Who
is a God realized soul, a saint, a gyani or a siddha? They all are basically
saints with great divine knowledge, who have known God and are capable of
possessing some super natural powers. According to Swami Sivananda, a Hindu
spiritual teacher and a proponent of Yoga and Vedanta said that one who lives
in God or the Eternal, who is free from egoism, likes and dislikes,
selfishness, vanity, mine-ness, lust, greed and anger, who is endowed with
equal vision, balanced mind, mercy, tolerance, righteousness and cosmic love,
and who has divine knowledge is a saint. Siddhas are a type of saint in India
who are said to have had many powers and achieved a ‘god-like’ state through specific
secret practices that were known only to them. These powers spanned from
controlling time and space, to transforming the body, manipulating matter at
the molecular level and achieving immortality.
When
one embarks on the journey of God realization through spiritual practices,
meditation on God, selfless and truthful services to the society and constant
devotion to the supreme Lord, he/she achieves continues progress on the path and
a long lasting joy. With continuous contemplation and long hours of regular
practice, the mysteries that veil the Infinite Spirit are removed layer by
layer to reveal the beloved God whose awesome omnipotence is tempered with the
tender love and compassion that readily responds to a sincere call from His
devotees. One becomes a God realized soul who lives in the world but is not of
the world, who performs all dutiful actions without being entangled in it and
who is active in the world but calm inside. Such God realized souls are rare on
this earth and the sole purpose of their incarnation is to help other souls to
achieve liberation. Such souls are called Atma Gyanis (self realized). They
help the mankind to walk on the path of God realization.
The
biggest strength of Indian culture (encompassing Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism,
Sikhism etc.) is that it was guided by such Atam Gyanis, the enlightened souls
who experienced the unity of souls and the Spirit. They taught only Love,
Brotherhood and Compassion. These realized souls are also called yogis or
Siddhas in India and include many known and unknown souls, likes of Adi
Shankaracharya, Ramanuja, Madhavacharya, Vallabhacharya, Ramananda, Saint
Tukaram, , Saint Raidas, Saint Kabir, Namdeva, Saint Gyaneshwar, Chaitanya, Shirdi
Sai Baba, Meera Bai, Saint Tulsidas, Surdas,
Ramkrishna Paramhansa, Babaji, Lahiri Mahashya, Shri Ukteshwar Giri,
Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Vivekananda and Mother Teresa etc. The list is very
long and unbroken for last thousands of years. It is an amazing fact that these
Saints, Yogis, Siddhas are greatly revered in India and they draws immense trust
and respect from the common people. Many Indian kings in the historically and
mythical times gave prominent places to these Saints in the governance too. The
king Janaka, who himself was a great Gyani, had always welcomed God realized
Saints in his kingdom for spiritual debates and upliftment of the masses. The other parts of the world has also produced
many great saints which include John The Baptist, saint Peter, Saint Joseph,
saint Augustine etc. and here too, the list is very long. What we are required
to do is to walk on the path shown by these Gyanis and Saints to achieve our
liberation from the misery of the world.
The simple truth about these saints is that the Manav Dharma (Righteous duties of men) will flourish as long as we walk the path shown by these great saints.
No comments:
Post a Comment