Weekly Knowledge #20 - SAKHA -- YOUR RELIABLE SENSE

Weekly Knowledge #20	Montreal Ashram
24 Oct 1995	Canada

SAKHA -- YOUR RELIABLE SENSE

There are three things: the Self, the senses, and the object, or the world. And there are three words: sukha, pleasure; dukha, sorrow; and sakha, companion. These have one thing in common: "kha," which means "senses."

The Self through the senses experiences the world. When the senses are with the Self, that is pleasure (sukha), because the Self is the source of all joy or pleasure. When the senses are away from the Self (dukha) -- in the mud, lost in the object -- that is misery. Mud, misery, mind -- they are very close.

Self --- Senses ("Kha") --- World

--- Joy (Sukha) Sorrow (Dukha) ---

Self is the nature of joy. In any pleasant experience, you close your eyes; you smell a nice flower, or you taste or touch something. So sukha is that which takes you to the Self. Dukha is that which takes you away from the Self. Sorrow simply means that you are caught up in the object, which goes on changing, instead of focussing on the Self.

All the sense objects are just a diving board to take you back to the Self.

Sa-kha, companion, means: "He is the senses." Sakha is one who has become your senses, who is your senses. If you are my senses, it means I get Knowledge through you; you are my sixth sense. As I trust my mind, so I trust you. A friend could be just an object of the senses, but a sakha has become the very senses.

The sakha is the companion who is there in both the experiences of the dukha and of sukha. It means one who leads you back to the Self. If you are stuck in an object, that wisdom which pulls you back to the Self is sakha.

Knowledge is your companion and your companion is Knowledge. And the Master is nothing but the embodiment of Knowledge. So sakha means, "He is my senses, I see the world through that wisdom, through Him."

If your sense is the Divine, then you see the whole world through the Divinity.

Your head will be in the mud in a few years;

Don't put mud in your head while you are still alive.

Jai Guru Dev

Weekly Knowledge #19 - DISCIPLESHIP ENDS ...

Weekly Knowledge #19	Nova Scotia
17 Oct 1995	Canada

DISCIPLESHIP ENDS --

A SHISHYA (DISCIPLE) OR

A SAKHA (COMPANION)?

Knowledge has an end. Knowledge completes. So also does discipleship. For the disciple is aimed at acquiring Knowledge.

Once you cross the water, however nice the boat is, you get off the boat. After twelve years, the disciple completes his studies. The master does a ceremony called Samavartha, where he tells the disciple that he is ending the discipleship and asking him to behave at par with him, and let the Brahman dynamically manifest.

Sakha is a companion in life and death; it never ends. In the path of love there is neither beginning nor end. Sakha only wants the beloved. He doesn't care about the Knowledge or liberation. Love is incomplete because of longing. And so it is infinite, for infinity can never be complete.

Arjuna was a sakha to Krishna and although Krishna was the perfect Master he was a sakha, too. What are you, a shishya (disciple) or a sakha (companion)?

Jai Guru Dev

Weekly Knowledge #18 - FREEDOM AND DISCIPLINE

Weekly Knowledge #18	Bangalore Ashram
10 Oct 1995	India

FREEDOM AND DISCIPLINE

Freedom and discipline are opposites and complementary. The purpose of defense is to protect freedom. But is there freedom in defense? Do soldiers have freedom? No, they are totally bound, not even allowed to put the right foot down when told the left foot. Their steps are measured and they are unable even to walk with a natural rhythm. There is total lack of freedom in defense. That which has absolutely no freedom is protecting the freedom of the country! So it is with the police; they protect the freedom of the individual. But are they free?

Discipline protects freedom. They both go hand in hand. Understand this and go ahead in life. You have some restrictions and it is this that allows you freedom. You can choose to focus either on freedom or discipline, and this makes you happy or unhappy. Freedom without discipline is like a country without a defense.

Fences should be fences; a fence cannot be built all over the property. If your fence is all over, how can you build on the property? That state of high absolute freedom is too difficult; we need to be very practical. Yes, there is a state of unlimited bliss, the freedom Advaita talks about. The Advaita Knowledge has been totally misused or used according to one's own fancies and conveniences.

There must be awareness in the mind, love in the heart, and righteousness in action.

Love and fear are two possibilities that put you on track. The Jewish religion put fear as the main thing so that life could improve. Nature induces fear at a certain age in a child. When a child is very young, it gets 100 percent time and love of the mother. The child has no fear. As the child grows more independent it becomes cautious. Nature brings in an iota of fear. With freedom, the child starts walking carefully. Fear of losing freedom also brings defense. The purpose of defense is to eliminate fear.

On this path Knowledge is your Freedom
and also your Defense.

Jai Guru Dev

Weekly Knowledge #17 - THE ONLY THING YOU MUST REMEMBER

Weekly Knowledge #17	Bangalore Ashram
05 Oct 1995	India

THE ONLY THING YOU MUST REMEMBER

The only thing you must remember is:
HOW FORTUNATE YOU ARE.

When you forget this you become sad. Sorrow indicates

(I) your negative qualities, and (ii) your attachment to your positive qualities. When you think you are too good, you blame the world; then you become sad. The purpose of sorrow is to bring you back to the self. And self is all Joy. But this is possible only through Knowledge -- awareness.

Knowledge or awareness leads sorrow towards the self. With lack of Knowledge, the same sorrow multiplies and does not get completed. Knowledge completes sorrow.

With the power of Knowledge you transcend sorrow. In this path you have everything. We have this beautiful Knowledge which has all the flavors in it -- wisdom, laughter, seva, silence, singing, dancing, humor, celebration, yagyas, caring, complaints, problems, complications, and chaos to add color.

Life is so colorful!

Jai Guru Dev