Hari Om
Reason is impotent. Faith is omnipotent. Weak reason is defeated by strong reason. A Bhakta with faith can enter the innermost chambers of the Lord as Sudama did.
Do you not take for granted many things in Geometry? The teacher says: “A line has length but no breadth. A point has position (space) but no magnitude.” Is this really correct? Do you argue these points in any way? You simply take these for granted. Is this not blind faith? Then again, how do you know that this man is your father? Mother only knows your real father, she points out: “He is your father.” You have accepted it. Is this not blind faith?
Though you are not able to see the sun on account of the clouds, yet the sun exists. Though you are not able to see the mind that is hidden in the brain, the electricity in the wires, the child in the womb, butter in the milk, fire in the wood, yet the mind, electricity, child, butter and fire respectively do exist. Even so, though you are not able to see God who lies concealed in these forms on account of the impurities in the mind, yet God does exist.
Although we cannot see the stars in the daytime, yet we know that there are stars. Even so, though we cannot see God with these physical eyes, we can infer that God is hidden behind these names and forms.
Sometime you are in a peculiar dilemma or pressing pecuniary difficulty. Help comes to you in a mysterious manner. You get the money just in time. Every one of you might have experienced this. You exclaim at that moment in joy: “God’s ways are mysterious indeed. I have got now full faith in God. Upto this time I had no faith in God.”
Brahman or the Self or the Immanent God cannot be demonstrated as He is beyond the reach of senses and mind, but His existence can be inferred by certain empirical facts or common experiences in daily life. A certain lady had a fall from the third storey. Underneath there was a bed of sharp angular stones. She would have received serious injuries, but she was miraculously saved. She herself expressed: “I felt the warm embrace by some invisible hands. Some mysterious power saved me.” Instances like this are not uncommon.
An advocate had no faith in God. He developed double pneumonia. His last breath stopped. His wife, son and relatives began to weep. But he had a mysterious experience. The messengers of Yama caught hold of him and brought him to the court of Lord Yama. Lord Yama said to his messengers: “this is not the man I wanted. You have brought a wrong person. Send him off.” He began to breathe after one hour. He actually experienced that he left the body, went to the court of Yama and again re-entered his physical body. This astonishing experience changed his entire nature. He developed intense faith in God and became a religious man. He is still living in the United Provinces.
Another Advocate had a similar experience but there is some change in this case. He was also an atheist. He was brought by the messengers to the Durbar of Yama. This Advocate asked Yama: “I have not finished my work in the physical plane. I have to do still more useful work. Kindly spare me life now.” His boon was granted. He was struck with wonder by this strange experience. His nature also was completely changed. He left the legal practice at once. He is devoting the remaining portion of his life in selfless service and meditation. He is still living in South India.
Damaset, father of Nam Dev, used every day to visit the temple of Vittoba at Pandarpur and worship Him with fruits or rice, etc. He went to a neighbouring village one day on some urgent business. Gona Bai, mother of Nam Dev gave the offerings to Nam Dev and asked him to go and offer them to Vittoba. Nam Dev took the articles of worship and placed them before the image of Vittal or Lord Krishna and requested Him to eat the same. When he found that the image was silent, he wept bitterly in acute agony. Then Vittal appeared in human form and actually ate the offering in order to please His child-devotee. Faith and devotion can work wonders. The Lord becomes a slave of devotees.
Feel the help from the invisible hands of God during worldly activities. The Lord is always with you. He is watching all our activities and thoughts. Children fall from the upper stories. They are saved miraculously. In motor-car accidents and various other catastrophies people are saved in a mysterious manner, through the timely help from the inevitable hands of the hidden power (God). Every one of you might have had this kind of experience. When you are in great difficulty, He sends you money in a mysterious manner from some unexpected source. You feel His presence and His invisible hands. But you forget Him immediately when your pocket is full.
Do not argue. You will not gain anything. Sit before your spiritual preceptor or Mahatma quietly and meditate for one hour. Let the soul speak to the soul. All your doubts will be cleared by themselves. You will have good experiences. You will enjoy peculiar peace. There will be a holy thrill of joy in your heart. This is the way for your spiritual growth. ((By Sri Swami Sivananda))
Incidents From The Life Of Swami Sadasiva Brahmendra
More than one hundred and fifty years ago there lived a very famous Yogi-Jnani by name Sadasiva Brahmendra Saraswati in Nerur, near Karur, in the district of Trichirapalli, South India. He is the author of Brahma Sutra Vritti and Atma Vidya Vilas and various other books. He has performed innumerable miracles. Once when he was absorbed in Samadhi on the banks of the Kaveri he was carried away by the flood and thrown somewhere else. He was deeply buried underneath the sand. Peasants went to plough the fields. They hit against the head of the Yogi and some blood oozed out. They dug out and to their great astonishment they found a Yogi seated in Samadhi.
On another occasion as an Avadhoot he entered the zenana (tent) of a Muslim chief naked. The chief was quite enraged at the sage. He cut off one of his arms. Sadasiva Brahman walked away without uttering a word and without showing any sign of pain. The chief was greatly astonished at this strange condition of the sage. He thought that this man must be a Mahatma, a superhuman being. He repented much and followed the sage to apologize. Sadasiva did not even know that his arm was cut off. When the chief narrated to the sage what had happened in the camp, Sadasiva excused the chief and simply touched his maimed arm. Sadasiva Brahman had a fresh arm.
These incidents in the life of this sage should convince everyone that there is a sublime divine life independent of objects and the play of the mind and the senses. The sage was quite unconscious of the world. He did not feel a bit when his arm was cut off. He ought to have been absorbed in the Divine Consciousness and become one with the Divine. Ordinary people yell out even when there is a pin prick on their body. The above incidents in the life of Sadasiva Brahman amply prove the existence of God and a divine, eternal life, where all sorrows melt, all desires are satisfied and where one gets supreme bliss, peace and knowledge.
From public domain one can learn more about Sri Brahmendrar’ life. Sadasiva was born into a Telugu Velanadu Brahmin couple Moksha Somasundara Avadhaani and Parvati. His initial name was Sivaramakrishna. He was married at the age of Sadasiva lived in Kumbakonam, in Tamil Nadu in the 17th to 18th century. He went to learn vedas and other various subjects in Sanskrit in Tiruvisainallur. His contemporaries such as Sridhara Ayyavaal and Sri Bhagvan Nama Bodendral lived in the nearby areas at that time.
Shiva ramakrishna left his home in search of Truth. After taking sanyasa, he is said to have wandered around, naked or semi-naked, and often in a trance-like state. He was reclusive and often meditated, and was described as being in a “supremely intoxicated state”. He is said to have performed many miracles whilst alive, some of the most prominent are provided below. His jiva samadhi site is briefly mentioned in ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ by Paramahamsa Yogananda.
On the river banks of Cauvery in Mahadhanapuram, he was asked by some children to be taken to Madurai, more than 100 miles away, for an annual festival. The saint asked them to close their eyes, and a few seconds later they reopened their eyes and found they were in Madurai. He also wrote the Atma Vidya Vilasa, an advaitic work.
There is an epilogue to this story. The next day, another youth, incredulous at hearing this story, asked Sadasiva to take him also to this festival. It is said that the youth immediately found himself in the distant city. When it was time to return, Sadasiva was nowhere to be found. The youth had to make his way back on foot.
Whilst relaxing near a heap of grains, he began meditating. The farmer who owned the land mistook Sadasiva for a thief, and confronted him. The farmer raised his stick to hit the saint, but became a statue. He remained in this state until the morning, when Sadasiva finished meditating and smiled at the farmer. The farmer was restored to his normal state, and asked the saint for forgiveness.
What is the harm in not believing in God’s existence ?
If we have no faith in God, we will be born again in this world and will undergo considerable miseries. The ignorant, faithless doubting self goes to destruction. He cannot enjoy the least happiness. Neither this world nor that beyond is there for the doubting self. Those who have no faith in God do not know what is right and what is wrong. They have lost the power of discrimination. They are untruthful, proud and egoistic. They are given to excessive greed, wrath and lust. They hoard up money by unlawful means. They become men of demoniacal nature. They commit various sorts of atrocious crimes. They have no ideals for their lives. They are thrown into demoniacal wombs. They sink into the lowest depths, deluded birth after birth.
How to put a permanent end to all doubts and questions ?
As one advances in spiritual Sadhana (spiritual practices) and attains a greater degree of evolution day by day, by regular and unremitting practice of the Yoga of Synthesis, the clouds of doubts, delusion and interrogation disperse by themselves. As the sun rises, the mist disappears. Even so, as you progress by the Grace of Guru and God, all the intricate problems of life and death dissolve themselves into the ever-abiding Truth of existence. The only duty of man is to intensify the inner purity by graded integral Sadhana. Whenever doubts, troubles and the like arise, repeat any one of the following Mantras (sacred words): Om Sri Rama Saranam Mama or Om Sri Krishna Charanau Saranam Prapadye or your Guru Mantra. There is no room for doubts to crop up on the attainment of God-realization, as the seeker is no longer the seeker, but God Himself.
GF’ Blessings.
