||O® bh¿rbhuva¡ sva¡ tatsaviturvareñya® bhargo devasya dhºmahi dhiyo yo na¡ pracoday³t ||

(May Almighty illuminate our intellect and inspire us towards the righteous path)
- Rigveda 3/62/10; Samveda 1462, Yajurveda 3/35, 22/9, 30/2, 36/3
Yajurveda

Volume - 4 Annual Subscription

Issue - 5 India: Rs. 60.00
Sept-Oct, 2006 Abroad: Rs. 600.00
Date of Publication: 01.09. 2006

A True Prayer
Our prayers should be worthy of us as children of The Divine. We must pray the
Almighty to arouse our indwelling love, wisdom and strength, which would support
and guide steps in all phases of the revolving wheel of circumstances. We, as sparks of
Divine Light, ought to pray for illuminating our inner self with the subliminal glow of
divinity so that no storm of hardship or turbulence of ups and downs of life could ever
quaver the flame of our faith in the divine origin of our souls.

“Oh Lord! Bless us with strength, courage and wisdom so that we could meet adversities
as opportunities to refine our qualities and strengthen our potentials. The roadblocks
of obstacles and challenges of the path should serve as harbingers of a brighter
tomorrow.” –– Such would be an ideal prayer to elevate the level of our optimism and
enthusiasm and would protect us from becoming disheartened, weak or cowardly.

We have to become intrepid warriors of Light and not perplexed fugitives in the
battlefield of life. Prayer is less about asking for things we are attached to than it is
about our relinquishing our attachments – thus taking us beyond fear. When we pray,
we don’t change the world; we change ourselves. We move away from BEGGING to
LETTING – “In this moment I am here, Oh divine master, use me. Let thy will be done
through me.”

– Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya

Sept-Oct 2006 3
 Contents
01 Amrit Cintan
A True Prayer...................................................................................................... 03

02 From Chief Editor’s Desk:

Wake Up Call for the Youth................................................................................... 05

03 On the Sacred Parva of Ashwin Navratri

The Miraculous Rewards of Gayatri Sadhana................................................... 07

04 Vedic Solutions to Modern Problems:

Social, Cultural and Economic Developments .................................................. 10

05 Art of Living – 4
Tapa and Vrata Bring Order into Life................................................................ 15

06 The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting............................................................... 17

07 Youth Column
Dress Should Accord With the National Culture.............................................. 20

08 Beginning the Quest............................................................................................ 22

09 Health Tips
Get Rid of Obesity–Why?.................................................................................. 29

10 Science and Spirituality

Timeless Existence............................................................................................... 34

11 Companions in Solitude-10
Companions in Solitude.....................................................................
..................................................................... 39

12 My Life: Its Legacy and Message- 21

Fourth and Final Pilgrimage to the Him³layas................................................... 43

13 Amrit V³ñº
The Holy Him³layas and the Glorious Rishi Culture.......................................... 46

4 Sept-Oct 2006
 From Chief Editor's Desk
Wake Up Call for the Youth
Dr. Pranav Pandya

D uring the last few years of Gurudev’s sojourn on earth the one thing that was the
cause of his deep divine disgust and heartfelt pain was the overall degeneration,
depravity, crass selfishness and insensitivity of the so-called elites of society – in politics,
administration, business, industry and professions - towards the sufferings of the vast
majority of the deprived, oppressed and exploited masses. His constant refrain was
that a dedicated band of youth from amongst the elites fired by soul level compassion,
empathy and altruism could free the fallen human consciousness from the clutches of
evil; and lead humanity towards an era of universal brotherhood, understanding and
a spontaneous sense of sharing and caring – Love in action. Gurudev’s universalized
soul acutely suffered with the sufferings and pain of the downtrodden masses – like
Jesus Christ on the cross.

The situation has become far grimmer over the past two decades – in the world at large
in general and in India especially. Wherever we turn our gaze, we are confronted with
a depressing, deplorable and seemingly irreversible process of reckless and wanton
defiance of ennobling values of Dharma.

We the Parijans of Gayatri Pariwar have been resolutely and humbly trying to arouse,
inspire and train the youth of the country (in India as well as those living abroad) to
join the ranks of warriors of LOVE IN ACTION by breaking free from the bondage of
craving for worldly power, pelf and position; and offer themselves for loving source of
‘Narayan’ in the guise of the poor, the sick, the ignorant. Our humble efforts have
given us encouragement to strive still more resolutely to build up a well-trained, well-
knit and dedicated group of elite youth – engineers, scientists, healers, management
experts, political and social activists, etc – whose hearts are overflowing with empathy

Sept-Oct 2006 5
and compassion for the sufferings and pain of the lowliest and the lost. Let the youth
from all strata of society listen and respond to the call of the Time Spirit and join the
vanguard of crusaders for total transformation of the deluded, divided and fractured
human society into a new race where each individual soul lives, moves and has its
being in the unifying cosmic consciousness of the Supreme Being. Thus will we be
fulfilling the legacy of our Gurudev. A similar wake up call had gone forth from the
great Swami Vivekanand, more than a century back in these stirring words:

“ Feel, my children; feel for the poor, the ignorant, the downtrodden; feel till the
heart stops and the brain reels…….; then pour the soul out at the feet of the Lord;
and then will come power, help and indomitable energy.

What we want are some young men who renounce everything and sacrifice their
lives for their country’s sake–

Be the servant while leading. Be unselfish. Have infinite patience, and success is
yours–”

My Love-filled Navratra, Vijaya and Diwali Greetings to all Parijans.

Testing the devotion of young Dhruv, Devarshi Narad asked him,

“Son, what would you do if God does not get pleased with you even
after your long and arduous penance?” Dhruv replied smilingly, “O
great one, then I would continue doing my penance to find out whether
one life is enough to attain God or isn’t.” Infinite patience is required to
attain one’s goal.

6 Sept-Oct 2006
 On the Sacred Parva of Ashwin Navratri
The Miraculous Rewards of
M ahatma Anand Swami was among the
greatest Gayatri sadhakas of his time. He
held many high positions in Arya Samaj from
time to time and was also known for his
journalistic attainments. He spread the
message of Mother Gayatri inside and outside
the country till the ripe old age of 92. His
personal sadhana of Gayatri was of the highest
order and was reflected in equal measure in
all dimensions of his personality – his words,
thoughts and actions.
Mahatma Anand Swami wrote Gayatri
Mahamantra, Anand Gayatri Katha and many
other books on spirituality. Anand Gayatri Katha
among these has descriptions of the many
miracles of Gayatri sadhana that he personally
experienced in the course of his life. Some of
these experiences are being given below in his
own words.
“In my childhood, when I was studying in the
6th or 7th standard I was a very dull student.
The teachers would routinely stand me on the
bench at the very beginning of the class and
this practice would unfailingly continue in
every succeeding class for hours together.
Upon returning home, the father would beat
me and say – ‘you are a moron, wholly
incapable of doing anything’! I would weep
and reply – ‘Father! I do study attentively. But
what can I do? Whatever I read I just cannot
retain it in my memory’. But the father would
not believe me. This routine of daily beating
Sept-Oct 2006
Gayatri Sadhana
and humiliation depressed me so much that
even at that tender age I began to seriously
think about committing suicide. Death would
be better than this humiliating life. One day,
after the classes were over, I went to the small
stream flowing by the side of my village. It
was rainy season and the river was full. I
advanced to the bridge across it and flung
myself into the swirling waters underneath. I
was determined to die but God had willed
otherwise. Probably He had some other
scheme for me. The fast currents carried me
two miles downstream and threw me on the
bank in an unconscious state. The locals there
recognized me and took me home.
“One day Swami Nityanand of the Arya Samaj
came to visit our village, Jallalpur, and camped
in my family’s orchard. My father assigned
me the duty of taking meals to him daily. One
day, upon my father’s instruction I took our
buffalo to the village pond. The buffalo slowly
advanced to the deep waters. I was a kid; I
began to shout at her and throw pebbles.
Finally the buffalo emerged on the other side
of the pond and crossed into the zamindar’s
fields. By the time I could skirt the pond and
reach there, she had ruined a good part of the
standing crops. The zamindar came running
and thrashed me severely. My bones began
to ache. Earlier that day I had taken beatings
in school, too. When after the buffalo episode
I finally came home, the father was angry at
my being so late and he also beat me. I began
7
to pray to God about what I should do. Father
then ordered me to take food to Swamiji in
the orchard. I did accordingly. Swamiji started
eating and I stood by the side – sad and sullen.
Swamiji occasionally looked at my face and
after finishing the meal enquired, ‘Khushal
Chand! What is the matter? Why are you so
downcast today? At these words of
compassion I began to sob. Swamiji sat me on
his lap and asked, ‘What has happened?’ Why
are you so miserable?’ I narrated the whole
tale of my woes to him. I told him that I was
mentally dull and could not recollect any
lesson even after trying my best. Swamiji
soothed me. He wrote out Gayatri mantra on a
slip of paper, gave it to me and said, ‘Here is
the medicine for your ailment. Get up very
early in the morning, about 2 or 3 a.m., when
other members of the family are fast asleep,
take bath and recite this mantra.’ He also
explained to me at that time some meanings
of the mantra, which I have not forgotten even
after such a long time.
“From then onwards, I began to get up
early. But I felt sleepy during japa. To solve
this problem I would tie my choti with a long
rope to the iron hook on the ceiling. After 5
or 6 months the effects of the japa were
discernible. Previously my answers would
be invariably wrong; now I began to pass
the examinations. My teachers thought that
I was copying someone. I told them that it
was not so, that I was only chanting the
Gayatri mantra regularly. They were
skeptical, but nevertheless I started securing
good marks. I wrote a poem too and got a
reward of one pound from my teacher. I
showed the poem to my father who gave
me another pound.
8 Sept-Oct 2006
“A few months after this another significant
even occurred. The annual festival of the Arya
Samaj of Jalalpur Jattan was being held.
Mahatma Hansraj had delivered a lecture. I
prepared a report of this lecture and showed
it to him. He asked, ‘Whose son are you?’ I
replied, ‘The secretary of Arya Samaj Lala
Ganeshdasji is my father’. Mahatmaji enquired
from my father about the work I did. My
father said, ‘He is poor in studies. So I have
installed a socks-weaving unit for him.’
Mahatmaji said, ‘Munshiji, this work is not
suitable for the boy. Assign him to me. I will
put him to the work for which he is suitable.’
Father replied, ‘How can I refuse? He is your
child. Do as you think fit.’
“Sometime later Mahatmaji summoned me to
Lahore. There, I began to work in the Arya
Gazette on a monthly salary of thirty rupees.
With time I rose to be its editor. During those
days there broke out the Moplah revolt in
Malabar region. Thousands of Hindus were
killed or forcibly converted to Islam.
Something had to be done. But the press of
the time was adopting a posture of complete
silence on this happening. No one wanted to
print and bring to light this tyranny on the
Hindus. I felt that this was no way to bring
about Hindu-Muslim unity. After much
deliberation we started Milap magazine with
a view to organize the Hindus. Its aim was to
usher in Hindu-Muslim unity based on right
behavior and conduct and to generate a sense
of security.
“By the grace of the Mother Gayatri the
publication of Milap was a success in spite of
initial hiccups. House, cars, cattle and other
kinds of riches became available to me. I was
blessed with sons and daughters too. I got
everything because Mother Gayatri is the
bestower of heavenly gifts – progeny, health,
happiness,……
“In Lahore University’s hall an attempt was
made on the life of the then Governor of
Punjab. Four young men were arrested,
prosecuted and awarded death sentence. One
of them was my son Ranvir. Meanwhile
another mishap occurred. During an Arya
Samaj ceremony I slipped and fell down a high
hill. The spine was injured. I lay in a Lahore
hospital bed, the whole body in plaster. People
would come to sympathize with me on the
award of capital punishment to Ranvir, their
faces showing a sad look appropriate to the
occasion. But they would find me cheerful and
non-chalant. This would surprise them and
they would exclaim, ‘Do you have a stone for
heart. Your son is standing in the death row
and you are smiling’. I would reply
confidently, ‘Listen, if my good lies in the
separation of my son from me, he will be
separated for sure. But if our good is destined
in his survival, no power on earth will be able
to snatch him away.’ People would weep for
Ranvir; I never did. One day Swami Satyadev,
who was guru of the king of Jammu and
Kashmir, came to meet me. He looked at me
and said, ‘You can remain undisturbed and
joyous even in the face of this calamity. Who
then can take away your son?’ His words
proved true. Ranvir was discharged and freed.
“Mother Gayatri is the bestower of not only
material benefits but also spiritual gifts. She
purifies the soul and after granting longevity,
children and all kinds of glory and riches,
beckons one to accompany Her to Brahmaloka
(the highest celestial abode). Leaving all these
things behind, I put on the ochre robe and
marched onto the path shown by the Mother.
“Right from the age of eight there has not
passed a day when I have not drunk the
nectar of Mother Gayatri’s grace. The purpose
of narrating all this is to emphasize that
even in this age of Kali, worship of Mother
Gayatri enables one to get all the things about
which Bhishma Pitamah had told
Yudhisthira. What the rishis and seers over
the ages including Shankaracharya,
Maharishi Dayanand, Gandhi, Tagore, Tilak
and Ramkrishna Paramhansa have preached
cannot be untrue. I have myself experienced
it personally. Hence I do assert – it is true,
it is true, it is true!”

A man asked: “Who are the two gods who embellish life”? “Heart
and tongue”, came the reply. The next question was: “Who are the two
demons who destroy life”? “Heart and tongue”, was the reply again.

The cruelty and tenderness of heart make a person mean or great

respectively. Non-control over tongue leads to loss of health and cooperation.
Sweet and amiable speech, on the other hand, begets for a man ample love
and affection of others.

Sept-Oct 2006 9
 Vedic Solutions to Modern Problems:
Social, Cultural & Economic Developments - I
I n the earlier articles of this series we had
addressed the problems pertaining to
atmospheric environment and ecosystem.
However, as we all know, the socioeconomic
and cultural environment has equally
important impact on the course of human life.
Disorder or disparity of any kind in the socio-
cultural and economic systems disturbs the
peace and progress of people’s life in several
ways. Then what to say of the detrimental
effects of the falling moral values, cultural
degeneration and ideological confusions and
conflicts of today? The complexity and
magnitude of the problems and associated
harms convolve manifold when the society is
diverse, multicultural, overpopulated and
undergoing rapid but unequal and
shortsighted economic growth. These have
posed a hidden but alarming threat to healthy
survival of the human-society today. It is time
to seek effective solutions to these gigantic
problems. Hence the importance of
reinvestigating and implementing time-tested
knowledge and guidelines, including ancient
vedic texts, that have been commended by
great personalities and social reformers over
the millennia.
While referring to the Vedic texts we often
find two extreme and mutually contradicting
approaches of intellectuals – one that regards
the Vedas as divine, self-existent and the other
the so-called ‘rational’ and ‘scientific’, that
criticizes these as mythological creations of
10
primitive minds, orthodox treatises and what
not. Their debates mostly revolve around
selective and prejudiced interpretations of the
ancient language and half-cooked arguments
on the time and place of origin of the Vedas
and Aryans, etc, and these serve no purpose
other than, perhaps, satisfying the ego of a
dry and cynical intellect. A balanced approach
is that of a learner whose attempt is guided
by the unbiased, scrupulous and sagacious yet
lucid explanations of the great saints and social
reformers of our times whose life and works
stand as living testimony to the authenticity
of their views and teachings. The writings and
speeches of Sri Aurobindo [1] , Swami
Vivekanand, Mahatma Gandhi and Gurudev
Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya [2] are worth
referring in this context. Some of the research
treatises [3-4] cited here also follow their
guidelines and adopt a balanced and thorough
approach.
The unique and most comprehensive aspect
of the Vedas with regard to socio-cultural and
economic spheres of human life is that every
individual is regarded here as both a divine
and a social being and thus the importance of
both the inner and the outer worlds of a person
are given due consideration. As remarked by
Dr. George Moore (in Historical and Theoretical
Trends in Psychiatry), the Indian rishis were the
philosophers of all dimensions of human
psychology. Indeed the rishis (seer - sages of
the Vedas), being scientists of spirituality, had
Sept-Oct 2006
a reach into the deepest depths of human mind
and heart and the sublime horizons of
consciousness.
The Vedic socio-cultural system, as
propounded by the rishis, therefore emanates
from classification of social responsibilities
considering the intrinsic tendencies, aptitudes,
and abilities of the individuals and the social
needs. Accordingly, four social groups were
formed. The Rigveda (1|22|15) refers to these
four groups as Chatv³ra Varña-Aïrama, namely
Br³hmaña, R³janya (KÌatriya), Vaiïya and Ï¿dra.
The four varñas are described as essential
components of the body of the omnipresent
divine cosmic being – thus implying, in rhetoric
language, that a member of the human society
is a divine child by virtue of sincerely
transacting his social duties.
The Varña System: Quality-based
Distribution of Social Responsibilities
As explicitly defined in the Yajurveda (30|5)
the origin and identification of the four varñas
pertain to what social duties one bears as per
his/her liking and abilities:
Brahmañe Br³hmaña, KÌatriya R³jyanam,
Mar¿dbhyo Vaiïya®, Tapase Ï¿dra® |
Broadly the following qualities and duties
characterized the four varñas:
Brahmaña: One who is truthful, who observes
non-violence; who lives for attainment and
dissemination of (pure) knowledge; who lives
an austere, chaste, altruistic life and does not
accumulate material comforts and wealth; who
is endowed with immense inner strength
Sept-Oct 2006
dedicated to divine values; who observes
ascetic disciplines of self-refinement and
practices yoga s³dhan³ and spiritual elevation;
who conducts yagya for the welfare of all. (c.f.,
for example, Yajurveda [33|81]: P³vakavarña¡
Ïuchayo Vipaïchita¡ ; Yajur.[34|56] UttiÌÚha
Brahmañaspate; Atharvaveda[5|19|4]: Tejo
R³Ìtrasya Nirhanti ; Athar.[12|5|1-3]: Ïrameña
Tapas³ SraÌÚ³, …….| Ïraddhay³ ParyuÃh³, …..
Yagye Pratisthata||)
KÌatriya: One who has valor, courage, skill and
determination to destroy the enemies; who is
dedicated to the protection of the society
(nation) and is ready to sacrifice his life for
this cause; who is fearless and wise and whose
personality radiates vigor, strength of
character, enthusiasm and alertness; who has
all qualities of a good king who makes his
nation strong. (c.f., for example, Rigveda
[8|67|1]: Kìatriy³na Ava Âdity³na Yachi̳mahe||
Atharvaveda [5|17|3]: That³ RaÌtra® Gupita®
Kìatriyasya || Samveda [17|59] Vaya® Dhan³
Ï¿ras³t³ Bhajemahi || Yajurveda[22|22]
R³janya…..RatheÌÚh³¡ ||)
Vaiïya: Who can generate wealth; who can
mobilize the expansion and utilization of
wealth; who has skills of fair trade; who is
industrious and enterprising; who bears the
responsibility of providing and managing the
material resources for the society. (c.f. for
example, Rigveda[4|24|9-10]: Krºñ³ti ….
Avikritah | Yajurveda[30|17]: Tulayai V³ñijam
| Atharvaveda[3|15|2]: Ye Panth³no …..
Dhanam³har³ñi || Atharvaveda[3|15|4]
Prapaño Vikrayaïcha …. Utthita® Cha ||).
Ï¿dra: One who is strong and good at physical
labor and handicraft (e.g. fine arts, pottery,
11
carpentry; weaving, etc; who may not like
mental work and intellectually skilled works
but has talents of body (e.g. gymnastics); who
is industrious and offers his services in the
performance of heavy tasks demanding
physical vigor and mental alertness; whose
hard work offers essential services and
constructive contribution (c.f. for example,
Yajurveda[30|5] Tapase Ï¿dra®| Yajur.[18|47]
R¿cha® No Dhehi … R¿cha® ViïyeÌu Ï¿dreÌu ||
Atharvaveda[19|32|8]: Priyam Ma… Kranu
…. Srudaya ||)
The crucial role of this varna is evident from
the fact that the Rigveda (10|90|12) terms it
as the foundational basis of the society
(Padbhy³® Ï¿dro Aj³yata) || Similar is implied
in Yajurveda [31|11] and the Atharvaveda
[19|6|6].
Vedic society never prohibited any member
of any varña from gaining education and
aspiring for enlightenment by study of the
Vedas. For example, the Yajurveda [26|2]
asserts that the laborers in the Ï¿dra varña also
have a right to study the Vedas and it
encourages them to do so (Yathem³® V³cha®
…… Ï¿dr³ya Ch³ry³ya Cha||).
There are several other hymns in the Yajur,
Atharva and Sama Vedas and in the Vedic
scriptures including the Brahmanas-Aranyaks
that describe in detail the duties and social
importance of each varña. All the varñas are
recognized as respectful components of the
society. It is only the avarñas – who do not
abide by the norms and duties of any of the
four varñas – that are condemned in the
scriptures as dasyu or d³sa because of their
selfish, audacious and anti-social activities.
12
Nowhere there is mention of varña defined
by birth and no concept of caste is present
in the Vedic social system. Many of the
rishis – most revered seer and sages in the
Br³hmaña varña – were born to a Ï¿dra; for
example, Maharshi Vyasa, who scripted the
Puranas and Saytakama Jabala, who was the
most eminent disciple of Maharshi Gautam,
etc. Rishi Vishwamitra, Valmiki, Kvaish
Aylush and several others were also born
in non-Br³hmaña families. Even change of
varña was allowed in the ancient Indian
society; for example one could become a
Br³hmaña at any age if he/she acquired
higher knowledge by dedicated endeavors,
adopted the necessary ascetic disciplines of
thoughts, emotions and conduct, and
transacted noble duties accordingly.
As analyzed by Muni Yask in Nirukta [2|3]
— “…. varño varñote¡” — because of chosen
(p.p. of verb varaña) way of life and
activities, it is termed “varña”. Lord Krishna
also preaches in the holy Gita (4|13):
Carturvarnyam Maya Srastam Guna-karma-
vibhagashah| Meaning: The four varña are
created by me (God), according to the
different classes of qualities and deeds of
people. This shows that at least until the
Mahabharata war, there was no distortion
of the varna system. The gigantic war of
Mahabharata devastated the then Indian
civilization and also totally ruptured the
socio-economic structure; by the medieval
times, the society was ruptured and got
trapped into cultural decline and
superstitious customs. What we see today
is an offshoot of further tidal changes that are
largely dominated by opportunistic, egotist
and material and comfort driven progress.
Sept-Oct 2006
The philosophy of the varña based social
structure offers rare clues on how to balance
social concerns with economic growth,
choosing the best of the rightist (capitalistic),
leftist (communist) and centralist ideologies
for the balanced welfare of all.
Implications: Guidelines for Modern Times
As we all know, the root cause of evils and
agonies in the human society are greed, ego
and ignorance. The untoward tendencies,
passions and fallacies generated from these
pose numerous hurdles at every step towards
the development of an ideal society. The varña
system aimed at diminishing the spread of
these vicious tendencies by associating the
duties of each varña with divine law. Today
as well there should be awareness among
people about the necessity of spirituality in
every walk of life for everybody’s well-being
and viable progress. The much-desired
awareness and sense of responsibility among
the masses, and harmony in different
components of the society will lead to social
harmony and spiritual upliftment.
The blind pursuit of acquisition of wealth,
honor and power to indulge in insatiable
egotist passions is a major cause of corruption
in all fields of human activities today.
Remarkably efficient control over these was
ensured in the varña system where no single
individual of any varña was entitled to have
all of these simultaneously — honor, power,
wealth and unbridled sense-indulgence. The
Br³hmañ’s character and deeds bestowed
distinct honor upon him from all directions.
But the power remained in the hands of the
KÌatriyas, who shouldered the responsibility
Sept-Oct 2006
of governing the society and protecting it.
Because of generating and augmenting wealth
for the progressive management of society,
this was naturally owned by the Vaiïyas. The
Ïudras being associated with physical labor or
creative handwork, did not have to worry
about unpredictable changes and future
planning for the society etc, and so they were
more relaxed and carefree than the other
three varñas. Though there was difference in
nature of works, none was regarded as higher
or lower in any respect.
The materialistic resources were also shared
with others happily as per his/her genuine
needs. The organization of duties and life-
styles broadly prescribed for each varña was
such that no individual could possess anything
without discharging his due responsibilities
towards the well-being of the society. Mutual
respect and cooperation among all the four
varnas created an ideal society blossoming with
illumined joy and all round progress.
As analyzed by modern scholars [3-5], the four
varñas encompass both the social instincts and
individualism amongst the human beings. In
such a society every member is both a “means”
and an “end (accomplished goal)”. As a social
being he works for the welfare and progress
of the society on the altruistic philosophy of
“idam na mam.” As a divine-child, he strives
for physical well-being, and mental,
intellectual and spiritual evolution of his real
extended Self. Each individual of Chatv³ra
Varña-Aïrama has been given guidelines in the
Vedas to attain perfection in social, economic,
scientific and spiritual fields, not only for his/
her satisfaction but also for the welfare of
society. The Vedic society was thus the
13
community of persons belonging to four divine
groups, which correspondingly strove for
evolution of human consciousness in total
harmony with Nature.
Collective Administration:
The social order and all-round progress was
maintained by two principal institutions: sabh³
and vidhat³ [5]. All men and women of the four
varñas were allowed to participate in the
meetings of these institutions. It should be
noted that women were granted equal rights
with men in discussions and decision-making
(c.f. for example Rigveda [10|85|26-42, 47]
and Atharvaveda [14|1-20, 22 & 14|2-64,71]).
Even the avarñas (the anti-social or perverted
fellows) were invited there so that they could
get proper guidance and support.
S³bh³ was a kind of a political and social
assembly where all citizens deliberated on
social and political problems of the polity and
society. It had several sub-committees that
served as the executive bodies. It also had
judicial bodies to review whether someone was
drifting from the duties, spreading any
declining values, or in any way disturbing
peace and harmony of the society.
Vedic Vidhat³ was a religious institution in
which all matters relating to Dharma (moral
values and spirituality), and —ata — the cosmic
laws of Nature and sublime knowledge
pertaining to divinity, and soul reality,
consciousness force, etc - could be discussed
and deliberated upon.
It is nice to be important, but more important is to be nice.
14
In essence the vedic social system was
maintained by collective sharing of
responsibilities and rights by all citizens
aiming at what is referred in the (Yajurveda
[3|43]) as a social prayer — “May we acquire
mundane and celestial joy and felicity, which
could help in per-forming our noble deeds and
duties, creating concord and peace
everywhere”.
References:
1. Sri Aurobindo: The Secrets of the Veda
(On the Veda – Part I). Aurobindo Ashram,
Pondicherry. 1956
2. Acharya Pt. Shriram Sharma: Vedon K³
Divya Sandeïa. Yug Nirman Yojna,
Mathura, 1985. + Engl. Translation: The
Divine Message of Vedas. Yug Nirman
Yojna, Mathura, 1994.
3. Padmshri Dr. KD Dwivedi: Vedoó Meó
Sam³jï³stra, Arthaï³stra aur Sik̳ï³stra.
Vishwabharati Anushnadhan Parishad,
Gyanpur (Bhadohi), 2002.
4. Dr. AK Jayaswal: Vaidika Sansk—ati Ke
Vividha Ây³ma. Lalit Prakashan, New
Delhi. 2000.
5. Prem Sabhlok: Vedic Metaphysics
(www.sabhlokcity.com/metaphysics),
2005.
(To be continued)
Sept-Oct 2006
Art of Living – 4
Yena dev³¡ svar³ruruhurhitv³ ïarºramm—tasya
nabhim|
Tena geÌma suk—tasya loka® dharmasya vratena
taps³ yaïasyava¡||
- Atharvaveda 4/11/6
“The Supreme Being by whose grace the self-
realized, after discarding their mortal bodies,
have attained to the elixir of mokïa or salvation,
by the grace of that Supreme Being, and by
vrata and tapa we seekers of glory will also
attain to that transcendental abode.”
R egulating the daily routine not only
improves health but also imparts a certain
glow to the whole jºvana s³dhan³. The daily
routine may appear to constitute a small aspect
of life, but on a deeper look we find a
reflection of the whole gamut of life in it. The
values of life, its aims, direction, ideals, goal
– everything we can glimpse in the daily
routine. One whose day-to-day life is
haphazard and disorderly, remains confused
and aimless in the larger scheme of life, too.
This is a cardinal truth whatever arguments
and excuses to the contrary may be proffered.
An organized routine ensures refinement and
priming of the energies of the body, mind and
soul, and their application in a specific
direction. It is important to distinguish that
order or organization does not merely mean
Sept-Oct 2006
Tapa & Vrat
Bring Order into life
the existence of a particular condition; the
indication of a particular direction, too, is
implicit in it. In disorder, on the other hand,
there is neither any specific condition nor any
direction. In order, there is spontaneous
creation, whereas in disorder, only
destruction flourishes. This truth can be
perceived clearly in every walk of life and
every nook of the society.
Haphazard routine not only ruins health but
also gives birth to serious psychological
problems. Even the school going children
and teenagers, not to speak of the adults,
have become victims of these maladies. A
disease like diabetes is not sparing even
small children now. Miscellaneous studies
point to only one factor as the root culprit,
viz. the life-style has become unbalanced; the
daily routine has become chaotic. Sleep time
is wasted in fun and frolic while that for
waking and working is spent in sleeping.
This topsy-turviness has antagonized nature.
Experts of human physiology as well as of
human psychology are convinced that man
will have to suffer the ill consequences of
tampering with the biological rhythm
ordained by nature. And this is exactly what
is happening. If we have to salvage the
situation, there is no alternative to reversing
the inverted. This is the only solution which
can bring modern life presently groping in
the maze of wilderness back on the right
tracks.
15
There is an illuminating anecdote often related
among the Vaishnav saint community. An
elderly saint lived in Vrindavan, the dh³m or
abode of Lord Krishna. Many among the
wealthy and elite were his followers. They, too,
suffered from the frailties which invariably
develop from surfeit of money and power, but
still they all possessed sense of veneration for
their guru. They would often ask their guru
about the ultimate secret of life. The saint
fenced the question with a laugh because he
knew that the underlying spirit of the question
was not genuine enquiry but mere curiosity.
But one day the contrary happened. A true
seeker asked the same question. In response,
the guru became somber. He sent the seeker
to the great saint Roop Goswami of Vrindavan
with the instruction that if the aspirant could
learn the essence of that saint’s life, then he,
too, would instruct him in the ultimate
mystery of life. What the saint said was
somewhat unusual but the disciple had total
faith in him. In pursuance of his guru’s
instruction, he remained with Roop Goswami
for some time and then came back. When he
bowed at the feet of his guru, the latter looked
at him questioningly and asked: “Tell me,
what is the essence of the life of Goswamiji”?
“Tapa and vrata”, the disciple replied succinctly.
The saint’s face lit up with a sense of
satisfaction and he said: “Son! Tapa and vrata
are the quintessence of not only Goswami’s
life but the ultimate secret of everyone’s life.
When a person is able to bring order into
his daily routine with the help of the formula
of tapa and vrata every other thing – money,
fame, power, respect and spiritual glories –
become easily accessible to him. Tapa means
to prevent the wastage of one’s vigor and
energy, and vrata means to resolutely pursue
the path of self-enlightenment”.
Those who are desirous of regulating their
daily routine should get up before sunrise,
prepare a schedule of the day’s work, and fix
one goal for everyday. They should spend
the entire day within the framework of this
discipline and go to bed in the night
immersing themselves in the remembrance of
the merciful God.
Some practical guidelines to a disciplined
routine can be learnt from the s³dhaka’s diary
printed by Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya.
This diary will help the s³dhakas organize their
routine and guide them into living a life of
tapa and vrata.
It is important to keep in mind that the seed
of wakefulness lies in sleep. So that the day
is begun on the right note, sleep should
commence at the right time too. The diet
also should be regulated because food
impacts the entire course of life.

May we get peace? May we silence the ever-disturbing words and sounds
in our mind? It is only by attaining absolute inner peace that we would realize
the ultimate, the original source of true knowledge. The foundation of inner
peace is essential for the rise of true knowledge. Attempting to seek true knowl-
edge without this foundation is a futile exercise

16 Sept-Oct 2006

I ntentionality – Parenting As a Spiritual
Discipline-Intentions remind us of what is
important. When we form the intention to do
something, and that intention in turn informs
our choices and our actions, the chances that
we will be sensitive to what is important in
our lives increase greatly, and we are more
likely to see the big picture. Our intentions
serve as blueprints, allowing us to give shape
and direction to our efforts, and to assess how
we are doing as we work at developing
something worthy of ourselves and our lives.
So at some point, whenever that is, we have
to decide what is really important for us, and
then work at constantly keeping that
framework in mind as things unfold.
In mindful parenting, certain principles are
important to affirm from the very beginning.
This does not mean that if we already have
children, it is too late to become more mindful
in our parenting. It means that we begin, when
we are ready, wherever we are in our lives,
and work with the here and now, formulating
the intentions that are important for us to
affirm and to implement, and that are realistic.
Not only is it never too late to introduce
mindfulness into our lives; the very moment
that we make the conscious commitment to
do so becomes the perfect moment to begin.
Here are some intentions that you may find
helpful. Of course, you can also create your
own.
Sept-Oct 2006
The Inner Work of
Mindful Parenting
Intention One: I will bring my entire creative
genius to the work of mindful parenting.
Intention Two: I will see parenting as a
spiritual discipline, meaning that it provides
me with every necessary opportunity to
cultivate wisdom and openheartedness in
myself, so that I may come to know and
express my true nature and share what is
best in me with my children and with the
world.
Intention Three: I will cultivate mindfulness
and discernment in my daily life, especially
with my children, using an awareness of my
breathing to ground me in the present
moment.
Intention Four: I will make every effort to
see who my children actually are, and to
remember to accept them for who they are
at every age, rather than be blinded by my
own expectations and fears. By making a
commitment to live my own life fully and to
work at seeing and accepting myself as I am,
I will be better able to accord a similar
acceptance to my children. In this way I can
help them to grow and to realize their full
potential as unique beings.
Intention Five: I will make every effort to see
things from each child’s point of view and
understand what my children’s needs are, and
to meet them as best I can.
17
Intention Six: I will use whatever comes up
in my own life and in the lives of my
children, including the darkest and most
difficult times, as “grist for the mill,” to
grow as a human being so that I am better
able to understand my children, their soul
needs, and what is required of me as a
parent.
Intention Seven: I will fold these intentions
into my heart, and commit myself to putting
them into practice as best I can, every day,
and in appropriate ways that feel right to me
and that honor my children’s sovereignty, and
my own.
Twelve Exercises for Mindful Parenting.
1. Try to imagine the world from your
child’s point of view, purposefully
letting go of your own. Do this every
day for at least a few moments to remind
you of who this child is and what he or
she faces in the world.
2. Imagine how you appear and sound
from your child’s point of view, i.e.,
having you as a parent today, in this
moment. How might this modify how
you carry yourself in your body and in
space, how you speak, what you say?
How do you want to relate to your child
in this moment?
3. Practice seeing your children as perfect
just the way they are. See if you can stay
mindful of their sovereignty from moment
to moment, and work at accepting them,
as they are when it is hardest for you to
do so.
18
4. Be mindful of your expectations of your
children whether they are truly in your
child’s best interest. Also, be aware of
how you communicate those expectations
and how they affect your children.
5. Practice altruism, putting the needs of your
children above your own whenever
possible. Then see if there isn’t some
common ground, where your true needs
can also be met. You may be surprised at
how much overlap is possible, especially
if you are patient, and strive for balance.
6. When you feel lost, or at a loss, remember
to stand still, as in David Wagoner’s poem:
“The forest breathes … “Listen to what it
is saying: “The forest knows where you
are. You must let it find you …” Meditate
on the whole, by bringing your full
attention to the situation, to your child, to
yourself, to the family. In doing so, you
may go beyond thinking, even good
thinking, and perceive intuitively, with the
whole of your being (your feelings,
intuition, body, mind, and soul) what
really needs to be done. If that is not clear
in any moment, may be the best thing is
to not do anything until it becomes clearer.
Sometimes it is good to remain silent.
7. Try embodying silent presence. This will
grow out of both formal and informal
mindfulness practice over time, if you
attend to how you carry yourself and what
you project in body, mind, and speech.
Listen carefully.
8. Learn to live with tension without losing
your own balance. In Zen and the Art of
Sept-Oct 2006
 Arcbery, Herrigel describes how he was
taught to stand at the point of highest
tension effortlessly without shooting the
arrow. At the right moment, the arrow
mysteriously shoots itself. Do this by
practicing moving into any moment,
however difficult, without trying to
change anything and without having to
have a particular outcome occur. Simply
bring your full awareness and presence
to this moment. Practice seeing that
whatever comes is “workable” if you are
willing to stand in this way in the
present, trusting your intuition and best
instincts. Your child, especially when
young, needs you to be a center of
balance and trustworthiness, a reliable
landmark by which he or she can take a
bearing within his or her own landscape.
Arrow and target need each other.
Forcing doesn’t help. They will find each
other better through wise attention and
patience.
9. Apologize to your child when you have
betrayed a trust in even a little way.
Apologies are healing. An apology
demonstrates that you have thought about
a situation and have come to see it more
clearly, or perhaps more from your child’s
point of view. But we have to be mindful
of being “sorry” too often. It loses its
meaning if we are always saying it, or
make regret into a habit. Then it can
become a way for us not to take
responsibility for our actions. Be aware of
this. Cooking in remorse on occasion is a
good meditation. Don’t shut off the stove
until the meal is ready.
Sept-Oct 2006
10. Every child is special, and every child has
special needs. Each sees in an entirely
unique way. Hold an image of each child
in your heart. Drink in their being, wishing
them well.
11. There are very important times when we
need to practice being clear and strong and
unequivocal with our children. Let this
come as much as possible out of awareness
and generosity and discernment, rather
than out of fear, self-righteousness, or the
desire to control. Mindful parenting does
not mean being overindulgent, neglectful,
or weak; nor does it mean being rigid,
dominating, and controlling.
12. The greatest gift you can give your child
is yourself. This means that part of your
work as a parent is to keep growing in
self-knowledge and in awareness. We
have to be grounded in the present
moment to share what is deepest and best
in ourselves. This is ongoing work, but it
can be furthered by making a time for quiet
contemplation in whatever ways feel
comfortable to us. We only have right
now. Let us use it to its best advantage,
for our children’s sake, and for our own.
-Myla and Joan Kabat–Zinn
[Published with glad permission of the
authors. Dr. Joan Kabat-Zinn is the founder
Director of the Stress Education Clinic of the
University of Massachusetts and Myla is a
child-birth educator, birthing assistant and
environmental advocate. – Editor]
19
Youth Column
Dress Should be Accord with
the National Culture
Vastreñeva v³say³ manman³ ïuchim
- Rigveda 1/140/1
(Meaning: We cover the sacred and the private
(organs) with the right dress.)
T he style of dress reveals a person’s cultural
affinities; it indicates that the person
cherishes deep inside him particular cultural
values. Blind imitation of western dress is a
pointer to thoughtless belief in superiority of
western civilization and culture. This
tendency shows that such persons are cut off
from their own cultural moorings. Their sense
of pride in Indian culture and motherland has
virtually died down. Otherwise, why should
they be reluctant to adopt the dress style of
their own country? Those who are desirous
of treading the path of jivana sadhana should
be conscious about their clothing.
The recent history of our country underlines
the significance of this fact. The great men
who led the nation during the tumultuous days
of the freedom struggle, had almost wholly
received Western/English education. Many
of them had studied in England. Some of
them had even turned down high and
prestigious posts like the I.C.S. In the initial
stages and during their studentship, almost
all wore English style dress. But when love
for the nation began to stir them, their dress
styles changed too. Barrister Mohandas
20
Karamchand Gandhi could become Mahatma
Gandhi only by adopting Indian dress and
ethos. His followers and associates, too, set
out on the noble task of awakening the nation
after adopting native style of clothing.
There is a touching incident having a bearing
on this matter. The world famous chemical
scientist Dr. Prafulla Chandra Roy was
Professor in Calcutta University. As befitted
a university professor, his apparel, too, was
western. Those were the days of the
Independence Movement. The whole country
was resonating with national sentiments. The
sensitive heart of Dr. P. C. Roy could not
remain unaffected by all this. Love for the
nation began to stir in his bosom too. But he
was in a fix. How could he pursue this love in
the midst of his scientific work? In what way
could he serve the nation? To find the answer,
he met Gandhiji. He was wearing western
dress as usual at that time. Gandhiji looked
at him from top to bottom and said with a
smile: “Roy Sir! What was the great hurry that
you have come unclothed”? Dr. Roy was
perplexed. Why was Mahatmaji talking in
riddles today? I have come fully clothed, yet
he is saying that I am without clothes.
Gandhiji explained: “Nation can not be served
properly under alien attire. National values,
national sentiments, national culture – these
all have only one identity and that is our own
Sept-Oct 2006
national mode of dressing”. Now Professor
Roy was able to understand the import of
Gandhiji’s words. He completely changed his
attire from that day and made the ethnic khadi
his life-long companion.
Those who advance the excuses of dress norms
operative in technical and higher education
institutions should stand reminded here that
there are so many persons working in our
mission (Gayatri Pariwar) who have
completed their technical/higher education in
dhoti-kurta. Students doing engineering
studies including M. Tech. and that too from
the best institutes of the country, donned dhoti-
kurta and maintained the dignity of our
culture. There is a famous proverb: “Where
there is a will, there is a way”. So the need is
to generate the will; corresponding ways will
materialize on their own. With strong will
power and overflowing love for one’s culture,
the entire course of life can be transformed,
what to speak of the dress style.
The modes of dress prevalent these days
reflect neither Indianness nor Indian culture.
The general wear on school and college
campuses is expressive of only tastlessness and
lack of decorum. The situation at homes is no
better. It all indicates that our cultural sense
is fast depleting. Even from the health point
of view experts regard the body-hugging and
skin-revealing apparel as unsuitable. It lies
upon the young generation of the country to
check and reverse this rapidly worsening
trend. Any appeal to those whose cultural
Air, water and food are essential for the nourishment of the physical body of a living
being. Similarly knowledge that leads to integrated refinement, development and the activation
of the potentialities of the heart, head and hands is true nourishment of the soul.
Sept-Oct 2006
sense has died and in whom national
sentiments have almost dried up is futile. But
those, who have become indifferent for some
other reasons, should wake up. Let such brave
young men and women come forward and,
through their mode of dress, reflect their
distinctive nationality and culture.
There are some important elements of a proper
sense of dress. The first is hygiene. Not only
the clothes but the body, too, should be kept
clean. Unkempt hair and uncut nails, for
example, are a public announcement that we
are not yet civilized. The second element is
selection of apparel in accord with the season.
The textile and the style both should match
the different seasons - summer, winter and
rainy. The third point is about the general
nature and form of the dress. Instead of being
very tight and body-hugging, it should be
slightly loose-fitting. At the same time, the
cut should be such that the body could be
properly covered. The fourth element concerns
the understanding of our cultural roots. There
should be no glaring antagonism between the
dress and the socio-cultural values. As far as
possible, the attire should be in conformity
with our soil and our culture. Our dress
should announce to all that we are not only
politically but also culturally independent and
we have firm belief in the Indian ethos. To
make this belief strong, we will have to give
proper direction to our imaginations and learn
the art of putting them to right application.
21
 Beginning the Quest
My Life as a Student
FATHER HAD PLANNED not to send his
son to school but to have him learn dyeing.
So he taught me at home up to the level of
the fifth or sixth class, and then sent me for
admission to the Kala Bhavan {technical
school} at Baroda, where he was well
known and respected. Everyone recognized
me as ‘Bhave’s son, but they could not admit
me. They asked me how far I had gone in
English and I told them ‘up to the third
English class’; since other candidates had
got as far as ‘intermediate arts’, I had no
chance. My father then began to teach me
further himself, and finding that his lad
spent more time roaming about than
studying, gave me a lot of mathematical
problems to keep me busy. So what did I
do? I concentrated on the more difficult ones
which were set out in small type at the end
of the text book, worked them all out and
left the rest. Father realized that I grasped
the subject so he said nothing, and what I
learned with him was all I needed up to the
matriculation level. I would first finish my
assignment in Maths and English within the
hour and then be off on my wanderings for
four or five hours at a stretch. So finally in
disgust father dumped me in school.
There too I carried on in the same way. I not
only went on roaming, I pulled my friends
out of their homes to join me and gave them
22
- Sant Vinoba Bhave
no chance to study. Babaji Moghe used to hide
in some temple to study and keep out of my
way, but I would search for him, find him and
drag him out.
As a boy my two hobbies were reading and
roaming. I would be off whenever I got the
chance. Another friend of mine, Raghunath
Dhotre, would always tell me that I had wheels
on my feet. ‘Vinya,’ Mother would say, ‘in
your last birth you must have been a tiger;
for one thing, you must have your daily round,
and for another you have a very keen nose,
you can’t bear the slightest bad odour.’ So I
soon knew every street in Baroda, and I would
be off at all time of day or night -any time
would do for me. I liked running too, but I
never kept any record of the distances I
covered.
I once set out for a run at half past midnight,
and took the road past the Baroda Palace
grounds. The sentry shouted his customary
challenge Hukum ...Dar,1 but I took no notice
and ran on. A little later I returned by the same
road. This time the sentry stopped me and
asked why I was running; ‘For exercise,’ I
replied. He retorted: ‘Who runs for exercise
at one o’clock in the morning? You are up to
mischief, you are a thief!’ ‘And when did a
thief ever come back by the same road he went
out?’ I demanded. He had no answer to that
and let me go.
Sept-Oct 2006
One Diwali I spent hours during the three
days of the festival going into every little
lane and side street in Baroda to see whether
there were any houses that did not display
the festal lamps. I did not find a single house
in the whole city where no lamps were
burning. The Muslim houses too all had their
lighted lamps.
I also used to visit the various temples. There
was one temple, close to Kamathibag, whose
deity I named ‘Lord of Exams’. Our college
was nearby, and during examination days
crowds of students would visit the shrine for
darshan, and to pray that the Lord would grant
them a ‘pass’.
In school and college my only concern was
how soon the class would end and I be set
free. But there was one occasion when the
teacher began to dictate notes. I wrote nothing,
I just listened, and the teacher noticed it. When
he had finished the dictation he told me to
stand up and read what I had written. I stood
up at once with my notebook in my hand and
repeated all I had heard. The teacher was
taken aback. ‘Just let me see your notebook,’
he said. I showed him the blank pages. ‘You
won’t be able to read what I have written,
sir,’ I said.
Mathematics was my strong subject. The
teacher was fond of his pupils and took great
pains over his work. One day I consulted him
about an exceptionally difficult problem. He
thought for a while and then said: ‘Come back
to me tomorrow. In all my years of teaching
no one has posed such a problem before. I am
so familiar with ordinary mathematics that I
could teach it in my
Sept-Oct 2006
sleep, but this problem of yours is a different
matter. I shall be able to give you an answer
only tomorrow.’ These words made a very
deep impression on me.
But some teachers, when the children can’t
work out their maths problems, have a habit
of slapping their cheeks. I wonder what a slap
has to do with mathematics? Is it perhaps that
a slap on the cheek stimulates the flow of blood
to the brain, so that it begins to work better
and so solve the problem? Could that be the
reason? When I was a little lad, about twelve
years old, one of the teachers in our school
used to cane the children a lot. He seemed to
think that caning was the only basis for
knowledge. He had a long cane which he kept
locked up. We children didn’t like canings, but
what could we do? Finally one day I managed
to pick the lock and throw the cane away.
When the teacher found it gone he guessed,
of course, that one of us had been playing
pranks, but he said nothing. Next day he
brought another cane, and I got rid of that
one too. He got yet a third cane, and that also
I disposed of. Then he got really annoyed and
began asking questions to get at the source of
the mischief, but none of the boys said a word
- they were all on my side.
In the end, however, the teacher did discover
the truth, and having found the culprit he had
to devise a punishment. He sentenced me to
five hundred ‘sit-ups’2 and told another boy
to stand by and count. The boy was a friend
of mine and his counting went like this: ‘one-
two-three-four-seven-ten’. After a while he
got tired and sat down. I went on with my
‘sit-ups’, and soon he started counting again,
and told the teacher that the five hundred had
23
been completed. But I too had been counting
in my head, and I knew I had only done one
hundred and twenty-three. So when the
teacher told me to stop and sit down, I said:
‘The five hundred isn’t finished yet, Sir, only
one hundred and twenty-three.’ The teacher
thought, ‘Here’s an honest lad,’ and said: ‘Sit
down, you have already done eighteen too
many.’ So I did sit down, but I didn’t
understand what he meant. I puzzled over it
and in the end got it: five hundred meant five
plus a hundred, not five times a hundred-and
on that reckoning, as the teacher said, I had
done eighteen extra ‘sit-ups’. That was how
that teacher took pity on me, and I have never
forgotten those figures.
Our English teacher once set, as the subject
for an essay, ‘Description of a Marriage
Ceremony’. But I had never attended any
marriage ceremony. I couldn’t describe it -
what was I to do? So I invented a story about
a young man who got married, and all the
sorrow which befell him and others as a
consequence. The teacher noted on my essay:’
Although you did not dea1 with the set theme,
you used your intelligence,’ and he gave me
seven marks out of ten.
The Central Library at Baroda was then
considered one of the best libraries in India.
During my vacations, after I had had my meal,
I would spend the afternoon there. Two or
three hours would go by very pleasantly, and
the librarian would kindly help me to find the
books I wanted. During the hot weather I
would take off my shirt and sit reading
stripped to the waist, until one day one of the
attendants objected that my dress was not
‘decent’; I ought to have the sense to dress
24
properly, he said. I told him that I dressed by
the common sense God had given me, and
turned back to my reading, in which I was
soon absorbed.
But a complaint reached the Director that a
student was sitting in the Reading Room
without a shirt and refusing to listen to the
staff. The Director was an Englishman; his
office was on the third floor and he summoned
me there. I found him ‘correctly’ dressed in
shirt and trousers-but he had a fan over his
head: He kept me standing before him (as the
English usually did in those days) but as he
was older than me, I did not find that
humiliating. But then he pointed to my naked
torso. ‘Why this?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you know
what good manners mean?’
‘Certainly I do,’ I replied, ‘in my own country.’
‘And what is that?’ he asked. ‘In this country,’
I said, ‘we don’t think it’s good manners for
one man to remain seated and keep another
man standing.’ He was very pleased that a
mere lad like me should have answered so
boldly. He at once gave me a chair, and I
explained that in India it is no breach of good
manners to go naked to the waist in the hot
weather. This he accepted, and went on to ask
me about my studies, and then told the
librarian to give me whatever help I needed
in finding the books.
Then there was the celebration of the birthday
of Shivaji. I and my friends were discussing
where it should be held. Shivaji was a lover
of freedom, I said, so we should celebrate him
in the open air, not under any roof; we should
go off to the hills and the jungles. So that was
settled, but then another obstacle arose: the
Sept-Oct 2006
day was not a holiday. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘We are
studying Shivaji in the history class. We might
cut that class and go off into the jungle then.’
This was agreed; off we all went and held our
commemoration with all solemnity .On the
way back we began to talk about what would
happen the next day, when we would surely
be punished for our absence. I suggested that
we each take a quarter-rupee with us to pay
the fine.
In the history class the next day the teacher
asked where we had been, and we said that
we had been to the jungle to celebrate Shivaji’s
birthday. ‘Couldn’t you have done that here?’
he asked. I answered like a shot: ‘Shivaji the
freedom-lover can’t be commemorated in the
halls of slavery!’ The teacher didn’t like that..
‘You’ll all be fined,’ he said, and we all put
our hands in our pockets and laid the coins
before him.
In this way we had a lot of discussion and
debate about special days and important
topics, and a lot of vigorous argument went
on in the course of our walks. There were
about ten to fifteen of us friends, and we all
wanted to undertake some public service.
After a time we decided to give our group a
more definite shape, and in 1914 we formed a
‘Student Society’ which held regular
celebrations of the birthdays of Shivaji, Swami
Ramdas and so on. We also had study-
discussion groups with talks on such topics as
the works of the Saints, love of country, the
lives of great men, the development of
character. At first we met in one another’s
homes, then later we hired a room for a few
‘annas’. I began by asking Mother for the
money for the rent, but afterwards everyone
Sept-Oct 2006
subscribed. We got together a good library,
about sixteen hundred volumes of biography,
travel, history, science and so on. I myself once
gave a talk on Mazzini; in fact many of the
talks were given by me, and I gave them with
a serious sense of responsibility.
Itwas in this Student Society that my public
life began, and took it as my model when I
founded the Grama Seva Mandal (Village
Service Society) in 1935. I certainly profited
by all the study needed for the talks I
delivered, but the greatest boon the Society
gave me was friendship; the friends I made in
it have remained my friends for life and have
never left me. In 1917 I returned to Baroda
for its annual meeting, and suggested that the
Society should propagate the use of the Hindi
language. I wrote and told Gandhiji that I felt
sure it would take up the work and be ready
to carry on in Baroda his campaign for Hindi.
Near our house in Baroda lived an old man
who used to sit spinning yarn by hand for the
‘sacred thread’. I and my friends looked upon
him as a laughing-stock. ‘What a relic of the
primitive!’ we would say. In later years many
of us joined Gandhiji; we too were destined
to spend our time spinning yarn by hand on
the wheel!
Leaving Home
When I was ten years old I resolved to follow
the path of brahmacharya and already, even in
childhood, I was thinking about leaving home.
I had three great examples before me:
Gautama the Buddha, the Maharashtrian Saint
Ramadas and the Jagat-guru (world-teacher)
Shankaracharya. They exercised a powerful
25
attraction. The Buddha had left behind his
wife and little son; Ramadas had been
impelled to abandon his bride while the
wedding ceremonies were actually in
progress; Shankaracharya had never married
at all, but taken the vow of brahmacharya and
left home when he was only eight years old.
These three men were always in my thoughts,
and I cherished the inward hope that someday
I too would leave home. I was like a girl whose
marriage has been arranged, and who in
imagination abandons her parents’ home and
dwells already in that of her future husband.
I too had inwardly left home, and I gave my
attention to making sure that I did not go out
into the world raw or ‘half-baked’. I prepared
myself of course by study and meditation, and
in addition I did all I could to make my body
a fit instrument of spiritual discipline.
During childhood I had got hold of a book
which described a brahmachari’s rule of life, and
quoted Manu the things forbidden to him: he
should wear no shoes, use no umbrella, sleep
on no mattress. So I too stopped using these
things. Giving up the mattress and the
umbrella cost me nothing, but going about
barefoot, roaming on the tarred roads for
hours on end in the fierce midday heat of
Baroda, proved to be bad for my eyes. In
Manu’s time students would probably be living
in an Ashram where there was no need for
any footgear. But as a boy I was very rigorous
about this discipline of the body.
I also observed rules about eating and
drinking. I never attended wedding feasts or
similar festivities. Sister was married when
she was still a child but even at her wedding I
stuck to my rule and told Mother that I was
26
not going to eat the feast. Mother said nothing;
she cooked some food for me and served me.
But afterwards she came to me. ‘Vinya,’ she
said, ‘I can understand your not eating the
sweets and other wedding delicacies, but why
should you object to the plain dal and rice?
How can it be wrong to eat the rice and dal
cooked for the wedding, when it is exactly
the same as what I have cooked for you now?’
How skillfully Mother managed it! She didn’t
argue: she cooked, she fed me, but then she
made her point, and I agreed to eat the rice
and dal as she said.
I had a knack of putting my thoughts into
verse. I would compose poems, taking two or
three hours, sometimes a whole day, over each
one. Then I would chant the verses aloud and
correct any shortcomings that I noticed, and
when I felt fully satisfied with it I would offer
the poem as a sacrifice to the god of fire. One
day during the cold weather I was sitting by
the kitchen fire keeping myself warm and
burning poems. Mother noticed it and asked
what I was doing. When I told her she said:
‘But I have never seen your poems!’ So after
that, whenever I completed a poem, I would
first recite it to her and then throw it into the
fire. Later in Benares I would sit composing
my poems on the banks of the Ganges, and
after I was satisfied with them I would
immerse them in the water.
Near our home in Baroda lived a potter who
kept a donkey. When I sat down to study at
night it would begin to bray, and I found it
especially irritating when I was working at
some mathematical problem. Could anything
be done, I wondered. Then it occurred to me
that though the braying was a nuisance to me,
Sept-Oct 2006
the other donkeys probably enjoyed it, and in
that case it couldn’t be called ‘bad’. From that
day forward I began to train myself to think
of it as ‘good’. Whenever the donkey started
to bray I would stop studying and attend to
its discourse, trying to hear the music in it.
Sometimes I would start braying myself in
unison with the donkey, so as to feel more at
one with it. I began to hear compassion in the
sound and named it, in high-sounding
Sanskrit, ‘Theme Song of the Donkey’.
As a boy I was physically weak and sometimes
had severe headaches. When the pain became
unbearable I would say to myself, sometimes
speaking aloud, ‘This aching head is not I, I
am not my aching head! I am not my head, I
am something else!’ It was a great help to me
to use these words; they led me to practice
the attitude of mind which declares: ‘I am not
my body’.
At that time too I read the Yoga-shastra, and
in it was a description of the posture of one
who has attained Samadhi (the experience
of ultimate unity). I would seat myself in
this posture and imagine myself to have
reached Samadhi, though all the time my
mind would be running here and there. In
Baroda the summers are extremely hot, so I
would sit in this posture under the water-
tap. As the water dripped from the tap
above me and trickled over my head, I
would imagine that I was the Lord Shiva
himself entered into Samadhi. As I played
these games my mind did sometimes grow
so peaceful that I felt I really was in Samadhi.
I don’t know whether it was what the
scriptures mean by Samadhi, but it gave me
a great joy and I felt emptied of all desire.
Sept-Oct 2006
The Gaikwad of Baroda, Maharaja Sayaji Rao,
had installed a statue of the Lord Buddha in
one of the public parks, the ‘Jubilee Gardens’,
which I always thought of as ‘the garden of
the Buddha’. The statue attracted me greatly
because the thought of leaving home was in
my own mind- put there by the life and
teachings of Swami Ramdas, and reinforced
when I became acquainted with those of
Shankaracharya. It was kept continually
before me by the statue of the Buddha, who
in youth had turned his back on the pomp of
kingship and the pleasures of family life, as
being things of no account. There was no
solitude to be found in my Garden of the
Buddha, but I often went there nevertheless,
in order to contemplate and reflect upon this
image; it had a great influence on me.
Before I left home I made a bonfire of all my
certificates, including my matriculation
certificate. I wanted to cut loose, once and for
all, from every cable that might tie me down,
but Mother was very unhappy and asked why
I should burn them. ‘I don’t need them now,’
I said. ‘Perhaps not now,’ she replied, ‘but
what harm is there in keeping them?’ ‘No, I
shall never take any salaried job,’ I said.
The thought of leaving home had come to me
first in 1912, but I tested myself rigorously for
four years before making my final decision.
Once my mind was made up I never looked
back. I wanted to go to Benares, for two
reasons. One was that having had a ‘Western’
schooling, and also having studied the lives
of the Saints, my education would not be
complete without travel. Benares was reputed
to be a storehouse of knowledge, especially
of Sanskrit and the Scriptures. There I could
27
study the Scriptures. The second reason for
going to Benares was that it lay on the route
both to the Himalayas and to Bengal, and both
these places had a powerful attraction for me.
I felt a great affection and devotion for my
father and mother. I was so deeply attached
to my mother that in 1918 I went back home
to be with her on her deathbed. After her
death I chose two of her things to keep in her
memory .One was a sari, her precious
wedding sari; the other was an image of the
goddess Annapurna to which Mother had
always without fail made a daily offering. I
used the sari as a pillow for many years, until
we took the decision to use only khadi (home
spun cloth) for all purposes, and the sari was
not khadi. I went and bathed in the Sabarmati
river and immersed the sari in its sacred
waters. As for the image of Annapurna, I used
it occasionally in meditation -which is a form
of worship. But it had always been used for
regular daily worship, and I began to feel that
my mind would be more at ease if it were in
the hands of some pious woman who would
offer daily puja as my mother had done. I
could have found many such, but I had a
special faith in Kashibehn Gandhi.3 I said to
her: ‘This image was my mother’s; will you
accept it and offer the daily puja as she did?’
Reverently and lovingly she agreed.
But love and attachment for my parents could
not stop me leaving home. Everything else
paled before the force of the spiritual quest.
In those days one had to go to Bombay to sit
the Intermediate Examination, and a few of
us set off from Baroda together. But I and two
others, Bedekar and Tagare, left the Bombay
28
train at Surat and took the train for Benares. I
wrote to tell my father: ‘Instead of going to
Bombay for the exam, I am going somewhere
else. You may be assured that wherever I go I
shall set my hand to nothing that is wrong.’
That day, the day I left home, was March
25,1916.
Notes:
1. The traditional English challenge ‘Who
goes there?’ had first been turned into
‘Who comes there?’ and then Hindi-ised,
so that ‘who comes’ became hokum
(‘command’) and ‘there’ became dar
(‘beware!’).
2. A wrestler’s exercise consisting of rapidly
alternating standing and sitting postures,
up-down, up-down.
3. The wife of Gandhiji’s cousin Chaganlal.
With her husband and two sons,
Krishnadas and Prahhudas, she devoted
herself to Gandhijj’s Constructive
Programme, the general title used for his
village upliftment work which included
handicrafts, village industries, the removal
of untouchability, bringing harmony
between different religions, and simple
living.
[Published with glad permission of Kalindi
Behan, the original compiler in Hindi (and
translated into English by late Marjorie Sykes)
of Vinobaji’s Memoirs titled ‘MOVED BY
LOVE’ of Brahmavidya Mandir, Pawnar
(Wardha). – Editorial Team]
Sept-Oct 2006
Health Tips
A mong the host of health hazards faced
by the modern society, obesity has
become a matter of deep concern. Excessive
fat or overweight body not only reduces one’s
physical beauty and gives a funny appearance,
but at times it also hampers one’s alacrity and
work efficiency. Overweight people feel tired
and start panting after a little hard work.
More severe are the negative effects of extra
fat upon the tiny arteries and blood vessels.
Obesity increases the chances of high blood
pressure, hypertension, diabetes, asthma,
cardiac problems – with high risk of sudden
heart-attack or even failure of heart because
of arterial block, restlessness, insomnia,
hormonal disorders, osteoporosis and related
problems of weakening of the bones and the
joints, physical disability, etc.
Thus, not only the appearance-conscious or
smart people, but also those who care for
health and fitness are always keen to maintain
their body-weight within healthy limits and
try to turn to expensive gymnasiums, diet
courses, aerobic exercises and what not. In
spite of growing trends of fashionable looks
and slim bodies and also of health-awareness,
the number of over-weight people and fat-
driven diseases is increasing, especially in the
urban societies and developed countries.
Earlier the over-weight people used to be
usually the adults after a certain age. Fatty
Sept-Oct 2006
Get Rid of Obesity
Why?
heftiness was seen rarely among the youths
and children and it was mostly because of
hereditary factors or utterly lavish eating since
childhood. However, these days the incidence
of this abnormality seems to have risen in
people of all age groups. According to a clinical
survey report of 1997, over 30 crore people
below 65 years of age are suffering from high
obesity throughout the world.
These days many kids are also found suffering
from this abnormality. This is because of
excessive use of soda-bicarbonate-made cold
drinks, and eatables like chocolates, pastries,
and cheese. It is also found to be a congenital
abnormality because of the chemically
synthesized vitamins and medicines consumed
by the mother during pregnancy. Youths, who
have a stressful routine, are also found having
fat on their tummies and the cases of coronary
arterial blocks are rising alarmingly among the
urban youths in the young age-group 30-45.
Comfort based lifestyle, wrong eating and
drinking habits, less nourishing but high
calorie artificial foods, side effects of
medicines, hormonal disturbances, etc are also
responsible for this hidden hazard.
Although yoga is becoming popular among
other methods of keeping fit, people often
regard it only as a package of physical
exercises that could be practiced at any time
29
in any order. This is a pity. In fact yoga
pertains to much deeper folds of life and if
its philosophy is also understood and
adopted in righteous manner with necessary
disciplines, it would ensure physical and
mental well-being as well as psychological,
intellectual and spiritual evolution.
Considering the present context, we may
focus only on the yoga-aspects pertaining to
physical health. In this regard, as also for
overall health of the mind-body system, an
ideal routine and food habits suggested
under Ayurveda are derived from the
philosophy of yoga. Before we look into the
preventive and remedial modes suggested
under Ayurveda to avoid or get rid of
obesity, we shall see the characteristics and
hazards of obesity defined in the Ayurvedic
scriptures.
The Ayurveda Shastras refer to Obesity as
sthaulya roga or sth¿lat³. In the section “Sutra
Sthanama” 21|9 of Charak Samhita describes
it as — “The disease in which meda – fat, fatty
serum (and marrow) and flesh, etc – increases
and accumulates in excess on the tummy,
buttocks (hips), waist, chest/breasts, arms and
muscles of other parts. This growth is so much
that the flesh in some or these ‘inflated’
components makes them heavy and it even
hangs freely and shakes randomly while the
patient runs, walks moves his body for some
work. This also disturbs the metabolism and
normal supply of blood and essential
(bio)chemicals and thus hinders the health and
vigor of these and other components of the
body. Excessive eating, or fat-rich heavy food,
habit of frequent eating that disturb healthy
metabolism, are common causes of this
disease”.
30
If we eat more than what is essential for
balanced nutrition of our body in terms of
its natural constituent (prakrati) and mental-
physical work, or if we eat frequently fatty
or glucose or hydrocarbon rich substances
or high-calorie edibles, these are not
decomposed or transformed in the regular
metabolic reactions and are thus not utilized
in the healthy physiological and biochemical
functions and requirements of the body. As
a result, these get deposited as excess fat
and flesh in those parts of the body that are
less exercised or are naturally located and
tuned to store the extra fat or flesh.
Sometimes this extra accumulation could
occur due to disorder of metabolism, which
might be triggered by some malfunctioning
or unnatural reaction (e.g. side-effects of a
medicine or psychological complexity) at the
hormonal, genetic, (bio)chemical or
physiological level. This excess accumulation
is referred as meda or sthaulya in Ayurveda.
The word “Obesity” of the modern medical
science is derived from Latin “Obesus” which
literally means – eating more. Here
overweight is defined as more than 10% above
the average limit, statistically estimated from
the ratio of body height and weight.
Accumulation of fat often begins on the
tummy because natural stock of ‘meda’ lies
in the stomach and the intestines; its
excessive accumulation spreads
disproportionately on the hips, thighs, arms,
neck, chest, cheeks, etc with maximum on
the tummy and hips, thus deforming the
figure of the body and giving it a funny
appearance. According to the Ayurveda
theory, the excess of meda hinders the normal
Sept-Oct 2006
growth and distribution of all dh³tus (vital
elements, compounds produced or released
by metabolism). As a result, bones, muscles,
marrow, etc are deprived of adequate
nourishment and strength. Weakening of the
body components and disruption of some of
its normal (healthy) functions naturally
reduces the stamina and resistance and
invites several other diseases. Even
adequate breathing becomes a problem in
most cases of obesity. This is why obesity is
referred as the root cause of many other
diseases and is referred so in Ayurveda
Scriptures.
It is counted in Ayurveda among the eight
blemishes of the body. The list of these
eight negative attributes prominently
includes sth¿la (very fat) and k—aïak³ya (very
thin) bodies. For example, the shloka no.
21|1-2 of “Sutra Sthanam” in “Charak
Samhita” specifies — “…. Tatr³tisth¿la K—
aïayorbh¿ya ev³pare ninditaviïe̳ bhavanti |”
(Of these, the sth¿la and k—aïak³ya are among
the worst. However, as mentioned in the
succeeding shloka, (cited below) in relative
comparison of the two, the thinner fellows
are regarded as still better than the fat ones:
Staullyak³ïrye vara® k³ïrye samopakarañau hitau |
Yadyubhau vy³dhir³gacchetsh¿lamev³tipºÃyet ||
Meaning: Thinness is much better than obesity
because even if both are weak, a very fat
person would suffer a disease more than what
a very thin would. The average lifetime of a
very fat chap is also lesser.
As is generally observed, people might
sympathize with a thin chap but would at a
Sept-Oct 2006
first sight laugh at the fat one. The fatter one’s
body is, the more likely he is to be a subject of
fun. Accordingly the scripture further states
– “K—aïa¡ sth¿l³t p¿jºta¡” (thinner ones are
relatively more respected than the fats).
Indeed health is an integral component of one’s
personality. Healthy body, brilliant intellect
and good character and conduct are the keys
to success and prestige. One’s recognition and
status in the society largely depend upon these
factors.
Obesity is criticized not only for its role in
making one less efficient, less resistant to
diseases or funny in appearance but the
scriptures also cite the severity of its
consequent diseases and disorders, which have
also been listed in the modern studies. Most
common and high-risk health hazards that go
like hand-in-gloves with obesity are —
breathlessness, cardiac problems, high blood
pressure and diabetes. Frequent fatigue, loss
of efficiency and uncomfortable and laughable
physique pulls their morale down and thus in
many cases they are also found suffering from
inferiority complex, depression and related
psychological and neural complications.
At the root of most of the negative
consequences of obesity lie the excess
accumulation of fats and hydrocarbons that
upsets the normal metabolism and thus in
Ayruvedic terminology, augments the tridoÌas
– v³ta, pitta and kapha, as per one’s natural
constitution. Indigestion, constipation, acidity
are frequent consequences. Exceptional hunger
is also a consequence of increased v³ta in
obesity, which amounts to further increase in
patient’s body weight. Malfunctioning of the
31
liver and kidney are more dangerous
consequences of pitta and v³ta doÌas in
prolonged obesity. The problems caused by
high v³ta are also most likely companions of
obesity; these include — joint pain, backache,
arthritis, sciatica, spondylitis, other problems
of the spinal cord, hernia, varicose veins,
osteoporosis, etc. The rise in kapha doÌa would
add to the lethargy of fatty patients; short
breaths, snoring, sleep apnea, are also common
complaints in such cases; impotency would be
an added risk if this doÌa were very high.
Among the well-known hazardous effects of
metabolic disorders and disruption of the
regular production and supply of vital
elements (dh³tus, in Ayurvedic terminology)
because of accumulation of excess fat and flesh
are — reduction in useful cholesterol (H.D.L.)
and increase in the harmful cholesterol
(L.D.L.), which disturbs the rheology of blood
and leads to blood pressure and heart related
problems. The increased rigidity of red blood
cells, coagulation propensity and inadequate
blood flow also enhances the risk of brain
stroke etc. Reduction in secretion of several
vital hormones like insulin is another severe
hazard of obesity, which is being researched
all over the world. Deficiency of insulin
secretion corresponds to alarming chances of
diabetes.
Therefore those desirous of good health and
fitness should take necessary measures to
prevent obesity along with the other diseases
which they might be prone to because of family
history, environment and physique, or living
style and habits. There is no need to panic or
rush for extreme dieting. Only an alertness and
discipline are required. Ayurveda and yoga
32
After his death Dharmaraj
Yudhisthir was presented before the angel
Chitragupta. Accounting was made of his
accumulated merits and sins. Once he had
spoken a half-lie in the context of
Ashwathama. For this, he had to spend one
day in Hell and the next one hundred years
in Heaven. He was asked: “Where would
you like to go first, Hell or Heaven”?
Yudhisthir opted for the Hell. Upon his
reaching there, the entire atmosphere saw
a welcome change: A cool breeze started
blowing. The harsh behaviour of the guards
and keepers (yamadoots) suddenly softened.
The inmates felt a great relief. When next
day, the Dharmaraj (epitome of
righteousness) started to leave, the hell-
dwellers began to weep. They wished how
good it would be if Yudhisthir had stayed
there for good. The Dharmaraj enquired
of Lord Chitragupta about any possible way
of his continuance in hell. The latter replied
that it was possible provided Yudhisthir
donated all his acquired merits to the
inhabitants of hell and took upon himself
the whole burden of their sins.
Yudhisthir did accordingly. The hell-
dwellers went to Heaven. By his righteous
conduct Yudhisthir turned even the merciless
yamadoots into friends, and created a
Heaven-like ambiance in hell itself. Persons
with tender emotions are able to achieve
whatever they want with their transforming
influence.
Sept-Oct 2006
provide you with substantial support in in occurrence of obesity. Obesity has therefore
prevention and cure of this problem without become a cause of deep concern on the health
taxing your money and peace of mind. scenario of urbanized population.

As we all know, the early signs of obesity,
except in case of pregnancy, are – gain in
weight (above the usual range suitable for
one’s height) with visible growth of the
abdominal region. Rise in appetite, thirst,
perspiration, fatigue or sleep above one’s
normal trait are also definite signs of its onset
if coupled with some other symptoms like
drowsiness, lethargy, frequent desire to eat
something sweet, feeling of swollen throat,
stinking sweat, unusual odor of mouth, etc.
The overweight of the body puts extra
pressure on the knees and toes so these start
paining and get swollen at times.
The common causes of obesity as described in
“Sutra Sthanam” (21|3) of “Charak Samhita”
include – consuming heavy (lavish, deep-
fried) foods, sweet and oily (rich in fats)
dishes, or cold eatables, alcohols and cold
drinks; relaxing or sleeping immediately after
taking meals; eating frequently. The scripture
also cites hereditary factors and certain kinds
of brain secretions (rasa) as other contributory
causes. All of these factors (which have been
affirmed by modern health scientists and
nutritionists) have become more pronounced
now and hence there has been significant rise
Most of us might be well informed that the
frequent and substantial use of cheese, butter,
deep-fried spicy foods, chocolates, cakes, ice-
creams, pizza, burgers, other fast-food items,
pastries, sweets, dry-fruits, coffee, alcoholic
and cold drinks should be avoided to minimize
the risk of high cholesterol, blood pressure,
obesity, etc. But we somehow have got so used
to these that unless these affect our health and
the doctors warn us we don’t restrain
ourselves at all. Moreover, the risk is higher
in today’s life style, as we don’t want to do
physical work at home and prefer living in as
much comfort as possible. What could be
worse, the culture of watching TV with
munching adds to these negative habits right
from childhood! Above all, there are subtler
self-invited hazards too! We shall discuss
them all in the next issue, where we shall also
present some easy to adopt, low-cost,
naturally effective remedial and preventive
measures available from Ayurvedic
knowledge.
(To be continued…)

Immense inspirational energy is enfolded in the Scriptures,

capable of annulling all sense of lack, ignorance, impotence and
worry, and infusing the body, mind and soul with vigor wisdom
and bliss. Nowhere else in the world would we find such a trea-
sure trove of life, light and love.

Sept-Oct 2006 33
Science and Spirituality
T he volume of air inflated in balloon
remains confined to a fixed size. The
moment this sheath is removed, it spreads
freely and unifies with its gigantic expansion
in the open space (in earth’s atmosphere). The
same is true of the human self. Till it lives in
the gross body and is attached to the
experiences of the latter, its identity is bound
by that of the body and remains limited to
that of a living toy of flesh and bones.
However, as this bondage of attachments is
freed, its existence evolves in the subliminal
realms and eventually transmutes it into its
infinite origin. Nothing would then be
unknown or beyond its realization. The state
of sublime realizations is referred as that of
timeless existence.
In the normal case, we experience our selves
and the existence of the world in the present
tense. The past and the future are beyond our
reach. Although the present contains the past
and the future in its continuous flow, we do
not realize this because of the subliminal
existence of the latter two phases of time. But,
sublime does not mean false or non-existent.
Whatever we utter from the mouth or
whatever sound is produced near us appears
to be lost the moment we have heard it. But
the physicists know that sound is never lost.
Whatever we can’t hear exists beyond our
audible frequency range. Kindling of fire
34
Timeless
Existence
generates (thermal) energy; this energy would
continue to exist even after the fire is
extinguished. By the universal law of
conservation of energy, this ‘invisible’ energy
would be never lost.
The gross (physical) body dies and
disintegrates into the basic elements of Nature
that constitute it. But the soul, the eternal flow
of life (consciousness) never dies. The same is
true of every incident or experience. Whatever
we perceive or experience in the present phase
of time is only a manifestation of the
unexpressed (what ‘was’ existing in the
‘future’ until then) or the subliminal into a form
that could be grasped by our conscious faculties
and sense organs. The same continues to exist
as it is but in a time-domain that becomes
‘past’ for us.
As discussed earlier, the division of time in
the past, present and future is only relative
with respect to the experiences or activities in
the physical (gross) world perceived by our
conscious mind. Scientific theories define time
as a continuous, complete unit. The past,
present and the future are not disjoint in
reality. In linear dimension, the present is a
continuous interval with the left end opening
in the past and the right in the future.
Mathematical physicists have analyzed the
possibility of realization of the past and the
Sept-Oct 2006
future in the present under several nonlinear,
multidimensional models.
Prof. Emil Dieuette of France envisages (c.f.
“The Dead Past” authored by him) that –– In
the coming century, the possibility of
traversing in the lost and unseen phases of time
will be proved true. Not only that, scientific
techniques would make the voyage in the
infinite domains of time feasible for mankind.
Referring to a hypothesis on reaching the past,
he analyzes that – as time is stationary and
everything in the space is moving, in order to
access a particular phase of the past, we will
have to identify our position and the position
of the earth in the space during that time.
However, as the earth is spinning around its
own axis and orbiting around the sun in a
circular domain, and the sun, as well as the
entire planetary system, the galaxies, etc, each
is revolving around some other non-stationary
centers, it would only be a theoretical
possibility to locate that spot and thus reach
in the corresponding instance of past.
Einstein’s theory of relativity in the ever-
expanding universe also supports the
possibility of live experience of the past.
Advocating the mathematical rigor and
scientific validity of this theory, Kurt Godel
has gone further ahead in stating that – it
would be possible for an old man to meet his
own young ‘incarnation’ during this journey
into the distant past. The ‘wormhole’ principle
of renowned physicist, John Wheeler also
indicates this possibility. In his view, if one
could enter the inter-universe connecting
tunnels (like the black holes), it is quite likely
that one would exit from it in an infinitely
distant past or future.
Sept-Oct 2006
It is quite disappointing for the physicists that
despite attractive theories and principles
ascertaining the possibilities of timeless
experiences, no experiment in the modern
laboratories has been able to demonstrate this
feasibility. It was around the time when
research in this area had almost reached
stagnation, that a news item published in
“Miami Herald” on 17 th August 1958 had
revived the hopes.
Quoting the Associated Press of America, this
newspaper had reported about unexpected
results on an experiment of the United States
Air Force. A special infrared camera was
installed in an airplane for intelligence
purposes. In a trial experiment, this detective
camera was focused on a ground that was used
for parking. When it clicked this compound
from air, there were no cars parked there ––
the ground was empty. Surprisingly, upon
development, the photograph showed large
number of cars parked at the same spot.
Further inquiry revealed that the cars were
indeed standing there a few hours earlier.
That means the camera had snapped a past
instant! This unusual observation had given
new direction and support to future research
on designing of special purpose radar for
‘possible reception’ of signals of the past and
the future.
Incidents of the above kinds are discussed in
detail in the celebrity book entitled “Beyond
the Time Barrier” by Andrew Thomas. The
photographing of a past instant by the infrared
camera – which is something impossible for
an ordinary camera, had given rise to new
scientific hypothesis. It was postulated that
normal (white) light would not cross through
35
the ‘boundary’ between the past and the
present. However, the infrared light being
subtler, could perhaps do that up to some thin
‘layer’ through this ‘barrier’ (immediate past
up to a few hours, for example).
A natural scientific query arose thereafter that
– how far could the infrared rays reach on the
other side of the present time. For this, several
experiments were conducted on similar
infrared cameras in some deserted lands and
forests, which had been civilized cities
hundreds of years ago. But the photographs
always showed only what was seen during
the present. It was then concluded that the
scenes or images that are visible in the present
become subtler as time passes. The events of
the distant past are therefore so subtle or far
in the depth of time domain, that even the
infrared radiation could not reach there.
Several scientific groups are now investigating
on the possibility of subtler light or energy
wave that could perhaps pierce this shield too.
Frontline researchers do not deny the potential
of the cetan (conscious) energy in
accomplishing this ‘timeless vision’. May be,
the identification of some kind of brain
impulses would provide the desired results
some day.
The erudite writer of “Time – The Ultimate
Energy”, Moore Hope explains that –– as
consciousness is the subtlest ‘element’ in the
cosmos, it can cross the barrier of time too.
Therefore it is possible for the sublimated
force of consciousness to reach any phase of
time – the past, present or future, beyond any
limit. In the state of deep sleep, bonds between
the individual consciousness and the body are
loosened. This lets the former move freely in
its subliminal expansion. This journey of the
inner consciousness in the infinity brings new,
yet unknown information of the past and the
future horizons of time. At times, this
information is so clear that it occurs in the
dreams repeatedly, and the dreamer gets
panicked of this unusual experience.
Moore Hope has cited several live examples
of the dreams that were precognitive, which
had introduced the dreamer to the yet
unknown and absolutely new horizons of

The following incident is of 1936. Mahatma Gandhi was touring the

country on his campaign for removal of untouchability. During his stay in an
Orissa town, a group of pandits (learned in scriptures) came to him for a
discussion on the matter. Their point was that untouchability had the sanction
of scriptures. Gandhiji accorded the visitors due respect and said: “Learned
Sirs, I have not studied scriptures. Hence, I readily accept defeat. But I do
believe that all the scriptures of the world combined cannot falsify the principle
of the equality and fraternity of mankind. Humanity outweighs your scriptures.
It is to this dharma that I subscribe, and I will remain unmoved in this belief
till death”. The pandit delegation felt ashamed by Gandhiji’s irrefutable
conviction and returned without giving an answer.

36 Sept-Oct 2006
truth. In many cases, people realized the truth
of the dream only when some time in future
they experienced – in reality, the moments
depicted in such dreams.
It is generally accepted by researchers that
inner consciousness can, in the state of deep
sleep and with activation of the unconscious
mind, become independent of time and
experience any segment of this fourth
dimension without any constraint. However,
the possibilities of such experiences in the
awakened state are mostly annulled. The
major argument in support of this view is that
– in the physically awakened state, the
conscious mind is so engrossed with the
perceptions and feelings linked with the body
that it remains confined to a gross and narrow
domain of experiences in the present tense.
Rare though, there have been authentic reports
of such experiences in the awakened state too
and these have triggered rethinking on the
above assertions.
It happened in Scotland where the Tomin
family had a huge estate in the countryside.
Thomas Tomin, a member of this large family
was used to taking long walks in his fields
every day. One day he was feeling so fresh
and enthused after the regular stroll that he
planned to go further to peep in the forests
far ahead. After crossing his fields, at some
distance he saw an old Scottish colony.
Strange! He was unable to recognize the route!
“How stupid of me? I never came to see these
places across my field.” – he thought after
reaching this colony. He went further ahead
with curiosity.
Sept-Oct 2006
There he saw some huts and houses in rather
uncommon architect; it appeared to be that of
the old times. On one side, there were cattle
grazing near a brook. Little ahead were some
people seen around their houses – busy in
sundry activities. Amazing! This colony was
still aloof from the modern trends! The outfits
of these fellows appeared to resemble what
he had read in the history books about the
attire of English people several centuries ago.
He tried conversing with some of them but
they paid no attention, they all seemed to be
deaf to his call. He called for the cattle. The
latter appeared to show some response when
he shouted loudly.
Back home when he narrated this strange
experience at the dinner table, nobody
believed it. No one in the family or in his
friendly circle had seen or heard of any
habitation beyond the Tomin Estate
surrounded by mountains in that direction.
There was no tribal land either. Thomas took
some of them to the same spot, but found a
vast ground shrouded with shrubs and some
cattle grazing, surrounded by mountain range
on the other end. There were no signs of any
village or colony. But, he could not accept the
earlier experience as an illusion or dream.
Some researchers also explain such rare
experiences of reaching in the distant past in
the awakened state. They express a possibility
that if one is engrossed in a particular mood,
his focused consciousness is mostly detached
from usual experiences of the physical body.
In this state, his conscious mind could become
relatively free for some time and enter higher
domains beyond 3d-space and present time.
But then, it would be a state similar to that of
37
deep sleep and activation of the inner mind?
How could the conscious (external) mind be
regarded as awakened there? But, whatever
people experience in this unusual state is
different from that in the dream. For instance,
Thomas clearly remembered what he
experienced through his awakened senses
during that mysterious journey in an earlier
century. This riddle remains unresolved for
the researchers of the current times.
Although modern science has not yet approved
such a possibility, the science of spirituality
affirms infinite potentials of the individual
consciousness. This field of knowledge also
provides the methods of refinement and
spiritual sublimation of mind so that it could
be trained to reach any horizon of time –
beyond every bound of what is “present tense”
for the physical body.
Specific s³dhan³s were devised and successfully
accomplished by the rishis for experiencing the
past, the future, or both at will. The siddha yogis
and s³dhakas of the later ages too are found to
have been endowed with such supramental
talents. Purity and integrity of thoughts, deeds
and overall conduct is described to have been
practiced by all of them as that happens to be
essential for any s³dhan³. Sincere adoption of
the prescribed disciplines of yoga and
unperturbed endeavors of s³dhan³ successively
educe sublime transmutation of the individual
consciousness. Extrasensory experiences beyond
the perceivable domains of time and space then
become as natural and easy for the s³dhaka as
that of the present by the gross body.
38
Swami Ramtirtha landed on
the coast of America. By the time
he disembarked from the ship, his
pocket was practically empty. He
was a complete stranger in the
country, with no acquaintance or
helper there. On the ship, an
American had become a chat-mate
of Swamiji on matters spiritual.
While getting down, he asked as a
matter of courtesy: “Where would
you stay? Please give me the
address of your host. If time
permits, I will try to contact you”.
Swamiji put his affectionate hand
on the latter’s shoulder and replied:
“I have only one friend in America,
and that is you”. The man was
dumb-founded. He was greatly
impressed by the radiant
personality of Swamiji, full of self-
confidence and amiable mien. He
took Swamiji to his home, and for
the whole duration of the latter’s
stay in America, played a perfect
host attending to his comforts and
requirements.
Such great souls alone are
able to win the confidence of the
masses and provide inspiring
leadership to them.
Sept-Oct 2006
Companions in Solitude – 10
Companions in Solitude
- Gurudev Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya
M an has the wonderful capacity of
adapting himself to the surroundings
he lives in. When I came to stay in this hut in
solitude, I felt loneliness all around. When the
loneliness within comes out it sees loneliness
everywhere. But now when the narrowness
within is giving way to vastness, I feel
everything around to be mine and feel
oneness with all. Now where has the solitude
gone? Now whom to be afraid of in darkness?
It was a moonless night. The sky was overcast.
It was slightly drizzling too. The cold wind
was trying to get in, piercing through the
blanket. Lying inside the hut on the mat of
leaves, the body was today feeling uneasy and
unwell. Sleep has also deserted me today. The
flow of thoughts gushed out. It began to
compare the home filled with loving and
caring people and means of comfortable living,
with this dripping hut in lonely darkness and
freezing cold. The merits and demerits began
to be enumerated.
The mind-body duo was feeling
uncomfortable. Why should they bear these
discomforts? They are one in conspiring
against the soul. Brain is their captive
advocate. Its business is to support what they
are interested in. The brain is like the royal
attendants who are pastmasters in the art of
Sept-Oct 2006
moulding their stand according to the
situations in order to please the king and to
be in his good books. It is expert in easily
putting forth innumerable proofs, reasoning,
logic and justifications in favour of the
changing moods of the mind. It was out-doing
the advocates in enumerating the merits of
household comforts and the demerits of the
troublesome hut in the solitude. Its arguments
continued like a tempest.
At that moment a tiny insect from its hole in
the wall against my head began singing a song.
Getting inspired, one by one all the insects in
the hut began singing in chorus. On many
earlier occasions the singing of the insects was
casually heard by me. Their songs then
appeared to be hoarse and meaningless. But
today the mind had no work. So it began to
attentively hear the ascending and descending
order of the song. The mind had also grown
tired of blaming and finding fault with
solitude. This flirting monkey always needs
new kinds of works. It now began to enjoy
the song session of the insects.
The insects sang a sweet song. It was not
worded in human language, but the ideas and
feelings contained therein were same as of
human beings. The idea of the song was like
this: “Why can’t we be infinite? Why not enjoy
39
being infinite? Limitation is bondage. In
infinity lies the key to liberation. How can
those whose happiness is limited to sensual
pleasure, to whom only a few things and
people are considered to be theirs and whose
desires are limited to some petty indulgences,
experience the unbound joy available in
abundance in the vast world of the Supreme
Infinite? Hey creature, you be infinite, expand
your soul to infinity; there is happiness allover;
experience it yourself and become immortal.”
The insects were singing together
uninterruptedly like a group of saints, who
had relinquished worldly pleasures, and were
singing psalms of liberation to the music of a
single stringed instrument. It was not meant
for any audience. It was for the joy of Self.
Moved by such sentiments I got lost in the
song. The discomforts in the hut caused by
the rain were forgotten. These companions of
the solitude who sang the song of peace
dispelled my gloom and charged the
atmosphere with joy and enthusiasm.
Old habits began to change. The world began
to appear wide and vast, when I tried to
extend to all the creatures the intimacy,
hitherto kept confined to human beings. I
learnt to enjoy the company of other creatures
too just like I used to do with human beings.
Loneliness was nowhere to be seen now in
this un-peopled wilderness.
Today, while I was wandering out of the
precincts of my hut, companions began to be
seen all around. Tall big trees appeared like
fathers and grandfathers. The maroon-
skinned birch trees (Bhojpatra trees) looked
as if some great hermits clad in their ochre
40
clothes were performing ‘Tap’ in standing
posture. Tall trees of cedar and pine were
standing erect in attention like guards,
determined not to let in any wickedness
prevalent in human society.
Small tiny plants and creepers were sitting like
tiny kids in rows. Their heads were decorated
with flowers. When the wind blew they began
to swing their heads and looked like children
in a primary class shaking their heads in a
rhythmic motion while reciting the
mathematics tables. The birds perched on the
branches were chirping so sweetly, that it
seemed they were heavenly singers incarnated
here in various beautiful forms to sing the
virtues and praise of the beauty of the woods.
Like naughty children, the deer were playing,
running and jumping all over. The wild sheep
were loitering in the woods as if they were
the landladies of this forest. Small worms and
reptiles were moving around like the spring-
fitted toys. Their colours, shapes and graceful
gaits were all worth seeing. The butterflies and
flowers seemed to be competing in beauty
contest.
The mountain brook was flowing beside,
dancing coquettishly like a maiden unable
to hold the freshness of youth within
herself. Its fickle, playful, sprightful
movements were so captivating that the eyes
and mind stay riveted on the sight. Many
other rivers also come and join the Ganga.
Their meeting at the confluence looked like
two emotionally charged sisters embracing
each other while going to the house of their
in-laws. Himalayas, the king of mountains,
might have given his daughters in marriage
to the ocean. How intimately and
Sept-Oct 2006
sentimentally the sisters meet at the time of
going to the in-laws house could be seen
here. No duration of time was sufficient to
be satiated with this scene of sentiments.
One wishes to be looking at it forever.
Like old and wise kings and leaders, the
mountain peaks were seen sitting in calm
posture as if engrossed in deep thoughts to
solve some serious problems. The white snow
appearing atop was their white hair. The small
clouds hovering around appeared to be
offering headwear of fresh white cotton and
also wrapping the naked shivering body with
costly blankets and shawls so as to afford
protection from cold.
Wherever I looked, a large family was seen
around me. They had no language; they could
not speak; but the consciousness dwelling in
their souls was speaking aloud without words.
Whatever was said was coming straight from
the heart and what they preached was
practiced too by them. Such unspelt, yet most
touching words, were never heard before.
Their words went straight into the soul and
set all the cells of the body aquiver with a new
awakening. Where is the solitude now? Who
is to be afraid of? There are soul companions
sitting all around.
The golden light of the sun came down to the
earth from above the mountain peaks, as if
the company of noble souls was enlightening
ignorant hearts. The sun stays here and there
behind the mountains. Only at midday it is
fully seen for a couple of hours or so. Its rays
fill vigour and vitality in all the living
elements. Enthusiasm and energy begin to
sprout. The sun of knowledge of the Self also
Sept-Oct 2006
normally stays curtained behind the peaks
(veils) of lust and greed; but whenever and
wherever it focuses its golden rays they
invariably shed divine effulgence all around.
My body too came out of the hut in order to
enjoy the golden sunrays and moved on to
stroll over the green grassy carpet outside. A
little distance away there was a hillock laden
with flowers of several shades and colours.
Eyes could not resist their attraction and the
legs moved on towards it.
The plants adorned with flowers looked like
little children wearing colorful caps, standing
together and engaged in planning some game.
I too went and sat amidst them, and began to
feel as if I were one among them. I wished I
were a child again and those little plants
accepted me as their colleague.
Imagination flew unfettered. When the inner
self is filled with joy, ego-centric thoughts calm
down. There is tremendous power in the
imagination of man. It creates a world of its
own - palpably real, powerful and active. Its
power is so great that it has created gods and
divine beings and by infusing devotion and
dedication made them lofty and venerable. It
did not take long to be in that state when the
feelings within me began to take flight. I felt
that these children standing in rows have
accepted me as their companion and have
welcomed me to play with them.
The wild plant I was sitting by was laden with
yellow flowers. It looked very pleasant
natured, smiling and talkative. One of the
flowers spoke to me in its language -”Dear
friend you have unwisely chosen to be born
41
as a man. Theirs is a wretched life -Always
worried, puzzled, tense and grudging! Next
time you should choose to be born as a flower
and be with us. See how happy and contented
we are! We all know what peace there is in
living life as a game. Do you not see the
unalloyed joy within us coming out as
fragrance? The flowers are the manifestation
of our laughter. We are loved by all. We offer
joy and solace to all. We live happily and make
happy all those who come close to us. Ours is
the true art of living. Man boasts of his
intelligence, but what worth is this intelligence
when it cannot help him learn the simple
process of living in a peaceful and playful
way?”
and play with us for some time, leaving the
‘wise’ people. If you wish you can learn from
us, humble beings, an important lesson about
the true art of living life.”
My head bowed in reverence. “Dear friend
Flower, you are very blessed. Though
having little resources, you have mastered
the technique of living life purposefully. On
the other hand, we waste our jolly gifts in
grudging and grumbling. My dear friend,
you are a wise counselor. You teach, not by
words, but by example. Dear young friend,
I have come to learn, and will learn a lot
from you. Please teach me like a true
friend.”

The flower continued - “I have said this neither
to humiliate you nor to extol our superiority,
but to acquaint you with a simple truth. While
we are not rich, wealthy, learned or talented
and yet we live life playfully spreading
fragrance. In comparison to us man’s resources
are many times more. Yet if he lives in worry,
sorrow and unhappiness, it can be attributed
to his sheer lack of true wisdom. Dear, you
are wise in that you have come to live among
The ever-glad yellow plant laughed heartily,
nodding in agreement and said. “There is no
dearth of teachers for those who want to
learn. At every step teachers are available. But
where are the learners? Who cares to learn
these days? Everyone is gloating over one’s
own pride. In order to learn, the door of heart
should be kept open. Then knowledge, true
knowledge will automatically enter into it like
blowing wind”.

In truth God is the only reality, there is no other. His name in itself is enough
for us, for He is one without a second. And yet, as within one pomegranate there are
countless seeds, so within the immeasurable reaches of His Being there are countless
Saints. When our hearts are filled with devotion we recognize that they too take a
central place in our lives.
For my part, I can make Mirabai’s words my own, for they fit my case exactly:
“On the path to freedom two guides are mine:
The saint to bless without, Ram to dwell within”.
By the grace of God the blessing of the one rests upon my head, the place of the other
is in my heart.
-Sant Vinoba Bhave

42 Sept-Oct 2006
My Life: Its Legacy and Message – 21
Fourth and Final Pilgrimage to the
[Autobiography of P¿ jya Gurudev, continued from the previous issue]
M essage was received, as in the past, and
I was summoned to the Him³layas for
the fourth time for a week in June 1983. There
was no question of any delay in compliance
with the instructions. Although, physically I
have been engaged in doing the work
entrusted to me, my soul has always remained
in the inaccessible Him³layas with Gurudev,
who lives in the Him³layas but whose soul
always hovers around me. His voice always
echoes in my inner-self in the form of
inspiration. My heart, mind and soul dance to
his tunes.
The journey was difficult, as before. This time,
on account of my spiritual maturity, I was
summoned in my astral body, which had to
appear again in three tests simultaneously. As
before, I reached Gomukh and from there I
was escorted to Tapovan. I never asked where
Gurudev’s astral body lives and what it does. I
am only familiar with our meeting place, the
velvety carpet. I picked up the flower known
as Brahma-kamal and placed it at the holy feet
of Gurudev. This time also, after exchange of
usual salutations and blessings, conversation
started. Throughout the journey, I was
thinking that whenever I was called earlier, I
was asked to leave the old place. Probably,
this may happen this time, too. I may be asked
to leave Shantikunj and live in this —ïi ³ïram
and may be entrusted with some important
work here.
Sept-Oct 2006
HIMÂLAYAS
Gurudev expressed satisfaction with the work
done thus far. I humbly told him that although
everything was being accomplished by him,
its credit was being given to me. Having fully
surrendered myself to him, it was for him to
take from me whatever work he wished.
Gurudev said, “Whatever you were asked to
do till now was local and ordinary which can
be done by any sufficiently evolved and
elevated soul, as was done in the past. All these
works will now be carried on by your
followers and you will have to take up more
important responsibilities. These days the
physical and subtle environment has become
so much poisonous and polluted that not only
human dignity but the very existence of human
species has been endangered. The future
seems to be grim, dark and dreadful. To flush
this poison out of the collective physical and
subtle spheres, we will have to do indirectly
all that which may be called unique and
supernatural. The air surrounding the earth,
its waters and land have all become poisonous.
Scientific advancement has made an unholy
alliance with diabolic greed and self-
indulgence and the poison has been spread
everywhere by mechanization on account of
which the risks of infirmity, disease and
ultimate extinction seem imminent. The danger
of irresponsible, reckless or inadvertent use
of nuclear weapons by immature and
unrefined persons in authority, causing mass
43
scale annihilation, is also there. Children are
being born like mushrooms. What will they
eat? Where will they live? All these horrifying
forebodings and possibilities coupled with the
poisonous atmosphere would turn this earth
into a veritable hell.
“Whosoever lives in this environment perforce
indulges in evil thoughts and deeds, resulting
in immediate miseries. Holocaust appears to
be imminent. This is the result of invisible
pollution in the atmosphere. Persons living in
such conditions will behave like beasts and
devils. It pains me to see humanity and the
earth, which are the highest creations of God,
turning into hell. Humanity is heading
towards a great devastation. A huge mountain
will have to be uplifted, as did Shri Krishna
to save His people from the wrath of Indra,
the Rain God; a vast sea will have to be bridged
and crossed to solve these problems and for
this you will have to take great strides like
Vaman.
“For this you will have to become fivefold and
take up strategic positions. Like Kunti, you will
have to create five Dev-putras, deploy them on
specific fronts and assign them different tasks.”
Interjecting in the middle of the talk, I said it
was for illumined souls like him to think about
and find out solutions for these momentous
problems. So far as I was concerned I was his
child, a puppet in his hands and was prepared
to dance to his tune. I asked Gurudev to kindly
direct me what I had to do. Right from the
performance of twenty-four Mah³puraïcarañas
of G³yatrº to participation in the movement for
Independence, from lifting the pen and start
writing, to the performance of huge yajóas and
44
raising up a huge organization I had simply
played the role of his instrument. I told him
that I knew it very well whose power was
working behind all these accomplishments.
How could I, therefore, suggest or give
advice? I told him, I will do whatever I was
asked to do. Every drop of blood and every
cell of my body and my inner consciousness, I
said, were surrendered to him, for the service
of humanity.
I was given necessary instructions and
indications and was told, “You have to
transform yourself from one to five. You have
to do five types of austerities in five different
manners, as was done by messenger of Ram
(Hanuman) or by five Pandavas. Five birds
can live on a tree. You have to transform into
five. This is known as sukïmºkaraña. These five
emanations will discharge these colossal tasks.
You have to nourish and strengthen these five
astral bodies so long as they do not get
matured and are able to function
independently. This may take one year or
more. When they become powerful enough,
leave them to do their own work
independently. When the time is ripe you will
shed your visible physical form.”
This was the guideline given by Gurudev. It
was explained in detail what was to be done,
how it was to be done. I am not permitted to
disclose all these details. I am doing what I
have been asked to do. It could be summed
up as follows: (1) Purification of atmosphere;
(2) refinement of the environment; (3) ushering
in of a new era; (4) neutralization of the
danger of mass destruction; (5) creation and
development of divinised humanity
(Devm³nav).
Sept-Oct 2006
Gurudev told me how these five types of
austerities had to be done, how my single
entity was to be transformed into five
entities, how the dual roles of Dadhichi and
Bhagirath were to be played. He said, “For
this you will have to retire from worldly
activities and focus all your scattered
energies. This is sukïmºkaraña.”
Gurudev continued, “You will be indicated
from time to time what has to be done. You
will be protected from demoniac assaults,
which will be mounted to terminate your life
with a view to abort the plan. There may be
repetition of the earlier attack at any time
in the form of assault on righteous parijans,
but I will provide protection in all such
eventualities. Now start entrusting your
outer work to competent efficient parijans so
that you may be free from all the
responsibilities and worries of the work of
this mission. The great change which is in
my mind will be disclosed to you at the
proper time. Premature disclosure of the
strategy in such a critical time is bound to
do harm.”
This time I was not detained for a long time
and there was no talk about recharging my
battery Gurudev said, “My energy will
always be with you in invisible form. Myself
and the —Ìis will always remain and work
with you. You will never feel any dearth or
lack of spiritual power. In fact, it will
increase five times.”
I was given farewell. I returned to
Shantikunj. My sukïmºkaraña s³dhan³ started
on Ramnavami in 1984.
(To be continued)
Sept-Oct 2006
The life of Pandit Shriram
Sharma Acharya, who got self-re-
alization on the Vasant Parva day
of 1926, is an open book. It is a
testimony to how by imbibing the
art of spiritual living one can
transform oneself from the level of
the ordinary to the extra-ordinary,
from human to super-human. His
packed schedule from morning to
evening, effective time manage-
ment, punctuality in every work,
interaction with people, generos-
ity and affection for all – these
are some of the virtuous qualities
whose even partial imbibing will
lead one to greatness. His auto-
biography “My Life: Its Legacy
and Message” is a unique reve-
latory book of its kind which has
been inspiring countless number
of persons, and will continue do-
ing so in the future. If we want to
learn how to enrich life with
sadhana, upasana and aradhana
(self-discipline, worship and self-
less service) we should try to know
and understand the multi-dimen-
sional personality of the
Acharyashri.
45
Amrit V³ñº
The Holy Him³layas and
Glorious Rishi-Culture
(Translation of a discourse in Hindi on “Guru-tatva Kº Mahim³ Aur Garim³” Delivered by Rev. Gurudev
Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya on Guru Purnima, 1981 -Continued from previous issue)

Let us begin with a collective chanting of the
Gayatri Mantra:
“O® bh¿rbhuva¡ sva¡ tatsaviturvareñya®
bhargo devasya dhºmahi dhiyo yo na¡
pracoday³t ”
Sisters and Brothers,
Special crops grow in special soil and climate.
The oranges of Nagpur, bananas of Bhusawal,
mangoes of Lucknow, etc are popular all over
the world for their special taste. But these
fruits won’t taste the same if grown
elsewhere, say here in Hardwar. You must
have heard of the sandalwood of the Neelgiri
Hills. What a heavenly fragrance! The plant
might grow at your place as well, but won’t
have the same smell. Then what about the
unique herbs and the fruits and flowers – like
Devkand and Brahmkamal – grown in the serene
regions of the great Himalayan heights? These
paradise-species won’t even grow anywhere
else. The soil, the climate, the subtle
environment of every place has its distinct
effects.
The holy Himalayas are unique because of the
vibrant spiritual ambience generated here by
the long-term dedicated tapa-s³dhan³s of the
Rishis – the seer-sages, saints of Vedic Age.
Indeed this land is divine land that nurtures
virtuous tendencies and induces angelic
inspirations. Every seeker of spiritual
realization and inner light wants to spend
sometime in the pristine shelter of the
Himalayas. I had also got this opportunity.
You are all sitting here in Shantikunj,
Hardwar; this is the land where the Ashrams
of the Sapatarshis1 were located thousands of
years ago. This is the sacred land where
these preeminent saint-sages, whose glory
continues to sparkle like the unique cluster
of seven stars in the sky, had undertook
devout tapaïcharya.
The holy Ganga surrounds this place much
like a mother’s lap protecting a child. This
is the place where, once upon a time, lion
and cow would drink water from the same
water pond, standing besides each other on
these banks of the Ganga! Indeed, there are
such spiritually energized locations and the
siddhas 2 whose company can awaken the
divinity hidden within us! This Ashram of
Shantikunj is established at such a place.
Have you seen the temple of Dev³tm³
Himalaya here? There is no deity-idol for
worship in this temple; there is only a model
of the holy Himalayas. As you know, the
idols of God enshrined in the temples
symbolize the divine powers. This temple

46 Sept-Oct 2006
should make you aware of the divine nature
of the Himalayas.
Why refer the Himalayas as “Dev³tm³”
(embodied divinity)? Because divine spirit
indwells the serene ambience of these great
heights. The Himalayas appear to be the
playfield of God. You can feel His subtle
presence here. Many elevated souls - the rishis,
great yogis and spiritual masters - have
pursued long-term s³dhan³s here and invoked
divine powers; many continue to do so even
now in the intractable regions of the
Himalayas. The divine Indian Culture is a
majestic bequest bestowed on us by our rishis
of Vedic Age, whose devout spiritual
endeavors intensified the divine aura
pervading the Himalayas. This temple is to
remind you of their angelic s³dhan³s and this
mission of ours is an attempt to revive, to the
extent possible, the Rishi Culture – the divine
Indian Culture. Let us look at some of these
efforts and introspect whether and to what
level we have imbibed the noble values of the
Rishi Culture in our lives.
The great rishi (maharshi) Ved Vyas had written
eighteen Puranas and the Darshanas. In an
attempt to remind people of the Vedic
scriptures, as my homage to the maharishi, I
have translated the compilations of the four
Vedas and the six Darshanas in Hindi so that
vast majority of people in the present times,
who may not be scholars of Sanskrit or Vedic
Literature, would also get an opportunity to
study and benefit from these invaluable pearls
of knowledge.
You all have heard of yoga. Do you know who
was the great rishi, who discovered through
Sept-Oct 2006
personal experience this great science of
healthy, happy and illumined human life? Yes!
It was Maharshi Patanjali. His treatise on
“Ashtanga Yoga” is the magnum opus for
guiding researchers and practitioners of yoga
since yore. He had researched and carried out
enormous types of yoga-experiments on his
own body and mind. In the s³dhan³ courses
here, we also teach the yoga-³sanas, pr³ñ³y³ms
and meditation practices most suitable for
present times. The discourses here aim to
enlighten the students with the rare pieces of
knowledge of the philosophy of the “Ashtang
Yoga” and its roots in the spiritual science of
consciousness. I have experimented it on
myself sincerely and have been blessed by its
immeasurable beneficial effects. All the
s³dhakas who teach you and give you practical
demonstration here have also practiced it
thoroughly.
Rishi Yagyavalkya, ((likewise Rishi Kanad) is
notable among the Vedic seer-sages who
discovered the science of Nature and methods
of benefiting from it while also maintaining
its perfect balance and resources. He also had
undergone rigorous s³dhan³s in the Himalayas.
He grasped the principles of Yagya underlying
the visible and invisible systems of Nature and
systematized the Vedic Science of Yagya. He
had developed the experimental methods of
doing Yagya as a fire-ritual with chanting of
Vedic Mantras and sacrificing of selected herbs/
plant medicines. Yagya was an integral part of
people’s life and used to play a key role in
their physical and mental well-being. But, this
superscience got distorted in the
vicissitudinous tides of time; and largely
became only an elaborate ritual of arbitrarily
putting into fire tons of ghee and precious
47
metals and even animals. As a result the
scientific thinkers and wise people spurned it
and discarded its practice.
The challenge of reinvestigating, confirming
and expanding this ancient science in new light
was taken up by our mission. We have been
able to achieve success in this endeavor to a
great extent. The yagya you do here at
Shantikunj every day, the path-breaking
scientific research in the Yagyopathy lab at our
research centre “Bramvarchas Shodh Sansthan”
and its findings, the revival of the original
method of performing yagya and its
dissemination among the masses, are standing
examples of this success. We have to
reestablish and expand Yagya-based therapies
to counter the psychosomatic disorders and
dreaded diseases that are infecting and killing
more and more people today.
Rishi Vishwamitra had attained the
preeminent knowledge of Gayatri by devout
tapaïcary³ and spiritual s³dhan³s in this
Himalayan land. The Gayatri Mantra that we
chant here was revealed to him in syllabic
form. In the classification of this supreme
Vedic Hymn you may find that the divine
power center associated with this mantra is
Savita and its rishi is Vishwamitra. You may
find his idol enshrined in front of the temple
of Goddess Gayatri here in Shantikunj. I have
performed 24 mahapuraïcarañas 3 of Gayatri.
The s³dhan³ of Gayatri Mantra has been the
root, the nectar-source of our mission’s origin
and ascent. I regard Rishi Vishwamitra as my
Guru and pay my reverence to him. You should
not be surprised to know that my noble Guru
in this life, who is in the Himalayas, is
incarnation of Rishi Vishwamitra only. Such
48
are the supernormal powers of these great
Himalayan yogis! Beyond our imagination!
You must have heard of Rishi Bhagirath and
his ascetic tapaïcary³ in the Himalayas to bring
the heavenly Ganga on the earth. The
scriptures describe that if the holy Ganga had
directly descended from the heavens, its
gigantic force would have shattered the earth
into pieces. Therefore, as a reward for
Bhagirath’s supreme Tapasya, Lord Shiva
controlled the flow of the Ganga by giving it
shelter on His head. From there its currents
emerged in the form of a stream. As it
followed the path of rishi Bhagirath who was
walking ahead, the sacred river is also named
as Bhagirathi. Well, the narration has deep
philosophical significance. What is important
for us at present is to recognize what our
ancient rishis have beatified us with. And
ponder over what we have done to the divine
culture they had founded!
Rishi Bhagirath is not there in physical form
with us but the place where he carried out
his epochal tapa-s³dhan³ is — it is the
Bhagirath Shila, a rock besides Gaurikund
near Gangotri. As per the guidance and
inspiration of my Guru, I have also carried
out one year’s ascetic tapa-s³dhan³,
anuÌÚh³na, sitting on the Bhagirath Shila. This
was before commencing our “Vichar Kranti
Abhiyan” aimed at resurrecting the Ganga
of divine knowledge in this world, with a
view to awakening and enlightening the
masses. Our Vichar Kranti movement is to
purify peoples’ intellect, and give a
constructive, righteous direction to their
thinking; to make them happy, bright and
righteous in heart, head and conduct.
Sept-Oct 2006
Tapa and S³dhan³ have been an integral part
of every moment of the lives of the rishis. I
have also tried to follow their tradition. It is
the impact of the tapa-s³dhan³s of the rishis that
has enriched the Himalayas with divine
spiritual vibrations. Otherwise what is so
distinct here – the marvelous height, snow
peaks, the amazing beauty of Nature? But
these things can be found in some other
mountains, elsewhere in the world as well.
This unique, majestic glory of the Himalayas
is because of the Rishi Culture that originated
and flourished here. This is why the great
tºrthas – the ‘Char Dham’ of pilgrimage are also
here; maximum number of rivers of the world
emerge from here and feed nearly one-sixth
of the population of the world; there are four
Gupta Kashis and five paradise- like lakes
here, the paeans of which are sung at length
in the Vedic religious scriptures.
It seems all the treasure of Nature, all the
sublime vibrations of divinity and sources of
spiritual illumination and ascent have been
gathered and condensed here in the
Himalayas. Little efforts of spiritual elevation,
noble deeds here result in manifold
beatitudeous effects. If there were paradise
anywhere on the earth, it must have been here.
Obeying the subtle instructions of the
Himalayan Rishis, I am trying to develop
Shantikunj as a live tºrtha that will remind
people how the tºrthas used to be during the
time of these rishis, and will also serve the
purpose of a true tºrtha where one gets
virtuous light, practical guidance and courage
to follow the path of authentic spirituality. The
spiritual ambience here rejuvenates one from
within and elevates one’s noble tendencies.
Sept-Oct 2006
It is an established truth that
whoever listened to and heeded the
call of the Divine was never a loser.
The Buddha gave the call of
“Buddha®, Dhamma®, Sangha®
ïarana® gachchhami” to protest
against the then prevalent
malpractices. Thousands of persons
forsook everything and followed
him. He ushered in a reform process
through intellectual revolution.
Gandhiji brought about a similar
miracle. One and a half thousand
years long slavery and suppression
had left the populace emaciated,
and it lacked the courage and
wherewithal to take on the mighty
British Empire. A small number of
satyagrahis were simply no match.
But the widespread and deep
resentment coalesced into the great
freedom struggle. Circumstances
started turning favourable, and
India became independent. The
present age is witnessing a spiritual
– intellectual revolution. The
human consciousness is on the
verge of an upward transformation.
Indian culture is on the threshold of
becoming world culture. Change
of era is imminent.
49
Rishi Parashuram was blessed by Lord Shiva
who gave him a divine ‘axe’, which the rishi
had used to ‘destroy’ evil-minded people on
the earth for twenty-one times. This is a
rhetoric narration. The ‘axe’ and use of the
‘axe to destroy’ people symbolize that he was
gifted with chiseled courage and trenchant
reformative skills to uproot the vices from
people’s mind and eliminate the evil
tendencies pervading the lives of the mighty
kings. As suitable and relevant today, our
Vichar Kranti Abhiyan is also doing the same.
Also, the reformative programmes of our Yug
Nirman Yojana of personal, familial and social
upliftment are aimed at the same purpose –
elimination of the outmoded customs, corrupt
mentality and ignorance, refinement of
attitude, establishment of angelic human
values.
Almost all the rishis of the ancient times and
many great spiritual sages of the later times
have chosen Himalayas for conducting their
s³dhan³ experiments. Following them, I have
also made similar attempt. In view of its great
responsibilities as an institute for spiritual
refinement of the masses, I have chosen to
establish Shantikunj in Hardwar on way to
Rishikesh. Hardwar is the doorstep of
Himalayan region. At the same time, the
climate here is bearable by ordinary people.
Going further high to the snow-covered
mountains in chilling weather with bare
Yasya Sarve Samarambha¡ Kamasamkalpavarjita¡ |
Jó³n³gnidagdhakarm³ña® Tam³hu¡ PañÃita® Budh³¡ ||
( He, whose undertakings are all free from the will of desire, whose works
are burnt up by the fire of knowledge; him the wise have called a sage)
50
minimum accessories would make life difficult
for many of you. Up till this place (Sapt-
Sarovar, in Hardwar), the purity of the Ganga
is also fairly well maintained*. So this is an
ideal location for an Ashram like Shantikunj.
Most importantly, as I told you earlier, this is
the place where Ashrams of the seven
preeminent Vedic Rishis existed.
(To be continued in the next issue)
*Remark: The densely populated cities
throwing dirt in the holy river are far away
from Hardwar. The crowds throwing flowers,
grains and what not on religious occasions are
distant and the practices of throwing dead
bodies also start later on its way to the Bay of
Bengal. So far, air-pollution has not reached
here and the natural serenity of the river has
been protected.
Notes:
1. Sapatarshis: Seven rishis of the Age-of-
Truth, who propounded the Vedic
Culture.
2. Siddhas (people endowed with angelic
powers and supernormal talents)
3. Puraïcaraña: The supreme level anuÌÚh³na
of 2400, 000 japa s³dhan³s of the G³yatrº
Mantra under distinct ascetic disciplines.
Sept-Oct 2006