To avoid this tragedy, Bharthruhari gives an updesam
(advice) – do not postpone good things for a later time. We have a notion
that scriptural study is to be undertaken at the time of retirement, after
completing all other jobs. Bharthruhari says our faculties will not function at
that time- the eyes will not see and the ears will not hear. When the sense organs
are functioning well, when the fag end of life has not yet come, an alert
person, a thinking person, a mature person should think of leading a healthy,
prosperous and fruitful life. When the house is on fire, it is foolish to begin
digging a well. So also at the fag end of life, it is foolish to begin doing
good things. We must start right away. If we want a suitable day to begin, the
New year’s day is very auspicious.
What should we do to make our lives fruitful? The
scriptures emphasize three things: yajna,
danam, and tapas. In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna emphasizes these three
to a great extent.
Yajna: It
means worship. We all know worship in the form of daily puja, going to temples,
doing abhisheka etc. Lord Krishna talks about a higher, refined form of worship
– converting life itself into worship. “Let the very living, the life be an
offering to the Lord.” Swami Chinmayananda used to make a wonderful statement,”
The life that we have is a wonderful gift from the Lord and what we do with this
life is our gift, our offering to the Lord.” If we are going to look upon our
life as a gift of the Lord, what type of life should it be? It should be the
best. And when it is offered, it must be offered with a cheerful and smiling
face. There must be cheerfulness. Thus two conditions must be fulfilled – the
gift should be the best, and it must be offered with cheerfulness and
happiness.
Our life should be the best. What does it mean? It does
not mean earning money, success, name, and fame. It means the most sincere
life. We should
be able to do what we love to do and we should learn to love what we have to do. If this is possible, our heart will be in what
we do and so will our sincerity. This will be the best gift to the Lord.
Predominantly there must be cheerfulness. We may wonder
whether it is possible in today’s troubled times. By being cynical or cheerful,
the situation is not going to change. So why not be cheerful? When the cup is
half-full, we can either say it is half-full or half-empty. So why not say it
is half-full? Why cannot we have a positive approach? Enjoying what we love to
do and learning to love and enjoy what we have to do is the best yajna to the
Lord.
Dhanam: It is
charity or gift which we do for others. However of all the gifts, there is one
gift which is very, very important. That is the gift of love. This is the most
important gift because it is one thing everybody is craving for. Rich or poor,
success or failure, love is craved for by all people at all times under all
circumstances. It is the best gift because even if other gifts are
not made, it does not matter. On the other hand, without love, all other gifts
remain incomplete, Love makes all other gifts valid and meaningful. It makes
the giver a saintly person.
Love is both the cause and consequence of spiritual
growth. We may claim “I love my family and children.” Love is only an inner feeling, attitude.
Love is invisible. Love belongs to the mind. So when we talk of
love, we mean expressed love. The best expression of love is giving our time and attention
to the other person, to share his life and more; their feelings. Of
course, if we give our time to everyone, we will not have the time and it will
be impractical. So the best place to practice the gift of “expressed love” is
one’s own family. We can definitely spare time by giving our full attention to
every member of the family. We can share their happiness and unhappiness
without judging whether it is justified or not. We need to give a remedy or
talk to reply except say a few comforting words for a healthy sharing and
connection. At least once a day we should make ourselves available to our
family members. This is the best expression of love and also the cause of our
inner growth. If we are not able to grow in this, all our dhanam is only
mechanical. Even our scriptural studies will not be meaningful. Giving time to
others is one of the indices of spiritual growth.
Today many people who have family problems have only one
complaint – family members do not provide time for one another. Many people are
shattered even though they are well provided for. All that is required is to
say a few words and ask the other person “How are you?” “How was your day?” and
this requires only a few moments. Then the atmosphere in the family becomes so
wonderful that all other lapses are not even noticed. Today when many families
are nuclear families, the gift of giving quality time and to respect other’s
feelings is the best dhanam.
Tapas – it is
the discipline of austerity. There are a variety of disciplines we follow like
fasting on ekadasi. The most important tapas is vak tapas – austerity or discipline at the verbal level. In the
Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna defines vaktaps. Our words should have four qualities to make
it an austerity – avoiding verbal violence, satyam, priyam, and hitam.
We must avoid verbal violence which is the most powerful and worst form of
violence. The words must be truthful, satyam.
There should not be chasm between our mind and words. When we say something, it
is because we mean it. Priyam means
kindness. Our words must be soft, polite, and gentle. Hitam means beneficial. Before uttering any words we should think
of two things – whether it is beneficial to us (which we will do any way) and
whether it is beneficial to the other person. Vak tapas requires that we remain
very alert. Before coming out of the mouth, the words must go through a metal
detector inside us that acts like a quality control meter filtering the words
and giving the stamp of quality.
Thus by following the three disciplines of yajna, dhanam,
and tapas we can make our life fruitful.
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