Yesterday was yet another beautiful day in my life as it gave me immense happiness. Why was I happy? I saw videos on the life and works of Swami Vivekananda, his Guru Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansa Dev and Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi They are among the few great Saints in India. They have followers all around the world. They are the ones who have portrayed the right meaning of Hinduism and presented it to the world.
The videos and the books that I have been reading in the past gave me a new perspective in life about life itself and the process of our evolution. The two greatest chapters in the Gita, the Bhakti Yoga and the Karma Yoga are the basis and direction to a life towards super consciousness (a term that many want to relate to) or a life towards complete bliss.
Bhakti Yoga simply means leading your life for the love of God, everything else in life is insignificant. All your actions are guided towards him and you tread the path of righteousness. You are so happy and immersed in his love that you completely surrender to him. Jesus Christ is the greatest example that I can think of, if I would have to explain Bhakti Yoga to anyone. He knew nothing except his Lord, no wonder he is the son of God. He was chosen for the evolution of those people who had gone astray and had become sinful. As per the Gita whenever Sin rises, God or his loved Souls incarnate to balance the society/world order and free it from Sinners. Jesus Christ is that one great Soul that incarnated for the love of God, to pass his message to the masses and to sacrifice his life to set an example for Goodness. In his extreme devotion and love for God he bore the excruciating pain of crucifixion and still had a smile on his face. Only intense love for God gave him the strength to do so and that is Bhakti Yoga, where you forget all pain and suffering and you are in complete ecstasy.
In Swami Vivekananda’s words “Bhakti Yoga is a real genuine search after the Lord, a search beginning, continuing and ending in Love. One single moment of the madness of extreme love to God brings us closer to freedom”. Swami Vivekananda is the great Indian Monk who introduced Hinduism for the first time to the world in Chicago, USA in 1893 at the World Parliament of Religions. His main aim in life was to work relentlessly for the upliftment of the Indian youth and India, his motherland. He constantly worked towards his cause, which was the sole aim in his life. The more you know about him the more you will fall in love with him.
I have got a great perspective of life when now I know that life is not only about being born, breathing, going to work, earning money, running errands and partying and dying. Life is a much bigger phenomenon just like the cosmos. As we are unaware of the workings of the cosmos we are unaware in the same way of the intricate weaving of our lives. We can know about our life only when we lift the veil of ignorance and see things beyond our bear eyes can see. To begin with we have to connect with the Universe and trust that it is a friendly place and wants us to live a life of abundance and carry on our actions, which definitely have to be good, fearlessly. Trust is the greatest feeling while following life and Bhakti Yoga. With Bhakti Yoga follows Karma Yoga. According to Karma Yoga, one has to carry his actions without getting attached to the outcomes. There is a very logical reason to it. If one gets attached to outcomes and they do not materialise as per our wishes, we get miserable. Adding to this, I would say that the Universe/Cosmos/God has a much higher intelligence than us and can very well see the outcome of everything, so what he does is always good for us. Our calculations stand no where in comparison to his. So it is best to carry actions leaving him to guide you and decide results for you.
I would repeat that life is beautiful but you need to trust and give up being rigid. We have to go with the flow smoothly just like a speck in water. Live every single day, see the beauty in it and be very happy. We all are born for a purpose and the purpose being Evolution. Every single day we must strive to get better and try to help someone in whatever way we can. There should be plenty of room in our life for Love, Hope and Charity.
I read in Gita and also am reading ‘Miracles Happen’ by Dr. Brian Weiss and both the books have opened my eyes to the fact that all beings are connected as we originate from one single source, God and that is not only us humans but even the smallest living being. All go through the process of evolution to become human beings and then rise to the super consciousness to be free and with no need to be born anymore. That is when the soul graduates. So the ant, the rodent and the dog in our house are as important as we are. they have the same status, it is just that they are less evolved than us. Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi had a cow whom he loved very much and tend with much care, it is said that both of them communicated. As my mind could perceive, his communication with the cow must have played a role in its evolution. In fact, we all can do it. The day we start aligning ourselves with the Universe we can align ourselves with all living beings. We should realise that our primary purpose to be born is to evolve and keep evolving until we are ready to be absorbed in the source from which we originated and also help others around us to accomplish the same. That is what many have done. People become great saints and leaders in their pursuit to help their fellow beings.
In doing so you do not have to renounce the world or cease to enjoy life but it is just that you must realise the higher purpose in life and align your activities accordingly.
© Trisha Malika Ghosh
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