THE DASBODHA BY: SADGURU SHREE SAMARTH RAMDAS ...

Shree Samarth says that this life is like an ocean of grief even if you
consider the things which yield the so called happiness. To swim across this ocean safely and get to
the other shore where the real happiness lies you require the guidance of one who has successfully
done this himself and has helped many others in doing so. That person is the Guru and therefore the
earlier you submit before him the better for you. Once you get the blessings of the Guru not even
the Gods can hinder your progress. Guru is the ultimate force in this universe. Guru tells you what
the truth is, what is good and what is acceptable on the path of attaining the Parbrahma by giving
you knowledge about your real self. Parbrahma can’t be seen by the eyes and can’t be understood
by the mind. You can’t experience it without freeing your attachment to everything but the God,
Guru and the Parbrahma. The feeling that I am nothing but the body is the first and the most
insurmountable obstacle. This leads to the pride that whatever is done by the body or thought by the
mind is done and thought by me, which further complicates the issue. Once you are able to get over
all this and realize that you are just a medium through whom the things are being done you are
almost half way through to your aim. Our original state is that of utmost purity, piety and beyond
the visible and totally complete. That state is polluted by being absorbed in the visible world which
corrupts our original state. In this state we have the illusion that the visible material and organs are
the means to happiness which leads to desire and lust. One has to get rid of both the desire and the
lust.
Vedanta describes the state of effortless acceptance of happenings
either good or bad or happiness or unhappiness without any semblance of complaints whatsoever. It
is a state resembling the newborn. It doesn’t say what it wants or doesn’t. It neither demands
happiness nor tries to avoid unhappiness. It is as easily ready for happiness as it is for unhappiness
because for him all these things are meaningless. One should try and achieve this state. It is easier
said than done. Shree Samarth explains that all that is visible yields neither happiness nor
unhappiness because all that is visible is an illusion. Unless the mind is forcefully brought out from
this illusion one can’t approach all the things with the same response which in fact is no response.
He also says that the mind of a common man is in the states of awakening, sleep and dreams. In all
of these it is full of the visible. Even the dreams are a reflection of whatever you see when you are
awake. Sadhak with the use of Sadhana goes on reducing this visible from his mind till a point
where the mind realizes only one thing i.e. I am not the body but the Atman. In this state the mind
is aware of the inner self as well as the outer illusion. This state also has to be furthered to a state
where both these awareness vanish and the feeling which remains is that of the Parbrahma. In this
state the mind vanishes as a mind and the universe merges into the Parbrahma. The real Sadhak
aspires to achieve this state.
Shree Samarth has defined science as knowing everything to the
fullest possible extent. When it is applied to attaining Parbrahma it means that one should know the
Parbrahma by one’s own experience and experiments which is Sadhana. This definition and the
implication of it very closely match with that of the modern sciences. By application of the science
that one has learnt through his Sadhana one should be able to dissolve out the visible in its entirety
to get to the Parbrahma. In Shree Samarth’s view then, the modern science is also a means to
achieve Moksha. Shree Samarth tells that there are so many ways describing how to attain
Parbrahma but ultimately every path leads to the same destination of total control over the mind
and using the body just as a means and not the end. All this can be achieved only by submitting
your own self totally at the Guru’s feet who is the Parbrahma himself and hence the best guide to
tell where to go and by what route. All the avenues of spirituality become evident and illuminated
by submitting to the Guru who is ever ready to reveal the secrets of them. Parbrahma is