Miscellaneous - Religion   

Cultivate virtues

CHENNAI : A person who is desirous of realising the objective of human birth (liberation from bondage) must reorient his day-to-day life to the spiritual goal. Just as one has to be focussed to achieve success in education or in career, it is necessary to be committed in spiritual life also.

In his discourse, Sri Goda Venketeswara Sastri said Sankara in his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita outlined four essential prerequisites for a spiritual seeker. These are: discrimination between the eternal and the ephemeral; detachment towards the enjoyments of the world; cultivation of the six virtues starting with control of the mind, and finally intense longing for liberation. This fourfold prescription is the basis for undertaking a study of the scriptures, which is necessary for spiritual progress and the preceptor explains them at length in his other works.

Discrimination between the eternal and the ephemeral is the conviction that the Absolute Reality (Brahman) alone is real while the universe is illusory (not eternal). Developing detachment to the world by checking one's desires is emphasised by scriptures as the basis of spiritual life. The six good qualities that a seeker should develop are: withdrawal of the mind from all sensory pleasures by understanding their detrimental nature of becoming habituated, and diverting it instead on the Self (Atman); restraining the sensory organs and that of action; achieving the state of mind that does not succumb to the external organs; enduring all the vicissitudes of life with equanimity of mind, and reposing total faith in the scriptures and in the teachings of the preceptor.

Why is there so much emphasis on controlling the mind? As the mind has the quality of acquiring the nature of whatever it is engaged in, sensory engagement becomes a deterrent to spiritual progress. By disengaging it from worldly involvement and redirecting it inward, the mind will instead reflect the nature of the Self, which is eternal and blissful. Cultivation of virtues is an arduous process and requires effort throughout life to abide in them.

If the mind can be trained to dwell on the Self through meditation, these virtues will accrue to the person effortlessly. The mind that is established in the Self will remain untouched by sorrows.

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