The I Behind The Eye
This gathering is like the confluence of two rivers, the Yamuna and the Ganga, of people speaking Tamil and Telugu. I always speak in one language, and I am not inclined to change the language to suit the audience. I am sure even those who do not know Telugu will understand the gist of what I say. Whenever ashanti (absence of peace) overwhelms the world, the Lord will incarnate in human form to establish the modes of earning prashanti (tranquillity) and to re-educate the human community in the paths of peace. At the present time, strife and discord have robbed the family, the school, the community, the society, the villages, the cities and the State, of peace and amity. Anxiety and fear have contaminated the very food one eats. Therefore, the Prasanti Vidvan Mahasabha has been established, and Pandits have been entrusted with the task of revitalising the dry sources of shanti, by the teachings contained in the Shastras.
Why is ashanti harassing the world? Because of raga, dvesha and moha (attachment, hatred and infatuation). These are born out of ignorance, which cause delusion. Things seen in darkness cannot be clear; they are mistaken for something else. A rope is mistaken to be a snake; a stump is mistaken to be a thief. A piece of glass may be coveted as a diamond. So, this mistaken notion, this indistinct light, must go. It can go only if methods of discovering the truth are learnt. That is what the Shastras teach and what these Pandits are commissioned to instruct you. They will tell you that the outward-seeking senses must be directed inwards; the inner realm of impulses, instincts, habits, prejudices, attitudes must be cleansed before God is reflected clear and bright therein. How is this to be achieved? The Vedas explain how.
Falsity Of Dualistic Experience
The Vedas tell you those things that cannot be known by anything else. The word Veda means ‘knowledge’, the knowledge that cannot be acquired by the senses or the intellect or even by unguided intuition. Advaita is something that no one in the dual world can understand. It is 'Aprapya manasa sah' “beyond the reach of even the mind.“ In fact, intellect and mind must each be transcended, before one can grasp the magnificence of that Unity. If Dvaita (duality) has to be taught, why should the Vedas take up that task? Dvaita—the seer and the seen, the creator and the created, the good and the bad, the right and the wrong—this is the actual daily concrete experience of everyone. Prakriti (Nature, Creation) is patently dualistic. The Vedas endeavour to open the eyes of man to the falsity of dualistic experience, the reality of the only One, Advaita (the non-dual One). They proclaim it, loudly and with enthusiasm.
Appanna Sastry said that the deer, the elephant, the moth, the fish and the bee are drawn to death by the senses of hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell respectively. If each of these falls a victim to one sense, how much is man to be pitied for he has all the five to drag him to perdition! Arjuna too had the same combination of foes. He had the urge to give up his mission and take up another’s mission, namely, an urge to give up fighting, which is the mission of the kshatriya and a temptation to take to sanyasa (asceticism), which has to be earned by further evolution. To overcome these obstacles, one must have both sadhana and a sankalpa, self-effort and grace.
Lord’s Hands And Feet Are Everywhere
Arjuna aspired to give up karma, momentarily fascinated by the ideal of sanyasa. It is only through action that devotion can be deepened. Action cleanses the mind and makes it fit for spiritual knowledge. Shravana (hearing) is a tamasika act, manana (recapitulation) is rajasika, while nidhi-dhyasana (concentration) is satvika. When you are simply listening, quietly receiving without responding, you are just dull (tamasika); when you turn it over in your mind, attempting to assimilate it, then you are active (rajasika); when you are sunk in the sweetness of experience in dhyana you are having pure exultation (satvika). That is the fruit of bhakti, this nidhi-dhyasana.
There is no need to fight against the fundamental delusion of deha-bhranti (attachment to body) with overwhelming force and argument! As Agnihotram Ramanuja Tatachariar said now, the delusion will disappear only if one sits quietly for a minute and analyses for himself the world and his experience of the world. Jnana is not aprapta-prapti, something new that is acquired, like gifts by someone, of money that the donor had, but which the recipient did not have. It is prapta-prapti, like someone giving you a ten-rupee note which you had kept between the pages of a book you were reading. You had lent him the book; when you needed a loan, you asked him for a tenner; and he gave you back your own note. That is how jnana reveals to you your own glory. The Guru gives you from out of your own hridaya-pustaka (heart-book) the treasure which was there unrecognised by you. You are afraid because you have forgotten your own strength. Agnihotram Tatachariar said that the Lord had Sarvatah pani-padam: “His hands and feet are everywhere.“ It is through him that you are able to see; your eye required His eye in order to function. It is the reflection of the Atma in the antah-karana (inner consciousness) that activates it and makes it flow through the senses towards the objective world. Liberation is attained when the Atma shines in its own glory; it is not a colony or a suburb where aristocratic residents have secured good sites in paradise. It is the condition of the jiva which has shed delusion.
It Is Not Easy To Become A Bhakta
When delusion is shed, grief gets destroyed; joy is established: Dukha nivritti (removal of grief) and ananda prapti (attainment of bliss) both happen at the same time. The mind is the villain; it is another name for desire; the texture of the mind is just desire; both warp and woof are desire and nothing else. If desire goes, the mind disappears. When you pull out all the yarn from a piece of cloth, you have no more cloth. So too, pull out desires from the mind, it disappears, and you are free. Grief and joy are the obverse and reverse of the same experience. Joy is when grief ends; grief is when joy ends. When you invite a blind man for dinner, you must set on the table two plates, for, he comes along with another man who will lead him in. Grief and joy are inseparable companions.
Bhakti is very difficult to acquire; do not think it is easy to become a bhakta. As a matter of fact, it is even more difficult than jnana, for it means complete surrender, full contentment whatever may happen. The river must flow back to its source; it must turn back and up. If you flow down, you will have to go down, down, down, and water becomes undrinkable. But, do not despair; you have to win some day. The sooner, the better. A mango seller may seek to sell four for a rupee; if three of them get spoiled, he should not give up hope, for, a person may come and offer a rupee for the fourth one.
Having come here and listened, and secured darshan and read about Me, put into actual practice at least one of the good counsel you got; one match-stick is enough to light a fire; the entire box of matches need not be used. Have faith that you will win; have steadiness in the pursuit of the goal.
Bhakti Has Stages In Its Growth
For, like the body which passes through childhood, boyhood, adolescence, middle age and old age, bhakti too has stages in its growth. The tender fruit is love, the grown one is devotion and the ripe fruit is surrender. There is a type of karma which will melt the heart of the Lord. It is the type which does not inflict pain on anyone. When Rama met the armies of Khara and Dushana single-handed, He did so in order to demonstrate His valour and His divinity to the demons and the sages of the forest.
My coming here and speaking daily at these meetings is the consequence of your merit and my grace. You had fine darshana and shravana (audience and listening) in this silent gathering, silence which beats even the silence of Prasanthi Nilayam. I am glad so many of you have been prompted by the desire to know about spiritual discipline. The committee too has the energy and enthusiasm needed to continue these saptahams; such chances may be given to you in a larger number in the coming months. This extensive area round the Venkatagiri Raja’s bungalow is always available for your meetings; imagine what a great piece of good fortune it is for him. That so many thousands of you could gather here and hear the elevating discourses of scholars and get started on the path of spiritual progress must indeed be very satisfying to him. The ananda that you experienced here now is not something that came from outside; it was your own ananda that you experienced; you are ananda-swarupa (bliss personified); and so it welled up from inside your own heart.
Madras, 18-8-1964