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.
We are reading "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).
Commonsense
says that if we give respect, then it ought to be ours in return. However, it
is not always that straightforward. We may have experience of the flaws in
others and be very wary, or we may find such flaws only in our dealing at a
given time; either way, our respect and trust, not to mention confidence, can
be shaken. How to deal with this?
Svdae;aNàit
kQaerae=Nye;a< àit tu kaemlae _avet!.2.
Svadoshaanprati
kathoro-nyeshaam prati tu komalo bhavet ||2||
One should be strict with one's own faults, but be
tender towards others'.
All
too readily we overlook our own shortcomings, yet equally or more readily see
the negative traits in other people. More often than not we justify our faults
with such platitudes as 'to err is human'. We have such self-indulgent,
self-forgiving tendencies that we make light of our errors and, subsequently,
show little improvement. Where is conscience? It ought to prick us and whip us
and tell us to not gloss over these errors in our makeup. We ought to deeply
regret any wrong doings or 'less than truths'; we should exercise the
self-control we would demand of others.
Another
way to look at this is that we long for and even expect that others will pay no
heed to our negative traits… yet are we willing to do the same in return? It is
in recognising, owning and correcting our own mistakes that we can best
demonstrate the possibilities, it helps us understand that others have yet to
achieve this level of self-improvement, and it frees us from over-worry and
finger-pointing. There will always be someone who is later in developing then
we are in matters of etiquette, compassion and so on. It behooves us to concern
ourselves only with our own behaviour. There will always be someone else who
cannot speak civilly, but this is no excuse for us to drop our values and
standards.
