"Why We Shout In Anger"

"Why We Shout In Anger"

A Hindu saint who was visiting river Ganges to take bath found a group of family members on the banks, shouting in anger at each other. He turned to his disciples smiled 'n asked.

'Why do people shout in anger shout at each other?'

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout.'

'But, why should you shout when the other person is just next to you? You can as well tell him what you have to say in a soft manner.' asked the saint

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the other disciples.
Finally the saint explained, .

'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other to cover that great distance.

What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is either nonexistent or very small...'

The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper 'n they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other 'n that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'

He looked at his disciples 'n said.

'So when you argue do not let your hearts get distant, Do not say words that distance each other more, Or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.'

Konkani Shayari

Konkani Shayari

By : ASHOK SHENOY

1.       Megele biale o baile

Chike aeika hav sangile

Megele bail javnu garani soon jail o baile

Potonu mog kornu hordik jathri moga du jail o baile

Mayi hooni sakad tu baile

makk kokka divnu avsu jale o baile

2.       Tu chand paddi jalari chikke kaddi

Thijje chand thondi  jalari chike boddi

3.       Kithle chand padow jalari

bovntha thajje angari kidow

navka manche hakka

nathle ashi jatha aeika

4.       aggo ali kanuthihudu sundara bhanu

anna makk hordik naka hav anikai sannu

5.       ha ha ha jai abba jai

jalari hordik paei

yeth makk ek mayi

magiri karchu kedani

thaka duradalide banu

anna hav anikai sannu

6.       manthathi jann makk godo

gara bapamak hav bodow

cheliyo mantha makk padow

kelav manthathi makk godo

thakachi

chelyengel moga choro

javka have chikke thoro

thedolo

ago dura dalide banu

anna hav anikai sannu

7.       javnak ajji dali

pan thakka galni

thaka hav the geni

kela tomato saru

gethle the choru

javlo pot bornu

8.       thigele nav bhanumathi

thigelemammale poothu sripathi

karthalo kedanai kithapathi

thaka ath thi hageli srimathi

hordik jathari kedanai koru lagli chapathi

thakka hanei chalaile hagele iqqmathi

wachu laglo sadha hotel indumathi

vichar kele banumathi davli koolarak

sathi-pathi Madhya galato prachar jalo saglo gavanka

9.       hoom galonu gole rath dis

thaka ath warla matheri thin kess

10.   kon kon kassi kassi kalna ajji kali

konai konali sonu dinathi thangeli pithali

lekthathi shapithathi mannani

ekle palaile ekle jaina he ass khani

11.   dila devan ajji ek nave divasu

asso tumgele thondari mandhahasu

he megele prathana

devale davarchi nivedhana

sakdanka di yashasu

di ayur-arogya ayasu

12.   megel akkale du sahana

melth makka kedana

jala makka tujjeri preeti

kasi sangu thaje reethi

laggi asthana hav kidaitha hasaitha

dur assthana tugel odgas makk radaith

thugel vanteri mancho hasu

the nidlari obcho kesu

jala makk buddi bramana

boroche yenna makk prema kavana

kela have tuka samarpana

artu kornu ge he megele vinamra nivedhana

megele akkale du sahana

melth makk tu kedana

13.   jai makk ek soon amchigeli

thasi munu hav pura kadenaisodhu geli

atha cheliyo pura doctor engineera

jalari megel pooth kartha udupa vera

janannk jai banglore manglore

kona jai he kallianpura

assok jai flat

galuk jai plate

kona jai pej

jai javnak mej

hotela kalari pilari prestige

gara khalari tu ek waste cheez

he megeli kani

aeiku tumka sanni

14.   Jeevan mancho dhoni disa kelo

Hanthai atha modern cheliyengel melo

Ann ammale moga duvv

Jalari thani charkengele hardhe komche suvv

Palaithana jatha ek padow istt

Magiri kalche jeevana kastt

15.   Ath sakad balmanshangele karbar

Chalthas thangle hatha amgel sarkar

Rastheri palailari burr vache car

Darlenka jala aar ya paar

Hordik jalari jatha darlo grahasthu

Jalari bailen manka sakada asthu

He atha samaj

Asi jala reevaj

16.   Kelle have mogu ek phoolak

Jalari gethle the ani konki molak

Lekthalo phoola palaithana

Hav bhagyawantu

Kalitha aeilo ho loku

Chalcho he duddhwantu

17.   Konai wajilari

megele shayari

Padth pet pideri

 manthathi jan hajj ek janki

Kithe malari thank darla andhakara branthi

18.   Jeevan mancho odka kiraile sakkara

Yetha sukh dukh ek prakar

Aneklek polonu hasthalo manavo

Vingada chang lekthalo danavo

19.   Manthale thondani kedanai ram ram

Assilo mannatu bhari KAMA

Palailo sabentu neel chithra

Aeilo paperari he sakad charithra

Manthale jann hanni bhari chang

Ani kon bantha NAVABHARATH sang

20.   Ahha kithle chand thigele thondi

Jalale jalari thi megele gondi

Nanchthalo thigel kathir matheri dhornu gindi

Magiri dankthalo gara bagil kindi

21.   Tu bhari sundharangi

Chamkathna tugele chamkani

Hasuya munu distha ani ani

Kithe thassi chamkatha

Paya komblava java aaNni

What does "Namaste" mean?

What does "Namaste" mean?

The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra.

The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another.

"Nama" means bow,

"as" means I, and

"te" means you.

Therefore, Namaste literally means "bow me you" or "I bow to you."

To perform Namaste, we place the hands together at the heart charka, close the eyes, and bow the head. It can also be done by placing the hands together in front of the third eye, bowing the head, and then bringing the hands down to the heart.

This is an especially deep form of respect.

Although in the West the word "Namaste" is usually spoken in conjunction with the gesture, in India, it is understood that the gesture itself signifies Namaste, and therefore, it is unnecessary to say the word while bowing.

We bring the hands together at the heart chakra to increase the flow of Divine love. Bowing the head and closing the eyes helps the mind surrender to the Divine in the heart. One can do Namaste to oneself as a meditation technique to go deeper inside the heart chakra; when done with someone else, it is also a beautiful, albeit quick, meditation.

For a teacher and student, Namaste allows two individuals to come together energetically to a place of connection and timelessness, free from the bonds of ego-connection.

If it is done with deep feeling in the heart and with the mind surrendered, a deep union of spirits can blossom.

Ideally, Namaste should be done both at the beginning and at the end of class. Usually, it is done at the end of class because the mind is less active and the energy in the room is more peaceful. The teacher initiates Namaste as a symbol of gratitude and respect toward her students and her own teachers and in return invites the students to connect with their lineage, thereby allowing the truth to flow ” the truth that we are all one when we live from the heart.

wat aare the carctrist of self - realized man

what are the characteristics of self -  realized person  

• A person who realizes that he is not the material body but the soul.
  The material body is temporary but the soul is eternal, and one who knows this realizes that he (the soul) has been transmigrating from one body to another for countless lifetimes and thus his current body is just one of the millions of bodies he (the soul) has occupied. This means he is not the body but the soul within the body.
• A person who realizes his relationship with the supreme.
  The relationship between the living entities and the supreme (God), is that all living entities are part and parcel of the supreme. That means the qualities of all living entities (souls) are the same as those of the supreme. These qualities being eternality, blissfulness, and knowledge.
• A person who realizes that the part is meant to serve the whole.
  Just as the hand serves the body, the living entities who are part of the supreme, must serve the whole, thus serve the supreme.
• A person who has given up desires for material possessions and all his activities are done only for the satisfaction of the supreme.
• A person who teaches all the above to others.
  A self-realized person is concerned for the welfare of all living beings and thus wants to deliver all living beings back to the spiritual creation, where everyone is happy eternally.

“The great souls, who have achieved perfection, attain me [Krishna]. They do not take birth again in this material creation, which is temporary and full of miseries.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-Gita 8.15)

WORDS

WORDS

I have always had a special love for words. Words have such power in them.
The right words can uplift, inspire, heal, and create endless joy and love
in our lives. The wrong words can depress, discourage, hurt, and bring us
endless misery and pain. It is so very important then to try and choose the
right words in our lives. By choosing the right words I don't just mean
saying the right words or writing the right words either. I also mean
thinking the right words. It is amazing the garbage that so many of us allow
ourselves to think each and everyday of our lives.


In order to live a truly blessed life we must haul away the garbage and
start to plant words that will grow into a garden of joy and light in our
minds. Start today then to make the words in your life work for you and not
against you. Do away with "can't" and "no". Try "can" and "yes" instead.
Say, " I can be happy, I can choose joy, and I can share love." Say, "Yes"
to life, to learning, and to growth. Begin to use words like: Wonderful,
Beautiful, and Delightful when you speak to others. Find a word of praise
for everyone you know and then share it with them. Look the people you love
straight in the eye and tell them, "I love you." Seek our every fantastic,
fabulous, and glorious word that you can and start to use them in your life.


Words are such simple things and yet they have the power to change our lives
forever if we use them right. Make the choice everyday of your life to use
all of the good, positive, and loving words you can every second that you
can. If you do this you will find that your life will become a paradise of
love and joy, that other people will become your brothers and sisters in
happiness, and that God's goodness will shine through every word you use....

What is sacrifice?

What is sacrifice?

The Sanskrit word for sacrifice is ‘tyaga’ – which means ‘to give up’ and ‘to detach’, ‘to cast aside’, ‘to get rid of’, ‘to discard’ or ‘to leave’. ‘Renunciation’, ‘abandonment’, ‘relinquishment’, ‘forgoing’ and ‘forswearing’ are other terms that can be used alternatively for ‘sacrifice’, but none come close to capturing its essence. ‘Sacrifice’ means ‘to make something sacred’. Sacrifice, when it entails giving up something dear and precious for the sake of a higher good, is indeed a sacred act. Whether it is Christ who gave up his own life to save humanity, or the stranger on the bus who gives up his own seat for an elder, these are acts of sacrifice. Each gave up something of value to him, like Christ’s life or the seat on the bus, to something, which held more value – like love for humanity or wanting the elder to be comfortable.


Always giving Humanity thus survives and sustains on sacrifice at all levels and degrees, even in this dog-eat-dog present times. Looking around, we find that sacrifice is in the very order of nature. If the seed didn’t sacrifice itself, it wouldn’t become a seedling. The bud dies so that the flower can bloom, and the flower dies to yield fruit. The sun is constantly burning itself out to sustain life on earth. Only when the sugar cane allows itself to be squeezed between the jaws of a juicer does sweetness overflow from it. And imagine if the earth stopped rotating even for a few seconds to take a breather! It seems the entire eco system and cosmos is being maintained by various agents that play out their parts to perfection without expectation. “What we humans refer to as virtues is common place in the universe,” says Sudheindra Shidleepur, an engineer whose hobby is to study nature to gain spiritual insights. “Universal Order is only virtue and nothing but virtue and is the most natural order of Mother Creation. Vices are man-made and are a mental construct generated by an inadequate understanding of reality. Absolute reality cannot, of course, be put in a mental framework, and has to be felt deeply within from the likes of examples as given above.”

Sacrifice in nature maintains and sustains, and it is utterly natural. Among humans, sacrifice not just maintains and sustains society, but is also an exalted tool of evolution of the human consciousness. For householders, sacrifice implies charity; for austere spiritual seekers, sacrifice attains more and more connotations, ultimately leading to renunciation and salvation. For both, only that which is given away wholeheartedly without expectation of a reward in return, is sacrifice.

All religions advocate charity (daana) as the right form of conduct. Riches win glory by renouncing them. Indeed, it is well said that a generous mind never enjoys its possessions so much as when others are made partakers of them. Jainism prescribes four types of charity, chaturvidha daana, for a householder, ahaara daana (feeding the hungry), abhaya daana (sheltering one whose life is in danger), aushadha daana (distributing medicines) and gynana daana (spreading knowledge).

Renunciation is the religion of the soul. Buddha and Mahaveera attained salvation by renouncing their kingdoms. Rama renounced Ayodhya to uphold the dictat of his father. Bharata sacrificed the throne too, to revere his elder brother. The mother in the legendary Hindi movie, Mother India sacrificed her wayward son for the welfare of society. The youth in the movie, Rang de Basanti sacrificed themselves to make a point. Innumerable are such examples that glorify the act of sacrifice, signifying that it emerges from a higher, nobler calling.

Tangible and intangible

Money and material are tangible things which most of us part with willingly to help out others, while time, energy, talent, skill and effort are the intangibles. The former is often classified as charity, but there can be an enormous difference in the philanthropic acts of a Bill Gates and of someone who parts with money and material even though he himself is in crying need of it.

Padma Bhushan awardee, Dr DV Gundappa, was a towering personality in the field of Kannada literature. This well-loved and respected philosopher of the mid-20th century could have led a lavish life due to the benevolence of the state and his wealthy and powerful admirers, but he and his family lived within their means, in utter poverty. DVG, as he was and is fondly known, never accepted anything other than what he earned as a self-employed journalist. He lived by the principle of aparigraha or non-avariciousness and astheya or not coveting that which belonged to others – two of the eight principles of ashtanga (eight-limbed) yoga. His wife often never ventured out of the house as she had only one patched-up saree to wear. Even when the state government awarded him a prize of Rs. 1 lakh (a princely sum in 1975) for his contribution to Kannada literature, DVG donated it all to establish an institute dedicated to spiritual pursuit. Such was his adherence to dharma and passion for the propagation of spirituality.

Holy Mother Sri Sharada Devi, wife and spiritual counterpart of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was subjected to heart-wrenchingly adverse circumstances after her husband’s demise. She and the young disciples often went for days without food. Once, unable to bear hunger, Sharada Devi foraged for food in the nearby paddy fields, separated the rice grains from husk, cooked and fed the hungry disciples. Finally, when she was about to put a morsel into her mouth, she was visited by another hungry soul. Without a second’s hesitation, the Holy Mother offered it all to him and went hungry herself.

These are examples where the act of sacrificing the tangible is elevated to an exalted status. Lives of great personalities are thus selfhelp workbooks on the art of life, love, duty and sacrifice.

In the great Indian joint family system, sacri- fice was a way of life not long ago, a basic requirement for survival. A '70s Hindi film, Piya ka Ghar starring Jaya Bhaduri, captured to perfection the dilemma of an Indian daughter-in-law; she is expected to blend in like furniture in the new household and subjugate her every little personal need, hope and aspiration as the needs of the extended family always came first. “And we invariably did,” recalls 72-yearold Lalitha Ramaswamy. Like thousands of other daughters-in-law back then, Lalitha nurtured her numerous sisters- and-brothers-in-law, helped them find jobs, build their own houses and got them married and settled.

Lalitha sacrificed the intangible – her youth, energy, space, comfort plus the tangible finances – to nurture and keep her family together. Why did she and others like her, put up with this pressure and discomfort for most of their lives? “Because I was not even aware I had a choice, and I am not sure I would have taken it either,” says Lalitha, “I was not just a sister-in-law to my husband’s siblings, I was mother to all of them. How can a mother abandon her children?”

Since 2004, Sister Adele Korah of Bangalore has been spending Christmas and New Year with 5,000 friends, all of them in the Central Prison. Sister Adele works 24 hours for this neglected section of society, giving them tuitions in English, nursing the sick, distributing goodies during celebrations and generally spending time with them just laughing and joking. While a prisoner is serving his/her term, Sister makes sure that the person’s family is taken care of by admitting their children to good schools and sees to it that they don’t suffer. Thirtyfive other volunteers help Sister Adele in this mission.

Sister lives by the philosophy of ‘the hands that serve are holier than the lips that pray.’ She feels that it is all about redemption and reformation. “Even the most hated criminal in the world is precious before the eyes of God. He would have erred in a moment of frustration. But my duty is to free them from the world of unforgiveness, hatred, and anger,” she says in a newspaper report.

These women, at their own levels, have sacrificed their own comforts to foster healthy, happy human beings. What can be a better barometer to a life lived purposefully?

Unconscious sacrifice

Sacrifice can be compulsive and impulsive. Once on a cruise ship, a little girl tipped over and fell into the sea. There was a lot of commotion, and another splash was heard – a man was already in the water, saving the girl from drowning and pulling her out. When the duo came up, gasping for breath, people rushed to congratulate the brave rescuer. As soon as the man could catch his breath, he blurted out angrily, “Who pushed me into the water?”

This is what is called compulsive sacrifice – unintentional, inevitable, or forced. In India, there is a practise of dropping the craving for foodstuff when we visit holy places like Benares and Gaya. The pandit there will exhort us to drop something – a favourite vegetable, fruit or a sweet, and make a solemn promise to God that we shall refrain from consuming it again. This is a compulsory symbolic act of disciplining the senses. We are subjected to such compulsive sacrifices many a time during our lifetime because of our reluctance to sacrifice on our own, says Guru Shri Nimishananda. “If we do not perform tyaga on our own, even after repeated opportunities, prompts and reminders, nature will create circumstances that will compel us to do it. For instance, if we are used to overindulging the palate and do not discipline or restrain ourselves when we should, our health will be affected in some way. Then diabetes may make us give up sweets, hypertension may make us give up fried, salty snacks or obesity may make us give up all kinds of junk food,” says Guruji.

On the other hand, when feelings of love and compassion overwhelm us momentarily, we part with something of value on impulse. Looking at a poor boy wearing tattered clothes, we may dig into our pocket and part with whatever currency we find there – maybe even a hundred-rupee note. But later, we may regret our own generosity, and start thinking how useful that money would have been to us otherwise! This kind of sacrifice is impulsive, when we touch base with our nobler instincts by default.

When sacrifice is neither compulsive nor impulsive, but is done voluntarily with awareness, it takes one to a higher level of consciousness.

External and internal

There are several spiritual organisations in India, like the Ramakrishna and Chinmaya Missions, that take in children at the tender age of eight and groom them into a life of asceticism. In the late 1990s, the sanyasi who headed one such organisation in South Karnataka created a furore by giving up his three decades of ascetic life to get married and raise a family. The pull of cupid was greater than the call of sanyasa for this swamiji, and it is commendable that he had the awareness to recognise it and the courage to stand by his decision. Last heard, the Swamiji is rendering music concerts and is quite in demand during religious celebrations for the same! Thirty years of external sacrifice, by wearing ochre robes and being brought up in an ashram, were not successful in helping the swamiji transform his inner personality.


Mother India: The ultimate sacrifice That’s because external sacrifice is not sacrifice at all, says Gopal Krishna, a software engineer who is deeply into spirituality. Can we sacrifice something that does not belong to us in the first place, he asks rhetorically – what is ours that we can sacrifice? Everything is given to us by God – the air we breathe and the food we eat. Everything that we have at any point of time is given to us by God on a lease. He may choose to withdraw any or all of what he has given us at any point of time. If at all we can consider something as ours, it is only our pre-conditioned responses to the world we live in, says Gopal. This is the only thing that is man-made and not God-given. We have to surrender to God or the guru, to help us to transcend them. There is no way we can sacrifice them by our effort entirely.

Thus, we cannot give up material, but can get over our desire for it.
We cannot give up abundance, but can get over the insecurity of scarcity.
We cannot give up relationships, but can get over our expectations from it.
We cannot give up the world, but can get over our attachment to it.
We cannot give up our senses, but can get over our experience of ‘bodyness’ through it.
We cannot give up our life, but can get over our bondage from it.
We cannot give up our ego, but can get over the vices it produces.

A story from Indian mythology talks of one such personality. Janak Maharaj, father of Sita and king of Mithila, was a contradiction of sorts. He was known for his flashy lifestyle as much as for his spiritual advancement. The king used to go to the forest to study under his guru sage, Yajnavalkya, who gave him pride of place right in front of him. This was unbearable to the other disciples, many of them hard-core ascetics. Though Yajnavalkya sensed their resentment, he did nothing to change the status quo. One day, while a discussion on the nature of ‘Brahman’ was in progress, a messenger from the palace came running to the forest with bad tidings. He said that Janaka’s kingdom Mithila was on fire, and was spreading to the forest too. Hearing this, all students started running hither and thither, grabbing their belongings. Only King Janak stayed seated, and calmly continued the discussion. Yajnavalkya then addressed his students, “You think you have renounced the world, but at the first hint of danger you are scrambling to save your pitiable belongings! Here is Janak, whose very kingdom is ablaze and he bothers not about it. Now tell me who is the real sanyasi?”

Externally we can sacrifice money, status, lifestyle, and relationships when the situation demands, but we might still be, and most often are, attached to it mentally. On the contrary, Janak Maharaj was in the world, yet was detached from it, like a dewdrop that rests ever so lightly on a lotus petal. Ideally, external sacrifice should lead to internal renunciation for everlasting peace and happiness.

Sacrifice is expansion

Whatever be the nature of sacrifice, it appears that it is a continuous expansion of identity and consciousness, a process of evolution. After marriage, a woman’s identity expands to include her children, husband, and her family. A teacher’s identity includes her whole class, a principal’s the whole college, and a Prime Minister’s identity includes the whole nation. Only when all of them sacrifice their own limited identity, comforts, pleasures, and joys in favour of their collective identity will they be able to work for the welfare, peace, prosperity, progress, and happiness of the larger group. For realised masters, sacrifice is not just an expansion of identity but dissolution of the same to merge with the Divine. Jesus’ sacrifice is most often described as God’s plan to save humanity. Speaking of His certain death just before the Passover feast that would see his execution, Jesus said, “For this purpose I came to this hour ... And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself.”

Sacrifice, for Christ, was nothing less than his duty towards mankind. What else could be the motive of spiritual souls to continue being in their embodied form, once they have attained self-realisation? The Mahabharata says that even the bliss of trance should not be enjoyed just for the sake of enjoyment. If Adi Shankara had been content to remain in bliss and shut himself away, the world would have lost an entire stream of philosophy called Advaita. Swami Vivekananda was taken to samadhi by his Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa only once – because the latter wanted his disciple to be very much in the world to accomplish what he did for humanity. The 24 disciples of Ramakrishna were so poor that they lived in a single shed and had just one pair of clothes among them – the one who needed to venture out into town was privileged to wear those clothes. For years, they survived on a diet of just rice and salt. However, not one abandoned their master because they were firm in their cause – pursuit of truth and propagating their master’s teachings to the world. It is a Buddhist tradition to give away their firstborn male child to the monastery – an act of supreme sacrifice. Spiritual masters go to any lengths to take care of their disciples – Ramana Maharshi and Swami Rama are known to have taken their disciple’s diseases and karma upon themselves, and suffered with cancer. Such is the extent of love for their disciples whom they have promised to protect and guide.

What is real sacrifice?

“Real sacrifice is renouncing the ego. Once the ego is surrendered then there are no selfish motives at all or separation from God. We will become a fountain of love and compassion,” says Mata Amritanandamayi.

Real sacrifice is when the doer does not even know that his actions can be classified as sacrifice, but does it because he can’t help it. When sacrifice is the very nature of the doer and not separate from him, like fragrance is the very nature of a flower and wetness the very nature of water. When tyaga becomes dharma. Lord Krishna says selfless service is sacrifice, and calls those who engage in it as tyagis or karma yogis. Sacrifice, after it goes through the fire of self-knowledge, turns into renunciation, says Krishna, and that should be the ultimate goal of humans. Sacrifice provides the preparation, discipline, and purification necessary for renunciation.

“Obligatory work performed as duty, renouncing selfish attachment to the fruit is alone regarded to be sacrifice in the mode of goodness, O Arjuna,” says the Lord in Chapter 18 of the Bhagavad Gita.

Dr. Ramananda Prasad of the American International Gita Society, California, USA, describes the following ways one may practise renunciation or sacrifice for the evolution of human consciousness, based on the Gita:

• Renunciation of actions forbidden by the scriptures

• Renunciation of lust, anger, greed, fear, likes and dislikes, and jealousy

• Spurning of procrastination in the search of truth

• Giving up the feeling of pride of possession of knowledge, detachment, devotion, wealth, and charitable deeds

• Rejection of selfish motives, and attachment to the fruits of all works

• Renunciation of the feeling of doership in all undertakings

• Giving up thoughts of using the Lord to fulfil selfish material desires

• Spurning of the attachments to material objects such as a house, wealth, position, and power

• Sacrifice of wealth, prestige, and even life for a noble cause, or for the protection and propagation of dharma

From sacrifice to salvation

“I understand what is sacrifice and all that – but why should I sacrifice?” asks a friend of mine cheekily, “I have no grandiose agendas of getting enlightened and all that.” Fair enough, one can live an ‘unenlightened’ life, but can one live without peace? Acquiring more and more worldly possessions leads to stress and insecurity while Tyaga shantirantaram – peace, eternal and ecstatic, follows sacrifice.

Alexander the Great, after vanquishing all the mighty kings of India, had a taste of this when he met a yogi sleeping peacefully under a tree. “I have never seen such peace in anyone before,” said the Emperor, “I have conquered the entire world, yet cannot enjoy a good night’s sleep. You, in your loin cloth, appear supremely peaceful. Please come with me to Greece. I will give whatever you wish – wealth, land and a palace to live.” The yogi laughed. “O Emperor,” he said, “I am able to sleep in peace precisely because I neither own nor covet any of the material possessions.” Alexander flew into a rage, “Do you know who you are talking to? I shall cut you into pieces if you do not obey me!” The yogi told the Emperor gently, “You can only cut my body, but I am not the body. I am that which dwells within the body. You call yourself a mighty conqueror? You are a slave of my slave!” “How is that?” asked the miffed warrior. “I have conquered anger, but you appear to have not. Anger is my slave, and you are a slave of my slave,” said the yogi.

One cannot become happy without sacrifice, one cannot become fearless without sacrifice, and one cannot attain God without sacrifice, says the Mahabharat. The Yogi in the above anecdote was peaceful, happy, fearless, and one with God, only because he had renounced both the tangible and the intangible both externally and internally.

Adi Shankara’s Bhaja Govindam is a step-bystep manual on how sacrifice can lead to salvation. Says the great seer, Satsangatve nissangatvam – through good and noble associations, sacrifice the lower associations and move towards being alone; nissangatve nirmohatvam – abiding in yourself, sacrifice desire and attachment; nirmohatve nischalatatvam – devoid of desire, sacrifice the wavering mind and become steady; nischalatatve jeevanmuktihi – with this unwavering mind, you are now liberated from the vagaries of this life and also the cycle of births and deaths.

Be a living sacrifice, said Jesus to Peter. If we, humanity, would resolve do so by dying to our former, limited selves and identifying ourselves with the whole of God’s creation, we would also bloom like the flower and flow like the river as nature intended – utterly beautiful, unselfish, unattached, carefree and in bliss!