Devotional Practice Description
SANSKRIT LANGUAGE
The Vedas, the Upanishads, the ancient texts and beautiful shlokas (hymns), chants, mantras and yoga are all revealed in Sanskrit Language.
It used to be a purely oral language. Only after many years were the teaching, practices and mantras written down on palm leaves.
Today we have a vast literature available to us where we can revel in the priceless teaching and the heart opening, healing mantras provided by the Vedas.
Many of these texts and mantras have been translated into English and other languages, yet there is a special hidden beauty and grace that opens up when one dares to expose oneself to this knowledge in the original ancient language of Sanskrit.
One may feel vulnerable, even naked, yet the reward is so profound, and it will benefit our spiritual journey in every way.
VEDANTA
Vedanta is the end portion of the Vedas that teaches Brahma Vidya, the knowledge of the limitless being, which is, according to the Upanishads, the Self.
Vedanta reveals that the nature of I is free from any limitation, it is one, non-dual being. The general understanding of the I is ‘I am limited’ time-wise, space-wise and knowledge-wise. It is because of this conclusion that I am struggling to become happy. This is what is referred to as ‘Samsara’.
In order to get out of that endless cycle of birth and death, I need to know my essential nature as free from death, free from change, free from any limitation whatsoever.
Vedanta says,
You are the whole, you are full and complete as you are.
You are everything you want to be already.
You are the gold in and through all the ornaments.
All you need is to know, to remove the darkness of ignorance, to know yourself as such.
That is Freedom, that is Moksha. That is what ultimately every being is searching for in life, freedom from pain and suffering, freedom from the sense of smallness and inadequacy.
We all want to be happy, at all times and in all places.
We cannot find that in the world, the world is changing, that is the wonder of this creation, of this life.
Therefore I have to look somewhere else. Somewhere I have not yet thought of so far, somewhere closer than the closest.
Myself. That is Vedanta.
WHAT IS VEDANTA? – Swami Dayanand Saraswati ji
Vedanta is a solution to the problem of taking myself to be a mortal, imperfect, and subject to various limitations. These are the conclusions to every individual. Vedanta is the teaching which solves this problem. In its vision, you are the solution to the very problem from which you suffer. “I am Brahman, the whole” is Vedanta. Therefore, Vedanta is the solution.
Vedanta does not offer a solution. The solution is Vedanta. Wherever there is a solution, that solution is Vedanta. A solution can only be in the form of “I am the whole. I am free.” Anything that unfolds this particular piece of knowledge is Vedanta, whatever else it may be called.
Because Vedanta is the knowledge found at the end of the Veda, it is called Vedanta (anta, meaning end). The Veda is a body of knowledge handed down from one generation to another. It has no authorship in that it has not been authored by any given individual. It is a body of knowledge said to have been revealed to the ancient sages who, in turn, handed it over to the next generation, which handed it over to the next one, and so on, right down to our own time.This lineage is called karna-parampara in Sanskrit, meaning “ear to ear.” The knowledge is heard through one pair of ears and, having been retained, is passed on to another pair of ears. In this way, the whole Veda is maintained intact.
The Veda is divided into four – Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda. These four Vedas are again divided into two parts according to subject matter. The first part of each of the four Vedas is called karma-kanda and the last portion is called Jnana-kanda.
Karma-kanda is the section dealing with rituals and prayers, whereas the Jnana Kanda deals with only with realities – the nature of the self, the world, and God; how these three are interconnected; and whether there is a difference between them or not. This knowledge of realities liberates the person because Vedic vision is that you are the whole and there is no difference whatsoever between you, the world, and God. The teaching is generally in the form of dialogues between a teacher and a student. One particular dialogue or a few dialogues together makes up one Upanishad
Therefore, Vedanta, otherwise known as the Upanishad , forms the body of knowledge which is the solution to the fundamental human problem. This is why we do not say Vedanta offers the solution. We say the solution is Vedanta because the solution is in the form of knowledge, which is Vedanta.
PUJA
Puja is a Vedic ritual. It is a prayer with offerings.
In a Puja we sit in front of an altar. It can be an established altar where we deliberately and consciously superimpose the universal power onto an object of our preference. It can also be somewhere in nature, near the ocean, in the woods or on top of a mountain where we use the elements as our object of worship.
In a Puja, I, the individual, relates to the total, the whole. The whole represents all knowledge, all power, all-pervasiveness. It is the giver of all fruits of action, the cause of the whole universe. In other words, it is the infallible order.
We look upon the whole universe, known and unknown, as a conscious being, that manifests as forms and names, all of which is considered to be sacred and is not to be taken for granted.
Through the puja, we express our gratitude and invoke help, guidance and blessings for the journey of life through prayers, mantras and offerings.
It is a way to sanctify and spiritualise ones life, either through daily puja and/or occasional puja for birth, birthdays, marriage, initiation into adulthood, and death. Most anything can be celebrated and acknowledged through a puja ceremony.
MEDITATION
We seek harmony, peace and well being. When we are in nature, we experience that satisfaction. When we look at the sun, at the sky, see the clouds, the birds, the mountains, the trees and animals we are accepting, at least in general.
Yet when we meet and relate to people — mother, father, partner, sister and brother, employer — we find ourselves struggling, wanting them to behave in a certain manner.
We find ourselves wanting to change people, wanting to change the situation so that we can find that harmony again. It never works like that.
I have to find that satisfaction within myself, discovering that I am the very meaning of satisfaction. I don’t need to change the world. I can be accepting, compassionate, loving, caring and prayerful.
In meditation, we find harmony with what is. We find a place of spaciousness, accommodation and objectivity. We discover that, that place is myself, that there is always a place where I can rest and find solace and strength to face the many challenges of life.
A life of growth, of maturing and of gaining clarity about the truth of myself, the world and god.
JAPA
Our minds are often busy, bent to the whim of ongoing daily activities, the past or the future. It if not often that we live in the present, facing the actual.
Japa is a spiritual practice that involves the conscious deliberate repetition of a meaningful word or sentence — a mantra.
It invokes the blessing, protection and grace of the universal power, of the all-knowing, all power-conscious being.
When Japa is done with devotion and trust it neutralizes unpleasant situations and creates new healthy ways of mind and thinking.
Japa helps us to become the master of our mind, thoughts and emotion. Yet it is important that it is practiced with guidance and the initial steps of meditation have to be followed before directing the mind into Japa.
VEDIC CHANTING
Mantras are specific prayers that have their origin in the Vedas.
Chanting is a form of prayer, through which we can invoke the grace of the giver, who is the source of all knowledge and has all power.
Every action has a result and so do prayers. The result will be in the form of punyam, which is the unseen factor that helps to neutralize obstacles in our daily lives as well as grant us our wishes.
Mantra chanting absorbs, integrates, heals, transforms and invokes blessings and protection.
Visit Soundcloud to listen to a few selected Mantras, Hymns and other Musical Projects.
YOGA
A clear definition of yoga:
A life that is balanced, free from extremes, recognising oneself as a spiritual person, taking guidance from Gita and Teacher who has assimilated and followed the disciplines or at least is in the process of assimilating and totally committed to a life of dharma, universal values and truth.
Emphasizing knowledge of oneself, the world and God, and understanding what is the purpose of life and the common human goal. One meaning in Sanskrit is ‘upayah’ – a means to reach an end, the end being emotional maturity, objectivity. The means are given in the Bhagavad Gita – Value of Values, Yama Niyama, disciplines of Asanas and 5 daily sacrifices are all included in the meaning and need to be discovered by the student.
Every being is searching balance and harmony in life. Yoga provides the practices and disciplines as well as the knowledge to help us find that peace in all aspects of life. As well as understanding the choices that bring us equanimity.
When the teaching is understood properly and the disciplines are practiced one will be able live from the heart, stay in relaxation, trust and contentment with whatever one’s life brings.
The Bhagavad Gita states:
‘Being firm in the attitude of glad acceptance towards all the results, having given up the attachment to the results of our actions and being objective towards success and failure in life, is said to be yoga.’
MORE ABOUT SHARADA AND HER TEACHERS
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