Vrindavan Das, Silence

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Selections from ‘The Voice of the Silence’ — part I

“If through the Hall of Wisdom, thou would’st reach the Vale of Bliss, Disciple, close fast thy senses against the great dire heresy of separateness that weans thee from the rest. ...

The Self of matter and the SELF of Spirit can never meet. One of the twain must disappear; there is no place for both. Ere thy Soul’s mind can understand, the bud of personality must be crushed out, the worm of sense destroyed past resurrection. Thou canst not travel on the Path before thou hast become that Path itself.

Let thy Soul lend its ear to every cry of pain like as the lotus bares its heart to drink the morning sun. Let not the fierce Sun dry one tear of pain before thyself hast wiped it from the sufferer’s eye. ...

Desire nothing. Chafe not at Karma, nor at Nature’s changeless laws. But struggle only with the personal, the transitory, the evanescent and the perishable. Help Nature and work on with her; and Nature will regard thee as one of her creators and make obeisance. ...

Kill thy desires, Lanoo, make thy vices impotent, ere the first step is taken on the solemn journey. Strangle thy sins, and make them dumb for ever, before thou dost lift one foot to mount the ladder. Silence thy thoughts and fix thy whole attention on thy Master whom yet thou dost not see, but whom thou feelest.”

Shiva in Himalayas Artist: Vrindavan Das. Medium: acrylic on canvas. Size: 100x70 cm.

Shiva is adiyogi who have given to the world yoga and tantric knowledge. Shiva is Mahadeva who is Deva of Devas. He resides in Kailas in Himalayas.

Along with knowledge Shiva's blessings will lead to solvation and freedom from material sufferings.

Kurma Avatar Artist: Vrindavan Das. Medium: acrylic on canvas Size: 72x50 cm This is the series of paintings of 10 avataras of Lord Vishnu for Museum of Sacred art, Belgium.

Kurma is the second Avatar of Vishnu. Like Matsya, this incarnation also appeared in Satya Yuga. Ones Rishi Durvasa had given a garland to Indra, the king of Gods. Indra placed the garland around his elephant, but the animal trampled it, insulting the sage.

Durvasa then cursed the gods to lose their immortality, strength, and divine powers. After losing the kingdom of heaven, they approached Vishnu for help. Vishnu advised that they had to drink the nectar of immortality to regain their glory.

To obtain it, they needed to churn the ocean of milk, a body of water so large they needed Mount Mandara as the churning staff, and the serpent Vasuki as the churning rope. The Devas were not strong enough to churn on their own, and declared peace with their foes, the Asuras, to enlist their help.

Finally, Mount Mandara churned, but the force was so great the mountain began to sink into the ocean of milk. Taking the form of the turtle Kurma, Vishnu bore the mountain on his back as they churned the waters. Fourteen precious things arose from the turbulent ocean, culminating with Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, who brought with him the nectar of immortality.

“23. The state of abstract meditation may be attained by profound devotedness towards the Supreme spirit considered in its comprehensible manifestation as Ishwara.

It is said that this profound devotedness is a pre-eminent means of attaining abstract meditation and its fruits. ‘Ishwara’ is The Spirit in the body.

24. Ishwara is a spirit, untouched by troubles, works, fruits of works, or desires.

25. In Ishwara becomes infinite that omniscience which in man exists but as a germ.

26. Ishwara is the preceptor of all, even of the earliest of created beings, for He is not limited by time.

27. His name is OM. ...

30. The obstacles in the way of him who desires to attain concentration are Sickness, Languor, Doubt, Carelessness, Laziness, Addiction to objects of sense, Erroneous Perception, Failure to attain any stage of abstraction, and Instability in any state when attained.

31. These obstacles are accompanied by grief, distress, trembling, and sighing.

32. For the prevention of these, one truth should be dwelt upon.

Any accepted truth which one approves, is here meant.

33. Through the practicing of Benevolence, Tenderness, Complacency, and Disregard for objects of happiness, grief, virtue, and vice, the mind becomes purified.

The chief occasions for distraction of the mind are Covetousness and Aversion, and what the aphorism means is, not that virtue and vice should be viewed with indifference by the student, but that he should not fix his mind with pleasure upon happiness or virtue, nor with aversion upon grief or vice, in others, but should regards all with an equal mind; and the practice of Benevolence, Tenderness, and Complacency brings about cheerfulness of the mind, which tends to strength and steadiness.

34. Distractions may be combatted by a regulated control or management of the breath in inspiration, retention, and exhalation. ...

40. The student whose mind is thus steadied obtains a mastery which extends from the Atomic to the Infinite.”

— William Q. Judge, The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali (Book I)

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Vrindavan Das, Nirvana

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The Noonday Glory

“The Higher Mind is the intellectual fruitage and the efflorescence of intellectual self-conscious Egotism in the higher spiritual sense. Thus he is neither God nor Pure Reason but a blending of these faculties with the Soul. Thence he may proceed to the higher states of bliss towards that fourth plane of consciousness wherein human evolution reaches the Divine. ...

And so, from the highest Archangel, or Dhyân Chohan, down to the last conscious Builder of the inferior class of spiritual Entities, all such have been men, having lived aeons ago in other cycles of time on earth in its earlier forms or incarnations, or in other spheres. In the same sense the inferior, semi-intelligent and non-intelligent Elementals are all future men; for all find their origin in these fiery, brilliantly coloured particles. The higher is on the upper rung of the Ladder of Being; he is the Watcher, the Divine Prototype, who observes his Shadows at the lower rung. Between them stretches a golden thread which becomes more radiant with every change in the consciousness of the Shadow as it evolves upward, until the Light of the Morning Sun has become the Noonday Glory.”