Individual's Uplift And World Welfare

[Guest guest]

The Divine Life ideal offers a panacea for all the social and

political ills of the modern world. The three fundamentals of Divine

Life—Serve, Love, Give—are the pillars upon which an individual can

stand and uplift himself and the brotherhood of man can be built.

Thus the life in this world can become more fearless and happy as

well as purposeful.

 

If one tries to observe people, one may see there three types of

persons—extroverts, introverts and ambiverts. Extroverts are persons

whose mind always goes outwards. They become slaves of their senses.

They are after money, pleasure and passion, position and power,

honour and acclaim. They are bound with the conditions and

circumstances and the circumference of life. Naturally, their pursuit

is of the outer and they forget the purpose and destination of human

life.

 

Introverts are those persons who are reflective and contemplative and

long to study their inner realm, the inner universe hidden within.

Goethe called it as " Man's inner universe " . They renounce pleasure

and position, keeping themselves aloof—away from acclaim and honour.

The charm of the world is such that one may find only a few who are

introverts. Ambivert is a person who does not cut himself from the

outer, but lives in the `inner' and makes the outer a vehicle of the

inner. He dedicates his life in selfless service of humanity and

places his life as an offering at the altar of the Great Creator of

the universe the Lord. Such a person realises the sanctity of

service, seeking nothing for himself, keeping ablaze the Divinity

within. They are the embodiments of humility and compassion and love

pure and simple at heart. But without becoming introvert it is not

possible for anyone to become ambivert. And such a person is called

sadhaka in its real perspective. In fact, man is an inborn sadhaka,

but fails to recognise the same due to misconceptions,

misunderstandings, arrogance and vanity.

 

Holistic View

 

" There is a common tendency to isolate spiritual principles from

politics, especially in these days of great intellectual power.

Dreamers and visionaries are often brushed aside as people with their

heads in the clouds " , out of touch with stark realities. In so many

ways man has become wedded to the doctrine of self-salvation, self-

achievement and self-dependence that in the resultant excitement of

great material achievements he is in danger of forgetting the eternal

truths upon which this entire universe exists and its future heritage

depends.

 

The bad habit of complaining against others, the conditions and

slackness in sincere attempts, and a lack of love for himself and

humanity—and man becomes a prey of vanity which subsists on false

values. Man generally thinks falsely that he is unblemished and

superior to others and that others are blemished and inferior. The

inevitable consequence is that he gets a perverted vision and loses

the capacity for seeing and accepting Truth. If a man develops an

attitude of selfishness, he is liable to poison every good sight and

tie. But, if his attitude becomes one of helpfulness and

understanding, he shall beautify every tie—foes will turn into

friends, problems will have their solutions and man will have his

salvation. Unfortunately, man thinks his gain in the loss of others,

his progress in another's downfall and his happiness in another's

unhappiness. It is a tremendous mistake and a dangerous trend born

out of indiscrimination and selfishness.

 

The inspired visions of saints, mystics and leaders in the religious

education, social, economic and artistic scene of every country have

truly reflected the true aspirations of the people. From these

visions was born the practical reality of everything which is

recognised to be good in their way of life. And of course, everything

that is discordant or bad is the outward result of individual and

collective negative or evil thinking or beliefs.

 

One of the greatest saints of the present day Sri Swami Sivanandaji

Maharaj has placed before the world the `Divine Life' gospel for the

uplift of the individual and attainment of divinity in the end which

can be summed up in six succinct words, " Serve, Love. Give, Purify,

Meditate, Realise. "

 

The physical frame of a man owes much to the world because it is made

of the same five elements of which this world is composed. One has,

therefore, to serve one and all without any distinction whatsoever

and without any expectation of return or reward so that he may clear

out his debt towards the world. One must properly understand that the

acquired wealth and power are not his own but are the `trust' of the

poor and weak. In the right use of things lies the key which consists

in the service of others. Service and sacrifice, hence, are the acme

of duty and dutifulness. When a duty is performed as a duty for

duty's sake, it becomes the source of salvation and not the bondage

of attachment. But he should not have the idea of doership. Hence the

service and performance of duty with a feeling of responsibility and

pure heart without expectations, which is prompted by an inner sense

of fellowship and unity, reduces attachment and destroys the sense of

doership and thus liberates the man.

 

Love is light, life, eternity. There is nothing else to achieve in

this world but love. In love consists the perfection of human life.

All impurities are rooted in the craving for the pleasure of the

senses, but love is not there. Love is the nature of the beloved and

the life of the lover. One must know that faith and Love go together,

because in the sense of unity resides Love and in the ending of

desire is the dawn of Love. Man has sincerely to understand that the

outer form of action warranted by a given situation generally makes

little difference to the Love and sympathy in one's inner attitude.

The man has to learn a great lesson that he has to love even a

sinner, while hating the sin. A man, who is an inborn sadhaka, must

learn the lesson of forgiveness even without asking for the same from

the person who has done something wrong. Thus only the impurities of

man's mind can be washed off. Of course, it requires great moral

strength to seek forgiveness for one's own past wrong actions. Only

one who is truly repentant and who has realised that any satisfaction

of the senses derived from evil propensities is bound to reap a

harvest of evil and sorrow.

 

Man should not be confounded with a seeming contradiction between

forgiveness and justice. Man's sense of justice is distorted, on

account of the limitations of his ego, his reactions are perverted.

Strictly speaking, in one sense, man can do justice only to himself

because he can understand his own mind and not of others. As a man

and as a sadhaka one should, therefore, refrain from judging others;

and also one should be forgiving others in so far one feels wronged

by others. When the mind is devoid of hate, a long step is taken by

man towards recovery. Love is the tremendous curative force for an

individual and for the society. So the great Master emphasised

greatly this love factor and preached in practice—Love all, hate

none. God is in all, do not hurt Him.

 

The urge to give happiness to others helps man to destroy his own

craving for pleasure. The desire for pleasure is the cause of

frustration; giving and sharing what you have and serving others with

compassion consumes the craving for pleasure. He warned an aspirant

that generosity motivated by attachment, and renunciation caused by

anger are fruitless. The truth is that the supreme giver is ours, but

all the things He gives are His. Therefore, man should learn the

lesson of giving and giving with happiness all the good that he

possesses and not think that by giving he will lose. In fact he will

gain something which is Divine and Eternal.

 

If the three mottos above—Serve, Love and Give—are properly

understood and practised by man in his day-to-day life, he will find

that his heart has become purified and he is living in a higher stage

and better society. In fact, in the renunciation of one's rights and

protection of rights of the others lies the secret of attainment. His

mind becomes purified and then alone he is in a position to meditate

and realise.

 

This is the gospel of Divine life which is the need of the hour, and

if we follow this, we shall be serving this world in a better way on

its upward march. Then alone can there be `Ramarajya'.

 

Let us march on this path with confidence and faith, with sincerity

and strength, with devotion and dedication. May God and Gurudev bless

you!

 

----

----------

 

Radiate to all thoughts of love and goodness. Never look into the

faults and defects of others. Always appreciate the good in others.

Overlook their weakness. Pray for the one who wishes to harm you.

Bear insult and injury. Be good and do good.

 

—Swami Sivananda