THE REAL POSSESSIONS OF MAN

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THE REAL POSSESSIONS OF MAN

—Shrilalji-Ram Shukla, M. A.

The possessions of man are two-fold. One is the outward and the other is

inward. The worldly wise think of the outward possessions and find out

various means of obtaining them. The driving force behind the thoughts of

such people who think of outward mundane possessions, is the thinking

process regarding the benefits to be obtained from such possessions. Their

friendship with any individual is guided by selfish ends. The definition of

justice or injustice in their case also depends upon the fulfilment of

desire or its failure. The sense of justice therefore in the minds of such

persons who give value to outward things, is not to be relied upon.

All the thoughts about outward actions of man are directed by his inner

promptings and desires. The man whose passions and desires for sensations

are very forceful and he who cherishes in his heart great ambition for

selfish benefits, does not at all consider the comforts of others. He is

disinterested in all the things which do not afford a means to attainment of

his desires. It is obvious therefore, that such people who are always

thinking of earthly benefits for themselves are not qualified to dispense

with justice.

After all, property or possession is that thing which gives happiness to man

and such things are called the really valuable things. All valuation is done

by the mind of man. That about which man is thinking and desiring is

important and valuable to him. If we see, we find that desire to amass money

and desire for sexual fulfilment accompanied with other pleasures and

comforts, are the two main

passions which direct, provoke and divert a man to act. The desire to be

called righteous also forms another very important driving force. There is

sometimes conflict amongst these desires and this conflict gives birth to

the process of choice for better, higher, nobler actions than the baser,

lesser and cruder actions. Any conflict compels man to think deeply. That

thinking aims at raising the , the level of his consciousness above the

level of conflict. The man who has not to face the outward conflict in the

world, remains at a low level in society. The man who has not to face inward

conflict also lives in his narrow consciousness of simple concepts. So long

as the state in which he is does not become painful or undesirable, why

should he try to go beyond it? Because of conflict, the consciousness of man

transcends the state of conflict.

The end of every kind of outward possession is definite. It may be money,

house, shop, position—everything has an end. Even the physical body of man

lias an end. It is left behind at death. The relatives leave him. There is

nothing permanent in outward things. In view of this, the man who depends on

outward things and values them in his mind above everything else is not an

intelligent man. Maturity breeds renouncing of temporary values. A mature

man seeks that which is more durable. Then seeing the ephemeral nature of

outward possessions, he does not lose himself in seeking them. He only tries

to get them according to his bare necessities and not further.

Almost all valuation is based upon the emotional involvement in the

particular object. The object about which we think becomes our pet one and

because of our liking, we continue to think about it again and again. The

accumulation of pleasurable things—pleasure itself, in other words—, is the

highest attainment for man. We have seen that mind conceives of values. The

man whose mind is = under his control, can also keep under control the range

of valuation i of things. He does not become slave either to others or to

his desires.

He remains self-contained and compared to this contenteduess, there is

nothing more important.

This inner self-reliance can be attained in two ways. In one vray, we can

obtain maximum worldy possessions with skill and industry, and in the other

way, we can be introvert and live in an inner world. Just like others, even

a very learned man has to perform his worldly duties. This gives him a

lesson not to think too high of himself. In other way, he becomes mature by

this physical occupation and mental attention to outward things also. After

getting all that he wants, a man becomes developed and mature and has no

desire left unfulfilled. Loss of anything may take place, but he does not

lose himself.

But intellectual maturity is not for the man who is simply and solely

attached to worldly possessions. Such a man remains immature even though he

may be old in age. Sometimes, a teenager may be a mature minded being. Such

a maturity found in boyhood is the result of the effort of the collective

minds of the individuals in the society. When we see an example of total

renunciation and devotion to god in a child, we have to take it for granted

that this is the result of the social evolution in which the child is born

and brought up. Sometimes, the desirelessness is evident in childhood even

before the intellect is fully developed. This intellect can be developed by

thoughtful application of mind and by remaining in the vicinity of

intelligent and great men. The emotional richness can also be developed by

remaining in the company of devoted saiats who are high in their divine

emotions. This is the cause why many children are influenced for good if one

great soul with desirelessness and divine qualities walks amidst the people.

The company of great men is always beneficial for such development By their

mere presence, they inspire young men and children towards nobler life,

infuse enthusiasm in them and develop them wholly. By constant

identification with such great saints, the whole society raises its level of

consciousness at times. By comparing trend of thought with the saint's

thinking, the society is lifted out of the mire of complex problems and

frustrations.

The other way of self-reliance is to concentrate our consciousness inwardly.

This concentration inwardly is called Yoga. Bhagwan Patanjali and Bhagwan

Buddha taught this Yoga of concentration, meditation and contemplation—which

is the inward withdrawal of consciousness. For this, discrimination must be

awakened by which gradually the mind of man is turned away and inwards from

the attachment to outward objects. But if a man tries to turn away the mind

at the very moment when the mind is overpowered by senses and sense-objects,

he is not able to concentrate its power, but on the other hand, he is a prey

to bifurcation of mental power and becomes neurotic. Without purification of

the mind, which means the gradual cleansing of the mind of the dross of

passion and sensuality, it is dangerous to practice concentration as a form

of Yoga. It is seen by a study of the case-histories of mental patients in

psychiatric wards that they had in their life, sometimes tried to suppress

their strong passions by force, by practising Yoga immaturely. Such people

who want to practise Yoga but who are yet attracted towards worldly things

should make themselves engaged in works which bring in mental purity and

intellectual maturity, works such as helping others in organizations, giving

in charity, teaching others good books, etc. etc.

There is another means of attainment of mental maturity! and that is to

love radiantly. Whatever a man does and earns, he! does not do for himself

alone. He does it for his kith and kin. Everybody thinks for the welfare of

his children. Everyone trice to please his friends and make them happy. But

these efforts gc in vain. Instead of thinking of the little circle of family

and friends if you work for the general welfare of society, and always thin

about the result of your actions on the society, it will give you maturity

and a wider outlook which makes for undeterred and undisturbed strength and

peace of mind.

The inward motives behind all actions, which the people cherish in their

hearts are really responsible for giving them happiness or bringing about

miserable conditions. The real possession of man is his study of these

inward state and the happiness or sorrow are results of emotional attitudes

and persistence. If we are emotionally steadfast not to changing and

temporary things, but to some permanent tenet or principle, we are not

likely to feel sorry by the changing happenings. The faith of man according

to which he daily behaves, is his spiritual sheet-anchor.

The miracle of love is that the man who has compassion and love for the

sufferers, is very very happy though he himself may not be very rich or

opulent. It is therefore necessary to practise the attitude of friendliness,

compassion and love towards everybody, the ordinary human beings, if at all

we want to be happy. To meditate and brood over the benefits for the self,

the body, the sentiments and the conceptual pleasures, bring in imbalance

and sorrow, but to meditate on the general welfare of others makes for

purity of feeling, and is the real accumulation of inner wealth, inner

possession, the undestructible property of man.

—(translated by DAG from Kalyant Year 40, Issue 7, with permission)