Enlightened Life
We should always live in these thoughts -
Uddyanam te Purusa navayanam (Atharvaveda-8.1.3). It means the God has created me for performing special and great work, to achieve excellence and not to demean ourselves.
Every day of my life is a new birth for me and the time period of each day is similar to a complete life. From today onwards I shall start doing all the great works for which the God has sent me on earth with full punctuality, awareness and spontaneity.
Life is a festival, and a great gift of the Almighty. Human life, is one of the greatest creation of God. This body is a shrine to deities, and Siva (the supreme power), and a temple of the God himself. The soul being undecaying, perennial, indestructible, radiant, bright, peaceful and accompanied with all other completeness is fully conscious.
Life is priceless, working for the accomplishment of smaller targets is an insult to life. Exhausting energy unproductively in disgraceful works, wasting the useful time of life in lust and addictions indicate humiliation to life.
Our birth and death; both should be filled with dignity.
Kirtiyasya sa jivati: We should not be a coward or weak, rather filled with self-respect and self-knowledge should make ourselves thoughtful and judicious. We have been designed to perform extraordinary service by the God.
Life is to be protected; from both fear and bhoga (worldly enjoyments). Fears leads to cowardism and obsession in bhoga makes a person aviveki (Unthoughful).
A man should not be disheartened till there is prana (vital energy) in his body. Perseverance in the direction of our goal definitely will lead us to success one day, and there will be happiness forever.
We should not be afraid of problems, rather we must face them courageously. Life is not a burden, rather a boon, hence we should always remain happy.
The Aim of our lives
The basic cause of duhkha (sorrow) is association of jivatma (individual soul) with body and citta (mind). Avidya (lack of knowledge or incomplete knowledge) is the cause of this association. Three kinds of duhkha exist in the world: Adhyatmika duhkha (sorrows due to one’s ignorance); Adhidaivika duhkha (sorrows that are received as a result of natual calamities such as flood, earthquake and famine) and Adhibhautika duhkha (sorrows that are caused due to unholy actions of people around us). To get liberation from all kinds of sorrows is the main aim of every human life, as it will bring a state of complete bliss. Only industrious approach to Yoga enables a person to meet the above goal.
The aim of our lives is not unthoughtful consumption, playing cards, smoking, drinking wine and eating meat, haphazard roaming and entertainment rather our aim should be service to the mankind for making available necessary things, accomplishing happiness though sadhana (perseverance in yogic practices) and achievement of unbroken bliss and complete satisfaction.
Everybody in the planet is able to fulfil the basic necessities; a few yards of land to sleep, some piece of cloth to wear and two times of food to appease hunger, still the craving for more does not end. God in Vedas has prescribed for tena tyaktena bhunjithah (Yajurveda 40.1): means consume with a sense of sacrifice, and kurvanneveha karmani jijivisecchatam samah (Yajurveda-40.2): which states living a life span of hundred years unattached, by doing service to the mankind in a detached way. What we believe and what we decide shape the aim of our lives. Our life is what we make of it. The aim of our lives (self-wisdom) can only be achieved by performing noble actions and behaving as per the beliefs of our holy scriptures.
A boy after getting something substanical rushes to convey the news to his parents, he overcomes all kinds of hurdles on the way unaffected by the bad condition of road and moves forward. The piercing of thorns on the way does not affect him, as he has the only aim of anxiously meeting the parents. This case is very much similar to the point we wish to make. The point is, we have to fix a target, an aim, and then to achieve it irrespective of all the hurdles that come in its way. The practice of caraiveti-caraiveti: moving continuously ahead, shall ultimately take us to the goal. We must not stop till the achievement of the goal, the weaker (looser) stops when he is tired, but the winner stops only when he is victorious.
The captivity of happiness and sorrows are to be broken, we need to empower them. Whatever fruitful comes of it, we can include them to make our lives divine and lively. A man's duty is to improvise his life. The will power to accept challenges develop powers inculcate potentialities in us. We can either get success or learn something.
We use just 5% of our physical, intellectual, social, economical, political and spiritual powers. The rest 95% lies in dormant stage. If we can utilise our inner strength to the maximum, we can transform ourselves from an ordinary person to a great person, from a man to a superman. Those who are already awakened and awake others are superhuman, but those who are illusioned and also wish to bewilder others are downgraded humans. The choice rests on a person, what he wishes to be.
People consider earning wealth as their most important goal, but the truth is just opposite to it. Such people in their last days realise whatever we have earned is sliping away, then he starts to repent, but all in vein. These famous lines of Saint Kabira endorse the above statementkarana tha so kiya nahin fiira piche pachataya, lagaya peda babula ka ama kahan se aya. Age dina pache gae kiya na hari se heta, aba pachataye hota kya jaba cuga gai chidiyan kheta. (Bijaka) Journey of a thousand miles begins with a small step. Hence, take your first step in the direction of your goal.
An aimless life swings just as a pendulum, it covers much distance, but remains where it was in the beginning. So, we should try to lead an aim-oriented life.
What we earn makes our living, but what we donate makes the lives of many. Therefore, we shall endeavour to lead a life not only for self, but also for others.
(Excerpted from the book Divine Transformation: Building Blocks for Englightened Life, Ideal Nation & Peaceful World by Acharya Balakrishna)