V RAVI - GURUJI SPEAKS

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A Guru and his disciple are walking side by side. Guru is wearing a pant and a shirt and so isthe disciple. Disciple seeks certain clarifications from Guru and Guru is patiently clarifyingthe doubts of his disciple.

Disciple: What is Self-realization?Guru: Self refers to God. Realizing Him is Self-realization.Disciple: Why God is called Self?

Guru: God has several names such as Brahman, Lord, Shiva, Vishnu, Shakti, etc. God can becalled by any name and can be contemplated in whatever form you like. Since you have not yet entered into spiritual path, I am saying this. If you begin to pursue spiritual path, my answer would be different. The concept of God is different for ritualistic practices andspiritual practices. Religious practices accompanied by rituals give different forms to God.God is omnipresent. He is everywhere. He is both good and bad. Coming back to yourquestion, God is called Self because, you have to realize that He is within your own self.Realizing Him within your self is known as Self-realization.

Disciple: Then what is soul? Is there any difference between Self and soul?

Guru: No, there is no difference between Self and a soul. In other words, Brahman or God isin no way different from individual souls. I will explain this to you by an example. Keep potsfilled with water under the sun. If you look into the water, you will be able to see the sun.You can see the sun inside the pot filled with water, but you cannot see the sun directly. Ifyou see the sun directly, you will be blinded. Can you distinguish between the sun reflected in the pot filled with water and the sun shining in the sky? You cannot differentiate.Similarly, the soul within is the reflection of the Self or Brahman and individual soul is in no way different from Brahman. If the Self and souls are different, God cannot be called asomnipresent. Therefore, souls are nothing but reflections of the Self.

Disciple: I am not able to understand this. You talk about a pot with water. Suppose the pot isbroken, we will not be able to see the reflection of the sun inside the pot, as pot itself is not there.

Guru: Yes, when the pot is broken, the reflection of the sun cannot be seen inside the pot. Pot is like our physical or gross body. When the body is dead, the soul leaves the body and when the soul leaves the body, it is called corpse and begins to decompose and decay. The bodybecomes motionless as the vital air (pra) that keeps the body alive also goes away with thesoul. However, you must understand that existence of vital air in a body is not possiblewithout the presence of the soul. The whole life revolves around the soul, but at the sametime, soul never makes you to act in a particular manner. It remains only as a witness. It isonly the cause and not the effect.

Disciple: When soul is Brahman, we are able to see the reflection of the sun but we are not able to see the sun directly? Thus, there exists difference between the sun in the sky and thesun that is reflected in the pot. Obviously, both are not the same.

Guru: Yes, there is difference between the sun in the sky and the sun reflected in the water.Original brightness of the sun is reduced because of water. Similarly, the original Light ofGod is reduced due tomy. If you are able to transcend my, then you can see the originalLight of God, without any shape and form. You must understand that God is in the form ofLight and this Light is the source of entire creation. Everything originates from this Light anddissolves into this Light. This Light is known as Brahman or God or you can call this Light in whatever name you like. Your efforts to transcend the effects ofmy is Self-realization.

Disciple: How do you say that God is Light? Why cant He be vital breath or any such thing?

Guru: I am surprised that you have not asked me about my. However, I will discuss thiswith you later. All Upaniad-s try to explain God only through negations. Typically speaking,God cannot be explained. How can you describe the shores of an ocean by standing in aplace? You do not know what is in the shore a hundred feet away from you. When thegreatness of the ocean cannot be described, how can we describe God, who is omnipresent,omnipotent and omniscient? It is just not possible. That is why it is said that Self can only berealized and cannot be seen. Let us take an example of a rock. Rock does not breathe andhence, it does not require vital breath. Vital breath is only for living organisms. You take atelevision set. It does not breathe. Therefore, vital breath is not essential for all the objects,where as Light is essential for all the objects. Without light, how can you identify an object? Iwill explain this in detail with more examples as we progress.

Disciple: What should I do to enter spiritual path? How spiritual path is different fromritualistic path?

Guru: Ritualistic path is always accompanied by various sacrificial rites. For example, in your daily worship, you offer food, flowers, water, etc to Gods photos or idols as the casemay be. Thus, you are making God different from you and in the process you lose both thebasic principle of omnipresence nature of God and non-dualism (Advaita). I am not sayingthat these types of rituals are wrong. Certainly they are not wrong. Such rituals lay a strong foundation for your spiritual path. But you cannot continue with rituals all through your life.Obviously, you cannot continue to study in a high school all through your life. You have to make progress to a university, get an employment, etc. Thus in your life you have to progress.Similarly, you have to progress in spiritual life.

Disciple: What is the difference between ritualism and spiritualism and which is better?

Guru: There are three stages in ones life to attain liberation. First, you have to believe inGod. When your belief becomes unshakable, you commence your journey to God. Faith andbelief are the starting points of ones ritualistic life. Again ritualistic life consists of differentstages. First you worship different gods such as nine planets, you believe in astrology, you visit temples, you take bath in holy rivers, you performpj at home, you perform sacrificial rites in fire rituals, you celebrate festivals for different gods and goddesses, etc. You believethat by doing so, you can wash off your sins. By following these rituals, you are becomingdevoted to different gods. Among many gods, one or more forms of gods impress you andyou spend more time in worshipping that form of god. You are not satisfied with this. Then you learn about japa mantras. You go to a guru and he initiates you into a mantra. He teachesyou several rituals and you learn all these rituals over a period of time and attain perfection in theserituals.Theattainmentofperfectionistheend ofyourritualisticlifeandcommencement of your spiritual life. This is called transition point, transition from ritualism to spiritualism. This point is the most important milestone in Self-realization. Many peopledo not reach this transition point at all. All through their lives, they remain ritualistic without attempting to realize the Self. Ritualism leads you to spiritualism and spiritualism leads to liberation. But remember, there are several stages in spiritual path as well. Spiritual path is along one and you have to walk through this path very carefully to attain liberation, which could happen either in this birth or in later births.