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A Practical
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Aranyakaandda 211
Chaupaayi: Maatu mrityu pitaa samana-samaanaa: sudhaa
ho-yi visha sunu Hari-jaanaa:: 211.
Kaakabhushunddi said to Garurha, "If a man is against Shree Raama,
his mother becomes death, his father the god of death and elixir
becomes poison for him. His friend hurts him as if he is a hundred
enemies. The sacred river Gangaa becomes Indra's son Jaiyanta
could get no refuge after hurting Seetaa. (See (211) in the
Story) Kaakabhushunddi gives here the moral of being against Shree
Raama. 211A
Chaupaayi: Raghupati bimukha jatana kara koree: kavana
saka-yi bhava-bandhana chhoree:: B/200 Even by
myriad methods, one averse to Shree Raama cannot be free from the
bondage of rebirth. 211B
Chaupaayi: Lokahu bayda-bidita kabi kahaheen:
Raama-bimukha thalu naraka na lahaheen:: A/252 It is
well known in the Vedas, in the three worlds, the heavens, earth and
the nether lands, and declared by the learned, that one averse to
Shree Raama finds no place even in hell. Unlike
other religions, Sanaatana Dharma does not believe in a recorded law of
God to go against it because we know so little about God and His secret
or law. (See 147-148) Those
averse to
or against Him did not therefore
annoy Shree Raama. (See 184, 347) He is
unconcerned with their virtues
and vices. (See 34)
In
Sanaatana Dharma, we believe God's minimum nature as Satchidaananda
and Praymaswaroopa. In our reality one with God, we too have
the same nature to give bliss to all through service of love. So, going
against God means acting against our underlying godly nature. The
consequences of this contrary activity can be horrendous, which we see
as Shree Raama's anger against us. (See 376-385
and
Geetaa 16:6-19) On
the contrary, we can get relief from Him. (See 182, 325) It is
therefore foolish for us to deny God, act contrarily and suffer. (See 30) A
non-believer is not always against God. (See 70)
Sometimes we
all
forget God and slip and mistakenly take our present good fortune as by
our effort and ours for granted and forever. So, we act contrary to our
innate benevolent nature. Without warning, we exhaust our fortune for
misfortune to follow. (See 47) The
advice for
believers and
non-believers both is to secure continuance of our good fortune by
faith in and selfless benevolence towards all. This invites God's grace
for both. (See 240 [1-6,
9, 10, 21], 259,
267 [7])
Believers recognize
it; non-believers do not. 212
Chhanda: Namaami bhaktavatsalam
kripaalu-seela-komalam: 212. Atri
offered this hymn to Shree Raama. "O Lord! You love your devotees
and are kind and soft-hearted. I do obeisance to you. I worship your
lotus feet. This worship secures your grace that accommodates in your
abode those who are free from desires. You are inimitably handsome in
your dark complexion. To churn the ocean of rebirth, you are the Our impure
mind is the cause of and is therefore treated as the ocean of rebirth.
It is prayed that God churn that ocean to purify it and liberate us
from rebirth. (See 318)
212A
Chhanda:
Pralamba-baahu-vikramam Prabho:
pramay-a-vaibhavam: Atri
continued, "O Lord! Your long arms have limitless power and reach
to protect and nourish your devotees. Your glory is beyond proof.
Armed with a bow and arrows, You are the Lord God of the three worlds,
the heaven, earth and the nether lands. You are the jewel of the Sun
god's dynasty. You break Shiva's bow. You give bliss to sages and men
of divine vision and destroy demons." 212B
Chhanda:
Manoja-bairi-vanditam ajaadi-dayva-sayvitam: Atri
continued, "O Lord! Shiva, who is Kaamadayva's enemy, worships You.
Brahmaa and other gods serve You. You are sacred, the personification
of Knowledge and the destroyer of faults. You are Lakshmee's consort
and Lord. You are the mine of bliss and the objective of the holy. I do
my obeisance to You. Accompanied by Lakshmana and Seetaa, the primal
energy, I worship you, Shree Raama. Shachee's spouse Indra loves you.
You are his younger brother." 212C
Chhanda: Tvadanghrimoola yay naraa bhajanti
heenamatsaraah: Atri
continued, "O Lord! Those who cure themselves of their envy and then
remember you do not drown in the waves of the ocean of rebirth.
Envy continuously hides our happiness otherwise available to us. So, it
necessitates our rebirth to enjoy happiness. The waves are arguments
prompted by our six passions to continue our mayaic ignorance. (See 66, 322) Some
advanced souls stay away from society and blissfully pray
to You for salvation. Keeping away from the pleasures of the senses
they attain to their objective bliss and salvation." 212D
Chhanda: Tvamaykamadbhutam
Prabhum nireehameeshwaram vibhum: Atri
continued, "O Lord! You are the one without a second, the Lord of
all and without any desire. You are glorious, all powerful, the guru of
the world, the Absolute, beyond the three gunas and
self-sufficient. You love your devotees' love for you. Those engrossed
in worldly desires cannot reach you. You are the legendary
wish-fulfilling tree for Your devotees. You are even-minded for my
daily worship through service. I always remember you." 212E
Chhanda:
Anoopa-roopa-bhoopatim nato: hamurvijaapatim: Atri
continued, "O Lord! Even though unique, You have appeared presently
in the form of a king. O Seetaa's Lord and King, Shree Raama! I do my
obeisance to You. Be pleased with me and grant me devotion to your
lotus feet. Those who will read this hymn with reverential faith will
receive your devotion and undoubtedly reach your abode without any
doubt." 213
Chaupaayi: Anasooya kay pada gahi Seetaa: milee
bahori suseela bineetaa:: 213. After
touching, out of respect, the feet of Atri's wife Anasooyaa, Seetaa sat
down by her side. Softly and sweetly Anasooyaa explained to Seetaa the
duty of a wife towards her husband. Anasooyaa
foresaw Seetaa's hardships. To strengthen Seetaa's resolve to face
them, Anasooyaa talked about a married woman's duties. Today's wisdom
is: never give advice unless asked. The wise don't need it and fools
don't heed it. Secondly, it is mind your own business and do not try to
run another's life. Unfortunately, this wisdom often arises from
selfishness, self-centredness, unconcern, lack of compassion,
reluctance to be rejected or aversion to chip in our bit where we are
concerned, as parents with their children or as friends or for those
who wish us well. This is an asocial attitude based on the philosophy
of 'we' and 'they.' This is contrary to jnaana. (See 240 [1-6,
9, 10, 21]) Anasooyaa's
advice on her own to Seetaa shows that it is our godly duty to care for
those who trust us or we love. So, we should give unsolicited advice in
what appears to us but not to them, their difficulty, danger, or wrong
path. We should give advice after prayer to God for giving us wisdom,
proper thought, with consideration for other's feelings and in a sweet
manner. Their rejection of our advice is no excuse for our giving up
this helpful conduct towards them or others. (See 259) We
should
not
insist upon our advice. This insistence may arise from our pride that
we know better and from our forgetting that God takes care of them
without us. (See 96) (Anasooyaa's
Discourse to Seetaa Begins) 214
Chaupaayi: Maatu-pitaa-bhraataa-hita-kaaree:
mitaprada sabu sunu raajakumaaree:: 214.
Anasooyaa continued, "O Princess! The mother, father and the
brother are benefactors but give only limited happiness. The husband
gives unlimited happiness. The wife who does not serve her husband is a
grave sinner." 215
Chaupaayi: Dheeraju dharama mitra aru naaree:
aapadakaala parakhiyahi chaaree:: 215.
Anasooyaa continued, "A man's fortitude, religion, friend and wife
are each tested in a crisis. An old, a foolish, a chronically ill, a
very poor, a blind, a deaf, a bad tempered man or a wretch..." (A
proverb) 216
Chaupaayi: Aisayhu pati kara ki-yay apamaanaa: naari
paava jamapura dukha naanaa:: 216.
Anasooyaa continued, "... if the wife of any such husband does not
respect him, she undergoes torments in hell. A wife has only one dharma,
resolve and discipline. It is to serve and love her husband with her
body, mind and speech." A woman has
not to marry a man with the above faults. Beyond their control, a fault
can develop afterwards in either spouse as a consequence of the karma
for the other to bear. That is the way we receive our deserts through
the spouse. Some couples do not realize that they can change their
adverse fate, which includes their spouse and their faults, through
prayer and selflessness, which invoke God's grace for their relief.
They ruin their happiness. Adverse situations develop when they give up
selflessness and an open heart for each other and for all. (See 74) Each spouse
has to follow his or her dharma with faith in the law of karma
for continuous relief from predicaments because they are all
self-earned. (See 368)
Faults in spouses are curable among others by
two remedies. (See 50)
The first is a conduct based upon patience,
forgiveness and love for the other and all and the second, upon
surrender to God for relief. A homely wife becomes the beloved of all,
for example, through her guileless magnanimity, warmth of affection
towards, and selfless service of family, its relations, friends and
others around it. (See 160) An
indigent,
chronically ill or bad
tempered husband, can similarly become healthy, wealthy and sweet
through prayer and magnanimity towards the spouse and through charity
by both; charity of the heart and conduct if not of the means if they
are not available. We should not wait for better times for means.
Waiting postpones better times. Our doing the possible by a little
sacrifice at present with gratitude to God advances our better times.
Couples also earn God's grace from the unconscious good feelings of
their beneficiaries. The power
of uncontrolled passions makes each spouse calculate what each got out
of the marriage and not what each gave to it. The selfishness the
children learn from this exemplary perverse parental conduct ruins
future generations and makes society sick. Lust, greed, ego and envy
destroy family happiness. For example, over concentration upon career,
wealth, one up man-ship, name or fame prevents our giving ourselves to
and not merely providing for the family. Instead of pulling together in
selflessness or true love, many couples escape into divorce, which
persists as an unpleasant memory for life for both. Excess of
almost all the six passions and expectations they cause generally lead
to discord and frustration in married life. A little awareness of this
truth sets each spouse to curb excess and to make the most of the best
each earned in the person of the spouse. By magnani-mous conduct with
faith and surrender to God and accepting their situation as God's gift,
many couples make life smooth to regain happiness. God's response to
surrender changes the perspective of each spouse. The husband now feels
that whatever happiness he gets is the best gift the wife is capable of
and accepts it appreciatively without measuring its degree. The wife
also responds in like manner. Each tries to do better for the other
without expectation of a response. Expectations tend to rise and so
frustration increases. Acceptance with gratitude to God gives happiness
of contentment and satisfaction to both as the best each earned.
Acceptance all round makes their mutual relations harmonious as also
with siblings, in-laws, their families and their friends. 217
Chaupaayi: Jaga patibrataa chaari bidhi ahaheen:
bayda puraana santa saba kahaheen:: 217.
Anasooyaa continued, "The Vedas, the Puranas and spiritually
advanced sages say that there are four kinds of faithful wives. The
highest is unshakably convinced that no other man except her husband
exists in the world or even in her dreams." It is
foolish to be envious because none is faultless. To look for only the
good in the partner and ignore faults as temporary aberrations, which
are mostly curable by patience and prayers of the spouse, secures the
best view of the partner mentioned in the instant couplets. (See 389)
Mother's love for her baby is true love, which gives and not grabs.
Similar selfless love improves the partner by self-improvement,
selflessness, and example. Spouses striving for this love experience
unusual harmony in life and a sweet memory to sustain the survivor as a
single. 218
Chaupaayi: Madhyama parapati daykha-yi kaisay:
bhraataa pitaa putra nija jaisay:: 218.
Anasooyaa continued, "The one in the middle,
looks at another's husband as her father if older than she is,
brother if of her age, and son if younger. The wife who
has respect for dharma and for her family reputation and
therefore saves herself from liaison is low. The Vedas say this." The
attitude of the one in the middle rests upon Brahmacharya. (See
272 [10-11,
14-16], 414
[16-17])
The next is a wife harbouring lascivious
desires without taking a step for their fulfilment for fear of sin. She
does not undergo punishment. (See 428)
People were
subject to lust even in Shree Raama's age. Naarada is an example. (See 77, 299) A
minimum of
senses and passions is essential for the survival
of living beings in the creation. That is why we all have them. Animals
too have some passions. It seems
hardly necessary to verify every precept mentioned by Tulaseedaasa as
being in the Vedas because these precepts are obviously as perennial as
the Vedas. A precept that meets the test of Satchidaananda and praymasaroopa
is perennial, that is, oneness of all in reality, awareness, bliss and
love. 219
Chaupaayi: Binu avasara bha-ya tayn raha
jo-yee: jaanahu adhama naari jaga so-yee:: 219 Anasooyaa continued, "The wife who,
lacking an opportunity or through fear, escapes from liaison is mean
and wicked. The wife who cheats her husband to satisfy her carnal
desires with another married man, remains in a terrible hell for
hundreds of kalpas." (See 79) Here the
first woman only planned liaison in her mind but did not take any step
for its execution. She was guilty in her mind only. The second put her
intent into effect and earned adverse consequences. (See 428)
220
Chaupaayi: Chhana sukha laagi janama sata kottee:
dukha na samujha tayhi sama ko khottee:: 220.
Anasooyaa continued, "For a moment's pleasure she would suffer
rebirth on the earth in hundreds of thousands of lives. Such a foolish
wife is the worst of her kind. The wife who is faithful attains
salvation without labour." The words
'without labour' refer to the hardships of the four paths and of other
disciplines for a man for reaching God. (See 242) Why
are so
many paths
available for a man and only one path of chastity for a woman? Chastity
is essential for both man and woman as a mark of truthfulness; paths
are secondary. Passions are equally strong in both with varying
capacity to control them. The reality of both is one in God. Truly
speaking each path and discipline is burdensome for man. Woman needs
only security and chaste love for her role and fulfilment. In crises,
in the burden of rearing children and in the service of in-laws in a
new home, her security lies in remembering and relying upon God. She
serves all through her husband by ensuring that her conduct towards any
does not hurt her husband’s feelings.
In this manner, she effortlessly follows the highest path of bhakti
with selfless karma. (Geetaa 8:7, 12:10-12) In addition, she can take
any other path, which can fit well into her duties to her family. (See 24) A
faithful wife exists not for herself but only as a devotee of her
husband who is her only God. (See 51)
In the same way as a soldier she obeys orders, and as the commanding
officer, her husband bears the consequences. With his wife's and his
own burdens, the husband's labour for his salvation is double. Anasooyaa's
discourse highlights woman's great responsibility and therefore the
respect women command in Sanaatana Dharma or nascent Hinduism. (See 334) They
preserve the culture of the country with great tenacity and
faith. Their misery and tears destroy society and culture both. For
culture, men provide women security and chaste love. For the
destruction of culture, men slip from that duty when they are
overwhelmed by the power of their passions. For both situations men are
mainly responsible. Raavana typifies destructive husbands. A single
spouse fits into Sanaatana beliefs. If a Hindu has no son,
custom permits him more wives. A son however cannot secure for his
father his continual bliss and salvation in life. If he could, it would
negate the law of karma. If the father has earned it, only then the son
can provide only physical comfort and ephemeral happiness. In the Mahaabhaarata,
Bheeshma Pitaamah did not marry and Dhritaraashttra, the father of a
hundred sons, had none left to serve him in his old age and perform his
funeral rites. 221
Chaupaayi: Pati pratikoola janama janha jaa-yee: bidhavaa ho-yi
paa-yee tarunaa-yee:: Ark5 221 Anasooyaa continued "A wife not in
harmony with her husband becomes a young widow in her next life."
(See 222)
222
Soratthaa: Sahaja apaavani naari, pati sayvata subha
gati laha-yi: 222.
Anasooyaa continued, "A naturally impure woman attains noble heights
by serving her husband. Even today Tulasee is dear to Vishnu. The Vedas
praise Tulasee." The story
of the plant Tulasee (Ocimum sanctum) is this. Vrindaa's
devotion to her demon husband Jalandhara gave him so much power that he
conquered all gods. Vishnu of the Indian trinity of gods,
deceived Vrindaa into sinning. Thereupon Shiva conquered Jalandhara. On
discovering this, Vrindaa put a curse upon Vishnu to become a piece of
rock. Vishnu accepted it and gave her a boon to become the plant called
Tulasee. Vishnu reverentially touched Tulasee
plant with his head. Tulasee plant symbolizes an ideal wife.
Women worship it and put its leaves on the top of a piece of ammonite
or of an oval rock or Shaalagraama as a symbol of Vishnu. The
story illustrates the concept that we can never annoy God even by our
anger with Him or by whatever we do and therefore the concept of the
wrath of God is alien to Sanaatana Dharma. (See 184) The
Author
is
unable to explain Vishnu's conduct in the story. That is why we are
advised to keep away from all stories about gods in Hinduism but
remember their lesson. The lesson
from the story is that a chaste and faithful wife by her devotion to
her husband as her God gives immense power to her husband. This
selfless living makes her a devotee of God through her husband for
twenty four hours. By giving her security and chaste love, the husband
evokes her devotion to secure all that her husband and family need by
God's grace. (See 182, 287)
Marriage, family and mutual advancement
made society advance to make man powerful over nature. If a family had
no role in it, family would not have survived. Strength of the family
comes from both spouses becoming one as a unit. That is possible only
through chaste love. As an animal, man being physically strong can
throw away or snatch a woman as an inferior entity or a commodity. A
woman cannot do it. Treating a woman as inferior or a commodity makes
the family as a strong unit disappear and creates chaos. It stops the
advance of man to humanness and then to divinity which is the purpose
of a human body with a heart and mind. So security for woman and
respect for her secured man power over environment. It is therefore
wisdom to avail of the spouse's power for success by a little sacrifice
on the husband’s part. If a woman was necessary only for continuance of
the race and not for respect, man would still be an animal. A chaste
wife but not in harmony with her husband gets early widowhood in her
next life. A healthy difference of opinion occasionally but without ego
and overnight anger is not lack of harmony. By living in divinity, the
widow can attain salvation in her life. (See 390) Shree
Raama
does not
let harm come even to a sinner. Accordingly, a human body for her
chastity and widowhood for discord are possibilities. We do not know
the working of the law of karma. A woman's
monthly course and attachment to her husband and children are a woman's
physical and mental impurities, respectively. The first enables her to
give birth to babies and nourish them. She moulds her attachment into
selfless love and service of her husband, which is her dharma
for her strength. Her soul is pure. (See 124, 126, 360) Some
spiritually advanced women discovered some of the important
philosophical concepts in the Vedas. 223
Soratthaa: Sunu Seetaa tava naama, sumiri naari
patibrata karahin 223.
Anasooyaa continued, "O Seetaa, listen! Women will follow their
duties by remembering your name. You love Shree Raama as your life.
What I have said is all for the benefit of the world." Seetaa was happy
to listen to the discourse. Out of respect, she touched Anasooyaa's
feet with her head." By hearing
from Anasooyaa the qualities, which she personified, Seetaa exhibited
respect to age and knowledge. This courtesy facilitates communication
and happy relationship between generations even today. Tulaseedaasa
emphasizes the need for this communication. (See 174-175, 235)
Based upon
the experience of the senior generation in the instant value of some
old traditional wisdom, its communication of experience can generally
carry conviction today only in the purposeful, receptive and humbly
inquisitive junior generation. Since values cannot be proved by pure
logic and tangible proof, which rule many junior minds today, these
minds find conviction by precept difficult. Values are the sum of
experience of life, its objective, its problems and their solutions
tested over time. Traditions provide the direction for living. Both
rest on experience and faith, which cannot be created or negated by
logic. Understanding this wisdom, juniors can learn the worth of some
traditional values through others' experience only by living by the
lessons to find their worth. By alertness to the lesson of others’
experience they find the lesson repeated in their life. Juniors can
also learn by understanding some of the eternal truths such as the law
of karma. Values are often a yardstick for righteousness, that is,
truth, justice and compassion. Values and traditions become the
foundation for building upon, or formulae to experiment with new ideas
for a fulfilling life. Traditional values do not restrain our freedom
of thought and the pursuit of the spirit through science, literature,
art and faith. Without testing traditions by experience, if, relying on
pure reason, we cut ourselves off from some, we may become addicted to
disbelieving worthwhile experiences even of the selfless and of those
whom many rightly respect. We may be left with no roots anywhere or
rudderless on our own. Everybody cannot define his problems and find
their solutions. Each may need to search for an objective and even the
purpose of his freedom from tradition. Often he finds life too short to
test his own findings to profit from them. Cut off from its firm
moorings, society drifts into confusion of norms, which leads to
anxiety, fear and sickness. It is easy to reject and be free from the
old as such without testing it, but it is difficult to substitute all
its benefit in one life. This confusion of norms is perceptible in many
societies today, which are struggling to restore morals and ethics and
where discussion on values is continuing. They need to restore
spirituality to receive both. (See 240)
The
histories of 224
Dohaa: Kali-mala-samana damana dukha, Raama-sujasa
sukhamoola: 224.
Tulaseedaasa says, "The praise of Shree Raama's glory destroys all
sins and suffering of the present age, Kaliyuga, and is the
source of happiness. Shree Raama leans towards those who reverentially
listen to His glory." The
expression 'leans towards' means that God loves us and seeks occasions
to bestow His love on us. (See 262) His
love
makes His devotee's
situation opposite of that described in 211. The
expression
‘leans
towards' does not mean God moves to our side so that we can say if God
be with us, who can be against us? This is pride in the concept of ‘we’
and ‘they.’ All of us are His. It is wisdom to be on His side by
living in our divine Satchidaananda and praymaswaroopa
nature of virtue and compassion. By being on His side we become one
with all. We cease to be separated from others by our identity as if
God has empowered it. By always remembering Him, we should link
ourselves to Him. (See 42 [3,
6-13], 164,
259,
444)
225
Soratthaa: Katthina kaala malakosa, dharama na jnaana
na jaaga japa: 225.
Tulaseedaasa continues, "The present age, Kaliyuga, is
difficult and full of evil. In this age there is neither dharma,
the path of Knowledge, of sacrificial rites nor of repetition of sacred
incantations or telling one's beads. (See 427) The wise
believe in remembering Shree Raama and trust nothing else." Dharma here refers to following
injunctions and doing deeds prescribed in the Karmakaandda
section of the Vedas. In his Book, Tulaseedaasa recommends only somehow
to remember God and service based on love of all as one with us. (See 17, 386 and
Geetaa
6:47, 8:7-8) 'Nothing else' in the couplet alludes
to fruitless beliefs and practices. (See 270)
226
Chaupaayi: Naatha sakala saadhana main heenaa: keenhi kripaa
jaani jana deenaa:: 226.
Sharabhanga said to Shree Raama, "By no means do I deserve your
grace. O Lord, you are kind because I am wretched. I dedicated to you,
my Lord, Shree Raama, all the yogas, sacrificial rites, repetition of
God's name that I did, austerities I observed and fasts I undertook.
You gave me devotion to you in lieu of that. I pray that in your
beautiful human form full of attributes, with your complexion of dark
blue water-laden clouds, and along with Seetaa and Lakshmana, you
always reside in my heart." Sharabhanga did not merge in God because he
first secured devotion to God as His servant separate from Him as his
Master. (See 358 and
Geetaa 18:54) Sharabhanga
attained freedom from rebirth in life through the path of knowledge. On
hearing that Shree Raama would be coming to the forest, Sharabhanga
held on to his body by means of a desire to see Shree Raama. (See 148 and
Geetaa 5:26)
Ordinarily, soon after attaining jnaana,
which
frees man of all attachments and desires and from rebirth, the soul
leaves the body in twenty-one days. (RK 32) When Sharabhanga saw Shree
Raama, maya left him. (See 269)
Sharabhanga took the same course of seeking devotion, which Shree
Krishna advised in the Geetaa for a jnaanee. Sharabhanga
dedicated all his life's effort to Shree Raama to receive devotion in
lieu. (See 360
and
Geetaa Later,
Sharabhanga requested Shree Raama to stay by his side till he immolated
his body. Self-immolation after attaining jnaana or
Self-realization is not suicide. It is casting aside by us of our body,
which has served its ultimate purpose for us. Any attainment less than
Self-realization means the body's business may still be unfinished. It
is believed that on committing suicide one sometimes becomes an evil
spirit. A man free
from rebirth in life can give up his body after he exhausts the
consequences of his past deeds, or praarabdha. Sometimes God
keeps him in the world as a guru. Sometimes the man can tell in advance
when he would give up his body. The dead body cannot escape
disintegration indefinitely. The sages'
austerity misleads some to think that Sanaatana Dharma prescribes
similar austerity for all. No outside authority imposed austerity upon
sages. They chose to put a ceiling upon their desires to concentrate on
prayers for the good of humanity. (See 259)
Sanaatana
Dharma believes
in a fulfilling life by making us treat all activity as duty to free it
from anxiety for a specific fruit and so make duty a joy and not an
austerity or a drudgery or a source of
anxiety and fear. (See 265 [5])
The
bliss of a selfless life to satiety
is the prerequisite for liberation. Austerity by our choice does not
deprive us of our happiness and joy. It merely changes their source
from our outside to the inside of our mind. There are even today great
sages in the The wonder
of the Indian heritage of the joy of living is in its festivals, dance,
drama, music, poetry, literature, art and crafts. Sanaatana Dharma has
no day for communal repentance or mourning. All activity has an
under-current of dharma to secure bliss and then share it to
increase it. For example in rich olden days, in a marriage, a barber, a
garbage man, leather worker, labourer, Brahmin and one from other
callings in the village used to share traditionally the food with, or
for guests. This was apart from other gifts to them. The very rich fed
the entire village. Only the sophisticated British exploitation of just
over a century made A
question arises here. Shree Raama is an Incarnation of Brahman. Why
does His devotee want Seetaa and Lakshmana also to be with Shree Raama
for being established in the devotee's heart? Seetaa is
Shree Raama's maya shakti inseparable from Him. As maya, Seetaa
has a dual role. Seetaa also intercedes for us. She also personifies
devotion to Him. Lakshmana personifies devotion, selfless service and
detachment or vairaagya. The triad of Knowledge, devotion and
detachment as Shree Raama, Seetaa and Lakshmana, respectively, secures
us continuing bliss and God. (See 210) The
three
royal scions always
remained together during Shree Raama's role as an Incarnation of God.
Seeta’s abduction by Raavana and separation from Shree Raama was only
in the last small fragment of the exile of 14 years. By then Shree
Raama had finished the task of teaching dharma to sages for its
propagation by them and their succeeding generations. Together Shree
Raama, Seetaa and Lakshmana also personify that family affection which
is an ideal for every family to worship and emulate. Hanumaan is Shree
Raama's greatest devotee and detached from everything else as Lakshmana
was. Hanumaan never leaves his master Shree Raama and is irresistibly
present to listen to his praise or glory or prayers to him. Shree Raama
loves those who serve His devotees and loves to stay in their hearts.
(See 144,
150-168,
210)
So, Shree
Raama is worshipped along with His
greatest devotees. For these reasons and there may be others, a devotee
seeks the four together to stay in his heart. In the
forest later on, when Shree Raama came across a heap of bones of sages
gobbled up by demons, tears rolled down his cheeks. He vowed to destroy
all demons from the earth to free the sages from their fear and the
earth from its burden of the wicked. (For Shree Raama's Devotee)
227
Chaupaayi: Moray ji-ya bharosa drirhha naaheen: bhagati birati na
jnaana mana maaheen:: 227.
Suteekshna said to himself, "I do not have faith that Shree
Raama would oblige me with his vision. That is because I have no
devotion to him, or detachment from the world or Knowledge. I
have not been in holy company, or observed yoga, or repeated Shree
Raama's name, or performed yajna or sacrificial rites. Nor
do I have love for his lotus feet. He, however, loves those who have
none to turn for help." Suteekshna
was without any qualifications to deserve access to Him, yet he was
dear to God. It shows that God is for all as long as we yearn for Him
in our own way and wholly rely upon Him for our succour. Yoga is
explained in 135.
Yajna is every man's destiny. It is any
activity needing sacrifice and renunciation for others' sake. Bringing
up children is yajna. Yajna as pure duty is the
foundation for the entire social structure. Yajna is also
living in constant awareness of, and dedication of all our acts to God.
Dedication is the sacrifice of self-interest or renunciation. It
destroys egotism. There are
five great yajnas or pancha mahaayajnas prescribed for
every householder to take him towards God, without the need for priests
and elaborate ceremonials. 1. Yajna for God, or dedication of
all thoughts, words and deeds for the service of God 2. Yajna
for manes, offering to the poor of food and water consecrated with
prayers for peace for deceased parents and grandparents 3. Yajna
for sages and spiritual lore, by the study of scriptures to evoke the
desire for liberation 4. Yajna for mankind, through hospitality
and tending of the sick and the poor 5. Yajna for all living
and non-living beings, by caring for animals and lower forms of life
and minimizing the misuse of the munificence of the earth. Another yajna
is to pour our egoistic desires and passions and bad qualities in the
fire of dedication and devotion to God. This is for being alert to and
thereby being free from all fear of incorrect karma and of the impact
upon us of their consequences and of rebirth. (See Geetaa 9:30) All yajnas
conclude with the prayer 'May all the world
have happiness and peace.' All disciplines for yajna are
voluntary and for the annihilation of our active 'I.’ As any true
devotee, Suteekshna realized that his devotion to Shree Raama was not
sufficient to secure for Suteekshna His vision. (See 165) A
devotee
relies wholly upon Him. (See 325, 472) When
God
sees us as His devotee,
we are, but not by our thinking. When a devotee loses his way in the
love of God as Suteekshna did, God reaches him. Shree Raama also
said, 227A
Chaupaayi: Tinha tayn puni mohi priya nija daasaa: jayhi gati
mori na doosari aasaa:: Ak86 "Even more
than those with Knowledge and its experience in daily life, I love
those who treat themselves as my slaves. They have none to look to for
help, except me." (See 163, 415) A
devotee
who has no one to look
for help wholly relies upon God. If many did not experience that God
protected those who surrendered to Him, faith in God would have ceased
and no religion would have survived. Besides being the succour for the
helpless among the living and non-living, the greatness of God is
in 227B
Chaupaayi: Jaasu patita-paavana bara-baanaa: gaavahin
kabi sruti santa puraanaa:: Uk130 He Whose
great assurance is to uplift the fallen and the wretched, Whose habit
is known to the Vedas, the Puranas, the wise and the spiritually
advanced persons, that is Shree Raama. On
their prayer, He redeems the fallen regardless of the reason for their
fall, be it sin, blasphemy, apostasy or non-belief. In a
strange way, Suteekshna expresses the feelings of those good people who
accept their adverse situations as natural ups and downs of life. They
do not consciously harbour any aversion or malice toward anyone who may
have contributed to it. They always think well of all and not ill of
any. They are helpful to those who approach them. They try to live
humbly a life of goodness without the thought of God occurring to them
except occasionally. If we were to ask them if they ever pray or do
some service of God in any form, they would wonder if they do any. Such
good people as Suteekshna, unknown to them, are karmayogis, the
beloved of God. (See 267)
Suteekshna
also lists the do's for a devotee.
One, who has not observed these do's has
not to lose heart as Suteekshna's experience shows. We should always
remind ourselves that if we live in virtue and surrender ourselves to
Him, whether we are a devotee or forgetful of Him, God is our succour.
(See 325 and
Geetaa 228
Chaupaayi: Nirguna-saguna-bisham-sama-roopam:
jnaana-giraa-go-teetama-roopam:: 228.
Suteekshna prayed to Shree Raama, "O Shree Raama! You have no
attributes and yet you assume a form with attributes which is both
diverse and one. You are beyond the reach of the intellect, speech and
the five senses. You have no form, are pure, complete without any
deficiency and beyond criticism. You relieve the earth of its burden. O
Shree Raama! I bow to you in reverence." Suteekshna
is applying Brahman’s attributes to Shree Raama. To encompass all and
pervade the smallest, Brahman is smaller than the smallest and bigger
than the biggest. So, Brahman appears as impossibility. Since man can
grasp Divinity more easily through Its human form, devotee sages, the
world over, experienced Brahman as God in person. A mind polluted by
ego and passions cannot recognize Him. (See 65 [9, 18], 318)
229
Chaupaayi: Jadapi biraja vyaapaka abinaasee: saba kay
hrida-ya nirantara baasee:: 229.
Suteekshna continued, "You are pure beyond virtues, vices and
modes of maya, omnipresent and indestructible, that is,
changeless in the past, present and the future and always abide in
the hearts of all. O demons' enemy! In spite of all this, along with
Lakshmana and Seetaa, and in your forest attire, please always stay in
my heart." An
impersonal Godhead Brahman does not satisfy a devotee. For his own
happiness, the devotee wants devotion to His visible form as in Shree
Raama. It is God who creates in the devotee this yearning for a form
and fulfils it. The sage
felt that in his mind the six internal demoniac enemies, namely, lust
and others, grew faster than demons in
forests. The sage prayed that in the same forest attire, Shree Raama
reside in the sage's heart to destroy his enemies. (For Shree
Raama's Devotee) 230
Chaupaayi: Jay jaanahi tay jaanahu Swaamee: saguna
aguna ura-antara-jaamee:: 230.
Suteekshna continued,"O Shree Raama, whether you have a form or
attributes, or whether you dwell in the inner Self of all as their
immanent succour and guide, let those who know all this know it. For
me, O King of Kaushala, who has eyes comparable to lotus flowers, be pleased to reside in my heart." Suteekshna
is referring here to Advatin sages. (See 241[9-29])
They were
welcome to their belief in the formless Brahman. (See 53, 441)
Learning
from the difficulties they experienced in reaching their objective,
Suteekshna relied upon devotion to Shree Raama as the embodied Brahman.
Shree Krishna in the Geetaa and Shankaraachaarya also advise reaching
the formless Brahman through Its form in Its Incarnation. Almost all
paths are in the Book. God corrects the devotee’s path of choice. (See 101, 227) It is
not
our knowledge, mental level or path but our
yearning at its limit that secures us God. It is He who descends on the
earth to reach us. (For Shree Raama's Devotee) 231
Chaupaayi: Asa abhimaana jaa-ya jani bhoray: main
sayvaka Raghupati pati moray:: Ark11 231.
Suteekshna continued, "I should never forget to be conscious of my
being the servant and Shree Raama as my Master." The use by
Suteekshna of the Hindi word abhimaana, which also means pride,
appears strange. Maybe he prays that God rid him of all forms of pride
except that of his being the servant and the Lord as his master. We can
mould pride into humility. For example, if we are proud of anything we
remind ourselves that all belongs to God Who entrusts it to us because
we are His child or servant. He is all and we are nothing. Pride is
self-destructive. Raavana’s pride of the power gained by his worship
destroyed him and his race too. Pride rises from its own ashes. For
example, after an effort a proud man develops humility. This success
creates the pride of mastery over pride to become humble. Of the six
passions, egotism is the most insidious and has myriad forms. We can
rarely know its hold on us in our thinking, speech or action.
It repels others. Only others can point it out to us. Egotism and envy
arise from our inferiority complex unknown to us but transparent to
others. Baba says, ' "I am low, mean, small, useless, poor, sinful,
inferior" –- such feelings also are egoistic; when the ego goes, you do
not feel either superior or inferior. Self-condemnation is also
egoism.’ (BS 3 25) To think of
oneself as a devotee, an ascetic, a yogi or anybody, all have an
element of the 'I.' Abhimaana refers here to this active 'I.'
Swami Ramakrishna points out that to think that 'I am the doer' is the
'unripe ego.' (See 66) Without
our knowing, it attaches us to the world
of lust and greed. The 'ripe ego' is the realization that God is all
and I am nothing. He is the master and I am His servant. (RK 860) (See 113) The
'unripe ego' is a curse. Suteekshna's abhimaana was
the 'ripe ego.' God may Himself give a devotee the status of His friend
or call him dearer than Bharata. That is different. (See 287)
232
Chaupaayi: Abirala bhagati birati bijnaanaa:
hohu sakala-guna-jnaana-nidhaanaa:: 232.
Shree Raama granted a boon to Suteekshna, "You will get firm
devotion to me and also detachment and Knowledge with its experience.
You will become the treasure house of all virtues and knowledge. The
Sage replied, "Whatever boon my Master gave me I received with
reverence. Now please give me what I like." Not objects
themselves but our possession or loss of, or attachment to, or
separation from objects produces pleasure and pain and binds us to
objects. To be free, we need mental detachment, which is what
Suteekshna received as a boon. (See 134)
Shree Raama
granted to Suteekshna devotion, detachment from worldly attractions and
Knowledge. God keeps secure what a devotee has, namely, devotion, and
provides what he needs, detachment and Knowledge of identity with
Brahman. (See 210, 442 and
Geetaa
9:22) Agastya dedicated to God his Knowledge to secure devotion in
lieu. (See 234)
Suteekshna received both, which saved him from the
sacrifice of labour, which his guru Agastya went through. We should
have the faith that God gives us as a devotee beyond our imagination
and beyond all other paths. (See 141, 205) After
receiving the best
from God, Suteekshna realized that superior to what he received was God
Himself. So, in the next couplets he is shown to ask for Him to stay in
his heart. (See 233)
Instant couplets bring out the faith experienced
by many that God fulfils our desire if it is in our interest. 233
Dohaa: Anuja-Jaanakee-sahita Prabhu,
chaapa-baana-dhara Raama: 233.
Suteekshna prayed to Shree Raama, "O Lord! Armed with your bow and
arrows and along with Seetaa and Lakshmana, please stay in my heart
forever as the moon stays in the sky without harbouring any desire. My
heart has no other desire except to receive you." (See 363)
First,
Suteekshna prayed to Shree Raama to stay in his forest attire in the
sage's heart. (See 229)
Remembering the stay in the forest for only
fourteen years, the sage prayed that he stay as the King of Kaushala.
(See 230)
Even
a king's reign however comes to an end. As the sage
gained in devotion, his relationship with God also became more lasting.
The sage now asks Shree Raama to stay forever in the sage's heart.
(MP) Is it
strange that Suteekshna can have the desire to have God in his heart,
but God should have no desire? Suteekshna is praying that God should
not have any desire or expectation from him to fulfil because he has
nothing with which to fulfil it. God has no desire and needs nothing.
If, however, He wants us to do something for Him, He gives us the
thought of and capacity for it. Our daily duties are His will or what
He desires from us. The change
in Suteekshna's request arises from the assurance in this 233A
Chaupaayi. Kavana vastu asi priya mohi laagee: jo munivara
na sakahu tumha maangee:: Ark42 What is
that which is so dear to me that you, O sage or a devotee or a servant
or a slave, cannot ask me for it. None. These words hide a very
important concept. If we have faith in a loving God, God gives us not
what He is averse to, or wants to get rid off in the garb of charity as
many of us do. God gives us what He loves so much that He would not
like to part with it. So much so, that God answers all our prayers, and
even gives Himself away. He does not, however, fulfil our desires,
which hurt anyone or are not in our best interest. Sometimes this
shakes our unripe faith in God. (See 77, 148, 150-168, 318, 428)
Out of
God's unlimited qualities, we can select one, for example, to give us
refuge, and treat Him as its personification. We can be as a child
wanting only one of the many things mother can give. Sometimes she
gives something different because she knows the best for the child. So
does God. Suteekshna shows us the intimacy we should develop with God
to avail of His assurance given above. (See 246)
Suteekshna's
prayers show that our needs and concept of God change with our
advancement. God is the same forever. God Himself creates in us changes
and different capacities, but responds fully to all, from those of the
cave man to those of the Nobel laureate. Shree
Raama's form does not uninterruptedly remain in our heart as a devotee.
(See 323)
That
is why a sincere devotee asks the boon that Shree Raama
should Himself constantly reside in the devotee's heart. This is also a
reason why we should mentally visualize the form of God or of our deity
whenever we utter His name. (For Shree Raama's Devotee) 234
Chaupaayi: Yaha bara maanga-un kripaaa-nikaytaa:
basahu hrida-ya Shree-Anuja-samaytaa:: 234.
Agastya said to Shree Raama, "I beg of you, O fountain of mercy,
for this boon. With Seetaa and Lakshmana you reside in my heart. I pray
that I may have devotion to you. It may be deep and undiminishing and
may develop detachment. I may get the company of men of divine vision
and develop unceasing love for your lotus feet. I know that Brahman is
indivisible and has no end. It can be experienced by the highly
spiritually advanced. They always remember It. (See Geetaa Agastya
brings out that name and form can describe everything in the creation.
The one ever-unchanging reality underlying all objects having a name
and form can, however, be only imperceptible. It can be in thought form
and be higher than all imperceptible entities such power, energy,
attractions or qualities or desire, feelings, mind, memory, imagination
and knowledge, because it underlies all entities. This reality or
Brahman cannot be known, understood, explained or described but can
only be experienced as by a Brahmajnaanee, such as Janaka,
Vashishtta and later Vishvaamitra. Agastya
repeats for us a practical lesson. Mastery of scriptures and service of
the impersonal God through austerities and prayers, without selfless
service of love of man, does not bestow the bliss of the personal God.
Both Agastya and Janaka attained Brahmajnaana and experienced
its bliss. (See 97, 240 [1-6,
9, 10, 21]) The former knew and the latter
did not, that Shree Raama was Brahman's Incarnation. This is because
Janaka attained Brahmajnaana by the path of rational inquiry
without devotion to a personal God. Janaka suspected Shree Raama as God
and said in 234A
Chaupaayi: Inhahin bilokata ati anuraagaa: barabaasa
Brahma-sukhahi manu tyaagaa:: Bk216 A vision
of Shree Raama gives me so much bliss of love that the bliss of
Knowledge is leaving me by itself. Janaka
admits the superiority of the bliss of the vision and experience of
personal God over that of Brahmajnaana of the impersonal
Brahman or of Self-realization. That is why Bharadwaaja, Atri and
Agastya, chose to pray for devotion to Shree Raama in person. Devotion
made their dry Knowledge sweet. (See 148, 438 and
Geetaa
18:54) All
these sages were akin to a devotee with an undying spark of love to see
and enjoy the company of the deity he worshipped. The experience of
impersonal God could not extinguish his yearning for his personal
God. The bliss
of attaining jnaana, which is also freedom from rebirth, is
said to be indescribable. The conscious 'I' alone experiences bliss,
the inmost 'I' our soul does not. So, the bliss of jnaana needs
a little of this outer active 'I' to experience bliss. If this 'I'
dies, we cannot experience any bliss. Hence the belief is that a jnaanee
with his 'I' lives on the earth for not more than 21 days, that is,
after the 'I' tastes this bliss before its death. (RK 32) So, also is
the superiority of the vijnaanee who is a jnaanee and
becomes a devotee of the personal God. To lace his jnaana with
devotion, he retains a little of this 'I,' which prevents his soul from
leaving the body. His 'I' ensures his experiencing this bliss on the
earth longer than that of a jnaanee. Swami Ramakrishna calls
this vijnaanee's little 'I' the ripe ego, that is, the
consciousness that it is all God and I am nothing. (RK 452,
860-61) This
explains Shree Krishna's exhortation in the Geetaa to jnaanees
to continue to enjoy their indescribable bliss by devotion to Him in
person to live as vijnaanees in the ‘thou' and ‘I'
relationship, which is possible on the earth. (See Geetaa 18:54-57,
:63-65) Shree Krishna would not have given all the jnaana and
His vision to Arjuna for making Arjuna live a life on earth in a bliss lower than that which he should have
enjoyed after Shree Krishna’s gifts. The bliss of a selfless karmayogi
on the earth is superior to the bliss of jnaana and
cosmic vision of God. That is why Shree Krishna arranged for Arjuna karmayoga
on the earth. It is said
that a man cannot get kaiwalya, that
is, recollecting or regaining our oneness with Brahman, without first
enjoying the highest bliss of selflessness on the earth. Arjuna got rid
of all consequences of his karma by receiving jnaana and cosmic
vision of God and had still to enjoy that highest bliss of selflessness
before Kaiwalya. (See 269 and
Geetaa
4:37) After experiencing
the bliss of jnaana and vision, Shree Krishna's advice to
Arjuna made him a selfless karmayogi to enjoy this highest
bliss. The welfare of the people around him is the role of a selfless karmayogi.
Arjuna's selfless role for the welfare of the world around him was to
destroy evil in the form of Kauravas. This also explains why gods need
a human body for the enjoyment of this highest bliss of selflessness,
which can be enjoyed only on the earth and which is superior to the
bliss of jnaana. (See 390)
It is this bliss to which Janaka refers here which is superior to that
of attaining jnaana. The indescribable bliss is for the
conscious experience of all, who can live selflessly. Living
selflessly, however, is not easy. We do it by making love as the
motivating force behind all our acts and surrendering them and us to
God. (See 259)
Agastya
prays for the company of men of divine vision or satyasanga
which offers the best company with which to share his bliss to increase
it by sharing. (See 394, 443)
(For Shree Raama's Devotee) 235. Once
Shree Raama was sitting at ease. Lakshmana guilelessly asked Him,
"Please explain to me what is Knowledge, non-attachment and maya and
that devotion which attracts kindness to Your devotees." The lesson
here is this. We should ask our elders only to add to our knowledge;
not to test them; or prove them wrong; or that we are smarter than they
are. We should always remain humble. Only if the elder is inclined for
it should we ask a question. When elders ask us, we should be
respectful in reply. We should answer freely and let them bear the
consequences of their intent in questioning us, if questionable. Being
only two days younger than Shree Raama, Lakshmana’s respect for age was
praiseworthy. This respect makes communication purposeful and enjoyable
even today. (See 174, 223)
The second
lesson is this. Before we decide what to say, our speech carries weight
when we remember when to speak, what to speak, how to speak and how
much to speak. To know when to shut up is wisdom. We should say less
than we think. Listeners learn but talkers do not. So, God gave us one
tongue but two ears. How to say is more important than what to say,
particularly in giving advice. Words reveal the breeding of the
speaker, as sarcasm, irony or pun sometimes shows it up. We should
remember to speak softly, sweetly with humility and without
indifference, malice, hatred or envy. We should speak the truth and to
comfort, console and transmit joy. We should avoid unpalatable truth
that hurts except in advice to our loved ones in our care. The best
speech is that which never creates pain, anger or grief to others nor
deprives them of their happiness. Even a joke at the cost of someone
present in a gathering that is fun for others is pain for the victim
and should be avoided. (See 213 and
Geetaa
17:15) We should
prefer silence to factions and frivolities. Sincere silence of
self-discipline sharpens thinking and renews energy. Silence enabled
ancient rishis to have divine vision. For Shankaraachaarya, the first
doorway to yoga is discipline of speech. Of the five sense organs, only
the tongue has two roles. If truth hurts and untruth pleases, we should
remain silent. Silence can also be insincere. It may hide ignorance. Or
it may withhold a needed solution. Or it may be out of pride. Or it may
hide anger, hate and so on. This ill-motivated silence hurts the
hypocrite himself. He forgets the law of karma and God’s grace to see
his intended victim through unscathed because of the victim’s
sincerity. As a guru,
the Chapter Aranyakaandda in the Book starts from desires
growing in our mind as weeds and demons in a forest. This chapter takes
us through the life of detachment from the world demonstrated by sages.
It takes us on the path of Knowledge gained by association with them
and leads us to truth through devotion to Shree Raama. His discourses
to Lakshmana (one begins here and ends in 248) and
that to
Naarada (in 275
onwards)
are known as the Raama Geetaa. (TN) The study of Aranyakaandda
develops in us the trinity of faith, namely, vairaagya, jnaana
and bhakti. (See 210) (A
Lesson in Conduct) 236
Dohaa: Eesvara jeevahi bhayda Prabhu, kahahu sakala
samujhaa-yi: 236.
Lakshmana continued, "Please explain to me the difference between
man and Eeshwara (God) so that I may develop love for you and
get rid of all grief, fear, attachment and delusion." Lakshmana
received the knowledge of the personal aspect of God from his mother,
Sumitraa. She told Lakshmana that Shree Raama was God. (See 124) Shree
Raama Himself could clarify the impersonal aspect and related subjects
such as jeeva and jeevaatmaa. (See 148) Jeeva
is the human being who identifies himself with his body, mind and
individuality. Jeevaatmaa is his reality underlying him, which
is one with God. Baba says,
‘There are three entities in the Universe, with which man has to deal;
they are, Paramaatmaa, Prakriti and Jeevaatmaa. God,
Nature and Man (respectively). Of these, God has to be worshipped by
man, to be realized by man through Nature or Prakriti.‘ (through the prayerful and selfless service of Prakriti
and not by coveting it)... ’There is something which once if you get,
you can never lose; that is jnaana. There is another thing
which if you once lose, you can never get
back; that is maya. There is a third thing, which you can never get,
for it is You yourself; you can never lose it also, for it is You
yourself. That is Brahman.’ (BS 5 323-326) (Parentheses Author's)
237
Chaupaayi: Thorayhi manha saba kaha-un bujhaa-yee: sunahu taata
mati mana chita laa-yee:: 237. Shree
Raama replied, "O brother! Listen attentively. I shall briefly
explain these topics. The attitude of I and mine, you and yours, is
maya. Through this attitude, maya has held all human beings under its
sway and away from God." Shree
Raama’s concise definition of maya is unexcelled in religious
literature. So long as the ‘you’ and ‘I’ persist, we are under maya and
cannot have jnaana. Jnaana is to know that it is either all ‘I’
or all ‘you’ and this knowing is complete when, in addition, we conduct
ourselves to accord with this knowledge. (See 240 [1-6,
9, 10,
21]) Shree Raama
first took up maya, one of the most important concepts in Vedanta,
which occurred to ancient Indian sages. Maya is God’s power to create
both reality and illusion. Because of the latter, it is also called the
darkness of ignorance which worldly attachment causes. This causes all
our suffering. Maya creates this darkness. Without understanding maya,
we cannot gain Knowledge just as we cannot know or see day without an
idea of night after getting past it. At birth,
maya as our causal body enters our physical body. (See 450 [10,
11,
14])
Maya makes us forget that our reality is divine, that is, the jeevaatmaa
or soul, which underlies the life principle. The soul pervades our body
and is our inmost Self. Maya makes us think that our reality is our
physical body. The physical body of infancy ends upon adolescence, that
of adolescence upon manhood, that of manhood upon old age, and that of
old age upon death. Even seeing this change daily, we do not realize
that the unchanging ‘we’ that we are, are inside but are not our
physical body with a brain. This is because maya as ignorance
overwhelms us. Maya
creates the ‘I’ or the ego in us that we are our physical body and the
brain and we are the doer of all our deeds independent of God. That ‘I’
keeps our soul tied to the body and to itself. This ‘I’ tied to our
body separates us from other men and from God. It hides from us the
Knowledge that in our reality we are God Himself. Thus the human souls
embodied in men appear separate and innumerable because of ignorance.
(See 66)
Our human
soul or jeevaatmaa is a miniature, not a fragment of the Great
Soul or Brahman and is our true identity. It never changes or ends.
When we realize and live in the conviction that our physical body with
a brain is an apparent entity, but jeevaatmaa is our reality,
maya as ignorance leaves us for good. 238
Chaupaayi: Go gochara jahaan lagi mana jaa-yee: so
saba maayaa janayhu bhaa-yee:: 238. Shree
Raama continued, "The sway of maya extends as far as the senses can
reach and the mind can imagine. Maya has two aspects or roles. One is Vidyaa
and the other is Avidyaa maya, or knowledge or ignorance,
respectively." Maya is primordial power, energy or shakti.
Maya is a
concept of Vedanta. Maya is God’s power to create both a reality and
unreality, to give us ignorance or knowledge. It is inert, and without
consciousness of its own and acts only as an instrument of God. Through
five senses and six passions, it creates or changes our perspective of
a thing, thought, or phenomenon by creating attractions and aversions,
likes and dislikes in our mind. It is maya in its two aspects. Avidyaa maya is a concept in the
Advaita The part of
the world with which we are not concerned and we are, therefore, not
attached to for the moment, does not exist for us, as, for example, a
distant earthquake. This non-existent world appears the moment we think
of it, that is, get attached to it. Maya causes both existent and
non-existent world for us by its play on our mind. In deep sleep,
senses and passions do not work and the world of our waking state does
not exist for us. The sway of
Avidyaa maya is coextensive with the reach of our senses
in the form of stimuli from our surroundings or from the world and our
responses engendered by our passions. If we have none of the senses and
passions, we cannot perceive the world or know it as we do. The
knowledge of the intellect derived through the senses cannot get beyond
the senses and passions, which is the reach of the Avidyaa
maya. When involved in the world, we are within maya. So, from within
the mayaic world, the intellect cannot know or grasp maya. To be free
from maya, to know it and grasp it, we have to reach beyond six
passions and five senses by controlling both. We experience the
beyond, for example, the joy of selflessness, the peace of surrender to
God and so on. In this
beyond state, the intellect becomes free of maya. We can then observe
the working of our senses and passions in detachment from them. Then
the veil of maya is shattered from our intellect and we secure jnaana
or the Knowledge of our identity with the Ultimate Reality, which is
Brahman. Then Avidyaa, or ignorance, ceases to affect us and
the world as it appears to us loses its impact on us and therefore
ceases for us in the form that we know. A different world appears. That
is why the appearing, disappearing and changing world on account of our
senses and passions is not a reality but a mayaic phenomenon or
unreality Shree Raama
also explains Vidyaa maya, which is a concept in the Dvaita
239
Chaupaayi: Ayka dushtta ati-sa-ya dukha-roopaa:
jaa basa jeeva paraa bhava-koopaa:: 239. Shree
Raama continued, "Avidyaa maya is pernicious and inflicts
suffering. Under its influence, a human being falls into a well. The
other, Vidyaa maya, which is controlled by its modes, brings
about the creation. Neither aspect of maya has its own strength or
consciousness. In both its aspects, it works by God’s power,
inspiration and grace." The well
here refers to the cycle of rebirth from which Avidyaa maya
makes it difficult for us as jeeva to escape. Jeeva is a human beings who is unaware of his
divinity. By God’s
grace, maya with the help of its three modes creates the universes.
(See 241 [39,
41]) The modes exist only in maya and the mayaic world.
The first is spiritual or satvaguna, the second rajoguna
is action oriented and the third tamoguna is demoniac. The
modes remain in harmony in maya to give it power. As electric or all
energy and power, maya, is inert, insensitive and needs an operator,
God. When this power appears inactive it is Brahman. When it appears as
the creator, preserver and destroyer, it is maya in its two aspects, Vidyaa
and Avidyaa maya. Brahman and maya are two in name because of
their aspect and role but not in their entity and are as inseparable as
the powerful and his power and water and its wave. (RK 107, 135) So,
when we understand and grasp maya and its working by reaching beyond
our senses and passions we become one with Brahman. When the impersonal
Brahman descends in a human form as an Incarnation, It becomes a part
of the creation and its form acquires the three gunas. How is maya commonly understood? Out of Himself by
His power Vidyaa maya, God creates the universe and man
cyclically. Immediately on our birth, Avidyaa maya creates our
‘I’ as our subtle body and envelopes our ‘I’ in ignorance. (See 66, 241 [36], 450 [11])
Our
reality is universal consciousness. Avidyaa
maya superimposes tendencies from our past lives and present passions
as our individuality over our universal reality to hide it from our
consciousness. As a result, Avidyaa maya hides the truth and
makes the untruth attractive for us. In this ignorance, it makes us
live contrary to our divinity of universal consciousness or love for
all and thus causes our suffering. Through
uncontrolled passions, maya makes us an animal. In our thirst, after
water and fruit juice we desire wine. Every desire satisfied leads to
more desires to strengthen other passions. All objects, beings, time
and events appear to us as we think them to be. Their reality remains
hidden from us. To a meat eater the cow is the source of delicious food
and not for worship as a symbol of selflessness as a mother.
Incidentally, the meat eating Aryans from extreme north of Indian
subcontinent and those who might have migrated to India from around the
Caspian Sea, experimented with herbs and vegetables in India over
centuries to become vegetarians. They revered the cow. Its milk is the
best for a motherless baby. The cow is harmless, undemanding, and
selfless in service. From ancient times Indians worship these virtues
symbolized in the cow. The
feelings of yours and ours make objects good or bad. (See 389) One’s
own child appears lovely, not another’s; one’s is good, another’s not
and so on. The world is one. Man’s egoistic and partial thinking has
made mayaic forms of it for each. Each of us ignorantly treats one’s
own distinct and separate perception of the world as real. So, we have
innumerable changing perceptions of the world, none being the same and
therefore real for all. The role of
maya above is according to the Dvaita school. (See 241 [35]) For
the role of maya according to Advaita, please see 238.
In Advaita,
through the power and inspiration of the imperceptible and impersonal
aspect of God as Brahman, as Paramaatmaa, His power maya
brings about the world as an illusion. Through the power and
inspiration of the personal aspect of God in Dvaita, as
Paramayshwara, His power vidyaa maya brings about the
world as a reality. The world is thus a reality for many and an
unreality for few and both for some of us. (See 241 [30]) The
power
of
the impersonal and personal aspects of God is called maya. Whatever
maya creates, whether the unreality or the reality, it gives it its
three modes or qualities, satvaguna, rajoguna and
tamoguna, which are explained in 240 [17-19].
God
and His power maya
are inseparable and eternal. Just as God pervades each of us so does
maya in the form of our causal body. (See 450 [11])
In
fact, the world,
which we observe is a mere phenomenon of maya. It is perishable and
distinct from the unchanging and imperishable reality, which is
Brahman. According
to Advaita, the creation, if it appears imperfect to us, being
an unreality or a dream, cannot be set right or improved. It is useless
to ask why and how to improve this mayaic world. It is proper to ask
how to save us from the dualities of Avidyaa maya, which cause
all our misery through frustration of our desires. Tulaseedaasa
answered this question. We should become Shree Raama,’ devotees,
treating Him as our master and ourselves as His servant. We should
perform only obligatory duties and dedicate them and ourselves to Him.
(See 265 [5])
Since God wants us all to reach Him. His grace frees us
from mayaic dualities. (See 275 and
Geetaa
9:27-28) What is
God’s purpose in the creation by maya? Aanandagiri advises that we
should not raise the question of the purpose of the creation. ‘We
cannot say that it is meant for the enjoyment of the Supreme; for the
Supreme really enjoys nothing... neither the question nor an answer to
it is possible and there is no occasion for it, as creation is due to
the maya of the Supreme.’ (RG 242) That the Supreme enjoys nothing and
the creation is an unreality is according to Advaita. Dvaita
and Vishishttaadvaita give a purpose to and the origin of the
creation. The answer to the why of the creation or God’s purpose
obviously is to give experience of bliss and love in person to His
devotees, which many devotees have enjoyed. The answer to the question
how the creation came into being does not directly benefit us and
therefore the question becomes purposeless. It is however more useful
to ask for the purpose of our life than how the creation came into
being. (See Geetaa 9:10, 10:2) If Avidyaa maya causes
ignorance, why did God create it? Swami Ramakrishna calls the creation
God’s sport and play. (RK 135) We cannot understand light without
darkness, happiness without misery and good without evil. Ignorance or Avidyaa
maya and Knowledge or Vidyaa maya, both are necessary as the
skin and the flesh of a mango. Ignorance is necessary to understand
knowledge and its value. Both exist in our consciousness side by side.
They enable us to reject what hurts and select what bestows continual
bliss. (RK 216) The Swami
explained that God put man in the world by His will for the creation.
He deluded man with 'woman and gold' or lust and greed, to show man the
difference between worldly and divine joy to draw man away from worldly
life. The worldly joy is a means for the continuation and sustenance of
the creation. (RK 385) The suffering in the world is God's play with
joy and sorrow, virtue and vice, knowledge and ignorance and good and
evil. They are necessary for the continuation of the play. People take
a long time to realize God. This is because one does not normally
become desperate in one’s search for God until one has enjoyed worldly
pleasures to one’s fill. The Swami said, ‘As a devotee cannot live
without God, so also God cannot live without His devotee.’ (RK 305) God
and man are necessary for each other for the manifestation of love,
which God personifies. Baba says,
‘See in me yourself, for, I see myself in you. You are my life, my
breath and my soul. You are all my forms. When I love you I love
myself; when you love yourself, you love me. I separated myself by
myself so that I may be myself... I wanted to be myself,
that is Aanandaswaroopa and Praymaswaroopa
(personification of bliss and love, respectively). That is what I am
and I wanted to be that. How can I be Aanandaswaroopa and Praymaswaroopa?
And give Aananda and give Prayma? And to whom am I to give Aananda and to whom am
I to give Prayma? So I did this. I separated myself from myself
and became all this.’ (H 138) (Parentheses Author's) We all
feel that we are separate from God though in reality we are one with
Him. These words
show the one reality in universal consciousness and bliss or
Satchidaananda of Brahman or the concept of Advaita. By
creating the world and creatures from Itself yet showing them as
separate from Itself, the belief of the Dvaita school is shown.
By the intimacy with man for giving experience of bliss and love, and
oneness with the creation, the belief according to Vishishttaadvaita
is put forward. By identifying Himself with the Creator, the belief in
the Incarnation of God is stated. The above explains the reason
underlying the ancient Indian concept of Ekoham bahusyaam or
‘Being One (Brahman), let many become.’ The Incarnation is the
foundation of devotion in both the Shree Raamacharita Maanasa and the
Geetaa. The entire setup is necessary for the expression and response
of love and happiness. Love and its concomitant happiness are the
essence of the above words. Many deep concepts of Indian philosophy are
put here in a simple language for one's experience. 240
Chaupaayi: Jnaana maana janha ayka-u naaheen: daykha Brahma
samaana saba maaheen:: 240. Shree
Raama continued, "Knowledge is that in which there is no pride of
any kind. It makes a man see the same Brahman in everybody. The
supremely non-attached is one who treats all psychic or occult powers
and the three modes as a worthless piece of straw." (See 17 and
Geetaa 5:18-26, [1] Shree
Raama is shown to define Brahmajnaana for our daily practice in
our thought and conduct. It is the knowledge that Brahman is the only
one ever unchanging intangible reality, which underlies the creation
and called by million names including God. He is in all and so the
reality of all is the same as mine. There is no ‘I’ and ‘You.’ It is
either all ‘I’ or all ‘you,’ one in and with God. 'I' and ‘mine’ – is
ignorance, but ‘Thou’ and ‘Thine’ – is knowledge. Therefore I should
intend to hurt none and help and love all as I love myself. This
knowledge to identify all with myself eliminates selfishness and the
power of six passions. After this knowledge is applied to our thought
and conduct, we need no individual commandments such as help, charity,
non-violence, righteousness, brotherhood and so on. This knowledge of
oneness with the methods for making use of it for the benefit of man is
the greatest discovery man ever made. A guru pointed out that, ‘All our
knowledge, particularly spiritual knowledge, from schools and colleges
and from elsewhere is others' ideas. Whatever part of it we apply to
our life by daily practice to gain experience from it becomes truth and
our knowledge. It needs no external proof. But we cannot gain anything
from this practice till we discipline ourselves and control our mind to
become percipient. Without this knowledge of our own, we are not truly
learned.’ For example, producing music from a piano is our knowledge,
different from knowing about a piano from others or even seeing and
hearing it played. So, only the experience of living in this oneness
with all in God makes oneness our knowledge. Without our
practice of oneness or Brahmajnaana, the heart differentiates
and we remain unfit for worship of God Who is love for all. (See 318, 360, 437 and
Geetaa
18:21) So, the words social, moral, cultural and
spiritual remain narrow and restricted for the good of some. When our
concept of the unity of God and our oneness with Him extends these
words to the whole of humanity we live in spirituality or in accord
with our innate nature of divinity. This living in oneness with all
secures perfect health for body and mind and freedom from disease and
fears because we become God’s instruments for doing His work. He
assigns us His work in the form of our day-to-day duties for our
diligent performance and its dedication to Him as His work. He changes
them for our good. [2] Many
pure rationalists believe that only the tangible is real. There are
hurdles in their understanding our oneness in reality with all in the
creation with God. They should be left to themselves to gain knowledge
of that reality Brahman in their own need and time. [3] The
fatal enemy of Brahmajnaana is pride. (See 413) Jnaana
is acquired by humility in our communication with and conduct towards
all. (See Geetaa 4:34) Pride rests on ‘I’ and ‘you,’ which is the
negation of Brahmajnaana. The greatest and most destructive
pride and difficult to get rid off is that
of spirituality, knowledge, righteousness and of devotion often
observed amongst others, in preachers, teachers, leaders and seekers.
Pride in any form repels the humble, the near and dear ones and the
wise. It attracts the selfish and wicked in the garb of sycophants.
Pride rises insidiously in us. Others can notice it; we cannot. Trying
to establish our identity or be different from or superior to or excel
others or getting name and fame or in some manner of one up man-ship
are signs of pride. To avoid pride we should concentrate on doing our
best at all times regardless of and without comparison with others,
except in the spirit of appreciation and emulation. When we gain
knowledge of the one reality underlying differences, we become humble
and realize that there is no individuality, superiority or inferiority
but a mere variety of capacities and roles. Humility fills us and
becomes invisible when we are unaware of our ‘I’ or self and are
sincerely absorbed benevolently in ‘you’ through selflessness. [4]
As a karmayogi of the Geetaa, Brahmajnaana is for our
daily use. When it reflects in our day-to-day conduct it is
spirituality. Its practice rests on control over, not elimination of
our desires and passions. It rests on faith that none can hurt us. By
living in Brahmajnaana we get relief from and avoid hurt by
invoking God’s grace. (See Geetaa 8:7) Brahmajnaana extends the
reach of our heart to all with all their faults. We hate the sin and
not the sinner but pray for his transformation to good. Brahmajnaana
expands us from being an individual to becoming universal. It is said
to be the expansion of the self, which is life, and not the contraction
of the self into the selfish, which is our death. Brahmajnaana
draws us to God because we live in love of which God is the
personification for His entire creation. Living in this manner we are
truly religious. If we have the attitude of ‘we’ and ‘they,’ we may be
religious from some points of view but are we truly being near God who
loves all He created, saint and sinner? No one can know either one’s
own or another’s nearness to God, which is spirituality. [5] When
even with our profession of Brahmajnaana, we are unknowingly
overwhelmed by our passions, particularly ‘I’ and ‘mine’ or egotism, we
restrict our love to what we treat as ours, that is, our family,
people, country, religion and so on. We are
compassionate and therefore moral and ethical to them only and not to
those outside our ambit. In this morality, passions misuse reason to
contract our heart. The age of pure reason for the last five centuries
has distorted morality from the universal to the particular or selfish.
An example of this narrow thinking is this. The greatest good of the
greatest number is reason limited by practicality. This practicality is
a euphemism for our unwillingness to sacrifice even a wee bit of our
selfish interest. When the poor and hungry are a minority of one or
forty-nine, pure reason has no place for them. The heart sacrifices
itself and has a place for them. So common sense, which is the harmony
of the heart with intellect, neither dominating the other, is not
always pure reason. Our education limited by the traditions of pure
reason conditions us to believe that this impractical role of the heart
is all that morality is. This morality restricted to convenient
practicality caused all wars and exploitation of the weak by the strong
to bring the advanced society where it is. In this society, it appears
difficult to find a few who are continually happy. It shows that the
morality and ethics of the powerful is different from that of the poor
and the weak. What is fair and justified for the powerful is often
injustice and cruelty for the weak. The advancement of some developed
nations rests on this morality. [6] We do
not practise this distorted morality in our family. We make no
distinction between a weaker and a stronger member in our family.
Outside, however, this distorted morality searches for suckers born
every second. This morality makes society sick with affluence of
physical comfort for some, which becomes their objective. We cure this
sickness by persuading each member to live in oneness with the rest in Brahmajnaana.
For that we learn to be human by being selfless and thinking and acting
for the good of all without exception, which is love. When we think of
some and not all, we are moral. When we think of all and not of some
only, we are spiritual. We have to be always cheerful and spread cheer
around. We have to believe that this humanness gives us a purpose for
our life, the strength to pursue it and prosperity for society, to
become one as our family. This is practical spirituality. It is not
formal religion and is beyond limited morality observed in some
religions and sections of both Eastern and Western societies. This
spirituality will shift our objective from affluence to compassion to
eliminate suffering to make society happy. Morality today offers mere
palliatives to the needy. [7] This
morality based on reason without compassion for all. is not spirituality. The moment it acts in Brahmajnaana,
it becomes spirituality for the happiness and advancement of
all and particularly those in need. To live as a human being in
godliness, virtue and compassion, that is, service of love for all,
without any feeling of 'we' and 'they,' is to live in spirituality or
true religion and not in mere morality. Morality generally is love for
ours or some and unconcern, aversion or sometimes hate for others. Any
approach to or consideration of values to carry conviction today should
emphasize the oneness of all in God. A virtuous life is spiritual
inasmuch as virtue stands on faith in its value, which cannot be proved
tangibly but is experienced with great impact upon us. That is why
virtues reflect our inborn divinity. (See Geetaa 10:41) There can be no
religion without virtues or moral purity. For virtues and values in
society, which change from time to time, we need unchanging guidelines
for all without exception. If guidelines change with time, each frames
its own purpose and crafts for it what each considers as virtues. So,
for our innate divine nature to surface we need unchanging guidelines
for all virtues. These guidelines can arise from universal and
perennial inborn human nature or dharma, which is one with that
of Satchidaananda Brahman or God. From the
above it is clear that every religion has in it that element that
enables its followers to sustain love for the survival of the human
race. All that is needed is to explore the holy book to find this
element in its text. This text should be
put on the page next to the title page of each holy book as the core of
that religion in humanness. This should not disturb the rest of the
book. The reminder to this core by all will eliminate differentiation,
aversion and hate and the need for the superior or the only religion.
It will restore understanding and amity that is fast disappearing due
to the ignorance of this core that is the primary purpose of a
religion. This suggestion expects self-sacrifice out of love for God’s
children by leaders of all religions to reach God maybe more rapidly
with the help of the core of their own religion. [8] The
Hindi equivalents of the first and last words of verses 7 to 11 of
Chapter 13 of the Geetaa are in the first couplet here. Such allusions
to concepts from scriptures endear the Shree Raamacharita Maanasa to
the erudite searching for wisdom. [9] A man
of Knowledge has no pride. 2. He makes no effort to appear different
from what he is or to be a hypocrite. 3. He is non-violent. 4. He is
forgiving. 5. He is upright and has no crookedness. 6. He serves his
guru. 7. He is pure in the body and mind. 8. He has an unwavering mind.
9. He has control over his mind. 10. He has control over his senses.
11. He is free from ego or the sense of the ' A little
reflection shows that we all feel as if these qualities are not strange
to us. This is because ordinarily we all live in many of them from time
to time unconsciously. All that we need is a little awareness for our
alertness to strengthen our effort to make at least some of them our
habit or second nature. Only when a man's daily conduct displays these
qualities he can be called a jnaanee with his Self realized. The
jeevaatmaa is not reached by intelligence, learning and giving
discourses. We reach Jeevaatmaa by discrimination,
non-attachment to worldly attractions and attachment to God by devotion
and their practice in selfless benevolence for all. (See 210, 241 [23], 259) The
Geetaa describes a man of Knowledge in its verses 2:55-72, [10] These
qualities make it clear that Knowledge is valuable only in its practice
demonstrated by a dedicated moral life for all. The man of true
Knowledge lives it as a yogi; the merely erudite talk about it.
Scriptures are often a limitation on our securing jnaana, which
we secure through our trying to live in any yoga or path. Swami
Ramakrishna says that just as when one cuts a jack fruit, its sap does
not stick to hands smeared with oil, lust and greed do not stick to a
man of Knowledge living in the world. (FMM 126) The acts of a man of
Knowledge dedicated to God are done apparently by him but really by
God. In detachment, when he thinks of them afterwards, he witnesses
them as, on waking up, he witnesses his acts in his dream. (See 133)
For such a man, both kinds of acts, in the dream world and in the world
in his waking hours, do not accumulate consequences for him. [11]
Psychic powers are of many kinds. The first are unconscious gifts from
God’s grace that create congenial situations. These make a man say in
gratitude to God that he always got what he intensely desired. It may
be not overwhelming riches and never possibly the fulfilment of ignoble
or selfish hurtful desires. (See 105) Next
are the
gifts of healing
through mantra and giving intuitive advice, which achieves the seeker’s
good objective. We find them sometimes in a doctor, a consultant or any
professional who generally gives help gratis. Then there are eight sid-dhis
or psychic powers and more, which we take up a little later. For the
first two kinds of powers, a mind free from hurt, grievance, malice and
full of benevolence for those around it, is generally sufficient. Many
mantra cures of diseases without medicine, can be passed on to even householders without difficult training.
Neglect and modernism of the century and a half before independence
largely, if not wholly, lost in [12]
Ancient sages to whom psychic powers were revealed,
found that if a man acquired for its own sake any sid-dhi or
psychic power through the methodology prescribed in the scriptures,
maya particularly through pride, made him misuse that sid-dhi
for selfish purposes to bring about his fall. So, it is said that even
one occult power takes us away from God. (See 412-413, 438) The
methodology for acquisition of powers was recorded for rare disciples
whom spiritually advanced gurus found fit for selfless service of those
around them. As such disciples became more rare,
the methodology also gradually became more and more obscure. The
inability or unwillingness of disciples to undergo rigorous disciplines
and self-control necessary for acquiring sid-dhis was mainly
responsible for the loss of this science. Ancient gurus never sought
disciples. The seekers sought for gurus. (See 157) All
sid-dhis,
psychic or other powers of the mind are a by product of the greatest
discovery of man through ancient Indians that the reality of man is one
with God in His substance, nature, capacity and power. [13]
Sanaatana Dharma emphasizes the objective of the human body as becoming
free from misery, acquisition of continual bliss and reaching God in
life. With this objective, in this effort, any capacity or power the
seeker needs for his material progress for his spiritual advance comes
to him unasked by itself. This is experienced. (See 27, 107, 177) The
first discipline for the seeker is Brahmacharya of adolescence
for selflessness in life. Shree Krishna advises Arjuna this
selflessness after giving him all Knowledge, which Arjuna needed. A
controlled mind through Brahmacharya is pure and one with aatmaa
or Brahman. The power of this oneness can achieve the impossible but
for others. We do not need any power for ourselves because God provides
us all. (See Geetaa 9:22) [14]
Selflessness within us is available to all at all times without need of
scriptures, gurus and rituals and practices of any kind. We strengthen
selflessness by understanding Vedanta or the perennial verities for man
as man and then having faith in them for daily practice. The Book
repeats this. (See 42, 259, 318, 360, 386) The
manifestation of powers
needs faith that we have these powers from our birth in our jeevaatmaa.
It needs the faith that we can consciously become one
with our jeevaatmaa by our brahmacharya. It needs the
conviction that we continue to benefit from persistence in brahmacharya.
Selflessness invokes God’s grace in increasing experience of favourable
occurrences in daily life. Lastly, it needs our faith that the ancient
Indian claim of our having these innate powers is true as a corollary
of our oneness with God. Powers are experienced and the claim of powers
being received for our use by God’s grace is not a fantasy of any mind.
Selflessness invokes God’s grace in increasing experience of favourable
occurrences in daily life. For millenniums, [14A] The
main reason why Indians generally lost the use of cosmic powers was
lack of faith in their availability. The loss was greater with Western
education where the age of pure reason and logic exiled the virtues of
selflessness and compassion through self-discipline and self-sacrifice.
Reason and logic cannot prove any discipline, self-control and virtue
as worthwhile. After experimenting by living with them, one's
experience proves their worth. It was not so much the unwillingness of
old gurus to impart Knowledge. Diminishing faith in the value of
discipline and in the knowledge to gain thereby, made disciples
reluctant to qualify for receiving psychic powers and for applying them
selflessly. Alien influence, its mind-set and later the age of reason
destroyed both faith and the desire for self-discipline to receive
power of the mind to cure diseases. The whole of the philosophy of
Sanaatana Dharma is an effort to convince the cynic that the
discoveries made by [15] The ancient treatise on occult powers or sid-dhis
is Patanjali’s Yogashastra or Patanjali’s Aphorisms. (See 280)
Eight well-known sid-dhis are these. 1. Animaa enables
a man to become invisible. 2. Mahimaa enables a man to
increase in his size. 3. Garimaa enables a man to make himself heavy. 4. Laghimaa enables a man
to make himself small. 5. Praapti
enables a man to secure whatever he wishes. 6. Praakaamya enables
a man to do as he wishes, from merging into the earth to flying in the
sky. 7. Eeshitaa enables a man to rule over men. 8. Vashitva
enables a man to make anyone dependent upon him. The range of these
powers shows the extent of temptation to a mind, which is not
controlled, disciplined and selfless. [16]
There are many other psychic powers such as creating matter,
transforming one thing into another of different ingredients, reading
another’s mind, seeing events far off, being physically present
simultaneously at two places far distant from each other, and so on.
One of them is parakaayaapravaysha or to be able to put one’s
own soul into a living or a dead body to make the latter alive. This is
to acquire a better body to replace one’s decrepit body for the
uninterrupted completion of one’s good work in and for the world. Death
is neither a punishment nor has it anything to do with age, health,
disease or sex. It is the end of our term on the earth. Many healthy
persons also die. Even embodied souls sometimes exchange living bodies.
Some yogis can attune themselves with another’s mind to know its
thoughts and experience its feelings. Some can influence events or can
live without food and water. Some can control the internal functions of
their body. Some can heal others by touch or even from a long distance.
These rare examples by highly advanced yogis show what is possible. For
demonstrated examples of sid-dhis, the reader is referred to the
"Living with Himalayan Masters" by Swami Ajay. The book gives examples
to show the capability of our purified mind. No yogi can keep his body
alive or in shape forever. Some powers to meet the need for their
selfless use come on their own to the selfless or to those who acquire
considerable control on their senses and the six passions and to the
holy men the world over who are mentally but not physically away from
the world. A human Incarnation of God has divinity manifest in him to
its maximum for his use. In all of us the same divinity is dormant. The
Incarnation demonstrates in His life in the form of benevolent miracles
of unimaginable proportions all cosmic and limitless divine powers
beyond those of any one or a group of yogis combined. [17] The
three gunas or modes are the three coexisting natures of Maya
that plays upon our mind through five senses and six passions. When we
are in control of them, these natures are dormant..
These natures give thought, action and thing qualities, dualities or
differences because they have only a role but no power or quality of
their own. (See Geetaa 17) The gunas are Satvaguna,
which prompts the pursuit of self-realization. Rajoguna prompts
action for the enjoyment of the objective world without particular
regard to the means for it. Tamoguna prompts sloth and
demoniacal acts. Since maya brings about or, creates the appearance
called the world and all activity in it, maya has the three modes to
manifest them in all dualities of the world. All our acts prompted by
the three gunas arise from desire and therefore result in our
bondage. For realizing God, our acts have to be free from the three gunas
in it. With faith in God’s love for us, we act without anxiety for
specific results, which we leave to God. By this dedication our act and
we become free from desire behind the act, which has the three gunas
in it. In practice, by dedication of all our acts to God, we reach
beyond the three gunas as advised in the instant couplets.
Chapter 18 of the Geetaa describes the three gunas or modes in
knowledge, karma and its doer, understanding, steadiness, happiness,
the Varnaashrama Dharma and other matters. The three modes also
bring about the dualities in everything that is perceptible or
conceivable. Dualities affect minds still under the control of maya or
ignorant of the Ultimate Reality. [18] The ratio of these three modes differs
from person to person and from time to time. The varying ratio gives us
individuality and observable nature and motivates our thoughts and
actions. When these modes are in harmony within us, dualities fade out,
maya diminishes, jnaana increases and we advance. When they are
in disharmony, dualities obstruct our advance. The harmony of seven
dark colours of the rainbow produces bright sunlight. Similarly, the
harmony of the three modes within us makes us alert to maya’s ways in
us, and strong to frustrate its inroads on us. The practice of da-yaa
(compassionate service of the needy), dama (control of the
senses and detachment) and dharma is said to take us beyond
these three modes. If we follow the lesson in 259, we
practise
dayaa, dama and dharma unconsciously and reach beyond the
modes. We become free from the bondage of perceiving only dualities,
differences or qualities of good or bad and thus acquire the
qualitylessness of Brahman. We thereby regain our oneness with It. (See
Geetaa [19] A little introspection shows that our
senses and passions in their play upon our mind give our mind the
character of the three modes. If we are alert, we find that we can
remain undisturbed by all if we somehow keep aloof from and be
unconcerned with the demands of senses and passions for things. We do
that by being content with what we have. These two attitudes of
alertness and aloofness are vivayka and vairaagya, respectively.
It is difficult to sustain these attitudes constantly. As with the
difficulty of observing a fast for the first time, gradual practice
advances us. We start our vairaagya and vivayka by
strengthening our habit to say no to any desire, which we can afford
but which we examine and find not really worthwhile. A mind free from
disturbance by desires for external objects becomes pure to realize
that our mind sees dualities of good and bad in things. Things are
intrinsically neither good nor bad but merely have a role. The
development of these attitudes and pursuit of selfless activity to
attain jnaana need society and not escape from it. [20] A man who loses interest in worldly things
is a detached person. To attempt to reduce desires or to make them
selfless by dedication to God is detachment. He who is unaffected by
dualities and is mentally a recluse is a non-attached person or a
sannyaasee. He who rejects even occult or psychic powers and the
three gunas is called a supremely non-attached person. In the Varnaashrama
Dharma the detached and the non-attached are generally the third
and fourth stages of a man’s life, respectively. (See Geetaa 5:3) For
our own happiness, we should develop mental not physical detachment
through all stages of Varnaashrama Dharma. [21] For Swami Ramakrishna, the sign of a man
of Knowledge is that his ego is just as that of a baby. It is beyond
the three gunas. One moment it is angry, the next, it laughs.
One moment it enjoys someone’s caress or mother’s lap, the next it has
forgotten both. One moment it is with playmates and the next it has
forgotten them. A baby remaining unaffected by anything around it, demonstrates the even-minded quality of a man
of Knowledge. A man who is buffeted by life easily appreciates a baby’s
state of the mind. A supremely non-attached person however reaches even
beyond Knowledge and ignorance as a baby who is unaware of both and
treats everything the same. Awareness of either revives the ‘ [22] Why should we as a seeker give up any
psychic or occult power to keep our non-attachment secure? We want, not
powers, but God, the all-powerful. When we seek Him, powers come to us
unasked. (See 107,
442)
Our
desire for, and interest in powers attaches
us to the world where alone we can demonstrate their use. Worldly
desires distance us from God. When we are away from powers and attached
to God, He gives the best for us. For His purpose and service, which
includes the role of a reformer such as Mahatma Gandhi, He gives us any
powers He thinks we should have. (See Geetaa 9:22) When grace makes us
self-sufficient, we need no powers to make up any deficiency. If we
attain liberation in life itself we neither want these powers nor abhor
them. If God wills, we use them to become His instrument for man’s
service, for example, a guru, a healer, a social service worker and so
on. (See Geetaa 5:3, 14:22-27) If we misuse powers and distance
ourselves from God, powers destroy us. [23] We need Knowledge to decide daily right
and wrong, the doable and not doable, conflicts between harmlessness
and protection of life or reputation and so on. There is no one rule to
decide all. The illiterate, the commoner and the wisest sometimes seek
guidance in their critical predicaments. To solve such daily human
problems, Arjuna asked Shree Krishna what Arjuna should do. His reply
was the discourse on jnaana in the Geetaa. The concise jnaana
of the Geetaa for our daily practice as gleaned from Tulaseedaasa is
attempted to be given here. We have to apply the test of Brahmajnaana
or seeing and treating all as one with us, i.e., offer our best
treatment to all in the first instance. We should motivate by love
everything we think or do. For that we should first carefully check and
purify our intent underlying the act lest any of the six passions
should prompt it. We should ensure that our action would hurt none and
help all. Then we surrender our past to God and resolve to eschew error
in future. We seek God’s protection against the repetition of similar
errors. We motivate our acts by love. We dedicate our act along with
the specific fruit we expect from the act, and surrender ourselves to
Him. (See 325
and
Geetaa 9:30) With a purified mind and this quick
critical self-examination and firmness of our faith in God, He becomes
the real and we the apparent doer of our acts. (See 252, 318)
Lastly,
we pray that if our intent be wrong, God may set it right or nullify
the act and its result both. (See 177, 275) After
this,
we act
fearlessly. The above steps destroy the baseless and unnatural fear of
sin and of God. If we act out of love, we reach beyond the above steps
and dharma and adharma both because love is God Himself
on earth. (See 241[18],
262) |
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Dedication
Reviews
An Appeal
Author's
Note
Arrangement
of Book
Hindi
Spellings
Table of
Contents
Tribute to
Gandhi
Introduction
The Raama
Story
Philosophy
Baalakaandda
Ayodhyakaandda
Aranyakaandda
Kishkindhaakaandda
Sundarakaandda
Lankaakaandda
Uttarakaandda
Index
Glossary
Proper
Names
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Appendices
Ghazal