Lesson-2--Creation

[Guest guest]

Dear Gurus Sanjay, Solai and Gauranga,

 

Namaste.

 

Please accept my replies to SJVC Lesson 2. Please excuse that my other

responsibilities kept me from replying until now.

 

your sishya,

Karen

 

Question 1: What is the role of God in your life?

 

The bigger question for me is "What is the role of my life to God?", but that

was not the question asked here.

For me God is the Source the Creator, the Sustainer and Destroyer of illusion.

The giver and taker of all. God is my Master and I am the servant. God is Truth

and I stumble around in darkness listening for his/her voice to find my way.

Our only reason for being is to shed of karmas, be of service to God and others

and allow our souls to unite with God in pure consciousness.

God is my family members and God is my neighbors.

 

 

Question 2: What have you done to be closer to God.

 

I have tried to be more consistent in the time that I spend in meditation and

japa. I try to allow the harmony and truth that I experience in meditation to

permeate my daily life so I can treat others with patience and love. Though I

fail miserably sometimes, it is my goal. I have also decided that I want to

make teaching others meditation and hatha yoga my work so I currently enrolled

in a training course to become a Yoga instructor. I try to practice acts of

kindness and charity to serve God and to share some of the many blessing I have

received.

 

Question 3: Which statement is more accurate "All is God" or "God is All"?

 

I believe that "All is God" is more accurate because the statement 'God is All"

implies that God can be defined by the sum of His creation, particularly that

which we can perceive. God is indefinable by our human minds. "All is God" is

an accurate statement. All of creation is indwelled with the Spirit of God

but cannot define God but the limitations of our mind cannot comprehend all the

that God is. All the thousands of various forms of Gods and Goddesses are just

tools to comprehend the vastness of God.

 

Question 4: How is the role of the Jyotish different from the role of a priest?

 

I believe that while both the Jyotish and the priest should have the same ideal

of leading the individual out of Maya and guide the person back to God, but the

Jyotish is able to do so on a much more individual level specific that that

person's karma. Both the priest and the Jyotish can tell the individual that

one should worship and pray to guide the Atma back to God, but the Jyotish can

look specifically at the blueprint of one's soul and see what ista should

worshiped, what dharma needs to be fulfilled, or if there is a specific remedy

needed to free the Atma from bondage. While the priest would have a basic

knowledge of muhurta for fixing the appropriate time for various poojas and

festivals, the jyotish would be able to look much more specifically to the

needs of the individual while the Priest will give more general teachings for a

whole congregation of people worshipping.

 

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

starting letters and prepare your personal dictionary of Jyotish/Sanskrit

terminology.

 

Atma: the soul

asuras:demons

bhakti marga: regular meditation on the Lord

deva: demigod

gandharva: a class of celestial beings associated with music

gunas: sattva, raja, tamas makeup of prakriti

Jeevatma: the conscious self with the deed of karma attached

jyoti:light

manu:man

maya: the material world

paramatma: the supreme conscious self, pure Atma

prakriti: maya

purusha: the Supreme soul

rajas guna: creative force

satarupa: woman

sattva guna: the mode of nature that is purity

sthavara: stationary things such as trees, plants

tamas guna: the mode of nature that is inertia

tapasya:penance

yakshas:semi-divine beings that are half god and half demon