Resources

The knowledge-orientation should become a broomstick and sweep your mind through. Why is it that it is not taking place? It is because you are not sensitive to wisdom.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Last night, Binita was telling me that I should tell all of you something inspiring. I said: “Unless you ask me some questions, how will the satsang be effective?” “No Swamiji,” she appealed, “without being specifically asked, you please say something”. Then I started explaining how the scriptures tell us a variety of things and how a good seeker should rightly take to those statements which have a bearing on the mind, and on sādhanā.

Always look for those scriptural statements which can be applied to your daily life and sādhanā. If you are able to discern them and if you start applying them in your life, I think, it will make a great difference. Unless all of you have sufficient stock of spiritual material with you, your progress will be slow and limited. Fill the mind with spiritual statements, spiritual aphorisms and spiritual analysis. That means your whole thought process should become spiritual.

The whole of Bhagavad Gita dialogue deals with the mind and intelligence. Sri Krishna was providing ideas one after another, and Arjuna was listening to and absorbing them with unshaken śraddhā. The outcome was a complete change in Arjuna’s personality. He resolved to take up the battle with a free and enlightened mind. It was by exposure to the ideas presented by Krishna, that Arjuna’s perspective changed. So, reflect upon these ideas and absorb them.

Maa is teaching you a number of verses. I think this learning of verses is a much more effective sādhanā than anything else. But how far you respond to it remains to be seen. Are you learning them, and remembering them? As you keep absorbing them, your whole being should become spiritual. Bhagavad Gita says:

तद्बुद्धयस्तदात्मानस्तन्निष्ठास्तत्परायणा: |

Tad-buddhayaḥ-tad-ātmānaḥ-tan-niṣṭhāḥ-tat-parāyaṇāḥ | (5.17).

There are four clauses here: Tad-buddhayaḥ– those whose intelligence is steeped in That. Intelligence, buddhi, should be given to reflecting upon spiritual Truths.

Tad-ātmānaḥ – those who see themselves identified with That. Your enquiry should be: “Am I not wholesomely spiritual, wholesomely devotional? Being a wholesome seeker, how did I slip? Is this the way? Where is the wrong? Where did I distance myself? Am I not the Self? Let me abide by this Truth. I am the Self, different from the body.” That identity with the Soul should be there. And that identity should set right all errors and omissions in thoughts and behavioural expressions.

Tan-niṣṭhāḥ – those whose constant pursuit is That. Your only pursuit should be that of gaining identity with the Self by virtue of reflection done by the intelligence and absorption by the mind. That alone should be your niṣṭhā.

Tat-parāyaṇāḥ – those to whom That alone is the refuge. That alone should be your support and help. Drop all other reliance completely.

See, our R comes here regularly. He still wears the sacred thread and follows all the rituals on special days. He has a number of religious obligations, I believe. As long as these other pursuits are there, tan-niṣṭhāḥ– that exclusivity in this pursuit – will not be had.

He should reflect: “I am a seeker and seeking is my niṣṭhā. Every ritual is answered by this niṣṭhā. Every duty is met by this niṣṭhā. I have nothing else to become. I need no other discipline. This and this itself will look after everything”. This kind of exclusiveness is tan-niṣṭhā. And for those given to this exclusiveness, what is the assurance that Krishna gives?

अनन्याश्चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जना: पर्युपासते |
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योगक्षेमं वहाम्यहम् || (9.22)

For those who take to the thoughts of the Supreme exclusively, making such exclusiveness itself the core and content of their worship, the Supreme itself ensures their welfare and prosperity.

Krishna does not advise you to run to a temple or a special abode, whenever difficulties arise. Do not look for any change. “I am a devotee. I am a seeker. Whatever is, let it be. Whatever will take place, let it. I need nothing more.” – this kind of reliance you should have. Instead, if you look for some other refuge, some other reliance, that feeling is the slip. That is the error, insufficiency.

Similarly, whenever there are shortcomings in your interactions, you should see the cause for it. “Did I speak properly? Was my attitude right? If it was not right, why was it not right? Where was the kāma in me? Where was the krodha? Was there raga, dveṣa, or bhaya?” This constant examining of your mano- vṛttis is the niṣṭhā. Have a sense of refuge in this.

All of you are struggling. What is the struggle? Whenever we explain a proposition or an aspect of sādhanā – maybe you understand it at that time – but that understanding is not able to wash and remove the stains in you. The understanding has not become a broomstick. The impurity is not getting removed by that understanding. The knowledge-orientation should become a broomstick and sweep your mind through.

Why is it that it is not taking place? It is because you are not sensitive to wisdom. Your mind and your intelligence are still opaque to spiritual wisdom. Maa told me this; Naya Swamiji mentioned this; Swamiji has revealed this. No further persuasion should be necessary. Why should there be any opacity?

If you are not able to be sensitive, and if you are not able to respond correctly, then who will know it? Nobody else will know. That examination and analysis can be done by you alone. You yourself will have to do it.

Unless the mind becomes sensitive to spirituality and spiritual wisdom, I don’t think this sādhanā can progress at all. How many years have passed – why should you not become wholesomely spiritual? How will you become? Have a sense of reliance on your niṣṭhā. You must be able to say: “I am a seeker. I am a devotee. I must always rely upon my niṣṭhā and nothing else”.

We are having different types of activities here. Many kinds of assistance and support are necessary for these. Huge funds will be required. Manpower will be required. There will be problems to be resolved. In all these things, my mind does not resort to any additional source for refuge or help. My reliance on God, on Providence is total. He is surrounding me. He is penetrating me. I am engulfed by Him. Besides this, what further do I need? Can I bring a basket of lotuses and place them on God’s feet? Can I undertake a pilgrimage? Can I do any fasting? Because He surrounds me and permeates me, other than this reliance, nothing else is necessary.

In this perception, feeling, experience and realization, I think every form of sādhanā is covered. And whatever is to follow, will follow. If something follows, well and good. If nothing follows, then also good. This is how you have to rub your mind and intelligence against the wisdom.

So, fill your mind with spiritual thoughts. And how will you do that? For that, you must have ample stock of spiritual material in you. This is where shlokas play their excellent role. Learn at least one hundred verses. These verses should become part and parcel of your mind and intelligence. And they should start constantly ringing in you – suggesting solutions to your problems, correcting you, improving you, elevating, refining and reforming you, inspiring and empowering you.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.

– Prabhata Rashmih, Sep 2006