Hello and welcome to episode 22 of The Ask Sri Vishwanath Show. Today I want to talk about the missing element in your life. What it means when you say “I have everything to live with, but nothing to live for”.
Today’s question comes from Kelly. She says “I often wonder what the great men and woman did, that I am not doing. I meditate. I am honest, aware hardworking and I am forgiving. I am dedicated to realising the god within yet I am missing something. What am I doing wrong?”
That’s a really powerful question. Firstly I want to congratulate you. This question is only asked by people who are very advanced on their journey towards spirituality. I want to give you some valuable advice that will help you on your journey.
Sama Darshana
Krishna says the reason why we don’t experience what the great beings experienced is because of something called Sama Darshana. Krishna says “with the senses controlled, mind controlled with evenness of mind perform work. This evenness is yoga. He is the same in honor and disgrace, friend and foe, cold and warm pain and pleasure for he is detached.”
I used to make a similar mistake to you. It involves equality towards everyone. For example when you are in work you may be quiet and reserved when your boss is around, even when he is speaking directly to you or when he or she is saying something that isn’t to your liking. However it was your husband or your child that said something you didn’t like then you would probably react in a very different way. You would be more likely to get angry and say something to them.
So when you act differently around some people, because you could lose your job or you try to overpower them because you know them personally and you know you can get away with it. This is really important.
I used to do the same. I would treat my boss differently, my wife differently and my parents differently. If I knew I couldn’t get the better of someone I would keep quiet or if I knew I could overpower them then I would raise my voice and get angry with them. This really is not a nice way to behave. It’s wrong.
Equality
So what is Sama Darshana then? Sama Darshana means treating everyone equally not matter what. No matter what the time of the day, no matter who they are, whether you know them or not…you must treat them all equally. You must react the same way in every situation. If you decide that you are going to remain quiet and patient then you must be quiet and patient with everyone. Not only when you are helpless. You must commit to in on a constant basis.
All the great beings had this great power. The treated everyone the same way. We can do this too. We all have the power of self-restraint. The power comes from the jiva. We can become detached. Imagine you have a boss that is hard on you or you have been given a task that you really don’t want to do. You show self-restraint because you have a power inside of you that helps you restrict your emotions. If you do it the right way all the time you will see the benefits. You will have a sense of calm.
Have Sama Darshana towards everyone: your mother, husband, son, daughter and those you work with. Have the same mental attitude towards everyone. This will make you a very powerful person. It’s not even that hard to do it just takes practice.
Think less and communicate more
The second step is to think less and communicate more. People say they meditate for long periods of time, like 3 or 4 hours but when your meditating how many minutes are actually spend communicating with the god within? It might be 10 or 15 minutes. The mind is constantly being interrupted by disruptions. Krishna says “through the single minded yogin in perpetual communion with me, I am easily accessible.” So think less and communicate more with the jiva.
I want you to focus on communicating with your god within. Don’t focus too much on meditating, awareness and forgiveness. When you successfully communicate with the god within awareness, forgiveness and meditation will come naturally. So remember this quote. Write it down if you need to. “Through the single minded yogin in perpetual communion with me, I am easily accessible.”
God’s grace
Thirdly, all the great men and women relied upon the grace of god. WE can do ten million things like worrying about awareness and forgiveness but the fact is that we will not receive those benefits without the grace of god. The great beings knew that only the grace of god could help them. Remember we are instruments not machines. We want to be the creators so we can take credit for the things we do but we must realise that we are an instrument. Our work is only done because of god’s grace.
Know the fundamentals. You must have a pure mind. You must practice Sama Darshana. Restrict your emotions in all situations and not only in situations where you are helpless. Also in places where you have power. Be detached from the vents otherwise this will not work in the way you want. Know you are an instrument and surrender to god.
Krishna says “surrendering all works to me knowing me Krishna paramhansa to be above all with a concentrated mind. Fix your mind on me. Fixing your mind on me you will overcome all the obstacles due to my grace. If ego is present you will perish.”
So surrender to God and lose the ego. If you put your emotions before god then you will be tossed in the waves of life. Withdraw those emotions and all that will be left is the consciousness. So practice Sama Darshana, communicate with god and receive his grace.
I hope this answered your question. Remember you keep asking questions and I’ll keep answering them.