The purpose of Memorial Day (celebrated
in America) is to remember and honor the sacrifice of those who have given
their lives in defense of their country. Whether or not you, or me, or history
judges their sacrifice as justified, they gave their full measure and thus honor
is due to all.
I think of the great and noble man, and war hero, General
Robert E. Lee of the Confederate army.
He is quoted as saying “It is well that
war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it. Duty then is the
sublimest word in the English language. You should do your duty in all things.
You can never do more and you should never wish to do less.”
History may judge
that he made the wrong choice (he had been offered the leadership of the Union
army), but he followed what he deemed to be his duty and to that degree, then,
he was victorious. Both then, and ever since, he has been adjudged in error. In
recent years, statutes to his honor have been removed in various cities in the
American South. America’s Civil War was anything but civil and it was a holy
war to free enslaved peoples: of this there is no doubt. Yet each must act in
accordance with his own sense of duty.
Or, as Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita puts it: Perform those
actions which your duty dictates, for action is better than inaction. Without
action, indeed, even the act of maintaining life in the body would not be
possible. (Gita 3: 8)
I once asked Swami Kriyananda (founder of Ananda and a
direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda) about the righteousness and karma of
the Allies in WWII having unleashed the atom bomb in Japan and having firebombed the cities of Germany. He dismissed my unspoken but critical view of
these decisions with the equivalent of “all is fair in …. war.”
Difficult times
call for difficult decisions. You can only hope to do your best. The outcome is
what determines the rightness of a decision. The victory of the Allies gave
birth to the Iron Curtain but nonetheless deflected for a time the spectre of greater
enslavement and hopelessness.
It is no coincidence that India’s greatest scripture, the Bhagavad
Gita takes place on a battlefield where the first question asked is whether it
is righteous to fight. But military warfare and its righteousness is not my
real topic this day of remembrance.
Let us also remember those great saints and avatars who have
given their lives to spread the message of Self-realization (our soul’s eternal
life in God) to all “with ears to hear.” When a soul has become freed from all
present and past karma but elects to answer God’s call to return into human
form for the upliftment of others, it must bear the burden of the limitations
of earthly existence even if that burden is not engendered by its own past actions.
Human existence, even for a freed soul, entails some loss of divine contact,
just as Jesus on the cross momentarily cried out to Elias or as Yogananda wept inconsolably
for the death of his earthly mother.
While that loss is never permanent nor is
it the cause of actions fired by desire, the temporary eclipse of the immortal
and omniscient bliss of that soul is surely a painful or burdensome loss. Even
avatars, however briefly, confront their impending death with some trepidation;
such was the case of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and both Lahiri Mahasaya
and Swami Sri Yukteswar (as recorded in “Autobiography of a Yogi”).
Whether soldiers or saints, “Greater love has no one than
this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13. The intention
that motivates a conscious action ties the consequences to the doer of the act.
The results of that act shape the nature of the act’s consequences. (If one (a saint or master) has dissolved the sense of doership, then the consequences of his action accrue to the benefit of others.)
Jesus’ response to God’s call to sacrifice his human life on
the cross was faced in a different circumstance by Abraham who was asked by God
to sacrifice his son, Isaac. The sacrifice of one level of existence to achieve or for the benefit of a higher
level of consciousness is the way by which God has created the world.
In Chapter 3 of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna explains to devotee
Everyman (Arjuna) the purpose of “yagya,” or self-offering:
10. Prajapati (God in the aspect of Creator) brought mankind
into manifestation, and in so doing gave man the potential for self-offering
into a higher (than human) awareness (through yagya). Along with this gift He
enjoined mankind, “Whatever you desire, seek it by offering energy back to the
source of all energy.
Let this sacrifice (yagya) be your milch cow of
fulfillment.”
11. (Prajapati continued:) “With this offering, commune with
the devas (shining angels), that they may commune also with you. Through such
mutual communion you will arrive at the highest good.”
12. (Prajapati concluded:) “By communion with the devas you
will receive from them the (earthly) fulfillments you desire. He who enjoys the
gifts of the gods without returning due offering (of energy) to them is,
verily, a thief.”
The above is, for westerners, an unusual, even odd way of
stating what we know of sacrificing the present for the future. It is investing
in our future by refraining from present enjoyment. We in the West know all
about “investing” whether for retirement; or investing in a college education,
or the future of our children and so on.
Nature too teaches us that all life offers itself into the
greater life of others as an integral part of the cycle of life. The great “water
wagons” of rain clouds unleash their precious cargo that life might be revivified.
The sun consumes itself to give us energy and light. Microscopic life
forms are consumed by larger life forms all the way up the food chain. Plants
grow, live, and die for the nourishment of other life forms. And, returning to
our beginning, soldiers give their lives in defense of their nation and their people.
To lose weight we must sacrifice a few simple pleasures! To
sustain bodily strength we must take the time and make the effort to exercise.
To nourish a friendship we must learn to hold our tongue and to accept others
as they are before considering how we might help them (if they are open to our
help).
To fulfill our duties in work and service, we must sacrifice
some of the time we might otherwise give to relaxation and recreational
pursuits. Parents sacrifice the pleasure of one another’s company and many
personal pursuits and friendships by serving the daily needs of their children.
The great wheel of life is sustained by sacrifice. From the
saints to the soldiers, this is one of our soul’s great lessons and therefore we
celebrate this day of Memory.
May each and every one of us surrender to the great wheel of
Divine Life, offering ourselves into the fire of dharma and purification that
leads to our soul’s true home in Bliss.
Swami Hrimananda
USA Memorial Day 2019
