Verse 11
मा कुरु धनजनयौवनगर्वं हरति निमेषात्कालः सर्वम् । मायामयमिदमखिलं हित्वा ब्रह्मपदं त्वं प्रविश विदित्वा॥ ११॥
mā kuru dhana jana yauvana garvaṁ
harati nimeṣātkālaḥ sarvam,
māyāmayamidamakhilaṁ hitvā
brahmapadaṁ tvaṁ praviśa viditvā.
(Do not take pride in wealth, friends and
youth. Time takes away all these in the blink of an eye. Free yourself from the
illusion of the world of māyā and may you know the abode of Brahman and enter
it.)
Dhana, Jana and Yauvana: These three are
perhaps the gross manifestations or props of man’s ego - wealth, fame and
desire; or Kanchana, Keerthi and Kama.
These three are the classical obstacles to
all spiritual endeavor. They represent the very opposite of spiritual life.
They cannot co-exist with spiritual Sadhana.
WEALTH is the First: Earning, safeguarding and using enormous wealth gives people a false
sense of greatness. But, money does not accompany you when your time to go
comes. Money does not accompany you even when you are alive. It can go from you
any time and it anyway goes from you, when the time comes for you to go.
FAMILY & FOLLOWERS is the second: People boast of being leaders. You may
be proud to have a big family, large number of followers etc., who sing your
praise often. But, time either takes them all away from you or takes you
away from them all.
Extract of a post from Narada Bhakti Sutras
is repeated below:
A poet wrote:
"Veedu varai uravu, Veedi varai
manaivi, Kaadu varai pillai, Kadaisi varai yaro".
(When a man dies and his body lies
there and is about to be taken for cremation, family members cry at home, sit
for sometime and leave, the wife cries and walks up to the end of the street
and no further, son goes up to the forest, performs the cremation
rites, lits up fire for the body to burn and then returns, he does not
even wait for the body to burn fully, as it will take few hours, so, who
is there for a man till the last?
(Here, last is to be construed as, till
he attains moksha and reaches and merges with God, in some birth)
However, realizing the futility of this world
with all its limitation, when we look towards the almighty God, He blesses
us and assures,
"I will protect you like the
eyelids protect the eyes"
Only God is qualified to assure us that He
will protect us because He is not the support for one or two or few or many but
he is "JAGAT ASHRAYA", the ONLY support for the entire universe!!!”
YOUTHFUL VIGOUR is the third: A little more strength or a little more beauty makes people feel much
bigger and greater (than others) in their own eyes and possibly in the eyes of
equally unknowing people.
But even as they are feeling bigger, stronger
and more beautiful, their strength and beauty are being sapped away by the
passage of time.
All these are the play of Maya; they are
illusions. They are given to you; and taken away from you by time, in moments.
You don’t know when these are sapped away from you. The play of time on you
creates big illusions in you.
It is never said – that these are useless or
unnecessary for life. They all may be useful and needed for life. But, know
that they come and they go. They are not permanent. Do not be proud of
possessing them. When you do become proud, you are not possessing them; they
are possessing you. They have enslaved you.
Brahmapadaṁ tvaṁ praviśa viditvā
May you know the abode of Brahman
and enter it!!
Aho..! The power and the mesmerizing impact
of this one line, this one expression, only those who had taken up the path of
experiencing Brahman with mumukshatva (craving for realizing the TRUTH) can
actually realize.
This one expression can leave a fired up
sincere spiritual aspirant / seeker in ecstasy for hours together.
Sankara did not bless a sadhaka saying
“May you know the Brahman”.
He adds, “….and enter it”!!
We can know about the location, about the
daily program, about the grandeur of Swami’s Birthday
program etc., by reading about Prashanti Nilayam, through devotees sharing
their experience of being in the abode of peace, Prashanti Nilayam.
All these are not even half-way through in
our spiritual experience.
We need to travel to Bangalore, take a cab,
drive through the highway, enter into the “Sathya Sai Taluk” gate, pass
through Super Specialty hospital building, Airport building, College and hostel buildings, music collage etc., cross the bus station, park our
car, take up a suitable accommodation and then.., in the next 2 days, attend
the Bhajan program and then the Birthday program, feel the divine aura of Swami
enveloping us wholly while seated in the hall, transcend even that
hall, those soulful bhajan rendering and reach or at least get a glimpse of
that inner SELF!
The entire travel described above is our
spiritual journey. The guide posts from airport right up to Puttaparthi which
we keep seeing and traveling are the spiritual sessions given by our
Guru / Acharya.
Sitting in the hall is our “mananam and
nidhidhyasanam, contemplation on all the teachings of our preceptor, the final
glimpse of SELF is the "ENTERING THE ABODE OF BRAHMAN", by
Sankara.
And,
In that blissful, eternal state of Brahman,
all your suffering and delusions come to a permanent end. They don’t touch you
anymore!
Love.
