There is a simple reason. Man is, ultimately, the most important unit in this universe. In his hands lies the key to the direction to be taken by human affairs. Over storms, tides, earthquakes, drought, whirlwinds, cyclones—over the universal elements—man has no control; but in so far as the life of the individual is concerned—be it in the family, in the community, in the civic centre, in the capital, in the nation, or in the world—in so far as this life, in all its various and ever-widening aspects is concerned—the control does lie in the hands of man. Man is the director of these affairs.
He can say, “Yes, let us continue in this direction” or “No, now let us change from this direction and take that direction instead”. With this most important unit of life, namely man, not everything is all fight. While advances are being made in all the fields of external nature, man’s own nature is being neglected.
“The greatest study of mankind is man.” The human being has to understand himself. He has to understand his own nature. It is in the knowledge of oneself that the laws that govern life are discovered and the factors that determine human behaviour are revealed. With a knowledge of the forces within, one learns to apply the laws that govern those forces and thus properly direct one’s own behaviour. If this essential knowledge is not made the object of one’s serious study and seeking, if the basic knowledge of oneself is overlooked, then not all the knowledge of external things—no matter how vast or impressive this latter may be—can bring about a real state of progress in man’s world.
At present, there is a total eclipse of this knowledge of one’s own nature. With this inadequacy in human knowledge, basic degeneracy in human nature is the natural result. Power makes the human being selfish, ego-centred and greedy. The phenomenon of power-grabbing is so common that it is to be seen in all parts of the globe today. Each confined community is protecting its own interests, wishing to acquire all knowledge and power for itself and is, therefore, setting itself in opposition to all the rest of humanity. Also, each community is afflicted with the dangerous urge to make use of the power thus acquired for the destruction of all those except the few with whom it identifies itself.
This is the picture of the precarious state of affairs at this turn of the first half of the twentieth century. We see that real progress has been vitiated, that progress has been perverted, due to a lack of refinement in the nature of the human being. If, as man had progressed in controlling external nature, he had also gained the knowledge of himself; if, as he had refined the code of etiquette, he had also improved the quality of his being by increasing its capacity for love, its capacity for compassion, its capacity for putting service before self, its capacity for sacrifice; if progress such as this had kept pace with the progress arising out of man’s mastery over external forces, then the whole picture today would be one of balance and well-being in all the communities of the world. There would be more happiness. There would be more brotherhood and friendship. There would be more mutual co-operation.
The imbalance between the outward advances made by human society and the basic degeneracy undergone by the human individual is the root cause of the unhappy state in which humanity finds itself today—a state fraught with fear, uncertainty, and a sense of insecurity. The question is: when so much knowledge has been acquired and so much power has been obtained during the past century, knowledge and power hitherto beyond the reach of man, why is there such a deep feeling in all human hearts that this is hardly a period worth living? People do not want to think about the present. Either they project themselves into a future Utopia where man perhaps would have solved all his present problems or they think wistfully of the past “when things were better”. The present seems to be a present full of unrest. This attitude is due to the one basic error of the human being. The entire power of his mind, his perceptions and his senses has been totally externalised. He has not tried, first of all, to start from the proper starting point.
If man does not know himself, how can his life be lived successfully? It is like a person who is familiar only with the art of driving a car upon a long and hazardous journey, perhaps for thousands of miles, without knowing one bit of the mechanism of the vehicle which is to carry him all the way to his destination. He is actually in a precarious position at every moment, for if the mechanism goes out of order, he will not know how to assess its condition or make the necessary repairs. That is the position of those in the present day who recognize that things have gone wrong, but who do not know exactly how to make corrections. Not all the psychiatrists and psychologists can convince people that they have unearthed the basic knowledge that is required for this repair work.
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Next: Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 2. Who Am I?—The Great Enquiry
Energy Enhancement Enlightened Texts Sri Swami Sivananda The Path Beyond Sorrow
Chapter 5
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, If, for a moment, we cast our eyes upon the vibrant and dynamic life upon the surface of the globe today, immediately we see that tremendous advances have been made in the past couple of centuries. Man has progressed, tapped new resources, discovered more about things than ever was known before. By his ingenuity and scientific acumen, he has evolved such instruments that things which could not even be perceived are now laid bare before the gaze of the human eyeinstruments of such magnifying power that nearly invisible phenomena and cosmic phenomena alike are revealed to the penetrating eye of the scientist at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 1. The Basic Neglect of the Study of Man
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 1. The Basic Neglect of the Study of Man, There is a simple reason. Man is, ultimately, the most important unit in this universe. In his hands lies the key to the direction to be taken by human affairs. Over storms, tides, earthquakes, drought, whirlwinds, cyclonesover the universal elementsman has no control; but in so far as the life of the individual is concernedbe it in the family, in the community, in the civic centre, in the capital, in the nation, or in the worldin so far as this life, in all its various and ever-widening aspects is concernedthe control does lie in the hands of man. Man is the director of these affairs at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 2. Who Am I?The Great Enquiry
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 2. Who Am I?The Great Enquiry, The knowledge of oneself is the required knowledge. And the education in this knowledge has to start right from childhood. It is only when the art of right thinking is taught in childhood that true progress ensues in the life of the individual. We have, first of all, to understand what we are, and what are those factors in our personality that will increase its beauty, and what are those factors that will mar that beauty. How many people take time to think about themselves? at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 3. You Are Not the Body
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 3. You Are Not the Body, These have ever been the central questions of Hindu philosophy. Both the ancient sages and the modern Masters have ever tried to bring about an awakening in man so that this earth-life might be properly used to get an essential knowledge of the Self. The ignorant, the idiotic, the stupid or the foolish think that the body is ones own self. Mans idea of himself is: I am five feet, nine inches tall; I weigh so many pounds; I am so many years old, etc. What greater folly, what greater ignorance, what greater blindness or stupidity could there be than to identify oneself with this perishable cage of bones, this gross composition of flesh and muscles and skin! After all, what is this physical sheath if it is not wholly dependent upon perishable food? at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 4.You Are Not the Mind
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 4.You Are Not the Mind, Consciousness cannot be dependent upon the senses. Could the aggregate of the senses be yourselfthe sense of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing together with the sense-centres in the brain which make them work? If you do not hear, the loss of hearing does not make you lose your individuality; similarly, the loss of sight or smell does not make you lose your personality. And when you go into the deep-sleep state where all the ten senses are totally inoperative, and as it were dead, You are still there. You are able to posit your continuous existence. When you get up, you say, I am the one who went to sleep, and now, I am the awakener. I am able to say that I have enjoyed my sleep at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 5. The Universal Factors: I and I Am
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 5. The Universal Factors: I and I Am, When you go deep within yourself, it becomes apparent that this I, your very Self, is something that links you so very close to all humanity and to all life upon earth, that it is universal. Consider a vast group of people of different nationalities, races, religions, beliefs and casteseveryone totally different from everyone else in name and form, in language, in thought pattern, in colour, in creed, in dress, in manner of eating, drinking and sleeping, in short, in everything at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 6. Wrong Identifications Destroy Universality
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 6. Wrong Identifications Destroy Universality, We have seen that everyone says I and I am, and thus far everyone is perfectly all right, everyone is in accord with all other beings upon earth. But then, from this second word onwards, man voices his ignorance. He proceeds with I am an American, I am a Canadian, I am a Hindu, I am a Republican. Whatever he adds to I am, immediately limits his consciousness. It at once vitiates the consciousness of oneness. Thus when you say I am, you are at one with all mankind; but when you say I am So-and-so, you separate yourself and create a barrier between yourself and every human being contrary to you. You immediately cut yourself off from the rest of the world and regard others as inimical to yourself, opposed to yourself, and what is worse, harmful to yourself. Herein lies colossal ignorance. Herein lies the necessity for the utmost clarity of thought. Here it is that you have to make use of your intelligence at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 7. You Are Existence-Consciousness-Bliss
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 7. You Are Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, TNow, this much becomes clear. When you say I am, you assert your Existence. This Existence is your true nature, and this Existence is for ever. This Existence is indestructible, because it is not a created thing like the body of the five elements and because it is not identical with any of those non-essential factors of your being like the body, etc.; it is independent of them all. It is changeless. Mind constantly changes, takes on new ideas and sheds old ideas. There is constant flux in your mind. This mind, which is ever in a state of change and movement and flux, cannot be the eternal factor in you. The eternal factor is Existence. You are indestructible, imperishable Existence. Everlasting Life is your true and essential being. That is your nature at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 8. You Are God Even Now
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 8. You Are God Even Now, This is the nature of the highest illumined soul who knows this. It is the nature of the intelligent, thinking man who is often puzzled, who sometimes seems to know this and again seems not to know this. It is also the nature of the ignorant man who is unlettered and does not even know how to think. It is the nature of the fool and the idiot. No matter what state of evolution or what state of unfoldment or manifestation of the inner spiritual consciousness you find yourself in, essentially, inwardly, in truth and in fact, you are Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. Even at this moment. Nothing can rob you of that at energyenhancement.org
- Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 9. Walk with God: Talk with God
Sri Swami Sivananda, The Path Beyond Sorrow Chapter 5: Know Thyself, 9. Walk with God: Talk with God, This is the view and the vision that man, both as an individual and as collective humanity, needs today. When Professor Einstein once was asked in a certain interview, What shall we do, Professor, in order to improve the world?, he said, We must have improved people. That means we must live in the consciousness of our true nature. Even if a few people, a handful of people, make it their firm resolution, their greatest aim and aspiration in life, not to live any longer as mere mundane creatures, but to feel themselves divine, to be always at one with the Divine Essence, then real progress will have been made. Live in this way every day at energyenhancement.org
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