The Path to the Presence

This day, three learned Pandits (scholars) spoke on A_dvaita_ (philosophy of non-dualism) and A_vatara-tattvam_ (essential nature of incarnation) and on the Lord of Mathura. They have appeased your hunger in full. When the stomach is full, anything extra is bitter. But, a bit of pickle may be welcome. That I shall give you now!

Human birth is a unique chance for living beings. For, man is endowed with discriminating intelligence, the power to reason out the best among alternative courses. Man is far from the pashu (animal), closer to Pashupati (Lord of beings). He should not relapse into pashutvam (animality). After listening to Krishnamurthy Sastry expounding the Bhagavatam - the sweet story of Krishna - in sweet Sanskrit and explaining so sweetly, you should imbibe the prema with which the story is filled.

The Bhagavatam has the majesty of sheelam (virtue); it has the majesty of kriya (action); it has also the majesty of bhava (feeling). By majesty, I mean uddhata (elevation). What a grandeur you witness in the Ramayana, for example! When Ravana fell, Rama sent Lakshmana to the place with a message to see that he is treated like the Emperor of Lanka and not a despised enemy. Lakshmana, when he was called in to identify the ornaments of Sita contained in the bundle she had thrown on the ground during the flight to captivity, declared that he could identify only the toe-rings of his sister-in-law; he saw only those ornaments, for he prostrated every day at her feet, as the consort of the elder brother, who according to the shastras is equal to one’s own mother. Now, it is impossible to find such virtue holding sway over men’s minds. Now it is egoism, pride, and greed that sway them.

Importance of Moral Standards

Man has lost the fear of a fall; he has become worse than animals. It was not like this in the past. During previous centuries, Rajput women immolated themselves rather than fall into the hands of wicked foes. When Hanuman offered to take Sita on his shoulder back to Rama, the virtue of Sita would not allow her to accept the offer. She had her husband’s reputation in view. She said that it would best suit her husband’s fame if he himself avenges the wrong and rescues her. Hanuman’s taking her would be a repetition of what Ravana did, for he too stole her secretly while Rama was away. She did not consider her immediate relief as more important than the implications of that step to her virtue and her husband’s fair name. That is what I call sheeloddhata (virtue in exaltation).

Or, take the Mahabharatam. The Y_aksha_ who guarded the lake had killed all the four brothers and they were lying on the ground. Dharmaraja, the eldest brother, went there to slake his thirst and the Y_aksha_ warned him, too. He challenged him to answer his questions, just as he had asked the others; but since he replied correctly, the Y_aksha_ was pleased to grant him a boon; he could bring back to life one among the four who lay dead! And, whom did Dharmaraja select? Not Bhima who would be his right hand in the coming battle against the Kauravas; not Arjuna, who was indispensable as a bowman of the highest attainments; but, Nakula, the son of his stepmother, Madri. Even the Y_aksha_ was surprised. He asked him the reason why. Dharmaraja said that his mother had him as the one surviving son but his stepmother too should have a son alive. That was the measure of his attachment to dharma, to virtue, to normal standards. Then, people lived for the sake of dharma; now, the ideal is dhanam (riches). When Duryodhana had at last to be encountered in a single combat, he himself selected a foeman worthy of his reputation, Bhima, when he could as well have chosen a weaker rival. It was considered improper to fight with a weaker foe.

Gopis’ Prema to Krishna Was Supra-Physical

It all lies in the vision that you command, that you have equipped yourselves with. One of the Sastris spoke of certain doubts which he himself had felt about Me, doubts which kept him away for some years. The love of the gopis towards Krishna has led many ignorant people enmeshed in worldly attachments and physical attractions to turn their faces away from God. Before passing judgement on any subject, you must investigate closely.

The prema of the gopis towards Krishna was supra-physical, the love of the soul for the Over-soul, of the river for the sea. Persons deep in this type of love see nothing else, hear nothing else; they behave like mad persons, as the world sees. Their joy when they feel his presence is as supreme as their grief when they feel they are deprived of it. That is why among the songs of the saints, you also have nindastuti, songs, which blame Him for being cruel, partial, negligent, etc.!

You may know that the Lord of the holy shrine Srisailam is called Mallikarjuna, the white jasmine; and the Goddess, the Consort, is called most appropriately, Bramaramba, the bee! For, the bee is drawn inescapably to the flower and it forgets itself while tasting the glory of the flower. The union of jiva and Brahman is of the same significance as the union of Krishna and trishna - Krishna and the thirst, the Lord and the Love.

Doubt Leads to Perdition, Spiritual Ruin

The children of the Sanskrit School enacted the play Markandeya yesterday and you saw the boys who took the role of Marudvati and Markandeya completely immersed in the role and so, they were able to make you also feel every emotion they expressed. You must fill yourself with the form and the glory of the Lord; you must not be aware of anything else. Then, you too can become Madhava.

There are two eight-syllabled axioms in the Gita, which you must take to heart: Shraddhavan labhate jnanam and Samshayaatma vinashyati. The first tells you that the person who is steady in his faith gains the knowledge of the path of liberation and the second warns against the sinister consequence of “doubt”; doubt leads to perdition, spiritual ruin. Dwell on these axioms and practice the spiritual discipline of nama-smarana, japam or dhyanam. This is the pursuit that is worthy, not the pursuit of fame, nor the friendship of the famous.

You ask for grace, which is available only at a very high cost; but, you pay only trash. It is sheer avarice, like asking a gourd as extra, when what you have paid is for a bean! You may claim that you have been coming to Puttaparthi for ten or twelve or sixteen years or that you have even stayed here long; but, it is not the years that matter; it is the depth to which the roots of karma have grown in previous births. They decide the ears of corn that you have to live upon. It takes a long time and systematic sadhana to clear the field of all those growths - the sadhana, as the Sastry said, of karma and upasana which leads to jnana.

Three Stages in Spiritual Awareness

This is the meaning of the injunction that you should dip thrice in succession, when you take a bath in any holy river.

• The first dip is to cleanse the S_thula sharira_ (the gross physical body);
• The second is to cleanse the S_ukshma sharira_ (the subtle body), of the P_ranamaya_, the M_anomaya_ and the V_ijnanamaya koshas_ (sheaths of vital energy, mind, knowledge) and
• Third is to cleanse the K_arana sharira_ (the causal body) or the V_ijnanamaya kosha_, with just a tinge of maya still left.

They are also meant to consecrate the karma and the upasana sadhanas and confer jnana. Dvaita, Visishtadvaita and Advaita are also only three stages in spiritual awareness.

Somasekara Sastry spoke of the D_vaita_ and A_dvaita_ (dual and non-dual) attitudes which color people’s outlook in every field. But, they are not distinct; they are stages of mental transformation. The fruit is the same; the soil and the sun make it reach the ripe stage, through the intermediate stages of tender fruit and mature fruit. When you realize that the Lord is at the address that He has given towards the end of the Gita in the 61st shloka of the 18th chapter, namely, “Ishvarah sarva bhutanam hriddeshe, Arjuna, tishtati,” that “He is in the heart of every being,” then you know the One, with no other.

To realise the Lord in every being, you must cultivate prema and drive out the bats that infest the dark caverns of your heart, the bats of hate, envy, and malice. Let the light of prema illumine your thoughts, your words, your movements, your activities, your judgements. When you become transmuted into prema, the Lord who is Prema-svarupa, will reveal Himself to you, and play on the flute, awakening your higher consciousness in the flood of Universal love. Sadhana is essential because the effects of karma have to be removed by karma alone, as a thorn is removable only by another thorn. You cannot remove it by a knife or a hammer, or even a sword. The knowledge that the world is unreal was itself spread by Shankaracharya by means of activity in the unreal world, by the establishment of mutts, the writing of books and partaking in disputations. You cannot desist from action; only, you have got to take care that it is saturated with prema and promotes the welfare of the world.

The Grand Combination

Tomorrow again, the path of the Presence of the Lord will be explained by these Pandits as well as by Me. Whoever may speak, whatever the text, the substance is the same. In no other place can you have this grand combination: Pandits who expound, as if to their own kith and kin, the great truths contained in the scriptures with such faith and devotion and a congregation of listeners which listens with devoted avidity, eager to learn and practice what they learn.

You must be devoted, as devoted as a boy who studied in the ashram of Doumya Rishi. When the Guru was conducting his lesson assiduously, the rain came in torrents and the boys ran helter-skelter to roll up their beds or collect their clothes or save their kusa grass bundles. But, one boy reasoned out within himself: “We had heavy rain last evening too, so this downpour will certainly damage the dike.” So, to save the two acres of land that the Guru owned, he went and laid himself across the breach. You must so act that the heart of the Guru melts at your devotion. Only that will cleanse the mind of evil and vice. If you develop devotion and steady faith you will achieve the Glory of Self-realisation.

Prasanthi Nilayam, 11-10-1964