Miscellaneous - Religion   

The eternal conflict

CHENNAI: The Vedas are the manual for human beings to follow the path of righteousness and attain salvation. Scriptures enjoin a methodical and disciplined life while prohibiting certain actions that are not righteous. The Vedic vision lays emphasis on spiritual upliftment through rejection of material values. Among the four Purusharthas or goals of human life — Dharma (righteousness) Artha (wealth) Kama (desire) and Moksha (liberation) — wealth and desire are tangible and perceptible, while Dharma and Moksha remain beyond one’s perception and senses. That is why human beings are drawn towards wealth and desire though salvation is not attainable without dharma.

Though wealth ceases to be a source of joy when it becomes a cause of worry, anxiety, pain and sorrow, pursuit of wealth and desire becomes a habit with many and this ubiquitous drive brings about a general fall in values. Since human beings have the right of free will, one has to be careful in exercising this privilege so that moral value is not violated, said Swamini Satyavratananda in a lecture.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna explains in detail the divine and demonic traits that inhere in human nature and this is symbolic of the eternal conflict between evil and good. The distinctive qualities of those who seek divine perfection and of those who aim for power, glory and easy life are enumerated and it is pointed out that divine qualities lead to salvation while demonic traits lead to bondage. It is also implied that it is easy to accumulate sin through bad deeds that are done because of ignorance. Since sin obstructs spiritual pursuit one has to avoid sin.

Evil tendencies are predominant in demonic people and these are reflected as lack of respect to God, Vedas, truth or Sastras. There is a blurring of the sense of right and wrong because of egoism and confusion regarding what is to be done and what to be avoided. Defiance of Vedic law deprives one not only of inner purity but also purity of thought and word. Honest self-appraisal can bring to focus both evil and good tendencies in the individual who can consciously avoid the evil and cultivate the good.

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