Swami Prakashanand Saraswati, a revered and honored spiritual teacher, beautifully explains the eternal system of creation and the path to true, everlasting happiness. This is the first part of his insightful four-part speech that illuminates the profound principles of God-realization.
According to Swami Prakashanand Saraswati…
The Divine souls,
There is an eternal system, and there are certain principles or rules under which it operates. Originally the cosmic power (maya) was in a dormant state when it was enlivened by God. This cosmic creation was simply induced with God’s power, then the world evolved on its own.
For example, your television set will operate if you plug it into the electric outlet. But if you have no power, you cannot watch it. If you have power, you can run any kind of electrical appliance or any type of electrical instrument. The power has no concern with the way the machine functions or operates.
Material power, maya, has three characteristics: sattva, raj, and tam. The Shvetashvataropanishad says “lohitshuklkrishnam”. The qualities of maya are both pure and impure.When this world evolved there were two things: the individual souls which have a life and a mind; and the mayic phenomena which has no mind and is lifeless.
The human mind has the same pious and impious qualities which are contained in maya. People view the world according to the quality of their minds. A pious mind sees the world in a completely different way than an impious mind. An impure mind is always looking to find happiness in material objects. It sees something and immediately thinks, “It is so beautiful, I must grab it.”
When a pious person sees any attractive object, he explores the situation in his mind. Suppose he sees a nice new car. He might think, “Has the owner found real happiness by owning that car?” He knows that true happiness does not come from material possessions. He reasons, “Then how can that car make me happy?”
The impious person sees something attractive and immediately thinks to possess it. He may even resort to stealing if he has no money to pay for the object he deeply desires.
Everyone is looking for the same happiness, but somewhere something is wrong. The happiness we are looking for is not here, it is beyond the perceived world.
We all have to live on the same planet. We must feed ourselves, look after our families, find shelter, and earn a living. We should use honest means to earn money and maintain ourselves while we try to find that perfect happiness and look for someone who will tell us how to attain it.
The impious man is looking for instant happiness and instant gratification. He is miserable and spends his whole life trying to find the true happiness which is not there. God Himself is happiness. A pious man thinks in terms of finding his happiness in God. This means he is sincerely involved in the quest for God, therefore God helps him. It is so simple. How does He help? There are thousands of ways He helps all the souls. God’s help is available on this Earth at all times, in all ages. First, He has introduced His knowledge in the form of the Vedas. He sent a number of Saints from His abode to this Earth to teach the path of God-realization. Religions were formed in the name of those Saints. Stay tuned for the next part of this enlightening series, where we delve deeper into Swami Ji’s wisdom and its practical applications in our lives.
Unlock the secrets of bhakti with Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s books, offering timeless guidance for spiritual growth.