QUESTION: We practice spiritual discipline, adoration of God and have association of good company, yet we are affected by the world and the impressions it leaves on us. Why? SWAMIJI: Please listen to what I have to say arefully. Who is affected by the world?

Think this over seriously. The world is affected by the world, but the Self (Soul) is unaffected, the Self remains unchanged. Moreover the effect is short lived and transitory. But who is the one that knows this? It is the Self , the onlooker who has this knowledge. Sometimes the question arises that during discourses we are convinced with this fact, but afterwards we seem to forget and ignorance vails us. So what is to be done? If you are convinced during a discourse, but the effect does not last, don’t worry. It is an error on your part that you want to be unaffected at all times. There will be affect of the world i.e. you will have inclinations and tendencies because you cannot have dealings in your practical life without them. How will you eat, speak, walk without them? But sometimes you may be free from them in solitude. But there is the knower or the onlooker of these inclinations. If you understand this point, you will attain eternal joy. There are two states – one is of action while you have dealings with the world, and the other is of inaction, while you have no dealings with the world. But both action and inaction are inclinations because they have affinity with the mind and intellect. But the light by which you become a witness to these inclinations is free of any inclinations. You can witness this light in solitude, but you cannot see it clearly while you are in activity. Even though not seen in activity, it does not mean that the light (consciousness) does not exist. If it did not exist, how could you observe your inclinations and disinclinations? Therefore believe in this light, be fixed in that light without caring for the inclinations and disinclinations. Be established in the Self. Do not wish to see the inclinations becoming uniform, i.e. don't wish for a state of repose, because both the states of inclination and disinclination are unreal and transitory, while the light by which they are seen is real. So remain ever established in that light. i.e the Self. If you understand this point, you will attain Supreme bliss. I advise you to remain ever established in that Self, in which you are already established and not to think about the effect of the transitory states, because those effects are not on you (Self). Therefore it is of no use to worry about it. Sometimes there is inclination and other times there is disinclination in the entire world. You work while you are wake, but you do not work while you are asleep. Either ways, it makes no difference on the Self. The inclinations of the world and the body are made of the same matter (i.e. prakriti). Therefore why are you worried and concerned about them? You say that when you are affected by things that are happening in the world, you become uneasy and dissatisfied. The reason is, you want to see your inner state remaining calm, unaltered, and uniform. I urge you to not wish to see it uniform. It cannot remain uniform, because alteration and transformation is the nature of this material world (Prakriti). Therefore accept this, and remain established in the light (Self, Truth). From "Art of Living" by Swami Ramsukhdasji. Can be viewed online at: Click to Open Web Page