World's most powerful and most wealthy nation: USA. The
only country, where even a common man enjoys the best of the luxuries and comforts. The
luxuries which are not available even to the richest people in the other countries. And
here we got the chance to live and enjoy our lives!
In such a situation, an intellectual person might ask, why should I
even care about Indian scriptures like Vedas/Upanishads/Gita here in USA? Would it
be just a wastage of time studying these oldest scriptures of the most ancient culture of
the world? Someone might reply, those scriptures are from our motherland so we should read
them. But that's just an emotional reply, is there any rational and logical answer to
these questions? In this modern age and in this most advanced country, do we really need
this ancient Vedic philosophy? Let's try to explore the answer to these questions.
Mantra for Success
The American author Brian Tracy writes in his book "The Psychology of
Achievement": "Each one of us wants success in one's life, but only 5% of us
really are successful." In the Bill Cosby TV-show: "Kids say the darnest
things", when Bill asks a small kid: "What's your name?". The kid
replies:" Micheal ". Bill asks:" What would you like to be called as in
your school?" The child replies:" Micheal Jordon !!" Even a small child
understands the success and has a craving for it! Now, what is the reality: 80% of the
people in this country are not even financially independent when they retire. Why is so?
When we buy a new electric appliance for home, what is the first thing
we do? We open the box and learn from its user's manual how to install and use the device,
right! It's difficult to properly use any machine without studying its manual. But, have
you ever heard that a mother gives birth to a child with a manual? God designed the most
complex machine of the whole universe called human and there is no "User Manual"
for this machine? That's why the golden period of our lives, the first 30/40 years gets
spent just in understanding the significance of our lives. In the initial period of
our lives, we consider higher studies will guarantee our success. So, we work hard to
achieve the best and highest possible education. After completing our studies, we aimed to
go to the foreign country to ensure our success. Here again, we spend good part of our
lives just in making our career. Even after achieving good wealth/house etc, in the end we
are not really satisfied. We end up thinking something is missing in our lives. Have I
installed and used my machine of human life in the best possible manner?
Vedas/Upanishads/Geeta are the User-Manual for our lives. They
guide us how to live successfully. They teach us art of living. In the west, they complain
they don't have any User-Manual for their society. Whereas we do have such excellent
User-Manuals from our ancestors but we don't want to care about these. Aren't we the
unfortunate and ignorant children of the richest culture of the world?
Swadhyay: Study of Self
What exactly these manuals teach us? One of the things, they teach us
is to study about the self, which is what is literally meant by Swadhyay. Swadhyay is not
a new term but it is mentioned in all our scriptures. Swadhyay teaches us three basic
things:
- Self- Identity(Swa-Swaroop)
- Self-Power(Swa-Shakti)
- Self-Duty(Swa-Kartavya)
Self- Identity: What is our real identity? Let's
take a look at a story from Panchtantra:
In a forest, a lion-cub got lost with the sheep. He forgot his own
identity and started behaving like sheep. He would speak their language and eat like them
too. He was totally unaware of his own self. Once a lion attacks the sheep. Like other
sheep, this lion-cub also gets frightened and starts running away. The lion gets
surprised, he catches this cub and asks him:" Why are you so scared, you are of my
race!" The cub does not believe him. The cub was convinced that he was indeed a
sheep. Then the lion takes him to a nearby lake and shows him his own image in the water.
Only after seeing his image and comparing with that lion, he slowly starts believing that
he is a lion-cub and not a sheep. Aren't we like that cub? Do we really know our identity?
Who are we? Vedas teach us: Amrutasya Putra ,i.e., we are the children of the
immortal. We are not just this mortal body but we indeed are the immortal, ever-free,
ever-pure soul. We have the supreme power and supreme wisdom within us. Geeta teaches us: Mamaivaansho
JeevLoke, i.e., God tells us:" My own part is within you!" That's what is
our real identity. This divine identity enlighten us with new wisdom.
Self-Power: What is our power? Geeta tells us: Sarvasya
Chaaham HridiSannivishto! God declares that He resides in the hearts of all of us. If
that universal power resides in me, how can I be weak? How can I lose any battle of life?
Why should I consider myself inferior to anyone? This powerful feeling will lead us to
every success in our lives, materialistic or spiritual.
Self-Duty: What is our real duty in life? Is it just to
amass the wealth? To run after the materialistic pleasures of life, can this be the real
duty of us? Beyond Bhog-Jeevan, we should live Bhaav-Jeevan, and we have to
understand and experience that life. Beyond that is the Bhadra-Jeevan, and we also
have to live such a life. Realizing this duty, our lives will get a new meaning.
These are some of the basic things that we try to learn in Swadhyay.
Regularity in Swadhyay
We explored the significance and the importance of self-study. But why do it every
week? Isn't it enough to just learn once? Vedas tell us: Satu DeerghKaalam Nairantaryam
Satkaaro Sevito DridhBhoomi, i.e., Swadhyay should be done regularly forever. Why? If
we look at our homes, we will get the answer. Why we clean our houses regularly? It is
really not enough just to clean the house once. We have to do it regularly. If we don't do
it, the garbage will get accumulated inside the house. Same is the case with our
intellect. We interact with all the worldly affairs. We see/hear/speak both the good and
the bad. Both good and bad thoughts impact our intellect. How to clean the garbage from
our intellect? By doing regular Swadhyay! By doing regular Swadhyay, we keep collecting
positive thoughts which keep cleaning our intellect.
Place for Swadhyay
Now that we realize the regularity of Swadhyay, another question comes to the mind. Why go
outside our home and do Swadhyay in Swadhyay-Kendra? Cant we do it sitting in our
home itself? To answer this question, lets look at Jack Canfield's book "How to build
high self-esteem?" In this book, he describes:" Out of every three Americans,
two of them have low self-esteem." This problem is not just in the citizens of poor
countries but even here most of the people have low self-esteem. Self-esteem means Asmita.
How to develop self-esteem? Does being highly educated increase self-esteem? In the
above-mentioned book Jack Canfield says: During primary education, 80% of the children
have high self-esteem. In the middle school, it comes down to 20% and by the time, they
are out of the school, the figure comes down to just 5%. The educated youth should have
high self-esteem but unfortunately it is not so. Whose responsibility it is to increase
self-esteem? Teachers or parents? 78% of the teachers feel it is parents'
responsibility and 72% of the parents feel it is teachers'! In such a situation, how to
increase self-esteem? To attain high self-esteem, one should feel: I am loveable and I am
capable! As these two feelings get enriched so will nourish one's self-esteem. Jack
Canfield says: There should be such a group of friends in which one feels these two
feelings.
Swadhyay Kendra is such a place where we exchange selfless love and
warmth. We make relations which are not based on materialistic status. As in our childhood
we made friends just without any selfish motives, similarly here we make friends based on
just true love. Why should I love someone without any selfish motive or why should someone
love me without such motive? Humans are social animals. We can never remain alone or
disjoint. Moreover, Upanishads teach us: Eeshaavaasyam Idam Sarvam! God resides in
all of us so we are all spiritual brothers and sisters. By continuously maintaining such
solid true relations, we nourish these two feelings: I am lovable and I am capable, which
in turn nourishes our self-esteem. We will continuously keep coming to Swadhyay-Kendra and
we will feel we are part of the global family: Swadhyay Parivaar. Our scriptures
also tell us: "Swadhyayayat Na Pramaaditavyam!"(Never stop
attending Swadhyay!)
One more need for Swadhyay specially for NRIs: Since in India, the
western culture is not so prevalent we could afford to ignore being ultra-cultural and
ultra-spiritual. But, here these waves are so strong that if we dont defend us and our
kids by bringing in extra culture and spirituality in our family, we or our next
generation might get lost easily. Thats why it is essential for the entire family to do
something very regularly together in the field of religion and culture, and that's
what we do in Swadhyay.
To summarize, by coming to Swadhyay Kendra regularly,
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