SIRD Malaysia

Telesatsang 6th May 2006.

“Wholesome Devotion to the Guru”

Siva: Swamiji, our humble pranams at your lotus feet, pranams to Nutan Swamiji and Ma Ji too.

Swamiji:  Yes, asirvaad.

Siva: Today we have 30 participants who are divided into three groups. We have seven questions on devotional practice. The first question is  “How to know that we have got the right Guru? Is there any effort necessary or does it take place naturally?”

Swamiji: (Swamiji laughs). This is a very interesting question. See, Guru finding, Guru seeking and getting a Guru is primarily a very spiritual matter. Spiritual matter means it is something occurring at the core level or central level of your personality or being. You have at the bodily level physical law, chemical law, biophysical law, biochemical law. When you come to the mind, you there is psychological law. When you come to the intelligence, you can say there is intellectual law.  Go further ahead to what constitutes the core of our being, you can say that there is spiritual law. Spiritual law operates taking into account the goodness, the heartiness, the sincerity and the zeal of the seeker.  If the seeker is zealous and he does not have contamination of artificiality or unnecessary desire, etc., then all that is required to be had is: “May I have the right Guru; May I be lead to the right Guru; I would like to have a Guru, my dear God.  May I be lead to the right Guru”.  This is a kind of praathana (prayer). Now if you have this kind of a prayer, automatically you will be lead to the right Guru.

How do I know that I have got lead to the right Guru? When you meet the right Guru, you will have happiness and contentment. There will be no question at all. You will have a sense of full unconditional acceptance about him. His self, his work, his intention if he expresses them; all of them will give you a lot of joy and affinity. Then you can also make this proposition before your Guru. “I am a seeker. I want to have the right Guru but I don’t know whether I have come to the right Guru. Will you please tell me whether you are my right Guru or not?”  You can ask this question or whatever descriptions you have in your mind about the Guru. Ultimately, the Guru must be a man of self-realization. How do I know if the Guru is self-realized? It is almost impossible to know whether one is or not; may be another self-realized person will be able to understand another mind. So the best will be you can ask him “I am interested in self-realization or truth-seeking and I would like to be guided properly but I do not know whether my question is right. Sir, have you realized yourself? I would like to know?”  Then he will give a reply that is self-revealing. Normally they will not drum in and  say  “I am… I am… I am…”.  But they will give you a kind of reply from which you can understand what is inside. But any question you can raise before the Guru . There will be no anger, resentment in the heart of a real Guru.  He may speak  with a little irritation, that is if you pressure him, like the father or the mother. Any question can be raised. “I am wondering whether you are the right Guru?”

Siva: The second question is “Is it necessary to have only the Guru’s photo or can we also have  the photos of the other deities at the prayer altar?”

Swamiji: Normally, spirituality follows some kind of a devotional practice or a religious practice. Very few are those who without any religious or devotional background take to spirituality. To have  some devotional practice is to associate with some kind of a god or goddess or something like that. Our families by heredity are given to worship. We have got the concept of istha daivam or kulathaivam etc that is chosen deity, our preferred deity. Sankalpas are there. We generally grow from that background. So some association or fondness will be there for the deity also. Then from that level you go to a Guru, take initiation and start doing saadhana. When you go to the next class, it is not always necessary to have a primary class picture and primary class students in the classroom and all that. In the same manner when  you take a Guru, automatically the other things get a little to the background. But if you still feel that you have to keep some photographs of deities etc, there is no bar; you may have it. But the purpose of going to a Guru is to get that purity, truth,  to get to self realization in a faster, greater and wholesome manner. And for that purpose to get a right focus, consider the Guru to be supreme and all-comprehensive. And it is better to have the Guru’s picture alone. But there is no harm or contradiction in having the other pictures. The trouble will be I have found some places where there are dozens and dozens of deities occupy the puja room and everyday they have give some flower and put some sandalwood paste on the photographs. The routine takes quite a lot of time. But in one sense this is against the principle of oneness also.  or one God. See there is only one God. There is only oneness.  Then why don’t you make it one singular deity giving reference to only one God?   God… God…  Why do you want to say Gods… Gods…?  Why do you want to say God Siva and then Goddess Durga… Goddess Amman…and all that?  So use one word and better be impersonal about it. This is better for the growth of the mind.  But there is no objection to keep the pictures of some other deities also. But the idea is to outlive the plural, the plural notion and get into the singular idea. The progress is facilitated if you have only one.

Siva: The third question is “How do we maintain wholesome devotion when interacting with the variety in world and how do we develop consistency in our devotional practice?

See you generally have something like a piecemeal or a broken and inconsistent devotion. That is what all people have. Now brokenness, inconsistency, etc are some kind of a quality or limited qualities of the mind. Any kind of limited quality can be improved and made more and more enhancing.  People generally have a small portion of the land. They go on increasing the land area, land holding and widening and broadening.  In industry too there also they are expanding. In expansion there is always scope for and in the mind sphere you can expand without being hindered by anything.

So total devotion is: Whatever devotion you have, if this piecemeal devotion is centered on particular deity, a time, a place, a set of procedures and the like; all this must be outlived and you can have devotion in a total manner.  What is meant by devotion in a total manner?  You should consider the world as a manifestation of God and God alone.  If this world is not a display or manifestation of god, I would like you to tell me what is this world?  If this is not a creation of God, what is this?  When you see a heap of ice, it is no other than water cooled, very much cooled.  It is water frozen, it becomes ice.  As water it is colourless. But when it  becomes ice, it is absolutely white and solid also, you can walk over it.  Just like ice is no other than water in a frozen condition, the entire world is actually God with subtle presence, which is in a consolidated or a solid manner, a frozen manner.  So the entire world is God and Godly. Rather than considering the world different from God, consider the world as God’s gross manifestation. If this idea is considered properly, your devotion will become wholesome.  So while I interact with this world, “I am interacting with the solid manifestation of God” is an idea that you should develop and make deeper, deeper, and deeper.

And so far consistency is concerned, there also if you accept the principle that the world is no other than God’s own manifestation.  As in fact you are living in this world, interacting with this world, you will be interacting with God.  But the mind may not accept this idea because of its own constriction, impurity, limitation, etc. So now and then you will have to introspect and remove the constrictions of the mind. Find out which are the impure element and make the mind purer and purer. Now it is not that in one day, one month or even in a year you can become totally pure. It will take some time depending upon on your intensity, consistency and wholesomeness in this pursuit.  Therefore, the one idea is “The entire world is Godly”.  And then when the one idea is fostered, wholesomeness in devotion is bound to be there.  And developing consistency, just like developing consistency in other matters, here also, love develops progressively. Generally the mind takes up an idea and the mind becomes heated about it, the idea becomes an action.  It is a question of applying your mind zealously and steadfastly and that is possible.

Siva: The fourth question is “For those who are yet to be initiated, what is the best form of meditation?”

Swamiji: Meditation is an absolute, an exclusive mental exercise.  In meditation the mind alone is used. In all forms of practices and other devotional practices you will find our body, our hands, our mouth and our legs are active. When you go and do  pradakshana in the temple, the legs are active.  When you fold your hands and stand in front of the deity, the hands are acting. When you utter a prayer, the mouth is acting.  So, in all our forms of practices body, bodily parts, and senses, they are all acting.  When you sit in meditation, the entire body must remain still and non-acting and the mind alone should become functional. 

So as your initial step in meditation, what I would like all of you to do is:  Sit in a room after closing door, alone.  Sit in a comfortable pose, after spreading a bedspread or something like that.  Then close your eyes, interlock the fingers and keep them on your lap.  Then let one part of the mind go on observing, the other mind, the mind’s processes, all kinds of mind’s thoughts, feelings, emotions and the like.  Go on observing. What I mean by observation is: Mind’s nature is that of thinking, of producing feeling, also memories and what not.  There will be concern, there will be sorrow, there will be affectation, there will be affliction, there will be anxiety. All this will be there as a mind process. Do not get involved in them. Do not follow them or pursue them.  Simply observe them as you would observe the face of another person by your side.  Then as the observation  continues for about 20 or 25 minutes, you will feel it is enough, stop it and get away. Next day you again do it.  Your stomach should not have any undigested solid food.  But about half hour earlier you can sip tea or coffee but the stomach should become free.  Then if you go on observing the mind and mind processes, this is a beautiful and effective exercise which will take you from step to step.  Do it and let me know. 

Siva: The fifth question is “What is the reason why people do not develop the correct relationship with the Guru?

Swamiji: (Swamiji laughs.) The reason can only be mental constrains.  Many constrictions are there. If I open up before my guru, I will have to tell all my sides and more than the good, there are bad sides.  So what will the guru think of me?  Will he not devalue me?  Suppose he passes on the information to the others, I will become all the more miserable. Suppose I am a resourceful man and I disclose all my resourcefulness, if the guru demands something from me in one way or other, will I not be in trouble? See this kind of a lack of trust and lack of confidence alone is responsible.  Now the ability of any individual in this world lies in how much he can confide on the others.  If you are a person who cannot confide on anybody, then you will never be able to be happy.  See I have been moving about as a sanyasin for the past 50 years.  Yesterday the Trichur citizens gave me a sivik what you call a reception or an acknowledgment for the 50 years of sanyasa. It was a very good and effective programme. I said that the programme can be effective only if you recognize the value of sanyasa and sanyasins. And the whole situation should be triggered to evaluate and find out the relevance of the great ascetic life, I said. That is by the way. During all these years, do you know, when I took up sanyasa, I left my professional life and income. I also left all my blood relations. I was not married. I did not marry. Therefore no matrimonial relationship arose. So leaving the blood relations, and also income when I started wandering about in my pratika life, if at all I depended on anybody, I totally rested on Providence. I also resigned my stand on any kind of development. I met quite a number of people. All of them came and spoke to me. I developed intimacy. You know the amount of trust I have on the so called devotees and disciples?  How is it that I am able to trust them? If I can trust them, why should you not trust your Guru? If you are not able to trust that means you are not a clean-hearted person. You don’t want to enjoy the benefit of Supreme trust. We are supposed to rely upon God supremely and wholesomely. The entire devotional life is meant for total reliance on God. If you are not able to rely upon your Guru how can you rely upon the invisible God? So I think you should understand what it is to have trust. So the trustworthiness is very important. And I have a number of people who are very trustworthy. I don’t keep any secrets or other matters with them. In the same manner, with an open heart you must be able to trust your Guru. If you don’t do it, then a great benefit is denied and your progress also will be very complex and stained. Why don’t you try and understand it as a value and try to do. If you have any difficulty in the matter of opening up and having trust, this subject itself you can discuss with the Guru: “Swamiji, I am not able to be free with you. I cannot rely upon you. I am not able to place all my trust in an unambiguous manner.  What is the reason?  Can you please help me?” You can raise this question. He must be able to answer you.

Siva: The sixth question is: “If we consider ourselves to be instruments of God, where is the role for making judgement and decision?”

Swamiji:  See, to be an instrument of God does not mean you should not use your faculties properly. Our hand is meant for holding. Leg is meant for walking, standing, etc. Our mouth is meant for speaking. As an instrument will you not use your hands, feet, and also mouth? In the same manner, as an instrument of God, use also your mind, use also your intelligence. Instrument means what? Any instrument will be employed. Suppose you have a drill. You handle it and you start drilling. So the drill is also employed. Similarly employ your body, employ your mouth, employ your intelligence, employ your mind. To be an instrument means to be functional. And to be functional, the functioning instrument should be applied.  So apply the instrument called the mind in the matter of thinking. Apply the instrument called the intelligence in the matter of understanding and rationalizing. So try to do that. In what way is it inconsistent with the instrument field?

Siva: The seventh question is: “Can meditation bring devotion to the meditator?”

Swamiji:   See, meditation is a mental exercise.  And by this mental exercise we are trying to get into the mind level and find out its defects and also remove them and fill it positive with virtues and conviction. By intelligence we are trying to make the intelligence rationally in a soothing manner and have a partial or preferential note or superficial note. So meditation is meant to improve the quality of the mind and intelligence. When the mind and intelligence improve their quality, will not the resultant outcome called devotion also improve? And what is devotion? Does it relate to the body or does it relate to the mind and intelligence? Sri Krishna says in Bhagawad Gita 12^th chapter; the chapter itself is on devotion; he says:

Mayy eva mana ­adhatsva mayi buddhim nivesaya

“Fix your mind on Me and fix your intelligence on Me.”  So true devotion consists in a mento-intellectual fusion. By meditation we are trying to purify the mind, sharpen the intelligence and make both of them better and subtler. So by meditation the qualities of the mind and the intelligence improve and such growth will make your devotion purer and more wholesome. So where is the contradiction?  It is a beautiful complementariness that I find there.

Siva: Thank you Swamiji.

Swamiji: I want to tell all of you that I am very happy that so may of you have assembled there. And you are thinking about the matter, formulating questions. Perhaps if this procedure or this event is not there, many of you will not be thinking about it. You may have come to the CIRD, that also for some time. But you will not have applied your mind and intelligence to the subject of devotion as you have done now. So this is a very important step. What is required to be done is: You should think about, discuss and dwell more and more about the answers I have given you.  Think about it. Think about it. Thinking is the saadhana. And the enquiry is the sadhana. So apply the mind and intelligence to the sadhana. I mentally embrace all of you.  May your lives be enriched. May your lives be elevated. May all of you get more and more enlightenment as days pass by.   Hari Om Tat Sat.

End.