Sathya Sai Vahini - Post 25

Yoga, path of harmony

Yoga means “coming together”. In India, where yoga has been flowing in the veins of everyone for ages, it is possible to have the harmonious coexistence of many faiths and beliefs, which is the ideal type of universal religion. Those who can heroically put their faith into daily living can accomplish this togetherness in the human community. 

Togetherness or union can be established between one’s outer behavior and inner nature. The spiritual aspirant intent on the path of love can strive for union between themself and the embodiment of love, namely God. The vedanthin, the non-dualist, can achieve the union of all that IS in the one concept of God. The path of yoga is designated differently in Sanskrit under different contexts; but those who are able to conceive and execute the union are revered as yogis.

Those who strive through activities and achievements to establish the union are yogis of action (karma- yogis); those who follow the path of love are yogis of devotion (bhakthi-yogis); those who strive to manifest their latent powers and canalize them are royal yogis (raja-yogis); those who stick to logical analysis and rational inter- pretations and attain intuitive perception are yogis of wisdom (jnana-yogis). In the Indian (Bharathiya) spiritual history, these four types recur again and again.

Karma yoga

First, the yogi of action (karma-yogi). The yogi adopts the path of establishing union with Godhead by elevating and sublimating acts. We meet in the world many who seem to have been born just to accomplish one particular mission or project. Their intellect is not satisfied with mere imagination or planning. Their minds are full of actual concrete achievements that they yearn to realize. For such people, a guidebook or scripture is needed to direct them along beneficial paths.

Everyone in the world is seen engaged in some activity or other, all the time. Yet, very few know the significance and worthwhileness of activity (karma) or how best to realize the best results out of this inescapable trait. Hence, life is being made banal and barren. The yoga of action teaches the awareness of this significance and guides people along to achieve the maximum benefit out of the activity. Where, when, and how action (karma) has to be done, how spiritual urges can reinforce strength of mind in the performance of action, and how action is to be taken up so that spiritual development can result —these are taught by the yoga of action.

One great objection is raised by some people about this, and we have to pay attention to it. The objection is that the yoga of action involves too much physical strain. But, basically, it is the company one keeps that decides the strain and stress to which the mind and body are subjected. “I like very much to engage myself in only this task.” “I sought only to do good to him, but he ignored my desire and tried to injure me.” These are the usual causes for the strain and stress mentioned above. Such disappointment makes one lose interest in activity. One wants to do good, and one seeks to do good to someone in some way, hoping to derive joy therefrom and distribute joy. When such joy does not arise, despair sets in.

But the real yogi of action does activity without getting attached, without being aware of whom the action helps or how. The lesson that the yoga of action teaches is: do the action as action, for the sake of the action. Why do yogis of action fill their hands with work? Because that is their real nature; they feel that they are happy while doing work. That is all. They does not bargain for results; they are not urged by any calculation; they give but never receive. They know no grief and no disappointment, for they had not hoped for any benefit.

Yoga of love and devotion

The second path is the yoga of love or devotion (bhakthi-yoga). This is congenial for those who are emotionally oriented. It is the path for those capable of filling their hearts with love. The urge is to have God as the Be- loved. The activities will be different, for they relate to incense-burning, gathering flowers for worship, building shrines and temples where one could install and adore symbols of beauty, wisdom, power, etc.

Are you inclined to remark that this is not the right means of achieving union with divinity? Remember that saints, sages, spiritual leaders, and guides throughout the world have emerged just from this devotional and dedicatory stage of spiritual endeavour. 

Some faiths tried to imagine God as formless and described worship of God through various such acts as blasphemy. They tried to suppress the cults of devotion, and in the process, they slighted the Reality and its power and majesty. The belief that God cannot be symbolized in a form is evidence of blindness; the charge that such worship is barren is hollow. The history of the world is witness to the efficacy of devotion (bhakthi). It is not proper to ridicule these activities, ceremonials, and rituals and the descriptions of the lives of spiritual aspirants who adhered to them in order to earn union with divinity. Let those who yearn after the joy of worshiping the Form do so; certainly, it would be a sin to shatter their faith and treat it as infructuous.

The glory of the great heroes of the spirit, those who have scaled the highest peaks of realization and those who attained spiritual fulfilment, is exercising immense influence on the mind of mankind. It is as a result of a long line of such seers that the spiritual message of India has attracted the attention of all nations. If India has been able to earn the reverence of the world, the reason has to be sought in the precious treasure that the seers have earned and preserved. Here, love of God and fear of sin have been the chief pillars of life and the everlasting guides for living. India (Bharath) has won a name for being a holy land, a land steeped in renunciation and in spiritual exercises (sadhanas) aimed at union with the Absolute, renowned for sacrifice (thyaga) and yoga. The urges that this culture encouraged were all directed to the conquest of the vagaries of the mind.

Can the explanations offered by this culture on the nature and characteristics of Reality be palatable to those afflicted by agitated feelings and passion? To the great builders of this culture, God was tangible truth, the one and only real Fact, the goal of their entire love. So the inheritors and followers of this culture treat the nihilist arguments based on inescapably limited “reason” as the fool is treated in the story. The fool saw an idol, and, eager to discover the God, he broke it to pieces with a hammer.

The yoga of devotion (bhakthi) will teach people the path of love. It will tell them not to love with a view to gain profit. Love all; love all as you love yourselves. No harm can come to you then. It will only spread joy and happiness to all. God is present in all beings as love. So the love is directed to and accepted not by the individual but by God, who is resident there. The seeker of God who relies on the path of devotion and dedication soon be- comes aware of this fact.

Some love God as the mother, some as the father, and some as “dearest and closest friend”. Others regard God as the Beloved, the only desired goal. They all endeavour to merge their love with the ocean of love that God is. Wherever love is evident, take it that it is God’s own love. God is the greatest lover of mankind. Therefore, when anyone decides to serve humanity, whom He loves, God showers grace in plenty. When the human heart melts at the suffering of others and expands as a result of that sympathy, believe that God is present there. That is the sign of the validity of the path of devotion (bhakthi-yoga).

 

Dear All,

We will get deeper into today's part of SSV in next post.

 

Love.