Description

Welcome to the heart of Buddha! When you enter Buddha’s heart, your entire being is filled with compassion. Your wisdom is tempered with compassion and your eyes are filled with the tears of love. Compassion is an emotion that is above all emotions. It is the hope that another person’s suffering will diminish, it is a wish that all sentient beings will be free and happy. In practical terms, it is a noble act when a person reaches out to the other.
Karun hridaya means that you have a heart of compassion, just like the Buddha’s heart which is an ocean of compassion. This book, “Karun hridaya”, contains discourses by Anandmurti Gurumaa in which she has succinctly brought to light the messages of saints and holy men. One of them also happens to be the Buddha, who is himself in reality an ocean of compassion.
The concept of compassion is fundamental to Buddhism. It arises from a statement that “unenlightened life is suffering”. This statement is at the core of Buddhism.
In her inimitable way, Gurumaa puts across her message through the many anecdotes and stories that fills up this book, and above all, the way she has brought out the important personality of the Buddha in which he is shown to be a practical nature. As Gurumaa says before the Buddha, the world was full of beliefs and faiths. When the Buddha appeared, he ushered in for the first time, an era of science and logic.
As Gurumaa says it is only from a compassionate heart that love for another is born that there is a tendency to take action to remove the sufferings of others. The Buddha smile tells it all – the awakening of love, the pinnacle of sacrifice so that mankind can be free of suffering. When he saw that the world was suffering, the Buddha sacrificed everything, even his family, and went out to search for a way to end sufferings. That is essence of the Buddha.
When he attained enlightenment, he realized that all beings are one and so it was natural for the Buddha to extend compassionate action without distinction. But Karuna should be accompanied by wisdom so that it has the right effect. Because on the personal level, if it is not accompanied by wisdom, it is likely that a person may get enmeshed in some common attitudes and close the heart again. Then he will not feel the quiver of the heart that leads him to do acts of compassionate nature. It can also be sabotaged by malice towards others and may not arise because of personal feelings like emotional wounds, etc.
The Buddha lived thousands of years ago. It was a time when Gurumaa says when Purana were regarded as the foremost dharma in India. When Buddha appeared, he changed the entire outlook. What is very interesting is that although Buddha lives thousands of years ago, his approach was very scientific. He was never interested in theories but was always looking for practical answers to the problems of life. He saw the problems and offered solutions to the problems.
Page after pages, the book oozes words of wisdom through the many ways by which Gurumaa simplifies things that are beyond the understanding of the common man. In her discourses Gurumaa awakens the listener’s finer feelings and purifies his entire being. Such is the appeal of Gurumaa’s sayings which this book demonstrates that it becomes difficult to put it down till you reach the last page.
Early on, Gurumaa invites the seeker that there is still one Buddha who has yet to become Buddha. “You are not Buddha because you haven’t awakened, but you want to. You are not Buddha because you are in bondage, you are asleep, unconscious.” So when will you awaken? Gurumaa says when the light of wisdom, when the lamp of knowledge will shatter the darkness.
It’s a wonderful way to start this inner journey. The seeker is led gradually, yet surely, into the higher realms of the inner self, into the gentle awakening as Gurumaa softly knocks on the doors of our minds, reminding us to wake up and shine. Of great interest is the chapter called “Buddha ki maha karuna” where the essence of Buddha’s teachings is so clearly, so simply put forward to the layman that it’s absolutely easy to understand. There is a flow in Gurumaa’s vani that a person who is listening or in this case, reading, gets deeply involved and effortlessly swims in it. Gurumaa’s vast experiences and her deep understanding of human nature, the world, the scriptures and the universe is so immensely rich that it would take a normal person a little more time to comprehend. That is why Gurumaa explains them through the anecdotes, stories and parables. These are the pillars of Gurumaa’s teachings, and the essential components for the seeker who is learning the nuances of the higher realms.
For example, Gurumaa narrates the story of Mahakashyap’s laughter, of Buddha’s silence and the story of Sudhas’ and the lotus flower. And then in order to take this flower, a war broke out between a king and a rich man. “What did Mahakashyap attain when he laughed. And why did the Buddha go with the flower in his hand? What are the reasons? What are the indications?” Gurumaa asks. The truth is that in spirituality, indications, the signs, are everything. As Gurumaa says, “People have the tendency to catch hold of the words and forget the signs.”
And Gurumaa emphasizes: “What is given as signs are greater than words. If you cannot understand this, then let me simplify. If I tell you to repeat whatever I have said in the last ten minutes, you will say that you’ll just listen to the tape recording first and then tell me. But If I were to say that you should repeat what I have said in the last two hours, then it will be impossible for you to do so.”
So, Gurumaa says: “There may be people who can repeat what I have said. I’m not talking about those people. But those of you who have assembled here, apart from the words which I have spoken, whatever that you have felt or experienced, those are the signs that have reached you.”
Such is the essence of Gurumaa’s teachings which come out through this book. You not only enjoy reading the book, but you also become part of the learning process.