Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Chekhov says in one of his plays, describing one man,
“He was a simple man. A stupid man.”
[Simple-Hearted or Simpleton]
So, there’s simple-hearted, and simpleton.
So of someone who’s interested to advance spiritually,
we’re told (Ms: 2.01),
“Hṛdayenabhyanujñāto yo dharmas taṁ nibhodhata:
they will factor in that, ‘I have a strong tendency
towards self-deception; I can see it in my life
and my circumstances. So, knowing that I have
a tendency to do that, let this not be another example
of that— my making spiritual connections.’”
So then we have to look into tradition, lineage, etc.
Gandhi, when the British were there,
he realised that khadi (the cloth made by the charkha,
and from the cotton, and the weavers, by hand),
every aspect of it is hand;
he thought, “This is good for India.
It’s good for the people in the villages;
it’s good for the country.
So if you believe in India, just buy khadi;
don’t buy the factory mill cloth of the British.”
So a movement started growing.
But then—the British are very clever;
in their factory they learned how to produce cloth
that looks like khadi. So they started selling it.
So this led him to establish the Khadi Sanga.
It’s still there in Kolkata and other places you can find.
Swāmī Avadhūt: “I bought some stuff there.” Bhakti Sudhīr Goswāmī: “Yes.”
So the Khadi Sanga … And what he was saying:
“We’re starting an association, us who really know
what khadi is, and the purest …,
it will have our stamp and our seal on it.
If it does not have the stamp and seal of the Khadi Saṅga,
it’s counterfeit, it’s not the real thing.”
So, in something as serious as spiritual culture,
someone’s going to have to invest some time,
some energy, do some research,
but ultimately, what Manu says, and what I quoted (Ms: 2.01),
“Yo dharmas taṁ nibho …
hṛdayenabhyanujñāto yo dharmas taṁ nibhodhata:
ultimately it’s an affair of the heart” (M: 2.01c).
And now we're back to that point:
simple–hearted or simpleton?
Self-deceiver, or sincere, earnest hankering for the truth?
So Śrīla Guru Mahārāj, he has an aphorism
that actually applies to everything,
including all the varieties of theistic culture
that you could possibly conceive.
Everything is included within this one sūtra-like expression
in which he says,
“According to the inner sincere hankering of your heart,
you will come in connection with a particular level
of theistic conception and subsequent association—
that’s guaranteed.” So then what we’re left with is,
“Oh! Then as long as I’m sincere, everything will be all right.
As long as I’m sincere, I’ll make the right choice.
As long as I’m sincere, ultimately I’ll get there.”
And that’s again grounded in the Gīta (6.40),
where Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna,
“Na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaśchid durgatiṁ tāta gachchhati”,
which Guru Mahārāj renders sometimes as,
“The sincere will be victorious”,
or, “Sincerity is invincible.”