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Sattva is also a Guna, unfortunately. We always praise Sattva and
regard it as a very desirable thing. But it is like a transparent
glass that is placed between us and the Truth. You can see through
it, but you cannot go beyond it because though the glass is transparent,
it can obstruct your movement. It is not like a brick wall, completely
preventing your vision, as Tamas does; it is not like a blowing
wind which simply tosses you here and there, as Rajas does; it is
a plain glass, through which you can have vision of Reality, but
you cannot contact Reality nevertheless. How can you contact a thing
when there is a glass between you and the thing? Yet you can see
it. So they say even Sattva is an obstacle, though it is better
than the other two forces in the sense that through it you can have
a vision or an insight into the nature of Reality which transcends
even Sattva. There is a glass pane and you can see a mango fruit
on the other side of it. You can see it very well, but cannot get
it; you cannot grab it. You know the reason. Even Sattva is a subtle
medium of obstruction, which acts in a double form - as complacency
or satisfaction with what has been achieved, and an ignorance of
what is beyond. These two aspects of Sattva are indicated by the
two personalities of Sumbha and Nisumbha. They have to be dispelled
by the power of higher wisdom, which is Maha-Sarasvati.
Action, contemplation and knowledge are the three stages through
which we have to pierce through the veil of Prakriti, or the three
Gunas. And as I mentioned earlier, we are not individual pedestrians
on the path. There is no individual movement here. It is all a total
movement of everything connected with us, and no item in the world
is really disconnected from us. Every thread in a cloth is connected
with every other thread. When you lift one thread of a cloth, the
whole cloth comes up, because of the interconnection of the warp
and the woof of the cloth. Likewise, there is an internal interconnection
of beings, which prevents any kind of individual effort for the
sake of salvation. That is why salvation is universal, it is not
individual. When you attain to the Supreme Being, you become the
Universal Being. You do not go there as a Mr. So-and-so or as a
Mrs. So-and-so. The path of Sadhana also is a cosmic effort of the
soul, a subtle secret which most Sadhakas are likely to forget.
It is not a small, simple, private effort of yours in the closet
of your room, but a dynamic activity of your essential personality,
internally connected by unforeseen relationships with everything
in the cosmos. When you enter the path of the spirit you have also,
at the same time, entered the path of cosmic relationship. A Sadhaka
is, therefore, a cosmic person. A spiritual seeker, an aspirant
is a representative of cosmic situation. He is not an individual,
though he looks like a person; and his Sadhana is not an individual
effort. It is much more than what it appears to be on the surface.
It is, as it were, the conversation between Nara and Narayana -
Krishna-Arjuna-Samvada, as they call it. You and your God are face
to face with each other. In Sadhana, in spiritual effort, you are
face to face with your Maker. And the face of the Maker is universal.
He is not in one spot, hiding himself in one corner.
So, the dance of the cosmic spirit, in its supernal effort at self-transcendence,
is majestically described in the beautifully worded sonorous songs
of the Devi-Mahatmya, where we are given a stirring account, a stimulating
description of what Maha-Kali did, what Maha-Lakshmi did and what
Maha-Sarasvati did in bringing about this evolution, transformation
of the whole range of Prakriti from Tamas to Rajas, from Rajas to
Sattva and from Sattva to Supreme Vijaya, mastery in the Absolute,
God-realisation. All our scriptures, Puranas and epics, all our
ceremonies and celebrations, all our festivals and Jayantis - whatever
be the occasion for a religious performance - all this is charged
with a spiritual connotation, a significance which is far transcendent
to the outer rituals which is involved in their performance. Every
thought, every aspiration, every ritual and every duty of ours,
every action that we perform automatically becomes a spiritual dedication
of the Soul, for the sake of this one single aspiration which it
has been enshrining in itself from eternity to eternity. This significance
is brought out in all our epics and Puranas. Whether in the Mahabharata
or the Ramayana, whether in the Bhagavadgita or the Devi-Mahatmya,
they tell us the same account in different terminologies and with
different emphases. It is always a song of the soul. The Bhagavadgita
is a song of the soul, the Over-soul speaking to the lower soul.
Here again, we have a similar account of the actual Sadhana involved
in the realisation of this ultimate harmony of the soul with the
Over-soul.
The spiritual practice of a Sadhaka is, therefore, a confronting
of the three forces of Tamas, Rajas and Sattva, gradually, stage
by stage, in their cosmic significance, forgetting not for a moment
that we are not 'islands'. No man is an island. You must have heard
the poet's saying: "No man is an island unto himself."
That means he is not surrounded simply by oceans and cut off from
things. He is connected with everything. This is the significance
we have to read in our practical lives. This is the meaning we have
to see and visualise in our personal Sadhana. And when we learn
to see the significance of the presence of divinity or the universality
of God even in our private actions, we are taken care of by universal
forces. We need not bother about even the smallest problem of our
life. Even the littlest of our difficulty will be taken care of
in a proper manner by the forces that are in the world, provided,
of course, that we are able to read the significance of universality
even in the most private of our actions, even in the smallest and
littlest of our actions. There is no such thing as a little action
in the world. Everything is important. Even the most insignificant
event is a very important event, ultimately, because hidden behind
it is the ocean. This significance we have to learn to read. This
is, in my humble opinion, what Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj
meant whenever he said that Godrealisation is the goal of life.
He was not tired of saying this throughout his life. We can see,
in his earlier books especially, that they commence with the sentence:
"The goal of life is God-realisation." Whatever he had
to say in those books, he said afterwards. So, the first thing is
to remember that the goal of life is God-realisation. Do not forget
this. The little petty tensions and turmoils and annoyances and
worries and vexations are not the goal of life. They are the obstacles
that come on our way, which we have to carefully obviate and go
with caution - like a pilgrim who has lost his way in this wilderness
of life - and yet confident at the same time that the warmth of
the spiritual sun is always energising our personality and that
we are never, at any time, any moment of our practice, completely
cut off from that source of energy.
So, through the worship of Maha-Kali, Maha-Lakshmi and Maha-Sarasvati,
we worship Mula-Prakriti, Adi-Sakti in her cosmic dance-form of
transformation, prosperity and illumination. In the beginning, what
happens to a Sadhaka? There is a necessity of self-transformation.
It is all hardship, rubbing and cleaning, washing, sweeping, etc.
That is the first stage through the worship of Maha-Kali, who brings
about a destruction of all barriers. Then what happens? There is
tremendous prosperity. You become a master and a progressive soul
commanding all powers, getting everything that you want. This is
the second stage. In the first stage, it looked as if you were a
poor person, having nothing, very weak. But, when you overcome this
weakness by removing the barrier of Tamas, you become prosperous.
Nobody can be as rich as a Yogi. He can command all the powers.
By a thought he can invoke all things, and this is Goddess Maha-Lakshmi
working. When Maha-Kali has finished her work of destruction of
opposition, MahaLakshmi comes as prosperity. A great Yogi is
also like a royal personality, because of his internal invocations,
though unconsciously done, of cosmic powers. When prosperity dawns,
it looks as if the whole universe is heaven. In the first stage,
it looked like hell. Afterwards, in the second stage, it looks like
heaven, when Maha-Lakshmi begins to work. But this also is not sufficient.
Knowledge should dawn. It is not heaven that you are asking for.
You want the realisation of Truth. Maha-Sarasvati will come to help
and a flood of light of Truth will be thrown, and you will see things
as they are. There is no enjoyment, prosperity, richness, wealth,
or any such thing. It is Truth unconnected with yourself in the
beginning, but later on inseparable from yourself. Thus, from opposition
to prosperity, from prosperity to enlightenment, and from enlightenment
to Self-realisation do we proceed. So, these are the truths esoterically
conveyed to us in the Mantras of the Devi-Mahatmya.
This Devi-Mahatmya is not merely an esoteric epic. It is not only
a great spiritual text in the form of occult lessons, occult teachings
of which I have given you an outline. But, it is also a great Mantra-Sastra.
Every Sloka, every verse of the Devi-Mahatmya is a Mantra by itself.
I will tell you how it is a Mantra, by giving only one instance,
that is the first Sloka itself. "Savarnih suryatanayo yo
manuh kathyate-shtamah." This is the first Sloka - "Savarnih
surya-tanayah." It is all a Tantric interpretation and
a very difficult thing to understand. But I am giving you only an
idea as to what it is like. Surya represents fire, the fire-principle.
Surya-tanaya means that which is born of the fire-principle. What
is it that is born of the fire-principle? It is the seed 'Ra'. According
to Tantric esoteric psychology, 'Ram' is the Bija Mantra of Agni.
In the word 'Savarnih', 'Varni' means a hook; so add one hook to
'Ram'. "Yo manuh kathyate, ashtamah." Eighth
letter - What is Manu? It is a letter in Sanskrit. Eight letters
are Ya, Ra, La, Va, Sya, Sha, Sa, Ha. The eighth is Ha. Add Ha to
it. Ha, Ra and one hook, make 'Hreem'. "Savarnih suryo-tanayo
yo manuh kathyateshtamah, nisamaya tadutpattim." "You
hear the glory of that," the sage says. So, the first verse
means: "Now, I shall describe to you the glory of 'Hreem'."
This Hreem is the Bija of Devi. But, outwardly it means, "Listen
to the story of the king so-and-so, who is the eighth Manu,"
and all that. Thus in addition to the outer meaning, there is an
inner significance of the Mantra. I am giving you only the case
of one Mantra. Like this, every Mantra is full of inner significance.
And every Mantra is repeated by devotees for some purpose or the
other. The Devi-Mahatmya is especially recited for averting calamities
in life. Catastrophes, calamities and tensions - personal or outward,
whatever they be - all these are averted by a regular daily recital
of the Devi-Mahatmya. When there is war threatening a country, for
example, or pestilence or epidemic spreading everywhere, or any
internal tension or anxiety of any kind, the Devi-Mahatmya is to
be studied. And it is a very potent remedy prescribed by seers of
yore - not only for temporal terrestrial prosperity, but also for
the glory of the hereafter, for illumination, for the destruction
of Avidya or Ajnana, for overcoming Mala, Vikshepa and Avarana,
and to be a fit recipient of the grace of the Almighty. Thus is
the outer significance and the inner significance of the Devi-Mahatmya,
and the special meaning that it has in the life of spiritual seekers
or Sadhakas. Glory to God! Glory to Sadhana! Glory to the integral
character of spiritual practice! May we be blessed with this illumination,
with this wisdom, with the strength to tread the path of the Spirit,
to our ultimate Freedom!
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