Healthy Response to both favorable and Unfavorable situations - Part 1
Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati ji's talks, Spiritual Heritage of India.
Śrī Gurubhyō Namaḥ
When we keep the presence of Īśvara in our awareness, by knowing all that is here is Īśvara, what is within, what is outside is but Īśvara. And this is very difficult, because one is carried away by one's own habitual anxiety, alienation, and survival instinct, .. like this a number of factors keep us away from the presence of Īśvara. First, it is not knowing. The nature of Īśvara that everything here is Īśvara is not known. And inspite of one's understanding, to whatever degree, understanding of this fact, one struggles to keep that fact in one's awareness. Its not an intimate knowledge. Something denies that intimate knowledge, assimilated knowledge, which we call Niṣṭha. And what denies is, our own unconscious and also instinctual, certain urges for survival and so on. They keep us away from the awareness. Individuality is there, so individuality within the fold of Īśvara, thats where the problem lies. Within the fold of the Total, Samiṣṭi, Īśvara, there is an individual. Īśvara is pervasive of this body mind sense complex and everything else. All means and ends are Īśvara.
And this individuality within Īśvara is a fact and it can be a denying factor. A factor that denies the assimilated knowledge of the fact of everything being Īśvara, called Niṣṭha. Because to be an individual you must have certain identity, different from every other entities in this world. Therefore this self identity goes along with an instinct for this organism survival. And that instinct is confined to this physical body, mind sense complex. And therefore, this carving out of this entire world, a status for oneself. A status that gives me an individuality. Well that is a fact, and that fact can be standing against of my awareness of every thing being Īśvara. Therefore it is critical for us to understand a few things atleast to practice. And so that this awareness is there for us always.
Here we have an advice given by the Gīta, and this also is in our attitude. In the Indian spiritual culture, there is a prevalent attitude, an attitude of accepting gracefully as prasāda as mentioned before. In this value structure, this is told "nityaṁ cha sama-cittatvam iṣhṭāniṣhṭopapattiṣhu", it is very peculiar to our culture. Iṣhṭa upapattih, iṣhṭa prāptiḥ , iṣhṭasya prāpti, prāpti means gain, iṣhṭa is what one likes, is what one desires for. This is called iṣhṭa. Prāpti is gain, so iṣhṭasya prāptiḥ - in the wake of something you wanted, is gained in the wake of which there is a certain response on the part of the individual. One responds to a situation which is in keeping with what one loves to have. what one worked for. what one desires. To this, one responds. The response is pointed out here as Samatvam. Else where it was said Samatvam, here it is said sama cittatvam. Its an explanation. Sama cittatvam. Citta is mind. My response in terms of my attitude which is mental. And this attitude, in my response to what I like is more or less the same. Understand this. "More or less the same". To the response, same response to what I don’t like. In the wake of what i don’t want, there is a response. Between these two responses more or less, there is a certain sameness, certain similarity - this is called Samatvam. How one can respond the same way? When one knows exactly what is there is what I like, i work for something, expecting something. And something that i like has come. To this I have to respond. My response is going to be one of elations and how this elation is going to be compared with my response to what I don’t like in the wake of what I don’t like. My response to what I don’t like in the wake of which my response is going to be one, one of disappointment, then in the wake of disappointment, there is regret, guilt, hurt, sorrow there is a whole drain afterwards. This is all consequences. But what is first is disappointment. How this is going to be compared ? well with my elation. How can these two responses be the same? Samatvam.
Its all verbal. Its easy to say respond the same way in the wake of what is, what is likeable and what is not liked also. The same way! Its easy to command. Its easy to advice anybody. Respond the same way to what you like and what you don’t like. How? If I am totally blind, I cannot respond. Totally blind means, I don’t recognize what is happening, then I cannot respond at all. I don’t need to respond. What I recognize is not what i like. or what I like. So response is a natural consequence to my knowledge. And otherwise it would be inappropriate response. Something good happens, I sit. I sit in the same way as something I am indifferent to. I don’t care what is happening and what I don’t like is happening. what I like is happening. What will people say? In America and other places "What is wrong with him?". In India they will say, "ye to bada jnani hai". "Ye pahunchgaya mahatma hai". Because in our culture this concept of samatvam being there, they think if you get if you respond like this, (means no response) and they think that perhaps , he gained some state. There is no state. we have to say more or less. other wise it is wrong. More or less the same way.
Iṣhṭam prāpya na abhinandati, aniṣṭham prāpya na dveṣhṭi. In the wake of iṣhṭa, he doesn't get elated, ecstatic, he is able to absorb this happy situation in a contained manner and aniṣṭha also in a contained manner. Doesn't get immediately depressed, takes it, then he tries. if not happily if not possible, with ok attitude more or less the same. This is called Samatvam. Iṣhṭa/aniṣṭha upapattiṣhu nityam samacittatvam. This is not possible, this will remain always an advice, an ideal. You can write and keep it in front of you. If you write anything and keep it in front of you, it will be ever an ideal. You will be always different from it. The actual is always different from the ideal. You keep it in front of you because you know that it is not possible for you. This is the ideal actual difference and is not a matter of idealizing something. It is assimilating it properly. Even what I say, this more or less the same, is not possible unless we bring in Īśvara. You have to bring in Īśvara here. Next line of advice in the Gīta is mayi ananya-yogena bhaktir avyabhicāriṇī - beautiful. The presence of Īśvara has to be brought in here. How? I know it is given to me to do. I also know I don’t have any say over the result. The result is taken care of. I can plan, I can do, I can expect - the result is taken care of. When the result happens, it may be as i said before, its equal to my expectation, more or less or even opposite. Samatvam is to all of them samatvam. My response is more or less the same. How it can be the same? Because I am not karma phala dāta. I know this well. I am not karma phala dāta. I am not the producer of the result of action. The creator of the result of the action. The result of the action is taken care of by the laws. The laws that may include the law of karma too. The laws that are not separate from the Lord. The laws are of the Lord. not separate from the Lord. the result is from the Lord. Therefore we have in our culture, a certain attitude to what comes as a result of my action. As some kind of, especially in Hindi we say, especially if it is good happened, we say, ‘ye to Bhagavan ka anugrah hai’ - we say this all the time. If it is aniṣṭha, If it is not to my liking, I won’t say that. And here we are asked to say that. why because the result of an action, whatever whether we like or don’t like, is always from Īśvara. In our culture we have one thing, an attitude, to what comes from Īśvara. As I had told before, what comes from Īśvara is prasāda. From the altar, whatever comes, may be a tulasi leaf, water, or vibhūti, or kumkum, or laddu, it is prasāda. And we recognize in our culture, a child is a gift from the Lord, and therefore we give the name of the Lord, one form or the other. Or even we say this is Lord's Prasād, Śiva Prasād, Rājēndra Prasād, Guru Prasād, Rāma Prasād, Kr̥ṣṇa Prasād. - Prasād means what? No Question. Glad acceptance. Iṣhṭam, glad acceptance. we are able to absorb it. Aniṣṭham - Prasād _/\_. Glad acceptance. May not be with a smile. Acceptance but Prasād. We have a shock abosorber. Practice this, practice "nityaṁ cha sama-cittatvam iṣhṭāniṣhṭopapattiṣhu". Thank you!