What is
the purpose of human life?
Adi Sankara was asked,
‘What is the purpose of this human life?’ (Kimsaare
Samsaaram). To which
he replied, ‘The purpose of life is the experiences we gain,
the successes and the failures, the joys and sorrows’
(Samsaare
kimsaaram)
I was asked why the world was facing so many
trials and tribulations. The problem is persons seem more interested
in asking this question, but no one seems to adopt in practice,
the solution provided. You do not want to transcend your
desires, despite the Mahaans declaring desires as the root cause
of all your miseries. Instead, you continue clinging to desires,
and persist in questioning!
If you set out for
a particular place and do not know the way to reach it, you must
ask for directions and travel along that route. What is the use of staying put at a place and asking for directions
to your destination? When will you ever reach it?
You would have observed
this when you are on pilgrimage to Tirupati. You would have planned
on the Suprabhatha darshan (early
morning darshan)
at 3:30 a.m. When you try to wake up your children, they would
say, ‘Let everyone get ready; wake me up last’.
This is the present situation
in spirituality too. Until such time persons decide that they
have had enough, desires bind them to the world.
That is what Andal sings
in Thiruppaavai. She knocks at every door, waking up the residents
to accompany her for the darshan of Lord Krishna (‘Innum
uranguthiyo? Manikkadhavam thaazh thiravai’).
And each inmate replies, ‘Has everyone
else arrived?’ Andal replies, ‘Yes, they have. Come
and see for yourself’, but yet the world has not woken.
The symbolism is that she knocks at the
door of every heart, but persons are not yet ready for awakening.
This is the problem.
Several Mahaans have revealed
the purpose of this human life in several ways; right from the
Rishis of yore to Gautama Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed Nabi, Raghavendra
Swami and Shirdi Sai Baba, to name a few. Have you ever tried
to act upon their advice? You are contented with burning camphor
and lighting incense, offering prayers in front of their portraits.
You have not realized that it is in your interests to follow their
advice.
All Mahaans have made just two statements:
1. Love is God, and
2. Desire is the root-cause of all miseries.
There is nothing else for any Mahaan to state.
But
what persons do in reality, is have a Mahaan’s portrait
and pray to it, and that too, only as long as their immediate
kith and kin support them. The moment someone talks ill of the
Mahaan, that is the end of the “faith”.
Siva Shankar
Baba does not allow himself to be hoodwinked by such false faith.
He will repeatedly offer guidance on the
right path; He knows that most persons turn deaf ears to this
advice; yet he continues because he does not expect anything.
This is his prime achievement.
I never discuss
what
I personally do not believe in. I do not even consider myself
as God or god-man. If persons are not willing to get transformed,
why must I disturb the Lord who trusts in me. That is why I stopped
revealing myself as God or even a god-man. Even if I term myself
a ‘social reformer’, persons are unable to accept
it. So I say I am doing social service. And from then, persons
began to laud me to the skies, ‘Baba is such a noble person.
He has schools and hospitals constructed’. This is the language
persons seem to understand. I am what I
am. I do not gain or lose anything whether you accept me or not.
Why must I convince you?
God
has blessed me with all comforts. I have toured various places
overseas. I have offered all the prayers there are. I know God. There is nothing
further for me to achieve. My mind has traversed to the Beyond.
If someone
wishes to learn medicine, it is he who has to study well, acquire
a seat in a good medical college. You are the one who has taken
a decision, so you have to make the necessary efforts. He who
wants to attain Divinity, takes the requisite efforts. He meditates,
learns yoga, undertakes pilgrimages and observes fasting. There
is not much of a difference between becoming a doctor and becoming
God. A doctor knows to treat his patients and God knows to take
care of the world. As far as God is concerned, there is no difference.
What
is upaasana maargham (meditating
upon a particular deity)? Slokas (eulogizing
deities) describe the deity, for instance, Shakthi is portrayed as
wearing a gold crown, adorned with a green nose-ring, holding
a sugarcane bow in one hand, a parrot on the other, seated on
either a tiger or lion. You focus on this form, and continuously
chant mantras glorifying the form, that one day the form manifests
itself. You gave a form to your prayers and they manifested themselves
in that form. And you will accept God only if He takes that form
you are familiar with.
In one
sense, my life is very similar to that of Siddhartha’s.
I also left behind my family, the luxurious life I was leading,
my wealth, all these, in quest of God, and returned to my family
members only because God wanted me to get them settled in life
before
I could start serving Him. And God, at
the appropriate moment, severed my familial bonds.
There
are two ways to attain the Lord. The first one is seeking Him,
after being frustrated by continued sorrows in life. I do not
belong to this category. Ask anyone who has been with me in my
yesteryears; they will be able to describe the princely life I
had led.
I gave up all my worldly riches, because of my yearning for God.
Siddhartha too was of the same mould, and it is his transformation
into the Buddha that made him declare that there is nothing but
misery in this world and that persons will become aware of this
by experience only; they never learn lessons from others’
experiences.
A mother
cautions her child not to touch fire, because fire will scorch
its fingers. The baby will not heed her words. Only when its fingers
get burnt, does it realize that its mother is right, and will
never again dare to go near fire.
(continues next week...)
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