When we are born we have certain strengths within us. When God sent us down to the earth, He infused each soul with His divine energy. This energy powers every activity that we perform. All of us go through a process of formal education where we learn many skills. All through life we give so much importance to training—professional training, skills and talent training. However, we don’t give the same priority to the spirit within, which is God’s special gift to each one of us. The body and all material things are transient, but the spirit is immortal.
How can we enhance our spiritual energy? Just as every academic course has a syllabus and certain prescribed textbooks, we also have a rich treasury of wisdom to guide us spiritually. This treasure is our spiritual scriptures. If we refer to the scriptures, they give us a striking injunction that helps bring out and enhance the spiritual energy latent within. They ask us to give some of our time, talents and skills to society in the form of service. This is a part and parcel of dhārmic living. The Dharma Shāstrās say that the more we give, the more we will receive. Even in the transactional realm we see the truth of this statement. The more we practise a skill, the more experience we get. The more experience we get, the greater is our confidence. All of you are doctors. As you treat patients with various ailments, you will gain a lot of experience over the years. When you selflessly give others the benefit of your experience, you will progress in all realms of your life. Selfless service doesn’t always mean free service. Giving your best to each person who comes to you is selfless service. When you work with this attitude of whole-hearted sharing, you stop expecting anything in return from others.
God has given man a sharp mind and intellect. We feel that this gives us a superior edge over other creatures and use it constantly. God has also given us five senses to cognise the world around us. However, what we can’t perceive through the senses, we infer using the mind. Most of the time, these inferences are based on assumptions and presumptions that arise from negative emotions like lack of confidence, fear, insecurity, envy, frustration, impatience and so on. These are later proved to be false, but they agitate and perturb the mind while they last, and cause needless friction in relationships. A restless, self-centred mind also feeds on memories of the objects perceived by the five senses. Even when the favoured object is not actually before us, the memory of the pleasure enjoyed earlier makes us yield to temptation and go in search of that object. So as long as we allow the mind to assume, presume and yield to temptations, we are misusing it. That is why all the scriptures tell us to still the restlessness of the mind so that it becomes calm and quiet. Only then will the right insights come to us at the appropriate time. The mind becomes sharp and concentration becomes pinpointed. A detached and selfless mind is pure and crystal clear. It can take instantaneous decisions that are always right.
All this happens when we bring out the innate potential of the soul that is already within us. However, most of us can’t participate in spiritual activities all the time due to various duties and responsibilities. The scriptures recognise this fact and tell us how to get over this problem. When we look at ourselves, we may see many deficiencies. We may not have beauty, wealth, power or influential contacts. We may feel that we are very ordinary people. Yet, God has given each one of us at least one special skill or talent. Whatever our skills are, the scriptures tell us to identify them and share them with others without any expectations, once in a while. All selfless giving, however small it may seem, transforms both the giver and the receiver. When you want to light a large bonfire, you strike a small matchstick and light just one piece of firewood. The flame ignites all the combustible material on its own and the fire soon spreads to the entire heap. Likewise, if we begin by selflessly sharing the skills that we have, over a period of time it spreads to a larger section of society and many people benefit from it.
ashram-india@shrinimishamba.org