Volume 4 Issue 6

February 2016 - March 2016

V I S H WA B H A N U
A Bi-monthly bulletin of Vivekananda Kendra Vedic Vision Foundation

IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

Annual Day celebration of
Sandeepani Sishuvihar

K.P.S follow up

Saptaham

Yet another day.

lmost every morning, as we wake up and

measure the load of our anticipated activities for the day there is hardly anything
elevating or enlightening, as mostly much
of it is more less variations of the same routine. How
to start the day with an extra dose of positivism and
enthusiasm so that the whole days life adds yet another instalment to our fixed deposit of LIFE.

Regular activities

Didis programmes

Jaya Jaya Sankara : Article
by Didi

Let us try this beautiful thought of Shankara to his

disciples. After a night of contemplation and study
as the dawn was breaking up in the eastern horizon
Shankara reminds his disciples here is yet another
day to learn and to teach..

Our problem lies in the fact that we always think

that we have nothing to learn but much to teach.

Why should we continue to learn? What more is

there for us to learn other than what we have already acquired? Of what importance is learning in
our life at this stage when we are already masters in
teaching others. Does it add to our lifes worth? Like
the food we take, the sights we enjoy, could learning also be made an important part of the daily routine? Yes, it must be is the answer.

Learning is the only way to improve and reinforce

the infrastructure of our lifes software? What de-

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Volume 4 Issue 6

February 2016 - March 2016

cides our lifes activities, dreams, achievements, etc., etc.,? Learning to do things better is one sure
way of improving ones personality. It doesnt mean only book learning. It means improving various
aspects of our personal life the way we dress, behave, discipline ourselves, think, talk, act it can
go on endlessly.

Sri Ramakrishna used to say that the whole life is to be used for learning. In essence we can say
that learning is the best way to elevate ourselves in human values, knowledge, spiritual awareness
and so on. In essence, nothing polishes us better than learning. Unfortunately we neglect our learning and concentrate on teaching others. What a waste!!! When we look forward to a day of learning
something, our mind is always alert to acquire something new, something fresh. Each bit of learning takes us nearer to Godliness. One is reminded of the famous narration of the Rishi in Bhagavata how he always picked up knowledge from the nature and improved himself. The whole of
nature was his teacher. Therefore let us make everyday a movement punctuated by learning to acquire Godliness and then only start teaching others.

Incredible India Love India as Swamiji loved

By Dr. M. Lakshmi Kumari

Compilation of Swamijis
Buy the
Book Now

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Vivekananda Kendra Vedic Vision Foundation

Ananda Dham, Sringapuram, Kodungallur, Kerala

` 150/-

Volume 4 Issue 6

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February 2016 - March 2016

Annual Day celebration of Sandeepani Sishuvihar

On 5th March 2016 evening, Annual day celebration of Sandeepani Sishuvihar was held. Smt
Jyothi Unniraman, well-wisher of Kendra, was the Chief Guest. Other Guests were Smt Parvathy
Sukumaran and Rekha Salprakash, both being ward councellors of Kodungallur Municipality.
A symbolic convocation of the outgoing nine U.K.G. students was arranged, where a shawl
for each student was given by Smt Jyothi, a lighted lamp by Mananeeya Lakshmi Didi, a certificate by Smt Parvathy and Swamijis suktam by Smt Rekha. Apart from cultural programme by
the children of Sishuvihar, the mothers put up a beautiful Thiruvadira dance. Samskarvarg children too participated in the programme. This time, the children put up a beautiful welcome
dance based on the school anthem written Smt Rema Menon and tuned by Smt Padmaja Suresh
babu . The school report was read by Su Bindu.

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February 2016 - March 2016

Karyakarta Prashikshan follow up Shibir

On 6th February, a one day Karyakarta Prashikshan follow up Shibir was organized. 12 karyakartas participated.

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Volume 4 Issue 6

February 2016 - March 2016

Bhagavatha Saptaham
Bhagavatha Saptaham -Srimad Bhagavatha Saptaham started at Anandadham with Bhagavatha
Mahatmya on Februaryn 10th evening. Sri Oravankara Achuthan Namboothiri was the Acharya. His
Saha Acharaya was Attupurath Damodaran Namboothiri and Pukuzhy Vasudevan Namboothiri as
the poojari. The programme started with Sri Oravankara Achuthan Namboothiri lighting the lamp.
Ma Lakshmididi honored the yagnacharya and others.

Didi with her two college friends Dr Jeejibai(R) and Dr Padmaja(L)

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Volume 4 Issue 6

February 2016 - March 2016

REGUL AR ACTIVITIES
Yoga Satra
13 ladies and 10 gents attended yoga satra in February and March.

Yoga Satra outside campus

Yoga satra of a month duration (thrice in a week) was conducted in the month of February at Maliankara College, Moothakunnam for 40 degree students and 6 lecturers. In another satra started at
Konathukunnu, 10 ladies mostly housewives, attended.

Yoga Varga
Regular Vargas were conducted every day where an average of 10 ladies and 10 gents who have
attended in the campus were present for yoga varga in separate classes throughout the year.
Yogavarga for ladies coming from different satras, are being held weekly once, on every Thursdays.
Average 15 ladies regularly attend the varga.

Ganapathi Homam and Sri Chakra Puja

During every Pournami (or Full moon) day, the usual pujas were performed as usual by Karumatra
group. On the same days Sri Vishnusahasranam archana was also held in the evenings by all inmates of Anandadham.

Satsanga Prabhashana Parampara

An in depth study of Bhagavad Gita, based on the commentary by Abhinava Gupta. This
commentary has 15 additional verses and is based on Kashmir Shaiva Philosophy. The Acharya is
Sri L. Girish Kumar. The classes were held on the last Saturday and Sunday of February and March.

Samskar varga
25 children around Sringapuram every week on Saturdays and Samskar varga at P. Vemballur were
attended by 25 children.

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Volume 4 Issue 6

February 2016 - March 2016

DIDIS PROGRAMME

February
1st

Stree Swabhiman Yatra

Reception at Kodungallur

6th

KPS follow up at Anandadham

10th

Saptaham at Anandadham

18th

Adhikari Baithak at Kanyakumari

How can you help ?

Volunteer your time
By sponsoring our English Publication
By becoming an Annual Donor of the Project
By Sponsoring Programmes, Youth Camps and Celebrations
By spreading the work done by the Vedic Vision Foundation

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Volume 4 Issue 6

February 2016 - March 2016

JAYA JAYA SANKARA

Dr. M. Lakshmi Kumari

as Sankara really born? Where was he born? When was he born? As we bow down to
his Eternal Spirit, these questions have no relevance. What is of importance to us is
that Sankara WAS, Sankara IS and Sankara WILL BE, Deep as the ocean, Lofty as the

Himalayas, Expansive as the sky, ancient, yet young, profound in wisdom but silent, beyond this
phenomenal world yet ONE with it not even the thousand-tongued Ananta can adequately
describe the manifestation that Sankara was.
The age was ripe for one to appear to fulfill the prophecy: I will come whenever virtue

subsides. It was the South that was to receive the blessings. The home of the pious couple
Sivaguru and Arya Devi, in the (my village of Kalady, became the chosen place for the
manifestation.
The events that marked Sankaras short life can be easily summed up. But who can comment
on the wonderful commentary that he was of Truth, of Self-existent Knowledge and of Life Eternal?
For thirty two years this star of unusual effulgence lit up our sky before it disappeared in the folds
of TIME.
Of him was said: In knowledge of vedas, he was Brahma, of its auxiliaries, like Gargya, of
sacred narratives, like Brihaspati, of the doctrines of rituals, like Jaimini and of philosophy, like
Badarayana. But the best of his talents he devoted to the thorough understanding of the nondualistic doctrine of the Upanishads.
This world of fleeting sensual pleasures could not hold him even as a young child. Like the
renowned Nachiketa, he too left the beaten track of worldly enjoyments and. took to the lonely
path of renunciation and contemplation to reach the most difficult of destinations, the citadel of
Truth. It is to Sankaras everlasting glory that even at that young age, following the Upanishadic
teachings and techniques of intricate analysis, reasoning, negation and self- annihilation, he could
realize the Truth within him and attain oneness with it. A little child though he was, he could no
longer enjoy the comforts of worldly home and adopting the extremely austere life of a renunciate,
he lived in constant communion with his transcendental Self. No wonder that this child monk of
unsurpassed grace and wisdom brought a new dignity to the order of sanyasis.

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February 2016 - March 2016

Through his tireless wanderings and profound writ- mgs and captivating discourses on the
ONENESS of Truth, he achieved the miracle of uniting the country into one whole possibly the first
attempt at national or religious Integration that India had witnessed.
The depth of understanding and the rare brilliance of erudition with which Sankara
examined and studied the various doctrines and philosophies by itself became an act of polishing
and purifying them and when commented by this embodiment of Truth, who was none other than
the incomparable Dakshinamurti, they revealed a new meaning and significance. Truth, contained
in texts, expressed through rituals, idolized in temples, practised by priests, propagated by
teachers, lived in daily life by common people, all of them acquired a new ethereal glow at his
Divine touch. The words of transcendental wisdom that emanated from this knower of Brahman the
most powerful vibrations of Advaita ruthlessly demolished the parasitic growth of perversions and
superstitions on the ancient tree of Sanatana Dharma into which now flowed the life-giving sap
again bringing it to blossom.
Sankara did not stop with intellectual exercises alone. He entered the temples, rectified the
mistakes in their rituals and ceremonies, transforming them again into centres of power and faith.
The idols therein literally came to life at his call when in absolute identification with the Eternal, Allpervading Self, he breathed into them the essence of his own Eternal life. The glories he sang of
them are marvels of transcendental poetical beauty.
What is Advaita? What makes it so inspiring to the rational intellectual and awe-inspiring to
the la) man? Advaita can be understood in an oversimplified way by understanding three of its
major concepts.
1. The Ultimate Reality is One only, the nirguna Brahma indescribable, yet realisable by the
human mind in this very life.
2. Out of this Brahman, like the web from a spider, has come out the phenomenal world of
pluralities, in it, but not of it. This world is taken as the reality by the ignorant due to the play of
Maya, the deluding power of the intellect and its creative misinterpretation,
For a layman, the world he lives in is indeed real. But as he moves away from the world of
senses through rational thinking and contemplation, the phenomenal world appears less and less
real till a stage comes when it appeared totally unreal. From such a height of realisation must have
come Sankaras most famous utterance Brahma Satyam, Jagath Mithya.

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February 2016 - March 2016

3. The third concept is that of Avidya or ignorance. This ignorance is however different
from the ordinarily understood lack of knowledge of things. It is an ignorance conditioned by Maya
which pre- vents man from recognizing his true nature or Reality within him and makes him
behave as a non-entity, suffering the pangs of day-to-day life.
In Sankaras words, As clay is the efficient cause of the pot, so is ignorance declared by
Vedanta as the efficient cause of the universe. When that ignorance is destroyed, where is then the
universe? When the Ultimate Reality is realised, the universe vanishes......
The life as is known and lived by us today is the combined effect of Maya and Avidya. So
long as we remain in their grip, like the dreamer in a dream, we experience the joys and miseries of
the dream. To rescue the dreamer from his dream experiences, the only way is to stop the dream,
that is, wake him up. , Similarly, to end the miseries of this life and gain Bliss, Avidya must end. Man
must wake up to his true reality within. The world of enjoyments and miseries cease to have any
reality for the person who establishes his identity with Brahman. Knower 0f Brahman verily
becomes Brahman.
The bold and daring rational intellect finds 1n Advaita all the strength and confidence it is
looking for. A new dynamism comes to him as he identifies himself with the Supreme Self. He
understands himself to be the sole author of his actions good and bad, with no God interfering
with his life. This makes him forward- -1ooking and adds a new significance to his life. Joyously, he
starts on his spiritual journey which will take him to self-realization.
On the other hand the cringing cowardly mind which is used to support and looking for
scapegoats in life, can derive no consolation from the blazing fire of Advaita, as there is no merciful
God to own up the responsibility of its wrong doings and redeem it.
There was no cult or creed 1n India which could stand up to the challenges of this perfect
thinking and analytical reasoning All erroneous and false practices and pretentious teachings
crumbled before the mighty wave of Sankaras Advatic thoughts. He became Sarvajna - the
repository of the highest and most profound knowledge, reasoning, analysis and realisation. Like
the mighty Himalayas and the ever gurgling Ganges Sankara also became the personified
quintessence of the best which India had to offer to the world?
Today Sankara IS the favourite of Western scientists and intellectuals! What 18 so
fascinating to modern thinkers, logicians and scientists is that his Advaita provides a system totally
devoid of internal contradictions. To have been the Master of such a clear, precise and perfect

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February 2016 - March 2016

system, and that too at such a young age is what makes Sankara supremely dear and acceptable to
one and all.
As material science moves nearer towards the Ultimate Truth, thanks to the most wonderful
discoveries made in this century by outstanding men of science, the importance of human mind
and consciousness in the scheme of things is also becoming clearer. Advaita with its daring
pronouncement Tat twamasi stands today as the only logical conclusion for all the varied scientific
enquiries, because only it can provide, to quote Arthur Isenberg: a complete philosophical and
conceptual framework within which the findings of advanced modern physical science can be
placed without stress or tear. So long as there was a gap in the scientific understanding and
matter and energy were thought of as two separate entities, Advaltas monism was not acceptable
to the Western Scientists. The tables are turned now. Recent discoveries in the field of science are
repeatedly proving that matter and energy are the obverse and reverse of the same something.
What could that something be, other than the Divine Consciousness of which man is the rightful
heir? This omniscient, omnipotent, universal truth which India had proclaimed thou- sands of years
ago is at last entering into the understanding of the best of scientific brains in the West. This allpervading, unerringly applicable and realisable monistic truth is what Sankara started searching for
as a boy of eight, escaping from the jaws of the crocodile of illusions and having realised it spared
no pains to share it with the entire world
Today baffled with the results of their far-reaching theoretical and experimental analysis
When scientists are groping in darkness in blind alleys it is Sankara with his light of Advaita who is
lighting their paths; As Science is approaching nearer and nearer to Truth, the material in it is
undergoing dissolution and the spirit is taking over. The erstwhile mechanical and material models
are losing their relevance and the need to discover new symbols is increasingly felt. As the material
scientific search finally establishes its contact with the Ultimate, Self-existent Truth, Brahman of
Vedantin or by whatever name it may be called, and merges with it, there is bound to be
emergence of a new light
That would be when India will again regain her Supremacy in world thought. Advaita would
have proved its Worth as a system of thought par excellence.
Wherever and whenever the human mind cuts a-Sur1Cler its shackles of ignorance and in a
spirit of adventure soars high into realms unknown, through perfectly analytical and rational
contemplation to reach for TRUTHA there WILL BE manifestation of the spirit of Sankara.

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Volume 4 Issue 6

February 2016 - March 2016

Glory to the land- which gave birth to SAN KARA! Glory to the culture that fashioned his
genius!
Glory to that Eternal, Immortal Spirit that manifested as SANKARA!
JAYA JAYA SANKARA
Just like the seeds of the Ankula tree, we are all amsas or parts of the Paramatman only. The
Jivatma comes from the Paramatman which is the root cause of everything. We have come from
the Paramatman; we fall down from Him when there is ignorance. Again, when knowledge comes
of our oneness, we get up and attach ourselves again to God.
H.H. SR1 JAYENDRA SARASVVATHI SVVAMIGAL quoted in Kamakoti Vani

This year Shankara Jayanthi falls on 11th May.

ABBBBBD

(Bharatham Oru Mahavismayam)
By Dr. M. Lakshmi Kumari

Compilation of Swamijis
thoughts for year long reading
in Malayalam
Buy the
Book Now

` 200/-

>

Vivekananda Kendra Vedic Vision Foundation

Ananda Dham, Sringapuram, Kodungallur, Kerala 680664.
Phone:0480-2803349/2805780 Email : vkvvf@vkendra.org