Wings of Sivananda-Valentina
September
Let us say adieu to the glorious August; throughout this month the Call of Krishna was to raise you from matter to Spirit. In proportion that you could use your consciousness idealistically and not materialistically - in that proportion you heard the Call of the Divine. It is not to ignore the mundane but to master it - that is the Call. And that is possible when you are entertaining lofty ideas every day, and not theoretically, but practically. When it becomes your bread, then you are hearing the Call. So gratefully, solemnly and simply we are bowing to that call which always should be the substratum of our lives. Hear, those who have the ears!
...The Lord Krishna was calling you to what? To Truth and Freedom. When we hear the Call we entertain simultaneously the longing for the true values and the freedom from sin, disease and death. So let this month be called Freedom!
Student: Guru, this word "freedom" - it is so popular today; everybody says they want to be "free." Could Guru please elaborate?
Valentina: Indeed, freedom when contemplated and meditated by a Sage is one concept, when contemplated by an honest but unspiritual man is quite a bit another concept, and when thought carelessly by the carnal man is an abused concept!
Second student: We can sure see how this freedom now is taken by the average American and where it leads when abused.
Valentina: True! There is much abuse of freedom. The laissez-faire is taken for freedom! And the abuse of freedom is tragic. It results in very evil Karma. Everything is "freedom" for the fool who justifies his foolishness, arrogance and laissez-faire... I foresee questions, but really it is so clear and so axiomatic that to elaborate upon it is not necessary!
Third student: It is hard to think objectively, as we Americans are mighty proud of our freedom and civilization!
Valentina: That makes me think about what Gurudev Sivananda so often used to say about modern civilization. He, for instance, would stress that our days are only the so-called "civilization,", indeed removed from real freedom and culture. How can, says Swami Sivananda, there be real culture if greed, passion, selfishness and lust are increasing day by day, hour by hour?! Man, indeed, has lost his manliness. And what is worse, every man feels himself an authority; no one wants to improve, to submit to authority! "Everyone feels himself a Guru!"
First student: I am particularly struck that every man feels himself an authority; it is so characteristic in all fields of life.
Valentina: Yes, everyone asserts his authority; few can submit to the authority. Gurudev said it so well! - that "the ignorant man thinks it is beneath his dignity and against his freedom to submit to somebody's command. This is a great blunder," he said. Unless you went through intense disciplines and had sincere Guru Bhakti in some periods of your "spiritual career", how can you ever have any real character, humility or knowledge?! Continues Gurudev, "If you reflect carefully, you will see that your individual freedom is in reality an absolutely abject slavery to your own ego, your own vanity. It is the vagaries of the sensual mind. He who attains victory over the mind and the ego is the hero. It is to attain this victory that man submits to higher spiritualized personality of the Guru. By this submission he vanquishes his lower ego and realizes the bliss of Infinite Consciousness."
Student: Guru, what You, for the most part, have told us about is the fool's freedom - how about more of the Sage?
Valentina: But... didn't I just quote Sivananda's concept of freedom?! Student: Yes, indeed, this somewhat illustrates how the wise man should feel, but I want You to pinpoint and I want to feel Your views more!
Valentina: Let us start with the man who is on the path towards freedom - a thinking man. Well, freedom as the freedom of conscious will is the freedom of the wise! The fool's freedom is often attributed to the "free will" too. But at close investigation it is more than evident that there is not a trace f the real will or, for that matter, choice; there is desire to be expressed only. Willfulness, arrogance, possessiveness, dictatorship often parade as "free will." The sage smiles at such "will." There is freedom of will only for prudent man, for reasoning man. True, there is a great "determinism" in Nature and it is difficult to say where the free will ends or where it begins. Nevertheless, there is definitely a turn towards a choice, towards the ability to discriminate in man who is somewhat above the mentality of an orangutan! The freedom to do wrong is even below the orangutan!
As to the Sage, he contemplates freedom as the Supreme Power - the One Eternal who is above all, who, when realized, changes the life of man, gives him true freedom. through union with Itself, That happens only when one frees himself, really frees himself, from slavery to nature. Nature actually is that which you make out of it. The Sages use nature; the savage is used by nature and the "civilized man" is not at all superior to the savage. Even the scholar "shames us by his bifold life."
What the Bhagavad Gita calls deluded or ignorant or unspiritual constitutes the usual mentality of practically the whole mankind. This mentality does not perceive the Divine either within or outside regardless how many books are read or how many lectures heard. Does it mean that it is totally impossible for the materialistic man to turn to God? No, it is not totally impossible. The people who do not have the natural affinity with inner life at least have to know that it is, as I often say, business with God. It is not just the idle talk, the idle curiosity, the idle competition or the idle imagination. It is real and very serious endeavour. If the worldly man at least has sufficient respect to the values which he does not yet understand, - he starts the deepening of his mentality.
Student: Could You please concretely tell me from the Western point of view what precisely enslaves us and keeps us away from freedom?
Valentina: In you own Scriptures, Western Scriptures, it is said that there are seven deadly sins which take you away from freedom. The most paramount of all sins is considered, by the way, pride. It is always put as the most potent of all the cardinal sins. Pride. "He that is proud - eats up himself; pride is his glass, his trumpet, his chronicle, and whatever praises itself by the deed - devours itself by self-praise." Better than Shakespeare - I can't!
The second one is covetousness which is similar to acquisitiveness or avariciousness or greed; it has also many connotations. It is considered a deadly sin.
Then, of course, well known to everybody - lust, that's for sure. So long as lust (for whatever!) smells good in our nostrils, we smell bad for the divine! Lust is the cardinal sin which one should fear most. Lust deprives the senses and makes man a beggar. Lust is the greatest enemy of the Divine Law. And then, of course, envy is that green monster, the snake, which devours your vitality, your well-being, your peace and your sense of justice.
Another deadly sin is gluttony - very objectionable indeed. And gluttony is not only physically loading yourself with drink and food, but one can be a glutton psychologically too - literally, the lack of control in food, in other sensual pleasures too, but food mostly.
And the sixth one is sloth, laziness, inability to D.I.N., or do it now, to fulfill things, to be alert, the Tamasic procrastination.
The seventh one is anger. Indeed a deadly sin and a very "impotent passion!" Anger begins in folly and ends in repentance according to ancient wisdom. And Emerson: "Man makes his inferiors his superiors through his anger!" [Turning to the student] Well, is it clearer only because "the Bible said so?"
Student: Maybe I am very childish, but really, it is clearer than when You speak so ardently of the Bhagavad Gita!
Valentina: [Laughs] Well, it is not at all a bad idea to translate facts into native language! Bread is bread, but if I shall call it in other languages, you perhaps will forget the purpose of it. Eat your bread and be well - call it any name you understand best.
Student: I understand best what You just so well explained - that the deadly sins make me a bankrupt.
Valentina: Good so. Don't poison your "bread." Think about the danger and quickly eliminate the poison. One has to get rid of those deadly sins first before ne can hope to be able to meditate and lead an intensely heightened inner life. Without such inwardness it is impossible to realize God. So the first thing (I now put into your parlance!), the first step is to remove those deadly sins! And in Raja Yoga it is called Yama and Niyama - the eradication of the deadly sins and the cultivation of the virtues.
Student: Please help me to make my bread real good!
Valentina: Well, let us dwell on the cardinal virtues, your strength, the bread of your life! In fact, take any kind of a virtue, whatever one is fond of most, - it will secure your freedom!
There are four cardinal virtues and then the three were added later on by the modern western thinkers. The first cardinal virtue, you might remember it, is considered Prudence! And then there is such thing as Temperance, then Justice, and the fourth one is Fortitude, which is also forbearance, endurance. Prudence is an ingredient of Mindfulness. The essence of Prudence is of a prohibitive nature: "Thou shalt not"... And, of course, this abstinence and control vary according to intelligence and development of man. There is nothing more annoying than a prudent fool or coward, for he will, in his caution, abstain even from a good deed or word and will call it prudence! But an intelligent prudence is a delight for the one who has it and those who witness it. A wise man, for instance, uses prudence as decorum and is silent when it is better to be silent than to say a careless word which can bear grave consequences. By the same token, he may boldly say a very dangerous (for his popularity!) word out of the same prudence, mind you! For in the long run it would prove very unprudential not to say the daring word! Thus, prudence is not an ordinary caution, but it indeed is what the Lord, Sri Krishna, called "skill in action." It is a special sagacity in the management and the adjustment of life. Quick quality. Good virtue -the cardinal one!
Temperance is a control, is a general control and measure, not only in your physical body but in your mental body; it is measure. It is aloofness from everything which is none of your business, which is ugly, unsightly, inappropriate for the person who wants Perfection. Temperance - very fine quality. So is Fortitude. It is to be able to stand any kind of an obstacle bravely. Very fine, is it not? It is also a backbone.
According to the Scriptures, Justice is also one of those cardinal virtues. Take it philosophically and see how very, very horrible it is not to have justice, not to give the right tribute to the right endeavour or to the right achievement or to the right person or whatever.
Student: How about justice to the evil doers?
Valentina: That is a very appropriate question. I was hoping for it while eulogizing justice to the good man. Well, it seems to me that I cannot improve on Confucius, just as I cannot improve on Shakespeare. According to the old sage: "Good for good, but for the evil - Justice." - and by justice to the evil he certainly doesn't mean a pat on the back. [Pause]
Student: Wow! That's something! You mentioned also the added virtues?
Valentina: The added ones are Faith, Hope and Love. In Russian they are called Vera, Nadejda, Lubov - Faith, Hope, Love; these are given as the female names. September 17th is the trio-names-day and Russians have much reverence to Names-days and elaborately celebrate them and honour the immenninieck - the "names-dayer!" Not that one lives up to his great name - but this is quite another chapter.
...You are to cultivate your virtues not because you are rewarded, and avoid your sins not because you are punished, but because you are even as the artist who loves the cultivation of beauty for beauty's sake and eradication of dissonances for its own sake, just because it is r-r-right to be like so. Well, when one is equipped with some background of a clear-cut thought, when one is totally set, then only one can consider the concept of Freedom. Otherwise, of course, my Children, it is just a handsome talk. I am now stressing it because these many days of September are dedicated to the contemplation on Freedom, the most noble idea which we have to cultivate, love, strive towards. But the price is high! And it has to be paid.
You cannot expect any result from anything without practice - what an axiom! But at times it is helpful to speak in truisms, and that is what I allowed myself now. There is no such thing as getting something without putting into it something. You have to pay! Now, the payment for freedom is the struggle against slavery. The methods are many! Make your authority the Bible or the Bhagavad Gita. Choose and follow...
...And before we shall start our silence, please ponder upon what you perceive as Perfection and what you would like to know as total freedom from sin. Sin is the opposite of Perfection: it is falsehood and you want to be free from it. Freedom leads to Perfection. Don't think about sin; think about Freedom!
Student: It is unusual to hear the word "sin" from You.
Valentina: But you don't hear it from me. You hear about sin as falsehood. I don't harp on it; I mention it only as a faux pas, a false step. So, after all, I am true to myself. I don't entertain your topics! [Laughter]
Sin is falsehood. It is just the wrongly directed emotion. Whenever you're confronted by the sin of yours or of the world or of another man or of the situation, think about it as falsehood.
Student: How do we fight falsehood manifested as sin?
Valentina: By declaring that it is falsehood, that it has no power. You can touch it if necessary in the sense that Jesus touched the leper in order to heal him. He knew that it is the leper,but He did not think that it is right to be the leper! Jesus would say, "This is not right, this is a falsehood. I don't believe it; I don't accept it. There is no such thing as deformity in the Perfection of God. Go and be whole." [Pause] He did not think that this is the true stage of man, and therefore He could heal him, provided the leper thought the same. Here is the great, great point - provided the leper thinks the same. If the leper thinks that his condition is inevitable and that it is not false, then Jesus cannot cure him - impossible! It takes two - the sinner and the Lord - to declare that falsehood is falsehood. Short silence] Do you remember, there were ten lepers? Do you remember?
Student: No, I do not know it.
Valentina: Well there were, and only one turned to thank Him. [Short silence]
...Falsehood is not real, for only Truth is real. Falsehood cannot be real. It is a non persona grata. It appears as negative existence.
Student: What makes this negative existence, what gives life to it?
Valentina: The apparent life is given through the misdirected energy.
Student: Only the misdirected energy? Say something more about that! It sounds very encouraging!
Valentina: Encouraging to what? To sin and to mis-directing the energy?! [Laughter] What I said is so obvious that I wonder what more can be said.
Student: Something more about evil, my specialty!
Valentina: Poor specialty! For every evil (whatever, in whatever form), let it be addiction, let it be even a crime, let it be a disease - it is the effect of something, is it not? It is not really the power as such. It is the effect of some mis-directed power. All right, so if it is the effect, it is removable by the greater power. [Turning to the student] And in what is the greater power?
Student: The greater power is in some good deed, I suppose.
Valentina: It is the thought behind the deed. The good deed and the bad deed may appear similar, but it is the motive behind which makes the deed. The knife in itself is just the instrument, is it not? In the hands of the surgeon it is performing something good - promoting the life; in the hands of the murderer it is performing something horrible - taking away the life. So it is obviously not the knife of the surgeon and not the knife of the murderer which is a criminal deed, but it is... the psychic energy behind the knife. When the surgeon uses his knife, it is the correctly directed energy. When the murderer uses his, - it is the misdirected energy.
Student: Shouldn't one have great faith in the Divine which can remove falsehood?
Valentina: Precisely. But in the case of the neophyte it is a gradual change. Don't hurry God, but become less and less afraid of all those dreadful things which surround you - for they are not of God's Will which is the Absolute Benevolence.
Second student: But if only Truth is real, why do we suffer?
Valentina: This is a new chapter, sir; has nothing to do with the previous thoughts, but I am pretty sure you know about the Law of Cause and Effect, don't you? And that's the answer to your question. Sometimes a man is literally a victim of his previous bad deeds, and therefore, without any seeming reason, he is in the most deplorable situation physically, mentally and spiritually! Supposing man is moral and good now but was vicious in his previous life. He goes through very terrible turmoil all the time, all kinds of obstacles and all that.
The Law of Karma, the Law of Cause and Effect, is merciless, as you all know, mathematical, precise! Whatever you do comes back to you. Whatever you think results in some word and in some deed which in turn produces some effect which influences your life. It is a big chain of cause and effect which is very, very difficult to overcome. All our suffering is the effect, the result of some misdirected energy.
Third student: Guru, what is the way out of this Karmic bind?
Valentina: Knowledge! Unless you are deeply disappointed, deeply hurt by that life in Ignorance, unless you start to rebel against that terrible slavery to the evil forces within you, you are in the rut, in the never-ending Samsara. Usually one is either shaken by the humiliation of meaningless human life or is inspired by something which surpasses it, surpasses infinitely. In both cases you turn to Truth and your life is changed dramatically. Not that the great effort is not involved, but the very effort becomes the song.
Student: Concretely - how to start coming to Truth?
Valentina: A new attitude of mind is required, completely new attitude of mind. It requires protracted Sadhana, protracted meditation upon God as the only Power, which can neutralize all the lesser powers - the powers of the Case and Effect included. It is not at all easy to change your mentality. It is not at all easy to start meditating day after day and night after night upon the Supreme who is above the dualities, above the good and the evil. But when you are all the time appealing to that ONE, you sort of pronounce everything else the lesser power, as the half-truth, and thus you establish the new Will, the One concentrated Force within yourself. It is very difficult but this is the only way to Truth or Peace that passes all understanding...
Return to Books 2 Go to top of page