Sagun or Nirgun?

 In the Hinduism, it has been age old debate, whether God has a form or He is formless. Lots of strong proponents from each idea have come and blessed the soil of India, including Adi Shankaracharya (Advaita), Madhvacharya, Ramanujacharya, Vallabhacharya, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and others.

I have also read some of the writings of the above Acharyas, and from time to time, was confused as to which is the way to God for me. I was closing in towards the thoughts of Sant Tukaram/Dnyaneshwar/Eknath, that, God is indeed formless, but also can take a form due to the strong devotion of His devotees.

I was reading some pages from "Gospel of Ramakrishna" yesterday. Ramkrishna gave a very straightforward answer to this question.

By the way, just for the background, Ramkrishna was trained and many of the ways of God.

• He was top notch devotee (worshiping God in the form of Goddess Kali)
• He was also trained by a Advaita teacher in non-duality or Nirguna. He had experienced savikalp and Nirvikalp samadhi
• He was trained by another Guru in tantrik vidya for God realization
• He was also instructed by teachers of Islam and Christianity and had understood there path to God as well

With this vast experience, he was instructing a devotee "M" in the Gospel of Ramkrishna. Below are some important points I remember

• Bhakti of the God with a form is a doubtless way to see God and understand the Truth
• With this Bhakti, God also bestows the devotee all the knowledge on the real nature of God, which is indeed formless or Nirgun
• Way of nirgun worhip is very hard whereas worshiping God with a form is comparatively easy, as our senses can be utilized for devotion
• There are many many ways of reaching God, but we should be focused on one path and wholeheartedly follow that one

With this clarity, he wants "M" to get rid of all the confusions.

He then gives further instructions which are very critical if we want to follow the path of devotion

• We should stop argumentation about the nature of God and on different philosophies, as these are the things to be experienced
• As the path is finalized, we should not look anywhere else, but totally focus on our path
• Chanting of God's name is very important but the main thing required of devotees here is "Earnestness"
• He suggests that we should cry to God, "Why don't you give me your darshan" etc.
• He gives example of babies of Monkey and Cat - as the two ways of devotees
• Baby monkey is quite strong and holds his mother strongly with his hands, while mother monkey is jumping around
• These are stronger devotees, who take effort in doing chanting/Japa, calculating the Japa, doing timely meditation and so on
• Kittens are quite week, they only know how to "mew, mew" or cry. So they just cry and mother cat takes full care of them, she keeps them at different places, feeds them and kitten does not have to worry
• Like them, a devotee may cry to God, asking for darshan, for purification of desires and the mind itself. Devotee should cry to God, "I do not know ways of Japa, meditation" or anything. I can only cry to you. But this should be continuous.

I think this was very critical guide for me. I need to focus on chanting God's holy names and praying to God or rather crying to God for "love of God", which will in turn bring about purification.

Reference: 

Gospel of Ramakrishna - https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/gospel/volume_1/18_m_at_dakshineswar_ii.htm

Thinking of Death

 Another important point which is emphasized in the Stoic philosophy, is that of "Thinking of Death". 

“Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day. The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time.” —Seneca

“Don’t behave as if you are destined to live forever. What’s fated hangs over you. As long you live and while you can, become good now.” —Marcus Aurelius

This thought is not new for me as such. However, I came across this at the right time I guess. It helped trigger many things in me and motivated to think this way. Below are some more references.

Famously Steve Jobs had said that each morning he thought, 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? '.  

In Hinduism, many many scriptures stress the fickleness of life. Adi Shankaracharya, in his famous "Bhaja Govindam" poem, wrote "नलिनीदलगतजलमतितरलम्, तद्वज्जीवितमतिशयचपलम्।" - "Life is as ephemeral as water drops on a lotus leaf ." 

Sant Tukaram has said, 

पडिली हे रूढि जगा परिचार । चालविती वेव्हार सत्य ह्मूण ॥१॥

मरणाची कां रे नाहीं आठवण । संचिताचे धन लोभ हेवा ॥ध्रु.॥

देहाचें भय तें काळाचें भातुकें । ग्रासूनि तें एकें ठेविलेंसे ॥२॥

तुका म्हणे कांहीं उघडा रे डोळे । जाणोनि अंधळे होऊं नका ॥३॥

in summary, it says, "Why don't you ever remind yourself of your death, you keep thinking about money, own material welfare etc. You know everything, that you can die at any moment. But still you act as if you know nothing about it. You have eyes, but you still are acting like a blind man."

Buddha also taught a similar meditation. called "marana-sati". In it Buddha suggests, a monk should first think in how many ways he can die now. And then, he should reflect, are there any defects in him that will remain in him. He should then try to get rid of them. And one day, when thus contemplating, he finds there are no such bad habits/defects remaining, he should dwell in joy and rapture.

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From all these quotes and passages, what I need to understand is, I do not know how much time I have. Whatever time I have, what is it that is most important for me to do? Can I die happy if I die tonight? What can I do now, to allow me to die happily tonight? 

Would I die happy if I watch TV/browse social media? Would feel better if I spend my time in meditation/chanting? Would it help if I contemplate and try to get rid of my vices?

I think many of the things are clear and straightforward. Let me meditate on this daily, till it becomes innate.

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Log: Did my chanting today, quality was poor, need to improve it.
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References:

• Steve Jobs quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/516733-if-you-live-each-day-as-if-it-were-your 
• Bhaja Govindam (4th verse): https://sites.google.com/site/vedicscripturesinc/home/srishankaracharya/bhajagovindam
• Buddha - marana-sati sutra: https://www.buddha-vacana.org/sutta/anguttara/06/an06-020.html

Stoicism and Spirituality

Last month I came across a quote from Seneca and started my exploration of the Stoicism. Seneca(1st century AD) is one of the chief philosophers of Stoicism, whose literature is still available to us. Apart from him, there are other important philosophers - Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius (whose Meditations is a classic book). Epictetus' Enchiridion, which means literally a Handbook, is really very nice, short and crisp book which provides a great introduction to Stocism. 

I was very impressed by Enchiridion and found that it had very good tips which can be useful to me in my spiritual progress. Some of the important points which I would like to inculcate are as below:

• "Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of things" - This is as simple and truthful as it can be. Very straightforward and will force us to think, when we're sad, angry, anxious etc due to anything. We need to analyze the things/situations and understand that our anxiety/anger etc is only because what meaning we're making out of the situation. A famous example given is that when somebody insults us, it is we who have it in our power, as how to react to it. If we give the insult too much importance, it causes anger/frustration and if we do not, we stay calm. Food for thought. Another way of stating this would be, "it's not that Event -> Reaction but, Event -> Judgement of the Event -> Reaction". And this judgement of the event part is what can be totally in our control. We need to practice and take control of this part.
  
• Externals - There are things which are in our control (opinion, aim, desire, aversion) and things which are not in our control (body, property, reputation, office). So whenever something unpleasant happens, analyze, if there was something in our control or not, if not, just say "I have nothing to do with this", i.e. I cannot spend more time ruing about it, as it was not in my control.

An example was given, as to what Stoics think about life. It said, life is like a complex game, where we need to play with virtue, our principles, give our best in whatever our business is, however, we need to understand that in this complex game, a lot of part is played by "chance". Hence, whatever may happen, be not worried about what is the result of your actions, as that is not in our control (See 2nd principle above), and is due to "chance" and stay calm and happy.

 

This seemed very much like famous verse from Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna says to Arjun,  

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भुर्मा ते संगोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥

So, the plan is to take these small teachings and start applying them in life. I hope to journal my progress on this and various other things regularly, to stay on track and to stay committed!

References:

Enchiridion: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45109/45109-h/45109-h.htm#c4