Datta Maata 82: The three penances and their outcome

Penance is categorized into three types. It can be done through mind, speech and body.

Mental penance includes meditation, Yoga etc. Penance through speech includes speaking in a good and gentle manner. Bodily penance includes serving humanity. All of these penances bestow heaven. Here, heaven means bliss.

Even before we understand about spiritual practices done through the mind, we must first try to think what the mind is. For any living being, the root cause of all the works is the mind. Fickleness is the basic nature of the mind. Amongst the strange activities of the mind is the love it develops towards that which it thinks of is of utmost importance.

One who wants to travel towards God must first stop the flow of mind. The outcome of such effort is unwavering meditation and the result of this meditation is steady Yoga. The steadiness of the mind is a good subject. If we can develop our mind to this extent, then it becomes a superior mental penance. This is like the foundation for the other penances.

On this foundation, we must construct two storeys called ‘bodily penance’ and the ‘penance through speech’. One who lives in the society is compelled to speak some thing or the other. Talking with others must be reduced to maximum extent possible and it must be channelled towards studying good books. This is also a kind of communication. Because of that, we speak maximum about good matters. Hence, this leads to good thinking. You must keep speaking truth as your policy. At the same time, you must try to speak truth gently. To achieve that, the words that we speak must not hurt others. Hence, we must practice speaking less. This is known as penance through speech which is the second floor.

The next storey is the penance done with the body. In order to transform our tasks into penance, our work must be devoid of selfishness. By doing so, such tasks will become like a selfless service. We must try to do possible help to those who render selfless services. By doing good penance, we must also revere elders. All of this is a part of bodily penance. So, even following brahmacharya (virtue of celibacy) is a part of this penance.

All these three penances are inter-linked. Hence all the three must be practiced simultaneously. They lead to permanent bliss of the self. With the grace of Datta Guru, may this wisdom in you lead to penance! The most important amongst the three is the penance through speech. To learn that, one must be very careful with the tongue. It must be utilized for reading holy books, for chanting the divine names and for speaking only about good.

Jai Guru Datta! Sri Guru Datta!