Guidance Of Sages & Scriptures of India
GUIDANCE FOR MEDITATION AND LIFE
14.
The contacts of the senses with the objects, Oh son of Kunti, which cause heat and cold and pleasure and pain, have a beginning and an end; they are impermanent; endure them bravely, Oh Arjuna!
15.
That firm man whom surely these afflict not, Oh chief among men, to whom pleasure and pain are the same, is fit for attaining immortality!
By Walpola Rahula
The Buddha, whose personal name was Siddhartha, and family name Gautama, lived in North India in the 6th century B.C. His father Suddhodana, was the ruler of the kingdom of the Sakyas (in modern Nepal). His mother was queen Maya. According to the custom of the time, he was married quite young, at the age of sixteen, to a beautiful and devoted young princess named Yasodahara. The young prince lived in his palace with every luxury at his command. But all of a sudden, confronted with the reality of life and the suffering of mankind, he decided to find the solution – the way out of this universal suffering.
At the age of 29, soon after the birth of his only child, Rahula, he left his kingdom and became an ascetic in search of his solution. For six years the ascetic Gautama wandered about the valley of Ganges, meeting famous religious teachers, studying and following their systems and methods, and submitting himself to rigorous ascetic practices. They did not satisfy him. So he abandoned all traditional religions and their methods and went his own way.
It was thus that one evening, seated under a tree (since then known as the Bodhi- or Bo-tree, the “Tree of Wisdom”), on the bank of the river Neranjara at Buddha-aya (near Gaya in modern Bihar), at the age of 35, Gautama attained enlightenment, after which he was known as the Buddha, ‘The Enlightened One’.
After his Enlightenment, Gautama the Buddha delivered his first sermon to a group of five ascetics, his old colleagues, in the Deer Park at Isipatana (modern Sarnath) near Benares. From that day, for 45 years, he taught all classes of men and women – kings and peasants, Brahmins and outcasts, bankers and beggars, holy men and robbers – without making the slightest distinction between them. He recognized no differences of caste or social groupings, and the Way he preached was open to all men and women who were ready to understand and follow it. At the age of 80, the Buddha passed away at Kusinara (in modern Uttar Pradesh in India).
Today Buddhism is found in Ceylon, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Tibet, China, Japan, Mongolia, Korea, Laos, Formosa, in some parts of India1, Pakistan and Nepal, and also in Soviet Union. The Buddhist population of the world is over 500 million.
1 Buddha is a Sage from India and is considered an Incarnation of God. That is the kind of respect Hindus have for Buddha. It is said that excessive zeal of some followers and misrepresentation of Hinduism led Buddhism to be less prevalent.
Everything depends on one’s mind. Nothing can be achieved without purity of mind. It is said, ‘The aspirant may have received the grace of the Guru, the Lord, and the Vaishnava; but he comes to grief without the grace of the ‘one’. That ‘one’ is the mind. The mind of the aspirant should be gracious to him.
Tripura Rahasya : The Secret of the Three States of Existence
Sri Ramana Maharshi considered “Tripura Rahasya” as one of the greatest works that expounded Advaita Philosophy. He often quoted from it and regretted that it was not available in English. As a consequence Sri Munagala Venkataramaiah, an ardent devotee of Sri Ramana Maharshi, took up the work of translation in 1936.
CHAPTER I
1. Salutation to Aum (undifferentiated Brahman, and yet the) Primal and Blissful cause, the transcendental consciousness shining as the unique mirror of the wonderful universe:
Note: – The one undifferentiated Brahman signified by Aum polarises as Sat-chit-ananda taking shape as Parameswari who, in Her crystal purity, displays the variegated phenomena which gyrate in equipoise within Her. Neutral Brahman and the polarised Brahman are thus interchangeable. The idea of the mirror implies the non-separateness of the object from the subject (conscious being).
2. Harithayana said :
“Undisturbed you have heard, O Narada! the Mahatmya (The Gospel) of Sri Tripura, which teaches the way to Transcendence.”
Note: – Thus begins the latter part of the book; the first part deals with a narrative of Devi (Sakti – Sri Tripura), Her worship and Her grace. Tripura literally means the three cities. They are the states – Jagrat, Svapna and Shushupti. The undercurrent of consciousness in all of them, remaining unaffected, is metaphorically called the Resident Mistress by name Sri Tripura. The procreative faculty generating new beings and the link of altruistic love connecting the offspring to the parent are personified in the Mother. Hence the feminine termination of Tripura. “The way to transcendence” signifies that interest in Tripura purifies the mind and creates the zeal for enquiry into the Truth. The listener is now fit for the ensuing discourse on wisdom.
3. I shall now discourse on wisdom, which is unique because one will be permanently freed from misery, by hearing it.
4. This is the concentrated extract of the essence of the Vedic, Vaishnava, Saiva, Satkta and Pasupata lore taken after a deep study of them all.
5-7. No other course will impress the mind so much as this one on Wisdom which was once taught by that illustrious master Dattatreya to Parasurama. The teaching was born of his own experience, logical in sense and quite unique in its nature. One who cannot apprehend Truth even after hearing this must be dismissed as a silly fool to be ranked among the insentient and accursed of God; Siva himself cannot make such an one gain wisdom.
8. I now proceed to relate that incomparable teaching. Listen! Oh, the lives of Sages are most sacred!
9-11. Narada too served me to learn the same from me; for, service to sages enables one to apprehend their innate kindness, just as the sense of smell helps one to detect the intrinsic odour of musk.
As Parasurama, the son of Jamadagni, already pure-minded and pleasing to all, was listening to the Gospel of Tripura from the lips of Dattatreya, he became abstracted in devotion and so growing still for a time, his mind became still purer.
12-13. Then as the mind relaxed, his eyes glowed in rapture and his hair stood on end, as if his ecstasy could not be contained within but must escape through the very pores of his body. He then fell to the ground before his master Datta.
14. Again he arose, and being filled with ecstasy, his voice choked with emotion as he said: ‘Lucky am I; blessed am I; through Thy Grace O Lord!’
15. That expanse of Grace called Siva, here incarnate as my Guru, is indeed gracious to me; gaining whose pleasure even the Lord of creation, looks a pigmy.
16. Does not the God of Death verily merge into the Self, if only one’s master is pleased with one?
That Supreme Being is gracious indeed, just in so much as is my Master, for reasons unknown to me.
Note: – The meaning is that the Guru, being God, is mercy incarnate and requires no incentive to show grace.
17. The Guru’s grace gained, I have gained all! Thou hast now kindly opened out to me the glory of Tripura.
18. I now desire fervently to worship Her Transcendental Majesty. Kindly tell me, my Master, how it is to be done.
19-22. Being thus requested, Datta Guru satisfied himself as to the fitness of Parasurama, whose zeal for and devotion to Tripura worship were intense; and he duly initiated him into the method of Her worship. After initiation into the right method, which is more sacred than all others and leads directly to Realisation, Parasurama learned from the sweet tips of Sri Guru all the details regarding recitation figures for worship and different meditations, one after another – like a honey bee collecting honey from flowers. Bhargava (i.e., Parasurama) was overjoyed.
23. Being then permitted by his holy master, he thirsted to practise the sacred lore; he went round his master, made obeisance to him and retired to the Mahendra Hill.
Note: – To walk round gently and peaceful, always keeping the centre to one’s right, is a sign of respect to the object in the centre.
24. There, having built a clean and comfortable hermitage, he was engaged for twelve years in the worship of Tripura.
25. He incessantly contemplated the figure of that Holy Mother Tripura, performing at the same time his daily tasks and the special ceremonies connected with Her worship and recitations; twelve years thus passed in a flash. Then on a certain day while the son of Jamadagni was sitting at ease, he fell into a reverie.
27. “I did not understand even a little of what Samvarta told me whom I met formerly on the way.”
28. “I have also forgotten what I asked my Guru. I heard from him the Gospel of Tripura, …
29. … but it is not clear to me what Samvarta said in reply to my query on creation.”
30. “He mentioned the story of Kalakrit, but went no further, knowing that I was not fit for it.”
31. “Even now I understand nothing of the workings of the universe. Where does it rise from, in all its grandeur?”
32. “Where does it end? How does it exist? I find it to be altogether transient.”
33. “But worldly happenings seem permanent; why should that be? Such happenings seem strangely enough to be unconsidered.”
34. “How strange! They are on a par with the blind man led by the blind!”
35. “My own case furnishes an example in point. I do not even remember what happened in my childhood.”
36. “I was different in my youth, again different in my manhood, still more so now; and in this way, my life is constantly changing.”
37-38. “What fruits have been reaped as the result of these changes is not clear to me. The end justifies the means as adopted by individuals according to their temperaments in different climes and in different times. What have they gained thereby? Are they themselves happy?
39. “The gain is only that which is considered to be so by the unthinking public. I however cannot deem it so, seeing that even after gaining the so-called end, the attempts are repeated.
Note: – Since there is no abiding satisfaction in the gain, it is not worth having.
40-41. “Well, having gained one purpose, why does man look for another? Therefore, what the man is always after should be esteemed the only real purpose – be it accession of pleasure or removal of pain. There can be neither, so long as the incentive to effort lasts.”
42. “The feeling of a need to work in order to gain happiness (being the index of misery) is the misery of miseries. How can there be pleasure or removal of pain so long as it continues?
43-45. “Such pleasure is like that of soothing unguents placed on a scalded limb, or of the embrace of one’s beloved when one is lying pierced by an arrow in the breast; or of the sweet melodies of music heard by an advanced consumptive!
46. “Only those who need not engage in action, are happy; they are perfectly content, and self-contained, and they experience happiness which extends to all the pores of the body.
47. “Should there still be a few pleasurable moments for others, they are similar to those enjoyed by one who, while writhing with an abdominal pain, inhales the sweet odour of flowers.
48. “How silly of people with innumerable obligations ever to be busy seeking such moments of pleasure in this world!”
49. “What shall I say of the prowess of undiscriminating men? They propose to reach happiness after crossing interminable hurdles of efforts!”
50. “A beggar in the street labours as much for happiness as a mighty emperor.”
51-52. “Each of them having gained his end feels happy and considers himself blessed as if he had reached the goal of life. I too have been unwittingly imitating them like a blind man following the blind. Enough of this folly! I will at once return to that ocean of mercy – my Master.”
53. “Learning from him what is to be known, I will cross the ocean of doubts after boarding the boat of his teachings.”
54. Having resolved thus, Parasurama of pure mind immediately descended the hill in search of his Master.
55. Quickly reaching the Gandhmadan Mountain, he found the Guru sitting in padmasana posture as if illumining the whole world.
56. He fell prone before the Master’s seat and, holding the Guru’s feet with his hands, pressed them to his head.
57. On Parasurama saluting him thus, Dattatreya gave him his blessings, his face lit with love, and he bade him rise saying:
58. “Child! rise up. I see you have returned after a long time. Tell me how are you? Are you in good health?”
59. He rose as commanded by his Guru, and took his seat in front of and close to him as directed. Clasping his hands, Parasurama spoke with pleasure.
Note: – Clasping the two hands with fingers directed towards the object, is a sign of respect.
60. “Sri Guru! Ocean of Mercy! Can any one drenched with Thy kindness ever be afflicted by ailments even if destiny so decree?”
61. “How can the burning pains of illness touch one who is abiding in the refreshing moon of Thy nectarlike kindness?”
Note: – The moon is believed to be the store of nectar with which the pitris feed themselves.
62-64. “I feel happy in body and mind, being refreshed by Thy kindness. Nothing afflicts me except the desire to remain in unbroken contact with Thy holy feet. The very sight of Thy holy feet has made me perfectly happy, but there are a few longstanding doubts in my mind.”
65. “With Thy kind permission I desire to propound them.”
66. Hearing the words of Parasurama, Dattatreya, the Ocean of kindness, was pleased and said to him.
67. “Ask at once, O Bhargava, what you so much want to know and what you have so long been thinking about. I am pleased with your devotion and shall answer your questions with pleasure.”
Thus ends the First Chapter in Sri Tripura Rahasya.
[योग-वासिष्ठ – Yoga Vasishta is a dialogue between Sage Vasishta and Lord Sri Rama.]
DISPASSION
1. Salutations to that calm effulgence which is endless and unlimited by space, time etc., the pure consciousness which can be known by experience only.
2. Neither one who is totally ignorant nor one who knows the Truth is eligible to study this book. Only he who thinks ‘I am bound ; I must become free’ is entitled to study it.
3. Until one is definitely blessed by the Supreme Lord, he will not find either a proper Guru or the right Scripture.
4. Just as a steady boat, Oh Rama, is obtained from a boatman, so also the method of crossing the ocean of samsara is learnt by associating with great souls.
5. The great remedy for the long lasting disease of samsara is the enquiry, ‘Who am I ?, to whom does this samsara belong ?’, which entirely cures it.
6. Not a day should be spent in a place which does not possess the tree of a wise knower of Truth with its good fruit and cool shade.
7. The sages are to be approached even if they do not teach. Even their talks in a light vein contain wisdom.
8. The company of sages converts emptiness into fullness, death into immortality and adversity into prosperity.
9. If sages were concerned solely with their own happiness with whom could those tormented by the sorrows of samsara seek refuge?
10. That which is imparted, Oh good soul, to a worthy disciple who has become dispassionate, is the real wisdom; it is the real purport of the sacred texts and is also the comprehensive wisdom.
11. Following the customary method of teaching is only for preserving the tradition. Pure awareness results solely from the clarity of the disciple’s understanding.
12. The Self cannot be seen just by the help of the sacred texts or the Guru. The Self is seen by the Self alone with the pure intellect.
13. All the arts acquired by men are lost by lack of practice, but this art of wisdom grows steadily once it rises.
14. Just as an ornament worn round the neck is considered lost through forgetfulness and is gained when the mistake is realized, so also the Self is attained, when the delusion is removed by the words of the Guru.
15. He is indeed an unfortunate person who, not knowing his own Self, takes pleasure in sense-objects, like one who realizes too late that the food eaten by him was poisonous.
16. That perverted man who, even after knowing that worldly objects are deceptive, still thinks of them, is a jackass, not a man.
17. Even the slightest thought immerses a man in sorrow; when devoid of all thoughts he enjoys imperishable bliss.
18. Just as we experience the delusion of hundreds of year in a dream lasting an hour, so also we experience the sport of maya in our waking state.
19. He is a happy man whose mind is inwardly cool and free from attachment and hatred and who looks upon this (world) like a mere spectator.
20. He who has understood well how to abandon all ideas of acceptance and rejection and who has realized the consciousness which is within the innermost heart – his life is illustrious.
21. On the dissolution of the body, only the individual consciousness limited by the Heart ceases to exist. People lament needlessly that the Self is dead.
22. When pots, etc. are broken, the space within them becomes unlimited. So also when bodies cease to exist the Self remains eternal and unattached.
23. Nothing whatever is born or dies anywhere at any time. It is Brahman (Self) alone appearing illusorily in the form of the world.
24. The Self is more extensive than space; it is pure, subtle, undecaying and auspicious. As such how could it be born and how can it die ?
25. All this is the tranquil, One without beginning, middle or end, which cannot be said to be existent or non-existent. Know this and be happy.
26. Oh Rama, it is indeed nobler to wander begging about the streets of the outcasts, an earthen bowl in hand, than to live a life steeped in ignorance.
27. Neither disease nor poison nor adversity nor any other thing in the world, causes more suffering to men than such stupidity engendered in their bodies.
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योग-वासिष्ठ
The Brihat (the Great) Yoga Vasishta or Yoga Vaasishtha Maha Ramayana as it is also called, is a work of about 32,000 Sanskrit couplets, traditionally attributed to Valmiki, the author of Srimad Ramayana. It is a dialogue between Sage Vasishtha and Sri Rama, during which Advaita (the doctrine of nonduality) in its pure form of ajatavada (theory of non-origination) is expounded, with illustrative stories in between. This vast work was abridged some centuries ago by Abhinanda Pandita, a Kashmiri scholar, into 6,000 couplets, which go by the name of Laghu Yoga Vasishta. This is a masterpiece in itself, like the original Brihat.
Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi used to refer to Yoga Vasishta frequently and has even incorporated six couplets from it in His Supplement to Forty Verses (verses 21 to 27).
A further condensation of this work was made long ago, by an unknown author, into about 230 couplets, divided into ten chapters, as Yoga Vasishta Sara (Essence of Yoga Vasishta), of which this translation is presented for the first time. By making this condensation the author has rendered a great service to all sadhaks (seekers). This is indeed a gold mine fit for repeated reading and meditation.
This English version of the Yoga Vasishta Sara, the dialogue between Sage Vasishta and Lord Rama, is based on a translation offered by Swami Sureshananda, an old devotee of Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.
Kaivalya Upanishad
Yoga Vasishta Sara
Tripura Rahasya
Bhagavad Gita
Pathway to God
Part 1 : Intellectual Sadhana
CHAPTER THREE
WORLD
Om
The Supreme Ideal
Man’s Ultimate Aim is Realization of God.
God
is Sat-Chit-Ananda Existence, Knowledge, Power and Bliss.
He is an Omnipresent, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omniblissful Mysterious Power.
Our Soul
is A Spark of Divine Fire, A Drop in the Divine Ocean.
The World
is Full of Joy and Misery— Joy with God and Misery without Him.
Man’s Duty
is to realize God, serve Humanity, and Enjoy His Eternal Bliss.
(1) THE WORLD IS ONE BODY
God has so ordered this world that no one can keep his goodness or badness exclusively to himself. The whole world is like the human body with its various members. Pain in one member is felt in the whole body. Rot in one part must inevitably poison the whole system. Let us, therefore, cease to think in terms of the whole country. We must put faith in God and be careful for nothing. We hold our destiny in our own hands and no one but ourselves can make or mar it.
(2) UNIVERSE—A FAMILY OF NATIONS
Nations cohere because there is mutual regard among the individuals composing them. Some day we must extend the nation law to the universe, even as we have extended the family law to form nations —a larger family. God has ordained that India should be such a nation.
Indeed, Hinduism teaches us to regard the whole humanity as one indivisible undivided family.
(3) THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
Why is there evil in the world, is a difficult question to answer. I can only give what I may call a villager’s answer. If there is good, there must also be evil, just as where there is light there is also darkness. But it is true only so far as we human mortals are concerned. Before God there is nothing good, nothing evil. We may talk of His dispensation in human terms, but our language is not God’s.
I cannot account for the existence of evil by any rational method. To want to do so is to be coequal with God. I am therefore, humble enough to recognize evil as such. And I call God long suffering and patient, precisely because He permits evil in the world. I know that there is no evil in Him and yet if there is evil, He is the author of it and yet untouched by it.
(4) PAIR OF OPPOSITE FORCES
The distinction between good and evil thoughts is not unimportant. Nor do these thoughts come haphazard. They follow some law, which the scriptures have tried to enunciate. There are certain problems in mathematics, for the solution of which some workable assumptions have to be made. They help the solution of the problem. But they are purely imaginary, and have no other practical use. Similarly, psychologists have proceeded upon the assumption that a pair of opposite forces is warring against each other in the universe, of which one is divine and the other is devilish. The distinction is made by all the scriptures of the world. I say this distinction is imaginary. God is one, without a second. He alone is. He is indefinable. In reality there is no war between God and Satan.
(5) GOD’S HAND BEHIND GOOD AND EVIL
In strictly scientific sense, God is at the bottom of both good and evil. He directs the assassin’s dagger no less than the surgeon’s knife. But for all that, good and evil are, for human purposes, from each other, distinct and incompatible, being symbolical of Light and Darkness, God and Satan . . . respectively.
God’s hand is behind good, but in God’s hand it is not mere good. His hand is behind evil also but there it is no longer evil. ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ is our own imperfect language. God is above both good and evil.
It is we who entertain thoughts, and it is we ourselves who repulse them. We have, thus, to strive against ourselves. The scriptures have, therefore, said that there is duel in the world. This duel is imaginary, not real. We can, however, sustain ourselves in the world by assuming the existence of the imaginary duel
to be real.
(6) BLESSINGS OF CALAMITY
It is the universal experience that every calamity brings a sensible man down on his knees. He thinks that it is God’s answer to his sins and that he must henceforth behave better. His sins have left him hopelessly weak, and in his weakness he cried out to God for help. Thus millions of human beings used their personal calamities for self-improvement. Nations too have been known to invoke the assistance of God when calamities have overtaken them. They have abased themselves before God and appointed days of humiliation, prayer and purification.
Great Scriptures of India
