Swami teaches... The value-based education. Advices for the spiritual transformation. Part 2

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches... 9 - 11 May 2006

 

The Value-based Education.

Advices for the Spiritual Transformation. Part 2

 

What is it that prevents human from securing enduring happiness? There are five kinds of Kleshas (sufferings) which stand in the way. Human's failure to secure happiness is due to these five factors.

 

1. Avidya (ignorance) is one kind of suffering. What is this ignorance? In the scriptures, the question is asked: "Who is a murkha (fool)?" The answer is given: "One who identifies himself with the body." The day he realises that he is not the body but the eternal Indwelling Spirit, that day he experiences true bliss.

(What is the saga of the body? In childhood, the child sports with the companions. In youth age person falls a prey to sensuous enjoyment. In middle age person is lost in the pursuit of wealth and in old age at the end the body returns to the dust).

 

2. Failing to realise how the mind is the cause of sorrow and giving a free rein to desires is Abhinivesha-Klesha (suffering due to mental infirmity).

 

3. The next kind of suffering is, Asthitha-Klesha (suffering due to unsteadiness). This suffering arises from an insatiable appetite for all kinds of things. It is the result of one being immersed in the vagaries of the senses.

 

4. Raga-Klesha refers to the suffering arising out of attachment of all kinds. All other evil tendencies in human like hatred, envy, etc., have their root in Raga (sense of attachment, passion, affection; tune). It is this attachment which ruins the entire life. There should be a limit to one's attachment to persons and things.

 

5. Dwesha-Klesha (the suffering caused by hatred) arises when a human fails to obtain what he seeks from someone. This is the result of selfishness and self-seeking.

Moha karma (attachment/desire and its consequences oriented activity), flows from delusion and leads to further delusion. Human must outgrow this tendency, and turn towards Dharma karma - moral activity; idealistic activity; activity that sublimates lower instincts and impulses and transforms every deed into an act of dedication. When this attitude is confirmed and consolidated, all karma (action) becomes Brahma karma (dedicated activity). Human merges in the Universal and loses the inhibiting individuality. That is the karma which the Atma craves for and delights in.

Even in the first stage of Moha karma person should endeavour to charge it with Prema For, Prema will correct the karma imperceptibly into the path of Dharma (virtue) and lead systematically, into the further stages of human progress towards Divinity.

If you have confidence in your Self, strength and skill, you can draw upon the inner springs of courage and raise yourselves to a higher level of joy and peace. For, confidence in yourselves arises through the Atma, which is your inner Reality.

There are two eight-syllabled axioms in the Gita which are the basic beliefs human must have Shraddhavaan labhathe jnaanam (with Faith, wisdom is won) and Samsayaathma Vinasyathi (the doubter is destroyed). They are two embankments between which the river of life can flow, safe and steady, towards the Sea of Divine Grace.

 

Of course, everyone is free to enjoy anything he/she likes. But there is one limitation. For every action, there is a corresponding reaction. You are free to do as you please subject to this rule. If you use the freedom given to you to indulge in wrongful acts, the consequences are bound to be bad. These results are not caused by God but are the fruits of your own actions. The Lord inflicts no harm on anybody.

When morality is laughed at, bhakthi is dreaded as a disease, cleverness is placed at a premium, and the individual is humiliated into an instrument to be manipulated and utilised by the State or some other collective authority, how can happiness be ensured?

 

When Indians worship ant-hills, trees, snakes, birds, lions and cows, cynics laugh, unaware of the deeper truth it reveals, namely, that God is immanent in all creation. So too, there is deeper significance for the rituals and ceremonies that have been recommended and observed in this land since ages.

One common criticism of Hinduism is that it tolerates the worship of images. But the stone is not

worshipped as stone; it is the symbol of the God that cannot be pictured in His abstract, attributeless, Nirguna (Formless) aspect. The idol is of great help in concentration, as was proved by a large number of saints.

Another Hindu belief is that food, when it is offered to God and then taken as consecrated by His

acceptance, is activated by Divine energy and is freed from all evil influences that might adhere

to it.

You must welcome all Names and Forms, though you might have a personal attachment to one Name and one Form. You have to admit that the God whom you adore is universal enough to have many Names and many Forms.

 

An educated person is aware when a lone dog gets frightened by the shadow that moves ominously in the misty moonlight, it sets up a howl, which is echoed by all the dogs in the vicinity. Not knowing the reason, all howl in unison; it is sheer canine nature. The moonlight of Divine Grace stirs some humans also to howl and others to join in blind imitation. It is their nature; they cannot tolerate the immeasurable glory that showers grace and faith, courage and consolation. Your duty is to march ahead, straight and steady, towards the Goal, without being diverted by the exhibition of self-imposed ignorance and perversity.

 

Maintain your self-respect as Dhroupadhi did. When she was about to be humiliated in the open

court, where her husbands who had staked her and lost her in dice-play to the wicked Kauravas

were present, she was so enraged that if she had only cast a look on the gang of ruffians who had

won her and dragged her thither, they would have collapsed into heaps of ash; instead, she looked at Dharmaraaja, the eldest husband who had staked her and who was sitting before her with downcast eyes. That look quietened her a little. Then, she uttered a curse, which echoed over the earth and heaven. "May the wives of these vipers who laid their hands on my hair and dragged me here, lament their widowhood, waving their loosened hair, in unconsolable grief. Until then, I shall not plait the hair which these barbarians have unloosened now." She proclaimed, in the hearing of all, her lineage, and its reputation for self-respect and her resolve not to tarnish it or demean it.

 

At any difficult situation repeat the Gayatri - the Universal prayer. There can be no fanaticism, no hatred, no rivalry, if the Gayatri is adhered to; its japa (pious repetition) will clarify the passions and promote Love..

Try your best to suppress the first appearance of anger. The body becomes warm, the lips twitch, the eyes redden - so, when you get the intimation, drink a cup of cold water, sip it slowly, close the door and lie in bed, until the seizure passes away, and you laugh at your own folly.

 

Ramakrishna Paramahamasa told an addict that he must not consume more than a given quantity of opium; he gave him a piece of chalk, to weigh every day the quantity of opium he can eat. But, he imposed a condition, whose usefulness in helping him to conquer the bad habit the addict did not realise then. It was that every time he used the weight he had to write on a slate, the Pranava (Om), before putting it on the scale of the balance. The fellow obeyed; the chalk was reduced in weight with every Om, until it was eliminated in full; the opium habit too was reduced out of existence. The Om also helped to transfer his attachment from the opium-induced tranquillity to the everlasting Bliss of God-intoxication.

 

Anyone's thoughts and actions should be related to the role he/she has to play. If there is no such

correspondence between one's role and one's conduct, the social fabric will be shaken.

Once upon a time a strolling actor, Pagati Veshagaadu, presented himself before a king in the

role of Adhi Sankaracharya. The king, welcoming the Acharya, gave him an honoured seat and enquired about his welfare. In keeping with his role, the visiting actor recited a stanza. "Birth is sorrow, old age is a curse, marriage brings sorrow. The end is the most sorrowful of all; therefore, beware! beware! There is no mother or father, friend or kinsman. Neither wealth nor home abides. Therefore, beware! beware !" He preached in this manner the truth about the ephemeral nature of human existence. At the end, before the "Sankaracharya" was leaving, the king offered him gold coins in a silver plate. He told the king: "I don't accept this." He declared that immortality can be attained only by sacrifice and not by karmas, wealth or progeny as stated in the Upanishadic stanza: "Thyage Neike Amrithathwam Aanashuh." He left the palace, informing the king that he would present himself the next day in a different role.

The next day he appeared as a well-dressed danseuse and danced before the king in his audience chamber. The dance was so superb that the entire audience was enraptured. The king offered the dancer a plateful of gold coins.. The "danseuse" said that what was offered was too meagre and asked for more. The king said: "Yesterday you refused to take the gold coins I offered. Today you say these are too meagre. What is the mystery behind these different attitudes?" The actor replied, "The behaviour is in accord with the role. Yesterday I appeared in the role of

Sankaracharya and I behaved as Sankaracharya would have done. Today I have come as a dancer and I am behaving as a dancer would."

Whatever the role one has to play at any place or time, and in any capacity, he has to act up to that role properly. This may be illustrated by a small story from Sri Krishna's life in the Dwapara Yuga.

Once a Gopika went to a well to bring two pitchers of water. After placing one pitcher on her head, she wanted someone to place the other water-filled pitcher on the first one. At that time, Krishna came there and she asked him to place the water-filled pitcher on the first one. Krishna refused to do so. Soon another Gopika came along and helped the first Gopika. The Gopika carrying the two pitchers reached her home.

Krishna followed her to the house and without even waiting to be asked, he took the top pitcher

from the Gopika's head and placed it down. She was surprised at Krishna's strange behaviour.

She asked him, "Krishna, at the well, you refused to place the pitcher on my head when I appealed to you to help me. Now you take it down from the head without my asking. What is the inner meaning of this action?" Krishna replied, "Oh Gopika! I am wont to remove the burdens borne by people and not to add to them."

This shows that the Divine operates only to reduce the burdens of the people and not to increase

them. It means that there are rules which govern the role which each one has to play in life.

 

When you are driving a car, the car is your God. When you are doing business in a market, the market is your God. According to the culture of Bharath, we first make obeisance to the work which we have to do. Before we undertake to do any work, we should regard that work as God. "The work I have to do, I regard as God and make obeisance to God in that form as Guru." - that is what the Upanishads are teaching us.

Who is the Guru? 'Gu' means darkness, or ignorance; "ru" its removal. So the Guru must know the process by which ignorance can be removed in another. Guru has a further meaning too. 'Gu' means gunaatheetha (beyond the three strands of energy of which the Cosmos is composed) and 'ru' means ruupa-rahitha (devoid of any particular form). Now, no mortal has transcended the guna (quality) and ruupa (form). God alone can be described as unaffected by these. And, God is the Guru, fight in your heart, ready to lead and enlighten.

(People will gather around you so long as you have pelf and power; you will be left severely alone, when you lose these. They are like swarms of frogs that infects a full lake, croaking flattery, but, disappearing, when the lake is dry).

 

Swami wants to cultivate not external ceremonies but, the internal sadhana, the inner vision, the spiritual longing.

 

Swami does not claim that He is a Guru; or, consider you as disciples or pupils. When Swami is All that is, who can be separately specified as Guru and who as disciple or pupil? Ignorance of the One leads one to this dichotomy. Realisation of the Truth will end this distinction. None need teach, none need learn. All are fundamentally Chith (Awareness). This is the Reality.

 

The teacher - that is the more correct appellation - should not feel superior; the pupil should not feel inferior. Both are Atma in reality. There is no high and no low. All are waves in the ocean of Bliss. When your body is healthy, charming, fully content, consider how happy you are. Now, know that the bodies of all beings are you - really speaking. And, when all those other bodies are happy, healthy, strong, and full, calculate how much Bliss you can cherish in your heart. The vision of the Viraat (the Cosmic Form), is given for those who surrender their ego and take refuge in the Lord (as Arjuna did) and who imbibe with care the Gita sung by the Lord in the silence. God is Omnipresent; He is the Inner Motivator of every particle in the Universe.

 

Students and spiritual seekers should take note of two things.

One is the health of body depends on the purity of blood.

The other is: one can always enjoy real bliss as long as the devotion is pure and unsullied. With purity of body and mind, individual is assured of the highest bliss.

 

You have to take in whatever good things you can from others, but you should always lead own ideal life. This is the lesson to be learnt from a tree, which draws its sustenance from the soil, the water, the air, and the sun, but remains true to its own nature as a tree.

When difficulties and losses overwhelm you, do not lose heart and precipitate some action but meditate calmly on how they ever came to be. Try to discover simple means of overcoming them or

avoiding them in an atmosphere of shanthi.

Make Nature your teacher. The vast Universe has many lessons to teach. Make your heart your preceptor. Esteem God as your best friend. He will never fail you, unlike most fait-weather friends in the world. Do not forget that simplicity is the sign of Divinity. Pomp, paraphernalia, jaw-breaking formulae, abracadabra, dark mysterious mumblings are tricks by which human wants to monopolise or gain God.

(Reet's compilation from, Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 7. "The mind principle," Chapter 29, "Jumping to conclusions," Chapter 37 and "Pilgrims! Do not tarry!" Chapter 43; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 12. "Many voices and the Voice," Chapter 42; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 25. "The Mansion Of Life," Chapter 6; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 30. "The educational crisis and the way out," Chapter 31).

 

Namaste - Reet