Articles for Saadhana

Harih Om Tat Sat. Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. Jai Guru.

I dont know whether 'B' wanted me to speak on something like attention, why is it that we are all lacking in the necessary attention while doing a job. I was thinking about it. The attention of any performer, any person, in whatever he does, will be directly proportional to the interest and fondness he fosters in that particular action. If you are interested in mathematics, then the study of mathematics will become quite delightful to you and you will be attentive to it. If the interest is not there, naturally, the attention will suffer.

The question necessarily arises - how to make a subject interesting. I think, all our Vedantic, philosophical and spiritual discussions are to understand the value of life, to understand the greatness of the goal of life, to understand the role of the individual, to understand the place of nature. It is only to make everything known properly. When you know a subject, automatically that knowledge will kindle the necessary interest for you.

What exactly is ultimately Vedanta? Vedanta finally tells you that you must be able to live in this world, recognising that your role is a divine role. As is the world going on, so also you, a part of the world, should be going on. There are so many things of nature; all of them have their expression, their beauty, their place of existence, their consistency and the like. The seasons come in time and disappear. How many people have expressed our gratitude to these seasons? The earth is going on in its trajectory ceaselessly. Have we ever valued this role of the earth? Have we ever expressed any appreciation or gratitude for it? If at all, earth has a mind and a heart, she would be feeling that "I am so big and great that the puny little human beings do not have any brain to understand my role or my existence." That is what earth will say. The earth will also say that "After all, it does not matter, they are my children; whether they know it or do not know it, I should not fail in my action."

So, you must have that interest; interest in turn depends upon the extent of knowledge you are able to have about anything whatsoever. Suppose a particular student doesn’t have love for mathematics and he finds it a dull subject, the best will be to make him understand the role of mathematics in our human life and interaction. Whenever the utility of a subject is known, automatically it will evoke interest in our mind. Whenever you are doing a job, that job should evoke sufficient response from your heart. We have got five fingers in our palm. Each finger moves in a certain direction without having any conflict with the other. The movement of the little finger, is it recognised by the other four? Similarly, the movement of any finger is not recognised by the others and it does not get any kind of an appreciation from the others. But still each finger, does its purpose, its role.

So, we must be able to understand how important every one of us is, as an individual. Our country consists of more than 100 crores of people. I always say the great lot of people that we have, they have not been delivered from one mother or bred by one mother or may be a handful of mothers. Every child is individually born of the mother and individually reared also by the mother. Like that, so many mothers are delivering and that is why we have such a large number of people. Suppose the individual mother does not fulfil her role of motherhood and she does not rear her children properly, do you think it will remain purely as an individual family affair? Or will it not directly affect the magnitude of the people, their presence, quality and the like? As an individual, whatever action you are doing, that action is supremely important if you are able to value your action. That evaluation itself will bring about a correct, a very desirable level of fondness for you. So, the interest which determines fondness, depends upon your evaluation of what you are doing. So, have a right evaluation about yoursef.

Vedanta ultimately gives us the knowledge that the individual soul is Brahman, the supreme soul. Can you imagine the magnitude that arises in the psychology and intellectuality of an individual from this realization? An individual becomes very responsible; at the same time he also has sufficient indifference to remain unattached to whatever he does.

I believe, there are three important factors in determining the degree of attention one can have. First of all, you must have a love for yourself, a sense of fondness about whatever you do. When I do a job, I would like to do it well and to the satisfaction of all concerned. That pride or prestige should be there in you. That is one point. You must also have a love and fondness for the others. Somebody has told me to do a job. Because he has told me or she has told me, I would like to do it. So, the love for the other, is very important. Besides these, you must also have an overall sense of propriety and assessment. That is that I said. “What am I as an individual and what is the world with me or without me?” We can have a negative and trifling notion about everything. We can have a positive and wholesome notion also about everything. Whenever a work is to be done, 'The work is to be done, the Ashram needs this work to be done, it has to be done properly. If I don’t do it properly, then there should be a reaction in me’.

So, the fondness for the work, the fondness for yourself, fondness for others and above and beyond all, there should be a sense of propriety, a note of fulfilling propriety that you always have. Anybody asking you to do anything, I don’t think you will be able to do it. 'When somebody is asking me to do something properly, then I will do it.' And to do anything improperly, it should be impossible for you. So, there should be a sense of propriety, a sense of dharma, call it by any other name, that should be one guiding factor.

Fondness and love for the others is another factor and fondness for oneself. When you do a good job, you will be very very happy. I was telling yesterday to R, whenever I sit in the computer and make corrections, editing, I am very happy. Suppose I were to do it on a piece of paper, then every time I correct, the paper becomes clumsy and it is actually a kind of a, what shall I say, repulsion for the eyes. On the other hand, when I sit in the computer, whenver I press a key, the letter or the word to be removed, is removed and the screen becomes clean. Then I type the new word or letter. So, it gives me a kind of joy. The correction becomes better, the correctional process becomes better. I am only afraid whether the eye is too much strained when it works in the background of the computer light. Otherwise, the correction and editing in a computer, is such as beautiful and joyful task. So, I always do the editing in the computer.

What I want to tell you is that it gives me a lot of joy which perhaps I would be missing on a simple typewriter or on a piece of paper. Every time we correct, the paper becomes ugly and somebody has to, often after correcting, I used to re-write also when the re-writing becomes more time consuming whereas this gives a kind of a joy. Similarly, when a job is properly done, you should consider it to be your own appearance in a beautiful form. That identity should be there. So, love for oneself, love for the others and then a clear assessment about your position, the need for work, the contribution the work makes, you yourself make, to the overall prosperity, cohesion and well-being of the world. To raise the mind to this level of understanding, you can call it something like a universal attitude. I think it is a task perhaps. But when you do it, then I think whatever you do will become good.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.