Other Baba-books

 

'The one who gives up on the regulations of the scriptures will be acting according his own whims
and never attain perfection, happiness or the goal of the transcendent.
Therefore is it the scriptural authority that determines what should and should not be done.
Knowing the regulations declared by the scripture, you should do your duty here.'
B.G. 16:23-24

1 2a 2b 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18a 18b

Chapter 16 The Yoga of discriminating the qualities of the enlightened and the unenlightened 'About the qualities of the divine and the godless'  Dhaivāsura Sampad Vibhāga Yoga

" Listen to this spoken chapter in Audio "        When you accept the five elements, you have to agree to the fivefold proliferation of each element, making in all twenty-five tattvas (truth, essence, principle) of principles. Only four elements, earth, water, fire and air, are evident and perceptible; but ether or sky is the basis for all. So too, manas (feeling, mind), buddhi (intellect), chittam (consciousness, knowledge, awareness) , ahamkāra (ego, self-love, selfish individuality) are all four cognized by experience; but the anthah-kārana, which is their base, can only be inferred. All things of which we are aware are but manifestations of a Thing, of which we are unaware. They derive their strength and support from the unseen. That unseen basis of which you are unaware is I Myself, the ātmā. All are based on Me. That which is based is subject to change: growth, decline and modification. But the base or ādhāra (basis) should not therefore be taken as subject to change. For example, consider the moon and its reflection in water. The image of the moon in the water is not steady; it shakes and quivers. It is the water that shakes and quivers, not the moon above. Ignorant people, who are like children, infer that the moon is itself shaking. The transference of the characteristics of the ādheya (being based, contained, sustained) to the ādhāra is the fundamental asuric (demonic) quality. The recognition of the eternality and truth of the ādhara even in the ādheya - that is the real daivi sampath (divine wealth, nature, qualities), God-directed nature. Arjuna listened intently and with steady attention to all this. Then he queried: "Mādhava! You said that it is the inherent quality of nature that distinguishes these two. Which qualities make for āsuric and which for daivi natures? Please clarify." - Gītā Vahini, p. 213 Verse 1-3.  śrī-bhagavān uvāca abhayam sattva-samśuddhir jñāna-yoga-vyavasthitih dānam damaś ca yajñaś ca svādhyāyas tapa ārjavam ahimsā satyam akrodhas tyāgah śāntir apaiśunam dayā bhūteshv aloluptvam mārdavam hrīr acāpalam tejah kshamā dhritih śaucam adroho nātimānitā bhavanti sampadam daivīm abhijātasya bhārata       [to verse 1] (1) fearlessness (2) purity of emotions (3) awareness of the unity of all creation (4) charity (compassionate) (5) control of the senses (6) sacrifice (7) study (8) asceticism (9) straightforwardness.       [to verse 2] (10) nonviolence (11) integrity (12) equanimity, absence of anger or resentment (13) detachment (14) inner peace (15) refraining from scandal-mongering and talking ill of others (16) sympathy (17) absence of greed (18) sweetness and softness of speech (19) fear of adharmic acts (20) absence of fluctuation in the mind.       [to verse 3] (21) courage during disaster, patience and fortitude (22) steadiness (23) cleanliness (24) harmlessness (25) humility. These twenty-five holy qualities are the traits of daivi sampath, the divine endowment." - Gītā Vahini, pp. 214-5  Verse 4.  dambho darpo 'bhimānaś ca krodhah pārushyam eva ca ajñānam cābhijātasya pārtha sampadam āsurīm      'Pride, pomp, vanity, anger, harshness and absence of discrimination are the components of the āsuric endowment of man. Persons having these qualities are infused with the āsuric character. Though for all outward appearance they may be humans, they do not deserve that name. Those who have the aforesaid qualities are known as men with divine parts; those who have the āsuric attributes are known as dānva-mānavas, demonic humans.' - Gītā Vahini, p. 215   Verse 5. daivī sampad vimokshāya nibandhāyāsurī matā mā śucah sampadam daivīm abhijāto 'si pāndava        The forces of good (devas) are combating with the forces of evil (āsuras) in every living being and if they rely on mahā-sakti, the great divine force that fosters and fends the universe, they can easily win and reach the goal. - Sathya Sai Speaks V, p. 232  Verse 6. dvau bhūta-sargau loke 'smin` daiva āsura eva ca daivo vistaraśah prokta āsuram pārtha me śrinu  Verse 7. pravrittim ca nivrittim ca janā na vidur āsurāh na śaucam nāpi cācāro na satyam teshu vidyate  Verse 8. asatyam apratishthham te jagad āhur anīśvaram aparaspara-sambhūtam kim anyat kāma-haitukam  Verse 9. etām drishthim avashthabhya nashthātmāno 'lpa-buddhayah prabhavanty ugra-karmānah kshayāya jagato 'hitāh  Verse 10. kāmam āśritya dushpūram dambha-māna-madānvitāh mohād grihītvāsad-grāhān pravartante 'śuci-vratāh       The six enemies of man are eating into his vitals, embedded in his own inner consciousness. They are the demons to be killed. They are lust (kāma) anger (krodha) greed (lobha) attachment (moha) pride (mada) and malice (matsarya). They reduce man to the level of a demon. They have to be overpowered and transmuted, by the supreme alchemy of the divine urge. - Sathya Sai Speaks VII, p. 103  Verse 11-12. cintām aparimeyām ca` pralayāntām upāśritāh kāmopabhoga-paramā etāvad iti niścitāh  āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāh kāma-krodha-parāyanāh īhante kāma-bhogārtham anyāyenārtha-sañcayān       Kāma and krodha (desire and anger) are the two arch enemies of man that undermine his divine nature and drag him down into the mire. The Ramāyana story is woven round the anger of Manthara [see RRV-10] and the lust of Surpanakha [see RRV-Part II-2]. The Ramāyana of each individual too is woven round these two elemental passions. When the first intimations of these evil influences threaten to invade your mind, stop and inquire coldly into the nature of the urge, the manner of the promptings, the type of consequences for you and others. Reason out these things, in silence and solitude. - Sathya Sai Speaks V, p. 197  Verse 13-15. idam adya mayā labdham imam prāpsye manoratham idam astīdam api me bhavishyati punar dhanam  asau mayā hatah śatrur hanishye cāparān api īśvaro 'ham aham bhogī siddho 'ham balavān sukhī ādhyo 'bhijanavān asmi ko 'nyo 'ti sadriśo mayā yakshye dāsyāmi modishya ity ajñāna-vimohitāh       [to verse 13] Lust stands out as a prominent leader of all the bad qualities. The other three, that is, anger, greed, and attachment follow this leader and do things dictated by him. In fact, Kāma, the God of lust is responsible for our birth and Kāla, the God of time is responsible for our death. Rāma is responsible for our life and all the good therein. If by our conduct, we can deserve the grace of Rāma, kāma and kāla are not going to trouble us very much. Like fire covered by ash, like water covered by a precipitate, like the eye covered by cataract, our wisdom lies dormant, covered by kāma. It is necessary for us to inquire into the source and nature of kāma (desire). Till we are able to do so, we will not be able to distinguish between what is lasting and what is only temporary, what is right and what is wrong. Kāma increases our attachments and thereby weakens our memory and intelligence. Once the intelligence becomes weak, we will become inhuman. Thus, kāma has the capacity to ruin our life. If we understand the nature of kāma well, it will go away from us in one moment. - Summer Showers in Brindavan 1973, pp. 180-1       [to verse 15] As a result of wealth, man is changing into a demon. Possession of money makes one very proud. When one has wealth, he is not inclined to follow the righteous path. He will also lose his capacity to distinguish the right from wrong. This has been described by poet Vemana by saying that if your wealth increases, then you will be arrogant, and when your arrogance increases, your bad feelings will increase. - Summer Showers in Brindavan 1973, pp. 156 Verse 16. aneka-citta-vibhrāntā moha-jāla-samāvritāh prasaktāh kāma-bhogeshu patanti narake 'śucau Those who are immersed in selfishness, egotism, greed, vice, violence and unrighteousness will suffer from evil urges in their last days and destroy themselves ... achieving only hell, Naraka. - Bhagavatha Vahini, chapter 44 (p. 331). Verse 17. ātma-sambhāvitāh stabdhā dhana-māna-madānvitāh yajante nāma-yajñais te dambhenāvidhi-pūrvakam       But without deep inquiry, without discriminating between the real and the unreal, if one mistakes the seen alone to be lasting, and argues so, he is losing his way. How can he reach the goal? How can he attain the reality? The yearning to know this reality comes of daivi sampathi, God-ward attributes. The āsuri sampathi is the opposite tendency, which makes a man argue that he has known when he has not, which keeps him away from all attempts to know, which induces him to establish untruth as truth. - Gītā Vahini, p. 212 Verse 18. ahankāram balam darpam kāmam krodham ca samśritāh mām ātma-para-deheshu pradvishanto 'bhyasūyakāh       Daiva-thwam and danava-thwam (divinity and demonic) compete for the possession of the mind of man and pursue him as light and darkness. Danava-thwam piles upon man misery after misery, while daiva-thwam warns him against yielding to despair on that account. They have to be welcomed as beneficial, for misery is the crucible in which the dross is removed and the pure gold separated from the alloys. The danava forces are aflame in every person as lust and greed, as hate and envy, as pride and pompousness. - Sathya Sai Speaks V, p. 104 Verse 19. tān aham dvishatah krūrān samsāreshu narādhamān kshipāmy ajashram aśubhān āsurīshv eva yonishu Verse 20. āsurīm yonim āpannā mūdhā janmani janmani mām aprāpyaiva kaunteya tato yānty adhamām gatim Verse 21. tri-vidham narakasyedam dvāram nāśanam ātmanah kāmah krodhas tathā lobhas tasmād etat trayam tyajet       Three qualities form the fundamental basis of all āsuric natures. They are kāma, krodha and lobha (lust, anger and greed). They destroy the self and foster the demon in man. They have to be overwhelmed and overcome by the divine qualities of vairāgyam, santham and thyagam, detachment, equanimity and renunciation. They are the warriors to rely on in this fight. Foster these warriors and they will, in a trice, wipe out the forces of demonic influence. Any trace of the foes, kāma, krodha and lobha, left unsuppressed anywhere is a potential danger; so they must be reduced to ashes. That leads to real success in the struggle for the goal. - Gītā Vahini, p. 216 Verse 22. etair vimuktah kaunteya tamo-dvārais tribhir narah ācaraty ātmanah śreyas tato yāti parām gatim       With the doors of your hearts closed by the bolt of falsehood, how can you lay the blame on God, if He does not illumine it with the rays of His Grace? Falsehood is prompted by desire, by kāma; when kāma is in the heart, Rāma (God) has no room. Let kāma and his evil brood of krodha, lobha, moha, mada and matsarya (anger, greed, attachment, pride and hate) slither out of the heart; then only can Rāma install himself there. - Sathya Sai Speaks VI, p. 27 Verse 23. yah śāstra-vidhim utsrijya vartate kāma-kāratah na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukham na parām gatim       If each one follows his own nose, there will be chaos. If each one decides to pursue his own wish (or even his own reason, for after all, reason may be used to justify one's own predilections and pet prejudices), man will descend to the level of the apes or worse. So, man has to be guided by the wisdom of the past, the bounds prescribed by his well-wishers, the sages, the śāstras or moral codes laid down to map the conscience in him. The śāstras only channelize the urges that arise within men. Like the seed that can sprout into a plant, only from under the soil, all the various emotions, feelings, and impulses sprout only from within the mind of man. If the mind is steady, nothing can shake you into indecision or indifference. - Sathya Sai Speaks VI, p. 109 Verse 24. tasmāc chāstram pramānam te kāryākārya-vyavasthitau jñātvā śāstra-vidhānoktam karma kartum ihārhasi     Kārana: the original cause, the remote, the underlying cause, the cause of everything, causality to the logic of divinity . (Anthah-kārana: Inner psycho-somatic fourfold instruments of mind, intellect, memory and ego). Mādhava: of Madhu (sweetness, the blooming) name for Krishna as the blooming hero, the sweet Lord, of the gopīs. Vemana: is a Telugu poet. He has composed numerous poems in Telugu in Aata Veladhi metre which consists of four lines; but the fourth line, with some exceptions, is a mere refrain or chorus in these words Viswadabhirama Vinura Vema. Vemana's style is simple and his poems deal with various social problems and they propose some solutions too. He expresses the feelings of a social reformer and many of his poems criticises and awakens the ardent followers of the old traditions. Many lines of Vemana's poems managed to become colloquial phrases of the Telugu language. All poems end with the signature line Viswadhaabhi Raama, Vinura Vema. There are also many interpretions of what the last line signifies. It is commonly believed that Viswadha was his lover and neglected other responsibilities in his youth and later realised and became a saint and poet. He is also known as Yogi Vemana. Though Vemana Satakam (literally means collection of 100 poems though he actually wrote a couple of thousands) is very famous in Telugu literature relatively very less is known about the actual poet. The poems were collected and published by C.P.Brown. His poems are of many kinds, social, moral, satirical and mystic nature. All of the vemana poems are in Ataveladi (dancing lady) meter. Vemana was a capu (Reddy) and native of Cuddapah district and believed to have lived in Gandikota area of the district but there is no unanimous agreement among scholars about the period of Vemana. C.P.Brown who did extensive work on Vemana in his preface to English translation Verses of Vemana states that the date of birth Vemana states in verse 707 to be Vemana's date of birth. The cyclical date of Hindu calendar coincides with 1652. Brown also adds that from the examination of his works it is satisfactorily proven that vemana wrote in the later part of 17th century. [Verses of Vemana translated from Telugu in English by C.P. Brown, 1829] Naraka: hell, the hellish planets, a hellish life. Described in S.B. 5.26.      Contents|Links|Preface