Bangalore, India
Many times people are very miserable from within, but they wear a mask of cheerfulness or even act confident and dominating on the outside. They will keep pretending as if everything is fine, yet you can see the misery drip from their faces. Every part of their body reflects anger, bitterness, hatred and misery. This is what Lord Buddha has said – that there is misery. Recognize it, and then there are remedies for it. If someone says being miserable is my nature, then nobody can do anything about it, not even God Himself. So misery is not our nature, it comes because of samskaras (past life impressions) or karma. And this can be removed by other samskaras. One remedy for this is Pratyahara (one of the eight limbs of Yoga which means to exercise control or restraint over the senses and withdraw them inwards). Another remedy to this is meditation. So through meditation, pranayama, and Satsang we can be liberated from the miseries. It is then that we come to realize that our nature is happiness, bliss. Just as light dispels darkness, our Atma-shakti (the powerful soul as consciousness within) removes misery. On the path of Sadhana, all negativity and distortions such as fear, anger etc. fall away. The goal of Sadhana is get immersed in that indescribable bliss which is part of our very nature.
Lord Buddha said the same things that are said in the Upanishads. There is a verse:
Na karmana na prajaya dhanena tyagenaike amrta tvamanasuh |
Parena nakam nihitam guhayam vibhrajate yadyatayo visanti ||
(- Sanyasa Sukta, Maha Narayano Upanishad, 4.12)
It means: Neither through one’s actions (Karma), nor by begetting noble progeny (referred to by ‘Praja’ in the verse above), nor through wealth (Dhana) can one attain the Supreme Lord. Only through sacrifice and renunciation (Tyaga) can one attain immortality (Amruta). This is what Lord Buddha has said as well. If you read the Upanishads carefully and then read that Lord Buddha has said, you will find they are the same. There is no difference at all.
That is why Shri Adi Shankaracharya is often called Prachanna Baudha (a hidden or unproclaimed Buddha, meaning an enlightened one), because whatever he said seemed to be so similar to what is mentioned in Buddhism. So there is no difference between the Sanatana Dharma (another name for Hinduism) and Buddhism. The principles are nearly the same. I won’t say that they are exactly the same, but they are very close indeed. Buddhism advocates Shoonyavaad (the realization that “everything is nothing”; Shunya meaning Zero or nothing in Sanskrit), while Vedanta advocates Poornavaad (the central belief that “Everything is One and whole”). In Buddhism the first important step is the realization of misery, while in Vedanta they say that there is no misery. They say – ‘Wake up and see! You are full of joy (the Self as bliss)’.
So in Buddhism when misery disappears, joy is seen and in Vedanta when joy (of the Self) is realized, misery disappears automatically. So going from bottom to top and top to bottom, these are two different approaches. But the goal is the same. Even in Vedanta, it is not said that one should necessarily worship idols. It is said that worshipping the Atma-deva (referring to the Self as the Divine deity housed within the temple of the physical body) is the highest form of worship. But to begin with, one needs an environment, an atmosphere for reaching that stage of worship. This is why there is Puja. Ultimately at one point you see everything as the expansion of yourself, everything appears as a manifestation of that one Self. When one realizes that there is no difference between the world and the Self (Brahman) - which is present everywhere, in the trees, in the idols, in the earth, in water, in the blue sky; then one can worship anything and anywhere (meaning: to reach a stage where one sees everything as the manifestation of the one divine Self).
Even in the Rudra Puja, there is a rule that ‘Na Rudram Rudram Archayeti’’ which means until you become Lord Shiva yourself (realize your own true divine nature), you cannot worship the Lord. So you should first become God and then worship Him. It means to be firmly established in the Self. So it is said to worship God after becoming God, being established in your Self. Puja is just a play, it is a leela (a game), a way of expressing this deep feeling of worship.
If you swear at someone and he doesn’t listen to you at all; and instead he thinks you’re talking in another language or he thinks you’re praising him, then what effect would your words have on him? Say you are talking about something very wise, maybe you are giving knowledgeable advice but the other person is not listening to you at all and just sits like a stone, then what influence will your talk have on him? Unless the person decides to absorb what you are saying and take it inside him, he will neither be positively nor negatively affected by it.
This does not mean you should try to give people grief and misery. This saying - ‘Sukhasya dukhasya nakopi daata’ does not mean that you keep giving as much grief as you can to others. No! You must be sensitive. What you do not like for yourself, why should you do unto others? This is Dharma. So if someone swears at us, we feel sad about it. Then we too should not swear at others. And if we do not like people stealing things from us, we should also not steal from others. So whatever we don’t like being done to us, we should not do to others. This simple notion is the essence of Dharma – the knowledge of one’s duty.
Ananyas chintayanto mam ye janah paryupasate |
Tesham nityabhiyuktanam yoga-kshemam vahamy-aham || (9.22)
Lord Krishna says that once you are surrendered to God, once you take His refuge, then He takes on the responsibility to provide you with all that you need, and also protect that which you already have. This is why Lord Krishna says: ‘Yogakshemam Vahamyaham’. Here Yog- means to give you what you have yet to receive and kshema- means to take care of and protect what you have already received. Both are His responsibility. Lord Krishna says this very clearly. So just know this and relax.
So as we rise higher, an expanded sense of belongingness and a broad vision effortlessly and naturally becomes a part of our lives. Feelings of anger or jealousy do come sometimes. It is okay. So, even if these feelings of jealousy etc. come, they come and then they go away also. Only with knowledge you can deal with all these negativities and distortions.
When you are in delusion, or when the heart and head are in conflict, then all kinds of quarrels are over old things. All our craving and aversions pertain to things and events from the past. One says things like – ‘When I attended your marriage 20 years ago, you didn’t wish me properly. You didn’t give me enough sweets and gifts. You did not treat me well. Your mother and father did this and that’. People keep nurturing that bitterness in their minds, even after 20 years. So people get entangled into all this because of Aviveka (lack of Viveka or right discrimination). So you should become aware of all this using your Viveka. Let go of the past. Why? When your mind or intellect keeps chewing and hankering about the past, it gets stuck in negativity and begins to rot. And when the heart runs towards (the attraction) of the new it becomes unstable. So keeping everything in its right place is Viveka. One needs both intellect and emotions to function well. Both intellect and feelings are important in a person’s life. Do business with the intellect and live life with feeling (heart). If you use your head at home and heart in the business then both will be in trouble.
Today many people are saying they are suffering from injustice. People in Jammu and Kashmir, in Kerala often complain that they feel as if they have become second-class citizens in their own country and state. People from North-East and even in Andhra say that there is so much apathy and injustice, no one cares for them. I have heard many such things and many people come and tell me this often. In West Bengal, there is such grave injustice and malpractice happening with the majority communities. People come and cry in the front of me about this. I tell them, ‘you all should unite against injustice and stand as one. Stand on your feet. As long as you are divided and scattered among yourselves, someone else will take advantage of it’. Instead of doing so, we put the blame on others. See, everyone has a right to form their own union and have the right to make progress. So if someone is making progress, then why should we pull them down? Let them also succeed and let us also make efforts to succeed. This thought should arise within us. When I went to Punjab, the people there said the same thing – that they are treated as second-class citizens there. It is a very unfortunate thing. The same is happening in the economic scenario of our country also.
Today even in a small town there are ten different temples constructed. Now having ten temples is not a bad thing at all. But what happens is that there is a sense of competition among them all. And then there are arguments between management committee members of the same temple over petty matters. All this is Aviveka. Then they keep complaining that “We are not being treated properly; what we want is not happening”. In every sphere of life, be it religious or political or economic, Viveka is needed. All this needs a transformation and I am confident that our youth with come out of all this narrow-mindedness and bring about this transformation. They should come together and do good work.
