The Brahmachari
/ spiritual seeker, following the previous 2 instructions,
§ - has studied
the Vedas and obtained some basic knowledge;
§ - has diligently acquired the skills to attain
success and perfection in work.
With these two, he is equipped with Knowledge
and Skill. As important as they are, they are not sufficient. On their own,
they are secular in nature.
These first two Steps are the two secular
coaches of the train. They concern the vast information in the Vedas, and the
preoccupation with work.
In case the student gets too carried away by
them, Sankara has thoughtfully introduced further spiritual coaches
into the education train. They are:
§ Dedication
of actions to God,
§ Renunciation
of Desires
and
§ Finding
God.
In this instruction, we are driven by Devotion
to God.
When Perfection is perfected, so to say, i.e.
when it has done its job, we should open the doors of our life to Devotion.
As much as Perfection is a very important step,
Devotion is found to be greater than it. We do not give up Perfection, but we
offer it to God and place it under His direction.
A caterpillar does not leave the leaf on which
it lives until it gets a firm footing on the adjacent leaf. Then it crawls over
from one to the other. It is the same with us when we crawl from
Perfection onto Devotion.
Dedication superior to Perfection
It is very important for us to be convinced that
Devotion is superior to Perfection, otherwise we will not be motivated to shift
from one to the other. Here are some reasons that show the superiority of
Devotion over Perfection.
i.
Perfection
itself can be dry, not emotionally satisfying. When Love or Devotion enters the
picture, we see clearly the difference between the two.
ii.
What
was hard work in aiming for perfection, becomes effortless in the presence of
love. With love, one never comes to the state of boredom in work. Ask a mother
if she ever gets tired of cooking for her family.
iii.
What
love can bestow, discipline can barely reach.
What do we mean by offering or surrendering our
actions to God? What is being expected of us?
During a havan,
we say “idam na mama” after
making each offering into the fire.
In real life how do we say “idam na mama”? By delving a bit deeper into this question, we
find that two things are expected of us:
1. Pleasing God:
Now we are asked to divert our attention from the Ego and place it on God.
Hence the immediate change required is to do everything to please God.
The God to whom we make
our offerings could take many forms. The only point to bear in mind is that it
must be someone or some Power greater than our Ego.
2. Surrendering Ego:
Surrender is not a slavish mentality as some people may imagine. It does not
mean cowing down to a person in authority for fear of criticism or any other
such notion. It is the voluntary surrender of one’s ego with the full knowledge
of all its limitations and defects. From the highest standpoint, such a thing
as an Ego does not really exist, so we should give no importance to it.
We should voluntarily
surrender it. By all means possible, self–centredness has to be thinned out and
selflessness has to be installed in our heart. This is the essential meaning of
Surrender.
Now, we shall go more deep into “God” in vedantic sense
Swami
Sivananda writes,
"At
whose command does the sun rise punctually in the morning and set in the
evening? The sun is miles and miles away from the earth. What a great wonder it
is that from such a long distance the sun is able to send light, heat, energy
and vitality to all living beings inhabiting this fair earth?
What
a marvel it is! All these stars, planets and satellites are revolving in the
sky in fixed orbits from day to day, month to month and year to year under
immutable definite laws.
Now
the question arises whether all this organisation is the work of some
intelligent Creator behind or is the product of a fortuitous combination of
particles of matter, Anus, Parama Anus, Dvi Anus, atoms and molecules? It is the former hypothesis that
appeals to our intellect.
The
Vedas also quite endorse the verdict
of our reason. They emphatically declare that the sun and the moon, heaven and
earth were created by God.”
What is the means to find such a God? We
shall see, in the upcoming post.
Love.
