Satsang with Swami Chinmayananda-Spirituality, Beauty And Mind

Swamiji : How can one be a good and faithful member of the family as well as the community and nation when one has not sublimated one's ego; one's sense of individuality has not drowned oneself in total identification with the family, community, or nation? If one still has a powerful ego, and therefore is prone to selfishness one will only cheat the family, loot the community and betray the nation.

To belong to a group is to submerge your individuality in the group personality. What we do today is act in the world centered in our own selfishness, our little egos. Let us sublimate the ego and discover or identify with the Holy Presence that permeates the entire universe. In the resultant sense of joyousness and fulfillment, when we act in the world, our actions will have a creative splendorous and a paternal affection. Service to others will be escalated to a benediction.

I love everything (well, almost) in god's creation. I can get lost watching a sunrise, or listening to and seeing ocean-waves lash against the rocks. The clear blue sky or a sky with thundering clouds fascinates me. The female form sends "Waves of bliss" (Anand Lahari) through me where it is in the shape of a sculptured goddess on our temple walls, or a rustic Mother feeding her baby, walking barefoot, on the grass, I love to watch the early morning dew - etc., etc. Am I a victim of my senses? Is Maya deluding me? Kindly enlighten.

Swamiji : I am extremely happy to congratulate you for this particular mood in you. You have not understood the significance. The beauty is not in the things, but in your mind.

A thing on looking at which our mind gets stilled. we experience a burst of joy which the individual says is the beauty of the things. If the mind can be stopped, everything is beautiful. That which lies beyond the mind is the Self. the Divine indicated in our Shastras as that which is Shantam Shivam Sundaram.

To be continued