In this hectic rat race to make more money a few lose their health and to restore it, they spend a lot of their hard earned money. Ironically, people skip lunch and dinner to make money so that they don’t have to starve. Some think a lot over their future and forget the present, while a few live in the past and lose the present. Many compare their life with other who are in the upper scale and try to emulate them, failing to understand that they are much more affordable than those less deprived. And a few live as if they will never die and in doing they die as if they never lived.
Life is that which I experience here and now. This span of the present has to be satisfactory and I need to enjoy it, this is the purpose of my life.
If I am driving my car at night the head lights does not light up the highway till my destination, but instead will lit up the road as my car moves forward. The head light of my life highway is happiness not Eternal Peace. Happiness is different from Eternal Peace. Eternal peace is the like the street light which is always there in the form of grace of the Absolute and doesn't need any of my efforts. I only need to make use of it. Happiness may be momentary but it has its relevance, it motivates and inspires me.
How does the way I lead my life affect me??
It is an illusion that the objects around me provide me happiness. Due to this illusion I get attached to them this is my primary fault. This primary fault causes emotional attachment. Anything which has emotional tinge with it could cause either happiness or suffering. So it is important for me to let go attachment. I only have to use the material but never get attached to it. I have to the drive the car and not let the car drive me.
Secondly I have to do things with passion. If I do any work I should never think of the remuneration, it will distract my focus. There is no point in doing things that does not have my heart and soul in it, how much ever I am paid for it. Life is not just earning it also involves the way I earn it.
Third and most important is ethical living. As a person I must be conscious of my environment and my fellow beings which adds sense to my living. Positive deeds rather than negative deeds in support to the environment will not only serve me as an individual but also the entire mankind. Setting goals in life has to have a boundary of ethical values around it. It is not right to set a goal and think of reaching the goal with “by hook or crook” frame of mind or with “chalta hai” attitude.
Life is meaningless if I think I can live haphazardly and at the same time it is also meaningless if I think I have to live a strict particular life. I have the power to give meaning to my life by making my thought, word and deed the instruments of love and hope. After all life takes the meaning that I give to it. It is a canvas on which I paint, the stage on which I decide the dance moves or the song I sing. When I allow myself to be creative, in all that I do, life is never dull it is filled with meaning……Am I Right??
It is hard to have passion towards something and not get attached to it. There seems to be a conflict here. Wonder how to resolve that?
ReplyDeleteTo have passion towards something should remain only on the surface .....while in the core non attachment has to be practiced..... This is how things are worked with flexibility ...... Suppose i am assigned with some work, if i get attached to the outcome there is possibility that i might not give my 100% to what i do....... Be passionate about the work but do not get attached to the outcome........Right??????
ReplyDeleteSeems like a good answer & it's what is said in the Gita too "karmaNyEva adhikarastE maa phalEshu kadaachana". But, my problem is, how do you apply it in real life? It is easier said than done. For eg, let's say i am passionate about painting. When i am painting, i want to get the shade right, colour right, everything perfect. It's not about money or how much the painting will be worth. But, it's about my passion & how i put my heart & soul into it. So, ultimately, I do get attached & I do care about the outcome ie., how the painting is going to look.
ReplyDeleteNow, let's say I try to forcefully practice non-attachment towards the painting. Then,why would I care if the colour combination was ugly or the lines were crooked? Why would I care if someone spilled ink on it? If I don't care, then how can I be passionate?
Pursuit of perfection and attachment go hand in hand according to me. Because, both have a common root - ego :)
Understood that a painter needs to get involved in the painting and has to choose good color and has to work on design and things so...... Here i know Anonymous Sir that you agree that the painter will be painting to satisfy his own Self .......do you agree that hence he is choosing the right color combination ........ this itself is called getting passionate about ........ this is enough ...... if he tries to think of how his painting would be received by art lovers then he is getting attached to the art.....further if anyone criticizes the art he is frustrated ...frustration makes him a angry painter..... and his forth coming art will get affected ........
DeleteNow coming to Ego ...according to me ego is like pinch of salt at the corner of my plate i should add a little of it when i find my dish bland ...... but if i add more it will spoil the taste my dish ....... One can achieve Perfection without getting attached to the work done .......it is possible only if i shun Doer-ship......
Very nice reply! Thank you. Yes, shunning doer-ship is the key & which mere mortals find hard to do. We should reach a state where we can take praise and criticism without getting affected. And this is only possible when we keep ego like the pinch of salt that you have described.
ReplyDeleteThank you! nice to have interacted with you ...... you have assisted me to contemplate more....... PRANAM
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