Shakespeare describes the seven ages of man in the earthly sojourn that runs after material values or pleasures. But Kalidasa refers to only four stages of man who treads on the glorious spiritual path in the stanza ‘Saisabebhyastha Vidhyaanaam’. There he assigns the four mandatory functions one has to perform during each such stage. In the childhood, an age for education, one acquires many sided knowledge, in the adolescent period, while young, one enjoys carnal pleasures drinking life to its lees; in the old age one leads the life of a sage practising penance i.e., adopting the art of leaving (Sacrifice); finally one quits the terrestrial frame by means of yoga i.e., Communion of the individual soul with the eternal (merging the individual ‘I’ with the universal ‘1’).
The true meaning of anyone’s life lies in the realisation of the fact that ‘the art of living’ is but the art of leaving’ which is the essence of Indian spirituality. That’s why AMMA defined marriage as a means of enjoying everything as well as renouncing everything. The Vedas also preached ‘Na Karmana na Prajaya Dhanena’ which means that sacrifice and sacrifice alone confers immortality; but not wealth, any blood relation or any kind of deeds. It is renunciation that differentiates materialism from spiritualism. It is in this context that Vedas glorify the fact ‘Raso Vai Sah’ which means that God alone is the utmost palatable in the universe.
The Earth is a stage where mortal frames make their entrances and exits unconsciously and involuntarily. But the invisible power within that sways all is really capable of and responsible for all the actions, is imperceptible. This principle has been excellently conveyed by S.T. Coleridge through his innovative phrase ‘Willing Suspension of Disbelief. It is a concept in the field of Literary Criticism. It is aimed at explaining the nature of dramatic illusion i.e., the credibility of the drama by the spectators. The essence is that in a theatre we are not asked to believe in what is presented to our mind, but we are asked not to disbelieve. That is only a momentary suspension of disbelief, which is required for enjoyment. So to say the critical faculty is asleep for the time being.
Considering creation as the theatre and the Earth as stage AMMA disclosed a noble and harsh reality; “The basis of all grief is a sense of personal doership. When ownership is not felt there is no route to happiness. Thus the ownership seems to be a highway for happiness but verily paves the way for affliction ultimately”.
The truth is that all the actions are governed by the Primordial power, the ONE without a second, that has manifested as everything seen and unseen, living and nonliving, temporal and perpetual. Only the WILL OF GOD prevails but not the perceptions and misperceptions of individuals. It is clearly brought out in the words of AMMA: “Although man seems to have everything in his hands, in fact he has nothing” [Chetalu Chetullo levu]
Normally man believes in human endeavour or willful effort. However, in real life success and failure are common. Then he tends to believe in the Super-physical Power governing mind and body as well as mass and energy. This belief in the force beyond wavers for the time being. Again he voluntarily suspends his disbelief in the existence of Almighty. That’s how the pendulum sways between belief and disbelief, which quite likely alternate. The result being he tends to be Gnostic or agnostic. Finally he gets convinced of divine dispensation or deluded that success or failure is the result of human effort only. So that what comes to his mind is deemed the reality in the outcome having little choice. We feel that we are able to walk because we find our legs moving. Similarly we feel that we can see, think, hear, talk, smell, eat, and breathe because our organs function. Almighty dictates and directs our thought and action according to HIS will. But at the same time, he makes us believe that we act according to our own will. This is the most astonishing eternal truth professed by AMMA. When asked ‘what is illusion (Maya)?’ AMMA instantaneously and unequivocally proclaimed: “thinking that ‘I’ do (personal doership)”.