Life gives an opportunity to learn. The purpose of learning is to educate ourselves. The purpose of education is to refine our own knowledge. The purpose of refining our knowledge is to think better, speak better and act better so that success is ours in whatever endeavour.
King Yudhishtira in the Mahabharata was the eldest Pandava. He lost badly in the game of dice—lost his kingdom, brothers, wife, honour and was driven away to the forest to a life incognito. He might have been a good person. He, however, could not stop the turn of situations because he lacked complete knowledge of Aksha Vidya or the game of dice.
Later, when the Pandavas were cooling their heels incognito, he met a king who was an expert in this game and perfected all the gaps under his guidance. The idea is: there should be no gaps in our knowledge of anything. Take up one subject and pursue it to the end. Become an authority and an expert in that field.
Assert your uniqueness in this world, because that is the truth and the reality. Try as you may, you will not find another person who looks just like you—fingerprints and all, has your name, does all that you do, has the same family, friends and relatives and is standing in the same place on ground that you stand right now! Even twins are apart by space, name, fingerprints and time—even if they are identical twins.
What helps me to get that single-pointed knowledge of anything? Yoga is the answer. How do I practice yoga? Through Karma Yoga or doing actions without thinking I am the doer of the action and with the realisation that actions happen through me, my conscious mind is single-pointed and I gain unity of purpose through work. Seva as this yoga is called connects the people, objects and situations served, and the one who serves through service. In this connectivity, the experiencer, experienced and experiencing attain to its natural state of oneness.
Bhakti Yoga or the practice of love and devotion unites the feeler, the object, person or situation felt and the process of feeling.
The experience of feeling alone as a flow of energy that connects the two happens through this process.
Through Jnana Yoga, you—the knower—are connected to the object known through the practice of knowing. The knowledge of one consciousness present everywhere and in everything unites the knower, known and knowing.
The knowledge of one consciousness—that is the witness of all actions, emotions and thoughts of all of us—is the ultimate liberating knowledge.
If you want to experience a joyous life, meditate whenever you have time. Whenever you act in the world and the mind is distracted by trials and tribulations, remember immediately the hand of God, consciousness, truth or reality that guides all people, objects and situations.
The author resides at Srirangam and is Acharya, Chinmaya Mission, Tiruchi
(www.sharanyachaitanya.blogspot.in)