Dear respected and learned members,
Nature or God, whatever power gave to us the phenomenon we call as "Life", has created only the external world for all of us as common and experience-able, at least during the time period called "Life span"; there is at least no
similar common "internal world" as far as anyone knows.
Hence, if at all there is any objective for this life, like attaining the "Brahman" or "evolving spiritually" (as if climbing a very long staircase), or whatever else, those tasks have to be done through living and performing actions in, and through the experiences we gain from
this world, this external world; nature would have definitely opened out one common "
internal world" for all of us to experience, if its intention was that the so-called spirituality etc., are to be experienced through the medium of that
internal world.
The relgionists and the priesthood of the religions cleverly brought in this idea of an
internal world and some such allied concepts because otherwise they would never have been able to succeed with religious indoctrination of the people. In the case of Hinduism, especially, the rig veda, and following that, the other vedas too, deal with very many imaginary deities and their actions, and so the speculative nature is very high in Hinduism.
The situation is very similar to the two rustics who were obviously staunch believers in everything religious, and finding themselves with no job and no income, started on a journey to the forest to do “Tapas” and make the God (of their respective choices) appear in person, ask for boon and all that. On reaching the forest, they sat down near to each other. One of them said he would ask his God for a cow and, with that, he would gradually enlarge his dairy and become rich; the second fellow, impelled by jealousy, said he would ask for a tiger from his God and make it eat the other fellow’s very first cow itself. They came to blows and returned home, both seriously wounded !
This is what happens between different religions also, I think; one religion’s God trying to upstage another’s and the different religions nursing a deep antipathy towards one another. The idea of the inner world, spiritual growth through the inner world, etc., are all fanciful notions. Let us all try to unify our external personality and internal identity and live in harmony with the only world allowed to us by nature, and in harmony with the people all around us. We will then be able to build the (imaginary) heaven on this earth itself, without the help of any religion.
The following is an extract from this post (
http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/religion/7362-excerpts-dialogue-guru-6.html#post101788).
“After several years, Sri Shantananda of Pudukkottai (Sri Bhuvaneshwari Adhishthanam) became the disciple of Swami Swayamprakashananda. According to his Guru\\\'s instructions, he came to Kanchipuram to perform Srividya Purashcharana. His Guru reminded him of Amba\\\'s instruction and told him to accept bhiksha only at the residence of Sri Kamakoti Shastrigal (Sri Vedamurti Shastrigal had attained Siddhi by then). Sri Shantananda came to Kanchi and began to spend his entire day in the Sannidhi of Sri Kamakshi, immersed in Japa. Sri Kamakoti Shastrigal noticed the rare brilliance in the naked avadhuta and requested him to accept Bhiksha. Swamiji, who had not eaten anything for a week by then, enquired who he was. On hearing his name, Kamakoti, he immediately agreed to accept Bhiksha at his residence. He would eat one ball of rice from the hands of Sri Kamakoti Shastrigal and wipe his hands on his long matted locks. After a month, one morning Shastrigal heard the sound of numerous bells from the Sannidhi of Amba. When he rushed to the temple, he found Swamiji in a state of Samadhi and Amba\\\'s earring was in his hands. Sri Kamakshi had blessed Swami Shantananda and had graced him with Mantra Siddhi. Swamiji, according to instructions from Sri Kamakshi, established a beautiful temple dedicated to Sri Bhuvaneshwari in Pudukkottai. Whenever Swamiji visited Kanchi, he blessed Sri Kamakoti Shastrigal and his family by accepting bhiksha from them. During one such visit, he narrated an incident, \\\'Kamakoti, I was trying to see through my Yogic powers if there really is a self-realized master in physical form currently. I was guided to visit Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati in Sringeri by Sri Bhuvaneshwari. To personally test his realization, I went to Sringeri and sat outside the temple of Sri Sharada. I lay there for three days and no one took notice. On the third day, when I began to leave, an attendant of Mahasannidhanam came running and informed me that Jagadguru wanted to see me. Surprised, I followed him and reached a dark room. It was an empty room and in the middle of the room was seated a frail Yati, whose brilliance seemed superior to that of the Sun. He stared at me and his sight induced shaktipata in me. In seconds, I was in the state of Samadhi. He is the foremost of Jnanis in physical form currently. He is the true Jivanmukta. He will shed his mortal frame in the next few months. Have his Darshan before that\\\'. Sri Kamakoti Shastrigal at once decided to visit Sringeri. The income that he received from the temple was next to nothing. In fact, the temple was in such a bad state that Shastrigal had a big problem offering even Naivedyam to Amba. He would offer whatever he had in his house and because of this, his family spent days without food. As Smt Saroja Mami recollects, \\\'once we were in a very bad financial state and someone gave Mama some dakshina. He immediately bought some grains, made prasadam, offered it to Amba and distributed it to devotees. Family, children, and society - everything was secondary to Kamakshi. Kamakshi was his mother, Guru, friend and child. He took care of her and she always took care of him\\\'. With great difficulty, he managed to reach Sringeri. But Mahasannidhanam was in the state of Samadhi then and there was no saying when he would return to bahirmukha avasthA. Sri Shastrigal requested H H Sri Abhinava Vidya Tirtha Swamigal, the junior Acharya then, to grant him Darshan of Mahasannidhanam. The next day, when Acharya went to pay his customary respects to his Guru, Mahasannidhanam at once opened his eyes and said, \\\'Kamakshi\\\'s child had come to see me. Bring him\\\'. Acharya at once summoned Kamakoti Shastrigal to the holy presence of Sri Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati Mahaswamigal. Shastrigal performed dirgha danda pranama to the two Acharyas and offered a picture of Sri Kamakshi and tirtha prasada to Mahasannidhanam. The great Jivanmukta, like a child hugging a long lost mother, grabbed the photo, held it close to his heart and tears of joy began to flow from his eyes. After a while he said, \\\'You have brought me great joy. The only lack I have had in this life is of not seeing Sri Kamakshi with this charma chakshu. There is nothing dearer to me than Arya Shataka. Amba has blessed me finally with this photograph and fulfilled my wish. You have given me a photo of my Devata and I will give you your upAsya. shArada is none but Bala\\\'. Saying so, Mahasannidhanam blessed Sri Shastrigal with his lotus hands and gave him a rare photograph of Sri Sharada Parameshwari with a serpent on her crown. This photograph adorns the puja mandira of Sri Shastrigal to this day.”
Here you see a supposedly great Acharya who has been certified by another Swamiji, as the foremost of Jnanis in physical form and a true Jeevanmukta - FJTJ (see highlighted portion). This FJTJ could see that a particular person whom he describes as “Kamakshi’s Child”, had come to see him even though he was reportedly in a state of Samadhi.
(I personally find it difficult to believe both the Samadhi story and that the swamiji could clearly describe the particular person who had come to see him.) Nevertheless, and assuming for argument’s sake the post as true, it is stated that this person had one great unfulfilled desire and that was seeing the Goddess Kamakshi with his physical eyes (charma chakshu, it is said). And he felt that this desire of his was adequately fulfilled by viewing a photo (two-dimensional) of that idol which was presented to him. The FJTJ had thus to depend only on his physical eyes and could not depend on his Divya Chakshus to have a glimpse of the idol installed in the Kanchi temple. To add to the comic aspect of the whole incident, this FJTJ is stated to have said “shArada is none but Bala”. For a person of such high authority to pronounce that Sarada is none other than Bala, is it impossible to understand that Sarada, Bala, Kamakshi, all are one? Here lies the truth, according to me – even these FJTJs cannot do anything more than revere the mere physical forms like idols, icons and photographs; these physical entities are the only reality even for the so-called spiritually very high persons, all the rest are figment of imagination only.
I will, therefore, request all youngsters at least, to ponder over the above and accept the physical reality as the only one and try to make this world and the lives of all of us, better, and not to waste their energies and time in the pursuit of the spiritual, internal, etc., mirages.
