I’ll first reproduce in the following a story that is
in circulation via e-mails.
An old Farmer lived on a farm in the mountains with his
young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table
reading his Bhagavat Gita. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to
imitate him in every way he could.
One day the grandson asked, "Grandpa! I try to
read the Bhagavat Gita just like you but I don't understand it, and what I do
understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the
Bhagavat Gita do?"
The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the
stove and replied, "Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me
back a basket of water."
The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked
out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said,
"You'll have to move a little faster next time," and sent him back to
the river with the basket to try again.
This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was
empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it
was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.
The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of
water. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to
watch the boy try again.
At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he
wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the
water would leak out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the
basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket
was again empty. Out of breath, he
said, "See Grandpa, it's useless!"
"So you think it is useless?" The old man
said, "Look at the basket."
The boy looked at the basket and for the first time
realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a dirty
old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.
"Son, that's what happens when you read the
Bhagavat Gita. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you
read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of
That is religion, of whatever brand it be—but there’s
also a lesson for the spiritual practitioner. If there’s a call for the
spiritual life, the response lies in going by the triple formula of
aspiration-rejection-surrender:
…an aspiration vigilant, constant, unceasing—the mind's
will, the hearts seeking, the assent of the vital being, the will to open and
make plastic the physical consciousness and nature; rejection of the movements
of lower nature—rejection of the mind's ideas, opinions, preferences, habits,
constructions, so that the true knowledge may find free room in a silent
mind,—rejection of the vital nature's desires, demands, cravings, sensations,
passions, selfishness, pride, arrogance, lust, greed, jealousy, envy, hostility
to Truth, so that the true power and joy may pour from above into a calm,
large, strong and consecrated vital being,—rejection of the physical nature's
stupidity, doubt, disbelief, obscurity, obstinacy, pettiness, laziness,
unwillingness to change, so that the true stability of Light, Power, Ananda may
establish itself in a body growing always more divine; surrender of oneself and
all one is and has and every plane of the consciousness and every movement to
the Divine Shakti.
And there are “the conditions of Light and Truth, the
sole conditions under which the highest will descend; and it is only the very
highest supramental Force descending from above and opening from below that can
victoriously handle the physical Nature and annihilate its difficulties… There
must be a total and sincere surrender; there must be an exclusive self opening
to the divine Power; there must be a constant and integral choice of the Truth
that is descending, a constant and integral rejection of the falsehood of the
mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances that still rule the
earth-Nature. The surrender must be total and seize all parts of the being. It
is not enough that psychic should respond and higher mental aspect or even the
inner vital submit and the physical consciousness feel the influence. There
must be no part in the being, even the most external, anything that makes a
reserve, anything that hides behind doubts, confusions and subterfuges,
anything that revolts or refuses.”
If this is not followed then, it’s immaterial whether
you do this or you do that. You may call it Integral Yoga, you may call it
Religion, you may call it Spirituality, and what not; but it will not satisfy
the soul’s deepest urge seeking the Divine within you, and everywhere. If our
concern is this single objective then, all talk about assertive and prideful or
self-congratulatory rationality, or else plain or blind faith—seeing faith is
an extremely rare commodity, not to be found easily—pale into insignificance,
become inchoate and worthless. We go to a spiritually accomplished person to
seek his spiritual guidance and help. It is only in this regard and endeavour that
we have to follow it, follow it if we are centrally alert to its methodology,
sincere to our own deepest urge. If I’m in the Ashram, for instance, I must
always remember the purpose for which I’m here—the rest becomes
inconsequential. And that is also true in whatever institutional work, wherever
that be, in any walk of life, academic or sports or business, I am associated
with. And the beauty is, this is true in every field of our activity. If I can
follow my path,—and that path can be by whatever faculty in me is most open,
most developed,—what else is then required? That path can be by the opening of
the mind or the emotional being or the perfection in the physical work or the
acts of nobility,—to put in the technical parlance as Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti
Yoga, Karma Yoga. That is what is meant by dharma, the mould of one’s
personality, one’s piņda, the
expressive-creative swabhāva, the
soul-characteristic. That is what is meant by “being driven from within”. And
what a powerful self-assertion and self-progress it can offer to us! All paths are
equally superior and going by any one of them will the Guide or the Divine give
whatever is necessary for the fulfilment of the soul’s deepest urge. In that
situation all comparisons become meaningless.
The supreme truth is: “There are two powers that alone
can effect in their conjunction the great and difficult thing which is the aim
of our endeavor,—a fixed and unfailing aspiration that calls from below and—a
supreme Grace from above that answers.” That is all that matters.
RY Deshpande