Dhyana Vahini - Post 28

Chapter X

 

Swami writes,

Have contentment and desire only the Lord

“You must have contentment, whatever the gain or loss or state. This is essential. Contentment grants and increases happiness. For the contented mind, life is an endless festival, but the mind worried by desire will have no rest. With desire troubling you, concentration is impossible. 

Desire is the fire in your frame; it reduces you to ashes. Contentment is the effective drug to destroy it. Just as a bath in the cool waters of a stream refreshes a traveller who is exhausted and perspiring in the burning heat of day, the one suffering from the scorching fire of greed will be refreshed by the pellucid waters of contentment.

One should have desire only for the path of realization. One should not dedicate one’s life for the mean desires of the world. Dedicate all to the Lord; that is genuine contentment. That is the result of the acquisition of peace of mind (santhi), joy (santhosha), and discrimination (vicharana). Direct visualization of the Lord (sakshatkara) is also possible then.

To acquire these, remembrance of the Lord’s name (smarana) and meditation (dhyana) are the only means. Only they can give you that power. Nowhere else can you get them; nowhere else will you get them.

More than all, if you possess contentment (santhosha), the other two will be added to you. Nothing is more profitable than contentment. It is a treasure richer than the three worlds. The contented person can experience indescribable divine glory. 

Such a person is more joyful than the owner of the wish-bestowing cow, Kamadhenu, and the wish-bestowing tree, Kalpataru. Such a person can immerse themself within themself and discover bliss therein. Do not strive for physical joy, discarding the more permanent joy of inner calm and contentment.

Do not get attached to this evanescent body; instead, utilize it as an implement. Consider yourself as separate from this destructible body, which was created out of the conjunction of the five elements. Know yourself as the indestructible Atma. Just as the house in which you dwell is separate from you, so the body, which surrounds you for a little time, is separate. The body is the root cause of all this grief, all this calamity, and all this slavery. 

Understand this well: make the body obey your will, and never bow down to it and follow its whims. Be prepared to cast it away; resolve to control it and keep it under strict control. You have to deal carefully with the body; you have to train it with great attention.

Though all that was said above related to the Atma, some activities have to be undertaken by everyone. How should the body be used as an implement, as a boat for example, to cross the stream of life? 

Until the other bank is reached, or in other words, until the ultimate truth is attained, you must take care to see that it is not damaged or broken or leaky. Do not let the boat fall to pieces; be on the lookout for signs of this. That is to say: take moderate food of pure (sathwic) quality at the correct time, and continue disciplined physical activities for the body.

Such activity directed to the spiritual becomes the discipline needed for real spiritual practice. This is what is referred to as meditation, remembrance of the name, ritual worship (puja), and devotional singing. When the discipline is practised, as well as later, you must be joyful and not gloomy. This should not be forgotten; never get tired or timid. However, if you get tired, then you can eat a few ground nut kernels or almond seeds soaked well in water at the end of the day’s meditation. These will cool the body and endow it with strength.

In summary, everyone must develop the virtue of contentment through the practice of meditation (dhyana sadhana). Contentment is a pure (sathwic) quality; it will not transform you into an idler — no, not at all. Instead, it will permit the mind to travel toward the Lord, and it will grant peace. It will also hinder unessential activities that have profit for oneself as the aim. 

The contented person will be fully pure (sathwic) and will lead an inner life, in communion with the Atma. That person can do any work without rest and without complaint. The waves of the mind, which sway in many directions, get a single aim.

The sages (rishis), religious mendicants (bikshus), and yogis of the past realized the goal of life by means of the peace that came to them through contentment. Contentment gives all spiritual aspirants the enthusiasm and vigour necessary for treading the path that leads to realization of God (sakshatkara). Contented, the aspirant can ignore the dangers and difficulties of the path. The aspirant treats all the impermanent things of this life as poison and discards them as trash. Discrimination, renunciation, and the spirit of inquiry develop through contentment. The story of Meera is an example of this. Understand well the stories of Radha, Jayadeva, and Gauranga, for they will teach you the truth.”

We will try to go further deep into this "Inner peace / contentment," which is the key subject of today's post from Dhyana Vahini, in the next post.

Love.