Miscellaneous - Religion   

Righteous living

CHENNAI: Learning is a continuous process during one’s lifetime and true education helps to face the challenges of life. The Vedic tradition speaks of the rigours of training under the guidance of a preceptor that equips the aspirant to live life in the ordained manner with a strong emphasis on righteous living.

It is therefore necessary that every individual, compelled to enact different roles during one’s lifetime, employs one’s will to initiate a process of living in accordance to dharma, pointed out Swami Dayananda Saraswati in a lecture. It is not often that one is able to understand the script (karma or one’s duty) of the roles that one has to play, whether as son, daughter, brother or sister. It is only when the awareness of the truth of the one Supreme Being controlling the entire universe which is itself His manifestation is firmly entrenched in one’s consciousness that the individual can recognise his role in the total design. Then it becomes easy to maintain the space/distance between the role and one’s self.

The inner essence in all creation is united in God. The attempt to understand Him who is the embodiment of all knowledge has to be pursued in earnest. All our faculties, including the senses, mind, etc., are derived from Him. All of us are related because all belong to Him. Our relationship with God alone prevails. Just as one branch of a tamarind tree cannot aspire to belong to a mango tree, each individual has to try and adhere to one’s ordained duties (Swadharma).

More effective is the choice to remain a devotee of the Supreme God at all times, no matter what functional roles one is compelled to play. A bhakta’s life time is equated to a yagna, since sincere devotion confers on one the virtue of detachment that is extolled in the spiritual path. A drop of water on a lotus leaf remains as such without moistening the leaf; yet it lends a glow to itself and the leaf. The lives of the devout signify this truth and inspire people into this path. A bhakta remains unaffected by the problems of the world. He understands that God alone is eternal and all else is evanescent and fleeting. This knowledge helps him to attain poise and inner peace and also frees him from the bondage of the world.

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