Resources

What is refinement? What is advancement? Is not advancement a result of defect-removal after defect-finding? Can any defect be removed without first finding it out? We must therefore, be given to continuous evaluation, and understand matters from a higher perspective.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru. ‘S’ has come here from Delhi for a very short visit. He was in Bangalore for some official purpose and he decided to come here during the weekend. Yesterday he arrived and today he has to go back. Even before his arrival, the thought about him has been in my mind. His presence intensifies the thought to some extent.

He has been telling me that he is not able to have a joyful feeling in his work. A lot of factors like, “I have not been able to put my full attention into it; responsibilities are not fully covered” are bothering him. Similar feelings he has about the family – “I’m not able to spend enough time with the family; the work overtakes me”, etc. Then about the child – a good little boy – he wants to give more attention and time in bringing up the child. So, everywhere he has not reached the expected standards.

Now, about ‘Sh’, I have something to observe. See, for the past one and a half years he has been involved in the construction of Prajñaana Dham. We have relied upon him quite a lot. After the inauguration, when I asked him, “How do you feel now?” he said, “I don’t have any special feeling”!

I’m giving you two different situations. One is about ‘S’. He is very responsible in whatever he does. He is an IT architect in his company. He is also remunerated well. But why is it that he is sad? Why is it that he is not able to feel joyfulness? He has got spiritual inclinations. He is not able to do justice to his interactions with the world. Some conflicts are there. Similar conflicts, though in a slightly different manner, must have been in the mind of ‘Sh’ too.

I was thinking how to tackle the subject. I think there is a sense of differential notion in our mind. In spiritual parlance we call it ‘bheda-buddhih’. It is the buddhih (the intelligence) working with a differential note.

What is this bheda-buddhih? It is compartmentalizing something as spiritual and something else as worldly, non-spiritual. Generally, we have a constricted notion about God, religion, spirituality and yoga. These are all accepted as very divine. And anything to do with living, eating, having a house or purchasing a house, working in the office, trying to contribute to the material productivity of the world – all these are considered as not divine. They are looked down upon as non-spiritual.

This is the cardinal trouble of man, this bheda-buddhih. We have a body. This body is designed by Nature. It is made by God. And we are living in a world that is equally a creation of God. So, when the God-made body interacts with the God-made world, is not the interaction equally Godly? Why then do we think of it as non-Godly? This is the differential note that we are fostering and we are suffering from. The differential note has entered into our minds somehow.

In the case of ‘Sh’, for one and a half years he has been involved in this task. It is through this that he was expressing himself. His inner personality consisting of attention, thoughtfulness, forethought, management skill, supervisory talent, personal dexterity, ability to exert himself – all these were coming into focus. So, he should have been very happy.

Of course, there are a number of defects and insufficiencies in his personality as well as in his performance. These too come to be discussed. And the discussion makes him feel very sad and sometimes dejected. Overall, there were enough opportunities to refine himself. The point is that he always comes with self-defence and resistance.

The one and a half years of intense involvement has focused and brought out many latent defects and insufficiencies in his personality. It was possible to set right and overcome some of these. Should he not be happy about it? I think he should be very joyous about the fact that these have been revealed to his own mind and attention.

Dear children, understand that taking up pursuits does not mean that they should all be well done. A task may be imperfectly accomplished. Even when it is imperfect, and you understand that it is imperfect, be aware of the scope for improvement. Be attentive towards it. Look for the scope for perfection. That itself is a discovery. But for the work, the deficiencies in the personality would not have come to focus.

So, ‘Sh’ is suffering from a delusion. What is that? It is the thinking that to have a defect is wrong and that when somebody points out a defect, it is very bad. I don’t think this is the way any intelligent or rational person, especially a seeker of truth, should think.

When a discussion on defects takes place, I think that is the best discussion. The world is always trying to set right defects. We are not satisfied with the speed of the jet engine; we are not satisfied with the vibration in the railway bogie; we are not satisfied with the undulations on the road – everywhere we go into the defects and we try to remedy them.

So, what is refinement? What is advancement? Is not advancement a result of defect-removal after defect-finding? Can any defect be removed without first finding it out? We must therefore, be given to continuous evaluation, and understand matters from a higher perspective.

Dear ‘S’, this is what I have to tell you. You drop your bheda-buddhih. Your body itself is made by God. It is Godly. The world is Godly. The interaction between the two also must be Godly. If the feeling of Godliness is not emerging in your mind, the trouble is in the mind itself.

When you focus your attention with this insight, you will find that everything becomes smooth and facile. If you have dispassion, and the dispassion is growing, there are only two ways open to you. Either you act upon the dispassion and be absolutely spiritual in a wholesome manner, or you continue to be in the material world, but with a Godly outlook and Godly aspirations.

‘Sh’, you should understand that focusing on the defects is the royal way for refinement and improvement. Bringing personality-defects to the fore is as important as performing the task without defects. In fact, it is the precursory step. When the defects come to the focus and we become enlightened about them, we understand that we have to improve further. So, the scope for improvement is clearly suggested.

Harih Om Tat Sat. Jai Guru.

– Vicharasethu Nov 2005