Spiritual Pancha Sheela
Speaking to a close group of students and long time devotees at His residence in Whitefield, Bhagavan Baba expounded on the five key virtues of non-violence, truth, purity, compassion, and faith that are critical to realizing the divine principle.
Ahimsa (non-violence) is a supreme virtue. But, in daily life almost at every step some harm or other is being caused. When we breathe in or breathe out, countless microbes perish. There are occasions when wittingly or otherwise, injury is caused to some being. Complete non-violence is not a practical ideal. What should be ensured is that there is no deliberate causing of injury or harm to anyone.
Sathya (truth) is divine. Where there is truth, there is divinity. When Dushyanta [a king] forgot that he had given a ring to Shakuntala [his beloved] upon meeting her near the ashram [spiritual retreat] of sage Kanva, Shakuntala declared in the king’s court that truth was the supreme dharma [right action], and a king should uphold truth at any cost. She pointed out that in the order of merit, starting from digging wells to performing horse sacrifices, the horse sacrifice ranked higher than having a hundred virtuous sons. But honoring one’s plighted word was by far greater than a hundred horse-sacrifices (Aswamedha yajna).
Even as the king was ruminating over this exhortation to uphold truth, some fishermen brought forth a ring that they had found in a fish they had caught. The king then remembered the incidents that had happened when he had gone hunting near sage Kanva’s ashram; his encounter with Shakuntala; and the ring he had exchanged with her. Following that, he accepted Shakuntala as his queen. Our country was named after their child, Bharata.
Soucham—both internal and external purity—is essential. We should try to ensure cleanliness of the body and purity of the mind. Our ancients used clay for cleaning the body. In naturopathy, mud bath is used for the treatment of many physical ailments. The body is made of clay. But it is also the abode of the divine. The importance of physical cleanliness could be illustrated from a story in the Mahabharata [a Hindu epic].
Once a [student] disciple, after completing his studies, asked his guru [spiritual teacher] what he would like to receive as guru dakshina [special token offering for the preceptor]. The guru asked for the earrings worn by a certain queen. Consequently, the disciple ascertained who the queen was and went to the king to inform him of the mission on which he had come. The king permitted him to visit the queen’s apartments to make his request. But he could not see the queen anywhere and reported his failure to the king. The king then told him that no person who was physically and mentally impure could see the queen. The disciple then went through a process of purification and was able to see the queen.
Another example of the serious consequences resulting from personal impurity was the case of King Nala who had to face many ordeals because of a single lapse. He lost his kingdom, became deformed after a snake-bite in the forest, was separated from his wife, and had to serve as a charioteer. It was only after he had purified himself by strenuous performance of Gayatri japa [chanting the Gayatri mantra] that he could regain his kingdom, his original form, his queen, and his prosperity.
Daya [compassion] is not a mere display of kindness or sympathy to someone in distress. It calls for complete identification with the suffering experienced by another, and relieving that suffering as a means of relieving the agony experienced by himself.
[To illustrate this, Swami related this story.] A calf was caught in a slushy pond while trying to reach a small pool of water. A crowd of urchins were watching the plight of the calf with glee. An ascetic who was passing by saw the plight of the calf and taking it out of the mud, carried it on his back to the pool of water. The urchins asked him why he had done this. The sanyasi [ascetic] told them that the sight of the struggling calf had caused him great anguish, and he had gone to the relief of the calf to relieve his own agony.
This is the spirit in which any service or help should be rendered. You must feel that you are helping yourself when you are helping another.
Aasthikyam [faith] in God implies recognition of the omnipresence of the Divine in the universe, and seeking to experience that divinity within one’s self. The Divine is One, though it may be called by many names. It must be realized that God is all-pervasive, and nothing exists without the power of the divine. One should not allow one’s faith in God to be affected by the ups and downs of life. All troubles should be treated as tests and challenges to be faced with courage and faith.
They should learn from the example of Ranthi Deva, who retained his faith in God and exhibited his compassion for the suffering despite the extreme privation to which he was reduced by the vicissitudes of life. To feed a hungry man, he and his family gave up the meager food they had gathered; they even denied themselves water in order to relieve the thirst of a man. The Divine had subjected him to these ordeals and later blessed him with grace.
Prahlada [a prince very devoted to God from childhood] was unaffected by all the tortures to which he was subjected because he saw the form of Vishnu [ God] in everybody and in everything. He exemplifies the strength derived from the love of God to the exclusion of everything. Worldly love is blind and fickle. Divine love is all-embracing and defies description. When the heart is freed of all impurities, it can experience the Divine. It will revel in the bliss of that experience and will not seek any other trivial pleasure. When one is immersed in the nectar of divine love, he experiences ineffable bliss. Such a person has direct experience of the Divine.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, April 1986
