Satyopanisad

[Guest guest]

Swami! We beg you to suggest to us a spiritual path that can be followed in the

present circumstances. The situation around us seems to be dispiriting. Kindly

give us the direction?

 

It is said that man is the most precious among all the living creatures.

Therefore, it is imperative on your part to lead your lives in full realisation

of the value of life. For example, in the kitchen you make `dal' to eat for

lunch. If salt is added in excess by mistake, the dal loses its taste. It is

unfit for consumption any more. After all, the foodstuff, which is digested in

three hours or so, is kept aside if it is not tasty. Then how about a long life?

Should it not be tasty?

 

Suppose you are waiting at the bus stand to board the bus that takes you to your

office and the bus is delayed. You lose your patience. Then, imagine how you

start feeling about this delay. " What! Drivers don't have a sense of

responsibility in this country. Conductors too don't discharge their duties

properly. The Road Transport Corporation is not efficient; the Government seems

to be lenient towards them " . A bus is lifeless; it is a vehicle and a means of

transport. Man, on the other hand, is the embodiment of awareness: He is active

and intelligent. If such a man forgets his human value, and leads life

unbecoming of a human being, don't you know that society will blame him?

 

Man has 85% of divinity while an animal has only 15% latent in it. It is only a

human being who has a chance to realise and experience his divinity. Just as a

stone dropped from above falls to the ground due to the unseen gravitational

force, the unseen values and virtues should guide man. For this, however,

determination is required.

 

Another example. Here you find a machine. If it is not put to use, it gets

rusted. Don't you think that similar is the case with the human body if it is

not used properly? It is because of dust that the machine gets rusted. Is it

not? Due to this it loses its power and rusts. Then you keep the machine in a

workshop and give it rest. There you repair, test and make it fit for use. Isn't

it so? Now, what should you do? See that the dust of bad thoughts does not get

into you. Why? Your faith otherwise begins to shake and becomes unsteady. Take

your mind to the workshop of surrender to God for rest. Then, you are the best.

 

Hence, you should always preserve and maintain human values. In fact, no

spiritual path can be practiced with a sense of ego. Since all the methods

adopted by you are done with your mind, ego, or `I­ness', you couldn't progress

spiritually till now.

 

Some begin sadhana, identifying themselves with the body, aham dehosmi . This

will never take you to the true spiritual goal. Ravana, Kamsa, Bhasmasura, and

others belong to this category. Some expect progress by changing even their

faith and religion. It is not matamu, religion, which is to be changed. It is

mati, the mind that has got to be changed. You are the embodiment of love. Don't

merely be a lover and narrow down the vistas of love. To feel and experience the

same divinity in all living beings is true love.

 

One day Krishna decided to lead his cows to a nearby forest for grazing. He

asked Yasoda to permit him to do so. Then, she said, " My dear son! All along the

way to the forest, you find rocks, thorny bushes and stones. Better, you go

tomorrow. I will get your footwear ready for you " . Smiling, Krishna said,

" Mother! Do I need footwear? Why and what for? Cows don't have any footwear.

Then why footwear for me alone? " Yasoda said, " Look! They are animals. We are

human beings. We need chappals. " Krishna responded with a fitting reply,

" Mother! You mean to say cows are ordinary simple animals. Do we have as much

gratitude as they have? They eat grass and yield milk. The moment they hear any

voice they stop grazing and run towards me. Calves even stop sucking milk and

come to me. Their skin is useful after their death to make chappals " . Cows are

symbols of sacrifice and forbearance. Such noble qualities are very essential

for spiritual seekers.

 

In agriculture, the land is ploughed well, watered and manured, weeds removed,

and seeds sown. The human heart is a field. This has to be tilled and watered

with love. You have to take the plough of self-enquiry to plough the field of

the human heart. You have to raise the fence of discipline. Bad qualities are

the weeds that have to be removed totally. Then you can cultivate the crop of

bliss. It is enough if you have a small area of fertile land. Why have many

acres of barren land?

 

A small example, you see an orange fruit. It is covered with a green bitter rind

or skin. This is ego or pomp. You find hard seeds inside. They are the wicked

thoughts and bad actions. Then you find the fibrous soft pulp.This is

attachment. In order to have the sweet juice you need to remove the outer bitter

skin, the hard seeds and squeeze the soft fibrous pulp. The sweet juice is love

that you need. This is the essence, raso vai sah.

 

You need both the positive and the negative wires for the electric current to

flow. The negative may be very powerful. It is powerless without joining the

positive. The fan and bulb may be very good and of high voltage. But without

power supply they are useless. This current is positive. Divinity is positive.

The bulb and the fan are merely negative. All that pertains to the name and form

is negative. Your journey on the spiritual path will be successful if only there

is love. You have to reform yourself first. This transformation is not taking

place today.

 

You can carve a statue out of a boulder. By removing the husk, you can have the

grain. With the vegetables you bring from the market, you can cook well and make

good delicious items of food. Difficulties, pain, blame, loss, etc., will help

to refine you, improve you, nurture faith and take you to spiritual heights.

 

You have to face and resolve all problems of life and proceed in your sadhana.

Follow your own experience and develop vis'vasa, faith thereby. Can you breathe

s'vasa, on behalf of anybody? You see with your own eyes, don't you? The eyes of

the other man may be bright and beautiful. You cannot see through his eyes. Can

you close your eyes and see through the eyes of somebody else? You have to stand

on your own legs and not on anybody else's.