Deshaantaraagatha

INNER SIGNIFICANCE

The ancient Rishis heard the voice of God in their state of purified consciousness. The same Divine Voice is ringing in our ears today. Let us hear that voice, contemplate on the message and apply it in our daily life.

Explanation :

In the 6th verse, the importance of Swadhyaya or study of the scriptures is given. When the quest for Truth is taken on right earnestly, the seeker takes delight in the scriptures of such as the Vedas and Upanishads and Geeta. These scriptures are not written by man. They were heard by the Rishis in their superconscious state. The sages learnt the truths of life when they were in a high state of yogic consciousness. They saw the mantras within and the mantras became powerful formulaes to reach the higher states of consciousness.

So, the spiritual pilgrim,walks further on the Divine Path armed with the saving mantras and the experiences of the sages. The subtle intellect is awakened further and there is clarity in understanding complex passages from the Geeta and Upanishads. Thus the seeker starts contemplating on the sacred texts and ruminating on the words of the Guru. Soon perception takes place. The pilgrim or the aspirant reaches the Vignannamaya Kosha or the Intellectual Sheath within his consciousness.

Questions like ‘Who am I?’ ‘Where am I going?’ ‘What is God?’ ‘Where is He?’ start the enquiry within us. Our Baba says that three fourth of our Sadhana should be this enquiry. The teachings of the Guru awakens us further and further and we reach this state of enquiry or contemplation.

Story

1. Mere learning is not Enough.

Mahabharata is full of allegoric episodes called Upakhyanas. One can learn plenty of morals from them. While in exile in the forest, the Pandavas were visiting many holy rivers and hermitages. Each one had a significant history attaced to them. One of the hermitages was that of Raibhya, on the banks of river Ganga.

The sage Raibhya had two sons, Paravasu and Aravasu, who became highly proficient in Shastras. Once he sent them to officiate at a sacrified to be conducted by King Brrihadyumna. They left for the King’s palace.

One day, as Paravasu returned to his father’s hermitage during night time, he found a beast-like form crouching near a treaa and killed it. But to his horror, he found that it was his father himself.He hastily performed the funeral rites and went back to the King’s palace.

There he explained the situation to his younger brother Aravasu. He said to his brother, ‘this mishap should not come in the way of our duty to supervise the sacrifice. But still some rites are yet to be performed by me for our departed father. You cannot manage this Yagna single-handed. So, you go back to our hermitage, complete the rites on my behalf, and come back here to help me. Also I being the chief priest in performing this Yagna, I cannot do the funeral rites and also conduct the Yagnas.

Aravasu faithfully followed his brother’s instructions and returned to his father. He had a pure heart and his only concern was to discharge the duties assigned to him. Whatever he had to do, he did with head and heart in it. This purity of character was reflected on his face which was shining brightly.

Paravasu saw the beaming face of his younger brother and a sudden stoke of jealousy overpowered him. Immediately his wicked mind worked. He shouted to the assemblage there ‘See this person has killed a Brahmin, and so cannot enter the precincts of the sacred Yagna’.

On hearing this accusation, Aravasu was taken aback for a moment. He could not understand the behaviour of his brother. All the people around were staring as if he was a criminal and has done a cruel deed. He did not understand what to say to them so as to prove his innocence. He could not contain his indignation. He addressed the people. ‘Oh, Gentleman, listen to me. I am telling the truth. He is my elder brother. He actually killed our father. He directed to do the funeral rites on his behalf, so that he could continue to supervise the Yagna here’. Everybody assembled there laughed at this. This made matters worse for him. The assemblage ridiculed his saying ‘who will act as a proxy to expatiate the sins of another’.

The virtuous Aravasu, besides being falsely accused of a crime had also been branded a liar. This was too much for a person who was a pure hearted and an adherent of truth. He could bear it no longer and retired to the forest to undertake a rigorous penance.

The Gods were kind to him and he was asked to express his wish. Due to his rigorous penance and deep meditation for some time, he got rid of his anger and urge for revenge. So, he only prayed for the restoration of his father’s life and his brother’s transformation into good person. This was necessary not only for his brother alone, but for others also who may be harmed by him, as he himself was.

Though both Paravasu and Aravasu were great scholars, Paravasu was afflicted with wicked thoughts and his younger brother was virtuous, kind hearted and full of understanding of others. This shows that mere learning alone will not confer greatness. It is the integration of good thoughts, words and deeds that bring greatness.

Story 2

One day a great Persian saint, Tabriz went to his friend, a great professor in philosophy named Maulana Rumi. As usual, the professor was seated by a pool of water pondering over some manuscripts.

Saint Tabriz asked him what he was doing. Maulana Rumi said, ‘oh, you would not understand at all, for all these are deep divine mysteries. Unless you have a great intellect you cannot know these scripts’.

Tabriz smiled but said nothing. Instead he stepped forward and took the manuscripts from Maulana’s hands and threw them in the pool saying, ‘Divine knowledge does not reside in books my friend’.

Maulana was shocked and outraged at the loss of his beloved manuscripts. But he did not get angry.

He said with a sad smile, ‘What have you done, you uncouth fakir?’ You will never know what tremendous loss the world has suffered through the loss of these manuscripts’.

Tabriz smiled again. Putting his hands in the water, he brought out the manuscripts undamaged and told Maulana, ‘Please I beg of you, my friend, do not break your heart over such children’s toys as these’.

Maulana Rumi was stunned at what had happened. Here he saw the power of god in Tabriz – the manuscripts were not even wet. He knew that now God wanted him to gain true knowledge by experience. Discarding his books, he changed his way of life completely. Tabriz initiated him and he received enlightenment and became one of the famous saints of Persia.