Divine Message | Opening Address | Bhaja Govindham
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17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 | Closing Address

BAALAS-TAAVAT- KREEDAA- SAKTHAH
THARUNAS-TAAVAT- THARUNEE- RAKTHAH
VRIDDHAS-TAAVAT- CHINTHA-MAGNAH
TASMIN BRAHIMANI KOPI NA LAGNAH

In childhood, one is engaged in play; in Youth, one is attached to a young woman; in old age, one is burdened with anxiety; but no one is ever concerned with Brahman.

DIVINE DISCOURSE

One of the disciples gave a verse the meaning of which is as follows: While one is in his boyhood, he has the desire to play and sing. When he grows into a young man he begins to think of love and women. When he grows older, his failing mind is full of worries and doubts. When is he to turn towards spiritual affairs and ask questions relating to Brahman?

This is how one goes through his life. During the day, while he is awake, man gets involved with his mind, body, intelligence and other organs and he establishes a relationship with the material environment and enjoys the situation. During the night, while he is dreaming, his body does not participate in any activity, his eyes are closed and he does not see anything with his eyes. In spite of this, he feels that he is going through different situations. While he is moving in many different places and participating in many different events in his dream, he is not able to find out which part of his body is truly participating in all those things. There appears to be no connection between the body that functions in the waking state and the body that functions in the dreaming state. Who or which of these two is the real body? On the other hand, while he is in deep sleep, he does not have experiences of any kind but when he gets up, he says that he has had a sound and refreshing sleep. Is he able to state and identify who it was that had a sound and refreshing sleep? Can he even identify which part of his body enjoyed that sound sleep? If one who, completely forgetting the environment, sleeps well and wakes up and says 'I have enjoyed a good sleep', we have to ask the question 'Who is this I who enjoyed a good sleep'? Thus in the waking, dreaming and sleeping states, there is a Self who has been present. This Self is something different from the body and has been present, witnessing all the states. It is wrong to think that this Self is the same as the body. The body and the Self are quite different.

Once Narada met Sanatkumara and asked for enlightenment. Sanatkumara asked Narada about the special power, which Narada had acquired because of his learning. To this Narada replied that he knows all that is contained in the four Vedas and the six sastras. Sanatkumara smiled at this reply and said that while it was a matter of great satisfaction that Narada had learnt the Vedas and the sastras but he would like to ask whether he had learnt anything of the Self and whether he had understood himself. Sanatkumara then told Narada that so long as one does not understand one's self, the knowledge of all the sastras and all the Vedas, of the Geeta and the Upanishads becomes quite useless. Your knowledge will become useful only when you are able to realize the nature of the Self. What is important is the Advaita darshana. You should be able to realize and understand the non-dual aspect that is pervading the entire universe. Today in the world, without making an effort to understand one's own Self people are imagining that they are achieving many great things with the help of modern science and in the process they are putting their feet into many difficult situations. By saying that they are able to travel far into the sky, see the stars, go to the moon and set up camps there, they are only building castles in the air. They may partially succeed in doing such things, but if in the process they do not understand the Self and if they do not have peace of mind for themselves, they are very foolish indeed. According to the words of poet Vemana, it does not matter even if you go to the world of Indra or to the land of the moon. You should try to get on the Nandi and see the Divine and understand the Self. Ordinarily, the word Nandi means 'bull'. But Vemana has used this word Nandi synonymously with Buddhi or intelligence. He means that if we make ourselves distant from our intelligence and go to the moon, the happiness that we get will not be the right kind of happiness. The right kind of happiness is contained in our own mind and within our own thoughts. Without making proper use of our intelligence, without developing detachment to our body and without having faith in the Divine, we are not going to have the fruits of our actions. If you keep away from cleansing your mind and if you stick to sensuous pleasures, you will never have the fruit of your actions, even if you go on praying to God for His blessings.

The one who lives in this world should first become a human being and understand what the nature of this body is. One who goes on praising the bad deeds of others is a fool. The way of understanding one's self is the path for liberation. Realizing the transient aspect of the human body, one of the disciples of Sankara described the boyhood, youth, adolescence and old age in such a manner, that the description creates in you a certain amount of repulsion and detachment. It does not matter how long each one lives; everyone must leave this body sometime or the other. It is necessary that so long as we live in this body, we use the available time for understanding God. It is necessary to find the means for ultimately merging with God. We do not know when we are going to leave this body. The body is made up of matter and it will die. Our ancients have said that the limit of human life is a hundred years but we cannot believe this. We do not know whether death will come in young age or in old age, in middle age or in adolescence, or whether it will come in water, air or on land, in the village or in the forest. One thing is true and that is death is certain. If you are a wise man, you should strive to understand yourself while you are alive. Without knowing who you are and without realizing the nature of your true Self, whatever you may do in your life and whatever you may have achieved, you would have wasted your time and you would not have spent your life in a useful and purposeful manner. You are spending all your time reading newspapers, which come from different parts of the world, and you are anxiously waiting to get news about some individuals from various parts of the world. But you are not anxious to find out what news comes from within your own heart. This news is the most important news. This world is like a newspaper. You can read a newspaper from beginning to end only once but no one reads the same newspaper again and again day after day. Similarly, we have come into this world once. We should not attempt to see the same newspaper again. The newspaper of today is waste paper of tomorrow. In this way, if we subject our life to the repeating cycle of birth and death, we will be turning our life into wastepaper. Therefore, we should not agree to see this world again and again. We should make up our mind and strive to see the Divine, which is really the paper of taste. In this direction, Sankara did many things to turn the thoughts of people towards God. You, young people, should clean your minds, develop pure ideas and take this opportunity to see what sweetness there is in understanding the Divine bliss. You must dedicate your lives to practicing and propagating ancient Indian culture. When you go out of this summer school after one month, you should be able to re-establish the glorious traditions of our country and be messengers of peace for the rest of the people. That you have joined the summer school is not a matter of satisfaction for us. We will feel happy only when you are able to practice what you learn during this one month. You must help maintain the reputation of our country. I bless you that you may be able to do so.