5. Glimpse of an Enlightened Being – What It Can Do
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says of himself, "Even seeing me is like a glimpse of enlightenment for a person!" He used to go to Calcutta in a horse carriage. He lived a very joyful life picnicking, going out, jumping, dancing etc. He did not undertake the responsibility of a mission during his lifetime. Ramakrishna Mission was not created by Ramakrishna. He initiated around 60 disciples. When he died, only they gathered. He says, "Even if someone sees me accidentally, they don't even have to understand that I am enlightened etc…even if they just see me casually, they are blessed!" You might think: how can that be? It sounds too egoistic. It is like me saying that if my car is standing in the signal and another car comes next to my car, if the person in the other car just happens to turn and look at me, he is blessed! He doesn't have to understand that I am enlightened. He does not even have to think that I am a holy man. Just a casual glimpse is enough! Ramakrishna says he is blessed! How can that be? When you understand how to design your body after death, you will understand this statement.
A small incident from Ramakrishna"s life:
One day, suddenly, he permitted his photograph to be taken. He selected one of the three photographs and said, 'Please make prints of this photo. This is going to be worshipped by thousands of people.' Ramakrishna kept the print in the prayer room, and worshipped the photograph. The people who saw this were confused at the act of Ramakrishna and asked him the reason.
Ramakrishna explained that he was in the samadhi state when that picture was taken, and hence it had become the very form of Parashakthi (cosmic energy), which could be worshipped.
Another interesting story from the life of Krishna:
Once, Krishna and Arjuna were walking in the forest, after the Mahabharata war was over. Suddenly, Arjuna said, 'Krishna! You told me so much in the Bhagavad Gita during the war. You delivered such beautiful aphorisms. But because I was feeling deeply troubled at that time, I am unable to remember them all clearly. Can you please repeat it to me now? I will grasp it deeply in my mind.'
Krishna replied casually, 'What? You do not remember! Even I do not remember anything now!'
Arjuna was perplexed. He asked, 'What are you saying Krishna? How is it that you yourself, don't remember what you said?'
Krishna replied, 'Yes Arjuna, I would have remembered if I had told you all the sutras myself.'
Now Arjuna was even more perplexed and said, 'Krishna, do not confuse me. It is you who told me the seven hundred verses during the war. If you say that you did not tell me, then who did?'
Krishna replied calmly, 'All that was said, was not spoken by me, but by the Parabrahma Krishna – the cosmic Krishna! The Krishna who is talking to you now is Vasudeva Krishna – Vasudeva's son!'
Through these stories, understand that the physical body of enlightened Masters is not their own. Whatever they do from their physical body is only through divinity. They are a pure channel for Existence to flow. That is why getting even a glimpse of them is enough in a lifetime.
Understand: whatever samskaras you collect when you are alive, everything gets recorded in you, even if you have not paid conscious attention while collecting them. For example, let us say that you are driving your car, and on the way, some accident or some loud expression of grief is going on in the road. You did not really observe much; you just drove past quickly. Consciously, you may not have even registered the car number, the color of the clothing of the person, or the face of the person who was involved in the accident. But, if you are hypnotized, you will tell the exact car number, the color of the clothing, the person's face etc! What does this mean? It means that, even if you don't pay attention to the scenes in your life, there is a system inside you which records anything and everything happening around you! Anything happening around you is getting recorded inside.
When you leave the body, all the things which got recorded in your entire life will replay in front of you. Like an option, your mind will ask what you want to pick up. See, by natural intelligence, you know that the body of an enlightened being which is there in your memory is the best body to choose. But you choose only out of whatever is available in front of you. When you are living as a fish, if you have seen a tortoise even once, you will choose only a tortoise! From the fish stage, you can only take one jump at a time - like the zoning system in USA! Only one jump at a time. There is nothing else you can do. But the next jump you will always take, is based on the best information available, the best data available.
One important thing: the onlooker, the man who got a glimpse of an enlightened being during his previous birth, may not recognize that he is enlightened, but after death, the memory will show him very clearly that he had the darshan - glimpse - of an enlightened person. This happens because that memory alone will shine! At the time of death, that will be in 4-colours, while everything else will be in black and white!
Yes…any questions till now?
Questions and Answers
Q: Some people are born blind or handicapped. Why is that? Did they consciously choose it to be so?
A: Yes. They consciously chose. I was once healing an autistic child in America. The child was born and brought up in a Telugu speaking family. When I put my hand on the child to heal, the child started talking to me in singular Tamil, a child who is 4 years old! He spoke to me, "Remove your hand." I slowly asked him, "Why are you telling me not to heal you? Don't you know that I am here only to heal you?" He replied, "Yes, but I don't want to get healed. I am the owner of this body. I have consciously decided to take such a body." I asked him why? He replied, "I am not interested in taking the responsibility of going to school, going for a job etc. I hate this civilization. I just want to rest and relax. I don't want any so called civilized life. That is why I chose autism." I told him, "But your parents are suffering. They are such nice people. They are suffering because of you. Why did you decide to take birth with them?" He replied, "Only because they are nice people, I took birth with them! They will take good care of me." Remember: he is answering all these things logically in Tamil! The whole family is looking baffled and troubled because this boy is talking in Tamil so fluently! Not a single person among them knows Tamil. I don't want to reveal the identity for privacy reasons, but this incident actually happened.
Your birth is your conscious decision, your conscious choice, the reason for which only you know. Sometimes, a particular part of the body might have been involved in some activity which you did not like, so you will renounce that part of the body when you take birth the next time. Just because of hatred towards that activity, you renounce that part of the body itself! It is true!
Q: Even if we do the mistake just once, will we renounce that part of the body?
A: If that one instance created a strong memory, then yes, you will renounce it. You see: when you leave the body, and you are about to chose the next body, all the cards will be in front of you. Naturally, you will pick up only the Master Card. You will say, "I have played with all other cards like Visa Card etc....now I want to play only with the Master Card. You would have gotten tired with all the other types of cards. So you decide, it is time to pick up the Master Card. That is why Ramakrishna says that even seeing an enlightened Master casually is a blessing! It is a blessing.
Never take an enlightened Master's darshan for granted. Working with him or knowing that he is enlightened is secondary. Just understand that getting a glimpse is a blessing. The entire planet Earth does not have more than 2000 enlightened Masters. When I say 2000, I am also including all those persons who are claiming that they are enlightened also. If there are 2000 enlightened beings on Earth, what are your chances of meeting one in a single lifetime? Half a million is the maximum number of people you might see in your lifetime. In 6.5 billion population of the world, half a million is about 10%! So understand: you are clearly blessed to be a part of that 10%. Don"t take yourself for granted. Don't think that having darshan of a Master is a casual thing. Further, in that 10%, probably only 0.1% will work with him – like going to his mediation camps, sitting around him etc. Even setting your eyes on him for a brief moment, puts you in the 10% category! Just imagine! So don"t take yourself for granted. It is a very dangerous attitude. Be very clear: you are blessed.