Salaam.
Salaam.
Salaam.
Welcome to Buddha Sangha.
Today's sutta is from Anguttara Nikaya,
3.
92.
It is the book of the threes and sutta no.
92.
This is a very interesting sutta.
It evokes the urgency in a spiritual seeker who is very sincere about his spiritual path.
So if you are sincere about your spiritual path,
This sutta will benefit you a lot.
Because there are these three urgent tasks of a farmer.
What three?
First,
The farmer swiftly yet thoroughly ploughs the field and swiftly yet thoroughly harrows it.
Next,
He swiftly sows seeds.
And then he swiftly irrigates and drains the field.
These are the three urgent tasks of a farmer.
This farmer has no psychic potency or spiritual might by which he could command,
Let my crops start growing today.
Let them mature tomorrow.
Let them bear green the day after tomorrow.
But with the change of seasons,
There comes a time when the crops grow,
Mature and bear green.
So too because there are these three urgent tasks of a bhikkhu.
What three?
The undertaking of the training in the higher virtuous behaviour.
The undertaking of the training in the higher mind.
And the undertaking of the training in the higher wisdom.
These are the three urgent tasks of a bhikkhu.
So higher virtuous behaviour is Shila.
Higher mind is Samadhi and higher wisdom is Panniya.
Shila,
Samadhi,
Panniya.
Virtuous behaviour is very important to reach the higher mind.
And only a higher mind can fathom the higher wisdom.
If your behaviour and your inner environment is not virtuous,
It is full of hatred,
Anger,
Jealousy,
Competition,
Comparison,
Constant fault finding,
Criticism.
If you are valuing in the pus of negativity regarding yourself as well as the world,
Then you are in a so called in virtuous or non virtuous state of mind.
Such a mind cannot attain Samadhi.
The prerequisite of Samadhi is inner purity.
Come what may I will not let my inner purity be soiled by even a little word of criticism.
By even a little sight that evokes lust.
By even a little desire to taste something that which I do not have right now.
Any desire or craving in the mind for that which is not right here and right now will create agitation in me and that will lead to an inner impure environment.
Yes,
Homework for you.
Are you striving hard enough to keep your inner environment pure?
Or do you have that attitude,
It's okay to be impure,
It's okay because he is impure,
She is impure,
They all are impure and they are all on the spiritual path.
So it's okay to be impure.
Do you have that kind of mentality?
Check.
The higher virtue's behaviour is the one that takes to the higher mind.
Only when the inner environment becomes absolutely pure and quiet can you take a dip into Samadhi and experience the joy that the exalted ones,
That the enlightened ones talk about.
That is Ananda.
That is bliss.
If in your meditation you have not tasted the nectar of that silence,
Then all your meditation is just a wasteful act of thinking with eyes closed.
It is no point.
Wake up and realise the truth.
Just by meditating I will become a virtuous person automatically is a wrong understanding.
I will have to strive to be a virtuous person,
Then only will my meditation become deeper and deeper and dip into Samadhi.
This is the right view,
The right understanding.
Again,
You don't have to blindly believe me.
You experiment on your own self.
One day you fight with somebody,
Argue,
Use harsh speech,
Malicious words,
All the bad things that are there in your mind,
Blot it out,
Say it out to this person and afterwards,
Having said all that you wanted to say,
Emptying out the entire garbage can,
Go sit in your room,
Close your eyes and see,
Are you at peace now?
Or are you agitated even more?
You test for your own self.
In the second scenario,
Test yourself.
However turbulent the external environment is,
Or however turbulent the external people's minds are,
How much ever negativity they throw at you.
You choose to not be negative.
You choose to be silent.
You choose to keep a smile,
Have a virtuous conduct,
Not hurt,
Not harm.
Now go back to your room,
Close your eyes,
Sit and meditate.
And check,
Are you able to meditate?
When you make an effort that come what may,
I am going to maintain the purity of my mind.
I'm not even going to let an unhappy thought agitate this silent serene leak of my mind.
Then,
Then you can easily touch Samadhi.
All the time,
Bring to your awareness that that which causes agitation in me is my own craving,
My craving of how you should behave with me,
My craving of how you should not behave with me,
My craving of how you should speak to me,
My craving of how you should react and how you should not react and how you should respect me,
And blah,
Blah,
Blah,
Blah.
You have an endless,
Endless chain of craving.
And your own craving,
Your own expectation,
Your own desire does not let you rest.
You surrender this desire to the universe.
It doesn't matter whether you respect me or not.
I shall strive to keep my inner environment pure.
And then you see how beautiful your meditation or Samadhi becomes.
And you will definitely reach the higher mind.
And the third is the training of higher wisdom.
Only when you reach this higher mind,
Do you recognize that the mind can be totally silent,
Can reach a state of absolute void,
Where there is no mind,
And that is bliss.
And when you taste that bliss yourself,
You recognize,
Ah,
This is Ananda.
This is what the scriptures speak about.
This is what the Buddha spoke about.
This is true bliss.
Ananda in Sanskrit or Pali is equal to bliss in English.
This bliss is higher than having the most expensive car or the most beautiful gadget or the most wonderful relationship even.
Ah,
This is the taste of that nectar.
This higher wisdom can come only in the higher mind.
And that higher mind or state of Samadhi can happen only if you have a virtuous inner environment.
And the virtuous inner environment comes from virtuous behaviour.
So do you see how the three are integrated together?
Yeah,
Sheila,
Samadhi,
Pannya.
Virtuousness,
Higher mind and higher wisdom.
Next homework for you.
You start walking the path properly if you have still not started.
These are the three urgent tasks of a bhikkhu.
This bhikkhu has no psychic potency or spiritual might by which he could command,
Let my mind be liberated by the teens by not clinging today or tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
Rather,
As this bhikkhu trains in the higher virtuous behaviour,
The higher mind and the higher wisdom,
There comes an occasion when his mind is liberated from the teens by non-clinging.
So non-clinging will happen as a result of the training in the higher virtuous behaviour in the higher mind and training in the higher wisdom.
Therefore,
Bhikkhus,
You should train yourself thus.
We will have a keen desire to undertake the training in the higher virtuous behaviour,
The training in the higher mind and the training in the higher wisdom.
It is in this way that you should train yourselves.
He named this sutta,
Urgent.
It is urgent that you must start training yourself.
You do not know how long you are going to live.
You cannot say I will do this when I reach this age,
You don't know if you will reach that age.
You cannot postpone it to tomorrow.
It starts today.
Virtuousness does not have a particular auspicious occasion to inaugurate it.
Inaugurate that virtuousness today.
Take a bow.
Come what may,
I will instil virtuous behaviour in myself and strive ceaselessly to maintain my virtuousness even in the most diverse conditions.
Again,
Don't believe me,
Don't believe the Buddha.
Experiment with your own mind and arrive at your own wisdom.
Ampu,
Dipu,
Bhava.
Be your own light.
Be your own light.
