THE REAL POSSESSIONS OF MAN —Shrilalji-Ram Shukla, m. a.

[JR]

The possessions of man are two-fold. One is the outward and the other is inward. The worldly wise think of the outward posses­sions and find out various means of obtaining them. The driving force behind the thoughts of such people who think of outward mundane possessions, is the thinking process regarding the benefits to be obtained from such possessions. Their friendship with any individual is guided by selfish ends. The definition of justice or injustice in their case also depends upon the fulfilment of desire or its failure. The sense of justice therefore in the minds of such persons who give value to outward things, is not to be relied upon.

All the thoughts about outward actions of man are directed by his inner promptings and desires. The man whose passions and desires for sensations are very forceful and he who cherishes in his heart great ambition for selfish benefits, does not at all consider the comforts of others. He is disinterested in all the things which do not afford a means to attainment of his desires. It is obvious therefore, that such people who are always thinking of earthly benefits for themselves are not qualified to dispense with justice.

After all, property or possession is that thing which gives happi­ness to man and such things are called the really valuable things. All valuation is done by the mind of man. That about which man is thinking and desiring is important and valuable to him. If we see, we find that desire to amass money and desire for sexual fulfilment accompanied with other pleasures and comforts, are the two main

passions which direct, provoke and divert a man to act. The desire to be called righteous also forms another very important driving force. There is sometimes conflict amongst these desires and this conflict gives birth to the process of choice for better, higher, nobler actions than the baser, lesser and cruder actions. Any conflict compels man to think deeply. That thinking aims at raising the , the level of his consciousness above the level of conflict. The man who has not to face the outward conflict in the world, remains at a low level in society. The man who has not to face inward con­flict also lives in his narrow consciousness of simple concepts. So long as the state in which he is does not become painful or undesir­able, why should he try to go beyond it? Because of conflict, the consciousness of man transcends the state of conflict.

The end of every kind of outward possession is definite. It may be money, house, shop, position—everything has an end. Even the physical body of man lias an end. It is left behind at death. The relatives leave him. There is nothing permanent in outward things. In view of this, the man who depends on outward things and values them in his mind above everything else is not an intelligent man. Maturity breeds renouncing of temporary values. A mature man seeks that which is more durable. Then seeing the ephemeral nature of outward possessions, he does not lose himself in seeking them. He only tries to get them according to his bare necessities and not further.

Almost all valuation is based upon the emotional involvement in the particular object. The object about which we think becomes our pet one and because of our liking, we continue to think about it again and again. The accumulation of pleasurable things—pleasure itself, in other words—, is the highest attainment for man. We have seen that mind conceives of values. The man whose mind is = under his control, can also keep under control the range of valuation i of things. He does not become slave either to others or to his desires.

He remains self-contained and compared to this contenteduess, there is nothing more important.

This inner self-reliance can be attained in two ways. In one vray, we can obtain maximum worldy possessions with skill and industry, and in the other way, we can be introvert and live in an inner world. Just like others, even a very learned man has to per­form his worldly duties. This gives him a lesson not to think too high of himself. In other way, he becomes mature by this physical occupation and mental attention to outward things also. After getting all that he wants, a man becomes developed and mature and has no desire left unfulfilled. Loss of anything may take place, but he does not lose himself.

But intellectual maturity is not for the man who is simply and solely attached to worldly possessions. Such a man remains im­mature even though he may be old in age. Sometimes, a teenager may be a mature minded being. Such a maturity found in boyhood is the result of the effort of the collective minds of the individuals in the society. When we see an example of total renunciation and devotion to god in a child, we have to take it for granted that this is the result of the social evolution in which the child is born and brought up. Sometimes, the desirelessness is evident in childhood even before the intellect is fully developed. This intellect can be developed by thoughtful application of mind and by remaining in the vicinity of intelligent and great men. The emotional richness can also be developed by remaining in the company of devoted saiats who are high in their divine emotions. This is the cause why many children are influenced for good if one great soul with desirelessness and divine qualities walks amidst the people. The company of great men is always beneficial for such development By their mere presence, they inspire young men and children towards nobler life, infuse enthusiasm in them and develop them wholly. By constant identification with such great saints, the whole society raises its level of consciousness at times. By comparing trend of thought with the saint's thinking, the society is lifted out of the mire of complex problems and frustrations.

The other way of self-reliance is to concentrate our conscious­ness inwardly. This concentration inwardly is called Yoga. Bhagwan Patanjali and Bhagwan Buddha taught this Yoga of concentra­tion, meditation and contemplation—which is the inward with­drawal of consciousness. For this, discrimination must be awaken­ed by which gradually the mind of man is turned away and inwards from the attachment to outward objects. But if a man tries to turn away the mind at the very moment when the mind is overpowered by senses and sense-objects, he is not able to concentrate its power, but on the other hand, he is a prey to bifurcation of mental power and becomes neurotic. Without purification of the mind, which means the gradual cleansing of the mind of the dross of passion and sensuality, it is dangerous to practice concentration as a form of Yoga. It is seen by a study of the case-histories of mental patients in psychiatric wards that they had in their life, sometimes tried to suppress their strong passions by force, by practising Yoga immaturely. Such people who want to practise Yoga but who are yet attracted towards worldly things should make themselves engaged in works which bring in mental purity and intellectual maturity, works such as helping others in organizations, giving in charity, teaching others good books, etc. etc.

There is another means of attainment  of mental maturity! and that is to love radiantly. Whatever a man does and earns, he! does not do for himself alone. He does it for his kith and kin. Everybody thinks for the welfare of his children. Everyone trice to please his friends and make them happy. But these efforts gc in vain. Instead of thinking of the little circle of family and friends if you work for the general welfare of society, and always thin about the result of your actions on the society, it will give you maturity and a wider outlook which makes for undeterred and undisturbed strength and peace of mind.

The inward motives behind all actions, which the people cherish in their hearts are really responsible for giving them happiness or bringing about miserable conditions. The real possession of man is his study of these inward state and the happiness or sorrow are results of emotional attitudes and persistence. If we are emo­tionally steadfast not to changing and temporary things, but to some permanent tenet or principle, we are not likely to feel sorry by the changing happenings. The faith of man according to which he daily behaves, is his spiritual sheet-anchor.

The miracle of love is that the man who has compassion and love for the sufferers, is very very happy though he himself may not be very rich or opulent. It is therefore necessary to practise the attitude of friendliness, compassion and love towards everybody, the ordinary human beings, if at all we want to be happy. To medi­tate and brood over the benefits for the self, the body, the senti­ments and the conceptual pleasures, bring in imbalance and sorrow, but to meditate on the general welfare of others makes for purity of feeling, and is the real accumulation of inner wealth, inner posses­sion, the undestructible property of man.

—(translated by DAG from Kalyant Year 40, Issue 7, with permission)