Atma Bodha - Post 59

Verse 49

JEEVANMUKTAH TU TAT VIDVAAN

POORVA-UPAADHI-GUNAAN TYAJET

SAH SAT-CHID-AADI-DHARMATVAM

BHEJE BHRAMARA-KEETA-VAT

[The liberated soul, endowed with Self-knowledge, gives up the traits of his previous equipments. and verily becomes of the nature of Sat Chit Ananda, even as a worm would transform into a wasp.]

An acharya, in one of  his talks, captured fully the marvel of transformation from an ordinary being severely limited by his body and mind ‘prisons’, to the liberated sage who rises above these limitations and becomes a “super-man” far exceeding ordinary humans.

The simile is a striking one which shows how such a transformation is possible in actual life.

“Bhramara Keetavat”: The Worm and the Wasp

One has to be an enjoyer of Nature to appreciate this superb simile.

Have we  ever seen a wasp building its nest? With great difficulty it brings a tiny lump of clay, moistened with its saliva. It finds a suitable spot where no one will disturb it and places it there. With its legs it maneuvers the ball of clay firmly. Then it flies off quickly to get the next ball because it must return before this ball dries up, so that the next ball can be stuck to it. This is so interesting to see.

When numerous balls are in place, the wasp comes along one day with a small worm and places it inside in such a way that its eyes are facing it directly. Then the wasp takes its position at the entrance and just sits there, glaring intently on the worm.

The worm also stares at the wasp all the while, but out of fear, terrified by the sight of the wasp. If it takes its attention off the wasp even for a second, the wasp gives it a little sting and pulls it to attention once again!

And what does this intense concentration by the worm on the wasp bring about?

We  have to behold a marvel of nature – just the constant fixed attention on the wasp soon transforms the worm into another wasp.

Application of the simile

The spiritual seeker is the worm. As a worm he is helpless to do anything, severely limited by its cumbersome, ugly body to that pitiable state.

The stare at the wasp with such intense ‘fearful’ concentration is the practice of meditation on the Self. After a prolonged practice of this meditation, the seeker-worm emerges as a completely transformed being. He acquires the freedom of a new ‘body’, completely different from the one that limited him before. He can now fly into great heights of ecstasy he can behold the whole universe as himself; and he can now raise himself above all limitations that he suffered from previously. He is a free being, entirely different from his old personality-based existence.

The transformation of worm to wasp is a perfect comparison to what the meditator achieves through his meditation, when he becomes a Self-realized Jivanmukta.

Another aspect of this simile is that it resembles the Guru-disciple relationship perfectly. The wasp is the Guru and the worm the disciple. The nest is the Ashram.

The disciple comes to the Guru’s Ashram. He is placed under the discipline of the Guru. It may appear to be a fearful discipline with all the frightful glaring and the stings, but how appropriate it is to what the Guru has to do to achieve the transformation in his beloved disciple.

Dear All,

Only sincere sadhakas who are under a master and abiding by the master’s instructions can actually experience what is going to be shared by the author here.

“Even while a sishya, a sadhaka, while approaching a master who is realized and also can teach the supreme path to realization effectively to his disciple, feels that he / she is nowhere near the master, is afraid of their master, often look up at the master awestruck as to whether we will ever reach this master’s state or not,

The master’s mission is always only one, and, that is, to take the disciple to such a level where, there is never a distinction between Him the realized Guru and they, the dedicated disciple”

And,

“Only such a master is a true master, a true guru. 

Any one who endlessly expects the sishyas to hold on to his feet, to think themselves as inferior to their guru,  expects them to be always keeping themselves at a lesser platform,  such a master is not a true master. His intentions are not  genuine. He has still not transcended the worldly requirement of power, fame and may be even wealth etc " 

How well the above sharing aligns with the worm and the wasp similie, when taken subjectively and meditated upon!

A classic example often quoted by the author in his sessions to bring about the essence of this simile is – “ When Bharatha, soaked, immersed and completely merged with his Lord Sri Rama, walked on the streets of Ayodhya after the exile period of 14 years had got over and Rama was to return to Ayodhya with Janaki and Lakshmana, the radiance in bhrataha’s face was so much identical to Rama’s face that the Ayodhya vasis, for once, mistook him as Rama and started showering flowers on him”.

Thus, be clear, o devotees, bhaktas, if your devotion, only if your devotion is so sincere and so total and complete, then will you evolve to reach the Lord and exist verily as Lord Himself!!!

The final message is: The knower of Brahman becomes Brahman himself. It may seem an impossible transformation, but then who would have imagined that a worm could become a wasp? The emergence from the severe psychological limitation of an ignorant human to a God-realised saint is even more remarkable than a worm becoming a wasp.

Love.

Atma Bodha - Post 58

Verse 48

आत्मैवेदं जगत्सर्वमात्मनोऽन्यन्न विद्यते ।

मृदो यद्वद्घटादीनि स्वात्मानं सर्वमीक्षते ॥ ४८॥

AATMAA EVA IDAM JAGAT SARVAM

AATMANAH ANYAT NA VIDHYATE

MRIDAH YADVAT GHAT-AADEENI

SWAATMAANAM SARVAM EEKSHATE

[This entire universe is verily the Atman Itself. Nothing whatsoever other than Atman exists.  Just as pots, etc, can be said to be only clay, so also, the wise one sees everything as his own Self.]

There is a vision which sees unity everywhere. The corollary to this of seeing diversity in this world is the origin of all our problems. A vision which sees ‘Unity in Diversity’ is the saintly vision that is upheld here.

  

An extreme example of universal vision - A Mahatma was in meditation in a forest. A tiger came and was dragging him away for its meal. The Mahatma remained in his state of meditation, going on with his chanting. This was actually witnessed by  Tapovan maharaj, as shared by a monk  of Chinmaya ashram in one of his writings.

“Mrido Ghatadini” Simile: The Clay Pots

Earlier we had come across a similar simile – gold and the gold ornaments. Here it is clay and the variety of clay pottery. The message is the same: They come out of clay, exist in clay and finally merge back into clay.

Just in the previous post, the author explained the same thing with wave and water example where, the wave come out of water, exist in water and finally recede and merge into water. 

In the 2 verses - 47 and 48, Acharya is explaining about a realized one. Acharya is here explaining about the yogi as one who sees the entire world through the eyes of wisdom as his own Self.

Lord explains this same import in many places in Gita while explaining about a Jnani, a Yogi and a Bhakta. 6th chapter 32nd sloka says:

aatmaupamyena sarvatra samam  pashyati yo.arjuna .

sukham vaa yadi vaa dukham sa yogii paramo matah ..

“Whoso, by comparison with himself, sees the same everywhere, O Arjuna, be it pleasure or pain, he is deemed the highest Yogin.”

Mundaka Upanishad III-ii-6 says: “Those to whom the entity presented by the Vedantic knowledge has become fully ascertained, who are assiduous and have become pure in mind through the Yoga of monasticism – all of them, at the supreme moment of final departure, become identified with the supreme Immortality in the worlds that are Brahman, and they become freed on every side.”

To a realized one there is no duality whatsoever and the entire world is but Self, the universe of names and forms appears to be a mere imagination just like the imaginary existence of the snake on the rope. Also since an imaginary object is the same as its substratum the entire universe and its diverse objects are perceived by the known as the same as Self.

Where there is but Self, how can there be duality and aversion towards anything else? 

This was explained in the context of "LOVE ALL SERVE ALL", in the previous post. 

Hence to such a realized one who perceives Self everywhere, everything is but Self and names and forms are just super impositions. 

If one gets an opportunity to watch the videos of Anandamayi ma / Paramahamsa Yogananda / Swami Sivananda and in this contemporary world, one visits Amma and experiences her supreme love when she draws them to her and hugs them, they can verily experience these saint's state where, they perceive the human beings not as human beings, but AS SELF / AS DIVINITY / AS GOD.

When one young visitor visited Swami Sivananda and stood adamantly without prostrating at the Master's feet, Sivananda smiled and prostrated at that young visitor's feet. We can imagine the plight of that visitor. More than that, we can know or at least imagine how the saint would be experiencing the divinity in that young visitor to be prostrating at his feet!

Long back, in old Sai Sadan building, when one child sang a bhajan very well, after the bhajan, the author went to that child, prostrated at the child's feet, to the utter disbelief and amazement of the child and its mother. 

They may not be reading this post otherwise, they can recall that scene easily. 

Thus, a real jnani loves the whole world as his own Self. Having incarnated in human form, Swami also radiates the same endless love to the entire humanity.

Each one present in the SK hall might have committed few / many / too many mistakes in their lives and they may be suffering due to various gradations of impurity within themselves but when Swami comes floating in to the hall and looks at the devotees gathered there, can any one in this world claim or prove or even say that Swami differentiates between a saint and a sinner seated in that hall?

Love.