ADVENTURES IN ADVAITA VEDANTA...

Adventures in Advaita Vedanta, the philosophy and science of spirit. We are one you and I; are you curious why?..


Best Desire

Hari OM
Each 'Choose-day' we will investigate the process by which we can reassess our activity and interaction with the world of plurality and become more congruent within our personality.

The next text which will guide the Choose-day posts is "Tips for Happy Living - jIvnsUÇai[ /jiivanasuutraani", by Swami Tejomayananda (Guru-ji). Choose-days writings are here to prompt deeper thinking on the choices made on a daily basis and seek to provide prompts for raising the standard of one's thinking and living. This text composed in format of Sanskrit traditional teachings, speaks directly to this purpose. As ever, the full text may be obtained from CM Publications - or your local centre (see sidebar).

Having determined that goals are necessary in order to give a point to our endeavour, how should we go about setting goals?

iÖivx< ih lúy< àawimk< crm< v.8.
Dvividham hi lakshyam praathamikam charamam ||8||
Two-fold, indeed, is this goal - the immediate and the ultimate.

Goal Setting
Setting the right goal is important. Understanding of goals helps us to do this. Subdivision is required. We can talk in terms of intermediate goals and ultimate goals

Intermediate goals can be further divided. ;
Immediate goal - what we need to do today or in the near future. These  may be otherwise considered as 'simple' or 'starter' goals. Often we lose ourselves in planning for a great future, but at the cost of our present. Taking care of the here and now is very necessary in order to underpin the future. A well-planned daily routine gives us time to utilise our present.
Short-term goal - is what we plan to achieve within, say, the next two to four years.
Long-term goal - that which we want to gain in the next five to fifteen years.

In our childhood and youth we are great at the short-term goals (for example - our schooling choices) and we can be very idealistic about our long-term goals, but are often neglectful of staying in the moment, dealing with goals which play a part in daily life. Instead, they fall into indulgences and distractions

As adults, we become too busy battling with the present that we tend to only plan ahead with regards to the purely material; finance looms large and we can lose sight of the dreams of our youth.

As we grow into our elder years, the concerns are only for the immediate and short-term.

Goal for Every role.
We play many roles in our lives. For every role that we play in the present and shall play in the future, we must have a goal. What type of a son, student, spouse, professional, parent, citizen or grandparent do we wish to be? What should we do to achieve that? We usually make plans and work hard only for achieving professional goals; those are easy to define. We do not empower ourselves to become ideal citizens or spouses. Some only put forth efforts when relationships are on the very of breaking.

Ultimate goal.
Everyone seems to have a different goal in life. However, are they really different? Is there something common in them? Do we all not want to be happy at the end of the day? The doctor, the actor, social worker, the banker, the builder, street-sweeper… all want the elusive thing called 'happiness'. Glimpses of it are had from time to time, but for it to become a permanent state of being is the dream of all. Yes, it is the ultimate goal of all, irrespective of their age, nationality, religion, class or colour.