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A seeker’s journey

This video is a very nice interview with Atmananda, one of the principal assistants of the great yogini Anandamayi Ma. Anandamayi Ma grew up in Bengal, which was also the birthplace of other great Masters such as Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Paramhansa Yogananda and Sri Chinmoy. She spent almost sixty years of her life going from one place to another across the vast Indian subcontinent, where crowds of people would throng to see her in the blissful consciousness that gave rise to her name (Anandamayi=’filled with bliss’)

The interviewee, Atmananda, is Austrian by birth and came to India in 1935 to teach English in the Indian city of Benares. She met Anandamayi Ma in 1943. Later on she was to quit her school job and remain with Anandamayi Ma on her travels, translating many books of her sayings from Bengali to English and editing an English. The interview takes place in 1981, the year before Anandamayi Ma left her mortal frame.

By this time, Anandamayi Ma was very well known, and the video mentions the masses of people coming to see her. One interesting thing about the video is that Atmanada says she rarely sees Anandamayi Ma these days because of the crowds, but the inner connection she feels with Anandamayi Ma when she does her translating work makes this physical separation negligible.

Video of Swami Vivekananda

A video clip featuring personal reminiscences of Swami Vivekananda. Lillian Montgomery who had the opportunity to meet Vivekananda in person shares her experiences. In particular, two qualities she noticed were the power and poise of Vivekananda – an ‘Ocean of Consciousness’

"Swami Vivekananda was so entirely different to anything we had known in America."

"As he spoke, veils just seemed to fall from your eyes, giving an entirely different impression of personality…"

The video was recorded in 1955

Biography of Vivekananda

The Golden Flute

A sea of Peace and Joy and Light
Beyond my reach I know.
In me the storm-tossed weeping night
Finds room to rage and flow.

I cry aloud, but all in vain;
I helpless, the earth unkind
What soul of might can share my pain?
Death-dart alone I find.

A raft am I on the sea of Time,
My oars are washed away.
How can I hope to reach the clime
Of God’s eternal Day?

But hark! I hear Thy golden Flute,
Its notes bring the Summit down.
Now safe am I, O Absolute!
Gone death, gone night’s stark frown!

By: Sri Chinmoy

From: My Flute

On Atheism

When I enter bookshops, I often see books discussing atheism.

As a spiritual seeker I don’t have much interest in these books. Whether others believe in God or not is not of any concern. I rather like the quote of Thomas Jefferson:

"But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."

Also, through practising meditation, one realises that there are many states of consciousness that can not be described and explained by reason. Therefore, to discuss the existence of God, through reason and the mind only, inevitably has to be unsatisfactory.

I have no interest in proving God’s existence to others – I feel this is a fruitless and unnecessary task.

However, these are a few random thoughts, ideas and quotes on the subject of atheism

To See God In Everyone

Swami Vivekananda used to recount the tale of a Hindu Sannyasin who took a vow of silence. Unfortunately the sannyasin got caught up in the Indian mutiny. – As he was being stabbed to death by a British soldier, he broke his 15 year vow of silence; saying to the soldier:

"And thou also art He!" [1]

The philosophy of seeing God in all, usually seems an ideal far beyond our grasp. At times, seekers may have difficulty to see God, even in a Saint or Realised Master. However, the ability to see God in all is the hall mark of a realised soul and a constant theme of all spiritual traditions.

An ancient Egyptian poem:

God is the Spirit of spirits,
of creation the Spirit divine.
GOD is God from the beginning
before all things were He was God.

God

Sri Chinmoy says:

"To me, God is not only the most beautiful Golden Being or Spirit; to me, God is everything. Anything that is God’s creation embodies God. Anything that can be seen in God’s creation is of God and for God. Anything that you appreciate here on earth is not only an embodiment of God but God Himself."

Excerpt from Mahatma Gandhi: The Heart Of Life by Sri Chinmoy.

I used to Shun My Companion 

I used to shun my companion
if his religion was not like mine;
but not my heart accepts every form.
It is a pasturage for gazelles, a monastery for monkss,
a temple of idols, a Ka'ba for the pilgrim,
the tables of the Torah, the holy book of the Qur'an.
Love alone is my religion, and whichever way
its horses turn, that is my faith and creed.

Anonymous

From Music of a Distant Drum, Bernard Lewis – Classical Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Hebrew Poems