If the world outside were not there, you and I could not survive upon the surface of the globe even for one hour. When I say the world outside, it includes everything. The sun and the moon and the stars onwards to the plant kingdom and the animal kingdom, the Earth itself, the rivers and oceans, the entire world, minus you, is necessary for you to survive and live.

This is why the scriptures declare that the world was created first and then man was put in it. They don’t say that man was made and then the world was spun around him! No. The world was first created, and on that platform, when the scenario was ready for man’s activities and life, man was introduced, with certain instructions: “You need not approach me any longer to improve the world or the conditions there; you are the master of the entire universe.”

It is not an exaggeration. It is true. The world outside is necessary for our existence. To that extent, we are slaves to the world outside. If the sun and the moon and the stars are not there, if the gravitational force is not there, the phenomenal force is not there, if the oxygen and the air in the atmosphere are not there, if water is not there – you cannot live. Nature and all its forces are necessary. They provide the paraphernalia for you to exist.

The Gift of Nature

All this is given to us as a gift – the sun, moon, stars and oxygen. They are given to us absolutely free of cost. If these are not there, what can our technology produce? Not only has the outer world that is necessary for our survival come as a gift, the equipment to contact the world and milk out our experiences has also come to us absolutely free. The body, whether healthy or unhealthy, efficient or inefficient, the mind – whether clear or confused, the intellect – brilliant or dull – everything has come as a gift.

No doubt, in our vanity, we think that we are successful, that we have achieved something! Really speaking, we could not have achieved anything but for all these gifts. If we start thinking correctly, we will understand that ultimately that achievement of ours is also a gift alone.

When a gift is received, the recipient is a slave and the giver is the master. So, all of us, the whole mankind, including me, are slaves, in the sense that He is the master, the giver, and we are the recipients.

The Aryan genius was allergic to the idea of slavishness. His entire system revolted against the idea that the Lord is the supplier and I am only a receiver – a beggar at His door, every moment. So, the Aryan masters started thinking: Is it possible that I can be the master even though He may be the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Lord of the whole universe?

The greatest discovery of mankind is that you can conquer Him and He can be an implicit slave. What is the method?

In His Service

Whatever we have is His gift to us. We have nothing to give Him. How can I give Him anything when nothing is mine? The great Rishis pondered over this fact and found a strategy to deal with it: What you have is His gift to you, what you do with what you have is a gift from you to Him!

Swamiji is the Founder of Chinmaya Mission