Sharanagati

(from a lecture of Swami Tirtha, 06.01.2019 evening, Sofia)

(continues from the previous Friday)

Asato ma sat gamaya! Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya! Mrityor ma amritam gamaya! This text comes from the Upanishads. Upanishad means ‘a secret teaching’, but also it means the method how to acquire knowledge. Upanishad also means ‘to sit close to the source, to sit close to the master’. We need to find the proper source of information in order to be properly informed. 

Because, as the first line says, asat – “From asat, from unreal, lead me to reality, to sat.” So, we know sat, sat-chit-ananda. Sat is ‘real’, sat is ‘existential’, sat is ‘positive’ – something that does not diminish, something that is real. And how to identify what is real? Sometimes the unreal helps us to realize what is real. Once I met a very strange master, а teacher. He was a very wise man – a sufi practitioner, very well informed in yoga and other traditions as well. He said, “If there is a fake darwish, be attentive – that means there is a real one as well”. And he added, “Have you ever seen a fake $75 bill?” I said “No, I didn’t see a fake $75 bill”. “Why, he asked, because there is no real $75 bill, right? But have you ever seen a fake $100 bill? You might, because there is an original one.” So in the same way, if we see the fake, if we see the asat, be attentive – that means there is a real version, there is sat as well. Therefore we pray, asato ma – from the unreal – sat gamaya – help me to reach sat, the reality. “From the unreal, lead me to reality.” Beautiful! 

The second line says, tamaso ma… tamas is ‘darkness’. “From darkness, lead me to light.” It’s very obvious. Darkness is usually a very practical symbol of ignorance. Because we are all searching for enlightenment, right? But with blind eyes how will you reach enlightenment? So from the darkness we need to go to the light. Which is stronger – the light or the darkness? It’s obvious, the light is stronger. Because actually the darkness has no positive reality. Darkness is asat. And we can understand darkness only in the absence of light. In the presence of light you cannot understand what darkness is. It’s impossible. But the absence of light can immediately invite darkness. So darkness depends on the light, but light doesn’t depend on the darkness. It doesn’t matter how much darkness you want to bring into this room, if there is even one little candle, you will never win. So “From the darkness, lead me to the light”. 

And finally, “From death, lead me to eternity”. I think that is, again, very obvious. As darkness doesn’t have any positive reality, we can say that death, or limitation by time, doesn’t have any positive reality. Death is asat – it doesn’t exist, it’s not real. While eternity is sat, it has got a positive reality. Again we can say that in the light of eternity, we can understand this limitation called death. 

And it is also said in the Upanishads that by knowledge you can overcome death and by wisdom you can achieve eternal life. Sounds like the same, isn’t it? Why it is repeated? Because it’s different. With knowledge you can overcome the limitation of time, you can overcome death; but this is only the negation of this limitation. While the positive meaning of eternity we can only achieve by wisdom, realized knowledge. Therefore, it is different; knowledge and wisdom bring different results. 

And then, the secret teachings analyze these verses and they say: when the text says, “From the unreal lead me to reality”, actually it means that “From death lead me to eternity”. And when the text says, “From the darkness lead me to the light”, actually it means, “From death lead me to eternity”. And when the text says, “From death lead me to eternity”, it means, “From death lead me to eternity”. Right? So, this is wisdom: not so much is expected from us, but to understand this small message. By liberating your consciousness, by freeing your mind, you can achieve your spiritual goals and ambitions. 

(to be continued)