Aneka-janmaarjita-punya-praaptahaMayaa gururyo jagati prasiddhah |

Yasya prasaadena manah prashaantamBabhuva me tam shirasaa namaami

 

 

I found the world-renowned Guru through the merits acquired in countless lives.

I bow down to him by whose grace my mind became peaceful. 

 

Gratitude to the Guru

 

For a seeker who has come in contact with the Satguru, Discovered Self-Knowledge, the emptiness and incompleteness of many lives, transforms into fullness, when one realizes that what one was seeking outside was already within as oneself as one’s own nature. 

 

The Satguru ignites the spark of seeking, sustains it against the temptations of the world, creates the field, fuels the spark, motivates us, is with us throughout the journey till ignorance is destroyed and one is pushed beyond BMI. Everything happens only by the grace of the Guru. Yet people question the need for a guru? It is the Knowledge given by the Satguru and Grace which ultimately burns away our ignorance and karma. One feels liberated and at Peace. 

 

In our worldly life, when someone does something insignificant for us, we feel grateful. What about someone who releases us from all fears? Everything and everyone is fraught with fear. Position, power, pleasures, popularity, prosperity……Everywhere there is fear of not gaining it or losing it. 

 

Abhayam Brahma. Brahma jnana alone makes us Fearless. Abhaya Pratishtham Vindate. Na bhibheti kadachaneti/kutaschaneti….One abides in Fearlessness. There is no fear of losing this. 

 

Satguru blesses one with Abhay-Daan. Annadaan is great. Vidyadaan is greater but Abhay Daan is the greatest. 

 

For an ordinary person when death occurs, the gross body drops and merges with the 5 elements but the subtle body(mind n intellect) and causal body(ignorance and impressions) carry forward because their individuality exists and so the person has to face karma in new body.  

 

When the ego dies in contemplation and rediscovers the Infinite, it is called Jivanmukti. For a Jivanmukta(One who has known the Self while living), there is no individuality even when alive. Ego has died in contemplation and the past karmas get burnt up. No unfulfilled desires remains and so the future also does not exist. Present karma is exhausted in present life and body will survive till then. When that karma is over, the person drops the body which merges with the 5 elements and because there is no subtle and causal body, there is no rebirth. They become one with the Infinite. The last chain(the Body) that was binding them is gone. This is called Videhamukti or mahasamadhi.  

 

0n 3rd August 1993 Swami Chinmayananda attained Mahasamadhi. It is observed as Sadhana Day.

 

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To such a Satguru how much more grateful one feels. Whatever one does for the Satguru is not enough.

 

I got such a guru who shook me up from sleep and ignorance…I feel so grateful. He even made my mind quiet. Same world which was disturbing me, I see the same world as Brahman. 

 

Here relative peace of mind is not being spoken but the mind which has become still and established in Brahman. Prashaant it is said. Prashaanta manasam hyenam yoginam sukhamuttamam….

Upaiti shaanta-rajasam brahma-bhutam akalmasham. 

 

No matter what we offer to such a master, will be less. Only thing we can do it let more and more people get awakened and come to this knowledge.

 

Hence everything happens by the Grace of the Guru. 

When Swami Chinmayananda was asked to speak about his Guru Swami Tapovanam, he would be filled with gratitude and become quiet. On one rare occasion he said - “In whom i became silent”

 

Concept of Jivanmukti & Videhamukti

 

Depending on the karma, the body of the mahatma just drops. It could be a death like anyone. Normally or in sleep or in sickness or accident or any reason. Sometimes mahatmas drop their body at will. Poojya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda dropped the body in the operation theatre when he was being operated for heart ailment.

 

Jivanmukti - Liberation while living. The master abides in the Self even while the body exhausts its own prarabdha. 

Videhamukti - When the master’s body drops it is called Mahasamadhi or Videhamukti. Final liberation from the body and individuality is attained.

 

No more can the vehicles of flesh enslave Him,

Nor can the shackles of emotion chain Him,

Nor can the whip of desire lash Him. He has ended all Vasanas and

Crossed over the morass of ignorance.

 

Out of the mortal has emerged the Immortal;

From darkness he has walked into Light. 

“The farther I go, the nearer shall I be for each one of you.

This is a promise.”

 

Design Notes

 

Jivanmukti & Videhamukti

 

This exhibit is a digitally printed panel that depicts Samadhi, Mukti and Freedom and the time when Swami Chinmayananda gave up his physical form. Swami Chinmayananda’s picture is shown within a pattern of light radiating outwards. The subtle tessellation of bird forms depict freedom and flight from the physical form.