Going beyond false limits!
– By Swami Abhedananda : Chinmaya Mission South Africa
A perfect life is one which emanates the fragrance of freshness in its living. This fragrance is exuded when we are more conscious of the One “Life Factor” instead of being over-conscious of many ephemeral and transient living-factors. When we receive the world and its experience by being “out” of it, it emanates the fragrance of freshness of the inner; but when we are caught up and dragged by the world and its experiences, then it stirs the stench of the filthy ego.
The thoughts of “likes and dislikes” are like the food as well as the noose of our Ego. The ego (Ahamkaar) is elated when it is well-fed with these thoughts of “I like this; I am this; I want this; I hate this” and so on. But when the ego is starved of these self-centric thoughts, then the same ego gets strangulated and gives space to a wholesome personality which can embrace all. When the centre of thinking is the Country, Society, Guru, God, or any great ideal, then life is lived as a whole, which then engulfs ourselves to make us feel one with it. On the contrary, when the centre of my thinking is my small “I” expressing as the source of possession and obsession, joys and sorrows then the same life reacts upon us heavily and hits back by throwing us into pangs of isolation and loneliness.
An Ordinary person is ordinary because his instinct of self-preservation is much stronger than his inspiration of self-offering! He is so much subdued and immersed in the quagmire of selfish enjoyments and egocentric pursuits that mind almost loses its capacity to think from the pinnacle of perfection, rather he is deeply embedded in the pit of century-old habits and endless lust for the sense objects!
We suffer incessantly in our life because of our inability to give up some habit or leave our sense of possession over someone, or our inability to renounce our ego. Lord Krishna says in Bhagawad Geeta, tyagat shatir anantaram (peace immediately follows renunciation). We cannot help ourselves or others unless this tendency to give up is well-blossomed in our being. Today we are living in the era where small issues gain mountainous magnitude and we fight over purposeless and fruitless pursuits. Education has taught us how to accumulate and hoard but not the art of sacrificing. We have become giants and gluttons in taking but pygmies and toddlers when it comes to giving! The result is the traumatic disturbances in the personal life and devastating wars in the global life.
Dissolving the Lower for the Higher
When our position in life is marred by Egoistic selfishness, blurred by attachment, or stung by jealousy, we are the easy victim of mental delusion and our actions haunt to torment us; at the same time we fail to lift the community or people from their present level of happiness, rather we add more woes and unconsciously break the social fiber, disturb the spiritual silence or breach the national integration! Kaikeyei failed in the part of her motherhood because of her extreme attachment with her son, Ravana bungled in performing the responsibility of protecting his kingdom because of his infatuation for someone else’s wife. The higher is the role of a person, the more sound must be the dispassion, more mountainous must be the determination, more unshakable must be the purity, more unquestionable must be the integrity, and more firm must be the control to perform that responsibility perfectly. Ramji demonstrated how these values could be lived uncompromisingly and practiced joyfully throughout the life. Anyone who can invoke these great traits, would not only lift himself but also the whole mankind; and the world would become a better place to live in.
Whatever we are today is because of what we had chosen yesterday. Our present is a bundle of the sum total of our choices made in the past. The moment we start living as a limited mortal, available to go berserk by the unpredictable destiny and invincible mind, we live as a caricature of spirit never resting in peace which is our essential nature. The basic problem is that we live our life for sake of matter. Living the life for the spirit of living is being spiritual! We sacrifice our Real and Truthful Nature to pamper our unreal and poking ego. As long as the resplendent self in us is dedicated to our lower desires and the spirit is wedded to matter, the glorious, blissful and independent nature of our being is arrested and choked. This unholy wedlock keeps on tormenting and torturing us again and again. So, assert the right choice!
Purposeful living rather than wasteful existence
The enlightening spark of the spirit manifests only when it is subjected to challenges and difficulties. The easy path of beaten track never gives the Infinite power lurking within to shine forth in its full splendour and majesty. Bhagat Singh kissing the gallows, Prince Siddharth sitting beneath the Bodhi Tree to realize the Truth of life, the great devotee-brother Shree Bharatji going to Chitrakoot to persuade Shri Ramji, a cricketer diving for a very difficult catch, a saint hugging his enemy, in all these incidents the sparking light of the Inner Divinity dazzles in full brightness. Evolution is the cry of the mind. It is the scream of the intellect, urgency of the personality. Let us evolve. Let us be committed to our own selves. Let us be answerable to our own intellect.
Let us ever sing the music of the soul and dance to the tune of the flute of Lord Krishna. This living alone shall herald the era of our effortless glide in the unlimited sky of Blissful and Pure Existence in which living merges with the Life and Self embraces all in its fold. May He alone live the life in each one of us, and the attachment for matter burns itself in the pyre of knowledge, in the lap of the Spirit.
About the Author
Swami Abhedananda is presently the Acharya-in-Charge of Chinmaya Mission South Africa. Swamiji exudes a vibrant and dynamic personality, deep rooted in Vedantic erudition since his childhood days of association with Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda which resulted in his induction to Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in 1993. Swami Abhedananda is a gifted and versatile speaker, appealing to all sections of the audience with excellent command on both English and Hindi. His immense depth of knowledge in Vedantic as well as devotional texts makes him a rare and powerful combination, earning equal popularity among audiences in India and abroad.
In the past three decades, Swami Abhedananda has travelled across the world, conducting several discourses, seminars, spiritual retreat camps for elders, youth as well as children. In his vast public interactions, Swami Abhedananda has been spreading the potent message of Hindu texts in a simple and practical manner. He commands a reputation for his distinct ability to convey the most profound principles of Vedanta in a lucid and extremely comprehensible manner; leaving every sincere seeker yearning for more.