SOME ILLUSTRATIVE STORIES
Once upon a time, Sri Vedavyasa was holding his Vedanta class amongst his students. In the course of his lecture, he mentioned that the young Brahmacharis should be very careful and should not mix with young ladies and that, with all their vigilance and circumspection, they might fall a victim as lust was very powerful. One of his students, Jaimini, the author of Purva-Mimamsa, was a little impertinent. He said, "Guruji Maharaj! Your statement is wrong. No lady can attract me. I am well established in Brahmacharya." Vyasa said, "Jaimini, you will know that soon. I am going to Benares. I will return within three months. Be careful. Don’t be puffed up with pride."
Sri Vyasa, through his Yogic powers, assumed the form of a beautiful young girl, with piercing eyes and very charming face, well dressed in a thin silken garment. The lady was standing underneath a tree at sunset. Clouds gathered together. It began to rain. Accidentally, Jaimini was passing along the side of the tree. He saw the girl, felt pity and addressed her: "Oh lady, you can come and stay in my Ashram. I shall give you shelter." The lady asked, "Are you living alone? Is any woman living there?" Jaimini replied, "I am alone. But I am a perfect Brahmachari. No lust can affect me. I am free from any sort of Vikara. You can stay there." The lady objected: "It is not right for a young virgin girl to stay with a Brahmachari alone at night." Jaimini said, "Oh damsel, don’t be afraid. I promise you of, my perfect Brahmacharya." Then she agreed and stayed in his Ashram at night.
Jaimini slept outside and the lady was sleeping inside the room. At dead of night, Jaimini began to feel the influence of lust in his mind. A little sexual craving arose in his mind. In the beginning, he was absolutely pure. He knocked at the door and said, "Oh lady, the wind is blowing outside. I cannot bear the cold blasts. I want to sleep inside." She opened the door. Jaimini was sleeping inside. Again the sexual craving became a little more intense and keen, as he was very close to a lady and as he heard the sound of her bangles. Then he rose up and began to embrace her. At once Sri Vyasa assumed his original form with his long beard and said, "Oh, my dear Jaimini, what about the strength of your Brahmacharya now? Are you established in your perfect celibacy now? What did you say when I was lecturing on this subject?" Jaimini dropped his head down in utter shame and said, "Guruji! I am wrong. Kindly pardon me."
This illustration goes to show that even great persons are duped by the power of Maya and by the influence of revolting Indriyas. Brahmacharins should be very careful.
One of the disciples of Socrates asked his teacher, "My venerable master, kindly instruct me how many times a householder can visit his legal wife." Socrates replied, "Only once in his lifetime."
The disciple said, "Oh my Lord! This is absolutely impossible for worldly men. Passion is dreadful and troublesome. This world is full of temptations and distractions. Householders have not a strong will to resist temptations. Their Indriyas are very revolting and powerful. The mind is filled with passion. Thou art a philosopher and Yogi. You can control. Pray, kindly prescribe an easy path for the men of the world." Then Socrates said, " A householder can have copulation once in a year."
The disciple replied, "O venerable sir, this is also a hard job for them. You must prescribe an easier course." Socrates then replied, "Well, my dear disciple, once in a month. This is suitable. This is quite easy. I think you are satisfied now."
The disciple said, "This also is impossible, my revered master. Householders are very fickle-minded. Their minds are full of sexual Samskaras and Vasanas. They cannot remain even for a single day without sexual intercourse. You have no idea of their mentality."
Then Socrates said, "Well said, my dear child. Do one thing now. Go directly to the burial ground now. Dig a grave and purchase a coffin and winding sheet for the corpse before hand. Now you can spoil yourself any number of times you like. This is my final advice to you." This last advice pierced the heart of the disciple. He felt it keenly. He thought over the matter seriously and understood the importance and glory of Brahmacharya. He took to spiritual Sadhana in right earnest. He took a vow of strict unbroken celibacy for life. He became an Oordhvareta Yogi and had Self-realization. He became one of the favourite disciples of Socrates.
There once lived a sagely king named Yayati who lived for a full one thousand years enjoying all the pleasures a king of his position could command. When old age attacked him, and he had still a great desire to enjoy all royal pleasures for some more years, he asked each of his sons, one by one, to take upon himself this old age and give him his youth in return, assuring that after another one thousand years he would return the youth and take back his decrepitude. Not one of them was willing to accept the offer except his youngest son named Puru.
Puru said with all humility that he was quite willing to do as his father wished him and accordingly gave his youth to his father and got in return old age and its consequent weakness. Yayati, being exceedingly delighted with his new youth, began again to indulge in sensual pleasures. He enjoyed himself to the full extent of his desires and to the full limit of his powers and as much as he desired without violating the precepts of religion. He was very happy, but only one thought troubled him. And that was the thought that the one thousand years would soon come to an end.
When the fixed time came to an end, he came to his son Puru and addressed him thus: "O son, I have enjoyed with your youth to the full extent of my desires and to the full limit of my powers and all according to their seasons. But, desires never die. They are never satiated by indulgence. By indulgence they flame up like the sacrificial fire with ghee poured into it. If one becomes the sole lord of all the earth with its paddy, oats, gems, beasts and women, still it will not be considered by him enough. Therefore, the thirst for enjoyment should be abandoned. The thirst for enjoyments which is difficult to cast off by the wicked, which does not fail even with failing life, is truly a fatal disease in man. To get rid of this thirst is real happiness. My mind was attached to the pleasures of life for full one thousand years. My thirst for them, however, without being abated, is daily being increased. Therefore, I shall get rid of it. I shall fix my mind on Brahman, and becoming peaceful and having no attachment, I shall pass the rest of my days in the forest with the innocent deer." So saying he installed Puru on the throne after giving him back his youth and retired into the forest to lead the life of an ascetic.
Vemana was born in the year 1820 in a small village in the district of Godavari in Andhra Desa. He had a brother by name Anu Verna Reddy. His parents passed away when he was quite a young boy. He was born in a rich family. He was a Reddy by caste.
Vemana was sent to a primary school. He was not able to prosecute his studies. He fell into evil company and became a rowdy boy. But he was very handsome and active. Anu Verna Reddy and his wife Narasamma liked Vemana very much. At the age of fifteen, Vemana became debaucherous. He spent much money for the sake of women. Yet, his brother and sister-in-law liked him very much.
Anu Vema Reddy and his wife wanted to correct the ways of Vemana. They stopped giving him any money. So Vemana stole at night the ornaments of his sister-in-law and gave them to a prostitute. When his sister-in-law came to know of the loss of the jewels, she asked Vemana, "Where are my jewels?" Vemana answered, "As you did not give me money, I took them and gave away to my beloved." Narasamma did not speak a word. She did not even inform her husband of the loss of the jewels. She liked Vemana very much. She locked up all her ornaments in the safe.
The prostitute urged Vemana to bring some More money or ornaments. So, again at dead of night, Vemana woke up from his bed and tried to remove some of the ornaments from the neck of his sister-in-law. She was wearing only the sacred Mangala Sutra that was tied round her neck at the time of her marriage; she had kept all her other jewels in the safe. Vemana wanted to remove at least this ornament. When he was attempting to remove it, Narasamma woke up and caught hold of his hand and asked him why he came to her bedroom at midnight. He replied in a daring manner: "My beloved asked me to bring some ornaments. I came here to take them." Narasamma asked him to get out of the room at once. Then Vemana cried and fell at her feet. Narasamma prayed to God to give good Buddhi to Vemana and make him a pure, virtuous soul. Then she promised to give Vemana an ornament, provided he would strictly obey her words. Vemana fully assured her.
Narasamma said: "Vemana! Ask the girl to stand naked in front of you. Let her back be turned towards you. Then ask her to bend down and take the jewel from your hands by passing her hands through her thighs." Vemana promised to do so and took an oath also in the name of Goddess Kali. Then his sister-in-law gave him a valuable ornament.
Vemana proceeded directly to the prostitute’s house and asked her to do in the manner his sister-in-law had instructed. While the prostitute was bending down, he saw very clearly the private parts of the woman. At once intense Vairagya dawned in his mind. He retraced his steps to his house with the ornament in his hands. He gave back the ornament to his sister-in-law and related to her all that had happened. He said, "My dear sister-in-law! Thank you so much for all your kind acts. I am a changed man now. There is no real happiness in this world. It is all jugglery of Maya. I am going now in quest of real happiness." He left the house at once and went to a Kali temple near his village and sat near the image of Kali.
Now it so happened that, for some years, a man named Abhiramayya had been praying to Kali for Her Darshan. One day She appeared in his dream and said, "Come tomorrow at midnight. I will give you Darshan." But the unfortunate devotee could not come the next day. When Kali came, Vemana was there instead. Kali asked Vemana to seek a boon of her. Vemana said, "O Mother! Give me Brahma-Jnana." Mother Kali then initiated him into the mysteries of Jnana. From that day onwards, Vemana became a virtuous man with great devotion, Yogic powers and Jnana.
In course of his wanderings, Vemana went to Cuddapah. He lived in a forest near Cuddapah. He planted various fruit-bearing trees like melons and cucumbers. The cucumbers were all filled with gold. With this gold, Vemana built a temple at Sri Sailam. Even today, this temple at Sri Sailam contains the famous Jyotirlingam of Mallikarjuna. It is a famous place of pilgrimage. One day some thieves came to rob the cucumbers containing gold. They all became senseless due to the Yogic powers of Vemana.
Once Vemana entered the cottage of a poor Brahmin at midnight and went to sleep on his bed. During the night, he answered the calls of nature on the bed itself. That portion of the bed, which was soiled by his excreta, became transmuted into gold.
Vemana cast off his physical sheath in 1865 in Katarupalli in the Cuddapah district. He wrote several books in Telugu on Yoga, chief among them being "Vemana Tattva-Jnanam" and "Vemana Jivamritam".
There was a king named Muktachuda in olden times. He ruled the kingdom of Dasarna. He had two sons, Hemachuda and Manichuda. They both were very handsome and virtuous. They had good behaviour and conduct. They were also very proficient in all the arts. They both went to the mountain Sahya with attendants and weapons for hunting. They shot many tigers and wild animals. All of a sudden there was a terrible sandstorm. Immense darkness prevailed. One could not see the other person.
Hemachuda somehow managed to reach the hermitage of a sage, which was full of fruit trees. He saw in the Ashram a beautiful maiden. He was quite astonished to see a fearless girl in that solitary forest. He asked the maiden, "Who are you? Who is your father? Why are you alone here? How did you develop this courage?" She replied politely, "Welcome, O prince! Take your seat. Take a little rest. You seem to be much tired. Kindly take these fruits and nuts. I shall relate my story." The prince ate those fruits and nuts and rested for a while.
The girl then began: "O prince! Harken to my story with rapt attention. I am the God-child of sage Vyaghrapada who is adored by all, who has conquered the world by his severe austerities, and who has attained liberation. My name is Hemalekha. Vidyutprabha, celestial nymph of matchless beauty and indescribable splendour, one day came to the river Veena for bathing. Sushena, the king of the Vengas, also came there. Sushena was captivated by the enchanting beauty of Vidyutprabha. The celestial nymph was also infatuated with the handsome figure of King Sushena. Sushena pleaded his love to Vidyutprabha. She responded. The king spent some time with her. Afterwards he returned to his capital.
"Vidyutprabha soon brought forth a child." She left the child there as she was afraid of her husband and went to her place. I am that child. Vyaghrapada came to the river for his daily ablutions. He saw me and took pity on me. He brought me up like a mother. I regard him as my father. I serve him with reverence. Through his grace I have become fearless here. My father will return presently. Please wait a little. Pay your respects to him and obtain his blessings." The intelligent girl understood the heart of the prince and said: "O prince! Do not get disheartened. You can gratify your desire. My father will grant your desire."
Immediately, the sage Vyaghrapada entered with flowers for worship. The prince got up and prostrated before the sage. The sage understood that the prince was in love with the girl. He gave Hemalekha in marriage to the prince. The prince returned with her to his city. His father was very much delighted. He celebrated their marriage with pomp and splendour.
The prince loved Hemalekha immensely. He was very much attached to her. But he noticed that she was rather indifferent to sensual pleasures. He asked her one day: "O dear Hemalekha, what is the matter with you? I am very much attached to you. Why do you not reciprocate my love? Nothing seems to have any effect on you. You are dispassionate. How can I enjoy when you have such an attitude of mind? You always sit with closed eyes like a statue. You do not laugh, play and joke with me. Kindly speak out your heart. Be frank."
Hemalekha replied respectfully: "O prince! Hear me. What is love? What is dislike? As this is not clear to my mind, I am always reflecting over it. I have come to no definite conclusion. Please enlighten me on this point. I entreat you."
Hemachuda replied with a smile: "It is true that women possess an innocent mind. Even animals understand what is like and dislike. We see that they like pleasing things and dislike unpleasant objects. Beauty gives us pleasure; ugliness gives us pain. Why do you waste your time daily on this?"
Hemalekha replied: "It is true I that women have no independent power of thinking. So, is it not your duty to clear my doubts? If you throw light, I will leave off thinking and be attached to you always. O prince! You said that like and dislike or love and hatred arise out of objects which give us pleasure and pain. But the same object gives us pleasure and pain on account of time, circumstances and environments. What is your decision then? Kindly give me your definite answer. Fire is very pleasant in winter, but in summer it is very terrible. You cannot go near the fire. The same fire gives pleasure in cold countries and pain in hot countries. The quantity of fire gives us different results. Similar is the case with wealth, wife, son, mother and so on. These induce positive sufferings and misery. Why is it that your father Muktachuda, despite his possession of immense wealth, sons and wife is always sorrowful? Others are very happy even without these. Worldly happiness is mixed with misery, pain, fear and anxiety. So it cannot be called happiness at all. Misery is personal and impersonal or internal and external. The external one is caused by the faults of the elements on the body. The internal one is born out of desire. It has connection with the mind. Of these, the internal one is more formidable. It is the seed or cause for all suffering. The whole world is drowned in such internal misery. The tree called misery has desire as the strong and never-failing seed. Even Indra and other gods are impelled by this desire. They carry out its instructions day and night. If there is no desire, you cannot experience any pleasure. Such a mixture of happiness and misery is enjoyed even by the insects, worms and dogs. Do you think that man’s happiness is greater than this? The happiness of the insects is superior to that of man. Because desire is not mixed in their pleasure, it is unalloyed. Whereas, in man, a little pleasure is found in the midst of thousands of ungratified desires. This cannot be called happiness. Man feels happy by embracing his wife, but by pressing her limbs too much, he makes her feel uneasy. After sporting, they are exhausted. What happiness have you in these sensual perishable objects? Kindly explain, O prince! This sort of happiness is enjoyed even by dogs, donkeys and pigs. But, if you say that you are happy by looking at my physical beauty, this happiness is imaginary and illusory like embracing a lady in a dream.
"A certain beautiful prince had a very handsome wife. He was very much attached to her. She, on the contrary, was in love with the prince’s servant. She was cheating the prince by foul means. The servant would mix some intoxicating drug in the wine given to the prince. Then he would send an ugly servant-maid to the prince. He himself would sport with the prince’s wife. The prince, under intoxication, was thinking: ‘I am very fortunate. I have got the most beautiful lady in the world.’ Many days passed thus. One day the servant forgot to mix the narcotic in the wine. The prince also did not drink much that day. He joined the ugly woman when he fell a victim to passion. He now found out that she was the servant-maid. He asked her where his dear wife was. She kept silent at first. Then the prince drew the sword and threatened to kill her if she did not reveal the whole truth. She told him everything and showed the place where his beautiful wife was with the servant. The prince said: ‘What a fool am I! I have degraded myself by drinking. Whoever places too much love on a woman becomes despicable. Just as a bird is not fixed to any particular tree, so also, woman is not fixed to one man. She has fickle, unsteady mind. I have become a beast. I have lost my power of discrimination. I regarded my wife as more valuable than my very life itself. A man who is attached to a woman and who yields to a woman is a veritable donkey indeed. Woman is evanescent like the autumnal sky. I did not know woman’s nature till now. She goes to the dirty servant and she has left me who am ever attached to her and who is faithful to her. She pretended to show love to me like a drama actress. I am cheated. The servant is ugly in all his limbs. What beauty does she find in him?’ The prince became disgusted with everything. He left the kingdom and went to a forest."
Hemalekha continued: "Therefore, O prince! Beauty is a mental creation only. Beauty is mind-born. Beauty is the result of mental conception. Just as you behold beauty in me, others find even better charm in ugly women. On seeing a woman, her reflection is formed in the mirror of a man’s mind. If a man thinks of this beauty constantly, desire is stimulated in that part of the body, which is subject to impulse. That man in whom the desire is thus stimulated enjoys sensual pleasure, whereas, he whose desire is not stimulated does not care to see even the most handsome girl. The cause for this is the constant meditation on beauty or woman. Boys and ascetics do not meditate or think on this. Therefore, they do not get any desire for sensual pleasures. Those who find pleasure in the company of a particular woman create in their minds the beauty according to their ideas, irrespective of whether the woman is ugly or most beautiful. They project their ideas of beauty in the woman. If you ask how beauty is found in an ugly woman and how there can be joy without beauty, I can only say that a passionate man in his infatuation is blind. Cupid is painted blind. The passionate man finds the beauty of Rambha in the most ugly woman. There can be no beauty without desire. If beauty be natural like sourness, sweetness and bitterness in substances, then why is it not found in children and young girls? Therefore, beauty is created by mind only.
"People think as beautiful this physical body which is composed of flesh, filled with blood, built of nerves, covered with skin, a cage of bones overgrown with hair, full of bile and phlegm, a box of excreta and urine, created out of blood and semen, born through the urinary passage! How can those persons who find pleasure in this be superior to worms born in filth? O prince, you find my physical body to be beautiful. Just analyze this body part by part and think over each part. Think over every part of sweet and delicious things. All things we eat are changed into abominable dirt. When such is the case, what is lovable and delighting?"
Hemachuda heard the nectar-like instructions of Hemalekha with great attention and interest. He developed strong Vairagya and Viveka, meditated on the all-pervading, pure, immortal Atman and became a Jivanmukta. Manichuda also learnt the truth from his brother; Muktachuda from his son; and his wife from her daughter-in-law. The minister and citizens of that town became wise. Even birds were uttering and others words of wisdom in that town. Sages Vamadeva and others noticed that all in that town, including the animals and birds, were learned and wise and called the city as Vidyanagar or the Town of Wisdom.
Once a young prince saw a beautiful princess on the banks of a river when he was on a hunting excursion. The princess had a philosophical bent of mind. She had mastered several Vedantic books. She was practising deep meditation on Atman. The prince approached her and wanted her to marry him. She flatly refused. The prince again and again entreated her in various ways. She finally told him, "Please come and see me in my residence after ten days. I shall marry you". The prince also was a student of Vedanta, but he had no real sustained Vairagya. He spent sleepless nights, and on the morning of the tenth day, eagerly proceeded to the palace of the princess.
The young princess had already devised a means to escape from the clutches of marriage. She took a drastic purgative of croton oil continually for ten days and collected all the motions in ten separate enamel commodes and arranged them all nicely with numbers 1 to 10 in a big room, covering all the commodes with beautiful silk clothes. She now looked all skin and bones. Her eyes were sunken and she lay down on her bed.
The prince came to meet her with great joy. The maid-servant conducted him to the room where the princess lay. The prince could not recognise her. He asked the maid-servant, "Where is the young, beautiful lady? She is not the lady whom I met the other day!" To which the princess replied, "O dear prince, I am the very same lady. I have carefully stored up my beauty in the yonder room. Kindly go with me and see the accumulated beauty there. Come along with me now. I shall show it to you". So saying, she took the prince to the room, removed the silk pieces, and asked him to look at her beauty. She added, "This is the beauty of my skin and flesh". The prince was simply stunned. He did not speak a word to the lady. He prostrated at her feet and took her as his mother. He threw off his princely robes and retired into the forests. Now his heart was filled with intense Vairagya. He sought the protection of a sage, got instructions from him, practiced rigorous meditation and attained Knowledge of the Self.
The mind is like the ghost, which is always restless. Once a Brahmin Pundit, through Mantra Siddhi, had control over a ghost. The ghost said to the Pundit, "I can do any work for you in a minute. I have supernatural powers. You must be giving me various kinds of works .... always. If you leave me even for a second without work, I will at once devour you". The Brahmin agreed.
The ghost dug a tank for the Brahmin, ploughed the fields and did various works in a short time. The Brahmin was not able to engage the ghost in any further work. The ghost threatened him, "Now there is no work for me. I will devour you". The Brahmin was much puzzled. He did not know what to do. He went to his Guru and explained his situation. His teacher said, "Use your common sense. Install a big, stout, soft, wooden post in front of your house. Apply castor oil, wax and other greasy substances to the post. Ask the ghost to get up the post and get down the whole day and night". The disciple acted accordingly and controlled the ghost without any difficulty. The ghost became helpless.
Even so, you must give to the mind some kind of work or the other always: Japa, meditation, Svadhyaya, service, Kirtan, prayer and so on. You must keep it fully occupied. Then only the mind can be easily controlled. You will have no evil thoughts. You can be well established both in physical and mental Brahmacharya. |
