Message for Guru Poornima

Conversations with His Holiness Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji

On Guru Poornima this year (2009), the devotee went to Ashram to meet Sri Swamiji. He was wanting to ask Sri Swamiji's message for Guru Poornima for the benefit of devotees all around the world.
When the devotee sat beside Sri Swamiji, His Holiness started a beautiful conversation, which reminds one of the spiritual conversations of the yore which reveals the supreme truth.
'What is the way to realization?' asked Sri Swamiji to the devotee.
The devotee was taken aback. He understood that the message was coming only in a very different way!
'Vina mahat pada rajobhisekam. Swamiji, only by reaching the feet of the guru can one get gnana (wisdom)'
'What does reaching the feet of the guru actually mean?' Sri Swamiji was certainly in a questioning mode!
'Reaching guru's feet means.. Well... Going to his abode and prostrating to him...' The devotee answered with hesitation
'That is true. Physically prostrating to a guru and being in his physical presence is good. That is a different story... But is it all?'
The devotee could not answer any further....
Sri Swamiji continued...
'When a disciple sheds all the adverse modes of the mind like kama (desire), krodha (anger) etc. and completely leads his life with the clear understanding that it is the Guru who is running his life - adverse or otherwise, completely emptying the mind of personal likes and dislikes, seeing everything as Guru's leela, in due course of time, disciple's mind will be completely synchronized with the mind of the Guru. When that happens, then disciple's mind becomes submerged with the Guru's mind, which is pure brahman (God). This is how a disciple attains liberation by attaining the feet of a Guru.'
On the auspicious occasion of Guru Poornima, the devotee was awe-stuck with this short and simple message of Guru's grace. He had a question in his mind, 'But why on a Poornima?'
Sri Swamiji gently smiled and continued...
'You may ask why we celebrate the Guru on a Poornima! This is the time in the month, when moon is complete, shines bright without a shade of darkness on it. In our Vedas it is said, 'Chandrama Manaso jatah' - there is a close relationship between the mind and the moon. (The moon was created by the Virat Purusha's mind). Poornima signifies the mind without any darkness of impurity. Hence Poornima...'
The devotee's unasked question was answered.
Sri Swamiji went on...
'Now one may ask why in the Ashada month?'
The question itself was not thought of by the devotee. He looked at Sri Swamiji wide eyed!
'This month is the start of night for the Devas.  A year for us is a day for the Devas. Their day time spans our six earth months.  The night time equivalent to the 6 earth-months starts in ‘Aashada’ month. The moon is visible only during the night. This is start of Devas' night. Hence we celebrate Guru Poornima – the Full Moon day of of Ashada.'
'What a beautiful message deep with meaning for Guru Poornima!' thought the devotee as he collected his bag to return to the city...

THREE TYPES FOOD

Sattwic food

Men of sattwa like foods which increase their vital force, energy, strength and health. Such foods add to the pleasure of physical and mental life. They are juicy, soothing, fresh and agreeable.” (Bhagavad Gita 17:8) Sivananda: “Foods which increase life, purity, strength, health, joy and cheerfulness, which are oleaginous and savoury, substantial and agreeable, are dear to the Sattwic people.” Since we are seeking to become increasingly sattwic, we should look at each point of this verse so we can improve our diet and increase our sattwa, remembering that food becomes mind according to the Chandogya Upanishad.

1. Ayus–food that actually increases the span of life. In other words, truly healthy food that protects the body and fosters it. The problem is that everybody has their own idea about what kind of food is healthy. I recommend that you read Dr. Neal Barnard’s books on diet, starting with Food For Life. Most people are slowly killing themselves with wrong diet. If they do not shorten their life, they make sure that they are sick for years at the end of their life. Ayus also means what increases life force.
2. Sattwa–food that increases the quality of sattwa, which also implies food that promotes virtue–both in the sense of strength and in the sense of goodness. It is food that lightens and promotes health of body and mind, food that is actually spiritual in its effect. This is purely vegetarian food, free of both animal and chemical elements. It is fresh raw food which has all its natural enzymes intact and moderately cooked food, as well.
3. Bala–food that imparts strength to the body and mind.
4. Arogya–food that strengthens the immune system so the body can resist or rid itself of disease.
5. Sukha–food which is easy for the body to digest and which produces ease and comfort in the body.
6. Priti–food that truly satisfies the body nutritionally, and therefore the mind. It need not be eaten like medicine. In fact, priti is that which gives actual pleasure in the eating.
7. Rasyas–food which has abundant good flavor, that has plenty of taste.
8. Snigdhas–food which contains sufficient oil, which is smooth and pleasant to eat.
9. Sthiras–food which is substantial.
10. Hridyas–food which is “hearty” and pleasant-feeling in the stomach.

This is a valuable checklist to help us eat truly pure food.

Rajasic food

“But men of rajas prefer foods which are violently bitter, sour, salty, hot, pungent, acid and burning. These cause ill-health, and distemper of the mind and body.” (Bhagavad Gita 17:9) Sivananda: “The foods that are bitter, sour, saline, excessively hot, dry, pungent and burning, are liked by the Rajasic and are productive of pain, grief and disease.”

1. Kata–food that is extremely acrid, pungent, or sharp–that is virtually caustic to the mouth.
2. Amla–food that is very acidic, sour, or vinegary.
3. Lavana–food that is very salty or briny (containing pickle-type fluid). This is hard on the kidneys and raises the blood pressure.
4. Atyushna–food that is excessively hot. The problem here is deciding what is excessive, for the more people eat hot food the more tolerance they develop until what will be painfully, burning hot to others will be mild to their taste. I knew a man who would sit and eat jalapeño peppers whole like a snack. When I asked if they were hot, he said No. So I bit into one. Volcano!
5. Tikshna–food that is harsh, fiery, and acid–especially in the stomach.
6. Raksha–food that is astringent, and also rough and dry, the kind of things that cut the roof of your mouth or even your esophagus as it goes down.
7. Vidahinas–food that is burning and scorching.

This kind of food is productive of:

1. Duhkha–pain and misery.
2. Shoka–grief–that regret so many feel and which makes anti-acid manufacturers rich–and which contributes to ulcers.
3. Amaya–sickness in the sense of malfunction and disease produced by the harming it does to the body.

Next to its harmful effects, the more unfortunate aspect of this kind of food is its addicting nature. For example, people will eat hot food that makes them cry–and love every painful moment of it. This is because hot food contains elements that affect the brain–as does the mere experience of hot food. So rajasic food is the most difficult to give up.

Tamasic food

“And men of tamas take a perverse pleasure in foods which are stale, tasteless, rotten and impure. They like to eat the leavings of others.” (Bhagavad Gita 17:10) Sivananda: “That which is stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten and impure refuse, is the food liked by the Tamasic.” Note this:

1. Yatayamam–food that is leftover, stale, and even spoiled. A lot of people eat this kind of food just from laziness or lack of initiative–both traits of tamas. Most restaurant food is unfit for human consumption, what to say about the “deli” food from big grocery stores. No one knows how old that is. Fast food chains pack their food–especially meat–in bags of formaldehyde and other horrors. Some will cook a large amount of food and then eat it for a week or more. I have known people that would scrape off the mold and eat away. Canned food is another offense to humanity. Now that we can refrigerate and even freeze food, the eating of leftovers is not always detrimental. The willingness to eat stale food–and sometimes the inability to tell it is stale–is more psychological than physical, and we must not let misapplied thrift get us into the habit of eating this devitalized food.
2. Gatarasam–food that is tasteless, devoid of flavor. This applies to a lot of oriental food, and used to be the main trait of English cooking. And it really applies to a lot of fake “sattwic” food cooked by those that think they are spiritual or even yogis. Notice how flavorless and insubstantial it is, and what a disgusting color and texture. And on top of it all they give people a little dab, commenting: “This is really pretty rich [or heavy] and you mustn’t eat too much.” Some chance! The last time I had to eat in the home of dedicated spiritual (in other words grim and rote) people the amount served for eight people would only have sufficed for three normal human beings. Their tasteless and insufficient food reflected their philosophy and their minds. Do not buy into it.
3. Puti–food that is putrid, stinking, and fetid. How many times have you seen restaurant signs or ads boasting that they serve “aged steaks”? It is the custom of “gourmets” to “hang birds” and let them decay a bit before cooking them. (I read of one restaurant that would “hang” grouse until they bred maggots, which they would wash off before cooking. One evening a group of customers called for the chef and rhapsodized over the delicious “stuffing” that had been in the grouse. At first the chef was bewildered, and then realized that the maggots had not been removed, but had been baked in the grouse! This is a clear example of how tamasic food perverts the palate.) Meat itself is rotting flesh. And what of the moldy and “stinky” cheese so beloved to many? Think of the awful smell fish and seafood emit when being cooked, what to say of the stench in oriental markets that stock them dried? Delight in such things is distinctly abnormal. Do I need to mention such ghastly things as “hundred year old” eggs and suchlike?
4. Uchchistam–food that has been eaten on by another person. This is a favorite of many. They grab off the plates of others, plop things from their plates on others’ plates, say: “Give me a taste of that” and take a bite off whatever someone has been eating–often a body part of an animal. Eating another’s spit! In modern times when we know about germs and communicable diseases, it makes no difference to them. “Give me a sip of that…tear off a hunk of that for me…let me have a little bite of yours….” This is the way they feed.

Ten Commandments

Be active; but Not impatient

Be patient; but Not indolent

Be economic; but Not stingy

Be loving ; but Not slavish

Be merciful ; but Wakeful; do not be deceived

Give liberally; but Do not become a pauper

Be a hero; but Not a (Nero) villain

Seek the good ; but Do not hate others

Live in the family; but Be not infatuated with lust

Be unattached ; but Do not run to the forest

-- SATHGURU GNANANANDA GIRI SWAMIGAL

Saranaagathi

Saranaagathi means “Surrender Unto the Lord”. Surrender is also called as “आत्मनिवेदन or AtmaNivedana” is the highest form of Bhakti or Devotion, where the Self is surrendered to God in entirety. This Surrender is the culmination of the sadhana of Bhakti and Jnana.

Saranaagathi in its true sense is the ultimate aim of all branches of yoga – Karma, Jnana and Bhakti. In Saranaagathi, the devotee is just like a small child, barely months old, which surrenders itself completely and exclusively to the mother’s care, because the child is innately assured of mother’s caring for it. The child does not depend on its self even for a small work. The devotee also becomes completely child-like, entrusting everything into the hands of God.

In most of our day-to-day lives and actions, we have very little “ Saranaagathi” to the Divine. We act as independent beings, and perform all actions of grown-up adults, with the feeling that we have enough mental and physical capabilities to take care of ourselves. But, there is also a “Surrender” that we do here, but in the reverse direction. We surrender to the world around us. We surrender to our temptations, to our sensual pleasures, relationships, emotions, what to speak of big things, even to the smallest thing like “taste buds”, we surrender ourselves. We bend our inner nature for the outer-world. We take the first step towards “Saranaagathi”, in one Swamiji’s words, only when we bend the outer to the inner.

Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita Himself gives the gist of Saranaagathi or self-surrender in “Moksha Sannyasa Yoga or The Yoga of Liberation by Renunciation”. (Chapter – 18, Sloka: 66).

सर्व धर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज ।

अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः ।।

“Abandoning all duties, take refuge in Me alone; I will liberate thee from all sins. Grieve not.”

With the inspiration of our Revered Gurudev Sri Swami Sivananda Maharaj, we have named this effort of ours on the internet as “Saranaagathi – Surrender to the Divine”. We pray to God and Gurudev to bless us with his Grace in our journey towards “Saranaagathi”.

“Work ceaselessly for the Lord but surrender the fruits of all actions to the Lord. Take the Lord as your sole refuge. Live for Him. Work for Him. Serve Him in all forms. Think of Him only. Meditate on Him alone. See Him everywhere. Worship Him in your heart. Consecrate your life, all your action, feelings and thoughts to the Lord. You will rest in Him. You will attain union with Him. You will attain immortal supreme peace and eternal bliss.”

“True and sincere surrender unto the Lord is the essence of Bhakti (God-love). ‘I am Thine, All is Thine. Thy will be done, my Lord’ – This is the best Saranaagathi Mantra or prayer of self-surrender. Seek His will. Do His will. Surrender to His will. You will become one with the cosmic will.”

- Swami Sivananda

Rules in Temple Worship

Temple Worship is an important feature of the Hindu Faith. There are so many different temples and so many different rules governing temple worship. Below, we present a few salient points that need to be followed when worshipping in temples. These rules are meant to be suggestive rather than prescriptive.
1.  As far as possible one should visit the Temple alone, or with one’s family only.
2. It is best to go in the company of Sadhus or one’s Guru. One should not visit the Temple gossiping with a friend: or, with others who go with the idea of entertainment.
3. should not chit chat inside the Temple precincts.
4. should not sleep inside the Temple precincts.
5. should not eat from the food packets carried along.
6. visitors should not cook food inside.
7. should never step inside the Temple without bathing.
8. should not visit the Temple if one has rested on bed during day time.
9. should not carry the footwear inside the Temple.
10. should not speak over the cell or telephone inside the Temple.
11. should not spit, urinate inside. Littering should be avoided.
12. Restrooms should not be built inside the Temple precincts.
13. Female devotees should not visit Temples during their menstrual cycle and those who have touched them should also not step into the Temple.
14. should not visit the Temple during the time of mourning; as, also when there has been birth in the family.
15. should not visit the Temple without bathing after a visit to a death house or a visit to the home of a newly born infant.
16. should not visit the Temple without bathing after a visit to a hospital.
17. should maintain silence inside the Temple or chant the Divine Names of the Lord or hymns (slokas).
18. should remove litters scattered around.
19. should remove any growth in Temple towers or in ‘praakaara’ (corridors running around the Sanctum Sanctorum).
20. on stepping inside the Temple one should not bother if others are observing him.
21. even playfully should one not give his promise inside the Temple.
22. should walk slowly and not take hurried steps.
23. except the sick, differently abled, old people or on some other genuine ground, all should enter through ordinary queue (‘dharma darshan’) and not get entry through the ‘special fee’ queue (‘special darshan’).
24. should not prostrate anywhere except in front of the ‘dwajastamba’.
25. should take some offering like sugar candy, oil, wick, flower, etc.
26. when going to the Temple in a vehicle, it should be stopped a little distance away from where one should walk to the Temple; never should one go up to the Temple entrance in the vehicle.
27. should clean the hands and legs well before entering the Temple.
28. should wear clean, traditional clothes.
29. while visiting Temples on top of Hills, Mountains, one should climb by foot (the sick, differently abled, old people may go in a vehicle).
30. should not close your eyes while standing in front of the Deity.
31. should, through proper teachers, teach hymns on the Deity (of the particular Temple), in the local language.
32. should never gain entry for darshan by paying cash to any acquaintance there.
33. should circumambulate more than once.
34. should not perform ‘akshada archana’ (raw rice mixed with kumkum and turmeric) for Lord Vishnu; this will lead to poverty.
35. should never take any thing from the Temple for home use – be it a leaf or a flower.
36. should not bow down to anyone other than Sadhus inside the Temple.
37. should not touch the Deities inside the Temple, even if permitted.

-- Sri Sri Muralidhara Swamiji