Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 54, September 22
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
Yesterday we learned Sri Rama’s explanations about good actions performed, actions not performed at all, and bad actions performed. Actions are like huge waves that rise and fall. We do not understand their immediate results.
We feel that by God’s will we receive the results of our actions and people respond differently to whatever consequences they receive. Response we give to things are not what they ought to be. We do not use the intellect. We go against God’s will. The mind in every human being seems to be chasing after only worldly pleasures and not towards Self-realization. You may receive some good results for good actions but in the end, what happens is that these selfish actions only cause repeated births. We are only interested in bodily pleasures. We have no taste for seeking spiritual wisdom.
The results of actions do not occur immediately. When the actions will bear fruit, and when the rewards will come is not in our control. But often before we can enjoy the results of our efforts, death takes us away. Good actions take man to heaven for only a short time. He will return to earth soon in another body. What needs to be sought is the knowledge of Self, not pleasures of the body. We get drowned in the satisfying of worldly desires and forget our real purpose of being born as human beings.
Demonic traits and tendencies are now explained briefly by Sri Rama. Demons take the lives of others and torment themselves also. They keep boasting of their actions and accomplishments. It is important for us to know what the tendencies are of the divine and what the tendencies of the demons are. What are demonic traits? I have done this. I have achieved this. I want that. I am going to achieve it by performing this action. They have no thought at all about the soul. Ravana and other demons performed greater penance than even the pious sages. At the end what did they seek? What they asked for was not good. Viswamitra performed the most severe penance, more severe than Vasishtha. He became a Brahmarshi. Most demons do not ask to know the truth about death. They merely demand that they should conquer death. They ask that they should never die, which is not possible. Nachiketa asked good questions to gain knowledge about what death is.
In the end the important demons had the vision of Vishnu. They thus were punished at the hands of Vishnu and attained salvation. But the penance itself did not grant them either their wish or liberation.
Understand the meaning of the rituals and then perform the homa, puja, and ritual. When you begin, you simply chant the mantra given by Guru, such as Om Namo Hanumate Namaha. But gradually learn what Om, Namo, Hanumate, and Namaha mean.
Dhruva did only a small amount of penance and that too only for a few months. But he attained eternity. He became the pole star.
There is a huge difference between doing penance with proper knowledge, and doing it out of ignorance. Many do it for showing off, for impressing others and deceiving others. When they are alone they are engaged in unworthy pursuits and the moment someone walks in, they pretend to be in meditation. What result do they obtain? How can one attempt to deceive God, who sees everything and is everywhere? Never do fake performance of rituals. In the view of society, doing rituals to please people appears okay. But from the spiritual point of view it is useless.
Time used in doing things to please others is wasted. No one is fully pleased. People complain that even in curds/yogurt, there are rocks. One must spend precious time only towards gaining spiritual growth.
People ask: What is wrong in this approach of pleasing oneself, and pleasing family and friends? At the time of life’s end this approach does not give peace and happiness. It is an endless pursuit that never satisfies those whom you wish to satisfy, including yourself. We are ever engaged in giving satisfaction to spouse, relatives and friends. We are not concerned about finding our own happiness by realizing the Self.
Remember always in this world that it is impossible to please everyone. Even if you try to please everyone, someone somewhere will be unhappy with you. Unless you yourself are satisfied, it is not possible to satisfy others. People have blamed even God’s incarnation, Rama; and people have blamed divine mother Sita. Even Rama has realized this fact and has declared that it is impossible to please others. Even Swamiji has said: Because I have realized that people are impossible to please, I have now taken up the company of parrots. We should not cause such hurt feelings in Sadguru by our unresponsive and ignorant behavior.
You may do good things, but if your motive is only to please the near and dear, at the end of life, it is only going to land you in disappointment.
Take an objective look at the world. A seed sprouted, grew eventually into a mighty tree. The autumn season came, and the leaves fell and crumbled and became dust and dirt.
We must make our seed of life sprout and grow into Godliness. Not all creatures are getting destroyed like the leaves. Only those who do not pay attention to preserving their true worth, which is their own soul, get destroyed like this. Whatever is our core, our true worth, our true entity, identity, and possession is we ourselves, our true nature. We should seek the eternal and indestructible state of merging with God.
Even fallen leaves serve a purpose. They make manure. But wasted human lives serve no purpose.
At night it is essential to sleep. If you do not sleep at night, you tend to sleep during the day. It will spoil health. Only those who lead a dharmic life get peaceful sleep. But the one, who restlessly wanders here and there, hankering after selfish satisfactions without any worthy effort, will not get good sleep. Only living to earn fame and fill the stomach is not the purpose of life. Know about yourself.
Time does not move. We move and lose our time here. When the train moves, it appears as if the steady ground is moving. Similarly, our time is getting exhausted. Time itself does not move. It does not go anywhere.
Even if diseases come for a Jnani, it will be accepted as Prarabdha, earned result of past bad karma. We must follow the types of actions that the noble persons do. We must appreciate their work, support their work, and follow their examples. Only if we do so, we get peaceful sleep. Those who blame great souls, and do not care to follow them will have sleepless nights. Not being able to sleep is an indication that God is disapproving of your lifestyle. It is a sign that Sadguru does not approve of how you use your time.
Good actions lead to good health and good sleep at night. But useless activities simply waste life. Like a small raft caught in a whirlpool, life keeps going round and round lifetime after lifetime. You have to simply jump off the raft to save yourself. But you are afraid to jump off. You are not willing.
We think that we are going to live forever. We just become blinded to that fact that we are here for a very short time and we do not recognize the ever present death that follows us every minute. We think we own this world. It perishes in no time.
This is very strange. We see it in the Mahabharata. The Pandavas suffered immensely since their birth. Even their mothers Kunti and Madri, and father Pandu suffered a great deal. With Krishna’s protection they survived all the difficulties. The Pandavas ultimately won the war and still could not enjoy the kingdom. Finally Krishna left his body. Dwaraka had submerged and Arjuna could not even save the womenfolk. In spite of so much effort and struggle in life and earning a great name as Dharma Raja, only Yudhishthira in the very end went to heaven.
Goddess of wealth Lakshmi is very strange. She woos certain people unexpectedly. She deserts some people when they least expect it. Before man can enjoy his wealth, God of Death comes to take him away. This body is entirely at the mercy of death. We should not be obsessed with doing things for pleasing the body and the people associated with the body. We must seek Truth.
Many pleasures were enjoyed. But they all come in an instant and disappear in an instant. The acts of enjoyments are all very cheap and distasteful and are the opposite way to the path of truth. We are caught in a whirlpool. Going round and round. Death approaches us like a little drizzle and then ultimately drowns us. We must understand this fact.
It is not meant to cause fear but to make one accept the truth. A butcher raises a goat or a sheep giving it lots of nourishment. The animal does not know the purpose for which it is being fattened up. It is going to be slaughtered soon. Man also does not realize that he is only going towards becoming a sacrificial animal for god of death to grab the individual like a sacrificial animal. We are tying ourselves to the sacrificial post in the form of undesirable actions. Such death is not a natural death. It is an unnatural death that is very painful.
The noble souls feel pity for such ignorant souls and try to help them. They know how to avoid such painful death and how to live a peaceful life. Even if they appear to be suffering bodily pain, the discomfort does not really hurt them. But the ignorant disregard their advice and go in their own wrong ways.
Suicide is a great sin. It multiplies the sin one hundred fold. That very thought should never enter our minds. One difficulty will become a hundred difficulties due to taking one’s own life.
Dattatreya is a form of light. The moment you think of Him, He appears in your heart. It is only possible for Him to come because He is light/Jyoti. He has no physical form. Sadguru is also like that. They reside permanently in the form of the light rays of Paramatma.
Sanatkumara in Chandogya Upanishad says he was told that he had to be born on earth. Sanatkumara did not wish to suffer the life in the womb or give trouble to the mother. Brahma said you are a form of light. No pain will be experienced either by you or your mother. Brahma said you will be carried by Water. Later he was carried by Fire. That is how Lord Subrahmanya was born, to kill the demon Tarakasura.
We give trouble to our mother who carries us in her womb. We also suffer in the process remaining in the dark womb.
Mey Mey (sound made by a goat) means mine mine in Sanskrit. In English and Hindi also similar sounds indicate the sense of the selfish I – Me, mine. You should instead say Tu Tu (you, you). Me me is selfish ego. Tu tu is liberation.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said: A beast made different sounds while it lived, in arrogance. After it died, the skin was used for making drums. It made the sounds “dhum dhum” like ego. The horns also make the sounds Hum, ego. The guts were used to separate cotton, employed as a part in an instrument. Then the sound came Tu tu. It finally got liberation. Until we learn to say tu tu we will only remain as mey mey, like goats.
A saint, Tukaram or Kabir, kept counting numbers and when he came to the number thirteen in Hindi, Tera, he stopped. He liked that number very much, because it means, your, instead of mine. Sri Rama jaya rama jaya jaya rama has 13 syllables – Tera. It is a very great word. We must remember always that we have nothing. We become egotistical thinking that everything is ours.
This appears like a big sarga. This is a review of what we had learned before. This is Sri Rama’s Upadesa. We have to remember every single word and concept. That is why He is repeating Himself.
We will continue tomorrow.
Om Santissantissantihi.
Sri Guru Datta