The Katha Upanishad by Ekanath Easwaran (from "The Upanishads")

The foundation of Hinduism are the four Vedas – Rig, Yajur, Sama, and, Atharva. These together contain both the ritualistic form of the Hindu Religion, as well as its mystical essence. “Vedanta”, means the end of the Vedas. The Vedantic texts expound the philosophy behind the practice, and are also known as the ‘Upanishads’. Though the exact number of Upanishads has not been formally agreed upon, tradition considers 108 to be most worthy of being called Vedanta. 

The ‘Katha Upanishad’ is to be found in the Yajur Veda, and is one of the popular ones for exposition, perhaps partly due to its narrative form. A young boy, Nachiketa, witnesses his father giving away cows too old to produce milk. Dismayed, he requests his father to give him away too. In a fit of rage, the father consigns him to death: To death I give you!

Unperturbed, Nachikata sets off for the abode of the Lord of Death, Yama. But Yama is not present to greet him, and Nachiketa has to wait for three days for him to make his appearance. Slighting a guest is an egregious offence in Hindu culture, and mindful of this, the courteous Yama offers him three boons. The first two are easily taken care of. But when the boy makes his third request – to be told the secrets of the immortal Self – Yama demurs and tries to put him off, by laying forth an array of worldly temptations. Nachiketa bushes this aside,

These pleasures last until but tomorrow…How can we be desirous of wealth when we see your face and know we cannot live while you are here?

[The inference here is that one who is still swayed by the attractions of the world is by no means ready to receive the sacred secret. But once Death has tested Nachiketa, he finds him a worthy student. The caveat of Hindu spirituality is that wisdom can only be transferred when both Teacher and Student are equally ‘worthy’, meaning that the former is ripe to impart wisdom, and the other is ready to imbibe it.]

            Pleased with Nachiketa’s ardor, Yama begins his instruction. Though the path to be followed is laid out for the Seeker desirous of Enlightenment, the Katha Upanishad seems to lay emphasis on the over-riding nature of Divine Grace,

…behold the glory of the Self through the grace of the Lord of Love.

The Self can be attained only by those Whom the Self chooses. Verily unto them does the Self reveal himself…

            Easwaran remarks on Nachiketa’s shraddha (intense and abiding faith) in his commentary. His commentary of the Katha Upanishad is replete with shraddha as well - scholarly, yet remarkably free of any flights of philosophical fancy. That the Upanishad itself is deeply esoteric is however the very nature of Vedanta.

From Darkness to Light

The shadow that you cast is reduced bit by bit with every step that you take towards the Sun until the Sun shines right on the top of your head and the shadow crawls under your feet and disappears. So too, Maya (illusion) becomes less and less effective as you march towards Jnana (wisdom). When you are well established in your understanding, Maya falls at your feet and is powerless to deceive you any further; it disappears, as far as you are concerned. Though you cannot know while in this dual world, how Maya originated, you can know how it can be terminated and can succeed in exterminating its effects. Maya has no beginning but it has an end, for him who wins the light by which the darkness can be negated. 

- Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

De Profundis – Out of the Depths (Psalm 130)

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;

Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

to my voice in supplication:

If you, O Lord, mark iniquities,

Lord, who can stand?

But with you is forgiveness,

that you may be revered.

I trust in the Lord;

my soul trusts in his word.

My soul waits for the Lord,

more than sentinels wait for the dawn.

More than sentinels wait for the dawn,

let Israel wait for the Lord;

For with the Lord is kindness

and with him is plenteous redemption;

And he will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

Salvation

Buddhism:

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.

the Buddha, Gautama Siddhartha

Christianity:

In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

the Bible

Sufism:

One who discovers his own self, discovers God.

Sufi aphorism

Hinduism:

"But those who worship me, renouncing all actions in Me, regarding Me as the Supreme Goal, meditating on Me with single minded devotion.
For them whose thought is so set on Me, I will become very soon, the One to deliver them from this cycle of births and deaths (Reincarnation).” 

Bhagavad Gita, Chp. 12

Sikhism:

There is no other place of rest, none at all, except Naam, the Name of God. One attains success and salvation. All tasks perfectly resolve. 

Guru Granth Sahib

Good, Bad, Time

“Bad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not miss.”

-           Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it.”

-          Plutarch

“A man shares his days with hunger, thirst, and cold, with the good times and the bad, and the first part of being a man is to understand that.”

-          Louis L’Amour

“Regret for wasted time is more wasted time.”

-          Mason Cooley

“Certainly there are good and bad times, but our mood changes more often than our fortune.”

-          Jules Reynard

“If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.”

-          Maria Edgeworth

“Both political parties have their good times and bad times, only they have them at different times.”

-          Will Rogers

“Time is an illusion; lunchtime doubly so.”

-          Douglas Adams

A New Vision

Echolocation is a natural sonar found in the animal world most famously among dolphins, whales, and bats. The animal makes a sound, and the rebound of that noise enables it to gauge direction, distance, size, and even, texture of an object.We might think that this is merely one of the gifts that Nature has chosen to endow on a select few species. Perhaps, what is a natural instinct for one species is an untapped  ability for another.

Daniel Kish lost his eyesight when very young. However, by the time he was two and a half, he had already developed a form of echolocation that later enabled him to ride a bicycle, play tag, and climb trees. He uses the term 'FlashSonar' to describe his 'echovision'. He says that his method of clicking sounds, and listening to the patterns of sound reflections gives him 3D images of his surroundings.

Kish doesn't feel that he is unique, saying that there is historical evidence that others before him developed similar abilities. Trained as a psychologist, he later became the first fully blind person in the U.S. to become a certified orientation and mobility specialist, meaning he teaches the visually impaired how to get around. Since 2001, he quit his job to start a non-profit organization, World Access for the Blind, to share the secrets of FlashSonar with others like him.

The Source

When you put a step forward, there is God in it. It is the same current that makes the bulb shine, fan rotate and mike function. When you put off the main switch, all the electrical gadgets stop functioning. God is like the main switch. When you look at something, there is God in it. God is the Divine Force that makes everything function. When you forget God, it amounts to forgetting everything. Therefore, always love God. Kill the demons of your evil qualities. Only those who have good qualities can develop society. Strive for the progress of the society tirelessly.

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Thoughts for the New Year

Buddhism

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth…not going all the way, and not starting.

the Buddha

Taoism

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

 Lao Tzu

 Christianity

“For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

  

Hinduism

Life is a bridge, enjoy while crossing; but don’t build a castle on it.

the Upanishads

Native American

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.

Cherokee saying

Sufi Poetry

We are the guardians of His Beauty

We are the protectors
Of the Sun.

There is only one reason
We have followed God into this world:

To encourage laughter, freedom, dance
And love.

Let a noble cry inside of you speak to me
Saying,

"Hafiz,
Don't just sit there on the moon tonight
Doing nothing -

Help unfurl my heart into the Friend's Mind,
Help, Old Man, to heal my wounded wings!"

We are the companions of His Beauty
We are the guardians
Of Truth.

Every man, plant and creature in Existence,
Every woman, child, vein and note
Is a servant of our Beloved -

A harbinger of joy,
The harbinger of
Light.

Hafiz

Together

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”

-          John Lennon

"If you want to walk fast, walk alone.

If you want to walk far, walk together."

-          African proverb

“He that does good to another does good also to himself.”

-          Lucius Seneca

“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

-          Martin Luther King, Jr.

“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.”

-          Napoleon Hill

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”

-          Charles Darwin

“Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.”

-          Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there.”

- Virginia Burden
 

Winds of Change

Malawi is a land-locked country in the south eastern part of the African continent. Its friendly people have earned it the nickname - “the warm heart of Africa”.

William Kamkwamba is a native twenty-four year old Malawian inventor who is putting his ingenuity to good use in addressing some of the practical problems that plague his country.  Kamkwamba was forced to discontinue his education due to his family’s inability to pay his tution fees. Undeterred, he took to visiting his village library in an effort to continue his studies in the only way available to him.

            One of the books that caught his attention was called, Using Energy. It had pictures of windmills, and described their function. This inspired the resourceful young man to construct his first windmill for his family’s use. The unassuming contraption, put together from Blue Gum trees, bicycle parts, and recycled material from the local scrapyard, successfully powered his some of his family’s electrical appliances.

            Encouraged, Kamkwamba went on to build two other windmills in his village, and a solar-powered water pump, no small blessing for a nation which is ranked among the world’s ten poorest, where 90% of Malawians live in rural areas.

Build a better mouse-trap, and the world will beat a pathway to your doorstep. Kamkwamba received the 2010 GO Ingenuity Award. With the grant from this award, Kamkwamba plans to hold workshops, to pass on his skills to other Malawian youth, that they too may play a role in transforming the lives of their community.

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

 Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth” is a compelling follow-up to his transformative book, “The Power of Now”.

Tolle has a gift for distilling the essence of the world’s philosophies into one lucid synthesis. He is able to reconcile the wisdom of the Zen masters, Jesus, Vedanta, and Sufism, without watering down the originals.

In this book, he touches upon the Ego: its nature, its many manifestations, and awareness of the ego, as its best cure. He presents his statements as simple, irrefutable truth, with no effort to convince or persuade.

The book is lightened, and the reader enlightened, by the inclusion of simple, and often humorous, anecdotes that beautifully illustrate his perspective.

Some excerpts:

“Strictly speaking, you don’t think: Thinking happens to you. The statement “I think” implies volition…For most people this is not yet the case…Digestion happens, circulation happens, thinking happens.”

“The ego could be defined simply in this way: a dysfunctional relationship with the present moment.”

“…there are two ways of being unhappy. Not getting what you want is one. Getting what you want is another.”

“Nonresistance, nonjudgment, and nonattachment are the three aspects of true freedom and enlightened living.”

“…Not everybody however will have to go through drastic change in their external circumstances. At the other end of the spectrum you have people who stay exactly where they are and keep doing whatever they are doing. For them, only the how changes, not the what. This is not due to fear or inertia. What they are doing already is a perfect vehicle for consciousness to come into this world, and it needs no other. They too bring into manifestation the new earth.”