Swami Chidananda

Sadhana for Inner Awakening Discourse given by H.H. Sri Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj on 23rd March 1984.

This is the hallmark of a Sadhaka, of a true Yogi. “Wakeful among the slumbering, diligent among the slothful, aware among the heedless, such a one verily attains to the great peace, attains Nirvana”—that is what the great Lord Buddha has to say. May we all strive at every moment, ‘heart within and God overhead’, with sincerity in our heart and faith in God, that our life be one of extreme wakefulness, constant alertness and activity upon the path that leads to blessedness. This is true Sadhana. Swami Chidananda

The living presence of God in all beings should be the basis of our attitude and behaviour toward others, our approach to the world. Swami Chidananda

This body-bound condition is in itself an affliction, a disease, an unnatural condition for you who are nameless, formless, ever free. Those who have attained illumination have clearly realised that you in your real nature are a part and parcel of that great Being. Swami Chidananda

And there is still a better part of knowledge. This change must become a social asset. It must become a value that has an effect in terms of other people’s well-being. It is here that the third part of knowledge comes into our consideration. Out of becoming a knowing person and then a changed person, we turn this knowledge and its knowing and being into a social asset, a value in human relationship—a value not only to our own self-culture, self-evolution and ethical and spiritual progress, but a value also in terms of the well-being and happiness of others.

Knowledge is knowing, and when this knowing brings about a change for the better in us, it also becomes being. Knowledge first becomes knowing when previous to that we did not know. But then, if we are satisfied with keeping it at that level, and it does not bring about any change, then there is only one part of knowledge that is present—not a better part of knowledge. The second part of knowledge is becoming someone different in a positive and creative way because of the knowledge. The second part of knowledge is being.

Knowledge can do all these things, but there is a big IF. That big IF is that knowledge can do all these things only if the person allows this knowledge to have a transforming effect upon their being. They become a better person because before they got the knowledge they committed many errors. After they acquired this knowledge they begin to avoid all those errors. They act in a different way, a better way, a nobler way.

With the passing of each dawn, the opportunities that we have for evolution, the occasion that we have for self-improvement steadily diminish.

If you do not have idealism in your life, you are at the mercy of your lower passions and the compelling force of the senses.

What is the difference between a person who does not know and a person who knows? Is there any difference at all? That is the next part of knowledge—when the knowing of the knowledge makes a difference in the person. The person is more perceptive, more understanding, more tolerant, more sympathetic. They act with a greater spirit of give and take.