Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Contemplation on a Bhajan "SAI BHAJAN BINA SUKH SHANTI NAHIN"

Dear Brothers and sisters,

Yesterday, this bhajan was rendered by a devotee in Sai centre.

Let us get deeper into the contemplation of this bhajan.  Even if very few are able to read fully till the end and then contemplation on what they have read, to that extent, the purpose of this particular post is served.

Let us go through the detailed contemplation on this beautiful bhajan, very often sung by our Swami.

BHAKTI YOGA

Beginning our journey from form to reach formless

BHAGWAN BINA KOI APNA NAHIN
SAINATH BINA PARAMATMA NAHIN

When Arjuna shot a question to the lord, O Lord, “of those who love thee as the Lord of love and those who seek thee as nameless, which way leads sure and swift, Love or Knowledge? (CHAPTER 12, B.GITA, 1ST SHLOKA)

To this, Lord confirms that the sadhaka can take any of the 2 path and reach him, but He also says “yet, hazardous and slow is the path to the unrevealed (pursuing formless, through the path of jnana), difficult for physical man to tread.”

Thus, for the wayward mind to get stilled, for our thoughts to be controlled or rather silenced so that they become pure and disciplined, it is very easy to take up a form of God, our Ishta devata and concentrate on His form in the initial stage, through prayers, through bhajans, through satsangh, through hearing His glory, through reading His books etc. 

Ultimately, it is knowledge of self which has to be acquired to realize God within, as Atman and without, as Brahman and as supreme, as Parameswara, but believe me, when Bhakti ripens, Knowledge flows in, with Lord’s supreme Grace. If Knowledge was to be attained only by reading of scriptures and assimilating them and contemplating on them, how would Sri Ramakrishna have attained self- realization? He could hardly read or write. All His strength was His devotion to Ma Kali

This, without SAINATH, without  making a beginning in spiritual path with  worship of God in form, as Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Sai,and immersed in prema bhakti, (PREMA BHAKTI BINA UDHAR NAHIN) it is very difficult ( though not impossible) to attain the supreme knowledge of PARAMATMA, the realization of supreme universal consciousness.

(The above  line may be understood in correct perspective and not taken as there is no prabrahman , Paramatma without Sainath)

SAI BHAJAN BINA SUKH SHANTI NAHIN
HARI NAAM BINA ANAND NAHIN
PREMA BHAKTI BINA UDHAR NAHIN

The bhajan starts with a call to all sadhakas  for plunging into the path of Bhakti, which is the easiest way to control and purify our thoughts and thereby, our mind as Swami often says “ Mind is a bundle of thoughts”.  Mind, purified, seeks mumukshatva , it craves for Liberation with dedication and concentration, for atmajnana, for realizing one’s self, which, once realized, leaves nothing else to be known!!

These three lines take us to the first 3 types, ne, rather first 3 stages of Navavidha bhakti, as enumerated by Sage Narada which are:-

Shravanam- Listening to Lord’s glory

Kirtanam – Singing His glory

Vishnu smaranam- Chanting His name, dwelling upon His glory 

Can our Lord Sai explain in a more beautiful / profound manner, the fruitation of Namasmarana than this?? He says "Start now with the first step, namely repeating the Name of the Lord, the Universal Indweller. That will lead you on to the further steps. March on until the goal is reached. Keep the outer-faced senses closed to the influences that attract; instead, concentrate on the Name of the Lord, Its Sweetness and Beauty. Develop qualities of Divinity like Universal Love, Absence of Attachment. Then you will be entitled to assert 'Shivo-ham Shivo-ham' or 'I am the Pure Sat-Chit-Ananda Consciousness'. But, with the Lord's Grace, you may not have to assert it at all, because there will be no 'aham' feeling in you then."

GURU BHAKTI YOGA 

GURU SEVA BINA NIRAVANA NAHIN


Let us look at 2 versus from “GURU VACHAKA KOVAI” ( A book in which some verses are given by Sri Ramana and some others by His disciple)

314. For a worthy disciple, the proper worship of the Guru is having the firm outlook of Jnana-Guru-Bodham,through which the disciple sees the whole universe –which is nothing but the forms of ‘I’ and ‘this’, each bound by desire towards the other – as the Form of his Guru. Thus should you know.

320. The right worship of the Lotus-Feet of the Guru, who shines as the vast Supreme Space, is the prevention of the rising and spreading of the dark cloud of the wrong outlook of the ego, who, though behaving as the body, pretends to be Sat-Chit [Existence-Consciousness– i.e. Self].

Blessed are those sadhakas who get realized souls as their GURU in their life time. The Guru, by His realized experience, makes it  very simple, very lucid for the disciple to adapt a path as per the disciple’s aptitude , guides the disciple and then leads the disciple to find the SADGURU within himself, who can only bestow Grace on the disciple and grant him the supreme knowledge of wisdom, knowledge of self.

We are so fortunate to have the supreme Eswara, Lord Sai, to be amongst us, delivering divine discourses from 1940 onwards, given us this beautiful SS Organization with the three wings, so that we can start with any of the path which su9its our aptitude and gradually elevate us to realize our self, no matter how many years or how many births it takes.

JNANA YOGA

JAPA DHAYAN BINA SAMYOG NAHIN

Who else  but our Lord Sai, who is our source and who is our destination, and Ramana maharishi, who attained self-realization through the path of enquiry, through  contemplation and  apparently without the aid of any guru at human level, can explain this line in a better manner?????

I Quote Swami  from divine discourse delivered on 1.5.2008

“Japa Dhyana Bina Samyog Nahin” (You cannot have union with God without performing japa and dhyana). What does yoga mean? It is not merely to sit still with closed eyes. What does meditation mean? It is not remembering God with closed eyes. You should install God in your heart. Do not think that you are different from God. You should become one with God.”


I quote Ramana maharishi  

“Dhyana means fight. As soon as you begin meditation other thoughts will crowd together, gather force and try to sink the single thought to which you try to hold. The good thought must gradually gain strength by repeated practice. After it has grown strong the other thoughts will be put to flight. This is the battle royal always taking place in meditation.

Who so ever meditates upon the Self in whatever bhava (mental image) attains it only in that image. Those peaceful ones who remain quiet without any such bhava attain the noble and 
unqualified state of Kaivalya, the formless state of the Self. “
 
Thus, can we sum up with the understanding that SAMYOGA is UNION with GOD OR ATTAINING KAIVALYA or REALIZATION OF SELF  OR BECOMING ONE WITH GOD, after reading Bhagwan’s quote and Sri Ramana’s quote??

SELF REALIZATION/ SUPREME KNOWLEDGE/PRAJNANAM 


PRABHU DARAS   BINA PRAGYAN NAHIN

For Prabhu Daras, we need to go  back to the detailed interpretation on “ DARSHAN” as explained in Krishna Krishna Mujhe Darshan do Krishna. 

After reading the same, let us  come back here and go through the literal interpretation of  verse 3 of part 3 of aitaraya Upanishad

“He is Brahman, He is Indra, He is Prajapati; He is all these gods; He is the five great elements—earth, air, akasa, water, light; He is all these small creatures and the others which are mixed; He is the origin—those born of an egg, of a womb, of sweat and of a sprout; He is horses, cows, human beings, elephants—whatever breathes here, whether moving on legs or flying in the air or unmoving. All this is guided by Consciousness, is supported by Consciousness. The basis is Consciousness. Consciousness is Brahman (Prajnanam Brahma)”

Are we not clear now, after reading the deeper meaning of darshan and the verse of upanishad above that true knowledge, true awareness is knowledge of brahman?????


KARMA YOGA (KARMA, AFTER SELF  REALIZATION)

DAYA DHARMA BINA SATKARMA NAHIN
  
We take up service activities with lot of enthusiasm and go about rendering service to our brothers and sisters in this foreign land/ any other country, in various ways.

When I asked a simple question to a sevadal member, “why do you do service?” the reply came- “ God has given us so much, I should give my time and energy and if possible, money to serve the less fortunate one

Brothers and sisters, who is to judge whom as less fortunate ones?? 

Service to mankind, Manava seva, is a beautiful path given by our lord to remove our ego and to treat all as one, as Madhava.

But the real beauty of service is when we, after going through the Bhakti Marga and then evolving ourselves to the Jnana marga, are literally able to see and feel the same atman existing in us, as existing in one and all and feel the supreme bliss of union with Lord and with everyone who are but Lord.  

We can keep on repeating like parrot, we must see God in all, but then, it is only when we realize the god within us as god within all (As the entire universe and beyond is engulfed by paramatman  who is all pervading and nothing, no human, no animal, nothing is outside the jurisdiction of paramatman), then we can say, with truth , that our ego has been removed and annihilated totally.

Only your conscience will reveal to you whether you have reached this stage or not. And.., when you reach this stage, any seva, rather every act, every breadth, every moment becomes a moment of service, a moment of worship and with this realized level, once you visit and look at an autistic child, a hospital patient, a patient   suffering from serious illness, then you will feel what is meant by LOVE, what is meant by BLISS, what is meant by LOVE filled with BLISS.

JAI SAIRAM.

Bhagwad Gita - Post 142

Verse 6 

Ye tu sarvaani karmaani
Mayi sannyasya matparaah;
Ananyenaiva yogena maam
Dhyaayanta upaasate.

But to those who worship Me, renouncing all actions in Me, regarding Me as the supreme goal, meditating on Me with single-minded Yoga.

Verse 7 

Teshaamaham samuddhartaa Mrityusamsaarasaagaraat;
Bhavaami nachiraat paartha Mayyaaveshitachetasaam.

To those whose minds are set on Me, O Arjuna, verily I become ere long the saviour out of the ocean of the mortal Samsara!

Here, Krishna prescribes certain definite conditions to be faithfully followed by all meditators upon the Form of the Lord and concludes that those who are following His instructions fully, will be saved from their mortal limitations, by the Lord Himself, on whose Form they are contemplating. 

A careful study of these conditions will show us how the devotee grows mentally to stature so divine and high that, thereafter he needs no help from anyone at all. 

But, in the beginning, a seeker needs some assurances from his teacher in order to instill in him the required self-confidence to start his practices.

REGARDING ME AS THE SUPREME GOAL 

A devotee is advised not take up religion as a part-time entertainment, or as a temporary escapism, but to consider the Lord as the Supreme Goal to be achieved in and through life. 


In short, we are advised that in order to ascend to the Higher summits of cultural perfection, it is necessary that we direct all our contacts, transactions, and experiences in our life, towards the achievement of this cumulative goal of Self-Perfection, as symbolized in the Lord of our heart.

WITH SINGLE MINDED DEVOTION

This was taken up in Sai center in Oman. Single pointed devotion followed “Attraction”, “Faith” and then “Adoration and Worship”.

For those who remember, this was explained with a talk on how a fierce bull is controlled and mastered, to align that analogy with gradual control and channelizing of our monkey mind  to focus on God with single pointed devotion. 

Initially, the bull is so fiercesome that one cannot even go anywhere near the bull. How a wise person tamed and mastered the bull was explained, in the context of how we can tame our mind and master our mind ultimately.


TAMING  A FIERCE BULL
SINGLE POINTED FOCUS ON GOD
Wise man draws an outer fence for the bull.
Draw an outer limit beyond which your thoughts / mind should not travel.
He shows grass to the bull.
Introduce spiritual sadhana to the mind.
Bull comes near grass and forgets to be fierce as it is now  tempted by the grass shown to it.
Mind starts responding to spiritual sadhana and in that process, stops wondering to other thoughts at least while in sadhana.
He starts feeding the bull daily. 
Involving the mind to regular daily spiritual sadhana. 
Narrowed the outer fence area for the bull to roam around.
Mind has now stopped wandering here and there in other thoughts due to immersing in daily sadhana. 
Could touch the bull, bull responds to the affection of the person touching the bull.
Mind starts loving the experience it gets in spiritual sadhana and hence immerses in Sadhana.
The fence is totally removed and yet the bull stays where it is, and the person is now freely able to touch, hug and even sit over the bull.
There is no need for any deliberation for the mind to restrict its thoughts, there is no need for any control over the mind, the mind has now achieved SINGLE POINTED FOCUS in Spiritual sadhana and the devotee has now mastered his mind.

"I SHALL BE THEIR SAVIOUR"


This is a divine assurance and an infinite guarantee. It is possible that seekers may become rather impatient when even after months and years of practice, they do not come anywhere near any spiritual experience.

But for those who pursue sadhana with steadfastness without losing hope, God does come to rescue as savior, by bestowing His divine grace to uplift them. 

TO THOSE WHOSE MIND IS SET ON ME 

The mind generally takes the form of the object it contemplates upon. When an integrated mind-intellect-equipment of a devotee, through constant practice, gains the capacity of engaging itself entirely on the concept of the Lord, to the exclusion of all agitations and unholy thoughts, the entire mind assumes the stature of the Infinite. 

It is the mind that gives us the hallucination of our egocentric limitations, and again, it is the mind that rediscovers the Infinitude. 

Bondage and liberation are both for the mind. The Self is ever free; ever liberated; never bound.

The conclusion is that by continuously offering their hearts and minds in uninterrupted, exclusive, loving devotion to the Supreme Lord, He becomes indebted to them so much so that He personally rescues them from samsara, the perpetual cycle of birth and death and promotes them to the immortal spiritual worlds to eternally share in exclusive blissful communion with Him.

Love.