. AN AWAKENING MUST BE FOLLOWED BY PURPOSEFUL ACTI

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

9. AN AWAKENING MUST BE FOLLOWED BY PURPOSEFUL ACTION
Homage unto the all-pervading Cosmic Being, the Universal Spirit, visvatma, the Eternal
Reality! And worshipful adorations to Gurudev, that very Cosmic Being manifest as a world
awakener, a world spiritual teacher and a path-pointer!
A guru is a guru because he brings into our life the light of wisdom, an awakening impulse.
He points out to us the path that leads to life’s fulfilment—to the jivatma attaining paramatma. He
points out the means and the methods, the direction and the path. He awakens the jivatma from the
slumber of Self-forgetfulness, the slumber of ignorance, ajnana, the slumber of avidya,
dehadhyasa (identification with the body).
The guru is not only an awakener, he inspires us to make use of our wakefulness in
purposeful action. If one who is awakened from his Self-forgetfulness, his ignorance of his destiny,
does not engage in purposeful and proper action, does not put this wakefulness to highest use, the
awakening, though better than slumber, proves infertile, proves fruitless. Therefore, the ending
note of the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, the most important utterance of Arjuna, is: “karishye—I shall
act, I shall do.” Arjuna, who said, “No, I shall not do, I shall not fight,” in the beginning, ends up by
saying: “I shall do Your bidding.” It is almost an answer to the Upanishadic call of uttishthata
jagrata prapya varan nibodhata (Arise, awake, having reached the wise become enlightened). The
fallen Arjuna is now not only awakened from his ignorance but he stands up ready to fight.
Wakefulness with action is called sadhana. It is called abhyasa. Yoga is primarily engaging
in a self-determined and self-directed activity which propels the jiva ever higher, upward and
Godward, towards God-realisation—thus the significant term yoga-abhyasa.
The guru, therefore, is an awakener and an inspirer. He is a path—apradarsaka—he is one
who throws light upon the path, who shows the path. But the treading of the path must be
determinedly undertaken and engaged in by the fortunate disciple. Discipleship is in obedience and
in action, in being and doing. “Be what I want you to be. Do what I want you to do.” Thus says the
guru.
All yoga is, therefore, the response of the seeking soul, the sadhaka, the jijnasu, to the call of
the guru, in the same manner as Arjuna responded by karishye (I will do), and followed it up by
standing and picking up the bow once again in his hand. Thus he engaged in the action that was

called for at that time and attained victory in the war. Eighteen days of ceaseless activity brought
about victory.
Therefore, diligently the sincere seeking soul must engage in spiritual sadhana, knowing
that the source of all power and energy is God Himself. “Thy will be done, and let me have the
insight and the power to engage in action for the due fulfilment of Thy will.” Even so, the disciple
should engage in spiritual sadhana, but without a sense of abhimana, ego. “Yes, even this I am
enabled to do by Your supreme mercy and grace. Naham karta harih karta tvatpuja karma
chakhilam (I am not the doer; Lord Hari is the doer. All work is Thy worship).”
A mother, with great love, prepares food for her slumbering child. She wakes it up, places
the food before the child and urges it to eat. But the eating has to be done by the child. There is an
old saying: “Two men can take a horse to a river, but twenty men cannot make it drink.” That has to
be done by the horse.
Therefore, sadhana is the hallmark of the sadhaka; yoga-abhyasa is the hallmark of the
yogi; prayer, worship, is the hallmark of the devotion of the devotee. Discipline, self-control,
ceaseless effort to ingather the mind and to check its wandering, to centralise it, to focus it towards
the great ideal—this is the hallmark of the dhyani yogi. Worshipfully engaging in one’s duties and
activities, remembering the Divine Being throughout the activity itself, in the midst of the activity,
and offering up the activity at the feet of the supreme, ever-present Reality is the hallmark of a true
karma yogi.
Thus, in the ultimate context, all spiritual life, all yoga, all sadhana is the devout engaging
in the right and appropriate kind of spiritual activity by the seeker, the sadhaka, the yogi, the
devotee. It is, therefore, upon this plane of action and reaction, action and the fruit of action, this
outer plane, that the law is fulfilled. Significantly, in the Gita, the Lord says that whether you wish it
or not, the Cosmic Nature, which resides in you as your own human nature with its outgoing
tendency of the mind, will impel you, compel you, oblige you, to engage in numerous and various
activities. When this is inevitable, why not be wise and direct it towards your divine destiny? Why
not be wise and spiritualise it? Why not be wise and make it a means of connecting yourself with the
Divine, linking yourself with the cosmic source of your being? Why not be wise?
Such wisdom in action is called yoga—yogah karmasu kausalam. “If I have to engage in
action, let me not be foolish and make it my problem. Let me not allow it to take me into further
bondage, greater Self-forgetfulness. Let me not allow action to be a breaking up of my connection
with the Divine. On the contrary, let me be wise, let me have wakefulness and an inner awareness,
so that my activity is done with an attitude and an approach that makes it a means of moving
towards the Goal.”
Thus acting, the actor becomes not merely a karma yogi, he also becomes a jnani yogi.
Action is based on wisdom, infilled with jnana. And he desires to elevate his activity to such
sublime heights because of his great desire, his love for attaining the Lord. There is in it a keen
longing to obtain the Supreme. There is bhakti. Bhakti and jnana automatically become the moving
forces infilling all activity.

So, the true yogi cannot help being a jnani, a bhakta, a yogi even in the midst of activity.
Therefore, the activity of people who have adopted the spiritual life, who have entered the path of
yoga, who are engaged in sadhana, is not the mere activity of the man of the world, the bound soul
who is in love with the world and its things—a samsari—one who is impelled by desire, by
attachment, by craving, the urge to taste the transitory pleasures of the petty objects of this universe.
That action leads to greater darkness and bondage. The activity of one who is awakened, one who is
wise, is a spiritual activity in every sense of the term, in which the ingredients constitute jnana,
bhakti, yoga, and it is filled with vairagya, dispassion.
It is a totally different kind of activity: a liberating activity, a spiritual activity, a
God-oriented activity, a wisdom-based activity, an activity at the centre of which there is
wakefulness, an awareness, and a lofty and sublime purpose. So, the inner svarupa of this activity is
purely spiritual; it is yogic. This is the inner content of those who have adopted the life spiritual,
who have entered into the path of yoga, who are engaging themselves in spiritual sadhana.
Therefore, may your life be a confluence of bhakti, jnana and yoga, and may all your
activity be a sadhana for God-realisation. May it be God-oriented, directed towards the supreme
Goal, thus helping you to connect yourself with God at every step, at every moment. May the grace
of the Divine and the choicest blessings of the Holy Master enable you to understand this aspect of
your life, to reflect upon it and to elevate your so-called ordinary day-to-day life to a lofty height of
higher awareness, purposefulness and direction.
Thus may all of your life be to you a fulfilment of this central aspiration—not part of your
life, but all of your life. May your entire life be a divine life.
Towards this end, strive with diligence and wisdom, unaffected by the outer factors that
constitute the passing scene around you. That will continue to be what it is. The transformation is
within yourself. You cannot change the outer world, but there is every need for you to be a changed
being inwardly. That is the secret of a successful spiritual life.
You must be a living Vedantin. You must be a practical yogi at all times, not only when you
are in your meditation or puja room. There is no partial son to the parent; there is no partial
patriotism; there is no partial conduct and character; there is no partial Vedanta; there is no partial
yoga. They are either total or not at all.This is the truth.
This truth should be clearly perceived and recognised. One should not have a mental block
to seeing this truth fairly and squarely. We may play a part, but we cannot play a game with God.