Conversation with Lord Krishna Conversation with Lord Krishna Dr. Varanasi Ramabrahmam Worldwide Circulation through Authorspress Global Network First Published in 2017 by Authorspress Q-2A Hauz Khas Enclave, New Delhi-110 016 (India) Phone: (0) 9818049852 e-mails: authorspress@rediffmail.com; authorspress@hotmail.com Website: www.authorspressbooks.com Conversation with Lord Krishna ISBN 978-93-5207-***-* Copyright © 2017 Varanasi Ramabrahmam Disclaimer This is a work of fiction. The characters and events are entirely imaginary and the names are fictitious and no personal reflections of any kind are intended. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the express written consent of the author. Printed in India at Krishna Offset, Shahdara Preface न देवो व यते का ठे न पाषाणे न मृ मये। भावषेु व यते देवः त मात ्भावो ह कारणम॥् Na devo vidyate kaashthe Na paashaane na mrunmaye Bhaaveshu vidyate devah Tasmaat bhaavo hi kaaranam The Lord lives not in the wooden carving Nor in the sculpture made of stone or clay; The Lord lives in our thoughts And it is through our thoughts that we see him; Dwell in everything, Everywhere, always Introduction Lord Krishna is the eighth incarnation, manifestation (avatara) of Lord Maha Vishnu. Lord Krishna is most beloved God and friend of many Indians. His birth, pranks at Brindavan, Love and courtship with Radha and other gopikas (cow-herd girls), conversation with Akrura, slaying of Kamsa, releasing his parents from prison, his discipleship at Sage Saandeepani's hermitage, his friendship with Kuchela (Sudaama), his relationship with and protection provided to Pandavas, his exposition of the Bhagavadgita in the battle-field, Kurukshetra, his role in the elimination of the evil and the wicked, his exposition to Uddhava and his avataara parisamaapti – the end moments of his avataara (manifestation) are all so engaging and absorbing that The Mahabhagavata, The Mahaahbhaarata, The Bhagavadgita are read daily and enlivened in the hearts and minds of Indians so enthusiastically, gladly, and His leelas – stories of Him and His pranks and other doings – are consumed with full appetite heartily. Bhakti s defined as unalloyed love for the Lord by the Narada Bhakti Sutras. They are very famous, popular and many devotees relate to and live with Lord Krishna through eleven kinds of Bhakti; love for the Lord enunciated in that work. They are: (a) Love for the glorification of the Lord's blessing qualities. (b) Love for His enchanting beauty. (c) Love for His worship. (d) Love for constant remembrance of Him and His 8  Varanasi Ramabrahmam name. (e) Love for His service. (f) Love for Him as friend. (g) Love for Him as one's child. Love for Him as beloved. (h) Love for Him in surrender and as servant to Him – dasaa. (i) Love for complete absorption in Him. (j) Love for pain of separation from Him. Of these sakhyam – cultivated by Sri Radha, gopikas, Arjuna – is my favorite relationship with the Lord. I cultivated sakhyam – friendship – with the Lord. Sakhyam has many advantages: first it puts us on the equal pedestal with the Lord in dearness, nearness, intimacy and the advaita concept of individual is not different from the Lord is joyfully celebrated, lived and enlivened. Krishna is Lord because He knows Himself and is confident of Himself. He is a great lover, spiritual teacher, politician, wellwisher, God, friend and is full of Love and Compassion. Intimacy cultivated with such a Divine Personality is celebrated in this work and Lord Krishna is Gracious to bless me with this composition. Also a brief introduction to many ancient Indian concepts are added as appendix to introduce the reader to the devotional and spiritual paths which will encourage the devotee to practice devotion, yoga, jnaana or related margas – paths in the pursuit of oneness with the Lord. To get a glimpse of jnaana marga, a fictitious conversation with Sri Ramana Maharshi in similar lines as conversation with Lord Krishna is also given as appendix together with these above brief sketches of truth, reality, devotion, yoga, faith, mind, serenity, meditation. The various issues discussed here with the Lord in and as contemplation are spiritual, devotional, worldly and contemporary too. Wish this composition delights the hearts of the readers. Subham Bhooyaat! One I recently had a delightful conversation with Lord Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Lord Maha Vishnu. The conversation has been in a dialogue form and the same is presented below. The conversation did not take place in a particular order.  That day I went for a morning walk. I was walking through a beautiful garden. The trees, the leaves, the creepers, the flowers, the fruits and the greenery greeted me with love and affection. I made enquiries with the buds, blossoming flowers and have observed the nature around. Just then the spring has set in. The cuckoos are singing hiding here and there after eating the tender mango leaves. The birds made pleasing and harmonious sounds. The cool morning breeze has touched me gently and made me feel better. The sun is rising in the east. When I am experiencing pleasantness and am joyful, I saw a figure under a mango tree appear before me. 'Kasturi tilaka' is on His forehead. He has worn 'Pitaambara'. A garland made of "mandaara"flowers is gracing His neck. Peacock feather is gleaming on His head. The tender bamboo stick touched by His rosy lips is playing melodiously the 'Bhoopala 10  Varanasi Ramabrahmam raaga'. Adorned like this, appeared before me the sky-blue complexioned God; the Lord who takes care of you and me; the venerated spouse of Goddess Lakshmi. He became the vision that filled my eyes. I ran towards Him like a released arrow with excitement, eagerness and joy. I reached Him and fell at his feet like a flower. My hands touched His lotus-feet. Raising my head, I looked at Mukunda. My eyes became tearful. Tears rolled down my cheeks. With tears of joy I washed the feet of the Lord. My excitement subsided. I became cheerful. Looks expressing devotion as leaves, affectionate salute with folded hands as sweet fruits, the chant of Narayana astaakshari as water and heart filled with love for Him as flowers, I offered the Lord and worshipped Him. He smeared my body with His hands, wiped out my tears and comforted me like my beloved and caressed me like mother. I closed my eyes in delight and enjoyed the hug of the Lord like a child. With the touch of Narayana, I experienced inexplicable bliss. Then I spoke to the Lord: You make us speak; you make us learn the alphabet, the language, the sciences, the arts and skills, and the tatva; you make us compose poetic works; you feast us all with the delights of our chanting your name. In which sequence of words shall I sing your glory my Lord, so that I am happy and you are delighted? You create all the tunes and fill the universe with melodious sounds. Nature overflows with joy by listening to your musical notes. How shall I sing your praise, in what raaga, except with anuraaga! Conversation with Lord Krishna  11 I do not observe any austerities. I do not know what meditation is. Mantra and tantra, I never heard about. Though my mind is always counseling to chant your name always, I am neglecting because of my laziness. Due to lack of discrimination I am unable to distinguish between the right and the wrong. In such a state of mind, I am unable to retain your form in my mind. Take care of me, Oh! Savior of Gajendra! Then Lord Krishna spoke enchantingly: I am you and you are I. There is no difference between us. Can you differentiate between water and water? In quality and essence you and I are same. Feel free with me. Then the following conversation has taken place between me and Lord Krishna.  I: I have some questions to ask you. Lord Krishna: Proceed. I: Many human-beings are either unable to show love and affection to their kith and kin, and near and dear, or fellow human and living beings, but are devoted to You deeply. Do You accept such devotion? Lord Krishna: No. One must love and show affection to one's kith and kin, and near and dear and fellow living beings first. Then they can be devoted to Me. I approve of and accept such devotion only. Neglecting near and dear ones and claiming as my devotee will not make one spiritual and such persons are not dear to Me. I: What is our best prayer to You? 12  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Lord Krishna: Your compassionate behavior towards fellow human beings, living beings and concern for the conservation of nature, is the best prayer to Me. I: We have among us genuine devotees, enlightened spiritual persons and also fundamentalists in all religions. How is it You all Gods are tolerating the dastardly acts of the fundamentalists? Lord Krishna: We, all Gods of all religions are like sun light, water, air, earth which sprout and sustain any kind of seed, and both crop and weed are allowed to grow simultaneously. I: Why won't you Gods remove the weed so that the crop is saved? Lord Krishna: Just as the removal of the weed is the duty and in the interest of the farmer, so also to eliminate fundamentalists is the duty of the rulers in the interest of the societies. Just as when farmer fails in his duty, sunlight, water, air and earth cannot be found fault with and blamed; so also the failure in duty of rulers cannot become basis to find fault with Gods and blame them for the acts of the fundamentalists. And a superior only guides and counsels, and will be inspiring the subordinates to act. Superior acts when the subordinate fails in his duty; that any way I am and other Gods are doing from times immemorial. The subordinate has to be conscious of one's duty. You cannot expect the superior only to act always. It is neither possible nor advisable/desirable. X Two I: To whom do You belong? Lord Krishna: We, the Gods of all religions belong to the creation as a whole. I: Do You, the Gods of religions take care of persons of respective faith only or you take care of every one irrespective of one's faith? Lord Krishna: We do not segregate persons into faiths and take care of them. Any of Us will take care of any person of any faith and We are never confined to the denominations created. I: But the religious preachers of various religions claim that their respective Gods alone can and will save the faithful and force us to join that faith and also talk derogatorily about Gods of other religions. Lord Krishna: It is their innocence and foolishness. I: Why You have created so many religions? Lord Krishna: I have a question for you. Why have You created so many languages? I: They have just evolved. Lord Krishna: So also faiths have evolved. I: You are the Lord and how is it that You are supporting the concept of evolution. 14  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Lord Krishna: Because both creation and evolution are My sports only. I: Who is God? Can we define? Lord Krishna: Put the question as "What is "God"? Human inquisitiveness and enthusiasm is God. I: The same question again, what is God? Lord Krishna: "Atmabudhiprakaasam eva divyatvam va daivam cha". He explained: God is the glow of your mind. He is the reservoir of compassion in you as your inner grace and love. God or Divinity is the invisible force in you and is being experienced without your being conscious about it and you will be able to experience it consciously too. All your mental activities are Divine guided by Divinity. God is present in you always as Divinity and whenever you are ego-free or transcended your ego that Divinity glows in you as serenity, peace and bliss. In reality and essence He is You. Thus Human consciousness filled with peace, silence and bliss is God. Human mind absorbed in these is known as released mind. The mental state then is moksha. I: Why God causes miseries to human beings? Lord Krishna: God does not cause anything but happiness and peace to human beings. God's language is compassion. Everything else is human creation, illusion and misunderstanding. Wrong knowledge leads to misery. Right knowledge keeps mind peaceful. I: What is right knowledge? Conversation with Lord Krishna  15 Lord Krishna: Knowledge is always compared with light and illumination. Possessing right knowledge is getting illumined. The knowledge which gives peace of mind and which prevents from losing this peace of mind during the vicissitudes of life is the right knowledge. Thus the right knowledge dispels our already acquired knowledge not able to give us peace of mind, which elders compare with darkness (tamas). Elders warn us that such acquiring and possession of right knowledge can make one arrogant. Actually one must be very careful and should not fall in more darkness by using it for self-aggrandizement (andham tamam pravisanti). The knowledge that humans are limited in their abilities, capabilities and the realization that one must cultivate humility and keep equanimity of mind both in elated and adverse situations is also right knowledge. You must also know that being religious and being spiritual differ slightly but profoundly. One can be spiritual without being religious. Religion is the dress and ornaments we wear. Spirituality is our essence. Shedding ego is essential for progress in spirituality. I: Why human beings are angry with and violent to fellow human beings and make all lives miserable? And why are You not preventing such atrocities? Lord Krishna: We do not want to rob the human beings of their independence and liberty. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Even Gods cannot poke their noses into such situations. The course chain of action and reaction has to get completed. Then only we can act. I: You spoke more as a physicist than God. What are the means of Your action? Lord Krishna: The compassionate hearts amd wise minds of humane human beings are our means of action. We act through 16  Varanasi Ramabrahmam them at the appropriate moment. We seldom act independently and individually. I: What is your comment about people who consult astrologers, vaastu experts, numerologists, swaamis, sanyaasis, baabaas, ammaas, and the like? Lord Krishna: Such reliefs are the attraction of weak and anxious and wavering minds not containing Me. The minds filled by Me do not get attracted to these reliefs. Believe in Me, you are relieved of every physical, mental, or other afflictions. Did I not say in Bhagawadgita, ananyaan chintayanto maam ye janaaha paryupaasate teshaam nitaabhiyuktaanaam yoga kshemam vahaami aham sarva dharmaan parityajya maamekam saranam vraja aham twaam sarva paapebhyo moksyayishyaami maa suchaha X Three I: Why people feel miserable? Lord Krishna: They feel miserable when events do not take place as they expect or when they do not get the things they aspire for; and when unexpected things happen. I: But poverty also makes one miserable. Lord Krishna: Yes. That is why haves must also take care of the have nots. I: Lord Budddha says desire is the root cause of misery. Lord Krishna: Desire is not the root cause of misery. The nature of human beings is to desire. There is no problem with desiring. The person who desires must know that what all one desires one need not or may not attain. They must be ready for disappointment also. Then there is no misery. One must cultivate the trait of taking things in one's own stride and must learn the art of absorbing pleasant and unpleasant words, events, and happenings. I: Why human beings sometimes suffer for no apparent reason? Lord Krishna: It is in human nature to suffer. When there are no real afflictions, one invents some. Continuous happiness bores individuals. And it is in nature also; order and disorder follow each other. It is a universal rule. 18  Varanasi Ramabrahmam I: Why so many isms have proliferated? Why You allowed such proliferation? Lord Krishna: Origin and evolution of isms are natural processes just as the sprouting and growth of vegetation. Every kind sprouts and grows. It is your wisdom which must decide which vegetation must be allowed to remain and which is to be rooted out. I: You are not taking any responsibility. Lord Krishna: I have already told that We act through living beings; and through animate and inanimate things too. They are both our medium and means of action. I: You told that human inquisitiveness and enthusiasm is God. Can I also add that God is a beautiful, romantic, pleasant, blissful and peace-giving imagination, feeling and idea of human beings. Lord Krishna: You have put it very beautifully. And it is always a puzzle whether We created you or you created Us. But it is a fine and beautiful arrangement. You made your transitory lives significant and purposeful by inventing Us, the Gods. I: It seems to me that we mutually created each other. Lord Krishna: Yes, true. I: What is Your message to non-believers? Lord Krishna: Let the non-believers scrutinize their behaviors and limitations before denying My Existence or before ridiculing and abusing God and believers. Let them live righteously. When you live righteously you need not believe in any. Reghteousness protects you. Dharmo rakshati rakshitaha; Criticizing God and Divinity is not righteousness. It is not civilized behavior too. Conversation with Lord Krishna  19 Atheists are also believers. They believe that I do not exist. Devotees believe that I exist. How is it, one belief is rational and other is not when both are beliefs only. This is all the play of different peculiar natures and traits in humans. It is not essential to believe in the existence of God. It is essential to have belief in oneself and in one's existence and to possess compassion. Compassion is a Divine Quality. Everything else is futile discussion and waste of time. It leads nowhere. I: Why You distract us with attractions and entertainments like cinema, TV, etc., and keep us glued to them; and not allow us to remember You, chant Your sweet divine Name and see that we are always engaged in Your smaranam. Lord Krishna: I do not do anything here. Only your natures guide you. I: Why won't you prevent us from such engagements doing something to our natures? Lord Krishna: I only can transcend nature. I: And also we view, find and experience You, Your Divinity and Presence in the love of men for women, women for men, husbands for wives, wives for husbands, parents for children, children for parents, humans for humans, and among other creation. And this compassionate and delightful sport of You, making us see you in and among us, is most dear to me. Lord Krishna: A very schrewd and aesthetic observation. I bless you. X Four I: You said in Bhagawad Gita, Karmanyevaadhikaraha te maa phaleshu kadaachana maa karmaphala hetur bhoohu maa te sango stva karmani I have something to say and ask about the above utterance of You. I want to do my bit in all my endeavors. But I cannot stop myself from thinking about the result of my action. But You forbode such thinking and asked us to just do our bit without thinking about the fruits of our doings and leave everything to You without getting entangled ourselves with the actions we perform. When we do not have attachment to our actions or fruits can we have motivation to act at all? I, of course, know that we need Your grace for everything to give fruits to our actions. Please resolve this dilema in me. Somehow I am not able to leave everything to you and I feel that as irresponsibility. Lord Krishna: You follow your intuition. Thoughts, feelings, volitions, and the like are generated by samskaara – the inbuilt tendencies which are genetic and previous karma – i.e., earlier actions. I: Even though You said in Bhagawadgita, Conversation with Lord Krishna  21 Vaasaamsi jeernaani yathaa vihaaya Navaani gruhnaatu naro aparaani Tathaa sareeraani vihaaya jeernaani Annyaani samyaati navaani dehee I intuitively believe that there are no further births and rebirths. Then from where this previous karma is accumulated. Lord Krishna: What do you mean by births and rebirths? I: When this body dies the soul transmigrates and attains a new body as torn out clothes are shed and new ones are worn – and this is the meaning of your utterance "vassamsi jeernaani.." quoted by me above. Lord Krishna: Your understanding about births and rebirths is not proper. Birth means, rise of ego, or self-consciousness in the form of me, mine, identifying falsely the "I" with the body and associated mental traits, gender, nationality and social status etc., and associated thoughts; death means absorption of this ego in Atman or Brahman and cessation thoughts about false "I". Then the ego sets. Soul is not correct translation for Atman or Brahman. "Self " is the correct translation which represents and signifies the word Atman fully and completely. Rise of ego when we wake up from sleep is birth. Absorption of ego in Atman in deep sleep is death. Again rise of ego when we wake up is rebirth. That is all. There is no transmigration of Atman as many believe. Like this rise and set of ego happens for all the duration of the body living. Only these are births and deaths. Indulging in or engaged in or involved in feelings, thoughts, moods and the like is living. Cessation of these is dying. All this happens in the observation of Prajnaanam, i.e., My Self. I am Prajnanaghana and am the witness and seer of all happenings within and without the body. 22  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Human beings normally have to live for hundred years. Some may die earlier and some later. Once the body becomes inert, that is, dies, everything ceases to be. We can perform all our duties and actions as long as the body is alive. All your learning, knowing, perception, reasoning, intellectual functions, experience, understanding, urges, volitions, teaching, communicating, feeling pains, hurts, joys, esctcasies, and indulging in all kinds of actions happen through the energy generated from Me. Thus all your living and dying before the body actually dies takes place in My presence and observation. And everything, ego, selfconsciousness, occurrence of mental functions and their cessations, dissolve in Me daily and absorption of ego in Me while the body is alive is Liberation, or Jeevanmukti. Nothing outlives death of the body. I: But many interpreted it in a different way and also You are contradcting Your own "vaasaamsi jeernaani..." statement! Lord Krishna: You have faith in Me and My present Utterance and listen to me. Ignore every other interpretation. I: Some say that Your devotees are identical with You and are even superior to You. What do You say about this? Lord Krishna: Anything in limits is alright. I: What is progress in life and what is living? Lord Krishna: One will not get in life what all one aspires for. But one must continue living cheerfully and this continuance is progress in life. X Five I: A Jnaani or enlightened spiritual person is equated with children. Why so? Lord Krishna: A child's concentration is completely on what is happening now. And the child completely forgets about it moment after the event. They do not carry any baggage called past or future. They live in the Present. The aim, purpose and use of spirituality are to acquire the ability to live in the Present and be peaceful always. I: Is it possible? Lord Krishna: One must not entertain doubts or apprehensions. One must have complete faith. Do not waste time in doubting or apprehending; do your duty properly at the appropriate time unmindful of the result and leave the fruits to Me. If you think of result you cannot concentrate on the present work and your efficiency in doing the work suffers and you will not be able to do the work according to your ability and capability. They will be punctured if you divert your attention to the results of your actions. I: I also like Your Divine Sport of causing us the illusion that we are doing everything by our abilities even though the reality is You doing everything. 24  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Lord Krishna: I admire and appreciate your humility in ascribing everything to Me and My ability or sport though the reality is you do everything and give the credit to me. I: Lord You are the Master of the Universe. Why won't You remove unhappiness, difficulties, crimes, atrocities and the like? Lord Krishna: I long to do it. But you have been not allowing Me to do that. I: You can punish us for our wrong doings. Lord Krishna: I have been punishing the wicked from times immemorial, but of no avail. Fresh people do fresh wrongs. You always keep Me busy with your wrong doings. You never allow me to take some rest. I have always to be on tenter hooks and attentive else I may punish wrongly. I: So this has to go on like this. Lord Krishna: Yes. Still, Paritraanaaya saadhoonaam Vinasaayacha duskrutaam Dharma samsthapanaarthaaya Sambhavaami yuge yuge X Six I: What is the use of Your Presence? Lord Krishna: My Presence gives peace of mind for the needy. I also help them to shine in their respective endeavors. I will make them experience the bliss of achievement just as the Sun just by and through his presence is responsible for all life to go on. I: Where are You? Lord Krishna: I am in your Faith. I: Do You exist otherwise? Lord Krishna: I am present always, while you are there, and also before and after your existence. Do you exist? I: Do not be diplomatic in answering. You are sounding more philosophical and vedantic. Lord Krishna: I am known for my diplomacy, teasing nature, romanticism and compassion. Vedanta is the description, summing up and essence of all Existence-Mine, yours and Universe's. I: You pervade the Universe and are present in everything and everywhere. So You are associated with cruelty, violence, cheating, killers, and the like negative things and vices also. Lord Krishna: The things you narrated are not Divine Qualities. 26  Varanasi Ramabrahmam I: So You are not present everywhere and in everything or in every person. Lord Krishna: There is no Time or Space, when or where I am not present. But My Presence is superimposed by demonic qualities and I am masked. This is the illusion created by ignorance and false knowledge. I: You are taking shelter behind logic. Lord Krishna: I am the Form of Logic and also I can transcend logic. When all reasoning, logic, doubt, apprehension, disbelief die I will shine and one can experience Me. I: Some monks, Peethaadhipatis, sanyasis, god-men, god-women, feel that they are superior to house-holders and even are arrogant enough to claim that they are Gods themselves. Lord Krishna: I disappear whenever ego in any form, or arrogance, rises. I: Many of these are fake, and claim that they took this job to help house-holders. Lord Krishna: It is their profession. They mastered the art of self-aggrandizing. They spend all their time, energy and ability to build these illusive "spiritual" empires. These persons are like the wooden spoon in the sweet dish. They are always with and in the sweet dish, they serve it to all but they do not know the sweet taste of the dish. If they know the taste they prefer to be silent and humility fills in their minds. I: So "spiritual persons" like these when not able to shed their ego are another kind of house-holders, is it not? Lord Krishna: True. They boost their ego by thinking they are able to attract many successful and rich people of the society and they tend to use the social status of their "devotees" for personal purpose too. They have more commitments than the Conversation with Lord Krishna  27 house-holders, manage huge properties, large amounts of cash and taint themselves by deluding to indulge in the same forbidden acts which they warn the house-holders to shun. I: Thus monks, sanyasis etc., engaged in financial transactions and owning properties are also house-holders only. Lord Krishna: True. They are house-holders of different kind. Their dress, ornamental and attractive speehes are used to earn more and more, both money and popularity. They are actually the runners of large house-holds. I: So just claiming they abstain from sex does not make them sanyasis. Lord Krishna: Yes. Who is afraid of or shuns opposite sex or sexual enjoyment cannot be a spiritual person. Merely abstaining from enjoyment of sex won't make one spiritual. Sometimes enjoying sex helps one to become and remain a shining spiritual person. You take My example. I have eight wives, sixteen thousand cowherd-damsels, Radha and the like and I enjoy sex with them. But I am known as "nitya brahmachari". Keeping the mind clean and unwavering and not identifying with the doer and not attached to the fruits of action makes one spiritual. You eat food when you are hungry and just will forget about it and will be involved in your other duties undisturbed. Same is true with enjoying sex. Any one shuns or is afraid of women is a coward and is behaving against nature and ends up in always thinking about them and sex with them. I: Why these gurus bore us with many dos and don'ts which they themselves exempt from and try to look down us for doing all these natural things? 28  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Lord Krishna: These commercial spiritual workers as I said earlier never tasted the bliss of being spiritual. How can they make you experience it? Their scholarship, conversatinal and oratory skills, money and vanity around amuse you and attract you. X NOTE A real guru is like catalyst in the chemical reaction. He enhances the speed of happening of the reaction and once the reaction is complete just leaves. He only enhances the rate of the reaction. He never participates in the reaction and remains the same before and after the reaction. You only will change. Once you change, there is no need of any guru any more. I: You know much chemistry too. And if the Guru leaves, after the reaction has taken place, how we will proceed in spiritual quest from then onwards? Lord Krishna: I am omniscient. I know all disciplines. Your intuition plays the role of guru and guides after you guru leaves you. Real spiritual teachers know this and their concern is always to help you and not get help from you. The popularity and fame attainded by fake gurus make them arrogant boosting their ego and this will lead to their fall. Such people can never attain moksha. And can never help their devotees attain moksha. I: What is moksha? Lord Krishna: I answered this earlier. Again listen. Shedding ego and forgetting self-consciousness is moksha. Once self-consciousness gets dissolved I, who am present always within you as Prajnaanam, will shine as pure consciousness, peace, bliss, silence and unoccupied awareness. You will be I. And moksha is attained by the Grace of God. Your intense desire to attain moksha and practice of spiritual methods make God to have Grace on you and Conversation with Lord Krishna  29 lead and guide you till moksha is attained by you. God's Grace is like grip of tiger. Onceit gets the grip tiger never allows the prey to escape it. So also God never leaves the aspiring devotee till he attains moksha. From then onwards it is the business and duty of God to take care of you and give you moksha. Your only duty during period is to adhere to His words, teachings and the wise words of seers. Seven I: You said You are Omniscient, are you adept in sciences, arts, skills, languages and fine arts? Lord Krishna: Yes. From Me only all these have originated and will dissolve in me at pralayam. I: What is pralayam? Lord Krishna: The mental phase or state when all mental functions in the form of experiences, understanding, moods, intuitions, urges, senses, meanings, thoughrs, feelings, perceptions, knowing, learning, teaching, communicating, cease to be. The phase of Brahman or Atman experiencing bliss, peace and silence is the state of pralayam. I: So pralayam is not the time when all the universe is inundated with water and You alone remain on Adisesha in yoga nidra. Lord Krishna: Yes. In yoga nidra, yoga means of union, union of ego, self-consciousness, experienced and perceived with Me and nidra means cessation of all the mental activities. I am the source, sustainer and dissolver of mind, its functions and the projections it creates of the external and internal world. I: I know that music is flow of harmonious sounds in the form of tunes; language and literature as flow of sense and meaning; Social sciences and physical sciences as flow of concepts, ideas, Conversation with Lord Krishna  31 expressing and leading to understanding and insight; philosophy as flow of experience. What is spirituality? Lord Krishna: Spirituality is flow of peace, bliss, silence, unalloyed love releasing one from bonds and makes one liberated, independent and free from unnecessary feeling, thinking, and helps in efficiently performing one's duties worldly activities. I: Both sinners and righteous people seek Your help, to whom You respond? I: I respond to everyone. I will see to it that justice and truth prevail over malice and selfish intentions. I: What is your opinion about love? Lord Krishna: Love and lust happen naturally and transcend societal expectations, restrictions, obligations and morals. My love affair with Radha is an illustrious example in this regard. It is advaita in practice. I: If morals are not followed in love and lust, will it not be a negative example and role model and lead to choas? Lord Krishna: Love happens naturally. Love happens as south breeze touches; as flowers bloom; as moon-light cools; as sunshine warms; as affectionate and dear touch soothes; as rivers flow; as currents swirl; as waves drench; as rains pour; as bliss fills; as peace descends and as Divinity obliges and illumines. Loving is a delightful human trait. The one who is not drenched by rain and who has not fallen in love does not exist. Love defies logic or reasoning or standards in all aspects and respects. The origin and dissolution of the Universe and other happenings are alternate order and choas. 32  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Love, when associated with sincerity, and the love is unalloyed, is a sure means for attaining advaita state of mind, that is, the state of bliss, peace and silence. I: Rajneesh also said this. Lord Krishna: He confined to sexual act and thus attracted many in his initial days. Love of his brand is not a pure, enlightened and emanicipating. That is why he himself could not save from the disgrace he experienced in the last phase of his life. Love is primary trait of living beings. But in practice it is confused as just engaging opposite sex with intelligent words and phrases, without both individuals surrendering their identities to the sublime faith, understanding, and insight needed for success and contentment, So most of the times ditching takes place and hearts break. Love is a double-edged knife. One must handle it carefully. X Eight I: Is it a must that we must follow brahmacharyam to have a glimpse and then an experience of You? Lord Krishna: What do you mean brahmacharyam? I: Astaining from sex. Lord Krishna: The meaning of brahmacharyam is to freely roam in Brahman. All the seers always enjoy the meanings of spiritual expressions (vedaanata vaaakyeshu sadaa ramanti) and merge their minds in the purport and import (essence) of the expressions. That is called brahmacharyam. And thus brahmacharyam means to keep Me always in your thoughts, feelings and moods and have an understanding and insight of Me. I: So one can happily enjoy sex and also can be a spiritual aspirant. Lord Krishan: Definitely and undoubtedly. Spirituaaly never forbids fulfillment of natural desires. The desire to have sex is as pious as the desisre to attain moksha. "kaami gaaka mokshakaami kadu" – that means, one who does not know to desire can not desire moksha too. I: Societal objections? Lord Krishan: Take care of them. I will take care of you. Always chant my name. 34  Varanasi Ramabrahmam I: Some are engaged in the refurbishing of culture, religion etc., and feel but for them nothing happens and feel they are superior to ordinary folks like me and they many times completely forget You and take credit for all their acheivements and also are hijacking Indian culture for selfish purposes. Why are You allowing this and are not ridding them of their illusion and uncultured acts? Lord Krishna: All actions are inspired by rajo guna. Such persons will have such tendencies. I will enter when they are completely masked by illusion and do the needful for the society. I: You said that you know all subjects, skills, fine arts and languages? How is it possible? Lord Krishna: Know that I am saastra yoni, the womb of all knowledge. Know that I am silence, the essence of all the languages. Languages in the form of meanings, sentences, words and expressions originate and dissolve in silence thus enabling you to know, cognize, perceive, intuit, experience, understand and become knowledgeable, scholars and intellectuals. I: Numerous sects are available in Hindu religion believing in many Gods and Goddesses. How You reconcile them and maintain harmonious relationship among them? Is there a superior sect in Hinduism? Lord Krishna: As God it is my duty to keep harmony in society, creation and universe. Not only We, the Gods and Goddesses, manage Hindu sects, bul also all religons together. I: Do YOU, all Gods of all religions meet regularly? Lord Krishna: Yes WE meet and try to reconcile through humane human beings. We will be continuously striving and trying for peaceful coexistence of all human beings of all Conversation with Lord Krishna  35 denominations, nature, other living beings and the whole Universe as a whole. I: Why You have created caste system? You so clearly claimed about it in Bhagawadgita saying "mayaa srustam." and took the credit for that. Lord Krishna: A seer like you put those words in my mouth. I: Did You not create caste system? Lord Krishna: When human being is clouded with ego and illusive identity with body and social status, creates and sees these differences. When becomes spiritual, does not see these differences. I: You again turned vedantic. Lord Krishna: No, not at all. You have studied and are teaching physics. Can same amount of substance be solid and liquid simultaneously? At a particular time and space it is solid. At the same space at a different time it is liquid. When solid is there liauid ceases to exist and is absent. When liquid is present solid ceases to exist and is absent. Same substance transforms both ways under the influence of energy available and environment. Energy both changes and transforms. Delusion as superior or otherwise is influence of maya, the virtual form of mental energy. Similarly in a particular phase of mind and perception, one is discriminative. The same person in a different phase of mind with insight is above discrimination. I termed such persons as samadarsinaha in the stanza: Vidyaa vinaya sampanne Braahmane gavi hastini Sunichaiva swapake cha Panditaaha samadarnihana 36  Varanasi Ramabrahmam As long as egos exist so long exist these discriminations. Even now you are all not treating all human beings equally. White skinned people discriminate against black and brown skinned people. Political parties, regional group leaders and caste champions, all have their own unchallenged reverse discriminations. Union leaders are behaving as caste leaders and created new caste system and are exploiting you. Even now University teachers, bank employee, daily wage laborers, are all not living equally. And all of them have their own egos and identities. They do not agree all of them are equal. They feel superior or inferior. And observe nature, you will realize that equality is a myth and nature possesses all kinds of stuff which are not equal but are different and diverse. Only NGOs and politicians talk about equality. Profession always brings in vanity. A software engineer before recession is not as attractive to bride's parents as after recession. Discrimination for or against exists always. The form of practice only changes. Then or now, certain social and political groups dominate the social scene and corner the benefits. And vehemently denounce and silence who ever points out their selfish behavior which they criticize in others. All humanbeings are opportunistic. They commend or critcize to suit their purposes. No one is above board in this regard. If majority agree, injustice displaces justice and glitters as "divine" dispensation... And in practice no one observes and can observe equality. It is impossible. All of you, including the people claiming fighting against discrimination discriminate. Just as a cat assumes that no one is observing it when it drinks milk closing its eyes, so also these fighters against discrimination assume. Conversation with Lord Krishna  37 Until they are rudely shocked with courage throwing on their face proofs for their wrong doings they thrive talking and denouncing culture, scholarship, and use caste for their selfish ends and do not allow caste system to be removed. Have notes are exploited by your politicians in the name of every division. They are actually perpetuating these divisions for their vote bank politics. X Nine I: But there is a long standing and vehement criticism from Buddhism, Jainism days, that Brahmins and Brahmanism are responsible for all societal ills and discriminations for the way they have exploited the other caste and communities people in India. Lord Krishna: Now politicians have taken their place. Politicians now found vested interest in these divisions and never allow you all to feel and live as one society. They won't allow you to rob them of their livelihood. Also note Brahmins were never in charge of technology and engineering in India. They were managed and maintained by various communities. And now the rush and demand is for engineering and technology courses only. Brahmins are wrongly blamed for a societal system which has originated, evolved and was sustained by all the involved parties. I: Are You a God created by and fond of Brahmins? Lord Krishna: I am fond of scholarship, spirituality, justness, reality and truth. I am fearless too to speak about them. I am not fond of just one community. But I am fond of enlightened persons and humane human beings who are righteous, perform their duties and if possible also help their fellow human beings and creation around. Conversation with Lord Krishna  39 And I myself not Am a Brahmin according to Vyasa. And sage Vyasa himself is not a Brahmin in the technical sense of the term and common perception. In reality I am personification of Love and Compassion transcending every division and classification. All are dear to Me. I am dear to all. I: Even though I conversed so long and You are gracious enough to answer me with love, affection and care I feel the life of a human being takes the course of a rudderless bout in the vast ocean of time drifting and not sailing in a controlled way. I do not mean that You are not doing anything in relation to this but I get this feeling of left alone or unattended, or allowed to drift, by repeatedly observing the course of lives of myself and my near and dear and also generally the lives of people in the society. But it appears as such that things are happening in a random and not in an orderly way. Lord Krishna: It is not so. There is invisible force behind. Just as there is an order in the evolution of species there is also an order in the course of human lives. I: You are again talking more as a scientist, but scientists give the nature of force. Lord Krishna: Where is the rule that God should not be a scientist? Are your attempts for a unified field theory bear any fruits? I: We are in the process of unifying and will give the explanation when we arrive at it. For the present we do not have the equations or explanation. Lord Krishna: That is nice. Just as equations and explanation for your unified field theory are presently not available, so also My 40  Varanasi Ramabrahmam explanation about the invisible force influencing, counseling and guiding humans and life systems and the Universe as a wgike, is presently not available. I will make it available at the appropriate and appointed time. Until then just believe in Me. I: Believing and having faith are against scientific spirit. Lord Krishna: Is it so? Does electron exist? I: Surely. Lord Krishna: Have you seen it or have conducted the experiment of J.J. Thomson and then accepted the existence of electron? I: No. Lord Krishna: Why are you saying that electron exists and also lecturing about its existence and subsequent science about it? You do not know that you have believed in its existence by having faith in the sincerity of scientists and accepted their authority blindly without you ever trying to prove the existence of electron. Similarly, in spirituality and religion, authority rules and common people accept it without questioning as you have accepted the authority of scientists and are believing in the existence of electron unquestingly. I: But, any time anyone, can conduct the experiment of J. J. Thomson and verify for oneself the existence of electron. Lord Krishna: Yes true. Similarly spiritual truths also can be verified. One does not have any right and does not deserve, to criticize spiritual truths without one ever trying to follow the path prescribed and conducting the spiritual experiment. Spirituality is equal to and is even above every secular, scientific Conversation with Lord Krishna  41 etc., knowledge in that sense of scientific spirit and possesses authority equal to them. And you must know we know through three kinds of means: they are direct, through sense organs, by inferring as chemistry students never see the radical but infer its presence by observing the result of their experimental tests and then faithfully accepting the authority of seers and enlightened spiritual persons just as ordinary science students, teachers, lecturers and professors and research personnel accept, self-proclaimed rationalists, and the like, accept the authority of earlier scientists without questioning of every trying their experiments and proceed from there. So knowledge is obtained and attained directly through sense organs; by inference; and by accepting authority in faith. These three means are same for any knowledge, scientific, spiritual or worldly. I: Thank you Lord for the beautiful and delightful conversation, I take leave of You. Be my anchor. Play the role of earth to trees, basement to buildings, mother to infants, and father to children. Lord Krishna: Welcome, yes I will be and actually I have been to all of you since start of Universe and life. I am always for you, in you and with you. You can never take leave of Me. I am you and you are I. Samasta sanmaangalaani bhavantu! Sarve janaaha sukhino bhavantu! Sreerastu! Subhamastu! X Appendix I Articles Summarizing Indian Spirituality and Wisdom TRUTH AND REALITY Daily at the end of my "anusthaanam" – (spiritual ritual)", I make a strong, fervent and sincere prayer to the Divinity that intellectuals and scholars in the world should be fearless and speak the truth without any inhibitions. This has been the tradition of our ancestors and speaking truth is essential for the benefit of the society and the society will be able to know the actualities and act on them. Normally the rulers do not like the truth to be known. Also leaders of ideologies, religions, their supporters and the like also do not like the truth to be known to the ordinary people. The writers are normally and should be fearless such that the ills and evils in the society are exposed and remedial measures are taken. But what is truth? Truth is what it is or as it is irrespective of perceptions of the individuals. Reality is what we see of truth; how much we see of truth. Reality is always dictated by our mental make-up, likes, dislikes, limitations in our ability and willingness to see, view, comprehend and accept the truth. Reality is individual's perception of the truth. Truth, most of the times, is only perceived and rarely understood or experienced. Thus reality is Conversation with Lord Krishna  43 limited truth. Reality is either inability to be truthful or inability and limitations of the individual to see the truth unbiased. Also Truth corresponds to the individual, about himself, his Self and the reality corresponds to the objective world within and without the body of the individual. Real situations are compromised states of existence in the attempt of pursuit of the truth. We all talk about truth limited by our perception and not the truth most of the times. We have compulsions inbuilt, acquired or imagined not to accept the truth and allow truth to be spoken or spread through us. But truth is a flowing river. It may flood us but it never dries up. On the other the reality is like a stagnated lake. Our fear of repercussions taking place if we speak, accept or propagate truth, make us real and not truthful. We prefer peaceful and calm life. We call that realistic approach and adjust and compromise. Thus, most of the times, we are not truthful. We are all limited and confined to our perceptions of truth. Truth is best revealed when understood or experienced. But we rarely get such insight. All our knowledge and information is hearsay through books, newspapers, magazines, radio and TV news channels, web sites etc.,. We are all aware that these books and news items are filtered through the editors and owners of these media. Thus the perceptions of these responsible and financing individuals decide the truth content in the item. We pick up these as truth and argue or form our own perceptions. Sometimes the editorial policy of the editors or owners of these media do not allow truth as it is to reach us when they find it objectionable in that form. Thus truth is never completely known or allowed to be known and hence not completely comprehended. The fears, imaginations, illusions shape our perceptions and our comprehension of the truth. Many times it appears that no 44  Varanasi Ramabrahmam absolute truth exists or known, perceived or understood and experienced. Just as feelings and perceptions of good and bad and other qualities, truth is also relative as "truth to me", "truth to him", "truth to you", "truth to them" and a truth accepted by all is not possible and available to be expressed, accepted or spread and we all mistake our perceptions of truth as truth without understanding or experiencing the truth. But truth is like fire. It cannot be hidden or held in the palm. Truth sneaks through our cautions and suppressions and declares itself. ON DEVOTION Bhakti (Devotion) is the most profound human emotion that merges the individual's identity with the Divinity. Bhakti has many definitions. Two definitions are discussed here; "Saa (bhakti) tu asmin paramaprema roopaa" – is the most famous and popular definition of Bhakti from the Narada Bhakti Sutras. This means that Bhakti is the unalloyed love for God. This love is paramam (ultimate). Paramam also means that this love happens and exists without expecting anything in return. It is loving for the sake of loving. In this process we employ our sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin) to know about God and Divinity. Our eyes see his Divine Form. Our ears listen to his Divine Name and deeds etc.,. We also employ our action organs (movements of hands, movements of legs, movement of vocal chords (speech) etc., to reach God through daily worship and chanting His Name and other prayers. In Mukunda Mala, Kulasekhara Alwar puts this very beautifully. Jihve keertaya Kesavam – My tongue! Sing the praise of Kesava! Muraripum cheto bhaja – My mind! Always think of the Enemy of the demon Mura! Conversation with Lord Krishna  45 Sridharam panidwandva samarcha – My pair of hands! Worship Sridhara! Achyuta kathaha srotra dwayam tvam srunu – My pair of ears! Listen to the stories of Achyuta! Krishanm lokaya lochana dwaye – My pair eyes! Behold Krishna! Harergachanghriyugmaalayam – My pair of feet! Go to Hari's abode! Jighra ghraana Mukunda paada tulaseem – My nose! Smell the fragrance of tulasi at Mukunda's feet! Moordha nama Adhokshajam – My head! Bow to Adhokshaja! It must be known to us that we know through sense organs and all this information is stored as inner mental world in us. We get our thoughts and feelings based on this accumulated information. If we accumulate mundane information we get thoughts about mundane matters. If we accumulate sensual information we get sensual thoughts. If we accumulate information about God and Divinity we get thoughts about God and Divinity. We also act and react through action organs (hands, legs, speech etc.,) depending on the information known through sense organs and accumulated within us. This inner mental world with information about outside world has already been formed in us since our infancy. We can consciously change this inner mental world by rewriting on available information the information about God and Divinity. This, we can do by employing our sense organs as described and accumulate Divine Information. Then we automatically get pleasant and blissful thoughts and feelings. That is how our Elders have started the tradition of Bhakti in which all our faculties and organs are involved with Divinity. A simple sloka from Mukunda Mala like, 46  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Namaami naaraayan pada pankajam (I salute to the lotus feet of Narayana) Karomi naraayana poojanam sada (I always do the worship of Narayana) Vadaami narayaana nama nirmalam (I always utter the crystal pure name of Narayana) Smaraami narayana tatvam avyayam (I always contemplate on the Unchanging nature of Narayana) causes communion with the Lord. We can accumulate information like this about our favorite Deity. In Sivananda Lahari Sri Sankraacharya says: Amkolam nijabija santati ayaskantopalam suchika Saadhvi naija vibhum lata kshitiruham sindhussaritvallabham Praapnoteeha yatha tatha pasupatehe padaaravinda dwayam Cheto vrittihi upetya tisthati sada sa bhaktirituchyate Meaning: Just as the seeds of Amkola tree stuck to it again, iron needle is attracted to magnet, youthful woman reaches her husband, creeper entwines the tree, and the river flows into the sea, so an individual is attracted to and reaches Pasupati's (Siva's)feet. Bhakti is state of cessation of working or/and absorption in the Selfof antahkarnas (inner mental tools – manas, buddhi, chittam and ahamkaram) and resting thus always. Many more beautiful expressions about bhakti are available in our literature. The most famous bhaktas (devotees) are spread throughout our country. Some names are: The alwars and nayanamars of Tamil country; Chaitanya Maha Prabhu, Jayadeva, Tukaram, Sakkubai, Purandaradasa, Annamayya, Ramadasa, Kabir, Suradas, Haridas, Meerabai, Kshetrayya, Narayanateertha, Conversation with Lord Krishna  47 Sadasivebrahmendra, Tyagaraja and many such eminent personalities. This is all saguna bhkti. Let us see nirguna bhakti. Swaswaroopa anusandhanaam bhakti iti abhidheeyate – is a famous nirguna definition of bhakti. This has interesting implications. Bhakti is tuning ourselves to our original state and form the state of Saanta Rasa. This original state (rasa sthiti) is the state of bliss, peace and silence. In these experience states, our identity as the individual is merged in the Real Identity that is – ego, time and thought transcending state of mind. This happens when we contemplate about spiritual expressions and arrive at the destination i.e., rasa sthiti. This approach is the path of artha bhaavanam (contemplation on the meaning). When we understand we experience. When we experience we understand. Experience and understanding are simultaneous. The experience of meanings and senses of uttered (heard) sounds and sentences or comprehension of Divine Utterances and their implications makes us reach the tatpara (absorbed and being one with tat (Divinity) or taatparya (purport or import or rasa) state of language. We must be aware that we use the same mind to learn and master the languages and rest of the disciplines as we use for doing our tasks in daily life. The state of thoughts or feelings is known as vibhakti state of mind. We all know that vibhakti is case forms, endings and terminations in the theory of language. Patanjali and Bhartruhari have initiated, nurtured and developed a theory of language acquisition and communication making use of the same Advaita concept of Vedantins. This will be dealt with in another article. Bhakti thus is description of devotion to favorite Deity and also the essential part and essence of the theory of language. 48  Varanasi Ramabrahmam TIME AND MIND Time plays a significant, influential and useful role in our lives. Our daily routine is time-based and time-bound. The origin, being and cessation of things, objects, events, thoughts and life systems are time-related. All natural, man-made and maninitiated processes take place according to Time and its Passage. In all disciplines of learning Time has a prominent role to play. We 'know' what Time is. Earth spins around itself and simultaneously revolves round the Sun. Based on these movements, day and night are created and the Passage of Time is experienced and measured by us. We have knowledge of the extent of Passage of Time by referring to watches, clocks, various time-measuring devices, calendars, almanacs etc. The awareness of Time through these measures is only a facet of nature Time and is not comprehensive and complete. Awareness of nature of Time is varied and is not unique. Like the understanding of Divinity, the understanding about Time is multiple. Time has many forms, structures, natures and has been viewed, defined and understood variedly as movement, change or becoming. We are all leading stressful personal and professional lives with the associated pulls and pushes straining ourselves; sometimes beyond our ability, capacity and capability. We long for calmness to fill in our minds and we have peace of mind. We pray the Almighty for peace of mind. Some of us who do not believe in God have our own ways of de-stressing ourselves. Thus we, the seekers of peace of mind desire and attempt to know the nature of mind and the way to relax. Some of us take refuge in our Protector. We follow the path of spirituality. We listen to (sravana), meditate on (manana) and convert the insight thus gained by contemplation into experience (nididhyasana) about Conversation with Lord Krishna  49 Almighty or Self. Almighty and Self are synonyms representing Divinity, our original self. Self can also be taken as the natural or normal or original state of mind. We then can know about the Self and merge our self in a chosen quality of the Self. We can get Self-Realization and dwell in it and with it. As part of this we now try to know and be aware of the nature of time, time-flow as past, present and future, and timetranscendence. It is known to us through our beloved Srikrishnaparamatma that He is both Time and Timetranscendence. Srikrishna famously said: "Aham kaalah asmi" (I am Time). To realize the nature of time-transcendence we must know about Time-its nature, structure, form and flow. Time is of two kinds: physical and psychological. Time eternally flows transforming seconds into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days, days into months, months into years, years into decades, decades into centuries, centuries into millenniums and like that. All this is physical time and its flow. We get tuned to this physical time and happenings in it by attaching ourselves to these happenings with an egoistic mind as I, me and mine. Our tuning and attachment through the egoistic mind creates another time and time-consciousness in us. This creation takes place in the wakeful conscious state of mind and is experienced in wakeful and dream conscious states of mind. This is called psychological time or time-space. The eternal Self (paramatma) transcends both these physical and psychological times and their flows. Self exists in us as prajnanam (Witness) and makes us be aware of physical and psychological times and their passages. During those phases of awareness, Prajnaam as seer makes us experience the respective experiences. 50  Varanasi Ramabrahmam We cannot stop the flow of physical time. The psychological time is experienced by us as past, present and future in different phases or conscious states of mind. It creates time-whirlpool in us and spins us in it. Our mental time and its flow is the series of rising and setting of various phases of mind – wakeful, dream and deep sleep – and the acquiring of knowledge, skills, thoughts, feelings, experiences etc., or cessation of thought process happening during those phases. "I, I am doing, it is mine, it has happened to me, I am hurt, I am happy, I am experiencing, etc.," thoughts, feelings and experiences exist in our awareness and create in us moods. When we are learning, knowing, these acquisitions create in us experiences and these will from our memory. These memories will be within us in a long-standing way. These memories of happenings though happened long time back in view of physical time flow or passage, get stirred and activated in the present causing happiness or unhappiness respectively. According to these we will get anger, lust, jealousy, arrogance etc.,. We get thoughts and feelings accordingly and we will be disturbed in the present. Thus the remembrances and thoughts about past happenings and their impression on us from our psychological past. Because we do not have enough mental strength we cannot come out of this past which is just psychological and torture ourselves and live mentally in the past only. Future disturbs us equally as our past. We fear, become anxious and wildly or romantically imagine about future happenings based on what has happened to us in the past, what we know and experienced. Thus the future which we feel will happen to us, is our mere thoughts in the present as imaginations, doubts, Conversation with Lord Krishna  51 fears or anxieties. Thus when we carefully observe we become aware that both our past and future are our thoughts in the present. If somehow we can manage to arrest these unpleasant thoughts we will easily come out of this vicious circle of yesterday and tomorrow and live in the present. We need to submit ourselves before Divinity by thought, word and deed. We then offer our self-consciousness and ego to the Lord and submerge our "selves" in Him. When we do like this, we will avoid the thoughts relating to I, me and mine. These thoughts not only stop but will permanently cease to arise in us. This cessation of thoughts forms is time-or mindtranscendence. By God's Grace we can transcend the psychological time-flow which exists in us in the form of thought-flow. Mind becomes calm and peaceful when we shed our ego and fill it with the insight about Divinity. Then we can live attributing everything and happening to God's will and take everything with equanimity in our stride. Then we have more pleasantness and mind acquires strength to face life. We will tackle all problems with courage and calmness. We will be rid of thoughts about past or future. We live peacefully and blissfully not getting reminded of ego transcending time. We live in the present. We live in tranquility. ROLE OF FAITH IN HUMAN LIVES Faith is a sublime state of human mind. It is a state of mind free from the rigors of logic and reasoning. It is a state of experience and understanding too. Faith creates insight straight away. Intuition, which is beyond and transcends logic, originates from and leads to, a state of understanding, experience and faith. As science students we know that the element iodine directly 52  Varanasi Ramabrahmam becomes gas or vapor skipping the phase of liquid, transforming from the solid phase. The process is called sublimation. Human mind knows, perceives, reasons out, experiences, understands and forms an insight. This is the usual procedure. Certain times we can directly understand immediately after knowing, skipping the phase of reasoning and knowing becomes perception and instantaneously becomes understanding. State or phase of understanding is the phase of experience and also of intuition. It is the experience of all of us that intuition plays an important and useful role in our daily worldly, professional, devotional, spiritual and the like lives. Intuition is result of the state of understanding or experience which by passes the route of intellectual exercises in the form of logic, induction, deduction etc., We become sublime human beings if we have faith in us, our near and dear and divinity. It is our experience that, because children have faith in their parents, spouses in each other, students in teachers, and devotees in their spiritual masters, we are all able to live beneficially and peacefully. It is a commonsense thing that if we start doubting everything and are suspicious of everybody, incident, event or the like we lose peace of mind and will always mentally get disturbed. Because we have faith in the Almighty that He will take care of us, we are able to walk on the roads, travel in buses, trains, planes etc. in these days of accidents and terrorist strikes. We are still going to restaurants to dine with families, visiting entertainment places, and are doing everything normally despite the probability and possibility of our being the victim of a terrorist attack is high. We simply ignore earlier ghastly incidents and are sure we will not be the targets of these attacks. But as we know this does not stand the rigor of logic or reasoning. Any time we can be victims of any attack. We avoid this line of thinking and are able Conversation with Lord Krishna  53 to manage living peacefully and undisturbed. Same faith we have in our near and dear. Else we cannot live even for a moment peacefully. Faith gives peace and also bliss. We do not care for the feelings of the atheists. We do not care for their rationalism or radicalism; because, many atheists of today are selective in their abuses of faiths. And also they pamper certain other faiths for vote bank reasons. They are not sincere in their non-belief. We must here note that atheists are also believers; they believe in the non-existence of God. They have faith in such a conviction as we have faith in our conviction of the existence of God and Almighty and Divinity. Anything relating to God is a matter of faith-His existence or otherwise. Reasoning or logic fails here. Intuition and individual's experience and understanding play prominent and dominant role in matters of faith. The mental make-up, upbringing, culture and genetics play a chief role in making one faithful. Without faith we cannot live even for a moment peacefully. But the blind faith of our voters in caste leaders and other exploiters that they will improve their economic situation, is the bane of our democracy. Except here, faith is useful everywhere. Faith is our life-giver and saver and makes our lives lively and pleasant. Faith is a sublime state of mind that ensures peace of mind to us in all aspects and in all respects. SEERS AND CULTS Our India is a country of spirituality. Many seers have born here and revealed the truth. Upanishadic seers are the first in this category. Knowledge of Self (Atmajnana or Brahmajnana) is the content of Upanishads. Spirituality is the essence of simplicity and possession and experience of real knowledge. Simple living 54  Varanasi Ramabrahmam and high thinking are its tenets. Sense of independence, liberty, courage, daring nature, compassion, love for knowledge, truth, peace, bliss and longing to be silent are its characteristics. The spiritual person possesses all these traits. We call such individuals as seers. They were, have been, are and will be influencing the society in the right and desired direction by their mere presence. They need not have to participate in any activities as we. Seers experience the truth and reveal it. And it is interesting that different seers expressed the same truth in different technical terms. Sometimes these revelations appear contradictory. The famous advaita, visistaadvaita and dvaita schools' interpretation of the Upanishadic contents, The Brahma Sutras and The Bhagavadgita (together called the Prastaanatraya) is a case in point. And more interestingly most of us revere all the three Achaaryaas, Sankaraacharya (Advaita), Ramaanujaachaarya (Visistaadvaita) and Madhvaacharya (Dvaita), with equal veneration. But the chief question remains: What actually the Prasthaanatraya contain – is it advaita, vissitaadvaita or dvaita or saakaadvaita? An impartial observation informs that the view with which the books are interpreted is more important than the books themselves. How the view is formed and, does it precede or succeed the study of the books, is not clear. This separates the seers among themselves. It informs that same truth experienced can be expressed differently based on individual seer's kind and quality of experience, affiliation, preference and awareness of experience had. And cults are formed around each seer and his interpretation. The followers of the seers are less tolerant than the seers and many times "quarrel" among themselves claiming their seer's view is the "correct" one. Cults mask the teachings of the seers and develop divisions. That is how Hinduism is not following one school of thought about truth. Conversation with Lord Krishna  55 Through centuries many seers have originated from all over India and taught the truth as they experienced and saw it. Upanishadic seers, sage Vyasa, The Buddha, The Mahaveera, the compilers of the shad darsanas (Gautama-nyaya, Kanadavaisheshika, Patanjali-yoga, Kapila-Samkhya, Jaimini-poorva meemaamsa, Badarayana-uttara meemsa or Vedanta), the Charvaaakas expressed truth in their own way and cults were formed around them. Veera Saivam, Veera Vaishnavam-offshoots of Saivism and Vaishnavism dominated in the middle centuries. Then many individuals followed with their own interpretations. Even the rationalists do not object to be called as seers. The most famous modern seers who are roughly contemporaries – Vivekaananda (Sri Rama Krishna), Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri J. Krishnamurty have experienced the same truth but revealed it in different technical terms giving an impression to the uninitiated as different. [J. Krishnamurty though claimed not to be influenced by any study or learning including ancient Indian thought, the study of the course of his life that led to the experience he had in the USA and subsequent utterances, resemble Upanishadic expressions. (He is independent in the experience of the truth and so are Upanishadic and other seers.) The famous one being, the Krishnamurty's tem mental conditioning is equivalent of Ajnana, the term used by the Upanishads for the same understanding. ]. Similarly only the technical terms used by Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramana Maharshi differed but in essence are the essence of the Upanishadic expressions. The cults formed around them in addition to the ones formed earlier and later to them are presently "owned" by different organizations and give us a feeling that all of them are not the same. The current owners of the cults around seers feel it is 56  Varanasi Ramabrahmam their obligation to quote the seer or refer to him at every instant trying to give us a feeling that their seer is omniscient. The present proliferation of commercial spiritual gurus and the cults around them are in hundreds in our country. All of them are individually striving to spread spirituality but are not ready to accept for commercial reasons the reality that what all of them teach is essentially same. The financial empires built around the various seers' teachings are so lucrative that the individualities will be maintained at any cost. But cults formed around the teachings of respective seers are not reflections and true representations of the seers' original teachings. Many distortions have taken place. Further the money factor is relegating the spiritual part to the background. Just as we have castes we have cults. Castes are social institutions. Cults are "spiritual" institutions. We follow the cult of our liking and choice and will be "imprisoned" in it. Cults rob us of our independence. The very essence of spirituality, that is independence, will have to be sacrificed. And individuals with incomplete and imperfect understanding of the seer's teaching will be our masters and we their followers than the followers of the seer. Cults may do more harm to the spirit of the seer's teachings and an independent interpretation is always safe and reliable. The intuition in us will be our spiritual teacher and we can guide ourselves. No mediator is necessary. If we feel that we are not capable of such "strenuous" work, we have no choice but to be parrots in the cage of the cult. But spirituality is not dependence or slavery. It is self-reliance. Let us be self-reliant in spiritual matters. Gurus are necessary. But a Guru is like a catalyst in a chemical reaction. A catalyst only enhances the rate of the reaction, it never participates in the reaction and once the reaction has taken place, its use is Conversation with Lord Krishna  57 over. After proper initiation the Guru must leave. But modern spiritual gurus love to be our masters for our lives and this is not spirituality but something else. The mark of true spiritualist is we feel peace in their presence. We are not told to give them money and the like. Fashion to be called as devotee of such and such a popular spiritual guru or an Ananda or Baba or Amma is not spirituality. Spirituality is essential for us but not fake spirituality. CONCEPT OF YOGA Yoga is currently a very popular pastime. Many gurus and many systems of yoga are presently in vogue. Many innovative titles are given to their respective methods of yoga by yoga teachers. Before trying to enter yoga and practice it, you need to know what exactly yoga is. Indian spirituality is replete with many systems of thought about God and mind. Yoga and Samkhya (a system in which the mind is split into 24 parts: the sense organs, action organs and so on) are two systems of thought which view God and the mind in their own way. The Yoga-Samkhya system views mind and its structure in a slightly different way to the Upanishads, the source books and guides to spirituality. Yogaha chitta vritti nirodhaha – 'Yoga is the prevention of mental activity' – is one of the most famous Patanjali yoga sutras. Here chitta vritti refers to mental functions. Technically vritti means antahakarana parinama – 'transformation of the inner mental tool' (antahakarana). The four antahakaranas are respectively manas, buddhi, chittam and ahamkaram. Manas handles cognitions, their reception, storage and retrieval. Buddhi takes care of all intellectual operations. Chittam deals with the reception, storage and retrieval of all cognition-related experiences which include 58  Varanasi Ramabrahmam the meanings of words and senses of utterances, thoughts and ideas which form understanding and insight. Ahamkaram is concerned with self-consciousness, i.e: the identification of the individual with one's body, gender, mental traits, social status, nationality and so on. All these four together constitute the mind. The activities theses perform are the antahakarana parinamas –transformations of the inner mental tools – which account for all our mental functions. Our mental functions start with mood, insight, remembrance, understanding, experience, urge, intuition and instinct – our direct perceptions and experiences. These are then converted into thoughts and feelings which are then expressed. We cognize and know through our sense organs: through the eye we detect forms and scenes, through the ear sounds, through the tongue tastes, through the nose smells and via the skin touch and heat. These cognitions are received in accordance with manas, and perceived. Together with the experiences they create, they are stored within us as remembrances and memory. When our memory is activated, they generate moods, thoughts and feelings. This is at least a summary of how the mind works. Yoga is designed to understand this working of the mind and cultivate it so that its vagaries are understood and taken care of and that psychological remedies are prescribed and implemented. Yoga is not merely about doing physical exercises. Physical exercises are just a starting point just as primary school is a starting point for more complex learning. Unfortunately, many practitioners and gurus of yoga teach and promote an incomplete type of yoga which starts and ends in physical exercises. Praanayaama – a focused inhaling and exhaling – is a way of calming the mind. The mind is reined in by a proper Conversation with Lord Krishna  59 understanding of its nature and functions. The mental makeup of the individual plays an important role in this regard. There are many methods of yoga each of which is appropriate for a different type of individual. The simplest and best way is changing the name of the favorite deity continuously. The chanting must go on behind mental functions or rest of mind as Sruti goes on behind the rendering of a tune in a musical concert. Many of today's yoga practitioners choose their guru and yoga method more based on current trends than according to their individual mental makeup. Thus their practice of yoga is in vain. As above, yoga is by definition the prevention of mental activity. Yoga involves not allowing antahakarana parinama – transformation of the inner mental tool – to take place. This is what you call a negative definition. The positive definition of yoga is: cheto vritti rupetya tisthati sada – 'transcending chitta vritti (mental activity) is also yoga'. The technical term for this state is nivritti – the absence of mental activity. Yoga is a form of communion with divinity. Yoga is efficiency in mental activity; yogaha karmasu kausalam – yoga is skill in performing various assigned actions and duties. Yoga thus is also about being able to control your thoughts, feelings and moods. Managing these efficiently is yoga. Yoga is of many kinds. That means we can manage the functions of our mind efficiently in more than one way. The various systems include: bhakti yoga (devotional yoga), Karma yoga (interpreted popularly as yoga through one's actions) and jnaana yoga (yoga through knowledge). We are attracted to a particular yoga method depending on our mental makeup, genetic composition and ultimately God's grace. Raja yoga – learning, practising and performing yoga as a series of exercises (both physical and mental) as described and professed in 60  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Patanjali's Yoga Sutras – is now the most commonly "sold" method of yoga. But unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, this type of yoga focuses more on physical exercise. Yoga is an inquiry and practice for attaining peace of mind and has to be knowledgeably cultivated and practiced. Nothing is impossible if we will it. But one must realize that yoga is designed to be practiced to transcend worldly concerns and to remain peaceful and blissful throughout all – good and bad – unaffected by the outside world. Yoga is tuning our "selves" and ourselves with the divinity within us, and finally merging into that divinity. Meditation is the conscious cultivation of mind in this direction. And the conscious or unconscious merger of mind in its source is what yoga (literally 'union') really is. THE SERENITY OF MIND Human beings gain knowledge of the objective world through the five sensory organs. While the objects of perception are insentient, the mind is sentient and hence emotionally reacts to sensory perceptions in the form of likes and dislikes, joy and sorrow. Hence the mind is responsible for the pleasantness and troubles that beset human beings. The mind can be drastically changed to respond to the stimuli it receives through the techniques of yogic methods of enquiry to remain peaceful even in the midst of trying circumstances. A mental world is created in us through sense organs during the /wakeful phase of mind. This inner mental world comprises of the sights and forms seen by eyes; sounds heard by ears; the tastes sensed by the tongue; the smells/fragrances smelt by nose; and the touches, warmness, hotness, coolness sensed by the skin. Conversation with Lord Krishna  61 All these are technically called vishayas) and the remembrances they simultaneously create are technically called vasanas (which remains is vasana). These vasanas (experiences –happiness, sorrow, unhappiness / insight / understanding / meaning / sense/ mood) constitute our memory. Our memory is also made up of the traits we get with this body – the genetic/hereditary – in the form of personality traits, instincts, intuitions, urges, senses, comprehending abilities, intelligence, desires, longings, other intellectual and emotional abilities, common sense, power of imagination, dreaming capabilities. Thus our memory is constituted and composed of all experiences / moods/understanding/insight and the like acquired or inbuilt. Our language acquisition and communication abilities comprising of meanings/senses of words also fall under this. Our mental functions start with mood, insight, remembrance, understanding, experience, urge, intuition, insight and instinct – our direct or in-built/genetic perceptions and experiences. These are then converted into thoughts and feelings which are then expressed. As is mentioned we cognize and know through our sense organs: through the eye we detect forms and scenes, through the ear sounds, through the tongue tastes, through the nose smells and via the skin touch and heat. These cognitions are received in accordance with manas, and perceived. Together with the experiences they create, they are stored within us as remembrances and memory. When our memory is activated, they generate moods, thoughts and feelings. This is the two-way (reversible or forward/ backward) functioning of mind when we express or perceive, understand/experience. We have four phases of conscious states of mind which automatically are activated and changed. They are: (a) wakeful 62  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Sleep, (b) deep sleep, (c) wakeful or awakened and (d) dream. The above functions take place and cease to take place depending on mental phase. Human consciousness is always on as conscious awareness and only mind rises or sets during these conscious states of mind causing cognition and cognition-related experiences, storing and retrieving them in respective phases. Human consciousness is the form, the structure and the consequence of breathing process and generates psychic energy that does all human cognitions and cognition-related functions. Cognition and cognition-related functions are the result of reversible becoming of this psychic energy and human consciousness bifurcates as consciousness that is aware of the cognitions and related activities and the occurrence of the activities themselves. When these activities are taking place, such a dual role is played by the human consciousness (during wakeful/awakened and dream phases or conscious states of mind). There is also a phase when no cognitions or cognition-related activity is taking place and it is the original or normal or natural state of human mind, the non-dual or peaceful, blissful or silent phase of mind (Wakeful Sleep and Deep Sleep phases or conscious states of mind). The Wakeful Sleep conscious state of mind is also known as the Real I state. No experiences, thoughts, feelings or traits of the individual do not activated. Once we think of or feel "I", many moods, feelings, thoughts appear on our mental screen. We normally identify "I" with the body. And "I" is also associated with the personality that is created in us through various mental traits, emotional and intellectual bonds, likes, dislikes, social status, age, gender, nationality, religion, region, language, culture, our mental faculties, abilities, emotional and intellectual aspirations and the Conversation with Lord Krishna  63 like. This happens in wakeful and dream conscious or phases of mind. We rejoice, feel hurt, struggle within, with associated happy and unhappy experiences, thoughts and feelings. If no pleasant or unpleasant mood is created or no experience is activated or no thoughts and feelings are generated and continuous peace, bliss and silence are in the experience as experience that is the Real "I" state. All the Jnaanis, seers, saints and realized souls live in this peaceful, silent and blissful state. If we also become aware of this phase of mind, and convert that insight into experience we too can be like a water drop on a lotus leaf merely remaining, though on it and touching but untouched moves freely on the leaf. This is not a mere philosophical statement or spiritual injunction. It is the reality we are all experiencing during deep sleep phase of mind but are unaware of it. When we cultivate this phase of mind we bear all the vicissitudes of life with less disturbed state of mind. We will perform our ordained duties with serene mind. Our intellect gets sharpened. We become efficiently intuitive and useful and pleasant sphuranas (intuitive feelings) are generated. Our mental faculties improve. We live cheerfully and cheer our near and dear. This serene state of mind is the state of Atman/Brahman. This quietness of mind is state of Atman or state of Self. This is our real state. This is our real form. This is our real trait. This is our real person and personality; our real sound from which all languages originate; our real sounding. This state is to be made our own rather we become and be that state. This state is always present in us. When the mind is functioning and various mental functions are taking place, they superimpose on this state. This state remains in the background 64  Varanasi Ramabrahmam as the "sruti" (constant frequency sound maintained behind for the benefit of the musician) while music is being played. It is one as sweetness in the honey and fragrance with the flower. When mental functions are not taking place this state becomes our current experience. We will be peace-bliss-silence filled. We will be peace, bliss and silence. When mind is tuned to the Self and merges in the Self, we enjoy peace, bliss, silence. This is the serenity of mind and serene mind. Various methods of yoga are designed to understand this working of the mind and cultivate it so that its vagaries are understood and taken care of and that psychological remedies are prescribed and implemented. Yoga is not merely about doing physical exercises. Physical exercises are just a starting point just as primary school is a starting point for more complex learning. Unfortunately, many practitioners and gurus of yoga teach and promote an incomplete type of yoga which starts and ends in physical exercises. Kind of Yoga to be followed must be prescribed to the individual only after analyzing the individual's culture, mental make-up, emotional and intellectual capabilities, social background and faith followed. In brief, serenity of mind is cultivated by also changing the inputs we give to our sense organs and mental worlds we create. If the inner mental world is filled Divine Information, we get peaceful and blissful thoughts and feelings. If we give other fleeting, sensuous and like worldly inputs to our sense organs and mental world with them is created, we get those thoughts which cause us joy and sorrow. It is in our hands to be peaceful or disturbed. Let us cultivate serenity of mind consciously, intelligently and wisely. Conversation with Lord Krishna  65 MIND AND MEDITATION Talking about meditation and hence calming the mind has become the necessity of modern life. Many meditative techniques are in vogue currently intending to help humans to cope up with stresses and strains associated with modern life and life-styles. Many traditional meditation techniques are presently popularly encased in modern phrases. Attempts to calm the mind will be fruitful and give desired results if meditation is performed with knowledge about mind and its vagaries and also about the nature of meditation process. Upanishadic philosophy which is Sat-Darsana is synonymous with Sat or Truth revealed. The process of arriving at and experiencing TRUTH is technically termed as SELF REALISATION. SELF-REALIZATION sets in calmness in mind and efficiency of mental functions increases. Possessing an absolute faith is a must to calm the mind; faith in the approach; faith in the text and teacher; and faith in oneself. Cultivating, engaged in and maintaining a stable and harmonious relationship with one's near and dear ones and fellow-beings highly benefit the aspirant in attempts to calm the mind. And many times lack of such a harmonious relationship obstructs the setting of peace in the mind and mere observation or practice of a meditative technique in an academic or mechanical way many not help the individual in his/her aim or quest. Ego, the self-consciousness, the collection of thoughts about 'I' as body and associated personality traits, social status, 'me' and 'mine', creates vasanas (impressions/experiences/memories) within us. All cognition/perception/volition/urge-related experiences are created and retrieved by the antahkarana (inner mental tool) chittam. Egoistic thoughts and actions (with the thought and sense of 'I', where 'I' is identified with respective 66  Varanasi Ramabrahmam individual) in Awakened/Wakeful and Dream conscious states creates memories (vasanas). These memories get activated later (with reference to physical time passage) and cause happiness or unhappiness accordingly in the present of physical time The phase of mind bereft of egoistic thoughts, memories or other cognitions /perceptions/experiences is the state of Self (Atman, Ego-free, blissful, peaceful and is Time-transcendent). This state is called Jagrat Sushupti or Wakeful Sleep. The three other conscious states – the Awakened/Wakeful (Jagrat), the Dream (swapna) and Deep Sleep (Sushupti) – conscious states are transient super-impositions over thever present wakeful sleep (Jagrat Sushupti) conscious state simultaneously/alternately. Memories and record of our experiences is our psychological past and our fears, anxieties, imaginations, expectations etc., are our psychological future The thought-flow concerning these past and future in the form of memories activated as remembrances and fear, anxiety, anticipation, apprehensions, imaginations etc., consist of our psychological past and future and gives us the awareness of time and feeling of passage of time. Thus thought-flow (reflected chit-energy transformations) is the psychological time and its flow. Living in the 'past or future' in the present leads to peacelessness. The aim of spirituality is to enable one to cultivate the habit of living in the physical present with peace. Such a spiritual tradition suggests that the aim of human birth is to cease to be 'human' and be DIVINE – Ego-free –, rather transcending human nature and live in eternal blissful ego-free state. The adjective 'human' in human-being refers to the ecstasies, excitements, grieves, aches, fears, anxieties, thrills, sense of achievements or disappointments and many other psychological comforts or discomforts felt or experienced by men and women during the course of life. A human-being is Conversation with Lord Krishna  67 tired of these psychological pulls and pushes and craves for relief from this chain of states of emotional disorders and be peaceful. Some others study Vedanta for acquiring knowledge and to satisfy their intellectual curiosity. Arriving at Truth gives peace in both the cases and calms the mind. Peace and Calmness are Divine Qualities. So are Pure Consciousness, Being, Bliss, Silence, Timelessness, etc. The mental process in which one can attain these qualities of Divinity or how a human-being transforms oneself into a Calm Divine Being is known as meditation on the SELF – the real Nature of the individual. SELF, BRAHMAN, ATMAN are other names for DIVINE BEING. Eka Vastu Chintanameva Dhyanam – is a definition of the meditation. This means that meditation is contemplation on a Divine Quality and finally merging mind into that Quality and Be That Quality; this is also known as SELF REALIZATION. Theology proposes Bhakti – the path of devotion for this purpose. In this method the mind concentrates on a Name or Form of a choice Divine Being and meditation on that Name or Form – which are nothing but SELF'S MANIFESTATIONS, mind becomes one-pointed. At the appropriate moment Divine Grace showers and makes the mind to merge in that Name or Form. Dhyanam Artha Bhavanam is another definition of meditation. This is the path of knowledge. This meditation process involves in concentrating the mind in the study and learning and hence understanding the Divine Nature. This is also the Path to calm the mind and live in and with peace. In short, meditation or calming the mind consists in concentrating the mind on a chosen thing or contemplating on a chosen concept or expression or insight. 68  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Upanishads contain descriptions of the SELF and many ways of meditation on the Self, known as Vidya or Upasana. The knowledge other than that of the Self is termed as Avidya by the Upanishadic Seers. According to their definition, Avidya consists of all sciences, arts, skills, learning – of languages and other disciplines and art-forms. Isaavaasyoopanishat counsels to make use of both Vidya and Avidya while meditating on the Self to attain calmness within and warns that using only one of them leads to darkness – the Upanishadic term for ignorance (sloka 9). Eleventh sloka of this Upanishad gives us the proper way of meditating on the Self, Vidyaam cha avidyam cha yastadvedoobhyam saha Avidyayaa mrtyum teertvaa vidyayaa amritam asnute This means that one must contemplate on and be aware of the Self by using both Avidya and Vidya. Through Avidya one crosses mortality and by Vidya one attains immortality. Immortality is release from births and deaths i.e., from the rise and set of egoistic mind (mithyaaham). Egoistic mind and selfconsciousness are responsible for all the disturbances the individual experiences and suffers. Thus knowledge about both Vidya and Avidya is necessary for one to meditate on the Self and live as Self in and with calmness. The antahkaranas manas, buddhi, ahamkaaram and chittam are responsible for us to get, revel on, entangled in and come out of, the perceived and experienced external world and also for acquiring knowledge and make active the in-built tendenciesi .e., the arishadvargas. All this knowing or mental activity which is named as Tamas (ignorance), blocks the SEER (sat) and makes one view only the seen (jagat). Hence all this activity of antahkaranas with perceived or experienced external world and respective experiences, is Ajnana in Upanishadic terms. Conversation with Lord Krishna  69 The term Ajnana herein is used not at all to belittle any of the acquired knowledge or their eminence but only to point out that Truth, Self, Pure Consciousness or Prajnaam outlives rather transcends all these perceptions, intellectual operations, selfconsciousness, experiences and their recollections by Being, manifesting as and in, causing, maintaining and observing the origin, becoming and cessation of all these mental functions carried out by antahkaranas – and is the Ultimate Jnaana. Mind as activities of antahkaranas is like a boat in the river of consciousness and the self-consciousness of the person is the individual traveling in the boat. The boat helps the person to move on in the course of the life and at the end the river, the boat and the individual together merge in the sea of pure consciousness. Thus meditation is a travel on the mind-boat by the meditator to reach the Self, the Divinity and BE IT. After this merger with the Divinity no trace of the meditator or the meditative tool (the mind) are left (remain). Only object-free meditation goes on-which is nothing but the Blissful State of the Self is continuously experienced which sets in and maintains calmness of mind. An individual by his samskaara gets attracted to the use of one of the antahkaranas as meditating tool and proceeds on with meditation. Different meditative techniques are available to suit the temperament and mental makeup and mental preparedness of the individual. SELF or Brahman or Atman or Prajnanam is present always. This is the revelation and the essence of Upanishadic Teachings. It is interesting to note that BEING, PURE CONSCIOUSNESS AND BLISS are the characteristics of the Self-described in the Upanishads, the Sat, Chit and Ananda. Being is a present continuous form of the verb 'to be' and Becoming, 70  Varanasi Ramabrahmam the present continuous form of 'to become' – and both are present continuous forms, the becoming being the physical and psychological manifestation of the Being. The natural state of human-being is BEING, the present continuous form of 'to be' and not becoming, the present continuous form of 'to become' – which is limited by past – i.e.., the memories, the aches, the fears, the future – the anxieties, the fears and the imaginations. But normal state of a human being is a combination of series of Being and Becoming or Peace and Disturbance or Past and Future or alternates between all these and seldom is Being, the natural present continuous state-the blissful state. One becomes something when one cognizes an object or uses an antahkarana or the mind, else when mind ceases to cognize one comes back to or is in the natural state of Being. Becoming is a superposition and causes disturbance on this Being and makes one live in the unreal state of some becoming. Mind, in the form of antahkaranas, is responsible for humanbeing getting transformed into a human – becoming. Luckily this transformation is transitory and reversible. These transformations of mind worry ordinary people. But the realized souls are always aware of the transitory nature of these transformations and the simultaneous presence of the two present continuous forms – the Being and the Becoming, which are consciousness and awareness – and ARE always BEINGS. They only view the becomings in the form of vasanas and jagat occurring within and without and are not concerned or touched by these 'unreal' happenings. Upanishads talk about Mithyaham or virtual Self or maya. The virtual Self is the reflected Sat and is made up of the same stuff as Sat. This virtual Self is the first Becoming in the individual and is responsible and is contained in all mental functions, – which are its own transformations. Virtual self always – Conversation with Lord Krishna  71 transforms itself as antahkaranas resulting in the perceptions and experiences (vasanas) which are viewed by and are aware to the Self in the different conscious states (Concept Diagram I). The various transformations of the virtual Self as various antahkaranas to perform various mental functions and back to itself are the forward and backward i.e., reversible becomings (vivartanam). These becomings constitute the mental times and thoughts and the feeling of passage of time in the individual and identifies the individual to the body, psychology, gender, social status etc., the form and structure of ego and selfconsciousness) If these becomings – the thoughts, feelings, intellectual functions, perceptions, experiences, understandings, urges, instincts, institutions, tendencies – all cease to happen or the virtual Self undergoes no transformations then it is Unoccupied Awareness, Bliss, Peace, Silence, Eternity and hence Timelessness. Thought-ego – and feelings-free consciousness their transcendence in the form of calmness and peace is experienced within and is observed by the Self as Prajnanam or Seer. Self as Seer is always present and is eternal or Timeless or Transcending is a present continuous BEING. A reading of this transcript is itself a de-learning, relearning and unlearning process i.e., a way to calm the mind. NOTE Method of meditation or calming the mind is not unique. Single general method with mass instruction will not be fruitful. Just as the psychologist treats each case individually so also method of calming mind is individualspecific and heavily depends on one's mental makeup. 1. Meditation / calming the mind is putting veil on our ignorance and unveiling our knowledge. 2. Meditation / calming the mind is putting veil on our false identification and unveiling our real or true identity. 72  Varanasi Ramabrahmam 3. Meditation / calming the mind is putting veil on our unreal or apparent or misunderstood nature and unveiling our true and real nature. 4. Sri Ramana Maharshi's Insight on Meditation: 5. Find out wherefrom this 'I' springs forth and merge at its source; that is tapas-meditation. 6. Find out wherefrom the sound of the mantra in japa rises up and merge there; that is tapas-meditation. In the above piece the Upanishadic insight of human consciousness, mind, their form, structure and function are analytically presented together with the description of phases and states of mind to get an idea of working of the mind. Calming the mind is presented as a process of de-learning illusory knowledge, relearning the real nature of human-being and then practice the knack of completely unlearning or be unaware of all the new knowledge too but not the insight gained. It is pointed out that meditation and calming the mind are synonymous with Self-Realization which are a process reverse to the process of generation of thoughts. The essentiality of possession of an open mind and faith together with cultivating and maintaining harmonious relationship with one's near and dear for the aspirant are highlighted. FORMS OF EGO Ego is the characteristic of humans. It has different forms in different human beings. Our consciousness about our gender, social status, physical beauty, psychological traits, mental capabilities, spiritual aspirations, our achievements in worldly life form our ego. Ego is an essential ingredient of human mental make-up. It inspires us to be lively and sometimes causes inconveniences to our near and dear and others. The thoughts "I", "me" "mine" arise in us making us joyful and also sad depending on the event, person, and our perception and understanding of them. Writers, singers, dancers, actors, sports persons and the rest of us identify ourselves with our profession and feel egoistic. Our achievements in our professions make us confident and sometimes arrogant. The term "egoistic" is not always negative. Conversation with Lord Krishna  73 But is used in that sense and cultivated. Most of our achievements we ascribe to our capabilities and failures to the deficiencies of others around us and blame them for the fiasco when it happens. We gladly take responsibility for our successes and refuse to take same responsibility in failures. This is one form of ego. Persons in authority own all pleasant happenings and blame the opposition for the uncomfortable incidents. They feel themselves invincible and indispensable. They will be under the illusion that it is their greatness and capability that runs the show and delude the citizens about their indispensability for the welfare of the people. It is the ego of the rulers that has brought and is bringing untold sufferings to the ruled. This form of ego in rulers is head-ache to democratic functioning. We have great human-beings who achieved much in their respective chosen fields and professions. Definitely they are great but their greatness is made up of their parents, teachers, their near and dear who keep them always cheerful and hence enhance their creative abilities through their help and cooperation and also because of the audience, stalwarts in the field and rasikas, who recognize them and their talents with their aesthetic sensitivities and sensibilities, intellectual abilities and applaud, admire and appreciate their creations, them and build them. But most of the times many of the popular and great achievers believe they are in that position solely because of their eminence. This is another form of ego. We have herds of commercial spiritual gurus today. They are so concerned about us that they dedicated their lives for our and our welfare's sake. They are building financial and commercial empires to enlighten and liberate us. They indulge in all the house-holder's activities still shun us if we live as a house-holder. Our ignorance, innocence and blind submission are both their 74  Varanasi Ramabrahmam strength and ego. They go to the extent of believing that they are Gods and Goddesses themselves and exhibit high form of ego, when in spirituality the essential criterion and requirement is shedding of ego. We should not feel "I am this", "I am that" etc., and thoughts about us should not remain. When we question ourselves "Who am I?" and the reply is silence we are spiritual beings. No sense, thought or utterance about individual will be present and the ego will be absorbed in the Divinity in us and we will be peaceful and blissful always. Our mental awareness will be vacated by self-consciousness and will be filled with Divine Consciousness. This must happen to the commercial spiritual gurus also. It will not happen and they exhibit this kind of peculiar form of ego. Ego is part and parcel of the individual rather the individual itself and has as many forms as the individuals and their illusions. We must enjoy this variety of egos and silently observe their owners. This helps us to shape ourselves and have an ego special and specific to us. No one can shed ego easily. We can change it if we want. Changed and transformed ego leads us to Divinity. We become egoless rather transcend our ego and be one with Divinity. Appendix II Jnaana Maarga of Sri Ramana Maharshi CONVERSATION WITH SRI RAMANA MAHARSHI Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) is a great spiritual teacher. He realized the Self in his seventeenth year. Self-Realization happened to him naturally on its own unaided by external instructions or guidance. A near-death experience took place for and in him one day and a profound transformation took place in him. He is completely and irreversibly transformed and became a Realized Self and has been so for life. Maharshi is born at Tirutcchali, near Madurai and studied up to IX class at Madurai during which time he had the near-death experience. He left home shortly after that and reached Arunaachala – Tiruvannaamalai (in Tamilnadu) his favorite and most dear place and lived there till his death. "Brahma vit Brahma eva bhavathi", meaning, "The Knower of Brahman (Self) becomes the Brahman (Self)" is a famous expression. Maharshi is a standing example for this statement. Brahman is He. He is Brahman. He is Atmaaraamam and Raamabrahmam. He has been unoccupied, peaceful, blissful continuous awareness. I Every human life is a work of art in its own way; a beautiful verse; an enchanting song; a melodious music; a charming and 76  Varanasi Ramabrahmam cheering drama; a pleasant action; a refreshing bliss; a comforting peace; fragrance of silence. The lives of eminent human beings are all these. Maharshi is one such eminent human being. He is a Seer; a Saint; a Sage; a SelfRealized person; a Maharshi. I am an admirer and Ekalavya – like disciple of I am always grateful to my parents who lived a life of spirituality and who gave me this body together with the abilities of mind to get initiated to and grasp the intricacies of the Knowledge of the Self. I have many times read the life history of Maharshi:. And I have gone through with contemplation his expressions about Brahmajnaana. I had many intimate mental conversations with Sri RamanaMaharshi about his near-death experience, life, expressions, and answers he gave to his disciples. He enlightened me so much about Brahmajnaana or Aatmajnaana or Knowledge of the Self. It benefitted me to arrive at and propose a modern scientific theory of human cognition, language acquisition and communication processes. This series is fiction. The narration is in dialogue form and is in conversation style. The narration is verse like and takes poetic form in presentation; and the prose many times transforms into poetic rhythm. The essence of Self-Realization is presented in a lucid way with the help of these conversations with Maharshi and my extensions of them with due directions from Sri Ramana Maharshi through my intuition. And commentaries on social living, and related issues will also evolve. I rate Maharshi: equal in intellect to great physicists like Planck, De Broglie, Einstein, and many eminent scientists of those Conversation with Lord Krishna  77 times (1879-1950) who are contemporaries to Sri Ramana Maharshi. I present my write-up reflecting this aspect and understanding too. Sri Ramana Mahrshi has experienced, and very well expressed the "physics" of consciousness and mind helped by his experience and earlier Indian spiritual expressions. I also mimic through this fiction many of Maharshi: 's expressive styles; in prose, poetry and present the traditional and scientific insight contained in Brahmajnaana or Aatmajnaana which surely and definitely benefits the discerning and interested reader irrespective of one's own faith, creed, nationality or the like. This narration will be a comprehensive presentation of consciousness, mind and their functions in a charming and simple language. I also take the help of information available in various Indian spiritual texts at appropriate places. The course of the conversation does not take a particular order.  I: What is salvation? Maharshi: Getting rid of all mental impressions is salvation. "vaasanaa taanavam brahma moksha iti abhidheeyate" I: How to cultivate calmness of mind? Maharshi: Possessing an absolute faith is a must to calm the mind; faith in the approach; faith in the text and teacher; and faith in oneself. Cultivating, engaged in and maintaining a stable and harmonious relationship with one's near and dear ones and fellow-beings highly benefit the aspirant in attempts to calm the mind. And many times lack of such a harmonious relationship obstructs 78  Varanasi Ramabrahmam the setting of peace in the mind and mere observation or practice of a meditative technique in an academic or mechanical way many not help the individual in his/her aim or quest. Calming the mind is a process of de-learning illusory knowledge, relearning the real nature of human-being and then practice the knack of completely unlearning or be unaware of all the new knowledge too but not the insight gained. Meditation and calming the mind are synonymous with Self-Realization which are a process reverse to the process of generation of thoughts. I: What is Meditation? Maharshi: Find out wherefrom this 'I' springs forth and merge at its source; that is tapas meditation. Find out wherefrom the sound of the mantra in japa rises up and merge there; that is tapas-meditation. II I: We modern-minded individuals are always very much worried about current societal situations and are agitated and are tempted to do something directly to repair the society. How to go about it?? Maharshi: We must perform our ordained duty sincerely and dissolve into the nature at the destined moment. To cleanse situations around us is not possible. All things take place according to their naturally guided course. I: What is the meaning of "Brahma sat jagat mithya jivobrahmaiva naaparah"? Conversation with Lord Krishna  79 Maharshi: Brahma sat jagat mithya jivo brahmaiva naaparah-means "What is present always is Brahman in the form of eternal consciousness and jagat (which is moving or transient is virtual superimposition over it) is adhyasa and mithya (unreal); jiva (selfconsciousness) is Brahman (pure consciousness) Itself, and is not different or separate". Brahman means pure consciousness or unoccupied awareness. Jagat means perception of inner mental world and impressions in the form of bhavas (feelings, thoughts). Jiva means selfconsciousness. Consciousness becomes pure or self-consciousness depending on the perceptions. If Divinity within is perceived it is pure consciousness or unoccupied awareness. If the mental traits, relations with near and dear (ego) happiness, sorrow, body, outer physical world are perceived it is self-consciousness. Selfconsciousness is superimposition over pure consciousness; so also is perceived physical world. I: Brahma sat jagat mithyaa actually means? Maharshi:: The perceived world in the form of feelings, thoughts, and remembrances is called jagat, and this is mithya, meaning virtual and transient. Thus mental perceptions are virtual and transient superimpositions over our consciousness and they appear this moment and disappear next moment. These mental projections are reversible transformations of mental energy maya. Vedanta never says outer physical world is mithya. It says that only the mental perceptions are mithyaor virtual. We miss the paper and only read the script written over it and rejoice or otherwise. Even though the paper is holding the 80  Varanasi Ramabrahmam written script, we are lost in the written matter over the paper and never are aware of the paper the base of the script. Similarly, we miss the screen which holds the pictures projected by the projector in a cinema hall. We are lost in the drama of the pictures, identify with the situations projected there and feel joy or sorrow or experience all feelings as if they are all real. We never realize all these pictures are mere projections and the screen is holding them. Without screen there are no pictures. Similarly, without Brahman or Atman we will not be able to be conscious or aware of our mental functions. Without Brahman or Atman serving as consciousness and base or background, we cannot be aware of our thoughts, feelings or experiences. All our mental perceptions are projections of mind over this pure consciousness, whose nature is Being-Pure ConsciousnessBliss (sat-chit-ananda) and is a state of peace, silence, calmness and content-free contentment. Mental perceptions are reversible virtual mental energytransformations and this mental energy is sourced from Brahman or Atman. When no perceptions or experiences are in mental view we are prajnaanam (content-free mental space). Thus elders say let us not be carried away by the virtual mental projections in the form of thoughts, feelings or experiences which are superimpositions over pure consciousness; and see them as virtual pictures over the cine-screen and give them that importance only and enjoy the drama of mind without losing poise, peace, serenity and equanimity. Conversation with Lord Krishna  81 Let us always focus on the pure consciousness Brahman or Atman and reap the benefits of spiritual knowledge while not neglecting our destined duties as a social person. Then we can perform our worldly duties more efficiently and responsibly. III Maharshi has attained Self-Realization and possessed the mind of a Seer as described in Ribhu Gita (a spiritual book on selfrealization). As described earlier he attained self-realization without his knowing, concern, will or effort. Lord Siva presided over that aspect as mother cat takes care of the kittens on its own, very affectionately and concerned (maarjaalakisoranyaaya). This incident is the Lila (Divine Sport) of Lord Siva which transformed Venkata Raaman (original name of Ramana Maharshi) into Ramana Maharshi. This act of the Lord gave Maharshi and we are all blessed by this benevolent action of the Lord. Maharshi is Lord Siva Himself in spirituality. Daharaa Vidya is an Upanishadic meditation technique. During this meditative process we question ourselves "who am I?" and try to know and merge our apparent identity – with our body, mental traits and all related things from this "I", "me", "mine" – collectively our self-consciousness and its relation to external world and persons (called technically 'false I'), with the Unoccupied Awareness (Real I or Pure Consciousness) which sources and generates our self-consciousness and the "false or unreal I". While questioning like this and meditating we will be rid of false identity and transcend our "I", "me", "mine" and shine as our Real I. According to Upanishadic Maha Vaakya (profound sentence) "Aham Brahma Asmi" we are all aware that this Real I is – the Brahman or Atman – our True Self. This Real I is Sat-Chit82  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Aananda (Being-Pure Consciousness-Bliss – Asti-Bhaati-Priyam, Nitya-Suddha-Buddha-Muktam – all meaning the same) the Brahman or Atman. We will become aware of this truth and get illumined. We then are effulgent source of mind, the pure consciousness, the Real I and get identified with it. Peace-BlissSilence fills our mind. Maharshi's teaching is almost similar and refinement of this Upanishadic meditation technique: He asks us to: i. Find out wherefrom this 'I' springs forth and merge at its source; that is tapas (meditation): ii. Find out wherefrom the sound of the mantra in japa rises up and merge there; that is tapas (meditation).  I: Please give further exposition of the sentence "Brahma sat jagat mithya jivo brahma evo na aparaha" Maharshi: "sat" is the present continuous form in neutral gender of the dhatu (verb root) "as" – to be – taking the form "being". "jagat" is the present continuous form in neutral gender of the dhatu "jag" – to move – taking the form "moving". "sat" is one of "sat-chit-ananda" the three aspects of Atman which give us the ability to be conscious of our body and mind (sat), acquire knowledge and skill of all kinds (chit), and have all associated and otherwise experiences (ananda). Pure consciousness as unoccupied awareness is present always – the Being. It is in present continuous form. Thoughts are either past recollections or future apprehensions, fears, imaginations, etc., Conversation with Lord Krishna  83 Self-consciousness and perceptions of our body, mind and external physical world are becoming. Meaning, pure consciousness is continuously present; over which our experiences, moods, ego, thoughts, feelings, perceptions, intellectual operations, utterances, communications, knowing through sense organs [eye – forms, ear-sounds, tonguetastes, nose-smells and skin-touches and hot and cold feelings], performances, actions reactions – all the mental tasks – form a veil and they will be present in our dristi or become our dristi. All through this awareness will be in the background as mental functions are taking place as the sruti (a musical instrument which maintains constant frequency facilitating the vocalist to sing the different raagaas – tunes) is behind the singer in a musical concert. I: What is dristi? Maharshi: Dristi is mental awareness. We have three kinds of dristi, or mental awareness. They are: visraantadristi – Unoccupied awareness – when no mental functions take place; We will not have any experiences, moods, thoughts, or feelings in awareness; we do not receive information or communicate anything. Antarmukha dristi – is awareness of within of the body; which makes us aware of all happenings within the body – from physical to mental happenings. bahirmukhadristi – awareness of the without of the body, including the physical world outside – now the mind is tuned to the external physical world through sense organs (eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin) and actions organs (movements of hands, legs, vocal chords, reproductive organ and bowels). Visranta dristi is advaita state and refers to the jagrat sushupti (wakeful sleep) and sushupti (deep sleep conscious states of 84  Varanasi Ramabrahmam mind). Sushupti means cessation of mental functions. Jagrat (wakeful or awakened) and swapna (dream) are two other conscious states of mind. These two are dvaita states of mind. Our mental functions are reversible transformations of maya (the chit-psychic energy) sourced from Atman. Maya is also known as chidaabhaasa, pranavam or sphota. I: What are advaita and dvaita? Maharshi: If in cognition or communication or a mental function, a split as knower-knowing-known or subject-verb-object is perceived it is dvaita state. Here the pure consciousness is split as consciousness (aham) and awareness (idam). If now such split is not perceived and only consciousness is prevalent as unoccupied awareness – unoccupied by experiences, urges, thoughts, feelings, utterances or communications or cognitions – the state of mind is advaita (only pure consciousness aham-aham) We alternately move between these states when we are knowing, perceiving, experiencing, understanding the sense of the utterances, gaining insight and performing etc., mental functions. The ego is silent; mental functions are silent; awareness is there and is unoccupied; it is a glow of and flow of pure consciousness. Advaita: Consciousness only. No cognitions or cognition related experiences in driṣti. Dvaita: Awareness and Intuition mood Sense Intellect thought feeling Expression utterance speech Conversation with Lord Krishna  85 A VERSE: DEEPAVALI! Original: Sri RamanaMaharshi Translation: Dr. Varanasi Ramabrahmam I The egoistic sense that "I am" the body and mind Is the King Naraka [1]! By contemplation through Right knowledge Who gets rid of that Naraka (ego) Is Narayana! And that day is the most Auspicious day II In this transient body The disturbing egoistic sense And the associated attachments Are Naraka! * Eliminating that "darkness" And brilliantly shining as The Real I – the pure consciousness Is Deepaavali! * Naraka is the demon whom Lord Krishna has eliminated on the Naraka charurdasi (14th day in the waning phase of moon in the Aaswayuja month of Indian calendar) Appendix III Prayers to Lords THE NECTAR OF KRISHNA'S PRANKS Just as the rays of the rising sun Pervade the whole earth and illumine it Spread and fill my heart with your brilliance And remove the darkness of ignorance Achyuta! To understand the Upanishads, the Vedanta And the knowledge of the SELF is one way Ever keeping You in the heart And filling the mind with tranquility Is another way to attain you Mukunda! Narayana! the peace of mind we get By chanting your name always One may not get By the study of Knowledge of the SELF, In the contemplation of Upanishadic insight, In the company of saints and sages or Cultivating the friendship of seers of action We do not know whether we are puppets in the hands of the destiny Or previous and present actions cause happiness and sorrow to us Conversation with Lord Krishna  87 Or our nature is responsible for our disturbances, pains, aches and troubles Please take care of me Sridharaa! Pains, loss of honor, anger, passions, disappointments; like crocodiles Have caught me and are pulling me Oh! Consort of Ramaa Devi! Consult Divine Mother, bring her with you and also your near and dear And recline on the couch of my devotion to you in my heart of milky-ocean Am able to compose poetry by the Grace of Goddess Saraswati Let my heart ripe by your compassion, Krishna! I will praise You, sing your frolicking deeds And delight the hearts of the aesthetic And the good people, Bless me, Jagannaatha! Demons as greed and unending desires, Dispiritedness, fear and inefficiency are roaming In my heart of Nanda Gopa's Place; Nandanandana! Exhibit once more your pranks; I feel blessed My heart of curds is white as full-moon light Chant of Narayana, Narayana as churner I collected the butter of unalloyed love for you Come and have it, Navaneetachora! My mind is pestering me, saying Becoming famous, amassing wealth and acquiring authority are the ultimate goals of life, Maadhava! please show the wondrous cosmos Shown to Yasoda in your mud-eaten mouth So that my hallucinations are gone and illusions dissolved 88  Varanasi Ramabrahmam Just as you uprooted the huge trees, Baalakrishna! Remove bonds in me so that I am liberated from the curse of attachments and become blissful celestial in the chanting of your name Crystal pure nature, plain traits, intellect that comprehended you And heart completely filled with you will accompany you Enjoy the preparations of wisdom and action within me Together with butter of unalloyed devotion and love-pickle, Oh! Nectar-ocean of Grace! I have cows in me in the form of love and respect for my parents Affection on my wife and children, respect for elders, friendship And compassion for all beings, please take care of them Oh! Crest-jewel of Gopas! My ego is poisoning my heart-lake Like Kaaleeeya; dance on it and subdue So that your Grace is reflected And you pervade and fill it The six inner foes, the distress, difficulties, Disturbances are my clothes Remove such mal-covers and fill my within with calmness And make me peaceful, Oh! Gopeevastraapahaari! Wicked people, criminals, selfish persons like demons Have garnered power and mastered the art of dubiously earning money; are like "Indra's" full of arrogance causing immense trouble to society Conversation with Lord Krishna  89 Lift the mountain of humaneness and puncture their vanity Govardhanagiridhaari! Cheerfulness, exuberance, exhilaration, love and affection Are waiting like shepherd-damsels in my heart of banks of Yamuna Play frolicking so that aesthetic bliss overflows Rasaavataaraa! Doubles and duals like Chaanoora and Mustika Have risen in me, defeat them With the help of brother Balaraama So that I can remember you And chant your name always, my dear Krishna! Politicians, movie artistes, sports-persons Commercial spiritual workers, false monks have Displaced you from our hearts and are ruling us; All our love and affection are showered only on them You are really doing peculiar and strange things In this age of Kali Oh! Vanquisher of Kamsa! This poem is born by the churning of my within; it is personification of Sri, Transmits moon-light being his sister; full of aesthetics and auspicious sounds; Always joyfully meditating on you and remembering your pranks has grown Into a beautiful maiden to be your consort, Accept and delight my Lakshmi of verses, Sri Lakshmiramanaa! O 90  Varanasi Ramabrahmam THE SPLENDOR OF VISHNU In my heart dwells Maha Vishnu Causes pleasantness to me Sri Lakshmi Ramana Makes my inner-being pure And always takes care of me Paramatma Hari The sounds of my love-filled devoted heart Is dance of Radha together with Madhava; In tune sings my mind Divine song, being Krishna My memory is pervaded by Narayana And remembrances and recollections are Description of Splendor of consort of Sindhu Kanya The thief of Gopika's hearts loots my miseries Lives together with Sri in the Vaikuntha of my heart My speech is full of Sri And my breath, the movement of Sri and Dharaa And is watched by Sridhara My inner mental tools become fruits, leaves, Flowers and water while worshipping Mukunda HE transmits the compassionate looks of Sri To make the world peaceful, wealthy and happy, Is also my within and shines eternally, The embodiment of peace, the consort of Lakshmi, Sri Krishna HE is Paramatma, Parabrahma, Parandhama, Paramapada, Paramartha, beyond Prakruti, essence of pure joy, Padmanabha, Damodara, Ananta, Purushottama, the perfect Being Conversation with Lord Krishna  91 My thoughts and feelings are pervaded by Him My mental instruments contain Him My knowledge is His reflection My being is His grace I bow to all pervading Vishnu, the Pure Consciousness I always remember and recollect, Jishnu, the forbearer and embodiment of peace I always contemplate on Rochishnu, the effulgent source of Chit I meditate on Sahishnu, form of patience and the Holder of the worlds, Jagannatha O PRAYER TO HARI I bow down to Hari again and again Who is the peak of compassion A stream-flow of parental love Husband of Goddess of Wealth And one and same as the Three-Eyed I bow down to Hari again and again Who is human-being Him-Self Who is pleasant wave of aesthetic poetry Who amorously lives in the heart of Ramaa Who is friend to you and me Who is adept in taking care of His devotees Who showers boons to His devotees And who gracefully blesses with Liberation (mukti) O 92  Varanasi Ramabrahmam PRAYER TO LORD VENKATESWARA! Where do you reside, here or there, And in every heart and inert piece too? But are not seen by the physical eye Where do you reside Lord Venkateswara! May be the flowing Godavaris are your speed, Poets with beautiful imagination are the flow of your thoughts, The daring warriors might be your courage, Tell me, The Embodiment of auspicious qualities! Lord Venkateswara! The shapes and curves of the young maidens And the bliss-giving pretty youthful women might be your form, And their beauties are your charm; Their love, devotion and affections are your compassion and care Hug me with love Lord Venkateswara! Might be Annamayya's songs are your residence, Tyagaraja's compositions are your home, And you live in Ramadasa's verses, Make me also sing your praise Lord Venkateswara! Might be Narayana Astaakshari is your swing, Should be you pervade in Siva Panchaakshari, Might be together with Goddess Lakshmi You frolic in Sodasaakshari, Let me also reach you Lord Venkateswara! Conversation with Lord Krishna  93 Might be you reside in meditation, penance and intense devotion, Performance of abhisheka (holy bath), worship, group-singing, And other deeds of unalloyed love, The tranquil minds of the saints and sages might be You Yourself Make me also know, understand and experience You Lord Venkateswara! O EIGHT VERSES ON SRI RAMACHANDRA I sing in my heart the glory of Sri Rama, The Lord of Anjaneya's heart, The adherer to word given to Father Blissful repository of Divine qualities, The form of Spiritual Master Hayagriva, With effulgent smile brilliant as the lightning, The full moon to lovely lily – heart of Sri Sita, Sri Ramachandra I sing the praise of Sri Rama, Whose Divine feet are daily washed by the sacred waters of river Godavari, Whose heart and mind are full with the aesthetic joy of listening to Sri Ramadasa's compositions, Who savored the sweet taste of the half-bitten fruits, and loving heart, offered by Sabari, The full moon to lovely lily – heart of Sri Sita, Sri Ramachandra 94  Varanasi Ramabrahmam I meditate on Sri Rama, The full moon to the sky of Ramabrahmam's son's heart, The receiver of the poetic offering of Pothana's Bhagavathamaiden, The presiding Deity of Bhadrachala and the remover of the suffering of Sri Ramadasa, The full moon to lovely lily – heart of Sri Sita, Sri Ramachandra I pray to Sri Rama, The Divine Personality whose glory is sung by Sri Tyagaraja, Who is having broad shoulders, who has beautiful and auspicious Form, Whose wide chest exhilarates the charming embrace of the entwining Sri Janaki, The full moon to lovely lily – heart of Sri Sita, Sri Ramachandra I contemplate about Sri Rama, Who blissfully listens to the melodious devotional songs of Sri Tyagaraja, Whose name is always chanted by Sri Tyagarajeswara, Who is adept in the kingly Tyaga Yoga, The full moon to lovely lily – heart of Sri Sita, Sri Ramachandra I always remember Sri Rama, The presiding deity of Tiruvengad on the west coast, The repository and ocean, of compassion, The full moon to lovely lily – heart of Sri Sita, Sri Ramachandra I bow down to Sri Rama, The lotus in the heart-lakes of devotees, Conversation with Lord Krishna  95 The vanquisher of sorrows of agonizing hearts, The full moon to lovely lily – heart of Sri Sita, Sri Ramachandra I meditate on Sri Rama, The Goal to the paths of Devotion, Action and Knowledge, The essence and envelope of, and readily available in, all expositions and philosophies, The full moon to lovely lily – heart of Sri Sita, Sri Ramachandra O Ramabrahmam is the father of Saint-Composer Tyagaraja. Bhadrachalam is on the banks of River Godavari in Andhrapradesh. Sri Ramadasa is a devotee of Sri Rama and written many compositions on Sri Rama and has built the Sri Rama temple at Bhadrachalam. Pothana is a medieval poet who translated Sri Bhagavatham into Telugu and offered to Sri Rama. Tifuvengad is on the west coast near Tellicherry (Kerala), where a thousand years old temple of Sri Rama is existing.