Simply Simple – In Gita Verse 17.5-6 Those who undergo severe austerities and penances not recommended in the scriptures, performing them out of pride and egoism, who are impelled by lust and attachment, who are foolish and who torture the material elements of the body as well as the Supersoul dwelling within, are to be known as demons.
Krishna says that people practice austerities and pennances out of ego. They don’t become simple, by practicing these they become egoist.
In my Bhagavad Gita Verse 2.61, blog I wrote – But Masochists have converted austerity into self-torture. They think that the more you torture the body, the more spiritual you become. Torturing the body is the way to become spiritual: this is the understanding of the masochist.
Live a simple life of needs being fulfilled, with no mad desires. You need food, you need clothing, you need shelter – finished. You need somebody to love; you need somebody to be loved by. Love, food, and shelter – simple.
What is the trouble with man? The trouble is that he thinks that for enjoyment, certain conditions have to be fulfilled first. To enjoy life, in fact, no conditions are to be fulfilled; it is an unconditional invitation. But man thinks that certain conditions have to be fulfilled first; only then can he enjoy life. This is the complex mind.
The simple mind feels that one has to enjoy whatsoever is available. Enjoy it! No conditions are to be fulfilled. And the more you enjoy this moment, the more capable you become of enjoying the next. The capacity grows; the greater and greater it becomes, the higher and higher it goes – it is infinite. And when you come to the infinity of enjoyment, that is what God is. God is not a person sitting somewhere and waiting for you. By this time He would have gotten bored, waiting for you…
God is not a person. He is not a goal. He is a way of enjoying life right here and now.
God is the attitude of being blissful for no reason at all. You are miserable for no reason at all, that is the complex mind.
Real austere men practice what is recommended in the scripture. He is not an egoist or masochist. He is simply simple.
An austere man comes to know that happiness is the nature of life. You need not have any causes to be happy. You can simply be happy, just because you are alive! Life is happiness, life is bliss; but this is possible only for an austere man. A man who accumulates things – palaces, money, gadgets – always thinks that because of these things he is going to be happy. Riches are not the problem; the attitude of the man who tries to find riches is the problem. The attitude is: unless I have all these things, I cannot be happy. This man will always remain unhappy.
An austere man comes to know that life is so simple that whatsoever he has, he can be happy. He need not postpone it for anything else.
Austerity will then mean, come down to your needs. Desires are mad, needs are natural. Bring your whole life energy down just to the level of needs – food, shelter, and love – and you will be happy. And a happy man cannot be other than religious, and an unhappy man cannot be other than irreligious. He may pray, he may go to the temple and the mosque, that doesn’t matter. How can an unhappy man pray? His prayer will have a deep complaint in it, a grudge. It will be a deep grump. Prayer is gratitude, not complaint.
So remember, the more you are possession oriented, the less happy you will be. The less happy you are, the farther away from the Divine, from prayer, from gratitude you will be. Be austere.
Krishna says live with the necessary and forget about desires. They are fantasies in the mind, ripples on the lake. They only disturb you, they can never lead you to any contentment.
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