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 Chapter
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Text 3
pasyaitam
pandu-putranam
acarya mahatim
camum
vyudham
drupada-putrena
tava sisyena
dhimata
Translation
O my teacher,
behold the great army of the sons of Pandu, so expertly arranged
by your intelligent disciple, the son of Drupada.
LECTURE OF V.O.
RUZOV
When the world
gets filled with negative emotions and actions, the earth’s
“bowl of patience” overflows and needs to cleaned from the
piling up sins. Negative thinking stops the person’s development
and doesn’t bring any advantages to either him or the people
that surround him, no matter what he does. This happens because
he doesn’t make the right conclusions from situations in his
life. A person with a clear consciousness is able to make
conclusions from positive and negative displays of destiny.
The hardest way
of purification is war in all its aspects. Even preparations for
war make people think about the meaning of what is happening.
However, this means that humanity started forgetting other ways
of cleaning our consciousness – ways that are calmer and safer.
This happens even on the level of everyday life. If we have a
serious opposition with our coworkers or family members, this
means that we stopped paying enough attention to our
purification. The farther it goes, the worse it gets…
War has the most
powerful purification effect, because there can be no indulgence
or forgiveness. If we are on the battlefield, someone will have
to be purified; he will not only get rid of his sins, but also
from his physical body. In all other conflicts there is an
opportunity to reconcile, to show patience and forgiveness, but
in war these emotions are no longer allowed.
Getting rid of
sins
Everyone in this
world wants to be happy. There are different steps of happiness,
but, someway or another, they are all connected to the
cleanliness of a person. Happiness and cleanliness are
integrally connected to each other. Children are pleased when it
is raining; they run barefoot in the puddles. Grownups start
singing, when they are in the shower. We like to wear clean
clothes and eat from clean plates. Everything in this world
shows us the system of achieving happiness. We just have to
understand this phenomenon and use clarification and cleanliness
not simply as a day-to-day ritual, but as a philosophy of life
and the method of achieving our mission in life
There is outer
cleanliness and inner cleanliness. Without outer cleanliness,
inner cleanliness is impossible and without inner cleanliness,
outer cleanliness becomes a mental disorder, a phobia. However,
outer cleanliness is the base of inner cleanliness. We will go
over them in this order.
Outer cleanliness
Outer cleanliness
is not simply a sign of a cultured person, outer cleanliness is
our responsibility. Our body is our house and if we are good
owners we need to keep in clean. It’s like our electric and
water bills, and if we don’t pay attention to monthly bills,
municipal services will simply be turned off. If they turn off
the water our digestion will suffer, and if they turn off the
electricity, our senses will become weaker (vision, hearing,
sense of smell and so on).
Illnesses don’t
start from dirt and dust; they start from our unwillingness to
fight dirt and dust. Dirt and dust is everywhere, to some extent
we are covered with it from head to foot, there are pounds of
germs right inside of us. But they become active only in that
case if we neglect the cleanliness of our body-house. Therefore,
outer cleanliness is temporary and is the base for achieving
inner cleanliness.
A person living
in modern civilization is ready to do everything to wash himself
less. An American scientist Jeff Wanes invented a type of
material that practically doesn’t need to be washed. Clothes
made from this material kill germs (including the Siberian
ulcer) by themselves, decompose dirt, dust and sweat and let out
the excess water. The clothes stays “clean” for many weeks…
A story about
kumbhamela
Every 12 years,
in several parts of India, a special ceremony of getting rid of
sins is preformed. The water in the lake Gang becomes even more
saintly, it achieves the qualities of nectar, which help people
look younger, become healthier, lengthen their life and get rid
of karma. This celebration is called kumbhamela.
One student
decided to participate in this celebration and, before starting
the long way, went to see his teacher to get his blessings. The
blessings of a mother, older people, and influential people give
50% percent of luck in an action, and a blessing from a
spiritual teacher gives 100% luck…
When the teacher
found out that his student wants to perform the ceremony of
cleanliness, he said the following words:
“Well, that is
wonderful. Go into the water for me too, because I can’t go with
you, unfortunately. Actually, I haven’t committed any sins this
year, and the water is cold. And I am afraid that because on
this day so many people dump their sins into the Gang, I think
it is rather dangerous to go into the water – someone’s sins
might stick to me, and only God knows how bad they are. So you
can dive into the water for me, if you’re not afraid.
The student
asked: “What should I do? I don’t know which way to act, but I
really wanted to take part in such a rare event, because it
happens only once in 12 years.
The teacher
answered: “I don’t forbid you to go, but have you seen the huge
trees that stand on the bank of the Ganges?”
“Yes,” answered
the student, “Twelve years ago I have taken a wash there and saw
those huge trees.”
Then the teacher
asked: “Do you know why they are growing there?”
“No, I don’t
know,” answered the student with a nervous voice, he suspected
something bad.
The teacher told
him: “I’ll reveal the mission of these trees to you. A person
takes a bath in the river, but the sins are more afraid of the
cold water than they are of the Ganges. Therefore, anywhere in
the world you can get rid of your sins with the help of an
ice-cold bath or shower. When you dive into cold water, they
jump out, sit on trees and wait for you. When you come out of
the water, they recognize you and jump back into your body. The
interesting thing is that sometimes the sins of other people
also jump into your body. Dirt sticks to dirt… Sins see how good
and clean you are.
Sins also want
some variety! They have already tortured some other person
enough. Now they want to torture you. So be very careful when
you walk near those trees.
“How can I be
careful?” shouted the student. “I can’t see any sins, I can’t
see karma!”
The teacher
answered: “It is your business, but I think this trip is very
dangerous. You should think about it, there’s no hurry.”
The student was
very worried and didn’t sleep the whole night, while painfully
reflecting. In the end he decided to cancel the trip.
Conclusions
Similarly, we
western people sometimes are inspired to use an exotic method of
external cleaning, thinking that this will solve all our
problems. We think that water in a river on the other side of
the planet will create a miracle. We will get rid of all of our
sins, which have piled up in this life and other lives, without
doing anything. However, it’s not that easy. The next thing we
have to understand is the principle of purification.
A person is
considered purified if, after washing his karma with water,
stops even thinking about his sins, doesn’t have plans to repeat
his sins, and of course doesn’t start doing the same thing that
he did before the purification. Therefore, external cleaning
will help only if this purification was also on the inner level
i.e. the person has repented and gave a vow not to ever commit
his sins again.
There is another
interesting story on this subject
One Hindu woman
worked as a construction worker. People put bricks on her head
and she took them from one end of the construction site to the
other end. Russian women and women from other countries should
be pleased with their life and remember that it could have been
much worse. When a woman is not satisfied with her life, her
life becomes worse. However, when she’s pleased with her life
and knows that it could have been much worse, she tolerates all
the troubles and deprivations, and her life quickly becomes
better.
So, this woman
was carrying her bricks, the day was hot and the bricks were
heavy, she tripped and the bricks were scattered. She could not
pick up the bricks and put them back on her head without the
help of other people, so, like a simple western woman she began
to cry and complain to God.
God couldn’t
tolerate her suffering and crying. Men can’t stand women’s
tears, so God appeared before her just to make her stop crying.
“I’m here. What
do you want from me?”
She could ask for
anything: happiness, love for God, enlightenment, freedom from
all suffering, riches or anything else, but she told him:
“Could you put
these bricks back on my head..?”
Conclusions
We also act in a
similar foolish way. A person can become sick, he feels pain and
suffering, he prays to God for his recovery and he repents his
sins, which caused him to get sick. However, as soon as he
recovers, he quickly forgets about his promises and, after
recovering, he goes back to doing the same stupid things, which
caused him to get sick.
An alcoholic gets
drunk in the evening, at night he is practically dead, however,
when he wakes up in the morning, he starts drinking again,
despite the fact that this caused him to feel so bad yesterday.
Even a criminal
manages to commit a crime sometimes only several minutes after
he is released from jail.
In the West this
is called “an elephant’s wash”. After washing in the river, an
elephant goes out of the water and starts rolling in dust and
dirt. He tries to cover his whole body with dirt, so that there
won’t be a single clean inch on his skin…
We ask God for
such insignificant and small things and can’t even use these
things properly. One person kept asking to meet a millionaire
for several months, but when he actually met him, he asked the
millionaire for three dollars…
God is rich, He
is not poor, and He can easily give us everything that we need,
if we are ready to use it wisely, without hurting ourselves and
other people. Will parents give their small child matches, a
knife, or a wallet with money? But our consciousness is not
ready yet. We can not take happiness from that which is given to
us. We are unhappy in our family, at work, and even on a
vacation. We can not eat properly and be healthy. We ask for
money, a car, a house or an apartment, and a golden watch. Try
giving all this to your kids…
However, when a
person sincerely tries to combine outer cleanliness with inner
purity, God gives that person everything that he asks for. What
for? Just to keep up his enthusiasm, to develop his desire to
purify himself even more. However, because everything that a
person asks for is just bricks from which there are only
problems, as soon as a person becomes truly developed, God stops
giving him all the things that cause him harm.
Therefore,
remember: if God gives us everything, that means that we are not
qualified, and if he takes everything away from us, that means
that we are either little kids or serious students that
understand the meaning of spiritual purification.
If you are not
afraid I can tell you how God favors his dearest devotees… When
a person becomes truly pure, practically a saint, God, who
understands that all forms of matter make this person unhappy,
takes away everything from him. Remember: matter is pain, and
spirituality is happiness.
Be very careful
and, before asking God to favor you in this way, think about it.
Are you ready for this? Everything comes in its time and haste
hasn’t done anyone any good. It isn’t right to consider yourself
special, because than we can get a special favor… |
