Miscellaneous - Religion   

Quest for happiness

CHENNAI: It is human nature to hanker after the material pleasures of the world without realising that they are all short-lived. When an individual does not get what he wants or loses what he has, he immediately plunges into sorrow. The quest for happiness is inborn just as the instinct which everyone has to avoid sorrow. That it is not possible to enjoy everlasting joy in the world comes only with the understanding that only the Supreme Being is the abode of eternal bliss. A person who gets this knowledge will begin his spiritual quest in earnest to realise God.

In his discourse, Sri K.B.Devarajan said the Almighty, who is compassion personified, revealed the Vedas, which describe His nature, for the benefit of mankind at the time of creation. The Vedas are the ultimate authoritative scripture for one to pursue the spiritual path to realise God and their prescriptions are meant for adoption in daily life to progress towards this goal. The divine benediction in the form of the Vedas can be compared to lighting a lamp. Just as the lamp dispels darkness by its illumination, so also does the scripture enable the spiritual aspirant to gain knowledge of the Supreme Being by removing his ignorance.

Though the Vedas are there to provide succour to humanity, the majority of people do not take to scriptural study and follow their prescriptions for their own good and thereby continue to wallow in ignorance and its attendant sorrows.

The scriptures state that the Lord is the Master and all beings belong to Him and that liberation from worldly sorrow involves reiterating this relationship and finding joy in doing eternal service to Him here in the world and in His divine abode after this life. Ego stands in the way of accepting someone as one’s Master even if it is the Lord and this can be seen to some extent in everyone. So the Supreme Being incarnated from time to time to teach humanity. Even then the majority did not follow His teachings. Then He sent His emissaries in the form of preceptors and mystics to expound His teachings to reform mankind by their example so that they would develop devotion to Him and strive for liberation.

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