Kingly Science Kingly Secret

By

Sri Swami Sivananda

Compiled by:

Sri N. Ananthanarayanan

 

A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION

 

First Edition: 1981


World Wide Web (WWW) Edition : 2006

WWW site: http://www.dlshq.org/

 

This WWW reprint is for free distribution

This e-book should not be
redistributed from any other site

 

© The Divine Life Trust Society

 

Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. Shivanandanagar—249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttar Pradesh,
Himalayas, India.

Contents

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE 

This work, a compilation from the published writings of Swami Sivananda, is in the nature of a detailed commentary on select verses of the Bhagavad Gita. While many readers may be familiar with the stanza-by-stanza commentary of the holy Master on the full Gita text, in this volume they will find a considerably more detailed exposition of the implications of Sri Krishna’s instructions to Arjuna which are as valid today as they were at the time of the Mahabharata war. 

The book begins with an Introduction which deals with the goal of human life and the vital role of religion and Yoga in the achievement thereof. Life without religion is a dreary waste and Yoga is but an aid in the practice of one’s own religion. Yoga is universal and the Yoga Shastra of Lord Krishna, namely, the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, is equally universal. Yoga and the Gita are open to all. And the Master’s most lucid, free-flowing commentary on a wide spectrum of the Gita verses brings the secrets of Sri Krishna’s teachings to the doorstep of every English-speaking household. 

The stanzas chosen cover a wide range of topics that are of immediate consequence to every spiritual seeker. The compilation starts with subjects pertaining to spiritual Sadhana in general and then proceeds to cover the more important topics under Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raja Yoga and Jnana Yoga in that order. The living voice of Sivananda echoes and re-echoes on every page and in every line, casting a magic spell on the reader, rousing him at the same time to heightened efforts in the direction of God and Truth. 

A glossary is appended mainly for the benefit of the Western Yoga enthusiasts. 

It gives us genuine pleasure to invite the reader to derive inspiration and profit from the pages that follow. 

The Divine Life Society 
Shivanandanagar, Rishikesh, India 
March 22, 1981. 

PREFACE 

Almighty Lord, Father of mankind, God of love and grace, I pray to Thee to bless all beings with peace and joy. May all beings be free from sorrow and affliction! May happiness and welfare prevail in their life! 

Beloved reader, peace be unto you. I consider it a rare blessing and a spiritual privilege to write this Preface to this inspiring book, which contains the boundless love and goodwill of the great-hearted spiritual teacher, the revered Swami Sivananda of sacred memory. The holy Master, Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh in India, was a well-wisher of the whole world. He was the compassionate spiritual Master of modern mankind. He was a benefactor of both the East and the West and of both hemispheres. 

This book brings to you his wisdom teachings, his friendship and sympathy, his spiritual love and divine insight into your problems and difficulties. This book is the tangible fruit of his intense desire to help all humanity, to free it from sorrow and suffering and to show it the way to happiness and blessedness. This book comes to you filled with the holy benedictions of a saint, with the spiritual wisdom of a sage, with the light of his inner spiritual illumination, and with the inspiration and power of his penance and inner realisation. It is a rare treasure for you. Make it your life’s companion. It can be your guide, friend and philosopher. Read a little daily. It will nourish you inwardly and benefit you physically, mentally, intellectually, morally and spiritually. 

The 8th of September is a blessed day to remember and rejoice upon. For, upon this day one hundred years ago, on the 8th September, 1887, a child was born to pious parents who belonged to highly religious families on both sides. This child was verily a boon and a blessing to mankind, for it was destined to become a cosmic friend, a benefactor of all humanity and a great spiritual teacher whose message of selflessness, devotion, spiritual meditation and God-realisation was soon to reach every part of the globe in this present 20th century. This child grew up to become firstly, a dedicated and compassionate medical doctor; then secondly, to become an illumined sage, a holy saint and spiritual Master of present-day humanity. Even as bees surround a fully blossomed flower, so too, sincere seekers, aspirants and devotees flocked to this man of God, who lived his simple life in a humble hermitage on the bank of the holy river Ganges in the region of the Himalayan mountains. This sage and Yogi was Swami Sivananda. 

He spoke to them words of spiritual guidance, inspiration and instruction. To others, who were too far away to come to him, he wrote these teachings, radiant with the light and power of his illumination. To him it was a labour of love, full of dedication and joy. Thus, from his humble little cell by the sacred waters’ edge, his spiritual message and teachings flowed in all directions and reached countless seekers all over the world. These teachings covered all aspects of human life. They had but one motive or intention or objective, namely, the welfare and happiness of all human beings and their highest spiritual blessedness. This friend of mankind passed into the Great Beyond on 14th July, 1963. He left behind for posterity the immense treasures of his practical wisdom, to inspire, uplift and purify the reader. This book brings to you the invaluable treasure of his teachings. 

To observe the 100th year of his birth, his devout disciples, followers and students are making available to the people of the present day the treasures of his wisdom, by bringing out a series of his publications under the auspices of his holy Birth Centenary. This present volume you hold in your hands is one such in this centenary publication series, prepared and published as a humble token of their love, reverence and boundless gratitude to this great Master of this 20th century. 

Human society everywhere, in this present space age and technological era, is living in fear and anxiety of a possible (even if not probable!) nuclear annihilation. Insecurity and a feeling of uncertainty about how one must live and strive fill the heart of modern man. This situation arises through ignorance of the deeper meaning and higher purpose of existence. It is due to the neglect to acquire the elementary knowledge of the true goal of our life, of its end and means. It is due to the failure of modern mankind to give the rightful place in our life to noble ideals and higher values and principles that are indispensable for sane living and sane human relationship. Due to this serious error, human society has created for itself a situation of great danger and much fear and unhappiness. All sorts of solutions have been tried. Yet man is moving deeper into ever-increasing difficulties, because the entire problem is not merely social, economic or political. The real trouble which human society is facing is one of ethical and spiritual poverty. It is a malaise of the spirit of man. As such, the really effective solution is and can only be a spiritual and moral solution. 

To help resolve this grave situation, the worshipful Master, Swami Sivananda, made it his life’s mission to disseminate spiritual knowledge in order to remove the darkness of spiritual ignorance and bring light upon life’s path. He strove all his life to bring about a world-wide spiritual awakening and to make man aware of the sublime goal of spiritual perfection through the manifestation of the Divinity present in every human individual. His lofty spiritual message and teachings had as their aim the presentation of the ethical ideal and spiritual goal of life by which man can liberate himself from sorrow and fear and attain peace and happiness. He did this in a compelling manner through the force of his simple, direct way of addressing the reader through the pages of a book. 

People called him variously as the Yogi of the Himalayas, The Sage of Rishikesh, The Prophet of the New Age and The Acharya of the Atomic Era. Be this as it may, he was without doubt one thing for certain—a friend of all mankind and a benefactor of humanity of our present age. Therefore it is that his disciples and followers felt that one of the most appropriate ways of observing his Birth Centenary was to bring his message and teachings to the spiritually-minded all over the world. This would indeed constitute a most appropriate manner in which to show their reverence to the great Master and to pay homage to his sacred memory. 

These Centenary volumes have been made possible through the co-operative efforts of various noble friends, and particularly through the great love and dedication of my spiritual brother, the revered Sri Swami Sahajanandaji Maharaj and devotees and adherents of the Sivananda Ashram, Durban, South Africa who have been responsible for the editing, film-setting and financing of the entire project. I pray to the Almighty Lord to shower His Divine Grace upon all those associated with this publication project of which the present volume is the result. 

May the choicest blessings of worshipful Master, Swami Sivananda, be upon all and upon you too, blessed reader! Peace be unto you and to all! May the illuminating teachings of Swami Sivananda continue to help all mankind to come out from darkness into light, from bondage to freedom, from sorrow unto happiness, and from mortality unto immortality and divine beatitude! 

Swami Chidananda (President) 
Divine Life Society 
Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India. 
8th September, 1981. 

THE MESSAGE OF THE GITA 

The teachings given by Lord Krishna are simply wonderful. He gives instructions on a variety of subjects, but the one ringing note is: “See Me in everything. Surrender yourself to Me. Do all actions for My sake. Cut off all sorts of attachments. Have perfect, unswerving devotion to Me. Sing My glories”. 

The Lord gives you practical, wholesome guidance. Like a lotus leaf in water you should remain at work. Feel that the Lord’s supreme power does everything here. We are all His instruments. Let your hands be ever engaged in the service of the Lord in all. Let your mind be ever thinking of His glories. Let your intellect discriminate correctly. And let your soul be ever in union with the Lord. This is Yoga. A Yogi is not an idle dreamer, an inert stone. Building castles in the air is not the Yoga that Lord Krishna asks us to practise. Beloved aspirants, give up delusion. Plunge in service. 

Yoga is not hidden in caves. It is not in thick, sequestered forests. It is not to be found in mountain herbs. God is not a coward to run away from towns, cities and villages. He is all-pervading. 

The Gita does not want you to flee from your worldly career to the solitude of the forest. It does not bid you hide in a cave of the Himalayas for attaining the supreme peace of the Eternal. It tells you to resist unrighteousness, to develop divine virtues and try to attain Self-realisation in and through the world. 

Stick to your duty and to truthfulness. Do selfless service. Surrender yourself to the Lord. Have equal vision and a balanced mind in success and failure, in heat and cold, in honour and dishonour, in pleasure and pain, in happiness and sorrow. Give the mind to the Lord and hands to the service of humanity. Be firmly established in the vow of Brahmacharya. Give up selfishness, meanness, attachment and egoism. You will then be free from the wheel of births and deaths, from the bonds of Karma. You will attain supreme peace, eternal bliss and immortality. This is the message of the Gita. 


INTRODUCTION 

The baby mews. The child jumps, dances and plays with toys. The schoolboy walks along with his books. The grown-up young man gets degrees. The adolescent twists his moustache, fights, quarrels and runs after women. He tries to get name and fame. He hoards wealth. He begets children. Then he grows old, wears spectacles and puts on a dental set. He totters with a stick. Finally, he passes away with a hiccup. 

A drop of water sprinkled on a heated iron piece produces a hissing sound and is immediately vapourised. Man makes a little noise during the short period called his life and disappears in a moment. 

What is man? What can he become? What is the mind? What is the most desirable state? A study of these will be really profitable. 

Man is a Soul 

To the Westerner, man is merely a physical creature endowed with a mind and possessing a soul. To the Hindu, he is essentially a soul expressing himself through the mind, which has the body as its counterpart to function upon the physical plane. 

Man is a soul having a body. Man is essentially a spiritual being. Man lives because in essence he is the spirit or soul. His innermost essence is the Atma or the Divine Spirit. His true nature is God. The physical body and the intellect depend on the soul within, about which man knows little or nothing. 

Man is not this body. He is not his senses or even his mind. These are his vehicles. The body and mind are subject to change, decay and death, whereas the real man-the immortal Self or Atma-is ever abiding never ending, eternal, unborn, perfect and ancient. 

You have a body but you are not the body. You have a mind but you are not the mind. The body and mind are your instruments like the tools of a carpenter. This body is an instrument or servant of the soul and not its prison. 

Know that the body is the temple of the radiant and self-effulgent Spirit or Atma or Soul within, which controls and moves all the faculties of the mind and the body. Know that you are breathing the breath of the Spirit and not a physical breath. 

Death does not end all. Death does not mean total annihilation. Death does not end the chain or sequence. The working agent, the Soul in the body, does not and cannot die with the death of the body. Man’s Soul is immortal. Just as a person lays aside his overcoat, so also he lays aside the physical body at death. 

The body is the slough of the Soul. The Soul is the mover of the body-chariot. When the body is destroyed, the Spirit or Soul continues living. You still have your thoughts, memory, will-power and subtle body. 

It is very ludicrous to believe that there is no Soul at all beyond the body. It is true that extinction is the final stage of all “organisations”, but “consciousness” is not an organisation. It is an eternal verity untouched by change and decay. Man may change his form of individuality but he cannot change the eternal awareness which is his very existence. Behind all thoughts there is a consciousness of thought and one cannot get behind this consciousness. 

It is impossible that consciousness can ever come to an end. Hence there must be rebirth. Otherwise, what happens to the Jiva or individual soul after it shakes off the physical body? It must exist in a different form of consciousness suited to its further growth into greater fullness. That consciousness perishes at the time of the death of the physical body is a childish idea. Consciousness is eternal and it persists beyond death. 

In man the consciousness is veiled by mind and matter. Therefore, he is not able to realise his essential, divine nature. Unless man is liberated from the bondage of mind and matter, he cannot have knowledge of the Self or Atma. 

What is Religion? 

The sole object of life is the attainment of Self-realisation or absolute freedom. The aim of man’s life is to unfold and manifest the Godhead which is eternally existent within him. The purpose of life is to lose all sense of the distinctive personality and get dissolved in the Lord. The attainment of Infinite Life is the supreme purpose of finite life. 

Mundane life is all unreal. It is illusory and transitory. It is trifling and worthless. Its end is only dust. There is nothing but tall talk, gossip, eating and sleeping. All is illusory, all is painful. Mundane experience has no value, no reality. God alone is real. 

Any number of zeroes have no value unless you add 1 before them. Similarly, even if you possess the wealth of the whole world, it is nothing if you do not lead a spiritual life, if you have no spiritual wealth, if you have no Self-realisation. You will have to live in the Soul. You will have to add the Atma to the life here. That is the reason why Lord Jesus says: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all else shall be added unto you”. 

Religion is life in God. Religion is relationship of the three fundamental principles—God, the world and the individual. Religion gives solace to the weary pilgrim on this earth-plane, it explains life’s mystery to him. It shows the path to the immortal abode. 

Religion consists in doing good to others. It consists in the practice of love, mercy, truthfulness and purity in all walks of life. Religion is practical philosophy; philosophy is theoretical religion. Philosophy is for ever searching, enquiring, questioning. Religion is ever sensing, experiencing, realising. 

Religion is not dogma. It is not a creed. Creed is only broken reed. Religion is not theology. It is not merely a belief or emotion. It is not merely a little prayer which one offers when one suffers from severe intestinal colic or chronic dysentery. It is pre-eminently a life of goodness and service. It is a life of meditation. He who is loving, kind, pious and truthful, who is endowed with faith and devotion, is truly religious. 

The essence of religion is not marks on the forehead, not matted locks and long beards, not standing in the hot sun or cold water, not the orange-coloured robe, not the shaven head, not ringing of bells, not blowing of the conch, not playing of cymbals. The essence of religion is goodness, purity and service in the midst of mundane temptations. 

Religion means living in God. It is not mere discussion about God. Mere intellectual assent cannot make you really religious. Real religion is beyond argument. It can only be lived, both inwardly and outwardly. It is realising and becoming. 

Let not personal bias, force of convention or the opinion of fanatics and sectarians blind your vision to a narrow view of religion. Do not be prejudiced by observing the religious practices of the untutored masses. Through the power of pure reason and discrimination, you must be able to differentiate the essentials from the non-essentials in religion and philosophy. Then only can you be happy. The essentials of all religions are one and the same. They all agree. Religions differ only in the non-essentials. 

A religious life is a great blessing. It lifts man from the mire of impurity and infidelity. The intellect is vain if not illumined by religion. Religion does what philosophy cannot do. If you live according to the rules of religion, you will attain wisdom, immortality, everlasting peace and eternal bliss. Religion frees one from all sorrow and pain. Religion bestows everlasting peace. Religion makes one perfect and free. Religion makes one independent. Religion unites the soul with Brahman. Religion frees one from the round of births and deaths. 

Religion is the foundation of society, the source of all goodness and happiness, the basis of the prosperity and virtue of the individual and, through the individual, of the entire nation. Civilisation, order, unity, morality—all that elevate man and give peace to the nation—are the fruit of the practice of religion. 

Take away religion, then man lives to no purpose. He stays far, far away from the purpose of his birth. Life then becomes a dreary waste here. Really, there is no life without religion. It is only religion that makes existence valuable and fills the mind with love, devotion, serenity and cheerfulness. No materialistic force can annihilate the religious urge in man though for a time a certain kind of propaganda may serve as a deterrent. 

Science and Religion 

Some scientists and so-called educated persons believe that science can explain everything, can solve the riddle of the universe and all problems of life. They also think that the scientific method is the only method of finding out the truth, and that scientific training and discipline alone can build very efficiently the character of man. They ignore ethical discipline, morality and religion altogether. 

One scientist came to me and said, “The Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras have not been written scientifically. I am trying to give a scientific approach to this vital subject.” 

I laughed at his remark and answered, “My dear scientist-friend, the Upanishads are revelations. Brahma-Vidya is transcendental knowledge. The Atman also is transcendental. You cannot take your test-tubes and spirit lamps near Him. The conclusions of the scientists cannot approach His region. Their observations are one-sided as they concern the waking state only. Their experiences are only relative experiences.” 

The scientist kept quiet, lowered his head in shame and walked away silently. 

Three blind people touched three different parts of an elephant. One touched the foot and said, “The elephant is like a pillar.” 

The second touched the ear and said, “The elephant is like a fan.” 

The third touched the belly and said, “The elephant is like a pot.” 

So also, a scientist explores the physical plane and speaks of atoms, energy and physical laws. He is also like a blind man. He has knowledge of one dimension alone. He has ignored the dream and deep sleep states. He has no all-comprehensive knowledge. 

Science has analysed man. Man is supposed to be a creature composed of various physical and chemical substances. Yet no scientist has so far been able to assemble these constituent chemical elements of a man’s body into one homogeneous creature which lives, talks and acts like a man. And no scientist is able to comprehend the mystery of creation and the Creator and the meaning of life. 

Scientists are very busy in studying the external world. They have entirely forgotten to study the internal world. Science gives you knowledge only of phenomenal appearances and not of the Reality behind them. Science has not been able to solve the important questions: what is the ultimate stuff of the world? Who am I? What is the ultimate truth? 

Science tells us that the ultimate goal of everything is unknown and unknowable. But Vedanta teaches that the ultimate goal is the attainment of Brahman or the Infinite, and that It can be realised through hearing of the scriptures and through reflection and meditation. 

Science has its limitations also. It does not have any instrument by which it could just collect the supersensual or spiritual data or those divine facts which exist in a subtle form and which we cannot see. The Soul is beyond the realm of physical science. It is beyond the reach of material science. It is extremely subtle. It is subtler than ether, mind and energy. Consciousness and intelligence are of the Soul and not of the body. Consciousness is evidence of the existence of the Soul. The Soul is the immortal part of man. 

Science is a systematic study of facts. It tries to reduce observations or observed facts to a system. In order that a fact may be valid for science, it must be perceptible to the senses. Sensing is false knowledge. Intuition is right knowledge. Intuitive knowledge alone is the highest knowledge. It is the imperishable, infinite knowledge of Truth. 

A scientist is an extrovert. He bombards the atoms. He will not find pure Consciousness there. He must withdraw the senses and rest in his own inner Self. He must dive deep into the ocean of Brahmic Consciousness. 

Science is not the enemy of religion but a preparation for the latter. Science is an enemy of superstition alone. Both science and religion are engaged in the search for Truth. Their attitudes are essentially the same but the fields of application vary. 

The Hindu Rishis, seers and sages have recognised the harmonious relation between science and religion. The divorce of science from religion is the cause of confusion and conflict. Science is religion as applied to the investigation of Truth in the finite Nature outside—the object. Religion is science as applied to the realisation of the Infinite, the Truth that underlies all objects—the subject. 

Science interprets on the phenomenal plane the One as energy. Religion interprets the One as the Self, the Atman. Science analyses, classifies and explains phenomena while Brahma-Vidya, the Science of the Self, teaches you to transcend phenomena and attain immortality. 

The scientific and the religious approaches to Truth are really complementary and not contradictory. Religion and science are twin brothers. They should harmoniously and mutually help to search for Truth. The mind and intellect are finite instruments. They cannot realise the infinite Reality but are the means to Its realisation. When the intellect has passed through the various stages of reasoning and when it has been completely purified, then revelation dawns. True religion begins where the intellect ends. 

Let it not be thought that religion is dogmatic, otherworldly, a pet tradition of blind believers or irrational emotionalists. Religion is the most rational science, the science of life itself, the science of man as he essentially is, not merely as he presumes himself to be. The basis of all the secular sciences is Brahma-Vidya. Brahma-Vidya is the foremost among all sciences because through its means one attains immortality. One cannot learn this science of sciences in any university. One will have to learn it from a God-realised preceptor, after having controlled the senses and the mind. 

Seek within. Stand not as a beggar before the door of science-power, which destroys more than it heals. Do not surrender yourself to the scientists. They are not able to explain anything. Science knows nothing about the origin of life, the origin of thought and the origin and destiny of human nature and the universe. There are many questions to which religion alone can give the answers and not science. 

The Bhagavad Gita 

The teachings of India’s ancient seers are indeed the most universal. The works of Yoga belong to the entire world. They are also practical to the core. Numerous persons are turning from a war-torn and sullied atmosphere to India and her ancient, divine wisdom which is found in the Gita, the Upanishads and the Adwaita Vedanta philosophy. 

Mahatma Gandhi once visited one of the largest libraries in London and asked the librarian what spiritual book was borrowed by readers most frequently. The librarian said that it was the Gita. 

The greatest gift, the greatest blessing that India has conferred upon the world, upon all humanity, is this sublime yet eminently practical, universal gospel of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. The greatest thinkers and philosophers of the Occident have vied with one another in paying their devout tribute at the shrine of the Gita. Wilhelm von Humboldt, the famous Occidental scholar, states: “The Bhagavad Gita is the deepest and most sublime production the world possesses”. Emerson, the great sage of America, had a copy of the Gita always on his table. 

In the midst of the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Lord Krishna, during the course of His most interesting and instructive talk with Arjuna, revealed the profound, sublime and soul-stirring spiritual truths and expounded to Arjuna the rare secrets of Yoga, Vedanta, Bhakti and Karma. All the teachings of Lord Krishna were subsequently recorded by Bhagavan Vyasa as the Song Celestial or the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, for the benefit of humanity at large. The world is under a great debt of gratitude to Sri Vyasa who presented this celestial song to humanity for its daily conduct of life, spiritual uplift and Self-realisation. Only those who are self-controlled and who are endowed with faith can reap the full benefits of the Gita which is the science of the Soul. 

Sri Krishna gave His Gita not merely to Arjuna, but through Arjuna, to the whole world at large. The problems that faced Arjuna face mankind in general. The Gita is the answer to the universal question of life as a whole. 

To live means to fight, for all life is a battle wherein the forces of good and evil, the divine and the demoniacal, purity and passion, are ceaselessly at war. The battle of Mahabharata is still raging deep within us. Ignorance is Dhritarashtra. The individual soul is Arjuna. The indweller of our heart is Lord Krishna, the charioteer. The body is the chariot. The senses are the horses. Mind, egoism, lust, impressions, cravings, attraction and repulsion, desires, jealousy, greed, pride and hypocrisy are our dire enemies. 

The Gita symbolises the solution of this eternal struggle between the spiritual and the material in every human being. It does not exclude any being from receiving its message and becoming blessed. It is entirely non-sectarian and is pre-eminently a practical gospel. It embodies in itself a solution more than just an exposition or a revelation. It embodies in itself a solution to the immediately pressing problems of man and carries a wonderful message of hope, encouragement, cheer and consolation. It is a direct appeal to divinise the entire nature of man. It has an inspiring, workable message for you, for me and for every man and woman living his or her ordinary life in the busy, everyday world. 

The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita is an exact science. It is a perfect, practical system of self-culture. It is the science of right living. It has nothing to do with religious belief, colour, traditional faith, vocation or clime. Yoga is neither Eastern nor Western; it is of the world, of humanity in general. Krishna is not merely a Hindu God; He is the representative of the inner Reality, which exists in all without difference. 

The Bhagavad Gita is not merely an Aryan scripture, but also a gospel of divine life. It is the scripture of the Yogi, and a Yogi one can be in every walk of life, at every step and stage. Even one who aspires for Yoga is beyond the ordinary rules of human conduct and religious practice. To become wider and deeper and more inclusive in one’s being and consciousness is the aim of Yoga; and this is the goal of human life. 

Yoga is Universal 

The idea of the novice that Yoga constitutes only physical exercises or mere Asanas and Pranayama is a terrible error. Yoga Asanas, Pranayama, Bandhas, Mudras and Kriyas have nothing to do with real Yoga. They are aids in Yoga practice. 

Most people do not have access to Yoga beyond its physical level, because true Yoga needs intense personal discipline, coupled with deep reflection under the guidance of an able teacher. Yoga promises superphysical and spiritual blessings. It becomes unattractive to a common man who clamours for immediate fruit and worldly prosperity. 

Yoga is for all. It is not a sectarian affair. It is a way to God and not a creed. The practice of Yoga is not opposed to any religion or any sacred church. It is a purely spiritual and universal science. It does not contradict anyone’s sincere faith. 

Yoga is not a religion but an aid to the practice of the basic spiritual truths in all religions. Yoga can be practised by a Christian or a Buddhist, a Parsee, a Mohammedan, a Sufi or an atheist. To be a Yogi means to abide continuously in God, and to live at peace with others. Yoga is union with God. Yoga is union with all. God dwells in all. 

Moral purity and spiritual aspiration are the first steps on the path of Yoga. One who has a calm mind, who has faith in the words of his Guru and the scriptures, who is moderate in eating and in sleeping, and who has intense longing for deliverance from the wheel of this worldly existence, is a qualified person for the practice of Yoga. 

An aspirant on the path of Yoga should have faith, energy, cheerfulness, courage, patience, perseverance, sincerity, purity, absence of despondency, dispassion, concentration, aspiration, serenity, self-restraint, truthfulness, non-violence and non-covetousness. An austere and simple life is indispensable for the practice of Yoga. The foundation of Yoga is self-control. Discipline is the essence of Yoga, the discipline of the body as well as of the mind. 

Sri Krishna’s Teachings in the Gita 

The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita is an art. You should be ever active and at the same time feel inwardly that you are the non-doer and non-enjoyer. You should take a deep interest in everything. And yet you should be perfectly unattached. 

Sri Krishna asks man to consider himself a doll in the hands of God. He asks man to think of himself as a soldier, with God as his general and his worldly acts as duties under orders. He asks man to act in the faith and belief that whatever he does is the work of God. He asks man to act, but to act only with devotion to Him and without desire for fruit. 

The teachings given by Lord Krishna are simply wonderful. He gives instructions on a variety of subjects, but the one ringing note is: “See Me in everything. Surrender yourself to Me. Do all actions for My sake. Cut off all sorts of attachments. Have perfect, unswerving devotion to Me. Sing My glories”. 

The Lord gives you practical, wholesome guidance. Like a lotus leaf in water you should remain at work. Feel that the Lord’s supreme power does everything here. We are all His instruments. Let your hands be ever engaged in the service of the Lord in all. Let your mind be ever thinking of His glories. Let your intellect discriminate correctly. And let your soul be ever in union with the Lord. This is Yoga. A Yogi is not an idle dreamer, an inert stone. Building castles in the air is not the Yoga that Lord Krishna asks us to practise. Beloved aspirants, give up delusion. Plunge in service. 

Yoga is not hidden in caves. It is not in thick, sequestered forests. It is not to be found in mountain herbs. God is not a coward to run away from towns, cities and villages. He is all-pervading. 

The Gita does not want you to flee from your worldly career to the solitude of the forest. It does not bid you hide in a cave of the Himalayas for attaining the supreme peace of the Eternal. It tells you to resist unrighteousness, to develop divine virtues and try to attain Self-realisation in and through the world. 

Stick to your duty and to truthfulness. Do selfless service. Surrender yourself to the Lord. Have equal vision and a balanced mind in success and failure, in heat and cold, in honour and dishonour, in pleasure and pain, in happiness and sorrow. Give the mind to the Lord and hands to the service of humanity. Be firmly established in the vow of Brahmacharya. Give up selfishness, meanness, attachment and egoism. You will then be free from the wheel of births and deaths, from the bonds of Karma. You will attain supreme peace, eternal bliss and immortality. This is the message of the Gita. 

O man! you have been corrupted by wrong education. God can be neither examined in a glass tube in a laboratory nor cut open by a surgeon’s knife. No one can prove God by means of logic. You cannot meet God without devotion. 

You are proud because of your boasted intellect and try to prove that God does not exist. You take pride that you are Godless. What a vain, Godless man you are! You live in vain. You have wasted your life. Open your eyes now. Wake up from your long slumber of ignorance. Take refuge in Gita’s Lord, Sri Krishna. Still there is hope for you. He is all-merciful. He is ready to bless you. Study the Gita daily and live in the spirit of this divine scripture. You will soon attain eternal bliss and immortality. 

Worship the Srimad Bhagavad Gita as a holy scripture. Study a chapter of it daily. Concentrate upon some of the verses or themes of the book. But do not stop at that. Live in the spirit of its teachings. Mere talk and lecturing will not help you in any way. You may know the whole of the Gita by heart; you may deliver lectures on it for hours together; and yet you may not have a ray of the wisdom that the Gita propounds. 

What is wanted is regular practice of the teachings of the Gita. Become intensely practical. Let this holy scripture guide your thoughts, prompt your speech and rule your actions. Then your whole attitude towards life will gradually change. You will become a God-man with God-vision. You will no more be affected by success or failure, pleasure or pain, loss or gain. You will attain courage, strength, peace and bliss in this very life, right where you are. 

Glory! Glory to the Gita! Glory to Lord Krishna who has given it to the men of this world for attaining liberation! May His blessings be upon you all! May the Gita be your centre, ideal and goal! Blessed is he who studies the Gita daily! Twice blessed is he who lives in the spirit of the Gita! Thrice blessed is he who has attained Atma-Jnana or knowledge of the Gita!  

—Sri Swami Sivananda 

1

The Royal Science of Brahma-Vidya 

Kingly science, kingly secret, the supreme purifier is this, realisable by direct intuitional knowledge, according to righteousness, very easy to perform, imperishable. 

(IX-2) 

Brahma-Vidya is the Science of sciences. The knower of Brahma-Vidya or the Science of Brahman or the Science of the Absolute, knows everything. His knowledge is full. He has the whole experience through intuition or revelation. Take your firm seat on the rock-bottom of the Upanishadic truths and accept the findings of science only if they tally with the Upanishadic truths, otherwise reject them ruthlessly. 

All secular sciences have their own limitations. A scientist works on the physical plane with a finite mind and with instruments. He knows the physical laws. He has some knowledge of the elements, atoms and physical energy. His knowledge is fragmentary. He has no experience of the whole. He has no knowledge of transcendental or super-sensual things. 

Science is only a partially unified knowledge. A scientist infers, investigates and draws exact conclusions from his observations. He understands Nature but he knows nothing of the origin or destiny of Nature. 

Who made the sun and gave power to its rays? Who combined four parts of nitrogen with one part of oxygen? Who gave power to the electrons? Who gave power to the atoms to combine into molecules? Who or what made and bestowed upon the ultimate particles of matter their marvellous power of varied interaction? Science does not know this great mystery. On the contrary, Yoga is completely unified knowledge. A Yogi gets inner, divine realisation. He clearly sees with his inner Yogic eye the subtle rudiments of matter. He identifies himself with the Supreme Being who is the Lord of Prakriti or matter. He gets control over the five elements. He clearly understands the whole mystery of creation through direct intuitional knowledge. The scientist lacks this sort of knowledge. He has only experimental knowledge. 

In the matter of evidence in psychological questions, the sense-perceptions with which science naturally deals are only second-rate criteria and are therefore to be received with caution. The closing of the external channels of sensation is usually the signal for the opening of the psychic and, from all evidence, it would seem that the psychic sense is more extensive, acute and in every way more dependable than the physical. 

The business of science is generalisation of phenomena; it is the function of philosophy and Yoga to explain. Religion is the practical aspect of philosophy. Philosophy is the rational aspect of religion. The scientist tries to answer the “how” of the problem; the philosopher and the Yogi attempt to answer the “why” of it. It is a mistake to say that such and such an event occurs because of certain laws of Nature. The laws of Nature do not give any real explanation of the phenomena. A law of Nature is simply a statement, in terms as general as possible, of what happens under given circumstances in a natural phenomenon. Science is only concerned with the phenomena. Science shows a marvellous harmony of Nature. But it is the problem of philosophy and Yoga to solve the “why” of Nature’s harmony. 

Scientists possess a partial knowledge of the universe. They have not understood the whole code of Nature’s laws. They have no knowledge of the occult side of things. They have no knowledge of the astral, mental and higher planes such as Brahma-Loka or the world of Brahma. The unseen world is of far greater importance than the sense-universe which is visible to the naked eye. A fully developed Yogi can function on all planes and so he has full knowledge of the manifested and the unmanifested Nature. The senses, by which you get a knowledge of the external objects, are not fully developed. Therefore, the knowledge obtained is partial. The external senses are exact counterparts of the internal astral senses. Scientists have no knowledge of the subtle rudiments of matter. Life will become fuller and richer when one develops this inner eyesight by the practice of Yoga. Just as blood, when seen under the microscope, reveals many mysterious things, such as leucocytes, nuclei, pigment, germs and bacilli, so also the inner Yogic eye reveals many a mystery to the hidden side of things. The knowledge of the scientists is only fragmentary or partial, whereas the knowledge of the Yogis who have realised the Truth is full and perfect. 

In its outlook, science differs radically from philosophical musings. Consequently, the mode of approach of science to its specific problems is different from that of philosophy. Yet there is some similarity in the findings of both science and philosophy when some broad questions are discussed. 

Scientists have to learn many things from the seers of the East. Who gave power to the electrons to revolve? What is at the bottom of these electrons? Who gave life to the cell or the protoplasm? Who gave intelligence to the cells to secrete milk or bile or gastric juice from the blood? The scientists are still observing and experimenting. They are still groping in darkness. What is the cause of the origin of an impulse? Who is the director of the mind? What is the cause of the origin of thought? Even if all the living scientists were to put their heads together to solve these questions, they cannot give definite and conclusive answers. 

The mind of a scientist cannot work on higher spiritual planes. It is gross and impure. It has outgoing tendencies. It is filled with desires, passions and worldly impressions. The scientist cannot look within, introspect and meditate. He can analyse the atoms of different elements but he cannot do self-analysis. He can bombard the atoms, watch the movements of the electrons and make discoveries in Nature. But the mind of a Rishi or a Yogi is subtle and pure. It is free from worldly desires and passions, from selfishness, lust and hatred. It is equipped with the instructions of the sages and the Srutis. It is filled with purity. It is free from outgoing tendencies. It is fit for divine contemplation. It is properly disciplined in a variety of ways through rigorous austerity and self-restraint. The Yogi undergoes a discipline, a rare discipline—through the practice of tranquillity of mind, control of the senses, restraints, internal and external purification, etc.—which cannot be had in the universities. 

The scientist observes the physical phenomena, makes experiments and goes from the effects to the cause. The Rishi or the Yogi goes directly to the cause or the source. He dives deep into the source and brings forth the pearl of knowledge of the Self. The man of science sees and observes things only as they appear to be to his sense-perception. The seer perceives them as they actually are in their very essential nature. He has direct intuition and perception of the Truth through Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Then he comes to the effect—the manifested universe. Therefore, his utterances are infallible. They are gospel truths. The Srutis of the Upanishads are direct revelations. They are the infallible utterances of the seers or sages. They are beyond questioning, beyond the least shadow of doubt. 

When the Yogi attains the knowledge of the Eternal, he acquires the knowledge of all secular sciences as well, because all sciences hang upon Brahma-Vidya. If you have knowledge of clay or thread or gold, you will have knowledge of all the modifications of clay or thread or gold. 

Scientists are also Adwaitins or non-dualists. They say: “There is only one substance in this world. That is electron. The whole world is a mass of energy.” Energy is the God of the scientists. Energy is the God of the Shaktas also. Scientists have explored the physical world. They have found out numerous methods to control the physical forces of Nature. Psychologists are experimenting on the mental plane. They are trying to control the mental forces. Psychology is a branch of Raja Yoga which deals with the control of the mind. A close study of the observations and revelations of science brings a man closer to God. Who has framed the laws of Nature? Nature is blind. What is that intelligence which moves Nature? Who is the primum mobile? A study of the physical forces and the physical laws, and an understanding of the mental forces and the mental laws, are not sufficient to make us perfect. We should have a thorough knowledge and realisation of the substratum that lies hidden behind these names and forms and all physical and mental phenomena. Then only will we become perfect masters or full-blown adepts or Arhats or Buddhas. 

Can scientific inventions make us really happy? That is the question of questions now. What has science done to us? No doubt it has added a fund of knowledge on the physical plane. But this knowledge is mere husk when compared to the knowledge of the Self—Brahma-Vidya. All sciences are founded on the knowledge of Atman. 

Those who have fallen into the clutches of science dislike Sandhya and prayer. They neglect the study of the Gita, Japa, Kirtan and meditation. Even if there is a study class, a discourse on the Upanishads, common prayer and meditation in an adjacent hall, they will continue their smoking, drinking and card-playing or other game in the next room. They will be busy with their raffle tickets, ranger tickets and worthless talk and gossip. What an unfortunate and deplorable state! 

English-educated people are carried away unduly by scientific theories and discoveries. Anything, however stupid it may be, when stamped by the seal of science, is regarded as gospel truth. A theory or doctrine, however fallacious it may be, is accepted as true wisdom for all ages when it is proclaimed in the name of and on the authority of science. Even if some fantastic and ludicrous statements are made with the stamp of science by a Haekel, an Einstein or a Tyndel, people are quite ready to swallow them with great avidity. Such is the fashion of the day! They reject as base superstition the sublime teachings of the ancient Rishis and sages. The brains of these so-called educated and cultured people need a prompt, drastic and thorough flushing for a protracted length of time. The poison has percolated into their very cells and tissues. 

I do not mean to condemn the wonderful discoveries and inventions that modern science has contributed to the vast store of knowledge and happiness which the present generation enjoys. The radio, the aeroplane, the microphone and other marvels of science are bound to baffle human intelligence. Scientists have found ways to fertilise an ovum with chemicals, without the aid of semen. It is a stupendous success. Some children are also born. They inject the semen that is obtained from renowned and cultured men of the world in order to improve the race. They are attempting to fix a radio in a match-stick. They are trying to get the necessary nutrition into the body by pressing an electric button so that eating and defecation may be entirely abandoned. They are endeavouring to make the streets move so that there will be no necessity of motor cars and carriages. They are trying to establish a means of communication with the planet Mars. They may succeed in all their attempts. May God bless them with roaring success in all their undertakings! But the question is: can all these comforts and scientific discoveries and inventions give immortality, eternal satisfaction and everlasting peace? Have these material comforts enhanced human happiness? Is not man more restless today than ever before? Is he not more dissatisfied and discontented despite all these comforts? Life has become more complex and intricate. Luxuries are increasing day by day. Even a rich man finds it difficult to make both ends meet. 

There is only one remedy for all these ills. You will have to abandon all luxuries and go back to simple, natural living if you want to enjoy real and lasting happiness. Immortality can be attained only by realising the Self through simple living, practice of Yoga, self-control, mental discipline and meditation. 

Why do you read many books? It is of no use. The great book is within your heart. Open the pages of this inexhaustible book, the source of all knowledge. You will know everything. What is this knowledge by knowing which you will know everything? This is the knowledge of Brahman or the ultimate Reality. This is Para-Vidya. This is Brahma-Vidya. This is the science of sciences. Close your eyes now. Withdraw your senses. Still the mind. Silence the bubbling thoughts. Make the mind waveless. Merge deep into the Atman, the Self, the Supreme Soul, the Light of lights, the Sun of suns. All knowledge will be revealed to you. You will have divine wisdom. All doubts will vanish. All mental torments will disappear. All hot discussions and heated debates will terminate. Peace, bliss, eternal happiness and knowledge alone will remain. 

Brahma-Vidya or the Science of the Self is not a subject that can be understood and realised by mere intellectual study, reasoning or ratiocination, or even by discussions and arguments. Mere scholarly erudition and vast study with a high degree of intelligence alone cannot help one in the practical realisation of the Truth inculcated in this science. It demands perfect discipline, a discipline that is not to be found in our modern universities and colleges. It demands solid Sadhana for the achievement of the goal that is indicated by this Para-Vidya or highest science. 

One has to reach a realm where there is neither light nor darkness, neither east nor west, neither gain nor loss—a realm which can never be reached either by the mind or the senses, it is not, my dear brothers, an imaginary region of the Arabian Nights or the Midsummer Night’s Dream. No, certainly not. It is not an illusory or chimerical place of one’s mythological fabrication. It is the one and the only real, everlasting abode of perennial peace and deep, abiding joy, wherein this fluctuating, restless mind can find a permanent rest. Sages like Sankara, Dattatreya, Mansoor, Madalasa, Gargi, Chudalai, Jesus and others reached this destination after strenuous struggle and exertion. 

The possibility of reaching the same level is within the reach of all who are ready to struggle hard with patience, perseverance, iron determination and strong will. What one has achieved can be attained by another. This is the grand law of Nature. Prakriti is quite unbiased. A man under normal conditions has to take countless births before he attains perfection or knowledge of the Self. If a man is sincere in his spiritual Sadhana, he can evolve quickly; he can hasten his spiritual progress in a few births which otherwise would take thousands of years. He can cut short the cycle of births and deaths by means of drastic Sadhana, great self-control and determined effort. He can have Self-realisation within the twinkling of an eye in one birth if he is a first-class aspirant with extremely good spiritual impressions. 

Stand up, O Prem! Follow me. Enjoy the bliss of Atma. The river of Atmic joy is flowing all round. There is a deluge of the bliss of the Self. Drink this nectar to your heart’s content. Care not for the world. Go thy own way. Let others hoard wealth and become mill-owners and multi-millionaires. They are misers only. Let others become barristers, high court judges and ministers. They are still ignorant men. Mind not a bit. The wealth of the three worlds is nothing, mere straws, before the spiritual wealth, the wealth of Atma-Jnana. The joy of the three worlds is a mere drop when compared to the ocean of bliss of the Self. The knowledge of all secular sciences is mere husk when compared to the knowledge of the Self. Here are the priceless treasures of Atma for thee. Here is the inexhaustible wealth of Brahma-Jnana. Enjoy these riches. No dacoit or robber can rob thee of this imperishable wealth of divine knowledge. There is no insolvency, no failure of the bank, no bankruptcy here. Take possession of this great spiritual treasure, the splendour of Brahman, and enjoy it for ever and ever. Thou art now a real King of kings, Shah of shahs, Emperor of emperors. The gods, Indra and Brahma, will be jealous of thee now, O Prem! Go and distribute this imperishable wealth of knowledge of the Self far and wide. 

Glory unto thee! Peace be with thee for ever and ever! 

2 

Faith is the First Step 

The man who is full of faith, who is devoted to it, and who has subdued the senses obtains this knowledge; and, having obtained this knowledge, he goes at once to the supreme peace. 

(IV-39) 

Shraddha is faith. Faith is the greatest thing in the world. Even the highest rationality has faith as its background. One cannot ratiocinate on things in which one has no faith. Even the greatest philosopher has faith as his stronghold. No intellectualism can prove good if it is not supported by faith. The whole world stands on faith and is guided by it. Religion has faith as its root. One cannot prove God if one has no faith in God. God is only a matter of faith. This faith is the outcome of previous spiritual impressions. Certain men are born philosophers and certain others do not grasp the fundamentals of religion even at the age of seventy. This is all due to the past spiritual impressions. Faith is guided by the impressions of actions done in the previous births and the present faith is nearer or farther away from the Truth in accordance with the advance made in spiritual evolution. 

Blind faith should be turned into rational faith. Faith without understanding is only blind faith. Devotion is the development of faith. Knowledge is the development of devotion. Faith leads to the final spiritual experience. Whatever a person strongly believes in, that he experiences and that he becomes. The whole world is a product of faithful imagination. If you have no faith in the world, the world does not exist. If you have no faith in sensual objects, they will not give you pleasure. If you have no faith in God, you will never reach perfection. Wrong faith turns even existence into non-existence. 

“One who thinks that Brahman does not exist, himself becomes non-existent”, states the Taittiriya Upanishad. Faith is the fundamental necessity for spiritual Sadhana. 

Faith in God is the first step to God-realisation. Not an iota of progress is ever possible on the path of spirituality without faith. The faith must be a living faith. It must be unwavering faith. Lack of faith is a stumbling block on the path of realisation. 

Faith is an important qualification for an aspirant on the path of spirituality. Students of all Yogas, whether of Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga or Jnana Yoga, should possess this fundamental virtue. No faith, no devotion. No faith, no Jnana. The Sanskrit equivalent of faith is “Shraddha” or “Visvas”. The student should have faith in the existence of God, in the teachings of his Guru, in the Vedas and in his own self. The whole world runs on faith only. The Raja has faith in his Dewan. The husband has faith in his wife. The shopkeeper has faith in his customers. The patient has faith in his doctor. The client has faith in his lawyer. The engineer has faith in his head clerk. 

Man lives by faith. When faith is directed to God, it becomes the cause of the liberation of the individual. 

Faith is one of the important items in the Shad-Sampat or sixfold virtue of the “four means of salvation” or Sadhana Chatushtaya on the path of Jnana. Even Patanjali Maharishi, the exponent of the Raja Yoga philosophy, lays much stress on faith. 

Patanjali says, “Shraddha veerya smriti samadhi prajna-purvaka itaresham—To others this Samadhi comes through faith, energy, memory, concentration and discrimination of the Real”. He has placed faith at the very beginning of this verse. He has given prominence to it. If a man has faith, then energy and memory come by themselves. He will collect all his energies and remember the ultimate essence and exert to realise the basic Reality. 

The Srutis emphatically declare: “Shraddha bhakti dhyana yogadvai hi—Know Him by faith, devotion and meditation”. Faith comes first. Without faith you cannot practise either concentration or meditation. 

Self-realisation is a transcendental experience. You can march on the spiritual path only by placing implicit faith in the words of sages who have realised the Truth and have attained knowledge of the Self. 

Kannappa, the hunter of Kalahasti, had true, living faith in Lord Shiva. He gave as his daily offering the flesh of the wild beasts to the Lord. Shiva tested the sincerity of Kannappa one day. Tears fell from His right eye in the Shiva-Linga. Kannappa was sorely moved. He plucked out his right eye and fixed it in the right eye of the Shiva-Linga. The next day there were tears in the Linga’s left eye. Kannappa plucked out his left eye and fixed it in the Linga. At once Lord Shiva appeared before him and blessed him. Kannappa had new eyes immediately and attained the kingdom of Lord Shiva-Kailasa—the abode of immortality and eternal bliss. You should possess the same unshakable living faith which Kannappa had. Then only can you enjoy the everlasting peace of the Eternal. 

Prahlada was persecuted by his father in a variety of ways. He was rolled down from the summit of a mountain. He was made to be trampled under the feet of an elephant. He was thrown into the sea. He was put into a large vessel which contained boiling oil. Cobras were thrown at him. Poison was administered to him by his own mother. And yet Prahlada did not lose his faith in Lord Narayana. He was clinging to Lord Hari tenaciously like a leech. His faith was unflinching and unshakable. Such must be the faith of aspirants of the Lord. 

You will be tested by the Lord in various ways. Even under extreme trials and difficulties you should not lose your faith. Faith is your sheet-anchor. 

It was their unswerving faith that made the two boy-devotees—Prahlada and Dhruva—immortal. The achievements of Viswamitra Rishi in his austerities and Yoga, the success of Napoleon in the field of battle, the attainments of Mahatma Gandhi in his Karma Yoga and practice of self-restraint, the awe-inspiring majesty and the soul-stirring magnanimity, grandeur and nobility of great personages like Tulsidas, Ramdas, Sankara, Dattatreya, Vamadeva and Jada Bharata were all due to the work of that simple secret called faith. 

Faith is a rare flower of inestimable value. It must be cultivated in the garden of your heart. It must be nourished daily with the water of sincerity. The weeds of doubts and misgivings should be totally eradicated. Then faith will strike deep root, blossom and bear the fruit of devotion quickly. 

You cannot achieve anything grand, meritorious and sublime with a weak and wavering faith. You cannot reach the goal of life with a faith that flickers at every step. You cannot ascend the summit of Nirvikalpa Samadhi with an impotent and passive faith. Your faith must be as firm as the Himalayas or the Sumeru mountains. It must be as steady as the lamp that burns in a windless place. 

Faith can be strengthened through Satsang, prayer, self-purification, meditation and study of scriptures. You can ascend the rungs of the spiritual ladder with the help of intense, unflinching faith alone. Whenever doubts assail you, reject them ruthlessly. Open your heart to the Divine Light, the source of all knowledge, all light. Become as simple as a child. Pray from the bottom of your heart. The flame will again become brighter and brighter. 

Reason is impotent. Faith is omnipotent. A devotee with faith can enter the innermost chambers of the Lord as Sudama did. 

Do you not take for granted many things in geometry? The teacher says, “A line has length but no breadth. A point has position or space but no magnitude.” Is this really correct? Do you argue these points in any way? You simply take them for granted. Is this not blind faith? Then again, how do you know that this man is your father? Your mother only knows your real father. She points out, “He is your father.” You accept it. Is this not blind faith? 

Though you are not able to see the sun on account of the clouds, the sun exists. Though you are not able to see the mind that is hidden in the brain, the electricity in the wires, the child in the womb, the butter in the milk, the fire in the wood, yet the mind, electricity, child, butter and fire do exist. Even so, though you are not able to see God who lies concealed in these forms, on account of the impurities in the mind, God does exist. 

Although we cannot see the stars during the day, we know that there are stars. Even so, though we cannot see God with these physical eyes, we can infer that He is hidden behind these names and forms. 

Brahman or the Self or the immanent God cannot be demonstrated as He is beyond the reach of the senses and the mind. But His existence can be inferred by certain empirical facts or common experiences in daily life. 

A lady once had a fall from the third storey of a building. On the ground there was a bed of sharp angular stones. She would have received serious injuries but was miraculously saved. She herself expressed, “I felt a warm embrace by some invisible hands. Some mysterious power saved me.” Instances like these are not uncommon. 

An advocate had no faith in God. He developed double pneumonia. His last breath stopped. His wife, son and relatives began to weep. But he had a very mysterious experience. The messengers of the God of Death caught hold of him and took him to their court. The God of Death said to his messengers, “This is not the man I wanted. You have brought the wrong person. Send him off.” The man began to breathe after one hour. He actually experienced that he had left the body, gone to the court of the God of Death and again re-entered the physical body. This astonishing experience changed his entire nature. He developed intense faith in God and became a spiritual man. He is still living in the United Provinces. 

Another advocate had a similar experience but there was a little difference. He also was an atheist. He was taken to the court of the God of Death. This advocate said, “I have not finished my work on the physical plane. I have still some more useful work to do. Kindly spare my life now.” His boon was granted. He was struck with wonder by this strange experience. His nature also was completely changed. He left the legal profession at once. He is now devoting the remaining portion of his life to selfless service and meditation. He is still living in South India. 

Damaset, the father of Namdev, used to visit the temple of Vittoba at Pandharpur every day and worship Him with fruit and rice. He went to a neighbouring village one day on some urgent business. Gonabai, the mother of Namdev, gave the fruit and rice to Namdev and asked him to go and offer them to Vittoba. Namdev took the articles of worship and placed them before the image of Vittal or Lord Krishna and requested the Lord to eat the same. When he found that the image was silent, he wept bitterly in acute agony. Then Vittal appeared in human form and actually ate the offering in order to please His child-devotee. Faith and devotion can work wonders. The Lord becomes a slave of His devotees. 

Feel the help from the invisible hands of God during worldly activities. The Lord is always with you. He is watching all your activities and thoughts. Children sometimes fall from the upper storeys of buildings and are miraculously saved. In motor car accidents and various other catastrophes, people are saved in a mysterious manner through timely help from the invisible hands of the hidden power of God. Every one of you might have had this kind of experience. When you are in great difficulty, He sends you money in a very mysterious manner from some unexpected source. You feel His Presence and His invisible hands. But you forget Him immediately when your pocket is full. 

Do not argue. You will not gain anything. Sit before your spiritual preceptor or a Mahatma quietly and meditate for an hour. Let the soul speak to the Soul. All your doubts will be cleared by themselves. You will have good experiences. You will enjoy a peculiar peace. There will be a holy thrill of joy in your heart. This is the way for your spiritual growth. 

Follow not the voice of the mind. This voice will delude you. Follow the voice of the soul. This voice will lift you up and take you to the goal. 

When you hear lectures or discourses that disturb your faith, that make your faith flicker, leave the place at once. Do not keep company with such people till you have grown, till you are established on the rock of divine love. Never budge an inch from your present position. Stand adamant on the bedrock of faith. May you have the intense living faith of Prahlada! 

Abandon all sorts of wrong beliefs, superstitions, weaknesses, wrong notions and ideas of impossibilities. Cling fast to faith in divine possibilities. Have faith in divine life. Aspire fervently and constantly to live in the Divine. 

Have faith in God. Have a proper understanding of the scriptures. If ignorant people with impure hearts and perverted intellects read the Gita, Ramayana or Bhagavata, they will only try to find out mistakes through their habit of fault-finding. They will begin to discuss useless points such as: “Why did Rama kill a Sudra who was practising austerities in the forest? Is this justifiable? Why did Krishna do this and that? Why did the Avatara commit such mistakes?” Such people will not be benefited by the study of scriptures. Their minds are like a sieve. They will omit the essence that has to be grasped and misconstrue things. They see things in a wrong light. Only those who have purified their minds will be able to understand the real significance of the teachings of the scriptures. 

Lord Rama killed a Sudra. The Sudra deserved such capital punishment because he murdered the son of a Brahmin. Rama did this act to maintain law, order and righteousness. Can you find any fault with the ruler of this universe, who is omniscient, who is the dispenser of the fruit of actions according to the nature of the Karmas of Jivas? Some orthodox and narrow-minded persons twist the truth and play mischief. It is priestcraft and religious cheating. 

Lord Rama is the Supreme Soul, the silent witness, the protector of all beings. He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. He is Lord Hari. He is never born. He never dies. Lord Hari simply manifested in the form of Rama to uplift the world and then vanished. He had a body of consciousness though to all appearances it looked like flesh. Remember this; understand this point clearly. 

It is simply foolishness to bring Lord Rama or Lord Krishna to the level of ordinary human beings and to argue as to whether their acts were justified or not. There are some idle people who, for the sake of curiosity, indulge in such talk just to while away the time in unnecessary discussions to show that they are also learned and religious-minded. 

People of this kind do not do any kind of Sadhana. They have no dispassion and waste their time in idle gossiping. They lack faith in God and in His Lilas. There is no practical Vedanta these days. There is only Vedantic gossiping. It is blasphemy to say that Lord Rama did a wrong act. A real aspirant will never indulge in such frivolous talk. Time is fleeting. Every moment must be well utilised in His worship and service. There is no use arguing. You must do something practical and cross this ocean of infatuation in this very birth. Religion is realisation. We must live an ideal spiritual life every second. Whenever friends indulge in such topics, turn a deaf ear, keep silent or leave the place immediately. You will then experience peace. You will save much time for your spiritual Sadhana. 

Religion is not for discussion around a club table. Religion is faith for knowing and worshipping God. Religion is practical life in the eternal Atman through earnest, protracted Sadhana for years, after withdrawing the turbulent senses from sense-objects and controlling the mind. 

Just as coloured water penetrates freely and nicely a piece of pure white cloth, so also the instructions of a sage can penetrate and settle down in the hearts of aspirants only when their minds are calm, when there are no desires for enjoyments and when the impurities have been destroyed. That is the reason why an aspirant is expected to possess the qualifications of discrimination, dispassion, self-restraint, faith, withdrawal of the senses and calmness before he practises hearing of the Srutis, reflection and meditation. Discipline and purification of the mind and the senses are the prerequisites for an aspirant on the path of Truth and God-realisation. 

Even when God is explained, those who have not been purged of their faults and impurities either disbelieve or misbelieve it, as was the case with Indra, Virochana and others. Therefore, knowledge arises only in him who has, by means of austerities performed either in this birth or in many previous births, purified himself. The Sruti says: “To that high-souled man whose devotion to the Lord is great, and whose devotion to his preceptor is as great as that to the Lord, these secrets explained become illumined”. 

Lord Hari manifested in the forms of Lord Krishna and Lord Rama for the protection of the good, for the destruction of the evil-doers and for the sake of firmly establishing righteousness. Lord Krishna says in the Gita: “The foolish disregard Me when clad in human semblance, ignorant of My supreme nature, the Great Lord of all beings”. Study the Gita, Ramayana, Bhagavata and other scriptures and have a proper understanding. Do not be carried away by the turbulent senses, by the influences of your useless friends and idle discussions. By devotion and faith know Him in essence and, through His Grace attain supreme bliss, supreme peace and supreme knowledge. May God bless you! 

3 

The Doubter is Doomed 

The ignorant, the faithless, the doubting self, goes to destruction; there is neither this world nor the other, nor happiness for the doubting. 

(IV-40) 

Belief in God is an indispensable requisite for every human being. It is a sine qua non. Owing to the force of ignorance, pain appears as pleasure. The world is full of miseries, troubles, difficulties and tribulations. The world is a ball of fire. The fourfold mind (mind, intellect, ego and subconscious mind), charged with attraction, repulsion, anger and jealousy, is a blazing furnace. We have to free ourselves from birth, death, old age, disease and grief. This can be done only through faith in God. There is no other way. Money and power cannot give us real happiness. Even if we exercise suzerainty over the whole world, we cannot be free from care, worry, anxiety, fear and disappointment. It is only faith in God and the consequent God-realisation through meditation that can give us real, eternal happiness and free us from all kinds of fear and worry which torment us at every moment. Faith in God will force us to think of Him constantly and to meditate on Him, and will eventually lead us on to God-realisation. 

Belief in God and God-realisation will give us supreme peace. In that peace comes the extinction of all pains. We will be bewildered no longer. We will be released from bondage to actions. We will become immortal. We will obtain divine wisdom. We will reach a place whence there is no return to this world of miseries, our sins being dispelled by divine wisdom. Our minds will ever remain balanced. We will neither rejoice on obtaining what is pleasant nor feel sorry on obtaining what is unpleasant. We will have a calm inner instrument (the fourfold mind). We will be ever established in the Divine Consciousness. We will get happiness exempt from decay. We will become one with God and get eternal, infinite, unbroken bliss. When we are established in the Divine Consciousness we will not be shaken even by heavy sorrow. We will get happiness beyond the reach of the senses. 

God will give us full security if we worship Him with unswerving devotion and undivided attention. He will give us the Yoga of discrimination to enable us to reach Him easily. Out of pure compassion for us, He destroys the ignorance-born darkness by the shining lamp of wisdom. He speedily lifts us from the ocean of worldly existence if we fix our minds on Him steadily with devotion and faith. We will cross over the three qualities and, liberated from birth, death, old age and sorrow, drink the nectar of immortality. By devotion and faith we will know Him in essence and will enter into His very Being. Through His Grace we will overcome all obstacles. 

If we have no faith in God, we will be born again in this world and undergo considerable misery. The ignorant, faithless, doubting self goes to destruction. He cannot enjoy the least happiness. Neither this world nor that beyond is there for the doubting self. Those who have no faith in God do not know what is right and what is wrong. They have lost the power of discrimination. They are untruthful, proud and egoistic and are given to excessive greed, wrath and lust. They hoard money by unlawful means and become men of demoniacal nature. They commit various kinds of atrocious crimes. They are thrown into demoniacal wombs. They sink into the lowest depths, deluded birth after birth. 

An aspirant begins to doubt whether God exists or not, whether he will succeed in his God-realisation or not, whether he is doing his practices rightly or not. Lack of faith is a dangerous obstacle on the spiritual path. The student slackens his efforts when these doubts appear. Maya, the illusory power of God, is very powerful. Mysterious is this Maya. It misleads people through doubts and forgetfulness. The mind is Maya. It deludes people through doubts. Sometimes the aspirant gives up his Sadhana altogether. This is a serious mistake. Whenever a doubt tries to overpower any student, he should at once take recourse to the company of Mahatmas and remain with them for some time under the influence of their spiritual currents. He should clear his doubts by conversing with them. 

Generally, an aspirant commences Sadhana with the expectation of so many Siddhis within a short time. When he does not get them, he gets dejected and stops his practices. This is the trouble in almost all cases. He thinks that the Kundalini will be awakened within six months and he will have clairvoyance, clairaudience, thought-reading and flying in the air. He entertains so many fantastic and romantic ideas. 

In the mind there is doubt. There is reality also. A doubt arises as to whether there is a God or not. This is termed Samsaya-Bhavana. Another doubt crops up whether one can realise Brahman or not. Then a third voice says, “God or Brahman is real. He is a solid, concrete Reality, just like an amalaka fruit in the hand. He is a mass of knowledge and Ananda. I can realise Him.” 

If we have clearly understood something the ideas of that thing are well-grounded and ingrained. Some ideas are hazy and not firm. They come and go. We will have to cultivate ideas and ground them till they are firmly fixed and implanted. Clarification of ideas will remove perplexity and confusion in the mind. 

When a doubt arises as to whether there is a God or not, whether one will succeed in Self-realisation or not, it must be dispelled by means of well-directed, strong suggestions and affirmations such as: “It is true. I will succeed. There is no doubt of this. In my dictionary, in my vocabulary, there are no such words as ‘can’t’, ‘impossible’ and ‘difficult’.” 

Everything is possible under the sun. Nothing is difficult when you firmly make up your mind. Strong determination and firm resolution will bring sanguine success in every affair or undertaking. 

There are various kinds of impurities in the mind. It takes a long time for purification of the mind and for getting it one-pointed. Concentration is a question of practice over several lives. Concentration is the most difficult thing in the world. One should not get dejected after some practice for some months or for one or two years. Even if you do a little Sadhana, the effect will be there. The spiritual impressions will be there. Nothing is lost. That is the immutable law of Nature. You will not be able to detect the little improvement that has come out of a little practice as you have not a subtle intellect, and as you have many kinds of impurities from beginningless time. You must develop dispassion, patience and perseverance to a maximum degree; you must have an unshakable conviction in the existence of God and in the efficacy of spiritual practices. You must have a strong determination: “I will realise God right now in this very birth, nay, in this very second. I will realise or die.” 

Some one hundred and fifty years ago there lived a very famous Yogi and Jnani by name Sadasiva Brahmendra Saraswati. He lived in Nerur, near Karur, in the district of Tiruchirappalli, in South India. He is the author of Brahma-Sutra Vritti, Atma-Vidya Vilasa and various other books. He performed innumerable miracles. 

Once, when he was absorbed in Samadhi on the banks of the Cauvery, he was carried away by the flood and thrown somewhere else. He was buried deep in the sand. Labourers went to plough the fields and struck the head of the Yogi and some blood oozed out. To their great astonishment, they found a Yogi seated in Samadhi. 

On another occasion, as a naked mendicant, he entered the Zenna of a Mohammedan chief. The chief was quite enraged at the appearance of the sage in a nude state. In a fit of fury he cut off one of the arms of the Mahatma. Sadasiva Brahmendra walked away without uttering a word and without showing any sign of pain. The chief was greatly astonished at this strange condition of the sage. He realised that he must be a great Mahatma, a superhuman being. He repented greatly and followed the sage to apologise. Sadasiva never knew that his arm had been cut off. When the chief narrated to him what had happened in the camp, Sadasiva forgave him and simply touched his maimed arm. He immediately had a new one. 

It is the life of Sadasiva Brahman that made a very deep impression on my mind. I came to a very definite conclusion that there was a sublime, divine life independent of objects and the play of the mind and senses. The sage was quite unconscious of the world. He was unconcerned when his arm was cut off. He must have been absorbed in the Divine Consciousness and been one with the Divine. 

Ordinary people yell even when there is a pin-prick in their body. When I heard about the marvellous incident in the life of Sadasiva Brahmendra and read about it in the book, it gave me a very strong conviction in a Divine Existence and in a divine, eternal life where all sorrows melt, all desires are satisfied and one gets supreme bliss, supreme peace and supreme knowledge. 

4

Scriptures are the Authority

He who, having cast aside the ordinance of the scriptures, acts under the impulse of desire, attains neither perfection nor happiness nor the supreme goal. 

Therefore, let the scriptures be thy sole authority in determining what ought to be done or what ought not to be done. Having known what is said in the ordinances of the scriptures, thou shouldst act here. 

(XVI-23 & 24) 

Reason cannot be the authority in the matter of Dharma. Undeveloped persons cannot think for themselves. 

In the matter of Dharma, the scriptures are the only authority. You cannot know the truth about Dharma through any source of knowledge other than the scriptures. 

The Sruti and the Smriti are the two authoritative sources of Hinduism. Sruti literally means “what is heard” and Smriti means “what is remembered”. Sruti is revelation. Smriti is tradition. What is revealed is Sruti. The Upanishad is a Sruti. What is remembered is Smriti. The Bhagavad Gita is a Smriti. 

Sruti is direct experience. Great Rishis heard the eternal truths of religion and left a record of them for the benefit of posterity. These records constitute the Vedas. Hence the Sruti is the primary authority. The Smriti is a recollection of that experience. Hence it is a secondary authority. The Smritis or Dharma Shastras also are books written by sages, but they are not the final authority. If there is anything in a Smriti which contradicts the Sruti, the Smriti is to be rejected. The Bhagavad Gita also is a Smriti. So is the Mahabharata also. 

The Smritis or secondary scriptures are the ancient, sacred law-codes of the Hindus dealing with the Sanatana Varnashrama Dharma. They supplement and explain the ritualistic injunctions called Vidhis in the Vedas. The Smriti or Dharma Shastra is founded on the Sruti. The Smritis are based on the teachings of the Vedas. The Smriti stands next in authority to the Sruti. It explains and develops Dharma. It lays down the laws which regulate the national, social, family and individual obligations of the Hindus. 

The words which are expressly called Smritis are the law books, the Dharma Shastras. Smriti, in a broader sense, covers all Hindu Shastras save the Vedas. 

The laws for regulating Hindu society are from time to time codified in the Smritis. The Smritis have laid down definite rules and laws to guide the individuals and communities in their daily conduct and to regulate their manners and customs. The Smritis have given detailed instructions, according to the conditions of the time, to all classes of men regarding their duties in life. 

From these Smritis the Hindu learns how to spend his whole life. The duties of Varnashrama and all ceremonies are clearly given in these books. The Smritis prescribe certain acts and prohibit some others for a Hindu, according to his birth and stage of life. The object of the Smritis is to purify the heart of man and make him perfect and free. 

These Smritis have varied from time to time. The injunctions and prohibitions of the Smritis are related to particular social surroundings. As these surroundings and essential conditions of the Hindu society changed from time to time, new Smritis had to be compiled by the sages of different ages and different parts of India. 

From time to time, a great law-giver would take his birth. He would codify the existing laws and remove those which had become obsolete. He would make some alterations, adaptations, readjustments, additions and deletions, to suit the needs of the time and see that the way of living of the people would be in accordance with the teachings of the Vedas. Of such law-givers, Manu, Yajnavalkya and Parasara were the most celebrated persons. Hindu society is founded upon and governed by the laws made by these three great sages. The Smritis are named after them. We have the Manu Smriti or the “Laws of Manu” or the “Institutes of Manu”; the Yajnavalkya Smriti and the Parasara Smriti. Manu was the great law-giver of the race. He was the oldest law-giver as well. The Yajnavalkya Smriti follows the same general lines as the Manu Smriti and is next in importance to it. The Manu Smriti and the Yajnavalkya Smriti are universally accepted at the present time as authoritative works all over India. The Yajnavalkya Smriti is chiefly consulted in all matters of Hindu law. Even the Government of India is applying some of these laws. 

There are eighteen main Smritis or Dharma Shastras. The most important are those of Manu, Yajnavalkya and Parasara. The other fifteen are those of Vishnu, Daksha, Apastamba, Samvarta, Vyasa, Harita, Satatapa, Vasishtha, Yama, Gautama, Devala, Sankha-Likhita, Usana, Atri and Saunaka. 

The laws of Manu were intended for the Satya Yuga; those of Yajnavalkya were for the Treta Yuga; those of Sankha-Likhita were for the Dwapara Yuga; and those of Parasara are for the present Kali Yuga. 

The rules and laws which are based entirely upon our social position, time and clime, must change with changes in society and the changing conditions of time and clime. Then only can the progress of Hindu society be ensured. 

It is not possible to follow some of the laws of Manu at the present time. We can follow their spirit and not the letter. Society is advancing. When it advances, it outgrows certain laws which were valid and helpful at a particular stage of its growth. Many new conditions which were not thought out by the old law-givers have come into existence now. It is no use asking people to follow now those old laws which have become obsolete. 

Our present society has changed considerably. A new Smriti to suit the requirements of this age is very necessary. Another sage must place before the Hindus of our days a new, suitable code of laws. The time is ripe for a new Smriti. Cordial greetings to this sage. 

I shall speak a word on conscience. Some people say, “We can find out good and evil, right and wrong, by consulting our conscience only.” No individual will be able to do this by consulting his conscience only. It may give some clue and help, but in difficult and trying conditions, it will not help one. Conscience is not an infallible guide. The conscience of a man changes according to the experiences and education he has had. Conscience is one’s intellectual conviction only. The conscience of the individual speaks in accordance with his own tendencies, proclivities, inclinations, education, habits and passions. The conscience of a savage speaks a language that is entirely different from that of a civilised European. The conscience of an African Negro speaks a language that is vastly different from that of an ethically developed Yogi of India. Ask a clerk at the collectorate, “What are your duties?” He will say, “I must earn money and support my family and parents. I must not injure others. I must read the Ramayana.” He has not the least idea of the laws of Nature. If you ask him, “What are your duties to the country and humanity? What are right and wrong? What are good and evil?” he will simply blink. Ask any vehicle driver, “What is your duty?” He will say, “I must anyhow earn Rs. 20 daily. I have to purchase ten gallons of fuel, tyres, tubes and crude oil. The tyres are very costly. I have six daughters and five sons. I have to take care of them.” If you ask him anything about God, about moral virtues, liberation, bondage and freedom, about right and wrong, he will be bewildered. Why is there so much divergence between the promptings of conscience of two persons of the same caste, religion and creed? Why do we find ten different convictions among ten persons of the same district and the same community? The voice of conscience alone is not sufficient to guide man in understanding the law of God, about right and wrong, good and evil and other duties of life. The Shastras and realised persons only can truly guide a man in the discharge of his duties in an efficient manner. 

Dear friend, do your duties in a satisfactory manner. Consult the Shastras and the Mahatmas whenever you are in doubt. As you have not the ability or the time to think of the moral principles and rules given in the scriptures, you can get the moral precepts or instructions from the sages and saints and follow them to the very letter. Evolve. Expand. Grow. Develop and realise the Satchidananda Atma. 

5 

Bond Between Guru & Disciple 

Know that by long prostration, by question and by service the wise, who have realised the Truth, will instruct thee in that knowledge. 

(IV-34) 

The traditional concept of the Guru is a unique and wonderful gem in the cultural treasury of India. It is our most precious possession. For, it is this concept that is to a large extent responsible for the safe and unbroken perpetuation of some of the most precious aspects of our nation’s grand spiritual heritage. It is the institution of Guru-Parampara (Guru-disciple lineage), that has, from generation to generation and down the centuries, closely safeguarded and handed down the living experiences of the seers of the Upanishadic age. This sacred task it has performed in spite of many a violent vicissitude in our nation’s history. 

Spiritual knowledge is a matter of Guru-Parampara. It is handed down from the Guru to the disciple. Study the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. You will have a comprehensive understanding. Gaudapadacharya imparted Self-knowledge to his disciple Govindacharya; Govindacharya to his disciple Sankara; and Sankara to Sureswaracharya. Matsyendranath imparted divine knowledge to his disciple Gorakhnath, Gorakhnath to Nivrittinath, and Nivrittinath to Jnanadev. Totapuri imparted knowledge to Sri Ramakrishna, and Sri Ramakrishna to Swami Vivekananda. It was sage Ashtavakra who moulded the life of Raja Janaka. It was Gorakhnath who shaped the spiritual destiny of Raja Bhartrihari. It was Lord Krishna who made Arjuna and Uddhava get themselves established on the spiritual path when their minds were in an unsettled state. 

All the great ones had their teachers. Swetaketu learnt the nature of Brahman from sage Uddalaka; Maitreyi from the great seer, Yajnavalkya; Bhrigu from Varuna; Narada Rishi from Sanatkumara; Nachiketas from Yama; Indra from Prajapathi. Several others humbly went to the wise ones, observed strict Brahmacharya, practised rigorous discipline and learnt Brahma-Vidya from them. All sophistry and ostentation, learning and conceit, have to be cast aside before the disciple approaches the Guru. The whole personality of the pupil should be effaced if the wisdom of the teacher is to illumine the self of the pupil. 

“To that great one who has supreme devotion to God and as much devotion to the Guru as to God, do the truths become illumined”, says the Svetasvatara Upanishad. 

There is a good deal of heated debate and controversy amongst people on the matter of the necessity of a Guru. Some assert with vehemence and force that a preceptor is not at all necessary for attaining Self-realisation and spiritual advancement, and that one can have spiritual progress and Self-illumination through one’s own efforts only. They quote various passages from the scriptures and assign arguments and reasonings to support them. Others boldly assert with greater emphasis and force that no spiritual progress is possible for a man, however intelligent he may be and however hard he may attempt and struggle on the spiritual path, unless he gets the benign Grace and direct guidance of a spiritual preceptor to whom he submits himself. 

Now, open your eyes and note carefully what is going on in this world in all walks of life. Even a cook needs a teacher. He serves under a senior cook for some years. He obeys him implicitly. He pleases his teacher in all possible manner. He learns all the techniques of cooking. He gets knowledge through the grace of the senior cook, his teacher. A junior lawyer wants the help and guidance of a senior advocate. Students of mathematics and medicine need the help and guidance of a professor. A student of science, music or astronomy wants the guidance of a scientist, a musician or an astronomer. When such is the case with ordinary secular knowledge, what to speak of the inner spiritual path wherein the student has to walk alone with closed eyes! 

When you are in a thick jungle you come across several cross footpaths. You are in a dilemma. You do not know the directions and the path by which you should go. You are bewildered. You want a guide here to direct you along the right path. 

It is universally admitted that an efficient teacher is needed in all branches of knowledge on this physical plane, and that physical, mental and moral culture and growth can be had only through the help and guidance of a capable master. This is a universal and inexorable law of Nature. Why do you deny then, friend, the application of this universally accepted law in the realm of spirituality alone? 

The spiritual path is thorny, rugged and precipitous. It is enveloped in darkness. The guidance of a Guru who has already trodden the path is imperatively necessary. He will be able to throw light on the path and remove obstacles. 

The spiritual path is not like writing a thesis for the M.A. examination. The help of a teacher is necessary at every moment. Young aspirants become self-sufficient, arrogant and self-assertive in these days. They do not care to carry out the instructions of a Guru. They do not wish to have a Guru. They want independence from the very beginning. They mistake licentiousness or “having their own ways and sweet will” for freedom. This is a serious, lamentable mistake. This is the reason why they do not grow. They lose faith in the efficacy of Sadhana and in the existence of God. They wander about in a happy-go-lucky manner without any aim, from Kashmir to Gangotri, and then from Gangotri to Rameswaram, talking some nonsense on the way, something from Vichar Sagar, something from the Panchadasi, and pose as Jivanmuktas. 

Some do meditation for some years independently. Later on they feel acutely the necessity of a Guru because they come across some obstacles on the way. They do not know how to proceed further and how to overcome these impediments or stumbling blocks. Then they begin to search for a master. 

A stranger in a big city finds it difficult to return to his residence in a small avenue though he has walked along the way half a dozen times. When difficulty arises even in the case of finding out the way through streets and roads, how much more difficult it should be on the path of spirituality where one walks alone with closed eyes! 

The Guru must not only have a knowledge of the Vedas and Upanishads but must be established in Brahman also. Mere study of books cannot make one a Guru. Only he who has studied the Vedas and has direct knowledge of the Atman through inner personal experience can be considered a Guru. If you find peace in the presence of a Mahatma and if your doubts are removed by his very presence, you can take him as your Guru. 

A Guru is one who has full Self-illumination and who removes the veil of ignorance in deluded Jivas. Guru, Truth, Brahman, Iswar, Atman, God and Om are all synonymous terms. The number of realised souls may be less in this Kali Yuga when compared to the Satya Yuga, but they are always present to help aspirants. They are always searching for qualified aspirants. 

In olden days the aspirants were required to live with the Guru for a number of years so that the latter could study the students thoroughly. The food during spiritual practice, what to practise and how, whether the students are qualified for the path of Yoga, the temperament of the aspirants as well as other items have to be considered and judged by the Guru. It is the Guru who should decide whether the aspirants are fit for advanced practices, practices of a middling type or elementary practices. He will then prescribe different kinds of exercises for each type. Sadhana differs according to the nature, capacity and qualification of the aspirant. After understanding the theory of Yoga, one has to learn the practice from an experienced Yogi Guru. As long as there is this world, there will be books on Yoga and teachers also. You will have to search for them with faith, devotion and earnestness. You can get easy lessons from the Guru and practise them at home also in the initial stages. When you have advanced a little you will have to stay with the Guru to learn and master the difficult exercises. The personal contact with the Guru has manifold advantages. You will be greatly benefited by the magnetic aura of your Guru. 

For the practice of Bhakti Yoga and Vedanta you do not require a Guru at your side. After learning the Srutis for some time from a Guru, you have to reflect and meditate alone in entire seclusion, whereas in Kundalini Yoga you have to break up the Granthis and take the Kundalini from Chakra to Chakra. These are all difficult processes. The method of uniting the Apana and the Prana and sending it along the Sushumna and breaking the Granthis needs the help of a Guru. You have to sit at the Guru’s feet for a long time. You have to understand clearly the location of the Nadis and Chakras and the techniques of the Yogic Kriyas. 

Lay before your Guru the secrets of your heart. The more you do so, the greater will be the sympathy and help you will get from him. This sympathy means an accession of strength to you in the struggle against sin and temptation. 

The Guru often tests the students in various ways. Some students misunderstand him and lose their faith. Hence they are not benefited. Those who stand the tests boldly come out successful in the end. The periodical examinations in the spiritual university of sages are very stiff indeed. In days of yore the tests were very severe. 

Once Gorakhnath asked some of his students to climb up a tall tree and hurl themselves, head downwards, on a very sharp trident. Many faithless students kept quiet, but one devoted student at once climbed up the tree with lightning speed and threw himself down. He was protected by the invisible hand of Gorakhnath. He had immediate Self-realisation. This student had no attachment to his body. The other faithless students had very strong infatuation and ignorance. 

Guru Govind Singh tested his students also. He said to them, “My dear disciples, if you have real devotion to me, let six of you come forward and give me your heads. Then we can have success in our attempt in the war.” Two faithful disciples only offered their heads. Guru Govind Singh took them into the camp and cut off the heads of two goats instead. 

Sankara once wanted to test the devotion of his disciple, Padmapada. The river Cauvery was in full flood. Sankara stood on one bank of the river and Padmapada on the other. Sankara then beckoned to Padmapada to come to him at once. There was no boat at the moment. Padmapada, not caring for his life, at once jumped into the river although he did not know how to swim. By the Grace of Sankara, at each step in the water, a lotus flower appeared to support the foot of Padmapada. Hence his name, Padmapada. “Padma” means lotus; “Pada” means feet. 

Some, like Yogi Milarepa, had to serve their masters arduously for a long time, whereas others got initiation in a flash. It depends upon the spiritual Sadhana and evolution of the aspirant. Yogi Milarepa underwent a series of struggles during his service of his Guru. He had to perform superhuman acts of heroism and bravery before he was initiated. Sages and Rishis of yore put their students through severe trials before they took them into their confidence. They knew intuitively whether a student was fit for initiation or not. The neophytes were entrusted with the task of tending the cattle, bringing fuel from the forest, washing the clothes of the Guru, and such other works which appear menial in the eyes of the present-day aspirants. To aspirants like Svetaketu, Indra, Satyakama and others, every act was an act of Yoga or worship of the Guru. To them nothing was menial. They dedicated everything to their master with unselfish motive. Therefore, they attained purification of the heart quickly. They studied and mastered the Vedas and finally acquired the knowledge of the Supreme Self. 

Gautama chose four hundred lean and weak cows and requested Satyakama Jabala, his disciple, to tend them. He instructed Satyakama not to return before the number had become a thousand. Satyakama lived in the forest for a long time. A few days prior to his departure to his preceptor’s hermitage, the gods Vayu, Agni and Surya instructed him in the knowledge of Brahman. Gautama was astonished to see Satyakama shining with Brahmic splendour in his face. 

Ashtavakra initiated King Janaka in the twinkling of an eye. The Devas initiated Khatvanga in a Muhurta. Some initiate their students through simple gazing. Sri Sankara inspired Totaka through his mere thought-power. Therefore, it depends upon the ability, capacity and purity of the aspirant to receive the Divine Grace which will elevate him to exalted heights of supreme joy and bliss. 

The aspirant should be ever watchful to receive spiritual instruction from whatever source it may come. Anyone who helps him in removing his ignorance is a guide. But he who hastens the aspirant’s spiritual progress and takes a lively and keen interest in his evolution, is the real Sadguru. 

Just note how Dattatreya attained knowledge of the Self from even insentient beings. The aspirant, before he desires the Grace of the master, should deserve it. The supply of Divine Grace comes only when there is a real thirst in the aspirant and only when he is fit to receive it. 

The Guru will find out, through a close study of the aspirant, the latter’s tastes, temperament and capacity, and decide for him the most suitable path. If the aspirant’s heart is impure, the teacher will prescribe selfless service for a number of years. Then the Guru will find out for what particular path the student is fit and initiate him in that path. 

A Bhakta will be initiated by a Bhakta saint in the path of devotion. A Jnani will initiate a student of Vedanta in the Mahavakyas. A Hatha Yogi or a Raja Yogi can initiate another in that particular path. But a sage of perfect realisation, a full-blown Jnani or a perfected Yogi, can give initiation in any particular path. A sage like Sri Sankara or Madhusudhan Saraswati can initiate an aspirant in any particular path for which the latter is fit. 

If a Bhakta saint is approached by an aspirant who wants to follow the path of knowledge, the former may direct the latter to a proper Guru for initiation, because the Bhakta saint might not have had the Vedantic realisation of oneness. But a Jnani can initiate an aspirant in the path of Bhakti also, because he has already realised the fruit of Saguna worship in the present or in a previous birth. 

It is very difficult to know the particular Yoga by which the Guru has reached perfection, unless he himself reveals it to the aspirant out of compassion. No aspirant will be bold enough to put this question to his Guru lest he should be considered impertinent. Except in the case of advanced aspirants, initiation comes after long and patient service of the preceptor. Both the Guru and the disciple should be well acquainted with the nature of each other. The student should be able to know thoroughly the ideals and principles of his Guru, and the Guru must be able to detect the mistakes and imperfections in the student. The Guru should be allowed to make a complete study of the aspirant’s inner nature. The student should lay bare before his preceptor all his weaknesses and shortcomings. He should allow himself to be tested by his Guru in the crucible of suffering in a variety of ways so that his Guru may have full confidence in him. 

The disciple also should come into closer contact with the Guru during his service and try to imbibe all his Guru’s good qualities. The disciple should never try to find fault with the Guru in thought, word or deed. If the fault-finding nature is strong in the disciple, he cannot imbibe anything from the preceptor and his spiritual progress will be at a standstill. Firstly, the student must admit his weaknesses before the Guru. He must place before the Guru all his difficulties and then alone will the teacher be able to remove the pitfalls and snares through efficient and potent means. 

The student and the teacher should live together as a father and devoted son or as a husband and wife, with extreme sincerity and devotion. The aspirant should have an eager, receptive attitude to imbibe the teachings of the master. Then only will he be spiritually benefited. Otherwise, there is not the least hope of a spiritual life for the aspirant, nor is there any chance of a complete regeneration of his old diabolic nature. 

It is a great pity that the present system of education in India is not favourable for the spiritual growth of aspirants. The minds of the students are saturated with materialistic poison. Aspirants of the present day have not any idea of the true relationship between the Guru and disciple. It is not like the relationship between a student and a teacher or a professor in schools and colleges. Spiritual relationship is entirely different. It involves dedication. It is very sacred. It is purely divine. 

O seekers of Truth! it is imperative that you should recognise the deep implications of a life dedicated to the cause of Truth, to the cause of God realisation, and seek the protection of the Guru if you are to have real success in spiritual Sadhana. Abandon prejudices, wrong notions of self-sufficiency and pride of intellect. Purify your heart. Be simple and straightforward. Have a genuine aspiration for freedom from mortal life. Correct discriminative understanding, complete dispassion for things mundane, self-restraint, tranquillity of mind, and a strong yearning for liberation are the prerequisites for studying under a spiritual preceptor. With these qualifications, he who reverentially seeks the guidance of the preceptor shall be blessed with the saving knowledge. 

Give up the delusive notion that to submit oneself to the preceptor, to obey and to carry out his instructions, is slavish mentality. The ignorant man thinks that it is beneath his dignity and against his freedom to submit to the command of another. This is a grave blunder. If you reflect carefully, you will see that your individual freedom is in reality absolute slavery to your own ego and vanity. It is nothing but the vagaries of the sensual mind. He who attains victory over the mind and the ego is the truly free man. He is a hero. It is for attaining this victory that a man submits to the higher spiritualised personality of a Guru. Through this submission he vanquishes his lower ego and realises the bliss of the infinite Consciousness. 

Have an iron determination to realise the Supreme Divine Being. Know Him through the Grace of your Guru. Start your efforts in the right direction. Yes, do it now! 

6 

The Caste System 

The fourfold caste has been created by Me according to the differentiation of Guna and Karma; though I am the author thereof, know Me as non-doer and immutable. 

(IV-13) 

Of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas, as also Sudras, O Parantapa! the duties are distributed according to the qualities born of their own nature. 

(XVIII-41) 

The four castes are the Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra. This division is according to the Guna and Karma. Guna is quality. Karma is the kind of work. Guna and Karma determine the caste of a man. 

There are three qualities or Gunas—Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas. Sattwa is purity. Rajas is passion. Tamas is inertia. These three qualities are found in man in varying proportions. Sattwa preponderates in some persons. They are the Brahmanas. They are the wise persons or thinkers. They are the priests, ministers or philosophers who guide kings or rulers. In some others, Rajas is predominant. They are the Kshatriyas. They are warriors or men of action. They fight enemies or invaders and defend the country. Then in the third group the quality of Tamas is predominant. They are the Vaishyas or traders. They do business and engage in agriculture and amass wealth. Sudras are the servants. None of the three qualities is highly developed in them. They serve the other three castes. 

In a broad sense, a Sattwic man who is pious and virtuous and leads the divine life, is a Brahmin; a Rajasic man with heroic qualities is a Kshatriya; a Rajasic man with business tendencies is a Vaishya; and a Tamasic man is a Sudra. 

Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, and also uprightness, knowledge, realisation and belief in God, are the duties of the Brahmanas, born of their own nature. 

Prowess, splendour, firmness, dexterity, not fleeing from battle, generosity and lordliness are the duties of the Kshatriyas, born of their own nature. 

Agriculture, cattle-rearing and trade are the duties of the Vaishyas, born of their own nature. 

And action consisting of service is the duty of the Sudras, born of their own nature. 

The underlying principle in the caste system or Varna Dharma is division of labour. Rishis studied human nature carefully. They came to the conclusion that all men were not equally fit for all types of work. Hence they deemed it necessary to allocate different kinds of duties to different classes of people, according to their aptitude, capacity or quality. The Brahmanas were in charge of spiritual and intellectual affairs. The work of political administration and defence was given to the Kshatriyas. The Vaishyas were entrusted with the duty of supplying food for the nation and administering its economic welfare. The Sudras did the menial work. The Rishis felt all these needs of the Hindu nation and started the system of castes. 

This division of labour began in Vedic times. In the Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda there is a reference to the division of Hindu society into four classes. It is described there that the Brahmanas came out of the face of the Lord, the Creator, the Kshatriyas from His arms, the Vaishyas from His thighs, and the Sudras from His feet. The Vedas have taught that the Brahmana was the brain of society, the Kshatriya its arms, the Vaishya its stomach and the Sudra its feet. 

There is no question of higher and lower here. There was once a quarrel among the senses, the mind and the Prana as to who was superior. There was a quarrel amongst the different organs and the stomach also. If the hands quarrel with the stomach, the entire body will suffer. If Prana departs from the body, all the organs will suffer. The head or the stomach cannot claim superiority over the feet and the hands. The hands and feet are as important as the stomach or the head. 

If there is a quarrel amongst the different castes as to who is superior, then the entire social fabric will suffer. There will be disharmony, rupture and discord. A scavenger or a barber is as important as the Dewan or minister for the running of society. The social edifice is built on the law of spiritual economics. It has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority. Each class contributes its best to the commonweal or world-solidarity. 

A Brahmin is no Brahmin if he is not endowed with purity and good character, if he leads a life of dissipation and immorality. A Sudra is a Brahmin if he leads a virtuous and pious life. What a great soul Vidura was! What a noble, candid, straightforward student Satyakama Jabala of the Chhandogya Upanishad was! Caste is a question of one’s character. Varna is no more the colour of the skin but the colour of one’s character or quality. Conduct and character count and not lineage alone. If one is a Brahmin by birth and at the same time if he possesses the virtues of a Brahmin, it is extremely good, because certain virtuous qualifications only determine the birth of a Brahmin. 

The Hindus have survived many a foreign conquest on account of their caste system, but they have developed jealousy and hatred in the name of the caste system. They have not got the spirit of co-operation. That is why they are weak and disunited today. They have become sectarians in the name of the caste system. Hence the degradation in India. 

The caste system is indeed a splendid thing. It is quite flawless, but the defect came in from somewhere else. The upper classes gradually neglected their duties. The test of ability and character slowly disappeared. Birth became the chief consideration in determining caste. All the castes fell from their ideals and forgot all about their duties. The Brahmins became selfish and claimed superiority over others by mere birth, without possessing the necessary qualities. The Kshatriyas lost their chivalry and spirit of sacrifice. The Vaishyas became avaricious and greedy. They did not earn their wealth by honest means. They did not look after the economic welfare of the people. They did not do charity. They also lost the spirit of sacrifice. The Sudras gave up service. They became officers. They wished that others should serve them. The greed and pride of man created discord and disharmony. 

There is nothing wrong in the caste system. It is arrogance and haughtiness in man that has brought trouble. Man or the little Jiva is imperfect. He is full of defects. He is simply waiting to claim superiority over others. The Brahmin thinks that the other three castes are inferior to him. The Kshatriya thinks that the Vaishya or Sudra is inferior to him. A rich Sudra thinks that he is superior to a poor Brahmin or a poor Kshatriya or Vaishya. 

In the West and in the rest of the world also there still exists the caste system, though it is not so rigidly observed. Some of the Western philosophers have made a division of three classes, namely, philosophers, warriors and the masses. The philosophers correspond to the Brahmins, the warriors to the Kshatriyas, and the masses to the Vaishyas and Sudras. This system is indispensable to keep society in a state of perfect harmony and order. 

Throughout the world this classification of caste exists. The priests and the clergymen represent the Brahmins. They practise meditation and engage in religious preaching. The soldiers in the West are the Kshatriyas of Rajputana. The business people are the Vaishyas. Those who do menial service are the Sudras. This classification is according to the Gunas and Karma. 

At the present moment the caste system is in name only. It has to be rebuilt properly. The Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras, who have fallen from their ideals, who are not doing their respective duties, must do so properly now. They must be educated on the right lines. They must raise themselves to their original lofty level. The sectarian spirit must die. They should develop a new, understanding heart of love and devotion, with a spirit of co-operation, sacrifice and service. 

7

The Glory of Swadharma 

Better is one’s own duty, though devoid of merit, than the duty of another well discharged. Better is death in one’s own duty; the duty of another is fraught with fear. 

(III-35) 

Better is one’s own duty, though destitute of merits, than the duty of another well-performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no sin. 

(XVIII-47) 

Just as the doctor prescribes different medicines for different people according to their constitutions and the nature of their diseases, so also Hinduism prescribes different duties for different people. The rules for women are different from the rules for men. The rules for different castes vary. But non-violence, truth, non-stealing, cleanliness and control of the senses are duties common to all men. 

Dharma depends upon time, circumstance, age, degree of evolution and the community to which one belongs. The Dharma of this century is different from that of the tenth century. 

Man has certain important duties and responsibilities in life. He has to