Goal of Human Life
(Manushya Jivan ka Uddeshya)
(Manushya Jivan ka Uddeshya)
Shree Hari
(continued)
Swamiji - Ponder a little, please, on the point. You come to Satsanga so early in the morning from very far distances and that too daily. Do you get any money here? Or any sensual enjoyments? Or any honor? Or any gains? Or any profits that you earn over here? If none of these then tell me what brings you here for satsanga so early in the pre-dawn hours?
Listener: We get peace and solace to our soul!
Swamiji: Peace perfect and full is what we need. If you get some or little amount of peace here and then you go away; and if your peace does not stay for long thereafter, then what is the use or value of such incomplete or transitory peace? We need the highest kind of peace which never comes to an end. But the mistake occurs when we get pleased with only petty peace of worldly nature!
One man was going to his village on a camel. He reached a mid-way village at the fall of night. There at one place a marriage ceremony was taking place. Drums and trumpets were being beaten and blown. That man was a Brahmin. Having reached the spot he came to know that "Bhoora" was about to be disbursed. "Bhoora" in Sanskrit is known as a special gift given to Brahmins on wedding occasions. That Brahmin fastened the camel outside the house and went inside to obtain the "Bhoora". The thieves who happened to be there, saw the camel and they rode off with it. The Brahmin received four annas for his "bhoora", but when he came outside and saw the missing camel, he realized that his loss was significant – Rs 500, the cost of the camel. The purport of the illustration is that in the petty achievements of transitory worldly things, some honor, some wealth, some pleasure, some status, some exotic foods – the camel of God Realization is forgotten and lost sight of. Such is the plight! The great Bliss is forsaken in favor of temporary glitter of worldly pettiness, and small pleasures!
Eternal joy is being lost in ephemeral pleasures! People become happy in small doses of honor. One saint was told by some people that he was highly honored and respected by them. The saint said : "What honor you can confer! Dust? All of you people can hardly pay any honor. We are honored by God! What power have you to honor us? Truly, indeed, God alone decks His devotees, the saints, with the honor of immortality! How does a worldly person know what the real honor is?
The supreme gain which you crave for is in reality, the deep longing for God Realization. You may call, if you so desire, this longing "the urge to know", "the urge to love" or "the urge to be happy for ever". "the urge to see God face to face" "the urge for God Realization". All mean one and the same thing. Only this is our goal. Be firm and fixed on this objective. Do not be pleased with the incomplete. If you do not get stuck up in the half incomplete, you will realize, the full.
This human body is the best of all the living forms. So, its ultimate goal should also be the best. There should be no higher goal than that ever thinkable. It is thus self-evident that God-Realization is the highest and the noblest goal of human life. Human life is meant only for this supreme purpose.
Listener: Where is the guarantee, Holy Sir, that by giving up worldly pleasures, the highest truth of life will be attained? If we give up one and do not gain the other higher one, then shall we not remain empty altogether?
Swamiji: Arjuna also posed a similar question that if a seeker of yoga dies midway on the path of Yoga without realizing the Supreme, what plight would be of the poor one? Does he become "ubhaya-bhrasta" or fall from both the ends (Gita 6/37-38)? The world was renounced and God was not realized before he left his mortal coil – then will he only hang in between them? The Lord answered:
"No Partha! He suffers no fall: neither in this world, nor in the next world; because O' dear he who walks even little on the path of spiritual well-being never slips into any wretchedness or plight "durgati" (Gita 6/40).
If you happen to come across any traveler on the noble way of Welfare Supreme, you will yourself realize this truth. His gaiety, his bliss, his God intoxicatedness will have a peculiar halo, a specifically distinctive ring. The seekers of truth do register spiritual progress and they certainly enjoy extraordinary and ecstatic joy of life whereby they can never give up their search or Sadhana. That which is Supreme Bliss is obtainable by all, there is no doubt about it. Why is there no doubt? Because when we undertake spiritual practices, the peculiarities of divine life reveal themselves to us. Let you go in for soulfulness of divine discipline and then, the mysteries will be unfurled unto you too. There is an immense gain or joy in the association of the holy persons (satsang). We have not seen any other "upaaya" or means of realizing the highest goal of life. Countless are the means and people do follow one or the other of them, but the gain we obtain through Satsang, we cannot acquire through any other spiritual practices and means which we may adopt even for years.
Listener: We get peace and solace to our soul!
Swamiji: Peace perfect and full is what we need. If you get some or little amount of peace here and then you go away; and if your peace does not stay for long thereafter, then what is the use or value of such incomplete or transitory peace? We need the highest kind of peace which never comes to an end. But the mistake occurs when we get pleased with only petty peace of worldly nature!
One man was going to his village on a camel. He reached a mid-way village at the fall of night. There at one place a marriage ceremony was taking place. Drums and trumpets were being beaten and blown. That man was a Brahmin. Having reached the spot he came to know that "Bhoora" was about to be disbursed. "Bhoora" in Sanskrit is known as a special gift given to Brahmins on wedding occasions. That Brahmin fastened the camel outside the house and went inside to obtain the "Bhoora". The thieves who happened to be there, saw the camel and they rode off with it. The Brahmin received four annas for his "bhoora", but when he came outside and saw the missing camel, he realized that his loss was significant – Rs 500, the cost of the camel. The purport of the illustration is that in the petty achievements of transitory worldly things, some honor, some wealth, some pleasure, some status, some exotic foods – the camel of God Realization is forgotten and lost sight of. Such is the plight! The great Bliss is forsaken in favor of temporary glitter of worldly pettiness, and small pleasures!
Eternal joy is being lost in ephemeral pleasures! People become happy in small doses of honor. One saint was told by some people that he was highly honored and respected by them. The saint said : "What honor you can confer! Dust? All of you people can hardly pay any honor. We are honored by God! What power have you to honor us? Truly, indeed, God alone decks His devotees, the saints, with the honor of immortality! How does a worldly person know what the real honor is?
The supreme gain which you crave for is in reality, the deep longing for God Realization. You may call, if you so desire, this longing "the urge to know", "the urge to love" or "the urge to be happy for ever". "the urge to see God face to face" "the urge for God Realization". All mean one and the same thing. Only this is our goal. Be firm and fixed on this objective. Do not be pleased with the incomplete. If you do not get stuck up in the half incomplete, you will realize, the full.
This human body is the best of all the living forms. So, its ultimate goal should also be the best. There should be no higher goal than that ever thinkable. It is thus self-evident that God-Realization is the highest and the noblest goal of human life. Human life is meant only for this supreme purpose.
Listener: Where is the guarantee, Holy Sir, that by giving up worldly pleasures, the highest truth of life will be attained? If we give up one and do not gain the other higher one, then shall we not remain empty altogether?
Swamiji: Arjuna also posed a similar question that if a seeker of yoga dies midway on the path of Yoga without realizing the Supreme, what plight would be of the poor one? Does he become "ubhaya-bhrasta" or fall from both the ends (Gita 6/37-38)? The world was renounced and God was not realized before he left his mortal coil – then will he only hang in between them? The Lord answered:
"No Partha! He suffers no fall: neither in this world, nor in the next world; because O' dear he who walks even little on the path of spiritual well-being never slips into any wretchedness or plight "durgati" (Gita 6/40).
If you happen to come across any traveler on the noble way of Welfare Supreme, you will yourself realize this truth. His gaiety, his bliss, his God intoxicatedness will have a peculiar halo, a specifically distinctive ring. The seekers of truth do register spiritual progress and they certainly enjoy extraordinary and ecstatic joy of life whereby they can never give up their search or Sadhana. That which is Supreme Bliss is obtainable by all, there is no doubt about it. Why is there no doubt? Because when we undertake spiritual practices, the peculiarities of divine life reveal themselves to us. Let you go in for soulfulness of divine discipline and then, the mysteries will be unfurled unto you too. There is an immense gain or joy in the association of the holy persons (satsang). We have not seen any other "upaaya" or means of realizing the highest goal of life. Countless are the means and people do follow one or the other of them, but the gain we obtain through Satsang, we cannot acquire through any other spiritual practices and means which we may adopt even for years.
Narayana ! Narayana !! Narayana !!!
From book in English "BE GOOD" by Swami Ramsukhdasji.
Ram Ram
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If in doubt regarding the translation, please read the original Hindi message by Swamiji.
FOR MESSAGE IN HINDI PLEASE VISIT Date : 15th July, 2012 " Manushya Jivan ka Uddeshya "
http://www.satcharcha.blogspot.in
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