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Pujya Dr. K.C. Varadachari - Volume -1
 

Discourses on The Philosophy of Sri Ramchandra's Rajayoga -

Lecture -13

  
In the next section of His work Master mentions the several ways to realisation. In this connection, I should say that there are many number of ways propounded by the ancients. Some of them have been very subtle. Many of them have been gross. And gross practices lead to gross results and subtle processes help realization. And at every stage in the history of spirituality, we find that some people are able to grasp the subtle aspect of the Yoga, where as a large number of people are much more tempted to take to the gross ways and that is the reason why decadence came in every system of Yoga of the ancients. It is not that the Yoga which has now come to us is the root with which those systems started. I hold the belief that every spiritual leader was very subtle at the beginning and the close disciples of the original Master knew the Inner Secret and Power of that system and they found that. But they, in their anxiety to teach people who are lower down in the scale of understanding tried to make it amenable to the lower type and purposefully grossened some of the aspects of the Sadhana, with all good intentions, I assure you. But, good intentions and spirituality or reality do not go together. As it is very nicely put: "The path of Hell is paved with good intentions". That is why, we are today seeing a gross practice in every system or religion - the higher religion or the lower religions - it does not matter at all. Every one of them is wrought with grossness.

Now, it is necessary to remember that we are starting the practice of a new method devised only for subtle realization of the subtle reality. Therefore, we are in a condition to appreciate the subtle things and subtle quality of the meditation, and the means prescribed for attaining the Reality is propounded by Shri Ram Chandraji, because we are about the first set of people and that is an advantage which we can claim. Therefore, I would say, without any attempt to make our system gross in order that men lower down in understanding can appreciate, we should try to see that this very subtle system need not be made gross for lower people to understand. I hold that this system is equally capable of taking up the gross men to a subtle condition without reducing or making it grosser in order that gross men can be taken up. "Do not try to be more intelligent than the Master" - that is what I would say to all the preceptors, because it has been his study that any attempt to make this grosser for the understanding of ordinary men, believing that the ordinary man is grosser than you is a mistake. All efforts of spiritual being are at heart. I emphasize the word "at heart", because the first thing in this System we are dealing with is to clean the heart so that the heart becoming simple, you can understand the subtle, simple process. Therefore, Master firstly wants us to create in us a sense of 'non-attachment' to the `gross ways' of worshipping or praying or meditating to God. Even this you may say, is very difficult for you to achieve. Now, he suggests, therefore, that the individual should take to meditation through "Pranahuti". Of course, that involves a person who could do this Pranahuti. It is a subtle force which is infused into the heart of the man who is sufficiently aspiring to get out of the miseries that surround him. And therefore what happens is, the individual's heart gets cleaned and that cleanliness itself leads to non-attachment to everything, except that particular course.

It is true, non-attachment is said to be the first practice by other people. Vairagya is very necessary. But real vairagya does not mean giving up of of possessions, family or duties. Real non-attachment is non-attachment to the things of the world in preference to realization of God. If you cannot think that God is more valuable than the world, then, there is very great difficulty. And, many people instruct that the world is valueless just because things in this world are transient. They are fleeting. Everything grows, becomes old and finally dies. Therefore, why do you hold to them? Therefore, be prepared to drop this body at any time, drop your attachment or hold on things of the world like wealth or pleasure. And this non-attachment can be practised at any place, if you do not practice greater attachment by going to a forest, leaving everything here and getting attached to something.

As we know, there is an old story of a saint trying to preserve his kaupeena. For this purpose, he had to get a cat to preserve his kaupeena from the rats. Then, for maintaining the cat a cow and for preserving that cow, he had to have wife and so the family started, and it was in the forest for all practical purposes, unattached to city life! Village life has not made people less attached. Most probably, the people in the urban cities are more detached for the obvious reason that everything has become a disillusionment. Disillusion may be had and detachment is developed more in the context of an urban life than I think in the context of a village life or a forest life or an Ashram life, if you do not mind. We get more attached. So, attachment is a state of mind. And that state of mind can only be got rid off when you have a value higher than and greater than and nobler than for a life, lived for the body, in the body and by the body. That is why they said you ought to be firstly changed in your mind.

Our people cultivate moral virtues for this purpose and ask you to be prepared to sacrifice everything for that. The performance of duties then creates detachment. If you are really attached to duties, then detachment occurs at once. Dharma is the only cure for Kama. Therefore, our people taught the doctrine of Dharma as the best means of attaining detachment. And the greatest number of Dharmas are given to the householder. There are very few things so far as the Brahmachari is concerned, very few things for the Sanyasi. But positive injunctions to do things, by your children, by your parents, by your guests, by your Gods, by the dead as well as the living are given to the Grhasta. That is the detachment that is coming in the life of householder. And that is why, Master thinks that the most perfect life is that of a householder, for, the great amount of detachment can be practised and revealed not merely spoken of as in text books. We know, many Sanyasis can be said to be preaching and especially Sanyasis in the old age are more preaching and love preaching about detachment, without it.

Master says that the greatest goal can be achieved by Grhasta who does his duty. That is why, Swarga is within the reach of every man, but certainly not within the reach of the people who do not follow the Grhasta Dharma, I think. Therefore, non-attachment comes to us fully when we are doing our duties in the family. We can do our duties in the family on one condition, if I may put it to you, if we can also attain perfect Union with God. Now, the whole difficulty about Dharma sastras is, "do your duty, but do not worry about consequences". That is a great doctrine of Sri Krishna. It is not a full doctrine, nevertheless. Let me tell you frankly, it is a very very partial doctrine. Do not do duty for the sake of the fruits they give, but do it. "What will happen to me if I serve my children, serve my father, serve my mother, serve my gods, serve the man who comes in the street, or who comes as a guest, or the dead? What is it that I get?" They have been prescribed as duties as a matter of love; not as a matter for argument. If you begin to argue you connect it with Artha and Kama. What is it that I get out of it? What is the love and the quantum of love that I have to display in each case? Now all that is not there. Duty is duty. But then, that is so far as social life is concerned detachment occurs. But, you are not capable of deciding what duty is; there are conflicts between duties, what you call "Dharma Sankata", under such circumstances, what is the guide? It is good to go to a man who knows how to reason between the duties and values, put them in the balance, of course, as a judge and advise you. But such men must be people who know with insight what duty should be preferred to another in the clash. Normally, the ancients did not make these duties to clash with each other. And therefore, you must look up from the point of view where they do not clash. But nowadays, that is not the view. You want a man who is very highly judicial in his temper and is anxious to guide and not mislead. Therefore, you want something else. And this something else is only God, or what you call Conscience. You must develop the power to hear directly the voice of god. And how to develop that contact with God, because it is a very personal application of a universal difficulty. And each man has to develop that Consciousness. And you do not have judges enough with either the competence or with Spirituality and not matters of property. We do not have direct contact with God. We take somebody's advice and follow. That's all. Now, we want a more assured guide in a world with such conflicting situations where duties clash and many duties have been forgotten, thanks to our training and all that. I think nobody cares to study the Dharma Sastras despite Sri Krishna's advice to follow Manu, even the best of the followers of Sri Krishna do not want to touch Manu. I do not think anybody has heard the name even. Whatever it is Master says Meditation is the right way of starting the detachment and the performance of duties. Meditation means getting contact with the Ultimate Consciousness through Pranahuti and that will start our link with the God and as it grows stronger and stronger, our detachment becomes stronger and stronger and completer and completer. Then, every other thing fails. In fact, in this system, we start with Dhyana and not with Yama, Niyama, Pranayama or Asana. Why? What is central to Yoga is the connection with God and once that connection with God is made, then every other physiological or physical posture or adjustment or moulding happens naturally. In other words, we proceed to change man not by changing his outer physical form but by Inner Transformation and this is the most important differentiation between this Yoga and other yogas.