January 2006

Sankalpa

Sankalpa is the seed out of which germinates and grows the tree of achievements. Sankalpa is small, subtle-almost invisible. The achievements can be big and mighty. In the Upanishads the Rishi asks the disciple to cut the Aswattha seed into two and asks him “What do you see?” The disciple said “Nothing, Sir”. Then the Guru explains, “Out of the invisible seed grows the mighty Aswattha Tree.

Sankalpa can be defined as the ‘firm will’ and determination to transform a desire into reality. The mind desires a thing, the intellect shapes it and the will executes it. If all the three are in total unison, then the power of the spirit lends its strength and desire gets transformed into a Reality. The dream becomes a fact. Vision becomes a tangible experience.

Sankalpa can be of two kinds. One, petty, selfish and ego-centric. Another, broad, unselfish and God-inspired. Both are powerful agents of creation. The difference is that the former is demoniac and the latter Divine. As per the Gita, the one is Asuri Sankalpa and other is Daivi Sankalpa. The Bhagavat Gita calls Asuri Sankalpa as “Kama Sankalpa”. Sankalpa born out of selfish or sensuous desires. Gita advocates action without selfish desire for fruit. That will sublimate Karma into Karma Yoga in which your selfish desires are subsumed by the Divine will.

All the mighty heroes of great achievements who were prompted by the Asuri Sankalpa became menacing threats to humanity and to the world order. Instead of Loka Sangraha they indulged in Loka Nigraha. They were men of great Sankalpa but their was  Kama Sankalpa  or Asuri Sankalpa. Nonetheless they had their rewards, their great achievements, and conquest of the three worlds. But ultimately they were destroyed – destroyed by the great Avatars who descended on Earth with the Daivi Sankalpa of maintaining the world order intact, promoting Dharma and destroying Adharma. That had been the history of Bharath Varsha and the promise of the great Lord.

The Mantra was “Loka: Samastha: Sukhino Bhavantu”. That is the great Sankalpa, which had always been the inspiration of all our great men and great movements.

The wording of the Sankalpa is indicative of the cosmological perspective enshrined in the Hindu worldview. The immensity of the Sankalpa is reflected against the background of immeasurable time and space. Thus Sankalpa is a solemn and sacred commitment for a great collective endeavour.

Once you take a Sankalpa and seriously start living in accordance with that, immense strength comes to you. The inner reserves of strength start coming into play. It is continuous, inexhaustible and almost irresistible. But there is also a sure chance of equally strong opposing forces getting simultaneously generated.

Taking Sankalpa means consciously inviting these obstacles. Undeterred by them you have to move on the path you have chosen, fully confident that the divine forces are behind you, ever ready to support you, provided you not lose heart and sit-back. As Swami Vivekananda wrote to his disciple Alasinga Perumal, “So long as you have faith in you and faith in God, nothing can stop you on your onward march”.

P. Parameswaran

Yuva Bharati, November 2005                                                         

(abridged , Ed.)

April 2006

Daily Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

 Where there is doubt, faith;

 Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, let me sow joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not

So much seek to be consoled, as to console; 

To be understood, as to understand; 

To be loved, as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen!!

Saint Francis

July 2006

Enlightenment is an altered state of consciousness that can bring about a state of causeless unconditional love and limitless joy. It is a neurobiological phenomenon. One can attain illumination by being aware of certain spiritually awakening principles with the self-realisation that these need to be put in practice. When virtues of forgiveness, friendship, gratitude, silencing the mind, shedding ego, setting right one's relationships in all spheres of life, and  witnessing without commentary are understood and realised, and they become a part of the individual's life, then he is on the path leading to illumination.

TOI, April 29, 2006                                                                                                                                          Rajeshwar Nath

October 2006

Sixty years after independence the picture of free India that emerges is not inspiring, not even reassuring, it is in fact depressing. The vision of freedom movement and the reality are poles apart. Seers like Sri Aurobindo prophesied that partition of India will go and a united Bharath would emerge out of the debris of chaos that was partition. India’s gift of spirituality, he believed, will reach the four corners of the world and lift up human consciousness.

      Two of Mahathmaji’s visions of free India, which are fundamental to his life’s philosophy have suffered serious setback after independence. One of them is eradication of poverty, particularly at the rural level by empowering the villages of India by reviving the ancient concept of autonomous villages to which Gandhiji gave the significant name “Gramswaraj”. Strengthening the agricultural base and developing small scale agro-industrial network in villages and instilling the spirit of self-help and Swadeshi was the very essence of Gandhian approach to rural India’s all round development. That was the corner stone of his vision of “Ramarajya”. Though Gandhiji was convinced that his philosophy was ultimately meant for all humanity across the world, he was realistic enough to realize that the process must spread from the soil of Rural India. Unfortunately India has now taken to the path of Globalization with the result that external economic and civilizational forces have swamped our farmers in the Indian villages. Rural India is today under the grip of poverty, famine, unemployment and illiteracy. The gulf between the rich and poor has multiplied manyfold. Suicide by farmers due to starvation has become a normal feature. Those whom Gandhiji expected to feed the rest of India are themselves dying for want of food. Vulgar Consumerism that Gandhiji severely condemned as immoral is now rampant. In the place of Swadeshi by Indians for Indians, multi-national corporations are ruling the roost, crippling and paralyzing the economy of vast masses of Indian population.

      One has to seriously ponder over the causes for these mismatches between the vision and the reality. The partition of sacred Motherland left the people confused and disrupted. There was no unified will nor optimism so much required for a sound rebuilding of the nation on the basis of our eternal spiritual and cultural values. Those leaders who emerged as most powerful and who were supposed to execute the grand vision were themselves not fully imbued with the same. We have to retrieve our lost vision – the vision of Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi and such like. India has to rediscover her soul, and also its “Swabhava” and work out its “Swadharma”. Let us collectively pledge ourselves to follow the path of “Swadharma”, which alone will lead to ultimate victory. 

Yuva Bharati, August 2006 

 P. Parameswaran 

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