Index 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

TWAYI MAYI CHAANYATRAICO VISHNUH
VYARTHAM KUPYASI MAYYASAHISHNUH
BHAVA SAMACHITTAH SARVATRA TWAM
VANCHHASYASHIRAADYADI VISHNUTWA
PRAANAAYAAMAM PRATYAAHAARAM (verse 24)

"In you and in me, truly there is Vishnu. Your anger, devoid of patience, is of no use. You can be happy provided you have equanimity and equal mindedness at all times. That alone is an experience worth having and you will realise your identity with Vishnu."

Divyatma Swarupas! Today I have given you one of the important verses from Shankara's Bhaj Govinda and I wish to tell you the inner meaning of this verse with a view to clarify some kind of conflicting ideas which you may be having in your minds. When we are able to realise and understand the significance of the statement that God in you and in Me is the same, that oneness is nothing but the Àtma Tatwa and that, the Àtmà is identical with Brahman, the ignorance in us will be removed. This is the one truth and this truth is independent of the different forms and different names which we come across in this world. Irrespective of the forms and names, there is a single reality in all that we see and that is Brahman. After this, Shankara stated that if you have no patience, your anger is fruitless. Such anger is even harmful to you. That your anger, which arises from a lack of patience, helps your unhappiness to grow is also implied by Shankara. The ability to control this kind of anger will come only when you can develop equanimity of your mind. In order that you may be able to acquire this equanimity of mind, you have to make some enquiry. In the third line of the verse it has also been said that you will have such ability, if you can see the oneness of all the creation around you.

Today one should understand and experience the oneness of the Àtmà which goes through every form and every living being in the world. For conveying this message, Shakara taught the Advaita (Non-Dual) Philosophy to the world. It is absolutely necessary for everyone to realise this one Supreme thing behind all creation. It is only then, that you will be able to develop equal mindedness and reach the Divine spirit of equality of everything. We need not doubt at all the possibility of realising this oneness in the manifold world like ours. Because our illusions are closely linked up with desires, we are given to accept the diversity as real. Thus we are missing the oneness.

Our Vedantins have said that there is only one thing and that is Brahman, and there is no second to that one Brahman. We may ask how we are experiencing diversity and missing the oneness in a situation where there is only one thing, namely Brahman. If I ask a question 'Who amongst you is Krishna? Someone will respond by saying 'I am Krishna. If I ask a question 'Who amongst you is Rama? Some one else will respond by saying 'I am Rama'. In this conversation, you see that Krishna and Rama are names appropriate to different individuals with different forms, but in the replies, all of them say 'I'. This 'I' is common to all of them. This 'I' is everywhere. Therefore, if one is able to understand that 'I' is everywhere, it is easy for one to grasp the real significance of the common element. The sacred sound of 'I' is appropriate only to the Àtmà. Since the same Àtmà is present in everyone, equal mindedness is possible for everyone to acquire. These differences are not intrinsically present in various things. It is our likes and dislikes of these things that make them look different. If various attributes are really inherent in things themselves, then everyone should either like a particular thing or dislike a particular thing. Likes and dislikes are in you and not in the objects. No one has the capacity to decide what is right and what is wrong. Today, while deciding what is good and what is bad. people are imagining that they are in a position of authority and they have the right to determine what is good and what is bad. This is only being ignorant. A particular thing may be liked by some and disliked by others. If this quality is in the object itself, then how can the same thing be liked by some and disliked by others? The likes and dislikes are coming from within the individuals and from thoughts they have in their minds.

We drink water that is cool, sweet and tasty. Similarly, we eat fruits that are sweet, attractive and tasty. Such water and fruits are regarded by us to be good and we, therefore, drink or eat them. But within minutes, this water gets converted into urine and the fruits get converted into excreta, both of which are regarded as bad and we reject them. How are we going to decide what is good and what is bad? What we believe to be good is turning bad within few a minutes. This good or bad is the result of our own creation. However, when we look at various things in nature, as a result of changes that take place sometimes, they take different names and forms. Gold, for example, when taken out of the earth, in its natural condition, does not have much value. When refined, this mineral in many ways, and purified as Gold, it acquires considerable value. If we take the view that whatever is natural is the true form, then we have to explain why natural gold, after treatment and purification acquires a greater value. Things or objects which have undesirable qualities attributed to them in a raw condition, will shed those bad qualities and become good after purification and treatment, In the same manner, we can regard eating, drinking, sleeping and moving about as natural attributes of an individual. This individual, who is born with some good and some bad qualities, should not think that there is no opportunity or process by which he can purify himself.

It is by accumulating the benefits of many good deeds in many earlier lives of yours that you are now born as a human being. Because you are not aware of the great good treasures that you have thus accumulated as a result of which you have the reward of your present life, you are not assigning the necessary value to human life. If you are only aware of the extent of the goodness of your previous births that has brought you to the stage of your present life, you will never waste this present life.

Today we do not know the value of our own human body. We are devaluing it and wasting it in a purposeless manner. To think that some how we got this human, more as an accident than for a purpose, and to think that we should feed it with all the pleasures like eating, drinking and so on, and let it wither away until death is a great mistake. It is not proper to spend our life in such thoughtless manner. Amongst all the animals that are born in this world, to get birth as human being is a very difficult thing. Having got a sacred birth as a human being, if we conduct ourselves like animals and birds, we will then be wasting our lives and not justifying God's gift to us. One has to recognise the ultimate truth that the Divine Àtmà exists in all. It is only then that you will justify the human birth and drive away the ignorance from your mind. It is possible for one to refer to and describe something which is not Brahman, but no one can say that this Brahman. That which is eternal Truth, that which is unchanging, that which is pure knowledge and that which cannot be described by using words is Brahman. Brahman is the only Truth and that is shining in the shape of the Àtmà in all different forms of living beings. It is only when we recognise this Truth, that we will be able to attain the stage of VISHNU. It is to enable us to understand and attain this stage of Vishnu that Shankara had handed over the beautiful set of Bhaja Govindam.