WORK AND WORSHIP:..................................
The Master discovered that often his disciples failed to grasp fully what he tried to convey to them. So he spoke his mind to a senior aspirant.
"I grieve to find that many a time my own students fail to
catch my meaning. When I urge them to dedicate their very
lives to the cause of selfless service, I in no way mean
that they should neglect their personal Sadhana in the name
of work. Sadhana has to be done systematically during a
specified period daily, both in the early morning and in the
evening. Such kind of spiritual routine is not at all
incompatible with active work during the rest of the day.
The point I stress is that even the work should become
spiritual Sadhana by the adoption of the feeling that one is
only an instrument in the hands of the Lord and that all
work is an offering unto Him. Then the entire daily activity
will form worship.
"The life of aspirants who adopt this attitude will brighten
up into an effulgent light offered daily to the Lord
manifest as the created universe. How many devoted and pious
householders are even now diligently practising systematic
Sadhana together with their social duties! If you rational
youth do not see the logic and psychology of the powerful
influence that one's mental attitude and suggestion exert on
all actions, how then do you expect the masses and the
laymen to understand the theory or philosophy of Karma Yoga?
Abandon all queer, preconceived notions of what Sadhana is
and what it is not. All selfless activity that is done with
reverence constitutes highest Sadhana. If you practise doing
all work in the spirit of worship, there cannot be any
feeling of despondency at all."
"Right from the very beginning of one's spiritual life, one
must understand clearly that in true 'humanity'--sincere
desire to root out gradually pride, egoism and jealousy,
earnest and unceasing introspection to find out one's own
defects and improve oneself lies one's hope of progress.
Without this basis, any form of Sadhana becomes a delusion
and a waste. It makes the aspirant puffed up, more proud and
egoistic. When this happens, all good advice and
instructions fall flat upon him. Higher influences cease to
have any effect as the aspirant becomes deliberately and
obstinately non-receptive to them. Eternal vigilance should
be exercised if he is to avoid falling into this dangerous
state. Spiritual life is not a light matter."
Source......Swami Sivananda
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