Swami Sivananda

 

Realization cannot come to you as a miracle done by your Guru. Lord Buddha, Lord Jesus, Rama Tirtha have all done Sadhana. Lord Krishna asks Arjuna to develop Vairagya (dispassion) and Abhyasa (practice). He did not say to him, “I will give you Mukti (liberation) now”. Therefore, abandon the wrong notion that your Guru will give you Samadhi and Mukti. Strive, purify, meditate and realize.

 

Guru-kripa-grace of a Guru is very necessary. That does not mean that the disciple should sit idle. He must do rigid Purushartha, spiritual practices. The whole work must be done by the student. Nowadays, people want a drop of water from the Kamandalu (water pot) from a Sannyasin and desire to enter into Samadhi immediately. They are not prepared to undergo any Sadhana for purification and Self-Realization. They want a magic pill to push them into Samadhi. If you have got such delusion, give it up immediately.

 

The Guru and the Shastras can show you the path and remove your doubts. Anubhava (direct experience) of the Aparoksha kind or direct intuitive knowledge is left for your own experience. A hungry man will have to eat for himself. He who has a severe itching has to scratch for himself.

 

No doubt, the Guru’s blessing can do everything. But how can one have his blessings? By pleasing the Guru. A Guru can be pleased with his disciple only if the latter carries out his spiritual instructions implicitly. Carefully follow, therefore the instructions of the Guru. Act up to his instructions. Then only will you deserve his blessings and then alone his blessings can do everything.

Swami Sivananda

Sadhana Panchakam - Post 26

Sadhana Chatushtaya

Shaantyaadih: This means “Shaanti, etc.” Shanti is the first of the Six-fold Virtues known in Vedanta as Shat Sampati. 

Another term for Shanti is Shama. The six virtues are:

i) Shamah: internal control – of the mind;

ii) Damah: external control – of the senses;

iii) Uparati: mastery of the mind, no longer its slaves;

iv)  Shraddhaa: faith in God; trust in someone who guides or teaches;

v) Titikshaa: the power of endurance and forbearance;

vi) Samaadhana: one-pointedness of mind, the culmination of all the virtues.

 

This entire set is the third item of Sadhana Chatushtaya, which is made up of Viveka, Vairagya, Shat Sampati and Mumukshutva. This is the prequalification for Jnana Yoga.

 

In the blog posts, if a sincere seeker searches, then he / she shall find exposition on sadhana chatushtaya in several posts, under several themes.

In Brahmacharya Ashrama we had the two spiritual steps which represented Attach and Detach. Well, here the first three virtues, Shama-Dama-Uparama, represent DETACHMENT of the mind from the world. 

The next three virtues, Titiksha-Shraddha-Samadhana, represent ATTACHMENT of the mind to the Lord. 

Together, all six virtues are pulling us away from the world and pushing us towards God!

Katha Upanishad represents body as the chariot, intellect as charioteer, Mind as the reigns, senses as horses and the objects as the Path pursued, with Self as the master of the chariot. One with no understanding, and Mind unrestrained, senses would run out of control, like unruly horses. One with understanding, restrains the Mind and senses, reaches the goal. 

Both the Proper (Shreyas) and the Pleasant (Preyas) approach him. The wise one using his sense of discrimination, chooses the Proper and not the Pleasant but a man of little wisdom, who under sensory influences, chooses the Pleasant and not the Proper, goes to destruction. 

 

Sankara calls for discrimination (Nitya Anitya vastu viveka) of the eternal Proper from the non-eternal Pleasant, suggesting that it is the ignorance of the unassailable relationship of the individual self and the universal Self that gives to samsaara. 

 

Mundaka Upanishad declares that when the one perceives with clarity of intellect and through Wisdom, the blissful and immortal one shines and then the knot of the heart is cut asunder, all his doubts are dispelled and actions are determined. 

 

In Bhakti Sutra, Narada considers having communion with That is having the form intense commitment, ‘Amrtasvarupa’ having attribute of immortality, one becoming perfect, and one becomes immortal, one becomes contented. 

 

Having such communion, he desires nothing else, thinks, hates, revels or inspired by nothing else. On the contrary having attained it one responds as if he were mad, becomes quiet and revels in his self.

 

Love.

 

 

Sri Ramana Maharshi

 

“If a man considers that he is born, he cannot avoid the fear of death. Let him find out if he has been born or if the Self has any birth. He will discover that the Self always exists, that the body that is born resolves itself into thought and that the emergence of thought is the root of all mischief. Find from where thoughts emerge. Then you will be able to abide in the ever-present inmost Self and be free from the idea of birth or the fear of death.”

Sri Ramana Maharshi