One day a disciple of Poojya Gurudev (pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya) asked, "Gurudev! You have chanted Gayatri Mantra and I know many others who have also chanted the same Gayatri mantra of 24 syllables; but why could they not accomplish siddhi like you?"
Gurudev smiled and said "My son! I have chanted Gayatri Mantra later; first of all I have refined my outer and inner selves. Without this all the spiritual accomplishments are futile. I have washed my mind like a washer-man scrub dirty clothes. How can a person get the desired benefits by simply chanting mantra alone?"
After saying this Gurudev narrated an incident which he himself witnessed. "Two saints were doing Tapa-sadhana in the Himalayas. Both lived without clothes and observed complete silence. There was a small piece of land from which roots, vegetables and fruits could be grown. They lived in the caves and ate fruits and vegetables. Once during summer, both of them started cleaning near their caves. This operation continued for two days. One day one of them occupied a small portion of land (supposed to be) of other saint. On this the second saint got very angry; he frowningly asked the first saint to vacate the land immediately. Although they were observing silence the quarrel escalated and reached the stage of kicking and punching.
The first one plucked out the beard of the second and as a result his chin started bleeding"
Poojya Gurudev said " I wondered what kind of ascetics doing sadhana in Himalayan caves these were? Shame on such a sadhana! Unless a person refines his inner self, nothing worthwhile can be achieved what to talk of mantra siddhi. Even if it is achieved, it will serve no purpose other than destroying oneself like Bhasmasur. Bhagirath also did penance but that was for social welfare. He abandoned everything for the public good, and then only he was able to bring Mother Ganga on earth. Had Bhasmasur also aimed at similar objective, he would have been able to help many people. He could have requested Lord Shiva to bless him with such a boon which empowered him to instantly cure a person upon putting his hand on his head. But he could not do so because he did not refine his inner-self. So long as there are greed, attachment and sensuality, a person cannot rise in sadhana. These demonic tendencies pull the sadhak downwards.
Only after passing the primary class of self refinement, a person can climb the first step of spirituality. I lived only on bread of barley and buttermilk for 24 years. I did not take any salt, sweet or spicy food. I controlled the tongue; then only I could control the self. If taste buds are controlled, all the ten senses and the mind are tamed. And if mental control is achieved, realization of self becomes easy whether the sadhak is Jain, Muslim, Buddha, Christian or Hindu.
Indeed the physical process of Tapa entails conscious control of the natural urge of the body for convenience, pleasure and sensuality and the mind's fickleness, egotism, greediness, etc. Control always generates power. If water is boiled in a pot, it will evaporate and will disappear in the atmosphere. There is nothing strange about it; but when a tight fitting lid is placed over the pot, the pressurized steam may explode the pot. The accidents occurring through gas stoves and pressure cookers are the results of such a restraint. The importance of balanced control of physical senses and the mind is based on this premise. The significance of celibacy is that the vital energy is prevented from wastage through indulgence and is made to rise upwards to sublimate the consciousness.
The process of Tapa commences with simple and short rituals. These rituals may appear ridiculous and one may wonder how such small physical and mental activities could help in achieving the high goal of self-realization. But one has to understand that the rituals of worship give the direction. Once the direction is rightly set and the wheel starts rolling, its far reaching consequences should not appear strange.
The flag and signal play an important role in the running and stopping of a train. When they are green, the train runs and when they are red, it stops. Undoubtedly the flag or the colors of a signal themselves do not have the power to stop or start the train; even then the signal conveyed by them has its own significance. If this process sis disturbed, the trains will either stand still or will be smashed after colliding with each other.
Several trains arrive at and pass through the junction. Their destination and direction are decided by a small lever. The making of the track for different trains at the junction is easily done by a low rank railway employee. This appears to be a very insignificant event, but its consequences are far reaching. If one investigates after few hours of this event, he will find that one train turned towards north and the other towards south of the junction and in due course of time the distance between the two trains became thousands of miles. At the crossroads of life, whichever direction it is turned to, it will continues in its own. An extraordinary difference may be seen in the persons adopting different directions. As a contrast to the people involved in negative activities and enervating indulgences, the progress of virtuous persons can be traced to the inspiration they derive from the lives of great persons. Each one of the rituals of worship is helpful in molding the way of life. A rail track is simple and cheap, but how can a costly and compels engine along with several compartments run without a track? The rituals of worship or methods of sadhana may be compared to the railway track.
We will be discussing the significaned of difeerent rituals one by one in the forthcoming issues.
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