| Self-generated Benediction |
 |
By Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha
[Poojya Swamiji speaks a
few words of guidance at the conclusion of the daily morning
Pushpasamarpana (flower offering) at the Narayanashrama
Tapovanam. These profound words on saadhana, like the
effulgent morning rays, would illuminate many a dark corner
in the listeners' minds. This series is titled
“Prabhaata-rasmih” (Morning rays). The following is the
text of one such talk by Poojya Swamiji.]
Human beings have some potentials which the other animals in
the world do not have. Love is an emotion that perhaps all
creatures have. Similarly, it's opposite emotion, hatred,
also they have. About some other emotions like jealousy,
sympathy, etc. I am not very sure whether others have any
parallel. But there is one emotion, bhakti (devotion), in which
the human beings alone have a distinct possibility.
Everything else God has given us, but bhakti we have to
generate ourselves.
Bhakti is
generated when we think of the supra-worldly power, presence
or truth called God. However much you think of the objects
of the world, bhakti will not grow. To generate bhakti, you
have to think of the causeless cause behind the manifest
universe. This
supra-worldly source of everything is called God in
religion, Truth in philosophy and Self in spirituality. Only
when our mind ruminates or contemplates on this ultimate
Presence, bhakti grows.
Maa often
sings a verse:
Lokeśa
caitanya-mayādideva
Śreekānta vishno bhavad-ājnayaiva
Pratah
samutthāya tava priyārtham
Samsāra-yātrām-anuvartayishye
If you
contemplate on the meaning of this verse throughout the day
while doing everything you have to do, you will find it
generates so much
of bhakti and sublimity it will generate in your system. If
you think you are living for or doing something for a
particular individual – husband, wife, mother, son
or family – your mind and heart will remain constricted. Such
a dedication will not be able to generate much of loftiness
and sublimity. If you can think that you are living and
doing everything for the sake of the Supreme Presence from
whom has emerged this world and who looks after everything
in the world, looks after you as well as your family, then
the loftiness and sublimity felt in you will be
great. There is no limit to the sublimation you can generate
by such contemplation.
Here is
another verse I heard from Maa:
Pŗthvee
sagandhā sarasāstathśpah
Sparśee
ca vāyur-jvalitam ca tejah
Nabhah
saśaabdam mahatā sahaiva
Kurvantu
sarve mama suprabhātam
We generally
do not have anything like wishing ‘good morning’ to
people. We traditionally greet each other saying namaste or
namo namah. In this verse we have a more elevated
kind of greeting – a self-addressed greeting. We do
not look for anybody else to greet us. We make the panca-bhoota
(the five constituent elements of the universe) and the
cosmic intelligence greet us through our own prayer and
sankalpa.
The five
elements – earth, water, air, fire and space – are mute.
The cosmic intelligence (mahat) too does not
communicate directly with us. But the entire creation is
born out of these elements and we derive all our sensory
powers from these alone. Earth has the property of smell,
water is responsible for taste, air for touch, fire for
light, and space for sound. The benedictory note of the
verse runs thus:
“Like the
earth with its fragrance, the water with its taste, air with
its touch, fire with its brilliance, space with its sound,
together with the great Cosmic Intelligence make my morning
auspicious.”
We are born
of the five elements. Our life-forces as well as the
perceptive powers are born of them. Will not the powers we have also
be there in subtle form in
the causal elements? Not only that, our life with all the
activities – breathing, speaking, hearing, seeing,
tasting, walking, thinking – is possible only by the grace
of these elements. The earth must emit fragrance beneficial
to the body and mind, the water must remain life-giving, the air should
remain clean and refreshing, the fire should continue to
burn well with its purifying power and brilliance, the space around should
not get polluted with harmful vibrations, and above all, the
cosmic intelligence must protect and guide us well. Only
then our life on earth will be led to auspiciousness.
Ascetics
generally live in solitude. Imagine Bharadvaaja, Vaalmiki,
Vedavyaasa, Angiras and other who lived in forest
environment. Nobody comes there to wish ‘good morning’.
The Ascetic wakes up with such a universal benedictory
thought and enjoys benediction himself. The benediction of
such self-addressed prayers is unfailing.
Do not look
outside always for inspiration and encouragement. If you need
inspiration, generate it yourself. If you want to get
sublimated, generate sublimity by sublime thoughts.
Conventionally the mind remains constricted – it is not
prepared to live well, it is not prepared to outlive.
Through such benedictory sankalpas you have to make your
life sublime. When sublimity dawns, all conflicts and
disharmonies will dissolve.
It is to
generate such sublimity that programmes like morning
chanting and pushpasamarpanam (flower-offering) are designed. In these
practices, we generate sublimity through bhāva.
The other method – perhaps the more powerful and stable
method – of generating sublimity is through vichara
(introspection). That is what we try to do through all other
Satsang programmes.
Harih
Om Tat Sat.
