Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 40, August 28
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Ganesaya Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha
Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Sadgurubhyo Namaha
asato ma sadgamaya
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
mrityor ma amrtam gamaya
Om Santissantissantihi
Please lead me from untruth to Truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. May there be peace.
Guru Dhyanam: Gurur Brahmaa, Sri Bhooyuta.. , Ajnana .. Akhanda, Dehe …, Akhandam ..
Yoga Vasishtha Dhyana Slokas:
yatassarvāṇi bhūtāni pratibhānti sthitāni ca
yatraivōpaśamaṁ yānti tasmai satyātmanē namaḥ || 1
jñātā jñānaṁ tathā jñēyaṁ draṣṭādarśana dr̥śyabhūḥ
kartā hētuḥ kriyā yasmāt tasmai jñaptyātmanē namaḥ || 2
sphuranti sīkarā yasmāt ānanandasyāṁbarē vanau
sarvēṣām jīvanam tasmai brahmānandātmanē namaḥ || 3
Brahmanandam, Sri Vasishtham Namami, Ramaya, Aapadaamapahartaaram, Om Purnamadah,
Om Santissantissantihi
Today’s greetings and blessings to all for Swarna Gowri Vratam.
Now Sri Rama is speaking about the dos and don’ts of youth. This is a Suvarna avakasa/golden opportunity Sri Rama says, about youth, if it is properly utilized. He said even Bhairavakara/Siva in his frightening aspect is afraid of youth. But spent wisely, youth can be a useful stage in life for us.
In the 20th sarga, Rama is alerting us to all the pitfalls faced during youth. He is helping us to take care and avoid the ditches. By being watchful we can avoid the dangers of youth.
Youth makes us forget the good things that need to be performed. It draws the mind away from anything worthwhile. A true youth must never postpone his duties. He must attend to his duties very promptly. He must force himself to complete his tasks on time. Such discipline must be cultivated. The intellect becomes dull during youth. The intellect becomes less alert and loses discretion, due to powerful passions that overtake the mind. A preoccupation with the opposite sex dominates the mind during youthful years and acts like a raging forest fire. Youth creates great burning desires within, which burn down the tree called the individual.
Nobody is bad when they are born. They are all born as innocent babies. But based on past tendencies, each develops differently. Intellect is pure by nature and is very powerful. But due to the negative passions that dominate during youth, the intellect becomes dull. The persons themselves are surprised at the bad changes that begin to occur in their personality during youth. Good, disciplined children turn into unruly youths.
The way a river becomes muddy during floods, youth becomes influenced by Rajo Guna and becomes distorted and tainted. One is not supposed to bathe in a river at such a time, when the waters are muddy and flowing with great force. Ganga does not suffer from a contaminated phase, even when the current is strong. But other rivers like Godavari and Krishna go through a bad, muddy phase when getting into the waters should be avoided. The youth become daring and enter the waters and perish. How the parents suffer at such misfortunes.
Just as it is hard to cross the river when it is in spate, a youth’s mind is impossible to control. They have no focus. They are avaricious and excessively selfish. In youth, the mind is ever engrossed in thoughts about the opposite sex. Boys are obsessed with thoughts about female bodies. This depletes their body of all energy. The way a devotee is obsessed with God, the youth is obsessed with a woman’s body and the pleasures he imagines it will yield.
Counseling is required when the mind begins to acts abnormal.
In each stage of life, tinges of other stages will be noticed. After age 80 the aged become like children. They prepare for the next life and its childhood. Each phase has proportions of other stages of life. Just like Satva, Rajas, and Tamo Gunas always occur in different combinations, all people experience all phases of life simultaneously in some proportions. The lessons of Vedanta apply to everyone.
Krishna told Arjuna so many irrelevant things on the battlefield; it appears like that. Krishna did not speak about how Draupadi got mishandled. He instead spoke about the soul, nature and behavior. Youth need to be properly educated about the dangers of youth and about proper values in life.
Boys and girls think too much about friendships and impersonate the opposite sex sometimes, and misuse Facebook for deceiving and manipulating others through chats and interaction. People ruin their lives by trusting strangers who use wrong names. Sometimes some deliberate mischief will occur out of spite or jealousy. If science and technology are used for the wrong purposes, it ruins lives. During student days, studies should be concentrated upon. They should take priority over other activities.
Like waves in an ocean, the desires occupy the heart.
It is important to practice celibacy. One will retain vigor by doing so. Celibacy may be practiced by householders also, at any age. It is not being said that one should not marry. Rama was asked to marry and he married Sita and was happy in her company.
Within a short time, a youth will earn a bad reputation. He sits alone; he does not listen to anyone. He does not express himself properly as to what is troubling him.
Sadguru and saints will keep such a youth at a distance because he is not amenable to listening to good advice or be subjected to a good influence. His behavior is inferior and he is regarded as being as worthless as a blade of grass. A youth must not degenerate to such a level.
An elephant used to be killed for its ivory. There was a rumor that there is a gem inside an elephant’s head and they would kill an elephant to obtain that gem. It is a false notion and so many innocent animals get killed like that. It is very wrong. Some people kill a serpent looking for a gem in its head. Such snakes with divine gems not exist. So many cobras are killed and their clotted blood is sold as Nagamani. After acquiring such items, the misfortune increases in the home. Many people keep heads of bears, tigers, tiger’s nails, and heads of other animals as decorations in their homes. Such homes will suffer great misfortunes. You will earn sin by keeping such cruel symbols in the home. Once, a talking elephant boasted that it had pearls in its head. The next day it got killed.
In the olden days some kings performed violent rituals. But they had their advisers and counselors. We, in this day, should not engage in cruel activities. Violent acts are extremely wrong.
In youth, in the name of fashion, a youth dresses in a weird fashion. Youngsters keep imitating their fashion idols. The mind is very unsteady and easily influenced. Imagining that it is good, he does undesirable activities, the way people kill elephants for no reason. The youth displays his wealth in ostentation. He will be victimized by criminals. Somehow if this phase passes safely, it is a relief thereafter.
Like snakes that take shelter on a mighty tree, the mind that is left neglected will give shelter to vices. When you do not follow a desirable path, and you go the wrong way, you ruin your life. In youth one should eat well, study well, exercise well, and pray well. Otherwise the rest of the life will be spent in grief.
Whoever is in bad ways, must change their ways and improve their lifestyle.
Youth is like a lotus. There is pollen which is like changing emotions and moods. One moment the youth is amiable. The next moment he is hard to get along with. He wants to be a pilot, an engineer, or an actor; his mind keeps changing its interests. Like a bee, the bad thoughts come and land on this lotus called youth. The youth always likes to rebel.
At the early stages of youth, in the teenage years, the youth keep doing what should not be done, and avoid doing what needs to be done. He never uses his intellect. He does not use discretion. He simply follows his wrong notions and temptations of the heart.
Mental and physical ailments come, from eating and drinking all the wrong things. They eat out all the time, they dislike eating at home. What is consumed by us determines our physical and mental health. If only junk food is eaten, one only puts on fat, and not enough nourishment is received by the mind and body. Gurukula is recommended for that reason. That will create a changed and healthy atmosphere for the children.
Why is Sri Rama speaking at length about these things? He is expressing himself to his gurus from his own experience for the benefit of the world.
In the early stages of youth, billions of bad thoughts trouble the heart. The mind becomes very turbulent. They do not exercise. During wartime from every family one person had to take army training whether they fought in any battle or not. The youth have to be physically fit and must exercise. Once a year such training should be given to the youth to develop patriotism. One should be ready to defend the country. The youth is always wishing to be drowned in luxury and comfort.
In the olden days we rode bicycles. But now times have changed. Bicycles are not convenient. But whatever is right at any situation must be followed. One must be exposed to the troubles of the elderly and the poor. Some youth are terribly impatient and intolerant. They are highly short tempered.
The waves of desire submerge the youth. The ocean has a shore. It does not cross its boundaries. But for a youth, there seem to be no boundaries. He is abusive of everyone, out of arrogance and ignorance.
Like the wind, the youth blows away the virtues, like clothes.
The breeze blows away a spider’s web; like that, youth filled with Rajo Guna drives away judgment completely. It completely makes one forget his lineage, his heritage, and his values. Pranayama and Vyayama/physical exercise are very important to do during youth. After age 12, these may be started as a daily routine.
Some children are well behaved and study well and follow the guidance of the parents. They too keep watching computers; they get into bad sites and sometimes get badly influenced. Parents must be very alert and be watchful of what the children are getting exposed to. The youth confines himself in his room, and does not socialize at all. He becomes pale and dull. Such bad things occur during youth. Parents must be alert and must get them counseling.
There are innumerable channels that draw the mind of the youth towards cruel and violent paths. Why not become a revolutionary, why not commit a crime? They question.
The pleasures of youth become an obsession with the youngsters. Such a one who indulges in them destroys his future.
The moon rose and the lotus closed up with the bee got trapped inside. The vices similarly trap the youth. He cannot extricate himself. The bad habits must be nipped in the bud.
Parents are involved in the competitive spirit that drives society today. Stop running. Walk briskly. There is no need to race through life. Parents are not spending quality time with children. There is no time to calmly explain to the children what is important in life. Academic excellence is 100%. Common sense is zero.
One boy went to the temple to pray. My father said education is enough. No need for an intellect. What is the use of such education? Given bread and spoon, he does not know which of them is edible. Education is for a livelihood. But spirituality should be acquired to fulfill the purpose of life itself.
Like the poisonous flowers in the jungle tempt creatures, the youth gets tempted into engaging in fleeting harmful pleasures. The youth gets drowned in false and dangerous pursuits.
The mind is a bee. It is captured inside the lotus. The youth must be taught the truth about life. Where there is a mirage, a deer runs towards it. It is foolish. It gets exhausted after running endlessly and falls in a ditch and perishes. Such is the fate of the youth.
The body is darkness. The mind is the lion. The mane is the sign of a lion. The lion’s mane (from a lion that has died a natural death) is used to fan Mother Goddess during worship to remove the cruelty in human minds.
The waves in the ocean called life, is youth. The youth does not engage in activities that are satisfying either to oneself or to others. No activity in youth gives contentment. Youth cannot be trusted and relied upon. It is fleeting. The youth are losers. They are stubborn and reject offers of good fortune. There are some who accept prasadam from guru but do not use it or keep it. They do not recognize the worth of what they have, or what they have been given.
The inheritance from the ancestors is valuable, if you preserve it, and will gain antiques value. The youth throw away great treasures and gifts that they receive from parents and God. Parents have given you birth and for that reason parents are divine. They are instrumental in your finding God. Youth is itself like a Chintamani/wish-yielding gemstone. It is foolishly thrown away by the ignorant youth.
How to trust this youth? The youth believes that only youngsters belong in this world. They ignore the existence of the young and the old. The body is the jungle. Like autumn this phase goes away quickly. It is not permanent. All the stages of life are fleeting. The youth must be taught: You too will soon grow old and will leave the body. Youth is not permanent.
Before you know it, youth is gone.
If you keep a record of all the cakes that one has cut, you will notice how quickly the years pass. The numbers keep changing. Before you can finish eating one piece of cake, the next cake comes.
Chintamani, the wish-yielding gemstone gets thrown away by the youth. Such is youth’s foolishness. A story came to mind. A youth is frustrated at not finding a job. He went to Guru and complained. Guru gave a mantra. He followed the mantra half-heartedly. But he still did not get a job. He returned to Guru and said: Guru, please make me rich.
Guru gave him a bundle. The youth carried the bundle and sat near a pond. He opened the bundle and found rocks inside. In anger, he tossed each rock into the water in the pond. He exhausted all except one. Guru came and asked what he was doing. The youth said: I am throwing the rocks in the pond. O said, the Guru. You are a fool. I mixed a Chintamani gemstone amidst the rocks. You have thrown it away. Had you kept it, all your wishes would have been fulfilled.
A good disciple at that point will jump in the pond and will retrieve it. After all, it is not deep water and there is no current like in a river.
But this youth, still not recognizing its value, even forgot that guru had given him the Chintamani. He simply left, still angry at guru that he has not helped him. He is unfortunate. He throws away his youth. He could have used it for a wonderful purpose.
Sri Rama said. I only blame those who waste their youth instead of using it for a good purpose. There are some, who use that time wisely and progress in life.
Tomorrow is Friday, Ganesh Chaturthi. No discourse on Yoga Vasishtha on Friday. Mysore Nagaraj and Manjunath’s concert will be there. May Swarna Gowri bless us all. May this knowledge help us to fulfill our lives. Now Swarna Gowri vratam will take place. In the evening today there will be the discourse on Sivananda Lahari. Please have darshan of all the Ganapati Murtis in the ashram and offer your prayers.
Sri Guru Datta