THE VISION, April 2025, Vol. 92, Issue 7:

 

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Beloved Readers,

Deep contemplation on the wisdom of our Masters and scriptures reveals a profound truth that within each of us resides both an individual self and the Eternal Self. The individual self is the limited ‘I’, while the Eternal Self is the silent witness of this ‘I’. Yet, we struggle to hold on to this understanding. More often than not, we remain entangled in the narrow confines of ‘me’ and ‘mine’, identifying solely with the individual self. Whenever we say ‘I’, our instinctive gesture is to point toward the body. But in reality, this ‘I’ is a mere reflection of something far greater—the Eternal Self, the unchanging Witness within. In our deluded state, however, we mistake this transient identity for our True Essence.

Beloved Papa has blessed us with the triune path of Nama, Dhyana, Seva—a relentless reminder that our very existence is sustained by the Eternal Self. We are because He—the Life Force, Consciousness and Intelligence—animates our being. We are assured that a day will come when the veil of illusion will lift, and we will recognise that the individual ‘I’ was never separate from the Witnessing Self—it was always one.

May we, through unwavering devotion to Nama, Dhyana, Seva, and contemplation on the attributes of the Eternal Self, awaken to our true identity and rest in the boundless truth of our oneness with Him.

— EDITOR

AS WE SCROLL DOWN...

1. ‘PARIGRAHA AND APARIGRAHA,’ explains Beloved Papa, are the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ and the internal feeling that all possessions belong to God, respectively. The sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ can disappear only when God-remembrance is kept up like an unbroken stream of oil.
2. ‘PUJYA MATAJI KRISHNABAI ANSWERS’ why the human soul retains its individuality even after it sheds its body. Unless individuality is retained, Divine Lila cannot be enacted.
3. ‘GIVE UP “I” AND “MINE,”’ urges Swami Satchidananda. Instead of feeling that ‘this is mine’, ‘I did this’, etc., we have to take it that it is He who does everything, everything belongs to Him and everything is He. Sadhana done with this attitude is sure to bring very quick results.
4. ‘EDITOR ANSWERS’ how to reconcile two opposing views on ‘I’ and ‘mine’ through chanting the Divine Name. This practice helps integrate worldly duties with spiritual awareness, gradually leading us back to our REAL HOME—the infinite embrace of our true Self.
   
5. ‘“I” AND “MINE” ARE FALSE IDEAS,’ states Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Attachment arises from the false mental constructs of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ based on desires and fears. By questioning these ideas and letting go of identification with the body, one sets in motion the process of realising the Ultimate Reality.
6. ‘EVIL OF “I” AND “MINE,”’ enumerates Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, constitutes ignorance. The attitude born of Knowledge is: ‘O God, Thou art the Master, and all these things belong to Thee. House, family, children, attendants, friends, are Thine.’
7. ‘DISAPPEARANCE OF “ME” AND “MINE,”’ expounds Acharya Vinoba Bhave, leads to true liberation. In the dissolution of I-ness what remain are the society, nature and God… Thus, individual liberation means the beginning of extensive desireless service.
8. ‘HOW TO LEAD THE DIVINE LIFE’ by shifting our consciousness from the body and mind to the awareness of the formless, all-pervading Atman, elucidates Swami Chidananda. Liberation is experienced by giving up ‘I’ and ‘mine’, identification with the body, likes, dislikes and anger, overcoming sensory and mental enslavement and living with constant awareness of our Divinity.
9. ‘RAMANA MAHARSHI ANSWERS’ how by giving up ‘I’ and ‘mine’, everything is given up at a stroke. The very seed of possession is lost.
10. ‘INSPIRING LUMINARIES’ gradually transform individuals. That is why it is said we must keep the company of saints, serve them, hear their words and bask in the sunshine of their presence.
11. ‘EPISTLES OF SWAMI RAMDAS’ states that ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is a false super-imposition of ignorance upon us. Dualities have nothing to do with the Witness. So, sages exhort us, “Know thyself…”.
12. ‘IN MEMORIAM’
13. ‘ANANDASHRAM NEWS’:
    • ‘15,500-CRORE NAMA JAPA YAGNA FOR WORLD PEACE’
    • ‘SESSIONS WITH CHILDREN IN ANAND KUTIR’
    • ‘MOUNA SADHANA’
    • ‘141ST JAYANTI OF BELOVED PAPA SWAMI RAMDAS’
14. ‘BOOK IN FOCUS’
15. ‘THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH’
16. ‘DOWNLOAD THE VISION’ in PDF format and the Audio Book.

PARIGRAHA AND APARIGRAHA

Swami Ramdas

To think of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is Parigraha. Aparigraha is to think ‘I am nothing, I possess nothing, God is everything and everything belongs to God’. Externally, you may live in the world, in the midst of everything, but internally, you should have the feeling that all your possessions, wife, children, wealth, etc., belong to God, nay, are God Himself and that you are only an instrument in His hands. This is Aparigraha. It is not easy to have this attitude, though it is easy to say so by word of mouth. Sri Aurobindo truly says, “Possess things, but do not be possessed by them.” 

The sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ can disappear only when it is realised that God alone is everything. To get established in this attitude, constant remembrance of God is necessary. Without His remembrance, surrender to Him is not possible. When your surrender is complete, you realise that He alone is real and everything happens by His will alone. The moment you fail to remember Him, the sense of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ rushes on you. Therefore, as long as you are under the bondage of Maya, keep unbroken remembrance of God, like Tailadhara or unbroken stream of oil. Once your ego-sense is destroyed, you realise that you, as a separate entity, are false and then you identify yourself with the all-pervading Truth.

PUJYA MATAJI KRISHNABAI ANSWERS

Devotee: “If human manifestations on the vast bosom of the Infinite Eternal Papa are like waves that rise and fall in the ocean, why should the human soul retain its individuality after it sheds its body? Why should it not return to the Infinite, as the waves that rise and fall return to the sea and become one with it?”

Mataji: “In Papa’s Chalan Swarup, unless we retain that individuality we cannot enact this vast Lila of Papa. Even the smallest child starts saying ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Who is that ‘I’? It is none else than the Infinite Eternal Papa, from whom we all have sprung. What we have to realise is that this ‘I’ is not the body assumed by us. We are so deluded by Maya that we cling to the perishable body; we spend our entire life working for its comfort and its pleasures, forgetting that we are not the body, that we have only assumed this body for the purpose of Papa’s Lila. It is Papa Himself who has donned so many forms and is enacting this vast universal play of His.”

GIVE UP ‘I’ AND ‘MINE’

Swami Satchidananda

Pujya Mataji made the path simple by telling us that there was absolutely no need for us to renounce anything externally. Instead of feeling that ‘this is mine’, ‘I did this’, etc., we have only to take it that it is He who does everything and everything belongs to Him and everything is He. Sadhana done with this attitude is sure to bring very quick results. Though the above-mentioned Sadhana may appear to be very easy, it actually requires a great amount of effort on our part to erase the sense of ‘I-ness’ and ‘mine-ness’ and accept everything as He and His. This requires a very strong foundation of chanting of Ram Nam and remembrance of God. To make this more effective and bring quicker results, Pujya Mataji has been suggesting that we should love everybody as our own and serve them physically, mentally and financially, whenever an occasion arises. Loving everybody is possible only when we try to develop a wider vision and feel that it is Beloved Papa alone who has manifested as everybody and everything, and that to love everyone is to really love Him.

EDITOR ANSWERS

Question: When we interact in the world at large, we need to think in terms of ‘me’ and ‘mine;’ however, this ‘me’ and ‘mine’ is a roadblock for Sadhana. How can we reconcile the two?

Answer: From childhood, we have been conditioned to believe in our individuality, rarely recognising that our very existence is sustained by Him, not by our limited sense of self. Now, through the grace of our Masters, we understand that the ‘me’ and ‘mine’ we hold onto so dearly are mere illusions, and that He, as the Subtle and Mysterious Power, is the true source of our being. The key to reconciliation lies in constant remembrance. Just as an educated person naturally reflects his learning in his thoughts, words and actions, a seeker must strive to imbibe the awareness of the Divine Self in every aspect of life. The most effective way to do this is by chanting His Name even amidst worldly responsibilities. This simple yet profound practice gradually erases the false sense of individuality and aligns all actions with selflessness, all thoughts with love, and all feelings with kindness. 

Consider an actor playing the role of a king in a drama. Even while fully immersed in his role, he never forgets that, in reality, he has a family at home. Similarly, we must engage in worldly duties while remaining anchored in the truth that we are not this transient personality, but He alone.

Masters assure us that we are intrinsically and eternally Divine. Our earthly roles are but a passage to work out our Karma, leading us back to our REAL HOME—the infinite embrace of our true Self.

‘I’ AND ‘MINE’ ARE FALSE IDEAS

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Attachment is born along with the sense of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. Find the true meaning of these words and you will be free of all bondage. The problem arises only when the memory of past pains and pleasures remains as a reflex, dominating behaviour. This reflex takes the shape of ‘I’ and uses the body and the mind for its purposes, which are invariably in search for pleasure or flight from pain. When you recognise the ‘I’ as a bundle of desires and fears, and the sense of ‘mine’ as embracing all things and people needed for the purpose of avoiding pain and securing pleasure, you will see that the ‘I’ and the ‘mine’ are false ideas, having no foundation in reality. Created by the mind, they rule their creator as long as it takes them to be true; when questioned, they dissolve. The ‘I’ and ‘mine’, having no existence in themselves, need a support which they find in the body. When you talk of ‘my’ husband and ‘my’ children, you mean the body’s husband and the body’s children. Give up the idea of being the body and face the question: Who am l? At once a process will be set in motion which will bring back reality, or rather, will take the mind to Reality.

Source: I Am That

EVIL OF ‘I’ AND ‘MINE’

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

‘I’ and ‘mine’ — these constitute ignorance. ‘My house’, ‘my wealth’, ‘my learning’, ‘my possessions’ — the attitude that prompts one to say such things comes of ignorance. On the contrary, the attitude born of Knowledge is: ‘O God, Thou art the Master, and all these things belong to Thee. House, family, children, attendants, friends, are Thine.’

If a visitor goes to a rich man’s garden, the superintendent says to him, ‘This is our garden’, ‘This is our lake’, and so forth. But if the Superintendent is dismissed, he can’t carry away even his mango-wood chest. He sends it secretly by the gate-keeper. 

God laughs on two occasions. He laughs when the physician says to the patient’s mother, ‘Don’t be afraid, mother; I shall certainly cure your boy.’ God laughs, saying to Himself, ‘I am going to take his life, and this man says he will save it!’ The physician thinks he is the master, forgetting that God is the Master. God laughs again when two brothers divide their land with a string, saying to each other, ‘This side is mine and that side is yours.’ He laughs and says to Himself, ‘The whole universe belongs to Me, but they say they own this portion or that portion.’

Source: The Gospel Of Sri Ramakrishna 

DISAPPEARANCE OF ‘ME’ AND ‘MINE’

Acharya Vinoba Bhave

True liberation is attained only when the idea of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ disappears from the consciousness. Hence, ‘my liberation’ is a flawed concept. True liberation is attained only when one loses one’s own identity and completely merges with the society. Liberation, in other words, is dissolution of ego, that is, I-ness, and what remain are only the society, nature and God…

In spiritual practice, you have to remove ‘me’, ‘mine’ and ‘I’ and replace them with ‘Thou’, meaning God. But He is not easily comprehended, and we keep on searching for Him. In this state, how can we replace ‘I’ with ‘Thou?’ The easiest process is to replace ‘mine’ with ‘ours’. Instead of remaining restricted to our own body only, we should become of society and of nature by completely identifying with it without any self-interest or ego, and render service to the society. As long as the ego does not dissolve completely, the practitioner will remain like a pebble in water. But when the ego is transcended, one will dissolve in society like a crystal of salt in water. In other words, one will be of society, nature and people. Thus, individual liberation means the beginning of extensive desireless service.

Source: Where Silence Speaks

HOW TO LEAD THE DIVINE LIFE

Swami Chidananda

To make life Divine requires an inner change of location, not an outer one. You shift your consciousness from being centred in your body and mind with its thoughts, emotions, sentiments, desires, imaginations and memories to a higher dimension, a different plane where the consciousness always is aware, affirms and asserts: “Aham Atma Nirakarah Sarvavyapi Svabhavatah—I am the Atman, formless and all-pervading by nature.” That is Divine life. What you have to give up is: Aham and Mama—I and mine, identification with the body, likes, dislikes and anger. The liberation is from slavery to the senses, slavery to the desires that arise in the mind. You have to finish this state of being enslaved by sense urges, enslaved by the mind and its countless Sankalpas, Vikalpas (imaginations, doubts) and desires. To know that you are more than the body, that you are Divine, is Divine life.

Be alert and be aware! Try to see whether all that you do is an expression of your Divinity, which is perfect already. It is trying to be what you are! It is trying to live from a different awareness and consciousness of yourself and to act upon a sublime higher level!

Source: A Call To Liberation

RAMANA MAHARSHI ANSWERS

Devotee: If ‘I’ be an illusion, who then casts off the illusion?

Maharshi: The ‘I’ casts off the illusion of ‘I’ and yet remains as ‘I’. Such is the paradox of Self-Realisation. The realised do not see any contradiction in it. Take the case of Bhakti—I approach Ishwara and pray to be absorbed in Him. I then surrender myself in faith and by concentration. What remains afterwards? In place of the original ‘I’, perfect self-surrender leaves a residuum of God in which the ‘I’ is lost. This is the highest form of devotion (Para-Bhakti), Prapatti, surrender or the height of Vairagya. 

You give up this and that of ‘my’ possessions. If you give up ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ instead, all are given up at a stroke. The very seed of possession is lost. Thus the evil is nipped in the bud or crushed in the germ itself. Dispassion (Vairagya) must be very strong to do this. Eagerness to do it must be equal to that of a man kept under water trying to rise up to the surface for his life.

Source: Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi

INSPIRING LUMINARIES

Influence of saints gradually transforms a person. That is why it is said we must keep the company of saints, serve them, hear their words and bask in the sunshine of their presence. 

This month we pay our reverential homage to Swami Ranganathanandaji of Sri Ramakrishna Math and Mission and Swami Krishnanandaji of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh. 

t Swami Ranganathananda: 

The 25th of April 2025 marks the 20th Mahasamadhi day of Revered Swami Ranganathanandaji Maharaj. He said, “‘I’ and ‘mine’ makes for craving. If I feel my oneness with you, my craving to that extent becomes less. I then want to satisfy your craving. That is why in a healthy society, we will have a disciplined type of mind.”

***

t Swami Krishnananda: 

The 103rd Jayanti of Swami Krishnanandaji Maharaj falls on the 25th of April 2025. He explained, “An intrinsic strength should be developed within our own selves. That intrinsic strength comes by our friendship with nature as a whole. We do not exist independent of earth, water, fire, air and ether, which constitute our body. We live because of nature’s cooperation with us... The very wind that blows, the very sun that shines, and the air that we breathe are the fingers of God working everywhere.”

EPISTLES OF SWAMI RAMDAS

Beloved Ram,

…The idea — ‘I am the doer’ — is entirely false. In fact, ‘I’ and ‘mine’ is a false super-imposition of ignorance upon us. There is nothing here to shrink from, or be attracted to; love and hate have nothing to do with the Witness. Sinners, we are not. We are the pure, the ever pure, spotless, self-effulgent, all-blissful and peaceful, Eternal Atman. So, sages exhort us, “Know thyself…”

IN MEMORIAM

Our dear and revered Nalini Amma left her mortal frame on the 3rd of March 2025. To all who had the blessing of knowing her in Anandashram, she was a radiant embodiment of renunciation—not through outward signs, but through the silent, unwavering surrender of her entire being to the Divine. At the same time, she was a mother to all—showering warmth, care and boundless compassion on every soul who crossed her path.

For every Ashram inmate and every seeker who visited Anandashram, Nalini Amma’s motherly love was a source of solace and inspiration. She asked for nothing, possessed nothing, and yet gave everything—living as an embodiment of true Vairagya and selfless love.

Her life was not just a lesson in renunciation but a testament to the highest spiritual ideals lived in the simplest of ways. With heartfelt reverence, we offer our homage to the great, dear and revered Nalini Amma, praying to Him to enable us to honour her legacy by striving to live the truth she so effortlessly embodied.

ANANDASHRAM NEWS

15500-CRORE NAMA JAPA YAGNA FOR WORLD PEACE:

The total Japa received in the fourth round of the 15500-Crore Nama Japa Yagna for World Peace in the month of February 2025 is 210 crores, chanted by 192890 devotees. 

The grand total of the Japa done so far in this round now stands at 4350 crores.

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SESSIONS WITH CHILDREN AT ANAND KUTIR IN ANANDASHRAM:

In the month of February 2025, 9 interactive sessions were held with children at Anand Kutir, in which 361 students participated. As the sessions are free from teaching and preaching, they help the children to bring out their own learnings:

• Deepti said, “I realised that happiness can be found even in the smallest things.”
• Gayatri stated, “For about two and a half hours, we were transported to another realm. Everything discussed could be connected to life.”
• Kavya RS expressed, “This session gave me the sense of truly being myself and holding my mind and body in harmony.”

Some anonymous remarks shared were: 

• “Only when we truly understand ourselves can we begin to understand the world around us.”
• “We were reminded to reflect on ourselves and the world around us—to be mindful of others, to honour those who raised us, and to organise our time wisely.”
• “To be a good person, we must first love ourselves, and only then can we love others.”
• “This session challenged our preconceptions. We spoke openly—through interaction, group discussions, questions, and even an action song. Time passed unnoticed.”
• “I gained insight into how to face life’s challenges.

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MOUNA SADHANA IN ANANDASHRAM:

A day-long Mouna Sadhana is scheduled on the 13th of April 2025. Devotees interested in participating may kindly inform through WhatsApp (+91-9037466744) or by email (pms.anandashram@gmail.com).

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141ST JAYANTI OF BELOVED PAPA SWAMI RAMDAS:

Beloved Papa’s Jayanti will be celebrated on the 12th April 2025. This occasion reminds us of Swami Sivanandaji's words, “Swami Ramdas is a staunch advocate of the Divine Name. He also insists upon regular Sadhana of self-control and surrender. He himself exemplifies the highest form of surrender. The highest Vedanta and the most indescribable love are combined in Ramdas. Both of these have become manifest as the loftiest type of Vishwa Seva.”

BOOK IN FOCUS

‘Gita Sandesh’

Swami Ramdas’ commentary on Srimad Bhagavad Gita unravels the evolutionary process of the human soul realising the Divine. 

It unfolds the essence of the Gita—the confluence of Jnana, Bhakti and Karma, and at the same time going beyond these.

Available in English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu.

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH

“To be engaged in the activities of Prakriti and still enjoy the bliss of the Atman is possible when the idea of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ has been totally given up.”

— Swami Ramdas

DOWNLOAD THE VISION

Devotees can download the PDF version or the audio book this issue of THE VISION by clicking on the relevant links.