The Path To Self-Realization
Authored by
THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM
ye hi saṁsparśajā bhogā duḥkhayonaya eva te ādyantavantaḥ kaunteya na teṣu ramate budhaḥ
The intelligent person surely does not enjoy the sense pleasures, enjoyments which are sources of misery and which are subject to beginning and end.
"First, let us get our body and mind under our control."
śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ prākśarīravimokṣaṇāt kāma-krodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ
Before leaving this present body, if one is able to tolerate the urges of material senses and check the force of desire and anger, he is well situated and he is happy in this world.
Only a person who has gone beyond greed and fear can relax into his being. He will know what his place is in this planet Earth.
yo 'ntaḥsukho'ntarārāmas tathāntar-jyotir eva yaḥ sa yogī brahman-irvāṇaṁ brahmabhūto'dhigacchati
One who is happy from within, active within as well as illumined within, surely, is a Yogi and he is liberated in the Supreme [brahma-nirvāṇa], is Self-realized and attains the Supreme
When we are completely immersed in the present moment, we enjoy the path. When the path itself becomes the goal, we enjoy the goal also every moment.
labhante brahma-nirvāṇam ṛṣayaḥ kṣīṇakalmaṣāḥ chinn-advaidhā yatātmānaḥ sarvabhūtahite ratāḥ
Those, whose sins have been destroyed, who have dispelled the dualities arising from doubts, whose minds are engaged within, and who are working for the welfare of other beings, attain the eternal liberation in the Supreme [brahma-nirvāṇa].
Only when we work out of bliss, we will do things to enrich others and ourselves
kāmakrodhaviyuktānāṁ yatīnāṁ yatacetasām abhito brahmanirvāṇaṁ vartate viditātmanām
They who are free from lust and anger, who have subdued the mind and senses, and who have known the Self, easily attain liberation [brahma-nirvāṇa].
When we feel genuine love for others, we will take up responsibility because we want to share that blissful love with others around us.
If we don't fuel our being with fear and greed, suddenly, we will see a new clarity. We will start working out of intelligence, out of Divine Consciousness, out of Eternal Bliss. Just decide, 'Whatever I do out of greed will only result in more greed. I have been getting nowhere. Enough!' In the same way, if we are escaping from something out of fear, decide, 'Alright, how long can I escape? This fear will come and attack me in some other form. If I am afraid of this now, I will be afraid of something else later. So let me face it now.'
Again and again, Kṛṣṇa declares, 'Let you live in the space of completion. Let you work out of bliss.' And I tell you, if you are complete and work out of bliss, you will create bliss for yourself and for others; you will never know what tiredness is.
Let me tell you honestly that I still can't understand the meaning of the word 'tiredness.' How can you have tiredness? Tiredness is the inner contradiction between the icchā śakti (power of desire) and kriya śakti (power of action), between your being and your action. Inside, there is a deep problem. Your greed and fear are attacking each other. If we are feeling tired, it means there is a big war going on inside you. The Mahābhārat war between fear and greed is happening within you.
Why do we feel tired? We feel tired when we are not integrated within ourselves. One half of our being that wants to express itself but we have suppressed it for various societal reasons. The other half of our being is what is expressing itself in the manner that we are forcing it to. When we become tired, the suppressed, unconscious half of us becomes more powerful than the conscious, pretentious half, and it starts dominating.
First, let us get our body and mind under our control. As of now, it is under the control of fear or greed. Let that be controlled by us. Then, automatically, we can get anything under our control. If our body and mind are not under our control, whatever we wish to bring under our control will never come under our control.