Wednesday, August 30, 2017

"Keep Company with the Virtuous" As Printed by Tiljala Publishers

Please see below the English discourse "Keep Company with the Virtuous", as printed by our Tiljala Publishers in the 2009 Electronic Edition, as well the physically printed editions:

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Keep Company with the Virtuous
27 September 1978, Patna

Regarding the dos and don’ts of life it has been said that:

Tyája durjana saḿsargaḿ bhaja sádhu samágamaḿ,
Kuru puńyaḿ ahorátram smara nityamanityatám.

Tyája durjana saḿsargaḿ” – you should renounce the company of “durjana”. What is “durjana”? The man who depraves, who misguides others is called “durjana”. Now, a particular man may not be durjana for all. Suppose Mr. X is durjana for Mr. Y; he may not be durjana for Mr. Z.

You see, there are merits and demerits in almost each and every individual. Suppose Mr. X is durjana for Mr. Y. Say, he has got merit worth 20 points and demerit worth 25 points, the resultant 5 points go in favour of demerit, so he is a durjana and he is durjana for Mr. Y. Suppose Mr. Y is a good man, he has got merit worth 15 points and demerit worth 13 points. So the resultant is 2 points in favour of merit. So, he is a good man. But, in his favour the resultant merit is only 2 and in the case of Mr. X the resultant demerit is 5 points. If Mr. Y comes in contact with Mr. X, Mr. X has demerit worth 5 points, Y has merit worth 2 points, and the resultant goes in favour of demerit. Mr. Y will become bad. But, in the case of Mr. Z, suppose merit is 30 points and demerit 15 points, then the resultant is 15 points in favour of merit. Mr. X has only 5 points demerit, so if Mr. X comes in contact with Mr. Z, Mr. X will become good. So for Mr. Z, Mr. X is not durjana; rather he is in a position to uplift the condition of Mr. X. It is not something permanent; it varies from man to man. So this term durjana is a relative term. “Tyája durjana saḿsargaḿ” – you should avoid the company of a man who is durjana for you, that is, whose resultant demerit is more than your resultant merit.

Tyája durjana saḿsargaḿ.” What should you do? To avoid the company of durjana – “bhaja sádhu samágamam” – you should encourage the company of sádhus.

Let us know who a sádhu is? Sádhu means;

Pránah yathátmanoviist́ah bhútánám api te tathá,
Átmaopamyena bhútánaḿ dayáḿ kurvanti Sádhavah.

Only using a saffron costume does not make a man a sádhu. Sádhu is the inner sádhu. You should be sádhu internally. You may or may not use any external saffron costume. In India, those who were called sádhu used all-white costume and those who were sannyásiis used an all-saffron costume. Saffron costume for sannyásiis and white costume for sádhus. The system is that sádhus will use the suffix “dása” after their names - Govardhana Dása, Yamuná Dása, Hari Dása etc. In this way sádhus are to use the suffix dása. And sannyásiis are to use the suffix ánanda after their names – Vivekánanda, Paramánanda – ánanda after their names. This is the technical difference between sádhus and sannyásiis. In Ananda Marga, they are known as sannyásiis. An avadhuta is a sannyásii. “Bhaja Sádhu Samágamam”. You should always encourage the company of sádhu people. And now you know the meaning of sádhu.

For each and every living entity one’s personal life is the dearest thing. One loves one’s personal life very much. This is the rule, this is the characteristic of all living beings. But those people who understand this sentiment of living beings and love others with the thought, “I should not kill, I should not give them any trouble because they love their life as much as I love my own life”, are true sádhus and those who lack this sentiment are not sádhus, they are asádhu. Preaching the gospels of peace, and at the same time slaughtering chickens, is not a proper thing for a sádhu because the one who kills the chickens loves his life and the chickens also love their own lives. So that man lacks the universal sentiment of love. He is not a sádhu. A sádhu must be vegetarian.

Bhaja sádhu samágamam”. You should encourage the company of sádhus. Sádhu – the detailed meaning is, he who uplifts others in all the strata of life. That is, he who helps others in their physical, psychic and spiritual development is a sádhu. Whoever has got more points than you, more resultant points in favour of merit, is a sádhu for you. This is just like the explanation of durjana. Suppose the resultant merit in your favour is 45 points, and another man has a resultant merit of, say, 60 points. Having 60 points of merit, that man is a sádhu for you. It is a relative term. Utilize each and every moment of your life in enjoying the company of sádhus.

Kuru puńyaḿ ahorátraḿ”. You should be engaged in doing “puńya” day and night. “Ahorátra” means 24 hours, from sunrise to sunrise. As per occidental calculation, a day is from midnight to midnight and as per oriental system, that is, the system of Asia, a day is from sunrise to sunrise. One day in India means sunrise to sunrise. One day in Europe means midnight to midnight. In Europe, the date changes just after midnight and in India, the date changes after sunrise. That is the system. Day or “ahah” means from sunrise to sunset and night or “rátri” means sunset to sunrise, that is, night portion. You should be engaged in doing puńya karma, day and night, ahorátram, from sunrise to sunrise. “Kuru Puńyaḿ”. What is puńyaḿ?

Aśt́ádashapuráńeśu Vyásasya vacanadvayam,
Paropakárah puńyáya pápáya parapiirańam.

Vyásadeva wrote so many puráńas. He said that whenever you are engaged in doing some welfare work, you are doing puńya. And when you are working against public interest you are doing pápa. Be engaged in puńya work for twenty four hours; day and night, from sunrise to sunrise. How can one do puńyam while sleeping? How can one be engaged in puńya karma? If during wakeful hours one is engaged in puńya karma, then during sleep what will it be? A composure of peace, a composure of welfare. So while sleeping one is also engaged in puńya karma. Be engaged in puńya karma for the entire day and night – from sunrise to sunrise.

In Saḿskrit, the entire literature is divided into four groups. One is kávya, the second is itikathá, the third is itihása and the fourth is puráńa. Kávya is “Vákyaḿ rasátmakaḿ.” When a story has been narrated in a lucid way it is called kávyam. Then itikathá: itikathá is a proper record of what happened; that is, that which deals with factual statements is itikathá. And itihása is that portion of factual statement that has got educative value and helps you in your upliftment. That portion of itikathá is called itihása. The English term for itikathá is “history”, in French “histoire”, but there is no English term for itihása. And the last one is puráńa. Puráńa is not a fact, not at all a factual statement, but a story. That story has got educative value. That story helps you in your physical, mental and spiritual upliftment. The Rámáyana is a purána, the Mahábhárata is itihása and the history taught in schools and colleges is itikathá. Itihása is not taught in schools and colleges nowadays. And puráńa, just now I told you, is a story, but it has educative value. Vyásadeva wrote eighteen puráńas. What was the central idea? Why did he write so many puráńas? His intention was to preach to the world that puńya means to help the people in their all-round development and pápa means to degrade the people, to misguide the people in all spheres of life. So here the word puńya has been used. You should be engaged in puńya karma, in helping others, for all the twenty four hours.

Smara nityamanityatám”. You should always remember that you are in a world of passing shows, moving panorama. No picture, no position, no stance shall remain as they are just at present. That is, everything will change, everything is to undergo changes and you should be ready to adapt yourself, to adjust yourself with those changed phases.


27 September 1978, Patna