Viveka
How to develop Viveka or using good judgment by Swami Dayananda, Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Pa.
A lack of Viveka is exhibited by our own ignorance and confusion. That’s why we have to develop Viveka, this is where satsang is inevitable. What we are doing now is to develop that. A lot of shifting has to take place in our vision and understanding. And once we get used to a particular type of thinking then we can extend that on to every issue. Viveka has a certain clarity with reference to what I want. What fruits do I want? Sometimes we want all of them simultaneously we are not able to prioritize. That is because everything seems to be equally important. True lots of things are equally important.
But when the situation became acute, it becomes clear what or which is more important. When you are going to work, your child is crying where are you going? And you leave the child with a babysitter? What is more important? The child will be ok if you go away. But if the child is hurt in some accident than the priority becomes clear you take your child to the hospital. So priorities are there already within us. Priorities are always there. But at a particular time something is more important than another item. It is the same in life.
Some children attending camp say to me, Swami we want to come along with you to study Vedanta. Degrees are more important. What a college education can give, this cannot give, get a degree first. Later we will think about this, come in between for visits. Vedanta is a lifetime thing. Expose yourself to it.
After 40-50 years, the same fellow is confused he asks Swami what is the goal of life, this is a typical middle age question. Suddenly enlightenment comes; half of life is gone, along with that hope and therefore no more delusion, then you begin to take stock. Think this will fix up that will fix up, and then everything is a new problem. Now what, what shall we do? This is always there. At that time study the Gita, that is Viveka.
We all have to reach this stage, where we have to decide what is more important. A job is important. Money is important. Anybody who is critical of money, give me money, don’t ask God for money. This is silly. Money has a value. Viveka is important. But money will solve all my problems that is not true. Money in its wake can bring problems. Money has certain value it gives economic freedom that you cannot buy with anything else, that is Satyam (truth). That you have to acknowledge, but you cannot barter away certain important pursuits for the sake of money alone. For the pursuit of my own growth- money is needed to enjoy economic freedom to provide what I want without thinking much.
You provide, but who is to enjoy it. The person, the individual is. In order to get the money he does not have the time to enjoy it. Donald Trump was asked you have everything, what do you miss in your life? He responded he misses time. Money for my sake or money for money’s sake causes confusion am I earning for my children’s sake. In this Viveka, discrimination is lacking. He earns money for his children’s sake but he does not see his children at all. When he is home they are at soccer games.
Where is Viveka? In the truth we have to see all through. Satsang helps us develop it. What is the goal of my life at any given time and let it be my long range goal.
If there is a long range goal everything else is there, it cannot be bettered. Your own self growth is important. The more you address your problem, the more you are selfless.
The person who says they are a social worker that is not true, he has his own ego, community ego is a big ego, it starts at the temple. He wants to become a big person in the temple, once he has made some money; he wants to become a big man in the community. But community can hurt you too. If ones ego is Rhode Island, another ego is Texas, this leads to bigger and bigger egos. Then you leave the whole thing and come to Vedanta.
It is good to recognize the problem of recognition; I need to be approved by others. Any amount of approval is not going to make you different; if you need approval you need more approval. Its like appeasement, you need more. I don’t say you don’t need appeasement. Its like the Indian labor union every year they come up with new demands, it is endless, reassurance needs reassurance, you give reassurance another one is required. The problem is not a lack of reassurance; lack of self image is the problem and that is what needs to be addressed.
What is the problem, Viveka. Why can I not accept myself? What is it that I lack? What is it that is going to make me accept myself? Start by cutting all other people out. There is no one else in the world to approve or accept you. Then will you accept yourself, what is it that you need to accept about yourself. Think about it. Then you will come to have some grip over what the problem is, that is Viveka self growth leading to self acceptance, then self approval.
You can’t be better than what you are, not what you want.
In the realm of growth, you must not blame the world. Instead you should look at your way of looking at things. Discrimination is involved. Discriminative inquiry is required in everything.
Here people have a fashion to swing from one thing to another. One man ate pigs, hotdogs, and cows. He was eating all of this, and then someone told him it’s not good, he turned vegetarian. He starts the day with alfa alfa that’s not progress to omega!! Its alfa alfa all the way and sea weed, first it was stinking cause of fish now his home smells of seeweed. They call it macrobiotic. I will even recommend it. But what are you living for? Is this all artificial? Is it all natural? There is no difference between artificial and natural. Everything is Ishawara.
You can put something on your face like poison ivy, it is absolutely natural it has an oily substance and your skin will become soft. What is natural need not be good. There is nothing unnatural in the world. Even chemicals are natural. People can die of natural causes. But that does not mean you must eat meat. You must eat what is good for you. Pendulum swings this way and that. I eat anything that flies; I don’t eat this or that, that is fadism.
There is a tremendous language here on menu cards that say today’s special is marinated Steak. But finally it’s a dead meat. Underneath the fine words when I turn it, it’s a dead eel and I turn my stomach into a graveyard of unknown animals. What is that? What kind of life is that?
Human life should be intelligent living, everything is sacred in its own place. You have to learn to discriminate. Some parents say when we send our children to school they don’t get anything else. But that’s not true. If they want vegetarian, they can get it. Parents think they have missed out so they eat through their children.
Viveka converts everything into simple fact. We have to create our own laws one is correct one is not correct.
In everything we have to discriminate, we are caught in many areas, in social, cultural conditioning or own non thinking. In our lives we need to break down mechanical ness by becoming conscious. In Buddhist monasteries they teach you to live a life of mindfulness.
Anything you do you should be conscious. Some say its yoga; no, yoga is your attitude. You have to bring Ishwara to your yoga.
This causes tension, if you bring Ishawara tension goes, without Iswara you will have a tense life. What is the use of Yoga and Pranayama without the Lord. For your whole life time you can do Pranayama, but you cannot live to breathe? One man runs 22 miles a day, even a house will break down. What for? To live a long life. He maybe cutting it short, by running so much.
In this society there is a coupons culture that entices you to buy stuff that you do not need. Shopkeepers often hike up the price, then cuts the price so that you can use the coupon. Once you go into the shop you buy all kinds of things you do not need. You need discrimination while shopping.
What is the use of asking me the question, what is the goal of life? Practice it in shopping first. What took you there? Oh I wanted to buy a bar of soap, ok buy and come back. Can you do that? So don’t go to vulnerable areas. You have to be alert.
Somebody drops a cup it falls down and breaks. You are not anywhere near and you say hai. Why do you say that? What can you do about it?
To admonish someone is silly. No child wants to drop anything. Even lord Vishnu can drop things.
What is perishable will perish. I get two types of Mangoes sent express mail to me, because they are perishable. They come in a nice box, but by the time they reach me they are perished already. Or one dozen is perished and the other dozen never becomes ripe. By the time they became ripe I am gone. What perishes perishes.
When lights go off, political parties power goes, any power goes away, it never stays. When lights go off everyone except me all go Hai. I do not go Hai because I practice Viveka. You have to practice Viveka.
Even if the whole of heaven comes down, you need to practice pure Viveka. If you have nothing to do about it then why are you doing all this. For some people salt is more in the food. No one puts it purposefully, unless you have a cook that wants to settle an account with you. This is all Viveka. If salt is more can you can convert it in something else, add it to something that has no salt.
Have a sense of humor, make home a place that is enjoyable. Never make a home from a fridge, if you make a home out of deep freeze, then it is a frozen home. Cooking must be there. One guy says my wife has gone to India, I asked him when is she coming back. He says after a month. I ask him is he cooking, no Swami I don’t know how to cook. My wife cooked and kept, all the food is in the deep freeze. Sambhar for one month, dal for another month and all vegetables and rotis for one month as well. That should be very difficult he says no when she was here, she was doing the same. What a life. Deep frozen.
Neither is deep fry or deep freeze good for you. Deep fry might keep the home going, but will fill up the home.
I am just giving you a sample of Viveka we have a long way to go.
Jai Jai Govind Jai Hari Govind x10
A lack of Viveka is exhibited by our own ignorance and confusion. That’s why we have to develop Viveka, this is where satsang is inevitable. What we are doing now is to develop that. A lot of shifting has to take place in our vision and understanding. And once we get used to a particular type of thinking then we can extend that on to every issue. Viveka has a certain clarity with reference to what I want. What fruits do I want? Sometimes we want all of them simultaneously we are not able to prioritize. That is because everything seems to be equally important. True lots of things are equally important.
But when the situation became acute, it becomes clear what or which is more important. When you are going to work, your child is crying where are you going? And you leave the child with a babysitter? What is more important? The child will be ok if you go away. But if the child is hurt in some accident than the priority becomes clear you take your child to the hospital. So priorities are there already within us. Priorities are always there. But at a particular time something is more important than another item. It is the same in life.
Some children attending camp say to me, Swami we want to come along with you to study Vedanta. Degrees are more important. What a college education can give, this cannot give, get a degree first. Later we will think about this, come in between for visits. Vedanta is a lifetime thing. Expose yourself to it.
After 40-50 years, the same fellow is confused he asks Swami what is the goal of life, this is a typical middle age question. Suddenly enlightenment comes; half of life is gone, along with that hope and therefore no more delusion, then you begin to take stock. Think this will fix up that will fix up, and then everything is a new problem. Now what, what shall we do? This is always there. At that time study the Gita, that is Viveka.
We all have to reach this stage, where we have to decide what is more important. A job is important. Money is important. Anybody who is critical of money, give me money, don’t ask God for money. This is silly. Money has a value. Viveka is important. But money will solve all my problems that is not true. Money in its wake can bring problems. Money has certain value it gives economic freedom that you cannot buy with anything else, that is Satyam (truth). That you have to acknowledge, but you cannot barter away certain important pursuits for the sake of money alone. For the pursuit of my own growth- money is needed to enjoy economic freedom to provide what I want without thinking much.
You provide, but who is to enjoy it. The person, the individual is. In order to get the money he does not have the time to enjoy it. Donald Trump was asked you have everything, what do you miss in your life? He responded he misses time. Money for my sake or money for money’s sake causes confusion am I earning for my children’s sake. In this Viveka, discrimination is lacking. He earns money for his children’s sake but he does not see his children at all. When he is home they are at soccer games.
Where is Viveka? In the truth we have to see all through. Satsang helps us develop it. What is the goal of my life at any given time and let it be my long range goal.
If there is a long range goal everything else is there, it cannot be bettered. Your own self growth is important. The more you address your problem, the more you are selfless.
The person who says they are a social worker that is not true, he has his own ego, community ego is a big ego, it starts at the temple. He wants to become a big person in the temple, once he has made some money; he wants to become a big man in the community. But community can hurt you too. If ones ego is Rhode Island, another ego is Texas, this leads to bigger and bigger egos. Then you leave the whole thing and come to Vedanta.
It is good to recognize the problem of recognition; I need to be approved by others. Any amount of approval is not going to make you different; if you need approval you need more approval. Its like appeasement, you need more. I don’t say you don’t need appeasement. Its like the Indian labor union every year they come up with new demands, it is endless, reassurance needs reassurance, you give reassurance another one is required. The problem is not a lack of reassurance; lack of self image is the problem and that is what needs to be addressed.
What is the problem, Viveka. Why can I not accept myself? What is it that I lack? What is it that is going to make me accept myself? Start by cutting all other people out. There is no one else in the world to approve or accept you. Then will you accept yourself, what is it that you need to accept about yourself. Think about it. Then you will come to have some grip over what the problem is, that is Viveka self growth leading to self acceptance, then self approval.
You can’t be better than what you are, not what you want.
In the realm of growth, you must not blame the world. Instead you should look at your way of looking at things. Discrimination is involved. Discriminative inquiry is required in everything.
Here people have a fashion to swing from one thing to another. One man ate pigs, hotdogs, and cows. He was eating all of this, and then someone told him it’s not good, he turned vegetarian. He starts the day with alfa alfa that’s not progress to omega!! Its alfa alfa all the way and sea weed, first it was stinking cause of fish now his home smells of seeweed. They call it macrobiotic. I will even recommend it. But what are you living for? Is this all artificial? Is it all natural? There is no difference between artificial and natural. Everything is Ishawara.
You can put something on your face like poison ivy, it is absolutely natural it has an oily substance and your skin will become soft. What is natural need not be good. There is nothing unnatural in the world. Even chemicals are natural. People can die of natural causes. But that does not mean you must eat meat. You must eat what is good for you. Pendulum swings this way and that. I eat anything that flies; I don’t eat this or that, that is fadism.
There is a tremendous language here on menu cards that say today’s special is marinated Steak. But finally it’s a dead meat. Underneath the fine words when I turn it, it’s a dead eel and I turn my stomach into a graveyard of unknown animals. What is that? What kind of life is that?
Human life should be intelligent living, everything is sacred in its own place. You have to learn to discriminate. Some parents say when we send our children to school they don’t get anything else. But that’s not true. If they want vegetarian, they can get it. Parents think they have missed out so they eat through their children.
Viveka converts everything into simple fact. We have to create our own laws one is correct one is not correct.
In everything we have to discriminate, we are caught in many areas, in social, cultural conditioning or own non thinking. In our lives we need to break down mechanical ness by becoming conscious. In Buddhist monasteries they teach you to live a life of mindfulness.
Anything you do you should be conscious. Some say its yoga; no, yoga is your attitude. You have to bring Ishwara to your yoga.
This causes tension, if you bring Ishawara tension goes, without Iswara you will have a tense life. What is the use of Yoga and Pranayama without the Lord. For your whole life time you can do Pranayama, but you cannot live to breathe? One man runs 22 miles a day, even a house will break down. What for? To live a long life. He maybe cutting it short, by running so much.
In this society there is a coupons culture that entices you to buy stuff that you do not need. Shopkeepers often hike up the price, then cuts the price so that you can use the coupon. Once you go into the shop you buy all kinds of things you do not need. You need discrimination while shopping.
What is the use of asking me the question, what is the goal of life? Practice it in shopping first. What took you there? Oh I wanted to buy a bar of soap, ok buy and come back. Can you do that? So don’t go to vulnerable areas. You have to be alert.
Somebody drops a cup it falls down and breaks. You are not anywhere near and you say hai. Why do you say that? What can you do about it?
To admonish someone is silly. No child wants to drop anything. Even lord Vishnu can drop things.
What is perishable will perish. I get two types of Mangoes sent express mail to me, because they are perishable. They come in a nice box, but by the time they reach me they are perished already. Or one dozen is perished and the other dozen never becomes ripe. By the time they became ripe I am gone. What perishes perishes.
When lights go off, political parties power goes, any power goes away, it never stays. When lights go off everyone except me all go Hai. I do not go Hai because I practice Viveka. You have to practice Viveka.
Even if the whole of heaven comes down, you need to practice pure Viveka. If you have nothing to do about it then why are you doing all this. For some people salt is more in the food. No one puts it purposefully, unless you have a cook that wants to settle an account with you. This is all Viveka. If salt is more can you can convert it in something else, add it to something that has no salt.
Have a sense of humor, make home a place that is enjoyable. Never make a home from a fridge, if you make a home out of deep freeze, then it is a frozen home. Cooking must be there. One guy says my wife has gone to India, I asked him when is she coming back. He says after a month. I ask him is he cooking, no Swami I don’t know how to cook. My wife cooked and kept, all the food is in the deep freeze. Sambhar for one month, dal for another month and all vegetables and rotis for one month as well. That should be very difficult he says no when she was here, she was doing the same. What a life. Deep frozen.
Neither is deep fry or deep freeze good for you. Deep fry might keep the home going, but will fill up the home.
I am just giving you a sample of Viveka we have a long way to go.
Jai Jai Govind Jai Hari Govind x10
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