By
SRI SWAMI CHIDANANDA
from
Early Morning Meditation Talks
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
First Edition: 1997
(2,000 copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Edition : 1999
Website: http://www.divinelifesociety.org/
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
|
No. 7
Special Insights into Sadhana
on
Thursday: The Day of the Guru
|
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. Shivanandanagar—249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttaranchal,
Himalayas, India.
CONTENTS
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE
This special series of eight booklets is being published between September
1996 and September 1997 in honour of the 80th Birthday Anniversary of
H.H. Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj, the President of the Divine Life
Society.
Each booklet contains several of his early morning meditation talks
given on special spiritual occasions in the sacred Samadhi Hall of the
holy founder of the Divine Life Society and Sivananda Ashram, H.H. Sri
Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. The series of eight booklets covers the entire
year of special occasions and festivals celebrated in the Ashram.
The talks contain penetrating insights into the meaning and purpose
of sadhana as Swamiji takes advantage of these occasions to point
out the fundamentals required for success in the spiritual quest such
as devotion to the goal, discrimination, obedience to the Guru, faith
in God and oneself, and a divinely lived life.
The spiritual advice and encouragement contained in these booklets
will be an inspiration and help to earnest spiritual seekers throughout
the world.
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
PREFACE
The whole year for the Hindu is a continuous observance of some sacred
day of worship or other. The year is completely built around a great
many days of sacred worship of various expressions of the one non-dual
Divine Reality.
Each month is significant for the presence of some important day of
divine worship. So, from beginning to end, life becomes God-oriented;
it becomes devotion filled. Life becomes based upon worship.
The holiness and sanctity of life and actions of the followers of the
Vedic religion is insured by this great wisdom-based approach to life.
All the twelve months become a composite period of adoring the Divine
Reality around which the entire life of the individual revolves.
Swami Chidananda
|
“We have not been sent here to go around
in circles. We have not been sent here to grope in darkness. We
have not been sent here to wander and stumble and fall, to weep
and wail. We have been sent here for overcoming and accomplishment.
And until we attain that, we should not rest upon our oars.”
—Swami Chidananda
|
Blessed Atman! Radiant souls eagerly yearning and longing for liberation
from all limitations, all imperfections and all vexing bonds that hold
us down to a gross earth consciousness, which is unnatural to us, which
is not our true state, which is not our real condition. You are all
mumukshus longing for liberation, aspiring for liberating wisdom,
engaged in Yoga practice and spiritual living, who are lovers of God
and righteousness, devotees of the divine life and followers of Gurudev
Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj.
Today is Thursday, the day of the Guru, and as a worthwhile exercise
and expression of our earnestness to grow in devotion to the Guru, to
show how really and truly sincere, earnest and serious we are about
our devotion to the Guru, it would be worthwhile to see if we can adopt
for our practice over the next twenty days one item per day of Gurudev’s
Twenty Important Spiritual Instructions. For, we cannot afford to print
these Instructions in thousands upon thousands, in innumerable languages,
giving them to the whole world, and then have the queer notion that
we are exceptions to them, we need not read them, become acquainted
with them in depth, nor necessarily practise them and apply them to
our own life. Why should such a thought arise? Because we are close
to Gurudev, we are doing his service, seva. Therefore, his rules
do not apply to us so very seriously. He will not bother whether we
are following his Twenty Instructions or not. We are doing his seva!
This is called maya. It is a practical laboratory demonstration
of maya. This is what maya is: to bypass the Guru’s
instructions with the smug assurance that our seva makes us special
VIPs, privileged with exemption from his instructions.
Well, if this type of notion takes root in your heart, it is only a
disaster to you. It does not affect Gurudev. He does not lose, because
he has nothing to lose. Long ago he gave up everything and got everything.
And that which he has got is something which cannot be lost. Even otherwise,
he has nothing to lose, because he voluntarily gave up everything—friends,
relatives, home, property, money, fame, comfort, security, praise, renown,
flattery. He gave up everything and became possessionless and desireless.
He had only one desire when he came here over seventy years age—to
sit under a tree, get absorbed in God’s Name and become absorbed
in God.
So, if we are wise enough to follow his golden teachings, his divine
admonition, his loving spiritual instructions—given with a great
goodwill and a desire that we should all rise to great heights of spiritual
experience and blessedness—then they will clear up all obstacles
between us and God, between us and Guru’s grace. We will open a
wide channel through which grace rushes towards us, inundates us, fills
us, and lifts us up to sublime heights.
If we do not follow his teachings we invite disaster, not for Swami
Sivanandaji, not for the Divine Life Society, but first for ourselves,
and then for Sivananda Ashram, which becomes a less effective centre
of inspiration and spiritual help to sincere seeking souls. So there
might be some minus effect to Sivananda Ashram, and a total disaster
for you, but Swami Sivanandaji will not in any way be affected. For
he is now in a state beyond being affected. He is established in a changeless
state of total perfection, supreme blessedness, immeasurable peace and
indescribable bliss. He is not in that state, but he is that state.
Swami Sivananda is pure satchidananda. Swami Sivananda is total
bliss. This is not Chidananda saying, this is scripture saying, sruti
vakya. Veda Bhagavan says: “brahmavit brahmaiva bhavati”—The
knower of Brahman verily becomes Brahman Itself.” “Anandam
brahmeti vyajanat—That Brahman is verily bliss, the experience
is Bliss.” It is in that Brahmic state that he whom the world knew
as Sivananda abides eternally, and, therefore, what we do with our lives
is going to affect us, but it is not going to affect Swami Sivananda
in his Brahmic state.
Therefore, it is wise that we make use of this life for our highest
welfare. Or, if not for our highest welfare, we should at least work
for our welfare for the simple reason that no one else can work for
our welfare. They can assist us in working for our welfare, but there
is a saying which is based upon experience and expresses universal human
wisdom: “God helps those who help themselves.”
The great scripture called Yoga Vasishtha—which ran into thousands
of pages to explain to us that this world is a mere appearance, a figment
of imagination, a creation of the mind, there is no abiding truth in
it, it is less real than dream—that scripture ends by saying exert,
you must exert to attain that experience. Otherwise that
experience will be far, far way, and you will be weeping and wailing,
beating your breast, and knowing your head against the wall in frustration
and desperation. If you take world to be a solid reality but want to
rise to that higher experience—exert. No gains without pains. Be
up and doing. Exert, exert, purushartha. Purushartha is the ultimate
message, the ultimate thesis of the Yoga Vasishtha. Purushartha was
the ultimate declaration, admonition and directive so far as you yourself
are concerned.
So, Yoga Vasishtha may say that everything is a myth, everything is
less real than a dream; it can say it because the one who said it knew
it. But Yoga Vasishtha tells you: exert. No gains without pains. Have
sadvichara, satsanga. Do sadhana!
Therefore, this morning’s sharing is for a little purushartha
on your part. Exert a little. Be wise: know the difference between
your own present state and experience absolute—an experience absolute
from which height you can give Yoga Vasishtha to everyone. In that experience
there is no hunger, there is no thirst, there is no fatigue, there is
no pain, there is no elation or depression, there is no disease, there
is no old age, there is no sorrow, there is no limitation. If you are
in that state you are competent to teach, to declare, to presume Yoga
Vasishtha—not otherwise.
I am not teaching Yoga Vasishtha, but I am declaring to you the first
directive of Yoga Vasishtha: Do sadhana, exert, engage in right
action. You will not lose. Exert—purushartha!
Therefore, from today onwards, for the next twenty days, I earnestly
entreat that you exert in one specific way, namely, Gurudev’s Twenty
Important Spiritual Instructions. Study them, ponder them, go over them
from all sides. Take a good look at them, and try to find out how you
are related to them, to what extent they are part of you. Because that
will decide to what per cent you are his follower. You may be a disciple,
but you may not be his follower. You are not following him. So that
means that your discipleship still leaves much to be desired. Because
if we are disciples and devotees but do not follow him, then our discipleship
leaves much to be desired and our devotion leaves much to be desired.
They should be whole-hearted and whole—total.
So let us prepare for a very special sadhana this next twenty
days and carefully study and put into practice Gurudev’s Twenty
Important Spiritual Instructions. Then you are on your way to becoming
a full, genuine, authentic, real and actual disciple, devotee and follower
of Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji, who loved all spiritual aspirants
and who loves you too because you are in the spiritual life. He loves
you very much indeed—all the more because you are not only a spiritual
aspirant, but you are a spiritual aspirant living in his holy Ashram
in this divine part of holy India. He has got great love for you in
a very, very special way.
As Lord Krishna said in the latter part of the twelfth chapter of the
Srimad Bhagavad Gita: All are dear to Me, but, you, My devotee, are
very dear to Me, O Arjuna. And He did not have to demonstrate that Arjuna
was very dear to Him, because He had already amply proved that His love
for Arjuna was very special, very out of the ordinary, exceptionally
great, by having given Arjuna the eleventh chapter Yoga experience.
Even so, Swami Sivanandaji does not have to prove his love to anyone,
because he has amply proved it to the hilt by drawing you here from
your own life, keeping you in his Ashram, surrounding you with this
wonderful spiritual atmosphere and providing you with all the facilities
for karma yoga, bhakti yoga, dhyana yoga, japa yoga, jnana yoga,
sankirtan yoga and seva yoga. Everything, everything, everything!
Rarely can you find a more fertile and richer field for spiritual evolution,
unfoldment and attainment than Swami Sivanandaji’s Sivananda Ashram
on the right bank of the Divine Mother Ganga in sacred Uttarakhand in
holy India.
If you have eyes to see, you will see it. If you have ears to hear,
you will hear and understand what is being said. And if you are a real
spiritual aspirant, you will be experiencing the truth of what has been
said every moment. That there may be distractions, little imperfections
and difficulties is only something plus. They are additional factors,
irritants, thorns on the rose-bush. They may be. Even the richest cloth
sometimes soiled. You may have to have it washed or dry-cleaned. That
is inevitable. But the precious nature of that which is precious never
varies. Even a diamond may need a little scrubbing and cleaning if it
becomes overlaid with dirt and grime. But a diamond is always a diamond.
So, that this is an Ashram offering multi-facilities for a total all
round spiritual unfoldment and evolution is one hundred per cent true.
Absolutely, without any argument, it is true. Without any doubt it is
true, if we relate ourselves as sadhakas and true seekers.
Therefore, it is in your hands to make this period into a glorious,
grand period of your life, something that is great. It is in your hands.
Do it to the best of your ability. This is all God expects of each one
of us. He does not expect us to surpass ourselves or do the impossible.
But He does expect, and Gurudev does expect, that each one of us try
our level best to do the best we can, to do whatever is possible for
us.
So, a lot has been shared. How much has been received, the Indweller
knows. I cannot really help it, because it is not in my hands. It is
in your hands. It is your end of the rope. Anyway, this has been shared.
It has been shared in all seriousness, in all sincerity and with all
humility. So, leave no stone unturned. Commence the study and practice
of the most basic and important set of spiritual instructions that Swami
Sivanandaji has ever given, and which he has left forever for all mankind
as his legacy.
Keep Open The Doors Of Your Heart
Salutations and prostrations to all the brahmavidya gurus from
the earliest times—even beyond creation—Adi Narayana, Sadasiva
to the tattva vetta brahma jnanis, siddha mahapurushas, of the
Vedic era, the Upanishadic times, to the medieval acharyas: Sankara,
Ramanuja, Madhva, Vallabha, Nimbarka, Gauranga Mahaprabhu, to all the
great, modem illumined souls, seers and sages: Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsadev,
Vivekananda, Rama tirtha, Aurobindo, Ramana Maharshi, Swami Ramdas,
Gurudev Swami Sivananda, Anandamayi Ma and to all the Great ones who
have ever blessed this holy land, punya bhumi, matri bhumi, India,
with their divine presence, sanctifying their times, sanctifying the
very ground on which they trod!
They are all bridges to liberation, immortality. They are all portals
to supreme blessedness. They are all gateways to the highest kaivalya
samrajya moksha (the kingdom of final liberation). Mahajana yena
gatah sa panthah—that is the way, the way trodden by the great
ones. And preceding us they have left their footprints upon the sands
of time. May you also go that way and attain the same state of supreme
blessedness that they attained!
They are pioneers upon this great path that leads to liberation, illumination,
supreme blessedness, attaining which there is no returning into this
world of pain and death. They are trailblazers. Therefore, to keep them
in the heart, to keep their ideal lives before us as radiant examples
to emulate and live up to, is the surest way of attaining that very
state of blessedness.
Contemplate, therefore, the saints, the sages, the seers, the illumined
masters, the perfected ones. Contemplate them daily—morning, noon,
evening and night. Keep them in your heart. Keep them ever before your
vision. They are the lights that illumine our path to blessedness. Without
them this world would be a dreary desert, a wilderness full of thorns,
poisonous trees and venomous creatures. Without them this world would
be what it is today on the outer surface. Because of them there is hidden
beneath the outer exterior of this present day world of violence, hatred,
conflict, clash, selfishness and immorality a radiant spiritual world,
a radiant world of purity, of perfection, of goodness. There is here
and now a radiant world of Divinity.
Live in that world! not in this external world which, with its strident
noise, seems to demand your attention, forces itself upon your consciousness.
Reject it! Get thee behind me, Satan! Refuse to recognise it, because
there is a greater reality. The seen is not the real; the unseen is
the real. The outer, visible one is not the real; the inner, hidden
one is the real. The outer is but a pale, ineffective reflection of
that which is radiantly real, eternal and unchanging. Focus upon that
truth and cross the bridge to eternity that the ideal, exemplary lives
of the sages and saints constitute for humanity.
As long as human memory cherishes the sublime, noble and ideal lives
of these great ones, there is a future for humanity. As long as human
hearts cherish these lofty and radiant examples, we walk in the light;
we do not dwell in darkness. This is the truth. This is verily the truth.
This is indeed the truth.
You live where you choose to live. If you close your eyes to the light,
you close to live in darkness; but if you choose to help your eyes open
to the light, your heart will be flooded by light. You will walk in
the light; you will live in the light. And there will be no groping,
no stumbling, no wandering. There will be a sure and steady progress
towards a clearly perceived ideal and goal.
In firm footsteps you can walk upon the path that is radiantly present
before you, lit up and illumined by your own faith, lit up and illumined
by your own vision, lit up and illumined by your own awareness that
behind the seen there is the unseen, behind darkness there is light,
behind the cloud there is sunshine, behind the screen there is the great
beauty of beauties, the ever-present radiance, the splendour that the
body-house houses. Within this body-temple there is the hidden splendour.
That is to be focused upon. That is to be held firmly in your heart.
That is to be cherished in your thoughts. Man without vision perishes.
Man with vision is never harmed. No harm can come to that being who
lives with a vision and a goal. Na hi kalyanakrit kascid durgatim
tata gacchati (The doer of good, O my son, never comes to grief).
Kaunteya pratijanihi na me bhaktah pranasyati (O Arjuna, know
for certain that My devotee never perishes).
These are not vain statements. They are the manifestations of truth,
the utterances of eternal promises. We should recognise that we live
in the Light even in a world of darkness around us. For, beyond and
behind the ever-changing, the seen world of unrealities, transcending
them, there is an unseen world of the eternal, unchanging Reality. We
must live in this truth, in the awareness of this fact. That is the
surest way of overcoming all things external, conquering all obstacles
and attaining the supreme, for which we have been sent here.
We have not been sent here to go around in circles. We have not been
sent here to grope in the darkness. We have not been sent here to wander
and stumble and fall, to weep and wail. We have been sent here for attainment.
We have been sent here for overcoming and accomplishment. And until
we attain that, we should not rest upon our oars.
That is the great glory of human life. That is the grandeur of these
times, times that have been endowed with more light, more wisdom, more
knowledge, more insight and more vision than any other century, than
any other generation within human memory, within known human history.
This closing decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of
the twenty-first century form a glorious period in human evolution.
Just as the fifteen minutes before and the fifteen minutes after the
midday and midnight sandhis (junctions) are spiritual moments
in time and the two hours before and half an hour after dawn comprise
a charmed period, even so, the junction point between the twentieth
and the twenty-first centuries has on either side a decade of supreme
blessedness and auspiciousness, potent with infinite possibilities for
spiritual evolution. This generation is supremely blessed, and you who
are now living in this period are more blessed than you can ever imagine.
All the positive forces of radiant and resurgent spirituality are converging
upon this period, filled with great blessedness, great possibilities,
great potential and immense spiritual help from all the brahma vidya
gurus from the most ancient times. For they are immortal. They are
beyond time; they are eternally present. Brahmavid brahmaiva bhavati
(He who knows Brahman verily becomes Brahman). They are called nitya
siddhas, eternally present. Dattatreya, Dakshinamurti, Vyasa and
Vasishtha are one with Brahman. They are ever-present spiritual centres,
spiritual forces, ever-present centres of light, and they only await
our call, our turning to them. They are there as centres of grace, centres
of spiritual power, force, energy.
Therefore, to recognise this great truth and to seek to make the very
best use of this period, rather than to allow it to pass and later on
lament, would indeed be wisdom on your part. Remember the parable of
the wise and the foolish virgins in the New Testament. Remember that
this is a period when God is knocking at the doors of the human heart.
This is a period when God is calling: “Uttishthata jagrata prapya
varan nibodhata (Arise, awake, having reached the wise become enlightened).”
He may call through an Aurobindo, through a Ramana Maharshi, a Ramdas
or a Sivananda. He may call through a Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Ramatirtha,
Nityananda, Sai Baba or Muktananda. He may even call through Venkatesananda,
Krishnananda or Chidananda. He may call through anyone. He may call
through a dream. He may call through your own sudden intuition. He may
even call through a passing, seemingly insignificant incident in your
daily life. He has no dearth of ways of calling. He may call from the
mouth of a babe. There is no end or restriction to where He may call
from.
If you heed the call, then he that hath eyes, let him see; he that
hath ears, let him hear. We have to develop the vision and the receptivity.
We have to develop the wakefulness, the alertness to catch the call
as did the wise virgins, as have all the great ones who responded to
the call.
These are all truths which you have to recognise and reflect over.
They are being placed before you as so many indicators of the supremely
blessed period in which you are living. They are placed before you for
your serious consideration and immediate recognition. Let it not be
said of you that blessings were poured upon you, showered upon you,
and you did not receive. Sri Anandamayi Ma used to say: “There
may be a downpour of rain, but if a vessel is kept with its bottom up,
then it will not collect even a drop of water. Take care how you keep
your vessel. You must keep it right side up.”
Therefore, keep open the doors of your heart. Let it not even require
to be knocked upon. Keep it open before anyone comes to knock and ask
you to open. Then you are thrice blessed. Even otherwise, ask and it
shall be given, knock and it shall be opened unto you, seek and thou
shalt find it. But if you already keep seeking, already keep the doors
of your heart open, you are indeed thrice blessed. You are indeed most
wise and supremely fortunate.
That is how you should be as spiritual children of blessed Gurudev
Swami Sivanandaji, who was the awakener par excellence of global
humanity in this twentieth century. Congratulate yourself and crown
your life with glory!
Obedience Is Better Than Reverence
Worshipful homage unto the Divine Reality that is the one unchanging
fact, the one unchanging, ever-present Truth behind and beyond these
ever-changing, transitory and temporary appearances of names and forms
that make up this universal, phenomenal appearance. May divine grace
flow from that Reality and awaken within you the awareness of Its presence
within your own being, so that you feel yourself as what you really
are, namely, a moving temple enshrining the Great Reality. Loving adorations
to beloved and worshipful Holy Master Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj,
who taught and admonished and called upon all to lead a life of being
divinely awakened even while living in this prosaic, secular world—a
life of God-awareness or God-consciousness. May his benedictions enable
you all to come into that state of consciousness where you are aware
of your divinity and strive to make your life filled with that divinity.
The ancient, illumined seers and sages of this sacred land of India
have declared that your supreme goal of life, the purpose of your existence,
is to attain liberation—liberation from the vexing bondage and
limitation of this earth-bound and body-bound life. They have called
it moksha. And to attain it they said that you have to exert,
you have to be up and doing, you have to make the necessary effort.
So, they have linked that supreme attainment, by which alone your life
becomes fruitful and fulfilled, to exertion. You must exert! That is
their call to each and every one of you. You must exert, you must do
purushartha. If exertion, therefore, is the means, if abhyasa
is the means, if sadhana is the means for attaining that
supreme state, then it implies that we cannot keep quiet. As the saying
goes, we must do the needful.
And what that needful is, is the content of all the scriptures and
of all the teachings of the saints and sages. They describe the various
means: how you can do it through your emotion, through your sentiment;
how you can do it through your mind power, through your intelligence,
intellect, discrimination, investigation and enquiry; how you can do
it through the physical activity of your body; how you can do it through
Name; how you can do it through a combination of all—diverse ways.
All the scriptures, the sastras, tell us the various methods.
But they all say that YOU must do it. And you can attain only by EXERTION.
There is butter inside milk, but unless you put forth the necessary
effort and churn it, the milk will remain milk only. The butter will
never be obtained. It is only when you make the necessary exertion that
the butter appears, it comes out at the top and you are able to obtain
it. That is the admonition.
And at the same time that you do the needful—you do purushartha,
you do abhyasa—you must refrain from doing that which
is inimical or adverse to the success of your activity. If you want
to succeed in what you do, if you want your exertion to be fruitful,
you must simultaneously see that you do not do those things which will
stand as an obstacle to the success of your endeavour.
You cannot treat yourself for a stomach ulcer and at the same time
continue to take alcoholic liquor. You cannot treat yourself for diabetes
and at the same time go on stuffing yourself with sweets. You cannot
treat yourself for tuberculosis and at the same time continue to smoke.
Because all these things successfully nullify whatever effort you are
doing on the positive side for gaining some desired objective. They
make the effort useless.
Some of your ancients—who were filled with a desire for attaining
supreme wisdom, to become divinely perfected beings, who whole-heartedly
dedicated themselves to this quest—went away to the forest, lived
in seclusion, practised severe austerities, lived on leaves and water,
took nothing that would be likely to stimulate their passions; if such
people could have a spiritual downfall when a temptation suddenly arose,
then what about those who eat all sorts of rich food, have soft beds
and nice pillows with all comforts and conveniences, no austerity, no
tapasya, no penance, no mortification, no self-denial, no fasting,
no prayer, no vigil? Then how do you expect such people—calling
themselves sadhakas, living lives of sense-satisfaction, desire-fulfilment,
good food, comfort and convenience—not to have a downfall? How
can you expect such people to attain illumination?
If, in spite of what has been said, such people—well fed, well
clothed, full of comfort and conveniences and luxuries—attain Self-realisation,
then the Himalayan mountains will float upon the Indian Ocean. That
is what an ancient Sanskrit sloka says: People like Visvamitra
and Parasara sustained their penance and their prayerful life of meditation
in the forest upon merely air and water and the leaves of trees. If
such people had a downfall when they were tempted, do you think that
people who live a life of comfort, convenience and good food will attain
Self-realisation? If they attain, wonder of wonder, nothing is impossible.
Everything is possible. Fire will start burning downwards. The sun will
start rising in the west and setting in the east. The Ganga will start
flowing towards the Himalayas and if a mountain is thrown into the ocean,
it will merrily start floating away. That is what this sloka says.
Which all goes to say, that simultaneous with one’s effort or
exertion or purushartha or abhyasa or sadhana for
the attainment of this great liberation, one should at the same time,
side by side, also practice self-restraint, self-control, moderation.
That is what the scriptures tell us. They speak of do’s and don’ts.
Patanjali starts with that. He gives us yamas and niyamas.
He says: ahimsa—not hurt anyone. Brahmacharya—do
not indulge in gross, lower propensities. Be noble, be subtle, rise
high into sattva. Satyam—speak the truth. It also
means do not speak falsehood. You cannot just speak the truth when it
is convenient to you, and say I am fulfilling the injunctions of Patanjali’s
Yoga sutra. When he says speak the truth, it means truth and
truth alone. It cannot be accompanied by falsehoods when they are convenient
for you. You cannot play a game of being this and that.
This is the implication in Jesus saying to the fishermen: “Arise,
follow Me.” A very simple sentence, but it is filled with a world
of meaning: “Arise, come, come! Stop being as you are! Put an end
to this state! Change it! Be transformed! Arise! Come out of it! Now
I will tell you: Be something else. Follow Me. Be as I am. Do as I am.
I stand before you as an example. Walk in My footsteps. Live as I am
living. Follow Me. I am teaching you how to live. Don’t follow
your whims and fancies. Follow Me.”
Long before this significant and most meaningful incident for all humanity,
long before that, another Teacher also wanted His disciple to do as
He told him to, to act as He told him to act. And the disciple replied:
“karishye vachanam tava—Yes, I shall do Thy bidding,
I shall carry out Thy word, Thy injunction.” And that being in
whose presence we are discussing these facts, these truths, that being
is the one who said: “Obedience is better than reverence.”
So when Jesus says, “Arise and follow Me,” we must consider:
Are we arising from that which we have been? Are we following? What
is that righteous way that leads to the Kingdom of Heaven? It is that
way which has been trodden by all the great ones of the past—mahajana
yena gatah sa panthah. Are you following? Are you fulfilling this
injunction? Then this is the day. This then is the truth you must deeply
reflect upon.
If worship is to be fruitful, if devotion is to be fruitful, if reverence
is to be fruitful, if adoration and prayer is to be fruitful, it must
be accompanied by obedience. It must be accompanied by carrying out
the word of the Guru. Are we doing it or not?
Gurudev says: “At the end of each day before you go to bed, examine
yourself, introspect, think deeply, go within, search, do self-examination.”
He says to do this every day. Also, keep a spiritual diary, keep a self-correction
register. He uses the term self-correction. Uddharet atmana atmanam—Each
one must uplift oneself by one’s own self. Therefore, you have
to correct yourself by your own self. Someone may point out a defect
to you, but that person cannot correct the defect in you. You have to
make effort and correct yourself. And at the end of his Twenty Important
Spiritual Instructions, Gurudev says: “This is the essence of all
spiritual sadhanas. This will lead you to moksha. All
these niyamas or spiritual canons must be rigidly observed. You
must not give leniency to the mind.”
If you do not observe Gurudev’s instructions strictly and rigidly
and if you find that no spiritual progress is being made, that you have
no peace of mind, that the same old rubbish is there as before, then
you can’t blame the Ganga or the Himalayas or Rishikesh. You cannot
blame this holy atmosphere of the forest laden with bilva trees. You
cannot blame Lord Visvanatha or the Divine Name being chanted in the
Bhajan Hall. You cannot blame the Samadhi Shrine or the Library filled
with spiritual books.
Then, who is to blame? You need not blame yourself either. You must
blame your disobedience. You are blameless because you are Atman—aham
brahmasmi. So, if you do not want to blame yourself, blame your
sins of omission and commission. And then stop doing sins of commission
and start correcting your sins of omission. Someone has to take the
blame. Somewhere there is a cause. If walking is painful that means
that the shoe is pinching or you have a thorn in your foot. Without
a cause you won’t have an effect. Find out!
If, in spite of all these wonderful, sublime teachings and this wonderful
atmosphere, we find that we are not making spiritual progress, this
much is for sure: this holy environment is not responsible for it. And
no use saying that Krishna is responsible, Jesus is responsible, Chidananda
is responsible. First of all look at your own life.
“Arise and follow Me.” Are you following the great ones?
Karishye vachanam tava—O Lord I will carry out Thy word,
I will do Thy bidding. “Obedience is better than reverence,”
says Gurudev, “Do real sadhana, my dear children, do real
sadhana. How can you expect real peace of mind if you do not
do brahma vichara? How can you expect real Santi if you do not
do yoga sadhana?”
So, today, my beloved sadhakas, devotees of the Lord, lovers
of righteousness, satsangis, realise that success or failure
is something whose source you have to trace into your own inner being,
into your own svabhava, your own nature and life and the manner
in which you live your life—your conduct, your character, your
action—your day-to-day living of your life. You will have to trace
it there.
You will not find the reason for the lack of spiritual progress anywhere
else in the world. You have to seek within. Ponder. Reflect. Analyse.
Be humble. Be simple. Be honest with yourself. Be truthful. Be sincere.
Be earnest. Be serious. Be true.
Today is the right day, the right time to tell Swami Sivanandaji: “Yes,
Holy Master, just as I show reverence to you, I shall also obey you,
I shall actively follow your spiritual instructions and teachings. I
will do all that is necessary to be done. I will avoid all that should
not be done. Thus will I be a good disciple, a perfect Yogi, a true
sadhaka and then I shall rejoice and rejoice and I shall rejoice!”
