Let us begin with collective chant of the Gayatri Mantra: “Om Bhur Bhuvah Swah, Tatsaviturvareñyam Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yonah Prachodaydt ||”
Sisters and Brothers,
Puja-Upasana (worship of a deity and devotional practices) in one form or the other is an integral part of the endeavors of spiritual development. This is a common observation among the ordinary people who are religious, theist, or aspirants of spiritual progress. Many of the spiritual masters, yogis, siddhas and seer-sages have also taken its support and risen high on the illumined (eminent) path of spirituality. But there is a great difference between their approach and what is followed and practiced by the masses. Look at what most of you do in your so-called puja-upasana? You have made a mockery of everything. Your faith, your sadhana (endeavors of self-refinement and spiritual enlightenment), everything is superficial, haphazard.
I have been regularly doing puja-upasana and have also inspired many seekers of spirituality for this. For twenty-four years (as part of Mahapurascharas Sadhana) I have thoroughly practiced it for six hours early in the morning every day. This has continued till date. Now also, I get up before 2 am – even during the peak of winter when most of the world is fast asleep. In those hours of absolute calm, I do my puja- upasana for about four hours every day with bsolute engrossment in the japa of Gayatri Mantra. Had it been only a superficial act, a child’s play, or blind-faith, why would I do it so sincerely? And why would I initiate so many people in it?
Friends, I have motivated and initiated millions of people to do Gayatri Upasana. In many of my articles, I have also written about its importance. I would like to motivate and guide many more seekers like you, and I am determined to continue that even in this last phase of my life. I wish that all the devotees earnestly follow the illumined path of puja-upasana. If you don’t do it through heart, if you are not sincere in doing it, your ‘ritual’ of worship, your ‘devotional practice’ would only make a mockery of puja-upasana. ‘Devotees’ of this kind are worse than the so-called ‘atheists’ who simply don’t believe in God.
The atheists, for example the communists, reject puja-upasana outright, as they don’t find any rationale behind it. Their approach is correct. They are honest to their rationality. I am sure if they ever experience the reality of God, or if they are given the light of wisdom behind puja-upasana, they will grasp and adopt it thoroughly and prove to be true devotees. They are not shaky and superficial like many of the so-called ‘theists’ and ‘devotees’, whose faith, whose conceptualization of God, and whose devotion are shallow, hazy, illusory, strayed, and self-centered, and arbitrary like their own mentality and character. What kind of devotee or theist you are if you ‘worship’ and ‘pray’ the Almighty to bless you and fulfill all your wishes, but you don’t accept and follow His disciplines and you ignore the duties assigned by Him? Aren’t you dishonest and ungrateful? You pray simply to convey your demands and beg for their fulfilment! In return of your act of ‘worship and devotion’ you want to buy and ‘rule over’ the entire creation? You want that God should mold His system of Nature and alter His rules, as per your convenience, desires and needs!
Understand the Meaning of puja-Upasana:
Please note, your singing of devotional song or chanting prayers, without the purity and depth of heart and sincerity of mind, is like attempting to bargain for precious jewels without any price. It’s like trying to grab fruits sans any hard work or payment. It’s like a theft, a foul play.
You sit on a cozy seat and chant some mantra or some hymn from religious texts with movements of the beads of a rosary in your hand and consider it a spiritual endeavor! And, you beseech so many favors in return! You ‘pray’ for riches, promotion in your job, good health, for your spouse, children, their happiness, success and what not…! Your list extends with the number of chants! Don’t you know that nothing worthwhile can be gained freely in this world? Then why do you aspire to get so much as blessings of gods as a result of your act of chanting their names, or singing paeans of their divine powers? Such practices and beliefs show that in reality you are an atheist.
The people whom you might call “atheists” are in fact true theists if they have faith in shaping their destiny through their own abilities and diligence. Those who believe in merit of good character and good deeds are true believers, irrespective of whether they follow any religious philosophy, any tradition, or not. Those who attempt for success through their own sincere efforts, self-refinement, and unflinching hard labor towards the worthy goals, cannot be called atheists, as they, unlike many of you (the so-called ‘devotees’ and ‘spiritual disciples’), do not crave or bag for anything ‘free of price’.
How can a farmer harvest the crop without working in the field? He has to plough the land, fill it with suitable soil, sow the seeds properly in the right season in the right manner, water the soil, guard the saplings, look after the growing plants, etc. For this he has to work so hard! He has to stand under the sun, drench his body in rains, dirty his clothes in the soil, and so on… He has to even sacrifice his sound sleep for months! This rule applies everywhere in the field of life as well; more so in the field of spirituality.
Soil and Water of the Field of Spirituality -Yoga and Tapa:
You know, spirituality is a source of divine transmutation. But you need to cultivate this source hidden in your inner self. Faith in God, His discipline, and divine values, sincerely doing meditative devotional practices (p¿j3-up3san3), are like planting the seed; But the seed will not sprout unless the field (of mind and its emotional core) is ploughed and nurtured with fertile soil and irrigated carefully. Cleansing of mind, focusing and constructive orientation of thoughts, etc are essential like ploughing and guarding. The endeavors of yoga and tapa serve the purpose of necessary nurturing and strengthening (the ‘sapling’ of spirituality). In this shivir (spiritual training session) you will get an exposure to yoga and tapa. Let us first discuss some basic aspects that are quite important in these endeavors.
You must note that your way of thinking, the nature of your thoughts make a lot of difference in your perception of knowledge, and also in your experiences of the world. If you think positive, the world, the circumstances around you, will appear beautiful, peaceful, happy, progressive and cooperating to you. On the contrary, negative, untoward thoughts would reflect accordingly in your experience of the world; you will find everything (every event and situation) here as wrong, vicious, deformed, hazardous, fearsome, and depressing. Calm down and ponder over; you will find that, in fact, the world is not so bad, unjust, cruel or haphazard, life is not so hard, and your circumstances are not so adverse or daunting, as they might appear to you. In reality you are not so weak or deprived, as your thoughts have made you feel. Flaws and faults are not so much in others, as they are in your own mentality. In this context, I recall an interesting incident that was reported sometime in the British colonial period. This happened during the inaugural ride of Queen Victoria in the first ever train-service in England. The first trip of the first train in England was planned after successful trials and thorough security checks. As per plan, the Queen sat inside the special cabin. There were many bodyguards in her coach and also substantial military and emergency medical services were arranged. While the train was moving at scheduled speed late in the evening, the driver noticed a shadow indicating that an elephant was walking besides the track. He whistled and called the security personnel, as there was a risk that the elephant would hit the train or disturb the tracks. With binocular the guards saw that the elephant was walking at the same speed as train, it appeared very big with a huge trunk and tail.
The security guards took out their guns and fired a few rounds outside in the direction where the elephant appeared to walk along the track. But that did not budge the animal. The shadow continued to appear running with the train. Then they stopped the train in an attempt to surprise and thwart the elephant. But the beast also stopped with the train! It was so dark outside that the soldiers did not take the risk of getting down at that moment. The driver now increased the speed. Amazing! The elephant also started running at the same speed! It was quite scaring. In view of the high risk of its attack, the train was stopped; the military unit on duty was asked to get down and attack it from multiple directions. Several soldiers got down with emergency light; but the puzzle intensified as they saw no one on or besides the tracks! Was it a ghost, some of them wondered?
Thorough search finally showed that it was a shadow of a wild grasshopper sitting on the light outside the train-engine that appeared like the shadow of an elephant! This ‘elephant-cum- ghost’ was caught immediately. It is said the grasshopper is still preserved in a museum of England. The caption below this specimen reads that this is the ‘elephant’ that delayed the Queen’s train by four hours and that did not die even after many rounds of bullet firing.
Most of Your Problems are Self-created:
Most of the problems, fears, and tensions in your lives are also like the grasshopper in this anecdote. It keeps scaring and worrying you in one form or the other.
Many of you are worried due to poverty or scarcities in your life. But this is mostly due to your own outlook. Don’t you get food to have meals twice a day? Don’t you have clothes to cover and protect your body? Don’t you have a roof to live under? Why are you worried and stressed, and running around to grab more comforts, more riches, more powers, and what not, when your basic necessities are met? You should be progressive but don’t let your cravings and worldly ambitions drive your life. Remind yourself of the bitter reality of the lives of grand ambitious emperors like Alexander the Great. Alexander had conquered most part of the world, accumulated enormous treasure. But he, like anyone else, died empty handed. It was only at the last moment that he realized that he can’t carry a single paisa along with him in the last journey to the disembodied world. How pathetic it must have been for him to have realized it in the last moments before death! He cried and said, had I realized this fact before, I would have lived like Socrates, like Buddha; would have made some worthwhile use of my life…. It is a pity that even most of those who know this fact in principle, also blindly chase the rat-race of materialistic possessions to quench their unbounded ambitions and longings.
Why can’t you change your outlook? Why don’t you realize that Nature has allocated only limited share for every one. Can you eat and digest beyond the capacity of your stomach? Certainly not! The same is true of every other resource available to you or earned by you. If you had realized it, you would have adopted a different philosophy, different path of life. Instead of accumulating wealth and hoards of other resources only for you and your dear and near ones, you would have prudently deployed your talents, your possessions, your time, for the welfare and progress of many others who need it.
A Universal Solution:
Friends, I have tried to convey this message since past four days of this session that you should augment your inner-strength and courageously choose the righteous path. You should make prudent use of your thought-power, talents and other potentials. For many of you, the measure of intellectual and other talents is confined to the monetary gains and worldly status. You have graduated in first class, got post-graduate degree with good grades, and then you got a good job; you are a class-I officer, successful professional, this and that, ….etc. Is this what your education, your intellect, your training and talents are meant for? I would call it a crude and preposterous ‘intellect’ that can’t even solve the problems of one’s own life, that can’t even have the wisdom of what is good and what is bad for the ultimate course of life, that can’t teach one how to behave with fellow beings, and how to control your ego, selfish longings, and passions. Is your intelligence guiding you in this regard? Is it able to control the agility and moods of your mind?
Before you complain about others, just recall, how have you behaved with people around you? How many of them have you hurt, and have cultivated animosity with how many? Remember, if your conduct is good, if you have cared and cooperated with others, you will also not be deprived of support and friendly cooperation in the moments of need. If you do not ignore whatever is already available to you and make proper use of it, there would never be any scarcity in your life.
It’s so unfortunate that we the intelligent beings simply don’t care and don’t learn to make the best use of whatever we already have. We are born with such a wonderful body. Instead of making proper use of its enormous potentials, we keep spoiling its natural health and strength in the indulgence of sensory pleasures. Then, at a later age we run after medical help to get rid of the weaknesses and health disorders in this very body!
Many of you want to have a long life full of pleasures. What will you do with it? You should know that it’s not the span but the quality and purpose of life that matters. If you had valued the precious opportunity of being born as a human, if you had the vision of the path of light and happiness, you would have really succeeded in life. You should begin with a new outlook towards life from this moment itself. Not only that, you should also motivate your younger generation to follow this glorious path, as Rukmani Devi, the mother of saintly scholar and revered social reformer Acharya Vinoba Bhave did. While most parents want their sons and daughters to be happily settled and be blessed by children and wealthy comforts, etc. she guided her children to the path of truth, benevolence, and beatitude.
Friends, we can acquire enormous happiness and worthy success in this very life, if we realize the precious purpose of life, learn to make adept use of whatever we have, and sincerely endeavor to refine and raise our potentials. If we resolve and sincerely endeavor tapa and yoga, we can also attain greatness and accomplish glorious milestones if our intellect follows the illumined path of righteousness.
Two Steps to Spiritual Ascent– Yoga & Tapa – II
Friends, The Gayatri Mantra awakens, illuminates, and guides the intellect towards righteousness. There is no magic or any such thing in a Mantra or in the act of simply chanting it. What accounts mainly for its miraculous effects on the mind (and intellect) is its japa-sadhana — continuous meditative chanting at a consistent pace with deep emotional engrossment in its divine meaning and teachings (see [1-4] for details). While japa (meditative chanting) could only be for a fixed period of time every day, its enlightenment, insight, inspirations and elevating positiveness should remain fresh in your mind throughout the day. Its ‘divine inspiration’ should reflect in your feelings, aspirations, and thoughts. For this, you will have to first understand the importance of thoughts (and emotions) and train your mind accordingly.
You can experience the magical power of thoughts on every front of your life. For example, if you change your attitude of always looking at your scarcities and comparing them with others with higher possessions to an outlook of a giver, a philanthropist, you will suddenly become happy and feel strong. Instead of being driven by cravings, or instead of desiring to acquire more and more (worldly comforts, status etc), if you start learning to care for what you already have and pay attention to making best use of that, you will feel contented, comfortable and happy with the same thing. If instead of extrovert thinking, you start searching for the power within, you will find that there is a source of enormous strength, energy, and unalloyed joy hidden inside you. In fact, as I have explained in my earlier discourses (of this s3dhan3 course), your outlook and your thoughts hold the key to your real development and progress; spirituality mainly deals with the enlightenment and virtuous transmutation of thoughts. Today I would like to discuss some other aspects of spirituality.
Spirituality pertains to awakening of the divinity indwelling in the inner-self. P¿j3-up3san3, prayers, to devat3s (gods, divine powers) are only some means to feel the beatifying proximity of divine virtues. But, many people, including many of you, wrongly confuse spirituality as confined to these activities and rituals. Not only that, many of you seem to have all kinds of illusions and misconceptions about devat3s. For many of you gods are some ‘extra-terrestrial’ or super-powerful human beings, which look like what their idols or pictures show. That way, some deities are shown riding some animals, or even tiny birds. Do you think it is possible for any human being to do that? Moreover, do you think gods would be so imprudent that they would fulfill all your wishes in return of your chants of some prayers or rituals of worship? Do you think they would have no work but to keep roaming around on their ‘animal or bird’ vehicles? This all sounds so absurd. The earlier you get rid of all such illusions and arbitrary imaginations, the better for your spiritual progress. Please note that idols or images of deities are designed mainly as symbols of certain divine virtues and power; praying before these symbols or meditating upon these during devotional practices might ease your emotional conditioning and help focus your mind.
Don’t Become Ignorant:
Don’t let any ignorance or blind-faith ride over your “belief” in divinity. Please note there is no place in spirituality for blind-faith, superstition, ignorance, and illusion. Indeed spirituality leads to ultimate enlightenment and absolute truth. I think the main cause of your illusion is the wrong impressions and misinterpretations of the allegoric descriptions of gods in some religious scriptures and mythology. Please see the truth behind those allegoric or rhetoric representations. As I said, they actually symbolize divine qualities, powers and virtues. For example, an image or idol of a Goddess riding on a lion symbolizes that divine potential and powers can be attained only by those who are intrepid, who have immense courage and strength. ‘Blessings’ of gods descend only on those who have virtues associated with their mythological descriptions. ‘Blessings’ of gods imply awakening or activation of supernatural talent or divine potential (siddhis) indwelling in the pure inner-self, in the conscience (the ‘soul’ god).
If you understand this, you will realize that without s3dhan3 — sincere endeavors of self-discipline, self-refinement, self-improvement, and self- development, you cannot ‘harvest’ anything from the ‘farm-field’ of spirituality. Yoga and Tapa are like water and natural fertilizers for this ‘field’. If you succeed in these spiritual endeavors (of yoga and tapa) I can assure you that your devotion, your chanting of God’s names and mantras will certainly prove miraculous. Spirituality is Not a Fantasy or Child’s Play: What most people, the so-called religious devotees and even so-called seekers of spiritual progress (including many of you) do is like a child’s toy- play. You might have seen little girls playing with their dolls. In their own way they ‘organize’ the doll’s wedding. On small table or a corner of the house they make their ‘home’; keep their tiny set of toy-utensils and dolls etc there. Sing and shout and celebrate the doll’s wedding as a play. In their innocent imaginations small pieces of puffed rice or popcorns (or whatever their mothers might have given them) would become varieties of sweets and other dishes. They would happily distribute these ‘preparations’ to everyone around, and so on. You also do something similar! You ‘decorate’ your Puja table with idols of different deities (Ganesh ji, Siva ji, Ram-Sita ji, Hanumaan ji, Durga Devi ji, Gayatri Maata, etc, etc…). You worship them with water, sandal-wood powder, rice, flowers, etc. Offer some sugar or piece of sweets as “bhoga” (which you will later on eat as Pras3da). You also light a diy3 (lamp), agarbatti (incense stick) and utter some mantras or prayers, and chant or sing some things in their praise.
Your chants of mantras, no matter how many counts of rosary-beads, are so mechanical! (Your mind keeps wandering in your worldly interests and activities while the tongue keeps chanting the mantra). Your prayers are mostly like putting up your demands or wish-list or simply crying before the deity. And you expect great boons and miracles in return!! This is like making a mockery of devotion and spiritual endeavors.
Little ones could carry out toy wedding with no resources or with one or two penny. But you, the adults, the parents, know what efforts and how many resources are required in the wedding of a daughter or son! Is it so easy like a doll’s wedding? “No, not at all”, you would respond. Then why do you expect that most precious accomplishments of human life — such as spiritual enlightenment, could be achieved simply by some ritualistic activities and superficial devotional practices? Many devotees lose faith in spirituality, as they don’t get any expected results. You might also doubt — “Can thorough spiritual endeavors lead to spiritual progress? Is spirituality really so precious? Is there any power in it?” My clear response will be — “Yes, indeed”. I have experienced its miracles in so many ways. All my life, it has been my main objective to disseminate the knowledge, the divine light of spirituality. Our scriptures (the Vedic texts) are full of paeans signifying spirituality. You can see my life as a testimony of truth in what they describe? You May Examine My Life:
You may study every facet of my life; you may examine what I have been able to do, to verify it yourself whether spirituality can make someone powerful? Can spirituality awaken extraordinary faculties and talents? Can it help one eliminate the adversities of not only his life, but also of others’ lives? Can it enable one to uplift the lives of many? The list of what all it can do is too long. I can’t talk about all this here. You may read my autobiography; you may thoroughly review every page of it to see that what appears impossible for an ordinary person could be astonishingly accomplished by the grace of divine guidance and help. You would also see that one indeed gets blessed by miraculous potentials by devout upasana – sadhana of the Gayatri Mantra.
While reviewing the journey of my life [5-6], you will get to know many important instances and experiences of spiritual awakening and ascent. You read about the vast knowledge and illumined wisdom (vidya) I acquired. Read about how I have dedicated myself to the service of humanity and what I have been able to contribute to help towards others’ well-being and upliftment. Read about how my life progressed and reached the realms that appear to you as glorious, majestic, and, divine. Read about the kind guidance and support I have got from spiritual saints, sages and other great personalities. Read about how the Almighty and the divine forces have blessed me in so many ways.
But you seem to be more interested in simply knowing about how many times I used to chant the (Gayatri) Mantra and for how long every day? Yes I have been doing Gayatri Upasana. This has been a great support, like the support of a stick while climbing up the Himalayas. It is true that a stick provides support, but one has to climb up to the top of a mountain on one’s own feet.
Do you think one would climb up the Himalayas only with the help of a stick without using his/her legs? is part of such practices and they regard that harder the postures or exercises of yoga, greater would be its spiritual effects.
What Spirituality sans Yoga and Tapa? Friends, the point I am trying to make here is that puja-upasana can only lend you a support in spiritual progress in terms of conditioning your mind, reminding yourself of the divine Nature of the soul. But you can’t rise on the path of spirituality sans devout spiritual endeavors. Tapa and Yoga are prominent among these endeavors. (In fact, these are also essential for proper puja-upasana). Now ask yourself what do you understand by “tapa” and “yoga”? Most of you think these are activities of the physical body only.
As I had already explained, tapa pertains to self- discipline and self-refinement. I will further guide you on this aspect of sadhana (spiritual endeavors) later. First we should discuss about yoga — its meaning, purpose and multiple aspects.
As such, the term “yoga” (pronounced as “yoga” by the western world) has become quite popular these days as a means of physical fitness and health. For most people, yoga is confined to the physical body exercises, postures and breathing practices taught in their yoga classes or camps. Many people don’t even know that it has some connection with spirituality. Many others find it difficult to think of life and self-existence beyond the physical body and related experiences of the sensory organs and the conscious (extrovert) mind; their perceptions of spirituality too revolve within the periphery of the body and worldly domains; they think spiritual endeavors are also some kinds of exercises or practices of the physical body, or some intellectual activities and imaginations of the mind. For them, yoga I have seen many people who regard that highest kind of yoga is to be able to do the difficult yoga-exercises such as — hold the breath for exceptionally longtime, pass a long thread through the nostrils; enter a thin rope in the stomach through the mouth and then pull it out with ease; do ïors3sana (stand straight on the head with legs held straight upwards), etc. Friends, whatever be the benefits of such difficult practices, they pertain only to (training of) the physical body and some mental concentration. But spirituality deals with the inner-self; it belongs to the unbounded realms of consciousness. Thus every facet, every endeavor, every practice of spirituality will certainly concern with the refinement and divine illumination of the thoughts, emotions, and intrinsic tendencies.
Without any spiritual discipline, bathing in the holy Ganges is simply an activity of the body and chanting of god’s names or prayers is nothing but an activity of the tongue and the vocal cord. Similarly the physical postures and exercises — including deep and rhythmic breathing exercises of the yoga (called “Yoga Âsanas” and “Yoga Kriyas”) are only physical activities. No doubt, with sincere practice and regularity coupled with necessary disciplines of food and eating habits, these exercises of yoga offer significant health benefits. But these are only like a tip of the ice- berg. The true meaning and domain of yoga is far more deep and vast. “Yoga” being a discipline of spirituality, in its complete sense, also pertains to awakening and evolution of consciousness.
Two Steps to Spiritual Ascent– Yoga & Tapa – III
Friends,
The word “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means “to join” or “to unite”. In spiritual context it means union of the individual self (jivatma) with the Omnipresent, Supreme, Eternal Self — paramatma. Yoga is a spiritual urge, an innermost aspiration, a process, which enables awakening of the soul and its unification with its absolute origin (God). It is practiced through deep engrossment of the mind, thoughts and emotions. Morality, integrity, modesty, virtuous character and noble deeds are immediate expressions of cultivation of the spirit of yoga.
Why Yoga?
The foremost requirement for success along the path of yoga is — “complete surrender (of ego and selfish attachments) to God (paramatma)”. It is like immersion of self identity. To understand it, let us take the example of the merger of a drop of water in the ocean. When a drop of water falls in the ocean, does it have its ‘own identity’ anymore? Can you find/locate it then? Not at all; it is now unified with the ocean; it has thusbecome the ocean itself. What was the value of the tiny drop? How strong it was? How long it would have sustained its ‘individual identity’? And what is its status now after getting merged with the ocean? Now it is vast, nothing can beat it; its ‘existence’ and ‘value’ have expanded and risen like the grandeur of the ocean. Who cares for a narrow drain of rainwater? It flows or dries up, or gets blocked and filled with filth without anybody’s notice. But, if the same drain meets the currents of Ganga on the way and is merged in the flow of the river, then! Then its water would become holy “Ganga Jal”; people at some distance ahead might fill their containers with this sacred water.
Friends, the merger of one’s false identity with its divine origin — one’s real self, also brings a transmutation similar to that of ordinary or even filthy water into sacred Ganga Jal. Once the false-pride, the illusion of self-identity, the ego vanishes, and one realizes one’s true self; once the tiny drop of “I” is dissolved in the limitless ocean of consciousness, the individual self becomes the eternal, omnipresent, supreme self. But what blocks this dissolution? Why is it so difficult?
What hinders our yoga?
It is the misconception of “I”, the ignorance about true identity of the self which is the most intractable divide between a human being and God. It is this “I” which keeps spreading its delusive shadow on all facets of one’s life, one’s “existence”. It is the root of all ignorance, attachments, cravings that give rise to numerous vices and sinful actions. One, who is driven by egotism and self-obsession, will do anything (right or wrong, good or bad) to satisfy his ego and to protect and enhance his ‘self-prestige’. Once selfish interests get priority over all duties, how much time and what efforts would one devote for the welfare of the society? One who is ‘greedy’ remains ‘needy’; his passions would continue dragging his life in the mire of cravings, arrogance, and pomp; he would hardly donate anything for others sans self-interest.
I think, if there is any predominant characteristic of most people, it is the narrow domain of “I”. Whether a criminal or a policeman, an illiterate or an eminent scholar, this one or that one, almost everybody, in every walk of life, is bound within the periphery of delusive ‘self’ and its attachments in one way or the other. So powerful is the influence of self-obsession / selfishness that one’s prayers, efforts of devotion, and even one’s deeds of social service are often influenced by gaining some favor, fame, or worldly support, for himself and his near and dear ones. One even tries to link the deity of his devotional worship with his self-interest; he expects God’s Law to accommodate all his wishes.
Most often our realization of the “self” remains confined to the physical body, its sensory perceptions, experiences, passions and instinctive tendencies of the mind. This misconception coupled with the self-centric force of “I”, traps and continues to push us deeper in the dark and filthy well of ignorance, avarice, ambitions and vices; the clutches of false-pride and attachments further weaken the voice of conscience that is supposed to pull us upward. These thralldoms hold us back from coming out of the smog and moving towards the light of true knowledge. The only way we can hope to conquer is — to surrender this “I”. It is this sacrifice (of selfishness) that we are supposed to make before the Almighty. Selfishness is like a layer of ash on the ember (of our conscience). Once it is removed the ember begins to glow and burn.
You must understand and keep reminding yourself — “bigger your arrogance, the lower you are”; “stronger your selfishness, the weaker and meaner you are”. The greater the extent of one’s arrogance and selfishness, the farther is one from God. All teachings and practices of spirituality aim at reducing this distance. The endeavors of puja-upasana, tapa and yoga help you gradually dissolve your ego into pure humility, and expand your selfishness into selflessness.
How to Accomplish the Yoga of Life?
If you want to understand yoga as an ‘exercise’, then you should note that yoga in its truest sense begins with the exercise of the mind; it is an exercise of controlling and reorienting the intrinsic tendencies; it is an exercise aimed at awakening and strengthening of the soul-power hidden in the inner-self. Exercises or postures of the body, any activity of the sensory organs, or the practices of deep breathing, holding the breath, etc cannot achieve this. The real practice of true yoga begins with broadening of outlook, cleansing and freeing the mind from its delusions, vices and prejudices. After this purification, the practice of true yoga commences with cultivation of the tendency of selfless caring and sharing.
Divine powers, the gods are called “devata (in our scriptures); devata means “one who gives”. A devata always thinks and aspires to help the needy, and keeps distributing His grace upon the needy. We should also adopt such magnanimity and awaken the divine light indwelling in our soul. Once the attitude of grabbing and possessing is transformed into that of sharing, and giving, there would be no complaint of scarcity or deprivation in life.
A sincere seeker of yoga dissolves his personal ambitions and regards God’s will as his own will. He asks God to guide him for making best use of the precious gift of human life. His prayers are like conversation with the Almighty; he conveys that whatever God has bestowed upon him is adequate for happy sustenance of his life. He is contented with the minimum essential means of shelter, clothing and food. He thus has plenty of time and all his resources – including his physical and mental faculties, talents and potentials – ready to dedicate for the welfare, upliftment, and help of many others. The outcomes of such selfless activities continue to benefit many in the future as well and perennially stand as a torch of inspiration.
Often people have apprehensions that genuine self-less service or philanthropic activities cannot be done all alone. Some people are worried that their generosity would be exploited. Some think unless they have adequate resources or some organizational support they can’t do anything worthwhile for the society. You should remember that “Where there is Will, there is a Way”. If you search seriously, you would find ample examples in every part of the world where ordinary people have made significant contributions by putting in their heart and soul in it. Let me cite some such extraordinary benevolent contributions of some ordinary persons.
Distinct Tale of Thousand Mango-Gardens:
Long ago (before the British rule in India), there was a farmer named Hazari in a village of Kokrah forest region (later on a part of Bihar). He planted some trees of mangoes around the boundary of his fields. As the trees grew and blossomed, some birds nested there. The flowers on the trees, early-morning chirping of the birds — especially the melodious warbling of the Cuckoos magnified the beauty of this land surrounded by beautiful hills. Hazari happily used to distribute the fruits to his neighbors; the raw mangos were used for making chatanis, pickles, and the ripened sweet mangoes were a great delight for everyone in his family and neighborhood. The happiness of everyone around motivated him to plant more mango-trees so that more people could freely use the fruits.
For the benefit of the entire village, Hazari planted a garden of mango trees in his village. He enthusiastically continued expanding this service in the surrounding region with hardly any support from others in ploughing the land, etc. When his children grew up they also helped him in this altruistic effort. Later on, Hazari gave the responsibility of his own farms to the children, and devoted his full time and focused efforts on his noble mission. He planted one thousand mango-gardens. With so many mango-trees around, not only the people, but also the birds and animals there were benefitted. Thick gardens in the mountain-rich region invited more rains. This helped the overall farming activities and enhancement of greenery there. Nature too thus blessed the land with its generous grace. What the hard work and altruistic motivation of an illiterate, resource-less, farmer could do is, in my views, many times bigger and higher than the great scholarly works of arrogant intellectuals, or the royal monuments like “Tajmahal”.
It is because of these Hazara (one thousand) Baghas (gardens) and also as a mark of respect to the great endeavor of Hazari that the place became popular as “Hazaribagh” (which is now an important district of Jharkhand). So you see, the self-inspired extraordinary deed of selfless service of an ordinary person thus resulted in an immortal, monumental contribution to the society and the motherland!
It is these kinds of people who are the real devotees, truly religious humans who deserve to be honored and followed by everyone and not the self-styled ‘god men’ or the Panda, Pujaris (priests). Often, the ‘god men’ or the Panda, Pujaris claim to be spiritual masters, religious heads, or guides, and keep exploiting the religious sentiments and devotional feelings of the innocent masses. If you go for pilgrimage, you may meet such holy ‘guides’ and ‘mentors’ there who would arrange for your visit to the shrine, ‘dip in the Ganga (or other sacred rivers)’, make you do some rituals of worship in the shrine, and then ask for donations in the name of some religious or charitable activity. Do you really respect such Panda or ‘god men’? I think no sensible person would be a blind follower of such greedy ‘guides’. In fact, most of the serious seekers of religion try to avoid such priests.
Become a Devata, Not a Beggar:
Friends, if you are a negative person, God will run away from you, as the true seekers of religion run away from the greedy Panda, Pujaris. If you keep begging before God, or saints, what will you get? At the most you might get a few pennies; that too only once! Tell me, who likes the beggars around? So make sure that your prayers or puja-upasana are not meant for beseeching any worldly benefit or selfish purpose.
In our culture there is a custom of offering something (may be some flowers or oblation, orsome charity etc) to the deity, whenever we visit a shrine or a sacred place. This symbolizes that we should not go empty handed, or like a bagger, before anyone, not even before the Almighty God. The Almighty has already given you so much! First learn to make worthy use of His beatifying grace.
As I told you earlier, there is only one way of true devotion — become a devata; make prudent use of God’s grace; devote (dedicate) whatever you have, for the wellbeing, improvement, and enlightenment of the entire society. Do whatever you can to expand the good, and to diminish the vicious and negative tendencies. You don’t have wealth, might, intellectual accomplishments, status, etc? So what? Did Jesus Christ have any of these? Did Saints Kabir, Samarth Guru Ramdas, or Ramakrishna Paramhans, had any of these? Did Gandhiji possess these? (Look at the glorious pages of global history, you will find that most of the great personalities hailed from very humble background, they lived a life deprived of even minimal essential worldly comforts).
Don’t look at your scarcities or incapability. Look at what you have already got. Being born as a human being itself is such a great boon! You have the body to do hard work. You have a mind to think and spread good, constructive thoughts. You have a heart (core of emotions) that can feel others’ pains and also share their joys. So why not make proper use of them? Many of you aspire for more money thinking that once you have it, you would spend it generously to build temples, or donate for some philanthropic activity, etc. This ‘substantial money’ will never come to you. Moreover, such temples or activities would not be of much use, unless you put in your heart and soul to make them serve some benevolent and constructive purposes. Begin with prudent, philanthropic use of whatever you have.
Devatas never keep anything with them. They don’t wait to possess more resources, or augment some potential, before distributing it benevolently. By nature, they are generous and keep donating whatever best they can for noble causes. God Himself arranges to help success and expansion of their noble mission.
Two Steps to Spiritual Ascent– Yoga & Tapa – IV
Friends,
The first step to yoga as part of your spiritual development is that you should endeavor to become a devat3 (divine being — a generous giver) and not a possessor or a beggar. Let us look at another example of a devat3 in human form, who in spite of being deprived of worldly resources and support, made such great contributions to the society that have glorified humanity forever.
A Unique Well:
If you want to see a mark of what is selfless service to the society, you must visit the “Pisanhari ka Kuaó” (a well named after a grain-grinding woman) in Mathura, U.P., India. About a century ago, there lived a poor widow in a village near Mathura. She used to grind wheat flour by hand-driven stone-grinder to earn her living. She used to earn about two paisa per day on an average by hard work. She would save one paisa and somehow manage the expenses of her simple living using whatever remained. By the time she grew very old, she had saved about two big pots filled with one paisa coins. One day she called some responsible citizens of the village and asked them to use her savings for the welfare of the village. They all discussed and collectively decided to dig a well near the road, as there was no good well in the village at that time. Upon her consent, a big well was built along-side the road used by the villagers to commute to-and-from the village on foot. The total sum saved by that lady was about five hundred rupees, which, in those days, was quite substantial to dig a deep well and build concrete walls inside it.
Surprisingly, the water of this well was soft and tasty, whereas water available elsewhere in Mathura town was hard, which tasted somewhat salty. Even now, the underground water found in Mathura, including the wells dug as deep as about eighty feet, is hard and ‘salty’, but the water of the well built by that saintly woman still gives clean, ‘sweet water’. In the honor of her altruistic activity the well is rightly known as Pisanhari ka Kuaó. It continues to be a popular spot (located about 5-6 kilometers from Mathura) on the Mathura-Delhi road. Considering its utility, some mango trees and gardens have also been grown around it. For long distance tourists, it is a point of sojourn; for the people in and around the town, it is a picnic spot; many times villagers also bring some patients — including those of tuberculosis and typhoid, and some other diseases here, as they believe that the water of this unique well also has medicinal properties. Sometimes people camp here for few days and live in the tents to improve their health. So this place also serves as a ‘natural sanatorium’.
A distinct Jain temple popularly known as Pisanhari ko MaÃhiya on a hill-top in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, India is also said to be built by the savings and dedicated efforts of a poor flour-grinding woman. The two grinding stones that were the source of sustenance of her life are prominent part of this monument.
You should also introspect to find, whether, instead of piling up varieties of things (in your possession), can you distribute some of your belongings or share some of your resources for some welfare activities, contribute for the betterment of the society and nation, deploy your potentials for some worthy cause? If you sincerely proceed and progress on the path of generosity and self-less service, I will call you a devata.
My Personal Experiences and Message:
I had got my share of about 80 bigha (about two hundred fifty thousand square feet) of land from my ancestral property in my village (Anvalkheda, district Agra, UP, India). The village was quite green and full of farm fields, as it had water canals for irrigation. But the literacy level was quite low there when I left. Only three persons, including myself, had studied up to middle school in that entire village. I donated my land and established a Higher Secondary school on it. Hundreds of village-girls, including those from the so-called extremely backward class of society, also got educated there. By now this school has expanded into a full-fledged degree college with an enrolment of about three to four thousand students from the village and nearby region.
Many of my relatives had asked me to give that land to them. But I told them — if you are physically disabled or otherwise handicapped, then I can consider helping you in the best possible way; otherwise you should not depend upon my support; you should earn your living through your own hard work. In my views, even I don’t have any right on using this property that my ancestors had earned by hard work. So I have donated it on their name for the upliftment of the poor and needy people here and in the neighboring villages.
The Almighty has gifted me with bright intellect; I have not let it go waste in any wrong or selfish activity. If the royalty of all my writings (books, magazines and other articles) was claimed, this monumental literature would have generated an income of several lakhs (hundred thousands) of rupees per annum. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru used to get royalty for his books, after him the successive generations of his descendents continue to get this royalty. That way using the royalty of my books, several generations of my descendents would have enjoyed fat income free of exerting any work from their side. But I did not do that; as you might know, none of my writings is copy-righted. I have dedicated my intellect, all my talents, and potentials, to my divine mentor; I have sacrificed every moment of my life, all my efforts for the noble goals guided by Him.
Invaluable Returns from the Almighty:
In return of my wholehearted sacrifice for benevolent objectives, my divine mentor – the Almighty God has offered me everything, in
fact, enormous boons, without any request or expectation from my side. As evidence, you may look at the miraculous accomplishments of our great mission (of global enlightenment and awakening of divinity in humankind through thought revolution). It is said that the Indian mythological scripture (Puranas) were written with the combined efforts of two divine powers — Maharshi Vyas used to utter the text / narrate and god Ganesh used to write it down. All alone I not only translated and wrote the commentaries on all the Puranas, but also did it for the four Vedas and the 108 Upanishads, which the great saptarshis (seven divine sages of the Vedic Age) together had compiled. Moreover, I could do so without any library or any other support or resource, in a limited time period of about one year sitting on a rock at the arduous heights of the Himalayas. Isn’t it miraculous? Well, although visibly it was my endeavor, in reality it was also the divine force of my angelic Guru that worked from behind because of my complete surrender for a divine mission.
As per the subtle instruction of my Guru, once I was to visit abroad to disseminate the light of spirituality. (During my sublime communication with him) I expressed my inability saying that I can only speak Hindi, how will I communicate with the people over there? What will I do there? He assured me that his ‘brain’ and ‘tongue’ will be with me whenever required. Indeed, Friends! I could understand and speak in several languages during that tour of several countries across the globe. So you see the miracle of (true)
yoga! In return of sacrifice of all my ambitions, expectations, talents and other resources, and thus an absolute connectivity (yoga) of my soul with God, my Almighty Guru’s powers and resources, became mine.
I had donated the few lakhs (as part of the ancestral property in my name) for altruistic purposes; and in turn the Almighty’s treasure
got open for me for all the benevolent projects undertaken as part of our mission. Look at our mission’s establishment of Yug Nirman Yojna. The land and the construction here valued about a million at that time (late 1950s). I hardly had any resource for it; my wife voluntarily donated all her jewelry for it. But you see all this construction and the activities here became possible without any external grant or support!
Upon completion of my 24 Mahapurïcharan Sadhana, a thousand kuñÃoya (altars) Gayatri Yagya was organized here. Apart from arrangements of the yagya, we also arranged for the 5-days stay for nearly four hundred thousand participants from different parts of India. Apart from them, the local participants, volunteers, also used to get free meals here twice a day. Sanitary facilities, drinking water, electricity, everything was arranged for free, no fee was charged. This grand arrangement of about five million (rupees) became possible as a ‘dividend’ of my five lakhs ‘investment’ (donation of all I had ever earned/ acquired from ancestors) in God’s funds.
These are only few examples. The magnificent growth of our mission on no-profit basis stands as testimony to the limitless grandeur of yoga. As a tiny drain becomes Holy Ganges after sacrificing itself in the river, similarly, my selfless dedication to the divine objectives has blessed me with infinite grace.
If you want to endeavor true yoga, you will have to first conquer the hurdles, the barriers of ego, ignorance, selfish attachments, vices and weaknesses rooted within you. As I had explained earlier, tapa is essential for this inner purification.
Glazing through Tapa:
Tapa (tapasya) pertains to self-discipline and self-refinement. Penance and various disciplines of fasting, restraining of the sensory
passions, etc, are practised under tapa. This is like willingly imposing some kind of self- restraint on the body and mind. Not taking any meal on one day particular day in a week or a fortnight; or living only on water on such a day, etc are common examples of fasting to restrain the greed of the tongue. Observance of silence, sleeping on the floor, walking barefoot, restrain from watching favorite entertainment show, etc, are other common practices of penance. Living under scarcity and hardship, while one has abundance of comforts in his free-possession is what helps restraining the passions and agility of mind.
Ample examples around us illustrate the importance of “tapa”. Glorious peaks cannot be reached without climbing up the arduous heights and conquering challenging hurdles and adversities on the way. Look at the lives of great personalities and their immortal achievements! They have renounced self-comforts and sacrificed self-interests for the welfare of humanity. “Tapa” literally means “to heat up”. The glow of eminence like gold emerges only from the intense heat of the furnace of refinement.
Gold attains its precious glow only after purification in fire. Initially the bricks are soft and unstable like the wet clay-mix they are made up of. But once they are processed in the extremely high temperatures inside a brick-kiln, they get so strong that stout structures / buildings stand on their support for hundreds of years, bearing severity of monsoon, winter and summer. Bhasm (a kind of high-potency traditional medicine) is a special kind of ash prepared by slow and tedious process of heating and burning of specific metals. Wrought iron is melted, purified, and processed in fire for longtime; then only it gets converted into strong, high-quality steel. This is what unflinching tapasy3 (tapa) does — it purifies, ‘processes’ (trains), and transforms ordinary mortals into great, eminent, glorious, immortal, ideal, venerable, and angelic characters.
Raw, sour mango fruit gets its superb sweetness only after it is naturally ripened under proper warming. Tiny filament in a bulb gets heated up (by electric current); it then illuminates the surroundings. The thread of a candle or the wick of a dopaka (lamp of ghee or oil) burns and spreads light in its surroundings. The effect of your tapasya with a feeling of devotion should also sweeten your sentiments and behavior. Your tapa coupled with Swadhyaya and Satsang 1 will help spiritual illumination of your thoughts and intellect. Swadhyaya and Satsang would also inspire and motivate you for difficult tapasya and render great support in this endeavor. You are being given initial training and experience of this in the sadhana course here.
Permanent joints of metals are made up by welding, which is also possible only by heating and melting in the flames/high- voltage electrical currents. Devout tapasya and consequent spiritual illumination helps the ‘welding’ (yoga) of the individual self (jivatma) with the Absolute, Eternal, Divine, Supreme Soul (Paramatma). Our great rishis (Vedic sages) had attained supernatural powers, supramental talents, ultimate divine realization and eternal beatifying bliss through tapa and yoga. Our ancient (Vedic) texts of divine knowledge, our divine culture are focused at this ultimate truth of holistic development of life and evolution of consciousness.
Friends, I hope that you would continue with your tapa after completion of the sadhana session here. Remember that the first and most important step for you is self-control over the sensory organs. Unchecked sensory pleasures drain out your vital energy; the passions of instinctive joys and consequent excitements will also weaken the mental strength and energy that you might acquire
through devotional and spiritual practices, and by blessings of saints. Restraining this severe loss will result in significant improvement in your health. Vigor and vitality of body and mind is important for your progress in higher-level endeavors of tapa for mental and emotional purification and strengthening. Tapa-Sadhana will gradually result in spiritual refinement and enlightenment of your subtle and astral bodies and thus advance your spiritual journey on the path of ultimate yoga.
|| Om Shanti ||
Notes:
1.Swadhyaya: Self-study and self-training in the light of sagacious thoughts and teachings of elevated souls. Satsang: Attending enlightening discourses, discussions; being in the company of great personalities.
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