The Tree of Life: Swami Krishnananda

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Tuesday 03, December 2024, 06:30.
Srimad Bhagavad Gita
The Tree of Life: 1.
Discourse 1: The Twofold Character of Cosmic Life-1.
Swami Krishnananda.

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Discourse 1: The Twofold Character of Cosmic Life-1.

Sadhakas and seekers of truth from various parts of the country come to this holy abode in search of a mysterious something, the acquisition of which is considered as a rectifying factor or a remedy for the various illnesses of life. They have not come here for nothing. It is taken for granted that their search is for a light, and not for a substance or object. They seek an enlightenment, a torch to illumine the path which they have to walk in the various fields of their activities.

There are doubts and difficulties, problems galore, so that it becomes difficult to take even one step ahead on account of a pitch darkness through the horizon that appears to be hanging heavy before our eyes, which is apparently a common factor in the life of each and every person. It does not appear that we are asking for any particular thing in this world. We seem to be asking for enlightenment and light so that we may move in the direction that is proper, lest we should move in an erroneous direction and fall into a pit.

Our notion that we are asking for things is basically an error. We are neither asking for food, clothing and shelter, nor for the company of people, nor for wealth, nor even for a lengthened life in this world, notwithstanding the fact that it appears we are asking for these things. There is a sorrow that is seeping into the very veins of our personality, and we try to get over this problem of sorrow by various means, just as a patient goes to various doctors under the impression that a physician will be able to cure his sorrow of disease. If he is not satisfied with one physician, he goes to another. He goes to a multitude of physicians in search of a cure for his ailment.

This is exactly what we are doing. We are in search of a cure for the sorrows of life, which is nothing but the illness of life, and we run to various places and personalities as patients go to doctors in search of recipes or magic prescriptions which can instantaneously place us in a haven of happiness and freedom. Neither are we able to diagnose the nature of the illness of our life, nor can it be said that we are in a position to understand what sort of happiness we are seeking. We have a very hazy notion of both these sides of life.

“What is the sorrow that is hanging heavily on our heads?” is not a question easy to answer. At one moment it may appear that the grief is of one type, and at another moment it is of another type. It changes its colour like a chameleon, and we are under the impression thereby that perhaps there are millions of sorrows. Not so is the case. Sorrow is a single structural or organic defect of personality which ramifies itself into various expressions of inconvenience to our personality, and which goes by the name of sorrow, grief, suffering, pain, and so forth.

There is a basic illness which is deeply rooted in us, and we have not the time or the patience to go into the abyss of this sorrow. We seek immediate relief, as is the case with physical illness. There is an asking for an immediate remedy for an acute case of suffering, and this is human nature. The sorrow cannot be borne any further for a longer period, and so we ask for immediate prescriptions of medicine for our griefs, and these are what the world gives to us in the form of experiences.

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Continued

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