An 84-year-old lady visited Swamiji with her grandson and said, “I haven’t been able to visit you often these days because my mother needs me. She can do most of her work by herself, but I stay around to support her in some areas.”
Swamiji responded, “That’s okay. How old is your mother?”
She replied, “She is approximately 105, I believe.”
It’s interesting to note that this 84-year-old lady brought Swamiji several fruits and gifts, carrying them by herself. Not only is she healthy and able, but her mother at 100+ is also able to function independently even without the help of glasses! Ironically, these days, many 30-year-olds have a weak back, legs, hands, etc. It could be due to professional hazards, lifestyle, eating habits, or other factors. However, it prompts the question: are our older generations stronger than us physically and emotionally? If so, why?
What can we do to restore that core strength?
Imagine that you are gifted a dress that doesn’t fit. Do you alter the dress to fit you, or alter your own body to fit the dress? Clearly, we opt to alter the dress. What this means is: you must not trade a more valuable body for the sake of a less valuable dress.
If you are altering your lifestyle to suit the greedy nature of your body, it is analogous to getting your body operated to suit a new dress. You should not attempt to trade yourselves, and your original state simply for the sake of the body!
Your original state is one of pure joy and a peaceful mind. Anything that takes you away from it can simply be put aside, even if it involves 1000 crores of rupees or other valuable material items. The recent generations have been trading a more valuable asset, the self, for a less valuable asset, the body. It is time to align priorities correctly right when making lifestyle decisions.
Is your body more important than you? Your body is a valuable tool in the journey of life, it’s not you! When you make decisions based on this truth, you will begin to restore your core strengths. If you give your body more importance than needed, you will put yourself at risk.
Can 1000 crores not give you a joyous state?
1000 crores may give your body some luxury. However, if you mistake that luxury of the body to be that of yours, that is when you lose yourself to the body.
A village near nearby has many farmers all of whom are in their 70s. Most of their children are doing IT jobs elsewhere. They now depend on their kids to send money and therefore are not focused on practicing farming like they used to. They do not work hard physically anymore. Rather, they now use tractors, pesticides, and other modern technology to make the farming job easier. Their children are also no longer available to take on their profession. In the end, did this actually make life easy? On the surface, it seems like the luxury you can give to your body is joy. However, this is actually a hindrance to long-lasting joy – not only for yourself but also for your family, society and the world.
Does this mean a farmer’s son should remain a farmer?
Not necessarily, although there is a huge benefit if one carries out the profession of the family as they are best skilled to do it. The intent of this is to convey that more importance is being given to the body over the self. This results in subpar lifestyle decisions. These decisions result in deeds that ultimately cause one to lose one’s core strength and weakens the entire system. One should not trade preserving core strength of self over the luxuries for the body. If each one makes this the base of decision making in life, the entire nation of Bhaarat and also the world as a whole will strengthen the core of all entities. When the core is strong, self-reliance begins. The negative domino effect halts.
Unless Bhaarat becomes self-reliant (a:tma nirbhar) through maintaining and enhancing our own strengths within our villages, towns, etc., we will not come out of the deadly situations such as COVID-19. Our villages and our towns need not live a life depending on the wealth coming from external sources.
Until we begin to respect the culture that we have inherited and the education system teaching us the strength of age-old wisdom which originates from this great land, we will continue to be affected by such hurdles.
Let’s pray to Lakshmi Devi on this last Sra:vana Sukravaaram (the last Friday in the month of Sra:vana) to bless us with knowledge, wealth, and the opportunity to become strong from within so we may address the issues around us.
– From the discourse of Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji
– Nadigaddepalem, Vasudasa Asram,
– Pedda Jeeyar Swamiji Brundavan
– 14 th August 2020
