Practice of Vedanta

Spiritual life is all inclusive. A mere part effort with one aspect of your personality is not good enough to register progress. Your physical, psychological (mental) and intellectual involvement is unavoidable. At each level the Sadhana- emphasis is different.

When you want to climb to the top of a tree, you will have to use the tree to reach the top. When you have to awake to the spiritual centre, to reach God, you will have to fully use intelligently that which you have now.

We are now drowned in our BMI identification. We have to creatively use the very BMI to get out and go beyond them into the higher-state.

BMI, when not disciplined, becomes a heavy lengthening chain on us, while when they are properly disciplined these very BMI in their tamed and questioned condition become a comfortable ladder to reach the higher.

The Rsi-s who have walked the path and reached their goal, have found three different means in training and taming these three aspects of our personality: the >b>physical, mental and intellectual for body level - in western language, body mind and will. Let us examine the three kinds of techniques the ancient teachers have prescribed for us to master our BMI equipments.

At the body level learn to live in minimum comforts, because once we indulge in comforts the demands will grow up, consuming all our time and energy in satisfying them all. Spend your time tin doing your duties towards parents and those who are the family and the society. In performing work, as fulfilment of duty, there can be no selfish desires - the reward is in the very joy inherent in doing the duty well.

In this also there must be definite boundaries: "Thus far and no further". These limits are to be lovingly fixed by each individual by himself. Don't allow yourself to be tired and exhausted with no time for your prayers and study.

Partake nourishing food in a cheerful mood, in well-restrained intelligent quantities, twice a day, and take some simple exercises to keep your body trim and vigorous. All excesses are to be widely weeded out from your day's programme. Realise that you have no business to be exhausted, drained out, fatigued and sick. Drinking lots of water at room temperature, and fasting, off and on, should keep you from unnecessary illness. Remembrance of the Lord, kirtan-s and bhajan-s humming to yourself should help you to live a physically healthy life of no-dissipation.

At the mental level, we can really conserve a lot of our inner vitality by living the right values for mental level of moral beauty. These moral (or ethical) values are lived so as to stop all unnecessary mental dissipation and thereby to conserve these lavishly squandering mental-energies. This inner vitality is the true wealth Laksmi, without this vibrant inner mental stamina you can never achieve anything spectacular neither in your outer worldly life, nor in your inner spiritual world.

Moral living strengthens the mind and it becomes efficient for deeper study, reflection, and understanding of your scriptures, and make the mind to an extent quiet, alert and vigilant. Such a mind, surcharged with its own vitality, alone can help you to soar during meditation.

These above twin programmes of strengthening mind and training the body, prepares the seeker for effective study and spiritually creative meditation.

Please don't ignore these instructions, in a foolish and vague assumption than BMI is a delusion and so are to be ignored. No No No We are in BMI now, and as a PFT we have to use BMI in reaching That which lies behind it all. Many have wasted their lives in struggling to meditate and missed their goal only because they ignored these essential outer disciplines. Sva-dharma must be pursued - not in terms of caste etc., but your duty towards your own equipments.

Work is unavoidable. Choose a field, which is inspiring to you, be cause it is in line with your nobler tendencies. This is Sva-dharma . What ordinary people do is Svartha Dharma (selfish, desire prompted activities) which will never work to uplift you, but it will only be exhausting labour that sweats you and degrades your inner personality.

Discipline yourself to work and strive without the shackles of likes and dislikes, love and hatredness, joy and sorrow. These come and go: ignore them with a mere side-glance.