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For this Sunday, we have an excerpt from the book
‘Satyopanishad’ written by Prof. Anil Kumar.
Question: Swami! As we think of the way in which
our life is going, we find it confusing and disheartening. We also
doubt if it is going in the right direction or not. You are our only
refuge. Kindly guide us.
Bhagavan: You know mridangam, the South
Indian musical instrument, which like a drum, has to be beaten on
both the sides as you play. Your life is like a rat caught in that
mridangam. If the mridangam is beaten on one side,
the rat runs to the other side and, vice versa, as there is no way
out for it.
Similarly having been fed up with this world, you think of God. When
God tests you, you again drift towards the world. Your movement
between the world and God is like that of the rat. This is not the
proper way.
A small example. Two students competed with each other in a
tournament of eating bananas. One student wanted to eat the outer
skin of every fruit first so that he could finish eating the soft
pulp part next. The other student planned to eat the soft part first
and the skin next. Accordingly, they started eating. The first
student having eaten the outer skin of every fruit first had his
belly full of that stuff and he could not eat any sweet pulp. So he
was defeated, and suffered from stomach-ache and indigestion. The
second student ate a belly-full of the pulp of every fruit and hence
couldn't eat the skin of the fruits. So, he too lost in the
competition. All the same, he remained healthy.
Similar is the case with those people who are after worldly desires
and sensual pleasures. They will have to end their lives in misery
finding no cure for bhavaroga, the ailment of worldly
attachment. This is equal to the condition of the first student who
ate only the outer skin of the banana first in the tournament. But
those who think of God are like the second student who ate the soft
pulp. They grow stronger in divine life.
Life should start from the point of dasoham, “I am your
servant”. Fill its middle with the relentless enquiry, koham,
"Who am I?" End it with full awareness of the identity of the
individual self with God soham, “I am God”. This is the
correct way of life.
Man should realise that the happiness and peace he essentially needs
are not present in this mundane world. A simple example. A person
went to a hotel. The bearer asked him, "What shall I serve for you"?
The person said, "I want idli and sambar (south
Indian vegetarian dishes)". Then the bearer taken by great
surprise, said "What Sir! Have you not seen the board hanging over
there! This is a military non-vegetarian hotel, Sir!" Likewise, how
can you expect items like Palav, Biriyani and
Chicken in an Udipi Brahmin vegetarian hotel?
In the same manner there is a board attached to this world,
anityam asukham lokam, "This world is temporary and full of
misery." How do you expect peace and happiness in this world? That
is why in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna says, 'mam
bhajasva' meaning, ‘Think of me or worship me or be immersed in
me or surrender to me'. You should lead your life in full knowledge
of these facts.
Jai Sai Ram.
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