| Ashrams, Saints and Saadhana |
 |
By Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
[25th
December, 2000. A group of Western seekers – mostly
Americans – had come to Narayanashrama Tapovanam (Trichur)
from the Integral Yoga Institute, Coimbatore.
Swamini Divyanandaji from Integral Yoga Institute wrote to
Poojya Swamiji: “We are thrilled that a group of Western
devotees are going to have your Darshan on this Holy Day of
Christmas.Nothing can give us greater happiness than to be
with One who has evolved the Christ consciousness from
within himself….”
Somehow,
they got delayed on the way, and there was not much time for
Satsang. Only a short question-answer session could be
arranged. Poojya Swamiji welcomed them with a long hearty
laugh, making them relaxed. He then recited a few invocatory
verses and asked:-]
Let
me know what do you want from me? What am I to do?
–
Blessings.
Blessings?
Blessings you get whenever you come here. Even when we were
told that a group is coming, blessings started flowing. What
is the role of the sun? – To spread illumination. Just as
the sun spreads the rays of light, we are spreading the rays
of blessings. What else shall we do?
Q.
Would you meditate with us?
See,
to tell you something about meditation is one thing and to
meditate with you is another. I don’t generally sit for
such sudden meditation with people. I do sit with seekers. I
initiate people into the process of meditation and for that
I generally sit alone with them, closing the door. Then,
with such initiated people I also sit in a group for
meditation. But suddenly I don’t do it. It is not
necessary and desirable also.
Q.
Tell us something about the Ashram. What is an Ashram?
About
Ashram? Well, do you know, any spiritual institution, in our
traditional language, is called an Ashram? An Ashram
is actually a growth from and around an individual Saint.
Initially, it is an individual who becomes ascetic. He
becomes spiritual and becomes exclusively so. The Ashram
comes later, as a natural flowering of his spiritual
personality and mission. The Ashram grows basically in
response to the needs of the spiritual seekers and devotees
who happen to come to him for knowledge and guidance. On one
hand, the activities of the Ashram provide a basis for
spiritual saadhana of the seekers and devotees residing at
or related to the Ashram. On the other hand, they are verily
meant for the long- term welfare and evolution of the
society as a whole.
A
seeker grows into a Saint by virtue of an inner growth or
evolution. May be he had begun his pursuit when he was a
householder. Gradually his saadhana grew in intensity, and
at a point of time he felt that he must pursue his goal
exclusively. When that time comes he becomes an ascetic. May
be he assumes a special kind of robe and lives away from his
family. Ascetic means what? His pursuits are no longer of a
worldly nature or character. He pursues the spiritual path
in a wholesome manner. A householder also may be pursuing
spirituality, but he may not pursue it in an exclusive
manner.
You
are born in a family. Initially you have the blood
relationship with the parents. From same parents, other
children are also born and they become your brothers and
sisters. Gradually, if you get married, you have a
matrimonial relationship which gives rise to further blood
relationships. So, the household is a place where you
generally have blood and matrimonial relationships. Once a
person becomes an ascetic he will naturally become an
exception to the house. He will not be interested in blood
relationship, he will not particularly react to the blood
and matrimonial relationship.
There
are people who take to sannyaasa after a spell of married
life. There are people who shun marriage and take up
sannyasa directly from their student life. Both are there. A
Sannyaasin is a renunciate. Leaving his home and profession,
he surrenders his life completely to Chance or Providence.
He may either roam about or get settled somewhere. Wherever
he stays, people may come to him for spiritual knowledge and
guidance. And through such spiritual interactions, new
spiritual relationships grow, leading finally to the growth
of an Ashram around him. Instead of blood and matrimonial
relationships of a household, the spiritual relationship
forms the basis of an Ashram.
This
is one aspect of an Ashram. Another aspect is that an Ashram
is always different from a temple or a church. A temple or
church is a place for the worship of God. I don’t know all
about your churches. Something I know – either there are
some pictures, or there are some idols. Basically, there is
an external focus for you to pray. In the Hindu temples, the
focus is the idol – a symbol of God.
But
in an Ashram, the focus is the Saint. So we call it Guru-sannidhi
– presence or proximity of the Teacher. It is the abode of
the Guru. Here people do not come for praying to God.
They come to know about God and to pursue the path of
God-realization.
So,
first of all, we see the Saint and then we start
communicating with him. What will you communicate? Whatever
is in your mind and heart. If it is a seeking, you express
your seeking. If it is distress or torment, you seek redress
from him. If you have inquiries, you seek clarity. So, you
confess your heart and mind and ask for his guidance. All
this is not possible in a temple, before the idol.
If
you go before an idol, the poor idol doesn’t know whether
you have prostrated before him! It has no eyes to see. The
idol became an idol because we have installed it. We have
pronounced that this idol is godly. Even the divinity of
the idol is imparted by the priest who installs it according
to the installation science using his own inner power.
Q.
Swamiji, some people say that the idol speaks to them
when they pray. What is that?
The
communication between the devotee and the idol is not
perceivable by others. It is an affair between him and the
idol. Inasmuch as it is so, it is only in the devotee’s
mind. If it were not so, others also would be equally
hearing and seeing what the devotee experienced.
So,
an Ashram is a spiritual abode where a Saint lives, and
where one can go to communicate and interact with the Saint,
so that the problems or the quests of his mind and heart can
be treated, and he can get clarity, peace and fulfillment.
Generally people are afflicted and they come to get relieved
of the affliction. Some people come with a curiosity or
inquiry. Others may come with some specific objective –
say, a person is going to start a business, and he wants
Swamiji to bless him for success in his business.
Rarely
one comes with the real quest for the ultimate Truth. He
wants to know the Truth and he is unable to have clarity
from any quarter. So he goes to a saintly Knower who has
experienced the Truth himself. The Teacher speaks to him,
and explains the Truth again and again variously, until at
last the seeker feels comfortable with his own enlightenment
and knowledge. The communication and interaction with a wise
Teacher can grow to the extent that the seeker equally
becomes a Knower. The role of the Knower is to make the
seeker like himself.
Q.
How does this happen?
I
will explain. What happens when you keep some green
plantains in the company of ripe plantains? The green ones
ripen faster. The same thing happens when a seeker lives in
the company of a Knower. What do you get when you come near
fire? Heat. What will you get then when you come close to a
Knower?
–
Knowledge.
Yes.
All your interactions with the Knower will have only one
effect on you – knowledge. Because he will communicate and
transmit only knowledge, knowledge and knowledge. I have
been speaking to you. With every word, what did I transmit?
Is it not knowledge? And what else is there? It is energy.
-
Energy?
Yes!
Energy – far superior than objects. Along with the
knowledge and enlightenment, don’t you feel inspired? We
call it peace, bliss, freedom, a sense of relaxation,
composure, elevation and buoyancy. All these are natural
associates of spiritual knowledge.
Well,
have you understood what is an Ashram? Now, this particular
Ashram is set as an abode of learning – it is a place of
learning. We propagate and disseminate Brahmavidya. What is Brahmavidya?
– It is the knowledge relating to the supreme Reality.
That alone is being done here. There are a number of books;
all of them deal with only this subject. We have a monthly
magazine called “Vicharasetu – the path of
introspection”. Whatever we write there is about
Brahmavidya. The only treasure of India is Brahmavidya.
‘Vidya’
is a Sanskrit word meaning 'knowledge'. ‘Brahma’
is the Sanskrit word for the supreme Reality. What is the
supreme Reality?
The
world is endless; it is stupendous and imposing; but the
fact remains that it is transient, fleeting. The Reality is
not changeful. Generally, when you live in this world, you
miss this fact. You are so overwhelmed with the changeful
variety, that you miss the unchanging Reality behind all
these. Brahmavidya deals with the single 'Subject' of
all objects. It teaches you to find out the Subject which is
far more extensive than all the objects put together.
Q.
How to find the Reality?
How
to find? – It is right within your being! Actually you are
interacting with it every time you think. Where is the
thinking process taking place? Your attention is always on
the objects of your thought. Try to focus your attention on
the knowing process, until at last you are able to get into
the source, the Knower. That is why we meditate. The purpose
of meditation is to discover this Knower – your real
identity.
Q.
Swamiji, you teach your students; they understand
theoretically. But how do you teach them to experience, to
be?
See,
in India we always have the benefit of Satsang – the
spiritual association. Great emphasis is given to the
association of the Wise. We say that one must get exposed to
the Truth through a Knower. After listening to the
exposition of spiritual truth repeatedly, one gradually
feels like getting initiated in the path of practical
saadhana. After taking initiation, some pursue saadhana
earnestly. They become closer and closer to the Guru and
pursue the process of mind purification. And, out of many
who tries, some may reach the goal.
Q.
So, it takes time!
Generally.
Q.
What is the saadhana? Is it meditational?
Meditation
is only one part of it. Nowadays, I am emphasizing more and
more the pre and post meditational saadhana. I call it ‘interactional
saadhana’.
People
are meditating but they are not able to strike the right
chord. Even after decades of practice, they say, they have
not made any progress. It is because they lack purity of
mind, subtlety and refinement of intelligence. They
don’t have qualities like love, sympathy and tolerance.
The
possessor of 10 billion rupees will bequeath all the money
to his only child – not even to his brother’s child who
may be living in privation. See how constricted the mind is!
Do the children need so much of inherited property? Mostly
it will spoil them! But the parents don’t understand. This
is the constricted nature of the householders. That
aspiration for expansion of the mind and heart is not there
in them. That is why they fail to succeed in
spiritual saadhana.
So,
we try to prevail upon them to have an expansive mind, to
have concern for others, to have enough control over the
senses. Once we understand that the greater joy is in
expansion and sharing, our life becomes different. It is our
birthright to generate joy from within.
I
think, you will agree with me that possessing many things we
can still be miserable, yet we can be blissful while
possessing nothing.
Desire
is the killer of the mind. That is the robber of all
contentment. When you have no desire you have fulfillment.
You are joyous when the object of desire is gained. You
think that the joy comes from the fulfillment of desire.
Actually it comes from the extinction of desire. When a
desire is fulfilled it becomes extinct. Absence of the
desire enables you to feel the joy that comes spontaneously
from within you, until another desire constricts the mind.
So, if you can have a mind free of all desires, it is equal
to that mind where all desires have been fulfilled.
Q.
But, what about the desire for enlightenment?
Initially
it will be there. Thereafter, when you become enlightened,
that also will drop. As long as it is there, you are not
enlightened. In fact, the desire for enlightenment should
make you free of all worldly desires. And once you are free
of all worldly desires, the desire for enlightenment also
will drop.
Q.
Swamiji, how big is this Ashram?
This
is a small Ashram. We have only about 5 acres of land, part
of it having a very steep slope. It is primarily a place of
learning. I give lectures; we run a magazine. Whenever
people come here, we talk to them and look after them.
Generally, people who are already exposed to me come here to
stay. Very rarely others also come. Because of my moving
about and giving lectures, people get exposed to me through
my talks or books or the journal.
Q.
How much importance do you give to Sanskrit?
I
always speak on the basis of Sanskrit texts alone, and that
too, very ancient texts. I don’t use anything else. In
India the listeners are generally attuned to Sanskrit
although many may not know Sanskrit well. When they come to
close quarters I teach them Sanskrit in a practical manner,
to serve the purpose of understanding the texts. I do not go
very much into the linguistic details.
Q.
Will you tell us about your teacher and your awakening
experience?
I
have already written about my Gurudev in the book “My
beloved Baba”. I have written there how an engineer became
a Knower, how I happened to go to him and how I became what
I am now. The whole story and the intricacies of Guru-sishya
relationship are explained there. It will be very useful for
the earnest seekers. It is a book of saadhana – devoid
of all mysticism and miracles. If you read it a few
times it will give you a very good insight.
Q.
How is it that in India you have Guru and spiritual
traditions, but in America we don’t?
My
dear girl, your American society is only 200 years old. It
has to live 2000 years; then only healthy traditions will be
established. But, with the modern communication and
international relations, it should be possible in a much
lesser time. I bless America and Americans only for one
thing: Very soon they must develop this ascetic
tradition. There must be ascetics and Sannyaasins there,
who will live and move about freely as we do in India –
for the benefit of the society and also supported by the
society.
We
are supposed to move in this world only for one reason:
There are some seekers who want to know the truth. Many of
them may be poor people, handicapped in many ways. When we
move about, providentially they come in touch with us and
get exposed to the spiritual treasure. That is why we are
expected to travel. It is called “sancaara-samaadhi”.
We don’t stick to a place.
We
move from place to place so that people in different parts
will get an opportunity to get exposed to our spiritual
heritage. When they come to know that a Sannyaasin has come
they will come to see us, make their inquiries and get a
spiritual touch. Sometimes they get initiated, do saadhana
and get salvation.
In
this way America should also develop proper spiritual,
ascetic orientation in a very organized institutional
manner. Your society should start recognizing such ascetics
and must play host to them, welcome them, have Satsang with
them.
So,
I bless America!
Harih
Om Tat Sat. O – M.
[After
a pause, Poojya Swamiji rejoined: “Well, I shall sit with
you in silence for a few minutes, as you have desired. Close
your eyes and be relaxed. Don’t become tense.” Poojya
Swamiji chanted OM a few more times, and then ‘Silence’
descended in the Ashram verandah; perhaps, more so in the
minds of the listeners. Many of the faces looked radiant.
Well, is it not an experiential proof of what a Saint
transmits, apart from his words of wisdom?]
* * *
