[SBOI]Sai Baba Gita – Part IV - Answers for all questions

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Om Sri Sai Ram

SAI BABA GITA – Part IV

The Way to Self-Realization and Liberation in this

Age

Part One

IV. Inner Inquiry - The Path of Wisdom

Meditation is the steady, uninterrupted practice of

contemplating

God. This is the principal spiritual activity taught

in the Gita.

Thinking of God now and then cannot be called

meditation. Meditation

is thinking of God at all times, under all

circumstances. It is a

continuous, unceasing process.

Embodiments of Love,

The constant remembrance of God is the method in

which you

continuously keep turning the mind inwards to become

united with the

indwelling Lord. This can correctly be called

meditation. Any

practice that you engage in periodically is a

concentration practice.

Such a practice will usually focus on a chosen object

and be

associated with a particular place and time. True

meditation, on the

other hand, goes on continuously. It is completely

free of all

objects and phenomena and completely transcends the

element of place

and time. Therefore, in the Gita, the ongoing practice

of meditation

has been described as superior to any type of periodic

practice.

But, there is a practice even superior to

meditation. The ultimate

spiritual practice is the development of wisdom.

Wisdom emerges from

inner inquiry. It is the spiritual practice of looking

deep into the

essential nature of everything. If you faithfully

pursue this

inquiry, you will gradually reach the supreme state of

peace and

bliss. This is the unique goal of human life, a goal

which all

mankind will one day achieve.

The three Stages on the Wisdom Path

To reach the state of abiding inner peace, you begin

by inquiring

into the very heart of everything. This is the process

of inner

inquiry, the first stage on the wisdom path. Then you

must make use

of the deep insights you have gained by applying the

spiritual

teachings to every detail of your daily life. This is

the second

stage. If you continue with this practice unfailingly,

then, in time,

you will reach the goal of God-realization and enjoy

unending bliss.

This is the third and final stage on the wisdom path.

You can compare the first stage to the period of

life when you are

a student. As a student and spiritual seeker you are

most active in

acquiring knowledge. While you are in this stage you

inquire into the

principle which underlies everything in the universe.

You try to

understand the deeper meaning of the great wisdom

sayings, such as

that thou art. Here, that refers to the eternal divine

principle we

call God, and thou refers to the immortal self, which

is the one true

reality of everyone. In this first stage you try to

understand this

saying, which states that the highest self and God are

one and the

same, and you look for this oneness in the core of

everything.

So, you start off by seeking the unity underlying

everything in

existence. Then, having become aware of it, you live

your life by

applying this great truth to all your daily

activities. This second

stage can be compared to the period of life when you

are employed and

busy in your profession. If you have not pursued your

education and

earned good qualifications, you will not be able to

find an

appropriate position. Therefore, in the first stage

you acquire a

good education and develop your knowledge so that in

the next stage

you can put that education into practice and use it to

do your life's

work. The third stage can be likened to the later

period of life when

you are retired and become a pensioner.

You receive a pension only after you have completed

your working

career. You start your career and gain employment, in

the first

place, only after you have successfully completed your

education and

acquired qualifications. These then are the three

stages in your path

through life namely, first is the stage when you are a

student, then

there is the stage when you are a professional, and

lastly, there is

the stage when you are a pensioner.

Similarly, on the path of wisdom, you start out as a

seeker, then

you become a practitioner, and finally, you become a

wise illumined

one. In this final stage you enjoy complete peace of

mind and realize

the unity of all of creation.

To permanently acquire peace of mind and the state

of unending

inner joy, you first have to enter into the stage of

inquiry and give

up all attachments to the world. These days, so-called

spiritual

seekers are first entering into the stage of

attachment, and later

they try to enter the stage of inner inquiry. They

call each other

brother and sister and aspire to practice unity, while

at the same

time taking on new worldly attachments. At best, they

can only be

described as part-time devotees. The Gita does not

condone such part-

time devotion. The Gita teaches complete surrender by

offering

oneself and everything one has to God.

God is the Master of Time

In order to experience the principle of complete

surrender you need

to become aware of time, and how it exercises total

power over all

that is changing, and yet, how it is utterly powerless

over the

unchanging divinity, which is its master. God is not

subject to time.

He not only is not under the spell of time, but he

keeps time under

his control. The one who is bound by time is man; the

one who

transcends time is God. The one who is mortal is man;

the one who is

immortal is God. Only when you take shelter in

divinity will you be

able to transcend this element of time. Time consumes

man, whereas

God consumes time itself. It is time which is

responsible for man's

progress or man's decline, for the promotion of his

good or his fall

into evil, for his earning merit or storing demerit.

Therefore, in

the ancient scriptures we find this prayer:

O God, you are the very embodiment of time. Please,

help me to

sanctify my life and spend all my time in remembrance

of you, so that

I may safely reach your lotus feet.

The entire world is inextricably enmeshed in the

grip of time. It

is not possible to fight against this element of time.

Time does not

wait for anyone. You are bound by time, time is not

bound by you.

Time can be compared to a great flowing river. All

living beings are

washed away by this flow of time. If you are washed

away by a flood

you cannot take protection and shelter in someone or

something which

is also being washed away. You, as well as the people

and objects in

which you try to find security, are all being washed

away by the

flood of time. If you seek to gain protection from

something that is

itself being washed away, it is like a blind person

following another

blind person. In the end, they both get lost. But if

you were to be

helped by someone who is standing securely on the

bank, you would

surely be saved.

The one on the bank who is not caught up in the

flood of time is

God. If you take refuge in God you will be able to

free yourself from

all the troubles and problems associated with time.

God has

proclaimed the principle of surrender and emphasized

its importance

by telling man, "O man, you are being washed away by

the flood of

time. The only one who can shelter you is myself. Take

refuge in me,

and I will save you." When you obey this divine

command and offer

yourself, your wealth, your property, your entire

family at the

Lord's feet and surrender yourself completely, then

you will surely

be saved.

The Veil of Illusion

At first it is difficult to experience this

principle of surrender

because there is a very big veil between you and God.

Due to this

veil, you are easily subject to doubt and confusion,

and then you

feel yourself unable to surrender completely. This

veil is illusion.

What is the meaning of illusion? Illusion refers to

that which does

not exist. When you are under the spell of illusion

you imagine that

which does not really exist to exist. And you imagine

that which

really exists to not exist. What never changes really

exists and is

true. What changes does not really exist and is not

true. The one

thing which always exists, which is true and

unchanging is God, the

one without a second. The world, when thought to be

devoid of God,

will be seen as constantly changing. Since it is

changing, it cannot

be true and, therefore, cannot really exist. But, in

this, you are

not seeing the world correctly.

When you are under the spell of illusion, you see

the world as

separate from God. You do not see the divinity as the

principle

underlying everything in the world, and as a result,

you become

afraid and find it impossible to surrender yourself

completely. It is

like seeing a rope and thinking that it is a snake.

But there is no

snake there at all. You are subjected to fear and

tension by

imagining that there is a snake where there really is

no snake, at

all. What is the reason for this fear? Imagining

things which really

do not exist, as existing, is the cause of fear. This

feeling is

responsible for all your troubles. If you were to see

all this in

total awareness, you would find that there is only a

rope; there is

no snake. Then you would have no fear whatsoever. You

would not be

afraid to reach out to it, to hold it and to play with

it, because

you would realize that all there is, is only a rope.

You are subject to many sorrows because you forget

the fact that

the entire world is the embodiment of God. It is not

just the world

as you think it is. You see the world only from the

phenomenal point

of view; you are not looking at it through the eyes of

inquiry. If

you were to look at the world correctly, you would

realize that it is

a stream of continuous change. This ongoing,

uninterrupted flow of

change is the basic characteristic of the phenomenal

world. But

within and governing that flow of change, is the one

divine principle

which is forever unchanging.

It can be likened to a river. The water in the river

will flow

continuously and give rise to the apparent effect of a

steady stream,

flowing without end. But at any given period of time,

and at any

particular place along the river, the particles of

water rushing by

will all be different; some will be muddy, some will

contain rocks,

some will be foamy, some will be pure water. Although

the flow is

continuous, the exact makeup of the water is

constantly changing. We

see that the river is a combination of both changing

and unchanging

elements.

In a similar way beings, which are the expressions

of life, are

born and die. Although they come and they go, there is

a continuity

of life in the world. Life which goes on continuously

can be

considered to be truth, whereas living beings which

are born and die

and are constantly changing, represent untruth.

Therefore, the

changing expressions of life are untrue, but life

itself, which is a

steady stream whose essence is the divinity, is true.

The World as a River of Truth and Untruth

That is why the world has been likened to a river,

where reality

has become associated with unreality, or change. You

can consider it

a stream of changing truth, a truth which is qualified

and not fully

true. The world is a combination of pure truth, which

remains the

same and never changes, and untruth, which deals with

things that are

constantly changing. The wisdom teachings have

described this state

as truth-untruth, namely, a mixture or combination

wherein both truth

and untruth coexist. Spiritual practice is the process

whereby you

separate the truth from the untruth, and retain the

truth. You see

the illusion that the world exists separately from

yourself and God

for what it is, namely untruth. Once recognized as

untruth you are no

longer deluded by it, and the truth, which is the

unity of God, man

and world, stands revealed.

Ignorance, nature, world, illusion, mind, maya are

all synonymous.

They are all the illusory power of God. Thinking that

things exist

which do not really exist, and coming under their

spell, is illusion.

A saint summarized this as, "God is true but the world

is false". You

must understand this statement correctly. What it

means is that our

mistaken perception and experience of the world is

untrue. The world

itself, in essence, is true. God is the one,

unchanging basis of this

world of change. When you examine this in some depth

you discover

that the world is truly not world, but the divinity

itself.

Hold on to God alone

In the Gita, Krishna told Arjuna, "Arjuna, you are

subjecting

yourself to this element of time. You are getting

yourself caught up

in its flow, and you are going far, far away from me.

Surrender

yourself to me and all your sorrows will soon be

removed." When you

are associated with God, when you are near him,

illusion cannot harm

you. Here is a small example for this.

In the expensive homes of the wealthy there will

often be a

watchdog guarding the gate to keep people out. This

dog is not like a

street dog; it has been brought up by its owners with

great affection

and has been carefully trained. This dog does not go

on barking

whenever it sees people walking or moving about. It

starts barking

only when someone comes near the gate and tries to get

in. When they

see the dog and hear the barking, most visitors will

quickly leave

the gate and go away. Others, however, who have taken

a firm resolve

to meet the owner of the house, will continue to stand

there and

loudly call out to the owner of the house. Eventually,

the owner,

hearing all the commotion at the gate, will look out

from his

upstairs window to see who is standing at the gate.

Once the owner

recognizes the person waiting there to be his friend,

he will come

down, go to the gate, let his friend in, and take him

upstairs into

the house.

When this apparent stranger, who had been waiting at

the gate turns

out to be a friend of the master of the house and goes

with him, the

dog will no longer bark at him or try to harm him. The

dog now knows

that this person is being allowed in by the owner

himself. Illusion

can be compared to this dog. It guards the gate of

liberation and

bliss. If a person comes who is not a friend of the

master of the

house, if he has nothing to do there, but insists on

coming in

through the gate, the dog will catch hold of him.

Fearing the

consequences of being accosted by the dog, most people

will run away.

In a similar fashion, most people, as soon as they

experience some

difficulties on the spiritual path, will choose to

turn away, instead

of persisting on their quest, undaunted by

difficulties. And so, they

do not reach their goal and thus continue to be

buffeted by the spell

of illusion.

But a real devotee, who in this example is the

person with a strong

determination to reach the owner of the house, does

not mind the dog

at all. He remains at the gate and attracts the

attention of the

master, and stays there until the master comes out. To

such a

persistent one waiting at the gate, even the barking

of the dog, even

the pain caused by illusion is helpful, because the

pain draws the

attention and compassion of the master inside. The

master turns his

gaze on the devotee, recognizes him, and takes him

into the house.

Therefore, only the one with courage and a strong

resolute nature,

who has decided to remain there no matter how

ferociously the dog is

barking, will get to see the master and be able to

enter this palace

of ultimate peace.

Conquer your Senses

The five senses and the sense objects we perceive

with them

represent this dog of illusion which will distract you

and keep you

from reaching God. It is for this reason that Krishna

told

Arjuna, "Arjuna, you are attached to so many sense

objects; therefore

you are ruffled by events. You have not been able to

control your

senses and you have not been able to develop

concentration.

Therefore, you have not been able to establish the

divinity in your

heart. Continue to cultivate your practice of

constantly turning your

mind back to God dwelling in your heart. Then you will

gain

concentration of mind. Only when you have

concentration of mind will

you be able to fully surrender to God. At all times

and in all places

always think of God. Whatever work you are doing,

think of God.

Remember God with love. Remember God with faith.

"Even when you are waging a war, think first of God,

then fight.

This is not an ordinary war; this fight you are now

becoming involved

in is not like a quarrel between you and some other

individuals. What

you are fighting most of all is your own weakness,

your bad habits,

all your limitations and frailties. With warm thoughts

of love for

the divinity dwelling in your heart, wage this inner

war and win.

Remember you are not just fighting a war against

others. You are

fighting your own inner sense organs. So, do not quit

until you have

achieved victory, until you have conquered your senses

and fully

mastered them."

In an earlier age, Prahlada also spoke of this inner

fight to his

father, the powerful demon king. He said, "Father, you

have won many

wars and have gained lordship over numerous worlds,

but you have not

been able to win a victory over your own senses. By

winning all the

worlds outside you have become a powerful king, but

only when you can

control your own senses will you be king of the whole

universe. If

you keep being defeated by your inner senses, how can

you ever win a

lasting victory against your enemies outside? When you

win over your

inner enemies, you can easily win over the external

ones, also."

When is this possible? Only when you surrender

yourself completely

to the divinity. You say, 'my objects', 'myself', 'my

people'. As

long as you have such feelings it will not be possible

for you to

surrender. These are all attachments associated with

the physical

realm. You will have to gain mastery over not only the

physical, but

over the mental realm as well. Finally you will have

to gain entry

into the spiritual realm. Once you have fully

surrendered yourself

and entered the spiritual realm everything will be

taken care of

automatically, and you will no longer be bothered by

any burdens and

cares.

Give your Burdens to God

When you take a train journey, upon reaching the

railway station

you have to transport your luggage via a porter, or by

one means or

another. If there is no one to help you, you have to

carry the

luggage yourself. But once you enter the train you can

put the

luggage down anywhere you like. Then you can relax and

there is no

further bother with the luggage. The train will carry

you and your

luggage. Nevertheless, there are some fools who will

sit in the train

and carry their luggage on their heads. Those are the

ones who have

been blessed with God's grace but still doubt and

continue to follow

their own independent will. They have not surrendered

fully.

Once you surrender yourself fully to the Lord and

offer up

everything that is to be done, as well as when it is

to be done and

how it is to be done, at the Lord's feet, he will take

care of

everything. To achieve this level of surrender there

can be no trace

of ego left; there should be no sense of yourself

remaining. This has

been shown in a particularly clear manner in the

Ramayana by

Lakshmana, the brother of Rama.

Let us pick up the story when Rama, Sita and

Lakshmana during their

exile in the forest, were moving through a mountainous

area. As is

the Lord's nature, he always loves to carry on some

playful sport; he

is the perfect actor. He never has any sorrow or pain

whatsoever, but

sometimes he will act as though he has these feelings.

Whenever God

comes down in human form he acts this way in order to

conduct himself

in a natural way as man. The human form is taken on by

him so that he

can be easily accessible to people. On that particular

day, Rama, the

incarnation of God, acted as though he was very tired.

He was

removing the sweat from his brow and telling

Lakshmana, "Lakshmana, I

am so tired. I don't think I will be able to go any

further. Please

put up a hut somewhere nearby, so that we can take a

little rest."

Lakshmana asked Rama, "Brother, where shall we have

this cottage?"

Rama said, "You can decide for yourself which place

will be most

appropriate, and then put it up." Lakshmana responded,

"Rama! Rama!

What have I done? What is my error? What sins have I

committed to

hear these words? Please let me know why you have

spoken to me like

this!" Now, Rama knew the mind of Lakshmana and so he

knew why

Lakshmana was saying this, but in order to help Sita

understand the

level of Lakshmana's surrender, Rama said, "Lakshmana,

please tell me

what is troubling you. What have I said that has made

you feel so

much pain?"

Lakshmana replied, "I have given up everything. I

have given up

wife, mother, father, kingdom, everything. I have come

along with you

feeling that you are the father, that Sita is the

mother, and that

wherever you are is our beautiful capital city of

Ayodhya. I have

come only to implement your will. I have given up my

own individual

will, and now you ask me to construct a hut and choose

the place in

which to build it. Your command is my only thought. I

have no other

thoughts than that. Whatever is your will, I will do.

My only duty is

to obey you. My only goal, truly my everything, is

you. You alone

must tell me where the hut is to be put up." Sita

realized the depth

of Lakshmana's devotion and surrender. She turned to

Rama and asked

him to relieve Lakshmana's distress by designating the

site for the

hut himself.

Surrender fully to God

The basic lesson of this story is that man should

not have any

desires separate from the one desire to fully

surrender to God.

Everything belongs to God, and only to God. Surrender

means

implicitly following the commands given to you by the

Lord, whose

directions will be clearly heard when he is enshrined

in your heart.

Surrender is the basis of the declaration, "Come and

sit in my train

and I will look after you. Let go of your ego-sense

and desire. Don't

carry your baggage on your head and suffer."

In this context, Krishna taught surrender as the

highest and most

important stage of devotion. Once you have surrendered

yourself fully

to the Lord, you will gain his grace. "Wherever you

are, be it in a

town, in a village, in a forest or in the sky, I will

be your refuge.

Come and surrender to me!" That is the command of the

Lord, and that

is also his promise. Once you are his, he will shelter

you and

protect you from all harm.

But, surrender does not mean giving up your

discriminating faculty.

You must discern what are desires and what is truly

divine, and

surrender all your worldly desires, offering them to

the divine. Make

every effort to discover the right way to surrender

yourself, and

thereby sanctify your life and reach the goal.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

 

Source:

http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/saibabagita/