Satyam Shivam Sundaram (14-16 February 2014)

Satyam, Shivam & Sundaram was the topic of the 3-day talk held in Saligram Hall on the 14th,15th & 16th of February 2014. The discourses which were well attended by more than 250 people took place from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. The audience was captivated by the dynamic Pujya Swami Abhedanandaji who brought out the importance of Satyam , Shivam and Sundaram in our lives.

Swamiji elaborated that satyam(Truth) indicates that our lives should be free from impurities of the mind especially anger, greed, selfish desire or tendency to demand attention. In other words, satyam expresses as dharm and the one who is incarnation of satyam is Lord Ram. It was re-iterated by Swamiji that leading a life of dharm means being true or doing justice with any role we have to perform . When 3 things are absent from our lives then we are closer to dharm. They are 1)absence of self-centred demands, anger and wanting more than what God has given me.

It was explained by Swamiji that the life of Shivam gives us vision, faith and renunciation. Lord Shiva represents the Guru – that which takes to auspiciousness. It was mentioned that satyam without shivam will be life of truth without vision while shivam without satyam will be impermanency in the right knowledge. For example, those who don’t have a good character, howsoever good knowledge they may have, it will be very short-lived while those who have good character, with no proper knowledge, at the end of their life, they are the just the same. They have not reached anywhere or progressed anywhere mentally or spiritually.

Swamiji described the life of Lord Shiva. He was established in the Self, acted as Ishwar, had tremendous faith in Lord Ram and He was extremely dispassionate and renounciate. Pure Consciousness, meditation, renunciation and faith expressed in His character. It was mentioned that we need both gyan and dharm because dharm gives beauty to our lives and gyan gives illumination.

The two characters that opposed gyan and dharm were discussed by Swamiji. One was Daksh Prajapathi who was extremely dharmic but didn’t like Shivji’s renunciation. His own ahankar didn’t allow him to understand Shivji. The other character who opposed dharm was Ravan who was extremely intelligent. Ravan had the problem of character while Daksh had the problem of absence of knowledge. When we don’t have character, our knowledge doesn’t have a long life. It was demonstrated by Swamiji how they neglected the character and knowledge aspect. Without these two aspects, our lives won’t have a good foundation and we won’t get solutions in our lives.

Swamiji also elaborated on the meaning of sundaram(beauty). Beauty is that which gives joy and love in the heart. It was mentioned that to love is a deep desire. Even if a person has gyan and dharm, he won’t be happy unless he can love someone. Loving is giving joyful appreciative attention. It was discussed by Swamiji how we all want someone to love us all time , at all places and undivided love. Our biggest demand is to love and be loved. This demand of love can only be fulfilled by the Lord. He is the only one who can love us at all times, places , give attention & security.

It was beautifully illustrated by Swamiji that Lord Ram’s life is for establishing dharm, Lord Shiva’s life is for establishing gyan and Lord Krishna’s life was to show us that Lord also loves us. Nobody can love us truly except Lord. As much as Lord has loved us, nobody has loved us. This lovable God is Lord Krishna and without the love of Lord, our life is barren.

The audience listened with rapt attention as Swamiji recounted and beautifully explained the pastimes (leelas) when Lord was tied to the pestle and mortar and how He used to steal butter from the cowherd girls (gopis) .That life which is not for Lord is a wasted Life. When we have love from Lord, we don’t crave for love from the worldly people. Lord Krishna’s leelas tells us that Lord also loves us, He cries, He is that God which wants us to have a relation with us, He is there still waiting for us to call him.

The topic was concluded with Swamiji recapping that satyam is linked with dharm, shivam with knowledge and sundaram with devotion. If dharm, gyan and bhakthi are there , then our life will become sundaram(beautiful). The audience were given the chance the express their gratitude to Swamiji for the 3 days by making their Guru dakshina offerings. Many partook of the scrumptious meals provided by dinner prasad.

Categories: Gyan Yagnas