NAMASMARAN & NEUROSIS DR. SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR
Indulgence and asceticism, atheism and theism, romance and renunciation; and such variety of apparently conflicting phenomena impart completion to life. If you try to take away anyone of these, the life appears incomplete. In fact even as I was convinced intellectually about the value of NAMSMARAN in life and wrote books on it right from 1992, one of the major hurdles in appreciating and experiencing the cosmic benevolence of NAMASMARAN was its depiction (or my erroneous perception of the depiction) as an activity of elderly, neurotic, inactive, pessimists, escapists and failed individuals. Even the books, movies, and dramas on saints and bhakti sangeet also (devotional music) made saintly life and the practice of NAMASMARAN appear miserable and pathetic. I never thought this was the “A
grade” happiness, implied in spiritualism or self realization. Partly because of this and partly because of the social justice and freedom implied in the atheism, which I cherish even today, I could not be involved completely in any particular theist tradition of NAMASMARAN. But even as I, due to my repulsion for the pathetic life style (as depicted or interpreted by me) felt; material pleasures could not be amputated arbitrarily from one’s life; if one were to evolve healthily; I was not at ease even in the “best” of petty pleasures, which could at best give “B grade”, not “A grade” happiness implied in global justice. Thus neither could I identify myself with the ascetics nor with the materialists. I kept on
vacillating from one side to another like a pendulum. But now it is more than clear, that NAMASMARAN is a panacea, it is an objective phenomenon and it can not be the monopoly of any one camp such as ascetic, indulgent, theist, atheist, scientific, religious and so on. It is an objective phenomenon with cosmic benevolence for blossoming of one and all. It is as objective and as vital for human blossoming, as the oxygen is for human life. It is beyond science, religion and philosophy. It is beyond human thought. It is a matter of practice and experience, not belief, feeling or imagination. NAMASMARAN connects you to the center of life, time and cosmic consciousness, i.e. with your true self.
NAMASMARAN (according to one’s tradition) is the privileged express highway to realize maximum potentials in every possible way, for one and all!
DR. SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR