Deeds, Words And Thoughts🔗

17.14 The worship of deities, the priest, the guru, and the wise; purity, honesty, living in reality, and nonviolence are said to be austerity of deed.

17.15 Speech that is non-offensive, truthful, pleasant, beneficial, and is used for the regular study of scriptures is called austerity of word.

17.16 Serenity of mind, gentleness, equanimity, self-control, and purity of thought are called austerity of thought.

17.17 The above mentioned threefold austerity (of thought, word and deed), practiced by yogis with supreme sincerity, without a desire for the fruit, is said to be in the mode of goodness.

17.18 Austerity that is performed for gaining respect, honor, reverence, and for the sake of show, yielding an uncertain and temporary result, is said to be in the mode of aggression.

17.19 Austerity performed with foolish stubbornness or with self-torture or for harming others, is said to be in the mode of ignorance.

Krishna defines austerity of deeds, words and thoughts.

Tapas or penance is the austere, simple way of living, the mode of aparigraha (simplicity). It is based upon what one needs and not what one craves for. One who successfully practices this is a tapasvi.

Krishna explained earlier and repeats here that tapasya, austerity or penance, doesn't mean inflicting pain or torturing oneself and others. This includes not merely physical torture and pain, but also takes into account pain through words and thoughts. Penance undertaken in this manner is abusing oneself and the God who resides within, forgetting that the body is a temple of God.

Penance performed out of foolishness and self-torture destroys or injures others. Please understand, such acts are done out of ignorance. That’s what I explained earlier with regard to black magic. No black magic can be done. No evil spirit can be sent to you. No one but an enlightened master can curse, and an enlightened master cannot curse. He can only bless.

Forget these negative things. Never be concerned about these things. All such actions are out of tamas. They never work and they disturb only the person who initiates them. They can never disturb others.

Lord Krishna says that the people who are in rajas carry out sacrifices for the sake of respect, honor and worship. When they do penance or sacrifice in this manner, it is unstable. When people don’t respect them, they stop doing it. They do it as long as people fall at their feet. If the respect is lost, they stop their tapasya.

Penance performed with the view of obtaining any result... even a noble ideal like enlightenment is a result... is in the mode of rajas, aggression or passion. Only when it is in the nature of total surrender, with no expectation of any results, it is in satva and of spiritual value.

When I talk about my tapas during my days of wandering all over India, I did difficult things. I realize now that many of these could have been dispensed with.

I experimented with ten thousand keys before I found the key to unlock the door to enlightenment. I tell my disciples that they do not need to go through that. There is an easier, faster and simpler way!

As long as I struggled towards enlightenment in my spiritual practices, it eluded me. I was able to realize myself only when I threw away my rosary and the photograph of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa that I had with me all those years, and sat down in meditation, with the feeling, ‘let what may happen, happen.’

Here, Krishna uses the word saumyatvaṁ beautifully.

We have no exact English translation for this word saumyatva. Saumyatvaṁ refers to satisfaction and a feeling that is so comfortable. It refers to one whose presence makes you feel totally relaxed, and induces thoughts that calm and center the mind. Please understand saumyatva and pleasing words are basic qualities to be practiced by a spiritual person.

Some people become enlightened, yet they can’t help others. For example, I saw a great, enlightened swami living in the Himalayas who spent the whole day smoking ganja. No doubt he was enlightened. He put a copper coin in the chillum pipe with which he smoked ganja. You will be surprised that when he emptied the chillum pipe, a gold coin fell out! I witnessed this happen many times. He sold that coin to buy more ganja. He lived in Uttarkashi (in Uttaranchal, North India). Of course, I had great respect for him because he was a tapasvi, and he never wore any clothes. He was a nāga-sādhu.

Nāga means a sanyāsi who does not wear clothes. In that cold weather they lived without clothes. They are also called paramahamsa. Paramahamsa sanyāsīs do not wear clothing except to go into the city to spread the divine mission. Otherwise they are not supposed to wear clothes.

Paramahamsas live like children. When this swami, a great paramahamsa, emptied his chillum, there would be a gold coin in it. I asked him, 'Baba, you are a great tapasvi, an atmajñāni (one who has Self-knowledge) and a brahmajñāni (one who has knowledge of the Brahman), why are you smoking ganja?'

He said, 'A big elephant cannot be tied to a small hut. We must make it a little dull and silent. Only then can the elephant stay in the small hut. After enlightenment, the soul cannot stay in this small body. I must bring it down and make it dull. Then it can stay in this body. To bring it down, I do these things.' Of course, their smoking is different from an ordinary man's smoking.

Someone asked me, 'Swamiji, Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa used to smoke. Why can't I smoke?'

I explained to him, 'Swami Vivekananda became enlightened before he started smoking. Become enlightened and then you can smoke and do whatever you want. Without achieving what they achieved, doing what they did is wrong.' Please understand that whatever enlightened masters do is totally different from what you are supposed to do. Actually, they do things opposite of what you are supposed to do. You must do things to elevate yourself. They must do things to bring themselves down!

This nāga-sādhu in Uttarkashi is enlightened; however, he cannot help everybody. His type is such he will not help people. He is a mystic. He will not teach anybody and he will not make anybody enlightened. He does not work with people. He is that type.

On the other hand, some people who experience the truth share the truth with the world. Swami Vivekananda and Paramahamsa Yogananda were great souls who shared their experiences for the benefit of others. That was their mission.

Bhagavatam says that people who explain or share the truth, such as Krishna, are incarnations.

Sukha Brahma was the son of Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedas and author of Bhagavatam and Mahabharata. Sukha Brahma Rishi was an enlightened master who wore no clothes.

Sukha Brahma was questioned, 'What is the difference between enlightened people and avatārs or incarnations?'

Sukha Brahma says beautifully: soundaryatva, tejavastva, sārasvatya, and the power, lakṣmītva. Soundaryatva means that if we see them, we will automatically feel like sitting and listening to them. We will automatically feel like turning around once more to capture their grace! That which simply attracts our mind is soundaryatva.

The next attribute is tejas, a sharp radiating energy and clarity. The third is sārasvatya. This means that no matter how difficult a concept or idea is, they can explain it in a simple way. It merely flows from their tongue where Saraswati (goddess of knowledge) resides.

Above all is lakṣmītva. This means that just by their thought, wealth and work will happen. Everything happens according to how they want it to happen. When somebody radiates all four of these qualities, he is an incarnation.

Here, Krishna says the same thing. Saumyatva... Please understand, even for incarnations, soundarya and saumyatva are necessary qualities. Now surely we should imbibe these qualities in our lives.

The penance that is supposed to be done by words, is speaking the truth and speaking pleasing words, priyahitaṁ ca yat. Please understand, creating a healing effect through words is important. Creating a healing effect through our words is basic for a spiritual practitioner. We should not utter words that hurt others. Our presence should be healing.

Always use pleasing words. Never use sharp or disturbing words.

One more thing, sometimes we don't understand how our words disturb others. We do not know how our words disrespect or emotionally disturb other beings. We must be careful about our speech.

When we sit with somebody, that person should feel, 'Can I sit for longer time with him? Can I spend more time with him? Can I meet him tomorrow? Will I see him again?' We should create that healing feeling in the other person. People should wait for us rather than run away from us. Usually we create a negative effect. We create an uncomfortable feeling. People just run away from us. A simple, single word if used improperly, can destroy a whole relationship.

Lord Krishna says a spiritual person should use pleasing words and not agitate others. When we do not agitate others, we will not be arrogant. See, this is not even social morality. This is a spiritual practice.

As I explained the other day, the same words we use to hurt others will hurt us as well. We will use these same words towards ourselves as well. This truth is embedded in the science of energy and vibration. So we must be clear about the words we use. Krishna says to study spiritual literature regularly. By regularly studying scriptural literature, these ideas go again and again into our brain. Consequently, we acquire courage to experiment with the truth. We acquire courage to work with these truths.

I ask you to take up any truth and practice it at least a few times. For example, yesterday I told you not to continuously function based on the idea 'me, me, me'. Instead try the idea 'you, you, you'. Try that at least ten times and see the effect in your life. If it does not work out, you throw can it away, it's up to you, but at least try it out ten times. You will glimpse the truth expressed by Krishna.

Intellectuals have two weapons: words and logic. They can be helpful teaching tools if properly used or they can be frightening weapons. It is up to us to choose how to use them: whether in the mode of ignorance, aggression or goodness.

I spoke earlier about Dr. Masaru Emoto, the Japanese scientist, who has shown the enormous power of spoken words. In his book The Hidden Messages in Water, Emoto describes his experiments on ordinary water. He spoke to different water samples with different emotions. He then froze the water samples and studied the ice crystals. Those samples to which he spoke with love glowed like diamonds. Those samples to which he spoke with hatred seemed grotesque by comparison.

The pictures are on the Internet. You can see them. If words can have such an effect on water, imagine what effect they can have on humans. We are composed almost entirely of water. That is why words hurt us so much or they heal us so much. Through words we can work miracles.

Krishna talks about austerity in action as well. He speaks about the five conditions that are also in Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga as the five disciplines of yama: satya, ahiṁsā, asteya, aparigraha and brahmacarya. These mean truth in thoughts, words and deeds embodying nonviolence, non-covetousness, simplicity and living in reality with the focus on the Supreme as the ultimate in any kind of penance.

Many feel that the truth must be told even if it hurts. Please understand that if it hurts someone, it cannot be the truth. It is only our perception of the truth. It is only a reflection of our ego presented by our mind as truth. We are not in the truth if we perceive something with our senses and we draw conclusions with our limited knowledge based upon those perceptions, and then express these as our truth and hurt someone. If we do this, be very clear, we are in aggression and ignorance. We are not in the truth. We are not in goodness.

Truth is a reflection of compassion. Truth is an expression of compassion. Truth and compassion always go together. For that reason, truth can never hurt.

Q: Swamiji, you have said that the path to bliss is a path of aloneness, not loneliness. Can you please explain?

The ancient stories of all nations say that God was lonely. He felt his loneliness and created the world. If I were to write those stories, I would say that God was so full of joy, so abundantly rich that He needed somebody to share it with! He needed a whole universe to share it with.

It is not that God was lonely and unhappy and wanted an occupation, so he created the world.’ This conclusion has a tinge of sadness. It is as if the other was needed for Him to become occupied, engaged and involved. People suffering from loneliness must have created these stories!

Almost everybody suffers from loneliness at some point in time. And out of loneliness we seek the other. Buddha did not write these stories. That much is certain. Ordinary people who suffered from loneliness wrote these stories. They project their loneliness onto God.

They cannot be happy when they are by themselves. Then they wonder, ‘How can God be happy when He is alone?’ This is a human projection. They think of God in the same way they think about themselves. They need the other person. They need company. Man needs a woman. Woman needs a man. The other person is a must, otherwise we drown in our own loneliness.

People who didn’t know what it is to be God, what it is to be aware and what it is to be awakened must have written these stories. If Buddha had written the stories, they would have a totally different flavor. If a Sufi master had written them, he would write that God was so happy, joyous and cheerful and with so much laughter, that He wanted somebody to share it with. He simply overflowed and shared it. It was not that He needed the other. He was enough unto Himself, but it was too much. It was unbearable bliss. Hence He created the world!

The path of aloneness is different from the path of loneliness. Aloneness leads to fulfillment; loneliness leads to disintegration. God created this world out of His aloneness, not loneliness. He felt so filled with compassion that He had to share with all beings. He had to gift what He had to everyone.

Everything is a gift out of His abundance. To feel it is to be grateful. To feel it is to be prayerful. Let this be your work upon yourself: feel more and more grateful. Gratitude is the essence of prayer. And gratitude is possible only when you see that all is a gift. Each breath is a gift. And what a gift! It is so valuable that there is no way to purchase it. It has no price. You can't purchase life. You can't purchase love. You can't purchase aesthetic sensibility. You can't purchase creativity. You can't purchase intelligence. They are given to us.

Even before you ask for them you are provided with them. Just a little search within and you come upon treasures and treasures. The kingdom of God is within you.