Swami Krishnananda-To Thine Own Self Be True, en
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TO THINE OWN SELF
BE TRUE
By
Swami Krishnananda
The Divine Life Society
Sivananda Ashram, Rishikesh, India
(
Internet Edition: For free distribution only
)
Website: www.swami-krishnananda.org
CONTENTS
Publishers’ Preface
3
Chapter I: Introductory
4
Chapter II: The Conditioning Of Personality
11
Chapter III: The Object Of Meditation
18
Chapter IV: The Object Of Meditation Is Not Outside
26
Chapter V: The Psychology Of Meditation
34
Chapter VI: The Difficulties On The Path To Perfection
42
Chapter VII: The Doctrine Of The Bhagavad Gita
50
To Thine Own Self Be True by Swami Krishnananda
1
PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE
The present publication is significantly titled as ‘TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE,’
since the main undercurrent of the message in these seven lectures is an emphasis on
the need to search for one’s True Self through an acute analysis of the variety of
psychological involvements in which the essential Selfhood of Being seems to be
enmeshed. These discourses were delivered extempore during the seven-day annual
function at the Headquarters of the Divine Life Society subsequent to the Sri Guru-
Purnima celebration in the year 1993. It is hoped that this veritable treatise will ever
remain as a handbook of guidance to lovers of Truth.
—THE DIVINE LIFE SOCIETY
Shivanandanagar
12th November, 1993.
To Thine Own Self Be True by Swami Krishnananda
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CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTORY
This is a period of seven days known as Sadhana Week, which this
ashram
has been
observing every year during the occasion of holy Sri Guru Purnima and the sacred
Punyatithi Aradhana
of worshipful Gurudev Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj. In this seven-
day Sadhana Week we devote our time to mustering our forces and focus our attention
on what is generally regarded as
sadhana
, or spiritual practice.
Everyone has some idea of what spirituality is, and a God-fearing life is. When we start
doing something in this direction, we feel the necessity to understand at the very outset
what are the circumstances under which we have to take even the first step itself.
The initial step is also an indicator of the general process of the entire endeavour. The
initial step itself will suggest the direction which we are taking in our effort, whatever be
the nature of that effort. That is to say, we will not be able to take even the first step
correctly unless the methodology or technology of the practice is clear before our mental
vision.
On a careful analysis of our own selves dispassionately carried on during our leisure
hours, we would notice that every living being is engaged in a twofold activity every day.
One type of activity is the pouring of ourselves on the world outside, which we perceive
as an external object, concerning ourselves entirely with what we see with our eyes,
being busy with the things of life in general. The extent to which we pour ourselves upon
the conditions of the external world depends upon the intensity of the pressure exerted
upon us by the world itself.
Sometimes the world does not seem to be bothering much about us; then our concept
also is equally diminished in its intensity. For instance, there are mountains and trees in
front of us; there is a river that is flowing and the sun that shines in the sky. These are
also part of the world of perception. Normally we do not think that they are trouble-
makers. We do not have to pay excessive attention to the mountain that is in front of us
or the river that flows, or the sun that shines, etc., but there are things which draw our
attention immediately and are our concern. Most of these aspects of concern are
connected with our relationship with human beings like us.
There are animals and sub-human creatures in the forest who can become more
dangerous in their behaviour towards us than human beings; nevertheless, we are least
bothered about their existence. There are people in Junagadh, Gujarat, where lions are
living. How many people there are afraid of these lions, though lions are there in the
forest in the vicinity itself? They are concerned with human beings only (their next-door
neighbour, the owner of the property, etc.) but not the tiger or the lion which is also
nearby.
Our concern is proportionately divided on account of our involvement in the
circumstances prevailing outside in the world. The nature of the involvement also is the
extent of our concern and to that extent also is the proportion in which we pour
ourselves outside in the world. This is a brief statement of the nature of our externalised
activities known as
pravritti
—an outward moving of our mind, our consciousness, our
own selves.
When I am busy with something in the world, I have transferred myself from the
To Thine Own Self Be True by Swami Krishnananda
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location of my personality (physical and psychological) to an externalised location which
is my concern in that particular locality of the world.
Pravritti
is the externalised
outward-moving activity of the human personality, but we are not doing only this much.
Whatever be the intensity of our longing to be concerned with the world of objects and
persons outwardly, we are also aware that we have to guard ourselves and our
personalities to be secure in every way.
There is an inwardised activity also taking place—sometimes consciously, sometimes
subconsciously. When I am intensely busy with doing something in the world, it may be
that I have temporarily forgotten my very existence as a human being and I have poured
myself on an externalised circumstance, but subconsciously I have not denied my
existence.
There is another kind of activity taking place which is inwardised, known as
nivritti
—a
withdrawal of externalised concern in the direction of a concern for what one regards as
oneself.
We are doubly conscious every moment of time in our engagements during the period of
our entire lives. Every one of us is conscious of oneself as a very important item in life,
notwithstanding the fact that one is simultaneously conscious of the world also outside.
This is the
pravritti
lakshana
on one side and the
nivritti
lakshana
on the other side of
human activity, endeavour and involvement.
Why does this activity take place at all? Unless we know something about our own selves
and the world in which we are placed, which we are perceiving with our sense organs—
unless our understanding of this entire situation is adequately clear, we cannot take
even the first step in the right direction.
It is like the march of an army in the battlefield, which is intensely active at a given
moment of time. The soldiers are alert for an immediate march forward. What is
forward—in what direction? The forward march is also doubly motivated in the sense
that it is, on the one hand, directed towards the safeguard of one’s own self (the soldiers
do not go to the war to die there—they go to win victory and come back safe); on the
other hand, they have a concern over the necessity to put a check upon the opposing
forces. They have to assess their strength; they have to assess the strength of the other
side also. What is the energy, strength and the capacity of the opposing forces? Without
knowing that, nobody will march forward; and at the same time, what is ‘my’ strength in
facing this force? If everything is clear (I know my strength and their strength also), I
can take an initiative in the needed direction and march in the required manner.
Sometimes the marching is held in check. The General of the army may order to stop,
though they are in the thick of the field; for some reason the order will come in that way,
“Attention! Hold on!” Or, sometimes, it may be an order to take a step backward:
“Retreat!” That retreat order is not an order towards withdrawal from the battlefield but
one necessary step in the direction of an onward march.
Even if you are descending a hill when you are going towards holy Badrinath, that
descent also is a part of an onward march towards the holy shrine. We are not always
going up towards the peak of the Himalayas when we move towards sacred Badrinath.
There can be a coming down and a going up in the process of movement.
In a similar manner is this dual activity of the human personality taking care of itself
To Thine Own Self Be True by Swami Krishnananda
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