Four Pillars of Self-Development - I
=Pt.ShriRam Sharma Acharya
(Translation of a discourse by Poojya Gurudev
Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharyaon
Atmonnati Ke Char Adhara delivered in 1980) Let us begin with the
collective chanting of the Gayatri Mantra:
“Om Bhur Buva Swa, Tatsaviturvareyam Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi, Dhiyo Yona
Prachodayat” ||
Thousands
of complications, adversities and problems in ones life flow from ones nature,
outlook and inner personality. Negative attitude, deluded perspectives, ones
own vices and infirmities and wrong thinking often invite or add to adversities
and problems. It is said that one becomes what one thinks and does. Indeed,
most of the present circumstances of life are the results of ones own past
actions and aspirations. Well, whatever be the present situation of your life,
the best you could do is to face and tackle the hardships with patience,
courage and balanced reasoning. If the circumstances are favorable today, make
the best use of them for a better future with farsighted vision and prudence.
In any case, the process of your self-purification and improved thinking should
not stop.
You
might wonder what exactly is meant by self-refinement, self-transformation and
self-development and how to go about it? To achieve this you will have to adopt
four disciplines samyam, swadhyaya, sadhana, and seva. These are like
four essential steps of the excelsior of human life, four foundational pillars
of the edifice of accomplished life, four resources of divine ascent of human
self. All the fours are interwoven. We cannot expect elevating our life without
anyone of them. For growing a crop, four things are crucial seed (or
sapling), soil, water and sunlight (or some source of vital elements). If you
want to do a business, again a quadruple is a must; namely, capital,
experience, demand and customer! Combination of four things bricks,
cement, iron and wood is essential for building even an ordinary house. Talent,
resources, support and appropriate opportunity are required for recognizable
success in this world. Paucity or deficiency on any of these four fronts
hinders the success-race.
What
is most vital for our clinical health? Balanced food (includes water), labor,
rest and excretion. Disturbance in any of these upsets the body-system. So you
see! Nature has ample examples of four interdependent fundamental necessities.
We cannot dream of anything worthwhile along the path of soul-evolution without
accomplishing the fundamental necessities of self-ascent. We shall discuss each
of them now.
(i)
Samyam: Literal meaning of samyam is restraint. It is
crucial for us to prevent the drainage or misuse of our powers and potentials.
In general, most of us consume our mental and bodily energy in haphazard
activities driven by the passions of our ever turbulent minds and sense organs.
Even a so-called ordinary person may accomplish wonderful things if he checks
the wastage of his capabilities and makes constructive use of his potentials.
We have to be vigilant on four fronts and observe abstinence of sense organs,
control over the turbulence of mind, and optimal uses of time and worldly
resources. For the samyam of the sense organs, most difficult and important is
the samyam of the tongue and the sex-organs. These two are the greediest organs
vulnerable to addiction. As you are all aware, the greed of the tongue disturbs
our digestive system, gulps anything edible or non-edible for taste and spoils
our health. The unrestrained indulgence in sex drains out our vital energy and
thus weakens our physical and mental strength. Unbridled use of tongue in
speech invites animosity and insult. One cannot think of any notable progress
or even having a healthy and hearty life for a long time without restraining
these sense organs.
(ii)
There is hardly any moment in a day from the time
we get up, when our mind is void of any thought. But what kind of thoughts?
Most often these are hazy flashes of auto-wandering of our mind in its world of
ever-new desires or abrupt imaginations and retrieval of memory as per egotist
impulses. Anger, excitation, depression, etc are all offshoots of an unstable
and wayward mind. I don't have to say much on how important it is to have good
mental concentration. Be that study, writing, research, focused use of any
skill or art, everything requires thorough mental engrossment for success. Even
the daily chores can't proceed smoothly unless our mind is calm and stable to
some extent. Success in mental control and constructive channelization of
thoughts opens up the doors to all-conquering win-win achievements along any
chosen walk of life. Time is the most precious resource gifted by Nature to us.
But we spend most of it in sleeping or in laziness. We shun hard work and don't
do things in a planned systematic manner. When there is some pressure or
something of our immediate interest, we get over-enthusiastic and spend all the
time in one particular task. This is an extreme, which often burns out our
energy or puts us under stress. And, the moment the pressure or interest is
gone we just slip back to the other extreme become dull and aimless;
don't even care for how our time is flying in haphazard activities, arbitrary
thoughts and daydreaming. Look at the lives of those who have attained success
in some field of life. You will find one thing in common prudent
management of time. Equally important is the adept use of available resources.
Money happens to be a vital resource on materialistic fronts of life. But
unless utilized cautiously, it only encourages addictions, luxury driven
life-style leading to a variety of physical and mental health problems;
extravagant show-off, which in one form or the other, invites jealousy, anxiety
or threats of burglary etc. Those who are not wealthy need to be more careful,
as every penny of their hard earned money is important. Those who have substantial
amounts for fulfilling basic necessities and duties should invest the remainder
wisely in projects that help many others in a viable manner and generate more
wealth for wider use. Industriousness, planned budgeting, and thoughtful use of
money is the secret of prosperity. Assiduity and controlled use of resources
also lend essential support in ones efforts of self-restraint of sense organs
and are therefore important for self-dependence and self-development.
Thanks GOD, Thanks Sadguru,
Shiv Sharma
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