親愛的朋友們：
日本發生了巨型天災，傷亡慘重，舉世震驚。
斯瓦米韋達為文提醒我們：
在古印度以及古中國，每當災劫降臨，為人君者都會自問，我如何冒瀆了天？我有何補救之道？
今天，我們做為地球每一份子，也應該自省，我們如何冒犯了大自然，我們能如何補救？
不要把日人的不幸只看成是他們的業報，這是我們所有地球生靈的業報。國界、國籍只是人為的區分。
像這種規模的共業，只有經由我們所共同作出的善業，累積個千百年才能預防。
我們應該要為不幸的日人祈禱。祈禱不能立即滅除此刻的苦難，但是祈禱所送出的心念會在宇宙中迴盪，如果做得正確，是能夠送到想要送達的對象，能有助於減輕心靈的苦惱。
世界各國為了阻止SARS、禽流感的傳播，做出了巨大的努力，但是有沒有重視癌症的之類慢性殺手疾病的蔓延？
我們吃的食物中、呼吸的空氣中有多少致癌或其他疾病的物質？
在心靈上，我們有無任由自己的瞋心強固到自我毀滅的程度？
我們也不要忽略了，此刻在世界上其他角落，不被媒體所報導，卻分分鐘奪人性命的人間慘劇。
在非洲，每24小時就有2880名兒童因為瘧疾而死亡！這難道不也是巨型的災難？
我們有為這些遇難的兒童，為他們的父母，送上祈禱的心念？
非洲每天死亡的兒童遠不止於次數，據統計，每天有一萬四千名兒童因為各種原因而橫死，大多數是因為飢餓。見到有救難的軍用直升機運送口糧過去嗎？
我們還要在地震帶上蓋核電廠，蓋巨型水壩？唉，智慧，智慧，你跑到哪兒去了？
當我們為不幸的日人祈禱之際，請記得也為其他不幸的生靈送上祈禱，更好是送上食物、蚊帳。
願我們現代的政治領導人能夠自省。
願我們能努力淨化自己，以至於能免於眼前的和未來的災劫。
願我們的祈禱化為行動。
以下為訊息之英文原文
JAPAN and other DISASTERS
It is said repeatedly in the Puranas (the great cosmological epics of India in Sanskrit) that when the earth can bear no more the burden of human sins, she, our mother, turns on her sides and we all come tumbling down all over.
It is also stated repeatedly that when the rulers are immoral and selfish, that corrupts the entire social order. AND, the order of Nature. This is a well known tenet in the teachings of India and of such philosophers as Confucius.
So, in the ancient stories of kings and kingdoms in India, whenever a natural disaster strikes, the king enters introspection :
Kim aham paapam akaravam
Kim aham saadhu naakaravam
What transgressions of the laws of morality have I committed?
Which right acts have I neglected to perform?
Then the king undertakes acts of self-purification :
pashchaat-taapa, confession to oneself, and
praayashcnitta, repentance and expiation
If our greed had not raised the ocean levels, and had not cut down the mangrove forests, would the tsunamis not be a little less disastrous?
Some calamities like earthquakes cannot be prevented -- except by massive and collective good karma of all people through thousand year spans. But some of their side effects can still be reduced.
What is the purpose of prayer at the times of such crises? Can our prayer mitigate the effects of the disasters? Can they lessen the pain of those suffering? Not so, not immediately. But it is also well known that prayer reduces the mental anguish?
How so? Each thought we think creates waves in the universal mind. Its waves can be directed/channeled towards the target minds. If we know how to pray.
Wordless prayer is the most effective; it is a state of intense feeling in the mind that is first stilled and purified, after freeing it of all sense-inputs and emotion-uprisings. The mind thus stilled through a particular type of heart centre meditation (to be learnt from an expert) is ready to send wave of an intense feeling of wellness, comfort and solace to the target mind(s).
Thus may we pray for those who are suffering.
Sars and bird flu!! Very important for the affluent air traveler to be saved from it. So all the high-tech precautions are taken.
Are we taking the same precautions to step the epidemic of cancer? Are we doing so by reducing the artificial chemicals wherewith we wash out fruits? How we contaminate our milk (right in the udder), how we force ourselves to breathe lead-laden air? How we nurture our angers constantly and intensify them to destroy us?
Sars and Bird Flu!! 2880, that is, two thousand eight hundred and eighty, 2880 (I repeat intentionally), children die of malaria in Africa alone EVERY 24 HOURS.
Is that not a natural disaster of calamitous proportions?
Do we say a prayer for these children and their loving parents and siblings, and forego the purchase or rental of one video to buy and send a mosquito net?
Don't buy the mosquito net in USA or Europe and send it : for the price of one in these countries, maybe ten can be made where they are needed (providing some employment too).
Send prayers,
And, more important,
food parcels
for the 600 children who will be dying in the next one hour?
And for the 14400 who will die in the next 24 hours, wrapped perhaps in a newspaper to ward off cold, lying a cardboard box, with their knees pulled deep into the belly, curled up?
Any rations-laden military helicopters to rescue them?
Build more atomic reactors in quake-prone zones like California? And, also, more massive dams in the quake-prone zones like Uttarakhand Himalayas? Shall we?
Wisdom, Wisdom, where hast thou gone?
Our hearts go out to those thousands in Japan who have been hit by the triple crisis of earthquake, tsunami and radiation. Triple sorrow for them and for those of us who care.
Let us pray for them, wherever we are, singly and in groups.
Also do not forget to do something for those 2 children who died of malaria while you read this paragraph; and those 4 children who died of starvation also while you read the same paragraph. How many pictures of those on the TV, and in the newspapers?
When you pray for the suffering of Japan, do include these other neglected disasters.
Pray also that our rulers and others who hold and wield power(s), do an introspection:
Kim aham paapam akaravam
Kim aham saadhu naakaravam
What transgressions of the universal laws and consequent ethical principles have I committed?
Which right acts have I neglected to perform?
Remember that we also hold and wield some power(s); pray for your own self-purification to ward off world disasters of an immediate aas well as far off future.
May your prayer be an action.
Swami Veda Bharati
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