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SANDEHA NIVARINI SATHYA SAI BABA DISSOLVING DOUBTS
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Small minds select narrow roads; expand your mental vision and take to the
broad road of helpfulness, compassion and service.
-Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Resting for the moment on the broad way, a sincere questioner says:
In this cosmos which is the human body, what is the best
Dharma to follow? Which Asram is most conducive for that Dharma?
How many Asrams are there in all?
Answer:
There are four Asrams in all; if you know about them, you can
yourself decide which Asram you are to fulfil, examining your own
achievement, progress and aptitude. Brahmacharya, Grihastha, Vaanaprastha
and Sanyaasa are the four Asrams.
Querist: Different explanations are given by different persons for the word
Brahmacharya and the stage it denotes. I wish to know from you the real
significance of that stage.
Answer:
Very well. It is believed that all who have not become Grihasthas are
entitled to be called Brahmacharis. This is very wrong. Only those who
keep their minds away from the delusions of the world, who are
constantly engaged in the thought of God, who do not see or hear light
or merely entertaining stuff, who pursue good taste, who do not yield
to joy or grief, who keep their mind, intelligence and
self-consciousness in good trim by unremitting contemplation of
Brahmathatthwa -- only such deserve the name, Brahmachari.
Querist: What exactly does Grihastha mean?
Answer:
Being married and living with the wife and children do not constitute
Grihastha Asrama as most people think. Without giving up the duties
assigned to one's caste and status, the person has to treat all with
equal consideration - kinsmen as well as others. He must be aware of
the rights of the elders and the obligations of juniors; he has to be
full of sympathy and willingness to help; he should treat with loving
kindness all those who are dependent on him; he must grow wiser with
new experience of the world; he should acquaint himself with Sastras
and be alert to do Dharma and avoid Adharma; he must foster and protect
his wife and children with a sense of responsibility; he has to trample
down the Eight Egoisms, the conceit that develops from family, wealth,
character, personal beauty, youth, scholarship, native place, and even
accomplishments in austerity.
Conscious of the four goals of Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha, with no
pride in material possessions though he might have them in large
measure; utilising a portion of the day in the service of others; with
no designs against any other household; himself deserving the trust of
his wife, each understanding the other and having the full faith in the
other; such are the ways in which the Grihastha manifests.
Querist: What, then, does Vaanaprastha mean?
Answer:
At that stage, man feels that all dualities are untrue and baseless.
He gives up all desires; drops all attachments to the world; dislikes
living in crowded places; is anxious to achieve victory through
manthrajapa and so leads a life of austerity, eating only uncooked
food, mostly fruits and leaves, in moderation; moves in the company of
sages and maharishis; listens to their teachings and moves
unfalteringly on the path of realising the Lord. The Vaanaprastha must
get the approval of his wife when he moves out into solitude for the
life of Sadhana and he must make sufficient provisions for his children
also. If however the wife is willing to accompany him, he has to take
her with him in his spiritual journey. They must hence-forward live as
brother and sister and not as husband-wife. Provided this new
relationship is maintained, life in the home too can be transformed
into Vaanaprastha. On the other hand, if the old life is continued,
the life in the forrest does not constitute Vanaprastha. The
Vaanaprastha must not stay in the residences of married people. He
must observe the vows prescribed for each season of the year. He must
brave the rain, the sun, and the cold during the seasons. He must be
vigilant against being drawn towards physical pleasures by fickleness
of the mind. He must seek and find pleasure only in the contemplation
of the Lord and dwelling upon His Glory.
Querist: What does Sanyaasa mean?
Answer:
Sanyasa is above and beyond all promptings of sensual and objective
pleasure. The Sanyaasi deals with the contemplation of the Lord as the
very breath of his life, an essential necessity always and all places
for sheer existence itself; he derives joy only from this
contemplation. He knows that wealth and kinship, affection and
attachments are momentary and liable to decline and end. He discards
the external reminders of even caste-status and samskaras like
Upanayanam; he wears the ochre robe of the mendicant; he does not live
in populous places; he lives on whatever little food he gets; he does
not decry the place where he does not get food; he does not eat twice
in the same place or sleep two days in succession in the same place; he
even conquers the temptation to sleep and eat; he cares little for the
rigours of the seasons; he is ever joyful and happy in the company of
the Lord whom he invokes by his Dhyana.
Querist: Now a days, there are many ochre-robed people moving about as
Sanyasins. Are they all equipped with the disciplines mentioned by you now?
Answer:
There is, of course, no paucity of people who are so equipped.
But it is not possible to say that all are like that.
Querist: There are many who, though Sanyaasis, establish Asramas and
get themselves established in worldly affairs and worldly
possessions and struggle for worldly pomp and power. What is to be
said of these?
Answer:
For genuine Sanyaasa and for detachment from all mental agitations,
institutions like the Asramas you mention are great handicaps. For
those who should give up all purposeful effort, the effort for the
upkeep and progress of the Asrama is an obstacle in the path. I need
not tell you by what name such Sanyaasis are to be called. I can only
say they do not deserve the name Sanyaasi.
Querist: Swami, how can the growth of Asrams, which help people like us to
know the means of liberation, be a bondage? And how can the Asrams
get on without money? I hope it is not wrong to accept help,
voluntarily offered.
Answer:
My dear fellow! It is theft if the lock is broken and valuables are
taken away, or if they are removed through an opening made in the wall;
it is theft, if by soft words in open daylight a person persuades you
to part with your valuables. If a Sanyaasi casts his eyes on wealth,
whatever be the motive, it is harmful for his spiritual progress. He
should cast all such tasks on some trustworthy devotee and be an
unconcerned witness only. His duty is to see that the persons who seek
Asraya (Succour) are assured of spiritual help, not to help the Asram
to rise and prosper. The flames of desire to make the Asram grow will
rise into the bonfire of self-seeking egoism and burn out all that is
commendable in a Sanyaasi, especially his Atmaananda.
The fire will destroy not merely the Sanyaasi, and also those dependent
on him for guidance. The feeling "I" and "Mine" are such destruction-
causing sparks. Man must attach himself to guides who are devoid of
these. But once the Asram becomes the prime factor, the so called
"guide" has to attach himself to men! It should be other way. He must
not be dependent on the world; he must be free from all dependence.
That is the mark of the Sanyaasi.
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Continued at soc.culture.indian in the thread
SANDEHA NIVARINI SATHYA SAI BABA DISSOLVING DOUBTS
(With thankful pranams to KC Chennapan, embodiment of the One, who
carefully keyed in this article in full and gifted it in satsangh to me
and all sincere aspirants.)
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