The Nature of the True Religious Life

by Swami Krishnananda

Chapter 15: Maintaining a Spiritual Diary

The first thought that occurs to our mind when we get up in the morning will tell us something about ourselves. The basic substance of our life persists and calls for our attention as the first thought in the morning. Many times we are so muddled in our mind that there would be no time to find out what the first thought has been today, for instance. Many of us may not even remember what we thought when we woke up in the morning because the mind flows like a series of waves one following the other, giving no rest and respite for the earlier phase.

A disciplined mind will be able to keep a watch over itself. It is only the undisciplined, chaotic thoughts that clamour with a great noise, without having much meaning behind their demands. When there is a shout from a large mob, we do not know what each person is speaking. Likewise, there is generally a mob of requirements when our mind begins to work.

Often our thoughts are like a medley of forest growth, and not a well-ordered garden where everything finds its own place in an artistic manner. Our thoughts are rarely artistic. They are a muddle and a jungle mostly, so that any thought can occur at any time, for any reason whatsoever, and for any purpose. This situation is a specimen of an undisciplined mind that can say anything and think anything at any time under an impulse, whether internal or external. A control over the processes of thought requires a great program to be chalked out and adhered to in our day-to-day living. An earnestness on our part plays a very important role in achieving success in this direction.

By this process of disciplining the mind, a time will come that we will have only a certain set of thoughts which alone will occur to our mind, and extraneous, irrelevant and unsubstantial ideas will not find a place in the mind. Just as a person who is embarking upon a particular project has a set of ideas concerning that project only, and no other thought can enter his mind on account of the intensity of the upsurge of ideas concerning the project, likewise, the intensity of a clarified conception of the goal of life will take the upper hand, and ideas and thoughts concerning these procedures to be adopted in the achievement of the goal will persist again and again, even in the middle of stray thoughts that may occasionally arise due to past habit.

It does not mean that every one of us goes to bed with a peaceful mind, whatever be our effort to achieve this state. Some sort of an anxiety or a pending work occupies the attention of the mind, and the greatest bondage is pending work. To go to bed with something that has to be done the next morning is a thing on which one has to bestow sufficient attention. The wisdom of life, whatever the nature of it be, calls for the recognition of our true status in this world. Any sort of overestimation is unwarranted in a world of this kind. Great men have come and gone in a trice, and the world has its own legal operations in respect of every one of us.

Actually, we have no pending work. Such a thing does not exist, really speaking. But we involve ourselves in a sort of responsibility, which we take on our heads as a heavy load for reasons which even we ourselves cannot easily explain, and they tell upon us physically, socially, psychologically, and even ethically.

Every insistent demand in life may be regarded as a duty that we have to perform. The word “insistent” is to be underlined here, and it is up to us to find out what it is that is so insistent. An insistent demand is one whose neglect may prove detrimental even to the achievement of our goal in some indirect manner, such as a serious illness which is ignored. Though illness may not have a direct connection with the great goal of life, it has an indirect relationship, which is obvious.

There are small things in life which may miss our attention due to the great exuberance of aspiration for God. But that would be like the fate of a managing director of a huge factory concerning himself only with the large output that he is expecting from his organisation, forgetting that the personnel in the factory are not reliable and the machines are not in order. Such an enthusiasm would not be part of the wisdom of life. The mechanism of living may be requiring repairs of various types, and though in extraordinary circumstances an overwhelming love for God may set right all matters by the operation of a law that does not belong to this world, normally we should not expect that law to descend upon us instantly. That is a miracle which can take place, but we should not expect it to take place every moment. Normally speaking, not taking into consideration these extraordinary conditions and supernormal possibilities, common sense and vigilance are expected of a seeker.

It is absolutely essential for every serious student of yoga to have a thoroughgoing systematic minutiae of the daily routine because a progressive following of a systemised routine for the day builds up the strength of one's personality, even as breakfast, lunch and dinner taken at regular hours contribute to the health of the body, while this benefit will not accrue if we are irregular in the intake of the food. Anything that is regular and systematised has the characteristic of strengthening itself inwardly, and the system that I am referring to in the daily routine mainly refers to a specified time to be allotted for a particular phase of sadhana such as svadhaya or study, japa, meditation, or even relaxation, which also may be regarded as a part of one's daily routine.

The great clarity in our mind regarding the goal that we wish to achieve in life will also suggest, at the same time, the appurtenances that we have to gather in this life for the purpose of the achievement. When we wish to build a house, we draw a plan first. We do not suddenly order some cement and bricks, thinking that a house has to be built but not knowing what sort of material, and its quantity and quality, would be required. If we build a house, we have a plan first; an architectural drawing is prepared, and then on the basis of this plan we contemplate the further requirements of the project—the quantity of the material, the nature of the material, the personnel who have to work, the expenses that we have to incur, and such other relative factors.

Something like that is this great building of the edifice of our own life. We cannot live a satisfactory life in this world unless it is planned properly. An unplanned life cannot be called a life at all. It is just existence. And the plan of life would be the shape that our life would take, in all its details, in light of the goal towards which our life is directed. The nature of the building that we are required to build will depend upon what it is that we want to do in that building. Is it going to be a factory, a chapel, a temple, residential quarters, a hostel or a hospital? What is it going to be? The purpose for which the building is meant will also decide the nature of the plan and all that follows in the project.

Likewise, the purpose for which we are living in this world will also decide the way in which we have to live in the world. How should we live? This question can be answered by putting another question: Why are we living? What is the purpose of our being here at all? The purpose of our life will tell us the way in which we have to live. When we know the way in which we are expected to live in light of the purpose that is to be achieved, this will also decide the details of every aspect such as the social, the physical, the psychological, the ethical, and the spiritual.

Our needs in life are the details of our life. Many a time it appears that we are involved in a big conspectus of unintelligible relations and needs which cannot be tabulated in a list. What do you want? If you put a question to a person, he will not be able to give an answer immediately. He will be simply drowned in the question itself. This feeling that we are getting drowned in the nature of this question arises because the mind is not clear as to the circumstances of its own life. The main difficulty is that we do not know why we are living here, and every other difficulty follows from this difficulty.

People have many ideas about this. “I work because I have to take care of my family. I have to take care of my family because it is recorded in the scriptures that it is one's duty to take care of one's family.” Here the matter ends. The whole question is answered by this little statement, “I have to serve my family, I have to take care of my husband, my wife, my children. I have to work for my nation, my country. I have to work for humanity, my brethren. I live for this purpose.” This is a simple, obvious and offhand answer that can come out from anyone's mind, but this is an untrained answer. This answer comes from a mind which has not been educated properly in the art of existence. It is a prosaic mind, not a poetic one.

This training that the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy conducts for the benefit of people is only to introduce a sort of educational discipline into the minds of people, and not merely to thrust some wisdom from outside, which cannot be done. It is a sort of properly gearing the mind and enabling it to move along the required track by making it possible for it to condition its own operations in light of the direction in which it is moving. We are all moving in one direction, in some direction. The world moves in one direction, and everything that is within the world also is moving in some direction. This is perhaps what is meant by the term “evolution”. Evolution is the direction in which the world, and everything that is in the world, takes. Though it is known that there is some sort of a direction in the movement of the world and its contents, it is not known what this direction is. Philosophers of evolution merely mention that there is evolution, and that there is a movement from one species to another, with a larger organisational setup in the more advanced species. This is some sort of statement in regard to the direction which the world is taking. But where does the evolution stop? Where does it end?

Latterly, there were many evolutionist philosophers in the West who contemplated the possibilities of the direction in which the world is moving. In India, people declared that the world is moving towards God, that man exists for the sake of the realisation of God. But it was not so easily declared in the West because doubt and wonder were the beginnings of philosophy there, and not so much intuition and vision as we seem to be having as the background of philosophical disquisitions in India. The darshana of India is a vision of Truth. But Greek philosophy or German philosophy did not begin with an intuition of the values of life, but rather with a scepticism, a doubting of every possibility and eventuality, and also, in the case of Greek philosophy particularly, it began with the wonder of the world. There seems to be a miraculous secret operating behind the systematic movements of nature.

Evolutionary doctrines, which are not the subject of our discussion now, seem to indicate that the world is taking a direction, and it is not merely moving blindly. It is not true that the world is blind or is blindfolded. It is an intelligent something. The way in which the world very dexterously manufactures beautiful flowers in the Valley of Flowers in the Himalayas, the way in which almost unrecognised butterflies are carrying artistic patterns on their bodies, the way in which the planets are moving around the Sun systematically, correct to the second, the way in which the parts of the body are miraculously collaborating among themselves, and such other countless, endless instances of mysterious intelligences operating behind the events of nature seem to prove that the world is not blind. It is not an ignorant, inert mass. The mathematics of how the Earth moves around the Sun and rotates on its axis is more precise than the intelligence of the best mathematician in the world. It is with such precision, such exactness—not exactness to the minute, not to the second, but even to the hundredth or thousandth fraction of a second. It was seen that all these things cannot be explained if we are living in an unintelligent, meaningless, blind world. This intelligence, which manifests itself in the progressive evolution of the species of various types, seems to be working for a great purpose, which is secretly hidden but sometimes, under special circumstances, manifests itself even before our own eyes.

Thus, a great need seems to be pressing upon the mind of every person in the world to educate himself or herself in the direction of a learning which will enlighten the mind as to what this direction is. Academicians have called this sort of learning as philosophy. Especially Plato considered philosophy as an indispensable science of life—indispensable because no one can forego it, no one can avoid it, no one can feel it is unnecessary. It is the only necessary discipline for every person in the world. People such as Plato felt that philosophy is the supreme science, the art of awakening the mind of man to the destiny of the universe. This awakening, this discipline which may be regarded as the essence of true education and culture, will also direct the daily routine of our life. Otherwise, our daily routine will go on changing according to the whims and fancies of our mind, emotions, the frustrations of life, and the like.

So I come back to the point that there is a necessity to maintain a daily routine which will be consonant with the purpose for which we are working among the daily activities in which we are engaged. We are not engaging ourselves in the enterprises of life for nothing. We are neither working for humanity, nor for our father or mother, nor for anybody in this world. We are working for the fulfilment of the purpose of the universe, which looks like something which involves our relationship with our father, mother, relations, friends, and so on. All these relationships appear to be part and parcel of our duty in life on account of the fact that fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, etc., are involved in, included in, this great evolutionary urge of the universe.

Yet, it has to be remembered that this principle purpose is not merely a relativistic attendance in respect of our outward connections, but is an onward or upward movement. We do not know whether it is onward or upward, or whether it is neither or both. It is this central purpose which should form the substance of education. If this essential content or core of education is missed, education becomes a corpse which has the structure of the human body but it is worth nothing, fit for cremation or burial.

The educated person is a happy person; this is what Socrates said, and anyone can say. But education today makes one miserable, for reasons which each educated person knows. The world begins to present itself as a true reality after our education is over. Until then we are small saplings, knowing nothing of the world. When our educational career is over, we find ourselves in hot water because the world then looks at us in its true colours, which were hidden from view on account of our immersion in books, and also because of our happy dependence on people who took care of us, whom we regarded as our sole support, and we had no worries of any kind. When our education is over, those who helped us with our education tell us, “Now you stand on your own legs.” Then we find our legs are weak, and we cannot stand, because strength has not been imparted to our limbs by the education that we have been given. This is unfortunate, and all ministers of education are crying hoarse on this point, finding no solution to it. But a solution has to be found.

Thus, seekers of Truth, practicants of yoga, and those who are dedicated to spiritual living are expected to awaken themselves to this great point, namely, a persistent maintenance of the consciousness of the purpose for which one exists and lives and does anything in the world. This enables seekers to maintain a daily routine.

When you get up in the morning, what are you supposed to do? What is your occupation going to be throughout the day today, for instance, from morning till evening? Though your present occupation today will have some connection with your empirical association in society, it has to be grounded finally in the purpose for which this empirical association exists and persists.

You have empirical calls and social requirements which insistently call your attention every day. Yet, notwithstanding this, the immediate requirement is finally rooted in another requirement, which conditions this immediate requirement. An empirical necessity is conditioned by a transcendent necessity. Heaven conditions the Earth. It is said that all that happens in the world has happened first in the heavens, and then it has descended into the world. We belong to all the realms, not merely to this Earth. Therefore, any manifestation of a particular event in the physical realm is said to be a descent into a grosser form of a subtle occurrence which has already taken place in ethereal form in the higher realms. As medical people say, diseases occur inside first, and then they manifest themselves outside. The fruit ripens inside first, and it ripens outside later on. Thus, the central core behind the urges for any activity or performance in life is something transcendent, and then when it descends into this visible world, it appears outside as an empirical occurrence in space and time.

With these associated ideas, you will be able to chalk out a program of your life and a program of your day. The program of the day, of any particular day, is one link in the chain of the great development of your own life. What you wish to achieve in your life is to be achieved in part, in some proportion, in one particular day. If the whole of your life can be regarded as a big body, every day is a cell or a part of this body. Hence, whatever you do today and whatever you do any day will bear an inextricable connection towards the fulfilment of the final purpose.

Every day you take a bath, you go to sleep, you take meals, you go for a walk, you relax in various ways, you study books, and you have many other occupations. All these are intended to maintain social and personal health, which is the aim behind all these variegated activities. And this immediate requirement and necessity of yours has again a purpose behind it which is superior to it, transcendent to it, and beyond it. So the highest one conditions the immediately following one, and the immediately following one conditions the next following one and, finally, even the little minute things in the world are conditioned by the will of God. Towards this end we are moving, and this would give you an idea of the nature of the daily routine.

The spiritual diary of Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj is perhaps, to my knowledge, the first time a prescription of this type has been given by a great adept in yoga. A self-checking is what is made possible by the maintenance of this spiritual diary. If you have seen the type of diary that is prescribed here by the founder of this institution, you will be able to chalk out a similar, equivalent diary for your own purpose, suited to your own predilections and the way in which you are living, etc.

You know how carefully business people maintain accounts. Every day they are conscious of what transactions have taken place, and every day they close their accounts with a clear idea of the financial position: Is it an asset or is it a liability? If it is an asset, how has it come, and if it is a liability, how has it come? The nature of the assets or the liabilities of a particular day, which are compiled during the close of the accounts in the evening, will determine what has to be done the following day. How careful people are in the field of politics and in the field of business! Such is the caution that one has to exert by an assessment of one's performances during a particular day.

As it is important to note the nature of the thought that occurs to you early in the morning, it is also essential to guard yourself about the thought that goes with your mind at the end of the day. A noble, sublime thought should be carried with the mind when it goes to sleep. The future depends on the present, is often said. The last thought determines the future life, say the scriptures. Often the last thought of today may be really the last thought. We may not wake up tomorrow. And if we wake up tomorrow, well, God be thanked for it.

Continue this process in this manner by conducting yourself in this disciplined way, struggling and striving your best to see that the basic or fundamental thought persists through the details of thought which are connected with your daily duties. It is true that many of you may have to perform many types of duty due to the kind of occupation with which you are connected. It is not only one form of work that you have to do; the form, the type, the kind may go on changing almost every hour in the case of a person who is very busy in many enterprises. Yet, with all these busy involvements, a seriously concerned person should be able to find time to withdraw himself or herself every day for a maximum period of time. I have used the words “maximum period of time” without saying whether it is one hour, two hours or three hours, because it depends upon the quality of the thought, rather than the quantity of time.

The quality of your withdrawal and your concentration on the great purpose of life should be so intense that it should be able to overwhelm any kind of impact that may tell upon your system due to contact with your social existence in the world. Due to your existence in this world and the way in which you are living, influences impinge upon you every moment of time; they dash upon you every moment, almost, like waves in the ocean. But the quality of your withdrawal, not the quantity, should be so intense that it should be able to withstand the onslaught of these dashing waves in the ocean of life. It is up to every one of you to find out what amount of time may have to be allotted for this purpose of constructively guarding yourself against the onslaughts and vicissitudes of outward life. It is not that everyone has to sit and meditate for three hours. If it is an advanced and strong mind, even a few minutes of withdrawal would be sufficient.

But who has got such a strong mind? So you may have to conduct yourself in this way for a more protracted time, preferably in the morning when you have not yet commenced the duties of the day, and also in the evening when you have retired from the day's work. It is hard for the common man to maintain an equilibrium of thinking in the midst of heavy duties which come like a flood upon one's mind. But gradual practice and persistent effort will give you such strength that you will never forget the basic factor which underlies the outward movements of life's names and forms.

Today I have principally concerned myself with this necessity on the part of every one of you to maintain a self-checking diary. You may call it a spiritual diary or any kind of diary, for the matter of that. You have many weaknesses, and these are dangerous things. The enemy can enter into the fortress of your sadhana by the ingress of these weaknesses, and so they have to be guarded with a powerful sentry, with an army of competent personnel, with tremendous discrimination, study, and satsanga with great saints and sages, etc. If you are not strong enough, if you have not got enough strength in your own self, then you align yourself with a strong power. Likewise, when you feel that you are not in a position to guard the avenues of your weaknesses, then you have to be in the company of a great person. That is alignment, as it is called in politics. You get aligned with a powerful source, and then have no fear from enemies who are likely to attack you through these weaknesses in your personality. This alignment should be with a great person, a Guru preferably; otherwise, you should have such strength that you can yourself face all these eventualities.

You have to be sincerely conscious of the weaknesses of your mind and your emotions. You should not imagine that you have no weaknesses and no desires. This kind of patting oneself on the back will do no good. You can get on in life, but you cannot get on finally because these weaknesses are like deep sores in one's own soul. What is the good of imagining that there are no weaknesses? Who is benefited by that? This is a kind of self-deception, and also a deception of the public. Well, it can go on for some time, but it will not help you for a long time.

The acceptance of a weakness is not a weakness in itself. Many times you do not want to accept that you have a weakness, thinking that it itself is a weakness—which is not so, because thereby you try to find a recipe for this weakness. It is like the acceptance of an illness. If there is a chronic illness, what is the good of hiding it? The exposure of this illness will be a good avenue for finding a remedy or medicine for it. Many a time you yourself may be able to find a remedy for your weaknesses; but sometimes, though not always, this requires the assistance of a competent Master.

Deep meditation on God is the final medicine for weaknesses of every type. God is the greatest Guru: Gurur Brahma Gurur Vishnu Gurur Devo Maheshwara. We are born with human weaknesses, which are the specific characteristics of the species of man. Every man has a weakness which is common to every other man. It is not the weakness of this person or that person; it is a weakness of humanity as such. This cannot be overcome by human means only. A human weakness cannot be remedied by human means. It requires a superhuman means, and this superhuman means is japa, meditation, svadhaya, among many other things.

Satsanga is the supreme way. Of all the great advantages of spiritual life, satsanga stands supreme, and everything comes afterwards. Nothing can compare to the company of a great man. All other things that you do come afterwards. The protection that you have, the satisfaction that you feel and the energy that enters into you in the company of a great personality surpasses every other advantage that may accrue to you by your own personal sadhana. So wherever there is an opportunity to have satsanga, it should not be missed. As long as possible this should continue, and you should hunt for opportunities to have satsanga.

Added to it is japa. With sincere meditation and prayers to God to illumine your mind, humbly surrender yourself before the Great Almighty and offer your supplication to this Great Being: “I am at your feet. Help me.” And help shall descend through the Guru, or descend directly through any miraculous source from the great Creator who has millions of eyes and who sees you every minute, inwardly and outwardly.

Thus, life is blessed. It is not a curse, as many under difficult circumstances may imagine. The kingdom of heaven is a blessed area, and we are in it. May God's grace and blessings go with you all!