Post Aarathi Talk 12 on 30th Sept 2017

Full Transcript(Not Corrected)

Then we have to believe that Brahman is totally useless for us because he doesn't have eyes, he doesn't have ears, so he can't hear our prayers. So, the same Brahman is manifesting in the form of 333 Gods and Goddesses, etc.

Devotee : "Maharaj, You said if you believe in the Vedas, you have to believe in God. Where does that connection come from? Why?"

All the Vedas are teaching what? For example, Upanishads are part of the...Sarams of Vedas. And what did the Upanishads say? There is only one reality called Sacchidananda - Sathyam, Jnanam, Anantam, Brahman."

Devotee : "But I am trying, in my mind I am thinking that is separate from how we think of God."

That the first part of the Vedas is all about in the form of Indra, Agni, Varuna, Chandra, etc.

Deva Rina.

So many Gods to whom the fire worship, through fire we offer so many oblations, they are all there. The Rishis have found them through their visions in meditation. So how do we know? That is why Sri Ramakrishna had come. That is why He proved that all these Gods and Goddesses really do exist. Ganga, I will give one instance because there is no end to these examples. You know Ganga. What is Ganga? Water. It is a river.

So once, one of the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, he did something impure. You know, washing himself, after the call of nature in the Ganges. Then Sri Ramakrishna told him, my boy, this is a Goddess. You have to use the water, but you have to be aware of that. So don't pollute the river. Bring it outside. Use it. And that is okay because whatever we do, we have to do it. Then He said, I am a modern educated person. This man is still an old, brahmin, uneducated. He is still clinging to his visions. And this person became a monk. His name was Swami Vijnanananda. He started living at Allahabad.

Another name for Allahabad is called Triveni. Triveni means the confluence of three rivers. So Ganga, Yamuna, which are visible on the surface. Saraswati, which is there underneath. Now they found it through satellite. Huge body of purest water, which we had to believe earlier. Now satellite image is showing this river. So many things it is showing. Dwarka it has shown. And Ramsetu it has shown. There is a broken bridge there, etc. So at this Triveni, he was living there.

One day he said, (by that time he was very advanced in spiritual life), "I went to take bath. Suddenly I had a vision of a divine lady with three pleats. You know women in South India, especially jada we call it, three pleats. So a goddess with three pleats flowing in that water. Then he understood. Oh, Sri Ramakrishna told, this is the Divine Mother. I did not believe it, but it is true."

So because we don't have that vision, we think that these are all puranic stories. Nothing could be further from ignorance. This is the greatest ignorance. Whatever Veda says is 150% truth. We have to believe that. If you don't believe it, how are you going to get that knowledge? Because what is Veda, it is the expression of somebody's experience. That's all. So Mother Kali exists, Krishna exists. Where is Krishna's name in Veda? It is not there. But Krishna is the manifestation of Vishnu. And how many blessed people had the vision of Bhagavan Krishna? So this is the truth.

There are gods and goddesses. What do these gods and goddesses do? They are in charge of certain departments, like Minister of Agriculture, Ministry of Education, Home Minister, etc. So they are giving us rain, sunshine, etc. Otherwise our food will not be coming in the proper way. So whatever we are getting in the world, all coming from the earth. Your cloth, your car, every part of your car is coming from where? Earth. From earth. It is nothing but product of the earth. So this goddess, Sita was born to whom? Mother Earth. So there are people who had visions of Mother Earth. So these are not Puranic cock and bull stories. This is the fact. But because we don't believe, we don't worship them. Because we don't worship them, naturally we don't have proof of their visions, etc.

So we are indebted to gods for our very happy life here. Therefore, by worshipping them, by offering them, whatever they gave us, they don't want anything new. And we have nothing new. Whatever they give us, before you enjoy, take it to them. Say, it is Your Grace, please bless us. And they will bless the food, make it pure. And by eating that food, we become more pure. This is how we get rid of the debt to the gods and goddesses. This is called Deva Rina.

Pitru Rina

We are indebted to our ancestors, your great-great-great-grandfather, etc. We are nothing but their genes and their brain. There are so many other things. So this is all coming from whom? From our ancestors. Even if you forget, your mother and father were looked after so well by their parents. And their parents were looked after by their parents. And we are looked after by our parents. How are we going to get rid of our debt to our mother and to our father? And through them, to the others? There are certain prayers, rituals, indicated in the scriptures to get rid of their debt. What is called Shraddha and Tarpana, etc. That is how we get rid of our debt to the pitrus.

Devotee : "How do we get rid of our debt while they are living?"

By serving them. So this serving is of two types. If it is possible, physically you go and serve them.

Supposing you are here, your parents are somewhere.

It is not physically possible, but you inquire about them now and then. Lovingly speak with them. Instruments are there. We are wasting so much time in so many other ways. Once in a few days, Ma, how are you? Baba, how are you? Do you need anything? With love. That is all they want, most people. But supposing they need some money, send them. Suppose they need some certain things, arrange for them. You know, if nobody is there at home, some servants, somebody to look after them. Whatever way, within your means, to serve them while they are living. But don't forget, just because they are dead, our debt to them is still there.

So my method is this :-

We have got our mantras. Whether it is Venkateshwara Mantra, Krishna Mantra or Shiva Mantra, whatever it is.

Do 108 times japa and offer it at the feet of our Ishta Devata. Say, O Lord, wherever they are, please bless them. Let Mangala happen to them, whether they are alive or in other bodies.

Because our philosophy is, until they attain liberation, they take various births. In various lokas. We don't know where they are. They could be even our neighbours. Who knows?

Devotee : "That's where I have a confusion, Guruji. I'll ask you separately some other time."

You just do your mantra. If they are physically alive, do what you can to make them happy, comfortable, etc. But if they are not there on this earth, even if they are there, do 108 japa minimum. And offer it on their behalf to God. That japa phala must go to father and mother.

There is also another way. Our Vedas prescribe, Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava, etc. So, if we have to do that, suppose they are also ignorant people. They are not saints, they are not Gods, most of the time. Why saints? Because saints don't get married. A woman says, I will marry a saint, and a saint says, I will not marry. How is it going to get fulfilled? So, you have to marry only a non-saint. And he also marries only a non-saint. If you are a saint, why do you want to get married? So, you have to put up with each other.

So supposing your parents are ignorant people, so they don't know many things. Sometimes they tell irrational things. That is their belief.

You don't need to obey.

You make them happy, look after their welfare, but that doesn't mean every single thing they tell you, you are going to do it. That is irrational. Whatever is rational of what they say, then you obey them. Now you understand? But that is not a disservice to mother and father.

It is not disobedience. It is common sense.

They tell so many things because they are brought up by their parents. And that is their understanding. This is our understanding. For example, Kanchi Shankaracharya always used to go on an elephant. Somebody advised him, it is far cheaper, easier, more convenient to travel in a car than to travel on an elephant. But you know, they said no, a Swami should not enter into a car. Recently, one of the Sringeri Shankaracharyas happened to come to our ashram. He would not step into the room where there is carpet. So for his sake, the entire carpet has to be hanked out, the whole thing has to be cleaned with cow dung, and then only he consents. He will bring his own cook, he will bring his own bedding. So that bedding will have divine sweat, not human sweat. Just see. But you know, that is their superstition. We invited them. So we had no option but to take out the carpet and then all those things.

But we don't need to follow that. You follow now?

Devotee : "My confusion was, when our ancestors are not on earth, I mean, they are in other bodies, then what is the point of doing that shraddha when that name is associated only to the physical body, because the soul doesn't have any body. So how do you then attach it?"

No, no, no! We are not offering to the physical body. Physical body, something can be offered only so long as they are alive. It is their personality, it is called sukshma sharira.

Devotee : "Is that what we are doing shraddha for? To identify them by their name."

Yes. You know, even now I can tell you something very interesting, because we are not such thinkers. That is why this is happening. So, when somebody asks you, who are you, what would you say? I am... What do you say? Who are you?

Devotee : "We just say the name."

Okay, but what do you mean by that name? What do you mean by that name? Gayatri. You say Gayatri. What do you mean by that name? Do you mean the body?

"No."

You don't mean because when you were this much, that was also Gayatri. And this much, that was also Gayatri. Now also Gayatri. After 20 years also it will be Gayatri only. So certainly it is only to identify the personality, we use this one. As we identify a doctor, how do we identify? By the stethoscope. How do we identify a lawyer? There is a particular dress. You know, uniform, you call it. So, whenever we mean so and so, in fact, we never mean the body.

We don't react with the body. We react with the qualities of which that Sukshma Sarira is constituted of.

Is it not? Suppose somebody asks, who is this? You say, this is Krishna. What do you mean by Krishna? You are not talking of physically, of course, you know, how to identify Krishna. But mentally you say, this person has got these gunas, qualities. He is a doctor. He is an IT engineer. He is a good man. He is a very short-tempered man, etc., etc. You have an idea about everybody.

Devotee : "So then, is soul different from Sukshma Sharira?"

Absolutely. Sukshma Sarira is changing. That which doesn't change is the soul. But that soul we don't know because we are not dealing with the soul. Gayatri is not a soul. Soul doesn't require any tarpana or anything. It is the Sukshma Sarira which requires tarpana. So therefore, our prayers go not to the physical body. Otherwise, I would be the greatest Annadaata in the world. When any beggar comes, mentally I am offering you hundreds of dishes for all the starving people in the world. Does that satisfy them? The Sukshma Sarira doesn't want physical food, does it? The fellow is about to die because of starvation and you say that I am offering mentally huge quantities of food.

Do you follow what I am saying?

Whenever we are thinking of any person or any object in this world, we are not thinking only of the physical appearance. That forms the least bit of our idea about the physical object. It is our total idea, this table, beautiful table, strong table and desirable table. Does that belong to the shape and size or your idea about it? So you say my husband. What do you mean by husband? Whenever you say my husband, you don't mean this physical body. That's why I told you Bhattivikramaditya's story. One lady was living with her husband and brother. One day they quarreled and cut off each other's head. You remember? So that lady got back both of them. Mother Kali appeared and said, you put the heads on their bodies. By mistake, she swapped the heads! Now who is the husband? You get the idea now?

Whenever you think of any human being or anything, the physical body is only an identifier, a tag. This is so and so. But really you react not to the physical body. You never react to the physical body. Because the physical body is a dead mass of molecules. It is the personality with which we fall in love. Is it a nice person? Is it a loving person? Is it a kind person? Is it a caring person? Is it a sharing person? Is it not? Whatever, whether you are right or wrong, is a different issue.

There was a fellow whom Bernard Shaw used to admire very much. And one friend of Bernard Shaw came and said, "you know, Shaw, you are always admiring that fellow, but that fellow is always criticising you." Then he said, perhaps both of us are mistaken!! His idea about him is also mistaken as my idea about him is also mistaken!

Anyway, the point is, it is very important, we never react to the physical body.

We always react to the personality.

Whenever any person says, I love you, about the other person, it is a mistake to think, oh, you look like this, and that's why I love you so much. We think, seeing that, say a man, a young man, seeing that lady's body, he has fallen in love. There can be no greater mistake than this. There is something in that girl's personality which is attracting him, which gives him joy. If I go into this deeply, I will not go today, you will be upset really, because no happiness comes from the body part of it. It is the mind which assumes happiness. Can you understand? I will give you an idea.

Supposing you are hungry, there is some food in front of you, you think that physical food is giving you happiness. No, your valuation of that food is what gives you happiness. How do you understand this statement? Supposing you like Idli Sambar, that person will give you a medium-rare something. That is also food. You understand medium-rare? That is also food. Will it give you happiness? But if it is stale Idli, soaked in rasam of Brahman and rasam or Sambar, with ghee and all those things, prepared very nicely, which is giving you happiness? Your idea of the value of it, but if you give this to somebody who is not accustomed, he will just throw it away. Even sometimes dogs also will throw it away. Do you see what I am talking now?

So whenever we see, especially human beings, the body is only a tag to identify this is so and so. But that Sukshma Sarira is the personality. It is that personality which either attracts us or does not attract us. We value that one. Gunas. Do you understand now? Now what is the point here? This Sukshma Sarira will go on evolving through experience. So it is using this physical body, and in this physical body our past karma is first exhausted. Certain lessons are learned, which go inside the mind, Sukshma Sarira, in the form of samskaras. Then when the time comes, this instrument is discarded, and we get another new body. Just like changing your trains until you reach your destination. Now you see the point what we are talking about?

When you say this is father and mother, the body is gone long back. But the personality is not gone. That personality goes away only when they get mukti.

So they are there in another body. So how does your prayer reach them? That is the next question. Ramana Maharshi gave a beautiful example. I always take his example most of the time.

This question was put, how does our prayer help somebody else, who is somewhere else or dead? And he gave the answer. Supposing there is a villager, and he worked hard, and he sent his son for higher education. Then the son passes brilliantly, and goes to America and settles down. Now he wants to help his dad. So what does he do? In the olden days, he goes to the post office, pays 100 dollars, afterwards he comes back with a receipt. Now after some days, a postman comes into this village, takes a signature, and pays dollars? What does he pay? Local currency. Ramana Maharshi used to say, now tell me what happened to his dollars? It got converted into local currency.

Exactly the same way, wherever our ancestors are, either in this loka or any other loka, our prayer is like this, God is a post office.

We deposit it there, and he makes sure that it reaches the person appropriately. This is how somebody has to pray for us, and we pray for them. Not only that, maybe somebody who was your child in the past lives, and born now, and thinks, I have to pray for my ancestors, because we are all ancestors. Many births.Joke : One small boy went to his dad and said,I have recently read all about mummies from Egypt. He said, Dad, where from you got mummy? Good question.

Joke : One small boy went to his dad and said, I have recently read all about mummies from Egypt. He said, Dad, where from you got mummy? Good question!

So this is how our prayers help. If they are alive, either parents or grandparents, do your best to make their life easier in this, so long as they are alive. As I mentioned again, they are still Agnanis, like us. So you don't need to take everything they say, because I love my dad, my mum. You don't need to listen. What is reasonable, what is helpful, what is beneficial, you take. Rest, just ignore. Do not insult them. Sometimes you can speak also a bit angrily. Nothing wrong. If you are lovingly speaking, angrily. Lovingly, angrily. Or if you want, you can change the English language. Angrily, lovingly, you can do it. It doesn't matter. But you pray every day, one hundred and eight japam, pray to offer it at the feet of God, and say, Lord, let this result go to my parents or ancestors, wherever they are. This is the way of getting rid of Pitru Rina (ancestral debts). Pitru means mother, father, ancestors, everybody.

Then, our life on this earth is impossible. Millions of beings are working all over the world. It could be in India, China, Japan, to make different things. So, we have to do some help to them. Say, for example, supporting poor people through charities or whatever it is. Praying for them, etc. We are really indebted. Because if a pilot is piloting your plane, he is a human being. Just because you bought a ticket, doesn't mean that he is paying with his prana. Therefore, you have to get rid of his debt, not through him, but any human being who needs your help, according to your means.

That is how we get rid of the Nri Rina, means Nara Rina. This is the fourth Rina.

Then the last is Bhuta Rina.

Bhuta means anything other than human beings, living or non-living. Rivers, mountains, trees, plants, you know, fruits, flowers, and we are getting milk from cows. We don't know which cow is giiving us, which buffalo is giving us, which goat is giving us, but they are giving their lives for our sake. So, we have to help - there are so many societies which look after old cows, old animals, or show love for the birds, etc. Birds, insects, they are fertilizing our plants. Otherwise, how do we get fruits and flowers?

We are indebted to everything in this world. So, if we lead this getting rid of it, and directing everything, Oh Lord, let me live, because Vedas were given by God. So, if we do our best, then we progress spiritually. The more we progress spiritually, the more everybody gets the benefit. So, this is how the thing works. So, that is the idea of Vedas according to Hinduism.

Every living being is indebted to five beings. Rishi, Deva, Pitru, Nri and Bhuta.

Five Yagnass. And anybody who doesn't do these things, that person is a sinner. Because whoever doesn't follow the Veda is a sinner. Astika means one who follows, not merely having faith. So, I have faith in God, but I don't take His name. I have faith in scripture that I don't follow. That is not us! True belief is that I do some effort to follow and transform our life according to my belief. Otherwise, it is theory. It doesn't help. That is the truth.

So, tell me. did I answer all your questions?

Devotee : " Not quite. I had some questions still. In yiur Guru Purnima lecture, uou said the scriptures revealed to us three things :-

• Tattva, what is the real truth.
• Purushartha, why should we have the truth experience.
• When you said hitha, what did you mean?"

Okay. Tattva means what is the truth. And what is the truth? That which alone is real is true. By definition, anything that is not real is not a truth. There is a beautiful Sanskrit word, Trikala abadhitam satyam. That which always is in the past, in the present.

If you examine this way, you will not get anything excepting God, or whatever, pure consciousness, soul, Atman. That alone is called Tattva.

If that is the truth, we are all seeking only truth. Nobody is seeking false. Can you understand that? So, we are all seeking truth only. If you say to somebody, I love you, but somebody says, I love you, but my love is a false love. Will you run after that person? So, if somebody says, is this a real good, or is it a false good? Will you run after a false Rolls Royce car, or a false Rolex? Always we want the genuine article, isn't it? Whether it is emotion or object.

So, if God is truth, what should be the only desirable object? Only God. Nothing else. That is called Purushartha.

Purushartha means that which is the real goal of every Purusha. Purusha means not male. Purusha means human being. Why human being? Because only a human being can think and say, I want God. No animal, as far as we know, is capable of doing that. Okay. Now, we know what is truth, we know what is desirable, and which is our goal.

But there must be a way to reach our goal? And that is called Hita. Hita means the way, the path, the means, by which we reach God.

That is called Desiti. And that's what the scriptures reveal to us. Only scriptures. Because you don't see God. If you see God, then the scriptures are totally unnecessary. The scriptures don't need to tell what we can know. If the scripture tells, you know, that is the moon. It is useless. Because I can see with my own eyes. I don't need scripture to tell it. So, what we cannot understand through our five sense organs, that is called a scripture.

Devotee : " And we should believe the scriptures because that's the expression of the experience of a God-realized soul?"

You have no choice! You can choose either to believe or not to believe. That choice you have. But you don't have a choice to say they are true or untrue. Because to say true or untrue, they must be experienceable things, isn't it? These are not in your experience. Therefore, you have no choice to say they are all false. But you can say, I believe in the scripture or I don't believe in the scripture. Fine. Then, naturally, the question comes, why should I believe?

That is where saints come into play. Because here is a saint. He doesn't have many things which we think are necessary for happiness, but the person is supremely happy. That shows, if he is happy, there must be something which made him happy. This is the logic. But really, logic doesn't work. With too much logic, faith gets affected. Therefore, faith and logic, they are opposite to each other. If you logic too much, you know, you lose faith. If you have faith, automatically, you don't say... Let anybody say anything, logically, scientifically. He says, okay, thank you. It looks very nice, but... Yes, keep doing it. Sit in your place. That is the idea.

Devotee : "Can I test the logical question? Again, you said somewhere that if you go to Varanasi and pass away, it is said you will get Moksha. Yes. But then I think you also described that actually Sri Ramakrishna had a vision there. He said that Shiva utters the Taraka mantra, but it is no use unless the Divine Mother cuts the bondage. Does that mean She is guaranteed to cut the bondage in Varanasi?"

Yes, they go together. They go together. So Shiva tells you you are free, and the Divine Mother doesn't cut the bonds. They are not like husband and wife. Shiva is the idea, and Divine Mother is the practice. Our idea is we are judging them like we judge two human beings, but they are not like that. Shiva in one form gives the idea, in another form removes all the doubts. Cutting bonds means what? Removing the doubts. And what does Shiva say? That you are God. You are me. And whatever doubts we have, that he destroys in the form of the Divine Mother. And therefore you know that I am Shiva, and that is called Mukti, liberation.

Devotee : "So this point, and again this is my logical mind, this point about there is this small place called Varanasi which is... So it's not that you can go sit there and say, wait, I am going to get Moksha. If you are not going to get Moksha in this life, even if you try to pass away there, you won't."

No, that's not the logic. This is what the great saint said. I have faith in it, so I must make an effort to go and live there. And I can tell you, anybody who believes in this 100%, he will go and live there. Anybody who says, yes, yes, I believe, but doesn't make any effort, that means his belief is not really belief. Because if you know, if I go to that place, I will become a billionaire. And you say, I know that, but I will not go. What does that mean? You don't believe. Because this is the most precious thing in the whole life. Liberation is the most precious thing.

Devotee : "The last two questions. You described there are two parts of Karma Yoga, and then the first one is, I think, you call it Sakama Karma Yoga. Yes. Where you don't want spiritual light, but you want worldly desires. Yeah. And you talked about how do they move forward. Yes. And then you said that there is Nishkama Karma Yoga? There was no explanation of that?"

Yes, there is an explanation. So, Karma Yoga means associating our actions with God. Yoga means association here. Relating every one of our actions with God is called Karma Yoga. If you don't relate with God, it is just Karma, not Karma Yoga. So, two types of Karma Yoga. What is it? First is called Sakama. It means a person has both desires. He wants God also. He wants worldly enjoyment also. So, he is in that state of mind. There is no point in becoming a hypocrite and say, I only want God. Therefore, he does certain things. The scripture prescribes certain things. If you do these things, you will get your worldly desires fulfilled. But he also wants God. So, what happens? Karma Yoga, the desire is fulfilled. But that desire doesn't drag him down. It pushes him towards God because it is Karma Yoga. So, they are still moving forward. Karma pushes us towards the world.

You know, if you eat Rasagulla, then it pushes you towards the world. I want again Rasagulla. But if you offer that Rasagulla to God and eat it as Prasadam, this idea of God slowly takes over and in the course of time, this desire for this object called Rasagulla disappears. You get more joy only in God. The idea is our mind runs to where we get more joy. So, if you are getting more joy in God, why do you want all these things? That is the idea. So, Nishkama means I do so many things associated with God, but I don't want any worldly result. I want only God. That is called Nishkama, means desiring only God and nothing else.

But you still lead your normal life. Let's say I look after my family. I do office work, but my goal is only to reach God. This is called Nishkama Karma Yoga. That is the difference. Anything else?

Devotee : " Sorry, last one. You said the Vedas were split into four parts. Mantra, Brahmana, Aranyaka, and Upanishad."

Okay, let me put it this way :-

• Mantra tells us what is life, what is the goal of life.
• Brahmana explains how to put these theories into practice, which practically is a householder's life.
• Aranyaka helps us to slowly withdraw our mind from the world and focus more and more gradually on God.
• And Sanyasa means total focus upon God. That is how the Vedas lead from the world to God. It is an evolution. Okay. Thank you.