Why wait for passing of laws to do right?

Mar 20, 2010, 12.00am IST
SADHU VASWANI.


Is the modern lifestyle suited to a life of meditation?

Modern lifestyle emphasises action and this action is often unrest. Unrest prevents the creation of an environment that is suitable for meditation. The emphasis is now on mental prowess and this makes one argumentative, controversial and aggressive, rather than receptive of spiritual insights. Competing for one-upmanship in the mental sphere does not build emotional stability. There is perhaps only greater imbalance and disorder. Intuitions are shut out, giving more space to manas, the lower mind. Be detached and, in a world of violence, join forces with those who work for peace and love. Satsang could play a good role here.


Which qualities do we have to cultivate to achieve this?

Hurt no one! Learn to practise ahimsa to yourself first. There are many cells in your body. Every bad thought, every vicious desire harms the cells in you. You are their guardian, so keep away from bad thoughts. Cultivate ekagrata or one-pointedness, the power of speech and the power of silence. Speak to the point. Learn to sit in silence and adore silence. The silent ones reflect divine action in the third stage. In the first stage are great men or heroes of history, in the second stage are sages and in the third stage are the silent ones.

Cultivate saralata or simplicity. To reach the centre that is you, the real Self, try to rise above argument, thought, and abstraction. Pass into illumination. This comes gently, gradually, silently, from the real Self, the atman. Be simple, non-egoistic. Overcome the desire-self! Become a nukta, a point in the cosmos. Then you will receive illumination from the atman. Without being simple no one ever passed from learning to wisdom. None ever entered into illumination without overcoming desire and ego. Be simple! And you will be transformed; as was Jesus, as was Guru Nanak and others like them. Be simple and you will be flooded with light from within.

What place does work have in all this?

Work is essential. Spiritual life is one of balance. Be balanced. The purpose of life on Earth is to correct and balance oneself. Work purifies and work disciplines us. And he who would meditate must first be purified through work. He must learn the lessons of practical life. He must not neglect duty or dharma. Krishna tells Arjuna repeatedly to "stand up and do your dharma or duty". I must not neglect my duty to my family and society: I am linked with them karmically. The path of work is the path of purification, and purification must precede illumination.

What is the New Order?

Confusion arises from lack of understanding. It is true, many speak today of a "New Order", and so they ask for new laws, new adjustments in society and the state. Many, indeed, idolise the state as the source of new laws that would make the world new. The world will not be new until we have more people with world-vision and hearts of love. What can parchments of Parliament and laws of assemblies do?


What we need are people of sympathy and understanding, of vision and love, of self-control and self-effacement, those who have not merely national consciousness but whole consciousness, who see the whole as one, who recognise the unity of all life. When you see the One in all and the all in One, you will overcome all barriers.