Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
Day 55, September 23
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
There was a severe storm last night. If we get disturbed for this rain, can we imagine the deluge at Maha Pralaya at the time of the total annihilation of all Creation? I thought about that. When Indra made a terrible storm descend on Gokula in Dwapara Yuga, Sri Krishna Paramatma saved us. While we are under the umbrella of Sadgurudeva, we have nothing to fear.
Yesterday we learned how the wise take precautions before life departs, to ensure that they avoid troubles here in this life and also avoid rebirth and live happy and peaceful lives.
Yudhishthira in the Mahabharata was questioned by Yaksha when Yudhishthira went looking for his missing brothers, whom he found lying lifeless at the lakeshore. The huge invisible voice told Yudhishthira that if he answered his questions correctly, he would reveal his identity, revive his brothers, and allow him to quench his thirst by drinking water from the lake. One of the questions was: What do you find most wondrous? Yudhishthira said: This wheel of birth and death is constantly spinning causing fear in the heart. And yet, people are not concerned about their own death. This machinery called wheel of birth and death is the most wondrous said Dharmaraja/Yudhishthira. One should follow Dharma while living and while doing so, one must seek to know the truth about this existence.
The great souls look on with compassion at those who live unaware that they are mere sacrificial animals tied to a sacrificial post ready to be slaughtered. The Mahatmas/great souls offer their guidance and protection to those who seek their refuge.
It is a wrong approach to think that only this lifetime is true, this world is true and while alive, even it if requires going into debt, one should enjoy pleasures to the maximum. This is the atheistic view. It is a very dangerous concept and must be avoided. Where people are coming from, where they are going, what is karma, what is the goal of life, these things should be thought about deeply. This thought process has to go on in each and every individual. No one else can think these things for you.
Unless you also eat it, you will not know the taste of an item just by hearing a description of it from others that it is sweet. Sometimes if you have eaten too much sweet prior to consuming yet another sweet dish, the last one might even taste bitter. It is your personal experience. Even in small issues people differ in their opinions. Hence, personal experience is most essential.
Aagachcha..
We feel that our lifetime is of a long duration. We feel that this earth is very big. When we rise into the sky on an aircraft and look down, we see that our village and city are so small. If we should rise higher, the earth may just become a speck and may in fact become even invisible if you travel far enough into space.
When joys come, time seems to fly by. When troubles come, time seems to stand still. Although we think that this life is very long, it is in truth, just a momentary flash. From a philosophical view that is so. We are surprised that so many decades have flown by already. Like huge waves that come and recede, our lifetimes, the creatures, all come and go very quickly. Like the emperors of yore, no one lives for thousands of years. No one knows where everyone and everything comes from and where it goes. Unless one thinks about these topics, one will not realize the truth. Where is all this coming from? Where is all this ending? What is the reason for these comings and goings? Why are not all coming the same way? We must develop these thoughts. Life is like a bubble that bursts in an instant. Where have we come from? Where are we going? Why are we going? While we are here what are we doing? While we are here, what is it we have to do? What is it that we should avoid doing, and yet, we are doing? This is very important to understand these things. It is important to achieve an exalted position in our spiritual lives. Unless we examine all these and find the right answers, spiritually we will get destroyed.
Pranapahara ..
Sri Rama is now going to speak about associations and attachments. Relationships stick to us like glue and are difficult to get rid of. The bondage of relationships prevents spiritual pursuits.
For male spiritual seekers, the advice is given that dwelling on thoughts of women is highly detrimental for spiritual progress. It is said that what is congenital will not go except at death. That being so, the thoughts and tendencies that a man is born with, have to be deliberately removed by effort. These lustful feelings that afflict both men and women and other pleasurable worldly attractions as well draw the mind away from spirituality with a very powerful magnetic force. It is not even realized that that one is being dragged away. Sometimes we feel that someone is holding our feet and we feel pleased, not realizing that they are actually pulling our legs to topple us down.
That these things are unobtrusively digging our grave is not realized. The youth is wasting precious life in thoughts of the opposite gender.
This verse is very wonderful.
You meet people as if these meetings have all been prearranged. It is very strange how the associations and relationships occur and develop. Spouse, enemy, friend, all feelings spontaneously occur in the mind. All these are predestined by our own desires entertained by us before in previous lifetimes.
Mother Goddess is called ‘Lokayaatraa vidhaayineee’ – she plans our journey through life. We are all here on a pilgrimage. We experience and witness so many events and places. We go through so many associations with spouse, children, relatives and friends. Sadguru, by our great fortune has invited us into his boat to help and guide us.
It is best to be pleasant towards everyone and yet, not to get too intimate with anyone. Recently I had an experience. I generally accost everyone along the way as I am walking along, even newcomers. One day, I saw this person and felt like accosting him, but someone else was speaking with me at that time. And so I proceeded and then remembered this person. I turned around to greet him but I was interrupted by someone else. I could not speak with that particular person on that day. He remained in my mind. After two days, I got the news that he was no more. It was a lesson for me. I should have made the extra effort to go back and speak with him. We never know whether or not we will meet people again. It is best to be pleasant towards everyone.
All meetings and separations are mentally prearranged. That we should meet here now, and that we should separate then are all predestined. We have to think about these things. We should seek the company of Sadguru, adhere to him, and go according to his advice and guidance and try to attain liberation in this lifetime itself, if possible. Or else we should pray to attain it in the next life in the company of Sadguru. Sri Rama is cautioning us.
Pradeepa ..
These relationships of the world are illusory. We see them as real. The lamp has given light and is not going out. As it begins to go out eventually, we push the wick up and the light resumes its glow. We go through so many stages in this life like this. Our pleasures and sorrows are being fed by us through tight bondages that we develop. These fail to give us any peace or happiness. We are the ones supporting this worldly life by our own support and the strengthening of these false relationships. These strings of lights called relationships get disturbed and shaky. These take us away from Truth.
We have to make an effort to see the Paranjyoti, the Supreme Light that glows eternally. Unless we scrub the dirt off of our clothing, the clothing will not become clean. Similarly, these worldly relationships have to be scrubbed off mentally with a philosophical and spiritual approach. Then the clean light of Paramatma will be revealed to us.
Samsara ..
The potter is making pots. A new person will not even realize looking at the process of pottery-making that the wheel is turning. It appears strange that the wheel is static and yet the pot is miraculously taking shape. That is how skillfully the potter makes the pots. These days that whole industry has vanished. We do not see potters. We do not purchase and use pots. Pots are very useful. In the summertime, they keep the water cool, like a refrigerator. It is very healthy to drink water from a clay pot that is place on a bed of sand. Drinking cold water from the refrigerator gives us a sore throat and makes us sick. The onlooker thinks that the wheel is standing still. It is only by its spinning that the pot takes its shape.
This worldly life is like a bad pot in the making. We get drowned in illusion and are tempted to do wrong. There are bubbles that keep bursting. This life is like that. Our minds are never steady. We do not contemplate. We do not ponder over spiritual matters. We do not remember and churn in our minds the words of Sadguru. All the time we are chasing after things with our minds. At the beginning of any austerity, it is chanted: the mind must now be focused. It is a loud announcement made the ways we now say: Please switch off your cell phones.
Then the listeners will respond: Our minds are steady and focused. We are now ready to listen to your instructions. We are in a pleasant mood to commence the austerity.
Our minds should not be allowed to run. They must be reined in. We must realize that our bodies are not permanent. Our possessions are not permanent. Emperor Bali spoke in the Bhagavatam: So many emperors lived. Where are they now? Were they able to take their treasures with them? Only the acts of dharma performed by them remained with them as their assets.
Unless we realize the impermanent nature of things, we become greedy. We develop excessive attachment towards the body. It will lead to another birth. Where we will be reborn is unknown to us, whether as a tree, a pig, a dog, a snake, a bird, or even an insect.
Yesterday Swamiji was cautioning us: Please feed the birds. Otherwise you will be reborn as birds. We think that birds live a happy life freely flying about. But consider how difficult their lives are and how fraught with dangers.
If you do charitable acts and live a life of dharma, at least you will be reborn as a human being. There is at least a chance to try for liberation in the next birth.
Our ignorance deludes us into thinking that this is all eternal. Even falsehood appears as real, but it is not real. One, who is sleeping on a train and suddenly awakens, may think that his station has arrived. But until the sign says that it is his destination, it is not so. One should not hastily jump to conclusions.
Our minds are very changeable. Dasaratha asked Rama to stay overnight and leave the following day on his 14 year exile into the forest. He said he was unable to remain separated from Sri Rama. He felt like always looking at him. Sri Rama said: Today I have the mindset to go to the forest. If I should stay back even for a day, there is no guarantee that I will still be of the same determination. Who can assure me that tomorrow also I will feel the same way as I do now? Time cannot be trusted. With time feelings change. Any good deed that one resolves to do, must be done at once before giving a chance to the mind to change its stand.
Soko ..
A man obtained a lotus called youth. It is great. This is autumn season. The sky is clear. The sun shines brightly. The earth dries up and is conducive to good health. In the rainy season, the flowers wilt in the wet weather. But in the autumn season, the flowers sustain their freshness. Youth, like a flower must be offered in worship to Mother Goddess. But if not properly utilized, soon winter will set in, and the frost will destroy the lotus. It is important to preserve the freshness of the lotus called youth. If youth is wasted and gets destroyed with time, regret is unavoidable. Time destroys youth. It cannot be regained. Youth does not mean a certain time span, but the time when the inclination for spiritual seeking sets in. When the advice is given to seek what is eternal, that is the time of youth. That time should at once be properly utilized for performing good actions and for continuous philosophical pondering. It should not be wasted on pursuing pleasures. New insights must be sought and experienced. Virtues must be increased. Guru’s advice gives you a pebble called virtue. You must increase the pile of such pebbles until it becomes a mountain of virtues.
Punah ..
Now Sri Rama is speaking about life. These janmas/lifetimes keep occurring. Trees are chopped off and they grow again. They shed the seeds and saplings grow into trees again. The trees serve us in so many different ways. But negligently, recklessly, mindlessly we keep chopping off such useful trees. When the human mind is such, and when there are people who not only do not help but do deliberate harm, how to trust anything or anyone in this world? Such a life in this world should not be trusted. The way we chop down a tree, Time chops down our lives. A tree that does not yield fruits while it is alive cannot yield any fruits when it is cut down. Similarly, unless our lives bear fruit while we are alive, once life departs, they cannot bear any fruits. God has given us this tree of life. Allow it and encourage it to bear fruit while it has life. Sri Rama is teaching us that we must learn how to be helpful to others from the examples shown to us by trees, rivers, the ocean, the sun, and the moon. Dattatreya Swami had all these as his gurus.
It is so easy to chop down a full grown tree without a second thought and with no discretion. Seeing so many beautiful trees being mercilessly chopped down, I spoke with someone in authority. He said: If you wish for development, you have to cut down trees. I had a false hope that this intelligent man would help protect the trees, but this was the answer he gave me. We have to realize that we are paying a very heavy price in the name of development. We are paying for it with our lives. Roads do get widened without causing harm to trees. In many countries other ways are found to improve travel facilities without harming trees. These trees were planted many decades ago and are offering beautiful shade. Have the city developers ever given even a glass of water to the tree? No. Yet, without wincing, they simply chop the trees down.
Time mercilessly gives the consequences to each individual as per the actions performed in the past. How to base our trust upon such a life, says Sri Rama. During youth, Sri Rama, afraid that he may be asked to live a life of pleasure and not worry about all these philosophical issues, is cautioning us all.
Those who are in the pursuit of Self-realization also help others indirectly. Such persons would never intend any harm to others. One should develop a deep interest in attaining Self-realization.
Jaya Guru Datta.
Om Santissantissantihi.
Navaratri festival is approaching. Please chant Sri Lalita Sahasranama. It is Vedanta Sastra. Please chant it without any mistakes. I pray for Sadguru’s grace to be showered upon all. Please write Sri Mata.
Sri Guru Datta