We know that the Pure Knowledge, manifested in the form of
Paramatman, penetrates all forms. After cognitively comprehending the Self, the
greatest approach to study and fully realize it is to endeavor to make everyone
happy. It is only through this practice that the Self is recognized to pervade
everything.
The entire universe is merely "Knowledge." Because everything is the Self, keeping everyone happy makes the Self joyful.
The Truth of the Vedas will be demonstrated and experienced
in this manner, and Self-Knowledge will become firmly entrenched.
Worship of Paramatman with Form (Saguna) is evident worship.
Brahmananda (Brahman's Bliss) appears in all forms, such as an insect, ant,
dog, or pig. Everything is pervaded by the "Supreme Self," Paramatman
alone.
The formless, attributeless, and unmanifest Paramatman has
manifested with characteristics in the form of the Universe. He is present in
things that are inanimate, yet he is definitely felt in all moving beings.
Instead of worshipping dead coarse objects such as stone and metal idols, it is
preferable to worship the moving, walking, talking God who plainly demonstrates
the characteristic of "Knowledge."
This is Saguna worship, or visible God worship. What
characteristics should a stone idol have?
None of the three
attributes, Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, can be found in inanimate lifeless idols
constructed of stone or metal. However, one or more of these attributes can be
seen in God's moving manifestations.
As a result, all beings are manifestations of God. When we
pray genuinely to the Saints or a decent man who is full of Sattva Guna
(Knowledge and a propensity toward spiritual awareness), he is delighted and
gives us our wants. However, if we criticise his Tamo Guna, he smacks us across
the face and gives us a jolt.
As a result, worship the God who is both walking and talking. A stone is useless for learning knowledge.
This warning was sent by Saint Kabir in no uncertain terms.
He recommended everyone to worship only a walking, talking God. When the term
"worship" is used, images of sandalwood paste, incense, flowers,
kumkum, and other things of worship flash through one's head.
However, really worshipping God entails pleasing and making
every being happy.
Although Paramatman is "One" and exists
everywhere, devotees' techniques of devotion vary depending on their training
and how they see Him. A donkey has God in it as well, yet folding your hands in
reverence before it would be like a prank or prank done on Paramatman. Is it
satisfied if you fold your hands in front of him?
If not, then, according to what has been written above
regarding worship, worship that is pleasant to another form of God would not be
the donkey's acceptable worship. It would be suitable worship to God in the
shape of the donkey if it were given green grass and clean water to drink.
Worshiping the God who has taken on human form, on the other
hand, entails pleasing him in a way that is pleasant to him. This is how
Paramatman should be worshipped.
Giving someone anything he wants makes his heart happy, and he feels blessed.
The snake and scorpion are also manifestations of God
(Narayana), but worshipping them entails bowing to them from afar. That is,
people should be left alone to live their own lives. Instead, if you begin
hugging them out of devotion, the serpent God will sting you and show you that
hugging him is not worshipping him.
Someone may express skepticism in this situation
"Allowing the snake and scorpion to leave alive may imply that you adore
them. Those beings are evil and must be eliminated." I would tell them
that snakes and scorpions do not bite unless they are handled or harmed. Man,
on the other hand, is always ready to kill them, even if they are a long
distance away. Isn't man's nature more evil than that of a serpent or a
scorpion?
Yes, since man has the impulse to murder them unnecessarily.
Allow the thought "The snake and scorpion are of my own
nature" to take hold, and then witness the miracle that occurs. A snake's
or scorpion's "Self" is not made of stone.
When you have a strong awareness that your Self is the same
as the Self in a snake or a scorpion, you will recognize that the Self of the
snake is actually one with your own Self, and the snake or scorpion will have
no desire to bite you.
If a snake is seen as a serpent, an embodied man is seen as
an adversary. In the mirror, you will see the same look that you have on your
face. Is it the fault of the mirror if you detect a nasty expression in your
reflection?
You do not need to command the mirror to produce a smiling face if you make a smiling face and glance in the mirror.
Why did the criminal break into our home? It's because we
have a constant drive to plunder people in many ways and fill our homes. As we
cultivate the emotion of full renunciation, it will be mirrored in whatever
comes before us. Even if you refuse to ask for anything, others are willing to
give you everything they have. The person who begs for it, on the other hand,
does not receive it.
A reader may become perplexed as a result of this
conversation and say, "Maharaj, your method of thinking does not appear to
be correct. We can never let a serpent alone after seeing it, or accept as God
the one who pickpockets a bag of money and do nothing." Yes, indeed! I
would agree a hundred times over! Oh, aspirant, this is not conceivable because
to the propensity of having many, many babies. This kind of adoration cannot be
done all at once.
However, a start may be made in tiny ways, such as with
little bugs in the house rather than scorpions and snakes. One should learn the
"Oneness of All" from small actions such as not killing the bugs in
the house. Discover the "Oneness of the Self" in everything and
everyone, and see what a magnificent experience you will have.
You will eventually develop a sense of Oneness in all creatures, even those who are more annoying than bugs, and your "Self-Confidence" and "Self-Experience" will grow.
This
indicates that one should not act on the emotion "Bugs should not be
destroyed; they should be left alone," but rather, "They are of my
own nature, and they are my own forms."
My pleasure is dependent on their pleasure." A woman feels satisfaction by delighting her infant when it suckles at her breast. With the same mentality, one should feel satisfied by letting the bugs to drain the blood from one's own body. This concept may be difficult to accept, yet it is the starting point, or first lesson, in experiencing Oneness with all beings.
Gradually and consistently learning this, the earth will be free of enemies,
and you will be brave. You will be fearless as a result of this. When a seeker
is rid of all doubts and attains "The Knowledge of the Self," he is
liberated. Despite this, he is unable to enjoy the "Full Glory of Real
Liberation."
For example, acquiring riches is one thing, but enjoying the status that comes with it is quite another. Similarly, until the Jnani experiences "The Oneness with All," his Self-Knowledge does not develop or spread. He is parsimonious with his money, and he cannot obtain the "Complete Bliss of Liberation" while he is still alive.
Even if one obtains Self-Knowledge, fearlessness will not come his way till he feels a sense of "Oneness with All." Fearlessness is "Complete Bliss."
Fear is a symptom of dualism. Fear is a significant hindrance to the Bliss that arises through Liberation.
After obtaining Self-Knowledge, the aspirant should worship Paramatman with absolute and doubtless devotion.
Dry Self-Knowledge will be wet with Devotion in this way.
Much as a jalebi, a type of sweet that has been fried in ghee, becomes juicy
and delicious only after it has been cooked and then placed in syrup.
Similarly, the Jnani obtains "Fullness of Life" by
"Devotion after Self-Knowledge." In the game "Surfati," a
player slides from the lower to the upper house and then carries whatever he
acquires from the other houses back home.
The game is only over when it happens. By receiving knowledge all the way from the Gross to the Great-Causal Body, the gift of SelfKnowledge must be returned to the lower body in the same way.
The factual experience of "the world being nothing but Knowledge" is Knowledge becoming the "Final Reality" (Vijnana).
We wander around night and day with the sensation that there
is someone else in the world who is not "I," and that we should
safeguard our woman, our fortune, and our stuff from the grasp of someone else.
As a result of our possessiveness and ownership, we transform into a
"Gasti" or watchman.
However, when one achieves a sense of "Oneness with Everyone," and the sense that "I am present everywhere, I pervade everything," On that day, the "Gasti" is transformed into "Agasti," the sage who swallowed the ocean in one gulp.
This ocean,
which represents the five components that comprise the entire cosmos, may not
even be large enough for a single sip. This is how a devotee who understands
the Self becomes fearless in the body and enjoys the "Full
Celebration" of what is known as "Liberation."
The culmination of all Knowledge of the Great-Causal Body takes fruit in viewing the entire world as oneself.
Despite this, Saint Ramdas still refers to Knowledge of the
Great-Causal Body as unstable Brahman as contrasted to Paramatman. Paramatman
is consistent. It is not the same as the "Manifest Brahman" (Saguna
Brahman) or the "Invisible Brahman" (Nirguna Brahman) linked with the
four bodies, and hence it is "No-Knowledge."
Finally, the Vedas said, "Neti, Neti," which means
"not this, not this." "Not this" denotes that it is neither
Knowledge nor Ignorance. The "Only Truth," the "Essence,"
is unmoving Paramatman. Nothing else is correct. In Dasbodh, Saint Samartha
Ramdas elaborates on this point quite well. What is causing this Knowledge to
be shaky? Because it has a variety of names and qualities associated with the
masculine, feminine, and neuter genders.
It is known as Satchitananda, Ishwara, Omkara, Shesha,
Narayana, the Primordial Being, and Shiva, among other names. These are some
examples of male names. Some of the feminine names include Shakti, Prakriti,
Shruti, Shambhavi, Chitkakla, Narayani, and so on. It is known as Nija Rupam
(one's own nature), the Great-Causal Body, Pure Knowledge, Brahman, the Empire
of Bliss (Anandayatnam), and other neuter gender titles.
This "Self-Knowledge" has come to be recognised as
these neuter gender names. The Steady, the Immovable, the Essence, the
"Real Brahman," is the One who is not any of these.
The tremendous quality of the Knowledge of the Great-Causal
Body is considerably greater in comparison to the Knowledge of the Gross Body,
and it may be gathered via the process of elimination, and after being
inferred, it may be blended with it once again (as it is all-permeating).
However, it cannot be construed that the aspirant has
reached the Parabrahman stage by mastering the process of elimination and
deliberately pervading all. Parabrahman is "That," from which no one
may ever return.
Although knowledge has been branded as
"Knowledge," Brahman has no name. There is a combination of activity
or changes in the form of the world in the Knowledge of "I Am."
Knowledge undergoes transformation as the mind, known as "chitta,"
experiences this transformation. Changes (modifications) are a state or stage.
All adjustments do not apply to Parabrahman.
As a result, there is as much difference between
"Self-Knowledge" or "I Am" (Jnana) and the Absolute
(Vijnana; Parabrahman) as there is between darkness and light. "Where the
stable and the unstable collide, the mind becomes confused," says Shri
Samartha Ramdas.
The last misunderstanding, according to this assertion,
occurs here. (Contact between the steady and the unstable implies the presence
of a subtle dualism that is still there.)
"Forgetfulness" is misinterpreted as Knowledge
before the Knowledge ("I Am") dawns. Similarly, when Jnana, or
Knowledge, is underdeveloped, it is misinterpreted as Vijnana, which is the
last step of Parabrahman's "absence of modifications."
When an aspirant confuses Self-Knowledge, or "I
Am" (Jnana), with Vijnana, his progress is halted.
Samartha Ramdas likened this form of immature Jnani to a man
who wakes up in a dream and believes he is awake. Despite this, he continues to
snore! "You think this is awake, yet your illusion has not vanished,"
Shri Samartha warns this sort of Jnani.
In Vijnana, the Great-Causal Body, or Turya stage, in which
the Gross and Subtle Bodies are like dreams, is itself a dream.
Ignorance is a bind, and Knowledge is a freedom, but how can bondage or freedom exist if both Ignorance and Knowledge are absent?
The Vedas and texts go on and on about the Great-Causal
Body. It is the basic premise, or the hypothesis, till then.
Beyond the Great-Causal Body, in the sphere of Knowledge, is
the verified ultimate conclusion, or Siddhanta, and the cancellation of all
that has been put down.
When all manifestations have been eliminated or obliterated,
all is left is your "Real Nature." It's tough to put into words. You
will witness for yourself how you reach that maximum point when "the
knowledge of words" proves to be Ignorance, Consciousness becomes
non-Consciousness, and all treatments advised by the scriptures prove to be
hindrances.
The Guru led you to the threshold and pushed you inside, but
he cannot show you the beauty or the view within. You must capture the wealth,
the trophy, on your own. After all of this has been stated, there is nothing
further that can be said in words. Words were employed to convey whatever
needed to be said. What cannot be expressed in words has now been committed to
you.
We can only encourage you to be an aspirant; you must become a Siddha on your own.
You may also want to read more about Spirituality and Healing here.
Be sure to check out my writings on Religion here.
