Yadhu Gita – 3

Gurus 17 to 24

Guru 18

A bird of prey is the 18^th guru described in verses 1 & 2 of chapter 4

One day Avadhuta watched a small bird of prey flying with a piece of flesh in its beak.  It was being chased and attacked by a number of birds who tried to get at its food.  The pestered bird dropped the piece of flesh to get rid of the attack. As the other birds pounced on the dropped flesh, this bird was flying freely in peace.  From this, he learned that one who runs after worldly pleasures will soon come into clash with one’s fellow-beings who too run for the same and has to face much miseries and strife.  Happiness and peace come to one who lives abandoning the sensual pleasures, seeking only spiritual goals.

Guru 19

The child is the 19^th guru described in verses 3 & 4.

A child has no feeling of respect and disrespect, ego and arrogance and lives from moment to moment with no anxiety for the future or worry of the past.  A sage should be like the child, free from worries and anxieties, living in the present, innocent at heart and free of the dushta chathushtayam of ahamkara, mamakara, raga and dwesha.  While the child is happy and enjoying due to ignorance, the sage should be happy being free from all worldly desires and attachments and full of Supreme Joy.

Guru 20

A young unmarried maiden is described as the 20^th guru in verses 5 to 10.

During his travels Avadhuta came across a family.  There was an unmarried young girl in the family.  One day the parents of a suitor visited the house unexpectedly when the parents were not at home. She received them respectfully, seated them and went into the kitchen to prepare food for them.  While pounding the rice for food her bangles made a noise knocking against each other.  She did not like that noise as it would disturb the guests and she removed all the bangles except two in each hand. But still they made noise. So she took one more off and was able to complete her task quietly.  From this incident Avadhuta learned that wherever there are lots of people there will be unnecessary talk and gossip which will be a disturbance to spiritual sadhanas.  Even with only two also it will be the same.  So spiritual sadhanas for Liberation should be performed in isolation in a secluded place.

Guru 21

Verses 11 to 13 describe the 21^st guru, the arrow-maker.

A certain arrow-maker supplied weapons for the army of a king.  Avadhuta saw him one day so absorbed in chiselling the tip of an arrow that he did not take notice of even the king’s procession passing by.  This reminded the Avadhuta the importance of the undisturbed chitha ekagratha for the seeker. The mind is like an arrow and meditation makes the mind sharp freeing it of three types of thoughts, namely vasana-based thoughts, world-based thoughts and will-based thoughts. Such an alert mind with one-point focus is necessary to achieve Self-Realization.

Guru 22

Verses 14 & 15 describe the 22^nd guru, the snake.

A snake lives a solitary life, it does not remain in one place, it is silent in movement, it does not build any kind of residence but finds shelter in whatever cave or hole that is available. From the snake Avadhuta learnt the code of conduct for a sage i,e. to live alone, wander from place to place, not to engage with other people but pass silently, and to find shelter in any place.  The snake casts off its old skin to be replaced by a new one at regular intervals which should remind a sage of the phenomenon of death and not to be frightened of death as it is only changing the body to a new one based on his karma. 

Guru 23

Verses 16 to 21 describe the 23^rd guru, the spider

The spider spins a web secreting a fluid from its belly and plays in it day and night. After a time when he no longer feels a need for it, the spider swallows the entire web and becomes free again.  This reminds Avadhuta of  Brahman, the Supreme Self, who projects this world out of Himself, through His power of Maya, maintains it and later one day dissolves everything into Himself.  He expands His personal potency from within Himself, displays the network of cosmic manifestation, utilizes it according to His purpose and eventually withdraws it completely within Himself. The Supreme Self has no desires and is beyond the reach of cause and effect and the cycle of creation and dissolution is only a play, Leela, for Him.

Guru 24

Wasp is the 24^th guru described in verses 22 & 23.

The wasp catches hold of a worm, puts it in its nest, gives it a sting and goes on buzzing about it.  The worm is so frightened by this whole ongoing process of buzzing, that it cannot think of anything else apart from wasp.  The constant thinking of worm about wasp eventually turns the worm into a wasp itself. From this Avadhuta learnt that as a man thinks, so he becomes.  If one gives up all attachment to the body and constantly, devotedly without any sort of deviation mediates upon the Supreme Brahman, one will attain Liberation.

Conclusion

After describing the 24 external gurus, Avadhuta talked about the internal guru, his own physical body.  Avadhuta told the king that his body was the primary guru that taught him viveka and detachment and went on to explain it.   Out of all living beings only human being is capable of pursuing all the four purushathas i.e. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, while the rest of living beings can pursue only Artha and Kama.  And this human body is attained after many, many births in different other bodies.  In this human birth one should wisely use one’s intelligence and will to pursue Moksha purushartha without succumbing to the the pull of different sense-organs towards material acquisitions and worldly pleasures. Human birth is rare and human life is short.  So while in this body one should without post phoning and procrastinating acquire viveka to discriminate between the fleeting material pleasures and permanent spiritual bliss and practice detachment towards material pleasures while pursuing single-mindedly spiritual goal.  With humble and full devotion, he said, he looked upon the whole of God’s creation including the ones described as his various gurus, trying to gather wisdom from them and realize his goal of Spiritual Enlightenment. Then he concluded saying that his bliss and contentment commented upon by the king are the fruits of self-realization.  Upon hearing all this King Yadhu felt enlightened and paid homage to his new-found guru, Avadhuta, who blessing the king continued his wanderings.

-----------------------------

Yadhu Gita – 2

Gurus 9 to 17

Guru 9

Python is the ninth guru mentioned in verses 1 to 4 of chapter 3

A python eats whatever comes in its way and is satisfied, whether it is sufficient or not, bitter or sweet etc.  One should accept whatever one comes across in the life with full contentment. While suffering the hardships and miseries in life, one should think, it is due to past sinful activities that one is being punished. A sage always goes for search of wisdom and refrains from running after unwanted pleasures.  A man in search of wisdom should refrain from running after pleasures and accept whatever he gets spontaneously with contentment.

Guru 10

Ocean is the 10^th guru mentioned in verses 5 & 6

The ocean neither increases due to excessive inflow of rivers as in monsoons, nor decreases due to stoppage of flow of rivers, as when the rivers dry up.   So too the life of sage must remain balanced and in a state of calmness always with neither the joys of life exciting him nor the sorrows depressing him.  The depth of such sage’s wisdom cannot be easily comprehended by anyone, just as hidden pearls at the depth of ocean cannot easily be discovered. Like the ocean, the outlook of the sage should be broad.

Guru 11

Moth is the 11^th guru mentioned in verses 7 & 8.

The moth being attracted by the bright flame, dives into it without thinking and gets caught in the fire and destroyed.  Similarly an unthinking person, enticed by the illusory pleasures of the senses, gets trapped in the ceaseless cycles of birth and death.   On the other hand, the wise person, when he catches even a glimpse of the fire of wisdom, uses it to burn down the illusion of being a limited self.

Guru 12

Honey bee is the 12^th guru mentioned in verses 9 to 12.

Honey bee goes from flower to flower to collect honey and does not depend on a single flower.  Similarly a sage should not confine himself to a single patron for bhiksha but go from door to door seeking just enough food for the day.  Also he should take the essence from various scriptures, as the bee takes honey from different flowers.  

Guru 13

Elephant is the thirteenth guru described in verses 13 &14.
One tries to capture the powerful elephant by digging a pit in the ground, covering it with grass and placing a wooden cow elephant covered with elephant skin on that pit. Seeing the cow elephant and craving for sexual pleasure the male elephant runs towards that wooden cow elephant with speed and falls in the pit. Then it is easily made a captive.  Similarly, a passionate person is tempted by the person of opposite sex and is entrapped in bondage. The seekers of Liberation should learn to be free from lust. 

Guru 14

Honey-gatherer is the 14^th guru described in verses 15 & 16.

The honey-bee hoards the honey in the nest only to lose it to a honey-gatherer along with its life. Learning from this a spiritual seeker should not be spending time hoarding possessions and acquiring objects of pleasure.  Instead precious time should be spent in sadhanas to reach the inner self.

Guru 15

The 15^th guru is deer, described in verses 17 & 18

A deer is hard to catch because it can run so swiftly.  But the deer is very fond of music and is very much attracted by it and the deer is trapped by hunter through its love for music.  This sounds a warning to the sage that mundane sounds like sensuous music, specially the sweet singing and dancing of girl will sooner or later bring down a sage from his spiritual progress and ensnare him in samsara (Bhajans and other types of devotional music excepted).

Guru 16

Fish is the 16^th guru described in verses19, 20 and 21.

The fish is caught because the bait with the worm is a temptation.  Due to uncontrolled tongue, the fish meets its end. The lesson leant from the fish is that the sage should have control over his tongue in terms of taste as well as speech. When the tongue is under control, it is easy to bring other sense organs under control.  There is a positive aspect associated with the fish. It never leaves its home (i.e. water), and the sage should never lose sight of his True Self.

Guru 17

Pingala, the courtesan is the guru no. 17 and is described in verses 22 to 44 i.e. end of chapter 3

In Videha there lived a courtesan named Pingala.  Each night she would dress in her finest alluring clothes and ornaments and stand in the doorway of her home enticing passing men to come and spend the night with her for money and pleasure. One night many men passed by on the street and she watched them thinking "oh this one is rich" and "oh that one is handsome" but nobody came to her. As the hours wore on she became more and more depressed and anxious. Eventually she gave up waiting for a lover altogether. And then she had an illumination. She realized she did not need the attention of others, for happiness and sadness occurs within and developed detachment towards her way of life.  Feeling satisfaction from her abandonment of material desires, she felt contentment with what she had, and then had sound sleep. From then on she decided to turn a new leaf and live a disciplined and moral life with the realization that the divine spirit of the nature of bliss eternal lies within herself.   Avadhuta learnt that one should use the world to grow out of it and go after permanent peace and happiness internally with detachment.

------------------

Yadhu Gita - 1

Gurus 1 to 8

Introduction

The teachings of Krishna to Udddhava, spread over 23 chapters-from the 7th to 29th - of the 11th Skandha (Canto) of Srimad Bhagavatam is known as the Uddhava Gita.  As part of this teachings Lord Krishna narrates the tale of king Yadhu’s encounter with a freely roaming Avadhuta.  The Avaduta, a realized Jnani, is none other than Lord Dattatreya and king Yadhu is an ancestor of Lord Krishna.  Seeing the young Avadhuta sanyasi going about in the forest without any care or fear, radiating peace and happiness, the king approached him with humbleness and asked the Avadhuta about the secret of his happiness and the name of his Guru.  Avadhuta replied that he has not one but many gurus and listed them all with the lessons he learnt from each one of them.   The gurus he listed are 24 in number and they are listed in 105 verses spread over three chapters of Uddava Gita i.e. 2,3 & 4.  This entire dialogue between king Yadhu and Avadhuta is called as Yadhu Gita.  Most of the gurus are achetana gurus by observing whom the Avadhuta has extracted the teaching and gained wisdom.  With this brief introduction we shall see the gurus, one by one, with the lessons he learnt from each one of them.

Guru 1

The Avadhuta names the first guru in verses 37 and 38 of second chapter and the guru is the earth, prithvi, with the mountains and trees.

From Prithvi he learnt patience, forgiveness, endurance and tolerance. From mountains and trees, he learnt the virtue of paropakara and that one should devotedly dedicate oneself to the welfare of other living beings.

Guru 2

The second guru mentioned in verses 39 to 41 is Air, Vayu.

From Vayu, that moves freely among all objects and yet remains pure and odourless he learnt the value of staying clear of material world’s disturbances and attachments. Further when Air blows out of control, the atmosphere becomes agitated and similarly when the mind is constantly attracted and repelled by material objects, it will be next to impossible to concentrate on the Absolute Truth.  So a spiritual sadhaka should steer clear of associations and activities that do not contribute to his spiritual growth.

Guru 3

The third guru mentioned in verses 42 and 43 is Akasa, space. 

Avadhuta sees the similarity of Athma and Akasa and employs Akasa as a medium for Athma dhyanam.  Like Akasa, Athma is omnipresent, all-pervading, infinite in nature, asangha and purna.  Sometime clouds cover Akasa but yet Akasa remains unaffected.  In the same way, Athma is never affected, by the material body contamination.  The inner emptiness of Akasa i.e. space, teaches the sage should keep his inner self free of disturbing emotions born of likes and dislikes.

Guru 4

Water is the fourth guru mentioned in the verse 44.

Water quenches the thirst of every creature and without feeling any pride, water serves all living beings. The sage too should likewise bestow health, peace and joy to every creature that comes to him. The Sage should ever live as the humblest of God’s creation.  Water teaches the quality of purity. Just as the pure water cleanses others, so also the sage, who is pure and free from selfishness, lust, egoism, anger, greed, etc., purifies all who come in contact with him.

Guru 5

Agni, the fifth guru is mentioned in four verses 45 to 47 and 49

Avadhuta sees the similarity between fire and Paramathma.   As heat principle fire is unmanifest and as flame it is manifest.   Paramathma is a formless one and manifests in individuals as Jivathma.  Fire burns bright, cannot be suppressed by others. It has no extra storage place, it keeps all inside itself and it can eat anything and yet not get dirty when comes in to contact of other dirty things. The sage should be like the fire, shining through his austerities, his knowledge and tapas and having no vessel other than his stomach.  Although having no shape of its own, the fire assumes the shape of the firewood through which it reveals itself. Similarly, having entered a particular body, Athma appears to assume the qualities of the body.   So a yogi should see in beings not the external traits that differentiate them but only the Athma which is the essence.  

Guru 6

Moon is the sixth guru and is mentioned in verse 48

The moon waxes and wanes and despite this continuous change taking place with the moon, it remains unaffected by this process. Similarly the sage should not be affected by the continual change of body from birth to death including diseases and old age.

Guru 7

Surya, the sun, is the seventh guru mentioned in verses 50 and 51

Though the sun we see in our daily life is one, it appears as many when reflected by water in different vessels.  This teaches that the one real Self manifests itself as many selves of living creatures when reflected in their physical structures.  As Sun illuminates the many forms in nature to our vision, the sage too illuminates the true nature of all things to his devotees.  From the sun, that takes water from the ocean by evaporating it and returning it as life-giving rain water, Avadhuta learnt that whatever material things received through senses should not be stored but shed back without getting attached to material things.

Guru 8

Pigeon is the eighth guru and the story of pigeon is narrated in verses 52 to 74. With this story and the lesson learnt, Chapter 2 ends

A devoted pigeon couple along with their babies lived happily in jungle. The couple were deeply attached to each other and also to their infant babies. One day when the couple were out to find food for their children, a hunter came by and snared the young ones in his net. When the couple returned back, they saw their dear children were caught in net. Unable to live without their children, the couple also jumped into that trap of net. The bird-catcher returned home with the complete catch. This story sounds a note of warning against developing obsessive love or attachments in the transient material world.  It teaches that although pleasure is found in this world, it is transient and ends in pain. So a spiritual seeker desirous of Liberation (mumukshu) should be mentally detached from worldly attachments.

------------------------