Swami Mukundananda - 7 Divine Laws to Awaken Your Best Self

This book is dedicated to my beloved Spiritual Master, Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj, who illuminated the world with the purest rays of divine knowledge and sweetened it with the goodness of divine love. He taught me, by his example, the importance of nurturing souls with love and care to help them realize a glorious future. He reminded humankind about the supreme process of building a noble value system through selfless and ceaseless devotion to God. I am confident that by his blessings this book will help to inspire and elevate seekers, thereby creating a better world.

Contents

W E ALL wish to be better. The desire to awaken our best self is as natural to us as heat is to fire. No matter how good we may be, a feeling remains, I must improve further. I am not yet the ideal version of myself.

The same yearning for growth manifests in our works as well. Despite what we may have accomplished in life, an inner voice says, I am yet not satisfied; I wish to do even better. I desire to be a better parent/child; a better husband/wife; a better boss/employee; a better teacher/student. The list is endless

What is the source of this aspiration, and why is it such an integral part of us? Well, the yearning to grow comes from the Creator Himself. The Bhagavad Gita states:

mamaivnho jva-loke jva-bhta santana (15.7)

All living beings in the world are eternal fragmental parts of the Supreme.

By nature, each part is spontaneously attracted to its source. Since our source is Godand He is perfectwe too seek to be more godlike. That is just the way we have been made. Our soul is destined for perfection, and hence, it keeps prodding us to progress further.

Around us, we witness Nature incubating the evolution of carbonin the earths crustinto diamond, over billions of years. In a shorter timeframe, mud evolves to grass, which is grazed by cows and transformed into milk. The milk gets converted to curds from which butter is extracted. And butter finally evolves to ghee, which gets offered on the sacred altar as a symbol of purity.

However, the creation of material products, like ghee and diamonds, is not the primary purpose of the grand scheme of the Universe. Rather, Natures chief objective is to nurture the evolution of all souls to super-consciousness over a continuum of lifetimes. And until we fulfil that divine plan, we cannot be content.

The American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed this very brilliantly in his essay The Over-Soul:

We grant that human life is mean. But how did we find out that it is mean? What is the ground of this old discontent? What is this universal sense of want and ignorance, but the fine innuendo by which the soul makes its enormous claim?

The nudging of our soul that Emerson refers to was scripted in us by our Creator, to ensure we keep striving ever forward. It will only quieten when we manifest the infinite potential latent in us.

Dear Reader, you have also experienced this nudging of your soul for progress, and that is why you have chosen to read this book to awaken your best self.

The problem is not that we do not want perfection. The problem is that we strive for it year after year, but do not achieve success. This is our predicament. We aspire to reach the stars but find ourselves glued to our lower instincts. We have our head in the sky but our feet on the earth.

Why are personal growth and life transformation so difficult? Does Creation wish us to fail? Of course not! The purpose behind the Universes grand design is to make us succeed. Our own unawareness of the laws of the Universe creates the impediment. Growth and accomplishment are the fruits of knowledge, not ignorance.

The Adhytma Rmyan explains:

ajnamevsya hi mlakraam (Uttar Kand 5.9)

Nescience is the root cause of all stagnation. Consider the following hilarious example:

I once saw a billboard advertisement picturing a snarling dog and a smug cat. The dog had the most ferocious expression on its face and was trying to pounce on the cat. Yet, just a whisker away, the feline sat blissfully unperturbed and even amused.

The caption of the advertisement read: The Power of Knowledge!

The dog was leashed; it could only bark and growl within the periphery of its tether. And the cat was aware of the simple fact: The dog does not have the power to breach its leash. If I stay outside its circle, I am safe.

Knowledge of the Law of the Leash had bestowed freedom and peace of mind to the cat. If such a trivial piece of knowledge could make such a big difference, then what might be said of the benefits of knowing the laws of the Universe?

The purpose of this book is to acquaint you with the laws governing your life and how you can align your existence with them. Over the last three decades, I have taught these principles to millions and seen the difference this knowledge has made to their lives. I have no doubt it will benefit you as well.

We all know that water boils at 100 degrees centigrade. So, we are not surprised to see it remain liquid at ninety-five degrees centigrade. Nor are we astonished to see it evaporate on reaching boiling point, for this conforms to the physical laws of the universe. These laws of nature govern the phenomena of electricity, magnetism, gravity, health, light, and the like.

We humans too create laws for the regulation of society. These man-made laws get instituted one day and can be repealed in future. However, Natures laws are different. They are eternally valid irrespective of time, place, and circumstance. For example, whether we jump off the Qutub Minar or the Eiffel Tower, in both places the law of gravity will bring us down with a thud. It matters little whether we are aware of the law and agree with it or not.

Like the laws regulating physical phenomena, there are also spiritual principles governing the journey of life. Knowledge of them helps us understand why success comes so easily to some but remains a struggle for others; why some are still putting on their shoes, while others have finished the race. The beauty is that like the physical laws of nature, the divine principles governing success and fulfilment in life are also valid forever.

In this book, we shall discuss the seven most important divine laws of life. These precepts, which govern human existence, have been gleaned from the Vedic scriptures:

The Law of Infinite Potential

The Law of Incremental Growth

The Law of Beliefs

The Law of Happiness

The Law of Sublimation

The Law of Love

The Law of Mentorship

What are these laws? How can our life be enriched by their knowledge and application?

I sincerely believe you are as eager to know the answers as I am keen to explain them. So, without further ado, lets proceedone page at a timeon a joyous journey through the seven chapters of this book.

Mensa is an international society for the super-intelligent. Admission to it is granted only to those who achieve a percentile score of ninety-eight or above on standard intelligence quotient (IQ) tests. The society has almost 150,000 members from over a hundred countries.

Yet, in 1954, eight years after its inception, Mensas worldwide membership had dwindled to four. The person who lifted the organization to its present glory was Victor Serebriakoff from Austria. He took over its presidency when it was down in the dumps, and held it for nearly twenty long years, until his death in 2000.