Clare Rosenfield
Introduction
Once Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanu was asked, "What would you want if you could be granted one and only one thing?" "Right vision," was his response. By the ocean at San Diego in 1981, Gurudev attained the enlightened state of self-awareness which enabled him to purify further his own consciousness and life and enhance his present global mission of Reverence for All Life.
To perceive and experience reality as it is, this is the vision which Gurudev has been deepening and expanding since he took the vows of a Jain Monk at the age of 20. His first five years of monastic life were spent mostly in silence, training himself through study and meditation to look within for the answers to his quest for enlightened awareness.
During the next twenty-four years he communicated through talks, writings and the example of his saintly life, the vision which emerged from his own experience: the vision of a world united in loving reverence. Reverence for what? For that living energy animating all living beings.
Moving in that awareness, he was able to help people of all faiths and cultures free themselves from mental, psychological, and social boundary lines and plunge into the reality of their innermost being. After becoming one of the spiritual leaders of the Jains in India, he founded the Divine Knowledge Society and other social welfare and emergency relief organizations. "Salvation," according to Gurudev, "comes when you forget about your own salvation and put yourself in the place of all living beings."
Incapable of being limited by name or fame, by precedent or label, he was willing to be the first monk to transcend the ancient rules prohibiting travel by vehicle in order to accept the invitation of the Temple of Understanding to address the Second and Third Spiritual Summit Conferences, at Geneva in 1970, and at Harvard Divinity School in 1971. Subsequently, he accepted lecturing tours in Europe and Africa, and eventually he accepted many invitations to teach in America.
In 1971, Gurudev transcended the monastic life along with his position of authority in order to be free to live and carry his universal message to the larger family of humankind, as a global citizen.
He has lectured at many institutions of learning and human development, such as Princeton, Sarah Lawrence, Cornell, Harvard, State University of New York at Purchase and others. He is the founder and spiritual adviser to the Jain Meditation International Center in New York City as well as to other Jain centers in America, United Kingdom, Africa, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada and India. He is a world-renowned author of over twenty-five books, which reflect his philosophy and his message of world peace, nonviolence, the need to appreciate the sanctity of all life, and to build solidarity in the larger family of mankind.
Preface
Once when I was sitting at the feet of Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanuji, experiencing the vibrant and soothing quality of his presence as it filled my being with joy, I heard him speak of the importance of remaining in the company of positive healthy vibrations. Confused, as to the real meaning of the word "vibrations," which I had heard bandied about in everyday conversations; I asked him if he would mind explaining it.
He gave in response the following analogy, an experiment, which had actually been carried out. Two sitars tuned at the same frequency are placed opposite one another. A piece of paper is placed upon one of the strings of one of the instruments. One by one, the strings of the opposite sitar are played. When the string, which is exactly opposite the string bearing the paper, is played, the piece of paper of its counterpart dances right off. "So", I thought to myself, "It is a response. It works like an echo. One side calls out and the other side answers."
Not until I went on a three-week pilgrimage to sacred Jain places of meditation in India with Gurudev and seventeen fellow students in November of 1975 did I fully grasp the meaning behind the analogy. There in the radiant Delwara Temples at Mt. Abu in Rajasthan and in the cluster of more than eight hundred snowy white shrines and temples of Palitana atop Mt. Shatrunjaya in Gujarat, I met face to face the deep peace and beauty - wordless and indescribable - of pure vibrations.
Were they emanating from the finely wrought white marble statues, columns, ceilings, and walls of the temples or from the living rocks of the steep mountainsides? Were they silent songs of ecstasy still being sung by the ancient sculptors, patrons, and devotees responsible for these great beauties? Were they outpourings from the sparkling eyes and melting hearts of the people meditating there or were they my own soul's invocations? I do not know.
All I can say is that the vibrations had such a smooth and harmonious flow, such an inviting, even beckoning power that it was impossible to distinguish between initiator and response, between outer and inner, between I and Thou. It was a merging of this tiny drop of soul into an ocean of vastness. It was an opening of this small self to receive the purest of the pure.
It felt as if all the millions of people who for hundreds of centuries had been drawn there to meditate had left invisible heartprints of their loving feelings and experiences in self-purification. Deep compassion streamed out from the eyes of the images of the prophets of Jainism, reminding us of those Perfect Souls who had triumphed over their inner enemies. Their vibrations inspired and healed me and recalled to me the compassionate eyes of my living Master, Shree Chitrabhanuji.
The series of talks which are complied in this book and which were delivered in springtime 1976 clarified in so many ways the experiences just related. I now realize that those vibrations, which elicited in me such an intense response, are none other than what Gurudev means when he speaks of sentient energy: The animating force behind all living forms, the indestructible energy which exists at the heart of each one of us.
Gurudev's deep message in this book is to open each of us to our intrinsic nature so that we may experience the releasing sense of bliss and all-pervading peace, which is our "birthright" as human beings. In the company of those vibrations, which harmonize with our own, we can uncover our mission in life - that which is conducive to our spiritual growth and to the upliftment of our fellow living beings.
If such glimpses of soul into itself can be attained once or twice, why do we not experience this height of consciousness and inner ecstasy all the time? In this lecture series, Gurudev explains that the overlay of karmas or minute particles of matter obscure our clear vision and weigh us down like a mud-filled gourd. He elucidates the ways in which we invite karmic matter from the universe to adhere to our soul or self and block its inherent radiance. It occurs in our moments of greed, anger, pride, or deceitfulness when we create a process of negative vibration.
Unlike pure vibration, which is neither negative nor positive, passion-inspired vibration is a state of imbalance, swaying us either to the pole of attraction or repulsion.
Once we wake up to the power of our own sentient energy to be master of our own destiny and conqueror of all mental weaknesses, we will experience genuine free will and move toward the true nature of our being.
Thanks to all the living masters of the past and present, from all the various religious traditions, known and unknown, and to Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanuji to whom I bow in loving reverence, there is great hope for mankind. Inspired and emboldened by their example, energized by contact with their universal vibration, soul emerges naturally like a flower and lifts its face toward the radiant sun.
May this book help you to realize what you are and to become one with your deepest quest. May your life pulsate and vibrate with the living echo of your pure conscious energy....
Namaste to all -
I bow to the light in all
Brahmi
(Clare Rosenfield)
Hartsdale
New York