In the previous episode, we had continued our discussion on a very important aspect called “innocence” and how this innocence is extremely helpful for us in attaining spiritual growth. Subsequently we had moved on with the next important learning – Learning from a young woman. As we’ve seen, this young woman wearing loads of bangles on her hands is starting to cook, and these bangles keep making unbearable noise as the cooking process goes on. Hence, as the woman removes bangle after bangle from her hands, the noise also starts reducing. Thus, the Sanyasin explains that just like how the noise of the bangles keep reducing as the number of bangles decreases, our mind would also become devoid of noises when we’re not being surrounded by too many people for unwanted reasons. The moment we’re amidst many people, we start gosipping and cribbing about people and things, and ultimately we should understand that we’re wasting valuable time that otherwise could have been invested in our spiritual progress. Mere talking and cribbing doesn’t work in life – Both professionally and spiritually. This is also the reason why we have lot of politics in organizations too – The moment two or more peole come together for something, gosipping starts, which would transform into somme ego flares, dissents in opinions, fights, etc. Ultimately, the work for which we got together would never be completed as per the required perfection & quality standards.
Hence, we should always be on the watchout of who is coming near us and why are they doing so. If we find that the company of people is leading us towards detrimental effects, we should have that smartness to silently move out of that place, rather than standing there and gosipping. Of course, I’m not saying that union of people is bad. If it is for a “Satsanga”, then it is totally fine. In fact, this is what Bhagawan wants us to do! If it is a “Satsanga” and for a good cause, we can obviously go for it. But the problem comes when the effects of the group starts to get detrimental, both for our professional and spiritual progress. Thus, we need to be very watchful here.
Moving on thus, we’re going to witness the next aspect – “Sharakrith” – A person who is a refiner of things. It can be a person who makes beautiful ornaments (goldsmith) or a designer, etc. We can assume whatever as per our convenience here. If we look at the way these people go about their job, we would see the amount of focus and concentration in whatever they do. For instance, the goldsmith would have such minute focus in making attractive gold ornaments with beautiful designs. Only if he has that amount of focus and concentration, will he be able to create such beautiful things, isn’t it? Similarly, the Sanyasin explains that only if we have this enormous amount of focus, will we be able to proceed towards spiritual growth. If we’re going to start straying here and there, there is no point! In fact, this is exactly the test that Guru Dhronaachaarya gave his students, at the end of the artillery lessons. When the Paandavas and Kauravas were done with their syllabus, Guru Dhronaachaarya gives them a test – To hit the eye of a bird accurately with the bow and arrow. Ultimately we know that it was only Arjuna amongst the entire lot who had that amount of concentration and focus and with that, he was able to hit the eye of the bird with ease! This is what is required if we’ve to succeed in life – Not only spiritually, but also in our other fronts of life as well.
For instance, when we see people who are aspiring to be successful doctors (medical practitioners), we would see them studying and slogging hard day and night, isn’t it? Doing a medical degree is never easy anywhere in this world. This requires special focus and a unique way of studying hard. Similarly, if we’ve to achieve perfection in whatever we do, tremendous amount of focus is required to achieve. This is what we can from the goldsmith. We should be focused on our target (“Lakshya”) at all times, without deviation, and this is an important lesson that we should learn from this episode today.
Moving on with the next one – “Sarpaha” – Snake. If we see the snake, one important characteristic that it exhibits is that, it always keeps moving from one place to the other. It doesn’t stay at a single place all the time. Similalry, as a Sanyasin, the “Avadhoota” explains that moving around from one place to the other constantly is of prime importance. This is because, if a Sanyasin stays at a single place, people would start coming to visit him, confronting their problems to him. If this continues for days or months together, there would be a stage wherein the Sanyasin has to literally start taking care of their families totally! As a Sanyasin, he is supposed to be detached from all worldly affairs, but in this situation, the Sanyasin has to start looking into each person’s worldly affair! Thus, the attachment factor slowly starts to creep in. It is only to avoid this situation, we would see even today that highly realized spiritual masters would never stay in one place continuously. They would always keep roaming around place after place, just to make sure that their “Vairaagya” for detachment stays put! Hence, this is the important lesson that we can learn from the snake!
So for today, let us understand these two lessons and let us take whatever we can from it. We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussions further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 