INSIGHTS -- Surge 63

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INSIGHTS

 

Surge 63 –

Monday, March 30, 2009

 

Is Our True

Nature Divine?

 

 

 

 

“That Thou

Art,” is one of the Great Statements1

of the Vedanta. It means every one of us is divine in our true nature.

God and we are one, implies this revelation. We know God to be

indestructible and full of love. The Vedic utterance here2 is meant

to be an eye-opener for us, saying we too are full of love in the depth

of our hearts. Usually we live in self-doubt if not in

self-condemnation.

 

How

are we divine? A simple way to explain this is – we have infinite

capacity to love and we are undoubtedly lovable. Love here is in the

truest sense of the term, and not in one of its narrow connotations as

most movies, plays, novels or short stories present. Love is a state of

being, where there is no selfishness or fear. In that state, we look at

all people with a great sense of harmony. We have no intention to take

anything from them, nor are we worried about losing anything to them.

This state has no personal likes or dislikes3.

 

The

ignorant work for happiness, but the wise do out of happiness,

observed Swami Chinmayananda. This answers the popular question, “Why

would a divine person do any work at all in this world?” Most people

take some kind of discontent or dissatisfaction as a prerequisite to

live in this society. They imagine that a man would drop dead if he

were satisfied in all respects. They do not see anything other than

desire or ambition as the driving force behind action. The truth

however is different. Love moves mountains.

 

Almost

everybody in the world suffers from some form of insecurity or the

other. Today, in the face of the global economic depression, large

numbers of people in the developed countries also are under stress. A

study of the Vedanta can help them see through their own self-created

misery. Such a study can throw light on the dividing line between

biological insecurity and psychological insecurity. Spiritual wisdom

eliminates the latter and then we see that, in 99 out of 100 cases, the

former hardly exists.

 

“You

are the Atma,” roars the Vedanta, “You have identified falsely with the

personality made of the body and the mind.” Countless thoughts,

following this false identification, continuously reinforce the

foundation for all sorts of negative conclusions. We are then sorry for

not having a big house, while our true need is just a little place with

basic amenities. We are sad that somebody else is more recognized than

we are, while we have received enough love and regard from a good

number of people. We are depressed that we do not know enough

philosophy (to talk over tea), while a lot of verbal knowledge seldom

enriches our life.

 

It is

neither by possessing things nor by avoiding them that we become happy.

 Similarly

neither company of people nor resisting them ensures happy living.

Harmonious living is marked by not depending on things or people. When

we are happy within us, we welcome them when they come and let them go

when they leave4.

This state is not arrived at by willing to be so. This becomes our

natural state when we let go of all artificialities in our daily living.

 

When

pretending ceases and we stop clinging to false prestige, we remain in

our nature. The Vedanta calls this true nature of ours divine, “You are

That.”

  

 

Swami

Chidananda

Varanasi

 

End Notes:

1 The Great

Statements are called maha-vakyas in Sanskrit.

2 It is

found in the Sama-Veda, in one of its upanishads (Chandogya).

3 Compare

with Geeta 12.15 and 12.17.

4 aagate svaagatam kuryaat, gacchantam na nivaarayet – an

old saying.

 

                                                 End

 

 

 

 

www.j-krishnamurti.org (Rajghat,

Varanasi) and www.kfirural.org

(Rural Centre)

Man

is a stream whose source is hidden. R W Emerson

Life

is like an ashvattha tree, upside down; Its divine roots are way above,

unseen. Katha Upanishad