Sl. No. 18 - Sermon - (Dharma cannot be achieved until that spontaneous attraction is developed within, and so, peace cannot be attained which makes one overcome disease and death.)

Dhaka–East Bengal Brahmomandir
Sunday, 28th Bhadra, 1293–Bengali Calender, [1887 A.D.]

Shakyasingha (Buddha) has liberated so many people of our country, given sight to so many sightless and life to so many dead ones. Many think that he never thought of the Supreme Lord. His religion was atheism, based on some principles. But on reading books on Buddhism it can be seen that the Buddha was a real believer. It is written in the Buddhist scriptures – Lalit Bistar, that on being successful Lord Buddha had said, “I am established in Brahman.” Unless men achieve peace by being established in Brahman they cannot escape from the grip of decay, death and disappointment. Dry moral talks like, speak the truth, do good to others etc become burdensome in the minds of the speaker and the listener – they do not deliver peace. Therefore dry moral cannot have dharma . Dharma cannot be generated by talks—it is a state of the soul. Only when one achieves that state can one achieve dharma. You may talk in any manner or as much as you can about Buddhism, but it is to be noted that since it gave peace to many men and women, it is impossible to hold that it does not contain the element of the Supreme Lord. In the Puranas the name of Shakyasingha is Gayasur. The Puranas say that Gayasur had developed so much of power by dint of penance and spiritual practice that whatever direction he used to cast his eyes upon, that direction became pure. The Hindus, inspite of being strong opponents of Lord Buddha ultimately considered him as one of the ten Avatars. This is because, Lord Buddha did not just give sermons on dharma, but showed the way of peace in the hearts of people so that they used to achieve peace. I may deliver some sermons to people owing to which they may get some peace temporarily; but again when they start getting burnt by the torture of the senses, then who would continue to listen to such sermons for all time? People follow that which calms down the senses and delivers joy.

Shakyasingha was a prince. He had unlimited wealth to enjoy. But what of that? He saw that men and women of the world were stricken with disease, decay and death. This made his heart weep with compassion. To discover how to eradicate the sufferings of human beings, how to achieve peace, he relinquished his wife, son, and princely enjoyments and went away from the palace. He started penance and spiritual practice. He continued this for six years and found that the roots of sin had not yet been eradicated. Peace was yet to set in. He was not satisfied with this. He then abandoned hard penance, as that had failed to deliver peace. At this time his disciples abused him calling him a hypocrite, cheat, and then deserted him. Imagine the tough test he had to face during this time! On the one hand his labour of six years had gone to waste and on the other, those who used to serve and console him left him in the lurch. It is no ordinary terrible situation for a man. But Buddha was not a man of that type. He did not take notice of the situation. He spoke to himself, “Oh soul! see if you have achieved peace! Come what may, as long as you do not achieve peace you shall never stop searching for Him.” Once again he started searching for peace with zeal and firm faith. Taking this vow he sat under the Bodhi tree, “If I find peace, I shall get up. Else this is my last sitting posture.” Then the entire attraction of the soul moved in a single direction. The hidden force in his soul woke up. Nothing could deflect his soul which fell in the force of attraction. Lust with its companions tested him so much with objects of temptation, but none of these could distract Buddha’s soul.

Leave alone the Himalayas—even if you had placed the entire universe before the current that was flowing in the heart of Buddha it would have been washed away like a straw. When Buddha’s force of the soul woke up under the spell of that attraction, he found another world inside. His soul reached a state of freedom from bondage. He found that a new eye had opened in his soul. The whole universe had become illuminated. The ‘Bodhitree’ became bright. Everything he saw became bright. His soul was dancing with joy. Currents of peace were flowing. He said, “I am stabilised in Brahman!” After so many days Shakyasingha discovered the way to peace. In our prayers in churches, temples, mosques we find the indication of that attraction of dharma. That is why different religious groups have come up. All the communities want to reach the same God. But the attraction is scattered in different directions. This cannot become unidirectional, since partly it is towards wife and children, partly towards wealth and properties and part of it towards fame and prestige. At times it appears as if God exists the way we see in a dream. Sometimes it occurs that He does exist. Sometimes we feel that He does not. Is it possible to worship Him in this state? Sometimes we get some pleasure by worshipping Him—our senses remain under control temporarily—but again the same miserable state returns. None of that joy—none of that calmness stays, the senses reassert themselves to show their prowess. That worship is no worship which does not bring a permanent state. Genuine worship delivers the same state everyday.

Rules framed by the Supreme Lord are the same for the outer world as they are for our innerself. The streams of four or five waterfalls on joining together get greater force and transform into a river and move towards the ocean with great force, but such a river is not formed by separate streams of waterfalls when they move separately. Similarly when attraction of human souls which had gone towards different directions get united, there develop a greater force and one pointedly they move towards the Supreme Lord. The souls achieve real peace. Even after six years of penance when Shakyasingha understood that the attractions of the soul were still scattered in different directions, he removed them one by one and a great force entered his heart. That force itself enhanced the strength of his soul. He achieved peace. The system is the same for eveybody in this world. Once this feeling grips one’s mind that it does not matter if one lives or dies, the Supreme Lord must be achieved, and when the all seeing Lord notices this, He himself removes the hurdles of the heart.

“I ruin everything for the one who covets me. If still he does not give up, I make him my very own.” This is very true. But does He deliver misfortune? No. He removes the pleasures that prevent one from reaching Him and this causes real well being. Thus real force of the self wakes up when the knots of the heart are opened. Nobody can resist the current of the force. If once I can collect that natural current of my soul which is bound for the limitless ocean from different directions and make it single pointed, then I shall have no want at all. This does not happen as long as the attraction remains for other objects, and when the attraction moves towards God then attraction to all the objects of the universe also develops since all these belong to my dearest. Is it possible to love every object of the universe in this manner prior to this? Is there any comparison of the love that I have for something belonging to my most beloved one? When one gets a letter from the beloved how many times one kisses it, how affectionately does one keep it in a golden container, feels it to be not enough even after wearing it in an amulet. When we understand that these tree leaves, the moon and stars are all scripts by His hand, then where are we to keep them? I shall keep them in a “golden chest”.

Verbal repetition of the name of the Supreme Lord is nothing but falsehood unless the heart is attracted to Him. What a long time we have wasted like this! The way, at the end of six years of penance and spiritual practice, Shakya Singha had asked his soul, you too ask, “Oh my soul, have you developed attraction for Him?”

Dharma cannot be achieved until that spontaneous attraction is developed within, and so, peace cannot be attained which makes one overcome disease and death. I myself cannot bring that attraction, that current. If at least once, I can say from the core of my heart, “This poor strength cannot achieve anything, you are everything to me, I want only you.” If such a prayer emanates from the heart, you will find the knots of your heart opening up one by one, limitless current will flow and play in it.

The way the river water flows to the ocean and returns from there in the form of cloud and cools the earth, we too shall similarly get immersed in the Supreme Lord by the force of the current and pour our hearts to the people of the earth. I will not just go to the ocean, but will transform into cloud and get myself showerd on the earth. The real Brahmachakra (cycle of the eternity)—Yogachakra (cycle of the yoga) revolves like this. What is needed is the pull, this current. There is no point in only talking about the Supreme Lord. It is necessary to examine as to which god I worship, among lust, anger and desire. The spiritual knowledge of Shakyasingha is the essence of truth, his path is for everyone. We may claim to have achieved real dharma when we can say like Shakyasingha, “I am established in Brahman and have achieved absolute peace.” I am not delivering a sermon to you, but I am telling these to myself. I have been having this vanity as a preacher, a religious person since a long time. Please do not praise me if you are my friends, rebuke me instead. I am still under the influence of praise and criticism. All of you please bless me.