by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 37
March. 2004

ATTEMPTS TO DESCRIBE BRAMHAN - Part 11

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

A very simplistic meaning is read into this by most people. Common perception is that these are the people, who are recluses from society, live in forests, beg for alms wandering around etc. That is not the way to look at it. Their true characteristics are as follows:

Their knowledge is acquired by tapah. Tapah is single minded devotion denying everything else that may take your mind away from the focus. In our living memory, people like Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramana or Swami Dayanand were tapasvis in true sense, no matter in what form or condition they existed. And there are many more about whom we do not even hear. They existed or exist because their benevolent vibrations continue to reach all those who have acquired a sensitive enough consciousness. They are tapasvis because they have practiced the knowledge they talked about, by working upon their own body, mind and psyche. They have themselves first walked through the fire of tapas before telling us what to do. That is what sets them apart from the hundreds of Gurus who offer true knowledge. All that they are doing - and if they are doing with true sincerity and utmost humility is only trying to condition our minds or preparing ourselves for the journey that we have to undertake. They are themselves sadhakas amongst sadhakas- co-travellers in the spiritual journey. A teacher who does not possess this self appraisal and does not possess the humility of this kind, and boasts of the pomp and paraphernalia of Gurudom, as we see so many of them around today, is a blind leading another blind.

Then a true Guru is also endowed with extreme shraddha- total unconditional dedication established in faith in Bramhan. Some time back we discussed in detail -if you remember the six supports of sadhana- the concept of shraddha. A true guru himself projects the image of shraddha. In our puranas we have examples of Hanuman - the devotee of Rama-, or Radha and Mirabai- the devotees of Krishna, their stories emphasize the concept of this shraddha for us to understand.

Then they upavasanti aranye- they live in forests. This need not be taken on its face value as most people do without going into depth. Aranya or forest is a place devoid of unnecessary sense driven action, a place where rajasika activities, which mostly drive the worldly people, do not find the necessity. Again Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, Chinmayananda or Sri Sankaracarya did not live in forests, yet they were tapasvis. All of us can also be tapasvis as soon as we start practicing control over our sense driven desires. It is not mandatory to live in a forest or an ashram.

Then they are Shantaah and Vidvaamsah. This is not ofcourse difficult to understand. The shantata or calmness of mind is a direct derivative of vidya or knowledge. Agitation of mind, giving rise to all the negative impulses like anger, lust, envy etc are all products of a mind that does not fully understand, a mind without knowledge. This you can easily appreciate if you just analyse your own mind. Those of you who regularly listen to satsangs, do meditations and pursue the path of spiritualism over a period of time, would have definitely noticed the effect on themselves. You become less prone to emotions, especially the harmful negative emotions, less and less than what you used to be years or months back. This is an automatic fall out of a spiritual approach to life. One acquires a calm disposition (shantataa) after acquiring knowledge or vidya. Without knowledge, calmness of mind is impossible.

Then the Mundaka says, the teacher is bhaikshyacaryaam carantah.

Literally translated this will ofcourse mean that the Guru is a Bhiksu living from collecting alms from door to door. But the underlying meaning of this signifies two different aspects.

A Bhiksu begs for alms and lives on charity. In all important religions, a Bhiksu is associated with the teacher. Firstly both Bhiksu and teacher epitomise the quality of non-possession, or non- attachment to any worldly possessions. Secondly they have no preferences. Whatever comes their way is acceptable to them. Both these qualities are essential for practice of sadhana. It goes on to emphasize that even if one lives in this world, if one can cultivate one's mind not to become attached to any possession and learns to accept without preference, what ever the life offers for the body's sustenance, then he is as good as a Bhiksu. Analyse the trivial real life situations we face everyday. Even if the minutest things, when offered to us are not to our liking, if the most unimportant situations are not as per our thinking, we get so upset. This is because we have developed already strong preferences, strong likes and dislikes. These are not the qualities of a Bhiksu and they only bring unhappiness to us. Every body can acquire the qualities of a Bhiksu even living inside the world, and then one becomes qualified to be a teacher.

Then Mundaka tells us of the final identity of a Guru. He has to be Shrotriyam Bramhanistham. This we shall discuss in the next issue,

(TO BE CONTINUED)

THIS ISSUE OF AHWAN HAS BEEN SPONSORED BY Sri Suresh Chandra Pahwa and Ms Geeta Chandra Pahwa. Gurgaon.

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