By : Seetha Priya
Put your life with its patterns into perspective; by doing this, you can enjoy the richness of life within and with others. I knew someone who was generous, noble, and talented. Despite all this, he was stuck in a groove of his psychological pattern. His goodness did not fully enrich him, for he stuck to what he knew and what he had concluded. He was a victim of his social conditioning. He did not question his conclusions; in fact, he was trapped in his conclusions. His life was lost in proving his conclusions, and in the process, he did not find the richness and poetry of life. Hence, he suffered from stress and discontentment.
Why do we get stuck to our opinion, to our conclusions, to what we like or dislike? Learn to question everything, or else, unconsciously, we will glorify our inner foolishness. Is it not true that we are trapped in our attachment to what we know, and feel it is going to give us happiness or fulfilment? You tend to think, “If I get what I want, then I will become happy. So, I have knowledge of what I want, and there is a conclusion that it will give me happiness. Until that time of getting what I want, I am discontent.”
If you investigate discontentment, you will see that you always compare, and in that comparison, you are more discontent. Can you live life without comparisons? You are not happy with ‘what is’, for you have concluded that you will be happy if you get that ‘something’. We have not seen the richness of what we have. With that lack of seeing ‘what is’, we work for what we do not have. Then, even if we get that, our ignorance will prevent us from seeing the beauty of what we have achieved.
Unless we learn to be sensitive to ‘what is’, we will not optimize what we have, and so, we will be discontent. With this discontentment, even if we get what we want, inner discontent will spoil the richness of our achievement. The ninth shloka of Vishnu Sahasranama reflects on this aspect: –
‘Ishwaro Vikrami Dhanvi Medhavi Vikramah Kramaha
Anuttamo Duradarshaha Kritajnah Krutiratmavan’
The all potent ‘Ishwara’, who is also the ‘Vikrami’ the valiant, and as ‘Dhanvi’ – the Bowman, and ‘Medhavi’ with his powerful intelligence and ‘Vikrama’ – of great prowess, sets the ‘Krama’ the order of our life in recognizing ‘what is’ (than what is desired). He is the unexcelled ‘Anuttama’, the unassailable ‘Duradarshaha’, who is well-aware of actions performed ‘Kritajna’. Ultimately Lord Vishnu is ‘Krutiratmavan’ one who creates and then enters His creation and makes it His own.
Reflect on this anecdote from Sai Baba’s life. Moolay Shastri goes to Baba’s durbar to meet Sai Maharaj. He was proud of being a Brahmin and of his scholarship. He felt inferior when he observed people coming and bowing down to Sai Baba. Seeing this, Sai Baba tells Moolay Shastri, “See the moon. It is far away in the sky; still, it shines.” Then he pointed to the rose in the garland and says, “It is so fragrant on the ground. The rose does not compare with the moon, and the moon does not compare with the rose. In the absence of comparison, both are rejoicing in their richness.
Most people in business, in factories, be it a worker or executive, are unhappy. They are unhappy like Moolay Shastri. Moolay Shastri was miserable despite his talent as he compared himself with Sai Baba who is ‘Para Brahman’!
Look into your life; learn to discard inner disorder through Vishnu Sahasranama. Do not allow comparisons to kill you. There is no end to comparisons. One can be extremely successful, without comparisons. That is a healthy option. Find this option and with clarity, do your work, and then see the beauty of life. Let yourself become liberated from the groove you are stuck in.
Hemadpant states, “If Sai Satcharitra is sung lovingly, the pleasures of listening will enhance and understanding the meaning and intent, enrich the devotees’ love and devotion which will grow manifold.
“If you listen to it day and night, the bonds of worldly attachment will be broken. The triple consciousness of the meditator, the object meditated upon and the meditation will disappear, and the listeners will be full of happiness.”
(Hemadpant in Sai Satcharitra –Chapter14, Ovi 217-218)
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