Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 84, December 26
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.
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
Om santissantissantihi
In the Mumukshu Vyavahaara prakarana, we are studying the Paurusha Praadhaanya topic. We must serve Sadguru because He is ever in the experience of supreme bliss granted by seeing God in everything and everyone in existence. By serving Guru, we will also share in that experience of bliss.
Our effort itself occurs to us as luck.
Vasishtha says that those who have become enlightened by following the methods prescribed in the scriptures, should be served. Sadguru tells us to do sadhana. We must increase our sadhana if our limited sadhana does not yield satisfactory results. Our good karma performed now must be in large enough quantity to cancel out the wicked deeds that we have committed in the past. Prayer and effort must go hand in hand to give us good results.
verse
Use your intellect to understand the statements made in the scriptures and the statements made by Sadguru. If you apply the teachings in your spiritual pursuit, you will gain benefit. Do not be discouraged that you lack the required virtues to engage in sadhana. Keep trying to increase your virtues by intellectually determining to do so. Progress will happen gradually.
Lotuses in a pond protect the waters of a lake. The large lotus leaves protect the waters from evaporating with the sun’s rays. Because of the waters of the lake the lotuses thrive. The two are mutually supportive. The intellect supports virtue. Virtue supports the intellect. The intellect must be properly utilized. The effort must be persistent and consistent.
Those who wish to maintain good health must exercise every day. They must do yoga practice every day.
verse
We are all selfish. Everyone in the world is selfish. Selfishness is of two kinds. There is good selfishness and wicked selfishness. Terrorists are wickedly selfish. Our selfishness should be to fulfill our lives. Our selfishness must be beneficial to us and to others and must be enduring, not fleeting.
The desire to know about God, the Soul/Atma is good selfishness. Daily satsang, associating with noble souls is very important. There are perhaps elders in your own home whose experience and knowledge will be beneficial to you.
There are 3 kinds of elders, who are mature in Jnana/wisdom, Tapas/penance, and age.
Some are mature in wisdom. Some are mature in penance and the performance of endless austerities. Some are mature with age and experience of the world. All three are highly valuable. We must associate with them and learn. We must not relegate the elders to old people’s homes and isolate them from us. At the temple or other places, there will be wise people who are willing to share their knowledge with you. You must utilize their company and benefit from it.
Attend satsang at the various ashramas at least once a week. Study the Datta Darsanam. Discuss spiritual topics. Gain great benefit. As you save daily to build up a bank balance, you must build up on useful knowledge and experience. In the beginning you may only save a rupee a day. But it will accumulate over the years and will grow to be a mountain of wealth. Daily you must collect virtues. Search all around to see what can be learned that is beneficial for you. That thirst for improving oneself should be there, in any field, be it business, agriculture, studies, or anything else.
Some rivers are prone to flooding in the rainy season and they dry up during the summer. Our effort should not be intermittent like the flow of such rivers. It should be continuous and consistent. The rivers like Ganga, fed by the melting glaciers never dry up. They flow continuously throughout the year. Our efforts at learning and sadhana also should be continuous like the flow of such rivers.
Since childhood such habits should be developed. But those who lacked the opportunity to do so in childhood, must begin now, the day you received the good advice to do so.
A 70 year old claimed that he was only 20 years old because it was only at age 50 that he met his Sadguru and began living a worthy life. It is never too late to begin.
verse
Maha Vishnu took many incarnations to protect the virtuous and to punish the wicked. He took a vow to do so.
I am surprised that now, when there are so many wicked people around us, that He has not incarnated again. I keep praying for His protection. We have to be both like Vasishtha and Viswamitra. We cannot always remain calm like Vasishtha. Sometimes aggressive opposition of wickedness is required. Viswamitra is more hot tempered against evil and not so quiet and calm as Vasishtha.
The primary purpose of incarnations is to uplift mankind with Upadesha. To destroy the wicked, God undergoes great stress and strain. He fought many great battles to destroy the wickedness of demons. For 17,000 crore years a demon developed his wicked tendencies. Such a demon was killed in the Varaha/Boar avatara/incarnation. The purpose of His effort is to show us that exertion is needed to gain benefits. God did not magically vanquish His opponent in an instant. The celestials prayed for His protection and so He incarnated and succeeded in His mission after putting forth great effort and strain. God established Dharma in the world by suppressing the Adharma that was prevalent. Maha Vishnu Himself, the protector of the world, had to exert Himself a great deal.
Swamiji says: Never waste even a moment. If one really does penance, that is one thing. But do not use meditation as an excuse to remain idle and snore.
verse
O Rama, born in the lineage of Raghu, know that this entire world runs only on the strength of individual effort. Therefore, engage in serious effort. Pay attention to my words. Determine to follow this advice. With conviction, practice the methods prescribed.
Here, Vasishtha is enumerating all the pointers that he had given so far. He is assuring success to Sri Rama in his attempt to gain liberation. O Rama, O virtuous one ever following the good path, begin your efforts now with firm belief and conviction.
verse
Give up your doubts. Do not entertain confusion any longer.
The specialty in Yoga Vasishtha is that it proceeds systematically and in every section, the topic explained dispels all doubts concerning that particular topic. Each section is self-contained. One need not study the entire work in a sequence. Whichever topic you study, all the answers will be contained in that same section. Each subject is self-explanatory.
Rama, follow my advice and pursue along the lines that I have suggested. You will attain everything, including even liberation. O Rama, virtuous one, if you do not follow this path, you would have to be born as a tree or a python, both of which remain inert.
A python does not even strive to find food for itself. A tree, likewise, does not move but depends on circumstances and others to provide it nutrition and water. The person who makes no effort will become like a tree. A tree is beneficial to others, but a person who puts in no effort is of no use to anyone.
Daiva niraakarana is the next topic. Once again, Vasishtha stresses that one should not depend on luck but engage in proper effort all the time.
We went to Rameshwaram and to Jayalakshmipuram in the company of Sadguru and consider ourselves lucky. Why do we use the word ‘lucky’? It is because we gained unexpected benefits. We went, not out of our own volition, but because Sadguru went and His magnetic attraction drew us also to go there.
If someone approaches and gives us one thousand rupees unexpectedly, saying that he owed the money to your elders and hence, is giving you what he owed, then we feel it is by luck that we have obtained that money just when we were in need of it. Some karma performed by our elders is giving us the benefit now. This we may call as adrishtam or luck. We enjoy the benefit of the karma performed by someone else. Similarly, sorrow also comes our way. Rules and conditions apply. When elders do wrong, the children will suffer later. At least out of concern for the younger generations, the elders should avoid doing bad deeds. Unexpected events occur for which we have not directly earned the merit or demerit to deserve it. Such are the invisible results of deeds. We must always speak only positive things, think only positive things, and do only positive things, because we do not know how and whom the effects of our actions will affect.
What did Swamiji tell us? You came to Rameshwaram with Sadguru due to the merit earned by your parents. What must be remembered is that without the performance of karma, no consequence ever occurs. Our awareness is limited only to this body. Even of this body, we do not remember everything. Our childhood deeds we do not remember. We do not remember what we did a few minutes ago. God only sees the soul that moves through different bodies. The past deeds of this soul have earned consequences which we will have to face.
If we ate something bad yesterday, today we get a stomach ache. Now we take medicine and get well. Similarly, for whatever wrong you did previously, you suffer the consequence now. As a habit we use the word ‘luck’. But nothing ever happens without some cause. Just because a sudden windfall has occurred once, you cannot be expecting such windfalls all the time.
Vasishtha is giving us such valuable advice and explanations.
verse
What is the form for fortune? It has no form. It cannot be purchased. It has no vibration, not even in a mental state. It has no strength or virtue. It is only illusory. It is only a fragment of our imagination. Karma alone exists. We apply a color coating to karma and call it fortune.
Karma is what we perform and we earn its consequence. We mistake a rope for a snake out of ignorance. No snake exists there. There is no such thing as luck. Luck is invisible and non-existent. Karma is visible, seen clearly, and can be documented.
svakarma …
In this world, when we obtain the result of our own karma, we call it luck erroneously. Only the ignorant, those with half knowledge spread the word in the world to base their expectations on luck. Such people discourage others from engaging in proper karma. They mislead people into wrong beliefs which cause great harm. They make people see a non-existent snake in a rope.
verse
Yesterday’s wicked deed takes the form of misfortune that you face now. God has tied our actions with their consequences very tightly. You must get freed from the bondage of karma.
Swamiji is managing this huge institution, while the common man finds it difficult even to manage his own personal household. Swamiji says He has delegated responsibilities and remains as a mere witness to the running of the various ashrams.
Like the Wheel of Fortune game, we go round and round, stopping at different numbers, now 17, now 99, and so forth and experiencing the rewards or costs. It is on automatic mode. God has designed this wheel with teeth and it keeps moving on its own. We are caught in the wheel of karma and keep experiencing nothing but the results of our own past karmas. We must deliberately do good karmas.
We are reluctant to feed others although we know that it is good to do so. Even if we feel sympathetic towards the hungry, we do not actually offer them food. It is a good sign if you at least recognize the hunger in others and have the intention to give them food. To actually give them food is different and that is what grants the real benefit. The good thought must be put into action.
A student resolves to wake up at 4 AM to bathe and then study. But when the next day dawns, he remains in bed till 10 AM. Such behavior is useless. It is easier to become sick than to remain healthy. The viruses are easier to catch than to fight them off. We must force the mind to proceed towards good actions. Bad odor spreads faster than fragrance. One must use determination to overcome laziness and temptation.
verse
We see something and come to a conclusion, such as, there is fire in the kitchen and so there is smoke here. Then when we see smoke on a mountain we apply our knowledge and assume that there may be fire on the mountain and become cautious.
If anyone ever suggests and tries to establish that luck exists, then they are like the ones who jump into fire assuming that while they know that it is fire, it will not burn them.
Anumana is assumption based on past experience. Even that does not allow for the belief in luck.
Today is Friday. There will be abhishekam to Sri Datta Venkateshwara Swami. Let us all go and witness and participate in the abhishekam.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Om Santissantissantihi