C. WHAT GURUDEV TAUGHT US
When a human individual attains to God-experience, in that state of perfection, how does that human individual manifest the Divinity that he has attained? This is revealed to us through the personality of Gurudev Bhagavan Swami Sivanandaji.
Try to understand Gurudev’s being, his personality, the ideal person that he was, the divine life that was his.
May he be your ideal and your object of concentration day after day. May he ever be before your mental vision, illumining the path before you, attracting you, uplifting you to that level. This should be your all-pervading, great sadhana, this sincere, earnest attempt to be like Gurudev, this sincere, earnest attempt to rise into a state of being that is permeated with Divinity.
13. GURUDEV’S AWAKENING CALL
May each and everyone of you who are participating in this early morning spiritual fellowship enter into this new day, gifted to you by the Divine, in a higher way, in a subtler and a spiritual way, not merely in a gross and physical way.
You have the blessedness of conceiving, of making each dawn hour not merely a physical awakening of the physical body into physical activities, but simultaneously also a spiritual awakening and a spiritual activity in and through your real Self, your real nature—an awakening into awareness of your real identity.
You awaken not merely as a physical body from physical sleep, but you awake and emerge into a state of wakefulness and awareness in your real, everlasting, unchanging spiritual identity—feeling yourself to be birthless, deathless, of the same stuff as the eternal Cosmic Reality, feeling yourself to be satchidananda. You thus make each day a fresh awakening spiritually, a fresh rebirth, so that each day is one step higher towards the supreme culminating pinnacle-point of God-realisation. Each day adds on to your spiritual evolution, to your spiritual upward ascent towards the great goal of knowing you are never bound, the great goal of realising that you are ever free and eternally pure. It is a pinnacle-point of consciousness where you know that neither am I born, nor do I die, neither have I bondage, nor do I seek liberation—I am ever that Being, one with the Supreme Reality, unborn, eternal, ancient, beyond time, imperishable, ever present.
May this be your vision, not of something extraneous to yourself, not of another thing, but may this be your vision of yourself. May this vision be directed within your self, and, inwardly, may you behold the imperishable within the perishable. This is the vision that Lord Krishna wanted you to have: “vinasyatsv avinasyantam yah pasyati sa pasyati—O Arjuna, see the imperishable within the perishable. Dwelling in this body-house is something that is beyond the body. It never was not, It ever is and ever shall continue to be. Behold that the Eternal is the dweller within this non-eternal body. See thyself with that vision. Know thyself with this wisdom-experience, wisdom-consciousness. Know that thou art free.”
Thus, Lord Krishna, through Arjuna, called upon us to turn the gaze within and know that bondage and liberation do not exist, have no meaning, for you are the ever-pure, ever-awakened, ever-free, all-perfect Reality, nitya mukta paripurna atma tattva.
Thus, rejoice in your freedom, rejoice in your eternal, birthless, deathless state, the truth, the fact of what you truly are. To this fact of your being, Gurudev has awakened you through wonderful musical wisdom, musical upadesa, jnana in the form of a song:
Chidananda chidananda chidananda hum
Har halme almast satchidananda hum
Ajarananda amarananda achalananda hum
Nirbhaya aur nischinta chidananda hum
Kaivalya kevala kutastha ananda hum
Nitya suddha siddha satchidananda hum.
Knowledge-Bliss, Knowledge-Bliss, Bliss Absolute,
In all conditions I am Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.
I am without old age, immortal and immovable.
I am without worry, without fear, Bliss Absolute,
Eternal, pure, perfect Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.
We miss the point of this song. When Gurudev says that in all conditions I am Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, we interpret this “all conditions” to apply to outer conditions, whatever condition our world may be in—what is in the news or how people are treating us. But this is missing the point. In all conditions refers to your own self. No matter what condition your body may be in—healthy or unhealthy, sitting or standing, working or resting; no matter in what condition your mind or emotions and thoughts may be—pleased or displeased, calm or agitated, one-pointed or fretful, up or down; no matter what your intellect may be—creating this complication or that problem or solving them; no matter what your condition—plus or minus, “In all conditions, I am Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. I am the eternal, pure, perfect Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.”
That is chidananda. It is not said satchidananda because saying sat is unnecessary. Sat means existence. To affirm your existence is unnecessary because you don’t need anyone to tell you that you are. You know you exist. But you think you exist as Mr. So and So: “I am male, female, young, old, I belong to this country and so on.” That is where the problem arises, where the shoe starts pinching, and you weep and wail.
Because, although you know you exist, your knowledge is topsy-turvy, upside-down knowledge, which just creates problems. Therefore, know that you exist as pure consciousness, that you exist as perfect bliss— unchangeable, unchanging, eternal, pure Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. You are chit and ananda, perfectly, totally, not 99.95% but 100%. Therefore wake up. Don’t dream that you are someone else. Just wake up and know that you are what you are.
We are gathered together here in the vicinity of a light, a light of awakening wisdom, in the vicinity of an awakening voice calling us to direct our gaze within. For, no matter what condition our physical body, our mind, our memory, our imagination may be in, in the midst of all this you are what you are eternally. Nothing can alter the fact of you. Nothing can change the truth of what you are.
This, therefore, is the great call and gift to mankind, not only by the ancient sages of bygone ages, but it is the selfsame awakening proclamation in clarion tones by sages of our own times. Beloved and worshipful Swami Sivanandaji called upon us to stop looking here, there and everywhere and to start looking just where we are. He said: “Be silent and know that I AM.” Silence the mind, silence the emotions, silence the clamouring of the senses. In that inner silence know that you are the eternal, pure, perfect Knowledge-Bliss Absolute.
Thus, as we benefit from our early morning worship and fellowship here, let us also benefit from the unseen presence and the powerful, unheard voice that silently issues forth twenty-four hours a day, proclaiming: “Thou art what you have ever been. You have never been anything but what you are, for that is the truth of your being.”
Let us receive this unspoken awakening message about ourselves, become awake and remain awake—live, walk and work in a state of wakefulness, never going back to slumber again. In wakefulness, may we live our life, no matter where the body is, no matter how it functions, no matter where the mind wanders and what it does. In all conditions of our interior being, may we ever be in a state of wakefulness!
Gurudev’s presence is not only confined to the Samadhi Hall, is not only all-pervasive in this holy ashram, but it lives and moves in and through you. You carry his presence when you adhere to truthfulness. You carry his presence when you are kind, considerate and compassionate. You carry his presence when you refuse to swerve even one inch from the path of purity. You carry his presence vibrantly, dynamically, forcefully when you live your life in a divine manner with determination, humble intention, firm resolve, and all sincerity and earnestness.
When you are trying to pursue a divine way of living your life in thought, word and action, you are manifesting Gurudev, you are a vibrant centre of that which the world knows as Swami Sivananda. You become a lamp through which his light shines; you become the vessel to hold the living waters of his spirituality, his sublime spiritual teachings.
Do not, therefore, confine Swami Sivananda to the Samadhi Hall. Make yourself a vehicle of his living presence so that by your life others also become awake and illumined—they feel his divine presence through your life, and their life is also divinised. Move amongst this world of men as the candle imparting your light to anyone whom God brings you into contact with.
Worshipful homage to the Reality that is everywhere, at all times, in all Its fullness— within and without, above, below and all around us, the one and only Truth that abides unchangingly—which is the cause, origin and source of countless millions and billions of universes that manifest forth from within It, exist within It, and are absorbed back into It.
We say It. That Being is neither He, nor She, nor It. Our ancients said that that Being is not this; It is That. And finding a flaw in even this reference to that Being, the great Dakshinamurti chose not to utter any words.
What can the river know about the immeasurability, the limitlessness, the boundlessness of the ocean, until at long last it ceases to be a river and becomes the ocean. Then alone, when it has lost its riverness, does immeasurability, limitlessness and boundlessness become meaningful to what was once a river—meaningful not as a concept, but as experience. Immeasurability experiences itself as immeasurability; limitlessness experiences limitlessness and boundlessness experiences boundlessness.
For there is no other to communicate experience, for there is no river. “I did not know before, but now I know.” To state this, there is no longer any river. That is why Gurudev used to oft quote that very significant sentence: “Then shall I be free, when I shall cease to be.”
When one has ceased to be, there is no question of trying to explain, of telling someone else, because there is no someone else to tell, and there is no someone to tell it. There is the ever-abiding Reality that is everywhere present in all Its fullness, within and without, interpenetrating every cell of your being.
However, as long as one is dear to oneself, cherishes oneself and gives tremendous importance to oneself, then so long one is a slave to oneself, is bound by oneself, has to suffer oneself and carry the burden of oneself. It is when one is prepared to offer oneself that the burden is lifted, the prison house is no more. Then alone one is no longer a slave, but one is free. One no longer has to suffer oneself. In that state, when one no longer suffers oneself, there is peace, there is joy.
If there was ever one thing that was vibrantly, vitally present in the heart of Swami Sivananda, it was that all of you may break free from the shackles of the delusion that you are bound, that you are finite and imperfect, that you have sorrows and griefs, pains and sufferings, that you have to overcome restlessness, agitation and troubles. He wanted you to overcome this delusion and know and feel and experience that within you there is hidden light, within you is hidden God, within you is Immortal Soul, within you is ocean of bliss, within you is fountain of joy.
Gurudev said: “Kill this little ‘I’. Die to live. Lead the divine life.” For the great “I” has no problem. Your real “I” has no problem. Nija svarupa (one’s own true nature) is bliss. Nija svarupa is peace. Nija svarupa is the Light of lights beyond all darkness. It is the little “I” that is all that this earth plane connotes and denotes. Always, for all times, there is sorrow for the little “I”: janma, mrityu, jara, vyadhi, duhkha (birth, death, old age, disease, pain).
So, Gurudev wanted us to lead a divine life, which naturally implies leading a life of joy, leading a life where the ego has been once and for all put out, snuffed out, given a safe burial; and you shine with the effulgence of your own real identity. When he sang, “Within you is hidden God, within you is Immortal Soul, within you is ocean of bliss, within you is fountain of joy. Kill this little ‘I’. Die to live. Lead the divine life,” he meant that unless and until you kill this little “I”, unless and until you die to live, leading of the divine life will be a far cry.
Therefore, to lead the divine life it is necessary for us to pay attention to this sadhana of rising above the little “I” and being the real “I”. It is necessary for one to awaken to the awareness that unless and until I engage myself in annihilating myself, the false self, perhaps all my ideas of leading a divine life is so much will-o’-the-wisp, a phantasmagoria. For this is of the essence: When I am there, You are not there. If You are to be there, I have to quit.
Kabir said: “Prem ki gali ati sankari, isme do na samai (The path of love is very narrow; here two cannot enter).” Only one Being can occupy the lane of love that leads to bliss beyond all sorrow. Thus we must awaken to the fact that leading a divine life is impossible unless one ceases to be. It is the highest good, it is the supreme blessedness, because it is only when you cease to be that you really ARE. Until you cease to be, you really are NOT.
So help me God that I may share with you this light, which is difficult to perceive, for it is not any earthly light. It is a light which shines when there is no other light, when there is darkness. In the darkness, the only light that shines is an awakened consciousness which does not illumine anything outside, but it illumines your own Self, it illumines the interior.
You may be surrounded by pitch darkness, but you will be shining within if you have awakened to this light of seeing clearly the truth that the way to bliss lies through non-being—by which alone true Being, which is eternally there, becomes experienced. In non-being is the Being known. And so long as you have not recognised this and embraced non-being, so long as you have not decided to annihilate the little “I”, so long the Being will ever be the unknown.
Therefore, may the supreme, eternal, radiant Brahman and beloved and worshipful Holy Master bless us that we may all recognise the need, the importance, the indispensable necessity of awakening the Light within, of banishing the darkness of the little “I”, which is the prolific source of all problems, all sorrow, all troubles, all vexations. May they bless us and grace us that we may arouse the inner Light Divine and make ourselves shining centres of that great Light of lights beyond all darkness.
“I am in the Light. The Light is within me.” The mystic did not stop with these two lines, but added the third and most important one: “I am the Light.” May we all have the aspiration and urge to ponder this great truth, to ever deeply reflect and dwell upon this great truth and crown ourselves with blessedness, not in the distant future, but today, this hour, at this moment!
15. THE PENETRATING VISION THAT BEHOLDS EVERYTHING AS A BLESSING
Worshipful homage unto the supreme Divine Reality, the eternal, universal Spirit Divine! May the divine grace of that Reality be upon you all. May that divine grace grant that you have the awareness that this Reality is your own innermost centre now and here. It is not only a supramundane, supra-cosmic, transcendental reality, timeless and eternal, but it is also an ever-present reality—not something beyond the reach of the mind and intellect as they say. For, it is your indwelling reality, the very centre of your being, the very essence of your being. It is nearer than the nearest thing.
And, in this world of men and things, animals and plants, mountains and rivers, cities and villages, wherever you go you are dwelling in God, for He pervades this universe. He is in every speck of space, every atom of matter, everything that exists. He is the essence of all things; He is the immanent presence; He pervades everywhere.
You can travel to the furthest corner of this world, and you will still be living in Him, moving in Him, having your being in Him. He will still be filling you from the top of your head to the tips of your toenails. You live in God; God lives in you. This is the only truth. Your whole life is filled with Divinity; your whole life is saturated with Divinity.
The entire universe is interpenetrated with the Divine Principle. To live in this truth is to live in God here and now, not after leaving this body, not in some post-mortem existence. God lives in you—radiant, resplendent, dazzling with the effulgence of a million suns. That is how they refer to this indwelling God in you. It is the central truth of your existence now, here.
How can darkness prevail when God indwells your heart? How is it possible to have slumber in such a light? If you wake up in your consciousness to the fact that you are filled with brightness, that there is no darkness within you, that there is no night of slumber, that there is a full day of wakefulness, then you will be spiritually alert, you will be spiritually awake. Your interior will be in that state which your Upanishadic ancestors wanted it to be: jagrata, uttishthata (awake, arise).
This is the sadhana that is most pleasing to worshipful and beloved Gurudev: that you all move about as centres of awakened Divinity, so that everywhere you go this Divinity radiates from you, this Divinity finds expression through your thoughts, words and actions, through the way you live your life. And to that end, every now and then, he will give you a push, a fresh impetus to stir you up—slap you and wake you up, as it were.
He gives you such opportunities in this place where you are living your serene life. He brings occasions of inundating you with spirituality by bringing to the ashram hundreds of sincere seeking souls, so that your spiritual life once again becomes vibrant, awake, alert and dynamic.
Why not see it in this way, rather than as an inconvenience? Instead of looking at it in a negative, non-productive way, why not look at it as a great blessedness? They are not mere visitors. They are devotees, sadhakas, lovers of God, people striving earnestly like you for spiritual perfection. So, with eagerness and longing to get away from their secular atmosphere and have a little period of upliftment in a spiritual atmosphere, they come for a week or two and fill this ashram with the spiritual vibrations that emanate from their hearts and minds, from their aspiration and their vairagya and viveka.
They enhance the spiritual vibrations of the ashram by their presence; and, therefore, those who permanently reside here in close proximity to Gurudev’s spiritual presence receive, as it were, a feast, a special shower of benedictions during this period. We are given an opportunity of serving them in any manner we can, of going out of ourselves to be helpful to them, to elevate and sanctify ourselves by selfless service. The Upanishads tell us that anyone who gives us an opportunity for paropakara (selfless service) is God. A visitor who gives us a chance to adapt, adjust and accommodate is our benefactor. Because Gurudev said that adapting and adjusting ourselves is the highest type of sadhana.
This, therefore, is a positive vision, a creative vision that can enrich your inner spiritual life through everything that happens to you, everything that you pass through. Everything comes to you as a plus point if you look at it with this right, positive, penetrating vision. Everything comes to you as a blessing, an enhancer of your spiritual life and its spiritual quality. It is with this vision that you should look at things—understand, grasp, and rise higher with its help. After all, you have come here to lead a spiritual life, not a comfortable and convenient outer physical and material life. You have come here to lead a life in which penance is an indispensable ingredient.
From the dawn of creation, in the context of all spiritual life, whatever the tradition, tapasya, austerity, self-control, penance, has never been absent. It has been an invigorating factor. It has been one of the indispensable ingredients of a genuine and authentic spiritual life—not an unwise and irrational mortification, but a wise and rational austerity and penance.
All this your life here in Gurudev’s ashram provides for, if you but learn to see it as such, and learn to take it as such, and learn to recognise it as such, and learn to utilise it as such. Then you are the victor. You will attain victory. You are a true yogi. You are a true devotee.
It is not the outer atmosphere that is the important factor in the spiritual life, it is the inner atmosphere which you yourself create. If you can succeed in diligently creating an inner atmosphere for yourself that is not affected by the outer atmosphere and surroundings, then you have known the secret of spiritual life. You live in that inner atmosphere—serene, unaffected by the outer atmosphere. In the inner dimension of your own being, you live in God, you live in the Kingdom of Heaven.
This, therefore, is to be clearly perceived, and you must engage yourself in creating this one hundred per cent spiritual inner atmosphere. Your life is in your hands. You create your world; you create your atmosphere. And the Upanishads have always said: Dwell in the light of the truth that the Supreme Reality shines in the chambers of your heart as your own reality.
Let your interior be a state of fullest awareness of the Divine Presence shining in your interior. Never, even for a split second, are you away from God. Not even for a split second is God remote or distant from you. You live together, move together, have your being together. You live in God; you are rooted in God.
Thus live this life. What can the world outside do to you? Interact with God every moment.
Do not react with the outside. This is the great example put before us by all the mystics, sages and seers. And this ashram of Gurudev provides sufficient, adequate opportunity for elevating yourself to the highest state of spiritual blessedness, if you can see it.
God bless you to recognise your blessedness. God bless you to recognise the immense wealth and treasure which is already within your grasp. With this clear recognition, elevate yourself by your own efforts. Reach the highest pinnacle of spiritual perfection and purity and attain the supreme blessedness of liberation, peace and joy now, here, in this very life, in this very place!
16. OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, WORLD AND SELF
As spiritual seekers on this planet Earth, on this earth plane, each day we encounter and have to relate ourselves to four factors. Upon how we relate ourselves to these four factors will depend our peace of mind, concentration and spiritual progress. What are these four factors, and what guidance has Holy Master given to us in his teachings as to how we should relate ourselves to these factors?
The first factor is the inert world of matter, the innumerable, variegated, bewildering names and forms— mountains, seas, stars, planets, sun, moon, rivers, forests, creepers, minerals, rain, wind.
Second, animate living creatures—vermin, reptiles, birds, beasts and our fellow human beings. We encounter innumerable approaches and assailments from others, innumerable vibrations from others, innumerable situations.
The third factor is yourself. How do you relate yourself to yourself? You have to encounter yourself every day—your psyche, the being within, mind: emotions, sentiments, desires, imaginations, schemes, fears, anxieties, tensions, cravings, hostilities, resentments, frustrations, memories, nostalgia—a whole subjective inner world where you have to deal with your own self.
And fourth, the Being that has created all these factors and God knows what more—we only know our universe.
Have we got some formula, has Gurudev given us some guidelines, some insight and teachings as to how we should relate ourselves to these four factors? Yes, definitely!
Our immediate encounter is with our fellow human beings and all the creatures we have to encounter: monkeys, dogs, cows, mosquitos, ants. And the principle upon which to regulate your relationship with them has both a negative and a positive aspect: never harm anyone or any creature, and do all the good that you can, to as many living beings as you can, in as many ways as you can, in all the places and circumstances that you can. Positively relate yourself to the world around you in terms of how much good, how much help, how much benefit you can be. Therefore, Gurudev gave seva, the spirit of noble, sublime selflessness and service as a golden principle by which to relate yourself to everyone around you as long as you live.
Secondly, how to relate yourself to inanimate creation which distracts you and deludes you with its solid sense of reality: “Seeing is believing. I see the world around me. This is the only reality I know. I won’t be foolish enough to imagine that there is some other reality beyond. It is all so much superstition.” In this way, through your logic and rationality you get caught into the net of the seeming reality of the non-eternal, changeful, temporary, evanescent, ephemeral, transitory appearances which dominate your consciousness.
These appearances have already overcome you, overwhelmed you, by making you submit to a sense of their reality. They are unreal; they are dream things; they are an appearance only. You must explore the myth of the reality of the seen world through deep study, deep reflection, deep satsanga, philosophical analysis and enquiry.
The atom bomb of Vedanta—that is the way to relate yourself to this attractive outer appearance, the world appearance of names and forms. Say: “You are nothing; you are a cipher, a zero; you cannot fool me.” In this way, you must relate yourself with knowledge, with deep wisdom and insight, with incisive discrimination and analysis, and refuse to be the least bit moved. Refuse to be drawn away from your focus upon the transcendental higher Reality behind and beyond this vanishing world appearance of temporary names and forms.
For a true Vedantin who has known of the transcendental higher Reality—which alone is real; the eternal, beginningless and endless, infinite, solid basis of all things; the alpha and omega, source, origin, support and ultimate goal of all things—compared to it everything is a non-entity, a non-existent cipher, a bubble. This conviction will liberate you from the oppressive sense of the reality of this vanishing phantasmagoria. It is nothing. It is like a mirage on the desert. This is the way the wise philosopher and the wise Vedantin relates oneself to this outer universe of names and forms.
What should be your subjective relationship with the third factor, your own psyche, your own self, your own being? In one word: self-mastery. You must be in control. You must control your senses and sense-appetites. You must subdue your mind and its emotions, sentiments and the wild dance of desires. You must subdue its uncontrollable sally into the unsubstantial future in the form of imaginations and its absolutely futile sally into the past that has gone; it exists no more. To be dominated by the past and to be enslaved by the future is the greatest misfortune, greatest folly.
Therefore, you must be in control. You must relate yourself to yourself upon the principle of self-possession, self-control, self-management. You must control the senses, subdue all passions and conquer the mind. You must be in charge and not allow the mind, desires, thoughts, emotions, sentiments, memories, imaginations to take charge of you, make a plaything of you, make you dance to their tune, make you a helpless, pitiable creature at their mercy. Never, never, never!
So, the one principle upon which you relate yourself to yourself, to your own subjective inner being, is discipline, self-control, conquest of the mind, subdual of all passions, control of all the senses and sense-appetites. You must be in charge. You must be the master here, not a slave.
Now we come to the fourth factor: the Supreme Being. What should be the principle or the pattern of your relationship? There is only one way: to love God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul—deep devotion, boundless love, bhakti and prema. We are here only in order to love God, adore the Supreme Being, to worship the Supreme Being with deep devotion and boundless love.
That should be heavenly manna to us in this essenceless, sparse, dry world; that should be our nourishment, our sustenance, our life support—deep, deep devotion and boundless love, limitless love. That should be our relationship with God. That is the greatest of all commandments. And, by all means, that love can be extended to His creation, but first and foremost, we are born to cherish unutterable devotion to God, unutterable love for our Maker.
We are part of Him. He is everything to us. Therefore, the only pattern of relating ourselves to Him—only, no other—is deep devotion, sincere heart’s devotion, all our heart’s devotion, and unutterable, boundless love. He is our very own; we belong to Him. He is our all in all. We are inseparable parts of Him. Therefore, the entire love of our heart should be poured at His feet. That is the one and only way to relate ourselves to the Supreme Being.
These then are the insights that beloved Holy Master has given to us for living our life in this world created by God, amidst creatures created by Him, to make our life sublime, to lift up our life from a humdrum, normal, prosaic level to a sublime, noble, spiritual level—divine level.
Thus indeed relate yourself through self-mastery, deep devotion, compassion and the eyes of wisdom: