The Ganga And The Sea

All around  is to be seen living beings who drag out their existence in misery, inspite of age-long efforts to earn Ananda (bliss) through many lives lived in the past. They have not succeeded in winning Ananda because it is only the knowledge of the Atma as their inner core that can confer lasting bliss. When sensual desire tarnishes the mind, it cannot have untarnished bliss. Through virtuous and truthful life, the mind has to be purified so that the knowledge of the immanence of Atma in all is evident to it. It is only when you see yourself in all and all selves in you that Bliss is possible.

The Grace of God cannot be earned through mere recitation of God's glories. The Name has to be uttered with its halo of meaning clear in the mind’s eye. There must be bhava, raga, and tala (feeling, melody, and correct timing) while singing the Name of God. These Americans who sang bhajans now paid attention to melody and time, and their kirtan came from the heart. So, they are true Bharata children, for bha, ra, and ta signalize bhava, raga, and tala! The culture of Bharata emphasises the rati (attachment) towards Bhagawan (God).

God does not inquire whether you lived in caves or ate roots and fruits only. He seeks purity of heart, achieved by service and surrender—service to man and surrender to His Will. You derive exaltation by worshipping the sculptor-carved stone idol in the man-made temple; how much more blissful you should be, worshipping the very God resident in the temple of the human bodies around you!

God Is The Seed of This Manifested Universe

Adore the God that is resident in all beings, motivating them and prompting their every activity. Ekanatha, the Maharashtra saint, had that vision. He was going on pilgrimage to Rameswaram, in the extreme south of India, from Varanasi, in the North, carrying the sacred Ganga in a pot to be poured ceremonially on the Ramalingeswara idol at that place. His disciples were with him. On the way, he saw a donkey dying of thirst, in great agony. Ekanatha felt that the Ramalingeswara in the donkey was calling out for the holy Ganga that he was carrying on his shoulder; in spite of the protests of his followers, he poured the precious Ganga down the throat of the dying animal and saved it. His joy knew no bounds.

God is the seed of this entire manifested Universe. Beejam Mam Sarvabhutanam, says Krishna in the Gita: “I am the seed of all elements and all beings.” The root, the trunk, the branch, the leaf, the flower, the bark, and the fruit have each a different texture, taste, smell, color, use, and function; but they have all arisen out of one single tiny seed! So too all this Universe has but One Primal Cause, God. Man must seek to know the Cause, not the Effect, which is but a facet of the Cause.

Devotees Are All Play-Actors

Then, man will know his reality, too. This can be known only after a long course of discipline which curbs and controls the senses as well as the passions and impulses which operate them. This discipline will establish you in Love, Universal Love, Love that needs no requital. It is said that aspirants are avidly searching for God; this may or may not be true; but this, at least, is true: God is avidly searching for a sincere aspirant—and He has not yet found one! Devotees are all play-actors; their devotion breaks down at the first touch of disappointment or distress. Or, they are only part-time devotees! A few minutes or hours for God and the rest for themselves and the free play of their sensual likes and dislikes! Speak what you feel, act what you speak—then, thought, word, and deed will confirm and complement each other and contribute to your spiritual success.

The Five Points Of Spiritual Discipline

I am insisting on five points of discipline for the permanent residents of Prasanthi Nilayam. I shall tell you about them, for your homes and your villages have to be transformed into Prasanthi Nilayams. They are:

1. Silence: This is the first step in sadhana; it makes the other steps easy. It promotes self-control; it lessens the chances of anger, hate, malice, greed, pride. Besides, you can hear His Footsteps, only when silence reigns in the mind.
    
2. Cleanliness: It is the doorway to Godliness. Inner and outer cleanliness are essential if you desire to install God in your heart.
    
3. Service: Service saves you from the agony you get when another suffers; it broadens your vision, widens your awareness, and deepens your compassion. All waves are on the same sea, from the same sea, merge in the same sea. Seva teaches you to be firm in this knowledge.
    
4. Love: Do not calculate or weigh the reaction, result, or reward. Love calls; love responds. Love is God, live in love.
    
5. Hatelessness: Adhweshta sarva bhutanam—No being is to be looked down upon as secondary, inferior, unimportant, or expendable. Each has its allotted role in the drama designed by the Almighty. Do not slight, insult, or injure any being; for, He is in every being and your slight becomes a sacrilege.

Strive your best to practice these. They will ensure chittashuddhi, that is, purity of mind, intelligence, ego, etc. They will transmute your inner nature.

People answer the question, “Where is God to be found?” in different ways. They say, in Tirupahi, Badhri Kedhar, Amarnath, Bhadhrachalam, Puttaparthi. But that is not the answer you should accept or give. Tell them that God dwells where His devotees gather and sing His Glory. That is the reason why I am advising you so insistently to do Namasmaran (chanting of name) and Nagarasankirtan (singing Lord’s glory in public).

Do not cultivate too much attachment to things of the world, which appeal to carnal desires and sensual thirsts. A moment comes when you have to depart empty-handed, leaving all that you have laboriously collected and proudly called your own. Persons who live in Prasanthi Nilayam, as well as those who come here for a short stay, have dozens of bags, boxes, and bundles, vessels of various sizes in plenty—in fact, a truckload of pots and pans. But look at the American sadhakas who are here. They have come across the oceans or the continents, thousands of miles, with a bag, a rug, and a can. You spend most of your time worrying about the goods you pile around yourself. You have no time for more profitable things like japa and dhyana.

The very moment you step onto the Sadhana path, Grace will be upon you. The Ganga rises in the Himalayan ranges and reaches the sea after a long journey of more than a thousand miles. True; but do not imagine that the sea is in touch with it only at the point where the waters merge into the sea! When there is contact in one place, there is contact all along the flow, all along the line, throughout the thousand miles, from the sea to the summit. The tingle and the thrill will be felt from the pool where it originates to the estuary where it meets the sea.

Prasanthi Nilayam, 19-7-1970