A teaching on paramathma

Interview with a sadhu
Hanuman Temple, Haridwar

I am not a priest. This is not a priest’s temple. I am a sadhu. The priests are not here, but the sadhus are here. You can find the priests by the river. Here only the work of sadhus takes place. The work of the sadhu is to receive the param athma. The work of a priest, a purohit, is to do updesh. It is the work of instructing people how to complete the world’s kriya karam; especially daily ritualistic observances, such as oblations and prayers. They are preachers of religion, the path of devotion.

The sadhu shows the means by which others are enabled to receive the paramathma. In the name of paramathma, he preaches how to accomplish one-ness with paramathma. The main idea is to do rituals and help people to do the worship ceremonies. The sadhu’s work is to try to understand how to be one with paramathma, and to learn and teach techniques of keeping the mind peaceful, because the mind tends to be a wandering thing, a thing of turmoil. The role of the sadhu is to do what’s called sadhna, which is a type of devotion and technique of stilling the mind in order to draw closer to paramathma.

One doesn’t leave one’s home on his own. Becoming a sadhu is a matter of being inspired by paramathma. He can’t become a sadhu and then stay home. He has to leave the grihast ashram and go on to the ashram of sadhu-hood. He cannot have both. When he enters into the ashram of sadhu-hood, he will come under the leadership of a particular guru in order to achieve his goal. Whatever the guru tells him to do, he must do.

When a person has a falling-out with someone else, and begins to feel hatred for that person, he may begin to feel disgust toward the domestic life. He begins to see that this is a life of cares and troubles, especially within the context of the extended family. He begins asking questions like, “Why am I in this world?”, “Why do I have a body?”, or “What is the point of it all?”. These types of questions lead him to feel inspired to go on a spiritual search. When the inspiration comes, he begins to feel repelled by ordinary things of life. The reason I am living in a body is so I can work to become one with paramathma.

Only man can understand that being one with paramathma is needed. Only human beings can understand that they have the capacity to receive paramathma. Animals do things in a set way, whereas human beings are able to do new works and be creative. Animals are not creative beings, they just seek to satisfy their desires in a very prescribed manner, according to instinct. They will then lay aside their body after fulfilling their normal satisfaction of desires. After they die, they will be reborn. But man is able to go to heaven or to hell. You will be reborn either in heaven or hell. If you do good works you will go to heaven, and if you do bad works you will go to hell. Man has duties to perform, acts of merit and devotion, in order to receive bhagvan. There is a moral code.

At the sathsang, which literally means “truth meeting”, there is a gathering of three or four of the major gurus, along with listeners or a congregation of some sort. The gurus talk together about various Hindu myths and the Hindu scriptures in general. Those who are seeking to be sadhus will thus acquaint themselves with the thoughts of particular gurus. They will choose those gurus that they are impressed with, and seek to become their disciples. They will then begin using spiritual techniques taught to them by the gurus and will progress spiritually until they become spiritually mature. They will learn how to conduct meetings, to control their minds, and to receive bhagvan. They will learn techniques of mind control because the mind wanders when they read the scriptures. The main thing is to control the mind and also to eat some of the special foods that are offered to idols, which would be a means of cleaning the spirit, the way soap is used to clean the body when the body gets dirty.

It’s a continuing process and eventually they get to a point where they have reached some level of holiness. They will reach a point of spiritual achievement which only they will be able to subjectively say “I have reached the point of this achievement.” The guru cannot tell when this happens, he can only show the way. It is similar to being served food. One must do the eating for one’s self, and only he will be able to judge whether he is satisfied or not. Eventually, the disciple himself becomes paramathma. The goal is that all people shall become paramathma, all distinctions will be removed, and we will all be one. In the world of appearances you see a lot of variation and division. This will be eliminated and there will be true unity.