"Life" - Swami Chidananda (India)

 

 

“Life”- Sri Swami Chidananda

What is Life?

To live for God is Life

There is no treasure greater than the treasure of the great Reality (God). All our thoughts and actions must be directed to experiencing and achieving this truth.

   “What shall it profit if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

With our entire being, we must endeavour to have It, to possess It, to cherish It. You should entreat It, ask It, and pray to It saying:

“Let my entire being dwell in You. Let no part of me, even for a little while; ever swerve from being totally directed towards You”.

We have been given this human birth for this one task which alone makes life worthwhile. You live when you are aware that you have your being in God and that same Supreme Spirit dwells within you. We must behold the Divine everywhere, in all things, at all times in the midst of all activities. That is the only thing that there is. All other things are illusions and delusions. The one solid reality is that Being who is your beginning, your middle and your end; your source and support and your ultimate fulfilment. Let us actively move towards God with our total being every moment of our life.

Life is upheld by Sacrifice

All life on Earth is made possible by the process of self-giving, the offering of oneself for the benefit of the whole.

RIVERS

!

OCEAN

!

CLOUDS

!

RAIN

!

EARTH (grains, fruit, vegetables, grass)

!

For the Life and Survival of All

 The Earth is thus upheld by self-offering, giving of oneself (Sacrifice)

 

One who realises this truth that prevails in human life and keeps up this chain of sacrifice, is wise? By benefiting everyone, that individual benefits himself, experiencing peace, joy and perfection. Anything to the contrary, is against the will of God, resulting in personal misery, restlessness, disappointment and frustration. This is due to lack of understanding that our highest good lies not in wanting the Universe to serve us but in us serving the Universe. By this great spirit of sacrifice, you are indeed on your way to the highest blessedness.

The Science of Living

The process of making your life a Godward ascent has to be worked out where you are and as you are, presently. This process has to be in conjunction with your outer life and not treated as a separate process.

Your Godward ascent is your foremost task and prime duty in this lifetime. You have to learn the skill of how to be involved in the outer life, yet moving without ceasing, towards God. You have to learn both the science of living and the art of being active on both the inner and outer planes - spiritual and secular.

Commence with self-assessment - see yourself through your daily action and reactions; what you say or do arises out of what you are thinking and feeling about things, persons and situations. The level of your inner being (emotions, feelings and thoughts) decides the type of actions and reactions you are manifesting in the outer realm. This is where you need to begin and start to correct things. Get rid of all that you have accumulated which is at variance with your Godly nature. Since we do not know the nature of God, you must study the science of God-realisation or we can go to the embodiments of that science, the saints and sages. Know how they lived and brought transformation in their nature and attained the Supreme Reality.

We regard God as being an ocean of compassion, forgiveness and love. So the first thing in our transformation is rid ourselves of all hatred, anger, violence, lust etc. and be a centre of compassion and kindness. The spiritual life starts by turning away from all that gives pain and suffering to others, becoming yourself a centre of good will and loving kindness.

Through spiritual practise, you become aware of yourself on a higher level than that of normal awareness. Then comes into you an awareness that you are above at the human level and where you know yourself to be related to Divinity. You find you are in essence a spiritual being above and beyond time and space, above birth and death and above names and forms. You discover yourself in relation not only to this world, but to the Creator of all things. You now know that the physical body and the mind are only passing phenomena and there is something else that is real. When this awareness dawns, being spiritual becomes the most natural thing for you to do.

Four principles to remember - to lead to peace, bliss and illumination:

a) If you want to attain God, then be like God

b) Fill your life with all that is sublime

c) God alone is the Reality

d) Truthfulness

Some basic Truths of Life

Death is certain

If we do not recognise and realise the certainty of death, we are living in delusion. The root cause of all sorrow is this delusion. Death is not at all unexpected but this truth is based on actuality and we must accept it and always remember it.

Time is precious, do not waste it. Resolve right now “I will strive for my great goal in life - Liberation. I will attend to all my duties and obligations without showing laziness or lethargy”. Time wasted is time lost forever.

The World is an abode of Unhappiness

Your goal is hindered by the deceptive attraction of the sense objects all around us. Your attention is scattered through the five holes of the senses. You do not realise that this is only a delusion and no real and lasting happiness can be had from these objects. So long as the delicious and tasty food is in your mouth, there is a pleasant sensation. Once it goes inside, it is all over.

You are enslaved by the sense objects only when you think that there is some happiness in them. Once you discover their true nature through discrimination, you are no longer deluded and become established in total detachment. You go through life as a master of situation and not as a slave to every attractive sense object. Realising this truth, you steadily advance towards the Goal.

Everybody has a Divine destination.

Your destiny is to transcend sorrow and sufferings, pain and misery and to attain a state characterised by Bliss, Peace and Perfection. You are given this human birth only to attain this state, known as God. It is that Experience-absolute where all sorrows disappear, where all doubts vanish. It is transcending all sorrow, pain, grief, delusion and bondage. You are in a state of absolute freedom and fearlessness.

You do not belong in this passing world, you are only a traveller and one day you have to die. If your life is properly directed and used, you can attain this goal in this very life.

Recognition of Oneness of all Life

Scriptures declare that “The entire Universe that we see is nothing other than the Universal Reality (Supreme Truth). That alone is. All is verily this Universal Reality. In the Reality there is no duality”.

Diversity, more than unity, seems to be the law of creation. But if you trace all diversities to their source, they will be found to be based on having a singleness of source. A tree is full of diverse branches, twigs, leaves and flowers, but it springs from one root.

God or Divinity is the principle of existence. Beings exist because the Divinity exists within them. This principle is common to all that exists and forms the basis for oneness of all life.

Be always aware: “I am one with all that lives in my Essential Self. Existence is one. Life is one”. Knowing this truth, they would not do unto others that which they would not like to be done unto themselves. To grow into this awareness is to realise that the One Divine spark dwells in all beings.

The Life that you are meant to Live

All differing religious scriptures proclaim their martyrs came on Earth to do good to the people by bringing happiness, consolation, hope, inspiration, love, and elevation. These qualities are essentially human as each of us is endowed with.

A person who whilst making a living and looking after himself, is also ceaselessly engaged in the welfare of others and benefiting God’s creation, such a life is a really true life and fully lived.

And the life of a human being who lives for God and not only for humanity, such a life is not only a well-lived life, such life has no death. It is divine and eternal life, a life in God where you know yourself as a part of God. You live as That, manifesting divinity through thought, word and deed. Such a life you are meant to live. Strive for it and be blessed.

The True Purpose of Life

So far we have established there is only one permanent Reality (God) behind the names and forms that constitute this universe. That Reality, that Truth is of the nature of Blessedness. That is a state of freedom, limitless peace, boundless wisdom and indescribable bliss. This eternal state is your real abode and ultimate destiny. This life has been given to you to attain this state and is your true purpose.

Man is ever engaged in activity but the happiness that he seeks always eludes him. Unfortunately, he is searching for something where it is not. How can sense objects of this world, which is impermanent and always changing, give happiness? In the end, disappointment and dissatisfaction sets in.

Happiness is a state of inner life and is not related to the external state of opulence and the fulfilment of wants. Happiness is to be found only in freedom, which is within your own self and has as its source the permanent and eternal Self (God). This (bliss) is your very nature and you are that Bliss. This principle must be taught to children from the beginning in order that they may lead a life of purpose and direction.

Secular and Spiritual Lives - a Reconciliation

In our worldly lives, we perform duties daily and these must be reconciled with our spiritual life, striving for perfection and the attainment of Bliss. The body, mind, senses and intellectual faculties have to be used as instruments to bring us closer to the attainment of Bliss.

Man finds himself entangled in desires and cravings of the mind and considers himself the servant of the senses. He does not understand that these instruments have not been given for endless rounds of sensual pleasures and objective enjoyments. As part of a community, he should live a life of honest labour, caring for himself and family and offering selfless service to those in need. His worldly life must be based on the principles of truth and honesty.

As right actions must be followed in external life, so must right thinking prevail in mental life. Internal self-enquiry, how does one think and act in relation to one’s own self and to others, must be an integral part of one’s personality. Thus, through the intellect, you may find out how thoughts operate, how the senses deceive you and how thoughts and senses may be controlled.

Don’t become a slave to the senses, but be a master of the mind. Thus the body and mind may be made to serve their proper functions in life and the physical, mental and intellectual aspects of the personality trained in a practical way to advance you in spiritual life.

When all aspects of the worldly life are thus harmonised, you can proceed in your chosen vocation, always being mindful of the principle of righteousness. You have been given this unique opportunity of a human birth; make an earnest effort to attain “Blessedness and the Bliss of Realization”.

What am I living for?

There should be an urge in you for self-improvement. Life is not meant for routine mundane activity, nor being a slave to sensual pleasures. It is an ascent towards perfection, living for a noble ideal. Life is meant for God-Realisation.

How does one live an ideal life in this ever-changing world amongst people, undergoing various experiences in different circumstances?

To begin with, we have to change, our thoughts and actions. As an example, we must “speak little, but speak softly; be kind, be compassionate”. There are sacred poems and prayers that we can adopt and apply their teachings in our daily activities. Thus, we give ourselves objectives to live by.

In these ways we become a source of good to others, becoming compassionate, tolerant and helpful. This is the goal we must try to achieve in life. In time, we will become better and ideal persons.

“Whatever I want that others should be towards me, let me be the first to begin the process”; others will then follow, learning from my example. This is life - working upon ourselves day by day, moving towards a state of perfection. Move towards that which makes your life well lived, which makes you think you have not lived in vain.