The journey to God is long and full of jerks and jolts in the initial stages. The jerks and jolts come as our ego is hit and we need to overcome our self importance and see the Hand of God in all things around us. It is difficult to overcome the negative qualities of our mind – anger, lust, revenge, jealousy, attachment, desires etc. But it is definitely possible to do so. The lives of Gurus and saints show us how it can be done.
Karma is made of habits that we cultivate in this life time and previous ones. They are also desires which are deeply ingrained in us that which we long to fulfill. The patterns of our likes and dislikes, our hatred and love, desires, yearning for God all get carried forward from one life to another. If we had lived a life dedicated to God in our previous life but did not attain Him for some reason, this karma gets carried forward and we achieve success in attaining Him in this life time or sometime soon. It is not possible to predict when and how a person gets enlightenment. Much depends on his previous karma and the Grace of the Guru. This is the story of Bahiya and how quickly he attained enlightenment with the blessings of Buddha:
Bahiya was once travelling in a ship and there was a storm. The ship was wrecked and Bahiya was washed ashore naked. He tied a piece of bark around his waist and went around begging for food. He walked around with matted hair, beard and a mere bark tied around his waist. So people thought he was a sadhu or a holy man. He found that he could easily get food in this way. So he began to beg regularly and allowed others to think of him as a holy man. Bahiya was a cheat!
Bahiya lived on the alms given to him by the kind people of the village. He was content and happy with the food he got. The people around him treated him with awe and reverence. After some time Bahiya began to believe that he was really a holy man. One day Bahiya had a dream in which he had a vision of God. He was shown his past lives where he had worked hard towards the goal of attaining inner purity and enlightenment. He was also shown his current life where he was living as a pretentious holy man – a cheat!
Bahiya woke up with a start. He was convinced of the truth of his dream and accepted within that he was a cheat now. He decided to seek out Buddha for advice and help. When Buddha looked at Bahiya, he knew that Bahiya had excellent karma and had worked very hard in his past lives for enlightenment. Bahiya could reach Nirvana if given the right guidance. So Buddha uttered one verse to him:Where there is seeing, there is only the seeing, there is no see-er. Where there is listening, there is only the listening, there is no listener. Where there is feeling, there is only the feeling.....etc...."
The verse and the presence of Buddha had a tremendous impact on Bahiya. He was able to break through the attachment and desires he had to the world and leap across the final barrier to Nirvana. Bahiya attained Nirvana on the spot. He lived for a very short time after that and gave up his body.
Buddha was questioned by other monks as to how a cheat and pretentious sadhu could attain nirvana on the spot. Buddha explained to them about the extensive preparations and hard work of Bahiya in his past lives. Karma is always carried forward.
We should take hope from this great truth – Karma is always carried forwards. Let us practice our SitaRam Mantra, practice meditation and the teachings of the Guru. Our good karma will accumulate and be carried forward. Surely sometime soon, grace will descend and we will attain our goal!
