Fit or unfit, keep moving. The best weather or calamitous tsunami, keep moving. Friends with you or all alone, keep moving. Those who keep moving attain bliss, charan vai madhu vindati, says the Veda. An ant that moves reaches long distances but the might Garuda, if he does not move, stays just where he is – sings another old Sanskrit verse1. Fall you may, rise every time you fall and start your journey again.
So weak we are, from one angle of view. Eternally dependent on food, clothes and shelter, and endlessly craving for creature comforts, all of us are particles of dust in this vast universe. Infinitely strong and indomitable is the human spirit, from another angle again. Our achievements in fields outer and inner are unbelievably great. Like a frail seed becomes the huge banyan tree, anyone of us, weak at one time in life, may flower into a great source of energy and compassion.
Personal ambition is the driving force in our lives for a good part of our journey. “What do I get in this activity?” is the question that surfaces everywhere or operates in a hidden form at places. The desire of the self raises its head even in spiritual efforts, seeking experiences, sensations and a new, exalted identity. Fame and name come to us in the material world and in the world of religion and spirituality also. The ego in us gets very gratified through all this. It is however shallow when we take a closer look at it.
“Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations,” says2 Lao Tzu. King Yayati enjoyed all kinds of pleasure but finally remarked3, “Desire gets stronger with its enjoyment and does not really get appeased. Like fire into which one pours ghee (clarified butter), it rises forth with taller flames, asking for more.” As we observe our own life with greater depth, we realize the foolishness of all selfish activity. Out of that understanding there arises a new attitude towards all our relationships.
We keep moving then, as before. The difference now is we have joy in giving, serving. Our happiness is not by getting something. It is unconditional. It is through a quiet recognition of how we are fine as we are. “I am ok, just like that. I am good, just like that.” We do not have to get something. We do not have to be praised by somebody. The hold that judgments by others (or by ourselves) had on us all along gets loosened. In this evolved state, we keep moving – not out of fear but out of love and peace.
Swami Chidananda
Varanasi, March 15, 2011
Footnotes:
1 gacchan pipeeliko yaati yojanaanaam shataanyapi
agacchan vainateyo’pi padamekam na gacchati (subhaashita)
2 Taken from Tao Te Ching Journal, which has Excerpts from Stephen Mitchell’s translation; published by Chronicle Books.
