Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 31, August 16
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Ganesaya Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha
Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Sadgurubhyo Namaha
There is so much of mental turmoil in us that our plans are not working out. Why should we worry? Once we stop worrying, the result will come automatically, when we place the responsibility in God’s hands.
Patriotism is good. But you cannot criticize others indiscriminately. There will be bad elements in society. You must learn to protect yourself. Do not get into needless arguments and become stressed. If there are snakes in the world, it is because God has created them. They have a purpose. They eat frogs and eggs. Because you do not like snakes, you cannot kill all the serpents the way King Janamejaya tried to do when he performed the Sarpa Yaga. He was told that it was wrong to do something like that.
Thrishnaa visoochikaa mantraha – chintaa tyaagohi kathyate
By giving up anxiety and placing faith in God/Guru, one can become free from thrishnaa/greed/avarice.
Write it down and look at it every day. Just as in every season a certain fruit grows, in the Yoga Vasishtha every sarga yields one different fruit. This is Rama’s Upadesha for us.
Hrada is a lake. Like in our heart there are desires, there are fish in a pond. Fish have a built in weakness. They keep testing everything they see if it is edible. A fish bites into wood, rock, or any object and the moment it sees bait it does not gently lick it, it rushes to take a big bite. It gets caught in the hook, because it keeps biting. Like that we get into so many things which are not really our business. We get caught by Mrityu/god of Death. Then we cannot survive. He has placed bait for us to get caught in the hook. A fisherman and a hunter wait patiently to catch their prey.
Sadguru warns us not to get caught in traps. He teaches us how to be careful. Know your priorities and stick to them, Guru tells us. The fish knows that there is danger. But it is overtaken by greed for fresh taste and hence it gets victimized. Like the fish in the pond we suffer. The fish loses its teeth and its life. Therefore, we must defeat avarice that is within us to protect ourselves from degradation and death.
There are diseases entering our mind, body, and intellect. They enter very stealthily. They are mostly diseases caused by wrong or excessive food, and stress. They rob us of our health and lifespan.
Lust is a cause of ruin. Even a man who is as grand and dignified as an ocean becomes small like a spoonful of water by succumbing to lust and infatuation.
When the sun’s rays fall on it, a lotus blooms. Similarly, when avarice strikes us, our cowardice blooms within us.
In 46 verses Rama has described Trishnaa. …
If this flaw is not rooted out from our minds, it destroys us and our society itself. Primarily, it detracts us from spiritual practice. Greed/avarice increases worldly involvement.
Aahara, Vichaara, and Vihaara – the three words ending with ‘ra’ are important. They all have to be totally kept in strict control and moderation. They have to be examined daily. Before going to sleep one must examine the day’s activities. One must think whether one has had only good thoughts, whether one’s food intake was moderate and wise, and whether one has properly used his times without wasting time on unnecessary diversions and yielding to temptations.
Vi ava haram – vyavahaaram – involvement should be within limits.
Excessive eating and starving are both bad. Thrishnaa makes us get into affairs that are unnecessary. It makes our mind run and get exhausted with exertion. We run after this restless mind. The illusion called elephant is tied to the mind by avarice/thrishnaa.
A huge banyan tree, with its roots descending to the ground, begins to take root to make another strong tree. Greed, like the descending roots takes us to the netherworld.
Greed is like a jewel box. We age fast. We become weak, and we become ill because of avarice. We lose our bone strength, and muscle strength. Greed is the jewel box in which we preserve all the diseases. It stores all the bad things safely for us.
Is anyone more important in the world than oneself? We may say that others are important, family, child, country, and so on. But it is just lip service. Old age and disease are the rewards we reap by harboring greed. Mentally and physically we degenerate. The moment we think that we have chased it out, it will come back and occupy our minds before we know it. It is like keeping a snake in the house. Before we close the door, it will slip back into the house. This greed is like a troublesome relative who refuses to leave.
Like the clouds that keep obstructing the Sun, greed keeps recurring. It makes us get into feverish activity. It is the nature of thrishnaa. The mind becomes excessively tired with activity.
Children should not begin their study after midnight, although these days many children do so. It is a rare person who makes progress by studying at that time of the night. Some children cover themselves with a blanket and will be looking at their phones in the night. Their eyesight will get spoiled. After midnight it is especially demonic with negative vibrations.
It is best to study early in the morning, at Brahmee Muhurtam, a little before sunrise. Correct timings should be maintained for sleep and study. Only in a newly built house for Griha Pravesam, Rakshoghna Homa is conducted to drive away the negative and demonic forces at that time, after midnight. That is the only ritual done at that time.
Greed is like Cholera epidemic. These days Ebola is a concern worldwide. First the person loses the faculty of speech in the disease called Visoochika. Mooka means ignorant, not necessarily dumb/mute. Guru gives knowledge to the ignorant. With this disease called greed, one becomes ignorant. Visoochi disease used to be cured by a mantra in the olden days. A medicine was also placed in the mouth along with a prayer. Both types of treatment are necessary.
You need both pen and paper to be able to write; you need both the computer and fingers to do any work these days.
Anxiety should be given up. If you have no faith in God, you will fail to earn God’s grace. To get rid of greed, give up anxiety. That is the advice given by Sri Rama.
Some fish eat the bait and get caught. Some intelligent fish escape and survive. It is not necessary for a fish to go for the bait. It can find sufficient food in the waters to live without going for the bait. The habit of a fish is to examine every object to see if it is edible. Many fish are greedy for food. They eat almost till they burst. The fish rushes to eat. It bites the bait along with the hook. This greed is like the hook that reduces one’s lifespan. It is very difficult to snap out of this greed.
Even a man of dignity will be dragged into the gutter due to thrishnaa, infatuation of any kind, but especially for woman. This applies to both men and women.
In the jungle, the bamboo is a thorny bush. It is hollow inside. When there is a hail storm, bamboo thrives. Greed grows rapidly like bamboo.
One, who succeeds in his studies, has applied concentration. He is not easily distracted. Like great scientists who are lost in their work, one should keep focus. Einstein it seems asked the family member who they were. It may be an extreme case.
Discretion is the sharp sword that alone can chop down the tree called avarice. But the sword of discretion must never be allowed to rust. There are great souls who have conquered greed. Yet, they have to remain on the alert always to guard themselves from falling into its trap again. These days, doctors and other professional have to keep updating their knowledge and training. It is not enough to win great reputation by excellent performance in any field; musicians, doctors, everyone has to continue their practice and engage in continuing education.
Similarly, even those who think that they have conquered Thrishnaa, have to watch themselves every moment not to succumb to this vile enemy again.
Whatever you hear from Guru, you must churn the topic in your mind and keep pondering over it deeply. A Jnani is different. But those who are still on the path, have to keep pursuing their spiritual practice and must remain vigilant. Time should not be wasted. Constant remembrance is crucial. The sword of discretion must never be allowed to rust. There are great scientists who are tempted by the family members to go for diversion and to go on vacation. They refuse. They are totally committed to their work and their research.
Even a cannon ball cannot withstand the power of avarice, or even the Vajrayudha of Indra.
Sri Rama is addressing Gurus Vasishtha and Viswamitra. Please help me get rid of this fire that burns me. This flame is creating soot that puts out the actual light itself.
If the mind is getting burned, be aware that it is greed at work. Once it enters the mind, you must at once recognize its purpose. If a desire enters the mind. It may be like a red hot iron. It will burn you. You must constantly remain alert.
Like a flame, it destroys the individual by setting him on fire. You cannot touch it. Even a lamp at the altar is capable of setting the house on fire, if some flammable object falls on it or touches it.
Greed is like the black soot that forms at the tip of the lamp’s wick and eventually extinguishes the lamp.
Like Meru, one who is great and noble will disintegrate because of infatuation. Viswamitra suffered the same fate. He felt the desire for a cow. Viswamitra was a king who was supposed to donate cows to a rishi like Vasishtha. Yet, he coveted the cow for himself. Similarly, Kartaveeryarjuna became obsessed with possessing a sage’s cow, which led to his eventual death.
Greed creates the illusion that enjoyments are a necessity to live in society. But it is this same greed that makes even a very great man stoop low and lose his entire reputation. People will run away seeing a man with greed who keeps asking for loans or money. People wonder why he does not blow away like a piece of cotton. He becomes that cheap in the eyes of society.
Excessive intimacy is again like that, it becomes impossible to get out of such relationships. Like an Akhanda Deepa, where they use a very long wick, so that the lamp never goes out, Thrishna uses a very long rope to strangle man. It has the nature of burning up the individual. It makes one feel that one cannot live without it. Yet, Rama tells us how it completely puts us to shame in society.
This avarice makes us degraded to the level of a grass blade. One who was once valiant will become negligible in the eyes of society. He falls at everyone’s feet out of his uncontrollable greed. He begs for favors. People will look down upon him as worse than a flying piece of cotton. We need to get rid of this enemy called greed.
In the great Vindhya Mountain range greed is like a jungle, with caves and poisonous creepers. Greed is like that. It takes different forms in man and expresses itself as anger, jealousy, envy, malice, arrogance, and wickedness. It takes the form of all the six inner enemies to destroy man. Water is one. Yet, ocean water, Kaveri water, Ganga water all have different tastes. Similarly, the same vice, greed, takes on forms as lust, passion, rage, and so on. How to overcome this? In different bodies it takes different shapes conducting evil activities.
Sri Rama has taught us so many different aspects of thrishnaa/greed/avarice/infatuation. At least let one make an impression on our minds so that we become cautious and will protect ourselves from this venomous enemy.
This conclude the 17th sarga called Thrishnaa Bhangaa
The next is Kaaya jugupsaa – Disgust for the body.
Sri Rama does not blame the body. He says that it serves as a shelter for all undesirable things.
Now there will be Sri Chakra Puja with Sangeeta Seva.
150 blind children will perform Anaghashtami Vratam today in the Prayer Hall. They will be given the puja books in Braille. Special Anagha Yantras will be used by them organized by Manjula and BDL.
Sri Venkateswara Kalyanam will be conducted this morning in the Nada Mantapa.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Om Santissantissantihi.
May peace prevail.
Sri Guru Datta