(Contd.........Part 2)
Human Values and Divine Qualities
The question whether our actions are good or bad depends on our attitudes, our motives, our values and our qualities. Even our attitudes and motives are coloured by our vices or virtues or by our qualities – demoniacal or divine. It has been said that there are about thirty-six main divine qualities and if one does not have any one of these divine qualities, one has the opposite, i.e. the demoniacal qualities, which, as everyone knows, result in peacelessness, disease, sorrow and sufferings.
Even systems and structures are good or bad, depending on the qualities
Most people do not yet know that the absence of one or the other divine quality is the cause of one or the other kind of human misery. They, therefore, try to find out its cause in political, economic, cultural or social system.
The truth, however, is’ that positive or negative qualities manifest themselves through human behaviour or human activity, whether it be political, economic, cultural or social. One should, therefore, try to identify and efface the negativity and work for the positivity in human behaviour rather than search the cause elsewhere. No doubt, structures and systems also matter, for they can be good or bad. But it should be realised that even their utility, worth, merit or good or bad quality depends upon the qualities that are in the human beings who work them or the qualities these systems and structures generate in those and other human beings in the society.
Take the case of an economic system in vogue in a country. If it requires cunningness, crookedness, conceit, competitiveness, corruption and selfishness in men and women to work it, then it is a bad system. Also, if it generates exploitation of workers by owners of factories, or of consumers by tradesmen, or of loanees by moneylenders, or of lessees by landowners, then it is a bad system. If on the other hand, a system requires, generates or promotes honesty, cooperation and concern for social well-being, then it is a good system.
A system has, therefore, to be assessed in terms of the values it promotes or requires and the virtues it has to work itself. So, in the final analysis, it can be said that the qualities in man determine the quality of his life and his peaceful and happy or peaceless and sorrowful state.
Our present state indicates a fall
If we accept this analysis of our present predicament, then we have to admit that we have had a fall in moral values and divine qualities and what we require today to extricate and uplift us from this situation is education that can restore the divine qualities in us. Our all other efforts to make the world a better place to live in would be of no avail unless and until there is a an inner transformation in our nature and behaviour.
The pivotal role of ‘will in inner transformation
But, the question of one’s inner transformation is linked to the strength of one’s will and the resoluteness of one’s spirit. If one decides it with a strong and unbending will that one will no longer harbour any negative thought in one’s mind or that one will not allow oneself to indulge in a certain bad behavioural response then one succeeds partially or fully in the process of one’s inner change, else one falters again and again and, feeling demoralised sooner or later, one gives up the effort to change oneself. Let us know it clearly and remember it firmly that the temptations to work for winning tributes and laurels and to rise to fame and glory will be too strong, the gender-attractions will exert too powerful pull on one’s mind and the situation to defray tempers will be-too provocative or too many and one will feel cheated by Maya’s subtle ways.
So, it is essential that one stands firm and faces all these storms like a rock. One should say to oneself, “It is a question of my intergrity and honour. I have made promise to myself and to my God that I will not now be a puppet or a slave to my this negative habit or that personality-trait. Am I going to break my promise? Am I a person who does not stick to his or her words or whose promise has no value? Wouldn’t it be a breach of trust, God has placed in me, or a breach of promise, I have made with God, if 1 indulge in these nefarious acts which I swore that I had given up? Does it behove a person with any self-respect to break his promise and to do what he himself had considered as spiritually obnoxious and morally evil?”
Postponement!
One of the weaknesses that result in spiritual ruin of man is that he postpones the implementation of certain decisions even though these were made by him voluntarily and are for his own lasting good. This happens especially if a person fails in one’s initial steps to prevent any of his negative traits from manifesting itself. In case of failure, he feels frustrated and loses his self-confidence and thinks that all his efforts will end in smoke.
Having lost his will, he gives up the effort and says to himself: “I am not giving it up for ever. I will start and fight again this evil that is entrenched in me but, perhaps, the time has not yet come. I will start it on some more auspicious and memorable day, say, from 1st January.” When that day comes, he thinks that, from his birthday, he will start afresh. But again there is a pitfall,So, he says to himself : “I shall better start it from some other day.”
On that day, he starts it over again. But, one who has not determined that he will continue it now against all odds, will concede defeat again and, having lost his heart, will either give up the efforts for ever or will postpone it until another auspicious day! This is an experience told by persons who fail again and again and, in the process, become weak.
Let us, therefore, make a strong affirmation and say to overselves : “Even if heavens fall. I am now not going to fall. My pledge is harder than steel and granite. And I pledge that I am not going to falter and will now march from greater to greater spiritual heights!”
When individuals thus work for self-change with a tenacious and determined will then only does a society change. Apart from sharing this individual responsibility of self-change, there is no other known way of world-change.
Let us not follow the example of a fallen person
Deluded by the so-called progress of a corrupt man, some people ask : “Those who walk on evil ways are highly rewarded whereas those who follow the path of righteousness, they are left behind and they suffer in many ways.” “Why should then we also not take to what are known as evil ways?”, they ask.
Such deluded people, in fact, fail to see that those who take to evil ways have only a short-lived and outer pomp and show. This is the show of Maya – a mere delusion or illusion because, inwardly, such people do not have real peace, solace and satisfaction. They live in fear and their life in private is different from their public life in many ways/They carry a heavy load of bad acts on their head and, on their chest;so, how can they feel easy in comfortable cars and cushioned chairs?
Compared to them, those, who, in their profession and day-to-day life, observe principles and have values, are far-far better even though they are a step of a mile behind the others who observe no moral scruples. All businessmen and politicians are not dishonest or of dubious character and they are more in line with their conscience.
So, one should not become impressed by the outer pomp and show of people but have an insight into life. One will then see that peace and happiness are where purity is.
One must, therefore, in one’s own interest and in the interest of building a better world, pay attention to the task of restoration of divine qualities and elimination of the devilish qualities or negative traits. In doing this lies the hope of our own liberation and improvement of the world-conditions.
Factors that facilitate transformation
For facilitating this kind of self-transformation, one has to have intimate and continuous contacts with good souls and highest and the best ones whom one knows. One has also to have as often and as continuous a love-link with God or as deep consciousness of God as possible for the laws say that ‘as you think so do you become’ and ‘as is your awareness so is your state of mind’. Man tends to become that which he admires and loves.
He becomes like the one with whom he associates himself. Thus, contemplation on God’s qualities of love, peace, purity, bliss, compassion, etc. and being mentally in the company of God leads one to become a holy and ever-happy person. And,.by becoming holy, man is able to find a genuine, kind of self-esteem and also have social recognition. Also, having right type of food habits, cleanliness of body and avoidance of obscene literature and movies help him in easy and rapid transformation.
Thus, by appealing to individuals at the rational and emotional levels to transform themselves by acquiring new belief-system or better call it New Knowledge, and by inculcation of higher values through a practice of Rajayoga Meditation, we can take concrete steps towards building harmony among mankind and towards transforming the world. Without practice of deep and intense Rajayoga, it will be impossible to break completely the hard crust of bad samskaras and to burn the remains of our vicious karmic accounts and thus to achieve total self-transformation.
Rajayoga referred to here-above, is not identical with Rajayoga, as has been described by Patanjali in his book on the subject, but it is a complete system that has, in it, the elements of love, as in Bhakti Yoga, Knowledge, as in Gyan Yoga, and Karma, done in remembrance of God and with a spirit of detachment and trusteeship, as in Karma Yoga.
It lays equal emphasis on spirituali-sation, purification or sublimation of mind, intellect, memory, emotions, awareness, judgement, belief, will, .ego, consciousness and total personality. It also inspires a person to lead a life based on motive of service, and outlook of brotherhood and love, and observance of self-control and moral and human values. This is the yoga that has been taught by the incorporeal Supreme Soul, Shiva through the human medium of ‘Brahma Baba’. It is scientific and universal and easily eliminates mental tension which is a major cause of diseases and sufferings today.
Universal Transformation through Education, Example, Media.etc.
The goal of universal transformation can be achieved through the tool of education and also by inspiring others by one’s own example. This can be done by inclusion of moral, human and spiritual values and practice of easy Rajayoga in the syllabus of educational institutions and imparting these teachings through teachers who have been given training in these.
Parents also have to be given this type of education so that they can inspire their children to lead a life, based on values, and can maintain a congenial atmosphere at home. Moreover, the message, concerning the importance of values, has to spread through the printed word and the electronic media and also through the performing arts, conferences, seminars, get-together, etc.
Also, Rajayoga Meditation Camps have to be held in large numbers so that people can get training in easy Rajyoga Meditation. This education has to be spread at the individual level and on mass scale, and at grass-roots level and also among the intelligentsia and the elite. In fact, everyone has to pass on this message and these teachings to others and has to inspire others by positive change in his or her own life.
Cooperation of all
This task cannot be done unless and until there is collaboration of all segments of society and unless and until people in various professions voluntarily imbibe values in their professions and practise Rajayoga to eliminate tension and to transform behaviour. Thus, self-transformation is the greatest cooperation that is needed today for this self-transformation alone will bring about the universal transformation and thus lead to the Golden Age of mankind. It is this which gives the real hope in today’s world which is, otherwise, engulfed in darkness and sufferings and is rushing towards a major catastrophe. (END)
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Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya
