My work & to those who seek


	My work & to those who seek

My work as I now see it, is going to be two fold- imparting and imbibing. By imparting I mean the dissemination of whatever knowledge I have come to gain, through whatsoever means available –discussions, writings, recordings and so on. Imbibing means much more than that. It is enabling you to acquire certain skills and develop certain attitudes, which enable the flowering of knowledge into wisdom.

Theoretically speaking, imparting should lead to imbibing. But it is not always so. Though the ultimate result should be same. While imparting is general and common to all, imbibing is personal and specific to you. It’s like the difference between teaching and training. You can be taught how an instrument works. But you need to be trained in order to use it well. And in Vedanta, we are dealing with the subtlest of all instruments – the human mind. We need to watch, understand, comprehend the various facets of the mind and in and through it, reach out to the reality beyond the mind. Imbibing the teaching of Vedanta is to internalize them and learning to live from within. As you may now understand, it goes much beyond teaching, which has a very small role to play here. It is mostly an approach to life based on proper attitudes. There are many dimensions to it.

Firstly, the seeker must absorb the teaching in the right spirit and must be willing to work upon them. The texts explain the way to do it.

Secondly, in the light of the knowledge gained, the seeker must have the courage to question what is generally termed as conventional behavior and tradition. This is a very difficult task, for the mind always clings to known patterns of thought and action. The realm of Vedanta is much beyond the known. The Master has the thankless job of clearing the garbage of the familiar, which the seeker is not willing to let go!

Thirdly, the seeker must strive to unfold the self and express the divine in his own way, and must remember his way is not the way, but a way. The path and the goal begin and end in him. But acceptance and love grows universally.

Within the broad canopy of these attitudes, the life of a seeker is to be structured. As you will understand this is not a time bound activity. It is living as a whole, which is our concern. What we are talking about is a re-orientation of the entire lifestyle, the unfoldment of the self to the fullest potential. The confines of an ashram provide room for such growth because the distractions of the physical world are minimised. This is all the control we have on the external world. The rest is up to us. The fire can be caught. But we need to nurture it and make it bright. Only than shall the path be lit up. We can choose to remain blind and ignore it. Or light up our lives with it….. Be a light unto thyself.