Endeavour to be a Sant

Whose bodies, minds and words overflow with goodness;
Whose chief delight and satisfaction is benevolence to all beings;
Who swell the merits of others to mountains when they are like atoms,
And are ever fully pleased by the inner vision—
Such sants are indeed rare.
Bhartrihari

A Sant* is not distinguished by any external signs. Their hearts are ever free from agitation. They have no love for the agreeable and no aversion for the disagreeable. By their proximity many loaded with evil are naturally purified. The pure sattva predominates in their nature and the rajas and tamas impressions and tendencies of their opponents disappear. Such great-hearted devotees of God are rare.

At no time and through no cause are their hearts agitated. The enjoyments of food, association and self-decoration, do not give rise to hopes in their hearts. Forgiveness, generosity, compassion, stability, inner and outer control, fortitude, forbearance, endurance, peace, renunciation, discrimination, egolessness and unconditional benevolence, constitute their heavenly wealth.

The peaceful sadhus wander in the world like the season of spring. Freed they are and endeavour to plant love for the spiritual ideal in others. Their speech and practice is aimed at the universal good. The doors of their hearts are open to the whole world. The lives of Sants teach us to be like them. Every person can acquire the power to control their animal mind.

Nothing is impossible for Self. The Self is endowed with omnipotence. Do not regard your weak mind as your ideal state. You can obtain victory over your lower instinctive mind. You can uproot from the soil of your heart pleasure-desire, avarice, anger, infatuation, jealousy and vanity. Do not depend on any outer object or circumstance. Learn how to think rightly. Good thoughts are heaven; evil thoughts are hell. Imagination, concentration and willing, properly employed, can help you in turning your fortune. Being a fragment of the great Paramatman (supreme Self), you can turn your degrading pleasure-devotion into purity, your avarice into contentment, your anger into peace.

Start looking into only the good points and good attributes of others. In this way you will accumulate goodness in your heart and be good. The Holy Rishi Patanjali says that by concentrating on the opposites of evils you can overcome evil. By meditating on love you can overcome hate and so forth.

Modern psychology teaches the impossibility of two ideas simultaneously functioning in the brain. Fill your heart with good thoughts and the evil ones will disappear. A mind that is controlled by rajas (passion) and tamas (inertia) grows weak. One’s thought power is impaired and our nerves are not steady. It is therefore essential that everyone must practise vairagya— curtailment of luxury desires, indifference to objects of pleasure—and daily meditation with devotion to God, the Universal Self.

One who has a weak will is restless. At one time we accept and at another time reject objects of passionate desires. Mind naturally is restless, but it can be made restful. In the morning or evening at an appointed hour, sit quiet with your eyes closed. Mind the following points, which can be established through practice:

1 Sit steadfast. For a long time sit without moving the body, the limbs or the head.
2 There should be no pressure on any part of the body, and the mind must lose consciousness of the state of the body.
3 The posture should be helpful in concentration.
4 The mind and the body must stay restful. Empty your mind of all thoughts. The only thought remaining must be that of Self-control–control rooted in your true Self, Atman.

Let all reasoning go. If you pass ten minutes in this state, your mind will become tranquil. An important step towards Self- realisation is a control of your psychological nature by meditation. Fix your mind on the centre of your heart and concentrate on the following feelings, resolutely:

I am the ever pure Atman, whose nature is pure consciousness, free from all modes. Infinite purity is accumulating in my heart and my mind is pure, all love.
I am at one with the infinite power of love and purity.
Every living being shares my purity, freedom and love.

After a month of this meditation meditate on God as your Self, and reflect on the great qualities that have their source in God. Dismiss by means of meditation all feelings of enmity. There will rise a ray of the self-knowledge, and you will be a source of infinite love. If you are fortunate to have a wise and loving friend, regard such a one as your Teacher, whom you should serve in full faith and whose teachings you should ponder day and night.

Hari Prasad Shastri

* Sant: one who is established in goodness and wisdom, whose outlook is universal, who ‘lives religion’, even though he or she may not identify with any particular creed or sect. The likeness to the word ‘saint’ is coincidential.