Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 32, August 17
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Ganesaya Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha
Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha
Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Sadgurubhyo Namaha
In the Yoga Vasishtha today we begin the 18th sarga. Mahabharata has 18 chapters. Today is Krishna Janmashtami. Lord Krishna likes the number 18. Bhagavad Gita has 18 chapters. He is famous as Gitacharya. The number 18 signifies victory. Sri Jayalakshmi Mata likes this 18 number as Jaya Sastra.
Kaaya jugupsaa is the topic that Sri Rama is going to teach us today.
Some are listening daily. Some are unable to do so. Yoga Vasishtha is a great science of Vedanta. Vedanta should normally be studied continuously. Yoga Vasishtha is different. Although there is continuity, each section here conveys a specific important lesson. That is its specialty. Like in an ocean, any place gives a taste.
We already know the meaning of Jugupsaa – disgust/dislike/distaste towards something. It is something you wish were out of sight. You dislike its presence.
Body is a combination of many things. You should know the purpose of this body. You must know the consciousness that occupies this body.
Yesterday we learned that Chintaa thyaaga is the remedy for unhappiness. You should give up anxiety and worry.
Guru Ashtakam begins with the word Sareera/Body. Sareeram suroopam. Sri Bhagavatpada asks Tatah kim 4 times. What is the use of having a beautiful body? Pay attention to Guru’s words; have deep devotion towards Guru, and keep firm faith in Guru.
Kaaya/body. We use the word in Kannada and Telugu –
kaayi/vegetable – which is still raw; it is not ripe. The body will become aged but not ripe. Like an apple that gets shriveled with age, the body shrivels up.
You cannot take this body to salvation. ‘You’ have to attain salvation. You must understand what you do for yourself, and what you do for your body. If someone praises and says this person is great, using your name, it is not the body that deserves the credit, it is the name that the body carries, the person who is inside the body.
Kaayi also means in Kannada, protect. What does it mean to protect an object? Keep it in the safest place and lock it up. Then you are assured of its safety. Just because you like something, if you keep it in front of you all the time, you will have no rest. You water a plant, give it fertilizer, and check for pests and then you enjoy the fruits when it bears them. We do not simply keep staring at the plant. The body is not the fruit, in either the worldly sense or in the spiritual sense.
The boat is not the journey. Reaching the destination is our goal. How fast you travel is not important. Your journey should be comfortable and successful in taking you to your goal. A bus carries the passenger. But here the passenger carries body vehicle. We do not get to the destination any faster if we keep walking inside the bus.
Without the passenger here, there is no bus. This vehicle/body exists because of the passenger that rides in it.
When a doctor shows us a part of our body that has been separated from it, then we feel no attachment to it, like a kidney that has been removed.
Why should we feel disgust towards the body? What harm has it done to us? Sri Rama enumerates the flaws in the body. If our body lacks those flaws, then we will praise it. Sadguru’s body we praise. It is free from the blemishes/defects that ordinary bodies suffer from.
In this body all the senses and organs are brought together.
Two syllables are here – ka and ayaa. Ayaa is dimension.
Kaa is brahma. Ayaa is the extent to which it extends.
We are a part of Brahma.
Aardraan …
The sight of blood and bones is unsightly for us. It spoils the mind. It increases thoughts of violence.
Just keep laughing and be cheerful. Why do you keep looking at the balloon knowing that it is going to pop very soon and make yourself miserable?
Perform your Dharma. Dharma, Artha/Money, Kama/requirements to fulfill, and Moksha/salvation – these are the four pillars in life.
We like the body. But the body is not us. It is not ours. A finger may have to be amputated because of an infection. If out of love for the finger, you keep it, the infection will spread throughout the body and will be disastrous.
We anticipate a lot of pleasure from the body. But the moment the body gives us some pain, we lose our enchantment with the body. We complain that the body gives us a lot of problems. The body is nothing but a trouble-giver. This body is all damp and wet inside with blood and flesh. God has nicely covered it all up with skin to make is appear beautiful. But in truth, the body’s appearance is awful. These words are spoken by none other than Rama, who is the perfect man with a perfect physique. His body was perfectly proportioned and was most handsome and enchanting.
Everyone wishes to be like Rama in looks. He is so attractive to look at. And yet, he is speaking like this. At this time, he was a little skinny because he had not been eating properly. Had Ashtavakra, who had crooked limbs spoke like this, we would understand. But instead, it is the most handsome Rama who is finding fault with the body.
This body will drop one day. We cannot take it with us. Why do I carry the holy staff? It is inert. It goes places only when I carry it. Otherwise it stays put. We carry this body with us. I am Paramatma. Because I am holding this body and moving it, it moves. It cannot move by itself.
It this cycle of births and deaths, this body comes and goes like a flash. It should be used for Dharma, and not for chasing after pleasures of the body. This same body helped Sage Suka to attain Jnana. It helped Rama to establish Dharma. It helped Krishna to give us the Bhagavad Gita. It is helping Sadguru to travel the world spreading his message of peace and spiritual wisdom. It depends on how we use the body.
Because of chain snatchers, now everyone wears only fake jewelry. Something precious, you keep under lock and key. You do not keep it exposed. You cannot keep admiring the body. It is precious, no doubt. But it has to be used for the purpose for which you have been given this body.
If you abuse this human body, you may be given a dog body or a pig body the next time, by God.
The body is ignorant. It has no knowledge. In sleep, in a coma, it has no knowledge of anything. Yet, it appears as if it knows everything. By associating with the intellect, it appears as if it is intelligent. By associating with consciousness it appears conscious. People scold, have you lost your head? Intellect is important. Without it, the body is good for nothing.
Like milk and water when they are mixed, we are unable to separate; it is the same with the body and soul. I and the body are confused to be one. I am not feeling well, is a common expression when the body fallen ill. In every language there are these indications of confusion.
We must remember to separate these two to be happy.
Rice and sesame seeds, when they are mixed, you can tell them apart, but not milk and water.
The body is neither inert nor conscious; it swings between the two. Because of indiscretion, we get obsessed with our bodies. We must be cautious. The body drowns us in illusion. It closes the door to our awareness of Truth.
Suppose a court notice comes about our residence, then you begin to disassociate yourself from your house. Till then you identify with your house.
This body has consciousness, and yet, it does not have any consciousness. It appears inert and yet, it moves. It appears intelligent, and yet it has no knowledge.
The body is an object that has fallen into illusion.
Lord Dattatreya separated Himself from His body to teach a lesson of spirituality to His mother Anasuya.
The body swings between knowing and unknowing. The body does nothing but throw us into delusion.
We derive joy from the body. At once we also derive sorrow. In an instant, happiness changes to grief. A body comes running to give great news of earning good grades at school. He slips and falls. He is miserable. You broke a bone you think. You are upset. The doctor says you will be fine tomorrow. You are happy.
There is nothing in the world to be unhappy about other than or worse than your own body. Learn to know the true nature of the body.
We look at others and feel unhappy. Be unhappy about your body, instead. Lord Hanuman has a perfect body. He is immortal. Yet, he is not attached to his body.
Rama was so attractive that many sages wished to embrace him. Rama told them to be born again as Gopikas and in his next incarnation as Krishna he would fulfill their desire. Brahma Rasa/oneness with the divine is enjoyed in the embrace of God. Rasa Leela should not be misinterpreted as the gross physical enjoyment of an embrace.
Dhana/wealth, Jana/power, and Yauvana/youth are dangerous. An old man will curse his children who show irritation at his cough. The father cleaned the child’s excretions. But the child forgets and abuses the parent that gave him life. People are proud of their youth, wealth, and popularity. These things are all transient.
But do not ever thing that you are ugly. A mirror is a big trouble-maker. Ask someone else how you look. At least for courtesy’s sake they will tell you that you look fine.
A painter came. He asked a woman to describe herself. He painted a picture based on her verbal description. Another woman came. He asked her to describe the first woman. He painted another picture. The first picture depicted a demonic figure. The second picture was angelic. The woman who described herself was shocked to see the two depictions. She had such a negative impression about her looks, whereas another objective viewer saw her as beautiful.
You must never speak ill of your looks. You must discourage children from speaking negative things about their appearance.
Ashtavakra was very unattractive. But to this day, Ashtavakra Gita is worshipped and placed on the head as most sacred. His body had eight types of crookedness.
Sri Rama calls this body as ugly.
Long life alone is never a great boon, although all demons always did penance to gain immortality. It is extremely difficult if you have to live forever.
People once did penance that their king should live for 10,000 years. Their wish was granted. The king was upset to hear of this boon. He scolded his subjects for their foolish prayer: I will live, but you all will be dead way before me. A long life is not a good thing to have. You should have a happy life.
Demons pray for immortality. Strange boons they ask for. Hiranyakashipu had so many boons. Lord Narasimha circumvented all the conditions imposed by the demon and took a strange form to kill him.
What kind of a body is this? We have to protect this so that we can use this as a boat to cross the ocean of worldliness.
Do not criticize others. See the faults in your own body. Vedanta alone is the eternal truth. No other science comes anywhere close to this. It is only for the body that so many sins are committed.
Like a tree with leaves, branches, trunk, roots, places for the birds to build their nests – this body with so many features, limbs, and characteristics, should be carefully observed and examined.
Asochyaananva sochatvam … a verse in the Bhagavad Gita.
You must get children to study the Bhagavad Gita. It is very important. With emphasis on worldly success, they are getting lost in the race. They are getting distanced from happiness.
You first try to understand our important scriptures. Then you teach the children in an interesting manner, with stories and examples. We do not tell the stories about our ancestors. But we repeatedly tell the stories from our scriptures. It is very essential that we share them with our children.
Chennai devotees are getting ready to do Bhajan Seva today. There will be Bhagavad Gita Parayan this evening. Please participate in all the programs. Tailabhishekam to Lord Dattatreya will be performed today, because it is Sunday. In the evening we will have Bhajans on Lord Krishna.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Om Santissantissantihi
May peace prevail
Sri Guru Datta