Swami Amalorananda, Atma Purna Anubhava, Anjali Ashram, Mysore, 2000
…the four states of consciousness as understood in India: the waking stage (Jagrt-Caishvanarva), the dreaming state (Svapna-Tejas), the sleeping stage (susupti), and the fourth stage which is beyond all these three states: Turiya….—p.10
…Thus man is a participant, partner, collaborator [with God] in the on-going creative and transforming action in (p.25) the historical movement. Thus civilization is a good expression of the creative power of God at work in man, and enables him to reflect better the divine image in himself and thus fulfil his role.—pp.25-26
…For unfortunately the image of the oppressor is supposed to be unconsciously enshrined in the heart of the oppressed people! And this is equally true in the case of values. The dominated imbibe the values of the dominant.
“Values are socially desirable goals that have an indispensable relationship with persons. But when a set of values is accepted by a number of persons, they facilitate communication and social interaction among persons, thus moulding them into a group. As more and more people imbibe these values the group gets stronger till it is strong enough to confront another group with a different value-system. This confrontation can build up to crisis proportions”.—p.27
Today’s problem is not a formal, explicit, theoretical and philosophical atheism, denying or challenging the existence of God, but a practical and implicit atheism which manifests itself in the forms of uncritical acceptance and helpless practice of consumerism….—p.29
Before the II Vatican Council some were considered to be in a state of holiness: Bishops and religious. To be true to reality the Council stated that all Christians are called to holiness (LG.VI)….—p.41
If to be aware and to be totally free is to be human, if awareness and freedom is condition for contemplation, one has to be human throughout-continuous awareness. So the ordinary/real/normal, basic human activity is contemplation. The activity by which and in which man is his real self is contemplation. Hence both humanization and divinisation are part of the process of realization.—p.42
Action and contemplation are always two totalities, they can go together, interpenetrating each other. The contrast is only between wholeness and brokenness. Hence the dichotomy between action and contemplation is false, meaningless and baseless. The issue is between wholeness and brokenness, concentration and distraction.
The Action and Contemplation become one; when action is permeated with awareness: every action becomes contemplation. Experience of God can take place in every action. Our life becomes ‘an integral whole’.—p.43
Silence is total when it comprises external and internal silence. External silence is absence of noise not talking. But total external silence is not always within our control. But interior silence is wholeness, depth, being and interiority. It is a silence of plentitude, fullness, communion and communication. It is the language of God.
The atmosphere of silence is more important than the time of silence. The atmosphere is noting else but the external result of interior silence. It becomes then a vibrant atmosphere.—p.44
…Often out of fear of displeasing others and incurring the loss of name, favours etc, we compromise. So the great warning of Jesus: If any one disowns me before men, I shall disown him before my Father in heaven. Paul echoes the warning: if out of weakness, momentarily we are faithless, he wil continue to be faithful. But if we deny him, he will also deny us. If we disown him, he will disown us. Disowning means we are not united by the same spirit, values and the causes [of Jesus or KG].—p.60
…One of our common yearning is to have lasting peace and all round harmony. Unfortunately most people know them only by their absence; or they are so momentary that they become elusive. By the time one begins to grasp and enjoy, it escapes. So more often than not, one experiences fluctuations rather than constancy, worry rather than peace, disharmony and brokenness rather than harmony and integrity. The reason is that the mind itself is subject to impact and undergoes fluctuations. When the mind fluctuates our whole body fluctuates, our whole life fluctuates.—p.71
…the mind undergoes distortions or modalities called vrittis: asmita (egoism) raga (sensuality), dwesha (hatred), and abhinivesha (attachment). Thirdly the mind is subject to gunas, various qualities we are composed of: satva, rajas and tamas. The four vrittis and three gunas, these seven elements influence our mind; and our mind in turn influences our whole being.—p.72
…Concentration means one-pointedness, sharp as the tip of the needle and the edge of a razor. According to geometry the point does not have dimensions, neither length nor breadth, neither height nor depth. The point is almost invisible. We have to be oen pointer (ekagrata)….—p.77
…Dhyana is the seventh anga, it cannot be effective and realize its goal unless it is situated in the whole spirituality system or universal sadhana, yoga and unless it is preceded, accompanied and followed by other sadhanas or branches of yoga: yama, niyama, asanas, pranayamas, pratyahara, dharana and samadhi. The first two constitute life-long and distant preparation for dhyana, yama and niyama. The next two comes as proximate preparation: asanas and pranayamas; and the next two are immediate preparation for dhyana: pratyahara and dharna, then comes dhyana. It is followed by or it culminates in samadhi, the eight andlast branch.—p.81
…Restitution is an integral part of the package of reconciliation. Likewise if one has spoiled somebody’s name, one can be forgiven only when one compensates for the loss of name. When somebody gives the credit to us for the work done by others, asteya demands that we indicate the person to whom praise is due.—p.83
If yama deals with social ethics, niyama is a synthesis of personal ethics….—p.85
Tapas: Penance, mortification or life of sacrifice: the best translation is in-built asceticism. Either one can make many mortifications of one’s choice or one may just accept all the aspects of life as it comes. It is much more difficult to accept all sufferings, trials, failures, misfortunes, hardships and difficulties as they come from morning till evening, irrespective of one’s wish.—p.86
…Let us imagine a dhyana, without these [yama and niyama]. If one were a person of violence, whole time breaking things and hurting people, always telling lies and thinking it is cleverness to manage everything with a lot of lies, taking to (p.87) himself all the credit for what others have done, surrounded by gripping possessions, without any discipline in one’s life, lacking physical, moral and spiritual cleanliness, whole time grumbling and disgruntled, looking for ease and comfort, avoiding tapas or mortification, neither controlling oneself nor accepting corrections by others and finally self-centred in egoism, without awareness of God. Imagine such a person goes to dhyana? There is an intimate connection between these two angas and the seventh anga which is dhyana. Many people do not care at all for these first two.—pp. 87-88
…In the western countries and in India hatha yoga is popular. It is a novel method of physical exercise besides giving one calmness of mind. It concentrates on the physical culture. It serves as one more therapy, partly physical and partly emotional or psychic….—p.88
…One makes the senses rest and bring them to a state of passivity. This is pratyahara….—p.89
…In Christianity though one believes in divinisation, in people becoming divine, one does not become God, one does not accept one’s identity with God. That we continue to be human beings, creatures though divinised and united with God is shown by an act of adoration.—p,99
…You can have recourse to drugs and other techniques, dynamic meditation, techniques of concentration, body culture, mind control, some good feelings that can all be created. In such a situation you are not bothered about your life, behaviour, ethics. But we are not interested only in a good feeling or in a sense of harmony, we are interested in spirituality. There cannot be spirituality without ascetical practices, without morality, ethics … Anything is alright provided it is successful….—p.117
…By my theological conviction all religious should belong to the local Church, in concrete practice I am one of those who encourage religious orders to become pontifical against my theological conviction, because compared to the need for liberation I feel when all the horizons are closed the only way to become free in the church is to become pontifical order for religious.—p.121
…What does it mean to be human? To be human is to be free. We are not only human, apparently human but none of us has become fully human therefore we have to grow into humanness. That is what is called to become. Not only to be. Every act of being is an act of becoming, so every act of being is a dynamic action which leads you into growth, which leads you into becoming.—p.124
…freedom is the capacity to relate with everybody. The quality of relationship is the quality of your freedom. To do as I like, shutting myself in isolation is our false understanding of freedom. To do what I like- is individualism and not personality, that is cutting away relations and not establishing relationships.—p.125
…Left to yourself you will not be able to live the evangelical counsels with the support, inspiration and the strength of a community you will be able to live that. Support, inspiration, good example but also challenge and correction.—p.125
…The moment somebody corrects us he/she becomes our enemy, very rarely we thank a person….—p.126
…Manner of correcting is also important. If you are whole time afraid because the other one is ‘touch-me-not’ the person will resent it, then you are not going to correct, then community is useless. So we are not to get from the community only what we like we should also get from the community what we need. So spirituality freedom – all is a communitarian dimension. The moment we make it individualistic we are desecrating something very sacred.
Today we have got a framework of a community but we have go accumulation of individualism and that is why we never have community life. Each one going his/her way in the name of freedom, in the name of being human….—p.126
….independence nobody on earth is independent, was independent will ever be independent. Independence is not possible, it is understood self-sufficiency. Only God is self sufficient….—p.126
We are not really independent politically, militarily, economically, socially, culturally. Today a new culture is imposed upon us. Independence does not exist. Half of it is dependency, that is very much there…. Domination takes away freedom and reduces us to slavery. Therefore we say the people of India are dehumanised deprived of their freedom. Dependency is inhumanity, the right word for the state of freedom is autonomy….
…Auto-nomy that is to say I am self-reliant, I am viable, capable of functioning with the resources and talents I have got. God made us autonomous, put into us all the elements necessary to be ourselves and to become ourselves and every human being is autonomous, every country, human beings should be autonomous. Fourth word is interdependency. We live in an inter-dependent world. I need you, you need me, though you and I are autonomous and inter-dependent, but not slave of you or you a slave of me.
To conclude, independence is not possible dependency should not be tolerated as dehumanizing, we should all be autonomous and interdependent. The moment I say interdependent we come to what is called complementarity. This complementarity is shown in the creation of male and female….—p.127
…Nobody gives freedom, nobody takes away our freedom. Some superiors, civil authorities, military authorities, ecclesiastical authorities can either cajol us or threaten us. Since you behave well I shall give you little more freedom, since you do not behave well I shall clip you wings, reduce your freedom. They do not know what they are talking about.
How can they give what they cannot give? How can they take away what cannot be taken away? What others can do is either to facilitate or impede the exercise of freedom. They can play a positive or negative role. They cannot take away our freedom therefore we can live in this world in fearlessness because nobody can take away my freedom. That is why they can kill you but they cannot take away your freedom.—p.130
…All our freedom is freedom from somebody else, from rules, regulations, that’s all.
The real bondage is inner… freedom of the spirit is primarily inner freedom….—p.131
…Freedom is the ability for self determination….—p.133
…Formerly we used to give a bad name to a good thing in order to kill it, give a bad name to the dog and kill it. Today we give a good name to the bad thing to perpetuate evil, to justify what we are doing. This is what is called myth. Today religious are creating myths, give a spiritual reason to justify a bad thing….—p.135
…Today in religious orders the only criterion is likes and dislikes.—p.135
…you should not become what you want to become you should become, what God wants you to become. Atleast you must check up whether the fulfillment of your aspirations correspond to what God wants. And God is speaking today not in the clouds, but through the church, through the society, through the needs of the society therefore you will not conform to the expectations of God unless you respond to the needs of other people.
Therefore freedom means ability to respond to others, ability to respond to society, ability to respond to the needs of the church, congregation, other members of the community. In that process you can also respond to your needs. I do not say you must not respond to your needs, but not in isolation….—p.136
…There is no other way of human growth except working for the growth of others. (p.136) That is what is called ability. Can I do that? Oh yes. God has given me a gift of freedom which I must activate, not for selfishness, to render service to others, to live for others and die for others.—pp.136-37
…How did we religious come to that famous word, I have my personal responsibility. I would accept that word as a very sacred word but no more now. You have two chances, when you say personal responsibility either according to likes and dislikes. My question is that, are your likes and dislikes automatically good and divine? Yes and no; it has to be analysed. If you were living in the earthly paradise before Adam and Eve committed original sin, at that time man could not think evil therefore whatever you liked was god, whatever you disliked was bad. Therefore you could act according to your likes and dislikes.
Today there is evil. Letter of St. Paul, evil has come into the world sin is reigning supreme. There is also grace, there is also God. Today we are in an ambiguous situation, ambo in Latin means two, double what I like may be good, may be bad. What I don’t like may be good, may be bad….—p. 137
…Everyone cannot be left to herself or himself to do what he/she likes. Then we will come to a form of slavery in religious orders, others also.
This St. Paul calls self-indulgence….—p.138
…In other words when I touch the ground of my being I touch also the ground of being of God…. I am who I am. Somebody exists in the one who is. If anyone exists outside God, he does not exist, it is unthinkable. So to be means to be in God. That is why he could affirm, I am who I am, I cannot say that. Only God can say that. But in my spirituality at the highest level of my spirituality, I become one with the one who is one, I am who I am. That is to say I bring myself to the state of being which is a participation in the (p.151) very being of God. Are there two beings or one being? We are no more two-dvaita, but become one-advaita, non-dual. [modern day of interpretation from a liberal scholar—db]
…Sankaracharya was first of all a mystic and secondly a philosopher or simultaneously he was a mystic-philosopher….—p.152 [whether Sankara would fit in such image?—db]
…You have got in the Bible. ‘I and the Father are One’ ‘Let them be one as we ourselves are one.’ We study something in the Bible and say something else in theology. At that time you can call yourself tat-vam-asi. Thou art that or you can say – affirm what you are, aham – Brahmasmi, I am one with Brahman, One with the Father. It is not arrogance, it is not atheism, it is not we are gods. The experience of being one with God so great, so intimate we feel God and we are one.—p.152 [another good example, how Indian theological terms are pressed in to the service of another theology by liberals—db]
God cannot be divided, cannot be broken. In my undividedness and God’s indivisibility we are one and whole. My true authenticity is when I am myself and myself in God. In him we live, move and have our being….—p.153 [a liberal Catholics interpretation of both the biblical and Indian philosophy according to his convenience—db]
…it makes three to make a community, not two. Two people can be locked up in a monad. On the contrary mutual love must open up to a third dimension. That is why in marriage third dimension is a child….—p.161
….That is one of the reasons why I do not want to bring the police, I tolerate lot of thefts. Once you try to safeguard the property automatically you are excluding the people. For me it is better to lose all the property rather than lose the people….—p.166 [impractical and by this attitude we neither gain people nor help them to become human—db]
Shanti Mantra:
Om dyaun santi Let there be peace of the sky
Antharikshan santi Peace of mid-regions
Prithvi santi Peace of the earth
Apah santi Peace of water
Aushadhayah santi Peace of plants
Visve devah santi Peace of all celestial powers
Vishve nara santi Peace of all people
Brahma santi sarvan santi Peace of God and peace of all
Santireva santi sama May this peace be with you and with me
Om santi, santi, santi Peace, peace, peace.—p.179
…Then the core of religion is value system, spirit, vision, values and the real depth of spirituality is God-experience or mysticism….—p.192
…Most of us are progressive but when it comes to routine all of us become conservative. We may want others to change the schedule, we ourselves do not change our own schedule.—p.202
…ex means former, cursus means a track, one day you go out of the normal route, that is excursion….—p.213
…Every anger should be an expression of love, concern of real identification, solidarity for the person, then that anger is a good anger, divine anger it becomes….—p.238
…Self-pity is very dangerous thing. It means you are threatened, you are affected and looking for compensatory support from other people. We do not need compensation. We have go the fullness, only if you are broken into pieces, lost one piece, you want some other pieces. So a person who is at the core level completely emptied means totally free, has no favours no access to grind, therefore he is in serenity, illuminated, master of himself, clarity of vision and he can be evaluated what is being done….—p. 238
Jesus Christ did not have the power that I mentioned, he was not a priest, he did not have money, belonged to the outcaste, did not belong to the political families, not currying favours with the Roman Empire, ridiculed by Herod, abandoned by Pilate and he was not belonging to the scholars-scribes, he was not a Pharisee, he was nobody…. He spoke with authority. Unlike the scribes and Pharisee. The Pharisees were self cannonised saints, the scribes were scholars in law, sadduces were politicians belonging to the sanedrin family Jesus did not belong to any one of these categories but still he widelded authority. That is the integrity of his person.—p.244
…Surely Ram Janma Bhoomi belonged to the Hindus, may be that mosque belonged to the Muslims. The solution will be to transfer the mosque, build it somewhere else even Raj Mohan Gandhi proposed the land belonged to the Hindus where Rama was born. At the same time mosque has been built which is sacred t the Muslim, you cannot destroy it again there will be bloodshed all over India….—p.285
…The temple is not only the center of cultural religious life which we all know but also the center of economic life, social life, political life. Don’t say don’t politicize religion. Who built the temples, who ruled the countries, maharajas in India built strong buildings as temples. Hindu maharajas had a humbler dwelling, only when the moguls came they used big buildings, so today there are remnants even the Hoysala kingdom, (p.285) Halebeedu, Somnathapuram, all these are temples and not palaces….—pp.285-86
…In India a theist is one who says I do not know God, an atheist will say I know God through and through, foolish chap. The wise is the one who says I do not know God, he says the truth. God is unknowable, unknown. Even in heaven we cannot know God. He is a mystery. How can a human person understand God, in that case you will become God….—p. 293
- Om is a word of affirmation. Yes. In the Brahmanas it is said the people respond that is to say yes by saying aam in ordinary sppech and om in sacred speech. Understood thus it is a Sanskrit or Indian equivalent of the Aramaic or the Christian response Amen.
- According to the Katha Upanishad Om has a mystical meaning namely it is the symbol of the unknowable mystery, ultimate mystery of being supreme reality. When you use the word Om you are saying God is unmanifested, God is the essential beyond, God is a deus absconditus hidden God….—p.295
- The distinction is made in the Maitri Upanishad between two things sound and silence. There cannot be a sound unless the sound emerges from the silence. Om can apply to both. Normally om applies to the sound expression but the sound before becoming a sound was in the form of silence. So we have got two word of God, word of God through silence, word of God thorugh sound. Om chiefly refers to the language of sound, which also means it is connected with silence.—p.296
- …Several places it is written like that Om but the correct way would be AUM….—p.297
- …U stands for the totality of the other sounds. In other words AUM contains all the sounds. It contains all the letters of the alphabet. It is a key to the language, it is a container of communication.—p.297
9. In the Mandukya Upanishad the three letters AUM are said to represent the three states of consciousness…. Waking stage, dreaming stage and deep sleeping stage….
10….All the Vedas namely scriptures of Hinduism are said to be summed up in the one syllable AUM…. So to know the (p.298) AUM is equal to knowing the whole of scripture.
11. God has got two qualities, transcendence and immanence. Immanence means God is present in many places, A one place, U another place M another place that is to say many places. Transcendence means he is beyond all the things. AUM is the one sound AUM three different letters so plurality represents immanence, singularity represents transcendence. Plurality is expressed by individual letters and singularity by one sound OM.
13. … Mundaka Upanishad exhorts sadhakas to meditate on the unity of Atman and Brahman, unifying factor is AUM as japa.—pp.295-99
…Spirituality must be experienced, must be caught and not taught….—p.299
…there was only one person who declared that Jesus was truly human, because till now to be human means, someone is very successful affirming himself, putting himself above everybody, exploiting others and successful in that sense, that he has so much power, so uch yielding influence, so much of wealth etc. So for the first time there was a radical definition of being human, namely to live and to die for others. That happened only in Jesus fully so the Father declared that he was the only human person or truly he was human thereby we have a new meaning and new purpose for human existence. What does it mean to be human, what is the purpose of being human, the answer is given now to live and die for others. Not theoretically but concretely done by someone else. God the Father affirmed that he is the only true man, Jesus Christ got a new existence, so resurrection of Jesus is the affirmation that he was the beginning of a new humanity, there is a new way of being human….—p.306
…Christian is not a proper word, Christian is a common noun, simply anointed, means belonging, that’s all….—p.307
Human:
…A human person is one who is truly, really, radically, totally, unconditionally, irrevocably lives for others and dies for others. If everybody does that, all do not do that, that is the whole trouble, can we say others are inhuman, only a few people who do that, are human. What will others say, others are human beings, is not so?
Christian:
Therefore you have to find a new name and then we say, who lived like that, only one man lived like that. Therefore who are Christians, those who really, truly, radically, unconditionally, irrevocably live for others as Christ lived that is therefore fully human is to be really Christians….
Religious:
To those who are genuinely human, genuinely Christian therefore you call those people ‘religious’. Religious is not anything unique, the radicality of humanity, radical way of living, being a christian, that is what is called religious life. Mostof our problems are human problems, not Christian problems. When all of us are human and if we live the gospel radically there is nothing religious about it, no religious problem to be settled. Today we are making (p.308) all the problems as religious order problems therefore we are missing the issue. Therefore you will not be hitting at the problem, you will not find the solution the solution must be found, where the problem is. You are trying to identify the problem elsewhere therefore all your solutions will be wrong. Basic problems of religious of India or any part of the world are human and Christian [in the sense the author called ‘Christian’].—pp.308-09
…pre-amble of the constitution. “we the people of India hereby today resolved to constitute ourselves with a sovereign democratic republic in which we want to ensure for all its citizens”….—p.311
Very first to see that justice is done and the preamble spells out very clearly the three justices, economic, social and political. Secondly we need freedom, again freedom is given 5 words, freedom of thinking, freedom of conviction, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of worship, then you have got a third word equality, ofstatus and opportunity, so status wise everybody is equal but opportunity wise anybody can become great…. Then we have got fraternity that is supposed to be usually religious word, from the French revolution onwards it became a secular term fraternity and sisternity, brotherhood and sisterhood. Indians not only to be citizens they are supposed to be brothers and sisters. That is the family relationship. So the constitution of India envisages a family relationship, brotherhood. And finally dignity of each individual person because every individual is a human person. These are the five objectives for which India has constituted itself into a sovereign (p.311) democratic association….—pp. 311-12
…Most of our spiritualities are apparently neutral, saying religious people should not interfere in politics that is another way of saying I am neutral. Either you are for or against. In an unjust system either you want change or no change. There is no neutral thing. Therefore these two are not separate, they are one and the same….—p.325
…It is very clear whether hospital or anything though we have done something for the poor, in the beginning stage we do for the poor, subsequently we have taken over the rich. We have been co-opted by the powerful people. This is due to two reasons. We are a minority, minority people (p.326) suffer insecurity and they want to compensate for the insecurity of small number by having mastery over the powerful. The only way to have mastery over the powerful is to educate their children, is to give them good health care, to show that we are collaborating with the government in their policies and programmes….
Since we are nobody we become somebody, institutional power. In this way minorities try to compensate for their basic structural weakness. All this gives us advantages, we have started these institutions, money influence over the powerful of the country and we can get a lot of benefits. Our audience is not very poor. We do take care of poor but proportionately we are not doing. In India 300 million people below poverty line, on the poverty line 100 million people and we Christians put together 22 million protestant, catholics, orthodox. I often say even if every religious in India, every Christian in India, works 24 hours, 365 days, live long for 60 years, how can 22 million take care of 300 million poor people. Therefore you are not short of work, therefore you are not to take care of the rich and the powerful at the expense of the poor in the name of saying I am equal. In a situation of inequality, disparity, to be equal is immorality. Therefore we have to take care of the people, victims of inequality, victims of injustice.—pp.326-27
First thing is our education is not for the poor….—p.327
…What type of education are we giving? Our education is given chiefly for the sake of domestication, to conform to the present society, and we are giving information that is what is called banking methods of education. On the contrary it must be awareness building, awareness to the system, awareness to the bondage, awareness that they must become human, awareness that they must protest, awareness that they must mobilize, a whole series of awareness building….—p.328
…So after 40 years of independence our inculturation is to imitate the west even with regard to life-style, though we will be saying we are an ancient culture, inculturation. Even Rajiv Gandhi will say we must respect the cultures and values. But values have to be built into life-style and other structures. This is the contradiction in which we are living….—p.328
…The understanding is that in the catholic church even though 60% belong to the scheduled caste and scheduled tribes in the protestant church nearly 80% belong to them. By and large the churches are rich in that sense that the leaders and the institutions and the elite group belong to the top 20%. In the catholic church concretely it would mean all the 125 bishops all the 12 thousand priests, all the 65 thousand religious and nearly quarter million, half a million lay people all of them are so powerful, belong to the rich and dominant group.—p.329
…Today poverty must be understood not only economically but also politically, and culturally. Therefore we can say the religious leaders and groups of catholic church are along with the rich and the dominant, are causing the poverty of the masses of the people of India. Therefore even if we say personal, structurally, but who is the part of the structure, persons are part of the structure, therefore we have a double responsibility, double sin, a personal sin for the poverty of the masses and structural sin as an organized church.—p.330
…he [Jesus] has got one worry, and that preoccupation is about the danger of riches, not about the danger of attachment to riches but the mere possession of riches is obstacle for salvation….(p.332) […]
The religious orders refer to the Bible to a few words, to justify their life, those who are attached to riches, so we say we can have any amount of riches provided you are not attached. The rich man from the Bible he went away sad because he was a man of great wealth, I don’t think he was attached to wealth. It is physically possible to have all the money morning till evening and to say I am innocent, I do not touch the dirty money, I am detached. Psychologically, socially and by present condition little by little we all will be contaminated. Money whomsoever it may be will corrupt, need not prove it. Mere possession of wealth, therefore detach in the sense non-possession is the condition and cost of discipleship.—pp.332-33
…Those rich people are not bad people, they don’t deny God but they are practical atheist, they have no time and need for God, no time to think about him. They are not bad people, there are other people but they have no time to look at the poor people, so they become Godless, heartless people only yourself. That is what is called loneliness – the definition of hell. Therefore rich people are already in hell. God does not send anyone to hell but they throw themselves into hell. Therefore he says how hard it is for people with riches to be saved….—p.334
…Who among the people hod the seminar only to know who the poor are? Only foolish people like us spending our time in the seminar or in the ashram, discussing about who is poor, what is poverty. The poor people, no issue there. That itself is a sign that we are not poor, that we are not practicing poverty, because we are having quabbles, intellectual, academic discussion on that. Since I want the religious to change I must answer that question. In the Bible – poor means materially poor, who are economically destitute. Secondly socially outcast, marginalized, border of society, who do not belong to the society, they do not exist for the society, the society does not exist for them….—p.338
…Spiritual poverty means not the rich people having psychological sickness, spiritual poverty means total exclusive reliance on God. Psychologically spiritual poverty is not possible without material poverty. In the same way material poverty alone will not make you spiritual poor. We need to have both. Material poverty which will psychologically condition you not to rely on yourself or on money or on others but on God. These two are dialectically inter connected therefore a truly religious person would be materially poor and also spiritually poor.—p.339
Achamana Mantra:
Om shanno devirabhistay
Apo bhavantupitayu
Samborabhi sravanatu nah (Rg. X.9.4)
–May Divine waters be gracious enough to gratify our inner craving and stream on us all blessing.—p.346
Pranayama Matra:
Om bhuv God of Earth
Om bhuvah God of sky
Om svah God of heaven
Om mahah Lord God
Om janah God Father
Om tapah God Judge
Om satyam God of truth.—p.351
…That is what Jesus went about preaching. He was poor and so he could announce this, as joyful news. If we have to announce as good news it will be not to our advantage, and still we are proclaiming it as the good news. That means you are good actors on the stage. It will be a drama and not a overflow of the living gospel that is ourselves. Therefore let us be honest that as long as we live today that we shall not have and do not have the gospel. There is no use in communicating a paper, a dead word.—p.364
…What is prophecy if it is not a double edged sword first of all cuts us. Only after tasting the knife and cuts fine our own flesh that we can cut other people. Therefore the word of God, anything that we do in the mission is a double edged sword. And the purpose of coming to a place like the ashram is not to have one more retreat, not to have just peace, quiet, calm, smooth feeling but to be profoundly shaken to the core of our dead centers and to be awakened to new form of life, to start life all over again and we say we are disciples of Jesus Christ….—p.368
…One of the things we say is that how to leave the congregation. The congregations were founded precisely to live radically the gospel because the rest of the church was not living it. What is the fun of starting religious orders, joining the religious orders only to say we cannot live the gospel in the convent. That is the most ridiculous thing I am hearing everyday. That in the congregation the structures are such I cannot live simple, I cannot have prayer, I cannot live with the poor, these are the three major things. Be one with the poor, secondly live like the poor, simple life-style and thereby become conscious of God-contemplation. All these three are not permitted by the structures of our convents, monasteries, religious houses. Then what on earth for, these religious orders have been founded, have they got right to exist?
Either we radically change those orders or we should walk out, walking out for the sake of the gospel. But no use walking (p.368) out, if we live worse than before. It is not a mere departure from the convent that will make us better people….—pp.368-69
…I was very careful in my vocabulary, I did not go beyond the word awareness everywhere, in all the samdhyas, upadesas, I was switching on to the word unity and never used the word union and I always stuck on to the two names of God Brahman, Atman and also Saccidananda….—p.373
…Here in Bhakti marga moksha is obtained by union which is different from unity. Union is an interpersonal relationship….—p.375
…The problem is that, is karma by itself capable of leading to moksha? Is it capable of that? That is what people thought in the beginning, but in subsequent years people felt karma will lead you to moksha on condition that you are aware of the Lord or on condition that you do it out of bhakti for the Lord. Then the question arises is it because of gnana you attain moksha or is it because of bhakti you attain moksha then karma does not have a value on its own will….—p.379
…Bhakti marga is a reaction to gnana marga and gnana marga itself is a reaction to the karma marga….—p. 381
…Like all religions in the course of time can become stagnant Christianity too, yesterday I told you a revolution launched up universal brotherhood and still Christianity got established, became an empire, became Christiandom in the middle ages, became an imperial power, colonial power, today dominant nations are Christians….—p.382
…I often say you will pardon me Christians have got two virtues one is called ignorance, second is called arrogance. Arrogance is begotten by ignorance. We often think Christians are monotheist they alone have got pure form of God and the other religions chiefly Hinduism is polytheist that the Hindus have got all kinds of gods and goddesses, anything can be a god, I would say it is high time that we call correct that notion. In my understanding Hindus also worship only one. Then how do you say Ishtadevata, does it mean there is a store room somewhere in every village, every person goes and chooses one particular god and worships. It is not so. Therefore I want to show how the concept of Ishtadevata emerges, in what sense do we choose the Ishtadevata, to whom we pour our loving devotion. Ishwar I have explained as someone who reveals himself.—p.382
The second word I explain is Bhagavan. Bhagavan comes from the word bhagas, means share. There cannot be interpersonal relationship unless we share….—p.383
…Love cannot be brutal, reverence cannot be familiarity or slovenliness. If that is true for every human being how much more it will be for God. We often say I share my total self, all that is mine is yours, all verbal expression but after saying that making the profession either we give only a part or give everything and afterwards take back by the window what we gave through the door.—p. 383
…Bhagavan means one who shares with us all the six bhagas. What are those six bhagas? … aiswarya …wealth(p.383) virya – power, energy, shakit…. yasa glory … shri – splendour … gnana … wisdom … vairagya …unfettered freedom.—pp. 383-84
…they offer you kumkum, sign of welcome, joy, celebration. It is a social custom, you can very well accept that. Some Christians go to the temple, receive the prasad, they do not have the courtesy to say ‘no’ so after the pujari goes away, they throw it away. This is very bad. First of all hypocrisy, to receive something holy and pretend to be holy and receive it and it is sacrilege, when the man turns that side you turn this side and pour it out. If your receive it you must drink it, if you do not want to drink it you must not receive it. The same applies for the prasad. It is always sign of God’s grace, again there is only one God. There is nothing wrong in eating things offered to idols, either you can believe in idols or don’t believe in idols, so therefore you can very well eat it. Scandal can be for children, in that case you must explain it to them. There can be scandal of the Pharisees, I am not going to take care of the pharisaical scandal because deliberately they do not understand. Scandal for me is not an valid argument, that is the only argument Paul said he won’t take. Theologically nothing wrong in receiving prasad, 2000 years ago it is said and till today catholics are afraid of receiving prasad. If you receive prasad, receive it with devotion, grace of God coming to you. That goes with archana.—p.424
…Better still we are thinking of Indian spirituality as inward movement, the deity is not outside. … Therefore the whole journey as in Gnana marga is not simply towards an abstract center or an impersonal Absolute but a personal deity whose love you have already experienced.—p.426
…So many today entering religious orders for no other purpose than to have security. The most secure place in the world is the religious orders, we take refuge in religious orders or in priesthood….—p.465
…Before Vat. Council we were told we are inhuman even if the parents were to die in the next street in the same city in some congregations the sons or the daughters were not allowed to the funeral house for the funeral of the father or the mother. I heard this story from several elderly sisters but after the second Vatin Council we have gone to the opposite extreme. In the name of being human and normal we can go home for the baptism of the seventh cousin and the first communion of the third nephew and everybody becomes nephew and cousin and therefore we have every reason to go home…. Everything is not justified in the name of being human. Human is another myth to cover up our own selfishness, our likes and dislikes. We have beautiful words today to cover up bad things.—p.466
There are different types of synthesis, one is called static synthesis. This building is an example of static synthesis, … you can break it down, you can add one more because it is r.c.c. Consequently if you have to add something it will be separate, it will be only addition, you can transform this building. If you go on adding it will be a monster. Some of us are like that at a particular period of our life, our mind gets fixed, just like the building, just like the road, to move only, everything is set, your life is conditioned. So also most of us are (p.470) conditioned by our mind set, and after that nothing will change unless you are willing to undergo radical change, change your mind set, that is the meaning of change your mentality. It is easier to pull down a building and build up another building but to remove our mind set, change our mentality is more difficult, because the mind is more subtle, difficult to destroy.
The opposite of static is dynamic synthesis, there you can integrate new elements, shed some of the elements, when there are duplicate integrate them, what is overlapping to be adjusted and arrive at a new synthesis with a pure new emphasis and new focal point and ever expanding outer frame. Al this implies vitality, growth, elasticity, ability constantly to integrate. Let us say we have a system of 5000 cards, files, when you make a system it should be comprehensive, even though at the beginning it can be only thousand. Otherwise every time you will be changing your system, there will be absolute confusion, so that any new element can be integrated without disturbing the existing system.—pp.470-71
…A synthesis is such that everybody can use like a computer, anybody can handle, anybody can retreat whatever information he wants with a minimum of computer science.–p.472
…What do you mean by negative? What are essential elements of religious life in a religious order. Most of us still think religious life means we must leave the world and enter into religion. Even today most of us automatically say when I was in the world, before entering religion all that is automatic, part of our Christian vocabulary. Even a good theologian will use this because it is built into his reflexes. Becoming religious means negative, what a pity I can no more enjoy the world.—p.485
Your social service will be only lip service, words, profession theory, until it is translated as solidarity and identification with the poor….—p.488
…And a person who cannot recognize God among the poor I am sorry will not recognize God in the blessed sacrament….—p. 489
…I have been repeating to you the narration about institution of the Eucharist is only once in gospel whereas about the poor, the whole of Lukan gospel is about the poor, and fourteen times Mathew’s gospel identification with the poor. Last judgement only one criterion, with the poor or against the poor. Therefore all our sins can be catalogued as one sin that we do not care for the poor, alienated ourselves from the poor. Salvation is to be with the poor and that is what Christ did, that is the only way of being with Christ.—p.489
Nama Japa
1. Om Shri Parameswaraya Namah Adoration of God Supreme
2. Om Shri Parama-pitre Namah Eternal Father
3. Om Shri Parama Savitre Namah “ to Supreme genitor
4. Om Shri Jesu pitre Namah “ to Father of Jesus
5. Om Shri Manava pitreNamah “ to Father of men
6. Om Shri Manava Janitre Namah “ to Creator of all
7. Om Shri Sarva srotase Namah “ to Source of all
8. Om Shri Satya-srotase Namah “ to Source of truth
9. Om Shri Sneha pitreNamah “ to Loving Father
10. Om Shri Parama pavanya Namah “ to most Holy one
11. Om Shri Yesu Christaya Namah “ to Jesus Christ
12. Om Shri Deva Putraya Namah “ to Son of God
13. Om Shri Manava putraya Namah “ to Son of Man
14. Om Shri Maria ptraya Namah “ to son of Mary
15. Om Shri Atmot pannaya Namah “ One born of Holy Spirit
16. Om Shri Atma premtaya Namah “ One led by the Holy Spirit
17. Om Shri Krusitaya Namah “ Crucified one
18. Om Shri Mrutyum jayaya Namah “ Conqueror of death
19. Om Shri Punaru dhitaya Namah
Risen one
20. Om Shri Svarga rohitaya Namah “ One ascended into heaven
21. Om Shri Sat guruve Namah “ Good master
22. Om Shri Sat margayaNamah “ Real way
23. Om Shri Satya jeevanaya Namah “ True life
24. Om Shri Satya jyothishe Namah “ True light
25. Om Shri Antar jyothishe Namah “ Inner light
26. Om Shri Bahir jyothisheNamah “ Outer light
27. Om Shri Jagat tranakayaNamah “ Redeemer of the world
28. Om Shri Patiti dharakayaNamah “ Redeemer of the fallen
29. Om Shri Prabhu rajayaNamah “ Lord of Lords
30. Om Shri Akhila nayakayaNamah “ Lord of all
31. Om Shri Pavitr atmaneNamah “ Holy Spirit
32. Om Shri Pitur atmaneNamah “ Father’s Spirit
33. Om Shri Krist atmane Namah “ Christ’s Spirit
34. Om Shri Manava atmane Namah “ Spirit of man
35. Om Shri Antar atmane Namah “ Inner spirit
36. Om Shri Pavana AtmaneNamah “ Spirit of Holiness
37. Om Shri Vivek atmane Namah “ Spirit of discernment
38. Om Shri Vijnana atmane Namah “ Spirit of wisdom
39. Om Shri Vinaya atmaneNamah “ Spirit of humality
40. Om Shri Dhairya atmaneNamah “ Spirit of courage
41. Om Shri Pita putra pavitra atmane Namah “ Father, son and Holy Spirit
42. Om Shri Triyeka devaya Namah “ The Triune God
43. Om Shri Sat cit ananda Rupaya Namah “The Embodiment of sat-cit-ananda
–pp. 505-06
…Originally religious orders started as a movement, all religious orders had a very good beginning, the founder had a search and a charism and he started a movement, spiritual movement which was appreciated but in course of time, within two generations they began to spread out, organization, setup, institution apparatus, secretariate and therefore control, constitution, regulation, accountability, report to be submitted, little by little they tended to be institutionalized. So (p.512) institution is the first enemy of a movement. Institution is exclusive, movement is inclusive. Imagine in a political party someone starts a procession, a thin procession, people will be there, they sing slogans, as they go along anybody can join, no need of any permission for joining a movement, and on the way you do not like it, you leave the movement, whereas in an institution, you need to be admitted you need to have formalities, only certain people under certain conditions can be admitted therefore by nature it is an exclusive reality, established by an authority. Only a superior can buy a land, only a superior can put up a building, a superior can appoint a few people, nothing more can be done. You can give inspiration, you can say I want you to be an ashram, I fully support you, everything is alright but the reality must be lived by somebody.—pp.512-13
….You cannot enter a religious order until you commit yourself to practice evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, therefore the poverty is an institutionalized poverty, you gave a word, signed the paper on the altar in front of superiors, therefore you have bound yourself, the superior will see to it that you practice the poverty. In other words we are trying to fit and somehow you want to survive even if you violate it….—p.513
…one who is searching for the ultimate goal, is a sadhaka, where you practice your sadhana in view of siddhi, you believe it is possible, sadhya wherever these persons are, there the ashram is. So the saying is that where the seekers are, or the God-seeker, sit outside the ashram under the mango or banian tree that place is an ashram….—p.514
All the more I was intrigued suddenly the catholic directory of 1973, some dioceses catholic churches became catholic ashrams. It is a big scandal. People came thinking it is an ashram, it is traditional western type of church. These type of gimmicks won’t do; if you are an ashram it must be genuine….—p.533
…More and more I am discouraging them from coming. Very rarely I accept seminarians, because it gives a false satisfaction that you went to ashram, that you have ashram way of life in your congregation, you know some Indian spirituality which is a false impression, which is not true to reality.—p. 545
…The early church people ran to the desert, so movement to the desert was an ecclesial movement. Can we say today that the ashram movement is an ecclesial movement? But fortunately our ashram is going on well. It is growing faster than I expected. But I am also not happy that all the people are short term people. Nobody stays here for five years, three years, six years and permanently. Permanently means insecurity, religious orders provide security, ashrams provide insecurity. What is the choice? You choose security, that’s all. Most people 90 percent of the people who come to my parlour they say I cannot, still I do not know how to, what about security. I am not (p.546) asking you to leave the religious order, I am only saying about the inconsistency in our attitude and relationship with the ashram in general.—pp.546-47
Om samani va akutih
samana hrdayani vah
samanam astu vo mano
yatha vah susahasati
- –RV X 191, 4
Om United you resolve, united your hearts,
May your spirits be at one,
That you may long together dwell
In unity and concord.—p.552
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