Hardship
knows no smooth sailing; relief is afforded only through total riddance from hardship. The
target available without struggle is never attained through struggle. Such an attitude
helps us identify our self. And identification of self dissolves all difficulties.
Consequently life becomes comfortable and holy without effort. Any constructive operation
involves effort. But even showmanship of piety is subtle egoistic activity. And egoism
leaves no room for possibility of a neat and clear conception.
Pilgrimages,
telling of beads, holy marks on forehead and even saffron or white robes cannot make us
holy. Such ceremonials cannot possibly inculcate in us high values of saints and mystics.
Mere display of virtue and piety related to robes and sects is not genuine piety. This means that noble traits like universalism,
compassion, humility, brotherhood and love cannot be aligned to the beliefs of any
particular sect. In fact, all such ventures isolate us from the self and the Supreme Self.
We spend our entire life in various worldly engagements. When fed up with one pursuit, we
improvise another. We start rotating the rosary beads mechanically when sick of tobacco
and liquor. Tired of running a shop, we resort to temples. Thus goes on and on the round
of our chores without imparting us contentment and solace. Thus
we consume our entire life in various ventures for resolving our self-created problems.
But we do not have any leisure for knowledge of the Truth and Supreme Self. It, however,
goes without saying that ultimate truth can be realized in moments of leisure, not by
conscious endeavours. For, the truth is eternal, present every moment at every spot. It is
we ourselves who are absent and indifferent to Truth. Such negligence can be basically
ascribed to our interests in various ventures, our inclinations and our attachments.
Failure to rid ourselves of various preoccupations is the biggest obstacle in the way of
self and God realisation. Every enterprise of ours is linked with our consciousness of
doer ship. Such a consciousness binds us with the phenomenal world. All our hardships
emanate from the transient world.
Riddance
from the ego of doer ship liberates us from the captivity of worldliness and its tangles.
Such a state of non-doer ship bestows knowledge of divinity, truth, ecstasy and bliss.
This state has been described as one of complete surrender or merger. This effaces the ego
of doer ship and results in kinship with solace and rapture. Then instead of doers we
become a medium like a musical instrument, every note of which symbolizes art of an
artist.
Such
a moment of surrender is one of self-awareness and encounter with the omnipresent
totality. Would that we accepted surrender and lived in this state instead of indulging in
various enterprises.