Darshan with Swami Krishnananda – 1998

by Swami Krishnananda

8. Four Kinds of Duty

(Darshan given on February 11th, 1998)

Swamiji: The whole universe is active. There is not a single atom that is keeping quiet, and you are inseparably connected to the whole universe; therefore, the active universe will compel you to act. This is the gospel of the Bhagavadgita. You may act rightly or wrongly. Right action is not actually action, but a participation with the purpose of the universe. That is right action; that is liberating action.

You must, first of all, know what is the purpose of the universe. Why is it so active? Why does it evolve, and in what direction? In that direction, in that manner, for that purpose you act in total cooperation with it, not in opposition to it. This again is the philosophy of the Bhagavadgita. You do not work; you are participating. 'Work' means independently doing something. There is no such thing as independent doing here. The universe includes everybody, so independent action is not possible. Therefore, work is a must.

Now, it is up to you to decide how you will do the work. Number one: There are what are called creature comforts – food, clothing, shelter. You understand me?

A visitor: Yes, sir.

These three things should be assured, and there should be no difficulty about it. You should not be made to feel that after three years perhaps you will have no money. Then it will disturb your mind. You must be assured within yourself: “I have enough resources to maintain me for all times in regard to my food, clothing, shelter, and medical assistance whenever necessary.” This is number one.

Number two: There is another kind of work: your relationship with human society. You are not isolated from humanity. You have some duty to your brothers or sisters. It doesn't mean that you jump on somebody and then say, “I will do some work for you.” You need not do that. When an opportunity arises in which condition it will be good for you to be of help to some other people, in a compassionate manner and out of good will you may do some service to society also. I don't mean society in the whole world – your vicinity.

There are four kinds of duty. I was mentioning to our friend the other day. To maintain yourself hale and hearty, that is the first duty. You should not fall sick. To maintain very, very cordial, cooperative relations with society is number two. To be harmonious with the workings of Nature is number three: You should not do anything contrary to the law of Nature. Number four: You have a duty to the Creator of the universe. The last one is higher than the lower ones. When God is pleased, Nature will be pleased. When Nature is pleased, society will be pleased. When society is pleased, you are also pleased. But you cannot jump to the highest level at one stroke. You have to move from the lower level to the higher level.

So, all told, in reply to your question, what I can say is that you have to do that much work which will be an obligation on your part as a human being, as a citizen of a country, as a part of Nature, as a spark of God. In all these aspects you have a duty. Then you become an integrated person. In a way, you are moving towards a superman's state. A person who is integrated in this way from four sides at one stroke is on the way to becoming a superman. In a way, such a person is called a yogi. Yoga does not mean sitting quiet, closing the eyes and breathing, and all that. These are all lower categories. You must be in harmony with everything – with yourself.

Another visitor: ...put those things into our life now.

Swamiji: Your so-called choice is conditioned by the potentialities of previous birth, with which you have been born into this world. Those impulses force you to adopt a way of life, do a particular kind of work and experience pleasure and pain. Things do not come upon you unnecessarily. There is a great justice in the cosmos. Chaotic action does not take place in the world. Everything that you are experiencing in this life – your aspirations, your way of thinking, your joys and sorrows, even the length of your life in this world – is determined by the extent and intensity of the potencies of previous thoughts and actions, with which you have come back to this world, which nobody knows because at the time of death consciousness is obliterated, so what you thought in the previous life you do not know now. So everything is determined by a cosmic purpose. Even if you walk to Rishikesh just now, it is also written already. Instead of going to Lakshmanjhula, you go to Rishikesh. That is also written even before you were born. If you know this truth, you will not be bothered about anything in the world.

Another visitor: I try to focus on some internal point.

Swamiji: What point?

Visitor: It's not a physical point. It is just something inside that I try to focus on – some quality.

Swamiji: Even if it is inside, it is physical only, because it is inside the physical body. What is that point?

Visitor: It's omnipresence. I like to focus on omnipresence.

Swamiji: No, no. Omnipresence is not a point. What do you say? A point is a location in space, but omnipresence is not a location in space.

Visitor: No, Swamiji. It is not a point in space.

Swamiji: Alright. I am glad to hear that. How do you conceive omnipresence?

Visitor: I try to not conceive it because if I try to conceive it, then I'm putting it into the mind.

Swamiji: Do you spread yourself everywhere to become omnipresent in meditation?

Visitor: I think that's what I try to do.

Swamiji: Who taught you this method?

Visitor: It something that I evolved over a period of time.

Swamiji: How many minutes do you spend every day for this kind of meditation?

Visitor: I do it once in the morning, and then when I am going to bed, before I go to sleep, I focus on that. And then I go to sleep, try to go to sleep focused on that.

Swamiji: Do you know why you are doing this meditation?

Visitor: Yes, Swamiji. To realise the Absolute.

Swamiji: You know the point of Max Planck?

Visitor: Swamiji, yes.

Swamiji: The universe once upon a time was a point. The whole universe was contained in one point as large as the full stop in a sentence. If you write a sentence and you put a full stop, what is the size of that full stop? That was the size of the entire universe once upon a time. That was prior to what you people call the Big Bang. There was no bang, actually speaking. We are only saying that. 'Bang' means a large sound. But there was nobody to hear the sound at that time. There were no ears, and there was no space; therefore, there cannot be sound. Hence, the word 'bang' is not suitable.

But human beings can think only as human beings. All the glories of this universe – the heavens and the hells and all the planes of existence extending to infinite width and depth – such a wondrous creation, as you call it, was inside that little pinpoint. Now, when you think like that, what happens to your mind?

Visitor: I think its consciousness expanded beyond its normal confines.

Swamiji: It is something more than that. The whole personality will find itself intolerable. You cannot tolerate your personality at that time. You will go into the point. Now you are so many feet high and so many feet wide, isn't it, in your body. But you are not so many feet in any way. There were no feet and no inches. It is a dimensionless point. It is dimensionless because there was no space. Without space there is no dimension. So, inconceivable for the human mind was that point. It is a terrible thing to hear all that, but all great truths are terrible things.

Okay, you meditate as you like. I have told you some tremendous truth. If you can bear it in mind, there is no need of reading any books afterwards. As you are a very experienced physicist, so you don't require any further elaboration of all these things. You carry with you this point when you go, this dimensionless point.