Topical Musings

(Continued from the previous issue...)

We shall present two facts to our readers.Puttingthesetwofacts together, we will be able to appreciate the utmost relevance of Swamiji’s prescription of Spiritual Sadhana for the modernage. 1 st fact: Spiritual Sadhana requires an activity(ora setofactivities) thatman can performoverandoveragain,onadailybasis. 2 nd fact:Neverbeforeinrecorded human history have so many people been involved in economic activity on a daily basis, all throughtheyear! How are these two facts connected? Since society, in the past, could not engage man in any activityonadailybasis,allthroughthe year, Rishis had to invent special activities thatcouldindeedengagemanonsuchbasis. Thatexplains the evolution ofYajna, rituals, ritualistic Puja, ritualistic Mass, ritualistic communityprayer,buildingtemples,mosques, cathedrals, seva to idols and images, japa, dhyana, nidhidhyasana, contemplation, etc. Although this is true across cultures and religionsoftheworld,itismoresowithrespect toIndiansocietydowntheages. Theseactivitieswereallspecialactivities. Whatwemeanis–theseactivitieswerenever primarily economic activities. Man has to survivefromdaytoday.Thatisvital.Onlywhen dailysurvivalhasbeentakencareof,manwill beabletostriveforhisspiritualgrowth;not before that! Hence, we say that all through history, activities which were conducive to spiritual growth were never primarily economic in nature. As a result, the Indian society came up with certain traditions, where certaingroupsofpeoplewere‘takencareof’ economically, and they were left free to performthese‘specialactivities’.Therestofthe people in society engaged in economic activities, part of which sustained these groups of people too. Centuries aftercenturies,thishasbeenthe tradition. 1 And what was the nature of the economic activity thatthesepeopleengagedin?It was periodic, seasonal in most cases. Agriculture, hunting, fishing, metal-working, trading, entertainment,warfare,etc.Allthese activitieswereneveronalarge-scale,and hencewereperiodiconly.Unlessyouengagein sustained activity, day-after-day, for years together, without any respite, that activity cannot lead to spiritual growth. Spiritual practiceisnotsporadic. Fromthe18 th century onwards, with the developmentofscienceandtechnology,anew age has dawned. The entire structure of economic activityhas changed. Innumerable peopleareparticipatinginproductiveactivity allovertheworld,daily,yearafteryear.Never before has the common man had such sustainedengagementwithwork!Thisisone ofthe greatestcontributions ofthe modern age.

Character is self-restraint. Self-restraint is self-direction. Self-direction is concentration. Concentration when perfect is Samadhi.

Whenever and wherever you have sustainedactivity,thereisascopeofconverting itintospiritualpractice.Thisisthecornerstone in Swami Vivekananda’s conception of Sadhana forthemodernman.Ifsocietynaturallyevolves such activity, it is well and good. Ifsociety cannot evolve such activity, then the spiritual leaders of society invent sustained activities, to enablepeopletoengageinspiritualpractice.

When Swami Vivekananda travelled around the world, he saw the immense possibilityhiddeninthenewsocio-economic structure created by the modern paradigm. Thoughthisparadigmwasmainlydevelopedin theWest,graduallyithaspermeatedthewhole world.Now,forthefirsttimeinhumanhistory, wehavecommonpeople,everywhere,engaged inactivityonadailybasis.Ifasuitableturncan be given to the worker, he can immediately participate in the activity, which will

simultaneously bring economic as well as spiritualbenefits;economicbenefitforsociety andspiritualbenefitfortheindividual!Where isthen,theneedtodesignseparateactivities forspiritualgrowth?Ifwecouldonlyminethe immenseactivitiesthatmanisnowengagedin, incredible spiritual fruits could be obtained! ThiswasthevisionofSwamiVivekananda. 2 Therefore, Sister Nivedita points out: ‘Howare we to fight(for spiritual growth)? Mostofus,bywork.Theworld’sworkisthe great Sadhana, wherein we accumulate character,bywhich,whenthetimecomes,we canriseevenintotheNirvikalpaSamadhiitself. Characterisself-restraint.Self-restraintisselfdirection. Self-direction is concentration. ConcentrationwhenperfectisSamadhi.From perfectworktoperfectMukti.Thisistheswing ofthesoul.Letusthenbeperfectinwork!’ 3 (To be continued...)

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Swamiji used to lament that the ancient spiritual traditions produced one saint at the cost of a hundred lives! He wished to reverse this situation, whereby multitudes could attain spiritual heights in society. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Vol-5: Sayings and Utterances: Jnana, Bhakti, Yoga and Karma – these are the four paths which lead to salvation. One must follow the path for which one is best suited; but in this age special stress should be laid on Karma-Yoga. 3 The Complete Works of Sister Nivedita. Vol-3.

Religion and Dharma: Work References

‘... Ramakrishna institutions, … are not like the usual type of religious organizations where there is a gulf between life and religion. Sri Ramakrishna came to bridge that gulf and to teach us that life is itself religion. He exhorts us to see life in its unity and wholeness. This is the vyavasayatmika buddhih (one-pointed intelligence) spoken of in the BhagavadGita (II. 41), where there is a unity of vision and unity of purpose and endeavour, external and internal. This is the basis of all character development. Young people today want to see character coming out of religion; if they do not see this, they are not going to be inspired by religion or religious people. … So, this is the challenge before all religion: can it and does it show character? Just as the food that you take in must show its effect in the strength of your body, so also the religion that you profess and live by must show its effect in your inner riches, in your character, in your spirit of service, in your day-to-day life.’

Eternal Values for a Changing Society. Swami Ranganathananda. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. 2:129