Debt

Four kinds of debt are irredeemable – debt to father, debt to mother, debt to ácárya, and debt to Guru (divine debt).

(a) The only way to do service to one’s father after his death is to help every male member of the Universe to progress on the path of highest development.

(b) The only way to do service to one’s mother after her death is to help every female member of the Universe to progress on the path of highest development.

(c) The best service to the ácárya is to work for the comfort and benefit of one’s ácárya and his/her family.

(d) The best service to Guru is to work according to His wishes.

But however much service one renders, one will not redeem the four debts until Mokśa (Salvation) is attained.

THE PATH OF DHARMA

However great may be the wealth of attainment, it cannot satisfy the hunger of the human mind, which always yearns for unlimited happiness. Those who run after wealth and reputation, name and fame, can never be happy unless they can attain an infinite quantity of the same. But because the world itself is finite, how can the objects of this world be infinite? Besides, it is not materially possible to acquire objects of an unlimited quantity. So worldly achievement – even if it is the acquisition of the whole globe – is neither unlimited nor eternal.

Then what is that eternal object which can provide unlimited joy and happiness to human beings? Only the Supreme Entity (Parama Puruśa), eternal and infinite. The total realization of this Supreme Entity brings about supreme satisfaction. In fact, behind all the unending desires for worldly enjoyment, there lies this hidden desire for Supreme self-realisation. So the attainment of Brahma is the very innate characteristic (Dharma) of human beings, the ingrained nature of all living beings.

“Dharma” literally means an innate characteristic, the nature or property of an object. The property of fire is to burn. Just as fire and its property are inseparable, similarly human beings and their property – their quest for Brahma (the Supreme Entity) – are also one and the same.

Of all knowledge, only this remains

The innumerable structures which arise as a result of the countless vibrational undulations of the Supreme Entity, have on the one hand enlivened every step of creation with restless vitality and blissful sweetness – and on the other, given scope for the mistaken understanding of Him as many, not one. From this mistake arises all life’s delicious sweetness, its spicy flavours – and also its piercing bitter scorpion stings, its heart-rending moans of grief. Hence in One we see many, in all their perfections and imperfections, in all their sweetness and bitterness, all due to the special role of the indriyas – sense organs.

In the first stage of human life, when people notice the colourful processions of various tanmátras such as form, taste, smell, colour, touch, etc. they immediately become attracted towards them. The entire universe appears to be a grand caravan of many colours: it seizes their senses and their minds rush after it, taking it to be the goal of life. In the first stage, this enchanting material panorama propels people from their inner world to external life. If at that stage, someone tells them to move towards the internal world, they become irritated and annoyed. They think “Oh, I’m quite fine here!” Blending their colours with the colours of all, strolling on soft carpets of green grass, they think, “All these things are meant for me!”

This material-oriented existence is the first stage of human life. At this stage, one wants to express only one thing with the whole of one’s being, and that is, “I exist, only I exist.”

Trials and tribulations compel people to ponder deeply; sorrows inspire them to analyse the law of cause and effect. Their wounded hearts want to be soothed with a healing balm from an Entity greater than themselves. They realize then that there is a greater Entity than their little selves. Whatever might be their relation with that Entity, and whether that Entity is within their reach or not, they cherish the hope of gaining something from Him: they cry out, “Save me, protect me!” Then they change their mental tune and say, “I exist, You also exist.”

When this relationship of hope and fulfilment fails to remove their internal dissatisfactions, when the greenness of the external world fails to moisten the desert of their minds, when the seeds of their desires do not sprout, then they realize that they will have to go still deeper inside – the key to the solution lies deeper within. They are still within locked doors and windows; in search of the key, they move inwards, but they are unable to find it. They do not feel that they are even near a guide – far less in close association. Concentrating all their mental anguish, they begin to shed tears in their minds and, beating their heads, say to the unknown Lord of their life:

I have spent my life in vain;
Such a great Lord I did not worship –
I lost the greatest jewel.
I am indeed an unfortunate creature;
I never enjoyed
Even a drop of nectar
Of the love of God.

Parama Puruśa (the Supreme Consciousness) is the Supreme Cognitive Faculty; nothing is outside Him. He too feels the inner agony of despairing people in the core of His heart, and shows them the soothing path of enlightenment. Then those despairing people cry out in the exuberance of their joy, “You exist, O Lord, I also exist!”

They continue to move into the inner world. The charming allurements of the external world no longer keep their minds in thrall. The dazzling splendour of form and colour, their glittering attraction, no longer evokes any response in the innermost recesses of their minds. The radiance of the colourful world and the effulgence of their inner life become one. Just as –

Prasad says, what you were in the beginning;
You will become in the end –
Just as bubbles rising from the water
Into the water will merge again.

And further –

The pot is in the water;
The water is in the pot.
Water inside and outside.
If the pot is broken, the waters become one –
Only the wise understand this great idea.

The indriyas’ externalization and internalization of tanmátras from the external world then appears to be a play of Maya (illusion). The external world merges into the internal world and ultimately there remains only one Entity – “You exist, only You exist.”

So it has been said, Jiṋánasyáyaḿ bhásate nányathaeva – “Of all knowledge, only this remains.”

What is the cult of devotion?

Each and every object of this universe is attracted to other objects. There is a mutual relationship between a very large star, a planet, or a satellite and a small meteor or even a stone. One attracts the other and because of this mutual attraction, balance is maintained in the universe. If any person even mistakenly thinks in a weak moment that I am a useless entity, that my existence is meaningless – if a tiny ant thinks that its existence is of no value or if a hundred-year-old lady thinks that her physical existence is of no value whatsoever and as such it matters little whether she survives or passes away – then he or she is thoroughly mistaken. Everyone’s physical existence is equally valuable. The main question is how one’s existence can be best utilized. There is nothing in this universe which is totally valueless. There is mutual attraction everywhere. A tiny ant attracts a large entity and the large entity attracts the tiny ant. In the sentimental flow of devotion, when a per son thinks that he or she is attracting the vast universe including Parama Puruśa, and I am also being attracted, this conscious feeling of mutual attraction is termed Bhakti (devotion) in psychological parlance. Whether literate or illiterate, young or old, one endowed with this element of devotion is said to have a successful career, for the highest fulfilment of microcosmic existence lies in the very capacity of attracting the Great. The greatest Entity is attracting you with a mighty force. You are also attracting the greatest Entity with your limited force – you are not inferior to anyone.

Ultimate Goal

The world is a panorama of endless movement, a vast assemblage of rainbow colours. If upon seeing it, people think that they have really attained something permanent, or become intoxicated with the colours, they will make a great mistake. People are attracted to minute portions of this earth, and embracing them, seek the path of self-gratification. But long before they attain satisfaction, those minute portions, those colours, vanish into nothingness, leaving them in endless frustration and lamentation, like blind, headless demons. This is not a decree of God, it is the law of the universe.

The Supreme Cognitive Principle, which is the only knowable entity for all other beings, is the sole permanent entity. To attain something permanent, one must not run after the petty pleasures of the world. Rather, knowing that eternal Entity, that permanent Entity, to be the only goal of life, one has to propel all one’s mental propensities towards Him. One must not waste one’s potentialities mistaking the temporal for the eternal.

All created objects are sitting in the midst of the multitude of finite things, and with the help of a finite unit mind, it is impossible, either in theory or in practice, to think of the Infinite. When the mind becomes intoxicated with the thought of the Infinite, then the finite mind transcends its own limits and loses itself in a state of endless peace. This is the highest attainment.