Surge 84
Life is Short and Yet Beautiful
Celebrate this Diwali with the reassuring message of the Upanishads – The Lord resides in your body. He is the Light of lights, and the perishable body borrows light from Him. On the surface, life is short indeed and there is the dance of death everywhere. Your dear and near ones are not with you forever and, remember, you too have to pack up and go, one of these days. But who goes? Every body dies, nobody dies.
Know the body as the chariot.
Atman (Self) is the Lord of the chariot.
The intellect is the charioteer and,
The mind makes the reins. – Kathopanishad 1.3.3
That our life is short is in no way a negative message. This law of Nature has its own wisdom. We must go, in order to make room for others just as many left before us and we took their place. Demons like Ravana departed from this earth and divine incarnations like Rama also did not stay forever. Who are we to cling to this physical existence?
Our journey in and through this body is short-lived. To see this fact should not depress us. It should rather help us gather all our energy to have a vision of our own spiritual dimension. “We are not a body having a soul; we are rather the soul having a body,” remarked some wise man once. The earlier we see the soul, the better. The Vedanta of course clarifies that we cannot literally see the soul, for we are the soul. To see means here to understand. As we understand our own deeper nature, we are freed from all kinds of insecurity. Knowing our own imperishable nature, we become fountains of love and compassion.
Two horses – prana and apana – drive this chariot, the body, says Swami Srikantananda in his little book1 Meditation According to Vedanta. The Lord of the Universe (Jagannatha) is seated in the chariot (Ratha). Realizing Him is the only way to liberation2. How blessed we are, to have this opportunity to see the Lord. This metaphoric language implies we have a higher potential in us which is way above our personality as we usually know. Tension, stress, fear, loneliness, disappointment or frustration often marks our day. [Sam asked Tom, “What were you before you became a manager at this company?” Tom’s answer was, “Happy.” Isn’t there a Tom in every one of us?] We have unhappiness in life. The Lord in the chariot is no other than yourself, as you will discover when all negative thoughts disappear and your last trace of low self-esteem vanishes.
So question the self (ego) put together by thought. Let not your conditioned mind deceive you. Rise above the weakening influences of the world and celebrate Diwali by knowing yourself to be the Light of Awareness.
Wishing you Happy Diwali,
Swami Chidananda
Varanasi, October 26, 2011
Notes:
1 Dhyana-Sadhana – Meditation According to Vedanta by Swami Srikantananda, published by Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence, Hyderabad, page 5.
2 (Hindi)
praan apaan do ghodon se
chalta jeevan kaa rath
rath mein baithe Jagannath kaa
darshan hee mukti kaa path.