Yoga Vasishta - Post 40

 

VASISTHA continued:

 

After granting the desired boons to the king, Sarasvati vanished at that spot. The king and the queen fondly embraced each other. The royal attendants who were guarding the king's body woke up and rejoiced that the king had come back to life.

 

There was great rejoicing in the state. People far and wide recounted for a long time how the queen Lila returned from the other world with another Lilt as a gift to  the king. The king heard from the enlightened Lila all that took place during the previous month. 

 

He continued to rule and enjoy the blessings of the three worlds through the grace of Sarasvati, which he had no doubt earned by his own self­ effort.

 

Thus is the story of Lila, O Rama, which I have narrated in detail to you: contemplation of this story will remove from your mind the least faith in the reality of what is perceived. Truly, if only that which is true can be removed, how can one remove what is unreal? 

 

There is nothing to be removed, for all that appears to be in your eyes (the earth, etc.) is nothing but the infinite consciousness; and if something has been created even that has taken place by it, within it itself. 

 

Everything is as it is; nothing has ever been created. You may say that what appears to be is the creation of Maya, but then Maya itself is not real!

 

RAMA said:

 

Lord, what a grand vision of the ultimate truth you have given me! But, Holy one, there is an insatiable hunger in me for the nectar of your enlightening words. Pray, explain to me the mystery of time: in the story of Lila sometimes a whole life­time was spent in eight days, sometimes in one month. I am puzzled. Are there different time­scales in different universes?

 

VASISTHA replied:

 

O Rama, whatever one thinks within oneself in his own intelligence,that alone is experienced by him. Even nectar is experienced as poison by him who fancies it is poison. Friends become enemies and enemies become friends, depending upon one's inner attitude. 

 

The object is experienced by one strictly in accordance with one's  nner feeling. To a suffering person a night is an epoch; and a night of revelry passes like a moment. In dream a moment is non­different from an epoch. A life­time of Manu is but an hour and a half to Brahma; Brahma's lfe­time is a day of Visnu. Visnu's life­span is Siva's day. 

 

But to the sage whose consciousness has overcome limitations, there is neither day nor night.

 

Continued...

 

 Love.

 

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

 

The Divine is one without a second. "Ekoham bahusyam Prajayeyethi." (I am One. Let me become many for the sake of progeny). Willing in this way, the Divine assumed a myriad amazing variety of forms in the universe and taught in the Gita the threefold paths of Karma, Jnana and Bhakti to enable humanity to realise the magnificence of the Divine. Man has been engaged in exploring the infinite wonderful secrets of Nature in this marvellous creation in all possible ways. But because of the vagaries of his mind, intellect and ego, man has failed to understand the true eternal, spiritual basis underlying everything in the Universe and has lost himself in the pursuit of the external phenomenal world as if it were the only reality. In the process he has failed to realise his own true nature and has totally perverted his mind. The simple truth that everything is permeated by the One has been lost sight of.

 

Krishna Reminds Man Of Grievous Error

 

It is to remind man of this grievous error that Sri Krishna declared in the 18th chapter of the Gita (in verse 61) "Easwarah-sarvabhoothanam hriddeseh Arjuna thishtathi" (The Lord resides, oh Arjuna, in the heart region of all beings) and went on to adjure in the 62nd sloka: "Thameva saranam gachcha sarvabhavena Bharata" (Take refuge in Him alone with all thy heart, oh Bharata). This means that if the Lord dwells in the heart of all beings, He must be residing in Arjuna's heart also! Hence the injunction, "Thameva saranam gachcha" means: "Seek refuge in yourself." It must be understood from this that whatever one may say or do, he is doing it only to himself and for himself.

 

The Bhagavad Gita begins with Dhritharashtra's reference to "Dharma kshetre Kurukshetre." Dharmakshetra is the seat of Atma. "Kurukshetra" is the body, which is the source of all actions. It is the combination of the Atma and the body the Kshetra-Kshetrajna relationship - which explains the human predicament. By forgetting the Atma and involving himself in "Deha Dharma" (the claims of the body), man is subjecting himself to endless suffering. He grieves about things which are not worth lamenting and does not grieve for the things that ought to make him sad. This state of delusion is the result of his identifying himself with the body and forgetting his inherent divinity. If he realizes that he is one with the Omni-self, he will have no cause for sorrow. He will be aware that Truth and Bliss are inherent in his spiritual reality. When man realizes that the Divine is all-pervasive, there will be no room for acquisitive selfishness or divisiveness. When Dhritharashtra made a distinction between "his" sons (mamakah my children) and the Pandavas, he betrayed his spiritual blindness and the ignorance of the unity that subsumes the multiplicity in the world.

                                                                                        Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol 21

                                                                                               09 January 1988

                                                                                                        

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The body is impermanent All one's wealth is transient. Children and Wife are shadows. Only one's good deeds are lasting companions. Who realises this truth is a true man.

 

EMBODIMENTS of love! All beings in creation, except man, live according to the laws of nature and carry out their functions. Without any concern for the morrow, they lead their lives, content with whatever they can enjoy. Nature sees to it that they do not lack anything needed for their existence. Man, on the contrary, is never contented, however much he may acquire and whatever comforts he may enjoy. He yearns for various things and looks upon the desire for these objects as love. But if such attachment to objects is fostered, there is no end to the process. He does not realize that such love is based upon self-interest and self-centeredness.

 

It should be clear that what passes for love today in the world is really selfishness and self-interest. In every thought, every word, every action of his, the demon of self-interest is present. Man has become a plaything of selfish impulses. Caught up in the coils of selfishness, his entire life becomes a delusion and a snare. He is prisoner of his selfishness. Such a person can never experience what is real freedom.

True Love Will Remain Unaffected

What, then, is true Prema (love)? Pure, unselfish love towards all living beings, considered as embodiments of the Divine, with no expectation of reward, is true Love. "Adweshta sarvabhootha-nam. Maitrah, Karuna evacha" ("Free from dislike, friendly and compassionate towards all beings"). With this attitude, when one regards divinity as present in all beings, only then he can have true love. Whatever be the vicissitudes one may face, whatever be the personal sorrows and privations one may undergo, true love will remain unaffected. Today, when any difficulty arises or when some trouble crops up, love turns into hatred. True love is the sweet fruit that grows out of the fragrant flower of good deeds. Love rules without recourse to the sword. It binds without laws.

 

Only one who has such true love can be described as human. The man without such love is only human in form. Like the lotus which blooms when the sun rises, the heart of man blossoms when love enters it. Like the glow of the flame in a fire, like the rays of the sun, like waves in the ocean, divine love is the basic quality of a true human being. It is only when one is filled with pure, unselfish love that he can be called a human being.

                                                                                    Sri Sathya Sai Speaks Vol. 18

                                                                                    May 06, 1985

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

 

Truth Is The Lamp That Dispels Darkness

 

What Avatars re-established on firm foundations is Sathya (Truth). For, as the Vedhas (sacred scriptures) announce, there is no Dharma higher than Truth. Truth gets hidden, appears distorted, is declared as failing, so, the Avathar (divine incarnation) asserts its validity and value, once again.

 

God wears Truth; the good seek Truth; the bad are rescued by Truth. Truth liberates; Truth is power; Truth is freedom. It is the lamp that illumines the heart and dispels doubt and darkness. The effulgence of God is Truth. Welcome God in your heart. Install Him there as a result of Yearning. Be always concerned with Brahman; then, you are entitled to be known as a Brahmin; if you are concerned with the skin and all that it contains, that entitles you only to be known as a Chandala, who works on leather and skin!

 

There was Kanaka, born in a low caste. He was an ardent devotee, yearning in unbearable anguish to see Krishna. So, he went to Udipi, where there is a famous Krishna Temple, established by the great sage, Madhwacharya himself. Being of low birth, he could not enter the temple and see the charming idol of Krishna. He stood before the outer door, but the idol was hidden by the Flag- post in front of the shrine. He went round the outer wall and sought some crevice amidst the stones through which he could earn a faint glimpse. He saw a stone was loose: with his fingers, he scooped out the mortar and he made a narrow chink, and when he looked eagerly through it, he saw only the back of the idol. But he was overcome with delight! He danced in ecstasy, singing the glory of Krishna. Just at the moment, the idol turned towards him and Krishna granted him the full vision of His Charm and majesty.

 

Yearning was rewarded with Grace. Yearning leads to surrender, and surrender gives the highest joy. Leave everything to His Will, accept whatever happens, whether pleasant or painful.

 

 

Divine Discourse

29 July 1969

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

 

The Rama Principle Is the Atma, Source of All Joy The Name Rama was once indicated by Rama Himself (the son of Dasharatha, hero of the Ramayana, the incarnation of the Lord in the Thretha Yuga) as a potent liberator.

When Rama was passing through the forests with Sita and Lakshmana, the hermits who recognised Him as Divine gathered around Him with a prayer that they be initiated by Him and be given some mantra (sacred formula) that they could repeat for spiritual uplift and victory. Rama replied that He was a prince in exile wandering in the forests and so He could not presume any authority to initiate hermits into a spiritual path. He moved on along the jungle tracks.

Watching Him walking fast, with Sita immediately behind Him and Lakshmana following behind, an aged hermit exclaimed, “Friends! See! Rama is initiating us! He is awarding us the mantra! God is leading. Nature (His constant companion, His shadow) is following; the jeevi (individual), part of the Lord, the wave of the ocean, is in the rear; he can see the Lord only if the deluding Nature is propitiated or by-passed. This is indeed a silent lesson in sadhana (spiritual discipline). Ra is God; ma is the individual, who has fallen behind. Aa is Prakrithi (Nature); Rama, Rama is the mantra He is vouchsafing so graciously. Take it and save yourselves. For me, there is no other course.”

 I am emphasising Rama-Nama (the name Rama) because the Rama principle is the Atma. Rama means that which is pleasant and which pleases. Now, the Atma is the source of all joy; its nature is bliss. Moreover, as Thyagaraja discovered, Rama is the Name that worshippers of both Narayana (Vishnu) and Shiva can adopt. The syllable Ra is the key syllable of the Narayana mantra (Om Namo Narayanaya) and the syllable ma is the key syllable of the Shiva mantra (Om Namashivaya).

                                                                                                                                Divine Discourse

                                                                                                       World Conference of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations

                                                                                                        May 17, 1968 

Yoga Vasishta - Post 39

RAMA  asked: Holy sir, does a yogi's physical body then become an ethereal body?

VASISTHA replied:

The ethereal body alone is: by persistent fancy, it appears to be linked to a physical body. Just as  when an ignorant man (who thinks he is the physical body) dies and the body is cremated, has a subtle body, even so the yogi on being enlightened while living, has an  ethereal body.

The physical body is only the creation of one's ignorant fancy, and is not real. There is no difference between the body and the ignorance. To think they are two—this  indeed is samsara (repetitive history).

VASISTHA continued:

In the meantime, Sarasvati restrained Viduratha's  jiva  from entering into the body of king Padma.

THE ENLIGHTENED LILA  asked Sarasvati:

O Goddess, from the time I sat here in contemplation till now, how much time has elapsed?

SARASVATI replied:

Dear one, it is a month since you entered into contemplation. During the first fifteen days, your body, on account of the heat generated by pranayama, became  vaporized. Then it became like a dry leaf and fell down. Then it became rigid and cold. The ministers then thought that you had died of your own accord and cremated that body. 

Now, on account of your own wish you appear here in your ethereal body. In you there are no memories of past life nor latent tendencies brought forward from previous incarnation. For when the intelligence is established in the conviction of its ethereal nature, the body is forgotten, even as in youth one forgets life as a  foetus. Today is the thirty­first day and you are here. Come, let us reveal ourselves to this other Lila.

When the second Lila saw them before her, she fell at their feet and worshipped them.

SARASVATI  asked her: Tell us how you came here.

THE SECOND LILA  replied:

When I fainted in the palace of Viduratha, I did not know anything for some time. I then saw that my subtle body rose to the sky and was seated in an aerial vehicle  which brought me here. And, I saw that Viduratha  was lying here asleep in a garden of flowers. I thought he was fatigued from battle and without disturbing him, I fan him.

Sarasvati  immediately let Viduratha's jiva enter the body. The king at once awoke as if from slumber. The two Lilas bowed to him.

The king asked the enlightened Lila, "Who are you, who is she, and from where has she come?"

The enlightened Lila replied: "Lord, I am your wife in your previous incarnation and your constant companion, even as a word and its meaning are. This Lila is your  other wife; she is my own reflection, created by me for your pleasure. And, she who is seated on yonder golden throne is the goddess Sarasvati herself. She is  present here on account of our great good fortune."

Hearing this, the king sat up and saluted Sarasvati*. Sarasvati blessed him with long life, wealth and so on, and enlightenment.

Continued…

Love

Yoga Vasishta - Post 38

Whatever the jiva  sees, that the jiva experiences. For in this empty space of infinite consciousness there is nothing known as time, action, etc. Then the jiva  fancies, 'The god of death has sent me to heaven (or hell)' and 'I have enjoyed (or suffered) the pleasures (or tortures) of heaven (or hell)', and 'I am born as animal,  etc., as ordained by the god of death'.

At that moment, the jiva enters into the body of the male through the food eaten; it is then transferred to the female and delivered into this world, where it undergoes  life again in accordance with the fruition of past actions. There it grows and wanes like the moon. Once again it undergoes senility and death. This goes on again and  again till the jiva is enlightened by self­knowledge.

THE ENLIGHTENED LILA asked:

O Goddess, but please tell me how all this began in the very beginning.

SARASVATI replied:

The mountains, the forests, the earth and the sky—all these are but infinite consciousness. That alone is the very being of all, the reality in all; and hence that pure  infinite consciousness appeared to become whatever form it took whenever it manifested itself. Till now it continues to be so. When the life­breath enters into the  bodies and begins to vibrate the various parts of the bodies, it is said that those bodies are living. Such living bodies existed right in the beginning of creation. 

When  those bodies into which the life­breath had entered did not vibrate, they were known as trees and plants. It is indeed a small part of the infinite consciousness that  becomes the intelligence in these bodies. This intelligence, entering into the bodies, brings into being the different organs like the eyes.

Whatever this consciousness thinks it is, it takes that form. Thus, this self of all exists in all bodies, with motion as the characteristic of moving bodies, immovability as  the characteristic of the immovable bodies. Thus do all these bodies continue to be even now.

SARASVATI continued:

When that intelligence, which is part of the infinite consciousness, fancied itself to be a tree, it became a tree; or a rock, it became a rock; or grass, it became grass. 

There is no distinction between the sentient and the insentient, between inert and intelligent: there is no difference at all in the essence of substances, for the infinite  consciousness is present everywhere equally. The differences are only due to the intelligence identifying itself as different substances. The same infinite consciousness is  known by different names in these different substances. In the same way, it is the same infinite consciousness that the intelligence identifies as the worms, ants and  birds. In it there is no comparison, nor a sense of difference: just as the people living in the north pole do not know (and therefore do not contrast themselves with) the people of  the south pole. Each independent substance identified as such by this intelligence exists by itself, without distinction from the other substances. Ascribing distinctions to  them as 'sentient' and 'insentient' is like a frog born in a rock and a frog born outside it considering themselves different, one insentient and the other sentient!

Continued..

Love.

Yoga Vasishta - Post 37

The enlightened Lila said: O Goddess, kindly enlighten me concerning death: is it pleasant or unpleasant, and what happens after death?

 

Sarasvati said: There are three types of human beings, my dear: the fool, one who is practicing concentration and meditation, and the yogi (or intelligent one). The two latter types of human beings abandon the body by the practice 'of the yoga of concentration and meditation and depart at their sweet will and pleasure. 

 

But, the fool who has not practiced concentration or meditation, being at the mercy of forces outside himself, experiences great anguish at the approach of death.

 

He wishes to express his suffering, but is unable to do so. Gradually, his senses lose their power; and he is unable even to think. Therefore he sinks in unwisdom and ignorance.  

 

When there is cessation of the flow of the life­ breath, the consciousness of the individual becomes utterly passive. Please remember, O Lila, that consciousness is pure, eternal and infinite: it does not arise nor cease to be. It is ever there in the moving and unmoving creatures, in the sky, on the mountain and in fire and air. 

 

When life­ breath ceases, the body is said to be 'dead' or 'inert'. The life ­breath returns to its source—air—and consciousness freed from memory and tendencies remains as the self.

 

After a momentary lapse of consciousness, the jiva begins to fancy that it sees another body, another world and another life­span.

 

O Lila, there are six categories of such 'departed souls': bad, worse and worst sinners; good, better, best of virtuous ones. Of course, there are sub­divisions among these, too. 

 

(In the case of some of the worst sinners, the momentary lapse of consciousness may last a considerable time.)

 

The worst among the sinners undergo terrible sufferings in hell and then are born in countless living species, before they see the end of their agony. They might even exist as trees for a long time.

 

The middling among sinners also suffer lapse of consciousness for a considerable time; and then are born as worms and animals.

 

The light sinners are soon reborn as human beings.

 

The best among the righteous ascend to heaven and enjoy life there. Later they are born in good and affluent families on earth.

 

The middling among the righteous go to the region of the celestials, and return to the earth as children of brahmanas, etc.

 

Even the righteous among the departed ones, after enjoying such heavenly pleasures, have to pass through the realms of the demigods to suffer the consequences of the iniquities they might have committed.

SARASVATI continued:

All these departed souls experience within themselves the fruition of their own past actions. At first there is the notion 'I am dead', and then 'I am being carried away  by the messengers of the god of death'. 

The righteous among them fancy that they are taken to heaven; and the ordinary sinners fancy that they are standing in the  court of the god of death where, with the help of Chitragupta (the hidden record of one's deeds), they are being tried and judged for their past life. 

Love