“Non-Killing Vow Is Great Indeed!”

All are of one self-fraternity.
Such being the dictum to avow,
In such a light how can we take life,
And devoid of least pity, go on to eat?

The non-killing vow is great indeed,
And, greater still, not-eating to observe,
All in all, should we not say, O men of righteousness.
Even to this amounts the essence of all religions?

If killing were applied to oneself,
Who, as a favour, would treat such a dire destiny?
As touching all in equality, O ye wise ones,
Should that not be our declaration for a regulated life?

No killer would there be if no other to eat there was
Perforce, himself must eat!
In eating thus abides the cruder ill
In that it killing makes.

Not-killing makes a human good
Else an animal’s equal he becomes.
No refuge has the taker of life,
Although to him all other goods accrue.

“Told by Narayana Guru”

“ The Quest Stops…. In Stillness!”

God, protect us and keep us ever from harm!
Thou art the great captain,
And a mighty steamship on the ocean of being
Is thy foot.

Counting all things here,
Touching them one by one,
We come at last to where,
There is no more left,
They, lo, the quest stops
In stillness in thee,
Like-wise, let the inner self
Attain its rest!

Food and clothes, and all things else we need
Thou gives us unceasingly,
Ever saving us from want.
We thrive on thy bounty, lord!
Our only god thou art.

To sea, and wave and wind and depth compared,
Let us within s see the plan, respectively
Of us ourselves, of Maya,
Thy power and thou thyself!
Thee we find in creation,
The creator, too, thou didst become, and
Creation’s myriad magic,
And the very stuff of all created things.

Truth thou art.
And knowledge and Bliss like-wise.
The present time art Thou,
Past and future merge in unity in thee.
Even the spoken word…
A moment’s thought reveals….
As but of thine own self again.

Victory to thee, Great master!
Ever-watchful saviour,
All-knowing, bliss filled sea of kindness, Hail!

In the deep deep ocean of Thy Glory,
Let us all together immersed be,
For ever and for ever….
There to dwell, everlastingly, In bliss.

“Told by Narayana Guru”

Teachings

It is the one and the same absolute that shines and formulates the universe within and the multiversity without.

There is an un-lit lamp that always shines within witnessing everything that is happening. One should constantly relate oneself with this guiding star of light.

If one cannot stabilize oneself in the knowledge of the self, one should relate oneself to a wise sage who has crossed over the myriads of becoming by discovering for himself the secret of the triple states of the wakeful, the dreaming and the unconscious, without being disturbed from his transcendental point.

It is possible for one, through an act of reasoning, to become devoid of one’s physical ego, but only with grace can one dissolve away one’s social and spiritual egos.

It is the one and only primal reality that is seen here and now as the world. Apart from this there is not a separate reality. To a wise man, this world is a garland strung with the finest values man can conceive of.

The happiness of another is my happiness one’s own joy is another’s joy. This is the guiding principle! That action which is good for one person should bring happiness to another.

Day and night the compassionate man engages himself in action that is beneficial to all, while the self-centered man makes himself miserable by being wholly immersed in necessity, leading to moral failure.

Whatever is good for one person but bringing in misery to another, such actions are opposed to the self.

For the man who offers his mind-flowers to worship god, there is no other work to do.

Even those of good action are caught by nature and whirled round in vicious circles, one should know that non-action does not bring release from perverted action, only the non-desire for the fruit of action.

All beings are making effort in every way, all the time, for the happiness of the self. In the world, this is the one faith. Pondering on this, without becoming subjected to sin, be controlled.

Let him live in his own home, or in the forest, or at the water’s edge. No matter! With mid ever fixed in the absolute, the yogi ever dwells, seeing all here in terms of self-hood.

Grace, love mercy, all the three stand for the same reality life’s star. He who loves is he who really lives!

Like a mirage in a desert land, he enjoys bliss, that silent one, contemplating that absolute supreme which is beyond all compare.

When self-knowledge shrinks, then prevails nescience fearful, ghost-like, taking name and form, in most terrible fashion looms here.

The power of knowledge is endless, the end of all this can be marked as sameness and the other thus, in this way there are two divisions, in this merging the other with sameness one should remain awake to that clear state of being.

Innumerable particles of dust inhere in earth and there is no difference in the earth that constitutes the particles. Just as inert matter exists in consciousness finds its expression here in the body, therefore, when contemplated, this is one.

There is no death, or birth, or existence man, gods and all such are names and forms.

“Told by Narayana Guru”

Back to Varkala

He arrived at varkala. For some time, the Guru seemed quite well. The radiant glow on his features had never disappeared. He still retained his good humor and although he was weak in body, he never yielded or compromised. He regained a stage in which he took little walk on his own and , thought highly emaciated was still the same alert, radiant, and kind Guru.

The 73^rd birthday was celebrated by a select group of friends, representatives of different nations and religious, in September, 1928, in the beautiful city of Geneva, For the first time the Guru’s message was proclaimed in the west.

On the 20^th September, 1928, about a week after this event, the Guru entered Maha-Samadhi or the Great silence, peacefully and silently at varkala.

Final days

Towards the end of the year 1927, when his labours had come to a sort of finish, The Guru became unwell. His complaint was old-age, which laid its hands on him.

There were with him several doctors, besides representatives of the various public and religious bodies that he had founded, form the various parts of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar.

The time was early, and the guru had a bad night’s rest. He was resting, seated on his bed and supporting himself erect with his now emaciated arms. His breathing was difficult and he could not speak except in monosyllables. “ These”, he said. Meaning the sounds of this obstructed breaths.. “Have come as escort.”

The people came to visit him and expected that, being super-human as they believed him to be, he would not, feel any pain when he was ill. As if to contradict this ideas, the Guru was heard to cry like a child at every pain.

While the crowd of villagers waited outside, they could hear the Guru’s voice from inside murmuring like a distressed child, “ O Mother ! O Mother !”, again and again conveying to them, thought the tone in which it was uttered, a containing the same attitude, the same essence of devotion and simplicity to which he head dedicated the rest of his life.

Suffering and bed-ridden as he was, he would argue the minutest details with his doctors and those who attended on him.

He went to palghat and traveled about four hundred miles North-East to Madras, carried in stretchers and transported from place to place, from one doctor to another, from the care of one devotee, who loved to keep him under his care, to another.

Then he came back to Travancore from where a strong deputation had arrived to take him to Varkala.

Books

Narayana Gurudev was extempore in his writing. His works can be mainly divided into mystical hymns of inspired exultation, simple teaching for the common folk, philosophical renditions for the elite, and translations.

Vinayaka Astakam, Vasudeistakam, Guhastakam, Shanmukha, stotram, Bahuleyastakam, Shanmukaha Dasakam, Subrahmanya kirtanam, Navamanjari, Bhadrakalastakam, Mannamtala Davi Stavam, Kali Natakam , Dhidambarastakam, Sivaprasada Pancakam, Sadasiva Darsanam, Sivasatakam, Visnvastakam, Daivadasakam, Svanubhava, Giti, Kundelini pattu, etc…. are some of his mystical hymns. Jiva Karunya panchakam, Anukampa Dasakam, Jatiniranayam , Jatimimamsa, Dattapaharam, and Astamam…….. were written for popular instruction. Atmopadesa, Satakam, Advaita Dipika, Brahmavidya Pancakam, Municarya Pancakam, Arivu, and Darsanamala ……. Were written fro serious students in philosophy.

Shivagiri mutt

Narayana Gurudev moved to Varkala and chose for his residence a neglected hill at the side of the canal.

This place, in due course, developed into the site of the Sarada Temple and the Guru called his new residence Shivagiri. Here, he established an architecture was simple and different. For the first time in India, a temple with windows and ventilation was devised.

The Guru installed a deity which was traditionally symbolic and aesthetically perfect. The highest standards of hygiene were introduced to maintain the place as a modal to other temples and temple worshippers.

The opening of this temple was uniquely marked by the inspirational ceremony of guest of hymns in praise of the mother Sarada. The Guru himself wrote “janani-navaratna Manjari” …… nine Gems in praise of the mother.”………. when Shivagiri became crowded by pilgrims and young enthusiasts, he moved away, first to Tamilnadu and then to Alwaye.

He stayed in th mutts and Adhinams in these places and helped his devotees and disciples in Tamilnadu. “A new enlightened generation” The shivagiri mutt in Varkala, where he lived, was like a center of the new age to which social reformers, freedom fighters, educationalists, thinkers, writers, and inspiration.

The Guru took into this fold several people from the lowest stratum of society and gave them education and taught them a clean way of life.

His method of fighting social malignancies such as caste observance and segregation was through taking positive measures like fostering socially healthy and dynamic people who were fearless and who could stand on their own feet both financially and morally. He made the poorest of the poor self-confident, self-respecting and industrious.

For those who had been denied opportunities for over a millennium, he opened new temples to show them the light of life, new schools to make them articulate, and industrial houses to help them become dexterous. He created a new enlightened generation………… who could live without asking for, thinking of , or telling of caste.