Transcendental Sound – Finding shelter, Finding love

So you might have seen that a couple of days ago there was a, what’s termed as Hindu New Year, Diwali, but actually this idea of New Year is somewhat of a modern interpretation. Some people speak of this time as a time of the victory of truth over ignorance, of light over darkness, of what is good over what is evil, but actually there is a more profound and wonderful understanding.

This celebration commemorates a time from the very, very ancient past, when an incarnation of the Supreme Soul, in the avatar of Lord Sri Rama, Ramchandra, manifest in this world. He was the son of a king, and for reasons that people had no idea of, they loved him very, very dearly, the people of Ayodhya. But because of a grave Injustice he was sent away by his father into an exile that lasted for 14 years, and during those 14 years there were many things that happened, culminating with a huge battle between a great asura, a great demon, by the name of Ravana, and Rama. The end of that battle coincided with the end of the 14 years of exile. And so now he prepared to return to the kingdom of Ayodhya.

The word diwali, it comes from a Sanskrit term, deepa avali. Deepa means a little oil lamp, or in more luxurious times a small ghee lamp, and avali means like an array, so pretty much like a line, so you have a line of these lights. So, what had happened, when the people of this kingdom heard that Rama was returning, in their overwhelming joy they lit rows of these lamps upon all of the edges of the buildings and in the windows, so the whole place was lit up.

And while it is true that that we can appreciate the idea of light over darkness, the deeper appreciation is that the residents of this kingdom were practically all completely spiritually enlightened, and they all had a profound transcendental affection for whom they considered the Lord of their own heart. Parents could not understand why they loved Rama, they felt this attraction, this profound love more than the love of their own children. Spouses loved Rama more than they loved each other. It was the most extraordinary thing.

And this transcendental love, it is called prema. It is the natural condition, the eternal nature, the sanatana dharma of the soul itself, the jiva atma, to exist in this state of great transcendental love. And for the residence of Ayodhya, when Lord Sri Rama left their kingdom it was as if their very life was snatched from their chest.  They yearned to see him again. That yearning was greater than the desire of a drowning man for air. It was more intense.  And so when they heard he was coming back to their kingdom, it was an eruption of love, of overwhelming love, and a beckoning, like the lighthouse signals to the ships what is the course they should take. This was a welcoming of the Lord in their life again.

The day after Diwali in the Vedic calendar, some of the traditions they also have a celebration called Govardhan Puja, and this is a wonderful transcendental event concerning the pastimes of Lord Sri Krishna in His time here 5,000 years ago, and it addresses the most, one of the great needs that we have, that the jiva has, the need to feel safe, to be protected, to be granted shelter.

One of the most extraordinary things that we learn from Vedic teaching is these mantras, they are not simply shallow or empty or hollow sound, mundane sound vibration. They contain a world, a transcendental world within them. And in our life this yearning for love, a deep and profound love that we all feel because it is part of our eternal spiritual nature, and the need to be safe, to be protected, is part of our eternal spiritual nature. These spiritual sounds that we chant, when they are properly received, delivered and received, contain a whole world of transcendental, or spiritual, experience.

And so in your life you will be confronted at different times by many great difficulties, and the greatest difficulty for most people will come at the very end of the time that they will spend in this body, the event known as death. But if you could come to appreciate that by taking shelter in these spiritual sounds, these transcendental sounds, one can actually achieve complete enlightenment, self-realization and God realization, one can experience the greatest protection from all pain and anguish and difficulties and emptiness and loneliness that people experience in this world. One can actually find that protection, and one can ultimately find that great condition of transcendental love. One simply needs to regularly engage in this form of meditation.

Sound like a good deal or what? Or you guys don’t want? No, this is the desire of all living beings. It is part of the eternal nature of the soul. So I will chant the Mahamantra also.