加载中…Pilgrimage to India
(2012-11-28 22:47:15)
标签：
白大卫心灵成长一滴大爱印度灵性之旅 |
分类： 感悟 |
Author: David Blanco
For Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day vacations, I took a group of 32 students for a pilgrimage to India. I am a founder and teacher of Yididaai. All the students took some personal growth courses with me before, so I knew them well. This time, I wanted to introduce them to India, the motherland of spirituality. As Mark Twain wrote "India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition.” My Chinese students are aware that since ancient times, Chinese scholars, like Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang (602-664), have travelled and stay in India to study Indian philosophy and to bring back spiritual scriptures.
http://s6/mw690/82ee1650gcf8f559de7b5&690to
http://s5/small/82ee1650gcf8f55ba3614&690to
When a person reaches the summit of his spiritual realization, he becomes a lighthouse that spreads powerful vibrations of compassion, peace and bliss. Many people feel an enormous attraction to be in the presence of such realized masters, because within their strong magnetic spiritual field, one feels blessed, uplifted and insights into our deeper nature are easier to happen. This is true when we come across a living perfected master, but it also happens where a perfected master was buried. Their shrines become places of pilgrimage. They are gates to the subtle and invisible dimensions, thresholds to the deep inner silence. Through those spiritual gates, the pilgrim is invited to enter the Unity that underlies all the diverse manifestations of life. In these heavenly places on Earth, the pilgrim does not only receive blessings and insights, but gives his love, admiration and prayers to the master.
Throughout human history, India has had the largest density of enlightened masters. Its culture has beyond compare, fostered the quest for the realization of the spiritual heights. Gautama the Buddha is not the only prince in Indian history, who renounced his kingdom and riches to discover the ultimate meaning of life. All these numerous lofty endeavours and spiritual attainments reached by the spiritual elite over centuries have charged the lands of India with a very conducive atmosphere for spiritual growth. The German Sufi Sheikh Burhanuddin has said that one day in India equals the effects of forty days of spiritual study in other countries.
The jewel of
our journey was visiting the respected enlightened master Chandra
Swami. He lives with his disciples in a monastery on the bank of
the holy river Yamuna and surrounded by the beautiful lush scenery
of the Himalayan foothills. Chandra Swami is an authentic
contemporary saint, who radiates peace and inner happiness. He did
seclusions in caves and huts for decades. For the last 28 years, he
has maintained silence. His silence is more eloquent than words. In
his silent presence, one feels showered by love and peace. He also
offers some time daily to write the wise answers to the questions
of his students. He is very humble and humorous. His eyes are
penetrating and pure. He has conquered his ego. He embodies the
ultimate wisdom of India. He welcomed our Chinese group with so
much kindness. He wrote to me that he was counting the days, before
we arrived. He gave us sweets and gifts. He showed us the monastery
room by room. He played and danced with us. In him we could see
that the highest wisdom goes side to side with childlike
purity.
http://s7/mw690/82ee1650gcf8fd009cc06&690to
http://s4/small/82ee1650gcf8fcfe43513&690to
All external sounds are shut out in a cave. You
can have very beautiful, uninterrupted meditation. When we sat in
meditation inside the cave, we felt the spiritual currents left by
many sages there. The silence was so deep, that thoughts seemed to
pause and we seemed to enter a dimension beyond time. We accessed
the real inner cave within our hearts, what the ancient texts of
India called the Hridaya-Guha. There lies the source of inner
bliss.
The scenery by the cave is breathtaking. The mighty river Ganges flows through the lush valleys. Its waters run clean and fresh from melt waters of glaciers, springs and lakes of the Himalayas. There are beaches along the banks with white sand and rocks where monks sit to meditate.
In our pilgrimage, we also visited the house of the saint Swami Chidananda Saraswati in Rishikesh. He was one of the prominent and most revered sages of India and of modern times.One of his disciples wrote: “Every time I sit at his feet, I am invaded by a peace that surpasses understanding. Light and peace emanate from his sole presence. His is a discriminating and a knowledgeable mind, capable of transcending all barriers. His soul is none other than absolute love, love, love infinite! Besides, I have never seen any guru as humble as him, nor have I ever seen anyone who would serve all with the same degree of selflessness. If at all he speaks about himself, it is always in his capacity as a humble disciple of his master, Swami Shivananda. Moreover, as far as he is concerned, all beings are his friends, his "brothers.”
http://s11/small/82ee1650gcf8f5707fa8a&690to
This great saint passed away in 2008 and his house is open to pilgrims. There you can see the simplicity in which a saint typically lives. The whole house is so charged with the vibration of sublime love that many of my students felt their hearts opening and their spirits uplifted. As we left this holy house, one of his disciples kindly gave as some sweets.
We proceed to visit the ashram of Swami Chidananda’s master, the great saint Swami Sivananda Saraswati. He was a jewel among saints. Service and love were the weapons with which he conquered human hearts. He said “To raise the fallen, to lead the blind, to share what I have with others, to bring solace to the afflicted, to cheer up the suffering are my ideals.” He passed away in 1963, but he left a great spiritual inheritance for humanity. He was a prolific author, he wrote 296 books on spiritual matters. He had many very outstanding disciples that helped him to spread yoga and the ancient wisdom of India worldwide. His main message is written in one of the walls of his ashram: "Serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realise. Be good, do good, be kind, be compassionate. Enquire "Who am I?"
In the ashram, there is a very special hall. In
1943, the World War II prolonged with no end in sight for
restoration of peace. In that year, Swami Sivananda decided to
build a hall where there will be a non-stop recitation of a mantra
to spread peaceful spiritual vibrations to the whole planet. From
the 3rd of December 1943, the
“This world is your best teacher. There is a lesson in everything. There is a lesson in each experience. Learn it and become wise. Every failure is a stepping stone to success. Every difficulty or disappointment is a trial of your faith. Every unpleasant incident or temptation is a test of your inner strength. Therefore do not desperate. March forward!” Swami Sivananda Saraswati.
There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won't go. India is such a place. India has the ability to overload the senses with the concentrated intensity of its colours, smells, tastes, and sounds... In our stay in monasteries, we were woke up in the early morning by the sounds of the Hindu rituals- bells, drums and Sanskrit recitations of ancient holy texts. Monkeys and peacocks roam freely in the gardens. And the air has a scent of sandalwood incense.Another holy shrine we visited was Sri Anandamayi
Ma’s in Haridwar. She was another giant among the highest spiritual
saints of contemporary India. Swami Sivananda described her as "the
most perfect flower the Indian soil has produced." Since she was
child, she would often fall into ecstasies. Her family soon feared
that she could be mentally ill, but the doctors said she was not
crazy, but intoxicated with divine bliss. Her name means
"joy-permeated". This name was given to her by her devotees in the
1920s to describe what they saw as her habitual state of divine joy
and bliss. When she was 30 years old, she had a strong mystic
experience while she was meditating in the
temple.
Anandamayi Ma never prepared discourses, wrote down, or revised what she said. She talked from her connection with the higher wisdom. As it is common with the genuine spiritual masters, many visitors reported having had intense spiritual and healing experiences in her very presence. Her style of teaching included jokes, songs and instructions on everyday life.
"My consciousness has never associated itself with this temporary body. Before I came on this earth, Father, I was the same. As a little girl, I was the same. I grew into womanhood, but still I was the same. When the family in which I had been born made arrangements to have this body married, 'I was the same... And, Father, in front of you now, I am the same. Ever afterward, though the dance of creation changes around me in the hall of eternity, I shall be the same." Anandamaji Ma.
A journey to India is incomplete without visiting
Taj Mahal. It is a monument of romantic love, ordered to be built
in the XVII century by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as the
mausoleum of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. The main Indian Sufi
saints of that time where the spiritual advisers of the emperors.
Within the design of Taj Mahal lies the wisdom of the Sufis. It is
a commemoration of Divine beauty and aims to elevate the visitor
towards Heavens. Twenty thousand workers were recruited across
northern India to build it. Twenty eight types of precious and
semi-precious stones were inlaid into the white marble, including
jade, crystal and turquoise from China. Over 1,000 elephants were
used to transport the building materials that came from all over
India and Asia. It took around 22 years to be completed and it cost
to the emperor 4 million RMB at that time, 360 years ago. No doubt
it’s a priceless master piece. The famous Indian poet and
philosopher Tagore described Taj Mahal as “a teardrop on the cheek
of eternity”. And the Nobel prize winner English author Rudyard
Kipling referred to it as “the embodiment of all things
pure”.
We also
visited the shrines of two of the most respected Sufi saints of old
times: Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya of XIII century in Delhi and Sheikh
Salim Chishti of XVI century in Fatehpur Sikri. Even the kings of
their times were very loyal and devotees to them. These Sufis were
intoxicated in Divine love and helped tirelessly the needy. Where
they settled, whole populated districts where formed by the people
who flocked to be in their presence and take their advice. Even the
famous emperor of India, Akhbar the Great, moved all his palaces
and headquarters to the dessert where the Sufi saint Sheikh Salim
Chisti lived, creating the town of Fatehpur Sikri. There, we
arranged a beautiful meeting with a living Sufi saint, Tahira
Tabbassum.
http://s12/small/82ee1650gcf8f5550a26b&690to
In the coach
we practiced some simple Indian spiritual songs. While we were
passing through Mathura, the birth place of Krishna, we chanted a
song in his name. While we were chanting it, we were stunned to see
a beautiful peacock crossing the motorway right in front of us. I
explained to the students that Krishna wore usually peacock’s
feathers to symbolize beauty and knowledge. Throughout those days,
we perceived many signals that made us feel that our sacred journey
was very blessed by the masters and saints of India. We returned to
China full of good vibrations. And as Swami Sivananda said “Life is
a pilgrimage. The wise man does not rest by the roadside inns. He
marches direct to the illimitable domain of eternal bliss, his
ultimate destination.”
http://s14/small/82ee1650gcf8f56ae825d&690to
喜欢
0
赠金笔