Human beings want to live dignified lives; they do not want to live insignificant lives like earthworms. If someone is told to live like an earthworm, he or she will simply refuse. In the Vedas it has been said:

Kurvanneveha karmáńi jijiiviśecchataḿ samáh;
Evaḿ tvayi nányatheto’sti na karma lipyate nare.⁽¹⁾

[While performing actions in this world, cherish the desire to live for a hundred years. You will not get enmeshed in actional bondage. There is no other way.]

“While living a life charged with action, one should pray to live for one hundred years, only to continue performing noble deeds.”

There is a common notion that people in ancient times lived longer than the people of today; but this is incorrect. Rather due to scientific progress and advances in medical science, as well as spiritual progress in Tantra Yoga, modern humans are living longer lives than the ancients. People in the olden days hardly lived longer than forty-five years; but today people live much longer. To live a life of one hundred years was a rare accomplishment in those days. And thus the sage said, “Human beings may pray to God for a long life of one hundred years – in order to perform noble deeds” (otherwise why should they drag on their existences unnecessarily?). In the present-day world, there are a few people who have passed the age of one hundred, but not very many. There is a Bengali poem:

Nará gajá bishe sha-y tár ardhek bánce hay;
Báish balda tera cháglá bale gela bará páglá.

[Humans and elephants live for one hundred twenty years. A horse lives for half that time; a bullock for twenty-two years, and a goat for thirteen years. That was the calculation of the astrologer Baraha.]

Human beings and elephants live as long as one hundred twenty years; bullocks live over twenty-two years, and goats thirteen years. This was observed by the great astrologer Baraha. But although the human beings of today may live even longer than that, mere survival is not enough; what is important is to live a dignified life. The excellence of human life lies in action; it is through action that human beings survive. They should aspire to live long while performing noble deeds; it is futile to live just like an earthworm. Indeed, each and every human being should vow, “I do not know how long I will survive; but as long as I exist I will live a glorious life, not an ignominious existence like that of an earthworm.”

Human beings have to earn their livelihood and perform their assigned duties. The degree of physical labour they have to perform depends on the economic condition of their land. The citizens of those countries which are socio-economically developed have to perform less physical labour; instead their intellectual labour has increased. This is the natural law. The human beings who lived one hundred years ago used to perform much more manual labour than do those of today. Those who washed clothes used to stand in knee-deep water. This type of life for years on end markedly reduced their longevity, and thus washermen and women did not live longer than forty to forty-five years; their excessive physical labour would shatter their health. Due to their lack of knowledge of hygiene and absence of spiritual practice, their life-spans were shortened.

Spiritual practice makes the mind calm and quiet, and maintains the nerves in a state of equipoise; and thus spiritual practice increases longevity. Those Vaishnavites who are vegetarians, who regularly sing spiritual songs, do meditation, perform virtuous deeds and think pure thoughts, live longer than ninety years.

Now, one may say that some people like Vivekananda did not live long; but the cause of their early death was excessive labour. Extreme physical labour definitely reduces one’s longevity. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lived [less than fifty] years; he could perhaps have lived longer, but due to excessive labour, he could not survive. He undertook long tours throughout India on foot. Shankaracharya did not live long, either, because he also toured India on foot; he walked from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas. This extreme physical labour told upon his health; otherwise he could perhaps have lived longer.

I want you all to live long – but you must live glorious lives, not like those of earthworms. Your lives should be bustling with activity.

Human beings always yearn for the destruction of the evil forces, for the removal of darkness and the flooding of effulgent light. Let your dynamic forward movement make your lives ever joyful – see that you never lag behind, or slump down dejected. No human being wants this. Rather let your slogan always be, Caraeveti, caraeveti [“Move on, move on”]. Let the chant of your forward movement be ever on your lips.

In India, particularly in Bengal in early autumn, when, in the midst of constant movement, people get a slight respite from their worldly responsibilities, they get the scope to think deeply about life. In the month of Bhádra [mid-August to mid-September] the early autumn paddy has already been harvested, and the late autumn paddy will be harvested some time later. During this period people cannot remain inactive: they will have to move ever forward. During this time, they long in their heart of hearts for the victory of the righteous forces over the evil forces.

You might have noticed in the pillars of King Ashoka, a lion is standing upon a wheel. Here the lion is the symbol of the evil forces: it may be the king of beasts, but however powerful it might be, it is after all only an animal. Tathápi siḿgha pashureva nanyah – “Yet a lion is an animal, nothing more.”

Here [in relation to Bengal] the lion means Mansingha [the general of Akbar]. Once Mansingha sent a letter to Pratapaditya, the king of Jessore, and along with the letter he sent a chain and a sword, asking him to choose between the two. King Pratapaditya quickly called a meeting and told his courtiers that he was going to choose the sword, and leave the chain for the animals. To him a lion, however powerful it might be, was after all only an animal. For his part in this Mansingha was universally condemned: his action was despicable because he was trying to seize someone else’s freedom. People always long for the victory of the righteous forces over evil, and in this autumn season people pondered deeply over this. In the process, they developed this festival of victory, celebrating the triumph of humanity over the negative forces.

At the time when Krittivas, the famous Bengali poet, wrote the Bengali Rámáyańa, long after the time of Valmiki’s original Rámáyańa, all languages except Sanskrit were considered to be people’s languages [dialects]. Krittivas wrote the Rámáyańa in Bengali during the Pathan rule, in the reign of Nawab Hussain Shah. In his book Krittivas linked this autumn festival to Ramchandra’s victory celebration as depicted in the original Rámáyańa.

You should remember that this type of victory celebration was also popular during the Buddhist period, when people used to organize autumn festivals with much music, dance and revelry. In the original Rámáyańa, Ramchandra attained victory in the Lanka war, and hence there was a victory celebration. But Krittivas added a religious dimension to the victory celebration of Bengal. Actually the former victory celebration was nothing but an autumn festival.

During this season, all of nature remains pure and sentient: the sky is free from clouds, and there is an atmosphere of joy all around. A sweet breeze blows, and the beautiful kush and kásh grasses abound everywhere. In fact, the entire environment makes people intoxicated with joy. Against this background, people long for the victory of righteousness over the evil forces, the victory of knowledge and wisdom over the darkness of ignorance. This is how the autumn festival originated in Bengal. At an early stage, this autumn festival had nothing to do with the worship of Durgá [attributed by Krittivas to] by King Ramchandra.

Moreover, when the goddess Durgá was worshipped in earliest days, she was an eight-armed deity. In all the Puranas [mythological scriptures] over 1200 years old, such as the Márkańd́eya Puráńa, the Brhat Nandikeshvara Puráńa, the Devii Puráńa and the Káliká Puráńa, the deity was invariably eight-armed. In those days in Maharashtra also, the custom of worshipping the eight-armed goddess was also popular. The worship of the ten-armed goddess Durgá was first introduced by Kansa Narayana, king of Taherpur of Rajsahi District of Bangladesh.

This victory celebration was clearly symbolic of the victory of humanity over the evil forces, over the forces of destruction. Thus human beings should take a vow that their lives will be utilized in waging a ceaseless struggle against the demonic forces. The very prospect of this struggle brings joy, and the joy becomes still greater when the evil forces are totally vanquished and righteousness is established. And in this great task of establishing righteousness, we also should make a maximum contribution.

Footnotes

(1) Iśa Upaniśad.