Hari bhajana vina kaal: Part 5

 

Hari bhajanaa vina kaal :

Part 5:

विवेकाची ठरेल ओल ।

ऐसे की बोलावे बोल ।

आपुल्या मते उगीच चिखल कालवू नको रे ॥३॥

Vivekaachi Tharel ola

Aise bolaave bol 

Aapulyaa matay ugeech chikhal 

Kaalavu nako re

Vivek=discretion

Tharel= will prove

Ola= moisture 

Aise= like this

Bolaave= must speak

Bol= words

Aapulyaa= own

Matey= by opinion 

Ugeech= for no good reason

Chikhal= wet dirt

Kaalavu= mix

Nako re= don’t

Speak those words that will prove to be tempered (moistened) with discretion.

Don’t create(mix in) unnecessary mess (dirt) with your opinions!

Two words in this verse need to be clarified when translating into English. Chikhal and Vivek.

The sticky, clumpy mess of wet soil that is created typically after rains is called chikhal. You can’t easily walk or drive through it. There is a risk of slipping and falling if you walk into it. Not to forget what it will do to your shoes,feet and clothes. Tyres can get stuck if you try to drive into it. In every way it is a messy nuisance. 

Vivek is an intriguing and profound word in Sanskrit! It is a unique ability, a gift bestowed on a human brain. It refers to the faculty of discretion or discrimination between what is beneficial and what is not. What is desirable and what is to be avoided. One in whom this ability is well developed not only walks his path wisely but also proves as a guide for people around him. It is important not just to recognize what is beneficial but to put it into action. That’s when vivek becomes manifest.

What is our most powerful tool for action? Our speech, isn’t it? 

Now imagine the combination of speech and discretion (vivek). Vivek manifesting in words.

The poet saint has contrasted two different scenarios of wet soil in this verse while pointing out how speech can differ depending on underlying intellectual purity, maturity and wisdom.  One is a fertile soil that is watered well. Another is muck/ chikhal. Crops can grow in one whereas the other can impede your walk . One is a path to prosperity, other leads to downfall.. One is desirable, other is not.

He is likening wisdom, arising from thoughtfulness, selflessness and experience, to soil that is well watered. One’s speech should arise from thoughts that are moistened by wisdom and love. It should be strongly supported on the pillars of discretion. Such speech will create positivity and productivity.

The life principle is equal amongst all beings. Thus divinity is equal amongst all. But Vivek is not equal in every person. Some may be born with it due to their evolvement in previous lives. Others may need to work on it. 

In the earlier posts we discussed about BMI apparatus, about purifying the mind and intellect and creating awareness of the light that illuminates the mind and intellect. Vivek is an outcome of the purification. It is the channel for the inner light to be reflected outside. It is like the rays of the sun that can only reach the earth if the thick cover of clouds clears from the sky. And when the rays meet your eyes you can actually see the sun. Until then you simply have to presume that the sun is present behind the clouds because there is daylight. A man is moving his body, thinking with his mind and making decisions with an intellect. He must be alive. But when his thoughts and actions are beyond the ordinary, rising above selfish considerations and for larger good you have direct evidence of divinity manifesting there.

Vivek is a muscle that has to be developed, a habit that must be carefully cultivated. It calls for pauses between impulsive thinking and acting. Pauses on which the internal light is directed. Where consequences are considered before action. Larger good is taken into account than personal profit. Long term benefits are given priority over short term gains. It is like that fertile soil along the banks of a river that is constantly enriched by not just the abundant supply of water but also the rich minerals that flow in with it. Minerals arising out of personal experience and spiritual growth, water supply from continued study of scriptures and science and company of the good.

On the other hand, empty words coming from loose talk, zero experience, personal opinions and bias, that are not based upon truth, are of no value . They are like clay in which nothing can grow. It’s all muck. Don’t create muck(chikhal) with such baseless, opinionated talk, Sohiroba warns. Opinions are not facts. At best they are educated guesses and not entirely accurate or reliable. They can mislead or even potentially harm someone. Resist the temptation to speak, listen to or believe what is not based on facts or you will risk losing credibility and respect and knowingly or unknowingly do harm to yourself and/or others. Learn to differentiate between opinion and reality. Few people are able to identify their own thoughts which are a product of their inherent bias and imagination rather than based on verified facts. They propagate these because they don’t know better. 

Speech is a very powerful tool we are endowed with. We must learn to use it in the right way. 

Amhaa ghari dhan shabdaanchich ratne 

Shabdaanchich shastre yatne karu ll 

This was Saint Tukaram’s proclamation. My home is a treasure house of gems in the form of words. These words are also my weapons to ward off evil, he said. 

Speech can create friendships and speech can also destroy relationships. Words can bring hope and lift someone up or they can sink you into despair. We have no control over the words of others. But we have 100% control over our own words. It is therefore our responsibility to watch what we say. When we go shopping, we want to pick the best thing from the inventory. Shouldn’t the same practice apply to the words we choose? When we can make the choice, why make a bad choice, a cheap choice? Let the words be kind, meaningful, truthful and encouraging. Don’t waste precious energy and time on useless talk and gossip. It hinders our own spiritual growth as well as hurts others. It is exactly like chikhal. Don’t be a creator of chikhal. Be a resource of Vivek.

Speech is an important marker of the person you are. One may be able to sweet talk their way to charm people but false speech doesn’t stand the test of time. If actions don’t consistently match that speech, the mask falls off sooner or later. Instead if the person’s speech is born out of the deeply ingrained discretion and wisdom, it will be immortal like the source it is arising from. That’s why today, even after the saints left their mortal bodies, Dnyaaneshwari, Dasbodh, Tukaram Gatha are pertinent and revered.

बोले तैसा चाले । त्याची वंदीन पाउले ॥

अंगे झाडीन अंगण । त्याचे दासत्व करीन ॥

त्याचा होईन किंकर । उभा ठाकेन जोडोनि कर ॥

तुका म्हणे देव । त्याचे चरणी माझा भाव ॥

Tukaram Maharaj famously said he would bow to the feet of a person whose actions match his words. He will become a slave to such a man, clean his yard, serve him readily, stand with folded hands in front of him and worship him as God. 

This integrity in a person to walk the talk is a hallmark of divinity and the saints recognized it. 

Samarth Ramdas has devoted an entire chapter to how speech should and shouldn’t be. Both Ramdas Swami and Sohiroba were very sharp in their criticism of wrong behaviors including loose talk. They recognized how evil propagates through such talk and sought to uproot it through their teachings. 

Today I was called upon to intervene and counsel a family member who was in the midst of a family crisis. It was brought to my attention that foul language, yelling, cussing, name calling has become habitual when there are fights between the couple. And it all escalated to a physical altercation. As I was patiently trying to make them see the faults that had crept into their behaviors I was surprised when the woman tried to defend it saying she doesn’t find it “out of the norm”from what she observes in her friends’ households!

Suddenly a conversation I had with my father several decades back flashed in front of me. I had asked him, rather made an accusation, that he let me live in Mumbai by myself since age of 15 and took a huge risk to let me be unsupervised. I could fall into bad company! His reply is still fresh in my mind today. He said every time I met you your behavior did not go unnoticed by me. The subtleties in your speech and behavior told me who you were hanging out with. It would not escape my attention if you made bad friends. 

The saints similarly had heightened awareness to recognize the dangers of wrong thinking and wrong speech. They took upon themselves the role of parents to chide if needed and correct aberrant tendencies for our own good. It is up to us whether to pay heed and reform ourselves.

Thinking about my interaction with this woman, who is very dear to me, about resorting to foul language during fights and considering it acceptable brings me to an important issue. What is “Norm”? It is a very fluid term. We have option to make a conscious choice about what to accept as norm in our household as opposed to unconsciously following herd mentality. You can make your house impermeable to the foul behaviors that exist outside. For that vigilance is necessary. Authority needs to be employed guided by a clarity of thought and purpose. A single person can enforce a culture of decency within the four walls. And a single person can destroy such culture also. When the latter happens crisis arises sooner or later. 

A woman( as also the man) can enforce the culture inside her home. The moment she becomes a victim of the culture outside her home it is the beginning of erasing of years of conscious upbringing by her parents, mentors and teachers. One can’t blame the winds outside for this. Downfall starts from within.

And therefore the resurrection of values also starts from within. 

That bitter pill is any day easier to swallow with one’s own realization than hearing it from someone else’s mouth. It is palatable when given by saints than your adversaries. That’s why it is better to allow yourself to be guided by the saints, to open your minds and hearts to their teachings. Give up personal resistance that stops you from listening to them. Once those teachings assimilate into your mind it will take a natural course where Vivek will dawn and illuminate your speech and actions and loose talk will leave from a back door.

Saree is a borderless, patli pallu silk kanjeevaram. The beige portion has self design in chevrons. The pink part in the pleats have large leaf motifs woven in jari. The pallu is again in the bright pink or fuchsia color and has intricate design in jari.