By
SRI SWAMI CHIDANANDA
from
Early Morning Meditation Talks
A DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY PUBLICATION
First Edition: 1996
(2,000 copies)
World Wide Web (WWW) Edition : 1999
Website: http://www.divinelifesociety.org/
This WWW reprint is for free distribution
© The Divine Life Trust Society
Published By
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
P.O. Shivanandanagar—249 192
Distt. Tehri-Garhwal, Uttaranchal,
Himalayas, India.
CONTENTS
This special series of eight booklets is being published between September
1996 and September 1997 in honour of the 80th Birthday Anniversary of
H.H. Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj, the President of the Divine Life
Society.
Each booklet contains several of his early morning meditation talks
given on special spiritual occasions in the sacred Samadhi Hall of the
holy founder of the Divine Life Society and Sivananda Ashram, H.H. Sri
Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. The series of eight booklets covers the entire
year of special occasions and festivals celebrated in the Ashram.
The talks contain penetrating insights into the meaning and purpose
of sadhana as Swamiji takes advantage of these occasions to point
out the fundamentals required for success in the spiritual quest such
as devotion to the goal, discrimination, obedience to the Guru, faith
in God and oneself, and a divinely lived life.
The spiritual advice and encouragement contained in these booklets
will be an inspiration and help to earnest spiritual seekers throughout
the world.
THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
The whole year for the Hindu is a continuous observance of some sacred
day of worship or other. The year is completely built around a great
many days of sacred worship of various expressions of the one non-dual
Divine Reality.
Each month is significant for the presence of some important day of
divine worship. So, from beginning to end, life becomes God-oriented;
it becomes devotion filled. Life becomes based upon worship.
The holiness and sanctity of life and actions of the followers of the
Vedic religion is insured by this great wisdom-based approach to life.
All the twelve months become a composite period of adoring the Divine
Reality around which the entire life of the individual revolves.
Swami Chidananda
“Being humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant
than the tree, free from vanity and being respectful to others,
one should sing the glories of Lord Hari.”
—Gauranga Mahaprabhu
“All this points to one fact: That ego is folly,
and wisdom lies in renouncing and transcending ego.”
—Swami Chidananda
|
Radiant Atman! Beloved and blessed children of the Divine! We will
soon he observing the sacred annual worship of Lord Siva, Mahasivaratri.
It is customary to regard and to speak of Lord Siva in terms of being
a destroyer. The three aspects of the Supreme Being are Brahma, the
creator, Vishnu, the preserver and Siva, the term destroyer. They say
srishti, sthiti and layakartas. The “destroyer”
is usually not used by me. I use the word “dissolver,” because
they do not refer to Lord Siva in mythology as nasakarta or vinasakarta
(destroyer) but as layakarta (dissolver). Laya means
subsiding back into the original state. Srishti is emerging into
variegated names and forms, the One becoming the many. Sthiti is preserving,
continuing in time, and laya is merging back into the original
unmanifest state, the nameless, formless unified state.
But, quite apart from this concept of Lord Siva as dissolver, it is
very widely held, especially in North India, that He is the boon-giver.
Even though He is the highest of all gods, devadi-deva (Lord
of lords), Mahadeva (the great God), yet He is easily pleased.
He is very simple and prepared to give anything, to give anything.
And He is also a saviour. He saved Markandeya, His boy devotee,
from death by appearing before him and daring lord Yama to touch His
devotee. So here, He is not so much the destroyer as He is the protector
and saviour. There are innumerable such instances of His saving grace.
And it does not take much to please Him. Pour some water over Him,
give a Bilva leaf and chant His Name once. That is enough. So one of
the terms with which He is referred to is asutosh, very easily
propitiated, easily pleased—asutosh mahadev.
But, the most endearing term by which He is popularly referred to by
devotees, in North India especially, is the term “bhola.”
Bhola means simple-minded, one who has no complication in his thinking,
feeling and acting. He has no complications, no crookedness, no cleverness.
He is simple-minded. They call Him Bhola Nath. They call Him Bhola Sambhu.
Bhola means simple. He believes whatever He sees. He does not look beyond.
Even if a person asks for a boon with a wrong intention, He does not
look to the intention.
If a person has taken His Name, or performed tapasya, He does
not look into either the intention or the consequences. To anyone who
propitiates Him, takes His Name, prays to Him, does tapasya and
pleases Him, He asks: “What do you want?” Ravana did intense
tapasya and just to indicate to what extent Lord Siva is simple,
easy to please and prepared to give everything, He gave His divine partner,
Parvati.
It would indeed be a highly beneficial thing if everyone would undertake
an anushthana commencing tomorrow and concluding on Mahasivaratri
day. Regularly repeat eleven maalas of Om Namah Sivaya dedicated to
the welfare of humanity. If you cannot repeat eleven at least repeat
five, one maala for each letter of the panchakshari mantra. Om
Namah Sivaya. It is very simple, very easy. In five minutes you can
do it. It will not be a purascharana, but it will be an anushthana.
A japa anushthana you can do, and dedicate it to the welfare
of mankind and the peace of the world.
Now, let us consider this ancient tradition in India, especially religious
India, that is, praying for others, praying for the world, praying for
the welfare of mankind, for the welfare of all-creatures, praying for
peace on earth, not only for mankind and all creatures but also for
everything that exists, praying for peace, wishing peace, desiring peace
and sending out thoughts of peace to everything that exists, to all
existence. “Peace be unto all the five elements, earth, water,
fire, air and ether.” It is desiring peace for the grass, herbs,
plants and trees. It is desiring peace for the celestials, for the angelic
host, for the gods right up to the creator, Brahma—visvedeva
santih (peace to all the Gods), brahma santih (peace to Brahma),
santih eva santih (peace for peace itself), wishing peace for
peace itself. Let there be peace to all the Vedas, Vedic mantras,
to everything. This is the ancient tradition.
Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu—May all beings in this
universe be happy. Sarvesham svasti-bhavatu—May prosperity
and welfare be unto all beings. Sarvesham santir-bhavatu—May
peace be unto all beings. Sarvesham purnam bhavatu—May plenitude
and fullness be unto all beings. Sarvesham mangalam bhavatu—May
auspiciousness and blessedness be unto all beings. Sarve bhavantu
sukhinah—May all be happy. Sarve santu niramayah—May
all be free from disease, pain and suffering. Sarve bhadrani pasyantu—May
all behold that which is auspicious, pleasant, nothing fearful nor unpleasant.
Bhadra is auspicious, blessed, mild, pleasant. Ma kaschid
duhkhabag bhavet—May not sorrow fall to the lot of anyone.
Thus, this has been an ancient tradition—wishing well, wishing
peace, happiness, prosperity, freedom from disease and pain, plenty,
fullness, blessedness and auspiciousness to everyone.
The desirability of such prayer is not only because the world needs
all these things. There is also the subjective dimension of prayer that
has to be considered. The process has a very important effect upon the
one who prays. By wishing for all that is positive, creative, constructive,
good, conducive to welfare, auspicious and blessed to all that exists—all
creatures, mankind, the whole world—it makes us aware that our
ancients expected us to make life an active, dynamic process of constantly
working to bring about those very conditions which we wish for, pray
for, intend and want for others. For, unless our prayer is backed up
by suitable action to bring about these conditions, it has no meaning.
If we wish peace for others and at the same time we are actively engaged
in robbing others of their peace by disturbing them, agitating them,
causing them distress, then we stand as a living lie. We stand in terrible
contradiction to what we mouth through such prayers. We say one thing,
but we act in another manner. We succeed in doing something that is
contrary to that which we pray for. It thus becomes a very serious situation,
a very undesirable state of affairs. Every day we say ma kaschid
duhkhabhag bhavet—May not sorrow fall to the lot of any being.
Therefore, we have to be perpetually conscious, aware and careful that
neither by thought, word nor deed do we create sorrow for others, grief
for others.
“Where there is sadness, let me bring joy.” That is the sublime,
noble prayer of Saint Francis. When we pray “May not sorrow fall
to the lot of anyone,” then we should work in the way indicated
by the simple prayer of St. Francis. “O Lord, where there is sadness,
let me bring joy. Make me an instrument of joy to the lives of others.
Make me an instrument of removing the sadness of others.” Axiomatically
it means that if we wish happiness for others, joy for others, then
we have to do something positively to bring joy to others; we have to
also, simultaneously, engage in doing acts that remove the sorrow of
others, lessen the grief of others, make people less sad. This is implied
in this line from the simple prayer of St. Francis.
Apart from this, that such prayer is an indication of what we should
work, live and act for, of what our great ancients have placed before
us as an ideal for our life and the living of it, it also has still
another aspect. By constantly thinking in such a positive manner of
the happiness, welfare and peace of others, it brings about a change
in our nature. Gradually we become so disposed to act in such a way,
to live in such a way, that we become a centre of goodwill towards others,
a centre of compassion and kindness towards others, a centre of peace
for others. The constant repetition of such prayer, the constant dwelling
upon these thoughts, and the constant harbouring of these feelings in
our heart have a transforming effect upon our own nature. It tends to
gradually make us grow in this quality of goodwill towards all, of ill-will
towards none, of compassion and kindness towards all, of prayerfully
ever wanting to live in order to bring peace, solace, happiness and
comfort to everyone.
This constant prayer has this effect, but only if we pray feelingfully,
not mechanically. If, as a matter of routine, we go on uttering this
prayer mechanically with lip-service, then of course, we will be deprived
of this purifying, elevating and transforming effect. We will not benefit
from it; we will not gain anything by it. It is only when, every time
we pray, we pray with earnestness, with sincerity, with feeling, in
a meaningful manner, then alone it is a great life-transforming power,
it is a great purifying and uplifting power.
That is its effect upon the one who prays. It has this unfailing effect
of making us grow into those very qualities we pray for. This is the
subjective dimension of prayer—how it benefits the one who prays.
Constantly having these thoughts, these feelings of goodwill, of kindness,
compassion, friendliness, makes us a well-wisher of humanity, a being
filled with loving kindness, with good thoughts, goodwill and love,
wishing and praying for the peace of all.
Then indeed our life mission is being fulfilled, because we become
a centre for radiating around us the quality which is of God, daivi
sampad. Compassion, kindness, peace, light, joy all belong to God,
and we make ourselves a channel for the manifestation of these God-qualities
in this world of His. What greater blessedness can one have? What greater
privilege than this can one have? And what greater satisfaction that
this can one have in life than the satisfaction “I have not lived
in vain; I have tried to make myself a true child of God, make myself
a channel for manifesting the qualities of Him whom I address as father,
mother, friend, relative, and Lord.” That indeed makes life worth
living.
It is in this way that we must understand the incalculable value of
prayer for the one who prays. Thus may prayer transform your life and
make it Divine. God bless you all!
Homage unto the Divine Presence, Thou who art the universal Reality!
Make us aware of Thy constant companionship with us, so that we may
walk in Thy light, the light which shines within us as wisdom overcoming
all folly and as knowledge banishing the darkness of ignorance. May
we walk in the light of knowledge. May we walk the path and live in
the light of wisdom. For that is good.
Beloved and worshipful Gurudev, you who shone on all as a great light
of the wisdom of Vedanta in this sacred Uttarakand, the region of the
divine Himalayas and the Ganga! Grant us the prayer: “From the
darkness of ignorance may we rise up to the light of wisdom—tamaso
ma jyotirgamaya.” Bless us with that knowledge and wisdom that
leads to peace and blessedness. For we know that thou hast lived thy
life for jnana yajna, for the dissemination of spiritual knowledge,
to disseminate the wisdom teachings of the Upanishads which shine as
a supreme treasure of all humanity. The global human family is enriched
by the invaluable wealth of Vedic wisdom, the crown and glory of human
achievement.
Satyam jnanam anantam brahma. The Supreme Reality is the truth,
it is wisdom—it is satyam and it is jnanam. And it
is truth that is boundless and limitless, for it is absolute, beyond
all relativity. Therefore it is anantam, endless. That wisdom
is, therefore, immeasurable, being absolute wisdom, kaivalyajnana.
It is a nectar of wisdom—kaivalya jnanam amritam—absolute
nectar, wisdom.
Radiant Immortal Atman! A sadhaka, a spiritual seeker, a Yogi,
is called a jijnasu. A jijnasu is one who seeks wisdom,
knowledge. Jijnasu comes out of the word jna (to know).
One who thirsts for knowledge, who is seeking knowledge and wisdom is
called a jijnasu. So it behoves a sadhaka, a true seeker,
to be a jijnasu.
For the highest value in life is declared to be moksha, liberation—sadyomukti,
instantaneous liberation or kramamukti, gradual liberation,
in stages. Whether instantaneous or gradual, freedom, liberation, mukti,
has always been declared to be the highest goal of all human aspiration.
And the Srutis declare: “rite jnanam na muktih—Without
wisdom and knowledge, liberation is not possible.” There is no
liberation, there is no freedom without knowledge or wisdom. This is
an emphatic statement, a sure categorical declaration. Therefore it
is necessary for one to be a jijnasu.
Wisdom is good. It is the highest good, the greatest good. Devotion
or love is also supreme good; it can also liberate. But if devotion
is accompanied by folly, if devotion is accompanied by non-wisdom or
foolishness, then, the devotion notwithstanding, one invites trouble
and one gets into trouble. This is borne out by the lives of all great
mystics, all great bhaktas, all great saints. When they were
foolish, they got into trouble. Then, afterwards, they prayed to God,
they lamented, they cried desperately for help: “All is lost, O
Lord, please help me. Thou art the helper of the helpless. I have committed
this folly. Come, come! Save me! Save me!”
So, when they were foolish, they had to turn and call aloud for the
Lord’s grace. This we see in the lives of all spiritual, seeking
souls, no matter how sincere they were, no matter how true their devotion.
If they entered into folly, then, their devotion notwithstanding, their
sincerity notwithstanding, they got into trouble. This is demonstrated
in the lives of all great devotees of God. When they lost their head,
when they lost their wisdom, then they were egoistic, they fell into
the trap of desire, and then they lamented.
Therefore, while devotion is very good, all its goodness is robbed
if folly creeps into the life of the devotee. Devotion, therefore, should
be accompanied by wisdom. There is a prayer: “O God, give us serenity
to accept what cannot be changed, courage to change what should be changed,
and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”
“He prabho ananda data jnan hamko dijiye—O Giver of
Bliss, grant us wisdom.” That is what the opening line of the prayer
says which you sing daily. Now, if all people are seeking happiness
and bliss, and they address God as the great giver of bliss, why do
they also immediately ask for wisdom? It is worth reflecting over, for
it proves that when you are seeking bliss and when you are addressing
the One who is the giver of bliss, you know that even though He is ready
to give you bliss, if you walk the way of folly you will deprive yourself
of it—in spite of the fact that He is ever there waiting to grant
you that bliss. “O Giver of Bliss, grant us wisdom.” Wisdom
for what? Wisdom to cast out of us all that is not good, all that is
undivine, all that is unspiritual. Wisdom to remove from ourselves,
from within us, all that stands in the way of wisdom and bliss. “Sighra
sare durgunonko dura hamse kijiye. Lijiye hamko sarana me ham sadachari
bane. Brahmachari dharma rakshaka satyavratadhari bane—Grant
us the wisdom to surrender ourselves to Thee, surrender the ego to Thee,
and to walk the path of good conduct, to become established in the path
of righteousness and spirituality, that supreme ideal way of life, that
leads to brahma jnana. Let us defend that wisdom, carefully protect
that wisdom, for we know that that is the guarantee of peace and joy.
May we have the wisdom and ability to adhere to truthfulness, adhere
to satyavrata.”
That is the wisdom one asks for in this prayer. For where there is
wisdom, there is joy, there is peace. Shorn of wisdom, one enters into
grief. Folly leads to lamentation. Arjuna lamented when he lost touch
with wisdom. The Lord says: “The wise do not grieve. The wise look
upon all with an equal eye. The awakened one, the one who is wise and
lives in the wakefulness of knowledge, wakefulness of wisdom, does not
run after things that cause sorrow, does not revel in petty, temporary
things, conditioned things, imperfect things, limited by time, space
and causation. Therefore, he is wise; he knows where lie peace and joy.
He seeks to be wise at every step.”
Therefore, one would wisely recognise this central fact about the life
of the seeker and aspirant: that while devotion is both necessary and
good, it is wisdom which makes devotion fruitful in experience. Peace
and joy come through devotion only if it is accompanied, supported and
enlivened by knowledge and wisdom. Sri Ramakrishna said: “A devotee
should not be foolish. Wisdom is the highest good, for it makes, devotion
fruitful.”
Therefore, a seeker, an aspirant, a spiritual sadhaka is also
a jijnasu. He ever seeks to dwell in knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge
is your great friend. Wisdom is your invaluable life’s companion.
And knowledge and wisdom come through satsanga, through sadvichara,
right discrimination, right enquiry and observation of life. We
learn wisdom through the folly of others, from observing life around
us. A true seeker is a learner at every step. He advances in knowledge;
he expands in wisdom. Thus by dwelling in wisdom, walking in the light
of knowledge, he guarantees that his quest after bliss and peace is
not futile, that it is crowned with fulfilment.
Therefore, ponder well this truth that wisdom is your friend, that
knowledge is the highest good and that Brahman is knowledge—satyam
jnanam anantam brahma. Again and again the Srimad Bhagavad Gita
reiterates this point, that if you want to have true peace, true joy,
if you want to make your sadhana successful, let it be accompanied
by wisdom. Seek to cast out folly and to walk in the path of wisdom.
For it is your greatest good; it is your greatest helper. It is a companion
which will guide you in the right direction—knowledge and wisdom.
Not dry intellectualism, not vain rationality, too much of logic that
goes on splitting, chopping—it is not this, but it is a higher
thing, a higher quality. Mere dry rationality or intellectualism only
becomes a burden. It is a trap; it boosts up one’s ego. Therefore,
a discriminating aspirant carefully avoids it. They call it lip-Vedanta.
It is something that emanates from the brain. It is not the true, discriminating
higher wisdom or understanding. It is a lesser thing that pertains to
the ego.
One should know how to distinguish between spiritual knowledge and
wisdom and dry intellectualism—sterile, splitting, chopping rationality.
All rationality which springs out of the ego is unwise. That feeling
that one knows everything is itself unwisdom. That spirituality becomes
the opposite of knowledge, because it does not free you, it does not
liberate you. It ties you down to your ego; it traps you and holds you
fastly bound to your own ego.
Therefore, this lesser, dry intellectualism—which is the outcome
of rajas, not sattva—you must know how to carefully
distinguish it from higher spiritual knowledge which is always sattvic
and accompanied by humility, by a clear understanding that one knows
nothing, that one can walk the path of wisdom and knowledge only if
the Supreme Being grants it, blesses us with it. So the truly wise person
is never egoistic. This is the hallmark of wisdom.
A wise man has said: “What I know is like a few grains of sand
on the ocean’s shore. What I do not know is like the vast ocean
itself.” So, be wise. Walk in the light of knowledge. Guard your
humility, knowing that all knowledge comes from a supreme source higher
than us. Living in wisdom, find peace. Walking in the light of knowledge,
obtain the joy and the bliss that is your birthright.
May, thus, wisdom be your constant companion. May, thus, knowledge
ever accompany your devotion, your spirituality. For, knowledge is your
highest good and wisdom is the sure guarantee of your attaining the
bliss that you are seeking, the peace that all people are ever seeking.
Therefore recognise the place of wisdom and knowledge in your life and
be blessed. God bless you!
Radiant Atman! We have been considering the desirability of being wise,
the necessity of wisdom in order to attain the Supreme Being who is
pure wisdom-consciousness. And the Guru functions as a source of illumining
and enlightening wisdom. The last and ultimate message of Gurudev to
mankind was: “Happiness is when the individual merges in God.”
This was the last sentence he wrote before he himself merged in the
Supreme.
Therefore, the merging of the individual, the losing of the individual,
is indicated as the supreme blessedness, the supreme wisdom. For the
greatest folly is the ego, the greatest good is the renouncing and the
losing of the ego. Again one has to reiterate: the answer to the question,
“When shall I be free?” is, “When ‘I’ shall
cease to be.” Then shall I be free, when “I” shall cease
to be.
In the eternal drama between light and darkness, the divine and the
demoniacal, the demoniacal in countless scriptures has been represented
as terrible ego—Ravana, Mahishasura, Hiranyakasipu. They were all
terrible egos, undivine egos, who denied God, who defied even God. They
were enraged at the very mention of anything divine. The Puranas, the
Mahabharata, the Ramayana all bring out this mystical fact that the
undivine is represented by hard ego.
Therefore, the great Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, being a wise teacher, mentioned
the necessity of transcending the ego, of eliminating the ego, of renouncing
the ego through the practice of humility, egolessness, through the desire
to revere all beings knowing that the presence of God dwells in all
beings and through the desire to serve, to give honour and reverence
to all beings, seeing God in them.
The desirability of humility, of effacing the ego, being patient, forgiving,
forbearing was summed up in his famous verse on the spiritual life and
worship of God: trinadapi sunichena tarorapi sahishnuna, amanina
manadena kirtaniyah sada harih (Being humbler than a blade of grass,
more tolerant than the tree, free from vanity and being respectful to
others, one should sing the glories of Lord Hari).
All this points to one fact: that ego is folly, and wisdom lies in
renouncing and transcending the ego. “When shall I be free? When
‘I’ shall cease to be. Then shall I be free, when ‘I’
shall cease to be.” Thus mystics and sages have drawn our attention
to this one great truth of the spiritual life: that which stands between
the individual soul and the Universal Soul is the ego in all its aspects—the
ethical aspect, the psychological aspect and the philosophical or metaphysical
aspect—the sense of separatist individuality. They say that this
is the barrier between man and God, between the human and the Divine,
between the individual soul and the Universal Soul—this mysterious
something which makes one feel I am the centre of the universe, all
things are made for me, I am the most important thing.
To cherish this ego, to support it, to protect it, to fight for it,
to wish to express it, demonstrate it, manifest it, at every moment—that
is regarded by the individual as the highest necessity, the highest
need. Ego is, therefore, the primary, fundamental value of the individual’s
way of approaching life, of the individual’s attitude towards all
things in life. The point of view, the ground, is ego; the attitude
stems from ego. I, and the rest of the world, I, and all others—wherein
I is more important than all others.
That is the individual-consciousness: ego-oriented, ego based, ego
propelled, ego impelled. We are ready to perpetuate it. We protect it.
For when one is not awakened, one thinks that the ego is the most important
thing. And that is folly; that is not wisdom.
And this, therefore, is wisdom: to recognise that what stands between
me and God is my ego, that what stands between bondage and liberation
is ego. Ego is the screen, the dehatma buddhi, the ahamkriti,
the avarana. And through meditation and jnana the
avarana of this false sense of separation is to be removed. That
is what Vedanta says. Mala, vikshepa, avarana—the essential
impurity of the individual nature, the restless, oscillating tendency
of the mind, and then the veil of ignorance in the form of the separate
ego-sense.
Wisdom, therefore, is in recognising what is what, recognising the
truth about the human situation, the truth about bondage. Why then do
they say: “Where ignorance is bliss ‘twere folly to be wise.”
Yes, if ignorance were bliss, wisdom would lie in not being wise. But,
unfortunately, our experience, bitter experience, is that ignorance
is the source of endless trouble. Avidya, ajnana is the source
of endless trouble, bondage, the wheel of birth and death and tapatraya,
the threefold afflictions.
The first of the four great truths expounded by Lord Buddha was the
existence of pain and suffering. Therefore, we find that it is not bliss
that the individual soul finds and experiences on earth but the contrary
of it. And the great jagat guru, Adi Sankaracharya, says that
this entire earth life is an ocean of grief and sorrow: janma duhkham
jara duhkham jaya duhkham punah punah; samsara sagaram duhkham tasmat
jagrata jagrata (Repeatedly there is pain of birth, pain of old
age, pain from wife and the painful ocean of worldly existence; therefore,
wake up).
This ocean of samsara is duhkha, duhkhalayam (the abode
of pain). Therefore, if ignorance were indeed bliss, it would certainly
be folly to be wise. But we actually find that ignorance is the source
of prolific sorrow, pain, suffering, complications and human clashes,
conflicts, fights, quarrels, disharmony and discord. They all arise
out of the folly of the ego. Therefore, if one has to live harmoniously
as a family, a spiritual family, there is need to be wise and not to
allow the ego to cause clash and conflict between one another.
Among equals there is always a sense of competition, wanting to get
the better of the other. There is intolerance, envy and jealousy. This,
being ego-based, is folly, and is always a source of suffering, the
source of all problems. Being a seeker, a sadhaka, being in the
life spiritual, being Yogis in the path of Yoga, one should be wise
and awake to this truth—that my prime problem is my ego.
Therefore I should develop tolerance and friendliness towards my compatriots,
my brethren in the spiritual family—not a sense of rivalry but
a sense of friendliness—being very happy to eliminate my ego. Maitri
(friendship), karuna, loving kindness, that was the great
prescription of Lord Buddha—loving kindness. And Maharshi Patanjali,
the expounder of Yoga, advocated maitri, loving friendliness,
that puts an end to the competitive spirit, rivalry, envy and jealousy,
which is a canker that destroys our peace of mind, makes us restless
and agitated.
So, envy, jealousy and rivalry are folly, because we all seek happiness
and peace. To take a contrary code of conduct that robs us of our peace
and happiness—one could never say that it is wise. On the contrary,
it is folly. We want something, but we work against it. That is foolishness;
that is folly.
Therefore, to renounce the folly of the ego with its rivalry and competitiveness,
envy and jealousy and to live in harmony, in peace, in loving kindness
and friendliness is wisdom, is the greatest good. This is the teaching
of all the sages and seers. Brotherhood, fraternity, belonging to one
family means the ending of all envy and jealousy, competitiveness and
rivalry. And this is possible only when the ego is recognised for what
it is and it is renounced and one becomes wise. Immediately—harmony,
peace, joy—everything comes flooding into one’s life. One
is at peace, peace with oneself and peace with others. And in peace
there is joy. Egolessness is peace. Therefore, it is in wisdom that
there is peace and joy. Wisdom is the great good.
Therefore, let us pray to the Lord “jnana hamko dijiye (Give
us true knowledge and wisdom.)” Give us wisdom to walk the wise
way, not the way of folly. Let us, therefore, seek and pray for knowledge
and wisdom and be wise in our life, and thus be happy. One should work
for one’s own good and the good of all others. That is noble life.
Let us be wise on all levels. Let us be wise in the field of mutual
relationships and day-to-day activities where we have to relate ourselves
with many others. Let us be wise on the psychological level, understand
ourselves and do the right thing. Let us be wise on the ethical level
also. For the ego is unethical, it is immoral. It is a destroyer of
the welfare of all, ours as well as others. Let us also be wise upon
the metaphysical and philosophical level, which declares to us in categorical
terms that the ego is the great source of sorrow, it is the great bondage.
The individual soul is bound by the bondage of one’s own ego.
Therefore, upon all levels let us be wise. Upon all levels let us do
the right thing. Let us walk in the light of wisdom, understanding and
practical knowledge. Let us, thus, eliminate clash and conflict, discord
and disharmony, and live in peace and joy through wisdom at all levels.
Let us start this now by following the great adage, the great admonition
of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Gauranga Mahaprabhu: “Being humbler than
a blade of grass, more tolerant than the tree, free from vanity and
being respectful to others, one should sing the glories of Lord Hari.”
He was supposed to be a bhakta filled with divine emotion, sublime
spiritual sentiment, yet he uttered words of deep philosophical wisdom
when he gave this prescription for the spiritual life and spiritual
practice.
He was a wise teacher. He was a great healer of souls. He was a great
divine physician. Therefore, let us honour his memory. Let us pay homage
to Gauranga Mahaprabhu by taking his admonition to heart. Let us reflect
over its meaning for us and follow its instructions by being egoless
and engaging in spiritual sadhana. This is the highest way we
can pay reverence to the lofty memory of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Thus let us be wise.
God bless you all to ponder well this great insight into the life spiritual
given to us by all sages and seers and by Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji
also: “abhiman tyago, seva karo (Give up pride and do service).
Amanitvam, adambhitvam (humility, unpretentiousness),” says
the Gita. May the grace of Gurudev, the choicest benedictions of Gauranga
Mahaprabhu (Lord Krishna Chaitanya) and all the sages and seers ever
be with you in your noble spiritual life and your earnest and sincere
spiritual practices. This is my prayer at the feet of the Lord and the
saints.
