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Early Morning Talk on 3
November 2003
Om Namah Shivaya Worshipful homage unto Thee, O Thou Supreme God of gods, O Thou Supreme, the Divine Origin of all things, the Divine Sustainer of all things, and the Ultimate Divine Subsidence of all things. Thou art infinite, eternal, absolute, transcendental, One without a second, Non-Dual. Ekameva Aidvitiyam. Thou art the Supreme Plenum of providence. Thou art the “Thing-in-Itself”, of the philosopher Kant. Thou art the Brahman of the Upanishads. Thou art the God behind and beyond all the religions of the world. Thou art the God behind and beyond all the religions of the world. Thou art the central subject of all scriptures that exist today, in this human world of ours. Thou art the dynamic, the active life of all living religion, where millions of people practice. You live according to the tenets of each particular faith. Today, You are thus manifest in the human world, in spite of being beyond all things, paradoxically. To Thee, worshipful homage. May Thy Divine Grace be upon all of us. Reverential prostrations and loving adorations to beloved and worshipful Holy Master Gurudev Sri Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj, Who came to give to the modern 20th Century world the special knowledge of this particular field of human life, in this contemporary world of ours. This particular field – meaning thereby the field of religion; the field of that subject, the field of that aspect of collective human life which we call religion; the religious aspect. We offer someone something to drink in a vessel. The person accepts the drink and drinks it; and the vessel is empty; and the drink is tasty. So he can hold the vessel back for some more. And, if you put some more of the beverage, they call it “refill.” That filling again – “refill.” The fountain pen has been filled with ink; we have been using it for a long time, then it has gone dry. Then, we go to an inkpot, and … there are devices. Once upon a time, the device was to unscrew off the top, and then take it – take some ink – dip the ink filler with the rubber device – and fill the ink into the empty barrel; and then screw the top once again. Then later on, they had a rubber tubing inside: and on the side of the pen, there was a little switch with a lever; so you raised the lever, one end of it pressed against the rubber tube, and you dipped the nib into the ink in the pot. And then, when you release the lever, the rubber got released; and the vacuum created inside by the pressure, immediately it drew some ink inside. And so … I don’t know what that device was called, that refill device; it was a number two. And later on, they made another device where the end unscrewed itself, you dipped it … you made the pen upside-down, dipped the nib into the ink, you drew it; the whole thing came away, up till here. And then, naturally, the vacuum suctioned in the ink; and then s-l-o-w-l-y … So there must have been some sort of a flap we open; otherwise the ink would be pushed out one side. So it doesn’t get pushed out; it remains within the barrel. And then … various ways of refilling. Refilling. You are on a very long itinerary by road, you drive a car. And you the fuel indicator on the dashboard says, “now petrol is low.” Now, when you begin to see it crosses the red mark – Now I cannot put off refilling; otherwise the car may stop. Certain minimum level of petrol is necessary in a tank, whether the tank is in front or at the back; some cars have got a tank in the front. I think Volkswagen has got engine at the back, and petrol tank in the front. The German ordinary man’s car. Ordinary man’s car. And, therefore, you have to stop by a gas station. For what? For a refill. Refill. That is what “re” – the “re” indicates – “doing it again.” What is the “re” of religion? It is also an “re” is there – “R-E-L-I-G-I-O-N.” Religion. If an accident happens, and some couple of people have been injured – car accident, car-scooter accident, truck-car accident; or someone has a fall in a building site – and someone is bleeding profusely from a wound here. The bleeding comes from the heart; the loss of blood is not good. It is dangerous, one should stop blood. And if you give a small prick, the blood has got a clotting device; so it clots by itself. That is His provision. Particularly a big wound, and with profuse bleeding – you put a tight band, tie it up tightly; so the artery leading from the heart to that place is so tightly tied that blood cannot flow. Blood cannot flow. So by binding it with a string, or any device that is available at that time, binding it tightly, the blood stops; and in the meanwhile, first aid is done, and the patient is rushed to the hospital for proper, full medical aid. Full medical aid. So, this is called as “ligator.” Ligator – this binding. “To bind” is Latin; Latin origin, “ligare.” Ligare. “Re” … “refill” – “fill again.” Refill the fountain pen, refill the petrol tank, refill the glass of beverage; again, once again, once more. “Re-ligare” – “bind back, once more.” Bind back once more – means, there was a binding, a connection; it has, somehow or other, that connection has been broken. Now, once again, restore it. Restoring a broken connection – “re-ligare” – origins the word; word “religion.” Now restoring a broken … religion restores a broken connection of what and what? Man and God. God may not forget man – but man forgets God. He has got too many things to do. Too many attractions. His case is pitiable. Objects, shapes, colours attract the eye; sounds, variegated sounds, attract the ears; taste attracts the tongue; the sense of touch, soft things, near things … A mother likes to fondle and caress her child; what satisfaction does this tactile process give? It gives satisfaction. Mother’s embrace, mother and child, they are always close – you can see in monkeys: the child clings; and there is deep attachment. And, nice-smelling flower, if you see it, you like to smell. Anything nice, you like to smell. Anything nice, you like to taste. Anything soft and nice, you like to touch. Anything dear to you, you like to touch. Anything nice, you like to see. Music, everyone likes to hear. The sweet patter of little children, parents love to hear. “Baby, baby – say it again! Say it again. Let us see.” So … These things draw the mindless man outside his five senses. Rupa, rasa, sabda, sparsha, gandha. Form, taste, sound, touch and smell. I remember when Swami Chidananda was not Swami Chidananda; and when Swami Chidananda was not in Muni-ki-Reti, Sivananda Ashram; when Swami Chidananda was way south, near the … almost near the end of India; on the sea-coast, western sea-coast, Arabian sea-coast of southern India – there were only silent films. Silent films. And, the conversation between two characters in a film changed in writing. Even today, there are re-takes of old Charlie Chaplin films. There is no sound: it is visual, but not audible. And therefore, the title comes – even now, in TV, cassettes, videocassettes – title comes in letters, even now. Very old re-takes of Charlie Chaplin films, then they have adapted it from the screen to the TV, and go back to attract more audience. Many new innovations were made, in foreign films. One innovation was, films which were presented upon a flat … flat screen …. For flat screen does not give a sense of dimension. It gives a dimension of length and breadth; vertical, horizontal, but not … I don’t know the word for it. Three dimension, 3rd dimension, it does not give; thickness it does not give. So, they made special theatres for it: with one screen like that; one screen at an angle – scientifically decided what the angle should be; and one screen this side, this angle. Simultaneously the film was projected on all the three screens, and each one who went and purchased a ticket at the box office and went in was given a certain … a sort of a spectacle with a little handle you have to look through. And the spectacle was not glass, it was see-through plastic of two different colours. And, with that device, when you look through it – ohh! In the beginning, people were frightened. They started screaming. The railway-train is coming – feel coming right upon you! See, right upon you. And someone was putting a ball, and man is hitting the baseball – ball comes right upon you. Audience started going behind. Three dimensional film. And someone shoots – everyone started shouting! Oh, there was pandemonium inside! And, couple of years later, there is a jungle scene. Crickets were chirping; birds are making their bird song; we hear the sound of the water running in a brook; and there is a marsh; there are some exotic flowers, it is a tropical jungle. We started smelling the flowers, we started smelling the smell of the marsh – they called it “Smellies.” They called it, “Smellies!” You could actually smell whatever is appearing upon the screen. And, it was a novelty. It was a novelty; that an artificial thing is able to duplicate your actual experience in this physical world, day-to-day life. In one scripture of ours, the fact is bemoaned, the question is asked. A deer is snared by a hunter, cleverly, because the deer likes nice sound. So the hunter spreads a net, and puts some nice leaves, etcetera – greenery, for the deer to be attracted, for eating. Otherwise, the deer has to try to reach up to the trees, if there is no grass, the jungle is all thorns and rocky. The animals have to … the giraffe has an advantage in this, because not all animals are like that, with special reach. So he puts a lot of greenery in a little glade – “glade” means a clearing in a dense jungle, forest – and then, hiding somewhere, behind some trees, he begins to play the lute … or flute. Attracted by the sound, the deer come there. And when they are in the centre of the net, he pulls a rope, and the net catches hold of the deer by the forelegs. If four or five deer have come, he has ensnared four or five deer in a single catch. So, the trap is set and the deer is ensnared by sound. The bee is ensnared by smell. It comes and – the big bee, not the honeybee – it sits on the lotus. As you know, lotus is a flower which opens at sunrise, and closes at sunset. In the night, a lotus is closed; a fully blown lotus also is closed. I don’t know how many of you know it. I have seen it. Take such a lotus, and put it into a flower vase, keep it inside: in the night, they will all be closed; and in the day they will all be open. And, this big bee, when it sits on a lotus, see, imbibing the honey-scent flower, the flower nectar. And – it doesn’t have a watch! – it goes on like that … It goes on doing it. Sunset, lotus closes. And, it is said the bee thinks: “Ah! Maybe I am bound for the night. But night will pass. That is not a problem. Night will pass. And dawn will come. Sun will rise. Lotus will open. I will fly away.” But – what happened? A herd of elephants were thirsty. And lotuses bloom in water. And being thirsty, a herd of elephants came to drink in the lake. Lake may be big for small animals, but lake is nothing for big elephants. So, they went right into the lake, and as they drank water, one playful elephant saw the lotus, took half a dozen lotuses, downed it into its mouth and throat: and it included the lotus in which the bee had been trapped. Before the night went away, and the morning dawned, and the sun rose, and the roses opened – the lotus and the bee, everything, disappeared into the stomach of the elephant. So, man thinks: “After I retire, I will settle down in an ashram; try to realize God. After! After! There is no more deceptive word in the language than the word “after.” After … the after never comes. Have you ever noticed, have you ever thought, there is a word called “tomorrow” in the dictionary? But in actuality there is no tomorrow at all. By all means of today, the next day that is to come, Tuesday, fourth of November, may be tomorrow. But when you go to sleep today, and wake up tomorrow – tomorrow is today! So there is no real tomorrow. It is only a concept. Because sleep is there when you wake up. It might have been tomorrow for yesterday – its yesterday – but when you wake up into that day … it is always today. There is no tomorrow; it’s always today. Therefore, Gurudev used to sing: “D-I-N, D-I-N, Do It Now! D-I-N, D-I-N, Do It Now!” So, we were saying … “re-ligare“ – to bind once again. Ligare comes from ligator; re comes from the English word: refill, redo it, rehearsal, repeat it. “Retrace your steps, it might have fallen somewhere behind.” At one stage you go into a shop, want to purchase something, you order it, get it, and you search for your purse; purse is not there! “Arre, I had my … I am sorry.” You keep it back. So he retraces his steps, and then finds that he has dropped the purse somewhere. And there was money in the bank; you are overdrawn. Bank sends you a polite reminder. Better reimburse the overdrawn amount. So your account once again is flush. Reimburse. Renovate – make it new once again. Religion – once again bind man back to God, the individual soul back to the Universal Soul. How? By as many devices as possible. One of the devices is build a temple. Enshrine a deity. Carry on daily
worship. This keeps you always in thought of God, involved with God. The
deity installed in the temple, through worship, through daily worship
and ever-flowing peace. So you will find that in each village, town, and
city in the WHOLE of India, length and breadth of India – from Himalaya
to Kanyakumari, Cape Cormoran; from far-off Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh
in the east, the north-eastern frontier, to the end of Himmachal, Jammu,
the border of Kashmir; entire north to south, south to north, east to
west – every little village, every little small town, every little
big town, every little city, every little HUGE metropolis, contains temples.
They contain many temples. Sometimes each locality has a temple: but there
is always one dominating big temple. And for another faith, which is not Hindu, but believes in all religions, the Ba’hai faith – one Abdul Baha was the precursor, the prophet, of that faith. He was called the door – door to divinity. “Baha” – that meant the door in that language, Persian language. Abdul Baha. He was the originator of the Ba’hai: they believe in the truth of all religions. They have got a temple; and the temple has got nine doors. One of these prominent, very well-known Ba’hai temples in the world is near Chicago. There is a suburban town called Wilmeht. The Ba’hai temple of Wilmeht, near Chicago, is known all over North America. They are in many other places. In Delhi also there is a very big temple, Ba’hai temple. There is one in Montreal also. Nine doors. Each door represents one religion. They put it on the doorway. In the same way, in every village, every town, every city, every big metropolis in India, there is no place without a temple. Many temples, but one is the dominating temple. It is the presiding deity of the town. It is the presiding … Kashi Viswanath is the presiding deity of Varanasi of Kashi. And the Kali Temple at Kalihath is the presiding deity, the biggest and first important temple in Calcutta. It is actually Kaligata – the city of Kali. And, our presiding deity is Lord Vishwanath. Our presiding deity is Lord Vishwanath. The Kanyakumari Temple is the presiding deity of lands-end of India, in south. There is a Mangaladevi Temple in the city where this body was born; therefore it got the name of Mangalore, which is the anglicised version of its real name, Mangalapuram. Mangaladevi city – Mangalapuram. See? Mangalapuram become Mangalore; because he was not able to pronounce such names, he gave it his own anglicised version. And, Vishwanath Mandir, consecrated and inaugurated on the 31st of December, 1943, is observing its 60th anniversary. And they have started an unbroken, 24-hour day and night chant of Lord Siva’s five-letter mantra, “Om Namah Shivaya.” Om Namah Shivaya, Panchakshari; for sixty days. We had a … similarly, fifty-day chant – 50-day chant – when the Golden Jubilee was observed, ten years back. Now it is a sixty-day chant, unbroken chant, going on. What does this chant represent? It represents an invitation to you all. You have forgotten God. The bear is caught by sound. The bee is caught by taste. And elephant was caught by trained, tame elephants going into the forest, and rubbing bodies with the wild elephant of the forest. And some wild elephant gets attracted; it leaves the herd and goes on following the female elephant . Female elephant is trained to go on, edge away, edge away from the herd, take it far … further and further away, in a direction where the elephant catchers have made a device. They have built a huge pit, enough to take half a dozen elephants; and covered it over with bamboo. And, on the bamboo put soil, mud, to make it appear like ordinary forest ground; and upon that put some greenery, leaves, plenty of leaves. And they demarcate it by putting some special leaves and twigs on the four corners, which the female elephant knows; so it will be very cautious not to go beyond that demarcation – but it edges the forest elephant towards it. And the male elephant is attracted by the lady; and when they come alongside the pit, the lady elephant gives one shove – down goes the elephant! They allow it to starve, they don’t give food, don’t give water, all the fight is taken out of it. All the fight is taken out of it; and it cannot stand, it sits. Then they know the right moment: they go there, go inside and tie its four legs with chains; and then start feeding it, give it water, give it plenty to eat. It once again stands up, but it can’t move. And then, the huge wooden … looks like railways sleepers are inserted into the pit, creating a slope. And then three or four elephants are commandeered – for elephant catchers have got many tame elephants; trained elephants. Then they all pull this elephant outside: and now it becomes enslaved. Like that, different species of animal are caught due to the attraction of the five senses. And when each one of these senses is enough to trap a living being, what to say about the woeful condition, pitiable condition of man, in whom all the five senses are inherent? How much special effort he has to make; not to be entrapped by these entrappers, who are within you, in you, part of you, as part of you. Therefore, they said: You must have self-control, you must know how to control your own five senses. Self-control. And therefore, it is with an effort that you have to make the mind turn away and turn towards God. Temples, special days of worship, fasts and festivals, sacred occasions. If you see the Indian Hindu religious almanac you will find each day is sacred for some … Many observe the fourth day, Karva Chauth with a period for observation, with fasting and special penance. And, full moon day is a special day for worshipping Veda Bhagavan; new moon day, dark fortnight, fifteenth day of the dark fortnight, is a special day – Uparvadin, Amavasya and Purnima – they worship Veda Bhagavan. Ekadashi is a special day, they fast and take the name of God – Vaishnava. So they make each day special for some reason or the other, and so many religious festivals in a twelve month period, in order to take us once again and bring us back to God. Because in that lies our highest welfare. In that lies the fulfillment of the goal of our life. It is the Parama-Purushartha, Ishwara-Prapti, Aparoksh’anubhuti, Parama-Purushartha. Of all the four values, that is the highest value – attaining God. And then you are liberated once and for all, from all sorrows and pains and suffering, and become established in Eternal Bliss. ”Sarva dukha nivritti paramananda prapti nitya tripti,” this is the sloka of Kaivalya Moksha Samrajya. That is why this 60-days chanting is an invitation to you: “Come, we offer you a chance, a device, a means to unite you, to once again rebind yourself to God; and in this way attain your own highest blessedness; secure your own liberation. See, secure your own liberation, by your own self-effort, by your own intelligence. So, will you accept the invitation? Or in spite of the invitation being granted to you … will you ignore it and be the loser? That is the question. That is the question. Om Namah Shivaya Vishwanath Vishwanath Vishwanath paahimaam Vishwanath Namah Om Vishwanath Namah Om Vishwanath Vishwanath Vishwanath paahimaam Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Show that you accept the invitation, not ignore or reject it, by participating in this akhanda-kirtan that is going on for 24 hours for the next 59 days. Today it has started, one day is over; next fifty-nine days. Om Namah Shivaya Om Namah Shivaya Om Namo Narayanaya |
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