Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Story 26 – Kapila Upadesha – 3
Srimad Bhagavatham - A Spiritual Insight - Story 26 – Kapila Upadesha – 3
When Kapila Muni explained about realization through devotion to his mother Devahuti, Devahuti wanted to know about the various types of devotion. Thus Kapila Muni Continued:
The practice of Bhakthi takes many forms according to differences of tradition. This is necessitated by the fact that people’s attitudes and tendencies differ according to the dominance of the particular Gunas of nature in them.
The man dominated by Tamas imagines me, at the bidding of his cruel nature, as a being entirely in separation to be propitiated from motives of vengeance, ostentation, jealousy and other low propensities.
The man of Raajasika nature worships Me as an extraneous being in images and the like for worldly enjoyments, wealth and fame.
The man of Sattvika nature, while still maintaining the attitude of separateness from Me, performs worship for liberation from the bondage of Karma or as an offering to God, or as a scriptural injunction to be obeyed.
When, by the mere hearing of My excellences (glories), the mind streams forth, like the waters of the Ganges into the sea, unmotivated, unrestricted and one-pointed towards Me, the Purushottama and the Presence in the hearts of all, that kind of love is called Bhakthi that transcends the Gunas.
Explanation
Kapila Muni here clearly mentions about Bhakthi or devotion and its various types based on the nature of the seeker or devotee.
As Sri Krishna clearly mentions in Gita Chapter 4
Ye yathaa maam prapadhyanthe taamstathaiva bhajaami aham
Those who worship Me in whatever form, they attain Me in that form.
Bhakthi or devotion is an attitude that is required in whatever sadhana or spiritual practice a person is involved in. This is how Swami Paramaarthananda Saraswathi of Chennai describes Bhakthi. Devotion is inevitable in all fields. Even in the field of worldly life, devotion is required. Devotion is required even in professional life. But all these devotion are not real and permanent until the object of devotion (or towards whom devotion is directed) is the ultimate reality of God. That devotion alone is real devotion in which the devotee seeks the reality of Lord rather than the unreal objects in the world.
Since there are many people in the world & different attitudes among those people, therefore there are different types of devotion also (all these devotions are directed towards the Lord alone).
TAMAS normally indicates ignorance or darkness of ignorance. Those who are very ignorant about the reality that everything is the Lord alone, they have such nature that they will be wanting or seeking the Lord in order to do some bad to other people. This is how black magic and other things came into picture. All these were learned only from the realized beings or rishis. Black magic can be traced back to the Atharva Veda. But the people who learned it from the rishis had wrong ideas in their mind as to its implementation. Instead of using such powers for the welfare of the society, they started using it for destroying their enemies. This type of people who seek the Lord asking the Lord not to protect the enemy and to destroy the enemy are TAMASIC devotees.
Personally I know such people who seek the Lord but at the same time ask the Lord that their enemies should be destroyed. The very famous old saying that “If I lose one eye, my neighbour should lose two eyes” very well depicts such nature.
Such people never attain success and prosperity in life. But they attain more and more sorrow-sufferings in the world. But then what is the difference between such people & those who don’t seek the Lord (those who are fully merged in the worldly pleasure and claim to be rationalist & speaking for the limited science which can attain nothing but few pieces of sand from Mars and other planets and that too at the cost of a huge amount of money!!!!)??
The difference is that any person who seeks the Lord is saved (either in this birth or the next births). A person who really seeks the Lord but with wrong motives or bad intentions also will be saved by the Lord himself. He will shown that it is not good to have such attitude & that will lead only to sorrow of oneself only. Thus, slowly he will progress from the Tamasic devotee to the real devotee who has nothing else to seek but the Lord alone & such a devotee alone attains the Lord.
The next set of devotees is the Raajasic devotee in whom the Rajo guna is prevalent. Rajas denote activity and greed. Therefore these devotees seek wealth and other prosperities from the Lord. They seek all sort of sensual pleasures from the Lord. If a person is intelligent enough he will realize that if I seek the normal wealth from the Lord, I will get only the wealth. But if I seek the Lord who can give any wealth, then I will get eternal bliss and infinite wealth. Thus those who are intelligent enough will not seek the Lord for material benefits instead they will seek the Lord himself so that all seeking stops & there remains nothing more to be sought but only eternal bliss and peace remains behind in the individual.
The next set of devotees is the Sattvik devotee in whom the Sattva guna is predominant. Sattva denotes calmness and peace. These devotees worship the Lord for the ultimate reality, for realization, for liberation. They will do all actions as per Vedic injunctions. They will always be immersed in the thought of the Lord.
In all the three types of devotees, the devotee always feel a sense of separateness from the Lord. There is always the duality between Lord and the devotee. This duality is a seemingly existing one alone. When this duality vanishes, that is called Para Bhakthi or Supreme devotion. This is when the devotee merges into the Lord and the Lord alone remains behind. As Swami Paramaarthananda beautifully puts it, the TVAM or the devotee merges into the TAT or the Lord – thereby only EKAM or ONE remains behind which is the ultimate reality of Lord. This is what is mentioned in Nava vidha Bhakthi (elsewhere in Bhagavatham) as Atma Nivedanam – offering oneself completely to the Lord.
Srimad Bhagavatham calls this type of Bhakthi as that which is beyond Gunas. That devotee has no existence separate from the Lord. Thereby when the name of the Lord is mentioned, the devotees mind becomes filled with bliss. It is as if the ganges merges into the sea. Just a mere hearing of the word of Lord will take the devotee into Samadhi or absorbed state.
There is an incident in the life of Swami Brahmananda of Ramakrishna Mutt (who was formerly known as Rakhal and was one of the senior disciples of Sri Ramakrishna). Once Swamiji was staying in a place and at night he was resting after attending a drama about Sri Krishna. At that time, the people in the ashram wanted the child who played the role of Krishna to see swamiji. The swamiji heard them coming & he came out of his room. Suddenly he saw the child in the form of Krishna, he ran for a few feet and then suddenly fell down. He entered into Samadhi. It took him three days to come out of the Samadhi!!!
The mere form of Lord made swamiji enter the state of Samadhi!!! This is what real devotion is where the devotee gets bliss the moment the Lord’s name is chanted. The very thought of Lord gives the devotee eternal bliss.
AMMA’s senior disciple Swami Ramakrishnananda Puri says that there is only one single instance when AMMA has chanted the Lalitha Sahasranaama naamaavali in a stretch. He says when they chant with AMMA, just after chanting 10 naamas, AMMA enters into Samadhi. They would then wait till she comes back. This would again happen. Thus only once has AMMA chanted the Lalitha Sahasranaama completely (that took 3 long hours to complete!!!)!!! The very word of Lord is enough to make AMMA enter into Samadhi.
The Yoga Vasistha clearly mentions such types of Brahmajnaanis who will never want to stay in the world (at the empirical level) but their disciples and devotees will make them come down to the level of the world!!!
Even though it is very tough to get that level of devotion to the Lord, at least we should try to have Sattvik Bhakthi towards the Lord. We should always seek the Lord so that we may get liberation and knowing the reality that Lord alone is real & everything else is temporary and illusory. It is not good to seek the Lord for petty things when you have the entire world in the Lord!
Kapila Muni continued:
Such is the greatness of the supreme state of Bhakthi or devotion wherein the only thing the devotees want is the opportunity to render loving service to Me. Just be means of this bhakthi, the jeeva overcomes the hold of the three Gunas of Prakrithi and becomes fit for My Divine State.
The mind attains to such a state by adopting the following disciplines: the duties of life have to be performed with detachment and as an offering to the Divine. Ritualistic worship, promoting devotion and not involving infliction of pain on creatures, should be observed.
Holy men should be honoured; men in distress should be shown sympathy and kindness; and equals should be treated with friendliness and courtesy. Control of the external senses and of the mid should be practiced.
The scriptures should be heard and studied continuously. My names and deeds should be heard and glorified. Straightforwardness and a selfless attitude should be cultivated. The company of holy men should be sought.
Explanation
Kapila Muni here first tells that the supreme state of bhakthi is such that the jeeva becomes liberated from the bondage of the world & realizes his own very nature of Self or God. And thereby he doesn’t have any desire other than to do service to the Lord.
What is service to the Lord???
Service to the Lord is not just being part of an ashram and doing service at the time of tough times like Tsunami, Katrina etc. But real service to the Lord is constant remembrance of the Lord. Real service to the society can happen only when the devotee sees the Lord everywhere. Only such a person who sees oneness everywhere can serve the society wholeheartedly. For this oneness, one has to constantly remember the Lord and the reality that Lord is present everywhere & whatever is present is the Lord only. Thus real service is CONSTANT REMEMBRANCE of the LORD alone.
A person can ask here that “hasn’t Swami Vivekananda said that we should live for the world and not for oneself & hence service to the society is required?” Yes Swamiji has said it. But it has to be remembered that Swamiji also spread his main message of “Utthistatha, jaagratha” – “Arise, Awake”. Here arise means to be aware of the reality – be aware that the world is temporary, be aware that the world is only an illusion in the reality of God. Awake is waking up from the ignorance that “I am different from the Self” through knowledge of the reality that “everything is God alone”. Thus we have to be fully awake or aware of whatever illusion is happening around us as well as we should be remembering the reality that there is only one thing here which is termed as God or Brahman.
Thus, unless a person follows this main ideal of Swamiji, he cannot follow the other wordings of swamiji. It is impossible to serve the society by putting forth 100% sincerity unless we see the Lord everywhere and know the reality that everything is Lord alone. Thus the greatest service that an individual can do is constant remembrance of the Lord – this alone is enough in the world to remove all illusory bondages and get instant liberation.
Sankara quotes the following sloka in his Vishnu Sahasranaama commentary
“Jnaanatho ajnaanatho va api vaasudevasya keerthanaat
Tat sarvam layam yaathi thoyastham lavanasthathaa”
Knowingly or unknowingly if a person constantly contemplates on the ultimate reality of God or Vaasudeva (he who is present in the world and in whom the world is present), that person overcomes all illusory bondages as salt merges into water.
Sri Krishna says in Gita Chapter 9
Ananyaaschintayantho maam ye janaah paryupaasathe
Teshaam nitya abhiyuktaanaam yoga kshemam vahaami aham
Those who constantly think about Me without any other thoughts & worship me everywhere, for such a devetee who is steadfast in Me, I will take care of his good, bad and all things.
This same thing Sri Krishna echoes at the end of Gita
Sarva dharmaan parityajya maam ekam sharanam vraja
Aham tvaa sarva papebhyo mokshayishyaami maa shuchah
Renouncing all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone – I will take care of all your sins – do not worry or grieve.
Thus all these various statements clearly point out that the best service to the society and to oneself is constant remembrance of the Lord which is real devotion.
Such a real devotee never ever bothers about things and activities in the world – he just lives for the Lord, by the Lord and with the Lord. Such a devotee has no separate existence apart from the Lord but the Lord alone exists for the devotee.
After mentioning what is real or supreme devotion, the normal question in the seeker’s mind would be as to how such devotion can be attained. This is being explained by Kapila Muni himself. Kapila Muni lists out the following disciplines which if followed would lead a person to have such supreme devotion towards the ultimate reality of Lord. These might seem to be different from one another but following of one discipline will surely lead to following of the other disciplines. Let us analyze each of these disciplines:
Following of one’s duties but as an offering to the Lord: Here the important point to be noted is that Kapila Muni doesn’t mention just following one’s duty but he says that it should be done as an offering to the Lord. When work is done without any expectation and as an offering to the Lord, then the doership vanishes & the individual is unaffected by the outcome of the work. The mind gets purified by such action & only in a purified mind, the ultimate reality of Lord can be realized through supreme devotion.
Ritualistic worship: Here it means the various rituals which we perform for the Lord like Abhisheka etc. These are external worships which help to fix the mind on the Lord and remove external disturbances.
Promoting Devotion: Devotion has to be promoted, it has to be appreciated and an individual should try always to have devotion towards the Lord. When some discussion about the Lord comes, the devotee should not feel shy that others might think about this devotion. Instead he should explain to others the glory of the Lord and thereby lead them also to devotion.
Not inflicting pain on creatures: As Jesus says “Behave to others as you want them to behave to you”. The various creatures are all manifestations of Lord alone. Hence if we inflict pain on them, then it is like afflicting pain on the Lord. Also the creatures also will behave in the same way with us. Thus we have to always consider and see the creatures as manifestation of the Lord and thereby should never inflict pain on other creatures. The famous story of Hanuman is mentioned to tell this point that whenever a person inflicts another devotee, it is like inflicting the Lord himself. Once hanuman was going through a place when he heard a person calling Rama’s name in the toilet. Hanuman was horrified and slapped the person. Then he went to see Rama. Surprisingly he could see the hand mark on Rama’s cheek. Rama then explained that Hanuman inflicted pain on the devotee which came to the Lord alone. Also this shows that there is no time and space limitation for devotion to the Lord (unlike ritualistic works or yogic postures which have a space and time in which alone they should be performed).
Holy men should be honored: Always we have to appreciate people who are constantly thinking about God, who are really devoted to the Lord. This is one way we can try to keep our mind focused on Lord.
Men in distress should be shown sympathy and kindness: This is what we normally call as COMPASSION. What is required is not passion but compassion. The former is directed towards liked people whereas the latter has no boundary and doesn’t select particular individuals for the same. Compassion broadens the vision of the individual. It globalizes the local EGO. This process is beautiful put by Sri Sri Ravishankar’s words “Make the local “I” global”. When “I” becomes global, everything becomes MINE. This attitude is helpful in removing the likes and dislikes. Thus duality is removed and non-duality alone remains behind. Such a person is one with Ishwara who is the creator, protector and destroyer of everything. When even further this global “I” also merges into the unlimited “I”, then there will be no people, no world, no beings even to speak or utter global or “I”. There will be pure Consciousness or “I” alone. This is how compassion helps in purifying the mind and making it realize the ultimate reality of Brahman or God.
Equals should be treated with friendliness and courtesy – Always a person should appreciate talent. In the current scenario everywhere we find only competition going on. There is no competition in spirituality as everyone is a gainer and no one is a loser. Thus here the attitude of friendliness and appreciation is there which is different from competition wherein the sole aim is to get beyond the other competitors. Sankara mentions in Laghu Vaakya Vritti that one way to keeping the mind merged on the reality is by discussion with seekers. Manu mentions in manu smriti that one quarter of knowledge is achieved from co-students.
Control of senses and mind – Control of mind is very essential because if the mind is not controlled, it will be running behind external sense objects instead of contemplation on the ultimate reality of God. All energy is wasted through the mind alone – by mere thoughts or by doing actions to gain limited sensual pleasures in the external world. Thus mental control is very important for a seeker.
Scriptures should be heard and studied continuously – Sankara in the very first words of Sadhana Panchakam mentions the same thing as “Vedo nityam adheeyathaam” – Vedas should be regularly learnt. Scriptures are the mirror wherein we can realize or perceive the ultimate reality of God who is beyond words and thoughts and inexpressible. Here mere learning is not enough but contemplation on the truth propounded in the scriptures is also meant.
My names and deeds should be heard and glorified – speaking the name of God is the simplest way to keep the mind focused on the reality of God. Thus we should always try to sing the names of God, sing the deeds of God, talk his name & deeds so that we are constantly focused on the spiritual goal of God.
Straightforwardness and selfless attitude – These are two qualities which help in removing the Ego. The Ego creates the sense of SELFISH or MINE. This MINE causes one to lie to others to keep up the name, fame etc. Speaking Truth is one of the very important spiritual disciplines for a seeker. This ensures that he always is standing for the Truth (which denotes the ultimate reality of God at empirical level) and never deviates from it
Company with holy men – Satsanga is very important and it helps in controlling passions, controlling the mind from unwanted thoughts & easily takes the mind to the ultimate reality of God. The very presence of Mahatmas is enough to still the mind and make it contemplate on the reality of God.
Whatever Lord Kapila has mentioned here is just a few of the innumerous spiritual disciplines which are propounded in the Upanishads. Any discipline or action which leads one towards the reality of God is a spiritual discipline or sadhana. A seeker should ensure that he follows the sadhanas which mostly suit his nature, his work, his home atmosphere etc. The important thing is not the amount of sadhana or the type of sadhana being performed but the quality and the attitude of the sadhana being followed. The famous saying that “Quality is more important than Quantity” is valid in this case too.
Let us all try to spend atleast some time daily for spiritual sadhanas so that we may get the Supreme Devotion towards the ultimate reality of God thereby making us realize the God who is ever residing in our hearts.
When Kapila Muni explained about realization through devotion to his mother Devahuti, Devahuti wanted to know about the various types of devotion. Thus Kapila Muni Continued:
The practice of Bhakthi takes many forms according to differences of tradition. This is necessitated by the fact that people’s attitudes and tendencies differ according to the dominance of the particular Gunas of nature in them.
The man dominated by Tamas imagines me, at the bidding of his cruel nature, as a being entirely in separation to be propitiated from motives of vengeance, ostentation, jealousy and other low propensities.
The man of Raajasika nature worships Me as an extraneous being in images and the like for worldly enjoyments, wealth and fame.
The man of Sattvika nature, while still maintaining the attitude of separateness from Me, performs worship for liberation from the bondage of Karma or as an offering to God, or as a scriptural injunction to be obeyed.
When, by the mere hearing of My excellences (glories), the mind streams forth, like the waters of the Ganges into the sea, unmotivated, unrestricted and one-pointed towards Me, the Purushottama and the Presence in the hearts of all, that kind of love is called Bhakthi that transcends the Gunas.
Explanation
Kapila Muni here clearly mentions about Bhakthi or devotion and its various types based on the nature of the seeker or devotee.
As Sri Krishna clearly mentions in Gita Chapter 4
Ye yathaa maam prapadhyanthe taamstathaiva bhajaami aham
Those who worship Me in whatever form, they attain Me in that form.
Bhakthi or devotion is an attitude that is required in whatever sadhana or spiritual practice a person is involved in. This is how Swami Paramaarthananda Saraswathi of Chennai describes Bhakthi. Devotion is inevitable in all fields. Even in the field of worldly life, devotion is required. Devotion is required even in professional life. But all these devotion are not real and permanent until the object of devotion (or towards whom devotion is directed) is the ultimate reality of God. That devotion alone is real devotion in which the devotee seeks the reality of Lord rather than the unreal objects in the world.
Since there are many people in the world & different attitudes among those people, therefore there are different types of devotion also (all these devotions are directed towards the Lord alone).
TAMAS normally indicates ignorance or darkness of ignorance. Those who are very ignorant about the reality that everything is the Lord alone, they have such nature that they will be wanting or seeking the Lord in order to do some bad to other people. This is how black magic and other things came into picture. All these were learned only from the realized beings or rishis. Black magic can be traced back to the Atharva Veda. But the people who learned it from the rishis had wrong ideas in their mind as to its implementation. Instead of using such powers for the welfare of the society, they started using it for destroying their enemies. This type of people who seek the Lord asking the Lord not to protect the enemy and to destroy the enemy are TAMASIC devotees.
Personally I know such people who seek the Lord but at the same time ask the Lord that their enemies should be destroyed. The very famous old saying that “If I lose one eye, my neighbour should lose two eyes” very well depicts such nature.
Such people never attain success and prosperity in life. But they attain more and more sorrow-sufferings in the world. But then what is the difference between such people & those who don’t seek the Lord (those who are fully merged in the worldly pleasure and claim to be rationalist & speaking for the limited science which can attain nothing but few pieces of sand from Mars and other planets and that too at the cost of a huge amount of money!!!!)??
The difference is that any person who seeks the Lord is saved (either in this birth or the next births). A person who really seeks the Lord but with wrong motives or bad intentions also will be saved by the Lord himself. He will shown that it is not good to have such attitude & that will lead only to sorrow of oneself only. Thus, slowly he will progress from the Tamasic devotee to the real devotee who has nothing else to seek but the Lord alone & such a devotee alone attains the Lord.
The next set of devotees is the Raajasic devotee in whom the Rajo guna is prevalent. Rajas denote activity and greed. Therefore these devotees seek wealth and other prosperities from the Lord. They seek all sort of sensual pleasures from the Lord. If a person is intelligent enough he will realize that if I seek the normal wealth from the Lord, I will get only the wealth. But if I seek the Lord who can give any wealth, then I will get eternal bliss and infinite wealth. Thus those who are intelligent enough will not seek the Lord for material benefits instead they will seek the Lord himself so that all seeking stops & there remains nothing more to be sought but only eternal bliss and peace remains behind in the individual.
The next set of devotees is the Sattvik devotee in whom the Sattva guna is predominant. Sattva denotes calmness and peace. These devotees worship the Lord for the ultimate reality, for realization, for liberation. They will do all actions as per Vedic injunctions. They will always be immersed in the thought of the Lord.
In all the three types of devotees, the devotee always feel a sense of separateness from the Lord. There is always the duality between Lord and the devotee. This duality is a seemingly existing one alone. When this duality vanishes, that is called Para Bhakthi or Supreme devotion. This is when the devotee merges into the Lord and the Lord alone remains behind. As Swami Paramaarthananda beautifully puts it, the TVAM or the devotee merges into the TAT or the Lord – thereby only EKAM or ONE remains behind which is the ultimate reality of Lord. This is what is mentioned in Nava vidha Bhakthi (elsewhere in Bhagavatham) as Atma Nivedanam – offering oneself completely to the Lord.
Srimad Bhagavatham calls this type of Bhakthi as that which is beyond Gunas. That devotee has no existence separate from the Lord. Thereby when the name of the Lord is mentioned, the devotees mind becomes filled with bliss. It is as if the ganges merges into the sea. Just a mere hearing of the word of Lord will take the devotee into Samadhi or absorbed state.
There is an incident in the life of Swami Brahmananda of Ramakrishna Mutt (who was formerly known as Rakhal and was one of the senior disciples of Sri Ramakrishna). Once Swamiji was staying in a place and at night he was resting after attending a drama about Sri Krishna. At that time, the people in the ashram wanted the child who played the role of Krishna to see swamiji. The swamiji heard them coming & he came out of his room. Suddenly he saw the child in the form of Krishna, he ran for a few feet and then suddenly fell down. He entered into Samadhi. It took him three days to come out of the Samadhi!!!
The mere form of Lord made swamiji enter the state of Samadhi!!! This is what real devotion is where the devotee gets bliss the moment the Lord’s name is chanted. The very thought of Lord gives the devotee eternal bliss.
AMMA’s senior disciple Swami Ramakrishnananda Puri says that there is only one single instance when AMMA has chanted the Lalitha Sahasranaama naamaavali in a stretch. He says when they chant with AMMA, just after chanting 10 naamas, AMMA enters into Samadhi. They would then wait till she comes back. This would again happen. Thus only once has AMMA chanted the Lalitha Sahasranaama completely (that took 3 long hours to complete!!!)!!! The very word of Lord is enough to make AMMA enter into Samadhi.
The Yoga Vasistha clearly mentions such types of Brahmajnaanis who will never want to stay in the world (at the empirical level) but their disciples and devotees will make them come down to the level of the world!!!
Even though it is very tough to get that level of devotion to the Lord, at least we should try to have Sattvik Bhakthi towards the Lord. We should always seek the Lord so that we may get liberation and knowing the reality that Lord alone is real & everything else is temporary and illusory. It is not good to seek the Lord for petty things when you have the entire world in the Lord!
Kapila Muni continued:
Such is the greatness of the supreme state of Bhakthi or devotion wherein the only thing the devotees want is the opportunity to render loving service to Me. Just be means of this bhakthi, the jeeva overcomes the hold of the three Gunas of Prakrithi and becomes fit for My Divine State.
The mind attains to such a state by adopting the following disciplines: the duties of life have to be performed with detachment and as an offering to the Divine. Ritualistic worship, promoting devotion and not involving infliction of pain on creatures, should be observed.
Holy men should be honoured; men in distress should be shown sympathy and kindness; and equals should be treated with friendliness and courtesy. Control of the external senses and of the mid should be practiced.
The scriptures should be heard and studied continuously. My names and deeds should be heard and glorified. Straightforwardness and a selfless attitude should be cultivated. The company of holy men should be sought.
Explanation
Kapila Muni here first tells that the supreme state of bhakthi is such that the jeeva becomes liberated from the bondage of the world & realizes his own very nature of Self or God. And thereby he doesn’t have any desire other than to do service to the Lord.
What is service to the Lord???
Service to the Lord is not just being part of an ashram and doing service at the time of tough times like Tsunami, Katrina etc. But real service to the Lord is constant remembrance of the Lord. Real service to the society can happen only when the devotee sees the Lord everywhere. Only such a person who sees oneness everywhere can serve the society wholeheartedly. For this oneness, one has to constantly remember the Lord and the reality that Lord is present everywhere & whatever is present is the Lord only. Thus real service is CONSTANT REMEMBRANCE of the LORD alone.
A person can ask here that “hasn’t Swami Vivekananda said that we should live for the world and not for oneself & hence service to the society is required?” Yes Swamiji has said it. But it has to be remembered that Swamiji also spread his main message of “Utthistatha, jaagratha” – “Arise, Awake”. Here arise means to be aware of the reality – be aware that the world is temporary, be aware that the world is only an illusion in the reality of God. Awake is waking up from the ignorance that “I am different from the Self” through knowledge of the reality that “everything is God alone”. Thus we have to be fully awake or aware of whatever illusion is happening around us as well as we should be remembering the reality that there is only one thing here which is termed as God or Brahman.
Thus, unless a person follows this main ideal of Swamiji, he cannot follow the other wordings of swamiji. It is impossible to serve the society by putting forth 100% sincerity unless we see the Lord everywhere and know the reality that everything is Lord alone. Thus the greatest service that an individual can do is constant remembrance of the Lord – this alone is enough in the world to remove all illusory bondages and get instant liberation.
Sankara quotes the following sloka in his Vishnu Sahasranaama commentary
“Jnaanatho ajnaanatho va api vaasudevasya keerthanaat
Tat sarvam layam yaathi thoyastham lavanasthathaa”
Knowingly or unknowingly if a person constantly contemplates on the ultimate reality of God or Vaasudeva (he who is present in the world and in whom the world is present), that person overcomes all illusory bondages as salt merges into water.
Sri Krishna says in Gita Chapter 9
Ananyaaschintayantho maam ye janaah paryupaasathe
Teshaam nitya abhiyuktaanaam yoga kshemam vahaami aham
Those who constantly think about Me without any other thoughts & worship me everywhere, for such a devetee who is steadfast in Me, I will take care of his good, bad and all things.
This same thing Sri Krishna echoes at the end of Gita
Sarva dharmaan parityajya maam ekam sharanam vraja
Aham tvaa sarva papebhyo mokshayishyaami maa shuchah
Renouncing all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone – I will take care of all your sins – do not worry or grieve.
Thus all these various statements clearly point out that the best service to the society and to oneself is constant remembrance of the Lord which is real devotion.
Such a real devotee never ever bothers about things and activities in the world – he just lives for the Lord, by the Lord and with the Lord. Such a devotee has no separate existence apart from the Lord but the Lord alone exists for the devotee.
After mentioning what is real or supreme devotion, the normal question in the seeker’s mind would be as to how such devotion can be attained. This is being explained by Kapila Muni himself. Kapila Muni lists out the following disciplines which if followed would lead a person to have such supreme devotion towards the ultimate reality of Lord. These might seem to be different from one another but following of one discipline will surely lead to following of the other disciplines. Let us analyze each of these disciplines:
Following of one’s duties but as an offering to the Lord: Here the important point to be noted is that Kapila Muni doesn’t mention just following one’s duty but he says that it should be done as an offering to the Lord. When work is done without any expectation and as an offering to the Lord, then the doership vanishes & the individual is unaffected by the outcome of the work. The mind gets purified by such action & only in a purified mind, the ultimate reality of Lord can be realized through supreme devotion.
Ritualistic worship: Here it means the various rituals which we perform for the Lord like Abhisheka etc. These are external worships which help to fix the mind on the Lord and remove external disturbances.
Promoting Devotion: Devotion has to be promoted, it has to be appreciated and an individual should try always to have devotion towards the Lord. When some discussion about the Lord comes, the devotee should not feel shy that others might think about this devotion. Instead he should explain to others the glory of the Lord and thereby lead them also to devotion.
Not inflicting pain on creatures: As Jesus says “Behave to others as you want them to behave to you”. The various creatures are all manifestations of Lord alone. Hence if we inflict pain on them, then it is like afflicting pain on the Lord. Also the creatures also will behave in the same way with us. Thus we have to always consider and see the creatures as manifestation of the Lord and thereby should never inflict pain on other creatures. The famous story of Hanuman is mentioned to tell this point that whenever a person inflicts another devotee, it is like inflicting the Lord himself. Once hanuman was going through a place when he heard a person calling Rama’s name in the toilet. Hanuman was horrified and slapped the person. Then he went to see Rama. Surprisingly he could see the hand mark on Rama’s cheek. Rama then explained that Hanuman inflicted pain on the devotee which came to the Lord alone. Also this shows that there is no time and space limitation for devotion to the Lord (unlike ritualistic works or yogic postures which have a space and time in which alone they should be performed).
Holy men should be honored: Always we have to appreciate people who are constantly thinking about God, who are really devoted to the Lord. This is one way we can try to keep our mind focused on Lord.
Men in distress should be shown sympathy and kindness: This is what we normally call as COMPASSION. What is required is not passion but compassion. The former is directed towards liked people whereas the latter has no boundary and doesn’t select particular individuals for the same. Compassion broadens the vision of the individual. It globalizes the local EGO. This process is beautiful put by Sri Sri Ravishankar’s words “Make the local “I” global”. When “I” becomes global, everything becomes MINE. This attitude is helpful in removing the likes and dislikes. Thus duality is removed and non-duality alone remains behind. Such a person is one with Ishwara who is the creator, protector and destroyer of everything. When even further this global “I” also merges into the unlimited “I”, then there will be no people, no world, no beings even to speak or utter global or “I”. There will be pure Consciousness or “I” alone. This is how compassion helps in purifying the mind and making it realize the ultimate reality of Brahman or God.
Equals should be treated with friendliness and courtesy – Always a person should appreciate talent. In the current scenario everywhere we find only competition going on. There is no competition in spirituality as everyone is a gainer and no one is a loser. Thus here the attitude of friendliness and appreciation is there which is different from competition wherein the sole aim is to get beyond the other competitors. Sankara mentions in Laghu Vaakya Vritti that one way to keeping the mind merged on the reality is by discussion with seekers. Manu mentions in manu smriti that one quarter of knowledge is achieved from co-students.
Control of senses and mind – Control of mind is very essential because if the mind is not controlled, it will be running behind external sense objects instead of contemplation on the ultimate reality of God. All energy is wasted through the mind alone – by mere thoughts or by doing actions to gain limited sensual pleasures in the external world. Thus mental control is very important for a seeker.
Scriptures should be heard and studied continuously – Sankara in the very first words of Sadhana Panchakam mentions the same thing as “Vedo nityam adheeyathaam” – Vedas should be regularly learnt. Scriptures are the mirror wherein we can realize or perceive the ultimate reality of God who is beyond words and thoughts and inexpressible. Here mere learning is not enough but contemplation on the truth propounded in the scriptures is also meant.
My names and deeds should be heard and glorified – speaking the name of God is the simplest way to keep the mind focused on the reality of God. Thus we should always try to sing the names of God, sing the deeds of God, talk his name & deeds so that we are constantly focused on the spiritual goal of God.
Straightforwardness and selfless attitude – These are two qualities which help in removing the Ego. The Ego creates the sense of SELFISH or MINE. This MINE causes one to lie to others to keep up the name, fame etc. Speaking Truth is one of the very important spiritual disciplines for a seeker. This ensures that he always is standing for the Truth (which denotes the ultimate reality of God at empirical level) and never deviates from it
Company with holy men – Satsanga is very important and it helps in controlling passions, controlling the mind from unwanted thoughts & easily takes the mind to the ultimate reality of God. The very presence of Mahatmas is enough to still the mind and make it contemplate on the reality of God.
Whatever Lord Kapila has mentioned here is just a few of the innumerous spiritual disciplines which are propounded in the Upanishads. Any discipline or action which leads one towards the reality of God is a spiritual discipline or sadhana. A seeker should ensure that he follows the sadhanas which mostly suit his nature, his work, his home atmosphere etc. The important thing is not the amount of sadhana or the type of sadhana being performed but the quality and the attitude of the sadhana being followed. The famous saying that “Quality is more important than Quantity” is valid in this case too.
Let us all try to spend atleast some time daily for spiritual sadhanas so that we may get the Supreme Devotion towards the ultimate reality of God thereby making us realize the God who is ever residing in our hearts.
# posted by vedanta : 8:42 AM
