By
Sri Swami Chidananda
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
First Edition: 1973
Second Edition: 1991
(3,000 copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Edition : 1999
WWW site: http://www.SivanandaDlshq.org
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
ISBN 81-7052-083-7
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. Shivanandanagar—249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttaranchal,
Himalayas, India.
CONTENTS
A spiritual treatise may or may not satisfy the habits of the intellect,
but, doubtless, it has to cater to the needs and the demands of the
soul and the intuition. As such, the words of a saint, a messenger of
the Spirit, speak to us during the calm and splendid durations we have
with our soul within. H.H. Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj voices silently
to the inmost core of the thinking man. His talks do more intimately
appeal directly to the hearts of aspirants.
This publication commands a position in the field of spiritual literature
almost akin to the one that Bhakti-Yoga occupies among the group of
Yogic paths leading to the emancipation of the individual. Bhakti-Yoga
is like a highway train picking up passengers from the different stations
they happen to come from. It sees no distinction of social status and
rank and qualification but only a genuine zeal to get into and tread
the way. Everyone, without distinction, can have access into this gate;
all can enter into this temple of this unique Yoga. Mundane distinctions
disappear before the mansion of the Supreme Friend and Lover of man.
All can find their equal right before God; for the Divine Spirit is
no respecter of social differences and man-made restrictions. This small
book of this Life Spiritual, in the same wise, greets a novice to answer
his query as to what the real purpose of life is, what the meaning of
true Yoga is, what the spirit of true renunciation is, and how to start
with virtue, pass through holiness and culminate in Godliness. The advanced
seeker in the midst of the high pitch of conflict and struggle finds
here and there spot-lights to remove his darkness of doubt and dilemma
and suddenly comes across solutions to his conflicting problems in the
split of a second. And the more perfected soul would be delighted at
heart because the literature deals with matters concerning divine living,
abounds with talks on the glory of God, liberation, bliss and peace
and narrates the exemplary ideals of great devotees like Sri Hanuman
of the Ramayana fame, and the brilliant inspiring life and example of
saints who lived up to the modern context of time.
The book is universally inspiring and guiding. Being mostly general
in treatment and slightly abstract in character, any approach to it
with a motive of finding the particular in the form of details of techniques
and practices of various systems of Yoga would be misplaced. The work
may simply be taken most reverently as the message of a saint on the
path of Nivritti (renunciation) and Yoga. At the same
time, the value of the book is no less than the usual text-books on
Yoga and Vedanta; the latter deal specifically with particular aspects
and systems of Yoga; they concern the need and purpose and aim of their
chosen trainees and students of the more rigid systems. On the contrary,
the need for a treatise of this kind is first and foremost in respect
of the general readers and the Sadhakas; for it couches life in all
its peripheries. The general principle always comes first and the particular
later.
The work is a collection of Swamiji’s writings and speeches which
are in the form of essays, articles and short discourses delivered on
different occasions. The first five articles have been adapted from
Swamiji’s inspiring addresses at the Satsangas in the Ashram at
the Headquarters and they serve as a clarion-call to those who are in
a slumber as yet to the life of the Spirit on account of ignorance of
the true meaning and purpose of life; and after awakening them, infuse
new strength, courage, hope and vigour into their lives by reorienting
their movement towards God. Then comes the discussion of the basic principles
of Yoga, and the primary requirements it calls for from its students.
The juvenile curiosity which looks upon Yogic life as a rosy path has
been cautioned and the possible obstacles that beset the path have been
pointed out. The norm of conduct of a Yoga student with relation to
the society around the humanity in general has been set forth as being
one of service, equality and sympathy, especially. We have to follow
the foot-prints of wise sages who have already trodden the arduous steep
mountainous path of spirituality. A devotee of God, the Almighty, becomes
invulnerable due to the infinite strength provided to him by the eternally
inexhaustible source of power and energy, Purushottama, the Lover and
Friend of man, a Presence at once manifest in all things, a Power pervading
the universe with innumerable forms as His mighty World-Yoga. This point
has been vividly and interestingly brought out by drawing a picture
of contrast between Hanuman and Ravana. The true concept of Devi-worship
and the need for an overcoming of all that belongs to the low, base
and bestial nature. Whereas the epicurean’s charge has been refuted
and given a challenge with the true spirit of renunciation, attention
has not been slackened to remind the austere recluses of their responsibility
and sacred, supreme duty. The human mind, with its structure and psychological
working, has been broadly analysed and then sufficient hints on practical
Sadhana have been given. The modern man has not been spared on any lame
excuse in his attempt at abolishing the worship and adoration of God
from his life on the ground of lack of time and opportunity. He has
been supplied with a novel method of Sadhana in the form of mental union
in Yoga while offering the physique to the work on hand. This is the
concluding chapter of the book. Thus, through the seemingly unconnected
topics runs an interconnecting link like the thread into which beads
of pearls have been strung to make a beautiful garland.
—THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
This holy land (Bharatavarsha) of ours with its lofty culture has been
uniquely blessed and privileged by a continuous and unbroken stream
of spiritual teachers, saints, devotees and savants to guide and uphold
the arduous march of its men, ever reminding them of the true goal of
life and preventing mankind from slipping into erroneous tracks at each
critical moment. Look at our ancient history and you will find not a
single generation which has been deprived of God-sent men who would
ever hold high the banner of truth along with their clarion-call to
humanity to remain ever vigilant and never forget the real purpose of
life.
They never proclaimed anything as a conclusion of mere intellectual
activity and labour of the thinking faculty but they did so on the basis
of the profound authority of direct intuitional realisation of the Absolute.
So whatever these ancient sages and Rishis have proclaimed in the Upanishads,
it is from their direct experience in the core of their inmost spiritual
being. They did not care to adduce any argument in their support or
to induce acceptance. They just stated boldly what they KNEW AS TRUTH.
And what is it that they have declared? It is
“O children of Immortality!
Ye are not the perishable physical body
Nor the ever-changing mind, nor the reasoning intellect.
But ye are the master of all these,
The supreme conscious-Being,
the unattached witnessing Spirit or Atman
beyond the reach of the mind and the intellect,
Different and distinct from body, mind and intellect.
Realise this fact and live in the awareness of your true Spirit.”
They have also shown the path that leads to this grand experience.
We, as true descendants of our ancient Rishis and worthy sons of Bharatavarsha,
should never lose sight of the great purpose of life which can be nothing
else than God-realisation. Let no one be deceived by becoming a travesty
of alien culture in the name of the so-called material prosperity.
The goodness of a tree is known ultimately by its fruits either sweet
or bitter. The past two great world-wars bear the testimony of the destructive
horror of the so-called advanced civilisation under the most modern
scientific knowledge.
“I would like to bow down from a pretty distance to such deceiving
knowledge and prefer one thousand times to be called the ignorant and
cling fast to my soul-uplifting culture and heritage which guarantees
me purity, manliness, divinity, character, integrity, unselfishness
and love for mankind.”
Be careful, brethren, that scientific knowledge devoid of religion
and spirituality will quicken only the world-doom since it provides
in the hand of the all-devouring brutal instinct of the degenerated
man another addition of deadly power for self-destruction.
Power verily corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Therefore neglect not the foremost duty of building up character, nobility,
godliness and love for the search of your true nature.
The spiritual Sadhaka daily comes nearer and nearer to God. Day by
day, his spiritual struggle brings for him more and more freedom from
earthly bondage, from Maya. Every desire annihilated adds new strength
to the enhancement of this freedom. It is a fresh addition to the store
of inner happiness.
Here are some of the methods of thinning out the Vasanas (desires).
(1) Self-denial: Curtail all unnecessary wants, activities and
mixing. Too much of contacts with friends and promiscuous mixing stimulate
the old habits, previous Samskaras (latent impressions). Hence worldly
contacts should be reduced as far as possible. Exert a little pure will.
Deny then and there and say, “No, I don’t want it, since it
is not going to help my spiritual well-being. Seek the counsel from
the pure intellect and it will give you sure protection at the required
moment. Slowly you will develop an attitude of looking at sense-objects
as poison and delusive, a clever entrapment of Maya and then you will
naturally deny them for your spiritual welfare.
(2) Vigilance: The past Samskaras are like dormant forces and
coiled-up potential energies which sometimes assume violent forms and
produce tremendous agitation in the mind, totally confuse and bewilder
it and make it assume the very forms of desires. This is called Vishayakara
Vritti.
So vigilance must be resorted to. No amount of leniency should be given
to the mind.
(3) Non-cooperation: All the senses must be withdrawn slowly
from their respective centres of pleasure. If you go on denying all
the desires, then they will die a natural death.
So continue this incessant process of dynamic self-denial and become
a conqueror of all desires. Thus having washed clean the mind of all
Vasanas, the aspirant ultimately rejoices and sports in the pure consciousness,
bliss and self-delight of Atmic awareness.
Without Vasana-Tyaga (annihilation of desires), Mano-Nasa (death of
mind) cannot be effected and without Mano-Nasa there can be no hope
of Kaivalya or immortality.
A perfectly desireless state is absolutely peaceful and blissful.
The spiritual seeker gradually thins out his mind, reduces his desires
and at last totally dies to all the worldly Vasanas and gets a final
release from Samsara.
On the other hand, the worldly man daily brings fresh addition to the
bundle of his desires. He creates new wants to experience new sense-pleasures
and thus fattens the process of entanglement in Samsara. At last he
finds himself under thick chains of bondage. He gets entrapped, deceived
and caught by Maya and misses the goal of life.
Thus the spiritual aspirant and the man of the world stand poles apart
in comparison. One soars high by the upward pull of his higher nature
and the other hurls himself down into the abyss of Samsara by the downward
pull of his lower nature.
Today only is yours. Yesterday is gone. There is no certainty of tomorrow.
Hence make the best use of the present moment, the present life. Be
up and doing. Live this day a life of helpfulness and worshipfulness.
Waste not your precious time in vain gossips, scandal-mongering, talebearing,
vain hopes and chitchats lest you may pass out regretted and lamented.
Who knows whether this golden opportunity would come again or not?
So when everything is conducive for rising high towards the shining
peaks lofty ideals, take care that the enthusiasm dies not due to
slackness.
So do not postpone for tomorrow. Postponing means losing forever.
Remember this.
Towards the world, let our motive be one of goodness, friendliness
and selflessness. Let us live for the good and peace and happiness of
others, even of those who deceive us and inflict injury upon us. Mind
not dear Sadhaka! For this is not your lasting abode. You are a quick
passenger to your eternally shining original abode. So, on your
way, while you are here for a short while, try to bring about a little
happiness to others, try to lessen the discomfort, fear and anxiety
of your neighbours, try to wipe out tears from others’ eyes. Try
to remove as far as you can the gloom, despair and sorrow of your fellow-beings.
This should be the attitude for your Bahiranga Jivan (external life,
relative living).
Through Paropakara (doing good to others) you worship the one Supreme
Lord residing in the hearts of all, for “Eko Devah Sarvabhuteshu
Gudhah”—the one Lord hides in all beings.
So bear sympathy for the poor and try to see Him through the humblest
of His creation.
As to our Antaranga Jivan (internal living), it should be one
of Yogic life, living in constant awareness of your divine relationship.
Increase the stuff of Sattva by daily prayer, worship, Bhajan, Kirtan
and Japa-Yajna. This Japa-Yajna is the surest, safest and easiest path
specially suitable for Kali Yuga, this iron-age.
Sometimes the mind would refuse to put forth effort on account of inner
Tamas (inertia) and lethargy. Don’t yield to this inertia. Remove
it by constructive activity, study and Kirtan.
Remove slothness by being “Up and Doing.”
A humorous but meaningfully significant incident is called back to
my mind that can to some extent depict the baneful and curious motive
behind all the so-called advancements in modern science and technology.
One gentleman once asked his enthusiastic son who happened at that moment
to be a student in some institute of technology, “Dear boy, what
will you do if you become a good and renowned engineer?” The boy
replied, “Dear Daddy! I will invent a machine which will be capable
of giving me all that I desire by merely switching a button.” The
father then asked the same question to his second son who was implicitly
following the ideal of his elder brother.
“What do you intend to do when you too become an adept in modern
technology as your ambition is keen after this?” And the juvenile
younger boy instantly replied, “Father, I must invent another machine
which will be used for the purpose of pushing the button of my elder
brother’s marvellous machine and thus save us from the trouble
of pushing the button quite often for our variegated needs.”
This illustrates the modern trend of scientific minds. So much of Tamas
or inertia enters into man’s nature as a curse of luxuries and
comforts that a time comes when he hesitates, even to switch on a button!
Instead of applying the intellect for inventing more and more physical
comforts and machinery even to do your daily work, let this precious
faculty be utilised in discriminating the real from the unreal. Let
the intellect be directed in the quest of the permanent, eternal, imperishable
and all-blissful Atman. Thus make life transformed to enjoy real and
undecaying happiness born of divine communion. Finally rest in the abode
of supreme blessedness devoid of all fears and sufferings.
Yoga bases its origin upon the necessity felt by man to rid himself
of all sorrow and suffering and to free himself forever from bondage
brought about by finite existence and to attain final victory over all
fear, even over death itself. To this great problem, Yoga comes as the
practical solution. Yoga plainly states that man is essentially of the
nature of Bliss, Perfection, Peace and Freedom. The loss of his awareness
of that oneness with the infinite, all-perfect source of his being is
the very cause of his involvement in this earthly process called life.
To regain a true awareness and to realise once again his everlasting
oneness with the Divine is actually the practice of Yoga. The means
of overcoming the defects and imperfections of this earth-life and
thus experiencing union with the Supreme constitutes its structure.
Yoga shows how to overcome the imperfections of the lower nature
and to gain complete mastery over the mind and senses.
All the techniques of Yoga require perfect ethical and moral purity.
Purity is the foundation of Yogic life. One cannot be a bad man and
yet try to practise Yoga. One cannot allow himself to be impure, insincere,
untruthful, deceitful and harmful to others and at the same time try
to practise Yoga. There cannot be any spiritual realisation when interior
circumstances are imperfect. There cannot be any religious practice
or true interior life when moral goodness is not deeply implanted in
the being. One has to be rooted in goodness, in purity, in truth and
in selflessness. Half of the process of Yoga is in getting thus perfectly
established in ideal moral conduct. When this basis has been established,
then the application of the techniques of Yoga is like the striking
of a dry march upon the match-box and immediately there is a flame.
Without this basis, it is like trying to strike and ignite a wet match
upon a cake of soap—nothing happens.
In all phases of Yogic life, the supreme factor is the grace
of God. Call it what you will. It is the grace of the Supreme Essence,
the source of all existence in which alone man realises his true nature
and his deathless divinity. All the practices are purposeful when
they make man move towards God and merge into oneness with Him.
This is the purpose of Yoga.
Sadhana is the purpose for which we have come to this plane. It is
this earth-plane alone upon which Sadhana for Self-realisation can be
done.
Sadhana means right living—living a God-oriented life. Root out
falsehood from your heart. Become an embodiment of Truth.
You are ever-pure and spotless. Express that ever-pure, spotless nature
in your thoughts, words, in the pattern of your desires and inner motives
in your daily life. Practise that, live that, radiate that—that
is Sadhana. You are the Truth, the Supreme Reality. Express this Truth.
Let not your life be a contradiction of what you are. Be WHAT YOU ARE.
This is the essential Sadhana. It is the direct path to live a divine
life, to be divine in thought, word and deed.
The supreme Sadhana is a life lived divinely where every act, thought
and word is permeated with the divine quality.
Be victorious over circumstances. Even when you are working do not
leave this inner awareness. Assert it at every moment in all things.
Be the conqueror of your mind, the subduer of your desires and a master
of your destiny; for you are the Master.
May you develop noble character and walk the path of the good and pure,
the path of Truth, purity and goodness, and move towards that glorious
goal which awaits you. This is your birthright which you can claim and
experience in this very birth. Do not postpone it. Be up and doing.
You must cultivate the flowers of Divine virtues in the garden of your
heart. It is from virtue that one rises to holiness, from holiness to
godliness and from godliness to God-experience. From impurity one rises
to purity, from purity to sanctity and from sanctity into sublime spiritual
experience.
The ascent of the individual soul unto the shining peaks of the experience
of the Absolute on the practical path of Sadhana is attended with three
barriers which must have to be overcome. The first one is a state of
grossness arising out of a total identification with the body-house
in which we reside. This identification has made us feel that we are
ourselves, this body and this body is ourselves.
No matter how much we may mouth the words “I am not this body,”
yet the very next instant our actual life and behaviour demonstrate
our body-consciousness in effect, however much we may assert the contrary.
If someone suddenly comes and says: “You fool! You are wasting
your time in sitting there, why don’t you go and work?”, then
your temper will immediately flare up and you will be in a state of
anger. Vedanta will vanish and the intellect will suddenly give way
to the fit of anger that has arisen in the mind due to a long force
of habit. Now Mr. so and so, the immortal Atman, Satchidananda, beyond
mind and body and beyond all the pairs of opposites, immediately gets
up and prepares to fight. Your mind is in turmoil. It is agitated and
is thinking: “How can I repay this fellow?” Anger flares up
and the mind is thrown into agitation, and you want to go and punch
the man in the nose. You have completely and totally forgotten, “I
am the peaceful and ever-blissful Satchidananda Atman beyond name
and form; the one without a second, all-full, complete and all-bliss.”
This is an example of falling down from the beautiful state of your
Atmic nature into the ugliness and falsity of your lower nature owing
to anger which is a kind of impurity (Mala). Similarly also greed, passion,
selfishness, arrogance, envy and jealousy etc., constitute the impurities
of human nature and every now and then they spring up and overpower
the mind. The Atmic consciousness is then obscured and pettiness, dishonesty,
intolerance, pride and the thought of “How dare one address me
like this?” come into the mind.
These are all called impurities and are the basic blemishes of the
human personality. These blemishes constantly plague the human individual
and need be eliminated if you are to rise into a higher state of consciousness.
These impurities constantly put the mind into a state of agitation
and activity. They never allow the mind to be calm and serene. As long
as these gross impurities draw the mind outward to unspiritual action
every moment, you cannot expect to sustain one unbroken current of thought
of the Supreme Reality.
Due to impurities, the mind is drawn always into a state of restlessness,
outgoing movement and agitation. This is the second barrier called Vikshepa.
This has also to be overcome.
Still deeper in your mind is the third barrier called Avarana. It is
a mysterious veil over the inner depths of your consciousness which
holds you in a state of ignorance of your higher nature. Avarana is
non-awareness owing to nescience, the basic ignorance. This veil is
made up of the identification of the body-mind-consciousness.
These three—Mala, Vikshepa and Avarana—have to be overcome
gradually, stage by stage in a methodical manner. And then suddenly
you see the illumination of Atmic knowledge. You will come face to face
with your true nature. You will have this transcendental experience.
The removal of the basic impurities or blemishes can be done by the
cultivation of the opposite positive qualities. What do you do when
you want to remove darkness? You do not bring mops or brooms to sweep
it or sacks to collect it. You bring the positive opposite quality light
to remove darkness.
The moment the positive opposite quality comes in, the negative quality
vanishes; because the negative quality has no basis. A negative quality
is not an independent entity by itself. Mark this very very carefully.
Negative qualities really have no force. They only imply the absence
of positive qualities. He is a great liar means he has no truth in him.
There are no such things as lies but there is absence of truth in this
person. The moment he welcomes truth by firmly asserting “I will
try to become truthful,” he can no longer be called a liar.
Hatred is not a positive quality. There is no such thing as hatred,
some dark thing wanting to jump upon you. It means that there is no
love, no kindness. So it only indicates a condition of the absence of
love, and in one who cultivates love and compassion there is no more
hatred. The moment love comes in, hatred vanishes; because the positive
is real and the negative is not real. When the positive quality is cultivated,
the negative ceases to be.
So, remember, cultivation of virtues is a fundamental part of self-culture
leading to spiritual evolution and Divine experience. This is the laying
of the foundation as it were. If you want to cultivate a garden from
a wild piece of land, the first thing you have to do is to root out
all the weeds, the brambles, the undergrowth and remove all such unnecessary
things. Then you have to prepare the ground by removing all stones and
pebbles and then make the soil fertile.
Thus, in this process of spiritual cultivation you must work at getting
rid of the trash, eliminating all that is undivine, unspiritual, transcending
the brute and bestial nature such as greed, hatred, anger, jealousy,
selfishness, haughtiness and arrogance. Then you have to grow the flowers
of virtues in the garden of your heart. Then alone you will rise unto
a state of godliness. “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”
One should have great deal of zeal in cultivating divine virtues. Through
the cultivation of virtues and removal of vices, the oscillating, tossing
and restless nature of the mind gets thinned out. Through prayer and
meditation the veil of ignorance is torn aside. Now you attain to the
state of Reality-consciousness. Your experience is now one of absolute
spiritual bliss and peace. How can you now describe that grand experience
of spiritual consciousness or Divine ecstasy. You will only say, “I
am Satchidananda.”
Nothing that is worthwhile is to be achieved without undergoing a corresponding
amount of pain and suffering. No enduring ideal can be attained without
toil and sweat. The seed splits and perishes to put forth the plant.
The flower lays its life to give place to the sweet fruit. It is in
the furnace that gold emerges from the ore. Even so, the price of sainthood
is to be paid in the interim period of utter loneliness, privation
and struggle which the aspiring soul passes through.
The spiritual path demands a rigorous Tapas and heroic endurance at
one time or other. This has been the common experience of all such earnest
souls who, fired by the ideal of Self-realisation turn their back upon
the world of vanity and folly. Because the truth remains that the link
between man and God is forged in the furnace of trial and adversity.
Gurudev says, “There is no royal road in spirituality. Adversity
develops the power of endurance and will-force. Adversity develops fortitude
and forbearance. All the prophets, saints, Bhaktas and Yogins of yore
had to struggle hard against adverse circumstances. God puts His devotees
under severe tests and rigorous trials .........”
You will also be tested by God for your sincerity and patience. He
will make you utterly helpless and watch and see whether you have devotion
for them or not in such straitened circumstances. We cannot say
exactly what form these trials will take. But the sincere devotee is
never afraid of these tests.
A grim endurance of all vicissitudes and a dogged resolution to
persevere to the end are essential if one has to realise the Ideal.
For indeed, rough and rugged is the march on the steep and narrow
way!
Gurudev once cautioned a group of aspirants to be alive to the stealthy
power of unconscious habits. “For,” he said, “Man is
sybarite by nature. You may be very zealous in your austerity
and vows in the beginning. But if you are not on the guard, slowly will
the vigour be relaxed; comforts will creep in and you will be caught
hopelessly. If the body is allowed to relapse into softness and luxury,
you will find it well nigh impossible to discipline it again.”
Instances are not lacking where recluses in solitude, after years of
asceticism, have slowly slipped into an easy-going life by coming in
contact with admiring devotees. When they come to be well-known, devotees
gather round volunteering to do personal service. Not wishing to disappoint
the eager disciples, the ascetic allows a little latitude at first,
but it grows upon him until he is a slave to every sort of luxury.
Mind immediately takes advantage of even the least sign of weakness
in the aspirant. It is like a tiger crouching on its haunches
about to spring. Swamiji exmplifies in his life the ceaseless and
ever-alert vigilance against the sudden onslaught of Samskaras. He is
a model to all, even to highly advanced aspirants—in his avoidance
of the proximity of women. Devotees, many a time, seek to touch his
feet while prostrating; never does he allow this to happen. No touch
of a feminine hand is allowed, be it that of a real devotee even.
You might have read about a class-mate of Swami Vivekananda, a remarkable
young man, a monk of great renunciation and determination, who after
years of admirable self-control, Nishkama Seva, finally became hopelessly
entangled in a woman’s wiles. Swami Turiyananda has cited
this example in one of his intimate talks with Sadhakas.
It is not the question of being pure or impure. The very proximity
of persons of opposite sex is dangerous, however pure and well-meaning
the persons be. Moving with women unleashes a primitive force
quite beyond the easy control of the human being. The woman herself
may be spotless, but the Lord’s mighty power of Maya may work through
her unawares. The hidden power of lust in the heart of men begins
to manifest in feminine presence and proximity. Not without reason,
the great contemporary saint, the revered Malayala Swami of Yerpedu,
strictly forbids the careless mixing with persons of opposite sex. He
once told a Sadhaka who had unwittingly allowed a lady to minister to
his comforts, while he was ill, and had his feet shampooed by the kind-hearted
nurse, “If I were to name an atonement for this lapse of yours,
I would have you apply glowing coals to the portion of the feet touched
by the lady.”
For an aspirant, all contact with women must be absolutely tabooed.
Women may be revered, trained and elevated; but it must be in separate
institutions. Different Ashrams should be maintained for them and it
is from a respectable distance that even advanced souls should have
dealings with them.
How supra-human beings, like Brahma, Narada and Visvamitra, succumbed
to this influence of sex, is vividly brought out in the Hindu scriptures.
Whether one is inclined to treat the scripture as authoritative or not,
the lessons they embody and seek to place before men have to be taken
at their worth. They advocate, in unmistakable terms, the avoidance
of all contact with the opposite sex to the spiritual aspirant. It is
no use attempting to ignore the fact that in the vast majority of people,
the sexual craving is very intense; hence the necessity for such drastic
advice.
Spiritual life is for eternity and realisation is infinite. It is not
like a period of work, giving place later to a nice vacation.
The same high pitch of purity and discipline has to be maintained if
life is to mean anything at all. No relaxation of vigour and caution
can be afforded. For the mighty power of cosmic illusion is not a trifle
to be toyed with. A fit of passion is enough to blow away the result
attained by years of slow and painstaking effort. Remembering this,
let the aspirant be ever ‘watchful unto prayer’ as the mystics
have said.
It is well to keep before our minds the example of a certain saint
of Madurai of whom it is narrated that, while he was passing aimlessly
through the streets of that city, he was accosted by an irreverant and
arrogant merchant who jocosely asked the saint which was the superior
of the two; namely the beard of the saint’s chin or the tuft of
hair on the tail of a donkey! The saint looked up silently at the questioner
for a few moments and quietly resumed his wanderings.
Several years had passed away when the merchant was one day summoned
urgently to the saint’s presence. The waggish merchant, having
long forgotten all about his sacrilegious humour of bygone years, went
wondering what the matter might be. He found the venerable saint on
his death-bed and at his approach, the dying one raised himself slowly,
and whispered to the merchant thus, “My good man! you asked me
a question several years ago. Well, my beard is superior to the donkey’s
tuft; so you have your answer and forgive me for my delay.”
The merchant asked why, after years of silence, the saint chose to
give an answer to the impertinent query now, during his last moments.
The saint, with great humility, replied, “Precisely because these
are my last moments. Doubtless I might have even then answered you as
I do now, but I dared not; for my dear brother, so very mysterious,
so incomprehensible, is the Lord’s illusive power that I knew not
what I would do or be the next moment. Man’s achievements are of
no avail before Maya’s charms. She reigns supreme on the stage
of the divine play. None can dogmatically say that he is beyond all
temptation. It is the Lord’s grace alone that not only makes a
man pure but also keeps him pure to the end. Man on his part is but
to exercise a constant humility and an active vigilance. All these several
years I have striven to keep myself spotless and devout, putting faith
on His love and mercy to maintain my purity. I have now but a few moments
more to live and there is no chance of a slip; therefore with my last
breath I answered you confidently.” And the saint sank back and
gave up his body.
The great lessons of genuine humility and an unremitting caution have
to be firmly grasped and borne in mind by everyone who would make any
headway on the slippery path that leads from “darkness to Light,”
from “the unreal to the Real,” and from “mortality to
Immortality.”
O Blessed Friend! When will you wake up from this deep sleep of ignorance
and enter into the reality of your true real nature—Divine Nature?
You are not merely the body and intellect.
Come, come, wake up now. Claim your birthright. Recognise your identity.
Enter into experience of the Divine Joy, Peace and Wisdom which is your
Eternal Svarupa (essential nature). O beloved friend! O Radiant Atman!
Do it now. You are indeed Divine. You are unchangeable, infinite, immortal
Atman.
Life is Sadhana. Living is spiritual process. All actions—mental,
verbal and physical—constitute Yajna. Yajna or self-giving is the
fundamental principle and PAROPAKARA (doing good to others) is the Mulamantra
(the basic sacred formula) of this life.
Live with understanding and wisdom. Understand the meaning and purpose
of life. Understand your real nature and why you are here. Here on earth
you are but a passing traveller. Here all things are temporary. All
things pass. Therefore seek the eternal. Your real nature is not earthly.
It is spiritual and deathless. To realise your Reality,
your eternal identity is the purpose of your life. While you strive
diligently for this inner experience cultivate Ideal Relationship with
the world around you. To all beings relate yourself with nobility, sympathy,
kindness, love, selflessness and the desire to serve all.
Compassion to all is the key to blessedness. Humility is the highest
virtue. Truthfulness is the greatest treasure. Self-control is the supreme
wealth to possess. Egoism is the worst blemish and hence to be eradicated
in toto.
Be an ideal individual. Become a spiritually-illumined soul. Thus crown
your life with Wisdom, Peace and Blessedness. You will then become a
blessing to all mankind. I wish you joy and peace.
We do meditation in the morning and evening, but during our activities
and dealings with others during the day we show petty-mindedness and
selfishness. That obstructs our Sadhana and nullifies the benefits of
our meditation. Penelope, the wife of Ulysses, had many suitors during
her husband’s absence whom she never wished to marry since she
was a faithful and loyal lady. Therefore she devised a trick to deceive
them and pass away time. She told her suitors that she was preparing
a fabric and, until the fabric was finished, she would not accept anyone.
They agreed. Every day she went on knitting and, at night she used to
undo the work till Ulysses appeared. This is a good example of “undoing”
what had already been done.
We should not apply this sort of “undoing” to our Sadhana.
Let us not add any undivine element to whatever good we might have practised
during the morning hours. If, during our actions, we forget our essence
and become harsh and dishonest and begin to criticise others—then
all these things will undo whatever Sadhana we have done in the hours
of meditation. Therefore, our eternal physical life and activity, our
speech and actions, have closely to keep up and enhance the spirit of
our meditation, worship and Sadhana.
It is very essential, therefore, that we do not confine our Sadhana
only to the quiet hours inside the Puja-room, but divinise all
your actions. All our deeds should express our real, inner nature. They
should all become spiritualised. This divinisation of all activities
is known as Karma Yoga.
The man who leads an ideal life, full of self-sacrifice, full of sweetness
and helpfulness alone makes his Sadhana effective and fruitful.
An aspirant must, therefore be wise. He should not contradict his Sadhana
during the active life. He should know where the pot is leaking; otherwise
it will be useless to go on filling the pot.
An aspirant should also be careful, watchful, alert and penetrative.
The story of the “Three Skulls” is worth remembering.
Once a Rakshasa (demon) came to a king’s court with three skulls
and frightened the king to eat him up unless he could correctly point
out which was the best skull out of the three. The king asked three
days’ time and the demon agreed. Then the king asked his court
Pundits as to which of them was the best. None could say anything since
all the three resembled outwardly all alike.
One intelligent Pundit came and passed a rod through one ear of the
first skull, and the rod went straight through the other ear.
Then he made the rod pass through the second skull. In this case, the
rod, inserted through one ear, came out of the mouth.
Then the rod was made to pass through the third skull. When inserted
through one ear, the rod went right into the chest.
The court-pundit remarked that the third skull was the best.
The first skull represents that type of people who hear wisdom through
one ear and, without assimilating it, leave it through the other ear
and forget about it. The second skull represents those people who, after
receiving wisdom, are anxious to teach it to others, but do not practise
the wisdom themselves. That is the second class of people.
The third skull represents the best type of aspirants, who after hearing
wisdom, keep it in their hearts, and try to practise it in their everyday
life. So, I would request you all to be like the third skull, cherishing
and practising whatever you may learn from your association with the
wise, the saints and the sages. May God bless you all!
All saints and holy men have illumined like the bright full-moon, the
dark night of ignorance of the earth-bound souls by their own brilliant
example.
They have been men of very simple nature, devoid of all crookedness
and cunningness. Simplicity and guilelessness are the characteristics
of all men of God.
“Unless ye become like little children, ye cannot enter the Kingdom
of heaven.” This is the mystic declaration of Jesus Christ.
All truly great saints knew not how to disbelieve any man. They trusted
all beings. This was one of the most salient traits in their character.
They were guileless. They did not have the so-called shrewdness and
cleverness which the worldly man has, which he thinks essential for
him to get along. But to get along where? It is a different question
altogether. Whether it is getting along in the right direction up to
heaven or getting along as quickly as possible to perdition or
his own ruin, that is the question. But the so-called shrewdness which
the deluded man thinks very necessary for him to get along, the saints
were lacking, and they were not the losers for it. They became worshipful.
They were immortalised because they were guileless. Their nature was
pure and simple, crystal clear, and this is the nature of children.
Saints were like children. Childlike simplicity, childlike guilelessness,
childlike innocence and crystal-like purity of heart have ever been
the common attributes of all the saints.
Secondly that universal quality which characterises 999 out of 1,000
of all mankind is egoism. People are proud. Everyone has his own ego.
Man feels “I am something,” and he does not like to be disregarded.
He wants others to recognise him as something, and he wants to assert
himself and this principle of ego, this feeling of one’s own superiority,
is found to be totally absent in all saints. They were humble. They
were meek in spirit. They were lowly in spirit.
“Blessed are the lowly in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of
heaven.” The “lowly” not from the point of money. He
may have everything, but in spite of that he feels that he is a speck
of dust at the feet of the Lord. “Lord is everything. I am nothing.
Thou art everything my Lord.” This is the attitude of all holy
people, and this total absence of egoism, and the resultant humility—this
is also a universal characteristic of all saints.
Even as egoism is the universal characteristic of the ordinary man
in his unregenerate days, the man who is in the grip of delusion, Maya,
even so, the universal characteristic of all saints has been perfect
humility. Blessed are the meek. And the spirit of the same verse is
re-echoed by one of the greatest saints India has produced. He was Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabbu. He says, “Trinadapi Suneechena—one
should consider oneself lower than a blade of grass.”
The man of egoism (Ahankara) has not yet learnt this great secret,
this truth that Ahankara is the great bar to true refinement and progress
of man. He will argue that if a man does not feel himself to be something,
he will attain nothing and so too much of humility simply spoils one’s
life.
But the saints knew better. They knew what was the worth of achievement
in this world and what was the truly worthwhile achievement. And they
knew that the ego was the greatest obstacle for the attainment of all
good things which are of lasting worth, and therefore they were humble,
forbearing and forgiving. The lives of saints were full of trials and
tribulations. They were persecuted. They had to bear too much hardship.
The Lord put them in the furnace of hardship and tribulation, suffering
and persecution.
Just as gold is put in the furnace to be purified of all dross and
to shine as purified metal, even so, saints are put to much tribulation
and suffering, and through all these they manifested three important
qualities.
One was that they accepted all trials and tribulations as the blessings
of God and bore them. Endurance, fortitude, forbearance—these were
always and will ever be the characteristic of saints.
O man, endure.
The symbology of Christ being carried to the Calvary brings us this
great lesson that man has to silently bear pains and sufferings and
through this endurance and suffering only he comes out as gold purified
of all dross.
In this process of silently enduring all the vicissitudes and painful
experiences of life, they never lost faith. Rather, the more they endured
the more were they tried by God and the greater, the stronger, the firmer
their faith became. This was the second great trait in them. “O
God! Thou may send me the worst suffering, but I will not lose faith
in Thee, O Lord.” That was the wondrous spirit they had. They never
lost faith in the Lord.
Thirdly they not only forgave them who did them harm, but wished all
the good for them.
Have such endurance and be humble, O aspirant!
Whatever happens to you, never lose faith and you are sure to be rewarded
with eternal life and infinite bliss.
To all those who were instruments in bringing about suffering to the
saints, their attitude was one of forgiveness and returning good for
evil. They tried to do good to the man who did them the greatest harm.
To endure everything, to be always firm and unshakeable in their faith
in the Lord and a spirit of continuous forgiveness-this is the nature
of saints, and these characteristics are found in saints all over the
world. All people who have risen to spiritual heights and have become
worshipful by mankind—they have always manifested these wonderful
qualities. To the saints, God is not a distant entity. To them God is
an ever present living reality. Just as we are present to each other,
to them, too, God is ever present. They turn to Him at every moment
of their life. Whenever they were in need of help, solace, strength,
guidance or light, they immediately turned to God even as a child turns
to its parents. God was ever present before them and thus their lives
were transformed by this ever present awareness of a superior being
whom they felt to be their very own. They melted all the differences
between themselves and God. They felt themselves to be very intimate
with God. They felt God to be their own.
We also express this intimacy with God everyday through our prayers
and hymns but we do not feel it intensely enough. In troubles, we trust
our money or other external aids of the world rather than the indweller.
We lack the sense of God’s presence.
On the contrary, the saints, even while living in the external world,
are always in close contact with the Lord. Therefore they are God-men.
They live a life in God and they always consider God to be the only
real treasure, the greatest wealth, the only object worth having in
life. They never have any other desire. Their desirelessness found ultimate
rest in God alone and filled their heart with perfect contentment.
All saints stood above caste and creed. They belonged to one family—the
great cosmic family of God. Absolute purity, absolute trust in God,
absolute compassion, contentment, desirelessness, perfect guileless
nature and total dependence on God alone—these you find in all
saints.
Take anyone of the western saints. You will find the same simplicity,
the same humility, the same frankness. Even if a man was about to cut
their throat, they embraced him. That was the saintly reaction. They
were filled with the spirit of this divine quality. In short, they fulfilled
the spirit of the Amritashtaka, the last eight verses of the Twelfth
Chapter of Srimad Bhagavad Gita wherein Sri Krishna describes the characteristics
of a lover of God, one who is dear to the Lord.
We should also try to delve into the heart of these saints and
feel as they felt in their hearts—an overflowing love for God,
total forgiveness, motherly compassion, intensity of faith which alone
could enable them to bear everything that came on their way and the
Himalayan type of perseverance and patience they exhibited on the path
of God-Realisation.
And if with our open hearts after removing all bias, we try to delve
deep into the nature of the saints, then all the noble traits of their
personality will come before us and we can engrave and emulate these
noble traits in our hearts. That indeed will be the only effective manner
in which we can worship these great souls by which we make an effort
to carry out their teachings with sincerity and in a true spirit of
respectability and try to emulate their lofty ideals and characters.
This emulation will be the greatest tribute we can pay to these saints.
We should try to emulate them. We should try to emulate the great ideal
they have set before us through their exemplary lives. Therefore,
to make ourselves adherents of the pattern of divine life which they
have worked out, to make ourselves faithful reproductions of these great
ideal lives would be the most effective manner in which we can offer
our tribute and honour to these saints.
It is a common fallacy to suppose that people, who follow the path
of devotion, who cultivate devotion, who take recourse to prayer, surrender
and the Name of the Lord become effeminate, weak and they are not strong
like the Vedantins. The Vedantins are always strong; they bring the
picture of a lion, the king of the forest, which fears nothing and is
full of strength. Even so, the lion of Vedanta is supposed to roar like
a lion.
The real devotee is also equal to the Vedantin. He fears nothing in
this world. His strength is infinite, because his strength is not the
strength of an individual personality. The source of his strength is
infinity, in which he has established himself. The source of strength
for a Vedantin and the source of strength for a devotee are the same.
The Vedantin relies upon Atman, but the devotee relies on the Lord.
The Saguna Brahman (Brahman with attributes) and the Nirguna Brahman
(Brahman without attributes) are one. Therefore, if a devotee feels
within him a sort of fear or weakness, then it means that his practice
of Bhakti is not correct. There is something lacking in him. Some error
is there. If he is a real devotee, he should be perfectly fearless.
He should say, “I have got the Name of the Lord on my lips. Nothing
equals the Name of the Lord in the whole world. To me no fear from the
world can come.” So a real devotee fears nothing. Maya cannot do
anything to him. He who has got the Name of the Lord ever upon his lips,
defies the guiles of Maya.
He who has got faith and devotion to the Lord becomes invulnerable.
His defences are impregnable. Nothing can happen to him. It depends
upon faith.
Such faith was there in Hanuman, whose glorious personality stands
radiant before us in the pages of Ramayana. He is the ideal of a true
devotee, the devotee who is full of strength, full of courage, full
of heroism. True devotion gives strength. Real Prem (love) gives infinite
courage and boldness.
What is the source of all strength that sustains an aspirant in his
struggle to overcome Maya? The strength is the Name of the Lord. That
strength is the strength of true love and devotion to the Lord. That
strength is the strength of absolute faith in the Lord, faith in the
grace of the Lord, faith in His Name, to exemplify which the glorious
Name of Hanuman stands as an ideal before us.
A devotee fears nothing. No obstacle deters him from pursuing
the path that leads to the blessed union with the Lord. If this real
devotion is not there, then timidity and other things come.
What was the secret of Hanuman’s infinite strength? How could
he cross the ocean by a single jump?
It is because he was a faithful votary of the Divine Name. It was the
Bhakti (unflinching devotion) in him that gave him infinite strength
to overcome all Rakshasas. Nothing could stand before Hanuman.
He was matchless in his valour.
His strength was infinite, but then he stands in striking contrast
to another personality in Ramayana, whose strength was also infinite,
at whose strength all the three worlds trembled—Ravana—the
person who could lift up Kailasa, who had conquered all Devas and made
the god of Agni (the fire-god) his cook, the god Varuna (the water-god)
water his garden, and all the Ashtadikpalas his slaves. The Navagrahas
(nine-planet-gods) were steps to his throne. Such was the might of Ravana.
But then what did Ravana do? This might of Ravana, this great strength
which had to be subdued by no other than the Incarnation of Lord Vishnu
Himself, was destroyed and spoiled by Ahankara, and also this was allied
to Adharma. Egoism and Adharma completely vitiated and perverted
this great power which Ravana possessed and, as a striking contrast,
we have the grand personality of Hanuman towering in his height, but
yet most wondrous, most beautiful, example of perfect humility
and self-effacement. Always we see the picture of Hanuman with folded
hands.
“Yatra Yatra Raghunatha-Kirtanam,
Tatra Tatra Kritamastakanjalim,
Bashpavari-Paripurnalochanam,
Marutim Namata Rakshasantakam.”
With all the strength, courage, heroism and other divine virtues, Hanuman
of incomparable humility possessed a heart which was ever melting in
tears of Prem and which ever cherished the attitude of servitude and
humility. It is an object lesson for humanity both in its collective
aspect, as nations of the world, and in its individual aspect—how
they ought to subserve their entire capacities, abilities and
strength to the service of the Lord, and how the strength and capacity
should be characterised by utter humility. That is the great important
lesson that Hanuman’s personality teaches to mankind for all times.
If that is not there, we have the contrast of Ravana and we have the
inevitable fall.
Hanuman’s name has been immortalised became his infinite strength
was accompanied by immeasurable humility—humility as vast and deep
as the ocean, and the perfect spirit of obedience and service. Hanuman
is ever the servant of Rama, with folded hands and utter surrender,
ever waiting for an opportunity to do some service to Lord Rama. He
was a perfect devotee, a perfect servant and Sevaka, and he was a perfect
spiritual aspirant for he kept his ego always in subjugation. Never
do you find him raise his head, he always keeps it bent low. And therefore,
Rama gave him the foremost place. When the Pattabhisheka time came,
Rama placed Hanuman in front of Him. It was the reward of that perfect
devotion, humility, spirit of service, absolute self-effacement and
self-absorption.
Once Hanuman was questioned, “What is the day of the week today?”
and “What is the star, the Tithi?” To this he replied, “I
know neither the day nor the star. I know only Rama, His Name and
His love.”
His life meant only the love of Rama and the result of such a love
is that Rama places him ever in front of Him. That is the ultimate position
occupied by him. There is no Rama without Hanuman.
He is the ideal aspirant characterised by ideal humility, perfect surrender
and obedience. If you analyse the whole life of Hanuman, it is nothing
but unremitting service of Lord Rama to the very end. The most important
aspect of Hanuman’s personality that we should remember is Rama-Prem
and his humility which made him immortal. Therefore, strength when it
is allied to devotion to God and worship of God becomes fruitful in
immortal glory, becomes fruitful in eternal union with the Lord. The
highest that man can achieve comes to him who allies all his faculties
of body and mind with virtue, devotion, humility, the spirit of service,
and absolute surrender. To be ever absorbed in the repetition of the
Name of the Lord and to be ever absorbed in the service of the Lord—this
is the shining ideal of devotion that the grand personality of Hanuman
presents before humanity for all time. Such is the glory of his personality
and such is the importance of this ideal personality to us, spiritual
aspirants as well as to all human beings in this world—to ally
strength with Dharma and thus to attain the divine realisation of eternal
oneness with the Lord.
People on this earth can be divided into three broad classes. The first
type of people believe only in this life on earth. The second type consists
of people who do a little service, but lack the spiritual vision. There
is the third type of beings in whom, the spirit of enquiry is awakened,
in whom a higher discrimination is working, who conceive of life, not
as some period of existence to be finished here, after which they don’t
know—and, therefore, are not concerned—what is going to happen.
They conceive of this life as an opportunity, given for attaining something
higher which belongs to a sphere transcending this. These Sadhakas have
also got a knowledge that in essence they are not earthly, and that
their life does not end with this earth-life. They have some glimpse
that their life is really eternal existence in self-awareness, and of
the nature of peace, bliss and wisdom. They think that their earth-life
is a temporary bondage.
They are impatient that somehow or other they should recapture the
pure experience of that real life, which is theirs in truth. Therefore,
they use this present earthly existence for carrying on a determined
struggle, so that they may transcend this ignorance and regain that
experience, the eternal life in the spirit. They are known as aspirants
and seekers.
In order to bring together this class of people who are living for
a spiritual ideal and to inspire it and take it near that spiritual
goal, societies like the Divine Life Society have been founded by men
of realisation, like Sri Gurudev. The Sadhu’s Federation was started
with an additional aim, i.e., to gather together all the forces
in the form of the various devotees, so that a unification may be brought
about among all saintly persons—a sort of universal brotherhood
of seekers, aspirants and Sadhakas. There is a prevalent idea that a
Sadhu means a Sannyasin putting on ochre-robes. Swamiji says “No”
to this. A Sadhu or a Sannyasin is one in whom the spiritual ideal is
the only ideal, whether he is a householder or a renunciate.
In what way shall we be able to propagate the Sadhu-life, the life
of divine quest, and what can we practically do in our own walk
of life to awaken more and more people to the greatest sublimity of
this life of seeking after God? Sadhus form a class diametrically opposite
to the “normal man” of the world. If the man of the world
holds a certain thing as desirable, the seeker looks upon it as something
more insignificant than dust. What is pleasurable to the worldly man
is extremely painful to the seeker. What the man of the world regards
as necessary for life, the seeker regards as the greatest obstacle to
real progress. And, in the very conception of progress even, the two
are totally opposed to each other. If this is true, then the Sadhu must
be a misfit in the world! To some extent it is true. But the real Sadhu
is not a total misfit. The Sadhus’ community forms only a minority
in the world. A Sadhu has got tremendous amount of adaptability. He
knows that God Himself is tolerating the world and so he is also prepared
to tolerate the world.
The Sadhu is essentially universal. Though he looks at the world with
pain in his heart, he has great tolerance. He adapts himself with others,
but is firm in his own ideals.
Look at Sri Swamiji—you have a living example of this truth in
him. Sometimes politicians come and air their views and place their
problems before him. He listens patiently to them and he gives the advice
as though he is very much interested in these problems, while all the
time he is in a consciousness which makes him realise that it is like
a whiff of smoke.
These saints know that this worldly life is meaningless. The only meaning
it has got is that it can be taken as a field of Sadhana. What we think
of the life of animals, the enlightened souls too think the same of
the life of an unprincipled man who leads a purposeless life.
You cannot get happiness from this work. If you go to a neem tree,
pluck a fruit from one branch and then eat it, you discover that it
is bitter. Imagining that you made a mistake by choosing to pluck from
that particular branch which alone might be yielding bitter fruits exclusive
of other branches, you suddenly change to another branch, pluck a fruit
from it and find that it is bitter too.
How can you get a sweet fruit from a neem tree? Expectation of pleasures
from worldly objects is exactly similar to this. No happiness can be
got from the world.
A Sadhu knows this very well. Sometimes, on account of previous Samskaras,
the Sadhu may deviate from the path just a bit, but he is never eternally
lost. In the aspirant or seeker, there is always the Viveka and Vichara
alive. Therefore, the reaction of Nachiketas to the temptations of Yama,
is the reaction of a Sadhu to worldly pleasures.
The Sadhu, intent on treading the path of Sreyas (real good) tries
to cut at the very root of the cause of Preyas, the apparently pleasing,
by means of prayer, Japa of the Lord’s Name, Sankirtan etc. The
hallmarks of all seers are more or less the same—compassion,
selflessness, purity, oneness, renunciation, tolerance, and above all,
returning good for evil. There are many examples from the lives of saints
to illustrate this.
Therefore, in order to be able to propagate the Sadhu ideal, the ideal
of divine quest, the quest after Truth, I pray with folded hands that
you should:
(1) Get all the books on the lives of saints, that you can and study
them.
(2) Hold a Satsanga in your own house and narrate the lives of saints
to your family and children and friends.
(3) Save the money that you waste on luxuries and with that amount
print and distribute widely leaflets and pamphlets embodying the lives
of saints.
Thus your own life will be transformed. Thus thinking constantly of
saints, you will yourself become a saint. And, you will help others
transform their lives, too, and grow into saints. This is the best and
the most practical way in which you can promote the ideal of a Sadhu
life.
The phenomenon of destruction necessarily preceding a new birth is
found in every aspect of creation and evolution upon this earth.
Similarly, in the realm of the spirit, when the seeker has set himself
to rise into the transcendental state of Paripoornata, or perfection,
fullness, bliss, eternal life and infinite peace, light and joy, when
he starts upon this process, he finds that he is bound down by many
things which do not allow him to rise up to that desired state of spiritual
felicity and bliss. Numerous elements of this old human self, many undesirable
factors of the lower aspect of mundane life, hold him down, trying perpetually
to keep him bound to ignorance, darkness, delusion and Anatmic (not
Self) tendencies. This lower aspect of the individual soul in the form
of the various weaknesses and defects of the flesh is known by the name
of Papa Purusha or the Pasu—which need be destroyed and given as
Pasu-Bali on the altar of Daivi Shakti (the Divine Mother of Power).
If an aspirant really and earnestly desires to attain to Supreme Peace
and Bliss, then he must be resolutely prepared to do the preliminary
breaking process that is absolutely essential before he can be free
to rise up from the old personality and soar into the empyrean realm
of the spiritual Consciousness full of bliss and peace. If his earnestness
makes him ready to die to his lower-self, then he can be called a real
worshipper of Kali, the fearful Mother Divine, the consumer
of all the blackness in the form of the impurities of the soul.
She wields Her sword and Her terrible form in order to destroy that
which stands as an obstacle to our attainment of spiritual bliss. She
is terrible, fearful and destructive to all that is lower in us, impure
and unspiritual in us and all that is base and bestial (animalistic)
in us.
The individual finds that he cannot fight and overcome these enemies
of the higher self through his own puny individual efforts. Therefore,
comes the necessity and the meaning of Mother-worship. He invokes that
aspect of this Supreme Divine Power that might be capable of doing this
process of Pasu-Badha in his own individual case. Therefore he turns
to the Mother and lovingly addresses Her, “O Mother! come to me
as the terrible, come to me with your fearful sword; come to me as a
destructive power in thy fearsome aspect which will be capable of destroying
in me that which is unspiritual, unholy, and that which is animalistic
and base and Anatmic.” He welcomes the terrible so that She may
release him from the clutches of the evil and the impure that is in
him, the Papa Purusha that is in him. This is a Voluntary invitation
of the destructive aspect of Divine Shakti so that She may, out of Her
love and compassion for us, do the work of destroying all the Shad-Ripus
(sixfold enemies viz., lust, anger, greed etc.) in us, our egoism,
our impurity, our attachments and all the host of the things that form
the lower aspect in the individual.
Therefore, the worship of Kali is a little bit difficult, because we
find that while one part of the seeker, out of his aspiration and desire
for liberation, feels that he should free himself from the base aspect
of his personality, yet there is the power of delusion, attachment and
Moha in him and this aspect makes it difficult for him to completely
destroy his lower self, his attachments and cravings and Trishnas with
a resolute mind. While he wants Mother Kali to come and do the work
of destruction, at the same time he yet clings to his lower self! Therefore,
his worship of the Divine Mother Kali is not whole-hearted.
He is the real worshipper of the Divine Mother, who sets himself resolutely
to crush out all attachments, to crush out his delusion, to crush out
his cravings, to crush out likes and dislikes, to annihilate his egoism,
and thus actively co-operates with the. Power which he invokes through
Mother-worship. Else, it will be a hypocritical worship.
A real seeker and a worshipper of the Divine Mother should ever exercise
his Vichara, Viveka and Vairagya with a resolute and determined mind.
It is the exercise of all these higher faculties in order that the lower
faculties may completely be destroyed that forms the real worship of
the Divine Mother. The Sadhana which the seeker does in order to destroy
the impurities of his mind and heart, the Sadhana which he does to burn
up his egoism and attachments of the lower nature, may constitute the
real worship of Mother for him. It is the doing of one’s Sadhana
with whole-heartedness, intense sincerity and with the entire integral
being in the seeker, that constitutes the real worship of the Mother.
In every Seeker this worship of the Mother is a process that constantly
goes onto that extent to which he resolutely opposes the cravings and
attachments that try to keep him bound down to his lower existence;
to that extent also he daily succeeds in doing a real worship of the
Divine Mother.
Let us all pray to the Divine Mother that she may give us all the necessary
strength and inspiration and inner power, to put ourselves whole-heartedly
upon Her side and join in the work of the Divine Sakti in regenerating
us, in annihilating our Pasutva (animal instinct) and bestowing upon
us Divya-Jyotis (Divine Light).
The epicureans would always protest that the doctrine of renunciation
is mainly responsible for the degeneracy of the nation, that such a
doctrine of renunciation has always brought about deplorable weakness
and inefficiency in the race which we see everywhere today. Is there
any truth in this serious charge?
On the contrary, it is attachment and indulgence that is the real cause
of all degeneracy and weakness. Indulgence in earthly objects creates
attachment and makes man thoroughly selfish. However active such a man
may be, and however busily he might engage himself in the work of the
world, it becomes merely selfish alone. The average selfish individual
cares a pin for the betterment of anyone save himself. His strength
and his work is to no purpose for anyone’s benefit.
The ideal of renunciation and detachment is the one factor that has
kept intact the virility of Bharatavarsha as a nation and race.
Take any period in history and you will find that it is the greatest
personalities who have risen above all selfishness and ruthlessly renounced
all petty attachments that have achieved the greatest good of the country
and turned the course of history. Lacking in the spirit of renunciation
people have turned selfish. You see the baneful results of this selfishness
everywhere in the form of greed, cruelty, corruption, cut-throat competition,
jealousy, enmity and on a large scale, warfare.
Renunciation broadens the vision and annihilates egoism. It is a higher
sense of duty in a spirit of selflessness with a knowledge that the
Lord is ultimately the natural heir to all the fruits of actions and
sacrifices. Whereas, in the absence of renunciation, the vision of the
individual is obscured by the cloud of self-seeking and self-interest.
There is no courage of conviction. The selfish individual lacks moral
courage. When the call to a noble act of self-denial or sacrifice comes,
the man imbued with the spirit of renunciation boldly responds to it.
Whereas, where there is no spirit of renunciation, the individual wavers
and steps back with the suspicion of his self-interest and the welfare
of his family getting affected. Such attachment to selfish circles makes
him backboneless. That is indeed the basic ill.
It is due to the gross misunderstanding and antagonism to our spiritual
heritage that a period of sloth and degeneracy has come over us. No
doubt, a great part of this unfortunate spiritual stalemate is
due to the prejudiced, unsound and selfish interpretations of our scriptures
by a class of Pundits who thrived on the innocent faith and religious
fervour of our countrymen. But surely it cannot be denied that the modern,
westernised man is equally responsible for this degeneracy due to his
utter ignorance of his heritage due to his blunt, shallow and clouded
vision to seek the right in a conglomeration of opposite currents, due
to his apish antagonism and his vainglorious worship of alien
ideals. There can be no real service, no real social work, no real
philanthropy, no real patriotism, no real national growth, without the
true spirit of renunciation. Renunciation is strength Supreme. Hence
it is the central ideal of our race.
Guru-Kripa is a wonderful mysterious factor that will enable the aspirants
to seek and to attain the summum bonum of life—that is Self-realisation
or the vision of God, or Moksha. Whether the disciple is deserving or
undeserving, Guru-Kripa sets aside all normal laws that operate in the
spiritual plane and takes one to the transcendental Bliss.
There is absolutely not the least bit of exaggeration in the statement
and also in the fact that the Guru is always gracious. But then Guru-Kripa
has not only to be bestowed, not only to be given but it has also to
be received. In receiving it, we immortalise and divinise ourselves.
There must be joy in obedience to the Guru and there should be a real
craving in the spirit that “I should obey.” To be a disciple
you should obey even in dream. Day and night our Sadhana should be to
cultivate this attitude of obedience to perfection. This is the external
part of Sadhana.
To the disciple, the nature of the Guru is not human. We should be
completely blind to the human side of the Guru and we should be conscious
only of the divinity that he is. Then alone will we be able to partake
of his Kripa which will transform us from the lower human into the transcendental
divine. Our relationship with the Guru is purely divine, purely spiritual.
Similarly we have first of all to develop in us the consciousness that
we are immortal beings and that we are in essence Satchidananda. Then
we can demand that Satchidananda-Consciousness from Guru and the Guru
will be able to give that to us.
Patience and humility in the spiritual realm may have to extend over
a period of decades. We have to wait like a dog at the door-step of
the Guru for a whole lifetime, if need be. There is no loss here. For
the goal is immortal life and freedom.
The best thing is to humbly leave everything to the Guru. “I do
not know whether I am a disciple or not. Therefore, O Ocean of Mercy
and Compassion, pray, make me a proper disciple. Generate in me that
Mumukshutva which makes me a disciple and give me the spirit of willing
obedience. Help me in trying to follow thy instructions. Help me in
trying to mould myself upon the pattern set-up by thee”—this
must be our constant prayer. And, by this alone shall we be able to
draw the Kripa of our Guru and make our life fruitful. And the perfect
way of praying is in obeying and in trying our best to be real disciples.
Existence being one, all life is one. All life being essentially one,
mankind is also one. Uniformity is the law of the spiritual plane. Though
externally, variety or diversity is the Law of Nature in the manifest
universe, in its inner aspect, uniformity or unity is the Fact of life.
Mankind is one. Thus on the one side we have this unity of mankind all
over the universe. On the other side regarding Godhead too we have utterances
of sages ‘Ekam eva advitiyam Brahma’—God is one.
Absolute unity has to partake of the nature of oneness. Thus when we
go into the fact of religion from this observation and from this attitude
or point of view, we are drawn to the conclusion that Religion too is
one! Whatever the apparent external differences between religions may
be, the inner process of religion has necessarily to be one and the
same for it implies and comprises man’s movement towards Godhead.
The process of religion is the freeing of man from the factors which
bind him down to this earthly existence of pain and death. If unrighteousness
is a factor in causing suffering, then be righteous. If through untruth
man is to be bound to this vexing mortal life, and has to pay a heavy
penalty in suffering and pain, then abandon falsehood; be truthful.
If by being cruel, you will reap a harvest of pain, torment and suffering,
cast away cruelty and practise Ahimsa be good, be kind, be compassionate.
Thus the process of religion develops in a scientific way by studying
the causative factors of your bondage to this earth-life and its pains
and sorrows. It insists that by living a life of practical religion
you can remove all these causative factors of suffering. We must, therefore,
lead the life carefully in such a way that we do not commit those things
which result in painful experience and existence.
The process of religion slowly works out a scheme of life for you,
where you are made to bring into manifestation or into active expression
all these lofty life-transforming elements of the Divine aspect of your
being, thus helping to overcome the animalistic aspect and progressively
unfold the divine nature that is already the essential part of your
inmost Consciousness. Man is made in the image of God; therefore Godliness
is the very essence of his real inner being. Hence the external operation
of lower nature has to be overcome and cast away, thus giving full scope
for the manifestation of the Divine Svarupa (nature) in him. With the
unfoldment and the blossoming of the Divine Consciousness in man, he
becomes at once linked with the infinite divine existence, Sat-Chid-Ananda.
The unity which had been for the time being veiled, as it were by ignorance
is re-established. This consummation of the religious quest is to make
man declare: “I am not this body, I am not the senses, the mind
and the intellect, I am Sat-Chid-Ananda Brahman.” This comes from
the fullness of experience and the culmination of religious practice
which is the experience of your Eternal spiritual Unity with God-head.
No religion wants you to be tied down to this earthly life. All religions
have as their goal the attainment of perfection, freedom and immortality.
All religions also have the same process in their essence, whatever
be the difference in the ritual or ceremonial details. Real Religion
wants the complete annihilation of the lower self, animalistic part
of man, and the progressive unfoldment of his divine nature. Thus from
the very genesis, we see that the fundamental principle and the ultimate
goal of all religions are the same.
Religions have come either from eternal wisdom enshrined in scriptural
texts like the Upanishads, Vedas, or from some great men of wisdom inspired
by God to give out His message about the way of attaining Him. If we
go to the source and look at the great and inspired lives of Jesus,
Mohammed, Zoroaster, Buddha and examine the great fountain-heads of
the various faiths in the world, we will find that by their practical
example, through their exemplary life, they have shown us what is the
very soul of the religions which they have given to mankind. They demonstrated
the practical living of the religions which they later on gave to their
followers and in these personal, living demonstrations they were all
at-one.
Let us examine a few of the prophetic utterances of these great messengers
of God. Is there any religion that tells us “Utter lies; be dishonest;
hate people; develop anger and animosity; be impure; be immoral?”
No, “certainly not”—is the emphatic answer. Every religion
lays stress upon a life of Truth, Absolute purity, of compassion, of
love, of devotion, of tenderness, of a life of sacrifice and of goodness
in thought, word and deed. Every religion has given a way of life to
its followers as the ideal to be followed, in order to attain the goal
viz., ultimate imperishable happiness free from birth and death,
disease and misery. The way or the means is one and the same in every
great religion. It is a life of purity and devotion practically demonstrated
by each one of the prophets, saints and great men of wisdom.
Therefore, from whichever angle you approach and study the subject
of religion and spirituality, and from whichever angle you look at it,
you find that every important factor is fundamentally one and the same
in all faiths. All faiths are one and all prophets have lived the same
life of ethical perfection, divine compassion, goodness and awareness
of the oneness of mankind. Thus, however much we may try to close our
eyes to these facts, we find the oneness of all faiths proclaiming itself
in a living, irresistible way through the very motive force underlying
each faith and religion. In other words, there is oneness in the process
of all religious achievements, and there is oneness in the ultimate
destination which each one of these different religions wants its followers
to realise. These different faiths are, as it were, so many beautiful
flowers that go to make a beautiful bouquet which we offer at the Almighty
Being.
We, as seekers of Truth, have first of all to bear in mind that there
is a twofold aspect in which Sannyasa pervades our life. In its purely
spiritual aspect, Sannyasa embodies the highest spirit of Nivritti,
viz., the total negation of names and forms, and the masterful and purposeful
assertion of the One Reality, beyond all names and forms, that is Brahman
or the Self. This is the highest outcome of the highest Vedantic Sadhana.
This is the innermost core of the culture of Bharatavarsha, the highest
and the only aim of human existence according to the Hindu genius. Not
only this physical universe, but the countless number of universes that
exist as a drop in the infinite ocean of Satchidananda are negated in
order to ever remain immersed in the blissful consciousness of the Atman.
To realise this great end and aim, our ancient sages and saints have
interwoven and blended into the fabric of our social life the four Asramas,
viz., Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa, to effect a
gradual unfoldment of this spirit stage by stage in the life of an individual.
In the Brahmacharya Asrama, or the student-life, one has to live with
his Guru, give up all distracting thoughts and give himself up completely
to the study of scriptures, living a life of self-control, purity, simplicity,
austerity, attention to studies and obedience to and service of the
preceptor. In the next stage, he lives an ideal life of a householder
with selflessness, self-sacrifice and self-effacement as his mottoes.
This is the preparation for the next stage, viz., Vanaprastha, where
he has to discipline himself to enter the life of Sannyasa.
In the Sannyasa life, meditation and collecting food for his livelihood
were the Dharmas enjoined upon the man who had done all his duties to
society, to the nation, to his own family and to his friends. He has
now no more attachment and has but to fulfil the one great duty, i.e.,
of meditation upon the Self, and realisation. Thus, in the last stage
of the social order, viz., Sannyasa, we have the highest spirit which
embodies the soul’s upsurge from finitude to infinitude. This is
the natural and dynamic movement of every soul which strives to break
all finite bonds and cast aside all traces of attachment; and completely
shattering the illusion of duality and phenomenal existence, it strives
to soar into the splendour of Atmic-Consciousness.
This innate urge of the individual is the spiritual aspect of Sannyasa
for which no social order exists. It depends upon the intensity of the
soul’s urge, upon the thirst for Self-realisation which seizes
the Jiva that has been awakened to the transient nature of the phenomena
and to the ever-present Reality that is its very nature.
The real meaning and the true glory of Sannyasa can be best understood
by devoutly observing saints and men of God who are the living embodiments
of the highest and the best in Sannyasa. They personify Sannyasa in
the truest sense of the term. Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj
is verily the greatest exemplar of the true Sannyasa-spirit. Every act
of his is the illuminating revealer of the secrets of real renunciation.
The spirit of Sannyasa has been misunderstood to be a sort of retreat
to the quiescent and a sort of escapism which arises out of inability
to face life. That sort of Sannyasa stands self-condemned. Sannyasa
is infinite strength. By escaping from active struggle of earthly life,
an individual cannot escape his Prarabdha (destiny). This is an illusion
which people who do not know the law of Karma hold on to. He who understands
would not dare to enter this fiery order of Sannyasa in order to escape
from the struggle of life. Fate will show that he is woefully mistaken.
Those very Karmas which he has sought to escape in secular life will
stand before him, ruthless and pitiless, and he will have to work them
out with compound interest.
Sannyasa is based upon heroism. The real soldier in the Adhyatmic (spiritual)
field is he who has dared to see life as it is, who knows that everything
in this world is a transitory dream; and having the courage of this
conviction that the world is unreal, he has risen above the strong bonds
of attachment to sensual objects and has come into the life where the
greatest of all struggles has to be worked out—a struggle against
one’s own nature. There is no greater difficulty in the world than
to attempt to wipe out the feeling or consciousness of one’s individual
existence—‘I am good-looking, talented’ and all the hosts
of associations and Adhyasas which cling to the normal human consciousness—and
to instil in its place the grand consciousness, ‘I am not this
body,’ ‘I am not this mind,’ ‘I am Satchidananda
Atman,’ ‘I am all-pervading and infinite, beyond birth and
death, endowed with countless powers.’ This is real heroism. In
trying to do this one has to give battle to age-old instincts which
one has acquired through crores of births through which the Jiva-consciousness
has passed. This is not the struggle of a day. It may well be the struggle
of a lifetime, and many a time one has to face defeat and downfall.
The heroism of a Sannyasin lies in the fact that he will not be a coward.
He admits of no failure, of no setback. For him all these elements in
the struggle are steps which take him nearer and nearer to the grand
ideal, to the great goal having reached which he will be able to declare:
Deho naham, Jivo naham; Pratyagabhinna Atmaivaham—I am not
this body, nor the Jiva; I am the innermost indivisible Atman. Every
effort put forth is in the nature of an achievement, never in the nature
of a loss.
A Sannyasin is one whose life is based upon supreme Tyaga, upon perfect
desirelessness. He has to give up all desire for this gross, physical,
external world; even the desire for highest enjoyment in heaven. From
a blade of grass to highest Brahman, all is dust for a Sannyasin. He
rises above them and asserts his Atmic nature. His life is, therefore,
based upon renunciation. He does not bestow too much attention upon
his physical body, whether it is praised or censured, respected or ill-treated.
He ever strives to dwell in the consciousness of the Atman. Reflect
over the above and judge what you are.
A Sannyasin’s life is composed of the three factors of total renunciation,
of a blazing aspiration for the Infinite, of spotless purity. A total
renunciation is the negative aspect of his life, the blazing aspiration
is the positive aspect in between, and spotless purity is the fabric
of which his life is made up. Positive p is the one condition of the
descent of Divine consciousness into his receptacle. Keeping this as
the model pattern of the Sannyasin’s life, may we all ever struggle
to come out of the intoxication of ego-consciousness, of this fever,
Kama-Krodha-Lobha-Madha-Matsarya disease, this Samsaric disease which
can be cured only through correct understanding of Sannyasa and Brahma-Chintana.
If all pain and sorrow are to cease for ever, we have to take to Sannyasa.
If our life is to blaze forth as peace and blessedness, Sannyasa, and
Sannyasa alone, is the one way. For, it is selfishness that is at the
root of all miseries upon the earth, of all fights and quarrels, all
problems, all wars and hostilities; every sorrow and every misery that
is now rampant in human society has at its root the Asuric trait of
gross selfishness, where man wants everything for himself and does not
care what happens to others in the process of fulfilling this craving
for getting things for himself. Sannyasa cuts at the very root of this
Asuric trait, for Sannyasa is based upon unselfishness and renunciation
of selfishness; and if selfishness is renounced everything is renounced.
Renunciation of selfishness means, if I may say so, renunciation of
all desires for it is selfishness that takes the form of desire for
various things for oneself. Therefore, the real spirit of Sannyasa may
be stated in the simple term, complete desirelessness. In the light
of this consider and evaluate your life and ascertain where you stand.
Resolve freshly and strive boldly onward.
It is the duty of every aspiring seeker and earnest Sannyasin to try
to take note without fail of two significant factors, namely, theoretical
conception of Sannyasa as laid down in the authoritative scriptures
and the practical living of Sannyasa in one’s life as immortalised
by the vital tradition of this great land. What does the true discerning
Hindu take Sannyasa to be? We know that Sannyasa is the fourth order
or stage in life (Asrama). The individual entering this stage of life
gets the Diksha through the Guru and performs Viraja Homa (sacrifice).
It is this Viraja Homa that gives you the right clue and right answer
to what Sannyasa implies. Viraja Homa throws a flood of light upon the
true meani
