Swami teaches... Countless spiritual paths and countless Vedhas

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches.... (29 - 30 April 2005)

Countless Spiritual Paths and Countless Vedhas

Once upon a time, since the vices of greed and vanity developed uncontrolled

among people, the Vedha was so incensed and insulted that it took the form of a

black deer and fled into the forests. At this, it is said, the Vedhic Pandiths,

sages and scholars followed it with prayerful importunities; but, it would not

return. They had to come back, with just the skin of the deer and be content

with that remnant. These Rithwiks who officiate in this and other Vedhic

rituals wear, as you can see, pieces of the skin of the black deer, to warn

themselves against the recurrence of that catastrophe. They also take their

seats on deerskins. Every act and gesture, every accent and tone of the

Manthras has a meaning, traceable to the deep past and the experiences of the

makers of Indian culture. The skin is called 'Charma' in Sanskrit. But, worn

during the ritual it gives 'Sarma,' which means joy and enthusiasm, Aanandha

and Sukha.

 

The Vedhas are countless - 'Anantho Vai Vedhaah,' it is said. Why countless

Vedhas are necessary to lay down the path of spiritual progress? Let us take an

example. To make a child understand the meaning of one word, the parent or

teacher uses often a whole barrage of words. Explanation means elaboration,

repetition, re-emphasising. So, to make clear to humans of average intelligence

or no intelligence, it became necessary to have a number of supplementary or

complementary texts and scriptures, and since their number is immense, they

came to be known as Aanantha (countless). The aim of every Vedha, to lead

people from the animal stage through the human into the height of divine

self-realisation. The same purpose has Swami's Teaching what also is countless

that every human being with different stage of intellect, education and

development would find there guidelines for the realisation of the Self, for

whatsoever spiritual and worldly experiences.

 

Vedha means 'that which makes you know.' The cosmic principle is amenable

to the mystic formulae and sound patterns that the Manthras (sacred formulae)

of the Vedhas represent; the four fundamental urges of human (Dharma, to be

righteous; Artha, to earn and accumulate; Kaama, to desire and get the desires

fulfilled; and Moksha, to expand and get liberated from the 'here and now' into

the 'ever and everywhere') get sanctified and sustained by the Vedhic path.

The Vedhas elaborate the Sanaathana Shaashtra (the primal science of the

spirit). That science results in the removal of ignorance, the gaining of

knowledge; not the knowledge of material, worldly things, which changes and

gets superseded every few years. It endows the seeker with the knowledge that

is the key to the entire gamut of knowledge.

 

Nothing remains the same in the Nature even for a moment. The sweet dish

that is cooked now becomes stale and stinking a few hours. Other types of

changes happen in other fields, other things and beings.

Human not only expects these changes, but prepares also to face them. A

new-born babe must grow in weight, in movement of limbs, in the intake of food,

and the output of energy through activity. Or else, parents become anxious and

run from doctor to doctor.

In a normal babe, there is no desire (except the instinctive desire for

food, drink and maternal protection) to agitate it. The babe is the inheritor

of immortality; so it is unaffected by anxiety, that haunts the adult. The babe

is sheer equanimity - an unshaken as in state of Samachiththa.

In its philosophical sense Samachiththa means, a consciousness established

in the absolute Brahman, and as a consequence, above and beyond the storms and

stillness of the world of duality. This constant consciousness of the reality

is the fruit of Yajna (selfless sacrifice), the Vedhic symbol of Thyaaga

(renunciation) by Swami - "not by the intellect, nor by progeny, nor by

wealth, but, only by renunciation can immortality be attained."

Without sacrificing, human cannot live. Every individual does undertake

sacrifice but he does not know that he is sacrificing. One should have

sacrifice as the aim and one should enquire into what is permanent and what is

not permanent and enquire into what is to be given up and what is to be

accepted. Looking at things from a worldly aspect, if we do not give out the

breath that we take in we cannot live; if we do not give out the food that we

take in after digesting it we cannot live; if the blood is not constantly moved

from one place to another every instant we cannot live. That is why it is said

that what you cannot get by your knowledge and effort can be got by sacrifice.

By the Vedic idea the good and the bad are obvious, only so long as the

individual is not fully established in the truth that 'God is all'. Until that

moment, the body dominates thought, desires haunt the mind, ego rules the

intellect; so dualities lord over human. When one is sunk and saturated in

God-consciousness, i.e. Cosmic consciousness, there can be no feeling of gain

or loss, pleasure or pain. The aspirant is immersed in the word, and is

unconcerned about its meaning which is manifested in all its variety in the

objective world. The one word seems to have many meanings, as a result of

ignorance. It is the word, the Paraa-Shakthi (the supreme power) that gives

value and validity to every one of the meanings.

Another idea is called Ekaagratha (one-pointedness). Saadhakas (spiritual

aspirants) often bewail that they do not earn one-pointedness. They mean, by

that term, that they are not able to concentrate their attention long on a

flame, light, picture, or idol. The eye concentrates on something seen; the

nose, on some fragrance; the ear on some melody. But, the mind concentrates on

the one, the Brahman - which is described as the one, the eternal, the pure,

the unmoving, the all knowing witness of all. Ekaagratha, therefore, denotes

the concentration of the inner vision on Brahman (omni-self). The intellect,

the ego, the senses - these should subserve this great purpose and help in

attaining the ideal.

However, it has to be admitted that such Saadhana is now very rare; very few

fix their inner vision on the universal and the eternal. The tragedy is just

this: the human's mind has strayed away from its moorings, and is being tossed

about on the waves of doubt and diversity. A mind filled with the yearning for

Brahman will remain unaffected by the smiles and sneers of fortune. But,

human's mind has been tempted into strange paths that can lead one to fear and

frustration.

The human mind is like a razor edge. Without controlling the mind too

rigidly and without allowing it to go too freely, we should encourage it to do

good acts and we should control it when there is any tendency to participate in

bad acts. Thus by distinguishing between good and bad acts, we should be able to

guide the mind in a moderate manner between the two extremes.

Desires and attachments are as roots to the tree of life. When the roots are

cut asunder, the tree dies; the rate of decline depends upon the speed and

effectiveness of the cutting asunder. It will keep sprouting even if a single

root is intact. It will not go dry or die. Remove every single root; then the

tree perishes and becomes deadwood. The boast of people that they have

destroyed all roots is vain, if the tree is green and growing. So too, the Maya

that has possessed the Jivi will perish in proportion to the uprooting of

desire, the desire that binds.

The mind of man alone is responsible both for his bondage and for his

liberation. The difference between bondage and liberation exists only in our

thought. There is no intrinsic or basic difference between these two. We will

be able to appreciate the aspect of the divine only when we sacrifice the

aspect of the Jiva. We have to recognise that the living and visible Jiva and

the invisible divine are the same and we have to recognise the unity between

these two aspects.

The assertive ego that urges to identify himself with the body and the

instrument with which it is equipped, the motives with which those instruments

work and the reactions which those motives breed, has to be mastered by the

real self, a wave of the great ocean of Cosmic consciousness.

 

The faculty of the mind is like a strong current of electricity. It has to

be watched from a distance and not contacted or touched. Touch it, you are

reduced to ashes. So too, contact and attachment give the chance for the mind

to ruin you. Desires will not disappear for fear of the one or for favour of

the other. Desires are objective; they belong to the category of the "seen".

When the conviction that "I am the see-er only, not the seen", it is possible

to release from attachment. By this means one conquers desire. You must watch

the working of the mind, from outside it; you should not get involved in it.

That is the meaning of the discipline, called the Sthithaprajna nature, the

fourth of four principle points to control the mind explained by Krishna.

The Sadhakas in the midst of their efforts sometimes imagine God to be less

glorious than He really is. They feel that the Lord differentiates between

sinners and saints, good and bad, Jnanis and A-jnanis. The Lord does not

separate people thus. This truth is known to the Jnani. Others are unaware of

this. They suffer under the false belief that the Lord is somewhere far far

away from them.

The Jnani is free from Maya, he is unaffected by the Gunas: Rajas, Thamas or

even Sathwa. The Jijnaasu, the seeker of knowledge, however, is different. He

uses the time for unbroken contemplation of the divine, in pious deeds and holy

thoughts. And the others gather elevating experience and ruminate over the real

and the unreal and transform themselves into Jijnasus, seekers of knowledge.

Later, they become Jnanis. The goal is reached thus, stage by stage. You cannot

attain the goal in one leap. The goal is attained by all; only the process and

the pace are different.

The Karma philosophy is something which is very sacred. Between the worldly

thought and spiritual aspect exists the connection; the worldly aspect and the

spiritual aspect cannot contradict each other.

The relationship between the Jiva, Eswara and Prakrithi is an inseparable one.

Without cotton, we cannot have yarn and without yarn, we cannot have the cloth.

For a piece of cloth to take the shape which it has, the basic material is the

thread. While the cloth has for its basis the thread, the thread itself has for

its basis the cotton. Cotton, thread and cloth are three names for three

different forms but what is contained in all the three is the same and that is

cotton. Prakrithi or nature is like the cloth in this analogy. It is the

conglomeration of our desires that takes the form of nature. These desires

emanate from our heart. We do not see the desires around us. We are able to see

in external appearances what is latent in our hearts in the form of desires.

The Karma or activity is the indicator of inner character. Observing one's

actions, their motives, their consequences and the extent of one's involvement,

it is possible to declare one as a Pashu (beast) or Pashupathi (the Lord of

individual souls), that is to say as divine as God Himself.

The Krathu is also a Karma, albeit a Vedhic Karma, dedicated to the

acquisition of the welfare of the world. All Karma done to ensure the welfare

of others, without, any aspiration for personal benefit, is good Karma which

the Gods would appreciate as a Krathu.

 

Humans heart is like a camera lens. The object on which we concentrate our

attention gets imprinted on the mind by the lens of the heart. Compassion

towards all creatures is the greatest virtue, wilful injury to any creature is

the worst vice. You do not have joy and peace now, mainly because, your vision

is warped and wobbling. Gandhi used to go round the country praying "Sabko

sanmathi dhe Bhagavaan" - "O Lord, give every one, give all, goodness of mind."

 

 

When a human stands on the bank of a sheet of water, the shadow appears in

the water. People say it is he, but Vedhaantha (Vedhic philosophy) says, 'he is

not it.' When the shadow is beaten with a stick, he is not hurt; so, it is not

he; but, when some one says it is misshapen, ugly, etc., he gets angry! So, he

is it. The shadow is both he and not-he. It is neither true nor false, it is

real-unreal, it is Mithya (only mythical).

To the same truth has reached the modern science. Quantum mechanics views

the entire Universe as a quantum superposition of many states which do not

measurably interact on macroscopic scales. It predicts at least three types of

phenomena that classical mechanics and classical electrodynamics cannot account

for: quantization, quantum entanglement and wave-particle duality. When the

particle is moving through the slits, its behavior appears to be described by a

non-localized wave function which is travelling through both slits at the same

time. Yet when the particle is observed it is never a diffuse non-localized

wave packet, but appears to be a single point particle. So by modern physics

the particle too 'he is not it'. The particle by observation is both he and not

he, neither true nor false.... (Reet's compilation from,

Sathya Sai Baba. Geetha Vahini, Chapters V, XIII and XXV;

The Divine Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba. "Brahman and Bharat as the Theme of the

Discourses that will follow." Summer Course in Spirituality and Indian Culture.

May/June 1974, Brindavan;

The Divine Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba. "The Vedhic Rite," 10 October 1974,

Prashanthi Nilayam;The Divine Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba. "Diamonds In The

Dust," 25 October 1974, Prashanthi Nilayam).

 

 

Namaste - Reet