The Story of Bharata

Vishwamitra was one of the important sages of India in ancient times. Incidentally, he was born a king and due to penances he acquired the status of a Brahmin. To please the Gods, he once retired to the forest and lived the life of a recluse for years together. As the years passed in meditation and penance (Tapascharya), so powerful became his meditation that the Gods felt their position becoming insecure. To guard their interests, the Gods decided to make Vishwamitra give up his meditation. Towards this end they employed the services of the celestial nymph Menaka and asked her to go and use her charms to make give up his meditation.

With this malicious intent Menaka came down to Vishwamitra'a abode and exercised her charms for enchanting the meditating Vishwamitra. Oblivious of her intent, the unsuspecting Vishwamitra, human that he was, he gave in, to the damsels distracting advances. Once she had tripped Vishwamitra by capturing his coveted attention Menaka successfully proceeded to dismantle his shield against wordly passions, and finally sealed the fate of the unfortunate Vishwamitra's meditation, when by Vishwamitra she conceived a child. Realising that his meditation had gone to pieces, Viswamitra was furious, but the irreparable damage had been done. Menaka gave birth to a chubby girl whom she named Shakuntala.

Having completed her deed , Menaka returned to the abode of the Gods, but she had to / leave her child Shakuntala behind and as Vishwamitra disowned the child and went back to his soul searching meditation, Menaka decided to leave her child at an ashrama (traditional Hindu monastery for imparting education). At the ashrama Shakuntala grew up to become a lovely maiden and lived a happy life among friends, flowers and her pet deer and rabbits. One day it so happened that Dushyanta the king of that country had come to the forest on a hunt. Pursuing a wild boar he ran into the ashrama where Shakuntala lived and his eyes fell on a handsome fully grown male deer whom he immediately made a target of his arrow. As the deer fell crying out in agony, Shakuntala rushed out and was shocked to find her, favourite pet in pain. She hurriedly removed the arrow and tried to comfort the hurt deer. This moving sight of a maiden's affection for her pet touched Dushyanta's tender feelings and coming before Shakuntala he prayed for being pardoned.

Magnanimously, Shakuntala pardoned him on condition that he stay in the ashrama for a few days and tend the deer whom he had wounded, to which readily agreed. In the serene environment of the ashrama, Dushyanta's affection for Shakuntala grew into romance and finally he asked for her hand in marriage. With the consent of the elders, their nuptials were duly solemnized. After a few days Dushyanta received news that all was not well in his capital and he had to perforce return, promising to come back after a few days and take Shakuntala with him. Before taking her leave Dushyanta gave Shakuntala his ring as a remembrance. In anticipation of the happy day when her beloved would return to reclaim her, Shakuntala spent her days dreaming about him.

During one such moods when she was oblivious of the happenings around her, a famous but short tempered sage visited the ashrama and saw Shakuntala sitting at the doorstep. The sage stood before her for sometime but she failed to become aware of his presence. Angered by this breach of hospitality, he cursed her that the person whom she was thinking about would forget her, so saying the sage turned to leave. But fortunately one of Shakuntala's friends heard the sage's curse and explained to him the reason for her behaviour. Mollified by the explanation the sage added that in spite of the curse Shakuntali's beloved would recognise her if she showed him any article which the said person had given her.

Shakuntala's days passed in dreaming about her beloved. During those days she realised to her joy that she had conceived Dushyanta's child. Days turned to weeks and weeks to months but the much awaited visit from Dustyanta did not materialise. Her patience at the end of its tether, Shakuntala decided to wait no longer and to go to Dushyanta. Along with her foster father, teacher and some of her mates she set out to Dushyanta's palace. On the way the entourage had to cross a river which they did by hiring a canoe. Thrilled by the pristine emerald blue waters, Shakuntala could not resist waiding her fingers through them. Unknowingly the ring given to her by Dushyanta slipped off into the river and lost in her bliss Shakuntala proceeded to the palace. At the palace, Dushyanta failed to recognise Shakuntala, as a result of the curse. Shocked at Dushyanta's unexpected behaviour, Shakuntala was dumbfounded.

After fruitlessly trying to persuade Dushyanta, the disgraced Shakuntala left the palace. Out of shame she decided to live alone in an isolated place where she gave birth to a chubby boy whom she named Bharata.

The boy grew up with his mother and was extremely fearless. In his isolated home his only playmates were the lion and tiger cubs who moved about in the forest. This brave boy Bharata cultivated the hobby of opening the mouths of the cubs and counting their teeth. Meanwhile in Dushyanta's palace a fisherman came carrying the ring which was given to Shakuntala by Dushyanta at their wedding. The fisherman had found the ring in the stomach of a large fish that he had caught and seeing the royal emblem carved on it had brought it to the palace. Seeing this ring revived Dushyanta's lost memory of Shakuntala and he rushed to the Ashrama to reclaim her.

Remorse enveloped him when he came to know that Shakuntala no longer stayed there. As providence had willed it, after a few years while on a hunt, he saw the strange sight of a boy holding open the jaws of a lion cub and trying to count its teeth. Wondering as to whose son he was, Dushyanta got down from his mount and asked the boy his name. Astonished that he was on being told by the boy that he was Bharata son of King Dushyanta the ruler of the land; Dushyanta's astonishment gave way to overwhelming pleasure when he saw Shakuntala emerging from the hut nearby. The family came together in a joyous reunion. And this brave boy grew up to be a powerful and benevolent king the memory of whose rule was immortalized by our country being known since ancient times as Bharatvarsha - named after one of its great king's Bharata.

Source

Obstacles in Meditation

There are several obstacles to meditation। Patanjali says: "Disease, dullness, doubt, carelessness, laziness, worldly-mindedness, illusion, missing the point, unstability - these are obstacles in Yoga." Grief, melancholy, tremor of the body, inhalation and exhalation are auxiliaries to these main obstacles. You will have to remove all these obstacles. During meditation, if you are overpowered by sleep, stand up, dash cold water on the face, practice a few Asanas and Pranayama. Sleep will go. Another age-old practice is, for those who have a 'choti' (tuft of hair), to tie the tuft to a nail of wall by means of a thread - if you doze during meditation, the nail on the wall will pull you up. Take light food at night. Abhyasa and Vairagya are the best means of avoiding obstacles. Vairagya is not running away from the world. Vairagya is a mental state. Analyze your thoughts. Scrutinize your motives. Give up the objects that your mind likes most, at least for some time. When the craving for them has vanished, then you can take them, as a master.

Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga

Patanjali's Raja Yoga is generally termed the Ashtanga Yoga or the Yoga of Eight Limbs, through the practice of which freedom is achieved. These eight limbs are:

1) Yama or Eternal Vows:

• Ahimsa (non-violence)
• Satya (truth)
• Asteya (non-stealing)
• Brahmacharya (continence) and
• Aparigraha (non-avariciousness)

2) Niyama or Observances:

• Saucha (purity)
• Santosha (contentment)
• Tapas (austerities)
• Svadhyaya (study) and
• Ishvarapranidhana (surrender to God)

3) Asana (firm, comfortable meditative posture)

4) Pranayama (the regulation of the Vital Force)

5) Pratyahara (abstraction of the senses and mind from objects)

6) Dharana (concentration)

7) Dhyana (meditation) and

8) Samadhi (superconscious state or trance)

These eight limbs have been scientifically arranged and dealt with. They are the natural steps in the ladder which takes man from his human to the real divine nature. From the gross to the subtle, all the chords that bind the Purusha to Prakriti are cut asunder. This snapping of the ties releases the Purusha to enjoy his Independence, Kaivalya Moksha.

Sacredness of Cow

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Apart from the consideration of the question how far these facts claimed by religions are true, we find one characteristic common to them all. They are all abstractions as contrasted with the concrete discoveries of physics, for instance; and in all the highly organised religions they take the purest form of Unit Abstraction, either in the form of an Abstracted Presence, as an Omnipresent Being, as an Abstract Personality called God, as a Moral Law, or in the form of an Abstract Essence underlying every existence. In modern times, too, the attempts made to preach religions without appealing to the super sensuous state of mind have had to take up the old abstractions of the Ancients and give different names to them as "Moral Law", the "Ideal Unity", and so forth, thus showing that these abstractions are not in the senses। None of us have yet seen an "Ideal Human Being", and yet we are told to believe in it. None of us have yet seen an ideally perfect man, and yet without that ideal we cannot progress. Thus, this one fact stands out from all these different religions, that there is an Ideal Unit Abstraction, which is put before us, either in the form of a Person or an Impersonal Being, or a Law, or a Presence, or an Essence. We are always struggling to raise ourselves up to that ideal. Every human being, whosoever and wheresoever he may be, has an ideal of infinite power. Every human being has an ideal of infinite pleasure. Most of the works that we find around us, the activities displayed everywhere, are due to the struggle for this infinite power or this infinite pleasure. But a few quickly discover that although they are struggling for infinite power, it is not through the senses that it can be reached. They find out very soon that that infinite pleasure is not to be got through the senses, or, in other words, the senses are too limited, and the body is too limited, to express the Infinite. To manifest the Infinite through the finite is impossible, and sooner or later, man learns to give up the attempt to express the Infinite through the finite. This giving up, this renunciation of the attempt, is the background of ethics. Renunciation is the very basis upon which ethics stands. There never was an ethical code preached which had not renunciation for its basis.

Parables of Sri Ramakrishna Parama Hamsa

A group of fisher-women who were on their way home from a distant market held on an afternoon, were overtaken by a heavy hail-storm at nightfall and were compelled to take shelter in a florist's cottage nearby. Their kindly host allowed them to sleep that night in a room where he had kept some baskets of sweet-smelling flowers for supplying his customers on the morrow. The atmosphere of the room, filled with the fragrance of flowers, was too good for the fisher-women and they could not, therefore, get even a wink of sleep. At last one of them suggested a remedy. "Let us sprinkle," she said, "a little water on our empty fish-baskets and place them close to us. That would keep this troublesome smell of flowers from spoiling our sleep." Every one gladly agreed to the proposal and acted accordingly; and soon all began to snore. Such indeed is the power and influence of habit! The worldly soul brought up in and accustomed to materialistic thoughts and surroundings cannot breathe long in an atmosphere of purity and renunciation without feeling restlessness and discomfort.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba Stories and Parables

Once Jesus was walking along the streets of a city। It was a slum area. He saw a young man rolling in dirt, dead drunk. He went to him, sat by his side and woke him up. The young man opened his eyes and saw Jesus. Jesus asked him: "Son! Why are you wasting your precious youth in drinking?" The young man replied: "Master!, I was a leper. You cured me of my leprosy. What else can I do?" Jesus heaved a sigh and walked away.

In another street he saw a man madly pursuing a beautiful woman। Jesus caught hold of him and asked him: "Son! Why do you desecrate your body by indulging in such a sinful act?" The man replied: "Master! I was really blind. You gave me vision. What else can I do?"

Jesus trudged along another street। He saw an old man crying bitterly. Jesus approached him and gently touched him. The old man wiped his tears and looked at Jesus. Jesus questioned him: "Why are you weeping old man?" The old man said: "Master! I was nearly dead. You granted me life. What else can I do except weep in this old age?"In times of difficulty and distress, we cry out for God's help. But when God, out of His boundless love and compassion, responds to our prayer, we ignore Him and fall back into our self-centered life. One must guard oneself against this greatest sin of ingratitude towards God.