Let us begin with collective chant of the Gayatri
Mantra:
“Om Bhur Bhuvah Swah, Tatsaviturvareñyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yonah
Prachodaydt ||”
Sisters and Brothers,
Puja-Upasana (worship of a deity and devotional
practices) in one form or the other is an integral
part of the endeavors of spiritual development.
This is a common observation among the ordinary
people who are religious, theist, or aspirants of
spiritual progress. Many of the spiritual masters,
yogis, siddhas and seer-sages have also taken its
support and risen high on the illumined (eminent)
path of spirituality. But there is a great difference
between their approach and what is followed
and practiced by the masses. Look at what most
of you do in your so-called puja-upasana? You
have made a mockery of everything. Your faith,
your sadhana (endeavors of self-refinement and
spiritual enlightenment), everything is superficial,
haphazard.
I have been regularly doing puja-upasana and
have also inspired many seekers of spirituality
for this. For twenty-four years (as part of
Mahapurascharas Sadhana) I have thoroughly
practiced it for six hours early in the morning
every day. This has continued till date. Now also,
I get up before 2 am – even during the peak of
winter when most of the world is fast asleep.
In those hours of absolute calm, I do my puja-
upasana for about four hours every day with
bsolute engrossment in the japa of Gayatri
Mantra. Had it been only a superficial act, a
child’s play, or blind-faith, why would I do it
so sincerely? And why would I initiate so many
people in it?
Friends, I have motivated and initiated millions
of people to do Gayatri Upasana. In many of my
articles, I have also written about its importance.
I would like to motivate and guide many more
seekers like you, and I am determined to continue
that even in this last phase of my life. I wish that all
the devotees earnestly follow the illumined path
of puja-upasana. If you don’t do it through heart,
if you are not sincere in doing it, your ‘ritual’ of
worship, your ‘devotional practice’ would only
make a mockery of puja-upasana. ‘Devotees’ of
this kind are worse than the so-called ‘atheists’
who simply don’t believe in God.
The atheists, for example the communists, reject
puja-upasana outright, as they don’t find any
rationale behind it. Their approach is correct. They
are honest to their rationality. I am sure if they
ever experience the reality of God, or if they are
given the light of wisdom behind puja-upasana,
they will grasp and adopt it thoroughly and prove
to be true devotees. They are not shaky and
superficial like many of the so-called ‘theists’ and
‘devotees’, whose faith, whose conceptualization
of God, and whose devotion are shallow, hazy,
illusory, strayed, and self-centered, and arbitrary
like their own mentality and character. What
kind of devotee or theist you are if you ‘worship’
and ‘pray’ the Almighty to bless you and fulfill all
your wishes, but you don’t accept and follow His
disciplines and you ignore the duties assigned by
Him? Aren’t you dishonest and ungrateful? You
pray simply to convey your demands and beg for
their fulfilment! In return of your act of ‘worship
and devotion’ you want to buy and ‘rule over’ the
entire creation? You want that God should mold
His system of Nature and alter His rules, as per
your convenience, desires and needs!
Understand the Meaning of puja-Upasana:
Please note, your singing of devotional song or
chanting prayers, without the purity and depth of
heart and sincerity of mind, is like attempting to
bargain for precious jewels without any price. It’s
like trying to grab fruits sans any hard work or
payment. It’s like a theft, a foul play.
You sit on a cozy seat and chant some mantra or
some hymn from religious texts with movements
of the beads of a rosary in your hand and consider
it a spiritual endeavor! And, you beseech so many
favors in return! You ‘pray’ for riches, promotion
in your job, good health, for your spouse, children,
their happiness, success and what not...! Your
list extends with the number of chants! Don’t
you know that nothing worthwhile can be gained
freely in this world? Then why do you aspire
to get so much as blessings of gods as a result
of your act of chanting their names, or singing
paeans of their divine powers? Such practices and
beliefs show that in reality you are an atheist.
The people whom you might call “atheists” are in
fact true theists if they have faith in shaping their
destiny through their own abilities and diligence.
Those who believe in merit of good character and
good deeds are true believers, irrespective of whether
they follow any religious philosophy, any tradition,
or not. Those who attempt for success through their
own sincere efforts, self-refinement, and unflinching
hard labor towards the worthy goals, cannot be called
atheists, as they, unlike many of you (the so-called
‘devotees’ and ‘spiritual disciples’), do not crave or
bag for anything ‘free of price’.
How can a farmer harvest the crop without
working in the field? He has to plough the land,
fill it with suitable soil, sow the seeds properly
in the right season in the right manner, water the
soil, guard the saplings, look after the growing
plants, etc. For this he has to work so hard! He
has to stand under the sun, drench his body in
rains, dirty his clothes in the soil, and so on... He
has to even sacrifice his sound sleep for months!
This rule applies everywhere in the field of life as
well; more so in the field of spirituality.
Soil and Water of the Field of Spirituality
-Yoga and Tapa:
You know, spirituality is a source of divine
transmutation. But you need to cultivate this
source hidden in your inner self. Faith in God,
His discipline, and divine values, sincerely doing
meditative devotional practices (p¿j3-up3san3),
are like planting the seed; But the seed will not
sprout unless the field (of mind and its emotional
core) is ploughed and nurtured with fertile soil
and irrigated carefully. Cleansing of mind,
focusing and constructive orientation of thoughts,
etc are essential like ploughing and guarding. The
endeavors of yoga and tapa serve the purpose
of necessary nurturing and strengthening (the
‘sapling’ of spirituality). In this shivir (spiritual
training session) you will get an exposure to yoga
and tapa. Let us first discuss some basic aspects
that are quite important in these endeavors.
You must note that your way of thinking, the
nature of your thoughts make a lot of difference
in your perception of knowledge, and also in your
experiences of the world. If you think positive,
the world, the circumstances around you, will
appear beautiful, peaceful, happy, progressive
and cooperating to you. On the contrary, negative,
untoward thoughts would reflect accordingly
in your experience of the world; you will find
everything (every event and situation) here as
wrong, vicious, deformed, hazardous, fearsome,
and depressing. Calm down and ponder over;
you will find that, in fact, the world is not so bad,
unjust, cruel or haphazard, life is not so hard,
and your circumstances are not so adverse or
daunting, as they might appear to you. In reality
you are not so weak or deprived, as your thoughts
have made you feel. Flaws and faults are not so
much in others, as they are in your own mentality.
In this context, I recall an interesting incident that
was reported sometime in the British colonial
period. This happened during the inaugural ride
of Queen Victoria in the first ever train-service in
England. The first trip of the first train in England
was planned after successful trials and thorough
security checks. As per plan, the Queen sat inside
the special cabin. There were many bodyguards
in her coach and also substantial military and
emergency medical services were arranged.
While the train was moving at scheduled speed
late in the evening, the driver noticed a shadow
indicating that an elephant was walking besides
the track. He whistled and called the security
personnel, as there was a risk that the elephant
would hit the train or disturb the tracks. With
binocular the guards saw that the elephant was
walking at the same speed as train, it appeared
very big with a huge trunk and tail.
The security guards took out their guns and
fired a few rounds outside in the direction where
the elephant appeared to walk along the track.
But that did not budge the animal. The shadow
continued to appear running with the train. Then
they stopped the train in an attempt to surprise
and thwart the elephant. But the beast also
stopped with the train! It was so dark outside
that the soldiers did not take the risk of getting
down at that moment. The driver now increased
the speed. Amazing! The elephant also started
running at the same speed! It was quite scaring.
In view of the high risk of its attack, the train was
stopped; the military unit on duty was asked to
get down and attack it from multiple directions.
Several soldiers got down with emergency light;
but the puzzle intensified as they saw no one on
or besides the tracks! Was it a ghost, some of
them wondered?
Thorough search finally showed that it was a
shadow of a wild grasshopper sitting on the
light outside the train-engine that appeared like
the shadow of an elephant! This ‘elephant-cum-
ghost’ was caught immediately. It is said the
grasshopper is still preserved in a museum of
England. The caption below this specimen reads
that this is the ‘elephant’ that delayed the Queen’s
train by four hours and that did not die even after
many rounds of bullet firing.
Most of Your Problems are Self-created:
Most of the problems, fears, and tensions in
your lives are also like the grasshopper in this
anecdote. It keeps scaring and worrying you in
one form or the other.
Many of you are worried due to poverty or
scarcities in your life. But this is mostly due to
your own outlook. Don’t you get food to have
meals twice a day? Don’t you have clothes to
cover and protect your body? Don’t you have
a roof to live under? Why are you worried
and stressed, and running around to grab more
comforts, more riches, more powers, and what
not, when your basic necessities are met? You
should be progressive but don’t let your cravings
and worldly ambitions drive your life. Remind
yourself of the bitter reality of the lives of grand
ambitious emperors like Alexander the Great.
Alexander had conquered most part of the world,
accumulated enormous treasure. But he, like
anyone else, died empty handed. It was only at the
last moment that he realized that he can’t carry a
single paisa along with him in the last journey
to the disembodied world. How pathetic it must
have been for him to have realized it in the last
moments before death! He cried and said, had I
realized this fact before, I would have lived like
Socrates, like Buddha; would have made some
worthwhile use of my life.... It is a pity that even
most of those who know this fact in principle,
also blindly chase the rat-race of materialistic
possessions to quench their unbounded ambitions
and longings.
Why can’t you change your outlook? Why
don’t you realize that Nature has allocated only
limited share for every one. Can you eat and
digest beyond the capacity of your stomach?
Certainly not! The same is true of every other
resource available to you or earned by you. If
you had realized it, you would have adopted
a different philosophy, different path of life.
Instead of accumulating wealth and hoards of
other resources only for you and your dear and
near ones, you would have prudently deployed
your talents, your possessions, your time, for
the welfare and progress of many others who
need it.
A Universal Solution:
Friends, I have tried to convey this message since
past four days of this session that you should
augment your inner-strength and courageously
choose the righteous path. You should make
prudent use of your thought-power, talents and
other potentials. For many of you, the measure
of intellectual and other talents is confined to
the monetary gains and worldly status. You have
graduated in first class, got post-graduate degree
with good grades, and then you got a good job;
you are a class-I officer, successful professional,
this and that, ....etc. Is this what your education,
your intellect, your training and talents are meant
for? I would call it a crude and preposterous
‘intellect’ that can’t even solve the problems of
one’s own life, that can’t even have the wisdom
of what is good and what is bad for the ultimate
course of life, that can’t teach one how to behave
with fellow beings, and how to control your ego,
selfish longings, and passions. Is your intelligence
guiding you in this regard? Is it able to control the
agility and moods of your mind?
Before you complain about others, just recall, how
have you behaved with people around you? How
many of them have you hurt, and have cultivated
animosity with how many? Remember, if your
conduct is good, if you have cared and cooperated
with others, you will also not be deprived of
support and friendly cooperation in the moments
of need. If you do not ignore whatever is already
available to you and make proper use of it, there
would never be any scarcity in your life.
It’s so unfortunate that we the intelligent beings
simply don’t care and don’t learn to make the
best use of whatever we already have. We are
born with such a wonderful body. Instead of
making proper use of its enormous potentials,
we keep spoiling its natural health and strength
in the indulgence of sensory pleasures. Then, at
a later age we run after medical help to get rid of
the weaknesses and health disorders in this very
body!
Many of you want to have a long life full of
pleasures. What will you do with it? You should
know that it’s not the span but the quality and
purpose of life that matters. If you had valued the
precious opportunity of being born as a human,
if you had the vision of the path of light and
happiness, you would have really succeeded in
life. You should begin with a new outlook towards
life from this moment itself. Not only that, you
should also motivate your younger generation
to follow this glorious path, as Rukmani Devi,
the mother of saintly scholar and revered social
reformer Acharya Vinoba Bhave did. While
most parents want their sons and daughters to be
happily settled and be blessed by children and
wealthy comforts, etc. she guided her children to
the path of truth, benevolence, and beatitude.
Friends, we can acquire enormous happiness and
worthy success in this very life, if we realize the
precious purpose of life, learn to make adept use
of whatever we have, and sincerely endeavor
to refine and raise our potentials. If we resolve
and sincerely endeavor tapa and yoga, we can
also attain greatness and accomplish glorious
milestones if our intellect follows the illumined
path of righteousness.
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