Divinizing Every Action

By Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

 

[25th January 1999. The refreshing springtime morning brought the stunning news of the gruesome murder of an Australian missionary and his two small children in Orissa. The pages of the newspapers thundered the noisy reactions of the entire world to the growing 'religious intolerance' of the age-old tolerant civilization.

The news reporters did not know - they generally do not care to know - that the same morning, in a small village of remote Kerala, about fifteen American visitors - both young and old, ladies and gentlemen - were sitting crosslegged in the Samadhi Mandir of Narayanashrama Tapovanam, listening spellbound to a Sannyaasin about some of the deepest secrets of spiritual life.  As the Sannyaasin spoke about the great heritage of India, as he revealed to them the art of divinizing every moment of human life, most of the pairs of blue eyes shed profusely - the cooling tears of bliss they might have hardly experienced before.

Perhaps, it was not so much the words, but the direct touch of the powerful radiations emanating unreservedly from a pure heart that revels in the universal Truth and the excellence of human mind and heart which knows no caste, creed or country.

Yes, this land did and does excel in producing men who set the level to which human mind and heart can rise. If at all it preaches any religion, it is the Universal Religion of Man. The Religion that divinizes every aspect of human life on earth......]

The visitors from USA, brought to the Ashram by the Integral Yoga Institute, Coimbatore, were already seated in the Samadhi Mandir. Poojya Swamiji entered, took his seat and laughed heartily, welcoming them. Then he asked what would they like to hear from him. One lady asked :

"Swamiji, please tell us what is the right attitude towards eating."

Swamiji smiled, "The right attitude about eating ? Very interesting question. Nobody has asked me this question so far. People are busy eating delicious food! Well, I have something very important to tell you. O.K."

Swamiji closed his eyes and recited a few stotras in remembrance of the lineage of Teachers. And then he started :

All of you have come here or all of you have been brought here as practitioners of integral Yoga. We, in the Ashram, are also Yogis. Yoga, when properly understood, is that process or pursuit or refinement by virtue of which our life in the world is constantly integrated and we are able to live as an integral part of the entire creation. That is the purpose of the Yogic orientation. So we are all Yogis. I don't know whether you will understand the nature of Yoga that we are embodying.

See, what did I do just now ? When she asked me to speak on how to take food, what should be the right attitude, I said O.K. and closed my eyes, and chanted a few prayers in honour of the Guru.

We honour all the Teachers right form Brahmaa, the Creator. A seeker may have a particular Teacher. That is his first linkage. But that Teacher can be traced back to a line of Teachers until at last the first man on earth. Wherefrom did he come ? The earth itself. Wherefrom did the earth come ? Do you have any doubt ? It could have come only from the primordial cause or from what you call God. We remember and honour the linkage up to that.

So, I uttered a prayer in honour of all the Gurus who have revealed the scriptures and, through the scriptures, revealed the Truth, the Ultimate Truth, the supreme Reality. Then I uttered OM, is it not ?

Before you do any act, whatsoever, try to divinize it, try to spiritualize it, try to make it holy. This is the way you should take food. It should not be like a dog eating food, or cow taking fodder. It should be the rational, knowledgeable man, the man of understanding, the man who seeks purity and sublimity, taking food in order to become purer and more sublime.

Somebody has cooked the food, and it is brought to you at the table. Neither the food nor the table will do anything to make the situation and the event holy. So, you must do something to make it holy. That should be the attitude. Eating should be made into a very sublime and spiritual act. Make sure that whenever you take food you make it a divine act.

You know, India is a great society – the oldest living society on earth ! I wonder whether you know enough about India and her great heritage. All our scriptures and scriptural compositions are pre-historic. What ? Pre-historic ! What length of history do you have ? Some 2500 or 3000 Years, is it not ? Our Mahabharata itself was composed about 5000 years back; Ramayana was composed still earlier, in the Treta-yuga; and the Vedas even before that. The Vedas were bequeathed from generation to generation as a memorized treasure of literature, from times immemorial, when pen had not even started working in the world ! Our literature - the thoughts of our Seers - attained transcendental heights in those pre-historic times. And from that time onward, till now, they have been preserved in the same form. The same Mahabharata, the same Ramayana, the same Upanishads, enlighten and enrich our minds and life even now.

The people of Kashmir taught the Vedas, and the people of Kerala also taught the Vedas in the same language. They did not meet each other - yet taught the same subject with the fidelity, loyalty and devotion you can hardly imagine. They were not paid for it. They cherished to do it as their sole aim in life. You know, there was nothing like printing technology or writing in ancient times. It was all taught by word of mouth. And the Vedas are preserved even now. Do you have the power of imagination to understand this fact ? This is the most ancient living society in the world. And, thoughts and revelations which are pre-historic, all of you are seeking now as the most modern.

You know, man has within him something which is always very fresh and modern and yet the most ancient. Your body is a recent product, having been born only a few years ago. And it undergoes change every moment. The cells of the body are continuously being regenerated - old cells are rejected and replaced with new cells, only to be changed again. So, everyday the body is being renewed and the food you take is used for this process. The body you have today is not the body you had a week ago.

But the most wonderful thing is that within this body, there is the Soul, which is the most ancient and yet the most modern. Do you follow me ? See, from a lamp I light another lamp and from that another, and so on. Whenever a new lamp is lit, that flame is new, but the fire is not new. Does the fire become new ? Does it need to become new ? The brilliance of the fire remains ever untainted. The heat of the fire ever remains the same. In the same way the Soul too is eternal, ever luminous and ever blissful. It never changes.

In those pre-historic times itself, the civilization here had reached its zenith. The ancient saintly philosophers had realized that the mind will never be fulfilled by any extent of material possessions. The key to fulfillment lies in renunciation. They sang :

Neither by deed, nor by progeny, nor again by riches; only through renunciation, one attains Immortality.

They had also discovered that the ultimate cause of the fascinating universe cannot lie in the object domain; it has to be found in the very source of perception. The cause of the universe is known when we are able to identify the Self within.

Our sages found that they needed nothing from the world and its alluring objects. So they decided to live in the hermitages in forests. This was the nature of the civilization. The modern Indian is yet to understand the greatness of his heritage. Only recently we have started talking about the importance of ecological and environmental balance and preservation. But the importance to live in harmony with Nature was amply discussed in Bhagavadgeeta and other scriptures. Many of the religious practices like worshipping trees, rivers and mountains were instituted primarily to grow the awareness in people about the importance of preserving and enhancing the sanctity of Nature. We must be concerned with the welfare of everything on earth :  

Sarva-bhoota-hite rataah             (Geeta 12.4)

I mentioned these because while taking food you must have an attitude which results from a comprehensive understanding of all these.  Remember, nothing has been created by you.  The food that we eat comes from the earth.  The earth itself is a creation of God.  Our own bodies are not created by us.  Even though the embryo grew into a fully developed baby in the mother's womb, the mother did not do anything to shape and develop its various organs, the numerous cells, blood, brain, bone and everything else required.  She only took food according to her hunger.  The body with all its complexities is a creation of the Soul, the Power and Presence hiding within the embryo, the same Power which  created the universe.

So, while feeding the body made by the creator, with the substances produced by the earth, we should have a right and comprehensive memory of this fact. We should have due gratitude. Generally in temples we offer food to the Lord with the chanting of some mantras. The same mantras are chanted when we take food. This is the practice prevailing even now in good traditional homes.

Before taking food, we say : Praanaaya svaahaa, Apaanaaya svaahaa, Vyaanaaya svaahaa, Udaanaaya svaahaa, Samaanaaya svaahaa, Brahmane svaahaa. The food is offered not to the body but to the Prana, the life force. If the praanic energy was not operating in the body, it would never feel hunger, and would not digest the food you have given. The Cosmic praana, the Universal life force, is constantly functional in the body and I am feeding that praana. The Praana is divided into five types according to its functions, Panca-praana we say : Praana, Apaana, Vyaana, Udaana, and Samaana. I am feeding these and I am feeding Brahman - Brahmane svaahaa - the supreme Reality, the Soul, the causeless  Cause of even the Praana. So, my dear souls, the food is not offered to your stomach or to your body. On the other hand it is offered to the supreme Reality present in the body as jeeva, the life force.

After we eat the food, alimentary canal does its function of digesting it, independent of our being aware of it. We are not conscious of it. It just works. And in a matter of a few hours, the food gets converted into blood and other body constituents and products. It is all a wonderful magic of the body made by God, the Creator.

So, that kind of a loyal remembrance and gratitude you must have while taking food. And for this, bring all the thoughts which are suggestive of this. Similarly, my dear girl, not only while taking  food, but while doing anything, we must have this divinizing attitude.

When you sit for taking food, take some water  in your right hand – like this – chant some relevant mantras and then sprinkle the water over the food. This way, we purify the food, divinize it. Thereafter start feeding God's body, for God's sake, for God's own function called digestion.

At the end of the day, before retiring to bed, we recite a verse in which we pay our respects to Mother Earth and ask Her forgiveness for having trampled over her body in the course of the day : 'Vishnupatni namastubhyam padasparsam kshamasva me'. We consider the Earth as the Consort of Lord Mahavishnu, the power that sustains the universe.

Similarly in the matter of lighting the oven we have a tradition. The fire in our hearths never used to be extinguished. At the end of the day, a smouldering ball of cow dung used to be left in the oven. I have seen my mother, early in the morning, bring the flame alive by placing some dry twigs over the smouldering ball of cow dung in the hearth and gently blowing with a reed pipe.

Before cooking, the oven is made sacred and holy by putting aalimpana with rice powder around the oven. And after cooking, the food is first offered to the 'Fire' in the oven. Only then we offer it to the 'Fire' in our stomach, the 'jatharaagni'.

Every act that you do, you must be able to make holy. Make your life divine every moment. You alone will have to proclaim, "I am a holy person and I shall preserve my holiness". Let it result in the expansion of your mind, purification of your personality. Remove all harmful tendencies. Be liberal in the matter of giving. Give up possessiveness. Try to become as light as air. Have a spatial dimension for your mind. That is the liberated mind. It remains unaffected by anything. "Akasavallepa-vidooragoham" says Shankara in Vivekachoodamani: "Absolutely unaffected untainted am I, like the space".

Beyond the mind and intelligence there is a level called the Soul level. No interaction touches the Self level at all. The Soul has got the power to integrate and to sublimate every kind of input into your personality. If you push too much of food into your stomach, there may be a crisis; but whatever comes into your mind, the mind has got the power to assimilate provided you help the mind to think in that manner. So, from the granite level of the mind you have to rise to the spatial level and the entire Integral Yoga is supposed to be taking you there.

Looking at one of the ladies Poojya Swamiji asked, "Do you have anything more to ask?"

"Swamiji, please tell us more about how to grow devotion."

There are many methods.  The one I can easily suggest to you is: Man generally counts the things that belong to him. Instead of counting the things belonging to you, start thinking whom you belong to.

Another way is : Consider God to be no other than your own Self. There can be many relationships and identifications with God. The best identification is to consider Him to be your own Self. Is there any doubt? You say, 'I am, I am, I am.' What is this 'I' denoting ? When you say 'I', it is a very specific something that is inmost in you. 'I' refers to the self-same existence, that is really God. So, regard God as your very Self. Then fondness will grow more and more.

Swamiji :  Anything else ?

Q : Who is your Gurudev, Swamiji ?

My Guru? I shall show you the picture kept there in the front hall. His name was Gangadhara Paramahamsa. He was from Bengal. I happened to meet him in Calcutta about 45 years back. There is a book here, My Beloved Baba, which will give you a lot of information about him and also about Saadhana. We used to address him fondly as Baba (Father). You can get a copy and read. It is very interesting; I have avoided all kinds of miracles and mysticism. It tells about my Guru, how he became my Guru, how did he have his spiritual attainments, how I happened to go to him, and in the process, how I myself grew spiritually - all these are mentioned there.

Looking at a young man sitting with a gloomy face, Swamiji said, "You must be having something in your mind to ask !"

Q : What is my right place ?

This question occurred to you when ?... Your whole life? I cannot accept that statement. Why should it take such a long time to get an answer ? In any question of the mind, if you are sincere about it, you would be constantly thinking, 'I am not able to find an answer, I must get an answer, I must get an answer.' If you have this kind of intense quest, an answer will surely come.

You must have heard of Ramakrishna Deva.  Ramakrishna Deva was a priest in the Kali temple of Dakshineshwar, Calcutta.  Apart from being a priest, he also had an intense quest.  You know, in Hinduism, they worship idols.  When they worship the idols, they are actually not worshipping the stone as such.  The stone is only a symbol.  It signifies or idolizes God.  So a question tormented his mind:  "Is there any power behind this idol or is it only a stone?  I would like to know.  I must get an answer."  Who will give him the answer?  The idol will not speak.  So, it went on likes this, until he could not bear it any longer.  He became desperate;  his sincerity was at its peak;  and in that mood of despair, he seized the sword of the Kali idol and was about to cut his own throat with it.  Right then, in the peak intensity of his eagerness, he had an experience of the supreme consciousness.  The sword fell from his hand, and he got his answer.

After all, you are a creation of God.  Godly creation that you are, will you not get an answer to your question?  Else, why should the question be there?  The mind generates the question; it must be able to get an answer too.  Every questioner has found an answer in his own heart.  So, will you not get an answer to your question?  I think you underrate your mind.  From today onwards, start smiling and be cheerful.  Then answer will come.

The answer I know is : Wherever you are, that is the right place. To think that it is not the right place for you is the mistake.  You are always led from the right place to the right place.  To think otherwise is a mistake.  There is a poem:

Asleep, awake, by night or day,  
The friends I seek are seeking me;

I stay my haste, I make delays,  
for what avails this eager pace;  
I stand amid eternal ways,  
And what is mine shall know my face.

So, from today you should be liberated.  Whatever is yours will automatically come to you. Do you understand?  This is an unfailing law of the creator.  So, let your delight and question be pure; then automatically by an unfailing law of Nature the answer will come.  You will be  led to it.  I wish you get the answer.  I shall be happy only if you are cheerful, and not so grave as you are now.  This question is agitating your mind so much !

O.K., we shall stop now.

Swamiji recited:  "Kartavyam-asti na mama..."

"Asango'ham, asango'ham, asango'ham..."

 

After the prostrations were over, Swamiji proceeded towards the door.  The gloomy young man was standing near the door.  Swamiji hugged him affectionately and patted his back.  Stroking his eyes and forehead, Swamiji said, "From today onwards you should never doubt whether you are in the right place.  Live cheerfully.  Smile !  Smile well !  Don't be miserly!"

The man did smile.  He smiled so well that the face looked radiant.  And, seeing this blissful interaction with the 'ancient' Sage of India, an old American devotee, standing close by, sobbed uncontrollably...

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