Articles for Saadhana

Whenever we look at an object or a form of existence with our senses, it will give a certain idea. But when you probe into it with the help of the mind and intelligence, you will find whatever appearance or form the object had earlier will undergo gradual changes and when you finally know about it, it may be entirely different from what it was originally there … what it was originally. This is the truth about everybody.

The other day two women came to me in Delhi and they were discussing about their domestic problems. One of them was a doctor. So she was telling how she sometimes finds it very difficult to bear some of the remarks, not appreciation from the husband, etc. So I asked her a question, “Did you not marry in love?” “Yes, we loved and then married. Swamiji, who knew?” The trouble is when we start living together, then alone the real nature of a person comes forth. This is the truth with everything in this world. You may take somebody to be a friend, and when you start closely moving with him, you will find a different feature often gets revealed. We are looking at the moon and we are finding it to be a very beautiful, brilliant orb. But when you go near the moon, does it have any brilliance? And is it an orb? It is a completely mountainous terrain with no oxygen at all. But we are so enamoured of it when we look at it from here. We are never going to get the moon, nor are we going to the moon also and live there. Nevertheless it is very beautiful and it occupies a very good place in our heart. Any beautiful girl or boy will not satisfy us as much as the full moon in the sky. Why I am saying this?

With regard to spiritual truths and propositions also, my dear seekers, the truth is the same. We hear a lot about the Soul. But you should near the subject what is this Soul, why is it mentioned. How is it so? Are we the Soul? When you start thinking in this manner, your real saadhana commences, and as saadhana advances, you may not be able to get at the Soul in full measure. It may not be. If you are able to do, well and good. But you can certainly get a number of benefits and glories just like we are not able to go to the moon or the sun, but we are getting the sun’s light and heat. In the same manner, the splendor of the Soul you will have in a large measure for your enjoyment and experience. But when you go nearer and nearer the subject, the saadhana has to unravel the mystery. Ultimately the medium you have for realizing the Self is the mind, the intelligence. In what manner are the mind and intelligence getting transformed, changed? I will quote a verse from Yoga-Vaasistha Ramayana. Vasistha tells Sri Rama. What is that?

बन्धो हि वासना बन्धो  bandho hi vāsanābandho –whatever you call bondage is actually in the nature of desires, the latent tendencies coiled up in your mind. These desires are, in reality, thebondage factor, the constituent of bondage. Then what is moksha?

मोक्षः स्याद् वासनाक्षयः  mokṣaḥ syāt vāsanākṣayaḥ-moksha will be the extinction of all desires. Is it possible? Yes!

You desire when you are discontented. In contentment, you don’t require anything else. So it is possible for the mind to generate contentment by itself, so that no place for any desire is there. So what is the way to overcome this bondage?

वासनां त्वं परित्यज्य  vāsanāṁ tvaṁ parityajya –you know our mind has got a capacity to abandon, to relinquish, and to renounce. People generally renounce external things. Say, sannyasins are those who first of all renounce their job or lucrative professions. The second thing they renounce will be their blood relations. If they are married, they will renounce, unless the partner also comes with him or her, the married partner also. Then what else do they renounce? Something much more vital. They renounce untruthfulness, they renounce stealth, they renounce greed, they renounce possessiveness, they renounce ego. In the level of subtle renunciation, many people are not able to reach, or even if they reach, they are not able to make it actual. So the greater difficulty is to renounce the things of the mind and the heart. So if some things can be renounced, mind can as well renounce the desires. So vāsanāṁ tvaṁ parityajya.

How will you renounce the desires of the mind? Foster initially the desire for moksha. "I am desirous of moksha. And moksha is such a wonderful pedestal, when I reach there, nothing else will be required. So let me foster the desire, the aspiration, burning aspiration for moksha." And under that, all the other desires will become extinct. When the other desires have become extinct, Vasistha says,

मोक्षार्थित्वमपि त्यज mokṣārthitvamapi tyaja –even the aspiration for liberation you abandon. Now when initially the object desires are left, and the subject desire is fostered, object desires have been left, the subject desire alone prevails. If you can leave object desires, you can also abandon the subject desire. It is only one. The others were many. The mind which has renounced many desires, it can also renounce a one desire, surviving desire. So leave the moksha desire also. Why? How? Because what you desire is your own Self! It is not a different or a second or a distant entity.