← The Gospel of Swami RamdasHis talks, as recorded by Swami Satchidananda

1951-10-13

Chapter 10

Anandashram, October 13, 1951

82. Be unaffected by Prarabdha – Purpose of Sadhana

It was about 9.30 a.m. Papa was sitting on the cement bench in front of the ashram. CR Rao and Swami Ramachandrananda were standing close to him and S was holding an umbrella. Swami Ramachandrananda had asked Papa to clear some doubts.

Looking at him, Papa said: "You should not be afraid of prarabdha. You should face it bravely. A jnani faces prarabdha by asserting aham brahmasmi, 'I am Brahman', and considering the whole world as mithya – unreal. Even his body is not real for him. He is not affected by anything, not even by any physical suffering. A bhakta, however, accepts everything as God. Any suffering caused by Prarabdha, he takes as a gift of God. He believes that everything happens by God's will alone. He has nothing to reject. So both the jnani and the bhakta are unaffected by suffering. Their effort is to cross the ocean of samsara and attain immortality."

Swami Ramachandrananda: What is the meaning of samsara?

Papa: One's attachment to the body, wife, children, relations, possessions, and so forth, constitutes samsara. One, who is immersed in samsara, has to perform intense sadhana to get out of it. One who has no attachment to woman and wealth needs only very little sadhana to attain the goal. One who grows up in a pure atmosphere is not inclined to get into the whirlpool of samsara and therefore finds his way out easily. Suppose a child grows in the company of a saint and there is nobody else to infuse worldly thoughts into its mind; the child grows up like the saint himself – like a beautiful flower. It is continued association with the world that makes us impure. We imbibe so many impure vasanas that intense sadhana alone can erase them. The purpose of sadhana is only to undo the harmful effects of mundane thoughts and impressions. Now listen to a story.

83. Detachment – A Queen's Example

"In a forest lived a great tapaswin. His wife was a highly evolved soul. She passed away leaving her only daughter behind. The daughter grew up in all innocence and purity. Her father was getting old. She used to seat him in a jhula and swing it to and fro. She was guileless, pure and free like a child. One day a Raja who happened to pass that way saw the young girl in the company of her old father. The Raja was a bachelor and had declined to marry so far, though he had many offers. Seeing this girl, he told his minister that if at all he married, he would marry her only. So they went and asked the tapaswin if he would be willing to give his daughter in marriage to the Raja. The old hermit replied: 'I have absolutely no objection if she agrees. You may approach her and get her consent.'

"They then asked the girl, She replied: 'I have no objection. But there are two conditions to be fulfilled. First you should engage somebody here to look after my old father. Secondly I will bring with me the clothes that I am wearing now and I should be permitted to spend one hour daily in a solitary room in the palace where I will put on these clothes.' The king agreed.

"The marriage was duly performed and the girl cheerfully left her father and carried on the duties of the queen very happily in the kingdom. She was very loving and compassionate to everyone. According to her vow she was spending daily an hour in a lonely room, wearing her simple forest-dress. In course of time a girl was born to her. Unfortunately, the subjects felt that their king had married some forest girl and so they would not allow her children to inherit the throne. They requested the king to get the child killed. The king conveyed this tragic news to the queen. She cheerfully agreed to give up the child. The child was then handed over to two men who were instructed to take it to a jungle and kill it. They took the child to the forest, but its beauty and innocence prompted them to leave it there alive. They falsely reported to the king that they had killed it. This child was soon taken away by another king who chanced to pass that way.

"Two years later a son was born to the queen. Again the subjects agitated that the son should be killed. The queen readily gave up this child also. The men who were commissioned to kill it, left it alive in the forest as before and reported to the king that they had killed the child. It so happened that this child was also found and taken away by the same king who took the first baby girl. After some time another daughter was born to the queen, which went the way of the earlier two. Providentially, this third child also was found in the forest by the same king who had taken away the first two children. The three children were growing up fine under the loving care of the king and the queen who were childless.

"Now the subjects requested the king – father of the children – to send the queen back to the forest and marry another princess, as they thought there was no use having a queen whose children were unfit for the throne. The king told the queen about this. She cheerfully fell in with the idea and went back to her father and started as before to serve him, swinging him in the jhula. She was as cheerful as ever. She had no regrets, because she took all that happened in such a detached spirit that life was, to her, nothing short of a dream.

"Some years passed. The king, who sent back his queen to the forest, decided to marry the daughter of the king of the neighbouring state. The marriage was settled. As there was no female member in the palace, there was none to make the marriage preparations. The subjects requested the king to send for the former queen, and asked her to arrange everything for the king's wedding. They all knew that the former queen was very clever at managing all such affairs. The king sent messengers to the forest to call her. She came cheerfully and supervised her husband's second marriage.

"Before the function commenced, however, the father of the bride told the king in the presence of the assembly: 'I wish to tell you some details of my family before the marriage takes place. These three children, of whom you are going to marry the eldest, are not really mine. I found them all one by one in the forest. I took them to my kingdom and brought them up.'

"Now the king – bridegroom – suspected that the bride was perhaps his own daughter and that the other two were also his children. He sent for the two men who were ordered to kill them. On questioning, they confessed they did not kill the children and begged to be pardoned. After careful enquiries he was convinced that they were his own children by the first queen. He could not marry his own daughter. So the marriage was cancelled. All were pleased with the result. The people of the kingdom highly appreciated the good and lofty qualities of the queen who cheerfully passed through the severe trials that befell her. They then prayed that she should not go back to the forest, but should remain in the palace as the queen. She joyfully agreed to the proposal."

Papa continued: "Ramdas told you this story to show how detached the queen was while living and moving in the world. That was because she was brought up in her most impressionable age by a saint, in an atmosphere far away from worldly distractions. So she developed detachment from worldly pleasures and position."

84. Samsara, hard to overcome

It was time for Papa's bath. Papa went to the building behind the bhajan-hall. S brought a seat on which Papa sat. S was fanning him. Breaking the few minutes' silence, Papa said, "One who is caught in samsara is doomed. What a hard struggle it is to get out of it! Ramdas had been in it and he knows how much he had to suffer and struggle to free himself from its coils. Even though one separates oneself physically, it is very difficult to take the mind away from the old rut. It drags you down. Ramdas had to do intense sadhana to free himself from all attachments. He used to consider the world like a passing show.”

S: When did the struggle cease?

Papa: The struggle finally ceased only a few years after he came to this ashram.

S (with great surprise): What! It took so many years! Did you not feel calm and peaceful when you were repeating Ram Nam intensely day and night? Were you not free from those attachments them?

Papa: No. There were occasionally some disturbances. Even a slight irregularity in diet used to disturb the mind. While in the Kadri cave, once Ramdas ate some food which was not well cooked. That produced stomach trouble which in turn disturbed the mind. So, whenever there was mental disturbance, he used to go into solitude and observe fast for one or two days. That helped him much.

S: What was Papa's practice to remain unaffected by the worldly whirlpool? Was it by detaching your real Self from the body and asserting that your real nature is bliss, or did Papa resort to other means?

Papa: It was by looking at everything as Ram and every incident that happened as brought about by Ram.

November 4, 1951

85. A New Path to Realisation – Mataji's Wish

3.30 p.m. Papa came out from the bhajan-hall. A few local visitors were with him. The whole group came near the cement bench and stood there for a while. The local devotees took their leave of Papa. Then some of the ashram inmates, who were standing behind, joined him and all went out for a walk. The group consisted of Dayanand, Chandrasekhar, Ramkishor, S and a couple of others. They were almost near the gate when S asked Papa, "May I bring Papa's walking stick?" Papa said, "Yes, that would be fine."

S then went back to the bhajan-hall and returned with the walking stick. The party walked to the main road and turned east. It was a very beautiful scenery all around – the narrow road with many curves, through the maidan full of green grass, looked like the red border of a green velvet shawl unevenly folded. On the right side was the beautiful Manjapati hill and on the left the ever-green valley. Turning to the rear, one could see the vast sunlit expanse of the Arabian Sea.

The party was walking slowly.

Papa (to S): Do you know Mataji has brought an important proposition before Ramdas? She has been discussing it with Ramdas. She wants him to chalk out a new path for the devotees to attain God-realisation. They should remain where they are, carrying on their normal activities. Ramdas should see that they all advance on the spiritual path. It must be entirely a new path as she does not like the old way of renouncing and running away to solitude. Some reject the world for a while and spend their time in solitude. After getting established in the Reality and realising the world as the very manifestation of the Reality, they return to it. Then their vision is completely changed. Mataji does not want even this temporary isolation from the world. According to her, in every way the sadhaka should lead a normal life, and at the same time the inner transformation should take place. The sadhaka alone should know and feel for himself the inner freedom and peace. Of course, those who move with him closely may get an inkling of it. How do you like it?

S: Whether one realises while living in the family or after running away from it, what does it matter as long as the realisation is there?

Papa: No, the question is about the path. Mataji wants that the householder, both during his sadhana and after realisation, should bring about no external change of any type.

S: Is there any instance of such a type?

Papa: Instance or no instance, she wants Ramdas to cut out this new path.

S: What does Papa say about it?

Papa: Ramdas replied to her in such a way that she could not speak further. Ramdas told her that there are certain conditions laid down for God-realisation, most important of them being tyaga and sadhana. One has to fulfil these conditions. If a woman wants a baby it is absolutely necessary that she should get pregnant, pass through the duration of pregnancy and then deliver. As pregnancy is a necessary condition for child-birth, even so tyaga and sadhana are the important conditions for God-realisation. She did not argue.

86. Why Sannyas not Advised

S: Papa, though you renounced everything and became a sannyasi, why is it that you ask most of your devotees to remain householders?

Papa: Because, Ramdas finds that in the case of all, except, a few, they are not prepared to give up everything. Though for the moment they might be saying that they would renounce, they won't be able to hold on for long. So it is better for them to remain as householders till their minds cannot think of anything but God. At this stage they will themselves run away from their homes or, even if they remain there, they would become useless for the household life and invariably unwanted by the relatives, as they will prove more a burden to them than any help. They would then be toiling for the good of people in general who are in distress.

Then Papa turned from the road to the left and walked through the maidan wishing to sit for some time on one of the rocks a few yards away. In a few minutes all were sitting on a rock.

87. Ask God to Transform You

S: Whatever the path, what we want is a quicker progress. The very sight of you should bring about the transformation in the aspirants. All their vasanas should be burnt completely.

Papa: Do you mean to say Ramdas should be something like a fire which will burn away all the vasanas of the devotees who approach him?

S: Yes, exactly so. Then it is immaterial whether the devotee is a householder or not. He sees you and is transformed. There is no question of his lack of progress. Now, if we say that we are not progressing, your answer invariably is that we should have more faith and devotion, and that our aspiration for God is not strong enough, and so on. This is not what we expect. When a sadhaka comes to you, he expects you to remove all his dirt and give him the necessary strength to go forward and reach the goal.

Papa: By putting the blame on the disciple, the Guru admits that he is either unwilling to give the necessary strength to the disciple or he is not powerful enough to help him.

There was an outburst of laughter.

S: That is how you escape. We cannot win in any argument with you.

Papa: God can do anything if He wills. He is almighty. He is not bound by rules and regulations. He wills and things happen.

S: Why don't you will then?

Papa: You should ask Ram to do it. What is Ramdas after all? Why does Mataji herself not do what she wants Ramdas to do?

S: She has left everything in Papa's hands. She wants Papa to do everything.

Papa: What do you mean by 'Papa'?

S: 'Papa' means the almighty Lord working through this body (pointing to Papa's body).

Papa: Yes, it means you have to ask the almighty Lord to give you the strength.

S: We ask you, that is enough. Asking you is asking Him. If not, why should people come to see you?

Papa: They come to see Ramdas because they have silently asked Ram to do something for them and Ram does it for them through Ramdas.

88. Short-lived Experience

It was getting late then and Papa said that the party might return to the ashram. On the way back, reverting to the same topic, Papa said, "By the sight or touch of a saint some people get some high spiritual experience. It remains with them for some time. They think they have attained everything. They feel the presence of God everywhere and always enjoy bliss. But this experience gradually fades away and to their utter disappointment they find they are their old selves again. Some experienced this by Ramdas’ contact. But they lost everything after some time."

S: That must be terrible indeed. But they will now engage themselves in severe sadhana to regain the state they have found and lost.

Papa: Their disappointment is indeed very great. Their experience was brought about by some peculiar combination. Now they strive their best to create this combination, but they do not succeed. They get so dejected that they lose all hope.

S: It is like making one a king for a time and then throwing one out into the streets as a beggar.

Papa: It is like that. How can one stand it?

S: Can inner awareness be maintained even during sleep before one attains nirvikalpa samadhi?

Papa: Yes, it is possible. But it is not real sleep then. You can call it half sleep. At this time the sadhaka takes very little food. He lives on a very small quantity of milk and fruits.

S: Is his body affected by want of regular sleep?

Papa: No, the body does not on that account feel any fatigue at all. This is true only in the case of a true and earnest sadhaka.