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#3091 - Friday, February 29, 2008 - Editor: Jerry Katz

Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights  

http://indiapost.com/article/philosophy/2158/

Dynamism is combination of great vision & action

SWAMI TEJOMAYANANDA

Have you observed that all great religious movements sprang only from meditation and contemplation? All the great spiritual masters used to meditate, have revelations and from there originated the spiritual teachings.

Later, many rituals, activities, customs and traditions sprang up, but the original message of knowledge got completely lost and that is the reason why in temples nowadays we find everything except devotion to God and in the schools and colleges we find all faculties, except love for knowledge.

Meaningless activities without any foundation of vision, knowledge and understanding can lead only to fever and so the phrase "feverish activity". This kind of activity leads to stress, what people perpetually succumb to these days. Then they attend various seminars on 'stress - free life'.

But the one who organizes the workshop is under stress, as to whether the seminar will be a success or not! This is because we give importance only to action not the vision. So we end up assimilating a life of action, without vision, in short, a life of dynamite (not dynamism). Bombs explode here, there and everywhere.

A life of dynamism is one where there is a combination of great vision and action, which comes from quietude, contemplation, and inspiration. All great masters lived a great part of their lives in solitude, what they did during that period is unknown to us. History is replete with such examples.

The life of Shankaracharyaji, was it not dynamic? His Guru Govinda Bhagavadapada, who inspired him spent all his life meditating on the banks of Narmada. Swami Vivekanandaji's life was very dynamic whereas Swami Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, his Guru sat at one place - a Kali temple.

Our Gurudev's (Swami Chinmayananda's) life was very dynamic but his Guru, Swami Tapovanji spent a major part of his life in the Himalayas. But do you mean to say that the shishyas were dynamic while the gurus were not?

No, the gurus' dynamism was far above normal activity. Swami Vivekanandaji got inspired on a rock at Kanyakumari and he went on to achieve things that are praiseworthy. Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi stayed at one place, lived the life of a true hermit and just by his mere presence inspired millions. All this shows that real dynamism is different from what we usually perceive it to be.

A life of true dynamism is a life of vision, of inspiration and when these two are manifested in action, it becomes a source of inspiration for millions of people. I am not talking only about spiritual field, but even in other fields, like science, art, literature and music, all the lives of the great masters were full of contemplation and dynamism.

That is precisely why they continue to inspire even after their death. The mere utterance of their names inspires so many people even today. Therefore it is said:

yasmin iivati jivanti bahvah sotrajivati

vayamsi kim na kurvanti cancava svodarapuranam.

"The person, whose life becomes an inspiration to millions of people, to lead a noble life, that person alone is said to be living. In contrast to this, we see others who live like birds to fill their bellies." When we hear of a person's demise, we generally ask, "How did he die?" We never ask, "How did he live?"

Our focus should be what kind of life he lived. Did he live a life of inspiration or perspiration? When we look into the lives of great missionaries from different walks of life, we see that they have lived life in its true sense.

Therefore, what is this life of dynamism? This is most beautifully pointed out in the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, particularly in the last sloka. Sanjaya comments:

yatra yogeshvarah krshno yatra partho dhanurdharah

tatra shrirvijayo bhutirdhruva nitirmatirmama

Only where Lord Yogeshwar Sri Krishna and where dhanudhari Arjuna, i.e. the bowwielding Arjuna (not the one who has discarded the bow) are together, then alone there is wealth (shri), victory (vijaya), and expansion (bhuti).

A businessman wants the expansion (bhuti), i.e. greater development, prosperity. Where there are abiding values of life, only then will there be prosperity. There are two kinds of lives; one is the life of 'values' and the other is a life of 'valuables'.

When people start giving too much importance to valuables then the values are left aside and when values are ignored, the person is devalued. When a person is rich, but without values then that person may have million dollars, but he'll still be a worthless person.

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