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Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
Yesterday ‘K’ raised a question. In the practical life, what is this sadhana? I was explaining that all sadhanas are practical. There is nothing that is not practical. Then I was explaining yesterday a verse from the fifth chapter of Bhagavad Gita where how this spirituality when practiced by the mind and the mind becomes purified, the practitioner will always be encircled by the fruition and fulfillment. The same thought comes to me today.
I think the success of a spiritual seeker consists in knowing constantly that in the whole of his life and activities, the one decisive factor is his mind, mind, mind. Our body is actually matter-energy aggregate and it is inert, insentient. What makes the body alive, agile and active is the mind, the spiritual presence that animates and activates the body.
This mind is everything in our life. We wake up. The mind wakes up and after waking up till we go to sleep, the body and the senses are remaining active and in every bit and piece of activity, the mind is directly present - first, middle and last. Unfortunately, the mind being invisible, nobody knows how vast, how deep, how lofty and how potent it is. I would like you to understand that the mind is infinitely resourceful. If the universe has got X dimension, the mind has got a greater dimension. It is universe plus. That is why with a small pair of eyes or a pair of small eyes, the mind is able to picture and imprint the vast universe within itself. Should not the mind be greater and broader than the universe then? This one understanding is sufficient.
Value your mind, give sufficient place and importance to the mind and have focus constantly on your mind. Remove the constrictions, make it expansive, realize its resourcefulness and make it yield whatever you want. In every way spirituality is very creative and functional. Arjuna came to the battlefield of Kurukshetra after thirteen years of preparation. He was unable to fight, sat keeping his bow and arrow down. Krishna remained as a charioteer standing, holding the reins of the horses. Turning back, he went on speaking. Arjuna’s tears stopped and he became a questioner and an enquirer. The dialogue continued for about two and a half to three hours. Arjuna got up and said, “I will fight, not one Mahabharata war, maybe a score of them if necessary.” Tell me, what is the effect of spirituality? And what did Krishna do? He only spoke imparting the spiritual wisdom and how it works.
Sri Rama, at the age of sixteen got absolutely disappointed and withdrawn. He was only sixteen years old. This happened after a pilgrimage where he was exposed to the actual state of affairs of the society in the country. He became so dejected, despondent. “Is this the world in which I am? It is not the prosperous Ayodhya and palace. Things are far different. I am not able to bear. Is this the world in which I have to live for a few decades?” Vasishta called him and he also discussed with him, the subject of life, the subject of the world, the subject of human interaction with the world. For eighteen days he spoke and after that Sri Rama’s doubt, dejection, everything was removed and he went on ruling the country from Ayodhya and he did something very, very masterly and superb. That is why Sri Rama is honored and worshipped even today.
Let us go to Srimad Bhagavada, the seven year old boy, Prahlada. He was being given adverse tuition by the teachers. He disregarded it, called his classmates and started addressing them. “Our teachers are not teaching the right wisdom. Listen to it from me.” All of them with sharp ears started listening to him and whatever he imparted, that alone sustained him, when the whole palace, the entire military staff, finally the father also started assaulting him with a view to kill him.
Can you imagine a seven year old boy pitted against such resourceful and aggressive people with various weapons and means? Prahlada defended himself not saying, “I am going to defend.” The spiritual majesty, splendor and magnificence he had was such that none of these assaults and attacks could be effective before him. The father was killed. Unwillingly he took up the administration, sat on the throne and for a number of years he ruled the kingdom. But he was never interested in any kind of a worldly or a sensory pleasure or delight. Nevertheless he ruled the kingdom.
Let us go to the little boy, five year old boy Dhruva. He was denied the lap of his father. He became dejected, went crying to the mother. The mother consoled him to some extent but said that “In this palace you cannot get justice. I also don’t get. The only way you can get it is, go to the forest, in the thick of the forest, do austerity to propitiate Lord Maha Vishnu.” This boy went without any doubt. He was intercepted by Narada. He said, “No, You have no business to intercept me. I am a Kshatriya boy. I have got valor and resoluteness in my mind. I am set on propitiating the Lord. You say, it is very difficult to propitiate. So many have attempted and failed. That is the reason why I shall attempt and succeed.”
Then Narada was baffled and also delighted. He helped him, he gave him an upadesa. Then this boy went on with his severe austerity. Finally Maha Vishnu appeared, (Dhruva) got his blessings, he came back. His father, step mother and all of them were completely transformed and they received him with a lot of ovation. This boy started ruling the kingdom for a number of years. Now, what do you understand from this?
We have Parikshit at the fag end of his life fated to be bitten by a cobra on the seventh day thereafter. There also, Suka Maharishi came and started sitting with him and speaking to him for seven days. On the seventh day, Parikshit said, “I have no fear of death. I have no fear of the cobra. I am full, complete. I am withdrawing myself from the world. My senses, I withdraw from the objects. My mind, I withdraw from the senses. My intelligence, I withdraw from the mind and I dip myself into my own inner bosom.” Before Takshaka came and administered its fateful bite, Parikshit had already transcended his body consciousness. His body was burnt into ashes from the fire of the poison which the snake administered to his body. Others were there to know it. But he was not there. He was internally completely free and gone, so to say.
Now these are the ways in which the Spirituality works and all this is the magic and the miracle of the mind. You blame your mind, you don’t understand your mind, you say, "My mind is full of thoughts, it is this, it is that". These are the conventional constrictions and habits of the mind. Understand that you can get out of them. The mind is not a well. 'W-E-L-L', Well dimension mind. It is something like a tank - no, lake - no, ocean. It can be spatial. Understand it and develop, develop, develop, think, think, think properly. Never refer to the bickerings of the others. "He said this. She said that. I did this. He did that." You should simply rub off all this nonsensical inputs. Try to engage the mind in positive, expansive, lofty and great thoughts.
The mind grows by thoughts. The body grows by food and nourishment. The intelligence grows by knowledge. So feed the mind with great thoughts, feed the intelligence with greater and greater wisdom and feed yourself with the immortal and imperishable soul. This is a pure infusion, a mento-intellectual infusion, resulting in a mento-intellectual excellence and profusion. This is the way I understand spirituality. I hope there is none who will not like it. But there may not be many to practice it. I am very sorry. I would like the entire coal deposits to be converted into gold so that we will have a lot of gold. But it never happens. Gold is rare. Similarly the practioners may be rare though I want them to be in plenty.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.