The Tree of Life: Swami Krishnananda

Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF) is at Adi Sankara Nilayam.

8 hours ago, · Kochi · 

The 13th Convocation for the students of CIF Home Study Courses (HSC) was held on the auspicious day of Gita Jayanti and Swami Tapovan Jayanti at Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF), Adi Sankara Nilayam, on 11 December 2024.The event also marked the convocation for the students of the Master Gita Master Life Malayalam Course, which was concluded this year.

▶️ Watch the convocation ceremony here: https://bit.ly/HSC_Convocation24

The programme commenced with an invocation prayer, followed by a welcome speech by Sri Arvind Kannan (Head of Department, HSC). This was followed by the benediction speech by Swami Sharadananda Sarasvati (Resident Acharya, Vedanta Sadhaka Course). Prof. Gauri Mahulikar (Academic Director, CIF) introduced the chief guest, Dr. G. Gangadharan Nair (Former Chairman of CIF Shodha Sansthan), who graced the occasion with his speech.

The traditional convocation oath in the form of Shishya Anushasanam from Taittiriya Upanishad was led by Br. Ved Chaitanya (Upacharya, Vedanta Sadhaka Course). A few students shared their experiences and impressions of the various courses.

Around 50 students received their certificates on the occasion.

The programme concluded with a vote of thanks, followed by the Chinmaya Mission Pledge and the Shanti Mantra, led by Sri Anant Sarma from HSC department.

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Friday 13, December 2024, 06:30.
Srimad Bhagavad Gita
The Tree of Life: 1.
Discourse 1: The Twofold Character of Cosmic Life-2.
Swami Krishnananda.

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There is a basic illness which is deeply rooted in us, and we have not the time or the patience to go into the abyss of this sorrow. We seek immediate relief, as is the case with physical illness. There is an asking for an immediate remedy for an acute case of suffering, and this is human nature. The sorrow cannot be borne any further for a longer period, and so we ask for immediate prescriptions of medicine for our griefs, and these are what the world gives to us in the form of experiences.

Unfortunately for us, we are mistaken in the very approach that we are adopting in the redress of our sorrows. No amount of running to doctors of divinity will be able to keep us in that haven of bliss which we are apparently striving for. The world has been what it was, and it has not given any indication that there has been any change in its structure. Perhaps right from creation up to this day nature does not appear to have changed its colours.

But we are endlessly hoping for something, we know not what. There is an endless agony in the hearts of people. Not one individual through the process of history can be said to have passed a life of perennial freedom from birth to death. There have been thorns under the feet of everyone, though the search was for roses, milk and honey in the world. There is a chaotic approach of the mental structure of man. There is confusion in our brains and anxiety in our hearts, and darkness before us.

Well, this is to give an outline of the picture of the life that we are living in this world and the way in which we are trying to acquire freedom and happiness, not knowing the basic structure of the various problems of life. A good physician is supposed to be one who knows the location of the main switchboard in the personality of the human being, by operating which the whole panorama of experiences can be visualised at one stroke.

A disease is a structural maladjustment, and it appears in the form of an agony to the consciousness. When there is a lack of an alignment between our mind, or consciousness, and the nature of our experiences in life, there is what we call unhappiness. Happiness is nothing but the organic alignment of our mind with the various patterns of human experience. When there is a lack of this alignment a jarring sound is produced, as a loudspeaker sometimes makes a noise. There is some kind of defect in the alignment of the internal mechanism. When the mechanism of our psyche in its relation to the structure of the whole of experience in the world goes out of gear, there is unhappiness because happiness is alignment, and unhappiness is the opposite of it. As Ayurveda physicians tell us, health is the harmony among the humours of the body: vata, pitta, kapha. When the sattva, rajas, tamas qualities are in a state of balance, we are supposed to be enjoying mental as well as physical health. So is the case with every kind of happiness. There is a necessity to put the mechanism of life in order, to streamline the way of the working of the mind in its relation to the various shapes that life takes.

All this, when it is enquired into profoundly, will naturally go over the heads of people. We are not taught to think in this manner. We have an education which is supposed to be for earning our bread; today it has failed even to earn our bread, and it has not succeeded in getting anything worth the while. We are in sorrow in the beginning, we are in sorrow in the middle, and we are in sorrow at the end. That is all we see in life. The shape of sorrow may change, but it is there in one form or the other. Whether our creditor is this man or that man, it makes no difference; we have a creditor at our door, and that is enough for us. It does not matter which person it is and when he will come and stand at our gate. So is the sorrow of life.

There is, therefore, a need to be serious in our pursuits and not to continue to behave like babies or children asking for toys, which are only a temporary relief for their tears. We give a toy to the child, and it stops crying. Why it cries, nobody knows. These toys are temporary contrivances to suppress the outward expression of the sorrow of the child, but the inner difficulty persists whatever be the outer adjustments we make in the various walks of life.

The various outer adjustments are well known. The gaining of wealth, making money, increasing the bank balance, getting a good job, enhancement of status of oneself in human society, dainty dishes, palatial houses, vast gardens, and so forth, are the avenues of approach of the mind that seeks immediate relief. We have seen people with large areas of land. Are they happy? We have seen people with large bank balances. Are they happy? We have seen people with everything that the world can give, but they are grief-stricken for a cause they cannot explain, and nobody can explain.

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Continued

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