Learn to live unsoiled by the world.
There are enough and more temptations and
distractions out there. And we are not talking about materialistic objects of
desire alone. Or of ruinous addictions like alcohol, tobacco or drugs either.
While these are deterrents to intelligent living, most certainly, what we need
to be wary off also are the myriad ways in which we get dragged into brooding
or worrying on a daily basis. Think deeply about this. How often in a day do
you worry about a future event __ someone’s terminal illness and impending
passing, a child’s graduation, someone’s wedding or loans to be repaid? How
often in a day do you grieve over the past __ having experienced someone wrongly,
an irreconcilable loss, a mistake you made, a hurt you caused someone? How
often do you lose your patience or temper or both daily __ on a child or spouse
or subordinate or with just someone on the street? Each of these episodes takes
us away from living. Every time we worry about the future or fret over the past
or get dragged into anger spells, every single time, we die a death.
The ultimate goal and measure of success of
intelligent living is not
to change your external environment and make it incapable of causing you worry
or making you feel guilty or angry. It is about engineering your inner space
and insulating yourself from the vagaries of the world. This is what the Bible
says ‘living in the world but not of it’ and what the Bhagavad Gita advises of ‘being in this world but being above it’.
The Buddha enlightens us, making this
perspective simpler and easier to hold, using the metaphor of the lotus, “As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in
water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the
world raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the
world.” Imagine
being like a lotus. You too must avoid letting your soul be soiled and live,
unsoiled, in bliss!
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