All World
Gayatri Pariwar

“Sadhana Me Praña  Jaye To Kamala Ho Jaye” delivered at Shantikunj in 1981 -

continued from the previous issue)

Five Gods Exist In Your Being:

The other day some of you were asking me about the “Pancha Koshiya Sadhana”. Well, the pancha koas (Annamaya Kosha, Prañamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha, Vijgyanamaya Kosha and Ânandamaya Kosha) refer to the five sheaths, which constitute the existence of jiva (a being, soul manifestation in a life-form). The “Pancha Koshiya Sadhana” is a higher-level of spiritual ascent for ultimate realization. This sadhana will also be taught to you at the right time when you deserve it. I will teach you how to awaken the five divine streams of the Consciousness-Force by sublime transmutation of these five levels of expression of the jiva. Even if I am not there by the time you reach this level of spirituality, don’t worry because, before my departure, I will arrange for suitable person(s) to carry forward this guidance.

Some of you are stunned to hear that “five gods or five divine streams” reside in the five koshiyas (sheaths), which identify your being! You usually think gods live outside, somewhere in the heavens, on the seventh plane, etc. My children, the five gods I am referring to, exist within our own being! How come? “Have you seen them?” – You might ask me. Yes, I have experienced them.

Let us take some simple examples to understand the main point first. You all have seen clouds showering rainfall during the monsoon season. You may argue that — “See without the rainfall from up above the sky, there can’t be any irrigation on the earth. No corps can grow. We can’t survive without harvesting the grains from the blossoming fields. That means we survive on the blessings bestowed from above by the rain god….” Fine! So your argument is well taken. You may argue similarly to justify your belief that gods live ‘above’ and the divine boons, supernatural powers (siddhis), grace of angels, help of great souls, all are bestowed from the ‘heavens’, from the higher planes, from ‘above’….

Just look at the other facts in the same example! You have seen the clouds in the sky. They even shield the sunlight at times. But don’t you know how they are formed? It is the water evaporated from the surface of the seas that forms clouds. So I may say that the water ‘jumps’ above from the earth and reaches the sky in the form of clouds. Thus the sea and rivers are also God’s manifestations. But they live on this very earth! Yeah! You have not seen the water ‘jumping’ from the earth towards the sky, you have only seen the clouds gathered in the sky and you have seen their downpour. True, the process of cloud formation is subtle. You can’t see the heating of seawater, its evaporation and upward flow that eventually gets condensed in small droplets gathered in the form of clouds. So, your argument may be reverted to conclude that gods fly up from the earth to the sky!

There is no limit to the manifestation and expansion of the Almighty. Gods, the divine beings live everywhere. You can find them on the earth as well. In fact, they are very much within all of you. You have to recognize and awaken them. They would appear in your own personality, in your divine virtues and also manifest their astonishing powers. Have you heard of the Pandavas? They were endowed with divine personalities. That is why they are known as gods’ sons. But did they fell from somewhere in the sky or higher planes? No, as the history of Mahabharat tells, they were all born to Kunti or Madri. Karna was blessed by the power of Lord Sun, Arjun by Lord Indra, etc, but they were all born as humans only. They had not descended from a sublime world.

So the divine powers may be born as children of just anybody! No. Don’t jump to this conclusion. The angelic beings need parents of compatible quality. Only those who have refined their inner selves, their character, their personality, the ambience of their families to the level suitable for the birth of gods and angels in human form, deserve to have divine children. That means, those who have accomplished the sadhana for this purpose alone would attain such rare potential.

Precious achievements require great efforts. This is the universal law of Nature. Don’t dream of receiving divine gifts, blessings by merely uttering some prayers in the praise of God, chanting His names, offering flowers and sweets to the deity’s idols or pictures. Many a times people pledge before the deities saying “If my such and such problem is solved, I will donate this much amount in the shrine, or distribute sweets, break these many coconuts, etc….!” or, “If I gain these many millions then I will build a temple”, and what not…!! Such ‘manautis’ are like fake trades. Don’t degrade divine devotion by such ‘deals’ in the name of upasana. Please note, your prayers won’t reach the Almighty unless you have a pure heart. The sincere call of a needy and helpless with purity of heart will anyway reach Him without any ritual of worship and without making such superficial promises.

There is no upasana or sadhana by which you can ‘bluff’ or ‘mislead’ the gods to intervene in your favor. I have read all religious scriptures of different faiths. I have not found any mention in the scriptures of any such mode of contacting or experiencing God. Please cast out all your illusions that Gayatri AnuÌÚhana as a mere ritual will shower great siddhis and boons upon you.

Know The Tenets Of Sadhana:

If it were so easy to find God or get blessed by divine grace, no saint or ascetic sage would have had to observe arduous penance, self-restrain, yoga, chastity, and time-testing sadhana of self-purification, etc. People would have simply learnt the tricks in the form of some rituals or verbal and intellectual invocations to attract and hold divine powers. Then someone would have also sold the formula of ‘catching’ Lord Hanuman, ‘meeting’ goddess “Santoshi Mata”, ‘appeasing’ Lord Ganesha and so on… That way one would have also devised methods of attracting, captivating and even capturing the gods and angels. Then the mighty devils, cheats and clever ones would have been honored as His devotees in place of the poor saints and sages! Have you seen that happening anywhere? Why would there have been any need of ethics, moral values and disciplines then?

So please don’t rove in any hallucination, illusory convictions or superstitions. Don’t fool yourselves. Don’t run after the mirage of your mental imagination. If you have come here for sadhana, you must understand its true meaning. The word meaning of sadhana is “to perfect”, “to master”. As a spiritual endeavor, it is a devout attempt of self-purification, self-transformation (towards perfection) and self-ascent by self-determination. It requires mastery over the senses, over the mind and intellect.

Ever since the emergence of human culture on the earth, since the dawn of the Vedic Age, the history of the rishis, munis, saints and sages, has witnessed their dedicated sadhana imbibed with penance for self-purification, ascetic disciplines for self-restraint, and devotion for love and service of all beings. These aspects of sadhana were as important to our revered rishis as the practices of yoga, mantra-japa, meditation, self-realization through trance, and supramental spiritual experiments.

So, now you see what I mean by ‘infusing life in your sadhana'. Along with the sincere practice of mantra japa and meditation and the rituals and yoga-exercises of prior conditioning, what is of foremost importance is that you do everything through the heart, with deep engrossment of your inner spirit, with ïraddha (intrinsic faith) in divinity and in your own divine origin. This will be possible and will gradually become natural with purity and enlightenment of your thoughts and emotions and improvement of your conduct.

If you have grasped the meaning of sadhana and you attempt to adopt it through your heart and soul, it will open the path of all-round illumination and success in your life. Let me assure that no sincere endeavor of sadhana will ever go in vain. It will bestow on you manifold beatifying results. If you are fully dedicated in sadhana, you will experience the absolute truth of siddhi (supreme attainments) through sadhana in this very life.

Grace of Worshiping the Deity of Life:

Friends, I have told you that no one will go empty handed from here. No one who completes the nine-day’s anuÌÚhana sadhana here has ever left without being blessed enormously. Do I sound arrogant? No dear, it is not arrogance. I am telling you only the facts. I am stating with full confidence that if you do the sadhana of the real God, as I guide you here, there will be no lack in your life. It will be full of peace, progress and happiness. But who is this real God? How would you know Him?

You can’t! Because,

sometimes you practice one mantra, sometimes the other, sometimes you worship one kind of stone (idol of god-form) or toy sometimes some other. Sometimes you go to one shrine another time to some other. Your ostentatious sadhana and superficial devotion keep wavering. At times you believe in one god or goddess, then lose patience and jump over to some other god, even to the tantra practices of attracting ghosts… and what not! You do that because of your eagerness, immaturity and lack of sincerity and faith.

In short, you do everything, except worshiping the God you should! You might wonder “Who that Real God is?” Well, there is no mystery; this is your nearest God; the Soul-God (atmadeva) dwelling within you, the deity of your own life. Your sadhana should aim at realizing the Light of the Almighty, the Supreme, which is kindling in the soul of every being as the intrinsic glow of life – antarjyoti. If the efforts that you had fuelled with your fluctuating faith in varieties of devotional practices were aimed at the sadhana of antarjyoti, certainly, you would have succeeded in reaching great spiritual heights by now. I can vouch in the presence of divine powers as my witnesses, I can claim with full confidence, that if you had focused the course of your life and your sadhana in the righteous direction, you would have attained beatifying spiritual benefits.

|| OM SHANTI ||