Saints and Saintliness
SAI SUDHA -January 1944
1.EDITORIAL - LOAD OF KARMA – PLAY OF EMOTIONS
2. 2.PHILOSOPHY OF DESIRE
3.IS SAI BABA TO BE BROKEN?
4.THE COSMIC PLAY
5.EXPERIENCES
6.A NEW YEAR MESSAGE
7.SRI SAI BABA (THE DIVINE) AN AVATAR
8.IS THIS SAIBHAKTI?
EDITORIAL - LOAD OF KARMA – PLAY OF EMOTIONS*
Karma or what we call Destiny is the result of that life within Prakriti, which obtain hold of the unresisting Self due to the play of Emotions or Impulses. Whatever we do through Emotions, whatever we think through Emotions and whatever we utter through Emotions are never lost but every small feeling is imprinted on our Inner Mind. So long as our Inner Mind is helplessly Swayed by Emotions, these forces which are imprinted therein, return in their in the rebound, mercilessly against the Self which is now as helpless as it was when it allowed these Emotions to affect it. The reaction in the rebound, which the Self still under the sway of Emotions is unable to prevent, is called Karma or Destiny.
Action with Desire brings on Karma. But it is the desire or attachment for the fruits of the act that brings on karma. If the act is done with the object of gain, however small it is, there is the play of emotion, which affects our mental perspective- hence also affects our Karma. Hence Sri Krishna says to Arjuna in Bhagavad-Gita that action should be done without desire for its fruit.
Self-Realization comes through Experience of Karma. Self Realization or liberation comes to one not from volition or choice but it is a State to which he gravitates. From the experience of inmannerable births, he realizes from experience that physical life is a bondage burdened with heavy loads of his own making, which he cannot easily shake off and then with full experience of Karma, his inner mind acquires Light and his Self realizes that life is a burden, is a prison and is a field for more burden and begins to control progressively its future, over what was being steered irresistibly by the force of Karma. As the Karma gets less and less the man becomes more and more detached with the result that he obtains greater mastery over his own Self.
So Karma is co-extensive with the Emotions and dies with the Emotions. It is purely individualistic and has no relation to the external world. No outsider-God or Guru or a realized Soul- can help, influence or improve our Karma or bring us Salvation. We who are already groaning under such a load can, however, get Light from God-realized Souls, to first avoid increasing it and then try to reduce it. Divine Sympathy can however cancel or wipe off all Karma, at once but rarely interferes with the course of Karma.
One has to throw down the load of Karma himself by his conviction an his realization that those Emotions are unreal, transient, and are clouds on God’s path and think seriously at leisure over the effects of Emotions in this Light-assuming that every thought, word or deed, is the result of some kind of Emotion or other. As for instance, the act of stabling another in anger, is followed by two results viz., one is the automatic effect on Karma- This effect is the same, whether the man is killed actually or not so long as the intention to kill is there. The second effect is that the Emotion has made the Self blind to his Reason and has goaded him to do what Reason should have prevented. The next moment when his Reason has returned, he sees his mistake and repents. Hence such thousands of Emotions of which one is made do cast a barrier on the path of Real Knowledge and one is unable to realize God-within.
So our Salvation is in own hands and is not a gift and is to be worked out by detachment from Emotions, which work on our self disastrously by first acting on our Inner Mind and possessing it in the form of Karma. The Inner Mind and possessed reacts against the Self- thus endlessly. Again Emotions produce delusions in the Self as said above, And as Prakriti derives existence from the Emotions and the delusions created by it, we have to stay this Emotion to get rid off Karma and Delusion as well as the Prakriti built by them in order that we may see what is already in us-Divinity.
As we conquer these Emotions, we irresistibly proceed is convert into our conscious field (i.e.,. conscious mind) regions of real mental Vision, till now unknown, and unknowable to our shaded understanding. The so-called conscious Mind, which has relation to the physical (gorss) or emotional bodies fallen into disuse before this Light. At this stage, if we obtain control over the Inner Mind or our Self, the prior occupant of it, i.e., Karma is destroyed. And Self (- Pure Sat, Chit and Ananda,) having no desires, renounces all rights and resolves to carry out its duties or obligations self-lessely and gains Divine Knowledge or Self-Realization- prior to liberation or Moksha, when the Self is extinguished-which of course is a work of several years-if not generations- after attaining to the stage of detachment, enabling passive condition of the conscious Mind (in the brain) and causing the Inner Mind (in the subtle body) devoid of the load of Karma, to come into play unconsciously to mix with, the conscious Self and to be lost in Sweet Oblivion.
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* Uncontrolled, Unsubjugated or un overcome bad Emotion, instincts, impulses, passions, Gunas and desires are classed as Sadripus, our (6) Enemies within doors (bodies) and are Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada and Matsara i.e. Lust (desires, dotage,) Anger, Covetousness (cravings), Loss of sense, Pride (arrogance) and jealousy (envy, hate) Pity, Sympathy, love, Zeal come under good Emotions or Passions and are also hindrances to detachment from this world and worldly affairs and hence to be eschewed. CF.Jada Bharata’s story in Bhagavata.
2.PHILOSOPHY OF DESIRE
By Shri Swami Sivananda, Rishikesh
Salutations to Brahman, the Eternal, the Infinite, the Immortal, who is absolutely free from desires, cravings, Vasanas, impulses and instincts Gunas, actions, who is the source, womb or substratum for everything, who keeps up the Lila through the Gunas of His Sakti.
Desire is an (co native) impulse towards an object. It is kept alive by imagination of the object such as ‘oh, how beautiful it is etc!’
“ Desire is an earnest longing for attaining some object or goal. It is a wish to enjoy an object. An urge to attain something is desire.
Desire is to see has become eyes; desire to hear has become the ears; desire to taste has become the tongue, desire to smell has become the nose, desire to touch has become the skin; desire to work has become the hand; desire to speak has become the organ has become the organ of speech; desire to walk has become the feet; desire to copulate has become the organ of reproduction. Desire is the root cause of this mundane life.
Desires are the co native tendencies of your instincts. An instinct is an involuntary prompting to action. In the light of Vedanta philosophy desire is born of Avidya or ignorance. There are neither desires, nor cravings, nor longings in Brahman. It is ever pure and transcendent. It is not touched by even a trace of desire. It is absolutely free from Maya of Mal (impurities of desire)
When you think of an object you feel a sort of stirring within you. There is an impulse to action I order to achieve the desired object. A desire arises to attain the object. Then there is Chesta or Prayatna (effort). You begin to think in a clear and definite from as to how to possess the object. By the force of mere thought of an object a tendency or hidden subtle Vasana is stirred to action. The senses of action begin to work. You obtain the object and enjoy it.
Vasana is a subtle form of desire. It is hidden desire. Vasana assume the form of desire which is gross. Trishna is intense craving or hankering after sensual objects. Vasana is intermingled with Samskaras or impressions. Vasana produce Samskaras (impressions) and Samskaras in turn generate Vasanas. The rotation of this never-ending wheel of Vasana and Samskara constitutes the Samsara Chakra, which causes births and deaths.
Impulses are of three kinds Viz., impulse of thought, impulse of speech and impulse of action.
Impulses, instinct, desires, cravings, are all modification of Prakriti or Gunas. Just as the iron pieces move in the presence of magnet, the impulses, instincts etc., derive their force or Chetana Sakti from Brahman only, the source for everything.
Abhinivesha is clinging to this earthly life. That is fear from death. This is one of the five afflictions according to Patanjali Maharshi. It is born of Avidya or ignorance. This is synonymous with Bergson’s Elan Vital, Schopenhauer’s ‘will-to-live’ or Jung’s Libido, and Trishna of Lord Buddha. This clinging should be destroyed through dispassion, discrimination and enquiry of whom am ‘I’? .
If you wish to withdraw yourself from the objects of senses you will have to shut out the three different compartments in the mind which perform the co native, the co native and the affective processes. The mind runs outside through conation, cognition and affection. Conation is activity, Cognition is at the root of all actions. The process of conation is done through Kriya Sakti. The affection is done through Prema Sakti.
Do not allow the mental energy to run in these directions, through the practice of Japa, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dama, Sama, eradication of Vasanas and Atmic enquiry, meditation and devotion. Then only you can fix your mind on the Lord or the Atman.
Control the senses first. Destroy the desires through discrimination, dispassion, meditation and Atmic enquiry and rest in the desireless Satchitananda Brahman.
May you be established in your native, pristine state of divine glory and splendour which is beyond the reach of Gunas, senses, mind and intellect where in there is neither urge not impulse not instinct, neither conation not cognition, nor affection, neither desire Vasana or Trishna, wherein you enjoy perfect peace, bliss and joy through meditation and Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
3.IS SAI BABA TO BE BROKEN?
By Shri B.V.N.Swami
In the last issue of Sri Sai Sudha the question is raised and answered whether Sai Baba is builder of breaker, In that very issue a “devotee” in stating his experiences of Sai Baba narrates how he lost faith in Sai Baba and consequently broke BABA’s image and how some one else with more faith in Baba successfully used broken bits of that image for improving the patient’s health. This was perhaps a distant repercussion produced by the report in the Sudha of the similar conduct of another “devotee” leading to similar results. It is not improvable that this second solemn duty of those responsible for the journal at any cost to analyse the mentality of these “devotees” frankly, so as to prevent further repetition of iconoclastic frenzy.
Let us carefully dive into the minds and hearts of numerous devotees who proclaim their devotion to Sai with complacency and pride. In most cases, the devotion will be found to be a bargain, - Sai to give so much temporal benefit and the devotee to offer his Namaskaram, Archanas, Naivedyams & c., in return. Most people frankly declares that (only) in case of the benefit being reaped, the devotion will be confirmed and the proposed Naivedyams & c,. Offered. This may not be considered Bhakti at all and in any case, not a Bhakti of a very estimable sort. But all the same, this is how devotion starts, is made to start or can start in the vast majority of cases. No objection should be raised to deed if Bhakti should continue to be crude, after the early days and stages are passed. The child soon throws away its teething ring, trundle hoop and spring toys, one after another. So should a Bhakta soon recognize the absurdity of resorting to God (or God men. who are the manifestations of God that men can easily reach to) merely to pull out one’s earthly chestnuts from the fire. God is not to be bargained with and God knows what is really good for a devotee better than the devotee. Regard for God beginning with gratitude for one or more extraordinary acts of help must turn into Love of a child to its mother touched into sublimity by dim perception of Infinite Power, Wisdom & c,. in the unseen Universal Mother. Failure to advance will be not mere stagnation but descent into lower levels.
Let us note the evil effect of continues looking to BABA for earthly benefits. Our longing for earthly benefits gets strengthened i.e., Rajas and Tamas get more and more to predominate in our nature, clouding the Satwa and even temporarily banishing it from us. The evils of Tamas and Rajas rise up at once. A bit of disappointment makes us angry with God and Saints that we have just worshiped for earthly objects alone and we break our idols and gods, fiercely trample upon them and gloat over our vandalism. If we but worshipped in the correct spirit, we would ask for earthly benefits, not in a bargaining spirit, nor in terms of dictation but with humble submission, recognizing the possibility that the All-wise Mother-God might deem it better to disappoint us and make us suffer in the Present, to wipe off old Karmic accounts, to develop the Satwic side of our nature and to fit us perhaps for the position decreed by Supreme Wisdom and Mercy. The Omnipresent, Omniscient and Universal Mothers provides for the present and future of innumerable creatures with apparently conflicting interests and may make use of us as her instruments or even as agents to carry out her high decrees. It is for us to submit prayers are found to be receptive. If we are in this proper mood, prayers are found to be needless assertions of Ego, not prompting but retarding our real progress.
These general observations have been made with a view to help people to approach Sai Baba, one of the most powerful manifestations of God of recent times, in the correct spirit. Let people go to him for earthly benefit if they want. But let them realize more and more that it is God that they are really dealing with. Let the apparent distinction between Baba and God that appears at first so patent be dissolved in the increased appreciation of the divine attributes of Sai Baba i.e., his wonderful and obviously limitless love and power, Wisdom and Mercy. Let us recognize that our notions of God are really abstractions and that it is before us in trying to clutch at abstractions that are so elusive. If we recognize Baba as God or divine amsa, can we ever try to break his image without descending to the level-of a Hiranya Kasipa or Kamsa?
It is not unlikely that just a few people that read the above may feel hurt. No personal hit, however against any particular person is intended, and the writer deprecates the assumption of any personal animus in him. But the intention of the article is deliberately to hit at certain traits and attitudes. People sticking to those traits and attitudes may feel aggrieved at the hit. The writer must only apologise and hope that his motive, i.e., desire to benefit the soul by pruning off dead and dying matter will be ultimately appreciated when the soul’s growth is prompted as a result of such pruning.
4.THE COSMIC PLAY
By P.N. JANAKIRAMAN, B.A., Bombay.
As Saint Kabirdas most beautifully observes in his famous poem “The creator brought into being the Game of Joy and from the word OM the creating sprang. The earth is HIS joy; HIS joy is the Sky. HIS joy is the GURU is one and life and death, union and separation, are all HIS plays of joy. In play is the creation spread out, in play it is established. The whole world, says Kabir, rests in his play, yet the player still remains unknown” etc,. etc., It is indeed, the Supreme, Lord Divine that plays and plays endlessly with HIS own manifested power(shakti) in all threats of the Self-created Cosmic space, in the Sun, in the Moon, in the Earth; in all the grand stars, planets and other Cosmic luminaries, manifesting the Supreme Beatitude in ever increasing matter to the progressive evolution of the Cosmic Existence from the dull unfoldment of the inherent Divinity, the Supreme Truth, the Glorious Light through the medium of Matter.
In this grand process of Universal Evolution, the pairs of opposites like heat and clod, life and death, happiness and misery etc., etc are only the ebb and flow of one life that pervades and permeates the whole Universe. Such pairs of opposites are quite necessary for the evolution.
The external changes or modifications, however forceful they may be, cannot in the least effect the Supreme Underlying Reality that is at the bottom of all Cosmic multiplicities of ONE EXISTENCE inherent in every being in the Universe, whether it be the inert stone or the stable plant or the moving animal or the rational man.
In the well-planned scheme of the whole universe and in the Divine order of things, nothing can remain or happen contrary to the Will Divine. Only for the sake of Play of the Eternal Lord, even the apparent pairs of opposites exist to glorify the One Existence and HIS greatness and the Glory of the Truth Delight. The benefit of the shade is known only when one goes in the scorching Sun. Hence to enjoy the Supreme calmness and peace, as also the infinite Bliss one has to undergo the infinite varieties of sorrows and trails as also pass through carious periods and great disturbances and turmoils in many lives, before he is given the opportunity to enjoy the supreme felicity.