Guru Dev - Shankaracharya
Swami
Brahmananda Saraswati -
speaks on ‘Diwali’
(from
'Shri
Shankaracharya Vachanamrit Bhag - 1')
link to हिन्दी original text
ITRANS
text version
translation by Premanand © Paul Mason 2021
Consider
Diwali as the Time to Revive the Light in the Heart
'Once Bhagwan is manifest in the heart then you will become
happy
always. You people should consider Diwali as the time to revive the aatmajyoti
(Light of the Transcendent Self) in your heart. It is right to light
the lamp
outside, this comes from tradition, but once Bhagwan is manifest in
your own heart then you will always be happy.
Nowadays people, Diwali is a day for gambling and doing all manner of
depraved behaviour, this is not right. Diwali then is not for gambling.
This we say is 'Kaalratrii' ('raatrii'
= night, so 'Night of Maa Kaal' when goddess
Mother Durga is
celebrated for her power
to destroy ignorance and to dispel darkness). On this day you should
really spend the time doing bhajana
to your own ishhTa
(preferred deity). 'Light the inner light!', this is the way to
celebrate Diwali. Having obtained the inner light then afterwards you
will be freed from being troubled day and night by the desires of the
everyday world. The aananda
(bliss) is really in Paramatma (Supreme Soul, Transcendental Self) and
once you have
experienced aatmaananda
(Bliss of Transcendental Self) then how will you become
entangled in vishhayaananda
(pleasure of worldly experiences)? You people should not attach your
mind to sense objects, apply yourself more towards Bhagwan, attain
Bhagwan then this misery of birth and rebirth will be erased.
In the search here and there, for gratification in worldly matters, the
human repeatedly suffers. In worldly matters then there is no
satisfaction. The vR^itti
(whirlpool of thoughts) is not affected, even for a moment, that is
your experience of
pleasure. In reality, if happiness exists in worldly
things then the
increasing of the vR^itti should
not
occur, but that is not what happens. If by chance someone obtains a
hundred thousand rupees then for a little while he is consumed with
happiness. To him it is a great delight but even if that money is
always with him, he is not going to [continue to] get that time of
happiness. It is natural that he desires happiness, and in the search
for happiness he gets involved in worldly matters, meeting with
happiness there, again he is going to other worldly pleasures.
In worldly pleasures is the experience of ephemeral happiness, there is
a delay, the vR^itti (whirlpool
of the mind) becomes stilled. In the stilling of the vR^ittiis
happiness, but man thinks that by worldly pleasure
gratification is obtained. The dog is happy gnawing a bone, from the
gnawing he cuts his mouth and blood appears. Therefore he thinks the
blood is from the bone, therefore from tasting that he gnaws some more.
This is the situation with regard to worldly pleasures then, this is
not happiness, but the reason is that for a moment the vR^itti is
undisturbed, it becomes euphoria, in that you worldly people think that
happiness can be got in worldly things.
However much more the mind becomes stilled, that much more is the
experience of more aananda
(bliss). Therefore it is a necessity to still the mind. By upaasanaa the
activity of the mind becomes distant. Doing upaasanaa, when the
mind is completely undisturbed, then it is connected with the
experience of continuous happiness of Bhagwan.
Janaka was a GYaani
(one who has spiritual knowledge) and it is said he was incorporeal.
Once King Janaka
was listening to a kathaa
(a religious discourse), then this came, in this context, that only if
the student has attained a high point in his saadhana (spiritual
discipline) can the guru
give him the
knowledge of enlightenment without delay. If the shishya (disciple)
has finished his saadhana,
he should not be deprived of GYaan
(knowledge). When Janaka heard this then he stopped
the kathaa,
'Give more now, cause my GYaan,
but this subject of GYaan
he could not perform. So he was confined in prison. Janaka came to other
people for the study
of GYaan
but they could not perform this GYaan,
so they were also locked in prison.
In the end AshhTavakra Ji came. His body had eight twists,
from these eight twists
he was bent. He came to the door and said "I have come to give upadesha
(instruction) to Janaka".
The people
said "If you don't go away then
you will be confined to jail".
AshhTaavakra was
summoned, he asked the
very same question of him, "Give me the upadesha of GYaan!"
AshhTaavakra
ji said that, "Firstly make the receptacle, then can come the GYaan". It is
written:-
ashishhyaaya
na daatavyaM
aputraaya
na daatavyaM
samyak
pariKshyaaya daatavyaM .
'You should not give upadesha
to an ashishhya
(a disciple who is unworthy), you should not give upadesha to an aputra (a son who
is unworthy). Therefore, firstly make a shishhya (disciple)
then you shall make him a recipient of GYaanopadesha
(teaching of GYaan).'
Janaka ji asked again "What should I do?"
AshhTaavakra ji answered "Make me a gift of body and wealth!"
Janaka gave all as a gift. When he really had nothing then Janaka ji
went into samaadhi,
because there was no staying in anywhere, as wherever the mind would go
he
had already completely given over to the guru, the mind also
had been given
over to the guru.
AshhTaavakra ji
asked, "Who are you?", but Janaka did not reply.
"One's identity is the most precious thing, what answer do you give?"
Then Janaka said, "If you command then I will go to Uttrakhand*!"
[*
Uttrakhand
is an area in the foothills of the Himalayas, which encompasses the
holy towns of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Uttarkashi,
Kedarnath, Badrinath, Jyotir Math (Joshimath), Rudraprayag, Rishikesh
and Hardwar.]
AshhTaavakra ji
said, "How will you go to Uttarkhand if your body is my
keeping?"
In this manner,
AshhTaavakra ji caused
Janaka to experience aatmaananda
(bliss of Transcendent Self). There was a good deal
of dialogue between Janaka and Ashtavakra [which
is available in the form of a book known as 'Ashtavakra
Gita']. The purport
of this is that, when you have the experience of paramaananda
(Transcendent Bliss) then afterwards the tuchchhaananda
(little happinesses) are not going to create a vR^itti. The value
of the human life is this, that in this very
life you gain Bhagwan.'