Sathya Sai Baba Geetha Vahini - Chapter 17

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Sathya Sai BabaGeetha Vahini

Chapter XVII

"Whoever is busy with no other thoughts than those about Me, whoever is ever

remembering Me, he certainly will release his dying breath through the centre

of the head; he will attain Me. I am as near him, as he is near Me. My dear

Arjuna! How can I forget him, who never forgets Me? Forgetting is a human

frailty, not the characteristic of God, let Me tell you! There is no need for

Yoga or Thapas, or even Jnana; whether you give these up since you are too weak

or whether, in spite of having the strength, you do not feel like struggling to

master these, it does not matter. I do not ask for Yoga or Thapas; I only ask

that your mind be fixed on me. Devote your mind to Me, dedicate it to Me, that

is all I ask for."

"If a Sadhaka cannot do at least this act of dedication to the Lord, I wonder

what his Sadhana is capable of! If you plead that you have not the strength of

mind, I ask where the strength comes from to dedicate yourself as you do now to

hollow ideals, the vain fantasies of family, fortune and fame. Can you not

direct this strength to that supreme dedication? Man easily offers his all to

poisonous objective pleasures, but squirms and protests as if a mountain is

tumbling on him when the call is made to dedicate his thoughts, feelings and

acts to the almighty! Salvation in his eyes is as cheap and as easy to attain

as greens in the vegetable market! He seeks to escape from bondage as easily as

that. He does not yearn much; but he desires to earn much in the spiritual

field! He is sunk more in Thamas than in Thapas. But he wishes for the fruits

that Thapas alone can offer."

"Those who are prompted by genuine desire for the fruit must overcome all

obstacles and temptations, doubts and disappointments, and dwell on the thought

of the Lord. Then the Lord will not keep apart; He will confer on that Sadhaka

the status of Sameness, described as Aham Brahmasmi. ('I am you, You are I, We

are one') And the Sadhaka will be contemplating this unity without break. This

is referred to as Ananyabhaava."

Arjuna asked, "You say that this Ananyabhaava, this Ananya-bhakthi is quite easy

and that there is no need to take any great trouble; you also declare that for

those who have acquired it, You are readily attainable! Well, what exactly is

the benefit of attaining you?"

Krishna smiled at this and replied, "Arjuna! What greater benefit is there than

that? That holy victory makes mortal man a Mahatma. You may still pose the

question: Of what benefit is it to become a Mahatma? Listen. The Mahatma is far

superior to the ordinary man. The latter is established in the body and the

Jiva, he identifies himself with the body and with breath, with the particular,

'the wave'. So, he is tossed about by joy and grief; he rises or falls with each

experience. Between snatches of calm and storm, he reels under many a blow."

"The Mahatma is free from all dual experience. He is above and beyond. He has

released himself from identity with the particularised; he is in the universal,

the eternal, the changeless, the Brahmabhaava, not the Jiva bhaava. He knows

that the Atma is not a limited entity, he feels that it extends beyond all

limits; he is free from the blemish of Thamas and Rajas; he is neither dull nor

driven about by desire; he has pure consciousness, unaffected by attachment or

hate. Many who style themselves as such, nowadays, have no purity in their

hearts; their consciousness is soiled by foulness. But the pure in heart have

no further birth and death. They are under no obligation to appear again on

earth. Without attaining that purity, you cannot escape the round of birth and

death, however many your meritorious deeds, however high your spiritual status,

however glorious the heaven you have secured! Only those who are perpetually in

that Brahmabhaava can attain this timeless Me, and be

freed from the chain, by merging in Me."

At this Arjuna gave expression to another doubt that worried him. He asked, "If

that is so, why do the Upanishads declare that those who reach heaven,

Brahmaloka, need not be born again? Please explain who exactly are those that

are freed from this cycle of birth and death?"

"Arjuna! There are two types of liberation mentioned in the Upanishads,

Sadyomukthi and Kramamukthi. Sadyomukthi is also referred to as Kaivalyamukthi.

For earning this, no one need aspire for any heaven. They get this on the spot,

and not by stages, step by step. Liberation secured thus is a possession for

ever. The rest are liable to change. When the effect of the merit acquired

wears out, heaven has to be given up, and life on earth starts anew. Such souls

know no merging; only, those who attain Kaivalya, merge and become one with the

eternal, the universal."

"This is to say," intercepted Arjuna, "the souls that attain Kaivalya are

destroyed, is it not? Or is there any difference between merging and

destruction, Laya and Naasam?"

"No, Partha! Layam is not Naasam, merging is not destruction. Layam happens when

it becomes invisible."

"That is what happens when a thing is destroyed; it becomes invisible, we cannot see it any more."

"But, just because a thing has gone out of sight, how can you pronounce it

'destroyed'? No. A lump of sugar or salt placed in water disappears. You can

see it no more; but can you say it has been destroyed? Or, do you say it has

merged? It is there, the taste declares it; it has lost the form, but is

present in its quality, its Guna. The Jiva also merges like this in Brahmam. It

is not destroyed at all. When the Jiva is not merged like this, it can at best

only wander between heaven and earth, deserving life in heaven for some time

and descending again to earth for further efforts towards salvation."

Arjuna was still afflicted with doubt. He asked "Krishna! You say that no

heaven, even the highest Brahmaloka, can save man from the cycle of birth and

death; then, what is the royal road to salvation? Do you mean to say that those

who strive for those heavens have to satisfy themselves with just that and no

more?"

Krishna answered, "Partha! There is a state that knows no decline, beyond all

these heavens. There are many roads by which that state can be won. Unaware of

these roads or of the joy of that state, man is taking to others that are

either crooked or comfortable. He does not know how to distinguish between the

right road and the wrong.

"I may tell you that there are four roads which are now used by mankind:

Karma-atheetha, beyond Karma, unaffected by Karma; Nishkaama-karma, Karma

without any desire for the fruit thereof, Karma unaffected by any craving for

the result thereof; Sakaama Karma that is, action with the desire to reap and

enjoy its fruit and Karma-bhrashta, Karma that knows no restraint or control."

"The Karma-atheethas are the Jivan-mukthas, all their Karmas have been burnt up

by the fire of Jnana; their impulses for action have been scorched by the

wisdom they have gained. They have no further need for injunction and

prohibition, (Vidhi and Nishedha). They need no Sadhana, like Dana, (charity),

Dharma (virtuous living), Thapas (austerity). All that they do or feel or think

will be divine, holy, virtuous, beneficial to mankind. The very earth they tread

on is sacrosanct; every word they utter will be the word of God; their breath

need not take them, on death, to realms that are heavenly; they merge, on the

falling away of the bodily raiment, without delay, in Brahmam. Such are the

Jivis who were described by Me now as having Kaivalyamukthi, Brahma-praapthi or

Sadyomukthi."

"Next, the second group; the adepts at Nishkamakarma. These are the Mumukshus,

alert on the path of liberation, who are intent on attaining it. They perform

each act as a step in the realisation of the Lord. So they can never do

anything bad; they do not look forward to the result; they leave it to the Lord

to give it, or withhold it. They are not prompted by worldly motives or even by

the desire to gain heavenly pleasure. Their aim is just this: Liberation from

the bondage of the objective world. They win the grace of the Lord in

proportion to the steadiness of their faith and practice."

The third group, which believes in Sa-kama-karma, performs all acts through the

desire for the fruit thereof. Since they have an eye on the successful earning

of the fruit, they will engage themselves only in acts that are approved by the

Sastras; they will not do any sinful or prohibited act. They will equate each

act with the merit it will confer, the happiness it will ensure, the heaven it

will win. Such men, when they depart from this world, will enter the Lokas

(supra-mundane worlds) they have sought and worked for, and having stayed there

as long as their merit entitles them, they have to return to earth."

"The fourth group is not guided by any rule of conduct. They have no norms, no

discrimination between virtue and vice, right and wrong, proper and improper.

They have no horror of hell, no conception of heaven, no dread of the devil, no

reverence for God, no respect for the Sastras, no vision of Dharma! They are

best pictured as beasts in human form. The majority of humans are members of

this unfortunate group. They strive for momentary pleasure, short-lived

happiness, temporary joy and evanescent comfort. To call them apes with human

physique will be a big mistake; for the ape only jumps from branch to branch or

from tree to tree. It releases itself from one branch or one tree before landing

on another. Men are more like caterpillars, which move from leaf to leaf, fixing

their foreparts on a new leaf, before releasing their hindparts from the leaf on

which they were resting till then."

"That is to say, man by his acts in this life decides on his next birth, where

and how it will be, even before leaving this world. The new place is ready for

him, his foreparts are already there; it is only after setting this that he

relieves himself of the hold on this world! Men of this category move round in

the wheel of birth and death. To be born and to die, one must have auspicious

moments which will guarantee a wise life and a worthwhile end. Arjuna! Yogis,

for example, give up life only when auspicious moments are available, not at

other times. That is why people say, death is the witness for the good. An

auspicious moment is to be chosen even for the act of death."

Arjuna asked, "Krishna! Tell me when the body has to be yielded to death, so

that one can escape the cycle of birth and death; tell me also which period of

time one should avoid." Krishna replied, "Partha! Your question is very timely

and urgent. Sometimes, you make Me marvel at your intelligence and you make Me

very happy. At other times, you make Me laugh at your ignorance. Your egoism

and sense of attachment cause this confusion. Let that pass. Let us come to

your question."

"The Yogis who practise Nish-kama-karma pass away in Tejas, during day, while

there is light, in the bright half of the month, and in the six month period of

Uttarayana. They have as their first state Agni or fire. Hence, their path is

known as Devayana, or since Agni is known also as Archi in the Vedas,

Archiraadimarga. Such Yogis emerge from Prakaasa (effulgence) and travelling

through Prakaasa they merge in Prakaasa itself. They attain Brahmam and are not

born again."

"The Yogis who practise Sa-kama-karma pass away in Dhuma (smoke) at night,

during the dark half of the month during the six months of Dakshinayana; they

pass along Dhumadi-marga and reach Swarga or heaven and there enjoy the

pleasures they have yearned for and worked for; when the stock of merit is

exhausted, they get born again."

"Both these categories of men are called Yogis; they will exist so long as

aspirants and active progressive individuals exist in the world."

"Here, a doubt may reasonably arise: How is it that the bright half of the month

is auspicious, while the dark half is not? What, again, is to happen to those

who die, when it is neither bright nor dark, neither day nor night? This is a

legitimate doubt and everyone has a right to know the answer."

"Now you must first understand what is meant by Sukla Paksha or the bright

fortnight. It is the half-month when the light of the moon increases day by

day. But what is the relationship of the light of the moon to man and his

death? The moon is the symbol of the mind of man. 'Chandramaa manaso jaathah;

out of the moon was the Manas (mind) born.' The bright half of the moon,

therefore signifies the progress of the mind spiritually, in divine discipline;

the full-moon signifies the fullness of that achievement. The bright half is,

thus, the period when spiritual progress is attained. For the body, the visible

moon; for the mind, the symbolic moon-deity presiding over the mind! The

increasing splendour of the mind due to the increasing realisation of one's own

divinity is what is meant by the word, 'Suklapaksha'."

"And what of Uttarayana? Be free from doubt on that score, too. Worship offered

knowing the meaning of every rite, Sadhana practised knowing the implications

of every step, these cleanse the heart more effectively, and loosen the chains

of doubt.

"Uttarayana is the period when no dot of cloud or whiff of fog contaminates the

vast dome and the sun shines in all His glory. This is the gross meaning; but

there is a subtle one, too. The heart is the inner sky. There, the sun that

shines is Buddhi or intelligence. When the clouds of ignorance, the fog of

egoism and the smoke of attachment hover in that inner sky, the sun of

intelligence is hidden and things look murky and are mistaken. Uttarayana of

the heart is when the inner sky is clear of all these, and when the sun shines

in full splendour. You must have heard the expression, 'Jnanabhaskara,' the sun

of wisdom. The sun is always associated with wisdom and intelligence. When a

person passes away with this equipment of the effulgent sun of wisdom in his

clear heart, he can certainly escape rebirth. He takes the path of Agni, the

Archiraadi path, as said already, and merges in Brahmam!"

"Those who pass away in the other half of the year, the Dakshinayana, have the

opposite destiny; then the heart is beset with smoke and fog and cloud. The sun

is hidden and His effulgence has no splendour. And in the dark half of the month

the moon wanes, symbolising the waning of godward thoughts. The new moon night

is enveloped in complete darkness, all spiritual impulses suffer defeat. The

thick smoke of Ajnana lies heavily on the mind. This is the meaning of the

expression, Krishna paksha. Those who die at such an inauspicious time reap an

inauspicious result."

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