THE DASBODHA BY: SADGURU SHREE SAMARTH RAMDAS ...

know that if they cling on to this life it can yield only grief and therefore although doing all the
deeds necessary for leading a normal life their soul is detached from those deeds and is always in
unison with the Atman. Shree Samarth says that the ones who feel that those who live this life with
all the material and organic pleasures without knowing the facts are fools and those who know the
facts yet still prefer to overlook them are the wise, literate fools. He finally says that leading a
happy family life is a normal thing absolutely acceptable to the religion but it should be after a
certain period when he has experienced most of the pleasures with a detached manner if not from
without but from within which is the crux of spirituality.
END OF THE THIRD SAMAS
THE FOURTH SAMAS – UPDESHLAKSHAN (THE ATTRIBUTES OF PREACHING)
Shree Samarth says that there are many attributes of Preaching of
which he will tell some commonly practiced ones. The Gurus preach to chant the name of the God
or the Om (The first sound to have emanated in the universe). Many of the Gurus ask the disciples
to chant various types of Mantras. Through the Mantras some things which are useful in day to day
life can be achieved but if they don’t have the platform of the knowledge of the self then they
become the means to satisfy your desires and lust. This is true for the chanting of the name of the
God or the Om too if it is done for fulfillment of desires. Some of the Gurus have sometime in their
life experienced some abstract things and they preach the same to their disciples but Shree Samarth
says that whatever the mode of Sadhana it has to have the base of the knowledge of the self
otherwise it is utterly useless and in fact deleterious. Some philosophers deliberate over the basic
elements of the universe critically and preach the disciples accordingly, some advocate
existentialism, some preach the property less form or the form of the God with properties, some ask
to chant the Great sentences of the four Vedas or some preach that whatever is visible is in fact the
Parbrahma. Shree Samarth again says that despite all these types of preaching and some importance
of them in the path of spirituality they are still useless without the knowledge of the Atman.
Shree Samarth here quotes Lord Krishna from Bhagwadgeeta, “All
the deeds go waste without the knowledge of the self which is the ultimate thing in this universe”.
He therefore says that one’s all efforts should be concentrated towards achieving that. He says that
Lord Krishna has said many times that preaching of the knowledge of Atman is the best one
amongst all. In fact Lord Krishna has said that he very happily becomes the servant of the disciple
who knows and has experienced the Atman. Shree Samarth admits that it is definitely difficult to
know about it as even Lord Brahma also is unaware of it but nevertheless it should be pursued for
the fruits it yields which no other type of preaching and learning does. He says that he will tell the
attributes of it in the next samas.
END OF THE FOURTH SAMAS