Anusthan -A Discourse By Upasani Maharaj Of Sakori-Part 5.

Dear all,

Happy Baba' day .

Today I am uploading the 5th part of Anusthan-A Discourse By Upasani Maharaj Of Sakori.Readers can get back to other parts of the Anusthan from the links provided just below this post .Jai Sai Ram.

THE NEED FOR AND BENEFIT FROM THE WANDERINGS OF THE MIND

Steadiness of the mind is the final fruit of Anushthan. How is it possible to secure it even without starting Satkarma? If the mind is at a standstill, what is there to do and what for? There is need for the maximum wandering of the mind in the course of Anushthan. For, with the force generated by the Satkarma, the mind shall have to purify all the dark spots in it and the process of purification is effected by its traveling to those places carrying with it the merit of the Satkarma.

 If in the course of Anushthan your mind thinks of an enemy, the inimical tendencies of that individual will gradually lose their intensity and will ultimately be absorbed into and made holy by your mind. Amicable thoughts will be engendered in his mind. “He whom I have so long regarded as my enemy seems to be a good fellow after all. They say he spends practically all his time in the service of God. It is not, therefore, desirable that I should harbour any ill-will towards such a pious individual.”

Moved by such considerations, he will speedily change his attitude of mind towards you and become friendly. In the same way, if a drunkard takes to the disinterested discharge of any Satkarma and his mind wanders upon his fellows at the tavern in the course of the Anushthan, a change is wrought in the mentality of those drunkards by virtue of their friend’s Satkarma.

 “Our friend has left off drink and spends his time in devotion to God, but we are still addicted to this vice. How long are we to be enslaved by it?” Similar thoughts hold sway in their minds and ennoble them. Later on if they meet perchance, the former will admonish his fellows in some such way as the following. “My friends, I am now no longer one of your company.

 I am no longer a votary of Bacchus, but devotee myself whole heartedly to the worship of God. In the course of my worship, my mind, by old association, thinks of you and I am not very happy about it. You must either cease to be my friends or give up your drinking habits.” Thus admonished, they too will feel ashamed of their weakness and the strength of their vice will slowly get reduced. Instances of this sort may be cited time without number. Mysterious are the workings of the mind. When it was sanctified all the unholy elements in its constitution, its work is brought to finish and its wanderings automatically stop. This is verified by experience.

THE EPISODE OF A PROSTITUTE

I shall here narrate an interesting episode within my personal experience. Take from it the lesson it conveys, if you are so inclined. You know I was at Amaravathi for some time. During that period, I came into contact with a prostitute of that place in my professional capacity of a doctor. As the lady had customers of a variegated character, she often fell a prey to sickness and suffering.

On one such occasion, an acquaintance of mine who was also her paramour engaged me for her treatment. I examined her and advised that besides medicine and diet she should have recourse to some sort of Satkarma for the purpose of purging off her sins. As she was ailing greatly, she readily consented to do so. I gave her the necessary directions and she started of with her Anushthan.

Very soon she became normal. But she had already evinced a taste of her devotional activities and continued them even after the purpose for which she started them was served. Every day she used to spend as much time she could possibly spare in solitude and silence, devoting herself whole heartedly to Puja, Bhajan, Dhyan etc.

When we chanced to meet now and then, I could clearly perceive that her mind was deeply engrossed in devotion to God. In the course of conversation, she used to complain to me that during Anushthan her mind, in spite of her best efforts, would not remain steady but keep continually thinking of her paramours. I counseled her not to worry about the wanderings of the mind but keep her Anushthan steadily going.

 She would say, “I do regularly carry on my Anushthan. My mind takes to it with avidity and at the appointed time would automatically come to the place and subject of Anushthan with an enthusiastic fervour. But no sooner does the Anushthan begin that the mind goes off at tangents and refuses to be controlled. ‘Such and such a person has not yet paid me my dues. He does not seem to be fair minded’. The picture of his foul play refuses to clear away from the screen of my mind. This is only one of the innumerable disturbing elements that beset and baffle me in the course of my meditation.”

 I had only one answer to give to all such complaints: “Let the mind run where it will. Your concern is with the carrying out of your Anushthan without a break. The merit that accrues therefrom will be available not only to you but to the several individuals of whom you think well or ill of during that time. As her lovers were variously constituted, her devotional bent of mind reacted differently on them. Many of them fell to ridiculing her but as she used to observe silence during her Anusthan, she would never answer them.

 Some treated her with scorn and contempt, while others of a generous disposition put the best construction upon it and appreciated her for her reformation. Days passed on. Some people became more sympathetic in their attitude towards her. “This woman is completely changed. She spends all her time in the worship of God and has abandoned her old ways. Therefore, we are no longer justified in approaching her with the same old sinful intentions.” Thereafter they continued their visits to her house but with a changed mind.

 In course of time, they too began to copy her example and take to the worship of God. Those who had never known in all their lives what prayer was, were inspired by the prostitute to have recourse to Sandhya, Puja, Bhajan, etc., The very persons who ridiculed and scorned her were slowly metamorphosed; a complete and permanent change was brought about in their outlook of life and they betook themselves to Japa, Dhyana, recitation of scriptures like the Bhagavadgita etc., When her lovers were thus reformed, their wives who had so long been made miserable now felt happy that their husband’s sinful careers were at an end.

 Her house, once a house of ill-fame, had now became a sanctuary and those who visited it did so for Divine Service. “You are now a mother to us, “they would often reiterate. “You have led us in the proper way as a mother does her infant.” She completely gave up her former style of dressing and behaviour, would put on the simplest and plainest costume and was looked upto as a supreme example of modesty and devotion, of plain living and high thinking, even for house wives to copy.

As the mind wanders over hundreds of miles during Anushthan, it bears with it the merit of the Satkarma even to such far distant places and purifies them. The tremendous magnitude of the good work accomplished by the mind as a result of its wandering about is little comprehended or appreciated by the average run of mankind. If in the course of Anushthan the mind thinks of the departed souls of friends or relatives, those souls also will be cleansed and will attain Sadgati.

The disinterested discharge of satkarma has been laid down in the scriptures as the means of self purification. If your whole body has to be cleaned, every individual limb has to be washed with soap and water. Likewise if the entire mind has to be purged of its dross, every particular limb of it has to be carefully washed with the merit of Satkarma. If some parts are clean and others neglected, the whole cannot be said to have been purified.

 It may be questioned how much Satkarma is needed for purification of the mind which, according to the scriptures is located either in the heart or in the head. A child requires a very small quantity of water for its bath and a very small quantity of food for its nutrition. When, however, the child grows into an adult, its needs both for washing and eating increase proportionately. He now wants several gallons of water for his bath, rice, vegetable, bread and various other dishes for his food. Exactly similar is the case of the mind. If it is small and enlarged, it requires only a limited amount of Satkarma for its purification. But your minds have been vastly extended and assume gigantic proportions.

 The innumerable individuals, objects or places, which form the range of activities of the mind are, as it were its limbs. Whether they be far or near, good or bad, they are parts and parcels of the mind. This is a measure of the extent of your mind. If your mind contemplates good or evil about an enemy, he too forms part of your mind. Hence the mind devises ways and means of purifying the enemy. It is natural for you to try to put an end to the machinations of your enemy to harm you and if possible, reduce his inimical tendencies. The ways and means adopted differ with different individuals.

 The ignorant retaliate or pay him back in the same coin. (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth). But this defeats its purpose, augmenting animosities instead of removing them. Others more wise think that the best way of overcoming the enemy is by keeping quiet and maintaining their mental equilibrium. Because they happen to be your enemies, you should not be under the misapprehension that they are not parts of your mind. Your mind’s boundary extends upto and includes them. Since your anus is dirty, will any of you deny that it is part of yourself or that your body extends upto that organ? Just as we take care to keep our anus clean, so do we adopt several forms of Satkarma by the merit of which we purify the various organs of our mind which sometimes extend over hundreds of mils and include men and materials of all descriptions.

 When all its organs are fully cleansed, the wanderings of the mind come to an end; like one exhausted it ceases to project itself forth but withdraws itself into the smallest compass possible. Any sensation in any part of your body can be cognized by you as pleasant or painful, from which locality it arises, etc., In the same way, when your Anushthan is brought to perfection, you will be in a position to understand anything which any individual who forms an organic limb of your mental body does or thinks. Thus purifying countless souls in the course of your Anushthan, you will, after the fall of your physical body, attain liberation (Sadgati), and all those persons or objects that have formed parts of your mental body will also, after death, attain the same status.


Coming Next:

• How The Mind Is Cleansed Of Its Impurities.

Post Already Posted:

•  Introduction and Preface.
• (a)Experience of opposite states as the time of God-Realisation.
• (b)Attainment of God through wifely devotion.
• Anusthan-A Discourse By Upasani Maharaj Of Sakori -Part 1.
• Anusthan-A Discourse By Upasani Maharaj Of Sakori -Part 2.
• Anusthan-A Discourse By Upasani Maharaj Of Sakori-Part 3.
• Anusthan-A Discourse By Upasani Maharaj Of Sakori-Part 4.

 © Shirdi Sai Baba Sai Babas Devotees Experiences Sai Baba Related all Details

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