IDEALS OF THE ASPIRANT ENTANGLED IN THE WORLD

It is said that, when a Tantrika tries to invoke the Deity through the medium of the spirit of the dead, he sits on a fresh human corpse and keeps near him food and wine. In the course of the invocation, if at any time the corpse is, as they say, vivified temporarily and opens its mouth, the intrepid invoker must pour the wine and thrust the food into its gaping mouth to appease the elemental that has, for the time being, taken possession of it. If he does not do so, the invocation is interrupted by the elemental, and the higher spirit does not appear.

So, remaining on the carcass of the world, if you ■desire to attain beatitude, first provide yourself with all the things necessary to pacify the clamour of worldly demands on you; otherwise your devotions will be broken and interrupted by the cares and anxieties of life.

There is necessity of money, no doubt, in worldly life; but do not ponder much over it and other material gains. Contentment with what comes of its own accord is the best attitude. Do not be anxious to hoard. Those who dedicate their very life and soul to Him, those who are His devotees and have taken refuge in Him, can never think of such worldly matters. With them, expenditure is commensurate with income. As money comes into •their hands in one way, it is spent in another.

A householder disciple: Sir, may I try to earn a larger income ?

The Master: Yes, if you mean to devote it to the life in the family based on discrimination. But take care that you earn money by honest means. For it is not earning money but the service of the Lord that is your aim ; and wealth devoted to God is beyond cavil.

Disciple: How long, Sir, have I obligations to the family ?

The Master; So long as the family is not provided with enough to maintain itself. But if your children can support themselves, you have no more duty to them.

To some householder devotees the Master said : 44 You will look upon money only as a means of getting food, clothes and shelter, of worshipping the Deity and serving Sadhus and devotees. But it is wrong to hoard it. Bees labour hard to build their hives, but man comes, and robs them. You need not renounce woman' completely. But after a few children are born, you and your wife should live like brother and sister."

Q. How can I go through my devotional practices when I have always to think of my daily bread ?
A. He for whom you work will supply you with your necessaries. God made provisions for your support before He sent you into this world.

We possess home, family and children for a short time, but these are all ephemeral. The palm tree itself is real, but when one or two of its fruits fall to-the ground, why should we regret it ?

Renunciation of woman and gold has been laid down only for those that lead a monastic life. Monks must not even look at the pictures of women. Even the thought of spiced pickles causes the mouth to water—not to speak of the sight or the touch of those dainties. But this hard rule is not meant for men of the world, like you (addressing the householder devotees present); it is intended purely for monks. As for you, you may go amongst women with a mind unattached and fixed upon God. That your mind may be thus unattached and fixed upon God, it is good that you should often retire into solitude—a place away from either men or women ; a place where you may be left absolutely to yourself, praying to the Lord with a yearning heart for true knowledge; a place where you may stay at least for three days, if not more, or for at least one day, if not three.

Your path, again, as married men, is to live with your wife just as brother and sister, after one or two children are born to you, and to pray to the Lord constantly that both of you may have strength to live a perfect life of spirituality and self-control.

Live in the world, but be not worldly. As the saying goes, make the frog dance before the snake, but let not the snake swallow the frog.

A boat may stay in water, but water should not stay in the boat. An aspirant may live in the world, but the world should not live within him.

It matters not if you live the life of a house-holder, only you must fix your mind on God. Do your work with one hand, and hold the feet of the Lord with the other. When you have no work in the world to do, hold His feet fast to your heart with both your hands.

What is the state of a man who is in the world but is free from its attachments ? He is like a lotus-leaf in water, or like a mud-fish in the marsh. Neither of these is polluted by the element in which it lives. The water wets not the leaf, nor does the mud stain the glossy coat of the fish.

It does not matter much whether you are a family man or not. Always perform your duties unattached, with your mind fixed on God. As for instance, the man who has got a carbuncle on his back talks with his friends and others, and even carries out undertakings, but his mind is all the while on his pain.

Living in the world one is safe, if one has Viveka (discrimination of the Real from the unreal), and Vairagya (dispassion for worldly things), and along with these intense devotion to God.

What are you to do when you are placed in-this world ? Give up everything to Him, resign yourself to Him, and there will be no more trouble for you. Then1 you will come to know that everything is done by His will

It may be given even to the householder to see God. It was the case with Raja Janaka, the great royaf sage. But one cannot rise to the height of Raja Janaka all of a sudden. Janaka spent many long years in solitude, away from the din and bustle of the world, practising devotional exercises. Thus it would do infinite good to men of the world, if they would retire now and then into-solitude, even for three days at a time, so that God might be realised.

Some Brahmo boys once told me that they followed Janaka s example—they lived in the world but quite unattached to it. I said to them that it was easy to say one was Janaka but quite a different matter to be actually one. It is so hard to move among worldly objects without being contaminated. What terrible austerities did not Janaka practise at the outset! But I do not advise you to-go through similar hardships. What I want you to do is to .practice devotion, and to live alone for some time in some quiet place. Enter the world after gaining Jnana and Bhakti. The best curd is formed when the milk is left quite still: shaking, or even changing the pot, spoils it. Janaka was unattached ; hence one of the epithets applied to him is Videha—literally ' bodiless . He led the life of a Jivanmukta. The annihilation of the idea of the body is exceedingly difficult to accomplish. Truly Janaka was a great hero. He handled with ease the two swords —one of Knowledge (Jnana) and the other of work (Karma).

Men always quote the example of king Janaka as a man who lived in the world and yet attained spiritual illumination. But throughout the whole history of mankind he is the solitary example of this type. He was not the rule but the exception. The general rule is that no one can attain spiritual perfection without renouncing woman and gold . Do not think yourself to be a Janaka. Many centuries have rolled away, and the world has not yet produced a second Janaka.

If you desire to live in the world unattached, you should first practise devotion in solitude for some time —a year, six months, a month, or at least twelve days. During this period of retirement, you should constantly meditate upon God and pray to Him for Divine love. You should think that there is nothing in the world which you may call your own, that those whom you consider as your own are sure to pass away some day or other. God alone is really your own. He is your all-in-all. How to obtain Him ?—this should be your only concern.

When you are engaged in devotional practices, keep aloof from those who scoff at them, and also from those who ridicule piety and the pious.

If you first smear your palms with oil and then cut open the jack, the milky exudation of the fruit will not stick to your hands and inconvenience you. If you first fortify yourself with the true knowledge of the Universal Self, and then live in the midst of wealth and worldliness, surely they will in no way affect you.

The magnetic needle always points to the North, and hence it is that the sailing vessel does not lose her direction. So long as the heart of man is directed towards God, he cannot be lost in the ocean of worldliness.

In the game of hide-and-seek, if the player succeeds in touching the Grand-dame (Boori), he is no longer liable to be made a ' thief by the seeker. Similarly by once seeing God, we are no longer bound by the fetters of the world. Just as the person touching the Boori is free to go about wherever he chooses, without being pursued and made a ' thief ', so also in the world's play-ground there is no fear for him who has once touched the feet of God. He attains freedom from all worldly cares and anxieties, and nothing can ever bind him again.

Alligators love to float on water, but as soon as one rises up, it is made a mark by the hunters. Necessarily it is obliged to remain under water and cannot rise to the surface. Yet, whenever it finds a safe opportunity, it rises up with a deep whizzing noise, and swims happily on the expanse of water. O man, entangled in the meshes of the world, you too are anxious to swim on the surface of the ocean of bliss, but are prevented by the importunate demands of your family. Yet be of good cheer. Whenever you find leisure, call upon God eagerly, pray to Him earnestly and tell Him all your sorrows. In due time. He will surely emancipate you and enable you to swim merrily on the ocean of bliss.

When you are forced by circumstances to go to a place of temptations, always remember the Divine Mother. She will protect you from the many evils that may be lurking even in your heart. The presence of the Mother will shame you away from evil deeds and evil thoughts.

The world and God —how is it possible to har» monise these two? Look at the carpenters wife, how diversely busy she is ! With one hand she stirs the flattened rice in the mortar of a Dhenki, with the other hand she is nursing her child, and at the very same time she bargains with a customer about the flattened rice. Thus, though her occupations are many, her mind is fixed on the one idea that the pestle of the Dhenki does not fall on her hand and bruise it. So be in the world, but always remember Him, and never go astray from His path.

As a boy holding to a post or pillar whirls about it with headlong speed without any fear of falling, so perform your worldly duties, fixing your hold firmly upon God, and you will be free from danger.

As the village maidens in India carry four or five pots of water placed one over the other upon their heads, talking all the way with one another about their joys and sorrows, and yet do not allow a single drop of water to spill, so must the traveller in the path of virtue walk along his route. In whatever circumstances he may be placed, let him always take heed that his heart does not swerve from the true path.

As an unchaste woman, busily engaged in household affairs, will all the while be thinking of her secret lover so do you, O man of the world, perform your round of worldly duties, but let your heart be fixed always on God.

As a wet-nurse in a wealthy family brings up her master s child, loving it as if, it were her own, yet knowing well that she has no claim upon it, so you also think that you are but trustees and guardians of your children whose •real father is the Lord Himself.

As the street minstrel plays the guitar with one hand and with the other strikes a drum, while at the same time he sings a song, so do you, O man of the world, perform all your worldly duties with your hands, never forgetting to repeat and glorify the name ' of the Lord with all your heart.

The maidservant says with reference to her master's house, " This is our house. All the while she knows that the house is not her own, and that her own house is far away in a distant village of Burdwan or Naddia. Her thoughts are all really directed to her village home. Again, referring to her master's child in her arms, she says, " My Hari has grown very naughty, or, " My Hari likes to eat this or that, " and so on. But all the while she knows for certain that Hari is not her own. I tell those who come to me, to lead a life unattached like the maid-servant. I tell them to live unattached to this world—to be in the world, but not of the world—and at the same time to have their mind directed to God, the heavenly home whence all come. I tell them to pray for Bhakti, and base their lives on it.

Always consider that your family concerns are not yours; they are God's and you are His servant come here to obey His commands. When this idea becomes firm, there remains nothing indeed that a man may call his own.

He is a true hero who performs all the duties of the world with his mind fixed on God. None but a strong man can, while carrying a load of two maunds (more than a hundredweight) on his head, stop to admire a brjdal procession passing his way.

Those who live in the world and still try to gain salvation are like the soldiers that fight from behind the ramparts of a fort, while the ascetics who renounce the world in search of God are like the soldiers fighting in the open field. To fight the enemy from within the fort is more convenient and far safer than to fight in the open field.

Before soldiers go out to meet the enemy, they learn the art of fighting in their barracks, where they do not have to put up with the hardships incidental to action in the open field. vSo avail yourselves of the conveniences of your home-life to raise your spiritual condition before you take to the austerities of an ascetic life.

He indeed is blessed, in whom all the qualities of head and heart are fully developed and evenly balanced. He acquits himself admirably well in whatever position he may be placed. He is full of guileless faith and love for God, and yet his dealings with others leave nothing to be desired. When he is engaged in worldly affairs, he is a thorough man of business. In the assembly of the learned he establishes his claims as a man of superior learning, and in debates he shows wonderful powers of reasoning. To his parents he is obedient and affectionate; to his relations and friends he is loving and sweet; to his neighbours he is kind and sympathetic and always ready to do good; to his wife he is the god of love. Such a man is indeed perfect