Namaskar Some more on Buddha and others. Regards Dharma --- Buddha and slander The major part of the slander in the world is based on falsehood. some indulge in it unknowingly, some because their petty interests are hurt, and others, under the compulsion of the mental propensity of harmfulness. A rich person once abused Lord Buddha. He remained unperturbed. By refusing to accept the abuse, he returned the slander. Slander or malicious gossip is mental disease. Why do those who suffer from this disease give indulgence to it? Evidently they get some pleasure out of it. Gossip-mongers are generally lazy people: they never have the opportunity of enjoying the pleasure of working, for they themselves do not work. Hence, they seek to fill the void of their minds, to some extent, by maligning others. They are the champions of mundane pleasure, for they fear the slight difficulties that the practice of supreme benevolence entails. These cowards only unleash their own mental pretensions before the public, glossing over their own hidden faults with the colourful language of slander. It is only out of fear that they seek to hide their misdeeds behind the screen of falsehood. A truly intelligent person will never give any indulgence to this baseness, for it will only become a source of a million-fold troubles. --- Suppose there is a good man. The moment he becomes bad, the reaction of his good actions starts. He is quite happy. He says, "When I was a good man, I was suffering. And now I am a bad man. What! Mine is an easy life!" When one asked Lord Buddha, "Why do good men suffer and bad men do not suffer, what is the reason ?" Buddha said: Pa'po'pi pashyati bhadram' yavo pa'pam na paccati Yada' ca pa'pam paccaati atha pa'pa'ni pashyati, Bhadro'pi pashyati pa'pam yavo bhadram na paccati Yada' na pacchati bhadram atha bhadra'ni pashyati. What is the language ? Yes, it is Pa'li language. What the Buddha said was in Pali language. Pa'pa means sin, but it appears to be very good. Virtue and vice. Bhadram means virtue. Pa'pa means vice. Pa'pa, Sin appears to be very good because the reaction of Pa'pa does not start. Suppose a man holding a ticket for lower class travels in upper class. He is quite happy. Without spending much money, he is quite happy. But when the ticket checker or the police will arrest him, then the reaction starts. The man is quite happy until the reaction starts. Pa'pa appears to be very good, but when the reaction starts, then the man feels that his original action was bad. When a man is good, his life is neat and clean, then he is to undergo so much suffering because of his goodness? It appears as if his goodness is a curse, his morality is a curse, but only until the reaction starts. When the reaction starts, then it is seen that what he did was good. That is why he is enjoying the good reactions. Who said these things? Buddha, in his Dharmapada, his Buddha Sutram. Nobody can avoid the suffering of reactions. Suffering due to good actions and suffering due to bad actions -- both are suffering. The reactions of good actions are just like a chain of gold, and reactions of bad actions are just like the sufferings of a chain of iron. Both are chains. The trouble is the same in both the cases. If the chain is made of gold, will the suffering be a lesser one? What? There is no difference between a gold chain and an iron chain. Gold chain or golden chain? Golden means that it looks like gold, but is not gold. Then what is a good man to do to save himself from bad reactions of bad actions and good reactions of good actions? In order to attain Salvation, he is to free himself from the reactions of good actions and bad actions. To save oneself from the reactions of bad actions, what may one do? Refrain from doing anything bad. He won't do anything bad, but he is to do something. While the body is with you, you can practise meditation. When your mind will be detached from your body, you won't be able to do anything, neither physical work nor spiritual work. So you are to do everything while this quinquelemental structure is with you. Even in your old age, you will not be able to perform spiritual practices properly if you do not start the practice from an early age. The best age for doing meditation (sa'dhana') is from 16 to 49, and the second-best age is from 5 to 16 and from 49 to 69. Before 5 or after 69, the glands are or become weak, distorted. So the best age for spiritual meditation (sa'dhana') is 16 to 49. Now what I say, it is for the devotees, for all the spiritual aspirants. It is the Supreme Truth. Repeating the words of Buddha I say: Sinca bhiks'u imam' na'bam' sttta' te lahumessati,' Chetva' ra'gam' ca dosam' ca tato nibban'am'ehisi. "Oh spiritual aspirant ! You are crossing this ocean of reaction. If you are to go to the other bank of the ocean of reaction, then you should be very cautious." Muinca pure muinca pacchato majjhe muinca bhabassa Pa'ragu', Sabbattha bimuttama'na'so na puna ja'tijaram' upehisi. You must not run after any psychic weakness, you must not cherish any psychic weakness. You must not go on remembering the sweet memory of your past. Your only goal is the Cosmic Consciousness and your only motive is to satisfy the Cosmic Consciousness by your action. Don't do anything bad, and offer the good reactions of good works to the Supreme Entity - that Cosmic Consciousness. Shrii Shrii Anandamurti 27 August 1979, Taipei --- Nisargadatta Maharaj said: The real world is beyond imagination. It is open, common to all, accessible to all. In this world there is community, insight, love, real quality. The individual is the total, the totality is the individual. All are one and the one is all. True happiness cannot be found in things that change and pass away. If your desires are personal, only for your own enjoyment, the energy behind them is necessarily limited; it cannot be more than you have. When you desire the common good, the whole world desires with you. Make humanity's desire your own and work for it. There you cannot fail. On the surface of universal consciousness, numberless waves of the phenomenal worlds arise to subside beginninglessly and endlessly. Death renews. Without death, we would have been bogged up forever in eternal senility. Existence is "particular" Only being is universal. -- Short Poems by Rumi * A Single Note With a single note the nightengale Makes me notice the rose Falling into that place Where everything is music. * Blossoming Sunlight spreads over a face in the shadows Like the flower of truth beginning to unfold. * My Beloved Know that my beloved is hidden from everyone Know that she is beyond the belief of all beliefs Know that my heart is as clear as the moon Know that she is the life in my body and in my soul -- Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. -Mark Twain Meditation gives rise to love for all, which is called devotion. When one loves some-body, one is also ready to sacrifice of one's self. This love, therefore, invokes the sentiment of renunciation and sacrifice, and further establishes us in the Cosmic stance. At this stage, one experiences the divine sport (liila) of the Supreme Entity and attains the bliss of true freedom. We see that our fundamental rights are meant to establish us in true freedom. In order to set ourselves free, the duties of actions which we must follow may be termed as our fundamental duties. Those humans who do not make the proper use of their fundamental rights are bound to be deprived of human potentialities by the operative faculty of the Supreme Entity and ultimately degenerate in the evolutionary ladder. Just as a police officer will lose his post if he misutilises it, so is the case with humans. Human life is valuable. It would be unfortunate if human beings fail to realize the gifts of God given to them. They should understand both their rights and responsibilities and utilize every second. They should also expand and use all their potentialities including body, mind, vital airs, and the unit consciousness for the benefit of the larger humanity. A healthy body requires a clean environment, a proper and balanced diet, daily bath and fasting on appropriate days. - Excerpt from A Spiritual Treasure of Jewels by Ac. Sraddhananda Avt. --- Autobiography of a Yogi (Original 1946 Edition) by Paramhansa Yogananda can be found at: http://www.crystalclarity.com/yogananda/ This is a classic and worth a read by anyone actively pursuing spiritual practices. ---