Surge : Seventy five
DARKNESS IS THE MAIN PROBLEM
Our vision is blurred because of veiling (avarana) and distraction (viksepa). The language of gunas attributes these two problems to tamas (darkness, inertia) and rajas (outgoing nature, restlessness). Certain darkness (gu) has enveloped our vision, and a luminary comes along in our life who removes (ru) that darkness. He (or she) is called guru. We pay homage to him (her) and a day is specially marked every year for remembering him (her). That is guru-purnima*.
Right Action
The problem of darkness besets us when the question is, “What is the right thing to do?” Presidents and Prime Ministers err with regard to action, and so do common men and women. National and international affairs are therefore in jeopardy; so are matters in every family. Wrong actions lead to wrong results and life gets very complicated. If only we could see clearly, at the time of taking decisions, much harm could be avoided.
An individual, in her personal life, goes on committing errors – again because of this darkness. She is unable to see her situation properly. She sees a snake where there is actually a mere rope. She runs away in fear while she could have just walked on. If there was enough light, she would have seen the rope properly. In eating and drinking, exercising and working, speaking and writing, investing and spending, in all matters of daily life, seeing rightly assumes utmost importance. Without it our life moves from error to error.
The guru removes darkness and helps us see rightly.
Tradition emphasizes methods, techniques and practices to cleanse our inner equipment so that we can see properly. When the surface of a mirror is clean, the reflections are clear. If the energies within us are free from impurities, the vision of right action is clear. All over the world, therefore, people are engaged in worship, japa, yoga, pranayama etc. All of this is meant to bring about inner purification, citta-suddhi, nadi-suddhi, antahkarana-suddhi, as the words go. (The word nadi is pronounced with n as n in nut, a as a in car, d as d in dance and i as ee in deep. The nadis are the invisible paths through which subtle energy flows inside our body. Kundalini rises up through the main nadi called sushumna.)
Alas, man tends to make everything mechanical. He makes his practices a separate compartment of life. He finds ways to deceive himself and becomes a hypocrite in the process. So all the practices, given by religions of the world, do some good but fall short of causing radical change. The basic selfishness in man does not go.
Right Seeing
Can seeing itself lead to seeing? Can we grow day after day in our maturity through right seeing as the primary means? Let the practice of techniques and methods play the second fiddle. Let them not occupy the main seat. They do not deserve the front seat. They are in the department of karma (and upasana) and the Vedanta scriptures have declared the supremacy of wisdom (jnana). Seeing is the hallmark of jnana, while doing is that of karma.
The GURU operates from within us and also from outside us. She comes to us in many forms. She is by our side all the time if we have the eyes to see. She helps us see the whole of life every moment. By sharpening our vision in the present moment,we can go to the root of our problems. Then there is the uprooting of the misery in life. That is freedom.
Swami Chidananda
Varanasi
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
*Guru Purnima falls this year on Sunday, July 25. On this full moon day, centuries ago, Veda Vyasa began to write the Brahma-Sutras, which became one of the three foundation scriptures (prasthana-traya) of Sanatana Dharma (now called Hinduism). The other two are Bhagavad-Geeta and the Upanishads