Evolution of Love 2

Purity

"A lady from Australia, who was feeling rather bewildered at the very great difference between the Hindu conception of purity and that of the West, begged an explanation from Mataji.

The following is the gist of what Mataji spoke:

Purity is an attitude of mind. Some people think if everything is spotlessly clean, looks clean, it is also pure. But, take for instance germs—a place may look perfectly clean and yet be full of germs. Germs, although invisible to the naked eye, cause illness. Qualities cannot be seen, yet it is man's qualities that make him pure or impure. I was told of a mother who had a violent quarrel with someone, which deeply upset her. The quarrel occurred just before her baby's feeding time. The child drank his mother's milk and died on the spot. The doctor who was consulted declared that by her excessive anger the woman's whole system had been affected so that her milk became poisonous.

Whatever a man touches takes on some of his characteristics. The ancient Rishis devised the caste system, in order that each of the four castes might develop certain special qualities and capacities. The members of the different castes were therefore required to observe strict rules when mixing with anyone belonging to another caste. A thing is called pure when it is without mixture, without alloy, entirely true to itself; when mixed with another substance it is said to be impure.

Suppose someone brings you water from the tap in a perfectly clean vessel. Although the water is itself clean, it carries something of the quality of the person who fetched it. Brahmanas were asked not to drink water touched by anyone belonging to another caste. A Brahmana's duty is to seek Brahmavidyā, the knowledge of the Absolute. For this reason, he should not mix with those who are engaged in other pursuits. This is how the question of untouchability arose.

Now concerning service: If you serve human beings or animals as such, it is not pure service. But, if you serve them with the thought that there is only the ONE, that by serving whomsoever, you are serving God (The Absolute) in that particular guise, then and then only does it become real service. Since nothing exists really but the Supreme Being, one should serve THAT alone. Purity means Truth, that which IS. Essentially, whatever aids towards the realization of Truth may be called pure and whatever is apt to retard it, impure.

A very learned professor who had traveled widely in India and Europe remarked: "The Ganges is said to be pure, but on visiting Varanasi I found the drains emptying themselves into the river, and a few yards away someone drinking the water. I was disgusted. I can't bathe in the Ganges—it makes me feel sick."

Mataji said: The very nature of the Ganges is to purify. Whatever is immersed in the Ganges becomes absorbed by its purity, just as fire purifies. No matter what you throw into it, it will be burnt to ashes. You think tap water is cleaner than Ganges water but tap water at Varanasi also comes from the Ganges. It is a matter of point of view. From your angle of vision, you are right. Yet, fundamentally purity and impurity are of the mind. There is only one Atma. Filth and sandal-paste are both the ONE—there is neither purity or impurity. The pure food you eat today, will by tomorrow have turned into excrement, into filth. Nevertheless, some creatures feed on it. A dead body which is putrid floats on the Ganges. Vultures swoop down and eat of its flesh. It is the vulture's natural food, the bird thrives on it. Life is one. What is dirt to one creature, may be sustenance to another. We must reach the state where we know the ONE alone and everything as The Supreme forms. There is only One-Brahman, without a second."