Spiritual Talks

Swami Nirvanananda

Swami Nirvanananda (1890-1984) was a Vice-President of the Ramakrishna Mission. This talk was delivered at the Belur Math in the presence of monks and devotees on 12 April 1968, and has been translated from the original Bengali, from Udbodhan, June 2000. Courtesy, Udbodhan office.

There must be great 'tenacity' in spiritual practice. Tenacity (rokh) means firmness of mental resolve. Mind would always like to wander around. It is its very nature. But with firm determination and tenacity the mind must be withdrawn and fixed on the ideal. All sorts of thoughts arise in the mind during japa and meditation. In the beginning, particularly, there are too many disturbances, for the mind is not trained or cultured then. It has to be cultured by spiritual practice. To the extent the mind is cultured, to that extent it will become pure, and will come under one's control. To concentrate the mind and to bring it under control, one must tell the mind, 'I shall now chant the name of God, I shall now meditate; I shall not allow any other thoughts to arise.' Hari Maharaj (Swami Turiyananda) used to say: 'Write on the door of the mind during japa and meditation "No Admission". No thoughts other than the thought of the Ishta are now allowed within!' If one meditates on the Divine, with one-pointed attention, with deep devotion, no other thoughts would be able to arise in the mind. They will be unsuccessful if they try to rise. It is true, no doubt, that it is extremely difficult to think of just one thought with single-mindedness, but is there anything man can't achieve? Man can do anything if he so wills. Sri Ramakrishna used to say: If a person bitten by a snake firmly believes that 'poison cannot enter into my body, there is no poison in my body,' then even the poison of the snake cannot affect him. Repeatedly asserting that 'there is no poison', 'there is no poison', the poison of a cobra can also be nullified. Such is the power of a concentrated mind.

This tenacity is purushakara or self-effort. If one has such a tenacity, divine help comes--God becomes gracious. Sri Ramakrishna says: 'If you move one step towards me, I shall move a hundred steps towards you.' But we will have to take this first step; then will He come towards us. Spiritual life is a combination of this self-effort and divine grace. But then, there is no fixed rule that God will be gracious just because of self-effort. There are no conditions in spiritual life. For, just as everything is under a divine law, His everything is beyond law also. There is no guarantee that if you do spiritual practice, He will definitely reveal Himself. It is His will whether He should reveal Himself or not. It is His prerogative. However, He is compassionate by nature. He is an ocean of unconditional grace and compassion. Swami Vivekananda has addressed Sri Ramakrishna in the aratrika hymn composed by him as, 'One who is the unconditional refuge of the devotees.' His grace has no precondition nor are there reasons behind his grace. But then, as Sri Ramakrishna has said, 'The old lady does not want the players to touch her in the very beginning of the play. She wants the play to go on; she wants that everyone should eagerly try to touch her. The lady wants the play to gain intensity.' Similarly, God wants our spiritual practices to continue--that we may call on Him, think of Him, meditate on Him and pray to Him with great earnestness, with one-pointed dedication and determination. Seeing one's yearning and sincerity He will bestow His grace. Then He will not be able to remain turning His face away from the sadhaka. For, as Sri Ramakrishna has said, He is a 'gentleman'. A gentleman does not misbehave with anyone; he does not misbehave even if someone misbehaves with him. And, there cannot be any possibility of misconduct with someone who behaves well with Him.

Hence there must be surrender combined with spiritual practices. With determined effort, there must be prayer. 'He is my all-in-all; He is all-powerful; without His will, it is impossible to attain success in spiritual practice. The desire for and a resolve to do spiritual practice--these are His gifts. We offer His things back to Him (when we do spiritual practice).' Such thoughts must always be kept alive in the mind. And one must pray earnestly. With prayer, there must also be watchfulness. In one of the songs of Kamalakanta it is said:

Keep away all evil propensities and evil attractions
Keep the eye of wisdom as the ever watchful guard.

While there are evil tastes and temptations, so also there are good tendencies and right understanding. He alone would give us right understanding. But a spiritual aspirant will have to be careful even while he resorts to prayer.

When prayer is combined with spiritual practice by a watchful spiritual aspirant, His grace descends. Then the power of the mantra is awakened. There are various facets or aspects like brute-nature, human-nature, divine-nature, brahma-nature, etc. in a human being. There are various levels. When the potential divine consciousness of the Mantra awakens, the spiritual aspirant transcends his brute and human nature and ascends to the divine level. From divine consciousness arises the brahma consciousness. Then the difference between the name and the person named vanishes; they become one. Then an aspirant following the path of devotion obtains that highest state which is obtained by the path of knowledge. By the awakening of the power of the mantra, the animal-nature and the human-nature are gradually destroyed and the aspirant ascends to the divine state and the stage of brahman-hood. Then one experiences the presence of Brahman, one's Ishta, in all objects.

Kids are attracted by the toys made of sugar. They are not interested in knowing how much sugar is in them. They are only interested in the toy. However, their father notes how much sugar is present in the toys. That thing which children delight in by considering the toyness, the father delights by considering the sugarness. He knows that the toy is nothing but sugar. But the boys and girls don't know this. Similarly, we are also covered with ignorance. Hence we remain intoxicated by the attraction of the world. The man of knowledge knows that the Lord is the source of all attractions of the world, and of worldly joys and pleasures. Hence he doesn't feel any attraction towards worldly enjoyments. It is said in the Taittiriya Upanishad, 'Raso vai sah', He is an embodiment of bliss. Can anyone feel attraction towards worldly pleasures after having this experience?

Whether mind is inclined towards Japa or not, whether you are able to do Japa or not, go on doing it. Just as restlessness is the nature of the mind, Japa similarly tends to raise the mind to higher levels. Therefore, let mind do its job, let it behave according to its nature. Whether it is restless or extrovert, there is no use getting worried about it. For, just as disturbance is naturally caused by a restless mind, in the same way, peacefulness will also naturally be produced by the natural power of the mantra. Mantra's power goes on producing its effect upon the mind. Gradually the power of the mind is defeated by the power of the mantra. Finally the mantra-power completely overpowers the power of the mind. Then mind becomes quiet. In such a mind God's name continues to flow uninterruptedly.

'Mind does not get concentrated in Japa', 'I am not able to engage my mind in Japa and meditation', 'In spite of doing Japa and meditation, mind does not become quiet', or 'I don't get peace of mind'--people say such things only because they don't have dedication. They don't do spiritual practice with dedication and firm determination. In spiritual life nishtha or total dedication is extremely important. Can mind become peaceful in a day? Small children dig the ground in their compound and sow the seed. Then they put earth on it and water the site. Next day they go to see whether the seed has grown into a plant or not. This is similar. Can the mind become controlled or peaceful by the spiritual practice of a day or two or a month or two? Is it an allopathic medicine that headache or stomachache is relieved as soon as it is ingested? In the Gita, Lord tells Arjuna that it is true that the mind is restless. But that does not mean its restlessness cannot be controlled or the mind can't be made quiet. The mind can be quietened by practice. But can this be done in a day or a month or an year? Mind must be controlled gradually with firm determination. One must practise everyday.

Together with this one must cultivate such thoughts: 'The Lord is my nearest and dearest and with the help of His name I shall be able to make that nearest and dearest as the most intimate Being in my life. He is the only Real Being in this unreal world--this I shall realize.' The Lord has called this the practice of vairagya or dispassion. Therefore what is the use of worrying that the mind is not getting concentrated in Japa or that it does not become quiet? One must be up and about.

Sri Ramakrishna used to say that nothing can be achieved by those who are unmanly. Unmanly means those who are lazy and sleep too much; those who don't have strong determination; those who can't make a resolve. Such people are tamogunis. They lack zeal and vigour totally. There cannot be spiritual practice without grit. Grit comes from rajoguna. 'I will control my mind--I will definitely control it. The mantra which I have received by great good fortune is not an ordinary mantra, it is a siddha mantra--a powerful mantra capable of imparting realization.' One must have such confidence. One must do spiritual practice as instructed by the Guru.

As you go on doing your spiritual practice, the mind will become like a pet dog--like a tamed and trained dog. It moves about and acts as the master asks him to. By regular spiritual practice and by the practice of vairagya with firm determination the mind also will one day obey your commands just like a tamed and trained dog. It will move as told, will stay where it is asked to stay, like Casablanca.

Casablanca stood at the place he was asked to stand by his father. The ship caught fire and everyone started running away leaving the ship but Casablanca, a nine year old boy, stood at the site undisturbed. His father was the captain of the ship and was himself consumed by the flames while saving the ship and could not come. Fire spread all over the ship and finally reached close to Casablanca. Yet, he remained still at the spot. Fire consumed him, but Casablanca did not move an inch from the spot where his father had stationed him.

Mind must be trained like Casablanca. One must get mastery over the mind with the help of the mantra. One must do spiritual practice exactly as instructed by the Guru. Gradually by the inherent power of the mantra one day the mind will become peaceful. Then you will rightly be able to do Japa. If you do

Japa in the right manner, your whole being will get filled with bliss. Finally the aspirant will attain realization.