Nitivaakyam - Day 18

                                                              Day 18

When happiness comes into our life, our mind does not think that it will remain forever. But when sorrow strikes, we feel that it will be for lifetime. This makes us think negatively and is a reason for most suicides.

There are two things that can reduce sorrow in our life:
1. Patience
2. Time

After every sunrise there will be sunset, after every autumn there is winter, after a full moon there will be no moon and every happiness there will be sorrow as well. Our mentality has become such that we do not want happiness to go away and do not want sorrow to stay in our lives. What is our strength to wait during times of sorrow? The tide that comes in the sea stays for a certain period of time. We must never judge anything based on this time. If we take decisions during times of sorrow, we might go wrong and our life will be spoil't. We must have patience and allow time to pass by.

"Time can heal a lot of things"

 How many times have we regretted after going on the spiritual path and how many times have we regretted after committing sins? In life whenever there is temptation, we have to wait and not go any further. If we don't have the strength to wait, then temptation will become a reason for fall. It is important to wait during temptation and have patience during pain. Negativity does come during times of sorrow. Love has a positive approach.
These days will also pass by and hence we should have patience. We lose from our hearts itself. We must never take any decision during times of sorrow. Life will bring sorrow along with happiness.

Is there any one happiness in life where our opinion does not change? We keep adjusting in life as we are never happy with one thing. The times of happiness will be less and sorrowful times will be more in life. Why are we not ready to accept the sorrow that we will somehow accept after 2 years? What is the trouble in accepting it now? We are always attracted to what is not there in our lives and our interest ends when we get it. We don't feel sorry after going on the spiritual path but we feel sorry when we miss the opportunity of religion. We will feel happy if we have left the opportunity of committing sins.

More than sorrow, having faults is bad. The ocean has the collection of all the water in the world and there is nothing parallel to it. But a thirsty person will still go in search of a small lake or a bucket of water to quench his thirst. Even we will be in the position of an ocean if people who come to us do not experience peace. A person wanting to go on the spiritual path will hardly have anyone to support or come along. Only if we reduce our requirements can be reach the mountain top. When disease attacks the body, we should never give it the support of our heart and mind, otherwise it will disturb us completely. If there is fault or imperfection in our mind, we should never give it the support of our body.

In life time is a very big capital or stock we can possess. When there is sorrow in life, let time pass but and it will heal everything. 

If our efforts to change a situation goes in vain, we have change our mind.

Nitivaakyam - Day 16

                                                       Day 16

"A bowl of nectar becomes useless if it is mixed with even a drop of poison"      

Nectar

Poison

A bowl of nectar becomes useless with poison. Similarly religion is the nectar that can become worthless if combined with sins. Our sins will end the strength of our religion. Why do we want to become friends with poison while we have nectar with us. God says that if our sins are committed in compulsion and helplessness, it is worth forgiving but we commit sins because we want to. Days have come when we follow our religion in compulsion and commit sins happily, whereas it has to be vice versa.

While going to the temple, we are not able to concentrate on God's idol even for 5 minutes and we can keep staring at a beautiful girl on the street for hours! If we cannot leave our sins, we must at least not commit them in happiness. We have to try and follow our religion and remember God with our whole heart even if it is for some time.

 A good vessel will definitely be spoil't if it is going to carry acid in it. 

Any work that is done with content will go in excess - whether it is good or bad. When we do something in compulsion, we always will look forward to end it and minus it from our life. We safe guard our money in the banks thinking it is safe but have we safe guarded our good deeds in our religion? The person who can leave his rights is Ram and the person who picks up something that is not his rights is Raavan. We are not even ready to check where our good deeds would be safe.

An enemy of darkness will protect a candle. An enemy of sorrow will protect his religion.

In this world, there sorrow will definitely strike, but the one who goes on the spiritual path and protects his religion will be safe. If we want to safe guard our good deeds and be away from sorrow, we have to invest in religion. What is our mentality?

"The person who makes his mind a slave is an abdicator and the person who becomes slaves to his mind is a hedonist"

We keep gathering and storing items that we feel have strength. Let us store good things as people will only remember what we left behind us, rather than what we have stored. Only a person who does good deeds will be remembered after his death. A person who has invested his good deeds in religion will be safe in the future but a person who has invested his good deeds in sins will have to live worse than a beggar in the future.

"A disease is not contagious but an imperfection or a flaw is contagious"

Nitivaakyam - Day 15

                                                                Day 15

"Be on the alert to recognize your prime at whatever time of your life it may occur"

It is necessary to be alert always in the case of religion. A person who is not alert all the time is in for trouble.  Have we wondered the reason of our life? Have we wondered the reason we have got religion, eyes, mind, heart, money etc?

There are three types of situation in our life:

1. Saying "Yes": 

When we are in our childhood, we say Yes for everything - playing, eating and having fun.

2. Asking "Why?":

When we become a little mature we start asking questions and want a reason for everything. A spiritual person asks why are we wasting so much of time doing worldly chores. A worldly person asks why to spend so much time on religion? What is our preparation for our next birth? Leave alone the preparations, we do not want to even think about it. Unless the "Why" question does not arise, our spirits will not rise.

3. Asking "Why Not?":

There is no question or answer in saying Yes. But for a question containing "why" we can answer by saying "why not?" When the question comes from within, we will be able to answer "why not". We might say this is  not the time to focus on religion, but a spiritual person would say - why not?. It is important to make the heart and mind independent. We want to have our own house, clothes, car etc but don't we want to become the masters of our mind?

There are again three sins that disturb the mind and if we come out of these sins we will gain independence of our mind.

1. Temptation (लालच या प्रलोबन): 
Greed or temptation will convert our mind into slaves.  We become aroused and inflamed because of greed. A simple Rs 50/- poster arouses us and creates excitement in us. Can a poster disturb our mentality so much? A saint has the strength of saying "No". We have to learn to say No to greed and it is definitely as big challenge. Greed or temptation disturbs mind and the only solution to it is to be away from it, avoid it and say No. A virtuous man can also become prey to temptation.

2.  Greed or Cupidity (लोभ):
Temptation comes in front of us but greed is when we think of the future and start planning from now what we would buy etc. Which disturbs us more - Temptation or Greed? In greed, mind will act in favor of the body and not soul.

3. Totally Helpless (लाचारी):
Helplessness disturbs our mind even when we don't want it. This is not in our hands but we can at least control temptation and greed.

We have the strength to do everything, then why not? Try to make the mind independent and don't become slaves to it. It is alright if a train driver is not alert but a truck driver has to be alert at all costs else it will result in an accident. A spiritual person and a worldly person, both ask Why Not? A sinner would ask "why not"  in terms of doing sin and a religious person would ask "why not" in terms of doing religious work. Mind is neutral and it depends on us what we want to convert it into.

" It is better to be lazy than to be busy in doing wrong"

Nitivaakyam - Day 14

                                                               LUCK OF LIFE

We all want to know the secret to have Luck in our Life. Whatever we possess in life is due to the grace of God and religion. The fruits of religion is what we have in our life today. Then why don't we have any attraction towards religion. Why don't we have the heart to donate and give to others? Whatever we have got due to the grace of our religion, are we investing it in doing good or bad? Why don't we have the heart to do good for others as well?

In order to have LUCK in LIFE there are four things we have to check:

1. Lifestyle:

Have we checked our lifestyle? There is fulfillment at the end of requirement but there will be no satisfaction at the end of desire. When one mobile, TV, car, phone etc is sufficient, why more? Though we have a lot of wealth, how much have we controlled our desires? Why is our lifestyle so expensive? We run when we don't have money and we run when we have enough money as well.

“Your lifestyle - how you live, eat, emote, and think - determines your health. To prevent disease, you may have to change how you live.”

 Advertisements today are targeted towards women and kids as they are insistent on having what they want. If we want to be happy, we will have to change our lifestyle. What is our mentality about this? Our lifestyle will end our wealth.

2. Unwanted Habits:

"Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of.”

We should know how to neglect unwanted habits for the betterment of our life. We have to say NO to unwanted habits in eating, drinking, sitting, walking and talking. Why have we given such a big position to unwanted habits in our life? These will end our inner strength so we have to control them. If we want to see someone's happiness in this world we have to see that of a poised person and look at the pain of a devotee. The pain of a devotee brings him closer to God. We have become slaves to advanced technology. This will never bring luck in our life.

"Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters”

3. Character:

Character is when we have tears of shame left in our eyes. The shame for family, society and Guru has all come to an end. In India, the dress code of school girls has become very vulgar. Are short dresses a necessity? Girls are openly smoking and drinking. We worship Ram and do friendship with Ravan. Everything has ended in the name of character. Luck never comes from the sky, we have to create luck. Today's youth has forgotten all shame. Every day new advanced technology is being invented that is putting an end to our shame. We must never neglect shame in our life. We have to save our character.

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become action. Watch your action, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character!"

4. Killing Time:

Time is precious. We have to know how to invest and use time properly. We waste time on social networking websites which is of no use.

“Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't

own it, but you can use it. You can't keep

it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it

you can never get it back"

So have Luck in life, we have to change our lifestyle, remove unwanted habits, check our character and use time efficiently.

Nitivaakyam - Day 13

                                                                      Day 13

"We have both day and night with us. It is important to distribute time evenly for each work"

We have to know what work has to be done during the day and what work has to be done during darkness. If we do not distribute or segment our work then three things will be disturbed:

1. Relations:

We are running behind money day and night that we do not have time left for our family. We are running away from our responsibilities towards our family.

"Anything in excess is poison"

We have to know how much time to give to each work. If we have differentiated and segmented food into breakfast, lunch and dinner, we have to know to segment our work as well. Have we set time for each kind of work? Have we set aside time to maintain our relations. Even birds and animals go out hunting food during the day and rest during the night. We have to learn to give time to our relations. What do we want to do - Leave relations for wealth or leave wealth for relations? Which is our top priority.

2. Health:

Our health will be affected if we do not distribute our work. They say health is wealth. But how much time are we dedicating towards health? Good health is necessary for the coming days. What is the goal of our life? What is the use of a life without any goals? What would we like to have, be or do? We should avoid any area of life that will disturb our peace of mind.

Three things that are not good for us is
a. A goal-less life - Having no goals in life.
b. A weak heart - A heart that is not strong enough to take decisions. We keep thinking that we will do if we can. But we must have a firm mind and say that we will definitely do it. We get disturbed by the smallest obstacle. We must learn to set goals at least for each day.
c. A weak body - A body that has no strength and is weak is of no use.

In life it is very important to have goals, a strong heart and body. There will never be a day when our work will never be pending, Even during our last breath we will many things pending. We have to learn to take our time for religion if not the world will never give us time for religion until our last moment. We will not get time for religion but we have to take out time for it. What is the position of religion in our life - that of a steering wheel or a spare wheel? Let us think about it.

Nitivaakyam - Day 12

                                                                      Day - 12

" There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills."

The person who doubts in every area can never be successful and he will never succeed in his work. What we possess will construct our personality but what we are will construct our character. Doubt ends both our personality and character. Education today does not focus on character and is more focused on personality development. What do we want our family to progress in - personality or character? What is our mentality? 

Doubt can attack and disturb us in five areas of our life:

1. Doubt attacks and disturbs relations:

If doubt comes in between a Guru and his disciple, a husband and his wife, between a father and his son, it can end all these relations. 

"Doubt is like a poison in the milk of relations"

In order to save relations, we will have to end doubt. What is our mentality in this? With doubt comes, tension and reaction. Can our life move smoothly with doubt? There will be no balance in life if we doubt the smallest thing in life. Faith and devotion is very important in any relation. So does our relations contain more of doubt or more of faith?

2. Doubt attacks and disturbs our health and balance of mind:

We dress up so well so that people can look at us, but if someone stares at us continuously for ten minutes we start doubting the person. Doubt will definitely disturb our health and there will be no more mental peace left in our life.

3. Doubt attacks and disturbs success:

We should never leave and change the horse in the middle of our journey in case we start doubting it ability as we will never be able to reach the destination. We must never take a step just because we like the path, but we have to check destination as well. If the destination is right, we must never think of how the path would be. We have to have the courage to take the step. Continuity is very important in doing something tough as continuity will make the tough also easy. We must not have doubt whether it is in spiritual life or worldly life as doubt and indecision both are dangerous. In worldly life, the path is easy but destination is bad and in religion, the path is tough but destination is good. We can get the top result in the tough path as well.

4. Doubt attacks and disturbs our Present:
If doubt comes in between what we are doing, then achieving our goal is next to impossible. We start doubting after fasting or giving donation to the poor. Can a farmer grow good crop if he is going to doubt and out the seeds in the field. He has faith and trust. To save our present and to save what we are doing, we have to remove doubt from our lives. There should be a lot of zest and enthusiasm in what ever we do.

5. Doubt attacks and disturbs our virtues:

We run behind wealth, status and power as we feel all these have all the strength and power in the world. But have thought that virtue also has power in it? Bending, being happy with whatever we have, generosity, kindness are all strengths and not weakness. The biggest strength of a person who is happy with what he has is the ability to say "NO". Wealth will not accompany us after death, but what will accompany us is our virtues. It does not cost money for having good virtues. The world does not go on with aggregation but with virtues.

We might be able to walk with a thorn in our legs but we will not be able to walk happily. Similarly with doubt life will never be smooth and joyful. A six month old baby does not recognize its mother but has full faith in her even without recognizing. We must never insist on recognizing the ones who have done favor on us but we have to blindly love them. We doubt if someone gives us good news and we trust someone completely if they give us bad news about someone. We will have to remove doubt from our lives to live a happy peaceful life.

"Doubt is an explosive that can break a courageous mountain"

Nitivaakyam - Day 11

                                                                Day 11

"A true gentleman and wise person is the one due to whom others are not hurt"

To know what kind of voice I have, it is important to take others opinion. A gutter has to ask others what kind of smell comes from it. A crow thinks its voice is very sweet but in others opinion it does not have a good voice. Similarly it is necessary to ask and take others opinion to know our own nature. It is not necessary to ask opinion in regards to health, wealth, status or power. It is important to know how others feel because of us. Our good nature can become a reason for others happiness and joy. Our wealth , health, power and status can become a reason for jealousy in others. What is our goal? Do we want good nature or health, wealth and power?

If our nature is bad, people will not come to us even if we have wealth. Religion is interested in only one thing  - our good nature. If others are sad because of us then our life has no meaning. To maintain a good nature it is important to keep our ego on number two position. A person who keeps his ego on number one position cannot have a good nature. A good nature is the key to a building's gate. The only barometer for progress is good nature.

We know that a cuckoo has a sweet voice and a crow does not have a good voice,  from others appreciation and opinion. Are we ready to accept that our character and nature can be wrong? To make our nature good we have to follow:

1. Voice Beauty is more important than Voice Purity:

It is important to first think of the beauty of our voice before thinking about the ways to  make it pure. We have to first bring beauty in our words. It is voice purity when we say "I am right" and it is voice beauty when our words don't hurt the other person. We have to learn to be happy with whatever we have. Even if we don't get what we want, we have to like what we have. What disturbs us in bringing beauty in our words especially for our family members? We will become popular only if we have a good nature. People will not even consider the good works of a bad natured person. People did not like Duryodhana and Raavana for the same reason.

2. There are two types of  truth:

a. Truth is what it is -  This type of truth does not do any good for us.
b. I will support the truth that is for my good.

A Saint's life is full of truth that does good to them. There is a lot of difference between fact and truth. Truth what it is can see only the truth near by and the truth for our good can see long distance truth as well. Science can break a big mountain and religion can fix the broken parts. Religion does the work of converting a soul into God. Why are we running behind money even after having enough? A true master is the one who can sacrifice and the one who owns everything is a slave to it. There is a lot of risk in the path of success and there is a lot of pain in the path of meaningfulness.

Lets make our words beautiful before purifying it and let us focus on making our nature so good that no one is hurt because of us.