Steps in Sadhana
Hinduism recognizes that there are several ways open for the sadhaka [spiritual aspirant] to progress spiritually. Baba says that in the modern age, the large majority of us can progress toward salvation through bhakti [devotion], as the other ways involve rigorous disciplines that are beyond the capacity of most of us. Bhakti can be developed by constant bhajan [singing of devotional hymns], japam [recitation of the names of God], and namasmarana [repetition and remembrance of the name of God]. In the nama sadhana [spiritual effort with recitation of the name], there is no such distinction.
Hindus, Christians, and Muslims might differ on various points, but they are all one in the glorification of the name of God. All of them recite, repeat, and remember the name of the one Lord, though the language through which the name is expressed is different. A person of faith may turn the rosary as appropriate to his religion. But for everyone there is no spiritual discipline so fruitful, so universal or as holy as these: japam, dhyanam [meditation], and smaranam. The fruition of bhakti is the attitude of complete surrender to the will of God and accepting everything that comes as His grace.
However bhakti itself will not take us far, unless our daily lives are disciplined by satyam (truth), dharma (right conduct), shanti (peace), and prema (love). Satyam is truth but is used in a wider sense. Swami says that, “truth is not something that is modified by time, space, or guna [attributes of all created things]. It must be the same forever, unaffected or unchanged; then alone is it truth. It should not be proved false by some subsequent event or knowledge.” He also says, ”satyam must be treated as essential as breathing itself. Just as a body without breath is useless and begins to rot and stink within a few minutes, similarly life without truth is useless and becomes the stinking abode of strife and grief. Truth is the all-protecting God. The Lord who is satya-swarupa [embodiment of truth] grants his darshan [holy vision] to those of truthful speech and loving heart.
Dharma is a body of principles that are fundamental to social stability and individual progress. There are various branches of dharma-kartavya [social responsibilities], varna dharma [caste duties], ashram dharma [conduct pertaining to the stage of man’s development], etc, but the aim of all is to help man, stage by stage, toward liberation and freedom from the chain of birth and death. One common definition of dharma is that it represents the adherence to the rule: “Do unto others what you wish them to do unto you; do not do unto others what you do not wish them to do unto you. Do not have a double standard. Treat all as your own self…. The treatment you wish others to render to you is the measure of your duty to them.”
Shanti is not merely the absence of anger and agitation, but is a positive quality. Swami says, “shanti embellishes every act; it softens the hardest core of man; it takes you to the footstool of the Lord and wins the vision of God for you. It knows no distinction, but is a force that establishes equality. The honey of love is the enchanting flower of life.” He further says, “The quality of shanti denotes the capacity to bear success and failure, joy and misery, defeat and victory, with perfect equanimity.”
This attitude of mind is explained in Shaiva siddhanta [worship of Lord Shiva] and results from a complete surrender to the will of God. This is the prerequisite of nishkama karma or action without desire for its fruits.
Swami says that “prema is the quality of sarvasamanta [universal equality] and ahimsa [non-violence], but also of the duty of love because every being is as much a spark of divinity as you are…an important difference between Indian religious concepts of love and western philosophical concepts is that the Indian concept is not restricted to human beings, but covers all living beings.”
As an aid to the development of prema, Baba recommends two mental exercises: “(1) Always consider the faults of others, however big, to be insignificant and negligible. Consider your faults however insignificant or negligible, to be big and feel repentant. By these means, you avoid developing bigger faults and defects and acquire the qualities of brotherliness and forbearance. (2) Whatever you do, do it remembering that God is omnipotent. He sees, hears, and knows everything. Whatever you say remember that God hears every word. Discriminate between the true and the false and speak only the truth; whatever you do, discriminate between the right and the wrong and do only the right.”
If these four human values of satyam, dharma, shanti, and prema s are cultivated and practiced by everyone, then “there will be no envy between man and man, selfish greed will cease, the interest of others will be respected, and world peace can be established.”
Conduct guided by these four precepts will lead to nishkama karma and will not add to our stock of karmic debts. However, we have to face the consequences of our previous karma, as Swami explains: “When grief overtakes you and pain has you in its grip, the Lord does not announce the exact sin for which that particular experience is being given. You are left to deduce in a general way that every experience is a lesson and every loss is a gain. The purpose is to improve the individual and other considerations are secondary.”
We are also told that God’s grace can save us from our previous karma. There appears to be an element of contradiction between the law of karma: as you sow, so shall you reap, and the doctrine of grace that saves you from your karma. How and when does grace intervene? Can it wipe out the large accumulation of karma? Will karma be considerably diminished by the sadhana of going through its consequences? Spiritual development cannot co-exist with a mountain of accumulated karma.
The other part of the explanation is given by Baba thus: “When severe pain torments you, the doctor gives you a morphine injection and you do not feel the pain, though it [pain] is still there. Grace is like morphine; the pain is not felt though you go through the karma! Grace can also take away the malignancy of the karma that you have to undergo. You know that drugs have an expiry date, after which they are ineffective. Well, the effect of karma is declared null by grace even though the account is there and has to be rendered.” In other words, events will occur in accordance with the law of karma, but the individual will not feel the pain or sorrow as a result of these events. Connecting external events with the ego causes pain and sorrow, but when spiritual knowledge eliminates the ego, both joy and sorrow will be eliminated automatically.
~C. Balesinham, Colombo.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Feb. 1968
