Vedanta in Practice - by Swami Paramananda

Class

'3A32t-

Book.

y33COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT

GopigM

VEDANTA IN PRACTICE

Hi I

SWAMI PARAMANANDA

Vedanta

in Practice

BY

SWAMI PARAMANANDAII

THE AUTHOR OF

'The Path

of

Devotion,"

etc.

New YorkThe Baker and Taylor CompanyMCMIX

LIBRARYTwo

of

CONGRESS

xf*K *\tf

Copies Received

JANa

7

1909

Copyrignt Entry

CLASS

Q

XXc, No,

Copyright, 1908

BY

SWAMI PARAMANANDA[All rights reserved]

THE PREMIER PRESS NEW YORK

This

little

book

Is

dedicated to the

memory

of

my

blessed Master,

Swami Vivekananda, whose pure

character, unselfish love and teachings of tol-

erance have tied the East and West insisterly

bonds of love and sympathy.

PREFACEIn givingreligious instruction,it is

always important to show

how

princi-

ples can be put into practice.

People

sometimes imagine that the principlesareall,

and that when one has learnedtalk glibly about them,is

them and can

nothing further

necessary.

This

is

as great a mistake as to suppose that

looking at a well-spread tablethatlessis

is

all

needed to satisfy hunger.

Unbe-

we

not only eat the food, but alsoit,

digest

and assimilate

so that

it

comes part of our

bodies, nourishingall

and preserving them,world would be of

the food in the

little

use to us.is

The aim

of these lectures7

to

show

8us

Preface

how

to avail ourselves of the great

principles of Vedanta, so that they will

become part of our dailyus

lives

;

to teach

how we canlive

put them into practice

and

by them every moment of our

existence.late

When we

can thus assimi-

them, they will nourish and sus-

tain our spiritual nature, just as food

preserves our physical frame.is

Vedanta

eminently practical, and each of thelecturesis

five

designed to help the

reader to put into practice the truth he

has learned.

They were given

in re-

sponse to the demand for instructionof this character, and they are sent out

with the earnest hope that somehelped by them.

may

be

CONTENTSPAGEI.

The NeedLife

of

Spiritual,

15

II.

Right Discrimination.Building of Character

...

3657

III.

IV.

Power of Concentration.1

77

V. Self- RealizationVI. Selections

93

from Upanishads and Other Scriptures 117

VEDANTA IN PRACTICE

1

'

Learn

this

humble

service.

by reverence by enquiry and by Those men of wisdom whowill teach

have realized the truth

you

this

Su-

preme Wisdom.1

'Knowing which, thouerror

shalt not again thusall

fall into

and by which thou shalt see

beings in thyself and also in Me.

"Evenful,

if

you are the most

sinful of the sin-

you

will cross over the

ocean of sin by the

bark of wisdom.

"As kindleddoes the wisdom

firefire

reduces fuel to ashes, so

reduce

all

actions to ashes.

Nothing indeedwisdom.'

in thisis

world purifies equal to

He who

perfectedit

by yoga

(relig-

ious practices) findsself.'

in time, within

him-

Bhagavad Gita

IV. 36-38.

I

THE NEED OF SPIRITUAL LIFEOftenthing shouldit

has been asked that somein

practical

Vedanta teachingwhich

be

given

somethingis

can be lived and carried out in ourevery-daylife.

This

a very vital

point in religion, and without this

cannot expect to be truly spiritual.

we Ofis

what use

is

religion, of

what use

spirituality, if

they have not somethingtangible,

to give usstantial,

more

more subFre-

than mere dry words?

quentlyreligionit;

we hearit

people complain of

and of those who believe inis

they say

all

superstition, in-

tended only for the uneducated and

weak-minded.

These men are doubt15

1

6

The Need

of Spiritual Life

less perfectly sincere in their

remarks,

because, their vision being limited, they

do not

see truth behind the claims of

religion,

and therefore try to deny

its

existence.

Thank God

that religious

truths

do not

in the least

depend onIf they

any such remarks or opinions.

did not have as their basis something

moreine,

solid

and sublime than we imag-

or perceive, or grasp through our

senses, they

would not beit

in existence

to-day.cial

For has

not been the spe-

tendency of a certain class of men,

in all ages,

even from prehistoric times,

to endeavor to crush religious truths

cut of existence?tellect

Men

of gigantic intheir

have often tried to disprove

reality

and usefulness.

Often great

scientists

have made bold assertionsthesetruths,

doubting

because they

could not realize them through scien-

The Need oftific

Spiritual Life

ij

methods.

Many, many waves ofreligion,

antagonism have swept overstillit

stands firm in

its

unshaken and undisturbed.proofis

own glory, What otherits lofti?

necessary to establish

ness and extraordinary strengthreligion stands

Trueeter-

on a pedestal of

nal truth, which noeffort canit

amount of humanHowever,

shake or move.

is

very interesting to observe thatof thesein

manyrisen

men who

at first

have

opposition,

come sooner orwonderfulit.

later to a realization of its

truth and

bowthis

their heads beforeis

Proof of

seen in the lives of

some greatTyndall,

scientists, like

Huxley andtheirlife-

etc.,

who,

after

long

experiences in material science,

admitted at the close of their lives that

cne must give up matter andit,

rise

above

in order to gain

knowledge of the

1

8

The Need of

Spiritual Life

spirit.

However we maywill

try or strug-

gle, it is certain that spiritter,

guides matIt

and

always do

so.

cannot

be otherwise.its

Society has always paidtospirituality,

homage

but never

spirituality to society.

This has been

the one unique and inevitable law inthis

world of ours.to our point, Ireallylife.

Coming backpractical

musttheit

say that religionside of

teachesfact,

In

is

based on realization.a

Whatis

right hasif

man

to say religionit

trueit

he has

not seen

and proved

for himself?

Similarly,

what

right has a

man

to

claimtised

itit

is

untrue before he has practried to realizeit ?

and

A blindmaysay

man

does not see the sun, and

that the sun does not shine; but canthat really affect the sun, or proveit

non-existent?

No,

it

cannot.

During

The Need ofa

Spiritual Life

19

cloudy day the brilliant suninvisible,

hidden andby, in

but

may be can we thereit

any way, conclude that

does

not exist?

Exactly in the same way,

as long as man's sun of

wisdom

is

cov-

ered by the veil of ignorance, he doesnot seespiritual

God norlife.

feel the

need of a

However, nobody can

remain forever in that state of unwis-

dom.

Every mistake we make, every

experiencebad,

we

gain,

whether good oralways

pleasant

or unpleasant,

takes us to

some higher understandingButit is

and

realization.

very impor-

tant for spiritual aspirants not to be-

come

self-centeredall

and narrow-minded.limited

Weon

know howis.

human

knowledgehis

One may

be very great

own

plane of thought, and an-

other

may

be as great or greater on

an entirely different plane of thought.

20

The Needthey,

of Spiritual Life quarrel andis

Shouldargueright

therefore,to

trying

prove that one

and the other wrong?whereis

Both arethe

right, both are true,

room

for

fight

or quarrel?

Each

under-

stands according to his

ownto

degree of

comprehension.the

This has been one ofspiritual

great

impediments

progress, that

men

entirely lose sight

of

all

things except what they see and

feel in their

own range

of vision. This

mistake comes from man's ignoranceor extreme egotism, which

makes him

short-sighted and self-centered.ever, this great obstacleis

Howis

to be over-

come throughother

realization.it.

There

no

way

out of

The moreis

igno-

rant the man, the greaterhis pride of knowledge.this perfectly well.

apt to beall

Weis

know

There

no harderignorant,

task than trying to

make an

The Need ofegotistical

Spiritual Life

21

man

understand beyond his

range of thought.

When man

is

ri-

pened in wisdom his whole nature be-

comes softened and tender.

His whole

nature changes, and he becomes broad

and sympathetic.

We can study thisofall

fact

from the

lives

great spiritual men.

Their wismeek.

dom makes them humble andThe wisdomrealize that

of

Socrates

made him

he knew nothing.

Who

can

really master all of the infinite store

of knowledge ?the

The more a manhim

learns,

more heis

finds beforelimit.

to learn.

There

no

Infinite is the

ocean

of wisdom.

The deeper youthe reason

dive in

that ocean, the greatermility.

grows your hu-

That

is

we

find so

much modestyof mankind.

in all the great teachers

How

can they help

it,

when they

see the

power of the Al-

22

The Need

of Spiritual Life

mighty One workingeverything ?

everywhere inin

They no longer grovel

the darkness of

ignorance, but sing

boldly the infinite glory of the Lord.

"Thouall

art

one Infinite Being, beyondconception,

human

beyond mind

and speech."

Thus sang the ancientThis

Seers-of -truth, concerning the infinite

glory of the Lord.called true

is

what

is

wisdom, knowing the ominvisible forceall

nipotent

power of the

which guides the universe and

that

dwells therein, both animate and inani-

mate.

After knowing, through

reali-

zation, this onecalled

and

irresistible

force,

by different names, as Lord,

God, Allah, and so on,help but resignsay,will,

their

how can men own wills and"Not

as did the Nazarene,

mythat

but Thine, be done"?this,

Notall

Jesus alone declared

but

who

The Need of

Spiritual Life

23

attain to this highest state of spiritual

wisdom sayand

the same.

Inis

all

countries

in all ages,

Truth

one withoutit

a second, and those

who

realize

also

come to the same goal and the sameunderstanding, although

we

often find

a difference in theor language.

wayis is

of expressionlittle

This

of

impor-

tance; the difference

only in words,

and notFoolsstand

in the ultimate meaning.

and

fanaticsis

do not under-

this,

and that

why

there

is

so

much unnecessarymatter of can I not worship

disturbance in the

religious opinions.

"WhyIdeal,

my

God,

my

by expressingin

my

devotional feelings

my own waydoI

without being con-

demned,

criticized or interfered

with?

WhyManygees

meet so much opposition?"it

ask this question, but

often

unanswered.

Narrow-minded

24

The Need of

Spiritual Life

people have only one

ing things, and that

way of regardway is only whatis false.

they think right. All else

Not

only do they not want to go beyondthe range of their

own

ideas, but they

wish others to accept their views.

We

have a very beautiful and appropriateillustrationin

the

Katha-Upanishad:

"Fools dwelling in darkness, wise intheir

own

conceit and puffed

up with

vain knowledge, go round and round,

staggering to andled

fro,

like blind

menlike

by the blind."

There are many

this in the world,

who, though wrapped

in the veil of ignorance, fancy in the

pride of their hearts that theyeverything.

know

They do not

stop there,

but try to lead others, and the resultis

that "the blind, leading the blind,fall

both

into the ditch."talk about the imprac-

So when we

The Need of

Spiritual Life

25

ticability of religion,

we must

stop for

a minute and think, beforeassertions.

making such

At

present

we have become

so dependent on matter, and have solost

sight of

the spirit that nothingbutter,

seems practical but bread and

and such things as are perceivable andgratifying to the senses.all

If

we weigh

our so-called intellectual arguments

against the value of religion,see clearly that there is

we

will

no other rea-

son for our objections, except that

we

have formed a morbid habit of depending entirely on matterternal

upon

the exthis

and transitory things of

world.that

But

it

is

a well-known fact

men

cannot live on bread alone.

Doubtless, food sustains our physicalbodies, butit

cannot bring any nourishlife,

mentself

to the inner

which

is

the real

of

man

the Atman.

And

sooner

26

The Need of

Spiritual Lifeis felt

or later this need

in every hu-

man

heart.

However

brutal, diabolical

and hard-hearted a man may be; nay,however greattruthshis hatred for spiritual

may be, some day, after going through many different experiences oflife,

he comes to the conclusion thatlive

he cannotthingreal,

without getting some-

something more substantial

than the mere external satisfactions ofthe world,entirely.

on which he depended sorestless.

This makes himif

Hefor

struggles ashis soul.

to get

some food

This brings him to a

realilife.

zation of the need of a spiritual

Thecome

value of religiontothis

is felt

when webefore.

point,

and not

Thena

alone

we

realize the transitori-

ness of this world and the necessity ofspiritual life.

This shows

how we

change our views according to our

The Need of

Spiritual Life

2Jcan-

growth and understanding.not

WeThe

make any oneis

spiritual until this

reed

felt

in his heart.

great

menis

of realization

know

this,

and that

the reason they

sympathize with

those

who haveone

not yet awakened tois

their spiritual necessities. It

throughbut

sympathythrough

can

teach,If

not

fault-finding.

you want toto hisin his

help anybody, youlevel,

must come

you must explain thingsThisis

language.

only possible for

cne

whoI

has himself attained spiritual

realization.

As

have already

said, religion is

realization

and thoroughly

practical.

Toing.ily

spiritual

men

it is

even more prac-

tical,

more

real

than eating and drinkeasthis

There are men who can verydo away with everything init

world, but find

impossible to live

28

The Need of

Spiritual Life

without Divine contemplation.

In one

pole of existence you will find that

mensur-

cannot live a day without dependingentirely

on matter or externalSimilarly

roundings.

you

will find, in

the other existence, otherit is

men

to

whom

impossible to live without entirely

depending on God and living a spirituallife.

This shows that the idea of pracin different stages of

ticability varieslife,

according to our growth and unIf

derstanding.

we always

bear this in

mind, then

we can

never commit the

blunder of denunciation, which comes

throughcism.

short-sightedness

or

fanati-

One

great virtuespiritual

we

can

all

learn

from India's

men.

They havetook

been very sincere, bold and broad intheirlives,

assertions.

Sometimes

it

and even ages to attain to one

The Need of

Spiritual Life

29

spiritual truth, but they bore

it

patient-

ly

and went throughhardshipsif

all

prescribed disausterities.

ciplines,

and

Even then

they failed they did not

find fault with the fundamental teaching, but recognized their

own humanThisis

weaknesses and limitations.

what

is

called true

wisdom

when we

learn to see ourlimitations.

own

imperfections and

Why should we be so verycannot understandit ?

narrow as to denounce anything, onlybecause

we

Our

duty

is

to follow faithfully the spiritual

practices with sincerityheart,

and purity oftill

and struggle hard

we haveNoth-

realized the truth for ourselves.

ing else can remove our doubts, noth-

ing

else

can make us peaceful and

happy.

Reasoning, talking and study-

ing different scriptures cannot give ushappiness, nor supply our inner needs.

30

The Need of

Spiritual Life

Undoubtedly they give some pleasureto intellectual people, but they cannot

bring any development of spiritual conceptions.

As

it

has been beautifully exgreat Vedantic

pressed

by avarious

sage:joining

"The

methods

of

words, the various methods of speaking in beautiful language, the various

methods of explaining the diction ofthe scriptures are only for the disputations

and enjoyments of the learned,

but they do not lead to freedom'." Often

we

see people carried

away by

this

sort of thing

and missing the ultimatelife.

goal of

human

Sri

Ramakrishna

gives a very beautiful parable to thiseffect.

Two

friends

went to a mango

orchard; one of them busied himself in

counting

the

different

trees,

their

branches and leaves, comparing theirsize

and color very

catefully.

This

The Need of

Spiritual Lifeinteresting

31to

was undoubtedly veryhim.

Meanwhile the other went

for-

ward, made the gardener his friend

and began

to enjoy the fruits.

Which

one of them do you suppose was reallythe wiser?

Certainly the one

joyed the

fruits.

There arelives

who enpeople whois

spend their whole

in this leaf-

counting business, thinking thiscnly practical thing inlife.

the

And

at last

they find themselves deceived by the

charm of Maya.

But a few, through

proper understanding, avoid this unprofitable labor of leaf-counting

and try

to acquire the friendship of the

owner

of this magnificent garden, and thus

enjoy the immortal and blissful

fruits.all

They

are the best and wisest of

hu-

manto

beings

who

direct their energies

realizing the

Real,

distinguishing

right

from wrong.

So we always need

32

The Need of

Spiritual Life

right discrimination, in order to live a

true spiritual

life.

Otherwise there

is

great danger of

abusing our powersin

and

energies,

and of spending them

wrong

directions.

But

right discrimi-

nation saves us from

this.

The next thing necessaryfaith.

to have

is

What

is

this faith?

Often we

are told not to have blind faith, not totake

anything for granted.

That

is

very true and very rational.to investigate, thatis for.is

We

ought

what our reasonhard and findit

WeBy

must

strive

the right path and then followfully.

faith-

faith is

meant

to trust the

scripturestruth.

and the words of Seers-ofis

This

verylife.

necessary

and

helpful in spiritual

The

question

may

be brought forth,their

Why

should

we

accept

words before we knowThisis

their truths ourselves?

very

The Need ofgoodas talk, but

Spiritual Life

33to

when we comedifferent.it

practice

we

find

it

It is

hard

to realize,

and sometimes

takes agesit is

to discover one truth.lutely necessary to

So

abso-

have faith in the

words of great prophets and sages whohave devoted their wholeing truth,scribedlives to realiz-

and to follow

their

pre-

directions.

This can be ex-

plained in other words.

As a

forlorn,

thirsty traveler needs the direction of

a

man who

is

well acquainted with a

strange country and knows where water is to be had, so

we, too, need the

help of those

who

can guide us to theIf we,

"water of

life."

through our

vanity, doubt the

words of those truewellall

friends

who knowways of

the various

intricate

spiritual life,

we

sim-

ply miss the opportunity to attain di-

vine

wisdom and may

die of spiritual

34thirst.

The NeedFaithit

of Spiritual Life

is

always helpful and

withoutpossible.

spiritual

growth becomes imsaid by

As

it i%

Lord Krish-

na in the Gita:faithless

"The

ignorant, theis

and one of doubting SelfThereis

ruined.

neither this world,

nor the other, nor happiness for oneof doubting mind."

Without

faith

weis

cannot work properly, and progressimpossible.

All

great

workers pos-

sessed wonderful faith in themselves

and

in the Lord.

What

can a doubt-

ing mind do?

It loses all its

powers

and energies by groping hither andthither in darkness.

Another name for

doubtwhile

is

darkness.

We

doubt

mucK

we

are in darkness.

So, lightaltar of

the candle of

wisdom on the

your heart and see the incomparablebeauty of your

own

Self and of the

Lord, and learn that these are one and

The Need ofinseparable.free

Spiritual Life

35

Do

this boldly

and becomeall

from

all fear,

care

and

limited

ideas that

you are a puny mortal, aand death, whicharise

slave to disease

from doubt of yourself. Or do as LordKrishna

commanded

his

disciple:

"With

the sword of

wisdom

cut asun-

der this doubt of Self lying in theheart,

born of ignorance, and arise."the real boldness.Blessed, in-

This

is

deed, are those

who

can obey such a

command

to attain freedom.

Man, you

talk of boldness, this is true boldness

which enables you to become the possessor of immortalfinitelybliss.

This

is in-

greater than

all

your physicalsacrifice

heroic actions,all

when you canandall

the selfishness

the vanities of

the world, to obey the

commandlife.

of the

Lord and

live

a spiritual

II

RIGHT DISCRIMINATION"Threethings are rare and only obtainable through the grace of the Su-

preme Being: humansire for liberation,

life,

earnest deas-

and the helpful

sociation of the Holy."

So

it is

said

by the great illumined sage, Sankara.

Why should it be so? Why humanshould be considered so greatquestioned.

life

may

be

According to the Vedanticofcreation,this

conception

humanall

bodyverse.

is

the greatest body in the uni-

Man

is

greater thanall

ani-

mals; nay, than

Devas

(angels)'.

Noer

other manifestation of

life isis

greatfit

than man.

Man

alone

in a

po^

sition to attain perfection.36

Even the

'Right Discrimination

37attain to

Devas havemeaning

to

come down and

perfection throughis that, in

human

bodies.

Theof

the lower creation,is

the animal plane, everythingdullness,

full

and thought cannot go

far-

ther than the limits of the body.

Ani-

mals cannot think of any high things.So, also, the Devas,

who

are supposed

to live in the heavens, cannot attain to

freedom

directly.ties

Too much

bodily

pleasure also

us to the physical

plane and obstructs growth, and high

thoughts cannot come.ciety

In

human

so-

we

find the

same

thing.

Those

who have

too

much

wealth, or those

who

are stricken with extreme poverty,fit

are not

for spiritual

attainment:

both are great impediments to the de-

velopment of thedle class

soul.

It is the

mid-

here

who alone we

attain

wisdom, because

find the forces of

mind

38

Right Discriminationbal-

and body properly adjusted andanced.

This

is

the reason

why human

birth is so

much esteemed

as the hu-

man

plane stands between the animal

and the angel

Next

is

to have the earnest desire

or thirst for liberation.

How many

among

us really desire freedomareall

al-

though we

humanand whoare

beings?

There are few who strongly desire tosearch for thethatfalse.all

real,

realize

external

things

unreal,

Those who

strive earnestly

and

sincerely to find the

way

to

freedomhelpfulillu-

and

succeed

in

getting

the

guidance of a true teacher, an

mined

soul, are

indeed blessed and have

accomplished the purpose ofistence.

human

ex-

Thislife,

is

the aim and object of

human

although the majority haveit

forgotten

and

have taken

other

Right Discriminationthing's as their ideals.

39

But there comes

a

moment

in every one's life

when he

cannot but turn toward the truth.is

He

indeed a true

man whobynature.

strives for

liberation,

self-mastery,

conquer-

ing his

lower

This human

body

is

a privilege, and those who,

after having obtained this great privilege,

do not put

it

to the right use,

miss their opportunity.

What makes man greater than the animals ? What makes one man greater than another?It is

through

intelli-

gence that the power of understandingcomes. Itis

through the opening of the

faculty of discrimination that one rises

higher in thoughts and in wisdom.the physical plane thereis

In

very

little

opening oftion.

this faculty

of discriminaplaneit

On

the intellectual

it

is

much more pronounced,

but

is

not

;

40

Right Discrimination

entirely revealed to a

man

until

he has

reached the realm of the Spiritual. Thisdiscriminationis

called,

in

Sanskrit,in every

Viveka and

is

most importantlife.

step of spiritual

Viveka means

discriminating between the real and theunreal, between the true

and the

false.

This world

is

a great mixture.

There

are good things as well as bad thingsthere are beautiful

things as well as

ugly things

;

there are beneficial things

a? well as harmful things;

and we are

placed in the midst of this turmoil tofind our

wayis

out of

it

to that state

where there

no

duality, but only

one

existence of Absolute Bliss.this

So we need

Viveka to help us and lead us in

the right path.

Without right discrimination we cannot

make any

progress whatsoever in

the spiritual path. Things of the world,

Right Discriminationbeautiful

41

and fascinating to the sensesto be real

appearingastraytion.

often lead usSamthe keenest

when we

lack right discriminais

Hard

indeedlife).

the path of

sdra (earthly

Even

human

beings are sometimes deceived

by the charm of Maya.the cause ofing,all

Ignorance

is

our misery and sufferexists because of

and ignorance

non-discrimination.

When we

take theit,

unreal for the real and cling to

we

become disappointed and thus

suffer.

We

see everything constantly chanus.

ging around

The baby becomes

the youth, the youth becomes the

man

who,

in his turn,

is

slowly approach-

ing old age.

The

strong are weakenedall.

by disease, and death comes toall

Yet

are clinging to thisthis

life,

lookingelse

upon

as

permanent

What

can be the cause of this delusion, except

42

Right Discrimination]

ignorance and forgetfulness of the trueSelf?

Weto

have

identified thelittle

immoris

tal Self

with thisfall.

body whichis

bound

"Ignorance

taking

that which

is

non-eternal, impure

and

non-Self, for the Eternal, pure, blissful

Atman (Self).'' Our present conceptionSelf.

of the Self

is

nothing beyond the body.

But the

body cannot be the

The body can

never become unchangeable or eternal.

Everything that has a beginning mustnecessarily have

an end.

It

cannot begoes,

otherwise.

The body comes and

being a combination of matter, but theSpirit remains always;

unchangeable

and

eternal.

Once, Indra, the head of the gods,

and Virochana, the head of the demons, went to learn about the Self

from a great

sage.

They both

studied

Right Discriminationwith him for a long time.day, their master declared,that.

43

Then, one

"Thou

art

Thou

thyself art that Self

which

thou art seeking."at first pleased,

Both of them were

and thought they had

accomplished

everything.

They

re-

turned to their homes and gave the

message to the people.

The demon,

having naturally a clouded and ignorant nature, could not understand thereal

meaning of the words of theliterally,

sage,

but took themhis

and thought

body was the

Self.

So he declared

to his people,

"Make

the body well and

strong by taking good food and exercise.

Be happy.

None

is

greater than

ourselves.

We

are Brahman."

Thus

he remained contented, and inquired nofurther.

But the god had a muchture,

finer na-

and he

at

once began to think:

44

Right Discriminationof our master's wordsis

"The meaning

cannot be that the Self

this body.

Howit is

can this body be the Self whileso ephemeral, changeable

and de-

pendent on matter?

The

Self does not

change at

all."

So he returnedthe Self?

to the

sage and asked, "Sir, did youthat this

mean

body

is

I see that

the body changes constantly and dies,

while the Selfmortal."

is

unchangeable and imreplied,

The sage

calmly,

"Thouself."

art that Self.

Find

it

out thy-

Then Indra thought perhapstal forces

the vi-

were the

Self.

But soon heif

found that they became weak

he did

not give them proper nourishment.

Soif

he came back to the sage to find

he

meant theanswered

vital forces.

But the sage

in theit

same way.

Then

In-

dra thought

must be the mind, but


45

soon he discovered that the mind couldnot be the Self, asit

is

sometimesunhappy.pa-

happy andThus,tience

at

other timesconstant

through

search,

and right discrimination, and

through the help of the sage, the godattained

Self-knowledge

the

Self

which

is

neither body nor mind, but

beyond both,not cut,

"whomfire

the sword can-

whom

cannot burn,

whom

water cannot melt, and air cannot dry.Birthless,

deathless,

One,

omniscient

and all-pervading." The god, throughproperdiscrimination,

reached

the

goal, while the poor, ignorant

demon

missedfor the

it

on account of

his fondness

body and bodily pleasures.need not go far to find out the

Wecuse

significance of this story.

me

if I

say that in

You will exhuman society

we

find a

good many demons whose

46Right Discrimination

thoughts do not go beyond the limitscf the body and are perfectly satisfied

with sense pleasures.

But therecan differenreal

are a few gods, too,tiate

who

through discrimination theunreal,

from the

and

release the soul

from the bondage of Maya.all

We

can

become

like

gods

if

we

only use

this

power

properly,

and manifest DiSimilarly

vinity within ourselves.

we

can degrade ourselves to the animalplaneif

we doupon

not use

it

properly.

Our

progression or retrogression dependsentirely

ourselves,

on our every

thought and action.

The Lord hasrise

given us the power of discrimination,

andbut

ifif

we use it we can we neglect it and

higher

are led

away

by our momentary impulses, then weobstruct our

growth and remain almost

as ignorant as animals.

"The tenden-

Right Discriminationcies of eating, sleeping, fear

47

and sense

enjoyments arebeings

common to both human and animals. The former excelin

the brutesstanding.

knowledge and underthose

But

who

lack

in

knowledge can bemals."

classified

with ani-

Some mayso.

think this

is

put in ait

rather exaggerated form, but

is

not

On

the contrary,it if

much

truth can

be found in

properly analyzed.

There are three planes of existencein this universe.cal

The

first is

the physi-

or material, the manifestation ofis

whichlife.

shown obviously

in

animal

The thoughts

in this plane of ex-

istence cannotsenses,

go beyond the body and

and the mind naturally dwells

in that circle.

The second

is

the plane

of intellect where

humanThe

beings are

supposed to stand.

manifestation

48of

Right Discriminationintellectis

especially seen in our

great scientists and mechanicians who,

through their

many

researches and in-

ventions, have helped mankind.

Theall

tendency of

intellect is to

overcome

physical limitations and to give

manin

more power over himself and naturegeneral.

This

is

undoubtedly higherstill

than the physical plane, butis

higher

a plane which

is

known

as the spir-

itual plane.

This stands entirely be-

yond the body and mind.ofphysical

No amountintellectual

strength

or

keenness can bring us to this plane.

This

is

the state in which

we

experi-

ence supernatural powers, which neither the senses nor the intellect can

bring to us.

These three planes of existence arethe

manifestationy

of

Sattva, Rajas

and Tamas

as they are called in San-

Right Discriminationskrit.

49ele-

These three are the principalall

ments out of whichare

living forms

manufactured.less theis

Our

bodies

are

more orthree.

combination of thesethe lowest, as repre-

Tamasby

sented

animals.

The nature

of

Tamas is darkness and dullness, and when these predominate in man he becomes stupid andis filled

inactive.

His mind

with

evil propensities,

and he andvery

fails to

distinguish between right

wrong.little

This

class

of

men

is

removed from the animals, becausenotpossessthe

they do

power

of

proper

judgment,

and

their

whole

thought and action are centralized intheir bodies.

Theyus

often injure others

to

fulfil

their selfish desires.

But the

in-

tellect

helpsthis

to

uplift

ourselvesplane.

above

dull,

material

Through

the help of intellect

we

be-

50

Right Discriminationactive

comeness.

and ambitious for happiis

This

the nature

of Rajas.

Through Rajas we became immenselyactive,

and thus overcome

all dullness.

In this way, through the power of reasoning,

we

progress much.

But soon

we

find that the

human

intellect falls

back

after reaching a certain point.

Here man struggles hard

to penetrate

the wall which stands betweenthe

him and

Unknown.

However, through the

earnest struggle of the soul, a channelis

opened which gives him the powerThisis

to see inner things.

is

the state

of Sattva, wherefied

man

neither satis-

by

fulfilling

the physical desires

nor contented to remain within the limits

of the

intellect,

but stands

steadily-

keeping the balance of both.state alone

In this

he can rightly discriminate.

Right DiscriminationSattva gives theables us to think

51

equilibrium and en-

and

act rightly.

According' to the manifestation ofthesethreequalities

Sattva, Rajas

and Tamos

we

see the differences in

human

beings.

The man who

possesses

the quality of goodness, in

him aloneand

we

see true fearlessness, uprightness,truthfulness,all

purity,

forgiveness

the absence of

anger and passion.

He

alone becomes peaceful and happyself-control.

through hisother

There

is

no

way

to get peace.

The man who

follows the path of Rajas (or the quality of passion)

never finds any peaceis

or

rest, as

there

no

limit to

human

desires.

The more we

gratify them,It is just5

the stronger they become.like

adding fuel to thethe flame stronger.

fire

we

but

make

How

can any

man

expect to find

52


peace and happiness

when he

is

over-

powered by Tamas or the darkness ofignorance ? Through our experience

we

comelearn

to the conclusion that

we mustwhich

how

to control our lower natures

and

manifest

goodness,

by

means alone we can hope tofection.

attain per-

Thus discrimination becomes

our true friend on the spiritual path by

showing us the right way and savingus from errors.

Nowtice

the question

vate this quality of

how to Sattvaf "Byis,

culti-

prac-

and non-attachment

it is

attained."

Of

course there are some suggestions

regarding food.

By

living

on

pure

food one can change his body and gain

Sattva elements.

It is true that

one

can be helpeddrink.

by proper food and

There are three causes which make

Right Discriminationfood impure.itself,it is

53the food;

The nature of

such as onions, garlic,

etc.

when

polluted by any foreign substance,dirt,

such as hair,

etc.;

and, thirdly,

whenson.

it

is

touched by an impure per-

By

avoiding these three,

we can

un-

doubtedly gain strength and goodness,but one thingber,

we must always rememis

and that

that

all

external ob-

servances are only secondary.purityis internal,

The

real

and only obtainable

through the constant practice of unselfishness

and

chastity.is

When we

lack

discrimination, there

great danger of

our falling into fanaticism

that

most

deadly ofever, if

all

foes to progress.

How-

we keepsafelyin

the goal constantly bein our hearts, thenall

fore our eyes

and

we canthatlie

overcome

obstacles

our way.

54All

Right Discriminationouter

observancesetc.,

regardingintended

cleanliness,

food,

are

only as helps toward our spiritual development, and should not be mistakenfor the goalitself.

So we must be ever

watchful, and guard ourselves from at-

taching undue importance to any merely external actions.

Everything in

this

world has

its

legitimate use

and also

can easily be abused.

So we need to

discriminate in every step, in order to

use our energies in the right direction.

The

following

will

illustrate

this:

"Once upon a time

there lived a yogi,at

a holy man, who practised dailycertain hours.

During

this

time he was

much

disturbed by a cat, so in order to

have unbroken meditation he confinedthe animal in the next room. This went

en for a long time,

until

finally

he

passed away, leaving behind him a dis-

Right Discriminationciple.

55

Now,

the disciple sincerely tried

to imitate his master in

every way.

With

that end in view, he spent

muchcat,

of his time trying to get hold of a

thinking that this animal had been anessential part of his master's medita-

tion!"

We

often

make a

similar blunder,

and, mistaking the non-essential for theessential,

waste our forces in vain.religious disharmonies

Most of our

are the direct result of these unassimilated ideas.

Great souls do things with

a certain purpose in view, and theirfollowers, not understanding the prop-

er spirit of their actions, misinterpret

them, often to their

own

hindrance.

Rituals and ceremonies should not be

our main object in worship, but shouldbe regarded merely as helps toward thegoal. If

we

forget,

and make them

56curthenfirst


and foremost consideration,are easily misled, and ourretarded.sincerely

weis

growththenfully;

Therefore,

let

us^

seek

and watch care-

always working steadily, with

perseverance, faith and discrimination

and through the grace of the Lord weshall attain salvation,

Ill

BUILDING OF CHARACTEREverythingsitory,is

in this

world

is

tran-

fleeting.

manifestation ofest

From the highest human life to the low-

worm,

all

are destined to perish.

No

man wasis

ever born

who

could stop his

body from changing constantly. Bodythe

name

of a series of changes.then,

What

remains,

but

character?

Time swallows up everythingcharacter; thisis

exceptit

the only thing

can-

not touch.If

we

look back and study the his-

tory of mankind,ter

we

find that,

no mat-

how hard

the struggle

may haveall

been to live here forever, in the end

have been conquered by death.57

Em-

58

Building of Character

perors and kings have striven to build

up somethingmighty Romanwonderfulare they?

permanent, something

imperishable, but in vain.

Look

at the

Empire, look at thecivilization,

Greek

whereinto

The one has crumbled

dust, the other lies in ruins.

And whatof

has outlived them?

The message

Jesus Christ, the son of a carpenter,

and that of the beggar Buddha,arestill

TheyThose

ruling the universe.

Mysteri-

ous are the ways of the Lord.

who wanted to live have died; those who were willing to die have continued Christ, who freely gave up to live. His life, lives eternally. Buddha, whorenounced a whole kingdom, rules overhalf the world.

Whynounce?

did these great Teachers re-

Because they found that evis

erything that

a combination of mat-

Building of Characterteris

59

destined

to

perish;

and theypermanent.

sought something

more

When Christ wast, tempted He cast aside the worldwell

by the

devil,

because

Heit

knew

its

hollowness and that

could never bring real happiness.

Soofthis

Buddha

resisted

the

temptations

Mara, because he had realized that

world could bring only sorrow in theend.

Both of these great Souls valued

character

more thanor threw

all

else,

and de-

voted

all their

attention to that.aside,all

Theyelse,

renounced,

knowing

that everything

waswouldall

transilive.

tory, that character alone

One

obvious thing inis,

spiritual

characters

that they especially tendit

toward renunciation, as withoutitual

spir-

growth

is

impossible.is

This ideamisunder-

of

renunciation

often

stood,

and the majority of human be-

Co


ings are even horrified by the mere

mention of

it.

Yet we know that

it

forms the very foundation oflife,

spiritual

and we see how

all

great

men drewthis

their inspiration

and strength from

Show me one great spiritual character who did not sacrifice all selfsource.

ishness

and go through supreme

re-

"You cannot serve both' God and mammon." There is a greatnunciation.deal of

meaning

in this simple saying

of the Lord.

It is

not as easy as

we

imaginetrue

it

to be;

we

cannot grasp the

meaning of

this saying as long as

our hearts are weak and impure.

What

makes us weak and impure?

Depend-

ence on matter and forgetfulness of theglorious spirit within; the love the world, with

more youand

all its vanities,

depend on

it,

the weaker you become in

internal strength.


61

Godand

is

the source of

all

our strengthforget

inspiration,

but

when we

Him, through the charm ofbecomespiritually blind.is

matter,

weis

The one

blinding, while the other

sight-giving

so

both cannot co-exist.

not have sincere love for

You canGod in your

heart and at the same time fondness for

worldly enjoyments.it

It is impossible;

is

inharmonious

as

darkness and

light.

One musthave

exist at a time.

Thusthe

the sages

declared

boldly

thought of

renunciation:

Give

up!

Give up the world and love God, the

whom we have come into existence, in whom we live and move and have our being. Do notSupreme Goal fromforget

Him, do not neglect

to serve

Him.

Love Him andgo.

serve

Him and

let all else

This

is

the

watchword

of

all

religions

and

religious teachers.

62

Building of Characteris

This love for God

the object and

aim of renunciation.Thereis

no violence or hard-heart^It

edness necessary in renunciation.is

a natural growth of the heart.love

When

we

God with our wholeis

heart and

soul then there

no room for any-

thingeasy.

else,

and renunciation becomes

One

thing worthy of mention in thisis,

connection

that

renunciation does

rot necessarily

mean

running awayrela-

from one's own home, friends andtives,

or being cruel to them.

One canprac-

acquire love fortisingness.

God

at

home by

non-attachment and unselfish-

The

question

may

be asked,

What do welove

gain by renunciation ?

Ouris

best reward, our greatest

good

to

God above

all

external things and

to gain

knowledge of the Supreme. So


63

we

see that renunciation

is

one of the

most importantof character.

factors in the building

Whatmind.gether

is

character?

Every

act

or

thought leaves an impression on theAll these impressions taken to-

make up

the character.

Whenand

a large number of similar impressionsare left on the mind, they unite

become a"habitis

habit.

It is truly said that

second

nature/'

Indeed,

Swami Vivekanandathatit

often

remarkedhad.

was

all

the natureis

we

What

we

are to-day

the result of our past.

This

gives us great consolation andif

hope, becausehabit, then

what we do

is

onlyit

we

can

make or unmake

through our thoughts and deeds.

There are two planes

in this universe

where our mindsreal,

dwell.

The Sat

the

the permanently existent

and the

64Asat


the

unreal, the fleeting, the non-\

existent.

One's standard of good andceeds from these.

evil

pn>is

Anything thatis

a

combination of mattering and changeable;

Asat,

is fleet-

when we

cling ig-

norantly to such transitory things togratify our

momentaryit

impulses,

we

become Asat, andcharacters which

is

such unsteady

we

call

bad or

evil.is

As, however, any one

who

bad

has become so through habit, throughholding his mind on the plane ofevil,

so he can overcome this tendency by

learning to hold his

mind on

the plane

of good, by cultivating a good habit of

thought.

At

first it will

be

difficult for

him, and he will have to struggle hard,butif

he persistently looks only for thethen, in the end, he

good everywhere,is

sure to conquer.

This

is

undoubt-


65

edly a very difficult task and, however

we may try, we are bound to sometimescomein contact with evil;

especially is

this true for those of

us

who

live in

the world,

as

we

cannot very well

avoid associating with various classesof people.

Whatwetotanjali's

are

we

to do then?thisis

How

are

overcomeadvice

difficulty?

Pa-

helpful:

"Friend-

ship,

mercy, gladness, indifference be-

ing thought of in regard to subjects,

happy, unhappy, good andtively, pacify the

evil,

respecis

mind."

This

thecan-

real secret.

It is evident thatevil,it

we

not entirely avoid

but

we canall

counteract and remedy

by holding

these four sorts of ideas regarding

things that

come before

us.

We

must

hold the feeling of friendship toward

66all,


and be merciful to those who are

in misery.

Whenfeel

others are happytoo-,

we

should

happy,

and to the wicked and

evil-mindedthe subjectly

we must be indifferent. If is good, we must be friendbecause true friendshipis

toward

it,

only possible and desirable with good

and sincere

people.

You

cannot give

a friendly embrace to a tiger or asnake; the wisest thingis

to avoid

them.

Then,

if

the subject of

thought

is

miserable,it.

we must be merciful toward When we see anybody suffer, weto

must try

remove

his misery with

a

feeling of love

and sympathy.unselfishnessfruits

This

we must do with

and non-attachment toward theof our actions.

Whether the one

whom

you help

is

grateful or otherwise, mat-

Building of Characterters not.

67the op-

Whenever you have

portunity of helping any one, you must

bear in mind thatfor your

it is

for your good,It is

own

salvation.

a privi-

lege to servemiserable,ters

God

in the

form of the

and thus build our charac-

and manifest Divinity.is

Next

gladness

:

we must

be glad

when

others are happy.

When

any one

becomes

prosperous,

victorious

and

successful,

we must

be happy to see

him happy.Instead of entertaining the feeling ofjealousy or hatred,the joyO'f

we mustThereis

rejoice in

others.

no peace

or happiness in that heart which can-

not stand the good fortune of others.

Theis

last

and most

difficult

precept

to be indifferent to evil subjects. This

is

hard, because

it

needs immense

self-

control to balance the

mind and

dis-

68


criminate rightly.

The

feelings of both

love and hatred are natural, but indifferenceis

very

difficult to practise.

Weevil,all.

can love good, but

we cannottalk

love

however we mayThere naturallytred, in

of loving

rises the opposite, ha-

our hearts.

For

instance,

if

a

man

does evil to us,

we

at once

becomein-

disturbed,

and react by wanting to

jure him.

But thereby we gain noth-

ing

;

we

only lose our strength and en-

ergy.

Every time we get angry or tryby hatred we weakenspiritual

to counteract evil

ourselves

and obstruct our

growth.

So

one

who

possesses theself-condifficulty

power of discrimination andtrol

can alone overcome this

by neither establishing friendship, noranimosity with theevil object.

While we hold our minds on thephysical plane,

we have become weak


69

on the

spiritual plane.

To

regain our

spiritual strength

we must withdraw

our minds from the plane of matter.great help to thisthe holy.is

Aof

the

company

Even a moment's

associa-

tion with great

men

will help us to

cross over the ocean

of worldliness.

Who

are great

men?

Those who areand who remain

unselfish,

all-loving

unmoved underlive in this

praise or blame,

who

world not to gain anything

for themselves, but to serve

and help

mankind for

love's

sake.

When we

comeand

in contact with such lofty souls,is

a deep impressionthis

made on our mindschange the

will

gradually

whole character.

The very same manaof

who was wicked may now becomesaint.

But, although the

company

holy

men may do much

to purify usis,

and change our natures, character

joafter

Building of Characterall,

what we form ourselves byhabits of thought

our

own

and by our

own

deeds.

We

alone are responsibleIf

for our characters.

we

are

nowgood.

bad,It

we can change and becomeall

depends upon ourselves.

As

long,

however, asplane

we remain on

the dual

on the planeis

of good and bad

therecome

danger of falling back.

We

must, therefore, go beyond both, andreach a state where our characters beperfect.

Then

neither

good nor upon

bad can any longer have an;

effect

them they remain untouched byThisa?is

either.

the only thing that

is

regarded

permanent inuntil

this transitory world.

But

we have

reached this state

are not free from danger.

Thus atries to

we man

w hor

lives in solitude

and

form

his character

may

appear to be perfect,

as long as he does not

come

into evil

Building of Characterassociation,until

Ji

but he cannot be judgedseen in the midst oftest.evil.

heis

is

Thatis

the

Ait

perfect character

one

who

can go through good and

bad unmoved.fully expressed

As

has been beautiis

by Emerson, "It

easy

in the

world toit

live after the world's

opinion;after our

is

easy in solitude to liveis

own; but the great man

he

who,

in the midst of the crowd, keeps

with perfect sweetnessence of solitude."

the independis

This

the exactis

definition of a perfect

man whoevil to

the

same under

all

circumstances.

We need boththe perfectblows, which

good and

form

character,

and the hardoften help uslook at the

we

call evil,

more than the good.lives of great

If

we

men, they seem to have

gained most from blowssity.

from adverwe

Good

is

necessary, too, but

J2

Building of Characterespecially try to be steadyevil.

must

whenThese

we come in contact with great men first overcametising the good,

evil

by pracstill

and then they rosetheycouldevil

higher,

where

not

be

touched by either good orneither

where

moved them.

Such a character was Suka, who wasthe son of a great sage and born perfect.

At an

early age the father sent

him

to the court of

King Janaka,

to

learn.

In order to

test

him, the king

gave certain instructions beforehand tohis courtiers,

and when the boy arrived

at the gate of the palace he

was allowedby theof-

to sit there three days

and three nightseven

without being

noticed

guards of the palace.ficials

Then highface

came and received him withhonor.Still

royal

his

did

not

change; he remained unmoved.

When

Building of Characterat last

73

he was led before the king, thefullit

king gave him a cup of milk,the brim, and told

to

him

to carry

sevspill-

en times around the hall withouting a drop.

In the midst of music and

dancing

the boy walked seven timeshall

around the

with the same

calm

face without spilling one drop of themilk.

Then

the

king

said

to

him,

"You have nothing morehave known the Truth

to learn.

Youto

go

home

your father."

The

only true help that you can renis

der to mankindcharacter,

when, by your veryothers.

you teach

Then you

do good by your every word, your every movement.

When,

forall

instance,

you remain steady underof

conditions

good and

evil,

those around you

learn the value of steadiness

and

be-

gin to try to practise

it

themselves.

:

74iTKus,ter,


by

tlie

example of your characlife

your whole

becomes a lesson

to others.

This reminds

me

of a very

beautiful

and appropriate saying we

Have in one of our Vedanta Scriptures

Under a banyan-tree a youngminedspiritual

illu-

teacher

and an old

gray-haired disciple were seated.disciple's

The

mind was

full

of doubts, of

ignorance, and he questionedbut the

teacher ever kept silence, and the disciple's

doubts were gradually dispelled.is

Such

the

force

of

character.Its

It

speaks louder than language.er is wonderfully effective

pow-

more thanall

anything else in

this universe.

Purity has been the foundation oftruly great characters.If

you build a

house on the sand,

it is

sure to tumble

down;

so,

if

we

build our characterspurity, they will not

on anything but

Building of Characterstand.is

75./

Impuritywithoutareis

is

a mixture; puritysecond.

one

a

Mixedpure

thoughts

seeing

many;see

thought

when you

only One.

When you

think of any one's evil side,that evil; just as

you yourself take

when you meditate onsaintliness.

a saint, you gain

come.lose

What you think, you beWhen we realize how much weevil

by dwelling on the plane of

we grow

watchful and hold the mind

only on the plane of good, and see in

everything the All-pervading God.

If

we wish

to save

ourselves,

we

shall

have to struggle hard, weregain, inch by inch,

shall

have tolost

what we haveevil in the

by dwelling on the

world.

But

it

may

be said,

every one has good,get out

mixed

feelings

sometimesHowcan

sometimes bad.of this state?

we

By

using the power of

y6


discrimination, by constantly training

the

mind

to distinguish the right

from

the wrong, and to seek only the good.

This

is

the practicalis

life.

Building of

character

the only true practice ofit

Yoga, andreally

is

the only

way we canIt is

help

humanity.

Christ helped

the world by His character.that

not

Heis

turned this earth into a heaven.not possible.evil

Thatas

There was justworld after

much

in the

cameis

as before, but

by His example

He He

helping each individual soul to overits

come

limitations

and to

strive to-

ward

perfection.

Neither Christ nor Buddha, or anyother prophet, claimed to be exceptions.

On

the contrary, they preached thatlike

all

can become

them.

We

can

all

be-

come

perfect

characters.

But

only

when we

build our characters

on the


77

firm foundations of purity, unselfishness,

and non-attachment

will they be

immovable, and become a blessing toall

mankind.

POWER OF CONCENTRATION

When

the subdued

mind

rests in the

Self alone, without longing for the objects of desire, that

man

is

said to be

a yogi (saint).

As

the flame of a lamp placed in aflicker,

windless spot does not

so there-

heart of the yogi of subdued

mind

mains steadfastvers not.

in

meditation and wa18, 19.

Bhagavad-Gita 6:

81

IV

POWER OF CONCENTRATIONWisdomence.is

the goal of

human

exist-

Even mento

of the lowest

intelli-

gence want

know

the secret of

things; because knowledge alone can

bring peace and happiness to our souls.

Ignorance

is

the

main source

of

all

misery and none really enjoys beingin

that state.

W,hy

do>

we

find so

manyaround

ignorant,us,

irresponsibleif

people

then,

all

are eager forthe desire

wisdom ? Because, althoughfor

wisdom

is

the natural instinct in

every

human

heart, butit.

few possess the

power of acquiringinactive, stupid

A

man who

is

and

full

of ignorance

has every desire to be all-knowing, only

84

Power

of Concentration

he does not want to work to gain

knowledge.

There are others who are

capable of work, and are immenselyactive,

but

who dowrong

not

know

the se-

cret of

work, and only exhaust theirindirections.

energies

The

door of knowledgeevery one of usto knock atit

is

ready to open toonly

if

we

know howknowledge

properly.

There

is

only one

wayis

to

and wisdom, and that

through the

power of concentration. power nobody canthing in this world.

Without

this

accomplish

any-

The

students

who

can concentrate their minds fully ontheir books are the best students.

With

the

least

effort

they accomplish the

most.

Thein

scientist, in his laboratory,all

concentrates

the

energies

of

hisdis-

mind

one direction, and thus

covers the secrets of Nature.

So does

Power

of Concentration

85

the astronomer fix his mind, throughhis telescope,etc.,

on

sun,

moon,

planets,

and they give up

their secrets to

him.

He

is

a good musician

who

canSo,else.

concentrate hisalso,

mind on

his music.

with artists and everybody,is

This

the only road to knowledge.

The more we can

concentrate

our

minds on the subject of our study, the

more rapidly the knowledge ofsubjectseeis

that

revealed to us.

Nowis

let

us

how

to acquire this

power of conbased

centration, as all our

wisdom

on

this, especially spiritual

wisdom. All

the different practices of yoga are entirely

based on concentration.in his

Patanjali,definesstuff'

Yoga Aphorisms,various

yoga as "restraining the 'mindfromtaking

forms."

This

is

only possible through the power

cf concentration.

What

is

the present

86

Power

of ConcentrationIf

state of

our minds?

we

properly

analyze,

we

shall find that

they take inone's

numerable

forms.

Sometimes

mind

is

happy, again unhappy; someetc.

times angry, and again quiet,is

It

always

restless.

Wewe

are

all sittinglittle

here just now.less,

If

are arun,

care-

and

let

the

mind

it

will per-

haps travel thousands of miles awaythis minute,

and

will begin

dreamingthepast

of

variouswill

impressions

of

which

make

it

accordingly happyprecisely the con-

or unhappy.

This

is

dition of our minds.

Among

those oi you

who have

read

Swami Vivekananda's

celebrated book

on Raja Yoga, some perhaps remember

how

the

mind

is

compared to a mad-

dened monkey.restless

"There was a monkey,all

by his own nature, as

mon-

keys are.

As

if

that were not enough,

Power

of Concentration

87

some one made him drinkwine, so that he becameless.still

freely of

more

rest-

Thena

ais

scorpion

stung

him.

Whenpoor

man

stung by a scorpion he

jumps aboutworse thanery, a

for a whole day, so the

monkeyever.

found

his

condition

To

complete his mis-

demon

entered into him.

WhatThein-

language can describe the uncontrollable restlessness of that

monkey?monkey,;

human mindit

is

like thatits

cessantly active by

ownits

nature then

becomes drunk with the wine of dethusincreasingturbulence.

sire,

After desire takes possession, comesthe sting of the scorpion of jealousy of

others

whose

desires

meet withthe

fulfil-

ment; and,pridetakesit

last of all,

demon ofmind,

possession

of the

makingtance/'

thinkis

itself

of

all

impor-

Such

the general conditio^

88

Power

of Concentration

of the mind.trol such a

How!

hard

it is

to conthis

mind

Nobody can do

for us.

We can

get

many

helpful sug-

gestions from our teachers, but

we

can

achieve self-mastery only through our

own

efforts.

It

must be our own work.disciple, after listening

Arjuna, theto the

wonderful teaching of the Gitahis master, Krishna, said,

from

"Thisthee, I

yoga of equanimity taught bysee notits

steady continuance, because

of the restlessness ofthat, the blessedless,

my

mind.":

Tois

Lord

replied

"Doubt-

O

Mighty-Armed, the mind

restless

and hard

to restrain,

yetit

byis

constant practice and dispassion

subdued."ourselves

There

is

no other way.

We

must accomplish the work of

subduing the mind by our perseverance

and unfailingitual

practice.

Yogis, or spir-

men, through their careful study,

Power

of Concentrationall

89

have found out

the various intricate

tendencies of thealso

mind and body andofconcentration,

how one

can subdue them through

different

practices

and so

attain absolute self-mastery.

Our mindforms:

manifests

itself in

various

Kshipta,

Mudha,mind

Vikshiptascattered.

and Ekagra. Kshipta means

We

often find our

in this stage

when our thoughts are various and the mind jumps from one thing to another.Thisis

a state of activity, and the mind

runs after sense pleasures.

But no

real

peace or happiness can be found whileit is

in this scattered state.is

The natureinactivity,

cf the second

dullness,

and one becomes indiscriminative andinjures others.

Next

is

Vikshipta, or

the weakening state of mind.state

In thisthe

we

struggle

to

centralize

mind, but often without success.

When

go

Power

of Concentration

we dothen

not find satisfaction, either in

the scattered or dull state of mind,

we

begin to struggle for someIf

higher form.

one perseveres, one

reaches the state of Ekagra, the concentrated or one-pointed mind.

Onlydo

when

the

mind

arrives at this state

we

attain to superconsciousnessfree

and bethree

come

forever.

Thethe

first

states are not fitted to bring spiritualrealization.

But

in

last

stage,

through the power of concentration,

wer

can collect

all

our mental and physidirect

cal energies,

and

them toward

the highest realization.

Whenit

the

mind

is

not concentrated,

is

weak and we cannot accomplishit.

anything withthefirst

Our mindis

in

one of

three states

like thin fibres,

which are scattered and separated one

from the other;

it

cannot stand any

;

Powerpressure,

of Concentration

91

but

breaks

easily.

But

through the power of concentration,

when we canthentions,

collect it into

one mass,all

we

are able to resist

distrac-

even as the twisted

fibres

can

resist the strength of

an elephant.is

The

value of concentrationIt helpslife.

un-

questionable.

every one in ev-

ery stage ofis

But the greatest man

he

who canwhat

concentrate hisReality, as

mind on

the

Supreme

"we becomeIntense

exactly

we

think."

thought forms our external and internal nature.

This

we can

often see in

the case of devoted husband and wife

they become like each other in their

manners; nay, evenance.

in

their appear-

This

fact

is

very

obviously

shownAssisi,

in the life of Saint Francis of

who by

constantly concentratingthe Christ became

his

mind on Jesus

92

Power

of Concentration

Christlike.

It is

even said his exter-

nal

figure

became transformed and

showed the marks of the stigmata.Suchit

is

the power' of concentration that

can change the whole nature of a

man.

By

concentrating our minds on

a pure, holy beingSimilarly,

we become

holy.

when we turn our thoughts

to material objects,alistic,

we become materiand we may accomplish muchplane.

on thatIt is

comparatively easy to concen-

trate ourit is

minds on external

objects, but

very hard to turn our thoughts on

things within.

Very few havedoit.

the pa-

tience or courage to

We

must

take some tangible object on which toconcentrate,till

and then go on practisingfully

we have

subdued

all

other

thoughts but that one.take the thought of

For

instance,

unselfishness, or

Powerpurity. Fill

of Concentration

93

your whole being with thatthat,feel

one thought, think of nothing but

dream of nothing butnothing butallythat, then

that,

and

you

will eventu-

become pure and

unselfish.

At

first

your thoughts"

will rise in opposition.

Eut every time you attempt

to subdue

them you

shall find yourself stronger,

and gradually, through constant practice,

you

will

conquer themis

fully.

Real

yoga practice

when weall

try to collect

our thoughts from

sources,

makeunion

them one, and connect them with ourInner Self.

Yoga means

this

with the Supreme Self which destroysall

ignorance.

Weis

cannot

feel

this

union, or have the vision of the Self,until

our mind

wholly subdued and,a lake,is

like the surface of

perfectly

calm and

quiet.

As long

as there are

ripples, in the

form of innumerable de-

94sires,

Power

of Concentration

the

we cannot see the bottom, where Atman dwells. So our duty is towith patience andpersever-

practise

ance until

we have

succeeded in making

our mind one-pointed and

have sub-

dued

all

mixed

and

wandering

thoughts.

This

is

not the work of a day, butlives.

may

take years; nay,

Progress,

however,

depends entirely upon our

earnestness.nestness,

There are degrees of earac-

and our success variesasis

cordingly,

shown by

different

temperaments.

Some

are exceedingly

slow in their nature, and do not have

any power of determination or perseverance; while others are wonderfullyenergetic and ready to givetheir lives in their attempts.

up evenSri

Ra-

makrishna gives a parable, tofect,

this ef-

of

two peasants who were work-

Powering in their

of Concentration

95

fields to

bring water.

Thenext

wife of one came and asked her hus-,

band to leave the workday.Jittle

until the

As

it

was

late,

the man, after ahis

hesitation,

left

work.

The

wife of the other came and urged him

and scolded him, but the man was determined to finish his work.after a

At

last,

whole day's

toil,

he was able tofield

bring the water into histake his rest in peace,

and couldhis task

knowing

had

been

accomplished.

There

are

many amongness

us

who

lack in steadfast-

and discrimination, and simply

waste their energies by jumping from

one thing to another without any success.

No;

matter what path

we mayandis

follow,faithful

we mustwithout

learn to be steadythis,

no knowledge

obtainable.

We

never lose this powerit,

after once

acquiring

and we can

g6

Power

of Concentration

utilize this force in

every way.

When

we

succeed in concentrating our minds,

then

meditationis

comes

naturally.

"There

no wisdom to the unsteady,to the unwise,

and no meditation

and

to the unmeditative

no peace;there

to the

peaceless

howis

can

be

happi-

ness?"

Whatweis

meditation?

Meditation

is

a constant remembrance of the objectmeditate upon.illustrated asoil

In other words,

it

"an unbroken stream

of

poured from one vessel to an-

other."

When we

attain to this kind

of remembrance in relation to the Su-

preme Being, thenheart break, andit

all

the bonds of the

becomes illuminatedSelf.

by the presence of themeditationvinity.

Through

we

feelis

the nearness of Di-

There

no other way to reach

Him.

No

external

power can give us

Power

of Concentration

97is

the vision of God.

Because

He

the

nearest of

all

friends, nearest of any-

thing that

we canand

perceive.

"He

is

greater than the greatest, smaller thanthe smallest,

He

dwells in the coreas

of every heart."to

As long

we

try

see

Himall

outside of us,

we

never

find

Him,

our, struggles are in vain.findit

But when, by experience, weimpossible to see

Him

outside of us,

then

we

turn our thoughts inside and

become meditative.

There are two forces andis

centrifugal

centripetal.

The tendency of oneall

to drive us

toward

external obis

jects,

and the tendency of the otherwithin.

to

draw us

When, through

the

power ofall

concentration,

we

ca,ni

subdue

the

various

disturbing

thoughts and desires, thenthe vision of the

we

shall get

Supreme

Self seated

98 on theall

Poweraltar of

of Concentration

our hearts.will

Then

alone

crookednessall

be

straightened

out and

doubts about the Self will

vanish forever.ly blissful,

We

shall be

supremethe

knowing

that

we and

Father are one.

VSELF-REALIZATIONRealizationallis

the

watchword of

religions.Self,

If there is a God, or a

Supremerealize

we must

see

It,

we musttheories

It.

Otherwise

these

about the existence ofsoul have verylittle

God and the value; if we canremain

not put them on a practical basis andrealize the truth of them, they

for us but

mere words.

This realiza-

tion is the only thing that can bringsatisfaction

to

us.

No amount

of

theory can ever satisfy our minds unless

we can

see the reality of things

for ourselves.

The

various methods of

joining words, the various methods of

speaking in beautiful language,

and

ioo

Self-Realization

having the skilfulness of expoundingthe Scriptures cleverly are only for the

enjoyment of the learned, but theynever lead to spiritual realization, nor

can they ever bring freedom.useis

Whatif

there in studying scriptures

we

thereby gain no spiritual

wisdom?and

Studying means to get the directions

which lead

to the ultimate goal,

when weany

forget that,

we do

not gain

profit whatsoever,

though we mayreadingall

spend our whole

life in

the

scriptures of the world.

Weinthis

have awise:

very beautiful saying,

"As a donkey

carries loads of sandal-

wood on

his

back,

only feeling the

weight of the burden without gettingthe benefit of the sweet perfume, sois it

with those

who

study innumerablethees-

scriptures

without knowing;

sence

the truthof them

their labor

Self-Realiza Honis like

i

oi

that of the donkey carrying the

load of wood."

What

I

mean

is,,

that

our aim and object should be realization,

and not to remain

satisfied

with

a network of words.

There

is

a great deal of difference

between a philosopher, alearning,

man

of book-

and a Seer-of-truth, a man

of realization.

The

philosopher

may

have studiedscriptures,

all

the Vedas, and other

and may be able to quote;

long passages from them but the Seerof-truth knows, because he has seen.

The

first

merely repeats what he hasthe

learned;

secondhis

says,

"Yes,bold.

I

know!" Thusperienceis

words are

Exof

the real and onlystrength.

way

acquiring

Real

strength

comes

through realization; when a

man

has seen

God he canis

declare with

conviction that there

a God.

When

1 02

Self-Realization

we have seen a thing, no matter how much people may deny the existence of that thing, we can still stand up boldly and declare, "I know it exists/'

We hear and study about the immortal

nature of our soul, yet

we

are

all

the time afraid of dying.

Why is that?

we have no conception of our real nature, we have no realization of the Self, the real man. In fact we haveBecause

no idea what Soul means; our knowledgeis

limited to this material body,

and

if

selves

we we

try to

form any idea of ourit

only do

through

this lim-

ited body,

whichSo,

is

subject to constant

changes.

however we may study,talk about the im-

and however we may

mortal nature of our Self; nay, however

we maylittle

repeat

So

Documents

Vedanta in Practice - by Swami Paramananda