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ARTICLE : God is Here
Once upon a time ten devotees of the Lord were given the task
of delivering the Ramayana to a distant hermitage, and each
was given one tenth of the sacred text text to carry.
On the evening of the fifth day the group came to a wide
river in flood. Carefully holding the sacred text high
overhead, every man in the group waded across, and when they
reached the bank opposite each one took a count and found
only nine, for he did not count himself! Soon they lamented
that "the tenth man" had drowned while crossing the raging
river, and sat down to bemoan the terrible loss. Then, a
sadhu came along and asked why they were weeping.
Hearing that ten men had left the other shore, he counted
them, scratched his head, and advised them not to weep, for
he knew a powerful ritual that could bring the tenth man back
to them. That sadhu then asked each of those present to
immediately rise and offer puja to the text of Ramayana. Each
devotee brought his section forward to unite the ten parts
into one for the puja, and then all the men saw the full ten
books, and realized their error. The sadhu then said, `This
is the word of my acharya, so listen carefully: "Ignorance is
the consequence of Illusion.'"
The ten devotees understood, and pranamed to the sadhu who
then went his way, the ritual complete. The tenth man had
been found.
From this it is seen that if a person, no matter what his
station, does not know the real nature of the Self, the Atma,
if one does not recognise the Self, then one can become aware
of it from one knows, like the passerby who could count
correctly. This is the way knowledge is communicated by the
guru or scripture. Without such instruction, the ignorance of
the falseego-self might convince one that Atma is not
present, like the tenth man.
The five inner and outer senses are the ten devotees, and are
the prime motive forces for the mind and the illusion it
suffers from. The Five Elements have each a characteristic
that affects and attracts one of the five senses: Sound
(Space), which fascinates the mind through the ear; Touch
(Air) which draws the mind to itself through the skin; Form
(Fire) which manipulates the mind in its favour through the
eye; Taste (Water) which enslaves the mind through the tongue
and Smell (Earth), which attracts the mind through the nose.
Contact with the external world is maintained by the senses
for the sake of these experiences - which yield joy or grief.
In order to escape being tossed about or drwowned in the
waves of joy and grief, one should hold high the spiritual
values one learns, and so cultivate un-concern (upeksha)
towards the world, in an attitude of welcoming either joy or
grief, gain or loss, as a sign of Grace. No matter what
comes, see Him as the Giver, and accept.
Sri Ramakrishna said that if you want to avoid the sticky
fluid in the jack-fruit from contacting your fingers when you
peel it, you need but apply a few drops of oil on
them. So too, said he, "if you do not want the world and its
reactions to stick to you, have a few drops of 'unconcern'
applied on your mind".
This kind of spiritual unconcern leads to the deepest
yearning for God. For example, Chaitanya went to Brindavan,
where every particle of dust was sacred for him, since
Krishna trod that soil centuries ago. He did not see or hear
or touch or smell or taste anything except Krishna at
Brindavan. He was rendered so forgetful to the world around
him that he ignored the demands of hunger, thirst and social
etiquette. He yearned for the consecrated food that was
offered to Krishna in the Temple.
Then one night, the Lord appeared before him, and admonished
him for entertaining that one desire too! When at last, he
gave up that desire also and was overwhelmed with the thirst
for Him and Him alone, Krishna manifested before him, from
within him. The Divine Chaithanya which is consciousness,
illuminated the Chaithanya in human form.
It is wise then to learn the discipline that can make the
mind settle on God only and never waver from Him, yes?
Hare Anandamaya Jaya Narayana
Vesudeva Nandana Radha Jivana
Paramandanda Madhava!
-notes from a discourse by Sri Sathya Sai Baba
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I am Yahweh, unrivaled; I form the light and create the
dark. I make good fortune and create calamity. It is I Yahweh
who do all this. -Isaiah 45:7
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