Problems of the Sadhaka

In the following discourse, on Eashwaramma day, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba says that man has a choice of two paths: when involved, he is confronted by six internal foes, and when non-involved, he is helped by six internal friends.

An able monarch will have his ministers under control; he will direct them along proper lines and maintain the peace and security of the kingdom. On the other hand, a monarch who allows himself to be controlled by his ministers does not deserve the throne, and his kingdom has no peace or security.

The mind is the monarch in man; the senses are the ministers. The mind is the slave of its servants and so, the realm has no peace. Every sadhaka [spiritual aspirant] who aspires to achieve the expression and expansion of the Divine in him has to, therefore, earn mastery over the senses. That is the first step. The next one is the conquest of the mind. The third is the up­rooting of innate tendencies, the vasanas [tendencies that are innate in a person from life to life], and the fourth is attainment of wisdom or jnana. The branches of this tree are the senses; the trunk is the mind; and, the roots are the innate tendencies. All three have to be over­come and destroyed, so that the aware­ness of the atmic reality can be gained.

In the waking state, the senses have free play. The gross body is most active then. In the dream stage, the senses sub­sist in their subtle form. The mind revels in its fancies then. In the dream, the subtle body is active. It creates many attractive and astounding scenes and inci­dents for its own edification. In the deep sleep state, the mind, along with the subtle aspects of the senses, are submerged in the ego or the causal body. This is the shoonya [empty/void] stage, according to Vedantic terminology. It means the vacant stage!

It is vacant because there is no positive gain associated with it. It does not con­fer awareness of the atma [consciousness or soul] and the bliss of that awareness. That can happen only in the fourth state after the gross (sthoola), subtle (sookshma), and causal (kaarana) states. That fourth state is named the super­-causal, the maha  kaarana. The waking state is the gross region of Brahma, the Creator, when activity abounds. It merges in the dream, the Vishnu region, when mere existence or stithi abounds. That too merges in deep sleep, when both dis­solve and lose their identity in laya [Rudra, another name for Shiva, the destroyer].

Every indi­vidual experiences srishti (Brahma, Creator), stithi (Vishnu, maintenance), and   laya (Rudra, dissolution) every day. But, he fails to recognize it and benefit by the experience. He mistakes birth as creation and death as dissolution. This is sheer ignorance. One has to transcend these three changes and establish himself in the stable unchanging maha kaarana, the atma. One has to be cautioned against believing that the victories over senses, mind, vasanas and the attain­ment of the awareness can be won one at a time. Parallel efforts must be made in all four from the very beginning. You can­not place oil in one place, the lamp in another, and the match in a third and hope for light. One has to succeed in master­ing the senses, conquering the mind, and eliminating the  vasanas all at the same time.

The mind hops from object to object with incredible speed. It rises to the heights and drops to the depths with every wink of the eye. It hides, deludes, and distorts. One can subdue it through con­centration only. The process can be practised in either of two directions—the A-rupa or the Sa‑rupa. A‑rupa means ‘unbound’. One feels that he is not the doer or enjoyer; he is only an agent of God, a tool, and an instrument. One is not affected, in any way when the act results in a good or bad outcome. One has no identity with the rupa or body. Sa‑rupa medi­tation gets lost in dualities of pleasure and pain, and profit and loss, for it considers the name and form, the body and its acti­vities as valid.

Similarly, man has the choice of two paths—the  pravritti  marga (the path of involvement) or the nivritti marga (the path of non‑involvement). When involved, man is confronted by six internal foes—lust, anger, greed, attachment, pride, and hatred. When non-involved, man is helped by six internal friends—sense con­trol, mind control, fortitude, contentment, faith, and equanimity. The human body is deified as a temple, yes, but the foes have to be evacuated and the friends admitted before divinity can establish itself there.

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, June 1983