BUDDHA'S WISDOM

In the long chequered history of human civilization, one man whose teachings created ripples in the world and a religion took birth by his name - Buddha.

According to Wikipedia, Buddha was born either 563 BCE or 480 BCE in Lumbini (a place in present-day Nepal) and died in 483 BCE or 400 BCE which means he probably lived about 80 years on this planet. His marathon life helped the mankind to juice out his wisdom.

If we go into important landmarks of Buddha's life, we see that except his birth, all other phases of his life journey centered on India only.

- He attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, India

- Gave his first sermon at Sarnath, India.

- Finally, he left his mortal frame at Kushinara or Kashia in Uttar Pradesh, India.

His teachings / insights in nutshell are:

Three Great Truths:

1. Nothing is lost in the universe. Matter turns into energy and energy turns into matter.

2. Everything changes.

3. Law of cause and effect. We receive exactly what we earn, whether it is good or bad.

Four Noble Truths:

1. Suffering is common to all.

2. We are the cause of our suffering.

3. Stop doing what causes suffering.

4. Path to end suffering is to get enlightened.

Noble Eightfold Path:

1. Right View.

2. Right Thought.

3. Right, Speech.

4. Right, Conduct.

5. Right Livelihood.

6. Right Effort.

7. Right Mindfulness.

8. Right Concentration.

So, no outside interference is necessary to blossom which is a self-driven process.

SRI CHINMOY - EAST's SHINING STAR OF WISDOM

There are many Indian Masters who went to West and propagated the message of India, after Swami Vivekananda.

Philip Goldberg in his much-acclaimed book "American Veda' termed him 'The Olympian Guru'. Born as Chinmoy Kumar Ghose in 1931, Sri Chinmoy was orphaned at 11 and spent next 20 years in the ashram of Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry, South India. Set his foot on New York in 1964 and worked as a clerk at the Indian Consulate before known to the world as Sri Chinmoy, the leader of a spiritual community in Queens.

Compare to other Gurus of his generation, it is said that Sri Chinmoy had relatively few disciples. He is such a prolific writer with more than 1,500 books, 115,000 poems and 20,000 songs. His core philosophy says that a sound body may lead to higher elevation in spiritual life which can be emanated from the fact that he used to participate in marathons and ultra-distance races. All through his works, he taught the Vedantic message of oneness.

Though his childhood is full of rough weather as his parents had passed away in much younger age, but something positive in life was in store for young Chinmoy who took shelter in Sri Aurobindo ashram, Pondicherry that changed his destiny. His following verse inspires me a lot:

"Our goal is to go from bright to brighter to brightest, from high to higher to highest. And even in the highest, there is no end to our progress, for God Himself is inside each of us and God at every moment is transcending His own Reality."

After a fruitful life of 76 years, Sri Chinmoy attained Samadhi on 11th October 2007 in New York city.

SUFISM OFFERS DEEP WISDOM

When you check Wikipedia on Sufism, it reverts back with the following definition:

Sufism is a concept in Islam, defined by scholars as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam; others contend that it is a perennial philosophy of existence that pre-dates religion, the expression of which flowered within the Islamic religion.

Rumi is a great Sufi poet and his poems offer deep wisdom.

The following Sufi story (Source: Book " The Language of God: A Scientist presents Evidence for the Belief ” by Francis Collins) always puts me on modesty:

A FIERY POET - SUBRAMANIA BHARATI

If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

                                                                                      - Isaac Newton

Some books come to us by divine intervention. Some years ago, I came across a translated version of Bharati's works authored by Prema Nanda kumar. In fact, that book was published by Sahitya Akademi and I tried to buy the same, but could not procure as it was out of print. I searched for other scholarly translation and immediately I was landed up in Usha Rajagopalan's - Everyman's Selected Poems of Subramania Bharati.

The book offers the treasure of information about the life of Subramania Bharati. He is one of the 20th century's greatest Tamil Poets. He was a child prodigy. Bharati was his title conferred on him at the age of eleven which means ' one blessed by the goddess of learning'.

His works are philosophical. When you read, you get a feel of reading Indian Ancient Texts : Vedas /Upanishads. His poems are devotional and catching his imagination on Nature is difficult to fathom.

Some of my favourite lines of Subramania Bharati are :

The hand opens a lock,

Wisdom opens the mind.

The mind controls the breath,

Right action shields the body.

I came across a baby fire,

I kept it in a tree hollow,

The forest charred and cooled.

Fire Power - is it young or old ?

Whoosh, crackle, snap, sizzle.

May we reap quickly the fruits of our effort.

May we earn wealth and joy, fame on earth.

( credit: Usha Rajagopalan's book: Selected Poems of Subramania Bharati )

His poem 'The Goddess of Beauty' is very touching. His other poem on the greatness of 'worker' is equally inspiring. His poem on 'Awake, Mother India!' helped in strengthening Independence Movement from British.

History reveals that great people have not lived fully on this planet and they came only for a short sojourn but during that short period, they made ripples. Bharati who moved India with his fiery poems also died at the young age of 39 much like Vivekananda who also left his mortal frame at the same age. 

Hope these stalwarts continue to inspire succeeding generations !