In October 2006, the U.N. organized an impressive function with the slogan, “STAND UP” whose main aim was to eradicate poverty by 2015. It is still awaited whether or not it will be possible and when this dream will come out to be true? But it is the universal acceptance that poverty is a curse and every human being is entitled to have at least the basic needs fulfilled.
Man must work hard to fulfill the basic needs of life i.e. food, clothing and shelter. For that he has to resort to material things. But even if the necessities are fulfilled, there are demands for comfort and luxury. In pursuit of comfort and luxury, there has been tremendous progress in the field of scientific investigation. The modern man has gone to the moon and is planning to explore other planets of the universe. Whereas it was a nightmare to go from one corner of the country to another, now traveling from one country to another is a matter of few hours only. Looking at the glamour and fast progress of the world, it appears to be a heaven to live in.
Be aware! This is just one aspect of the existence. This so called heaven of material objects carries a hell of stress and strain also in its train. Happiness and misery go together. If we feel happiness we are bound to fall prey to miseries also later on. Wherever there is the power of producing happiness, there lurks somewhere the power of making us miserable. If we increase our power to become happy in arithmetical progression, we shall increase, on the other hand our power to become miserable in geometrical progression. We, the progressing people must know that the more we progress, the more we are prone to pain as well as pleasure if there is no spirituality in our life.
The main cause to make us miserable despite of all this progress is our infinite desires which cannot be fulfilled. Man wants more and more till he himself is no more. In Tolstoy’s story “How much land does a man need?” “Six feet from head to foot was only that he needed,” By ‘Six feet’ Tolstoy meant the necessities of life even comforts and luxuries but not greed and temptation. In greed and temptation of glaring material objects, we forget that wealth is for us but we are not for wealth. We are caught though we came to catch. A bee came to sip honey but it got stuck to the pot and could not get away. Again and again we find ourselves in that miserable state. We came here to sip the nectar of spirituality but we find ourselves engulfed in the so called honey of the material world.
We are attached; we are being caught. We are attached to external objects as we get pleasure from them. This is the cause of misery. But, it is not that we should not have things which are necessary and provide comforts to us and it is not that we should not have material wealth. We do need the material things to survive in this world. So, have all that you want and even more, but don’t be attached. Know the truth and realize it that they are for you but you are not for them. All the things have been made for you but you are made for God. If you keep God in your life, the whole scene will be changed. The world instead of appearing as hell will become the kingdom of heavens.
As it is impossible to find bliss in the fleeting objects of the world, the same way, it is impossible to find God outside of ourselves because God and bliss abide within and not without. That is why Gurudev always insists that man must meditate and attain the ever-lasting bliss. All pleasures of the senses or even of the mind are evanescent but within us is the one true unrelated pleasure not dependent upon anything. It is bliss. That bliss is within us and not in material things. To attain that bliss we must not seek the material things only ignoring the self within. Vishvas Meditation takes us to Inner Journey.