RIGHT LIVING. The Teaching of Sri Shivapuri Baba PDF
Preview RIGHT LIVING. The Teaching of Sri Shivapuri Baba
RIGHT LIVING The Teaching of Sri Shivapuri Baba by Dr. Y B Shrestha ISTITUTO CINTAMANI Via S. Giovanni in Fiore, 24 – 00178 Roma Tel. 067180832 www.istitutocintamani.org [email protected] 1 WHAT IS IN THIS BOOK Everybody in this world wants to be happy. But while attempting to be so he usually suffers. Why? Because he does not know the Art of Living and the Art of Dying! What is the Art of Living & the Art of Dying which make him happy? Swami Govindananda Bharati, otherwise know as the Sri Shivapuri Baba, tells us the Law of Truth. This Law of Truth consists of the Right Living with its 3 DISCIPLINES - Physical, Mental/Moral and Spiritual. The First Discipline gives him a sound Body and an efficient Intellect. He becomes healthy and a successful man and becomes fit to enjoy this material world. He then attains happiness (Sukha). But the drawback in this is that this happiness is temporary only because when he dies his happiness “dies” too”! The Second Discipline makes his Mind stable, steady and tranquil by freeing him from Anxieties & Worries. As a result he become immune to the “illegal” Desires (Iccha), Likes (Rag) and Dislikes (Dweshas). This makes him a strong man so that he becomes capable of commanding & controlling the whole world by his Psychic or Yogic Powers. Needless to say that he becomes happy too because he gets great Contentment (Santosh). But this also is perishable after death. The Third Discipline, on the contrary, takes him beyond these two and removes his Ignorance totally and makes him know what is what of everything and Beyond. He then attains Peace (Shanti), Total Freedom, the Highest Power and 100% Satisfaction. In other words he attains and virtually becomes the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute (Satchidananda) Itself. In this way he fulfils the purpose of his life. His Father God then allows him to enter His Kingdom, Heaven (as the Bible says), or His Abode of No Return (as the Gita says). Nothing is left for him to enjoy or to know or to achieve for he is Bliss itself, Knowledge itself and Achievement itself personified! 2 RIGHT LIVING Being the Teachings of Sri Govindananda Bharati. Known as the Sri Shivapuri Baba Dr. Y. B. Shrestha 3 © Copyright 2000, DR YB SHRESTHA Lajimpat, Kathmandu, Nepal. P.O. Box - 181 Phone: 412435, 412239 E-mail [email protected] Second Edition : September 2000 AD Published by: Mrs. Shobha Devi Shrestha Dr. Rabindra Shrestha Dr. Birendra Shrestha Mr. Himalayaswor Kumar Thapa Photo Courtesy: Sridhar Lal Manandhar Computer Setting by: Er. Niran Kumar Manandhar Pyukha, New Road, Kathmandu. Phone: 251091 Printed by: Narayan Press Yatkha Tole, Kathmandu Phone: 259052 4 Dedicated humbly to The Lotus feet of the Sri Shivapuri Baba TWADEEYAM BASTU GOVINDA, TOBHYAMEBA SAMARPAYEE... YBS 5 Subject Page Acknowledgements Preface Abbreviations Part: 1 The Right Life As I Understand It - Dr. YB Shrestha Part: 2 A. Right Life – An Interpretation B. From the Divine Heights of Shivapuri - Thakurlal Manandhar Part: 3 Interviews - YB Shrestha Part: 4 Questions and Answers Various Devotees Part: 5 Stray Notes - YB Shrestha Part: 6 Satsang or Group Discussions - YB Shrestha Appendix - YB Shrestha Bibliography Glossary of Sanskrit Words 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My humble acknowledgements are due to the following without whose help and co-operation this labour of love would never have seen the light of the day. They have helped me in the various stages of preparation to this small book - from the conception to its birth. They are the following:- Messers Man Das Tuladhar, Thakurlal Manandhar, Professor Renulal Singh, Karkat Man Tuladhar, Sita Ram Regmi, Poorna Bahadur Manab, Gore Daai (RPB Singh), Krishna Prasad Manandhar, Kanchha Daai (Jog Narayan Dangol), Vijayanandan Joshi, Chayan Bahadur Rajbhandari, Bhabani Shanker Rajbanshi, Giridharlal Manandhar, Sridharlal Manandhar, Madhav Prasad Timilsina, Dr. Parameshwar Thakur Gorkha, Govindalal Singh, LN Bhandari, Himaleswor Kumar Thapa, Satya Narayan Chitrakar, Er. Niran Kumar Manandhar, my wife Shobha Devi Shrestha and my sons Dr. Rabindra and Dr. Birendra Shrestha. This book is available with the author Dr. Y B Shrestha, Mailing Address: PO Box No. 181, Lajimpat, Kathmandu, NEPAL. Phone Nos. 412435, 412239. E-Mail: [email protected] 7 PREFACE To the First Edition This small book consists of some collections of the Teachings of a private , Teacher, Sri Govindananda Bharati popularly known as the Shivapuri Baba to the devotees who asked answers to their questions for their guidance. But, needless to say, these Teachings have their universal value and therefore are of great use to other people like me who are interested in the search for the Truth or the Right Life. When some like-minded and close friends came to know about this document they urged me to publish this in the form of a small book. I have divided this book into five parts, .the special feature being the INTERVIEWS which I took in the course of Satsang, since about 25 years, , of some Nepali devotees, who more or less visited the Shivapuri Baba almost for the same period. I culled these nectars from them as a bee does from numberless flowers. I am a humble collector only. These interviews have inspired and helped me very much. I am however especially grateful to the late Thakurlal Manandhar, Prof. Renulal Singh and Karkat Man Tuladhar from whom I learnt a great deal. May their souls remain in peace! To all those living devotees also who inspired me and so graciously given their valuable time, I must express my gratefulness. It is entirely their cooperation and patience which have materialized in the form of this book. I am also grateful to Giridharlal Manandhar and Govindalal Singh, able sons of Thakurlal Manandhar and Prof. Renulal Singh respectively, who have kindly given permission to include the materials concerned with their deceased fathers. Like a student of Chemistry who uses his Guide Book in his laboratory for conducting his experiments, so also a student of Right Life, must use this , document as a Practical Guide in the laboratory of Life, for the quest of God or Truth or the Ultimate. There may be some errors in this book. These will be removed later on if I come know them. I also humbly request the readers to kindly help me by their valuable suggestions. Lastly, my humble felicitations to the holy feet of the Shivapuri Baba. YBS 8 PREFACE To the Second Edition WHO (World Health Organisation) has defined Health as “physical, mental and social well-being of man and not only the mere absence of diseases”. But, according to the Shivapuri Baba, this definition is not correct because this fails to consider man’s most important health, i.e., Spiritual Health. He says further that unless man attains his Total Health, he cannot be free from all diseases. Therefore he must suffer the agony of sordid existence and its results again and again. HOW? By living the Right Life. WHAT are those diseases which man must suffer unless he lives the Right Life, Well, they are the Three Ills, the so called Tribidha Tapas, viz. Physical (Adhibhautic), Mental & Phenomenal (Adhidaivic) and Spiritual (Adhyatmic) Sufferings. Stated differently, this means that man can very well become physically healthy, materially prosperous, intellectually dexterous and socially well. He can therefore become successful in all his works or assignments. Naturally then he achieves happiness (Sukha). Again, by becoming free from Likes and Dislikes and unlawful Desires, he can make his mind stable and tranquil so that no Anxieties and Worries can “touch” him! In this way, he attains Contentment (Santosh). And finally, he insures himself against Temptations, Fears and Ignorance (The three powerful attributes of MAYA-God’s Power): as a result of this, he attains Peace (Shanti) and thus achieves the Spiritual Health. In this way he comes to know what is what of everything, the purpose of Life in general and Human Life in particular. When he attains all these three - Happiness, Contentment and Peace - he said to have attained the Highest or Holistic Health. Now, after coming to know this Truth, how can a sincere doctor of Medicine, whose job is to remove the illnesses, satisfy himself professionally simply by attending to the physical, mental and social ills of his clients? If he limits himself in these illnesses only, he may be said to be merely “scratching the side of the barrel” and therefore not doing his duty properly! One may argue that it is sufficient for him to know all about them. But knowing them alone does not mean attaining the Spiritual Health. So that he is nowhere near the Goal, the Total Health! Therefore he or for that matter his patients, must find a better doctor than himself, an Enlightened doctor. This particular Doctor therefore must be in a position to know all about the diseases from which man is suffering: he must also have “seen” the Truth, the Whole Truth, a true “Seer” in the highest sense of the word and practically a Lighthouse who can show the Right Path to the wayward or suffering mankind. However such a person is very rarely found in this world! As for myself, I am fully convinced that the Shivapuri Baba is such a man or a Healer. That was the reason why, I believe, this great man and his Teachings, like a strong magnet, pulled me, a mere iron piece, towards him with such a great 9 force that I became sufficiently motivated to devote enough time - not only days and months but many years - to learn his “secret!” And, I am glad to admit that this has proved extremely fruitful for me as well as my patients. Gradually, a strange truth revealed itself to me: I found myself to be not a doctor but a patient himself, suffering from the same diseases as my patients! I then realized the truth of saying, “Physician, heal thyself first! Know thyself first!” You may then ask me, “What is so special about SB’s Teachings? Well, SB Teachings are very simple, straightforward, practicable and applicable to every person in this world - from the dullest to the most intelligent—and most important of all, free from the prejudice of colors, creeds, dogmas, rituals and so on. His Teachings take us straight to the root of the problem, viz., Life Itself. Contrary to this, other so-called religions, like so many political parties, deal with the problems of this Life only, or prune only the “branches of the tree!” so that the “tree” keeps on growing more and more! Therefore they, at their best, are in à position to offer only palliative treatment whereas SB gives curative treatment to all of his patients. With this fact constantly in my mind therefore, I, like a bee, have tried to collect the nectar and put in a container in the form of this book. I have tasted this nectar and found it good, in fact the very best to me, so far! Let others interested too taste it! Regarding this publication: I have revised this Edition thoroughly, removed the errors as far as practicable and added some details in the INTERVIEWS, included a new part - SATSANG - and also an APPENDIX. I consider them as parts of the Applied Truth, which are very important to understand the Principles of Right Life, the Pure Truth. Lastly, I thank all my friends and seniors who help me to prepare this book in so many ways. YBS 10
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