“Peering into the heart of life”–Daily Metta

October 28:

“I have no interest in living except for the prosecution of that mission.”

–Gandhi (Harijan, July 6, 1940)

Gandhi was not passionate about films from the turn of the century. He didn’t spend his free time learning Greek. He wasn’t consumed with refining his palate for wines, or seeking out new adventures in world travel. His one, all-consuming passion was freedom. All-consuming, meaning that lesser happinesses didn’t even tempt him. He saw through it all right into the heart of life: why are we here and what can I do with my own small, seemingly insignificant life? His hypothesis was Truth, in whose path, he admits, the “discovery of nonviolence came to me.”

While he makes it clear in most of his talks that his personal aim was spiritual, the thing that makes the Mahatma stand out among other spiritual seekers was that he translated that individual, exalted vision into its natural correlate: a desire for the well-being of others–specifically, in wanting to show the way to freedom through the nonviolent method with India as the model. With a vision and a drive as strong as this, all other frivolities truly pale in comparison. You see right through them. And all of his activity, from dawn to, well, dawn, (the Indian scriptures say that for a person with this drive in their hearts, they make progress even in sleep!), was an attempt to achieve this nearly impossible goal. He ate, slept, dreamt, did, in essence, nothing else.

And what about us? Was Gandhi “mad,” while we go about our daily lives? Why are we here? What is this world?

Sri Ramakrishna, the father of the modern Vedanta movement, put our crisis in terms of a rather moving image: fish who hide in the mud when the fisherman spreads his net on the bottom of the river. Thinking that they will be safe in the mud, they hide, while others, who realize what is happening, swim away. Anyone who watches them can follow their lead. Some do, others choose to remain, and when the fisherman lifts his net, the mud-fish can no longer free themselves.

 
Experiment in Nonviolence:
Close your eyes and try to imagine Gandhi’s vision.