THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - AWARENESS ARTICLE #4

Thought For The Day

Following spiritual teaching in thought, word and deed leads to discrimination and wisdom.  Mere bookish knowledge is useless.

Awareness Article #4

Clever King!

"I am Atma. This birth is given to me to merge with God."

One should contemplate in this way and transform himself.We must know the

truth of the Atma. This greatest Avatar came here to teach this.

Enough! Awake! Arise! You are not the body!

Itisthrough body consciousness that the ‘I and mine’ arises; man desires more

andmorewealth. As he desires to be like others, anger and jealousy enter him. Yet,

when he leaves the body, he will not take anything with him. Who is wife? Who is child?

This truth is shown through Valmiki's story.

The robber Ratnakaramurdered and robbed many, using the wealth to look after

his family. Sage Narada came and told him to ask his family, 'You are sharing the

wealth, but will you share the sin?' They said, 'It is your duty to protect your family. We

will not share your sins.' It was only after this Ratnakararealizedhis mistake. He

performed penance and became sage Valmiki. Likewise, whatever hard work you do for

your family, no one will share your sin. You must try to remove these qualities. Lust,

anger, greed, attachment are sinful qualities, which come through body consciousness.

Youmust remove body consciousness. Declare, 'I am Atma. This body and those

connected to the body are not connected to my true Self.' It is in this way you must

contemplate.

The 8 Egoisms

Swamigave a paperon which Hewrote:'Identifythese 8 egoisms. You must

trample down the 8 egoisms. Theconceitsthatdevelop are of family, wealth, personal

beauty, youth, scholarship, native place and even accomplishment in austerities along

the spiritual path. '

And then again....

'Ego is the screen that veils God or true Self'.

Now let us see the8 kinds of egoism. Swami says you must trample down this

egoism. He is telling in harsh words. Father pours love on children. When theymake

mistakes, he uses harsh words and is strict with them. Swami is the embodiment of love,

butHe shows strictness towards the children who are going on the wrong path. Let us

see the egoism that arises in the eight different categories

.

#1Family-Attachment begins in the family: first wife, then children, grand

children andgreat grand children. In this way, attachment grows and catches hold of

one tightly. A few days ago,I read a story in Swami's book.

... Once a king performed penance and God appeared in front of him.

The Lord asked the king what he wanted. The king said, 'I want to see the

coronation of my great grandson!'

Swami relates this and wonders at the cleverness of the king to ask for such a

boon. All is contained in this one boon. Firstly, the king should have a son,and thenthe

son should have a son and hisgrandsona son. All should become kings. The kingdom

should not perish and the king keeps healthy to witness all!

All desires such as wealth, name, fame, heirs are contained in this one boon.

Swami shows throughastoryhow many desires there are in one man!The king asked

this boon so his entire clan will be kings. God Himself came in front of Him, yet due to

hisdesires,he askedforsuch a boon.Kuchela was very poor and went in search of God.

However, when he saw God,he forgot to ask for anything as he was immersed in so

much happiness.Thus, this egoism or pride that arises from being in a rich or royal

family should be eradicated.

#2Wealth-The pride of wealth is very worst. All is perishable. Wealth is not

permanent. Today’s beggar is tomorrow's millionaire; today's millionaire is tomorrow's

beggar. Swami tells this often. The pride of wealth is the very worst quality. The rich

often have no respect for others. God cannot be attained through wealth. Humility alone

is required. Mahalakshmi is the goddess of all wealth. Yet she only wants to serve at the

feet of her Lord, Mahavishnu. When Swami describes about the nine path of devotion,

He gives the example of Mahalakshmi forPada sevanam.

#3Character-One should develop good qualities, however, it is very bad if

pride arises in one who thinks they possessgood qualities.Vinobaji tells in his treatise

on the Bhagavad Gita that:

'If one is proud of his good qualities, or that he is a good man, itisbetter to be a

bad person!’

This does not mean that I am writing and supporting those with bad qualities.

This is not the meaning. If one is good and is proud of those qualities, it is worsethan

being a bad person.Vinobaji give the example only to showhow terrible the quality of

pride is.One should not know that he is a good person. When one has this much

humility, pride will not arise. Once, Dharmaraja was asked to find one bad person in the

world.Sometimelater,he returned and said, ‘I searched theentire world, but all are

good people. I alone am bad.' Dharmaraja isknown asthe King of Dharma.However, he

had a completely different point of view abouthimself. In his eyes, all in the world wer

e

good;he alonewas bad. He forgot himself. He forgothe was a good person. If this much

humility is there, then there will be no pride. Though he was aKingwith all good

qualities, he did not feelpride. One who is good, should be egoless to this extent.

#4 Pride of Beauty

This is a great danger. One day your beauty will vanish. What is beauty? It usually

indicates outer beauty. Yet for how many days will outer beauty last? All is perishable.

Beauty remains through your youth. Once old age comes, beauty fades away. Do not

think about outer beauty. Focus your attention only on inner beauty.

Of the celestial beings, outer beauty is appropriate only for Apsaras, as they are

ever young. The beauty of human beings on earth is like lightening, disappearing in a

flash. So do not pride over beauty.

#5 Youth

Youth is also like lightening, disappearing instantaneously.To pride over being

young, Swami often says, “Respectyour elders’. Today’s youth are tomorrows elderly.

Time is always changing. A child is born, becomes a youth, reaches old age and finally

dies. So none should be proud of their youthfulness. Man’s goal is only to attain God.

Yet, if God’s grace is present, one can be forever young. An example of this is

Markendeya. He was told that he would die at the age of 16. Fromthat day forward, he

performed intense devotionand God granted him the boon to be ever 16, a Chiranjeevi.

Now yuga after yuga, he remains 16, always young. Adi Shankara also stated and warned

that one should not be proud of their youth. Swami tells the same.

Let us see an example. There was once a King named Bhuru. He became old, yet

still desired to enjoy the pleasures of being young. He asked his sons if they would agree

to take his old age in exchange for their youth. Of the foursons,three refused. The

youngest son agreed and took on his father's old age. The father then cursed the other

three sons to become hunters. The youngest son greatly suffered from the life of old age,

while his father enjoyed a life of being young. After a long time, he took back his old age

andcrownedhis son as King.

This story shows ones attachment to youth. Through the Kings desire to

experience the enjoyments of youth, he made three of his sons into hunters and his

youngest son into an old man. He had such power that hecould curse his three sons and

transform the other. Yet, he spent all his powers to delight in the joys of being young. If

He had just turned all his energy toward God, he would have attained immorality. So

youth only remains a few years, before old age comes. None can escape for this

.

#6 Scholarship

This means scholarship in the Vedas and scriptures.However,the pride of

thinking you are a scholar is very very bad. Once many scholars gathered atKing

Janaka’s court for a debate. The rule governing thedebate said the one who is defeated

would be punished. Ashthavakra then entered the court. His body had 8 bends. When

all the pundits saw him, they laughed saying, “What work does this boy have before us

pundits.” Ashthavakra replied, “I have come to debate with you. Do not judge by seeing

my outer appearance.” Then whatever question was asked of him, he answered

correctly. He cracked the pride of all the scholars. So your pride of scholarship must be

removed.

Divinity exists in everything. We cannot say how and throughwhomthis divinity

is revealed. Swami once told a story of a boy named Mansur. Mansur was a small boy.

He had realized his true nature. He left home and He would continually repeat, “I am

God; I am God.” While walking on the street he wouldproclaim, “I am God; I am God.”

Many pundits heard this and scolded him not to speak in that way. They said, “Do not

say this, how can you become God?" Yet he would repeat it again and again. Lastly, he

was brought to the see the King. The King said, “Oh child, you are very small, you should

not speak in this way.” He replied, “I am God.” The King then got angry and ordered

that his eyes be gouged out. He became blind. However, he continued to say, "I am God;

I am god." They then cut his hands and legs. Theblood flowing from his body said, “I am

God; I am God.” He then died and his body was burnt. The ashes too repeated, “I am

God; I am God.” This shows that he had realized God. Every atom within his body was

resounding with "I am God." So what is the use of scholarship? Through their scholarly

pride, they killed a genuine saint.Oh,Swami, how much advice and instruction you gave

us. How many examples you have narrated. Will the human mind awake? Through the

pride of their scholarship, they must bear the sin of killing a great saint.Therefore,we

cannot judge truth through our human intellect.

#7 Native Place

Someone is proud of their native place and clan. This is also very dangerous. Let

us see an example. The Yadavas were very proud that Krishna was born into their clan.

Once some rishis were stayingnearby. Some of the Yadava youths decided to test them.

One of the youth was Sambhan, born to Krishna and Jambhavati. The other boys

dressed him up as a pregnant woman and brought him before the rishis. Theysaid, “Oh

rishi please tell which child will be born to this girl." The rishi said, “An iron pestle will

be born that will destroy your entire clan.” Immediately, an iron pestle was born. The

boys then crushed the pestle into powder and threw it into theocean. A small piece

remained, which they could not make into powder.They also threw it into the ocean.

The powder dissolved in the water.Through this water, the grass grew on the seashor

e.

One day a festival was held near the seashore. All were drinking alcohol, singing

and dancing. They forgot themselves and started quarrelling with each other. They

pulled the grass from the ground and began to hit each otherwith theiron-like grass.

Eventually all died. Like this, the Yadava clan was destroyed through the curse by the

rishis. This is the pride of a clan. Due to their pride, they insulted the rishis, which lead

to the ruin of their clan. The rishis are aware of the three times: past, present and future.

Did the boys not know this? Why then did they dress up Sambhan, Krishna's son, as a

woman and ask therishisthis question. It is because they had the pride of being born in

Krishna’s clan. It made them speak in this way. In the end, their entire clan was

destroyed. Dwarka was also submerged into the ocean.

#8 Accomplishments in austerities along the spiritual path.

The sadhana we perform on the spiritual pathcanmake us proud. This is very

dangerous. Wefeel 'Oh,we are performing great austerities and walking on the path'.

Many think in this way andthen create ashrams andbecomeleaders. This prideof

spiritual accomplishmentmustalsobe removed. Let us see an example.

Once KingAmbarishawas observingafast for Ekadasi. The pundits told the King

that a good time had arrived to break the fast and that he should eat.Just prior tothis,

SageDurvasacame to see the King and toldhimthat he would return after taking his

bath. The punditsagain requestedthe King break his fastas thecorrecttime had

arrived. He then drank some water. Hearing this,Durvasa became very angry and

cursed him.Immediately,Vishnu’s chakra appeared and began to chaseSageDurvasa.

He ran and ran. He ran to the devas, Brahma andMaheswara. Yet, none could stop the

chakra.Lastly,Vishnu instructed SageDurvasato go to Ambarisha and ask for his help.

Hedid so.Ambarishathenprayed to the chakra and it disappeared.

Thisstory shows thespiritual prideof Durvasa. We must performspiritual

sadhana till our last breath. This is true penance. Once Gandhisaid,"do not call me

Mahatma now. If a person stands before me, shoots me; and yet,I am not angrywith

him and am chanting Rama’s name, you may call me aMahatma."Humbleness and

simplicity is very very important in spiritual sadhana. Ego destroys man.

Ego is the screen that veils God or the true self. God and Atma is the same. So

Swami wrote about these 8 kinds of egoism.

Jai Sai Ram

VS