Good morning,
1. One truth is to understand my identity as an eternal soul not a physical body. I have chosen my birth, body & parents to fulfill my desires. No one else but I am responsible for my own birth, suffering, happiness & death. There is struggle & danger at every steps in our life. No one is immune from day to day problems of life mainly related to family, work, health & wealth. These issues are not permanent, they come & go like summer & winter and we must learn to tolerate them. You are not alone, everyone is in the same boat.
2. I should know myself where am I standing in terms of my mentality, nature or consciousness (Mode of Ignorance, Passion or Goodness). What is my defect? How do I raise my standard or consciousness? There is always room for improvement. Consciousness has no religion or nationality.
3. Perform your prescribed duty with a good consciousness & without expectation either as a parent, child, spouse, teacher, student, friend, employee, employer, citizen of a nation...or any other role given to us. Which indirectly will improve individual, family, professional, socioeconomic and nation’s lives....A Win Win strategy.
4. Pay attention to your health: In the long run, food plays a major roll in our mental & physical health. Eat foods (fresh, juicy, wholesome and healthy fat) which can purify us, give strength, satisfaction and increase our longevity. Perform yoga or any exercises to improve your physical fitness. Regulate your eating, sleeping, recreation and work. If we are healthy, we are benefiting ourselves, our family, friends & society. There is happiness in the Mode of Goodness lifestyle.
5. Become involved in welfare work: Welfare activity at material platforms by distributing food, clothes, shelter, medicine and money. Welfare activity at spiritual platform by sharing the spiritual knowledge for mental peace & internal happiness ….the most essential things in our lives irrespective of our degree, position, wealth, power, fame, religion & nationality.
6. There is one more truth to resolve the many problems in our lives either in family life, in friends circle or at work while simultaneously giving advice and making people laugh....at anytime & anywhere, just pay attention to our Speech/Writing. Speak/Write the words that are truthful, pleasing, beneficial, and not agitating to others. Don’t be too serious…. 😂, there is always room for joking, teasing & laughter 😂 with friends & family.
7. Non violence: No physical or mental harm (or as least as possible) to any living entity or environment. Instead, facilitate them to live pleasantly & peacefully which includes your spouse also...LOL. 😂 😆. We as humans with higher consciousness have higher responsibilities to look after other species and nature included.
8. One step further up to non violence is Love. Unconditional Love towards God & His creations which includes every species on the face of this planet and nature itself.
We won’t need any Human, Animal & Environmental rightist or Government Laws to save the Culture, Life & Nature in this world once we implement these EIGHT TRUTHS in our lives.
It is easy to say, but difficult to follow. I am in the same boat with everyone else, or I may even be behind, but thinking in the right direction will help us to go in the right direction.
These above mentioned fundamental truths & principles of human life are described in the Twelve Slokas from the Gita below.
Bg 2.13 -- As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change. Vedabase.io
TEXT 9: Bg 15.9: The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, eye, tongue, nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.
Bg 2.14 -- O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O son of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
Bg 3.38: As fire is covered by smoke, a mirror is covered by dust and the embryo is covered by the womb similarly the living entity is covered by different degrees of consciousness. (vedabase.com).
TEXT 5: Bg 14.5: Material nature consists of three modes – goodness, passion and ignorance. When the eternal living entity comes in contact with nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, he becomes conditioned by these modes.
Bg 2.47 -- You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.
Bg 6.32 -- He is a perfect yogī who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, in both their happiness and their distress, O Arjuna!
Bg 6.17 -- He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.
Bg 17.8 -- Foods dear to those in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one’s existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, fatty, wholesome, and pleasing to the heart.
Bg 17.20 -- Charity given out of duty, without expectation of return, at the proper time and place, and to a worthy person is considered to be in the mode of goodness.
Bg 17.15 -- Austerity of speech consists in speaking words that are truthful, pleasing, beneficial, and not agitating to others, and also in regularly reciting Vedic literature.
Bg 18.42 -- Peacefulness, self-control, austerity, purity, tolerance, honesty, knowledge, wisdom and religiousness – these are the natural qualities by which the brāhmaṇas (sober person) work. Vedabase.io
With respect to everyone’s values & beliefs, whichever SCRIPTURES ( Bible, Quran, Torah, Tripitaka, Agama, Guru Granth Sahib, Gita or any other...), METHODS or WAYS work for us are all good.
THANK YOU.
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I am inspired to read the Vedic Scriptures by regularly listening to Sri Pandurang Shashtri Athvale and the association of Swadhyay Parivar every Sunday in Swadhya Kendra.
I also hear and read the discourses & literatures on Vedic thoughts from Srila Prabhupada & his disciples… ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness).
