Satyopanisad

[Guest guest]

Swami! In reality, the entire human race is one and the same, its basic core

being divinity. Why then do we not react in the same way? Why do we think and

act differently?

 

Humanity may be one, but people act in different ways. No two are alike. This is

the law of nature. Thought, words and actions depend on time and circumstances.

Here is an example. A tender fruit is sour in its taste; an unripe fruit is

astringent, while a ripe fruit is sweet. All the three are the stages of the

same fruit, aren't they! It is sour, then astringent and finally sweet. How does

it happen? Why? The change of taste is due to the passage of time. No one has

filled the ripe fruit with sugar. So, I say " yetti matiyo, atti gati. yetti

sthitio, atti sampatti " (Telugu verse). As is the mati, mind, so is the gati,

destiny; as is the position, so is the sampatti, affluence.

 

In human life there are three important aspects, `doing', Body, 'thinking',

Mind, `being', Atma. Body desires, mind thinks and atma experiences. You should

have broad-mindedness. You should never be narrow-minded. When examination

results are published, why don't you feel happy that so many have passed the

examinations? If in the spirit of a large heart, you look for your result, you

will definitely find your number in the newspaper along with those of other

candidates. It is but narrow-­mindedness if you look only for your own number

unmindful of others.

 

Another example. Suppose you feel happy that in a group photo everyone has

figured nicely. If you then look at your own figure, you will be known to be

broadminded.

 

Human life is a combination of three attributes -trigunas . The three work in

perfect union as the three wings of a fan. Just as a chutney is made of

tamarind, salt and chillies well ground, so also human life has ` trigunas,'

well mixed. You also must have known pan, which Indians chew. It has three

ingredients, betel leaf, betel nut and lime, of green, brown and white colours

respectively. When the ingredients of three different colours are chewed you get

the red colour.

 

Similarly, in human life all the three gun as are intermixed. But spiritually,

basically and fundamentally, the core of the human being is sat, `being', cit,

`awareness' and ananda, `bliss'. Sat and cit together confer ananda.

 

An example. Here are two separate things, water and sugar. When you mix the two

it is neither sugar nor water, but syrup. So also water is sat, sugar is cit,

forming the syrup ananda. The triune -trigunas (three attributes) and the basic

nature of sat, cit, and ananda mixed with deha, `body,' manas `mind,' and buddhi

`intellect,' interacting with pravrtti, ` the external world' lead to anekatva

`diversity or multiplicity or plurality'