Talks on the Gita -Vinoba 80

Chapter 8 SADHANA FOR A HAPPY ENDING OF LIFE: THE YOGA OF CONSTANCY 38. Ever Absorbed In That 14. If a doctor prescribes medicine to be taken daily in particular doses, but we gulp it down all at once, will it serve the purpose? It will be plain stupidity. The body should be restored to health through daily samskara of the medicine. The same holds good for life. Take the example of gradual abhishek on the idol of Lord Shiva. It is my favourite illustration. I used to watch it everyday when I was a child. Two buckets of water might be trickling down drop by drop over the idol during twenty four hours. Why not pour two bucketfuls of water all at once on the idol? I got the reply to this at that time itself. Water must not be poured at once; it should trickle down drop by drop uninterruptedly. That is what makes it an act of worship. There should be a continuous flow of the same samskaras twenty four hours a day, every day, every year; even throughout the cycle of births and deaths. Each moment and each hour, each day and each night, each month and each year—even in each birth, the same samskara should be there. The divine stream of good samskaras should flow in this way throughout our lives without interruption. Then only we can reach our destination and hoist our flag there. The stream of samskaras must flow in one single direction only. If the rainwater falling on a hill-top flows down the hill in several different directions, it does not form a river; but if it flows in one single direction, it becomes a stream which gradually grows in size, eventually becoming a river that finally reaches the sea. Water which takes one single direction reaches the sea while that which takes many directions soon dries up and is lost. This also happens in the case of good samskaras. If they come and go, of what use are they? Only when the stream of good samskaras flows continually through life in one single direction, then death will be found to be a source of supreme bliss. A trekker who does not unduly linger in the way, does not yield to the temptations in the way and continues to walk along the path, doggedly reaches the mountain-top, throws down all the load on his back and experiences the fresh breeze blowing there. The joy that he experiences is beyond the imagination of others.