SAI GITA 8; JNANA YOGA (Part 2) Telugu Talk:
Sai Gita 8; Jnana Yoga (Part 2)
Sai’s love is supreme and his guidance is matchless. His grace is
unfathomable. He made Nana chandorkar or other devotees to gravitate towards
him where ever they are. Nana was initially reluctant to visit Baba but Sai
made him come to Shirdi and tells him that their relationship was for many
lives.
One day Nana Chandorkar, Bere,
Lakshman, Maruti and other devotees were present there. They were all were
seated in the Dwarakamai looking at Baba to their hearts content, as a child
lovingly gazes at his mother when they meet, after she had been gone for a long
time. They were deeply immersed in happiness and lost all count of time. Nanasaheb
Chandorkar then joined his hands in supplication and said, "Baba, you are
not giving us a reply no matter how many times we ask you. Why are you annoyed
with us? You are verily the almighty. If you are angry with us where else can
we find shelter in this universe?"
Baba smiled, "I am never angry with anyone. You are all my
children. On whom should I show my anger? I never feel anger against any one. I
am as you are in front of the almighty Venkusa. Why indeed should anyone be
annoyed and show anger towards anyone else?"
Baba continued, "Keep remembering what I have told you before
and pay careful heed to what I am going to reveal to you now. Nana, if you have
embedded what I have told you earlier carefully in your heart, you would have
understood the greatness of the four-fold sadhana. The person who is diligent
in the practice of the four-fold sadhana will realize the Brahman easily.
Sadhana is the efforts one makes towards one's salvation and
towards achieving the ever pure knowledge of self.
Sadhana is of four kinds.
2) Dispassion (Vairagya)
3) Samadamadi Shat Sampatti (Six
practices of mental restraint).
4) Mumukshu (The quality of the active quest for knowledge).
Discrimination of
the permanent and the impermanent nature of things (Nitya- Anitya vastu viveka)
"Let me tell you first
about the discriminate wisdom of permanence and impermanence. The firming up of
the belief that Brahman is the permanent truth and the world is an impermanent lie,
until it is a rocklike like foundation of all thought is the discriminate
wisdom of permanence and impermanence. Many try to talk about this
discrimination and the knowledge of permanence and impermanence and make an
exhibition of their foolish ignorance. Many go in groups to Pandharpur begging
for alms on the way. Not one of these has come to know the Brahman.
Who is Brahman? What does
he look like? Where does he stay? Who knows these things?"
"Those who go in groups to Pandharpur merely to boast to the
others that they too had performed the pilgrimage are not the true devotees.
Some read many books on spirituality. They give instruction to the others about
morals and the right conduct, but they themselves are not pure. As long as
one's heart is impure, what is the use of books or of teaching? They are like
the frogs in the lake of knowledge, who instead of drinking deeply of the
nectar of knowledge flowing from the lotus which is Brahman; eat instead
greedily the mud of barren arguments lying on the bed of the lake."
Dispassion
(Vairagya):
"Those who speak criticizing others will stay on in the mud.
They will not gain wisdom. Those who indulge in barren arguments and those who
always criticize others will not gain the knowledge of the Brahman. He who has
no desires for either the worldly or the spiritual is the man of true
dispassion. Nana! Know this to be the truth.”
"Nana! Shama, dama, titiksha, uparati, sraddha and samadhana
are the six sadhanas.
Dama is to forcibly restrain the body and the senses from seeking
sensory enjoyment.
Titiksha is forbearance. It is to bear with equanimity all that is
happening one as a result of prarabhda karma.
Uparati is the withdrawal of the senses so that one does not fall into the
maya of considering woman, gold, children, relatives and friends as true.
Sraddha is the faith and devotion to one's guru.
Samadhana is to look at happiness or misery with an equal eye.
Mumukshu (The quality of the active quest for
knowledge):
The one who has the strong desire for moksha in his heart, and
disregarding everything else; searches sincerely for the path to achieve the
knowledge of the Brahman is a mumukshu. I have described the qualities of a
mumukshu earlier. Moksha is not Kailash, the abode of Shiva or Vaikuntha, the
abode of Vishnu. Moksha is a very difficult thing to achieve. The path to
moksha has many obstacles and pitfalls. Nana! Pay close attention. To conjoin
with the pure consciousness which is the basis and the foundation of this
universe is moksha. To reach that everlasting stage is the object of human
endeavor (purushartha). All else is a waste."
Chaitanya
(Consciousness):
"Nana heard the able one with joy. He joined his hands in
supplication and asked, "Baba, what is pure consciousness? What are its
characteristics? Where does one find it?"
Pure Consciousness and its
characters:
"Baba replied patiently, "What is the basis for this
universe; what is existing in all living and non- living creation and is still
left over; what is the life force which is the foundation of the universe is
the pure consciousness. In what, the universe again merges at the end of it,
all is pure consciousness. What is visible to our eye in the entire universe is
that Brahman. The pure consciousness shines without interruption in all in the
form of, "I am ", "I am". This is a constant experience of
all living beings.
You asked me where the pure
consciousness is. You tell me where it is not.
You may search everywhere in this universe and outside it; you will never find
a place where it is not. Everything is pure consciousness. It has no name and
no form. As the air is beyond shape or form or color or other attributes so is
pure consciousness. That is pure consciousness or Brahman. Never forget this
truth. The saints who have realized themselves are always in the direct
experience of the Brahman. The various animal life, plant life and humanity are
all its forms. The seer, the seen, the look, the knowledge, the energy - pure
consciousness is the basis or the foundation for all this. It is omnipresent.
It is pure bliss. It is the true knowledge. The form of that pure consciousness
is Brahman."
"Nana was still not
clear in his mind. He joined his hands in supplication and said,
"Baba, Oh complete and able Sadguru! You say that the Brahman
is everywhere; you say it is pure bliss and it is one. If it is one, how is
that visible to us in so many forms in this universe? You say that the pure consciousness
is filling everything in the animate and inanimate world. And you say that its
form is pure bliss. Why then is there so much misery in this world? I am not
able to understand this. How can one born blind in both eyes appreciate beauty?
In the same way, how can pure consciousness which is the truth abide in this
world which is an illusion? If you say that the soul is the pure consciousness,
how are there so many souls when the consciousness is one? Each soul has its
own experience of pleasure and pain; happiness and misery. How can you say that
a single pure consciousness abides in all and everywhere? The soul abiding in
each body is different from the others. How can you say that the pure
consciousness is the soul? I believe that they are different. Please clear my doubt."
"Baba patiently replied, "Oh Nana, you are making a
mistake here. Still your mind in concentration and peacefully listen do what I
say. Take some pots of water and mix white, black, yellow, green, red, pink,
green and magenta colors in the water. They all look different from each other.
But the water is the same in all pots. The water seems red in the red pot and
yellow in the yellow pot. If the mixed colors are removed somehow from the water,
the same water remains. In the same way, the soul is one. The hearts are many.
It is only when the soul and the heart are joined in one place that the
happiness or sadness is experienced. Know this well, Nana." "The
Atman has no difference or division. It is the same everywhere. This is the
truth. Happiness or sadness is the dharma relating to the heart. The heart gets
the consciousness only when it is conjoined with the soul. Let me explain this
in more detail so that you can understand it easily.
This consciousness shines in the beings in the form of
paramardhaka, vyavaharika and pratibhasika depending on the progression and
spiritual maturity of the beings. Oh Narayana, even though the body is one it
has the various forms of youth, maturity and old age. It is the same case with
the consciousness."
"Paramardhaka
consciousness may be seen only in the saints.
Vyavaharikas: Those who model their conduct as enjoined by the sastras and know
what is to be retained and what discarded and progress towards salvation are
the Vyavaharikas.
Pratibhasika: Those who believe the untruth to be the truth and whose intellect
is steeped in ignorance are the pratibhasika.
You should know that the Pratibhasika are the ignorant, the
vyvaharika are the wise and the paramardhaka are saints. Even so, the same
Atman shines in all.
The king, his officer, and his emissary are all part of the same
kingdom. The basis and the foundation of their power is the constitution of that
country. Even then, there are differences amongst them. One rides in state on
the elephant and sits on the throne. He moves about as he fancies. All the
people follow the constitution. It is the duty of every one to follow it
without demur. The king, his officialdom, the servants, and the people are all
different but they all follow the same constitution. The king may die but the
constitution lives on. The successor to the king obtains his power from that.
That constitution is not a thing to be purchased or sold commercially but all
weal is available because of it. By which constitution the king sits on throne,
by the same constitution the servants serve him and look after his every
comfort. The king gets the greatest benefit from it; his officialdom gets
lesser benefit, his servants even less benefit and the common people the least
benefit. In the same manner he who has realized and experienced that his soul
and the Brahman are one; gets the Brahman in its full form."
Nana heard what Baba said. He was still perplexed. He asked,
"Baba how does the constitution which is one for all change to so many
forms to benefit people in different ways? By such division does not its unity
get disturbed?" Well asked Nana," said Baba, "The constitution
is a unified whole. It is indivisible. But it looks as if it is divided and
applied differently to different individuals. The same applies to pure
consciousness too. Pure consciousness is not divisible but the individual
obtains only what he grasps. Let us take the example of pots of various sizes
filled with water. The same sky one sees in the mighty river is seen in the
pots too. The pot may be big or small; the sky reflected in the water contained
in the pots or the river is the same. In the river one sees the biggest
reflection of the sky. The sky in each pot seems smaller or larger depending on
the size of the pot. Has the sky been divided? In the same way is the case with
pure consciousness. This world is an illusion (maya). Brahman and maya
have joined together to create this world."
Maya:
Nana then asked, "How has this Maya originated? Who originated
it? When did it arrive and from where? You said that pure consciousness is the
basis and foundation of this world. You also said that the entire universe is
nothing but pure consciousness. Whence sprang this Maya?"
Baba, that kindness incarnate patiently replied to Nana. "I
will let you know whence this Maya came. Listen to me with concentrated
attention, Oh son of Govinda.
The energy contained in pure
consciousness is Maya. Maya encloses pure consciousness.
As how one cannot separate sugar and its sweetness, as one cannot
separate the sun and its light; in the same way are the Maya and the Brahman.
The sun and the sunlight are two different words. But it is only by a
conjoining of the both, that the form of the sun visible to us. We distinguish
and identify the sun by its form, the heat and the light it radiates. We have
to look at Maya and Brahman in a similar way. But there is an end to Maya and
there is no end to pure consciousness. Pure consciousness has no beginning too.
It just is. It is by Maya or Prakriti or Nature that this whole world has
formed.
"Those who enter the cave of Self- Realization do not revert
to ignorance. They take the form of that cave and dance in the joy of infinite
bliss. The reason for all this is eternal Brahman. Maya is his creation. Oh
Narayana, the power of this Maya is as the limitless ocean of unplumbed depths.
The feeling, 'I am such and such' is formed by Maya. This is an untruth.
Once Maya casts its net of deception on us, we cannot know and
recognize either the truth or untruth. Maya has two principal qualities. Know
you what they are! What is visible and true is hidden by Maya. What is not
visible and is untrue is shown by Maya. All people are mesmerized by Maya and
are victims of illusion. A servant gets a dream that he has become a king. By
this dream Maya has shut out his true state of servant hood. In addition even
if he was not the king, he fell in to the illusion of believing himself to be
the king by the power of Maya in the dream. In this manner, Maya hides the true
Brahman and shows the world which is illusory. In truth, this world is not. It
is only the universal consciousness which fills all. But due to Maya we are
able to see only this world. All things visible to us in this world are mere
illusion but we are deluded in to thinking that they are true by the power of Maya.
If we succeed in removing the covering of Maya by discriminate knowledge, we
will be able to see and realize the Brahman. You will then realize that you are
the world. When the pollutants are removed from the water one gets pure water.
In the same, way when the Maya is removed pure consciousness is visible.
Atman is the truth. I tell this to all.
To recognize, realize the atman and to be immersed in it is the
sole objective of all spiritual endeavor.
These are the simple and effective words from our Great Sadguru about
Self- Realization. Baba said, "Keep this instruction safe in your heart.
Let it be ever alive to lead you on the right path."
Das Ganu Maharaj ends this conversation between Baba and others
with the following words.
When the sun of knowledge rises, can the darkness of ignorance
remain? Oh my master, Sri Sai Baba, please put me in your lap. Please give a
small place for this child of yours in the shade of the great tree of your grace.
OM SAI RAM!
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