मनुष्याणां सहस्रेषु कश्चिद्यतति सिद्धये |
यततामपि सिद्धानां कश्चिन्मां वेत्ति तत्त्वत: || 3||
manuṣhyāṇāṁ sahasreṣhu kaśhchid yatati siddhaye
yatatām api siddhānāṁ kaśhchin māṁ vetti tattvataḥ
manuṣhyāṇām—of men; sahasreṣhu—out of many thousands; kaśhchit—someone; yatati—strives; siddhaye—for perfection; yatatām—of those who strive; api—even; siddhānām—of those who have achieved perfection; kaśhchit—someone; mām—me; vetti—knows; tattvataḥ—in truth
Translation:
Among thousands of men, one strives for perfection and even among those who strive and succeed, one knows Me in essence.
Commentary:
Very few people have the inclination to know the truth. Those who enter the field of action in pursuit of their aim are indeed less in number. Among those, some rare and exceptional man attains perfection. In a running race, many are found at the starting point, but some drop off on the way and two or three strive to reach the goal, and only one wins the race. The blossoms of a huge tree are innumerable. But only a few develop fruits. All the others drop off. Among those that bear the fruit, many fall away before the fruits become ripe. And at last, we can pick only a few ripe fruits. It is the same with spiritual aspirants. Devotion, intimate contact with the Lord, is the reward of much good done through several births.
As millions are carried away in the flood of Maya, some one strong and heroic soul, by virtue of the good samskara stands firm, and strives to know the truth, and attains God.
Tattvatah: The Lord here emphasises the need for knowing Him in essence, fully and entirely. Shadowy knowledge is not enough. Distant understanding is not enough. Close and direct knowledge without any doubt or darkness should be attained for ultimate perfection.
It is not to discourage the seeker when it is said that a rare man alone can understand Him. The difficult nature of the task, and the need for firm determination and unyielding perseverance are emphasised. The seekers should understand the long distance they have to traverse to reach the destination. No one can jump to the goal. The process is slow and the path is hard. But there is always the inspiring hope that what little is achieved will not be lost, will help him to overcome great fear.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
Very few men ask for the truth, fewer dare to learn the truth, and fewest of all dare to follow it in all its practical bearings. It is not their fault; it is all weakness of the brain.[Source]
I feel as if I had my share of experience in what they call “work”. I am finished, I am longing now to get out. “Out of thousands, but one strives to attain the Goal. And even of those who struggle hard, but few attain”; for the senses are powerful, they drag men down.[Source]
Of one hundred persons who take up the spiritual life, eighty turn out to be charlatans, fifteen insane, and only five, maybe, get a glimpse of the real truth. Therefore beware.
(Source: Vivekananda – A Biography)
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
HARI: “Why is there so much suffering in the world?“
MASTER: “This world is the lila of God. It is like a game. In this game there are joy and sorrow, virtue and vice, knowledge and ignorance, good and evil. The game cannot continue if sin and suffering are altogether eliminated from the creation.
“In the game of hide-and-seek one must touch the ‘granny’ in order to be free. But the ‘granny’ is never pleased if she is touched at the very outset. It is God’s wish that the play should continue for some time. Then —
Out of a hundred thousand kites, at best but one or two break free;
And Thou dost laugh and clap Thy hands, O Mother, watching them!
In other words, after the practice of hard spiritual discipline, one or two have the vision of God, through His grace, and are liberated. Then the Divine Mother claps Her hands in joy and exclaims, ‘Bravo! There they go!'”
HARI: “But this play of God is our death.”
MASTER (smiling): “Please tell me who you are. God alone has become all this — maya, the universe, living beings, and the twenty-four cosmic principles (BG 7.6). ‘As the snake I bite, and as the charmer I cure.’ It is God Himself who has become both vidya and avidya. He remains deluded by the maya of avidya, ignorance. Again, with the help of the guru, He is cured by the maya of vidya, Knowledge.
“Ignorance, Knowledge, and Perfect Wisdom. The jnani sees that God alone exists and is the Doer, that He creates, preserves, and destroys. The vijnani sees that it is God who has become all this.
“After attaining mahabhava and prema one realises that nothing exists but God. Bhakti pales before bhava. Bhava ripens into mahabhava and prema. (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
—–
As Sri Ramakrishna sang the last song he went into samadhi. The devotees sat speechless, gazing at his radiant figure. After some time he regained partial consciousness of the world and began to talk to the Divine Mother.
The Master said, “Mother, please come down from up there.” Did he feel his mind still lingering in the seventh plane of consciousness, the thousand-petalled lotus of the Sahasrara?
“Please do come down”, he said. “Don’t torment me that way. Be still, Mother, and sit down.
“O Mother, everybody’s future is determined by the tendencies of his previous births. What shall I say to these people? Nothing can be achieved without discrimination and renunciation.”
Sri Ramakrishna had now regained full consciousness of the world, and he continued: “There are many kinds of renunciation. One of them may be called ‘markatavairagya’, ‘monkey renunciation’. It is a false renunciation stimulated by the afflictions of the world. That renunciation doesn’t last long. Then there is real renunciation. A man with everything in the world, lacking nothing, feels all to be unreal.
“It is not possible to acquire renunciation all at once. The time factor must be taken into account. But it is also true that a man should hear about it. When the right time comes, he will say to himself, ‘Oh yes, I heard about this.’
“You must also remember another thing. By constantly hearing about renunciation one’s desire for worldly objects gradually wears away. One should take rice-water in small doses to get rid of the intoxication of liquor. Then one gradually becomes normal.
“An aspirant entitled to the Knowledge of God is very rare. It is said in the Gita that one in thousands desires to know God, and again that among thousands who have such a desire, only one is able to know God.” (BG 7.3)
A devotee quoted the text from the Gita.
MASTER: “As your attachment to the world diminishes your spiritual knowledge will increase. Attachment to the world means attachment to ‘woman and gold’.
“It is not given to everybody to feel prema, ecstatic love of God. Chaitanya experienced it. An ordinary man can at the most experience bhava. Only the Isvarakotis, such as Divine Incarnations, experience prema. When prema is awakened the devotee not only feels the world to be unreal forgets even the body, which everyone loves so intensely.
“In a Persian book it is said that inside the skin is the flesh, inside the flesh the bone, inside the bone, the marrow and so on but that prema is the innermost of all. One becomes soft and tender through prema. On account of this prema, Krishna became Tribhanga.1
“Prema is the rope by which you can tether God, as it were. Whenever you want to see Him you have merely to pull the rope. Whenever you call Him, He will appear before you.
“The mature stage of bhakti is bhava. When one attains it one remains speechless, thinking of Satchidananda. The feeling of an ordinary man can go only that far. When bhava ripens it becomes mahabhava. Prema is the last. You know the difference between a green mango and a ripe one. Unalloyed love of God is the essential thing. All else is unreal. (Source: Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna)
Related Articles:
- Those who understand the divine nature of My birth and activities, O Arjun, upon leaving the body, do not have to take birth again, but come to My eternal abode. (BG 4.9)
- At the end of many births the man of wisdom seeks refuge in Me, realizing that Vāsudeva is all. Rare indeed is such a high-souled person. (BG 7.19)
- Who knows Me as the birthless, without a beginning, the Lord of all the worlds, he among mortals is undeluded and freed from all sins. (BG 10.3)
