“You know, I am enjoying two pensions. One is by the recommendation of your father, for whom I once worked in the railway office.  The other is by the recommendation of my Heavenly Father, for whom I have conscientiously finished my earthly duties in life.”

Swami Pranabananda speaking to young Yogananda

Autobiography of a Yogi, Chapter 3

From the time we are young, we are bombarded with advertising images via television, magazines, and billboards showing retired persons apparently living a leisurely existence, playing golf on palm-lined, sun-drenched golf courses and the like. Such messages attempt to sell us on the possibility of a kind of heaven on earth.


Paramahamsa Hariharananda used to caution: “Everyone is giving you temptation. No one is giving you reality.” The fact is that no worldly circumstances, possessions, or achievements will yield true happiness because these things are superficial and only give material results. Those who do not possess discrimination – who do not duly reflect over the nature of life, experience great emptiness and depression when even the acquisition of wealth and everything that was supposed to bring them happiness fails to do so. Material existence is, by its very nature, a duality – it is impossible to have one without its opposite. Up is only up in relation to down. Left is known as such only in proportion to right. Joy exists in relation to sorrow, etc., etc. In other words, there is no unmixed happiness in life. It does not exist, as life is a duality. The only solution is to realize that our true Nature transcends all pairs of opposites. This liberating realization is not intellectual (the Self transcends the body, mind, and intellect); it is spiritual, and can be known only through direct experience.

A man/woman works an entire lifetime with the hope of earning a pension and enough savings to be able to enjoy a comfortable retirement. But alas! Even if he/she is successful in this endeavor, the period of life during which the body is most imbued with life, health and vitality has expired, and the infirmities of old age have either begun or are on the horizon. Indeed, today many are learning the hard lessons of life’s uncertainty and instability as they see life and retirement savings as well as pension plans disappear. Many are even losing their homes. Nothing in life is certain. It is this kind of reflection (as well as these kinds of experiences) that ultimately lead many to the spiritual path. And that is the very purpose of suffering on earth. If there was no suffering, who would seek their return flight to God? We were not meant to remain here forever, and suffering prods us to move on. All such experiences, however large or small, make an indelible impression in the mind and are carried from incarnation to incarnation. At some point in the incarnational round, the soul grows weary of life’s sufferings/troubles and begins to awaken from the slumber of avidya (ignorance).

Only they enjoy true pension, true freedom, who have reunited with the Self. Such beings enjoy unalloyed bliss, Light, and joy. This state cannot be expressed in words. This pension cannot be squandered or taken away. It has been described variously as inexhaustible, ever-new joy. This is the “kingdom of heaven” referred to in the Bible.


It has been said by Shankara and many sages that one moment in godly company, in the company of a true holy man, can change one forever. This is absolutely true. Such a being may be a monk, or he may be a householder with office job not wearing the outward garb of a renunciate. Either way, the presence of those who have transcended the motion picture of life’s drama can have a most profound spiritual effect on even a worldy person. It can completely transform him. To be in the presence of one whose joy is utterly independent of even bodily condition or comfort shows us the way. All worldly achievements are then are seen as worthless. Of the nature/condition of a liberated sage, Sri Swami Sivananda remarked that Prakriti (or Mother Nature) is his “obedient and sweet nurse” and attends to all of his needs. All wants come of themselves, as Prakriti arranges everything for him beforehand.

                                                                 Blissful Sivanandaji

Ramakrishna Paramahamsa likened the advanced stages of spiritual evolution to that of a pregnant woman. He remarked that when the young daughter-in-law is pregnant, the mother-in-law reduces her activities. As the time of birth draws near, she is not allowed to do any household chores. Finally, after the birth, her only duty is to nurse the child. Again, he also used to give the example of the sailor on a boat who toils and struggles with the mast, but after it is erected, he sits back, has a smoke, and enjoys the ride. This is the condition of one who is freed while living.

Until we have again become ensconced in the limitless sky of Consciousness, we should have the feeling that we do nothing at all, even while appearing to act. We should have the feeling that the Lord is the true actor, performing all deeds (“good” and “bad”). We should surrender all to Him. This will greatly accelerate our spiritual evolution…

“Everything happens by the will of God. Heinous sins – the sins of many births, and accumulated ignorance all disappear in the twinkling of an eye, through the grace of God. When light enters a room that has been kept dark a thousand years, does it remove the thousand years’ darkness little by little, or instantly? Of course, at the mere touch of light all the darkness disappears.”

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa

In time, just as the faithful employee is rewarded by his supervisor and receives his just deserts, we too shall be rewarded for our steadfastness and perseverance on the spiritual path and receive our eternal and divine Pension.

“Your earthly pension expires with your life, but the divine pension continues long, long after death.”

– Anandamayi Ma 

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