Articles for Saadhana

I asked  Ma today what  I shall talk about  or on. She said, “Austerity”.

This “austerity” is a word which  everyone will do well to reflect upon and  understand. Any  seeker  of truth must  live  an  austere life. He  must  embody austerity as much  as possible. Without austerity there  will be no quality in the seeker.  In the same  manner, when  one attains siddhi, the siddha also will not be sufficiently shining, unless  he has the merit  and  the character of austerity. But “what is austerity” becomes  a very  important enquiry.

In our shastras and  in the spirituo-religious and  philosophical life that  we Indians have, right  from the Vedic life, there  are 3 important items  – yajna, daana and  tapas.  In these three,  we can summarize everything about  our  religion, religious practices, spirituality, spiritual discipline, and  refinement and  philosophy, the quest  and  search  for Truth  and finally its discovery.

We  do  not  consider  that   a  philosophical  life  is  merely   an  intellectual  life,  where constantly there  is an enquiry after  the  supreme reality  or ultimate truth. No! Then  it would have  remained only  in the  university or teaching and  learning campus. For us, philosophy means  something far different, very personal, supreme and finally fulfilling. That  is  why,   in  the  name   of  religion  on  the  one  hand,  spirituality on  the  other, philosophy and yoga; you renounce everything and take up sannyasa.

Why are we taking  up sannyasa? It is something that  you have  to think  about.  It is only to deepen, strengthen, refine,  to go to the maximum measure whatever we propose to do. What  will a sannyasin do? A sannyasin is supposed to be always doing  austerity or tapas.  But out  of the  so many  ascetic  sannyasins you  will  find,  those  people who  are able to pursue, embody, actualize, realize,  and  then  disseminate spiritual wisdom - are supposed to be the best and the highest.

I belong  to  the  Paramahamsa order of  sannyasins. Naturally, all  of  you  are  of that lineage.  What  is meant by this Paramahamsa order? We have  many  orders of sannyasa. Our  sastras and  traditions are  wonderful! We  have  a number of spiritual traditions. Some people are called  kuṭīcara. Others are called  vahūdaka. There  are some people who are  called  madhukari bhikṣāvālas. There  is a  category called  udāsīna. Another category called  avadhūta. Still another category called  atyāśramī. There  are also the paramahaṁsas and the parivrājakas.

What  is meant by paramahamsa? Paramahamsa sannyasins are  those  people who  are, right  from  the beginning, given  to the pursuit of spiritual wisdom! Their  way  of life is wisdom pursuit; their  goal of life is wisdom. What  is that  wisdom? That wisdom which enables them  and leads  them  to realize  Brahman, the supreme reality.  Brahman is not to be  reached, nor  is it  to  be  gained, nor  is  it  to  be  attained. The  only  word and  idea relevant to Brahman is “Know  it! Know it!” This knowledge, again,  is not an intellectual one. It is an experiential one. So we call it “Realize  Brahman.” So the paramahamsa only has got one ideal – Brahma  Jnana!

And what  is this Jnana for? jñānāt eva kaivalya prāptiḥ

From jnana alone can liberation be attained! And what  is liberation? Complete freedom! We are  doing  everything in this  world because we have  a desire.  The desire  proceeds from  the feeling  that  I am not full, I am not complete, I need  something more  different. So the desire  sprouts from a kind  of ignorance, a kind  of incompleteness, and  to remove this  incompleteness and  make  us complete and  full, we proceed after  one thing  or the other.  As against this,  brahma-jnana implies knowledge of the  supreme reality,  which when  had, will take away  all the feeling of insufficiency and incompleteness from you.

As long as the mind is bogged down by un-fullness, incompleteness, there  is a bondage. This has to be let loose! This is called freedom. So the freedom will be possible only by a process of knowledge, and  this knowledge has to be pursued. We call it vidya  abhyasa. Abhyasa means  repeated pursuit. It is not the question of reading and understanding. It is the  question of following the  understanding, pursuing the  understanding, applying it. Where?  In your  own body  personality; mind, intelligence and ego; until  at last, all the disturbing and  binding elements, psycho-intellectual; are completely overcome and you feel relaxed, full, inwardly abundant and even opulent.

All  these  can  be  had  only  by  tapasya. Tapasya is a co-ordinate of our  mind, of our intelligence. But  in  the  initial  stages,  tapasya can  also  be  relevant to  our  senses  and body.  You take  up  any  practice whatsoever, which  you  are  not  normally doing, and then  hold  on  to  that  practice. Make  it a point  to  go  to  the  temple - any  temple or  a chosen  temple. Initially  if you  cannot go every  day,  make  it a point  to go there  at least one day in a week  and spend about  half an hour  and  come back. Now  this is not a habit necessary otherwise for your  life. You incorporate this new practice of going  to a temple and  doing  circumambulation, pradakshina there,  standing in front,  maybe  chant  some stutis  or slokas,  prostrate, take a little prasada, put  it on your  forehead, and  then  come back.

The time  and  effort  you  make  for going  to the  temple and  doing  the temple exercises, that  is called  austerity. Incorporating something additional is austerity, or eliminating something otherwise habitual with  us. Whatever you are already doing  now,  you stop. Say, “I will observe evening fast every  week  - one day.  On ekadasi day,  I will not take my normal food but something else.” If you cling on to and preserve this, a change from that daily  routine, that can also be an austerity.

The true austerity should be of the mind, intelligence and heart.  In the level of the mind, austerity means,  more  and  more  of purity, less  and  less  of impurity. In  intelligence level,  it should be more  and  more  of the  pursuit of spiritual wisdom. Knowledge we pursue, but  all that  knowledge is object knowledge. Austerity comes  when  you  pursue subject   knowledge.  There   are   some   qualities  which   can   promote  and   strengthen austerity. When a man takes to be a seeker,  or even a brahmachari, lifelong  brahmachari or a sannyasin, he is supposed to have a few vows,  so to say. He takes the vow of being austere, austerity, being  truthful, rely upon God  under all circumstances. You can also add  a vow of poverty. These are the four important items of austerity.

They may appear to be a simple  sentence or a formula. But you have to hold on to it in a comprehensive manner in all facets of your  life. So the austerity is either  one of denial or one of incorporation. It can relate  to the body  and  senses  first; mouth next; mind still next; intelligence still further, and finally it can refer to the ‘I’ or the ego.

Now  in Bhagavad Geeta,  you  will find,  by a process of instruction and  elucidation, Sri Krishna was providing not merely  knowledge, but the austerity called knowledge.

न हि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते ।

na hi jñānena sadṛśaṁ pavitramiha vidyate – he says.

(Bhagavad Geeta 4.38)

Even this Arjuna listening to Krishna was really  a great  austerity. And  finally he ends  it up saying  that all austerity means  sacrifice - tyaga,  sannyasa, renunciation.

I was reading one chapter, he is speaking about  vishvaroopa, there he says,

धर्माणामस्ति सन्न्यासः ।

dharmāṇāmasmi sannyāsaḥ