Be like Hanuman and aspire for it. What did Hanuman do to deserve it? If you go into the past of Hanuman, he was driven by this anguish: “I want to know what I am born for.”
His story is very amazing. Of course, we know the background that he was born as Shankar Suman Kesri Nandan, but if you go through the adolescence and early age of Hanuman, he went through a lot of turmoil. He went through an adolescent crisis. He was so strong that Vali and Sugriva could have given him the kingdom, and he could have taken it.
Have you ever raised this question: how come Hanuman did not have the kingdom while Vali and Sugriva had it? The first reason was that he forgot his strength. Even then, he did not care about it. What was his concern? His concern was, “What is the truth?” So he knew that wrong was done to Sugriva, and he must take his side.
That was the life Hanuman was leading, but deep inside, he had a crisis constantly, “What am I born for? What am I born for?” And then, suddenly, one day Rama walks in. There is a phase he passes through.
So often, when we read Hanuman’s life, we only know it from the time Rama meets Hanuman. Most of the traditional stories start from this point in Hanuman’s life. The Kishkinda Kanda is mentioned, and some background is provided. But if you read through Hanuman’s life, he has earned this.
So if you want to aspire to know the Divine will, to know the Divine will, “I really want to serve you, Lord.” The Lord will ensure that you will serve Him, but you must remember that it’s not easy to serve Him because you have to be in equanimity. Success or failure does not matter.
The whole Gita is meant to prepare you to serve the Lord. Then you cannot say, “I will be nice if I have a comfortable house.” You cannot ask for such things. You are sent to Lanka, fine. You might be threatened, alright. But if the aspiration is there, then you will get prepared.
So that is what is important. If you seek it, you will know it because the Lord is seated in every heart; that is the premise. How will He reveal it? Well, in each one, the law of truth unfolds in its unique way. For someone, it may be this task; for somebody else, it may be something else. For someone, it may be, “Do something in India,” while for another person, it might be, “Do something in Australia.” For another person, it may be, “Do something somewhere else.” It’s not like it’s a uniform thing, but that will, you will know if you have an aspiration to serve. So one cannot follow by looking at someone else.
It is called in nice terms nowadays, “my calling.”
So even before we go to the will of the Lord, there is something called Swadharma. My calling is the nearest to that. So Swadharma is the in-built programming of the soul in a particular life to fulfill God’s will in you, till you reach a point where you can say “Sarvadharman Parityajya.”
Affectionately,
Alok Da
