Morning Satsang
Akhanda Manadalakaram Vyaptamyena Charaacharam
Tadpadam Darshitam Yena Tasmai Sri GuruveNamaha
Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu Gurur Devo Maheshwaraha
Guru Saakshaat ParaBrahma Tasmai Sri Gurave Namaha
The respect given to a spiritual teacher is not merely outward. The ultimate principle of the Supreme Guru is in everybody’s heart. When you say Guru Saakshaat Para Brahma Tasmai Sri Gurave Namaha or
Om Brahmanandamparama-sukhadam kevalam jñana-murtim
Dvandvatitam gagana-sadrisham tat-tvam-asyadi-lakshyam
Ekamnityam vimalamachalam sarva-dhi-sakshi-bhutam
bhavatitam tri-guna-rahitam sad-gurum tam namami
The Guru whom you respect is only a physical manifestation of the principle of all Gurus – the Supreme Param Brahman itself. You should always keep this in mind because this (pointing to himself) may be here today and gone tomorrow. After 19-20 years,when you come for Gurupurnima, do you think you willsee this sitting here? No, it will be gone. So, while the outward mind may keep rotating and moving which is my temporary nature, the Guru is with you always. The good news is that the Guru is within you. There is nothing to worry.
When you show respect to the teacher, when you bow down to a teacher, you should always keep this in mind that you are bowing to the physical manifestation of the Supreme Guru principle of all Gurus,who actually lives inside you. So, that Guru is your Antaryami. You can fool this Guru but you can’t fool that Supreme Guru. Why? Before you think, HE knows.What does this mean? This means you need to keep your mind transparent. If we live this way, we are actually worshipping the Guru. Worshipping the Guru doesn’t mean to offer flowers etc. It means you understand that the Guru is present inside your heart always, 24 hours- day in and day out. Now, that does not mean you have to visualize me all the time. Even without me, the Guru is already there. Keep this in mind. I am saying this because I have lived with somebody who was so genuine, much more genuine than me. When I lived with him, I was only 19 years old – a very vulnerable and rebellious age, especially in the context of coming from Kerala and asking stupid questions. And, here was a man who embraced me and would never discourage questions. Out of love and affection, he might have scolded me. I learned about relationships from him. Three years I lived with him and then off and on, maybe to understand what the relationship with a spiritual teacher actually is.
Someone came up to me in the morning and said that a particular person has done something bad against him. His question was – ‘Now it’s over, should I help that person or should I keep away?’ I said to him – You should help that person. When I met my Guru, I had a lot of leftover rubbish and muck in my head. He did not discriminate against me and said that my sincerity is more important to him than anything else. He said that, ‘With one shot I am clearing this for you because you have work to do.’ Now when it comes to work to be done, believe me, I was the most reluctant fellow to take on the role of a spiritual teacher because I knew what it involves. It’s a big circus. Sometimes, you don’t know whether you are the director of the circus or the clown. It’s difficult.
Four times in my life I have begged somebody for something. Never in my life, I have begged for anything except maybe food when I was hungry in those days. I begged Babaji four times in three years saying: ‘Please don’t make me a teacher. Don’t make me a Guru, let me off, let me be free. Finally, he hit the nail on the head and said, ‘You have become too selfish now. What do you mean you want to be free? I am telling you to do something which is good for others and you are hesitating because it is not good for you? So, what did you learn for 3 years?’ That clinched the issue. So, I said, ‘Ok Babaji …so be it’. Why I am saying this is to show you that the relationship between the teacher and the taught is a very intimate relationship. It doesn’t mean that you are always sitting on my lap.
The relationship between the teacher and the taught is an intimate one – of attitude and mind. Believe me, I may not meet someone for 6 years, I may not answer emails but that doesn’t mean that I am not in touch with you. Please remember this. Some people get very upset that ‘Oh, he lived with his Guru for 3 years and he is not giving even 15 minutes to us. Set that thought at rest. It’s not as if I am not connected with you. I am very much connected with you, especially in your spiritual life. Now you will get frightened that you are on the Guru’s map. Personally what you do is your business, I don’t want to get into that. I have enough things to bother about. But once you have started on the spiritual journey, you are always on the teacher’s radar. Anybody who doesn’t want to be on the radar, please keep away. It’s safer.
Why do they call it Gurupurnima? Purnima is when there is a full moon. This day is celebrated every year. In the evening, we will light a Dhuni. In the Nath sampradaya, few things are observed externally: fire, the chimta, the trishul, and the kundals. These are the signs of a Nath.
The outer Dhuni is symbolic of the inner fire of desire for spiritual fulfillment. A very serious fire, it cannot be doused easily once sparked. When it burns, it reduces every desire and every other thing to ashes. So much so that you can take the ashes, rub it on yourself and walk around naked in the Smashaan like Shiva. Everything is reduced. What remains is the eternal satisfaction, nothing more to be gained and nothing to be lost either because you have deliberately burnt everything to nothing. This is the fire we should light in our hearts. The external fire is symbolic of the inner fire. So, all our sadhanas are to keep this fire lighted within so that we all become Naths, when you are in control. This is the intention.
Therefore, when you all come for Gurupurnima and you show some respect to me, you are actually showing respect to Gurur Brahma, Gurur Vishnu Gurur Devo Maheshwara. And, when you touch my feet,I try to make you not do it but it doesn’t appear such a nice thing to jump back when somebody is touching your feet. It pains people. While you do that, please keep in mind that you are actually paying respects to the all-pervading Supreme Being even though I may be a puny representation of that. The all-pervading Supreme Being who is in every heart, every leaf, every particle of sand, and in everything there is upon this earth.That is what you are bowing down to. Keep this in mind always and the good news is that it is there in your heart too. Human beings are the only ones who can recognize it. It’s present in animals also but we have the special capacity to be aware of it. Unfortunately, we are not. So, turn your mind within when you bow down. And say: ‘While I bow down, I am bowing down to the Supreme Reality which is One, which has no divisions, which is of the nature of bliss, which is all-pervading meaning there is no place where it is not. And, I am merely a temporary bubble on this surface that will break at any time.
Kabir Das famously said:
Paani tera budbuda Paani tera bud buda, Us manas ki jaat…. Dekhat hi chup jaayega, Jyun taara parbhat… Kabira jyun taara parbhat….
It means human life is like a bubble of water. Bubbles in water appear and disappear within a little moment. Why are we feeling so important? Big or small… it’s still a bubble. One minute it’s there and the next, it’s gone. Like a star, it twinkles. The understanding of the Supreme Being is the ultimate ‘bubble buster’. All bubbles are burst. The problem is only till the bubble remains. I always tell people why create it in the first instance? Why do you want somebody else to prick it to break it? Don’t build it in the first place. Let it be. These are the things one has to reflect upon during Gurupurnima.
Gurupurnima is a happy occasion of celebrating the coming of great teachers from time immemorial. It’s as if something is born every minute. So, be happy. Too much seriousness is not a sign of spirituality. These are not my words. Swami Vivekananda said, if you see someone with a long sad face, don’t think he is a spiritual person; he may be suffering from dyspepsia. Not my words! So, watch out. Be happy and enjoy this Gurupurnima. Come again for the next Gurupurnima.
However, I also want to chant the Gayatri Mantra and explain what it means. It’s an auspicious occasion to take up the chanting of the Gayatri. The Gayatri Mantra is one of the most ancient mantras in the world. It originated from the Rig Veda, which is the most ancient of the Vedas, and that particular chandas in which it is chanted has become famous as the Gayatri chandas. The rishi of Gayatri is Vishwamitra – the friend of the universe.
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
tat savitur vareṇyaṃ
bhargo devasya dhīmahi
dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt
This mantra is intended first for the Bhu Loka, this earth we live in. Bhu Loka also means the waking state of consciousness in which we are all present. Bhu envelops everything on this earth and the state in which we are aware of this earth, a state common to all.
Bhuva – is the next realm after the physical – the subtler realm of thoughts and dreams put together.
Let me remind you that not only is it a dream and is in my mind, there are also subtle matters of existence apart from the physical. If you think that in this gathering there are only this many people, then you are thoroughly mistaken…(brief pause). In the same place where you are sitting, there may be another person sitting but you won’t know because the matter is so subtle for him that it penetrates yours. If you think there are only 900 or 1000 people here, there may actually be 2000 or 3000. You don’t know because they also want to listen…(smiles). This is Gurupurnima for everybody… right!
So, the messages go to Bhu Loka, Bhuva Lokaand Suwa- a short form for Swarga Loka. This means a world (Swarga Loka) where everybody is happy for a short period of time and then you come back again and go through this whole business. At least for a short while,when one is happy and in the human state of existence, it is a deep sleep state (Swarga Loka). Psychologically and practically this is implied that when you chant the Gayatri, it also penetrates that deep sleep state. You will ask how this is possible because when somebody is sleeping, surely he is not listening, right? It is possible. Some mantras, some sounds, some words have the capacity to penetrate even deep sleep. If something really enters into a deep sleep, then you can be sure your entire personality has changed.
There used to be an upright, honest, sincere but orthodox Brahmin couple living in Puddukottai, Tamil Nadu, who did not have children. Since the husband was so much involved in his adhyatmik activities –the soul activities – that he had no interest in doing anything physical. Therefore, they did not have any kids. One day, the wife asked him a question very diplomatically. She said, ‘Don’t you think that a highly spiritual person like you (paused and smiled looking at a child making funny noises in the gathering and asked the child’s mother to give the child whatever it asked for) … so, she said,”You are such a spiritual person and I am a simple-minded lady; perhaps if we have a child, he might turn out be a saint or something, what do you say?” The husband had no answer actually, so he said, ‘We will think about it. I want you to do something for sometime and, after that, we can discuss this matter.’ She said,‘Alright’. She could have easily forced him but she didn’t. So, he said, ‘I will you a mantra, a Ram Mantra. You chant this mantra regularly until a day comes when the last thought that occurs when you are about to sleep, and the first thought to appear when you wake up will automatically be the mantra. So, chant till then, continue with your Japa.’ She agreed. She started chanting – when she went to the sleep the last thought on her mind was the mantra Shree Ram Jai Ram and when she woke up the first thought that occurred to her was the mantra. When we wake up, what is the first thought that occurs in our mind – ‘Coffee’! But she said Ram (smiles) not Rum…Ram. It’s almost like that, you know,for alcoholics, first thought that occurs is Rum and when they go to sleep, Rum. It is not Rum, but Ram. So, after some years, one day the wife told him, ‘I think I have come to that state now.’ He said, ‘I also feel it is the right time for us to have a child.’ They had a baby boy. The baby boy later became…anybody… any guess? Sadashiva Brahmendra! ‘Pibare Rama Rasam.’
Now, why did I come to this? When a mantra is properly chanted, especially the Gayatri, it penetrates the waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. Once it has penetrated the deep sleep, you can continue to chant it in waking state. Once it has entered, then you are ‘settled’ meaning the job is done. It is reflected in all the states of consciousness. So, when you chant the Gayatri mantra in waking state, if you have eyes to see, you will see something pass through you to somebody, penetrating 100’s of people and going off… and disappearing.
This is why I am trying to say it is such an important mantra. This is the introduction to it. The introduction to Gayatri is Om Bhur Bhuvah Swa. We won’t go into Om because it needs a lifetime’s explanation. We will leave it there. Pranava is enough – life-giving. Now the mantra, Tat Savitur Varenyam. Varenyam means Vanakkam, i.e. I bow down. If you object to Varenyam, it is Vanakkam. Varenyam means I bow down, I worship. I wonder if ‘worship’ comes from Varenyam, so Tat Savitur Varenyam. Tat means THAT. Actually, there is not much spelling difference between Tat and ‘That’. Savitur means ‘controller’. That which sits in the middle and is responsible for all this action. The ‘Inner self’ ,that Savitur I bow down to.
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi- and that ‘Self’ is effulgent. Bhargo, that Devasya divine effulgent being. Dhimahi i.e. I meditate upon. The word Dhyana comes from the root word Dhi. Dhimahi – I worship, I meditate upon this effulgent being, the controller of the universe, the Antaryami who controls our whole system.
Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayat- may my intelligence and intuition be stimulated. Why stimulated? Since it’s usually sleepy, it may be given a wake-up call. Wake up. UthishtaJ agrata- wake up and stand up! This is the Gayatri. If you don’t have any other mantra, just do the Guru mantra and do the Gayatri. More than enough; in fact, better than anything else. Don’t keep asking, shall I do Sri Vidya, shall I do this. Bala mantra you gave me, now you give me 15 letter mantras (referring to followers who ask for initiation into various mantras). It’s not the number of letters; it’s the sincerity with which you chant. If you chant Gayatri, it is self-sufficient. This Gurupurnima, we have two messages: one is when you respect me, please understand that you are respecting the all-pervading Supreme Being in your heart which pervades the whole universe. Two, that Supreme Being is worshipped since ancient times in the form of Gayatri and that you also practise the chanting.
These are the two messages I want to give you in the morning. Evening Satsang – when it comes, we will see what to do. At the moment, that is enough. Am I OK or do you expect me to levitate? (Laughter) Hmm… evening, I don’t want anybody to ask questions. At least on Gurupurnima, spare me. So, no questions. Hmmm… now it is 11:30. What time is the closure of the Satsang? Anybody? (Somebody from audience replied 12 o’clock.) So, first, we will sit down and meditate for 5 minutes quietly. You can chant Om in your mind or you can chant Gayatri or you can chant the Guru Mantra or anything else, but sit quietly, close your eyes and focus on your heart or in your forehead center, whichever is suitable for you. After that, I will continue for some more time and then we can look at a couple of selected questions. So, please chant Om three times with me and then sit down quietly. Shall we start?
When I wrote the autobiography, people asked me, ‘Have you put everything down’. I said, ‘I can’t put everything down. I have put some things people can digest a little bit, the rest is not there’. So, I wrote the second book, The Journey Continues, and put more indigestible material into it, some thingsthat weren’t discussed in the first, wondering if people would understand and follow. But people seem to enjoy it. That’s okay, people enjoy Harry Potter too! Today, I am tempted to narrate another experience – maybe a couple of them, depending on time – with Maheshwar Nath Babaji, which are not in both the books. There is much to talk here. I can write for two lives, I think. Dhire Dhire.
So, wandering in the forest somewhere near Rudraprayag one day, we started quite early in the morning at 6 o’clock. Babaji and I were aiming to go to Badrinath. In Rudraprayag, we got into the forest. There is a plaque saying: Jim Corbett shot a man-eater in 19…, something like that. We went deep into the forest, walking and walking. It must have been past noon. Babaji said, when you walk, meditate in your heart. I was walking, that day, but I couldn’t meditate. My meditation was in my tummy. I was so hungry. From 6 o’clock, we started walking… I don’t know how many kilometers in the forest. I was really very hungry. Suddenly, we come upon a clearing and there’s a small village with 4 or 5 little houses. I wondered how they were living in the middle of all this. Then, we hear the sound of a tractor. I thought I was in Canada where all Sardars have a tractor. Believe it or not, there was a Sardar on a tractor and there he was plowing. As soon as he saw us, he stopped the tractor. He got up, came to us and prostrated before Babaji. Since I, the junior babaji, was behind him, Sardar prostrated before me also. Then he folded his hands and said, ‘The third house, the small house, is my house. You are wandering Sadhus and its afternoon time, come have something to eat. I am going for lunch since I have finished my work. He said, it is very strange; usually my wife brings rotis to the field but today she has not come. So, please come with me.’
Babaji hardly ever ate, rarely sometimes. I felt he would eat out of affection for somebody. I was very hungry. He turned to me and asked kya khayal hai. I said, Babaji chalet hain unke ghar. Chalo, he said. So, we went. Cute little house. We thought there was nobody except the Sardar. Suddenly, his wife came out wearing a perfect Punjabi dress. The moment she saw Babaji, she fainted. She just looked, made a peculiar noise and fainted. I didn’t know what to do! I was looking at Babaji and Babaji is looking at me. After sometime, the husband revived her by sprinkling water on her face. He thought she is not well and she is sick. And, he said I brought these Sadhus for Bhojan. So, get something ready. She just didn’t do anything and sat there looking at him. Babaji called her by some name that I don’t recall now. But that was not really her name and he said, bhojan lagao. She went inside and got some beautiful, you know when you are hungry, excellent rotis, floating in ghee and Kadi. I remember it so well. That’s all. And there was some gud. She served it.I forgot about her fainting. I ate my meal completely. Babaji sat down, nibbled on half a roti and then put it on my plate. Then she said, don’t go today, please stay here, rest here. Babaji knew my habit. After lunch, I take a nap. He tried to grow me out of it but he didn’t entirely succeed. Babaji asked me, do you want to rest for while? Thoda bahut vishram karen. Maine kaha haan haan Babaji. So, she showed us a room and I went inside. I slept. Babaji sat there on the cot looking at something as usual, I don’t know what. And, then in the evening, they gave us a nice cup of tea. Someone called the lady of the house and Babaji told her,baitho in dono ko batao kya hua, to tell it to me and her husband. She said,‘I have not told my husband but for one month I have been dreaming of you’. She looked at Babaji and said,‘For the last one month, every night I have been dreaming of you. I don’t know if it’s you. But I am dreaming of this matt-haired, tall sadhu coming to our house. Believe me, today morning, I got an indication in my dream that he is coming to my house for lunch, which is why I didn’t bring chappatis for you to the field today. I decorated the house with rangoli. I was waiting to welcome you, Babaji. I wanted to do something but I fainted. I want to wash your feet’. Babaji said,‘theek hai’. So, they washed his feet. When leaving, Babaji said ,‘Do you remember anything?‘ Kuch yaad aya’.’ Just like I had said to him when I was a small boy, she said, I don’t know. She said, ‘kuch yaad nahin aya. ‘Babaji said,’Theek hai yaad aajayega’.
And,we left on that mysterious note. We walked and halted at an ashram in the evening. I asked Babaji, what is this mystery, why are you keeping this mystery. Talk plainly. He said, I know this lady for many births. Now she is here; at some points she may come back to me. I said,‘Babaji, you said after this birth you are not going to have another body, what will you do?’ He said ‘tumhare sar par choddenge.’ To hamare sar par hi gir gaya. He didn’t give me any further details. ‘Dhire Dhire pata chal jayega’, he said and that lady has come. I don’t want to say who. That’s the end of the story. So, there are these things that we don’t know. He actually said ‘tumhare sar par daal denge’.
What I appreciated was the hospitality and the feeling with which two wandering sadhus, unknown, were served by that Sardar and his wife. Wife had the dreams, but Sardar didn’t have the dreams. He served the Sadhus just out of devotion. Know that this is built into the system. That’s why when you go to the langar, you get free food all the time. Feeding people is part of the creed of Sikh religion. For now, please don’t start the guesswork on which this lady is. She need not necessarily be a Sardarni or a Punjabi. It could be anybody.
So, go and have a good lunch. I will also join you after sometime. We will meet again in the evening for Satsang and Dhuni. We are going to have a lovely evening of beautiful music. We can enjoy together. We can get drunk without the bottle.
Evening Satsang
Brahmanandam parama sukhadam kevalam jnana murtim,
Dvandvathitam gagana sadrisham tatvamsyadi lakshyam.
Ekam nityam vimalamachalam sarvadheesakshi bhutam,
Bhavatitam triguna rahitam sad gurum tam namami
Welcome to the Satsang! Evening Satsang is different from the morning one!
There is a beautiful mantra which comes from the shukla paksha of the Yajur Veda. It’s also the start of the Ishavasya Upanishad. Before the Upanishad begins, there is a Shantipath. And, in this particular Upanishad, we will deal only with two shlokas. There is this beautiful mantra and then the Upanishad starts. The mantra is:
Om Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam Puurnnaat-Purnnam-Udacyate
Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate ||
Om Shaanti Shaanti Shaantih ||
It keeps repeating the word Purrna, this is to be noted. Not incompleteness but completeness. And it says Puurnnam-Adah – That is complete. We usually say, if That is complete, how does it matter to us? That can be complete or incomplete, who cares! So, we’ll come to what That is. Then, quickly, it shifts to Puurnnam-Idam – This is also complete. But you’ll say, No! No! it’s incomplete! But it is also complete. Puurnnaat-Purnnam-Udacyate – This completeness has come from that completeness. This is not a method the Rishis invented to confuse us. From that completeness has come this completeness. Puurnnasya Puurnnam-Aadaaya – if you take this completeness out from that completeness, which is what we always do day in and day out, 24 hours! Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate–there is only purna that remains. There is no change. What could this be? Is it an attempt to puzzle people? Confuse them? Were the rishis happily sitting in the forest under the peepal tree and confusing people?
What is the meaning of this? I taught a good friend of mine from Germany to chant this. He was so taken up by this that he wrote it on different chits of paper and stuck it on the dashboard of the car. He tried it for two months and then he gave up. He thought what is this pur pur pur… what is this? I can’t chant. What is the meaning of that? Why Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam…?
It is the hypothesis coming from the experience of great rishis and is actually a liberating message given to us. We always think that we are incomplete. It says, ‘That Supreme Reality which pervades the Universe and from which this whole thing has come, that which we see, including us is, by its complete nature, Purna – complete or whole.
The whole is everything -it is complete, and it is fullness. So, in essence, that Supreme Reality is complete, this world in which we live in and from which we have come. Having come from there, we feel incomplete just because we think of ourselves as little individuals. Upanishads say, you are also complete and do you know how? That is complete and we are also complete. That completeness is not separate from This completeness. Somewhere along the line, we have this separateness that Tha tis there and I am here and I have to go there. What happens when everything is everywhere? Then, how do we move? This is also the reason why all human beings, all of us, want to become complete, become full. We all want to be fulfilled. We feel we are not satisfied yet and it is towards this fulfillment that we all move and work. Today, I have this job. Tomorrow I will get a better job, and then I will be complete. Today, I am following this and tomorrow if I follow that, then I will be complete and I will be fulfilled. Today, I have this much money and tomorrow, I will have more.Then I will be full and complete. This is what keeps us going, the attempt to become complete, not realizing that if we go within and see, we are complete already and there is nothing to complete.
If you are complete, only then can you give. If you are incomplete, then how can you give? If you are not full, what can you give to others? You can’t. So, the message is that the completeness of That, which is the origin of the universe, is also the completeness here within us. We are touched by the completeness and it is that we are searching for outside. Turn within and then you understand what is Purna. But we always like to divide – I am small…I need to go there.
The shloka here means that you are where you are, big and not small. Shall I say that it is a message of hope that you are not hopeless but you are complete in your true essence? But we don’t like to be in our true essence. We like to be separate and then say, Oh! That is big! Don’t think small, that is practical, think big! Thinking big is built into our system ,as we are moving towards that Purna, that expansion. That is why there is an insatiable desire to be fulfilled, to grow, to move, to expand. That is where the word Brahman comes from ,it’s root word is Bruh- which means to expand. So, when you are expanding your company, doing this or that which makes you grow, actually it is an unconscious desire to touch that which has already expanded – whose essence is in us – so that we are also complete in some way. That’s one. Second – when you see the world as one, then it is full. If you see it as separate pieces, then it is not full.
Every person sitting here is an individual. Separate individuals. But are we not human beings? We are complete and when we are not sitting here as separate individuals, we are One. When people are One, it gives so much energy because we are going back to the source which is Purna. It happens in negative as well as positive ways. In politics, when somebody manages to get people together for their own purpose, infinite power comes because we are one now, we are together.
It is very important to note that completeness is not there. If it is there,then it means nothing to us. It is also here! It is in every one of us. This is understood when the mind is absolutely quiet, calm, tranquil and then, you realise you are not a little thing but actually that fullness that needs nothing more to expand. This is something that we have to think about. This is the Shanti Mantra, the introduction, Purna from which begins the Ishavasya Upanishad. The Ishavasya Upanishad is one of the most important principal Upanishads available to us. It is an Upanishad meant for now and here because it points to Puurnnam-Idam. Not just Puurnnam-adah but Puurnnam-Idam, this is complete. And, this is the message of Ishavasya Upanishad – that we are complete. It picks up a part and expands upon it. That is the importance of the Upanishad.
What is this Ishavasya Upanishad? After the Purna Mantra, the Upanishad says:
Isavasyam idam sarvam
Yatkinca jagatyam jagat
Tena tyaktena bhunjitha
Ma gridhah kasyasvid dhanam
Kurvann-eveha karmani jijivishec-chatam samah,
Evan tvayi nanyatheto’sti na karma lipyate nare
It means, first the Ishavasya:
IshaVasyamIdamSarvam
What did we discuss before? Purna…
purnamadah, purnamidam
Now the Upanishad says, IshaVasyam Idam Sarvam – That Supreme Reality. Now he is talking about purnam idam. That Supreme Reality pervades everything here -Idam. Not there, where you go after death or any of that. Now! So the message is ‘here and now’; not in some future birth or in the past but Isha Vasyam Idam Sarvam. Everything here including us, of course. Don’t say everything here but us; we also are included in this. It is part of this whole thing called Isha. It pervades everything here.
Now we think we are different. But when the differences sink, then there is only that Isha.
Isha Vasyam Idam Sarvam – that Supreme Isha, the Lord, the Supreme Being, pervades everything here.
Yatkiñca jagatyam jagat
Important to note, That means this Supreme Reality pervades everything here, everything that moves in this world. You may think maybe it is not in something that does not move. It pervades everything here and everything that moves. Fortunately for us, the word ‘jagat’ is derived from jagatyaam – which means that which moves. When you say jagat, it automatically implies that which moves; and there is nothing that doesn’t move. You might think it’s not moving, but it is. Let’s take life – always moving. Let’s take time – central figures always moving. Can we stop time? Time and tide wait for no man or woman. Time does not wait for anyone. Time moves. Life moves. (Pointing to the stone platform) If you ask a physicist and say this is dead matter, they will say ‘no, it moves’; you think it is dead but it isn’t. Every electron is moving inside.
Biology – the molecules are always in motion. Is there anything that does not move? And don’t ask me about the mind. You know that it moves, right! You don’t have to ask anybody. That’s the usual complaint – ‘I sit down to meditate, my mind is moving’. So,this Supreme Reality that pervades everything,it moves. And, then it stops there in true Upanishadic style. It stops there and then,
Tena tyaktena bhuñjitha – you may think what is this to do with that all-pervading Supreme Reality? Tena tyaktena bhuñjitha magriadhah kasya svid dhanam. He says, therefore ‘Let go and rejoice; for whose world is this anyway?’ See the connection from the first to the last, the link in the middle telling us how to practically get to that Isha which is all-pervading. How? Let go of this small identity, this little me, this small little point which is always saying, me me me me me. Break it. Let go of this. And, then you rejoice in the fullness of that Isha that pervades everywhere. Why? Whose wealth is this anyway?
Magridhah kasya svid dhanam – all that you see, this beauty and everything in this world that you see and that you don’t see, whose is it anyway? It’s not yours. So, don’t get caught. Don’t get stuck. Treat it as somebody else’s. In the practical sense, consider it to be all part of the Supreme Reality. And, therefore, since the movement of time cannot be stopped – flow, let go, and flow. Your mind is, you know…when there is constant motion, movement, like the cyclones, all movement needs a center. If the mid-center also moves, you know what will happen? Suppose there is a wheel moving, the axle is steady in the center. If the center also begins to move with the wheel, you are in trouble. Therefore, in this moving universe all-pervaded by the Supreme Being, there is a center. That center, like the eye of the cyclone, is absolutely vacuous. It is nothing that we would consider to be matter. Nothing that we would consider to be a thing.T-H-I-N-G. Therefore, you can say it is nothing, which means NO-THING, Shunya. Please understand Shunya does not mean nothing, it means NO-THING. Nothing that you know of or I know of. It’s beyond the understanding of the ordinary senses. Knowing this, says the Upanishad, let go and rejoice.
Let go of all your narrow little ideas practically, and let go of the philosophical understanding that we are separate. Let go of this feeling that I am different and you are different and we are separate. There is Puurnnam-Adah, Puurnnam-Idam. Thisis also purna. Consider everything is one purna. It’s not philosophy alone. Please understand Upanishad is not merely philosophy. It is also a practical text. So, itsays if you start living like this, even begin to live with this attitude, you need not reach the top. The beginning is as important as the goal. If I say I will murder somebody and find peace, that’s not possible. It is good to start with peace to go there. The method is as important as the goal.
So, the Upanishads say, if you have understood this truth that there is this all-pervading reality, it is the reality that which is not only there but also here.And, therefore, let go of all the narrowness and then be happy. If you let go of the narrow ideas, you are already happy. Happiness is not dependent on how big a house you have; it depends on your mind. So, if you understand this framework of Purnata, then
Kurvann-eveha karmani jijivishec-chatam samah,
you can live for a hundred years doing your work
Evan tvayi nanyatheto’sti na karma lipyate nare
There is no other way open to us. If you don’t want the effects of karma to stick, O Man! That is the only way for you to live in this world. Doing your work and not allowing the effect of it to touch you. That kind of work is called the essence of karma yoga. You are not worried about the result. You know that ultimately everybody is moving towards completeness. And that completeness, whatever I get, the ultimate satisfaction I am going to get is from that.
And when you touch that, you are free! And,it is not that you do that sitting far away on the mountain or in a cave. Do your work even for 100 years. The action will not touch your spotless mind. Actually, no spot will appear on your mind. If you understand this, everything is beautiful. The problem comes when I want everything. This world is beautiful, the inner is beautiful, and the outer is beautiful. The beauty becomes coloured when I desire it. With beautiful flowers…where does the problem start? I want to pluck it and put it in my pocket. Can I let go and rejoice? This is today’s Gurupurnima message.
Message one is Purna mantra. Nobody can take anything out. It remains complete. No one can!
Atleast, think about it. It starts first with shravana, then manana. First shravana, listen to it. Then manana, let it get into the mind. And then, understand that, that Supreme Reality pervades everything here; all that moves which is the jagat. And, the way to live here, without allowing it to touch you, without allowing the karma to stick to you – karma lipyate – is to understand this fact and live saying to yourself: Tena tyatkena bhunjitha ‘Let go and rejoice’.
Start in practical life, this is philosophy. Start by saying, ‘I will not carry the images of the terrible thoughts I have had in the past so that my mind remains clear. Let go! You have hurt me in the past, why would I carry it all these years in my head, can I discard it?’ The moment you discard it, you rejoice. The more you carry it, the more you are in trouble. So, this is the liberating message of the Upanishad. Being Gurupurnima, I thought there is no better message to give. Since you are all sitting here waiting for something to come from the Guru, please add the morning’s message on to what I said, ‘the Guru is in every one of us, in our hearts, not necessarily in this form. It is that which is found when the mind subsides and is no longer caught up in turmoil, when the mind is so tranquil, when the chitta is completely free of vrittis. Then in that calmness, opens up the runway from which you can take off to the higher dimensions. Till that is done, you have to change jobs, do this and do that. Turn inward, that’s my message to you. So, before you start building a new temple, please keep this temple in order (pointing to the body). If the Supreme Being is inside every one of us as a spark, as purna, then every one of us is a temple. In the garbha griha (sanctum sanctorum), what is there? The Supreme Reality. So, every one of us is a temple. So, is there a need to make another concrete temple, I don’t know. So, before you start building a temple outside, put this temple in good order (pointing to the body), service it properly, keep it in good condition, healthy, and open your mind so that the Lord that sits inside gets some ventilation. This is most important. Otherwise, you will end up with ‘emojis’ and ‘mojis’ and all kind of stupid stuff, and suffer, and then come to me and say, ‘Can you do something about this?’
That’s all. As brief as I can, without unnecessary ornamentation and paraphernalia, I hope you understood what I am trying to say. So, when you go home, please take this message. If somebody is cursing you from the window of the neighbour’s house, just shut the window and keep quiet. Don’t throw stones. (Someone from the crowd asks: If the banker is calling you, then?). Sri M: If the banker is calling you, go! (laughter ensues). Who knows what is coming. First of all, live in such a way that the banker doesn’t call you often (laughter). That is very important.
Okay, you can have a cup of tea and then we will light the Dhuni. I will come and light the Dhuni, and then we can listen to some beautiful music, which will probably take us away from this little world and expand.
Namaskar. Hari Om Tat Sat.
