The Art Of Living

Central Chronicle

The root centre of our knowledge is the knowledge of Self. Selfishiness and being self-engrossed are poles apart. A selfish person does not know his inner Self - Acharya Mahaprajna

The gist of Prekshadhyana is the knowledge of Self, to know thyself. Some people live only at the mundane level and do not know their own Self. Those who do not know themselves, cannot know others well. The root centre of our knowledge is the knowledge of Self. Only those who know themselves can know others realistically.

Self- realisation and Ishwara are not dual entities. In fact, one who is Ishwara, is Self realised and the one who is Self-realised is also Ishwara. Both merge together as One. There exists a miscomprehension in the filed of Western psychology, "One who is self-centred, turns out to be selfish."

Spirituality or self-realisation is perceived as creating self-engrossed and selfish people who, ultimately vitiate the character of society. This concept has not been properly understood. The meaning of self-realisation may be self-engrossment but a self-engrossed person cannot be selfish.

Selfishiness and being self-engrossed are poles apart. A selfish person does not know his inner Self. Today the basic problem is of selfishness because this is the sole cause of all the evils and degeneration of values. Man seeks fulfilment of his home and family alone and not of others. There is an inverse relation between selfishness and Self-realisation. The more the Self-realisation, the lesser the selfishness. A self-realised person cannot nourish any selfish motives in him.

A selfish man remains away from his inner Self and indulges in violence, lies, thefts, tortures, etc. He believes only in amassing wealth. He indulges in sin and does everything for his vested interests, irrespective of its implications, whether morally right or wrong. This is because he wants to live with the mob, whereas, a self realised person knows the art of living in solitariness.

Basically there are two kinds of people, the one who knows how to live in solitariness, the other who prefers living with the mob. Those who don't know themselves, cannot enjoy the mystery of solitariness and so remain away from their inner Self and go along with the mob. There are actually two kinds of life worth knowing, one is solitary life and the other is living in company.

The Problem of the day is living with others, and the only solution is a life of solitariness. A Self-realised person is one who internally enjoys solitariness while externally he is with others. A selfish person is one who is internally with the mob and externally he is solitary and wants everything for himself alone.

It is only selfishness which is a serious evil. If this is given up, there will be no impurity or dishonesty, because the very genesis of these evils is rooted out. A selfish man never cares for others whereas the one who has nurtured solitariness in his being has empathy and compassion. In the wake of his immense sympathy with all, he thinks that everybody carries the potentiality of Self-realisation. This feeling of egolessness can mature only in a solitary state, never among the mob. Those who live a crowded life, can never penetrate into the deep recesses of their inner beings.

A poet, author or a litterateur, who wishes to create literature of high quality, will definitely seek a solitary place, free from the mob and commotion, where he can contemplate upon good thoughts with a calm mind. Solitariness is an important need for his best creation to manifest. Those who cherish solitariness in their being will feel solitariness everywhere in the cosmos. There is no more mob, rushing of unwanton thoughts, or chaos for them.

This solitariness is the only Ishwara. To be in solitariness is to be Ishwara. Those, who have learnt to be in solitariness, dissolve themselves in solitariness, are Ishwara, Self-realised, spiritual and religious. The rest are leading a meaningless, burdensome, sorrowful, fruitless and trifling life with the mob.

The first and also the most important objective of Dharma is to impart the knowledge of solitariness. We virtually do not know how to create solitariness in our being. Sometimes, when we manage to sit alone, with nobody around, then too we experience a rush of memories and day dreams floating like a stream. May thoughts and ideas enter his mind and do not allow the man to be solitary even for a fraction of a moment. We have a tremendous rush of thoughts around us. Amidst all these thoughts, if anyone manages to have solitariness in his being, then he is the most fortunate and blessed person. That person alone can have solitariness, who has tried to know his inner Self. As a matter of fact, knowing the inner Self means, "I am not the body, not the imaginations, not memories and not thoughts. I am the inner Self, being and the soul which is separate from imagination, memories and thoughts." The inner Self can never be identified with imagination, memories and thoughts.