveda), music and sacred dance (Gandharvaveda), medicine (Ayurveda).
The Vedanta is the philosophy dedicated to or inspired by the Vedas. There are in particular four great Vedic dictums known as the Vedanta Mahavakyas, centered on the discovery of the self as part of all creation.

• Rigveda. Rig means PRAISE. This Veda was composed by about 300 Rishis, with 10 chapters of Mantras and hymns dedicated to 79 divinities. The Upaveda of Rigveda is Ayurveda, divided in 1000 chapters. The Vedic dictum for Rigveda is "Consciousness is Brahman".
• Yajurveda. This book is about Yajnas or sacrifices and is related mostly to the concept of Karma (action). There are two divisions to this Veda called Krishna Yajurveda containing 8000 mantras and Shukla Yajurveda with 19000 mantras. "I am Brahman" is the Vedic dictum found in the book.
• Samaveda. It is mostly composed by hymns to the gods, sung by Rishi Narada. Are also included some Rigveda mantras as devotional songs. Only 13 chapters are available at the present, out of 1000 that were included in the book at the beginning. The Vedic dictum for this book is "Thou art that".
• Atharvaveda. It is a collection of hymns to the Gods and Mantras (6000 mantras are collected in this book), the latter giving information on how to destroy the enemies and methods to block demons and evil spirits using sorcery. In this Veda constituited by 760 chapters are also described administrative and political matters. The Vedic dictum  for Atharvaveda is: "This self is Brahman"

The Upanishads are the philosophical part of the Vedas. The word Upanishad means “to sit together to learn”; these book, using the mantras that in this case are basically stories that talk about the subject, deal with highly philosophical and rational thinking and understand of the supreme cause. It is claimed that their number is 2000; however at the present day only 108 are available and out of these 108 only 10 are considered the most important:

1. Isavasya Upanishad, is about the importance of God, Vidya and Avidya (wisdom and ignorance); also some discussion about material and immaterial things are given.
2. Kena Upanishad: all things happen because of the power of the Ultimate Reality. All the mantras in this book begin with OM.
3. Katha Upanishad, in this book the theme is spiritual education.
4. Prasna Upanishad: the main subject is dealing with question and their answer (…meditate on it…!)
5. Mundaka Upanishad, describes the way Lord Brahma teaches the Brahmavidya to his son Atarva.
6. Mandukya Upanishad: about the conditions of the mind.
7. Taittirya Upanishad: here are described the Koshas and Meditation.
8. Aitareya Upanishad, about the development of the inner spiritual power.
9. Brhadaranyaka Upanishad explain many subjects such as Karma, Brahma, Jnana, Mantra and so on.
10. Svetasvara Upanishad: Paramatman is the ultimate cause in this world.

The stories published in this blog from the book "Vedanta through stories" are meant to give a way for better understanding the philosophy of Veda and Upanishads and the hidden meanings in these books. All stories have a meaning and it is possible to use this meaning for meditation.