Spiritual Quest: My Journey My Diary

Swamiji seemed quite relaxed after Lunch. He had a few devotees around. He was not yet feeling sleepy. No organisational work seemed to take his attention. No telephone calls either. In his usual mood he was singing Bhajan tunes. Now and then he was asking all present about their well being.

The mood was right and he seemed available. A few of us, capitalising this moment started to shoot a few questions. The answers that followed, was true Satsangh. It gave insights into the mind of a great master, manager and devotee.

Read on. You will find these questions present in some corner of your mind - somewhere, somehow.

Devotee: Swamiji, how do you manage to balance your time between, external life full of activities and organizations matters and your internal life of Sadhana?

Swamiji: I do not create a division between the two. Do not create duality. The more you create differences the more complex it becomes.

People unnecessarily compartmentalise spiritual life and worldly life. It is actually one and the same. A spiritual man will find even worldly life spiritual, while a worldly man will make even spirituality life worldly.

(As the saying goes – A drunkard will make even the monastery a bar, while a monk will make a bar his meditation cave)

A spiritual man will be able to operate from a spiritual vision everywhere in every activity of life. He makes even the battled field - a place of bloodshed and death, a battle of Dharma.

Devotee: How does one increase his devotion?

Swamiji: By having continuous Satsangh. And secondly, by doing what you have faith in. Devotion (Shraddha) is made firm by doing it (Sadhya). Only if you do what you believe, will you start having more faith it. Shradda will thus be possible by Sadhya & Satsangh.

Devotee: How does one increase Devotion in the Guru?

Swamiji: By staying in his presence.

You may read books and hear cassettes. With modern technology today, Satsangh is available even in your house via TV and also the Internet. But the real learning will come only when you actually stay with the master and serve him. This is a time-tested principle and there is nothing to replace it.

There are times when in spite of staying with the master, your mind may drift from devotion. You may doubt some of his actions. This is natural and should not discourage the devotee. You may doubt a particular action, event or a thought of the master, that is Okay. But if you completely say “I do not believe in him”, then no one can help you. If you have Shraddha in the Guru with time you will understand why he did so.

Today I realize all that seemed incorrect doings of Gurudev (Swami Chinmayananda) long back, were actually proved right with time. As students, we wondered why Gurudev did certain actions or took some of the seemingly cruel decisions. But today when I am in the HOT SEAT, I understand why he did so.

Once in San Diego, US Gurudev was taking a camp of which I too was a part. One night a young lady was shouting in the dining hall to one of the organisers with full force. Some of the devotees asked her to calm down, since Gurudev was present there. This did not stop her at all. Gurudev said nothing at that time. After the dinner was over he called one of the organisers and said “Tell her to leave immediately, Right Now”. A doubt came in my mind – “Now! At this time of the night – she could be told to leave tomorrow morning”. “Now” was the order. Who could question Gurudev? It seemed so cruel. But see this doubt did not stop me from loosing by faith in him. The doubt was still there.

It is afterwards, that I came to know that, this very lady who was told to leave the ashram at the hour of the night was responsible for destroying a whole family.

Devotee: Swamiji, why are masters different form each other? There are the very dynamic and action oriented ones like Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, Swami Vivekananda, Adi Shankaracharya etc, who created organisations and worked actively in the outside world for the upliftment of the masses. While the second lot, like Topavan Maharaj, Ramana Maharishi, Nisargadatta Maharaj and others were the other extreme - quite and always with themselves. Which one is better and who should we adapt to?

Swamiji: First thing – never compare two masters. Learn from everyone, from every master. The problem of differences is with you and not with them. You see differences and not them. For them it is one and the same.

There are two kinds of realised souls – the Bhrama Swaroop, the ones who prefer to be in that state of Bliss forever. They are the non-doers. These are people like Ramana Maharishi, Ramakrishna Parmahamasa etc.

The second are the Karak Purush – the doers. They too are established in the Bhrama Swaroop, no different from the previous ones. Yet they are more actively involved in the outside world for establishing goodness, doing all necessary things to motive and inspire people to lead a righteous life with a higher purpose. Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda, Adi Shankaracharya, Vivekananda are examples of these.

Now, note the important point. Even though they are seemingly different from each other they are inseparable. They compliment each other. Ramakrishna inspired Vivekananda, Tapovan Maharaj inspired Gurudev, Nivrittinath inspired Gyaneshwar. The quite ones inspired the active ones. See the combination. They are always together.

It is like the Himalayas and the Ganges. The Himalaya is steady in its meditation while the Ganges, which is its product; flows with full might to serve the society. (As shown in the video – Love made visible during the Vishwa Sammelan)

In the case of Veda Vyas it was reverse. He was a Karak Purush, while his son Sukhdev was Brahma Swaroop wandering ever in the state of bliss. He sat down and spoke for just seven days and see what we have – The Bhagavatam, which is immortal.

Hence it is important for us to learn from every master giving least importance to his external appearance.