Jnana Vahini - Post 20

The springs of egoism etc., arise from ignorance of the Basic Truth. When knowledge of the Atma dawns, ignorance with its brood of worry and misery will vanish. 

The mark of the Jnani is the absence of egoism, the extinction of desire, the feeling of equal Love for all without any distinction. These are the fundamentals of Atmajnana.

When a person develops into a full Jnani, he becomes THAT and THAT is merged in him and both become indistinguishable. 

Then he realizes that he is the inscrutable, the indefinable Brahman, not limited by the illusory super-imposition of name and form.

The Pure Essence can be known by the Sadhana of Bhakthi. The goal of Bhakthi is indeed Jnana. When an author writes a play, the entire play will already be in his mind, before he sets pen on paper, act after act, scene after scene. 

If he has no picture of the entire drama in his mind, he will never entertain the idea of writing it at all. But take the case of the audience. 

They can grasp the story only after the drama is fully over; it unfolds itself scene by scene. Once they have understood the theme, they too can confidently describe to others the purport of the play. 

Similarly, for the Lord, this Drama of Time with its three Acts, the Past, the Present and the Future, is as clear as crystal. In the twinkling of an eye, He grasps all the three. For He is Omniscient; it is His Plan that is being worked out, His Drama that is being enacted on the stage of Creation. 

However, both the actors and the spectators are lost in confusion, unable to surmise its meaning and its development. For how can one scene or one act reveal its meaning? The entire play must be gone through for the story to reveal itself.

Without a clear understanding of the play in which they are acting their roles, people cling to the error that they are Jivis and waste away their lives, buffeted by the waves of joy and sorrow.

When the mystery is cleared, and the play is discovered as mere play, the conviction dawns that you are He and He is you. Therefore, try to know the Truth behind Life, search for the Fundamental, bravely pursue the underlying Reality. Seekers of Jnana must always be conscious of this.

Love.

Jnana Vahini - Post 19

Ignorance will never vanish until this discrimination dawns. "This world is but God and nothing else. Everything, every being is but His Manifestation, bearing within a new name and a new form" - Love this Truth, believe in it, and then you have the right to speak of Seva, Bhakthi and Dharma and the authority to preach on those paths. 

Vairagya or Non-attachment depends upon Jnana as well as Bhakthi. Deprive Vairagya of that basis and you will find it crumbling fast. Why, this is the prime cause for the want of spiritual progress at present. All these three have to be emphasized in Sadhana; they are not to be separated and striven for individually.

Bhakthi includes Jnana; if Vairagya (Detachment) is isolated from Bhakthi and Jnana, Jnana is isolated from Bhakthi and Vairagya; and Bhakthi is isolated from Vairagya and Jnana; each is ineffective. 

The best that each isolated path is capable of is to give some training in purity. Never therefore develop conceit and declare that you are Bhakthas or Jnanis or Vairagis (Recluses). 

Sadhakas must dip in the Triveni of Bhakthi-Jnana-Vairagya. There is no other way to salvation.

Before anything, be pure and holy. Of aspirants and Sadhakas, there are plenty; but of those who are pure in heart, the number is few. 

For example, observe this one fact: there are many who religiously read the Gita over and over again; there are many who expatiate on its meaning for hours and hours, but persons who practice the essence of the Gita are rare. 

They are now like gramophone records, reproducing someone else's song, incapable of singing themselves, ignorant of the joy of song. They are not Sadhakas at all. Their Sadhana does not deserve that name.

Life must be seen as the manifestation of the three Gunas, as a play of temperaments pulling the strings of dolls. This awareness must saturate every thought, word and deed. That is the Jnana you need. All else is Ajnana.

The Jnani will have no trace of hatred in him, he will love all beings; he will not be contaminated by the ego, he will act as he speaks. 

The Ajnani will identify himself with the gross body, senses and mind, things which are but tools and instruments. The eternal pure Atma is behind the mind, and so this mistake of the Ajnani plunges him into trouble, loss and misery.

All the names and forms that fill this universe and constitute its nature are but creations of the Mind. Therefore, the mind has to be controlled and its wayward fancies calmed in order to perceive the Truth. 

The ever-moving waves of the lake have to be stilled so that you can see the bottom clearly. So too, the waves of ignorance that ruffle the mind have to be stilled.

Love.

Jnana Vahini - Post 18

To realize that the self is beyond all these subordinate categories, Bhakthi is the first requisite. 

Bhakthi merges in Jnana and becomes identified with it. Bhakthi ripens into Jnana; so do not speak of them as different. At one state it is called Bhakthi, at a later stage we refer to it as Jnana. Once it is cane, later it is sugar.

Through Bhakthi, the Jiva is transformed into Siva, or rather, it knows it is Siva and the Jiva idea disappears. To posit oneself as Jiva, that is Ajnana; to know oneself as Siva, that is Jnana.

A white cloth that has become dirty, is dipped in water, cleaned with soap and warmed and beaten on a slab in order that it may be restored to its color and condition. 

So too, to remove the dirt of Ajnana that has attached itself to the pure Sath-Chit-Ananda Atma, the water of un-blemished conduct and behavior, the soap of Brahman-reflection, the warming of Japam and Dhyanam and the slab of Renunciation are all necessary. Then only can the fundamental Brahman-hood of the Atma shine forth.

It does not help if the soap is good when the water is soiled. All that soap and all that bother of heating and beating will be wasted, for the cloth will continue to be as dirty as before. 

This explains why many aspirants fail. Though they have meditated on Brahman for many years and studied about it for long, their modes of behavior and conduct are all wrong. The fault lies in the water, not in the soap! Their daily habits, acts and activities are mean and low; the Dhyana on Brahman is all wasted. 

A set of persons with curious ideas have cropped up recently and they strut about with great pride, for they have no yearning for God, even no use for God; they are Sevaks and they are satisfied with Service! 

But the essence of Seva is selflessness and abnegation of the fruit thereof; the Sevaks have no right to look down upon the godly and the Spiritual aspirants as inferior. For, that is but reaching for the fruit while neglecting the tree! Selfless service is the final fruit of the Godward Discipline. 

How can the fruit be gained without the long and laborious nurture of the tree? The very foundation of Nishkaama Karma is Prema towards all beings, Prema that seeks no reward. Without spiritual experience of this higher Love, selfless service is impossible.

How pure is the heart full of Bhakthi to God and Prema towards all things! Selfless Service is possible only by such; the rest only prattle about it and pretend to be impelled by it. Only those who are well established in the faith that all are children of God, that He is the Inner Motive Force of every being, can include themselves in that class of social servants.

Author’s note - In the last month’s sadan talk, while talking about SERVE ALL, we shared the following essence.

·         Service can start as a deliberate sadhana in the initial stage, to reduce our gross ego.

·         But, as much as the duality must go in devotion, in seva also, once the expansion of love happens, the duality between me who is serving and him who is served in camp/ in hospital etc. must go.

·         Only at this stage, when this line comes true in your state of existence, Seva is a happening, like the moon spreading its breeze is a happening, sun illumining the world is a happening, a mahatma serving all who come to him is a happening!!

·         We are not doing any Seva for the benefit of others. Seva is a manifestation of the expanded love that we exist as.

We can realize how much Swami’s words align with what we learnt that day. Swami says, “How pure is the heart full of Bhakthi to God and Prema towards all things! Selfless Service is possible only by such”.

Love.