The Rain Clouds

14 August 1964, Chennai

Professor Kasturi's English.

1

FOR the last two hours, you were fully immersed in the of (Reality of ) and of (essence of ), which are both the same. How grand it would be if all the moments of life you were imbibing this undisturbed! spoke on , the thirst for ! What an appropriate word, that! The thirst for worldly goods can never be allayed; trying to satisfy it makes it only more acute. Thirst can never be quenched by drinking salt water, which is the objective world. Human desire is illimitable, without end. It makes you pursue the mirage in the desert; it makes you build castles in the air; it breeds discontent and despair once you succumb to it. But, develop the thirst for , you discover the cool spring of within you. (name) makes you strong and steady; it is sweet and sustaining. , the great example of this thirst, is so called because his heart was so pure that it had no touch of blemish at all. He is called , because he lost his , that is, became unconscious of the world outside him, when he heard the name and became conscious!

2

Yearning of for Look at the (milk maids of ) and their yearning for the Lord! They never swerved from the path of , of continuous (remembrance) of the Lord. When in pain you shout ", or "; but the always called on only, whether in joy or in grief. A gopee was moving along the streets of. selling butter and and milk; but, she was not crying aloud the names of her ware; she was calling aloud the names of : "! ! !" The forgot the very purpose of their visit to , their very livelihood, their task of selling and earning. They stood watching , running along with a hoop and ignoring all else, they ran behind him with a ball of butter in the hand, offering it to the Divine child who had captured their hearts, calling on Him to receive the gift; "!" ! !" When one of them was rolling on the ground in terrible anguish at the separation from , they sat around her and instead of assuaging her grief by turning her thoughts away from , they augmented it because they themselves could not think of any other subject to talk to her than 's glory and 's ! They sat around and sang, "! ! !" Whoever has the thirst, will quench it; whoever calls on Him in the agony of that thirst, , the rain-cloud, will answer that call and appear. You can understand ('s consort) only if you can fathom the depth of that thirst. believed that is the (basis); she did (worship) to in a continuous (stream); in fact, she is or , which is another form of the Lord or Himself. How can those who are full of evil tendencies and impulses grasp that relationship?

3

In this , the principle of (Divine Love) is not in evidence. It is smothered in jealousy, conceit, hatred, fear, falsehood and greed. That is why it is best referred to as the (the age of faction), marked by fights between mother and daughter, father and son, teacher and pupil, and , brother and brother. The recitation of the name of is the best method for cleansing the mind of all these evil impulses. You may ask, "If we engage ourselves in this pastime, how can we earn our livelihood?" Well, let me assure you, if you have pure and steady faith in the Lord, He will provide for you, not merely food, but the nectar of immortality. You have that mighty potentiality in you, to discover the Lord within and compel Him to grant you that nectar.

4

Make the thirst for grow in you When you say that was born in , then. He grew up in , that He ruled over and that He later reigned at , what do those statements signify? The (mind) is the ! where He was born (where He is born even now to whoever takes the spiritual path); the heart is the where He grows, where (divine love) for Him develops; the is the which He rules over and the stage is where He installs Himself, as the reigning monarch. Make the (thirst for ) grow through these stages and you will be saving yourself! You will be joining the ranks of , and (devotees of Lord ). Once upon a time, we used to hear of three famous names , Bal and Pal; they were famous in the days of the national struggle. But many do not know now who they were. At least, and Pal have disappeared from the memory of the people; a large percentage of even educated persons will flounder if you ask them who and Pal were. Bal, meaning , is still known to many, because he has made a contribution to spiritual knowledge, being a himself and a good student of for which he wrote a commentary. So, alone makes life worth while; the rest is mostly froth or fake or failure, flashes of the moment.

5

Three principles to guide you The mind must become (saturated with devotion to God); the intelligence must be transformed into (the splendour of universal wisdom), or (Divine Knowledge); the body must be a willing and efficient instrument for , (the practice of righteousness). Such a life is indeed the crown and glory of humanity. The rest are contaminated, contained, caged lives! There is no use asking a doctor to advise you about the plans for the building you propose to raise; nor is it wise to ask the engineer for a balm to assuage pain. Go to the proper and learn from him about at least three principles to guide your lives. (1) : What is , why should it be followed, what does it allow, what does it condemn, etc.? - these have to be clearly known. The is the best text on : the first word in it is and the last word is (mine). So, it teaches each student what exactly he should consider as "the which is mine!" Each one must evolve his own based on , the faith that the (soul) is his true reality. (2) · (devotion) is like a king, who has two aides-de-camp called (divine knowledge) and (non-attachment). Without these two bodyguards, is never secure or safe. must be built upon the foundation of ; it must flower as "detachment from the world." The is the (unmoved by agitating feelings and emotions), unshaken by the storms of fortune, good or bad; the (the detached), is the person who has rid himself of the three (qualities of the mind); and the (devotee) is he who is all (Love). , and are three peaks of the same Himalyan range. creates (compassion); induces (tolerance); and, leads you along the path of .

6

Put out the fire raging within you (3) - When the house catches fire, you run about in desperate haste to get succour and to put out the flames; but, you do not realise that the fire raging inside you is even more devastating and devouring. You must take up the duty of fire fighting in right earnest and never rest until the flames are put out. Start the fight right now. Start serving your parents, your teachers, the elders, the poor, the diseased, the distressed. Do not foster factions and divisions. Promote love, concord, co-operation, brotherliness. Do not look upon people as belonging to this state or that; all are in the state of bondage to the senses, to the objective world. Join the company of the good, the striving, the yearning and you will soon reach the stage of peace within and harmony without.