"Brahman" And "Bharath" As The Theme Of The Discourses That Will Follow

May 1974, Summer Course 1974 - Brahman, Brindavan

Published English.

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We can get the harvest of paddy only by sowing the seeds of paddy. We cannot get such a harvest if we sow fried paddy as seeds. One who has the necessary wisdom will get rid of repeated births. It is only by acquiring the correct kind of knowledge that one can escape repeated birth. Listen to this great truth, Oh brave son of !

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Citizens of our country believe in , the fruits of which come out of our own actions. Because we have strong faith in the doctrine of , we always undertake to do good deeds and keep away from doing bad deeds. We readily come forward to do good deeds but hesitate to indulge in bad deeds. has written in the that we come forward to do good acts and to say good things, but we hesitate to do bad deeds and hesitate to tell unsacred things because we know that this hurts people.

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The philosophy which we accept in this country is something which is very sacred and there is a saying that we believe in doing good . It is an important characteristic of our culture that as an individual, as a family, and as a society, there is considerable forbearance and mutual dependence towards each other. When one can recognise the connection between these three, and when one can recognise and respect the adhyatmic injunctions given to us even while paying and at the same time, pay sufficient attention to worldly duties, there is no doubt that the society will become prosperous and there will be peace in the world. Because our people have recognised the connection that exists between the worldly thought and the spiritual aspect, it is possible for them to take the correct path and become leaders in the world of thought. They have always taught that the worldly aspect and the spiritual aspect cannot contradict each other.

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The relationship between the , , and (nature) is an inseparable one. Without cotton, we cannot have yarn and without yarn, we cannot have the cloth. For a piece of cloth to take the shape which it has, the basic material is the thread. While the cloth has for its basis the thread, the thread itself has for its basis, the cotton. Cotton, thread, and cloth are three names for three different forms; but what is contained in all the three is the same and that is cotton.

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, or nature, is like the cloth in this analogy. It is the conglomeration of our desires that takes the form of nature. These desires emanate from our heart and have their origin in our heart. We do not see the desires around us. We are able to see in external appearances what is latent in our hearts in the form of desires. It is not possible to see anything externally if its origin does not lie as a latent entity within us. If we close our eyes, all nature around us will look as if it does not exist. But, when we open our eyes, we see so many different heads. Have the people who are here gone away somewhere when we close the eyes, or have they come from somewhere when we open our eyes? No - these people have been here all along. If we do not have eyes, we cannot recognise even our own body. Therefore we are able to recognise the entire creation only through our vision. There is nothing distinct as a creation; this becomes a reality because of our vision.

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In the same manner good and bad, right and wrong, heaven and hell are all appearing to us as a result of our own vision. The mind of man alone is responsible both for his bondage and for his liberation. The difference between bondage and liberation exists only in our thought. There is no intrinsic or basic difference between these two. We will be able to appreciate the aspect of the divine only when we sacrifice the aspect of the . There is nothing that we can get by causing harm to the and doing (ritual worship) to the divine. We have to recognise that the living and visible and the invisible divine are the same, and we have to recognise the unity between these two aspects.

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Our ancients have prescribed various rituals which would enable us to shed our arrogance and ego. These rituals which have been prescribed to us have also been called and . The word has come from the root word . We have come to recognise this ritual as important in the context of our worshipping the Lord. The statements that are in our have told us to sacrifice everything, and through sacrifice we should be able to get a vision of the divine in us. The creation and its maintenance depends only on sacrifice. If there is no sacrifice, the society will not remain intact. If there is no sacrifice, there will be no life and one cannot recognise the truth and if there is no sacrifice, there is no creation and there is no sustenance.

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The body and the country are like the object and the image. The body is the place where the divine resides. The difference between and , that is between the place of residence and the resident, is the one “.” We interpret this difference by saying that one who is full of knowledge and wisdom is the one who resides in the body, and since this syllable “” is not present in “” it is said that the body itself is completely devoid of knowledge and wisdom. So, bearing in mind the Lord who is the embodiment of knowledge and wisdom and who resides in the body, we should be able to give sufficient attention for the well-being of the body. If the All-knowing does not reside in the body, then there is no sanctity of the body.

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But, are we giving the name to everything? No - only specific cities, villages, and rivers go by the name of . It is only that particular place where there is some sacredness recognised that is called . , , , , and are some of the places which are called . These places are called because with these places is associated a recognised sacredness, and the presence of such sacredness gives them the name . In a superficial way, one recognises this as a place where God is residing.

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In the , our body is described as the and the who resides in the body is called the . We are not able to realise how we should use our own body in which God resides. Devotees who have a sacred heart and who entertain sacred thoughts go on pilgrimage to such sacred places. They are undertaking a pilgrimage to such centres only because they believe those places to be sacred. If they are not sacred, there is no need for them to undertake such a pilgrimage at such expense of money and energy. As in this analogy, because the human body is sacred, many people establish connections between each other, and they try to make a pilgrimage and take their life along a sacred path. If truly the body of an individual does not undertake a sacred task and lead a sacred life, no one will want to have any relationship with such a body. Therefore, anyone who claims to keep his body sacred should make an attempt to indulge only in good actions, good thoughts, and good deeds.

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If we take a pot which is full of and apply a coating of externally on the pot, does the fragrance of the remove the bad smell of the which is in the pot? In the same manner, if your heart is full of bad ideas and bad thoughts and externally if you pretend to be good and be in good company for purposes of show, does that remove the impurity in your heart? It does not matter if you do not enter good company and do good deeds. It does not matter if you do not participate in (meditation) and (repetition of holy names), but it is absolutely essential that you should keep your heart pure and clean. The essence of all religions teaches that you should keep your heart clean. Both in the material world and for spiritual attainments, control of your sensory organs is essential. It is not good to completely and rigidly control all your senses nor is it desirable to give them complete freedom. One should adopt the middle path.

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There is a small example for this. Many men are accustomed to shave and they know that if they press the razor too hard they will cut the skin and if they do not press at all, it will not be possible to remove the hair. Therefore, in this process, only when we apply moderate pressure will we be able to attain the necessary result. The human mind is like a razor’s edge. Without controlling the mind too rigidly and without allowing it to go too freely, we should encourage it to do good acts and we should control it when there is any tendency to participate in bad acts. Thus by distinguishing between good acts and bad acts, we should be able to guide the mind in a moderate manner between the two extremes. To control the mind and the thoughts is something basic to , and this has been said by many people.

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It has been the custom in these summer classes to take a particular theme and give importance to the central idea and synthesise and correlate the ideas that are connected with that theme and imprint them in your mind. This year, the important idea will be the history of the name of our country, , and the significance of the name . This country has been called or . It is customary to associate this with the name of the son of a king who at one time ruled this country. This is not the correct meaning. The whole world has been called . The relationship between the name and the has to be understood. We should be able to derive the authority from the for this name .

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It is, also, common for our people to use the word very frequently. We must understand what this word means. Does this mean the traditional four-faced God or does this mean the , that is sound typified as , or does it represent the creator of all this creation? In the thirty days that are to follow you should understand the two important words - and - by quoting authority from our , , and . I will spend the next thirty days in explaining to you the inner meaning of these two words. If one cannot understand the meaning of the name given to one’s own mother country, what is the use of being born in a country and calling oneself a citizen of ?

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One who cannot recognise the significance of the name of one’s own mother country should be regarded as blind, not being able to recognise his own body. Today there are many who are not able to recognise the meaning of the name given to their own body. If one does not know the meaning of the name given to his body, how is he going to understand the significance of the name of his motherland? Therefore the first thing that one has to do is to understand the significance of his name and the name of his motherland. During these thirty days, many teachers may tell you the significance of various other matters but I will tell you the significance of the two words “” and “.” I hope that you will be able to appreciate fully the meaning of these words.

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People who have sacred thoughts and ideas will always have the viewpoint of (Non-dualism) in whatever they say. You should make an attempt to find good in whatever you see. Whether you see good or bad you must regard it as good. On the other hand, if you begin to look for bad in the good things that you see, it is very sinful. In the Bible there is a very good example provided by Christ for such a situation. There was a dead dog in a particular place, and the birds and other animals were eating the various parts of this dead dog, and the pieces of flesh were thrown all around in a helter skelter fashion. Several people would not look at this repulsive situation. They were turning away from this dead dog and were moving at a distance. At that time Jesus was going along that path and learnt that all the people were abandoning that path because of the dead dog on the path. He then said that one must learn to see the good aspect of everything. He asked if any one has ever thought of the very clean set of teeth which belong to the dog, and he asked if anyone ever brushed these teeth for them to be so clean. He thus advised them to see only the good in all aspects. He, also, taught them the lesson that there is bad blood in everyone and bad flesh in everyone which should in reality keep all persons away. We should practise to see only good things, do only good things, and hear only good things and each of our experiences must become a sacred experience.

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