The Joy in Living for Others (Contd)

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Only those who possess inner peace can live a sensible life; those who do not, cannot derive the benefit of 'shared joy'. One day Radhu, Holy Mother's niece, was coming down the stairs, her anklets jingling. When she came down the Holy Mother scolded her for creating noise, and disturbing others. Mother herself lived such an exemplary life. Once the cashier of the Dakshineswar Kali Temple commented, 'Yes, we heard that the wife [Sri Sarada Devi] of Paramahamsa Mahashaya lives in the temple garden, but I have never seen her.' It is because of this very reason that the 'codes of conduct' are formed to discipline us from outside. And it is also due to our callousness to understand the importance of orderliness that we need to set up Quality Foundations to teach us the basic things of living.

Sri Ramakrishna made this value simpler through his interpretation of the word 'love'. If there is love in the true sense of the term then there is joy in living for others, for those we love. This is not an unheard of philosophy; rather this is the most sensible facet of our living. If we love ourselves, we live for us. Similarly if we love others, we live for others also. But generally speaking, this word 'others' has a very restricted definition to many of us.

We know that a Government is 'of the people' and 'by the people'; but the core
concept of a Government itself is that it is 'for the people'. If we are required to live with
others, we are required to live for others also. And deriving this ideal from Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda became the greatest exponent of this unique value. There is no barter for this sacrifice; no theory of 'equity' holds good in this respect.

But the following statement of Swamiji has something more significant, 'They alone live who live for others; the rest are more dead than alive.' Here the phrase 'for others' does not envisage an obligation of 'reciprocity'—since we live with others and are required to get help from others, it is our responsibility to 'reciprocate'. It is a higher value taught by both the non-dualistic and the theistic Vedanta. Swamiji discussed this point and said, '… you cry after the joys of this world, for, you do not know what true joy is. What philosophy insists on is not to give up joys, but to know what joy really is.' (The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 2.166)

About the author

Swami Baneshananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna order.

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