At Every Breath A Teaching...

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AT EVERY BREATH A TEACHING

Swami Chinmayananda

 

Gurudev never tried to give the illusion that just because we had turned to

the spiritual life, everything would run smoothly, without obstruction, but

warned us instead that on the material plane, change and disturbance and

sorrow are part of the mix. He compared life's journey to travel over a long

- distance road:

 

When you are traveling across the country a long distance, some part of the

road may be under repair or in bad condition. At such patches of rough road,

drive slowly and move carefully, and once the smooth road comes, step on the

gas. Patches of the road will always be slightly bad

 

Criminal or Dignitary

In a letter, Gurudev told the story of a father who pointed out to his son a

man who was being hustled along the road between four soldiers. The father

said: "Son, that one who is walking between the soldiers is a great

criminal, and he is being taken to prison."

 

After a few yards, the son and father came to the main road and saw a large

crowd waiting on the sidewalk. The road had been cleared of traffic. Soon

they saw a procession of soldiers on motorcycles, followed by the President

of the country riding inside a luxurious limousine, which was protected on

all sides by many soldiers.

 

The boy cried out ,"Daddy, there goes the biggest criminal!" The father

hushed the child as he lovingly explained that they were seeing not a

criminal but the President. Gurudev elaborated further:

 

Both of them, the criminal and the President, have soldiers around them. A

man is a prisoner when he is under the command of the soldiers. But when the

soldiers are under his command, he is the President or king himself.

 

Similarly, you may have your own house and child. You will become their

prisoner if they come to rule over you. But you shall continue to be the

sovereign when you control them, not they you.

 

No Molding Required

 

Radhika Krishnakumar had brought her small infant to Swamiji and asked, "How

do I teach him to become a good human being?You don't have to mould him

or teach him anything," was Swamiji's reply. "You just keep improving as a

person, and he'll be fine."

 

"He Does It All"

 

One day in 1992, two people approached Swamiji about doing some healing work

on him through a method that analyzes and treats the human system at the

energetic level. For the analysis, the practitioner needed a few strands of

his hair. His immediate response was, "No! I don't want to keep this body

around. I've finished my work here."

 

However, after some more gentle pressure from the inquiring parties, he

tugged vigorously at his beard, but no hairs come loose. "Nothing! Not

one!" he said. Then he gave an offhand hint as to where some loose hair may

be lying about. The two devotees took this as a go ahead sign and located a

hairbrush with the required strands.

 

When the practitioner did her analysis, the results were so astounding that

she repeated the measurements over and over again to assure that she had

done her work correctly. But the unprecedented results remained the same: At

the pathological (physical) level, Swamiji body was showing readings so low

as to indicate death of the body. However, when the readings were taken at

his energetic level, they were so high that they went off the scale. The

practitioner's interpretation was: Swamiji's as, though - dead physical

body was being kept alive by some immense source of energy.

 

When a devotee relayed the analysis to him, she asked: "Swamiji, how do you

do it?"

 

His reply was immediate and vigorous, "I do absolutely nothing; He does it

all. This one is a totally useless fellow. It is His work alone!"

 

To many devotees who heard this story, it became a scientific corroboration

of what they had heard said for many years: A master is an instrument in the

hands of the Lord. His life is sustained not by his own desires, for they no

longer exist, but by the aggregate desires of those around him.

A similar theme was repeated on many occasions.

 

Chief Sevak

 

During a spiritual picnic back in the early days, Gurudev demonstrated how

one should conduct oneself as a worker, a sevak (one who serves others). At

the outset of the journey, he declared that he was the "Chief Sevak".

He boarded his bus only after everyone in the entire convoy of buses was in

his or her seat.

 

En route, one of the buses had a breakdown. Gurudev stopped the whole convoy

and remained near the bus that was being repaired. Only after the repairs

were completed, did he allow the convoy to resume the journey.

 

Working with Crooks

One man told Swamiji, "I have a problem: The man I work with is a crook. But

this work is my livelihood! What do I do?"

 

Swamiji's answer was: "Do your work; do your level best. When it gets very

difficult, wink at the Lord. When the time is right, the crook won't be

there any more."

 

Viji Sundaram, who served as editor of the Chinmaya Mission Vedanta journal

Tapovan Prasad, writes about the lesson she received about journalism from

her guru. "In the five years I worked for the Mission as editor of Tapovan

Prasad," she said while Gurudev was still alive, "I learned a lot about the

profession I had chosen just by watching Swamiji slip into the role of

writer. He could, and still can, do it effortlessly. No writer's blocks seem

to trouble him.

 

I once asked him how he did it, and he said, 'I let the thoughts flow

through me,' and added, for my benefit, 'When you compromise your values,

you block the flow of your natural creative instincts."

 

No Doors Closed on Love

 

Whenever Neeru Mehta traveled with Swamiji, she would go into his room

before he retired to check on his drinking water, offer her pranams, say

"Hari Om !" - and then leave the rrom.

 

Twice, once in Lucknow and once at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya, when Gurudev

stood up to close the door, Neeru bowed and stood facing him. He looked and

waited. Then said, "Please turn around. I can't close the door in your

face."

 

"This sentiment is expressed by many persons, "says Neeru, 'but no one I

have met in my life, except for Swamiji, puts it into practice: not closing

the door in the face of someone you love."

 

A Transforming Moment

 

Swami Chidananda, teacher of Vedanta courses both at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya

in Mumbai and Sandeepany San Jose in California, experienced a deeply

transforming moment with Gurudev during an informal gathering. Swamiji had

just come out of his room to give some time to a group of devotees. They

were singing kirtan [devotional songs] when Swamiji walked very slowly into

the room.

 

"As he came near me," recalls Swami Chidananda, "he held my folded hands for

a while, greeted me, and then proceeded to take his chair. That was it. I do

not know what went through me, but I sobbed continuously for perhaps twenty

minutes."

 

Curbside Yagna

 

One early Saturday morning during a Yagna in Napa, California, Swamiji and

his listeners had already gathered by the high school door where his 6 a.m.

classes on Vivekachudamani had been held all that week. The caretaker had

remembered to open the doors of the building every morning except this, a

Saturday. But that didn't stop Gurudev. With a smile on his face, he sat

down cross - legged on the cold curb of the sidewalk, motioned the rest of

us to sit down in front of him, opened the text, and began to teach. And so

he continued for the next one and a half hours, as the brisk morning grew

gradually warmer around us and traffic noises in the distance slowly

beckoned the day awake.

 

Blank Tape

 

Gurudev's talks were being planned at Stanford University, Palo Alto,

California. One devotee asked Gurudev for his permission to record the talks

on audiotape, but Gurudev did not grant it. The devotee decided to record

the talk anyway. He set up all the equipment, checked it carefully, and

proceeded to record the talk. However, when he checked the tape at the end

of the lecture, he found that it was still blank.

 

Shivaratri Miracle

 

It was Shivaratri at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in Mumbai. Although Gurudev

usually retired to his room in the evening, that night he had said: "I'll

come out at midnight and go to the temple. Whoever wants to come with me,

come, but just remember one thing: Nobody should touch me!"

 

Those who were there that night recall that when Gurudev came out of his

room, he was "shining," as though light were streaming from him.

The brahmacharis and the devotees who followed in his footsteps in their

bare feet to the Jagadeeshwara Temple say that the spots where Gurudev had

placed his feet were warm.

 

Playing with One's Prarabdha

 

Bharati Sukhatankar was helping Swamiji pack. Giving her his cufflinks, he

said," There will be four bags there. Look for one small plastic bag inside

a larger plastic bag. Put the cufflinks in the small empty bag."

 

Bharati remembered some cufflinks that Swamiji had with a beautiful image of

orchids pressed into them. She didn't see them in the suitcase.

 

"Swamiji, whatever happened to the cufflinks with the engraved orchids?"

 

"Swamiji replied, "My dear, you must learn to play with your prarabdha (that

portion of one's past karmas that is being lived out in one's current life).

I know the art. You don't."

 

It was Swamiji's prarabdha to receive things from others: gold cufflinks,

silver - knobbed chappals , silver - tipped canes, gold chains - but he just

continued to give them away, playing with his praradbha with ease and joy.

 

Like an Army General

 

Swami Gangeshwarananda was 108 years old when Gurudev dedicated a yagna in

his honour. Swamiji had great respect for this old, blind Swami and visited

him whenever he could. One time, Swamiji, with his padukas on, had just

walked across some wooden planks over a canal and arrived at the blind

Swami's side without informing anyone.

 

"Chinmayananda , so you've come!" said Swami Gangeshwarananda.

Swamiji was curious how the blind Swami had known that it was he who had

arrived.

 

"The way you walk," answered Gangeshwaranandaji. "Only one Swami walks like

that, and it is Chinmayananda. You walk like an army general!"

 

Heaven

 

At one of the Swamiji's camps, a devotee asked him at Satsang:

"Swamiji what does one need to do to invoke an experience of Brahmaloka -

Heaven?"

 

Swamiji gave no answer. Pin drop silence followed for some fifteen minutes.

One could hear the leaves rustling outside.

 

Finally Swamiji said, looking at the questioner: "Buddhu [you fool], where

do you think you've been for the last three weeks?"

 

Spiritual Prescription

 

Once an eminent doctor came to meet Gurudev at his ashram with a copy of

Gurudev's Holy Gita (Bhagavad Gita) and asked for his autograph. Gurudev

wrote the following message in her copy of the book:

 

Two stanzas, three times a day, for three months.

 

To be repeated if symptoms persist.

 

Encounter Groups

 

Referring to the indiscipline use of some encounter group techniques,

Gurudev wrote in a letter to a study group leader: The mutual exploration of

the mind is a dangerous game. It is scavenging work. It is dangerous. Beware

!. The cleaning of your own mind itself is sufficient work. Don't try to

clean all "commodes." If you must, then wear a mask and a pair of thick

gloves. Teachers do it often. They have the defense equipment plenty.

If you keep on analyzing yourself, your despair will increase - and your

thoughts will unnerve you. Please stop it. Rise above them. Viveka and

Vairagya, right knowledge and dispassion, are the wings for the bird of life

in you to reach the roof gardens of liberation.

 

Recognizing Your Divinity

 

Swamiji was telling us that when the Guru first tells you that you're

Brahman and not the body, you don't quite believe him. He expanded on this

idea with a story from his own experience:

 

One day, Swamiji was walking down a path near Rishikesh. It was so hot that

not even " a decent crow" was not out at that time.

 

"Hey, Swami!" A female voice called out, but he paid no heed. He had just

recently taken sannyasa, and his station was new to him. He didn't realize

that he himself was being addressed. When he finally realized it was he the

woman was addressing, she invited him to have bhiksha.

 

"In the same way," said Swamiji, " you need time to get used to the idea

that you are in essence the pure Self - Atman, Brahman. It takes practice.

 

I SHALL BE WATCHING

 

Remember; members of the Chinmaya Mission today have an outstanding position

in the society. They are being looked up to by an expectant part of the

nation as perhaps the harbingers of a new hope into the chaotic conditions

of the society.

 

Every activity of the Mission members is being critically watched by the

others around. Think before you speak. Remember the Lord before you act. Let

not an ugly action ever defile the face of the cherished hopes of the

society. Let not even an unintended word from your mouth splash tears in the

face of the community.

 

You are all white-clothed sadhus! You are looked upon, if not in reverence,

definitely with admiration by those who are not members, for the brilliance

of your emotions and the purity of your feelings. Upon the nobility of your

thoughts and the chasteness of your actions will depend the future of your

organization, the glory of your country, the fulfillment of Vedanta on the

foreign shores.

 

Are you ready?

Will you cooperate?

Have we such heroes?

I shall be watching all through....

 

JUST A MINUTE

 

Please understand that even if we happen to be lucky enough to be at the

feet of the greatest Master, that Master can do nothing to any one of us

unless we are ready to move in His direction and become one with the Divine.

If you want a Guru, what you have to do is to stay right where you are. Each

of us is getting the right atmosphere and environment for our evolution.

Don't try to be more intelligent than universal intelligence - stay where

you are and start opening up !

 

"God never helps" - forget all about it. If you accept that there is a God

who helps some people and doesn't help others, He becomes a sultan in the

sky. God is not a tyrant! God is not a petitioner of favors! To the

extent you open up your heart, to that extent He is available. He is like

the sun - impartial. The sun is sunlight, God is God's grace and they are

not two. The sunlight is flooding the entire country but in your room there

is

no light.

 

Why? Because you choose to keep the curtains closed. If you open the

curtains then impartially the sunshine will enter.

 

Your own intellectual understanding can pull you nearer to the Truth. When

the fascinating beauty of the Infinite Beatitude comes, it naturally sucks

you unto itself.

 

 

 

Excerpts taken from "At Every Breath A Teaching' by Rudite Emir