Posted on: 07 Feb 2005
You are better than a person who does not get the grace of Sadguru at all. You have not reached the goal yet. You are neither poor nor rich. You should be happy looking at the poor person, but you should become serious looking at rich person. You are in the middle of the journey. You have left Vijayawada station, but have not reached the Mumbai station. You are better than the person, who is simply sitting at Vijayawada and who is not having even an intention to reach Mumbai. But you should not think that one day or other you would reach Mumbai automatically. In the simile this point is not clearly revealed.
You have to reach the goal before the end of this human birth. Some religions say that there is no human rebirth. Even though Hinduism mentions human rebirth, it says that the human rebirth is very rare (Durlabham). It means it is exceptional. The general rule is that there is no human rebirth. The omnipotent Lord may sanction human rebirth to some special cases. There is no guarantee that you will be that special case. If somebody says that water is not available in the desert or water is very rarely available in the desert, both the statements are one and the same. It means that you should go to a desert with your own water bottle. You cannot take the chance of the rare availability of water. Therefore, you should achieve the permanent grace of the Lord before the end of this human birth.
Again, you have to think about the actual period of this human birth. There is no guarantee that one will get old and die. One may die at any moment such as in case of accidental deaths. Therefore, try to achieve the goal today itself. At the same time do not be discouraged. You are in the journey and are better than the people who have not even started the journey. But you have to cut your bonds with the world and attain the only single bond with Lord as said in the Gita (Eka Bhaktih…..). Unless you are relieved from the old institution, you cannot join the new institution. But as your bond with Lord increases, the worldly bonds weaken. Once you taste the divine nectar, you will discard the other drinks automatically.
The essence of this is that your effort must be on both sides: on one side you must try to intensify your bond with the Lord and on the other side you must try to cut your worldly bonds. The efforts on both sides are mutual and inclusive of each other. The final success depends on your determination, which is result of the divine knowledge that enters your intelligence (Buddhi). You are in the plane of the mind, which is just below the Buddhi. The mind vibrates [fluctuates] from one side to other doing Sankalpa (desiring something good) and Vikalpa (desiring against that). Therefore, read all My divine knowledge patiently and once your intelligence is convinced, you will make the final determination and you will find success on the very same day. Lord Krishna started the Gita with Jnana Yoga (Divine knowledge). Buddhi is the driver and mind is the steering wheel. You are the owner of the car. All the senses of the body are the wheels. The divine knowledge is the awareness of the right path in the eyes of driver. Such divine knowledge comes only from Sadguru who is the Lord Himself. If the driver is well-trained, you will reach the destination perfectly. Therefore, spend more time on the divine knowledge and its analysis, which will give you determination in practice. Shankara says that analysis of knowledge (Sadasat vivekah) is a prerequisite for the spiritual effort.