HIS HOLY WORDS - SWARUPANANDA PARAMHANSHA

A MESSAGE OF LOVE

On the Holy occasion of the Mahakumbha Mela AT ALLAHABAD ADDRESS BY

            Akhandamandaleswar Sree Sree Swami Swarupananda Paramahansa Deva.

Founder of the Ayachak Ashrama, Banaras, India, February 1, 1954.

Respected Children of God,

It is with a profound sense of gratitude that these few lines are written to you though this humble servant of yours knows perfectly well how you would like to have him amidst you in person to serve you. But the vow of silence undertaken by him for two years having not been finished makes him externally useless and he has found it more convenient to approach you through the pen, hoping that some noble soul will take the trouble of reading out this small address of welcome to you and earn a heartfelt gratitude of the writer.

 You have assembled in millions at the holy Tirtha Prayag to offer your homage to the great Dharma, you have been practising in your lifelong endeavours, and it has been an excellent choice of yours to decide to celebrate this occasion here and during these ho tiest days. Asked to say something on this occasion, the writer fervently feels the depth of your friendship and love and again and again offers you his cordial thanks.

Love, the paramount power on earth, has been roving depraved and raving through the blind alleys of life, making alliance with ephemeral trifles goaded by greed of sensuality, -and verily this has been the real cause of all the ailments from which humanity has been suffering. Teem­ing sorrows have surrounded all to­ I days and all to-morrows and the I more the gloom deepens black, the  more the reins are getting slack. Love, the paramount propeller .of self-abnegation, has turned into sel­fish motives and meaningless pursu­its, leading man 'from one frustration to another, from disappointment to dissipation and from disaster to destruction. Such institutions, as that of yours, have undertaken to disseminate love for all beings and thus save civilisation from  an untimely end. In the eye of a true. servant of God, Love and Dharma are only two different words for meaning the same object. Once our forefathers had loved every particle of dust, every atom, every molecule and their unparallel love for all made them see God in everything and still to transcend. Agniryathaiko bhuvanam pravisto…………..           rupam rupam pratirupam bahishcha,…….

( Katha 2-2-9 & 10 )

            Is God to be searched out in a distant heaven where a few fortunates will be privileged to enter and all . other beings will be deprived of the grace of seeing Him? Is God only for some chosen persons and race and never for others? Is God to remain outside the existence of His creation? Can't God permeate all creation and simultaneously transc­end it ? The Rishis of the olden days saw Him as Sarvabbutantaratma

( Mundaka, 2-1-4), the soul of all souls, Though undefinable, all ins and all outs are He. Though indes­cribable, Yato vacbo nivartante aprapya manasa saba (Taitti 2-9-1 ) all languages are for speaking Him out and for proclaiming His glory.

All the movements of all electrons on earth are the songs in His praise. Everything in creation is His beauty Tasya bhasa sarbamidam vibhati ( Katha, 5-15, Sveta 6-14. Mundaka 2-2-10 ). He is the sweetest of sweets, Raso vai sah ( Taitti, 2-7 ) None is excluded from the existence in Him, "Sarvamavritya tishthati" (Sveta 3-16) and He is excluded from none. .'Sarvam Khalvidam Brahma" ( Chhandogya 3-14-1 )

Not philosophical speculations, not sophistic syllogisations but direct realisation of the Supreme was the means as well as the source of their knowledge and it was not out of a poetic ecstasy that they solemnly declared, - "Vedahametam Purn­sham, Mahantam, I have known the Absolute, I have known the Great." Though unknowable, He can be known, though beyond the bounds of words and mind, He can be spoken of and be meditated upon,­because He is in eveything, because He is in Love and by finding Him in everything and by searching Him in love.

 Attraction is the law of nature. One object attracts another. One man attracts another, One drop of

water attracts another. One small particle of vapour attracts another. The tiniest. particles of bodies are kept together by the attraction of cohesion. The sun and the earth and the stars and the planets are all attracting one another. Who gave this attraction to the world? Who is it that is at the root of all passions? We have named Him Krishna,.... krish -- to attract. All attractions have their source at the same place. It is only the One that attract'S and according to the difference of the receptacles the great attraction varies. All the passions, feelings and urges come from Him alone, Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat.

Can you think without His urge?

Can you feel without His power?

Can you work without His design?

Everything is in Him, and He is everything. Ishavasyam idam sarvam (Isha, 1. ).

The concepts and precepts that the Rishis have handed over to us make us bold enough to embrace the whole world in our loving bosom irrespective of the castes, creeds and  churches into which its peoples are divided and diversified. While many religions have claimed that their paths alone are only true ones to - God, others being false and counter­feit, our forefathers have left us the legacy that all paths lead to the same goal, by whatever different names and rites may you have cloaked them,­"Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti Agnim Yamam Matarisvanamahuh"

(Rig Ved 1-168-46). While others ,have spent the best part of their in­tellects to the condemnation of others' ways and means, we have been practising for innumerable centuries,- "To make the whole world  your kinsmen, in spite of differences of ways, is Hinduism. "Krinvantu visvam aryam" Verily, this is the solid rock upon which the beautiful citadel of Hinduism stands to neglect none, to discredit none, to disregard none, but to find out the bond of fellowship with everybody on earth is the essence of Hinduism. While many other religionists have found it necessary to convert others to their particular school of practices and manners for creating the tie of brotherhood, Hinduism is superbly impartial in the matter and never greeds after compelling people in renouncing their former faith for saving their souls from perdition. Eternal hell is completely out of symphony with Hindusim, eternal bliss in coexistence with Brahma being the ultimate gain of every soul, whatever might have been the methods of his endeavours for reaching the goal,

This catholicity in theory and practice has made it possible for us to find in every child of God a brother or a sister without referring to or considering at all who might have belonged to which particular dogma or doctrine. Catholicity is Hinduism and Hinduism is catholi­city. As long as these shall be the landmarks of Hinduism, it shall never lose its supra-continental character with most hospitable har­bours though surrounded by the isles of faiths and churches each of which claims to be the only shelter for the fatigued and bewildered seafarer,

We are catholic both in giving and taking, We can learn from every­body without renouncing our spiri­tual creed, we can teach everybody without compelling him to say Good­bye to his creed and cradle. Every­body can learn from us the secrets of the unfathomable deep, the mysteries

of the mystic realisation, the ways of unfolding the perplexing puzzles of life without getting uprooted from the perspectives of his physical origin and cultural heritage. "Non-Hindu"

is a word which therefore seems to convey no meaning at all as we have been taught by our preceptors that­"Vidya-vinaya-sampanne brahmane gavi bastini, shuni chaiva svapake cha panditah samadarshinah," the illumined Brahmin, endowed with learning and modesty, the elephant, the cow, the dog and the untouchable persons are all equal in the eye of the seer (Gita, 5-18). In order to be able to claim ourselves as Hindus we have to see God anywhere and everywhere. Though diversities, are quite natural, still, that is the reason why Hinduism shall bring in its bosom the whole universe, by knowing again that Love is God and God is Love. This is a difficult task, but it is sure to be fulfilled.

While changeable rituals, external observances, traditional peculiarities, social customs and non-essential ceremonials are dividing humanity into different fighting groups, shall we not shrink from all trivialities and find out means to embrace the whole world in our loving bosom knowing

it beyond doubt that,- "NALPE SUKHAM ASTI, YO VAl BHUMA TAT SUKHAM" -there is no happiness in littleness, the LIMIT­LESS is the source of all happiness-? ( Chhandogya 7-23-1 )

Hari Om, Om Shanti.

PLEASURE AND PEACE

What is pleasure? Just a mirage

Where the senses show their

                                     visage

In their wanton

                           self-seclusion

Wild desires drink their

                                     potion,­

-Haste and haste!   Can"t wait

                               a moment!

Drive and goad and push

                            and foment !­

Dancing, prancing, dangling

                                   dirty dance

Dashes to death and makes an

                                end of trance.

What is peace? It's like a calm

Big and quiet, nice, handsome

Ocean that has all the ills

But in spite of these fulfils

 Holy design of God on earth

Ev'n in sorrows heavenly mirth.

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