Acharya Mahaprajna
The Art & Science Of Living
Chapter 4.
Awakening
26
Process Of Balancing
[The gist of awareness is in balancing. Balancing is the art of perceiving to become free from ego & inferiority complex. When inferiority complex & ego disappear, only then is a balance achieved.]
A person who perceived with a purified psyche has awareness. Those who perceive with attachment & hatred do not have awareness. They remain imbalance, deluded & chaotic because do not know how to practice awareness.
First of all, man perceives his own body. Perceiving the body is also an art. Perceiving the body with close eyes is a big art like meditation. By perceiving the body, either man can become perverse or he can become none attached. They are vast difference between these different perceptions.
King Santa Kumar was very proud of his beauty. An old Brahmin expresses his intent desire to see the king. The guard took him to the king. Seeing the king, he was astonished by his beauty. The king asked, “From where have you come? What is purpose of your visit?” The Brahmin replied, “Actually, when I started I was young, & now I have become old by walking long distance to reach this place. Now can you refer how far I have come? I have heard lot about your beauty, so I have to come to see you.” The king replied egoistically, “You should see my beauty when I visit the royal assembly.” The king came to the royal assembly well dressed. He invited the old Brahmin also. The old man didn’t like the king’s beauty. The king asked,” How did you like my beauty?” The old man said, “The beauty which you had in the morning is no longer there. Your beauty is lost & perverted because of your egoistic feelings. You have multiple ailments like the ailments of ego, Passion, etc.” The king was surprised. King never knew that he had so many ailments in various forms. The body form in beauty became the cause of ego. Ego crops up owing to them. When man does not have awareness then he gets motivated by his ego & inferiority complex. A person who has awareness is neither motivated by ego nor by an inferiority complex. Socrates was looking in the mirror. His disciple was sitting in front of him. He started laughing. Socrates said,” I know why you laughed. You laughed because in spite of being ugly I am looking in the mirror. But my perception of looking into the mirror is different, which you don’t know. I know that I am not beautiful I am ugly looking. I am looking in the mirror so that my external, physical ugliness doesn’t descend to the soul. I am viewing the mirror to bring out my internal ugliness.”
A person, who has awareness, never develops an inferiority complex due to his ugliness. Young boys and girls, who do not have awareness, get affected by their inferiority complex to such an extent that they simply lose the charm of life. Then they keep blaming their parents and destiny and continue to be gloomy and sad. The man, who can manifest his inner beauty, the luster and illumination of his soul, finds external beauty superfluous. The man who is beautiful from within is truly beautiful. External beauty or ugliness is hardly meaningful. Mahatma Gandhi, Socrates, Acharyakund, Shree Jayacharya, etc. had no physical beauty but their internal beauty was so deep and fascinating that even today their personalities have charisma. Millions of people still follow in their footsteps. There have been innumerable generals, whose external appearance was unattractive and repelling, but their inner personality was very spellbinding and courageous. They showed such miracles which could never even be dreamt of by the so called externally good-looking generals. The stories of their valour and wisdom are cited even today with interest and reverence.
A beautiful person is one who possessed a beautiful and pious inner being. The beauty of the inner being depends upon the purity of the psyche. A person whose soul is sacrosanct is beautiful. A person who does not know internal beauty is only affected by his ego and inferiority complex.
A person, who has learnt the art of perceiving, can give up his ego. King Sanat Kumar did not have awareness, so he got affected by his ego due to his physical beauty. His intense ego created many problems and sufferings in his life. When he become aware, he renounced his kingdom and become a mystic. He perceived his inner self and become a true philosopher. Actually a philosopher perceives his inner self. A person who analyses the elements knows the materialistic world; he can be a logician but not a philosopher. The true philosopher is the one who sacrifices, does penance and lives a balanced life, eventually becoming aware of his inner self.
An ascetic was affected by disease. The doctor said,” I have a panacea to cure your disease.” The ascetic said,” I know about the disease but I do not want to get them treated. I have better medicines than the medicines you want to prescribe to me. If I want, I can be free from the disease within a moment.” The doctor listened to him in surprise and witnessed with his amazing eyes when the ascetic spat on his leprosy affected body and his body became fully cured.
It was the same doctor who had come in the guise of an old Brahmin. The ascetic was the former king Sanat kumar who had become sick due to the ego of his beautiful appearance. Now he had gained the power to cure the disease by purifying his psyche. Earlier he viewed his body in the light of his intense ego and now he was viewing his body in the right perception.
Perceiving in different perspectives created the vast change.
A material object by itself is neither good nor bad. Matter may be in the form of money, body, food or clothes. Money alone is not an asset. An asset is that which can be exchanged, sold and used. Man, animal, money, etc. are assets, which can be sold and exchanged. Money in itself is not a bad thing. But when we mindlessly continue accumulating wealth, then it becomes a curse. When we become aware, then the importance of money remains limited to its utility only. A person who is aware only uses the money without unduly accumulating it. The state of unawareness has created several burning problems in the world. Today it is obvious that the problem of blacks and whites of South Africa is also the result of being unaware. In the wake of being unaware, ego, humiliation, hatred, discrimination of caste, colour, race and religion are thriving. The entire range of social and ethical values is being flouted with impunity owing to unawareness. Education, assets, family and power are becoming the means of nursing one’s ego. Once one has become aware, then one’s education, wealth and power create peace, tranquility and harmony for humanity.
In Sthanang Sutra (a Jain canonical text), Mahavira says, “For a person who is self realized, knowledge, attainments, prosperity, etc., become conducive to meditation (sadhana) and well-being and supplement his welfare. A person who is not self-realised will find that knowledge and achievements contribute towards his blisslessness and unawareness. For a person with awareness even the cause for bondage of his actions becomes the means for stoppage of influx of actions, whereas for a person without awareness, the stoppage of influx of action also becomes the cause for bondage of his actions. A seer may have a vast number of disciples, but they do not contribute to his ego.”
The meditator, who thinks that he has initiated the disciples and therefore it is his sole responsibility to guide them for their development and welfare, becomes more awakened. When a non-perceptive person becomes the master of a vast number of disciples, he remains unaware and he is not able to work for the development and blissfulness of his disciples.
A meditator, who is progressing towards awareness, thinks that he has to be extra cautious towards the worship and praise offered to him so that he does not develop an ego. It is indeed difficult to accept praise gracefully. It calls for maturity of thought. Such a meditator goes into deeper awareness to become perceptive.
A meditator, who has not learnt the art of true perception, thinks that since he is getting adulation and is being worshipped, he need not live a life of hardships. Such a meditator becomes ignorant and strays from the path of righteousness.
There is statement in Sthanang Sutra (a Jain canonical text), which is very touching and meaningful. “The praise and reputation of a self-realised person become helpful and instrumental in his practice of meditation. Praise and reputation generally create hurdles in the practice of a meditator who is not self-realised.”
This amply improves that matter is merely matter. The existence of matter, family and the community in itself is neither good nor bad, for a perceptive person, they become the means for his growth.
A person who has become aware will perceive the beginning point and the end point also. The one who has not become aware will perceive the beginning point but miss the end or the objective.
A rich man constructed a beautiful house. He spent a lot of money and added many facilities. The house was very beautiful. He was delighted to see the mansion. This feeling of delight created an ego in him. He started praising his mansion profusely in front of all. People who saw the mansion were astonished. One day an ascetic came to him. The rich man took him respectfully to his mansion. He showed him his mansion and asked “Sire, how do you like this small house?” The ascetic sensed the egoistic feeling of the rich person. He replied smilingly, “Sire, the house is beautiful but there is one shortcoming in this house.” The rich man was shocked and asked, “What is the shortcoming?” The ascetic replied, “One day it will perish and collapse.” The rich man heard this and his ego vanished, and his perception changed. The man residing in a mansion becomes an egoist and the man residing in a hut develops an inferiority complex. But an aware person has neither egoistic feelings towards the mansion nor an inferiority complex due to living in a hut because he knows the reality that one day both the mansion and the hut will collapse and perish.
Balance arises only when we learn to practice awareness and become free from ego and inferiority complex. Both of them create an imbalance. Awareness means balance and the essence of balancing is to learn and practice the art of perceiving.