Effort Required
09 Sep, 2009
Dear Larry,
I am sorry for this delay in response to your sincere inquiry.
Your problem is not uncommon. Many aspirants read the teachings, are struck by their beauty and simplicity, understand them to be the ultimate Truth, but are still unable to experience the font of happiness that flows uninterruptedly from the Heart, which they have often read about. Many like you practice the teaching to the best of their knowledge and after some years of not experiencing what they assume they should be experiencing give up all effort to realize the Self. The reason for this is essentially very simple, but can be explained as follows:
It is the ego or mind that gets depressed, frustrated and hurt. It is the same ego or mind that enjoys pleasures in life and craves to have them repeated. Believing that these thoughts of pleasure or sorrow constitute our very existence will always take us down the avenue of loss and pain. If we are unable to break lose from this revolving shackle of thoughts and wrong identification we have to turn our attention to a Higher Power, to the Guru or God, and pray in all earnestness for release from suffering. We should, with complete faith, throw all the weight of our unhappy existence on the Lord and rest in peace. We are unable to bring peace or happiness about by our own limited efforts. In all honesty, that is our actual experience. In that case, we must petition the Divine for help, accept what He ordains for us and the lessons learned from life-experiences. Then we must surrender all unto Him and realize that He alone exist and we are no-thing. This is a sure way to salvation and happiness. If we do this, He will guide us, take over the entire burden of our lives, give us peace and make the conditions in our life conducive to spiritual progress and illumination. Countless devotees have taken to this path with success. Surrender and devotion is a sure way to salvation, and the Maharshi has recommended it to numerous seekers. Bhagavan has said that devotion is Jnana-Mata, the Mother of Jnana, Self-knowledge.
You have already discovered that just by having an intellectual understanding that there is a Universal Reality does not in itself give us the experience of that Reality. Those who achieved greatness in life, even by worldly standards, did so by applying a passionate, all-consuming effort to their chosen discipline. It is the same, or perhaps more so, for those who wishes to experience their true Self. The mental conditioning (vasanas) that have accumulated and dictated our activity for countless number of births, have to cease. Only then will the mind become calm and sink into its Source. This requires a constant, diligent effort on our part. To know the Self should be our sole interest in life, it should be our sole aim of life. Nothing else but this should matter. That does not mean we should ignore our duties and responsibilities. As long as we experience the presence of an ego, we should perform them like a servant serving his master, with great interest and affection, but with total detachment.
Bhagavan Ramana has said that no effort ever goes in vain. Whatever effort we make is like a deposit in a bank account. It stays there, grows, and bears fruit sooner or later. Like a swimmer caught in a raging river, we must exert all our energy to reach the shore and pull ourselves out before we drown. Those who have succeeded, says Bhagavan, have done so by perseverance. We must make this our life’s goal and march forward.