Get, set, go!

Article on Practical-Living

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Most of the time we spend on our lives thinking of what to do! We are not able to be our own inspirational center. Something else, something other than me is required to prompt me, to flog me, to exhort me. The more external factors required to bring out the contributory aspect in one’s personality for society, the more weak a person would be in time.

Geeta says, “Uddharet atma natmanam...” meaning, “Lift yourself by yourself; you are your own enemy and your own best friend”. We have to be our own “Prerana Srot” – source of inspiration. Nobody from outside can inspire us for a very long time. One person went to Gurudev and said, “Swamiji, there are hardly any realized masters in the world now”. Gurudev said, “Yes, why don’t you become one?”

On Your Mark

A goal has to be all-pervasive. Academic goal should accompany emotional goal. Emotional goal consists of two points:

1.Eradicating the lower emotions of expectation, demands and complaints;
2.At the same time increasing the emotion of love for God and Teacher in time.
A time should come when I do not expect anything; when I am not attached to anything in this world. Let me not be dependent on anyone. Our emotional goal in life should be focused on bringing down three things - Reaction, Demand and Complaint. We demand; when it is not fulfilled we react; if reaction is still not working we keep on complaining. When these things come up, we are not emotional; we are commotional! More commotion is generated than emotions! Set a time for yourself that in the next six months, I will eradicate any negative emotions I have. We have to set our own goals; we have to find the means to fulfill the goals. Get set and go, but get set first.

Secondly, we should develop those emotions that we should have, but are not having. I should have the emotions of being prompt, but I am not prompt, I need reminders. I should have the emotions of “quietness”, but I am not quiet. I should have the emotion of love for the Lord, but I don’t; I should have the emotion of happiness in seeing somebody else’s success, but I don’t have. That goal I should keep, that “this is my goal”.

Get Set

There should also be intellectual goal. Intellect means “cutter” and “penetrator”. Mind is the “identifier” and intellect discriminates. It will clear right and wrong, do’s and don’ts. The intellect should be used to see what negative tendencies are, which then should be cut again and again.

We live a life of compromises. Where compromise is there, sacrifice is not. Compromise is winning of the mind over the intellect. Sacrifice is winning of the intellect over the mind. Intellect should have a strong say over the mind. It should say, "shut up", and the mind should say “yes”. Such a strong intellect with strong determination, discrimination and dedication is required, so that the mind will fear it. The second intellectual goal is to read the scriptures, as depth should be there.

Go!

Third is the spiritual goal. We don’t have a spiritual goal at all. My faith should be so strong that even if the whole world falls on me, my faith should be there that Lord is still with me. Prahaladji had this faith. When Hiranyakashipu had him dropped from the mountain top, he was still with the conviction that Lord was embracing him from behind. Everything in this world is for providing security, whether it is hospitals, schools or insurance. We struggle to secure our future. But the more we try to secure the more insecure we become, because we cannot catch hold of anything. Faith is the answer; tremendous faith has to be there. One Mahatma told me about the faith that we have (he was saying about himself): “An evolved person does not have more than 30% faith that is required”. What to say of an ordinary person, his faith is in decimals! There is probably not even point one percent. Faith is the mother of quietness. Quietness is not possible without strong faith. What is faith? “Lord is with me; He is helping me. He will help me to attain what I want”. This faith has to be there. This is called spiritual goal.

Nurturing the emotional and intellectual goals is called “Getting set”. Spiritual goal is “Go”. Those who have not met their emotional and intellectual goals cannot have spiritual goal. The second part of spiritual goal is to have a life one day – I may not know when the day will come when I hope my whole time, my whole energy, my whole body and intellect, will be for God alone and I will realize that Truth behind this pulsating world of diversity. I will realize That.

We may have progressed with science and communication, but the globe has shrunk and so has the heart. We have become selfish an isolated selflessness is not there. Spiritual goal is required. Life has more to offer than what we are taking. Life is like a big Ganges, and we are just having a cup of water from it and saying this is what the Ganges is giving me. It is a mountain if sweetness, but we are only taking a bit of that. Instead, we are taking more bitterness from life. We are taking frustration, anxiety, bitterness and worry from life. Divinity is not there. Quietness is not there. Faith is not there. Depth is not there. Emotion is not there. Life has all his and more to offer and we have rejected all that. The problem is, we are not “Getting set” in something. Our goal is decided by the situation. Then how can we go? When the racing starts, we don’t know whether we are participating or not. On the starting line they announce, “On your mark, get, set, go!”. We are not ready and so we lose the opportunity. We are only in the setting mode. Some are there who start running even before the “Go”. These people are disqualified and have to go back. We have to run at the right time. We are not ready. We are not prepared. We are not enthusiastic. We are not inspired. We have a routine life and situations have all the sway. We cannot assert our Godliness.

Discover the Timeless

We don’t know that the human being is the only creation that can have a goal in life. He can change his nature. We have never explored the possibilities. We are whipped and tossed. Our goals are very small. Please note that the material goal can never inspire a person for a long time. The moment you attain it, you would find that the goal was too low. We all had the goal of passing Grade 5. We passed. After that? We all had the goal of graduation, marriage ... any goal you attain in the world, you will find that it was not that big a goal. We make our goals small after sometime.

Our goals have to be above the material. Material goal should be used for the emotional, intellectual and the spiritual goals. Emotional and intellectual goals should not be used for the material goal. Today we are using our intellect only for the material goal; emotions only for the material goal, and there is no spiritual goal at all. We are neither on the mark, nor is there any setting. How can we “Go” then? Those who are not on the right track will get whipped by the situations.

Assert your Godhood. Claim the best in life. Go ahead with a smile on your face. Face the world. Don’t think of success and failures. Success and failures have nothing to do for a confident person; he will use both as stepping stones and not as stumbling rocks. Use the success for higher success. When tired, smile. When exhausted, rest. When disgusted, surrender to God. When nothing strikes, strike your head at His feet. When nothing works, just look into the Eyes of the Lord, the spark of hope in His Eyes, remember the Teacher, remember Gurudev, go ahead.

Keep emotional goal much higher than the material goal. Keep the intellectual goal much higher than the material goal. Let the spiritual goal stand tall above all other goals. That should be the guiding factor of our lives. Life is waiting for the one who has given to life, taken for life. Let the time wait for us; let the people wait for anything. You go as a masterpiece; you go as a master in this flow of time and discover the Timeless. In this world discover That which is beyond the world. That is the purpose of living; that is the fulfilment of life. Go, but never come back. That is the final thing “Yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama”. This “coming and going” should stop.

Author: Swami Abhedananda

Chinmaya Mission-Australia