Bhagavan: You know mrdangam, the South Indian musical instrument, which like a drum, has to be beaten on both the sides as you play. Your life is like a rat caught in that mrdangam. If the mrdangam is beaten on one side, the rat runs to the other side, and vice versa, as there is no way out for it. Similarly, having been fed up with this world, you think of God. When God tests you, you again drift towards the world. Your movement between the world and God is like that of the rat. This is not the proper way.
A small example: Two students competed with each other in a tournament of eating bananas. One student wanted to eat the outer skin of every fruit first so that he could finish eating the soft pulp part next. The other student planned to eat the soft part first and the skin next. Accordingly, they started eating.
The first student having eaten the outer skin of every fruit first had his belly full of that stuff and he could not eat any sweet pulp. So he was defeated, and suffered from stomach ache and indigestion. The second student ate a belly full of the pulp of every fruit, and hence couldn't eat the skin of the fruits. So, he too lost in the competition. All the same, he remained healthy.
Similar is the case with those people who are after worldly desires and sensual pleasures. They will have to end their lives in misery finding no cure for bhavaroga, the ailment of worldly attachment. This is equal to the condition of the first student who ate only the outer skin of the banana first in the tournament. But those who think of God are like the second student who ate the soft pulp. They grow stronger in divine life.
Life should start from the point of dasoham, ‘I am your servant’. Fill its middle with the relentless enquiry, koham, "Who am I?" End it with full awareness of the identity of the individual self with God ‘soham’, ‘I am God’. This is the correct way of life.
Man should realise that the happiness and peace he essentially needs are not present in this mundane world. A simple example: A person went to a hotel. The waiter asked him, "What shall I serve you?” The person said, "I want idli and sambar". Then the bearer, taken by great surprise, said, "What Sir! Have you not seen the board hanging over there! This is a military non-vegetarian hotel, Sir!" Likewise, how can you expect items like Palav, Biriyani and chicken in an Udupi Brahmin vegetarian hotel?
In the same manner, there is a board attached to this world, anityam asukham lokam, meaning "This world is temporary and full of misery.” How then do you expect peace and happiness in this world? That is why in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says, mam bhajasva, meaning, 'Think of Me, or worship Me, or be immersed in Me, or surrender to Me'. You should lead your life in full knowledge of these facts.
(From: "Satyopanishad - Direct Directions from the Divine" by Prof. K. Anil Kumar)
No comments:
Post a Comment