Perfecting the Personality - Swami Rama  

Part II

If you accept the idea that you cannot change, then you cannot do anything in life. You will be a total failure: Then, you cannot be creative and you cannot improve. If this is how you live, then what is the use of living? Such a life is boring and becomes a burden to you. You should continue to do experiments with yourself, and every time you do one, you will find that you are growing and growing. Your growth should lead you to such a state and a height in which you are free from all desires that are selfish. The desires to help others, to serve others, and to serve the nation or humanity – these are great desires. When all your small desires are swallowed by that great desire, then your life will be like that of a saint. You will find yourself to have become entirely different. All the truly great men and women who have lived on this earth have been totaly selfless and desireless; they lived for the sake of others, to serve and help others. They knew the cosmic principle – that the only way to freedom is to learn to give. This is the law of life: Give and give up.

If you study yourself, you can consider why and for whom your hands and feet work – they work to feed your mouth. If your hands and feet decide to no longer feed the mouth, you will not survive. Your teeth grind and chew your food for your liver, and your liver functions for the whole being. In fact, your whole being lives for the entire universe – this is a fact.

You are acting against this principle when you work only for yourself. You are becoming selfish, and this process is one of degeneration: That is why you suffer. The main cause of your suffering is your selfishness and egotism. Being selfish means that you are not doing your duties, and if you are not doing your duties, you cannot expect to experience happiness. Being egotistical means you are going downhill; you are not progressing or improving.

© "The Art of Joyful Living" by Swami Rama, published (1998) by The Himalayan International Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy of the USA, RR 1, Box 400, Honesdale, Pennsylvania 18431-9706. Part I of this article was published in `Splendour’ May, 2003 issue.

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