No, not at all. In fact, doing sadhana will help you strengthen and maintain your enthusiasm and positivity. Do not think that by doing sadhana you will become passive and lose the will to fight. If that was the case, then why would the Bhagavad Gita have been recited in the midst of the battlefield? Why would Lord Krishna encourage Arjuna to fight? Lord Krishna’s very purpose behind reciting the Gita was to fill Arjuna with enthusiasm from within. Arjuna had become dejected and lost the will to fight; he just wanted to run away from the battlefield and retire into the caves of the Himalayas as a recluse.
He told Lord Krishna, “O Lord, what would I possibly need? Just two square meals a day to sustain myself? I would readily get that there also. Why engage in all this bloodshed? I can live off the fruits from the trees”.
But Lord Krishna persisted and told Arjuna, “O Arjuna! It is not so. All this is just the weakness of the mind that you are caught up in. Drop all this and fight”.
See, sometime or the other, even a strong soldier gets caught up in emotional weaknesses of the heart and mind. He may feel loneliness, or he may be overcome with doubt and fear. For a soldier to be able to rise above all such negativity, sadhana will be of utmost help. So do not ever think that one loses enthusiasm and zeal because of doing sadhana. Yes, by doing sadhana, one becomes free from the clutches of anger, aversions and envy, but you will never lose your sense of duty and responsibility.
Do not think that if there is no sense of hatred or aversion, then you will not be able to fight. It is not so. Hatred and aversion only make you weaker. A person filled with hatred may appear to be angry and very strong on the outside, but in reality he gets shaken because of this and the mind becomes weak and unsteady. Even our muscles and sinews grow weak. So when you fight, do not fight out of hatred and feverishness; instead fight with a firm determination and steady mind. There is a huge difference between these two states, When you fight, fight with full enthusiasm and also with total awareness. This is the spiritual path, this is Dharma.
Why are you making efforts to forget him? It is okay to remember him. You do not need to do anything about this.
Just like your father, there are thousands of fathers who will leave this world one day, and there are so many who have left, and there are also many who are going to be born as well. You have limited your life to a very small space and are feeling stuck in it. Everyone has to go one day or another. Why grieve for those who are certain to leave (this world)?
No one is going to be here permanently. You too will leave this world one day, isn’t it? But till the time you are here, be happy and cheerful, spread peace and love. Do good deeds, be in knowledge, and spread knowledge to everyone around you.
I will not sympathise with you and tell you, “Do not cry. It is such an unfortunate thing that has happened to you”. Instead, you will get a tight slap here (so that you wake up and realize the truth). And a slap from me will only make you smile. All your crying and grieving will stop.
See, the very first layer of our body is the Annamaya Kosha (the gross or outermost layer of the body nourished and sustained by food). Food affects the prana (subtle life force) and our prana has an effect on our mind. The mind is the seat of knowledge and knowledge takes one to joy and bliss. This is the way of life. So food is responsible for our existence. That is why food is necessary for all living beings to nourish and protect the prana . It is the most basic source of sustenance. What will happen to you if you do not get any food? If you do not get any food to eat, then you will simply discard all the knowledge in the dustbin. What will be the value of all the education you have received without any food? It is of no use. Having food to eat gives value to all the other aspects of life.
Food is the basic foundation of life. This is why donating food is a noble deed that one can do. Even if you cannot do this every day, at least once every few days you should do so. You can donate on your birthday, or you can choose a day to donate food in the memory of your ancestors. This is why in our culture, we have specific days set aside especially for this. On such days, we donate food in the name of our ancestors; or during festival days we prepare good food and share it with everyone. This has been a regular part of all our customs.
In the Ashram, not only do you get good knowledge, you also get good food to eat. Isn’t it so?
Even when you go to a temple, you don’t just get to see the deity, you also get some prasadam (sacred offering) to eat before you leave. So this is the importance of Anna-daan. This has been in practice in India since many centuries.
It is said, “Anna-daanam param daanam vidhya-daanam tat param”. It means that imparting and giving knowledge to others is even higher than the act of donating food. But at least to start with, one can always begin with donating food grains from time to time.
Well, that is because you lost touch with it somewhere along the way. Yes, everyone is a born yogi, but if you had retained that same child-like innocence as you grew up, then there would have been no need to learn and practice yoga again. We have moved away from that child-like innocent nature and have collected so many impressions (samskaaras) along the way. We have spoiled our balance and peace of mind. This is why we need to do yoga and sadhana in order to keep our body, intellect, mind and emotions healthy and in balance.
See, when you get tired, just relax and meditate. You will go deeper into meditation then. We need to make meditation a part of our lifestyle.
When you feel tired doing seva, relax and meditate for a while. When you become bored of meditating, then get up and do some seva. When you grow tired of both, then read or listen to knowledge. There are so many options given to you here. Why is it so? It is because we know that initially it all feels like you have to strive and put in efforts to get something. Over a period of time, you yourself will realize by your own experience that in the beginning it does take some efforts. And you should make some efforts in the beginning as well. After some time it will all seem so effortless to you, as if it is your very nature.
Just do one thing: for one whole week, do not do any sadhana, do not do any meditation at all and see what happens to you. See what the state of your mind is. When you sit somewhere by yourself, you will automatically go into meditation. Then you will realize, “Oh, this comes so naturally. It is my very nature”.
