Q: Swamiji, I am 38 now. If what you say be true I have made a terrible mistake in that I depended upon relations, husband, children, money, home, friends and sense objects, "the outer world" as you say, for my happiness. Now your call is to "detach" from these and take to God. Yes, I shall. But how am I to know that the Swami, who is preaching the New Values now is right and the world that taught me the false values is wrong? Don't you see, Swamiji, I can't afford to make yet another mistake. (Requests Sreemati Manorama from Muzzafarnagar, U.P.)
A:
Priya Atman! Om Namasivaya!
Your marvellous question. Chinmaya admires your intelligence and courage. The aspirant in you has with the questions, proved herself, to be a worthy student. How few have your honesty to open up their sincere doubts. Bravo! Never, never hesitate to approach a Mahatma with all your doubts. Doubts are the various milestones on pilgrim's path to Truth, and once all of them are covered he has reached the Truth.
Dear mother, you have slightly hastened to conclude that you have this doubt! Had you yet an unshaken faith in `the world that taught me the false values' you would not have cared at all to pen this letter. Your own experiences have proved to you that at the moment of your great trials the `false values' did not protect you. They deserted you and you found yourself helpless in your despairs!
So then, the world and its values are not reliable. This, you know from your own bitter experiences. The Swami is offering you another set of values, and declares that all these that we perceive through our senses, mind and intellect constitute the Great Grand Game of the Lord who is seated in our own hearts. It is admirable of you to ask so candidly, `how am I to know you are right!'
Certainly you "can't afford to make yet another mistake" and you should not. That is the anxiety of the Srutis and the Smritis when they with loving insistence force us to detach ourselves from the false changing values of life and command us to accept the True Etemal Values of LIFE.
The Life Divine is today an unknown thing to you. It is a distant Land and a life that looks strange and bewildering when compared to the present drearmland of the Samsara. Now, how to ascertain whether the life in that unexplored, little-known world of Godliness, is more perfect than the painful existence here, now?
The recent war would be the best analogy for you. You know that there was a war in Europe some years ago, don't you? You know that the Germans fixed their flags all over the continent and half through Poland. You know that they were at last defeated by the Allies. You know of the great discovery, the atom bomb, and how maliciously inhuman it is, to use it in war. You know that the world's Gold is cornered now in America; that.....and so on. You have known all these, haven't you?
Yet, you have seen nothing of these: You have experienced nothing of the pains of the defeat or the joys of the victory. Yet you know it all-HOW?
"From newspaper reports; and, the entire community of people around me believed it, talked of it, discussed daily upon its implications. I had seen wounded soldiers and heard their stories. Moreover we are even today experiencing its distant shocks in our day-to-day financial, social and political life." -- Is this not your answer?
If this be your answer, you have correctly enumerated the usual sources of all knowledge as (1) personal experience or personal contact of people who had the experience, (2) reports of experiences lived by others, (3) company of believers and their daily discussions.
In the Life Divine too the sources of proof and knowledge cannot but be the same.
Sat-Sang is the company of believers and listening and reacting to their daily discourses.
Saints and Sages have given their reports to us in every scripture and religion of the world -- some rare giants of heroism had, at intervals in the History of Man, visited the thick of the Experience and had come back to report to the world of what they saw, heard, lived and experienced in the Land of the Beyond.
You sought the wounded soldiers; similarly, seek and you shall find, even around you some who face their daily lif, with a smile and a mysteriously charming courage. Talk to them with as much sympathy and true sincerity as you did when you warmed yourself into the confidences of the disabled soldiers. You will then hear from these rejuvenated champions of the Life Divine, their own experiences in the new world of Devotion to God, unknown to you.
Along with these (Sat-Sang, study of scriptures, listening to the true messages of devotees and their experiences) if you start yourself living the Divine Life, then yours shall be the daily experience of the blessings of the Lord even in your simple domestic life.
The abuses of others would then be but a rare music -- Divine Sweetness to your ears!
The pains of life automatically turn into the Joy of Existence in the Devotees' hearts!
Despairs turn into fulfillment of hopes at the magic touch of selfless love of God.
Bereavement and losses might blow wild, blasting and wrecking everything around you; but, you would be ever living quietly in a safe island, undisturbed by these storms, You will Rediscover yourself as even enjoying the scenes of life's captivating strength and ferocity.
In short, a Divine Lifer lives in the world; but he is not of it.
A true "Divine-Lifer" is a holiday maker upon this planet; he merely looks on and observes the life and its joys and sorrows as lived by the Natives. In himself he lives, rarely identifying hirnself with his surroundings. The joys of the world are not his -- the sorrows of the world he knows not.
He, the Divine Lifer, knows that his is only a pleasure trip to this strange globe of impermanence where a mad Emperor, His Majesty Ego, runs wild among the fantasies of his own deranged brain and laughs and weeps alternatively!
Now that you are here,won't you like to enjoy the sights of this magic-land? You sought a mental identity with H. M. Ego, and you are now as much mad as the mad Emperor. Take some rest. Regain your breath. At the refreshing waters of devotion comfort yourself. Om Shanthi! Shanthi!! Shanthi!!!
As you cool down you will realise for yourself what a sad, tragic, stupendous mistake you had made. To be again the holiday maker is to love the Real LIFE . . . The life of a Jivan Muktha. To dance in the embrace of the Mad Ego is to sigh and weep the days of life! . . . the Life of a Samsarin. Make your choice. Now, here.
You must be in a position to know whether you are actually living a mistake, or would be living a mistake if you accept the Swami and his "New Values."
Please give yourself a chance. Don't condemn yourself to remain in the wretched dung-ridden, back-yard of life.
Start Japa Kirtan and Mantra-writing as already advised and come up the ladder of perfection to enter the Hall of joy -- LIFE. Om Namasivaya. Om. Om. Om. Om. Om
With Prem and Om
Thy Own Self,
Swami Chinmayananda
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