Summer Showers In Brindavan, 1974

1.

Opening Discourse

Do not feel proud of your learning and think that you are a very knowledgeable person. What, after all, is the extent of the knowledge that you have acquired when you are not able to help others with that knowledge? To think that, because of the limited education you have had, you are better than others is a matter of unwarranted pride and ego; and you have to give this up. In truth, you are the embodiment of ignorance. You must realise that out of your limited knowledge and education, correct ideas cannot come to you.

Young students and others who are organisers and patrons of education! Today we are going to begin a very sacred experiment. The purpose of this sacred experiment is to make you realise the meaning of dharmic nature and the need for an adhyatmic environment. Many people who are at the helm of education and who are experienced educationists are going to function as ritwicks (vedic priests) and participate in this great yagnya or experiment. The sacrifice that we have to make in this endeavour is to give up our pride and selfishness and promote selflessness and concern for others’ good. Life strictly symbolises a journey from the position of I to the position of We. In this journey which we have to perform, if only we can give up all incorrect ideas, will we be able to enjoy the unity of this universe.

Nowadays, we are forgetting the sacred Indian culture and we are adopting the pattern of western civilisation. By doing this we are learning various methods of earning money, but neither the students nor those who are at the helm of educational programmes seem to be giving any thought to knowing the purpose of life and how we are to be useful to other human beings during our lifetime. Earning money cannot be the sole purpose of education. Acquiring good qualities can be the only purpose of education. Individual capacities of any special nature are not necessary if we are merely to earn money, learn to sleep, and eat food. From the time of our birth till the time this body perishes, we are making many attempts to earn money and acquire food. In this process of amassing wealth, we are adopting means and methods which are adopted, also, by the birds and animals. In the matter of acquiring food, different kinds of strength, abilities, and skills are used by us; but these very same skills are used by animals and birds as well. It is not right that we use all our knowledge and skill for doing just what the animals and birds, also, do. In the process of our spending all our energies in acquiring food, we are going far away from the aspect of atma (Divine principle).

For the purpose of feeding ourselves, many lives are being sacrificed. In this process of our searching for food, many things like trees, birds, fish, and animals are being sacrificed. Because these various living things are being sacrificed and are merging with human beings, they have also been acquiring human lives in their rebirth. None of these jivas (individual souls) are getting any chance of rising higher than human lives.

The entire life is being spent in making an effort to be reborn after one’s death, thus repeating the cycle of birth and death. We are becoming slaves to the process of birth and death. We should not allow ourselves to become slaves to this process. We should make an attempt to become one with the great effulgent spirit. Man today does not make an attempt to understand the basic difference between the dharma (code of conduct) that has been entrusted to him as a human being and to others. He does not ask the question as to what he has achieved during his lifetime and how he has been useful to others. He ends his life without answering any of these basic questions.

When one finds around oneself several people who are ridiculing his culture, it is surprising that one is not aroused by such a situation. It is surprising that the great Indian culture—the contents of which have been improved and reformed from time to time—is today an object of ridicule and that we are putting up with such a situation without any discomfort. We should make people realise that no one can ridicule any religion or any good tradition. It is unfortunate that the students of the present day are not able to reply in a fitting manner when others criticise and ridicule our religion and our religious practices.

This inability on the part of our young people to meet the criticism is a very sorry state of affairs. The reason for this is that our young students do not acquaint themselves with the great traditions of our culture. In the present situation where there is confusion the world over, you young people should understand the aspects of Indian culture and should, by citing appropriate examples, meet all criticism and expound what is valuable in our culture.

The welfare or the decline of our country’s future rests on your shoulders. Those of you who have this burden on your shoulders should be prepared to understand the basis of our culture and put the injunctions of our culture into practice. An average student of today does not understand the sacred contents of our culture. He gets information only from hearsay; he does not read books like the Ramayana or the Bhagavata and therefore has wrong and imperfect notions.

The first thing that you should do is to understand the contents of our culture and then you should follow it up by putting the injunctions thereof into practice. There is a small example for this. In all the countries the world over, religious scriptures like the Bible, the Quoran, and the vedas are regarded as important. No one belonging to any one particular religion is asking the reason for these being regarded as important texts. It is a very difficult matter to understand or comprehend divinity. One who does not understand his own individuality is trying to understand divinity and this is a ridiculous situation. For our spiritual life, dharma is the basis. Dharma does not depend on an individual. Dharma does not depend on a period of time or a particular situation. Dharma depends only on truth. That is why it has been said that there is no dharma other than truth. To conduct oneself in a manner which, on the spur of the moment, comes to one’s mind and to think that it is dharma, is very foolish. To think that to conduct oneself in accordance with one’s own ideas is practice of dharma, is very foolish. To be able to develop equal-mindedness and to be able to develop equanimity are the correct aspects of dharma; and for this, one must have an unwavering mind and thought.

In the history of Indian thought and Indian culture, the Mahabharata has been often taken as an authority. In Christian thought, the Bible has been taken as an authority. When we read the Bible, we look at Christ as an ideal figure who proclaimed truth to the world. When we learn about his life story, we come to the conclusion that he was born of the Virgin Mary. The moment this story of Christ’s birth to the Virgin Mary is revealed, all those who follow Christianity rightly feel very proud and feel that this mysterious birth is the result of some divine power and that Mary was a very sacred woman. They further proclaim this fact to the world with great pride. We should understand this aspect and learn how they accept such an event.

On the other hand, if we take an example from our own tradition, we note that when we are told the story of Karna, who was born of Kunti, at the time when she was an unmarried woman, we feel ashamed about the incident. It is not understandable why we should put ourselves in an embarrassing situation when this story is told. Today, we are taking such stories contained in our tradition and giving them wrong meanings by setting aside the real meanings. We further persist in giving the wrong meanings. Therefore, in the very first instance, you should make an attempt to understand the history and traditions of our culture and get the correct meaning that is implied in each incident. There is no trouble if you are fully knowledgeable. There is also no trouble if you are completely ignorant but there is great trouble if you are neither knowledgeable nor ignorant and you are in a state of great confusion resulting in your taking always the wrong meanings.

In the sacred task to which we have committed ourselves during the next one month, with the help of the elders who will tell you our traditional stories, I hope that you will be able to understand the full significance of such stories which are part of our culture.

The kind of education that you are getting today cannot be called true education. As a result of the education you have today, you get only superficial acquaintance with a large number of text books and not the essence thereof, or right education. As a result of the vast amount of information that you are getting, you are simply losing all the energy that you have. We cannot find even one student who has acquired general knowledge. He chooses one small part of the totality of knowledge or one special aspect and he tries to acquire a higher sense in that aspect and in this process he loses common sense.

Our Minister explained to you that there is a difference between science and spirituality. He also told you that if only you can synthesise and co-ordinate the two, there is a great deal of similarity between them. Science should grow and as a result of such growth, it should help people. We should acquire such education which will strengthen our physical body organs as well as our mind and spirit. Science is good, science is sacred and science can be useful to the country but we are not learning the correct methodology of science so as to make it useful to mankind. In developing science they are reaching great heights and they are discovering many things. But because of our inability to use such scientific discoveries for individual and common benefit, we are falling very low in human values.

During the month that follows, in order that you may learn to control your sense organs, we are going to put you to practise the yoga asanas. If at this time when you are young and when your body, mind, and spirit are all strong, you cannot control your sense organs, how will you be able to do this when you grow old? Good education consists in training you to control your sense organs and to make them grow in the right direction. That process which enables you to control your sense organs should be regarded as the right type of education. The excitement which comes from your sense organs is something which destroys the human qualities and sometimes brings disgrace.

Pavitratma Swarupas!

The country is not made up of dust. It is a conglomeration of human beings. It is the human beings that give it the name of a country. If there are no human beings, it is not called a country. A country is very much like a human body. The divine strength of the country is the human nature in the body. If there is no divine strength in the human body, what is the use of this body? A body devoid of divine strength is equivalent to dust. Today we see only the human form, but the human nature and human qualities are dormant in this human form. The qualities which are precious and which characterise the human being are morality, adherence to truth and dharma etc. and if these are not evident, then human nature does not shine at all. We should promote human quality and human nature. We should not cultivate simply the human form and appearance. These two are like the negative and the positive. If the unity and the oneness of these two aspects are not properly brought about, then both of them are useless.

Enshrine divinity in your heart and make it sacred. Then you can use the human form in a manner which you like. The fact that today you are not enshrining sacred divinity in your heart and thereby becoming distant from it and that you are letting your body go where it likes, is not a human quality at all. It is behaviour very much like that of an animal.

Freedom is very necessary but before we enjoy freedom, we should understand what is meant by freedom. The freedom that is implied here should arise out of wisdom and out of your character which you build up as a result of your education.

To make an attempt to transform the human nature in yourself and elevate it to the sacred divine nature should be the purpose of all the education that you wish to have. You should give up the idea of starting from the nature or the environment around you and moving to the aspect of atma. On the contrary, you should believe that you start from atma and move on to the aspect of nature. If you start from the base of atma and get into nature, then the pure ideas that characterise the atma will be with you. You should believe that all creation is divine.

Paramatma is present everywhere and is all knowing. He is present everywhere in His creation. By seeing Him everywhere, it will be possible for you to live in this world by getting correct knowledge of the nature around you; and by having such adhyatmic knowledge, you will be able to enjoy happiness in the spiritual side of the world. Paramatma is the embodiment of truth, wisdom and is infinite and in that form He is present in all the organs that make up your body. He is effulgent in the form of atma in our body.

Today, many incredible and surprising things are happening in the world. Several people feel very proud that they are very knowledgeable and think that they can attain a very high position by their knowledge of science. These people question the very existence of God and say that even if there is a God, there is no place for Him in their thinking and in their hearts. This is a ridiculous argument. There is need to examine what is implied in this statement with care. A person who claims to be a very knowledgeable person cannot be so, because if he is really a wise person, then God must be in his heart, for God is the very embodiment of knowledge and learning. To say that such a God has no place in his mind is only to say that he has no wisdom in himself. God is the very embodiment of atma and He is the self that is present in everyone. To say that such a God is not present in one’s mind is to say that he, himself, does not exist, and that is the same as proclaiming that one does not believe in himself.

At one time, Hiranyakasipu of our tradition was moving about with great pride saying that he was the only God and that he was all powerful. Even such a Hiranyakasipu had the need for God on one occasion. Are these proud people of today, who proclaim that there is no need for God, cleverer or stronger than Hiranyakasipu? If with all his physical and mental strength, he had the need for a God, these proud people will certainly need the help of God and will one day recognise this. God exists in everyone and, therefore, to say that God does not exist is to show one’s own lame hand and say that he himself does not exist. To say that God does not exist is as ridiculous as saying that he is born to a barren woman. To argue that there is no God is as bad as insisting that the one that is arguing cannot speak. All these are meaningless words intended to make up meaningless arguments.

We should really strive to understand the sacred significance of our culture. You must make up your mind and have it implanted in your mind firmly that you wish to understand and experience what is sacred in our culture and traditions. In the sacred culture of our country, there are five injunctions which form its very basis. These are "matru devo bhava, pitru devo bhava, acharya devo bhava, sathyam vada, dharmam chara". Regard your mother, father, and guru as Gods. These form the essential basis of our culture. Added to this, we have to speak the truth and act in the right manner. Our very body, our clothes and our food are such that they tell us that we share our blood with that of our parents. If we cannot show gratitude to such mothers and fathers, what is the human quality that is left in us? If you do not show such gratitude to your parents, can you expect your own children to show you gratitude in the future? If you do not show the gratitude due to your parents now, where is the guarantee that your children will show gratitude to you?

All the future depends on the present and on what you do now. Every action of yours at the present time is bound to have a reaction, resound and reflection in the future. In your ignorance today, you may show disrespect to your elders, you may follow bad ideals and bad paths, you may do these things in fun and in an attitude of humour; but as time goes on, you will have to inescapably experience all the consequences.

It is in this context, therefore, it has been said: Be good, do good, see good. This is the way to God. Therefore, during the one month of the summer classes, you should have the sacred ideal of learning about Indian culture and concentrate on it and should be able to imbibe the good qualities enshrined in our culture.

It may be that in the food that you get and in the manner of your living, you will have some inconveniences; but you should not let that hinder the one sacred purpose of your yearning to imbibe the root contents of your culture. We will have to accept and subject ourselves to different kinds of experiences in our life. We should not pay any attention to the inconveniences and call them difficult or undesirable experiences. It is only when we are able to bear several kinds of hardships will we be in a position to experience the sacred truth and pleasures. If there are no two periods of pain, there will be no experience of pleasure, as pleasure is described only as an interval between two pains. In this young age of yours, to be able to sacrifice, to be able to shun all comforts and to be able to develop broad-mindedness will stand in good stead in future. Sacrifice is a very big yoga for you. Bhoga or enjoyment is a great disease. If you give yourselves to enjoyment and bhoga now, you are sure to get into some kind of trouble in the future. On the other hand, if you give yourselves to sacrifice today, you will have happiness tomorrow.

All the boys and girls who have assembled here in Brindavan should regard themselves as brothers and sisters and they should try and see only the divinity that is present in each one of them. They should use this occasion to develop and promote the sacred principle of brotherhood of man and fatherhood of God. Today, people come on a platform and address others as brothers and sisters, but they do not share their property with them. We should not talk of brothers and sisters in the aspect of a bodily relationship but realise the one divine principle that is present in all, and it is in that context that we should regard all as brothers and sisters. There is no escape from our having to follow this sacred principle. You should spend the next one month in the direction of purifying your vision, your talk, and your hearing.

2.

Brahman And Bharat

- The Theme Of The Discourses

We can get the harvest of paddy only by sowing the seeds of paddy. We cannot get such a harvest if we sow fried paddy as seeds. One who has the necessary wisdom will get rid of repeated births. It is only by acquiring the correct kind of knowledge that one can escape repeated birth. Listen to this great truth, Oh brave son of Bharat! Citizens of this country always live on hope. To lose hope is not a characteristic feature of our countrymen. To suffer from lack of faith and to lose hope is a weakness; and by entertaining such weaknesses, you will lose all the human strength that you have. Enthusiasm and care are things which will show the way for the prosperity of man. Every individual having such enthusiasm and care will surely achieve success and attain glory in any kind of work that he undertakes. Our own culture tells us that one who has care and interest will always succeed. We should make an attempt to go through the journey of our life with interest and enthusiasm.

Citizens of our country believe in karma, the fruits of which come out of our own actions. Because we have strong faith in the doctrine of karma, we always undertake to do good deeds and keep away from doing bad deeds. We readily come forward to do good deeds but hesitate to indulge in bad deeds. Vyasa has written in the puranas that we come forward to do good acts and to say good things, but we hesitate to do bad deeds and hesitate to tell unsacred things because we know that this hurts people.

The karma philosophy which we accept in this country is something which is very sacred and there is a saying that we believe in doing good karma. It is an important characteristic of our culture that as an individual, as a family, and as a society, there is considerable forbearance and mutual dependence towards each other. When one can recognise the connection between these three, and when one can recognise and respect the adhyatmic injunctions given to us even while paying sufficient attention to worldly duties at the same time, there is no doubt that the society will become prosperous and there will be peace in the world. Because our people have recognised the connection that exists between the worldly thought and the spiritual aspect, it is possible for them to take the correct path and become leaders in the world of thought. They have always taught that the worldly aspect and the spiritual aspect cannot contradict each other.

Imagine that you have a golden necklace around your neck. When you look at the form of this, we call it a necklace; but when we look at the basic material in it, we say it is made up of gold. It cannot be that gold is one thing and the necklace is a different thing. It is not possible to make a necklace without gold. So, when we call it a golden necklace, it only demonstrates the oneness of the basic material that is the gold and the name and form, namely the necklace. It does not give place to any difference between the base and the ornament. In the same manner, we should be able to proclaim the greatness of our culture and of our education by recognising the oneness of humanity on the one hand and underlying divinity on the other hand.

The relationship between the jiva, Eshwara, and prakriti (nature) is an inseparable one. Without cotton, we cannot have yarn and without yarn, we cannot have the cloth. For a piece of cloth to take the shape which it has, the basic material is the thread. While the cloth has for its basis the thread, the thread itself has for its basis, the cotton. Cotton, thread, and cloth are three names for three different forms; but what is contained in all the three is the same and that is cotton.

Prakriti, or nature, is like the cloth in this analogy. It is the conglomeration of our desires that takes the form of nature. These desires emanate from our heart and have their origin in our heart. We do not see the desires around us. We are able to see in external appearances what is latent in our hearts in the form of desires. It is not possible to see anything externally if its origin does not lie as a latent entity within us. If we close our eyes, all nature around us will look as if it does not exist. But, when we open our eyes, we see so many different heads. Have the people who are here gone away somewhere when we close the eyes, or have they come from somewhere when we open our eyes? No—these people have been here all along. If we do not have eyes, we cannot recognise even our own body. Therefore we are able to recognise the entire creation only through our vision. There is nothing distinct as a creation; this becomes a reality because of our vision.

In the same manner good and bad, right and wrong, heaven and hell are all appearing to us as a result of our own vision. The mind of man alone is responsible both for his bondage and for his liberation. The difference between bondage and liberation exists only in our thought. There is no intrinsic or basic difference between these two. We will be able to appreciate the aspect of the divine only when we sacrifice the aspect of the jiva. There is nothing that we can get by causing harm to the jiva and doing puja (ritual worship) to the divine. We have to recognise that the living and visible jiva and the invisible divine are the same, and we have to recognise the unity between these two aspects.

Our ancients have prescribed various rituals which would enable us to shed our arrogance and ego. These rituals which have been prescribed to us have also been called yagnya and yaga. The word yagnya has come from the root word yaj. We have come to recognise this ritual yagnya as important in the context of our worshipping the Lord. The statements that are in our vedas have told us to sacrifice everything, and through sacrifice we should be able to get a vision of the divine in us. The creation and its maintenance depends only on sacrifice. If there is no sacrifice, society will not remain intact. If there is no sacrifice, there will be no life and one cannot recognise the truth and if there is no sacrifice, there is no creation and there is no sustenance.

Looking at things from a worldly aspect, if we do not give out the breath that we take in, we cannot live. If we do not give out the food that we take in after digesting it, we cannot live. If the blood is not constantly flowing from one place to another every instant, we cannot live. Unless the clouds that have gathered water give up the water that they have gathered, they cannot remain as clouds. That is why it is said that what you cannot get by your knowledge and effort can be got by sacrifice. Whether it is the good or the bad, we have to keep on sacrificing. In this process one should never pay any attention to the body. If we think that something is good and we welcome what is good, some bad may also come in this process. That which gives you happiness when it comes to you will, also, cause sorrow when it goes away from you.

There is a small example for this. If a son is born in a family, there is considerable happiness; but the death of the same son will cause untold sorrow and grief. It is the same son that is either born or is dead, and the change of the act of birth to an act of death changes the happiness to sorrow. Without sacrificing, man cannot live; but he does not undertake sacrifice knowingly. Every individual does undertake sacrifice, but he does not know that he is sacrificing. One should have sacrifice as his aim, and one should enquire into what is permanent and what is not permanent and enquire into what is to be given up and what is to be accepted.

The body and the country are like the object and the image. The body is the place where the divine resides. The difference between kshetra and kshetragnya, i.e. between the place of residence and the resident, is the one "gnya. We interpret this difference by saying that one who is full of knowledge and wisdom is the one who resides in the body, and since this syllable gnya is not present in kshetra" it is said that the body itself is completely devoid of knowledge and wisdom. So, bearing in mind the Lord who is the embodiment of knowledge and wisdom and who resides in the body, we should be able to give sufficient attention to the well-being of the body. If the All-knowing does not reside in the body, then there is no sanctity of the body.

But, are we giving the name kshetra to everything? No—only specific cities, villages, and rivers go by the name of kshetra. It is only that particular place where there is some sacredness recognised that is called kshetra. Benares, Tirupati, Gaya, Badri, and Prayag are some of the places which are called kshetras. These places are called kshetras because with these places is associated a recognised sacredness, and the presence of such sacredness gives them the name kshetra. In a superficial way, one recognises this as a place where God is residing.

In the Bhagavad Gita, our body is described as the kshetra and the Paramatma who resides in the body is called the kshetragnya. We are not able to realise how we should use our own body in which God resides. Devotees who have a sacred heart and who entertain sacred thoughts go on pilgrimage to such sacred places. They are undertaking a pilgrimage to such centres only because they believe those places to be sacred. If they are not sacred, there is no need for them to undertake such a pilgrimage at such expense of money and energy. As in this analogy, because the human body is sacred, many people establish connections between each other, and they try to make a pilgrimage and take their life along a sacred path. If truly the body of an individual does not undertake a sacred task and lead a sacred life, no one will want to have any relationship with such a body. Therefore, anyone who claims to keep his body sacred should make an attempt to indulge only in good actions, good thoughts, and good deeds.

If we take a pot which is full of toddy and apply a coating of ghee externally on the pot, does the fragrance of the ghee remove the bad smell of the toddy which is in the pot? In the same manner, if your heart is full of bad ideas and bad thoughts and externally if you pretend to be good and be in good company for purposes of show, does that remove the impurity in your heart? It does not matter if you do not enter good company and do good deeds. It does not matter if you do not participate in dhyana (meditation) and japa (repetition of holy names), but it is absolutely essential that you should keep your heart pure and clean. The essence of all religions teaches that you should keep your heart clean. Both in the material world and for spiritual attainments, control of your sensory organs is essential. It is not good to completely and rigidly control all your senses nor is it desirable to give them complete freedom. One should adopt the middle path.

There is a small example for this. Many men are accustomed to shave and they know that if they press the razor too hard they will cut the skin and if they do not press at all, it will not be possible to remove the hair. Therefore, in this process, only when we apply moderate pressure will we be able to attain the necessary result. The human mind is like a razor’s edge. Without controlling the mind too rigidly and without allowing it to go too freely, we should encourage it to do good acts and we should control it when there is any tendency to participate in bad acts. Thus by distinguishing between good acts and bad acts, we should be able to guide the mind in a moderate manner between the two extremes. To control the mind and the thoughts is something basic to yoga, and this has been said by many people.

We should regard the body as synonymous with man, and man as synonymous with mind. If one’s mind behaves in a