Acharya Mahaprajna
The Daily Rising Kashmir
In this dualistic world, nothing comes alone; where there is joy, there is sorrow.
Loss and gain, praise and insults, life and death, all of them go together. We face problems when we do not understand the inherent and essential relation that they share. If man learns to go along with them, he will be a truly spiritual person, a true follower of anekanta.
This way his problems come under his control. But man is very strange, he does not like to move along with them. He wants to move independently. Man wants gain but not loss, he wants joy but not sorrow, he wants life but is not willing to accept death; and he wants praise, never condemnation. He forgets the universal rule that in this dualistic world, nothing comes alone. Everything is in pairs. Man is ignorant. He wants to break the order of anekanta and wants only a single dimension. When the world and the nature have a rule, how can it be broken? And yet man wants to follow his own perspective and does not want to correct it. Not wanting loss but wanting gain, liking to be praised always, man ultimately breaks down one day.
Anekanta has a rule: equanimity and balance. If gain is desired then be ready for loss also. If praise is desired then be ready for insults also. If you desire, then accept both or reject both. To desire one of them is foolishness. If you desire life, then desire death too. If you desire joy then desire sorrow too. If you do not want either then keep your equanimity. It is on this basis of anekanta that you will be able to run your life. Anekanta then will be the moments in your life. There will be no problems and you can live in peace.
In the dualistic world, one alone cannot do. It is man's nature to over emphasize one and neglect the other. This happens when he does not awaken to himself, does not know himself. As long as man does not know himself and is not awakened to his own self, but is awake only to the material world and knows only the material world, he cannot make this rule operative. This is one base on which equanimity and restraint can work. Once they start working the second rule becomes operative.
All rules are relative. None of them is independent. Every rule has its limitations. No rule is all pervasive. There are limits to all of them. We give importance to religion and meditation and say problems will come under control. This is a myth. Neither can religion contain all problems nor can they be contained by meditation. They all have certain limits to their usefulness. The problems of wealth cannot be solved with religion. Nor can the problems of agriculture or monetary problems. That everything can be achieved with religion and meditation is an untrue belief.
We should not forget the limits. Everything has its own limit. This is anekanta's mantra or slogan. It is essential to know the limits. Meditation can solve problems but only those that fall within its ambit. Even the greatest of sages drink water and eat food. He has to wear clothes and at times even undergo medication. In this context I shall explain to you how Ayurved came into being?
It is a long story. Once many sages, who were meditating in the lap of the Himalayas, fell ill. The question was that when they were all observing restraint, practicing celibacy and meditating, why should they fall ill? The search for a reason began. Many sages met. Sage Bhardwaj was told to go to Lord Indra and ask for the reason. Sage Bhardwaj went to Indra. He placed the problem before him and asked for solutions.
Nothing can be looked at from one angle and it should be recognized that meditation is not the solution to all ills. Let us understand its limits. It is true that with meditation mental problems can be alleviated. Ailments born due to passions can be eliminated and when this happens mental diseases are also cured. When mental problems do not exist then those physical problems caused by mental problems cease to exist. But how can meditation remove all ailments? It is not possible. A mosquito bites and one gets malaria. This is not a mental problem. How can meditation remove this?
Sarva sarvakritam, asarva asarvatmakam: everything can happen due to anyone or anything or everything can happen due to one thing. Anekanta does not accept this as the truth. No one thing has the capability to do everything. Nor does everyone have the capacity to do everything and anything. It is important to know the limits.
Every meditation practice has its limits. Every work has its limits. Once we know the limits then there will be no problems.
Some people take a narrow unilateral view and question the very premise of meditation. What can you attain by sitting idle? This is a unilateral view. With this view many things become difficult. The one who does not know what meditation is, has never experienced it, has never entered the meditative mould and has not evaluated its role, will surely find it a waste of time. And nothing more than that. But the one who has entered the meditative mould and experienced the pleasures of meditation will think that in it lay the secret to a successful life. Meditation awakens all energies.