Arise Arjuna Foundation

SYMBOLISM OF NAVARATRI, DUSSEHRA, AND DIWALI This explanation of the symbolism was provided by Shri Gautam Jain, of the Vedanta Institute. Gautamji provides classes and education in the United states for those who are desirous of learning the knowledge of the Scriptures - the Gita, the Vedanta and other books written by the Sages of ancient India. Gautamji is a disciple of Swami Parthasarthy who has spent his entire life in the study of the ancient scriptures. Swamiji has written extensively,  has translated many of the works of our forefathers, and is the Founder of the Vedanta Institute.   INTRODUCTION: The reason the Sages in the old days had made the Indian way of life full of rituals, ceremonies and festivals is to serve as a constant reminder of your mission and purpose in life.  The mission of a human being, why one is here in this world is to grow oneself,  to develop  right up to the state of perfection, which is called Self-realization or G...

The Mind as Represented in the Scriptures as a Monkey: In the Ramayana, when Rama is searching for Sita, he seeks the support of the Monkey Army led by the King of the monkeys Vali. In the Ramayana, Rama kills Vali and installs Sugriva as the new King, and subsequently gets the support of the Monkey Army, with whose help he then is able to get Sita back from Lanka and the demon Ravana. All of this is symbolic and put in the form of a story for the common man. The Scriptures intended for more learned persons to use the stories of the various Epics in the scriptures to teach and instruct the common man to live life in the proper way. In this case, the Mind is represented as a monkey. Monkeys, like the mind, are ASTHIRA ( unsteady) and also CHANCHALA ( restless)  Within Chanchala or Restless, we are told that the mind has two types of Restlessness, just like a monkey. The first type of restlessness is represented by the monkey jumping from one place to another constantly. The ...

The Source of Happiness: Let us first explore the source of happiness: where does happiness lie, where does it emanate from? Right now, if I asked you what would make you happy, you may give me an answer, after you reflect on it, suggesting that your happiness lies in  a certain amount of money, or power, or fame. There are a million different things that would make different people happy depending on their inner drives or Vasanas,   Yet the same person, in this case yourself, can look back and find that the source of happiness has shifted many times over his or her lifetime. In the first stage, as a young infant,  a person finds that happiness lies in the bosom of his mother. When the mother picks up the baby, suckles him, holds him to her, he is secure and happy. As a young toddler, as long as his mother is playing with him and cooing to him, he is blissful and happy. The source of his happiness is his mother. The infant laughs gleefully with his whole hear...

The World is not the cause of your problems: The world is not the cause of your problems. We usually blame the outside world for how we feel, for our stress and strain and our problems. We believe it is the outside world that causes our problems and the outside world that will be the solution to our problems. If only I get that, I will be happy we say. The world has problems, challenges and we are always looking to be happy, peaceful and content in it. Peace and happiness cannot be obtained in the external world. You cannot, it’s within you. It’s how you manage yourself in order to relate to the world. For example, a man says he can only be happy if he gets a particular woman. That woman is already married to another man who cannot wait to get a divorce from her. Therefore, it is not the woman who carries the happiness within her because one man is very happy when he finds her but the other man is unhappy in her presence. Similarly, a man who smokes cannot wait ...

The Intellect: The world looks on in shock and incredulity as one respected leader after the other explodes onto the headlines with yet another scandal. President Bill Clinton, Senator Edwards, Tiger Woods, Madoff, Martha Stewart, Rajaratnam, Governor Spitzer. Governor Schwartznegger and the Head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. A President of the USA, 2 Governors, 1 a Head  of the IMF and quite possibly the next President of France - what happens to these people at the moment when faced with temptation? Confronted with choice of right or wrong at the instant of deciding whether or not to fulfil the insatiable desire of “I want” vs “don’t go there “. To do, or not to do? As a  Psychiatrist I am asked why people who have made it to the top make poor choices and destroy everything they've worked for. It is not possible to be succinct about the complexities and details of the drives and functioning of a human being. Sigmund Freud descri...

The Intellect: The world looks on in shock and incredulity as one respected leader after the other explodes onto the headlines with yet another scandal. President Bill Clinton, Senator Edwards, Tiger Woods, Madoff, Martha Stewart, Rajaratnam, Governor Spitzer. Governor Schwartznegger and the Head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. A President of the USA, 2 Governors, 1 a Head  of the IMF and quite possibly the next President of France - what happens to these people at the moment when faced with temptation? Confronted with choice of right or wrong at the instant of deciding whether or not to fulfil the insatiable desire of “I want” vs “don’t go there “. To do, or not to do? As a  Psychiatrist I am asked why people who have made it to the top make poor choices and destroy everything they've worked for. It is not possible to be succinct about the complexities and details of the drives and functioning of a human being. Sigmund Freud desc...

Wealth of India in Early Years November 03, 2007 Dear Nikhil and Neil: I have recently found an interesting book known as “The Theogony of the Hindoos” by Count M. Bjornstjerna also author of “The British Empire in the East.” The Theogony was first published in 1844 in London and was translated from Swedish, which is the Count’s native language. It was fascinating reading. In the introduction, he writes of the tremendous power and wealth of India, which attracted Alexander, The Great, of Greece, and, before him, Cyrus and Darrius to try and conquer  the country. The “hitherto unrestrained conqueror Alexander” was pushed back by King Agrames with an unbelievable force consisting of 20,000 cavalry, 100,000 infantry, and 2,000 war chariots. Count Bjornstjerna comments on the strength of the Indian Kings, the great number of their forces, the multitude of their war chariots, the excellence of their arms and the strength of their fortresses “prove what India was even at th...

La China Poblana, Mexico November 07, 2007 Dear Nikhil and Neil: I last wrote to you about an Indian Princess who sailed to Korea and was the mother of the largest clan in Korea, known as the Karak or Kim.  This week, I am writing to you about another Princess who ended up in Mexico, although against her will.  It is a sad story, but true. This information was obtained from an article in IANS –Sunday 09/21/2003 and also from “ India-Mexico: Similarities and encounters throughout history ” by Eva Alexander Uchmany, Univ of Mexico. All of this information was written by three Jesuit priests who had heard much of Meera’s stories during confession and were determined to beatify her. The story is as follows: Meera (La China Poblana) was an 11-year-old Indian Princess when kidnapped by the Portuguese who colonized parts of India at that time. (Spanish conquistadors and Portuguese sailors ruled the seas in the 1600s.  Many hundreds of thousands of Indians...