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).
Can
we make our life a continuous learning experience?
ivivxanu_avE>
svRda SvaTman< izúayeTySmaÅae=wRpU[aR>.5.
vividhaanubhavaiH
sarvadaa svaatmaanam shikshayet-yasmaat-te'rthapuurnaaH ||5||
Always educate yourself by a variety of experiences,
since they are all meaningful.
Experiences
are the building blocks of life. Every one is important and can become
meaningful and contribute to what we are. Shri Buddha saw a sick man and death
procession - it was this which set him thinking about life and death and it
literally transformed him.
We
need to open an account in the Bank of Learning and deposit each day our
earnings and learnings from each and every experience, thereby increasing our
balance of knowledge and wisdom. This capital can be banked upon in facing the
trials and travails of life. The good teaches us what we should be, the bad
what we should not be. Sorrows can mature us and pressures can steel us. No
experience, however painful or apparently insignificant is wasted or in vain.
What,
then, are the lessons to be learned from the tests of life?
Na
kenaPynu_aven kqu_avediptu mxurtrae ih _avet!.6.
Na
kenaapyanu-bhavena katu-bhaved-apitu madhurataro hi bhavet ||6||
One should not become bitter by any experience, but
only sweeter.
The
lessons we learn from the experiences of life depend entirely on us. In going
through experiences, some become weaker and more bitter towards the world,
whilst others become stronger and better personalities. Betrayal of trust,
false allegations, bereavement, insults, exploitation and the like could make
us bitter, hard and cynical. However, these very same experiences could
transform and mature us and make us stronger.
Saint
Ekantha was spat upon many times by one man and after each one he entered the
Ganges to bathe, without reaction to the perpetrator. Finally that man fell at
his feet wondering at his ability to ignore the hurts poured upon him.
Ekantha-ji thanked him for having given a reason and opportunity for having to
bathe so often in the Holy River, as it surely was all they more purifying.
Experiences
can make or break us. They test and challenge us. Gurudev, as a child, was
bored with daily prayers and so entertained himself with a a game of
visualisation of the different forms of God. This in later years helped him in
meditation!
During
times of crisis like wars or natural disasters, people are known to do either
super-human or inhuman acts. How we face life, what we learn from our
experiences and how they mould us, depend entirely on us alone.
