Inner Peace
Man’s life affords a holy opportunity, a supremely sublime chance.It is also a great good fortune to be able to receive an education that can help one to realize one’s destiny. Education that does not confer wisdom, wisdom without humility, scholarship without tolerance, music without virtue—are all husks without grain! Discriminative intelligence has to be gained from education; it must be accompanied by humility and tolerance. Tolerance must spread sweetness all around. Sweetness emanates from virtue.
Love is the core of every virtue, of every good, of every phenomenon in nature. Love must be sought in and shared with every being and thing. Love is the essence of worship. Love toward God becomes compassion to living beings. All religions prescribe duties that promote purity of the consciousness at all levels. The goal to which every sadhana leads is the mansion of shanti (equanimity undisturbed).
Embodiments of love! Let me tell you that inner peace is very hard to acquire and develop. Be unaffected, whatever anyone says, however much anyone harms you, however many obstacles anyone places on your path. Of course, the experience is bound to be bitter at first. But it will turn into nectarine joy in the end. Your forbearance might be construed as cowardice or dullness or weakness. Do not pay heed to these conclusions. For if you react with anger or hatred, vice or vengeance, you are certain to ruin your lives.
Shanti is the one indispensable treasure to be gained by spiritual effort. Thyagaraja [poet philosopher] sang, ‘Without shanti, there can be no happiness, either for the skilled or for the scholar.’ Scholars are today stuffing their brains with pride, envy, competition, and other such poisonous attitudes. They do not treasure love and peace. They are acclaimed scholars when they pass certain memory tests, otherwise called question papers handed out at examinations. They do not pass any test dealing with mental qualities that make living happy and peaceful.
The inner peace that emanates from a pure consciousness is won by meaningful moral activity; that is the activity to which one has to dedicate all one’s powers and skills. Every activity must be directed toward this end, not in the vain pursuit of sensual pleasures and hollow desires. When the mind revels in such demeaning thoughts and distractions, man degrades himself to the level of demons inspite of having the external appearance of a human being. A stinking pool will not cause as much damage to the neighborhood as a stinking mind can cause to the community. Education is the process by which the mind is purified and made socially beneficent.
Nara is the Sanskrit word for a human being. [The syllable]‘ra’ means ‘destruction’ and ‘na’ that qualifies the word ra means, ‘no’. That is to say, nara is the being that ‘does not destroy’ and ‘is not destroyed.’ Nara is the indestructible atma [soul] and so his innate nature revolts against any idea of destruction. When such a nara desires and designs for destruction, how can he be anything other than a demon? The sovereign consciousness enshrined in the destructible sheath (the body) has to be recognized as the spring of one’s life; that is the reason why I have been telling you to ‘Follow the Master, face the devil, fight to the end, and finish the game.’ The degrees that you gather in universities cannot ennoble your life; the education you have received has to be manifested in your activities and in your dealings with others. Then only can you be at peace with yourselves and with society.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, April 1982
