Part 75 (1/2)
”Who according to Thee is a Sadhu? What sort of Bhakti (devotion) may be offered to Thee?”
Sri Krishna replied: -
”Compa.s.sionate, harmless, forgiving, firm in truth, faultless, impartial, doing good to all, undisturbed by desires, self restrained, mild, pure, not asking for anything, indifferent, temperate in eating with controlled mind, steady in the performance of duties, seeking refuge in me, given to meditation, careful, profound, patient, having control over the six-fold waves (hunger, thirst, sorrow and delusion, infirmity and death), not seeking respect from others, but respecting others, able, friendly, tender-hearted, wise, such is a Sadhu. He who knowing my injunctions and prohibitions in the performance of one's own Dharma or duties of life, even gives them all up for my sake is the best of all Sadhus. Those who seek me and nothing else, whether they know or not what I am, are the best of My Bhaktas.
”To see, touch and wors.h.i.+p My symbols and my votaries, to serve and adore them, the humble recital of My glory and of My deeds, Faith in hearing words about Me, constant meditation on Me, the offering up of all gains to Me, even the offering up of self in a spirit of service, the observance of the sacred days, rejoicings in the houses set apart for Me (all good Hindus have a house or room set apart for divine wors.h.i.+p), initiation according to the Vedic and the Tantric System (one who is initiated is to recite the Mantras a certain number of times, every morning and evening and he can not take his meals without doing so in the morning) to observe fasts, enthusiasm in founding My image for wors.h.i.+p, and in founding gardens, buildings and towns (in connection with My wors.h.i.+p) humility and silence about one's own good deeds, - these are the indications of Bhakti.
”Sun, Fire, the Brahmana, the Cow, the Vaishnava, Akasa, Air, Water, Earth, atma, and all beings - these are the eleven places of my wors.h.i.+p.
”I am to be wors.h.i.+pped in the Sun, by Vedic Mantras, in the fire by sacrificial Ghee, in the Brahmana by hospitality, in the cows by the offer of gra.s.s, in the Vaishnava by friendly treatment, in the Akasa of the heart cavity by meditation, in the air by the contemplation of Prana, in the water by offerings of libation and so forth, in the Earth by secret Mantras, in atma by experiencing (Bhoga) and in all beings by equality.
”In all these places of wors.h.i.+p I am to be meditated on as with four hands, bearing conch, disc, club and lotus.
”He who wors.h.i.+ps Me as above and serves the Sadhus acquires Devotion.
Except by devotion that is acquired in the company of Sadhus, there is hardly any other way of liberation. I am not so easily attainable by Yoga, Sankhya, Dharma, the reading of Scriptures, Tapas, gifts, charitable acts, fasts, Yajnas, the Vedas, resort to pilgrimage, Niyamas or Yamas as by the company of Sadhus. Even those that are the lowest by birth, those that have Rajas and Tamas predominant in them, the Daityas, Asuras, and Rakshasas attain me easily by the company of Sadhus. The Gopis in Vraja, the wives of the Vedic Brahmanas did not read the Vedas, they did not observe fasts, they did not perform Tapas, but they attained Me, through the company of Sadhus. Therefore O Uddhava care not for Srutis or Smritis, for biddings and for forbiddings. Have recourse to Me, the atma of all beings, with all devotion, and thou shall have no fear from any quarter.”
(The following stages are to be marked: -
1. Study of Nature and self instruction.
2. Self discrimination, resuting in the separation of the conscious atma and the unconscious Non-atma.
3. The understanding of what is bondage and liberation, and the relation between Jiva atma and Parama atma (ishvara.) 4. The liberating process during which the rules are to be observed, sacrifices to be made, the duties of life to be performed and active good done to all beings. During this process, the whole nature of the man becomes one of universal compa.s.sion and friendliness. Differences vanish. Good and bad become all alike.
The Jiva rests in his own atma, which is the atma of all beings, and then all is calm and quiet.
5. The company of Sadhus.
6. Devotion acquired in that company.
7. When Devotion (Bhakti) becomes a part of one's nature then the giving up of all rules, all karma, whether pertaining to the Srutis or the Smritis.)
WHY GIVE UP ALL KARMA
*SKANDHA XI. CHAP. 12.*
This Jiva-ishvara becomes manifest in the cavities (nerve-plexuses). He enters the cavity (called adhara or prostatic plexus) with the Prana (energy) of sound (called Para). He pa.s.sed through subtle mind-made forms (Pasyanti and Madhyama) in the plexuses called Manipura or Solar and Visuddhi or laryngeal and at last comes out as) very gross (Sound forms, called Vaikhari, consisting of) Matra (Measures, such as long, short &c), Svara (accents known as Udatta or high, Anudatta or low and Svarita or mixed; and Varna the (letters of the alphabet, _ka, kha_ &c.)
(The ruling idea is that the teachings of the Vedas and the Smritis are conveyed in articulate expressions and are adapted to planes corresponding to articulation. But articulation is the last and grossest expression of Divine Sound energy. In man the highest manifestation of sound energy, the primal voice, the divine voice, the first Logos, is Para. It is the Light which manifests the whole Universe. In that highest plane of manifestation there is no difference between Light and Sound. The seat of this Light is Mula-adhara Chakra.
Coming down the line of material manifestation, this Divine Light, this Para Voice, become Pasyanti in the plane of causes, of germ thoughts, of root ideas, the Karana plane. The germs are transmitted in Man from birth to birth and in the Universe from kalpa to kalpa. They are the _causes_ of the subsequent manifestations, whether individual or universal. The Para voice pa.s.sing through the causal plane, becomes the root-ideas or germ thoughts.
In the next plane, the Sukshma plane, the voice becomes the thoughts themselves or Madhyama.
The last expression of the Voice is the articulate expression, Vaikhari.
The Srutis and Smritis as written or spoken belong to the plane of lowest manifestation. They are governed by the root-ideas and ideas of the present universe, the root-ideas and ideas of the Ris.h.i.+s through whom they are manifested.
When you seek the _unmanifested_ light of the Logos, the Divine Voice, or only the first manifestation of that Voice, what care you about the lower manifestations, the Srutis or Smritis, what care you about karma that pertains to the lower planes?)