Sri Krishna to each one of us:
Here, I have a very special gift for you –
the gift of immortality –
won’t you reach out and take it?
Thank you, we say, but can’t you see?
My hands are full of these sweet mangoes.
Sri Krishna smiles and says patiently:
Let go of the mangoes and then
your hands will be free.
But Lord, we protest. I like mangoes.
Why don’t you give me your present first,
then I promise I will throw away the mangoes.
This is an excerpt from the most beautiful book I am reading at the moment called the Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living by Eknath Easwaran. It is a 3 Volume, 1300-page epic. The translations are eloquent and modern, and the commentary is packed full of practical instruction to help us progress on the path. I love this book so much because you can feel it is written by an ordinary being, just like you and I, who crossed the sea of avidya (ignorance) to the shores of enlightenment. This is one of the most helpful books I have read, and I highly recommend it.
Easwaran continues:
“This is the essential conflict in every human heart. Part of us wants to reach out for the highest, part cannot let go of our little personal desires. Consciousness is split in two – between our higher and our lower natures, between the selfless and the selfish. And the Lord says simply, make yourself whole. Make me your only goal. Don’t do anything just to please yourself. Everything should be for the sake of the Lord, the Self, in you and those around you”.
The difficulty we encounter in making this transition is expressed beautifully by St. Augustine:
“I was bound, not by another man’s chains, but by my own iron self-will… The new will being born in me…was not yet strong enough to overcome the old will that had been strengthen by so much use. Thus, two wills warred against each other within me”.
St. Augustine continues in a way we can all relate to:
“By this time, I was certain that it would be better to give myself to your grace than to yield to my own desires. But though the former appealed to me and convinced me intellectually, the latter still ruled my wishes and bound me”.
To overcome this inner conflict Easwaran advises:
“It is not two selves in conflict; it is one self – sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other. And to win, all we have to do is put more and more of ourselves in the other camp. Every time we withdraw our desires from some self-centred activity, a little more of us has defected from the side of darkness to join the side of the light”.
To sum up, every moment of every day we are choosing who we want to become with our thinking and our actions.
The path of Self/God realisation is an arduous one. We have an enormous mountain to climb. But we can succeed in this great endeavour if we take it step by step: one thought, one action, one practice, one prayer, one meditation and one act of service and love at a time.
Real change happens by consistent action over time not by a burst of activity. Every moment, every thought, every action counts. In time this all adds up and shapes you into the person you want to become.
So, be devoted to the One, have faith, do your practice, trust the process, love and serve others. Then, wait patiently secure in the knowing that the sweet fruits of self-change are on their way.
With love and wisdom
Anthony