Blog

February 2009

Lift yourself by yourself; nobody else can do it for you. – Chinmaya

Evolution is but a continuous process of self-improvement involving constant effort till one realizes one’s own Self as all-perfect, infinite and complete.

At the body level, the highest evolution possible is to obtain a human body. After that, it is only the subtle body consisting of mind and intellect complex that evolves.

A mind that evolves becomes richer in all noble values. It is only such a subtle and pure mind that can lift itself and glide forth to comprehend the deeper mysteries regarding the individual and the creation and thus to intuitively feel one’s oneness with the entire universe.

The sadhana of purifying the mind, which is unavoidable, has to be done by ourselves. No one else can do it for us, just like eating food or taking rest. Immature seekers wait for a Guru to confer upon them the vision of God by a magical touch or a mystical look only to get disappointed in the end.

After listening to the inspiring lecture of Sadhu Vaswaniji, a youngster approached him and requested, “Master, please bless me that I have the vision of God.” Vaswaniji advised him, “Speak the truth. Never hate others. Look none with lust. Be contented with whatever one has. Always take the Lord’s name.”

The young man replied, “Master, I have been doing all these for a long time. I have heard that Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had blessed Swami Vivekananda with the vision of God. Master, you are my Ramakrishna. Please bless me.”

Vaswaniji corrected him saying that he is no Ramakrishna Paramahamsa but a humble servant of the saints. But the youngster kept persisting with the same request on the subsequent days also, saying that he was ready to obey any command.

Vaswaniji asked him to shave his head off and meet him the next day. Needless to say, the youngster was missing for the rest of the lectures! His hair was more important for him than his love for God!!

Pujya Gurudev used to say that he was not a ‘mule-Guru’ to carry his disciples on his back so that they could reach the destination of self-mastery without any effort of their own.

While expounding the term Uddharet aatmanaa aatmaanam in Gita, Pujya Gurudev gives the example of a mountaineering school, wherein the aspirants are trained to climb steep mountains. The instructor can only guide them by giving all the tested and tried techniques of climbing and various postures of relaxation en route. But as far as the real climbing part is concerned, each one has to raise oneself by oneself. As a result, true to the effort put forth, the joy and the fulfilment of reaching the peak is experienced not by an air-lifted one, but by the one who has gone through the adventure of lifting oneself.

This has been true in every field. No one has become a musician, a doctor, a saint or a sportsperson overnight. Every achievement demands its own quota of efforts. ‘No pain no gain’ is the strict law of nature.

Similarly, the one who treads the razor-edge path of self-perfection alone reaches the Peak in oneself. To him alone belongs the abode of boundless bliss and everlasting peace that passes all understanding.

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