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 Council Newletter
The Appearance of Bhagwan Ram
To reveal the same Bliss of Saket abode for the souls of the world, Bhagwan Ram descended and appeared in the palace of King Dashrath in front of His mother Kaushalya. When He appeared He was in His full youthful form and in His absolute Divine glory. Then, on the request of His mother, He became a day-old child and began to cry like a normal baby. Tulsidas describes the childhood leelas of Ram in detail. Then he tells about the wedding of Ram and His other three brothers. But, all through the Ramayan, the image of Bhagwan Ram, is exceedingly marvelous and befitting to His Divine dignity. King Janak, who was always absorbed in the Bliss of the nirakar brahm, when the first time he saw Ram, became overwhelmed with the Blissfulness of His Divine beauty. He said, "My mind has ceased relishing on the formal Bliss of formless brahm and my heart is thrilled seeing the all-exceeding loving beauty of Ram's Divine personality." Several descended Saints have written the leelas of Bhagwan Ram, and the descriptions of all of them are mostly on the same lines. The dedication of Lakchman, the devotion of Bharat, the adoration of Hanuman and the affection of all the people of Ayodhya for Bhagwan Ram are such facts that naturally represent His loving kindness and His causeless Graciousness upon all the souls. Sage Valmiki, in the last section of his Ramayan, tells that when Bhagwan Ram was leaving Ayodhya and was going to ascend to His Divine abode, all the people of Ayodhya including the birds and the animals also followed Him and ascended to His Divine abode along with Him. This Divine historical event proves that during the descension period of Ram all the people of Ayodhya were the descended Divine personalities who had come from Saket abode to associate with and to become a part of the leelas of Bhagwan Ram. ©2004,
The Vedic Foundation. This article may be reprinted with permission in writing
from The Vedic Foundation
Dear Friends, Greetings and Best Wishes, The Council of Hindu Temples Of North America will hold its 18th Annual Meeting at the Hindu Temple of Florida, Tampa, Florida on Saturday, April 24, 2004. On behalf of the Council, I welcome the representatives of all the Temples in North America to participate in this important meeting. Even though there are over 150 Temples in the US, very few Temples participate in these annual meetings. Annual Membership dues is $251.00 and this is the only source of revenue for the Council. The Council of Hindu Temples can play a significant role for all the Hindu Temples on issues of common concern. The dispersement of $200,000.00 to the Council of Hindu Temples of North America following McDonald's settlement has not yet been received. All Temples are concerned about their youth and the Council can serve as a forum for exchange of ideas by Youth to establish better communication. The youth must be encouraged to participate in all Temple activities and they must be trained to gradually take on the challenge of managing such institutions. This year a total of 19 essays were submitted for the Essay Competition organized by the Council. On behalf of the Council I express my deep appreciation to all the judges for their dedication and patience in evaluating all the essays year after year. It is my humble appeal to all the Temples to send their membership dues and participate in the upcoming meeting. Dr.
Uma Mysorekar, In the Words of Swami Vivekananda
When one's Self is meditated upon as zero, and bereft of quality, that is called Abhava. That in which one sees the Self as full of bliss and bereft of all impurities, and one with God is called Mahayoga. The Yogi, by each method, realizes the self. The multiplicity of waves gives place to unity and one wave is left in the mind. This is Dhyana, meditation. Whenever the Yogi meditates, he can keep out all other thoughts; he becomes identified with that on which he meditates. When he meditates, he is like a piece of crystal. Before flowers the crystal becomes almost identified with the flowers. If the flower is red, the crystal looks red, or if the flower is blue the crystal looks blue. Dharana is holding the mind on to some particular object. An unbroken flow of knowledge in that object is Dhyana. If the mind can be fixed on the centre for twelve seconds it will be a Dharana, twelve such Dharnas will be a Dhyana, and twelve such Dhyanas will be a Samadhi. With every sense and every organ active, have you that tremendous peace so that nothing can disturb you? Standing in Market Street waiting for the car with all the rush going on around you, are you in meditation - calm and peaceful? In the cave are you intensely active there with all quiet about you? If you are, you are a Yogi; otherwise not. Take some holy person, some great person whom you revere, some saint whom you know to be perfectly non-attached, and think of his heart. That heart has become non-attached, and meditate on that heart; it will calm the mind. Meditation is the removal of attachment; it is perfected by the suppression of the modifications. Also by non-attachment and practice, meditation is perfected. The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation (Dhyana). In meditation we divest ourselves of all material conditions and feel our divine nature. We do not depend upon any external help in meditation. Meditation is a constant remembrance (of the thing meditated upon) flowing like an unbroken stream of oil poured from one vessel to another. When the Jiva is sought to be united with Brahman, it is best; when meditation is practiced, it is medium; repetition of name is the lowest form, and external worship is the lowest of the low. You must try to combine in your life immense idealism with immense practicality. You must be prepared to go into deep meditation now, and the next moment you must be ready to go and cultivate those fields. After initiation there should be in the aspirant after truth, Abhyasa or repeated attempt at practical application of the Truth by prescribed means of constant meditation upon the chosen ideal. Meditation is the one thing. Meditate, the greatest thing is meditation. It is the nearest approach to spiritual life - the mind meditating. It is the one moment in our daily life when we are not at all material - the soul thinking of itself, free from all matter, this marvelous touch of the soul. As churning brings out the butter in the milk, so Dhyana brings the realization of Brahman in the Soul. 2003-2004 Essay Competition Entry- Prize Winning Essay Teachings
& Lives of Ancient Hindu Sages
Dadheechi was so focused that his long meditation pleased Indra, who taught him the supreme knowledge, Brahma-Jnana. Developing a wide span of attention and good focus are qualities for the success of a student and most certainly we see it in Dadheechi's life. Honoring the words of a teacher is another quality his life teaches us. He respected his teacher, Indra's words in not teaching the eternal knowledge to others. He was Atharvana's son and Angirasa's grandson. He was also modest and humble towards his teacher (Vidhya vinayenea bhushitha). Considering the welfare of the world, he had to teach this knowledge to the Ashwini-kumaras at the risk of losing his head. Dadeechi's will power was so great that he was ready to sacrifice his life to keep his promise. The gods went to Dadheechi and asked him to hold their weapons in his custody until they needed them. The gods didn't return for a long time and the weapons started rusting. In order to preserve the weapons, Dadheechi used his spiritual powers to dissolve the weapons in water and drank it. One day, the gods came to him to take their weapons from him as a war was likely. Dadheechi could not turn them down. Having swallowed their weapons, he told them to take his backbone and make weapons out of it and prepared to breathe his last. The gods were pleased with his determination and told him to continue with his life until the day comes when they would really need the weapons in war. It was time for the gods to face war against Vritra. The only weapon that could defeat Vritra would be the one made using Dadheechi's backbone. So, they came to the great sage. Without hesitation, he told the gods to use his backbone and sat in meditation to prepare himself for this noble cause. The gods took his bones to Vishwakarma and got the weapons made and defeated Vrithra. Thus, Dadheechi not only stood for his words, but also demonstrated that a worthy life is when it serves others, selflessly! Dadheechi was the first one to have mastery of Narayana Kavacha that made him the most powerful and strongest sage. His mastery over weapons had earned him a special boon that would grant him the control of half of his opponent's weapons. While Dadheechi's ultimate sacrifice of life reveals his utmost noble quality, his awesome power is worth analyzing. In addition to the noble qualities, Dadheechi's awesome powers seem to be the foundation for modern science. The Ashwini-kumaras preserving his head and replacing it on him may have led to transplant surgery. Drinking the solution of the weapons that later materialized in making sturdy weapons from Dadheechi's strong backbone might be the concept of the ultimate recycling of energy. After all, present day science has its roots in the Atharvana Veda. So it is not surprising that he has been a living model of science. I strongly believe that all these facts about Dadheechi point out to one thing - a supreme nuclear energy in the form of Dadheechi. In modern terms we can think of an ultimate smart nuclear weapon that would just gobble up the opponents weapons just as Dadheechi drank up the weapons. The way half of the weapons of his enemy would be in his possession again would be like a nuclear weapon, which will create a nuclear envelope that will either inactivate the enemy weapons or take control of them. It seems that just before giving up his life, he had sent all his disciples and his wife also away probably trying to prevent them from getting exposed to the 'nuclear' energy that would no longer be under his control. I
wish we had a little bit of Dadheechi in every one of us. A small fraction of
his immense power along with his giving nature will be good things to have so
we will have the will power to give up things to help the mankind.
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