June 2017 archive

Datta maata 5: What is true courage?

The society appreciates brave and valorous persons. This is quite natural. Because the world is praising, it is the tendency of humans to enhance such courageous nature. But, we see that any good quality will be proved wrong as time passes by. These days, we see that those who have courage and bravery are displaying cruelty. Nevertheless, people are encouraging such behaviour. As a result, people are living with narrow mindedness and small goals. Also, today we see that people with cruel and wicked nature are promoted as leaders. This is making the youngsters incline towards violence. Isn’t this dangerous?

At this juncture, we must know the true definition of courage and valour. We have many good examples in our Puranas. Abhimanyu was not at all worried to fight with thousands of his enemies at a time. Harischandra faced hundreds of troubles very bravely. Sree Rama and Ravana were great warriors. Ravana became an emperor by harming many.

Contrary to him; when Sri Rama found that his enemy was tired, he gracefully gave him time to rest and invited him to fight the next day. Observe the difference between Sree Rama and Ravana! Why do we extol Sree Rama as the bravest? The ultimate goal of any virtue is the upliftment of the society. If there is no such benefit, there is no use of your prowess and bravery. Hence, we understand that the bravery that Harischandra had is the true bravery. The virtue of Sree Rama is the true valour.

If one kills thousands of people, it cannot be called as valour or bravery. Adhering to dharma even when one is flooded with problems is the real bravery. May you all be bestowed with such courage! This is the goal. The courage that we display must be according to dharma and discipline. Just because one has bravery, one must not create violence by harming innocent people. We must take the example of Sri Rama and Harischandra for our lives.

Na tēna shūrō naca dhēra eka
sahashrasho hanti janātstuyena;
āpatsamuhēpi na dharma haniṁ
sa hētatēnaiva sa dhēra shūraḥ.

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Datta maata 4: Cultivate noble feelings in the heart; express them in sweet words

Let us talk about an honest person who is very good and disciplined. We certainly accept the good qualities of such a person but we never agree to work with him. We come across such situations many a time. We do not outrightly say that they are bad but we certainly say that working with such people is very tough.

If we are saying so, then we might be jealous or egoistic. There is another angle of this situation. The inability of expressing oneself is also one of the reasons. In some other people, it happens because of considering their way to be superior to others. As a result, even though their way is really quite superior, they cannot get others approval. So, if we find any of the above characteristics in others, we must try to understand them even more. In case, if we ourselves have such characteristics then we must try to get rid of them.

We must cultivate excellent thoughts/feelings in our hearts and they must be expressed in sweet words. The same must reflect in our actions. This is the way to heaven. So, we spoke about the feelings and the way to express them. There is a danger sometimes. For some people, their thoughts, actions and words differ from each other. It is very difficult to work with such people. Instead, when there is a balance between the thoughts, words and actions; then such people are the best people to work with. In some instances, people appear very polite and good, but they carry quite opposite feelings in their hearts. Even their words are very harsh. It is difficult to handle such people too. Also, there are few people who are good at heart and words, but their actions seem to be very bad. That is also not good. There are few people who do good deeds and speak well but their mind is corrupt. Working with such people is also difficult. So, a human is considered to be the best when his thoughts, words and deeds are all equally good.

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Datta maata 3: Prosperity, intelligence etc. are outcomes of good deeds of previous births

Few people are born rich. Whatever they touch turns into gold for few. But, few of such people will not have peace of mind even after having everything. Why is this so? Few are born in the family of scholars and few people have very strong memory. Anything gets imprinted in their mind very easily. But for some people, even after acquiring different types of education, they are incapable of doing any work. Why is this so?
Similarly, many people get the opportunity to be in the divine presence of Guru by birth. Few people get respected by all the mahatmas and noble souls. But, there are few who do not get peace of mind even after doing lot of Sadhana (spiritual practice) Why does it happen so? What is it that we can do to prevent it? We get such doubts many a time. In order to understand this, firstly, we must think why only few are born in such circumstances. We must try to understand why is it that people are born quite contradictorily? Being born in favourable circumstances is definitely not your talent. Similarly, getting the works done easily is also not the result of your intelligence. Then, of what result is that?

It is the result of your Karma acquired from previous birth. It is very familiar to us as Vidhi (order/rule) and Kala (time). It is because of Kala (time) that sun rises in the morning and burns in the afternoon with scorching heat but by evening, he will merge into the ocean. This is because of the influence of time. Your assets like knowledge, wisdom and others are obtained to you as the results of the good actions of your previous births. Hence, we must put in efforts to keep on doing good deeds and uplift ourselves by gaining knowledge. Instead of doing so, if one becomes egoistic assuming that everything is happening because of one’s own talent, then downfall is certain. Even the sun has to merge into the ocean and there is darkness all over. Likewise one has to fall down from the present position.

Dhanaṁ vidyāncha vijñānaṁ
prāypya garvāvrutō yadi;
Prātarmadhyānca sāyāhnaṁ
prāypa hanta hatō raviḥ.

Even after acquiring wealth, education and spiritual knowledge; if one becomes egoistic, one has to meet the downfall. The sun after crossing the morning and afternoon time, will merge into the ocean by evening time. So, you must feel that whatever wealth you have obtained is due to the grace of the Lord and hence you must involve in doing Satkarma (good deeds). This is what we learn from this Sookti.

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Datta maata 2: Use satsang as a tool to obtain liberation.

Just assume that there is a triangle shaped boat tied with three strings at its three corners that is being pulled by three people in three directions. To which direction will the boat go? Those who know about vector algebra can answer this question correctly. The boat’s resultant movement will depend on the resultant magnitude, direction and force with which it is being pulled by the three people. In a way, our life is also a triangular boat. Our friendships, desires and the attributes that we acquire from previous birth are the three forces that pull our lives towards their directions.

Yadbhāvamāpthuṁ hṛidi vāñchasi tvaṁ
saktosi yadbhāvayutairjanaiśca;
Prāgvāsanābhirnicitosi yābhiḥ
uthpadyate te tribhiradyabhāvaḥ.

This sookthi tells us that the present situation will be based on what we want to become (desires), our friendships and the attributes that we have acquired from our previous birth. The resultant will be decided based on the strength of each of these three. Such resultant force will drag this body along with the mind and the senses. What is it that we must do to make this boat (body) reach the bank?
Out of these three forces, which one can be brought under control? The desires and attributes are not under our control at all. We can only control our friendships. We can change ourselves by doing friendships with noble persons. Then, this force will become stronger than the other two. That is why, those who take refuge in Sadguru tread the good path easily. Such is the power of satsanga. Hence, we must only cultivate good frienships as much as possible. It will take us to great heights. Why have we called this body as boat? In this world, samasara (cycle of births and deaths) is the biggest ocean. We are pulling our body in it. When this boat is dragged with the powerful string called noble friendship, it will reach a noble position. Else, we do not know where this boat will go in this vast ocean of samasara because desires and attributes acquired from previous births are not under our control. Noble friendships can grant us mukti (liberation from the samsara).

Jaya Guru Datta! Sri Guru Datta!

Permanent link to this article: https://puttugam.com/episode-2-use-friendship-with-saints-satsang-as-a-tool-to-obtain-liberation/

Datta maata 1: Satsang and Divya naama sankeertana are two wings to fly away from samsara

To err is human. Few commit mistakes unknowingly but few do them knowingly. The results of the mistakes done with our knowledge are worst. Each one of us know this. We wonder whether we can really win over them or not. There is a simple technique for this. While a mistake is about to happen, you must say in your mind that you are doing a mistake and you are unable to overcome it. This is the shortest way to win over. Satsanga (friendship of the pious and noble souls) will help you get that in your mind time and again. Also, you must make a habit of doing Divya Nama Sankirtana (singing the divine glory). Good friendship and Nama Sankirtana only can control the mind. Ignoring any of these will only establish the mistake committed, making it even more stronger. Hence Satsanga and Nama Sankirtana must be a part and parcel of human life.

Uḍḍiya dūradapayātumicchuḥ sakhē! durabhyāsavanāt yadi tvaṁ;
Sri viṣṇusankīrtana sādhusaṇge badhāna pakṣāviva rājahamsaḥ.

How beautiful this is! The bad habits are like whips. We can’t escape from their grip so easily. They can also be compared to a wild forest where we are trapped in. It is a forest of bad habits which is very tough and thorny. We cannot find our way out. So, the best thing to do is to fly away from this forest with wings called Satsanga and Divya Nama Sankirtana. There is no other way. By obtaining these wings, we can escape from the wild forest (bad habits and vices) like a royal swan and we can reach the Manasa Sarovara – eternal bliss!

Jaya Guru Datta! Sri Guru Datta!

Permanent link to this article: https://puttugam.com/episode-1-satsang-and-divya-naama-sankeertana-are-the-two-wings-to-fly-away-from-this-samsara/