When the path you walk always leads back to yourself, you never get anywhere.
Master Oogway, Kung Fu Panda Awesome Secrets Episode 1
Tag: Selfishness
Love for the temporary
You get involved in your actions, which bind you. When you worry about yourself, are you not worrying about the body? Whatever you may do as a body, that cannot give you peace. Truth is beyond imitation and you cannot pose as Truth. There are no Gods and Goddesses other than your own Consciousness. None of them can give you lasting peace, which can be yours by knowing the origin of Consciousness. Then, you can be in an ocean of peace. When you realize yourself to be without a body, your formless nature becomes clear. When there is freedom from emotions, there is the purity of the body-Sattva. That promotes Viveka (Discrimination), which helps one to be free of concepts.
Without disturbing the body-mind we have to study why we love to exist. Why should the ever-existent develop a love for this temporary manifestation from the un-manifested? We have to meditate on Consciousness, which promotes Viveka of various kinds. Stabilization in pure Consciousness helps proper understanding of all that you read or hear.Nisargadatta Maharaj, Self Love edited by Mohan Gaitonde
All our thoughts originate when there is some action needed. You must think properly so that you become free of selfish motives. Such motives become a cause of your bondage. Everyone has a love for being, which is pure. You must chant the ‘Jaya Guru’ Mantra which can, initially, be audible to you. But when you are tired you should continue chanting in silence. This chanting helps us to wake us up from our long ignorance. Consciousness is Guru, and our attention to it is desirable. The Guru is not restricted to a body but is all-pervasive and He is in you as your Consciousness. Consciousness is normally active but becomes Nirguna (Un-manifested- attributeless) after Self-Realisation. It becomes pure and holy by Mantra, leading to the ultimate knowledge. During His lifetime, Krishna acted a lot, but always remained Nirguna. It is not necessary that all Jnanis should have the same experiences. It becomes difficult to accept that Nirguna can also be active.
Balakumaran on Yogi Ramsuratkumar
“Okay. Can you tell me what Ayn Rand says?” Like an interviewer Bhagawan Yogi Ramsuratkumar asked with eyes sharply fixed on me.
“I can tell, Bhagawan. I have read one of Ayn Rand’s novels many times. Three of her novels are very popular — ATLAS SHRUGGED, WE THE LIVING, and FOR THE NEW INTELLECTUAL. These are also my favorites.”
“Okay. Then, tell me about Ayn Rand’s philosophy.” He asked again.
“Ayn Rand says that SELFISHNESS IS A VIRTUE. SCARIFICATION IS A FRAUDULENT WORD. Nobody sacrifices anything for anybody. Behind every sacrifice, there is selfishness hidden. There is no necessity for anybody to sacrifice anything. Selfishness alone is the only sacred thing.”
“Is it?” Yogi shrunk His eyes, and continued, “What she says is against our culture, isn’t it? Do you believe in this? When every religion says we have to sacrifice, I think, she is talking on the contrary, and gaining popularity. What do you say about this?”
I mused for a while, and said “Bhagawan, I think what she says is right. Everybody, in every stage of life, is selfish. Our selfishness is what makes us to live. What husband has with wife; wife has with husband, father has with son; son has with father, is nothing but selfishness. It’s only with selfishness we live.”
“I didn’t ask you to take your life as an example. Here (in India), there are so many noble souls who have sacrificed their lives…do you say that they all did it out of selfishness? Do you say Mahatma Gandhi was selfish? Do you say Ramalinga Vallalar was selfish? Can we call Buddha, Shree Ramakrishna Pramahamsa, Bhagawan Ramana as selfish people? You say everyone is selfish. Will you include them too? Will Ayn Rand certify their lives as selfish too? Will she say their sacrifices were fraudulent?”
Though His face was calm, the question was intense. I was not able to say Shree Ramakrishna Pramahamsa and Bhagawan Ramana as selfish people. At the same time, I was not able to ignore Ayn Rand too. I sat with an ideological confusion. My family was watching me.
Yogi gesticulated to talk. As I remained silent, He expounded, “Balkumar, once a person came to Bhagawan Ramana and said something similar to this: ‘Everyone in this ashram is working and doing jobs. You alone are sitting simply without doing any work. Why don’t you do something like others?’ Bhagawan Ramana retorted: ‘THERE IS NO OTHERS!’
Do you understand what it means, Balkumar? When there is no ‘I’; then, there is no ‘you.’ Only when you have the sense of ‘I’; then, there will be the sense of ‘you’. Only for those who have the ego ‘I’, there is a division called ‘others.’ Only when we separate ourselves as ‘I’ and ‘you,’ then, there can be a division that some are superior and some are inferior. Only for those who are divided, ‘selfishness’ and ‘sacrifice’ appears as two opposite ends. In our Hinduism, selfishness itself means only others’ welfare. SELF MEANS ONLY OTHERS. OTHERS ARE THE SELF. In truth, there is no such thing called division.
Birds, trees, animals, plants, stone, mud, sea, sky, wind, humans—nothing is separate. Everything is One. That’s called God. You and I are part of Him. You are in me, and I’m in you. In an ocean, is there a difference in the waves? Are two sea waves different? We see them only as a part of ocean, isn’t it? Within ocean, they may separate themselves as waves and bubbles. But still they remain only as a part of the ocean. Each wave and each bubble are part of the whole sea; rising and dissolving are an appearance. In fact, they are not different from the ocean. And so are we, like the sea waves in the ocean.
Balkumar, this is not just told for the sake of an example. This is truth. This is a reality. This is a state we all can attain. We all can live in.
If you feel hungry, I should also feel hungry. Your hunger should disturb me. If you cry, I should also cry. Your tears should shake me. This is the life of every enlightened men. Humans should always try to live such a life. Each one of us should continuously strive to live like that, even if it takes lifetimes.
What Ayn Rand says is a delusion. Something very superficial. Born out of ego.
In our lives, after marriage, the ‘I’ thought is slowly broken as it expands as my wife. Then it further expands as my children; my children’s children; my children’s relatives; my children’s friends, and also as my country men— so on and so forth. Likewise, as one grows older, this ‘circle’ called the ego must also grow bigger and bigger, and get expanded. That’s a life worth living. But if the opposite happens…if the circle shrinks…it becomes ugly. Such a mind will only become deluded.”
Since I didn’t fully grasp and digest what Bhagawan explained, a foolish question arose in my crooked mind: “If I eat, will your hunger be satiated Bhagawan. If you have food, will my hunger be satiated.”
But Yogi Ramsuratkimar is a Divine Master. He could easily read others’ thoughts.
“Once a river mingles in ocean, then it’s never called as a river. It can’t separate itself from the ocean to become a river again. Similarly, those who have dissolved themselves in God can never come back to ordinary state. God’s mercy and compassion are like the ocean that never drains. And that’s the state of those who have attained God-hood. In them too, God’s mercy and compassion will ever be there, flowing to all others.
This is how Shree Ramakrishna Pramahamsar, Bhagawan Ramanar, Shree Aurobindo lived. There was not a drop of selfishness in their lives, Balkumar. They never did their sacrifice as an act of deception.”
When He uttered the last line, there were tears in His eyes.
Seeing that, I panicked and got up. I prostrated before him, and said, “If I have spoken something wrong, please forgive me.”
He smiled and said, “What you spoke has made me happy. You should always speak like that. Only then you can clarify your thoughts, and write with ease.”
Yogi Ramsuratkumar made me realize the virtue of sacrifice, and the ugliness of selfishness. From then on, my writings got transformed. It was all because of my Guru, God’s child, Yogi Ramsuratkumar.
Watering the roots
If you give food to the stomach the whole body is nourished. Every part of a healthy body is serving the whole body. The eyes are not just selfishly doing something; the eyes are directing the rest of the body. The hands are supplying to the rest of the body. The stomach is bringing nourishment to the rest of the body. The nose is bringing oxygen to the rest of the body. Every healthy cell of the body is serving the whole body. That is good health.
What is disease? I am not a doctor but I am speaking about disease from a philosophical perspective. Disease is when germs or cells enter body and they are selfish. They are egoistic and selfish, they are thinking about themselves. They are not thinking about the whole body.
What is a cancer cell doing? It’s living for itself. It’s eating the other cells. It’s fighting a war against the rest of the body. Then all the healthy cells, the good guys, because they are concerned with the body, they all start fighting against that disease. If you have a cold, those cold germs are like selfish guys; they are just thinking about themselves, eating you up. But you have the whole rest of the body fighting against it. And ultimately if those selfish cells become stronger and stronger, the cells that are working together for the whole body are ultimately killed and the body dies.
That’s what is happening in the world. The world is a body. Humanity is a body and a proper body is where everyone is focused on feeding the stomach, everyone is focused on serving the whole for the interest of everyone. But when you have people who are greedy, selfish and egoistic, they are like cancer cells in this body and they are creating havoc.
People consider that energy and power are very important, but actually knowledge is more important. If we apply our knowledge in utilizing the energy properly, it can serve the whole body, i.e. the world. It can be utilized in harmony with the absolute, with God. But if we utilize that same energy and power without proper knowledge of who we are and what our real purpose in life is, it could create disaster.
Radhanath Swami