We all wonder what is the importance of scripture or spirituality in our lives. Here Swami Chinmayananda explains beautifully the significance of spiritual living.

Somebody once donated a radio and said, “Swamiji! Ye Aapka hai (this is yours)”. He told me how to switch it on when I admitted that I know little about the radio. Every morning when I would switch it on, cheap cinema songs would be heard and I would switch it off. Further I received only Colombo station. 

So next day in the satsanga I told them that the radio was useless as I was not getting Delhi station at all. In the satsanga was the general manager of Philips. When he heard me saying that the Philips radio was useless, he came to me and said, “Swamiji, I am from Philips. Were you complaining about the Philips radio?”

I said, “This radio is Philips and whenever I switch it on, no other station except Colombo is heard.” The general manager smiled and told me, “Swamiji, there are four more knobs. If you turn the first one, it receives various stations. The second knob is used to control the volume. The third is ‘tuning’ to eliminate disturbances.” Then when I started using it, it was working beautifully!

All of you are beautiful machines, guaranteed for life, until you die! But you do not know how to use it. You create disturbances for yourself and others. You do not know how to remove them. You do not know which knob to control. 

You have been given a wonderful life as a gift. You did not ask for it. The moment you emerge from the mother’s womb, varied faculties have been given to you as gifts. You take them home to make use of them. But if you misuse and abuse them, then you are digging your own grave of sorrow and tension, stresses and strains, and you also distribute the same to others continuously! 

We do not study the scriptures and, therefore, we do not know how to grow through their use. God has, in fact, created a beautiful world. You make it dirty by your choice. You have the freedom to do so! 

If I don’t have the knowledge, even if the machine is beautiful, I cannot make use of it. Unless one knows the scriptures, no one can live perfectly in any department of activity.

You may like to read Why Spirituality – An Interesting Story by Swami Chinmayananda

Reference: Read Daily Life Fully by Swami Chinmayananda