Swami teaches... Contact with the Supreme Consciousness through Yajna

[Guest guest]

Sai Ram

 

Love and Light

 

Swami teaches....(18 -20 April 2005)

Contact with the Supreme Consciousness through Yajna

The presence of God, the vision of the Absolute, is not a state to be

attained or newly achieved. God or the Absolute is the very nature of the Self.

The individual is the indivisible God. Even when enmeshed in this world of

conflict and confrontation, the Self is God, in reality. The selves that have

assumed human forms and that are designated by separate names, emerge from the

same source and merge in the Universal form which they particularised. Krishna

declares, "The multiplicity of individual selves has happened from a part of

Me." They may appear different but their reality is the One. The Vedhas accost

all selves as children of immortality. Truth is totality, the One which

integrates and includes the many. The sages of yore were notsatisfied with one

facet of the Truth or one view, not of one God but of That where all

streamsmerge. As Bairagi Shastry told that it is Kesava, to whom adoration

addressed to all Gods. One house cannot become a village, nor one individual, a

society, nor one tree, a forest. The present socialist ideal of the unity of

mankind is a Vedhic concept; however, the Vedhic ideal was even wider and more

comprehensive. "Let all the worlds be happy and prosperous,The world is one

family," the Vedhas proclaimed. Each hymn of the Vedhas is called a Rig which

means 'praise'. Every word, every statement in the Vedhas, every manthra or

Rig in them, connotes only the One.

Vedhas invite us to realise that everything - living and non-living - every

quality and characteristic of everything, is only an aspect of the one Aathma,

the Source and Substance of all. The Aham or the Ego is an appearance on the

Aathma as the foam on the edge of the wave, which is but the ocean itself. The

Aathma can well be devoid of Ego, but the Ego cannot exist without the Aathma

as the reality underneath.

However, human validates the Ego (Aham), giving it a form (Aakaaram) full of

attributes and so, it gets polluted as Egoism (Aham-kaaram). When the Ego is

free from the status of 'ism,' it is a facet or factor of the Aathma.

Attributes, modes, gunas drag it into the tangle of dualities and so, it gets

malefic and sheds its positive, purifying role. The 'ism' or mould in which the

Ego has hardened tantalises human and blinds person to the Truth.

Shankaraachaarya has described the harm it inflicts and prescribes the

recitation of the name ofGod to defuse the consequence. The pure ego will then

merge and lose its identity in the Aathma.

Gaayathri manthra is all Gods in One: The triple stranded Sacrificial Strand

of Thread is to be worn by every one who is initiated into Gaayathri recital,

for he has to perform the three sandhya rites when the Sun rises and sets, as

well as when the Sun is at the zenith. The rites are in adoration of the

Trinity - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The purpose of the rites is to invoke the

Gods to bless the novitiate to lead a good life at all times (past, present and

future), in all places (heaven, earth and nether region).

The Gaayathri divinises the five elements; it represents the presiding

deities of all the five. Gaayathri is worshipped as a Five-Faced Goddess - Om,

being the first, Bhoor-bhuvahssuvah, the second, Thath Savithur Varenyam, the

third, Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi, the fourth, and Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayaath, the

fifth face. These Yajnas cleansing of all levels of consciousness

(chittha-shuddhi) including Egoism, for they involve renunciation, invocation

of Divinity and ascetic practices. Vedhic rites were gone through in order to

win the boon of sorrow-free wordly life and blissful heavenly sojourn, and as a

stage in realising the freedom from birth and death, and merging in the Truth.

Many seekers of Truth perform the worship, named "The hundred thousand"

(Lakshahaarchana) or "The Week-long" (Saptaaham). What is done then is

repeating the names a hundred thousand times, or for full seven days and

nights. A flower is placed before the picture or idol, with the pronunciation

of a name - Maadhava, Kesava, Naaraayana, etc. The idol is the same

throughtout. When we name Him, Maadhava, we are conscious that He is also

Kesava and Naaraayana, and we derive delight from that knowledge. Every

Vedhic ritual had as its goal the prosperity and peace of the world. The Vedhas

yearn to establish the welfare of the three worlds - the nether regions, the

earth and heaven. The Vedhas do not allow scope for distinctions on the basis

of caste or creed. The Vedhas desire human to give up the animalist ego, its

complement, anger and all 'bestial' evils. They declare that love, tolerance,

compassion, non-attachment, and adherence to truth are the genuine human

traits. The Yajur Vedha deals with Yajna or Ritual Adoration of

fire, as the medium of communicationwith the Gods. Yajur Vedha has as

subsidiary many complementary bodies of lessons on special skills. The Vedha

mentions many specific items that are to be used as offerings to Gods,

conveyable through the emissary, fire. Oblations are offered in this sacred

fire to the One, but the One is invoked through many names. The Rishis or sages

had each a favourite form and name and, as a result, the one Lord acquired may

names.

On Vijayadashami day (usually in October), the seven-day long Vedhic ritual,

performed for the promotion of peace and prosperity among all people in all

lands and called Vedhapurusha Yajna, (sacrifice dedicated of Vedhic divinity)

concludes with the valedictory offering to the Gods who preside over various

facets of nature. This is called Poornaahuthi (the fullest Invocation) and

usually a number of valuable things are poured and placed in the sacrificial

fire, adored and fed during the entire week. The closing ritual is named

Samaapthi, a word usually translated as the End. But its real meaning is the

attainment of Sama and Brahma (Braahmic vision). The purpose Yajna of

contacting the Supreme Consciousness in its various manifestations named

deities, can be realised only when the altar is laid down as prescribed, when

the fire is evoked as recommended and when oblations are offered with the

correct recitation of propitiatory formulae.The Vedha itself is the authority

for that belief. The Vedha which has probed into the science of propitiating

the Gods says that the Sacrificial Fire conveys the subtler aspects of the

offerings.

What exactly is Poornaahuthi or Sharanaagathi? The meaning that is most

current is to declare:“My body, my mind, my possessions, my all, I offer to

you." This interpretation is a sign of total ignorance. It concedes that you

and God are distinct entities, but that is not true. God is not separate from

you, for God is in all, everywhere, at all times. How can God be separate

entity? Water, wave and foam are only apparently distinct. All three are the

same; only their names and forms create the illusion of diversity. You

cannot give what you do not own. How can you dedicate your body, which you

cannot rule over? Such statements like surrendering body, mind and heart are

only rhetoric sanctioned by tradition and long usage. The act of surrender is

often highlighted as aathma-arpana. When you are Aathma in essence, how can

Aathma (Self) offer it to itself? In truth, that dweller is the God of Gods who

resides as Aathma in you. This is what the seers have experienced. So

aathma-arpana is a meaningless expression. You have nothing in you or belonging

to you that you can claim as yours to offer to God. Then, what does surrender

of the Self signify or imply? To experience God as Omnipresent, to be aware of

nothing other than God - this is true surrender. To see God in everything,

everywhere,at all times, is true Poornaahuthi or Sharanaagathi. He gives, He

enjoys, He experiences. If you offer, and God accepts, you become superior; how

can God be all-powerful? You should not reduce the glory of God through such

high-sounding statements.

You may be an erudite scholar who can interpret the scriptures. You may read

or recite theBhagavad Geetha scores of times for good attainments and

practices. But, one has to carry out one's duty with devotion and discipline.

It is not devotion to parade the ochre robe; sins won't fade away when manthras

roll out of the tongue. The real saadhu is whose deeds are in accordance with

the words of advice he utters. Render your life worth-while through faith to

the Surpreme Conciousness (God) and service to society. That is the most

important aspect of surrendering the Self. A millionaire may take on the

role of a down-and-out in a play and act the part remarkably wellon the stage,

but that impersonation does not make him a down-and-out. Even while on the

stage,he knows that he is a millionaire, pretending to be poor. He will indeed

be a fool if he forgets hisreality. The individual Self of every human being is

the role; the reality is God. Every role and action has a method, a mode, a

way. A painter, for example, has to calculate the area, the base, the

background, the culture, etc. If they do not pay attention to these, the

structure won't be strong, the picture won't be liked. The same holds good for

the Yajna (sacrificial rite) what involves renunciation. It means giving up

one's evil tendencies, harmful thoughts, selfish feelings and longing for

sensual pleasures.

The Yajna has a deeper meaning, the meaning that symbols have, the meaning

that is reallyvaluable for human progress. Every rite is a symbolic act. Yajna

is correlated at every step withhuman aspirations and saadhana. It is kept in

touch with human life and aspirations in itsminutest detail. Butter is the

product of the churning of the emotions, impulses, impressions andinstincts;

the purest and the most authentic essence of the divine in human being. That

butter,when it is still more clarified, becomes ghee; it is that which is

offered to the Gods. Every Yajna has a great unseen influence on human affairs,

for these manthras are potent sounds, charged with subtle mysteries.

Philosophy is interpreted as the search for Truth. But, Truth is not

something to be sought for.One have only to be aware of it, to experience it,

to be it. TheYajnas which encourage to sublimate the emotions are all designed

to direct towards the contact with the Self inside and with the Cosmic or

Supreme Consciousness outside what are in essence one and the same Atmic Unity

or Oneness.

Always concentrate on the lasting fruit; the universal, the spiritual. Do

not pursue meanobjectives; utilise the mind to follow the Plan of the Lord to

re-establish Dharma in the world.What can one plan with paltry intelligence?

There was a man once who laughed at God forgiving the majestic banyan tree a

tiny molecular seed and conferred on the ash gourd a giganticuncouth fruit. "No

sense of proportion," he said. However, he had to sleep once under the shadeof a

banyan tree and when he woke up, he saw a large quantity of seeds that had

fallen on his body. If only the banyan tree had seeds in proportion to its

size, a single seed falling from that height would have killed the critic.

Therefore, he thanked God for his poor sense of logic and moved away perfectly

safe. Take everything as it comes; cultivate contentment; do not multiply

your wants and foster greedand despair. The coat of desire has to be taken off

when the warmth of bhakthi increases. Believe firmly that the body is the

residence of God, that the food you eat is the offering you make to your Deity;

that bathing is the ceremonial bathing of the Divine Spirit in you; the ground

you walk upon is His domain; the joy you derive is His gift; the grief you

experience is His lesson that you tread the path more carefully. Remember Him

even in sun and shade, day and night,awake or asleep. (Reet's compilation from,

Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 2. "Ghee and sandal," Chapter 43; Vol. 15. "The

Gaayathri," Chapter 11, "Poornaahuthi and Sharanaagathi," Chapter 28 and

"Significance of Yajnas," Chapter 50).

PS: Spelling of names as in original texts.

Namaste - Reet

[Guest guest]

Sairam my dear Reet, I must tell you that I enjoy your messages so very much.I

always look forward to them. I've been meaning to e-mail you for some time

now.Keep up the excellent work and may Swami shower you with his blessings.Jai

Sairam ! Sister Raynu