Uddharedaatma – Further Reading

Let a man lift himself by his own self alone, let him not lower or debase himself; for this self alone is the friend of oneself and this self is the enemy of oneself.

One should raise himself by one’s own efforts and should not degrade oneself. One’s own self is one’s friend and one’s own self is one’s enemy. If one controls the sense organs and the mind by using intelligence, the same sense organs will be our best friends, but if we do not keep these under control they are our worst enemies.

For example, the tongue – if we have control over the tongue i.e., talking and tasting, we can achieve many things. We have to train the tongue to talk only good things, to talk with love and to recite the name of the Lord, then that will give us peace in this world and liberation after death. For example, Prahlaada who was taking the name of the Lord (Narayana) always, was able to face all difficulties with courage and finally he got God’s blessings also.

We reap what we sow. We are repaid in like for the good and the bad that we do. We are entirely responsible for putting ourselves out of this mess that we have made for ourselves; and it is foolish and futile to shift the responsibility to someone else.

It is the rule and restriction that gives charm to the game of life. If in the game of foot-ball, any player can do anything with the ball and there is neither foul nor out, neither off side nor goal, neither throw nor penalty, then it will be a meaningless game incapable of giving ‘Aananda’

– S.S.S. II.

Happiness and misery are due to one’s one actions. Whether one accepts this truth or rejects it, one has to go through all the consequences of one’s actions. This is the law of nature. Therefore, the best course is to direct our activities along proper line. Whatever is done, whatever is seen, whatever is heard one should be vigilant about its purity, greed and hatred. The pleasures that one seeks must not be polluted by evil.

Vidya Vahini – p.88

It is the mental attitude that decides whether you can be at peace or not. When you have this mental calmness no one can take it away. The real destroyer of happiness is yourself . You allow feelings like hatred, anger, you destroy yourself. You can create a negative atmosphere – you destroy harmony in the family and in the nation. Instead you must have this good heart and feelings, of brotherhood, we heal ourselves and create harmony in the family and in the nation, Love and compassion is the universal religion.

Explanation:

We are entirely responsible for every thought, word or deed that we do. It is foolish and futile to try to shift the responsibility to someone else. We do have the capacity to serve and heal ourselves. We can introspect deeply and out of the depths of the Mind bring up wrong thoughts, bad tendencies, agitations and fears and deal with them badly. The conscious mind can watch itself and heal itself.

If we want to be truly friendly towards our healthy growth, we have to have self-introspection and healthy self criticism. This will give strength of mind with the grace of our Guru.

We harm ourselves or become our own enemies, if we cover up our faults, make excuses for ourselves or throw the blame on others for everything that goes wrong.

This is the way to sink in our own estimation. If we do not have self-respect then we lack in self – confidence or self- satisfaction. There is a great gulf between the Ideal Me and the Actual Me. Most of us are generally unconscious of this duality in our personalities. We mistake ourselves to be the ideal and are blind to our own actual imperfections.

Intellectually we do have a clear concept of moral strength, selfless love and a disciplined life ‘what we should be’, but in our Mental life we do not have the required stamina, to strike down attachments, love and hatreds, appetites and urges. By constant vigilance of A B C as our Baba says Always Be Careful and Avoid Bad Company, we can get attuned to the higher and nobler ideals in us.

Ultimately, it is for the aspirant himself to accept the responsibility for blessing or damning himself.

Stories:

1.Love Begets Love

When Akbar was once taking a walk accompanied by one of his Ministers, Birbal, they saw a peasant coming from a distance, King Akbar told Birbal that he would like to shoot this man and asked Birbal, “When we meet the peasant, please find out what is passing through his mind”.

When the peasant came near, Birbal pointing to King Akbar, asked the peasant what he thought about him, saying

‘please do not cheat or hesitate, but speak out your mind truthfully’.

‘I would like to pull out every single hair in his beard’ the peasant told him with venom.

When Birbal repeated this to the King, he sighed and said, ‘Oh Birbal, it is as the holy men who visit my court have so often told us’. It is love alone that leads us to find a saint and by him be taken to the mansion of the Lord. Hatred brings only hatred in return and binds us still tighter to this world’.

2.The Poor Tradesman and the Magic stone

A great saint once visited the house of a tradesman who had been unsuccessful in his business and was very poor. When the saint arrived the tradesman wept bitterly and begged, ‘Oh, August man of God, please end my dreadful poverty, out of thy great mercy’!

Filled with compassion, the saint gave the poor man a Magic Philosopher’s Stone, by means of which base metals could be turned into gold. ‘Here, my good man’, he said, ‘take this Stone and with it make as much gold as you wish, keep it for three months time then I will return and take it back.’

During the first month, the tradesman went to the market and asked the price of old scrap iron. The seller told him that the price had just been raised from five to seven rupees per kilo. The tradesman said to himself ‘At this new high price, it would be very unwise to buy any iron. I will wait till next month, when perhaps the price will be lower’.

Poor stupid fellow! He little realized that a single kilo of iron converted into gold would make him a very rich man.

After a month, he went to the market again. But this time the price of iron had risen still further.

‘What a fool I would be pay a price like that’ he thought. ‘He said, ‘Far better if I wait for another month’.

In the third month, he found that the price had risen further. The price of scrap iron had now reached Rs 15/- for a kilo. He said, ‘It is a fantastic price. I will wait a bit longer. The price is certain to go down’.

But meanwhile, of course, the 3 months period was over, and the saint came and took back the Magic stone and the Tradesman was left as poverty stricken as before.

‘In the company of the saints is found the true Philosopher’s stone that turn base metals into pure gold’.

Questions:

1. How can we raise ourselves to the higher ideals in us?
2. What does A B C signify?
3. How is one, one’s own friend? Or One’s own enemy?