On the eve of the 96th birth anniversary of our Founder (15th August 1930), Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati, we seek the honour of his blessings and are blessed to share a small excerpt from one of his many writings.
The subject matter of all the upanisads is one and the same. It is unfolded mostly in the form of dialogues. Even if there is no dialogue explicitly mentioned, it is to be viewed as a dialogue between a teacher and a student. A student is one who wants to have knowledge. A teacher is one who has this knowledge and shares it with the student. The subject matter is the ninja, fighting with the world to get what he wants. There the winner, or at least the one considered to be the better-fighter, is the successful one.
For any person who is successful materially, there are other aspects of life that are unsatisfactory. The self- conscious individual cannot get a sense of success in life because of the many unfulfilled desires that are attributed to constituting the personality. Naturally then, the ego becomes dissatisfied. The whole life starts with dissatisfaction and it continues to be so. When it dawns on the ego that desires can no longer be fulfilled, where is the question of satisfaction? There is none. So, the ego is disgruntled. This is how one becomes a ninja.
We always want to accumulate as much as we can in life. Thus, we do not really live a life of fullness. No one wants to survive for survival’s sake. We survive in the hope of living a better life later. We continue to postpone to living a full life. In the process of living, we may play various roles but this is not living a full life because we encounter constant fighting. When will there be peace? When we stop fighting. When will we stop fighting? When there is no issue to fight about. When will all be the issues be resolved? Never.
–Excerpted from the – Vision of Vedanta
By
Swami Dayananda Saraswati