Swami has explained time and again his mission and purpose
of taking the human form. During a Dasara festival Swami addressed his audience
thus: “This body of mine is named ‘Sathya ‘ Truth; The principle that is in this body is also
Truth. Truth enclosed in Truth has been rendered the Truth of Truth. “
(Sathyasya Sathyam) ”
This form has been assumed, in order to lead mankind from untruth to truth.” Is
Swami different from us? What are his habits and customs and other particulars?
Swami himself clarifies, “ I eat as you
do, move about as you do, talk in your language and behave as you can recognize
and understand for your sake—not for my sake!
Again I am active and busy, all the twenty four hours of the day. Every
day the mail brings me thousands of letters and you hand over to me, personally
hundreds more. Yet I do not take the help of anyone else even to open the
envelopes. For, you write intimate details of your personal problems, believing
that I alone will read them and having
implicit confidence in me……..I never seek another’s help; I offer help, never
receive it. My hand always gives; it never takes. Conclude from this that this
must be Divine, not human power.’ (SSS
Vol 7 pp 304-305)
Are Women eligible for spiritual progress?
According to Swami all are candidates for the spiritual adventure---women as
well as men. “ Sex is but a vesture worn
by the soul for the role of life on earth. It does not affect the life of the
spirit, which is eternal and on the supra sensory plane.” Remarks Swami on this
point. Swami never tires of saying that man is himself God----“ aham brahmasmi” He is the wave and also the ocean. To realize
this, man has to transcend the three layers out of the five in which he is
encased.
They are 1
Annamaya kosa or gross with its sensory equipment 2 the Pranamaya or subtle
with its vital airs and nervous system 3 the Manomaya kosa or
the causal with its desires, motives etc both positive and negatives 4 the
Vignanamaya kosa the layer of intuition and 5 finally Anandamaya kosa the
sheath of bliss. Swami points out that man is not in a position to go beyond
the first three sheaths. He does not venture deep beyond the Vignanamaya kosa. Swami refers to the famous
‘ anuvaka’ from the Taittiriya Upanishad and makes the dry philosophic
utterances interesting and intelligible.
How to escape
from human bondage? Swami affirms that human bondage is inevitable as long as
he is a slave of the senses. The senses are an obstacle for man’s journey into
the inner consciousness and spirituality. Of all the creatures in the
world, man alone is endowed with an insatiable thirst for spirit and God. Swami
says, “ But, of this, be certain; kama
or desire is a perpetual
foe. The more we yield to this foe, the
more dominant it becomes, the more you are enthralled and enslaved. ( SSS
Vol 7 pp315) All rational knowledge, the
knowledge derived from the senses is illusory. It is very difficult and
impossible to know or realize the Infinite with the help of the finite materials
of knowledge.
Is the world
‘Real’? Pointing to the idea that the
world is real, Swami compares it to a dream one has in his sleep. As long as he
dreams, the dream is real. When he opens his eyes he realizes the unreality of
his dream. “ Sleep causes dreams; the ‘maya’ ( the deluding power) of the
Divine has caused this creation. This universe is as unreal as the dream. It is
only relatively real It is not
absolutely real.” explains Swami.”
continued
No comments:
Post a Comment