Man\u2019s original nature is to remain in Bliss, which, in other words, is the joy of life. But owing to wrong living he has degraded and has lost that bliss.
\nWhen closely analyzed, this joy of life or bliss consists of the three\u00a0 ingredients viz. Peace, Serenity and Pleasure. The discriminative part of the
\nRight Life\u00a0 aims at re-establishing man\u2019s position in relation to the three end-points viz. Peace, Serenity and Pleasure
\n(or Sukha, Santosh and Shanti in inverse order). By practicing the Three Disciplines, man can establish himself in his original blissful state. This state
\nis what is carried forward and upward by Dharma, Artha and Kama, according to the Hindu conception. Moksha, which means liberation from
\nthis bondage of life, is optional. One may take, remain enjoying this bliss of life as long as he is not satiated with it. But, of course, it is implied that he
\nretains discriminative non-attachment to it. However, if he arrives at a stage when he thinks that this joy of life which he has been enjoying is
\nconditioned and it is still a kind of bondage and if he wants to get completely out of it, he can do that also easily. The capability is there in
\nhim, when he is well established in the Three Disciplines. In this case, the Devotional Aspect, of the Right Life as taught by the Shivapuri Baba should
\nbe given predominance. This is what is called Vairagya (which means distaste for life and longing for God) in the Hindu terminology.<\/p>\n
Discrimination (Viveka) as envisaged in the Three Disciplines and Vairagya (love of God) are the two aspects of the Right Life. These two are like the
\nobverse and reverse of the same coin. When one likes to remain enjoying this bliss of life, he is said to have given more emphasis to the
\nDiscriminative Aspect of the Right Life and when he wants to get out of the bondage of life, he is said to have given more emphasis to the Devotional
\nAspect of the Right Life. In either case, both discrimination and devotion as termed by the Shivapuri Baba to give a name to the Right Life (which in
\nHindu terminology is called Viveka and Vairagya) are there in the practice of the Right Life, the only difference being in the emphasis given to the one
\nor the other, which is subject to one\u2019s choice. Here Krishna and the Buddha may be cited as good examples.<\/p>\n
Desire for enjoyment in a grosser manner is the root cause of taking to life.\u00a0 Man\u2019s soul, which is called Purusha, according to the Hindu terminology,
\ndeveloped a primal desire to enjoy living with a body. He is then called Kshetrajna (in place of Purusha) in relation to his body (Kshetra). This state
\nis called Pravritti (evolution) and when this Kshetrajna wants to go back to his original state as Soul or Purusha, he is said to have taken to Nivritti
\n(involution) or turning back. So there are two different ways of living viz. Pravritti and Nivritti. In the Right Life, as taught by the Shivapuri Baba,
\nboth these ways of living are synchronized or combined, giving full choice for the one or the other to be given predominance, depending on the inherent
\ntendency of the man in question.<\/p>\n
The three end-points of Peace, Serenity and Pleasure as aforesaid are virtually like antidotes for the three kinds of suffering as described in the
\nShastras viz. Fear, Worries and Pain, the Tribidha Tap as they are called, the three-fold miseries. The opposite of pain is pleasure, the opposite of worries
\nis serenity and that of fear is peace. The physical or intellectual discipline as taught by the Shivapuri Baba aims at establishing Pleasure as opposed to
\nPain, the mental or moral discipline at establishing Serenity as opposed to Worries and the spiritual discipline at establishing Peace as opposed to Fear.<\/p>\n
Buddha is, therefore, sometimes criticized for his commitment that life is suffering. What is life? It is suffering in one sense but also an enjoyment in
\nanother sense. A man who is well established in the Three Disciplines enjoys full happiness or bliss in life and to live life, apparently, is
\nenjoyment. Buddha is therefore only partially right in arguing that life is suffering. Buddha\u2019s original teaching was constructed on that hypothesis.<\/p>\n
Right Life is constructed on a different basis. It does not say whether life is suffering or enjoyment. It is meant for both types of people, viz. this-
\nworldly (Pravritti) and the other-worldly (Nivritti). Both can make use of it. By establishing the Three Disciplines, you may remain enjoying because in
\nthat case you will enjoy life (either gross or subtle or most subtle) discriminately with your full knowledge and responsibility whether you are
\nin involution or evolution, which is left to your choice. In other words, you will never come to clash with others\u2019 interests or, for that matter, with any
\nbreach of Dharma. The law of life is well maintained. The word Dharma in its general sense implies this maintaining of the law of life. Artha and Kama
\nare corollaries to this Dharma. It therefore follows that Right Life brings to man Dharma, Artha and Kama, all three together.<\/p>\n
The nature of these three attainments is Peace, Serenity and Pleasure. This stage of Right Life is not
\ngodless as the non-understanding might suppose. This stage is called Life-Realization or World-Realization or Self-Realization. Physical or
\nintellectual discipline takes the predominant part in this. The next stage is to refine this enjoyment, which is called Soul-Realization where moral
\ndiscipline takes a predominant part. The last is called like God-Realization in which our enjoyment gets the maximum refinement. God, the Ultimate
\nTruth, is realized which means God plus cent percent perfection in bliss. In the first stage our enjoyment of Peace. Serenity and Pleasure is gross when
\ncompared to the second and the third stages. As we go higher, our enjoyment of the three (viz. Peace, Serenity and Pleasure) gets more and
\nmore refined.<\/p>\n
This is so because in the Right Life the Three Disciplines plus Meditation or longing for God is recommended from<\/p>\n
the very beginning. Right Life is Discrimination and Devotion both combined. So SB sometimes explains Right Life in terms of Discrimination
\nand Devotion.<\/p>\n
If you are in Right Life without love of God (or devotion), you may get into indulgence of the worldly or evoluted aspect of life, which means that your
\nenjoyment will be like that of a king or emperor in the first stage where physical or intellectual discipline takes the predominant part (Gaddi). If you
\nare in Right Life without love of God (or devotion) in the second stage where moral discipline is predominant, you get powers like Siddhi (or the
\ndifferent Siddhis as they are called) if you are in the Right Life without love of God (or devotion). You get the bliss of Samadhi (Samadhi). If longing for
\nGod (or devotion) is taken up as the common factor from the very beginning, you will not get involved in such indulgences as described,
\nbecause the fact of meditation (or devotion) implies the perfect retention in all the three stages of what the S.B. has called Discrimination and Devotion,
\nwhich the Gita calls \u2018non-attachment\u2019. In other words, there is no liability to confusion between the means and the end, which is God, at any of the three
\nstages.<\/p>\n
In this interpretation of the Right Life, God is immanent in each of the three stages, the only difference being in the
\nproportion of God as we rise up in the sequence. If we may bring a commercial term into such a high discussion, God-percentage increases as
\nwe rise into the higher stages from the minimum to the maximum. Let us now summarize Right Life in the SB\u2019s own words:<\/p>\n
“The sum and substance of my teaching is this: live the minimum life possible, subjecting body and mind to strict discipline. Again, how a hungry
\nman longs for food, how a man suffering from intense cold longs for heat, so long for God, meditate on Him continuously\u201d.<\/p>\n
N.B. Those who are interested in a fuller explanation of the Right Life are<\/em> referred to the book, \u201cLong Pilgrimage\u201d by J.G. Bennett in collaboration<\/em>
\nwith Thakurlal Manandhar, published by Hodder and Stoughton, London.<\/em><\/p>\n