Self-Knowledge February 2010 - Suddhananda

Self-Knowledge March 2010

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Self-Knowledge March 2010

Self – Knowledge VOLUME 16

MARCH 2010

No. 3

CONTENTS “In order to gain mastery in expressing the word and its meaning, I worship the primeval Parents of the Universe, Parvati and Paramesvara who are as inseparable as the word and its meaning”.

“To Rise” – Fall in Love with your Self

3

Amanitvam: Absence of Pride A Pre requisite for Self Knowledge

7

The Bare Necessity

13

An Inspiring Experience – Visit to Suddhananda Thapovanam

21

Searching for Joy

24

The Art of Self Knowledge

27

Illumination through Illusion

29

Waking Up to the Hypnosis Called Love

31

Editorial Board R Ramakrishnan (Editor) Anuradha Sivasundar Malini Ramakrishnan Sarala Panchapakesan Viswa Chaitanya Published by R Ramakrishnan for SAMVIT SAGAR TRUST “Suddhanandapuram” East Coast Road, Uthandi, Chennai - 119 Printed at : Sunitha Printers, Chennai

“The wise one lives on happily doing what comes to him to be done and does not feel eagerness either in activity or in inactivity”.

– Astavakra Samhita uuu

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“The light of wisdom is comfortable with no covering and it can also accommodate all coverings. In the discovery of the Reality that you are, you can be with a role, a wrapping or be yourself as you are, the Consciousness, the Awareness, without any wrapping of a role”.

Design : Anuradha Sivasundar,Chennai

– Swami Suddhananda

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Self-Knowledge March 2010

Self-Knowledge March 2010

“To Rise” – Fall in Love with your Self Swami Suddhananda

To remember a sound, we need the thought of a sound.

The roar of the waterfall is

necessary to announce its presence. Whereas in case of the Silence – neither there is a sound of silence nor do we need the sound or the thought of a silence to remember it. It is the basis and that is the Awareness of one’s own ‘Being’.

– Swami Suddhananda 2

After a quarter of a century of involvement with my own deep meditations and encounters with literally thousands of people of different kinds, I can safely conclude that human behaviour, human response and human relationships are the most intriguing part of understanding the creation. One can determine the general behaviour of the planets, the stars, the rivers, the sand, the plants, the animals and the cellular organisms to a very great extent, but insight into human minds and behaviour is an eternally receding horizon.

By and large, the forces in nature function in a predictable way but the human mind defies every definition of predictable behaviour. The result is utter chaos in the private as well as social behaviour of every man.

The incomprehensibility of human behaviour arises from the innate contradictions in the

behaviour of the so-called enlightened men. They are supposed to be egoless, nonmanipulating, genuine, compassionate and understanding.

But all these noble characteristics are thrown to the wind when the so-called wise one feels challenged in relation to his holiness, his convictions, his view points. These are the people who move around in the garb of holiness with the unholiest thoughts abiding within. They talk about Oneness but they themselves cannot function in one group. They talk about loyalty (loyalty to their holiness) but they can be disloyal to whoever they choose.

They talk about reconciliation between the spouses, siblings, people in work places but they have irreconcilable differences amongst themselves.

Whoever says that the incarnations, the prophets, the messiahs are uniting forces must be blind – both physically and mentally. There were only 3

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human beings before the advent of these ‘phenomenal” beings.

But soon after their arrival, mankind was divided into lines of faith, gods, religious dogmas and so on. Branded as followers of some system or leader, men ceased to be men. Divisions became rampant, institutionalized, and were perpetuated in the name of the Mighty. Godmen replaced God and the genuine enlightened devotees were replaced by the herds of followers. When God pervades everything, the godmen are busy replacing Him, carving out their own empires, own spheres of influence, creating not only mutually exclusive domains but also keeping the people apart in the name of their avowed faith.

The leader, especially a religious leader, becomes the overlord of the harem of followers. And the followers’ behaviour must be in tune with that of the eccentric, unpredictable, exclusive leader presiding over the cult-like organization. If this is the sad saga of the religious groups, the secular world follows the same principle without the name of a 4

god, godman, guru, messiah or prophet. We come across this penchant to dominate, this cultist attitude in the spheres of every secular bastion – call it political leadership, corporate leadership, bureaucracy, academic or even in the smallest unit, the family.

Nothing has escaped the touch of the sickening exclusiveness. Everybody is manipulative and brazenly with total ruthless impunity, violates every decent norm to exploit everything and everybody around. The husband exploits the wife; the wife exploits the husband; the friends exploit the friends; the leaders exploits the followers and the followers exploit the leaders.

Manipulation, exploitation, pretension, hypocrisy have become the name of the secular and the religious games that we play.

Hence human behaviour has become the most complicated, most intriguing aspect of human existence. An extremely rare few shall transcend these considerations and in the process transcend a very exclusive god, faith, religious or political philosophy.

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The remedy lies in creating individuals who shall not be exclusive but in whose all inclusiveness rests their universal exclusiveness. To define man as man is more universal than defining him as a follower of a particular religious or secular philosophy. Still more universal is the definition of man as a part of the whole creation.

Even materially, the universality of man can have an exclusive yet a very common-place touch.

Nobody is away from it. Nothing is away from it. Nothing can exist in a universal existence without losing its identity.

Naturally, therefore the person must know himself instead of confusing himself to gain a political, religious, social, academic or familial identity.

These identities can never help the man to lose himself as these identities have never helped man to gain his individuality in the first place. The root of his individuality, the essential identity, the ultimate selfdefinition is not a religion or a political or social philosophy.

Neither is it an academic or familial description. All the words, all the concepts are redundant there. And therefore

there is a no scope for any argument, discussion, logic or rationalisation, either to establish it or to dismiss it. Silence can hold the words in its embrace but no word can have any conflict with the silence. Whereas a thought depends upon a word, a form or a concept, Reality is not a thought nor does It require a thought to assert Itself. It is selfassertive and nobody needs to produce It. Somebody or something is needed to produce a sound but silence signifies the absence of any external agency for its existence. The individuality is addicted to creating thoughts, conceptualizations and cannot face its own annihilation, by accepting a reality which makes him redundant and unimportant.

That is why, too often, too many people wait for a celebrated resounding disappearance and cannot accept a silent resolve, a whispering disappearance, a soft melting away! They consider themselves too important to disappear quietly and hence the arrogant spiritual deference to special illumination, special methods, special touches.

These fools rush in to peddle these exotic meditations, cultlike exclusiveness, to make the 5

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fastest buck in dealing with the merchandise, the human mind.

Egos are entertained. Delusive dance continues. The drummer continues to play the beat and changes the beat until the dancers drop dead.

Expectations are carefully regulated. Dreams never die until the end. But the living ends.

During that life span or the continued life-span of the universe, millions of groups get created, and they are mutually exclusive, with their own exotic ethnic flavour. But let there be a group of free people, independent people, choosing to be inter-dependent for a marvelous orchestra and never a group hunting for heads to maintain its identity at the cost of individual freedom. If that freedom is not discovered as one’s own nature, deception, manipulation, exploitation shall continue both in the name of secular and religious behaviour.

The group shall live but the men will die while trying to manipulate each other.

The so-called leaders in every sphere must search within to listen to an answer to the question: whether he/she is working out of a fulfillment or a need, out of fullness or desperation, to share or to exploit? If the answer is “to share a discovered fulfillment”, never ever such a man can create an exclusive group but shall touch every group, every individual to help them discover an identity, the reality beyond every type of description and denomination yet shall be comfortable with every description and every denomination.

When thus each man or woman learns to love himself / herself for who he / she is and not for what he or she has, the insecurity, the emptiness, the false arrogance drops out and in its place rises the stability, the fulfillment and the love for everything that dispels the darkness of the unnatural selfish behaviour to usher in a new day for a man and a new dawn for mankind!

Let us do it!

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Amanitvam: Absence of Pride A Pre requisite for Self Knowledge R. Ramakrishnan Every one says that pride is a bad human trait, particularly when it is seen in others. But almost everyone is proud about one thing or another and is convinced that there is justification for pride in oneself.

This seems to be the pattern in which human beings grow up – to have double standards, one for themselves and one for others. It all begins in childhood when whatever I do, like crawling, sitting up, standing and walking, that without understanding my parents’ enthusiasm and joy, I like the feeling that they created in me.

This continues right through early schooling, when I learn the alphabet, count numbers, sing a nursery rhyme, kick a ball, tie my shoe lace and so on. Every action is acclaimed as a great achievement. I begin to enjoy the attention that I get, even though what I am doing is no different from what millions of children like me have done in

the past, are doing now and will do in the future. Only, I am too young to realise that.

Nevertheless, the desire to achieve, to get attention, to be praised and to feel good becomes deeply ingrained in me. I want to be an achiever, because only then can I get all this attention and praise. I want to be the first in class, win every race or game, be ahead of others in every situation, whether it is first in line to board the school bus, or finding a seat in the front row of an auditorium or whatever. I want to grab the best of whatever is happening.

When I get it I feel happy that I have achieved something that others have not and I feel superior to them. If on top of all this, I win medals, cups and trophies in studies, games or any other activity, there is no way of suppressing the pride that swells in my heart. Not only am I proud, but I find that my parents also take pride in having 7

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a child who is an achiever and that makes me doubly proud.

At some stage in my life, I set goals for myself, and others also set goals for me. I must go abroad, study in the best university, earn a doctorate, secure a lucrative job, buy a bungalow, have a fleet of cars, get married, give my wife the costliest of presents, beget children, give them the best of education, go on grand holidays, eat at the best of restaurants, dress lavishly, attend the best shows in town, throw parties and invite the elite in society, get invited to parties in Presidential palaces, be featured on the covers of every glossy news magazine worth the name, in short, be a celebrity. The things I want to achieve are endless. I see what other people value and I too develop a value for those things, so that by acquiring those things, other people will value me and their approval adds to my pride. What was sown as a seed in early childhood, the pleasure I felt when my parents praised my toddling has grown into a thick tree whose diameter keeps increasing with every 8

achievement.

If there is anything wrong with all this, it is not apparent. In fact, it seems to be the right thing to do, to achieve the impossible as all selfimprovement books and courses inspire readers. Achievements are necessary to make a difference to the world we live in, but not pride. Where have all these achievements and attendant pride left me? Why am I still not satisfied? Why am I restless? Why do I feel a constant fear that everything I have gained may suddenly disappear one day? While there are a lot of people around me, why do I feel that they are my potential enemies who are conspiring to undermine me?

Why do I get this gnawing misgiving as to whether people value me or value what I have?

While they paste their faces with the broadest smiles when they greet me, why do I discern glimpses of detest and disgust for me? Why do I feel so lonely, when I am surrounded by a crowd? Why do I feel empty when I have so many possessions? Is this where my

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pride has landed me, to earn the jealousy and contempt of so many and to be detested as an arrogant and haughty person to be avoided as a stinking piece of flesh, or at best tolerated because of unavoidability? Is this where my pride and the arrogance and haughtiness that accompany it, have pushed me?

Is there no way out?

There is a way out and that is to understand what pride is all about. The very understanding, if it is thorough will reduce the level of pride that one already suffers from and will prevent further accumulation of it. It is indeed a very simple fact to appreciate that there is really nothing to feel proud about our so-called achievements. No individual ever achieves anything solely by his own efforts.

Swamiji’s often quoted example of collaboration is worth recalling. Referring to any meeting he might be addressing, he would mention all factors that contributed to the smooth running of the event. For example, the weather, place, audio/visual gear and other arrangements and finally the

audience and speaker, all have collaborated in this effort, each one participating to capacity and each necessary to the success of the event. Even those who have not contributed directly have helped by not obstructing the meeting. No single individual can take credit for this event.

This is the crux of the whole matter. In the success of every individual effort, there are so many others who have contributed to it. If I have passed the examinations with flying colours, I owe it to my teachers who taught me and to my parents who looked after me, supported me and educated me.

This applies to every achievement of mine, be it in the office, or laboratory, or sports ground or anywhere else. So why do I take credit for what has been achieved? Why then, am I proud?

A serious probing of the nature of achievements in general, will reveal their fragile, ethereal, volatile and impermanent nature. If I score the highest marks in the examinations this year, someone else will score higher marks next 9

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year. In any case I will not be the only person to have scored the highest marks. If I hold a record for an athletic event this year, some one is bound to do better next year. If I make a brilliant scientific discovery this year, another researcher will expose the faults and limitations of it next year. If I am Miss or Mr. Universe this year, the title will certainly not last as some one else will be awarded the title next year. I may be awarded best businessman of the Year but next year my entire business may collapse and most certainly some one else will have that distinction next year. A victor now is a victim later. No achievement, however great and distinguished it may be, lasts forever. I may be acclaimed this year but forgotten next year, as we see in the political arena. If this is the true nature of my achievements, nothing more than a passing event in a constantly changing world, what is my pride except a fable of my own imagination?

‘Do not be proud’ is not a moral injunction or imposition of a value. It is a matter of 10

understanding what pride is about and seeing not only its harmful effect both on the individual and the lives of those around them, but it is entirely based on fiction(?) Is it not a matter of sheer stupidity to imagine something and suffer because of that? That is why right from the early stages of a child’s upbringing and education in developing potential and skills, it is necessary to teach them about the collaborative nature of achievement??

Simultaneously, the folly of pride must also be imprinted on young minds, as part of the same education and training. This way, pride will be nipped in the bud and will be prevented from growing to enormous proportions. Unless the negative aspects of individuality are neutralized in the early stages, they will assume monstrous magnitude in later life and destroy the humaneness (humanity) within the individual.

Lord Krishna refers to ‘absence of pride’ as the first in a list of twenty items all of which he calls jnânam or knowledge.

This is in chapter thirteen of the

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Bhagavad Gita, the ksetra ksetrâjna vibhaga yoga or the yoga of distinction between the field of objects and the knower.

Having disposed of in two verses the entire field of objects and before going on to expound about the ksetrâjna the knower or the Self, Krishna talks about the twenty items which he calls knowledge, jnânam. It is not knowledge of the Self, but it is knowledge which is essential to understand Self Knowledge. It is a well-recognised fact that when one wants to get some advanced knowledge about something, the basic knowledge must already be there. Self Knowledge is the most advanced knowledge, most Supreme Knowledge, Raja Vidya, knowing which there is nothing else to be known yat jnâtva neha bhuyonyat jnâtavyam avasishyate – Gita VII. ii. As Swamiji often tells us that Self Knowledge is simple; it is getting rid of habitual thinking that is difficult. Pride is one such habit. The knowledge of how to get rid of habitual thinking is therefore as important as Self Knowledge itself and without this basic qualification, the teaching

that ‘You are Atman, You are Brahman’, will make no difference to the student. As in the story that Swamiji used to regale his listeners with about a mentally disturbed man who thought he was a worm and lived in constant fear of the hen.

So he consulted a psychiatrist who after many sessions of patient counselling convinced the person that he was a man and not a worm. Beaming happily, the man bade goodbye to the doctor and left only to return within a few minutes, crying, ‘Doctor, I know that I am not a worm, but does the hen know it?’ Likewise, merely repeating, ‘I am Brahman’ is no indication of certainty of the knowledge about oneself. Hence the need for qualifications such as the absence of pride, that Krishna mentions ahead of his teaching about the ksetrâjna or the Self.

Pride is the grossest manifestation of ego. Ego is what makes me think that I am what I am not, in other words, ignorance about myself. The opposite of pride, humility, can also be ego, and one may be 11

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covertly proud that he is humble.

The real culprit is ‘I’ thought. ‘I’ thought is so slimy that it can slide into everything and anything to conceal itself. That is why the average individual is not even aware that what he refers to, as ‘I’ is actually no more than a thought, whereas what he is, is the content of that thought. Self Knowledge is coming face to face with that content. But for that to happen, the ‘I’ thought must first be caught hold of. This is not an easy thing, because ‘I’ thought is mischievous by grabbing all roles and identities and playing a million tricks on the mind. In the incessant game it plays, the individual is lost in myriad experiences, some exciting and intoxicating and some shattering and disastrous, so that he is constantly in a tizzy, with no time left to question who he might really be.

And then the individual dies, enslaved and victimized by his own mind. The only way to escape this sad destiny is to catch the monster inside, ‘I’ thought, the ego.

Pride, being the grossest manifestation of this ego is the 12

best place to start the exercise.

Pride after all, is just a web of thoughts spun by the spider of the mind, only to become entangled. Though it is a thought, pride is not very subtle and so not easy to miss being perceived. On the other hand its effects are so gross that they assert themselves glaringly.

Therefore it is easy to handle pride. By striking at the stout trunk of the tree of pride with the axe of understanding, the bark will just peel off layer after layer and at one stage it will completely crumble. By watching with alertness whenever pride arises, it can be immediately smothered with this understanding. As ‘I’ thought shies away from pride to take refuge somewhere else, it will reveal itself even if only for a short time. As each of its covering gets stripped, it will become visible more and more until at one stage, with nowhere else to turn to, its content will dissolve. This is how absence of pride becomes a pre-requisite for Self Knowledge.

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The Bare Necessity Viswa Chitanya Every word that is going to follow is known to everybody, in fact every word that is used is not my own. Everybody knows about it therefore it belongs to everybody, so there is no difficulty in understanding. There is no need for any struggle to understand because it is not a myth, nor is the content difficult to digest. The concept is so simple that even a lay person cannot miss to see the truth of it, because it talks about one’s own nature. Elaborate planning and precision maybe necessary to target terrorist hideouts in deep jungles or in difficult mountain terrains, but to get tuned to one’s own self does not need much planning or precision.

It is very simple and commonplace, but only our thinking of it being uncommon makes it so, otherwise it is dead easy and simple. Nobody can be away from the Truth that is one’s own self and thus one can get tuned to oneself at any given time and under any circumstances. Everything is in

our power, but we do not pay any attention to the right perspective and instead give importance to symbols or mere words and fail to see the Truth.

When a child is born whether it is human or animal, immediately after birth the mother feeds the baby, which demonstrates that food plays a vital role in life. The human child is wrapped in cloth, whereas cloth is not used in the animal kingdom. As the mother takes utmost care of her baby, so too an animal takes care of its offspring and protects it as much as possible. The same human child when grown older develops a liking for clothes, whereas in the animal kingdom, growing animals do not look for any dress because they are not trained to do so. Animals do not feel naked, nor do they have any social norms or conditions around clothing. Only human beings go crazy after types of food, shelter and varieties of clothes, whereas animals hunt for food but not varieties of prepared food and 13

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look for shelter but not of specific appearance.

Let us analyse one commonly used statement which nobody would dare to contradict.

Everybody, irrespective of caste, creed, sex, race, religion and nationality would agree that the basic needs of human beings are food, clothing and shelter. The first and foremost requirement is food, then comes clothes and last is shelter. That is why in the event of any natural disaster, government agencies or people at large supply food packets first on humanitarian grounds. Once victims are kept alive, clothes are provided and then shelter. Later on they may be rehabilitated with individual shelter for the long term.

The first requirement is food, then dress and shelter comes last, but we human beings get it backwards. Whoever is assured of food, indulges in clothing and shelter. Food is necessary to sustain life without which a person will die. The objective of a shelter is to be protected from the external threat of inclement weather and wild animals. The main purpose of clothing is to hide nakedness and to keep 14

warm in colder climates. If we pause for a while and think, then we can see that even primitive people gave first preference to food, then shelter and only then did they start to wear bark from trees or animal skins for warmth and to cover nakedness. It is common with animals and uncultured, simple human beings that both give more importance to food than to shelter. That is why we can still find in this century, some tribes who hunt for food and build a shelter, but do not wear any clothes. In other words the home is purely to protect this body from heat, cold, rain adhidaivika; from wild animals and other people adhibhautika.

We have seen in gross format that food, shelter and clothes are basic needs in order to live. Let us analyse what it means from the absolute standpoint. Most things that are introduced to human beings have an inbuilt purpose in leading him to the Absolute, but because of our lack of understanding we do not regard that dimension and live according to their relative meaning. Of course many traditions do not have the benefit of the concept of absolute and

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relative. For instance in the Vedic tradition when a child is introduced to the alphabet akskaâbhyâsa, the term akshara means not only alphabet but also the imperishable, one’s own self.

So even through formal, conventional education in India, children could be exposed to the imperishable, their true nature.

Not only does the alphabet fall into this category, numbers also indicate the nature of existence.

The child is taught ‘one’ at the beginning and then two, three, four etc. when introduced to numbers. The ‘one’ is not just the number one but also refers to existence, which is one without second, ekam. Most schools are not teaching in this manner, so children miss the opportunity to be introduced to the self. The child is left to reel under selfignorance, to perpetrate and pass on the baton of selfignorance to successive generations.

Let us analyse the three fundamental requirements of human existence mentioned above: Food is that by which hunger is appeased. Physical hunger is appeased immediately, but comes up again after some time. While gross hunger can be

appeased immediately, there remains subtle hunger of power, position, security, status etc. that are not so easily appeased, even after fulfilment. A person thinks constantly of having more and more, so the food that we eat is not the only food, but there is the insatiable appetite of human desire that also demands appeasement. Vegetables, fruit and other edibles of different kinds, are food for the stomach, whereas sounds, touches, sights, tastes and smells are food for the ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose respectively. Food comes first in the list of requirements and the above varieties of food for the senses are needed for humans to transact with the external world.

Unless the sense organs, are fed with foods of sound, touch, forms, taste and smell there would be no perception, which is the basis of all thought. If there were no thought, it would be impossible for humans to interact with the external world, in fact they would not be able to function at all. This condition would be like that of a baby who is confined to a glass house with the function of five sense organs closed or terminated from the day he is 15

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born and is only breathing because of a life support system.

There is clearly no quality of life in this existence.

That is why it is essential for humans to have the above varieties of food for sustenance.

The irony is that even though the fellow is supplied with all of the above without any effort on his part, he is still not contented with what he gets. He wishes to have all this and more as he is never satisfied and thus his hunger continues. The universe with so many varieties of food appears to be a failure at the hands of humans because they want more and more of not the same variety but of different varieties. The only food by which the gross and subtle hunger of a human being can be appeased is by the knowledge of self as already full and complete. Having known his true nature, a person no longer wants anything. No more is there an urge to fulfil something, because he finds himself as one without a second. Since there is no second available other than the Self, the awareness, consciousness, he does not lack anything. Since he does not lack anything, there is nothing to fulfil.

So when it is told that food is the 16

first in the list of human requirements, it should also be pointed out that after survival, everybody irrespective of caste, creed, sex, race, religion and nationality should have the knowledge of the self and in that there is no choice.

Then comes shelter as number two in the list of human requirements. Shelter or house is not that which can be seen, but shelter is that through which one can see. The house we live in is seen, so the house we live in is not a shelter in reality. In fact anything that can be seen can never be a shelter or house. The whole external universe which is full of names and forms is seen and can be objectified. When something is objectified, there is an observer, a seer who sees, so not only the external universe is seen, but also one’s own internal universe of thought is also seen.

Whatever is seen cannot be a shelter, but unfortunately we take shelter in the external gross universe or the internal subtle universe of thought. Thus what we think of as shelter, is not shelter from the standpoint of reality. In fact what is sheltered in a cave, small hutment or a huge palace is the gross physical

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body, which of course belongs to the external universe, and like the external universe it is therefore an object of perception.

The Self, the Awareness sees everything but nothing can see it, thus the Self, the Awareness is the only authentic shelter or home. This concept of shelter as home is also used in other languages, for example, in Tamil the word veedu means not only ‘a house’ but also ‘liberation’.

One finds total freedom only in the Self. In fact the nature of every human being is freedom itself that is why everyone resists bondage of any kind.

If a simple person finds shelter in the gross physical body, preoccupied with nurturing and beautifying it; a more complex individual finds shelter in subtle thought and is preoccupied with elaborating on them. Both so-called shelters are observable objects, and can be shattered at any time. The shelter is also called a home and everyone would agree that it feels good to be at home.

Nothing can be equated to home, where the occupant has full freedom. He/she may go for a holiday and stay in a five-star hotel, but the contentment he

gets in his own little hut is far deeper, even though the hotel might offer more physical comforts. Thus wherever he goes, he comes back home at the end of the day and feels relaxed. What it means is he goes out for transactions, but when he returns home all transactions stop and he is at total rest. And interestingly we find also that the occupant of a house will eat some food before he leaves again. The same thing applies from the standpoint of the Absolute also.

Only one who has taken the food of Self-knowledge and self awareness, can go out into the external universe for transaction and return back home to himself, to his being and be at total rest.

In this case there is no observable transaction from the outside. One who is not aware of himself, one who has no knowledge of himself cannot transact with the external universe appropriately because he becomes totally lost in transactions instead of managing them. As every individual comes back home after the job is over; every human must return to his being after each transaction with the external universe, then he will 17

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be at total rest and will not get entangled by anything.

The last in the list of basic requirements for human existence is clothing. Dress is that which covers up, rather that which is covered with respect to the body. If a person is kept confined in a closed room and there is no transaction with the outside world, then he need not wear any clothes either. If a person is left to himself he does not need any clothes, unless living in a cold climate. We wear different clothes for different occasions and once the occasion is over, we remove that particular dress. For instance, when we go for a swim we wear swimming trunks and when swimming is over, we change gear. We wear clothes that fit the occasion and remove them once their job is done. Every role is a dress, every name is a dress. We pick up roles and names according to the occasion and drop them immediately they are no longer appropriate, though we are not aware of the same pattern in life.

If one were to live alone, then he would not need any name or role, but the moment he comes in contact with another, he definitely needs a name and a role. For 18

example, if I am alone with myself, I do not use the word ‘I’, which is only used when there is a second person around called ‘you’. If there were no second person around, to whom should I say ‘I’ and for what? So also for the roles we play in life if I am alone and there is no relationship with whomsoever in a given situation, then what role should I play? Yet we are so engrossed and obsessed with our roles, that we carry them with us wherever we go. Even though the occasion is over we don’t shed the role, in fact we prefer to hold onto it tightly and that is why we feel suffocated and preoccupied.

In fact we name the role only with reference to a human being.

One who plays the role of a mother, is also called ‘mother’ or affectionately, ‘mummy’; one who plays the role of a father, is called ‘father’; one who plays the role of a chairman, is called ‘chairman’; one who plays the role of a husband, is called ‘husband’ and one who plays the role of a wife is called ‘wife’. That is why humans find themselves with two names in any given situation, and why there is conflict. One name is given to this physical body, as for

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example, Rama, Sita, James, Jill etc, and the other name is the role we play at any given time.

The name that is given to the physical body can be used by everybody, but the name that is applied to the role cannot be used by everybody, but only the person with whom the role is played. Otherwise someone’s mother would be mother of everybody; someone’s father would be father of everybody; someone’s husband or wife would be husband or wife of everybody which would be very confusing. Though every human being has at least two names in any given situation, when the same person is in deep sleep, he has no name at all and is totally free from confusion. He does not remember the name of his physical body, nor the role that he plays, and as a result he is totally free and with the self, his being. However, during the waking stage he thinks of himself as the body, therefore a name for the body is given, then he thinks he is the role; therefore the name of the role is also given to the person. Unfortunately, the freedom that he enjoys during deep sleep is not conscious, so he does not realise that then he

is the bodiless, Awareness, consciousness. Since he was enjoying that freedom in deep sleep, he wrongly attributes it to the state of deep sleep, and thus he loves to sleep, thinking that this is how to be with the self.

Thus one should be introduced to the self as he is without any roles whatsoever and only when he is aware of his true nature, thereafter it would not be any problem for him to don any role. As long is he is not aware of himself, he will identify with every role at anytime and take himself to be the same. As a result he is confused not knowing whom he should attend to. The physical body is the first gross dress or role of the Self, the Awareness, one’s own being.

Thereafter every role of father, son, mother, daughter, husband, wife ………etc. are subordinate roles.

Due to lack of understanding of himself as pure awareness, consciousness, he not only takes himself to be the body but also roles that are assumed by the body, thereby landing in a minefield of conflict he does not know how to handle.

As only physical hunger and not the subtle hunger of 19

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someone can be observed by another, so also one can see only the gross role of the physical body belonging to someone and not the subtle roles of father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife ……..etc. That is why from the standpoint of an onlooker, there is only one apparent role, but from the standpoint of the person being observed, he is caught in at least two roles at any given time. So by looking at someone’s physical person, the onlooker may think that the observed one is fine, while in fact that person is burdened with several roles and reels with pain and confusion which the onlooker cannot see.

If tangible food is food for the gross role of physical body, subtle, satisfaction or sense of satisfaction is food for subtle roles. If the gross tangible universe is shelter for the gross physical body, the subtle mind is shelter for subtle roles of father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife etc. If clothes are the dress

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for the gross physical body, different thoughts, emotions, and education, are the dress for subtle roles.

In this scenario, what is food for the bodiless awareness that inhabits a body? What is the shelter for the substratum of the whole universe that shelters everything? And what is the dress for the formless consciousness that assumes all forms? In fact the Awareness, consciousness, one’s own Self is the food, shelter and dress for everything. This is what is taught through the words we use to describe basic, human requirements; and one needs to be aware of both meanings. No doubt one has to take care of food, shelter and clothing, but at the same time one should not forget his own nature, his being which provides food, shelter and dress to the whole gross and subtle universe within and without. May everybody really understand this and then cruise happily on the waves of roles!

Self-Knowledge March 2010

An Inspiring Experience – Visit to Suddhananda Thapovanam Anuradha Ramesh I have heard many saying that anything is possible and that the power to achieve is within you but I had never seen an example in front of me…..till today. I was part of a group of people who had gathered to celebrate the 3 rd anniversary of Suddhananda Thapovanam, Thapasvini Trust, at Gudur.

The moment I stepped into the Ashram I could sense a difference. I saw ducks walking in a row as if welcoming us into the Ashram, an agitated turkey (that perhaps thought of me as a threat in its territory) challenging me to a duel, butterflies twittering around, beautiful, gorgeous flowers braving the sweltering heat of Andhra, birds chirping and most important, I saw some small children busy collecting flowers while some were helping us with the breakfast. I was fascinated to see a smile in their faces while doing their jobs. It

wasn’t a smile that was forced but a genuine smile from their hearts.

I turned to Mr. R.Ramakrishnan, who offered to take us on an unofficial tour of the ashram.

The first visit was to the temple. I understand that it was Prabuji’s dream to have a temple there which has come true, thanks to Swamiji’s support and the munificence of several donors. I was fascinated to learn that the temple was managed by the children who have been given shelter in the Ashram. The children are taught bhajans and slokas in the morning and they are taught to do all the pujas, abhishekam and alankaram of the deities (they still haven’t got a priest).

I stood there spellbound. I could not believe that small children ranging from the age of 4-13 were responsible for the simple yet beautiful alankarams.

Service to humanity is indeed 21

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a service to the Lord. On this basis, five different kinds of services are undertaken by the Ashram.

Amruta Seva: I was introduced to the people around the Ashram who were in need of food. They included the old, the handicapped and the ones who were deserted by their children.

Now the Ashram ensures that they get at least 2 square meals a day. The meals are cooked in the Ashram and supplied to the needy by hired rickshaw. .

Prakriti Seva: Organic farming is done in the Ashram and no chemical fertilizers are used. This is service to Mother Earth. The cow dung from the Goshala is used effectively as manure. The animals and the birds in the Ashram are also part of this seva. In addition to a lot of fruit bearing trees in the Ashram, I was also shown a Thiruvodu tree. The shell of the fruit from this tree is used as a vessel to eat/drink in, generally by mendicants. I believe that eating or drinking in this vessel prevents viral infection.

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Vaidya Seva: Medical camps for the benefit of the villagers in the area are conducted periodically. A small Medical Center with some equipments has been built and efforts are being taken to find some doctors who would be willing to come there on a regular basis to do medical service to the needy.

Vidya Seva: A few college students have been identified in the villages nearby, to teach the children in the villages. Sixteen Coaching Centers have been set up in that area, where these college students help the village children with their home work and the doubts in their lessons.

The college students get a monthly stipend for their service and the children get an opportunity to understand better what is taught in school. Is it not it a win-win situation?

Gnana Seva: Some homeless. orphaned children have also been adopted by the Ashram. These children are either orphaned or have single parents. The Ashram has managed to get a part

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scholarship for them at a school in Gudur.

Swami Suddhanandaji, in his speech on the occasion of the 3rd anniversary of the Ashram said that in addition to Deiva Sankalpam, Manushya prayarthanam is essential for success. Isvara, Jiva Aikyam is like a foundation for a house to be built. Quoting the Bhagavat Gita, Swamiji said that Sanjaya tells Dhirtirastra that where Krishna, the Lord and a Dhanurdhar like Arjuna, are together, here is bound to be wealth, victory and success.

Swamiji also spoke about the importance of Mata, Pitha, Guru and Deivam. He said that when one becomes successful he takes the entire credit for it and turns a blind eye to the sacrifices of the mother, father and the society. Contributing to the society is giving back to the society a part of what it has done for us.

After a treat for the mind, soul

and the palate, we set off on our journey back to Chennai, loaded with vegetables from the Ashram.

Something pricked me from within.

The journey back was spent contemplating on the purpose of my being here. Br.Prabhav and Anitha, seem to have a conviction and a purpose and a realization of that provides them with inner peace. They have many more sevas lined up and their enthusiasm is a motivation for me. The land that I visited today was barren 3 years ago and now it is an ashram. This whole transformation has occurred because of the vision and blessings of Swamiji and the tireless, hard work of the couple in charge. A question arose from within me. Am I doing my bit for the society? Answers I need to give myself…

All of us lead regular lives but it is only a few that transform others. The choice is in our hands…………

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Searching for Joy Resident student of Swamiji Joy is something that it is in the moment. It is not something that is born or happens from things that I do or have done. It is not the consequence or result of anything, so there is no cause for it. If there is a cause, myself is the cause, in fact the cause of anything in this universe, including myself are one and the same. I am the beginning and the root of everything, everything stems from myself.

Joy is something that it is within myself. It is not a separate entity from myself. It is always with me, within me, my being, so it ismyself. It is not something to gain from the world outside other than myself. The world outside of myself is my reflection and my role, though this is not as it appears to bein a relative sense, because each individual has the will to create his or her private world within the larger world outside. I take everything into myself to resolve and experience the world inside of myself to 24

manifest out back to the world, and then we can share the same reality within each limited individual world in the limited collective world respectively and this happens almost instantaneously, in the blink of an eye.

Joy is something that is life and by living moment by moment, to think and act thought by thought, I am the joy itself. It is no use being unconsciously busy all the time. It is not creative to be unconsciously looking for someone to talk to.

Joy is only felt when I am consciously living with myself and seeing the very heart of harmony withthe universe.Joy is unconditional. By seeing things as they are, to interpret things as they are, to internalise things as they are, I unite with joy as one entity. It is not that an incomplete entity becomes one entity; it is one already complete entity awakening to be whole. Joy is something that it is natural; it is

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not created by artificial effort or force. Nor is it produced by individual thoughts or emotions, and someone other than myself cannot provide it.

Joy is manifested because it is my nature and I only tap into my nature by conscious living.

So what do I have to do or how can I feel and be the joy in every moment of my life? No actions, thoughts, external circumstances and situations are needed. There is no right time, place or occasionfor me to feel and be the joy.I just live from moment to moment, breath by breath and walk step by step. I just listen to the beating of my heart and the earth and see the beauty around and within me, and to see innocence in every individual and entity. In this moment, everyone is doing the best they can, according to their capacity. Allow things to be, allow people to be, allow myself to be. There is nothing I can do to be myself, and nothing I can do to change people or the world. If I become the cause and result of everything and the root of the whole, from which the

world is manifested, I have no control over anything or anyone, because I am one with everything. If I wait for something or somebody to change, I will not be consuming my time productively. If I wait for myself to be myself, I will be waiting for the rest of my life.

What can the flower do to be the flower itself? How long does it take to be? Being is the fastest way, actually happening instantaneouslyto manifest everything in this world. Being is the cause and illuminator of everything that exists in this life.

No thoughts can lead to being the Self; no sensation is needed to be the Self. Is the pauseof sound heard as silence? Are objects of perceptions that are not perceived non-existent? How far can our perceptionsgo? How far can our mindsreach? My mind, body, thoughts, memories, emotions, experience and my past and future‌ What is real in any sense? What am I, myself?

How can I be believed?

All the voices are echoing only within my mind. What to believe, or to trust, is all my 25

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choice, not the voices. I can be friendly with them or I can just ignore their existence. Thought has no existential power to tell me what to do. Thought has no right to overtake my existence.

There is a clear gap between myself and thought. Who is playing this endless game that once I played? There is always a choice between stepping out and, remaining in. What is most valuable is to listen to what my heart wants to sing. What ismost precious is to see who is myself.

Once I see it, I cannot return to the path that I used to seek and follow.

I was a seeker. I searched everywhere to find my joy. I thought my search was ended when I realised the truth. Even after knowing the truth of myself, I was still looking forit. I was searching to find something to

make me joyfulaccording to the relative dimension, by looking ahead to engage myself in productive activities for my working life. In this way I could convince my mind to be the seeker. I seemed to have lost the way of life and I felt I was just living because my heart was still pumping. I seemed to have lost the reason for living because everything seemed to be meaningless in the end. I questioned myself again and again. I seemed to be lost in questioning, and grewtired. I dropped the need to know the reason for living, and stopped looking into the future, which seemed to beckon me with promises. I let the sorrow pass through my heart, then ‘now’ fell into place and ‘I’ came back to myself. So, my search for joy is ended.

SWAMI SUDDHANANDA SATSANG CENTRE, Chennai The Satsang with DVD talk of Swamiji on Kasi Panchakam will be held on Saturday April 10 and April 24 and May 8 at Tattvaloka (4th Floor), 76 Eldams Road, Teynampet, Chennai 600018 from 4 pm to 5 pm.

All are welcome Contact : 9444450915 or 9841036922 26

Self-Knowledge March 2010

The Art of Self Knowledge V.C. Krishnan The art of self-knowledge begins with your Self. This article came out while watching a television programme on the history channel a few days ago.

It was about a British visitor taking a tour to gain “Knowledge about INDIA”. Maybe it is even a self-discovery in understanding of what India is all about.

India is a pot pourri of thoughts, traditions and ways of life. It is like a sponge; India absorbs everything into itself and gives it back when squeezed, in this case an understanding its people, culture and way of life. It is a travel towards selfdiscovery.

The whole thought started when the programme focused upon ten thousand vegetarian meals that are supplied without charge, every day by the ISKCON temple in Bangalore to the Central Prison there. This job is done meticulously, as the whole process has been mechanised and tons of rice and

vegetables are poured into a chute, and the meals are steam cooked and packed into Tiffin boxes. These tiffins are then loaded onto a truck and sent to the prison, where stringent security measures are taken before the van can enter the precinct and also checks are made on food safety and security before it is served piping hot to the prisoners.

There are more than ten thousand prisoners, consisting of people who have committed different types of crime. These figures led to questions in my mind of how does one turn to crime, if anybody is born a criminal or if a baby is ever born with a weapon in hand, or with a perverted mind. The answers to all of these questions is a resounding ‘NO’.

Crime emerges from a sequence of activities and situations, in the course of an individual’s life, but a crime is committed only when an 27

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individual does not respect himself in the role he/she has assumed. He loses sight of the knowledge of what or who he or she is and that person wants to be somebody else. The person wants to structure himself based on what he has heard about himself from others.

As Swamiji says you cannot give the art of self-knowledge to a person who is starving for food and is hungry. Hunger is a basic human need, so basic that sometimes crimes are committed to satisfy it.

Other types of crimes occur, but the majority of crimes are committed to satisfy one basic need or another. If the basic need is satisfied, the person realises his mistake and tries to protect himself through legal measures, fundamentally knowing that he/she has committed a crime that is an

infringement of the rules of society.

An old Indian saying goes that the only activity when a person feels completely fulfilled, is to eat till his stomach is full and he cannot eat any further. It is only after achieving this basic primary satisfaction of having a full stomach, that the person is then able to reflect upon himself and accept his responsibility.

ISKCON is trying to help prisoners achieve this goal.

Once the person is able to reflect on his actions and on his thoughts, it helps him to go into himself. This will allow him to accept what he has done and also accept who he is, the self, awareness. It gives the person an impetus to be part of society and maybe help to attain a new place in society. Ultimately it will lead him to the path of selfdiscovery.

OUR NEW WEB ADDRESS This is to inform you that we have a new web address www.selfknowledge.in (without the hyphen) in addition to www.self-knowledge.in. Please note the old address will be discontinued and new address only will be retained after some time.

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Illumination through Illusion Viswa Chaitanya Illusion or maya is the root cause for this world to exist.

The world we perceive through our sense organs does not exist really. The world is only a projection like that of a cinema.

We go to the movie theatre and enjoy the movie for two hours and come back. In fact, there are no pictures or forms that really exist on the silver screen.

It is the light that is projected on the screen through the movie film. That gives rise to an illusion of having images on the screen. Without understanding this simple principle we identify with the characters of the movie, which is nothing but the play of light on the screen, and get carried away by our own emotions. If this illusion or maya is properly understood then there cannot be any misery in our lives because illusion is the cause of misery.

Bhagavan Shankara says that the essence of the scriptures is that Brahman, the Self, alone is real and the perceived universe is unreal, maya, illusion. To understand this concept of illusion, one need

not sit down with a teacher and study for twelve years or to know Sanskrit. One can understand this in modern terms by observing the functioning of a computer.

The illusory images, graphics, words etc. that we see on the computer screen are possible only when software and hardware function together with an external source of power.

Hardware is nothing but an assemblage of mechanical parts in which materials like Fe, Al, Si, plastic etc. are arranged in a proper order and the computer starts functioning the moment electricity is passed through it.

Different software is installed in it order to function in different areas, such as word processing, design and other programmes..

The most interesting part of it is that nothing can be found in the hardware that is similar or even relevant to the type of software that is installed. There is no physical presence of the software in the computer (after it has been installed?). The software is nothing but electrical pulses arranged in a particular 29

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manner, which can never be perceived.

In any operating computer, there must be both software as well as hardware. Without one the other is useless. Together they create an illusion of images, graphics etc. on the screen. If we break open any computer, we can never find images, graphics, words, paintings, etc. but still they appear on the screen of the computer and where we can perceive them.

It fits exactly with the definition of maya, the illusion – ya ma sa maya that which really does not exist but appears to exist. Even though there are no images, graphics, yet they appear on the screen. One thing is clearly evident that these illusory images have no separate existence but are visible only as long as power is generating the computer.

The moment electricity or battery is gone, there is nothing but an inert dummy assemblage of components which by itself is useless.

It is true of human beings also. For maya or illusion to appear, it needs a mind and a physical body, without which it can never show its tricks. The physical body is nothing but an 30

assemblage of skin, blood, bone, muscle etc. and starts functioning only in the presence of the Awareness. Human beings must acquire specific knowledge in order to enter a profession. If we break open the physical body of a person, we can never find the type of knowledge that he/she has, because that is stored in the mind which is not visible in the physical body and yet regulates the functioning of the body (mind?)

Both body and mind must function together, without one, the other is incapacitated. At the same time, neither the body nor the mind has an independent existence. They exist and function only in the presence of the Consciousness, the life force. In its absence, both body and mind are inert. The mind, which is nothing but a bundle of thoughts, (thought processor?) projects the manifold universe, which in reality does not exist.

What exists, is only the Awareness. The universe is an imposter on the Self, the Awareness, Consciousness.

When this understanding is properly assimilated, then we can enjoy the illusion and not come under its spell and be overwhelmed.

Self-Knowledge March 2010

Waking Up to the Hypnosis Called Love: Self-Knowledge Festival, Chennai, February 2010 Anne Wiltshire Love is the most maligned and misunderstood word in language, and the term ‘falling in love’ eludes definition, masking confusion with romanticism around a common occurrence that happens to us unconsciously without understanding it. Love is not blind; we just do not understand it. Love is like a mass hypnosis in which we have all been mesmerised. No one knows anything about love, not even God. So began the series of public lectures delivered by Swamiji and held annually at the Self-Knowledge Festival in Chennai last month, entitled ‘Falling in Love with Yourself.’

Swamiji calmly and deliberately laid out the groundwork for lectures to follow that would clarify these bold and provocative claims.

Where to start is always a good question and the answer is

always where we are, as the analogy of a tourist map makes clear, and that is with the self.

Swamiji emphasises again the necessity of knowing the self, and that taking time to do so is not a selfish act as conventional wisdom would have it, nor is it selfish to love oneself, though this too is usually confused with conceit and arrogance, which are entirely different states of mind. So please remove this word ‘selfish’ from your vocabulary.

Swamiji also dismisses our conditioning in idealisation of love, often associated with sacrifice as destructive because it is unrealistic and so creates guilt in people when they inevitably fail to meet equally unrealistic expectations. Love is actually both the lock and key from or to our happiness, but most of the time, we are locked into patterns of behaviour that imprison us 31

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while remaining unaware of the key already in our pocket. Selfknowledge is the master key to love, freedom and happiness and the way out of fear, anxiety and delusion. It also provides a bridge between tradition and modernity.

Swamiji asks if we are sharing love or begging for it.He urges us to be specific in trying to answer the question, because lack of specificity is the cause of most of our confusion. Thinking about the question itself, sharing implies that we already have it to share, whereas begging implies that we are seeking love within someone or something other than the self. This is the deception, the game we are all involved in unconsciously and why we are continuously disappointed and blame others for our suffering. This explains the vacillation between obsessive adoration and hate for the same person, and why divorce is usually so bitter. Love is rarely offered and received for its own sake, but for the sake of happiness that is erroneously thought to reside in something other than the self.

Love in common parlance is 32

all about ideals, which are unrealistic and therefore bound to fail. In the name of love we are destroyed, whether by a person, object, food or whatever we think will bring us happiness.

We have no plan, no blueprint like the tourist with a map that indicates where the traveller is at that moment. We are all travellers, but we make up destinations as we travel, literally wandering vaguely through life from crisis to crisis, sensation to sensation, until we are finally burnt-out and exhausted. It is then that we might seek help; indeed, it is essential to find a teacher to guide the way along the path to the pathless and to counter-act conditioning from thoughts that been transmitted to us from others.

Love is not debated and subject to the same criteria as happiness in public and private discourse. Love begins with the self and being with the self, which is the first, basic misunderstanding and then there are multiple standards applied to love. For example, people talk about unconditional love as pure and valued as something that should be

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applied to all kinds of difficult situations, like teaching unruly children in a classroom or caring for the dying. However, no one realises that unconditional love is an impossible ideal in ignorance of the self, and that even his or her most intimate relationships are tacitly conditional. It is also implied that loving objects, like a warm, fuzzy coat or a pet, or even a favourite food, is somehow less profound than loving a person.

Actually the language is more correct when we uncover the hoax that we call love, because we love anything that we think might bring us happiness and that includes places, things and ideals.

Happiness is treated more casually in public discourse and has been co-opted by the advertising industry to blatantly claim that ‘happiness is a brand of ice cream; a car; a holiday’ etc, each one tailored minutely to appeal to the myriad store of human desires, and it works.

The huge success and wealth of advertising companies bear witness to the success of this approach, since the advertising industry has understood more about human psychology than

the consumers they appeal to.

At the other end of the spectrum, it is often said that the poor live simply and are happy.

This is romanticism of a reality that people in poverty are not yet aware of options available in affluence, and are therefore less confused; in fact television will rapidly change perceptions among the poor so that they too will just as rapidly become confused.

Similarly, the happiness of children is unconscious and innocent, so that they are not unhappy, but potentially happy. Happiness is the nature of self, it is who we are and any moment of unhappiness is being away from the self. This is not an abstract declaration, but can be subject to proof as follows. In the absence of an object (including person or place), thoughts arise that lead to the sense of missing someone or something. In the presence of that person or object, thoughts about them disappear, thus creating a sense of wellbeing. Notice that we do not usually pay much attention to a person who was missed, once they are in our presence, which is evidence that it is thought that bothers us and the 33

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absence of thought that brings relief and not the presence or absence of the object.

Swamiji becomes passionate and more emphatic as he exhorts us all to deal with the reality that it is the self that is the source of happiness.

Happiness and awareness within us are not projections as are longings and obsession we impose on others. He urges us to look at reasons why we recycle belongings as we discard things that no longer bring us satisfaction. Most often thinking stops at this explanation, but if we look further, this simple act of cleaning out the cupboards, is clear proof of our misguided notion that happiness resides in an object, and when it ceases to satisfy, it is discarded and not kept for its own inherent value.

The same treatment is meted out to friends and former loved ones, though our idealistic conditioning makes us recoil from such mercenary thinking about people.

When we are in love, we are behaving unconsciously and

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thus blindly. Therefore, it is necessary to trace back to the source of this condition and how it came about. First, there was attraction from visual perception, which led to a value judgement of liking, leading to the basic emotion of desire, kama of wanting that person. The same process occurs with money, objects, fame etc. Gratification of the desire is accompanied by sensation that the mind demands more of, so we repeat the pattern to attain or maintain that level of satisfaction, which is why someone with lots of money can never have too much, why people kill to defend what they have and why jealousy is so potent. However, if kama is thwarted, that leads to kroda, anger in which people lose their temper and in extreme cases, kill either the object of desire or whomever is perceived to have taken it. All this happens regularly in personal relationships from which we read the grisly consequences in newspapers and on a global scale where people fight for property, commodities or ideals.

(To be continued...)

NACHIKETAS

– SUMMER CAMP 2010

(Children’s Wing of Suddhananda Foundation for Self-Knowledge) Nachiketas (Children‘s wing of Suddhananda Foundation for SelfKnowledge) is holding the usual residential Summer Camp for students of Std. VIII, IX &X from 15th April 2010 to 17th April 2010 (Thursday, Friday & Saturday) at Suddhananda Foundation for Self-Knowledge, Suddhanandapuram, (off) East Coast Road, Uthandi, Chennai 600 119.

BACKGROUND: Today’s world around is the flowering of a civilization with super material comforts and the comfort level is on the continuous rise. Parents and Children are at a loss to cope with the pressing demands on them.

OBJECTIVE: To help the youngsters to meet with the challenges, it is most appropriate, against the backdrop of ancient wisdom, they are given an insight into their minds and its function. These camps facilitate children to get a handle in to minds and discover the joy of living. Within the limited time-frame, some thematic techniques and activities relevant to their age groups have been carefully chosen for the above camp.

Camp Registration Fee/student: Rs. 450/- (Rupees four hundred and fifty only). Cheques may be drawn in favour of ‘Samvit Sagar Trust’, Chennai.

LOCATION MAP: TELEPHONE No: 24530678 / 24530691 CAMP FACILITIES: • Safe Drinking Water • Nutritious Sumptuous Vegetarian Food [BF & TEA also included] • Separate Hostels for Girls and Boys with Sufficient Bath/Toilet Facilities.

For further details, please Contact : 24530678 / 24530691 Camp co-ordinator : Mrs. S. Mangayarkarasi: 9940454335 Website : www.selfknowledge.in 35

Self-Knowledge March 2010

Self-Knowledge March 2010

Statement about ownership and other particulars about newspaper

FORM IV (See Rule 8) 1

Place of Publication

2

Periodicity of its Publication : MONTHLY

3

Printer’s Name Nationality Address

: SUNITHA PRINTERS : INDIAN : 193, Peters Road Chennai – 600 014

4

Publisher’s Name Nationality Address

: R. RAMAKRISHNAN : INDIAN : Suddhanandapuram East Coast Road Uthandi Chennai – 600 119

5

6

Editor’s Name Nationality Address

: CHENNAI

: R. RAMAKRISHNAN : INDIAN : Suddhanandapuram East Coast Road Uthandi Chennai – 600 119

Names and address and Individuals who own the : News papers and partners or shareholders holding more than one per cent of the total capital

SAMVIT SAGAR TRUST Suddhanandapuram East Coast Road Uthandi Chennai – 600 119

I, R. RAMAKRISHNAN hereby declare that the particulars given above are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.

(Sd/-) R. RAMAKRISHNAN Chennai Dated: 28-02-2010 36

Signature of Publisher

REGD. NEWS PAPER Posted at: Egmore RMS/1 Patrika Channel on 26-03-2010 Posted under without Prepayment

REGD. NEWS PAPER Posted at: Egmore RMS/1 Patrika Channel on 26-03-2010 Posted under without Prepayment