Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.

Years back when I was in Kolkata after getting initiated from my Gurudev and doing very serious sādhanā, I don’t know for how long, maybe one or maximum two years or somewhere in between, contrary to what I told my Gurudev, what did I say - “Baba, don’t expect me to read books and don’t ask me also to. I want to pursue this path of deeksha, direct experience and experience the truth myself. So that experiential aspect is what I like to cherish and would like to pursue. I don’t like to read books because by reading books, I don’t think I will get anywhere.” May not be in such detail but I told him.

He said, “Of course, don’t read books. Do the sādhanā. There are people who read books without doing sādhanā. If you do sādhanā, then book reading is not at all so important.” Then he also added, “When you have to read a book, it will reach your table. At that time, you will not resent it but start reading.” So, it was a kind of a warning or an enlightenment.

Then after about one or two years of intense sādhanā which I was doing, I got on my table Mundakopanishad. It is a very short Upanishad consisting of something like 64 or 80 pages, a very small book. I opened the book and started reading and it was a breathless reading, the manner in which the subject was introduced and it went on. The introduction was like this.

There was a great householder Śaunaka by name. In the ordained and prescribed manner, he approached Angiras, an ascetic personage living in the forest environments and then ‘papraccha’ means questioned; it was an enquiry.

“Oh my dear Lord, by knowing which in particular, shall I be able to know everything in general and full?”, this was what he asked. “By knowing which specifically can I know everything wholesomely?”

The Upanishads to some extent, I thought were a beautiful part of the Vedas and not only that, the most decisive and evaluative part of the Vedas. And in that Upanishad, this is the way a disciple approaches the teacher. So what does it indicate? In the whole of the Vedas climaxed by the Upanishads, it is a knowledge that is presented as a subject to be gained, to be mastered.  I went on reading.

At one point, the Upanishad was saying, it is in the form of an answer from Angiras: That whatever is mentioned in the Vedas, rituals, ceremonies etc.:

Whatever is mentioned by the great Seers in the form of rituals and ceremonies, practice them, pursue them rigorously every day. Then by virtue of the rituals you perform, you will be taken to the high worlds. By the time you go there, there will be guards who will welcome you saying ‘ehi-ehīti’ (एह्येहीति, Mundakopanishad 1.2.6), “Come, come, oh virtuous souls!”

You live there; you have gone there with a merit earned in your earthly life. When that merit is over, you will be pushed back. When you are pushed back, the Upanishad says, ‘imam lokam hīnataram vā viśanti’ (इमं लोकं हीनतरं वा विशन्ति, Mundakopanishad 1.2.10) - Either you will go into the human world or the still worse world of worms, creatures, reptiles etc.

I was shocked; what! We perform rituals considering them to be very great and holy and true, we may be rewarded for a period. After all, the heavenly life cannot be for long because it is equal to the merits that you have gained here. How many yāgās would you perform, one or two? So in the whole span of 70 or 80 years, the religious merit that you have acquired will be about 21 days or so. At the end of it, you will have a precipitous fall. If you fall on the earth, six feet is going to be the impact. But from the unseen heights if you fall, wah! Then the Upanishad says:

Parīkṣya lokān karmacitān brāhmaṇo Nirvedamāyān-nāsty-akṛtaḥ kṛtena. The most decisive statement. Actually, the Upanishad starts from here really. The man of discrimination, he should examine all the rituals and the ritualistic rewards that he is going to get in the way of promises, examine them very well and then come to the conclusion – nasty-akṛtaḥ kṛtena.

With the merits, you go to the heavens and people are waiting there for you to finish your turn and they push you down. If this is going to be the purpose of elevation, why get elevated at all? And now at least you are in the human world. Next you are likely to be in the subhuman world. So is it worth taking up?

So examine in this manner, examine; don’t follow. Parīkṣya lokān karmacitān brāhmaṇo - whatever worlds you are attaining in the form of rewards for rituals, fruits for rituals, examine their transitory nature, inferior and tormentable nature and nirvedamāyāt - develop total indifference to them.

Nāsty-akṛtaḥ kṛtena - You are supposed to reach a kind of an abode which is not the result of an action that you have done. It is a world that comes to you out of an exposure or an enlightenment. It is not a ritual that gains this world for you; it is an enlightenment.

So after examining everything, coming to a state of total indifference to the ritualistic life and world: Tad-vijñānārtham sa gurumevābhigachet. This can be more explained.

There is some truth which you are seeking. That truth, its door cannot be opened by rituals and rewards. So what am I left with? I don’t know. All that I have seen and known is going to the temple, offering something, addressing the stone as God, say something and come away. It is all a unilateral affair, we don’t know what the idol has to say. Does the idol see us? Does it have anything to say in the form of comment, reward or punishment? “Ah! You are a good Soul, I like, come again”; is there any such pronouncement from the idol? So it is a one-way exercise that has no meaning and relevance.

Then what to do? I don’t know! Then go to a man who knows! And go to him with sufficient indifference and be ready to follow what he says. When somebody makes such a submission and goes to the Sadguru, if the Sadguru feels like accepting him he accepts, and then says what?

He explains to him Brahmavidya, gives deeksha which he can practice and which practice will purify his mind and heart, elevate his intelligence, enlighten his intelligence and he will be able to realize the truth in his own heart.

When I read it, the last part of it, I had a sigh of relief. Not only that, I understood much better the content and message of Brahmavidya and what deeksha I had in the hands of my Guru! It was not a ritual, it was not a ceremony, not even a lamp was lit while giving deeksha. It was only the disciple going to the Guru with the maximum possible measure of Guru-bhakti, that’s all. He has left other things, the so-called God of the temples, so many theological concepts, all of them he has left; now he has only one person to look to - That is the Guru. Whatever he says he listens to; whatever direction he gives he follows. There it is a teacher-student interaction like God-devotee interaction.

Why I said this? Somebody was asking me, “Swamiji I don’t know what I should do, whether I should have deeksha, whether I should have a Guru.” I don’t know why people doubt whether they should have a Guru or not. You are going to a place, you don’t know fully the destination, you have heard about it, so on the way you ask somebody, “Where is this destination?”, they tell you. One person says, “Okay, I will come along with you. I will take you to the destination.” If somebody comes, do you debate and discuss saying “whether I should have a Guru, an advisor or not?” “No don’t advise me, I will find out myself.” How will you find out? You may have already crossed your destination; you reached cross roads, and one road which is not leading to your destination you will be in, you are getting away and away and away and away.

So there should be no question of whether you should have a Guru and whether you should take deeksha at all or not. There should be no doubt; it is not subject to discussion at all. The doubt is whether you want to reach a destination. You want to reach or you don’t want to reach? Say “I don’t want”, keep quiet. No Guru is required, no following is required, nothing. The moment you have a destination about which you are not clear yourself, you should certainly have someone who will help you, guide you, confirm you, be by your side if necessary. Anybody who has a doubt whether it is necessary or not, I think that person’s life is good for nothing.

For the doubtful, neither is this world nor the other world nor comfort. He will doubt everything.

Then there are people who feel, “Suppose I submit myself to a Guru, maybe I have to tell him everything about myself, that means giving a key to my heart. Suppose I tell him everything, will he devalue me? Will he make special demands? Will he threaten me?” Such thoughts also may come. When such thoughts come, I don’t think you need a Guru at all. The time has not come for you to have a Guru or a deeksha. Simply remain. Not necessary. The normal ways of worship, God, temple etc. would be sufficient because you don’t have any trouble from Him (Temple God). He is a one-party affair.

A real Guru is one you will not have an idea about him anytime beforehand. Suppose a Guru knows all about him; he will know, he has to know, there is no devaluation at all! Actually, he will have the right evaluation so that he will be able to understand you and help you better and he will have no demand or warrant from you.

What do you think of a Guru? None can become a Guru unless he becomes a totally undemanding person. Here people when they come, some people write and ask or telephone, “What shall I bring?” Our stark reply is that “Please don’t bring anything.”

There was a time when people used to bring grapes, so many grapes we were not able to use. They require cleaning, the bad ones will have to be rejected, they will have to be washed in water because they will be leaking and it will be smearing on all. So we don’t have anybody to clean so much, suppose 4 kilograms, 5 kilograms, 10 kilograms grapes arrive, what shall we do with them? It becomes a problem.

And to cut fruits, many people do it in a very clumsy manner but fruits have to be cut. So you will have to clean your hand, cut it in such a manner that your hand is not spoiled by its juice. Suppose it is spoiled, you wash your hand again, and cut it in such a nice manner that anybody will feel like taking. Do we have such people? I don’t think or maybe one or two are there. Why impose on us all these things then?

So our stark reply is “Please don’t bring anything.” People like X coming to know whatever we need, he will sometimes bring coffee powder. Good coffee powder is available in Coimbatore and Chennai. So X brings some packets, Y brings some packets. During the Vishnu Sahasranama, Z will bring and some other items. I don’t think a Guru will have anything to ask from you. Should not, will not, does not!

Many people have many mistakes, “I am doing something, I have something, suppose I accept a Guru, will I not be devalued?” This can be another thought. So all these are thoughts and inhibitions which the human heart is quite likely to have. As long as you have these doubts, I don’t think any Guru is needed at all. You need to tackle your own mind.

When a Guru or a deeksha is required, I think you will pant for it, pant for it, thirst for it. No doubt of any kind will be there. It will be one full search, at the end of it a full and super-full surrender. So about deeksha, the need for deeksha, and hence a need for a Guru, I don’t think anyone of you should have any doubt whatsoever. This is already a place of Guru Sannidhi.

The people who come here, they come here either as seekers or to be disciples, and all of them have a very good idea of what deeksha is, what Guru is etc. But even then, I always speak in such a manner that they have a lot to understand further to examine their mind. One point I always say to people is, “Have no stealth and let there be no obstinacy in you.” Obstinacy is a great criminal and stealth is a destroyer.  Ārjava – straightforwardness, like a dry stick which will have no bend at all. Similarly, you should have no bend in your heart and mind. These are the values, these are the ideals. I think our śāstras emphasize them.

Janaka was told by Ashtavakra:

If you want liberation, eschew the objects of the world, considering them to be poison. And considering as nectar you should cultivate kṣamārjava-dayā-toṣa-satyam pīyūṣavad-bhaja. You worship five virtues, one is tolerance, the second is straightforwardness, third is compassion, the fourth is truthfulness, then tosha - contentment. These are the five virtues you have to practice and incorporate, considering them to be nectar, He says. I think this is ample enough for any simple seeker to understand what is spiritual path and how you should trek it.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.