◆ Dusshera ~ knowledge talk by Guruji.
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Amit Joshi
Oct 20, 2018, 2:12:04 PM10/20/18
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Vijayadashmi celebrations with Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
18 October 2018
(This talk was given by Gurudev in Hindi. Here's a translation of this talk.)
After 10 days of celebration, there is Vijayadashmi. Vijayadashmi means that we have attained victory in all 10. What is this 10? Why is victory (vijaya) associated with 10 (dashmi)? We should think about this. We have 10 sense organs: 5 organs of action (such as hands and feet) and 5 sense organs of knowledge (such as tongue, touch, smell, sight, hearing). And we attain knowledge of the Self when we have victory over these 10 senses. The soul is beyond these 10 senses. The Self is covered by three things:
1. avaran: a veil, as if a curtain has been pulled
2. vikshep: distress in the mind, lack of focus in the mind, the mind goes here and there
3. mal: impurities
Unless these 3 things go away or they become less, we can't experience joy. Whenever you experience joy, know that the impurities (mal) have been removed, vikshep has ended, and the veil (avaran) even if it hasn't been lifted completely, it has become thinner. When the veil is lifted completely, you attain liberation.
In this some things we can do and some things we need we cannot do on our own, we need help from someone else. For example if you fall down somewhere. If it is a small hurt, you can set it right on your own. But if you've hurt your back at a place that you cannot even reach, you'll need someone's help.
We can heal some wounds on our own. For healing some wounds, we need to take help. Similarly, impurities (mal) is of two types. One type is which we can clean our own, and the other we cannot clean on our own. Similarly distress in the mind (vikshep). Through knowledge we can eliminate some vikshep on our own. The mind wanders here and there. It gets stuck in small things such as they didn't let me sit in the front, I am sitting at the back; someone else is sitting in the front, why didn't I get to sit in the front? Such small things cover the bliss (that we are). Someone sitting next to you sneezes, snores, or does some action which does not help us get into meditation. Such a small thing like the movement of someone else causes us to lose our peace of mind. This is vikshep. Some vikshepas we can eliminate with wisdom or knowledge. Eliminating some other vikshepas are not in our hands. How much ever you try, you cannot eliminate the vikshepa.
How many people have experienced this?
Avaran (veil) can be removed only by grace. You cannot do anything to remove the avaran. Unless the avaran is removed, there is no progress in life. That is why there is a saying in Hindi, 'Guru bina gati nahin (without the Master there is no progress)'. Due to the grace of the master, mal, avaran, and vikshepas can be removed. That is why we say that grace of the Master is required. Grace of the master does not mean sitting in front of the master all 24 hours. It means understanding what the Guru says and moving according to that. (Guru ki mann ko jaan lena, man ko jaan lena, us dhang se chalna chahiye. Andar ki baat samajhna chahiye.)
Many times you are fried; you have to undergo a lot of tapasya (penance). Do tapasya. Whenever a difficult situation comes up, the mind rebels. Then you need to understand the mind, 'See my mind is revolting.' Until the ego is rubbed and crushed, it doesn't become transparent (paar-darshi). Only when it is transparent, only then the avarana is removed. Then you'll become like a flower from within. Then nothing can shake you. For this maturity, it takes time. It's not easy. I know that. When you hear about it, it seems to be easy but it is not. I know that. That's why one needs to keep a lot of patience. A lot of alertness and sensitivity (is required). Some children in the school don't learn quickly. A teacher in school teaches the same rhyme 10 times, even then the children make mistakes. But the child has to be taught. Look at the level of the teacher, if they lose their patience how can they teach?
The (veda boys) are taught mantras. If they say don't say it correctly, their teacher will correct them again and again until they learn everything perfectly. Someone raises his voice at one vowel, another child raises his voice at another vowel. Everything (voice modulation) has to be perfect. Until then the teacher keeps polishing them. Similarly, nature is our Guru. Nature teaches us. Nature slaps us left and right again and again to teach us and straighten us. This is also grace. Purifying the mind (chitta shuddhi) is the goal of all yagyas. You heard the Devi Bhagwatam yesterday. What did the Devi say? Purifying the mind (chitta shuddhi) is the goal of all yagyas. The mal (impurities) that we cannot remove on our own, that mal gets eliminated when we sit in yagya with devotion. We don't know what all mal and vikshepas we have carried (in the mind) from different places. Just by coming in here hasn't everything changed? How many people feel that things have changed? The environment has this benefit. Where there is sattva guna then our mind is free from vikshep. The company we keep can increase vikshep or remove vikshep through knowledge. If your friends or associations are in knowledge and they pull you toward knowledge, then they will reduce your vikshep. Increasing vikshep will not help. If your company or friends pulls you towards ignorance, cravings, and aversions, then your vikshepas increase. When your vikshep increases, you don't get any benefit. Why? When there is so much vikshep (distress) in the mind, you'll just carry that in your mind. The situation is not going to change. Noone's situation has changed because of vikshepa (distress in the mind). If you want to change a situation, it happens through action that you take with awareness or through prayers, and through vikshepas. So the vikshep (distress in the mind) is removed by good company, knowledge, in the presence of Guru or divine.
Avarana is removed only with grace. Even if you put effort a million times to remove the avarana, it won't work. As the karmas and sins of life reduce, the avaran also reduces. It takes some time.
Gods and Goddesses are not somewhere else. They are there within us. The same is present as feeling, as I: this comes into your experience. And everyone is experiencing this to some extent. When feelings rise, a wave rises in everyone. It is not that only those people who are sitting here are getting the benefit. Even all those people who could not come but they had a wish to come here, even they get the benefit. Just this thought in the mind: a yagya is happening, celebrations are going on, I am also there. Even if someone is sad about not being able to come here, they also gain the complete fruits of this yagya. That pain should be there that I could not go there. If that intense desire is there, that is enough for them to get the benefit. In Patanjali Yoga Sutras Maharishi Patanjali says, "Teevra samveganaam asanah." All those who had an intense desire to attain, that desire is enough for them to get the benefit of the yagyas. The benefit of the yagya reaches them very easily. So don't think that I could not travel so far. There is no necessity. Today technology has made it very easy for us. We can sit at home and watch from anywhere. Even if that is not possible, just this thought that it is navratri, a big yagya is happening for the well-being of all humanity and I am also included in everybody; so this yagya is for my well being also. Just with this thought that a program is happening for my well being, know that the connection is set.
When mal, avaran, and vikshep are removed, then you experience that I am the universal soul.
This tradition has been going on since ages. This tradition has to be kept alive in its pure form. This is the work of the ashrams to keep these traditions alive otherwise these traditions will not remain alive. That is why this knowledge is kept alive in ashrams. People have come from different places in the country and have completed this successfully.
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