Perfect story for present era
Namaskar,
Baba’s
each and every story and analogy holds great import. And our duty as
sadhakas is to understand the inner meaning of His parables, and not
just take them at face value.
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Story of boatman’s wife
Here
below Baba is recounting a scene from the mythological epic the
Rámáyańa. In a nutshell, Rama bestows four fruits (káma, artha, dharma
and mokśa) unto the boatman’s wife, and then Lakśman gives one piece of
fruit to the woman. And it is the intrigue of Lakśman’s gift that is the
center of this analysis. To begin, kindly read the below excerpt.
“Once Rám and Lakśman were going across the Ganges. When they crossed the river by boat, the boatman found his vessel converted into gold. He conveyed this news to his wife who brought all her wooden belongings to the bank and converted them into gold with the magic touch of Rám's feet. Thereupon the boatman asked his wife why she was wasting her time and energy by carrying her belongings to the bank instead of bringing those feet into her house. The man then did this. She received from Rámji four fruits which satisfied both wife and husband. Lakśman came later and when he was asked to give something, he gave one fruit.”
“The four fruits given by Rám were káma, artha, dharma and mokśa. Fulfilment of materialistic desires is called káma, the fulfilment of psychic desire is artha; fulfilment of psycho-spiritual desire is dharma and the fulfilment of spiritual desire is mokśa.”
“Lakśman said thereupon to the couple that the fruits given by his elder brother could not be digested without the fruit given by him. The fruit given by young Lakśman was “devotion”. That is why devotees say that “devotion” is a precious thing; it's the touchstone.” (1)
So Rám grants the boatman’s wife four fruits - káma, artha, dharma and mokśa. And then Laksman offers another fruit, the gift of bhakti. When giving this gift, Lakśman explains, “the fruits given by his elder brother [Rám] could not be digested without the fruit given by him [Lakśman].”
Why indigestion
So
what does this mean? What is meant by the idea that without bhakti, one
cannot properly digest the fruit of káma (satiation of physical
longing), artha (satiation of psychic longing), dharma (satiation of
psycho-spiritual longing) and mokśa (satiation of spiritual longing).
In
this present era of materialism, the masses of people are lusting after
physical desires. All day long people aim to satisfy themselves on this
mundane plane by eating, drinking, consuming, buying, procreating etc.
But sadly, they do not find fulfillment. Rather, they invite their own
demise and disappointment. For instance, a person might eat so much
tasty food that they suffer and ultimately die of obesity, or heart
disease, or any number of ailments. The same is true of alcoholics, drug
addicts, and people chasing after lustful desires. They contract
disease, suffer physically, and meet their untimely death. It is a sad
tale. And the reason behind this is that with an utter lack of bhakti,
they cannot properly attend to their physical needs and get the
fulfillment of káma so that they can progress. One has to attend to all
sorts of physical duties to maintain their physical life: occupation /
livelihood, family duty, social duty, existential work like cooking,
eating, bathing, shopping etc. And those with bhakti will attend to
those duties in the right way in order to advance on the path towards
supreme fulfillment. Whereas those who lack bhakti get completely
entwined in those allurements. Due to their depraved outlook, they drown
themselves in those mundane pursuits. That is what is meant by the idea
that without bhakti one cannot digest the fruit of káma.
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Next
is artha. Here also without bhakti one will suffer from severe
indigestion. In this present era, due to a severe lack of bhakti, people
suffer from all kinds of psychic ailments: depression, confusion,
greed, arrogance, manias, phobias, suicidal thoughts, racism,
provincialism, and intellectual extravaganza etc. The list is dizzying.
Sadly, with their psychic proclivities unchecked and not goaded unto the
path of spirituality, people easily succumb to innumerable mental
weaknesses. That is what is meant by the idea that without bhakti one
cannot digest the fruit of artha. Whereas with bhakti, one will use
their intellect to proceed on the path of neo-humanism and preach and
teach dharmic principles unto others. They will use their knowledge to
maintain their own psychic balance and serve society in all sorts of
ways.
And, as we know well, there is no question of dharma and moksa without a sufficient degree of bhakti.
Conclusion
Bhakti
is the be-all and end-all in the life of a sadhaka. With bhakti, life
will be fruitful, and without bhakti it will be dry and meaningless.
Ananda
Marga ideology states, “Realization is unlikely without devotion.
Devotion is the bridge. Proper knowledge and action are also needed, but
devotion is the prime factor, the essence.” (2)
In Him,
Dharmamitra
Longer version of story
Here
is a more detailed version of the story of the boatman’s wife when she
met Ram. The meaning is the same, only in this discourse, more details
of the actual story have been given.
“There is a short story. Once Maharśi Vishvamitra (Maharśi means “great sage”) was crossing the River Ganges with Ráma and Lakśmańa on his way to Mithilá….Vishvamitra was going to Mithila with Ráma and Lakśmańa. Remember that I have already told you that the Rámáyańa (from which the story has been taken) is pure fiction and thus one should not expect it to be consistent with reality. It is educative, no doubt, but nor factually true. When they reached the other bank of the river they saw to their amazement that, at the touch of the holy feet of Ráma, their boat had been transformed into gold. The astonished boatman exclaimed, “Good heavens, what an amazing thing. He must be an extraordinary person.” He ran home and narrated the astonishing incident to his wife who immediately grabbed as many things as she could carry – kitchen utensils and the like – and rushed to where Ráma was standing. She placed all the objects at his feet to convert them into gold. To carry all the wooden furniture to the boat, get it converted into gold and then carry it all back again was a Herculean task. Things become a lot heavier when they are converted into gold! So, the boatman's wife had aches all over her body and pains in her back and hands, and soon the poor wife was no longer able to carry the load. But under the spell of greed she wanted to acquire more and more gold. People do their utmost to bind themselves with the worldly bondages and often fall prey to this greed instinct. So even though her back was badly aching she was unwilling to stop carrying the wooden furniture to get it converted into gold. This is just like the condition of gluttons at a feast who, even after eating so much that they are completely full, still manage to stuff one or two more pieces of rasagolla (Indian sweet) into their mouths. If ever such people get a chance to eat at others expense, they are ready to eat for days together. The boatman's wife was suffering from a similar psychic ailment. Even though she was no longer able to carry the load, she was helplessly goaded on by greed.”
The poet Rabindranath Tagore has said:
Jaráye áche bádha, cháráye jete cái
Cháráte gele byathá báje
Mukti cáhibáre tomár káche jái
Cáhite gele mari lage
[I am tied to so many bondages.
I want to get rid of them.
When I try to do so, those bondages affect me.
When I approach You with the prayer of liberation from those bondages,
I feel extremely ashamed.]“This can be said about all ordinary human beings. Then the boatman said to his wife, “Stop this folly! How much longer will you be able to carry the load! You'll get deeper and deeper into difficulty. Your greed for gold will never end and you'll probably die under its weight. You'll never be able to satisfy your greed so stop this folly, stupid woman!” “Yes, maybe I am stupid,” she replied, “but now I am helpless. There's nothing I can do about it.” The boatman advised, “Instead of carrying all the loads of wood and gold, why don't you simply carry those two feet which have such extraordinary qualities and at the touch of which everything gets converted into gold?” So she went up to Ráma and said, “Well, you'll just have to come along with me.” At first, Ráma was unwilling to go, but due to her insistence, he finally agreed and sat down in the boat. Then, strangely enough, the boatman's wife forgot her desire to get everything converted into gold and became totally absorbed in the thought of those two feet. Having attained the ultimate thing, why should she bother about the gold? Now she could get anything converted into gold whenever she wished.”
“The boatman's wife said, “Ráma, please leave something with me as proof of your visit to my house.” So Rama gave her four delicious fruits. She asked what they were, where they were grown, what they signified, and what their names were. Lakśmańa told her the names of those four fruits. They were kama, artha, dharma and mokśa. Lakśmańa further said, “After attaining these two feet, one needn't look for the four vargas, they will come to the recipient automatically. One need not worry about them.””
“One who is a genuine devotee should not worry about all these things about the attainment of these Vargas. I have formulated PROUT to resolve the defects and discrepancies which exist in the mundane world. There was no necessity to think about the attainment of the Vargas in the past, nor is there in the present, nor will there be in the future. To prevent the possibility of future problems and inconsistencies arising I have formulated PROUT.”
“Then everyone said to Lakśmańa, “Your elder brother has given fruits, so you should give us at least one.” Lakśmańa replied, “What can a poor man like myself offer you? I only have one fruit which I will be happy to give you.” “What's that fruit called?” they asked. Lakśmańa told them. “Unless and until you hold this fruit in your hand, you will never be able to attain the other four.” “Please tell us what it's called,” they said impatiently. “Please give it to us so that we may attain the four others.” Lakśmańa said, “You know I'm a very poor man. The name of my fruit is bhakti.”” (3)
References
1. Subhasita Samgraha - 19, Salvation and Devotion
2. Subhasita Samgraha - 18, Bhakti-Rúpa Setu (Devotion Acts Like a Bridge)
3. Ananda Vacanamrtam - 6, The Four Vargas and Devotion
Horrific tale of extinction
Shabda Cayanika states, “In India some rhinos still exist; they are found in the Duars region of North Bengal and upper Assam, the temperate plains of Bhutan and central Nepal. Everywhere they are counting the days until their final extinction. Human beings of ancient times believed that the medicine made from the rhino's horn could rejuvenate them. So the cruel practice of poaching rhinos prevailed in every age and continues to prevail even today. The situation has come to such a pass that the few one-horned or two-horned rhinos that still remain may disappear any time from the face of the earth. Although there is a slight increase in their population in the Kaziranga Sanctuary of Assam, one rarely comes across them in ordinary forests. The medicinal properties of the rhino horn are neither a verified truth nor has it any scientific basis. Is it not extremely abominable to exterminate an innocent creature due to some wrong notion?” (1)
Reference
1. Shabda Cayaniká Part 4, Disc: 26
Surrender: essential stage of sadhana
How to live, work, & die
Mother's Day: why dogmatic
Story: Baba corrects my kiirtana
Distinction: pápa vs sin
