O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

Shri Hari

There is No Delay in Attaining Spiritual Enlightenment

Tvameva Maata Tvameva Vidyaa

Cha Pita Tvameva Dravinam Tvameva

Tvameva Bandhusha Sakhaa Tvameva Tvameva Sarvam Mama Deva Deva

Swami Ramsukhdas

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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

There is No Delay in Attaining Spiritual Enlightenment

The gist of the topic which I am going to explain is that We should renounce whatever is unfavorable to our progress, whatever is not beneficial i.e. that which is harmful for us. That is all there is to it. There is nothing lengthy and complicated. Peace immediately follows renunciation. Tyaagaachaantianantaram (Gita 12/12). Tell me frankly the difficulty if any in this sort of renunciation so that we may discuss it further. And expound clearly and with ease. Dont bother about what people will think of you or whether they will honor or dishonor you, or praise or blame you. If you want to attain spiritual enlightenment, dont bother about what people say or do. Narayana Swami declares Tere bhaave jo karo bhalo buro sansaar Narayana tu baith ker apno bhavan buhaar || You need not bother about the good or evil the worldly people do. You should cultivate virtues by minding your own business. Spiritual enlightenment which follows renunciation is to be attained just now, it needs no delay. But people think within that it will take its own time. Gentlemen, I have thought over it deeply and come to the conclusion that it is something pertaining to the present rather than the future. What is to be constructed takes time, but what already exists does not take any time, it is attained instantaneously.
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

Therefore that which is false, unreal, improper and useless in our knowledge, is to be renounced. That is all. Renunciation is instantaneous and so is self-realization or spiritual enlightenment. The Lord declares the unreal has no existence and the real never ceases to be (Gita 2/16), and further He declares, the truth of both has been perceived by the seers of truth. The term perceived rather than done has been used. The reason is that it takes time to do a piece of work but it does not take much time to see it. If you take time, it means that you dont like to see, you rather like to do, the Disciplines of knowledge, Devotion and Action bear instantaneous fruit in the form of spiritual enlightenment because it is neither to be constructed nor to be brought from somewhere, nor to be carried anywhere nor to be changed. Therefore how can it need any time? Think over it. Listener - Maharajji, it is our strong conviction that you possessed renunciation and dispassion; and you practiced spiritual disciplines, therefore your inner sense was purified and you attained spiritual enlightenment in no time. But how can it be applicable to the ordinary mortals like us whose innersense is not pure? Swamiji - Your point regarding this, is totally incorrect. See! I want to make it clear! It is not in my abilities to make you believe this. This point is fixed within me; but it is not that this point does not stay
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

within you! However impure your inner senses may be, Gita says Api chedasi paapebhyah sarvebhyah paapakrttamah | Sarvam jnaanaplavenaiva vrjinam samtarisyasi || (Gita 4/36) Even if you are the most sinful of all sinners, you will cross all sins by the boat of knowledge (wisdom) alone, without any doubt. Just pay attention to the terms used by the Lord in this verse. The term paapebhyah in the plural form denotes all sinners, yet the Lord has used the term sarvebhyah which also stand for all. Besides these two terms, He has used the term Paapakrttamah which is in the superlative degree. It means that he is the most sinful of all the sinners. Now think how much more impure the inner sense of such a person should be. Do you think that you are such a sinful person? Perhaps not. The Lord declares that even such a vilest sinner crosses all sins by the boat of wisdom. Further in the next verse He declares Yathaidhaamsi samiddhognirbhasmasaatkuruterjuna | Jnaanaagnih sarvakarmaani bhasmasaatkurute tathaa ||

(Gita 4/37)

O Arjuna, as the blazing fire reduces fuel to ashes, so does the fire of wisdom reduce all actions to ashes. Mark the terms used in this verse. The terms samiddhah agnih have been used for the blazing fire rather than the common fire. The term agnih (fire) is in singular form while the term edhaamsi (fuel) used with it, is in the plural form. The term
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

bhasmasaat means total destruction without leaving even ashes behind. The Lord has given these two illustrations to explain the truth to us. In the first illustration He has mentioned that the vilest sinner shall cross all sins by the boat of wisdom. But the doubt arises that the ocean will still remain. In order to remove this doubt, the Lord has given the second illustration by declaring that the fire of wisdom reduces all actions to ashes and no trace of sins is left behind. Here the term karmaani (actions) was enough to serve the purpose. But the Lord has used the adjective sarva (all) with it in order to explain that all actions whether they are sanchita (accumulated) or kryamaana (present) or praarabdha (in the form of fate) are destroyed. There is no question of any delay in it. Listener: Maharajji, what you say is rational and convincing. But after seeing the condition of my mind, my inner senses, I get totally perturbed because I see all my inner shortcomings, of being hollow within! Swamiji: Now, all of you listen attentively to what I am about to say. Are the inner senses an instrument or the agent (doer)? They are the instrument. Spiritual enlightenment cant be attained by means or instruments. Had it been attained by any means such as inner sense etc., I would have agreed with you. But it cant be attained by any means. What is attained by means is that which you have to construct or to bring from somewhere or to take somewhere or to change
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

it. An instrument works only when something is modified by action. That which cannot be modified or changed, in that the instrument is of no use. But spiritual enlightenment needs no instruments such as inner senses etc. You have to renounce affinity with the instrument (karan). O Brothers! That which has to be let go, what is the purpose of purifying it or impurifying it? Whether it is pure, you it has to be let go, whether it is impure, it has to be let go. So it does not make any difference for you whether they are pure or impure. Listener Maharajji! If I find the marks of the person who has transcended the three modes of Nature in me as he regards pain and pleasure alike and dwells in his own self (Gita 14/24) or the marks of a devotee who has attained perfection as he has no ill will to any being. (Gita 12/13) etc., I may feel that my inner sense has become pure otherwise I feel that I have made no spiritual progress. Swamiji - I again explain to you what I explained last night. I think that you also have faith and believe that I dont cheat you. Listener: Yes Maharajji, I believe in you. Swamiji: So, I tell you that you can attain spiritual enlightenment just now even if you are the vilest sinner. This fact is not only applicable to me but also to you. Had it been true only for me, why would I tell it to you? This point is for you, as well as, it is for me. It is for both of us. However many sins and degree of
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

sins we may have accumulated, has nothing to do with this. Wisdom (of distinguishing the real from the unreal) destroys all sins. Listener: Maharajji, sinful thoughts arise in the mind. What should I do? Swamiji: Let sinful thoughts and bad projections come to your mind. Simply accept this one point that I am conveying. If sinful thoughts come to the mind, let them come; if bad resolves come to the mind, let them come! Dont be afraid of them, ignore them. Dont make them the touchstone or balance of your spiritual progress. They are transitory, they cant stay, they will be reduced to ashes automatically. Sinful conduct depends on the agent rather than on the instrument. Therefore you need not worry (grieve) if the instrument is not pure. If the agent becomes pure, the instrument will automatically become purified. Think over it how can the instrument remain impure if the agent is pure? If you are writing correctly, will the pen write it incorrectly? The pen is merely an instrument while you are the agent. The Gita mentions api chedasi (even if you are so) . Gita does not say that even if the instrument is so. None of you who are assembled here can at all accept that you are the vilest, worst of worst sinners in the world. Out of humbleness, like saint Tulasidasa, you may declare that you are more crooked, more vile and more voluptuous than anyone else. mo sam kaun kutil khal kaami As it does not appeal to you that
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

there is no delay in spiritual enlightenment, so must you be feeling convinced that you are not the vilest of all sinners. How can you or anyone else accept that you are the vilest sinner when you listen to divine discourses, chant the divine Name, offer adoration to God, offer morning and evening prayer, recite the Gayatri verse and remain engaged in such other divine activities? If indeed you feel that you are the vilest sinner, you will have a burning sensation which will lead you to immediate spiritual enlightenment. The reason is that the burning sensation has a great power to destroy sins. Listener - Maharajji, the impressions of the past are such that we have a firm belief that spiritual enlightenment is possible only by worshipping God, by chanting His Name and by spiritual practice. The study of books also supports the same belief. Swamiji - I have also studied books. Whatever I say is also quoted from books. Is there any mention that spiritual enlightenment takes any time in the two verses that I have recited? As it is true in the Discipline of Knowledge, so is it true in the Discipline of Devotion. The Lord declares Api chetsuduraachaaro bhajate maamananyabhaak | Saadhureva sa mantavyah samyaagvyavasito hi saha || (Gita 9/30) Even if the vilest sinner worships Me with exclusive devotion, he should be considered a saint, for he has rightly resolved.
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

In both the verses (4/36 and 9/30) the terms api chet (even if) have been used. It means that you are not the vilest sinner; but even if you are, you will attain spiritual enlightenment. But if you are not, there is no question of your not attaining spiritual enlightenment. Now the question arises why the Lord declares that he should be considered a saint saadhureva sa mantavyah. The answer is that he does not possess the virtues of the saint such as lack of ill-will for all beings adveshtaa sarva bhootaanaam etc., then too he should be considered a saint. As knowledge (wisdom, knowing) is important in the Discipline of Knowledge, so is assumption (acceptance, conviction) important in the Discipline of Devotion. Acceptance (assumption) fundamentally is not at all different from knowledge (knowing) and it is in no way less effective than knowledge. To accept the essential element (truth) is itself called to know. The influence that acceptance has, is not any less than knowing. Just as a child accepts (assumes) a woman to be his mother without knowledge and verification. yo maamjamanaadin cha veti lokamaheshvaram (Gita 10/3) In the first half of this verse, He knows Me as unborn and beginningless, the Great Lord of the worlds (Gita 10/3) the term knows (vetti) stands for acceptance (assumptions) rather than knowledge, because how will a person know that God is beginningless? He will have to assume it. Similarly in janma karama cha me divyamevam yo vetti tattvatah (Gita 4/9) He thus
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

knows My divine birth and action in their true nature (Gita 4/9), the term knows stands for assumes. The reason is that only he who was born earlier than God can know His divine birth and action (creation, preservation and dissolution etc.). So here the expression knows in true nature stands for a firm assumption. Similarly the term jnaatvaa (knowing or having known) in the following verse also stands for having assumed - (to be continued) Bhoktaaram yagnaatapasaam sarvalokamaheshvaram | Suhrdam sarvabhootaanaam jnaatvaa (Gita 5/29) Listener - Maharajji, what about indirect and direct knowledge? Swamiji See ! Right now do not bring up any talk about books and their contents. If you wish to silence me by quoting books in testimony of your argument, then I will become silent. What else will happen? However, will it bear any fruit? Will it solve the problem? No, the problem will rather become more complicated. I frankly want to say that knowledge neither is nor can be indirect. Knowledge is always direct. If it is knowledge, how can it be indirect? And if it is indirect, how can it be knowledge? Think over the topic seriously, as I have done. Scriptural Text Books prove to be useful, but they are more harmful than useful. When I make this utterance, I seem to be an atheist. But after thinking, I have come to the conclusion that, if you want to attain spiritual enlightenment or salvation, stop such discussions and

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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

arguments. indirect.

Experience or knowledge is never

Listener - If a person assumes some thing, is it not indirect knowledge? Swamiji - This is not something assumed, this is what you have merely learnt. There is a difference between what you assume, what you learn and what you know. A parrot learns to utter Radhe Krishna, Gopi Krishna, the names of God. But does it mean that it has gained indirect knowledge? No, it cant be so; there cant be indirect knowledge. Whatever is indirect, can never be knowledge. The inner sense and other sense organs are the axis; how can that which is beyond their access be knowledge? This is a process. If you follow this process it is also O.K. This process consists of different steps such as discrimination, dispassion, possession of six divine traits (tranquility, self-control, indifference, endurance, faith, composure and desire for salvation). Then he should practice hearing of the scriptures, cognition, and constant musing. After it he should renounce affinity for the entire creation so that only Pure-Consciousness may remain. This is a very long path which does not lead to instantaneous perfection or spiritual enlightenment. Listener - Maharajji, You said that we are not bodies; the body is different from the soul. We accept it because You say so.

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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

Swamiji - This is no acceptance at all, this is mere learning. Even if you dont experience, you should have a firm conviction (assumption) like Parvati who declared - It is my firm conviction that Ill marry only Lord Shankara even though millions of births may pass otherwise Ill remain a virgin. I ll not ignore Naradas preaching even if Lord Shankara Himself asks me a hundred times to do the contrary (Manasa 1/80/3) According to her God may err but Narada cant. This is called conviction (assumption). We should have a firm conviction that the body and I are different. Even if Brahma, the creator may declare That I and my body are one, Ill not agree with him because he may err in his judgment. We may not understand it but it is a fact that we are different from our bodies. Such firm conviction like knowledge leads to salvation or spiritual enlightenment. You marry a girl and accept her as your wife or not? Tell me whether you have any doubt or think contrary or have opposite notion to this? Tell me, what is there besides belief, acceptance and conviction in it? A chaste wife becomes a sati, burns herself bravely on the funeral pyre of her dead husband, only because of the conviction that he is her husband. Even on burning the fire does not appear to be bad In Hardoi district there is a village called Iknora where a girl burnt herself on the funeral pyre of her husband. Saint Krapaatriji was an eye witness to the anecdote. Her husband was far away as she was with her maternal uncle. She heard that her husband was
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

ill and he died. So she requested her maternal uncle to send her to her husbands house quickly. But then she realized that her husbands body would be cremated before she reached there. So she decided to burn herself there itself only. She was prevented from doing so. It was night and a lamp was burning. She placed her finger on the burning lamp and it began to burn like wax. She requested her relatives to allow her to go outside the house otherwise their house would burn. So they allowed her to go. Then she extinguished the fire of her burning finger by rubbing it against the wall. Saint Karpaatriji himself saw those finger prints on the wall. Her relatives refused to provide her with fire in order to be blamed or get into legal trouble. She prayed to the Sun god to provide her with fire. Her prayer was granted and she was devoured by the fire. In the vicinity there was a peepal tree which was also half burnt down. The Muslims of that village told Saint Karpaatriji that they had seen this incident. Now tell me which knowledge she had. She had the conviction that she, being a part of her husband, could not live without him and if her husband was cremated, why could she not burn? This is called conviction! What you hear and learn is not conviction. This is mere learning. By learning some thing, you may give lecture, and write books on it. I can only say that I have thought over this topic deeply and come to the conclusion that knowledge is only direct and it leads to instantaneous perfection or spiritual enlightenment, Now again listen to me. Think of your benefit. Are you benefited more by what I say or by what you think? If you dont believe me, you may be cheated once more by me as you have
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

been cheated so many times by others so far. But what I am saying to you is bare fact by which you will neither be chearted, nor can be cheated. Once when I held discourses during the rainy season at Pandharpur, I declared that instantaneous spiritual enlightenment is possible, They objected to it. I again emphatically declared, you may consider me a conceit because I know neither Marathi language nor have I studied the utterances of the saints of Maharashtra. But I have a belief that the utterances of experienced saints such as Ekanathaji, Tukaramaji and Jnaneshvaraji etc. must have mentioned instantaneous spiritual enlightenment. At that moment a gentlemen got up and supported my point by saying that it has been mentioned in such and such books. The Gita declares Even if you are the most sinful of all sinners, accept it without indulging in any sort of complication. Knowledge can also be gained by purifying your inner sense. What remains when the inner sense is totally purified? To purify the inner sense and to renounce affinity for it are two different things. I emphatically declare that your inner sense will not be purified so long as you regard it as your own. Why? The inner sense is mine - This is impurity (filth) Goswami Tulasidas calls the sene of mine (attachment), filth - Let the filth of the sense of mine be burnt (Manasa 7/117a) If you wash something with filth in order to make it clean or pure, will it be cleansed or purified? So long as you have the sense of mine with it, it will never be purified. The
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O Lord ! O My Lord ! May I never forget You !

Gita also lays emphasis on renunciation of the sense of mine or attachment by declaring, The man free from the sense of mine and I attains peace (Gita 2/71) .

From "Ease of God Realization" in Hindi and English by Swami Ramsukhdasji

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