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The Work of an Arya Those human beings who are living a life of simplicity, with wisdom and devotion, are Aryas (good human beings). Those who are breaking the principles of non-violence, who are engaged in a constant battle to establish the supremacy of their little ego—they are known as un-Aryas (fools), and they are being slaughtered in the world of samsara, they are being cut to pieces, they are falling apart, they are running for cover (looking for an image to hide behind, to mask their own lies and self-deception). But sooner or later they must come out from behind their mask. The ego must be removed. Those who are removing the ego are moving with the energies of the Creator. As they continue to move ahead, they pick up momentum and eventually move ahead of the mind. In this process, the ego-centered thoughts are stripped from the mind and the mind becomes pure. The noble souls keep progressing, they continue to perfect themselves, and eventually, by the Grace of That Absolute Self, they transcend the ego and become fully established in the Pure Self, in the Absolute Truth. We need to move with the speed of light in order to dissolve the myth of separation from God. If we get caught up in our images we will waste our time living in the shadows of our ego and in the ever changing moods of the personality. Too much time has been wasted in playing in the mud puddle of Samsara. It is time to dive deep into the pool of devotion and refresh our souls with the Nectar of Divine Love. We don’t need the acceptance and recognition of the world—what we need is to accept the truth and recognize where we have gone wrong. The truth is that we have been deceiving ourselves by going the way of ego. To perceive the Truth we must go the opposite way of the ego. By refusing to follow our mind and ego, by remaining firm in devotion to God, by remaining clear-headed and self-contained (free from self-contamination), the light shining in the heart begins to shine more and more brilliantly, and eventually all traces of selfishness and egocentricity are erased. This is the work of every Arya, of every good human being. Individually and collectively we must work to remove our selfish tendencies—tendencies that are rooted in the false ego. It has been said that “Charity begins at home.” But if give in to our bad habits, we cannot give out to our loved ones. To be charitable with our loved ones we must give up our selfish habits. This should be our motto, and we must put it into practice. It is useless to memorize the verses from the scriptures if we don’t translate them into action. One mantra put into practice is better than a thousand mantras put to memory. If the mantra is not put into practice, it is little better than a spiritual slogan. The spiritual rhetoric will not restore the lost glory of our soul. In order to re-establish ourselves in the Light of Truth we must stop running away with our mind and ego. We must settle down and practice. It is useless to get caught up in mind games. One can never gain any wisdom or strength by playing mind games. And nearly everyone is caught up in a mind game, whether individually or collectively. People are seeking to satisfy their samsaric (worldly) longings, and to this end they will even use the garb of spirituality to achieve their aim. So, beware of fooling yourself into thinking you are an Arya simply because you belong to a spiritual organization. The fact is that most so-called spiritual organizations are little more than social clubs. Nobody is really changing for the better. And even if some are changing a little, the little change is not enough. It’s like trying to pump up a leaking tire. Eventually it goes flat again. The same way, when we lose our energy in trying to satisfy our images and personality (or others images and personalities), we are eventually ‘flattened’. We are stopped dead in our tracks. Though the time continues to roll on, we will remain glued to our images if we follow the track of ego. The one who follows his ego eventually runs out of steam and collapses. Once we become run-down and deflated we are easily run over by other people who want to use and abuse us. Such is the way of Samsara and samsaric people. The vantage point of ego will always put you at a disadvantage. From your little point of view you can never get the full picture. Instead, you will only see what you (your ego) want to see. And when you only understand what your ego lets you understand, you are bound to misunderstand; hence, you will lose this opportunity to realize the truth. Anyone who is caught up in ego is going to be a loser, because they will always miss the point. And who is caught up in ego?—the one who is caught up in samsara. And who is caught up in samsara?—the one who is caught up in ego. There can be NO winners in samsara—only losers. And those losers are called UN-aryas, because they are compromising with their principles for the sake of satisfying themselves (i.e., their egos) in the world of Samsara. Samsara is the place where people play mind games — and anyone who plays mind games is in samsara (even if they are in SATSANG, or even if they are at the head of a spiritual empire). We don’t need anymore samsaric spiritual leaders, we need sincere spiritual leaders. But then, too, what is the need of sincere spiritual leaders if all we have are samsaric spiritual seekers (or ‘spiritual’ samsaric seekers)? That’s why a truly deep human being is usually not inclined to become a leader of any organization—because to attempt to lead those who don’t want to be led onto the right path (i.e., who don’t really want to practice) will only lead to nowhere. Alas, what to do? What to prove? What to disprove? Life goes on. The mind drama goes on and so does the Divine drama go on. Each of us chooses where we want to go—either the way of the mind or the way of the Divine. And in making this choice, it is the actions that speak louder than the words. May we offer our every action, thought, and feeling into the Fire of Wisdom, Service, and Devotion. May we have only one feeling—the feeling of Absolute Love for the Absolute; only one thought—the knowledge of the Absolute; and only one action—the absolute dedication of our whole life to the Absolute. |
