Commentary on the Dhammapada–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
The Way To Excellence
“Careful amidst the careless, amongst the sleeping wide-awake, the intelligent man leaves them all behind, like a race-horse does a mere hack.”
Aryas
However repulsive even the slightest memory of the Nazis may be, it is a grave mistake to jettison a word from our vocabulary just because those spoilers sought to pervert it. Such a word is Arya(n). Having nothing whatsoever to do with birth, race, or nationality, Arya is often translated “noble” or “worthy,” but it literally means “the striving upward,” from the root ri, which means “to rise upward.” Anyone who seeks to genuinely better himself in any way (not only spiritually) is an arya. We just do not have an English equivalent, so it is best to use it while blocking out the image of goose-stepping killers.
Now Buddha, formulator of the Four Aryan Truths and the Aryan Eightfold Path, is describing how an arya manifests and increases his upward-moving nature–how he excels as a (presently) human being. This is important, for until we realize our full human potential, how can we hope to rise to divine potential? That is why Arya Dharma (Sanatana Dharma, or Hinduism) is also called Manava Dharma–Human Dharma.
Aware
It is incredible but true that most human beings need to be told: Be Conscious. Many years ago a brilliant physician told me in relation to maintaining health: “Always be aware.” It took me decades to figure out the meaning and value of those three words. Buddha was not such a slow learner, so he knew to say that the intelligent human being is “aware among the unaware.” The Venerable Thanissaro Bhikkhu renders it: “Heedful among the heedless.”
A renowned French esotericist of the nineteenth century, Sar Hieronymous, observed that human beings are of two basic types: intellectual and instinctual. By “intellectual” he did not mean academic or scholarly, but centered in their intellects rather than in their senses, emotions, or physical bodies. Most people live in an instinctual, reactive manner, rarely letting their intelligence take the lead, and often only use their intelligence to fake up justifications for their irrational (instinctual) behavior.
Terrible as the picture is, humanity rushes headlong into pain, destruction, and death. And this is habitual, utterly reflexive. Once I visited a yoga center and had a satsang (informal spiritual gathering/discussion) with the members–all of them deeply sincere and quite intelligent. Yet, after about twenty minutes I realized that the answers to their questions did not need my special “qualifications” of having lived in India with Masters and having gained experience in meditation. Only good, practical sense was needed. Often through the years I have marveled at the way very good people seek answers to questions that any thoughtful person could easily answer. They themselves should have been able to answer their questions, but they simply were not used to doing so. They did not even realize they could.
Use your mind
“Use your mind” (intelligence) is just about the first thing a worthy teacher will tell the student–and will usually have to keep on telling him for quite a while until the instinct habit is broken. And this is not easy since instinct is closely related to intuition, which is something desirable. Instinct is to intuition what meaningless babble is to intelligent speech. Both contain words, but only one makes coherent sense.
This is no small problem for the spiritual striver. “Feeling” can be either instinctive or intuitive, and he must learn to distinguish them. This is a major lesson in his development. Few things are more destructive than constant dependence on some external authority for making our decisions in life. Unhappily, most religions and spiritual teachers foster this dependency and prevent real inner growth in their adherents. How will they survive without dependents? How will they be teachers without students? So, like a therapist who fears to lose his livelihood if his patients recover, they hold their members or students in thrall.
A truly aryan teacher or philosophy is like my father. He held on to my bicycle and walked beside me as I learned to ride. He kept me from falling, but he did something better: he gave me the confidence to ride on my own. How vivid is my memory of hearing him say: “You have been riding without me helping for the last three minutes. I was just barely touching the bike.” I could do it! So I rode on alone, amazed and relieved. The great Master, Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, used to tell his students after a short time (two or three months at the most): “Now I have told you everything you need to know. Go and gain experience on your own and make something of yourself.” Another great yogi, Swami Rama of Hardwar (Ram Kunj) only met his teacher once, at the age of nine. The sage gave him simple instructions in meditation, blessed him, and walked on. (The future saint-swami had been playing in the village street.) No more was needed. How rare are such great teachers. Most are in the slave trade (emphasis on trade).
Awake
“Amongst the sleeping wide-awake”–such is the wise man. Before Buddha stated this, Krishna had told Arjuna: “The recollected mind is awake in the knowledge of the Atman, which is dark night to the ignorant. The ignorant are awake in their sense-life which they think is daylight. To the seer it is darkness.” There will always be this sharp division between human beings. Most sleep and dream they are awake, and some of them are halfway between sleep and waking–sleepwalkers. Thinking they are living and acting, from a higher and more realistic perspective they are doing nothing. This is tragic.
Few are the wise, comparatively speaking. Yet this does not bother them, for though ignorance, like misery, loves company and the assurance of being part of a group or herd, wisdom is content with walking on alone if need be. Of course they are never alone, for they are walking in time with the awakened of all ages. In Mahayana Buddhism they say that the moment someone decides to seek higher awareness a multitude of Buddhas and Bodhisattwas become aware of him and begin blessing and helping him along the upward path. That is why Saint Paul said: “We are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses.” Unfortunately for us, in the beginning our inner eyes are not fully opened so we do not realize what a great force is working on our behalf. Immersed in this world of darkness and ignorance we are only aware, often painfully, of the forces that try to prevent our striving upward and becoming aryas. We are like the servant of Elisha who, seeing the city surrounded by enemies, was terrified. Elijah assured him that they had more allies than there were enemies, but the servant thought he was speaking nonsense. Then “Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”
What is it to be awake? To be self-aware, centered in the consciousness that is our true nature. As Krishna indicated, the awareness of the Self is waking, in contrast to the fever-dream of absorption in sense-awareness. Of course, the sleepers will accuse us of being dreamers or unconscious, but that is to be expected. It is even a good sign.
It is said that Buddha was walking along the road when he met the first person he had seen after attaining enlightenment. Being sensitive to spiritual things, the man was astounded at the very appearance of Buddha. “Who or what are you?” he asked. “I am awake,” replied Buddha. And walked on.
Leaving them behind
Transmigration of the soul is true. We move from the simplest of forms to the increasingly complex. Lower forms of life cannot exist outside a group, they are utterly interdependent. Higher life forms become increasingly independent, even solitary. But for some odd reason–perhaps because of their vulnerability–human beings revert to the herd instinct and live submerged in one or more groups, drawing their confidence and self-image from those around them. Look at the virtually absolute power of fashion and public opinion.
All types of claims and demands are made on us. But Buddha tells us that the wise person “leaves them all behind.” This is necessary. We cannot sail in the sinking boat and expect not to drown. We cannot live amongst the diseased and dying and suppose we shall remain healthy. We must separate ourselves and move beyond them. And that does not mean walking along parallel to them at a comfortably sociable distance. It means getting away! To make sure we understand this, Buddha says “the intelligent man leaves them all behind, like a race-horse does a mere hack.” Distance is the keyword here. The worthy steed does not mosey along with the bumbling and incompetent. He pulls out ahead and leaves them far behind. That is how he wins the race. It is drastic. And it is final. It is certainly unequivocal.
This separation and distancing need not be done externally, though in some cases it is absolutely necessary because of the negativity prevailing in the seeker’s environment. But it must be done mentally and spiritually. This often results in the seeker being pushed away by the ignorant and finding himself separated involuntarily. Some of the less somnolent may sense the impending departure and try to stop it, even becoming accusatory and abusive. Regarding them Jesus said: “But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.” This, too, is a good sign, though often a hurtful one. Such is the price that must be paid if we would be truly free–not just in abstraction and theory.
But here is the most important point in all this: There should be a vast, virtually infinite distance between us and the ignorant. How can this be accomplished and maintained? By moving forward, ever forward, never stopping until our last breath. That way we will continue on in higher worlds until we gain the Goal. Buddha was a perfect example of this. To the last day of his life he meditated for hours, even going into intense meditation retreats frequently. He begged his food like every other monk. He lived under a tree and followed the life he had taught to others. After his departure from the world many of his aspiring followers have gotten tangled up in trying to figure out exactly what level they have achieved (the technical terms are too tedious for us to bother with here). This signalled their loss of good sense, for Buddha’s example was to keep on just like a beginner, the only difference between his life and others being the skill in which he conducted it. This is the truth: the way of life of a true Master and that of a fresh beginner is absolutely the same. Only the consciousness is different. The Master may give more time to the practices of spiritual life, but he does them all, omitting none nor mitigating none. The difference is only in degree, not in the elements of daily life and practice. This is so important for us to understand, for keeping this in mind we will be able to discern what spiritual figures are genuine and which are not. I have covered this before, I think, but it needs repeating. No enlightened person goes beyond even the most basic practices. “Baba doesn’t need that anymore” means that Baba is deluded or an outright fake, and so are his followers. This applies to “Matajis” as well.
What the unenlightened do to attain,
The enlightened do to maintain.
Buddha demonstrated this by his perfect life.
Summing it up
In conclusion Buddha say the following that needs no comment:
“Careful amidst the careless, amongst the sleeping wide-awake, the intelligent man leaves them all behind, like a race-horse does a mere hack.
“It was by attention that Indra attained the highest place among the gods. People approve of attention, while carelessness is always condemned.
“A bhikkhu taking pleasure in being attentive, and recognizing the danger of carelessness, makes progress like a forest fire, consuming all obstacles large or small in his way.
“A bhikkhu taking pleasure in being attentive, and recognizing the danger of carelessness, is incapable of falling away. In fact he is already close to Nirvana.”
1) Dhammapada 29
[Go back]
2) Bhagavad Gita 2:69 [Go back]
3) Hebrews 12:1 [Go back]
4) II Kings 6:17 [Go back]
5) Matthew 11:16, 17 [Go back]
6) Dhammapada 29-32 [Go back]
