The Secret of Life-3.

3.

This does not mean, however, that we should ignore the life in the physical plane of matter. Matter is the expression of God or Brahman for His own Lila. Matter and Spirit are inseparable like heat and fire, cold and ice, and flower and fragrance. Sakti (power) and Sakta (he who possesses power) are one. Brahman and Maya are inseparable and one. A life in the physical plane is a definite preparation for the eternal life in Brahman.

World is your best teacher; the five elements are your Gurus. Nature is your mother and director. Prakriti is your silent master. World is the best training ground for the development of various divine virtues such as mercy, forgiveness, tolerance, universal love, generosity, nobility, courage, magnanimity, patience, will-power, etc. World is an arena for fighting with the diabolical nature and for expressing divinity from within.

The central teaching of the Gita and the Yoga-Vasishtha is that one should realise his Self by remaining in the world. ?Be in the world, but be out of the world. Behave like the water on the lotus-leaf’. Give up the lower Asuric nature which consists of selfishness, lust, anger, greed, hatred and jealousy and assert the divine nature, a life of mental renunciation and self-sacrifice.

Swami Sivananda.
To be continued  ....