Ask For Me
Today, you had the nectar of Ramayana from these two Pandits. They spoke with genuine joy when they dilated on the incidents of the Ramayana. One of them selected today the hospitality shown to Bharata and his retinue by the sage Bharadhwaja and how Bharata reacted to it. The other sastry who generally talks on other topics, was persuaded this evening to select Narada's description of the qualities of Rama to Valmiki as the theme of his talk. Ramanama is so sweet that I could see all of you relishing these talks. If a man talks about Rama, without himself being inspired by the glory of the Lord, it sounds hollow; it is of no benefit; it is like the image of a table heavy with edible dishes seen inside a mirror; the dishes in the mirror will fill no hungry stomach. No language can picture the actual bliss that the Name can confer; words can at best delineate only an atom of that joy.
Man comes into the world burdened with maya and its instrument, the mind. The mind expresses itself through attraction and repulsion, raga and dvesa (affection and hatred), towards the external world. Raga is rajasika (passionate) in its effect; it can be used for one’s uplift, as Narada used it to fix attention on the Lord. Dvesa is tamasika (negativistic), as Dhurvasa expressed it in his dealings with Ambarisha and others. Without raga and dvesa, the mind cannot function at all. If these two are removed, there can be no mind and no maya, and you get fixed in jnana. Let raga and dvesa go and let Rama enter; then there will be no manas or maya (mind or illusion).
Have Aversion Towards Evil, Pride And Egoism
The Taittiriya Upanishad analyzes the mind and its behavior very well. It gives directions to merge the mind in God; the weapons with which you can foil the tactics of raga and dvesa. Use them for positive purposes, as Narada and Dhurvasa did. Have attachment to the Lord and aversion towards evil, pride, and egoism. Water and fire are incompatible; fire is put out by water. But, by means of fire, you can convert water into steam and use it to haul long lines of heavy wagons.
How to overcome raga and dvesa? By discrimination, by inquiry, by reasoning. Arrive at the truth by these means. Duryodhana, though he stuck to falsehood, greed and envy had, according to the Mahabharata, a swell time, flags flying, festoons swinging, banquets and everybody; but, Yudhishtira, the eldest of the Pandavas, had, as reward for his high morality, exile, poverty and privation. This does not mean that Vyasa who wrote all this is a cheat or a fool.
Dharma (righteousness) stood firm in spite of hardships; sraddha (faith) was steadied and strengthened. In the case of Duryodhana, prosperity did not induce caution, humility or discrimination. So you revere Yudhishtira and execrate Duryodhana today, centuries after they died. Valmiki also pictured Rama as wandering, forlorn in the forests; but, He never for a moment wavered in the path of Dharma. So, He is revered even today as the embodiment of Dharma.
Ask To Be Examined And Your Progress Recorded
The Guru-sisya (teacher-disciple) relationship which has been established between these boys and those who initiated them into the Gayatri has also a special Dharma (spiritual quality) which directs the sisya to learn with gratitude and the Guru to teach with love. There are cases when the sisya was made to forget all that he had learnt when the Guru was displeased with his behavior.
India has been Yogabhumi, Tyagabhumi, Vedabhumi-the land of Divine Communion of renunciation and spiritual intuition. It spoke of Sama-dhi, the wisdom that sees all as equal repositories of Divinity. Samatva is just a matter of origin and essence; water in lakes, pits, wells and rivers is rain water, though the taste, color, name and form are different, based on where the rain has fallen and how pure is the container. Divine grace is like rain, pure, pellucid, falling on all. How it is received and used depends on the heart of man.
The Lord does not test a man just for fun; He does not pile calamity on calamity because He enjoys it. Examinations are held, to measure achievement and award marks and honors. You must ask to be examined, so that your progress may be recorded.
Dikshith spoke of Bharadhwaja setting up a Darbar (regal audience) Hall, with a bejeweled throne and all other paraphernalia, for the reception of Bharata. Bharata mentally installed Rama therein and stood behind, fanning his brother. Bharata was applauded for this act of genuine detachment by the sage. He was glad the citizens came to know the real nature of Bharata by this means.
The Avatar Has No Blemish, No Trace Of Guna
Bharata did not partake of the rich banquet that the sage had prepared; he was too grieved over the turn of events to think of food, drink and sleep. He did not even take a drop of water, before he could speak to Rama. The thought of Rama was so intense in him that people saw Rama in the form of Bharata. Ceaseless contemplation had made him an exact replica. That is the depth of the bhakti which is fruitful. But, you praise Me when all goes well and you call Me stony-hearted when grief assails you. Grief or joy, whatever the Lord hands out, you must welcome with equal calmness.
It was declared that Rama was born of the payasam which was brought by the deity from out of the sacrificial fire. No Avatar is born flesh and blood, including this Avatar. The body of the Avatar is Chit (awarenessful) substance; it is not jada (inert) like other materials. The embryo of ordinary mortals is jalodakashayi (enveloped in watery stuff); the embryo of the Avatar is encased in Kshirodakasayi (the pure white milk of holiness). That is why in the make-up of the Avatar, there is no blemish, there is no trace of Guna.
Rama's Insistence On His Vow Of Hermithood
Dasharatha wept, for he had no sons to offer ritual food when he moves out into the next world. When all are of the form of God and of the substance of God, who is son and who is father, who is to offer food to whom, when that high stage of wisdom is reached? Ksama (fortitude) is the father, Santam (peace) is the mother, Vairagya (renunciation) is the wife, and the Lord is the son, the center of affection. Dasharatha desired the lower type of son, the male issue, to save him from perdition. This desire brought his ‘spirit’ again before Rama, when Sita was about to enter the fire in Lanka.
Ravana was killed and Rama asked Sugriva and Lakshmana to crown Vibhishana as Emperor of Lanka; he pleaded that Rama Himself should bless him on that auspicious occasion, but Rama insisted that His vow of hermithood prevented Him from entering an inhabited city. Then, Rama sent Hanuman to Sita and requested him to bring Sita to the camp in a palanquin. Vibhishana had not thought of that; he was too immersed in other affairs. Hanuman bowed before Sita and got a vision of Lakshmi rising out of the waves of the ocean of milk. He felt that, that Vision was enough compensation for all the births he had to undergo. While the palanquin neared the camp, there spread everywhere a sublime splendor from it, which astonished the vanara (sub-human or monkey) hordes. Rama sent word that Sita may alight and walk the remaining distance, so that they may fill their eyes with her glory. This is not mentioned in the books.
Two Purposes Of Sita’s Fire Ordeal
When Sita was about ten yards away, Rama, who is butter when He melts and steel when He hardens, said, “Stop, I can accept you only after you pass through Fire.” Lakshmana swooped at this thunderbolt; the monkeys who had to bring the fuel for the Fire bent under the weight of even twigs. The Fire Ordeal served two purposes: to scorch the slanderous tongues, which haunt the tracks of Avatars (Divine Incarnations) at all times; and, to retrieve from the Fire the real Sita who had entered into it, prior to abduction by Ravana.
Dasharatha also came there, to assure Rama that Sita was Purity itself; and also, to satisfy his parental craving to see his son. He appreciated the steadfastness of Rama in the respect he had for his father’s wish; he also saw the vanaras rise again from the battlefield and gather around Rama. The raksasas (demonic persons) had already attained liberation for they had the vision of God when they drew their last breaths. “The vanaras came down to be My instruments and so they have no death, neither are they born, except at My Command,” said Rama.
Man too must become His instrument in order to escape death and birth. He has come, imprisoned in the ego, and he has to liberate himself. This can be done only by making him aware of the Universal basis (Adhara). Like a man sunk in poverty, dwelling in a hut that is raised over a vast underground treasure, man is suffering, with a spring of joy inside him, of which he is unaware. I have come to give you the key to that treasure, to tell you how to tap that spring, for you have forgotten the way to blessedness. If you waste this chance of saving yourselves, it is just your fate.
Do Not Hunger For Comfort Or Riches
You have come, most of you, to get from Me tinsel and trash, petty little cures, and promotions, joys and comforts; very few of you desire to get from Me the thing I have come to give, viz., Liberation itself; and even among these few, those who stick to the path of sadhana and succeed are a handful.
Many are drawn away by the outer signs of sainthood, the long gown, the beard, the rosaries, the matted hair; they keep track of many such who move about in this land and follow them into the wilderness. It is very difficult to demarcate clearly the manifestation of the Lord and so, I am announcing Myself and Myself describing My mission, the task, the characteristics, the qualities which mark out the Avatar from the rest. Do not hunger for comfort or riches; hunger for Ananda.
If you have faith and if you keep the name of Rama as a constant companion, you are in Vaikuntha or Kailasa or heaven, all the time. These are not distant regions that have to be reached by tortuous travel; they are springs of tranquility that are in your own heart. You cannot have this chance of the nearness of the greatest of all sources of joy in any other place. Here it is so near, so easy to attain, and so full of grace. If you fall back, you will seldom get the chance again. Ask and get what will save you, not what will bind you.
You ask from Me a thousand things of the world, but rarely do you ask for “Me”. That is why I seldom address you as bhaktas (devotees); I usually address you as Divyatma svarupulara (embodiments of the Divine), for that is your real svarupa, this Divyatvam (Divinity). Though you do not know it, it is a fact. Therefore, I can address you so, with confidence. I can even call you Divya-svarupulara, but, as for bhakti, since it is a quality that will make you desire the Lord and nothing else, I find you cannot lay claim to it.
Methods To Curb Ravana Tendency
Some of you claim to be Sai bhaktas or Rama bhaktas or Krishna bhaktas. No, unless you are perfect instruments in His hand, you do not deserve that name. For example, Bharata can call himself a Rama bhakta. He lived Rama-nama in every breath; he was ‘with’ Rama in the forest and on the battlefield; he suffered as much as Rama; he was as much an anchorite as his brother; so, he too became Shyama (dark-skinned) like Rama.
Sravana, manana, and nidhidhyasana (listening, contemplating on what has been listened to and practicing what is dictated by the mind so transfused), these are the methods by which Ravanatva (the Ravana tendency) has to be curbed. What is that tendency? It is kama (lust), greed, inordinate desire for things of the sensory world, egoism, and the rest of the fatal brood.
When the pot of milk on the hearth boils over, you pour cold water on it and it settles down in the vessel itself, is it not? Dhurvasa is the example of the pot of milk boiling over; and Narada, of the pot of milk that does not. Narada had the name of the Lord always on his tongue and so, the senses did not establish mastery. If you too keep your senses and your wishes in check, you will gain by listening to these talks and by this visit; and, I will be happy that you have taken to the path that will give you real strength and joy.
Prasanthi Nilayam, 4-2-1963