Facets of Spirituality

by Swami Krishnananda

Compiled by S. Bhagyalakshmi

March 19, 1979

The weather has warmed up and so the open-air terrace becomes unsuitable for the morning darshan. We sit before Swami Krishnanandaji in the closed verandah of his kutir. This is the first day after a week of severe illness that we get a blessed hour with Swamiji.

A group of Japanese have come to see Rev. Swamiji, along with an interpreter.

A question is put as to why the mind is unable to concentrate on the Buddha. (The questioner is a Buddhist.)

Swamiji: The reason is simple. There is fear in the mind that the Buddha cannot give everything. So the mind is not going to the Buddha. There is something that the world also can give and which the Buddha may not be able to give. When you are hungry and you pray, your mind will say: 'You are hungry and you are praying to the Buddha. Go to a restaurant.' This is the dual attitude of the mind. This is a very general statement I am making. Mainly the reason is that there are many tensions in the mind, nervous complexes, emotional frustrations, etc. These are the reasons why the mind will not concentrate on what you wish to concentrate upon. Remove all tensions and frustrations. This is the method. Remove what you do not like, and have only what you like. There is something the mind longs for and cannot get; or you may hate something wholeheartedly, and that is what troubles you. Though these factors may be small or subtle, they are important factors in the psychology of the individual. Buddha is not a personality, a human being. The idea that he is a human being must go. Buddham saranam gacchami is only a concept for the Universal Reality. Dhammam saranam gacchami, sangham saranam gacchami – these are the three great proclamations of Buddhism. These mean 'I take refuge in Buddha which is Reality. I take refuge in Dharma, namely, Love for all creation. I take refuge in sangham, which means the organisation.' These three are the three stages of ascent, of which first is Reality. Then it manifests as Law of the Universe. Then it further manifests in concrete organisations in the human society. So from the organisation you go to the Universal Law, and from the Universal Law to the Absolute. When such a grand concept is before you, how can you think of anything else and be distracted? Buddha was not some gentleman born at one time and now dead and gone. Dharma Kaya is what He is called. [The Japanese visitor here makes a statement.] Yes, there are three stages, no fourth. Tatatha Gata is the third. Dharma Kaya is the second and Bhuto Tatatha is the first. It is something like Sat-Chit-Ananda. Bhuto Tatatha is Sat: it is the whatness, the thatness, the suchness or the whichness of things.

At this stage, by vivisecting the type of questions, Swamiji elicited from the questioner that God exists everywhere and, therefore, he had answered his question, where is God.

Swamiji: In the heart of the man? Not in the head of man. Not in the animals.

Visitor: Yes, also in the animals.

Swamiji: If God is sitting in the same place as yourself, how can another, you, also be sitting there? But these are very high and abstract thoughts. Do not go too high in your concepts. Be humble and simple in whatever way you can think of God without bothering about such high flights into philosophy.

Visitor: Where has man come from? What is his connection with God? Am I and He different from one another?

Swamiji: Why does such a doubt come to you? God is all-pervasive, and you have to surrender your will to Him. You contemplate on God as the Creator of the whole cosmos. Whether He is one with you or different from you, this question should not have come into your mind just now. Why do you let unnecessary questions come into your mind? Pray to Him and seek His grace. That will make everything automatically okay. God will tell you what the Truth is.

Visitor: The Christians believe that God and man are different.

Swamiji: But you are following Buddhism. Why worry about Christianity? There are things which the mind cannot grasp, and these should not be thought of; the understanding will evolve by itself. Now we talk of three dimensions of a thing: length, breadth and height. But modern physics says no, there is a fourth dimension. Everything is a four-dimensional reality, not three. What is the use of saying this to the ordinary mind? Such a thing cannot even be thought of by the mind. But the scientist says that it is the only thing that exists. So you can imagine where we are. If that is the only thing that exists, and that is what we cannot even think of in the mind, what is the kind of paradise you are living in? Tell me.

Another visitor: Why did Swami Sivananda found the ashram here in India?

Swamiji: There are branches all over the world.

Visitor: My point is, why at this place?

Swamiji: Why is Ganga here and not in America. Similarly, the Ashram is here. The geographical and historical circumstances, and certain factors, produce certain influences on the social life of the people, that is to say, the humanity living there. These influences form the very thought and outlook on life of the people living under such influences. "Why was Christ born in Israel, Jerusalem?" asked a boy. The missionary's answer was, "Because it is in the centre of the Earth. To the East and the West there are other lands." When I was a small boy, I myself put this question to an Evangelist, who gave me this answer: "The centre is Palestine, and so God is born there, for He is born only in the centre of the Earth." Even so, there are theories and theories of the theologians, doctrines and doctrines of the theologians, and babblings and babblings of the sectarians. But nobody understands the mystery of these things. There are mysteries and mysteries, and they are not what you see with the eyes. It is not visible to the eyes like the sun, nor like the bullockcart on the road, the shop in the market or the bus stop, etc. These are not the Reality. These are the outer phenomena which are projected by certain secrets that are working behind nature. Unless you know this mystery, neither can you have peace nor can you give peace to others. So you must go deep into your personal self, and when you go deep into it, you will find that you are entering an ocean which includes everything else. This is my message to you this morning. [laughs heartily]