Understand the scriptures

There was an educated young man in Kanyakumari named Amulya who was athirst for spiritual knowledge. He went in search of a competent Guru well versed in scriptures, who could interpret and teach so as to suit him to the modern environment. He spent years with various Gurus at Rishikesh, Haridwar and Uttarkasi etc. in the Himalayas. They were all pompous and could repeat Vedas and Sankara’s commentaries by rote but had little or no experiential knowledge of their own in the spiritual field. They had large followings of people who worshipped them as God. They had the gift of the gab and could express themselves in highflown English as also in Hindi. Amulya was not satisfied with any of them. He still continued to wander in the Almora hills. He was praying to God daily for hours to lead him to a proper Guru who could guide him on the spiritual path. One day he heard of a monk who was living alone in a cave on the top of the mountain which was not easy of access. He vowedthat this would be his last attempt to find a Guru. In case he did not succeed, he would go back to the world, marry and settle down to a worldly life. With great difficulty and after a number of days he reached the cave and fell down exhausted. The kind monk took good care of him and brought him back to normal health. Amulya saw that the cave was littered with all books on various scriptures of the Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians etc. The monk was very humble and sincere. When Amulya disclosed his mission and his disappointments with various Gurus, the monk said that he would teach him to the extent of his knowledge. The monk gave him two tips as given by his own Guru:

1. Never proceed further in a scripture unless you have understood the earlier sentence or paragraph in full.

2. The best way to understand any sentence in the scriptures is to go on meditating on it ceaselessly till the meaning reveals itself. In the Bhrigu Valli of the Taittiriya Upanishad it is told that in order to understand
Brahman, the Supreme Being, one should meditate on it. ‘‘TAPASA BRAHMA VIJIGYASASVA TAPO BRAHMETI.’’ Meditation is the surest way to success in spiritual path.

The next day morning, the monk started the class. He took up one of the scriptures and began to read. Amulya was unable to recognise as to from which scripture the monk was reading. The first sentence the monk read was more or less as follows:
‘‘When the king sits upon the throne, all the subjects will attend to him only and thus no evil can approach.’’

This was from the Old Testament. The moment he heard it Amulya stood up, and went out of the cave.
He was never seen afterwards and days passed. After nearly a year later, Amulya came and sat before the monk. He said – ‘‘Holy sir, last time when you read that one sentence I could not comprehend what it meant.

I spent days meditating over it night and day in another cave. Lord has now revealed its meaning. Now you can go ahead and read the further portion.’’ Amulya’s entire face was lit up by a special glow – a divine light – the hallmark of a highly evolved soul.

The monk requested him humbly – ‘‘Can you please divulge to me the meaning of the first sentence?’’ Amulya started explaining: by king is meant God. The throne refers to the heart of the devotee. The ‘subjects’ are the senses and the mind. When once we install the Lord in our heart by ceaseless prayers and meditations so that we do not think of anything but the Lord, all the extroverted senses – eyes, ears, speech etc. are subjugated and their attention is all turned towards God.

A description of similar nature in respect of King Ambarisha has been given in Srimad Bhagavatam: (IX-4-18)

‘‘His mind was always rooted to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna; his words were only for praising Lord’s glories; his hands were engaged in cleaning the temple of the Lord and his ears in hearing the stories of God.No temptations of the world can ever assail him i.e. no evil can ever approach him.’’ The old monk hugged Amulya and said: ‘‘Blessed indeed are you, Amulya. You have caught the core of all sadhanas. There is no need for you to read anything further. This one sentence is enough. Install the Lord in your heart through loving prayers, meditation and ceaseless remembrance of Him. I shall myself follow it from now on. I have no need of all these scriptures. You have opened my eyes too and
I am ever grateful to you.’’