Swami Chidananda

[Guest guest]

THE POSTING IS A BIT LONG, BUT HAVE PATIENCE TO READ IT FULLY.

 

Knowledge is Meant to be Lived

 

Radiant Immortal Atman! Beloved seekers and sadhaks who are gathered

together here in the spiritual presence of worshipful and beloved Holy

Master Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji, in his sacred samadhistan at this

holy hour! You have been here for a period of chanting, kirtan, guru

stotra, santi path and silent meditation with which you have opened

your new day in a very sattvic and holy way, so as to give it a proper

spiritual direction, so that this bhav may be carried throughout the

remainder of the day until you retire for the night. In participating

in this spiritual sadhana, I have the good fortune to place before you

an important truth about Yoga and Vedanta, an important truth about

philosophy and spirituality.

 

Philosophy and spirituality, of which you are all students, are to be

known, but more than acquiring knowledge, a student of philosophy and

spirituality must also try to acquire the practical wisdom of how to

fit this newly gained knowledge into his daily life, thoughts, words

and actions. In short, “how can I live in the light of this

philosophy? how can I base my life upon this philosophy? whatever I

have learned in Yoga, how can I turn it into a new form, into my

day-to-day life and actions?†This you must know.

 

Philosophy and Vedanta are both for knowing and for living. If they

are only known, you become a pundit, a scholar, a professor, a

lecturer. You will be highly regarded. You will be able to teach

philosophy to others, impart the knowledge of Yoga to others, but you

yourself will not be a Yogi, a sadhak. For it is whether the

philosophy, which has made you a learned person and pundit, is seen to

manifest in your everyday life and actions, philosophy in action,

philosophy in application†" that determines whether or not you can be

regarded as a spiritual person.

 

This is the special difference between secular philosophers, who have

learned philosophy in order to become professors, doctors, pundits,

writers, become world famous, and those who have studied philosophy in

order to bring about a transformation in their lives. The latter have

studied philosophy, not to know what philosophy has to say, but in

order to know how it can “transform my life, bring me from the

darkness of ignorance to the light of wisdom; how it can bring me out

of maya, above maya, beyond maya; how I can live this philosophy and

attain liberation.†Philosophy for him means attainment of liberation;

it is not for prapanca (worldly life) but for paramartha (supreme value).

 

We all know that philosophy teaches that this is a world of dvandvas

(pairs of opposites): sukha, duhkha (pain, pleasure); harsha, soka

(joy, grief); labha, hani (gain, loss); jaya, parajaya (victory,

defeat). All this we know, but if a good thing happens and we rejoice

and its opposite happens and we are shocked, then we are not true

philosophers. We have not gained anything from the knowledge that the

world consists of dvandvas. It is only when this knowledge can bring

us a firm abidance in unshaken equanimity, when our consciousness is

not assailed by anything, it becomes firmly fixed, unshakable, then

you are more than a philosopher, you are a sthitaprajna (one who is

unshakably established in superconsciousness).

 

In this way, knowledge of Yoga, knowledge of dharma†" all these

knowledges†" if they are merely known, it is better than not knowing

them; but if you stop short of living them, then you have committed a

great blunder.

 

We know that this world is made up of three gunas†" sattva, rajas,

tamas. The Bhagavad Gita says which of them is desirable, which of

them should be treated with caution, which of them should be rejected.

You know that, and if your life becomes a conscious process of living

in such a way as to be constantly engaged in encouraging sattva,

rejecting tamas and being wise and cautious in dealing with your

rajas, then you are a sadhak, you are a Yogi, you are a jnani.

 

Otherwise, even if you know that this world is made up of trigunatmika

maya (maya characterised by the three gunas) and that sattva, rajas

and tamas are constantly present in every little thing, if this

knowledge is only knowledge in you, if in your daily life there is not

the careful selection of sattva, the rejection of tamas and the

careful handling and directing of rajas, then you are only a sushka

(dry, empty) jnani, a sushka Vedantin.

 

Your Vedanta will not flower; it will not give fruit. It will not keep

on growing; it has no scope for expansion or growth or unfoldment,

because it is dry Vedanta, sushka Vedanta. And sushka Vedanta will

soon become a burden; it will cease to benefit you even though you may

get admiration from the world. But, does the sadhak come into the

spiritual life in order to get admiration from the world? Does the

sadhak study philosophy only in order to know, or is it to understand

from that knowledge “how I can live my life in a sublime way, how I

can wisely direct my path towards the goal of liberation.â€

 

What is the purpose in knowing? This has to be well thought out. The

correct attitude towards all philosophy, all Vedanta, all Yoga has to

be cultivated, and it should be constantly, actively applied in daily

life.

 

If we are in an Ashram, we are also in a world, and as anywhere else,

the dvandvas are here. The three gunas are also here. It is up to you

how you live in the Ashram. If you wish to have maximum benefit out of

Uttarkhand, Ganges bank, a Guru’s teaching, spiritual life, then this

process of the selecting and welcoming of sattva, the rejecting of

tamas and the wise handling and channelising of rajas, along with

constant discrimination between the dvandvas must be going on in your

life. Then it will yield results.

 

Now it is up to us, each one of us to ask: “Does this very special

quality, does this sadhana of enquiry, discrimination, selection,

rejection, does it characterise my life here?†If it does, you will

know the reason why you have progressed so much. If it does not, you

will know the reason for not having progressed so much. The

environment, the atmosphere, the surroundings, the set-up are not to

blame. If you know whether you are doing this or not, then you will

understand why you are progressing or why you are not progressing. You

will know where to set your life right. This is a very essential study

for all sadhaks, Vedantins and Yogis who are earnest seekers, who are

jijnasus, who have got keen mumukshutva.

 

Yes, Gurudev has done a very special act of grace. Perhaps he knew

human tendency. So ninety percent of his spiritual writings and

teachings are admonitions: “Do this, do that, think in this way, act

in this way, live in this way, engage in Yoga in such and such a way,

carry on sadhana in this way.†He solved the problem directly. He did

not merely use sushka knowledge. Even while he gave knowledge, he

immediately said, “Do it,†and showed the way how to do it. He

emphasised action, emphasised kriya, emphasised actual abhyasa.

Perhaps that was his greatest gift to the world of sadhaks and

seekers? God bless you?