So many roles to play.

[Guest guest]

So many roles to play Among the fundamental questions we tend to ask ourselves at some point in our lives is: “Who Am I?” Ramana Maharshi asked the seeker to constantly questionhimself as a way of exploring deeper truths and to come to a better understanding of them.

 

Who are you? Jiddu Krishnamurti answered thus: “When you call yourself an Indian, a Muslim, a Christian, a European, or anything else, you are being violent.Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, itbreeds violence. So a man who is seeking to abhor violence does not belong to any country, religion, political party or partial system; he is concernedwith the total understanding of mankind.”

 

While discussing what J Krishnamurti had to say on the subject of identities, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at a satsang held recently in Rishikesh, offered thefollowing insight: The process of evolution is moving from somebody to nobody and from nobody to everybody, realising one’s true identity, Brahmn, theall-inclusive and all-pervasive. Masters all along, even after achieving the highest, have chosen to play limited identities An individual cares for his immediate family and as part of society shares love and affection with neighbours. For a master, the family is the whole world.An avatar, a sadhguru, skillfully fulfills individual as well as universal roles, without any conflict. Playing a limited role is in no way in conflictwith the universal role .

A master is unattached to any identity but still presents an expression appropriate to desh, kal and patra or space, time and situation. When Arjuna wanted to let go off his kshatriya identity and livein the forest, it was Krishna who insisted that he has to keep his kshatriya identity.

 

Remaining universal inside and assuming identities and roles outside relevant to the situation is the skill of a gyani which each one of us has to cultivate. Janak performs a limited role as a king externally but internally, nurses a thirst for the unlimited, which makes him a grand seeker before Ashtavakra.A disciple like Janak is rare indeed. A guru's job is to bring everybody to play Janak’s role -- skillful in performing their duties and having a yearningfor the highest knowledge. A sadhguru is totally detached, established in Advait, universal in being, at the same time his expression is based on desh,kal and patra -- place, time and situation. Universal in being, nischay, and yet effortlessly fulfilling different roles in the world (vyavhara) is theskill of a Master.

 

Regards,K.s.Vishwanathan.Tel No: 022-28738192.e-mail:kalpathyvs.