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Question: Please enlighten me on the following things. Our body has been compared with a chariot, intellect with the chariot-driver, mind with the reins, senses with the horses, and the soul with the person sitting in the chariot.
a) What is then consciousness and where is it located ?
b) Which things affect the driver, that is the intellect ?
c) What is the role of soul,or is it merely a silent witness ?
Does the soul affect guiding of the intellect.
Answer: It is an allegory and should be taken to whatever extent it is applicable. According to Upanishad, consciousness is the owner of the chariot and he resides in the cave of the intellect. Intellect as a driver has to guide the chariot properly which means due to the reflection of the consciousness in the intellect, the intellect comes to life and if it properly controls and directs the sense organs through the mind, then the realization will come. The soul is always only a spectator like the Sun sheds light on all the things, good & bad, but never gets affected by any of those.
Question: I am a 23-year old girl from Mumbai. I have read almost all books of Swami Vivekananda & I am greatly fascinated by him. Actually, I am kind of a girl who gets involved in anything easily & gets out of it also very easily. I don’t understand what to do with my life as I’m in a way confused between: a. If I should marry, have kids, lead a normal life & make my parents & everyone happy. Then after my all duties towards family are over, I should come & join Ashrama. Till then visit whenever possible, join Vivekanand Kendra & take part in activities. OR, b. Leave everything behind & come & join Ashrama. I know that if determined, I can use all my strenght, love & devotion for good cause which will benefit more people.
I always wanted to be a nurse. But due to my parents’ influenece, now I am in computer field working in a company. Somehow, I feel that everyone here just expects from me & no one really loves me enough. I try to overcome the feeling, but it is always there due to lack of consistency & emotional security. Everyday, it’s like life shows me that I shouldn’t take anything granted. It’s very difficult & frustrating. I try to calm myself by telling myself – Life keeps changing & we should accept changes as they come & cope with them. But it’s easy to say, difficult to practise. I always try not to expect anything from anyone & do as much as possible for others. But I just can’t stop expecting some things even if I know that Swamiji has told – work for the sake of work & not for fruit & love without expectation. I try my best to implement these things in everyday life. But it’s kind of a hard struggle & sometimes I feel like giving up the fight.
I have very small expectations from life – like if I get married, the man should love me, give me his time instead of running after money & there should be consistency in life. I have a man who loves me very much & I also love him a lot. He says that he will marry me if his parents agree. But I don’t know if they will agree or not. My parents agree. But I’m already cheated in this matter of marriage once before (it was just wrong choice). Now sometimes I feel like such things happen to me because God wants me to leave everything & do some good work for others. So, this time, I have decided that if he doesn’t marry me, I shall never try again for marriage & come & join Ashrama – not running away from problems in life; just because I’m really interested in spiritual matters. I find myself having peace of mind whenever I get involved in any spiritual things like Yoga, chanting mantras, discussing ideas about life & everything. I have attended some camps where I was really glad to follow the routine activities of Yoga, meditation, learning Gita, etc. Plese guide me as to what to do. Regards.
Answer: You need not be worried about your present state, since all the girls who have a little inclination towards Spiritual Life, face this same problem. Please note – jumping to Ashrama life – is no solution for it. Since you are unable to decide yourself, best thing for you is to depend on your parents to arrange marriage. As you are their daughter, they will definitely be able to understand you better and guide you in this matter. Please remember, the world is full of selfish people and they all like to cheat innocent earning good girls towards their selfish interest. Rarely you will find a person who will love you unselfishly. Since you are not aware of this fact, you get cheated from them. Married life & spiritual life can go together if you are sincere and if you get a like minded husband to live with. Since you are an educated girl, you can understand the motive of the people. Till you get settled in life, try to spend your leisure time in studying Swami Vivekananda’s works and also have some good girl friends who are interested in such matters. It is better to avoid boy friends as much as possible.
Question: Please tell me the thoughts of Vivekananda on the status of women in hinduism.
Answer: It is difficult to write in details about the question you have asked, in this short letter. I advise you to read two small booklets by swami Vivekananda on this subject:
1. “Women of India”, by Swami Vivekananda, published by – Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Chennai-4. price : Rs.5/-.
2. “Our Women”, by Swami Vivekananda, published by – Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta. Price : Rs.8/-.
Question: I request you to please answer my basic question on spirituality: If we are all part of the God then why did we came to this world ? Our present state is according to our karma of last life. then I want to KNOW is at the first time why did we came here? Before that what is the our state ? and after getting Mukti what will be our state?
Answer: It is an age-old question. The answers are many. The one answer given by Vedanta is that the world itself is an illusion and when we realise our real nature, the illusoriness becomes clear. But, so long we are in illusion, the illusoriness can not be realised. Just as so long we are in dream, we are not aware that we are in dream.
The law of Karma is true, but, the Creation is like a circle, which has no beginning. We have come from God, and go back to God ultimately, when the play is over. We don’t realise that we have come from our God – this is our ignorance.
Question: I seriously intend to walk the “spiritual” path. I have been feeling a strong urge for the last few years, and I have done much that stood in my power in accordance to my current standings. Mostly I have been reading and contemplating on the Bhagvad Gita and other texts by Indian saints. I have come to the conclusion that the path of Yoga is the most straightforward way to self-realization. The Decision for me was to totally renounce my current state of life and live in celibacy, but I am a senior student in Electrical Engineering, but even this worldly knowledge, seems to be of some use to my spiritual growth. Therefore I must remain this one last year in my country and complete my studies. But the urge is hard and I dearly ask you, if it is possible for me to know and choose my path among the fourfold Yogas, and if you can give me some guidance in this regard. (I am 23, Male, live in ****, ***)
Answer: My advice to you is : Just concentrate on your studies and complete your Engineering before you can think of spiritual life seriously. We should not jump into anything emotionally. Continue to read Bhagavad Gita & try to follow as much as possible its teachings.
Answer: Ekadashi is the eleventh day of a fortnight, the days being counted according to different states of moon. It is observed as an auspicious day by a Hindu. On these days in the Ramakrishna Math & Mission centres, the hymns of Glories to Lord Rama is sung which is called as ‘Ramanama Sankirtana’, after evening Arati (waving of lights with the accompaniment of Devotional Songs) to Sri Ramakrishna in the temple. The devotees consider it to be a very auspicious day and observe fasting on that day. There are innumerable stories in our Puranas (ancient Scriptures) extolling the glory of the day.
Question: I am not fit for anything because i came for business and i spoil my father money i am trust god too much but i don’t know how to live and how to survive my self, not yet married, i have disease like ulcer, may be asthma, common cold etc., my question is why god create partiality?
Answer: Don’t loose faith in yourself. Everybody has ups and downs in life. But one should be able to face it boldly. Then only problems will fly away. There is absolutely no partiality in God’s creation. For what we have done we are paying now. Good for good and bad for bad.
Question: This has been on mind for a long time.. I tried to look for the answer in many ways but it still remains very abstract and cloudy. My question is What is ethics and moral in life? what does our hindu religion say about it. Is it both related or is it based on one another. What should a person follow in life.
Answer: Moral & ethical values vary from person to person. What is moral to an Indian may be most immoral for a Westerner, and vice versa. Even in the same country, if a soldier kills the enemies in the war, he will be honored, whereas if an ordinary man kills a person, he will be punished. I wish you read Swami Vivekananda’s Karma Yoga in which he deals in detail on the subject. It is difficult to reply in a short letter.
Question: Sri Ramakrishna says that pure knowledge and pure devotion are the same thing. Since my understanding on Vedanta is so superficial that I cannot fully understand the meaning. I am very glad if you explain this profound meaning plainly.
Answer: The yogas I mean, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Karma Yoga & Raja Yoga – are different faculties to reach the ultimate Goal. All these faculties ultimately lead to the same goal. In that sense, when the man reaches the highest, he will find no difference between Jnana & Bhakti.
Question: I found your site to be quite interesting. I have read some articles and a few books about Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekanda. I liked the message of singing lord’s name as told by Sri Ramakrishan (in the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna) and a host of other saints and luminaries and try to follow it daily for some time. Somewhere I had read that desires are the cause for our transmigration from one form to another.In the mind no sooner is one desire fulfilled than some other takes it place.So what needs to be done to cope with this ?
Answer: Yours is a very big question and difficult to answer in short. Since you have understood that every desire gives birth to innumerable desires, you will have to give up, not to entertain any desire. Take the thing as they come without any reaction. I advise you to read the ‘Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ which will enlighten you more.
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