A person who is content & happy for what he is than what he has. A person who has peace in his heart & a person whose deeds let him sleep peacefully at night. A person who has faith in the universal power that guides all & tolerant of all faiths that guide others on different paths towards this universal power.
A great deal of what one must learn is aptly captured in Abraham Lincoln's thoughts for his son: http://nyceducator.com/2005/12/abraham-lincolns-letter-to-his-sons.html.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Sunday, May 4, 2014
What is a sacrifice? What is the right way to live?
The following is retelling from book titled stories for children by Swami Vivekananda. Even though these are for children; these provide a good yard stick to gauge our morality.
What is sacrifice?
The story starts with a Mongoose whose coat was half golden & half ruddy ash brown. When it was asked whether the sacrifices done by the Pandavas after they became victorious in the battle of Kurukshetra were truly maginicient; the mangoose starts reciting a story which helps us understand the true meaning of sacrifice.
The Mongoose had lived in a village where drought had made life very tough. A poor family of four in that drought stricken village, which had not had food for many days, one day collected some flour in return to their services. The flour was barely sufficient to fill the stomach of three in that family but they decided that each will forgo a small share,
which would enable the fourth also to get few morsels of food. When 4 small rotis were prepared & when they were about to start eating; they heard knock on the door. A stranger
told them that he was there because he was on his way to distant town, and needed a place to rest as he was tired & hungry. When he asked the people for to guide him to a family that could provide him shelter & food, he had been guided to the abode of this poor family. In that family of 4, father offered his food the guest first, & one by one each offered the food to the guest till guest was satied. Then guest rested & took leave. None in the family had food, & they died the next day. The mangoose which had observed all this, had rolled in the tiny bit of flour that had been spilled on the ground while preparing the food. Then part of mangoose's coat turned golden.
So mangoose said; Wherever I see a sacrifice, I go & roll myself & see if my other part turns golden. I did not see my coat turning golden here today.
The real sacrifice is one where you let go of something that is needed by you; but may benefit the other if you forego having that. Even a harm may come your way when you let go. Despite harm or loss you must let go; because that is the right thing. My dear son, never hesitate for a moment to do what is right
What is the right way?
If you are grown up & reading; you would have also understood you experience lot of pain along with lot of happiness as you live each day of your life. In ancient times many
knowledgeable people figured out that "life" itself is the basic cause of all sorrow that we suffer. Hence they never wanted to be born again. The belief is that you pray the lord
intently one day you would rid yourself from this cycle of birth & death.
Since we are already born - we could adopt to live a miserable life, or always be joyous intent on doing right so that our heart & conscience are clear. So living joyously while
doing right things is the only way to live.
What is sacrifice?
The story starts with a Mongoose whose coat was half golden & half ruddy ash brown. When it was asked whether the sacrifices done by the Pandavas after they became victorious in the battle of Kurukshetra were truly maginicient; the mangoose starts reciting a story which helps us understand the true meaning of sacrifice.
The Mongoose had lived in a village where drought had made life very tough. A poor family of four in that drought stricken village, which had not had food for many days, one day collected some flour in return to their services. The flour was barely sufficient to fill the stomach of three in that family but they decided that each will forgo a small share,
which would enable the fourth also to get few morsels of food. When 4 small rotis were prepared & when they were about to start eating; they heard knock on the door. A stranger
told them that he was there because he was on his way to distant town, and needed a place to rest as he was tired & hungry. When he asked the people for to guide him to a family that could provide him shelter & food, he had been guided to the abode of this poor family. In that family of 4, father offered his food the guest first, & one by one each offered the food to the guest till guest was satied. Then guest rested & took leave. None in the family had food, & they died the next day. The mangoose which had observed all this, had rolled in the tiny bit of flour that had been spilled on the ground while preparing the food. Then part of mangoose's coat turned golden.
So mangoose said; Wherever I see a sacrifice, I go & roll myself & see if my other part turns golden. I did not see my coat turning golden here today.
The real sacrifice is one where you let go of something that is needed by you; but may benefit the other if you forego having that. Even a harm may come your way when you let go. Despite harm or loss you must let go; because that is the right thing. My dear son, never hesitate for a moment to do what is right
What is the right way?
If you are grown up & reading; you would have also understood you experience lot of pain along with lot of happiness as you live each day of your life. In ancient times many
knowledgeable people figured out that "life" itself is the basic cause of all sorrow that we suffer. Hence they never wanted to be born again. The belief is that you pray the lord
intently one day you would rid yourself from this cycle of birth & death.
Since we are already born - we could adopt to live a miserable life, or always be joyous intent on doing right so that our heart & conscience are clear. So living joyously while
doing right things is the only way to live.
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