Values and Principles of Spiritual Living

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Values and Principles of Spiritual Living

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Values and Principles of Spiritual Living
By Raj Rao

It is so amazing that man knowingly chooses a path which is detrimental to his ultimate prosperity. The great rishis investigated this and concluded that there are two distinct and separate paths in life. These are namely 'the path of the pleasant' (Preya) and 'the path of the good' (Sreya). Man is confronted with the choice of taking one of these paths at every single moment of his life. Preya caters to man's self gratification, providing immediate pleasures but ultimately leads to disappointments and sorrow because of unfulfilled desires. In striking contrast, Sreya is difficult in the beginning but leads to greater happiness and a sense of fulfillment. All those of determination and discrimination choose the right path and lead the rest of humanity to lasting peace and happiness.

Life is described as a series of continuous experiences. And experience, therefore, become an unit of life just as a brick is the unit of a foundation wall. The strength of the foundation depends on the quality of the bricks used in the construction. Similarly, experiences will determine the type of life led by an individual. The stalwarts have discovered that integrating the 4 layers of human personality into a synthetic whole allows for harmony and rhythm in the varied experiences in life. These layers are physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual.

Man's diverse tendencies or Vasanas (super'ego' or super'id') are the prime movers of all his desires and action along the path of the pleasant. Vasanas are distinct and define individuality. When man gets rid of his Vasanas (or false impressions of individuality) through discriminating self effort, he transcends mental agitations to attain a divine life. As long as Vasanas exist, desires (the propelling force of Preya) continuously spring forth to create mental agitation and discomfort. The actions that emanate leave impressions in our personality which further fuel future actions. The cycle is called the Law of Karma. It describes persons as being because of their past actions. If the experiences from the time of birth to the present moment are pure and noble, the person is today of chastity and dignity. In short, this person is a product of his/her own past actions of Karma. The two parts of Karma are Destiny (Prarabdha) which is the product of the past lives and actions, and Self effort (Purusartha) which is the capacity to choose the present actions. All along life, people have the exercised the power of actions to control the future destiny of life. Therefore, the Law of Karma goes beyond Destiny to state that the future lies in our control of since we have the capacity to change it by regulating self effort. Thus, making the choice of whether to choose the path of Preya or Sreya will leave permanent footprints in the sands of time and drive the destiny yet to be realized.

Life, thus being a series of experiences ekes out either pain or joy, sorrow or happiness, success or failure. Each individual looks at the work in and through the medium of their own inner equipment and gains a particular vision of it. The same world can project many different and distinct visions as the equipment of the individual who projects it much like a kaleidoscope. We, in our innocence, believe in the development and beautification of the external world more than the rehabilitation of our inner personality. Realizing this truth, the religious Masters advice us to reform and reconstruct the inner instruments of experience so that world can be interpreted in its true perspective. "Master the mind and you master the world" is their divine slogan.

The world is nothing more than a concrete projection of subjective feelings and thoughts. The development of inner personality is the path indicated in all scriptures. There are eternal values for man to practice and live up to. The most fundamental of these are self control (Brahmacharya), non injury (Ahimsa) and Truthfulness (Satyam). Each is prescribed for regulation of our physical, mental and intellectual personality rehabilitation, respectively. (more...)
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