It is difficult to be born as a human being. It is even more difficult for wisdom to awaken within, which ultimately gives rise to the urge to make the most of human life. If this wisdom doesn’t awaken, people waste their entire lives in the pursuit of sensory gratification. It is only as a result of good fortune that someone gets blessed with the company of sages. And it is in this hallowed company that there is a possibility of the dormant intellect to awaken. Although externally the body is that of a human, yet the actions are still animalistic. That is why one can see a wolf, a pig in human clothing. What does a pig do? It scours dustbins and garbage to eat filth. A person who slings mud and vilifies others, and speaks ill of them, is not doing anything different from eating filth and dirt.
Such is the state of our mind that whenever we meet anyone, the first thing we do is to look for their faults. This is because if in case we see any virtues, then that person becomes superior to us — the reality is that we don’t like this as we regard ourselves the best among all. It is difficult to be humane, despite being a human. How can we tread the path of spirituality? We must create humanitarian virtues within ourselves, be soft-spoken, compassionate, forgiving and loving. Try to be humble and caring and develop the attitude of serving others — at least make an effort to imbibe such qualities.
The Guru teaches us how to become humane. The master teaches us to become good human beings and then he manifests the divine within us. Such is the glory of the Guru that wisdom reveals itself just by being in remembrance of the Guru. The stream of wisdom starts flowing simply by being in remembrance of the Guru. For this to happen, adorn yourself with six jewels — sam, dam, shraddha, teeteeksha, upram and samadhan. Only with these, you make spiritual progress. Sam is mental equanimity, absence of agitation, when the mind is at peace. Sam means no discrimination, no prejudices and bearing no pride for possessing knowledge, or for belonging to any religion, caste, or sect. Dam means having control over one’s sense organs, not being a slave to one’s senses. For example, you see a food item and can’t rest until you eat that. This is lack of dam. The one who has dam, his mind will be at ease, free of all kinds of cravings.
Shraddha means regarding the Guru in the same light as one regards God. Teeteeksha means patience and the ability to bear, to cope with heat and cold, hunger and thirst, praise and condemnation. Upram refers to the dissolution of both attachment or raga and dispassion or vairagya to the world. Samadhan means experiencing and tasting the depths of meditation. The fruition of wisdom can never happen to the one who lacks these six virtues. But see the glory of the Guru. It is said that the six virtues get awakened just by getting a glimpse of the guru. They get awakened in the one whose mind is pure and blemish-free. Just as we receive light by being in the presence of the sun, give it a go and be in the presence of the master. Remove walls of ignorance, ego, envy, desires, attachment, anger — what a thick wall it is. Having yourself created a thick wall, you say you’re still wandering despite having a Guru!
