Chapter 5  ·  Contents  ·  Chapter 7

6. HAVE GOOD THOUGHTS, GOOD ACTIONS AND GOOD COMPANY TO REALIZE GOD

Embodiments of Divine Love,

In the spiritual field, those aspiring for spiritual Bliss will have to observe these four disciplines. Firstly, they must run away from bad company. Secondly, they have to be free from bad thoughts. Thirdly, they have to perform good actions. And fourthly, they need to come near to God through withdrawal of the mind. Man is put to suffering because he is physically in bad company and mentally suffers from bad thoughts. Any spiritual aspirant is in danger because of bad company, so run away from them. What is bad company? It consists of those individuals who harbour self-interest, ego, jealousy, and who generally lack human qualities. All of these will take you away from the Divine. Due to bad company we not only lose human qualities but even the good thoughts and feelings can turn bad. A man in the company of thieves will turn into a thief; a man of virtue loses his virtues in the company of those with vice. The sacred heart becomes unsacred. Therefore, run from bad company and never associate with unbelievers and those with bad negative thoughts.

Though God is the fundamental base of the entire universe, we forget this fundamental nature of the Divine and follow the fleeting world. Life and time are of great value; time is the form of God. Our life and thoughts run like a whirlwind, like a river; our life span is melting like ice. Man ends his life without fulfilling his responsibility and duty to know the purpose of life. Without the body as the support, you cannot know the Supporter, the Indweller, so protect the body in order to recognize the Divinity within. As the body is a sacred instrument to know God the Indweller, one must understand the body, and then inquire about the Indweller.

In the sacred text of the Mahabarata there was a certain character, Kama, who was the embodiment of righteousness and charity. Due to association with the wicked Kauravas, he too became one with them; that is, wicked. Though formerly noble, highly educated, and powerful, such a mighty one lost his power due to wrong company. It is difficult to distinguish between the pious and the wicked, but based on their actions and words one can decide.

Meditation and japa are not the only components of the spiritual path. True spirituality lies in removing animal traits and attaining Divinity. Among all beings man is the noblest. Food, sleep, fear, and procreation are common to both man and animal. Man is endowed with the special ability to distinguish the permanent from the impermanent, the good from the bad, the right from the wrong. Man has a higher mind (intellect) and wisdom without which there is no difference between man and animal. A human being is one with a mind, and is thus called, "manushi" Man's thoughts originate from the intellect and his behaviour is based on his thoughts. One on the wrong path will have wrong thoughts and it is only due to wrong and negative thoughts and weaknesses that one cannot recognize Divinity. So run away from nonbelievers and those against God or you will suffer. A serpent has poison in its mouth, but a wicked man is more poisonous. A serpent bites once, whereas a wicked man hurts continuously. Never be with those who are against the spiritual path. Good company, satsang, consists of those who are on the good path. "Sat" means "Being" which never changes, or is affected by what happens. Be in the company of "Sat," that is, pious, noble people; have friendship with such people to develop the spirituality within you and to diminish worldly thoughts.

Don't delay in doing good acts. Once when Kama was taking a head bath, he held in his left hand the oil for his head in a gold cup. Kama never refused anyone anything. A brahmin arrived and informed Kama of his son's marriage. Immediately Kama gave the gold cup to this brahmin to use in the marriage ceremony, with his left hand. The brahmin told him that it was proper for him to offer a gift with only the right hand. To offer a gift with the left hand is unrighteous according to the restrictions regarding offerings of charity. Usually one's mind wavers in such a decision, but this was not so in the large-heartedness of Kama. He thought, "The effects of the mind are mysterious. If I transfer hands to offer the gold cup, I may lose this good idea or thought in the thought of deciding which hand to use. It is better that I give spontaneously with my heart rather than thinking about which hand to use." Similarly, a person may wish to give a ten rupee note to another. But by the time he goes and fetches it from his box, he changes his mind and eventually gives away only two rupees. This is only due to attachment. This is the difference between charity (dhana) and wealth (dana). Always do good immediately, don't bother whether it is day or night. At whatever time a person comes to you, you must be good to them. This is called Satsang (the company of Truth). Vyasa expressed the essence of the eighteen Puranas with, "Help ever, hurt never."

We consider helping another as "paraupakara." This word is divided into three syllables; "para upa kara." "Para" means spirit; "upa" means to go near to your Self, tbeAtma. Spirit in one is the same in all; God is present in all beings; with the Atmic feeling, you feel close to all. From the worldly point of view, paraupakara means charity; but from a spiritual viewpoint, it means to be nearest and dearest to God. The essence of the two conveys bhakti. Devotion is helping others; when we help others, there is no mind. Day in and day out think only of the Atma. The Spirit or Atma in you should manifest and express externally in a pleasing way to God, then the result is good action. But man limits himself and thinks he is a lawyer, a businessman, etc., when in Truth he is Atma. You should remain as a yogi. Combination or merging with one another is yoga. However, in the sanctum sanctorum we act in one way and in the dining hall another way. Life is momentary like a passing cloud; it changes and passes like a day. We move from childhood (morning) having four legs (crawling), to youth (afternoon) having two legs, to old age (night) having three legs (must use a walking stick). Whatever you do, have the Godly feeling.

Some may come very close to God, while others may not. Only the fortunate ones can be close. One should make an attempt to be lucky. The Upanishads teach this. "Upa" means "near," "ni" means "below," "shad" means sit down," so Upanishad means to sit down near God.

We think that a poet is a scholar. No! God with knowledge of the past, present and future is the true poet (the epics come from the poet, God). Truth, which cannot be divided, is the true poetry. From Truth God has created everything; from the pure, unsullied Truth came poetry. Satyam (Truth), Jnanam (Knowledge), Anantham (Boundlessness) is Truth. God created Sabda-Brahma-Mayi, the sound from which all sounds and vocabulary came. He is Sound, Light, Eternal Spirit, Illusion, Prosperity. He created the word AUM. The Vedas originated from eight letters (sounds) in the beginning. From the eight, five were derived. The five sounds became three: A-U-M. In the word God, there are also three G-O-D. Aum is God. We pronounce Aum from the throat, tongue and lips (the sound rises up through these three), and the sound which comes from these three gets unified into one sound Om, similar to saying God. Thus God is the basis for everything; He is the Poet, (Kavi), for the Puranas and other epics.

Inside the human body, the pura, is the Purusha who is all over and moves the body from top to toe. If one asks where God is, the usual answer is that He dwells in the heart. The Atma dwells in the spinal column between the ninth and twelfth vertebrae. The effulgence in the sushumna nerve of the Divine energy current is felt all over the body. The physical heart is only the switchboard, and the current is in the spinal column. On a stormy dark night, clouds flash lightening and give light. The sushumna nerve moves like lightening, creates the pulse in the body and provides the electrical current to enable the body to move. It makes a sound slowly, "Tuk,... Tuk,... Tuk." Since God is ancient He alone can be called God.

"Anushatam" means the one that commands. If a person commits a theft, he is imprisoned, but it is only his body; his mind can go elsewhere. The jailer cannot tell him not to allow his mind to wander out of the prison. But God will command your mind; God alone will lock your mind which is the basis of all thoughts and withdraw it from the world. In Vedic parlance, this has a significance-first control the mind; we do not have it under our control. The entire world is under God's control. Never forget God. You should come close to God. If you do not, it is your fate. This is the lesson we can learn from Kama's folly. Arjuna, on the other hand, had spent time in the company of Krishna. Kama was far more knowledgable, but through associating with the bad company of the Kauravas, he lost. Whereas Arjuna, though he had little knowledge, was in the good company of Lord Krishna, so he won. Sat or Being is the nature of God. Consider that when one has devotion and Godly feelings, all the worldly thoughts will go; that is true life. Only through nearness to God can one derive Bliss and true comfort. All the gold in the world cannot give that happiness. Never lose this opportunity for nearness to God because it will lead you to liberation. You should install this Golden chance inside your heart. When one has mental peace, he can resist and face the challenge.

Life is a challenge, face it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is Love, share it.
Love is God; live in Love.

Through Love one can achieve anything, but without Love one is equal to a beggar; so develop Love. How? As Love increases, the bodily attachment decreases, as on a seesaw, as one goes up, the other goes down. You are in the middle. When you go toward God, there is balance; life should always be in balance; never lose that balance. If you misuse your intelligence, you will lose your balance. Man can be highly intelligent, but he misuses this capacity. If he uses it skilfully, then he will have the correct balance. But due to evil thoughts and impure knowledge, the intellect instead of having skill, "kills." At one time you say yes, at another time no; there is constant wavering. A man without balance, with a wavering mind, is like a madman. Everything is a passing cloud. Know this truth, do your duty and be with good company. When you run away from bad company, you will be automatically with good company and then you will experience Truth. You cannot experience God now because you have good and bad in you.

When you purchase an orange, you understand that you cannot eat the rind even though you paid five rupees. This is discrimination. The rind symbolizes the bad qualities; throw them away and keep the sweet juice of the Atina. Oh foolish mind, sing the name of God. No one can save you in the end except God. Again and again we take birth and die and lie in mothers' wombs and never think of God. Can this be the purpose of life? We should come once and redeem ourselves. It is a sign of ignorance to see old things again and again. You read today's newspaper only today, you do not again read the same newspaper tomorrow; it has already become wastepaper. Atma is like a test paper. You will be in eternal life if you progress and pass with a first class. That is the purpose of life. You must aim high looking up to the stars and never have a low aim like a criminal. By looking up one is filled with noble thoughts; be optimistic in life, never pessimistic. The optimist is like the one who goes up high in the airplane, the pessimist is the one who takes the parachute down. Seeing the tumbler as half full is the optimist; seeing it as half empty is the pessimist. One thief staying in jail met another thief. One was looking up at the stars, while the other one was looking down into darkness. The one looking up won't repeat mistakes, but the one looking down will repeat.

Desire only Truth and God more and more. All other desires make you desire more and more and more things. Never listen to but run away from those who speak against God. This is the basis for spiritual life and by following them only can one reach noble heights. Wherever you go remember God in your heart and thus do your duty.

Swami ended His Discourse by singing, "Govinda Hare, Gopala Hare, Hey Gopi Gopa Bala".

April 11, 1996

Chapter 7