The ideal of every true seeker of God should be perfection. Each one of us should strive to be perfect. It was Jesus who said: “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect!” Even as God is perfect, even so must we aspire after perfection. Let each one of us strive to be perfect.
What is the mark of a perfect man? This, that he wanders not. How much do we not wander! It may appear that we are seated in one place: but our minds keep on wandering. “What is the quickest, the fastest thing in the world?” a sage was asked. And he answered: “The mind.” See how fast the mind travels, one moment it is here: another moment it is in New York: a third moment it is in Taiwan. The mind keeps on wandering: the mind will never be still.
The perfect man is one whose wandering has ceased. Like us, he has passed through many experiences. He has suffered: he has shed tears: he has offered prayers. He has been crushed by the grinding wheels of the mill of maya. At last, his soul has ripened and he has become perfect. His wandering hath ceased. He wandereth no more.
Men suffer because they wander. The cause of their wandering is three–fold. Maya has three faces, three prongs.
1) The first is pleasure, sense gratification. See how pleasure draws us. The cinema, the theatre, the club, the disco, the snack bar, all these and so many other things fascinate us, wake up within us desires. Control desires: do not let desires control you!
2) The second face, the second prong of maya is wealth. See how people run after wealth. They keep on amassing more and more wealth.
3) The third face of maya is name, fame, earthly greatness.
O ye, who would wish to be perfect, keep away from these three snares – pleasure, wealth, power. Sing the Holy Name of God with love and longing of the heart, with tears in your eyes, and give the service of love to those that suffer and are in pain, and you, too, will grow in perfection and you, too, will be filled with ananda, the bliss that no ending knows!
Dada J P Vaswani is a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader
