World 1

[Guest guest]

quarrels with her husband for not getting silk saries and gold necklace, when

she is suffering from acute abdominal colic or some such disease and when she

becomes old. The spring is very lovely. The trees arc adorned with flowers

and fruits. The cool gentle breeze is really exhilarating but the summer is

scorching. The winter is bitingly cold. Man laughs when he gets a son, when

he gets married, when he gets some sudden fortune or increase in salary, but he

weeps when his wife dies, when he loses his money, when he is thrown out of

employment, or when he suffers from some acute disease. Now, tell me,

friend! what do you really find in this illusory world-happiness or pain, joy

or sorrow? Have you now understood the illusory nature of Mayaic creation? This

world is a mere appearance. Mind and the senses are deceiving you every

moment. You have mistaken pain for pleasure. There is not even an iota of

happiness in this sense universe. Abandon these selfish struggles and schemes

for amassing wealth. March directly to that wire-puller who is moving these

toys of fleshy human bodies, who is keeping up this big show, who is behind

this show. In Him only you will find lasting happiness and perennial joy. Merge

in Him by practicing daily meditation and Japa. This world is as unreal as

the shadow, bubble or froth. Why then do you run after the toys of name and

fame? How uncertain is sensual life in this world! How transitory and

fleeting is sensual pleasure! Mark how many thousands of people were carried

away in the recent Bihar and Quetta earthquakes! (refers to incidents occurred

long ago before this book was written) How many big palatial mansions were

destroyed! This is Adhidaivika Tapa. Yet people want to build bungalows in Simla

and Mussoorie and attain immortality there! How foolish these people are! Poor

self-deluded souls! Pitiable is their lot! They are earth-worms only as they

revel in filth. I pray for them. May God bestow on them Viveka, Vairagya and

Bhakti! Go wherever you may, to Gulmarg or Pahalgaon in Kashmir, to Darjeeling

or Simla, to Vienna or Alps. It is all the same. You will not find any real

rest. The charming scenery may soothe the retina for a second. Raga, Dvesha,

jealousy, passion and greed are everywhere. You will find the same earth, the

same sky, the same air, and the same water. And you carry with you the same

mind. Imagination and change of places have deceived not a few. O man! Be

contented. Live where you may. But discipline the mind and the senses. Meditate

on the inner Self (Antar-Atma) ceaselessly.

Here you will find the everlasting peace. Mind will stop deceiving you now.

To me the whole world appears as a ball of fire. To me the whole world appears

as a huge furnace wherein all living creatures are being roasted. Will your

son or daughter or friend or relative help you, when you are about to die? Have

you got one sincere, unselfish friend in all this world? All are selfish. There

is no pure love. But that Lord, your real Friend of friends, Father of fathers,

who dwells in your heart, will never forsake you, though you may forget Him.

Adore Him in silence, that God of gods, that Divinity of divinities, Highest of

the highest. May He bless you with His Love, Wisdom, Power and peace. As

everything is unreal in this world, treat love and respect as poison. Be

indifferent. Be reserved and reticent. Give up mixing with others. Live alone

and enjoy the Atmic Bliss in your heart. You don't want any company, when you

can live in the Soul. You must show extreme contempt towards worldly

objects. Treat all earthly possessions and sensuous enjoyments as dung, poison,

dust, and straw. Turn the mind away from them. Then only you will get Jnana.

Give up clinging to this illusory life. Be fearless. Take refuge in Vairagya.

All fears will melt away. Cling to the Feet of the Lord. Cling to the

indivisible, unseen, unknown, unknowable Atman or Brahman of the Upanishads.

By indiscriminate clinging to wife, children, house, wealth, and objects, you

have forgotten all about your essential divine nature. You have become an

atheist. Wife, children and money have become your gods,

whereas in reality they are your enemies. If you develop keen Vairagya, if

you subdue your senses, and shun all enjoyments and pleasures of this worthless

world, mixed as they are with pain, sin, fear, craving, miseries, disease, old

age and death then nothing can really tempt you in this world. You will become

proof against all temptations. You will have eternal peace, and infinite joy.

You will have no attraction for women and other worldly objects. Lust cannot

possess you then. If you really want God and God alone, kick this world

mercilessly. Enough, enough of your tea and coffee, enough of soda and

lemonade, enough of father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister and

relations. You have had countless fathers and mothers, wives and children in

the past. You came alone. You will go alone. None will follow you save your own

actions. Realize God. All miseries will

come to an end. He who indiscriminately clings to wife, son and daughter and

the objects of the world has no other alternative but to forget all about his

divine nature. The company of worldly-minded people is as dangerous, if not

more, as the company of a woman to an aspirant. "

----Sri Swami Sivananda Sivaya Namah

Win a BlackBerry device from O2 with . Enter now.