Prashanthi Pathway to Peace

[SubhaSrini]

Prashanthi  Pathway to Peace

As learnt at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan

by
N. Kasturi (1897-1987)

Swami is happy when aspirants approach Him with questions, Pariprasna. When the bhakta, stuttering hesitantly, says, "Swami, can we question you freely on spiritual matters?" He replies, "Yes, certainly. Why do you doubt it? What am I here for if it is not to explain things you don't know? Do not hesitate or be afraid. Ask me. I always appreciate and reward sincere enquiry." Often, as in the book, the Sandeha Nivarini, Swami asks the bhakta, "Which is the internal world? Give me your idea of it".

The man protests, "Swami, it would be good if you speak, not I." Whereupon Swami explains, "Making the questioner give out the answers himself is the sanathana (ancient) method of teaching. If those who question arrive at the answer by themselves they would really have understood the subject well. This was the only method used by the rishis of the past to enable their students to understand Vedanta. So come on, let us see!" Here is an illuminating session of question and answer:

Swami: Have you ever been to the cinema?
Bhakta: Ever been! Why, Swami, the cinema is an essential part of the world today. Of course I have been to see many films.
Swami: Tell me then what you saw.
Bhakta: Oh, many wonderful pictures, so many voices and noises and incidents of joy and sorrow.
Swami: You say, 'I have seen.' Well, the screen is one thing and the picture another. Did you see both?
Bhakta: Yes.
Swami: Did you see both at the same time?
Bhakta: No! How could that be possible Swami! When the picture is on, the screen isn't visible and when the screen is seen, no pictures are visible.
Swami: Right! The screen, the picture - do they always exist?
Bhakta: The picture comes and goes but the screen continues to exist.
Swami: Yes, the screen is nithya (eternal) and the picture a-nithya. Now tell me, does the picture fall on the screen or the screen fall on the picture? Which is the basis?
Bhakta: The picture falls on the screen. The screen is the basis.
Swami: So, the external world, the objective world, which is the picture comes and goes but the internal world, the âtmâ, which is existence-awareness-bliss (asthi-bhâthi-priyam) is the basis. This 'name-form-world' is real only when you witness it or experience it with your senses, mind and intellect.
Bhakta: Existence-awareness-bliss? What is that? Swami, give me an example, if there is any.
Swami: My dear boy! Why do you say 'if there is any'? When all is Brahman, which one thing is not an example? Take the film. The picture exists, persists, on the screen. That is the asthi. Who sees it and understands it? You. You are aware of it. That is bhâthi. And the names and forms you see are capable of giving ânanda, that is they are priyam.
Bhakta: It is clear now, Swami.
Swami: One point has to be noted here. The pictures fall on the screen by means of a beam of light projected through a slit in the wall of the machine-room. But if the light pours out from the whole room without the slit, the figures cannot be seen as such, for the screen would be bathed in light. So, too, when the world is seen through the small slit of one's mind, the multi-colored manifoldness of creation is cognisable. But when the floodlight of atmic awareness is shed, no individual, no distinction and no disparity is recognised. All is then cognised as the One Indivisible Brahmam. Have you understood?
Bhakta: Yes, Swami, I have understood it clearly.

Om Sai Ram
 

[SubhaSrini]

Ask Me

Swami as the Teacher of Truth encourages us to mould our doubts into questions. Whenever He picks a group of people for an interview and discourse from among those who have come into His Presence, He puts them at ease soon with a fond look and then prods them to ask questions. "What do you want? What is your problem? Ask me something," He says though He is undoubtedly well aware of their needs, problems and predicaments. Twelve years ago, a man from California answered, "I want freedom, Swami!" He stayed here for more than two years before returning home. The New York Times described him as seated on the pavement living on a handful of peanuts. He wrote a letter to me after observing the Shivarathri vow and I found that in place of his name, the signature was, 'Freed. OM.' Swami has said that His discourses are like bazaars or fairs where people can each secure the things they desire, while the interviews He grants are like specialised shops where the customer gets precisely the very thing he is anxious to get for himself. Swami has highlighted two gems of wisdom for us from His Gîtâ; they stress the importance of jñâna, knowledge:
'Jñânadeva thu Kaivalyam' - 'Liberation is only through the illumination of awareness' and
'Sraddha-avaan labhathe jñânam' - 'That illumination is gained by steady faith'.
And it is Jñâna, the third and last section of the Vedas that is presented as the culmination of the first two on karma and upasana. Karma, action, leads to upasana, dedication. Then, the heart cleansed and chastened by both these is ready for jñâna. This section on jñâna is known as the Vedânta (knowledge-end), the end of the Vedas. Vedânta is propounded in the Upanishad texts, mostly as answers to questions from seekers and sadhaks.

Upanishad means 'sitting near'. The pupil seated at the feet of the Guru or Master listens reverentially to the answers given in reply to his questions. One Upanishad is appropriately named the 'Prasna Upanishad' (the question centred lesson) wherein Pippalada, the Guru, directs six pupils in search of Brahmam. "Dwell with me a year more with austerity, chastity and sraddha. Then ask what questions you will. If I know, I shall tell you all". Another of the Upanishads has the interesting title, 'Kena' (By Whom?). It starts with a series of three questions: "By whom is the mind impelled? By whom is breathing ordained? By whom is the tongue impelled to speak, the eye to see, the ear to hear?"

Most of the other Upanishads disclose the fundamental principles and processes of spiritual inquiry through dialogues between the Gurus and their disciples. We notice a wide disparity among these disciples both in levels of scholarship and in social status-kings and millionaires, aristocrats as well as the sons of commoners, teenage as well as adult aspirants, women and gods like Indra. The instructors too were varied - cartmen and kings, sages, recluses, warriors and women, saints like Yajñavalkya and gods such as Prajâpati and Yama.

Om Sai Ram.