All Our Sorrow Is Our Own Creation

June 1978, Summer Course 1978, Brindavan

Published English.

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A knowledge of will be available only to those who have very pure minds. Even a saint cannot acquire this. This word of is a statement of the path of truth.

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In this world, man gets happiness out of a thing of beauty. When we look at a beautiful flower, happiness is generated in us. When we look at a beautiful bird or a nice house, we feel happy. We have to carefully consider whether such happiness is permanent or transient. A nice rose flower makes us feel very happy; but by the evening, the rose will fade away; and by the next morning the petals will fall and then it does not generate as much happiness. In the same way, every object of beauty can only generate temporary happiness in us. We have to understand carefully where one can find permanent and lasting happiness. This can only be found in the aspect of and in the thought of God. We can get permanent happiness only from things that are permanent.

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We may have a lot of wealth, a lot of influence and power; but if we do not have the awareness of close to us, it is as good as having a short span of life. The recognised this need for getting permanent happiness. We must also recognise that we can get permanent happiness only from permanent things.

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The undertook to perform a special , on a particular Monday in the Month of . We should recognise the significance of performing this sacred . They said, “We are not aspiring for an impermanent and illusory form. We are aspiring for attaining sacred who is the embodiment of permanent unchanging truth. Just because He is in a physical form, we will not be deceived into believing that he is impermanent. Just like the clothes that we are now wearing, God has decided to take that particular human form in this . The may change but our God will not change.”

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The clearly recognised the divinity in . Depending on the age of the individual, he is described as being in his childhood, youth, adolescence, or old age.

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However, for it is always childhood or youth. This was beyond all human comprehension. He is immortal, and he is always full of peace, and in this way he represents eternal beauty. Although he used to be dark in complexion, his appearance was very attractive. The divinity that was present in him was responsible for this. This is not so in all human beings. It is a distinctive divine quality. The realised that they can find true beauty in this aspect only, and so they undertook to perform this sacred . They wanted to get him as their or husband. By passage of time, men by their way and nature, have forgotten the true meanings of words and accepted false meanings. We generally think that the word husband (or ) means one in the position of a husband to a wife. But, in actual fact a husband in this context means one who takes care of the person. Their feeling was that alone can bear the burden of taking care of all of them, and hence they desired him as their husband. The sixteen thousand and one hundred and eight treated in this manner.

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To think of all these as the wives of is not correct. For God, who is present in all living beings, who is the husband and who is the wife? All such bodily relationships cannot be ascribed to God. are pure divine reflections of the . They were people who surrendered themselves to . Sixteen thousand and one hundred eight were living in with such a feeling. Here, we should enquire whether their happiness has arisen from worldly feelings or from the permanent aspect of . In their concept, there cannot be anything in this world that is beautiful unless it is permanent and associated with the divine. They were experiencing both these aspects only in . If there is no oil in a lamp with a wick, there will not be any light. If there is no current inside the bulb, there will be no light. When there is a or a doom, even the sun and moon will be lost. The one that will never be extinguished is the . They believed to be the and through such complete faith, they prayed to .

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As a result of our attachment to the body and its organs, we go on praising the beauty in the world. There was one disciple of . His wife had very beautiful eyes. He was constantly protecting her beautiful eyes and even when she was going to fetch water from the river, he was accompanying her with an umbrella in order to protect her eyes. This strange behaviour of the disciple was noticed by and he asked the disciple why he was behaving in that way. This man replied very quietly and shyly, that because his wife’s eyes were very beautiful, he was protecting those eyes from the rays of the sun. Then asked if he were to see eyes which were more beautiful than his wife’s eyes, whether he would protect those eyes with the same care. The disciple assured that he would. After completed his meditation, he and his disciples went to the temple of . When started describing the eyes of the Lord, the eyes of the Lord shone beautifully and appeared exquisite and bright. The disciple saw those beautiful eyes and from that day he was enjoying their beauty.

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In the same manner, the after experiencing all the beauty in different names and forms, started experiencing the divine beauty of . Ever since then, they did not seek anything else.

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As things were going on like this in the year 3102 B.C. between the dates 17-18 February; at midnight gave up his mortal body. Before that, in the year 3138 B.C., crowned . Between these two periods and for a total duration of 36 years. enabled the to experience the divinity in . This was the good fortune of many other people in also. In our sacred texts, it has been described that the were very sorry and worried after the of , but this is not correct. It is true that the felt ’s loss, but the considered to be eternal and immortal and never felt his absence.

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Before the battle of , there were several bad omens. One year before the departure of the to the forest, was born. Together with this one year, the twelve years in the forest and the additional year during which they lived incognito, makes up fourteen years. Thus, at the time of the war, was fifteen years old and was playing like a child in front of . When was challenged to the battle, he felt somewhat hesitant because was not with him. Then, asked what the problem was. explained to him that a great person like challenged him to battle. When was thus worried, immediately said that it is not right for them to withdraw from the battle and insisted that he will go into the fight.

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I am narrating this incident to you to show you how really great and courageous were those who were born in the Pandava family. said that as was not there, should get his mother’s approval before going to battle. Even here, was showing that it is very necessary to ask for and accept the instructions of the parents. went to his mother and asked for permission to go to battle. His mother addressing him said, “May blessings of the great Lord be showered on you, and may He enable you to maintain the noble family traditions. May you, by the grace of the Lord, bring victory and glory to the family.” In some texts on the subject, a view has been expressed that ’s mother felt that he was too young and was not too happy about his going to battle. This is not correct. Indeed, she was overjoyed to find the courageous son wanting to go to battle.

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When was sixteen, was born as a son. He was born after ’s death. He was also about to die in the womb of the mother but was saved by . Thus, he earned the grace of even when he was in the womb of his mother. Thus became the most important character in . Hence, the curse of the elders was treated as a blessing. This was because was always thinking of whose image was imprinted in his mind. were also great devotees who sacrificed everything they had in the thought of . recognised not only the great strength of but also the divine aspect of .

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were a different kind. They had complete faith in the divine aspect of and they had unwavering faith in . Theirs was a sacred, pure and selfless devotion. The and are ideal examples for those living in the . We think that the - or the play of and - was some kind of a game involving human enjoyment, but this is not so. Indeed this is symbolic of the sacred confluence between the (represented by the ) and the (represented by ). They had converted their hearts into and their thoughts into sacred streams. They were formless in the aspect of divinity. One gets attached to his sensory organs if one has attachment to his body. There was no illusion in them relating to their body. The reason for this is that in their previous births in , they were actually . In the , when they were , they were able to get only the of the Lord. In the , they became monkeys of . In the , they thus had the only of the Lord, and in the they had a chance to have or conversation with him. Thereafter they prayed to God to let them have a chance to get , or the touch of the Lord, as well. In order that this may be achieved, the same of became monkeys in the and in the .

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They are also the three forms of - , and . Those who have the will only get , while those with rajasik qualities will get or conversation. Those who have sathwik qualities will also have or touch.

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I will give you one small example to show the divine aspect which one can get by or contact with the Lord. Charcoal is dark and signifies ignorance in the form of darkness. Fire throws light or brightness and signifies knowledge. So long as the fire and the charcoal are separated from each other, the charcoal can only look at the fire but cannot get any of its brightness. However, when the charcoal is put into the fire and brought into contact, it will also become bright and will become a part of fire. Therefore, when one comes into contact with the divine form, the ignorance in his body will be removed. If we also do a little fanning, the charcoal will become fire faster and constitutes such a fanning.

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By , even an ignorant person can become a wise person. Realising this truth, the were near to and they were also dear to him. All the actions of the were intended to attain immortality but were not performed with any selfish motive. All the events that we read in the must be regarded as actions performed by the with a pure and sacred heart. They regarded themselves as part of the Lord. They experienced the unity in all creation. We should not take these actions in a superficial manner. Their desires were completely burnt out in the thought of the divine.

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