Lesson no. 2

[Guest guest]

Pranams,

 

I am sending my answers to lesson #2. Actually, I did send those

answers to Varahamihira several months ago, so I am resending them.

 

1. Role of God in my life

I live in a country where idea of God wasn't very popular when I was

growing up. Term «God» was something very odd and strange and somehow

frightening, and I didn't like using it at all. But all these years

when I believed I was an atheist, I firmly believed there was an

intelligent «force» or «energy» existing in every living being, but I

refused to call it God. Only when I first began doing Reiki and later

practising Yoga I familiarized myself with the term and the idea of

God. When I started changing my perspective and my way of life and

thinking, I started feeling closer to God. Today when I am more open,

a bit more awake and conscious of my actions, when I do

something «good» or something «bad», or during my Sadhana, or when I

just walk through a park, or when I look at my 2-years-old niece's

eyes, and especially when I am near my Guru, I cannot but be deeply

grateful and touched and above all amazed with love that comes out of

every cell and every pore of every living being and out of the whole

Creation, because that Love to me is God. As my Master often says,

Love is not an emotion, love is our very existence. With that

awareness I have been constantly reminding myself that my every

action and thought and everything that happens to me comes from my

very source and that everything leads me to that source at the same

time; that there is nothing and no one being outside or separate from

God. I have learnt to accept people and situations as they are,

because there is always a higher good behind them, no matter how they

appear to be. At birth every man gets his predestined role in his

life. The main lesson we have to learn is to be aware we are only

playing the role, that we aren't actually that role. The trouble is

that most of us identify ourselves with the role – that is with our

name, gender, profession, body, feelings, emotions, and in the

process we forget who we really are and where we come from; we forget

that life is a game (lila), that it is an expression of joy, that

there is nothing we have to do, because everything is being done by

the Divine. That way we keep coming and going from this Earth many,

many times, caught up in the karmic wheel. Only enlightened Masters

are free from that wheel; they are fully aware of the Source and in

their endless love and compassion they come and help us showing us

the path, opening our eyes and ears for the Truth. To me Jyotish is a

Divine Science that clearly shows us the role we are supposed to

play, tools to play it with, its surrounding and the other players.

In that way, as the eyes of Vedas, Jyotish helps us to realize that

role and by becoming aware of it, slowly opens us up and shows us the

way back Home. There is only one thing we can do, and that is to

relax in surrender. Because we already are in God.

 

2. Closer to God in the past year

Above all, I try to be in a present moment, not grieving for the past

or being worried about the future, because God is right now. I try to

identify the actions, thoughts and emotions that keep me away from

God by becoming aware of them. I constantly remind myself of my

priorities and keep the spiritual aspect of life at the top of my

priority list. I work hard to do my Sadhana with awareness and

gratitude and I encourage people around me to do the same and to be

happy. I go to advanced courses at least twice a year in order to

withdraw myself from the outer world and go deeper within myself.

 

3. "God is all" or "All is God"

It sounds to me like "Which came first, egg or chicken". There is

nothing that can be outside God and God is in everything. Whether

good or evil, both exist in God. It is like a river that flows

towards the ocean. When it reaches the ocean, than it rises up as the

clouds and then comes down again as rain. During that whole process,

no matter which form it takes, it is water the whole time. To me,

that symbolizes God, for no matter which form He takes, living or

non-living, it is always a Divine creation.

 

4. The role of a Jyotisha and Priest

The roles are very similar since they remind people God and

spirituality should come first as true values in life but I think a

Jyotisha has more responsibility because through Jyotish as Eyes of

Vedas and supreme Vedanga he can help one to realize the role he has

to play, and by suggesting the right remedial measures he can help

one first see, then to learn his lesson and through that eventually

attain self-realization or liberation.

 

5. Make a list of all Sanskrit terms in this lesson under different

starting letters and prepare your personal dictionary of

Jyotish/Sanskrit terminology.

 

Veda - knowledge; there are four Vedas: Rg Veda,

Yajur Veda, Atharva Veda and Sama Veda

Atma - soul, conscious Self

Maha Vishnu - the highest and imperceptible forme of God

Paramatma - pure Atma, supreme conscious Self

Jeeveatma - conscious Self with the deeds of Karma

attached to it

Jyotish - light of knowledge

Vedanga - limb, one part of Vedas

Tapasya - penance, meditation

Bhagawan - Supreme, God

Purusha - supreme Soul (Paramatma)

Prakriti - nature, illusion

Maya - illusion

Guna - quality

Sattva - mode of goodness

Rajas - mode of passion

Tamas - mode of ignorance

Deva - god

Jeeva - human

Asura - demons

Tatwa - element

Agni - fire

Prithvi - earth

Jala - water

Vayu - air

Akash - ether

Brahma - Creator

Shakti - power

Manu - man

Satarupa - woman

Gati - direction

Avidyamaya - ignorance due to lack of knowledge

Vidyamaya - knowledge

Bhakti Marga - way of devotion

Brahmagyana - wisdom; knowledge of self and discrimination

Om - primordial sound

Surya - sun

Yama - God of Death

Shiva - God of destruction

Asvattha - banyan tree

Brihaspati - name for Jupiter

Kartikeya - name for Mars, God of war

Skanda - another name for Kartikeya, God of war

Sukra - name for Venus

Vasudeva - name for Krishna

Kaliyuga - current, pleasure-loving age

 

Thank you for your evaluation.

 

Jai Guru Dev

zeljka