Sadhānā and God-Realization
Prof K L Moza
There are five types of sadhanas which saadhaks all over the world practise for the realization of God These are shanta, sakhya, dasya, vatsalya and madhurya Saadhana is a specific psycho-physical discipline observed for the realization of some specific objective and a practitioner of this discipline is called a saadhak For the realization of God, a saadhak observes one or more of the above mentioned disciplines.
Shanta consists in an assiduous maintenance of equanimity under the temporal flux This discipline was practised in the West alluding to only outstanding few by Pythagoras, Socrates, Jesus Christ, St. Augustine, St. Anselm, St. Tho mas Aquinas, William Wordsworth, Bishop George Berkley, St David Hume and Rene Descartes. In India, excluding Kashmir, this discipline was practised, again alluding to only the outstanding few, by Vardhman Mahavira, Gautama the Buddha, Shankaracharya, Sant Kabir, Narsih Mehta, Shri. Ramana Maharishi, Sant Tukaram, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Guru Nanak Dev, Ramakrishna. Paramahamsa, Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba The most outstanding practitioners of this type of sadhana in Kashmir, among others, are Lalleshwari, Sheikh Noor-ud-Din, Mirza Kak, Bhagwan Gopinath and Swami Laxman Ji Maharaj The practitioners of this type of discipline constantly meditate upon God unruffled by the adverse circumstances. This type of saadhana leads to transcendental experiences in which a practitioner, losing complete physical consciousness, becomes a living soul. The Gita extols yoga of equanimity as a path towards the realization of self and God. The personality of a shanta saadhak constantly exudes infectious soothing peace and calm
Sakhya is that type of sadhana in which a seeker after God treats Him perfectly and solely as a friend and benefactor. This type of sadhna was practised by Sudhama, Subal and Shridham, for whom Lord Krishna was only a friend. Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana, also sought to realise Rama through the practice of this sadhna. The cowboys of Vrindavan, the constant companions of Lord Krishna, illustrate realization of God through sakhya Balram, the brother of Lord Krishna, was an unflinching practitioner of the same discipline Shri Ramkrishna Parmahamsa practised this sadhna with unswerving steadfastness. Among Kashmiri Sufi poets, besides the other types, this sadhna is very often conspicuous
In dasya type of sadhna, the aspirant considers himself the servant of God and seeks to realize Him through servile self-abnegation.
In Islam there is great emphasis upon this type of saadhna Here the votary is generally either the slave of God or the slave of the prophet Mohammed The common prefixes Ghulam and Abdul of Muslim names mean slave. Thus Abdul Rahim, Abdul Razak, Abdul Karim etc are all slaves of the different names of God. Similarly, Ghulam Nabi or Ghulam Mohd. mean slaves of the prophet. Islam is a dualist religion with impersonal concept of God. Here man and God are two distinct and separate entities, and God is formless. We have several examples in Kashmir of very high levels of spiritual realization. One such illustrious example is that of Misha Sahib who is reverentially called Misha Padshah in Kashmir. In the Ramayana, Hanuman practises dasya for the realization of Rama. After returning from the forest with Shri Rama's wooden sandals, Bharata practised dasya for fourteen years.
In the vatsalya type of sadhna a seeker treats God as a child and showers love and affection upon Him in abundance. This type of sadhna greatly appeals to Sur Das who enjoys depicting the pranks and antics of infant Krishna. Tulsi Das too passes through this type of sadhna while depicting the infancy and childhood of Shri Rama. A Christian worshipping Jesus as an infant also is a practitioner of this type of discipline; King Dashratha, Kaushalya, and Yashodha are sadhaks of this type. In the spiritual progress of Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, there came a stage when the great saadhak experienced Ramlala all around him. Prakash Bhatt, the saintly narrator of Rama's story in Kashmiri verse, intensely cherished vatsalya bhava. The eighteenth century poet from southern Kashmir touches sublime heights while depicting the pathos concomitant to Rama's exile. A teacher showering his unstinted unselfish love upon his pupils is also a practitioner of this type of sadhna He also experiences spiritual beatitude in abundance Two such illustrious examples are Guru Vashisht and Guru Sandipani.
Many sadhaks seek God as a lover. This type of sadhna is called madhurya; Mira's longing for Krishna is a saadhna of this type. The gopis of Vrindavan sought to understand Krishna through this type of sadhna 'Manqabat', a poetic form in Persian and Urdu, which expresses this type of emotion.
Swami Ramakrishna Parmahmsa was very often in madhurya bhava. He longed for his rebirth as. a child widow so that he could perpetually cherish madhurya bhava towards Lord Krishna. Amongst most of the Kashmiri Sufi poets madhurya bhava is strikingly conspicuous There are volumes of poems which reveal the great Kashmiri poets, in madhurya emotion. Transcending the limitations of sex, they seek to realize God as a beloved. These poets reveal Vedantic predilections and seek complete union and merger with God. Madhurya Bhava leads them to the realization of some profound Vedantic truths. Madhurya bhava in Kashmiri poetry can be a topic for vast and interesting study. Swami Ramkrishna Parmahamsa, one of the greatest saadhaks of the world, performed all the saadhnas elucidated and described above. In the tranquil ambience of the Panchvati, the piece of land adjacent to the Dakshineswar temple, he practised the shanti sadhana. As a result of this his personality began to exude unearthly peace and calm. The constant smile on his serene complexion was infectious. For practising shanta sadhna more effectively, the Swami, for a brief period, practised Christianity assiduously. Swami Ramkrishna lived the life of a devout Muslim for an effective practice of dasya saadhra. In the role of Hanuman, the great dasa, he frisked about on the branches of trees eating all kinds of fruits unpeeled. Wandering about dressed as a gopi of Vrindavan was an objectification of the madhurya bhava. In this mood he was perfectly indistinguishable from women. The boyish saunters with his comrades in Kamarpukur illustrate the practice of sakya sadhana. During the early days of his stay in Dakshineswar, he felt himself dogged about by Ramlala. This is a manifestation of vatsalya bhava In the popular imagination, Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is only a devotee of goddess Kali at the Dakshineswar temple in Calcutta. But in reality he was a worshipper of God in all His manifestations. Like all other members of his Brahmin family, Ramakrishna was initially a devotee of Raghuvir Kali worship was a later development in his religio-spiritual career. He sought to scrape the ritualistic debris which had accumulated upon the essence of religions. Ramakrishna's life was a practical demonstration of the fact that practices of all different religions are equally good for the realization of God.
God is an apodictic reality for the devout and God-realization is the highest ideal of existence. Down the centuries of civilized human life, innumerable people have performed variegated austerities for realizing him. Many idealistic philosophers have attempted to prove, through different kinds of arguments, the existence of God. Emerson, the American transcendental poet, attributes the restlessness of the human spirit to its perpetual longing for dissolution into its origin, God. Pythagoras has given geometrical, St. Anselm ontological, St. Thomas Aquinas cosmological and Rene Descartes epistemological proof about the existence of God.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy:- Prof K L Moza and September 1996 Koshur Samachar
Sadhānā and God-Realization
Prof K L Moza
There are five types of sadhanas which saadhaks all over the world practise for the realization of God These are shanta, sakhya, dasya, vatsalya and madhurya Saadhana is a specific psycho-physical discipline observed for the realization of some specific objective and a practitioner of this discipline is called a saadhak For the realization of God, a saadhak observes one or more of the above mentioned disciplines.
Shanta consists in an assiduous maintenance of equanimity under the temporal flux This discipline was practised in the West alluding to only outstanding few by Pythagoras, Socrates, Jesus Christ, St. Augustine, St. Anselm, St. Tho mas Aquinas, William Wordsworth, Bishop George Berkley, St David Hume and Rene Descartes. In India, excluding Kashmir, this discipline was practised, again alluding to only the outstanding few, by Vardhman Mahavira, Gautama the Buddha, Shankaracharya, Sant Kabir, Narsih Mehta, Shri. Ramana Maharishi, Sant Tukaram, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Guru Nanak Dev, Ramakrishna. Paramahamsa, Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba The most outstanding practitioners of this type of sadhana in Kashmir, among others, are Lalleshwari, Sheikh Noor-ud-Din, Mirza Kak, Bhagwan Gopinath and Swami Laxman Ji Maharaj The practitioners of this type of discipline constantly meditate upon God unruffled by the adverse circumstances. This type of saadhana leads to transcendental experiences in which a practitioner, losing complete physical consciousness, becomes a living soul. The Gita extols yoga of equanimity as a path towards the realization of self and God. The personality of a shanta saadhak constantly exudes infectious soothing peace and calm
Sakhya is that type of sadhana in which a seeker after God treats Him perfectly and solely as a friend and benefactor. This type of sadhna was practised by Sudhama, Subal and Shridham, for whom Lord Krishna was only a friend. Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana, also sought to realise Rama through the practice of this sadhna. The cowboys of Vrindavan, the constant companions of Lord Krishna, illustrate realization of God through sakhya Balram, the brother of Lord Krishna, was an unflinching practitioner of the same discipline Shri Ramkrishna Parmahamsa practised this sadhna with unswerving steadfastness. Among Kashmiri Sufi poets, besides the other types, this sadhna is very often conspicuous
In dasya type of sadhna, the aspirant considers himself the servant of God and seeks to realize Him through servile self-abnegation.
In Islam there is great emphasis upon this type of saadhna Here the votary is generally either the slave of God or the slave of the prophet Mohammed The common prefixes Ghulam and Abdul of Muslim names mean slave. Thus Abdul Rahim, Abdul Razak, Abdul Karim etc are all slaves of the different names of God. Similarly, Ghulam Nabi or Ghulam Mohd. mean slaves of the prophet. Islam is a dualist religion with impersonal concept of God. Here man and God are two distinct and separate entities, and God is formless. We have several examples in Kashmir of very high levels of spiritual realization. One such illustrious example is that of Misha Sahib who is reverentially called Misha Padshah in Kashmir. In the Ramayana, Hanuman practises dasya for the realization of Rama. After returning from the forest with Shri Rama's wooden sandals, Bharata practised dasya for fourteen years.
In the vatsalya type of sadhna a seeker treats God as a child and showers love and affection upon Him in abundance. This type of sadhna greatly appeals to Sur Das who enjoys depicting the pranks and antics of infant Krishna. Tulsi Das too passes through this type of sadhna while depicting the infancy and childhood of Shri Rama. A Christian worshipping Jesus as an infant also is a practitioner of this type of discipline; King Dashratha, Kaushalya, and Yashodha are sadhaks of this type. In the spiritual progress of Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, there came a stage when the great saadhak experienced Ramlala all around him. Prakash Bhatt, the saintly narrator of Rama's story in Kashmiri verse, intensely cherished vatsalya bhava. The eighteenth century poet from southern Kashmir touches sublime heights while depicting the pathos concomitant to Rama's exile. A teacher showering his unstinted unselfish love upon his pupils is also a practitioner of this type of sadhna He also experiences spiritual beatitude in abundance Two such illustrious examples are Guru Vashisht and Guru Sandipani.
Many sadhaks seek God as a lover. This type of sadhna is called madhurya; Mira's longing for Krishna is a saadhna of this type. The gopis of Vrindavan sought to understand Krishna through this type of sadhna 'Manqabat', a poetic form in Persian and Urdu, which expresses this type of emotion.
Swami Ramakrishna Parmahmsa was very often in madhurya bhava. He longed for his rebirth as. a child widow so that he could perpetually cherish madhurya bhava towards Lord Krishna. Amongst most of the Kashmiri Sufi poets madhurya bhava is strikingly conspicuous There are volumes of poems which reveal the great Kashmiri poets, in madhurya emotion. Transcending the limitations of sex, they seek to realize God as a beloved. These poets reveal Vedantic predilections and seek complete union and merger with God. Madhurya Bhava leads them to the realization of some profound Vedantic truths. Madhurya bhava in Kashmiri poetry can be a topic for vast and interesting study. Swami Ramkrishna Parmahamsa, one of the greatest saadhaks of the world, performed all the saadhnas elucidated and described above. In the tranquil ambience of the Panchvati, the piece of land adjacent to the Dakshineswar temple, he practised the shanti sadhana. As a result of this his personality began to exude unearthly peace and calm. The constant smile on his serene complexion was infectious. For practising shanta sadhna more effectively, the Swami, for a brief period, practised Christianity assiduously. Swami Ramkrishna lived the life of a devout Muslim for an effective practice of dasya saadhra. In the role of Hanuman, the great dasa, he frisked about on the branches of trees eating all kinds of fruits unpeeled. Wandering about dressed as a gopi of Vrindavan was an objectification of the madhurya bhava. In this mood he was perfectly indistinguishable from women. The boyish saunters with his comrades in Kamarpukur illustrate the practice of sakya sadhana. During the early days of his stay in Dakshineswar, he felt himself dogged about by Ramlala. This is a manifestation of vatsalya bhava In the popular imagination, Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is only a devotee of goddess Kali at the Dakshineswar temple in Calcutta. But in reality he was a worshipper of God in all His manifestations. Like all other members of his Brahmin family, Ramakrishna was initially a devotee of Raghuvir Kali worship was a later development in his religio-spiritual career. He sought to scrape the ritualistic debris which had accumulated upon the essence of religions. Ramakrishna's life was a practical demonstration of the fact that practices of all different religions are equally good for the realization of God.
God is an apodictic reality for the devout and God-realization is the highest ideal of existence. Down the centuries of civilized human life, innumerable people have performed variegated austerities for realizing him. Many idealistic philosophers have attempted to prove, through different kinds of arguments, the existence of God. Emerson, the American transcendental poet, attributes the restlessness of the human spirit to its perpetual longing for dissolution into its origin, God. Pythagoras has given geometrical, St. Anselm ontological, St. Thomas Aquinas cosmological and Rene Descartes epistemological proof about the existence of God.
DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the Article above are Author’s personal views and kashmiribhatta.in is not in any way responsible for the opinions expressed in the above article. The article belongs to its respective owner or owners and this site does not claim any right over it. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."
Courtesy:- Prof K L Moza and September 1996 Koshur Samachar