Hinduism 22
Opening Prayer
ॐ सह नाववतु ।
सह नौ भुनक्तु ।
सह वीर्यं करवावहै ।
तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु ।
मा विद्विषावहै ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ।
हरिः ॐ ।
Transliteration (IAST):
Om Saha Nāvavatu
Saha Nau Bhunaktu
Saha Vīryaṃ Karavāvahai
Tejasvi Nāvadhītamastu
Mā Vidviṣāvahai
Om Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ Śāntiḥ
Hariḥ Om
Translation:
Om, may Brahman protect us both.
May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of knowledge.
May we both obtain the energy to acquire knowledge.
May what we both study reveal the truth.
May we cherish no ill feeling toward each other.
Om, peace, peace, peace be unto all.
The Importance of Saints in Spiritual Life
Recapitulation: The Role of Saints
So we are discussing the importance of saints. We had already discussed some important points:
First, they free us from the octopus hold of nature, which is to say this world alone is real and there is no other reality.
Second, they also teach us—even if we are lacking in material goods—how to be happy, how to be harmonious.
Third, they will also teach us, even in spite of terrible suffering, how one can remain happy, joyous, peaceful, and unselfish.
Saints and Utilitarianism
I also mentioned that saints help us in every way: materially, psychologically, and of course spiritually. That is why Swami Vivekananda says, "Take religion away from human society and what will remain?" And he says, "Nothing but a forest of brutes." What he said about religion applies equally to saints, as they are the living demonstrations of religious truths. Bereft of saints, society would degenerate and lapse into the stinking limbo of downright brutality.
Two Categories of Saints
Then the renunciation of sense life, apparent withdrawal from the stream of common affairs—saints may seem to lose their relevance to man and society, but that is only a superficial view. There are two categories of saints:
- The Contemplatives: Those who totally withdraw themselves from society, as if they have nothing to do with society.
- The Active Saints: Those who, even though in the beginning withdraw themselves, when they come back, they come back as it were with renewed vigor and do their best to help society in every way.
Living Demonstration: The Ramakrishna Order
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was such a great withdrawer, and yet there was a wonderful incident I was reading, illustrating how deep his thoughts were. Those of you who read the Gospel may be thinking he is only advising people, "Why do you bother about the society? Why don't you withdraw and only think about God, realize God, and that is the end of your mission in life?"
There was a woman devotee called Gaurīmā, and one day she was pouring water over his hands after he had finished eating. Then he said, "So, why I pour the water? You need the clay." She said, "Where is the clay here? What do I need?"
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa clarified, "You misunderstand me. What I meant is there are so many women who are suffering—you must go and help them." This was long before Swami Vivekananda had established the Ramakrishna Order.
Historical Context: Active vs. Contemplative
Even after Swami Vivekananda returned from America, some of his brother disciples did not fully comprehend him. They in fact accused him: "You went to the West, borrowed some of the ideas there, and you came back." But when we study history of religions, we find there are definitely these two categories, these often having conflict: the actives and the contemplatives. But in Hindu society, for the first time, service has been given so much importance. That is a different subject altogether.
The Evolution of Karma Yoga
Just I will give you one or two points. Before Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's advent, karma yoga meant practically performance of one's own duties. If you are a brāhmaṇa, be a brāhmaṇa. If you are a kṣatriya, be a kṣatriya. If you are a barber, be a barber. If you are a cook, be a good cook. Offer your activities to God. So that was the idea.
Swami Vivekananda expanded this idea and said that merely doing one's own duty, however well you do it, that is also a lot of selfishness. "Why don't you go and expand yourself, identify yourself with the larger whole, and do your best?"
Changing Social Circumstances
Now it is not that Hindu society was lacking in insight before Swami Vivekananda. Everything has to be done according to the changed circumstances. Perhaps in the olden days, the society was organized in such a way there was not much need to go out and actively do some service. But now the society has become what they call atomized, became smaller. On the one hand, we say the whole world is becoming a big global village. On the other hand, these families are becoming smaller, atomic: husband, wife, children. And most of the time divorce takes place—then wife and children, and husband and somebody else. So this division is coming.
And then what is the fate of these elderly people? See, there used to be joint families in the olden days in every society. That system has broken down. What is the consequence? Those who are elderly, those who are weak, those who are incapable of helping themselves—they have to suffer a lot, not only materially, physically, but more damagingly, psychologically: loneliness, tremendous amount of loneliness.
That is why Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's advice is very good in this context: the company of holy saints is extremely good. Why? Because your time will pass very nicely; you will never feel lonely.
The Power of Contemplative Saints
This is how the saints choose: two types of saints—one, those who are extremely contemplative, and those who go out and actively serve people. But then the question comes, as I said, we are utilitarians: "What good does it do? You go and you think about your own God. What good does it do?"
I also gave the answer, the example: Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was the highest type of mystic, such a contemplative. But look at the result of his contemplation! Today, literally millions of people dedicate their lives for the service of others in some way or another—in a smaller way or a bigger way. That inspiration is coming from him. The power of the ideas!
That is why Swami Vivekananda hymned Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. In fact, the real work of an incarnation begins only after his death, because as long as he is in the physical body, to some extent he is constrained. But with the release from the physical hold, then he becomes identified with Bhāva Rājya.
Three Aspects of Great Souls
That's why I told you many times: Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, or great souls like Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, have three aspects: the body, the ideational image, and the real nature—that is dehatma bhava,bhavatma rupa, then as Paramātma Rupa. As paramatman, We, Ramakrishna—everybody is saying—as body aspect, their bodies are different from us. Their bodies are made up of śuddha sattva. But we are jīvas, bound souls, whereas they are bhāva rūpas. They are not bodies; they are the embodiments of living ideals. That is from where the inspiration comes to people.
Inspiration means what? You feel like taking up a particular idea. It may be meditation, it may be service, it may be renunciation, it may be study of scriptures—whatever. Some idea takes possession of most of us. That is called inspiration.
So that is how these saints help us. And of all the times, these days we need the company of saints.
Finding Satsaṅga: The Company of Saints
So the question comes: "Where do I get saints? Where do I get the company of saints?"
The Story of Balarām Basu's Servant
There was, you know, a funny incident. Balarām Basu was a great devotee of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, and he, like any other rich person, also employed some servants. So there was one servant boy, and he used to be sent to buy goods from the market. And naturally, you know, they steal a little bit. So one day, one of the direct disciples found this out. He came to Balarām Basu and said, "This servant, you know, dismiss him. He is a thief."
Balarām Basu was a very intelligent person. He said, "Where do I get a sādhu servant who would renounce the whole world, who will never steal, and who will yet do all my work?" So from that day onwards, the direct disciples started making fun: "We must find out a sādhu servant for Balarām Basu!"
So the point is, wherever we are, this inspiration comes and it helps us psychologically. These people can help us a great deal.
Methods of Obtaining Satsaṅga
So with this background, we will start our study of the saints. So the question, as I said: "Where do we get sādhus? Where do we get holy company?"
Now there are several ways.
1. Physical Presence
If we are very fortunate to get a religious āśrama (how you call it), or a swami, a good swami, a saintly soul, or a spiritual aspirant, we are very lucky.
2. Books as Satsaṅga
Suppose we live far away? You know, Vedanta Centre is here. There are several ways. One way is books. That is where Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa—Bhagavata, Bhakta, Bhagavān. If you have got a Gospel, you got a Bible, got a Qur'ān, or you have got the life and sayings of any great saint, that itself is a satsaṅga. Treat it as though God is living, or that saint is there embodied in that particular book. This is one way of doing it.
3. Holy Places
Holy places—visit holy places now and then.
4. Digital Satsaṅga
But constant satsaṅga—holy company of saints—the only way we can get it is through books. Of course, nowadays we are extremely fortunate. Technology has advanced so much. So we can have what I call internet satsaṅga, digital satsaṅga, digital company of the holy saints.
But it is a way. It is truly—you go onto the internet every day, wherever you are, you can find out some website. Most marvelous things are there, I tell you. Say, for just as an example, in Google, you Google "saints," and you will see literally hundreds of thousands of web pages will come up. Take up any one of them. Some of them may be bogus, but many of them will contain authentic, genuine lives of the saints as well as their teachings. So this is one way of doing: read, and then contemplate, think of them.
The Practice of Remembrance
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa very often used to say—very often—that think of this before you do anything. Before you meditate, before you do pūjā, think of—he did not say, "You come to me and think of me." If we go to him, there is no need to think. We are seeing him. Thinking is only necessary when we are away from them.
Now the point is, are they really away from us? Yes, physically, yes, it looks like that. But all the more nearer they are, because they don't have the physical bodies.
The Teaching of Swami Yateśvarānandaji
Swami Yateśvarānandaji had a marvelous instruction to devotees. He was in Bangalore; many devotees were in Mysore, in Madras, and in West Bengal, in Delhi, Bombay. He initiated many people. So they used to say, "Swami, we cannot have your satsaṅga. What do we do?"
He used to say, "You all sit at this time—say, six o'clock in the evening—and sit and meditate, think of me, and you will feel my presence."
And many devotees told me later on, when they used to sit for meditation, palpably they used to feel his presence with them. So this is not something very strange or surprising. This is true of every saint.
Why Saints Are Omnipresent
Why? Because who is a saint? A saint is a man of God. And where is not God? God is everywhere. A real saint is only a shell in which there is nothing inside except God. What limits God is a saint, and what doesn't limit a saint is God. This is the only distinction.
The Crisis of Faith in Modern Times
With this background study, I said also it's very important these days, because these are the days when we seem to be growing more in our disbelief. This point has to be understood properly.
Faith in God is Faith in Self
If anybody says, "I don't believe in God," in effect what he is saying is, "I have no faith in myself." This is a psychological fact.
Faith in God means: faith that my life will be all right. I have hope. There is someone to look after me. I have nothing to worry. That is called faith in God. That means basically I am having faith in myself.
But if I go on saying, "I believe in God," but feel worried, anxious, etc., that means I do not really have faith in God.
Many, many people expressed, they said, "I have faith in you, Swami. Problem is I don't have faith in myself." What good will it do? So what can I do if you don't have faith in yourself? And what should I do if you have faith in yourself? It's a peculiar situation.
The Power of Faith: The Placebo Effect
Faith in anybody—in a saint, in a religion, in a herb—in what is called placebo medicine: doesn't placebos work? You know how placebos work? You know what is a placebo? A kind of, you know, it looks like a medicinal pill or whatever, but it contains nothing.
There are people who were cured of their diseases just by swallowing placebos. And there were people who died after eating real medicine. What is the difference? The people who took the real medicine had no faith. The people who took placebos had tremendous faith.
That is why Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa says, "Faith is everything."
These days we don't have faith in spirituality, in God. We indicating that we have no faith in ourselves. This is a most marvelous subject all by itself, but I will not go into it. But just try to indicate why I am saying this.
Understanding Materialism
This is called an age of materialism. Many people do not understand the meaning of this statement: materialism.
Materialism means not having many material things. You can have a billion things, more than anybody else—that is not the problem.
Materialism means to consider ourselves and others as matter. That means I am not a human being; I am just an object, a machine. My employee thinks that I am a machine; I have to make profit for him. And I think my employer is a milky cow, and I will do as little work as possible and take as much.
It doesn't work to look upon ourselves and others as matter—that means as nothing. There is no dignity, there is no respect, there is no spirituality there. Just as we look upon a table or a chair as a useful utilitarian object, that is called materialism.
Materialism in Relationships
This is an age of materialism. That's why husband treats wife as a pleasure object, and wife also treats the husband as object of pleasure. What is it? Pure materialism.
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Test of His Disciples
That is why Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had a way of testing his disciples. He started with Holy Mother. He asked Holy Mother, "How do you look upon me?"
If she had said, "I look upon you as my husband," what does it indicate? That you are an object of pleasure. You know, you support me, you give me children, you are my upkeeping, etc., etc.
What did she say? "I look upon you as God, Mother Kālī herself."
Similarly, he asked, "Who do you look upon me?" She was also no less. And what was his reply? The same: "Mother who is in the temple, who gave me birth, and I look upon you as the same."
Ānandamayī Mā—there's profound meaning in that. That means both of them are looking upon each other as Ātman, not as body. If we are thinking, you know, "I am a body, you are also a body"—what is a body? Is it any different from a table? It is an object.
The Definition of a Human Being
So in this today's world, the spirit is called materialism, means bodily pleasures, bodily identification, and whatever conduces to the pleasure of the body. This is called materialism.
This is what Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said: "Kali-kāle manuṣa anna-gata prāṇa." What does it mean? The man's mind is—he doesn't think he is a human being.
But according to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa, what is the definition of a human being? What is the meaning of manuṣa? He who thinks that I am divine—he is a real human being. He who thinks "I am a body, a bundle of body and possessions, material possessions"—that person is a materialist, however much he may be doing japa, meditation. It doesn't really matter.
That is the meaning of materialism. And that is why people are profoundly unhappy. People are having so many psychological problems.
The Paradox of Modern Progress
This is one of the strangest phenomena of the 21st century: the more we are advancing in gaining scientific and technological knowledge, the more psychologically we are going down. One in four, one in three are mentally sick. Then what does it indicate?
The Remedy: The Incarnation of God
So is there any remedy? Yes, there is definitely a remedy. That's why Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa had come.
In fact, one of the concepts of the incarnation of God—you know, if I ask you, "When does God incarnate?" thought comes, the answer comes from Hindus (they are so knowledgeable, you know): "Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glāniḥ"—wherever there is, whenever there is an increase of adharma and decrease of dharma, then God incarnates.
The True Meaning of Dharma and Adharma
Do you know what is the meaning of dharma and adharma in this context? This is the definition Swami Vivekananda had given:
That which takes us nearer to God is dharma, and that which takes us away from God is adharma.
What does it imply? It implies the less we think we are divine, we are adharmic. And the more we think we are divine, we are dharmic. This is a profound idea.
When we have this idea that "I am dharmic," then that means I feel less selfish, I feel like loving, I feel more joyful. You know, the nearer we approach God, the more joyful we feel, the more unselfish we feel, the more we feel like sharing. Because the more we approach infinity, the less would be our anxiety. The more we approach less, the more will be our fear: "If I lose this little also, then what happens?"
The Mission of Incarnations
This is the idea: whenever people forget their divinity, then God incarnates to remind them, "You are not matter, you are divine." That is the real meaning of the teaching of Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa or any incarnation of God.
The Benefits of Studying Saints' Lives
So the remedy is: the more we study, remind ourselves of the lives and teachings of saints—and whenever we think of a saint, what actually are we thinking?
The moment you open any page of the first page of the book, "He was born"—you see, it's a strange thing. All saints' lives, irrespective of what they are—most of them, at least some of them, of course, the change comes later on; first they were very materialistic, as it were, but not really so, but hidden, as it were; suddenly some conversion takes place, they become saints. But most of the saints, they were very pious, they're always thinking of other people's problems, and their mind is fixed on God. This is how the biographies start.
So whenever we study the biographies of saints, immense benefit comes to us.
The Process of Inner Purification
Even when we think, "Okay, I have read the Gospel of Ramakrishna so many times. What good will it do? What good has it done?" No, my dear sir.
As Swami Yateśvarānandaji used to say, deep in our unconscious there is so much of impure material condensed, as it were, like (he used to say) the old times ink bottles. So what is the way? You go on pouring clean water, and at first comes out only inky water—maybe for a long time. But slowly, slowly you will notice it becomes less and less inky, until at last pure water goes in, pure water comes out.
This analogy means: the more we meditate, pray, study great books, the lives of saints, etc., it is going deep into our unconscious. It will take some time, depending upon how many treasures we are keeping in the basement. Some people, very quickly the transformation—pure water comes out. For some people it will take a little more time. What does it matter, a little more time? But it will never go in vain.
You Are What You Eat
But the most important thing is, you see, there is a program on the BBC: "You are what you eat." Reading and contemplating the biographies of saints is wonderful food. This is the meaning of real āhāra.
That is the meaning given by Śaṅkarācārya: Āhāra means whatever goes—whatever we see, whatever we hear, whatever we smell. That means when we read something, that's extremely pure food. When we read, say, lives of saints, it becomes wonderful food, and it will produce in course of time a good result. That is what we will be.
Prerequisites for Studying Saints
So we have to, of course, have certain fitness before we study any person's lives. We will have to prepare. We should not approach the lives of saints with skepticism: "Let me see whether there is any truth in it."
No, the proof—the burden of the proof is not on the saint. The burden of the proof is on ourselves. It is for our good. Just as you go to a doctor, the doctor is not asking you to come to him. You have to go because you are suffering. Of course, if all of us do not go to a doctor, he'll be profoundly unhappy—there is no doubt about it.
The Tree of Religion
So in this background, we'll come back to our subject: a religion stays alive because of the saints.
It is said religion is compared to a tree, a fruit tree. Now how do we know which is a good fruit tree? That tree which produces more number of fruits and the sweetest fruits—that is the best fruit tree.
Now what are the fruits of religion? That religion which produces, which succeeds in producing the greatest number of saints—that is the greatest religion.
And if any religion fails to produce living proofs of God—their saints are living Gods, gods in human encasement—that religion will have less influence on people. That religion, in fact, will be counterproductive. It is not merely harmless in effect, because there will be pseudo-saints who will misinterpret the scriptures and twist and use it for the sake of power—as we very well know today what is happening.
Approaching with Humility
So this is important for us. We have to approach with humility. It is our necessity. With trust. And it will be effective to us.
India's Spiritual Heritage
Hinduism is—our India extremely fortunate, because it has never stopped producing saints in any century. But we are studying what is Hinduism. So I will just go as quickly as I can to some of these saints whom we know.
The Vedic Rishis
You know, our Vedas themselves—they are the discoveries of ṛṣis. How many ṛṣis? Literally countless thousands and thousands of ṛṣis. We just don't know who they were, how they were. We just know a few names.
So let us just say from the Upaniṣads we get: Yājñavalkya, Maitreyī, Gārgī, etc., etc. Apart from the ṛṣis, Vedas are full of ṛṣis. But these are some of the important. There are so many innumerable ṛṣis are there, but I only mentioned a few.
Vedavyāsa
Then, you know, one of the greatest saints—whether it was one man or in the name of one man thousands of works have been produced, we are not sure. It is not, of course, necessary for us to know—who is that? Vedavyāsa.
Oh my God! All the Vedas he divided. Vedavyāsa is a title. His name was Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana. Vedavyāsa means "editor of Vedas." They say Vedavyāsa—the amount of contribution he has given to the Hindu religion is incalculable. Mahābhārata and Bhāgavatam and all these Purāṇas—18 main Purāṇas, 18 upapurāṇas—and so many other works were attributed to him. Maybe it is different people, but it doesn't matter.
Vedavyāsa means divinity manifesting in the form of a succession of saints, out of whom God is conveying His message to us. That is called Vedavyāsa.
The Saptarṣis
Then we know in Hindu galaxy, Saptarṣi—seven ṛṣis. That's a marvelous story by itself. Seven ṛṣis. Every Hindu must see the galaxy—seven ṛṣis, Saptarṣi. And it is specially important for the Ramakrishna Order. You know why? Swami Vivekananda was one of the Saptarṣis. And their contribution is tremendous.
Puranic Saints
Then in the Purāṇas, we get great souls whom Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa mentions: Nārada, then Prahlāda, then Dhruva. Innumerable—the saintly characters in our Purāṇas are innumerable. These are just—I am mentioning only just a few. We don't know how many such people came. I can only highlight a few of them.
The Buddha
Even 2,500 years before, such a great soul was born in India: Buddha. When many people think, "Buddhism—what has Buddhism got to do with Hindu?"
Buddha was a Hindu. What he taught was nothing but pure Upaniṣadic teaching. He gave different names to it. Instead of saying Brahma, he said śūnya, nirvāṇa. But what he taught was nothing but the purest, highest Upaniṣadic teaching.
You may ask, "How do you know? How do you know?" Because Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa said, "What was his definition?" He who got illumined, he is a Buddha.
And this great Buddha—how many thousands, lakhs (what we call hundreds of thousands) of saints he influenced! When people became saints following him, the first generation—literally whoever had seen Buddha was transformed immediately into one of the illumined persons. From his own mouth he says, "You are illumined, you are illumined, you are illumined."
Mahāvīra and Jainism
Then, you know, Jainism—Mahāvīra. He was born in India. What tremendous austerity he practiced! And he got illumination, and he influenced. These were all—he was contemporary of Lord Buddha.
The Great Ācāryas
Then we know these great ācāryas. I mentioned ācāryas form a category by themselves. You remember last week I said four categories. The first category is liberated while living—jīvanmukta saints, ordinary saints, sāmānya—and higher than that is the ācārya category.
Śaṅkarācārya
Śaṅkarācārya was born in the 7th century—not very certain, but 7th century.
Rāmānujācārya
Rāmānuja was born three centuries after that, in the 10th century.
Madhvācārya
Madhvācārya was born in 1238.
Vallabhācārya
Vallabhācārya was born in 1479.
Nimbārkācārya
Nimbārkācārya was born in the 11th century.
The Three Schools
These five great ācāryas: there is called non-dualism, qualified non-dualism, and dualism. What a marvelous influence they have!
I also mentioned, if you remember, that all the Hindus can be categorized into three classes: those who follow Śaṅkara, those who follow Rāmānuja, those who follow Madhva.
And whom do the Ramakrishna devotees follow? They follow everybody. You know why? Because we follow Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa.
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Comprehensive Approach
And Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa—he practiced dualism, he practiced non-dualism. And sometimes he was in nirvikalpa state of samādhi. Sometimes he was in savikalpa state of samādhi, indicating Caitanya Mahāprabhu's way.
He used to say Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to live in three states: when he was conscious of the body, he used to sing the names of God, talk about God. When he was in half-conscious state, he used to dance like a mad elephant and be in that intoxicated state. And then many times he used to be completely unconscious.
So what was he indicating? Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa himself was in that state.
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's Philosophy
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's philosophy is wonderful. His ideal was Hanumān. What do I mean? Once somebody asked Hanumān, "So how do you consider God?" Means, "In what state of reality do you live?"
You know what he said? "When I am having body consciousness, I consider myself as a devotee, and I consider You as my Master. When I consider myself as part of You, then You are the Paramātmā, I am the jīvātmā (individual soul). But when I consider myself sometimes as God himself, there is no difference between You and me."
That was exactly Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa's condition. Sometimes, as Master, he used to say, "Mā." Sometimes he used to be in a semi-conscious state. Sometimes completely unconstrained.
A Practical Way of Life
So whom is he following? He was following Śaṅkara when there are few people. Then he would be following Rāmānuja when there is nice food, some devotees bring nice food—he will be following Madhvācārya. What a marvelous practical way of life!
Other Great Saints
These great ācāryas—I would say most of the devotees are Rāmānujācāryas. For example, you know, Caitanya—he propagated a Vaiṣṇavism. And by whom was he influenced? By Swami Rāmānanda. By Swami Rāmānanda. And who influenced Swami Rāmānanda? Rāmānujācārya.
So in a way of speaking, Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teachings were influenced by Rāmānujācārya. That is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa bhāva: they are one in two, two in one.
These great ācāryas in different parts of India—they have influenced Hinduism, uplifted, inspired. Even today you go to the temples, they live there as though God is living in front of them.
Swami Rāmānanda and Kabīr Dās
Then you see, this is Swami Rāmānanda. He was supposed to be guru of Kabīr Dās, and he lived in the 13th century—1299 to 1410.
The beautiful incident was there: Kabīr Dās was, as a child, found by his so-called foster parents—weavers, Muslim weavers family—floating in the river. This couple had no children. They were praying to Allah, and they found him. Somebody abandoned this child. He was brought up, so he was considered as a Muslim.
He wanted to be a disciple of Swami Rāmānanda, and Swami Rāmānanda—he was a very open-hearted person. But, you know, because of the society, he could not say, "I will accept you." At that time there were terrible conflicts going on between Hindus and Muslims. He couldn't openly say.
Kabīr Dās determined, "You see, whether you want it or not, I have decided that you are going to be my guru."
So the funny story is told (how far it is true, I don't know): Swami Rāmānanda was in the habit of going to the river and taking bath early in the morning in dark. One day, one morning, he went and he stepped square on what looked like a human body. So he instinctively—the word: "Rāma, Rāma!"
Kabīr got up and said, "Thank you for initiating me!" And since that time, Rāmānanda Swami also accepted, "Okay, you are a worthy disciple. Come and live."
Kabīr Dās—what beautiful songs! Most meaningful songs, what is called philosophical songs. At the same time, "Take the name of God. What does it matter in which language, what particular pronunciation? It is Rām, Rahmān, Allah, God—everybody is the same."
This is the keynote of all Indian saints: there is only one God, by whatever name you call. You are only calling God and nobody else.
The Tamil Saints
So this—now I will come to something. In South India, there were two streams of devotion flowing from the 9th century onwards. Two streams:
The Nāyanmārs (Śaiva Saints)
One is called the Śiva bhaktas, devotees of Śiva. And another is the devotees of Lord Viṣṇu.
One is called Nāyanmārs. And there were supposed to be 63 Nāyanmārs—extraordinarily great saints, each one so great it is indescribable. And so I will just want to give a taste of just one of them.
A Story of Devotion
These Nāyanmārs, many of them were householders, married people. And they took the vow: "If any Śaiva yogi"—means sannyāsī, monk, following—"worshiping the Lord Śiva, following Śiva, they are all devotees of Lord Śiva—if such a swami comes to their house, whatever the swami wants, they will give. Whatever."
So one day, one swami came and stood in front of one of these devotees. And this man was overjoyed: "Oh, today Lord Śiva himself has come!" He did not know actually it was Lord Śiva himself.
So he came, and this man, you know, "Please come inside." So he came inside, and it was lunch time. All great devotees come only at lunch time! So he invited him, "You must take food."
He said, "I will take food, but on one condition: whatever I want, you will have to give me later."
He says, "Okay, I will give you. You are a swami, what? You are Śiva himself according to me. So whatever you desire, I will give you."
And he ate nicely. And then he said, "Now what can I give you?" And he looked and said, "You know, I'm going to ask you something, but you should give promise."
He said, "I promised you already. I will give you whatever you want."
"And I want your wife."
Now just imagine! And the man said, "Yes, I promised." He was not happy, but he said, "I promise." He went and told his wife.
His wife was also there listening to the whole conversation. Then she said to the husband, "Don't worry. Lord Śiva is there to protect us. It is our vow: whatever the swami wants, we will give. And you promised, specially—I will give you. I will go with him."
So then this man said, "Look, now I am not going to take her like that, you see?" By that time, the word had spread, and the relatives of that devotee came with swords to kill, chop off the head of the swami.
He said, "You will have to take this sword and protect me until we reach a safe place with your wife."
So this man took up the sword and said, "Any relative coming to help, to beat up the swami, I'm going to chop off his head."
They said, "We came to help you, and if you are talking like that, what is our headache?" They went away.
So he took the—he was walking, protecting them. The yogi was very happily going. Reached the forest. And in the middle of the forest, when nobody was there, he said, "Okay, you both of you wait here. I will just come a few minutes." And he disappeared. He was not coming back at all.
Then the husband went in search to give his wife. Then they saw a beautiful Śiva temple. There was nothing else. Then he went there. The swami was sitting with a smiling face in the liṅga. It was none other than Śiva himself who took up that form.
Like this, there are marvelous stories, testing. Then Śiva said, "I am pleased with your devotion. This is called real devotion. If God comes and asks, what will you withhold? Tell me."
You see, these are the type of tests. Every Śiva devotee's life, there are incidents like this to show us: the path of spirituality is not that easy.
So there are 63 Nāyanmārs, and their influence is tremendous, especially in Tamil Nadu. And Swami Shivananda, Rishikesh, had written a beautiful book. You can download that book: "63 Nayanmars." It is wonderful.
The Ᾱḻvārs (Vaiṣṇava Saints)
Then there is the other stream of devotion called Dāsa Sampradāya. Oh, what a marvelous—hundreds and hundreds of dāsas, like Pūyadāsarāya, Purandara Dāsa, Vijaya Dāsa, Kanaka Dāsa. What marvelous galaxy of saints!
Purandara Dāsa
Of all these people, there was this Purandara Dāsa. Those who are from South India, especially from Karnataka, they understand Purandara Dāsa—such a marvelous composer of devotional songs. I have never come across in the South Indian tradition: small songs, so rhythmic, so full of meaning, and so easily singable. These are the devotees of Lord Viṣṇu.
So this Purandara Dāsa, I will just illustrate how marvelous these lives are. He was a rich man. And there are lots of incidents—I will not tell you. He came and became the disciple of one Vyāsarāya.
And this Vyāsarāya started loving this Purandara Dāsa. His name was Śrīnivāsa Nāyaka. He loved his disciple. Other disciples started feeling jealous: "We are here for a long time. This new man came, and our guru is only starting loving him and neglecting us."
The Test with the Banana
One day, the guru decided to teach them why he loved Purandara Dāsa more than anyone else. So one day, some devotees brought lot of bananas, and the guru had given one banana to each one of his disciples and told them, "You go and eat and come back to me as soon as possible, but this condition: nobody should see you eating."
Now all the devotees, the disciples, went. Somebody went into a bush, put to his upper cloth there, so that nobody will see, and he ate. Somebody who was doubtful somebody might see went into a tank, closing his nose, and then he ate and came back. Everybody came back. Purandara Dāsa also had come back.
Then the guru asked, "Have you all eaten?" They all said, "Yes," excepting Purandara Dāsa. And he was asked, "Why did you not eat?"
He said, "What was the condition you imposed upon us? 'Where nobody could see us.' Wherever I see, I see the Lord watching with His thousand eyes. How can I eat? Wherever I go—inside the water or in the sky or anywhere—where is not God?"
That shows what was his experience of God. He is seeing God everywhere.
Now the other disciples hung their head in shame. How much they understood, we don't know.
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa and His Love for Narendra
Now come back to Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was a guru, and he also had disciples. And whom did he love most? And you know there were people who became jealous: "Narendra. I have got something, any devotee taking any sweet, any best thing—he will give for Narendra. For other devotees, no. Narendra, yes."
Then they felt really jealous, and they wanted to spread—again, when the opportunity presented, there were incidents. I will not go into them.
So why was Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa loving Narendra so much? Because he was able to see nothing but Nārāyaṇa in him. In fact, Narendra himself objected: "Why do you love me so much? Otherwise, in your next birth, you will be reborn as Narendra."
Was it a disaster if Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa is reborn as Narendra? It would have been wonderful!
Why was he loving? He was not loving Narendra. He was loving Nārāyaṇa in him. This is the simple secret we do not seem to understand.
The Teaching of the Bhagavad Gītā
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa has no such partiality: "I love you." This is vindication of what is taught in the Bhagavad Gītā: "I am equal-sighted towards all the creatures. I do not hate anybody. Nobody is dear to me. But he who worships me, I am nearer to him. He is nearer to me."
If you go nearer to the fire, then you become warm, is it not? He who thinks of God, where is he? He is nearer to God. This is the idea we have to understand.
Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa was attracted to Narendranath because he was only seeing more of Nārāyaṇa in him than in anybody else. This is the simple secret. If you can manifest, to the same degree, godliness in you, Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa—not Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa would love you. Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa would automatically—he will come nearer to you. That is to say, you go nearest to Rāmakṛṣṇa, then Rāmakṛṣṇa will be nearer to you.
This is the simple truth.
Narendra's Perfection in Meditation
And who can be nearer to God? A saint is nearer to God. And Narendra's mind was nearest to God. He has ever forgotten? Rāmakṛṣṇa used to say Narendra is perfect in meditation.
What is meditation? To be aware of God all the time. It is only a small part of Narendra's mind is on the external world. Ninety-nine percent of it is—Rāmakṛṣṇa used to give a lot of illustrations like a tortoise: it is moving about in the waters, where is its mind? In the eggs which it has laid on the banks of the river or pond or whatever.
So where was Narendra's mind? Ninety-nine percent of it was only on God. That is why he was nearest to God. And who was Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa? None other than God.
This is the simple truth. We always try to think of these great souls from our puny, human, limited understanding. Where are they, and where are we?
The Dāsa Sampradāya and the Liṅgāyats
Dāsa Sampradāya—and they are influencing even today. If any of you happen to go to Bangalore, you will see, you will hear these marvelous songs and all those.
The Liṅgāyats
Then in the 12th century, there was—in Karnataka there were great worshipers of Śiva had come up. They were called Liṅgāyats. Liṅga means that is an emblem of Śiva. How do you know? They always hang—there will be the necklace, and at the end of the necklace, like a pendulum, that will be a Śivaliṅga. They are called Liṅgāyats.
This was influenced by a great king called Basava. He was an extraordinary king, and he and his followers, including one woman called Akka (who used to roam about completely naked in the 12th century), Akkā Mahādevī—they have composed beautiful spiritual teachings. They are called vacanas.
Vacana means prose. It is not exactly prose—a kind of prose poetry.
A Sample Vacana
And I will give you one small sample of it. Lord, addressing Śiva:
"What can I do? I am a poor man. Those who have money, let them construct huge temples. But I have no money. I also want to construct a temple, but how can I do that? Yes, this is the way I can do it."
Then he says:
"My head is the gopura (the top) of the temple. My legs are the pillars that support the temple. My body itself is the temple. And my heart is the shrine room. And I establish You in that shrine room. And whereas those people who construct those temples, that Śiva cannot move—but this Śiva is moving all the time."
This is just one sample. There are marvelous such—small, very small: four lines, six lines, that's all—but with such deep significance is there.
The Story of Two Temples
Let me complete, you know—beautiful story, because we all love stories.
In South India, there was a king. He was a great devotee of Lord Śiva. So he decided, "I would like to construct a wonderful temple."
Being a king, he had the money, materials, men. He started, and it took a few years. And there was a village nearby. There was a poor brāhmaṇa. He was also a great devotee of Śiva. And he also felt a desire to construct a Śiva temple.
The story goes on: the king completed his temple, and he found out a very auspicious day to inaugurate the temple. And then he went, he prayed to Lord Śiva, "Lord, please come on that day. You must be present on that day, because it is Your own temple." And let everyone have the privilege of seeing.
Śiva said, "I'm so pleased with you, but I am very sorry. Somebody came to me earlier and invited me at exactly the same time. I am going to be present there."
The king was surprised. "Where?"
He said, "Only just outside your capital, a few miles away, there is a village. There is an old brāhmaṇa, and he has constructed also a temple, and it is much better than your temple. And he came, approached me earlier, so I promised I will go."
The king felt very sad, but he said, "Let me find out. I never heard anybody constructing a temple."
So he went to that village. Look, there was no temple at all—small village, there was no temple at all. So he enquired, "Is there such-and-such a brāhmaṇa here?"
They said, "Yes, that is the small hut in which he lives."
So he went there. "Are you so-and-so?"
He said, "Yes."
"And this is what happened. Lord Śiva told me like this. So have you constructed a temple?"
The brāhmaṇa said, "Yes."
"But where is the temple?"
He said, "I have constructed it in my heart."
"And how did you do it? It's not just sitting there, you know, like cinema. Like this, one second, beautiful temple has come up in our minds, and next second we're thinking of something else. The temple is gone, demolished."
"No. Early morning, he will get up. Mentally he will go to the river. He will take bath. Then he will go to the place, dig the land—mentally digging, as though actually he was digging—until in no time he will go on digging in his mind. Then he took out the mud. Then he made the bricks. Then one by one he was putting, cementing it. And it took several years for him to complete that temple."
And then, just because, you know, he was doing it without depending upon any union, he could complete it very quickly.
And he approached Lord Śiva, and Śiva, of course, has agreed.
The Moral of the Story
The moral of this story—whether I'm not saying it is true—but the moral of this story is that how great devotees were there, are there, and will be there. Especially India is blessed.
So I will deal with this subject in my next class.
Closing Prayer
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
Om Śānti, Śānti, Śāntih.
Om, peace, peace, peace be unto all.