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| Chinmaya for YOUth |  |
The modern materialist who denounces religion and claims to be an atheist probably does not know that the super structure of his skepticism is built upon the sands of eighteenth-century materialism. In the eighteenth century, scientists discovered that matter was composed of mere physical units called' atoms'. They claimed that a combination of atoms constituted molecules and that molecules packed together formed a substance. To them, therefore, the concept of a God or a Creative Power behind all names and forms seemed absurd and redundant. In that age of materialism, the biologist prophet, Darwin, was the seer and his theory of evolution gave a fillip to the materialism advocated and demonstrated by physicists in their laboratories. But this was in the eighteenth century. Today, the very skeptical West has discovered that the atom is further divisible and is, in content, nothing but energy. Though science has progressed to prove that energy is the fundamental factor in matter, a corresponding change in the view of the scriptures has yet to come about. Though people in the West claim to be progressive and scientific-minded, they are, in fact, conservative and intolerant. If they were to readjust their view of life, according to the new discoveries in the laboratories, they would certainly turn more of their attention towards the spiritualization of their lives. Indeed, for any society where the scientific spirit predominates, Vedanta is bound to prove to be the most satisfying religion. According to Darwin's theory, evolution is measured in terms of the development of the physiological equipment and the level of mind and intelligence in the specimen. But for the Eastern philosophers, while they accept different strata of beings, the measuring rod for the level of evolution is not the physical or mental development. It is the amount of awareness, manifested in a thing or being. In stone life there is a mere expression of existence, but no awareness or intelligence as such. A piece of rock does not seem to feel bothered by the kicks of a mule, nor does it exult because a king has chosen to dine over it! It is totally unaware of the external climatic conditions, the place or the treatment it receives. In the vegetable kingdom, however, we find a greater degree of awareness. A plant is aware of the external conditions of humidity or the conditions of the soil. When there is a dearth of moisture, the plants dry up. When water is supplied, they react to the external condition and absorbing the same, seem to smile with liveliness and charm. Plants react to the seasons and their corresponding climatic conditions. During spring they bloom fully and joyously. Thus, the more sympathetically we observe mineral and vegetable life, the more we find to our complete satisfaction that there is a greater degree of awareness in plant life. When plant life is compared to the animal kingdom, we find the latter manifests a yet greater degree of consciousness~ An animal not only reacts to external circumstances but also seems to feel, perhaps only to a limited extent, the conditions of its own mind and intellect. Birds and animals feel an instinctive responsibility towards their young and display towards them a great amount of consideration, sympathy, tolerance and love, at least for a short period. Birds and animals also prepare for themselves proper shelter. for the changing climatic conditions. Birds and fishes living in the upper regions of the Ganges start moving down as winter approaches. Birds move into the higher valleys as summer sets in the plains. So too, we are told that in the jungle, wild animals migrate from place to place seeking better caves, safer dens, and healthier environments. Of all beings, man seems to be most intensely aware of the external world and internal states of the mind. This intensity of consciousness is, again, perceptibly different from man to man. It is not all men that arc at all times fully aware or conscious of all the external or internal life, but it is only a rare few that are the most sensitive, not only to their outer life, but also to the patterns of their thoughts, emotions, feelings and ideas. Thus, to the ancient seers of our scriptures, the theory of evolution is a story of the slow unfoldment of consciousness through more and more complex and highly evolved equipment. It is the great Plan of Nature expressed from stone life to human life, the one continuous golden vein of growth and development running through all manifestations culminating in the complete unfoldment of Consciousness. The seers were not mere scientists meddling with material equipment on an insignificant table in a corner of a laboratory. They were men of giant wisdom observing life as a whole, in the canvas of their own mind and intellect, to study the great theme of life, in a spirit of pure detachment. Even here, it is not life of a given period of history, but life in its totality gushing out through the channels of ages. Each master conditioned and trained his disciples for such a study of observed life and passed down his conclusions to them. They, in turn, observed all through their lives, their own generations working through the same truths. It is the sum total of their unanimous conclusions that constitute the declarations of the Vedantic philosophy. If philosophy is a set of conclusions arrived at after a diligent and scientific analysis of life as a whole, our study of philosophy or inquiry into the nature of the Creative Power in us cannot be complete unless we know the meaning of 'life'. Certainly, none among us is a stranger to life. It is the business of every one of us, through despair and dejection, through laughter and tears, to wend our way. Life seems to be the only factor common to all of us at all times irrespective of our individual conditions or environment. If life be thus the main business of every one of us, we must certainly know what Life means, before we can hope to live consciously. And yet, how few of us have ever given a thought to this problem of what life really is! I request you all to ask yourselves this question: 'What is life?' Are you silent? Do you know the reason for your silence? The silence is but the 'language of confusion' in which the intellect expresses its own foolhardiness in living so long without knowing what life is! This is not strange either; not even one per cent of the generation living 'life' is truly conscious of what it means, and in this intellectual ignorance, the wise ones of the world come to suffer the agonies of incomplete living. The great Rishis of old analysed life and as a result of their observation, came to the conclusion that it is the sum total of one's experiences gained by contact with the external world of objects and circumstances. Moment to moment, time is marching towards us carrying on its surface, as it were, different circumstances and varied challenges. Reacting to them, we live through these circumstances earning for ourselves what we call residual impressions or experiences. The sum total of these experiences is life. From this perspective, the 'unit of life' becomes an 'experience'. When we analyse an experience, we can certainly understand that in order to produce an experience, there must be an experiencer and the experienced with a relationship between the two, called the experiencing. The experiencer of circumstances in our life is certainly not an unintelligent physical body but an intelligent agent, 'mind'. The mind is the 'subject' and the 'object' is the world outside and the circumstances. In its relationship or reaction to the object, the subject gains the phenomenon called 'experience'. On closer analysis, we also observe that a given set of circumstances does not produce the same kind of experience in all the individuals reacting to it. For example, house no. 5 on the third street is reported to be on fire. To many, the news will only be an incident of a house on fire. But to those living on that street, it is a more poignant incident. However, to the individual to whom the house belongs, it is the greatest tragedy. Thus, the external circumstance remaining the same, different subjects having different relationships with the object, come to gain their varied textures of experiences. Certainly then, a lot of attention is to be given by each individual to developing a correct relationship between himself and the world outside so that a healthy reaction between the two may permit a glorious experience for the individual. Based upon these conclusions, the great Rishis continued their heroic adventure of ripping open the stuff of life and discovering the secret treasure chambers within. They found that the finite world of objects is in a constant state of flux. To adjust to this kaleidoscopic variety of continuous change in order to gain a joyous experience at all times is both frivolous and fatiguing for the subject. Therefore, they concluded that the only way in which an individual could gain a certain and permanent victory over the external world was by adjusting the mind in such a way as to maintain equilibrium in every given set of circumstances. This assertion is the unanimous declaration of all the prophets and great seers of the world. In one voice they all declare that such a perfect equilibrium of the mind is possible. The technique by which this equipoise is gained is advised in all religions of the world. Philosophy explains life and provides us with the healthy values of life. Religion shows us how to train ourselves to fulfill the promises of philosophy. When I say spiritualism, I do not mean the outgrowths of redundant show and pomp that have now come to predominate in temples, churches and mosques. I mean the great spiritual exercises in concentration, mental control, and application of mental energy in diligent and continuous meditation. With this understanding, if we peep into the history textbooks, we shall discover the main reason for the repeated failure of man in bringing about a perfect state of peace and ,prosperity in society through wars and revolutions. The history of man, in fact, reads as a melancholic story of repeated wars and revolutions. In the name of peace, we have learnt to make weapons 0f destruction and to kill each other with ruthless, monstrous efficiency! The peace that we know of today is but the exhausting pause between two wars. After every spasm of cruelty and bloodshed, the animal in us, in sheer exhaustion, seeks a shelter wherein to mourn or to roll upon itself until it licks dry its wounds and gets ready to fight again! History has been a repetition of such callous suicidal mistakes; and yet, each spirited warrior, each revolutionary leader who had set the wheel of destruction in motion was, in fact, intrinsically not cruel or bloodthirsty. Each one of them believed that by bringing about a special pattern in life or a new order, he could establish the maximum happiness for the maximum number of people. And that was at the cost of so many lives! But we know that all the revolutions and wars we have had so far have ended only in failure. Even today we have not discovered that secret prescription for joy or that ever-elusive system of perfect government whereby each citizen can bloom in the maximum happiness he is capable of. This failure is the result of our ignorance of the real meaning of life. In the understanding of the revolutionaries, the constitutionalists, the politicians, the economists, joy or sorrow is the result of a reorganization of the pattern of things and circumstances in the outer world. Unfortunately, they do not realize that the external pattern of objects cannot and will not consistently remain in any given scheme formulated through the force of the pen, the tongue or the sword. The pattern eternally changes. Individual minds constantly change. In this welter of change, to hope to maintain equilibrium is a mere dream. Thus, all revolutionary plans for a congenial living pattern are necessarily doomed to failure, so long as they ignore the subject-unit constituted by the mental, the intellectual and spiritual personalities of man. Is philosophy, then, a despairing dream of life? If it were so, man could have thrown it overboard long ago and relieved himself of its severe implications. On the other hand, true philosophy is the most optimistic call to man to act diligently and wisely, carving out for himself from moment to moment a greater state of perfection whereby he can come to live in a fuller world of noble endeavours, pursuing values that endure! The solution for the world, according to the seers, seems to be a call to accomplish this inner revolution. According to them, the revolutionaries in the outer world cannot accomplish the promises they make from time to time. The true goal of joy can be reached only if the minds and intellects of individuals are controlled and patterned so as to find for themselves their equipoise amidst the changing vicissitudes of life. If this mental culture is to be cultivated, resulting ultimately in an inner revolution, what are the strategies to be followed, what methods are to be adopted? A detailed description of these techniques constitutes the contents of spiritual literature. There is a perfectly scientific method of purifying our thoughts, and controlling them, thereby gaining mastery over their application. By this art of self perfection an ordinary man can steadily and easily come to gain a complete victory over his mind. One who is the master of his own mind is indeed the master of the world. Now that I have explained the benefits of the practical aspect of religion, you might ask: 'How is it that religion today has drifted away & om our life to flounder upon the rocks of decadence, become the debris of a past vain glory?' The present generation's failure to realize the blessings of religious wisdom is not so much because of the ignorance of religious beliefs or spiritual truths among the people. It is due mainly to their growing incapacity to live up to the ideals of religion. There seems to be in everyone of us an endless conflict between the head and the heart. Though our discriminating intellects are fully convinced of the blessings of the higher values of life, our hearts lack the courage and the heroism to translate those ideas into our everyday thoughts and actions. We know truth, but we are not truthful. We do appreciate love, but we hardly live in love. The most hardened criminal can give the most beautiful discourses on the divine qualities of his higher nature, and yet in his everyday life he acts a~ though he is an irredeemable animal. All spiritual literature glorifies truthfulness as one of the most important cornerstones in the edifice of a perfect life. In many of our Upanishads, truth has been described thus: 'To Truth, the path lies through Truth, and it is laid out all along with Truth!' In Shankara's commentaries, truth has been defined as a conformity of thoughts with actions'. In its subjective application, this implies that a heart that throbs truly to the dictates of the intellect is the honest heart. So, to summarize, the more we attune our actions to our intellectual conviction, the more spiritually truthful we become. In an era of materialism, when men run after simple and fleeting sense-ticklings, the alignment of their heart to the dictates of their intellect can never easily happen. In such an era, therefore, we find that the noble ideals or the noble values insisted upon by religion cannot bless the generation. And this is only because of our failure to live religion and not due to the lack of capacity and efficiency of religion. A philosophy, however great it may be, cannot of its own accord bless any generation. Though I know that Aspirin can cure me of my headache the knowledge in itself is not a guarantee against headache. When I am suffering, I will have to go out and procure the I9-edicine, administer it to myself and wait patiently until it is completely absorbed in my system. Similarly, a philosophy, be it political, economic or spiritual, cannot by itself bless the generation simply because we have codified it and adorned our libraries with writings on it. A nation is wise or a community happy, only to the degree to which its behaviour and transactions are attuned to its intellectually accepted philosophical truths. Philosophy lived in our day-to-day life is called religion. Various easy methods are discovered and prescribed by the seers. If they are followed even' unconsciously, a generation can be made to live the creative instincts and philosophical values in life. Religion is not only in temples: it is in our heart, to be faithfully followed at all times in our life. Back to TopThe path of sadhana (spiritual practices) must be intelligent and also within the ability of the average person to practice. The results may not come easily or quickly, but when the practices are continued sincerely and heroically, there must be some rewarding results, otherwise the average seeker will leave the path in disappointment. Our Upanishadic seers have discovered a very attractive path to help us get established on the road to Reality. They seem to point out a steadily rising path up to the summits of the mystic peaks. Thereafter, each may find his way clearly to the crown. Study of the scriptures, in a spirit of total participation, directly through books-augmented with frequent listening to the learned exponents and a few direct contacts with the authoritative masters is found to be very helpful in the beginning. This regular study of the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and other such spiritual literature is called svadhyaya., Repetition of a sacred word '(mantra), with or without the help of a rosary or beads (mala)-continuously fixing our mind on the divine and spiritual suggestions of the 'mystic word'-is called japa. This technique keeps the mind uplifted, away from the world-of objects and their distracting fascinations, on to the reviving climb to the final spiritual illuminati9n. The mind becomes quiet and gets more and more introverted. When the thoughts have been nourished by study (svadhyaya) and rendered quiet and peaceful by japa, meditation (dhyanam) helps to rest this hushed mind at the altar of the Self in a joyous mood of choiceless contemplation. The Rishis encourage us to combine these three main paths judiciously and thus deny the mind the least chance to wander into the spiritually unhygienic fields of sense gratification. The great Acharya Shankara advises, 'After listening, study and japa, practice meditatiol'1. After emerging from meditation, engage in listening, study, and japa. After japa, meditate again. At the end of meditation, pursue japa. One who is thus well trained with japa and meditation, on such a steady seeker the supreme Auspiciousness (Para-SivaParamesvara) showers His Grace.' While listening (sravanam) we only participate in spiritual life. When we study (svadhyaya) we get involved in the ideas that we had listened to. In japa our involvement deepens, and in meditation we come to get ourselves totally committed to the ideal, which is the goal of all spiritual seekers. The agitations of the mind and intellect in us create an impenetrable thought-barrier between our sense of ego and our divine status as the infinite Consciousness. All spiritual practices (sadhanas) are training by which the disturbances of thoughts are brought down to a minimum. Turning Within When our minds have thus become relatively quiet, our meditation gathers an extra flight and efficiency. Our minds get filled with peace, and an unearthly joy comes to spread in our hearts. This state of expansion within, which invokes an unusual quality of inner joy leaving behind for some time a subjective sense of holiness and contentment, is the first experience that assures us of a richer reward that awaits us at the end: of our journey. Once this is experienced, we will no longer be irregular in our meditation. All other external obstructions get rejected and ignored. Nothing can any longer entice us away from our regular meditation sessions. We come to regulate, reorganize and readjust our daily programmes. Items of interest, contacts, engagements, duties, and even our professional responsibilities will all irresistibly undergo a salutary reorientation. Till now, our activities and relationships were based upon our maximum physical comfort and sense gratification. Now our lives become oriented for meditation. We come to live a pure life of dedication, truthfulness and deep devotion. We engage ourselves only in peaceful, God-centred activities. All the promises of joys, which we had pursued so long, can no longer carry any attraction for us. We retire from all' such contacts that might bring the slightest mental fatigue or mystical disturbance, for a fatigued mind cannot reach and maintain high altitudes of meditation, and without the mystic vitality poise in meditation will be totally absent. The more the mind retires from its direct involvement with sense objects and from attachment to things and beings, the more it develops, what is technically called in Vedanta, retirement (uparam). As the mind retires from the world outside, it enters more and more into the subtler realms of the Essence. Those subtler realms are the mystic regions of unearthly brilliance, of heavenly melody, of super sensuous joys. Retirement of the mind leads it to extreme peace. In the scriptures, the masters of meditation have no hesitation in openly and distinctly declaring that retirement is extreme peace. Those who practice it shall experience that their spiritual unfoldment is directly proportional to their success in retirement from mental engagements with the outer world. The more we take ourselves away from worldly, lust-prompted activities, the closer we move towards the culminating goal of meditation-the total quietude of mind, the still intellect, the transcendent experience--called samadhi. No progress in any walk of life is possible without leaving the present state and moving forward to win the new state of greater glory. No growth is possible unless there is a willingness to drop out of our previous conditions and accept the ampler status of the new conditions. Childhood must end in the youngster: the youth must end in the old man. If a bud is not ready to end its present state, how can it grow and unfold itself to become a flower? Our mental power, so entirely invested in our outward life, must be curbed in order to turn it within. When we have successfully curbed the mind from its play in the lower planes, it will naturally discover itself revelling in its own meditative flights in the higher planes of Consciousness. Remember always to sincerely hasten, but slowly. What do we mean by action? How best am I to act? What makes me act and what are the personality layers that express themselves in action? If I know the mechanism of action, I may probably be able to understand the technique and the art of adjusting my personality in such a way that my action falls under the highest type of activity, one that brings about achievement for me as well as for my community. Today we are all students of science, and we are not ready to accept an idea unless we clearly know the complete mechanism of it. This is the spirit of the modern age. Therefore, when the teachers or the scriptures try to explain that we must work, and that the quality of our work depends upon the beauty of our emotions behind it, we are not ready to accept it. We want to know how these are connected. A little knowledge of the instruments of action and how to act ~n the world outside is necessary. If the mechanism of man as a dynamic creature working in the world is understood, it will be clear how a greater ideal can inspire us to work better. Mechanism of Action All living creatures constantly receive external stimuli. The stimuli are called form, touch, smell, taste and sound. These five different types of stimuli reach us through our sense organs. We cannot remain even a single second in the world without receiving stimuli. Through the eyes every form enters; through the ears sounds enter; through the nose smell enters; through the tongue, taste enters; and through the skin, touch enters. Thus, through the sense organs various objects of the world enter into us, inviting us to react to them. The instrument or mechanism within man that receives and processes the stimuli is called the mind. If our mind is not attentive, but wanders to some other idea, we cannot hear what is said to us. If we are worried or preoccupied, we cannot see, for our mind is engaged with the worry and so cannot receive the stimuli. The mind cannot come to a decision; it only receives the stimuli and then submits it to a higher authority, called the intellect, the judging faculty. The intellect judges how we are to react to situations and what responses we must make. The final decision comes from the intellect. The intellect cannot judge haphazardly. Everyone's intellect comes to a judgment depending upon his vasanas, or impressions of his past experiences. Past experiences control, direct, regulate and discipline our present reactions to the world, because our intellectual judgments are coloured by their past experiences. For example, if a bottle of whisky is put before a devout Brahmin and a drunkard, the latter would grab the bottle while the former would shun it. The bottle itself is not the source of attraction or repulsion. The quality of vasanas in an individual's intellect determines the attraction to or repulsion from objects. The ideas and ideals that we already have in our intellect condition the intellect's judgment as to how it should tackle the stimuli that have been received by the mind. Thus, the outer world enters through the sense organs into the mind, the mind receives the stimuli and awaits the intellect's judgment, the intellect judges the stimuli according to the existing vasanas that control it, and when the judgment is passed, the order to act is sent back to the mind. The mind is not only a receiving clerk but also a dispatching clerk. According to the orders passed by the intellect, the mind regulates the proper muscles to act in the world outside. All this happens instantaneously. The intellect must come to a judgment. But how I judge the situation is different from how you will judge the situation. Our judgments will be different because the ideas and ideals that I am inspired by and those that you are inspired by-the various vasanas under which we work-are different. Furthermore, the reactions of one individual differ from moment to moment. Each individual acts differently at different times, even though the circumstances remain the same. These reactions are determined by the type of ideals with which we work in the world. Expressing Ideals in Action Every day we face decisions and temptations. Although we may have high ideals, if our conviction is weak, we compromise easily. Supposing you see a man walking in front of you in a busy street downtown. You see his wallet slip out of his pocket. The man is preoccupied and he is unaware that his wallet has fallen. Supposing you pick up the wallet and realize that it is full of money. Will you think, 'Should I put it in my pocket? No one has seen me. Should I keep it, or should I call the man and return his wallet? What should I do?’ You have complete freedom to either keep the wallet or to return it to the man. What determines your response? Your intentions, your ideals, your education all determine your decision. If at that time your negative tendencies are stronger, the wallet will slip quietly into your pocket, and you will try to justify it, saying, 'See, for the past month I have been pleading with God to help me somehow. Honest men are always protected by God. When He wants to give, He gives it on the sidewalks of downtown!' Thus you justify yourself. However, if you are a cultured man of real education and understanding, of sympathy and concern for others, you will immediately visualize the tragic picture 6fthis man returning home to his wife and children, having lost his wallet. It is a painful scene indeed. It makes you think, 'Let me help him. Ordinarily I cannot afford to give so much money in charity, but here is his own money, and it is certainly charity now in return it to him. 0 Lord, you have given me a chance to help someone in need and therefore I will call him and return his wallet to him.' Before the man can thank you, you disappear, and with a growing sense of satisfaction at having done a heroic deed, you go on with your day. All our actions depend upon the type of ideals in our mind and intellect. The way in which we behave in the world is altered, controlled and regulated by the type of ideals that inspire us. So the question is, how shall we act in the world, how can we improve our actions and gain a greater achievement in life? This cannot be done by working twice as many hours. The idea of the modern commercial world is that if I double my hours, I can double my output. When a machine works six hours, it produces a certain quantity. If it works twelve hours, it can produce double the quantity. But a man's work in society cannot be measured by the hours he works. It is not the quantity of action that matters but the quality. The quality of action is improved only by the ideals that illumine and inspire us. Thus, the nobler the ideals, the greater the shine and beauty of action. The ideals that inspire us at all times to bring out greater efficiency and beauty of action are called noble or moral ideals. Ideals that bring a dispirited and dejected attitude to such an extent that our actions, however efficient they may be, ultimately lead to doom, sorrow and failure are false or immoral ideals. The spirit of freedom, the spirit of reverence for one's country, and the spirit of sacrifice for the sake of the common good are all inspiring ideals. Under such ideals, mighty men have done great and ennobling activity in the world, and the fruits of their actions are enjoyed by future generations for decades. Thus, the higher the ideal that inspires an individual, the nobler is the action that he performs in the world. To jump over the wall of a private house with a concealed dagger, to enter through the window, to move stealthily into the house, to see whether anybody is awake by watching the rhythm of the sleeping persons, and then to go to the safe, collect the valuables, and quietly leave is a skilful achievement indeed. It calls for many qualities of the individual to do it efficiently. But what is the product of all this intelligence and courage? From that day onward the thief finds that he is not happy. Instead, his peace and tranquility are gone because of the reactions that come to his mind. His best abilities were put forth into a piece of work inspired by negative thoughts. When the goal in one's mind is selfish, even though the work may be successfully accomplished, it is only a sad act of grand theft. Our scriptures say that work can bring forth real, enduring results, not merely because of the quantity of effort put forth, but because of the quality of inspiration with which the man has undertaken the work. The greater the ideal, the brighter is the action and the product. Mahatma Gandhi was only a barrister-at-law. He would probably have been a successful advocate looking after only his wife and children. But what would have been the total turnover of his work? The same individual, when inspired by the ideal of his country's freedom, became a different person-a mahatma. He brought about a change in the moral vision of the country and of the political leaders and thinkers of the world. The quality of his work was higher and nobler because of the selfless ideals that inspired him. Imagine that you suddenly hear your house is on fire. You rush home and find that the entire house is in flames. At that moment you see your wife running out of the house with your child in her arms. You then hear spellbound the thrilling story of how the child was rescued. The child was sleeping upstairs in his room. In panic, everybody ran out of the house, and then the mother remembered the child. She asked the fire department to save the child. The chief, in spite of his forty years' experience, said, 'I'm sorry, no human being can go in and come out alive. The whole house is ablaze. ‘The mother immediately forgot everything, and with superhuman courage ran into the house. She rushed upstairs, took the child, and came out. After this incident, she would be afraid to go near any fire, but inspired by her great love for her child, she performed a miracle. If this is the potentiality of the human mind, can't she live twenty-four hours of the day as a heroine? She cannot, because she does not have that inspiring goal. An ordinary man may be a coward, but when he is inspired by a great ideal, you find that he miraculously taps a new stream of energy and vitality. Taking another example, suppose your spouse has fallen seriously ill at home. You cannot take leave of absence from work.Your sister comes to look after your wife during the day, and you take your turn in the night. You serve your wife every night. For months together you do not have a chance to sleep. Yet, out of sheer love for your wife, you do not feel tired. But if your employer says that you must work overtime, you feel like answering, 'Only if you pay me overtime.' Where did this extra energy come from? Usually by 6 p.m. we are tired, not because of overwork, but because of boredom. On the other hand, when our wife or child is ill, out of love for them we discover new energy which no doctor can explain. If that much energy and efficiency lie concealed in us, what is the secret mechanism by which we can tap them? Discovering a goal or a vision in life, a great ideal to inspire us, and surrendering oneself to that ideal seem to be the secret behind the new dynamism in our activities. We thereby raise the very standard of activity in us and bring about a greater happiness in the world. Each one will have to discover his or her own goal. There was a time when the ideal was dharma, or religious ideals. Today it is not. Today with the emphasis on technology and raised standards of living, many are inspired to help the poor. This seems to be actively occupying our minds. To serve the underprivileged in the world, to serve one's countrymen, to lift them up, each one of us will have to make his own effort. All efforts cannot be at one point alone; each person can make an impact only from his own position. Thus you can convert your own small office or corner of work into a shrine where you can serve, through your fellow beings, that mighty Lord who is the destiny of the world and who guides it at all times. You alone can discover this new spurt of energy and enthusiasm within yourself. Thereby, your own ideals of work become chastened. You gain an immense amount of reward, not in terms of cash, but in the spirit of joy that arises out of a heart that has done the right action at the right time. Wrong Responses to the World Different individuals seem to react to external challenges differently, and these reactions are called actions. One individual acting in the world rises to achievement and success, while another in the same field of work reacts to it so unintelligently that he experiences disastrous sorrows. No doubt, you and I immediately justify our failures, saying that the world is a bad place. We would like to curse somebody for our failure. A bad worker will always blame his performance on his instrument. Similarly, the majority of us are escapists from life, and when we meet with failure we want to attribute it to a cause outside yourselves: 'Nobody was helping me, the world has not given me a fair chance; the environment was not conducive; and so on. But essentially when we analyse our personality, we find that if we fail, if our actions bring about more and more unhappiness to ourselves and the world, it is not because of the world but because of our own wrong responses to challenges from the world. Success and failure in the world are our own personal successes and failures. The same situation, the same sun, moon and stars, the same climatic conditions, the same flora and fauna, the same city, may be available to all of us. But I fail in the city and become a tragic failure, while you become a successful person in the same city. How is that possible? It is only because I do not know how to meet my challenges and react properly, while you know how to react to them and are therefore able to make the environment conducive to your development and growth. We find that the responses of an individual depend upon the type of ideas and ideals he has, and the higher the ideals, the greater his inspiration to act in the world. Every individual must discover this deal for himself. Nobody can give it to another. An artist, a scientist, and a freedom fighter all have their ideals. To the extent that we faithfully live up to the great ideals, dedicating ourselves more and more to them, a pure column of energy seems to spring forth from our hearts and we are able to apply that energy to productive activity. Many people complain that though they have high ideals, they have no enthusiasm to study, to improve themselves, to live a higher life. Why? 'Because we are exhausted by the time we come home from the office. We live far away from work. Early in the morning we have to commute, and by the time we reach office and return home in the evening, we have no more energy left in us.' I want to say to such people that they should go to a village in India and observe the farmers. Early in the morning, with a plough on his shoulder and two bullocks, the farmer walks to his plot of land. Where is this plot of land? Not one block, but two and a half miles away. There he ploughs from morning until noon and then he eats what he has brought with him. He has been working in the hot sun. Ploughing is a very strenuous work and he feels exhausted, so he rests until 3 p.m. Again, he ploughs from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and then along with the bullocks, with the plough on his shoulder, he walks two and a half miles home. The amount of physical energy that he spends on the field are incomparably greater than that of an office manager. When he reaches home, the farmer takes a bath, eats his dinner, and often joins his friends to sing in full-throated joy. He goes on and on with ecstasy and revels the whole night. Where did he get his energy? If a farmer can have so much energy, why do we get fatigued so easily? When people complain that they feel tired, I am not trying to prove that they are not tired. They really are tired. But the farmer is not tired, because being tired of life is not caused by physical exertion. Physical exertion cannot tire you, and if at all there is fatigue, a half-hour of rest will revive the physical body. The fatigue that you and I in the cities feel is only mental exhaustion. The moment the manager wakes up he feels worried about his position, about getting more clients, about getting more pay. In the store he feels anxious because the merchant has more money than he does. Whatever he sees makes him feel troubled. Somebody has a Mercedes, he is anxious that he cannot afford one. By the time he reaches the office, his energy has already started to ebb away. Thus he gets mentally exhausted, even though physically he has not done a bit of work. In the case of the farmer, he leads a simple life and is happy with his simple comforts. When he ploughs with his bullocks, he feels happy because they are his bullocks. He walks two and a half miles dreaming of his fertile land. He ploughs on and on, and as he ploughs he does get physically exhausted, but mentally he is enthusiastic, and therefore he does not feel exhausted. By the time he comes home and takes a bath he has revived or refreshed himself, and there is still a lot of energy in him. The fatigue that we feel in the modern world is not the fatigue of physical exertion, for with all the modern conveniences, physical exertion is unnecessary. Because of elevators, we need not climb stairs. Because of cars we need not walk. All around us we have comforts to economize our precious energy, and yet we complain that we have no energy at all! Fatigue is caused by mental tension, which is the outcome of having no goal to aspire for. Our goal is only to finish our daily work, somehow or the other, doing as little as possible and getting the maximum pay. This is the extent of our aspirations. When these negative thoughts come, however much money and security we may have, we will still be dissatisfied. Happiness depends not only on the type of work we do, but also on our mental condition, our mental health. Mental health can be maintained only when there is a greater goal to inspire us, and the higher the goal, the greater will be our inspiration. We discover new resources of energy welling up in ourselves to pour out in tireless activity serving the world. Thus, it is necessary that we have a clear and creative goal in life, so that we may look up to that goal and draw inspiration from it. When we have a goal in life, such as the nation's prosperity, or the country's progress, the goal itself inspires us, and the more ,it inspires us, the more we find the required energy for tireless activity. As we discover such a goal and surrender ourselves to it, we unleash a new, unknown column of energy within ourselves. Sometimes we feel momentarily inspired by an ideal, but once the source of that inspiration is gone, we are back again in the old lethargy. Where has that energy gone? The energy was with us, but it has been dissipated into various channels and is no longer available for the 'irrigation' of activity. Dissipation of Energy We may build a dam and thereby create a reservoir of water, but if this water is not made use of and taken by canals to the land, then the land cannot be benefited by it. In order to make the land more arable, we need water, and for that purpose we build the dam. But this water contained by the dam cannot create crops, unless a canal system directs the water into the various fields. Similarly, by surrendering ourselves to a great goal, we may find a new enthusiasm and energy, but if that enthusiasm or energy is not properly channelized, it either stagnates or dissipates into unproductive activity. This leakage of energy takes place, according to the masters of the past, through three dissipating channels. One is regrets about the past. For example, an average student decides that he must get a first class in his exam. He studies very hard for it, but as the examination approaches, he thinks, 'I will be satisfied with a pass don't need a first class.' When asked what happened to his determination, he answers, 'I have never received a first class in the past; how can someone like myself ever get a first class?' Thus, the memory of the past has dissipated his confidence and energy. Memories and regrets from the past refer to thoughts such as: 'In the past I have always been inefficient; how can I be efficient now?' Thus, the memories of the past come to disturb us, our new enthusiasm to live a nice life oozes away, and we have no energy for any activity. A second source of dissipation is anxiety for the future. For example: a boy who has always been a first-class student hopes to get a high .rank in his MA examination. The boy enters the examination hall rather pale, and the examiner thinks it is because of over study. When the question paper reaches the boy he reads it and faints. An examiner rushes to him. The boy says, 'Please give me some water. I feel dizzy, I need to lie down.' What has happened? The boy thinks, 'Everything is lost. How can I answer fourteen questions, even though I know all the answers, when there is so little time?' In his nervousness, the boy has forgotten to read the instructions. The instructions say: Answer any three questions! Because of the boy's over-anxiety to get a first class, his efficiency was lost. Many students fail in their exams, not because they haven't studied, but because of such leakages of dynamism, which dissipate their energy and sense of composure. This is why some students fail, even though their teachers expected them to do well. One's success depends upon the mental equanimity with which one acts in the world. Thus, the dissipation of energy may take place either due to lingering memories of the past or due to anxieties for the future. Even if these two are overcome, the sages of the past say that there is a third cause of dissipation: excitement in the present. You may have noticed some people who sincerely work long hours, yet who give a general impression of being extremely inefficient. No one wants to give work to such a person. He works hard, no doubt, but he cannot come to any decision. In the morning he looks at his desk. The files have already piled up and he is worried about the amount of work. At that time a secretary comes with more files. By the time he takes those files and starts working, he sees a label marked immediate. After reading it he remembers the first file, while the secretary has brought in yet another file. He is worried and dejected. He doesn't know where to begin. On the other hand, if he has composure and self-confidence, he will realize that he should concentrate on one file at a time, come to a decision, and take action so that at least one file is disposed of. If he goes through them one by one, without becoming excited, there will be some efficiency in his work. But if he succumbs to the excitement of the present, it will dissipate his energy and destroy his efficiency. There are thus three outlets through which our energy is lost: regrets of the past, unintelligent anxieties concerning the future, and feverish excitement in the present. The great seers of ancient India found that once we discover a goal and surrender ourselves to it, we will find a tremendous energy and inspiration welling up in us. After that we should not allow this energy to be either dissipated in the futile memories of past regrets and failures, or in the imagined sorrows of the future, or in the excitements of the present. We must focus our entire energy on the activity. This is the highest creative action in the world. Thereby, an individual who was until now considered most inefficient finds his way to the highest achievement and success. Training Our Minds In order to develop this attitude, we need consistent training, because we have already trained our minds in an incorrect way. Not knowing the art of action, we have become master artists in doing things wrongly in life. When each individual does anything wrong, the totality of activity cannot but bring the country to a sorry state. If, in the socialist pattern, each of us is given a car and we don't know how to drive yet we drive anyway, what would be the condition on the roads? The cars would certainly collide. This seems to be the pattern of the life that we lead. Everyone of us is a vehicle. We know how to go forward. The intellect is a very powerful guide when used correctly, but nobody seems to know how to control the mind's energy and direct it properly, or guide it to the right destination. There: is too much chaos in our lives-each person is concerned only with himself. Every one of us is intent on reaching a particular goal, but we reach nowhere, instead we end in disaster en route, because we do not know how to control our minds and pour it into positive activities. When an individual has discovered new energy within himself, when he has learned the art of stopping the dissipation, and he is able to fix his entire energy on the piece of work at hand, a great joy starts welling up in his mind-the joy of the artisan. This joy can be understood only by experiencing it. For an artisan or a worker, crafting something new-whether a toy or an instrument of precision-brings great fulfillment. No doubt, to a large extent the mechanization of life in this industrial age has robbed us of the joy that the artisan of the past had. In those days, when they made an article of furniture or a piece of sculpture, they had the joyous satisfaction of creating something. Nowadays because of division of labour and automation, the average worker has been looted of his joy of creativity. Instead, an inert, iron monster called the machine produces everything. Furniture is produced by machinery, clothing is produced by machinery. The worker thus does not have the joy of applying his creativity to his work. Instead, he programmes ~d maintains machines. To that extent, the joy of creation has gone out of his life. However, if we turn our vision in a different direction, certainly the joy of having done the right thing in the right way can be ours. For example, even though typing is considered dreary work, if the typist executes his work neatly, without overtyping or making mistakes, he has his dividend of joy from having done his work well. We can discover a joy in the precision and perfection of the work that we turn out. Whether others recognize it or not, we have the satisfaction that we did our work as well as we could. The artists who have been able to put their head and heart where their hands work have discovered the joy of samadhi, a joy of religious ecstasy, because when the physical, mental, and emotional personalities become integrated, the individual is closer to perfection, closer to the actual experience of joy welling up from within, and in that atmosphere of joy the individual is capable of achieving his best. Anyone who has a hobby can very easily understand this. A hobby means a physical activity wherein the head and heart act in unison. When the hand is doing something and the head and the heart are involved, the individual says that it is a recreation, a hobby for him. One man says playing cricket from morning to evening is recreation. Yet another man playing tennis or football calls that recreation. If they are asked to exert that much to help their neighbour, they will resist. But in spite of a great amount of energy and perspiration spent in a tennis court, football ground or cricket field, they come away saying that they feel revived. In summer vacations, some south Indian teenagers go to north India for a holiday. They sightsee the whole day and walk along deserted roads in the midday heat. The local people are afraid of sunstroke. When they look out of their windows, they see these teenagers walking without any protection. They wonder, 'How is it that they are walking in the sun?' They close their windows with the assumption that south India is probably hotter and therefore these boys are walking comfortably. But the teenagers don't know that it is hot. They are living in a realm of their own! They have come to the north to sightsee, and however uncomfortable the heat is, it is fun for them because their purpose is to enjoy the holiday. Thus, walking in the hottest sun, sleeping in railway stations, catching any train and suffering in many ways is an enjoyable adventure, for their head and heart are where their physical bodies are. After the teenagers have returned home, if the old grandfather were to ask one of them to get something from the corner store, the boy will complain that the sun is too hot! He forgets that when the temperature was at 114°F he was walking five miles on the tarred roads of Agra, enjoying himself all the way. Here the temperature is 80°F and he feels too hot to go out for his grandfather. You and I feel disappointed and dejected in life not because there is no meaningful work in the world. It is because we have not found an activity that integrates our body, mind and intellect. To work in this way is the art of living that has been described in the Vedas, especially in the Bhagavad Gita. Thus, to sum up, according to the great teachers, we should discover a goal to draw our inspiration from. Once we have found that goal or ideal, whether it is political, economic or spiritual, a new enthusiasm wells up in us. When there is enthusiasm, sincerity, ardour, and consistency of purpose automatically follow. Next, we should channelize our energy to achieve our goal without dissipating it through up intelligent regrets of the past, futile imagination of the future, or frenzied excitement of the present. If we work in the world with our head, heart and hands fully integrated, the very work gains a stamp of efficiency and beauty. Our reward is indescribable fulfillment and joy. The disease of life is called the perception of plurality. This is caused by a very powerful germ called "Ego". This thrives on the mind and intellect. If you take the following mixture regularly, the cure is sure:
You and I are alive. Therefore, we cannot but be active. As long as we live, we have to act, for life pulsating through the body becomes activity in the outer world. Since actions flow out of every living person until he or she dies, it is important to understand how they can be organized, altered, or disciplined in order to bring about happiness in the community and a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction to the individual. This is called the 'art of action'. Action is inevitable, because it is the signature of life. Life expresses itself in action, as death does in inaction. But actions may vary from man to man. A farmer working in the fields perspires and sweats with exertion. A poet in the midst of his greatest creation doesn't seem to be working at all from the farmer's point of view. From the standpoint of a poet, a scientist is wasting public money. From the scientist's standpoint, an ordinary thinker is wasting his time. From all their points of view, Buddha sitting under a tree in meditation is an idler, an unnecessary leech upon society. Each one may point to the other and say that he is an idler, but each one knows how vigorously he himself is working. A great painter was once sitting near a wayside pool, throwing stones into the water and watching the play of light and shade upon the ripples. An ordinary man, walking along the road, carrying milk to the nearby town to sell, jealously looked at the man and thought, 'This fool is sitting idly from morning to evening, eating food that is brought to him. How unfair! I have already put in eight hours of work and I cannot make both ends meet. What an injustice!' The simple villager did not know that the person against whom he had complained was none other than Michelangelo, the great painter, who wanted to observe the play of light and shade on the waves so that he could capture their alluring beauty on canvas. He was vigorously studying, but others thought he was idling away his time. It is...that man, the so-called idler, who produced immortal paintings and sculptures while the milkman who was supposed to have worked and toiled so honestly for society died leaving no trace, nothing for posterity to remember him by. / Everyone must work, but what matters is how to work and in what way one should work. Being in the sun for the whole day alone is not work. That is only one method of work. The question at hand is what type of work can we do and how can the maximum be brought out of us. Working for Personal Gain The great sages of ancient India observed that the 'type and the quality of work that people perform can be classified into three categories. The first of them, they said, is the lowest type, and since I do not have a better word, let us call it labor; when I say labour, I am not using the term in a derogatory manner. The man who works in society only for the sake of wages, for profit, is called a labourer. A great political leader of a country may be a labourer if he is putting forth his intelligence, mind and body for his society with the idea that he will accumulate power, money and prestige for his personal gain. If you ask such a person why he wants wages, he has no motive greater than to furnish his house beautifully for the sake of his wife and children, for his own pleasure. The man who is self-centered works only for the profit that comes to him. With the profit he does not think of starting a hospital or serving society. If that is the limited ambition with which a man is pouring out his energy into the world, that person falls under the classification of a labourer. In the same profession in which a labourer is working, there can be another individual who is not a labourer. Next to Mahatma Gandhi, who was inspired by the most selfless of ideals in the political field, one can see a labourer in the same political arena. It is not the field of work that matters. It is not the position that gives one dignity and glory in society, but, rather, it is how one acts. If a person works with the idea that he will gain something & om society with which he will benefit himself-if this is his self-centered, limited point of view, even though he may be a scientist, a great thinker, a writer, or intellectually the greatest genius in the country, he is only a labourer from the philosophical point of view. Working for an Ideal In contrast to the labourer, the second variety is called a worker. What is the difference between a labourer and a worker? If one asks a worker why he is working, he will say that he wants to bring about a change in society. His eyes are not on personal profit, but on success for society. Success in what? Every worker has a picture of an ideal heaven, of a perfect society. He will struggle hard in the world because he is inspired by a great enthusiasm and vision of life, and he strives to bring that vision into actuality. He wants nothing else from life. He is ready to starve, he is ready to suffer, but what he wants in the world is only success for his ideal. The political workers, the spiritual missionaries, or the great cultural thinkers struggle to realize their ideals in the world. To the extent that their ideal is achieved, they are happy and feel that they have succeeded. Thus, a labourer wants wages so that he and his wife and children may be more comfortable. A worker, on the other hand, is inspired by an ideal for a greater cause than himself. Working with Joy The third variety is very rare. Labourers are many in the world, and workers are few in number. But the third variety, called men of achievement, is very few indeed. It is these people who give a fillip to the general cultural beauty of society and uplift the entire generation to a higher standard of life, a higher dignity of morality, a greater virtue in living. Such mighty men are called saints and seers, prophets. They are embodiments of great virtues and values. They live an ideal life, inspiring others even after their death. The fragrance of their thought and the might and glory of their ideals gather a new momentum as the years pass by. Christ died two thousand years ago, and yet we find that his glory becomes more and more compelling as time passes. One may ask the man of achievement, 'What is it that you want in the world; why are you working? 0 Buddha, why did you work; o Christ, why did you work; 0 Mohammed, why did you move from place to place, preaching against many odds?' Men of achievement work in the world not for profit, nor for success, but from a feeling that they are doing the right thing, irrespective of whether or not they will be recognized in their lifetime. All that a man of achievement wants is the secret joy in himself, the sense of fulfillment that he did the best he could. He does not care whether others recognize him or not. The men of fulfillment do not work for a more comfortable life, nor do they work in the world outside for bringing a heaven upon earth, but by practice and precept they try to lead mankind to live an ideal life. More often than not, such men have been persecuted by society, for they are too idealistic for their age. Against all such obstacles, a man of fulfillment lives on, inspiring others by his joyous way of life and thus bringing about a new movement of moral change in the country. In time, the morality, the culture, and the civilization of the society always receive a fresh impetus because of their work. Christ, Vivekananda, Shankara: all of them gave a push and a fillip to the ideal-a life that they themselves lived and experienced not merely conceived and talked about. Thus, men of achievement are not mere labourers or workers, they are seekers of self-fulfillment. By living the idealistic life in society, in spite of the fact that the people around them were not living nor willing to live the ideal, they thrilled and inspired their generation, instilling in them an awe and a reverence for the perfect life. Such ideal individuals alone have uplifted the world and brought about a greater consciousness of the higher joys in life. Integrity Today we hear from many professionals and businessmen that they cannot afford to be honest in business. How sad! It needs real heroism to create beauty or progress in the country. It is not for the coward, or for those who compromise with their ideals. If we are not ready to make sacrifices, no society can come forward. We cannot expect a miracle to happen, an angel to come down and suddenly, with a magic touch, make the entire country glow. It is by individual sacrifice alone that progress is possible. Everywhere, in all fields-political, economic, and cultural-progress has taken place in the world only because of such sacrifice. If just a few people, after realizing the goal of life and the art of living were to enter into the business world and live an ideal moral life, finding fulfillment in the work itself, not caring for the petty earnings, they would inspire others also to live in this way. Until we are ready to make a sacrifice, we cannot do anything to improve society. It all rests upon our individual shoulders to improve the world. The neighbour is not going to help improve relations between husband and wife and children. Each one has to understand and live the right life in the home, and only then will the home be beautified. In our own lives, whether at home or in society or in the institutions where we work, we must have that integrity so that we are able to work with a sense of fulfillment rather than for a fleeting hour of success or for a little extra money in the wallet. Responsible Living Many of us from each stratum of society have a tendency to complain that we can't make ends meet. Why is this so? The more we earn, the more difficulty we encounter in making both ends meet. It is all because our stomachs have a knack; it seems, of growing larger than our belts. We have to learn to keep our stomachs in check, or else nothing will be sufficient to fatten the body or the stomach. If the stomach continuously grows larger, then something must be done. Today, modern man, whether he is wealthy or not, seems to think that the stomach has grown so large that he sees nothing beyond it-the head also is a stomach and so is the heart! Nothing lies beyond the stomach, because the appetite to live the sensuous life has become insatiable. How will such a person ever be able to work? We have so many desires to satisfy that even our two hands, two legs, and twenty-four hours a day are insufficient. There is, therefore, disgruntlement at all times and discontentment in the heart. A man who is discontent cannot act beautifully in the world outside; he cannot have a great vision. However, if we observe a man of success in any profession, we find that he has no time to waste in the cafes, no time even to go near the movie theatres. Most people, if they have a little time at their disposal, go aimlessly around the shopping malls, just marking time. Why? Because they have nothing to crave for, to demand, to achieve for themselves. All that they want is to live at the physical level. Such people should be counted as animals, because animals also live solely at the physical level. If people remain at that level, they will live a mere animalistic life, and a higher happiness, prosperity and peace can never be theirs. Prosperity, culture and progress are possible because we have a mind and intellect. If we do not tap this resource, national progress will be impeded, the general progress of the world will be hindered and you and I shall despair continuously. We will quarrel endlessly amongst ourselves, criticize every government that is elected, and die in sorrow and tears, never gaining the joy of having truly lived. In order to live and bring out the best in ourselves, we must have a goal in life, a mission, an inspiring ideal. Keeping our focus on that ideal, we must work in the world. Thereby, our work becomes chastened. The work itself becomes its own reward and a great joy wells up in the mind, not in terms of what we get on the first of the month, but what we give to society as best we can, & Om the situation we are in.
When we act, the glory of action is not dependent on the environment, nor on the work, but on the motive behind the work. Work gathers a new momentum, a new ardour, only when the intentions behind it are noble. Take sculpture as an example of the countless sculptors, some sculpt political leaders or wealthy socialites, others create fountains for parks. Now observe the beautiful sculptures in temples and churches. The sculptor here did not just sculpt a shape, but he imparted to it the great love and reverence for the theme that he was depicting. Such art pieces become immortal. They are more than stone. They speak. The artist seems to have poured his heart and soul into the pieces of stone, and the stone then reflects the immortal message of the heart of the sculptor. So too in any field. Think!
Enthusiasm is the very fuel in all great men. With inexhaustible ardour for whatever they undertake to accomplish, they generate an extraordinary drive for action. In spiritual self-improvement and in cultural and spiritual service to the nation, people must discover in themselves the secret of invoking this force of true and flawless enthusiasm. Pessimists have no enthusiasm at all for anything they do. They always consider life empty, men hopeless, situations tragic and circumstances going diabolically against them. They complain and groan at life. They are angry with everyone around them, against everything that is happening, opposed to every dream, unwilling to act, negligent in duty, and buried in their own imaginary sorrows and defeats. Such people can discover no enthusiasm even to live. As opposed to, these pessimists are the hopeful, cheerful, dynamic and ever-enthusiastic optimists. Optimists are generally of two kinds-the wise and the otherwise. An intelligent optimist believes that the world tends to be good and beautiful and he works diligently to make it so. He has an innately sweet disposition, refined through careful cultivation of looking for only the good in life, and he finds what he seeks! Every successful discovery expands his enthusiasm to search for more, and he thus goes from joy to joy, gaining in himself and giving to others, achieving for the world and sharing with all. His enthusiasm not only supplies him with a secret pep in his own life, but by its spirited contagion he comes to thrill all around him with his sunny nature and ardent warmth in work. Even when we work with full optimism and good cheer, most of us detect our zeal languishing now and then, and some of us have a cruel knack of leaving the field at once-strewn with our half done efforts-and of searching elsewhere for some new springs of enthusiasm. When this is repeated we are apt to find, at the end of our life, a ~t desert land of half-hearted acts, partial accomplishments, and unfinished programmes, all littered with miserable failures, and tearful losses-altogether a sheer, dreadful waste. In such people the flow of enthusiasm is not constant only because they are too impatient. The really great have both the enthusiasm to work and the good sense to wait. Their fervour to work consistently and their patience to await the harvest keeps them all the time intelligently confident and optimistically sure that right results will follow right efforts everywhere in life. Under these attitudes, enthusiasm never sinks in their bosom but sustains them through all their trials and exertions, threats and challenges, and doubts and despair. Patient self-application-with all enthusiasm-in a joyous mood of healthy optimism is the secret 'plan-of-action' of all great men. Life is a death-long discipline. Constant and alert vigilance over our own thoughts and actions is the stiff price we are compelled to pay for the greater achievements and finer accomplishments in life. Introspection adds polish and verve to our attentive personality to smartly detect the rise of false thoughts, dangerous moods, careless words and inglorious actions. Our alertness gives us the poise to discern whenever we go wrong and the calm courage to correct. Once we have caught the melody of life and its unerring rhythm, the personality in us becomes fully tuned and ready to initiate great activities. Without such adjustments, and without deliberately cultivating this inner deftness through conscious discipline, any servant of society will bring but more confusion, invite more sinners, and attract more distress into his fields of endeavour. Regular and ardent prayer, ending with deep and steady meditation alone can unfold enthusiasm, patience, and the inner sharpness to detect and avoid false tones in thought, word, and action. Through prayer and meditation, let us come to feel our oneness with the Infinite Lord. Consciousness of the Presence of the Supreme Power in ourselves need not necessarily spell egoism. Our mental assets must be as real and as readily available for our enjoyment as our money, lands and other material prosperity. Let us recognize and feel the inexhaustible power in the Self. Let us thereafter apply it entirely, with patience and enthusiasm, to the great and worthy purpose of reviving our culture among our people. Let us not worry about recognition or reward; let us be more anxious about the quality of our work. Let us realize that work is rendered joyous by the very beauty of patient and perfect performance. Let us purify ourselves for great actions, through prayer and meditation, regular and sincere: we must. Systematically, therefore, we must train and discipline the mind for right thinking and correct, diligent activity. Right thinking is a habit that can be cultivated. Substitution of positive thoughts and flooding the mind with creative ideas are methods by which we can flush out the floor of the mind, littered as it is now with the filth of incomplete thoughts and decaying ideas. Having recognized a thought to be negative or wrong, do not waste time in upholstering it to look neat and attractive, but reject it immediately and totally the power of right thinking expels all false thoughts and induces healthy conceptions. In fact, this is not a difficult process. It is as easy to entertain noble and elevating ideas as it is to suffocate our minds with wrong thoughts and vicious ideals. It may be that at this moment our minds are full of uncreative thoughts, brought therein by our unconscious wrong thinking. Their easy presence, therefore, may make us feel that to entertain wrong thoughts is simple, and to fight them out of their entrenchment is rather difficult. But to a sincere and heroic seeker, this is not very difficult. In fact, it is easy to entertain positive thinking as it brings in its wake harmony, peace, joy and inner realization. When the thoughts, unswerving, are rendered straight and when their quality and texture thus change, we come to notice that our actions gather a new glow of perfection, a charm of brilliancy. When the actions are more glorious, our life becomes more productive, carrying with it always the sure insignia of success and achievement. When we look out to the life around us, through a mind filled with the light of clear thinking, we also recognize a larger and meaningful significance to life itself. In sharing our ideas with others, let us remember that it is our own wealth of inner silence that creates the greater contact, for very often it is found that our silence creates an equally deep silence in the listener, and in that silence his confusion is stilled. To create such a silence in the heart of the listener, the speaker must be great, and the listener also must have the spiritual stuff in him sufficiently well brought out. In silence, that which earlier was not clear to the listener becomes suddenly illuminated and vivid. In that inner silence the still small voice of conscience is rendered more eloquent than at other times. Let us not forget that the greatest forces in nature are all ever silent. Electricity has no noise. Heat is dumb. Floods creep up silently in the night and sweep away the sleeping villages, against which man is helpless. The silent power of Truth, in irresistible efficiency, is constantly at work-without strife, sound or confusion. As devotees of Truth when we work in society, let us make use of this silent might of the ever-conquering Truth. We must learn to be cheerfully silent, gracefully silent, powerfully silent. If we are conscientious and consistent in our efforts and love, we shall have many, experiences of the efficacy of silence. When all other efforts fail to serve a brother-seeker, then one sits silently next to him the whole evening, without a word passing. Invariably he will cry out at the end of the evening his self conversion, his clearer perception, his changed conviction. This is no magic: this is only because silence always promotes quietness within, and in that quietude all doubts get cleared naturally, automatically. Finally, the most perfect characteristic in an eminently successful life seems to be integrity-an inflexible, undaunted, firm integrity. And, also, it seems that everyone who has cultivated this trait has drawn from it many an unseen and personal advantage over others who are striving in the same field of achievement. Once an individual in himself has discovered and fully developed an indomitable integrity, he finds he is master of every challenge, and in all his efforts we observe a self-assurance which is both captivating and rewarding. Indeed, very few have it, and there is none who is not charmed by it. A man of integrity is accepted, believed, trusted and befriended by all. To attract to oneself such genuine attitudes from others' bosoms is to create and assure a vibrant environment for great undertakings and perhaps, with the others' ready help, a spectacular success. Truly, integrity is a personal asset to man in every field. The nobility of integrity is not merely in its honour, sincerity and honesty in action, but it is rooted deeper in the quality and beauty of one's own intentions. If the spring of our every thought is pure and if we have the heroism to live unfailingly ever true to the great ideals in ourselves, however impractical and utopian they may be, even in spite of all immediate failures, we still have cultivated integrity. The personality in us, thereafter, unfolds with a glowing poise, and at each apparent failure encountered, with each insurmountable obstacle met, in each moment of social criticism faced and from all empty laughter endured, we come to strengthen our nobility and reinforce our determination to live the honorable life consistent with our ideal and our goal. Such individuals alone are the evolvers, all others are mere adapters, compromising with circumstances at every turn and adjusting to the changing patterns of challenges. They may struggle on, as hapless slaves to their habits, but never can they come to dominate the outer field and command the world to march on to the appointed goal or end, chosen by their own vision and will. Only a person of integrity has this power over life and its happenings. Naturally, then, integrity is the essential core of every eminently successful life. No doubt, every one of us has a covetable ideal, a great goal, or a mighty purpose in our mind and this is noble indeed. But the resolution to live up to it and pursue it continuously wavers at the very sight of the first obstacle. Bhartrihari therefore says that some act till they meet obstacles, others act in spite of obstacles and conquer them, but some act not, fearing the possibility of some obstacle that might arise en route! When the unexpected crosses the path of life, resolution is tested, integrity is put on trial. Often it is tested without any mercy, tried without any charity. Yet, if resolution is rooted in our faith and vision, integrity shall come out successful, and we shall become stronger for the battle. When a man of integrity thus strides through life's rough path, winning laurels in localized skirmishes with the outer circumstances, a new fire is kindled in him, and with each fulfilled resolution he rises daringly to take up greater resolves upon himself It becomes a progressive self"' disciplining, adding an extra inch to his stature and an added edge to his efficiency. A straight and dignified man, with his integrity sturdy and serene in both storm and sunshine, is sometimes seen to decay and grow weak and even fall from his high pedestal of strength and glory. In majority of the cases, such falls are due to the unconscious load of negative fears that have stealthily laid their booby-traps in him. If carefully analysed, it will be found that all of them have sprung forth from a lack of clarity in us, a temporary incapacity to overlook some minor disappointment, or a failure to disregard some words or actions of others around. In a weak moment, off guard, any paltry happening can become a stupendous load on our mind. Dragging this dead weight, it is impossible for the man of integrity to maintain his poise and keep his earlier strides. Therefore we must set up a free flow of forgiveness from within us, so that through that rushing flood we can flush out all our negative and suicidal inner disturbances. More than forgiveness, a man who is building himself up for the highest achievement must have the plentiful ability to forget the follies of others around him, the dishonesty of those who are working with him, and the vulgarities of the members of his team. All cannot have true inspiration; even when they are inspired, all may not have real efficiency in them, or constancy of purpose. Forgive them, and if they continue to be bad, forget about them. The poet Robert Browning says: Good to forgive Best to forget. Remember, one of our noblest duties in life is to grow. This is the cry of all evolution. Biological growth was the command in the lower stages of evolution. After having attained manhood, the demand is to grow in our moral stature, in our spiritual worth, in our cultural dignity. This is where study of the scriptures, regular and continuous, and sadhana, constant and sincere, come to serve us. The study of the scriptures clearly points out the goal and the way: sadhana yields to us the energy and vitality to walk the path and explode into the goal. |
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