The Sadguru Speaks

The macrocosmos and the microcosmos—the Brahmanda and the pindanda—the universal and the individual—all arise from the One truth. They are manifestations and emergents of that truth, which is not affected by either. That truth is known as Brahman. When this unmodifiable, transcendent, and immanent Brahman, instead of just 'being,' decides on 'becoming,' it is best designated as 'God,' 'Eeshwara' (Almighty). The Divine ground of everything is the spiritual absolute, called Paramatman (Supreme absolute self). It is also the ground, the base, the core, the reality of man.

But in spite of 'becoming,' which is only an illusion imposing multiplicity on the One Being, it remains One. So long as the inquiry is postponed, only the multiplicity is cognized. The multiplicity is neither real nor unreal. It is relatively real, temporarily real, pragmatically real, Mithya —not Satya —but an amalgam of Satya (truth) and asatya (untruth), apparently real but fundamentally unreal, real for most practical purposes (vyavahara) but unreal when the basic nature is unraveled. Mithya is the mixture of Satya and asatya, the knowledge of the serpent which is negated when the knowledge of the rope is won.

Maaya Makes Us Believe The World Is Real

The clouds appear to be stuck to the sky; so, too, maaya (the tendency to conclude that what the senses tell us is true or to project our preferences and prejudices onto the world around us) gives us an untrue picture of Brahman. It makes us believe that the world is real. Its impact warps our reasoning process, our sensory impressions, and our views on God, on the creation and on man. It spreads before us a diversity that tantalizes and deceives.

The basic truth upon which maaya (Divine illusion) projects its kaleidoscope is described by seers as Sat-Chit-Ananda (Being – Awareness - Bliss absolute). This does not mean that Brahman has three attributes, namely: it exists beyond time and space; it knows and can be known; it is the source and acme of bliss. They are not three distinct characteristics; they indicate the One, of which the three can be grasped by experience—not by words, for words can only recoil before that Godhead. We cannot assert that Brahman (Supreme being) belongs to a class or genes, nor can it be defined by the three basic qualities. It cannot be described as performing any specific activity, for it is ever motionless. Nor can it be explained in terms of relationship with other entities for it is One, without a second.

Maaya is only the Divine Will that inaugurated the manifestation of the cosmos (Ekoham, Bahusyama – I am one; I will be many). Maaya (apparent deluding reality) inheres in every being and every activity of that being; it has three aspects of achievement through the three modes and moods of that will—the satvika, the rajasika, and the tamasika (the calm, contented, equanimous mood; the potent, passionate mood; the inert, slothful, sluggish mood).

Maaya Is The Will That Causes The Variety

When maaya prompts us into the satvika mood of that Will, we become progressive seekers of Jnaana (spiritual wisdom) that reveals the unity. When we are overwhelmed by the Rajasika quality of that Will, we are deluded into the pursuit of worldly victories and ephemeral wealth and renown. The Tamasika nature of that Will seeks the quickest and easiest ways of happy living. These are the reflections in our minds of the basic modes of the Will that Brahman assumes when it is moved by the primal urge to express itself. The facets of that Will are called Jnaana-shakti, ichchaa-shakti, and kriyaa-shakti.

The three modes affect beings and things in various proportions and permutations, and so we have all the variety and diversity of the objective world. Atma (whether individualized or universalized) is one only. The jeevaatma (individual soul) and the Paramaatma (Supreme soul) are one and indivisible.

The philosophers of all lands and all times have sought to discover the truth about God, the objective world, and man, as well as their mutual relationship. Maaya is the Will that causes all three. It is a clear flawless mirror. When the satvika nature is reflected in that mirror, God results; when the Rajasika nature is reflected, the Jeeva (individualized self) results. It is ever-anxious to grow, to grab, to survive, and to be secure. When Tamasika nature is reflected, matter (the objective world) is the result. All three are Paramaatman, but they derive their reality as its reflections. When undergoing reflections, they attain different forms and combinations of characteristics. The One becomes many; every one of the many is Real only because of the One in it. Maaya too is a component of the One; by the emphasis on that component, the One transformed itself into the many.

The One Comprehends All The Images

We now know that maaya is like a mirror. The mirror reflects within itself all that is before it. The convexity or concavity of the mirror, or the covering of dust that might have settled on it, will certainly blur the reflected image, but it cannot distort the objects themselves. Eeshwara, Prakriti, and Jeeva (the Almighty God, objective world, and individualized self), all three are images of Paramaatman (Supreme soul) reflected in the mirror of maaya and warped by the gunas (qualities) that tarnish the surface of the mirror. It is the mirror that pictures the One as many. But the One is ever One.

The One is comprehensive of all this. So it has no wants, no desires, and no activity to realize anything. Sri Krishna tells Arjuna, “Na me Partha! Asti kartavyam, Trishu lokeshu kinchana” (There is nothing I have to do in any of the three worlds). He has willed the world as His sport. He has laid down that every deed must have its consequence. He is the dispenser of the consequences, but He is not involved in the deeds.

None Can Discover The Beginning Of Maaya

Therefore it becomes plain that neither the personalized God, nor the individualized self, nor even the objective world can ever succeed in discovering the beginning of the maaya which brought them into existence and started the chain of ‘act-consequence-act.’ Nevertheless, one can succeed in knowing when maaya will end! When will it end? When the objective world is ignored, set aside, denied, or discovered to be immanent in the Divine, the Jeeva (individualized being) is no more. When the Jeeva is no more, the Eeshwara (Cosmic being or personalized God) is also superfluous and disappears. And when the Eeshwara has faded out, the Brahman (Absolute reality) alone Is. Where there is no child, how can a mother exist? It is a word with no significance. When a personalized God, a personality separate from the rest, called Jeeva, and the mental creation of that Jeeva, called Prakriti (the objective world), are non-existent in the developed consciousness of man, maaya, the progenitor of all three, cannot persist.

When space is enclosed in a pot, it appears limited and small. But once released from the upaadhi (container), it again merges in the infinite sky. The sky is not reduced or transformed in shape or quality by being held in the upaadhi. So, too, the One Atma that is pervading the bodies and lives of billions of beings does not get affected by the upaadhis (living beings) to which it adheres for some time.

Many are affected by the problem of what caused the cosmos. How did it come into being? They advance various theories and lay down many opposing hypotheses. But there is no need for seekers to beat about the bush so much. Just as a dream results when one is cut off from reality in a state of sleep, the cosmos is a result of being cut off from reality by maaya in a state of ignorance. The cosmos is as ephemeral and as vagarious as a dream. It is difficult to discover laws that explain or govern its infinite mysteries. More profitable than inquiring into the mysteries is the inquiry into possible ways of benefitting by them and learning from them. It is mostly a waste of time to probe into the origin of the cosmos or to determine how it will end. You are a part of creation, so try to understand yourself and keep your goal in view.

The Individual Has Three Qualities In Him

The Jeeva (individual) has the emotional, passionate, and active qualities in his composition. The quality that is inferior is the Tamasika and that which is superior is the satvika. Eeshwara is the satvika reflection of Brahman. Therefore man must strive to rise higher into the satvika realm. He must be ever vigilant not to slide down into the lower realm—the Tamasika realm of matter and material pursuits. The Guru has to hold this ideal before the pupil and guide him towards it. He must encourage him to become aware of God within man.

The word aadhyatmika (spiritual) is used often by aspirants and preceptors. What exactly is implied by aadhyatmika? Is bhajan (congregational prayer) aadhyatmika? Or does it involve Japa or Dhyaana? Or does it denote religious rituals and ceremonies? Or does it extend to pilgrimages to holy places? No. These are only beneficial acts. Aadhyatmika, in its real sense, relates to two progressive achievements or at least sincere attempts towards those two achievements: elimination of the animal traits still clinging to man and unification with the Divine.

Three Different Types Of Gurus In The World

Consider how far man has succeeded in overcoming the animal inheritance of lust, greed, and hate when he spends time, money, and energy for these so-called aadhyatmika exercises. What progress does he make by listening to exponents of texts? Has man become any less bestial? This is the inquiry, this is the assessment for man to be engaged in, though this is the very task ignored by him at present.

The sadhanas (spiritual practices) now adopted promote only pride and pompous display, envy, and egotism. They do not uproot them in the least. People proceed to the House of God as pilgrims but pray to Him for more money, fame, and power, for their thoughts, words, and deeds center only around these transitory and trivial tokens of worldly success. The world and all its trappings bespeak the Tamasika guna (quality of inertia). They can never raise man to the higher satvika (pure level).

The Guru must exhort the individual self to realize the Universal Self. On this Guru poornima, we must revere with grateful hearts such Gurus who have consummated liberation for many. They are the highest Gurus. There are in the world many other types also. There is the Guru who gives you a mantra (sacred formula), tells you its potentialities, and directs you to repeat it sincerely and steadily. He is the deeksha Guru; the initiation into the mantra is called deeksha in ritualistic parlance. He assumes that his duty ends with the gift of the mantra and the command to use it with conviction and care. He does not direct the pupil to master his senses or guide him to march forward and attain that victory. For the pupil, the mantra is a formula to be repeated in a parrot-like way. He might not even know that it is a precious gift, but without the sadhana (spiritual discipline) of self-improvement, the gift has no value at all.

The Maaya Too Is An Aspect Of Brahman

The second type of Guru recommends the worship of one or another of the forms of God. Another set of Gurus teach lessons destined to change your consciousness. These are the teacher-Gurus. But all these types ignore the One and divert attention, adoration, and devotion to the many, which are only relatively real. They do not lay down methods by which purity and clarity can be won. They are afraid to antagonize the animal urges in their pupils. Their teachings fill the head but do not thrill the heart. All types of Gurus assert that God, nature, and man are distinct, whereas they are all really based on the play of maaya on Brahman. They deal with a subsidiary, not the primary, the diversity not the unity, the trivial not the true. The primary is Brahman which, when reflected in maaya, seems to be broken into God, nature, and man. These three are only the unreal images of the One. And the maaya, too, is an aspect of Brahmam “Mama-maaya” (My maaya), says Krishna in the Geeta.

Hence when we merge in Brahman or win the grace of the Lord, His maaya cannot exist for us.

One can also be rid of maaya if one can discard the three gunas from one’s make-up. The Satva-guna, too, has to be transcended. Why? The Geeta directs that even the eagerness to be liberated is a bond. One is fundamentally free; bondage is only an illusion. So the desire to unloosen the bond is the result of ignorance. Krishna says, “Arjuna! Become free from the three gunas.” In truth, the word ‘_guna_’ means ‘rope,’ for all three gunas bind the Jeeva with the rope of desire. Liberation means liberation from delusive moha (attachment). ‘_Moha-kshaya_’ is a decline in the desire caused by attachment to sensory pleasure.

The Greatest Of Gurus Was Sage Vyasa

The Yadavas were attached to Krishna through a sense of worldly belonging. He was their kinsman, they felt, and this feeling did not save them from total destruction. The gopis felt they were His, not that He was theirs. So they were recipients of His grace. When the ideas of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ disappear, man’s only thoughts are of ‘Thee’ and ‘Thine.’ He then finds only ‘Thee’ everywhere and thus achieves the vision of unity.

This day thousands of you have gathered here because it is Guru poornima, the ‘full Moon of the Guru.’ The fully worthwhile Guru must facilitate that vision of unity without the discords and divisions that ‘mine’ and ‘thine’ engender in the mind of man. Such a Guru was the sage Vyasa. This day is also called Vyasa Poornima, a day when mankind offers him the gratitude he deserves. ‘Vyaaso Naaraayano Hariah’: Vyasa is the Lord Narayana, Hari. Narayana, the Lord Himself, came as a man called Vyasa, to collate the Vedas and teach man the path towards God. He has made the path plain and easy to climb.

But the tragedy is that man has misinterpreted or missed the path. He has stuck to his outmoded beliefs in the efficacy of worldly, material, and transitory rituals and rites, which weaken his mind through fear or pride. The true Guru should keep away from such weakening tactics and should impart the strengthening awareness of the Atma. Only then can he be revered as a Guru. When there is the clear call from the higher regions of the satvika, why should the Guru remain deaf to that call and grovel in the regions of Tamas and Rajas? Why must he be content to keep his pupils in those lower levels?

Goodness Is Natural To Man, Not Evil

Embodiments of the Divine Atma!

In truth, man is the encased Atma. He is the repository of the infinite, ever-full, One, indivisible Atma. Man, at best, remains man, satisfied with the rajo-guna dominant in him. Many are content with their dealings with the objective, Tamasika world. Their ideal is only to amass material wealth and satisfy material needs. Examine yourselves and discover at what level you are by analyzing your desires and activities. In this way, you can yourself sublimate your thoughts and urges.

However, the trend among the guides and seekers in the spiritual field is to avoid the heights and wander in the valleys. Consider for a moment how long worldly triumphs last. They are but the play of scintillating name and form on the Divine, which is the core of every being and thing. Earn the vision that sees the Divine inherent in all. We are not troubled when something is good, but only when it is bad. This is because goodness is natural and evil is an aberration. We are worried and alarmed when someone slides into wrong or is in pain or sorrow. This is because nature plans us to be right, to be happy and ever in joy. It is a pity that man has lost his understanding of this truth.

Your revised urges must have a beneficial impact on your activities, for it is through the activity that gunas are given up or gained. Activity causes birth and death and fills up the years of one’s life. It supports good and evil, joy and grief.

However, man is willfully unaware of the activities that will lighten the burden of his life and also illumine the Atma. It is the Atma that illumines all, but man is in the dark about its existence. Just as everything sweet is sweet on account of the sugar it contains, all things and objects are cognized because the Atma is behind the cognition. It is the universal witness. It is the Sun that activates all but never gets activated itself. You, too, must establish yourself in the position of a witness.

Methods To Attain The Status Of A Witness

The sages have laid down methods by which man can attain the status of a witness. Dhyana (meditation) is the most important of these. It is the penultimate of eight steps, the last one being Samadhi (superconscious state of communion), and grants the wisdom to be completely unaffected. The sixth stage is dharana (concentration). Dharana is the stage when Japa, Puja, and other practices are engaged in, in order to prepare the concentration of mind for Dhyana.

Dhyana is not merely sitting erect and silent. Nor is it the absence of any movement. It is the merging of all your thoughts and feelings in God. Without the mind becoming dissolved in God, Dhyana cannot succeed. The Geeta describes genuine Dhyana as 'Ananyaschintayanto Maam Ye Janaah Paryupaasate' (Those persons who adore Me, without any other thought or feeling). Krishna has assured such persons that He would Himself carry their burden and be by their side, guiding and guarding. Persons adept in this Dhyana are very rare; most people go through the external exercises only. So they are unable to win Grace.

Bodies Are Expressions Of The Atman

Dhyana is interrupted in most cases by worry and anxiety regarding one’s kith and kin, and one’s earning of riches. But since all are manifestations of the maaya which is natural to Brahman or Paramaatman, the Paramaatman (Supreme Self) in which you take refuge will certainly free you from fear. Why? You are, each one, the Atma and nothing else. This is the reason why I began this discourse, addressing you as Divyatma swaroopas! Your bodies, too, are expressions of the Atma (Divine self). Your personality, individuality, mind, intellect—all are manifestations of the Atma which is the prime mover of your life.

This teaching is being propagated for ages by the sages of this land. The seers who saw the validity of this vision encouraged inquiry and experiment into the process of dhyaana and sadhana.

Sage Vyasa sympathized with man who was caught in the coils of do’s and don’t, of success and failure, of desire and despair. He demarcated many a path which leads man along to fulfilment. The fulfilment consists in uprooting the animal that lurks in man and reaching out to the divinity that is his essence.

We find individuals and groups trudging to Badrinath, Kedarnath, and Haridwaar in search of peace and prosperity. They also go to Tirupati and Kashi. Have they jettisoned even a few of their animal propensities? That is the test; that is the justification for the money and time they have spent and the troubles they have undergone.

When the animal is conquered and Godhead is felt within reach, man can assert that all these pilgrimages are within him. He has no need to travel from temple to temple. And without achieving this victory you have no right to claim that you are a devotee of Rama or Krishna, or of any other incarnation of the Lord. This is real aadhyatmikata (spiritual progress). I bless you all that you may earn it.

Guru poornima, Prasanthi Nilayam, 9-7-1979