Chapter 1	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Recently a knotty problem was placed before me. The problem or the question may be knotty but the reply is very simple. The question was whether ladies are entitled to get salvation or emancipation.

Recently I told you that in Tantra it has been said Dehabhrt mukto bhavati nátra saḿshayah. The minimum qualification for acquiring self-knowledge is that a person should have a human body. This is the minimum qualification. It has not been mentioned here whether that spiritual aspirant should be a male or a female. From this it is clear that both are equally entitled to get salvation.

It is a fact that in almost all the scriptures and their notes and commentaries, it has been said in unambiguous language that women are not entitled to get salvation. But the decision, or the ideology, or the judgement of Ananda Marga is quite different. In our opinion, and also in my opinion, both are equally entitled to get salvation or emancipation. I support no distinction between males and females. Our common sense says that among all the kośas of human existence, that is, annamaya kośa, kámamaya kośa,⁽¹⁾ and all the kośas, the difference between male and female lies in the lower two kośas: annamaya kośa and kámamaya kośa; the kośas which are closely associated with the body. In all other remaining kośas the sex-difference does not arise. And all the subtler tastes, all other subtler experiments and experiences of human existence are in the higher kośas and not in the two lower kośas which are closely associated with the physical body.

The paternal feeling remains unchanged whether the child is a male child or a female child. Similarly, for Parama Puruśa, all males are His sons and all females are His daughters. Then why should He encourage any differentiation? When salvation, or the doors of salvation, are open to males, the doors of salvation and emancipation are also open to His daughters. Why not? Logic demands this.

Those vested interests, or those who had vested interests in the realm of religion, not spirituality, used to say that salvation is only for males. They perpetrated their exploitation over females for an indefinite period. This was the psychology. They were guided by this psychology. That is why they used to say that salvation and emancipation are for males only.

Now, the entire universe is His creation. Rather, it will be more correct to say that the entire universe is the metamorphosed form of Parama Puruśa. I remember that I told you once that we have no faith in “avatár-ism”. At the same time we say that each and every particle of creation is His avatára [divine incarnation]. You are all His avatáras, not only males but females also.

Tvaḿ strii tvaḿ pumánasi
Tvaḿ kumára uta vá kumárii
Tvaḿ jiirńadań d́ena vancayasi
Tvaḿ játo bhavasi vishvatomukhah

“You are in the form of women. You are in the form of men. You are in the form of girls. You are in the form of boys. You move along the road in the guise of an old man with a stick in Your hands, and as soon as You create Yourself, You become all seeing, omniscient, omnipotent.” You are all His avatáras because you are “descents”⁽²⁾ of the Supreme Entity, the “coming down” of the Supreme Entity. You are all avatáras. He has transformed, He has metamorphosed, Himself into all the forms, so many forms, innumerable forms, and not only males, females also.

Each and every entity, all the entities, big or small, are entitled to enjoy that supreme stance of salvation. Those who are not in human forms cannot do sádhaná, but they can, by His Grace, by His Bliss, attain salvation. Even an insect can attain salvation if so desired by Him. It is a fact that an insect cannot do sádhaná because its body is not that of a human being, but it also can attain salvation if so desired by Him. And those scripture-holders who say that women cannot attain salvation have got no right to do so. It is nothing but audacity on their part to say such things.

Footnotes

(1) Kośas are layers of mind. Annamaya kośa is the outermost layer – the body. Kámamaya kośa is the next layer – the waking or conscious mind. –Trans.

(2) Avatára literally means “descent”. –Trans.

Chapter 2	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

What is yoga? You know that in Sanskrit almost all the vocabulary, all the words of its vocabulary, have two types of meanings, two types of significances. One is the root meaning: in Sanskrit this is called the bhávárúd́hártha. The other is the use of the word in common parlance – what the common people say, how the common people use the word: this is called the word’s yogárúd́hártha.

For example, the word paiṋcánana. The bhávárúd́hártha, that is, the root meaning, of paiṋcánana is “having five faces”. The yogárúd́hartha is “Shiva”. There are so many Messrs. Panchanan in the state; but actually the meaning is “something having five faces”.

The word yoga has also four interpretations.

Where the root verb is yuj, and the suffix ghaiṋ is added, it becomes yoga; here yoga means “addition”. “Two plus two is equal to four” is yoga, is addition.

One thing you should know is the pronunciation of the letters in the Sanskrit alphabetical order. There are four letters known as antahstha varńa [convertible letters] – ya, ra, la, va. These four letters are not independent sounds or independent letters. They are known as antahstha varńa, that is, when they appear as the first letter of any word, they will have a special sound; and when they are not the first letter, that is, when they are in the middle or at the end of any word, they will not have this special sound.

For example, the letter ya, that is, i plus a, is a vowel. Ya is a vowel. It is ya, but it will have a special sound when it is the first letter of any word. That is, when it is the first letter of any word, its pronunciation will be ya [as in the English “jump”]. So yoga is pronounced [“joga”], not [“yoga”]. But when ya is in the middle or the last portion of a word, its pronunciation will be [“ya”] not [“ja”]. For instance, it is [“viyoga”] not [“vijoga”], [“samaya”] not [“samaja”].

When the letter ra is the first letter [of a word], its pronunciation is like [“ra”]. Otherwise it is [“r” (as in “serve”)].

When la is the first letter its pronunciation will be ordinary la, just like latá, but when it is in the middle or the end of a word then its pronunciation will be lr + a = lra. When la is not the first letter, that is, when la is the middle or is the last letter, it is pronounced lra. For example, phala is pronounced phalra, not phala. Village people say phara, this is the [comparatively] correct pronunciation. Phala is not the correct pronunciation.

Now, va. When va is the first letter its pronunciation will be like the English “v”, and when it is not the first letter, its pronunciation will be like “w”.

So it is [“joga”], not [“yoga”], because ya is the first letter.

When the root verb is yuj, the meaning is “addition” (“two plus two is equal to four”). But in the case of addition the individual identity is maintained.

However, in the second case, the root verb of yoga – pronounced [“joga”] – is yuiṋj. Yuiṋj + ghaiṋ = yoga, that is, after adding the suffix it becomes yoga. In this case yoga means “unification”. Átman becomes one with Paramátman.⁽¹⁾

In the case of unification, the unifying parties do not maintain their separate identities. Take, for instance, a mixture of sugar and water; when sugar mixes with water it forms a solution. In this case the sugar and the water fail to maintain their separate identities. This can be termed as “unification”. So in philosophy, or in Tantra, yoga is not the word derived from the yuj root but comes from the root word yuiṋj. That is, this yoga means “unification”. Átman unifies with Paramátman without maintaining its separate identity.

The third meaning of yoga is based on the Yoga Sútram of Maharshi Patanjali. There yoga means Yogashcittavrttirnirodhah [“Yoga is the suspension of all psychic propensities”].

There are a great number of psychic propensities in the human mind, as compared to the animal mind. The human mind, broadly speaking, has fifty propensities. These fifty propensities work internally as well as externally and get expressed through the ten sensory and motor organs. Therefore, the total amounts to one thousand propensities. That is, these fifty basic propensities have one thousand expressions or mental occupations. These are called cittavrtti in Sanskrit. The controlling seat of these one thousand expressions is known as the sahasrára cakra in Sanskrit. It is also known as the “thousand-petalled lotus”. The English name for the sahasrára cakra is the pineal gland or pineal body.

Now, let us understand the meaning of cittavrttirnirodhah. When these propensities moving in one thousand directions are withdrawn, when these expressions are suspended, this is known as cittavrttinirodhah. Now if these mental occupations are suspended, all the activities of the human structure will come to an end. According to Patanjali, this is the final stage of yoga. The word nirodhah means “suspension”. It is derived as follows: ni – rudh + ghaiṋ.

But this interpretation of yoga by Maharshi Patanjali is not accepted by Tantra. Tantra says: Saḿyoga yoga ityukto jiivátmá Paramátmanah. “The unification of the jiivátmá with Paramátmá is yoga,” as per Tantra. Saḿyoga means “unification”, and yoga ityukto means “known as yoga”. So here Tantra has moved a step further. According to Patanjali, yoga is the suspension of mental propensities. However, you know that when mental propensities are withdrawn from externalities and suspended, then, for want of a desideratum, they create disturbances in the internal layers of the mind. Although those propensive expressions will not be functioning externally, they will be active internally. One may not steal externally but may steal internally. Tantra refuses to accept this concept.

According to Tantra, the unification of the jiivátmá with Paramátmá means yoga. After withdrawing the mental propensities, they are to be guided towards the Supreme Entity. Then alone will the withdrawal be final. Only by guiding these withdrawn mental propensities towards the Supreme Cognition can the total unification of the jiivátmá with Paramátmá be possible, and this is yoga.

Footnotes

(1) Átman, or jiivátman, means “unit consciousness”. Paramátman is the collective name of all unit consciousnesses. –Eds.

Chapter 3	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Several times in the past I narrated a story from the Hara- Párvatii saḿváda [dialogues of Shiva and Párvatii]. The story goes that once Párvatii asked Shiva, “What are the secrets of success?” In His reply, Lord Shiva said that there are seven secrets of success:

Phaliśyatiiti vishvásah siddherprathama lakśańam;
Dvitiiyaḿ shraddhayá yuktaḿ trtiiyaḿ gurupújanam;
Caturtho samatábhávo paiṋcamendriyanigrahah;
Śaśt́haiṋca pramitáháro saptamaḿnaeva vidyate.

–Shiva Saḿhitá

The first factor or secret of success is Phaliśyatiiti vishvásah siddherprathama lakśańam – “I must be successful in my mission.” This firm determination is the first secret of success. A spiritual aspirant must have this firm determination: “I must be successful in my mission.” This firm determination is the result of extreme love for the Supreme Entity. When this love for the Supreme remains unassailed, uncontaminated, it creates this firm determination: “I must be successful in my mission.” This is the first secret of success.

Dvitiiyaḿ shraddhayá yuktam. The second requisite factor of success is shraddhayá yuktam. One must have shraddhá for one’s desideratum. What is shraddhá? Shraddhá is a Sanskrit word having no corresponding word in any other developed language of the world. That is why I will have to explain this word. Shraddhá comes from shrat, meaning satyam, and dhá from the root verb dha. When one ascribes everything to one’s goal, or one’s object, or to the Supreme Subjectivity appearing as one’s object, and moves, or rather directs one’s everything towards Him, then that movement is shraddhá. First ascribing that supreme veracity to the object (actually it is the Supreme Subjectivity taken as an object) and then directing one’s everything towards Him, is that mental movement which is called shraddhá.

“Respect” or “reverence” does not carry the sense of shraddhá. This shraddhá can also be created or can also be developed when there is sincere love, extreme love, for Him. So the second factor also depends upon the love for the Lord.

Trtiiyaḿ gurupújanam. What is a guru? In old Sanskrit gu means “darkness” and ru means dispeller, “dispelling agency”. Therefore the entity, the guiding faculty, that dispels all darkness, all spiritual darkness, is the guru, and gurupújanam is doing as per the desire of the guru. This third factor is created only when one gets the guru as the embodiment of spiritual guidance, as the embodiment of Brahma in His role as spiritual guide.

Caturtho samatábhávo. Since all are the creations of the same Lord, and the progeny of the Supreme Progenitor, all have the relationship of brothers and sisters amongst themselves. Nobody is higher and nobody is lower. There must not be any superiority complex nor any inferiority complex; that is, there must be samatábhávo – complete mental balance. When this balance is established, when this mental equipoise is established, then we say it is samatábhávo.

Paiṋcamendriyanigrahah. You know that the human motor organs and sensory organs are the link between the external physicalities and the internal arena of human existence. Now, if these organs, motor and sensory, are properly restrained or properly controlled, the mind can function properly, moving towards the Supreme Cognitive Faculty. That is why the fifth requisite factor is that the spiritual aspirant should restrain his or her sensory and motor organs.

Śaśt́haiṋca pramitáháro. What is áhára? A – hr + ghaiṋ = áhára. That which a man collects from the external world is áhára. This is physical áhára. Mental áhára can be obtained both from the external objectivities and from the internal psychic world. You may eat a physical rasagollá [Indian juicy sweet] and get pleasure, or you may create a rasagollá in your mind and “eat” it and get pleasure.

Here the word pramitáhára has been used, not parimitáhára. Parimita means “controlled”, not taking too much, not taking too little. But in this shloka, pramitáhára has been used, which means that the food should be controlled or balanced, and at the same time substantial or nutritious. There are many people who are otherwise good but have no control over the food they eat. It is very important that whatever one gets should not be taken indiscriminately; rather, there should be control over food, and at the same time it should be nutritious.

After narrating these six factors, Lord Shiva said, “O Párvatii, there is no seventh factor.” That is, if you practise these six factors, you require no seventh factor.

Chapter 4	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Yesterday I spoke regarding the seven secrets of success as were told to Párvatii by Shiva. One of the secrets was “Gurupújanam.” I said that “pújanam” means the endeavour to acquire the attributional stance of Guru. And, regarding the import of the term, Guru, I said that “gu” means “darkness”, the spiritual darkness, the micropsychic darkness, and “ru” means “dispelling personality”. So Guru means “the personality who dispels darkness from the minds of spiritual aspirants”.

What is the meaning of the incantation that is used in Guru Púja? In that incantation the first line is “Akhańd́a mańd́alákáraḿ vyáptaḿ yena carácaraḿ.” I told you in Ánanda Sútram, “Brahmaeva Gurureka náparah”. The secrets of Brahma, His macropsychic and cognitive secrets, are known only to Him, and unless and until He expresses Himself through some physical form, how can His secrets be known to others? And that is why it is said, “Brahmaeva Gurureka náparah”. That is, Brahma Himself is the Guru. There cannot be any second Guru. His secret is known to Him only, and He expresses Himself through a framework, a form. Now generally people say that the form is Guru, but the form is not Guru, Guru is expressing Himself through that form.

As I have already told you, the expressed universe, this quinquelemental expression of this universe, is very big, but it is not infinite. While creating this universe of ours static Prakrti, the static attribution of Prakrti, had to be used and will be used. Because of the static attributions it cannot be infinite. Certainly there will be bondage because bringing something under bondage is the wont of static Prakrti. Further, because of its shape being to some extent elliptical, it is called “Brahmáńd́a” in Saḿskrta. “Ańd́a” means “oval-shaped”. “Brahma” + “Ańd́a” = “Brahmańd́a”, that is, “the elliptical expression of the Cosmic Entity”. It is the partless expression of Parama Puruśa, which is “Mańd́alákáram”. Parama Puruśa has this type of quinquelemental expression, the universe, and is all-pervasive in nature. Parama Puruśa is all-pervading. For this the English is “pervasive”, the Saḿskrta root verb is “vis” and that is why this all-pervading Entity is also known as “Viśńu”. “Viśńu” means all-pervasive.

“Tadpadaḿ darshitaḿ yena tasmae Shrii Gurave namah.” You also know that this all-pervasive Entity, this Viśńu, remains untouched by the microcosm. Microcosms cannot come into contact with this Entity without the help of Guru, who is the link between jiiva and Shiva. This link is also a part of Shiva, that is to say, Shiva is Guru. “Tadpadaḿ darshitaḿ” – this link, actually or noumenally, is Parama Puruśa, is Táraka Brahma. It is He who is to be followed. “Tasmae Shrii Gurave namah” means, “I surrender myself at your altar”.

“Ajiṋánatimirándhasya jiṋánáiṋjana shalákayá.” You know that an eye ointment is applied with a stick (“Shaláká” means stick). Now, all the microcosms are parts of that Noumenal Entity, all are actually parts and particles of that Supreme Entity, but due to ignorance, due to the darkness of ignorance, they cannot see what is what and which is which. That is why they require the ointment of spiritual knowledge. Guru (with a stick) applies the ointment of spiritual knowledge to their eyes.

Cakśurunmilitaḿ yena tasmae Shrii Gurave namah.

After the ointment of spiritual knowledge has been applied the eyes are opened. Then, “tasmae Shrii Gurave namah”: I surrender myself at your altar. Namah means to “surrender”. Namah refers to the process called “Namo mudrá”. It means that all my expressions, all my dexterities, which are expressed through my ten fingers, have been brought to a point. That is, I surrender along with all my capabilities, all my dexterities.

Gurur Brahmá, Gurur Viśńu, Gurur Devo Maheshvara.

“Gurur Brahmá”. What is Brahmá? There are three main functional expressions of Parama Puruśa. He is the Supreme Progenitor, all are His progeny; as the Creator He creates everything; as the Guardian He retains and nourishes everything. Every thing is in the environment of His creation. When He withdraws everything within the Nucleus of His existence then everything becomes one with Him. As Generator, as Operator, as Destroyer, He is GOD. The word “God” is made by taking the first letters of three terms.

Now, you know that whenever anything is done, a vibration is created. Whenever any vibrational action is done there must be sound, there must be light, and there must be other differential expressions. During the phase of creation, when He creates, the sound “a” is created. When He retains and nourishes the sound “u” is created. When He takes back everything the sound “ma” is created. So, “Aum” represents all the expressions of the Supreme Entity.

Therefore it is said in the Tripáda Vibhuti Náráyańa Shruti, “Prańavátmakaḿ Brahmá”. Aum is called “Prańava”. Now, when He creates, the sound “a” is created, so “Brahma” + “a” is “Brahmá” – “Gurur Brahmá”, the creative faculty of Brahma.

“Gurur Viśńu”. Already I told you that Viśńu means the “all-pervading”. He pervades with the help of Viśńu Máyá (Special Operative Principle).

“Gurur Devo Maheshvara.” What is deva? “Dyotate kridate yasmád udyate dyotate divi. Tasmád deva iti prokta iti sarva devatah.” All those vibrations, all those expressions, all the actional manifestations which vibrate the entire creation, leading it in the direction of the goal from electronic imperfection to nuclear perfection, are called “deva”. All the actional manifestations of the Supreme Entity are “deva” – there are many devas. But amongst them the Supreme Deva is the Supreme Entity and the minor expressions of those actional manifestations are called “devatás”. That is, the devatás are being controlled and supervised by the devas.

Among the Devas, the greatest is Mahádeva, the deva that controls all actional manifestations. Mahádeva controls all actional manifestations within and without the microcosm and Macrocosm. You may say that everything is within Macrocosm. But “without Macrocosm” means that portion of Macrocosm, that portion of the Supreme Entity, that remains unmetamorphosed, that has not undergone metamorphosis. He is called Maheshvara or Mahádeva.

Maheshvara is He who has the power, the right and stamina to control the expressions of devatás and devas; that is, the withdrawing power is His. Whenever He withdraws anything from this world, we cry aloud, saying and thinking that that particular entity has died. But He has simply withdrawn the actional manifestations of so many devas and devatás. That’s why He is Maheshvara. And regarding Him it has been said:

Tava tattvaḿ na jánámi kiidrsho’si Maheshvara,
Yádrsho’si Mahádeva Tádrsháya namo namah.

“O Maheshvara, we do not know what You are like or how you withdraw all the actional manifestations of so many devas and devatás. You have the existential faculty, the faculty of existing. And for that existential faculty we offer our namaskara. Your existential faculty is of some type – what type we do not know – but to that type we offer our namaskara.”

“Gurureva Parama Brahma.” The expressed side of Brahma is called “apara”, and the witnessing side is called“para”. When “para” becomes the witnessed side, the witnessing side becomes “parápara” – para for the para. Now, the Supreme Para, the Para of all paras, is “Parama”. That Guru, that expression of Parama Brahma that dispels all your spiritual darkness is Parama Brahma. That is, Parama Brahma exhibits Himself in the form of Guru just to dispel your clouds of ignorance and spiritual slumber. “Tasmae Shrii Gurave namah” – “to that Guru I offer my Prańáma.”

Chapter 5	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Yesterday I gave the interpretation of Guru Pújá. Last night one boy asked me to give the interpretation of the Prańáma Mantra. Then and there his request was complied with. For the information of all, I am repeating the interpretation.

The Prańáma Mantra is “Tava dravyaḿ Jagatguro tubhyameva samarpaye.”

“Tava” means “Your”. “Dravyaḿ” means “that which takes a definite form”. The spiritual aspirant says, “Tava dravyaḿ Jagatguro Tubhyameva samarpaye” – “Your article is being offered to You, is being offered at Your altar.” Why “Tava dravyaḿ”? Suppose a spiritual aspirant has a red flower and is offering it. Why should he say, “Tava dravyaḿ”? The dravyaḿ is being offered by the aspirant, so why “Tava”, “Your”? It is His because in this universe of ours human beings cannot create the original stuff. They have not got the dexterity to create something original. They can create physical mixtures and chemical compounds, but not the original stuff.

Why can’t humans create the original stuff? Because whenever one wants to create something, one creates it with one’s ectoplasmic stuff. Now, human ectoplasmic stuff remains, or functions, or flows, within the Macrocosm, never without. So anything that a human creates lies within his own microcosmic arena and never outside that microcosmic arena. When you create a horse in your mind with your ectoplasmic stuff, that horse remains in your mind. Nobody else will see it, only you will see it. But in the case of the Cosmic Lord, everything is within Him, nothing without. He is the ruler of the Macrocosmic world. When He creates anything, it remains within His vast Macrocosm, and that Macrocosm can remain, can function, both within the jurisdiction of the microcosm and without the jurisdiction of the microcosm. So whatever you take from outside is of His creation.

Now, you may say, “That mental horse is my own creation, because I created it in my mind.” But your microcosm is His creation. So whatever you create with the help of your ectoplasmic stuff of your microcosm, is also created by Him. Your microcosm did not come from nothing – it is also a part and particle of that vast Macrocosmic ocean. It is a minute island in a vast ocean of Macrocosm. Therefore, whatever you think is also a part of Him. So whatever you are to offer or whatever you do offer, physically or mentally, is not yours; you are not the creator.

And actually you are not the owner either. You say, “This house is mine,” but a day will come when the house will remain as it is, and you will not be here to say, “This house is mine.” So here it has been said, “Tava dravyaḿ” – the actual ownership of everything lies with Him.

“Tava dravyaḿ Jagatguro”. What is Jagatguru? The root verb “gam” + suffix “kvip” = “jagat”. The suffix “kvip” is added in Saḿskrta to denote the wont of an object. Here the root verb “gam” means “to go”, and “kvip” denotes “wont”, so “gam” + “kvip”, equalling “jagat”, means an article whose wont, that is whose characteristics, whose properties, are to move. Moving is the characteristic. Moving is the wont. Here in this expressed universe, everything moves. So everything that moves is called “jagat” in Saḿskrta.

And everything that moves is a creation of His ectoplasmic stuff, and these created beings, these moving phenomena, this panorama, are being helped by Him. He helps each and every entity of His creation in attaining salvation. So He is the Guru of each and every expressed particle of the world. “Ábrahmastamba” – from the big Brahmá, the Creator, to a stamba, a blade of grass, everything is being helped by Him, and He is the Guru of everything. That’s why He is “Jagatguru”.

“O Jagatguru, I offer you – what? Your object. I am trying to satisfy You with Your object. I am trying to satisfy You by offering You something that has been created by You, because I cannot create anything. I want to give You pleasure by offering something that was created by You.”

Jiṋániis say that when everything is of His creation, one cannot offer anything to Him, because everything belongs to Him. So what is one to offer? How can one say, “I give it to You”? But bhaktas, devotees, are more intelligent than jiṋániis. The devotees say, “Yes jiṋánii, it may be a fact that everything is of His creation and everything belongs to Him, but although everything belongs to Him, my ego is very strong in my mind. I always think that this microcosm is mine – ‘I am’.”

And this ego sometimes says, “Oh, I don’t know who God is.” The position is like this: In your mind you have created a man. And suppose your name is Mr. X. In your mind you have created that little man, and your mental man says, “I do not recognize Mr. X.” And yet you are Mr. X and that little man has been created by you in your mind. This is the audacity of the human ego.

Now, the devotees say, “Yes, jiṋánii, everything belongs to Him, but you know, my ego says that my mind belongs to me.” In the practical field this is the case. “I come from Switzerland. I have to get a passport, I have to get a visa. I have to extend the date” – so many thoughts. But all these thoughts are connected with the individual ego, the individual mind. And you never think that this mind also belongs to Him. You think, “It is my mind.” Everybody thinks like this. This is all talk of the ego. So the devotee says, “All my ego, all my egoistic expressions, are concentrated in my ‘I’ feeling in my mind. So it actually belongs to Him, but it is full of ‘I’.”

Ratnákarastava grhaḿ grhińii ca Padmá
Deyaḿ kimasti bhavate Purośottamáya,
Ábhiravámanayanápahrtamánasáya
Dattaḿ manah yadupate tvamidaḿ grháńa.

“O Lord, Thou art the creator of this universe. This universe is full of gems and jewels. So do You require anything from a poor man like me? Nothing. All the gems and jewels, everything, all the wealth of the world, belongs to You. And Your grhińii, Your spouse, is Mahámáyá. She is Your spouse, and according to Your order and desire She will supply You with anything. In Nagpur You may say, ‘Oh, Mahámáyá, I want a mango,’ and then and there it will be furnished. Mahámáyá is Your spouse, so there cannot be any want, there cannot be any shortage in Your store. So what shall I offer to Thee? I have heard that Your big devotees, by their strong devotion and love for You, have snatched away Your Mind, have taken away Your Mind. I am not a big devotee. The big devotees have taken away Your Mind. You have lost Your Mind. So there is a shortage of one thing, a shortage of mind. But Lord, You needn’t be disappointed. I have a mind with me – take that mind. I offer it to Thee.”

“Tava dravyaḿ Jagatguro Tubhyameva samarpaye.” “Everything of mine, along with my mind, is offered at Your altar. Please oblige and accept it.”

Chapter 6	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Sarvájiive sarvasaḿsthe Brhante
Tasmin haḿso Bhrámyate Brahmacakre
Prthagátmánaḿ preritáraiṋca matvá
Juśt́astatastenámrtatvameti.

As you know, all are the progeny of the same Supreme Progenitor. He created this universe and He created this material world, as well as His living children. Now, when he created the material world, the inanimate world, the plants and the human beings, common sense says that the entire world belongs to His children irrespective of caste, creed, religion, nationality, standard of education, standard of wisdom, or standard of physical, mental or spiritual strength. It is the vested interests, with their mean and base motives, that create disparity among living creatures, especially among human beings. So those who exploit others and want to enjoy this created world by depriving others of their legitimate and paternal rights, are the enemies of society. They are the enemies of humanity, and they are the enemies of the cultured and civilized world.

“Sarvájiive sarvasaḿsthe brhante.” His created beings, His loving sons and daughters, His children, are moving round Him. They cannot get themselves detached from Him because He is the Supreme Nucleus and others are just like electrons moving round the nucleus. So Puruśottama, Parama Puruśa, the Supreme Father, the Supreme Progenitor, is in the centre, and the others are moving and dancing round Him. They move along with their different psychic and physical pabula.

Physical needs are not the same for all. So, I have said that they are all moving with their respective pabula. Similarly, psychic longings, psychic desires, psychic propensities are not the same for all. Here it has been said, “ajiiva”, which means “occupations”, both physical and mental, that is, pabulum. It is a fact that each and every individual has got his respective physical pabulum and also psychic pabulum. But this does not mean that one’s physical pabulum or psychic pabulum should be snatched away by others. That is, one must not be deprived of one’s physical or psychic pabulum. Those who do such a thing, or try to do so, I have said, are the enemies of human civilization. They are the cursed children of the Supreme Progenitor.

“Sarvájiive sarvasaḿsthe.” According to mental propensities, mental longings and desires, mental thirst and hunger, the jiivas get different frameworks, different physical structures, in order to quench their thirst, to satisfy their hunger. So, some are in animal form, some are in insect form, some are in plant form, and some are in human form. And even in human form they are different from one another in accordance with the difference in their reactive momenta. Now, according to the difference in their reactive momenta, there is a difference in distance from the Nucleus. Someone is a few inches away, someone a few feet, someone a few miles away – but all are moving around the Nucleus around Him. Somewhere the radius is small, somewhere the radius is big. Someone is moving around Parama Pitá in one way, someone else in another way, and someone else in still another way. But they are all moving, and each being has its own radius according to its reactive momenta. Move they must. They will have to move round Him, just like electrons moving round the nucleus. “Sarvájiive sarvasaḿsthe.” So they are moving with their own physical and psychic pabula, in their respective structures, in their respective forms.

Now, when one’s goal goes from crude to cruder, the distance, i.e., the length of the radius, increases. The person has drifted away from the centre because of his base thoughts, base longings and base actions. And when the thoughts and actions go from subtle to subtler, the length of the radius decreases, and a day comes, a sweet moment comes, when the person becomes one with the Nucleus. That is what is called mokśa.

“Tasmin haḿso Bhrámyate Brahmacakre.” “Haḿso” means “jiiva”, that is, “living”, “Haḿso” is the acoustic root of the jiiva. Each and every object has its own acoustic root. “A” is the acoustic root of creation. “Ae” is the acoustic root of knowledge. “Ka” is the acoustic root of the expressed world. “Kha” is the acoustic root of the sky. “Ra” is the acoustic root of energy. Similarly, “haḿso” is the acoustic root of the jiiva.

“Tasmin haḿso Bhrámyate Brahmacakre.” This haḿso, this jiiva, is moving in its Cosmic system, on its Cosmic route. The small system is the atomic system, and bigger than the atomic system is this ethereal system of ours. In the atomic system there is a small nucleus, and electrons are moving round it. And in our ethereal system, the earth is the nucleus and the moon is moving round it. And similarly, in our Brahma Cakra, Puruśottama is the Nucleus, and each and every entity, animate or inanimate, is moving around Him. And they will be moving round Him. “Prthagátmánaḿ preritáraiṋca matvá” – All entities will continue to move around Him as long as they feel that they and their Nucleus, the progeny and the Progenitor, are different and far away from each other. And when they feel, “I am part of the Supreme Father and I should be one with Him,” they become one with Him in this big ocean of divine nectar.

And what happens then? “Juśt́astatastenámrtatvameti.” Created beings attain immortality. You know that attaining immortality is not within the reach, not within the capacity, of human stamina. For this the grace of Parama Puruśa is an essential prerequisite. And this grace of Parama Puruśa is always showering on all without exception. Therefore, attaining immortality is the birthright of every human being. Those who want to deprive human beings of their birthright are the enemies of mankind. They are demons in human form. Expose such demons, such cursed persons of the human society, and establish a society free from all exploitation. See that all opportunities for exploitation, even a wee bit of exploitation, are eliminated.

Chapter 7	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

You know, in the Vedas there are seven recognized rhythms - gáyatrii, uśńik, triśt́up, anuśt́up, brhatii, jagatii and paunkti. You are to some extent acquainted with the so-called Gáyattrii Mantra, but actually it is not a Mantra, but a rk. It is a common error to say “Gáyattrii Mantra”. Savitr Rk was composed in gáyattrii rhythm.

Now, there is another rhythm known as anuśt́up. The fundamental difference between gáyattrii rhythm and anuśt́up rhythm is that in gáyattrii rhythm there are seven syllables in each line - three times seven is equal to twenty-one syllables – and in anuśt́up there are four lines and seven syllables in each line - four times seven makes twenty-eight syllables.

One of the important incantations in the Vedas, composed in anuśt́up, is

Ugraḿ viiraḿ Maháviśńuḿ
Jvalantaḿ vishvatomukham
Nrsiḿhaḿ bhiiśańaḿ bhadraḿ
Mryurmrtyuh namámyaham.

“Ugraḿ viiraḿ Maháviśńuḿ” – first line – “Jvalantaḿ vishvatomukham” – second line – “Nrsiḿhaḿ bhiiśańaḿ bhadraḿ mrtyurmrtyuh namámyaham.” It is about Táraka Brahma, who lies in the non-attributional arena, but still keeps a close vigilance on the expressed universe.

The first word used to describe Him is “ugram”. Here “ugram” doesn’t mean “ferocious” as it does in Laokika Saḿskrta; it means “ut” + “gra” = “ugra”, that is, “pointed”, “pinnacled” - the pinnacled glory of the universe. He represents everything that is glorious in this expressed universe. That’s why He is Ugra.

“Viiram”. You know that “viiram” means “hero”. (And you know that in the Hindi language it is “biiram” – “ba”, not “va”). He is viiram because He Himself, that is, individually, faces all troubles, all conflicts, all predicaments, and personally solves all problems – and that’s why He is viiram.

“Maháviśńu”. Anything that has the wont of entering into another object is called “viśńu”. And He is Maháviśńu, because in this vast universe He enters into each and every created being, each and every portion, each and every part and particle of animate and inanimate objects. He can go into each and every pore of your body and each and every loophole of your microcosm. Whatever you do with any portion of your body, and whatever you think in any portion of your mind, is known to Him. That’s why He is Maháviśńu, the Great Viśńu.

“Jvalantam”. He is just like something burning, so ferocious, so full of energy. And because each and everybody in this universe gets energy from Him, He is the Supreme Source of energy.

This earth and all the other planets and satellites of this solar system get their energy from the sun. The sun is the source of their energy. But He is the source of the sun’s energy. And that’s why He is jvalantam.

And that’s why I have said that there won’t be any thermal death of this universe. Because He is jvalantam, He is present, and He will be present forever. So there won’t be any shortage of energy in this cosmic system, though there may be a shortage of energy in some particular portion of the earth or the cosmos.

“Vishvatomukham”. Each and every created entity has one mukham - one face – and can only see towards a particular side, or a particular corner or a particular lateral direction, or a particular corner direction, but cannot see in more than one lateral direction or one corner direction. You cannot see both east and west at a time. But He is Vishvatomukham – He sees everything at a time. He sees everything, because He requires no physical eyes to see. Everything is within His mind; and to see something internal one requires no physical eyes. So He sees everything, and that’s why He is Vishvatomukham.

“Nrsiḿham”. “Nr” means “puruśa”, and “siḿha” means “leader”, “chief”, “head”. Because the lion is the chief, the head animal in the jungle, it is also called “siḿha”. The lion is pashusiḿha, that is, the leader among the animals. And He is the leader of puruśas, that is, He is Puruśottama. “Nrsiḿham”, means “Puruśottama”.

Naráńaḿ siḿha, naráńaḿ netá ityarthe nrsiḿhah.

He is Puruśottama. There is no fundamental difference between Táraka Brahma and Puruśottama. Both are leading personalities, and their attributional arenas coincide with one another.

“Nrsiḿhaḿ bhiiśańam.” He is bhiiśańa. He is horrible. He is horrifying. He is dangerous. But He is horrible for whom? For those who are undisciplined, for those who exploit others, those who are in a depraved state even in a human structure, those who are asádhu, and those who goad others towards destruction and annihilation – He is bhiiśana for them.

“Bhayáńaḿ bhayaḿ bhiiśańaḿ bhiiśańánám.” People always want to avoid objects of fear, but He is fear for fear. People are afraid of many bhiiśańa objects, many bhiiśańa things, many bhiiśańa entities, and many bhiiśańa people, but he is bhiiśańa for all those bhiiśańa objects, people, etc. “Bhiiśańaḿ bhiiśańanám.” And because of His bhiiśańa role, the discipline of this Cosmic order is maintained. Because of fear of Him, the air moves. The air cannot say, “No, I won’t move, I will remain stationary.” It will have to move. Why? Because the air is afraid of Him. According to His code of discipline the air has to move, and that is why it does move.

In Saḿskrta, “niila” means “blue”. And “nila” means “stationary”, “fixed”. And “anila” means “not stationary”, “not fixed”, but always moving. “Anila” means “váyu”. So, “Bhiiśasmád váyu pavate.” “Pavate” means “moves”. “Bhiiśodeti súryah.” The sun rises at the proper time. It cannot say, “No, let me have another cup of bed tea,” or “Today is Sunday, let me have the grace of half and hour or fifteen minutes more.” No, it is His code of discipline that the sun will have to rise at the proper time. It is only out of fear of Him that the sun rises at the proper time. Had He not been bhiiśańam, the equipoise of the universe would have been lost. People love Him, but in that love there is ninety-nine percent love, and one percent fear. “Bhiiśodeti súryah bhiiśosmád agnishcendreti.” Fire burns. Why? It is the wont of fire to burn, and that wont is in the fire because of His code of discipline. And what is discipline? The Saḿskrta term for “discipline” is “anushásanam”. And what is anushásanam? “Hitárthe shásanam ityarthe anushásanam.” When the code of discipline is imposed with the spirit of welfare, with the spirit of development, it is called “anushásanam” in Saḿskrta. There is no corresponding English word. “Bhiiśodeti súryah bhiiśosmád agnishcendreti.” So the fire burns out of fear of Him. If the fire doesn’t burn, He will be displeased, because the fire is going against the fundamental principles of discipline.

“Indra”. “Indra” means “energy”, “electricity”, “magnetism”, “light” – they are all energy. Energy is called “indra” in Saḿskrta. In fact, in Saḿskrta, indra has several meanings. [[One]] meaning is “the best man”, “the biggest one”, “the best”. “Devatánám rájá Indra iti kathyate” – the king of the devas is known as Indra. “Indra” also means “big”. A well is called “kúpam” in Saḿskrta, and a big kúpam is called “indrakúpam”. (The Saḿskrta is “indrakúpam”. In Prákrta it is “indrauyá”. Ardha Prákrta is “indra”. Old Hindi is “indárá”. Varttamána Hindi is “inára”). “Indra” means “big”. [[Another meaning of “indra” is (just now I told you) energy, heat, electricity, magnetism, etc.]] And the fourth meaning of “indra” is the “shál tree”, because it is a big, strong tree.

“Bhiiśodeti súryah bhiiśosmád agnishca indreti.” And indra, that is, energy, also moves because of His code of discipline. A fan moves due to electrical energy. Why? It is His desire that electricity operates other objects. And electricity cannot say, “No, I won’t do it.”

“Mrtyuh dhávati paiṋcamah.” And Pluto – in Saḿskrta, Yamarája or Mrtyu – attends the deathbed of a person at the proper time out of fear of Him. Because Mrtyu knows, “If I do not go to bring back that man, He will be displeased. As per His code of conduct, I must go there at the proper time.” Death, that is, Pluto, that is, Yamarája, cannot say, “No, I won’t go tomorrow, because it’s the Durgá Pújá holidays – I’ll go after the holidays.” No, no, no – he will have to go just now, as per the appointed moment, and without serving any notice.

What does the houseowner do to his tenant? He serves him with a notice, I think. After getting the notice, the tenant will have to quit the house, or he may file a case in a court of law. The tenant can do this, but in the case of death, no notice is served, no time is given. Death goes and says, “Be ready, please. Come with me. Come with me.” Death has this authority, but how? Why? From whom? It is He who has authorized death to do this duty, and death is to do the duty at the proper time, the appointed time. There must not be any delay. “Mrtyuh dhávati paiṋcamah”. Mrtyu will have to go.

“Bhadra”. In Saḿskrta, “bhadra” means “good”, “merit”. From “bhadra”, the Prákrta word “bhallá” is derived. From “bhallá” the Ardha Prakrta word “bhállá” is derived. From “bhállá” comes the modern “bhála”. “Bhála” means “good”. In Bengali, a gentleman is called “bhadraloka”, which means “good man”.

“Nrsiḿhaḿ bhiiśańaḿ bhadram.” He is bhiiśańam, but at the same time He is bhadram, good. Why good? Because whatever He does, and whatever may be His code of discipline, His inner spirit is to do welfare, to serve the people, to help the people. So when the spirit is good, certainly He is good, certainly He is bhadram.

“Mrtyurmrtyuh namámyaham.” “Mrtyurmrtyuh” means “death of death”. This has two imports. One is that everybody, each and every living creature, is afraid of death – everybody is afraid of death – but death is afraid of Him. So He is the death of death. And the second meaning is this: Whenever a man dies, he comes back again in another form. Again he undergoes death, again he comes back. This cyclic order goes on, and on, and on. Birth after death, death after birth – the cyclic order goes on. But what happens when one ensconces oneself in Him, when one becomes one with Him? One will die, no doubt, but after death one won’t come back.

So when one is in deep love with Him, and death comes, that death is the final death. After death there will be no rebirth. Along with that death, death dies. So it is mrtyurmrtyuh – the death of death. So He is mrtyurmrtyuh.

Each and every intelligent person of the world, everyone who has an iota of intelligence, should try to goad all his energies, all his propensities unto Him. He is the Supreme Shelter. There is no alternative.

Chapter 8	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

“Annaḿ Brahmeti.” It has been said,

Janmaná jáyate shúdrah saḿskárát dvija uccyate,
Vedapát́he bhavet viprah Brahma jánáti Bráhmanah.

Everybody is a shúdra by birth. Shúdras are primarily engaged in physical existence. For them, food is Brahma. As human beings evolve to higher status, they do not only treat food as a Brahmic manifestation, but also perceive Brahma in other forms. So Brahma comes to the human being first in the form of food or grains. This is the meaning of “Janmaná jáyate shúdrah”.

Later, the human mind realizes that physical food alone won’t satisfy its hunger. Then what happens? “Saḿskárát dvija uccyate” – the desire for spirituality awakens in a person. In ancient times this was known as Vaedikii diikśá. Vaedikii Diikśá increases the supramundane and spiritual hunger. When supramundane and spiritual hunger arises in human beings, what do they do? They go out in search of ways to satisfy that hunger. In this condition they are called “dvija” which means “second birth”. In their first birth they only knew the hunger of physical food, but in their second birth, they come to know another hunger as a result of the grace of Paramátmá. This new hunger won’t be satisfied by mere physical food.

“Veda pát́he bhavet viprah.” What should we say of intellectual hunger? Those who are engaged in the study of Dharma Shastras and other worthy books to satisfy their hunger are called intellectuals, vipras.

When, by the Grace of Paramátmá, they receive Tántrikii diikśá and realize God, they are called bráhmana. “Brahma jánáti bráhmana.”

In the first phase man realizes Brahma as physical [[sustenance]], i.e., “Annaḿ Brahmeti”. In the next phase he regards Brahma as Karma, i.e., “Karma brahmeti karma bahu kurviita.”

What is karma? Karma implies the change of place of an object. And what is place? Place is one of the three rudimental relative factors – time, place and person. Where there is karma, there are temporal, spatial and personal factors. Parama Puruśa creates something in His Mind, or withdraws it, at His will. In creation there is movement. Wherever there is movement, there is karma. And wherever there is karma, there are the three bondages of the temporal, spatial and personal relative factors.

“Karma Brahmeti karma bahu kurviita.” We see that whatever action is done for the service of humanity or for spiritual progress involves change. And suppose that, at one time, your “I”-ness was like an animal’s. Later it is like a human being’s – and so progressively will one day become like a devatá’s, a divine being’s, and will finally merge in Paramátmá. In this process also there is movement, there is “Karma bahu kurviita.”

What will wise people do then? They will keep themselves engaged in actions. For one’s own progress and for the progress of others it is imperative to act.

Now, suppose someone is doing an action but does not have a proper goal. It is quite possible that the movement in this case is towards destruction. If someone is stealing or robbing, is this not Karma? So to do proper karma one must have a proper target, a proper path. “Karma brahmeti karma bahu kurviita.” So through karma one may either progress or move backwards. The cult of karma is not without its dangers. The proper goal is indispensable for actions to be fruitful.

Then the person thinks, “Satya jiṋánam anantaḿ Brahma.” What is satya? That which does not undergo any metamorphosis is satya. And what is jiṋánam? The knowledge of that limitlessness, that satya, that Brahma, is the true knowledge, the true jiṋánam. He is satya – the limitless Brahma.

By this a man comes close to Him. But he realizes that this is not all. So, “Ahaḿ Brahmásmi so’ham”. Coming close to Him is not enough. You will have to merge your unit “I” in Him. You will have to transform your idea of “I am Brahma” into Self-realization through the process of dhyána. In order to establish oneself in dhyána, one will have to do ásanas, pratyáhára, práńáyáma and dhárańá.

The culminating point of dhyána is samádhi. What is samádhi? To establish oneself in the stance “I am Brahma” is samádhi.

Chapter 9	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

I think all of you are well acquainted with one shloka. It is a shloka for Guru Prańáma, but its import was never explained. It is;

Nityánandaḿ paramasukhadaḿ
Kevalaḿ jiṋánamúrttim,
Vishvátiitaḿ gaganasadrshaḿ
Tattvamasyádilakśyam.

Let me explain line by line.

“Nityánandam”. What is nityánandam? Parama Puruśa is nityánandam.

Jiivas enjoy nityánandam and viśyánandam. When one acquires something worldly, something mundane, one feels a sort of happiness which is known as “viśyánandam”, and when, by dint of one’s spiritual practices and the grace of the Supreme, one enjoys spiritual happiness, it is known as “nityánandam”.

But for what reason is Parama Puruśa creating the world? Why is He doing so much for created beings? Certainly for ánandam. And He Himself is also ánandam. So His ánandam is created within, merged within, enjoyed within.

For Parama Puruśa there are two kinds of ánandam: nityánandam and liilánandam. What is nityánandam? Nityánandam is His self-satisfaction. The bliss that He enjoys from Himself is nityánandam. He was in nityánandam, He is in Nityánandam, and He will be in nityánandam. When there was no world, at that time also there was nityánandam. And when, in theory, there will be no creation, He will still be in nityánandam.

And what is liilánandam? When Saguńa – Attributional Consciousness or Attributed Consciousness – was created, He wanted liilánandam. He wanted to enjoy liilánandam. And what is liilánandam? He creates so many things, so many animate and inanimate objects, so many sons and daughters. And while playing with His sons and daughters, He gets a sort of pleasure. That pleasure is His liilánandam.

And spiritual aspirants who are intelligent know this fact. They know that everything in this world is His liilánandam. He is playing for liilánandam, so there should not be any worries and anxieties in this world – all things are different phases of His liilánandam.

In this shloka the first word is “nityánandam”. “O Lord, who art always in nityánandam.” “Nitya” means “of permanent nature”. Therefore, ánandam which is of permanent nature is nityánandam.

The next word is “paramasukhadam”. The happiness that a created being enjoys from mundane objects is called “sukham”, and all this sukham comes from that Nityánandam Entity, so He is Paramasukhadam for the Jiivas. Here the word is not “sukhadam”, the word is “paramasukhadam”, that is, sukha of the maximum degree, sukha to the zenith of its efficiency.

“Kevalaḿ jiṋánamurttim”. What is the meaning of “kevalam”? “Kevalam” means “the only entity”, the “non-dualistic entity”. That is, in His realm, in His jurisdiction, there is no second, external entity. There is no scope for any Satan to be there, that is, there is no Satan. He is everything. He plays with His vidyámáyá and avidyámáyá. That is kevalam. Kevalam means “the only entity”, “the only existence”. And when one becomes one with Him, one is said to be ensconced in “kaevalya”. Kaevalya means “nirvikalpa samádhi”. That is when one acquires kevala-hood, that is kaevalya.

You should remember that the conception of Satan is against the non-dualistic philosophy. If we recognize a Satan, we are indirectly recognizing two Parama Puruśas – one a good Parama Puruśa and the other a very bad Parama Puruśa – which is absurd. So there is no Satan. There are only the misdeeds done by avidyámáyá. And that Satan, as avidyámáyá, is part of máyá, the left hand of máyá.

That’s why Lord Krśńa said,

Daevii hyeśá guńamayii mama Máyá duratyayá;
Mámeva ye prapadyante Máyámetáḿ taranti te.⁽¹⁾

“This divine force, Máyá, is My Máyá, is my power – ‘Shaktih Sá Shivasya shaktih.’ And those who have taken My shelter will easily surmount this Máyá.” Without divine help or divine aid, this máyá remains insurmountable. So in order to cross this máyá, one will have to take the shelter of Krśńa, that is, Parama Puruśa.

“Kevalaḿ jiṋánamúrttim.” “Jiṋánamúrttim” means “Cognitive Faculty personified”, “personified Cognition”.

Vishvátiitaḿ gaganasadrshaḿ
Tattvamasyádilakśyam.

“Tattvamasi” + “adi” + “laksyam”.

“Vishvátiitam”. What’s the meaning of “vishvátiitam”? When, as the objective counterpart of the Supreme Consciousness, something concrete is created, something under the strict supervision and bondage and fetters of the static principle, then that created being is called “vishva”. So vishva is His objective counterpart. And because vishva is His counterpart, He is above the jurisdiction of vishva – He is vishvátiitam. And just as there cannot be any spatial demarcation in the sky, so there cannot be any spatial demarcation within the Macrocosm. That’s why it has been said, “Gaganasadrsham.”

“Tattvamasi”. Now, when a spiritual aspirant contacts Parama Puruśa and asks Him, “Who am I, who am I?” – when this eternal question is placed before Him, His reply is, “Tattvamasi”, “Thou art That,” that is, “Thou art the Supreme Entity.” As I have said so many times, human sadhana is a movement from electronic imperfection to nuclear perfection. The nuclear perfection is That, and this electronic imperfection is you. You are That. The stage of “are” is your spiritual practice. Your are That, you – That – are. This “are” is the gap to be bridged by sádhaná. So you are That. The Guru’s words, the Guru’s secret instruction, or gospel, or text, or sermon, is, “O my little boy, O my little girl, thou art That.”

“Tattvamasyádilakśyam”. Now the entity who always reminds you, “O my little boy, O my little girl, thou art That,” is the Guru. I think you understand.

Footnotes

(1) Bhagavad Giitá. –Trans.

Chapter 10	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Today the remaining portion of yesterday’s discourse will be completed.

Ekaḿ nityaḿ vimalam acalaḿ sarvadhiisákśiibhútam;
Bhávátiitaḿ triguńarahitaḿ Sadguruḿ Taḿ namámi.

“Ekaḿ nityam.” Regarding any supra-psychic entity, any Cosmic entity, either attributional or non-attributional, we cannot say whether it is one or more than one, because that entity is beyond the scope of any sort of demonstration. We cannot say this or that regarding any Cosmic entity, so it is futile to say “one”, “two”, “three” or “four”. But when one wants to ensconce oneself in Him, one is to get one’s mind pointed, one’s mind pinnacled. And that’s why, when there should be one-pointedness, the only numeral, adjective or article that can be used for Him is “One”. And so in this shloka it has been said, “Ekaḿ nityam.” It is a singular Entity. “Ekam” does not mean “singular Entity”; “ekam” means that when one is to come in contact with Him, one’s mind is to be brought to a point.

“Nityam”. In this universe, within the universe and without the universe, wherever there is any flow (and actually, everywhere there is flow), and when that flow concerns Macrocosm or microcosm, it is something expressed. And when it does not concern any microcosm or Macrocosm, in that case it is not expressed, but the flow is still there. When the flow is there but the flow doesn’t come within the periphery of microcosm or Macrocosm, that entity is called “nityam”. So not only Saguńa Brahma, or Táraka Brahma, but also Nirguńa, is nityam. In common language we may use the word “non-metamorphic” for “nityam”; that is, “nityam” means “that which undergoes no change”. Anything undergoing no change is “nityam” – it was, it is, and it will be. And “anityam” means undergoing change according to changes in time, space and person. The Supreme Entity who teaches the world the secrets of spirituality is One and nityam.

“Vimalam acalam”. “Acalam” means “strong”, “erect”, “mountain-like”. “Vimalam” means “spotless”. So a lofty, mountain-like, spotless personality is vimalam acalam. The comparison is with “acalam”, because [[just as in this world of relativity it appears that the mountains do not move, similarly the cardinal spiritual principles do not move.]] And the entity representing those cardinal spiritual principles is treated as if it were a mountain, not moved, not moving, not shaking, not deviating from its principles.

“Sarvadhiisákśiibhútam”. Now in the phase of Pratisaiṋcara, the introversive phase, what happens? Crude entities get powdered down, and thus from matter we get citta, from citta we get ahaḿkára, and from ahaḿkára we get mahattattva. And that is the full development of mind, the complete development of mind, or microcosm.

Now, even in so-called crude matter there is mind in sleeping form, there is mind in dormant form, and because of its being in dormant form, we do not recognize it because we do not feel its existence. That does not mean that mind is not there – certainly it is there – but we fail to recognize it. The imperfection is in us, not in these forms of matter. So wherever there is mind, in developed form or undeveloped form, the reflection of Pratyagátmá is certainly there. And that reflection is the jiivátmá. Now, where the jiivátmá has not developed, or has not taken its proper form, what happens? Pratyagátmá directly performs the functions of the jiivátmá. And where the jiivátmá has developed to some extent, the functions of the jiivátmá are performed directly by the jiivátmá and indirectly by Pratyagátmá. And this is the case with human beings also.

In human beings the jiivátmá is far more developed that in any other creature, because the mind if far more developed than in any other creature. That is why human beings are called “manúsya” or “mánava”. “Mana” + “u” + “sna” = “mánava”, the entity where mind dominates, and not matter.

“Sarvadhiisákśiibhútam”. He is the Witnessing Entity of all minds, developed, undeveloped or underdeveloped. And whatever any mind does, crude or subtle, developed, underdeveloped or undeveloped, He knows it. He is the Witnessing Entity. So whether something be crude, inanimate, undeveloped (like trees, bushes, herbs, plants), underdeveloped (like a cow, a monkey or a dog), or developed (like a human being), whatever its mind does is known to Him. Nobody can do anything secretly; and nothing done by anybody remains coverted or secret.

He is sarvadhiisákśiibhútam, and because He is sarvadhiisákśiibhútam, people have one advantage and one disadvantage. The disadvantage is that you cannot do anything secretly – whatever you do or think is known to Him. Nothing remains secret. This is a disadvantage because He knows whatever you do and whatever you think. And what is the advantage? As He sees everything, He is always with you. You are never alone. This is the advantage.

Now, “bhávátiitam”.

Shuddhasattvavisheśád vá premasúryáḿshusámyabhak,
Rucibhishcittamásrńya krdasao bháva uccyate.

Bháva has something to do with two entities – one, the sentimental flow of the microcosm, and the other, the perennial flow of spirituality. (In English you should not say “spiritualism” for “adhyátmikatá”. You should say “spirituality” because “spiritualism” means something to do with ghosts, etc. – “pretatattva”. The correct term is “spirituality”.) The parallelism between the sentimental flow of the microcosm and the perennial flow of spirituality is what is called “bháva”.

Shuddhasattvavisheśád vá premasúryáḿshusámyabhák
Rucibhishcittamásrńya krdasao bháva uccyate.

“Bhávátiitam”. Beyond the arena of bháva is his position. He Himself is above the position of bháva. That is why here it has been said, “bhávátiitam”. Bháva can come up to Him and knock at the door, but cannot enter the palace, that’s the thing. Just knock at the door, but cannot go within.

“Bhávátiitaḿ triguńarahitam.” You know that in the triangle of forces, where equipoise is maintained before creation, there is no manifestation. As long as the equipoise is maintained, as long as the equilibrium is maintained among the three binding principles – sentient, mutative and static – there cannot be any manifestation. The Noumenal Cause remains as it is. But when that equipoise is lost, the flow of Máyá comes out of one of the vertices, and creation starts. So Paramashiva, the Sadguru and Táraka Brahma are beyond the scope of the guńatrikońa, that is, the triangle of forces. In their cases the guńatrikońa maintains its equipoise and equilibrium. Hence He is triguńarahitam.

Prabhumiishamaniisamasheśaguńam
Guńahiinamaheshagańábharańam.

“O Lord, Thou are the controller of everything, but there is nobody to control You. Your guńas are beyond the scope of counting. Nobody can count how many guńas there are.”

I told you that once many disciples of the Lord assembled at a particular place and requested Kavi Padmadanta to write a poem on the guńas of the Lord, to say what the Lord is like. “Please compose a poem,” they asked. Kavi Padmadanta said:

Asitagirisamaḿ syát kajjalaḿ sindhupátre
Surataruvarashákha lekhanii patramurbii,
Likhati yadi grhiitvá sáradá sarvakálaḿ
Tathápi tava guńáńámiishapáraḿ na yáti.

Kavi said (by the way, “kavi” doesn’t mean “poet”; in Saḿskrta, “kavi” means “satyadraśt́a”, “seer of truth”): “To write about His guńas in a proper style, what are the minimum requirements? You know the ink tablet you get in the market? If that ink tablet is just like the mighty Himalayas – so big – and so many oceans become the ink-pot, and if a branch of the heavenly Párijata tree is used as a pen, and if this vast lithosphere, that is, the earth, is used as paper, and the Goddess of Learning, Sarasvatii, writes and writes for an infinite period, even then the guńas of the Lord cannot be written.”

“Guńahiinamaheshagańábharańam.” Now you see, each and every devii and devatá has so many ornaments: ear-rings, necklaces, cuŕis, crowns. But our Lord, Parama Puruśa, has only one ornament: His disciples.

“Bhávátiitaḿ triguńarahitaḿ Sadguruḿ Taḿ namámi.” What is the Sadguru? “Guru”, you know, means “dispeller of darkness”. “Gu” means “darkness” and “ru” means “dispeller”. The man who taught “alif, be, pe, te”, or “a, á, ka, kha”⁽¹⁾ was also a guru. The man who taught you how to fight was also a guru. The man who taught you how to cook was also a guru. So many gurus. The man who initiates you in Vaedikii diikśá was also a guru.

Vaedikii diikśá means this: In ancient India there were two types of diikśá. First a boy used to get Vaedikii diikśá. Vaedikii diikśá is to request God, request the Lord, to show one the right path. And after a long time, when the Lord is satisfied, He arranges for Tántrikii diikśá. Ananda Marga diikśá is Tántrikii diikśá.

Now those who initiate in Vaedikácára – Vaedikii diikśá – are also gurus. So what is the Sadguru? The word “sat” means “that which undergoes no change”. In modern Saḿskrta, “sat” means “good” and “asat” means “bad”, but in Vaedika Saḿskrta, “sat” means “that which undergoes no change”.

Násadásiinno sadásiittadániiḿ násiidrajo no vyomá paro yat;
Kimávariivah kuha kasya sharmannambhah kimásiidagahanaḿ gabhiiram.

“Sat”. Now, the entity by whose grace one comes into contact with sat (sat, the non-changeable entity, the non-changeable stance, the non-changeable nuclear entity around which so many electrons move) – that entity, or rather, that framework through which Parama Puruśa is working or Táraka Brahma is functioning, is the Sadguru, “Sadguruḿ tvaḿ namámi” – “I do my namah before you, at your altar.”

Footnotes

(1) Arabic and Saḿskrta versions of “a, b, c, d”. –Eds.

Chapter 11	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Now there will be an interpretation of another common Vaedika shloka. It is,

Saḿgacchadhvaḿ saḿvadadhvaḿ saḿ vo manáḿsi jánatám,
Devábhágaḿ yathápúrve saḿjánáná upásate.
Samánii va ákútih samáná hrdayánivah,
Samánamastu vo mano yathá vah susahásati.

“Saḿgacchadhvaḿ”. Here the prefix “sam” means “in the proper style”, “in the proper way”, “in the proper rhythm”. Now, everybody moves, everything as a whole moves, and each and every entity in its individual capacity also moves. And what is movement? Movement means changing place. Movement denotes velocity. The Saḿskrta root verb “gam” denotes velocity. It denotes life also. So each and every living creature will have to move. There is no alternative.

But not all movements are “saḿgacchadhvaḿ”. What is society, what makes it up? What is samáj? “Samánam ejati iti samájah”.

“Ejati” means “gacchati”. For movement, for walking, there are several verbs in Saḿskrta – gacchati⁽¹⁾, calati, carati, vrajati, ejati – so many verbs having different meanings and different imports. Now, here we have so many people moving together. Here “moving together” does not mean march or double march, here “moving together” means that all portions of society, all portions of the collective body, should have the spirit to move ahead. Suppose you have gathered sufficient money, and there is no dearth of food in your house, but the remaining portion of society, your neighbours, your friends, are suffering from a dearth of money, or food, or clothes. Then it means that you are not following the spirit of “saḿgacchadhvam”. “Saḿgacchadhvam” means to build a strong, well-knit society where there shall be no exploitation, no superiority complex or inferiority complex.

Just to represent the spirit of “saḿgacchadhvam”, I propounded the theory of PROUT. So the entire theory of PROUT stands upon this Vaedika sermon of “saḿgacchadhvam”.

Then “saḿvadadhvam”. In Saḿskrta the verb “va” means “to speak”. Everybody speaks, so what is the import of “saḿvadadhvam”? “Saḿvadadhvam” means that you are to be guided by that supreme Spirit that makes you speak in the same line, that is your language must not have any ambiguity. It should be free from all ambiguities. It should be clear, conclusive and decisive.

“Saḿvo manáḿsi jánatám”. “Vah” means “your” in the plural, “Vah” is old Saḿskrta, that is, Vaedika. In Laokika Saḿskrta, that is, later Saḿskrta, the term for “your” is “yusmákam” but in old Vaedika Saḿskrta it is “vah”. The root verb is “vah”. “As” becomes “ah”, that is, “as” and “ah” are the same thing, so it is “vah”. “Saḿvomanáḿsi jánatáḿ” means “vo manáḿsi sama jánatám”.

You should know that the source of all creation, and also the source of all microcosm, is the Supreme Progenitor. You should know that from the Supreme Progenitor cometh all the microcosms. You should never forget this fundamental truth. The difference among the units is the difference in their microcosmic reactive momenta, but you should remember always that the source of all these microcosms is the Singular Entity, the Singular Macrocosm. Then the relationship among human beings will become closer and closer. “Saḿvo manáḿsi jánatám”. You should know this fact, you must not forget this fact.

“Devábhágaḿ yathápúrve saḿjánáná upásate”. Now, the word “deva” comes from the root word “div”. “Div” means “a divine existence”. So “deva” means “a divine existence”.

Maharśi Yájiṋavalkya says,

Dyotate kriidate yasmádudyate dyotate divi,
Tasmáddeva iti proktah stúyate sarva devataeh.

Those divine vibrations, those divine manifestations, the vibrating attributions of the Divine Father, are deva. “Devábhágaḿ yathápúrve” – that is “the divine vibrations of the past”. Why has the word past been used? Because from the very dawn of human civilization there have been these divine vibrations, and these divine vibrations know no differentiations. And in the actional sphere also, there have been no differentiations. Equality and parity have always been maintained.

Just see the case of air, light, water, respirations and everything. The need for these things is the same for all individuals. There have been no differentiations. These differentiations that we see in society are creations of vested interests, creations of depraved persons, of degenerated, immoral people. So you should not support these actional defects of immoral persons. You should follow the divine vibrational system, that is, you must not try to find any differentiations among individuals. “Devábhágaḿ yathápúrve saḿjánáná upásate.” It is the wont of divine expressions that there be no differentiations, no class of exploiters and exploited. That is, this wont of not creating any differentiations was not only their duty, it was their upásaná, the desideratum of their existential march.

“Samáni va ákuti”. When everything cometh from the same source, from the same Progenitor, and when finally everything goeth back to the same desideratum, there must be the same aspirations, the same longing, in the heart of each and every individual. But due to the depraving actions of immoral people, those exploited, those downtrodden people are forced to forget their goal. They are drifted away from the desideratum of their life. This should not be done. Everybody should get the chance to develop their natural longings for Him.

“Samánáhrdayánivah”. When everything comes from the same Progenitor and moves along the same path towards the supreme culminating point, then should there be any cordial difference between man and man? No, there must not be. Everybody should be given the scope, or circumstances should be created, such that nobody gets the scope to feel that their future is sealed forever, is blocked. So let everybody feel that everybody in this expressed universe belongs to the same big human family. “Ek caoká, ek culhá, ek hyay mánav samáj”.⁽²⁾

“Samánamastu vo mano.” All microcosms come from the same Macrocosm, and finally, all microcosms will become one with the same Singular Macrocosm. So, while they are in society, while they are in the phenomenal world, they should remember this Supreme truth: that actually they are one, one Entity expressing itself through so many different corporeal structures. And when this is done – and it is not at all a difficult job to do it - then what will it be? It will be a society in the proper spirit of the term. And this is the loftiest, it is the highest mission of all human beings. Those who do not recognize this fact, or those who want to forget this fact, are actually enemies of human society. Those who support casteism, racialism, provincialism, parochialism, nationalism, even internationalism, are enemies of the big human society. Human society is, rather should be, based on only one ism, and that ism is universalism.

Footnotes

(1) The third-person form of the root “gam”. –Eds.

(2) Hindi for “One kitchen, one fireplace, one human family.” –Eds.

Chapter 12	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Párvatii asked Shiva, “What is the minimum requirement in order to become a sádhaka?” Shiva replied, “Sukrataer mánavo bhútvá jiṋánii cenmokśamápnuyát.” When living beings attain a human form as a result of their actions, then they become competent to do sádhaná.

The next question posed by Párvatii was, “What qualifications such as age, academic qualifications, character, etc., should a human being have in order to do sádhaná?”

Regarding age, it might be appropriate to say that there are basically four stages in human life. In the first stage, the primary duty of the human being is to receive knowledge and do dharma sádhaná. In the second stage, one must fulfil worldly duties and perform dharma sádhaná. In the third stage, one must see to any remaining family responsibilities and perform dharma sádhaná. Finally, in the fourth stage, when the human body has become incapable of performing worldly duties, one must do dharma sádhaná alone. So there are no barriers of age as far as the requirements for sádhaka are concerned.

There is an old story about this. Once a child named Dhruva started doing sádhaná and singing bhajanas at the early age of five. This scared the eminent rśis and munis. They thought that this young boy would surpass them in spiritual excellence. So, as devotees, they all implored Náráyańa to save them from being defeated and humiliated. Náráyańa sent Nárada to resolve the issue. Nárada means “one who spreads devotion”. So Nárada came to the boy Dhruva and tried to allure him with toys, sweets, a kingdom, and things of that sort. He inquired why the boy was so enthusiastic about sádhaná and bhajanas at such an early age, especially when he had a whole lifetime at his disposal for spiritual pursuits. Dhruva replied,

“Kaomára ácaret prájiṋah dharmán bhágavatániha,
Durlabhaḿ mánuśaḿ janma tadapyadhruvamarthadam.”

“O Nárada! You are a sage, you know much more than I do. Yet I wish to mention, in order to clarify things, that we get a human form after numerous animal lives.”

“Sukrtaermánavo bhútvá.” This human life is attained through the medium of lots of clash and cohesion. Of all creatures’ existence, this human existence is the most rare. But even rarer is the human body that has been perfected through sádhaná.

Shravańáyápi bahubhiryo na labhyah
Shrńvanto’pi bahabo yaḿ na viduh,
Áshcarya vaktá kushalo’sya labdhá
Áshcarya jiṋáta kushalánushiśt́ah.

Even after getting human life, only a few get the opportunity to listen to dharmika discourses. Among those, only a few develop the desire to practise dharma sádhaná. And even among these, only a few actually grasp the spirit of Sádhaná. Those rare ones who understand, perform sádhaná, and reach the goal are truly blessed. In the effort to perfect oneself, even if one faces obstacles and hindrances from one’s elders and near ones, one must ignore them. This is not a sin, not a crime.

Dhruva further said, “Nárada, who knows what will happen tomorrow? You have become old and you got the opportunity to do sádhaná and sing bhajanas at this age. But in my life, the sun may or may not rise tomorrow. Suppose I die tonight? So how can I wait till old age?” Then Nárada went away silently. “Dharmán Bhágavatániha,” said Dhruva. All men should try to become established in Bhágavata Dharma in childhood. Then one is likely to have a lot more time at one’s disposal.

What is Bhágavata Dharma and what are the qualifications for it? The one qualification is prapatti, that is, “I have surrendered everything unto Bhagaván. Whatever He wants I will do.” Those who get established in this feeling at an early age are true human beings. What is Bhágavata Dharma? It is vistára (psychic expansion), rasa (flow) and sevá (service). Bhágavata Dharma differentiates humans from animals. There are some attributes which exist in trees, animals and humans alike, and there are other attributes which exist in animals and humans only. Furthermore, there are certain attributes which are unique to human beings.

Some people say, “The human being is a rational animal.” I refute this statement. In my opinion, the human being is not an animal. The human is a rational being. Human existence is an ideological flow. Therefore, the human being is not an animal. Just as plants and animals are both living things but are not alike, similarly, animals and humans are both living beings but are not alike.

Animals move but plants do not. Animals cry but plants do not. What, then, differentiates humans from animals? Vistára, rasa and sevá. These are the three essentialities of Bhágavata Dharma, and it is Bhágavata Dharma that differentiates human beings from other creatures.

Everybody wants expansion. The desire for expansion is the innate characteristic, the dharma, of human beings. No one desires to remain kśudra – a tiny thing. All wish to expand their psychic arena. In order to quench this thirst for vistára, one must do sádhaná regularly. In this way a day is sure to come when one’s mind will become one with the Cosmic Mind.

The second factor is rasa, and third is sevá. Since time immemorial there has been a never-ending flow of Cosmic cognition. Human beings want their desires to coincide with His will. When one is able to achieve this, the life of the unit becomes successful and complete. This is rasa. Human life is blessed. In the Shástras such people are called “áptakáma”. This desire to become one with Parama Puruśa exists only in human beings, not in other living beings; neither in animals nor in plants and trees.

The third essential factor of Bhágavata Dharma is sevá. Only humans are aware of their own identity. Plants, animals and material objects are not aware. A rupee does not know that it is a rupee. A mango tree does not know that it is a mango tree. A jackal does not know that it is a jackal. But humans know that they are human.

Human beings also know that Parama Puruśa is their source of impetus, is their Father, and that they are all His children. As His children, they have a brotherly relationship with all other jiivas, or unit beings. Due to this knowledge of brotherhood, the human is superior to all other beings. Parents are greatly pleased when they find that their children have been loved and helped by someone. Similarly, Parama Puruśa will be pleased when you serve His creation – not only human beings, but also plants, animals, and the rest of creation. That is, bhúta yajiṋa, pitr yajiṋa and nr yajiṋa are to be performed. Those who have this feeling are in the real sense of the term human beings. Just having the body of a human does not make a person a real human being, a rational being. Those in whom this feeling has arisen will be called followers of Bhágavata Dharma. They are doing the sádhaná of Bhágavata Dharma. So,

“Kaomára ácaret prájiṋah dharmán Bhágavatániha,
Durlabhaḿ mánuśaḿ janma tadapyadhruvamarthadam.”

At the earliest age possible a wise person will start following Bhágavata Dharma, will start Bhágavata Dharma Sádhaná. To follow Bhágavata Dharma, the only requisite qualification is total self-surrender.

After Dhruva made his reply, what happened? Náráyańa appeared and asked the boy to get up, telling him he was very young, and asking what the necessity was of doing sádhaná at such an early age. Then Dhruva said, “The sádhaná was for You, and You have come. So now I will get up.”

You must remember the fact that, to realize Him, age, sex, academic qualifications and such things are not relevant. Great scholars, senior people and mahámahopádhyáya pańd́itas may lag behind, while an illiterate person races ahead and fulfils his or her purpose. You should not have any inferiority complex in your mind regarding age, sex, education, etc. You are His children. It is your birthright to reach Him, irrespective of your status, academic qualification, or age. Make proper utilization of this right.

Chapter 13	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

There is a shloka of Tantra,

Nityaḿ shuddhaḿ nirábhásaḿ nirákáraḿ niraiṋjanam;
Nityabodhaḿ cidánandaḿ Gurubrahma namámyaham.

Nityam means “unchangeable”, that which is permanent, which does not undergo any change. That which is nitya is also known as deva [divinity, god]. Deva is the expression of Paramátman [the Supreme Soul] which is “Sarvadyotanátmakah akhańd́a cidaekarasah”, that is, “which vibrates everything, living or non-living, in the entire creation”. (Akhańd́a means “that which cannot be divided into pieces”. Cidaekarasah means “one who is cognition personified and who has the same flow from anádi [beginninglessness] to ananta [endlessness]”.) This is the meaning of nityam.

“Shuddham”. An object as it should be, in a condition or form as it should be, and remaining in that form or condition, is called shuddha. This word Shuddha is a relative word. Suppose pure ghee is prepared with all the necessary precautions. But will that pure ghee remain pure after ten years? No. So one cannot call that ghee pure, because it does not remains as it was. Even if there is no adulteration, it does not remain as pure as it was when originally prepared. It undergoes changes due to changes in time. So we can say that no object of this physical world can be called shuddha, or pure. Paramátman does not undergo any change and cannot be touched by impurity, so He alone can be called pure, or shuddha. He is pure for all time, and nothing else can be like that.

“Nirábhásam”. Ábhása has two meanings. One meaning is that, due to reflection, or refraction, something appears to be bent or misshapen. So, according to this interpretation, nirábhása will mean “that which does not undergo any reflection or refraction”. The second meaning is that which does not have any ábhása, any semblance, in other things or in other objects; that which cannot be conceptualized. This second meaning becomes more pertinent. As Parama Puruśa has the characteristic of reflection, His reflections on unit beings are the unit selves, or jiivátmás. There may not appear to be reflection, but reflection is there.

Still another meaning is that one may have some kind of idea of Him, even a very faint or minute semblance of Him, yet no one can claim himself to be another, or smaller, or duplicate, Parama Puruśa. So the word nirábhásam has been used here in this sense also.

“Nirákáram”. An object is created by the effect of the three guńas, sentient, mutative and static. What we see or feel, that which is perceivable, is known as matter, dravya. “Tava dravyaḿ Jagatguro Tubhyameva samarpaye.” Suppose we talk of the Himalayas. Though they are very vast, they have a limit. In other words, that which comes under the bondage of limitation has a shape or size. It is dravya, or matter. Dravya is that which has taken form. But the entity which is under no bondage of limitation, either of time, person or space, cannot be under any bondage of shape or size, so He is called nirákáram.

“Niraiṋjanam”. Aiṋjana means black spot. So that entity which is spotless, or which has no black spots, is Niraiṋjana.

“Nityabodham”. Bodha means experience supported by the intellect. Suppose you saw something wonderful – that was an experience for you. However, no idea of yours is connected to that experience which you had. So this is not bodha, or knowing. For example, someone sees a rainbow. That is a case of perception. The person, however, has no concept about the seven colours – therefore it is not a case of bodha. If a technician sees a machine, he can have bodha of the machine, but a layman who is not an engineer cannot form any mental conception of the machine. Budh + ghaiṋ = bodha. The entity who knows fully about each and every object, each and every mind, each and every jiivátmá, about everything in this creation, is Nityabodham. Nothing can be done which is secret from Him.

“Cidánandam”. Parama Puruśa is chiefly known as Satyam or Aparińámii – unchangeable or undergoing no metamorphosis. Cit means “cognition” – Shiva is known as Citi Shakti and the other Shakti is known as the Creative Principle. So Cidánanda is also the Cognitive Faculty or He who is always in bliss. He need not go anywhere in search of happiness from some other source. His [very] existence is bliss. Ánanda is cognitive bliss.

This is the quality of Parama Puruśa, that He has created the jiivas [unit entities], and it is a sort of conspiracy or drama of His to keep the jiivas in bondage. A playwright gives a particular role to a particular person. In such a way this Great Director of the Great Drama has involved everyone in his or her own way. In doing so He finds happiness, so that is what He does. He also does this to make things more interesting.

Actually, Parama Puruśa never means any harm by involving someone in a particular role. Say He has involved everyone in one or other role, and has picked a special role for Himself. In the drama He withdraws the bondage from a particular jiivátmá and liberates him or her. To place one in bondage and again release him or her is His liilá [inexplicable divine play or sport]. And He is absorbed in this liilá.

So no one should feel disconcerted about anything. All should know that He is concerned about their welfare. Just as parents are concerned for their child, so is He even more concerned for each of His children. Therefore, do not be afraid or perplexed under any circumstances. I have told you that you are never alone in this world – the Entity that guides the stars guides you also.

Chapter 14	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Daevii hyeśá guńamayii mama Máyá duratyayá;
Mámeva ye prapadyante Máyámetáḿ taranti te.⁽¹⁾

The Lord says, “This Divine Máyá of Mine is very powerful, so it is not possible for any living being to surmount it. But ‘Mámeva ye prapadyante Máyámetáḿ taranti te’ – ‘those who take shelter in Me can easily surmount this Máyá with My help.’” So there it is clear that Máyá is His – “Shaktih Sá Shivasya Shaktih.”

In Máyá you know there are two things, Vidyámáyá and Avidyámáyá, the centripetal force and the centrifugal force, one helping aspirants in their movement towards the Nucleus and the other driving them away from the Nucleus, increasing the radius from Him. And there are certain functions, certain actional expressions of Avidyámáyá as well as Vidyámáyá. When there are two Máyás, it is not at all logical even to think that only Vidyámáyá will function: Avidyámáyá will also do something. That is why there are opposite, rather, sometimes contradictory expressions in Parama Puruśa. Why these cyclones, why these earthquakes, why these floods? They are all expressions of Avidyámáyá. But because the balance is maintained the expressions of Vidyámáyá in the universe are in a position to maintain their equipoise. In the Vedas it has been said regarding this nature of Parama Puruśa, regarding the fact that He functions through both Vidyá and Avidyá, that sometimes His actions are beneficial, and sometimes His actions appear to be non-beneficial; that is, prima facie they are not beneficial, but actually they are also beneficial, because Avidyámáyá is also His. When He punishes, this punishment, this action of punishing, is done with the help of Avidyá. But what is the intention? The intention is good.

In the Vedas it has been said, “Anejadekaḿ manaso javiiyo.” Anejat, not ejat – not moving, that is, fixed. Why is He fixed, why is He stationary? Because He is above the periphery of time, space and person. There is neither any time, nor any space, nor any person. So can there be any movement, can there be any speed, not to speak of velocity? There cannot be. So He is anejat, meaning non-moving. (In Saḿskrta the root verb ejat means to move. Samánam ejati ityarthe samájah, that is, a group of people moving together is Samájah.)

“Ekam” The very word ekam is self-contradictory because regarding the Supreme Entity you cannot use any numeral. Whatever you think comes within the arena of your mind, of mental creation. So how can you bind Him with something that is of your mental creation? You cannot. But even so we must say that he is Ekam, that He is Singular Entity. What is the reason? The reason is that only when the mind of a sádhaka becomes one-pointed can he realize Him. So if any numeral is to be used for Him, that numeral should be ekam, not two or three.

It has further been said, “Manaso javiiyo”; that is, “faster than the mind.” The mind moves very fast, and He moves faster than the mind.

Just now it was said He was anejat, not moving; here it has been said that His movement is very fast. How is this possible? Manaso javiiyo – it defeats the mind. As far as movement is concerned, it wins the championship. How? Unit minds, or microcosms, have certain movements, and those movements are faster than any worldly, quinquelemental movement. It takes some time for a person to travel to the moon from this earth, but for the mind it will take no time. The mind is faster than any quinquelemental movement.

Movement of the mind means movement of the microcosm. And, as the microcosm is a microscopic fraction of the Macrocosm, the Macrocosm is faster than all microcosms. And as the Macrocosm is a transformed form, a cruder form of Cosmic Cognition, certainly Cosmic Cognition is faster than the Macrocosm. That’s why it has been said, “Manaso javiiyo.”

“Naenaddevá ápnuvan púrvamarśat.” Deva means expressions. And here deva means the indriyas, the sensory and motor organs. The sensory and motor organs are less speedy than the mind, so your organs cannot catch Him. If there is, say, a mile race among so many persons – say your ten indriyas and Mr. X, Y, Z, A, B, C, all having the ten indriyas – and the Macrocosm and the microcosm – who will be the champion? Certainly the Macrocosm, the Cosmic Mind, will be the champion. So how can you catch Him with the help of your indriyas, with the help of your eyes and ears?

Some people say, “I want to see Him.” How can your eyes see Him or catch Him when they have less speed than His?

So “Naenaddevá ápnuvan púrvamarśat” – no indriya, no sensory organ or motor organ can catch Him. When there is a race, He surpasses everything. So how can you catch Him with the help of your logic, your philosophy, your science, and so many things? You cannot. It is a futile idea, it is a foolish idea, to try to catch Him with the help of any of your binding ties, with the help of any of your binding tethers, with the help of any of your mental creations.

“Taddhávato’nyánatyeti tiśt́hat tasminnápo mátarishvá dadháti.” Everybody obeys Him. Everybody will have to do according to His desires, according to His laws, according to the laws created by him for the welfare of the entire creation. And that is why air, water, light and so many entities are doing their prescribed duties, and will have to do their prescribed duties. There is no alternative.

Footnotes

(1) Bhagavad Giitá. –Trans.

Chapter 15	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

The human is a rational being and not a rational animal. Now, some people say that human beings will one day have to face the Day of Judgment, Doomsday. Let us see how far this is correct.

Rationally speaking, does it make sense? Where will the dead bodies of human beings remain, in their graves? Won’t those dead bodies turn into soil beneath the ground? Near the knee, and in some other place, the bones of a dead body remain undecayed for eight to ten years. The remaining portion becomes part of the earth. So where will those bodies stay after death? In the graveyard? Isn’t it possible that a farmer will plough that ground? Under such circumstances, when the body, cells and nerve fibres no longer exist, where will the departing minds and souls rest?

Now, what is death? After death the mind becomes suspended, and the mind and átman become dissociated from the decaying body. So on the Day of Judgement, who will rise from the grave? The body cannot rise since it has already turned into soil. And where will the bodiless mind go? And when the mind is suspended, the jiivátmá cannot function either.

Here is another point – human beings do not have to wait for the Day of Judgement, their judgement is tied to their actions. Wherever there is an action there is an equal and opposite reaction, provided that the three fundamental relative factors of time, space and person remain unchanged. In this case, we may presume that space remains unchanged, but time is constantly changing.

Thus, the Doomsday argument is illogical. Even the people of old did not really believe the logic of Doomsday. Those who did, did so out of fear and ignorance, but the rational person of today won’t accept all this. Those who believe due to tradition do not really accept the idea with their minds and hearts either. They don’t have the courage to speak out; that is why they don’t say anything.

In every action there lies the potentiality of its reaction, which will express itself at an opportune moment. The reaction of each action does not get consummated immediately. It must wait for the proper environment to enable its expression. Every environment is conducive to experiencing the reaction of some action or other, but it is a fact that not every environment is conducive to experiencing every reaction. However, no one can wait in suspension for eternity, because if that happens then the mind also will have to remain in suspension indefinitely, which is not possible. Not even for an infinitesimal period can the mind remain in a suspended state. Suspension will germinate the seeds of revolt and cause the mind to explode.

Suppose somebody is suspended from his job. In his mind the seeds of revolt germinate. He files a court case, contacts so many people, organizes a demonstration, etc. That is the natural reaction to suspension. If the mind is suspended for a moment it cannot exist.

Immediately after the death of a creature, be it insect or human, the search for a new body starts afresh. Wherever it finds an appropriate environment, it will get a new body. Until it finds the new body, is the mind suspended? No, Even then it is engaged in action, the action of search. Search, search, effort, effort.

When a person dies, the mind becomes dissociated from the body. Death is of many kinds. When the nerve cells stop working, the nerve fibres stop working, the heart stop working and the lungs stop working, death may be considered complete. But sometimes, though the nerve fibres stop working, the heart stops working, and the lungs stop working, the nerve cells continue to work. In such a case doctors might pronounce the person dead, but after two or three hours or even two or three days, the person may come back to life. Everyone’s nerve cells continue to function for at least some time after so-called death. In some such instances, as you have seen, I have saved persons from death.

So even after death the nerve cells of a person function. If the nerve cells stop functioning, it means the person has started the search for a new body. The person may or may not get the new body right away. The dissociated mind, along with its reactive momenta, leaves the old body in search of a new one. In accordance with its samskaras, its reactive momenta, the mind searches for and finds an appropriate medium for expression.

Let’s say an alcoholic and a sádhu go from Patna to Benares. The sádhu will join the company of other sádhus on some riverbank, while the alcoholic will locate some pub. So, in accordance with one’s saḿskáras, one gets an appropriate physical body. If a human being constantly hankers for food, the person is bound to get the body of a pig. Similarly, if one thinks of money all the time, one will become crudified and find oneself as a safe in some bank or in the home of some wealthy individual.

The mind cannot stand still, nor will it stay suspended in a graveyard until the Day of Judgement. All this is contrary to logic and reason. This happens when people don’t understand the difference between mind and soul. Everything moves, movement is the rule of this world. That is why “Jagat” (the world) means “that which is constantly moving”. So the question of someone lying in a grave for eternity does not arise. Where there is a graveyard today, we may have paddy fields tomorrow.

Where people regard the supramental body as the soul or spirit, they make a mistake. Such people lack an understanding of correct philosophy. Those concerned with higher philosophy should also have tried to understand the reason why some people are happy and others sad. Why are some happy, why are others sad? Paramátmá does not indulge in partiality.

The truth of the matter is that everyone moves according to one’s karma. To expand psychically is natural – no one is born dhármika or adhármika, righteous or unrighteous. Even after death one will not go the flaming fire of hell. According to our philosophy there is no hell or heaven. If the Lord taught righteousness to some and not to others, that would not be fair. And if, for that reason, one got to heaven while others didn’t, would that be fair? That would also be favouritism. But this very thought, of eternal heaven or hell, is faulty. It is a defective approach. People speak like this due to ignorance and lack of proper philosophical understanding. Today’s progressive human society cannot have any respect for these ideas.

You people are able to say that Bhu, Bhuvah, Svah, Mahah, Janah, Tapah and Satya are the seven layers of the Cosmic Mind.⁽¹⁾ People used to say that one went to Svarga, or Svarloka,⁽²⁾ and enjoyed a good life if one did good actions, or underwent suffering if one did bad actions. This notion is somewhat better than the notion of eternal heaven and hell, because the results of action have a beginning and an end. One remains in heaven or hell only until one’s saḿskára is exhausted, then takes another birth. But this is not a perfect idea or a proper goal either. One’s goal should be to establish oneself in Satyaloka.

Eternal hell or heaven is a totally defective idea. The belief in the existence of Tala, Atala, Talatala, Pátála, Atipátála, and Rasátala is also incorrect. We should not encourage these approaches. There is no hell or heaven, and no one will go to hell or heaven for eternity after death, or lie in a grave forever; nor will anyone have to wait until any Day of Judgement.

By constant ideation on Brahma, that is by surrendering to the Supreme, and by constant service, one should consummate one’s reactive momenta and establish oneself in Parama Puruśa. In this way you will attain blessedness forever. This is the proper path.

Footnotes

(1) At times these have superstitiously been considered actual worlds. –Eds.

(2) Svah. –Eds.

Chapter 16	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

In each and every corner of the world there is some usage or other prevalent among the human race of that area regarding their duty to deceased persons, to the dead. This event, this observance, is known as “shráddha” in Saḿskrta. There are innumerable types of observances, but they all come under the same heading, shráddha.

What’s the meaning of shráddhá? “Shraddhayá diiyate yastu ityarthe shráddhah” – “that which is offered with shraddhá is shráddha.” And what is shraddhá? “Shrat satyam iti dhiiyata ityarthe shraddhá”, that is, when an idea or a culminating point is accepted as supreme, then that idea or culminating point is called “shrat”; and when the mind, with its propensities, moves towards that object, that movement is called shraddhá. Shrat + dha is shraddhá. Now let us see some of the prevalent usages of the world in connection with this shraddhá, or shráddha. When you offer something with shraddhá, it is shráddha. A priest may say that your father will die only once, and so after his death you should arrange for a sufficient quantity of food-stuffs, a sufficient quantity of edibles, a sufficient quantity of clothes, etc., for him. And that has been done in India for about five thousand years, since the time of the Atharva Veda. And people have generally offered rice and sesame, also honey and ghee, to be consumed by that person who has left the world.

Regarding these things, Maharshi Charvaka (he lived in India about 2500 years ago, during the time of Lord Buddha. He was a bit senior to Lord Buddha. Charvaka’s disciple, Ajit Kusum, was a contemporary of Lord Buddha) said “If you are in a room, and another man is in the courtyard a few yards away, and you offer rice and sesame for that man, he won’t get that rice and sesame, and his hunger won’t be satisfied. And if a man is in another world, Aparaloka, and you are offering rice and sesame for him, will he get them? Is it reasonable? No, no. All these things are exploitation by the privileged class.”

After offering rice, sesame, clothes, etc., what do you find? The rice is consumed by the purohita in his house. Go to his kitchen, and all that rice is being consumed by his family. That dhuti which is being offered by you for your late father is being used by the purohita, and the sháŕii by the purohita patnii; and the gamci, the towel, if it is surplus, is sold in the market. And the utensils are also sold in the market. So your deceased father, your parents, who are now inhabitants of Aparaloka, won’t get anything.

And the second thing you will see, or you will feel, is that they do not require these things. The microcosm, or unit spirit, does not require any food or clothes or sesame or utensils. All these ideas are scoundrels’ philosophy. And they have been doing this type of exploitation for the last five thousand years, since the time of the Atharva Veda.

In some other corners of the world, people wait for forty days, and after forty days they offer a particular type of prayer, and that prayer is supposed to make the position of the dead person secure. Is this logical? Certainly not. All these things done in the name of shráddha are nothing but a cheating business.

In prehistoric times also, those people of less-developed intellect used to think in this same way, that even after death people require worldly objects. So in prehistoric times also you would find, looking within the graves, that they used to offer barley (at that time wheat was not popular), wine, honey, such things. And even now in India during shráddha they use these things – barley, wine, wool – so that the dead person will wrap that woollen cádar⁽¹⁾ around themself, etc.

Now, as I told you, in all corners of the world this type of exploitation is going on. And why are the people being exploited? Because they are under the veil of superstition. They are superstitious people. They are less developed in intellect.

I remember a short story. In my town there was a businessman. Say his name was D́oman Sáhu. And his father was also a businessman. During the day he was a businessman, and at night he was a d́áku⁽²⁾ . Say D́oman’s father’s name was Mohan Sáhu. Now a big pańd́ita came from Kashmir to my home town and said that he had the capacity with the strength of his mantra, to arrange heaven for all pápiis, all degraded persons, all degraded souls. Then D́oman thought, “My father Mohan is a d́áku. Let me take the help of this big pańd́ita and arrange heaven for my d́áku father.”

So the pańd́ita said, “Yes, yes, yes. I will do everything, but I want fifty guineas as a fee for the purpose.” And D́oman agreed.

But D́oman’s friend was one Mr. Ravi Ghose, a very intelligent man. Ravi Ghose said, “You see, D́oman, that pańd́ita is a businessman, that is why he wants fifty guineas. You do one thing. Let there be bargaining. Tell the pańd́ita, ‘You see, pańd́itajii, I can offer only fifty silver coins, fifty rupees. Please agree.’”

Then the pańd́ita said, “Yes, it will be done, but had it been fifty guineas, your father would have reached just below the Párijáta tree of Nandana Kánana of heaven. If you give fifty silver coins, fifty rupees, he will reach the main gate of heaven, but not near that Parijata tree.”

D́oman thought, “Right near the gate. Then that short distance will be covered by my father on foot. Then let me spend only fifty rupees.”

Then again he went to Ravi Ghose, that crooked and intelligent fellow. Ravi Ghose said, “You see, D́oman, our first attempt has been a success. Now you just tell him, ‘Pańd́itajii, I will spend only forty rupees; not fifty.’”

Pańd́itajii said, “In that case, there will be a short gap.”

Then next day D́oman said, “No, I will spend thirty rupees,” and so on. And finally the settlement was for ten rupees.

So this is the commercial story regarding shráddha. There is nothing in it.

So what should one do? Haven’t we any social responsibility for dead persons? When the necessity arises, we should offer shraddhá for them, not barley or wheat or woollen clothes or wrappers or ghee or sesame. What can we do? As long as a man is here in our society we have a social responsibility for him. Human beings are social beings, we have a social responsibility for them. And when the leave this world and go to the other world, they go beyond the scope of our responsibility. We cannot render any service to them. Our social responsibility is over as soon as the cremation is done.

So what can we do? We can say “O Parama Puruśa, while that man was with us we tried our best to do whatever we could do. But now they are beyond our scope, they are beyond our jurisdiction, so please do take care of them.” This much of a request can be made by us, and nothing more than that. And the Ananda Marga shráddha is just like that. Here we require no edibles, no clothes or anything else. We offer our shraddhá, and we do nothing else, and we can do nothing else.

Footnotes

(1) Shawl or wrapper. –Eds.

(2) Dacoit, robber. –Eds.

Chapter 17	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

The subject of today’s discourse is “Ghosts and Evil Spirits”.

Now let us see what happens when a person dies. When a person dies, their physical body, along with the nerve cells and nerve fibres, remains in the earth and finally becomes one with the earth. When death takes place, the mind, along with the reactive momenta and the non-cerebral memory, leaves the body and moves here in the universe, with the help of rajoguńa [the mutative principle], till it gets another body, a suitable body to quench its thirst and satisfy its reactive momenta. Those reactive momenta, in the second body, are known as saḿskárá.

The mind, along with the reactive momenta and non-cerebral memory, is not visible. One cannot see it. And when it is not visible, it is not possible for anybody to say, “I have seen that mind, that videhii átmá [disembodied spirit].” But we should remember that the dissociated mind is not alone. In that mind there are the reactive momenta and also the non-cerebral memory.

(That mind moving in the universe with the mutative power of the Cosmic Operative Principle is not visible, and at the same time, for want of a nucleus, a seat for the mind, and nerve cells, the mind cannot function properly. For proper functioning it requires ectoplasmic stuff, a body of ectoplasm. So even for ectoplasmic expression it requires a new body. In proper time, due to the mixture of ova and spermatozoa, what happens? The mind becomes associated with a new structure, and the original minds and lives of both the ova and the spermatozoa cease to exist. But those ova and spermatozoa are selected to suit the purpose of this detached mind with its reactive momenta.)

Now during this period, this transitional period, when the mind has left the previous body, before it gets the new body, what happens? It moves in the universe, invisible and inaudible. But you know, by dint of Tantric practice, anybody can develop their ectoplasmic structure. They may be a Vidyá Tantric, they may be an Avidyá Tantric, but the ectoplasmic development is there. So such Tantrics can, with the help of their own ectoplasmic stuff, help the detached mind to get a temporary ectoplasmic body. And for the time being that detached mind, with the help of the ectoplasmic stuff of that Tantric – Vidyá Tantric or Avidyá Tantric – gets that ectoplasmic structure, and when that ectoplasmic structure is a bit solidified it becomes visible, and due to its vibrational frequency it may become audible too, but only for a short span of time.

You have heard stories about bones being thrown into a particular house, bricks being thrown into a particular house, a cot moving upwards, etc. You have heard these ghost stories about certain haunted houses. What are these things? A Tantric, certainly not a Vidyá Tantric, but an Avidyá Tantric, with the help of a certain portion of their own ectoplasmic stuff, sits tight in an ásana [meditation posture], and, with the help of their ectoplasmic stuff, creates an ectoplasmic body for a detached mind (known as preta in Sanskrit). And with the help of their ectoplasmic stuff, attached to the detached mind, they do all these things. But at the time their body remains motionless. So these things are actually not done by ghosts. They are actually done by that Avidyá Tantric with the help of that detached mind. One may say that these things have been done by ghosts, but they were not actually.

And there is another type of being also. I say “being” because it is difficult for me to say that they are living beings or that they are dead beings. What happens? There are seven recognized devayonis, divine entities. They are called “divine”, though actually they are not divine, because they are better, or higher, than ordinary human beings.

Suppose a person is practising spiritual sádhaná regularly, properly, and with proper inspiration and sincerity, but some other desires, some other longings, remain coverted in the person’s mind. The person is a good person, he or she is sincerely doing sádhaná, but in his mind he thinks, “If Bábá gives me ten lakhs – or five lakhs – or only two lakhs – everything will be managed properly. Oh, no! I won’t ask for these things. No, no, no, it is bad, it is bad.” That desire, that longing for money, remains in him, although he or she is a developed soul, not a bad person, not at all a bad person. So what happens? Because of his piety, after death he gives up the physical structure, the solid body, and gives up the aquatic structure, that is, apatattva, also; but the other three factors – tejas [luminous factor], marut [aerial factor], vyoma [ethereal factor] – remain with him, with his detached mind.

These beings are called devayonis. They are of seven types – yakśa, rakśa, kinnara, gandharva, vidyádhara, siddha and Prakrtiliina. In the example I gave, the person had a longing for money, but was a developed soul. Unknowingly or unconsciously the desire came into his or her mind, and that desire was the cause of his or her downfall, degradation, depravation. This type of being is called yakśa.

In Bihar, particularly in the northern portion of Bihar, in most but not all of the villages, you will find a place just outside the village, known as the Brahmasthána. That Brahmasthána is the place where the villagers used to assemble to worship the yakśa. In the images of Paoráńika [Puranic] gods and goddesses you will find the yakśa and yakśinii standing just to the right and left of the deity; a yakśa and yakśinii with cámaras [ceremonial whisks] in their hands. What is a yakśa? It has a body, but not a quinquelemental body; a body with three factors, tejas, marut and vyoma. That luminous body cannot be touched, but it can be seen sometimes.

Rakśa. People with fighting spirit, with proper dedication and proper spiritual aspiration, but who sometimes think, “If I get the blessing I will kill those antisocial elements – No, no, no, during pújá [worship, meditation] I should not think like this.” You have understood, I think? Those thoughts coming in the mind during pújá become the cause of degradation. After death the person won’t have a physical body or aquatic body, but tejas, marut and vyoma will be there. This type is called rakśa.

Kinnara. “Bábá has given me everything, but I am not good-looking. I want to be very good-looking, so that people will say – No, no, no, it is very bad.” Such good persons, good souls (and they are good people, not ordinary people) after death also acquire this type of three-elemented body. They are called kinnara.

Vidyádhara. “I am a good sádhaka, but haven’t any vocal power. I can’t dance properly, I can’t sing properly, my vocal cord doesn’t function well. I require more attributions, more qualifications – and if I get more qualifications I will get promotion in the service also. Oh, no, no, no. These are all bad things. These are all bad desires. A person should not have any desires.” When such a person dies, they also get that type of body, luminous, gaseous and ethereal. These three bhútas are there. These people are called vidyádhara.

Next – a person is doing sádhaná, there is no longing. Then, “I sing bhajanas, but my sound is not good. My vocal cords don’t function properly. My vocal expression should be a bit more sweet and rhythmic – No, no, no, these are all bad things, bad things.” This type of good person, in the body they take in their next life (not “next life”, but “post-physical life”), is known as gandharva. They have a longing for music. And that is why music is called gandharva vidyá in Sanskrit.

The sixth is the siddha. What is a siddha? Suppose there is a good soul, a good person who has no physical desire. But during sádhaná – “Yes, love for God has been created. Yes, people love me, Bábá loves me. But I should have some occult power, so that people will say, ‘This person has power, and is not an ordinary person. This person has occult power – alaokika shakti – aeshvarya – vibhúti’ – No, no, no, these are bad thoughts, bad thoughts.” When this type of person dies, their post-physical body is known as siddha. They are the best among the devayonis. I will say something regarding these siddhas later on.

And the seventh is Prakrtiliina – those who worship idols, ascribing Brahma-hood to that idol, thinking that the very idol is God, the very image is God; worshipping stone, worshipping wood, worshipping metal. Tantra says, Mrcchiládhátudárvádimúrttáviishvaro buddhayo… [“Those who think that Parama Puruśa is confined within idols made of clay, stone, metal or wood…”] Mrt means “earthen image”; shilá means “made of stone”; dhátu means “made of metal”; and dáru means “made of wood”. And they ascribe Godhood to that wood or to that metal or to that stone. Then what happens? The person is ideating on that stone, or wood, or metal, and what happens? Yadrshii bhávaná yasya siddhir bhavati tádrshii – “A person adopts a body according to their object of ideation.” Their own self is transformed into that entity, the entity which was their object of meditation. Now such people worshipping different forms of Prakrti finally take the form of those entities, and become stone, become wood, become metal. They are called Prakrtiliina. They become one with Prakrti and remain there for an indefinite period. What a durdaeva, I will say! What a painful state of existence!

Now, among these seven types of devayoni, the siddha is the best. Siddhas perform their sádhaná, but sádhaná remaining just at the half-way point. And whenever there is an assemblage of singers or dancers, what happens? Gandharvas, with their mental bodies, their reactive momenta and non-cerebral memories, assemble. Wherever there is any programme of music, there they assemble, but invisible. Sometimes, though, they become visible. I will explain.

Wherever there is any spiritual gathering, siddhas come. And during a musical function, whenever the mind of a particular artist becomes concentrated, they will see the luminous bodies of gandharvas. Similarly, during meditation, or particularly during kiirtana, when a spiritual aspirant’s mind becomes concentrated, they will feel the existence of those siddhas. In Jamalpur, in the area of the tiger’s grave, there were assemblages of large numbers of siddhas. One of our senior grhii ácáryas [married spiritual teachers] used to see them.

I will narrate a very short story. A few years back, two of our kápálika sádhakas⁽¹⁾ came to a river. That river is not a big one, but the depth is there. They were at a loss to decide how to cross the river. Just on the other side of the river there was a burial ground, a cremation ground. They were thinking hard, at midnight.

All of a sudden, they saw a luminous body just in front of them. The luminous body began moving, and these two boys followed it. Coming to a particular point, that luminous body started crossing the river, and these two boys followed him. And that particular portion of the river was very shallow, knee-deep. They easily crossed the river and reached the other side. Just on the other bank there was a tree. From there they went two different ways to do their night practice. And after night practice they came back to the tree. They again saw that luminous body and again followed it and crossed the river.

After coming to the original bank, the junior boy addressed the senior man, “Oh Dádá, let us request that luminous body to bless us.” As soon as he said this, the luminous body disappeared. What was that luminous body? A siddha.

Now what happens when a person sees some unnatural picture or unnatural image or unnatural being? One possibility I have already explained – it may be that a Tantric, with the help of his or her ectoplasmic structure, has created a body for a disembodied mind just to terrorize others. A Vidyá Tantric will not do these things, but an Avidyá Tantric may do so just to terrorize others, as they used to do in the past. After getting some money they would stop the practice.

And suppose that some time you go to a particular house which people say is haunted. There are some haunted houses in every town, and I have already told you that if you find any haunted house, you just purchase it and use it. Ghosts won’t terrorize Ananda Margis, because every Ananda Margi is a ghost. [laughter] “They are the followers of Shiva.”⁽²⁾ Ghosts will not terrorize ghosts.

What happens there? Due to terror, due to pre-imposed terror, a person’s mind gets concentrated. Due to fear the mind gets concentrated, and due to concentration, what happens? A certain portion of the person’s own ectoplasmic stuff goes to help a detached mind in creating a body, an ectoplasmic body. So you see your own creation; the creation has been made out of your own ectoplasmic stuff. But that detached mind was also there. It was not a ghost. And those Brahmapisháca, or several kinds of “ghosts”, are all of your creation. Your ectoplasmic stuff is transferred to that detached mind due to your mental concentration, temporary concentration.

And this type of concentration takes place under five types of circumstance – kśipta, múd́ha, vikśipta, ekágra and nirodha. Kśipta is when the mind is very perturbed, full of worries and anxieties. At that time, due to sudden, short concentration, such a thing may happen. Múd́ha is when your brain fails to decide what to do or what not to do – you are at a loss for what to do. This is called múd́ha – múh plus kta. Vikśipta – you are not concentrating on a particular point, but finally your mind becomes tired and, in that state, you see those things. You know by lullabies we make the minds of children vikśipta and they fall asleep. (Lullabies, you know? – poems recited in the ears to put children into deep slumber, not ordinary sleep.) Ekágra is when your mind gets pointed. And the fifth is nirodha, when you suspend all the expressions of your propensities. In these five conditions you may see those things and you may, knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, transfer certain portions of your ectoplasmic body to a detached mind and create a positive hallucination of this kind.

Footnotes

(1) Practitioners of kápálika sádhaná, a form of spiritual practice which causes the aspirant to confront and overcome all the inherent fetters and enemies of the human mind. –Eds.

(2) The Shivagańa, “Shiva’s people”, included ghosts, according to mythology. –Eds.

Chapter 18	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

In so many rhymes, in so many rks and so many shlokas, it has been said that the only thing you may ask from Parama Puruśa is that He may guide your intellect along the path of bliss; and you should demand nothing else. In the Yajurveda it has been said,

Ya eko’varno bahudhá shaktiyogád
Varńánanekán nihitártho dadháti
Vicaeti cánte vishvamádao sa devah
Sa no buddhyá shubhayá saḿyunaktu.

“No buddhyá” – “Nah” means “asmákam”, “our”. “Let Him guide our intellect towards blessedness, towards human welfare.” “No buddhyá shubhayá saḿyunaktu” – “let our intellect be attached to public welfare.”

In the Savitr Rk it has also been said, “Dhiiyo nah pracodayát,” that is “Ya na dhiiyo pracodayát,” or “Ya asmákam dhiiyo pracodayát.” “Sadvidhánaḿ karotu.” “So that He may guide our intellect along the path of bliss.” “Pracodayát” means “Sadvidhánaḿ karotu”, “guide towards bliss”.

So the primary factor that deserves development or exaltation is the intellect, the human intellect. The intellect should be purified. When the intellect is purified, when piety is established in the intellect, everything is obtained. And then, what is to be the final goal of this intellect? It is to be purified, very good, but after purification, how is this intellect to be utilized? What should be the final desideratum of the intellect, where is it to go? It has been said,

Yathá darpańábháva ábhásahánao múkaḿ vidyate kalpanáhiinamekam;
Tathá dhiiviyoge nirábhásako yah sah nityo’palabdhi svarupeo’hamátmá.

The intellect is like a mirror, and Parama Puruśa is reflected on that mirror. That portion of Parama Puruśa reflected on that mirror is the jiivátmá.

Suppose there is a red flower and there are twenty mirrors in a room. You will see one original flower and twenty reflected flowers. The original flower is Parama Puruśa, and those reflected flowers are jiivátmá. The reflected flowers are jiivátmá, and the original flower is Pratyagátmá. Here the special name for Parama Puruśa is Pratyagátmá. The Entity that witnesses its reflected counterparts is Pratyak, pratyak+átmá=Pratyagátmá.

Now, when the reflecting mirror is free from all impurities, you will get a better reflection. The mental reflection of Paramátmá in you will be better if your mirror is in perfect condition. So you should keep your mental mirror always in perfect condition. And in order to do this, what are you to do? You are to purify it with the help of sádhaná and jana sevá. These two factors, sádhaná and jana sevá, will keep the mental mirror in proper condition, in good condition. This phase may be termed the phase of Savikalpa. But what is your final goal, what is the Supreme Desideratum? Savikalpa, or Saguńásthiti, is not your final Desideratum. You will have to go forward. It is not the Supreme Desideratum, it is not everything for you.

It has been asked, “If all those mirrors reflecting that original flower are taken away, what will happen?” The original flower will remain non-reflected. So if you remove your mental plate, you will be one with the Supreme. If the mirror comes near the original flower, and becomes one with the original flower, there cannot be any reflection. And that stage is the stage of Nirguńásthiti.

Now, how to do it? There is no alternative but to take the path of, to resort to, devotion. How are you to move towards the original flower, towards the original entity? You know, everything is moving around the Supreme Nucleus. How can you become one with that Nucleus? You will have to move towards the Nucleus, decreasing the length of your radius. And how to decrease the length of your radius? You will have to create devotion within your “I” feeling. So the rśi says that when the intellect is no longer in a position to bear the reflection, that is, when that mirror becomes one with the original Entity, there won’t be any reflection.

Now, how are you to convert your “I” feeling, or your mental mirror, into nothing? The only way, the only approach, is complete surrender.

“O Supreme Entity, You may be great, You may be the Nucleus of the entire world, You may be infinite, and I finite; You may be Great, and I may be small, You may be everything, and I may be nothing; but this much You cannot ignore, You cannot deny: You cannot deny that I am the child and that You are the Father. So I have a birthright to sit on Your lap. You cannot deny it.”

So each and every entity has the right to move towards Him, and to be one with Him. And when the mind becomes one with Him, the mirror is lost. There cannot be any more reflection. There cannot be any more Jiivátmá. Jiiva becomes one with Shiva. “Pásha baddha bhavet jiiva, páshmukta bhavet Shiva” – Jiiva will become one with Shiva. This is the human goal. This is the Desideratum.

Chapter 19	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Púrńamadah Púrnamidaḿ púrńát púrnámudacyate.
Púrńasya púrńamádáya púrńamevávashisyate.

The Non-attributional Entity is infinite, and the Attributional Entity is also infinite. And when this latter Infinite Entity is taken away from the formed Infinite Entity, the remainder is also infinite. So it is very difficult to use any article of speech for Him. But even so, that existential Entity is known as the singular Entity – “Ekah devah sarvabhutesu gúŕha.”

Why do we say that, when we know, common sense knows, and philosophers also say, that the Supreme Entity is infinite? Why, even then, do we say “One”? We know He is infinite, even then we say He is One – why? Because we find no other, no second, infinite entity; that is why we say He is a singular Entity. Although infinite, He is One, because of the absence of any second entity. So we find no alternative but to say that He is One.

And where does that singular Entity lie, and what is the nature of the singular Entity? Since the singular Entity is One, His stance remains unchallenged forever, but what sort of entity is He, or is It? He is deva. What is deva? The word comes from the root “div”, which means “the Supreme vibrational entity” or “the Supreme vibratory entity” – that which vibrates everything. He Himself is vibration personified, and He by His nature vibrates everything. He is the Supreme motivation. Wherever there is vibration, it is deva.

But He is not an ordinary deva. He is the collection of all vibrations, so He is Mahádeva. He is the Controller of all our vibrations, that’s why He is Mahádeva. There may be innumerable devas, but Mahádeva is the one singular Entity who controls all devas, all vibrations.

“Sarvabhuteśu gúd́hah” – He lies covered in each and every expressed entity. He lies coverted in each and every manifestation. Those manifestations may or may not come within the scope of the sensory and motor organs. Now, you may say, does He lie covert in each and every expressed entity, and doesn’t He remain beyond the expressed entities? To the latter the answer is no. He is both within and without. He is within and without the entities, so He is the Controller of all actions. He is Karmádhyakśa. He is Sarvavyápii, all-pervading – “Sarvavyápii sarvabodhantarátmá”. He is within each and every expressed entity, and also He is without each and every expressed entity, because He is Sarvavyápii.

“Sarvabhútántarátmá” – He is all-pervading, all-pervasive. He is beyond the scope of this expressed universe, although He functions within the expressed universe also. So when one is to become one with Him, one will have to go beyond the periphery of all these expressions and manifestations. One will have to place one’s mind above the jurisdiction of this phenomenal world.

Chapter 20	Ánanda Vacanámrtam Part 3

Yesterday I said why He is called Eka and Deva nam deva and why He is all-pervasive and why He is always both within and without the universe. And He is Sarvavyápii, all-pervasive. It’s a fact, but how and why is He Sarvavyápii? And what’s the meaning of “sarva”?

I told you in the past that the word sarva means “all things”. In the word sarva there are three letters, rather, three acoustic roots: they are “sa”, “ra” and “va”. For each and every vibrational expression there is a particular acoustic root: there cannot be any vibrational expression without an acoustic root. Wherever there is any vibration, wherever there is any expression, there is some sound. That sound may or may not be audible, but the sound exists. And wherever there is any vibration, there must be some colour. That colour may or may not be visible, but the colour is there.

So for all the Cosmic expressions, there are fifty pencils of vibration – not fifty vibrations, but fifty pencils of vibration. And if we analyse properly, we get about one thousand vibrations. And that is why the pineal gland, the controlling body or controlling structure of those one thousand vibrations in the human body, is called “sahasrara cakra”, that is, “controlling one thousand vibrations”. But those one thousand vibrations come within fifty pencils of vibration, and those fifty pencils have sound, they have colour.

And on the basis of these fifty vibrations the Saḿskrta alphabetical order has been created. The first vibrational pencil is “a” and the last one is “ksa” – total of fifty, sixteen svara and thirty-four vyaiṋjana, sixteen vowels and thirty-four consonants.

Now these sounds, starting with “a”, though they are sounds, at the same time have their respective colours. And because they are not only sound but also colour, and because the Saḿskrta word for “colour” is “varna”, these fifty letters are also known as “varńa málá”.⁽¹⁾ Actually, they are both shabda málá and varńa málá. And because the first letter is “a” and the last one is “kśa”, the alphabet is called “akśa málá”.

You see that the Rk Vaedika pronunciation of “śa” (when combined with “ka”) is “ksha”, and the Yajur Vaedika pronunciation is “kha”. So you may say “aksha málá” or you may say “akha málá”; they are equally correct.

The first sound is “a”, the last is “kśa”, that’s why it is known as “akśa málá”. And that Parama Puruśa on whose infinite space these akśa málás are dancing, are being radiated, through Parama Prakrti, the Cosmic Operative Principle, may be suitably termed “Rudra” + “aksa” = “Rudrákśa”. These letters are not only sounds, they are not only colours, they are acoustic roots also.

And you know the first letter, “a”. “A” represents creation. Whenever you are going to create anything, mentally or physically, that tendency of your mind and that dexterity of your hand is represented by the sound “a”. Hence the sound “a” is the acoustic root of creation. And because before creation nothing can happen, because creation is the first or primordial phase of everything, “a” is the first letter.

Similarly, in the field of consonants, the first one is “ka”. Why is “ka” the first consonant? Because “ka” is the acoustic root of objectivated Brahma, or Kárya Brahma, the effected form of creation. The sound of creation is “a”, and the first sound emanating from that created being is “ka”; that’s why “ka” is the first consonant, Kárańa Brahma. A-u-ma, particularly “a”, is Kárańa Brahma, Causal Brahma, the causal counterpart. And for the effect counterpart the acoustic root is “ka”. Hence “ka” is the first consonant in “Kárya Brahma”.

In Saḿskrta the sound or the letter “ka” has three meanings. First “ka” means “Kárańa Brahma”. In Buddhist philosophy Kárya Brahma is called “Saḿvrtti bodhicitta”. “Kaḿ saḿvrtti bodhicittam pálayati iti kápálika” – He who protects the created universe, he who is engaged in the pálana kriyá of the expressed universe, is kápálika. The second meaning of “ka” is the expressed universe. And the third meaning of “ka” is “water”. And one day I told you that “Kena arthát jalena toyena chaditaḿ ityarthe kaccha” – “land surrounded by water is known as ”Kaccha“.” And you known one aquatic plant that is used as a leafy vegetable, called “karmi” in Hindi, “kalmi” in Bengali, “kalambii” is Saḿskrta.

Similarly, all fifty letters are acoustic roots of different expressions. Among them there is one letter, “sa”. You shouldn’t forget the sound. “Sa”, “sha” and “śa”. “Sa” is the acoustic root of the sentient principle, Sattvaguńa. “Sha” is the acoustic root of the mutative principle, Rajoguńa. And “śa” is the acoustic root of the static principle, Tamoguńa. “Va” is the acoustic root of Dharma, and “ra” is the acoustic root of energy, electricity, magnetism. All energies are represented by the acoustic root “ra”. That’s why it is the old system of this country to prefix the word “Shrii” before the name. “Sha” represents Rajoguńa, “ra” represents energy, and this in the feminine becomes “shrii”. “Shrii” means the man who wants to have mutative activity and that his existence be full of energy.

Now “sa”. When Parama Puruśa is first expressing Himself, first being attributionalized, then we can represent His qualities or the binding principle thereon, by the sound “sa” because the principle is Sattvaguńii in that phase. And the principle is called “Kaośikii Shakti”. Then, in the process of creation, what happens? The process is served by energy, that is “ra”. And whenever something is created, there must be some characteristics, or wonts, or properties, in it. Water drenches. Drenching is its property. And where this property of drenching is lacking, we will not recognize it as water. If fire cannot burn, it will not be recognized as fire. So each and every entity has its special wont. “Sa”, “ra”, “va” – each and every entity has its origin in the sentient principle, represented by the acoustic root “sa”; each and every entity has energy in it, represented by the sound “ra”; and each and every entity has its own Dharma. (Human Dharma is called “Bhágavata Dharma”. For each and every human being there is a Dharma, and that Dharma is Bhágavata Dharma. If that Dharma is lacking, if there is no expression of that Dharma from a human body, we will say that that person is not a human being, that that person is worse than an animal.) So “Sa”, “ra”, “va” – “Sarva ucyate.” Because of the assemblance of these three letters, we say “sarva”, meaning “everything”; everything is guided by this principle.

So “sarvavyápii” – in each and every entity, that is, sarva, He is pervading. He is all-pervading, all-pervasive. And where does this sarva reside? This sarva is the attributionalized form of that Non-attributional Entity.

And in this Sarva there is a Nucleus; i.e., the witnessing portion of this Sarva is the Nucleus, and the witnessed portion of Sarva is all created beings. And I said once that all those created beings are moving around that Nucleus, that Witnessing Entity. And the march of the witnessed entities towards the Nucleus is their spiritual advancement. What is spiritual advancement? It is the march from electronic imperfection towards nuclear perfection.

“Sarvavyápii sarvabhútántarátmá.” “Sarvabhúta” means “all created entities”. “Bhúta” means “created being”: root “bhu” + “kta” = “bhúta”, that is, “come into being”. “Bhútatakál” means “past tense” – “that which already happened”. And if we write “bhuta” it means “ghost”. (But this is not a Saḿskrta word. The Saḿskrta word for ghost is “preta”, not “bhuta”.) Now there may be a question, can antarátmá, the spirit, or the jiivátmá, exist only in living beings? “Sarvabhúta” means stone, metal, wood, everything – whatever has been created comes within the scope of “bhúta”. So the question is, is there any antarátmá or jiivátmá in all those inanimate beings? Certainly there is, but due to their undeveloped stage of mind, undeveloped condition of mind, the jiivátmá, or antarátmá, is not in a dominating role, is not in a prominent role. But the jiivátmá is there. Because of the mind being in a dormant form, the expression of jiivátmá is not clear, is not in a dominant form, in a dominating form. So it is the antarátmá of Sarvabhúta, of all created beings from Brahmá to stamba. What is “Brahmá” here? “Brahmá” means “the creative faculty”. The Supreme Entity creates, He nourishes and preserves. He destroys. When He creates He is called Brahmá. He is the same Entity; Brahmá, Viśńu and Maheshvara are not separate entities. When creating He is known as Brahmá, when preserving He is known as Viśńu, and when destroying He is known as Maheshvara.

I told you that the same man, Rámajiivana, is known as Ráma to his father, as Rámu at work – and his children say “Bábujii”, and his students “Master Sahib”. And when he is moving along the street wearing a t́opii⁽²⁾, the táuṋgávála⁽³⁾ will say, “Hey t́opii! Hey t́opii! Hey t́opii!” He becomes a t́opii. But the man is that single man Rama.

And similarly, here, these three faculties, Brahmá, Viśńu and Maheshvara, are of the same Entity. So when He creates – I told you that the acoustic root of creation is “a” – when He creates, He is “Brahma” + “a”. What will be the result of the sandhi? “Brahmá”. And that’s why He is known as Brahmá.

“Ábrahmastamba.” From the creative faculty, Brahma, to a stamba – stamba means “blade of grass” – everything is His creation. So His reflections are there everywhere. Nobody is negligible, nobody is insignificant. Everybody, everything is significant - all things carry some meaning. And why do they carry some meaning? Because they are reflections of Parama Puruśa. “Sarvabhútántarátmá.”

And He is Karmádhyakśa. In Ánanda Sútram it is written, “Puruśah akartá”. “Akartá” means that He is not associated with krdhátu. He is not associated with the root verb “kr”, but He is associated with the permission for creation. Without His permission, Prakrti cannot create anything. So although He is not directly associated with creation, He is the Supreme Supervisory Faculty. He is the Supreme Supervisor. In a college the principal may or may not teach, may or may not hold any class, but they supervise the work of the entire teaching staff. So Parama Puruśa is Adhyakśa, “adhi” + “akśa”, that is He sees. Nobody remains covert, nothing remains secret, in the actional sphere or in the sphere of psychic vibration. He knows everything. So He is known as Karmádhyakśa. Now, those who are at the same time wise, and clever, and cunning, must be in close contact and in sincere love with that Karmádhyakśa, because everything depends upon His Grace. Human beings are very weak; without His Grace nothing can be done.

Footnotes

(1) “Málá” means “garland”, so “varńa málá” means “garland of letters”. –Eds.

(2) Cap.

(3) Carriage driver.