Workshop on Spirituality - Part 2

1   The Shemaa Mantra

   If you don't know the shemaa, you can't be blamed for wanting to write it down and follow it from the paper. But, a mantra should not be read. It should properly be heard and not seen. You see, in the cosmic order of things as given by Swami, first came the vibration or sound. And out of that sound came the ether, or space and time. Then out of the ether came touch, and out of the touch came the air. Air has the qualities of both sound and touch. Then came form. And out of form came fire. Fire has the three qualitites of sound, touch and form. Out of the fire came the taste. And out of the taste came the water. Finally, out of the water came smell. And out of smell came the densest of the elements, earth, which has all the five qualities. You see, it is always the subtle that comes first and then the gross. And you also see how the senses of perception are related to the five elements. They are the subtle aspects of the five elements. When Swami speaks of the five elements, he refers to both the gross elements and the subtle or fine aspects of the elements.

   Why is this important? Why should we know this? Because Swami makes a big point of the fact that in this universe all you will ever find are the five elements. And when he speaks of the five elements, it includes these subtle five elements that are perceived, as well as the gross elements. The subtle is what is actually sensed by the sensory system, so we are speaking of something that is an experience, something that is subjective. The whole of Vedanta ultimately is something that is subjective, not objective.

   Now, back to the statement that mantras should be heard. When they are done correctly they are of the essence of pure vibration, the finest of the fine. Hence, they have incredible potency. The subtle is always more powerful than the gross, although this is not immediately apparent because of the time required for the subtle to work. For example, energy which is more subtle, transforms matter, which is denser. Information, such as is contained in a blueprint or a directive, and which is still more subtle, organizes both energy and matter. Consciousness is subtler still, and produces information. So, with respect to the subtle senses, the most subtle and therefore the most potent is the pure vibration of sound.

3  Sound

   Now, if you are holding a piece of paper, then you are involving the touch sensation. If you are looking at it, then you are involved in seeing the sensation of form. So this is something much grosser than pure sound involving only the perception of vibration. Therefore, something that is read is grosser and denser than something that is only heard. That is why in the Indian tradition, a mantra is never read. You hear it, and pass it on. Of course, we are so visual that we have to see it. But once we get a little bit of an idea of how it is pronounced, then it is best to put the paper aside. It is the same in devotional singing. Swami doesn't like us to sing our songs to God from a piece of paper or a song book. He says that is not devotion, that is just 'deep ocean', referring to the ocean of worldly life. It is a written thing, no longer something from the heart but of the mind.

   One Christmas Swami told me to prepare a talk for the Christmas function, to be given just before Swami's discourse. He told me to speak on Jesus. I protested, "Swami, I don't know anything about Jesus. I'm not Christian." Swami asked, "What are you?" I told him, "I don't regularly observe any Western religious practice, but I was brought up as a Jew." Immediately Swami replied, "Jesus was also a Jew. You give a talk on Jesus." That was that. But I hadn't even read the New Testament. I didn't know anything about Jesus. I scurried around to get my hands on everything I could find on Jesus. I read the Bible, I spoke to ministers, priests and lay Christians who were visiting the ashram. I read all of Swami's Christmas talks of years past. I meditated on Jesus. Pretty soon I felt like an expert on the life and teachings of Jesus.

   For ten days prior to Christmas, everyday on the veranda, he would ask me, "Are you ready?" And I would say, "No, Swamiji, I'm not yet ready." Then two days beforehand he asked, "Are you ready?" And I said, "Yes, Swami." And he asked, "How long will you take?" I said, "Twenty to thirty minutes." "Yes", he said, "That is good - do it in twenty minutes."

   On the day before Christmas, I was a little anxious. I had no information when in the program I would speak and where the function would be held. I asked: "Swami, what is the Christmas program?" He said: "Christmas program? You dance!" As it turned out the function for that particular Christmas was to be held in the new boys' hostel at Prashanthi Nilayam, which had not previously been used. Swami was inaugurating the hostel that day. There was not enough room there for both the ladies and the gents, so only ladies were permitted in. The men had to stay outside. So I came there to give the talk and they would not let me in. "But I am supposed to be speaking on the program." "Sorry, Sir, we don't have any direction from Swami."

When Swami came, he walked by me outside without apparently noticing me waiting there. He went in with the governor and that seemed like the end of it for me. But then, five minutes later he called for me and they found me, a little bedraggled in the big crowd outside. When I came in he called me over and said to me: "Make it short... only ten minutes!" And then just before I was to speak, he said something to the boys and one of them whispered to me: "Sir, Bhagavan says, not more than five minutes. Only five minutes; you speak just before the governor."

   So my talk of twenty to thirty minutes had to be condensed into five minutes. I had a few little pieces of paper with some notes on them. In five minutes a whole message had to come, and so I read it out very quickly, but with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I probably took closer to ten minutes, and got a few gentle kicks under the lectern from the boys, to remind me of the time. But it seems a power came into me and I must have sounded like an old time preacher shouting out his sermon. The people who could not see that I had a piece of paper were very impressed afterwards.

   That evening there was a dinner with Swami and one of the senior devotees said to Swami: "Drucker gave a very good talk!" Swami wrinkled his nose, shook his head in a negative way, and said something in Telugu. He did not appear to be very pleased. Later I asked: "What did he say?" And I was told he said: "It was a just a written thing!" He said; "You people listen to words, but the divinity listens only to what comes from the heart. When speech comes from a pure heart I am pleased, but not when it is words coming from paper. Paper is not good."

   So we have these papers because we are so used to that. We need these papers, but once we have the words down in our hearts, even if just a little bit, then it's best to throw away the paper. Swami does not like tape recorders, either. He says: "Turn on the tape recorder in your heart. Its batteries or tape will never run out."

   Question: "What is the relationship between the wisdom teaching and devotion. Do we choose one or the other? How do we know which we're best suited for?"
   Answer: Swami likened the three paths to a clock which has three hands. The second hand is the path of action. The minute hand is the path of devotion, and the hour hand is the path of wisdom. The second hand must go all the way around before the minute hand advances one small division. This means that you have to do so much service to get the feeling of a little bit of genuine devotion in your heart. As the minute hand progresses, the love comes. But then, consider how much devotion there has to be until you finally see the Lord everywhere.

   When you see the face of God in every face then you have wisdom; that is the hour hand. The minute hand has to go a long way before the hour hand advances, even just a little. But, Swami says, when you are interested in what time it is, you are primarily interested in the hour, and only secondarily in the minute and the second. The hour is what is most important. So, the culmination of the paths of action and devotion must be the path of wisdom. We must dispel the ignorance that has veiled the truth and become established in wisdom, in self-realization.

   He also spoke of it in another way. He says it is like going from Bangalore to Delhi. You can take a direct train, an express train. It gets you there very quickly and very comfortably. Or you can take a train in which you stay in the Delhi thru-coach, but along the way, the coach is shunted from one train to another, shifting several times like that along the way, until you reach Delhi. So, it gets you there and you don't have to get out of your coach, but it is not as quick and not as comfortable. Or you can take a series of local trains. You get in, you get off, get in, get off, get in, get off, and finally you reach Delhi. All of these ways reach Delhi, but the express train is the wisdom path. The coach that takes you through is the path of devotion. And the off and on local train is the path of action.

   But, that does not mean that you can skip ahead to wisdom. You must go through the successive steps. You have to start with service. You cannot start at the highest. If you do, it will be dry. It will have no meaning. Each stage must develop naturally. It is like a fruit that turns from bud to fruit, from bitter to sour to sweet. Even so, many of us are ready for the higher stage. Our preparations may have been completed in previous lives. And so we have been stressing the wisdom stage and giving some attention to it here. But understand that when wisdom dawns, the devotion will also be there; and the service to mankind will be there, as well. They will have become part of your nature. We have not been discussing these other aspects here, but they are obviously very important. In the time we had available, I wanted to share with you the highest non-dualistic teachings which Swami expounded so lucidly and forcefully, and with such immediacy, in those intimate minutes we had with him at Kodaikanal, a few years ago.