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Sailing the Sea of Samsara sans sorrow
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While a person of pure intelligence may
achieve the goal by the most casual of
instructions, another may seek knowledge
all one's life and still remain bewildered.
-Ashtavakra Gita 15.1
Doubters sometimes imply that devotees do not address the issues
that skeptics delight in proclaiming as fact. Critics also suggest
that silence on these matters shows incompetence. I suggest one
consider the reason for that silence from the perspective of devotees,
for unlike the carpers, devotees look on doubt as a tool instead of as
a throne.
The purified intellect intuits that any doubt which arises from
one's own personal experience is a duly delivered divine map, the
examination of which will grant an increased awareness regarding one's
true position and direction. Doubt which comes via hearsay on the
other hand, is a distraction to that process: second-hand doubt offers
no intellectual insight nor spiritual progress whatsoever.
There are spiritual disciplines which reveal the science by which
one addresses both kinds of doubt, dissolving the one which is
heartfelt as well as the other which is earborne. The degree of
disciplined spiritual living, which is called sadhana in Vedic
scripture, is the school which makes for such scientists, wherein the
graduate's intuition is aligned with reality and not enamoured with
imagination. Those who yet rely on hearsay and opinion as guides do
not achieve that degree.
The purified intellect reveals that duly examining any doubt which
arises from one's own personal experience ever grants greater insight,
wisdom, and clarity. Doubt which comes via hearsay on the other hand,
is a distraction to that process: second-hand doubt offers no
intellectual insight nor spiritual utility whatsoever.
Spiritual aspirants do well then to remain silent when presented
with second-hand doubts or insult or mockery, even when those are
called `a challenge', since for spiritual progress, one _must_ first
address the doubt within oneself before ever attending the doubts of
others. First we become whole in our own hearts, then we may ably
address the holes in the heart of the world.
Sincere seekers first address the *source* of doubt, and that is
never found in the opinion of others, but always inside one's own
heart. Until all is clear and certain about the makeup of one's own
conscience, one does well to avoid the maps of gossips and story
tellers altogether. They are at best a distraction, mythic sea
monsters for the sadhaka traversing the sea of Samsara. Until one has
rightly discerned the source of inner doubt, (for lack of discernment
is the disease most fatal to spiritual seekers), one should not go
among those outer landlocked raconteurs who tout doubt about as if it
were a treasure. But then, if one disdains such noose-men but
nurtures doubt inside in private, that too will will not serve;
avoiding doubt will not do- just as attending doubt outside can but
distract from the inner work required to gain a clear view, so too
ignoring doubt inside will not further: instead one looks daily and
deeply within to discern what originates there in the heart of hearts,
so as to recognize that subtle inner prompt of the conscience, an
instrument which is distinct from whatever enters via the senses.
To that end, what spiritual navigators must not ever do is allow
doubters to disrupt or distract from that essentially _inner_ process.
Thus it is advised that silence is often the best retort to critics
altogether, since some seek conversation only to while away their
time, and others seek nothing so much as solitary victory.
Spritual aspirants are not to be that vain nor that idle, nor
concerned with what others say so much as with what one's own
experience reveals. Inside one examines carefully and fully the
origin of doubt, and when one is sure of the insight gleaned there,
that sadhaka sets out with a good compass, and easily moves about from
point to point in full confidence, naturally, without any attitude of
aggression or defense, and with no need to preach or rebut any map
salesmen here or there. Such a one is all but invisible to the world
of evangelists, cavilers, critics, doubters and those who believe they
alone have arrived at reality's shore.
When skeptics do note such a sadhaka, and find their slurs and
affirmations met with silence, they sometimes presume it is due to
their victim's stupidity or fear or inexperience. Few consider that
silence may be the apt response to those who are most due patience.
"The Lord is the unseen foundation on which your life is built. He
is the source, sustenance and strength. Without His Will, no leaf
can turn, no blade of grass can quiver. What firmer foundation can
you desire than this? Once you know that the Lord, the Omnipotent
Power, is the mainspring of your life, there will be no fear any
more.
When you suspect the strength of the foundation of a house, you are
afraid to enter it; when you suspect the skill of the manufacturer,
you are nervous to ride in the car. Bhishma and other bhakthas as
well as Sankara and other Jnanis knew that the Lord is the Aadhaara,
and so they had no fear at all. But, that faith has not taken root
in Man today and so, this has become an Age of Fear and Anxiety, of
Asaanthi."
-Sri Sathya Sai Baba
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