ll ॐ नमो भगवते रामकृष्णाय ll
Om
Sending again ...
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Swami Sheshadri
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Swami Sheshadri <jaisriramakrishnalayam@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 16, 2019 at 1:56 AM
Subject: This, above all, to thine own self be true ...
To: <rkmutemple@gmail.com>, <rkmpinkcity@gmail.com>
From: Swami Sheshadri <jaisriramakrishnalayam@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 16, 2019 at 1:56 AM
Subject: This, above all, to thine own self be true ...
To: <rkmutemple@gmail.com>, <rkmpinkcity@gmail.com>
ll ॐ नमो भगवते रामकृष्णाय ll
Proclaims the Shruti (Taittireeya) - सत्यं वद! धर्मञ्चर !
'Impossibly difficult', exclaims the Jiva in this yuga!
Indeed, the practice of truth is the penance in this Kaliyuga, avers Sri Ramakrishna. The Jiva, facing untold troubles and obstacles, seeks some 'relief' in Thakur's statement - 'Ah!, how well He understands us!'
Untruth, for the Jiva, is simply the way of life. Dharma is so 'inconvenient' today, and possibly approaching a time where it may be relegated to being irrelevant! What does the human value today? Has the four-fold purushartha just got abridged to Artha-kama alone?
Untruthfulness, and insincerity, its corollary, have become as fluid as one's breath! So much so, that one oft wonders how one could even live without untruth!!
The 'understanding' of irreparable material loss upon abiding by truth and dharma is very 'clear' to everyone. Exceedingly rare is the recognition of the loss resulting from non-conformity to them - for, it is a much subtler issue!
We spin an 'Avarana' of untruth around us - a gap between the 'real me' and the 'projected me'. Though greater the gap, greater my woes and stress, I understand it not, and assiduously hold up a facade that I want others to know me as! Falsehood within falsehood! Mahamaya has the last laugh!
I am true to none - parents, family, friends, society, Nation, my work, discipline, exercise, food - nothing...
Even when one sees oneself sinking day by day, there is no resolve, no serious attempt to extricate oneself, "उद्धरेदात्मनात्मानम् ... "
"This, above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day", said the Bard, "thou canst not then be false to any man!"
Even in the only act where the will is supposedly free, i.e. prayer, where one is not answerable or accountable to anyone but oneself, one is unable to manage to be true! Such is the force of long habit, immersion, or 'esnarement' of maya - the saga of helplessness. 'Lord answers sincere prayers', but hey, are prayers not meant to be sincere in the first place, that Bhagavan may exclaim, "You are not serious, are you?"
There are melodious hymns and structured prayers of exquisite depth and beauty, but does it reflect in my heart as well? Jiva's predicament is well understood by the compassionate Guru Maharaj, and He does not judge us. He even sends his chosen Apostle to articulate our helplessness and plight - Swamiji speaks for us in the famed stotra thus - "O Bhagavan, वक्त्रोद्धृतोsपि हृदये न विभाति किञ्चित् , do you not know that even though beautiful words of prayer escape my lips, they do not echo in my heart? That is how I am, a Jiva!"
O compassionate Lord, who knows this weak Jiva's limitations, and considers even the attempt as acceptable, even as a doting Mother accepts the ignorant infant's prattle as a praise - I am encouraged, to take a tottering step towards you... may be, one day, I shall succeed in dissolving my self-created avarana, and just be myself, a child of Ishvara!!
Hence, O my Guru Maharaj, I have none else to go to ...and am sure of being accepted by you, the way I am ...
Verily thus, Thou art my sole support तस्मात् त्वं एव शरणं मम , O friend of the helpless हे दीन-बन्धो !
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Swami Sheshadri
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