The Godward Journey

Astronomers know that from this day on, for six months, the Sun will rise more and more to the north, and it would appear that He is traveling northward. Since the Sun is the presiding deity of vision and the intelligence of man, and since the north is the home of the Himalayas—the abode of gods, the symbol of purity, peace, and equanimity—the half-year which is inaugurated today is adored as the Half-Year of Gods, while the six-month southward journey of the Sun is considered the Half-Year of the Manes. Sadhana directed towards establishing purity, peace, and equanimity in the heart yields quicker success in this half-year. That is the general belief. The Sun shines on the earth for longer periods hereafter, and hence, vision and intelligence can advance higher through His grace.

However, man cannot win these boons without striving for them. If he directs his intelligence towards the outer objective world and fritters away the chance of purifying his consciousness, he can only gather anxiety, fear, hatred, and greed. However many Makara Sankrantis the Sun may confer, he cannot progress at all.

Listen to this story. The sage Prachethas composed the Atma Ramayana, which contained a hundred crore verses. The three worlds clamoured for it. He gave each world 33 crore, 33 lakh, 33 thousand, 33 hundred, and 33 verses. This left one verse on his hand. It had 32 syllables. He gave each world 10 syllables and had two with him at last: so he asked all three to value the two and benefit by it.

Those two syllables were Prema. Prema is Love and Love is God, for all the worlds. Love came as Rama, Krishna, Hari, Hara, and Sai. God wanted that the heavenly regions (Devaloka), the Earth (Nara-loka), and the Nether world (Nagaloka) share this Prema equally. These three Lokas are designated also as Vishnuloka, Brahmaloka, and Shivaloka (Nagaloka) or, alternatively, as Jagrata (waking), Svapna (dreaming), and Sushupti (sleep). They are not to be identified as existing somewhere apart from man. They are very much in him alone. The Head is Vishnuloka. The Throat is Brahmaloka. The Heart is Shivaloka. In the Head, we have all the senses of perception. It is the source of life, knowledge, and experience, of depth and vastness. So, Vishnuloka is blue. Life is active during dreaming in the region of the throat. Dreams are frail, short-lived experiences, but they are prolific; they are too venturesome and wayward. So, this region is the Brahmaloka par excellence. The color is red, on account of the quickness and variety of change. The Heart is Shivaloka, where the senses, the intelligence, the ego, the memory, all have merged. Like a bulb which is not linked with the wire, it does not shine. That is deep sleep; all colors merge in the white.

Prema can transform poison into nectar; want of Prema can poison even nectar. Suspecting Meera of having accepted a gift from Emperor Akbar and unable to bear the ignominy it brought upon his line, her husband, the Rana, sent her a cup of poisoned milk. Her heart was so saturated with Prema that the poison was changed into nectar when she drank it.

The dull-witted cannot comprehend the efficacy of the Name of God; nor can they gauge the glory of the Divine. When one acts through Prema, every word and deed will promote joy and peace in others. When Prema is absent, even words spoken or good deeds done will react wrongly. Prema is a tender plant which has to be tended with care and vigilance. Constantly observing or paying attention to anything breeds attachment and gradually, desire starts sprouting. One entertains a series of wishes. Some of them fructify; others do not, and arouse anger towards the persons or circumstances that stood in the way. Anger is the offspring of Ajnana, Ignorance, which inflames the passions, and makes the victim forget his own best interests. Anger destroys the sense of discrimination and presents before the inflamed mind the bad as good and the good as bad. It prompts the tongue to turn vicious and vile. The tongue scalds even more ferociously than fire; it scalds like red-hot iron.

So, no attachment is to be developed, no wish is to be welcomed, nothing is to be sought for, no defeat is to be taken to heart, without delving deep into the consequences. Tyagaraja advises that even the Name of God has to be resorted to after full understanding. The mind is a lotus; it needs Madhu to grow through and Kara to blossom under. Madhu means water, and Kara means ‘the rays of the sun’. As a matter of fact, the Sun lifts up the water from the ground and pours it down again. The bees that are drawn to the lotus flower are also called ‘Madhukara’; they carry away the flavour and the fragrance. ‘Madhu’ means ‘sweetness’ ‘honey’. It is another word for Prema. When the evil in man and the blemish in man are cleansed by the waters of love, the heart can bloom and gaze at the glory of God. Or else, man has to lie low in the slush, weighed down by dirt.

Students! The life around us teaches us many lessons. When the cow delivers a calf, the baby is encased in dirty foetal matter. The mother starts licking off the matter and cleansing the child. Its Prema is so overpowering. And the newborn calf rises on its legs as soon as it is freed from dirt! Just think of this, dear students! When the Pashu (animal) does this so lovingly and so thoroughly in order to help the child to rise, can Pashupati (the Lord of Animals) refrain from cleansing His children, in order to help them rise and progress? When the ‘Go’ (cow) is so eager to save the child and help it to run about in joy, how can ‘Gopala’ (the Lord as Cowherd) allow you to remain dirty and handicapped? Be firm in this faith in God. This is the gain that you must secure from studies. Education must feed the roots of faith. Vishwasa (faith) is Shwasa (Breath).

Faith lives and thrives on Love. Prema is Prana. Prana must charge Bhajan or Worship with faith. Faith prompts sweetness in your thoughts, words, and deeds. The Uttarayana that begins today, the Northward Path, must be marked by a resolution to stick to the Godward path. Turn the mind towards God; that will keep it strong and sweet.

Tyagaraja said that if he is armed with the Grace of Rama, the planetary missiles can never injure him. Purandaradasa, another great saint, asked, ‘What are eyes for?’ and answered himself, ‘To visualise the Lord’. “Eyes that do not yearn to see you are cotton balls; ears that do not hear your praise are narrow mountain caves where jackals live; the tongue that does not relish the repetition of the Name of God can only croak like a frog,” says Purandaradasa. This is the period of life when you must cultivate faith and draw strength from the Grace of God.

There are three types of people who are involved in work. The first can be named ‘Non-doers’ (Akarmins). They plan very pompously and pride themselves on their talents, but, at the first sign of failure or discouragement, they get so dejected that they give up all effort. They renounce all Sadhana, even attending Bhajan sessions. They are afflicted with the Tamasic nature. Keep away from such people; you should not allow even their shadow to fall upon you lest your enthusiasm is affected. The second type is “All doer” (Vikarmi). He plunges into work, without discriminating whether it is good or bad. He is too enthusiastic and too active. His is the Rajasic nature. The third type is the ‘Good Doer, the God Doer’, the Sattvic worker (Sukarmi). He does work with devotion and discipline, as his duty to the Divinity resident in him. He offers his work as worship and is content when he has done it to the best of his capacity.

Man suffers because he has taken birth in order to suffer and purify himself in that crucible. His Karma (work) caused his birth. The feelings of ‘Like and dislike’ urged him to engage in work. He ‘liked’ and ‘disliked’ as a result of the impact of the environment he was in. That impact was helped by reason and rationalization. They were moved by the influence of duality. Duality was the product of ignorance. If ignorance is overcome, one is in bliss thereafter. Arjuna suffered from this basic ignorance and when Krishna granted him the light of wisdom, he was cured.

Have faith in the Truth that can remove delusion. You cannot be argued into faith, nor can you derive it from books. You can know and experience Truth when you cleanse your heart and broaden it through Seva and Love.

Bhishma, the unrivalled hero, the guardian of the cousins who fought among themselves in Kurukshetra, the great Vedic scholar and Sadhaka, the paragon of virtue, the person who reached the acme of renunciation, postponed his moment of death for 54 days in order that he might pass into the heavenly regions, by drawing his last breath on Uttarayana Day. As soon as Uttarayana dawned, he recited ‘Krishna, Krishna’ and merged in Godhead. That was the measure of his devotion. Seek God in everyone and you will be rewarded.

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