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Chapter 17
PROGRAMME FOR THE SEEKER
96. Making Sadhana Sattvik
13. In this way, when desirelessness gets ingrained in the mind and systematic and fruitful actions begin to take place, only then the purification of mind will ensue. What is the test for the purification of mind? We should examine our outward actions for this purpose. If they are not pure and well-done, we may take it that the mind too is impure. When does the work become beautiful? When we work with a pure heart and devote all our energy to it, the Lord, pleased with it, puts His seal of appreciation and approval on it. Beauty manifests in the work at the touch of the happy and satisfied Lord. It is the divine grace showered on pure and sacred efforts. A sculptor, absorbed in carving, feels that the beautiful image that is taking shape is not his creation; beauty somehow manifests itself in the image at the last moment. Can divine art manifest itself unless there is purity in the mind? We pour the beauty and purity in our hearts in the Lord’s idol, and that makes the idol holy. The idol is but an image of our mind in the concrete form. All our actions are images of our mind. If the mind is pure, actions too will turn out to be beautiful. We should judge the purity of outward actions by the purity of mind and the purity of mind by the purity of outward actions. 14. In this connection, one more important point is not to be missed. It is that all the actions should be charged with mantra—with the spirit, with the understanding of their true purport. Actions without mantra are meaningless. While spinning, one should always have the feeling of establishing a bond with the poor. If we spin for hours on end, but without this mantra in our heart, it is all wasted. It would not then purify the heart. Look at the action of spinning as the revelation of the Lord hidden in the sliver; then that action will become sattvik and beautiful. It will become a kind of worship; a sort of sacrificial service. Then that thin yarn will link you to the society, to the people, to the Lord. Yashoda saw the whole universe in the mouth of child Krishna.[1] You too will see the universe in the thin yarn when it is charged with mantra. |
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References and Context
- ↑ Yashoda, the forster mother of Krishna, once suspected that the child had stealthily eater butter and asked him to open his mouth. When Krishna did so, she saw the whole universe in it and realised that the child was not an ordinary one, but was the Lord Himself.