The Dangers Of Doubt
Kasturi now spoke to you about the puranaic story of the Amruta manthana (churning of the ocean for gaining the nectar of immortality). He said that, when the devas (demi-gods) were overcome by conceit, delusion, and tamas (ignorance), the sages cursed them with age, greyness, and senility; they became easy victims for the rakshasas (demons) and so, to restore to them the lost splendour, the Lord suggested the churning of the ocean and the winning of amruta (nectar of immortality).
You have to take this story in its symbolic sense. The puranas (mythological stories) always deal in parables. Each tale has a deeper meaning, something that is more valuable and useful than what appears on the surface. This meaning is to be practised in daily life; they are not stories told to while away the time.
Indra insulted Durvasa, because he was blinded by the power of office; the curse of the sage forced him to rethink about his reality, to discover his innate status. Then, he found that he was amrutam, of the same nature as Parabrahmam (supreme reality) itself. In fact, he came to know that he was Parabrahmam, moving about in the delusion that he was Indra! The churning is the symbol of the Sadhana needed to remove the veil of delusion, more specifically, the Raja-yoga Sadhana (royal path of integral spirituality).
When the Daivi-shakti (power of Divinity) declines and evil impulses predominate, even the devas fall; they lose their special privileges and rights. Once anrita (falsehood) enters into the character, you lose contact with amruta. He dies many deaths, he who is false, afraid of truth, blind to his own glorious heritage of immortality.
In Their Inner Impulse, Men Are Sub-Human
Satya (truth) is that, which is nitya (eternal). Falsehood is poison; truth is nectar. Truth alone confers splendour or divyatvam (Divinity). So, when the devas fell a prey to pride and attachment to unreality, they had to churn their thoughts and impulses, their feelings and emotions, their instincts and inspirations and bring out the cream of truth. The two groups, who pulled the churning rope, are the "forward leading influences and the backward pulling influences" - the Daivi and the asuri (divine and demonic) urges.
As I said, Indra insulted Durvasa and invited upon himself the anger of that sage, because of the ignorance of his fundamental reality, his ajnana (ignorance), which plunged him in pride. What should be done to restore him to sanity, is to re-teach him the atmic (universal spiritual) basis of all the pomp and pageantry of office, the evanescence that is immanent in all created things.
Today, though in outward appearance people are human, in inner impulse they are sub-human or rakshasa; he who has no danam (charity or sacrifice) in him is called a danava. Deva and danava are mixed in the human make-up and now, the danava rules the roost. Therefore, man has lost his glow, power, and splendour; he must win them again by Sadhana. So, make yourselves pure by incessant striving.
Man Is But A Flame Of The Eternal Fire
The partaking of the amruta created by Me, is only the first step in this process for you: it does not mean much, if you do not take the second step and the third and march on towards self-realisation. You must have faith in the discipline laid down in Sanatana-dharma and in the ultimate, divine basis of all creation. Get convinced that the world can give you only fleeting joy and grief is but the obverse of joy. Strive now, from this very moment, for time is rushing like a swift torrent. Develop the joy that will not decline, the joy that will ever be full. Be true to yourself. Be bold, be sincere. The only reality is the twin-bird on the tree, the jivatma (individual soul) that tastes the fruits and suffers and the Paramatma (supreme soul) that sits unmoved and merely looks on.
Mention was made now of the Mohini-rupa (form of fascinating woman) and the way, in which the Asuras were misled by the enticing charm of outward form. Now, all this talk of the consorts of the Lord, of Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Parvati being the wives of the Trinity are absolutely silly. They reveal only the samsarika (worldly living) glasses that you wear, the projection of your worldly fancies on the ‘heavenly families’, the weaving of stories on the human model for the satisfaction of human cravings. These names are only convenient expressions for the shakti (divine power) that is immanent in Godhead. For example, Lakshmi is the personification of daya or the grace of Vishnu; that is why She is said to dwell on His breast! So too, Parvati is half the body of Shiva, inseparably incorporated in Him! The powers of creation, conservation, and dissolution are co-existent and continuous in Godhead. You may ask how the three can co-exist. Well, look at electricity! The current can create, conserve, as well as dissolve, all at the same time and to the same extent. These shaktis (divine energies) are similarly pictured as inseparably associated with the three aspects of the absolute. Man’s duty is to achieve unity with the Shiva-shakti, for he is but a spark that has emanated from it; he is but a flame of the eternal fire.
Bhakti Must Confer Patience And Fortitude
Enter upon that task of Sadhana from now on; that is the lesson you must learn here. Otherwise, yatra (pilgrimage) leads only to the accumulation of patra (vessel) - you buy vessels from wherever you go: from Rameshwaram, Tirupati, Kashi, Haridwar, Mathura, and Kumbakonam. That is the merit you get from pilgrimage, a store-room full of vessels. You come from long distances, incur heavy expenses, suffer in the cold, in the open, or lie in the shade of trees, and wait for days, expecting the longed for interview with Me, but in the end, you return and dissipate the shanti and the santosh (peace and happiness) you derive from this place.
Bhakti is something sweet, soothing, refreshing, and restoring. It must confer patience and fortitude. The Bhakta will not be perturbed, if another gets the interview first, or if another is given greater consideration. He is humble and bides his time: he knows that there is a higher power that knows more and that it is just and impartial. In the light of that knowledge, the Bhakta will communicate his troubles and problems only to his Lord; he will not humiliate himself by talking about them to all and sundry, for what can a man, who is as helpless as himself, do to relieve him? It is only those who have that implicit faith in God, who will deign to communicate only with the Lord and none else, who deserve amruta (nectar of immortality).
Make Nama-smarana As Part Of Yourself
The sthula deham (gross body) should be ever immersed in satsangam (holy company); the sukshma deham (subtle body), that is the thoughts and feelings, should be ever immersed in the contemplation of the glory of the Lord. That is the sign of the Bhakta. He who shouts, swears, and advertises his worries to everyone he meets and craves for sympathy, such a one can never be a Bhakta. Such men are miscalled bhaktas. They make earnest men lose faith in Godly ways; earnest men feel they are superior to these pseudo-devotees. And this is a fact. It is a great responsibility to tread the Godward path. There is no sliding back, no halfway stop, no tardy pace, and no side lane on such a pilgrimage. It is always up and up, right to the crest of the mountain.
Though your responsibility is greater, take it from Me, you are luckier than others. Do not deny with the tongue what you have relished in the heart; do not bear false witness to your own felt experience. Do not carp and talk cynically of the very thing you have revered and adored when the company into which you fall start retailing such raillery. It is said that the Bhakta can get the Lord everywhere, easily, but the Lord cannot get a Bhakta so easily. Yes, it is difficult to secure a Bhakta, who has that unshaken faith, that attitude of complete self-surrender. Such an attitude can come only by Nama-smarana (remembering God’s Name), constant, sincere, and continuous, as continuous as the act of breathing and felt to be as essential for life. That is the Japam, the tapas, and the dhyana (silent recital of Lord’s name, penance, and meditation) you call. Nama-smarana like this will immerse you ever in amruta, not just a drop on your tongue.
Sadhana Has To Be Followed From A Tender Age
Do you know how I feel when I find that in spite of My arrival and Bodha and upadesham (teaching and spiritual instruction), you have not yet started this Sadhana? You simply praise Me and strew compliments; that I am the treasure-house of grace, the ocean of ananda, etc. Take up the name and dwell upon its sweetness; imbibe it and roll it on your tongue, taste its essence, contemplate on its magnificence, make it a part of yourself, and grow strong in spiritual joy. That is what pleases Me.
Do not wait until you are past middle age to practise this Sadhana; I know of some parents, who drag away their sons who come to Me when still young; they tell them that they can take up religious practices in their old age. These parents do not know the extent of the loss. By some stroke of good luck, their children get the chance of knowing about the right path for shanti and santosh (peace and contentment), but the parents are angry that the sons do not find pleasure in the articles that gave them pleasure! They feel there must be something wrong in the make-up of their sons; they tempt them to drink, to gamble, to exploit, to hate - to imitate them, in short - and take them along with them to perdition. But, a straight plant means a straight tree; a bent plant can never grow into a straight tree. Rotten, over-ripe, worm-eaten fruits are not fit to be offered to God. Years of sin would have warped the character of a person beyond repair. So, the Sadhana has to be followed from a tender age.
Doubt Is A Component Of The Demonic Nature
Faith can grow only by long cultivation and careful attention. The old are haunted by the demon of doubt. I know there are many here, who are afflicted by doubt. They think that I have hidden a vessel of amruta in a spot in the sands, previously fixed and known to Me only. That is why I now asked some, from among those people themselves, to decide where we sit on these sands. Kasturi suggested this morning that since the thousands, who have come to see the amritodbhavam (materialisation of nectar), cannot get a close view on this flat riverbed, a mound of sand be raised, whereon I can sit.
I did not agree, because I knew these doubters would immediately infer that the amrutam was hidden previously under the mound that was heaped up on purpose! This doubt is truly a component of the rakshasa (demonic) nature, for it eats into the vitals of Bhakti. It clips the wings of joy, dampens enthusiasm, and tarnishes hope. Such men cannot attain the goal even at the end of a thousand births.
When doubt assails you, welcome the chance to see, experience, and clear the doubt. But, do not later deny the very truth, of which you were once convinced and listen again to the voice of hate or foolishness. Do not put faith in the words of men, into whose hands you will not entrust your purse; as a matter of fact, it is the words of such men that are now leading many astray. Really, this is a pitiable state of things, is it not?
Come to Me, eager to learn, to progress, to see yourself in Me and I shall certainly welcome you and show you the way. You will indeed be blessed. All scriptures, all texts, the Geeta, which is the milk of all the Upanishadic cows, are intended to instil this thirst into you.
Do Not Vacillate And Change Name And Form
The thirst has to be like that of the creeper for the tree trunk, of the magnet for the iron, of the bee for the flower, of the waters for a fall, of the river for the sea. The pangs of separation must gnaw the heart; the entire being must yearn for union. Do not vacillate, change, or try a series of nama and rupa (name and form). That will only fritter away time and energy. Ceaseless contemplation of the Lord will give ceaseless taste of amruta to you.
If you do not follow this path, you are doubly to blame, for you have contacted Me. The form usually creates doubts, for when only the name is there, you can build around it all your fancies, all that you want to complete the picture. Do not be misled by such doubts, when the form has come before you; make the moment useful, the life worthwhile.
Vaikuntha Ekadashi, Chitravati River Bed, 28-12-1960