9. SATSANGAM by Sri Gopi Krishna

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9. SATSANGAM

(Read, Understand, Appreciate, Internalise and Assimilate to reach the

Ultimate)

 

THE SECRET OF EMOTIONAL BALANCE [The Spiritual Path]

by Sri Swami Sadananda

 

Man is an emotional being. Throughout his life he is subject to the sway

of his emotions. All the Yogas, or practices, in the spiritual line are

methods prescribed for the control of emotions. Emotions are sometimes

spoken of as being six in number, namely, Kama or desire, Krodha or

anger, Lobha or avarice, Moha or delusion of the senses creating

excessive attachment to a particular thing, Mada or selfishness, and

Matsarya or the tendency to go to any length for the purpose of

achieving one's self desire.

 

All these will be found to be the product of ignorance.

 

IGNORANCE OF REALITY

 

It is the ignorance of the truth that every human being is a part of the

ultimate Reality that makes a man love or hate or fear. When one knows

that one is immortal like the eternal Reality that one has got the

ability to comprehend everything and also to accomplish everything like

the original source from which one came, one will not have any desire or

hatred or fear. One should know that one is different from one's mind,

and one's body, which are perishable elements in the universe, which one

has brought with him into the world for a definite purpose and which

can, therefore, be thrown away when the purpose is accomplished.

Unfortunately, the ignorance of the human being is so profound that he

feels that he is no different from his own mind, and, therefore, he is

led away by the mind to all places where the mind goes.

 

The mind gathers impressions through its own servants, the Indriyas, as

they are called, or the senses of knowledge. Someone has called them the

windows of consciousness. These senses bring through the eyes, the ears,

the nose, etc., information about the universe around him, and because

of the pleasant nature of the impressions created, the mind is drawn

towards them. The dweller in the body, forgetting that he is independent

of the mind, that he is the master of the mind, and has got to control

the mind, instead of being led away by it, becomes the victim of passing

emotions. That is why he entertains desire, hatred and fear.

 

It is like the case of the owner of a motor car entrusting the task of

driving it in the hand of a drunken driver. In his drunken state the

driver may dash it against a tree. Likewise, the mind also may drag the

Jiva into evil, with serious consequences. So, then, ultimately it is

ignorance that is the cause of our wrong emotions, and as long as these

wrong emotions dominate the mind, there will be disturbance and

agitation, no tranquility or equilibrium will be possible. The solution,

therefore, for the question is that ignorance should be removed.

 

PAIRS OF OPPOSITES

 

Where did this ignorance come from and how can it be removed This

ignorance is called Avidya and also Maya. It came from the eternal

Spirit itself, and it affects all the manifestations of the Reality,

from the topmost to the lowest creation. Why did it come Creation or

manifestation means merely the bringing into existence of more than one,

or the many. When one becomes the many, each object oc creation has its

opposite. This is known as the Dvandva, or the double aspect. If we

speak of God, there is a conception of the nonexistence of God. If you

speak of light, there is darkness day has its night, and so on.

Therefore, Vidya or knowledge has Avidya as its opposite. When the Sat,

or eternally existing substance, manifested itself as the Chit or the

absolute consciousness, this manifestation also must have its opposite

which is known as Maya or Para Sakti or Avidya.

 

Thus, we see that Avidya is part of the Eternal, and cannot be easily

wiped out. It affects the entire creation. Its function is to delude,

make the unreal appear as real, and therefore, the poor mortal beings

that we are, are unable to get over it easily.

 

There are two paths for getting rid of the influence of this Avidya the

path of knowledge and the path of supreme devotion. These are called

Jnana Marga and Bhakti Marg. In the former, one uses one's intelligence

for the understanding of the Reality in the manifestation, that is, as

it is seen manifested in every object in the universe and in oneself.

Thereby man gains the knowledge that in him also there are two elements,

namely the Chit and the ignorance. When he, therefore, analyses

everything, he will recognise what is the Chit element, and what is the

Avidya or ignorance element. The intelligence element helps him to

establish a permanent contact with the ultimate Truth, and,

correspondingly, the ignorance element tends to pull him away from the

ultimate Truth and link him with perishable objects.

 

PATH OF DEVOTION

 

Self introspection of a high degree alone will enable a person to keep

himself undisturbed by the ignorance element in him, and embodied human

beings find it extremely difficult to be entirely free from the

ignorance element. To take an example, let us suppose that a highly

evolved spiritual person who knows that the body is only a perishable

thing, which must pass away some time or the other, meets a murderer who

comes with a knife to stab him will he have the tranquility and the

poise and the mental equilibrium to be absolutely unagitated by the

sight of the murderer Will not his attachment to the body show itself in

some form or other That is the real difficulty in the case of getting

over ignorance in actual practice. That is why the Bhagavad Gita says in

one of its verses that even the man of wisdom recognises after many

births that it is necessary to prostrate before the Lord and take Him as

his refuge. That is the only way in which it seems to be possible to get

over the effects of Maya or ignorance, which is fundamentally

responsible for all the trouble causing emotions.

 

Thus, we come to the path of devotion or Bhakti. This is, it appears,

the only possible way in which a mortal being like ourselves can find

solace and satisfaction, grace and happiness and tranquility as long as

we are in this world. The best that can be done is to recognise that

there is an all knowing and all merciful God, who looks after the entire

creation in the mots intelligent manner possible, and, therefore, will

look after us also because we are part of that creation.

 

.... Continued ...

A Humble Prayer to My Lord

 

Om. I wish to see YOU with these eyes, hear YOU with these ears, talk to

YOU and sing YOUR divine names and glory with this mouth, touch YOU

Lotus Feet with these hands, walk upto YOU with these legs, think of YOU

with this brain (mind / jnana / intellect), realise YOU and prostrate at

YOUR Lotus Feet with this body, in spite of all my shortcomings,

drawbacks and sins. Although I have all these deficiencies, O my

Father!, I am still YOUR child, so take me into YOUR lap my LORD. YOU

are a repository of compassion. So, kindly be considerate with this

wayward, weak-minded, below-average child. I am always YOUR's and

therefore beseech YOU to be with me always. My LORD! YOU are my Mother,

my Father and my Guru - all together. I pray to YOU to hold my hand

tightly so that I will never step on to a wrong path and cross this

directionless forest easily to reach YOU safely. "

 

....Gopi Krishna

 

Sri P Gopi Krishna

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