Swami Sivananda Tells To Shave The Mind

The mind is the all in all. Its mastery leads to the renunciation of all. True renunciation is in the abnegation of the mind. It consists in renouncing all desires and egoism, not world existence. Through such mental abnegation you will be able to free yourself from pain. Then will come immortality in life - the enjoyment of the infinite delight of existence free from ego, founded on the oneness of all in Brahman.

Sanyasa (renunciation) is a mental state only. It is gerua (or colouring) of the heart and not of the cloth alone. He is a sanyasi who is free from passion and egoism, who possesses all the satvic qualities, even though he lives with the family and in the world. If you have a stainless mind you are a sanyasi (a renunciate), whether you live in a forest or in a city, whether you wear white cloth or an orange coloured robe, whether you shave your head or keep a long tuft of hair.

Shave the mind. This consists of getting rid of all attachment, passion, egoism, infatuation, lust, greed, anger, etc. Vedanta does not want you to renounce the world; it wants you to change your mental attitude. It wants you to give up this illusory feeling of `I- ness' and `mine-ness'.

Mind is a mass of objectified desires. Desire in the mind to eat has manifested as the tongue, the teeth and the stomach. Desire in the mind to walk has manifested as legs and feet. Control the mind and you control the desires. Eyes can only see. Ears can only hear.

Tongue can only taste. Nose can only smell. Skin can only touch. The five senses are blended in the mind and the mind directly sees, hears, smells, tastes and feels. It does this quite independent of the senses.

Understand clearly the aim of your life. Chalk out the line of work that is congenial to your aim. Then you should work hard to realise that ideal. Have your ideal ever before you and try, every second, to live up to it.

Develop a strong desire to remove carelessness and forgetfulness from your character. Have confidence in your own powers and faculties. Keep your mental poise in the world, without consideration of failure, without consideration of gain or loss, pleasure or pain.

Have the mind always rooted in God, amidst all the activities of life.

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GURU VACHAKA KOVAI About Significance Of Sacred Vibhuti (Holy Ash)

1) When the fictitious ego, who has accumulated tendencies from the beginningless past,is burnt by the Fire of Jnana, that Reality which alone remains within is the Sacred Vibhuti.This you should know.

Sadhu Om: Vibhuti represents Self, which alone shines after the ego’s destruction.

2)The Supreme Lord having taken the form of the Guru,lights the Fire of Jnana through His Supreme Speech [Para Vak], proclaiming without words the One Syllable,and thus burns the ego within the pure heart of His disciple. The Vibhuti He gives is the restoration of Self.

Sadhu Om:Vibhuti is prepared by burning cowdung in an airtight oven. In Saiva Siddhanta the jiva is generally known as the ‘cow’,so the cow-dung used here symbolises the jiva’s vasanas, which when burnt to ashes, leave only Self.

3) Those who wear such Vibhuti are unequalled in all respects in this world. Such Vibhuti, which is Reality,the thought-free and wonderful Jnana, is eternal divine wealth.

4) When the insentient ego turns inwards through Self-attention and dies, the Fire of Jnana burns in the Heart and consumes all the three worlds in its blazing red flame, which is the significance of the red kumkum.

Michael James: The three worlds are heaven, earth and the nether regions.

Source: GURU VACHAKA KOVAI The Light of Supreme Truth or THE COLLECTION OF GURU’S SAYINGS translated from original Tamil By Sadhu Om and Michael James

Guru Vachaka Kovai is the biggest collection of Bhagavan’s spoken teachings that was thoroughly checked and revised by him during his lifetime. As such it has a unique place in the Ramana literature.

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