#vibemantra

[thevachak]

May Adi Shakti bless us and guide us to the light.

Mother Durga. Rider on the lion, giver of all strength, Mother, beloved of Shiva! We, born from thy parts of Power, we the youth of India, are seated here in thy temple. Listen, O Mother, descend upon earth, make thyself manifest in this land of India. - Sri Aurobindo

[thevachak]

The Achintyam

That is The Achintyam: The Unthinkable, The Unknowable, The Unimaginable, The Inconceivable, The Unthinkable. 🕉️

[thevachak]

Happy Krishna Janmashtami... May Krishna guide us through samsara and be the charioteer of our lives.

[thevachak]

Two Beggars

Two beggars live in a forest, near a city. Naturally they are enemies, because they are in the same profession and in competition. One is blind and one is lame. And they are always quarreling about their clients. You don’t know what beggars say about you. They have their clients, they have their territories.

Beggars are continuously fighting. There is great struggle and competition. And those two beggars had been enemies for years. But one day the forest caught fire. The blind man was perfectly able to walk and run, but it was dangerous. He could not see whether he was going in the right direction, where there was no fire, or whether he was running through the fire towards more.

The lame man could not run on his own. And the fire was spreading so fast and the winds were so strong, but he could see that there was still a possibility to get out. There were a few places where the fire had not reached yet. But soon it would be reaching there. Soon, they would be covered by fire from all over the place. They both forgot all their antagonism, competition. This was not the time to fight, this was a time to unite.

And the blind man took upon his shoulders the lame man, and they became one personality. Now they had eyes and they had legs, both. The lame man could see, and direct where they had to run, and fast – and which directions had to be avoided. And the blind man was strong enough to run, carrying the lame man on his shoulders. They came out of the forest without being injured.

This ancient story is about your mind and your heart. Your heart can see, but cannot say. Your mind can say, but cannot see. If you are capable of bringing your heart and mind closer, your love and logic closer, your experience and expression closer, perhaps mind can also say something significant. It may not be complete, it may not be an entire expression, but it may be an indication in the right direction. It may be a finger pointing to the moon. It may not be the moon, but it can indicate towards the moon.

[thevachak]

Rinzai - A Great Zen Master

A great Zen Master, Rinzai, was sitting. A man came. He pushed the door very hard – he must have been angry – he slammed the door. He was not in a good mood. Then he threw his shoes, and came in. Rinzai said 'Wait. Don't come in. First go and ask forgiveness from the door and from your shoes.' The man said 'What are you talking about? I have heard that these Zen people are mad, but it seems true. I was thinking it was just rumour. What nonsense you are talking! Why should I ask forgiveness from the door? And it looks so embarrassing... those shoes are mine!' Then Rinzai said 'You get out! Never come here again! If you can be angry at the shoes, why can't you ask their forgiveness? When you were angry, you never thought that it was so foolish to be angry with the shoes. If you can relate with anger, then why not with love? Relationship is relationship. Anger is a relationship. When you slammed the door with such anger, you related to the door; you behaved wrongly, immorally. And the door has not done anything to you. First go, otherwise you don't come in.' Under the impact of Rinzai's silence, and the people sitting there, and that presence... like a flash, the man understood. He understood the logic of it, it was so clear. 'If you can be angry, then why can't you be loving? You go.' And he went. Maybe in his whole life that was the first time. He touched the door and tears started flowing from his eyes. He could not hold back those tears. And when he bowed down to his own shoes, a great change happened in him. The moment he turned and came towards Rinzai, Rinzai took him in his arms and embraced him.

This is reconciliation. How can you pray if you are unreconciled? How can you come to a Master if you are unreconciled with existence?

[thevachak]

Views on Moksha through the lens of Vaishnavas

All Vaishnavas in general hold with the concept of VAIKUṆṬHA as the final goal, but there is much debate about what exactly this entails.

N.B. Vai-kuṇṭha literally means the unimpeded or unobstructed state.

There are two views:-

The Personalist View.

Many believe that it is like a “heaven” (svarga) of sorts where liberated devotees will enjoy the blissful company of the Lord Śrīman Nārāyaṇa for all eternity, spending their time in divine service and the chanting of devotional hymns. Details can be found in the Sri Vaikuṇṭha Gadyam allegedly composed by Ramānujācārya although there is some dispute but its authorship as its style is not in keeping with the other works of Rāmānujācārya.

Another description can be found in Bhagavata Purana Sk 2 chap 9 ;9

The Impersonalist View

The liberated one (mukta) merges with the Supreme Being losing all sense of individuality.

I for one, am more inclined towards the Impersonalist view enunciated in the Vishnu Purāna - a state which is transcendent and inconceivable.

विशुद्धं बोधनं नित्यमजमक्षयमव्ययम् । अव्यक्तमविकारं यत् तद् विष्णोः परमं पदम् ॥

न स्थूलं न च सूक्ष्मं यन्न विशेषण ऽगोचरम् । तत् पदं परमं विष्णोः प्रणमामः सदामलम् ॥

viśuddhaṃ bodhanaṃ nityam ajam akṣayam avyayam |

avyaktam avikāraṃ yat tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṃ padam ||

na sthūlaṃ na ca sūkṣmam yan-na viśeṣaṇa ‘gocaram |

tat padaṃ paramaṃ viṣṇoḥ praṇamāmaḥ sadāmalam ||

That which is the Supreme State (Paramam Padam – Vaikunṭham) of Vishnu is pure, conscious, eternal, unborn, undecayable, inexhaustible, unmanifest, immutable, It is neither gross nor subtle, nor capable of being defined, to that ever immaculate Supreme State of Vishnu I bow. V.P 1:9:50 – 51

प्रधान-पुरुषाव्यक्त-कालानां परमम् हि यत् । पश्यन्ति सूरयः शुद्धम् तद् विष्णोः परमम् पदम् ॥

pradhāna-puruṣāvyakta-kālānāṃ paramam hi yat | paśyanti sūrayaḥ śuddham tad viṣṇoḥ paramam padam ||

What is beyond matter, spirit, manifestation, and time; that pure [state] which sages behold - that is the supreme state of Vishnu. (Vishnu Purana 1.2.16)

[thevachak]

Heaven and Hell

A Japanese Emperor reached the Zen Master and asked him, “What is hell and what is heaven?” The Zen Master looked at the Emperor and said “You son-of-a-bitch! Have you looked at your face in the mirror lately? I have never seen such a dirty-looking fellow before!” The Emperor was enraged! He had not expected such a thing from such a great saint. You don’t know great saints! You know only small, puny saints. A real saint is not a cat, he is a tiger! The Emperor was so enraged that he pulled his sword out of its sheath. He was going to cut the head of the Master. Just as the sword was coming closer, the Master said, “Wait! You are entering hell. This is the gate to hell.” The way the Master said “Wait!” was so powerful that the Emperor’s hand was stopped in the middle, and he understood — “True!” He threw the sword away, fell at the feet of the Master, and the Master laughed and said, “This is the way to heaven! You have already experienced both within a single moment. The distance is not far.”

Whenever you are surrendered to existence, whenever you live in trust, love, prayer, joy, celebration, you are in heaven.

[thevachak]

The Servant and The Swordsman

A great swordsman, a great warrior, came back home and found that his servant was making love to his wife. According to custom, he challenged the servant — gave him a sword and told him to come out of the house and let it be decided; whoever remains alive will be the husband of the woman.

The servant did not even know how to hold a sword — he was a poor servant, he had never been trained in swordsmanship. He said, “Master, although you are following a convention, and respecting even a servant and giving him an opportunity, this is for you just a game. I don’t know anything about swordsmanship. At least give me a few minutes so that I can go to the greatest master — who lives nearby in a monastery, a Zen monk — to have some clue.”

The man agreed. He said, “You can go. And if it is needed, a few hours, or even a few days, or even a few months — you can get disciplined. I will wait for you.”

He went to the great warrior, the Zen master. The Zen master said, “Even years of training will not help you. Your boss is just second to me in the whole country — you cannot hope to compete with him. My suggestion is: this is the right moment to fight.”

The servant could not understand. He said, “What kind of puzzle are you giving to me: this moment is the right moment?”

And he said, “Yes, because you have one thing certain — your death. Now more than that you cannot lose. Your master has many things to lose: his wife, his prestige, his respectability as a warrior; he is a great landlord… all his money — his mind cannot be total while he is fighting. But you can be total. You have to be total — just a moment of unawareness and you are gone; you have to be totally alert. This is the right moment; don’t bother about any discipline — you simply take the sword and go.”

The servant came back within minutes. His boss said, “Have you learned anything?”

He said, “There is no need of learning anything. Come out of the house!”

And the way he shouted, “Come out of the house” …. The boss could not believe what magical change had happened to his servant. As he came out, the servant, according to convention, bowed down to the boss; the boss bowed down to the servant. That is, in Japan, part of their culture; even with the enemy, you have to respect his dignity, his humanity, his divinity.

And then the servant started hitting the warrior — knowing nothing about swordsmanship. The warrior was at a loss, because where any expert would have hit, the servant would not hit because he had no idea; he would hit somewhere where no expert would have ever hit. And he was fighting with such totality that the warrior started moving backwards, and as the warrior started moving backwards, the servant gathered more courage. He was moving his sword without knowing why — to what purpose, or where he was hitting. And since it has been decided that his death is certain, now there is nothing to worry about — all worries belong to life.

Soon he cornered the master. Behind, there was the wall surrounding the master’s garden. He could not move backwards anymore. He was so afraid of death, for the first time in his life, and he said, “Wait! You can have my wife, you can have my properties; I am renouncing the world, I am becoming a monk.”

He was trembling with fear. Even he could not understand what happened. From where did this courage come? From where this totality? From where this awareness? But it can be only in such special situations that without any discipline, just the situation can create so much awakening in you.

Moral: When you have nothing to lose, no one can beat you. You triumph life and whatever lies beyond it.