Daily Readings from the Works of Swami Venkatesananda


Insights and Inspirations (Venkatesa Daily Readings Vol 2) - Another View

February 24, 2023

Another View

     As long as the mind is involved in this world of diversity it is inevitable that there should be diverse points of view. These diverse points of view spring from the same source, the mind activated by the same consciousness. To that infinite consciousness or God the diverse points of view are natural and do not involve contradiction, but to the individual it is still a problem.

     But the problem of the individual does not go away even then. When you see that someone else is not doing what you think is the right thing, should you take up the cudgels and fight or suppress your own feelings? We who are accustomed to the "either-or" way of life do not see third possibility! Which is, say what you have to say without even a wish in your heart to suppress the other point of view - you cannot, in any case.

     ‘Resist not evil’ does not imply 'keep quiet'. When you have seen what your point of view tells you is evil, the 'see no evil' border has been crossed beyond the point of no-return. The other boundary, 'resist not,' is at a distance. Watch it.

     Often we say to one another: "I love you, I am happy to be with you," etc. we take for granted that we know what the other person is and that it is that which makes us happy. The oriental philosopher declares: “The One Self dwells in all beings so one should love all." This is one interpretation of the famous declaration of Yajnavalkya in The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: “Not for the wife's sake is the wife dear, but for the sake of the self is the wife dear.”

     Perhaps there is another view! When one says to the other, "I love you," there is an assumption that one knows the other. Can one know the other? You may try to grasp the other with your mind: you think he is this or that. That then becomes the image you have of him in your own mind. It is your own mental projection. The image is, in fact, part of your own self - your own mind stuff. Then, you love 'him’, (that is, your image of him, your own mental projection) and this is nothing but your own self! Thus, when you love another, you love your own self; when you hate another, you hate your own self.

     One who sees this truth ceases to love or to hate another, and finds that there is nothing to be afraid of in another. Freed of love, hate and fear, his heart becomes quite pure and his mind tranquil. In that pure heart and tranquil mind is reflected the truth that the pronouns 'I' and 'you' are inadequate substitutes for the Truth which is One. May we all see the One!

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