9 October 2001, 12:05am IST
Parmarthi Raina.
Although most people believe in god, very few take to the spiritual path as it is not so attractive and engaging as the path of worldly pleasures. who are those few who turn to god and what motivates them to do so? krishna says in the bhagavad gita, ‘‘o arjuna, four kinds of pious men render devotional service to me — the desirer of wealth, the seeker of knowledge, the distressed and the knower of the absolute.’’ a majority of the people who turn to god fall into the category of desirers of wealth and the distressed; some are seekers of knowledge and the least are from the category of the ‘knower’. while krishna considers all of them noble, he cherishes the knower the most as he is the true seeker who is firm in his conviction that god is the highest goal. endeavour on the spiritual path is not easy and it is even more difficult to sustain. it requires a fair amount of discipline, control over the mind and renunciation. it is possible, therefore, that after treading this path for some time, the transcendentalist finds too many restrictions to sensual enjoyments and his enthusiasm wanes, his mind wanders, his determination falters and he abandons the spiritual path before attaining his goal of god realisation. he might then regret having wasted his time, or he might wonder whether, having taken to the spiritual path, it was correct to abandon it midway. arjuna, faced with the same dilemma asks lord krishna, ‘‘o krishna, what is the fate of a man, who in the beginning takes to the process of self- realisation with faith, but later is not steadfast in his practices owing to worldly-mindedness, and therefore fails to reach spiritual perfection? o mighty-armed lord, does not such a man, bewildered in the path of self-realisation, lose both the material and the spiritual worlds, and perishes like a cloud rent asunder?’’ krishna assures arjuna that for such a man nothing is lost: ‘‘o son of pritha, he does not meet with downfall either in this material world or in the spiritual world. know for certain, o dear one, that one who treads the path of virtue never goes to ruin’’. krishna had earlier told arjuna, in this endeavour there is no loss or diminution due to incompleteness and no adverse effect due to failure, and even a little advancement on this path of yoga can protect one from the greatest fear. the vedas consider only spiritual progress as true achievement, and knowledge of god as true knowledge. all material achievements, no matter how extraordinary and monumental, and all knowledge of the phenomenal world, no matter how comprehensive and profound, are lost to a person upon his death. but endeavour in the spiritual path, and knowledge of god, is never lost as these mould one’s character and creates righteous tendencies samskars which remain as permanent assets in his present life and in all subsequent lives. krishna tells arjuna, that having made even a small measure of spiritual progress in one’s life, upon his death the devotee will next be born in a family of righteous people full of wisdom and spiritual faith, a birth that is hard to get, where conditions will be favourable for further spiritual development. the upanishads assert that spiritual practices can fructify into experiences in one’s lifetime; if they do not, still one has unlimited lives to reach that perfection. in each successive life, the transcendentalist will revive the spiritual discernment acquired in his previous birth, and will be driven to take up his spiritual pursuits from where he left off in the previous life. he will strive to make continuous progress until the spiritual goal is reached. a sincere devotee, who desires to re-establish his relationship with god, comes directly under the scrutiny and protection of the lord, who then creates situations to boost the devotee’s faith and dedication, and guides him towards his true destiny. there is never any absolute failure in yoga and nothing is lost by following the spiritual path. the srimad bhagavatam describes the path of devotion as a well-paved highway along which one can even run blindfold without any fear of falling. the desirers of wealth, the seekers of knowledge and the distressed of today can tomorrow become knowers and henceforth be instinctively drawn to tread the spiritual path to god-realisation.
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