The Hindu : Miscellaneous / Religion : Determined pursuit

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Friday, May 27, 2005

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

Determined pursuit

CHENNAI: Acquisition of knowledge and skills so essential for a successful career in one's life does not necessarily create an interest in God realisation. A person who is respected and hailed by the academic world for his accomplishments may well have no insight into spiritual knowledge and may have no inclination to imbibe it. A plethora of factors contribute to the development of one's spiritual dimension; family tradition, upbringing, the company one keeps, and above all one's past Karma.

The path to God realisation is anything but smooth and Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa has shown some simple methods of overcoming various hurdles, said Swami Somananda in his lecture. The first step is to shed one's ego, particularly that which flows from arrogance related to one's learning. The distinguishing characteristic of a truly learned person is humility. Ever conscious of the infinite and limitless nature of knowledge, he will have no inflated notions about himself and what he has learnt. After all, given the hard reality that `the more one probes, the more there is to explore,' there can be no place for ego.

The next step is to turn one's attention from the external world and look inwards to contemplate on the Self. No individual is an island, and life involves interaction with family, friends, and relations. But amidst this worldly involvement, one needs to start thinking of God. For only a constant endeavour to focus on God can lead to God realisation. The extent to which the mind has to be conditioned is important, and varies with each individual. For example, when a student pleads to his Guru that all the methods for practising meditation have not yielded any positive result, the Guru suddenly takes hold of the student's hand in an iron grip. Taken unawares, the student involuntarily struggles to wriggle his hand free. For that moment, the student had fixed all his concentration and all his physical and mental energy, to achieve this goal. The guru points out that a similar concentration of power is needed to know God. Even for this to happen one needs God's grace and it is with His help that we can hope to realise Him.

Of prime importance is the tenacious desire of the student to condition his mind towards a single-minded longing to realise God.

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