My piligrimage to the Maha Kumbha at Prayag was a soul-stirring experience. 

... I reached yesterday 4PM at Grand Rapids from New York via Chicago, drove down to Kalamazoo to deliver a talk at the Osthemo Library.

... The cross country drive was fascinating.
We started on 16 August 7AM. The previous day I flew from Detroit to LA after a one day program at Troy. From LA we drove to Salt lake City in Utah, the epicentre of Mormon branch of Christianity. They call themselves ‘Later Day Saints of Christ’. Has built fabulous temples all over the world and has 6 million adherents. We visited their temple and listened to the organ music in their acoustically perfect Tabernacle. We also went to see the salt lake, the world's largest inland body of salty water, sitting in a huge valley, deep in the Rocky Mountains. Salt Lake City is 36 miles east of the lake.

The Mormons, a persecuted religious minority, trudged all the way [ 2000 miles] from New York and Ohio to this God forsaken barren valley in the 1850-s on hand carts and horse drawn carts. What I found fascinating as well as intriguing in them was their youthful innocence, enthusiasm, cleanliness, but frightening secretiveness and mechanical orderliness. They also seem to have a fetish with white cloths.

It is interesting to study how America, the most advanced country, promotes such cult organizations based on incomprehensible and nonsensical creeds and beliefs. Our drive to Salt lake City was via Las Vegas, but no stop at this sin city. Las Vegas, if you see at night, is a city of dazzling lights, a wavy sea of diamonds, a vista of blinding fireworks ...

It was about 700 miles drive, and we reached SLC at about 7 PM. The following morning we were up at 6 AM and were ready to go by 7 AM to Jackson in Idaho, 600 miles to the North. This small city surrounded by mountains, like even a lamb in the bosom of a belle, is the base camp for those who visit Yellow stone State Park. The drive to Jackson was fabulous. The deserts, valleys and the hills and mountains were otherworldly; they gave a me a eerie feeling, as though I trespassed into the land of ghosts and other disembodied pale spirits.

As you climb up a pass (Ghat) you feel sucked into a tunnel and then you are disgorged onto a vast plain of shrubs and cactuses to float on your wings.

From Idaho Falls 100 miles short of Jackson, we took a wrong turn and went 80 miles on the wrong track, before we realized that we were heading back to Salt Lake City. The mistake helped us to explore our way and take to a scenic route which was simply breath-taking. I couldn't believe my eyes that people lived in such heavenly places, unbeknown to the lusty beasts of the city, tucked away in the lap of beauty.

Jackson was on the other side of a mountain of 8000 feet elevation. It was dark, cold and drizzling, terrifyingly silent and lonely. We cut through the silent mist over a silvery river and on our right was the smiling Jackson, waiting anxiously.

Next morning we went to National Yellow Stone Park, in the state of Wyoming. Almost 100 miles north of Jackson city. We passed by the Grand Teton mountain ranges, a garland of rugged snowy granite spires, like hoods of aroused serpents, rising vertically from the flat stomach of the long valley. The Yellow Stone Park must be about 1000 square miles of which 200 square mile area is full of sulphur. Geysers, sulphur mixed with water shoot up 100 to 200 meters, and there are hundreds of them. Some of them spew sulphur water 100 degree centigrade temperature, which can scald and in some cases sear your shoes even. There are sign posts all over warning people of dare consequences if they stray from designated paths. In one area I saw a pond full of blue and violet boiling water, beside a large field which was like a raw festering wound on the stomach of Earth, or like a large womb, streaks of red, yellow, crimson, blue liquids flowing, creating a sense of the grotesque. The tallest sulphur jet occurs every one hour and is called significantly 'The old faithful'. This is the central sanctum of Yellow Park. The continental divide passes through this park.

'Dragon's mouth' is a mud and sulphur volcano, the jet of boiling hot water moves in a spiral, causing the grunt and rumbling sound of undigested food in a dragon's cavernous inside. The Yellow stone River and lake were sights to see.

... Rapids City in South Dakota. This was another memorable drive of 600 miles. The mountains were bigger and the valleys larger, endless stretch of cloudless blue sky canopying over dry grass lands. The drive through canyons was unforgettable experiences, 2 billion years old rocks beckoning you on both sides with their wordless stories. The rocks sat uncomfortably on piles upon piles, some were lying on mirthful poses as though after an drunken party. Rapid city we reached about 10 PM. An ungainly western outpost, of cowboy rowdiesm, of guns, liquor and music.

After Rapid City, it was almost plain land, stretching indolently, laden with flat dry fussy hills. It was 21 August. We were driving along South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin...and finally reached Rochester, after 600 miles of driving, slightly off the mighty Mississippi.

On the way we took off to a side road 30 miles inside to see the Devil's rock. ...Another interesting sight was the Rushmore Mountains, where on one of the black hills the busts of four American Presidents- Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt - were carved to perfection.

From Rochester it was plain journey, nothing memorable. 21 August we stayed in Mishawaka, Indiana, after a pleasant drive of 600 hundred miles, via Chicago. This was familiar territory for me. Nothing exciting to the eye. Never ending green fields on both sides, sometimes broken by patch of forests.

... The following day we were on the last leg of our odyssey. To Boston.

(Swami Bodhananda in an email response
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2004 1:27 AM)

Visit to an Amish Community
Swami Bodhananda

... I came back from the Amish Territory an hour back. 

Essentially, we visited a patriarch, 67 years old, potbellied carpenter -preacher and father of eleven-- sons (8) and daughters (3) and sixty seven grandchildren. I saw two of his sons and three daughters and several grandchildren. His furniture show room was full of furniture and they were cheap too. There were cows grazing in enclosed pastures. Three big houses shelter his ever expanding brood. 

Amish people are Christians who broke off from papacy in the 16th century on doctrinal matters. They believed that an adult alone should be baptized, and that Christian should practice the teaching of Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholics and Lutheran Protestants unleashed the most vicious physical violence against this unarmed and sworn non-violent people for this slight deviation from the official path. The Amish people were hunted down; their leaders were thrown in to dungeons, 3 square feet by 9 feet deep, after most murderous tortures. 

I saw in the museum some specimen instruments used for torture. Then all these people came to Pennsylvania (Penn's woodland) on the invitation of William Penn, a Quaker who escaped from Europe with his followers and settled in the US. All married Amish men wear beard like the Muslims--moustache removed from upper lips and side of the cheeks.

They live in joint family. Women, as mark of obedience to God and husbands cover their heads with a piece of white cloth. They wear simple clothes and meet twice in a month for a three hour worship in different homes. They don't have a formal church building. Any adult male member can officiate a priest. 

Amish homes are simple, self-built and they live on produce from their land. Their children study in their own schools and after completing eighth grade they join family trade or farming. I talked to two young men, siblings of 18 and 15 years of age, who have joined their father (patriarch's second son) in his furniture manufacturing business. They use home generated electricity and modest tools and machinery. 

Furniture was of highest quality and perfection. They generally don't go to doctors, unless absolutely necessary. Deliveries of babies are assisted by community nurses. They don't use cars, electricity, T.V, or telephones. What struck me sad was that they all looked, especially women and children, sullen and depressed, resigned to their fate. Children were emaciated, their eyes bulging with skinny bodies and vacant looks. They all looked strange and lost. 

May be my prejudice and lack of sympathy. May be I am judgmental. But I think in these matters objective standards are possible. True, their lifestyle is environmentally superb, but I must say that these people are stuck somewhere in the past, perhaps they left their souls in the dungeons from which they escaped after years of struggle. Alas! The torturer and the tortured are both damned, it seems.

 (Swami Bodhananda in an Email response:
Sent on Wednesday August 21, 2002, 8.36am.)

The China Diary
Swami Bodhananda
(on His visit to China in September 2007)

ONE

The Dragon wants a make over to the Panda image on the eve of the Olympics in Beijing, 2008. Dragon is a fiery, fork-tongued, scale covered, bulge- eyed, crocodile like, and huge reptile. It is mythical and reminds of the extinct dinosaur. It moves like the thunderbolt the weapon of Indra, the Hindu king of gods. The exclusive symbol of Chinese emperors, dragon represents power. Chinese palaces install two dragons as gate keepers- one holding a ball, symbol of male-yang-power; the other caressing a cub, symbol of female-yin- loving care. Panda is an endangered animal, exclusively seen in China. They look a smaller version of black bears, with white strips around the neck and belly. The total population of Pandas is only three thousand and the Chinese government has patency rights over all Pandas in the world zoos. I visited a Panda sanctuary in Chengdu, south central China, in 200 hectares of bamboo reserve exclusively for Pandas. Pandas are veracious eaters (a telling symbol for the consumerist culture that China want develop). They eat ceaselessly and then fall asleep. They consume 40 KG of bamboo shoots in a day. But they digest only one third of what they gobble up and the rest is excreted. The Panda excreta have great medicinal value in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). They use it in beds and pillows, for curing headaches and joint pains. They are cute cuddly harmless carefree animals.

China wants to be like Pandas, not dragons and evoke fear in others. They no more talk about people's wars and nuclear attacks. They talk about getting rich fast, about cell phones, blue jeans, global trade, foreign exchange reserves, tourism, English language, high ways, toll roads, super power status, national pride, the inevitability of inequality, the rich and the poor, the lazy and the smart and finally the need for pragmatism, and the creation of a peaceful harmonious society.

China is one of the oldest unique living civilizations of the world along with India. But unlike India they had an uninterrupted imperial rule up to 1911 AD when Nationalist leader Sun Yat Sen overthrew the last Chin Emperor and established the first Chinese republic. The Mongols (Ghenghis Khan and Kublai Khan) and Manchus who ruled China got fully assimilated to Chinese culture and language. 93 percent of Chinese are the Han race (ref. Han Dynasty 206 BC to AD 211), small built feature less, hairless, lean people, who flourished in the Yangtze and yellow river valleys. China got its name from the Chin dynasty – 221-206 BC. They called their empire the Middle Kingdom (Zhong Quo). Chiang Kaishek who was over thrown by Mao Tse Thung whose communist party established the People’s Republic of China in 1949 succeeded SunYat Sen.

I saw the boat shaped fortress gate of the Forbidden City, from the ramparts of which Chairman Mao proclaimed the new republic after trouncing the Nationalist forces. In front is the vast Tienenman Square, three times larger the Red Square in Moscow. It is here in 1985 the Chinese tanks mercilessly rolled over and mowed down protesting Chinese students who wanted democracy and installed a statue of Liberty. Li Pen was the Prime Minister and Theng Hiaso Ping the paramount leader of China at that time.

On the south side of Tianenmen Square is Mao's Mausoleum, where the corpse of modern China's architect is kept embalmed. Russians started the practice by embalming Lenin; Vietnamese has kept Ho Chi Min's dead body and North Koreans that of Kim 1. I am sure Cubans will embalm Castro's body, thus continuing the superstitious practice of the Egyptians by atheistic communists. We in Goa have kept the corpse of the 16th century Franciscan St. Francis in his Church. I was disappointed that I couldn't see Mao's embalmed dead body, as the Mausoleum was not open. I did see Lenin's body lying in state in the Red Square in Moscow. On both sides of the Tianenmen Square are the House of Peoples' Congress (meets only in five year intervals to rubber stamp politbureau decisions) and the Beijing Opera House.

I reached Beijing 10.30 local time on 21 September 2007. After 12 hours flight from Los Angeles, three hours wait in Norita, Tokyo and another four hours flight to Beijing. I spend my flying time reading a book on Chinese culture and history. I prefer window seats for my flights and get to see a bird's eye pre-view of the city that I visit. Beijing from the sky looked non-descript. But the ground reality was totally different and mind-boggling. The airport was a swanky, marbled showpiece; but lacked finesse. Immigration and customs officials asked no questions and cleared me in a second. I had the same pleasant experience while leaving China from Shanghai. I was alone, (my party was to leave 8 hours later) and had two huge bags, but the young lady at the customs were so reverential that she helped me out of her way. Chinese instinctively respect saints and old people.

Chinese, like Indians, talk loud, crowd around and couldn't care for personal space. The airport lounge was full of people waiting to receive their friends and relatives. Outside it was like New Delhi International Airport, so-so. The travel agent was there to receive me with his broken English, trained mannerisms and innocent, eager but phony hospitality. Chinese Universities give two-year courses in Tourism and related subjects and Spoken English. These trainees, mainly smart young women, know just enough history and local facts to satisfy the idle curiosity of tired tourists. They are prone to exaggerate and feed all the fads and notions of their customers. W had four male and five female tourist guides helping us in different cities. Male guides were sedate and eager to get work done, where female guides went out of their way to please us and exceptionally smart. Beijing was awash in smog. The van that took us to the Jade Palace Hotel on third ring road (Beijing has six ring roads encircling the city, where as Delhi has only two and Bangalore just one) was dirty and jerky. The guide crooned a Korean love song.

There are certain things that are emblematic of China- the ancient Silk Route connecting old Chinese capital Xian to imperial Rome; the Jade road connecting Beijing to Tibet; the great wall built by the Ming Emperors in the 14th century. The Chinese discovered the gunpowder, the compass and printing. Chinese don't use gold, instead they wear jade- rings, bangles and pendants and rosaries. This is contrast to Indians who will die for gold; we are the biggest consumers of gold in the world.

We Akhilesh and me walked up the Great Wall north of China. It was difficult, the steps were three feet thick and I had to literally lift my foot with my hands. Mountains on three sides except on the south surround Beijing. The Great Wall came to its present gargantuan size (5000 KM) over many emperors' time. It was to keep the northern hordes away from the imperial capital. The Wall connects several mountains. I chanted the whole Bhagavad Gita (700 verses) sitting on the Wall. The Wall is one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but not as high as to be seen from the moon.

In Beijing we visited the Forbidden City, the seat of Imperial Power, the Emperor's Summer Palace and The Temple of Heaven, where the Emperor worshipped annually. The Forbidden City was inaccessible to commoners in the imperial times.

Common people were also not allowed to use the symbols of the emperor – the dragon, number 9 and color yellow. The forbidden city, spread in 72 hectares of land and surrounded by high walls and broad deep moats, is a cluster of places- all plain, square shaped, with boat roofs and painted in bright colours. The palace complex has 9999 rooms- again number 9, all painted yellow. The complex has no trees, because the Fengshui, the ancient Chinese concept of architecture, proscribes enclosing trees by buildings. Women were not allowed to be seen, their feet were put in iron castes from child hood to make the feet small and prevent women from running away. The emperor kept an army of eunuchs to keep watch on his harem of wives concubines and male lovers. But the queen was allowed to listen to conversations from behind a curtain and intervene and counsel the emperor when needed. Nobles of the city practiced the same custom. Water in huge brass jars (ancient China was very advanced in bronze casting) was kept at different points to douse fire catches the wooden structures) Another interesting tidbit of the imperial times was that the emperor had no voice in selecting his concubines. The queen selects them and she must have made sure that the ugliest ones were selected unless she herself had lesbian interests. Civil service examinations took place in the palace complex and topper was rewarded with plum job and matrimony with emperor's daughter. The present Chinese leaders don't stay here; they think that the city is jinxed.

The summer Palace (built during the Ming dynasty1368-1644 AD) sits on an enormous man-made lake. Behind on the north is a hill. This is according to the Fengshui tradition. The northern hill hinders the cold winds blowing from the Siberian Iceland’s, and the lake keeps the habitat warm- a balance of yin and yang and the awakening of Che. The front building of the summer palace has in the courtyard statues of dragons, peacocks, roosters - representing power, peace and prosperity. The stone garden was exquisite. A particular type of stone, may be sand stone, is used in this art: they cut the sides to look it like a buxom lady for balance, then cut several holes in it for movement of energy, then carve wrinkles to make it look wise and then deposit the piece in the bottom of lakes. After fifteen years of curing they lift the stone, which become rounded and smooth implying harmony. These stone gardens are Chinese masterpieces. The summer palace has a very long winding corridor hugging the lake, perhaps for the emperor and his entourage to enjoy cool evenings. What is striking about the palace is its unobtrusive plainness and flow of spaces.

The Temple of Heaven, Peace and Harmony, where the emperor worshipped annually for rain and good harvest is an imposing but open structure – An enormous square wall enclosing a round platform. The square wall, which has 12 gates three on each side, represents earth and the round platform heaven- symbolizing the Universal Parents. The platform has stairs of nine steps on all four sides and a central altar for sacrificing animals, the altar ringed by nine concentric layers of stone tiles (note the recurrence of number nine). White and red bulls were sacrificed and then the meat was cooked in huge vessels, which will be shared among participants. Jade and wine were also used in worship.

There was another building to the east as you walk down. The main deity here is again Heaven- a tablet with calligraphy on the altar, nine steps leading to it. On both sides of the central altar there were nine other tablets each. Outside two buildings, on both sides housing, further tablets representing the Sun, the Moon and other planets. What come across these structures and altars are simplicity, openness and subtle suggestiveness. The temple gates had cloud embossing suggesting that Heaven is beyond the horizon. In the evening we went to visit a traditional Chinese street, "Hutong" something like an Indian 'galli' or' Mohalla'.

I felt as though I was in Pahadganj, New Delhi. Narrow winding streets, houses with central courtyards; women, teens and old people living in separate segments; kitchens a mess of modern and old vessels and gadgets; old men patting round bellies and picking tooth idling on wooden benches; hungry dirty children playing in mud; dogs, pigs and chicken running helter-skelter; garbage heaped in street corners; young men speeding on motorbikes and two wheelers- it was like any third world over crowded city street, a century away from the Beijing I saw in the morning.

At the end of the day we saw a spectacular Kung Fu show presented by Kung Fu Martial Arts. The whole show was threaded around the story of a young boy reluctantly leaving his mother and coming to a master. He masters all the skills in record time, excels all, but falls in for arrogance and feminine temptations and loses his focus and the affection of the master, but later regrets, undergoes severe penances and discipline and regains his mastery and attention of the master, later enlightenment and the abbotship of the monastery. His training and later rigorous penances are the meat of the show. I kept my breath still during the entire show, my mouth open, my eyes wide and glued, my body stiff on its toes- I have never experienced in my entire life such magic and thrill: gliding through rings, somersaulting, climbing on ropes and bamboo poles, swinging from one pole to the other, juggling several hats, lying on the point of a sword- it was an amazing display of power, speed, stamina and physical mastery and mind control. I mentally saluted the real Chinese people.

Sent by email on Friday, 2 Nov 2007 13:08:30
Kalamazoo

TWO
I thoroughly felt at home in China, though I did not understand a single word that they spoke. I liked tofu, eggplant, bitter gourd, and with peanuts I could manage to stay well fed. My favorite Soya milk tasted bitter in China. Surprisingly, Chinese don't drink milk. I hardly saw any cow, buffalo or goat in China. The joke is that the 1.2 billion hungry Chinese have eaten up long back all that moves and breaths. They get their protein from Soya. India is the largest milk producer in the world (something to be proud of) and Indians love milk. The fat free protein could be the secret of the lean sturdy physique of the Chinese. Chinese do eat pickled snakes, frogs and moths. But I did not see them eating snakes in hotels. Pork is their staple meat. They put pork pieces in everything and soups are invariably meat based. Chinese eat from small bowls using chopsticks. They mix everything in the bowl, bring it close and pick pieces of vegetable or meat and rice with chopsticks and push into the mouth. Then sip the soup. Rice soup is popular. I also learnt to use chopstick and pick peanuts successfully.

The Chinese language is unique in comparison to the Semitic and Indo-European family of languages. It is highly nasal and the same word changes meaning as the tonal emphasis changes. Chinese language has no script as ours, the characters being clusters of pictorial representations. An average literate person masters 3000, while a scholar has mastery over 10,000, characters. I was told that all these characters are combinations of five types of strokes. The language is not phonetic and hence though the characters are the same spoken dialects vary from region to region- like Mandarin, Cantonese etc. Mandarin is the official language of China. It is the language spoken by more people than even English and one of the five official languages of the UN. I could pick up only four words- 'Sheshe/thank you', 'Nihai/how are you', 'Maidan/bill’, and 'Fo/ enlightened’. It is impossible to travel in China without a Chinese guide.

Travel in China is restricted unlike in India. Tourists are required to visit government emporiums and stalls. There they will swarm you and pester you to buy silk products, jade, jewelry, paintings, (we bought some pieces from an artist who paints with his mouth, he is born without both hands, but is married to a beautiful wife) embroidery, ceramics, antiques, pearl and host of other items. We are not allowed to stray and talk to strangers nor will they answer inconvenient political questions.

All my questions about village poverty, the jobless and homeless, freedom, democracy, Tianenmen massacre, etc. were stone walled by our guide. Chinese TV is boring to watch and nothing in English. Chinese society is still hierarchical – men wield power and elders are respected and parents are revered. Burial grounds are considered sacred. Chinese believe that dead parents live in heaven and that they dead will join them. Atheist Mao consoled himself thinking that he will join Karl Marx, Frederick Angels Lenin and Stalin in Heaven. Such is the hold of ancestors in the Chinese imagination. Burial of dead parent is a solemn elaborate ritual. The Fengshui master will be consulted immediately after death to determine the time and place of burial. The master after consulting astrological calendars determines the proper time for burial. He also chooses the right place according to Fungshui principles. Fungshui is based on the dialectics of Yin and yang and energy of Che and the equilibrium of Ming. It also accepts the five elements as the foundation of the visible universe. The five elements are - Earth, Water, Fire, Wood and Metal. According to the Chinese these elements are independent principles/ energies/ vibrations constituting the subtle and gross worlds, including body and mind affecting health and ill health. These five elements further groups into Yin and Yang and balance determine the appearance Che, the energy and the Ming the material outcome. Yin and Yang in their extremities morphs into each other and in their balance contains each other. The Fengshui master selects a burial place where Yin and Yang balances, like between a hill on the north and lake or pond in the south. The burial ceremony includes invoking the spirit of the dead parent on to a wood tablet which will be worshipped daily at home.

For the Chinese deceased parents in Heaven are gods. The Chinese are very artistic people. They love calligraphy and painting, write pithy ironic poems. They build their houses to synchronizing with the rhythm of the seasons- summer, autumn, winter and spring. The noble's house that we visited in Shanghai was built according to Fengshui, between water body and a hill and also to enjoy the season. The house was plain and open hugging the pond to reflect the beauty of seasons.

Xian – the old Charming city: We left Beijing by flight for city of Xian on 8th September, reaching about 12 AM and checked into Grand New World Hotel.

Xian is 700 miles south west of Beijing. The city is an hour’s drive from the airport. It is a brand new facility, gleaming steel and glass structure. The four-line road drive to the city was traffic light free. The city of Xian on the yellow River, with a population of 8 million, was the capital of Imperial China for about 1200 years during the Chou (1112 to 221 BC), Chin (221 to 206 BC) and Han (206 BC to AD 221) dynasties. The present Chinese national and ethnic identities are known these dynasties. The capital was later moved to Nanjing and later to Beijing. The city of Xian is relatively sedate; six lane tree lines roads were deserted in the day, but became crowded by evening. After lunch we visited a 1200-year-old temple dedicated to Confucius. The temple built in the boat like style had a collection of 3000 tablets depicting Confucian teachings. On these stone manuscripts paper was pressed then ink was applied to make more copies. This practice was the genesis of printing press. These stone tablets could be any size between 2' x 3' to 5' 7'.

After visiting the Confucian temple we watched a traditional Chinese music and dance program. Chinese theatres are very advanced in settings and lighting and very punctual. One young artist could excel in producing all kinds of bird sounds. The instruments used were- drums, cymbals, violin, variety of mouth organs, bells, flutes etc. The girl dancers wore extra-long sleeves they could swing any which way creating an impression of birds of long plume in-flight, or bamboos swaying in wind or waves in ocean or clouds floating in the sky. The Terra Cotta museum was one-hour drive to the east of the city. Seven thousand soldiers, horses, chariots and other animals were dug out from an emperor's tomb. It was spectacular. Back in city we walked on the city wall, 8 km circumference, the only ancient city wall in the whole of China. The Ming Big Bell in the walled city center was another attraction. The 7 story Buddhist Wild Goose Pagoda, built in Indian style in 652 AD, established by Xuanzang (596-664 AD) who visited India and translated 1000 volumes of Buddhist literature into Chinese was elevating experience. His journey to India was immortalized and lampooned in Wu Chengen's novel ' Journey to the West' (Xi Yu Fi). Xuanzang's statue recently installed in front of the Pagoda shows a tall, hefty, moon faced, determined regal monk, holding a staff, with head shaven. Xian was exceptionally green, and gentle.

The Panda Land- Chengdu: One hour's flight from Xian, Chengdu is the capital of Siachuan province and the largest city in the bowl like valley of Siachuan. China is largely mountainous. Only 13 percent of the total land area is arable, compared to India's 53 percent. Land available for cultivation is the same in both India and China in spite of China being three times as large as India. The Indo-Gangetic plain is one of the largest and fertile real estate in the world comparable to the Mississippi Valley in America.

Chengdu was bigger and the airport was larger than Xian. 14 million people lived in the city and suburbs. Roads were wide, hedges lush green, tree lined avenues, clean side walks and cycle lanes, highways with flyovers, fabulous lighting in buildings and street lights, and breathtaking greenery. The first thing we did was to visit the Panda sanctuary. There were fifty of them. After the Pandas we visited an ancient Dao temple, the Dao Tse Chin. The venerable sage Lao Tsu and other eight immortals are worshipped here. Incense and candles were burned as offerings. The deities were fearsome, with raised eyebrows, wild black beards and large protruding eyes. Daoism is a living practice, we saw some male and female monks engaged in serious discussion.

Leshan and Emei Shan: We drove out of Chengdu to Leshan, about two hours away. Leshan, a town of 2300 years of history, (though presently it looked every inch modern, one site read" city of Future") sits on the confluence of three rivers – Min Jiang, Chang Jiang, Qingyi Jian. It was raining and cold. It was our first drive along a highway cutting through villages. Houses were one-two story two room sets with courtyard. I was told most of the households raised pigs in their toilets, which were generally ten yards away from houses. Occasionally we could see old people sitting around in chairs. But no children playing, may be the result of one child policy. The fields were ill kept, and farming was not modernized. The most important sight in Leshan is the huge stone statue of Buddha (Da Fo) standing 300 feet high carved on the side of a mountain overlooking the river Min Jian. WE gazed at the peaceful statue straining our necks from a boat. It is amazing that the monks took all the trouble to carve this statue hanging precariously from the cliff. Power of Buddhist concentration, or is it faith? At Emei Shan we checked in Tian Fu Sunshine Hotel. It was cold and raining. The mountain ranges were spectacular. The following morning we went up the mountain to the Golden Buddha Summit- first three hours’ drive, then half an hour walk, then five minutes cable car. The three Buddha statues- Manjushree, Avalokitesvara and Sakya Muni seated on lotus surrounded by elephants on four directions on top of the pagoda and a standing Buddha inside was humongous. The cloudy mountain scenery around was fabulous.

We came back to Chengdu the same day.

SWAMI BODHANANDA
Sent by email, Saturday, 3 Nov 2007 19:50:04 Kalamazoo

Click Here to Download a pdf

 THE TIGER IS THIRTY YEARS BEHIND THE DRAGON
Swami Bodhananda
(30 October 2007)

India is touted as a knowledge power and China as the muscle power of the world. But objectively, I think that this comparison is crude and unrealistic. The fact of the matter is that India is at least 30 years behind China, if not more. China will soon send a man to the moon and catch up with India in information technology and mastery of English language. All their high tech and scientific communications are in Mandarin Chinese while Indians are struggling with dozens of languages and an ill digested English, making education, communication and discussions a farce. There is appalling disconnect between masses, leaders and intellectuals as a result. There is absolute lack of theory building and creative thinking based on research, experiment in India. China is investing heavily in research and education.

China is confidently, but quietly, strutting on the world stage, planning their moves strategically, to weaken India militarily, neutralize India politically and diminish India economically. They engage with Americans, Europeans and Russians patiently drawing strength from every encounter, without yielding much. The Indian leadership wasted two years of energy and time with America negotiating an aborted nuclear deal. Evidently India has no stomach for strategic thinking and calculated action.

India has no time to waste. It has to discover collective purpose, determination, strategic vision and leadership and a willingness to take risk and bold initiatives.

I hope ideas in this booklet will inspire Indian managers and leaders to think on those lines.

China Visit
I was in China for three weeks in September 2007. It was an eye-opening experience. I visited Beijing, Xian, Chengdu, Emeishan, Jiuzhaihuan, Chongquing, Shanghai, and Su Zhaou. We, including three of my disciples from Los Angeles, also took a 700 km cruise in the Yangtse River from Chongquing to the Three Gorges Dam.

No visit to China is complete without seeing the Great Wall, north of Beijing, stretching 5000 km, East to West. This granite wall, built in the 14th century, connects several mountain peaks, with observation posts, purported to protect China from the northern hordes like the Mongols and Manchus. Ninety-three percent of Chinese are the Han race: small built, fair skinned, featureless people. Comparatively, the Mongols, Urghirs, Manchus and Tibetans are big built people with sharp features.

Another big attraction of China is the 7000 Terracotta Warrior Statues excavated from one of the Ming Emperor's grave situated 40 miles outside of Xian, the old capital of China for 1200 years. The fabled Silk route began from here that went all the way to Rome.

China also boasts of being the exclusive home for Pandas. We visited a Panda sanctuary in Chengdu, in the Siachuan province. A single Panda, one-third the size of a black bear, eats 40 KG of bamboo shoots every day but only a third of it is digested.

Land and People
China is three times as big as India; But very mountainous. The vast Tibetan plateau, 12,000 to 14,000 ft elevation, the desert of Inner Mangolia and Sinkiang and the cold wastes of Manchuria are sparsely populated. Most of China's 1.3 billion people are concentrated on the Yangtse and Yellow river valleys. And most of China's industrial activity is concentrated on this region. Hongkong and Shanghai, the two engines of China's growth, are in this area. Chongquin, a major production center on the confluence of rivers Yangtse and Jialin, the largest Municipality in China with a population of 30 million and an area of 12,000 square miles is 17,00 km west of Shanghai. China has about 150 cities with population of 1 million or more.

The area of arable land available is the same in India and China, but the grain production in China is three times more than in India. China consumes four times more power, steel, petrol and cement than India. China's Forex reserve is more than one trillion dollars compared to India's $ 275 billion. China enjoys a trade surplus unparallel in history. India's trade balance is appallingly in the red. China's saving rates are far above than India's. China attracts $70 billion every year in foreign investments where as India gets only 3 to 5 billion annually.

No wonder China has become the workshop of the world.

China's Ruthless Determination and Ambition
The Three Gorges Dam project is a classic example of Communist China's ruthless determination and ambition. The Three Gorges Dam is a reservoir of 800 km long and 100 km wide, water level going up to 175 meters. All the cities along the river Yangtse suffered when the water raised inundating houses, graveyards, ancient monuments and temples. 1.5 million people were uprooted and resettled. When water level rises further another 3 million will have to be resettled. As we were cruising along the Yangtse I could see brand new cities gleaming under the blue sky. But this was achieved under tremendous financial and psychological cost. Some of the old people refused to vacate their homes leaving the graveyards of their revered ancestors, preferring to drown in the surging muddy waters. The total costs of the Dam including resettlements were 30 billion dollars. The objectives of the Dam projects are (a) Flood control (b) Tourism (c) transport (d) irrigation and drinking water for the parched areas of the north (e) Power generation. When all the 32 generators are fully operational the power generated will be 18,600 Megawatt units, which will cater to one third of China's needs. 68 billion dollars will be spend on bringing water to the north through three canals of two thousand km long each. Only China can accomplish such Bhagiratha feats. We have to only watch the chaotic and rudderless Indian scene to understand the enormity of China's accomplishment. The Medha Patkars, Bahugunas, Babe Amtes, Mamta Banerjees, the VHPs, the Communists – this strange assortment of bedfellows clamoring against India's development agenda, whether it is the Narmada Dam or the Linking rivers Project! No doubt China has yet to calculate the ecological, socio-psychological and cultural cost of their rapid development.

Geo-politic Importance of Tibet
India lives under the looming shadow of China – geopolitically and economically. India has no broader with China if Tibet regains its independence. Tibet has enormous strategic value for India. Tibet looks like the head of India. The rivers Sindhu and Brahmaputra, the two arms of India, flow from Tibet. Mount Kailash, the abode of Siva and Manasarovar, the symbol of Shakti are in Tibet. Chairman Mao Tse Tung being a ruthless geopolitical strategist knew the importance of Tibet to China while Prime Minister Nehru, a compassionate idealist statesman, failed to see Tibet's value for India'. For Nehru Tibet was a barren waste with no political or economic significance. But the shrewd Sardar Patel alerted Nehru about the strategic importance of Tibet and cautioned him about China's intention. Tibetan Plateau, almost the size of India, broods over the Indo-Gangetic valley to the south and the Yangtse – yellow river valleys to the north and east. Tibet mediates between India and China. Whoever controls Tibet, the roof of the world, controls India-China dynamics and eventually Asia. All Chinese maps show Indian state Arunachal Pradesh as theirs. When I protested, my tour guide exclaimed ‘is it so?'. This claim is China's strategic bargaining chip as a trade off in future negotiations against their illegal occupation of Aksai Chin.

The Chinese Dragon is Galloping
The Chinese Dragon is galloping in mind-boggling speed. The Tiger turned Indian elephant is still ambivalent, hesitant, shy, and is just prowling shackled by vested interests in taking the leap. China successfully implemented the Special Economic Zone Policy and is reaping enormous economic benefits. Teng Hiao Ping's post Mao policy of iron grip political control and free market capitalism has worked magic for China; Whereas India is vacillating in the implementation of special economic zones and losing valuable time. The Nandigram protest is a perfect example of short sightedness on the part of politicians and general public.

What amazed me about China was the energy and purpose exhibited by ordinary people. Both women and men are trained, motivated and dressed up to pursue a single goal- to sell their products: silk items, shoes, garments, toys, durable consumer goods like TVs, ACs, washing machines, cell phones, automobiles, apartments, tourism (100 million tourists in 2006), Traditional Chinese Medicine, you name it, China produces it. India is nowhere in manufacturing and exports compared to China. India's much vaunted IT industry employs a meager one million people of the vast 500 million job seekers and contributes only 3 percent of the Indian GDP.

People and Housing
China is in a building boom. Whichever city you go, Beijing to Chengdu to Chongquing to Shanghai it is construction and more construction. 25 to 50 story apartment buildings jostling for space as far as your eyes can see. I felt that Beijing and Shanghai have several Manhattans of high-rise buildings. But you hardly see any single standing house like you do in India or Los Angeles. These Chinese cities are like beehives or anthills. You can see old helpless men and women peer through square windows of box like tall buildings. The price for providing living quarters for all! ‘Sometimes’, my tour guide told me, ‘10 to 15 people crowd together in a small room of the size of 10x 7 square feet area’. No creativity can emerge from such cramped habitats. China may not care for creativity, innovation and individual freedom. They are good at imitation. They learn fast. They took Buddhism from India and market capitalism from America. Xuang Zang (596- 664 AD) visited India, lived in Nalanda and Takshasila for 12 years with Buddhist monks and took away 75 volumes of Buddhist scriptures and translated into 1000 volumes in Chinese. His lineage called the Pure Land Amitabha Buddhism is very popular in China today. The Pagoda that the Emperor built for him in Xian is a bustling thriving spiritual centre. Similarly, ever since Teng Hisiao Ping's visit to America in the 70s, which opened the old commissar's eyes, China's dream has been to emulate and excel United States in every field. Sometime they sound and look, to the visiting foreigner, irritatingly imitative. The size and layout of highways and airports, announcements by flight attendants, sophisticated greetings of the waiters and ushers sound so Americanized you can't help chuckling. China is the alter ego of America.

Infrastructure
China has so much ready cash to spare (more than a trillion dollars) that they are building fast track swanky new airports, six lane high ways, amusement parks, malls, museums, theatres, national parks, high speed rail lines and metros, educational and research institutions, state of the art hospitals and 5 to 7 star hotels. During the last 20 years China has built 30,000 km of six lane high ways (the same length that USA has). The ride from any airport to the city center or hotel is an amazing experience- well maintained hedges as dividers, shade trees on both sides, side tracks for cycles, high walls separating the apartments from high way traffic and noise, efficient signals and traffic signs (true still you find the tendency to cut and overtake and jump signals and I found traffic snarl caused by such lawless driving. Traffic police often seems to look the other way). Maximum High way speed permitted is 120 km (75 miles) per hour. I found India far behind China in infrastructure building. The 7000 km golden triangle and corridor projects in India are moving snail paced and without the facilities of over passes, exit points and rest areas. India is criminally wasting time and resources in a half-hearted project. This will make India a laughing stock in the eye of the world.

Another fact that I noticed in China is that their cities are remarkably clean. No litter anywhere. I saw some cigarette butts and some people engaging in the famous Chinese pastime of spitting on the road- but they were rare. I saw few emaciated aggressive beggars in the Tianen-men area. But no slums; neither in Beijing nor Shanghai. China has succeeded in housing most of its vast population.

I experienced no power shortage in China. Most of the cities that I visited had hundreds of tall buildings and all of them were well lit and some excelling in dazzle and lighting even the time square in New York.

Will China’s Example Spur India in Learning Lessons?
I felt ashamed comparing India with China. China is undoubtedly far ahead of India. India badly need two raps on the knuckles, Indian communists tweaks on their ears and BJP a hard slap across the face and congress a bucket of ice cold water on its head. And the poor toiling Indian masses deserve to be told the truth that India is far behind China.

India and China were economically in the same space in 1948, but after 60 years of independence India's per capita income shrunk to one third of China.
Is it the end of the road for India's great power ambition? Will China’s example spur India in learning lessons of hard work, discipline, and national purpose? Or is it that India is building slowly, like the proverbial turtle, and will eventually overtake China through the innate power of democracy, inspiring individual initiatives and coordinating free choices of citizens? Only time can tell. But as of today, the Tiger is limping (yet to leap).

30th October 2007
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Click Here to Download a pdf

The human is a conglomerate of energy vibrations. Modern science says that human body is formed of 10 trillion cells. It is these cells that function as bone, marrow, blood, flesh, skin, neural networks, sense organs, and motor organs. Cells are a collection of atoms. Atom is a vibration of energy. This vibration rests in vacuum and vacuum rests in consciousness. It is this consciousness which Rishis know and realize through meditation as sacchIdananda and bodhasvarupa.
Man ends up a samsari and unhappy person when he leads a body-oriented life without knowing these different dimensions of existence. Identified with the superficial manifests of consciousness such as nama (name) and rupa (form), and forgetting the essential relationship with the depths, he as a limited and insecure individual spends his lifetime, eating, sleeping, and procreating.
Human consciousness which is trapped in the four expressions: kama (desire), krodha (anger), bhaya (fear) and dura (greed) needs to be awakened and heightened, led through the different dimensions of existence, and integrated with the comprehensiveness of consciousness. What is called for is a self-fulfilling pilgrimage from selfishness to selflessness. From desire through love to devotion; from the navel through the heart to hrit; from greed through austerity to compassion; from Muladhara through anahata to the sahasrara.
The Rishis with their subtle vision saw the totality of universe in the human form as virat purusha. The universe has the form of a man of perfect shape sitting in siddhasana. The extroverted human who walks carefree in his two legs is unaware of this secret. The universe is full of energy vibrations with different frequencies. The Rishis realize the totality of these vibrations as aumkara—the pranava.
The energy vibrations of the Yogi in siddhasana orchestrate with the cosmic energy vibrations. The sushumna nerve becomes enlivened in this meeting of the microcosm with the macrocosm. The potential energy which lies in slumber in the Muladhara needs to be awakened through this sushumna nerve, to the sahasrara.
...Sushumna is the extremely subtle nerve which begins two inches above the anus, passing through the vertebral column of the spinal cord, like a long lotus reed, and reaching the brain. This nerve is not apprehensible through scientific instruments. The point above the anus, where the Sushumna nerve starts is called the Muladharam, and the other points upwards where the Sushumna touches are called Svadhishtanam, Manipurakam, Anahatam, Visuddham and Ajna. The Sushumna nerve ends in the Sahasrara which exists centred on and encompassing the brain. These energy centers which exist in the path of the Sushumna nerve are called Padma and Chakra.
They are called Padma since they have the power to bloom like a lotus and radiate energy. They are also called Chakra since they are the sources of Sakti—energy. Whereas Muladharam is two inches above the anus where the spinal cord ends, Svadhishtanam is two inches above Muladharam on the genital. Manipuraka Padma exists on the centre of navel, Anahata Padma is on the centre of heart, Visuddha Padma is on the Adam's apple, Ajna Padma is on the bhrumadya—between the eyebrows, and Sahasraram on the centre of the brain. Sahasraram is the Padma with thousand petals. If Sushumna nerve could be compared to a lotus reed, these Padma—centres of Sakti—could be compared to the flowers on that reed, placed at specific distances from bottom to top.
The central point of attention of a body focused human is on the Muladharam where Ida and Pingala meet. Of these two nerves which begins at Muladharam going up encircling the Sushumna, Ida through the left nostril and Pingala through the right nostril relates with the bahyaprana—outside Prana. Ida and Pingala nerves and Muladhara Padma form the substratum for the experience of duality. Ida by relating with the left side of the brain, and Pingala by relating with the right side of the brain becomes the substratum for the opposing forces in the individual and cosmos. When Ida is the substratum of buddhi—intelligence, paurusha—manliness, Surya—sun and Agni—fire, Pingala is the substratum of emotions, feminine qualities, moon and water. Human who is the slave of ahamkara—ego, and mamaakara-mine-ness, identifying with Ida and Pingala nerves, exists in the Muladharam, influenced by kama—desire, krodha—anger, lobha—greed and bhaya—anger. The human energy caught up in the Muladharam needs to be liberated. This has to be achieved by the blooming of the Muladhara Padma. The four-petalled Muladhara could be awakened, by taking a long breath through the right nostril, holding it inside, and exhaling it through the chanting of Aumkara.
The consciousness which is awakened and freed from the Muladharam becomes free of kama-desire. Further, with the chanting of Aumkara, consciousness liberated through the awakening of the six petalled Svadhishtana, and thus becoming free from anger; awakening the ten petalled Manipurakam and becoming free from greed; awakening the twelve petalled Anahata Padma and becoming free from fear; awakening the sixteen petalled Visuddha Padma and becoming free from vasana-s; awakening the two petalled Ajna Padma and becoming free from self-ignorance; continued with the chanting of Soham and awakening the thousand petalled Sahasrara to the spectacle of thousand suns rising together. When consciousness awakens through the Sushumna transcending each Padma, gradually the levels of Panchabuta—five elements, triguna and the seer-seen duality are also transcended. Sakti—energy is limited consciousness. Siva is unlimited consciousness. Siva-Sakti-Samyoga is the limited consciousness awakening to the unlimited consciousness, like the river merges with the ocean-this is the awakening of Kundalini.
Human consciousness confined to the Muladhara is called Kundalini—the coiled snake lying in two folds. Since this snake is the reflection of Siva consciousness it is also said that it is coiled around the Sivalinga. Sushumna is the passage which guides the consciousness from the lowest level to the highest level. It is about reaching the seventh level of Sahasrara crossing the six Chakra, that the poet Tunjath Ezuthacchan wrote: padiyaarum kadannavide chellumbol Sivane kanaanaakum Siva sambho—climbing the six steps one sees the Siva. Tantra sadana tradition describes the means and methods for the awakening of the Kundalini, and achieving Purna Prajna by the touching of Kundalini of Sahasrara Padma and awakening it. Agama Sastra also says that only by the direct guidance of a realized Guru, only a student who has renounced all desires, can get the complete realization through this path.

Source: Article written by Swami Bodhananda, Sambodh News (Bangalore) Vol.1, No.1, 1996

. . . Generally our happiness is due to a reason. Can you be happy without any reason?
Your very nature is happiness. When the sun shines, it is not due to any reason. It is its nature. In the same way can I be a happy person, since it is my nature? Can I always remain in the state of happiness? If you can then you are in Samadhi. A happy person is a Sanyasi, is a Samadhistha. Samadhi is not just siiting in padmasan.
. . .You don't meditate for obliging the teacher, either. It is not for the sake of the teacher nor the society. It is for your own healthy being. It is to discover your own inner potential. Having touched that level of consciousness, you won't go around establishing relationships with an expectation of happiness.
That state of consciousness where there is no seeking for happiness is Samadhi. It does not mean that you won't think of a car or a television. A happy person can also think of a car or a television. But understand that they can give you comfort not necessarily happiness.
A television can set can give you pleasure and comfort. But comfort need not necessarily make you happy. You will be comfortably unhappy. That is all!
This is the greatest discover of the Rishi that comfort need not necessarily make an individual happy. You can have comforts. But for happiness, you have to meditate. For comforts you must work.
. . .'I am sacchidananda' is not a conclusion. That is something which you have to experience in your daily encounters. Therefore, let us not say "I am a limited person". Let us not say "I am a unhappy person".
The existential woe of the modern man is that he thinks that at the heart of human situation it is a cesspool of pain; there is no joy at all; man is unhappy, radically and deeply. This kind of a self-image has to be changed. When you don't understand yourself properly, when you belittle yourself, then nobody can uplift you. If you say that you are weak, you ARE weak. If you say you are strong, you ARE strong. It is your choice. You have the ability to respond to the situation as a useless person or as an intelligent person, as a unhappy person or as a happy person. This is the meaning of responsibility. You have the ability to choose your response to the situation. Nobody can deny you that ability, except yourself!. . .

(Selection from a lecture given by Swami Bodhananda in the year 1994)

Meditation is seeing What 'is'.
To see 'is' involves seeing 'is not'.

Seeing 'is' and 'is-not' is the vision of the whole.
Seeing is when the blind is desire-free.

Desire is always for the other.
The other is not-seeing.
And not-seeing is agitation.

Not-seeing is seeing what one projects.
What one projects is different from what 'is'.
Projection is an act of the desiring mind, and
non-projection is a state of non-desire.

A non-projecting mind is ever in meditation.
It alone sees. Others see not.
There seem to be two things -'is' and 'is-not'.
'Is-not' is never away from and adds nothing to 'is'.
Hence there is only 'is'. Meditation is seeing 'is'.

Source: Chinmaya Jyoti, Vol.3, No.1, July 1981, ‘Meditation for the Month’, pg.4

Desire is a natural impulse that drives human beings to act and express himself/herself. Desire is also the cause of self-alienation, mental agitations and the insatiable pursuit of possessions and pleasures. Every individual has to determine for himself the contours and the meeting points of desire and desirelessness. Desire leads to self-expression and success in the world. Desirelessness leads to inner stability and fulfillment. But the flipside of desirelessness is lethargy and otherworldliness that make individuals incompetent in the world of action. The challenge is to understand the significance of desire in human development and the meaning of desirelessness in human fulfillment. The Indian wisdom traditions teach a perfect balance between these two opposing directions of desire.

Swami Bodhananda
21 May, 2006

Who is a Guru?
Guru is one who has the inner leisure to guide another person.
Why should another person need guidance?
Because he has lost himself.
Can one lose oneself?
The need for the other is the expression of loss of oneself.
How does one lose oneself?
By trying to be somebody other then oneself.
Why should one try to be somebody other than oneself?
Because he is not happy with what he thinks of himself.
What does one think oneself to be ?
One thinks oneself to be a wanting person.
What does one want?
Happiness.
What is happiness?
Happiness is a state of not wanting happiness.
How can one attain that state?
By not striving to attain it.
How does one give up striving for happiness?
By knowing that one is happiness itself.
How does one know that he is happiness itself?
By sitting at the Lotus Feet of a Guru who has the inner leisure to allow the other to sit at his feet.
Why should the Guru need the inner leisure?
Otherwise he will always be in a hurry.
Why is one always in a hurry?
Because one is not happy.
Why is one is not happy?
Because he does not know the source of happiness.
What is the source of happiness?
The Lotus Feet of the Guru.
How can the feet of Guru become the source of happiness?
Because he is happiness unbounded.
How can happiness unbounded have feet and hands?
Not possible!
Then how can one sit at the Lotus Feet of the Guru?
By opening up one's heart to the abundant grace of the Guru.
How does one open up to the Guru?
By loving the Guru.
How can one love the Guru?
By giving up oneself totally to the Guru.
How does one give totally to the Guru?
By serving him lovingly.
Does Guru need loving service?
No.
Then what is the point of loving service to the Guru?
Serving a Guru who does not demand service is the way to open up one's heart to the Guru.

(Source: Sambodh News Bangalore, Vol.1, No.1, 1996)

. . . Differences are not opposed to the integral experience of events. Difference is not division. We all can be different, unique individuals. Still we all share a common existence.
That common existence which we share, of which are integral parts and limbs, that is God. Human consciousness can experience that integrality of existence.
When you become an integrated person, the whole existence can be experienced integrally. This is the idea of meditaion. . .
It is an experience of the continous explosion of energies within you. You feel that energy streaming forth in all your activities. . .

(Selection from a lecture given by Swami Bodhananda in the year 1994)

. . . One has to clearly see the demarcation between Kshetra—the field, and Kshetrajna—the knower of the field; between the content of consciousness and consciousness. The world is the content of consciousness. Consciousness is the container which you are.
Understand the clear demarcation. The content—the world changes. The container—consciousness does not change. When one changes the other does not change. You are the consciousness, which does not change.
Whatever you experience is the content of consciousness, which changes constantly. In all your experiences, there is a changing and a changeless dimension. The changing—allow it to change! The changeless—Be the Changeless!. . .

(Selection from a lecture given by Swami Bodhananda in the year 1994)

. . . In Vedanta, 'ahamkara' means 'I am the doer' attitude. Instead of saying 'I am doing it' say 'He is functioning through me; I am only a pencil in the hands of the Lord; He is the great poet; Using me He is scribing the great poem of my life'. This should be your attitude, that you are not the doer, but an instrument, a vehicle through which the Lord expresses.
Ahamkara is the feeling of 'I am the doer'. Whatever you do you entertain such a feeling. You also feel that since you are the doer you should get the credit too. If you don’t get the credit you become violent, you react and feel miserable.
One who does not feel that he is the doer, who feels that he has been given an opportunity to be used by the higher power--he is Anahamkarah--one who is free from the doership notion. . .

(Selection from a lecture given by Swami Bodhananda in the year 1994)

. . . We gather memories in our lives, bitter and sweet, good and bad. An ordinary person cannot avoid gathering memories. An intelligent person will try to avoid memory. He will try to experience and integrate that experience. He will not allow the experience to hang out like a meaningless root from his personality.

Most people are unintelligently led by memories. The past bothers them. The more the past bothers you, the less efficient you become in the world. When the speaker explains, most of the time you don't listen.

Generally there are gaps in our attention. We are not able to give continuous attention. Because, memory comes in between. The memories that you gather of likes and dislikes are the adventitious roots. They are meaningless and useless growth from you. They become a burden for you.

Memories—likes and dislikes—cause further activities based upon the past experiences. If you are inimical to somebody, you keep that memory and you will react according to that memory for the rest of your life. Your life becomes a life of reaction and not action.

Our actions are always reactions. And we don't know why we behave like that. If it is a good experience you want to repeat. Thus you miss the joy of newness in life. That is the reason for boredom. Because we all the time act on the level of memories—likes and dislikes.

We gather memories and unconsciously they operate in us. If you refuse to accumulate this garbage, if you keep your consciousness clean, if you hold on to the centre of your being, then you can enjoy the newness of life. . . .

Two kinds of memories are gathered in the business of living. One is the psychological memory and the other technological or factual memory. Whatever you learn is the technological or factual memory. But in the process of learning you gather some psychological memory too.

Technological memory is very important to live in this civilisation which is man-created. It is the psychological memory that you gather along which becomes a drag on you. You must get rid of it as early as possible. Jealousy, agitation, envy, comparison, anger, insecurity—all these are born of psychological memory. You accumulate these in the process of living.
Mind is a combination of both technological and psychological memories. An intelligent person will gather technological memory and avoid psychological memory. We need technological memory. Otherwise we will be a cipher. We need knowledge. But we don’t need any disturbances at all.

(Selection from a lecture given by Swami Bodhananda in the year 1994)

. . . One has to clearly see the demarcation between Kshetra-- the field, and Kshetrajna-- the knower of the field; between the content of consciousness and consciousness. The world is the content of consciousness. Consciousness is the container which you are.

Understand the clear demarcation. The content-- the world changes. The container-- consciousness does not change. When one changes the other does not change. You are the consciousness, which does not change.

What ever you experience is the content of consciousness, wich changes constantly. In all your experiences, there is a changing and a changeless dimension. The changing-- allow it to change! The changeless-- Be the Changeless!. . .

(Selection from a lecture given by Swami Bodhananda in the year 1994)

In Vedanta, 'ahamkara' means 'I am the doer' attitude. Instead of saying 'I am doing it' say 'He is functioning thorugh me; I am only a pencil in the hands of the Lord; He is the great poet; Using me He is scribing the great poem of my life'. This should be your attitude, that you are not the doer, but an instrument, a vehicle through which the Lord expresses.

Ahamakara is the feeling of 'I am the doer'. Whatever you do you enetertain such a feeling. You also feel that since you are the doer you should get the credit too. If you dont get the credit you become violent, you react and feel miserable.

One who does not feel that he is the doer, who feels that he has ben given an opportunity to be used by the higher power--he isAnahamkarah--one who is free from the doership notion. . .

(Selection from a lecture given by Swami Bodhananda in the year 1994)

... A Sanyasi is one who can stand apart and watch the situation, and make appropriate responses to it. While a Samsari gets caught up by a situation and becomes a victim of it, a Sanyasi stands apart and responds creatively. In the process he discovers himself, unfolds his inner potential.

Sanyasa, which is the highest ideal is not running away from activity. It is looking inward for that extra magazine of energy. A Sanyasi, is therefore one who is self-inspired and self-motivated. We should not have the wrong notion that Sanyasa means renouncing everything and going back to the forests. For the last two thousand years we have been indulging in such thoughts:' let us go back to the Himalayas; let us go back to the forests'. And that is the reason why we have come to such a pass. . .

Renunciation means you have to create and renounce. If you don't create you have no right to renounce. To create means you have to invoke something unique out of yourself. Those people who can invoke their potential in their interactions with the world, alone can invoke their potential in their interactions with the world, can alone leave what they create for other people. They keep moving ahead.

Sanyasa means a constant forward movement.
Create and leave behind what you have created.
(Selection from a lecture given by 
Swami Bodhananda in the year 1994 )

. . . The entire thrust of the Bhagavad Gita is not to give a psychological or material explanation for things. The entire thrust of the Gita is to lift the individual and solve his existential and spiritual problems. And once your spiritual problem is solved, once you discover that you are inwardly strong--"In my being I am strong"-- then what ever be the nature of the challenge you will emerge stronger and diviner.

The world there after will not become a problem, but an opprotunity for you. Is it not?

The more you crush a piece of sandal wood, the more fragrance emanates from it. In the same way when you discover that you are inwardly strong, the world becomes an opportunity for you. The more you are crushed the more your fragrance emanates all around, the more your divinity manifests all around. And then you will not curse the world.

You will stand in utter reverence to the world, because the world has given you an opportunity to discover and unfold your depth. Then you become a thankful person to God and to the world that is created for you. Unfortunately, since we don't know the technique of living, this art of living, the world has become a veritable prison for us.

Hence throughout the Bhagavad Gita Bhagavan concentrates upon Arjuna's self-awareness, his own self, his Being. . .
(Selection from a lecture given by 
Swami Bodhananda in the year 1994 )

. . . W hen Arjuna became self-reflective, he paused for a minute between the impending action and his present status. And when he paused he suddenly realised that the war he was going to start is not going to solve any of his probelms. War and violence is no solution to human problem.

There are conflicts in our daily lives, in our minds, at our homes, in the family, in the government...There are conflicts because we are all individuals. We have our own personalities and individualities, and we want full expression. When you try to express your individuality, to discover your self, to unfold your potential, there is going to be strife, struggle and conflict. But war is not the mechanism for solving conflicts. The two super powers had tried that for the last fifty years. They misdirected the resources of the world for accumulating nuclear stockfile and created a balance of terror. Finally they discovered the foolishness they have been practising.

Arjuna discovers in the battlefield that war is no solution: "I may win the war, I may get my kingdom back but I have to kill a lot of people--innocent people, innocent children, youth, women and all of them-- for my own glory".

Arjuna thinks about this situation, the consequences of his actions. This is the meaning of reflection--to think about the consequences of your action...

(Selection from the Gita Jnana Yajna lecture on Bhagavad Gita:Ch.15  given by Swami Bodhananda 6 February 1994)

1. Law of Brahman

Every individual is a field of infinite potentiality. Everyone seeks expression of this potential energy, which is possible only through altruistic desire fulfilling activities

2. Law of Maya

The phenomenal world is always in a flux of constant change. Individual has to accept this fact of change and prepare to face change, psychologically and technologically, by designing innovative responses. Change is to be seen as a tool of Brahman's expression.

3. Law of Dharma

Every individual is unique in nature and has different talents and needs.The talents have to be expressed and needs are to be fulfilled. This has to be done within the limits of Universal Dharma. The purpose of education is to develop natural skills to meet innate needs with awareness of dharma, which is the meaning of Svadharma.

4. Law of Karma

This Law is about the Cause and Consequences. Present life of an Individual is constituted by his past thoughts and deeds. And future life is determined by what is done presently. Law of Karma says that individual creates his/her own destiny by the moment to moment choices and actions.

5. Law of Yajna

World exists based on the principle of Sacrifice that is nothing but give and take. In traditional yajna Devas - the controllers of Nature - are propitiated for materialistic and spiritual well being. This mutual nourishing and cherishing efforts ensure peace and happiness for the individual and also the society. To sacrifice is to receive, to possess is to lose.

6. Law of Yoga

Detachment is the key to happiness. Detachment ensures ability to watch the thoughts and actions impartially like a witness while interacting with the world. It will help to cherish multiple perspectives and intuit diverse solutions to issues of life.

7. Law of Leela

Maximum productivity or efficiency is gained when mind is relaxed and playful. Effective individuals expend least energy while facing challenges and problems. This provides experience of self exploration and expression.

(based on the book "Seven Spiritual Laws" authored by Swami Bodhananda)

Saintliness cannot be acquired. It has to be discovered as one's own essential nature. when I appreciate my incapacity to hurt or get hurt by an individual, event or situation, I recognise the saint that I am. Thus the sure mark of a saint is this incapacity to wound or get wounded. Such a sanctimonious person remains ever as fresh and innocent as a morning lily, as pliable and tender as a tropical creeper, and as accommodating and unresisting as the infinite space.
The external expression of saints varies according to conditionings that they have acquired down the millennia genetically, racially. But the essential sweetness and fragrance that emanates through such expressions remain the same. An Aurobindo cloistered in his wooden panelled study hatching out of wonderful phrases, ideas and imageries may appear diametrically opposed to a Ramakrishna Paramahamsa stammering out rustic tales and anecdotes clumsily squatting on a rickety charpai. A Vivekananda roaring down to the learned assembly of religious leaders, majestically dominating the stage in his gorgeous orange robes may look an incongruent counterpart of a Ramana Maharshi in his meagre loin attire silently smiling to an unlettered aspirant. A Christ on the cross meekly suffering the agony of crucifixion may seem an absolute antithesis to Lord Krishna, whip in his hand in the battle field exhorting the unwilling Arjuna to fight a bloody war. A Naranattu Bhrantan gleefully immersed in his purposeless labour of rolling a huge stone up and down the slopes of the mountain, resting in the graveyards, contemptuously looking down upon the tempting and seductive world may stand out ridiculous compared to a Krishnamurti elegantly employing slick words and streamlined phrases in Oxford accent to bring out the profound silence that he experiences.
From a peripheral view, these saints look different from each other. But a perspicacious observer can see the golden cord of saintliness running through all their apparently contradictory expressions. They show a profound concern for the problems of the world, and an incredible unconcern for their own. They have infinite capacity to patiently suffer without being revengeful, to remain ever hopeful without being expectant; they are always unpredictable and remain choicelessly alone. If nobody answers their call they prefer to walk alone.
Saintliness is born out of inner contentment, is an expression of a state of non-desiring. The saint's inner plenitude is not the least affected by the lavishness of his external munificence. That quality of total renunciation makes him loving and lovable. Nobody is afraid of a saint and the saint is afraid of anybody. Fear appears where give and take is involved.
Who is a saint? What are his marks? What makes him saintly? What is the essence of his saintliness? Arjuna asked these questions to Lord Krishna: O Lord, tell me the marks of a wise man steadied in his vision." Lord answered that one who is ever awareful and has a mastery over his desires is a wise man, one who is contended with what he has, never desiring for a change.
Slavery to desires is unsaintly. Hence, a saint, in Sanskrit is called a 'Swami', a master. The saints strike no roots anywhere. They are pathless people, their path cannot be mapped out nor can it be traced back. Their callings are different; their source of inspiration is different. A saint is ever victorious for his victories leaves none vanquished behind. A victory without a victor and vanquished is a lasting victory. Such victories leave no bitter memories, nor any need for revenge. Christ murmured, 'O Lord, they don't know what they are doing'. He on the cross betrayed no resentment or anger. He only felt sorry for his persecutors. In this sense a saint is most unpredictable by the ordinary standards. There can be scholarly or illiterate saints, mild or furious ones, flamboyant or self-effacing, socially committed or socially unconcerned, dynamic or dozing, of all shades and hues. Still they remain beyond all definitions, far beyond the confines of social, historical and psychological categories. They are what they are inspite of everything. They don't choose to be saints, but they discover themselves to be saints. Theirs is the only authentic, free and relaxed life. Their presence is often an enigma, sometimes even a nuisance to the selfish conformist world. Their style of living is a non-violent rebellion and a destabilizing factor in the security-mongering hypocrite world.
A saint is a disturbing question mark and his saintliness gives him the authority to hurl at the world answerless questions. He is a mystery, always secure, living the most insecure life. He is the question and the answer, the beginning and the end.

(From a published article by Swami Bodhananda in a magazine in 1981)

The single most important cornerstone of a successful relationship is transparency - which means expressing one's needs, feelings and expectations sincerely to the partner. Transparency in relationship enables partners to understand each other better and adjust mutual responses with empathy and care. No lasting and successful relationship can be built without respect and sensitivity to each other's needs. Experience teaches us that a strong sense of self-worth and self-sufficiency constitute a necessary condition for mutually nourishing relationship. Too much expectation from a relationship leads to inevitable frustration and dejection. Two happy people make a happier and fulfilling partnership. Happiness as an experience has to be independent of the ups and downs of relationships. Happiness is the quality of a detached and caring mind. Two happy people enjoy being together and bring out their best in a partnership of give and take and find space for each other's follies and foibles. Accommodation, acceptance and trusting love are the sweet fruits of transparency.

Swami Bodhananda
24 January 2012

Source: Reply to a post-graduate student of philosophy, in a letter dated 13.06.1989, sent from Kasarkode (North Kerala).
_____________________

... You have raised an interesting question answering which I have to consider apparently irreconcilable facts. The realisation that body is a divine tool to win God's grace and to attain self-realisation itself is a major attitudinal change...

"Are we diminishing the potentiality of all-pervading consciousness by contenting that body is a divine instrument for self-expression?"

In spirituality body does not mean just one body, it includes all the bodies -samashti sarira-s. The hymn to the cosmic person unveils the supreme consciousness as one with thousands of heads, hands and legs. One who is no more identified with one body can experience the manifestation of consciousness through all the bodies...All the gross, subtle, causal bodies are together known as Maya. And, consciousness is 'Mayavi' - the wielder of Maya...

"What is the need for body for all the pervasive, omnipotent self-principle to manifest, isn't it already manifest?"

Yes! infact the body itself is a manifestation of the all-pervasive consciousness - mayabhih indrah pururupamiyate bahusyam prajayeyeti - (may I become many). So, body is not an external conditioning for consciousness, it in fact is consciousness appearing, without undergoing intrinsic changes (vivarta)...

"What is the need of the body for one who is in Samadhi?"

No Samadhi is possible without the body. What is known as 'jivan mukti' is with the body - navadvarepure dehe aste sukham na kurvan na karayan (Gita ch.5) - When the body of a Jivanmukta falls it is called 'mahasamadhi'. Sankaracharya was a Jivanmukta...Real samadhi is absence of doership (kartrtva) - na karmanam anarambhat naishkarmyam purushosnute (Gita ch.3) - Not doing action is not samadhi, ie. naishkarmyam...

"Is it neccessary for the infinite space to manifest through a pot?"

Pot-space is a euphemism for the infinite space - tatvamasi - Thou (pot-space) =(is) That (infinite space)...We find Muktapurusha-s supremely active - Sankara, Ramkrishna, Vivekananda, Yajnavalkya, Janaka and Sri Krishna. Their apparent acitivities (karma) were not opposed to samadhi (atma-akarma). Bhagavad Gita unfolds a vision of karmani akarma darsanam - actionless in the midst of acitivity - (freedom in action, not from action). To explain the phenomenon of realised savants being physically active, body's divine instrumentality was suggested. Bhagavan Krishna suggests - Be just an instrument O, left-handed - nimittamatram bhava savyasachin...

Now, you take a pot! Is not pot in space? Of space? and nothing but space! What are clay (pot) molecules but atoms? what is atom except vast space and tiny matter of protons, electrons and neutrons? are they also not just modification of space?!...Vedanta conetents that - atmanah akashah akasat vayuh etc. ie. consciousness modifies as space, and space modifies as air, fire, water and earth etc. So, pot is nothing but a manifestation of space, is in space, has space - therfore pot is space. Can you say space (the cause of pot) conditions or limits space (infinite space).

So too the body is a manifestation of divine consciousness, is in consciousness, has consciousness - is nothing but consciousness. It is a dance of consciousness...Can you say that the dancer is conditioned or limited by her dance? 

The whole universe is intelligence and consciousness...

Meditate upon the Guru and sing his glories, but understand Guru, God and supreme consciousness are the same, like even the wedding ring, ring and gold are the same. One day you may lose value for the wedding ring, but still it is valuable as a ring; then you lose value for the ring too, but you have value for gold. If you can see gold in your wedding ring that vision is real. So too see supreme consciousness in your Guru and sing the glory of Self which you are. 

And remember all values are given by you - so you are the ULTIMATE VALUE - Tattvamasi - You are that! 
Love
Swami Bodhananda

Source: Reply to a post-graduate student of philosophy, in a letter dated 13.06.1989, sent from Kasarkode (North Kerala).