Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 105, February 25
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
Yesterday in the Mumukshu Vyavahara Prakarana, Sage Vasishtha described about personal experience, scriptural information, and instruction given by Guru. All the three should be the same. Otherwise, the confusion that we begin with, will only get worse. First, listen to Guru’s words. Then study the scriptures that are relevant to the subject. Finally bring the knowledge into personal experience. Whatever the sequence may be, all three are most important. Guru always teaches in the same manner. How we understand the instruction, how we apply it in our lives is up to us. All three should coincide and follow along the same lines.
One who practices Yoga sadhana and spiritual sadhana by internal contemplation, will obtain Self-Realization. Today it is said that ignorance should be given up. Ignorance is different from innocence. It is not wrong to be innocent. One who is innocent is not corrupt or hypocritical. Those who try to deceive and manipulate others are not innocent. The innocent ones, like children, treat everyone alike. As we grow up, our tendency to make friends decreases and our tendency to make enemies increases.
Ignorance is harmful. It makes us deluded. It is said that there is no remedy for ignorance or foolishness. One must develop an interest in possessing knowledge. It is wrong to say that it is not necessary to know. The intellect gets sharpened as one begins to learn and acquire more and more knowledge. Concentration must be developed. The negative traits must be removed from the mind and positive things should fill the mind.
If the mind lacks concentration, it is not possible to realize God. Shamam is to develop one-pointedness. Personal experience is most important. Whatever is studied from the scriptures should be properly understood. It should help us in experiencing the topic personally. The word of Guru is not just the mantra given by Guru. Every instruction given by Guru is important. When Guru gives a mantra, by the power of the deity of the mantra, we begin to understand the principle of Guru. The three mentioned above must all follow the same lines. Sometimes there will be conflicts observed. To avoid that, the most important method is to first pay full attention to the words of Guru and correlate His words with what has been read in the scriptures. Some people naturally experience certain things even before they come across their Guru. To verify whether their experience is valid or not, they may consult Guru and clear their doubts.
When there are discrepancies between what has been experienced, and what Guru and the scriptures say, it is disturbing. At such times, faith must first be placed in Guru’s words. Thereafter, scriptural study should follow to endorse what has been heard.
Some persons by virtue of merit earned in past lives, get interested in reading scriptures even at a early age. They then learn some spiritual principles from some Vedanta books, the Bhagavad Gita, or Ramayana, and then approach Guru to firm up and clarify their understanding. The majority of seekers are like this. The children of such parents are fortunate that they have access to Guru even in their childhood. They begin their spiritual life with Guru’s instruction.
Regardless of what has been heard and read, what is most important is to personally have the experience of the truth that has been learned.
Those who are naturally inclined towards spirituality like this, will, in course of time, experience Self-Realization by constant pursuit of Truth, regardless of where they may be, and what they may be doing.
The experience of Self-Realization is like taking a shower in nectar and getting drenched in it. Just as one feels completely refreshed after a hot and tiring day, when one takes an invigorating bath or shower, similarly, the one who is scorched and burned in the troubles of worldly life feels completely rejuvenated when he bathes in this nectar called enlightenment. This shower of nectar cleanses and refreshes body, mind, and soul, including all the sense organs. It grants excellent health also.
avahelita
Today’s moot point is that ignorance should be completely discarded. Lack of spiritual knowledge and a lack of interest in acquiring spiritual knowledge is ignorance. One cannot justify ignorance of tax laws. It is your duty to know the law. Ignorance of rules and regulations will result in getting punished and penalized. One must make an effort to know.
The innocent ones are straight forward and plain. They may lack diplomacy and tact. One may feel sorry for their lack of shrewdness and their simple thinking. But it is a child-like simplicity. But ignorance is different. It is undesirable.
Dhruva was innocent. His mother told him to seek refuge at the lotus feet of Lord Narayana. She described the physical features of the Lord such as he has four arms, he wears the conch and the disc, he wears a crown and gold ear ornaments, his feet are tender, and so on. She said that Dhruva would feel an intuitive, immeasurable, and an inexplicable bliss in His presence. Dhruva in his innocence, went away looking for Lord Narayana. He had implicit faith in the words of his mother. He was determined to sit on the Lord’s lap. It would take thousands of years of deep penance for the sages to earn such a darshan of the Lord. But the Lord took pity on the child and was impressed by his innocent determination and stubbornness to find Him. He granted him darshan.
But stubbornness coupled with ignorance is not attractive or desirable. It will lead to unfavorable consequences. Ignorance is believing that lack of knowledge is bliss. Deliberately rejecting knowledge is idiocy. That should be given up.
One should avoid the company of those who ridicule and abuse our scriptures, our gods, and our great souls. One should reject the association of persons who disrespect Sadguru. Even under life-threatening situations, one should not associate with such persons. The reason is that their negative influence can drag us down to a low level. Our level may not be high to begin with, but at least we are on the escalator, the moving steps of Sadguru’s company, even if we are only on the first step. We must not risk losing our position. Many people are afraid of even stepping onto the escalator. They are afraid of losing their balance. Unless you keep both your feet on the escalator, you risk falling down. It is very easy to get downgraded to the level of the ignorant ones if you associate with them. Their negative influence can be extremely strong. One has to be very careful. There is no greater disease than ignorance.
The ignorant ones have the power to corrupt our minds. Evil always takes root quickly. The moment a person sneezes, it becomes contagious and others begin to sneeze. But if one chants Datta or Rama, the others do not follow suit as easily. The Vedas, Sastras, and Guru are not frivolous matters to be ridiculed and made fun of. One should not enter into discussions or conversations with such persons who verbally abuse and ridicule Guru and our sacred scriptures. There is no benefit to be derived from their company. There is great peril in their association. They cannot rise to our level but we tend to get reduced to their level very quickly. To reach even this first step on the escalator called Guru, we have done great penance over the past many lifetimes. We should not risk losing this highly privileged position. If you keep one foot on this escalator called Guru, and retain the other foot in the company of the fools, you are certain to fall down.
One has to take all kinds of precautions to protect oneself from the negative influence of the ignorant fools.
na vyadhi
In the spiritually ignorant ones, their brilliant mind, out of ego, rejects God, Guru, and they falsely consider learning from Guru as slavery. Is it slavery to be fed by mother when you are a child? If you reject mother’s help, you will spill food all over yourself and not put it properly in your mouth.
They become atheists and cannot extricate themselves from their sorry plight.
verse
It is a mental disease of the worst kind. Moorkhatvam/spiritual ignorance will grant nothing but misery. One has to get rid of it by one’s own effort.
We may be on the very first step. It is nothing to feel discouraged about. But it is a reason to rejoice that you have at least seen the staircase. We have at least noticed the escalator. We have managed to step onto it. The small level of purity of mind achieved by Pranayama, mantra japa, and association with Guru will protect us. We have to maintain that practice to preserve the purity of mind and increase it.
One must take a daily bath to keep clean and fresh. There are those who apply perfumes over their unwashed, sweaty bodies and their bad smell becomes unbearable. Having earned even a small amount of mental purity is something to be grateful about. Samskrita buddhi is a cultured and purified mind. Samskrit means cultured or refined.
Sanskrit is a language that is helpful not only in worldly affairs, but also in spiritual matters. It is an international and an inter-celestial language. It is a language that can take us to higher worlds.
Those who have a mind that is somewhat pure, when they study works like the Yoga Vasishtha, their mental purity increases. When one studies works like Yoga Vasistha, it promotes cleansing of the intellect. It has that power. This work, which is one of a kind in this world, also has the remarkable power to dispel spiritual ignorance.
Vasishtha is not the author of this work, although he is speaking so proudly of it. He has learned this subject directly from Lord Brahma Himself and is conveying it to Sri Rama now. This has its root in the Creator Himself.
These are the words spoken by Lord Brahma. Although Sage Valmiki has composed this, this work is called not Yoga Valmikam, but Yoga Vasishtham. There is not a trace of arrogance in the words of Sage Vasishtha.
This work is like an ocean. Even an ace swimmer will never tire of swimming in it. It keeps offering him new vistas and new challenges. He can swim using any type of swimming technique from any country.
It clears all our doubts. The Sage anticipates all the possible doubts that could occur to anyone at any time. All doubts present and occurring in the future, are dealt with in Yoga Vasishtham.
idam sravyam
Study of Yoga Vasishtha gives us solace and comfort. The knowledge of the soul will give us happiness. The topic it deals with is, our own soul, the Brahman. It is pleasing to listen to.
Some topics and some sounds are jarring and frightening. One feels like shutting them out. But still, one is urged to listen.
But Yoga Vasishtha is very pleasing to listen to. The subject gives us entertainment also because Sage Vasishtha has been daring enough to convey the deep subject of the Supreme Entity in the form of stories, fables, and interesting examples.
Many people think that Vedanta is a very dry and stressful subject. But Sage Vasishtha presents such an intricate and tough subject in the form of easy to understand stories that are entertaining to listen to.
Keep the stories and the characters on one side, and on the other side, keep the intellectual and spiritual topics, and tally them for a clear understanding. One never gets bored or tired in the study of Yoga Vasishtha.
The upcoming stories are most amusing and interesting with different unexpected twists. No children’s books can match the ingenuity and imagination of this narration. It is a divine rendition of wondrous stories conveying deep truths. This Yoga Vasishtha, filled with pleasing stories will give us bliss.
Any statement must be backed by authority. Fire will burn. There is proof of it. Unless examples and proofs are given, one cannot believe the statements. For us, Vedas are the authority. Their statements retain their validity till the end of Time. They even transcend Time. If the Veda gives a statement, even if it does not please us, it is the absolute truth. Our intellect is not broad enough or developed enough to grasp everything that is spoken of in the Veda.
It is Veda that has taught us non-violence, truth, and Dharma. Veda has taught us how to behave, what to eat, how to live, what is good for society’s well being, what to avoid, and so on. One must have the firm conviction that the Veda says only that which is beneficial to us. One must not entertain any doubts in that regard. I have that absolute faith in the Vedas. I urge you all to also develop such firm faith in the Vedas.
In many people a certain lack of faith in the Vedas is noticed. Everyone is entitled to their thoughts and feelings. It is acceptable for one to have certain ideas. But those ideas have to be verified whether or not they are legitimate, by the study of the Vedas to see if the Vedas endorse those ideas. Just as a child holds the fingers of the parents as he learns to walk, we must take the support of the Vedas and the Sastras in taking our steps through life.
Many people argue that we must change with the times. But they simply get stuck in their own constricted and narrow ideology. They do not wish to consider the other point of view presented in the scriptures. The scriptural authority must always be respected and revered. We must never go against the word of Guru. We must not proceed against the statements given in the Vedas and Sastras. Rejecting and going against the scriptures will lead to peril. It is always beneficial to follow the teachings of the scriptures.
The entire Yoga Vasishtha follows the teachings of the Vedas. The Vedas endorse the teaching contained in the Yoga Vasishtha. Vedas are the basis for this Creation itself. Only a few people recognize and acknowledge it. Veda itself means knowledge. Paramatman is Knowledge. The two are inseparable.
Vaakyartha bandhunaa – To become the closest relative to God.
There are no orphans in this world. God protects everyone. How do we serve God? God perhaps incarnates as an orphan to give us the opportunity to serve Him. For us to develop kindness and compassion, there have to be beggars and people in need. God takes the form of the recipient of your charity. One should care about abandoned children. One should care about abandoned corpses and offer them the required rites. Share your food. Care for destitute persons.
Never feel that you are an orphan. God is always with us. One should have the complete faith that God is always with us. This great work must be studied and listened to. It must be shared with others.
yatato
The danger and loss incurred by remaining ignorant is described, with an exhortation that one must seek spiritual knowledge at any cost.
We will continue tomorrow.
Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta
Om Santissantissantihi.