Swami teaches.... Humans' conducts and paths to freedom. Example by Gita

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Sai Ram

 

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches... (28 January 2005)

 

Humans' Conducts and Paths to Freedom. Example by Gita

 

Measure the microcosm, you have measured the macrocosm. The world is a

projection of the mind; that is the lesson conveyed by Vedhas, Shaasthras and

Puraanas. The same quantity of silver might be shaped into a plate today, a

set of spoons tomorrow, a number of cups the day after. The forms get new

names; the uses of each are different. When put to use or when silver remains

as a silver 'lump' only, in the hands of every one that holds, it or handles

it, in the beginning or in the end, it and they are always silver. The core,

the truth is ever One. In the murky, dusk of ignorance, it appears diverse, that

is all for,then, your are led to distinguish and differentiate on the bases of

name and form.

There are two sets of rules which regulate human conduct: the one is not

concerned with morals (a-moral) and the is other moral. The a-moral is

illustrated by the rule that you have to be at the airport at a particular

hour, in order to board a plane. The moral rule is illustrated when the

father's property is divided between the sons, half for one and half for the

other, equal share for both. From the point of view of dharma (righteousness),

equality is seen as the basic principle.

Human being is respected because of his good qualities, and not because of

his material possessions. When we look at poor, helpless or weak people, we

should be prepared to give them help with all our strength and effort. All

human beings are brothers and are children of one mother - the universal divine

mother.

However, today such insight has not respected by many people. The world is

such that if there is a large quantity of water in a tank, many frogs come and

gather up in that tank. But once the tank is dried up, all the frogs will

disappear and they will not even tell you where they are going. In the same

manner, many friends will gather round you, as long as you have wealth and the

moment this wealth disappears, the friends also will disappear without telling

you.

(In fact, wealth must always be regarded as potentially harmful. A wealthy

person sometimes becomes afraid, even of his own son).

The true wealth is the wealth of righteousness, of knowledge and of wisdom.

That is the reason why Arjuna was called Dhananjaya. This name does not refer

to ordinary wealth. This simply means that he had the wealth of wisdom in an

ample measure. Arjuna had several other titles which described his great

qualities. There are three words which we have to take note of. They are work,

worship and wisdom. You should always do good work. You should worship with a

pure mind. Wisdom is superior knowledge and you should aspire for acquiring

knowledge with wisdom.

 

When one proceeds to attain the Aathmic vision, one has to negate everything

as Not this, until at the end of the journey, the Aathma alone is cognised. It

admits of no definition, no description,no designation, It is the end of

enquiry, the summum bonum of all endeavour, the silence thatswallows all

speech. The primary seed of knowledge is "I am not the body."

 

A person can realise this either by picturing something that is different

and distant, and prayingto it, adoring it, worshipping it - such ways are

useful only up to a limit, to purge the mind oflow desires, sensual urges etc.,

- or by delving into oneself, to reach the truth.

The realisation of the one cannot be won by means of advice, listening to

talks and discourses,study of books or austerities. It worried even Naaradha,

who approached the sage,Sanathkumaara, for the vision of the Infinite. With

this decomposing body and the deterioratingintellect, man cannot experience and

contain the boundless surge of bliss that accompanies therealisation that he is

the absolute. The wisdom that comes of actual experience is as the raindrop,

when compared with sea water which is saline and undrinkable book-knowledge

orderived knowledge. Through the inter-action of the rays of the Sun, the

salinity was removed andthe water that floated into the sky became sweet and

sustaining. Saadhana that turns the physicalinto the meta-physical is the solar

action that confers potability.

 

We know that Krishna and Arjuna were living together for well over eighty

years, were meeting each other very often and talking to each other like

friends. But at no time in those eighty odd years did Lord Krishna ever try to

teach anything of the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna. It was only after eighty years

of their living together and that too in the battlefield, and that again under

some special circumstances, that the Lord wanted to give him the contents of

the Bhagavad Gita and give Arjuna a position of authority and competence from

where he could do something. We have to enquire into the meaning of all these

things. In the Bhagavad Gita, He has also taught that we have to recognise what

is called 'Adhikara', or worthy of being entrusted with a task. He also taught

us that unless one acquires the qualification, merit and worth, there is no

point in teaching the Bhagavad Gita to him. Conveying the contents of the Gita

to someone who does not deserve it and who has not yet acquired that merit has

no meaning. Each individual gets the right to do something. The recognition of

this right or qualification, before action is initiated, is an aspect which is

contained in the Bhagavad Gita. Bhakthi or devotion is the only path for

reaching the divine destination. Bhakthi is the only panacea for all the ills

of this world. Bhakthi is the only method for making you realise the truth.

 

There is the path of a monkey and the path of a cat. The relationship

between the baby monkey and its mother monkey is such that no matter where the

mother goes, no matter even if the mother is jumping hither and thither, the

baby holds fast and clings safely to the mother, going wherever the mother

goes. The child has implicit faith in the mother. In this way, just like the

young monkey clinging to the mother under all conditions and under all

circumstances, we should attach ourselves to God under all conditions and under

all circumstances. That is the kind of behaviour we should accept. In this,

there is no responsibility of any kind on the part of the mother monkey. The

entire responsibility for its conduct rests on the young one.

On the other hand, when we come to see the life of a cat and the kitten, the

mother cat takes the entire responsibility for taking the kitten from place to

place and looking after them. There is a significance here which we can see;

that if you stay where you are, then God Himself will take the responsibility

of looking after you.

 

While the two paths, the path that has been described in the context of a

monkey and the path that has been described in the context of a cat, seem to be

all right in common parlance and so far as ordinary persons are concerned and in

their daily life, they are not so in the case of a person who is devoted and who

wants to know the real inner meaning of Atma or the soul. Such a person will

have to find a path which is different from these two and superior to these

two. To give you the meaning and the character of this devotion, Vivekananda

had a good example.

 

Every person wants and desires that he should get Moksha or liberation, that

he should attain that place of Moksha. We may say that liberation is synonymous

with freedom. When we desire freedom, it implies that at the moment we are in

some kind of bondage. What is that bondage? Your own affection and your people

is the bondage. That is the chain which has bound you. This is what you may

call affection with some kind of an attachment. When you are tied up with the

chain, there are two ways by which you can free yourself from this chain. One

way is to get the strength by which to break the chain. There is a second way

and that is to make yourself tiny, smaller and smaller so that you can just

slip and get out of the chain which is binding you.

 

With the exception of these two alternatives, if you want to reach freedom

and if you want to get out of the chain, there is no way of doing it. These two

can be described as Bhakthi or devotional path and Jnana or the path of

knowledge. Bhakthi or devotion means you recognise that there is a master, that

you have to put yourself in a humble position and be subservient to the master.

You also recognise that your conduct should be such that you please Him and get

His grace. This is the procedure for Bhakthi. This is referred to as an attitude

of 'Daasoham' or behaviour which by implication proclaims 'I am your servant'.

When you are bound by a chain, within that chain if you can tell yourself

'Daasoham, Daasoham', that means you are humble, you are developing humility,

your ego is becoming less and less. It shrinks you so much as your humility

grows that you can slip and get out of the chain.

The other path, which is the path of Jnana, is the way or getting out of the

chain by telling yourself 'Shivoham, Shivoham'; I am Siva - that means you are

expanding, becoming bigger, finally you become so big that you can break the

chain and get out. So, to break the chain and free yourself one is the path of

Jnana and the other is the path of Bhakthi.

(Reet's compilation from, "Sathya Sai Speaks." Volume 11, "Saline Turned

Sweet," Chapter 4;

Sathya Sai Baba. Divine Discourse, "Seek Work, Worship and Wisdom - Avoid

Wealth, Wine and Women," Summer Course in Spirituality and Indian Culture.

Summer Showers in Brindavan. May 1973, Brindavan;

Sathya Sai Baba. Divine Discourse, "Lessons from the Gita," Summer Course in

Spirituality and Indian Culture. Summer Showers in Brindavan. May 1972,

Brindavan).

 

PS: Spelling of names as in original texts.

 

Namaste - Reet