DUTY AND DEVOTION

(From Shri Sai Leela, May 1973)

— Saipadananda Radhakrishnaswamiji

By discharging one's duties and giving up aimless actions, one's mind spontaneously becomes free and one-pointed. For when there are no actions on the mind, there is nothing left for it but to dwell on the Divine. Right actions lead to Yoga. Right action is that which is performed with an eye on the goal, and which is performed so efficiently that the action would seem to await the Karta (doer) instead of the Karta awaiting the action, which is generally the case. Wrong action, otherwise performed, can never lead to Yoga.

The jiva (the individual) is free to make the best use of what has been allotted to him through Jnana (Viveka) or knowledge. But for this, the jiva is wholly dependent; for no one is free to select the circumstances and environments in which one is born and which arc Nature's dispensation. Therefore he who makes his happiness dependent on others-persons, objects or circumstances-remains dependent on them and never realizes freedom. All actions which he performs with a view to obtaining any desired objects lead to an endless chase of Maya (mirage or illusion). But once he turns his face and detaches himself from the changing world of manifestations in the light of knowledge, he is free in the fulness of Life and Love. So long as we are attached to the limited, our freedom is illusory.

No Bhakta worships the idol; he only worships his Deity in or through the idol. When a person reads a book or a letter, he does not worship the paper on which, or the ink with which, it is written, but reads what is intended to be conveyed through the same. The paper, the ink, and the letters drawn arc only signs of expression. When Tulsidas or Thiagaraja repeated the name of 'Ra' and 'Ma' composing the word 'Rama,' it was not the two short syllables of 'Ra' and 'Ma' composing the word 'Rama' which filled their minds. The name to them was a symbol of the Lord of the Universe (the Almighty) with all His power, Love, Beauty and Glory.

That in which there is no sense of doership or what is not done but takes place spontaneously or automatically - even as the leaves of a tree move impelled by the force of the wind - is an act (kriya); but what a man does propelled by attachment or aversion is karma. The actions of a man who believes God to be the real doer and regards himself as mere instrument are of the former class or category and they shall not bind him; for they are, so to say, done through him rather than by him. But only those who are not attached to the body and its changing phases are able to realize this mystery. If this is well understood and realized one becomes free from any sort of attachment to the world and its objects. He will be the true person who lives and moves in freedom beyond the pairs of opposites. His being will be always in God Truth personified with Prembhav.

Prem or Love is that which has reference to the Eternal (ever permanent and imperishable.) But attachment has reference to that which is fleeting. Attachment to the fleeling is but a yearning for the everlasting, the Eternal.

The spiritual person on the path should realize that nothing can be retained for ever by force of attachment. It is just not possible to perpetuate the fleeting thoughts or desires, which are otherwise called 'Moha.' No doubt, service rendered to the fleeling can help to detach the person or sadhaka from the same through his experience or experiences. Hence one on the path should, therefore, once for all, determine his goal. The determination of the goal awakens true aspiration, which is the highway or the Royal path to the goal. In order to awaken sincere and earnest aspiration towards the goal, one should begin by performing all one's actions from where one is (the place allotted to one through his Poorva Karma) in the spirit of sadhana, making his life nothing but sadhana till achievement.

The Ultimate and Supreme success of human life and endeavour consists in perceiving the Eternal Unity, through all its diversity and in realizing the 'One without a second,' the 'Atman' and root of all differences by following the course of discipline with full faith in sadhana.