One must realise in this body itself, before death takes its
toll, the Eternal Truth and the Relationship between Man and that
Truth. The Kathopanishad exhorts: "Uththishtatha! Jagratha!
Praapyavaraan-nibodhatha!!!" Arise, Awake, Get initiated from the
great. Those who are agitated by doubts about what to accept and
what to reject; those who are blinded by illusion, and those who
cannot distinguish between darkness and light, death and
immortality, all such should approach great persons who can show
the path to understand the eternal Truth, the Self-illumined Basis
of all creation. Then, this world and heaven both will be merged
in the same effulgence! For the sake of this realisation, man
should have deep yearning and hard disciplined practice. This
human birth itself is the consequence of countless good deeds and
it should not be cast aside; the chance must be fully exploited.
As the Kenopanishad says, "Nachedihaavedin Mahatheevinashtih". The
jewel in the hand should not be dropped aside; when there are many
chances of saving oneself in this life itself, is it not a big
loss if no thought is spent on ways of escape? Therefore, the
discriminating individual will endeavour by all means at his
disposal to understand the underlying Principles, to master the
teachings of the great men who traversed the spiritual path, and
to bring all this, as much as possible, into the ken of one's own
experience. Without this effort, if one discards the Path and
wastes his life, it is an insult to the very name of the species!
Instead of getting enslaved to the evanescent and the false and
wasting precious time in their pursuit, dedicate every minute to
the discovery of Truth, the contemplation of the Everlasting,
Ever-true Lord. Such dedication is the real function of the soul.
The spending of time in illusory appetites on the other hand is
the drag of the world. One should not fall a victim to the
poisonous attractions of worldly luxuries or the wiles of
seductive beauty. One day, all these fascinating senses will
vanish as a story unfolded in a dream!
Whatever happens to man, education and the rest, to make him
grow and become big, these are of no use for his spiritual
progress; they bring about only his spiritual downfall. That is
why this is called Mayaprapancha. Truth, in whatever Maya it is
immersed, will only shine more effulgently. For such is the nature
of truth. How can we say that the objective world, undergoing
modifications every minute, waning and wasting, with the
waywardness of appearing and disappearing, is Eternal Truth? So,
the characteristic of a Sadhaka is the attainment of Truth, not
the search of the Unreal in this evanescent world. In this false
world, there can be no Satyachara, true living. There can only be
Mithyachara, unreal living. True living consists in the
realisation of the Lord. This must be borne in mind by every man,
every moment of his life.
