People think they live on food. Then how is it
that, while the wealthy who can afford all kinds of food succumb to
untimely death, the poor still live ? Man does not live by food
alone. In fact he lives by the power of the Soul. Without
discrimination, what is the use of physical strength ?
Once Narada was asked to name the most noteworthy
among the things of the World. He answered that the Earth was the
biggest. But he was told water has occupied three-fourths of the
Earth; it threatens to swallow up the balance too, bit by bit. So,
water, he had to agree, was more powerful. However, water too was
drunk up by the Sage Agasthya and the Oceans were rendered dry by
him and he, in turn, is now just a star in the sky ! Is the sky the
biggest, then? For it was covered by one single foot of the Vamana-Avatar
of the Lord. And, the Lord? O, He enters the hearts of the devotees
and resides there. So Narada had to conclude that the hearts of
Bhaktas are the grandest things in creation.
Every day, when you sleep, where are you? Who are
you? Your senses are inoperative; your intelligence is in abeyance;
your mind creates a World of its own, and after playing in it for
some time, it lapses into inactivity. That is sleep, the nearest you
reach in your journey to Samadhi. Live in the 'Atmathathwam'
that will ensure 'Shanthi'. With the poison of 'Raga'
and 'Dwesha' inside you, how can you be pronounced healthy?
If you experience the 'Atmathathwam', you become Bhagavan
Himself.
Whether one is a renowned scholar with expert
knowledge of the deepest levels of religious lore or a monarch
revelling in the brilliance of palatial luxury or a hero of many
battles, or a miserable victim of poverty - if one has no devotion
to the Lord, one does not deserve homage, honor or attention.
A life without character is as barren as a temple
without a lamp, a coin that is counterfeit and a kite whose string
has snapped. A teacher who instructs pupils with his eye fixed on
his salary and a pupil who learns with his eye fixed on a job are
born missing their vocation. The teacher has to help the pupil
unfold and manifest the skills and qualities inherent in him and
encourage him to rise to the fullest height he is capable of. The
Divine is the Core in both the teacher and the pupil.
Follow the Master means: observe Dharma.
Face the Devil means: overcome the
temptations that beset you when you try to earn Artha or
wealth or the wherewithal to live in comfort.
Fight to the End means: struggle
ceaselessly; wage war against the six enemies that are led by
Kama or lust.
And finally, Finish at the Goal means: do
not stop until the goal, Moksha or Liberation from ignorance
and delusion, is reached.
The *F's* are fundamental for the pursuit of the
four Purusharthas - Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
No bird casts the seed on land to grow food for
itself, nor do beasts plough and enclose fields claiming - this is
mine, this is for my children and children's children. 'Nishkama-Karma'
is the natural face of activity for the children of God, the progeny
of Immortality. They sing and swim, they dance and drive, they talk
and walk and they pray and pine, because they must; it is the nature
too. They do not know what will happen, as a consequence, they do
not care; they do not anticipate any result. They are just
themselves when they do these things. It is Sahaja Lakshana,
their innate nature and their inborn characteristic.
Jnana is not an attribute of the Universal
Absolute (Param-Atma). It is Param-Atma itself. The
Upanishads declare 'Sathyam-Jnanam-Anantham Brahma'
(Truth, Wisdom and Eternity is Brahman). Jnana is the
fulfillment, it is the goal, the consummation. Man is as ugly as a
noseless face, if he has no wisdom, whatever other attainments he
may decorate himself with !
Agriculture is for living; mind culture is for
life. Skills are for shaping material things so that they cater more
for the comfort of man; studies are for shaping attitudes, feelings,
desires, emotions and impulses of man, so that they may confer more
peace, more joy and more fortitude on man.
One day, Anjaneya appeared in a garden on the
outskirts of Dwaraka. Krishna, who heard about the pranks of the
strange monkey, directed Garuda to proceed and scare the animal out
of the city limits. Garuda failed, even though he later took the
entire army with him for the fray. His pride was humbled. Krishna
sent a message through him to the monkey, who had declared himself
as Anjaneya, that he should deign to come to Krishna's court. But
Anjaneya, recognized only Rama and would obey only Rama. So Krishna
had to send another message that Rama was calling him to His
audience Hall ! Devotion compels the Lord to yield to the whims of
His servants. Anjaneya hurried to see Rama and Krishna gave him the
darshan of Rama Himself.
Egoism will be destroyed, if you constantly tell
yourself, 'It is He, not I', 'He is the force, I am but the
instrument'. Keep His name always on the tongue, and contemplate His
glory whenever you see or hear anything beautiful or grand. See in
everyone the Lord Himself moving in that form. Do not talk evil of
others; see only good in them. Welcome every chance to help others,
to console others and to encourage others along the spiritual path.
Man is suffering because he cannot rid himself of
the greed for sense-objects, and sense pleasures, or Vishaya
Vasana. He knows that he has to give up whatever he earns and
collects, sooner or later; but yet his attachment waxes instead of
waning, as the years go by. If every man on earth could take with
him on death even a handful of mud from the earth, there would have
been nothing much left and mud would have been rationed at so many
ounces per head !
You have read that the Lord, melted and moved
when one performs acute Thapas, comes and asks softly and
sweetly: "My dear child, What is it you need ?" He wants you to
express in words what you have yearned for and ask the Lord whom you
have brought before you through the exercise of silence. That is the
little game He plays. And sometimes He wills that the questioner
answers in the way His plan demands.
To cross safely the flood of
"Birth-Death-Continuum", the bridge, called Nishtha or
discipline of an unflinching kind, is essential. It must be a
sturdy, safe bridge: or else you will fall into the raging waters
and be drawn into the sea, infested with the sharks: Lust and Anger.
See how great heroes like Prahlada did not lose their hold on the
Lord, in spite of heavy odds. Prahlada never gave up the repetition
of the Name of the Lord, though he was tortured, twisted and burnt.
One, must have that determination and faith.
Sorrows and disasters are like the clouds that
flit across the sky; they cannot injure the blue depths of space.
Your duty is just to strive on from this very moment. Do not
vacillate or postpone. Who knows when death knocks ? May be, he may
knock this very night, this very moment; therefore, do not delay. Do
you postpone for tomorrow the dinner of this day ! Feed the spirit
as scrupulously as you now feed the body.
You will find that you have craved only for
paltry things and for momentary distinctions for fleeting fame; you
should cry only for God, for your own cleansing and consummation.
You should weep, wailing for the six cobras that have sheltered
themselves in your mind, poisoning it with their venom: Lust, Anger,
Greed, Attachment, Pride and Malice. Quieten them as the
snake-charmer does with his swaying flute. The music, that can take
them, is the singing aloud of the Name of God. And when they are too
intoxicated to move and harm, catch them by the neck and pull out
their fangs as the charmer does. Thereafter they can be your
playthings; you can handle them as you please.
If you seek to fulfill low desires, why come
here? Come here only if you seek to earn Grace. Go to a hospital
only when you are resolved to take the drug the physician prescribes
and go through the regimen he lays down. So, obey the directions
that I give, whatever others may say or however difficult they may
appear to be. You have not come to Prashanthi Nilayam to please
those others. You have to please Me.
Rama is the personification of Dharma, So
Rama partakes of the excellence of the Vedas. The
Mahabharatha is generally known as the Fifth Veda. And the
Bhagavatha describes the Glory and the Grace of the Lord and His
splendor as the Indweller in All. So, that too is as efficacious as
the Vedas to elevate man and to release him from the bondage
to the mean and the sordid.
People talk loud and long from all kinds of
platforms about Dharma, Prema, Shanthi, Daya, Sathya, etc.
This is published in the newspaper next day and there their purpose
ends. The paper of today is the waste-paper of tomorrow ! It is used
for packing or thrown into the dust-heap and burnt as refuse. That
is the story of all platform-professions. Put into practice a
fraction of what you preach.
