All of us develop a large network of relationships with the human beings around us, thinking that this is most important. However, we don’t get much happiness from this because expectation is the base all our relationships. Expectation is the key to every relationship we form - be it a family relationship, a working relationship or any other kind of relationship.
Then what should we do? Should we give up all our relationships to get jnana? No. Goddess Saraswathi says - “I am not asking you to give up any of your relationships. Retain your relationships without expecting anything from them. When you drop all your expectations, there is melody, harmony and equilibrium in your life. Expectations create cacophony, chaos and imbalance. They fill your lives with problems which will end only when your life comes to an end. Then they begin all over again in your next life, if you don’t get jnana.” Our family and friends can come with us only till the graveyard. After that only the spiritual culture that we have established comes with us.
How well we have understood God - this is what matters. Our spiritual culture is built on this. The moment we realise that as the microcosm, we are constantly connected to the macrocosm, automatically our mind and intellect blossom. They become soft and expansive, like a fragrant flower.
Today, since we lack this awareness, our mind and intellect are constricted and our tongue which can express only this limited understanding is restricted. That is why a Jnani says - “Talk just three sentences about anything you like - your family, friends, clothes, profession, life, beliefs…the choice is yours. By the time you finish three sentences, I will tell you what your intellect is like.” Today, this is how limited most of us are. How we listen and talk depends on our level of Jnana. Our evolution in life is reflected through our speech and the way we listen and understand. If a tiger or lion opens its mouth only a roar emerges. If a dog opens its mouth, only a bark emerges. However, when we open our mouths, only nonsense emerges. This happens because we listen and understand wrongly. We fill our minds with doubts and conflicts which don’t allow knowledge to enter.
So, in Naimisha Aranya, Suta Muni asks Devi Saraswathi on our behalf - “Mother, why is the Jnana of human beings at such a low level in the Kali Yuga? Once we recognise our own shortcomings, how can we transform ourselves? Please tell us how we can evolve and improve in life?”
Extract from ‘The book of direct truths, subtle truths and the mystical truths of Devi Mahatmyam’ by Shri Shri Nimishananda