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Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.
Yesterday as you know I had been to a place called Thodupuzha where an ashram known as Srīkala Thirthapādāshramam, was to be inaugurated. The primary inauguration was by lighting a lamp. One lamp was there inside the ashram. It was first of all lit. That is supposed to be the lamp which will remain blazing on, glowing throughout ceaselessly. Then there was a formal lamp lighting outside when a few hundreds of people had come to present themselves and grace the occasion. That light also was lit. When that Swamiji Vivekananda, Tirthapāda Swami along with a Mātāji Snehānandamayi came here and requested me to inaugurate the ashram. I first of all told him, “Swamiji, don’t you have your guru parampara? Your guru must be living. If the guru is there, sadguru is there, is it not that he lights the lamp and that is the right especially in a spiritual lineage and institution?” Then he said that, “I have come here at the instance of my guru also.” “If that is the case, yes I shall come.”
I somehow liked these people – the Swami and the other Swamini, both of them were a couple in their poorvasrama. They had two children, a boy and a girl, both of them appeared to have died in accidents by about 17 or 17 1/2 years. This Swamiji in his poorvasrama happens to be a nephew of their guruparampara, one of the Swamis. He decided to take up sannyasa, I don’t know further details but the mother of the children was not equally prepared. So he apparently waited for some time and she also expressed her readiness and both of them took up sannyasa.
He is otherwise a resourceful person running a very good distributorship in Cochin whose sales are very considerable, may be a few crores. So he has built an ashram in a very posh manner, very good ashram, at present he has about 4.5 acres of land and the whole ashram is very beautifully, cleanly and hygienically done. After inaugurating he wanted me to speak about offering the ashram for the service of the people and the subject I was supposed to talk on was ‘The place and importance of social service in spiritual life”. It is in this connection that I thought I would say something to you today.
We have got altogether four ashramas, Brahmacharya, Garhastya, Vanaprastha and Sannyasa. These four ashramas are not reserved for a few, certainly not. They are an institution evolved by our people right from the Vedic times. We are all born. The first phase of our life is one of growth, primarily of the body. The body completes its growth at the age of 21. From the next moment onwards it begins to decline. So we find a growth and a decline in our body. In the same manner we must also have a growth but not a decline – a fruition, in our inner personality consisting of mind and intelligence. Taking this growth and fruition into account our people thought our life should be extrovert and constructive to begin with. As the body grows we also grow mentally and intelligentially for which a number of values, the building of character and the display of the character in the form of behavior and interaction, these should be sufficiently inculcated. So this comes under dharma.
Dharma covers the entire gamut of character, behavior and interaction. Conforming to the dharma we are permitted and also encouraged to find some kind of a profession, a professional pursuit or otherwise. We have hands and feet, intelligence and mind; we have the power of articulation. After acquiring the necessary knowledge use all these skills and find your place in this world and contribute to the societal pool of, what do you call that? GDP. Whatever you produce goes to the common productivity of the society. In the process of you will also get some remuneration or income and that income can be utilized in your family to look after it and to fulfill your reasonably good and noble desires. Dharma is the first, artha, prosperity is the next, and kama, fulfillment of desires, is the third.
When these three are properly are pursued, the mind and intelligence will become free. It will not have any further yearning, pressure or otherwise. It is necessary that we make our mind free and the intelligence also free. Mind becomes free when the desires drop and contentment starts emerging in it. The intelligence will feel fulfillment only when its quest is answered and fulfilled. So, we have two stages in our life ‘Athātho dharma jijnāsa’. Initially we want to know what is dharma. It is a three phased pursuit, dharma, artha and kama. Then comes the second phase or the culminating one. What is that ‘Athātho Brahma jijnāsa’ I have been following dharma and dharma means adharma also. Adharma is to be left, dharma is to be accepted. Now, this division does not cover the full range of existence. So I would like to know what is if at all, beyond dharma and adharma which will not be divisive in its approach but which will be uniform and singular It is at that time you enquire into Brahman, the supreme reality. This Brahman is no other than Atma and no other than God. This Brahma jijnaasa is the second phase of human life. This you take up after grihastashrama if you are not able to take up earlier and then pursue it as a vanaprastha. If you succeed in doing it then you can become a sannyasin which marks the finale of human life.
I want all of you to understand that these four ashramas are for all. According to our scheme of thinking and cultural traditions, without the four ashramas human life cannot be fulfilled. Invariably all people in this world die as half humans because they are not taking up vanaprastha and sannyasa. It is in sannyasa alone that the quality, worth and excellence of any individual become the most pronounced and beneficial. In the grihasthasrama you will be tied; your hands will be held by somebody or the other. There is one ‘A’ Ji who comes here. He is a little charitable. He is very prosperous also. He runs a very specialized industry. It makes a lot of money. He exports also his equipment to foreign countries. Now he has children, they also participate in the running of the company. So one day they seem to have told him. “Father, you are doing a lot of charity but we would like to put a limit to the charity. Let us decide as to how much, up to which we can go. He said, okay provided you also set a limit to how much income you can have.” When this was proposed, put a limit on the income and then proportionately we shall put a limit on the charity then the whole meeting had to be wound up. This is what I said. Even if you want to do something good, your hands will be tied. But in sannyasa you find that no such bondage or restriction would be there. Invariably you will be distanced from the blood and the matrimonial relationships or as in this couple your wife can come with you, the husband can come with you and both of you can think alike and help each other but very rarely this occurs.
So this sannyasa is something very great. Why I was mentioning? The moment a man takes up sannyasa his life becomes completely a service. There is no further need to dedicate whatever he does further into a social service program. Sannyasa itself is defined as ‘Ātmano mokshartam jagat hitāya cha’. It is for gaining liberation for oneself and to do good to the others. In the form of interaction and activity his whole life will be a service to the people and internally in the level of the mind and the intelligence he will always be striving for his own liberation. Liberation is not objective. It is not something gross and physical. So no external activity or pursuit will be necessary. Liberation comes by virtue of enriching, sublimating, enlightening, elevating and expanding your mind and intelligence. It is a matter of enquiry, inner pursuit. So that does not interfere with the world. You don’t take even a pie from the external world in order to get liberation for you. So, that ātmano mokshartham is a very personal, individual affair. All the activities that you perform will be as a full service to the society.
In the ashram you find people are always active and interactive. Yes, they are. Why? Because that is the way they can serve the society. In our ashram all people are doing their activities only as a service to the society. They are quite busy, everything that we write, everything that we speak, all the interactions we do, the character we build, the behavior we display, everything is a service to the people. Our life itself is a full service. This being the background and the purpose of sannyasa, there is no necessity to dedicate anything specially as a service to the society. That is why this beautiful ideal is there. Ātmano mokshartam jagat hitāya cha.
Moksha comes from spiritual knowledge. This knowledge is to adorn your mind and intelligence. And it doesn’t interfere with anything that is outside. So service wise, activity wise or interaction wise, the sannyasin will always be in social service and in the social service what? The first will be disseminating Brahmavidya, the spiritual wisdom. Those people who cannot do it and are not able to do it, they can take up something like a bodily service. And what is the bodily service – food, shelter and clothing. You can also impart some education like setting up schools, allowing people to learn. That is also good. So one is for the body, another is for the mind. For the mind it is peace and contentment. For the intelligence it is knowledge and knowledge benefits. Any line of service you can take up. Everything is meant as a service. I would like you to understand that sannyasa is actually a social service. A sannyasin will if at all do anything, one part will be his saadhana and rest of his life will be totally serving, serving, and serving the people. But in the service dissemination of spiritual wisdom is what he is supposed to do and all may not be able to do it. But for those the bodily service is available. I would like you to know it very well. Sannyasa means meant for all, and sannyasa means liberation for oneself and service for the others.
Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.