How oblivious we are of our divinity, how utterly oblivious! We, the masters of the universe, have enslaved ourselves to little psycho-physical systems and are helplessly crying out for help! Who will redeem us, who will take us to salvation? Are the lords of the Earth to be helped by external agencies? No, that cannot be. We have to help ourselves or, else, suffer, for no help from elsewhere will come. We have to carve out our own destiny, chalk out our own future, activate our own energy and self-liberate us. This is true manliness and this is true womanliness as well. God does not seek help from any. Are we not gods? The Vedanta in trumpet voice declares us to be so. Then ought we to debase ourselves so much that we should forever seek support from fictitious sources, imaginary beings, hypothetical helplines? No, we shall no more go with a begging bowl for alms, no more seek like cringing slaves for mercy for neither will alms be so received nor mercy obtained thus.
The plan of Nature is to subjugate us, to keep us in subordination so that the universal play may go on. The plan of the soul is to overcome this slavery to Nature by self-assertion. This tug-of-war, this tussle for supremacy is the basic game-plan of this cosmic show, this spectacle of the universe, this phenomenon called life. The play-cards are on the table, the destiny is set, the web of the world is holding us and the salvation is within. The power that captivates us is our own infatuation with the senses, the elements that rule us receive their sovereignty from within us, the agencies we appease are figments of our imagination and the guidance we seek is fraught with worthless words of no intrinsic spiritual merit of realisation.
Let us then be reasonable, rational human beings possessed of dignity, virtue and the character to reshape our own lives as per the master plan of the seers of the Upanishads who on the banks of the Saraswati had first proclaimed the immortality of the human soul, the divinity of the human being, nay of all that exists, who had never preached their own exclusive divinity but had declared that all are equally divine and that it is possible by self-effort and purity to reach the supreme goal, realise the spiritual ideal.
From now on we shall no more sell our reason to men of superior intellect but of dubious character masquerading as holy men, rather, we shall seek out with a discerning eye men who are truly holy, possessed of fine moral character and devoid of monetary associations. If we are strong men possessed of self-belief and character then we shall not be duped by these hypocrites who sell 'spirituality' and rob us of our independence to think rationally by their unrealised tall-talk on abstruse matters of philosophy. Better to remain rational atheists but capable of independent thinking than brainwashed weaklings dependent on miserable messiahs of men mesmerising the masses into mental subjugation by their malicious intent masquerading as morality, gross sensuality wearing the garb of spirituality. We must free ourselves from these trappings if we are to be truly spiritual, if we are sincere in our aspiration for spiritual freedom.
The goal is set, the path is clear, the means are at hand and the method has been discovered ages ago by our forefathers. We must pick ourselves up from where we are and take a step forward. We do not have to renounce anything right now, that will come later. Right now we have to start functioning as rational men endowed with the freedom to think out the solutions of our own problems and start doing our allotted duties in life. We may seek guidance from holy books like the Bhagavad Geeta, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna and The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda but the interpretation of these scriptures must be our own, even if erroneous. 'Swadharmey nidhanam shreya paradharma bhayaavaha' --- this dictum of the Geeta which means that it is better to perish following one's own path rather than pursue someone else's, for the latter option is terrible, is well worth remembering in this connection.
Therefore, the way out is the way of doing our daily duties without attachment to the result of our actions. This does not mean that we must be careless in the conducting of our duties, for an erroneous understanding of detachment could be that results do not matter after all. No, the work must be performed as worship with the highest concentration, nobility of intent, purity of purpose and the greatest skill but without the least tinge of selfish interest or afterthought in terms of regret, remorse, anxiety or any reaction whatsoever that keeps binding the mind to the deed done. Such attachment sullies the mind and causes bondage and such work cannot lead to liberation but rather throws the aspirant's soul into disarray. It is detached devoted service that is unsullied and takes the aspirant by the hand to freedom.
And whose hand is it that leads the way? Why, it is is yours all the way my friend. The hand that is led is yours and the hand that leads is yours as well and this is Karma Yoga!
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