Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
August 2, 2017
Karkati has two forms. With those she tortures people with diseases. This is an interesting and funny story. Sage Valmiki narrates this so that Sri Rama does not get bored. A good teacher keeps the lessons entertaining. Sage Vasishtha is the first among the seven sages. He is a great teacher.
The places where the demon resides has been described in detail. She travels in cities and gets tired. The cities are described as filled with colors and flags. There are lots of people there. She resides in tattered clothes and spreads diseases.
We clean our homes and throw the trash in trash cans. Unless the trash is properly removed and taken far away, the dust and breeze blowing over it may bring the contaminants back into our homes.
Sometimes a bull is allowed to roam free and it helps in increasing the population of cows. It gets an itch in its horns and it relieves its itch on anthills, and trees. The mud that has been disturbed by a bull thus, is said to be highly valuable as medicine.
Those who do mantra japa and pious deeds are immune to the attacks of the demon.
The demon is a needle. It gets tired when tailors pull it this way and that. It sometimes slips and drops. It then rolls away and hides in glee. The needle sometimes hides in the folds of a fabric, to be found much later. In the action of stitching, it takes joy, imagining that with each stitch it is causing pain. Yet, it protects the fingers of the seamstress or tailor because she does not wish them to stop stitching.
Mosquitos should not be wantonly killed for sport. It is better to protect ourselves by other means rather than killing them for fun. Now the demon is still hungry, but is unable to satisfy its hunger.
This procedure of stitching clothes has been there for ages. The living invisible needle helps the iron needle to travel. She is like an old woman who is unwilling to die. She goes everywhere, like bacteria. She eats the fuzz that gets stuck in the eye of the needle when the needle is getting threaded. She becomes satisfied with that. It imagines that it is eating up the thread. The tailor feels that the thread is shrinking and would pause his stitching. Then the demon rests. The once powerful demon, now in the hands of men, is at their mercy to get some rest, and some food.
How can a needle eat thread? It is an exaggeration. The demon consoled itself that even as a needle, it can survive and live on threads. Cruel people still help when they see someone in dire poverty. Their heart melts and they give charity. This needle demon would feel pity to see torn clothes. When they got mended, she felt happy that she became useful.
With the wish to eat well, the demon became a needle, which became useful only to sew fabrics. The huge demon turned into a tiny needle. Those who start small with illegal dealing in their greed to get rich, slowly get into bigger deceits and get in trouble.
Kumbhakarna wished to say Indra, wanting the position of Indra in heaven, when he got a chance to ask for a boon for his penance. Instead, he said Nidra. He ended up sleeping six months in a year.
One must be careful and alert while asking for favors.
As a needle, the demon was now filling the stomachs of torn clothes. But clothes have no life to recognize its charity. Once in a while, she regretted her foolishness in desiring to turn into a needle.
An old man was asked his age. He said he was ten. It was only ten years earlier that he met his Guru and began living wisely.
Earlier, the demon had a huge stomach and a huge appetite. Now, she is kept in a tiny sewing box and taken out to sew torn clothes. Now she feels remorse, but her demonic traits continue to stay with her.
When Hiranyaksha died, his brother Hiranyakashipu spoke great words of wisdom to console the wife and mother of the deceased. But once that was done, he harbored great hatred toward Sri Hari. What is the use?
The needle felt remorse, but still had the tendency to poke and pierce people. One must transcend nature, and not succumb to one’s evil nature. Use intelligence to divert attention toward good things from bad things. Those who use their intelligence, will be able to recognize divinity.
We carry with us when we die, our Karma files. When the computer is in sleep mode also, the files are saved there. Our inner tendencies are not obvious, but they travel with us.
Our lives are determined by past actions and tendencies. God is not amused at us. We are controlled by our own karmas. Although God is called a puppet master, he is not entertaining himself. At the time we leave the body, what our minds dwell on, determines our future life. What we remember at death is most important. When we are healthy and well, we must give practice to our minds to keep thinking of God. Even with strenuous practice, still, one may forget to think of God at the time of death due to pains or anxieties. One must engage in constant practice of chanting God’s name and remembering God. The story of Ajamila says, Ajamila said only Nara instead of Narayana, due to old age, although in his mind he intended to say Narayana. Yet, he was liberated.
In science, everything has to be proven. Here we accept many things on faith. We cannot apply scientific procedures all the time in spirituality.
The needle tries to hide its face in the fabric because it is afraid of being thrown away. Wicked people, like thieves, come out only during the night. They tend to hide from society. Children should be taught to mingle in society boldly. To hide is a demonic trait.
The needle has all bad and cruel thoughts. At every opportunity, it thinks of ways to cause harm. To the needle, it makes no difference whether the fabric she is sewing is dirty or clean, is rough or smooth, inferior or superior, whether it is silk or jute.
If the tailor holds the needle too tight, she imagines that she is getting strangled. She is heartless and so does not wish for pious company. The needle is unable to scream and express her frustration. She wanted to hurt others, but now she herself has a hole in her. She feels bad for that reason. She has no stomach but only a hole.
One who is sick is told not to eat, although he loves food.
There is a story where anything the man touched, turned to gold, including food. It was a miserable life. He got such a boon foolishly.
Now, the demon wished to go back to being a mountain again. She once again did penance. This time she wanted to ask for the boon to be big and eat everyone. But suddenly her mind was transformed.
With mantra, many say, the mind is not steady for doing japa. But only with practice, mind will become steady. Sandhya Vandana is a discipline, that at dawn, noon, and dusk, one must remember to offer prayers. One has to develop the discipline. It takes days, months, or even years to develop discipline and steadiness. One must practice patiently. The demon performed penance again. This time, she changed her mind about what to ask. She wanted to only eat the wicked. She wanted to know who the wicked ones are.
Once, a king met the demon and a conversation ensued. Then the demon turns divine.
This story tells how even a demon can turn into a goddess. Kandara Devi is the goddess who cures diseases. She lives in a cave. She is worshiped for her blessing. Such is the power of penance.
Today is a very good day. This year we are celebrating the 75th Birthday of Swamiji. 75 old couples over 75 years old are being honored. Blind and mute children are here performing Anaghashtami Vratam.
Sri Guru Datta