The Struggle for Perfection
Life is characterised by
effort at existence. This inherent urge within every human being is a permanent
feature observable through history. Effort and struggle are directed towards
the achieving of an end which is realised as one's ideal and which mostly
remains as a future to the reality of the present state of affairs. The
all-round struggle of humanity through the passage of history for achievements
of different kinds in the various fields of activity is an indication that life
is involved in a restlessness of the human spirit which is eager to overcome
its barriers of action and limitations of understanding.
Life's struggle has been, at
least at its lowest level, for the overcoming of difficulties in the form of
hunger and thirst, heat and cold and the fear of death, all which ever remain
as the invariable concomitants of life in general. These features of life's
limitations have been never known to change, and they have existed always.
There is no hope that they will ever change or cease. Man has also been
obsessed with a curiosity to know more and more of himself and the world
outside, and this urge for knowledge, too, has not reached its limit as yet.
The problems of history are the problems of life, and they are always the same,
wherever one is, or whatever one be.
To avoid the turmoils
incumbent upon these pressures which come upon him in spite of himself, man has
been contemplating in various ways to find a solution and means of encountering
them with proper method and technique. From birth to death, it is a long chain
of unending effort to fight the difficulties which seem to be preventing him
from being at peace with himself and living in ease, with freedom from fear.
But these efforts of his have not been of avail in the ultimate sense, for the
problems that were besetting him centuries ago are the same to him even today.
By no herculean means has man succeeded in getting immune to the onslaughts and
the urges of hunger and thirst, or heat and cold. He also lives in a perpetual
state of anxiety and fear. The uncertainty concerning oneself comes from three
sources: Nature; other living beings; and one's own self. One may within
oneself develop complexes and diseases, and none can be completely free from
this contingency.
There are the fundamental facts of life weighing heavy on
one's head, in spite of the limits of education that one might have reached.
There is bound to be the dread of death which can unhinge a person at any
moment. The fear of death can be occasioned by three factors; viz., errors
committed by oneself; attacks from others outside; and calamities caused by the
wrath of Nature itself. For all these things there is no remedy anywhere,
though social laws and governmental systems based on ethical and political
structures have been framed by the ingenuity of man. But man-made things have
never lasted for long. That which had a beginning did also have an end. He who
is born has to die.
This frightening atmosphere
has not, however, deterred man from endeavouring to face oppositions at every
stage they came. Though it would appear that all his attempts were almost akin
to the effort at pushing the horizon beyond its boundaries, a futile adventure
bringing no result whatsoever, the hopes of man have never ceased, and they
will never cease. There is, at the background of his personality, an inkling of
his being capable of breaking boundaries and overstepping limitations of
understanding and gaining sway over all things. Though he has never done this
in all history, the passage of history itself is a testimony of human
aspiration to reach unlimited suzerainty over everything. It is not merely this
much; human desire goes further into the deep longing to make the world one's
own, nay, to enjoy it. This is a profound psychological secret behind effort
and activity.
Man's longing to exercise
power, possess things and enjoy pleasure is ostensibly the hidden aim behind
every form of his effort both in his private and public life. But it is
surprising that this goal is lost sight of in the process of the struggle, and
the struggle itself is deified, in some way or other, the means getting
confused with the end. This, obviously, is a travesty of affairs, for nothing
can be worse than mistaking the toil of the journey for the delight of having
reached the destination. Notwithstanding the cautious and investigative
processes adopted by man with various techniques of working, he has not been
able to avoid this common mistake of humanity in general – the mistake of
taking the process for the goal. The reason for this persisting error in all
activity is the inability on one's part to distinguish between the form and the
content of experience. While the form is identical with the tedium and effort
involved in any kind of adventure or activity, the content is the principle of
satisfaction in the achievement, which is immanent, though invisible in the
process.
It is true that man struggles for bread and most of his life is spent
in finding ways of earning it. Now, this need to earn one's bread is easily
mistaken for the important end to be achieved in life. Unfortunately, the
purpose behind earning of bread is quite different, it being a novel type of
satisfaction of one's being able to keep one's body and soul together. This is
the aim of the search for food, clothing and shelter and the various amenities
of life that are regarded as unavoidable essentials to everyone. But, as long
as the content is not discovered in the form, life in the world will ever
remain a hopeless and unending conflict of conditions and vicissitudes. The
significance of this curious difficulty does not come to the surface of man's
consciousness, due to which he continues fighting against odds and suffering
his life from inception to the grave. The seeking of the meaning implicit in
life's processes is philosophy. The working out of philosophy in one's life is
the practice of Yoga.
Excerpts from:
The Struggle
for Perfection by Sri Swami Krishnananda
If you would like to purchase the print edition, visit:
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?
http://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?
If you would
like to contribute to the dissemination of spiritual knowledge please contact
the General Secretary at: generalsecretary@sivanandaonline.org
No comments:
Post a Comment