Sai Baba Gita – Part IX – Answers for all questions

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Om Sri Sai Ram

SAI BABA GITA – Part IX – Answers for all questions

The Way to Self-Realization and Liberation in this

Age

XI. True Renunciation - Focus on God, not the World

If you want to reach the Lord and have a vision of

him, the most

important quality that you need to develop is

detachment. Detachment

endows you with the capacity to internalize your

vision. Detachment

allows you to introvert your mind and dwell on your

inner beauty.

Embodiments of Love,

Once you recognize the defects and weaknesses in the

objects of the

world you soon lose your desire to possess them. The

mind is very

strong and fickle. It is also very obstinate. It is

forever

determined to get its way. Arjuna prayed to Krishna

for help in

controlling his mind. He lamented, "O Lord, the mind

is very powerful

and wayward." Krishna replied, "Arjuna, if you

practice detachment

you will certainly be able to control your mind."

Control of the Mind

The mind can be compared to a poplar tree. The

poplar leaves are

always shaking whether there is a wind or not.

Similarly, the mind is

always unsteady and wavering. In addition to its

wavering quality the

mind is also strong and stubborn. Take for example an

elephant. It is

very strong and it can be quite cruel, too. However

with the help of

a goad you can bring it under control. Likewise, the

horse is rarely

still. It is always moving its limbs, its ears, its

head or its tail.

Being unsteady, it will first go one way and then

another. But with a

bit, it can be controlled and made to go in the

direction that the

rider wants.

Another example is the monkey, which roams here and

there, the very

picture of unsteadiness and fickleness. But with

training, it too can

be brought under control. Therefore, just as with a

goad you can

control an elephant which may be very cruel and

strong, just as with

a bit you can control a horse which is nervous and

unstable, just as

with training even a monkey can be controlled, in the

same way the

mind, which is also strong and fickle, can be

controlled by

detachment and constant practice.

Detachment

True detachment means realizing the temporary nature

of objects and

not allowing your mind to get attached to these

transient things. It

does not necessarily mean that you feel disgust or

hatred for them.

It means that you feel no mental attachment towards

them. Totally

giving up all the objects of the phenomenal world is

not possible.

However, you can give up your my-ness, your sense of

possessiveness.

Once you give that up, then you can go ahead and enjoy

the various

objects of the world. They will cause you no harm.

In the phenomenal world, every thing, every person

and every object

undergoes change. The world consists of six types of

change: birth,

growth, maturity, decline, degeneration and death.

These are the

changes to which all objects are subjected. To delude

yourself into

thinking that this transient impermanent world is

permanent and

become attached to the objects in it is very foolish

indeed.

In the temple of Vishnu you will see statues and

pictures of

Garuda, the eagle. Similarly, in the temple of Shiva

you will find

statues and pictures of Nandi, the bull. And, in the

temple of Rama,

you will see a portrayal of Hanuman, the monkey. In

all these

depictions the concentration of each of these beings,

Nandi, Garuda

and Hanuman, is on the feet of the Lord; they see only

the Lord, not

the world. All of these demonstrate the right kind of

attachment.

Their attachment is to the Lord who is permanent. And

their

detachment is from the world which is transient. The

significance of

all these symbolic representations is that you should

not care much

for what is transient, but always concentrate and

dwell on the

permanent entity, which is the Lord himself.

Once you recognize the defects of objects, their

transitoriness and

impermanence, then you will gradually lose your desire

to have them.

There are a number of stories which show how emperors

who had a lot

of wealth at their disposal and possessed all the

luxuries and

properties one could dream of, did not derive much joy

or peace of

mind from them. In order to get peace of mind they

would go to the

forest and perform penance. From this they ultimately

derived the

satisfaction and inner solace for which they had been

yearning.

Make the Best Use of Every Object

Detachment involves more than just recognizing the

defects and

weaknesses in objects which results from their

transitory nature.

Detachment also involves the positive quality of

getting the most out

of the objects of the world. You should always strive

to make the

best use of an object and appreciate it for what it

is. There is no

point in just dwelling on the limitation and sorrow

that objects of

the world produce, but you should know to properly use

objects to

perform your duty in the world. Then you will acquire

some

satisfaction. In the larger sense, it is really giving

up worldly

sorrow and gaining the bliss of the supreme self that

is true

detachment. Giving up family, wife, children and

properties and then

going to the forest cannot be called detachment.

Detachment is

recognizing the weak aspects in the nature of the

objects, as well as

accepting their positive and strong points.

Whenever you get into difficulty, whether physical,

mental,

financial or any other type of problem, you may

develop a sense of

detachment towards the objects causing this state.

This is quite

natural. For example, suppose a person dies and his

body is taken to

the burning ground where it is cremated. When you look

at such a

situation you develop a particular type of detachment,

philosophizing

that the body has to come to an end some time or

another. But this

detachment is only a temporary phenomenon, a temporary

feeling; it

cannot be considered true detachment.

Another example is when a mother is delivering her

first baby. Not

being able to suffer the pain, she shouts that she

would rather die.

This also is not true detachment. As soon as the baby

is born,

suppose she has a girl, she immediately wants to get a

boy the next

time. A similar situation develops when someone does

not get his

wishes fulfilled. Here also he develops a certain type

of detachment.

All these attitudes are temporary. Permanent

detachment is something

quite different.

Permanent detachment is an intense detachment, as

opposed to dull

or weak detachment. For example, a person may have

resolved to go on

a pilgrimage to one of the holy places in India, but

then there may

be a strong tendency to postpone it to the next month.

If it is a

matter of doing something good such as going on a

pilgrimage, one

will tend to postpone it. On the other hand, if it is

a matter of

doing something bad, one prefers to do it right on the

spot, without

wasting any time. People usually will not make very

great efforts to

perform good deeds. This may be seen as a type of weak

detachment

which tends to postpone implementing good resolutions

and performing

good actions. But such behavior will not help you to

reach your

spiritual goal. It is intense detachment which is

essential for

progress on the spiritual path.

Harischandra and Buddha

If you decide that a particular activity is good and

sacred, you

should not postpone it. You should immediately

implement it and see

to it that this good action is successfully carried

out. This was the

royal path laid down for all by the Buddha. Once

Gautama Buddha

realized that the body was impermanent, that none of

the worldly

things were going to last, he resolved to seek out and

discover the

unchanging truth. He gave up his family and his

kingdom and went into

the forest to realize the ultimate reality.

There was another great ruler who had an intense

sense of sacrifice

and detachment. His name was Harischandra. Although he

was an

emperor, through a series of unfortunate circumstances

he lost

everything he had in the world, his kingdom, his wife

and family, and

spent his days as caretaker of a cremation ground.

One day, when Harischandra first started performing

his duties in

the cremation ground, the corpse of a rich man was

brought there by a

large number of friends. They brought the body, set it

on fire and

immediately went back to their homes. Usually when a

body is set on

fire, a little weight is put on it. Otherwise, as soon

as the heat

comes, the body bends as if it was getting up, and

then lies down

again. Only Harischandra remained in the burning

ground that day. No

friends or relatives of the dead man stayed behind to

keep a watch on

the body. Harischandra went to get a little more fuel

to put on the

fire. Suddenly he saw the body lift itself up. He was

surprised and

went near it to have a closer look.

As Harischandra approached the pyre, he noticed that

the body had

by itself returned to a prone position. For an instant

he thought

that it was still alive as if sitting up to look for

its relatives

and friends, but then he realized that the whole

episode was just a

momentary illusion of a corpse appearing alive, caused

by the heat of

the fire. Harischandra thought to himself, "In the

same way that I

mistook this corpse to be alive, I thought this world

to be real. But

it is unreal, it gives only an illusion of reality."

Harischandra lamented that such a wealthy man whose

corpse was

brought there had no relatives or friends to stay with

his body until

the end. He thought, whatever may be the position and

the riches of a

person, not even his wife or children retain any

attachment to him

after his death. As a result of this experience,

Harischandra

developed an intense detachment towards the objects

and forms of the

world.

Worldly Attachments are like Poison

Every day, at every time, there will be changes

occurring in all

the objects of creation. These changes are not

artificial, they are

not imaginary, they are natural and inherent in the

very nature of

the objects. Once you recognize that the world is

basically a stage

for the continuous natural occurrence of changes, and

that change is

inherent in the very nature of the objects of the

world, then you

will become free from suffering. Anyone who realizes

that there is a

lethal toxin contained in the fangs of a poisonous

snake will not

casually go near it. If you see an approaching

scorpion with its

poisonous tail held up, ready to strike, would you not

run away from

it? Only a small, innocent child or a totally ignorant

person would

go near it, get stung and die.

You make every effort to avoid a poisonous creature

because you

know its harmful nature. In the same way, you would

make every effort

to avoid worldly attachments if you knew their harmful

nature. The

Lord taught in the Gita, that instead of undergoing

all the

sufferings that go with developing attachments and

then getting

disillusioned when the inevitable changes begin to

happen, it would

be far better from the very beginning to remain

unattached towards

the things and objects of the world. But now you go on

planning many

things and attaching yourself to many things in order

to gain some

short-term joys. You exhaust yourself thinking and

planning, "I

should do this, I should do that" or "I should do this

instead of

that" and get yourself involved in countless projects

and activities.

But you will have to bear the consequences of all

these actions in

the future.

The seeds you have sown by your actions will mature

and you will

reap the harvest of those seeds. If the seed belongs

to one variety,

you cannot expect to get back a different kind of

result. Whatever

acts you have indulged in, the appropriate fruits

thereof will be

given to you in the form of an invisible garland which

is hung around

your neck. When you are born from the womb of your

mother, no garland

can be seen. Neither a garland of pearls nor one of

precious

gemstones nor a necklace of gold will be visible

around your neck.

Nevertheless, there surely is a garland there. That

garland is

composed of the consequences of your past deeds which

you have

performed during your previous births. That garland

given to you by

the Creator will adorn your neck, although it will not

be seen by the

physical eyes.

The person who recognizes the truth, that for every

action there

will be a resulting consequence, will take up only

good activities

and will spend his life indulging only in actions that

will earn him

good results. This has been taught by the Gita as a

spiritual

exercise of particular importance to devotees. It

leads eventually to

developing indifference and detachment to the things

of the world,

and it results in the acquisition of true wisdom. Here

is an example

which illustrates this illusory nature of the world

and the

detachment you should have to it.

King Janaka's Dream

King Janaka had acquired extraordinary proficiency

in the knowledge

of God. He was called "the king devoid of body". In

other words, he

had been able to transcend body-consciousness. One

particular night

after dinner, he was discussing certain administrative

problems with

his ministers. He got back to his bedroom a little

late. A meal had

been set out for him but he did not touch it. He

relaxed on a sofa

while the queen massaged his feet. Soon the king fell

asleep. The

queen asked the various attendants present to leave

the room and made

sure that the king, who was extremely tired, would not

be disturbed

in his sleep. She covered him with a blanket and

banked the light

low, quietly remaining by his side.

Shortly afterwards, King Janaka quite suddenly

opened his eyes, sat

up, looked around incredulously at his surroundings,

and in a most

peculiar way began to ask, "Is this real or is that

real? Is this the

truth or is that the truth?"

The queen became a little frightened by his

bewildered look and

strange question. She tried to find out what exactly

he was asking,

but he would not explain or answer any of her queries.

He just went

on saying, "Is this the truth or is that the truth?"

She called for

the ministers, counselors and other important

officials. They all

assembled and began questioning the king. "Maharaja,

what is your

doubt? What exactly are you asking?" But the Maharaja

would not

respond to them. Finally the ministers brought the

great Sage

Vashishta to the court. Vashishta asked the king,

"What are you

asking? What is troubling you?" The king was replying

to all the

questions with the same query, "Is that the truth or

is this the

truth? Is this reality or is that reality?"

Sage Vashishta being omniscient closed his eyes and

meditated for a

while to find out the cause of the king's strange

behavior. Vashishta

realized that the king had suddenly awakened from a

vivid dream in

which he had forfeited his kingdom and found himself

wandering lost,

alone and despondent in a forest. He was feeling very

hungry and also

very tired and forsaken. As he wandered through that

forest he kept

shouting, "I am hungry, I am hungry." It happened that

there were

some robbers in that forest. Those robbers were just

sitting down in

a glade nearby to have their meal, eating from plates

made of leaves.

Taking pity on him, the robbers made themselves known

and invited

Janaka to join them, offering him a portion of their

meal.

Just at that moment, a tiger came upon them and they

all ran for

their lives. The tiger helped himself to all the food.

Again Janaka

found himself staggering through the forest crying

out, "O, I am so

hungry. I am so very hungry." When he woke up he

discovered he was in

a palace, on a royal sofa by the side of the queen,

with a silver

tray filled with luxurious food and dainties sitting

on the table

nearby, and he began asking whether he was the

starving, forsaken

wretch begging food from robbers in a fearful forest

or whether he

was a king living in a sumptuous palace surrounded by

all possible

luxuries. "Is this true or is that true? Is this real

or is that

real?"

Maharishi Vashishta immediately recognized the

king's confusion and

said, "King Janaka, neither beggar nor emperor is

real. You alone are

real. You, yourself, are the truth. The you who was

present as pure

consciousness in the dream state playing the role of

the beggar and

who is present in the waking state playing the role of

the king, this

you who witnessed both these states, is your true

reality. Life

during the daytime is a day-dream, during the night it

is a night-

dream. They are both illusions. They are filled with

defects and

flaws because they constantly change from one thing to

another; so

they cannot be real. Only you who remain unchanged in

all these

states are real, free of all change and illusion."

This was also emphasized in the Gita, where Krishna

pointed out the

important truth that the world is constantly changing

and that the

atma alone is real and ever unchanging.

The Anguish of Separation from God

Detachment does not mean leaving behind everything

to go to the

forest and adopt the life of a renunciate. Penance

does not refer to

certain postures or bodily deprivations. Penance

refers to the

intense anguish you experience when you feel yourself

separated from

God. Whenever that anguish of separation is with you,

wherever you

may be, then you are engaged in penance. All worldly

experiences are

governed by combinations of the three attributes,

inertia or chaos,

action or reaction, and rhythm or calm. The anguish of

penance with

its intense aspiration for reaching God, takes you

into a state of

being which transcends these three worldly qualities.

At that time,

you will experience a deep inner serenity and unity of

thought, word

and deed.

Thought, word and deed are the causes of karma. They

are called the

instruments of action. It is the union of these three

instruments of

action which may be described as penance. When that

union is complete

there follows an ineffable joy, which is the very

bliss of the atma.

So true penance is the point at which the three

instruments of action

merge together into one and you experience the eternal

delight of

your immortal self.

Consider the following example. Every day you enjoy

the benefits of

electricity. In your room you may have an electric

fan. There are

three blades attached to the motor of the fan. If they

were to rotate

in three different directions you would not get much

of a breeze. But

when they rotate in unison, as if there were a single

blade going

around, then you can enjoy a very good flow of air

from the fan. So,

enjoyment of the cool breeze comes only when all the

three blades are

working together and rotate as one. In the very same

way, when the

three instruments of action, thought, word and deed,

merge together

and work as one, you can enjoy real bliss.

In this illustration your heart may be compared to

the room

containing the fan. The three instruments of action

may be compared

to the three blades of the fan. Your intellect may be

thought of as

the electric switch. Your spiritual power, the energy

emanating from

the supreme self, may be thought of as the electricity

that energizes

the fan. Your spiritual practice is the process of

clarifying your

intellect, and thereby turning on the switch. When the

three

instruments of action work together in harmony, just

as the three

blades of the fan go around together, then all your

anguish becomes

transformed into bliss. In this way, you can convert

your life-force

and your entire spiritual power into bliss.

True Renunciation is Turning your Mind towards God

Mankind has forgotten the ability to perform

penance. When you let

your vision roam in the temporary and transient world,

your spiritual

path spirals downward into inertia and stasis. When

you concentrate

your vision and your awareness on the permanent God,

then you are

practicing penance and your spiritual progress leaps

ahead. If a door

is locked and you want to open it, you must put the

key inside the

lock and turn it towards the right. Then it will open.

But if you

turn the key to the left, the lock remains closed. It

is the same

lock and the same key. The difference is in the way

you turn the key.

Your heart is that lock and your mind the key. If you

turn your mind

towards God, you get liberation. If you turn it

towards the objective

world, you remain in bondage. It is the same mind that

is responsible

for both liberation and bondage.

True renunciation is turning your mind towards God.

It means

constantly bringing your mind back from other thoughts

to dwell on

the permanent entity. Such mental detachment and

sacrifice must be

developed into a very intense feeling. You should not

keep on

postponing the practice to the next day, and then the

day following

that, and so on.

Suppose you expect to go to a marriage; you would

keep certain

clothes ready several days before the occasion. Or

suppose you had a

chance to go to the movies; then you will get ready

very fast. Even

for just going for a walk you make yourself ready in a

trice. Well,

if you cannot go to the cinema today you can easily

postpone it to

another day. If you do not go for a walk now you can

always go

another time. But the Lord's journey cannot be

postponed or canceled.

You must always be ready to accept whatever comes your

way. Time

waits for no one. Time does not follow man. Man has to

follow time.

Time flows on continuously and takes everything with

it.

The Gita teaches you that you may enjoy the various

objects of the

world, but while enjoying them you should not get

yourself attached

to them, thinking that you possess them. This feeling

of renunciation

or detachment is one of the most essential aspects of

the spiritual

philosophy propounded in the Gita.

XII. Detachment - Unifying Thoughts, Words and Deeds

For the wheel of existence, the mind is the focal

point, the

central hub from which all worldly activities emerge.

To be able to

penetrate this focal point and obtain a vision of the

immortal self

that is beyond, you must cultivate the practice of

non-attachment.

Make every effort to develop this most important

discipline.

Embodiments of Love,

Renunciation or detachment can also be thought of as

non-

attachment. Non-attachment is when the mind and the

senses become

unaffected by the objects of the world and remain

indifferent to

their attraction and repulsion. The mind covers the

true self;

therefore, the mind can be described as a veil. It is

a veil of

ignorance, for it hides your true self and keeps you

unaware of its

magnificent presence within you. But, the mind,

itself, is tied down

by the sense organs, and the sense organs are

attracted to the

objects of the phenomenal world, and get bound by

them. Therefore,

the first step in realizing your true self is to gain

control over

your sense organs. For this, the practice of

non-attachment is

essential.

Detachment leads to Self-Realization

Once you are free of attachment to the sense

objects, then the

sense organs will no longer be able to bind your mind.

A mind

unencumbered by the senses becomes pure and

transparent. It no longer

imposes its covering influence over the atma. When the

veil of the

mind dissolves, your true self becomes aware of

itself. Then you are

immersed in the unity of all existence and enjoy the

bliss which is

your true nature. The Gita has taught that

non-attachment is crucial

for realizing your true self. That true self is the

one supreme self.

Detachment or non-attachment has also been

emphasized in the yoga

classic of Patanjali, a great seer of ancient India.

He taught that

detachment is the natural property of a mind which

remains unswayed

by the sense organs and the objects which attract

them. Such a mind,

being free from the slavery of the sense organs and

sense objects, is

pure and unaffected by delusion. You gain a pure mind

when you see

all the objects of this world as transient and

changing. The ancient

wisdom teachings have declared that from the lowest

creature in the

phenomenal world to the highest, right up to the

heavenly beings,

everything is ephemeral and undergoing change. Knowing

this, you

should relinquish all attachments to sense objects.

Any attachment

will gradually but steadily lead to bondage.

Just as removing the firewood from the fire

automatically

extinguished the flame, removing the sense objects

from the senses

automatically renders them impotent. The wisdom

teachings have

stressed in a most forceful way that only that person

who does not

care for anything less than full realization of the

supreme self, is

a person of true renunciation. Neither objects of the

world nor even

the heavenly abode of the Lord could sway him from his

one-pointed

focus.

There is a story related in one of the ancient

wisdom teachings

about a very wise young boy, who, because of an oath

made by his

father, found himself in the realm of death. The god

of death tried

to win over the boy. He said to him, "I will give you

complete

mastery and lordship over all the wealth and all the

power of the

world, and I will give you all the pleasures of the

heavenly world."

But the boy replied, "This world and all the worlds

beyond are but

transient; they will not last. I do not want anything

to do with that

which comes and goes. I only want to have the vision

of the supreme

self. I want to realize the ultimate truth, that which

never changes.

The world with its bondage and all the sorrow that

goes with it is

for the person who is swayed by the objects of the

senses. They do

not interest me in the least."

Attachment to Objects which you think belong to You

Let us suppose that you have been living in a

particular house for

a long time. One day you have to shift to another

dwelling. You pack

all your belongings and put them in a conveyance and

bring them to

the new house. Now, it is a common experience that you

even go to the

extent of wrapping the worn out slippers and the old

broomsticks in

newspapers to carry them with you because you think

that they belong

to you. What is the reason for this attitude? The

reason is that you

have become bound by your attachments to the sense

objects. You have

so much interest in packing up all those old things

and taking them

with you because you are attached to them. You feel

they are yours.

But then, consider another example, that of a

college principal or

the headmaster of a school. In every educational

institution there

will be a number of valuable articles. For instance,

in the lab there

will be some highly valuable equipment, many tables,

chairs, other

items of furniture, a wall clock and so on. When the

headmaster of

that school retires or is transferred, he feels no

attachment to

these things. And so he leaves with the same free mind

that he had

when he came. He does not worry and bother himself

about leaving

behind all those valuable articles when he goes. The

reason is that

he knows perfectly well that none of those things

belong to him. They

belong to the management or to the school trust or to

the government.

Therefore, with a sense of detachment and indifference

to those

objects he leaves the school.

Where there is a sense of my-ness and

possessiveness, there will be

suffering. If you do not have that feeling of

possessiveness you will

not be bound by anything and will not suffer.

Therefore, for all

bondage, suffering and sorrow, it is just the I-ness

or my-ness that

is responsible. Like the school principal, you may

make use of all

the objects that you find in the world. Do not give up

the objects

themselves, and do not give up your actions and

activities. Just give

up the attachment that you have towards the objects

and give up the

attachment that you have towards the world and your

activities in it.

Give up the Fruits of your Actions

Another way of saying this is, give up the fruits of

your actions.

Perform your duty with a sense of complete detachment,

realizing the

defects in the objects. Once you understand the

underlying laws that

govern the world and recognize the defects that are

inherent in both

the objects of the world and the relationships you

have in the world,

you will quickly be able to overcome the attachments

you have towards

them.

Before you were born, who was the parent and who was

the child?

Before marriage, who was the husband and who was the

wife? Only after

birth was there a parent and a child. Before birth

there was no such

relationship and after death there will be no such

relationship. It

is only during the short transitional period

in-between that the

feeling of possessiveness and attachment arises. This

is all due to

defects in your vision and defects in your approach.

It comes from a

narrow-minded, short-sighted attitude. For all your

sorrows, it is

your feelings and attitudes alone that are

responsible. Once you

recognize the defects in objects and relationships you

will have no

desire to possess them.

Try to understand the principle of detachment. You

must reach a

state in which you do not have any kind of attachment

and bondage

even during the dream and deep sleep states. If you

encourage a sense

of attachment during the waking state, it will also be

there in a

subtle form during the dream state and the deep-sleep

state. The

dream state may be compared to a reflection in the

mirror. Whatever

you experience in the waking state will impress itself

into the dream

state, and will be seen as a reflection there.

Therefore, the waking

and dream states are something like the object and its

image. If in

the waking state you take the right path, recognizing

truth and

conducting yourself in the light of this truth, then

you will be

treading the right path even in the dream state. To

succeed you have

to recognize the defects of the sense objects and

overcome them by

giving up your attachment to them.

Everything undergoes Change

Because of the passage of time everything undergoes

change. Food

which is freshly cooked today is tasty and delicious.

While it is

fresh, its potentiality for giving strength and health

are very good.

But the very same articles of food become toxic after

a lapse of two

days. Whatever food you consider to be good, to be

useful, to be

healthy and beneficial, will after a period of time

change into

something bad, something useless, something unhealthy

and harmful.

These changes are unavoidable.

In the context of change, you can also see the four

types of

devotees: the one who is afflicted and seeks relief

from pain and

suffering, the one who seeks material boons and

prosperity, the one

who seeks spiritual knowledge, and the wise one. Over

a period of

time the very same person is likely to progress

through all these

stages.

We can also consider the changes that occur in the

course of a

lifetime. Immediately after birth the new-born is

called a baby;

after a few years it is described as a child; twenty

years later the

same person is considered an adult; and after another

30 years it

will have become a grandparent. These are not four

different people.

It is the same person all the time, but because of the

passage of

time different names are given, in accordance with the

different

stages of life that the individual is passing through.

A human being's life, which is most difficult to

obtain, undergoes

many changes as time goes by. When this is true for

human beings,

then how much more must it be true for all the other

beings and

objects of the world? If you ask what is the greatest

defect in a

human being, you will find that it is the changes

which occur in

one's physical being. Whether good or bad, these

changes cannot be

avoided. As changes are inherent in everything in the

phenomenal

world, you should not develop any attachment or any

sense of my-ness

for anything or anyone.

Who is the father? Who is the mother? Who are the

children? Who are

the family members? Who are the friends? These are all

changing

forms. You cannot answer these questions for all time.

As you become

aware of all these changes that are constantly

occurring in all these

relationships, then how can you develop any attachment

to them? The

Gita has taught that one has to recognize all the

changes that come

about with time as fundamental defects and flaws.

Therefore, develop

complete detachment from the defective forms which are

experiencing

these changes. They have no permanence.

Constant Practice

Detachment or non-attachment is the first important

discipline that

should be undertaken. The second is constant practice.

What kind of

practice can be called constant? One kind is austerity

or penance.

The moment people hear this word austerity they get a

little

frightened. They inevitably associate austerity with

going into the

forest, eating whatever fruits and roots are available

there and

exposing themselves to all kinds of risks and

sufferings. Truly

speaking, that is not austerity; that is just putting

the body

through some suffering and punishment.

It is not the body that must undergo the suffering,

but the mind.

The mind tends towards either sloth and chaos or

endless activity,

and is filled with the sense of doership and

possessiveness.

Austerity is putting such a mind with all these

negative tendencies

that cling to it, through real torture, until all

these tendencies

let go their hold. Austerity also means removing the

defects that are

inherent in the sense organs. This is the real

austerity. There are

three types of austerity. One is the physical

austerity of the body,

the second one is the vocal austerity of the tongue

and the third is

mental austerity of the mind.

The three Austerities, Physical, Vocal and Mental

Physical austerity refers to using the body to

perform good

actions, which includes worshipping the Lord and

expressing your

sense of gratitude by serving great souls. If you earn

their grace,

the selfish aspects of I-ness and my-ness will slowly

get reduced.

Once these negative qualities decline, then

automatically positive

qualities and actions will develop. At that point, you

will naturally

be attracted to the company of like-minded spiritual

beings and be

inspired to study the Gita and other sacred texts.

In addition to this, you will undertake charity for

education, for

medicine and hospitals, for poor feedings and other

good causes. And

just as, traditionally, the different types of

charities such as

giving away gold and cows and land were the means for

using the body

in sacred activities, so also you will now be using

your body in a

sacred way. Since you will not be doing any harmful or

prohibited

activities, you will not put yourself under the spell

of the sense of

doership and possessiveness. You will free yourself

from bondage to

these two qualities. All of this can be described as

bodily penance.

Vocal penance is the use of good and noble words.

Even when you

speak the truth you should not be severe or

sharp-tongued. You must

be careful not to hurt anyone. In this context, the

Gita has said

that truth must be sweet and nonviolent. Use the

sacred tongue which

has been given to you for giving joy and delight to

others and for

helping them. Do not give any suffering to another's

mind. Use your

thoughts to help you concentrate and think of the

Lord. Use your

tongue to describe all the glorious attributes of the

Lord. Use words

which are highly helpful to others. Use your talk to

show the right

path to others. Explain to others all the great and

good spiritual

experiences that you have had. Correct people if they

are going on

the wrong path by using good words and a sweet tongue.

Make sure that

no amount of falsehood enters your heart, or enters

your talk. This

is the way to become an adept of truth and

nonviolence.

Better be Quiet than Tell an Untruth

If you are following the path of truth there may be

quite a few

problems that you will encounter. A particular sage

performing

penance had taken an oath to take the path of truth

and nonviolence,

come what may. A cruel hunter who heard of this tried

to induce the

sage to break his vow. The hunter pursued a deer and

drove it in such

a way that it had to pass in front of the sage,

immersed in his

austerities. The sage saw the deer hiding in the bush.

The hunter

came running and asked the sage, "Have you seen a deer

passing this

way?" The sage was in great conflict. If he told the

truth he would

cause harm to the deer, but if he did not tell the

truth he would be

breaking his vow. On the one hand, he would commit the

sin of causing

harm to another being, and on the other hand, he would

commit the sin

of lying.

The sage found a very good way of dealing with this

dilemma. He

answered the hunter's query in a somewhat enigmatic

way. He

said, "The eyes which see cannot speak and the mouth

which speaks

cannot see. I cannot make that which has seen speak,

and that which

can speak see. That is the truth." Even in such

difficult situations

one should not tell an untruth, but one may not be

able to tell the

truth either. When you are engaged in the vocal type

of austerity,

difficult situations of this kind may arise. You

should make every

effort to see to it that you escape without uttering

any falsehood.

Whatever be the circumstances, do not tell a lie. If

you cannot tell

the truth then it is best for you to keep quiet and

observe silence,

rather than uttering an untruth.

Consider the third austerity, the mental austerity.

In this type of

austerity you will have to develop good qualities and

virtues.

Whatever thoughts may be flashing through your mind,

your face will

show the reflection of them. That is why it is said

that the face is

the index of the mind. All thoughts will be reflected

on your face.

If you are grief-stricken mentally, your face will

reflect that

state. If there are sacred thoughts in your mind your

face will be

very cheerful. The effect of the mind and its thoughts

can easily be

seen in this way.

Only when you have sacred thoughts, sacred feelings

and sacred

ideas in your mind, will you be able to live a happy

and cheerful

life. If there are bad thoughts torturing you, then

whenever somebody

comes and talks to you, even if you try to smile, your

smile will be

artificial and it will betray the disturbed inner

state in your

heart. You should not allow yourself to be driven to

such a state.

Always keep yourself happy. When will you be happy and

joyous? Only

when your thoughts are good and sacred. In order to

have such good

and sacred thoughts in your mind you should exercise

control over

your thoughts.

Every day observe a period of Silence

At least for a few hours a day you should observe

silence. Then the

mind will get some rest from words and thought waves.

Repetition of

the holy name and concentration on the Lord can also

be practiced to

give some rest to the mind. Repetition of the name and

thinking of

the Lord brings about both inner and outer purity.

Just as you bathe

your body every day and transform it into a clean

outer vehicle, the

mind, too, has to be given a regular purification bath

to renew its

freshness and sacredness. Now you are concerned mostly

with physical

cleanliness, but you must also engage in mental

cleanliness, which is

equally essential to life. Good thoughts, good

feelings and good

actions go a long way to bring about inner

cleanliness.

Austerity truly means bringing about a physical,

vocal and mental

unity by letting actions words and thoughts become

one. This is the

real austerity. A great soul is one who has been able

to enjoy the

unity of all these three attributes. If the thoughts,

the words, and

the actions are different, then a person cannot be

considered a great

person.

Worldly experiences are governed by combinations of

the three

attributes. Of these, inertia and chaos give rise to a

slothful

nature, action and reaction give rise to an active,

passionate

nature, and rhythm or calm gives rise to a pure,

harmonious nature.

Austerity refers to transforming the first of these

two, the slothful

and passionate natures, into the pure, calm,

harmonious nature. This

can be brought about by controlling sloth with the

help of the

passionate nature and then by controlling passion with

the help of

the pure calm nature. In this way you can enjoy the

harmony of all

three natures, being joined together as one.

Ultimately, when all

your actions, words and deeds have become totally

unified, you will

have overcome all worldly attributes and you will be

free even from

the limitations of the pure calm nature.

For example, suppose you have stepped on a thorn. If

you want to

remove the thorn from your foot there is no need to

look for a

special instrument. Another thorn is sufficient to

remove the first

one. Then you can throw both thorns away. In the same

way, the two

lower natures which have been giving you so much

trouble, can be

removed with the help of the thorn of the calm pure

nature. Until you

have removed these two lower qualities, you need the

calm quality.

The calm quality may be described as a golden chain,

the passionate

quality as a copper chain and the slothful quality as

an iron one.

All three chains bind you in the same way. The value

of the metal of

the chain may be different, but they all bind

nevertheless.

Free Yourself from all Bondage

If an individual is bound by a golden chain, will he

be happy in

that situation? No! Bondage remains bondage, be it

from a chain made

of gold or one made of copper or iron. So, even a

pure, calm nature

causes bondage, and in the end you have to get rid of

this also. You

must free yourself from all bondage. But until you

reach divinity you

need the pure, calm, harmonious quality. Once you

merge in the Lord,

there are no more distinguishing qualities of any

kind. In that state

the question of the three qualities does not arise at

all. When you

have offered up everything and become one with the

Lord you rise

above these attributes and become totally free of all

chains.

The Gita has taught that in order to control the

mind, constant

practice and renunciation, are essential. Practice

does not refer to

just the observance of daily religious rituals.

Practice means using

the body, using the tongue and using the mind in such

a way that you

do not develop attachment. Practice means orienting

your whole life

towards the one goal of reaching the divinity. Every

word you utter,

every thought you think and every deed you perform

should be pure and

associated with truth. This is the essence of all

austerities. Truth

and purity are the real instruments for success on the

spiritual

path. My wish is that you develop these noble

qualities and thereby

sanctify your life.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

 

Source:

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