Hari Om! Below is a list of all Reflection Adventure of the Week (RAWs) for the 2021-2022 Vedanta in Bhagavata Class.
Reflection Adventure of the Month (RAM) for May 15th to September 11th, 2022
Register for the swatantra guide course.
RAW for Week of May 8th, 2022
Practice not overthinking.
RAW for Week of April 24th and May 1st, 2022
We have flowed through 6 of 9 samvadas. Come up with a sutra (i.e. how you going to practice) for every answer. The sutras have to be in 3 English words.
RAW for Week of April 17th, 2022
Practice aniketatam (home less ness) i.e depend less on your home or invest less in comfort.
RAW for Week of April 10th, 2022
Think of what the answer is going to be for the 4th question “How does one deal with Maya?”
RAW for Week of April 3rd, 2022
Feel that Bhagavan Krshna lives in your heart (Bhagavat Bhagya)
RAW for Week of March 27th, 2022
Create a visual of Bhagavan’s footsteps from where He was born to where He will unmanifest.
RAW for Week of March 20th, 2022
Share one insight from Bhagavata to another person, every day.
RAW for Week of March 13th, 2022
Think of a significant difficult experience in your life (may even be traumatic). Write about it for yourself, not on the website. Specifically from that experience to where you are now, analyze if that experience did harm to you or help you in the big picture.
RAW for Week of March 6th, 2022
On a scale of 1 (Awful) to 100 (Awesome), reflect and rate how impartial you are.
Reflection Adventure of the Month (RAM) for Weeks of February 6th / 13th / 20th / 27th and March 6th, 2022
For the next 28 days, reflect on a verse a day from Bhagavata Chapter 10 – 87 – verses 14 to 41 (28 verses).
RAW for Week of January 30th, 2022
Do anything and everything to feel that this body is less yours.
RAW for Week of January 23rd, 2022
How do you end the eshana (desire) for putr (pleasure), vitta (possession) and loka (position)? And
How do you pay off the 3 rina’s (debts) in this lifestyle that is deva (nature’s forces), pitr (ancestors) and rshi (guides)
RAW for Week of January 16th, 2022
Sacrifice in a way that makes you uncomfortable.
RAW for Week of January 9th, 2022
Register for all the following that applies to you:
Prepare for a pariksha when classes resume on January 9th, 2022. Thus far we have covered 13 classes and 26 chapters.
RAW for Week of December 12th, 2021
Don’t focus on symptoms, rather focus on strengths. For example, don’t focus on someone’s weaknesses, focus on their strengths.
RAW for Week of December 5th, 2021
Analyze if you are Sahadeva or Shishupala.
RAW for Week of November 21st, 2021
On the Chinmaya Mission Niagara’s YouTube channel, listen to all 6 Guru Stotram recordings:
Guru Stotram | Dec 14, 2018 by Vivekji
RAW for Week of November 14th, 2021
5 Ds: Your din (day) is to revolve around dyana, dhama, dhana and dharma.
RAW for Week of November 7th, 2021
Share how you have changed because of Bhagavata and hare your reflections below.
RAW for Week of October 31st, 2021
In February 2019, we covered a list of the Avatars in Bhagavata. Be ready to share how many Avatars we have studied so far.
RAW for Week of October 24th, 2021
When you contemplate this week, contemplate on Bhagavan’s svayamvar.
RAW for Week of October 17rd, 2021
Change your living space into Ayodhya.
RAW for Week of October 3rd, 2021
With two thirds of skanda 10 complete, summarise the 60 chapters in 6 points (for example chapters 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 and so on).
RAW for Week of September 26th, 2021
Rate yourself in relation to the 3 vivaha’s of the devi’s discussed.
RAW for Week of September 19th, 2021
Join in for the Learning to be Natural workshop, led my Vivekji. Register using the following link https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZctcu6grTssHNNW0Lv1cpUjqDjVaoF8BPOV
RAW for Week of September 12th, 2021
When Bhagavan is really pleased with you, He does not give wealth, He gives pure devotion. Reflect on what Bhagavan has given you.
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RAW for Week of April 17th, 2022 – Practice aniketatam (home less ness) i.e depend less on your home or invest less in comfort. – Spent more time in nature – planting and weeding. Tried contemplating more even while at home and outside – detaching myself more from worldly relationships.
RAW for Week of April 10th, 2022-Think of what the answer is going to be for the 4th question “How does one deal with Maya?”
Having been given this human body, the highest form of evolution and that which can lead to enlightenment, i should be grateful first.
Then realize this ephemeral nature if life and with my mind fixed in Narayana, develop purity through selfless sacrifice and service to others. Work hard to detach from ABCs.
with purity of mind, i should focus only on the changeless Self – 24×7 and look at others as me.
once this happens, the Maya veil is ripped and i will BE!
Reflection Adventure of the Month (RAM) for Weeks of February 6th / 13th / 20th / 27th, 2022 For the next 28 days, reflect on a verse a day from Bhagavata Chapter 10 – 87 – verses 14 to 41 (28 verses)- (contd)
16. (10.87.29) – As reflected earlier, Thou has no partiality towards beings, it is my doing i am in this body. But You made me feel Your grace and in fact showered Your grace upon me so i know these facts intellectually – please make me constantly revel in Thee!
17. (10.87.30) – i am limited by my frame, but You are Absolute and All-pervading. When i contemplate on You, please make me feel as You so i don’t see the difference as i see now, Bhagavan!
18. (10.87.31) – Love the pointers here for my reflection – like the honey collected cannot be figured out from which flower it came from or the water in the Ocen, from which river it was formed – in the same way, i cannot be this jIva as well as PuruSa all at once. Please help me merge with You so i see Oneness all around me!
19. (10.87.32) – This wheel of samsAra that was given me by my KarmAs, please constantly hammer in me that i serve You completely, for realizing that Time(past, present and future) is the one thing that causes fear and this can be rid of by serving You.
20. (10.87.33) – Help me surrender completely to my Guru (who in fact is You) and help me mount this horse of a mind that keeps running wildly without any direction.
21. (10.87.34) – I contemplate on You O! Bhagavan, who are changeless so all else that is subject to change starting from my inside to outside do not cause disturbances and my focus is on ONLY You, like a glass that is turned towards the Sun and shown on a piece of paper slowly heats it up and burns it.
22. (10.87.35) – Make me realize like the wise ones that rituals and visiting holy places do not purify me, but surrendering at Thy feet will help me understand even the home that i am living in now (this body) can cause impurities as i live in this world. So help me use this body for the service of this world to return back to You.
23. (10.87.36) – i understand the Vedas came from You and they are my foundation and path to BEING You. Please make me constantly know that this world is unreal even though it came from You and You entered it. You the cause is SAT and the effect, this world is my vikShepa (ASAT).
24. (10.87.37) – You, Sat-Cit-Ananda are REAL. Let not geetha forget this fundamental concept O! Bhagavan!
25. (10.87.38) – Macrocosmic Maya is microcosmic ignorance in me. i contemplate on Thee, who is the Mayapati and free of Maya, ever effulgent. Please help remove this ignorance covering so i can BE You – like the screen in front of God in the temple is pushed aside for us to see Bhagavan. Please shower your grace on me so this happens soon!
26. (10.87.39) – i sometimes forget You inside waiting for me to remove these false layers and come to Thee – when i start focussing on the world more. Help me please during these times to get back to you and not get lost like a mother who finds her child and takes the child back home safely. Please do not allow me to lead a life of a hypocrite but help me practice what is in my mind and what is getting stronger everyday – that i am You.
27. (10.87.40) – O Bhagavan, i am indeed bhagya, that i have had the opportunity of great teachings of our Gurushishyaparampara. Help me remember this perpetually and be ever grateful. Let this be my last ever time away from You. Please help me take the path to Your abode. i already feel you want me back but please be persistent and make me feel this urgency so i don’t stray and spend more time away from my sweet home!
28. . (10.87.41) – You are limitless, which is not realized by even Brahma who came from Your navel and is closest to You. Help me not deviate from the words of the Veda which surely is the map home for this lost sheep. Please illumine my heart with You, the Atman!
Reflection Adventure of the Month (RAM) for Weeks of February 6th / 13th / 20th / 27th, 2022
For the next 28 days, reflect on a verse a day from Bhagavata Chapter 10 – 87 – verses 14 to 41 (28 verses).
1. (10.87.14) – O Mayapati! Help me remove my ignorance, so i see You as this world.
2. (10.87.15) – Just as the Vedas and wise ones know You as the only Absolute; hammer into every breath of mine that all ABCs are relative and see you as the Absolute one!
3. (10.87.16) – O Bhupati! Help me constantly remember the limitations of deSa, kAla and vastu and remain in the only thought that You are the Goal, the one who can take me past these limitations.
4. (10.87.17) – O Bhagavan! You have given me this form with all its sheaths. Help me see You as the AdhiStAna beyond and beneath this – to see You as my true Self!
5. (10.87.18) – O Vishnu with SahasranAma! Help me go from the grossest chakra to subtle one to the subtlest SahasrAra where You are seated. Help me be focused on You throughout the day as i go about doing my work!
6. (10.87.19) – Help me realize that all beings i engage with are all You! Just as my nature softens when i think of Thee, help me accept all around me.
7. (10.87.20) – All of us are You but in these bodies due to our past Karmas. Help me remember this as my breath every moment and see only the core of all these bodies as You O Bhagavan!
8. (10.87.21) – The wise ones, know You through Thy incarnations – they see your true nature and are so firmly rooted in this belief that they want to revel in this Bhakti(5th puruSaArtha) instead of MokSa(4th). Give me this firm conviction O Narayana!
9. (10.87.22) – i see that is body will soon be emaciated; i understand that You are at the core of me! But i act like i am an immortal and feel like indulging in this filthy unstable life, even though i know it will not be the same always. Please give me the memory to remember this every Kshanam so my thought is only of You and i use this valuable birth that You have given to get back to You!
10. (10.87.23) – O Bhagavan! i realize if i have the passion to come to You, You will make it happen. But help me so this passion is continuous(every monent) and not during convenience!
11. (10.87.24) – You are the reason we are all here, with You in us. You are our Original Parent without a parent. Just as my parents made me understand who they and i are, i now need only You to teach me who i and You are. Please help me be one with You!
12. (10.87.25) – O God! Help me constantly realize that You are Shuddha Chaitanya which has no place for ignorance. Help me BE that!
13. (10.87.26) – Just as in an ocean all is but water, so too all around me is Existence in Your form with You in them – the outer covering is Asat but You in them all is Sat! Hammer this into me constantly O Bhagavan!
14. (10.87.27) – Give me the ultimate Devotion in my life O Narayana! I have realized rituals are to discipline me and are not the goal -You!
15. (10.87.28) – Not realizing Your true nature as myself, i was following vain practices and rituals. Though this has reduced considerably, for fear that sometimes i might lose Your favor, i continue to do so by the force of beings around me. Please help me be free of this and be in your nature alone!
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/20/22
Day-14
Verse-10:87:27
“They who worship You as the shelter of all created beings, simply put their feet on the head of Death and look away from him. With Your words You tie up even the scholars [among the non-devotees], the way one ties up animals. Those [among them] who consider themselves Your friends [thus] arrive at purification, but not so they who turned away from You.”
Personalize-
What have I don’t to deserve this? The grace that has been bestowed to be at Your feet, to feel Your love, it still amazes me. You have been with me at the beginning and You will be with me at my end ( of ego). Waiting for the death of my ego when we finally become One.
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/19/22
Day-13
Verse10:87:26
“The threefoldness and its forms up to the human beings, appears as something real to the mind, but is in You seen as something untrue [as temporal]. The entirety of this world with its forms is by the knowers of the Self not rejected as being different from the Self [though]. Because the forms [and also persons] created by Him are transformations not different from Him, like forms of gold all being gold, they consider this creation, which was entered by Him, as being Him in person.”
Personalizing –
Loving You means loving Your creation and vice versa as all is manifestation of You. It’s easy to love You, I find it difficult to love Your creation sometimes only due to my own inadequacy. You are most beautiful and due to lack of my vision I fail to see that beauty in all beings around me. I am trying to be better at reminding myself of Your presence in All.
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/18/22
Day-12
Verse 10:87:25
“They who, teaching with authority, declare that life springs from dead matter, that that what is eternal would end that the soul would not be one and that doing business would constitute reality,they who state that the living being thus would have been produced from the three modes are fixed on a dualistic notion born from ignorance. Such a thing cannot exist in Your transcendence, in You, who are the Essence of Full Perception.”
Personalizing-
Many lifetimes have been spent in ignorance. Now that I have seen the light, there is no turning back. Though I still operate in duality but I have developed understanding of Oneness and I will not stop until the oneness becomes my experience and not just intellectual understanding .
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/17/22
Day-11
Verse 10:87:24
“Ah, who out here, who but recently was born and soon will die, has an inkling of the One Who Came First, from whom the [leading] seer [Brahmâ] arose who was followed by the two groups of demigods [controlling the senses and the principles? When He lies down to withdraw, at that time nothing remains of the gross and the subtle, nor of that what comprises them both [the bodies], while also the flow of Time and the S’âstras are no longer there.”
Personalize-
Bring little obsessive about time, almost controlled by it, I try to surrender to Mahakaal- the controller of time, the timeless. He who is beyond the boundaries of time is the One from whom everything emerges and absorbs. Extrapolating that, it means I also emerged from Brahman and will be absorbed in Brahman. This life that I live is a micro particle in the endlessness of Brahman .
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/16/22
Day-10
Verse-10:87:23
“That what by the sages, with their breathing, mind and senses being brought under control in steadfast yoga, is worshiped in the heart, is also attained by those who remember You. We [the s’rutis] will likewise attain You and, being equally considered by You, equally relish the nectar of the lotus feet enjoyed by the women [the gopîs, Your wives] whose minds are attracted to Your arms firm as mighty snake bodies. “
Personalizing –
I am fortunate to learn Your glories. The love personified by Gopi’s, Adisesha is a great inspiration for me to intensify my journey to reach You. I thought I was mumukshu, but to reach that stage still needs more effort. My love has grown but it still needs to reach greater heights. This Bhakti has happened and will intensify only with Your grace.
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/15/22
Day-9
Verse-10:87:22
“This body useful for serving You, acts as one’s self, one’s friend and beloved. They however, who alas fail to delight in You, rather find the degradation of the physical frame [in successive births], in spite of You as their very Self being favorably disposed, helpful and affectionate. As a matter of fact they, failing to find their way with their great existential fears, cling to material desires and are [thus] self destructive in their worship of the unreal.”
Personalizing-
I do not know how many times I have been born before and I what sahie and form, but this human birth must have come after a lot of evolution as through this form only I can become infinity. With the tools I have been given, (body, mind and intellect) I can use them to reach Him. What is the point of these gifts I have been given if I’m going to squander them away on materials and desires?
One day this body will be incinerated. I do not know when. All I have is this present moment to feel His presence. I would be a ‘ moodha’( a fool) to lose this opportunity.
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/14/22
Day-8
Verse -10:87:21
“By diving deep into the vast nectar ocean of the adventures of the forms You assumed to propagate the hard to grasp principle of the soul, the few souls who found relief from the fatigue [of a material life] do not even wish to be liberated from this world, oh Lord. This is so because they, after abandoning their homes, found association with the community of the swans [the transcendental people] at Your lotus feet”
Personalizing-
When I started this journey I wanted to know more about Bhagvan. My focus was jnana. Over the years, the more I learned about Him, the more I love Him. How can one not love Him? The quest for knowledge has transformed into the Journey of love. I understand that the love I feel and this longing that makes me cry is still a sign of duality, yet in my looking i find His presence.
This verse I wrote (after seeing an ancient Cambodian sculpture of HariHara at acclaimed Krishna exhibit recently ) is an attempt to express my love / Bhakti-
HariHara
The seed of longing for Him
planted as soon as the beginning
of our separation.
In all these lifetimes
I have been trying to walk back home.
So lost!!
Yet there is a loveliness in this longing.
Through this, I hold Your hand
and I weave my way back home.
Sometimes when I am able to hear
the sound of Your flute,
my heart sings with joy.
And when You play the Damaru-
Each fiber of my existence rejoice.
You look past my impurity.
You melt in my tears of love.
With one smile of Yours
I get a glimpse of eternity.
Who needs moksha now? I have His Love.
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/13/22
Day-7
Verse-10:87:20
“The person, residing within the bodies he owes to his karma, is, as an expansion of You who are the possessor of all energies, as is stated [by the Vedas], in fact not of the external [the gross body, the deha], nor of the internal [the subtle body, the linga], but is [by these bodies] enveloped. When scholars of the scriptures have developed faith in ascertaining the status of the living entity as being of that manifestation [as an expansion or part and parcel of Yours, a person], they worship Your feet as the source of liberation and the field in which all offerings are sown.”
Personalizing –
The seers who have internalized see Your manifestation. I can also see You if I purify my mind and remove all that blocks my vision. Though You are not the name or the form, yet You manifest Your manifestations / avtaras just to bring us closer to You. The only purpose of my life is loving You. Since my ignorant mind fails to perceive the formless, You manifest because You also love me. You manifest so I can see You the way I can understand and connect with. Only the One with infinite compassion and love and can do that. You whisper in my ear that You created this cosmos for me.
That is Love! It never fails to make me cry. How can I even Love you as much as You do!!
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/12/22
Day-6
Verse 10:87:19
“Entering in a certain manner the, (by You differently created), species of life as their motivation, You become visible depending the higher or lower form of Your own created beings, just as fire manifests itself [depending the form ignited]. You thus existing among them as the ‘real’ among the ‘unreal’, are understood as being one unchanging, pure, central refuge, by those who, free from material entanglements, have spotless minds.”
Personalizing –
The more I lift myself by myself with Your grace, the more I can see Your presence. I start seeing you in everything around me.
Reflected more and as I sat by the window looking out at nature marveling at the beauty created by You, seeing You in the snow flakes, in frozen creek, in red cardinal, in squirrels squirreling around …… it fills me with immense love and joy. You are here everywhere. And then in our backyard, the snow created this form as if to give me a nod….. this ice shivling brought a smile.
Yes You have always been there but I have been looking for You with sight. I need to ‘close my eyes and open the other one!’
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/11/22
Day-5
Verse 10:87:18
“Among those living according to the standards of the seers, they who are engrossed in their vision worship the abdomen [the lower centers], while the Ârunis [the superior yogis] first of all fix their attention on the prânic knot of the subtle energies [see cakra] of the heart. From there, oh Unlimited One, they move [their attention] upward to the head, which is Your abode, and then they go to the highest destination from which they, having reached it, never again fall down in the mouth of death.”
Personalizing-
I was never born. So I cannot die.Yet even to internalize this has taken lifetimes. As this jnana becomes me, I will be released from the vicious cycle of birth and death. How to make this jnana my own? Through Bhakti.
Love for Him centers in my heart. As I contemplate more and more on this and slowly let my journey evolve to feel my connection to cosmos, I will be with Him. That is my home which I have been looking for as long as I can remember and beyond. Once I get there, there is no looking back. There is no ‘I’ then. Only oneness!
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/10/22
Day -4
Verse 10:87:17
“They who, like a bellows, are just displacing some air as they breathe are full of vitality [only] when they are Your faithful followers, [for] You, who are elevated above cause and effect, constitute the underlying reality from whose mercy the universal egg of the material complete, the separate existence [the ego] and the other aspects of creation were produced .Adapted to the particular forms of the living being, You then appear here as the Ultimate Form among the different gross and subtle physical coverings.”
Personalizing-
Bhagvan is here for me. He has manifested out of compassion for me( creation). As I stay lost in the names and forms, He in His unlimited kindness shows Himself in the form which is more understandable for me.
He is beyond the cause and effect but He is trying to show me His presence within me with love. So why don’t I make more effort to ‘see’ Him. He is always here but I’m wearing blindfold. I keep playing hide and seek, while He has been holding my hand this whole time.
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/9/22
Day-3
Reflect on verse 10:87:16
“Your people of enlightenment, oh Master of All the Three Worlds, therefore dive deep into the nectarean ocean of the narrations [about You, the kathâ], which eradicate the impurity and put an end to their troubles. It is therefore not that surprising that they, who by the power of their own minds dispelled the [unwanted] qualities of the [identification with one’s] temporality, oh Supreme One, experience the uninterrupted happiness of Your abode in their worship.”
Personalizing-
This is my first time listening to Bhagvatam. How fortunate i am to be blessed with this sacred opportunity. This verse encourages me to be better. Listening to the stories of Bhagvan, His leela, I get immersed in it, lost in it. In this losing I find my Real Self. It has opened up new perspectives of Life and doors of love. It shifts my focus from me to Him. It brings tears of joy. My trivialities are lost in His Bigness. He holds my hand to help me stay on path, to be dedicated. In so many ways He shows His grace.
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
Day 2- 2/8/22
Further reflection actually synchronized with poem I read this morning titled-
No room for form
( from The big red book of Rumi; page 307)
A verse in that poem is-
“ And don’t look for me in human shape.
I am inside your looking.
No room for form
with love this strong.”
Lots and lots to reflect !!
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
2/8/22
Reflect on verse 10:87:15
All in One. One in All.
He is like clay unaffected by the shapes created with it- a pot, a vase, a pitcher….
All the creation is His manifestation, all the gods, nature, animals, beings, animate and inanimate. Knowing this one can look beyond the shape and form. Internalizing this – if I love Bhagvan, I love His creation as it is His manifestation. In practice do I see His presence, His essence interacting even in negative circumstances?
Immersing in this thought will be a game changer as the only emotion that will be evoked is Love…. For all.
A small verse I wrote few days ago in similar sentiment-
Forget your name!
Now that you know His.
Forget your shape!
He has arrived.
As you let go of ‘you-ness’ and the I-ness,
you will rise,
beyond the form and names.
Observe and you will see
the multiverse as a manifestation of infinity.
The common thread that you will feel
is that of LIFE.
The Love for all
sleeping within you
will be forever alive.
Didn’t someone say-
“When half gods leave
The Gods arrive!
Saloni Khatri
2 years ago
Day 1-Reflect on 10:87:14
The Vedas are offering their support to us by glorifying the Lord. Only with Lords grace, we humans can have the sight to look beyond the forms and names. He who is complete/ infinite has manifested only to awaken us to sat cit ananda.
RAW for Week of January 30th, 2022-Do anything and everything to feel that this body is less yours.
This RAW came at a time when the virus loved it more and others feared to get closer to this body.
So staying isolated in a room, made myself feel this for the past 5 days and neither others or i can believe the results. i was able to work from 4am to 9.30pm tirelessly and not think of anything else. i felt that i am the flute in Bhagavan’s hands and my tireless work was the music He generated through me. It was a Divine experience to think of the RADs and RAWs and a holistic experience as well. Much gratitude to Swamiji, because of whom all this was possible!
RAW for Week of April 17th, 2022 – Practice aniketatam (home less ness) i.e depend less on your home or invest less in comfort. – Spent more time in nature – planting and weeding. Tried contemplating more even while at home and outside – detaching myself more from worldly relationships.
RAW for Week of April 10th, 2022-Think of what the answer is going to be for the 4th question “How does one deal with Maya?”
Reflection Adventure of the Month (RAM) for Weeks of February 6th / 13th / 20th / 27th, 2022
For the next 28 days, reflect on a verse a day from Bhagavata Chapter 10 – 87 – verses 14 to 41 (28 verses)- (contd)
16. (10.87.29) – As reflected earlier, Thou has no partiality towards beings, it is my doing i am in this body. But You made me feel Your grace and in fact showered Your grace upon me so i know these facts intellectually – please make me constantly revel in Thee!
17. (10.87.30) – i am limited by my frame, but You are Absolute and All-pervading. When i contemplate on You, please make me feel as You so i don’t see the difference as i see now, Bhagavan!
18. (10.87.31) – Love the pointers here for my reflection – like the honey collected cannot be figured out from which flower it came from or the water in the Ocen, from which river it was formed – in the same way, i cannot be this jIva as well as PuruSa all at once. Please help me merge with You so i see Oneness all around me!
19. (10.87.32) – This wheel of samsAra that was given me by my KarmAs, please constantly hammer in me that i serve You completely, for realizing that Time(past, present and future) is the one thing that causes fear and this can be rid of by serving You.
20. (10.87.33) – Help me surrender completely to my Guru (who in fact is You) and help me mount this horse of a mind that keeps running wildly without any direction.
21. (10.87.34) – I contemplate on You O! Bhagavan, who are changeless so all else that is subject to change starting from my inside to outside do not cause disturbances and my focus is on ONLY You, like a glass that is turned towards the Sun and shown on a piece of paper slowly heats it up and burns it.
22. (10.87.35) – Make me realize like the wise ones that rituals and visiting holy places do not purify me, but surrendering at Thy feet will help me understand even the home that i am living in now (this body) can cause impurities as i live in this world. So help me use this body for the service of this world to return back to You.
23. (10.87.36) – i understand the Vedas came from You and they are my foundation and path to BEING You. Please make me constantly know that this world is unreal even though it came from You and You entered it. You the cause is SAT and the effect, this world is my vikShepa (ASAT).
24. (10.87.37) – You, Sat-Cit-Ananda are REAL. Let not geetha forget this fundamental concept O! Bhagavan!
25. (10.87.38) – Macrocosmic Maya is microcosmic ignorance in me. i contemplate on Thee, who is the Mayapati and free of Maya, ever effulgent. Please help remove this ignorance covering so i can BE You – like the screen in front of God in the temple is pushed aside for us to see Bhagavan. Please shower your grace on me so this happens soon!
26. (10.87.39) – i sometimes forget You inside waiting for me to remove these false layers and come to Thee – when i start focussing on the world more. Help me please during these times to get back to you and not get lost like a mother who finds her child and takes the child back home safely. Please do not allow me to lead a life of a hypocrite but help me practice what is in my mind and what is getting stronger everyday – that i am You.
27. (10.87.40) – O Bhagavan, i am indeed bhagya, that i have had the opportunity of great teachings of our Gurushishyaparampara. Help me remember this perpetually and be ever grateful. Let this be my last ever time away from You. Please help me take the path to Your abode. i already feel you want me back but please be persistent and make me feel this urgency so i don’t stray and spend more time away from my sweet home!
28. . (10.87.41) – You are limitless, which is not realized by even Brahma who came from Your navel and is closest to You. Help me not deviate from the words of the Veda which surely is the map home for this lost sheep. Please illumine my heart with You, the Atman!
Reflection Adventure of the Month (RAM) for Weeks of February 6th / 13th / 20th / 27th, 2022
For the next 28 days, reflect on a verse a day from Bhagavata Chapter 10 – 87 – verses 14 to 41 (28 verses).
1. (10.87.14) – O Mayapati! Help me remove my ignorance, so i see You as this world.
2. (10.87.15) – Just as the Vedas and wise ones know You as the only Absolute; hammer into every breath of mine that all ABCs are relative and see you as the Absolute one!
3. (10.87.16) – O Bhupati! Help me constantly remember the limitations of deSa, kAla and vastu and remain in the only thought that You are the Goal, the one who can take me past these limitations.
4. (10.87.17) – O Bhagavan! You have given me this form with all its sheaths. Help me see You as the AdhiStAna beyond and beneath this – to see You as my true Self!
5. (10.87.18) – O Vishnu with SahasranAma! Help me go from the grossest chakra to subtle one to the subtlest SahasrAra where You are seated. Help me be focused on You throughout the day as i go about doing my work!
6. (10.87.19) – Help me realize that all beings i engage with are all You! Just as my nature softens when i think of Thee, help me accept all around me.
7. (10.87.20) – All of us are You but in these bodies due to our past Karmas. Help me remember this as my breath every moment and see only the core of all these bodies as You O Bhagavan!
8. (10.87.21) – The wise ones, know You through Thy incarnations – they see your true nature and are so firmly rooted in this belief that they want to revel in this Bhakti(5th puruSaArtha) instead of MokSa(4th). Give me this firm conviction O Narayana!
9. (10.87.22) – i see that is body will soon be emaciated; i understand that You are at the core of me! But i act like i am an immortal and feel like indulging in this filthy unstable life, even though i know it will not be the same always. Please give me the memory to remember this every Kshanam so my thought is only of You and i use this valuable birth that You have given to get back to You!
10. (10.87.23) – O Bhagavan! i realize if i have the passion to come to You, You will make it happen. But help me so this passion is continuous(every monent) and not during convenience!
11. (10.87.24) – You are the reason we are all here, with You in us. You are our Original Parent without a parent. Just as my parents made me understand who they and i are, i now need only You to teach me who i and You are. Please help me be one with You!
12. (10.87.25) – O God! Help me constantly realize that You are Shuddha Chaitanya which has no place for ignorance. Help me BE that!
13. (10.87.26) – Just as in an ocean all is but water, so too all around me is Existence in Your form with You in them – the outer covering is Asat but You in them all is Sat! Hammer this into me constantly O Bhagavan!
14. (10.87.27) – Give me the ultimate Devotion in my life O Narayana! I have realized rituals are to discipline me and are not the goal -You!
15. (10.87.28) – Not realizing Your true nature as myself, i was following vain practices and rituals. Though this has reduced considerably, for fear that sometimes i might lose Your favor, i continue to do so by the force of beings around me. Please help me be free of this and be in your nature alone!
2/20/22
Day-14
Verse-10:87:27
“They who worship You as the shelter of all created beings, simply put their feet on the head of Death and look away from him. With Your words You tie up even the scholars [among the non-devotees], the way one ties up animals. Those [among them] who consider themselves Your friends [thus] arrive at purification, but not so they who turned away from You.”
Personalize-
What have I don’t to deserve this? The grace that has been bestowed to be at Your feet, to feel Your love, it still amazes me. You have been with me at the beginning and You will be with me at my end ( of ego). Waiting for the death of my ego when we finally become One.
2/19/22
Day-13
Verse10:87:26
“The threefoldness and its forms up to the human beings, appears as something real to the mind, but is in You seen as something untrue [as temporal]. The entirety of this world with its forms is by the knowers of the Self not rejected as being different from the Self [though]. Because the forms [and also persons] created by Him are transformations not different from Him, like forms of gold all being gold, they consider this creation, which was entered by Him, as being Him in person.”
Personalizing –
Loving You means loving Your creation and vice versa as all is manifestation of You. It’s easy to love You, I find it difficult to love Your creation sometimes only due to my own inadequacy. You are most beautiful and due to lack of my vision I fail to see that beauty in all beings around me. I am trying to be better at reminding myself of Your presence in All.
2/18/22
Day-12
Verse 10:87:25
“They who, teaching with authority, declare that life springs from dead matter, that that what is eternal would end that the soul would not be one and that doing business would constitute reality,they who state that the living being thus would have been produced from the three modes are fixed on a dualistic notion born from ignorance. Such a thing cannot exist in Your transcendence, in You, who are the Essence of Full Perception.”
Personalizing-
Many lifetimes have been spent in ignorance. Now that I have seen the light, there is no turning back. Though I still operate in duality but I have developed understanding of Oneness and I will not stop until the oneness becomes my experience and not just intellectual understanding .
2/17/22
Day-11
Verse 10:87:24
“Ah, who out here, who but recently was born and soon will die, has an inkling of the One Who Came First, from whom the [leading] seer [Brahmâ] arose who was followed by the two groups of demigods [controlling the senses and the principles? When He lies down to withdraw, at that time nothing remains of the gross and the subtle, nor of that what comprises them both [the bodies], while also the flow of Time and the S’âstras are no longer there.”
Personalize-
Bring little obsessive about time, almost controlled by it, I try to surrender to Mahakaal- the controller of time, the timeless. He who is beyond the boundaries of time is the One from whom everything emerges and absorbs. Extrapolating that, it means I also emerged from Brahman and will be absorbed in Brahman. This life that I live is a micro particle in the endlessness of Brahman .
2/16/22
Day-10
Verse-10:87:23
“That what by the sages, with their breathing, mind and senses being brought under control in steadfast yoga, is worshiped in the heart, is also attained by those who remember You. We [the s’rutis] will likewise attain You and, being equally considered by You, equally relish the nectar of the lotus feet enjoyed by the women [the gopîs, Your wives] whose minds are attracted to Your arms firm as mighty snake bodies. “
Personalizing –
I am fortunate to learn Your glories. The love personified by Gopi’s, Adisesha is a great inspiration for me to intensify my journey to reach You. I thought I was mumukshu, but to reach that stage still needs more effort. My love has grown but it still needs to reach greater heights. This Bhakti has happened and will intensify only with Your grace.
2/15/22
Day-9
Verse-10:87:22
“This body useful for serving You, acts as one’s self, one’s friend and beloved. They however, who alas fail to delight in You, rather find the degradation of the physical frame [in successive births], in spite of You as their very Self being favorably disposed, helpful and affectionate. As a matter of fact they, failing to find their way with their great existential fears, cling to material desires and are [thus] self destructive in their worship of the unreal.”
Personalizing-
I do not know how many times I have been born before and I what sahie and form, but this human birth must have come after a lot of evolution as through this form only I can become infinity. With the tools I have been given, (body, mind and intellect) I can use them to reach Him. What is the point of these gifts I have been given if I’m going to squander them away on materials and desires?
One day this body will be incinerated. I do not know when. All I have is this present moment to feel His presence. I would be a ‘ moodha’( a fool) to lose this opportunity.
2/14/22
Day-8
Verse -10:87:21
“By diving deep into the vast nectar ocean of the adventures of the forms You assumed to propagate the hard to grasp principle of the soul, the few souls who found relief from the fatigue [of a material life] do not even wish to be liberated from this world, oh Lord. This is so because they, after abandoning their homes, found association with the community of the swans [the transcendental people] at Your lotus feet”
Personalizing-
When I started this journey I wanted to know more about Bhagvan. My focus was jnana. Over the years, the more I learned about Him, the more I love Him. How can one not love Him? The quest for knowledge has transformed into the Journey of love. I understand that the love I feel and this longing that makes me cry is still a sign of duality, yet in my looking i find His presence.
This verse I wrote (after seeing an ancient Cambodian sculpture of HariHara at acclaimed Krishna exhibit recently ) is an attempt to express my love / Bhakti-
HariHara
The seed of longing for Him
planted as soon as the beginning
of our separation.
In all these lifetimes
I have been trying to walk back home.
So lost!!
Yet there is a loveliness in this longing.
Through this, I hold Your hand
and I weave my way back home.
Sometimes when I am able to hear
the sound of Your flute,
my heart sings with joy.
And when You play the Damaru-
Each fiber of my existence rejoice.
You look past my impurity.
You melt in my tears of love.
With one smile of Yours
I get a glimpse of eternity.
Who needs moksha now? I have His Love.
2/13/22
Day-7
Verse-10:87:20
“The person, residing within the bodies he owes to his karma, is, as an expansion of You who are the possessor of all energies, as is stated [by the Vedas], in fact not of the external [the gross body, the deha], nor of the internal [the subtle body, the linga], but is [by these bodies] enveloped. When scholars of the scriptures have developed faith in ascertaining the status of the living entity as being of that manifestation [as an expansion or part and parcel of Yours, a person], they worship Your feet as the source of liberation and the field in which all offerings are sown.”
Personalizing –
The seers who have internalized see Your manifestation. I can also see You if I purify my mind and remove all that blocks my vision. Though You are not the name or the form, yet You manifest Your manifestations / avtaras just to bring us closer to You. The only purpose of my life is loving You. Since my ignorant mind fails to perceive the formless, You manifest because You also love me. You manifest so I can see You the way I can understand and connect with. Only the One with infinite compassion and love and can do that. You whisper in my ear that You created this cosmos for me.
That is Love! It never fails to make me cry. How can I even Love you as much as You do!!
2/12/22
Day-6
Verse 10:87:19
“Entering in a certain manner the, (by You differently created), species of life as their motivation, You become visible depending the higher or lower form of Your own created beings, just as fire manifests itself [depending the form ignited]. You thus existing among them as the ‘real’ among the ‘unreal’, are understood as being one unchanging, pure, central refuge, by those who, free from material entanglements, have spotless minds.”
Personalizing –
The more I lift myself by myself with Your grace, the more I can see Your presence. I start seeing you in everything around me.
Reflected more and as I sat by the window looking out at nature marveling at the beauty created by You, seeing You in the snow flakes, in frozen creek, in red cardinal, in squirrels squirreling around …… it fills me with immense love and joy. You are here everywhere. And then in our backyard, the snow created this form as if to give me a nod….. this ice shivling brought a smile.
Yes You have always been there but I have been looking for You with sight. I need to ‘close my eyes and open the other one!’
2/11/22
Day-5
Verse 10:87:18
“Among those living according to the standards of the seers, they who are engrossed in their vision worship the abdomen [the lower centers], while the Ârunis [the superior yogis] first of all fix their attention on the prânic knot of the subtle energies [see cakra] of the heart. From there, oh Unlimited One, they move [their attention] upward to the head, which is Your abode, and then they go to the highest destination from which they, having reached it, never again fall down in the mouth of death.”
Personalizing-
I was never born. So I cannot die.Yet even to internalize this has taken lifetimes. As this jnana becomes me, I will be released from the vicious cycle of birth and death. How to make this jnana my own? Through Bhakti.
Love for Him centers in my heart. As I contemplate more and more on this and slowly let my journey evolve to feel my connection to cosmos, I will be with Him. That is my home which I have been looking for as long as I can remember and beyond. Once I get there, there is no looking back. There is no ‘I’ then. Only oneness!
2/10/22
Day -4
Verse 10:87:17
“They who, like a bellows, are just displacing some air as they breathe are full of vitality [only] when they are Your faithful followers, [for] You, who are elevated above cause and effect, constitute the underlying reality from whose mercy the universal egg of the material complete, the separate existence [the ego] and the other aspects of creation were produced .Adapted to the particular forms of the living being, You then appear here as the Ultimate Form among the different gross and subtle physical coverings.”
Personalizing-
Bhagvan is here for me. He has manifested out of compassion for me( creation). As I stay lost in the names and forms, He in His unlimited kindness shows Himself in the form which is more understandable for me.
He is beyond the cause and effect but He is trying to show me His presence within me with love. So why don’t I make more effort to ‘see’ Him. He is always here but I’m wearing blindfold. I keep playing hide and seek, while He has been holding my hand this whole time.
2/9/22
Day-3
Reflect on verse 10:87:16
“Your people of enlightenment, oh Master of All the Three Worlds, therefore dive deep into the nectarean ocean of the narrations [about You, the kathâ], which eradicate the impurity and put an end to their troubles. It is therefore not that surprising that they, who by the power of their own minds dispelled the [unwanted] qualities of the [identification with one’s] temporality, oh Supreme One, experience the uninterrupted happiness of Your abode in their worship.”
Personalizing-
This is my first time listening to Bhagvatam. How fortunate i am to be blessed with this sacred opportunity. This verse encourages me to be better. Listening to the stories of Bhagvan, His leela, I get immersed in it, lost in it. In this losing I find my Real Self. It has opened up new perspectives of Life and doors of love. It shifts my focus from me to Him. It brings tears of joy. My trivialities are lost in His Bigness. He holds my hand to help me stay on path, to be dedicated. In so many ways He shows His grace.
Day 2- 2/8/22
Further reflection actually synchronized with poem I read this morning titled-
No room for form
( from The big red book of Rumi; page 307)
A verse in that poem is-
“ And don’t look for me in human shape.
I am inside your looking.
No room for form
with love this strong.”
Lots and lots to reflect !!
2/8/22
Reflect on verse 10:87:15
All in One. One in All.
He is like clay unaffected by the shapes created with it- a pot, a vase, a pitcher….
All the creation is His manifestation, all the gods, nature, animals, beings, animate and inanimate. Knowing this one can look beyond the shape and form. Internalizing this – if I love Bhagvan, I love His creation as it is His manifestation. In practice do I see His presence, His essence interacting even in negative circumstances?
Immersing in this thought will be a game changer as the only emotion that will be evoked is Love…. For all.
A small verse I wrote few days ago in similar sentiment-
Forget your name!
Now that you know His.
Forget your shape!
He has arrived.
As you let go of ‘you-ness’ and the I-ness,
you will rise,
beyond the form and names.
Observe and you will see
the multiverse as a manifestation of infinity.
The common thread that you will feel
is that of LIFE.
The Love for all
sleeping within you
will be forever alive.
Didn’t someone say-
“When half gods leave
The Gods arrive!
Day 1-Reflect on 10:87:14
The Vedas are offering their support to us by glorifying the Lord. Only with Lords grace, we humans can have the sight to look beyond the forms and names. He who is complete/ infinite has manifested only to awaken us to sat cit ananda.
RAW for Week of January 30th, 2022-Do anything and everything to feel that this body is less yours.