Please Pay Attention

We have needed to 'originate' the Slow Food Movement to counter the life-attitude connected with fast-food culture; only then do we feel we can get to something that we once had, but lost! What we had lost is the attention that goes into creating and savouring a nourishing meal. While previous years were all about multitasking, we now hear and read people asking us to please 'uni-task', coining an odd sounding term to remind us to pay attention, even enjoy, each thing we do. It would be funny if it weren't so sad. Nicolas Malebranche, a 17th century philosopher said, "Attention is the natural prayer of the soul". If that is true, most of us have forgotten how to really pray.

Thich Nhat Hanh in The Miracle of Mindfulness, writes about how he and a friend once sat under a tree sharing a tangerine. The friend began to talk about plans for the future, becoming so immersed in it that he literally forgot about what he was doing in the present. Popping a section of tangerine in his mouth, before he had begun chewing, he lifted another slice to his mouth again. The teacher gently suggested, "You ought to eat the tangerine section you have already taken", startling him into realising what he was doing. "...as if he hadn't been eating the tangerine at all...If he had been eating anything, he was 'eating' his future plans.

Education speak of the shrinking attention span of young people today, but few schools teach children the gift of savouring the moment. There are some parents who say that the capacity for attention is theirs to claim. There is another aspect to attention: attention to others around us. Psychotherapist Pierro Ferrucci refers to attention as a precious gift. People who are suffering may need advice, diagnosis, interpretations and interventions, but still more do they need sincere and complete attention. He points out that attention, being completely available, may well be the most coveted gift: "We silently hope that someone will want to do that for us...Attention is a type of friendliness and the lack thereof is the worst kind of rudeness. Attention is the means that allows us to let friendliness flow. Anyone who can't give others attention, will never be friendly. Attention gives energy, while the lack of attention takes it away."

From yet another angle, we learn that what we give attention to grows. Even when it does not actually grow, it certainly seems to, because we tend to see little else. Often people mistakenly think that they must only focus on what's wrong. Sure, things could be wrong; even very wrong. But is that all that's happening in one's life? When they make a list also about what's going right, they are shocked at how long or how rich it actually is! Life is a mix of what we lable good or bad - not to mention that there is often good in the bad and also, on closer look, some bad perhaps in the good. 

We need to learn to pay attention to our entire life, not just parts of it. Focussing only on problems is draining, exhausting. Knowing there is absolutely some good shifts us out of a 'poor me' place and pumps us with energy to work on what we need to work on.

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WAY TO SUCCESS.

1. Doing is very good, but that comes from thinking. Little manifestations of energy through the muscles are called work. But where there is no thought, there will be no work. Fill the brain, therefore, with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night before you, and out of that will come great work.
2. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life -- think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
3. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library.
4. It is thought which is the propelling force in us. Fill the mind with the highest thoughts, hear them day after day, and think them month after month. Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they are the beauty of life, these failures. What would life be without them? It would not be worth having if it were not for struggles.
5. The only remedy for bad habits is counter habits; all the bad habits that have left their impressions are to be controlled by good habits. Go on doing good, thinking holy thoughts continuously; that is the only way to suppress base impressions.
6. Always remember that each word, thought, and deed, lays up a store for you and that as the bad thoughts and bad works are ready to spring upon you like tigers, so also there is the inspiring hope that the good thoughts and good deeds are ready with the power of a hundred thousand angels to defend you always and for ever.
7. Let positive, strong, helpful thought enter into their (children's) brains from very childhood.
8. Evil thoughts, looked at materially, are the disease bacilli.
9. The body is made by the thought that lies behind it. The body politic is thus the expression of national thought.
10. If we make ourselves pure and the instruments of good thoughts, these will enter us. The good soul will not be receptive to evil thoughts. Evil thoughts find the best field in evil people; they are like microbes which germinate and increase only when they find a suitable soil.
11. Those who are always down-hearted and dispirited in this life can do no work.

     

CONSOLATIONS

You want me to advise you how to get rid of the entanglements of this world. Let me remind you that what has been brought about by myriads of births cannot be done away within a day. Yes. You are right. We should escape the snare of samsara even from this moment. For, who knows when death will snatch us away from the loving embrace of our family. But that does not mean we should make a sudden revolution in the course of our lives. The best way to success is to remain pleased in whatever state God has been pleased to place you, keeping your mind always turned towards Him, as a child always turns towards his parents for help.
Stay peacefully where God is pleased to keep you. Read and ponder upon the sayings of Sri Ramakrishna. 'A plant', says he, 'should be kept under special guard by fencing around, lest goats make a feast over it. But, when it becomes a tree, hundreds of goats may take shelter under its spreading boughs'. So, when a little faith and a spirit of renunciation shoot forth in one's mind fortunately, one should preserve and nurture them with special care, by keeping aloof from all worldly men; but when they are once firmly rooted within, none can shake them at all.
The difference between a man and a brute mainly lies in this: a brute never wants to have his place changed as long as he gets food and shelter, while a man, a true man, is always attempting to get higher and higher. Incessant yearning for higher ideals is the characteristic of a true man.
Every one of us is trying hard to go to God, but the path of every one of us is different. Each must make one's own way and undertake one's journey with the help of those conveyances which God has allowed him to have.
We should all 'strike off our fetters'; but have you ever seen a fetter stricken off with a single and sudden blow? If you want to break through your fetters, you must be patient enough to apply a series of successive blows. Nothing sudden has brought about good.
You say that samsara is a place of great temptation...that is indeed true! But, do you know that strong adverse winds serve but to confirm the roots of a weak tree? The moral principles which are now not so strong in you are sure to get firmly rooted by incessant struggle with temptations. Constant exercise and struggle improve one's physical health. And our mental health, too, is not above this law.
You should always look forward and march on boldly, falling and rising but never succumbing, till he is sure of having reached a place where the ground is clear of dirt and where he meets the one thing of his desire--the Divine One for whom he has been labouring so long.
Do not care if you slip occasionally. To err is human. Do not lose heart. Walk firmly onward. No man can hope to get through the slimy path of the world, unscathed. And it is rank foolishness to sit down in the midst of the mire for fear of falling in the attempt to get across. Do not forget the golden precept, 'Try, try, try again'. Remember Bruce of Scotland. He was defeated six times; but conquered at last, the seventh time.
Be contented with whatever comes to you, knowing that all things proceed from God directly. Do not forget to pray to Him incessantly. His grace can give you whatever can really do you good. Always confide yourselves to His care. Be calm and quiet. Restlessness is a disease in itself. Know that religion means charity and satisfaction in self-surrender to the will of God.
Act, act in the living present,
Heart within and God overhead.
Pleasure and pain are the inevitable companions of every human being. When one comes, the other departs, but neither can remain long. Knowing this we must not be sent out of our wits under their influence. 
Depend upon God entirely and do your duty. Always abide by the will of Him and take everything in the best light. You should not be anxious of the future. Whatever takes place here, on this earth, is for our good, for all things are disposed by God. In the meantime, it should be our duty to be dutiful.   
Try to be dutiful to yourself. Be dutiful towards your wife and children, if you have any. Be dutiful to your relatives, your friends and your neighbours. Be charitable, honest, plain and truthful. Above all have an intense devotion and love for God, the Author of your being.
Lead this life, until it becomes one with your nature. For, you should know it for a fact, that unless a man is physically and mentally pure, he has no right to enter the holy shrine of yoga.
You need not be reminded of the absolute hollowness of the so-called wisdom of the modern age. One does not become really wise by reading books written by people whose earthbound minds have not the power to soar in the infinite firmament of Truth; whose speculations end in agnosticism, scepticism or atheism; whose moral principle wanting the basis of Eternity, are little better than jargon; and whose ignorance keeps them confined in the limited span of a precarious life, bounded on both sides by birth and death.
Never remain idle. Idleness is the pro-genitor of all evil thoughts.Be always vigilant in carrying out your duties. Shake off all dullness from you. Laziness is the worst of all sins. There is no royal road to perfection. 
Sentimentalism is of no avail. You are, indeed, a very bad lover of God if you cannot bear some worldly troubles for His sake! Those affairs which are displeasing to you now will all prove your great friends hereafter. God is more intelligent than any of us. He knows what is necessary for you and where to keep you. If you resent His dispensation, you really resent His infinite love and grace. Obedience is divine, disobedience is satanic.
It is through sheer ignorance that we bring on ourselves all sorts of groundless anxieties.
Do not try to have everything done all at once. There is no power in heaven and earth that can withstand the strong current of spirituality.
Depend entirely upon yourself. Heaven helps those who help themselves. At the same time, cooperate with others. If help comes from outside, that is good; if not, that is also good.
Nothing can bar the progress of what God intends to make successful. Unless one passes through the school of adversity, one cannot properly be called a human. We learn much from our troubles.
When you have altogether resigned yourselves at the feet of God, you have known the secret of a peaceful blissful life.
Contentment is the only watchword that can ensure us a safe passage through adverse circumstances. God is good. God does all. Therefore, He can do nothing but good. This is what all religions teach, abide by it and peace of mind will naturally follow. 
All are not intended to become monks or nuns. Every one has a particular mission and so is sent here by God. Work in harmony with all. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.
Youth is the time when the senses naturally get the upper hand. You must try to be strong yourself so that they may not rule over you. Lustfulness is the chief enemy of youngsters.
Devote yourself to work, both physical and mental, and keep your mind always fixed upon God. It is wise to fix the mind upon a certain object, if it cannot always be fixed upon God. The mind thus trained will not find much difficulty in fixing itself upon the holy feet of Him.
Know that you are a God and consequently the Lord of the senses. Why should you allow the senses to Lord over you? A weak man is the prey of wicked people as well as wicked propensities. Mental weakness is as bad as physical.
Let me remind you of certain passages from the Gita which console, invigorate and drive away despair from the minds of even the most dejected--
Sri Krishna told Arjuna,
"Oh! dear friend, the man who does even the least of good deeds never becomes wretched in his after-life. He takes birth in the home of the holy and pious and begins a life of godliness".    
Hence, if even for a second you do feel or think a good thought, it is sure to be of great gain to you. Never give way to despair, for it is God Himself that consoles everyone promising.
"Oh! Arjuna! declare it before all men that My devotee never meets with misfortune or destruction". 
Make Gita your constant companion. Be always of good cheer. Never allow sorrow or dejection to take possession of your soul which is ever free and blissful.
You need not complain that you are not successful in your attempts. So it is with almost all men. Only those who are already perfect, only a few mahatmas, can assert that they are thoroughly pure in body, mind and action.
To err is human. The only thing we should look after is never to forget loving Him, the Master of the universe. Therefore take heart, and though you fall every now and then, try to rise up. Every child, before it learns to walk, falls down a hundred thousand times. I can assure you, God helps those who help themselves.
Know this for certain--however bad a man may be, even if the whole world forsakes him God's love towards him is as fervent as His love towards the most pious one. The child may grow into a murderer but the mother's love remains undiminished. God is more loving and kind than all mothers taken together. Never lose faith in His loving kindness. He is always keeping watch upon the worst of sinners. Knowing this, be happy.
Be not displeased with yourself. You are the child of God and by being displeased with yourself, you are displeased with God's child. Is it not bad? Honour yourself then, for you are the child of God. By creating you He has not committed any mistake--for He is above all mistakes. As such, He is sure to do something through you, something for which He has brought you down here, in this world.
The more your love towards God is increased, the less will your lustfulness be. Always try to walk along the proper path. Be truthful and good and have no sensual desires. Let this be your end and aim. 
Struggle hard and if in the course of that struggle your foot slips, and you have to fall several times, what does that matter?
Rise up again and go on; struggle. Rest assured, you will conquer in the end. Never give up the struggle as long as you are not perfect, that is, as long as you are not what you wish yourself to be. May God save from all dangers and keep you safe and sound.
Yes. You are right in your conclusion. We have to pull through our lives here, somehow or other, as a beggar or as a king. But this should be our end and aim--that we never forget God wherever we may be placed, He never forsakes us. It is He that moves us from one station in life to another. Knowing this be happy.
Every day I remember you and pray for you to my Sri Guru Maharaj. Since you have the photograph of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna, I cannot but advise you to look upon Him as God Incarnate. Pray before His photograph and you are sure to get your desires fulfilled. There is none kinder than He. Oh! whenever I remember His glory and greatness I become at once transported. Do not think Him to be not with you. He is always beside those who are good, and as you are one of the very good children, I can say He is always with you, to save you from temptations.
His photograph is His living Self. Do not think it to be a mere photograph. It is His own living Self. Offer flowers and incense to Him, if they are available; if not offer the flowers and incense of love and a contrite heart. He loves a contrite heart more than the whole heap of flowers and incense the world can produce. Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna will surely help you, if you only sincerely ask Him for help. He is the incarnation of love and mercy.
Do not infer from my irregular correspondence that I do not love my friends. Love is more mental than physical. I always ask the blessings of Sri Guru Maharaj to be showered on you and yours. 
Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna says, "As water has no definite form, and assumes the form of the vessel in which it is kept, so God has no definite form". But God is the God of all living beings and therefore you should not confine Him to human form only. If your father dresses himself as a foreigner he does not lose your esteem and reverence on that account. Hence whatever be the form of God, because He is your God, you should love Him always. 
Of course some particular form may be liked by some one as his chosen deity. A Vaishnava loves the Krishna form, a Sakta love the Sakti form and so on. Please worship Him in whatever form you like most. Just as a daughter-in-law in a Hindu family reveres all members of the family but shares her bed only with her husband, you should have reverence for all the various manifestations of God but your chosen deity should be the only lord of your life.
It is very good that you have great reverence and love for Sri Ramakrishna. By worshipping Him, you do not cease to be a devotee of the Mother, for, Sri Ramakrishna is the manifested form of Sakti who is Infinite, and hence inaccessible, in order to be accessible to all has assumed the benign form of Sri Ramakrishna in this age.
You cannot worship God directly, for you can have no conception of Him except through such man-Gods. If man-Gods like Sri Ramakrishna did not take birth here, who could know anything about God? They are Columbuses in the land of spirituality.
There is no tree without roots; no external without the internal. You should worship both outside yourself and inside yourself, as He is everywhere. He is as much in the Image as inside yourself. So worship Him everywhere, always regarding yourself as His child or servant.
You are right...'He comes when the lower self is crushed'. The sacrifice of the lower self that imagines itself weak and sinful, of the animal in one's self, goes by the name of human sacrifice. This can be done only by a real hero, for 'By whom is the world conquered? By him who has conquered his mind'.
A religion which is based upon weakness is absolutely false and harmful. God can never be realised by the weak, says the Scriptures. If I am God's child, I am of His cast and if He is perfectly pure, I am also perfectly pure. So, if you want to love God really, you must have to be a God.
You must become a God in order to worship God. What is the use of imagining yourself a sinner? You are infinite; it is sheer ignorance that makes you imagine that you are finite. Back of everyone there is Infinity. There is infinite power latent in you. So be not diffident. You are sure to succeed in any path.
Be devoted to God who is inside you. You are the most real temple of God. the temples outside are mere reminders of the real inner temple.
It is not wrong to set a watch over thoughts when you want to drive away all weakening ideas from out of you. Say, 'no', 'no', and there can be no poison in you even if bitten by a snake. 
'I am not a sinner, I am God's own child'--one who believes firmly in this, knows, in course of time, that one is the child of God.
If you want to give up one bad habit you must develop the corresponding good habit, and this requires tremendous activity on your part. As Sri Krishna says in the Gita--
"Verily! This divine maya of Mine consisting of the Gunas is difficult to cross over; those who devote themselves to Me alone cross over this maya".
Maya is God's power; there is no difference between God and His power. Just as sugar cannot be imagined apart from seetness, milk apart from whiteness, so God cannot be conceived of apart from His Power.
We do not pray to a powerless man, knowing such prayers to be useless. God is all-powerful and therefore we pray to Him. So, whoever prays to God worships Sakti. Everyone in the world is a worshipper of Sakti for who is there that does not worship power?
God does not dwell somewhere beyond the clouds. He is in the heart of all living beings.
'God, Oh! Arjuna!', says Sri Krishna, 'dwells in the heart of all beings'. Ordinary living beings do not know this. God comes before us in the form of the ignorant, the needy, the diseased, the destitute, the famished--so that we may serve Him in these forms and thus edify ourselves.
Does not the child ask of the father or the mother whatever he wants, fully knowing that his prayers are sure to be answered? Just in the same manner, you should also pray to your God for everything needed for your realisation. Why do you want to be the child of God? In order to get rid of miseries of the world--is it not? So, where is the difference between devotion and knowledge?
Allow me to point out to you that peace is one's own mental property and hence you should never allow either household or social affairs to intrude into the holy precincts of your mind, where only God should reign supreme, showering peace and bliss upon you. 
Of course, complete self-surrender can come only when one is free from egotism--the most invulnerable enemy of man. The idea that 'I am so-and-so' is the cause of repeated births and deaths. The more you can get rid of it, the more will you be able to realise your spiritual nature, which is obscured by 'I'.
The first personal pronoun is at the root of all our miseries. Hence our primary duty should be to get rid of it somehow or other; this can be done by the service of the great, by concentration or discrimination.
The first is the easiest and the best. If you can place yourself at the feet of a true guru, your egotism will gradually wear away by that very attitude of yours as a servant.
If I am here and if I like to be happy here, I must do that which will make me perfectly happy, free from all fears. As God, the all-powerful, and all-merciful is to take care of me, I, being His child, have no fears. God is both father and mother to you.
Thou art my mother; Thou art my father! Thou art my friend; Thou art my companion; Thou art my learning; Thou art my wealth; Thou art my all-in-all. Oh! My Lord of Lords!
And Sri Ramakrishna is all these.
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C.S. Chakravarthy
H. No. 12-13-301, St. No. 9,
Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,
Satya Classic, Tarnaka,
Secunderabad-500 017
Telangana State.
E-mail: chakku1968@gmail.com
Cell: 09985732397.
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MEDITATION AS IMMUNO-STIMULANT.

That meditation causes neuro-biological changes in a person an empirically proven fact. There is evidence that the human mind influences both susceptibility to and resistance to disease. Mental and physical processes constantly interact and influence one another. Some major universities have recognised the value of contemplative practices, which have therapeutic effects.

Today we know it is not just the food we eat that changes our biology; the thoughts we think do that too. The assumption that diet and exercise could produce a perfect body is no longer valid; we now know stress produces cortisol and epinephrine, which are immuno-suppressants that nullify every benefit derived through every other means. Stress is the No. 1 epidemic of our times, and it causes chronic illnesses. Your interaction with the world and with yourself produces metabolites that interact with the body and change your biological parameters.

Many neuro-scientists believe the best way to fight stress is through meditation. It has now become simple and scientific, and it will soon go mainstream.

Meditation, in a nutshell, is becoming aware of your body and your breath, with no thoughts. Then, the body's homeostasis, the self-regulating and self-repairing mechanism, is activated since healing hormones fill the body. Thoughts can heal us, also kill us. A bout of depression can wreak havoc with our immune system. Falling in love can boost it. Despair and hopelessness raise the risk of a heart attack and cancer. Joy and fulfillment keep us healthy. Different states of consciousness produce different degrees of body chemistry. The line between biology and psychology cannot really be drawn. A stress which is only a wisp of thought releases the same flood of destructive hormones as the stress itself. Nothing holds more power over the body than the beliefs of the mind.

Since subjective ruminations produce objective repercussions in clear violation of the laws of thermodynamics, since reductionist philosophy and the mechanistic model of our conventional medicine cannot explain origins of many diseases, the fight between classical physics and quantum physics, especially on the medical science front, has come into the open. It will take some time for the dust to settle.

The discovery of telomere, an enzyme associated with aging, by Elizabeth Blackburn won her the nobel prize. Telomere is at the end of our chromosomes, like the end-cap of a shoe lace. Its role is to protect the chromosomes from degradation -- which means it protects genes from degradation since genes are enclosed in chromosomes. Telomere degrades with age.

Dr. Elizabeth's studies, with Dr. Dean Ornish of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, revealed that meditation increases the length of Telomere. When Telomere becomes short and falls apart, cells cannot replicate anymore -- which is what we call death. So, acceleration and deceleration of aging depends on telomere. It gets stronger during meditative practices.

Mitosis and apoptosis (cell division and cell death) processes have revealed that every week we have a new stomach, every month a new skin lining, and every three months we have a new skeleton. Except for some cartilege and pieces of bones, almost 98% of our body is recycled annually. Every 10 minutes we have a different brain structure because every thought alters it. As a result, ourr body is a process rather than a structure. It is a river and not a rock. It is a verb and not a noun.

One prominent quantum physicist said during a lecture in the U.S. that three years earlier when he went there he had carried with him the same suitcase but not the same body because the suit-case has a longer shelf-life than the body. Another quantum biologist said during a speech that no person can step into the same river twice.

Humankind has learnt so much over the past 15 years than it has learnt in all of its history. Maybe one day science will explain why we fall in love, and why we are moved by poetry. Let's wait for that day to arrive.

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C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-301, St.No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203, 

Satya Classic, Tarnaka,

Secunderabad- 500 017

Telangana State.

E-mail: chakku1968@gmail.com

Cell: 09985732397.

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Controlling the Restless Mind.

Mind and Meditation.
Meditation has four aspects, based on the four yogas. The purpose of meditation is to develop devotion. The prescription is that the more we think of something, the more our interest grows around that object. So first, the thinking part must be present. When we feel something is ours, like a mother with her child, automatically there is a little devotion and love added to our thinking. Similarly, by adding these elements to our meditation, our interest in God and devotion to him will grow. 
Another major objective of meditation is to increase the capacity of one's concentration, and with that concentrated mind, we think of God with greater attention. With a concentrated mind what normally took us one hour to complete can now be finished in fifteen minutes. So the way to develop a concentrated mind is by meditation.
Now, what is meditation? It is withdrawing the mind from the sense world and focusing it on the object. So first we must try to think of something with the help of which many other thoughts will be lessened. When God is the objective, mush of the mind will be withdrawn. Unconsciously it can become withdrawn, but consciously by effort we must also try to practice this. Instead of a hundred things, you may try to think of only one thing and then you may end up thinking only four things. Then try to lessen that. To be able to lessen 100 percent may not be possible; otherwise you would be almost a saint!
God realisation is the highest attainment. How much you attain depends on many factors. In day-to-day life, there are steps to judge how much you have progressed--how much self-control you have; how many of your desires have lessened; how much love for others you have; how much you can control your anger, your selfishness, and attachment. This will decide whether you are really progressing in spiritual life. Just by saying you have realised everything or you have so much devotion that tears flow easily, is not enough. If your character has changed, then you are a spiritual person. 
Mere concentration is not considered spiritual. Why are you meditating? If you want good health, that is all right; but do not claim it is spiritual. If you want to develop your body, undoubtedly you will get results if you concentrate.
In this connection, once I was in a hilly area, where there was malaria. One Swami said, 'If you want good health, give a little part of your mind to your body'. We said, 'We must give our entire mind to God'. He laughed and said, 'Even if you want to give your whole mind to God, ninety percent of the mind is already in the body.You may say that you want God--that's certainly a good idea--but the body says otherwise'. I learnt a lesson.
Yoga has a system, which is also recommended in the scriptures. Improve your health; only then you can think of God better. Certainly Sri. Ramakrishna said, 'Do not do too much yoga and asana, as the mind will then go to the body'. But we must remember that Sri Ramakrishna was teaching aspirants who were on the verge of God-realisation. Their standard was very high; ours is different. It varies from person to person. It is you who must determine how far you want to go in spiritual life. Mere claiming is not enough. The major test of one's spiritual life is transformation of character.
Preparation for Meditation. 
In order to prepare ourselves for a productive meditation, is there anything we should do before we begin?
Three things are normally done to prepare for meditation. First, take a bath, put on clean clothes, and then enter your shrine room, or a corner of your room that you have set aside for meditation. In three months time that area of your dwelling will acquire so much spiritual vibration that you will feel uplifted every time you go there. Anything you do in that room, whether crying or laughing, try to connect it with God. Thus even unconsciously you will receive inspiration in that room when you enter it.
You will feel more holy if you first take a bath. But if you don't want to, then do as you like. However, whatever your standard of cleanliness is, you must feel pure enough to think of God. If you are a great believer in Ganges water, then use it. Some minimum standard of physical cleanliness is necessary. If you don't have time to take a bath, then meditate before bathing.
Preferably, begin your day by remembering and repeating the names of God, or chanting a few names of God. That time in the morning is under your control. In the evening you may have to work late or friends may unexpectedly drop in. The  evening is uncertain. But you must make time to meditate for a minimum of twenty minutes. And if the mind is calm, meditate longer. Of the morning and evening meditations, at least one should be more leisurely, without any pressing time constraints.
If during meditation the mind is very restless, stop and to japam. Repeat the mantra a minimum of 108 times, otherwise vagaries of the mind will arise. You must perform meditation or japam whether your mind wants to or not. Japam is easier than dhyana. If, after a half hour, the mind is still restless, read a holy book. The mind should not be forced too much, but you can cajole it. If you are regular in meditation, the mind will concentrate quickly. Just as when you eat at a particular time every day, so also when you sit for meditation at a particular time everyday, your body and mind will cooperate. Your children and friends will learn not to call at that time, because they will know you meditate at that time.
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C.S. Chakravarthy
H. No. 12-13-365, St. No. 2,
Flat. No. D-33, Ushodaya Apartments,
Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500017
Andhra Pradesh, India.
E-mail: chakku1968@gmail.com
Cell. No. 09985732397
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Azad Hind Fauj.

The inaugration of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind was a personal triumph for Subhash Chandra Bose and represented the high water-mark of a colourful  career. Subhash Chandra Bose represented a new force in Asia and when some disagreed with his approaches, none questioned his credentials, his motives and his right to speak for the people of India. He was a leader of the front rank who had twice headed the Indian National Congress and whose popularity with the younger generation matched only that of Jawaharlal Nehru.
In August 1943, while attending the Burmese Independence Day celebrations, he had declared just as the Peacock emblem now flies over the Government house in Rangoon, so will the tri-colour soon fly over the Red Fort at Delhi. Bose drafted the historic proclamation on the dawn of October 20 at a single sitting, a matterly performance which it was said required not a single alteration. It recounted the manner in which the British had established power in India and recalled the martial exploits of the great figures of the Revolt of 1857 namely Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi, Tantia Tope, Kanwar Singh and Nana Saheb. It described the growth of Indian Nationalism and called upon all Indians to give their allegiance to the new government which guaranteed religious liberty as well as equal opportunity to its citizens. The proclamation ended on a stirring note-- "In the name of God, in the name of bygone generations, who have welded the Indian people into one nation, and in the name of the dead Heroes who have bequeathed to us a tradition of heroism and self-sacrfice, we call upon the Indian people to rally round our banner and strike at India's freedom".
On 15th August, 1945, after the Japanese surrender was announced, Bose decided to leave for an unknown destination. He issued a special order of the day to the Army and a special message to Indians in East Asia both of which ended on a prophetic note: "There is no power on earth that can keep India enslaved. India shall be free and before long - JAI HIND"--words which were to come true in exactly two years.
"I feel that I shall die very soon I have fought for India's freedom till the last Tell my countrymen, India will be free before long. Long Live Free India".Those were the last words of Subhash Chandra Bose before he succumbed to the injuries between 8 P.M. and 9 P.M. at a military hospital at Taihoku (Formosa) after his plan caught fire and crashed to the ground on 18th August at 2 P.M.
The saga of Indian National Army, is the final saga of the Indian Revolution. The history of the saga of Indian Revolution will never be complete without a detailed account of the life and work of Netaji himself, who proclaimed to the world, the establishment of a Provincial Azad Hind Government on a foreign soil. His exploits for the cause of India deserve to be written in letters of gold. And so, here goes the final chapter of the saga of Indian Revolution. The frustration following the short-lived August rising was soon relieved by a promising turn of events abroad. All eyes were turned upon Netaji, the rising Sun of the Indian Revolutionary Movement. Netaji's mysterious  disappearance in 1941 had raised great expectations. His journey to Germany was in itself a breath-taking feat of endurance, courage and chivalry. None could have even dreamt of undertaking a venture with so many hazards. But Netaji was a revolutionary to his finger-tips, and he had imbibed fully the revolutionary traditions of Bengal. In Germany, early in January 1942, he raised the first battalion of Free India Region. That was the only beginning of a great and audacious venture. The Azad Hind Fauj formed on 5th July, 1943 at Singapore was to be the shield and the sword of our national unity. It was our first national army to take field against the defenders of the Empire. It had a flag, a song,  slogan and a cause that wiped out, as if by magic, all the narrow caste and communal distinctions which dog us at every step even to this day. The men and women who rallied round Netaji's banner had but one overwhelming desire, namely the freedom of their home-land. In the words of Pandit Nehru, "INA made history in Malaya and Burma and elsewhere but also in people's mind all over India, and that fact will endure"
Besides Netaji's versatile leadership, mention should also be made of Rashbehari Bose's role in organising during the war a movement in the Far-East for the liberation of India. He had escaped to Japan after the failure of the Insurrection in North India in 1915 and he remained, to quote General Shah Nawaz Khan, "the same great revolutionary throughout his life". Soon after the outbreak of hotilities in Far-East, Rashbehari Bose and others founded the Indian Independence League. The first INA forme dunder the leadership of General Mohan Singh in September 1942 was sponsored by Rashbehari Bose and the Indian Independence League. Rashbehari handed over charge of the Indian Independence Movement to Netaji on 4th July, 1943. The first INA could not last long nor could it make any progress, because of General Mohan Singh's growing suspicion's about Japanese intentions. He was put under arrest by the Japanese on 20th December, 1942 and the first INA ceased to exist. But the slogan of 'Quit India' had in the meantime reached the Indian brethren in the Far-East. Netaji, the living embodiment of revolution, was issuing stirring appeals from Berlin to choose between freedom and slavery. Three months before the Quit India call, Netaji has announced: "In May, 1942 has begun our last war of independence. The speed and ease with which the Japanese drove the British out of Malaya and Burma broke the legend of the British power. Netaji's call felt on receptive ears. The enemy exploited every means to spread the slander that Netaji was an agent of the Axis powers! But from the very first day of his arrival in Berlin upto the day of his departure from Singapore in 1945, his every word and every deed eloquently disproved it. He was an uncompromising enemy of British imperialism, and was never to be the agent or tool of any foreign power. From Berlin, he declared: "I am no apologist of the tripatite powers! On 19th July 1943, he declared at a mass rally in Singapore: "According to my plan, it is not even necessary to bother about the attitude of the Asian powers". When the Japanese army chief of staff proposed to Netaji that the INA should be left behind in Singapore as the Japanese would do all the fighting, Netaji's curt reply was "Any liberation of India secured through Japanese sacrifice is to me worse than slavery". He raised and organised a patriotic National Army. He sent his trusted men to act as emissaries in India and contact the revolutionaries for linking up the two wings of the liberation movement. Many of these brave men reached India undertaking great risks and many of them when caught were given savage sentences by the British. Netaji's nephews were held and horribly treated in the Lahore fort. Netaji inspired bound-less faith in the heart of every Indian rich and poor. Twenty crores of rupees were spent on the amount of voluntary gifts to the Azad Hind Government. Describing Netaji's hold over the entire Indian people in the Far-East, General Shah Nawaz Khan writes, "I should never forget a scene that I witnessed at one of the meetingsa addressed by Netaji at Singapore. After Netaji has finished his speech, he made an appeal for funds. Thousands of peopel came forward to donate. They formed a queue in front of Netaji, each one coming up on his turn, handing over his donation to Netaji and left. Most of the people who formed the queue were donating large amounts. All of a sudden I saw a very poor labourer-woman going up the stage to hand her donation. She was in tathers and had even no clothes to cover her head. With abated breath all of us watched her. She took three rupee notes and offered them to Netaji and said "Please accept these. This is all I possess". Netaji still hesitated. Then large drops of tears rolled down his cheeks. He extended his hand and accepted the money from her. To him three rupees were of greater value than lakhs contributed by a rich man out of his million!
The Azad Hind Fauj was formed on 5th July 1943. Nearly three lakhs of soldiers  were recruited into the army and were given complete military training. The first provisional government of free India was formed on 21st October of the same year. This government was not a puppet government and neither were the fighters of INA.
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C.S. Chakravarthy
H. No. 12-13-365, St. No. 2,
Flat. No. D-33, Ushodaya Apartments,
Tarnaka, Secunderabad-500017
Andhr Pradesh, India.
E-mail: chakku1968@gmail.com
Cell. No. 09985732397
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CALL OF INDIA'S CULTURE.

Sri. Shankara Acharya is one of the greatest interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita. There are some who regard him as the greatest interpreter of the Gita. He is remembered in history as a Saviour of the Hindu dharma. He appeared at a time when the Hindu dharma was entangled in rites and ceremonies. Whenever you find that rites and ceremonies dominate a religion, remember, it is in a period of decline. When Sri. Shankara appeared, the Hindu Faith was entangled in externalism, ritualism, ceremonialism.

The word used by Sri. Shankara for ritualism is karma. And he pointed out, over and over again, that in ritualism is not the salvation of an individual, a community or a race. Sri. Shankara urged that the way to salvation was not karma but knowledge. As he moved on from place to place, he taught the people that they could not be saved merely by going through certain rites and ceremonies. It was necessary to understand and to know.

Shankara built an Order of sanyasins. The sanyasins, he said, are men of non-possession. They are the real guardians of the Hindu Faith. The Faith will live in the strength of men of non-possession, men of inner renunciation, men of service and sacrifice. This truth which Shankara preached centuries ago is the eternal truth of history. Religion lives through the strength of men of service and sacrifice. Shankara called them sanyasins. Shankara's sanyasins went to the farthest corners of India. They travelled to East and West, to North and South, and relighted the torch of the Hindu Faith. They re-affirmed the wisdom of Hindu dharma. Shankara gave a new life to Hinduism.

What did he mean by knowledge? Sri. Shankara points out that knowledge, true knowledge, is not intellectual knowledge. True knowledge is based on intuition. Sri. Shankara further tells us that to have true knowledge, a person must get rid of sensual desires. He alone can attain knowledge who gets rid of attachment to material objects and sense-gratification.

A great Western mystic, who resembles Shankara in several respects, the great German mystic, Meister Eckhart, uses a beautiful word -- creatureliness. He says that if you would attain knowledge, you must get rid of creatureliness. What is creatureliness? Attachment to a creature or an individual or an object of desire. Rise above these, says Shankara, if you wish to know. The way to knowledge, he says, is to keep clear of the "world of wandering". It is the world of pleasure, the world of desires. The world is wandering from one desire to another. He who would truly know, must keep clear of this world of wandering.

Shankara says that true knowledge comes in a state of stillness. When you go into silence, when you are still, then the sense of unity grows upon you. All sense of separateness departs. You feel that you are one with all -- one with humanity, one with the whole universe, one with the cosmos. You begin to realise the unity of all that is. You begin to feel that there is the One-in-all.

This mystical experience has come to the world's great ones in all ages and climes. That great mystic of Iran, the author of the Masnavi, Jalal-al-Din Rumi, refers to this experience in several of his poems. In one poem, Jalal-al-Din sings beautifully of this mystical experience. He says: I am the mist of the morning; I am the vibration of the evening; I am the breath of the flute; I am the spirit of man; I am the soul in all things!

This experience is emphasised by Shakara as essential to true knowledge. The man of true knowledge, tha man of illumination says, "I am the soul in all things". The same thought is voiced by Emerson, by Hafiz, by all the great mystics of East and West. Sri. Shankara says, when you have the experience that you are one with the world, one with the universe, then alone can you say that you have acquired knowledge.

Sri Shanakara tells us further that this knowledge, this mystical experience, this feeling of unity with the universe, of oneness with the cosmos comes to a man after a long period of preparation or sadhana. It may be that you spend several janmas (births) doing sadhana, before you attain knowledge. An important sadhana (discipline) is attending to one's daily duties, daily work. Shankara does not reject action. There are European critics of Shankara who tell us that the discarded action and exalted knowledge. Shankara exalted knowledge, it is true, but he was careful to point out that in order to attain knowledge, you must go through the discipline of daily work.

You must do your duty. You must act, says Shankara. But -- and here is an important thought for us to note -- you must act unselfishly. Be selfless in your action. Do your daily work in life, but do not be swayed by sordid desires. Do your duty. Work on, but have no thought of the little self within you. So may your work be an offering to the Lord. The sadhaka, the man of discipline, the jignasu, the seeker after knowledge, for a long time, must do his work in the spirit of selflessness. Is not this the teaching of Sri. Krishna unto Arjuna: "Do thy work non-egoistically! Be non-egoistic in your work!"

Sri. Shankara emphasised these two great thoughts of the Hindu Dharma: (i). that there is the One in all, One Divine Life flows into all, and (ii). act non-egoistically! Act unselfishly! These two great thoughts constitute Hindu culture.

Let us act, but let our action be non-egoistic! We are in this world to act. We must be actors before we can become spectators in eternity. Here on the battle-field of time we must act, but let us act in a spirit of unselfishness, offering every action as a sacrifice to the Lord!