I remember sitting in balvihar classes as a young child in Chinmaya Mission looking at the pictures of Swami Tapovan Maharaj and Swami Chinmayanandji, and thinking I could never possess the kind of austerity and discipline they had. In my mind if they were the picture of Self-realization then that was something that I could never achieve. Reading the lives of great saints we find stories upon stories of how much tapas they performed and it is often very intimidating. Even reading the great works of these Masters we find instructions that seems impossible in the practical world. But sitting in the presence of a living Master, all these fears and inferiorities disappear.
Two such Masters, Sant Keshavadasji and Sri Swami Jyotirmayanandaji have graced my life and I had the great privilege to be in thier company and learn from them. They showed me the picture of Realization in the physical sense. Nothing is impossible for them, though being complete gyanis they possessed tremendous humility, and the ability to touch everyone of all walks life that came before them. In every moment they exuded effortless joy.
The difference that separates the ordinary jiva from the jivan mukta is quality of mind—an impure mind and pure mind. The fact is Realization is always with us. Abidance in the Self is always there, and we have no choice in this matter. It is only that we do not realize that we are ever connected to Divinity. Forgetting this we limit our understanding of who we are to the body alone and forget our imperishable nature of the Spirit—our true identity. Identifying so deeply with these conditionings we feel that Realization can never be possible.
Gurudev has given an example to explain this point futher: The Self is like the sky and the clouds like ignorance. The sky always remains ever untouched by the clouds though seemingly affected. In the same way, it may appear that the Self has been conditioned by limiting adjuncts, rather it sustains them while remaining ever pure.
This example provides a great lesson for us in how to cultivate a mind that is not swayed by fluffy clouds, dark clouds or rainbows that project themselves, and how to remain ever equanimous in all pairs of opposites. The Mahatma is exactly like this, no matter what situation comes their way, they are completely unaffected, and in studying thier lives we find they thrive in adversity. They are the ideal of perfection and this is why we we find it so difficult to emulate thier lives.
To be great, we must fall at the feet of those who are great–completely surrender to the Guru and strive for purification so that we may one day realize the Guru as Brahman and our innermost Self. The idea that I once had that Enlightenment is out of my reach no longer holds true. The Master’s who have touched my life has been my example and continue to inspire me. I know that I do not need to live in a cave in the Himayalas somewhere or even in an ashram far away from the world, all I must do is retire to the cave of the heart and there I find these Masters graciously guiding me.