|
Sri Swami Chidnandaji
Each householder should have an ideal daily routine.
The home life should not be left to itself, but taken care of. In addition
to those unexpected things that come up every day-a visit of someone,
a telephone call, an invitation to go out with someone-every one of you
should have an accepted basic programme, a basic schedule for your daily
life, which should include an hour of prayer in the morning and an hour
of prayer in the evening. The prayer hour might include the reading of
scriptural texts, the reading of sacred and inspiring spiritual books,
a few minutes of quiet indrawn meditation, a few minutes of actually articulated
prayer, inspiring prayer. The prayer can be spontaneous; it does not necessarily
have to come out of some book. Or it can be both, as there are some very
inspiring short prayers in the Gospel and also in some other books. The
children should also be trained in this way.
There should be some actual act of external worship. After all, we are
embodied creatures and we wish to exercise our bodies also in devotion.
When you are in a state of worship, the body also should take on the attitude
of worship. You should light a lamp or a candle, burn a little incense,
bow before the deity, offer supplication, ask Him to enlighten you, to
fill your heart with virtue, fill your heart with divine love, goodness
and selflessness, and then, bowing low, kneel and press down with your
forehead. In this way, you humble yourself in the presence of God. As
the body prostrates and humbles itself, it has a chastening effect upon
the mind. We cannot become completely heedless to these reactions of the
body upon the mind and the mind upon the inner spirit. Therefore, each
day, you should have an hour when you have scope for the exercise of these
aspects of your being-for the exercise of the body, the heart and the
feelings in prayer; for the exercise of the mind and the intellect in
study, reflection and enquiry; and for the exercise of the spirit in inner
contemplation, silence, indrawnness and meditation.
Each member of the family should have a private altar. The mother should
have her own nook or little corner, where she has her prayer and conversation
with God, asking for guidance, a little intimate communion with God. The
husband, likewise, should have a small altar for himself, and if this
cannot be had, at least he must have some time for himself, when he communes
with the Maker individually. And the children should be trained right
from the very beginning to have such separate little corners for themselves.
Just as they have one corner for their toys, another for their books,
a third for their pets, so they must have a corner for their own communion
with the Most High, and if this habit is developed from childhood, then
later on they will be able to have their own independent spiritual life.
|
