Refrain From Asking

Heaven is not on high, beyond your ken. 
It is very much here, in the world of men: 
Deny the ego, deep hid in you; 
And, you are ‘there’ in Heaven on Earth. 
For liberation, O, man! why plead before 
Three crores of Gods in despair?
 Deny the ego deep-rooted in you… 
And you are free, no pleading therefore.

The attainment of the Absolute or Brahman is not the end result of a course of spiritual effort. The jeevi (individualized soul) is the Brahman. Jeevo deva Sanatanah. “The jeevi is the Eternal Godhead.” Even when involved in worldly activities, the individual cannot discard this Reality of his. His belief that he is just a man arises from delusion. The ocean may be known by many names in many areas through many ages, but its nature is unaffected thereby. So too, however many forms and names he assumes and adopts, the _Brahman_-principle persists in him and remains the goal of awareness.

“Mamaivamsho Jeeva loke jeeva Bhootah Sanatanah,” says Krishna in the Geeta. “The eternal I, a part of Me, has manifested as all individuals”. This is what that statement implies. “Shrinvantu vishve Amritasya Putrah” is what Mother Veda declares to all the worlds. Since a person is limited by a body and entangled in the senses, he is bound by ignorance and led to believe that he is a mere man. He is a child of Immortality.

Mind Affected By Desire Is Polluted

Ignorance is caused by attachment. Attachment results in identification of the I with the body, senses, mind, etc. Attachment leads to desire; desire results in anger, anger blinds reasons and promotes ignorance; ignorance breeds dualities of mine and thine, good and bad, etc; these lead to activities to make gains and avoid losses, etc., these produce consequences of merit and demerit; they have to be consumed in this life or future lives; so one has to go through suffering. Duhkham (suffering) is caused by Janma (life) which presupposes suffering. Karma is due to belief in dvaita (duality). Dvaita is the result of ajnana (ignorance), the product of krodha (anger). Krodha is the child of Raaga (affection) and Moha (attachment) is the parent of Raaga.

Even Arjuna, the greatest bowman and warrior of his age, became a victim on the battlefield itself of this insidious, false and enfeebling attachment. The mind obeys the senses and defiles man. It is well-nigh impossible for man to master the mind and turn it away from the objective world. Arjuna confessed to Lord Krishna that the mind was uncontrollably wayward and could not be stilled. The mind has two phases: the unpolluted and the polluted. The mind affected by desire (kaama) is polluted; when it is unaffected by desire, it is unpolluted.

For liberation from bondage to desire, the mind is the only instrument available to man. Turn it towards the objective world, you are bound; turn it towards God, you are on the road to liberation. The mind refuses to be calm even for a fraction of a second. When a continuous shower of stones is falling on the waters of a lake, how can the surface be calm and unruffled? So too, man is throwing stone after stone of desire on the Manasa Sarovar the calm lake of the manas or mind.

Bhaktas indeed all Vyaktis (those who seek to manifest their inner Reality) should therefore prevent the stones (desires) from disturbing the equanimity of the mind. The fly rests one moment on the sacred food offerings on the altar of God and the next moment, on filth. The mind seeks refuge in holy thoughts and things; the next movement it revels in some fearsome foul ideas. The mind is like the elephant. The mahout gives it a nice bath, he scrubs it clean and chains it to a shady tree. But, it gathers dust with its trunk and scatters it all over itself! Man too, urged by the senses, pours into his own mind dust and dirt.

Senses Are Servants Of Mind, Not Master

In fact, the function of the mind is to act as controller of the senses. The role of the senses is to serve the mind, the right relationship is for the servants to obey the master and for the master to rule over the servants. But when the master falls into the hands of his servants, he becomes the victim of all varieties of loss and grief.

The Ramayana provides a fine illustration for this danger. Kaikeyi, the queen, was the mistress; Manthara was her servant, her maid, but since the queen was subservient to her maid, a whole series of tragedies happened. Kaikeyi came from a famous Royal dynasty; she was the favourite consort of a famous emperor; she was the mother of a son, Bharata, famous for his dutifulness and righteousness; she loved her stepson Rama as dearly as her life-breath; yet, despite her own virtue, learning and authority, since she gave ear to her attendant, Manthara, she drew upon herself eternal infamy from everyone. She landed in a situation where her beloved son came to despise her. Even the names Kaikeyi and Manthara have become obnoxious.

The lesson is: we should not allow the senses, who are only servants, to lord over us. If we do so, we invite the fate of Kaikeyi. Wherever you are, however rich, learned or powerful, when you advise someone to do wrong, you invite on yourselves the fate of Manthara. Since men yield to the blandishments of the senses, they are becoming Kaikeyis and losing the Divine Nature, the quality of the Master.

Specific Role And Purpose Of Mind

The waters of the flowing river are stored by us in reservoirs. But, one has to take care to close the sluices before the water is let into the reservoir. Or else, the water will flow out through the sluices and cannot be stored for use. Likewise, the Atma-shakti (the Inner Soul Force), has to be let through the Buddhi (intellect) channel into the reservoir, manas (mind). But, that force can be utilised by us for our benefit and for promoting world prosperity and peace only when the five sluices, the outward bound senses, are closed tight. The closing of the sluices is the process which the Yoga shastra of Sage Pathanjali describes as Chitta Vritti Nirodhah—preventing agitations in the mind.

The mind is designed for a specific purpose: achieving the four goals of human existence, Dharma, artha, kaama and moksha, the attainment of a happy life through righteous means (artha through Dharma) and the cultivation of kaama (desire) for moksha (liberation).

It has not been designed to promote greed and hatred, pride and possessiveness. This truth has to be believed. The wind gathers clouds and equally swiftly, scatters them. The mind can create conditions of bondage or of liberation. So, one must slowly loosen the bonds of attachment to the physical body and its components, the senses. The senses rob us of physical and mental strength.

Are all who live in the body and move about with the body attached to it and to the senses, etc., that go along with it? For, God too comes with a body, as Avataar, and when He moves about, He seems to be only human as far as one can see. But, there is a fundamental inner difference. The incarnate God, the Avataar, is unconcerned. He has upeksha (indifferent to results). The ordinary man with the body has apeksha (yearning for the results). Mamatva (Mineness principle) is human; Brahmatva (_Brahman_-principle) is Divine. You cannot discern the distinction, even when you look or listen. You can understand only by experience. The Avataar has no wants. He has no egoism. He is ever alone in the Brahmatvam.

Look at a record or tape; 
It is blank, silent, same! 
Activate it with a sound box; 
It sings and speaks with fluency.

Avataar With Body And The Ordinary Man

The Avataar appears as any other human being equipped with body, senses mind, etc. But, consider the vast difference in thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc. The Avataar is the total, the all-comprehensive, the Poornam (Full). The human is partial, narrow and negative. But, in the human, the Divine exists as the core and can manifest as Bliss. We pay all attention to the external trappings of knowledge; we do not transform the deeper instincts and impulses inherited from animal ancestors.

Place a jasmine garland around a monkey’s neck, 
Dress it in shiny silken clothes, 
And seat it on a gem-set throne. 
Can it forsake its apish tracks?

Once it was a vanara (monkey); now, it is a Nara (man). And as man through many lives, crookedness and cruelty have struck deep roots. These cannot be destroyed soon. It is a very difficult task indeed.

This is the reason why God assumes the Avataar form and decides to award mankind the power to discriminate between right and wrong, between truth and falsehood. The Avataar does it through precept and example. The scriptures teach that life is unfortunately short. So, the Geeta advises man to appreciate three facts: (1) To be born as a human being is a precious opportunity; (2) To yearn to realize God is another precious piece of good luck; (3) The greatest good fortune is the chance to be in the presence of God, to be immersed in the service of God and to be engaged in fulfilling Divine commands.

God Responds To Unadulterated Devotion

Sathyabhama, in her pride, imagined that her Lord Krishna could be appropriated by her if jewels and gems were presented. She piled them on one pan of the balance which was weighing Him. But this was of no avail. Rukmini had effaced herself and knew only the Krishna-principle. So, when she placed a single tulsi leaf with her prayer on the pan, Krishna could be weighed and the pan with Krishna rose up.

Unadulterated devotion, total renunciation-these alone can help us to achieve the awareness of our Divinity. Kooresa was the headman of a village in the days of Ramanuja. His other name was Sreevathsanka. He revered Ramanuja, the Achaarya of Vishishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism), the great master of Vaishnavism, as his Guru. He renounced his riches, lands and home in the village and proceeded to the holy shrine of Srirangam on the Kaveri River. His wife Andal accompanied him. They had to walk through a thick jungle when night fell. The wife asked him in her voice tremulous with fear, “Are there robbers around?” He replied, Why should we fear? We have nothing with us for them to rob.” The wife confessed that she had with her a small gold cup, which she had brought along to serve water to her husband. Kooresa did not approve of her action. He asked for the cup and threw it far into the jungle, and they proceeded in peace.

God Gives Unasked What The Devotee Needs

They lodged in a choultry, near the temple at Srirangam. Kooresa was far too exhausted. He had no food throughout the three-day-long trek. The wife heard the temple bells ringing to announce the “Presentation of food offerings to Lord Ranganatha.” She cried out to the Lord, “Your servant is stricken by starvation. How can you, O Lord, feast on the offerings, knowing how he suffers?” In a few minutes, a procession from the temple reached the choultry. A band of pipers and drummers led the long line of priests and Pandits. The Lord had commanded them to take the food offerings to his devotees at the choultry. They brought silver plates and vessels full of a rich variety of dishes.

Kooresa rose and sat up. He protested, “I did not pray for food. The Lord should grant me what I need and pray for; He cannot give me what I did not ask for! How can this Atma ask the Paramatma for something to fill the stomach?” Because the temple priests pressed him to partake of the Prasadam (food offered to idols), he tasted a little and gave a little to the wife. Then he questioned her, “Did you commit the mistake? Did you pray for food?” She replied, “Lord I did not ask so; I only had a feeling in my mind, ‘How could you, O Krishna, accept those offerings when your servant is starving?”

God, Giver Of All, Is The Only Treasure You Need

He who gives when asked and what is asked, is the Prabhu. He who gives unasked, what one needs is the Vibhu. Prabhu means a Lord, Vibhu means the Cosmic Ruler. We should not use the Vibhu to acquire what we feel we need most. This is the reason why the poet has sung:

Refrain from asking, O mind! 
The more you ask, the deeper it plumbs 
And the longer it takes for the answer to rise. 
Did He not, without being asked, 
Fulfil Sabari’s anguished wish? 
Did He not bless the bird Jatayu 
Who died for Him, 
Asking for nought instead?”

Thus, Kooresa instructed his mind and earned peace. Every Avataar seeks to raise humanity to the level of Divinity by laying down such paths of devotion and holding forth such examples of surrender.

“I do not know anything other than you. You are the one and the one only.” When one has this faith, why allow desire to creep in? Why ask for this or that? Have faith in God, the Giver of All, the only Treasure you need; He will fill you with contentment.

Prasanthi Nilayam, 12-8-1982