Vedantavani
March 2026
Editorial
War Continues….
Since time immemorial, a few leaders have decided the fate of the masses. We are like sheep. If corona virus comes and kills millions, we bow our heads down. If they throw bombs and missiles, we bow down and run seeking shelters. If they cause the prices to go up by burning well-built buildings, perfectly functioning oil-rigs, highly-productive refineries and so on, we say, “Oh my god! Prices go up once again!” We are sheep. Robert Southey’s “After Blenheim” is indeed a good poem about war. “It was a great war, they say.” As the joke goes, “All for a little Nobel Prize.” They tried all systems possible: even so-called Democracy, voting etc. Rule by the People is not possible.
This world is a mixture of good and evil. However, in this social media age, even quiet good people cannot escape the effects of evil, as negative news keeps on bombarding media .
There is no shorter or easier way to punish evil, say some people. Some others say that evil cannot be removed by evil and so wars are useless. Yet others say that most of the world’s economy is spent on constructing huge buildings, bombing them, and reconstructing them. And in the process, a few generals will hang a few more tape pieces and badges on their chests. And the same leaders warmly embrace one another, shake hands, smile and have a toast for each other’s health. Here, the masses will be searching for crumbs amid rubble. And pay double for items of basic survival.
The unholy and horrific World War II did not teach lessons. After 1946, there were several other wars and now it’s like apocalypse is happening. Who knows when it shall end and how evil shall be destroyed, if at all.
There is hope. The hope is Ishvara, the divine Lord. It’s not that the leaders made this universe, it was somebody else who made it. Further, it is He who controls it. He listens to the footprints of even ants, say the saints. He is the antaryami, the Indweller. He is the only Friend, Father, Mother, Hope, everything. So our prayers to Him should change the minds of those who think they own this world to break and speak of peace.
Let’s all pray that good sense prevails soon and there shall be peace.
Swami Sunirmalananda
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One day Holy Mother was meditating and someone loudly called her. Her meditation broke and she cried out. When he heard this, Sri Ramakrishna rushed to the nahabat. Gradually Mother became calm. Sri Ramakrishna said to others: “During meditation, one should neither call nor make noise near the person.”
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Emotional Triggers and us…
Contributed by : Francis van Schaik
Shenpa is a term from Tibetan Buddhism that refers to the restless energy of our impulses. According to Pema Chödrön, we can learn not to be swept away by our impulsive reactions. The following exercise helps with this.
Why emotional triggers have such a strong impact
We all know it: one comment, look, or situation, and suddenly you react more strongly than you’d like. Afterwards, you might think: why did this affect me so much? Emotional triggers often seem automatic and uncontrollable, but according to Tibetan Buddhism, there’s actually a space between stimulus and reaction. Learning to recognize and utilize that space is what this exercise is about.
What is shenpa?
In Tibetan Buddhism, the term shenpa refers to the restless, sticky energy that arises when we are touched by an emotion and immediately go along with it. Author and Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön describes shenpa as the moment we latch on: we’re drawn in by irritation, anger, shame, or sadness and react automatically. The good news: shenpa isn’t a mistake, but a signal. And you can learn to deal with it differently. Here’s how:
An exercise to break through emotional triggers
1. Recognize the moment of “hookup”
The first step is awareness. Try to notice when you’re emotionally triggered and react automatically. It could be something small: someone cuts you off in traffic, a colleague makes a comment, your partner says something in the wrong tone. The moment you notice: now I’m hooking up is crucial. Not to judge yourself, but simply to recognize: this is shenpa.
2. Interrupt your automatic reaction
Instead of following the impulse, consciously pause:
Take three slow, deep breaths
Stay focused on the sensation of the emotion
Pema Chödrön invites you to become curious: How does this emotion feel in my body? Is it warm, tight, restless? What thoughts accompany it? You don’t have to resolve or change anything. Just stay present with the energy, without judgment. This can be uncomfortable, especially at first. So stay as long as it’s bearable.
3. Relax and continue with your day
Then let go of the exercise and continue with what you were doing. The goal isn’t to suppress emotions, but neither is it to dwell on them. Start practicing with small, everyday triggers: in traffic, at work, at home. Daily life offers endless practice material. By starting small, you develop resilience that will also help you with larger emotional challenges.
Emotional freedom starts with mindfulness
Dealing with emotional triggers doesn’t mean you’ll never be angry, sad, or irritated again. It means learning not to react automatically, but to choose more consciously. Each time you recognize and stay with shenpa for a moment, you train your ability to create space. Space for gentleness, clarity, and ultimately, more inner peace. Don’t see this exercise as something that has to be “good” or “perfect,” but as a gentle invitation to get to know yourself better—precisely at the moments when it really matters.
Why we prefer to avoid emotions
Many of us have learned to numb discomfort as quickly as possible. We grab our phone, turn on the TV, eat something sweet or keep ourselves busy just to avoid feeling what is going on.
[Source: Happinez]
Francis van Schaik is a coach of young people and also a student of human relationships with nature, the world and Truth. She regularly contributes to our online magazine. Francis is the regular contributor of articles in this page.
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One day Swami Girijananda tried to argue with Mother by quoting Sri Shankaracharya, who had said: “Liberation is not possible without the knowledge of Brahman.” Mother told Girijananda: “My son, you have read much. You will go in a roundabout way. The Master said that one would be liberated by dying in Varanasi.” Lateron, the swami found that Mother’s statement was supported by Jabala Upanishad.
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Friends of God
Kees Boukema
Many Western philosophers have explored the theme of friendship. What is the motive for friendship? Is it the utility, the pleasure, or the feelings of friendship itself? Does friendship mean more than mutual goodwill? Should there be similarity between friends (birds of a feather flock together) or do opposites attract? Mutual trust is considered a requirement. Flattery and submission pose a threat to friendship. Philosopher and Church Father Augustine associated friendship with “transcendence.” True friendship between people exists when God has brought the friends together. “Friendship only becomes true when God unites people through his love,” he wrote in his autobiography [Confessions, IV, 4].
Some myths also portray the relationship between humanity and God as a “friendship.” For example, in the Bible, the patriarch Abraham is called a friend of God (James 2:23 and Isaiah 41:8). Abram was the son of Terah, who lived in Ur of the Chaldees. When Abram was 75 years old, the Lord had said to him, “Get out of this land, leave your family, and go to the land I will show you.” When Abram arrived in the land of Canaan, the Lord spoke to him in a vision and said, “I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees.” He took Abram outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able, so that your descendants may be counted.” Abram trusted the Lord, and He credited this to him as righteousness. That day the Lord made a covenant with Abram: “I give to your descendants this land,” he said, “from the River of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.” (Genesis 12 ff.).
When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him again and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk in my covenant with me and live blamelessly. I will establish a covenant with you and multiply your descendants.” Abram bowed to the ground, and God said, “This is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram (a man), but Abraham (a fully human being), for I have made you the father of many nations. I will give all the land of Canaan, the land where you are now a foreigner, to you and your descendants forever, and I will be their God.” Some time later, God tested Abraham. In Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, the only one he loved, to God, Abraham demonstrated that he had “fear” for God. (Genesis 22)
The Book of Exodus of the Jewish Torah describes how Abraham’s descendants had become so numerous that they were considered a threat by the Pharaoh of Egypt. Therefore, they were forced into slavery. When God heard their cries, he remembered the covenant he had made with Abraham and his descendants. He saw their suffering and felt compassion for them. Then, from a burning bush, God revealed himself to Moses, a Jewish boy raised in Pharaoh’s court. God said to him, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham.” Then Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look at God. God said, “I have seen the plight of my people and heard their cry; I know their suffering. So I have come down from heaven to rescue them and bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanites. You are to go to Pharaoh and bring my people out of Egypt. Take your brother Aaron with you. I will be with you. He will speak to the people in your place. He will be your mouthpiece, and you will be his god.” [Exodus 24]
At the end of the book of Exodus, it says that God spoke personally with Moses, as friends speak with each other, and instructed him to lead the people of Israel to the “promised land.” Moses asked God to accompany him as proof that God was well-disposed toward him and his people. God then said to Moses, “Truly I tell you, I will do whatever you ask, because I have been pleased with you and have chosen you.” And Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” God replied, “I will pass before you in all my glory and proclaim the name of the Lord before you. […] You will not be able to see my face, for no one will see me and live. I will put you in a cave and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face will not be seen.” The “friendship” here legitimizes the leadership of Moses and Abraham.
The Bhagavad Gita is part of the Indian epic Mahabharata. Here, too, the relationship between man (nara) and God (Narayana) is presented as a friendship. Specifically, between Sri Krishna, an incarnation of the god Vishnu, and his friend, Prince Arjuna, a military leader. Arjuna represents humanity seeking God for deliverance from sorrow and despair.
Krishna is his teacher, but also his charioteer. The Bhagavad Gita contains a conversation between them on the eve of a battle. Arjuna has realized that he is expected to kill his kin, and he refuses to fight. This conversation is considered the foundation of all religions in India: “All Being, all that exists, is a manifestation of God.” [The Spiritual Heritage of India, p. 95.]
The Bhagavad Gita is written in the form of a dialogue between Sri Krishna and his friend and follower Arjuna. Krishna is the “Lord who resides in the heart of all beings.” Krishna is hidden in everyone’s heart, but when the veil of ignorance is removed, we hear Krishna’s voice, the voice of God. In the Bhagavad Gita, the emphasis is not on Krishna as a historical figure, but on his transcendental aspect, the Soul of all souls. The Bhagavad Gita does not contain a specific metaphysical system, for it is not a metaphysical treatise, but rather contains metaphysical truth in its many aspects, religious insights, and practices. The Gita shows no conflicts or contradictions, but rather the harmony between religions. “God is infinite, and numberless are the aspects and paths leading to Him.”
“By whatever means people come to Me, so do I welcome them. Whatever path they follow, that path is Mine; it ultimately leads to Me.” (IV, 11)
In Chapter VII of the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna declares that his friend Sri Krishna’s teachings about the Self have dispelled his ignorance on this point and says: “My soul burns with longing to see Your divine form. If it is possible for me, show me, O Lord, Your Eternal Self.” Sri Krishna then replies: “Behold my heavenly forms, the Powers of Nature, and the entire universe. I will grant you Divine Vision.” Behold the Glory of My Supremacy. After speaking thus, Sri Krishna showed Arjuna His supreme and divine Form as the Lord. (Bhagavad Gita, Ch. XI)
In that vision, Arjuna sees the universe with all its manifold forms, all encompassed in One, his Supreme Lord. Overwhelmed by these terrifying images of creation, destruction, and dissolution, Arjuna bows his head and says: “Have mercy on me, O Mighty One, and let me see You again as You were before.” Sri Krishna: “I have shown Myself as the Destroyer, who annihilates the world. All these warriors will not escape death. I have already condemned them; be you My instrument. Abandon your fear and see Me again in the form so familiar to you.”
The Greek philosopher Socrates (427–347 BCE) philosophized in a very unique way. He was called the wisest of all the Greeks by the ‘Oracle of Delphi’. We know his philosophy from conversations he had and that were recorded by his students. When teaching, Socrates would first question his conversation partner in order to free him from misconceptions and thus make room for the truth that lies within himself. In ‘Lysis’ Socrates tells about a conversation he had with some boys at a sports school in Athens. He had said that for him friendship was the highest good, that he had ardently longed for friends from his earliest youth and that he would still do anything to have friends. Socrates had delved deeper into the question of what ‘friendship’ actually is. When it began to dawn on his conversation partners that their view on it was incorrect, the conversation was suddenly broken off. The boys were picked up; they had to go home. No conclusions were drawn [Lysis, 211 a-e]. Or perhaps the conclusion is that you don’t discover what “true” friendship is by arguing, but by practicing friendship: Explore with your friend what friendship is all about. There’s something else to it.
The Greek word for friendship, “philia,” has a broader meaning than the Dutch word “friendship.” The ancient Greeks also used this word for “solidarity” in communities, for the connection of “cosmic” elements, and for philosophy. In “Symposion” (c. 4), Socrates says to his young friend Alcibiades: “The sight of the mind becomes sharper as the sight of the eyes becomes less sharp.” See also “The Sophists,” c. 39: “The eyes of most people are too dim to behold the divine.” For Socrates, philosophizing was a continuous attempt by man to transcend the deceptive appearance of sense perception to the point where the Spirit can behold the True, Divine (“daimonion”) in the world (Bruno Snell, Platon’Mit den Augen des Geistes’, S. 2i4.).
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Mr Kees Boukema is a scholar in Vedanta and Comparative philosophy. His brilliant and thorough-going articles on various philosophical and spiritual subjects are being published since the first issue of the magazine. His latest work is De Beoefening van Meditatie.
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Aphorisms about the Night
Paulo J. S. Bittencourt
Professor of the History Course at UFFS – Erechim Campus
1. In the dark night of my soul, not like Sisyphus, but in the unconscious intransigence of blind faith, the guilt I carried – the eternal conflict that Kazantzakis envisions between body and soul – became an unbearable burden.
2. How can spirit and flesh not conflict if spirit and flesh are nothing more than the symptom of a mind split by the most intense ignorance of hatred?
3. Why do I pursue, unknowingly, guilt to punish myself for the guilt generated within me by feeling abandoned and abandoning others as well? Or is it out of the vainest pride of boasting of myself as a supposed sacrificial victim?
4. In the dark night of my soul, I was self-absorbed sadness, when melancholy transpired from the pores of my skin, which a life so petrified by battles had frozen. Then I died.
5. Something died within me, though I don’t know what it is. It seemed murky and opaque to me. That’s when I fell like a bent-over embryo, desperate for support amidst the abyss of primordial pain. I then came to know the icy circle of hell.
6. But, once, I heard a lama chant that, if the flames that burn the forest have already spread, one should not forget that no fire can withstand the inexorable torrents of impermanence.
7. I died, because death in life must die, and the dead must bury their dead. In the scars of my lacerated being was born the sincere desire to learn, perhaps for the first time, to offer others more dignified and gentle attention.
8. I don’t know if I will be free from more dark nights of the soul. But I know that this last one, as it happened, will never be repeated. If others come, perhaps I may land on my feet, which is all one aspires to, and revere them as masters, for to die with dignity, just as one aspires to live – even if it is such a long art for such a brief life – has become, in my view, a possible meaning for existence.
9. From now on, my search for truth abandons the ashes of certainties and contemplates the purest faith of the mystic, who does not participate in convictions. The truth that laughs is more haughty, and the attentive silence, the most intimate expression of reverent communion with the mystery.
10. I have not yet lowered the banners of the war that so brutally assails me from within. But I feel a little more peace, and I can already contemplate the starry night that Vincent Van Gogh painted in blue and gray, “looking at the summer days outside, with eyes that know the darkness of my soul.”
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Professor Paulo Bittencourt teaches History at the UFFS, Erchim Campus, Rio Grande de Sul. “Federal University of Southern Frontier” [UFFS] is one of the best universities of Brasil with highly qualified professors at the helm. Professor Bittencourt never rejects our request for articles, though he is very busy.
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“Pray to God with tears in your eyes whenever you want illumination or find yourself faced with any doubt or difficulty. The Lord will remove all your impurities, assuage your mental anguish, and give you enlightenment.”
Mother Sri Sarada Devi
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Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Saradananda
Sometimes Sri Ramakrishna would ask a disciple if he wanted to marry and earn money. If the disciple replied that he wouldn’t marry but would have to enter the service to earn money, that would not satisfy the Master, who was a great lover of freedom. He would say, “If you don’t marry, why should you be someone’s slave all your life? Give your whole heart to God and worship Him. If you are born into the world, this should be your highest ambition. If that is not possible, then marry, but make the realization of God your highest goal and always maintain yourself honestly.” These were Sri Ramakrishna’s views. If, before that, any disciple whom he considered special, or even reasonably spiritually gifted, married or entered the service to earn money, or worked for fame and wasted his energy, he would take it very seriously.
One of his young disciples (Swami Niranjananda) took a job to support his mother. When Sri Ramakrishna heard of this, he said, “If you hadn’t done that for your old mother, I would never have looked at you again.” When another disciple came to the garden at Cossipore to see Ramakrishna after his marriage, Sri Ramakrishna wept as if he had lost a son. He threw his arms around the boy’s neck and wept repeatedly, “Don’t try to sink into the world forever by forgetting God.”
All scriptures teach that progress on the spiritual path is impossible without sincere faith. Knowing this, some of us make it a point to believe in everything and everyone. But Sri Ramakrishna warned us against this. Although he asked us to journey along the spiritual path with faith, he never asked us to stop discriminating. One should use one’s sense of right and wrong, both on the spiritual path and in worldly affairs—that, we think, was his view. Once, one of his disciples (Swami Yogananda) went to a shop and bought an iron pot. He appealed to the shopkeeper’s religious sensibility and didn’t examine the pot carefully. He then discovered it was leaking. Sri Ramakrishna scolded him, saying, “Because you are a devotee of God, does that mean you should be a fool? Do you think a shopkeeper opens a shop just to practice religion? Why didn’t you examine the pot before buying it? Don’t be such a fool again.
When you go shopping, first determine the going price of an item by visiting various shops, and then thoroughly investigate what you want to buy. And don’t forget to demand small extras where permissible.”
Sometimes, some people who have begun to practice religion become so kindhearted that their kindness itself becomes a slavery for them, even leading them astray from the path of spirituality. This is often the case with gentle people. Sri Ramakrishna would instruct such people to be steadfast and resolute. But those who were naturally domineering and harsh, he asked to be gentle. Swami Yogananda was of a very gentle nature. We never saw him get angry or abuse anyone, even when there was a reason. Although it was against his nature and inclinations, he suddenly married because of his tender heart. His mother begged him, and when he saw her crying, he didn’t have the strength to refuse. Only by Sri Ramakrishna’s grace was he saved from a life of bitter disappointment and remorse.
Sri Ramakrishna watched over him with great care and tried in every possible way to cure his excessive gentleness. The following is just one example of how Sri Ramakrishna instructed us even in the smallest things.
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Mary Saaleman is a devotee of Sri Ramakrishna since decades. She is a student of Vedanta and is regularly studying Ramakrishna-Vedanta literature.
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The heart is the greatest river of your life, the head is the bridge over the river. Always s follow the heart.
Swami Vivekananda.
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India and Dharma
[Prabuddha Bharata 1920]
INDIA is One—from the spiritual viewpoint. This is evidenced in our literature and religious beliefs, and the background is the vision of Brahman, the triumph of the soul over the consciousness of the body. This is the land of spiritual ideas. At bottom we are one from Ceylon to the Himalayas, because our ideas, though innumerable and most marvelously complex, are one, bearing relation to the vision of the Divine. Never have there been greater men than the Rishis; never have there been more comprehensive thought-systems than those of the Vedanta. Our epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, are charged with most inspiring narratives of heroes and of sages. They embody the very highest ethical and spiritual outlook and they give us the history of the Indian ideas and of Indian greatness. Where shall one find more inspiring scriptures than those of the Vedas and the Upanishads? And where in the history of human thought are there elsewhere such divine utterances of soul as the Bhagavad Gita and the Nirvana Shatka!
Here, in our motherland, the human mind has thought out the most inclusive ideas, going beyond the very foundations of logic into the depths of the spiritual consciousness. Here, in our motherland, the human soul has struck the highest note of truth concerning the Nature of the individual. Here, in this land, the grand exclamations of the soul, which has attained the divine Consciousness, say, ‘‘Aham Brahmasmi!’’ and ‘’Tat ‘vam asi!’ Behold the long list of the Avataras: Rama! Krishna! Buddha! Shankara ! Chaitanya ! Guru Nanak! Behold the retinue of philosophers, Kapila, Gautama, Kanada, Jaimini, Ramanujacharya, Madvhacharya, Vallabhacharya and the philosophers of Nalanda and Nadia universities!
Aye, India is One. For from North to South and from East to West this is the basis of Hinduism. It is Hinduism. From Kashmir and Nepal to Rameswar and Bombay and from Kailash to Ceylon, India is One in its culture, in its faith, in its spiritual outlook. ‘True India is not an India of provinces, but of culture. It is a Nation.
Swami Raghavananda
A Sadhu told Nag Mahashay, “However strong might be your faith, and however intense be your love for God unless you practice Sadhana and meditate on Him, after being properly initiated by the Guru, you cannot have God-vision.” Hearing this, Nagmahashaya became very eager to get initiation. A great spiritual discomfort came over him. Occasionally, many Sadhus and devotees used to come and live on the banks of the Ganges. Expecting that some great man amongst them might take pity on him and initiate him, Nagmahashaya would sit on the bank of the river till late at night. Many a day passed in that way. Once, while he was taking his bath in the Ganges, he saw a boat coming there. When the boat landed, he saw that the passenger in the boat was none other than his own family Guru, Kailash Chandra Bhattacharya. Nagmahashaya finished his bath in haste. After proper greetings, he asked about his unexpected arrival in Calcutta. Kailash Chandra replied that he had come there to initiate him, for he had received such a commandment from the Mother. Was it that his sincere prayers had reached the eyes of the All-Merciful Mother of the universe? He led him to his residence in Calcutta. Nag Mahashay’s father, Dindayal, saw the family Guru and was beside himself with joy, for it was his earnest desire that his son should be initiated by the Kulaguru. The next day was an auspicious one. Nagmahashaya and his wife were initiated in Sakti Mantram.
After initiation Nagmahashaya earnestly began to practice Sadhana. Many nights he passed in meditation and Japam. On the new-moon day, he would go without food and pass the night in meditation on the bank of the Ganges. In his meditation he sometimes lost his consciousness. One day he was deeply absorbed in concentration; the flow-tide came high and carried him away. He had to come back to the shore swimming, after had recovered his senses. Thus he passed most of his time in prayer and meditation.