Meditation Practice

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Individual's Uplift And World Welfare 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!

 

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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