Janaka and Astavakra.

The ultimate goal of spiritual practice is enlightenment, or direct realization of the divine unity. The ancient Rishis (or seers of truth) knew that this ultimate realization of oneness with the Self or God was only achievable with the sincere urge of the aspirant and the assistance of a teacher or guru, who could guide the seeker past the many veils of ego that separate the self from the direct experience, this infinite end of all knowledge. The following story illustrates several important aspects of the ideal devotee and his or her relationship to the master and dedication to the subject.

In the ancient times, there was a king named Janaka. Vedanta texts were recited everyday in His courtyard. One day, he heard the son of his high priest reciting verses from the Vedas. The young boy pronounced, “a man can become enlightened in between the time it takes for one foot to be placed in the stirrup of the saddle, and the second.” Janaka was intrigued by this and questioned the boy. “Is this true,” he asked. And the boy said, “Yes, it is true.” Janaka said, “Show me.” But the boy confessed his inability, saying, “I am sorry, I am not realized so I cannot show you the truth of this sentence.” Janaka became angry and said, ‘If you are not realized, then you do not know this is true. Therefore, you are lying to me, and falsely leading the people.” And he put the boy in jail.

Subsequently, the boy’s father, the high priest, came to the palace to speak to Janaka and seek release for his son. Janaka asked him, “Tell me, is it true that a man can become enlightened in between the time it takes for one foot to be placed in the stirrup of the saddle, and the second?” The priest said, “Yes, this is true.” So Janaka said, “Show me.” But the priest responded, “I cannot show you, for I am not realized.” This made Janaka outraged. He stormed, “Then, you do not know it’s true. You are lying to me, and to the people of the kingdom.” He sent the high priest to jail, and then began to ask the same question to all the Brahmins in the land, yet every time, they were unable to help him, for none had realized God. Janaka sent each one to prison.

One day, an enlightened saint named Astavakra came to the palace to ask his wellbeing . He asked janaka why he had sent all the brahmins to prison. Janaka said as they were unable to prove the truth of what they preach, he had send them to jail to stop further damage of social values. Astavakra asked if he wanted to know the truth of those words, Janaka affirmed with a great enthusiasm.

Once in the woods, Janaka began to rise up on his horse by putting his foot in the stirrup and pulling himself up, but just before he swung his second foot around, Astavakra said, “Stop King, Don't you know that you must have a guru to be able to realize God?” Immediately Janaka said, “Master, I give you my body, my mind and every belonging I possess.” Upon hearing this, Astavakra left to a nearby cave for several hours. When he returned, he was amazed to see Janaka still in the very same position he left him, with only one foot in the stirrup. Astavakra asked, “Oh, King, what happened to you? You haven’t moved for hours.” Janaka was vibrationless. He stated, “Master, I have given everything to you, and now I can’t find anything to do or to think.” Astavakra replied, “This foot in the saddle and self knowledge is meant for a high quality aspirant, and you are that. Janaka, behold this, that you are the ever liberated, pure, divine, eternal, self-illumined Self.” As Astavakra said these words, Janaka realized this truth within him self, and thus became enlightened.

This story illustrates the perfect relationship between a guru and a devotee. Janaka’s dedication to discovering the truth is so strong, that he is willing to pay any prize for that. Astavaka’s arrival at the palace just at this time, illustrates that point that an aspirant doesn't need to seek out a guru, the proper master will appear at the right time if there is a definite urge to know. Janaka demonstrates ideal devotion to his master through the complete surrender of his mind, body, and all possessions. He gives up everything of himself, and becomes completely still, without ego or attatchment. Astavakra then tests Janaka to see if this surrender is true. Janaka passes the test when he demonstrates such complete submission that he is unable to do anything else without the guidance of his guru. When Astravaska returns, he finds Janaka a very worthy aspirant with the proper level of devotion and surrender necessary to transcend to the divine experience of enlightenment upon the wish of his master. Also that for enlightenment, its not the spiritual practices like chanting or meditation, self discrimination etc which are necessary but the capacity to hold the idea or comprehension that we are all divine soul, ever free and eternal. For this comprehension, do we go through all these spiritual processes.

To attain the ultimate knowledge of divine unity, we as seekers, must have the necessary strength and courage to surrender all individuality and attachment, to lay down our armor, and be completely free so we so that we may surrender into the sea of universal soul. May we all be blessed with the knowledge and first hand experience of our very truest nature.

The frog in the well

What is Universality? How can all the religions be true, when there are so many divergent dogmas? The great Swami Vivekananda sought to address this question by telling the following story at the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893.

Once there was a little frog who lived in a well. He grew up in the well, and ate the food he found in the well. One day, another little frog fell into the well. The first frog asked, “Where did you come from?”

The second frog responded, “I come from the great sea.”

The first frog said, “Is it like this well?”

The second said, “How can you compare the sea to a well?”

The first little frog leaped across his well, and asked, “Is it so big?”

And the second little frog said, “Such nonsense you speak, to compare a sea to a well!”

The first frog became indignant and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. There can be nothing bigger than this well. You are a liar.”

There are many wells in this world; Christian wells, Islamic wells, Hindu wells, Pagan wells, Buddhist wells, and Jewish wells. But from where comes the source of this water in our well? Can we transcend these walls, and swim our way into the great sea that nourishes us all?

Religion is the form that brings explanation and context to the divine experience, but even this form can be transcended to the universal truths that lie beyond. This transcendence is the path that the Vedas teach, that the mystics meditate, that the yogi’s breath, and the Sufi’s whirl. It is the path of transcendence to the heart of God that lives within each of us.

Truly, you hold the sea within you. Dare to travel from beyond your well, and find the source of that water within you, and within us all. Dare to find out just who you really are.

PHILOSOPHY OF IVS.

Our slogan-" Man is God".
The international Vedanta Society solicits one and all irrespective of any caste, creed, sex or religion. IVS doesn't stress on worshipping any particular God or Goddess. It believes that the all powerful resides within everyone and this omnipresent is known as Iswara or God.
The International Vedanta Society doesn't speak of any rights for men or women because the society believes that everyone is born with their own rights. The task is only to make them aware about it. And the medium of serving this ideology is love.
The International Vedanta Society doesn't give any preferences to Sannyasins(monks) or householders. The society wishes to let every individual manifest their inherent divinity within. IVS believes that only Vedanta can change the trouble- tormented situation of the present day world. And that must come through love and the International Vedanta Society is spreading the message of Unity and love. IVS appeals everyone to perform some benevolent activities everyday. each one of us has a role to play. Let everyone play his own role.
We've heard many great good things in this world. But not much has been done. We must not differ in words and actions. IVS believes and respects all faith and religions.
The International Vedanta Society desires to build such a new civilization where man would have predominance.
The idol of IVS is "man"(Human Being).
"Man is truth above all else, nothing beyond prevails"
--- Bhagavan, the founder and core of IVS.

Newsdesk

Dear friends,
As a matter of our constant endeavor to improve the experience of the readers we are including albums containing photographs of Bhagavan in His different moods.Some of the photographs are published for the first time ever.I would also like the opportunity to appeal to our readers and members that if they have any photographs relating to Bhagavan and I.V.S., they may please send them to us at bhaktichaitanya@gmail.com or swamiprobuddhananda@yahoo.com and we will be happy to publish them in our blog and other publications.
With love and wishes,
In the service of Bhagavan,
Brahmachari Bhakti Chaitanya

Dear everybody,
I would like to thank and welcome everyone who visits this blog regularly.
Today, I come with another story explaining the essence of Vedanta. The last time, we saw how shallow our fears are when the truth is known. This time, with yet another story we would like to talk about the falseness of our bindings with this world, body, mind, ego, whatever it is. We all say, we are bounded, lets see how true we are..I present you with a story based on a wood cutter and his three donkeys.

Once, there was a very poor woodcutter who owned three donkeys. Everyday he would take his donkeys deep into the woods where he would chop trees, and load the wood on to the donkey’s backs. Every evening, he would return home. But one day, he was out too long, and the sky grew dark, and woods grew black and the woodcutter could not find the way out of the woods. He realized he would have to spend the night in the woods, and began searching for a place to stay. In the distance he saw a faint light, and as he approached it, he found a sage meditating by the fire at his hermitage. The woodcutter said, ‘I would like to stay here tonight as it has become too late for me to find my way out of the woods.” The sage agreed. The woodcutter lay down to go to sleep, but as he started to doze, he realized he hadn’t tied his donkeys. So, he asked the sage for rope. The sage said, “I have no ropes. Do you tie your donkeys every night?” The woodcutter answered “Yes, otherwise they may run away or be attacked by wild animals.” So the sage advised, “Go to the donkeys and just act as if you are tying them up.” The woodcutter did as he was told and pretended to tie the donkeys up. Then he went off to bed.

In the morning, the woodcutter awoke and found his donkeys right where he left them. He thanked the sage for his hospitality, and then started on his way home, but he was dismayed to find that the donkeys wouldn’t follow him. He said to the sage, “What have you done to my donkeys? They won’t follow me home!” The sage asked, “Did you untie your donkeys?” The woodcutter complained, “But I never tied them!” “The donkeys don’t know this,” said the sage, “Go untie them.” So, the woodcutter pretended to untie his donkeys, and the three followed him back home.

This is how we are. We have imaginary bondages but we think them as true like the donkeys.This idea exposes us to all sorts of sufferings in life. The spiritual Master shows us how false our idea about bondages are. We are never bounded, we are free by nature. Each soul is potentially divine, the goal is to manifest this divinity, as said by Swami Vivekananda. We are ever free. When somebody goes to a Master, Guru, he is told about this repeatedly,that you are neither the body nor the mind nor the ego, that, you are That, the Self, repeatedly, so that for once it comes to the comprehension of the disciple or aspirant about His true nature, that He is a soul, ever liberated, divine, eternal, birthless and deathless, not the body or mind or ego. Spiritual realization happens when this comprehension is reaches the saturated state.
Love to you all,
In the service of humanity,
Swami Probuddhananda.