Page 31 - Dawn of Reality an Exposition of REALITY AT DAWN of Sri Ramchandraji Maharaj

conditions of mind at various spiritual stages and get acquainted with them but as regards practical attainments we are far away from them. We can talk to people about those conditions, advance arguments for and against them and establish our superiority in learning but inwardly we are quite ignorant of them. We attend lectures and hear sermons on Gita, we recite portions from Gita regularly everyday, and we read commentaries on it written by great men of learning but what practical effect is thereby produced upon us? Has any one of us been ever able to acquire practically any one of the conditions depicted in it? They may, however, repeat the words “World is Maya, Man is Brahma” and so on, but inwardly they are quite unconscious of what they speak in words. None has ever been able to develop the conditions, discussed therein, just as Arjuna did when he heard it from Lord Krishna. Gita as we have it today is really a commentary on what Lord Krishna spoke to Arjuna on the eve of the battle of Mahabharat. Lord Krishna had actually transmitted the very conditions, explained by words of mouth into the heart of Arjuna with the result that Arjuna was literally feeling the same condition prevailing all over, both within and without. Thus it was, that every word, which he heard, descended right into his heart producing a permanent effect. The cause of failure of modern teachers and preachers of Gita to produce the desired effect upon the mind of the hearers is their lack of power to transmit those conditions. The various conditions of mind discussed in the Gita are really the different stages, which a man comes across during his march on the path of spirituality. They develop automatically from within. Formal means adopted to acquire a particular state of mind at a premature stage increases internal grossness, which is detrimental to our progress.
A real teacher is not one who can explain to us the soundness of the religious dogmas or who can prescribe to us do’s and don’ts. Almost every one of us knows enough of it. What we stand in need of, from a Guru is the true impulse to affect the awakening of the soul and his direct support in the course of our further march on the path of realization. Such a man we have to seek for, if we aim at success. It is, therefore, evident that while judging a man for our spiritual guide we must take into account not his learning or miracles but his practical achievements in the field of realization. A man who is himself free can free you from eternal bondage. If your Guru is not free from the bondages of Samskaras, Maya or Ahankar it is not possible for him to free you from those bondages. Suppose you are bound to one pole and your Guru to another, how is it possible for your Guru to free you from the bondage? Only a man who is himself free can release you from the bondage. People have, in most cases, gone astray for this very reason as they have submitted themselves to the guidance of such unworthy teachers, whose primary motive is perhaps mere self-aggrandisement or some personal gain.