How to live in a tempting world with the Lord? Part 2

How to live in a tempting world with the Lord? Part 2

The Ramayana tells us: ‘Listen. Love and worship of the Lord is the remedy for all afflictions.’ (U.K. 96).

Repeating the Names of the Lord while we walk or work will help us remember Him always. And when we visit a Mandir, the Living Presence of the Lord will recharge ‘our battery’. Thus, we can work in the world yet not be entangled by it. Through this, knowledge comes, and the more knowledgeable we become, the safer and more secure shall we be. We shall then be able to follow the right direction – the path of Truth. We shall discover the real beauty of our world: the Living Presence of the Lord in the entire creation.

In the beginning of this discussion, we traced the beginning of our fall. We mentioned that problems begin the moment we forget the Lord – when we let go of the Lord and hold on to the world. It is not the Devil, (as some claim), who is responsible for our downfall; we always like to blame another for our own mistakes and shortcomings. According to the Bhagavad Gita, we must uplift ourselves by ourselves, by our own effort, because we are our own enemies, and we are our own friends – not someone or something outside us. The Lord says:‘One should lift oneself by one’s own efforts and should not degrade oneself; for one’s own self is one’s friend, and one’s own self is one’s enemy.’  (Gita 6:5)

‘God does not help those who do not make an effort.’ [Rg. Veda].

We are the real cause of our suffering. So long as we do not refine ourselves, so long we shall continue to suffer in the cycle of birth and death. That is why the Gita concentrates on man, not on anything else. And that is why every part of every chapter deals with yoga. Even that part in chapters 1 and 2, where Arjuna is in a state of anguish and confusion is mentioned as yoga – that which refines us. Yoga is that which cleanses our nature. Yoga is practiced for self-purification.

The saying goes: ‘What our mind is, that is what we are.’ The Hitopadesha traces the beginning of this decline of man: “An offence is first generated in the form of a Seed – a Thought. When sown in the Soil of the Mind, the Seed germinates and grows into a Tree. Disease, Grief, Affliction, Captivity and Sorrow – these are the Fruits of the Offence-Tree planted by human beings themselves.”

Our mind is like a mirror. When we try to see ourselves in a dusty mirror, we cannot get a clear vision of ourselves. But when we clean the mirror, we can see ourselves very distinctly. Unless we purify ourselves, we cannot see things as they really are. When we put on a pair of blue glasses, everything appears blue, and when we put on a pair of green glasses, everything appears green. But with plain, clear glasses, everything appears as it really is. We see things as they truly are.

(Pandit Ramdial Balbadar is a prominent Aachaarya (Teacher) of Hinduism in Guyana. He is the compiler and author of many titles and has over 30 years experience in Pandits’ Training across Guyana. He is currently the President of the Sanatan Vaidic Dharma Pandits’ Sabha, Region 3).