From a lecture of Matsyavatara das held at the Bhaktivedanta Ashram on 25 September 2009
In every endeavor, good predisposition pays a decisive role. If there is no good predisposition, there is no success. Real success is spiritual success. All the rest has no consistence, it doesn’t last and has no value.
Since the Shastra undoubtedly explain that power, energy and strength come from purity, we deduct that the most important aspect to prepare ourselves for action is purification of the mind and of the heart. We could read and study many books but from this we would not draw strength for acting good and the capability of inspire others.
Strength comes from purity and purity couples with transparency. As it is possible to see an object through clear water, it is not possible to see it if the water is murky. The same is for a veiled mind, a mind that is dimmed, darkened by conditioners and doesn’t allow for the vision and discernment of reality. To see reality we need a state of transparency and inner purity.
The necessity of a good predisposition to act, funded on purity, must be understood well beyond its merely literal meaning because superficial or dogmatic interpretations cannot help us in times of need.
Even in communication, to be successful it is indispensible to have a good attitude for both who is talking and who is listening. When one of the interlocutor misses this sensibility and of this engagement, the dialogue inevitably is interrupted and doesn’t lead to the expected results. The intense desire of communicate of one of them is not sufficient. It is necessary for both to have the same desire.
The Lord talks to us through our heart, but if we do not have a good predisposition to listen we could not understand what He is saying to us. Shri Krishna is the highest Goodness, the Immortal Love, the Clemente, the Merciful, the Lord of Grace and Mercy toward every creature. The Lord loves us and the love that we can experience is nothing else than a reflection of His Supreme Love. It is His Love that makes us falling in love with Him, with life, with every creature and gives joy to our heart. So that we don’t disperse or contaminate our sentiments we must feel them only for what has value, without contaminate them with lasiviousness, greed, egoism and greedy. By cultivating purity we can reconstruct our whole reservoir of love and invest it all in our relationship with God and with His creatures. When this happens, visible signs will manifest in the person. This signs are: peacefulness, serenity, inner satisfaction and faith in the Divine providence.
He who is satisfied within his soul doesn’t need gold, silver or brilliants, doesn’t need recognition or honors because he has already found everything that satisfy him within himself. As Krishna explains in Bhagavad-Gita (XVIII.54), this person as no regrets, nor craving. He is deeply humble because he has realized that the illusory power of the energy of the matter is insuperable and that only by letting ourselves go to God we can overcome the borders of appearance and enter into reality (ref. Bhagavad-Gita VII.14). In its higher teaching, Yoga is that renewed vision, it is the reintegration of the Inner Self into the universal reality, the reconnection of love with God and with all of His creatures.
Inner freedom, the inalienable patrimony of each living being, must be utilized to turn to purification and pursue the supreme wellbeing. Even though many dynamics can escape our control, we always have the chance to modulate and choose our response to events and our inner attitude. If there are disturbing thoughts that hamper the correct acting, we can evoke exactly their opposite, as Patanjali rishi teaches in Sadhan a Pada (II 33): vitarka badhane pratipaksha bhavanam. For example, proudly thinking of being the center of the attention and aspiring only to our egoistical selfishness is lethal for our conscience. If we get such though, we must move to the opposite such as: “I act not for me but for the wellbeing of all creatures. I offer my actions to God with all my love. I hope God likes my sincerity and my humble offer, despite my limitations, and that He, in His endless mercy would give it real value.”
If Shri Krishna sees our humbleness and the sincerity of our efforts, He will give us the necessary intelligence and strength to act in any circumstance in a constructive way for our and other’s evolution. The secret of success is pure spirit of offering, predisposition to humility, tolerance, faith and joy, being ready to recognize other’s value and act for common wellbeing. With this attitude we can positively face any endeavor or event, even an illness, a serious loss or a betrayal.
When we face obstacle we must be determined and tenacious. Never get disheartened but rather face difficulties with serenity and trust, like an athlete that practices with enthusiasm for the hurdle race knowing that the hurdles spur him to improve his performance and overcome his limits.
Every event must be accepted as an important chance to grow and learn in the great school of life to realize a harmonic integration between body, psyche and soul, between varna and ashram, between individual and society, between immanence and transcendence.
On the worlds stage we see a game of opposed forces. Sometimes negative weaves submerge us and hamper the realization of our projects. By maintaining our goal fixed, we must learn to swim in the great sea of the being to find our safe harbor, our center, our balance, no matter how many continuous sollecitations that we are exposed to. In this hard but charming endeavor, good predisposition is essential.
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