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A Practical
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Uttarakaandda - Continued 408
Chaupaayi: Jo maayaa saba jagahi nachaavaa: jaasu charita
lakhi kaahu na paavaa:: 408.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Maya makes the entire world dance. None
can see or understand its doings. The play of Shree Raama's brow makes
maya dance along with her troupe." We saw in 407 how
maya sometimes makes us dance by making our passions overwhelming in
us. Yet maya has no power of its own. Its role for the sustenance of
the creation is through the power, inspiration and grace of God Who is
its controller. (See 239)
409
Dohaa: Bhagata haytu Bhagawaana Prabhu Raama dharay-u tanu
bhoopa:
409.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "God assumed the form of a King for his
devotees. In the manner of an ordinary man, He performed deeds for
human beings for their purification to show them that they could
also do those deeds by their emulating His life as a human being. An
actor uses dress and make up to display varying attitudes and performs
roles for each character in the play. But he does not become that
character." It is
brought out here that the yearning of Its devotees for Its vision
persuades the formless aspect of Brahman, the Godhead, to assume a
human form. This is because Brahman is a reality for our experience.
Simultaneously, It maintains Its formless aspect. This is because
without a human form, it is difficult for many to think of a formless
God as caring, loving and merciful and the personification of love, all
qualities associated with a human being. Yet when He appears in a human
form from time to time, many do not know Him or see Him as God. An
actor acts as a beggar, a king, or a woman, but does not become one.
Similarly, for His role, God acts as a prince in Shree Raama but
remains throughout God even when he appears to display human
weaknesses. In the same
way, we also play a part on the earth to resume our original Satchidaananda
reality thereafter. (See Geetaa 2:22) We have to remember our divine
reality and use it to secure others’ and through that our happiness. To
forget it and suffer, is our choice. (See 42[3, 6-13], 50) No
outside power can force us to suffer. Our ignorance of the law of karma
and of past acts makes us suffer. (See 30) The
expression of our divinity in compassionate service of the needy
invites God's grace to give us relief from suffering, perseverance for
sacrifice and service, and makes us the master of our good fate. (See 259)
The
relationship between God and His Incarnation and the latter's body is
shown here in Shree Raama. On the completion of His task, He casts
aside His physical body in the same way as we do. For us as a devotee,
a form, not the particular physical body of the Incarnation, is a
tangible reality forever for our experience and emulation. By following
lessons from Shree Raama’s life, we secure happiness for ourselves by
providing it to others and sharing ours with them. (See 259)
Pictures
and statues of old kings remind people of their rulers. God's embodied
form, described in hymns is that on which the devotee concentrates to
fix it in his heart. As His response in His grace, God appears in that
very form in person before the devotee as He did for Tulaseedaasa and
others. (See 155,
269,
411)
410
Chaupaayi: Jay mati-malina visha-ya-basa kaamee: Prabhu
para moha dharahin imi swaamee:: 410.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "The dull-witted engrossed in sensuous
desires think that God lives in ignorance caused by His attachment
to His creation. To think of God being attached or ignorant is
wrong. The wicked in their obstinacy lay their own ignorance upon God."
A miserable
man finds another comfortable and happy without any apparent
justification. To this man, God appears in darkness because He cannot
see injustice, which everybody can see. By understanding the law of
karma that the other's happiness is the result of his past good karma,
this man can take to correct deeds and surrender to God to secure
relief from his misery from God instead of blaming Him. 411
Dohaa: Nirguna roopa sulabha ati, saguna na jaanahin ko-yi: 411.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "It is very easy to accept the formless
aspect of God. None can however understand Him when He assumes a
visible form in a human Incarnation. It is because His deeds are simple
as well as mysterious. Hearing about them, doubts arise even in the
minds of spiritually advanced sages." Almost all
religions believe that God is imperceptible and formless. We can know
so little about God that we easily accept all that the formless God
does. We ask no questions. (See Geetaa 10:14, :19-42) So, God's
formless aspect is easy to accept. (See 65[2-15, 18,
20]) The
formless and imperceptible Godhead Brahman without any attributes, and
Its Incarnation, are both aspects of the
same Almighty God. God gives a divine vision of His indiscernible or
cosmic form to gods or devotees who earn His grace. Examples are, Shree
Raama to Kaushalyaa and Kaakabhushunddi, Shree Krishna to Arjuna in the
Mahaabhaarata and Vishnu Himself to Manu and Shataroopaa.
(See 83-85,
93, 423 and
Geetaa 11:52-54) Parabrahamaparamayshwara,
Paramaparamayshwara, Paramaatmaa, Eeshwara, Bhagwaana, Brahman, God, Allah,
Jehovah and as many names as man has ever coined for Him, are all names
of the same God Almighty who is the only one reality that there can be
and so is, without a second. Man also calls Him by names describing His
characteristics which man experiences by relating to Him, for example, Karunaanidhi,
Jnaana-swaroopa and Praymaswaroopa, that is, the
fountainhead of mercy, personification of Knowledge and of love,
respectively, and by other names. Reflecting His devotees' hearts, God
can have millions of names, which are equally powerful because God is
in the name in which we think of Him. A name of God that does not
express or visualize our concept, but that of another person appears to
us as void of power. It is not so. The same
God Almighty was also worshipped, loved and invoked by the name and in
the form of his concept by the cave man before any Incarnations or His
Messengers appeared or any religion was articulated. Vivekananda says,
‘Man is not travelling from error to truth, but from truth to truth,
from lower truth to higher truth.’ God has always been the same, loving
and responding in the form of a man's yearning for Him. Man's
perception of God changes. It accords with the advance and variety of
man's mental and spiritual capacity and environment. That advance and
variety too, is His gift by His choice. For the benefit of His devotees
and to satisfy their love, which binds Him to them, God becomes visible
in a human form as an Incarnation because He is the reality. (See 101, 409) When
God appears on the earth in a human body, His deeds are also human to
the extent possible. Only the few whose
yearning for God has brought them close to Him and are therefore
spiritually advanced, recognize the Incarnation as a form of God's full
manifestation. All others treat Him as an ordinary human being. (See
Geetaa It is our
right to test an Incarnation of God for our satisfaction by our own
experience as we test a guru. God is limitless and cannot be hurt by
our testing or by other means. Even a mother is not hurt by her baby’s tantrum’s, teasing and testing; she loves it the
more for it. We should not be swayed by hearsay or others' unhappy
experience. This is because each person's experience of God in His
Incarnation is to the limit of his low or high nature or spirituality,
which differs in each. (See 101) Our
right of testing arises from God's gift of our mind for observation and
experience for our discrimination and safety for life. (See Geetaa
18:63) Some of
Shree Raama's human acts as God's Incarnation are apparently confusing.
For example, Shree Raama allowed the washer man, along with other
critics of his ilk, to remain comfortably settled in Ayodhyaa. On his
false allegation however against Seetaa's chastity after her
imprisonment by Raavana, Shree Raama exiled her from Ayodhyaa.
Similarly, Vibheeshana and Sugreeva were installed as kings and
committed the same crime, namely, to keep the brother's wife, for which
Shree Raama punished Baali with death. It is cheeky for us to say that
God is subject to the law or laws He made. It is because we can know so
little about either. We cannot limit His omnipotence, supremacy and
administration of His laws by our imagination because we can never
imagine the totality of factors that God takes into account for His
decision. 411A
Chaupaayi: Charita Raama kay saguna Bhavaanee: Shiva said
to Paarvatee, "Shree Raama's actions as an Incarnation of God cannot
be explained by arguments." Maya and the law of karma in Shree
Raama's control make human beings sometimes act in a manner that we
cannot understand. What appears to us as imperfections in His conduct
are a part of His play acting. God has not
given us His secret to know the reason for all. (See 36, 147-148) A number of
doubts and questions are raised about the activities of God in His
Incarnation but none about those of the formless God. So it is easy to
accept the formless God but difficult to concentrate upon, and attain
Him. (See 241[9,
30, 35]) On the other hand, it is difficult to understand the
activities of God in His Incarnation. However, any form of deep
devotion to Him can easily attain Him. (See 150-168, 244-248, 263-268)
The ignorant treat as invalid this concept of God's apparently two
separate aspects and roles. They also appear contradict-ory in some
ways. God creates this ignorance through maya. Even those
who recognize the Incarnation as God Himself as Vaalmeeki did, admit
that they do not understand His ways. In the Mahaabhaarata,
Bheeshma Pitaamah, the embodiment of renunciation, could not understand
why, even with Shree Krishna by their side, Paanddava Princes suffered
so much. (RK 398) The Shree
Raamacharita Maanasa and Chapter 12 of the Geetaa, both emphasize
devotion to God in a personal form. Some of those who, while living,
gain Knowledge of their identity with Brahman also experience the
supreme bliss of devotion to the Incarnation of God. (See 234)
Shankaraachaarya, the exponent of Advaita, prescribed that for
the Advaitic path of Knowledge, a seeker should purify his mind
through the path of deeds and of devotion to the Personal God. (See 241[23])
Shankaraachaarya apparently tasted the sweetness of devotion in this Advaitic
dream world, which also secured purification of the mind. This may have
been also a reason for him to prescribe it. For those
who do not accept that the imperceptible and formless God can also
assume a form, it is said, 411B
Chaupaayi: Jinha kay aguna na saguna bibaykaa: jalapahin
kalpita bachana anaykaa:: Those
who have not realized the truth of either of the two aspects of God,
fabricate gossip. Maya makes them run from pillar to post, in search of peace. They
can say anything on the subject. Believers should leave them
alone. (See 464)
According
to the Book, to sustain trust and faith in God, it is necessary for us
to think about God and understand as much as possible about both His
aspects because God who can bring about or make the unreal creation
appear to us as a reality, can do many things including becoming a
human being as an Incarnation. Without understanding the limitlessness
of what God can do and contemplation on it, faith does not develop in
many questioning minds in devotion to the personal God in Shree Raama.
(See 41, 60) The book,
however, repeats that the path of devotion to the personal God also
leads to Knowledge of and our identity with the impersonal Godhead
Brahman. (See 400, 442) The
understanding of the two aspects of God is possible by the harmony of
the heart and the intellect, which is common sense. The heart needs a
form of God to love and the intellect needs to understand God's
reality, which can be formless. Common sense enjoys their oneness
within us. When thinking of God, it visualizes the imperceptible God in
a glorious and majestic human form, which alone can be merciful to,
forgiving and loving us in response to our yearning for Him. The
followers of Sanaatana Dharma merely accepted this common sense
visualization of God. On experience by men of a purified heart and
mind, they found the visualization to be true in the form of an
Incarnation of God because He is real to respond to our love. Those of
the impure minds cannot recognize God even in their dream. They deride
and oppose Him. All errors of atheism, apostasy, blasphemy and
denigration of any concept of God arise from ignorance of our reality.
Ignorance and its products are not sins. (See 211, 252,
298)
After
all, what we are after is bliss and peace and the Master who can give
it to us. Be He with form or without, it is our choice for our
experience by the mind, which He gave us. We also know that our mind
cannot restrict His power to the limit of our imagination. We reach Him
by somehow remembering Him, which is what the Shree Raamacharita
Maanasa and the Geetaa recommend as the easiest way out of the many
that are available. This way has been available since the earliest man
could think for God to respond because He was a reality for him.
Remaining alert to the signs of a major or minor Incarnation of God, we
may meet Him in the form of a human being at any time in our life, if
He so wills. (See 65[9, 18], 385) God
is the same, one for all religions, and we can reach Him through any of
them. Man reached Him or He reached man before any faith was
articulated because He is for all and forever. God
can do all, from a famine to the life giving spring for believers at
Lourdes in France, from creating Hitlers, Stalins and wars to the
sending of prophets and apostles of love and peace. According to the
Book, God responds to a man in the way he seeks Him. (See 101) A
vision of God in person is not a myth but an actual spiritual
experience. (See Geetaa By God's
grace, a proof of the vision of God in an embodied form is found in 412
Chaupaayi: Sunahu Raama kara sahaja subhaa-oo: jana
abhimaana na raakhahin kaa-oo:: 412.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "It is Shree Raama's nature that He does
not allow pride to remain in His devotees. It is the root of all manner
of suffering and grief including that of rebirths." Pride has
two significant forms. The first is the feeling that I am my body and
the doer of my deeds separate from and independent of God. This often
keeps us ignorant of our own divinity or oneness with God and keeps us
away from continual bliss in life. (See 30, 66) Shree Raama
showed us how to avoid the pride of the doer. On Parashuraama's anger
at the breaking of Shiva's bow, Shree Raama claimed no credit. He
humbly said that Vishvaamitra knew its time was up. Being old, it just
broke. We avoid pride, if we claim no credit for and treat all our
success as God's grace and all possessions and acquisitions as His
trust with us. Thereby we just admit the myriad factors beyond our
control that caused them or can deprive us of them. The second
form of pride arises from the feeling of ‘I' and ‘mine.' It sometimes
makes us selfish. It attaches us to possessions. It seeks sensuous
pleasures. It unscrupu-lously pursues name, fame and power. It creates
desire and lust in us. The non-fulfilment of desires causes anger and
fulfilment, greed for more desires. Both cause unhappiness and
sometimes heinous acts here that bind us to a rebirth. This is how one
passion pride generates four passions. We can get rid of this pride by
understand-ing our reality and that uncontrolled desires are the cause
of all our sorrow, that what we are after in the world is ephemeral and
that our objective is continual bliss through humility before God and
selflessness in our daily conduct to recollect our divinity. 413
Chaupaayi: Jimi sisu-tana brana ho-yi gusaa-yeen: maatu chiraava
katthin ki naa-yeen:: 413.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "A mother heartlessly cuts open the boil
on her baby's body for its rapid healing. Similarly, Shree Raama
destroys pride for the devotee's good." Satisfaction
of pride gives us temporary happiness but pride obstructs continual
happiness. So, for our rapid progress, God removes pride from us.
Temporary happiness arises from family, money, status, fame, power,
achievements and selfish pursuits. He makes us lose any of them, which
causes pride, which obstructs our progress. This loss pains us. Freed
from pride and attachments to unreliable objects, however, we advance
rapidly to a different form and higher level of continual bliss and on
to self-realization. The lesson
is that to secure our cherished effort, achievements and possessions,
we should never allow pride to arise from any of them. We can be proud
even of our devotion to God. For avoiding pride, we should always
remind ourselves that all we have or acquired, including our physical
and mental prowess, is a form of God's grace. All belongs to Him and we
hold all in trust from Him. In fact, we cannot claim that we own even
our body and brain when we cannot control for a moment even their
physiological functioning. It is for God to keep all objects,
facilities or successes with us or not. This sustained attitude of
reality of God's ownership and grace, does not allow any pride to arise
in us from anything. This attitude replaces our attachment to or pride
from things with a link to God. For our progress, He provides and keeps
secure what is best for us and frees us from all kinds of insecurity.
(See Geetaa 9:22) The
gratification of ego needs food in the form of appreciation, approval,
encouragement and love. These are necessary for small innocent
children. As they grow, we should desist from giving them this food and
also from always finding faults in them. Instead, we should give them
only love and suggestions for betterment in a pleasant manner. We
should make them forget their achievement and fix their attention on
the next objective toward perfection. If this hunger of ego is allowed
or encouraged to persist by praising our children, it is to children's
detriment when they grow up. As performance of duty invites no praise,
duty unconsciously falls to low priority in their make up.
Incidentally, parental praise for a child, besides being self-praise in
a way, may create jealousy, inferiority complex and other problems for
siblings. (See 356) The discipline of Brahmacharya in
adolescence ensured alertness to pride and evenness to praise or blame.
Once wisdom dawns on us that we must get rid of pride, we stop
gratification of our ego by expecting or seeking appreciation. We do
this by concentrating on our objective, attributing all our success to
God and mentally detaching ourselves from the objective world, which
alone can praise us to feed our ego and pride. In other words, we try
to be unaffected and free from our environment. (See Geetaa 9:22) (A
Lesson) 414
Chaupaayi: Jnaana akhandda ayka Seetaabara: maayaa basya
jeeva sacharaachara:: 414.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Shree Raama personifies the one and only
Knowledge that there is which is indivisible. All animate or inanimate
creatures are ignorant under the control of maya. If all men acquire
that one Knowledge that there is, there will be no difference between
man and God. Man is proud, not knowing that He is controlled by maya.
God controls maya with all its modes. Man is dependent and God is the
independent controller of maya. Men are innumerable, God is one. The
difference between the reality of God and man is a mayaic illusion. Even
after trying to get rid of it, this illusion persists. Only God's
grace frees a man from this illusion." [1] Maya
makes us think that we are the doer of our deeds, independent of God
and separate in reality from all others. This is our ignorance. (See 66) If so,
what is the indivisible and only one Knowledge
referred to in these couplets? [2]
Knowledge is of two kinds. One is apara Vidyaa or knowledge of
what is outside us or of objects, matter and energy or of nature around
us. The other is para Vidyaa or subjective Knowledge of our
within or our inmost Self one with Universal Consciousness and with
unlimited cosmic energy for our selfless use. Para Vidyaa
extends from our senses and conscious mind to pre-conscious,
subconscious and super conscious mind beyond the senses. It is more
than scriptural knowledge and includes psychology, metaphysics,
spirituality, faith and experience. (See Geetaa 7:4-5) The changing
objective knowledge and the unchanging subjective knowledge are as the
wings of a bird. The former is also the superstructure on the
foundation of the latter. Goddess Saraswatee presides over both kinds
of knowledge, which are complementary and necessary for a life of bliss
and harmony in a healthy society. [3] A
semi-scientific mind confines itself to the knowledge of things around
man and a completely scientific mind inquires also into the inside of
man, the working of his mind, its depth, its reach beyond the senses
and its capacity to tap cosmic power. A scientific mind tries to find
the answer to both the questions ‘how' and ‘why' in relation to both
inside and outside of man. If the scientist goes into only the ‘how' of
things around us and the humanist or spiritualist goes only into the
‘why' inside us then both are semi-scientific. The spiritualist and the
scientist should both respect each other and venture simultaneously
into both fields and benefit from the progress of the other. This
integration of our internal with the external being makes use of the
reach of our mind through and beyond the senses. This reach of the mind
is otherwise limited to objects perceptible through the senses. The
wisdom of this integration waits for its dawn in many minds today. So
also awaits the wisdom to tie all subjects of study to the aprons of
that philosophy which emphasizes the value of spiritual life to secure
material prosperity with continual bliss all round.
Indians lived in this philosophy and made the subcontinent a world
leader in prosperity for centuries before the Christian era and for
more than a millennium and a half thereafter. [4] We gain
the knowledge of physical sciences by a methodology for inert matter
and energy. Often methodology changes to result oriented statistics
presented as expert knowledge. The scientist gains knowledge also from
a businessman, a lawyer or a statesman. The attitude of humble and
purposeful inquiry or sincere critical thought, not necessarily
methodology, is necessary for knowing our inmost Self. Both kinds of
knowledge, the outer and inner, are based
on experiences of different kinds. Vivekananda says that there are
mystics all over the world who teach religion from experience. As
mathematicians they do not differ. Their uniform experiences become
law. The mystic reads the book of the metaphysical world, or of the
world within, and the scientist, the book of the physical world or of
the world outside us. Both are sometimes ignorant of the other's
subject. (Complete Works, Vol. VI, p. 81) [5] The
reach of the five senses and of the scientific instruments limits our
objective knowledge. A blind man's knowledge is less than that of the
one with sight. With one sense more, our knowledge will be more. Indian
sages discovered that by the control of our senses, which takes our
awareness beyond objects perceptible through them, we can make our
mental power and horizon of knowledge unlimited. Emotions, feelings,
impact of experience and will are all outside the reach of the
senses. [6] The
sharpness of senses and precision of instruments increase our objective
knowledge. Till recently, nothing was smaller than an atom. Today it is
not. Always limited by our senses, objective knowledge is not
all-encompas-sing and unchanging one. We have to rediscover for our
selfless use that the mind, when purified is one with God It is then
the source of all knowledge and power in the universe. We have to
realize that thought of a purified mind
produces energy, that energy produces matter, and that pure thought can
create matter and can hold it together. To experience this should be
the aim of metaphysics today. Through
deep study and faith in religion, some modern western thinkers are now
aware of the oneness of man with God. Without possessing this knowledge
through its experience, the thinkers can only point to benefit from
this knowledge through trust in God through religion. The Indian rishis
discovered the oneness of the reality of man with the reality of God
before any religion was articulated. The rishis discovered methods to
make use of this truth without need to be inhibited by any religion as
we understand religion today. Uninhibited by any set of beliefs called
religion, the rishis’ discovery was for human beings as such. The
rishis showed the universal and perennial verities that needed to be
understood for conviction in the methods for success by their use. This
conviction honoured the core of every religion that is love. The author
is unaware if the West has probed into those methods to attain the
Knowledge of oneness that is referred to in the instant couplets. The
rishis discovered and experienced that this Knowledge bestowed
limitless cosmic power available for selfless use to the mind. [7] Each
door opened by science discovers ten closed doors. Science can discover
and manipulate the already existing but not create new elements or
anything else from what does not exist. We have to reach a stage where
nothing remains for us to know or a question, present or imaginable,
remains for a satisfactory answer or where a satisfactory explanation
of anything is not forthcoming. That stage of unchanging objective
knowledge will be total objective knowledge beyond which there is
nothing to know. That knowledge is a part of the one Knowledge referred
to in the instant couplets; the whole comprises objective and
subjective knowledge, which is unchanging and one with the unchanging
reality underlying the world we perceive. Our limited perception
changes with its expansion; the object of perception, the truth or
reality, does not correspondingly change. We do not know how long we
have to wait for an answer to the last why in objective knowledge.
Besides, objective knowledge is total or one only for one moment. The
next moment it is different or expanded. [8] When
dealing with matter on specific premises, science is exact and
predictable as mathematics and physics. It is inexact where premises
cannot be controlled. It is incorrect to apply the reasoning or
methodology for the study of matter and energy to the study of human
beings with changing emotions and having consciousness of changing
relationship with beings and the Creator. [8A] A
little thought shows that a skill and a certain amount of literacy are
all that we need for a livelihood. These two are neither education nor
its objective. The objective is character for living as human beings
above our animal heritage of uncontrolled passions in us. Education
merely for a livelihood is also not total objective (apara) and
subjective (para) knowledge (vidyaa) nor wisdom. Wisdom
needs necessarily neither literacy nor skill. Wisdom needs acquisition
of virtues. The value of any virtue is experienced by faith, for
example, in the law of karma, and cannot be tangibly proved by logic.
So, character that rests on virtues cannot be taught by scientific
methods. That is why there is no course of study as important as
mathematics and languages for teaching of character or acquisition of
virtues in any modern university. Acquisition of virtue, character and
wisdom and to live in them need self sacrifice and disciplines which do
not command the requisite importance in modern thinking to qualify us
for para vidyaa. [9] The absence of para Vidyaa or
knowledge beyond the objective knowledge, and the influence of maya
make our view of the world limited to what we desire to see, experience
or believe. So, technocrats sometimes manipulate facts, arguments and
situations for selfish purposes. We cannot secure total objective
knowledge with the help of means, which are subordinate to our desires.
(See 272[1-10,
13, 14]) We do accept that there is total and true knowledge. Knowledge
of some and ignorance of many things are thus always with us. We can
however be conscious of one at a time to create the illusion that we
are either ignorant or knowledgeable. We do not know how long this
ignorance will be with us. Therefore the present objective knowledge
cannot be the one knowledge mentioned in the instant couplets. [10] The
noble objective of science is freedom from some inconvenience and
discomfort of man, freedom from some diseases and a little control over
environment. In Sanaatana Dharma it is a folly to decry scientific
advancement. The scientist also does God’s work and often with
dedication to God. Objective science and useful knowledge of any kind
were welcome and therefore pursued by sages in ancient [11] We
have to remember that physical sciences answer only the question ‘how'
and not ‘why.' Sciences deal with the tangible and explain how things
happen and not why they so happen. In life, we deal with intangibles as
character, likes and dislikes, emotions of love, hate and fear and the
power of six uncontrolled passions. Before we act in response to them,
we almost invariably ask why should we do
what we do. In life, more important than how is the question why. The
answer to why determines our intent, which brings consequences of our
doings, which can be suffering. If our mind is full of love and virtue,
the answer to why is different from that from a mind without them. A
satisfactory answer to why makes our intent beneficial for all. It is a
mark of civilization. The answer to why as the philosophy of the
greatest good of the greatest number is barbaric. This philosophy often
benefits some and is the cause of harm to the minority of the poor and
weak in affluent society. Its classic example is the economics of
trickle down of affluence which goes on making the rich richer in the
false hope that it will make the poor proportionately better off. A
satisfactory answer to the question ‘how' produces things for comfort
and to ‘why,' a mark of vivayka, produces humanness and
happiness for all which nears divinity. The answer to why is found in para
Vidyaa. [12] If we
do not insist upon the why for a satisfactory answer, the products of
how, namely, scientific gadgetry, produce atomic and other weapons of
war. Unsatisfactory answer to why makes the weapons-of-war industry a
major pillar of some advanced nations’ economies. The trade in its
products, which includes land mines, causes more than a thousand, often
innocents, killed and many more maimed a day in the world since the end
of the Second World War. Yet some of these merchants of death and
cruelty claim to be civilized nations. The counsels of many rulers of
states today lose sight of the separate significance of ‘how' and ‘why'
for gaining true knowledge. [13]
Unfortunately the modern system of education has no universal
curriculum as mathematics and economics are, to teach us the knowledge
we desperately need. This knowledge will transform us from sometimes
being the slaves of our passions to enjoy the pleasures of animals as
pride, dominance, food, sex and sleep, to becoming masters of our
passions forever to enjoy the pleasures of a superior mind and
intellect of a human being. There is no universal curriculum to raise
our level for a closer, all embracing, warmer and peaceful human
society, which is in reality a family, which comes out of God as the
only reality that there is. There is no
continuing leadership commanding respect to persuade us that the use of
scientific advance is for everyone's benefit and not for patents for
selfish use often against the weak. In short, there is no universal
syllabus for making us what God intended us to be, that is, in His own
image to be perfect and the personification of love as He is for saint
and sinner. (See 205)
[14] One of
the main reasons for the absence of such a curriculum is that we cannot
prove tangibly its value by pure reason and logic nor can we
demonstrate it by tangible data. We cannot logically prove the value of
any virtue that good results from goodness,
that love unites and its absence divides men or that virtue is its own
reward, that we have animal tendencies in us and that they can be
changed to human and divine by our effort and so on. These concepts and
all virtuous conduct are based on belief in their value. A belief
without so-called scientific proof is not acceptable in the age of
reason, which dawned five centuries ago. This age therefore tends to
reject any course of instruction or curriculum not sustainable by
reason and logic. So, no curriculum for teaching true values and the
science of harmonious living is welcome in a university today. The dawn
of the attainment of knowledge for our transformation for peace through
love of all has to wait in the civilized world. [15] In the
absence of right knowledge through correct education, we act on
prejudices instead of using discrimination. We limit our love for ours
and remain away from others. So, we remain away from God as a plaything
of our six passions and continue with our suffering. (See 30) [16]
Against this, to make students fit for life, to become one with that
one Knowledge which is the source of continual happiness for all around
them, Indian sages allocated correct
priorities. They taught young students the right Knowledge of the Self
to acquire continual bliss and harmony for society. The students also
advanced in science for physical comfort as a corollary. They also
learnt skills for earning a livelihood. All that knowledge needed the
discipline of Brahmacharya to control their senses and passions
and maintain that control throughout life. That knowledge, as
Vivekananda said, was the ‘manifestation of perfection already within
man.' (See 42)
The discipline developed selflessness to secure happiness of
contentment and peace for others first. The sages showed students that
with minimum physical comfort all could secure supreme happiness of a
placid mind and contentment in self through a body kept healthy by a
purified mind. Even with our maximum physical comfort and better
control over environment, which science provides for us today, we do
not secure for all this happy state of our body and mind. [17]
Students disciplined in Brahmacharya could exemplify perfection
for people to emulate. (See Geetaa 3:21) Students could show that
reason, not trained by correct education and a mind stuffed with
information not of instant relevance for each member of a healthy
society and for all the time, deprived morality and ethics of their
universal care and compassion by restricting them to ours and ignoring
others. (See 240[5-7])
Logic can and sometimes does become an instrument for selfishness and
greed to cause deprivation and poverty for many. Incorrectly educated
but advanced civil and military professionals in powerful positions, caused the genocide of two great wars
and a cold war for half a century with all the misery for the needy on
both sides. [18]
Through Brahmacharya, we secure the means for acquiring correct
subjective Knowledge of the Self or aatmajnaana. This Knowledge
provides all that society needs for its healthy and blissful living.
This was the reason for Indian non-aggression beyond border of the
subcontinent and prosperity within for millenniums. This is the one
Knowledge referred to in the instant couplets. We gain it only after we
achieve control over our desires and mental detachment from worldly
attractions and pleasures except for minimal comfort for the
preservation of our body and race. After that, we find our happiness
also in seeing others happy and making them happy. This universal
happiness is a sign of what should be called civilization and culture.
That is how we unconsciously live in the Knowledge of our divinity.
(See 42[3,
6-13] and Geetaa [19]
Scientific knowledge and the knowledge of the Vedas, the Upanishads and
Shastras are both of the lower type or apara Vidyaa. The
Knowledge of the Self, Brahman and all the abstract and eternal, is of
the higher type or para Vidyaa. For the higher knowledge we
have to turn inside to realize our identity with Brahman through
self-discipline. One who gains that Knowledge in life finds that all
subjects and objects in all universes are in Brahman. Brahman, maya and
human soul are all one in Brahman and always remain so. They appear
separate due to our ignorance. After knowing fully the unity of Brahman
there is no object or concept outside it that remains for us to know.
(See Geetaa 7:21) This unity means that the process of knowing, the
‘knower' and Knowledge become one. This is Universal Consciousness or
Brahman. This oneness is the ‘only' indivisible and unchanging
Knowledge mentioned in the instant couplets. After attaining this
knowledge, all kinds of ignorance disappears
for ever. (See 148)
One who
attains this Knowledge casts off consequences of all his good or bad
deeds or the dirt on his soul and the cause of and his ignorance,
suffering and rebirth. (See 400 and
Geetaa 4:37) A man of this one Knowledge often lives in the world as a guru, or in society for its selfless service as a
karmayogi of the Geetaa, or in forests as a recluse to
pray for the welfare of humanity. (See Geetaa 5:25) The seeker of this
Knowledge or Brahmajnaana lives in the world as a happier and
more contented man than before he set on this path. All objective and
scientific knowledge to its farthest extent as known to mankind is also
a part of Brahman and not outside It. One has to ask a Brahmajnaanee
if he also possesses objective knowledge. The Author is unable to
comment except to point out that had Brahmajnaana not been more
precious for each seeker and for human society as a whole than
objective knowledge, ancient Indian sages would not have given a
secondary place to objective knowledge and preeminence to Brahmajnaana.
Without many acquiring Brahmajnaana and by almost all people
practising it by emulating them, [20]
Incidentally, we lost a lot of subjective and objective knowledge for
public benefit discovered in [21] The
question is, can a man get what he wants on
attaining Brahmajnaana? The answer is 'yes' inasmuch as after
this knowledge a man gets finally what he finds as the highest for him
and society, that is, all that is needed and much more. (See Geetaa
9:22) According to the experience of sages recorded in sacred books of
Sanaatana Dharma, the bliss of Brahmajnaana or reaching God in
person is indescribable. It is not possible to acquire Brahmajnaana
without selflessness of sowing bliss for those we can reach
or society. So even a wee bit of selfishness keeps us away from Brahmajnaana
and its bliss. A Brahmajnaanee’s example causes a ripple for
the betterment of society and transformation of many of its members. If
any desire remained unfulfilled, the bliss could not be indescribable.
Nor is any bliss indescribable if the environment in which this bliss
is available is unhappy. So the bliss by an individual had to be
expansive beyond his self for society. (See 234 and
Geetaa 6:21-23) [22] If the
answer to the question, ‘can a man get what he wants on attaining Brahmajnaana,
were no,' Indian sages would have given it up long ago and would not
have advised anyone to seek it. Obviously the bliss from the practice
of Brahmajnaana is better than by any other means. It increases
by sharing it in congenial company or satyasanga. Ancient
Indian sages went through self-imposed austerities for discovering for
humanity how to secure this blissful knowledge for the benefit of all.
Despite advancement, objective knowledge by itself neither gives that
indescribable bliss nor fulfilment nor contentment to all its seekers
to the end of their search. For fulfilment, many have to turn inside
themselves. The scientist's and scholar's introspection or inquiry into
Self are often found more blissful than their professional or worldly
achievements. Common sense, morality, compassion and all virtues are in
the subjective make up of man. [23] A
beginning needs to be made in They learnt
the disciplines and methods to surface the dormant limitless potential
of the mind for our use. This use is for humanity’s betterment by
freedom from fear, disease and want. These disciplines and methods are
not Hindu but basic practical philosophy for all. The availability of
the limitless power of the mind is not receiving the importance it
deserves in metaphysics in other countries. The word Hindu means one
who remains away from violence. This word as defining any group of
people did not exist for the rishis. Rishis’ discoveries were for man
as man and not for any group of people confined to any region. The
study of these subjects free from religious prejudices can make the
western educated Indian minds see how the Indian heritage of the spirit
can be revived for the good of humanity. The [24] For
acquiring total knowledge, Swami Ramakrishna advises us to meet the
Creator first. As a benign landlord, He will tell us all that we want
to know about His creation, and the how and why of everything to make
our knowledge complete, final and indivisible. 415
Chaupaayi: Nija sid-dhaanta sunaava-un tohee: suni
mana dharu saba taju bhaju mohee:: 415. Shree
Raama said to Kaakabhushunddi, "I shall tell you my principle.
Please bear it carefully in mind. Leave aside all other beliefs,
means, hopes, or what you rely upon, for your wellbeing and security, and
continuously recite my name and worship me. I repeat that none
is dearer to me than my devotee who serves me. Whether it is a man,
eunuch, woman, a male or female being, sentient or insentient, whoever
gives up hypocrisy and remembers me in a spirit of devotion, is most
endearing to me." The words,
‘leave aside,' refer to our anxiety for the success of our effort for
our security and advancement and the beliefs underlying that effort. We
should dedicate all to God. (See 270 and
Geetaa 12:20, 18:66) In the couplets, which occur in the Book before
the third couplet in above, Shree Raama is shown to have said, ‘All
sentient and insentient beings are created by me. All are dear to me.
Of all of them, I like human beings most. Among them, Brahmins, among
Brahmins, those who know the Vedas, among those, those who apply Vedic
knowledge to their daily conduct, among those, those who are detached
from worldly objects, among those, those who have acquired Knowledge or
jnaanees, among those, those who have the experience of
that Knowledge or vijnaanees, and among those, those who become
my slaves by their choice with no other refuge for them than me, are
dear to me. Among all, my devotee, however, who dedicates himself
voluntarily to me in complete service, is dearest to me.’ (See 227 and
Geetaa 12:20) This
statement does not mention or recognize the hierarchy in the caste
system in Hinduism. A Brahmin here is one who is described in 157.
The hierarchy of castes is away from, and only His devotees are nearer
and dearer to God than a vijnaanee. Examples of such devotees
were forest woman Shabaree, the ferry-man Kayvatt and the chief of a
forest tribe Guha, all backward, illiterate and, in the hierarchy of
caste, the lowest in society. Devotion is equally available to all
because God does not withhold His love from any. The
classification above among His seekers seems to make even Shree Raama
divide human beings into grades for His love. It is not so. For
example, Indian sages ‘were of five grades of greatness: Pandits,
Rishis, Raajarishis, Mahaarishis
and Brahmarishis.’ (BS 7 143) They had no affiliations or
prejudices, ambition or avarice, had love for humanity and compassion
for the distressed. Janaka was a Raajarishi and Vasishttha a Brahmarishi.
We classify men into grades; God doesn't. The
gradations among men here are stages on the path for reaching God.
Shree Raama's response in the increase in love signifies His
appreciation of the aspirant's effort. When He called his devotees as
the dearest among all, He levelled all for His equal availability to
all. God taught His dharma and established His relationship
with man as love before man invented language. (See 262) God
does not choose, but loves and cares for the believer, the sinner, the
atheist, the infidel and even one who opposes Him because all are God's
own children. (See 211) God shows
His love for all equally in many ways. God’s response accords with the
relationship one establishes with, and one's attitude toward Him. (See 34, 101 and
Geetaa Why has the
devotee who voluntarily surrenders himself as a slave been called
dearest to God? Such a devotee dedicates all his deeds and himself to
God. He is immersed in one-sided love of God. His total reliance upon
God binds Him to nourish and care for him. Anyone can develop this love
for God. (See 360, 416)
To think of
inequality of treatment in God is ignorance. Ignorance arises from our
seeing apparent injustice and not understanding that it results from
the law of karma. Everyone has one's own concept of God, which is his
religion and reaches Him in the end. (See 101 and
Geetaa 9:18) A nonbeliever is welcome to his belief. If, however, he
questions God giving joy only to believers, how can he know the doings
of what to him is a nonentity? (See 464)
It is an
important concept of omnipresence of God that God is for the insentient
as rock, space, time, and energy and for anything that may exist beyond
our knowledge and imagination. We do not know in what manner
omnipresence operates as God's relationship with the insentient.
Sanaatana Dharma believes in omnipresence because there can be and
therefore there is only one reality to underlie, pervade, control and
integrate from either inside or outside or both all that comprises the
creation. Our imagination stretches to our relationship with God. So,
we can only say that God has the same relationship with the insentient.
That is how it is put in these couplets. (See 267)
416
Chaupaayi: Bhagati-heena Biranchi kina ho-yee: saba jeevahu
sama priya mohi so-yee:: 416. Shree
Raama continued, "I assure you that if Brahmaa had no devotion to me
in him, he would be as dear to me as any other being. But if the lowest
creature that breathes or exists is devoted to me, it is as
dear to me as my life." Kaakabhushunddi
declined Shree Raama's offer of Knowledge, detachment from worldly
attractions and salvation, which were the qualities and the objective,
respectively, which many sages aspired for. It also declined all
psychic powers, which those attached a little to the world desired.
Kaakabhushunddi, requested for the boon of continual and undiminishing
devotion to Shree Raama. God loves
all including the atheist, averse to God and the sinner. Yet the lower
the physical form of a being, its spiritual situation or its attitude,
the greater the distress for it, the more difficult for it to think of
God and the longer the distance it has to travel to reach or attract
Him. This is how it appears. (See 267) In
the couplet, the words, the lowest creature that breathes, refer to
this very low physical form of life. The words also refer to our
extremely distressful life, which is somewhat akin to that low form of
being. (See 344)
If even against such odds, a man is devoted to Shree Raama, He responds
by loving him more than Brahmaa. As a mother to her sick child, the
greater a man's distress the greater is God's response to his love for
Him. The cause of distress sin or infidelity was immaterial. (See 227, 252, 261, 275, 318 and
Geetaa 9.32) If we
translate the above concept of God's response to our distress in modern
times, it becomes this. Many of us feel that our situation is
difficult. Our environment is adverse. Obstacles to our selflessness
and benevolence for all are insuperable. Our effort to be virtuous in
hostile surrounding appears futile. We feel as helpless as a baby who
has none to look but to its mother. In this situation, if we turn to
God with faith, His concern for us is greater than for one who is not
so distressful. God gives us the strength for success in any honourable
aim we set before us. The life, times and success of Mahatma Gandhi
against odds demonstrate this success by his faith in God and in living
in Sanaatana Dharma, or the universal religion for man as man. In the
beginning, only a few among millions in 417
Soratthaa: Binu guru ho-yi ki jnaana jnaana ki ho-yi biraaga binu: 417.
Kaakabhushunddi said to Garurha, "How can a man acquire Knowledge
without the help of a guru or without non-attachment? The Vedas and the
Puranas declare that a man cannot get happiness without devotion to
God." To be
a student of Knowledge we are said to need four qualifications: right
discrimination, right dispassion, right conduct and right desire. We
have to give up the last trace of worldliness and attain control over
our desires as a recluse (but without necessarily becoming one). (See 318) We
can do that when we realize that desires are unending. By example and
experience, a guru explains to us why and how to become qualified for
gaining Knowledge. Thus, a guru is also necessary for many of us.
For modern
scientific education, the teacher has importance. After a stage above
the elementary and in the teacher's absence, we can acquire almost all
recorded modern knowledge and research into it with the help of books
and laboratories. The teacher does not always experience the subject or
experiment upon himself to demonstrate a concept, which cannot be
adequately expressed in words. For
attaining Knowledge through the path of Advaita, through yoga
or self-discipline, an aspirant needs a guru at almost every step. (See
87)
When a disciple fails to understand and the guru feels that the
disciple needs to experience the validity of a precept, the guru
demonstrates that by tangible experiments, which the guru has
sometimes to do even upon himself. It is not possible to record wholly
the techniques of the path of Knowledge and self-discipline. There are
no instruments for this path. An evolved guru is necessary but a rarity
today. Swami
Ramakrishna says, ‘Anyone and everyone cannot be a guru...‘ Therefore
in every age God incarnates Himself as the guru, to teach humanity. Satchidaananda
alone is the guru... ‘A man can teach only if God reveals Himself to
him and gives the command. How forceful are the words of such a
teacher? But mere lectures? People listen to them for a few days and
then forget them. They will never act upon mere words. One must not
look on one's guru as a mere human being: it is Satchidaananda
Himself who appears as a guru. When the disciple has the vision of the ishtta
(his chosen deity for worship), through the guru's grace, he finds the
guru merging in Him.’ (RK 98, 141-142, 1016) (Parentheses Author's)
Such gurus are called ansha avataaras. The Swami's
words indicate that some inspiring teachers have a touch of God's
commission in them because all teachers are not inspiring. God, the
greatest guru within us, always guides us if we remember and then
listen to Him as a devotee. (See 42, 157)
418
Chaupaayi: Kavani-u sid-dhi ki binu bisvaasaa: 418.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Unless a man has such faith in himself
that he can complete the work he has taken up, no work from the
smallest to the biggest, can be completed.
Without remembering God constantly, a man cannot destroy his fear of
rebirths." The
confidence that the job we undertake will be completed starts a job,
from daily shopping to laying the foundation stone of our house or to
our involvement insatyasanga for our bliss. This confidence is
transformed into our faith in our reality or inmost Self or God. This
Self is not our body and brain or that which expresses itself as 'I,'
the doer of things and experiencing joy and sorrow. Once we develop
faith in this Self, we can confidently undertake anything noble. The
importance of under-standing of, and faith and confidence in this Self
is brought out here. We are
advised that the confidence in our self in the experiencing ‘I' goes up
with every satisfaction of desire and down with each frustration. This
confidence is mere waywardness of our mind. To get rid of this
waywardness, we should base our confidence upon our faith in God as our
succour in reality. With the understanding of our reality and some
eternal verities, the confidence in our inmost Self or Brahman within
us, replaces this waywardness with equanimity in all situations. This
confidence secures for us the bliss of satisfaction with our Self. It
enables us to do self-sacrifice, or the disregarding of the outer
experiencing self, to reach Self-realization. To develop
this confidence in our Self, we have to believe that this Self is God
within us as our reality and we have to live in this belief by
motivating all our actions by love for all and faith in the law of
karma. (See 42)
This law gives us the confidence that if we are good we can never face
any unbearable misery. By following this enlightened path we understand
our reality better and develop confidence in our Self or God within for
living in our divinity fearlessly. Swami
Ramakrishna says, ‘The man who says he will not succeed will never
succeed... He who forcefully says, "I am free" is certainly free, and
he who says day and night, "I am bound" is certainly bound.’ (RK 706)
(See 193)
The Swami emphasizes that faith in God is meaningless without cheerful
self-confidence. The Book repeats that we can develop the Swami's
cheerful outlook by the path in the preceding paragraph. Selfishness,
greed and corruption are observed in some political and other leaders
and in some fallen sections of urban society in 419
Dohaa: Binu bisvaasa bhagati nahin, tayhi binu dravahin na
Raamu:
419.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Without the faith that he
can secure Shree Raama through devotion, a man cannot become His
devotee. Without devotion to Him, Shree Raama is not pleased. Without
His grace, a man has no peace of mind even in his dream." Tulaseedaasa
emphasizes the value of firm faith in the reality of God in both His
aspects, as our inmost Self. (See 42[3, 6-13])
The depth of our faith in a doctor, mantra, place
of pilgrimage and in the personal God determines the nature of the
benefit to us from them. Faith in the Self as God Himself,
makes us His devotee and loving toward all as one with us in God. This
faith gives us power for selfless use for benevolence toward all.
Without this faith, we weaken ourselves, create doubts and obstacles,
and suffer. Scepticism deprives us of the capacity for belief and faith
and of the value of both. It makes our mind flit from one thought or
belief to another. It prevents our testing a belief of our religion or
heritage by experience for its validity for our bliss and peace. Doubts
destroy us. We should know that when we take one step toward God, He
takes a hundred to remove all our doubts and obstacles from our path to
give us peace and happiness. (See 34, 177, 211) He never
gives us up. He guards and guides us until victory in a noble
enterprise is won. Our sincere devotion and unshaken faith never fail
to earn His grace. This knowledge and faith strengthen our devotion,
which imbues our actions with love. This love makes our actions bring
peace and harmony to society and to us. Tulaseedaasa could not
over-emphasize the value of enlightened and unshakeable faith or Shrad-dhaa
in God as our benefactor in myriad ways. God does
not look for our virtues and vices. Our vices give us suffering in
consequence. When we, His children suffer, we turn to Him for help. He
gives us devotion to Him to help us invoke His grace. Grace replaces
suffering with bliss to sustain us in virtue. 420
Chau: Guru binu bhava-nidhi tara-yi na ko-yee: jauna
Biranchi-Shankara sama ho-yee:: Uk93 420.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Even if a man is Shiva's or Brahmaa's
equal, without a guru he cannot cross the worldly ocean." After
accepting Kaakabhushunddi as his guru, Garurha submitted this homage to
it. Man is a social being and gets wisdom from his birth from the
company of grandparents, parents, siblings, friends and teachers who
are all gurus for his age till, if need be,
he gets a guru as described in 157. The
greatest guru, God, is always within us to listen to Him with faith in
our conscience of a purified mind. (See 42[3, 6-13]
and Geetaa 421
Chaupaayi: Japa tapa brata makha sama dama daanaa: 421.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Repeating a sacred incantation,
observing fasts and austerities, performing sacrificial rites,
attaining serenity after controlling the mind and the five senses,
fasting, doing charity, giving up attachment to the world, learning
discrimination, converging all faculties on securing liberation (yoga),
acquiring Knowledge and experiencing that Knowledge, all result in one
thing, the love for Shree Raama. Without that love no one can get
well-being and bliss." The word chhayma
in the instant couplets refers to yogakshayma in the Geetaa
9:22. It means that God keeps secure the worthwhile that a seeker has
and provides what he needs for his contentment for spiritual progress.
All His sincere seekers who entrust their all and themselves to God
experience this as His grace. The
couplets show that paths are many but our burden from our past secures
a path for which we are fit. Pride obstructs all paths. The objective
of all paths is bliss and the home of that bliss is God. The form of
bliss in life varies for each. Varying effort with God's grace varies
results. A karmayogi householder can advance ahead of a
renunciant and vice versa. The path of devotion and that of Knowledge
sometimes appear as alternative to some. A little progress in and
thought about any path shows that shades or modalities of paths of
Knowledge, meditation, deeds and of devotion reflect in each path. All
paths are yogas, that is, the convergence of all faculties to one
objective, for example, of continual happiness in life. Without the
first discipline to purify our mind and to base our conduct on love for
all, all yogas are fruitless labour. (See 318, 259)
My personal
God pervades all and all forms are His and one with Him. So, He is
invisible. I love and do everything for all around me and for Him as I
do for myself. I devotedly worship His form. He purifies my heart of
malice and nourishes me. (See 155, 275) This
is the path of devotion, which starts with the Knowledge of God's
omnipresence, and of oneness of all in God and of doing selfless deeds
in pursuit of that oneness. (See 240 [1-6,
9, 10, 21) The path of
Knowledge rejects everything that cannot be God, that is, na-iti,
na-iti. We can say what God is not but not what He is. For this
path, the intellect needs purification by deeds dedicated to a personal
God. (See 241[23])
If not, maya obstructs gaining subjective Knowledge. (See 275, 438) So,
the path of Knowledge depends upon that of devotion to a personal God
to whom we can dedicate our deeds. The path of
meditation or yoga rests almost wholly on our mind. To be fruitful,
this path requires the same purified mind as the path of Knowledge
requires. A purified mind can converge
thought, word and deed into seeking the objective. (See 318) So, Dhyaanayoga
or the path of meditation also starts with devotion and dedicated
deeds. The path of
deeds needs selflessness and dedication of deeds as duty to God.
Selflessness and dedication need Knowledge of oneness and love for a
personal God, respectively. The first is the path of Knowledge and the
second is of devotion. All paths
require the mind to remain humble and linked to God all along. This
continuous link is a form of meditation. (See 71) We
cannot follow a path without this link, which is Dhyaanayoga or
meditation. Thus
whatever path we choose for ourselves as a seeker, we cannot escape
from using a little of other paths and experiencing their benefits. Any
step towards God attracts Him for benefits to flow from Him as an
encouragement for us. (See 34) There is no
pure or a single path to reach God. The claimants of the superior path,
religion or the only way are more powerful than God because they stop
God from reaching or suggesting any other path to anyone directly. The
paths of devotion, Knowledge and deeds are as the three wheels of a
pushcart that trains a child to walk or as the confluence of three
sacred rivers at Prayaaga. (See 9) The
debate about the adequacy or superiority of any path is a waste of
energy and a sign of ignorance. How can we compare our experience with
others' experience, which they come across in their path, or be able to
repeat them? We need all the four paths for ultimate victory. Put in
another way, as Swami Ramakrishna does, the mansion of liberation has
below it four floors one over the other, namely, meditation, deeds,
Knowledge and devotion. We can reach the top floor only after ascending
the other three. Almost all known paths to God are more or less within
the ambit of these four paths. ‘Once we
understand our identity as our inmost Self and discard the body as not
it, and devote ourselves to realize this Self, our actions become karmayoga,
our feelings bhaktiyoga and our reasoning jnaanayoga.'
The separation of paths is similar to separation of karma, bhakti and
jnaana. For some the paths are separate and independent of each
other, for others, only one path is worthwhile, for others merely a
little of each is enough, for others though separate all paths can be
combined or followed one after the other. In fact they are all one.
(VBG Ch 16) To evaluate
paths and think of any other's path as inadequate is our pride. Each
path is easy or difficult depending more upon our dedication than on
our capacity because God responds to our intent to make our path easy
for us or tailors a path for our capacity or makes us capable. (See 49) If love
through service for all as one with us is not our motive for our
thought, word or deed in any path, the path becomes fruitless. (See 241[18]) The
attitude of ‘I' and ‘you' is contrary to oneness through love and is
not godly. If there is only one path to God, it is that of love for
all, which we express through consistent benevolence and service to
bestow happiness. The faith in love rests on the law of karma. When we
live in this love, God's grace makes each step easier than the last in
our path. But this living needs our understanding of each of the
eternal concepts of Sanaatana Dharma such as Satchidaananda
Brahman, Its with and without form aspect, the role of passions, karma,
rebirth and God’s grace. Love and service of man is the best form of
our love of God and so the easiest if not the best path in all
religions. 422
Chaupaayi: Jayhi tayn kuchha nija svaaratha ho-yee: tayhi
para mamataa kara saba ko-yee:: Uk95 422.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "A man calls that person his own who
benefits him. A man gains his highest benefit by his thought, word and
deed, if he loves Shree Raama. Only such a man's body is charming and
purifies others which is used for remembering God for devotion to
Him." We love and
do what benefits us most. Often, however, we devote no time to
determine the best for our immediate and permanent benefit. From a
little introspection or holy company we learn that benefit as the
acquisition of power to rid us of all strains, sufferings and fears and
to get us continual happiness. This power over things outside us and
inside us is in our purified mind. There are prescribed methods for
purifying the mind. Making use of those methods, our faith in God makes
our life selfless and we secure for all happiness of contentment and
peace. (See 33,
42
[3,
6-13], 259,
318)
The pity is
that some of us do not care to know the practicality of the methods for
securing continual happiness. The methods do not detract from our busy
life. They can become our second nature by God's grace, which awaits
our effort. They need not time but only a little understanding to
change our attitude. Without any desire to know what is available, some
argue that without their remembering Him, God inside them will Himself
guide them to their bliss if He so wishes. May God bless them without
their remembering Him. 423
Chaupaayi: Taja-un na tanu nija ich-chhaa maranaa: tanu binu
bayda bhajana nahin baranaa :: Uk96 423 Kaakabhushunddi continued, "I can give
up my body when I wish. But I do not do so because the Vedas do not say
that without a body one can remember God and sing His praise." It was as a
crow that Kaakabhushunddi developed devotion to Shree Raama and saw His
cosmic form. So, Kaakabhushunddi loved its body of a crow. It was happy
in its Master Shree Raama's service of devotional songs and discourses
on His glory. (See 246)
The crow's experience illustrates that
according to Sanaatana Dharma, it is God who creates the variety of
bodies or forms for the soul to occupy. He gives the bodies the
intellect and imagination they need for their happiness and fulfilment.
The link to God and not the form of bodies is material for the purpose
of the being. (See 101, 360)
The human
body is the best among all bodies in the creation. (See 390) If
Kaakabhushunddi gave up its crow's body for a human body, passing
through the womb and childhood would have broken the continuity of its
devotional service of its Master. For unbroken service it preferred to
remain a crow. (MP) 424
Chaupaayi: Naari-bibasa nara sakala gosaa-yeen:
naachahin natta-marakatta kee naa-yeen:: Uk99 424.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "All men are under the control of women
and dance to their tune as trained monkeys." It is an
evil of Kaliyuga today that man's lustful urges make him as a
trained monkey dancing to a woman's tune. A man running after a woman
or a woman running after a man for liaison, both are animals for that
time. Worldly men are slaves of their wives, their masters and of
money. Sanaatana Dharma emphasizes control over and proper use of the
six passions for both man and woman for freedom from the slavery of
desires, including lust, and thereby remaining human so as to strive
for and become divine. An example of the proper use of the passions
envy and desire is to be envious of the selfless social worker with the
desire to emulate him. (Kaakabhushunddi's Description of Kaliyuga
Begins) 425
Chaupaayi: Bipra nirach-chhara lolup kaamee:
niraachaara sattha brishlee-swamee:: Uk100 425.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "In Kaliyuga, some Brahmins (by
caste) are illiterate, greedy, lustful,
of loose character, wicked and husbands of women who use their bodies
for lust." In the
caste and not Many evils
of Kaliyuga, the present age, which are mentioned in the Book could not be included in this
Selection. 426
Dohaa: Krita traytaa dwaapara sama-ya, poojaa makha
aru joga: 426.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "During the three ages Satyayuga,
Traytaayuga and Dwaaparayuga, a man could benefit from
meditation, from performing sacrificial rites and from service as
the worship of God, respectively. One secured the same benefit
in today's worldly Kaliyuga by merely remembering God's
name." One meaning
of yoga or meditation is merging of the particular (human self) into
the absolute (Supreme Self). For this merging, meditation is only one
form of a spiritual discipline. (See 148, 421) The
paths for this
merging in other ages were difficult then and almost impossible for the
weak man of today. (See 32) Therefore
an easy path of devotion to God
is repeated here for emphasis. 427
Chaupaayi: Kalijuga joga na jagya na jnaanaa: ayka adhaara
Raama-guna gaanaa:: 427.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Neither meditation (yoga), nor
the performance of sacrificial rites, nor the path of Knowledge are
available for a man in Kaliyuga. His sole succour is singing
Shree Raama's glory. He who gives up trust in all other means and, with
reverential faith, remembers Shree Raama, and sings with love His
praise undoubtedly gets across the ocean of rebirth." In the
first age Satyayuga, the influence of Satvaguna (the
quality which encourages in us righteousness and compassionate service
of the needy for our material contentment for spiritual advancement)
was predominant in men. In the second age Traytaayuga, this
quality dwindled and that of Rajoguna (the quality which
encourages in us action for fulfilment of desires) increased among men.
In the third age Dwaaparayuga, the influence of Satvaguna
was almost over, that of Rajoguna was predominant and that of Tamoguna
(the quality which encourages in us sloth and demoniacal activity) also
appeared. In the present fourth age Kaliyuga, however,
Tamoguna is overwhelming. (See 32) We
cannot now be easily
free from worldly desires to succeed in purifying our mind. For any
path to God, noble desires, pure mind and also, except for a rare few,
society are necessary. Neither the
means available in other ages, namely, meditation, prescribed duties,
sacrificial rites and worship, nor pure materials, acquired by sinless
activity, essential for rites and worship, are available today. The
impure mind and means cannot advance us on the spiritual path nor can
secure for us continual happiness and freedom from fear and
suffering. 428
Chaupaayi: So-yi bhava tara kachhu sansa-ya naaheen: naama-prataapa pragatta
kali maaheen:: 428.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Such a man undoubtedly gets across the
ocean of rebirth. The power of the repetition of Shree Raama's name is
manifest in Kaliyuga. Another sanctifying power of this age Kaliyuga
is that a man can perform a meritorious deed in his mind but he cannot
commit a sin mentally." In the four
ages, the repetition of God's name was available as a means for
happiness and for freedom from suffering and rebirth in life.
Alternative means, however, relegated it to a secondary place. The weak
man of today, however, is unable to use alternative means. (See 32, 427)
For him, the repetition of God's name is powerful today. (See 33) God has
given us two facilities today. First. He has increased for us
relatively the power of His name for our use. Second. If we are
prevented from acting upon our noble, righteous or compassionate
resolve, we still earn its good consequences as if we fulfilled our
resolve. Against this, no evil thought or resolve, in itself without
its physical implementation, can invite any adverse consequences for
us. In other
ages, righteous influence of a man's nature formed by his good past
lives strengthened his spiritual power for others' good or harm, for
example, the power to grant a boon to or to misuse it to put a curse
upon another person. A man in those ages could control his passions and
so his thoughts. So, even an evil or sinful thought, a sinful resolve
was worse, invited severe consequences for him. Sinful past
lives make sinful thoughts arise helplessly in weak men of today. (See 242, 265[4,
6-10]) Men commit many sins tangibly today. If sinful
thoughts and resolves were added to tangible sins, it would delay men's
liberation. So, out of love, God has made a special dispensation for
the early redemption of His children today. A deed is a
sin when it causes mental, material or spiritual harm to someone. (See 376-385)
(This statement contradicts the law of karma inasmuch as only
one's past karma can harm one. The statement helps to understand the
special dispensation in the latter half of the couplets here.) We may
ignorantly rely upon our strongest
Our noble
thoughts sometimes materialize. (See 105) But
apart from very rare
exceptions, evil thoughts for others do not invite God's grace for them
to materialize. While travelling we may talk of an accident and meet
with it sometimes. Hence we learn from childhood not to harbour any bad
thoughts especially for the future. Our nature
formed by our past, our present situation and our inability to control
results and to escape from karma, these are all limitations on our
capacity to fructify our noble thoughts and resolves. Our physical
health, family, circumstances can prevent us from performing what we
hold as our religious duty such as ceremonies of daily worship and
festivals. The dispensation here frees us from guilty feeling arising
from these limitations. This dispensa-tion makes it meaningful for us
to pray mentally to God, think well of others, pray for their well
being and be intent on helping others if opportunity comes our way. For
all this benevolent mental action without being able to take concrete
steps, in spite of ourselves, we get consequen-ces. We need not brood
over our helplessness if we are unable to put our noble resolves into
effect. This dispens-ation therefore is a special gift for us for
benevolent mental activity, which keeps us linked to God and our mind
pure for our material contentment and spiritual progress. (See 259, 318)
We have no
power to benefit others through our mental acts such as blessings or
wishing them well. Instead, our blessing should always be a prayer to
God for one's happiness. This invites God's grace to materialize in
others' happiness. Our good thoughts for others take us toward, and bad
thoughts away from God. Through the dispensation here, God encourages
us on the first, and withholds His grace from the second path. Tulaseedaasa
held the age of Kaliyuga as superior for us to Kritayuga,
Traytayuga and Dwaaparayuga, the other three ages. (See 429)
It was also because of the dispensation in the instant
couplets. Sins
committed by the mind which are referred to elsewhere in the Book, are
evil thoughts but have no consequences for us. (See 461) All
evil
thoughts as impurities of the mind obstruct our material and spiritual
progress. (See 318) We
should not rest on the dispensation here to let
the six passions overpower us to generate bad thoughts. They
immediately lead to sinful physical actions. (See 242, 265[4,
6-10]) Minions of
faith magnify sinful thoughts, for example, adulterous fantasies, to
make God a merciless potentate. Our faith in the dispensation here
saves us from minion of faith and our own fear of a sinful thought.
Entertaining sinful thoughts will make us what we think continuously -
a sinner. This dispensation saves us from guilt complex and depression
from our feeling that our thoughts caused misery around us. It also
saves us from persecution complex inasmuch as none can hurt us by one's
hate for and evil thoughts toward us. Against this negative attitude
and fear, we should avail of this dispensation to pray to God to grant
relief from misery to all. (See 259) This
dispensation is not a licence
for us to nurture evil thoughts. Under the
instant dispensation, one who hates cannot touch the hated by mere
emotion, thought, resolve or will power. Yet he pollutes his own mind
to act wrongly to bring adverse consequences for himself. This lesson
was not available to the leaders, not the people, of 429
Dohaa: Kalijuga-sama juga aana nahin jo nara kara bisvaasa: 429.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "If a man has faith, no age is as good as
Kaliyuga. In this age, the singing of Shree Raama's
praise takes a man across the ocean of rebirths without much labour."
Kaliyuga, the present, is the best
age because we can attain happiness in any profession or stage of life
by our establishing a continuous link to God that is our devotion to
Him. (See 33,
259)
429A
Dohaa: Chalay harashi taji nagara nripa, taapasa banika
bhikhaari: When the
weather brightened after the rains, the king for a survey and
adventure, the sage for performing austerities, the trader
for business and the beggar for alms, all happily
moved out of town. In addition, the four aashramas were
as happy as the man who secures devotion and so becomes free from the
burden of the duties, not from duties themselves, of the four
stages of life. If we dedicate our duties in advance to God as our
service to Him, He lightens their burden for us. Duties of our age and
profession both cease to be drudgery and become joyful for our
perseverance in them. (See 325-326
and Geetaa 9:22) 430
Dohaa: Pragatta chaari pada dharma kay, kali manha ayka
pradhaana:: 430.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Dharma is supported on four pillars. Of
these, the pre-eminent in Kaliyuga is charity. Whatever the
form of charity, when properly done, it benefits its doer." The four
pillars of dharma are: truth, purity, austerity and charity.
(SSRCM UK/165) When we try to acquire these four virtues for putting
them into practice, we succeed only when we live not for only our self
but for all as one with us. Truth is selfless objectivity. Charity is
parting with a bit of our self. Purity is a mind free from the power of
the ‘I,' passions and bad thoughts. It is filled with compassion
expressed in the service of the needy. Voluntary control of or parting
with a bit of the self is austerity and includes Brahmacharya
for life for our material contentment and spiritual advancement. (See 318, 280)
The availability of other means for Self-realization deprived
charity of preeminence in other ages. (See 32) The
other means
are not easy to pursue in Kaliyuga. To observe truth, purity
and austerity is difficult today. So, charity gains importance in Kaliyuga
today where it helps to secure for us the four highest objectives. (See
111)
Charity is dharma
when we do it generously, wisely, with humility and without publicity.
The manner of giving should express love without any trace of
superiority over, or of admonition to the needy. Charity should respect
the needy, fulfil his need and assuage his pain. We should be thankful
to God that He enabled us to give something. ‘Charity begins at home'
is for practice. Under the law of karma, when we help our family,
relations or anyone, in reality we only help ourselves. Not our ability
or keenness to give, but giving, in other words, not merely the thought
but the act, makes our future more fortunate for us. This is because,
by God's grace, all charity comes back manifold to us as consequence of
our karma.
Charity has many forms, for example, selfless social service,
volunteering for a social cause, giving money or help to or caring
service of the needy or feeding the hungry. The last is the highest
form of charity. Selfless service of the less fortunate eliminates our
ego for our spiritual advancement. (See 344) The Tait-tireeya
Upanishad
exhorts us to do charity with faith, with an open hand, with humility,
with fear, lest it be not be enough, and with the understanding of its
need. The spirit of charity is more important than charity itself.
Charity of helpful conduct and of selfless service filled with
compassion exceeds by far that of merely giving money. (See 199 and
Geetaa 17:20-22) Charity invokes God's grace, which increases the
occasions for, and the capacity of the benevolent and charitable.
Selfless charity destroys greed. When not selfless, charity sometimes
develops pride. We should avoid pride as shown in the next
paragraph. The
Geetaa advises doing charity in the right place, at the right time, to
the deserving person. (See Geetaa 17:20) This precept cautions us
against organized frauds in the name of charities. It should not in
practice dwindle into our finding excuses for not doing charity. We can
treat a hungry or needy man seeking us as God in person. When Charity
is selfless and involves some sacrifice, it becomes yajna. The
highest form of love is charity. Love lives by forgiving, giving and
forgetting. Selfishness lives by getting and forgetting. To do charity
without being asked is of the highest order. To do it on being asked is
of the medium and to do it without respect for the needy is of the
lowest order. To regret having done it destroys its merit. Respect for
the needy reflects gratitude to God who gives us an opportunity and
capacity for doing charity. To treat the needy, and feed the hungry
beggar at our door, as God in person whom we serve humbly through
charity is jnaana. To thank God for making us capable of doing
some charity, removes our pride. Gratitude is the mark of a civilized
man. Who
is the best person? What is the best action
and the best time for us? They are, respectively, the man who seeks
help, our help to him and the present time for such actions. 431
Dohaa: Hari-maayaa-krita dosha guna, binu Hari-bhajana na
jaahin:
431.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "All the good and bad qualities of
objects are brought about by God's power maya. They affect a man till
he remembers God. A man should therefore always remember Shree Raama's
name and give up all his worldly desires or entrust them also to
His care." Day and
night, good and bad, all dualities, sustain the creation. (See 389, 407)
No object has any intrinsic quality but has only a role. The
satisfaction or dissatisfaction of our desires gives happiness or
unhappiness from, and good and bad qualities, to objects. Once we
understand that objects have no intrinsic quality, we become free from
our attraction for or aversion toward objects. After this mental
detachment from objects, we should remember and surrender ourselves to
God. He gives us freedom from passions, which sometimes create
worthless desires for acquiring objects. He fulfils our worthwhile
desires and gives us the happiness of contentment for our spiritual
advancement. (See 42, 299, 325-327
and Geetaa 9:22) 432
Chaupaayi: Jayhi tayn neecha barhaa-yee paavaa: so
prathamahin hatthi taahi nasaavaa:: Uk106 432.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "A mean person first destroys his
benefactor who uplifts him." A conduct
that invites and readily offers gratitude distinguishes a man from a
sub-human being and a civilized person from a barbarian. To establish
himself as self-made man or an achiever or for any reason, a wicked
person first destroys his benefactor. He is comparable to a scorpion
that stung each time a hermit who saved it from drowning. It taught the
hermit, ‘Stick to your dharma; the scorpion's to sting and the
hermit's to save.’ (See 370)
Pride
causes ingratitude. We notice ingratitude in all ranks of society,
sometimes more among the highest toward the lower. (See 381) If
not
alert, we can tend to regress into the conduct of a scorpion that is
worse than beastly. All pet animals and even beasts show gratitude
sometimes. There is a famous story among others. In a forest,
Androceles, a slave, once removed a painful thorn from a lion's paw.
When arrested for trying to escape from his master and thrown to a
hungry lion, it licked Androceles' feet in gratitude. It happened to be
the same lion. This gratitude by the lion secured Androceles freedom
from the Roman Emperor. Incidentally,
we pay taxes for civic facilities. We forget however the facility of
the sun, the air, the rain and the earth which all sustain us. We also
forget God's other munificence and mercies. If we fail to thank Him we
too are guilty of ingratitude. Under the law of Karma, it is for
children to ask if they do enough for their parents; and for parents to
think if they have any right to expect anything from children? All will find enough to thank for on
finding an answer in the law of karma and living by its benefits for a
happy family. (A Lesson in Conduct) 433
Chaupaayi: Kabi kobida gaavahin asi neetee: khala sana
kalaha na bhala nahin preetee:: U/106 433.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "The learned call it wisdom not to
develop friendship with, or animosity toward, the wicked." The
omnipresent God is also in the wicked. We avoid the wicked. We know
that God is also in the tiger but we do not go to meet God in the
tiger. To pray to God to change the wicked into good is our practice of
jnaana of oneness of all. (See 240[1-6,
9, 10, 21], 389)
(A
Proverb) 434
Chhanda: Namaameeshmeeshaan nirvaanaroopam: vibhum
vyaapakam Brahma Baydaswaroopam:: 434.
To intercede for his disciple, Kaakabhushunddi, his Brahmin guru prayed
to Shiva, "I bow in reverence to you, O Lord Shiva! You personify
salvation, Brahman and the Vedas. Your glory is supreme. You are
powerful and pervasive. You are free from modes, desire or change. You
are pure consciousness and of the substance of space where you reside.
I always remember you. You are also without form and are the origin of
the primordial sound and the sacred incantation Aum. You are
beyond the three modes, indescribable by speech, imperceptible by
senses and unknowable through intellect. You are the Lord of The
reality of Brahman and of all that we see as the creation and of all
gods, goddesses, Incarnations of God and of living and non-living
beings is one. The description given here is that of Brahman and is
attributed to the reality of Shiva. They are one. 434A
Chhanda: Tushaaraadri-sankaashagauram gabheeram:
anobhoota-kotti-prabhaa-shreeshareeram:: The
Brahmin continued, "You are as firm and fair as a snow clad
mountain. Your effulgence displays the beauty of myriad Kaamadayvas.
The sacred Gangaa playfully flows down from the shining matted locks on
your head. The crescent moon adorns your forehead, snakes your neck and
tremulous rings your ears. Your brows are impressive and your eyes
large and beautiful. Your face is benign,
your throat blue, your robe tiger skin and your necklace is of skulls.
You are merciful and compassionate. You are the beloved Lord of all. I
worship you." For
a believer in God as the personification of succour and love for us,
even a scary form of God is not scary. Narasinha Avataara, a human
being with a lion’s head and claws, appeared to Prahlaada as loving and
tender. To his father Hrinyaakshapu it was the terror of death. 434B
Chhanda: Prachanddam prakrishttam pragalbham paraysham: akhanddam
ajam bhaanu-kotti-prakaasam:: The
Brahmin continued, "You are all powerful, exalted, unshakeable, indivisible, without birth and the Lord of gods.
Your lustre is brighter than myriad suns. By your trident you uproot
the triple suffering caused to one by oneself, by other living
beings and by the gods. You are Bhawaanee's consort and attainable
by love. O Lord Shankara! I worship you. You are beyond qualities and
you bestow bliss and destroy the world at the end of its term. You are
the victorious enemy of demon Tripura. You always grant happiness to
good people. You personify consciousness; are the repository of bliss;
the destroyer of attachment and consequent ignorance; and the enemy of
Kaamadayva, the god of earthly love, O Lord, be pleased with me." 434C
Chhanda: Na yaavad Umaanaatha-paadaa-ravindam: bhajanteeha
lokay paray vaa naraanaam:: The Brahmin
continued, "O Lord and Umaa's consort! Till people worship your
lotus feet, they get no peace and happiness in the world and
thereafter, nor freedom from suffering. O resident of the hearts of all
living beings! Be pleased with me. I do not know worship, sacrificial
rites, meditation or any path. O Lord Shambhu! Please save me from the
fire of the suffering of old age and life." 434D
Shloka: Rudraashttaka-midam proktam viprayna haratosha-yay: The
Brahmin continued, "Anyone who, with reverential faith in Shiva,
repeats this hymn sung by the Brahmin to propitiate Shiva,
will secure Shiva's grace." See
the Story from (403)
to (437).
Kaakabhushunddi's Brahmin guru prayed to Shiva because he is
the personification of shrad-dhaa and vishvaasa and a
guru. (See 2)
By his prayer to God,
the Brahmin as a guru could save his disciple from heavenly wrath. (See
87)
It is noticeable that the Brahmin never expressed his intent behind
the prayer to Shiva to intercede for his disciple. This is because the
deity always knows the intent behind any prayer to it. (See 100) Some
of the epithets used for Shiva here are used for Shree Raama and
Brahman. This is because the devotee's god is one of the forms of the
Almighty God and therefore has all the power to care for and nourish
the devotee. (See 65[2-15, 18,
20] and Geetaa 435
Chaupaayi: Laagay karana Brahma upadaysaa: aja advaita
aguna hrida-yaysaa:: Kaakabhushunddi
said to Garurha, "Lomasha started giving me a discourse on Brahman.
Brahman never takes birth. It is one without a second, is without
attributes and is the Lord of everyone's inmost Self. It has no
qualities, desire, name or form. It can only be spiritually
experienced. It is not divisible or destructible. It is unique and
beyond the reach of the mind and senses. It is pure, does not come to
an end, never changes and has no limitations. It is all bliss. The
Vedas declare that you are Brahman in the same manner as the water and
its waves are not different from each other." (See 68-70)
Some
seek their identity with the imperceptible and impersonal Godhead
Brahman. The bulk of others find an intimate, enjoyable and sweet
relationship with their personal God Shree Raama, Shree Krishna or a
deity of their choice. Lomasha could not persuade Kaakabhu-shunddi to
move from the second to the first group. Lomasha acquired Knowledge,
experienced it and also put it into practice in his daily life.
Considering Kaakabhu-shunddi a deserving disciple, being then in one of
his human lives, Lomasha started explaining Brahman to him.
These four couplets put across in simple words the concept of
unmanifest and formless Godhead Brahman in Vedanta. The words saun
tai in the couplets here are the equivalent of the words tat
tvam asi in the Chhaandogya Upanishad. They mean, ‘That Thou art,’ that is, God and the human
soul are one. The wind makes the wave appear to us as separate from
water. Similarly maya makes us believe that human soul is separate from
God. Any amount of reasoning about the formless God cannot take away
the devotee from his faith in the embodied form of God, namely, His
Incarnation or a deity whom he worships. The devotee comes back to His
form. (See 234)
Four
concepts are clarified here.
Brahman is the one all-encompassing reality; there is no ever
unchanging Ultimate Reality other than It. Second. The entire creation
appears as one of Brahman's immanent forms, which includes all living
and non-living creatures. (See 288) One
of Its other forms is beyond
and inclusive of time, space, energy and thought or conscious-ness.
Brahman is formless, imperceptible and transcend-ent. Third. The human
soul and the formless Brahman both have the substance of Satchidaananda
and Praymaswaroopa. That substance is reality or truth,
consciousness, bliss and love. We never forget being an entity, that is sat-ta. We have
consciousness or aware-ness, that is chit-ta.
We always strive for happiness, which is our natural state, that is aananda. We live in love
from our birth and cannot live without it, that
is Prayma-swaroopa. These four elements in us constitute our
divinity in oneness with these aspects of Brahman or God. We should try
that our divinity should reflect in our daily conduct of love,
benevolence and bliss for all. (See 42 [3,
6-13], 240[1-6,
9, 10, 21, 23], 259)
Fourth. We can
realize Brahman only by our individual spiritual experience. It is
possible if we purify our mind and deactivate our ego or the ' All
the Vedas, the Geetaa, other scriptures, discussion, logic and sharp
intelligence talk about God. One cannot find God in them. They and the
guru show the path but we have to tread the path ourselves and reach
beyond even the Vedas and the guru’s teachings. We cannot do that,
experience Brahman or reach God on our own, nor deserve that as a
right. To think so is our pride. The grace of God, Whom we believe to
have all human but limitless attributes of being loving, kind and
merciful, purifies our mind to help us embark on the path, make the
effort and experience in life His personal and impersonal aspect in
Brahman. (See 26)
Our experience of Brahman is intangible and a reality
within us. For us it is a metaphysical and psychic experience. It
cannot be perceived by, or communicated to others. Therefore others
often do not accept it. 436
Chaupaayi: Laabha ki kachhu Hari-bhagati-samaanaa: jayhi
gaavahin sruti santa puraanaa:: 436.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Is there a gain greater than devotion
to Shree Raama which is praised in the Vedas and the Puranas and by
spiritually advanced persons? After receiving a human body, is there a
greater loss than not to remember Him?"
Devotion to God in our daily conduct in accord with jnaana that
all are one with us in God, gives us the security of faith in God on
which we can rely in any predicament. (See 275 and
Geetaa 9:22) This is
our greatest wealth. This reliance upon God secures freedom from all
manner of anxiety and fears including that of sin and of death to enjoy
human and divine happiness in life. (See 390-393)
Without this wealth of devotion, security is our loss. Without this
security, we cannot rely upon our material possessions, family,
achievements and fame to see us through in many situations and
predicaments. 437
Chaupaayi: Jnaanahin bhagatihin antara kaytaa: sakala
kahahu prabhu kripaa-nikaytaa:: 437.
Garurha said to Kaakabhushunddi, "O abode of kindness! Please
explain the difference between devotion and Knowledge."
Kaakabhushunddi replied, "There is no difference. Both rid a man of
the suffering of rebirths. Knowledge or jnaana, the
renunciation of all worldly objects or vairaagya, meditation or
dhyaana, and applied Knowledge or vijnaana, are
all as powerful as a man in every way. Devotion personified as a woman
is powerless and without any consciousness of its own."
Jnaana or
Knowledge and bhakti or devotion to God are both held equal for
securing continual happiness and liberation from misery, fears and
rebirth. (See 421 and
Geetaa 10:9-11) The path of Knowledge is dry and
difficult. (See 441) That
of devotion is independent, sweet and easy.
(See 241[23],
243)
While Knowledge is considered masculine, devotion is
the beloved of Shree Raama. Maya is symbolized as a woman. (See 120, 275)
A man of Knowledge is as helpless before maya as a strong man
before a charming woman. The feminine maya stays away from a man with
devotion, the feminine, in his heart. (See 439)
In
his Book, Tulaseedaasa emphasizes from the beginning, the importance of
devotion resting not upon blind trust, but on conviction through
reason, to the extent possible, the philosophy underlying our beliefs,
and thereafter from experience by living in those beliefs. This
devotion based upon knowledge secured through reason and experience is jnaanabhakti.
(See 17, 66, 240[1-6,
9, 10, 21, 23]) The highest knowledge or jnaana
is that Brahman underlies or pervades all who are therefore one with us
in their reality. Love of fellow beings springs from this jnaana.
Without this oneness the mind differentiates, becomes impure and
incapable of love for all. So, it makes devotion or any path to God not
merely fruitless but hypocritical because deeds not motivated by love
are incorrect and contrary to our divinity. Divinity is the objective
of devotion. (See 318) ‘The
consciousness that God is the In-dweller,
who prompts and executes all that we feel, think and do, that gives the
inspiration to surrender, the strength to dedicate, the urge to be an
instrument in His hands for His purposes, is jnaana.’ (BS 6
238) Devotion based upon this jnaana is firm and never
wavers. 438
Soratthaa: So muni jnaana-nidhaana mriga-na-yanee
bidhu-mukha nirakhi:: 438.
Kaakabhushunddi said to Garurha, "Even the masters of Knowledge are
helplessly captivated by a charming woman with a face as attractive as
the moon. Man is helpless before Vishnu's maya, which is in the form of
woman in the world." This
couplet refers to our helplessness against maya as a difficulty in the
path of Knowledge of our identity with Brahman, without prior
purification of our mind through devotion to the personal God. ‘This
path is possible and its means is relentless inquiry. But in practice
it is almost impossible.’ (TN) (See 241[23]) If
the Advaitin
who follows this path of Advaita, does not purify his mind
beforehand, he is vulnerable to maya. He relies upon his own
‘mascu-line' strength of believing that Brahman and he are one and all
else, which is worldly and attractive is unreal, mayaic and a myth.
This reliance can create pride in him of having attained this high
state of his mind. (See 275, 437)
While by
his devotion, a follower of Dvaita and Vishishtta-advaita
seeks Shree Raama's protection against mayaic attraction of ‘woman and
gold,' the Advaitin does not do so. So, anything beautiful can
attract the Advaitin who cannot always be free from the mayaic
hold of the world. He may therefore trip. He may think in his ignorance
that the ‘world is a hollow zero without any latent or potent strength,
being but a delusion and a dream. He may forget that God is very much
in the world, in and through everything without any exception.' The way
for the Advaitin is to treat all beauty and attractions as
based upon and a manifestation of God's glory. He should look for Him
in everything of beauty and virtue. (See Geetaa 10:41) In this way maya
may not affect him. The Advaitin's
path is possible after the annihilation of the ‘I' in us, namely, total
mental renunciation of the world. While living in the world we are
practically householders. A householder should treat himself as the
servant or infant of God and not as one with Him. (See 327)
As long as
a child searching for its lost toy loves the toy, that love makes it
forget itself in its search. If the child loses that love, any
attractive object will make it forget that toy and its search. The
search for Knowledge without the love for its objective is as the
child's unattractive search for the toy. Being Brahman incarnate, Shree
Raama personifies Knowledge. (See 411) If we
search for Knowledge we
should search for Him. This belief can make our search for Knowledge
attractive and sweet. After
gaining the true but dry Knowledge of the formless Brahman through Advaita,
we do not get the sweetness of nectar. That is why Shree Krishna
advised that even after that Knowledge, we
should go for devotion to our personal God (to sweeten our Knowledge).
(See Geetaa 18:54-55, :66) Swami Ramakrishna found a jnaanee's
attitude dry as wood. To a jnaanee, God appears as brilliant
light, but to a devotee, full of sweetness. Kaakabhushunddi
earlier described this kind of true but dry Knowledge. 438A
Chaupaayi: Jay asi bhagati jaani pariharaheen:
kayvala jnaana haytu srama karaheen:: He who gives up devotion to
Shree Raama and labours to gain Knowledge, is obstinate. He ignores the
legendary wish fulfilling milch cow (devotion) at his
home and goes about searching for milk in aak plants (Calotropis
Procera). Its poisonous sap resembles milk. (See 196)
Vasishttha
described the above Knowledge as dry because he knew that Shree Raama
was an Incarnation of Brahman and so of the Knowledge itself.
Vasishttha imbibed the sweetness of Shree Raama's company. 438B
Chaupaayi: Joga kujoga jnaana ajnaanoo: janha nahin
Raamaprayma paradhaanoo:: Ak291 That
yoga is evil and that Knowledge is ignorance in which love of devotion
to Shree Raama is not preeminent. Tulaseedaasa
attributes a hymn to the Vedas, which they offered in person to Shree
Raama. This hymn brings out the danger to the seekers of this dry
Knowledge as follows: 438C
Chhanda: Jay jnaana-maana-bimat-ta tava bhava-harani
bhagati na aadaree:: Intoxicated
with the pride of Knowledge, they do not respect devotion to you, Shree Raama, which
destroys their bondage to rebirths. They reach the height, which is
difficult even for gods to attain. But, O Hari! We have seen these
masters of Knowledge falling. (See 441) Incidentally,
by embodiment of the Vedas, Tulaseedaasa brings out three basic
precepts of Sanaatana Dharma. First. The Vedas are older than Shree
Raama. Second. Even revelations by God or the most sacred scriptures,
as the Vedas were, offer submission to God who is beyond and supreme
over revelations and scriptures. Third. We should understand our
scriptures and then using our intellect and heart
relate to God directly and not be bound by any scripture however
sacred it may be. (See 398)
Kaakabhushunddi
rejected the Knowledge of the formless Brahman, insulted his own guru
and then invited a curse upon himself by his pride. His subsequent
devotion to Shree Raama, who was Brahman in human form, wiped out all
his past attachments in him to his errors and secured for him His
love. Kaakabhushunddi's
devotion to Shree Raama secured the vision of God both in His manifest
and cosmic forms. (See 26) That is
why Kaakabhushunddi taught to
Garurha devotion to God's form. Maya hesitates even to approach Saree
Ramies devotees. The devotee treats his Know-ledge as a gift from Saree
Raama. Being humble in his devotion, he gets Shree Raama's protection
against maya. (See 275, 439)
After explaining all the four paths in the Geetaa, Shree Krishna
exhorts the seekers for devotion to Him as God in person. It is very
difficult to keep one's mind fixed upon the formless God. Owing to
these difficulties, Tulaseedaasa presented to us the formless Brahman
of Advaita and Its with form aspect
in Dvaita and Vishishttaadvaita, all in the reality and
person of Shree Raama. Tulaseedaasa
repeated the approach of Shankaraacha-arya to Knowledge, or the
formless Brahman, through devotion to the personal God. Swami
Ramakrishna and others in 439
Chaupaayi: Maayaa bhagati sunahu tumha do-u: naari-varga jaanahin saba
ko-u::
439.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "Both maya and bhakti are well
known as feminine. Bhakti is Shree Raama’s beloved. Therefore
maya is afraid of bhakti. If pure and inimitable bhakti
continually abides undisturbed in a man's heart, maya hesitates even to
look into his eyes and cannot exercise any power over him. Realizing
this, sages with Knowledge and those with its experience, seek
devotion, the source of all happiness."
Kaakabhushunddi explained to Garurha that, 439A
Chaupaayi: Hari-sayvakahin na byaapa avidyaa:
Prabhu-prayrita byaapa-yi tayhi vidyaa:: Uk79
Avidyaa maya does not affect
Shree Raama's devotees to make them ignorant.
Prompted by God, Vidyaa maya makes them knowledgeable.
(See 210,
322)
Against this, Avidyaa maya affects knowledgeable
men (without devotion) to make them ignorant. Vidyaa maya keeps
devotees' knowledge secure. (See 144, 239, 241[16,
33, 39]) The message
here is that in his humility that ‘I am nothing and God is all,' a
devotee of the personal God constantly seeks His guidance and refuge.
The devotee receives protection against many adverse situations, which
others face to disturb their firmness of faith in God's merciful
nature. The devotee gets as grace, the knowledge and experience of
eternal verities and of the law of karma, which comprise vidyaa.
So, God's grace saves him from becoming a victim of ignorance or Avidyaa
and cones-quent misery. (See 30, 238)
Without the help of grace, the
six passions often make even a man of knowledge a victim of avidyaa.
440
Chaupaayi: Eesvara ansa jeeva avinaasee: chaytana
amala sahaja sukha-raasee:: 440.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "The human being is a fragment of Eeshwara,
is indestructible, conscious, pure and full of bliss. Avidyaa
maya overpowers him and ties him up as if he is a parrot or a monkey.
This knot ties the sentient man with insentient maya and is not a
reality yet it is difficult for man to untie the knot and be
free from it, namely, maya." As a human
being or jeeva, we are a part of Eeshwara, but under
the power of maya, our active ‘I’ treats itself as separate from and
independent of Eeshwara. As long as maya makes this ignorance
of separateness persist in us, we remain a jeeva tied to our jeevaatmaa
to make it appear as distinct from Paramaatmaa and bound to
suffering and rebirths. This ignorance however does not alienate us
from our jeevaatmaa in its reality as Brahman in miniature in
Its totality. A monkey
easily slips in its empty hand and fills it up with chickpeas in a pot
with a narrow opening. Full of peas, its hand cannot come out. It can,
if it drops the peas. Similarly, if a parrot, sitting on the piece of
rope or stick in a snare, gives up its grip, it can fly to freedom.
Both hold on to what they perceive as precious and their security. That
very thing ties them down. In the same way, maya makes us perceive our
worldly possessions as precious and our security. We see security in
what it is not. Any moment our fortune can turn away from us. We cannot
see that this security is our shackles, which prevent our seeing our
real security in God. The
relationship of the human soul with the Great Soul or Brahman and the
role of maya is brought out here. The human
soul or jeevaatmaa is a complete miniature of Brahman in Its
substance, nature, capacity and power of Brahman. The human soul
originates from, remains in reality one with and regains its oneness
with Brahman. (See Geetaa 7:6, 9:18) The human soul is separate from
Brahman as the water inside a pot is separate from that outside the pot
in a pond. This oneness and separateness is called bhayda-bhayda. Our
soul remains one with the Great Soul but our active ‘I’ makes them
appear to us as two separate entities. Next to God’s Incarnation in
human form, we are God's highest manifestation of His divinity on the
earth. Maya still makes us forget our divinity. Our past
memories are sometimes of greed, falsehood, hate, war and grief. They
become our superimposed nature over our inborn divine nature. (See 242)
Maya ties both natures in a knot, which is referred to here. This knot
is in the persistence of our ‘I,' which
identifies our reality with our body. It makes us believe that we are
an independent doer. (See 66 and
Geetaa 3:27) On our seeking God’s
refuge, His grace makes us understand the working of our divine and
superimposed natures separately and the use of the former to our
advantage. This understanding of our divinity and conduct in accord
with it, dwindles our ‘I' consciousness and cuts asunder this knot and
gives us continual bliss. (See 42[3, 6-13], 241[18], 265, 275)
In dohaas
115 to 120 of Uttarakaandda, Tulaseedaasa detailed the method
for untying the knot. A story explains the method. Some villagers asked
a monk where to find God. He asked for, looked intently at and stirred
with his finger milk in a basin to locate butter in it. The villagers
asked him to churn it. The monk said, ‘So too God is immanent in this
universe... ‘You can see Him, provided you curdle the Universe with vivayka
or discrimination, churn it with vairaagya or non-attachment
(to worldly attractions and attachment to God) and collect it with shrad-dhaa
or reverential faith. God can be found by diligent saadhanaa or
spiritual discipline. He is in the core of every being, as butter is in
every drop of milk... ‘ (BS 5 182)
(Parentheses Author's) God is invisible within us. By acquiring vivayka,
vairaagya and shrad-dhaa through spiritual discipline such
as purifying our mind by repeating His name and by self-control, we
deactivate the ‘ 441
Dohaa: Kahata katthina samujhata katthina saadhaata
katthina bibayka: 441.
Kaakabhushunddi continued, "It is difficult to put across and
understand the path of Knowledge and so is to acquire discrimination (vivayka).
Even as rarely as a letter formed by the trail left by
termites on the outer surface of wood, if one understands this path,
there are numerous obstacles in the path. This path is like a
double-edged sword and is not easy. A man overcoming the obstacles of
this path can, however, reach the highest," that is, realize his
identity with Brahman. These
couplets refer to the direct path of Knowledge which relies on inquiry
purely through reason without first purifying our mind by the twin
discipline of Satyasanga and of deeds dedicated to the personal
God, as required for this path of Advaita. (See 241[23]) To
walk on one edge of a sword is difficult. To walk on both edges
simultaneously is impossible. Tulaseedaasa is emphasizing this wellnigh
impossibility of this path. (See 230, 234 and
Geetaa 12:5) Maya too is
comparable to a double-edged sword. (See 239, 438) One
edge, Avidyaa maya destroys our vivayka or
discrimination by
instilling in us ignorance to strengthen our ‘I,'
which binds us to a rebirth. (See 66) The other
edge, Vidyaa
maya annihilates our 'I,' destroys ignorance to give us Knowledge,
destroys our attachment to past deeds and cuts asunder our bondage to
rebirths. (See 144 and
Geetaa 4:37) Each edge
of this sword or aspect of maya, in its time and turn, is necessary for
us. Avidyaa brings us into the world, sustains us and gives us
an experience of the sufferings of the world to know what to avoid. It
is comparable to the experience of night to appreciate the value of
day. After the purification of our mind, Vidyaa secures
continual happiness in the world and releases us from its
suffering. We can also
gain through other paths the objective of the path of Knowledge of
self-realization, that is, our identification with Brahman. (See Geetaa
12:4, 13:24-25) |
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Dedication
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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