Another brilliant and inspiring editorial from the Vedanta Kesari

[Guest guest]

Dear Devotees in TBP,

 

Love and Love alone....

 

Though it is a lengthy post, I wish and request every devotee to read

this post thoroughly and fully so as to chew and digest it fully. It

helps many of us.

 

Love and Love alone....

 

P. Gopi Krishna

 

====

 

Another brilliant and inspiring editorial from the Vedanta Kesari

 

https://www. sriramakrishnama th.org/magazine/ vk/2007/07- 2-1.asp

 

A Routine Issue

 

'Follow a routine.' This is the one customary advice given by all

spiritual masters to anyone who shows interest in living a

spiritually conducive life. Though it might look rather simplistic

and plain, this formula contains much wisdom. But like every other

counsel given by spiritual masters, one needs to examine this too

with faith and care in order to understand its role in spiritual

life. This fair and unbiased analysis helps in averting dangers and

pitfalls that hide behind its sheer plainness.

 

*The Rationale*

 

A better word for routine would be discipline. But the word

discipline tends to conjure up an image of a school-drill or standing

in a queue at a ticket window, or keeping in one's lane while

driving. In order to avoid these associated meanings, let us keep to

the word routine.

 

Routine means a fixed way of doing things, or a regular series of

movements. It is also used sometimes in a disapproving sense ('a

routine matter,' i.e., not requiring much attention). If we stretch

its meaning further, we arrive at the word rhythm which in turn means

a strong pattern. Whatever be its various shades of meaning, the word

*routine* means, in a spiritual context, trying to follow a set of

physical and mental disciplines *consciously* .

 

It is a simple fact: those who seek to channel their spiritual

aspirations must devise a routine for themselves and stick to it. Of

course, most people have a routine, at least some semblance of it.

But their routine is often determined by professional pressures or

economic values, and not spiritual values. They *have* to go to

office in order to earn money, they *have* to rush to the college, or

else they may suffer an attendance deficit, and so on. Examples can

be multiplied to illustrate how our routine is fixed by the needs and

urgencies of our professional and social requirements. 'Have to,

or else!' is their guiding principle. One often sees hordes of people

getting up early to catch the morning train or bus to their place of

work or study, and rushing back in the evening for the same purpose.

It is all a routine affair, everywhere.

 

A person seeking to live a spiritual life, however, will have to

change or reset his priorities-- and follow it with same earnestness

as with which onefollows one's office-routine. He must fix up a

*dinacharya* (daily routine) around certain spiritual practices--a

fixed time for rising, meditation, reading from a spiritual classic,

worship, and service. His routine should reflect his desire to fulfil

his spiritual aspirations. This means rearranging his life around

spiritually helpful activities. For example, in order to devote time

to his spiritual practices, he may have to get up earlier than the

usual time. To rise early, one has to sleep early. Both are

interdependent. Not only rising early in the morning, but one's whole

day should be so regulated that when one returns to one's spiritual

practices in the evening, one has enough energy, time and inclination

to do it.

 

The point is that we must become *conscious* of our spiritual needs

and try to fulfil them. It is a curious fact about human nature that

while people understand the importance of hard work in earning money

or acquiring worldly positions, when it comes to spiritual matters,

most people do not feel the importance of hard work. At that time,

they suddenly want to 'surrender their everything to God!' If only

things were that easy!

 

A more powerful reason for following the routine-formula lies in the

fact that it is the best way to strengthen our will power. Everyone

knows the role played by will power in our daily life. The stronger a

person's will, the greater are the chances of his success in every

field of life. We often fail because we have a weak will power, and

this is a widespread problem. In order to strengthen the will,

therefore, one has to exercise it daily. One cannot strengthen the

will when one falls into a crisis requiring a strong will to come out

of it. One has to keep strengthening the will even when *apparently*

it is not needed. After all, it is pointless to ask a man to learn

swimming when he is drowning. Swimming has to be learnt and perfected

so that one does not drown.

 

Following the routine plays a vital role in strengthening the will.

We are often swayed by our moods and impulses. Following a routine

means sacrificing momentary impulses and sticking to what one has

decided to follow. In fact, it is all a question of how keen we are

about it. An athlete wanting to run a cross-country race never

complains of getting up early in order to go for his stamina-building

sessions. He feels bad if he does *not* get up. A man seeking inner

change through spiritual practices must think alike.

 

A yet more strong reason for following the routine-formula comes from

the fact that it requires strength to carry on one's resolve--

alone. 'The most important step in learning concentration, ' writes

Eric Fromm, 'is to learn to be alone with oneself.'1 Most people do

things because others do it; they are just part of a mob. But a

person devoted to his ideal may have to differ in this matter. Maybe

everyone around him is fast asleep, but a spiritual seeker rises up,

washes up and sits down for his meditation. Is it not a case of

strength and love for the ideal? A deep commitment to his own

self-improvement?

 

Routine-formula is actually aimed at creating fresh, better

*samskaras*, or the deep thought patterns that guide and practically

make us what we are. Every action, besides producing a result, also

leaves behind a residue in the mind (a* samskara*). This residue is

the seed from which an action or a tendency to do that action springs

forth again. We are all hapless prisoners of *samskaras*. In order to

come out of this *samskaras*, we need to cultivate new, fresh, better

*samskaras*. Says Swami Vivekananda:

 

Go on doing good, thinking holy thoughts continuously, that is the

only way to suppress base impressions. Never say any man is hopeless,

because he only represents a character, a bundle of habits, which can

be checked by new and better ones. Character is repeated habits, and

repeated habits alone can reform character.2

 

A careful routine creates new pathways in our mind and then walking

the spiritual path becomes relatively less strenuous. Patanjali, the

great teacher of Yoga, states that one attains success in creating

better and holy *samskaras* by repeated practice. He further says

that this practice should be accompanied by consistent efforts

carried on for a long time without interruption and with great love

and respect for what one is doing.3 Says an eminent authority on

spiritual life:

 

Perseverance is very important, in this connection. No temporary

failure, however disgraceful or humiliating, should ever be used as

an excuse for giving up the struggle. If we are learning to ski, we

are not ashamed when we fall down, or find ourselves lying in some

ridiculous entangled position. We pick ourselves up and start again.

Never mind if people laugh, or sneer at us. . . No failure is ever

really a failure unless we stop trying altogether-- indeed, it may be

a blessing in disguise, a much-needed lesson.4

 

Routine is an act of creating hunger for higher life. By meditating

at a fixed time, for instance, we develop an appetite for it. Sri

Ramakrishna used to refer to a peacock which was fed with a bit of

opium by a person at a fixed time. The peacock would return exactly

at the same time and wait for its doses! Like- wise when one develops

a habit for spiritual practices, the mind begins to expect it.

 

Sri Ramakrishna himself used to train those who lived with him to be

regular in their practices. Lakshmi Devi, Sri Ramakrishna' s niece

once recalled:

 

'The Master did not sleep much at night. When it was still dark

outside he would move around the temple garden, and while passing

near the nahabat he would call: " O Lakshmi, O Lakshmi. Get up. Ask

your aunt [Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi] to get up also. How long will

you sleep? It is almost dawn. The crows and cuckoos are about to

sing. Chant the name of the Divine Mother. "

 

'Sometimes in winter, when the Master would call me, Mother, while

lying under her quilt, would whisper to me: " Keep quiet. He has no

sleep in his eyes. It is not the right time to get up, and the birds

have not yet started singing. Don't respond. " But if the Master did

not get any response, he would pour water under the doorsill, and

since we slept on the floor we had to get up without delay. Even so,

sometimes our beds got wet.'5

 

*Pitfalls of the Routine-Formula*

 

There are, however, some valid arguments against the effectiveness of

routine-formula. One of them is that it makes one insensitive and

mechanical. Rightly so. Adhering to a routine can make one mechanical

and mere mechanical performance of a spiritual practice will defeat

the very purpose it aims at. One may be externally and visibly busy

with spiritual practices, but internally, focused elsewhere.

 

Sri Ramakrishna had a great disciple, Saint Durgacharan Nag, Nag

Mahashaya as he used to be called. His father was very much attached

to him, but the old man used to do a lot of japa. Once when he was

told, 'Your father is a great devotee', Nag Mahashaya replied, 'What

can he achieve? He is much attached to me. An anchored boat does not

move.' There is a story behind this saying. One moonlit night, some

drunken men took it into their heads to go on a boat ride. They went

to the ghat, hired a boat, sat at the oars and started rowing. They

rowed and rowed the whole night. Early in the morning, when the

effect of drink had gone, they found to their surprise that they

had not moved an inch. 'What is the matter? What is the matter?',

they asked one another. They had forgotten to raise the anchor!6

 

To remove the anchor, obviously, one needs something more than

routine. Along with visible practice of spiritual disciplines, there

should be right attitude towards life; one should be willing to

revise one's conception of life and intensify one's loyalty to the

spiritual ideal. This is possible through an objective self-analysis

and resetting of one's inner paradigms.

 

Mechanical and insensitive attitude is only a by-product of something

deeper. In this context, one may recall the *Chandogya Upanishad*'s

wise counsel:

 

Only that which is done with knowledge, faith and meditation, that

alone becomes more powerful.7

 

This is the best way to counter the danger of monotony: be equipped

with knowledge of 'why' and 'how' our mind works. Having understood

it, we should pour our whole faith and allegiance to it.

 

There may be occasions when we have to make adjustments in our

routine for a pressing reason--illness, travel, or any other urgency--

but we must return to our set routine--the earlier, the better. If we

are not careful, the mind will discover false reasons for postponing

it for some more time.

 

'Each soul is potentially divine,' says Swami Vivekananda. To

manifest this divinity is the purpose of spiritual life. It is in

this context that we should understand the routine-formula. It is,

essentially speaking, a 'vidhi'-a method, which, when followed in

right spirit leads one to inner awakening and self-transformation.

 

*The Story of Early Rising*

 

One should also remember that a routine is only a means to and end,

and not the end in itself. If this is not kept in mind, routine-

formula becomes more an obstacle than an aid. The following humorous

story illustrates this point. It is often narrated in order to draw

our attention to the pitfall of mechanically following a routine.

 

Raghava was a sincere spiritual aspirant. He would get up early in the

morning, at 4:00, and religiously sit down for his one-hour

meditation. He had been doing it for a long time. He was so used to

it that he would not even use an alarm clock to wake him up. Punctual

and regular in his practice, Raghava never made any show of it to

anyone.

 

One day, however, he could not get up at his scheduled time. When he

woke up, it was past 4:30, and birds were already chirping. He got up

with a start, finished his ablutions, and sat down for his daily

meditation-- which was brief that day. He was upset the whole day

about it. He decided to set himself back to his routine from the next

day onwards.

 

Next morning, however, right at four, he was woken up by some unknown

person who told him, 'Get up. Sit for meditation.' He immediately got

up and began his routine, but later wondered who the person was who

woke him up. Raghava had not mentioned it to anyone. How then could

someone, without his telling, know his previous day's events? He

decided to make a private enquiry.

 

Next morning, he woke up slightly earlier than the usual, with the

hope that that someone may come again. He was right. But to his great

surprise, that someone just disappeared and Raghava could not speak

to him. He decided to be more cautious the next day. Next morning, he

got up much earlier than four, and was waiting to be woken up. 'Get

up. Sit for meditation,' he heard the familiar voice, and sprang up

and caught the fleeing person who tried hard to release himself from

Raghava's grip.

 

'Who are you?' asked Raghava.

 

'Oh! Leave me alone,' replied the figure.

 

'No. You must tell me who you are and why you wake me up daily,'

demanded Raghava.

 

'Well, I am nobody. Why do you worry as long as you are woken up

everyday?'

 

But when Raghava insisted further, the figure revealed its

identity. 'You know, I am actually your *papa-purusha*

(personification of sin or bad samskaras).'

 

'*Papa-purusha* ?' asked Raghava in sur- prise, 'Why should you, of

all persons, wake me up for meditation? I don't understand what you

mean.'

 

'You see,' explained the *papa-purusha* , 'You are so very regular in

your practice of meditation. I know you never miss it. But the other

day when you did not get up on time, I found you were upset the whole

day and were praying to God with great intensity. That intensity

almost killed me and made me breathless. I therefore decided to wake

you up everyday so that you keep up to your practice rather than get

into that mood of intensity again.' Saying this, the *papa-purusha*

disappeared, leaving Raghava nonplussed.

 

The moral of the story is, as we keep following a routine, it gives

rise to a subtle ego (called *sattvika ahamkara*) and we should be on

guard about it. The idea is that routine itself should not become a

stumbling block. A scaffolding that is used for construction of a

building after all, is not the building itself.

 

One very powerful danger that inflexible, to-the-letter- adherence to

the routine-formula throws up is the creation of a self-assured

feeling of false security. There are people who believe that it is

sufficient to follow the routine and there ends everything. They

think that their hour of meditation will cleanse them of all the

wrong things that may happen at other times and do not bother to

examine their lives in general. They are regular and punctual in

their practices but their life outside their customary spiritual

practices is not strictly regulated by a higher ideal. They seem to

maintain double standard of life--one that of doing spiritual

practice at a set hour and the other, living a causal, unprincipled

life. What a dangerous state of mind!

 

*To sum up*, following a routine is essential for channelling one's

higher aspirations and create fresh, better samskaras. One must,

however, be careful about certain hazards of following a routine such

as monotony and a false sense of security. Keeping all these pros and

cons in mind, one must not lose sight of the goal of spiritual

practices-*- transcending* the pairs of opposites which bind us to

the world of relativity. Until we go beyond it, we must follow the

routine zealously like the proverbial farmer who, in spite of repeat

crop-failures, continues to follow his hereditary profession

with devotion and optimism.