INNER AND OUTER STRENGTH

According to the line of Rigved 7/56/12 — everything of ours, both inner and outer, be pure. We help others by the pure wealth earned religiously. Bribe, gambling, wickedness and wealth snatched from others destroys home as well as the nation. 

Religion is the basis of this world. It is the art of life. The meaningfulness of this body lies only in conduct in accordance with religion. Only the religion becomes helpful to man even in the worst circumstances. The burden of the entire world is only on the shoulders of religion. If religious conduct ends, then everyone will worry day and night about saving his or her own life and crushing others. Then only looting, beating, anarchy, corruption and tyranny will prevail and happiness and peace will be destroyed. The scenario today is of the above type and only such events are happening all around. The reason for this is that for their selfish ends, people have forgotten religion. The blindfold of materialism, attachment, and greed is tied tightly on their eyes and they are not able to see that they are in reality, busy in uprooting each other and producing a hell like situation for all. The importance and firmness of religion can be gauged by the fact that even the wicked persons spread their nets in the name of religion to snare and cheat people. Some bad elements also infiltrate wherever excellence prevails. People give tremendous importance to religion and only because of that they are ready for every type of self denial and sacrifice. In such a situation, selfishness also sneaks in and tries to strike roots. Many charlatans create a facade of being 'dharma gurus' (religious teacher) by wearing yellow or red-colored robes, apply the religious marks on their foreheads and exploit the religious sentiments of the people. Nobody knows the number of 'religious institutions' spreading like mushrooms everywhere. In their premises evil conduct is indulged in with immorality collected money. How can the normal, God fearing person afford to give up religion which even the wicked persons takes as their support for their nefarious activities. The edifice of man's life must be contracted on the firm foundation of religion only Religious donations, rituals etc are merely the means in religion. Real religion lies only in carrying out one's duty, service to others, obliging others, truthfulness and restraint. One who gives the prime importance to this philosophy in his thinking and conduct is the real religious soul, otherwise it is mere facade. Life can be called successful only when religion has mingled in every drop of our blood. Whatever we see, think and do should be in accordance with religion only. Let our inclination not be corrupted if we see that someone is perhaps benefiting with religious conduct. The condition of the person, who takes advantage with immoral conduct, ultimately becomes like the fish which has swallowed the hook with the bait. No intelligent and farsighted man can afford to be foolish and follow the above conduct. We have the intelligence to differentiate between religion and non-religion and decide about the same. Even people with less intelligence or uneducated persons have been graced with this ability. It should be used impartially and without fear. Real religion for man lies in implementing in one's conduct useful customs and methods after differentiating them with one's discretion. - See more at: http://spritiualnepal.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=50#sthash.g2h3lk97.dpuf

ETERNAL TRUTH

According to the line of Rigved 5/45/5 — those who act according to the eternal truth without malice towards anyone really deserve praise. Only those men deserve honor who destroy the wicked thoughts and enhance wisdom. 

Man's life contains many types of mental perversities, and its importance lies in constant efforts for liberation from them. Once the faults and other bad tendencies enter into our conduct, it is very difficult to be free from them. It is even more difficult to achieve freedom from malice. For that one must have mental cleanliness, sincerity and harmony in profound measure. It is a matter of no less spiritual endeavor if we do not harm in any way nor insult any person who becomes the reason for our financial loss and loss of honor and who puts obstacles in our path. It requires tremendous

willpower. It is only the rare individuals who possess the sentiment of helping those very persons who have put thorns in their path. This is possible only when there is understanding of each other's pain and sorrow and the sentiment of friendship. In the mental and spiritual fields, only malice is the most obstructive sentiments. To give up personal malice and to be good to a person despite his harmful dealing applies only to an individual but not for the nation or the society or an institution. If an enemy attacks our country, the proper reply is only with a crushing counter attack. Only the arrangement of severe punishment to the anti social elements and the criminals, keeps the society organized. To offer flowers to the criminals for their harmful activities will prove extremely harmful to the society and as far as institutional functioning is concerned, without punishing the person for his mistakes, the society's organization cannot function. Keeping this in view, the organizer of the institution must ruthlessly crush untoward activities and he must not have sentimental attachment for any member, because ultimately the interest, survival and progress of the society count. Only wise, knowledgeable and cultured persons can save themselves in this manner from sentimental attachment. Today innumerable institutions have wandered away from their original aims and what is happening is that all concerned are turning a blind eye to internal corruption and are rather encouraging it.

 Simultaneously, intoxicated with power, they lose their mental balance and never lose an opportunity to maliciously insult good workers. 'Malice towards none and good will towards all' and to forgive the malicious is related only to an individual's life and not with national, societal or institutional dealing. But mostly the opposite happens. People cultivate malice to individual levels and also constantly burn with it, whereas in dealings with the society or the nation or an intuition, they bow down to malicious and wicked people. This is an indication of their cowardice. In our individual conduct, we must constantly try to free ourselves from malice

ACHIEVING FREEDOM

The line of Rigved 1/97/7 instructs us that — O omnipresent Agnidev (God of fire)! Like the oarsman of the boat, save us from all the enemies in crossing the river of the world. Kindly destroy our sins.

In this mantra God has been compared with a judge who, for protecting the public, will even pursue the criminals into the jungle and punish them, who sits in teh boat and protects the people at sea, and by making all arrangements for man's happiness and peace, provides real joy to them. He only is sachchidanand, (sat + Chit + Anand, Sat = truth, chit = pulsating vitality as well as the fountainhead of knowledge and anand = bliss), a combination of all these all knowing life-giving, eternally blissful and bliss-giving God Himself. Those who sincerely worship God have no fear of any kind from desires, lust, anger, greed, attachment, disease and sorrow. Such persons become 'jeetendriya' (one who has conquered his senses by controlling his desires) by not desiring anything and get benefits and fame everywhere.

There are 84,00,000 species of life on this earth. Of these only teh human body is the best creation of God. Complete with 'gyanendriya' (5 sense organs) 'Karmendriya' (5 action organs including limbs for carrying out various activities), 'pran' (life's breathe force), 'mun' (mind) buddhi (intelligence) etc; this human body has been created with the aim of protection and progress of all living beings in this world. Since God has blessed His human prince in innumerable ways, and is ever ready to protect him in every situation every time, it is also man's duty that he remains alert for the nurture and progress of all life i.e. insects, plant life, animal life etc on this earth. Let us not go on merely exploiting and consuming the available means on the earth, but also try to conserve, preserve and strengthen them. But man today, blinded by his selfishness, does not pay any attention to it at all, and sinks deeper and deeper into the mire of sins.

We have been praying to God to destroy our sins but we are not trying to prevent ourselves from sinful acts, let alone repent for them. When this is the situation, how can God save us from the innumerable difficulties and help us cross the river of life? We are getting roasted in the earth, only with the cooperation of God, but we neglect to pay attention to that. The temptations of bad customs, bad thoughts and bad habits all around keep on attracting us to them. We are not even able to use our discretion and are not able to understand the difference between as sinful act and an act of virtue. As a result we keep falling into the chasm of sin day by day. God, the Supreme Father is available everywhere to help at every moment. Whether we can recognize Him or not. He never neglects, because when a man goes on to the path of wrong conduct. His voice echoes within his heart to alert him. Should we hear it and become alert by making us stumble. We wish to be busy in sinful acts and yet expect God to open up the doors of heaven and salvation for us what can be more foolish than this?

To achieve freedom from our own faults and wicked tendencies, we ourselves only have to strive.

Twenty-First Century - A century of Women

Believe it or not, the future is passing into the hands of women. This has not happened by chance. Women have carried out deep penance since time immemorial for achieving it. By achieving the highest development of their total powers, they have achieved this glory. Guru, mother, sister, and wife - in all these forms the woman has obliged man in countless ways and these countless blessings can be joyfully compared to divine blessings. Society to-day wants to repay those obligations.

Woman's uplift is essential for proper molding of individuals. Only then the molding of the family and the creation of a fine society is possible. Woman is the life-breath of the family. If we have to think of our own and world's welfare, woman must be considered as man's equal. World's welfare can be thought of only after thinking of women's uplift. Both struggle and resurgence of a new era of goodness are together in this major problem, therefore for fulfilling it, extraordinary man-power, means and dynamic courage are required. The secret of man's progress lied in woman's progress only.

The times are dynamically changing. This is seen in the fast changes occurring with the passing over of 20th century into a new era. Simultaneously woman has recognized her own inner vitality, her own inner strength. Woman herself is trying for her own uplift. She is not willing to spend her life at a level lower than man's. The support of time is with her. It will not do not to recognize her, nor suppress her. These days one can see a tremendous vitality of the people getting organized properly.

It is the Creator's wish that now woman should come forward and her superiority be once again conferred on her. It is His wish that woman should give the proof of her velour and show by actual deeds how she has uprooted widespread backwardness and how she has replaced it with progress.

We are calling the twenty-first century as the Century of the Woman because Nature is in her favor and from the viewpoint of special qualities, she is very much better than man and simultaneously Nature is in the process of breaking the old order and creating a new one. Only the woman fits into this plan. This movement of women's uplift will make woman equal to man.

The cyclonic speed of the new era will rest only after liberating the woman from her backward, inferior position and making her capable of taking advantage of human rights. Woman will have her own independent existence in the 21st century, and she will get the opportunity of developing her own individual identity. In the coming days, not the color of her skin and beauty, but her individuality will be considered as everything. The same amount of time and money will be utilized for girls' education, health, and developing their skill, as is employed for boys.

Only such transformation will sustain and maintain the long-term role of Yug Parivartan (transformation of the era). The main basis of the future 'Satyugi Parivartan' (transformation bringing goodness of thinking and conduct among people) will be that the entire leadership be given to woman- woman whom nature has made full of love, co-operation and compassion. Seeing that welfare lies in woman's power, we should not leave any stone unturned for furthering woman's power. One who has always given the proof of selfless love for husband, children and family at every step; she will create the same atmosphere in the area of her influence when given the leadership.

The Ideal of Proper Diet to all

Meaning: The line of Yajurved 12/76 has given the information about our diet as follows - body is the principal means for 'dharma, artha, kama and moksha'. Therefore, good health must be maintained by proper diet, disciplined daily routine and benevolent conduct. Only a disease-free body is the source of all happiness.

Message: The joy of heavenly bliss and salvation is possible in this life itself. But it so happens that we do not properly understands our life's objective and makes all attempts in the wrong direction for attaining it. We can achieve the above four goals of life i.e. 'dharma, artha, kama and moksha' only by a healthy body. We can remain alive by maintaining physical health. Unhealthy, ill and weak persons are already like half-dead. This is because they suffer not only the bodily ailments, but the simultaneous incapacity and the pain of failure also breaks them mentally, thus neglect of health is very costly for everyone.

Good health does not depend on medicines. It cannot also be bought by money. It is also foolish to think of protecting health by imbibing costly materials. Good health depends only on diet, proper routine, exercise and restraint or discipline. The royal road to maintaining proper health and increasing it is to live life in harmony with nature regarding food-habits, daily routine, and lead a natural life. People fall ill with unnatural, artificial, pompous and luxurious life style and die at an early age. All the living beings, insects, birds, animals etc follow the rules of nature; as a result they never fall ill. If by some accident or fights among themselves, they do fall ill, they automatically come back to normal by the grace of Mother Nature. Those animals and birds that have come under the control of man, they only require veterinary dispensaries.

Only man is a very foolish animal who himself invites illness because of wrong conduct, indiscipline and irregularity. This disregard for food and routine is a result of carelessness, laziness, negligence etc. Nature has made man as the most beautiful, healthy, shapely and long-lived animal complete with physical, mental and spiritual powers. The best and easy way for excellent health is that as far as possible only natural (uncooked) food should be taken. The essential elements of the food will be alive within the food to the extent that it does not come into contact with fire (or heat) and that way these elements will provide strength to the body. Ripe seasonal fruits, raw vegetables, sprouted grains and boiled or steam-cooked food is excellent from every point of view, is 'saatvik' and nutritious'

If the body is healthy, the mind also is healthy; it gets pure and pleasant thoughts and is filled with pleasant and good imagination. The mind gets engaged in work, there is no laziness or uneasy feeling and the heart is cheerful and light like a flower.

The Ideal of proper diet, proper routine and proper conduct must always be the guiding principal of our lives.

Intellect and Intelligence

We spend a lot of time acquiring intelligence at the expense of developing intellect.

Intelligence is built by gaining information, knowledge from external agencies, from schools and universities, teachers and textbooks. The intellect is developed through your individual effort by exercising the faculty of questioning, thinking and reasoning. Not accepting anything that does not admit logic or reason. Know the difference between the two. And that any amount of intelligence gained cannot per se build your intellect.

The intelligence acquired from external agencies is much like data fed into a computer Consider, a computer charged with a complete knowledge of fire extinguishers, firefighting and fire escapes. All the knowledge stored in its memory cannot help the computer act on its own. If the room catches fire, it will go up in flames. The knowledge you acquire is of no use to you without an intellect.

You need a powerful intellect to put the knowledge, intelligence gained, to practical use in life. That explains why among millions of doctors graduating from medical schools only a few have discovered life-saving procedures, cures and remedies. So too, among millions of engineers only few design something unusual like the Panama Canal or Eurotunnel. It is their intellect that renders their performance outstanding. Besides hindering success and progress, intelligence without intellect could destroy peace and happiness in the world.

No realizing the importance of the intellect in life, people make no attempt to develop their own. Instead, they merely indulge in acquiring intelligence through surface reading of others’ periodicals and publications. Few go into the depth of any literature. Education has lost its meaning and purpose. For generation human beings have turned into intelligent robots and are traversing through life without awareness, much less enquiring into the meaning and purpose of life. Herbert Spencer, a profound thinker and writer, was a rare luminary. Someone asked him if he was a voracious reader. He said: “No sir, if I were as big a reader as others, I would have been as big an ignoramus as they.”

The World today is in a state of chaos due to the perversion in human development – all intelligence and no intellect. That explains why even highly educated business persons, professionals, and scholars become alcoholic, are short-tempered and succumb to worry and anxiety. It is the mind that craves alcohol. It is the mind that loses its temper. Again, it is the mind that constantly harbors worry of the past and anxiety for the future. When the intellect remains undeveloped and weak, it is unable to control the vagaries of the mind. Those having developed a powerful intellect, with or without academic distinction, can hold the mind under perfect control and direct action to spell success and peace in life.

The educational systems the world over must be held responsible for the debacle of the intellect. It is their primary responsibility to strike an equable balance between acquiring intelligence and developing the intellect. Only by maintaining this essential equation can governments be run, business conducted, professions practiced and families live in peace and prosperity.

The Soul is Immortal and the Body is Mortal

Meaning: According to the line of Rigved 1/164/38 and Athervaved 9/10/16 – the scripture has explained that our soul is immortal and the body is mortal. The soul is the master of all the activities of the body, because the body can function only as long as there is soul in the body. Even highly learned men and highly intelligent men do not know about the soul. The goal of life is to know the soul

Message: Almost all men are ignorant or have false ideas about the mysterious relationship between the soul and the body. From where the soul enters the body and where it goes after the body’s death has always been a matter of debate. The Gita very clearly states that the soul cannot be cut or pierced, no fire can burn it. Nor water wet it nor can the wind dry it. Thus it is clear that the body does die, but despite its death the soul does not die. The soul is immortal, always exists and is eternal. Despite the death of the body, the soul remains as it is.

Although the soul and the body are different in nature, they stay together. The sage tells us in the scripture ‘kathopanishad’ that the body is like a chariot with horses harnessed to it. The reins of the horses are in the grip of the charioteer, and the drives them although his boss is sitting behind. The charioteer drives the chariot according to the order of his boss. The body is the chariot, the senses are the horses, the mind is the harness and the intelligence is the driver or the charioteer. The soul is the lord and master of this chariot and hence the intelligence has to do whatever the soul orders. The mind and the senses have then to act accordingly. As long as this process is followed, the chariot teaches the destination i.e. achieves spiritual uplift and salvation, otherwise one knows in which species the soul will have to migrate in the vicious circle of births and deaths.

There is a paradox of immortality of the soul and mortality of the body, and yet there is an unbreakable relationship between the tow. As long as the body is alive, the soul does not leave it despite whatever disregards man shows for his soul. For practical living, both spiritualism and materialism are necessary. There should be simultaneously an attempt must be made for the uplift of the soul. We should review every moment our deeds and go on purifying our attitudes. Self restraint should be made regular feature. Attention must be given to mental health along with physical health also. Pure thoughts are born only when both remain healthy.

The usefulness of the body lies in deeply imbibing this truth deep within the heart and bringing it in one’s conduct.

The jewel of the soul is priceless and yet is being squandered like this, in exchange for a mere shell.

One has to try to develop one’s inner feelings, which can be done simply by training one’s mind. This is a priceless human asset and one you don’t have to pay income tax on.

Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today