Swami Krishnananda Shashtyabdapurti Mahotsava Commemoration Volume
A Souvenir released on Swami Krishnananda's 60th Birthday
The Art of Living
by Baldeo Sahai
The art of living lies in ensuring happiness and avoiding pain. The happiness sought should be continuous and of high quality. It is other than pleasure derived from indulgences like tasting a delicious dish or watching a cricket match. Nor should temporary happiness paves the way for future pain. Pain is not always avoidable and there are circumstances over which we have little or no control – like in clemency of weather, accidents and diseases that do cause discomfort and pain. But, a way has to be found that enables man to develop his faculties to the maximum and enjoy his sojourn on earth.
The question arises how far man is a free agent to fashion his life as he wants. In India, there are millions who believed that how they act and what they feel is already determined and there is really not much that they can do on their own. If they are destined to suffer during a certain period, then there thinking also gets clouded and they become liable to commit mistakes.
Once an elderly gentleman likened the goings-on in the world to a film being shown on the silver screen. “Can you make any change in what is being shown?” He asked, and added, “The film roles are shot, you can only watch the show. So is the case on the world stage. Man can merely watch, everything is already determined and decided for him”.
For all those who think that way, there is no art or science of living. Man is a mere spectator unable to make any change in his surroundings and circumstances. Whatever he does, he is destined to do and cannot act otherwise. It is therefore first examined this attitude of mind.When anyone strikes a gong, it produces a bang. The quality of the sound depends upon the metal of the gong, the material of the mallet, the force with which it is struck and the contact of the gong with any other material. The gong may be made of a thick or thin sheet of brass, bronze or any other material. The mallet may be of iron or wood, and the force applied, strong or weak. If the gong is hanging free, the sound shall be sharp; if its surface is in contact with another metal or a wooden plank, the sound produced may be a mere thud. But, no supernatural power is necessary, or called for, to make the gong go. The sound is potentially present in the gong.
Similarly, when one strikes a match to dry cinder or wood, the latter will go up in flames. If the wood is wet or the matchstick damp, fire may not be produced at all, or it may just simmer and cause smoke—all depending on the quality and quantity of wood. But no supernatural power is required to cause fire. Fire is inherent in the wood.
Even so, a tiny seed has the potentiality of sprouting and growing into a huge tree. Its foliage, flowers and fruits depend on the quality of the seed, the soil, the manure and the environs, and not on the intervention of any supernatural power to tend it and make it grow.
The clouds thunder, forest fires occur, luxuriant vegetation grows, and there is no human or superhuman agency involved in all these. Sound is inherent in the clouds, fire in the wood, and the tree in the seed. Similarly, thinking and acting are inherent in man. When a man is there, he shall think, plan, imagine, will, feel and act. His thinking, etc., shall depend upon his family and social atmosphere, education and studies. The total environment will determine his objectives in life which will govern his attitude towards others. On the basis of those views he shall act, and on the way he executes his plans shall depend the results. The potentiality to think and act lies latent in every man, woman and child. It does not need any supernatural power to make it tick.
The cause-and-effect sequence in the case of human beings is not as simple as in striking a gong, or setting fire to cinder, or sowing a seed. Here, thinking is also action—in a subtle form—so is imagining, feeling and willing. A court of law does not take cognisance of what goes on in one's mind, but the Law of Karma does. If a person is harbouring ill feelings, he will suffer for them even though he may not translate them into action. Most of us, most of the time, are involved in conflicting thinking, one idea cancelling the other, getting nowhere.
Another feature of human actions is that they are not a one-time act like striking a gong. Even sowing a seed and then looking after it over weeks or years is simple enough compared to a vast variety of actions in human life. Interaction with a large number of other human beings—first the family members, then the neighbours, class fellows, office colleagues, the life companion and innumerable others in whom we run into, make the whole warp and woof of human relationship so complex and confusing, that often it is difficult to evolve a pattern.
Thirdly, actions are of several types. There are actions which give immediate results—like taking food, listening to music or watching a match. There are others whose results accrue later, say sowing a seed, passing an examination, taking a medicine or a tonic, and so on. There is yet another category of actions of which we are unable to reap the results in this life-span. These unrewarded accumulated actions constitute the Prarabdha or destiny. The point to ponder here is that Prarabdha is nothing else except the reward for our own actions.
Once, King Milinda asked his teacher, "We find inequality prevailing everywhere. Are born rich, others poor: some are beautiful, others ugly; some are intelligent, others witless. What is the reason of this ?". His teacher replied that the anomaly was due to the Karma of each being in his former life and quoted the words of Buddha in support: "Every living being has Karma as its master, its inheritance, its congenital cause, its kinsman, its refuge. It is Karma that differentiates all beings into low and high states". He further explained that a Karma or deed might be mental, oral or physical.
Most revered Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj succinctly summed up his teachings in four words: BE GOOD, DO GOOD. That shows that a man is free to BE what he wants—good or bad, it is his choice— and is equally free to DO good. Says revered Swami Chidanandaji in his book, The Path Beyond Sorrow: "If man is not a free doer, then the very Law of Karma becomes absurd. This is a very vital point which we have to understand. The Law of Karma does not make man just a puppet, helpless under the law".
How to Act
Once it is established that a man is free to act the way he chooses, we may then consider how he should act so as to ensure abiding happiness in life. For example, it is not a matter of destiny if one decides to get up at five in the morning and tries to establish contact with the source of all energy in the universe for at least twenty minutes, if not longer. A few moments' contact with the source of power shall energize his body and soul to face the world during the day. And, as the saying goes, well begun is half done.
During the day—and night—let him be what he is. Man unnecessarily complicates matters by posing to be what he is not, by misrepresenting thoughts and feelings, by one thing while thinking something quite different. Let him see what he sees and speak what he thinks— it is as simple as that. But instead, when he meets someone, he immediately and automatically connects him with a specific nationality, caste and creed and his past associations with people. "He is a Sardarji, a Sardarji had once cheated me, this man too must be a cheat." So runs the train of thought, and even before an introduction takes place, prejudices come into play. We look at a thing, and immediately a relationship of attachment, aversion or indifference is established. That is, we look at things not as they are but with a jaundiced eye, not as the manifestations of the self-same Reality, but as real in themselves coloured with our own preconceived notions.
If we deal with matters as they occur, we will escape entanglement, involvement, attachment. And attachment in action is the source and seed of pain. Perform your duty with application and vigour to the best of your ability—and that is its own reward. The moment there is attachment, association shall afford happiness, and separation, pain. Advises Lord Krishna in his Song Celestial: "Perform action, O Arjuna, steadfast in Yoga, abandoning attachment and balanced in success and failure. Evenness of mind is called Yoga" (II: 48). The same advice is tendered at several other places (III: 7, 19; IV: 10; V: 10). Or else, he would like us "to act with mind fixed on Me" (VIII: 7; III: 30; IV: 10; XII: 8, 10).
The basic idea in both these approaches is to 'roast' the seed of action before it is sown, scotching all possibilities of its sprouting and proliferation in a luxuriant growth. If one performs an act as he deems right without attaching his ego to the act, or he offers that act to a higher, supreme power, he does not get entangled in the meshes of its linkages, cross-linkages and consequences. He remains aloof from it all.
That does not mean that a person shall have no time-table of activities, no objectives, no plans. No one can withdraw from actions, even if he wants to. Or, he should act in a sloppy, slipshod, careless, absent-minded fashion. Whatever he does, he should do to the best of his ability. This applies to all actions—reading, writing, talking, praying, sewing, cooking, lecturing, doing work in office, farm or factory, resting, and so on. At the same time, one should always strive to excel, to improve his efficiency, always eager to do better than before. That will enable a person to develop his latent powers and charge his potentialities.
May I emphasise that there is no clash between performing one's actions without attachment and performing one's duties or achieving one's objectives; the two are complementary. Rather, the secret of achieving abiding happiness is to extend one's contact with the reservoir of all happiness and keep that contact intact while performing actions.