The Universal Problem

[Guest guest]

The Universal Problem

 

Man has always been interested in matters of deep spiritual quest. There is not

a single individual who does not entertain in some corner of his or her heart, a

desire to know the mystic aspects of spiritualism. Whether a believer or

non-believer, all of them some time or other have questioned of the unknown.

Since beginning of human civilization this has been a part of human nature.

 

Why this is so? Because over years of questioning and quest for answers to the

lifes imponderables starting from Sage Vasisthas to Lord Buddhas, the

collective wisdom of human mind has discovered that the spiritual way of living

is the way to fulfillment in life. It is worth repeating-The spiritual way of

living is the way to fulfillment in life.

 

All of us can find fulfillment while remaining fully involved and engaged in our

day today activities, and not outside this life itself. It is simply reorienting

oneself to be in conformity with the divine and natural way of things and find

in life tranquility and bliss. It is the only way life is meant to be lived.

 

There have been always two kinds of people. One kind who harbor in their heart

an all consuming desire for acquiring deeper and deeper knowledge about

spiritual and supramental subjects and are constantly seeking answers to expand

their horizon of knowledge. They are ever unsatiated with their hunger for more

knowledge and always seeking the final truth and its realization.

 

Then there is the other kind and this is the vast majority who are also sincere

about their spiritual progress but being fully involved in their worldly

existence and daily work, constantly question the relevance of all knowledge

from their practical view point. They are not exactly satisfied with knowledge

for knowledge sake but advocate a firm view that knowledge has to have total

relevance to life itself.

 

The mankind is ever grateful to both groups of people. While the former is

responsible for all the wisdom that we possess today, the latters efforts have

helped us to translate this knowledge into the life we live and is responsible

for the quality of life that differentiates man from the lower beings.

 

Both these groups are ever unsatiated in their own sphere ­and thank Lord for

that, for out of this dissatisfaction greater benefits are constantly flowing to

the rest of mankind.

 

Most of us belong to the second category.

 

There is a very burning question in the minds of us as to whether actually we

are spiritual in our thoughts and deeds when it comes to our everyday conduct.

In our homes, in our offices in our dealings with other people, with our own

self, do we practice any degree of spiritualism? We attend a good many

discourses religiously and listen to religious talks. We read many books and

fill our minds with a great deal lot of Adhyatmic or spiritual knowledge. Ask

any one and you will get the answer that our real development lies in our being

able to rediscover and follow the path of spiritual realization. Yet the irony

is such that in the present day context our activities of daily life are indeed

too far distanced from any spiritual undertone which was once a way of life for

most of our ancestors in the past.

 

We talk of the great Indian heritage. Our heritage is not that we once possessed

and still possess a great amount of learning. But the strength of our heritage

is that, this learning was in all sincerity, once guided every action in our

society.

 

If life has to be lived in its true sense and in full measure, then it must be

managed well within an effective framework and guiding principles. These guiding

principles are contained in the Adhyatmic philosophy or the spiritual knowledge.

As we go along the following chapters, it will be clearer how this is so. But

the undeniable truth is that to whatever origin we owe our existence, our life,

the same origin logically, must dictate the best way to manage the life. As we

have theories and principles of management for different activities of life,

there are also principles of management of life itself. It is indeed a pity,

that while we seek acquiring degrees and diplomas in various management sciences

relating temporary activities in life, these principles of management of life in

its essential nature, do not interest us greatly. The present civilisation is

always after trees and not the forest.

 

Where as, the history is witness, that in this part of the world atleast, there

was a time when this management knowledge or Spiritual knowledge or the

Adhyatmic knowledge had not only reached a highly refined state, but was also

got inseparably mixed with the day to day life itself. Having this knowledge and

then putting this into practice, people were able not only to deal with the

challenges of life but were indeed able to enrich life. With highly developed

value systems they could lift themselves from miseries and tensions to a state

of peace and bliss. They knew that with spiritual knowledge as the reference

point and guiding principle, all problems of life can be tackled. Not only

tackled, but can also be solved and solved efficiently. In simple words they

knew how to manage their lives. In contrast, today, have we not all noticed what

a tremendous gap lies in the lives of people when it comes to acquiring the

knowledge and in putting them to practice? People simply have forgotten how to

manage their lives.

 

The knowledge is misunderstood and the practice is absent. As a result, we now

question the very validity of this knowledge. Some in their gross ignorance and

unable to cope with the demands of life, mechanically pursue the rituals and

superstitions. All these lead to no where. That is why religion has lost its

practicality and its rightful place in life.

 

Interestingly the great seers of our ancient times, the intellectual thinkers

who shaped our spiritual heritage were indeed not knaive so as not to understand

that such situations would always arise. They knew that the same mystic aspects,

the supramental concepts, the rigid ritualities which are essentially needed to

sustain any religion, also possess within them the danger of appearing as great

obstacles unless properly understood. They knew that unless fully comprehended

people would question the validity of all knowledge, which is not apparently

practical.

 

To the credit of the intellectual strength of the Vedantic philosophy, (the

philosophy of The Vedas) great emphasis has always been laid throughout our

scriptures on understanding and true realization of all that is said rather than

blindly following the dictats or rulings. Where ones own Buddhi or discerning

ability - has not actively participated, the knowledge remains still veiled. The

Sanatan Hindu Dharma or the universal religion which draws its sustenance from

the Vedantic philosophy is never meant to be an imposed way of life but has to

be, as pithily described in the word used in The Gita, Buddhigrahya­ acceptable

to the intelligence-lest it be discarded as impractical due to poor

understanding.( The expression Sanatana Hindu Dharma mentioned here and which we

shall use often afterwards needs some explanation. The word Sanatana , simply

means that which is universal irrespective of its religious bias. Some thing

which applies to most, always and without conditions, is Sanatana. We should

derive that meaning only because that happens to be the core strength of the

philosophy that we are discussing here. It is so universal that no matter what

faith one may follow it would lend its appeal. Also the word Hindu that we use

does not mean that it is a discussion on the so called hindu religion only. This

philosophy happens to have sprouted from this country the hindustan. Yet such a

profound knowledge can not be kept restricted to India or even the orient. The

heritage of this knowledge belongs to the entire humanity. While talking of the

Sanatan hindu philosophy this broad perspective should always be kept in mind. )

 

Lord Krishna advises his disciple Arjuna, Buddhau saranam anvichcha. Fall back

on your understanding. Mere reading, listening or reciting of a mantra would

lead us no where. It may even lead us to confusion and aversion unless the true

meaning of all that is expounded, is understood first.

 

While talking of people like you and me, one could be a very knowledgeable

person in his study of religion and spiritualism. One might have read all Sri

Sai Satcharitra, Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Sri

Aurobindos, Swami Vivekanandas, or Shankaracaryas, Bible & Holy Quran one might

be a daily reciter of Gita and Upanishads, yet one could be far from being a

developed human being if this knowledge does not mix with life and inspire right

living.

 

In other words, not only we should have knowledge, we should have that knowledge

brought to use in our practical daily life. The knowledge must be put to work

for our development. That is what Sri Aurobindo means when he says that

knowledge per se has no use if it is not beneficial.

 

Some one told a nice little story which drives home this point. A poor old lady

once lived in her hut was trying to mend her torn cloth with a thread and

needle. The room was dark because she was too poor to afford oil for the lamp.

And she lost the needle. Much she tried to find the needle in the dark she could

not do so. Then she realised that there is sun light outside her room and she

thought if I can not find the needle in the darkness, I must go and search for

it in the brightness outside. She went out and started searching the needle.

Obviously she failed. The light outside was of no use to her as long as it does

not illumine the inside of her hut.

 

Many of us often go to great lengths to acquire knowledge a great deal of

knowledge and become pundits. Yet we fail to make use of this knowledge in our

life and remain as undeveloped as ever. What is the difference between such

kinds of us and that old lady? We should all ask this question to ourselves

truthfully.

 

It is important to acquire knowledge, but more important is to translate them

continuously into life. A yogi is he, who does precisely that. He is constantly

in touch and established in this knowledge and accordingly orients all his

actions for the entire duration of his life. This is to be understood from Sri

Aurobindos famous words, All Life is Yoga, It is meant to be a continuous Yoga.

 

As a matter of fact acquiring knowledge, constant engagement with the ordained

work, practicing great austerity, are, though extremely important facets of our

philosophy, are really not the objective. The practical objective is to become a

Yogi. Yogi is he who leads life constantly engaged in Yoga. What is Yoga? Yoga

is constant adhearance to the path of Dharma or righteousness that we must

continuously walk upon to reach the ultimate stage of development.

 

What is the ultimate stage of development?

 

It is Satchidananda the pure and absolute truth, its realization and the ensuing

pure bliss. Yoga (which also means engagement) is to remain constantly engaged

in pursuit of this ultimate consciousness. It is immaterial as to which path one

chooses. But the goal of ultimate development is fixed.

 

The acquiring of the knowledge jnana, the act of engagement in work karma and

the act of practicing austerity tapas, are essential ingredients for a Yogi to

remain rooted to Yoga or Dharma and practice them in life itself. As lord

Krishna said in The Bhagavad Gita:

 

Tapasvibhyodhikoyogi

 

jnanibhyopi matodhikah

 

KarmibhyascAdhiko yogi

 

Tasmat Yogi bhavArjuna:

 

Nothing is more important than being engaged in Yoga. Not tapas, not jnana, nor

karma. All these three and any other variations of Yoga, must get translated

into life to make life nothing but Yoga all the time. Hence Arjuna, remain a

yogi all the time.

 

How do we achieve this happens to be the biggest problem?