Swami teaches... Part 2. Shivarathri Is the Time for Auspicious Spiritual Contemplation

[Guest guest]

Light and Love Swami teaches... February - March 2008

 

Part 2. Shivarathri Is the Time for Auspicious Spiritual Contemplation A person who is in a state of ignorance about the Self is like the bud of a flower that has not yet blossomed. When the flower blossoms, it sheds its fragrance all round. Likewise, the human being who has realized the Divinity within becomes a source of light and strength. (But today almost every activity of human is motivated by self-interest. It is opposed to the Divinity that is immanent in human. Without realizing this Divinity, how one can to achieve peace internally or in the world outside)?

We have all the creative power of God, but only to the extent that we can realize God within. Reality is infinitely complex, so we filter it down into manageable chunks with our stage of spiritual or worldly values, our attitudes, our feelings, our motivations.

Spiritual education must provide illumination; the darkness of ignorance and the dusk of doubt have to flee before that splendor. Then it is easy to cultivate good thoughts, feelings and impulses of the gratitude to co-travelers in the brightness of heart. Or, as some perverted persons do, bad thoughts, bad feelings and bad impulses can be bred in the original darkness itself. The first is the Rama path, the second, the Ravana path.

 

Whether in olden times or nowadays, there have always been some persons who indulged in calumny against Avatars and good people and derided the good actions done by them. Here is an example from the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Ramakrishna's disciples had to go by boat across the Ganga to get whatever was required for his ashram. Ramakrishna used to assign different tasks each day for the young disciples in the ashram. One of them was a gentle youth known as Brahmananda. The other Narender was an aggressive and short-tempered youth.

One day Brahmananda went by boat to bring provisions for the ashram. As soon as they saw an ochre-robed person in the boat, the other passengers got very indignant. They started abusing Ramakrishna Prahmahamsa in various ways. They remarked: "He is a pseudo-sanyasi. He is spoiling all young men," and so on. Brahmananda silently shed tears, remembering the teachings of the master. During the trip he was apprehensive about what might happen. On the return trip, the earlier story was repeated. He listened silently to the abuse leveled against Ramakrishna and did not venture to quarrel with them. After his return, Ramakrishna asked him to narrate what all had happened. After listening to Brahmananda's pathetic story, Swami Ramakrishna burst out:"How could you remain silent while your guru was being reviled? You have committed a sin." Narender who was standing nearby, listened to the angry words of the Master. Brahmananda fell at the feet of the Master and pleaded for forgiveness. The next day, it was Narender's turn to go by boat to buy provisions. As soon as they saw an ochre-robed youth in the boat, the other passengers started abusing Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. One rich man accused Ramakrishna of spoiling young men by his teachings. Narender remembered what the guru had said the previous day, rose from his seat and gave a slap on the cheek of the reviler. Narender was a strong, powerful person. He told the traducer: "Will you keep your mouth shut? You may have your likes and dislikes and we have ours. What right have you to condemn us? If you do not keep silent, I shall hurl you into the Ganga." Everyone in the boat got alarmed that the irate youth might actually carry out the threat. All of them became silent. Narender brought the provisions and returned by boat to the ashram. On the return journey no one ventured to open his mouth. Ramakrishna asked Narender to relate what all happened during his boat trip. Narender related what all had happened and said: "All of them kept their mouths shut after I had slapped one of them for criticizing the guru." Immediately Swami Ramakrishna observed: "Chi! Chi! How unbecoming of you to dishonor the robe you are wearing by losing your temper, exhibiting hatred and causing hurt to a person. What does it matter what anyone says? How does it affect us? Their praise or censure will not touch us. Narender pleaded: "Swami! I was listening yesterday to what you had said to Brahmananda. Because of that, I behaved in this manner. You took him to task for remaining passive. You take me to task for retaliating. I am unable to understand what is the proper thing to do."

 

Ramakrishna explained his divergent reactions by another example. He said, "There are four tyres for a car. What should be the pressure in the front tyre and the rear tyres have been laid down. If there is excessive pressure in some tyres, it should be reduced. If some tyres have low pressure, they have to be inflated. Only then the car will run smoothly. Narender suffers from excessive pressure. He requires to be deflated. Brahmananda is excessively weak, so he has to be inflated."

 

The teachings of the masters vary according to the condition of the disciples.Likewise, in the Bhagavad Gita or other scriptures, statements might appear which seem to contradict each other. These differences relate to differences in circumstances and requirements of the person concerned. You should not contrast one statement of the Swami with another and ask why them is a contradiction between the different statements. In the Gita itself, in one place, Krishna stresses the need for action, at another the adherence to Dharma, and in another place commends renunciation of all Dharma and urges complete surrender to the Lord. These apparent contradictions are not contradictions. The teaching varies according to the state of spiritual development of the person concerned and the situation in which he is placed. The inner significance of the great teachings of the Avatars and sages should be properly understood before any criticism is attempted. No room should be given for logic chopping or verbal controversies. You have to observe only two things: adhere to Truth and cultivate Love.

 

People talk much about the search for truth in their worldly life. What is this search? Consider this example. Your eyes see the mother, the child, the wife, the cook, and the daughter-in-law. The eyes are the same but they see different persons with different emotions. The search for truth means seeing everything in its own true, specific nature. All the persons may be feminine and the eyes that see them are one and the same. But to find out the truth one has to determine how he should view each person in relation to that person's state. Truth resides in you. It is the appropriate application to specific objects which determines what is true. (More correctly relatively true, from aspect of Atmic Reality). You have to recognize that these Divine attributes, Truth and Love, exist equally in all beings. Develop the sense of equal-mindedness and equal regard for all. This is the true sadhana. Cultivate Love for the Divine and share that love with all beings. Those attached to God, aspiring for God, aware of God, adoring God have certain distinct marks by which they can be identified. Such people have a compassionate heart. The Truth about the omnipresence of the Divine was evident to the Gopikas who sang in praise of Krishna: O Krishna! How can anyone know your mystery? You are subtler than the atom and vaster than the vastest thing in the world! You are present in myriads of beings in this vast universe in innumerable forms. How can we ever know you? "You are a thief among thieves, a good man among the good. You manifest the qualities of the object in which you dwell. You are everything." The sages addressed all human beings as Children of Immortality. (But, in spite of this definite assurance and the inexhaustible joy that can be experienced therefore, human degrades him/herself into an children of falsehood). Thieves who rob human of valuable treasures, like peace and contentment, equipoise and courage, are being honored as masters and masters who ensure peace and happiness are treated with irreverence and disgust. The thieves - lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride and hate - are honored as welcome guests and the real well-wishers like tranquility and humility are shown the door. (That is the state of human today. Human craves for peace, but, does not know how to attain it). Human must be sincere; the word must be in conformity with the feeling, the action must be in conformity with the word. Resolve on this practice, at least from today of holy Shivarathri. Do not be false to yourself. Swami asks to cleanse his/her mind of four blemishes before he/she can overcome the disaster that is fast overtaking him/her.

They are ashraddha, krodha, avishwasam and chintha - (lack of steady interest, anger, faltering faith in oneself and a perpetual sense of worry).

 

It is said that the person endowed with shraddha (steady interest) gains jnana (wisdom). How can jnana be won by half-hearted dedication? (Most of young people and many adults also today is very flighty; they are carried away by fantasies, whims and fancies. They are reluctant to dive deep into the truth of themselves or the outer world. They run after the sheets of water they perceive in mirages; can glow-worms light, a lamp? Frivolities and fancies cannot grant peace and happiness; what is really worth while has to be discovered first; then, steady effort must follow to gain them).

 

Krodha (anger) is deadly poison. It affects others by its fumes, manifested through the eye, the tongue and the hands. The seed of a poison tree sprouts into a poisonous plant and when it becomes a big tree, its leaves, flowers and fruits will be certainly poisonous. So too, the person addicted to anger can only emanate poison, through thought, word and deed. An angry thought is like a pebble thrown into the calm waters of the manasa-sarovar (mind-lake), inside human. It creates a circular effect which spreads through the entire lake. Strive by all means to prevent the poison entering your mental make-up. The significant handicap is avishwasam (weak faith in oneself). Now, you have faith in the body and its appurtenances and not in the inner motivator, the charioteer. That is why faith falters when some minor calamity happens. Contemplate on the impermanence of wealth, fame, worldly friendship, etc. (Many have no interest and knowledge of the-eternal, the changeless, the ever-blissful). Swami asks you to cultivate faith in the value of seva; believe that love can overcome hatred. Have faith in righteousness and the moral life. This is called dharma (righteousness) since, dhara means that which is worn, that which envelops, etc. Overcome 'chintha' (the habit of sliding into worry and despot). Once this weed takes root in the mind, it assumes many forms to assert its hold. Every stage of life is fraught with anxiety; every step in the progress is a cause for worry. (In fact, birth, death, old age, illness, every one of these multiply worries of their own. How to get sleep is a cause for worry; how to get up from the bed is another worry. Today admission to colleges causes worry; admission to the hostel is another worry; the examination causes worry. But these are matters that are not essential. They need not cause so much heart-burning as the problem of removing the fundamental error in the thought process - the ignoring of the Divine that inspires and guides you always and for ever. When you cultivate the attitude that you are the body, the body will demand from you more food, more variety in food, more attention to appearance and physical comfort. It is only when sacred thoughts of brotherliness, devotion, dedication and discipline are cultivated that Swami can be installed in our hearts. We build our future thought by thought, For good or ill, yet know it not. Yet, so the Universe was wrought. Thought is another name for fate; Choose, then, thy destiny and wait, For love brings love and hate brings hate. (Henry Van Dyke) Thoughts are as things. Pictorially we can create a thought as surely as we can create a mail, and once created there is no telling where this thought may stop or how lasting its action may be. If these thoughts are good, they return to us with the added happiness, gratitude and power which they have accumulated from others. Evil thoughts come back to us in the same way with added power of evil and cruelty. In a similar way the power of the will may be used for good or for evil, as the case may be, and it has a great power in both directions. It all depends into which channel one directs the energy of this will. "We must learn to know ourselves, to preserve a just and careful balance of judgment, sympathy, understanding and intuition" (Adrian Cooper).

 

Education connected with educare does not end with the accumulation of information; it must result in transformation of the habits, character and aspirations of the individual. Knowledge has to be tested in daily actions. (Now, human being is interested in everyone except own Self. If only human becomes aware of own Self, he/she can have vast strength, deep peace and great joy added unto him/herself). Science has provided human with the radio, the television set, internet, cinema, etc. They are each useful and productive of good, if each one is manipulated by persons with a pure social consciousness and with love in their hearts.

Individual, society and the world - all the three are inextricably inter-connected. The individual's welfare is dependent on the state of the nation. Everyone should strive to develop his spiritual qualities and utilise them for promoting the interests of the community and the country. But, when the devices of technical progress are in the hands of people with no high moral standards, who find in them tools for amassing money and so, they have become enemies of human progress). "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty" (Albert Einstein).

 

Some of the biggest cosmological questions in the Universe depend on its shape. Is it curved? Is it flat? Is it open? (Those may not make that much sense to you, but in fact it’s very important for astronomers).

Some of the biggest questions in the spiritual Universe depend on human's the firm conviction that all - seen or unseen to human's eye - is Divine. To know is the function of the mind. To act is the duty of the body. To remain as the Eternal Witness is the function of the Atma. Mind, body and Atma together constitute humanness. The Divine is present in all three. (Reet's compilation from: Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 9. "Thieves or Masters?" Chapter 4; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 14. "The four blemishes," Chapter 15; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 16. "Build temple in your hearts," Chapter 8; Sathya Sai Speaks.Vol. 21. "Bhaktha Sakhaa Bhagavan!" Chapter 17; Sathya Sai Speaks. Vol. 28. "Idol worship and God Omnipresence," Chapter 4).

Namaste -Reet