Dying to
the Little Self
May the divine grace of the Supreme and the choicest blessings and
benedictions of beloved and worshipful Guru Maharaj Swami Sivanandaji be upon all
of you and grant you the intuition, and enable you to have the vision, to
perceive and to recognize that you are living in a friendly world, to perceive
and to recognize that Nature, prakriti, surrounding you, the
universe in which you live, has been created for your benefit, to help you to
evolve and to assist in your quest after supreme bliss, peace and perfection.
In the ultimate context of your life and its hidden meaning, its inner
purpose, it is but a gradual process of manifesting the perfection that you
are, the perfection which is already within you. The potential for God-nature,
the potential for God-consciousness, is inherent in human consciousness. And
the means of manifesting it is by obliterating the human consciousness through
selfless service, through devotion directed to a goal, to a point other than
the self, and the turning away of the mind, not only from the external universe
of multifarious names and forms, but also from one’s own human personality and
its various expressions and tendencies, its various demands and clamoring.
“Be still and know that I am God”
When the human consciousness is constantly saying, “I am this, I am
that,” it does not give a chance for the reception of the constant signal from
within of the Cosmic Being: “I am, eternally I am. I exist, I am the reality, I
am the truth, I am the one being, I am your highest good, I am your supreme
glory, I am your ultimate destiny.” This is not heard because of the little “I
am, I am, I am”—its constant unbroken note.
And therefore the great illumined and enlightened sages and seers
evolved a method of gradually silencing this little “I am” by transcending it
through thinking of others, through the sublime giving of oneself for the joy
of others, for the benefit of others. By giving oneself for the good of others,
you create a counter-situation where you have no time to listen to the constant
clamor of this little “I am.” This constant affirmation of the little “I” is
very wisely transcended, by-passed, by bringing the focus of the antahkarana
(inner being) upon sublime dan—giving of oneself; sublime sacrifice—yajna;
and sublime tapas—the restraining of the constant manifestation and
vehement affirmation of the human consciousness represented by this “I”
personality.
I-centered to all-centered
And thus when the attention of the antahkarana is gradually diverted
towards noble things other than the self, several things are achieved
simultaneously. The affirmation of the “I”, the little self, gradually ceases
its hold upon consciousness. The human consciousness gradually becomes refined,
it is thinned out; it is on its way to being eliminated. That is what nishkama-karma-yoga
(selfless service), matri-seva, pitri-seva (service of mother
and father), samaj-seva (service of society), guru-sera (service
of the Guru), daridra-narayana-seva (service of God in the form of the
poor), bhuta-daya (compassion to creatures), does. Consciousness is now
being liberated from the constant nagging harassment of the little self.
This process is initiated and set going by shifting the consciousness
from being I-centered to being we-centered, you-centered, all-centered—the
concern of all, the welfare of every creature you encounter in life, be it an
ant, a spider, a plant, a flower, a leaf, or any creature, bird or beast.
Self-love to God-love
And now, at this stage, a second phase of this liberating oneself from
human consciousness is brought into being. A great love is created for the
Divine, for the Reality. Self-love becomes God-love. Self-love is subdued and
overcome first by compassion towards all creatures, and then it becomes
diverted towards the Divine, Godward.
Oneself to Godself
An intensification of this process marks the third phase, when the
mind is withdrawn not only from the external world of multifarious objects, it
is also withdrawn from oneself. One empties oneself of oneself, and the
attention is withdrawn from all the numerous nuances that go to represent this
barrier, this screen, this thing which holds you back from attaining the
supernal consciousness of the God which is “You,” the God which is the inner real
identity, the real “I AM,” the great “I AM.” And thus moves on this wonderful
process of unfoldment.
“Die to live, lead the divine
life.”
And the culmination of the process is what Guru Maharaj has summed up
as, “Die to live, lead the divine life.” “Then shall I be free, when I shall
cease to be.” Then shall be the great orb, the great sunrise of God-awareness,
God-consciousness, the great day of days, of rejoicing, of vijaya (victory).
And forever this human consciousness is set to rest, atyantika abhava (total,
complete absence) of the false “I”. “For it is in dying to the little self that
one attains to ever-lasting life.” Everlasting life is here and now, and dying
to the little self is the process of Yoga.
This “dying to the little self” of St. Francis and those words of
Gurudev are all built into these spiritual processes called nishkama-karma-yoga
and bhakti yoga, where the jivatman has no time to
think of himself. All thought is upon the beloved, upon the Lord, upon the ishta
devata, upon the Universal Being. And it proceeds to an oblivion of
the little self by constant focusing upon the Supreme Reality, meditation.
Meditation is God-centeredness
Meditation does not necessarily mean sitting with closed eyes in some
corner in padmasana. Meditation is a state of mind. When it is
God that holds the field, God that pulls the attention, when the focusing is
not on the self and its ways and various manifestations, but on the Overself,
that state of mind is called meditation. And it is this constant state of
meditativeness, God-centeredness, that ultimately brings about
God-consciousness.
And it is the world that gives us the opportunity to come out of the
cocoon, the net, the prison house of I-life where “I” is the constant subject
of concern. The world has been put there to help us evolve from this morbid
metaphysics and to gradually expand the consciousness. And to this end, having recognized
that we live in a friendly world where everything, every object, every
situation, everything that surrounds us, is there to help us in this process of
evolution, we have to also recognize the necessity of similarly making our
interior a friendly world, a friendly inner universe where everything is
helping us towards this supreme glorious consummation.
Self-unfoldment
As long as this inner universe has not also been converted into a
benign, friendly environment, you will be opposing yourself, delaying that
great day, that wonderful day. Subha samskaras (auspicious, good mental
impressions) have to be invoked, subha vasanas (auspicious desires)
encouraged, cultivated, strengthened, activated, and constantly indulged in,
and in every way sattva (harmony) is to be made to prevail. And the
further the “I” recedes away from the horizon of our inner vision and awareness,
the more friendly becomes the inner environment for our self-unfoldment.
Then we bring paradise. We live in a friendly outer world, we live in
a friendly inner world. Prakriti (Nature) becomes our real mother and
our antahkarana (inner being) becomes our real best friend. It becomes
our greatest asset, our supreme help in transcending the human consciousness
and emerging into the glorious state of Divine-consciousness,
God-consciousness, which is our reality, which in truth we ever are—jivo-brahmaiva
(jiva is verily Brahman).
Transform inside out and
achieve success in it
May we thus have the discipline and learn the skill, the know-how, of
this all-important process of making for ourselves a friendly world in both the
exterior and the interior. Prakriti (Nature) immediately becomes a
friend of those who are befriended by Bhagavan (God). Bhagavan befriends those
who give themselves to Him, befriend Him, want Him, think of Him. Lord Krishna
says: “Always place your mind upon Me, your intellect upon Me, become Mine,
salute Me, then I give you everything that is worthwhile.”
Thus, if God becomes to us our supreme value, we are constantly
dwelling in Him, then He befriends us and prakriti becomes our greatest
friend. Then our own interior, through the grace of God, also transforms itself
into an environment conducive to our highest welfare.
May God’s divine grace and Gurudev’s benedictions enable us to
perceive and to take up this task of transformation and achieve success in it,
attain the glorious state of God-consciousness which is awaiting us! God bless
you all!
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