gurupoornima 2014

in our scriptures all the different types of human goals are classified in to fo
ur types. in sanskrit the goal of a human being is called purusharthaha. arthaha
meaning goal. arthyathe ithi arthaha karma vithpathi. Purusharthaha means the g
oal of human beings. the word purushaha does not mean a man. it should include a
woman also. So purusharthaha means the human goal. all the human goals are clas
sified in to four artha, kama, dharma and mokshaha. you are aware of this. artha
is the fundamental goal acquiring all those things which are required for our s
ecurity, for our survival. all the things which we seek for our survival and sec
urity they come under arthaha. After making sure that we have the basic needs, t
he next thing we look for is entertainments or pleasures. all those things that
we acquire for the sake of entertainment or pleasures is called kamaha. kamiyath
e ithi kamaha, karma vithpathi. once these two are taken care of reasonably well
the next thing a human being seeks is dharmaha. dharma means the pleasure and j
oy and well being, that i get when i contribute to others. by doing any good or
noble actions through any contributory actions whatever satisfaction whatever se
lf respect, whatever feel good factor is enhanced. that is called dharmaha. in s
astra we call it puniyam. always puniyam helps us to feel fine and good. in mode
rn language we enhance our self esteem. this is dharma. the last one is called m
okshaha. liberation or freedom. spiritual freedom is mokshaha. artha kama dharma
and moksha are the four purusharthas. among these four purusharthas greatest pu
rushartha according to our scriptures is the fourth one that is mokshaha. in all
the scriptures it is uniformly said those people who pursue moksha or liberatio
n they are superior people, they are discriminate people. in katoupanishad shrey
asiya preyasiya manushya methaha thow sampariya.
when all these four goals are available, majority of people seek the first three
called preyas. they are all manthas. upanishad says they are manthaha. whereas
dheeraha intelligent mature people seek shreyaha otherwise called mokshaha. in v
ivekachudamani sankaracharya says durlabam.
three things are very very rare for the jeeva. The first one being born a human
being. after human birth also being interested in the spiritual goal of moksha i
s because of lot of puniyam only. a person who does not dedicate the life for th
e pursuit of moksha is wasting the precious human life. sankaracharya calls him
moodathi. all our scriptures glorify moksha as the greatest goal. pursuit of mok
sha is the greatest pursuit. But unfortunately most of the people are lost in th
e pursuit of the other three. arthaha, arthaha means wealth. real estate and all
those things, the whole life is spent or they are after kama or entertainment.
earn for five days, entertain yourself for two days. weekend, you are weakened !
! again you earn and spend the weekend. the whole life is artha kama pradhana. t
herefore they don't come to moksha. there are some other people who are more matur
e and who are not interested in artha and kama too much. they have come to dharm
a and they are noble people, interested in so many charitable and service activi
ties. either in community service or religious service or national service or va
rieties of NGOs etc. they do lot of good work to the society. very very dharmic
people. According to scriptures they are ideal for coming to moksha but many peo
ple are lost in service activity and they also get stuck there. they also don't co
me to moksha. even though they are fit candidates because their service has puri
fied their mind and they are fit for moksha but still they are busy serving. But
they don't come to moksha. Because of varieties of obstacles they don't come to mok
sha. But among the obstacles there is one obstacle which is misconception regard
ing the moksha. Infact that is going to be my main topic today. Misconception re
garding moksha
obstructs them from coming to moksha. what is that misconception i want to analy
se and study. what is that ? they look upon pursuit of a moksha as a selfish pur
suit. There argument is i don't want to pursue moksha which is for my benefit. i w
ant to sacrifice moksha and i want to serve the society. serving the society is
unselfish activity and
pursuing moksha is a selfish activity. this is a view held by some people even m
ature people. I want you to note it clearly.
serving the society is unselfish activity and pursuit of moksha is selfish activ
ity they think. they say i don't want a selfish pursuit and i want to dedicate my
life to the noble service activity. because of this misconception they refuse to
come to moksha even though they are ideal candidates for moksha. if they have t
his misconception let them have. But we the students of moksha should have a cle
ar idea about this misconception. because even in our family some people may cha
rge us that you are pursuing a selfish pursuit. dropping your duty to the family
you are running after class and swami. when they charge us with selfishness, we
may ourself feel guilty whether we are selfish or not. Therefore i want to anal
yse a little bit about what is the definition of selfishness according to sastra
. what is the pursuit of moksha aiming at ? This is my topic. what is the defini
tion of selfishness according to our scriptures and what is pursuit of moksha ac
hieving ? according to vedanta every human being, except a liberated person, exc
ept a spiritually enlightened person, all human beings are naturally selfish. th
e only exception is a mukthaha, a liberated person. according to scriptures a mu
kthaha or a liberated person is one who is spiritually enlightened, who has self
knowledge, who is a jani. Therefore according to scriptures a mukthaha, a jani,
in english a liberated an enlightened person alone is free from selfishness and
all the other people have got selfishness as their instinctive character. selfi
shness is the most natural one and it is caused by self ignorance. as long as we
are agjani, as long as we are spiritually ignorant, selfishness will be natural
, nobody can avoid that. this is the first lesson of scriptures regarding selfis
hness. what is the first lesson ? as long as spiritual ignorance is there every
one will be selfish by nature. just as hunger is natural, just as thirst is natu
ral. selfishness is also instinctive and universal. the next view of selfishness
according to the scripture is selfishness expresses in the form of three things
. it has got three fold expressions caused by self ignorance. note this. the sel
f ignorance born selfishness, expresses in three ways. the first expression is c
alled agankaraha. agankaraha means the notion or the idea that am an individual
human being consisting of body mind sense complex. agankara means the misconcept
ion, the notion, the idea that i am a human being consisting of the body mind se
nse complex, which is called in the scriptures agankaraha. this agankara is univ
ersal expression of selfishness. expression number one. the second expression of
selfishness is natural corollary of agankara. what is that? as agankara an indi
vidual human being, am connected to a few things and beings around. as an indivi
dual human being. i am related to, connected to a few things and beings. my hous
e, my property, my land, my extra house in kodaikanal etc, their connection with
things and connection with a few human beings. my wife my chid my grand child,
my in laws these few relationships expressed as mamakaraha. mamakara is extended
agankara. mamakara is extended agankara. this mamakara is universal expression
of selfishness. i am also selfish to find out whether you get the message or not
!! then third expression of selfishness which is the extension of agankara mamk
ara is, i divide the entire world in to two groups, the favourable one, from the
standpoint of aham and mama, i list a few things as favourable ones, which give
s me happiness. favourable ones which gives me happiness, which is an object of
ragaha or attachment. a segment of world is classified as favourable. towards th
e favourable i develop raga. i classify a few things as unfavourable source of s
orrow and therefore i have got dislike or hatred towards them. which we call as
raga and devesha. likes and dislikes. agankara mamakara raga devesha. We don't cou
nt raga devesha as two. they are twin brothers. raga - devesha. according to the
scriptures selfishness is a package consisting of agankara mamakara raga devesh
a. every single living being, every single human being especially has got this s
elfishness. as long as this selfishness is there all the human pursuits are gove
rned by, conditioned by, directed by, determined by selfishness only. all the hu
man activities are governed by selfishness wherever raga is there i run after th
ose things. wherever dislike is there i run away from this. life is a series of
running after and running away. even people also, dayanand swamiji's famous expres
sion for a few days they will say i love you ! after moving with a person for a
few days or a few weeks, called dating. I don't know what it is !!! after a few da
ys a person is categorised as favourable and becomes raga visheya and i run afte
r the person saying i love you, i love you i love you and thereafter they decide
to live together and after a few weeks or few months, then what happens ? very
same person who is raga visheya has become what ? either araga visheya or still
worse devesha visheya. Thereafter what they say ? dayanand swamiji nicely says
i love you now i allow you. allow is correct in english too !! a love. therefore
you go your way i go my way. thereafter another person is trapped and love you
and allow you. throughout life selfishness governed pravrithi nivarthi, parvarth
i nivarthi. artha,
artha pursuit is selfishness governed. kama pursuit is selfishness governed. eve
n dharma pursuit is selfishness governed. ethical people have got fine selfishne
ss. unethical people have got gross selfishness. Thats all the matter is ! I gen
erally give this example. when there is school anniversary, generally there will
be several programs. one of the programs will be a drama enacted by the school
children. drama is a long drama with several scenes. at the end of every scene y
ou will find a bunch of people will vacate the hall. there will be a group of 10
to 12 members or 5, 6 members. you look at the vacating group there will be one
boy or girl, with some vesham. what should you understand ? what do you underst
and from this ? they were waiting there because their relation the son or grandc
hild was playing a particular role in particular scene. They are not interested
in the school, not interested in the anniversary. not even interested in the dra
ma. they are interested in what ? their child who is playing a particular role f
or 5 minutes. that too what role ? in a palace scene the grandchild is a gate ke
eper. No dialogue !! 5 minutes he is there as gate keeper !! you find 12 members
have come with camera and 100 pictures are taken standing, sitting lying down,
sirasasanam !! because mamakara my child is there. Therefore i have raga towards
the school, the management, the anniversary all of them. The moment that scene
is over, you find, after every scene, groups and groups leave. in last scene onl
y five people will be there. which five ? those who are related to the last chil
d !! therefore whole life is governed by aham mama raga devesha package called s
elfishness. you cannot blame anyone because this is instinctive. if all pursuits
are based on selfishness, what is the pursuit of moksha? what is the pursuit of
moksha ? our scriptures say if all pursuits are selfishness we do admit moksha
pursuit is also selfish pursuit. Moksha is also selfish pursuit only. if all pur
suits are selfish pursuits moksha pursuit is also selfish pursuit only. But our
scriptures say moksha pursuit is most intelligent selfish pursuit. moksha pursui
t is the most intelligent selfish pursuit because the one who pursues moksha has
got understanding about selfishness. what is the understanding he has got ? as
long as a person has got selfishness, consisting of what ? aham mama and raga de
vesha, the life will be miserable. as long as my life is governed by aham, mama
and raga devesha, life is miserable. this understanding the seeker of moksha has
got. how do you say life will be miserable ? because as long as i have got raga
and devesha i want the world, the people and the events everything to conform t
o my raga devesha. i want everybody to behave according to my norm of what is my
raga and what is my devesha ? how the child should be, how the daughter in law
should be, regarding everything I have got my own personal likes and dislikes
and i want the setup to conform to my raga devesha but unfortunately most of the
time the setup does not conform to my raga devesha. because it is governed by s
o many factors over which i have no control. i have no control over the behaviou
r of my own spouse. i invited him for gurupoornima talk, he did not come !! i ha
ve no control over the behaviour of spouse or children or neighbour or governmen
t or even the events including rains. since the setup, most of the time, does no
t conform to my raga devesha, most of the time am upset. setup reversed is upset
. i am upset most of the time because i want the world and people to conform to
my selfishness. what is the definition selfishness ? my likes and dislikes. As l
ong as i have this selfishness i am going to be miserable because most of the ti
me either with the setup of the family or setup called the neighbour hood or set
up called neighbourhood or the setup government, most of the time it does not co
nform. Therefore i find myself helpless. not only am upset but am helpless. help
lessness leading to anger. anger leads to frustration, frustration leading to de
pression helplessness anger frustration depression. this will be life style of a
selfish person who has got agankara who has got mamakara who has got raga deves
ha norms and who wants everything to happen according to this raga devesha norm.
therefore the seeker of moksha is one who wants to get rid of this package call
ed selfishness. So moksha pursuit is a selfish pursuit to remove the selfishness
. it is the only selfish pursuit through which i want to remove the selfishness.
which keeps me upset most of the time. other than moksha pursuit in all other s
elfish pursuits selfishness will be perpetuated. what is the difference between
other pursuits and this pursuits, do you understand ? in all other pursuits self
ishness will be perpetuated, promoted because raga devesha list will increase !
addition in the raga list, addition in the devesha list and also exchange. excha
nge means what ? raga list spouse will move to devesha list. in the previous gen
eration they tolerated the spouse. in the present generation they separate. but
again caused by what ? list gets changed.
therefore all pursuits are selfish pursuits. But what is the difference between
other pursuit and moksha pursuit ? all other pursuits perpetuate selfishness. mo
ksha pursuit is the only noble pursuit where i have diagnosed the problem and wh
at is the problem ? selfishness is the problem. unless i abolish that i can neve
r get out of getting upset, based on the setup. setup based upset will never go
away unless i eliminate selfishness. this information the seeker of moksha has g
ot. he is an informed selfish person. Not only that he has got another very impo
rtant information. what is that information ? selfishness consists of agankara m
amkara and raga devesha. this package of selfishness is born out of what ? born
out of what ? it is instinctive and it is born out of self ignorance. self ignor
ance alone is the cause of agankara mamakara raga devsha. if selfishness has to
go away. samsara has to go away. self ignorance alone is the cause of agankara m
amakara raga devesha. therefore if selfishness has to go away, samsara has to go
away, i have to remove self ignorance.
self ignorance has to go away by what ? how will self ignorance go ? self knowle
dge. physics ignorance will go by, not by chemistry knowledge but by physics kno
wledge. chemistry ignorance goes because of chemistry knowledge. self ignorance
goes only by self knowledge. therefore moksha pursuit is knowledge pursuit. ev
ery mumukshu becomes a vigjasu. this pursuit is a long pursuit and as we gain th
is knowledge, the agankara the mamakara and raga devesha will have to go away. i
t is a very long study which we are going through but in that study i want to hi
ghlight three important lessons which are enemical to agankara mamakara and raga
devesha. vedanta gives, scriptures give several lessons. it is a very long stud
y. in one hour we cannot complete that process. i will summarise three importan
t lessons. the first lesson is regarding my relationship with the body. what is
my relationship with the body is the first lesson which will eliminate agankara.
what is the lesson ? the scriptures teach, body and mind are not me. am not the
body and mind. they are only temporary medium through which i transact in the w
orld. like the spectacles i wear for transaction. body and mind are only tempora
ry instruments or medium i use for experiencing and transacting with the world.
it is only temporary because in the waking state i use the body and mind. there
are transactions in the dream state. i use body and mind when i have got transac
tions. In the sleep state i am there or not ? i am there. but am not using the b
ody and mind therefore am free from all transactions. therefore am not the body.
But it is only a temporary medium. it will be there with me for some time and a
fter that it will go away, whether you like it or not. vasamsi jeernani yatha vi
haya. The second lesson with regard to the body relationship is, am not the body
. am not the owner of the body also. it is temporarily given to me for my use on
ly. am the user of the body not the owner of the body. bagwan is the owner. who
has given the body according to the law of karma. bagwan will take away the body
even without three months notice. two months notice. one week notice. no notice
is given. he may take it anytime. he does not ask permission from me. indicatin
g am not the owner of the body. lastly and most importantly am not the controll
er of the body also. i am one of the factors who determines the destiny of the b
ody. am only one of the factors. there are so many other factors which determine
the future of the body. there is the time, there is the place and there is the
law of karma. so many factors determine the condition of the body. am only one o
f the contributors. am not the controller. am not the body. am not the owner of
the body. am not the controller of the body. once i understand this clearly my a
gankara becomes weaker. agankara is what ? claiming the body mind complex as mys
elf. claiming am an individual human being. Therefore agankara is weakened by th
e teaching. am not the body. am not the owner. am not the controller. The who am
i ? am called the atma the chaitanyam, the consciousness principle, who am the
experiencer of the body. am the atma. this the only remedy for what ? agankaraha
. this is lesson no. 1. once i understand this clearly by repeatedly studying th
e scriptures, mamakara also will be dropped because when i cannot claim the owne
rship of this body itself, how can i claim the ownership of other bodies ? wheth
er it is my wife or my husband or my children or grandchildren. therefore mamaka
ra also has no scope at all. Therefore i conclude other bodies and things also t
hey are not me and i am not the owner and am not the controller. majority of pro
blems are because i want to control every family member. i want every one to do
and behave exactly according to my norm. stand means stand. you will find the pa
rents will educate the children with guru strotram, gita dhyana sloka, all this
they teach. swamiji has been called for biksha. you have to tell guru strotram,
gita dhyana sloka. they would have trained the child. they will ask will you tel
l, the child will say yes and shake the head positively. all set, the proud pare
nts are ready. for them biksha is also secondary, may be primary !! all things a
re over, everything is ready. the child is called and asked to recite. child doe
s not say !! even 5 year old baby whom you can claim as your own child, for whom
you have done so much, you cannot control. the more you try to control, the mor
e we become miserable. samsara is trying to control the uncontrollable. graduall
y mamakara also i drop. handing over every one to bagwan. you take care. tanu ma
nu dhanu sab kuch tera. agankara is dropped. mamakara is dropped by learning my
relationship with my body and consequently with others also. then the next impor
tant lesson is in vedanta. my nature. what is my real nature ? if i am not the b
ody if am not the mind, am not even the owner then who am i is the next lesson.
our scriptures point out a mind boggling thing. very difficult to initially acce
pt ultimately we have to gain this knowledge. scriptures say am the atma which i
s the only source of happiness in the creation. the world and the objects in the
world can never give happiness. because nothing in the world is a source of hap
piness. yovai booma tatsukam. na alpe sukamasthi. we have got raga or attachment
towards the things because i think they are the source of joy. vedanta blasts t
hat misconception. don't get attached to anything. Because nothing in the creation
is a source of happiness. The only source of happiness is what ? i the atma. wh
enever the world seems to give me happiness. what is the mechanism ? the world d
oes not give happiness. based on my raga and devesha, world creates a particular
state of mind. based on my raga devesha, world or people don't give happiness but
the world only creates a state of mind. in that mental state my own happiness i
s evident or manifest. like seeing my reflection in the mirror. in that mental s
tate i am only experiencing my own happiness. world by its arrival does not give
me happiness. By departure does not give me sorrow also. because it is not of t
hat nature. there is a beautiful sloka asare kalu samsare sukabranthir maneshin
a.
in this world which is not a source of happiness, all the people have a brama, b
rama means what ? a delusion that things and beings are giving happiness. delusi
on is like what ? a beautiful example. like the baby sucking the thumb. when the
baby is sucking the thumb, what is the imagination of the baby ? The baby imagi
nes it is sucking the mother and it is getting mothers milk. still the baby is n
ot totally weaned. it is attached to the milk of the mother. therefore in brama
its sucks the thumb. when it sucks the thumb it gets what ? its own saliva. sali
va coming from where ? not from the mother. from its own body it comes. that sal
iva the baby misunderstands as what ? mothers milk and goes on sucking. lala bal
aiva gushte bala nam stanya vibramat the baby is deluded sucking its own saliva.
mistaking it as what ? the milk coming from the mother. similarly according to
vedanta the entire creation is only a thumb. we are sucking the thumb, wife hus
band, children, grand children. they are all like thumb only. they are not givin
g any happiness. the happiness is coming from where ? our own saliva. saliva wit
hin quote. atmanandha alone is experienced when the objects of the world create
that mental state. that mental state is called contentment and detachment. Throu
gh self knowledge if we create a state of contentment and detachment, our own ha
ppiness we can enjoy all the time, we need not be attached to the world. Therefo
re the more i discover joy in myself prajahathi
neither raga nor devesha. therefore what is the second lesson ? am the only sour
ce of happiness. nothing in the world gives me happiness. then comes the third t
hing. once i understand that as long as ignorance is there, selfishness is very
natural. i am able to understand the nature of the world. this is the third impo
rtant teaching of vedanta. what is the first teaching ? my relationship with th
e body, my nature. the third teaching is the nature of the world. what is the na
ture of the world ? continuous flux or change is the nature of the world. as lk
tells in the gita, mathrat sparshatu kowntheya seethoshna suka dukadhaha, agampa
yeno anityaha tam titikshasva bharatha.
the world is continuous flux. therefore learn to accept the different conditions
of the world. by hating or resistance you cannot change the world. learn to acc
ept the nature of the world as it is. then i will not hate the old age, i will n
ot hate my own body in the old age. initially we pray for long life. thereafter
we start praying for, bagwan please take me quickly. initially you love your bod
y praying for long life. later you begin to hate your body. other people at home
also who are surviving. therefore you accept different conditions without raga
devesha. the more i understand the nature of the world the more i get acceptance
without raga and devesha. not only i accept the nature of the world I accommoda
te the nature of the people also and what is the nature of every ignorant person
? selfishness is natural. a wise person who has destroyed the selfishness. agan
kara and mamakara accommodates the selfishness of others. because others are sel
fish. because they are helplessly, they are helplessly selfish because of their
ignorance. it is natural. others selfish behaviour does not surprise me. when i
expect help from some family members because i have contributed to them, i thin
k they are going to help me, during crucial time, i sent sms email, come and sta
y with me, different people give different reasons. i get shocked in their behav
iour. once i understand selfishness is natural. they are going to consider their
requirement first. Thereafter if possible, i will take leave, i will be in hosp
ital, for sometime i will be with you. otherwise they are going to consider thei
r needs agankara mamakara, their raga devesha will be primary concern. I will ac
cept the selfishness of all others without hating them. thats why lk tells in th
e gita atheveshita sarva boothanam mythera karunaevacha nirmamoniragankaraha sam
aduka suka akshami. jani is one who is free from agankara who is free from mamak
ra. who is free form raga, who is free from devesha also. he has consideration f
or others. he knows all other people will be naturally selfish only. Therefore i
t does not shock him. he is considerate and he accepts. if possible he will try
to help fulfil their raga devesha. but he is vihitaraga baya krothaha .. therefore
jani is the one who has destroyed his selfishness and he is the only selfless pe
rson and because of freedom from selfishness, he does not have raga devesha base
d samsara. dukeshu.moksha is freedom from selfishness through knowledge. accommodati
ng the selfishness of all other people. therefore he does not hate anyone. he is
not attached to anyone also. if you want to come, come. if you want to go you g
o. therefore moksha pursuit is selfish pursuit. But that is the best selfish pur
suit which will destroy selfishness and give anandha. on this auspicious guru po
ornima day we worship the entire guru parampara which helps in destroying our se
lfishness.