Sri Sathya Sai International Organization

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Editorial

Sadhana Chatushtaya
Four-fold Qualifications for a Spiritual Seeker, Part 1

Guru Poornima is a sacred festival day celebrated by spiritual seekers around the world each year. With love and gratitude, the disciples or students pay homage to their guru for guiding them on the spiritual path and showing them the way to God. The devotees of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba are especially blessed and fortunate that, for them, sadguru and God are one and the same–the Kali Yuga Avatar. He is the supreme Parabrahman who, in His infinite compassion, came down in human form for the redemption of humanity by teaching it the purpose and goal of life.

He is the universal teacher (jagadguru) whose message is eternal and beneficial to people of all cultures, races, countries, ethnicities, and faiths. He is the teacher of teachers (gurunaam guru). He is the teacher of truth and the true teacher (sadguru) who bears the name–Truth (sathya). He is the divine teacher (divya guru), the Lord who has come in the form of a teacher. That is why He is the teacher par excellence (parama guru), for He is Satchidananda (knowledge, awareness, and bliss).

The guru shows us the guri (aim or goal) of life, which is to manifest our true nature as embodiments of divine love, bliss, Atman, and Brahman. The term ‘guru’ consists of two parts–‘Gu’ and ‘Ru.’ ‘Gu’ stands for gunatheetha (beyond attributes), and ‘Ru’ stands for rupavarjita (beyond form). Thus, a true guru is Brahman alone who comes to teach the Brahma vidya or Atma vidya (ultimate knowledge of the Self).

Understanding the Four-fold Qualifications for a Spiritual Seeker

Swami has guided people through personal interviews, thousands of divine discourses, and many writings. For instance, He has written the deeply insightful Sutra Vahini, which is a commentary on the Brahma Sutras (aphorisms on the knowledge of Brahman). There, He emphasizes the credentials needed to attain the supreme knowledge. Even to earn a secular degree in engineering, medicine, or law, one has to work hard for many years. Here, we are aspiring for the highest knowledge having attained which there is nothing else left to attain. That is why in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says (BG 10.32), “adhyatma vidya vidyanam” (amongst knowledge, I am the spiritual knowledge). This knowledge leads to the complete cessation of grief and sorrow, bestowing unending bliss (BG 6.22):

Regarding knowledge, Swami says that in the Mundaka Upanishad, Sage Angirasa teaches his disciple, Sage Shaunaka about two types of knowledge. Para Vidya (higher knowledge) is the supreme, eternal knowledge that is never-changing and grants illumination and the highest bliss. The second is Apara Vidya (lower knowledge) which is the worldly knowledge, dogmas, rituals, and practices. The lower knowledge consists of textual knowledge, including the four Vedas, the science of pronunciation, the code of rituals, grammar, etymology, meter, and astrology. The higher knowledge is that by which the immutable and imperishable Atman is realized, and this Self-knowledge brings about the direct realization of the supreme reality, the source of all.

Regarding the importance of Brahma Vidya or the higher knowledge, Lord Krishna declares (BG 2.45):

The Brahma Sutras are also known as the Vedanta Sutras. They are the foundational text of Vedanta philosophy, which is one of the six classical schools of Indian philosophy. Attributed to Badarayana (also called Veda Vyasa), the Brahma Sutras systematize and interpret the teachings of the Upanishads, which are the essence of the Vedas. These Brahma Sutras serve as the philosophical foundation of Vedanta and have inspired extensive commentaries by great thinkers like Sri Adi Shankaracharya (advaita–non-dualism), Sri Ramanujacharya (vishishtadvaita–qualified non-dualism), and Sri Madhvacharya (dvaita–dualism).

Our dear Swami, the Avatar of this age, wrote a commentary on the Brahma Sutras, called Sutra Vahini. It opens with the statement, Athato Brahma Jijnasa, meaning, “After achieving this, you will be qualified to seek the knowledge of Brahman.” If one wants to achieve Self-realization, knowledge of Atman or Brahman, one needs to possess basic qualifications or credentials. The Sadhana Chatushtaya refers to the four-fold qualifications that a spiritual seeker must develop to be eligible for Self-knowledge or Self-realization. These four are:

1. Viveka (discrimination)
2. Vairagya (detachment or dispassion)
3. Shat Sampatti (six treasures)
4. Mumukshatwam (intense longing for liberation)

Let us dive deep into these four tenets, one by one, starting with the first two in Part 1 of this editorial. The final two tenets will be published in the next issue of this magazine.

Viveka (Discrimination)

Every spiritual seeker needs viveka or discrimination, the ability to discern. The question arises, discrimination between what? Swami emphasizes that there are two kinds of discrimination. The first is individual discrimination and the second is fundamental discrimination.

All of us exercise discrimination–what is good for me, what is good for my family and friends, etc. This is called individual discrimination. While it is beneficial, it is more self-centered. Fundamental discrimination is about what is best for the overall good of society and the universe at large. Fundamental discrimination is selfless and steeped in truth, considering the universe as one totality. That is why spiritual seekers should always aim to develop fundamental discrimination.

Shreyo Marga Versus Preyo Marga

Next comes the discrimination between shreyo marga (beneficial path) and preyo marga (pleasant path). These are two distinct paths discussed in the kathopanishad, representing two kinds of choices we constantly face in life.

Shreyo Marga is the path that is beneficial to spiritual aspirants, helping us achieve the supreme goal. It is the path that leads to lasting happiness, wisdom, and liberation. It may seem difficult or unattractive at first, but ultimately it brings deep fulfillment and spiritual growth. Examples of choosing the Shreyo Marga includes choosing self-discipline over indulgence, the study of scriptures over entertainment, truthfulness over flattery, and seeking Brahman over temporary pleasures.

On the other hand, Preyo Marga is the worldly path that provides immediate gratification but often leads to bondage, suffering, regret, and spiritual stagnation. It is tempting and easy, but its benefit is short-lived. Examples of choosing the Preyo Marga include giving in to sense cravings, prioritizing comfort over growth, and choosing distraction over introspection.

Nachiketa’s Focus

There is a beautiful story illustrating these two paths in the kathopanishad. A young boy called Nachiketa had to face the God of Death, Yama. He is in the quest of the supreme Truth, and nothing less will satisfy him. So, he asks Lord Yama, “What lies beyond death? Some say the soul exists; others say it does not. Please tell me the truth.” Then, Lord Yama tempts him with all the best pleasures of the world, saying that instead of this knowledge, he can give the boy all the wealth in the world, many sensual pleasures, many children, and power over all the people.

But Nachiketa remains firm in his resolve and says, “These pleasures are short-lived. They cannot satisfy the eternal soul. I want only the truth about the Self.” And so, he rejects all of these offers and temptations, saying “I do not want wealth, I do not want power, I do not want family, I do not want anything. I want only that which will take me to Self-realization.”

Lord Yama, being greatly impressed, then reveals the secret, profound spiritual wisdom. He says, “You have to always choose Shreyo Marga over Preyo Marga. Choose the right path, which is based on values like truth (sathya), right conduct (dharma), peace (shanti), love (prema), and nonviolence (ahimsa).”

Today, there are over 8 billion people on this planet. Most of them are interested in eating, having fun, sleeping, and procreating before ultimately dying. By divine grace, only a chosen few can focus on and pursue the purpose of human life, which is Self-realization. To achieve this goal, we need to choose the Shreyo Marga like Nachiketa did.

Temporary Versus Permanent

We should discriminate between the temporary and the permanent. Lord Buddha’s life provides a great example. As Prince Siddhartha, he was sheltered and pampered within the confines of the palace. However, when he went on an outing in the city, four sights prompted him to think deeply. The first was the sight of an old man, the second of a sick person, and the third of a dead body. The fourth sight was that of a monk, a renunciant who was serene and blissful, radiating peace and joy to people around him. So, he realized that life is full of sorrow and impermanence (sarvam dukham, sarvam kshanikam), but one can transcend them like the monk, by seeking truth through discrimination and renunciation.

We all go through old age, sickness, and death. However, Prince Siddhartha sought to understand that which is eternal and unchanging. He embarked on a quest for Truth and finally, after intense inquiry and austerities, he attained Nirvana and became the Buddha. To achieve this goal, he had to give up that which is temporary and pursue that which is permanent.

Real Versus Unreal

Next, we have to discriminate between the real and the unreal. In the truest sense, only that which is permanent is real, while anything that changes is unreal. For instance, our body, mind, and intellect change over time; they are different today from what they were a few years ago and subject to further change in the future. The One that does not change is the inner divine principle, the Atma, the Self. That is what we should focus on, for that is who we really are.

Swami shares the story of King Janaka to highlight this type of discrimination. King Janaka is a great jnani, a man of great wisdom. Although he had the highest responsibility of ruling a kingdom, he was always focused on the ultimate purpose of human life, Atma Jnana. One night, while sleeping, he dreamed that he had lost his kingdom. He was captured by enemies and found himself in a forest, deprived of food and water. He was extremely hungry and thirsty when someone came along and offered him food. He became very happy. But before he could put a morsel in his mouth, some birds came out of nowhere and snatched it away. Once again, he was in so much misery that he screamed with pain and agony in his dream.

Suddenly, he woke up from this nightmare and found himself in his grand palace, lying in a comfortable bed like a king. Being wise, he began to ponder whether what he was experiencing now was real or what he had experienced before was real. He began to ask, “Is this real, or is that real?” seeking the truth earnestly and intensely.

King Janaka began asking these questions to the entire royal court, including the queens, the servants, and the ministers. Whomever he met, he asked whether this was real or that was real. Everyone was perplexed. They were worried that the king had gone mad and was out of his mind. The royal physician was summoned, but he could not help either.

Finally, they brought the royal preceptor, sage Ashtavakra. When he saw the king, the sage said, “Your majesty! That is unreal, this is unreal. Both are unreal. Only the One who witnesses both is real.”

In November 1996, during Bhagawan’s 71st Birthday celebrations, Greek devotees enacted this story as a drama in the divine presence in the Poornachandra Auditorium. The drama was titled ‘The Tales of Janaka.’ Swami loved it and referred to the group as ‘drama boys’, showering them with special blessings during the rehearsals. He would visit them daily at Poornachandra Auditorium to supervise the rehearsals, give advice, and guide them on every detail. While this shows Swami’s love for His devotees, it also highlights the importance He places on the message conveyed by this story.

The ‘Night Dream’ and the ‘Day Dream’

Swami with Greek devotees during the ‘Tales of Janaka’ drama in 1996.

The only reality is the “I” principle, which exists in both the dream state and the waking state. That is why Swami says, “Life is a dream. Realize it.”

We all know about the dreams we have at night while we are sleeping. Those are ‘night dreams.’ We realize they are unreal once we wake up. Similarly, we need to wake up from this ‘day dream’ that we experience in our daily lives and understand it is unreal because it is constantly changing.

On one occasion, Swami emphatically told me that this waking ‘dream’ during the daytime is just as much a dream as the one we experience at night. Only through the path of jnana, the path of Self-enquiry and knowledge, can we wake up from this dream. Having this discrimination is the first step toward Self-realization.

An Important Question

There is another important aspect of discrimination. A question one must always ask is, “Will this bind me or liberate me?” This can be achieved through the process of Self-enquiry which Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, a great sage and a beacon of Advaita Vedanta, emphasized greatly. Anything we come across should be examined in this light to see whether it will bind us in misery or liberate us, giving us eternal bliss.

In Vedanta, there is a beautiful example of the rope and the snake. At dusk or dawn, one might confuse a rope for a snake. This, in turn, causes fear, including increased palpitations of the heart and one might even collapse. However, the moment there is light, the darkness disappears, and one sees the rope as nothing but a rope. The ‘snake’ seen in the darkness vanishes because the snake was never there in the first place. Similarly, we project many unreal things as real and confuse one for the other. Thus, we become agitated and restless. If we see the whole world in the light of Truth as Brahman, we can be blissful. But when we experience it in the darkness of ignorance, the unreal, ever-changing world causes attachment, leading to grief.

Thus, when we see the Truth, we realize, tat twam asi  (That Thou Art), a great Vedic proclamation that we are not the body or mind but we are THAT–Brahman or Atman.

Therefore, viveka must be based on the foundation of conviction that Brahman alone is real and the world is illusory.

Vairagya
(Dispassion or Detachment)

With regards to dispassion, Swami often affirms Sankara’s advaitic philosophy but infused it with prema, divine love, which is pure, unsullied, and unconditional. While Adi Sankaracharya focused on non-dualistic philosophy or advaita, Sai declares love as the royal road because love is Brahman experiencing Brahman. He states that the Lord separated Himself from Himself to love Himself.

In this process, dispassion or detachment is essential for attaining Brahma Vidya or Self-realization. Lord Krishna defines sanyasa (renunciation) in the Bhagavad Gita (BG 18.2) as:

Understanding the True Meaning of Sacrifice

Swami often quotes the scriptural declaration for attaining immortality:

He also says that love demands great sacrifice. Here, sacrifice refers to relinquishing the craving or longing for the results of one’s actions. This is emphasized as Nishkama Karma Yoga by Lord Krishna in the Gita.

This is one of the most important insights into thyaga. People often think of renunciation as giving up family, home, and possessions. But Swami says that one should give up attachment to the fruits of one’s actions. When we say, ‘I want liberation,’ Swami advises that when we give up ‘I,’ the ego, and ‘want,’ the desire, we will automatically have liberation.

Lord Krishna (BG 13.10) exemplifies the qualities of an enlightened person:

Giving up ‘I’ (ahamkara) and ‘mine’ (mamakara), along with the sense of doership and attachment to the results of actions, is the essence of vairagya.

Practical Tips from Swami to Achieve Vairagya

A practical approach to renunciation involves avoiding attachment to sense objects and sense pleasures. Swami says that the best way to do this is to sublimate the senses rather than suppress them. The eyes should see only good and divine sights. The ears must hear only divine glories–not gossip and rumors. Speech should be used to talk about God and saints–not to criticize others. Legs should carry us to places of worship and not to places of sense indulgence. Hands should offer worship to the Lord or serve others, not grab whatever one desires, for sense pleasures or to amass wealth through selfish means.

Another practical way to achieve dispassion is to avoid bad company and seek good company. Swami asks us to run away from bad company. Bad company is not just about people with negative thoughts, speech, and actions, but also includes places and things that produce bad vibrations which agitate the mind by provoking and stimulating the senses.

Swami gives us an arithmetic equation, “Man minus desire is equal to God.” However, it is not practical to completely give up desire. So, Swami gives us a practical way to do this by sublimating all desires into the desire for God. To understand this, Swami provides an analogy. When we have money in the form of many coins and notes of lower denominations, they can be burdensome to carry. However, they can be converted into higher denomination currency notes with the same value, which can be carried easily. Similarly, one should sublimate all petty desires into the desire for God. Then, one will feel lighter and more peaceful. The company of holy people who love and serve God will also help us achieve greater dispassion for the world and attachment to God. This is the ‘Ceiling on Desires’ program that Swami introduced to us for giving up petty desires and aiming for the highest desire, the desire for liberation.

The practice of detachment from the body, pleasures, senses, and sensory objects, brings one closer to the knowledge of Atman or Brahman. For this, Baba teaches us the path of selfless service as a spiritual practice to get rid of negative qualities like pomp, ostentatiousness, hatred, anger, greed, pride, and jealousy. This path also purifies the heart and facilitates detachment or dispassion. The other is the devotional path where one also develops dispassion toward objects other than godly ones. The more our attachment to God, the more our detachment from the world!

Deep Attachment to God Leads to Detachment

The best way to achieve detachment is through deep attachment to God. The more we turn toward God, the farther we distance ourselves from worldly attachments and sensual pleasures. That is why the great masters, sages, and saints in the olden days gave up the world and went into caves or forests for contemplation of the divine. Lord Buddha gave up his loving family, his royal comforts, his rights over the kingdom, and worldly pleasures in search of the truth and attained Nirvana.

Such a sacrifice to seek the truth is possible only if one possesses staunch dispassion or detachment. But our Swami is very kind and compassionate. He says that we do not need to leave everything and take refuge in a forest or a cave. “Hands in the society, head in the forest,” He clarifies. All we need is to be detached inside. We should tell ourselves, “This is all a dream; so let me focus on my real nature, which is the Atman.”

The great saint, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, says that the more one moves toward God, the more one moves away from the world and his life exemplified this message. This is just like saying that the more you go toward the North Pole, the more you move away from the South Pole.

We discussed the first two of the four-fold qualifications mentioned earlier in this editorial. Next month, in Part 2, we will explore Shat Sampatti (the six noble virtues) and Mumukshatwam (intense longing for Liberation), the next two qualifications for Self-Realization.

Jai Sai Ram.