Sathya Sai Baba Geetha Vahini - Chapter 13

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Sathya Sai BabaGeetha Vahini

Chapter XIII

This universe itself is a superstructure, the basis being Paramatma, Godhead;

this is apparent, the other is the real. People ignore the basis and crave for

the 'based'. They do not stop to inquire how the 'based' can exist without a

base! This too is an example of faulty vision. When this Drishti-dosha is set

right, Srishti-kartha can be seen. When the defect in the vision is removed,

the author of this universe can be cognised.

This subject was raised by Arjuna before Krishna. He asked, "What exactly is

faulty vision? Please tell me in detail, o Krishna." He also sought to know how

the fault originates and develops. Now Arjuna is not just an ordinary

individual. He is not one to nod his head whatever is told him. He is bold

enough to stop Krishna in the middle of a sentence if he feels a doubt rising

in his mind. He had the courage and the steadfastness needed. He persisted

until he got from Krishna an answer that was verifiable by experience, that was

in accordance with the wisdom enshrined in the Sastras. So the Lord too provided

the answers immediately, with a smile!

For this question, on faulty vision, Krishna had the answer. He said, "Listen,

Arjuna! Between Me and this universe there moves Maya, called delusion. It is

indeed a hard task for man to see beyond Maya, for Maya too is Mine. It is of

the same substance; you cannot deem it separate from Me. It is my creation and

under My control. It will turn in a trice, even the mightiest among men, head

over heels! You might wonder why it is so difficult to overcome. Of course, it

is by no means easy. Only those who are wholeheartedly attached to Me can

conquer this, Maya. Arjuna, do not take Maya to mean some ugly thing that has

descended from somewhere else; it is an attribute of the mind; it makes you

ignore the true and the eternal Paramatma and value instead the attributeful

created manifold multiplicity of name and form. It causes the error of

believing the body as the self, instead of the embodied (the Deha instead of

the Dehi). Maya is not something that was and will disappear; nor is it

something that was not, but later came in and is. It never was, or is, will be.

"Maya is a name for a nonexistent phenomenon. But this nonexistent thing comes

within view! It is like the mirage in the desert, a sheet of water that never

was or is. He who knows the truth does not see it; only those ignorant with the

ways of the desert are drawn by it. They run towards it and suffer grief,

exhaustion and despair. Like darkness arising in the room hiding the room

itself, like moss growing on the water hiding the water itself, like cataract

growing in the eye hiding the vision, Maya too attaches itself to whoever helps

it to grow. It overpowers the three Gunas and the three Gods. That is to say,

all who identify themselves with the limited, the named, the formed, the

individualised, are affected by it. Jiva-bhranthi (identification with Jiva)

bring it about; Thathwa-bhranthi (identification with the Thath thwa, That-this

entity) removes it. It hides the Thathwa; it does not hold sway over those who

have once known the Thathwa."

"Arjuna, you might ask Me whether this Maya which pervades and injures the very

place where it originates has not tarnished Me, in whom it has taken birth. It

is natural that such a doubt should arise. But that is a baseless doubt. Maya

is the cause of all this Jagath but it is not the cause of God. I am the

authority that wields Maya. This Jagath which is the product of Maya moves and

behaves according to My will. So whoever is attached to Me and acts according

to My will cannot be harmed by Maya. Maya acknowledges their authority also. To

overcome Maya, the only method is to acquire the Jnana of the universal, and to

rediscover your own universal nature. For, you attribute the limit of life on

that which is eternal and it is this which causes Maya. Hunger and thirst are

the characteristics of life. Joy and grief, impulse and imagination, birth and

death are all characteristics of the body. They are all an-Atma, un-Atmic. They

are not the characteristics of the universal, the

Atma."

"To believe that the universal which is you is limited and subject to all these

un-Atmic characteristics, that is Maya. But remember, Maya dare not approach

any one who has taken refuge in Me. For those who fix their attention on Maya,

it operates as a vast oceanic obstacle. But for those who fix their attention

on God, Maya will present itself as Madhava! The hurdle of Maya can be crossed

either by developing the attitude of oneness with the infinite God or the

attitude of complete surrender to the Lord. The first is called Jnanayoga, the

second is named Bhakthiyoga."

"All men do not get the inner prompting to conquer Maya, by surrendering their

all to the Lord. It depends on the merit or demerit, accumulated during many

births. Those who have only demerit as their earnings will pursue the fleeting

pleasure of the senses. Like the birds and the beasts, they revel in food and

frolic; they take these as the purpose of life; they do not entertain any

thoughts of God; they dislike the company of the virtuous and the good; they

stray away from good acts; they become outlaws from the realm of God."

"On the other hand, those who have earned merit strive to grow in virtue, in

uplifting thoughts, in the contemplation of the divine presence and they yearn

for the Lord. Seekers such as these may be drawn to the Lord through suffering

or want or the thirst for knowledge or keenness to acquire wisdom. But the fact

that they turn towards the Lord for relief shows that they have grown into the

higher path through many births."

The Geetha does not approve Sa-kama karmas, act done with intention to benefit

therefrom or with the result as the prime motive. It is only Nishkama karma,

acts done without being concerned with the benefit that may accrue, that will

free you from delusion.

Now a doubt may arise about the Aartha-bhaktha, the one who turns to the Lord to

relieve his suffering. The question may be raised whether such a person can be

called a Bhaktha. There is no single person on earth who is free from some want

or other. Each depends on some one or other to fulfil his wants, is it not? Now,

to have such wants, wants relating to objects, is itself wrong; and to lean on a

man like oneself to fulfil them is an even greater wrong. The Aartha-bhaktha

turns not to man, but to the Lord whom he trusts and reveres: He implores Him

only to fulfil them. Though it is wrong to cultivate wants, he avoids the

greater wrong of putting trust on inferior instruments. So he is superior, is

it not? The superiority of his attitude can be seen when you know that it is

not what you want that is important, but whom you ask for its fulfilment. The

goal is the Lord; He is the giver. His grace alone can confer boons. When this

faith is fixed, you can be certain that the

Aartha-bhaktha is really worthy.

The first three of the types of Bhakthas mentioned in the Geetha - the Aartha,

the Artha-arthi, and the Jijnaasu - all adore the Lord in an implicit form, as

Paroksha. They seek the Lord as a means for the realisation of their desires or

goals. Of course, they will always be in prayerful and worshipful mood and

remembering the Lord at all times.

The Jnani, the fourth type mentioned in the Geetha has Ekabhakthi, while the

others have Anekabhakthi; the others are attached to the objects or the states

they desire and for their sake are attached to the Lord also. They are devoted

not merely to the Lord, but to the objective world also. The Jnani will not

raise his eyes towards anything other than the Lord. Even if he does, he sees

the Lord wherever his eyes are cast. That is the reason why the Lord has

declared that the Jnani is the dearest to Him. Of course, all are the same for

the Lord; but among those who have reached His presence and are present there,

Prema is explicit, Prathyaksha, immediate, directly cognisable and

experienceable. Therefore, it can be inferred that the Jnani is nearest to the

Lord and so, the dearest.

Of course, it is the nature of fire to warm you up when you shiver from cold.

But how can it help you to keep warm if you do not approach it but keep away at

a distance! Similarly, those who are earnest to remove the chillness of worldly

ills have to seek the fire of Jnana, which is won by the grace of God, and be

in the immediacy of God.

The Sadhakas in the midst of their efforts sometimes imagine God to be less

glorious than He really is! They feel that the Lord differentiates between

sinners and saints, good and bad, Jnanis and A-jnanis. These are unsound

inferences. The Lord does not separate men thus. If He really did so, no sinner

can survive His anger on earth for even a minute. All are living on the earth,

since the Lord has no such distinction. This truth is known only to the Jnani.

Others are unaware of this. They suffer under the false belief that the Lord is

somewhere far far away from them.

The Jnani is free from Maya, he is unaffected by the Gunas: Rajas, Thamas or

even Sathwa. The Jijnaasu, the seeker of knowledge, however, is different. He

uses his time for unbroken contemplation of the divine, in pious deeds and holy

thoughts. And the other two, the Arthaarthi and the Aartha, they gather

elevating experience and ruminate over the real and the unreal and transform

themselves into Jijnasus, seekers of knowledge. And later, they become Jnanis

and are saved. The goal is reached thus, stage by stage. You cannot attain the

goal in one leap.

This can be better understood by an example; Jnana is like the "through train."

That is to say, the passenger need not detrain and enter another train to reach

the destination. The Jijnasu has entered the "through carriage;" he too need not

detrain and board another train, but the carriage will be detained and attached

to other trains en-route; and he reaches at last the place he wants to reach.

The Aartha boards the ordinary train and since the carriage he is in is not

"through" nor is he in a through train, he has to alight at a number of places

en-route and wait until another train comes by, so that he can reach the goal

by stages. It is a long and arduous journey. But, in spite of these

difficulties, it can be accomplished by the Aartha, if he persists; The goal is

attained by all; only the process and the pace are different. No wonder the Lord

has declared more than once that all these four types of Bhakthas are "My Own."

Why has He so declared? Because they all seek the same

high goal.

"Therefore, yearn always for the vast, the immeasurable. Do not limit your

desires to the little. They are misers who crave for little things. Those who

yearn for the Lord are generous, large-hearted," said Krishna.

The Bhakthi or devotion of the Jnani is what is termed Sahajabhakthi, direct

Bhakthi. The Bhakthi of the others can be called Gouna-bhakthi or derived

Bhakthi, indirect Bhakthi. The Jnani cognises the Lord as his own Atma; his

Bhakthi is Anu-rakthi, attachment towards or affection for God.

'Poojyaeshvanura ago bhakthi,' it is said; 'affection towards the venerable is

Bhakthi', said Krishna. The Jnani becomes so as the result of the merit

accumulated through many lives. It is not a stage attainable on the spur of the

moment; nor is it available ready-made in shops for a price. It is not a

marketable commodity. It is the culmination of the spiritual endeavour

practised in many lives. It is desired that many good doctors must be produced

for ministering to the people. But years of study and experience alone can

supply them; if those unequipped are appointed as doctors in the hospitals and

if they start prescribing and operating, they are bound to kill where they

should cure. So too,

if a person has become a Jnani today, you can imagine the years and years of

Sadhana that won for him that height. That inheritance of spiritual impulses

from previous births also helps his endeavours.

All kinds of people now name themselves as Jnanis. They do not know, perhaps,

that a Jnani is marked by certain characteristics. The mark that proves him

genuine is, of course, his declaration based on his own experience that

"Vaasudevassarvamidam,Vaasudeva is all this." The steady assimilation of

that experience is the true sign of the Jnani. By Vaasudeva is meant here not

the son of Vasudeva, but He who has made all beings His home, His Nivaasa. It

is only a person who perceives the Lord in all beings that deserves to be

called a Jnani. Instead, if others name themselves as Jnanis, they are so only

in name. They have no genuine experience of Jnana. What exactly is that Jnana?

It is the possession of that knowledge which enables you to have knowledge of

all; and so enables you to dispense with the knowledge of all else.

This is the height which the Jnani reaches. On the other hand, no one can claim

to be a Jnani who has simply learnt a few slokas by heart, or skipped through a

few books, or ascended platforms with ten others and lectured for hours in the

full pride of scholarship, reeling off ponderous sentences (like magician and

his ball of thread), pouring out what has earlier been swallowed. We have large

numbers of such self-styled Jnanis going about now. Their dress is ochre, but

their hearts are ogre. Well, how can stones shine as gems? All stones are not

precious stones. Who will assess a stone as equal to a gem? Only fools will be

misled. For they know neither the one nor the other.

Shri Krishna declared the king of Manthras, "Vaasudevassarvam" in the Geetha,

just to counteract such pseudo-Jnanis, whose emergence He anticipated. That one

Mantra is sufficient to save all mankind. That is His indirect gift; consider it

as such and concentrate on it and its meaning. That is the highest good; that is

the highest goal. Those six letters can alone make human lives worth while.

Without the inner ever-present experience of those words, there are many who

have named themselves Mahatma, Jagadguru, Bhagavan, Paramahamsa, Jnani, Thyagi,

Aananda, etc; and who, alas, though counterfeit, receive currency among people

as genuine. No one conferred these titles on them; they were selected and

assumed by their present owners and worn as plumage to catch the people's eye.

They are not genuine and so the glamour too wears out soon enough. The exterior

is Sanyas, but the interior is Athyaas, (too full of desires). Outwardly the

form is Yoga, but inwardly they suffer from Roga

(disease). Their names all speak of Ananda but they roam around in the alleys.

Their words are honey; their acts are spoony, and often za'ny. A householder

who is immersed in the daily duties of his stage of life is far better

spiritually than these dressed-up specimens of Thyaga and Yoga.

The chief reason for the decline of the culture of India, of its ancient way of

life and its moral rectitude is this: the evil perpetrated by such fakes. Faith

in God has declined for the same reason. They advise Thyaga and aspire for

Bhoga; they glorify morality and operate through hatred. This behaviour cuts at

the very root of Sanyasa; they inevitably rush towards doom. Where words and

deeds are not coordinated, there is no trace of truth.

Well, householders do hold on to truth, more or less tenaciously. There are

among them many who are devoid of hate, are of pure unsullied hearts, and who

tread the path of morality and virtue. But we find that the Thyagis and Yogis

who parade as such are full of all possible types of hatred and all the

manifestations of desire. They fall into the pit which these dig for trapping

them. Egoism, envy, exhibitionism - these bring to end all the efforts of the

Sadhaka. Therefore, seekers and devotees must be ever vigilant; they must keep

away from all these undesirable traits and they should try to grow in the

contemplation of the glory of God; and in the practice of morality, eagerly

striving to experience the real bliss of attainment. This bliss has then to be

shared with the world. That will inaugurate world peace and world prosperity.

Krishna was referring to such real Jnanis when He said that the world will shine

in splendour through the Jnanis. A man without Jnana is as a home without light.

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