AdweShtaa – Further Reading

Adveshtaa Sarvabhootanam, Maitrah Karuna Eva cha
Nirmamo Nirahankaaras, Samadukkhasukhah Kshame

He who hates no one, who is friendly and compassionate to all , who is free from attachment and egoism, balanced in pleasure and pain and forgiving.

One should never have hatred towards anyone. He should be free from malice and should be friendly and compassionate towards all. He should be free from attachment and egoism. He should be balanced in joy and sorrow and should be forgiving by nature.

A devotee who has got true devotion to God, starts seeing God in everyone and every bit of His creation.

‘Ishwaras sarvabhootanaam….

God is in the heart of everyone’, says Gita. With this feeling one will not have hatred towards anyone. He is a disinterested friend of all. Compassion becomes a part of his nature. An enlightened devotee has no identification to his body. So he never experiences joy or grief under any circumstances. He has no likes or dislikes. He has got true selfless love to all. He is always forgiving by nature.

There was a great devotee of Guruvaayurappa who had all the above Gunas mentioned in the Shloka ‘Advestaa Sarvabhootaanam….Once he came to Guruvaayur to celebrate his son’s birthday. All were very busy with the temple functions and also the other functions connected with the ceremony. Food was ready. Suddenly they realized that the child was missing. It had gone to kitchen walking slowly. Nobody had noticed. Unfortunately the child fell in the hot boiling ‘Kanjee water’ and died. The devotee Punthanam heard the news. The sudden sad news upset him, but being a great enlightened soul, he controlled himself and was able to keep the equanimity of mind. After some months, God wanted to bless him with a son. He told the Lord, ‘When I have permanent son like you who will not perish, why do I need a son who is not permanent or who may leave me at any time’?

Nirmamo:

When the ideas of ‘I’ and ‘Mine’ disappear man’s only thoughts are of ‘Thou’ and ‘Thine’. He only find ‘Thee’ everywhere and thus achieves the vision of Unity.

S S S X.

Nirahankaarah:

It means the assertion of ‘I’. ‘I’ as having power, authority, strength and wealth, not the awareness of ‘ I’ as Brahman, but the mistaken assertion – I – am –the – body. This feeling has to be overcome by continuous saadhana.

The Bhakta must be free from hate and full of love. His love must express itself as service of the distressed and the grieving.

Samadukkhasukhah:

When a person experiences the beatitude of Brahman everywhere and in everything, heat or cold, draught, floods , cyclones, diseases etc., it is called Praakritic Samatva; praise, blame, love, hatred, bouquets and brickbats, rich and poor it is Saamaajika Samatva; scholar and illiterate, the theist and atheist, fruits of action good or bad, it is called Karma Samatva.

In the 13 th verse, Lord Krishna describes to Arjuna the traits of a person who is dear to the God.

Krishna has shown here a picture in words of a true devotee and a man of perfection.

Adveshtaa sarvabhutaanaam:

One, who has realized that the one spirit pervades all and that He is that spirit, cannot hate anyone, because he understands that there is no one who is ‘other’ than Him.

No one hates his hand because he is in it too. Nobody hates himself.

He is friendly towards all creatures and he is compassionate by nature. He offers everything that he has to needy. He cannot regard anything as his own and he is completely free from egoism. He does not have any form of egoism that comes to some by giving to others. Even if he loses his possessions and is put to hardship due to his benign compassionate nature, he feels no pain. Neither does he derive pleasure, if the world praises him. He is even-minded both in pain and pleasure.

Sometimes such a Godly selfless person is put to unwarranted cruelties, but he is always forbearing and forgives all. As we all know, though Jesus was crucified at the cross for no reason, he forgive the people and bore all pain and torture with equanimity of mind.

In verse 13, Lord Krishna has given us guidelines to become a true devotee. Sometimes, we find that it is not easy to love a person who is unkind, unpleasant or rude. But we must learn to look through the human element of their behavior and seek out the divine spark which is in everyone.

God is the Truth of all beings and things. The awareness of the Truth is the seed-bed of all virtues and goodness. As this truth gets deeply ingrained in us, the sense of ‘otherness’ fades. Fear, jealousy, hatred all slip away. ‘Who is to hate whom, when all is the Supreme Self’. Our Baba says that we should ‘See the all in all we see.’ This Verse depicts the Brotherhood of Man and Fatherhood of God.

Ahankaara or Ego is the veil of body – consciousness that hides Divine consciousness. When this small ‘I’ disappears the Universal ‘I’ is seen.

Avoidance of hatred is not a positive quality. There are people who have stony hearts but they may not hate others. A true devotee melts with love and service to others-feeling their joy as his own. We have many great examples in our modern world, of people who work selflessly for the poor, lowly, the needy and down-trodden. Mother Teresa is a shining example and Baba Amte is another example. Both of them are dedicated to the service of humanity. They have compassionate nature and feel the pain of their fellow-men.

Story:

Saint Eknaath

Eknaath was a great Saint who had conquered anger. There was a rich man who was jealous of the saint’s fame. So he offered to pay a sum of Rs 500/- to anyone who could make Eknaath lose his temper. One wicked person agreed and went Eknaath and spit on his face as the Saint was returning from the Godaavari river after bath. Saint Eknaath went back to the river and bathed again. Again the wicked man spit on Eknaath. Eknaath again went and bathed in the river and came back. In this way, the wicked man spit on Eknaath 108 times and the saint happily bathed every time in the river.

This brought about a great transformation in the wicked person and he bowed to Saint Eknaatha and prayed for forgiveness . Saint Eknaath saw God in everyone, joined his palms and said to the man, “Oh Lord Paanduranga, how merciful you are ! I was lazy to bathe in the holy river even once, but you made me to bathe 108 times today. Thank you Mother, Father and God for coming in this form to test your devotee.”

This awakened the wicked man’s conscience and he cried like a child on the lap of the saint. ‘Oh, I am a sinful man, forgive me for my folly. I tried to make you angry for the money which the rich man promised . But you are a true saint.’

Eknaath said smilingly, ’My son, why didn’t you tell me that you would get some money if I get angry. I would have pretended anger at least, so that you could get the money’. But later on he told his this new devotee that our true wealth is the Name of the Lord and the company of saints.

Questions:

1. Who is a true devotee of the Lord according to Lord Krishna?
2. What is true friendship? What is sacrifice?
3. Pride and egoism pull man downwards, why?
4. What is the meaning of equal-mindedness?
5. Only the strong can forgive – discuss.
6. Name some qualities of a man of perfection.
7. What brings about ‘dukkha and sukha’?
8. What are the qualities that a true devotee of God should possess
9. What is compassion and love? Give an instance of compassion shown by any saint.
10. When pride and egoism come in, God goes out of our hearts- discuss.
11. Love all- Serve all, this is our Sai’s message – discuss.