...... Surrender to God ......
Individual's Uplift And World Welfare
The Divine Life ideal offers a panacea for all the social and
political ills of the modern world. The three fundamentals of Divine
Life-Serve, Love, Give-are the pillars upon which an individual can
stand and uplift himself and the brotherhood of man can be built.
Thus
the life in this world can become more fearless and happy as well as
purposeful.
If one tries to observe people, one may see there three types of
persons-extroverts, introverts and ambiverts. Extroverts are persons
whose mind always goes outwards. They become slaves of their senses.
They are after money, pleasure and passion, position and power,
honour
and acclaim. They are bound with the conditions and circumstances
and
the circumference of life. Naturally, their pursuit is of the outer
and they forget the purpose and destination of human life.
Introverts are those persons who are reflective and contemplative
and long to study their inner realm, the inner universe hidden
within.
Goethe called it as "Man's inner universe". They renounce pleasure
and
position, keeping themselves aloof-away from acclaim and honour. The
charm of the world is such that one may find only a few who are
introverts. Ambivert is a person who does not cut himself from the
outer, but lives in the 'inner' and makes the outer a vehicle of the
inner. He dedicates his life in selfless service of humanity and
places his life as an offering at the altar of the Great Creator of
the universe the Lord. Such a person realises the sanctity of
service,
seeking nothing for himself, keeping ablaze the Divinity within.
They
are the embodiments of humility and compassion and love pure and
simple at heart. But without becoming introvert it is not possible
for
anyone to become ambivert. And such a person is called sadhaka in
its
real perspective. In fact, man is an inborn sadhaka, but fails to
recognize the same due to misconceptions, misunderstandings,
arrogance
and vanity.
Holistic View
"There is a common tendency to isolate spiritual principles from
politics, especially in these days of great intellectual power.
Dreamers and visionaries are often brushed aside as people with
their
heads in the clouds", out of touch with stark realities. In so many
ways man has become wedded to the doctrine of self-salvation, self-
achievement and self-dependence that in the resultant excitement of
great material achievements he is in danger of forgetting the
eternal
truths upon which this entire universe exists and its future
heritage
depends.
The bad habit of complaining against others, the conditions and
slackness in sincere attempts, and a lack of love for himself and
humanity-and man becomes a prey of vanity which subsists on false
values. Man generally thinks falsely that he is unblemished and
superior to others and that others are blemished and inferior. The
inevitable consequence is that he gets a perverted vision and loses
the capacity for seeing and accepting Truth. If a man develops an
attitude of selfishness, he is liable to poison every good sight and
tie. But, if his attitude becomes one of helpfulness and
understanding, he shall beautify every tie-foes will turn into
friends, problems will have their solutions and man will have his
salvation. Unfortunately, man thinks his gain in the loss of others,
his progress in another's downfall and his happiness in another's
unhappiness. It is a tremendous mistake and a dangerous trend born
out
of indiscrimination and selfishness.
The inspired visions of saints, mystics and leaders in the
religious education, social, economic and artistic scene of every
country have truly reflected the true aspirations of the people.
From
these visions was born the practical reality of everything which is
recognised to be good in their way of life. And of course,
everything
that is discordant or bad is the outward result of individual and
collective negative or evil thinking or beliefs.
One of the greatest saints of the present day Sri Swami
Sivanandaji Maharaj has placed before the world the 'Divine Life'
gospel for the uplift of the individual and attainment of divinity
in
the end which can be summed up in six succinct words, "Serve, Love.
Give, Purify, Meditate, Realise.
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-Swami Sivananda 74