Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha
August 3, 2017
Karkati, with the two bodies, the visible iron needle, and the invisible needle that causes diseases, is still hungry, and is unable to satisfy her hunger. Now she is feeling remorseful. This is regret after making a mistake. This incident is beautifully described by Sage Valmiki.
This bad fate she deserved. Now she is blaming herself. Her intention was to hurt others. Now she feels like she is getting strangled when people put a thread through the hole in the needle. When people are using the needle to sew, the needle is always hoping and waiting to escape and be lost and not be found. A dropped needle is hard to find.
Would a microphone feel bad our spit falls on it? Would a sofa complain that a fat man is crushing it? That is how things will feel if they had life and feelings. Here, the needle has life and has feelings. People do not know it. She is suffering in the grip of the seamstress. The needle then decides to just slip out of the hands and escape.
Many tailors wear shorts, and put a pencil behind the ear. The needle imagines that it fell from his hand and got entwined in the hair on the leg of the tailor. The tailor is surprised and struggles to release it.
Only wicked people will get entangled in situations like this, because of bad nature. Hair is a good companion for it. A bad fellow always seeks the company of evil-minded persons. This needle had the power of entering one’s mind and corrupting it.
That is why, one must close the eyes while meditating. Eyes and ears distract us. We forget easily our connection with Guru. If we are under water, we cannot hear properly. The sound of our life force is heard. The roaring sounds of the great deluge are within us, as Swamiji mentioned.
When we close our eyes, and shut out the visible world, we can meditate better.
Yesterday, there were blind children here. Some were born blind. Some lost sight due to disease or accident. I felt bad to see the ones who were born blind. I had tears. But the blind children have perfect memory. In three days, they memorized ten bhajans and sang them beautifully. Children with sight could not memorize like that. Only by sound, they recognize things. They recognize people by their voices. Sound alone is their help.
In the story of Sage Chyavana, he lost both eyes because Sukanya pierced his eyes out of curiosity, seeing some glowing sparks. The sage was glad that he no longer needed to deliberately close his eyes to shut out the world while meditating.
A blacksmith, if he finds needles, what does he do? When people give him rusted needles, he melts the metal at extreme heat. He uses the bellows to blow air to keep the fire going. This demon-needle escapes into the bellows and releases itself from the hands of the blacksmith.
It is like a fox that branded stripes on its skin, to imitate a tiger. I was equally foolish, the demon felt, in asking to have a body like a needle.
The invisible needle torments people from the inside obstructing the movement of the vital airs inside. It displaces the vital airs from their positions. The vital airs have different functions and they are all disturbed by the invisible needle which goes inside the body.
A team of people can detect the levels of the vital airs within us. They held a camp here last year. They have the equipment to detect those. It helps to diagnose health problems. The vital airs are in stomach, throat, excretory organs, and elsewhere. The intention of the needle is to cause diseases. The body turns blue or yellow due to disease.
The needle would go to shepherds because it is attracted by the smell of wool. It fell in the balls of wool and rested there. It would fall into the hands of children and pierce their fingers. We always prevent children from handling needles and knives. This demon had pleasure in hurting people. It poked people’s feet when it fell on the ground, and laughed when they bled.
While people were making garlands, the needle enjoyed piercing through flowers, giving them pain.
In mud, the needle feels it is in heaven, because of its evil mentality. When we get a bad feeling, we must question ourselves why we are lingering in a bad place, such as, amidst people who smoke cigarettes or cigars, inhaling secondhand smoke and getting sick. Homa smoke cures diseases.
A bad fellow enjoys when others suffer. Even when he has no benefit from it, he likes to torture others. The suffering of others gives him pleasure. This demon is like that.
As a small needle, it cannot cause any great injury. But it keeps giving discomfort. Some people keep quarreling and shouting. They may never come to blows. But the sharp words exchanged are a nuisance to hear. Even Vedas are not supposed to be shouted out loud. They should be enunciated in a pleasing tone.
Words are as powerful as weapons. They can give benefit, and they can injure as well. The needle is happy to go around giving pain to others.
A poor man found a broken sea shell on his way. He felt very happy and preserved it carefully. Similarly, this needle is overjoyed to see a drop of blood because of its demonic trait and its ego. It was very difficult for it to get rid of its ego.
Even if you did the job yourself, share the credit with the team. Say we did it. Guru likes it very much. Many people claim the entire credit for themselves because of ego. Team work is very important. Giving credit to others yields success much easier. If others decline to give support, you cannot achieve success.
Guru made me do it. I am a tool in his hands. This should be our conviction and attitude. Ego is difficult to get rid of.
The demon felt proud to have the two bodies, visible and the invisible bodies. When selfishness is excessive, one cannot be generous at all. It is okay to wish well for yourself. But never wish ill upon others. In spiritual progress, this is a deterrent. Our spiritual journey continues beyond this lifetime. We must make a deliberate effort to become selfless. People forget to feed others. But they never forget to eat.
The needle felt that she could easily take lives through stitching people. Unused, the needle gets rusted. When she is not hurting others in the form of disease, she is getting sick herself. The boon resulted in this. In its invisible form, it is torturing others, causing sudden calamities. Only Mantra Japa, and good deeds work as an antidote against this demon and other demons. Hanuman Chalisa is an antidote. Evil spirit run away when they hear the name of Hanuman.
When a person tears a small piece in his upper garment because of the needle, the needle feels very happy. The needle travels in the breeze, and rests in the wool of the sheep, in dust, in walls, in flowers, and in forests.
It was evening. Rama was entertained by this story told by Vasishtha. This is the sixth day of the Upadesha.
Everyone was dispersing to freshen up and offer prayers. The next morning everyone assembles again in the court.
Tomorrow is a very important day, the seventh day. In the Utpatti Prakarana, Sthithi Prakarana, and others, the seventh day is the concluding day. A student must not wish for weekend, but should look forward to the next day’s lesson.
The weeping of the needle is the story for the seventh day. The needle blames herself. For a long time, the needle wandered, and ate the flesh of people. It could only imagine eating. It had no stomach to eat. It satisfied itself seeing a drop of blood she caused to spill.
Contentment is vital for happiness. You must feel satisfaction at every stage. If you get 99%, be happy. Next, try for 100%. People should not get depressed and refuse to celebrate small achievements. Share your happiness with others. It is okay to aim higher for the future. But be contented with every small success. One drop of blood fills it up, but the needle’s thirst is never satisfied. Greed is excessive thirst. It causes depression. It is difficult to get rid of greed.
Soochika needle regrets turning into a needle from a mountain. It regrets the decision that she asked for this form. Now it is helpless. It cannot eat even a morsel, not even a grain of food. It realized that this change occurred because of its own bad nature. She used to be huge as a mountain. Now she is light as a falling leaf in a forest. It goes through a lot of thoughts of regret. She thought deeply about the mistake she made.
At night, all the activities of the day must come before the mind’s eye. The hurts caused to yourself and others, the excessive talk indulged in, all these mistakes must be recognized and removed. With an open and honest mind, one must examine sincerely. You must set aside and wipe out bad thoughts. This process is a good exercise for the mind. It is very essential. If you do not give it deep thought, regret will not have a proper effect of improving one’s nature. This must be done daily. This is an important spiritual practice. What tempted you? What made you scold others? That was wrong action. Anger and restlessness must be removed from the mind. Regret and remorse every day are necessary. One justifies one’s own mistakes like a lawyer. Others’ mistakes we declare, like judges. In the court inside the mind, one must honestly make accusations on oneself, when mistakes occur.
The needle-demon performs penance again.
Today it is Shravana Suddha Ekadasi. A very auspicious day. Swamiji is narrating the Bhagavatam.
Sri Guru Datta