The Third Force

The teachings of the sages and seers of this land are all centered on the way of life, the discipline in daily practice, the modes of family and social behavior, the attitudes, and impulses, the obligations of community life, the bonds of service and sympathy. They emphasize practical aspects of Vedanta; in fact, there is no other Vedanta. Its purpose is to cleanse the mind, to sharpen the intellect, to purify the emotions, to concentrate the thinking faculty so that the reality could be experienced in its full clarity. Liberation from the blows of joy and grief can come only through the realization of that reality, which is One and Indivisible.

The removal of the moss that floats thick on the surface of the lake reveals the water beneath; the removal of the dust that lies thick upon the mirror enables you to see yourself. When the person sees himself as an image, it is the truth. The bimba (object) must know itself as the bimba; the I must become aware of the I; that is self-realization. The eye can see the star that is billions of light years away; but, it cannot see itself! The eye must see the eye, so that it can claim to have self-realization, a vision of itself as it truly is.

Earn The Qualification To Know Me

Unless you know yourself, you cannot know Me. When you see a plane above, you know that it must have a pilot; but, if you want to see him, you have to get into it and be in the plane, after purchasing the requisite ticket. Earn the qualification; win the visualization. Vivekananda once said that no Aviveki (a person devoid of discrimination and sharp intelligence) can understand him and his mission. The students in the medical colleges dissect cadavers trying to learn about the living body! The knowledge gained of God by an analysis and study of the world will be more or less of the same category. When the doctor handles a patient and treats him, and the patient submits himself to the treatment, both do not know that between them, there is a third force, more capable and more decisive.

When you reach the bank of a river in a strange land, you do not take advice from a lame person or a blind person, where you can best wade across. You follow a person who has waded often, and who is neither lame nor blind. The man who can see is the scholar; the man who can walk is the person with experience. The man with both capacities is a good guide, not those who prattle things learnt from the books or dole out set formulae, irrespective of the stage the recipient has reached, or roam about in search of people whom they can squeeze for money.

Develop The Renunciatory Spirit Like Arjuna

Any Guru who stultifies your buddhi (intellect), your innate power of discrimination instead of encouraging you to seek, examine, experience and believe, is a danger to mankind. For, buddhi is the only instrument for realization. Jnana (spiritual knowledge) alone can grant the vision of the ultimate Truth. That is why the Gayatri (a Vedic prayer to the light that fills the Universe to illuminate the intelligence) is a prayer for prompting the spirit of inquiry and illuminating the path by the inner light of the spirit. That is why Krishna says in the Gita, “I am of living beings, the Intelligence.” Arjuna (Pure, unsullied) was a Gudakesa (a person who had overcome sloth and sleep); his name itself indicates he was of sterling virtues; he was a great warrior. So, he was taught the Gita way of life by the Lord Himself. Be like him; develop the renunciatory spirit he exhibited. Listen to the Lord as attentively and as intelligently as he did; you too can get the Gita from God, taught from the chariot of which, through your own prayer, He is the Charioteer.

Prasanthi Nilayam, 29-9-1968.