Swami Shivapadananda using scriptural stories to illustrate ego-management and purpose.
Swamiji re-tells and expands on the profoundly illustrative story of Nachiketa visiting Lord Yama (the god of death) from the Katha Upanishad.
The culmination of the story is to teach us, says Swamiji: 'That' which he (Nachiketa) is looking for, nobody can give him. No Guru can give him, no god can give him, but he has to reach that state himself. How? Through service to the Guru. How? Through service to the whole world, thinking it's God's manifestation. How? To have faith in the words of the scriptures. How? To become egoless. (Which is the major take-away from the story). (The term for ego in Sanskrit is 'ahamkara'.)
And how to become free of ego?
Swamiji tells the story of the three Hindu gods, Indra (King/chief of the gods), Agni (god of fire) and Vayu (god of the wind). The three had just beaten the rakshasas (demon hordes) in battle and were very pleased with themselves. The result? They were in a triumphant, egoistic frame of mind.
The great indivisible divine force in the form of Brahman didn't want them to develop or hold onto pride. [In Hinduism, a god (lower case 'g') holds their role as a position. It's not permanent. It may last for many yugas or ages, but their tenure will someday come to an end and another soul will be allocated the position. Very importantly, it is also taught that the souls who hold 'god' positions still have to reincarnate again in a human body, in order to achieve moksha or final liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth.]
As Swamiji says, their ego was the result of ignorance – which was not their fault. There was some learning to do. Swamiji quotes the Lord Jesus Christ saying on the cross, 'Father, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' Says Swamiji, God is like that. Out of ignorance, you do something. God sends something along to correct you. So the Divine decided to teach the three a benevolent lesson.
Each of the three gods (Vayu, Agni and Indra) was sent in turn to identify a Yaksha (usually a mischievous Nature spirit.) In this case it sounds like it was the 'chief Yaksha'). Listen to Swamiji explaining the gentle but memorable lesson taught to each of the three gods. They had over-estimated their power, and the Yaksha was the instrument of their correction and re-establishment of perspective. Refreshing in their awareness, that it was not they who killed the demons, but the power of Brahman working through them, which killed the demons.
(Admin comment: A great lesson for all of us. However insignificant a role we may be playing on the spiritual path or in the grand scheme of things.)
Says Swamiji: So the praise is not yours. You are taking undue praise. We are the Indras, we are the Vayus, we are the Agnis. We blow people through words, but yet we don't know that we're misusing God's power, it is God's grace. We burn people through words. We do not think that it's God's grace, God's words, that it's God's gift and with our Indriyas (senses) we do the wrong thing instead of doing the right thing.
When all these three are directed towards God, the Indriyas you get under your control, you do pranayama (yoga breathing exercises) and control your speech, you must realise Brahman himself. That's why our scriptures tell us that we must become ego-less. We must become selfless.
I always gave the quotation, that the man has the nature of man, like chillies have got a nature. Swamiji asks the group: What is the nature of a chillie? Someone says, 'hot'. Swamiji chuckles and says, 'Not hot, superhot!' It's nature is pungent. But you can't say sugar's nature is to be pungent. It's sweet. Similarly, the sun's nature is to give light, and the day it starts leaving its nature, it will start dying. If the sun starts becoming cool, cooler and cold, what will happen? It will die. So just like that, man himself has got a nature. And what is the nature of man? The nature of man is to live selflessly through discrimination. And an animal's nature is to live selfishly. The fittest survive. Man is supposed to do good to others.
Click on the link below to enjoy the lesson and learning. Jai Ramakrishna!
Duration 14:54
The original audio recordings of these posts, were made by close Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa and Swami Shivapadananda devotee, Mother Radha. The audio editing and noise reduction of the original 1970s tapes has been lovingly crafted, over many years, by her son and our gurubhai Tim. We thank them both.
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