Spiritual Growth: Make Friends With Your Self
By Swami Kriyananda
When Jesus said: – The kingdom of God is within – what He meant was that
heaven itself would be a disappointment to restless, worldly people.
If a person has no true joy in his heart, he will not find true joy outside
though he be in heaven itself, and in the company of angels. Heaven must be
experienced right here, right now, within ourselves if we are to experience
it ever.
A stream extending itself too far into a desert will go dry. Man too dries
up inside, spiritually and emotionally, when he extends himself too far in
his search for outward pleasures. The wellspring of enjoyment lies in his
inner Self. What he is, inwardly, that he will find without. The more truly
he lives in himself, the more rewarding will his outer life be, also.
Mans Inner Self is the spring that feeds all his knowing, all that he can
enjoy on earth . If he neglects it, all his perceptions must wither and die.
If one neglects a spring, it may clog up and stop flowing. You have only to
look into the eyes of spiritually unaware people, especially as they grow
older, to see what has happened to them.
Is it with enthusiasm and dynamic energy that they pass their leisure time?
Watch them sitting idly , staring at the TV, or peering vaguely at you to
ascertain whether that was really a joke that you just finished telling.
Mans mistake is to run from the one fact which alone can be completely real
to him. It is only by making friends with his inner Self first that he can
ever make friends with the world .
Scientists are always trying to perfect their instruments. But we, too our
bodies, our minds, our nervous systems are – instruments – in need of
perfection . Can we observe anything intelligently through telescope or
microscope beyond our own capacity for observation? It is only as this
instrument, the mind, is made more perfectly sensitive that we can ever hope
to penetrate deeply to universal mysteries.
Will it cut you off from an understanding of others if you seek truly to
under-stand yourself? Not at all! You can understand others only to the
extent that you have understood yourself. But will it make you less
sensitive to their needs, less sympathetic, less outgoing and eager to help
them?
Again, No. For it is only as one becomes aware of his own weaknesses and
overcomes them that he develops compassion for others in their sorrows.
Todays theme is international unity. But the kind of unity politicians seek
is only a patchwork job. Unity that lasts cannot be created; it must be
realised. The point is, we are already One. We have imagined distinctions
that do not really exist. So we need to work towards greater development of
personal conscience , of personal awareness .
A friend, young and restless, once planned to go around India to visit
various saints. This might have been a laudable purpose, except that, so
far, this boy had put forth very little effort to improve himself; his real
hope was to find someone who would consent to do all his spiritual work for
him. (I could imagine him rushing from ashram to ashram, collecting
blessings like pine cones!)
I said to him, – If you take a thimble to the ocean , you will only get a
thimbleful of water. No doubt those great saints have much to give you. But
what of your own capacity to receive what they give? –
If you would change the world for the better, first of all be better
yourself. You are the greatest responsibility the universe has placed in
your hands.
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