Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.

India is a country which is noted for wisdom. I always used to say that if we were to place everything from the world in the form of prosperity, luxury, possession, gold, silver, all of them on one of the pans, and wisdom on the other, we have always felt wisdom is far greater and more useful and fulfilling to the human mind. Everything has been evaluated by us, assessed by us. So, right from the beginning you will find this wisdom constantly presented, discussed, debated upon, evaluated and then finally accepted. The first proof for this is in the Upanishads of the Vedas where proper enquiries are set, they are pursued consistently and evaluated in the end.

How to bring about these values in the minds of the people became the next question. And they evolved a kind of writing where the instances of the past will be presented in such a manner that the presentation will be inculcating values, generation after generation in the minds of the people. We have two such compositions, one is Ramayana, another is Mahabharata.

In Ramayana, the story is about the Prince and the King Rama who lived in Ayodhya as the first son of Dasaratha. So these are all facts, historic facts. But the birth, growth and the exploits of this great Sri Rama, only when they were rendered in the epic style by the ascetic poet called Valmiki, it became part of the Indian ethos. This is something that you should understand. Before Rama and after Rama, there were a number of princes in this same dynasty. But we don’t know anything about them. But we know everything about Rama. Not only we know, Rama is very much imbibed by us in various degrees and facets.

The names, the places, the various events and anecdotes, the different types of dialogue, all that transpired in the life of Rama and connected people, they are recorded and documented in Ramayana. By virtue of this documentation, that too in a very classical and unalterable manner, it has become the part and parcel, the warp and woof of our culture, of our life, character, behavior, ideal, value and what not. This is the greatness of India. I don’t know whether there is any country in this world which has been able to evolve such a literature and make it permanently operative in the minds of the society.

Now in Ramayana, I find two important values inculcated. We are conducting a global Vishnu Sahasranama Vishva Yajna Mahotsava on the 29^th Dec. As part of it we have given a twofold focus. Collecting the holy waters from eight rivers, the sacred earth from eight places and then chathur-dhaama - the Earth, Ganges which has been the bedrock of our civilization and culture, collecting 600 litres of water from Gangotri, the point of origin of Ganga, then getting water from Brahmakapāla, a very sacred spot in Badrinath, then going up to Mānasarovar and getting some water from there. Now, all these are national and cultural hallmarks of the country. People perhaps do not know that the cultural values and heritage can be built only with some geographical and physical focuses and through the anecdotes, events and episodes that have taken place with reference to people and all these have to be rendered into an immortal writing.

If values are not related to the Motherland and various instances that took place in the Motherland, they will not have any inspiration to offer. When you know that your forefather lived a certain way, that becomes an authority, a compulsion, an inspiration, a persuasion, an impetus for you to live. About Nehru who was not seemingly religious, Jawaharlal Nehru , they used to say, whenever he was in trouble he used to fall back upon the traditional culture.

Now Rama was sixteen years old. For the first time after completing his lessons on archery, he wanted to go out of Ayodhya to find out how people and their behavior and life style were. So, with the permission of the father with a lot of hope and joy he started. He visited many, many places as part of the pilgrimage and when he came back he was absolutely dejected, disappointed and despondent. Why?

In Ayodhya everything was prosperous and he was a prince, he had no lack of anything. But when he went outside, both with regard to the style of life and also the character and behavior of people he was disappointed. He says, people are driven by passion and desire and greed and nobody can be there even in a dream he says. And he became so grief-stricken that he wanted to have some consolation. Vasishta held him in a conversation for eighteen days and here is a value which Vasishta told him and inculcated in him.

This is my friend, this is not so, this kind of a divisional approach and attitude is only from the constricted and narrow minds. For a one of a noble conduct, the entire earth is one’s family. Rama held this wonderful proposition ever since. ‘vasudaiva kudumbakam’. These two or three words are repeatedly uttered by us and it has become a value only through a process of cultural tradition and heritage. This is something very important.

India is a country which never believed in conquest. Rama also never wanted to go outside India. That is why destiny and providence conspired in order to bring about an abduction of Sita, because it was something very personal and he had to go outside India to Ravana, kill him, install Vibheeshana there and come back. But when he did so, he never brought or took anything from Lanka. These are his words.

This golden Lanka has no taste for me. For me, Mother and Motherland are greater than even heaven. So here are two values, one is referring to the whole universe. Consider the whole universe to be your own, as a family, so you don’t rob or steal from your family. So he never wanted to bring any speck of gold from Lanka. He left everything, installed Vibheeshana. This is one value. This is the value that is behind our collecting waters from the seven oceans of the world. Let us understand the oceans are undivided, the land also is undivided. Only for administrative governance we have divided them into kingdoms, countries, continents, sub-continents etc. but in reality the earth is one globe and the water on the earth is one ocean. But because of the geographical differences we consider them to be different. The North and the South Pacific, actually they are undivided. Atlantic also is undivided. But we won’t be able to look at the other end. Therefore we call it by different names. So we are bringing this water, we have brought this water with a view to indicate that the whole universe is one and every citizen in the world in spite of the fact that he is a national of a country should have the feeling that the whole globe is his family.

Then the second was,

Janani janmabhūmisca swargādapi garīyasi

Any value, if it has to have a currency and continuity it must be related to the Motherland. Our parents, our grandparents or their parents have died. All the previous generations have died. We shall also drop our bodies. What continues to be with us is the Motherland. So it should be with regard to the Motherland, different spots… A Motherland becomes useful when it has mountains, when it has rivers, when it has perennial water. Our civilization flourished on the banks of Ganga which is a perennial river. Then we started tracing, wherefrom it comes and started going up conducting pilgrimage. You know, three crores, that means 30 million people are going to Chatur-dhamas, the Himalayan four spots every year, and three crores of people are coming to Sabarimala every year. So can you imagine how popular is pilgrimage and how it connects the minds of the people inculcating a sense of unity and national fondness? Nobody will be able to appreciate a political rule but we will always appreciate the Motherland.

So the two values that we have upheld is, one is consider the whole earth to be your family. Another is Motherland and everything about the Motherland is far superior to even the heaven. Now these are the two values which have been able to inspire and bring about a value structure in the country. That is why we have brought all these things. Our people have a lot of feeling towards the Himalayan holy spots, the rivers etc. Every Hindu wants to have a bath in the holy rivers. There are instances where they perform a srāddha and at the end of it they say, “You leave an item which is very delicious and good for you. Whatever you are interested in, you should abandon that, never use it further." Now this kind of a discipline and austerity is there. I thought of mentioning to you.

The difference between Arjuna and Rama is that, in the case of Rama, Vasishta held him in a dialogue inculcated values when he was sixteen years old. Arjuna, when confronted by the Mahabharata war, in spite of his thirteen year old preparation suddenly sought instruction from Krishna and Krishna gave it to him. But in the case of Rama, right from the beginning he had this value strength. That is why he was able to abandon the throne when called for, even abandon the pregnant wife when that was necessary. This is how values help, inspire, strengthen, persuade, compel and ornament the human mind and intelligence.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.