Once there was a physician named Lukman, who decided to outwit the messenger of death. When the time came, he prepared nine statues identical in all respects to himself and stood among them. Yamraj, the Lord of Death himself, arrived when Lukman was about to die. He had come to take one Lukman away but there he saw ten identical Lukmans and was bewildered. He exclaimed, “Bravo, Lukman! You have done wonders but still there is one flaw.”
The real Lukman was immediately agitated when he heard that his creation had a flaw and, forgetting death, he demanded to know what was the flaw. Yamraj grabbed him at once and said, “O physician! The flaw was that you could not insert breath into these statues. You can speak but these statues cannot.” It is all a play of Energy. As soon as the breath stops, the body becomes useless and people consider it unholy. Someone burns it in the crematorium, others feed it to the birds and still others throw it in the Ganges .
It means that people love the body so long as breath is present, but we do not understand this. A man usually spends all his time engrossed in illusory things. A spider spins a web which originates within itself and one day it dies in it. Likewise, it is said, “ Moh sakal vyadhinh kar moola. Tehi te puni upjahin bahu shoola.”Attachment is the root of all problems and miseries by which many troubles and pain crop up. Redemption from attachment is very difficult.
Once a Yaksha (nature spirit) asked Dharmraj the same thing: “What is the most amazing thing in this world?” Dharmraj replied, “The most amazing thing in this world is that we see people dying everyday and we also know that our death is inevitable, but still we desire to live in this world forever.”
A man returns home after cremating his son's corpse, his father's corpse, his friend's corpse, his mother's corpse and right then and there starts talking about domestic matters. What can be more astonishing than this? A monkey is captured due to his greed and desires and is compelled to dance at his master's command. In the same way, a man gets bound by greed and attachment to his family and dances to their tune throughout his life. But, among such people, one breaks free of greed and attachment, wins over his mind and thus his life becomes successful.
The flow of satsang given by saints is called a mobile ‘Prayag' (the confluence of the Ganga , Yamuna and Saraswati rivers). It is said that if you put a mixture of water and milk before a swan, then it will extract only the milk and will not drink even a drop of water. In the same way, the swan-like mind should contemplate and accept the essence and leave aside futile things.
If, having got a human body, we do not give deep thought to the advice of saints and do not do as our scriptures say, then we are bound to be plunged into troubles. Both Ravana's attitude and Lord Rama's attitude are within our minds. We have to adopt Lord Rama's attitude. People say that Ram-Rajya ( Kingdom of Ram ) should come in India and we should be filled with the feeling of ‘ Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam ' (the whole world is our family).
Have you ever wondered how all this will happen? Sita, the wife of Lord Rama, was kidnapped by Ravana. If someone kidnaps your wife, will you assemble an army of monkeys and bears as Lord Rama did? To obey his commands and to redeem his vow, Lord Rama left his father, even though his father fainted in grief. He left his entire family crying and departed for exile in the forest. Nowadays in our society, if a husband goes to satsang, his wife will not feed him. Similarly, if a wife goes to satsang, her husband will not allow her back inside the house. If such things are happening in each house, then how do you hope to see Ram-Rajya ? For establishing such a paradise on earth, one has to surrender everything, including his ego and all vices, at the feet of the Spiritual Master and only then can Ram-Rajya be established in this country. Today, no one is ready to listen to anyone else. In such adverse conditions, how can Ram-Rajya be established? Ram-Rajya can be established only when people associate with saints and acquire Knowledge from them.
As Draupadi was being disrobed in the court of the King Dhritarashtra, where great kings, religious personalities and brave warriors were present, all of them remained silent and the five Pandavas felt humiliated. Then whom did Draupadi remember? She remembered and called on God. There are people in India who say that a woman should not accept anyone except her husband as her guru. Well, Draupadi had five husbands but none of them protected her! Ultimately Lord Krishna had to come there and he protected her. Then HE told her, “Had you remembered me right at the start, Dusashana could not have laid a hand on you, but you looked for support to your husbands and all those who were present in the Court. Only when you were totally helpless, did you remember me.” So as long as one depends on himself, on his money, caste or educational qualifications, God does not come to help. So it is said, “ Sukh mein sumiran na kiya, dukh mein kiya yad. Kahe kabir ta das ki, koun sune fariyad. ”If you don't remember God during good times but only when you are in trouble, who will listen to your plea? When a man is happy, he does not remember God; he does not go to listen to satsang but says, “I have no time.” So his life is spent neither remembering God nor listening to satsang and ultimately he leaves this world empty-handed. So, listen to satsang, think about it and acquire Spiritual Knowledge to make your human life successful. This body has to be left behind one day. Today it is alive, tomorrow it will be dead. When a person acquires Spiritual Knowledge and meditates, all illusions disappear.
Today, conscientious leaders like Lord Rama are required. Our society is getting fragmented, differences of opinion are increasing day by day due to ignorance. India was once known as the Guru of the world. But today, selfish and ignorant people, without understanding, have changed even the verses of our scriptures. So we all have to sacrifice and set aside greed, attachment and ego; only then will we gain something. Lord Krishna said, “Arjuna, withdraw your mind from outside world and become introvert, then you will get peace. Like a tortoise which withdraws its limbs into its hard shell, we have to become introvert”.
We are human beings. We have one father. He has given us these breaths. God protects us when we were in our mother's womb. So, do not forget the grace of God. Go to the company of saints, listen to spiritual discourse and serve. As it is said, “Sevak sevya bhaw binu, bhav na tariya urgari. Bhajahu Ram pad pankaj, as siddhant vichari .”: Unless a man serves, his mind cannot be controlled. As reins are needed to control a horse, similarly satsang, meditation and service are required to control the mind.
Each person has to create a new and golden history by serving society so that future generations will read about you and will be inspired to do similar work. Hanuman was also a sevak (servant) and he served on and on. Similarly, whether a sadhu or a family man, each one has to serve. Both men and women saints came from family life. Great incarnates took birth in families. So, family life is considered to be the highest but only those families whose members are unattached like Lord Rama, which are as just as Dasharath, who said, “Raghukul riti sada chali ayi. Pran jai par vachan na jayi.” “ It is the the tradition of the Raghu dynasty that we would rather die than break a promise”. Likewise the Master teaches us the art of living, how to live in society. He teaches us the lessons of service and he gives us the spiritual experience. He has turned us from being mere pebbles to mountains; it is all His grace. A man may be a great philosopher, but even he has to bow before the Spiritual Knowledge. So, this life is meant for action, for treading the path shown by the Spiritual Master.
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