Articles for Saadhana

In yesterday's Prabhata Rashmih, I seem to have spoken about the necessity for any kind of a student or a seeker of Vedanta, a spiritual student or a spiritual seeker, to have a real yearning for gaining spiritual wisdom. What is that spiritual wisdom? That is what many of you are missing. While taking the classes here, I explained the subject so very well, so very thoroughly, giving a lot of emphasis on interactional sadhana, to such an extent that some of you even come to the conclusion that interactional sadhana alone is sufficient, and nothing else.

Krishna started speaking, and only when he comes to the sixth chapter, he speaks about meditation. Suppose the Gita had ended with the fifth chapter, normally you would not have thought about meditation at all. A subject cannot be discussed in one paragraph, one sentence or a page, or an essay. So, every day I speak. I may speak one subject, and one part of it. You cannot suddenly come to conclusions. Say, the entire Vedas are a huge collection, and only when you come to the Vedantic portion, you find the conclusive statements of the Vedas. If the whole book is not read, then you will miss the Vedanta, and that is how people are getting confused by rituals and ritualistic performances.

So yesterday the point I wanted to convey was – the people who have come here and who are inmates, it is no doubt that they have a great austerity coordinate. That is why they have left their family, the worldly life, profession etc., and they have come here. So there is a lot of austerity. Here also they get up very early in the morning, they don't go out of the ashram, they don't see movies, there is no TV here. Our food is a kind of a quasi-cosmopolitan, quasi-Kerala food. So some of them are not able to get roti and they get into trouble, the system is behaving badly. Then they are only dealing with spiritual subjects and service to the ashram. Can you think of any greater austerity than this?

This is a great austerity. I don't think our students here, who have come here for the three month course, will be able to think of it even. So, the austerity coordinate is there. But what I was trying to say is-

सर्वे वेदा यत्पदमामनन्ति

तपांसि सर्वाणि च यद्वदन्ति ।

यदिच्छन्तो ब्रह्मचर्यं चरन्ति

तत्ते पदं संग्रहेण ब्रवीम्योमित्येतत् ।।

 sarve vedā yatpadamāmananti, tapāṁsi sarvāṇi ca yadvadanti |

 yadicchanto brahmacaryaṁ caranti, tatte padaṁ saṁgraheṇa bravīmyomityetat ||

(Kathopanishad I.II.15)

This is the crux of the whole point.

sarve vedā yatpadamāmananti - One studies the Vedas, recites the Vedas, does svaadhyaaya every day. Does it mark the end of Vedas? No. The Vedas have a distinct goal to offer, to point. So, mere recitation is not the end of Vedic life. It is only the initial beginning or pre-beginning stage. The Vedas have something to declare. What is that?

brahmavit āpnoti paraṁ|

Only by knowing Brahman, the Supreme Reality, the most or the best is attained.

So, the Vedas are pointing to something like Brahmic Realization, the knowledge of Brahman. So, you study the Vedas, recite the Vedas, and you miss or you neglect knowing Brahman. Will it be all right?

tapāṁsi sarvāṇi ca yadvadanti –Similarly, a number of austerities are there, and they allpoint to some ultimate gain. So you cannot be involved in the austerity, at the same time be inattentive to the destination or goal you have to reach.

yadicchanto brahmacaryaṁ caranti - Of all the austerities, life-long celibacy is considered to be the most difficult and very rare. Why are we becoming life-long celibate? Only to be that, or is it a means to an end? So, I was trying to say that in the whole of spirituality,

sa ātmā sa vijñeyaḥ|

That Atma has to be known, has to be Realized.

What is this Atma? Your own inmost essence. What is its nature? Blissful. Unless you realize this, … … in the same manner, our students are undergoing a three month course. Some of them feel, "I have already had enough learning". What learning have you had? You know that such and such is the situation, that is all. It is only a book knowledge or an academic knowledge of whatever is discussed. In the whole session you will find that there is a lot of shishyatva and gurutva mentioned. Krishna even tells Arjuna that whenever you come to such a point, there are knowers of Truth, go to them and get advice. So, that Guru and shishya, that is very important.

यं लब्ध्वा चापरं लाभं मन्यते नाधिकं ततः ।

यस्मिन्स्थितो न दुःखेन गुरुणापि विचाल्यते ।।

yaṁ labdhvā cāparaṁ lābhaṁ manyate nādhikaṁ tataḥ |

yasminsthito na duḥkhena guruṇāpi vicālyate ||

(Bhagavad Geeta 6-22)

There is a lābha - a gain, when you get it, there will be nothing more, nothing greater to it. That kind of a lābha, you are able to get by spiritual life. Can you stop merely at austerity? You must have this. Now suppose you are austere, the austerity should proportionately give you a satisfaction and a contentment That is very important. Do you mean to say all austere people are contented? Invariably not. “At least maybe ten janmas later, or in the next janma, I will get something good,” that is all. I don't think that sense of immediacy is there in most of the seekers.

What I was trying to say is there is something different from the body, in the body, which animates and activates the body. That something is distinct from the body. It has to be experienced and realized. That is one.

The next point is that because you are a committed seeker, a life-long celibate, etc. you must always be happy and contented. That the realization has not come to you is one matter, but your life is so very determined and guided properly that you should have a satisfaction:

तत्स्वयं योगसंसिद्धः कालेनात्मनि विन्दति ।।

tatsvayaṁ yogasaṁsiddhaḥ kālenātmani vindati ||

(Bhagavad Geeta 4-38)

“I am on this path. I am in Guru Sannidhi. I am very safe. I don't have any other interests. Automatically the realization should and will come to me. Why should it escape me? May be I require a little more of attention or inward sublimity.”

Now coming to what is this inward sublimity, you should be happy in the presence of others, in the presence of the ashramites. Each member should be happy in the company of the others. Everybody should become mutual with the rest. The mind should be constantly examined to get rid of unwelcome and undesirable feelings. So I always say, you must be happy if not anything else.

When I was speaking of many things, I also spoke critically about sannyasa. There is no point in taking up sannyasa and moving about as a sannyasin. Why have you become a sannyasin? To pursue the path in a wholesome, whole-time manner. So that is also a means to an end. The means has to be rigorously pursued. The interactional sadhana clearly shows that in your interactions, particularly in inter-personal interactions, you should never encounter problems in the hands of another. I think you can openly speak. To some extent I do it in my lectures, especially after a month, when our students or participants are a little familiar with me.