Glimpses of Divine Light- Treasury of Important Yoga Systems with their Secret Techniques (An Old and Rare Book)

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Wonder of wonders it is that even human beings, endowed with a superior intelligence by Benign Creator, are not ashamed of leading an aimless life, a life without an ideal, a life with-out any purpose at all! Beloved Image of God! Did the Lord marvel at you, the crowning glory of Creation, only because you could be more bestial than beasts themselves, you could eat and drink with more avidity and less sense than the animals, you could indulge the senses more "intelligently" and, therefore, more thoroughly than animals, that you could destroy your-selves and others in the twinkling of an eye with your superior intelligence, powerful intellect and scientific knowledge.

No! The Lord marvelled at His own Creation of Man because in Man had Creation attained Perfection, in Man had been perfected the Consciousness that had remained latent, dormant and undeveloped in other forms of Creation, in Man had been placed the capacity to know the Creator, become one with Him. To Man had been given the capacity to know "I and My Farther are one". Upon Man had been bestowed the glorious privilege of realising that Consciousness that linked him with his Creator, the Consciousness in which he and the Supreme Being are One.

Just as a father rejoices at the birth of a son who would soon take his place, who would identify his interests with the father's and virtually become one with him, even so God rejoiced at the evolving life-principle when it entered man would rejoin Him, love Him and become one with Him in Consciousness. That is the purpose with which man is born here. That is the glorious ideal which every man should hold before himself.

But, what do we find today? It is the story of a wood-cutter whom a saint met in his wanderings. The saint asked the wood-cutter, "Friend, why do you cut wood?" "To feed my belly, sir." "Why do you feed the belly?" "To cut wood, Maharaj. Is there any sense in such life ? You laugh: but, is it not true that almost everyone lives in this fashion today?

Face is the index of Man; your book-shelf is the index of your culture. Tell me what books you love most; I will tell you what your level of intelligence is. What sorts of books adorn the book-shelves of our modern, fashionable, educated and cultured brethrens? Sensational novels, detective stories, nerve-titillating romantic dramas and crime books. That is the index of your "superior intelligence"! A buffalo would go on chewing hay at the bidding of its natural hunger! But intelligent man cares not for Nature's demand for food, for he can create it by condiments. He can create sense-pleasure by reading filthy stories, and satisfy the craving by licentious indulgence. That is the mark of your "superior intelligence" which made even God rejoice!

While the vulgar sensualist craves for excitement, the greedy Bania sees his opportunity in it; and he produces endless stream of soul-killing stuff, "hot-cakes" and "best-sellers". Between them they ruin the younger generation. The vicious circle is now complete!

Svadhyaya or study of books is a part of Yoga. Why have our ancients given to it a place of honour in their scheme of Yoga-Sadhana? They knew that it ennobled the spirit of man, it helped the aspirant's mind to dwell for ever in the sublime region of spiritual glory, and more than anything else, it held before man's mind divine idea, the great goal, and inspired man to reach it. A scripture is your Guru-in-book-form.

When will our educationists realise this? When will our publishers realise this? I hey must cut the gordian knot. They must bravely come forward and rescue our culture from the cruel grip of the sensualist. They must raise literature once again to the lofty heights of the inspirer of man to glorious endeavours, to attain the goal of life on earth, the purpose of human birth-Realisation of God. Then would we have fulfilled the purpose for which God created us.

Art is long and life is short. If we spend life after life for the attainment of complete knowledge of a dust particle, it may prove a futile effort, as knowledge will go on unfolding itself ad infinite. The more we claim to know, the more we discover our ignorance and limitation. The recent discoveries about atom, and its vast and wonderful powers and potentialities, are well-known.

India is famous for its spiritual advancement. Our ancient seers and sages have devoted themselves wholly in finding the Truth. From the time immemorial, they have been making experiments with the Self. There is so much spiritual literature in Hinduism (viz. Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Srutis, two great epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, Bhagawad Gita, Yoga Shastras, Tantras etc.) that one cannot study them all even if one spends life after life for this purpose.

While we acknowledge the vastness of knowledge and our inability and limitation to its attainment, we feel that in actual practice, during the course of our lives, we can utilise but only an insignificant fraction of it, just as we can make use of seconds from the eternal cycle of time, at a time.

Attainment of knowledge is not sufficient unless it is made use of Knowledge which cannot be brought into practice is not worth having or giving. Knowledge without action is like a canal without water, a flower without fragrance. It is well said that truths of life can be counted on finger tips. The secret of success lies in using these truths and moulding them into our lives. Knowledge is like a field and action is the sowing of seeds. So the conclusion is that while knowledge is limitless and transcends the flight of human thought, we should pick up the knowledge pertaining to our immediate needs and duties in life according to our status and position and bring that knowledge into practice, to derive full benefit. There are many scholars, philosophers and intellectual giants, but there are few who really do what they know and teach. The world follows the men of action and not the preachers. An example of the late Mahatma Gandhi can be aptly quoted, as it is very familiar to us. The secret of his greatness and influence was his ability and capacity to translate his precepts into action before preaching to others. Unless he did and could do a thing himself, he would not preach to others. In Mahabharata we find an interesting anecdote.

Yudhishthira, the eldest brother of Pandvas, was once asked by his Guru (Teacher) to memorise a lesson from a book, the first passage of which was something like this: 'Control anger as it destroys clear understanding. Yudhishthira was asked to recite his lesson, but he said that he could only learn the first passage thereof. Next day the same reply was given. The Guru got annoyed and gave him a severe beating. Yudhishthira was calm and quiet. At last the Guru realised that he himself was wrong and that Yudhishthira was right in actually learning what he was taught, as he did not get angry and kept calm. Numerous other examples can be quoted. We derive benefit to the extent we make use of any object. Knowledge not in use is like money stored in chests and vaults of a strong room or a treasure hid-den in the gold mine.