Towards God 

Foreword

The book you are currently going through is not just a piece of scripture but a veritable spiritual wonder, containing some choicest percepts of H.D.H Sant Sri Asaramji Bapu. It has the divine potential to usher you into the spiritual realm of some profoundest esoteric truths in a comparatively easy and down-to-earth manner.

It is not advisable for a Spiritual aspirant to engage in beholding too many things or reflecting on too many words. An aspirant, who reflects over fundamental truths over and over again, can, with a little perusal of good literature, cultivate discrimination and detachment, and thereby attain Supreme Bliss quite effortlessly. An invaluable treasure mine for the aspirant, this book ahs been designed to make him supremely majestic and carefree. Don’t just put this pious scripture away after reading it for once. You must read and reflect on the great truths contained herein over and over again. May you enjoy the divine life at the earliest.

-Shri Yoga Vedanta Seva Samiti Amdavad Ashram

Index

1.   Towards God

2.   Wake from the Slumber of Delusion

3.   Kewali Kumbahk

4.   Jnana Yoga (The Yoga of Knowledge)

5.   Enlightening Conversation

6.   The Conversation between Dutta and an…

7.   Grains of Enlightening Thoughts

8.   Glossary

9.   The Prayer

Towards God

[It is March 1982, the second day of bright fortnight of Chaitra and the ‘Chetichand’ meditation camp is in progress at Amdavad Ashram. Early in the morning, the aspirants, both men and women, are engaged in meditation in the affectionate and pious company of Pujya Bapuji. Pujya Bapuji is guiding them, through meditation, to the deeper planes of life and death….helping them experience the esoteric secrets of life. The aspirants are diving deep within their own True Self, riding the thread of profound, serene and affectionate words of Pujya Bapuji.] Pujya Bapuji is saying,

इन्द्रियार्थेषु वैराग्यमनहंकार एव च।

जन्ममृत्युजराव्याधिदुःखदोषानुदर्शनम्।।

 

‘Detachment towards serene objects together with freedom from egotism and constant contemplation upon the impediments of the Supreme Goal, i.e. the miseries of Birth, Death, Old-age and Diseases.’

(The Bhagvatgita : 13.8)

 

Till now you have groomed and kindered many a family in each of your innumerable births. Every time, a blow of death deprived you of all your kith and kin. Therefore it is high time you get rid of the attachment you towards your family.

If you have a desire for prestige, if you want the body to be respected, this will surely be a big hurdle on your spiritual path. Throw away the attachment that you have towards your body. Be like innocent child. You have long been taking good care of this body. You have long been giving it a bath, feeding it, taking it on excursions; but….but this body kept complaining. It complained of ailments, of insomnia, of joint pains, of headache, of indigestion… so on. You have already had enough of servility towards the body. Now visualize the end of the body’s journey in this world. How long will you treat the body as ‘I’, dear friend! With a firm mind, visualize that your body has gone for a stroll on the seashore. It sits on a bench. Now it is looking at the scenic beauty of the sea. Suddenly you get a stroke, which proves to be fatal. Your head hangs down. You are dead…Or at home itself, you had a headache, a stomach-ache, or fever. And you are dead. Or visualize, you went into stupor while engaged in writing something. Your heart failed. And you are dead. Or visualize, you were engaged in ‘puja’. Suddenly, your body lost balance and lay down on the ground. You called your friends, your wife and other family members. They all came and asked, ‘what happened…what happened?’ In a matter of few minutes you passed away… Or visualize you were walking down the street. Suddenly there was a mishap. And you died. Definitely, your death will come in some guise or the other. You will not even know. Therefore, rehearse your last journey before you are forced to undertake one; experience death before it actually comes; visualize your final annihilation before death throws you into oblivion. Make a firm resolve to break this sense of identification with this big body, which you preserve treating the name and the form as ‘I’. This is a final hurdle in scaling the ultimate height in sadhana. You must get past the attachment with your body. So long as you cherish your body, your actions will continue to bind you. So long as attachment to the body is there, you will not be able to get rid of its vices. No matter howsoever hard you try, but so long as the identification with the body remains, the Divine song of the Lord will not resonate within you. So long as you consider yourself a bag of bones, flesh, skin, blood, urine and stool, self realization would remain a distant dream. The cycle of birth and death is the biggest misfortune of all. Even if one is born with all the riches around, how does it matter? The fellow has got to suffer the tyranny of life. Pray to the Lord, honestly and from the core of your heart, ‘O Lord! O the Supreme benefactor! I have taken refuge in you. You are omnipotent. Now grant me the strength: grant me the determination to realize the ultimate goal of oneness with you, I have set my foot on this journey. O my Lord! Grant me the strength to get rid of attachment to the body and merge my heart with that of Yours.’

  You must have had, in your previous births, a number of parents, a number of other relatives. So many others must have preceded these parents and relatives in your earlier births to them and even those others must have preceded by still some others. Deeper the attachment towards the body, heavier will be the burden of these relations. Lesser the attachment, lighter will be the burden. Once you stop identifying yourself with the body from within, the external attachments will not be able to entrap you. Once you get rid of attachment of the body from within, the external attachments will then become a child’s play for you. The songs of absolute freedom will emanate from your life.

The liberated ones live among the masses and perform all their duties; yet they live happily, eat and drink happily, come and go happily, happily do they dwell within their True Self.

Simply overcome the attachment. Once you stop identifying yourself with the body, the attachment too disappears. To get rid of identification of Self with the body, make a trip to the cremation ground. Assume that you are dying while still living. Don’t be afraid! Beckon death today, ‘O death! Come to this body.’

Imagine that death is descending upon your body today. Your body becomes lifeless. Due to some reason the life force leaves your body. Your corpse is lying there. The one, who had a name and was addressed, as ‘bhai, seth or sahib is no more. Now he is lying dead as corpse in the eyes of the people. The vaidyas and the doctors have admitted defeat. The body, you took great care to nurture, whose prestige was your prime concern, is lying dead before you. You are watching it. A horde of people has collected. Some are shedding true tears, others crocodile tears.

You are no more. The corpse is lying. People have gathered; friends, neighbours, cohorts and loved ones have all arrived. Phone calls are being made, telegrams are being sent. All that is required to be done in case of a death is being duly performed.

This is the last attachment, that of the body. Without overcoming it, no yogi can be accomplished, no sadhak can do a proper sadhana, and neither can he attain the Lord’s benign grace. This is the last hurdle. Overcome it.

मैं अरु मोर तोर की माया|

बश कर दीन्हीं जीवन काया||

 

‘I’ and ‘my’, ‘you’ and ‘your’ – this is the illusion that holds sway over the life.’

 

 

Your body falls… it collapses, death approaches, people chant, ‘Rama is the absolute truth’. You are dead. People have gathered. Bamboo sticks are being arranged for the bier. People are taking you inside to give you a bath. People lift you. Your neck hangs down. Hands and feet are going astray. People are moving your body with care. Your corpse is being given a bath in a big vessel. But…

But where is that glitter….? Where is that light….? Where is that consciousness….? The body that earned lots of money, that enjoyed delicious foods, that was adorned so much, that enjoyed so many sights, is just a corpse today. It cannot take a single breath. It is not able to thank a friend. It cannot pay obeisance to a Saint.

Today, this poor parasitic body, the poor corpse, is leaving this world. The body that was burdened with so many tensions, the life which was so strife ridden, what is the state of that life today? The body, for which you had to commit so many sins and put up with all the misery, is lying in such a condition! Have a look at its condition with your mental eyes. It is lying in a helpless state. Till a little while ago, it was full of ego saying, ‘I’…..‘I’…, it considered itself to be intellectual, intelligent and clever. See the state, the clever one is now. Of what avail is its cleverness? All that was known has become unknown. All its knowledge is reduced to naught in one go. All relationships have come to an end. All wealth and the family stand alienated forever.

All those, for whom you kept awake whole nights, for whom you had toiled, are not yours anymore! The ones, for whom you suffered pain and grief, are no more in any way related to you. This is the state of your beloved body…!!

 

The friends are giving you a bath. Without wiping ypur body properly, just giving a few careless touches of the towel, clothes are put on you. Then your body is laid on the bamboo frame. This is the state your body is in now! This is the body is in now! This is the body, for which you earned all the wealth, learned so many arts and sciences, begged before so many people, accepted servitude to lead a depraved life, persuaded and cajoled others; now that life force has deserted it, it is lying on the bier.

 

Experience death, in your lifetime. As it is, your body is already dead anyway. Is it worth anything?

 

The corpse lying on the bier is being tied with a piece of red cloth. The hanging neck is tucked in. Feet are being securely tied with a rope, lest the corpse should fall down while being taken to the cremation grounds. Rope is being tied around the neck also. The whole body is being tied. The one, who is tying the bier says, ‘pull the rope from that side’. The other one says, ‘I have done it, ‘now tie the knot.’

But for how long will this knot remain either? How long will the ropes last? They are going to be burnt in a short while…. And the corpse tied by the ropes too is going to be incinerated, dear friend!

Shame on the transient life….shame on the attachment to this transient body….shame on the folly of identifying oneself with the body and taking pride in its transient qualities. The bier is being tied securely. So far your name figured in the lists of the rich men or officials. Now it has been included in the list of the corpses. People say, ‘Tie the corpse quickly.’ They don’t say, Tie the rich man, official, clerk, servant, Saint or rogue; they will say, Tie the corpse.’

 

So, this is the end of all the achievements of your life. Whatever you earned in the life is no longer yours. Whatever you had known is gone in one stroke of death. Your income tax papers, your promotion and retirement, your achievements and failure have gone forever.

 

Alas O man your life! Alas O man your dreams! Alas O man your transience! Alas O man your desires! Till you breathed your last, you continued to nurture your cravings, ‘I have acquired this much, I will acquire this much more; I have known this much, I will know this much more, I have brought so many to many to my side, I will bring so many more; I have reformed so may, I will reform so many more.’

 

Hey! You save yourself from death first! Save yourself from the cycle of birth and death! Let me see, how strong you are! Let me see your cleverness!

Your copse is being tied. You are one with the bier now. Preparations are underway for taking you to the cremation grounds. People are wailing. Four persons lift you and take you out of the house. Others are following them.

Some people have come out of affection; some have come for the sake of formality. Some come have come merely to discharge the so-called social obligation.

 

A few people have come for social service. They don’t know that they are to meet the same fate sooner or later. How long are you going to show yourself off? How long will you try to establish yourself in the society? If establish you must, then why don’t you establish yourself in God instead?

 

You join the funeral processions of others for the sake of formality! Do it honestly. On these occasions, tell your mind that the body in which it resides will also meet the same fate. It will also be carried on the bier and incinerated. O dishonest mind! You are not sincere even in accompanying a bier? You are making haste? You are looking at the watch? ‘I have to go to office…. I have to go to the shop…’ O my dear friend, why don’t you understand that ultimately you too have to reach the cremation grounds? Go to your office, go to the shop, go to the cinema, go anywhere, but remember! Your final destination is the cremation grounds. How long can you keep going away?

 

O mad man! O plaything of the illusion! The illusion has been making you dance to its tunes for centuries. If you don’t dance for the sake of God, the illusory world will keep you dancing. If you don’t dance for God-realization, then who knows in what different species you will take birth and be forced to dance by illusion! At one time you will get the body of a monkey; another time that of a bear. You may even get the body of a demigod. In each of these births you will consider the body as your own. You will have mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, uncles and aunts. You will consider them as your own. Then again you will get struck by death and will have to abandon them too. For how many ages have you been doing all this? For how long have you been establishing such relationships?

‘If my son were married…let my daughter-in law be obedient to me… let my servants be faithful…let there be goodwill among friends…’. Even if all this happens, for how long will it be there? ‘May I get promotion’ you are promoted. So what? You want marriage. You are married.

 

Then? You want children. You get children also. Then what will you do? Finally you too will be tied to the bier like this. You too will ride people’s shoulder in same manner. Have a look at the condition, which your body is bound to land into. Nobody can evade this eternal truth. Your millions of rupees cannot help you then. Thousands of your acquaintances, connections cannot save you. You must undergo this experience, face this happening. You can evade other happenings, but there is no power on earth, nor can there be any ib near future, which can help you escape from this inevitable eventuality. Therefore, look at this in escapable death, with a discriminative vision.

 

People have tied your body to your body to the bier and are taking it to the cremation grounds. There are tears in peoples’ eyes. But those shedding tears are also bound to depart in the same manner. Shedding tears is of no use. Withholding tears too is of no avail. Running away at the sight of the corpse is of no help either, nor is embracing the corpse of any use. You can be saved only through the realization of your True Self. You will be saved only when you assimilate the grace of a Saint. You will be saved only when you realize your oneness with God.

 

Dear brother! You can never escape this tragedy of death. No one has ever escaped this misfortune.

 

आया है सो जायेगा रजा रंक फ़कीर|

‘One, who has come, has to go, be it a king, a pauper or a Saint.’

 

Whether there are 50 persons with somebody’s bier or 500; whether 5000 accompany it or only 5, it is immaterial. A bier, in any case, is a bier. A corpse is a corpse after all.

 

Your corpse is being lifted. Somebody has sprinkled gulal on it. Another one has placed marigold flowers on it. Somebody has garlanded it. Somebody is showing more affection by spraying attar on you. But how does it matter now? Of what use is such a spray at this juncture? Whether you keep bricks and pebbles on the corpse or erect a building on gold thereon; whether you offer flowers or bedeck it with gems and jewels. What difference does it make to the coprse?

 

The bier is being taken out of the house. People have surrounded the bier. Four persons are carrying it; four others are accompanying it. Your final journey starts with chants of ‘Rama…say Rama friends…’ you are departing forever from the house, for which you had made so many plans. You are getting out of that house for the last time. You had sacrificed God’s abode for the sake of this house. You had turned away from the Lord’s house to keep good terms with this house. You are parting company with the very house forever, in the form of a corpse. Whether the walls of the house laugh or cry, you have got to leave it anyway.

 

Wise men advise, ‘Be quick to take the corpse to the cremation grounds. The death took place at night. You must take it at the earliest, lest its vibrations and the bacteria germinating in it should spread and make people sick.’ Nobody dare keep you for a few hours more. Nobody has the guts to take care of you even a couple of days more. Everybody wants to live one’s own life. Wise men are eager to see you off, ‘Hurry up. You are getting late. When will we reach there if we don’t leave in time? Hurry up… be quick…! How long will you remain glued to the house? At last, people will tie you and take you away fast.

 

You will have to get rid of your attachment to the body. This attachment is the root cause of your bondage. It is because of this attachment that you are going round and round in the cycle of birth and death. You have got to break the shackles of this attachment, whether you do it today or in the next birth or after a thousand births.

 

People are carrying you on their shoulders. If you have taken a lot of butter or ghee and have put on a lot of fat, people have to toil harder. If the fat is less and you are slim, toiling is less. Anyhow, you are now riding the bier.

यारों हम बेवफाई करेंगे|

तुम पैदल होंगे हम कंधे चलेंगे||

हम पड़े रहेंगे तुम धकेलते चलोगे|

यारों! हम बेवफाई करेंगे||

 

‘Friends! I will betray you. You will be walking, and I will be riding your shoulders.

I will lie calmly, and you will be pushing me. Friends! I will betray you.’

 

Riding the shoulders, you are going to the place, which is a certain destination for all. ‘Rama… say Rama friends…. Rama….say Rama friends….’ The chanting goes on.

 

The people carrying the bier are walking fast with 50 to 100 people following them. They are talking among themselves, ‘he was a good person, He was rich, He was happy.’ Or ‘He was poor, he was miserable… the fellow passed away…’

   

     These fools don’t know that they too have to go the same way. They are sympathizing with you taking themselves to be immortal. How childish!

The bier is moving forward on the road. The shoppers and shopkeepers are proceeding hastily towards the market. The people with jobs are hurrying towards their offices. If somebody happens to see your corpse, he just mutters an ‘Oh’ and proceeds on his way. It does not remind him of his meeting the same fate sooner or later….that he too will die some day. Cyclists, scooterists, motorists see the funeral procession, and keep running with just a brief ‘ah…oh…etc.’ to take care of their world, which the fools will have to leave at death. Nevertheless, they are running towards this world.

  Now you are half way from your home to the cremation ground. You are going farther from the home and nearer to the cremation ground. At last, the bier reached near the cremation ground. One person rushed to the cremation ground on a scooter to arrange for the wood. He is telling the caretaker, ‘give me 3 quintals or 5 quintals or 6 quintals of wood. He was a good man. Never mind if we spend a little more on wood.’ One buys the wood according to one’s means; but what difference does it make whether the corpse is cremated with 3 quintals or 6 quintals? If one has more money, one may buy 4 quintals more; if one has less, one may buy a little less. How does it matter? So far as you are concerned it is all over for you.

 

Now you are very near to the cremation ground. As a mark of good omen, the children’s hair is being spread. The sweets that were brought along are being fed to dogs.

 

Those, who are in great hurry, slip off from there itself. Rest of the people take you to the place where everybody is destined to reach.

Some people are busy arranging the pyre. A few logs of wood are arranged to make a platform. Now your bier is being put on the pyre. Now load is being transferred from their shoulders to the pyre. But for how long will it remain even there?

 

Bundles of dry grass, coconut hair, matchsticks, ghee and cotton balls are being kept in readiness. These articles have been brought for your last rites, for your final farewell….

 

Whether you nurtured your body with halwa and puris or simply maintained it on dry bread is now immaterial. Whether you had been wearing ornaments or lived without them is again of no consequence. Ultimately the body is going to be consigned to the flames of the pyre. Matchsticks will welcome you.

 

You endured all the sins and misery for the sake of this body. You hurt people for the sake of this body itself. You even turned your back on God for the sake of this body. Now see what is happening to it. It is lying on the funeral pyre. Big logs of wood are being systematically placed on it. Small pieces of wood are being kept alongside big ones to ensure that your body is burnt quickly.

 

All wood pieces are placed on the pyre. Dry grass is interspersed so that no part of the corpse remains half-burnt, not a single piece of flesh is left put. One person is supervising the operations; he is doing the ‘management’. Must leadership be displayed even here? He is masterminding the show. ‘Do like this…. do like that…’ he continues to pour instructions.

 

O the clever one! It is going to happen to you also. Know this dear brother! You want to don the leadership role even in the matter of burning a corpse? You want special recognition even here? Good heavens!

O ignorant man! How vast is the scope of your desires! O foolish one! How strange are your deeds! Away from God, how many dramas you have enacted! So far you avoided the Lord and acquired a lot of possessions, but every time, a single blow of death snatched everything away. It has been snatched thousands of times. This time also, the same story is going to be repeated. Beware my dear brother!

 

Logs of wood have been systematically placed on the corpse. Your sons, and other loved ones are getting emotional and shedding tears. Some of them are not able to bring tears in their eyes and hence are feeling ashamed. Other people are busy chatting. Someone is smoking a bidi; another one is taking a bath, yet another is cleaning his scooter. Someone is busy changing his clothes. Someone is worried, he is getting late for his shop, somebody has to go out to of station. Nobody is worried about you. For how long will people worry for you?

 

 You have been brought to the cremation ground, laid on the funeral pyre and offered a matchstick. Over... People now want to go back. They are saying in gestures, ‘now put a matchstick to the funeral pyre…it is very late….hurry up…hurry up…’ These are the friends, who used to say, ‘stay for a few more minutes more, be with me, I miss you very badly when you are not with me.’ Now the same friends are saying, ‘hurry up… light the funeral pyre…we want to go…..Allow us to go…’

 

Wow! O friends of the world! Bravo O relatives! Thank you very much! I have seen your real face.

If you don’t make friends with the Lord, this is in store for you. Those, who addressed you as ‘sethji’ and ‘sahib’, those who were your childhood friends, are the ones who are in hurry. They are feeling hungry. They are not able to say it openly but in their hearts, they say, ‘don’t delay it any further. Send him fast to heaven. Light the fire from the head side so that he goes to heaven quickly.’

 

Who knows whether or not he will go to heaven? He will go to a destination in accordance with his deeds and beliefs. But you will be getting your food. You will be relieved from here.

 

Ghee is poured on the coconut fibers. It is lit. This is the light that will destroy your smothered life. It is not the light of an enlightened Guru; it is not the light of Sadguru. This is the light of your friends. Those, for whom you have wasted your entire life, will give the light to you. You have not even seen the light of the Sadguru; you never had time to go to Him.

 

The flame is lit. There is grass on the side of the head in the midst of wooden logs. The flame is touched to that grass. The grass immediately catches fire. One person is burning the pyre from the feet side also. The fire starts raging. It reaches the cloth that is covering you. The logs are slowly catching fire. Now it is not possible for you to put out the fire. Your friends do not need to call the fire brigade. Now this is no occasion to call a doctor or a vaidya. There is no need for it either. Now everyone simply wants to go home. They want to take leave of you.

 

The funeral pyre is emitting smoke. There are flames also. Even the closest of friends and relatives are running away from the heat of the funeral pyre. You are left alone to be burnt in the blazing fire all around you. Friends, loved ones, relatives and childhood friends are all going away.

 

Now…no relations exist anymore. All the relations….the relations born out of worldly affection…where is the capacity in this worldly affection to withstand even a little heat? Your relations don’t have the capacity to withstand a spark of death? Even so, you are fortifying these relations. How gullible you are! How childish you are! Now observe for yourself.

 

The bier is engulfed by the fire. And here, the people are engulfed by the pangs of hunger. Some people remain while others slipped away. The caretaker of the cremation ground, with tongs in his hand takes care that the logs do not fall away. If a log does fall, he picks it up with his tongs and puts it back on your head. Now the fire has engulfed the bier completely. There is fire towards the head…and there is fire towards your feet….the hair burnt away just like a bundle of dry grass. The skull too is beset by fire. There was ghee in your mouth along with cotton balls; there was ghee smeared in your eyes as well.

मत कर रे भाया गरव गुमान गुलाबी रंग उड़ी जावेलो|

मत कर रे भाया गरव गुमान जवानीरो रंग उड़ी जावेलो||

उड़ी जावेलो रे फीको पड़ी जावेलो रे काले मर जावेलो,

पाछो नहीं आवेलो ...मत कर रे गरव---

जोर रे जवानी थारी फिर को नी रे वेला...

इणने जातां नहीं लागे वार गुलाबी रंग उड़ी जावेलो||

पतंगी रंग उड़ी जावेलो...मत कर रे गरव---

धन रे दौलत थारा माल खजाना रे...

छोड़ी जावेलो रे पलमां उड़ी जावेलो||

पाछो नहीं आवेलो...मत कर रे गरव---

कंई रे लायो ने जावेलो भाया...

कंई कोणी हाले थारे साथ गुलाबी रंग उड़ी जावेलो||

पतंगी रंग उड़ी जावेलो...मत कर रे गरव---

 

‘Don’t feel conceited dear brother,

the glamour will vanish….

Don’t feel conceited dear brother,

The youth will betray you.

It will vanish, it will fade away,

and it will die soon

It will not return….don’t feel conceited….

The strength of youth is making you proud

It will go away in no time;

the glamour will vanish

The charisma will fade away….

Don’t feel conceited…

Your money, your wealth, your treasures….

Will desert you, it will vanish in no time

It will not return… don’t feel conceited….

What did you bring when you arrived,

What will you take with you when you die?

Nothing will accompany you;

The glamour will vanish…

The charisma will fade away….

don’t feel conceited….

 

 

Your entire body is engulfed by the fire, which has instantly accepted the offering made to it. Your entire body is charred. Your clothes are burnt, the quafan is burnt, and your skin is burnt. Your feet are sagging. The body fat is being reduced to smoke. Pieces of flesh are burning and falling down. The fingers and bones of the hands are falling down. The skull is ready to explode. It is also tormented by the fire. The bacteria and the gases of the body are all burnt down.

ऐ गाफिल! न समझा था, मिला था तन रतन तुझको|

मिलाया ख़ाक में तूने, ऐ सजन! क्या कहूँ तुझको?

अपनी वजूदी हस्ती में तू इतना भूल मस्ताना...

अपनी अहंता की मस्ती में तू इतना भूल मस्ताना...

करना था किया वो न, लगी उलटी लगन तुझको||

ऐ गाफिल ---

जिन्होंके प्यार में हरदम मुस्तके दीवाना था....

जिन्होंके संग और साथ में भैया! तू सदा विमोहित था...

आखिर वे ही जलाते हैं करेंगे या दफ़न तुझको||

ऐ गाफिल ---

शाही और गदाही क्या? कफ़न किस्मत में आखिर|

मिले या न खबर पुख्ता ऐ कफ़न और वतन तुझको||

ऐ गाफिल ---

 

‘O errant man! You did not appreciate;

the gem of a body was bestowed on you.

You have ruined it, dear friend!

What should I say to you?

You were so enamoured with your narrow-minded

existence that you forgot God.

You were so enamoured by

your ego that you forgot God.

You neglected to do what was required of you,

Rather you proceeded in the opposite direction.

O errant man! You did not appreciate;

the gem of the body was bestowed on you.

Those, in whose love, you had gone crazy.

Those, in whose company,

you were always enamoured……

They are the ones, in the end,

who will burn or bury you.

O errant man! You did not appreciate;

the gem of the body that was bestowed upon you.

What with riches and poverty?

You will have only a piece of quafan at your death.

And who knows whether you will get a quafan

and a privilege to die in your own country.

O errant man! You did not appreciate;

the gem of the body was bestowed upon you.’

 

Your silken clothes and your ornaments are of no avail to you. The fire is consuming your hands and your feet. The body fat is falling through the logs. The flames are destroying it there as well. The fat contained in your stomach is all burnt. Now the bones are falling one by one.

 

Alas! How well cared this body was! How dear it was to you! A minor kidney problem made you rush to America for treatment. Now the entire body is in shambles. Where will you go for treatment? For how long? A little pain in the foot or a small wound in the hands made you call specialists. Now, which specialist will help? None but God can help you here. Only the knowledge of the True Self can save you from this fire of death forever; how cn the doctors and specialists do it? They themselves are bound to meet this fate. They may charge exorbinant fees, but for how long will they keep it with them? They may charge heavily for mere investigations but where will they take all their wealth? They too have to go through this same experience.

 

शाही और गदाही क्या? कफ़न किस्मत में आखिर…..

‘What with riches and poverty? You will have only a piece of quafan

At your death…..’

 

Amass as much wealth as you want. Charge sky-high fees! But remember, this cruel death will equate all and transform you into an egalitarian. If anything has the capacity to make everybody submit to equal treatment, it is death and only death. Death is the greatest equalizer. Nature is truly egalitarian.

 

 

The carcass of your body is now disintegrating. The skull burst into 5 to 7 pieces. The pieces are falling here and there. Ah….whom do these pieces of bones belong to? To an officer or a peon? To a rich man or a servant? To a happy man or a miserable one? To a man or a woman? Nobody can figure out.

Now the fire has started subsiding. A good number of friends are busy taking bath. They are getting prepared to go back. Many have already left. Others are taking leave of you for the last time. They are offering an anjali of water each to the funeral fire and taking leave with tearful eyes.

कह रहा है आसमां यह समां कुछ भी नहीं|

रोती है शबनम कि नैरंगे जहाँ कुछ भी नहीं||

जिनके महलों में हजारों रंग के जलते थे फानूस|

झाड़ उनकी कब्र पर है और निशाँ कुछ भी नहीं||

जिनकी नौबत से सदा गूंजते थे आसमां|

दम बेखुद है कब्र में अब हूँ न हाँ कुछ भी नहीं||

तख्तवालों का पता देते हैं तख्ते गौर के|

खोज मिलता तक नहीं वादे अजां कुछ भी नहीं||

 

‘The sky is telling that this

world is but a naught,

The dew-drops are crying as

this colourless world is nothing real

Whose palaces were decorated with chandeliers of a thousand colours

Only shrubs are seen on their tombs,

there is no trace of luxury;

Whose arrival reverberated the sky

With prior announcements,

He is himself cage in the tomb

With no power to even groan;

Those with high offices and signboards displaying their name,

Are now entirely traceless and are no more heard of.’

Only a heap of embers is seen in the cremation ground now. Whatever you were till today, are no more. It is impossible to make out from the bones, to whom they belonged. Only embers remain. You are dead. Your skull and bones have disintegrated. All your relationships are over. The myth of ‘mine’ and ‘not mine’ is destroyed. The caste and community of your body are finished. The complexion of the body is gone. The funeral fire has made your health and sickness look all the same.

 

ऐ गाफिल! न समझा था …..

‘O errant man! You did not appreciate….’

 

Now the fire is slowly subsiding, as nothing combustible is left. Kinsfolk, loved ones, friends and neighbours, all are departing. While leaving they are instructing the caretaker at the cremation grounds, ‘We shall come the day after tomorrow to pick up the ful (literal meaning is flower but here it has been used for bones). Take care, lest somebody else’s ful should get mixed.’ Some people’s ful remain there itself. Friends pick them up considering them to the ful of their near and dear ones.

 

Who is one’s own and who is alien? And these ful? The real ful (flower) is gone. Now, what pleasure will you derive, calling the bones ful? The best of all ful (flower) was your pure consciousness. Had you identified yourself with that, you yourself would have become the most fragrant flower

 

Everybody went home. One day went by. The second day passed. On the third day, they reached the cremation grounds. They picked up the bones with the help of tongs. Ah! They are putting you in a box. A few pieces of the skull and a few bones of the joints were found. The harder ones retained their shape others were reduced to ashes.

 

About a kilogram of ful were found. Friends have brought them home in a box. The wise men opined, ‘Don’t bring the bones inside the house. Keep them outside, at a distant place. Tie them to a branch of a tree. When we go to Haridwar, we shall take them from there itself. Don’t bring them into the house. It is considered a bad omen.’

Now your bones have become inauspicious. It is a bad omen to bring them inside the house. What a strange world it is! You spent your entire lie for the world. You spent a number of years in making and nurturing these bones. Now bringing them home is a bad omen? ‘Keep the box outside’, they say. If it is taken to a neighbour’s house, the neighbour gets annoyed, Are you out of your wits?’ It is taken to your pal’s house; even he refuses, no…not this side….away…away…!’

 

Your bones are not worth keeping at anybody’s house or temple. People are very clever. They think, Of what use is he for us now?’ Worldly people will maintain relations with so long as they need something from you. What can they obtain from these bones after all?

 

People will call you to obtain something from you. What is left with you now that you can offer them?

 

They will enter into friendship to obtain something in return. But the Sadguru will give you what is eternal and will not bother for any conveniences.

ॐ...ॐ...ॐ...

 

Your bones are lying in a small box, which earlier contained chocolates and biscuits. All your positions and prestige are reduced to insignificance and are being hanged in this small box, in a helpless state. At an opportune time, they will take it and throw it into the Ganges.

See the treatment meted out to your precious life.

 

A pigeon, when it sees the cat, closes its eyes hoping to escape death; but the cat devours it anyway. Similarly, even if you avoid accepting this harsh reality, thinking, ‘I will not die’ or forget this satsang, the death will not spare you.

 

Always remember this satsang dear friend! It provides you with the key to transcend death. It shows you the way to get rid of the ego and attachment, so that you can engage yourself in sadhana. Now you have set foot on this path, do attain your goal. For how long you will keep lingering on? You have so far been establishing thousands of relationships. You have been appeasing thousands of relatives. Wake up, at least now! Before your bones are thrown into the Ganges, immerse your life into the Ganges of enlightenment. Before your bones are hanged on to a tree, hang your ego on to the tree of God’s grace. Then let the beloved God take charge of your life. Let Him make you dance, dance to His tunes…..

 

तेरी मर्जी पूरन हो...

‘Thy will be done.’

In this manner, take your ego to the tree of God, and hang it there. People have gathered to observe your ‘third day’. Your enemies, who were happy, expressed their happiness at their homes. Your loved ones shed a few tears. Formal visitors complete the formality. People in the gathering are discussing about your death in whispered tones,  How did he die? He had a head ache; asked for water. Water was given to him. He died while drinking it.

 

He felt giddiness and fell down, never to get up again. He had stomach-ache and died. He had just returned from the morning walk. He was so cheerful. Then he felt a little uneasy and said ‘something is happening to me. Call the doctor.’ We were to call the doctor. He died before we came back. He was given extensive treatments in the hospital. Doctors tried their best to save him, but he ultimately died.He collapsed on the way and died. The time for death had come. Whatever could be the cause, the cause is only instrumental.

 

Most of the time they kept talking about your death in the course of observing the ‘third day’. The scheduled time, 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM was up. People went back to their houses. How long they will keep on talking about you? They went away to re-engage themselves in their busy schedules.

The box containing the bones is hanging on the tree. Days are passing by. At last the time came for immersing them in the Ganges. The box is being taken to Haridwar, by train. It is covered in a small bag and kept under the seat. People ask, ‘What is it?’ Your friends say, ‘No…..No…..nothing. Just nothing. It contains bones…’ and they push the box with their feet. People scream, No…not this side….keep it away.’

 

How tragic! The box containing your bones is not worth keeping even under the seat of a train. Ah my beloved body! How much of efforts did I put to your well-being?

What have I not done to nurture you?

ॐ...ॐ...ॐ...

The friends reached Haridwar. The priests gathered around them. The friends are performing the last rites. The bones are thrown into the Ganges. The ritual is now complete. The priest gets his dakshina. Friends shed a few tears. Now, they all are struck by hunger. They will now take care of their own bodies, because they feel they will retain them forever. While having their meals they enquire about train timings.

 

They must go back early, as they have to attend to their offices or take care of their shops. They think, ‘He is dead. I have bid farewell to him. I am not going to die after all!’  Friends get busy taking their meals.

¤ ¤ ¤

Today you witnessed your last journey. You have seen the treatment meted out to your corpse and your bones. You are pure consciousness, so subtle that even when death arrives, you become a witness to that death. Even when your bones burn, you are a distinct entity of effulgence. Even when your bier burns, you are pure consciousness aloof from the corpse. You are the eternal witness, the True Self. Today, as a witness you have observed your death too. You have been a witness to thousands of details like this.

 

Those, who become the witness to the journey of their death, find it a mere journey. The witness stays untouched.

 

After death, all those, who were yours, are no longer yours. Even your body is not yours. But your True Self is always yours; it can never be alienated from you.

 

Thousands of friends deserted you, lakhs of relatives deserted you, crores of bodies deserted you, and billions of deeds deserted you too. But your True Self never deserts you.

 

The body was taken to the cremation grounds but you are pure consciousness, the eternal witness, separate from the body. Now you have realized, ‘I survive even after the last journey of this body. I survive it being burnt with the bier. I was there before the birth of this body and survive its death as well. I am pure consciousness….I am Pure Enlightening Knowledge. I have renounced all attachments and affection towards the world. I have ripped apart this web of illusion.’

 

Go on intensifying this practice. The identification of Self with this body or the attachment with this body is the last hurdle. Destroy it by the above practice. If you get a chance, go to the cremation grounds. Show yourself the scene of a burning corpse (Women are not supposed to visit the cremation ground).

 

When I was at home, I used to visit the cremation grounds. I would occasionally show the truth to my mind and tell, ‘See! This is what is going to happen to your body as well.’

 

In the cremation grounds, discrimination and detachment crop up in your mind. Without discrimination and detachment, even Brahma’s precepts will prove futile. Without discrimination and detachment, you will not be able to ensure your speedy progress even if you submit yourself under the tutelage of a Self-realized accomplished Sadguru. If your sense of discrimination and detachment are dormant, what can the Guru do?

 

In order to arouse your discrimination and detachment make a visit to the cremation grounds once in a while. At times, take a mental trip to the cremation grounds even while sitting at home itself.

मरो मरो सब कोई कहे मरना न जाने कोय|

एक बार ऐसा मरो कि फिर मरना न होय||

 

‘Everybody talks of dying,

Nobody knows how to die,

Once die such a death that

You don’t have to die anymore.’

 

Let the flame of pure knowledge be lit. Get rid of the attachment of this body. Once the attachment of this body goes, the affection towards your kith and kin will weaken. Once ego and attachment evaporates, your behavior will become akin to the Lord’s behavior. Your words will reflect the Lord’s words. Your eyes will see through the Lord’s eyes. Your living will turn into Lord’s Divine play.

 

Just get rid of your ego, your identification of self with the body. The attachment of external, which is but illusory, will automatically wither away.

देहाभिमाने गलिते विज्ञाते परमात्मनि|

यत्र यत्र मनो याति तत्र तत्र समाधयः||

देह छन्ता जेनी दशा वर्ते देहातीत|

ते ज्ञानीना चरणमान् हो वंदन अगणित||

 

‘Once the identification of Self

With the physical body is removed,

One realizes the true nature of God.

Then, wherever the mind goes, it is in Samadhi;

Those, who are aloof from the body,

While still in the body,

I bow at the feet of such

Enlightened Souls again and again.’

 

Mentally ask yourself, ‘When will the time come, when I will experience distinctness from this body, while still in this body? When will the time come, when, sitting all by myself, I will see my mind and intellect distinct from my own Self and repose in the bliss of my True Self. When will the time come, that engrossed in the Supreme Bliss, I will be carefree in my dealings with this world?

 

When will the time come, that I will consider the behavior of friends as well as enemies as a source of mere amusement?’

Don’t have thoughts like, ‘when will the time come, when I get promoted….become President….become a Prime Minister…’

To hell with the desires of power and position! Think instead, ‘when shall I be established in the bliss of my True Self? When shall I experience unity with God?’

 

The president of America, Mr. Coolidge, lived in the White House. Once he was walking in the garden. A visitor came and asked, ‘Who lives here?’ Coolidge replied, ‘Nobody lives here. This is but an inn, a tavern. Many people have come here and gone. Nobody lives here.’

 

You have not come here for living! You are here just to pass through. This world is not your true abode. Actually your True Self is your real home, the home where the Saints abide. The place, where Saints established themselves, is the only one, where you can establish yourself permanently and nowhere else. No other palace, howsoever strong it may be, can accommodate you permanently.

संसार तेरा घर नहीं, दो चार दिन रहना यहाँ|

कर याद अपने राज्य की, स्वराज्य निषकन्टक जहां||

 

‘The world is not your home,

You are to live here for a few days only,

Recollect about your own kingdom,

Where you are the unchallenged master.’

Once a stranger asked Mr. Coolidge, ‘I have come to know that Mr. Coolidge, the president of America, lives here. Everybody is just passing through.’

 

The Four-year term of Coolidge was nearing its end. Friends advised, ‘Contest the elections again. You have a very congenial influence in the society. You will certainly be re-elected.’

 

Coolidge said, ‘I have had the experience of living in the White House for four years. I have had the experience of being the President. There is no essence even in becoming the President. It is just fooling oneself. It is simply wastage of time. I have no time to waste anymore.’

 

All these positions and prestige are wasting your time. Your relationships, howsoever high placed or important, are too wasting your time.

 

Swami Ramatiratha used to pray, ‘O Lord! Save me from friends…save me from pleasures.’

 

Sardar Puran Singh asked, ‘What are you saying Swamiji? One has to save oneself from enemies, not from friends.’

 

Swami Ramatiratha replied, ‘No, I will take care of enemies; I will take care of troubles. One never has attachment or affection towards unsavoury things. Attachment and affection are always associated with pleasures, with friends or with loved ones.’

 

Friends waste our time. Favourable situations, happiness eat into our time. They make us unconscious of the real Truth. We are not able to carry out our original duty. We end up wasting our lives caring for unnecessary and unwarranted things.

 

Let us save our time from the so-called friends. Let us get rid of our attachment with the so-called pleasures. Keep an alert vision so that you can reside in God even while enjoying the pleasures; you can live with the Lord even while living with your friends.

ॐ Shanti….Shanti….Shanti…ॐ...ॐ...ॐ...

Your body has completed its journey. So you had the privilege of observing even your death. Being the witness to your own death how can you ever die? You are yourself to your own death how can you ever die? You are yourself Supreme Consciousness. You are the Soul Personified. You are beyond fear, beyond doubts. Death has devoured the body times without numbers. You never died. You have been only changing the outer bodies. You have just switched from one birth to another.

 

Fearlessly, experience for yourself, ‘I am the Soul. I will extricate myself from attachment. I will save my life from being wasted in pursuit of irrelevant and unworthy relationships. I will save my mind from expectations and dependence on others. I will not be a slave of expectations; I would rather be their master.

ॐ...ॐ...ॐ...

I will remain fearless. I will never care for the pleasures and pains of the world. I will be free from worries in all circumstances of the world because I am the Absolute Consciousness. O death! You can at the most, damage my body; but you can do absolutely no harm to me. How dare you frighten me?

 

O glitters of the world! O temptations of the world! How can you trap me now! I have seen your actual hollowness. O rituals and traditions of the society! For how long can you bind me? O pleasures and pains! For how long can you make me dance to your tunes? Now, I have woken up from the slumber of delusion….’

 

Thus awaken your real consciousness fearlessly, firmly, honestly and without any reservations. For how long will you continue to sleep in this body?

There may be thousands of obstructions on the path of sadhana; there may be lakhs of thorns spread out on your way. We shall tread on them all fearlessly. If those thorns do not convert themselves into flowers, how shall we justify our being called sadhaks?

ॐ...ॐ...ॐ...

In the face of thousands of incidents of upliftment and downfall, we shall keep our conscience awake. What will happen at the worst? Ups and Downs, both belong to this body which is but a subject to death, we are engrossed in the bliss of our True Self.

 

बिगड़े तब जब हो कोई बिगड़नेवाली शय|

अकाल अछेद्य अभेद्य को कौन वस्तु का भय||

 

‘Damage can be done only to that which is

damageable. What can damage the timeless,

impregnable and indestructible entity?’

 

What is there to lose or gain for my True Self, the Pure Consciousness? If the worst damage comes, it can only affect the body which is a moving-corpse anyway, isn’t it? Even if the best thing is available, who else will get it but the corpse like body itself. And I have just burnt down the corpse in the fire of enlightenment. Now why should I feel afraid or suffer inner diminution? Why should I yield before the troubles or temptations of the world?

 

Now, I will live like an emperor….. I shall be free from all worries and remain carefree. Once I have set foot on the path of sadhana. I will not relax before reaching the goal.

ॐ...ॐ...ॐ...

 

Nothing is impossible for a person who nurtures such thoughts.

 

एक मरणियो सोने भारे|

One, who is ready to sacrifice even his life towards the cause he is striving for, becomes stronger than a hundred people opposing the same.

You must die in the end. Then, why not invite death right away? A true sadhak is the one, who does not stop in the face of thousands of obstructions, who cannot be trapped by lakhs of temptations. Thousands of fearful incidents cannot frighten him and lakhs of expressions of gratitude don’t get into his head. That is what makes a true sadhak. A sadhak must have the inner experience that enables him to say,

हमें रोक सके ये ज़माने में दम नहीं|

हम से जमाना हैं ज़माने से हम नहीं||

 

‘The world does not have the strength

to halt my forward march.

The world owes its existence to me,

I don’t owe it to the world.’

 

जाके प्रिय न राम वैदेही,

तजिए ताहि कोटि वैरी सम, यद्यपि परम सनेही|

 

‘One, who does not love Rama and Sita,

Treat him as equivalent to millions of enemies and shun him, even if he is your supreme beloved.’

कबीरा इह जग आय के, बहुत से कीने मीत|

जिन दिल बांधा एक से, वे सोये निश्चिंत||

 

‘Kabir says that people make so many

Friends after coming to this world.

Those, who have loved the One and only

One (the True Self), are free from all worries.’

Absurd! It is alright if you lose everything; it is all the same if you get the whole world. This world, in the ultimate analysis, is but a dream. Let the dream go by. What is going to happen in the worst case? You will not get a job? You will not get food? Does it really matter? After all this body has to die one day. If the worst happens, one shall die of hunger and thirst, pursuing the path of God. In any case, people do die even after eating to their heart’s content. Though in reality God Himself take care of one, who follows the path of God-realization. As and when you become free from all worries, God becomes worried about you, lest the enlightened one goes without food.

सोचा मैं न कहीं जाऊंगा यही बैठ कर अब खाऊँगा|

जिसको गरज होगी आएगा सृष्टिकर्ता खुद लायेगा||

 

‘I thought I will not go anywhere;

I will take care my meals here itself.

One, who is concerned, will come;

the Creator Himself will bring food.’

You are so great; why do you consider yourself to be diminutive? You are the Atman; why do you consider yourself to be the body? For how long will you consider this corpse as ‘I’; this corpse is after all destined to be burnt down? How long will you continue to see happiness in circumstances favorable to it and grief in the unfavorable ones? Your life should be such that the facilities covet to serve you and feel fortunate to get an opportunity to do so. The problems of life will turn favourable merely by your presence.

You may go to the densest of forests; the things would still be favourable. And if they are not, your bliss and peace should remain un-disturbed. If you get bhiksha eat it; if not, wonderful! It’s an opportunity for observing a fast.

राजी हैं उसमे जिसमे तेरी रजा है|

हमारी न आरजू है न जुस्तजू है||

 

‘I am happy in what You like to hand over to me.

I have no desires or longing of my own.’

 

Does the judge sweep the floor in the court? Does he have to call plaintiffs, defendants or advocates? He simply comes to the court and gracefully occupies his chair. Rest of the things happen automatically. If the judge leaves his chair and starts filling water, sweeping the floor, or calling the litigants; what sort of justice will he be able to deliver?

देखा अपने आपको, मेरा दिल दीवाना हो गया|

ना छेडो मुझे यारों! मैं खुद पे मस्ताना हो गया||

 

‘When I saw myself I was enamored with it.

Don’t disturb me friends, I am intoxicated with the Bliss of my Self.’

Saints go a step further. They say, ‘a stage comes when even Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva are not bigger than you. And that stage is realization of your True Self.’

यह कौन-सा उकदा है जो हो नहीं सकता|

तेरा जी न चाहे तो हो नहीं सकता||

छोटा सा कीडा पत्थर में घर करे|

और इंसान क्या दिले दिलबर में घर न करे||

 

‘What goal is there that cannot be attained?

The only impossible is that which

You don’t really want to attain.

A small insect bores its way into

the stone to make a home for itself.

Can the man not enter the heart of his

Beloved God to abide therein forever?

ॐ...ॐ...ॐ...

One, who doesn’t reflect on the precepts of enlightened Saints, will simply have to wander in the world. He will have to go through the cycle of birth and death. He may be in the copany of Sri Krishna or Mother Durga; but as long as he has not attained the knowledge of Supreme Tuth…

Narsi Mehta says,

आत्मतत्व चीन्या विना सर्व साधना झूठी|

‘So long as you don’t know your True Self, all sadhana is nothing but a sheer waste.’

Similarly let your mind realize the True Self for once. Then it is completely immaterial whether you engage it in Samadhi, keep it in a pious atmosphere, or take it to the hell. Wherever it is, it will be established in its absolute Self. Such a person is called an Enlightened One. You may acquire a whole lot of supernatural powers and boons, you may have even the power to bring a corpse into life; but so long as you don’t attain realization of your True Self, all attainments are but futile.

ॐ…! ॐ…!! ॐ…!!!

Wake Up from the Slumber of Delusion

Your intellect was engaged in whatever you have seen or heard so far, but what did you get in return? Your intellect will be engaged in what you see or hear even hereafter, but what is the end result? Sri Krishna says,

यदा ते मोहकलिलं बुद्धिर्व्यतितरिष्यति।

तदा गन्तासि निर्वेदं श्रोतव्यस्य श्रुतस्य च।।

‘When your intellect completely extracts itself out of the quagmire of delusion, then will you experience detachment from all the heard and yet unheard pleasures of this world and the other one.’This world and the other…