NEWS: Those of you who got our last blog post announcing the publishing of All Is One–A Commentary on Sri Vaiyai R. Subramanian’s Ellam Ondre may have wished to purchase the paperback, which was to have been available at Amazon when the blog post was published. However, Amazon experienced a delay in making the paperback available.
This has now been corrected, and the paperback, as well as the ebook, are both available at Amazon here.
All Is One
Below is a selection from the fourth chapter of All Is One. The sections in indented italics are from the text of Ellam Ondre, and the normal text is Abbot George’s commentary.
1. What is peace? Although the world persists when a man is in deep sleep, does he have any cares concerning it? His mind is tranquil and refreshed. Should his mind be in the same degree calm and refreshed even when he is face to face with the world and is active therein, then there is peace.
The state of deep sleep while yet awake is the highest form of Yoga Nidra–Yogic Sleep. This state arises in deep meditation and by the continual practice of meditation comes to pervade our waking hours even when we are engaged in activity and interaction with the world around us. And by meditation I mean meditation on Soham–not the pondering of the meaning “I Am That,” but an entering into the experience of that fact through Soham Yoga Sadhana: intoning So throughout every inhalation So and Ham [“Hum”] throughout every exhalation.
This is the way to true and lasting peace.
2. Can the mind remain so even when the world confronts us? It depends upon our estimate of the world. The mind is more excited when one’s own property is plundered than when another’s property is similarly plundered. Of one’s own things, the loss of one thing causes greater concern than those of another. Why? Because our estimate of the things is the cause of the degree of the delight or anxiety concerning them. Therefore, should one learn to regard all equally, the mind will be extremely peaceful. Or should all things be considered as our own and highly prized, then too there is no cause for pain. Why? What will a man regret? The mind which knows that universal concern is beyond its capacity, must needs become tranquil. Also when one feels that one has no claim on anything or that everything is perishable, the mind will remain cool. Thus there will be lasting peace if one looks on all as of the same value. Peace is dependent upon one’s intellectual appraisals.
Can the mind remain so even when the world confronts us? It depends upon our estimate of the world.
Our opinion of the nature of the world determines the state of our mind when we experience it. As Sri Ramakrishna said, “The mind is everything.” Our reaction to the world, including motion pictures and the words of others, is according to our view of the world and those within it. And in certain aspects our view of the world determines its reaction on us rather than its innate character.
I am reminded of the time a young girl who traveled with Anandamayi Ma got it into her head that she was not being treated as she should be and went with her parents (whom I knew) to complain to Ma. She laid out her case in great detail and waited with her parents for Ma to apologize or say she would see that the girl was treated better in the future. But Ma quite firmly said to the three of them: “Since you have chosen to see it this way: then it is this way.” All three of them cried, of course, as weak, spiteful people always do, but Ma remained firm.
My father-mother-teacher Aunt Faye Mitchell once read me this poem:
Don’t be a Croaker
Once by the edge of a pleasant pool,
Under the bank where it was dark and cool,
Where the bushes over the water hung,
And the grasses nodded and the rushes swung.
Just where the brook flowed out of the bog,
There lived a gouty and mean old frog,
Who’d sit all day in the mud and soak,
And do just nothing but croak and croak.
Till a blackbird whistled, “I say you know–
What’s the matter down there below?
Are you in pain, or sorrow or what?”
And the frog answered, “Mine is a gruesome lot–
Nothing but dirt and mud and slime
For me to look at all the live-long time.
’Tis a dismal world,” he sadly spoke,
And voiced his woes with a mournful croak.
“But you’re looking down,” the blackbird said,
“Look at the blossoms overhead,
Look at the beautiful summer skies,
Look at the bees and the butterflies.
Look up, old fellow, why bless my soul,
You’re looking down in a muskrat’s hole.”
But still with gurgling sob and choke
The frog continued to croak and croak.
But a wise old turtle–who boarded near–
Said to the blackbird, “Friend, see here,
Don’t waste your tears on him, for he
Is miserable ’cause he wants to be–
He is one of the kind that won’t be glad,
And it makes him happy to think he’s sad,
I’ll tell you something–and it’s no joke–
Don’t waste your pity on those who croak.”
Ma said it briefer, but the truth is the same.
The mind is more excited when one’s own property is plundered than when another’s property is similarly plundered. Of one’s own things, the loss of one thing causes greater concern than those of another. Why? Because our estimate of the things is the cause of the degree of the delight or anxiety concerning them. Therefore, should one learn to regard all equally, the mind will be extremely peaceful. Or should all things be considered as our own and highly prized, then too there is no cause for pain. Why? What will a man regret? The mind which knows that universal concern is beyond its capacity, must needs become tranquil. Also when one feels that one has no claim on anything or that everything is perishable, the mind will remain cool. Thus there will be lasting peace if one looks on all as of the same value. Peace is dependent upon one’s intellectual appraisals.
We should neither have too high or too low a regard for anything. They are simply waves in the ocean of creative energy that surrounds us and of which even our bodies are a part. In one viewpoint we should realize that nothing really has intrinsic value, being just an appearance. At the same time we should consider everything of infinite value because it is a manifestation of the Infinite. So we should simultaneously disregard and value all things–and all people as well. This is the detachment the Bhagavad Gita urges upon us throughout. Viveka and vairagya are the divine keys to the world of peace.
All Is One–A Commentary on Sri Vaiyai R. Subramanian’s Ellam Ondre is available as a paperback and as and ebook at Amazon, and as an ebook at other online bookstores. The ebooks are available for only 99¢ for a limited time.
Universal Amazon Link
Universal link to other online bookstores
