The Primary Mission
Divine Life
Society Publication: The Ultimate Success - An
Instrument of Thy Peace by Swami Chidananda
The primary mission of man is to make this
earth life into a part of this evolutionary process--if possible, right up to
the very top! As unfoldment proceeds, you become more and more a self-conquered
person. The concept of inner unfoldment was that you should become a king
within your body dominion and not a slave. Self-mastery becomes a progressive
conquest of the different levels of your being. That is the true inner
unfoldment, and this conquest was indispensable if you were to become
established in a life of idealism.
Buddha once posed a question: "Who is the
greater being--a king who has defeated another kingdom or one who has conquered
his own mind?" He himself gave the answer: the greater one is not he who
has conquered with armies, but he who has subdued his own passions and mind.
The conqueror of kingdoms may still be the slave of his desires; he may be
miserable and have no peace of mind or happiness. But the one who has conquered
his mind will shine in virtue, as he will have liberated himself from the net
of desires. Therefore, trying to be a success in your outer life is perfectly
legitimate, but if you only do this, it would not be sufficient.
The great master Ramakrishna once told a story
about farmers who leave some inferior grain lying out in the granaries in order
to keep the rats satisfied so that they don’t try to eat the better quality
grain. In a similar way, maya has put many attractive things in front of
you as "inferior grain" so that you will nibble it and bypass the
highest attainment. You may think you have been very clever, but you have in
fact been foolish. Fully occupied by cleverness, you have managed to become an
effective personality, and then what--you die and then maybe you get two lines
in the obituary column of the Washington Post!
But, instead of this foolishness, you can
attain divine perfection. Any process of unfoldment you launch upon will
ultimately take you there. If you strongly will it, it is possible. "Seek
ye first the Kingdom of Heaven." That is why, in the context of Eastern
religious tradition, when they gave the fourfold values (artha, kama,
dharma, moksha) for an individual to strive after, they gave liberation
through divine perfection (moksha) as the highest supreme value. Artha
would provide for the secular value--to accumulate honestly earned wealth
to acquire the necessities of life. Through kama you fulfil the
legitimate desires and longings of your heart, taking care that this process
does not deprive you of that ultimate goal. Through dharma you base your
life upon the firm foundation of moral and ethical principles that the masters
gave.
Liberation will not come by itself. You must
know that it is important, you must have a desire for it, and you must work
diligently for it. On the basis of your secular life, work hard to acquire the
money to lead a comfortable life, but then let the quality of your efforts in
making a success of your secular life not be divorced from the ethical element.
Otherwise, you will succeed, but at the same time you will fail, and forever
you will be the loser in the highest sense. To succeed in life, our vision
should always be fixed upon that great goal, and our concepts of inner unfoldment
should be oriented in that way.
In none of this have I meant to say that we
should not make effort to improve ourselves or get greater intellectual
abilities or learn new skills. No, by all means make use of these, but don’t
stop short. When you employ self-improvement techniques, let there be
simultaneously improvement of yourself as a person; otherwise, you may be
putting them to the wrong use. You will win battles but lose the war. Everybody
wants shortcuts, but there are dangers, because the mind is very tricky. You
may throw a boomerang out thinking it will come right back to you, but if you
don’t throw it correctly you might lose it.
The Eastern approach to this entire subject of
inner unfoldment was first and foremost based upon the vision of ultimate
fulfilment, and an awakened being with an awareness of consciousness can fulfil
the mission of man on earth. May Master’s benedictions always abide with you
and give you a real inner unfoldment leading to the supreme attainment.
Excerpts from:
The Primary Mission - The Ultimate Success - An
Instrument of Thy Peace by Swami Chidananda
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