Thursday, February 22, 2007

Story 41 – Story of Saubhari Muni - 03

Saubhari Muni who had achieved siddhis through tapas (austerity) was once taking a dip in the Yamuna river for bath. At that time, he saw a big fish having sexual pleasure with its partner thereby getting extreme happiness. Seeing this, Saubhari got a desire to enjoy the same. Therefore he decided to marry some girl.

Explanation


Desire is something which affects even people who have achieved great siddhis through control of the mind. Mind is such that it is very tough to control it at all times. A person who has controlled the mind will succumb to some desire at other times. The only way to control the mind once and for all is through surrendering totally to the ultimate reality of Lord with the knowledge that there is nothing here but the Lord alone. This knowledge and surrender alone can get the mind controlled for eternity – this control is not temporary like the control through yoga sadhanas because with this surrender, the mind itself vanishes. The seeker is never under the control of the mind but the mind is ever under the control of the Lord – the Lord is only present in the mind always and hence the mind is under the control of the thought of the Lord.

All other means of control of the mind are temporary. Mind can be easily controlled initially by yoga sadhanas or prayanama or meditation – but this isn’t permanent control. In order to have the mind always under control, the seeker will have do the yoga sadhana at all times. Also since desires have not been fulfilled completely through knowledge of the Lord, there is always chance of desires arising in the mind depending on the situation or environment or surroundings.

This is exactly what we see in Saubhari Muni. The Muni who had controlled his mind and attained yoga siddhis couldn’t control sexual desire when he saw a fish couple indulging in sexual pleasure. Mahatmas have proclaimed that taste (tongue) and sexual desire (through the organ of procreation) are the two of the toughest organs to have controlled. We have to thus constantly remember that desire in the form of external objects is always trying to lure our mind – one false step like Saubhari and we are into the ocean of samsaara from which it will be impossible to come out unless we seek another Mahatma. Therefore we as seekers of the ultimate reality of Lord should always have the organ of taste and procreation under control – it is ofcourse impossible to get rid of these organs but we can keep them under control. Keeping the organs under control doesn’t mean that we should eat less but only means that we have to constantly remember the Lord and offer the actions performed by these organs to the Lord. In such a case, there would be no effect of the activities which would lead us into the ocean of samsaara – instead even if there is any desire, that will be fulfilled and destroyed by the ultimate reality of Lord itself. The knowledge of thought of the Lord will destroy such desire into ashes even as fire burns firewood into ashes.

We have to remember that scriptures doesn’t proclaim a seeker to get rid of the desire of taste and sexual pleasure – as this isn’t possible for the majority of people either due to being involved in marriage or due to strong vasana (latent tendency to indulge in such pleasure) in the mind. Scriptures only say that enjoy those desires but remember the Lord alone with enjoyment of the desires. Slowly the seeker will find the vasana getting away from the mind and the thought of Lord alone will remain in the mind. Though such a seeker might indulge in worldly pleasures as they come, his mind will never crave for such desires but will always be contemplating on the ultimate reality of Lord.

We will see in the next day as to what this desire can lead a seeker to through Saubhari’s story.

Saubhari Muni thus went to the palace and asked the king to marry one of his daughters to him. The king was in trouble now as he didn’t know which girl would like this muni who was very old. Therefore the king said to the muni to go inside and choose any of his daughters to marry. The king thought that all his daughters would not accept marriage with this old man. But the muni understood the king’s state. Thereby through yoga siddhi, he turned into a young and beautiful man. Thereby he went inside and all of the 50 daughters got attracted to him. Thus Saubhari was married to all of the 50 daughters of the king.

Explanation


It is but a quite controversial topic as to whether a seeker has to follow the path of grihastha or the path of sanyaasa in order to realize the ultimate reality of Lord. Grihastha people would say that grihastha is superior because the seeker remembers the Lord amidst all troubles and distractions in the world. Sanyaasins would say that sanyaasa is superior because here you renounce everything and live only depending on the Lord.

Balakrishnan Nair is one of the exception to the above two types of jnaanis who proclaim the path which they have taken as superior. Balakrishnan Nair always emphasizes that it isn’t important as to what we are doing or where we are – but what is important is whether we are remembering the ultimate reality of Lord with the knowledge that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists, one without a second. Great grihasthas like Ambariksha, Janaka and others have realized the ultimate reality of Lord whereas many sanyaasins like Durvaasa and others had to realize the reality through these grihasthas.

Thus it is not important whether we are sanyaasins or grihasthas but it is important to remember the ultimate reality of Lord. The moment we forget the ultimate reality of Lord and aren’t aware enough to focus the mind back to the Lord once he is forgotten, we will end up in the ocean of samsaara. This is exactly what happened with Saubhari Muni. He was not focused on the Lord and hence one single desire came to his mind. This desire didn’t stop with itself – he had to change himself into a young man in order to get married to the daughters of the king. The tapas that the Muni had done for ages were used just to fulfill a desire!!! This is what happens when we forget the ultimate reality of Lord. Let’s say that a devotee is trying to remember the Lord but forgets the Lord at some point of time. Then he will try to use the devotion (the tapas or austerity which led him to becoming a devotee) will be used for getting either name or fame or money (through singing bhajans like the current day bhajan singers of the gang of Jalota, Jagjit Singh etc.). These people tend to forget that it is tapas and grace of the Lord that they have been gifted with beautiful voice capable of always singing about the Lord and for the Lord alone. Instead they forget the Lord thereby getting desire to sing for others!!! Isn’t singing for others social service??? JThe Lord never proclaims seekers to do social service – instead he tells that all service offered to the Lord is social service because the Lord is the protector of the entire society. Social service forgetting the Lord will only lead to more and more things to be done for the world – which will make the seeker take birth again and again in order to fulfill those desires. But a seeker who is offering everything unto the Lord is doing social service to the world – his very presence will instigate devotion and thereby bliss to people surrounding him. Each of his words will lead seekers from ignorance and troubles into knowledge and bliss.

Thus we have to constantly remember that there is only thing that we have to do and are supposed to do in the world – which is remembering the Lord at all times. Whatever be the action that we do, we have to remember the Lord. This alone is social service, this alone is real devotion, this alone is knowledge and this alone will lead us from the ocean of samsaara to realization of the ultimate reality of Lord.

The moment we forget the Lord, all siddhis and powers will be used for gratification of desires and sensual pleasures. Maya which is the illusory power of the Lord is so strong that forget the ruler of Lord and it will bind even great devotees like Durvaasa and others.

Saubhari forgot the Lord and thereby used his siddhi to become young in order to wed the daughters of the King. It is grace of the Lord (his tapas lead him to this grace) that he got not one but fifty wives (Jcan’t say whether it is his luck or unluck as today people struggle even with one single wifeJJJ). But the usage of siddhi for fulfillment of one desire didn’t stop here. We will see as to what all the muni had to do to satisfy the single desire of enjoying sexual pleasure in the next day.

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