Embodiments of the Divine Atma!

All objects in the world which you see display some kind of color. We think that these colors are natural to those objects. It is not so. The colors are really a reflection of our own vision. The sky appears blue when we look at it. The ocean appears dark blue in color. We say that the sky is blue, the ocean is blue. This is incorrect. Neither the sky, nor the ocean is blue in color. It is the vastness of space and the depths of the ocean which produce this impression of bluishness. When you take a handful of sea water and look at it you will find that it is colorless. It will not show the color that you fancy.

Likewise, good and evil depend on thoughts and feelings. The true color of any object is not perceivable. Equally, the true form is not apparent.

Electrical energy is generated from a hydro-electric power station. The electric current is not visible to us, though the different uses to which the energy is put are obvious. Likewise, all beings, all living creatures, emerge from the Atmic Principle. But this Principle is not apparent. We can see the beings arising from this Principle and their behavior, good and bad.

A PROMISE FULFILLED

After Sankara propagated his Advaitic doctrine from Kaasi, there was an assembly of great scholars in the holy city. Sankara, who was in that assembly, closed his eyes for a moment and experienced the vision of his mother in great distress. Immediately he dispersed the assembly and left for Kaladi. He reached his mother in her last moments, as promised, administered tulasi water to her lips and discharged his duties to the mother.

At that time, the people of Kaladi did not view with approval the actions of Sankara, because in their view, one who had taken to sanyaasa, should not revert to the activities of a householder and perform rituals. "Sanyaasa" means giving up all desires. The view of the orthodox pundits was that once a person had taken to synapse he should not perform the last rites for a mother or a father, which are the obligations of a householder.

To enable the students to understand the implications of this incident, I shall explain what sanyaasa means. Before one takes to sanyaasa, the "Viraga Homa" is performed which signifies that the person dies, as it were, and gives up all his previous worldly commitments and enters on a new life, assuming a new form and wearing a new robe. The old form is cast away and the former name is also given up. He gets a new name related to the ascetic order. The suffix "Ananda" is tacked on to the name, though few of them experience Ananda! After going through this ceremony, where is the place for mother or father?

SWAMI' S VISIT TO HRISHIKESH

In this context, I should like to recall an incident which happened when I was traveling with Burugula Ramakrishna Rao, the then Governor of Utter Pradesh. He was a good devotee and was proficient in a number of languages. He was a very intelligent person. He resolved to make the trip to Badrinath and Kedarnath "in the company of the Lord Himself (Bhagavan Baba)". On learning that Swami was going to Badrinath nearly 200 devotees joined Bhagavan's group. The Ramakrishna Rao couple were very pure and pious people and every day they would take their food only after the 200 devotees with Swami had taken their food. Such was their devotion! When the devotees sat for the meals, Ramakrishna Rao himself would serve water for all of them. He would not allow his ADC or others to do this service. He used to declare: "I am a servant of Swami, not a Governor".

RAMAKRISHNA RAO'S HUMILITY

Ramakrishna Rao was previously Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad. When Swami went there during that period, thousands of persons were lined up in a queue for darshan of Swami at Malakpet. The volunteers were hustling the devotees in the queue to save time. I should like the students to realize what a tender heart Ramakrishna Rao had. He joined the queue. The Inspector General of Police approached Ramakrishna Rao and appealed to him to come separately and not join in the queue. Ramakrishna Rao told him: "Politically I may be Chief Minister. Spiritually I am a cheap devotee! I am not such a great devotee". Such was the devotional spirit of Ramakrishna Rao !

SWAMI AND SIVANANDA

All of us reached Hrishikesh. Ramakrishna Rao had arranged for the stay of the entire party in a big guest house and nearby cottages. At that time, Sivananda and a group of his devotees came to the guest house and requested Swami to visit Swami Sivananda's ashram the next day, which happened to be Sivananda's seventieth birthday. Swami remarked: "It is not Sivananda's birthday but Kuppuswsmy's birthday. Before he assumed the name Sivananda, as a renunciant, his name was Kuppuswamy. He was a doctor. That Kuppuswamy ceased to exist with the taking of sanyaasa. He then adopted the name Sivananda. That was 26 years ago. Hence, the Swami is only 26 years old as Sivananda. It is the 70th Birthday for Kuppuswamy and only the 26th Birthday for Sivananda". Sivananda said: "Swami! No one has told me this truth so far in this forceful manner".

This body is 70 years old. People recognize the physical, but do not recognize the basis that sustains it. This truth can be understood only by Divine personalities like avataars and not by others. From the moment of birth till the end of this body it will bear one form, and one name.

People who profess Advaita, often remember their pre-sanyasa life and continue to think of it while carrying on their life as renunciants.

CREMATION IN THE BACKYARD

Sankara was confronted with a difficult situation. No one in his village was willing to help him. He had to perform the obsequies for his mother. The local Nambudiri Brahmins declared that they could not touch the body. They felt that Sankara was going against scriptural injunctions.

Utterly helpless, Sankara carried the body himself to the backyard of the house and cremated it. What Sankara did then is practiced even today in Kaladi. When any elders pass away, their bodies are cremated in the backyard of their houses. There is no separate cremation ground for them.

When you go to Kerala you will find houses facing the street but the backyard will be open space. Anyone who goes there will have to take a purificatory bath.

In this manner Sankara fulfilled the promise he gave to his mother.

Sankara then left for Kaasi. He was deeply pained at the attitude displayed towards him by the people of Kaladi. Sankara was walking all the way to Kaasi, with just a stick in his hand and an oil torch to light his way at night.

ADVICE TO THE YOUNG

Looking at young men and women going about on his way, Sankara remarked to his disciples that young people were more keen about sensuous pleasures than to enquire about the Atma. It is a pity that people are attached to the body which is a container of many filthy objects. They are carried away by the external physical attraction of the body. It is a crying shame! What a pity that people should be so attached to this impermanent body! How long can youthhood last? Sankara then and there taught the people about the transitoriness of carnal pleasures.

His message was a warning to youth to be very careful in the life they led. They should give up attachment to the body. [In this context Swami related at length the story of a prince who wanted to marry a merchant's daughter for her beauty. The girl, who was devoted to God and wished to remain single, devised a plan to rid the prince of his infatuation. She sent word that she would agree to marry the prince if he approved of her after a week. Meanwhile, she took a series of purgatives, collected all the purging in vessels and went to meet the prince. By that time she was so emaciated that all her youthful charm had gone. She told the prince that the beauty he saw in her was all contained in the vessels. The prince learnt the lesson and decided also to remain single and devote himself to serve God].

PRECEPT AND PRACTICE

Sankara sought in this manner to turn the minds of the people away from sensual pleasures to thoughts of God. Sankara did not call upon all young men to take to sanyaasa. He exhorted them to do their duty and dedicate the body to the service of the Divine. He preached the truth, practiced it and broadcast it to the world.

Young people today have become slaves of the senses and are behaving like the lower animals.

Sankara pointed out how worldly life is like the scenes on a screen. They come and go but the screen remains. He declared: "Brahma Sathyam. Jagath mithhya". (The Self is real. The world is illusory). Sankara also declared: "Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagath." ("The Universe is permeated by God.") When scholars pointed out the contradiction between the two statements, Sankara said: Worldly life is illusory because it is continually "coming and going". At the same time, this worldly life is lived like the moving scenes on a permanent screen. In this process the world and the Divine become one, as it were, like the oneness of the screen and the pictures on it. This is the basis for the statement: "Sarvam Vishnumayam Jagath." Hence, the Upanishadic declaration that the whole cosmos is dwelt in by God.

ADVAITA AND WORLDLY DUTIES

This was the non-dualism preached by Sankara. Consider the Divine as the fundamental basis and lead your worldly life recognizing it's impermanence. Without the Divine the cosmos has no existence. Hence man must recognize the one Divine Atmic Principle that is present in all beings. It may be called by different names. The Eternal Divine is birthless and nameless.

[Swami described Sankara's successful debates with Mandana Misra and his wife, Ubhayabharathi; both of whom took to sanyasa thereafter. Sankara then went to Kashmir.]

ATONEMENT IN KASHMIR

The ruler of Kashmir was a great patron of scholars. Sankara wanted to defeat them in debates. The moment Sankara entered Kashmir the gates of the temple of Kanakadurga closed. All the efforts to open them proved fruitless. All the pandits went to the temple and prayed to the Goddess. In answer to their prayers the Goddess spoke in an ethereal voice: "Sankara is a great preceptor (Acharya). But he suffers from one taint. Only when the taint is removed will these doors open." Sankara then sang hymns in praise of Siva. Sankara realized that he had committed a mistake in entering the dead body of the king of Kaasi to acquire the experience of a householder for carrying on the debate with Ubhayabharathi, the wife of Mandana Misra. To atone for this lapse he decided on an eleven days' fast, without food or water, to perform thapas. On the twelfth day, the doors of the temple opened of their own accord. This showed the power of Sankara's determination and penance.

Krishnamurthi and Sandipan Chatterjee (who had spoken earlier) referred to "Prema" and called upon the students to cultivate love. What is the kind of love they should develop? Sankara has given the answer. The love should arise from the Atma. True prayer should stem from the soul and not the body. That love is God. Live in love.

DEVELOP DETACHMENT'

Sankara continuously preached the doctrine of detachment to young people because he realized that attachments developed over many lives cannot be shed by listening to one or two speeches [Swami related in this context the story of a businessman who feared that his son might develop aversion to the world if he listened to the discourse of a pandit who was expounding the greatness of renunciation. The pandit assured the merchant that one day's talk was not going to reform his son, when a series of talks had had no effect on the father]. When there was need for constant purity in daily life, the efforts at spiritual cleansing should be continuous. This was the way Sankara was preaching to the young the philosophy of renunciation and detachment. Students should hold fast to God as the only true friend and supporter. When you have firm faith, the Divine will manifest Himself to you. This is the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth.

Today several pandits expound Advaita, but few practice it. Advaita should be lived not merely repeated in words! Realize the truth: "Sathyam, Jnanam, Anantham Brahma!"

[Bhagavan concluded His discourse with the bhajan: "Sathyam, Jnanam, Anantham Brahma!"]