AvadhootaDatta Peetham

Discourse on Yoga Vasishtha

Day 79, November 29

Jaya Guru Datta

Sri Ganesaya Namaha
Sri Saraswatyai Namaha
Sripada Vallabha
Narasimha Saraswati
Sri Guru Dattatreyaya Namaha

Sri Ganapati Sachchidananda Sadgurubhyo Namaha

asato ma sadgamaya
tamaso ma jyotirgamaya
mrityor ma amrtam gamaya
Om Santissantissantihi

Please lead me from untruth to Truth, from darkness to light, from death to immortality. May there be peace.

Yoga Vasishtha Dhyana Slokas:
yatassarvāṇi bhūtāni pratibhānti sthitāni ca
yatraivōpaśamaṁ yānti tasmai satyātmanē namaḥ || 1
jñātā jñānaṁ tathā jñēyaṁ draṣṭādarśana dr̥śyabhūḥ
kartā hētuḥ kriyā yasmāt tasmai jñaptyātmanē namaḥ || 2
sphuranti sīkarā yasmāt ānanandasyāṁbarē vanau
sarvēṣām jīvanam tasmai brahmānandātmanē namaḥ || 3

Om santissantissantihi

Sage Vasishtha says that our own karma determines our luck. There is no other random luck. He rejects the concept of good luck and ill luck. It is only an eyewash to use that as an excuse, or words given for solace, or spoken to escape from taking responsibility.

We say it is a great fortune, a miracle when a beggar becomes a king without any effort on his part. If he won a lottery, he at least bought a lottery ticket, and it is his past lifetime's merit that prompted him to purchase the winning lottery ticket.

When due to an unforeseen natural calamity occurs and all of our efforts fail or go to waste, there is no point in crying over it and calling it bad luck. If such a misfortune has occurred to us, we must have done something in the past to deserve it. Some positive action must be taken to remedy the situation.

That entity which cannot be described, seen, touched, or grasped is what one should seek. That Brahman can be obtained with sadhana, intense effort. It is most wondrous and indescribable. To think that it will only come with good luck is the most foolish concept.

Here Daiva Niraakarana means denying the belief in luck. We must be willing to put in the required effort and strive for liberation. That is the teaching here of Vasishtha.

Many people believe that they are under the control of God. Here Vasishtha is not referring to God, but to luck, when he refers to the word 'daiva'.

Past lifetime's activities are unknown to us. We see only what has been done in this present lifetime. There is no other luck other than the merit earned by one's own hard work in the past.

Seek the association of pious persons. Study and learn the teaching of the scriptures. To earn one's livelihood, one has to work. One has to maintain good health. One who wishes to have a family has to makes efforts to marry and have children. But the purpose of being born is to seek and obtain the ultimate Supreme Entity, Parabrahman. We are not serving our inner core. We are only serving the physical body and satisfying its demands when we concentrate only on outward worldly life. We are short-sighted. We cannot go to Kashmir (Himalayas) ill-equipped to endure the cold, without packing any needed winterwear.

We are on the journey of life. We have to look at it from the point of view of our soul, not just the body. The virtuous deeds which are required for the smooth journey of the soul should not be neglected and avoided in the preoccupation of serving the needs of the body. The spiritual ocean is vertical, not horizontal. In this journey on this ocean you either go up or down.

All creatures are on this journey. Every soul's journey is to reach the destination that is way up. We have to raise ourselves. To become a Brahmarshi, Sage Vasishtha did extraordinary penance. The more you strive, the greater will be your reward. Call it effort or attempt but not luck. The good result of your good karma is what is called good luck. There is no other thing called good luck.

haa ..

When one faces danger, one shouts haa... Similarly, when good fortune strikes, then also one exclaims, haa.
The joy or sorrow comes as a result of our own past karma.

One should have the conviction that with meritorious deeds one can overcome any misfortune which comes as a result of past bad karma.

You will never receive anything less or more than what you have earned, and what is in your savings account. No one gets anything for free, either good or bad. Each understand as per their capacity to analyze and grasp spiritual knowledge. If one does not understand no matter how clearly the topic is explained, it is just their karma.

An adult can easily chase after a kid and catch him, although in play, a grown up may pretend to lose to the child to amuse him.

In the Kartika masa, Damodara should be remembered prior to any activity.

This may appear like a strange story. Yasoda, the mother of Krishna tried to tie her child Krishna to a stone grinding wheel frustrated with his mischief. No rope was long enough. All the ropes in the town were brought in and yet no matter how hard she tried to tie him, they were 3 inches short. She was trying to tie him down with the three gunas. Finally, frustrated, and exasperated, she took the sweat of her brow and shook it on the ground.

Krishna saw her plight and took pity on her. He *** in his breath, pulled his belly in, and invited her to tie him. It then made it easy for her to tie him up.

Yasoda was unwilling to acknowledge that her child was none other than the Paramatma. At the same time she was unable to comprehend what was happening here. All she knew was her immense love for her son. She admitted defeat in her attempts to tie him up. That is when he allowed her to tie him up.
Then effortlessly she could bind him.

What a wonderful story has been revealed to us by Sage Vyasa. Dama means rope. Udara is stomach. Krishna was tied around his belly with a rope and hence, he is called Damodara.

In a story form Vyasa has told us that you can grasp God only with devotion, yoga, discipline, and faith, and not with the three Gunas. God transcends the 3 Gunas. He can be tied or grasped only if He wills it. We cannot capture Him by our intent. That example cannot be used here in this context.

As an adult can easily catch a running child it is possible to grasp the knowledge of Brahman. I M possible or I'm possible says the challenge you face.

Yesterday's sin can be atoned for by today's good deed. Past lives's sins can be canceled by today's meritorious deeds. Never repeat your mistakes. Do not keep crying over spilt milk. Do not waste your life in regret.

Praayaschittam means remorse felt in the heart. Admitting the mistake and feeling deep remorse which burns the mind. That is a type of atonement. When you confess your sins to Guru, and the resultant misfortune or loss that you are suffering from, Guru suggests some remedies which may sound very strange and unconnected to the problem. Guru may simply say do annadana, chant stavams, do homa, and so on. We may not see the connection. But we must simply follow. Guru knows what he is talking about.

Vasishthta wrote a work called Karma Vipaka - it is a Sastra - the science of what disease is caused by which sin or evil act, and what the atonement is, for each of those. It is a great science. The soul prompts us, due to the previously earned evil samskaras, certain bad deeds which result in misfortune. By present virtuous deeds each of the past wicked acts can be compensated for.

Those who do not make any attempt to pay off past debts, who simply sit idle and lament their lot are ignorant and foolish.

By acting in a righteous way in the present, the past negative balance can be erased.

Poverty occurs to a farmer when a cyclone destroys his hard earned harvest. Why? Do not blame misfortune. The past life's negative balance is stronger than your present day's effort. The farmer must start over again and try to overcome his losses. What is the power that ruins our efforts?

What is the perspective of a Jnani on this? We have earned money. We go to the market to purchase a bunch of grapes. We taste one grape from the bunch and choose to purchase that bunch of grapes. Once you bring it home, all the grapes in the same bunch taste sour. One may find some grapes sweet and some others sour from the same bunch.

A bird finds one fruit on a tree to be sweet and another fruit from the same tree as sour and leaves it. Does the grape not have any nature of its own?

A tree is conscious and has more power than we do. That is why we do Pradakshina to a tree. We should also touch the tree to exchange our power with the tree. Ask the bonsai workers, how well the trees and plants thrive when they are touched. If one goes and removes the dead leaves and caresses the plants and lovingly talks to it, although it may appear like strange behavior, the tree will certainly respond positively. A tree that appeared to be dying, sprouted fresh leaves. This happened as a personal experience to me with a Parijata tree. Trees have feelings and wish to either produce sweet fruits or sour fruits. It shows the nature and tendency of the tree. The whole world is a mind game. Foreigners are able to grasp this concept. We, who are born and raised here, are unable to understand our own scriptures. Where there is no path, the foreigners lay a road and travel. We are right here at the destination and we do not care to study and understand.

We build a home or a temple praying that it should never be destroyed. We build the structure with such care. And yet, the surrounding trees may take over the area and destroy the building in a few decades. Past karma is responsible for everything.

Once again the example of the fighting rams is repeated.
Vasishtha anticipated a question, and answered it.
Why did an ascetic suddenly become a king?

When the king died, how did they find an heir to the throne if there was no proper heir? In the olden days in some countries, they gave a garland to the royal elephant and it would be set free to walk the streets to choose the heir and place the garland on his neck. The elephant chose a beggar and placed the garland on him while the ministers and their sons and other dignitaries were expecting that one of them would be chosen. The mendicant was made the king. Is this not luck? Why do some kings become paupers? The combined karma of the kingdom determined the future king. There is no such thing as any random luck.

Good deeds certainly yield good results. In the upcoming chapters, this conviction will help us to understand.
When we see someone in an exalted position, we must study their history and recognize the effort that was responsible for making them great. Not everyone becomes great like Tendulkar. There is a reason behind it. It is dependent on the effort put in.

Sri Swamiji said he would be performing the Sri Chakra Puja today.

There are 12 chapters in the Bhagavatam. The first half is historical. The second half is fully spiritual instruction. Tomorrow is the last day of the Bhagavata Parayana. All desires will be fulfilled if one listens to the reading aloud of the Bhagavatam. Devotees from Tamil Nadu are conducting this.
Please all of you attend and listen.

Jaya Guru Datta
Sri Guru Datta

Om santissantissantihi