2. Daan (Share Your Assets in a Spirit of Humility)

To become happy we have to learn to eliminate factors which put tension on the mind. Practice of Agnihotra reduces tension, and thus anger and greed are reduced. Agnihotra and Daan are two material aids for happy living. 

What is Daan? Daan is sharing your assets in a spirit of humility. Learn to share a part of your income and your possessions with others. This is Daan. Daan is not merely giving cash or material possessions. It involves several disciplines. If the disciplines are not observed, Daan becomes mere donation. We practice Daan to reduce our attachment to worldly possessions. Such attachment puts great tension on the mind and makes it difficult for us to become happy. A rich man has many things and he is attached to them while a poor man has nothing but he is hankering after things which he does not have. Both of them tend to put a premium on unhappiness because of attachment. 

Practice of Daan helps to remove the tension which comes due to attachment. Daan has the following disciplines: 

1. You give Daan because it is your duty to do so. This means you are not obliging the person to whom you give. You should consider yourself obliged by the person who accepts your gift. He is the instrumental cause to enable you to transform your mind and, hence, he is obliging you. 

2. Do not give Daan for name or fame. If you give cash or material possessions for name or fame it is not Daan. Daan has to be done in secrecy. “Let your left hand not know what your right hand does.” If you talk about it to others it is likely to nourish your pride and our aim of removing tension on the mind will not be achieved. 

3. Everyone wants to be happy and, hence, everyone has to share his assets in a spirit of humility. A rich man has to give and a poor man has to give. A rich man can receive and a poor man can receive Daan. 

4. Daan needs to be made out of one’s own earnings. 

5. The person to whom you give needs to be a proper person. 

A hungry man is a proper person to receive food. A person in need of necessities of life is a proper person to receive them in kind or cash. In all other cases Daan should be given to a person who is normally given to what, according to you, are good habits. If you give Daan to somebody whom you think is likely to spend it on wrong purposes, then it is not Daan. Not only have you not done a good act but you involve yourself in a bad act as you become instrumental in pushing him into wrong things and you become a partner in his guilt. If Daan is given to a rich person he is likely to spend the amount again in Daan by adding his own to it. If Daan is given to a poor person he is likely to spend it on good works. 

If Daan is given to a holy person you are always safe as he would certainly spend it for the benefit of society. Use your discretion in such matters. Money in English is also called “currency”. The word is not “stagnancy”. It means, like the current of a river, it has to be kept moving in Daan. 

If you practice Daan with all the discipline involved, what happens? You part with one hundred dollars and within a short time you get back a little over a hundred dollars in cash or some material benefit. This is a superphysical law of nature and hence inviolable. Daan is therefore called a material aid to happy living. You will also notice that in times of your need things come to you without asking for them. More importantly, you do not feel the tension when things go bad materially, as you get into the habit of non-attachment to worldly possessions. Agnihotra and Daan, the first two aspects of the Fivefold Path, give a push to the mind in the right direction and your ability to choose between right and wrong improves. Your will to act according to the judgment given by your power of discrimination is strengthened and you are aided to get out of a vicious circle into a virtuous cycle. The biggest push in this direction comes from Agnihotra as it totally changes the coloration of the mind and your journey on the next three aspects of the Fivefold Path becomes facile. 

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3. Tapa (Self Discipline) 

Tapa is the third aspect of the Fivefold Path for happy living. Tapa is self-discipline voluntarily imposed by yourself with total cooperation of the mind and intellect. While we are crossing the river of life there are six crocodiles which trouble us: passion, anger, greed, attachment, pride and envy. Unless the trouble from these crocodiles is reduced we are not going to be happy. Constant pursuit of material objects will never culminate in finding worthwhile solutions to our problems. The problems multiply, giving rise to a built-in mechanism which defies all solutions. The problems are resolved only by practice of Tapa. Tapa sensitizes the body, makes the flow of PRANA harmonious and the will power is strengthened. The resistance that the body and mind offer in the pursuit of the Path of Light is broken and the bodily vehicle becomes a more sensitive instrument of consciousness. 


Control over the body brings about harmony between intellect and emotions. This is Tapa, the process of character building through discipline. Tapa is an effort to exercise control over Prana, the life energy that connects us with the cosmos and pulsates through us. Control over Prana means control over mind. Tapa establishes us in a state of fearlessness born out of love. Tapa begets utter humility which accentuates our journey on the Path of Light. Tapa grants us true understanding wherein love synthesizes with discipline and duty takes the total coloration of bliss. Tapa improves our perception and grants us the ability to see through the vicissitudes of life. By practice of Tapa we bear with fortitude unpleasant situations in life and experience without infatuation the pleasant ones. Tapa unburdens the mind by transformation of the attitudes. Tapa unlocks the latent powers within us and makes them patent. Creative powers and true knowledge dawn through Tapa. If we remain unattached to these creative powers and do not hanker after them we enter higher states of consciousness. Tapa is like fire which finds its own way to spread itself. Tapa makes us realize the evanescent nature of material conditions and thus our attachment is reduced. Then the fountain of joy gushes forth and mental agony, anxiety and tension are relegated to the limbo of the past. 

If a desire is fulfilled it gives rise to two more desires. If it is not fulfilled it leads to anger. Thus a satisfied desire leads to hunger for more desires and an unsatisfied desire leads to anger. What is the way out? A person feels that the moment of gratification of his desire is his highest moment of happiness. However, a little more examination will show us that it is not the gratification of the desire that has brought about this happy state of mind but it is the eradication of the desire that makes us happy. There is no more burden of the desire on the mind and hence, we feel happy. If we are able to bring about this happy state of mind by eradication, then our work is done. 

There is a difference between appetite and hunger. Hunger is a natural demand by the body. Supposing one evening you have over-eaten and you go out for a stroll. While walking through the streets you pass by a restaurant. From the glass show window you see sizzling food being cooked inside and your eye is stimulated. You go a few steps ahead; a waft of breeze brings the smell of food 
and you hear soft music being played inside. Your ear is stimulated. These stimulants create an appetite and quietly you enter the restaurant and help yourself to your heart's content. The momentary contents of the heart however, are not shared by your overwrought stomach, contributing to ill health. 


Someone abuses you or says something bad about you or you think he has said something bad about you and you get angry. If you decide to cut your own fingers because of this, you would be called a fool. Now look what happens when you get angry. The pupils of your eyes expand and your breathing becomes fast. The metabolism is affected; the endocrine system is affected. This puts a strain on the nervous system and the mind is disturbed. Is this not similar to cutting your own fingers, if not worse? What do you gain by getting angry? You hurt yourself and in no way do you improve the person who you think is the cause of your trouble. 

The intellect thus tells us that one should not get angry. However, mind is in certain grooves of habits and it needs to be trained to get out of those habits. This is Tapa. Practice of Agnihotra helps a good deal in this effort. Most misunderstandings and quarrels arise because we cannot control our tongue. Hence, we may start practicing a few things. The list is not exhaustive but merely illustrative: 


· Do not show your importance while you speak. 

· Do not use harsh or spiteful language. Truth can be told in a palatable manner. 

· Do not indulge in backbiting. 

· By describing other persons' faults you wish to show that you are superior. Avoid this. With speech much energy is consumed. We should learn to conserve it. 

· If someone speaks ill about another person in his absence, treat him as an uninvited guest. 

· Get rid of the habit of blaming others when things do not come about the way you wish them to be. 

· Never speak ill of others. You create evil thought forms which impinge upon you and weaken the mental fibre. 

· Do not get into a holier-than-thou attitude. 


A wrong thought, word or action creates a groove in the mind and your future thought, word or deed tends to flow in a similar pattern. This puts a great burden on the mind. 


The moment we are disturbed we feel we must get away from this state of mind and be happy. Happiness should be a natural state of the mind. This is possible when all our reactions to outside conditions flow from LOVE. In fact, when the mind takes the total coloration of LOVE the journey on the Path of Light (Divine Path) is nearly done. Methods to achieve this state are Tapa. 


From the cradle to the grave vanity takes a heavy toll of mind energy. Due to vanity we are unable to see the other man's point of view. Opinion is ultimately an end product of intellect expressing itself as an attitude of the mind. There can be several attitudes out of which ours may be only one. Religious dogmatism is the worst kind of vanity which has taken a heavy toll of the human race. The swollen ego struts about the stage of life and we become miserable at every point of friction. 

Vanity breeds smugness and intolerance. Our errors come disguised as righteousness due to vanity. So-called self-righteousness is also the manifestation of ego. Vanity is the breeding reactor where fanaticism, orthodoxy, dogma and cultism thrive. Bigotry never admits mistakes and invents long-winded defense for its misdeeds. Anger and vanity thrive upon each other. Therefore, practice the 
following: 


· Do not hanker after name and fame. 

· Do not make a vulgar show of your possessions or your academic accouterments. 

· Avoid talking about yourself. Listen more. Talk less. We have two ears but only one tongue. 

· In conversation, avoid dogmatic self-assertions. 

· Be humble. Humility is the hallmark of a person on the Divinity. 

· Do not try to pose as what you are not. Attempt to become as you wish others to see you. 


Envy is grudging desire or discontent at someone else's success. Envy coexists with prejudiced hostility or animosity. Envy blinds us to our own blessings. Envy clouds the intellect and disfigures the mind. Envy leads us off the track of discrimination between right and wrong. The Law of Karma is inviolable and hence, there is no place for envy. To overcome envy learn to be happy at the success of others. 


Sex, when permitted to run riot, becomes lust. When sex becomes the instrument of self-indulgence much energy is drained off and the will is enfeebled. The more we are trapped in sex the cloudier the intellect becomes. Passion haunts all humanity and keeps people in a tantalizing state. It dangles the carrot of pleasant sensations before us and makes us labor like the proverbial donkey. When the sap is squeezed we are fit for the trash can. When sex is not channelled, it envelops the mind and all the sensory stimuli apparatus is enslaved towards this end. Sex then acts like a parasite on the whole organism. This leads to violent emotional disturbances. To restore the sexual instinct to its natural function and to bring the emotions under the control of intellect is Tapa. 


Greed chains us down to the objects of phenomena, draining all our energy over trivial things. The same energy needs to be harnessed to higher achievements. Initially, a person starts piling up material things as a means for comfortable living. Later on he gets dragged into the habit of piling up things for their own sake. People try to adopt devious ways to acquire wealth not realizing that they have to reap as they sow. Just think for a moment what all this is for. lt only hardens the chain of desires around us and chokes us further. 


To eliminate the tension on the mind which comes due to attachment, practice DAAN, the second aspect of the Fivefold Path. Bear in mind that wealth is merely the means to an end and not an end in itself. If robbery is sin, so is amassing material objects without the habit of giving. Tapa is training the mind. This training could be considered from various aspects, e.g.: · 

Removal of tension on the mind which comes due to bodily causes. Practice of Yoga Asanas (physical postures) is helpful in this regard.  

Removal of tension on the mind which comes about due to disharmonious flow of Prana (Life energy) through the nervous system. Pranayama (Yoga rhythmic breathing) helps eliminate this tension. Yoga Asanas and Pranayama lead to good health and better performance ability. 

· Removal of tension on the mind which comes due to atmospheric pollution. Agnihotra is the most scientific method to remove this tension and simultaneously nourish plant life around us. 

· Removal of tension on the mind which comes due to wrong habit patterns. For this, we have first to deal with the six crocodiles mentioned above. Mind is in the grooves of habits which exact a great toll of energy for purposes that take us away from the Divinity (The Path of Light). 


You like to eat your favorite dish because it grants you moments of happiness. You like to read a novel or watch T.V. or play at the pool table because it grants you moments of happiness. However, you soon get tired of these external stimulants. Their capacity to make you happy becomes marginal. Later on, sometimes, they even tend to play on your nerves. By practice of Tapa you realize that no external stimulants are necessary and you can be happy all the time when the Light within shines. 


The mind training which is Tapa needs to be undertaken with the cooperation of the intellect. The methods have to be within the reach of the average person. The Fivefold Path presented here takes into consideration all the above aspects of the psychosomatic man and teaches new biopsychological habit patterns which act as reinforcers to Tapa. 


Tapa purifies the body and the mind and enables us to notice subtler aspects of behavior. lt strengthens our perception and improves the evaluation of that perception. This results in better action. When the mind gets purged of these six crocodiles KNOWLEDGE dawns. This is knowledge transformed into wisdom. We enter into higher tiers of consciousness and we feel LOVE towards all creation. 

This is happiness that is not followed by unhappiness. Tapa is the key which unlocks the hidden treasure and accentuates our journey on the Path of Light. The traveler on the Path of Light experiences intellectual illumination, peace of mind and total joy. Tapa enables us to perform better in any given situation in life as we land ourselves in higher consciousness where Universal Love is the ultimate value. 

The Kingdom of Light is within you. This is the Eternal Truth. LOVE is the key to this Kingdom. 

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5. Karma(Law of cause and effect) 

Karma is the fourth aspect of the Fivefold Path. The law of cause and effect in physics, when carried to subtler levels, is the law of Karma. It is the law of “reap as you sow".


The law of Karma leaves no scope for fatalism of any kind. The law of Karma states that “you are the planter of the seed and you are the reaper of the deed." You make or mar your own future. Your present circumstances, apparently pleasant or unpleasant, are the result of your past actions. This clearly means that your efforts in the present moment determine what you will be in the future.


One might say that all life is the operation of the law of Karma. Karma is like a vast trap in which all of us are caught although the bonds are subtle. We cannot remain without action even for a single moment. The action may be physical or the action may be mental. If one has to reap what one has sown it would appear that there is no end to this chain of Karma. However, the law of Karma states that if you do action without attachment to the fruit thereof, then it does not bind you and no chain of future reaping is forged. Only by doing good actions without attachment can we get rid of this trap of Karma.


The law of Karma is inevitable. If you have an evil thought about someone and he does not know it, you might pass off as a gentleman. However, if you realize the consequences of this single evil thought you will dare not to have it. Simply by having an evil thought you are creating a tiger which will roar at you all the time. Karmic entanglement is subtle but inevitable. As you sow, so you reap.


If you say that you shall be good to the other person only if the other person is good to you then you pass the initiative into someone else's hands. It would be foolish to do that. You have to reap what you sow and hence, you have to take care that you sow good seeds and not wild weeds.


If you think that someone has done you any wrong or you think he has spoken ill about you, do not be in a hurry to blame the person at once. The law of Karma does not work in a narrow way. Your first consideration should be, perhaps you are reaping as you have sown in the past. Maybe it is the working out of some past Karmic account. If you get into this habit you do not involve yourself into further bad sowings which you may have to reap.


The laws of the superphysical realm are as true as the laws of the physical realm. They are inviolable. You connive at them only at the risk of great harm to yourself. If someone asks you to jump from a skyscraper you are going to say no, because you believe that the law of gravity operates and you will be hurt. Even if you do not believe in the law of gravity, the law of gravity believes in you and it operates. However, people are not aware of the law of “reap as you sow" which is a law in the superphysical realm. Therefore, a person does not hesitate to do wrong action. The superphysical law believes in him and he has to pay the price for his action. You may have to pay sooner or later but pay you must.


Any intense Karma, good or bad, fructifies within a short time. Devotion to a high Master who has transcended the law of Karma and following his commands is intense good Karma. This purifies the mind and reduces the pangs of previous bad Karma. We need the guidance and blessings of a high Master to become aware of the Light which is within us. He takes you towards the Light. The Light is merely an unfoldment which takes place when the six crocodiles mentioned in the last chapter on Tapa become weak and fade out. The journey towards the Light is the Divinity.


Elementary physics swears by the law of cause and effect. However, when physics enters the realm of microparticles, that is, when it is quantum physics, we recognize that the law of cause and effect as we normally understand, does not operate. This is sometimes termed as indeterminacy. However, this indeterminacy is upheld by some Omnipotent Will. The religions sometimes call this God. The law of Karma states, “Repent and you shall be forgiven." This is Grace. This may be compared to the nullifying of the law of cause and effect in the realm of microparticles where the so-called indeterminacy works as manifestation of the one Omnipotent Will. When the mind takes the total coloration of LOVE we enter a higher state of consciousness and GRACE operates. Love and attachment are two different things. Love without attachment cleanses the mind of all its former grooves and the law of Grace operates.


Do action for self-purification. Let there be no ego about it. The doership of “I” has to go. Then you become a fitter instrument of this one Omnipotent Will. The reactions of your mind to all circumstances and conditions take the total coloration of Love. LOVE is the alchemy which transmutes the baser instincts and your journey on the Divinity, the Path of Light, is done.


When it is said that you do Karma for self-purification one might say, Will this take away all fun from my life? Will I be able to enjoy this world if I have to do every action for self-purification? One might ask a counter question: How much are you enjoying the world now when you are not guided by this purification? Despite material plenty there is so much misery. Disease and mental illness are eating up the sap of life. There is so much misery around us. No one seems to be in a state of happiness which is not followed by unhappiness. Every time it is a few tingling sensations of pleasure followed by much misery. Misery is the symptom of the disease. The disease is bondage, attachment. Everyone is placed differently by the mould of destiny. Therefore, whatever work comes to your lot do it in a spirit of service.

Do it with love. Say to yourself, This is the work that 1 am supposed to do at this moment. Therefore, it is my duty to do it. I do my duty. Thus, there is no attachment to the fruit of your actions. You feel more free to do the action and hence, you fill every moment with joy. This frame of mind spreads joy all around you and makes others happy. You feel that if you are in a tight corner there is no one else to blame but yourself. By doing all action with love you know you can get over the situation.


The result of an action which you have done in the past becomes your destiny in the future. An action done yesterday becomes your destiny today. An action in the last minute becomes your destiny this minute. It is always reap as you sow.


A mouse sees a piece of cheese ten meters away. The mouse says, “If I take the action of walking to the piece of cheese I must get it." The poor creature does not realize that there are a hundred other mice which are after the same piece of cheese and there are a dozen cats ready to pounce on all the mice. Therefore, it is said that the best laid plans of mice and men go astray. The result of your action is dependent on several factors of which you are not cognizant. Imagine a lot of land. There are several automobiles on it and people are told to drive as they like. It will be chaos, won't it? The resultant Karma depends on several factors which we do not cognize. Destiny is the unfoldment of the fructification of past Karma.


The working out of destiny is to be viewed in the context of the flux of Omnipotent Will. By proper use of free will, that is, by doing intense good Karma without attachment, the pangs of destiny disappear.


There is nothing that we can do about the past. Can the misery that is yet to come be avoided? This is the question. The answer is in the affirmative. The answer is emphatically yes. The Fivefold Path offers you the material and mental aids to achieve this state. Past SANSKARAS (impressions) could be wiped out by the practice of Tapa.


Intellect and action affect each other. Bad action weakens the power of intellect to choose between right and wrong. Bad action weakens our ability to continue to do the right action despite provocation, as a groove is created in the mind. Clouded intellect pushes us to commit further wrong action. We thus get involved into a series of bad Karma, bad sowings that we have to reap. Even if there is an evil thought, see that it is not translated into action. No doubt, the thought will have its effect but the action will make things worse. A person given to vice and greed needs money. He sees somebody's purse. He opens the purse and sees one hundred dollars. He is a novice and his conscience troubles him. He says to himself, “Let me take only twenty. It is really not nice to steal someone's money." He takes twenty and puts back the rest in the purse. This wrong action weakens his power of discrimination and the next time he takes eighty dollars and puts back twenty saying, “Let the lady have some money to return home in a taxi." This further weakens his power of discrimination to choose between right and wrong. The third time he takes all the hundred dollars saying, “Oh, to hell with it. The whole world is doing it. Why should 1 care?" However, one day he has to pay for his bad Karma.


Thought precedes action and hence, purification has to reach the thinking process. Mere resolutions to change our ways are not enough. They have to be backed up by resolute practice. Good thoughts have an effect, but when they are translated into action a mechanism starts operating in the subtler realm and this reinforces our will power.


People mistake charity for love. There are thousands who are spending their time, money and labor in the service of their fellow man but they do not make much progress on the Divinity, the Path of Light. Why? It is because they have not learned to do this without self-centeredness which revolves around the personality. If we get into the habit of offering all the fruits of our actions to the Master who guides us on the Divinity, we avoid this danger and each one of our works is transformed into worship. Agnihotra gives a push to the mind in this direction.


Good Karma sets up a new pattern in the mind which reinforces the potency of good thoughts. Hence, an attempt needs to be made to change the habit pattern which we think is not in harmony with our progress on the Divinity.


It does not require much will power to do the right thing if the person is wise. If someone offers us nice and tasty food but we come to know that there is a drop of poison in it, it does not require much strength of will to reject that food. Similarly, if we are aware that the law of reap as you sow is inviolable it will not require much will power to desist us from doing a bad action.


The power of discrimination to choose between right and wrong is granted to us on the day we are born as humans. The capacity to execute this power varies from person to person depending upon the accumulation of past impressions which is the result of past actions. However, by practice of the Fivefold Path you get the strength and the past impressions are wiped out. Proper and judicious use of this power accentuates our journey on the Path of Light.


A desire emerges as an attitude and becomes manifest. This causes disturbance as it creates a sense of wanting. If some time is allowed to pass, this attitude becomes a propensity. Then a signal goes to the intellect to find out means for the gratification of that desire and mind becomes colored by the desire and then it acts like a wave. To check this flow some effort is needed. The effort may be physical or mental. It is difficult to check this flow sometimes, even for yogis. This wave leads to the action that is gratification. However, in this process some impressions are created in the mind and our next thought and action tend to flow out of this groove. Agnihotra and Daan are the two material aids to help us check this wave if it is in the wrong direction. Tapa is the mental effort. The following suggestions will help you in your progress on the

Path of Light.


You work forty hours in a week for the boss. Work for a few hours for yourself. Spend this time in the company of fellow travelers on the Path of Light. Do some work with them or for them and receive no material benefit from that work.


Never hanker after name or fame. It does not matter whether people respect you. Make sure that you show proper respect to others.


Do not discuss in public about your own progress on the Divinity or about your Master who guides you on the Divinity.

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5. SWADHYAYA(Self-study) 


Swadhyaya is the fifth aspect of the Divinity, the Path of Light. If someone tells you to believe in a thing because the majority of people believe in it, say no. Majority of the people believed that the sun moved round the earth. Galileo said otherwise and he was right. If somebody asks you to believe in a thing because various religious scriptures mention it, say no. The scriptures may have been interpolated, the translations might have gone wrong, and thirdly the people who interpret them may be talking without experiencing the truth in them. Believe only what you experience. Say to yourself, "This is my experience of the Divinity. If some great prophet says similar things he must have had similar experience." This is the attitude of a scientist. This is Swadhyaya. 

You like a sweet pie. You eat it and feel happy. If you have three more helpings you will cease to feel happy about it and you may even be repelled. You feel like watching TV. or playing pocket billiards. You do it and feel happy. If you do it for a few hours you would feel like going away from it. What you termed happiness a few minutes ago becomes a source of disturbance now. Find out whether happiness lies in the tongue when you eat the sweet pie. Does it lie somewhere else beyond the tongue? The search for this is Swadhyaya. You do not ask for misery and yet misery is a constant companion in life. You wish to be happy. However, you experience a gram of happiness followed by a ton of unhappiness. Whether you like it or not there will be sunrise at fixed intervals. The cosmic objects will rotate irrespective of your opinion. You are unable to influence their movements. This shows that there is some other WILL which keeps the universe going and it is higher than your own will. Can you attune yourself to that WILL? Search for this is Swadhyaya. 

You try to find happiness through various objects. You see a beautiful dog and feel like patting him on the back. Then the dog bites you and you become miserable. You try to make use of things and persons as means for your happiness, but most of the time misery is your lot. This is everyday experience. Will the search for happiness through outside objects ever land us in bliss? Pondering over this is Swadhyaya. 

You see some nice flowers, pick them, and keep them in a flower pot in your room. Then they fade. What gave you pleasure a few minutes ago fades out and you cannot keep it any longer. You have to throw it away. Is there anything which will always make you happy? Yes. It is the Light that shines within you and it is not dependent on anything outside. Search for this Light is the Divinity. This is Swadhyaya. 

What is Karma (good action)? What is Akarma (bad action)? What is Vikarma (the specific allotted task of a person)? To know this is Swadhyaya. 

To stick any formal religious label on yourself is not the goal of life. To become the devotee or disciple of any particular Guru is not the goal of life. Unfoldment of the Kingdom of Light within you is the goal of life. That Light is eternal Truth and "Truth shall make you free." This is the Divinity. This is Swadhyaya. 

Eye is the organ of sight, ear the organ of hearing, and so on. The constitution of man is taken to be body, mind and intellect. Is there anything beyond this or pervading this? The physical sense organs bring their temptations. The psychic sight brings the occult temptations. Is there anything beyond this? This is Swadhyaya. 

Every religionist claims that his window alone throws light on the Divinity. Religion as it is seen today and Divinity are two different things. Sometimes they conflict. Those who talk about proselytizing and conflict have not seen the depth of water through their window. The Fivefold Path will enable them to see the depth through their own window. The depth is Eternal Religion. When they get a glimpse of the depth view there is no conflict. It is TOTAL LOVE. True religion is the science of all sciences. Science is knowledge. "Knowing which nothing remains to be known" is true knowledge. "As in microcosm so in macrocosm." THAT "whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere" is Swadhyaya. 

Sorrow and misery are concomitant to all life. Everyone feels the urge to get rid of that state of mind and enter into a state of bliss. When the urge is consolidated it is second birth in the physical body. This is the beginning of the pilgrimage on the Divinity, Path of Light. Complete cessation of misery while living in this world then becomes the ideal of life. This leads us to the examination of the attitudes of the mind. Then begins the mind training program, the program of "renewing" the mind and becoming transformed. The program offered in this book is the Fivefold Path. It is the essence of all Divine teachings that have been offered to humankind. The Fivefold Path is the oldest program for transformation by the renewal of the mind. It comes from the Vedas which literally means knowledge. The Fivefold Path is not a religion as Divinity is not a religion. To study the various "mind renewal" programs offered by prophets and scientists is Swadhyaya. 

Is man merely a puppet in the hands of destiny? What is destiny? What is free will? How to develop the capacity to execute this free will to choose between good and bad Karma? The law of cause and effect in the physical realm when transposed to superphysical realm becomes the law of Karma, the law of reap as you SOW. Intense Karma, good or bad, fructifies within a short time. Repentance is intense good Karma. Do Karma without attachment to the fruit thereof. Manifestation of Grace is also an aspect of the law of Karma. There is no such thing as fatalism. It is only Karma Yoga, that is Yoga of Action. You make your own destiny. It is not given unto you what to see. However, it is given unto you how to see. This is Swadhyaya. 

What is knowledge? What is wisdom? Wisdom shows the relationship between various facts gathered by the intellect. Without this relationship the facts may not be of much use in the journey towards the Divinity. Purity of mind ushers in wisdom. Agnihotra reduces your effort in this task as a "push" is given to subtler matter called mind. To know and experience it is Swadhyaya. Swadhyaya clarifies our perception of the universe. Better perception leads to better evaluation of the sensory data that goes in the computer of the brain. This culminates into right action. To understand this is Swadhyaya. 

We have a desire. It becomes manifest as an attitude. By brooding over it, it gets stronger and becomes a propensity. A signal goes to the intellect to find out means for the gratification of the desire. Intellect searches for the means, wise or otherwise. This leads to action and momentary happiness. A person attributes this happiness to gratification of the desire and not the eradication of the desire. The desire is eradicated and puts no more burden on the mind. To know how the unmanifest desire culminates into visible action, to learn about the points where it could be checked is Swadhyaya. If you are unable to check it, at least learn to observe the mind when you follow the flow of desire and smile at yourself. This is also Swadhyaya. 

"Keep the lamp of knowledge on the threshold of the tongue." Take care what goes in, that is food. Take care what goes out, that is speech. How does the food affect the mind? What are the factors involved? The journey of the seed that a farmer plants in his field ends up in your stomach. Being a living seed it is affected by the atmosphere and the thought patterns impinged on the atmosphere. This affects its qualitative value. Food builds up your body and the mind. Interplay of subtle energies becomes a part of it. 

Similarly, every time you utter a word you have to breathe out through the mouth. Breathing out through the mouth exacts a heavy toll of mind energy. Hence, speech is called a sacred gift. Sometimes we hear it said, "Speech is silver, silence is golden." Anything that you utter affects the atmosphere. The intensity and potency of the utterance decide the cumulative effect. To know this is Swadhyaya. 

You may live for a while without food but not without the air you breathe. The atmosphere is polluted in all ways. Noise pollution, factory pollution, water pollution, nuclear radiation, pollution due to thought patterns impinged on the atmosphere as a result of hatred, greed, scheming for destruction, all these affect the atmosphere. Purify the atmosphere to purify the mind. Purified mind creates its own blissful thought patterns. This is the science of Agnihotra, the smallest form of Yajnya that is purification of the atmosphere through the agency of fire leading to purification of mind. We are trapped in the jaws of atmospheric pollution leading to more psychiatry, mental syndromes and the like. All this takes us away from LOVE. 

The Divinity basically states, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Love is the be-all and end-all of our effort. On the Path of Light that is the Fivefold Path given through the Vedas, LOVE is the passport. Study of the science of Yajnya, its effect on Prana, its effect on the mind, on pathogenic bacteria, on the absorption of sun's rays by the water resources, the resultant nutrition to plant life due to the creation of some new substance in the atmosphere, all this forms part of Swadhyaya. 

Happiness will elude you until the capering frolic of the mind is reduced. This leads to concentration, contemplation and meditation. Practice of meditation purifies the mind. Your will becomes a fitter instrument of the Omniscient higher Will. This is unfoldment of the Light within you. To practice this is Swadhyaya. 

The attunement to higher Will, the removal of darkness that does not comprehend the Light, brings about contentment in life. It makes you a better person. You become a fitter instrument in the service of the fellow man. Then you remain in the world but you are not of the world. You experience fulfillment born of knowledge. There is no sense of wanting something and no burden on the mind. There is no alienation as you recognize that the Light within you is also the Light within your neighbor. You are free. This state cannot be described in words. It is "peace that passeth understanding." It makes you humble as a little child. It is total surrender to the Omniscient Will. You are free from the bonds of Karma. To know this is Swadhyaya. 

The question whether you believe in God or not does not arise. It does not matter whether or not you believe in reincarnation. If the law of reincarnation exists, it is going to believe in you and operate. What does matter, however, is transforming yourself by the renewal of the mind. This is not escapism. It is clear thinking. It is liberation for you and service to mankind. This is Swadhyaya. 

You find yourself in a deep valley due to the operation of the law of Karma, the law of "reap as you sow." Make use of the same law to cleanse yourself and to rise above. You have to commence making the effort. You take one step and the Light within you showers Grace by taking ten steps for you. This culminates into total surrender to that Light. This is bliss eternal. To know this is Swadhyaya. 

The experience that the Light shines within you may come quite suddenly and may even surprise you when you are not expecting it. You find the treasure right within you. You find that the mind is under your control and the whole being is quieted. You feel a great merciful power has its spell on you. You feel you are that power. To know this is Swadhyaya. 

Knowledge is of two kinds. The lower knowledge includes all scriptures, Vedas and other sciences. Higher knowledge can never be transmitted by word of mouth or by the written word. A high Master, SADGURU, takes control of your inner mind and plants the seed of knowledge. SADGURU is Love Incarnate. You have to approach such a one in a spirit of total surrender. How to find such a great one? Follow the Fivefold Path and automatically a link will come to you. When you are ready the Master appears and guides you further. GURU shows the way. SADGURU catches hold of your hand and guides you towards the goal. He connects you with the "unstruck music" (ANAHAT) of the universe. Your journey on the Divinity is made facile. To ponder over this is Swadhyaya. 

"Skill in the Yoga Asanas (physical postures), breathing and the Kriya techniques is not the Divinity. To be able to direct the KUNDALINI in its upward route is not the Divinity. To be able to walk on water or fire is not the Divinity. Telepathy or telemetry is not the Divinity. To be able to stay buried underground for days together is not the Divinity. To influence solids to bend by thought projection is not the Divinity. To drink a bottle of acid without any apparent effect is not the Divinity. To be able to turn mercury into gold, water into milk is not the Divinity. 

"To give syllogistically sound lengthy discourses on Almighty, soul, universe, love, consciousness is not the Divinity. To deliver sermons or to listen to sermons on the Vedas, Bible, Bhagavatgeeta, Dhammapada, Quran is not the Divinity. To recite daily excerpts from the books written by saints, seers or philosophers is not the Divinity. To don the ocher robes of a monk, a Swami, is not the Divinity. To bring oneself around a cluster of disciples is not the Divinity. To attend regularly places of worship is not the Divinity. To visit periodically the places of pilgrimage is not the Divinity. To be able to exorcise devils is not the Divinity. To be able to heal people is not the Divinity. To be able to read people's minds is not the Divinity. To prophesy is not the Divinity. To go into ecstasy when chanting mantras or reciting psalms is not the Divinity. To see visions is not the Divinity. To lead a scrupulous and ethical life is not the Divinity. To sacrifice your wealth in the service of the poor is not the Divinity. To arrange celebrations on Christmas, Krishna's birthday or Buddha's day of enlightenrnent (Bodhi) is not the Divinity. To promote institutions to teach meditation is not the Divinity. 

It is strange but true that all the above are not the Divinity. It is hard to see that leading an ethical life, sacrificing wealth in the service of the poor, practicing physical Yoga, reading scriptures, and some other things mentioned above are not the Divinity. Certainly, some of these can form and do become means towards the Divinity, the Path of Light. However, there is an important rider attached to it. When you practice any of the above divorced from the basic concept of the `science of mind renewing' they can never become the Divinity. When you have the right knowledge and the right guidance of a Guru, your driving your auto to work, your taking the baby to the baby-sitter, your cooking food for the family, your work in the office or factory become the Divinity. This leads us to an important field of inquiry. What is the Divinity? Consider all the above in the light of what one saint stated: `Service divided by ego is equal to devotion.' Any action done with self-centeredness around the personality leading to infatuation of ego takes us away from the Path of Light. Study of this is Swadhyaya." 

When you say, "This is my house", you know that you are not the house. Similarly you say, "my body, my mind". Therefore, you are not the body or the mind. Which is that entity which says, "my body, my mind"? Search for this is Swadhyaya. 

Swadhyaya knows no vacation. From every incident in life you learn. Liberation with a smile can be yours if you follow the Fivefold Path of Vedic wisdom. Divinity is the journey of joy and more joy. Even a little effort in this direction is never wasted. It is, "Be happy here and now." 

by Shree Vasant Paranjape

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