Religion of Shakti. By T. L. Vasvani.
Spirituality is not running away from “dharma” or life’s appointments and obligations. Spirituality is a conquest! Religion is not retreat. Religion is life. India went down in the day she separated religion from life. Shri Krishan’s message is not a creed of quietism of inaction. Spirituality is a Shakti. Religion is life of Atman. And all tasks are sacred which express the life, the Shakti, the energy of the Atman. Religion is not spiritual indulgence. Religion is active service inspired by reverence for GOD.
(1) There is the God below you; (2) There is God above you; (3) There is the God within you. So you have the three duties. Dana, Yoga, tapas. By Dana is meant not merely the giving of some money in charity’ but the giving of love and sympathy. Dana is not mere alms-giving! Dana is not philanthropy! Dana is service inspired by reverence for the poor. Dana is worship of the poor. Charity given in pride or for show and self- advertisement is now Dana. Don’t patronize the poor, worship them! For they are of the Body of Shri Krishna, Give a fragment of yourself to the poor. One tear of prayer is more precious than ten thousand rupees of a rich man who gives with no reverence for the poor. ON their suffering alas! Is built the present order; and ‘civilization” sacrifices their life to the comfort and motor-cars of the rich. And when I speak of the ‘poor’ I include in that class, also, the “criminal” and the “fallen”. Regard the “criminal” also as a man and, therefore, as a God – suppressed. The prison system must be reformed. Criminals, too, are humans. And the “fallen ones? Did not Jesus bless them? And concerning Krishna we read that when a “harlot” was kissing his feet with her tears, the prices who were present were annoyed and they asked the Lord whey he allowed a fallen woman to “insult” Him thus. But He, the lord of Love, Smiled and answered them: – Disturb her not. She knows better than you! For she has faith and love! The “fallen”. Too, are humans the poor are the forms of lord. Not they only but, also, the lower animas. There are the sub human God. While the influence of Indian ideals is gradually growing upon groups of earnest men and women in the west, the concepts of the West are invading the minds of the Indian Youth; and I know of many today who argue that need flesh foods for health and strength. Do we really expect to buy health and happiness in the slaughter house? I ask all to give up meat and have love in their hearth for bird and beast. They too are our brothers in the one kingdom of life. The y too are to ascend the ladder of evolution. They too are rupas of the Lord of Love.
Yagnas I interpret as worship of God. Modern India alas! Has forgotten her God, and so we wander in weakness. Yagnas should be our daily duty. Prayer is mighty force a great Shakti.
Tapas is self-reverence, self-control. Tapas is the sacrifice asked of the youth. Yet so many to day run after luxuries. Bhoga not Brahmcharys is the ideal of may an Indian student of today. In this Triple Reverence- reverence for the sub human God, reverence for the Eternal Purusha and reverence for oneself and the powers within the self – in this Triple reverence is the essential message of Dharma – Yoga – the yoga of discipline and duty. It is the yoga the youth must practice to serve the nation and the lord.