TV Channel

Part 1: Attachment: The Cause of Suffering — Swamiji’s Discourse on Destiny and Devotion Śrī Dīp Nārāyaṇ Bhagavān Kī Jai, Śrī Śrī Deveśvara Mahādeva Kī, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān Kī Jai, Satya Sanātana Rāmāyaṇa. Blessed Self, dear brothers and sisters here in this hall, our dear Amṛtsāgar, thank you for organizing this beautiful program. The ashram is very beautiful. It is full of light, good energy, and good people. Also, to you all, my dear ones around the world, you have early morning, so good morning, and good evening, afternoon, and so on in different places. Blessings are coming to you from a beautiful place called Auckland, the Bay Area of San Francisco — not Auckland in New Zealand. Welcome. The program is designed and given so that we may know our destiny, and yet we will not come to know our destiny. When destiny appears, then we will say, “Oh God, why does this happen to me?” Before raising the question, “Why does it happen to me?” there is no one to be blamed, because destiny is not given by someone. Even the parents cannot give us destiny. They give us birth. They can give us education for our future destiny. But whatever is happening to us, good or bad, is from past deeds — our own deeds, which we have done, knowingly or unknowingly. We know that we are not guilty. We have not made a mistake. We are humans; we have human weakness. But the law of karma says that even if you drink poison without knowing, the poison will affect your body. And this is a bitter truth. Therefore, great saints said: know the purpose of human life, for what this life is given. 8.4 million different creatures were created by one creator. And this is a cycle of birth and death. This individual soul is fluttering on the waves of time through the whole universe, in darkness or in light, experiencing joy, happiness, pain, and mystery. We are fortunate ones that we got a human body. What good luck, what good destiny we have, we don’t know, but we can only say thanks to God or Mother Nature or whatever you believe has given us this human body. The human body is given for two things. First, to serve, which means to help. Help the meek ones, help the needy ones, help those who are suffering, who are in pain, and who have troubles; try to give your hand. Folding hands have little value compared to helping hands. So humans are here as protectors, not destroyers. This is the human dharma: to be helpful. Even if someone has made great mistakes, we humans have the knowledge and abilities to understand, forgive, and support. Like the great Jesus said on the cross, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.” So, it doesn’t matter who is who — animal or human. Whatever they do, negative things are out of their ignorance, and we can only pray for them and try to help, not to become an obstacle or a more destructive power. Do not pour petrol on the fire. Don’t put fuel in the fire — the fire of anger, hate, jealousy, etc. So, that bhajan which our dear Amrit Sāgar would like to sing is written by one great saint. He had great knowledge, and his songs we call bhajans. Bhaja means singing the glory of God, seeing the glory of God. And in a very short form, he said, “Why does it happen to all humans, what should not happen?” The cause is only one: attachment. Moha has two meanings. If you go to the dictionary, moha will be only ignorance or darkness. But here, moha means attachment. Attachment is the cause of suffering, the cause of jealousy, the cause of greed, the cause of hate, the cause of anger, etc. “My, my, my.” And when you touch my property, I will kill you. This is the reality. But Kabīr Dās said, “Māt kar moha tum, Hari bhajan ko mān re.” Do not be caught in attachment. Understand and take it as the highest principle or highest law. Accept the glory of God. This means to repeat, remember, and pray to God. Which God? God is omniscient, omnipresent, and everywhere is God. But we humans are born in different cultures. Where there is a human, there is a culture. Where there is a culture, there is a human. And where the human is moving, they bring their culture with them. So according to the climate, according to the circumstances, people believe in different forms of God, but ultimately God is God. We have the sun shining. In English, we call it the sun. In Hindi we call it Sūrya, and Sūrya has twelve names. And other languages — Chinese, Japanese, or Russians, or Mexicans, or many, many other languages — they have different names for the sun. So I will say it is Sūrya, and you say, no, it’s not Sūrya, it’s the sun. I say, no, I believe in Sūrya. He says, no, we believe in the sun. That fighting is only of the language. And if you will say, “I believe in Sūrya,” then we all Indians will say, “Oh, this is a great person, he also adores Sūrya.” So this is the language. Then they say, “No, I don’t adore Sūrya, I understand the sun.” This is the language problem. So “Hari bhajan ko mān re” — trust, believe, accept the name of God, the glory of God. I like one thing very much in America: on American money, currency notes, it is written, “In God We Trust.” It’s good. They didn’t write, “We trust in dollars.” So if you have even one dollar in your pocket, be sure that you have the name of God in your pocket. Why don’t you see it like this? We are all struggling for the dollars and this and that. One wise Native American said, “When all the trees will be chopped off and the last fish will die, oh man, then you will realize that you can’t eat your dollars.” But you can say, “I can’t eat the dollars,” but still, God is in my pocket here, near to my heart. I trust in God. So “Hari bhajan ko mān re” is that same: we trust in God. And India writes, “Satyameva Jayate,” where truth alone is victory. And that truth which is written in the scriptures, and the core point of the Vedānta philosophy, which is the highest philosophy, is “Brahma Satya, Jagat Mithyā”: the world is mortal, the world is unreality, and Brahman is the truth, God is the truth. Satyameva Jayate. That was the slogan of Mahātmā Gāndhījī. And so, on the Indian emblem — when you have those three tigers — no, lions; three lions — that is written “Satyameva Jayate.” Because Gāndhījī was doing the Satyāgraha revolution, you know — that we will not use any kind of weapons, we will not use any aggressive behavior. Satya, Satya… And some say there is no form, there is only sky. Yes, the sky is good, but I can’t buy one pizza with the sky. If I have a dollar, I will buy it. So that God will feed me. Anyhow, the name of God is His presence. And actually, the great saints have created God. If the great saints had not researched this and said there is a God, we would also be like animals. And these words of the great saints are called the spiritual injections. And this is an injection of the truth, an injection of the divine knowledge. This is called the words. Injection means the words. Guru Vākya. And Guru Vākya means the words of great saints or great philosophers who have realized the truth. Their words are Vākya. Vākya means the words, and that leads us, that guides us. And we all, if we would follow this Vākya — all these books here are Guru Vākya, the words of the great saints. So, Kabīr Dās said, “Māt kar mohā tu, hari bhajan ko mān re.” Do not fall into attachment in the darkness of ignorance. “Māt kar mohā tu, hari bhajan ko mān re” — do believe in the glory of the Supreme, and believe why He gave you the human body. “Nayana diyā darśana karne ko” — darśana, darśana. It is a very spiritual word, but it means to see. But what to see? Someone gives you a flower; this is also darśana. This flower makes me happy. It’s a flower that made the person who gave it to me happy, and others happy as well. And all were sitting peacefully there: “Oh, Swamiji got beautiful flowers.” Our eyes are informing: be happy, be relaxed. But if she comes with a gun, do you think I will be relaxed and happy and looking? Thank you. And others will say, “Oh God, you see.” So darśana, what we see, is summed up by the saying, “jaisī dṛṣṭi, vaisī sṛṣṭi” — how you see the world, the world will be like that. Thus darśana we mostly use for seeing a holy picture, a holy statue, something divine which we walk toward — that we call a darśana. So “nayana diyā darśana karne ko” — don’t see bad from these eyes, which is also said in the Purāṇas and in the Upaniṣads. Gāndhījī used this concept as well, giving the picture of the three monkeys: close your ears, do not listen to bad things; shut off your mouth, don’t talk bad things; and close your eyes, don’t see bad things. These are the external vikṣepa and kleśa — disturbances and afflictions, fear — but we call it blackmailing, that which frightens us when you hear something wrong. And when you create, through your intellect, negative words toward someone, then your whole inner space, the space of your intellect, is darkened and polluted. And that we call manipulation, blackmailing. If you do the blackmailing, then you have destroyed all who will come into your view. So that all who are misguided through your talk, through your words, through your behaviors — then that is a sin. This karma will come to you sooner or later, so that you will suffer it because you put them in the darkness. Yes. Instead of bringing them out, show them the right way. So be like a light which can remove the darkness in no time. If you are wise enough, you have the heart of a human, you have the mercy of the Divine Mother and the light of the great, the Divine Lord, and you can digest, you can dissolve. Otherwise you will suffer, and others will suffer. That is called misguidance. So, that is to see the good. You come on the road, there is one man standing, or there is some woman standing, with something written, asking for someone to give. Now you see — maybe you will see the poor, maybe you will see the beggar, or maybe you will see the lazy one who doesn’t want to work, etc., etc. “Oh, he will go and buy alcohol or this.” Well, you don’t know which circumstances brought this person into this situation. We don’t know. Then who are we to judge that person and give such a commentary? If you want to give, give. If you don’t want to give, don’t give. But at least don’t create in your mind, in your intellect, in your consciousness, negative energy that will attack you. And if you give him or her, the needy person, even half a dollar, a quarter dollar, or one dollar, you know what that… A person will say, “Thank you.” So “thank you” also means a blessing. So you got a blessing. You paid one dollar and you got the blessing of that Ātmā. That’s all from that person. It’s not great, and if one day your money pocket is stolen or lost… You will digest it: “Oh, I lost my money, there was money and this and that.” That you can digest. But you can’t digest it if you can give something to someone, to the needy ones. So, he said, “God gave you these beautiful hands to give, to give good things.” Don’t give guns into their hands; give flowers into their hands, give bread, give purījī, purījī… This situation has gone so far that the person thinks you will take my suitcase and run away. This happens too, unfortunately. So these words that Kabīr Dās said, “Māt kar moha tum” — don’t be attached and greedy for what you have. Don’t be so full of arrogance, the ego. This is not yours. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad Gītā, what you have today, yesterday was someone’s. This space which we have today was someone’s in the past, and today we have it, but tomorrow it will be someone else’s. Part 2: Realizing God’s Omnipresence and Purifying the Inner Instrument Why are you crying for that? Be happy in the presence of whatever you have received and utilize it in a good way. Do not be stubborn, do not refuse to worship God. Believe, trust in God, and repeat the name of God, the glory of God, your mantra, your prayers, and so forth. _Nayan kiyā diyā darśan karne ko_ — the eyes were given to you to see God in everyone. There was a primary school where children ranged from five or six to nine or ten years old. One day a teacher asked a question. There were about seventeen or eighteen students. He said, “Listen, children, I have something good to tell you today. In my pocket I have ten dollars. If someone answers me correctly, I will give you ten dollars.” Immediately the children raised their hands, some even both hands. The teacher called on a six- or seven-year-old who said, “God is in my mother.” Another said, “God is in my doggy, my dog.” Others said, “God is in the flowers,” or “God is in the temple.” Everyone was saying something. One child was sitting in the front, just waiting and watching. The teacher asked, “What about you? Why don’t you answer? What is your opinion? Where is God? Tell us.” The boy stood up and said, “Respected sir, my dear teacher, I love you. Your question is wonderful, and we are all very happy and delighted that you have asked such a question. But you know, my dear teacher, I do not have ten dollars in my pocket, but I will clean your car one day. Can you tell us, please, where there is no God?” The teacher was surprised. He asked, “What do your parents do?” The boy replied, “My parents practice yoga in daily life. They learn in yoga and daily life that God is everywhere. So, where do you know there is no God?” O God, beautiful in the forest, in the desert, in the mountains, in the hills, in the ocean and the rivers, in the lakes and fountains, in the flowers, in the birds and animals, in human beings. O God, beautiful on the earth, in the sky. So, where is God not? If we have that kind of _darśan_, that vision, we are already liberated. We will automatically attain the cosmic light without any separate effort. But we must awaken to see this. _Nayan dīyā darśan karne ko, hāth dīyā kar dān re_ — the hands were given to offer charity. _Dāna_ means donation, helping, charity. _Śravaṇa diyā śuna gyāna re, aura badana diyā hari guṇa gāne ko. Badana_ means the body, this entire human body. God gave us this body to sing the glory of God. This is what Kabīr Dās says: listen, O my brothers, O saints, O spiritual aspirants. If you follow this, within your body, which God gave you, _Kañcana Nipche Khaanare_ — within your body lies a cave where divine minds will awaken, where there is only God and God. People are praising ever more God, God and chance, God and chance — so that is God. And what kind of God? Wisdom, self-realization, knowledge. This song is very beautiful, and people love to listen and sing it. Great, great singers in India sing it so well. And there is another who sings it wonderfully: our dear Amrita Sāgara. We will sing and support her, okay? So now I have explained the meaning to you, and when you sing, it will be something good. _Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān kī, Devīśvara Mahādeva kī, Mādhava Kṛṣṇa Bhagavān kī jaya, Sanātana Dharma kī jaya._ Thank you. Very good. Therefore, whatever is coming, we have to accept it. And furthermore, through prayer, that divine energy will guide us in various directions. There is a lot of dirt and garbage lying in the street, and we know we are not able to clean it all. But suddenly a very strong wind will come and sweep everything away. Heavy rain will come and wash it all clean. In the same way, the very strong wind represents divine thoughts. Our pure thoughts, full of understanding, humbleness, and kindness, and that water of devotion, devotion and purity, will wash away all impurities. Where there is love, there are only pure things. Where there is no love, there is hate, greed, and negativity upon negativity. Thus, the divine thoughts, pure thoughts filled with the wisdom given to us by great saints, along with the water of _bhakti_, devotion, will clean up all our garbage — the dirt accumulated over many, many lives, layered in our subconscious mind. Subconscious, conscious, subconscious, conscious — to emerge from what is destined for us, you should know this. I refer you to _Hidden Powers in Human_, the book you have; you should read it once more. There are three obstacles that prevent us from seeing through to our real self: these are called _mala_, _vikṣepa_, and _āvaraṇa_. _Mala_ means impurity — physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual impurities. Impurity is such that it does not allow you to arrive at pure thoughts and pure feelings. There are impurities in eating, impurities in the air, impurities of the societies in which you live, and so forth. Many, many physical impurities lead us to suffering and not to the clear path, the best way. _Vikṣepa_ means disturbances. When disturbances are present, you cannot meditate, you cannot sleep, you cannot live in peace. These disturbances are of two kinds, and Patañjali spoke of _Akliṣṭa_ and _Akliṣṭa Vṛttis_. _Akliṣṭa_ means troubles, _Akliṣṭa_ means no troubles, _Vṛttis_ means thoughts. So when we have good thoughts, they will not disturb or create disturbance in us or in society. _Akliṣṭa Vṛtti_ is what we think positively, and _Kliṣṭa Vṛtti_ is what creates troubles for ourselves and for others. There are some people who day and night think about how to create trouble, how to make things more complicated, how to twist things — all for money. They create big, attractive advertisements saying, “It is in your favor. You have privileges.” But down below, in very small print, they write something that lasts only two seconds. So there is a great deal of trickery in the world, and that _kleśa-vṛtti_ will not allow us to reach our goal, whether directly or indirectly. Direct disturbances are when we have some illness, physical problems, mental problems, or depressions. Many different situations arise within the human body, and in animals as well. Indirect disturbances are when our friends are ill, our parents are ill, our dog is ill, our cow is ill — something happens, something else happens. An airplane disappears, you know, with almost 300 people. We cannot simply say, “Oh, it was 300 people.” We must stand with those who were mothers, fathers, husbands, or wives to someone. What is their situation? Can we offer our support, understanding, and a helping hand? How? Through prayer, we can do it. We can reach them only through our good wishes and good prayers — that such things should not happen to anyone. What happened is terrible, and God should help us in that. You are speaking of only 300 people, but how many millions of animals are killed every day just to provide meat? Who is praying and thinking of them? Karma is difficult to understand, but in my opinion it is very easy: it is our actions. So we are also disturbed by our neighbours’ problems. They have problems. There was an accident. Oh God, someone is lying there crying in great pain. If I say, “I will not call the police now because I am doing my meditation; after meditation I will do it” — that is not good. Stop your meditation. The best meditation is to immediately call the ambulance, go there, and see what is happening. If you are not a doctor or have no first aid training, then do not move them, do not touch them. But you can do one thing: put a warm blanket over them, or whatever we can do. So these are _kliṣṭa_, the troubles from outside and troubles from inside. They do not allow us to see clearly. First, see the problems, then solve them. It is like people searching for pearls in the ocean, where there are many waves. What they do is create a window frame, about forty centimeters. _Mahāprabhujī, dipa karatā, Mahāprabhujī, dipa karatā, Mahāprabhujī._ We can only pray, and only God can help us, and God can help all. So this is the first point: _mala_, _vikṣepa_, and then comes _āvaraṇa_. _Āvaraṇa_ means the curtain. _Āvaraṇa_ means ignorance. We cannot see through because there is a heavy curtain. If we remove the curtain, we can see through and through. We do not know what is behind this wall; this wall is ignorance. So, how to remove this curtain of ignorance? Through the practice of prayers, meditations, mantras, and constantly asking, “Who am I?” _Ko’ham? Katham idaṁ jātaṁ? Ko vā kartuḥ śāstā?_ Who am I? From where do I come? For what purpose did I come, and what am I doing? Where will I go? This is the question posed by Ādiguru Śaṅkarācārya in his teaching. _Ko’ham, katham idaṁ jātaṁ, ko vā kartā vidyate?_ What am I doing, and where will it lead me? Thus, _mala_, _vikṣepa_, and _āvaraṇa_ are to be purified from the _antaḥkaraṇa_. _Antaḥkaraṇa_ means the inner instrument. The inner motivations, the inner processes that force us to do something. And this _antaḥkaraṇa_ consists of _manas_, _buddhi_, _citta_, and _ahaṁkāra_. _Manas_ is the mind, and the mind is a mighty power within us. We cannot stop the mind. If you try to stop or block your mind and thoughts, you will get schizophrenia, you will get depression. The mind is like a river. We should not block the river, but we can give it a direction. We can build a dam, but we must have an outlet. Similarly, when we meditate, the flow of the mind, which goes left and right, can be directed toward our destination, our aim — what we would like to do. If you are a student, you should direct your mind toward your studies. That is your aim or destination: to pass your examinations and become a doctor, or whatever you wish — a farmer, anything. _Buddhi_ is our intellect. The mind brings thoughts and then moves on. The mind is not responsible; it is only a messenger. It brings messages from outside and delivers them to you, and from inside it sends them out. That is all. So, the mind brings knowledge and information to our intellect. Then we say, “Oh God, this and that,” and become confused. _Citta_ is the space within which we think. _Citta_ also means _chintan_ — thinking constantly about something. When your intellect has received negative feedback, you then remain in _chintan_, thinking and repeating what is wrong. With _manas_, _buddhi_, and _ahaṁkāra_, you become fixed in such ideas that you do not accept anything else. Your ego arises, and you fight for that. So _manas_, _buddhi_, _citta_, _ahaṁkāra_ — these four aspects of the _antaḥkaraṇa_ are covered and polluted by three things: _mala_, _vikṣepa_, and _āvaraṇa_ — impurities, disturbances, and the curtain of ignorance. They are like this: we have to work on them to know our destiny or to save our life, to protect ourselves from destiny. That is all for today. Thank you. I wish you all the best. If you have any questions about this, you may ask. So, the website webcast will be next from Fiji, provided there is proper equipment. Thank you, Nārāyaṇ Purī, for your beautiful work doing the webcast so that our friends around the world can be with us. Everybody, bless you, and those who have a good midnight sleep.