ESSENTIALS OF THE HIGHER VALUES OF LIFE
By
SRI SWAMI CHIDANANDA
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
First Edition: 1998
(2,000 copies)World Wide Web (WWW) Edition : 1999
WWW site: http://www.dlshq.org/
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
ISBN 81-7052-144-0
EC62
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. Shivanandanagar—249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh,
Himalayas, India.
CONTENTS
- The Publishers’ Note
- Some Basic Truths Of Life
- The Golden Thread Of Vedanta
- Sublimation Of Mind
- Jeevo Brahmaiva Na-Aparah
- Objective Of Yoga-Vedanta
- Detach, Attach
THE PUBLISHERS’ NOTE
This book is a compilation from the lectures to the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy students given by Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj, President, the Divine Life Society. These inspiring discourses provide very valuable guidance not only to Yoga-Vedanta students, but also to all the sincere discriminating men.
This inspiring book throws useful light on higher values of spiritual life and gives guidance for spiritual Sadhana.
We are happy that this very useful book on spiritual Sadhana is released during the Spiritual Sadhana Week.
May the blessings of God be on all.
—THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
Some Basic Truths Of Life
(Talk given to the students of 23rd Course of YVF Academy, 10-5-1996)
Radiant Divinities! Beloved children of God! Pilgrims on this earth plane! Seekers!
You have all come here for study. The traditional method of studying the Indian scriptures takes a minimum period of twelve years, and mind well, Saturdays and Sundays also working days and there were six hours of teaching and eight hours of self-study daily. In the first phase, they taught the Sanskrit language, grammar, nyaya-shastra, logic, etc. Then they used to teach the preliminary texts, the prakarana granthas, like Viveka-Chudamani, Tattva-Bodha, Atma-Bodha. Then only, the prasthana-trayee, the three main treatises, namely, Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita, the principal Upanishads and the Vedanta-Sutras which is also known as Brahma-Sutras were taught. The normal period of study required in this traditional ancient gurukula method, was twelve years; but sometimes it was more, fifteen years or even twenty years, to study the intricate interpretation of words, their hidden meaning and significance. The different schools of thoughts may have different interpretations of the same combination of words. One such example is the combination tattvam-asi. One school may say it means ‘thou art That.’ Another school may say it is combined with the previous word and when separated it should read atattvam-asi, meaning exactly the opposite. Due to such intricacy of the Sanskrit language, a full-time study over a very long period is necessary.
Nevertheless, in this short period of teaching here, a brief outline of the Indian and the Western philosophies and the essence of the Indian scriptures is given to you here, and you will just get an entry into the Indian scriptures, so that you can pursue self-study after going back home. This serves the purpose of sadhakas and jijnasus.
The traditional twelve year study and passing the various examinations and getting the degrees of shastri and acharya is necessary for those who want to start their own pathashala or take up the career of a teacher or become a purohit. That is a totally different field of study in which is included a thorough knowledge of various sacraments, rites and rituals covering various ceremonies like naming the child, thread ceremony, marriage ceremony. This is known as karmakanda. A purohit is an important member of the Hindu society as no important ceremony can be taken up without him. In the past this was quite a lucrative profession and came in the family from generation to generation.
The Object of the Course: The study of the various paths of Yoga and of Upanishads and Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita provide practical guidance for Sadhana. In the West, there are theological seminaries for the Christians. But, for the philosophical study there is a separate department in many Universities where they teach the thoughts of the ancient philosophers like Plato and Aristotle as well as modern philosophers like Kant and Hegel. Like that, in every country there is some system for the study of both these aspects.
One may ask what is the purpose of all these philosophical texts? Why such a phenomenon called philosophy came into human social process of evolution? There are various branches of spiritual literature with relevance to day to day life. But what is the relevance of the study of philosophy?
The purpose of my elaborating these details in connection with philosophical study is to ask you, “What is the object of this study of Yoga and Vedanta? What do all the various Eastern and Western philosophers seek? What do you expect to obtain by this study? What is the purpose of the spiritual knowledge?”
All the secular sciences left the phenomenon of man unexplained, left the origin of man unexplained. So the thinkers who wanted to know about this, probed into the mystery of man and his origin and thus came into existence the subject of philosophy.
What is the subject, scope and area of study of philosophy? It is two-fold:
1) It is a study of man. What is the phenomenon of life? What exactly is he constituted of? What is his origin? What is his ultimate destination?
2) It is a study of the universe in which he lives. What is the nature of the universe?
Philosophy seeks to understand the phenomenon of life. So it has to have a minimum of two dimensions: the beings who live the life and the universe in which they live. Thus, man and the world become the two minimum reducible unavoidable subjects. A deeper study of these two factors leads to the study of a third factor: the origin of the man and the world. What is the origin of the universe? From where this world, sun, moon, planets, stars, galaxies, nebulae and all that have come? Who governs the phenomena of various natural cycles like day and night, different seasons and the phenomenon of rains which is just sufficient to support and sustain the life? What is the origin of man? There must be some source. So a third factor enters in the philosophical analysis and study. This third factor, the unknown source or origin of man and the universe, becomes an important part of the philosophical thought.
One may justifiably ask, “What do I gain by studying this unknown factor?” It must have some practical utility, some valid value. Otherwise, it would have been a for the time-being subject and disappeared soon. But it has persisted for a very long time and is growing and expanding, it is being enhanced and augmented generations after generations. This means that it must have some intrinsic and intriguing value in it.
Suppose you start with a pragmatic and logical approach and come to a certain conclusion that this must be the origin and source of the universe. In fact, most of the conclusions of the Western philosophical thought are derived in this way. They show tremendous speculative heights and a very very amazing great depth and details, incisive analysis, reasoning, logic and wisdom. They theorised their conclusions. They did not accept the previous conclusions and often disproved them by logical arguments and reasoning. They have a quest of perfection and always try to improve upon the existing theories. In this way, great philosophical systems have been evolved in the Western world by great scholars, thinkers and philosophers.
The Role of Saints: The Eastern philosophy is developed in a totally different manner. Our entire philosophical system is based upon and has been derived from the already existing knowledge which is found to be existing from ancient times, beyond the known history of humanity. God only knows when it originated. Its time is not traceable.
All our philosophical systems that are existing now have originated from the in-depth study of that Knowledge which was already existing. Our ancient seers and sages had already presented us certain conclusions about the basic philosophical questions and processes and sealed it ultimately with the seal of indisputable authenticity and genuineness of Aparokshanubhuti, their direct personal Experience of the Truth. In other words, the proof and validation of their conclusions was not the logical reasoning, analysis and arguments but this personal Experience. That is the uniqueness of our philosophical system.
In all the countries, in all the races, in all the cultures of the world we observe a unique phenomenon. Quite apart from the philosophers and scholars, there is a separate, unique and distinct category of people, the saints. Every race has produced some saints. Many of these saints were not very highly educated; some of them had even never gone to school, they were illiterate. Yet the world remembers them. Even in the modern world of science and high technology many people study their lives and teachings, and draw inspiration from them though they were neither philosophers nor worldly people. Even after thousands of years their lives and teachings have remained a source of inspiration.
In the beginning came the worship and sacraments, the karmakanda. They realised, “This is not enough. Even if we worship daily, even if we perform all the sacrifices and oblations, all the yajnas and yagas and all the samskaras, we can never be free from sorrow and grief, pain and sufferings, old age and ailment, tension and anxiety, fear and fright, fights and quarrels, diseases and death. We have no lasting peace of mind. So we must find out something higher, something which is beyond this and which will really free us. We must find out the state which is dvandvatita and trigunatita, transcending the pairs of opposites and the three gunas. We must find the state beyond sorrow, the state of eternal peace. Let us contemplate on That only.”
Ultimately, in some wonderful moment in the history of India, in the history of mankind, some of these intrepid and gallant seekers, explorers of the unknown and unseen realm, came to experience the Ultimate Truth, the Supreme Reality. They had the direct Experience. They shouted in wonder and amazement, shouted in joy, “Ah! This is That! This is the Light of lights! This is the Reality, the Truth!”
Aparokshanubhuti: What does the direct Experience mean? All the knowledge a human individual gathers in this material world is through the perception of senses. If you have a good hearing faculty you gather knowledge through all kinds of sounds; you can distinguish all types of sound, all types of speech, words, etc. Similarly, if you have a perfect faculty of seeing, your cognition of the entire world is through sight. In the same way, you are able to perceive heat and cold, soft and hard through the sense of touch. Similarly you perceive the world through the sense of smell and the sense of taste. So, whatsoever you know about the world right from the birth onwards, is through the five senses of seeing, hearing, touching, smell and taste in the form of roopa, shabda, sparsha, gandha and rasa. (Appearance, speech, touch, smell and taste) These are the five dimensions of your cognition. These are five types of experiences through which you perceive the whole world and acquire all the knowledge. So this is indirect knowledge, it comes through one of the senses or a combination of them. If any one of these senses is absent, that part of perception is absent. A person born blind has no perception of colour, form and appearance. That aspect of the world does not exist for him at all.
In direct Knowledge the senses play no roll. Aparokshanubhuti, the direct Knowledge arises only when the senses are completely still. The senses are useless for direct Knowledge. As a matter of fact the senses are the main obstacle in direct Knowledge, they come in the way of the direct Knowledge. It arises without the medium of these senses, when the senses are totally still, the mind is desireless and when the seeker enters a very subtle state of higher consciousness. One just experiences in the depth of one’s own consciousness, one’s own real Self, transcending the material world and its cognition. That is the direct Experience. That is the Aparokshanubhuti.
In some wondrous era in our ancient history, the seers had the great Experience and came face to face with the Truth, came face to face with the Ultimate Reality. The moment they entered into the direct Experience, they were amazed, they were struck-dumb; because, there was a total transformation of their whole consciousness and they became filled with the Light. The darkness of ignorance vanished instantaneously, all doubts, all questions vanished forthwith. They experienced the total Knowledge; everything became clear straightway; no more any questions, any doubts, remained. That Knowledge is known as Brahma-jnana and the knower is known as a jnani. Thus, whatever is to be known became known to them. The origin and the source of the universe and the man, also became known to them. They became the very embodiment, the very personification of Knowledge itself.
Vedanta: The records of these purely transcendental experiences comprise and constitute the contents of the end portion of Vedas known as jnanakanda or the vedanta. Some of these seers have very compassionately narrated how they attained It, what were all the Sadhana and tapas they did. So Vedanta is the most important and valuable portion of the Vedic wisdom heritage. It forms the very basis and foundation of spiritual life. It is the source and origin of all the Indian philosophical systems, whether it is the Absolute Monism of Sankaracharya, or Qualified Monism of Ramanujacharya or Pure Dualism of Madhvacharya or Dual-nondual Doctrine of Nimbarkacharya or Pure Dualism of Vallabhacharya or Achintya Bhedabheda of Gauranga Mahaprabhu. All the great acharyas based their philosophical systems on different interpretations of vedanta. All these philosophical systems, the schools of thoughts, are known as vedanta.
There are many schools of philosophy in the East, Far-East and the West. But the main fundamental subject, namely, the purpose of human life is more explicitly and emphatically spelt out in the East.
Before making a detailed study of the philosophical systems, let us inquire into some basic questions: What is our purpose of this study? What do we obtain or gain from such study? What are their fundamental findings and teachings? What do these seers want to convey to us?
When we try to probe this particular question, we find that what they want to convey to us ultimately, is something so very apparent, so very absolutely clear and plain that nobody will ever question it a second time. They have given us some plain facts, some home-truths of life. The way by which they reached them at that time must have required a great deal of thinking, a great deal of contemplation, a great deal of analysis and speculation and all that. We should be very grateful to them, for they have proclaimed them and very clearly put before us the conclusions they arrived at. They have spared us all the difficult spadework, all the agony. Now it is like reaching Mt. Everest by an aeroplane or helicopter instead of reaching there by one’s own effort, by one’s own self, slowly trekking the long route, climbing the extremely difficult mountains and making the final attempt to reach the summit again and again. Whatever is necessary for acquiring the Knowledge, our ancient seers have already done somehow and have clearly laid down the path for us. They have clearly derived the ultimate Truth. We have simply to follow their path.
The Basic Truths:
Now I will tell you something that I usually tell on the last day as a concluding message. Without telling that I am not closing my message. But something prompts me from within to tell this today itself. Once you know it, your entire approach to your study, to your life, will be changed and it will take a new bhava, a new viewpoint altogether.
The ultimate highest discovery of the ancient sages and seers is recorded in the Upanishads, which reveal the great truths and teachings. It is the great grace, compassion and blessedness of our ancients that some sages might have thought: ‘In the times to come, who is going to study this very abstract Vedantic philosophy, understand it and acquire thorough knowledge, ponder and contemplate on it and attain Illumination?’ They must have envisaged that the whole world will be career oriented and money will rule the entire life. All the time and energy of people will be spent in earning money and keeping the pot boiling at home. Though the teachings of Upanishads is the highest and the greatest invaluable treasure of the mankind, very few people will be able to take interest in it. So the quintessence of the entire wisdom teachings, knowledge and spiritual experiences of the Upanishads is given to us, to the entire mankind, in a very concise yet very simple, lucid and interesting form in the Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita. In this amazing and epigrammatic poem, all the truths are included. If we try to keep in view what basic, fundamental yet practical and pragmatic home-truths Bhagavad-Gita gives us, we can make our life based on them and enrich it.
Just imagine in eighteen chapters, in seven hundred verses only, the quintessence of the entire teachings, the wisdom knowledge of all the Upanishads, the highest spiritual experiences of so many illumined sages and seers, are treasured in such a simple and easy-to-understand way! Some of these verses are the preamble, the prologue and the narrative and the actual number of verses giving the intricate teachings is much less. It is amazing how in such a concise treatise, in such a brief discourse everything necessary for our uplift and supreme welfare is given to us! If we try to keep in mind the basic and fundamental yet practical and pragmatic home truths this wisdom teachings of Bhagavad-Gita gives us, and if we base our life on them, we can attain our highest good. We cannot afford to ignore these basic truths. Unless our life is based on these truths, our life will be wasted. This is one interpretation of the implication of these truths.
Truth Is God: Another implication of the fundamental Truth is: It is the ultimate Reality. That alone is the real Truth and compared to That, everything else is untrue. All other things fail to fulfil the test of genuineness and authenticity of Truth which That fulfils completely. So the definition of that ultimate, eternal Truth is Tat Sat. This is another implication, the highest one, of Truth.
There are some lesser implications also. The facts of life which no one contradicts are also known as truths. There are two views about this: there are certain facts which are so self-evident that there can be no dispute about them. These are known as svatah-siddhah truths. There are many such truths elaborated in the Upanishads, and the Gita has reproduced them in a simple, lucid form.
Such truths are narrated in more interesting, very simple, very easy-to-understand story form in the Puranas. In the Puranas a truth is woven in a very absorbing big story and many people may miss it. The narration is so interesting and elaborate that many people take note of the stories and bypass these truths and the preaching.
1) Certainty of Death: Whereas Bhagavad-Gita puts them in such a straight, direct, undiluted and concise form that no one can ever miss them. One such truth that all of you must always remember and which you cannot afford to forget even a single day of your life is proclaimed at the very beginning of Lord Krishna’s teachings in Bhagavad-Gita. What is that? That great truth is: The absolute certainty of death. In one categorical statement He says, Jaatasya hi dhruvo mrityuh (Certain is the death for the born. II-27). For everyone who is born, death is certain. How many people have really pondered over the importance of this truth? You should ponder: ‘Why this has been so categorically proclaimed? In what way this concerns me? How should I relate myself to this great truth? Why Jagadguru Purnavatara Bhagavan Krishna told this to Arjuna?’ He told this to Arjuna in order to bring him out of delusion, in order to take him out of nervous break-down, in order to bring him out of the weeping condition. He asks, ‘For whom are you weeping? If you don’t kill them, do you think that they will live for ever? Even if you don’t kill them, one day they will die; die they must, in one way or the other. Even at this moment many are being born and many are dying. This is the plain truth of life. Why don’t you realise it fully? Why don’t you take it calmly? What is the use of breaking your head for something which is inevitable, for the truth which cannot be changed or altered?’
What was Arjuna’s delusion? He thinks: ‘All these people will die in the battle-field.’ All of them had to die, death is inevitable for all of them. But Arjuna thinks: ‘If he does not fight they will not die, they will live.’ Krishna says: ‘What a foolish notion! Whether you fight or not, all are going to die and you too will die.’
What is the lesson? The lesson is: If we do not recognise and realise the certainity of death very plainly and clearly, and if we do not accept this truth in living our daily life, we are also living in delusion. We do not want to face the hard reality of life. If we are living our life setting aside this truth, we live our life in a state of ignorance and delusion. The root cause of all sorrow is this delusion. When someone near to us dies, we are dismayed and despaired as if something most unexpected has happened. But it is not at all unexpected. Lord Krishna clearly says: ‘Everyone who is born has to die.’ The time of death is most uncertain; but sooner or later everyone has to die. This truth is based on the actuality and we must accept it and always remember it.
Let us now see the constructive dimension of this truth. In what way it can be useful to us? If we recognise this first truth so forcefully brought out by Lord Krishna in Bhagavad-Gita wisdom teachings and if we always keep it in mind, we will never postpone anything that is important, we will never postpone our duties, we will never say: ‘I will do my duty later’. Who is sure of tomorrow? Then how can you say: ‘I will do it tomorrow?’ It is said, alone you come and alone you go back. It is so correct from one point of view. But if we look from another point of view, one is never alone. From the very moment an individual jivatma is born, it is never alone; it is always accompanied by the Lord of Death. The whole life is a slow process of death, a constant march towards death. With every breath, with the passing of every moment, we are moving closer to death. You are never alone; the shadow of death always accompany you. The Lord of Death takes away your life every moment, little by little. At the last moment, he takes away the pranas and goes away and the body becomes lifeless.
If you recognise this truth: One day this life will terminate, one day I will die, I will not be here. I must ponder over this and resolve: ‘Whatever I have to do, I must apply myself to it now itself, right at this moment; I will never postpone it to tomorrow.’ Now you cannot be a loser. You are free from the delusion of tomorrow. Guru Maharaj used to say: Never say I will do it tomorrow. Tomorrow is the most deceptive word. There is no such thing like tomorrow. If you postpone something on tomorrow and go to sleep today; but when you wake up, it is already today and not tomorrow. God’s ration is today only; tomorrow is our concept.
Past is finished, it has slipped from your hands and you cannot recover it again. There is no use projecting your important work and duty in future, because it has not yet come, it is not in your hands. What you have in your hands is now, the present moment only. Remember this always, every moment of your life.
You should always remember the death; remember that this life must terminate one day and you have to leave this world. Therefore resolve with firm determination: ‘I will attain whatever I have to attain, whatever the goal of life I have. Right now, from this moment itself I shall engage myself in it, I shall strive for the goal of life, right now. I will attend to all my aspiration, duties and obligations, my kartavya karmas. Let me apply myself to it right now calmly and quietly, without tension or anxiety. I shall not postpone it, I shall not show any laziness or lethargy.’
God has wonderful sense of justice and has given to all of us enough time. Everyone has twenty-four hours a day, the same ration to everyone without any discrimination. Whether you are a professor or doctor, a big man or a beggar, you have the same ration. If you plan your time properly, there is time for everything, everything can be achieved in this life itself.
There is an English writer called Arnold Benett. He has written a wonderful book, ‘How to live on 24 hours a day?’ It implies that no one really lives for all the 24 hours a day. We fritter away little, little moments from morning to evening. This book proves that if you can make use of those moments which are unnecessarily wasted on trifle, irrelevant things, you have enough time for everything.
So, the very first truth proclaimed by Bhagavad-Gita is of great importance. You must live with full awareness that one day the life must end in death. Therefore, whatever you have to do, should be done right now. Start doing it right now. You cannot afford to remain idle and waste away the precious time. Time wasted is the time lost for ever, you can never get it back, you can never use it. Time does not give you a second chance. Whatever you have to do, whatever effort and exertion you have to put forth to achieve the goal, you have to do it right now. In this way, you will be able to achieve what has to be achieved.
2) The World Is an Abode of Unhappiness: Now arises the next question: What it is that diverts us away from our goal? What is it that deceives and dupes us and makes a fool of us? What is it that makes us repent and regret that I have not done what I should have done? When the time of departure comes, you are very sad thinking: ‘I have not been able to do what I ought to have done, I have not been able to become what I wish I had become.’
It is the deceptive attractions of the sense objects all around us. They entice us saying: ‘Come, come! You will get all the happiness from us’. Some beautiful sight says, ‘You will get happiness from me.’ Some pleasant, attractive sound, smell, taste or touch says, ‘Come, come! You will get happiness from me.’ So, all our time and all our energy are consumed by numerous attractive objects of this wondrous supermarket of Maya-bazaar. Your attention is scattered through the five holes of senses.
You do not realise that this is only a delusion and there is not an iota of real happiness in these objects. It is only some momentary pleasant nervous sensation. It is not a real happiness. Such pleasant experience is purely a gross, primitive, biological process and a phenomenon common to all the animals. When a sense object comes in contact with the related sense organ, the tactile nerve catches the sensation and sends a message to the central nervous system which passes the message to the brain and the brain feels a momentary pleasant sensation. You are now hooked by this sensation, you are enslaved. All these pleasant sensations are momentary and depend on the proper functioning of the apparatuses. Even if any one of them, a sense organ, the connecting nerve or the receiving centre in the brain is impaired, there is no sensation pertaining to that sense faculty. If you have lost the sensation of taste, you will not be able to experience any taste, even if the most delicious dish is given to you. If your optic nerve has become week, the most beautiful sight will have no impact on you even though your eyes may remain open.
How long is this experience of pleasant sensation lasts? You are eating your favourite tasty dish. So long as the food is in the mouth there is the pleasant sensation. But once it goes in, it is all over. In a flash of a moment the sensation disappears. But who thinks about this? If you ponder over it, if you analyse it impartially, you will realise that it is only a purely biological nervous sensation and this cannot be called real happiness. But we are duped by it and we interpret it as happiness and we waste our life in chasing the sense objects. Can there be a greater folly? It is a great blunder. It is not wisdom. There is no happiness here. On the contrary He who created all these, says:
Ye hi samsparshajaa bhogaa duhkhayonaya eva te;
Aadyantavantah Kaunteya na teshu ramate budhah.[The enjoyments that are born of contacts are only generators of pain, for they have a beginning and an end, O Arjuna! The wise do not rejoice in them. B.G. V-22]
He makes it quite plain that all the enjoyments arising out of the contact of any sense object are the source of sorrow and pain only, there is no happiness in them. This is the second great truth given by Lord Krishna in Gita. This is a scientific and analytical way of looking at the problem.
He puts this truth in a general form also. He says, ‘O Arjuna! Do you know what is the nature of this world? It is duhkhaalayam-ashaashwatam [the place of pain and is non-eternal. B.G. VIII-15]. This world is a world of transitory objects with names and forms. The transitory objects cannot give you lasting, eternal, real happiness. This world is an abode of misery and sorrow.’
In a negative way, He describes the characteristics of this world as: Anityam-asukham lokam imam [this impermanent and unhappy world. B.G. IX-33]. This world is characterised by a total lack of happiness. The senses are duhkhayonaya eva te, generators of pain. Again and again He reiterates this great truth that there is only pain and sorrow that you can obtain from this world.
Buddha’s Four Truths: When Buddha attained the Illumination, he discovered four great truths pertaining to the human life:
1) Life is full of suffering;
2) The cause of the suffering is craving, desire (trishna);
3) The possibility of complete cessation of the suffering by destroying desire; and
4) The way to bring about the ultimate cessation of the suffering.
The first step is to become convinced that this world is an abode of sorrow and suffering. The next step is to know the cause of the suffering. Once we know the cause of the suffering, there is an unending hope for the mankind. Because, once you remove the cause the suffering will end. The suffering is an effect. Once the cause is removed the effect does not arise at all, it is automatically eliminated. Once you know the cause, you can find out by one way or the other, some device to remove it. The first discovery everyone knew; but so long as they do not know the cause of the suffering, people live with it thinking I can be happy with the coexistence of sorrow.
The third discovery is also very important. All these sufferings are not unavoidable or inevitable. They are not permanent. If the sufferings were eternal, if there had been no possibility of ending the sufferings, the question of finding a way to end them would have not arisen at all. But Buddha discovered that we can put an end to all the sufferings. He assured us that this is certainly possible.
Lastly, Buddha discovered the way to end all the suffering and putting completely an end to all the suffering. It is called The Noble Eight-fold Path. Like the eight-stage path to Liberation given by Maharshi Patanjali in his Yogasutras, Buddha has also discovered an eight-fold path to cessation of suffering: right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort or endeavour, right mindfulness and right meditation. Like in Yogasutras, Buddha also gives minute details of each of these. The first one is Right View and Buddha gives ten aspects of it.
Today I am telling this to reiterate that death is inevitable. Therefore, be alert! Be up and doing. Apply yourself quickly to whatever you have to do. Fulfil all your obligations and duties. Be up and doing on the path of Liberation, on the path of Divine Perfection, the great grand, glorious Goal of human life. You have to apply yourself to that Goal right now. What is that comes in your way as an obstacle? The delusion of happiness here. Convince yourself firmly that there is no happiness here and there can never be happiness here. This world is petty abode of janma-mrityu-jaraa-vyaadhi-duhkha (the evils of birth, death, old age, sickness and pain. Gita XIII-8), an abode of sorrow, sufferings and unhappiness only.
You are enslaved by the sense objects only if you think that there is some pleasure, some happiness in them. But once you discover their true nature, you are free. But once you are convinced that there is no happiness here, you are no longer deluded, you are no longer made fool of by the sense objects, you are wise. Through all these attractions you can remain untouched and unaffected by them. You will say: ‘Yes, I know your nature. You can no longer fool me.’ You become established in anasakti, total detachment. Even if you are surrounded by hundreds of attractive objects of pleasures, you are not perturbed. You know their real nature and so cannot be deluded. You go through your life as a master of the situation and not as a slave to every attractive sense object of name and form. You are the in-charge of your life.
If you have realised these truths, you become totally detached. Now you are steadily, serenely advancing to the Goal, absolutely unaffected by the sense objects. The basis of your detachment is discrimination and wisdom. You know that there is nothing in them; now they cannot enslave you.
A mother was frightening a little boy by covering the bush with a black cloth and was saying: ‘Don’t go there. A devil is hiding there.’ The father thought that she is unnecessarily frightening the child, this is a bad psychology. The son will afterwards be always afraid. So one day he took the child near the bush and removed the cloth and said: ‘Look, there is no devil here.’ The child told his mother: ‘Now you can never make me afraid of that black cloth. I know there is nothing in it. I know its real nature.’
Like that once you know the real nature of the world through constant discrimination, it will never be able to dupe you, delude you. You will no more be afraid of it. Now you can proceed straight towards the target like an arrow shot from the bow.
This is the second truth about the life about which I have to tell you. All the philosophers tell us that our tenure here is temporary, we are not residents of this earth plane, we are just the travellers. Our life is a journey with a definite destination. The important point is that you should always remember the Destination, the Goal. So many people go from here to the Badrinath shrine day after day. The journey is very difficult, arduous and full of discomforts. But they have only one idea fixed in the mind: ‘I will reach my destination sooner or later. I will have the great fortune of having darshan of Lord Badrinath.’ There is no thought about the discomforts and hardships.
3) The Divine Destination: The next great truth proclaimed by the Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita is about our Divine Destination. Your destiny is to transcend the sorrow and suffering, pain and misery, defects and imperfections and to attain the state of glorious Perfection that is characterised by Bliss-absolute, Peace-profound. Perfection, Peace and Bliss. This is your birth-right. You are given this human birth only to attain that state. You are the heir of that profound Experience of unalloyed, unmixed, hundred per cent pure Bliss, a distilled quintessence of absolute Bliss. That Bliss, that Peace, that Happiness is imponderable. It does not come from any source, It does not depend on any object. That Bliss, that Peace, that great sense of Perfection, that Light is known as Brahman, God, Bhagavan, Paramatman, Allah, Khuda. We call It the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. You may call It by any name, no matter what name, label or appellation you give It, It is that great Experience absolute where all the sorrows disappear, where all the doubts vanish, where all the questions disappear. It is transcending them all, It is transcending all sorrow, pain, grief, suffering, delusion and bondage. You are in a state of absolute freedom and fearlessness.
The Goal of human life is That. You have full potential for attaining It. It is your birth-right. You are given this human birth to attain That. That Experience is called Kaivalya Moksha Saamraajyam. That is to be kept as your Goal. Your efforts to attain That should never be postponed for Jaatasya hi dhruvo mrityuh (Certain is the death for the born. B.G. II-27). You should not be tempted and diverted into side-channels. There is nothing anywhere else. They are like water of mirage. You should know and remember always, duhkhaalayam-ashaashwatam [the place of pain and is non-eternal. B.G. VIII-15]. There is not an iota of real happiness here.
All these are fundamental truths. All the different schools of Vedanta whether it is the Absolute Monism of Sankaracharya, or Qualified Monism of Ramanujacharya or Pure Dualism of Madhvacharya or Dual-nondual Doctrine of Nimbarkacharya or Pure Dualism of Vallabhacharya or Achintya Bhedabheda of Gauranga Mahaprabhu, all of them declare these truths. They all tell this is a passing world; one day you have to die. You do not belong to this world, you are only a traveller. The human life is a great journey towards that grand Goal. It is not to be wasted after petty things. If your life is properly directed and properly used, you can attain That in this very life. You can attain Immortality, eternal Bliss and Peace at the end of your life.
This is the quintessence of the Indian Philosophy. Contemplate on this. Don’t be lost in nomenclature and unnecessary details. You should know the heart of philosophy: You are Divine, you are the Immortal Atman. You are given this human birth to regain that Experience of your lost Divinity. Do it now. Do not postpone.
The message of the day is:
1) Remember always the death.
2) Do not fall prey to the attractions of petty things.
3) You are given this human birth to regain your lost Divinity. The goal of life is to attain It.
4) Do it now. Be up and doing. Uttishthatha Jagrata. Awake, arise! Do not stop till the goal is reached. Keep on, keep on, keep on.
God bless you all.
The Golden Thread Of Vedanta
(Talk given to the students of 21st Course of YVF Academy, 16-10-’95)
The Divine Life Society was founded by worshipful Guru Maharaj Swami Sivanandaji, in order to proclaim to the whole world of the modern times, the way of living one’s life so as to be able to attain, experience and become established in the Divine Perfection which is inherent in each one of the human being, as his unalienable, true, eternal nature. All of you have an apparent human personality which is only the external facade of your Reality.
This human personality is not the Reality according to the Vedanta. You have to know this because you are participants in the Yoga Vedanta Academy Course. So you must know what Vedanta has to say about your life, about this world and about everything pertaining to life in this world.
You have come here as jijnasus. Jijnasus are those who are keenly eager for attaining jnana, the Knowledge. Jijnasus attending this course have a special uniqueness, a special distinction. You are jijnasus with a difference.
Apara-vidya: What is that difference? The difference is: All other seekers of knowledge are trying to acquire apara-vidya, the worldly knowledge; whereas you seek to acquire Para-vidya. This is a basic, fundamental difference. Apara-vidya enables you to get, keep, possess and enjoy objects of this world. But Vedanta says, this world is only a temporary dream. Apara-vidya enables you to get distinction, name and fame, and the objects you can possess, keep and enjoy.
The world is transitory: But all these only for a brief while; because the whole world is transitory, subject to decay, subject to ultimate dissolution. Everything here is unstable, nothing here endures, nothing here is lasting, nothing here is permanent. Therefore this world is not having any permanent validity.
What is the meaning of everything? Aabrahmaa sthoola paryantam. From a blade of a grass up to the position of Brahmaa, the creator; Brahma-loka, the greatest, the biggest status in the cosmic scheme of things—everything is worthless, valueless. This is what has been declared by the great sages who have known the impermanence of all the things. So I have said that your outer personality is not the reality according to the Vedanta.
The Reality: Why did I say according to the Vedanta? Vedanta gives a specific definition for Reality. What is truly, authentically and genuinely Real? You have to try to understand with a very subtle intellect, what Vedanta wants to convey to you. That alone can be called Sat, really true, the Reality which is beginningless and endless, which is ever present, ever is, in all the three periods of time. It always existed in the past, It does exist in the present and will always exist in the future as well. It never will cease to be. There is a further qualification: That is the Reality which abides always, in all the three periods of time without undergoing any change, It always remains the same. Nothing can alter It, nothing can change It. That is something which is always in Its Fullness, in Its Perfection.
This is the classical specific definition of Sat, the Reality: It is always present in all the three periods of time, past, present and future and It is never subject to any change, It is unalterable, unchangeable. If you apply this test to anything in this world, you will find that all the things fail to fulfil this requirement. All the things change right from the beginning. Your body changes right from the birth, so it cannot be the Reality. Your human personality did not exist before you were born. The duration of its existence here on the earth plane is for a limited time. One day, everyone who is born has to go. Everyone knows this. It does not require any study of any big philosophy.
Death the Leveller: Gurudev used to sing: Time sweeps away kings and barons. Even the big people who wield great deal of power, were powerless before old age, disease, decay and death. The glories of our personality are shadows only, they are not substantial things. There is no power against fate. Death lays its icy hands on kings and barons. Even the biggest sceptre and crown must tumble down in the dust one day. An emperor may be holding a sceptre as a symbol of royal power and may be wearing a crown as a symbol of the royal status, but all these must go in dust and become as worthless as the dust. The title of Gurudev’s poem is “Death the Leveller.” Death makes everyone equal, whether he is a beggar on the street-side or a great king, a president of a big state or an ordinary labourer breaking stones on the road-side or cutting wood in a forest. When death comes they all become the same, either they turn into a little ash or become food for the worms under the earth! This is a common human experience.
So Gurudev says:
Time sweeps away kings and barons!
Where is Yudhishthira? Where is Ashoka?
Where is Shivaji? Where is Napoleon?
Where is Valmiki? Where is Shakespeare?
Where are those mighty people? Where are Yudhishthira and Ashoka? One is the greatest from the point of view of Dharma, the righteousness, and the other is great from the point of view of vastness of the empire. The empire of Ashoka stretched from South India and went beyond the North India and covered Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kabul and Gandhar. Archaeologists find his coins and Ashoka’s inscription carved on rocks and stone pillars and in all these areas. All the great warriors, great poets have disappeared.
Lord Krishna who is the creator, preserver and dissolver of countless billions of universes, who is the supreme Lord Himself, He opens the wisdom teachings of Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita and right in the beginning of His teachings says; “Jatasya hi dhruvo mrityuh. [Certain is the death for the born].” For one who is born, death is certain. That is the only certain thing, other things may be uncertain. Therefore, this human personality which did not have any existence before we were born, will come to an end one day. One may live very long, say a hundred years, hundred and ten years, but ultimately this life has to end. If it does not end, you yourself will pray to God: ‘O God! Please take me away from here. It is painful to live here; I cannot stand, I cannot even sit, I cannot eat. Every moment is painful. Please relieve me from the burden of this body.’
Where do you go after death? The human personality is not there. That means the human personality is asat. Anything which is changing is asat. You were something in infancy, something different in your childhood, adolescent, youth and old age. Everyday there is a change in your mood, change in your attitude, change in your health condition. Everything changes. Instability is the second name of this body. This body is changeful, it has a beginning and an end. It is temporary in time. Therefore, it cannot be the Reality.
Your essential Nature: Which is the unreal aspect of your being? What is anitya, asat, non-real and changeful? The Reality is always present, always unchanging; It is without a beginning and an end. Why? Because It is a part of the Cosmic Principle that is eternal, infinite, unchanging, permanent, imperishable. That Cosmic Being is called the Universal Soul or Paramatma. They call It God, they call It Allah, they call It Almighty Father in the Heaven, or Ahura Mazda or Tao or the Supreme Reality. They may call It by any number of different names, but It is the same One, the same Universal Essence who is the source, the support and the fulfilment of all the existence. That is Perfect, That is Full, That is Divinity. You are a part of That in your inner Reality, in your essential Nature.
That Divinity is inherent in you. It is your true identity, essential identity, eternal identity. That eternal identity is immortal Spirit, That eternal identity is perfectly Divine.
This Reality is the very central Principle on which Gurudev has focused his message. He says: “You are immortal Atman; you are perfectly Divine. This life is a rare gift, a golden chance, a unique opportunity given to you. You should always make use of this life to become awakened within. Unfold this slumbering Divinity. Your endeavour should be to transform yourself into a Divine personality, into a Perfect Being.”
You are not just a human personality with all the drawbacks and weaknesses; you are simultaneously a Divine personality. You are the Divinity on the earth. “Awaken the sleeping God within you,” says Swami Vivekananda. This is the great task of your life. Live your life in such a way, make your thinking, feeling and actions in such a way, that all these become a great help for bringing about an inner process in this direction; so that they become a wonderful support for the specific techniques and practices for bringing about this unfoldment.
Gurudev gave his message as a message of Divine Life, living the life in such a way that the Divinity within you becomes awakened through Bhakti-Yoga, Jnana-Yoga, Raja-Yoga and various other Yoga systems and constant practice. If your inner life and spiritual practices are supported by a helpful, and become supplementary and complementary to your outer life which also partakes of the same quality of divinity, then your whole life becomes a unified process of trying to attain one single objective of the Divine Perfection.
That is the great objective with which Gurudev founded this institution; and to initiate you into the ways and means of bringing about this more rapidly, more effectively, he set up this Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy. His objective was to initiate you into the inner skills, the secrets of sadhana and practical spiritual life so that you can live actively an inner spiritual life.
The Vedanta Doctrines: All the Upanishads taken together are called Vedanta, because they comprise the Jnana-kanda, the end portion of the Vedas. Vedanta literally means the end portion of the Vedas. These Upanishads are the culminating portion of Vedas; it is pure jnana. So Vedanta means jnana. The Jnana-kanda of the Vedas is the record of transcendental Experiences and the ways and means of attaining It. So the contents of the Upanishads is about the nature of that transcendental Experience and about what happens to the person when he attains that Experience.
How many kinds of Vedanta are there? Innumerable. Because, unfortunately the learned scholars who study the Upanishads deeply, reflect over them and try to understand them, have understood them in various ways. So each one gives his own interpretation of what he thinks is the correct interpretation of the Upanishads. According to the interpretation given by that particular person who understood it in a particular way, a school of thought of Vedanta arises.
All the human beings are not the same. They have different intellects and different ways of understanding things, different approaches and different ways of looking at things, both physically, as well as, through the intellect. Later on, the scholars started to interpret the structure of the words of Vedanta. One school says: ‘Tattvam-asi’, the other tries to prove that it is ‘Atattvam-asi’. Due to such varied interpretations, certain well recognised systems have come into existence. The amazing part of it is that all these systems form valid parts of the total body of Sanatana Dharma. Sanatana Dharma does not take any side or validate any particular system. These are merely interpretations of the scholars and have become part of it and it tolerates them and treats as valid. So all these schools are called Vedanta.
The Absolute Monism of Sankaracharya (788-820) is called Kevala Advaita Vedanta Siddhanta, a little modification of which is known as Vishishta-Advaita Vedanta or Qualified Non-dualism of Ramanujacharya (11th century). Sankaracharya said jiva and Brahman are one. Ramanujacharya agrees with this oneness but interprets that it is so in a specific way only. In the Absolute Monism, jiva-hood is considered as a myth or an imaginary existence only; there is no real existence of jiva. Ekameva-advitiyam Brahma, Neha naanaasti kinchit. One and only One exists, there is not many. There is only One without a second. He is uncompromising about this and as though to emphasise it, he says: ‘If you think anything else exists, it is not real but it is your bhranti only.’ You may argue: ‘How do you explain jiva?’ he says: ‘What do you mean? There is no jiva to be explained. Jiva-hood is a myth, it is non-existent, it is a non-entity.’ What he was trying to prove was his own Aparoksha-anubhuti, his direct Experience of the Reality, his Advaitic Experience of non-dual Consciousness.
Nimbarkacharya (1162) gave another interpretation known as Dvaita-Advaita Vedanta Siddhanta, the Dual-Nondual Doctrine of Vedanta. He says: “It is inexplicable thing! There is dvaita as well as Advaita.
Then came Madhvacharya (1199) who propounded Dualism or the Dvaita Vedanta Siddhanta. Individual soul and the Supreme Soul are proved by him to be different and separate entities. They can never become one. In essence the individual soul may be like the Supreme Soul, but it is a jiva’s status, can never be the same, it can never have the same power or glory as that of the Supreme. He is Supreme, individual is under Him. The distinction, the bheda, is eternal and so they remain two, as jivatma and Paramatma.
Then came another Acharya called Vallabhacharya (1479) who gave Shuddha-Advaita Siddhanta, the Pure Non-dualism, which is also known as the Pushti Marga.
Five hundred years after Sankaracharya, another great scholar, great grammarian and a brilliant intellectual took his birth in Mayapuri, Nabadweep. He is known as Sri Krishna Chaitanya (1486). He expounded a certain school of thought of philosophy and mysticism, known as Achintya Bheda-Abheda Doctrine. He says:
‘The nature of the absolute Reality is impossible for us to grasp. Our mind is a petty, finite instrument. How can it comprehend That which is supernal and infinite? How can it grasp that Being which existed before the mind had come into existence? How can the mind go to that Realm, because it did not exist when That alone existed? That is beyond the mind, It transcends the mind; the mind cannot reach That. The mind cannot even think of That. Whenever the mind thinks that it is thinking about That, it is only a thought or an imagination; it is not That. That Being is achintya, unthinkable. So the relationship between That and Its creation, including we all, the jivatma, cannot be thought about; it is both, oneness, as well as, bheda, the difference.
When a river ultimately merges with the ocean, you cannot distinguish the river from the ocean. There is no more any river, there is only the ocean. But you cannot say that the river water does not exist at all. It is continuously flowing and the river water forms a part of the ocean water, no matter even if it has got mixed up with it. The river water will be different from the water of the ocean at the centre. The river water cannot reach there. So long as the river has lost its separate existence, there is oneness or non-dualism between the river and the ocean. But so long as we cannot completely deny or entirely ignore the existence of the river water, there is bheda, a difference, there is duality.’
All these doctrines are having the same origin, the Upanishads or the Jnana-kanda of the Vedas. So all of them are known as Vedanta Doctrines. All these Acharyas were highly learned scholars. Each one of them gave his own interpretation of the Vedanta and proved his system, his view point, to be valid, using arguments, logic and all that. Our great people are so large-hearted that they recognised all these systems to be valid part of our Satya Sanatana Vaidic Dharma. All of them are given a place in it and we study all of them. What is the height of generosity is that even Charvaka Doctrine is studied! It is a school of philosophy that does not at all recognise the existence of God. Ours is a great democracy of spiritual thought with complete freedom of speech and expression. The highest spiritual Experience is interpreted by different sages from different points of view, ability and depth. So have come different doctrines.
Veda accepts such divergence by saying; Ekam Sad-vipra bahudha vadanti. [There is only one Truth which the scholars describe differently.] It is also said: Shrutir-vibhinnaa smritayopi vibhinnaa; tathaa muninaam matayo vibhinnaa. [Vedas are many, other Scriptures are many; so also the views of the sages.] The views of scriptures also vary; there are different views. So also the opinions of sages and saints are different. This is to be expected in human beings as each human being is different. In Hindi it is said: ‘All the five fingers are different.’ Similarly, the siblings of the same parents are all having different temperaments, different nature. But the parents accept them all. Similarly, all the different doctrines are accepted by the parental Sanatana Dharma. The same one Being is termed differently, viewed differently by the sages.
There is one common Golden Thread in all these various schools of Vedanta. Whatever may be the nature of your relationship with the eternal divine Reality, one thing is certain. And all of them recognise that: ‘You are Divine; and you ale inseparably related to the supreme Being. That is the origin from which you have come; you are of That; and within you there is something of That.’ All the Doctrines agree about this; no one disputes this. There is no disagreement; there is no difference of opinion.
This is the most important thing and Gurudev focused hundred percent on this. This one thing is enough, you need not worry about other things. Let the scholars quarrel and disagree with each other; let them prove one thing and disprove another. You may not bother about all those things if you remember this one thing that you are Divine. Beyond your passing, temporary, apparent, imperfect human personality which is non-real according to the Vedantic Doctrines, there is hidden within you the unchanging, eternal Reality, Divine Perfection, All-auspiciousness, All-blessedness. It is the Beauty of beauties, incomparable and unimaginable. It is full of light, full of purity, full of everything. It is glorious and grand, radiant and shining. That is you. That is your real nature.
Awaken your Divinity: When you are That, why should you be content in making your life merely a process of petty, little expressions of imperfect qualities of your mind, intellect and all that? When you have the potential, when you have the capacity to become glorious, perfect, pure radiant Being, why do you not opt for That? Why should you remain content at a much lower level? Why should you remain sometimes loving, sometimes hating, sometimes liking, sometimes disliking, sometimes very friendly, sometimes quarreling and fighting? This is foolishness. So our sages say: ‘Come! Come! Wake up from this slumber of imperfect life. Awaken yourself to your Divinity. Unfold your Divinity. Attain that All-perfection. Do not opt for anything but the highest and the best. Do all that is necessary to attain your real Nature. Do not compromise.’
That is the ideal of Divine Life. That is the fulfillment of the fundamental discovery of the Truth within as expounded by the Vedanta. The discovery and declaration of the Vedanta about Divinity within you is: ‘Within each one of you is the Divinity.’ These are the words prompted by Gurudev. This is the declaration coming from the Vedic era. When the ancient sages discovered It, they declared this and they have made a wonderful device to preserve this highest wealth of the humanity, by setting up a system of unbroken succession of a lineage of master and disciple, of Guru-shishya parampara.
This invaluable treasure should not be lost. So a disciple should make him fit and worthy of that, so that the wisdom of the scriptures may be imparted to him. He can thus be inspired by the Guru to attain It during this very life. If he chooses ten such worthy disciples and imparts them the wisdom of the scriptures and even if two or even one disciple experiences It, it is enough. Even if we have a single candle lit, we can have from it another, from it another, from it yet another, and the chain continues and the Light will perpetuate perennially. This is the wonderful device of an unbroken lineage of master and disciple. This Guru-shishya parampara has succeeded marvellously and most effectively in preserving this great flame of living spirituality from the ancient times till now, so that even now, towards the end of the twentieth century, you are in a position to be told:
“You are Divine. Divinity is your birth-right. Divinity is your true identity. Divinity is your essential, true, unchangeable, eternal, real nature. That is your super, greater and real personality. Human personality is a subordinate personality. You have a dual personality; the Divine and the humane. In spite of all the drawbacks, defects and weaknesses of your human personality, you are still the Pure and Perfect; nothing can touch your this aspect; nothing can alter it. Even though, you are now subject to imperfections of your temporary, passing human personality, you are fully Perfect. Recognise this and rejoice. Tell yourself: ‘I am always the radiant Divine within. I will not lose a single day, a single chance of trying to bring about the great inner awakening and unfoldment. In this very body, in this very birth, I must succeed in fully awakening my Divinity, experiencing That, becoming established in That.’
“That is the Goal, becoming liberated by attaining the full experience of your Divinity. That is the ideal of your life. That is to be attained right now, while living in this body; not in some unknown state after death, after the body is buried or burnt.”
Divinity is your birth-right: Is this possible? Yes, certainly. The history of our great country shows that in every generation, there have been such great jeevan-muktas, the liberated ones, who say: ‘I have attained It. Why don’t you attain It? It is your birth-right. You have been given this human birth to attain It, that is the purpose of your life.’
The human birth throws wide open the portal to this blessed state of Divine Consciousness, the Cosmic Consciousness. It is only the human personality which has power to think, reason, reflect, ask, probe, analyse, and discriminate. The very fact that you have been endowed with this rare gift of human personality is sufficient for you to fix the goal of attaining the fullest Blessedness; and that should always be your endeavour.
This is the declaration of the Vedanta: Uttishthata jaagrata, praapya varaannibodhata. [Arise! Awake! having reached the great (teachers) attain that Atman. Katha Upanishad 1-3-14.] Become awakened! Approach knowledgeable persons; they are there waiting for you. Come and ask, they are waiting for you to give the highest Knowledge. They expect nothing from you; they have got everything. They are Full and this Fullness spontaneously enriches the whole world; just as the spring season without any reason, spontaneously brings about abundance of flowers and fruits and turns the earth into beautiful greenery, makes all the lives to flourish. The saints are like that spring. So Jagad-Guru Adi Sankaracharya says: ‘They are there; go to them. Become fully awakened as they have become. Attain Bodhi, the full awakening.’
That is what you are. You are fully awakened but you are in the sleep state and you are dreaming. You are “Nitya shuddha, nitya Buddha.” Buddha means awakened. This is the eternal call of Vedanta. This is the Vedanta in nutshell for you. You must respond to this great call of Vedanta. You should never forget it. Vedanta is not to be stored in the books and lectures. Vedanta is to be actively lived for awakening. You must respond to the great call ‘Uttishthata jaagrata, praapya varaannibodhata’ and say: ‘Yes, I shall now wake up and attain Illumination. I am prepared to do anything for It.’ This should become inseparable part of very breath of your life, every cell of your life.
Sublimation Of Mind
(Talk given to the students of 23rd Course of YVF Academy, 13-5-96)
You may open the door. We are keeping the door closed to prevent the monkeys. But when so many people are sitting there is no danger of the monkeys coming inside. Each human individual is more than ten monkeys. He has more potential for mischief than that of ten monkeys. Its potential is limited within its little range of instincts and given capacity. There is a humorous saying: Brahmachari shata-markatah [A brahmachari is equal to a hundred monkeys]. In old days, after being invested with the sacred thread, the boy was known as a brahmachari and was sent to a gurukula. There were no outlets like radio, television, cinema or sports. So the brahmacharis were either studying or making mischief.
What is the nature of mind? It is full of desires and strong compulsive urges. It is very uncontrollable. How much uncontrollable? It is said, it is as much restless, fickle and fidgety as a monkey. You know, the monkey is considered to be the most restless creature. Similarly, the human mind cannot remain steady on one object at a time even for a single moment. It constantly jumps from one object to another like a monkey. But not an ordinary monkey. Suppose a monkey has been drunk and it becomes intoxicated. Now suppose it becomes possessed by a spirit. How much uncontrollable it will now become! As if to add fuel to fire, suppose a scorpion stings this monkey. If a scorpion stings someone, the agony is so unbearable that he will be screaming and shouting, jumping and dancing, holding this thing and that thing. When all these things are added together, can you imagine what will be the plight of this monkey, what will be its antics? They say, the mind filled with desires and without any discrimination is like this monkey.
Can Mind Be Controlled? No wonder, Arjuna expressed his doubt, when Lord Krishna went on describing very nicely, how to control the mind, saying: ‘You may go to a lonely place where there is no disturbance, where the environment is good and quiet; in a clean spot, prepare a seat that is neither too high nor too low, made of cloth, a skin and kusha grass, one over the other; make the mind one-pointed, with the actions of the mind and the senses controlled, fix the mind on Me and meditate, make the mind steady as a lamp placed in a windless spot which does not flicker...’ All this is very nicely described.
But Arjuna had known the havoc his mind had created a little while ago as described in the Chapter I, and here Krishna says: ‘You do this thing and that thing and control your mind!’ Arjuna says: ‘Whatever you have said is good, systematic and scientific. But the only difficulty is it is not just difficult but it is impossible to control the mind.
Chanchalam hi manah Krishna pramaathi balavad dridham;
Tasyaaham nigraham manye vaayoriva sudushkaram.[The mind verily is restless, turbulent, strong and unyielding, O Krishna! I deem it as difficult to control it as to control the wind. VI-34.’] Mind is more uncontrollable and fickle and difficult to grasp than the blowing wind. Even if we may be able to catch the blowing wind and make it steady, it may not be possible to control the mind. So Arjuna asks Krishna: ‘What is the use of describing all this when it is not possible to control the mind?’
Without contradicting Arjuna, Lord Krishna says:
Asamshayam mahaabaho mano durnigraham chalam;
Abhyaasena tu Kaunteya vairaagyena cha grihyate.[Undoubtedly, O mighty-armed Arjuna! The mind is difficult to control and restless; but by practice and by dispassion it may be restrained. VI-35] I quite agree with you. The mind is extremely difficult to control. But it is not impossible to control it. It is possible to control the mind.”
Everything is done through the mind. Mind is the source of all the problems. The solution always lies where the problem lies. If you have a heart problem the heart is to be treated. If you treat the stomach, the problem can never be solved.
The whole problem of an individual soul engaged in the journey of the earth plane is not outside; it is inside, it is the mind. For example, people who have been born in a family which has been non-vegetarian for generations, for several centuries, are used to that type of food only. Now suddenly, one such fellow, joins a society of strict vegetarians. He tries to stick to the rules of this society. But every time he sees all his people taking non-vegetarian food, there is a problem. His mind urges him: ‘What a foolish idea you stick to!’ It becomes a temptation that is difficult for him to resist; and there is a tussle in his mind.
On the other hand, think of a person who is born and brought up in a family which is strictly vegetarian for centuries. All the relatives and friends are vegetarians. In his body cell, and hereditarily, there is no inclination, no taste, no temptation towards the non-vegetarian food. On the contrary there is some sort of aversion to non-vegetarian food. For such a person there is absolutely no temptation for that kind of food. Even when he goes to a grand party where good many tasty, choicest delicacies are served, he asks for boiled potatoes, toast and salad only, and he is not the least tempted by the tasty non-vegetarian food.
Suppose, in a family everyone—grandfather, father, mother, elder brothers, are drinking and there always is a bottle on the table. The child daily sees them drinking. When all are away and he is alone, he also drinks out of curiosity. In the beginning he does not like it, but soon becomes addict to it. Now when he grows up, he is always tempted to take a drink whenever he sees a bar or goes to a party where drinks are served or when he is in a company of friends who are addict. On the other hand a person coming from a family of teetotallers is never tempted by the sight of a bottle or a bar, never enticed by the friends or party. Where is the temptation? Is it in the bottle or the sight of bar or in the friends or the party? Certainly not. All these things have no effect on the second person. The temptation is not outside, it is in the mind only. The vegetarian person or the teetotaller has absolutely no thought in that direction. It is the mental condition of the person which makes all the difference.
Mind, the Cause of Bondage: In the same way, the bondage, the Maya, the prapancha is not due to outside objects. You become bound only because you have a craving for this object and because you have attachment or aversion for this person or that, you have likes and dislikes. It is because you give so much importance to the objects and persons that you become bound. If you are not the least affected, influenced or moved by anything, then you will not be caught in the net of Maya even while living in the midst of all the worldly objects and persons. So the entire problem is subjective, the bondage of Maya or samsaara is subjective. The same samsaara exists for all; but a child or a sage or a realised soul is not affected by it at all. The problem is within you only.
What is that problem? Why this problem does not arise for a cow or a dog or a bird? Because they do not have a thinking mind. They don’t have desires and cravings, ambitions and expectations, schemes and plans for the future. Their problem is confined to a very limited, small area of survival. All that a non-human creature wants is what it can eat, what it can drink, where it can take shelter, how it can protect itself and is interested in satisfying its basic impulses and instincts like procreation. The instinct of fear is put in it, by the Prakriti, the Nature, as a safeguard, so that it will not rush to its own self-destruction. It is because of this fear instinct that the moment a fire starts in a forest, all the animals, birds and even small creatures run for safety, away from the fire, in the opposite direction. This is the Nature’s device or mechanism of survival.
Samskaras, the Root-Cause of the Problem: No other being except man has the problem because only man has a thinking mind. He has the ability to interpret a meaning out of every sense perception. Everything a man sees, hears, touches, tastes or smells evokes different kinds of psychological and emotional reaction in the fields of desires and sentiments. Had there been no such reaction, there would not have been any problem. But he does evoke reactions, and the problem begins. A man is in bondage only because there are desires in the mind, because there are cravings in the mind, because there are attachments in the mind, because the mind is never content. The main reason for this is our samskaras, the mechanism of impressions of such sense experiences, such sense enjoyments in the past, and the vasanas, the propensity to such experiences and enjoyments, and inclination for repeating them in the present and in the future.
Samskaras are the in-built impressions in the mind like the grooves of different sounds on a gramophone record. What is its nature? What happens if you put your thumb on an ink-pad and then press it on a paper? Exactly the same impression has been reproduced and will remain intact even after a thousand years. But it is inert; it does not reproduce by itself more impressions and has no other effect. But the impressions in the mind are different; they are not inert, they are living impressions, they remain alive in the chitta, the mind-stuff. They have an effect, they exercise pressure for repeating the experience. They are living impressions and have the potential of generating desires. They create a desire for exactly the same sense experience as one had it previously. There may be shubha-samskaras which are good for you or ashubha-samskaras which are not good for you.
When you play a gramophone record it reproduces the song exactly as it was recorded. But it cannot produce the voice that produced it. It only plays back. But what is the nature of the samskara? When a particular sense-experience is repeated over a prolonged period, it not only creates a latent dormant tendency and a desire in that direction, but that tendency becomes a vasana. Vasana may be shubha-vasanas or ashubha-vasanas, auspicious and positive or inauspicious and negative.
The samskaras are living and dynamic impressions. So when you are put in a similar type of situation, they become active and powerful and you are impelled to go after the same sense experience. They are so circumventing to temptations that they compel you to that experience. They are also called seed impressions as they are like seeds produced by previous experience and are capable to reproduce that experience like a seed producing a tree similar to the one from which it has originated. So long a seed is lying in isolation, in an unfavourable ground, it remains inert. But if you give it a favourable ground beneath the fertile earth and water it regularly, it starts growing; it becomes a little seedling and then comes out a sprout with a few leaves also; and if the favourable circumstances continues it ultimately becomes a big tree similar to that from which that seed was produced. The new tree produces more seeds and every seed has a potential to produce the same type of tree again and again. Such continuous chain reaction is the nature of samskara.
The human mind, with its imagination, has potential of completely reproducing the same condition or the psychological state of being. This impels the mind to go and indulge in that sense experience and enjoyment. It is because of these samskaras and vasanas that a man is propelled towards the sense objects, get attached to them, craves for them, wants to indulge in them, possess them, keep them, snatch them away from others.
The mind has four-fold aspects:
1) In the form of reasoning intellect,
2) In the form of imagining, remembering and desiring mind,
3) In the form of feeling mind having emotions and sentiments,
4) In the form of the assertive ego. Once a desire arises, it is the ego principle which asserts: ‘I want it, I will obtain it, I will enjoy it, I will do this, I will do that.’ It now propels the body into activity. The root cause of all the actions is ego.
All these different modifications of the psychological level of the human nature are totally outward-going and make you a part and parcel of the outward world. So you are enslaved by the desires for the outer objects and forget your own real nature, your own real identity completely. You undergo all sort of emotions, elevation, depression, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, fulfilment, disappointment, etc. All these positive and negative experiences are due to your propelling yourself outside through four aspects of your interior psyche. This has created for you a big range of a net spread by your desires to catch the birds of sense pleasures.
Dva suparnaa sayujaa sakhaayaa
Samaanam vriksham parishasvajaate;
Tayoranyah pippalam svadvattyan-
Ashnann-anyo abhichaakasheeti.[Two birds that are ever associated and have similar names, reside on the same tree. Of these, one eats the fruit of divergent tastes, and the other looks on without eating. Mundaka Upanishad 3-1-1.] Why the second bird is caught in the net of karmas and their fruits? Sankaracharya says, it is due to avidya-kama-karma-vasana-aashraya-lingopadhi; it is due to delusion, passion or desire, activities, craving on account of clinging to the adjunct of the body. So you become full of raga, dvesha, klesha, kalaha, passion, desire, anger, envy, jealousy, intense craving, dejection, despair, disappointment. One moment you are up, one moment you are down. Now you are constantly in the wide range of outward propelling desires and that keeps you in a state of flux and confusion. This causes the problem.
Be God-oriented: Yesterday we saw that all the things can be directed to that one and only Being, the sole Source. In That only can be obtained, lasting and permanent happiness, unalloyed, unmixed, total happiness, enduring, eternal happiness, happiness that would not decrease or change. That is Brahman, That is God, That is the Kingdom of heaven. Direct your entire being towards That. Direct your mind, intellect, emotions, sentiments towards That, make all your activities God-oriented by spiritualising them.
You may ask: ‘All said and done, how can I implement it? Why should I do so? I am involved in this world. All my friends and associations are here. I have attachment for them, all sort of feelings for them. I am fully involved in my surroundings and the situations I face. This is a familiar ground for me. I am born into it and right from my infancy, it is a part and parcel of my life. So it is spontaneous and natural for my mind, for myself, to move towards them. I had not to learn to do so. I belong to this world and this world is mine; so I naturally flow towards it. It is something most natural, something easiest to do for me. But now you are asking me to reverse that process and connect myself to that unknown Being, whom I do not know, who is absolutely unfamiliar and completely unknown entity for me. How can I ever do it? There is a funny proverb in Tamil: How can I know about the cremation ground until I die myself?
‘How I can know That which is all perfect, bliss absolute, absolute unmixed peace and happiness? How can I think about It? How can I meditate upon It? It is easiest for me to think of my mother or father, television or cassette-player, a cricket bat or ball because they are a part of my life. I have not to make any effort or undergo any training to think about them. But I don’t know that unknown, unfamiliar Being. How can I have any love or affection, inclination or longing for That? How can I relate myself to It? I know my relationship with my brother or sister, mother or father. But how can I be related to That? When I don’t know what It is, how can I meditate on It?’
True, your problem is genuine. But the solution is quite simple: Detach from here, attach There.
‘But how to do it is a big problem. It is quite easy to attach myself here, because everything here is familiar to me. But how to think of That?’
So first of all, you should get yourself familiar, get yourself acquainted, to That whom you want to worship, love, adore, on whom you want to meditate upon, towards whom you want to move.
How you can get yourself thoroughly acquainted with That? There are three different ways. The first is the heredity. If you are born in a family where both the mother and father are devotees and they are doing puja, and kirtan, singing devotional songs, reading about the lilas of the Lord and the lives of saints, talking about Him, you will automatically develop love for Him.
Secondly, if you are not born in such a family, you should think about our rich heritage, you should get yourself acquainted with it by reading the spiritual books. There is a unique tradition in all the parts of India. There are some people whose sole occupation and allocation is to master the scriptures and to go to various places and narrate, expound and elucidate them. Many institutions make elaborate arrangements for such discourses regularly and provide the venue. They go to remote villages also and explain the scriptures in their own, simple, easy way supplementing it with illustrations from day-to-day rural life. This is a part of Indian way of life. So even an illiterate villager also knows some philosophy; he knows about Shabari, Ahalya and many such characters. He knows about Bhakti, he knows about God’s grace.
Our scriptures are abound in stotras and stutis, hymns and paeans of the Lord, glorifying Him. Our ancient rishis have not missed, during the narration of the main theme, a single opportunity of introducing stutis; so we find them at frequent intervals. We develop great admiration and adoration, great reverence and veneration for the supreme Being. If you listen to the glories, grandeur and greatness of God and the desirability of that wonderful Experience of attaining that Being and attaining the supreme Bliss, Peace and Happiness, and going beyond all sorrow and suffering, it will create in you a longing for God, for that Experience and your life will certainly be changed.
Thirdly, once your taste is developed in this direction due to your family background and upbringing or through listening to the Scriptures, you develop a strong desire to acquire more knowledge and naturally you buy some books. Now the original texts of most of the scriptures are available and they have also been translated in all the Indian languages. So you begin to read and study our great scriptures in your leisure hours, prepare your own personal notes and discuss the finer points with like-minded friends. You slowly build up your own library of inspiring literature. What you argued to be unknown and unfamiliar becomes known and so close to your heart that you will spend most of your spare time on That and you don’t like to waste your time on the worldly things. Now, you like to read about It, you like to think about It, you like to talk about It and you like the company of people with such tendency only. Now unknown That becomes your best friend and guide, the remote becomes the closest, He becomes a part of your life, you cannot live without Him.
Shravana-Sadhana
In all the paths of Yoga, shravana is considered as a very important sadhana. It is listening to the description, to a clear elaborate nature and the glorification of that Being, the transcendental Reality. In Vedanta Vichara Marga of Jnana-Yoga its importance is clearly accepted. In the Bhakti-sutras of Devarshi Narada and Maharshi Shandilya, a very systematic and scientific method of developing the devotion is outlined; and the very first step is shravana. If your temperament is not intellectual, if you are emotional by nature, if you have spontaneous ability to have affection, attachment and love for God, or if you are artistic by temperament, then you are naturally attracted to the Bhakti-Marga. You should develop deep and firm attachment towards your deity by the shravana of His greatness, grandeur and glories. In addition to whatever has been expounded in the Bhakti-sutras of Devarshi Narada and Maharshi Shandilya, the Maha-Purana of Srimad-Bhagavatam gives us a very systematic and practical method of developing devotion in gradual stages and progressing steadily on the spiritual path. Here also the very first stage is Shravana.
In the science of meditation of Raja-Yoga of Maharshi Patanjali, though it has not been specifically stated as a specific sadhana, it has been included in another hidden form. The second anga, the limb, of the Ashtanga Yoga is daily svadhyaya. In svadhyaya, shravana is more important way to grasp the right understanding. In ancient times, the main method of imbibing knowledge was listening to the teachings of Guru and other great sages. You may study at home, but you may have many doubts or you may not have grasped the proper meaning. So listening to others is necessary. The proper understanding of the scriptures and the basic truths of life is possible only after a complete purification of the mind and the heart, refinement of the intellect and deep faith.
In ancient times, an aspirant was approaching a guru with the request: ‘Please elaborate the nature of the Reality to me so that I can meditate on It.’ The guru used to say: ‘First of all you prepare yourself for that higher knowledge. A gross mind cannot grasp subtle truths. First of all, the mind is to be refined and it is to be made pure and subtle.’ Even if these truths are told to an impure mind, it will not retain their impressions. So chitta-shuddhi, the purification of the mind-stuff, purification of the interior and sharpening of the discriminating intelligence are the necessary pre-conditions. Shravana is of great help in this direction. So shravana is the preliminary sadhana that prepares you for higher sadhana and the higher knowledge of Vedanta.
Why these preliminary sadhanas? If your mind is always filled with grossness and if you have no proper discrimination, it will always go after sense indulgence; and as long as the mind is craving for the sense pleasures, you will not develop a keen discrimination, your intelligence will never be refined. Our ancient rishis must have reflected upon this. So our scriptures clearly declare that: ‘Have a clean discrimination and Realise it. Free yourself from the deceptive nature of the sense objects, free yourself from the harmful nature of sense indulgence, free yourself from the clutches of your gross nature by constantly exercising discrimination, everyday, every moment of your life.’
You must be a person of great discrimination, intellectual, ethical and spiritual discrimination, so that the material world cannot fool you, cannot trap you. Then only you will be really free and you will be able to imbibe the great wisdom teachings.
Know it well that there is nothing good for you in these sense objects which attract you, entrap you, enslave you. They are the root-cause of all your pain and diseases, sorrow and suffering, disturbance and restlessness. So long the mind is restless, there cannot be real peace or happiness. Whatever intense passion and desire you may have for the sense objects and the sense enjoyments and all that, you gradually get rid of that with firm determination and constant discrimination. You convert your raga, passion, for the sense objects into viraga, dispassion, and then develop vairagyam, detachment. You will have to exercise very strict discipline on your mind. Because the senses have been habituated with certain behavioral pattern over a long period and you have never tried to curb them, you have never tried to exercise any samyama, sense-control due to your delusion and ignorance. You have never come in contact with that type of people, that type of a society, that type of the world that do not run after the sense pleasures, but are trying to curb them. So you think you must have sense enjoyment. Soon you are accustomed to have sense enjoyments. Now it won’t leave you unless you make a very determined effort.
Develop that firm determination. You must control the turbulent behavior of your mind. You must control its constant chasing of the sense pleasure. You must try to restrain yourself. This is one pattern of disciplining your mind.
Sadhan-Chatushtaya
In the ancient times, the guru used to tell to a new seeker: ‘First of all, practise the four-fold sadhana of viveka, vairagya, shat-sampatti and mumukshutva; and then only, I will give you the knowledge of the subtle truths of philosophy and Vedanta. Otherwise, even if I tell you these subtle truths, you will not be able to understand the correct implications of what I teach you, you will not be able to retain it. This requires purity of the mind and subtle intelligence.’ Therefore, first you get yourself established in four-fold sadhana; then only you are qualified to do shravana sadhana according to the Vedantic Jnana-Marga.
In sadhan-chatushtaya, the four-fold sadhana, viveka or discrimination is the first aspect, vairagyam or dispassion the second.
Shat-sampatti: The third sadhan is Shat-sampatti. It includes shama, dama, uparati, titiksha, shraddha and samadhana.
Shama: The determination to subdue these will come only when you realise: ‘As long as I allow the senses to push towards the sense objects and allow myself to get caught in the excitement of the sense indulgence, my mind will always be restless, agitated and disturbed, it will be in tumult and it can never be calm or serene. I can never have peace and happiness.’ Once the mind realises that this is not the proper direction, it will say: ‘No I will not think of the sense objects. The senses naturally plunge in the sense objects, only if I think of them. The problem arises in my thinking of the sense objects. The sense objects are inert and non-intelligent; and so they cannot trouble me by themselves. But I myself allow them to become troublesome; because I do not control my mind, because my mind is full of desires to pursue them, enjoy them, experience them. So long as I have desires for them, my mind dwells upon them. Now I shall not allow it to dwell upon them. I shall divert my mind on to higher things. I shall cultivate different interests, other than mere sense indulgence. In this way, I shall be able to wean my mind away from its habitual propensity of chasing the sense objects and dwelling upon them.’
Now the mind will say; ‘Like a lotus remaining unaffected by water even though remaining in the water, I shall remain unaffected even while living in the midst of the sense objects. Even if they come in my gaze I will not look towards them, I will withdraw my attention from the sense objects. First of all I will withdraw the senses from the sense objects; but if in spite of that the objects come into my perception, and if the linking sense is aware of it, I will withdraw my connection with that sense; and if it is too late, I will refuge to identify myself with the sensation that has already been created. Even if an object has come in contact with the sense, the sense sends the message and there is a cognition of the sensation, I will refuse to identify myself with that sensation.
‘In this way, I will exercise triple withdrawal: The first and foremost, the most effective and the best, is the withdrawal of sense from the sense object. Secondly, it is the withdrawal of the mind from the sense. If both these fail and the sensation already reaches the mind, I will refuge to identify myself with that, I will not become an enjoyer of it, but will remain merely a pure witness to the happening and will remain absolutely detached and unaffected.’
As the mind begins to practise constantly this inward, invisible, subjective discipline, gradually it becomes free from the influence of the sense objects, free from the outer world of perception; it does not move towards the sense objects but thinks of higher things. And the mind ultimately attains a state of quiescence, absolute serenity. This state of quiescence is called shama. Shama is a discipline of establishing a state of serene quiescence in the mind. The mind will no more be restless, agitating or outward-going. Such inner stability must be supported by disciplining the senses, curbing of the senses.
Dama: Dama is controlling of the tumultuous and extremely uncontrollable activity of the senses. Just as a rider of a chariot exercises a firm grip over the reins and controls the horses, exercising a constant vigil to check them and not allowing them to move in a wayward manner; in the same way, the five horses of the senses are checked and controlled by the awakened intellect endowed with keen, active discrimination. Now it does not allow them to sway and to do what they like. Now you are the master, you give proper directive, you determine the path on which the five horses will have to tread. Now you have the control and you do not allow them to do what they like. This is known as dama, the subduing of the senses. This is the first step in the third aspect.
Uparati: This three-fold discipline will bring a complete transformation in your entire nature. The natural tendency of the mind and the entire psyche is centrifugal, it is to propel out and chase the outer objects of attractions and sense pleasures. It moves in all the directions towards thousands of objects and the world is filled with countless objects. The bees are always wandering here and there, never sitting quietly. But if the queen-bee moves to another place, all other bees will abandon their chase and follow it. Similarly, when the mind settles on higher things, all the senses follow the leader and give up their natural tendency to chase the sense objects. If the leader of a political party decides to change the alliance, all the cadre of that party will automatically join that alliance and become a part of it. Similarly, if the mind carefully observes and analyses the hollowness of the glitter of the attractive objects of this Maya-bazaar and of the repeated sense experiences, and starts discriminating and turns away from the sense objects, it will be awakened. It is like joining a new alliance by the leader and the senses will follow it. When the mind becomes established in that state, a peculiar marvellous thing happens: the senses give up their in-born natural propensity to go towards the sense objects of attraction and temptation. The senses which were the main cause of the problem, give up their fundamental nature and the problem automatically ceases to exist. The senses now follow the new nature of the awakened mind, the mind full of discrimination, dispassion and detachment, the mind which is desireless and free from passion. When that happens, it is known as the fourth sampatti and is called uparati.
Titiksha: The third factor that obsesses and troubles the mind is the unpleasant experiences which upset you immediately. Too much of heat or cold, some little discomfort or inconvenience upsets you easily. Be a Spartan and develop a habit of bearing these without being upset. Don’t leave all your work to correct them and to restore that comfort immediately. Don’t allow it to distract you from your work, from your path. As the saying goes; Grin and bear it. This is called titiksha. It means to bear the little discomforts and inconveniences, troubles and unpleasant experiences, little ups and downs, which are part and parcel of everyday life. If you go on being upset by them and try to correct the situation, your time and energy will be wasted and your psyche will be affected. You should bear them and ignore them unless they are of a very dangerous nature.
Shraddha: Samadhana is possible only if you have absolute faith in whatever ideal you may have chosen. You should convince yourself: I know I have chosen the right path. Many have treaded this path and attained the supreme Being. They say this is the greatest Experience. They cannot be wrong. They had no personal axe to grind. They had no thread attached to it. They have nothing to gain or lose whether we adopt it or not. They did not want us to suffer. They wanted us to attain our highest welfare. They were our well-wishers, they have motiveless goodwill for us. It will be foolish for me not to have complete faith in them. So I have total faith. This is the sixth sampatti known as shraddha.
Samadhana: When one is well established in that state, he resolves: ‘That and That alone is my goal. One-pointedness will be my state. I will not be attracted by anything other than That. There will never be any lack of self-control. I will never allow my aspiration to tone down even a little. I will not stop till the great goal is attained.’
Now your daily routine is totally changed. You are no more interested in petty things; you are no more wasting your time and energy after them. All your energy is fully directed in the inner direction, towards your goal that you have accepted. This is the fifth sampatti called samadhana, giving oneself entirely to a single ideal that you have adopted.
Mumukshutva: The fourth sadhana is mumukshutva, a strong desire of final emancipation. If all the things described above are to be kept up at the same pitch of intensity, you must have a very keen and intense longing for attaining Liberation. If you become a little slack, if you allow your effort to be diluted a little, finished. You may fall back to the square one.
What a great thing, great fortune it was to become one of the twelve disciples of Lord Jesus Christ! But one of them was tempted a little by the glitter of the gold and betrayed his Master. This is symbolic. Even after reaching such a very high state, if you allow your keen, intense involvement in that state to be diluted a little, finished. Therefore, intense longing for the goal is necessary.
Jeevo Brahmaiva Na-Aparah
(Talk given to the students of 23rd Course of YVF Academy, 11-5-96)
Sri Jagadguru, Bhagavadpada, Adi Sankaracharya is one of the greatest philosophers India has produced in its long chain of great philosophers. He is also regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of the world by good many philosophers and thinkers of the whole world. He was a giant intellectual personality and no one has equalled him till now on the scene of philosophical literature of the world. His contribution is simply amazing. He is regarded as a phenomenon.
In a brief life span of thirty-two years, he has brought out voluminous philosophical, spiritual and devotional literature of such high standard that it has set for ever the norms for classical spiritual literature for the entire world.
For a long time his literature was confined to India only. But its richness, the towering pinnacle of its conclusions, sheer strength of its logic, its crystal clear rationality are so remarkable and irrefutable that once some German scholars read him, they immediately started translating his works into German language and soon his works attracted the attention of the European scholars. The German translations were soon translated into other European languages.
Maharshi Veda-Vyasa gave us the quintessence of the Upanishadic philosophy in Vedanta-Sutra which is also known as Brahmasutra and he was indirectly responsible for bringing to us the great spiritual discourse of Lord Krishna to Arjuna. This jnanopadesha is known as Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita. It covers all the aspects of spiritual life. As it is woven in the great epic Mahabharata written by Maharshi Vyasa, he is indirectly responsible for bringing to us the divine preaching of Bhagavan. He also gave to the world the elaborate and very much voluminous eighteen Puranas. After giving to the world such unthinkably vast literature, he has said something very peculiar, very extraordinary, towards the end of his life: ‘I have brought out this Puranic literature with the welfare of the mankind at my heart. In all this voluminous literature I have brought, I have told you what is meritorious to human activity and what will lead you to your greatest good and also the opposite of it, what is demeritorious or what you should always avoid, because it leads to your greatest harm, to greatest sorrow. I will sum this up in half a verse:
Ashtaadasha-Puraneshu Vyasasya vachana-dvayam;
Paropakaaraaya punyaaya paapaaya para-peedanam.’[Vyasa has to say only two things (as quintessence) of the eighteen Puranas: to do good to others is worthy, to harm others is unworthy]. To harm, harass or injure others, or to inflict pain on others, to cause sorrow to others, is the greatest demerit and one has to suffer for that. If you make your God-given gift of the human life in being good to others, utilise it in doing good to others, in benefiting life around you, to help all creatures, that will lead to your own highest good. It will result in your own happiness, in your own supreme welfare.
Jagadguru Sankaracharya, this towering philosopher has given the quintessence of his colossal, towering philosophical literature in a similar way. At the end of his career he says: ‘Look here! Listen! All that I have written about, all that I have commented upon, I sum up in half-a-verse:
Shloka-ardhena pravakshyaami yad-uktam grantha-kotibhih;
Brahma Satyam jagan-mithyaa jeevo Brahmaiva na-aparah.[In half-a-verse I shall express what has been said in crores of books: Brahman alone is real, the world is mithyaa; the Soul is Brahman and no other.] The Reality alone is. The Supreme Existence is eternal, non-dual and without a second. You are That only. Everything perceived through the five senses and understood by your mind and intellect is unreal. All the objects of the world are like the water of a desert mirage, they are like the glint of the nacre, the mother pearl lying on the sand of seashore and appearing like silver, shuktikaa hi rajatavad-avabhasate. They have no real existence but they have only seeming appearance and that too temporary.
What appears in a dream as cent percent true, true beyond doubt so long as you remain in the dream state, disappears in a fraction of a second once you come to the waking state. Similarly, this world disappears once you are awakened. The dream experience is so graphic and so complete in all respects, and you perceive every detail, and you experience it through all the five sense-organs, that that experience dominates your consciousness completely and during that period that experience remains the only truth for you. But when you wake up suddenly due to the ringing of the alarm-clock or any such disturbance, the very next moment everything disappears, everything becomes unreal! You cannot say that your dream was non-existence or unreal because you remember it in full details; yet you cannot say it is real because you cannot photograph it, print it, or you cannot reproduce the conversation and the scene or the objects and the characters in any other way. Nevertheless, one part of your consciousness retains its memory and you can write it down or narrate it. But now it is non-existent. The moment you wake up, it becomes non-existent and irrelevant. Now your consciousness is dominated by some other events of some other reality which takes over the charge of your consciousness.
Our seers say, it is just like that. You are a part of this dream experience, this dream world, and you think that it is real, your outer personality is real. But when you wake up to the supreme, cosmic Reality, your true identity, then only you know that your false identity was as much a figment of that dream as the characters and all the factors of that dream world. You thought, you knew yourself as Mr. So and So, you conceived your identity with a certain name and form; but when you wake up, when you attain the Bodhi, the Enlightenment, the Illumination, that very second you yourself become Light only, your false identity disappears completely, like the disappearance of darkness as soon as you put on the light. You may wonder: How could I cling to the darkness all along! Why was I thinking like that? What a foolish way of thinking!
Sankaracharya does not stop at that. He asserts that your present personality is false; because you are no other than that supreme, wonderful Being. You are one with It. In a most wondrous way he is able to tell us graphically how it is so, so that, with a little common sense one can easily understand it and it becomes absolutely clear and beyond doubt.
The world we see and we know with all our sense perception is not real and non-eternal. It is there for a moment and ceases to exist the next moment. It is your delusion to think that you are a weak and imperfect, limited being confined to this physical body and the name and form associated with it. Remember! You are no other than That, you are the Brahma-tattva only. You are the cosmic Being, you are the Perfect, Divine, Universal Being. You are no other than That.
How is it possible? It is svatah-siddhah, self-evident. Because Brahman is ekameva-advitiyam, the one and the only Existence, without a second. There is no second. So your Soul is no other but That only.
Our seers have proved this in an amazing way, so that an ordinary man can also easily understand. In an ocean, there are innumerable waves; some small, some big, some very big, some giant size. They are of different shapes and sizes. You can see them, you can observe them dancing and playing. You can distinguish them, identify them. You can photograph them. You can hear them roaring. There are innumerable waves with different shapes, characteristics and different life spans. Each wave has its own separate identity, its own existence. Even when you are watching at these waves with different individual shapes, sizes and characteristics, what you are looking at? Do you see anything other than the ocean?
What is the origin of these waves? From where they have all emerged? Do they really have separate individuality? How the seeming individual existence of these waves was possible? When they broke away, where they went? Each wave arose from the ocean. It owed its existence to the ocean. When it momentarily existed as a seemingly separate identity, it was always supported by the ocean and always remained a part of the ocean. It never had an existence independent of the ocean. When it subsided, it merged back into the ocean only. Thus, ocean is its aadi, madhya and anta, the beginning, the middle and the end; that is, it emerges from the ocean, its existence is possible with the support of the ocean only, and when it subsides it merges back into the ocean and once again becomes one with the ocean. Even when it momentarily looked something distinct from the ocean with a separate individual identity, it was at no moment other than the ocean itself.
What is the implication of this? Like the wave being ever no other than the ocean, the individual soul is never other than That. The ocean is the only real existence; the apparent multiplicity in the form of waves has no ultimate reality. No other thing besides the ocean ever exists.
There is such a large variety of clothes with different colours and different designs. But beyond all these forms, what exists is only cotton tattva; nothing exists there other than cotton. If you go to a big pottery store, you find hundreds of different articles of different sizes and different names and different forms. Even when you are seeing these variegated types of pottery articles—delicate, big, small, artistic, decorative, utilitarian—you are looking at one thing only, the clay. All the pottery is made out of clay only. You may give different names to pots, but they are nothing other than clay. There are different ornaments, but a goldsmith sees nothing other than gold.
These are some of the classical analogies given by our ancient sages, in order to bring home the non-duality of Brahma-Tattva, in spite of so many variegated manifestations of that Tattva in different names and forms. There is only one Existence, beyond all these multifarious names and forms. While explaining this to a Vedanta student, the teacher does not elaborate, but simply says: Ghata-pata-adi nyaayavat. Ghata means pot and pata means cloth. So it means, like the analogies of pot, cloth, etceteras, there exists only one Tattva, even though seemingly there are so many, and are seen as many.
Some people give another analogy: A spider decides to make a home for itself in a corner of a room. If we have to build a home for us, we have to buy so many different things—bricks, cement, iron rods, various items of hardware and sanitary-ware—from so many different shops. A bird builds a nest as its temporary abode. It goes here and there and collects so many things from various places. From how many sources the spider has to obtain all the materials? What are the materials? It does not go anywhere to collect the materials. Whatever is necessary to make a web, it brings out of its own self and remains in that web; and when its purpose is served, it absorbs the web back into its own self. Can you ever say that the web is different and separate from the spider? In spite of there being seemingly two different things, the spider and the web, there is non-duality. The web is no other than the spider.
What is the purpose of the various philosophical systems and vast spiritual literature? Why do they exist? They exist to tell us certain home-truths. Why should they tell us these home-truths? What is the value of these home-truths? Because if you are not aware of these truths, you will be living in delusion, you will be deceiving yourself. You can live in wisdom only if you are fully aware of these truths; you will then no longer remain in delusion.
The second important, pragmatic necessity of knowing the truths is: The eternal quest of the entire mankind in the whole universe is: How to overcome pain and sorrow and obtain lasting happiness? Our scriptures have summed up the answer to this in an amazing manner. All the people are in quest of so many things. A farmer is engaged in trying to get a proper field, proper manure and fertilisers, proper seeds, proper pair of bullocks, proper equipment, water for irrigation, this and that—hundreds of different things. Similarly, people in other occupations are also trying to find so many things. But the scriptures say: ‘Ultimately, all are engaged in search of one thing only. That one thing is happiness. No one wants pain, sorrow, grief or suffering. Everyone wants to avoid unpleasant, undesirable, painful experiences. All want happiness and they want to perpetuate that experience of happiness. Sukham bhuyaad, maa bhuyaad duhkham. Avoiding sorrow and suffering and trying to obtain happiness.’ This is the eternal quest of mankind in all the parts of the world. This sums up in nutshell, the eternal quest of the man on this earth. We may do it in so many different ways, but our objective is the same.
If you know certain truths of human life and base your life and conduct on them only, you will be able to get rid of sorrow, suffering and pain, and obtain real happiness. Real happiness is not momentary but permanent. If you do not base your life on these truths, your quest will be a leap in the dark, a wild-goose-chase. You cannot get permanent happiness from those things which are themselves temporary. And everything in this world is temporary. So, the worldly things cannot give you happiness. Therefore, you should not crave for anything in this world; you should not go after anything in this world; you should not allow yourself to get enslaved by the temporary objects of this world. Everything in this world is temporary; there is not a single thing which is permanent. What are the adjectives used by Lord Krishna for this world? Anityam, asukham, ashashvata, impermanent, unhappy, non-eternal—these are the adjectives with which the Lord refers to His own creation, His own work. Our experience teaches us that even while some happiness seems to be present sometimes, it is not eternal, it is for a short duration only; and you cannot rely on it because that experience of happiness is always changing. One moment it is there, the next moment, before you can grasp it, it disappears or diminishes.
Why do you crave for it? Your imagination of a thing may be something and you may think: ‘I will be happy if I get it.’ But when you get it you find it to be totally different from what you had imagined. Now you want to get rid of it! You are imagining something, but the actuality is something else. And even if the actuality tallies and coincides with your imagination, it goes on changing while you have it.
Here is a simple analogy. You want to enjoy your Sunday with an ice-cream party. The carry-home service delivers you the best quality ice-cream. It is served in beautiful bowls to each member of the family. It is decorated with cherry and special cream. Everything is ready. But the telephone call comes and you have to attend it. It is some urgent and serious matter. You ask other people to take the ice-cream and you continue to talk on the phone for twenty minutes. When you come to the party again, where is your beautifully decorated ice-cream? It is no longer what it was. It is neither cold nor does it stand, it has already dissolved. So also, all the things in this world are changing. Even the most beautiful or the nicest thing will also become worthless.
Suppose, you have brought the best quality alphanso mangoes. As soon as you enter your home, there is a phone call from your boss. He wants you to rush immediately to some place for a few days on some urgent important work. You leave home in a hurry, forgetting to tell your wife about the mangoes. When you come back home and remember about the mangoes and open the packet, what you find is that all the mangoes are spoilt and some juice is coming out of it. You had expected the fruits to give a great joy; but now you have to do the cleaning and throw them away. Is there any intrinsic lasting value in the mangoes? All the objects of this world are non-eternal and yet we are always clinging to them!
Suppose, a boy meets a very beautiful girl. He is so much enchanted and enamoured that he thinks he will never be happy unless he marries that girl. They got married. After some time, the girl is severely infected by small-pox and it makes her very ugly. The love of the boy changes completely. He says; ‘Where is that beautiful girl whom I had married. She is not that beautiful dream-princess of mine.’ So Gurudev says, what attracts the mind is the outer physical beauty.
Suppose, you like khir very much. You are invited by your bosom friend for a party on some festival day and the menu includes khir. Its preparation is most delicious. You eat beyond your capacity. Now your friend fondly insists for a couple of helpings more and you take some more khir. Now it is the turn of his wife. You cannot say no and the khir causes you discomfort and nausea. The same khir which you like very much is now the cause of all the trouble. Where has gone that pleasure-giving power of the khir? If it has in itself an intrinsic power to give you happiness, your happiness should increase more, the more you take it. But on the contrary it causes you discomfort. That means the experience of happiness is subjective and is not in the outside object; the object has no inherent quality to make a man happy.
All these analogies bring out one common truth: There is no happiness in the objects of the world. They are the cause of pain. Lord Krishna says:
Ye hi samsparshajaa bhogaa duhkhayonaya eva te;
Aadyantavantah Kaunteya na teshu ramate budhah.[The enjoyments that are born of contacts are only generators of pain, for they have a beginning and an end, O Arjuna! The wise do not rejoice in them. B.G. V-22]
The first home truth is: All want happiness. Why do you then chase those outside objects which have no intrinsic capacity to give you happiness? If you want happiness, make effort in the right direction. Time fleets away. You are here for a limited period only. The rare chance of human birth is not endless. Therefore, be up and doing. If you seek happiness, exert yourself in the right direction.
What is the wrong direction? The world is the wrong direction; anything and everything in this world is the wrong direction. There is not even an iota of happiness in the objects of this world and they can never make you happy. This creation of Brahma has some utilitarian value; but it has a nuisance value as well. It can never give you happiness.
The second home truth is: The real Happiness is in That All-perfect, non-dual Brahma-tattva, One without a second. All the objects of the world are merely generators of pain, sorrow and suffering. Therefore, don’t waste this precious opportunity by running in the wrong direction and ultimately getting caught in disappointment, frustration, sorrow and lamentation.
Which is the direction that you should follow? You need not study deeply the scriptures and big volumes of philosophy to learn this. Many saints, mystics and spiritual seekers have treaded the right path and reached their destination and attained That. They implicitly followed the right direction, obtained that experience and obtained the Happiness. Whoever has followed them had also the same wondrous Experience. Make a deep study of their lives and try to follow their footsteps. A poet says:
The lives of great men oft remind us
That we can make our lives sublime.We should emulate the lives of the mystics and saints who have attained That; we should follow their footsteps. They were people who lived a very austere life, they were men of vichara and viveka; they never led a haphazard life.
Therefore, always do vichara and have viveka, enquire and discriminate every moment, every step, every breath of your life. Let there always be active discrimination and enquiry within you. You have not to worry now, because you will not miss your step and go in the wrong direction.
The third home truth is: It is the lives of the saints that teach us in what direction we should go, how to lead our lives and what practices to engage in, so as to attain the highest state of supreme Blessedness and Bliss, of eternal Happiness beyond sorrow and suffering. Mahajanah gataah sa panthah. That is the path which the great ones have trodden. That is your path. That is the path you should follow.
When they attained the supreme state of Blessedness and Bliss, they found that That Blessedness and Bliss was no other than the eternal ekameva-advitiyam Brahma-Tattva. The very nature of that Supreme Reality is the quintessence of one hundred percent, unalloyed, pure, total Bliss. So they declared: Anando Brahmeti vyajanaat. [He knew Bliss as Brahman. Tait. Up. 3-6-1.]
Therefore, strive by all the means possible, through thought, word and deed, through whatever action you may engage yourself, to connect yourself to that supreme Reality. Because from that with which you connect yourself, its nature will flow into you. This electric bulb is connected with the electricity and so it gives you the light. But if you cut off this connection by switching it off, there will be darkness; because now the nature of the electricity is not flowing into the bulb. So, why don’t you connect yourself with That which is Light of lights, which is Bliss-absolute, Peace-absolute, which is eternal Happiness? Teshaam shantih shaashvati netareshaam. [To them belongs the eternal Peace, not to others. Katha. Up. 2-2-13.] So connect yourself with It. Link yourself with That. That is the essence of all the sadhana, all the philosophy. Establish contact with that supreme, transcendental Reality. Make a permanent inner link-up with That and go on striving for It by every means possible and move in the direction leading to It. Go on increasing that relation by leaps and bounds and make your progress in geometric progression. Have full faith and you will reach That.
That is the essence of all Vedanta, essence of all Yoga, essence of the sadhana. Connect yourself with That, sustain that connection and move towards That more and more. Intensify your relationship with It. Make it more intense, and more and more intense. That is the purpose of all upasana, that is the purpose of japa, that is the purpose of all kirtan, that is the meaning of aaraadhanaa, that is the meaning of meditation. All these are the means or processes of building up and consolidating that relationship, the spiritual link-up with the Divine. All these are to move progressively towards the supreme Reality, till you ultimately attain Oneness with That.
When a small stream comes out of a glacier of a snow-clad mountain, it is so narrow that you can jump over it and go to the other side. But slowly more streams join it, and its flow goes on increasing. It becomes a small river. Some other rivers join it, and it becomes a big river. There is so much water! But it goes on to its chosen path to meet the ocean non-stop, continuously, untiringly. If there is some obstacle in the form of a rock or hill, it remains undeterred and finds its right path again. Ultimately, it does meet the ocean and becomes one with it. That is the success of its life-long effort. That is the fulfillment of its life. Your life should flow like that continually on the same one path, progressively coming nearer and nearer towards that supreme Being. Stop not till the Goal is reached. This is the call of Upanishad: Uttishthata jaagrata, praapya varaannibodhata. [Arise! Awake! Having reached the great (teachers) attain that Atman. Katha Upanishad 1-3-14.]
This is the quint