Yes, the Vedic tradition acknowledges the shortness of human life,
emphasizing its brevity by suggesting a goal of living fully for a hundred
years to pursue righteousness and liberation. The Vedas teach that life is
a gift to be lived with gratitude, seeking knowledge, enjoying pleasure,
and ultimately striving for spiritual freedom, making the limited span of
life a call to action rather than a cause for despair
Mind is a flow of thoughts- a seat of feelings and emotions. Continuous
flow of thoughts creates the world of plurality. Generally, man acts
according to whims & fancies of his mind and such actions are generally
detrimental & dangerous to his welfare and prosperity. In day to day
dealings with others, he reacts and does not act judiciously, resulting in
confusion within, leading to dissatisfaction & discontentment in life.
Intellect is a discriminating power over the mind. Man has to develop its
Intellect – the capacity to discriminate & analyze his feelings and then to
act judiciously. As the experincer is Mind & Intellect Equipment, it
requires proper training. When this equipment is perfectly tuned up, man
experiences harmony & rhythm. When it is out of tune and neglected, there
is discord & harshness. This equipment is different in each human being.
Vedantic principles help Man to keep his intellect alert and apply its
faculty of discrimination to the choice of right action. For understanding
the proper functioning of the composite personality of man, our Rishis,
after much research, have found out the steps for improving Mind &
Intellect Equipment to raise the Standard of Life of all human beings. It
is Pure Consciousness, which provides capacity to perceive to sense organs,
capacity to act to action organs, capacity to feel to mind organ and
capacity to think to intellect organ. Pure Consciousness is the changeless
reality, which enables one to recognize the changes occurring at physical,
mental & intellectual levels. Pure Consciousness is Brahman itself and
common to all. The nature of it is absolute Bliss. Absolute Happiness is
the Goal of all human efforts. We have a common and firm belief that joy –
happiness experienced by us lie in sense objects and we therefore strive to
acquire, possess and aggrandize more & more wealth and objects of the
world. However, the fact is that same objects /circumstances / situations
give different degree of joy-happiness or sorrow/unhappiness to different
people and at different times to same people. Once the art of quieting the
mind is learnt, man will 2 not find it necessary to pursue the material
world and its enchanting objects for gaining peace & happiness. The best
way of establishing permanent happiness is to reduce the number of desires
by directing your thoughts to all pervading Divine Reality. If Man
identifies correctly with his consciousness, which is the life- centre ,
around which all the activities of body, mind and intellect revolve, he is
no longer victimized by sorrows of the changing phenomena of perceptions,
emotions and thoughts. Vedant teaches man to focus his attention on Real
Self-Supreme Bliss- a total dispassion for every thing that the material
world can offer. Rare few pursue this path. Vedant helps eliminating
vasnas (desires) and reduce Rajas & Tamas and increase Satwa. Improvement
is achieved through thought extinction. For thoughtlessness, detailed
procedure of Meditation with Mala & Japa helps achieve moments of self-
realization, when `awareness of thought` becomes `pure thoughtlessness
awareness. ` When thoughts are completely eliminated, man achieves Bliss-
Pure Consciousness. Change in thoughts can be affected by 3 Yogas. The
quantity of thoughts can be reduced by Karma Yoga-the Path of Action. The
quality of thoughts can be improved by Bhakti Yoga- the Path of Devotion.
The direction of thoughts can be changed from the realm of perceptions and
emotions to the consciousness principle by Gnana Yoga- the Path of
Knowledge. World is a projection of one’s mind. Master the mind and you can
master the world. Self-control (Brahamcharya), Non-injury (Ahimsa) and
Truthfulness (Satyam) are the cardinal principles of Upnishads for
mastering the world and regulating the physical, mental and intellectual
personalities. There are 2 paths in life- the Path of Pleasant & the Path
of Good. Vedant shows the dangers of Path of Pleasant and advocates
following the Path of Good. Life of Harmony is attained, when man rises
above his limited egocentric view of life by recognizing the totality of
the world. Selfish actions performed with ego and egocentric desires
create vasnas (desires). Vasnas are removed by study of scriptures,
reflection and meditation. Selfless actions for others dedicated to higher
altar exhaust existing vasnas and prevent formation of new vasnas leading
to Bliss. Remembering and thanking God for whatever He has given to us,
while going to bed and getting up in the morning also helps. Vedic
principles do not prescribe unintelligent, forced denial or suppression of
all sensual enjoyments but enjoins the principle of sublimation- the
intelligent self-control by understanding higher values of life. Upnishads
clearly indicate to enjoy every thing in the world judiciously, as every
thing is created by God for your enjoyment. Earn as much wealth as you can
but never crave for it nor develop a sense of possessiveness and attachment.
Some other Very Important Principles are as under:-
1) Licentiousness (uncontrolled indulgence of sensual pleasures) leads to
sorrow. Knowledge of higher values given by scriptures helps to check
licentiousness. Renunciation of desires is the only way to happiness.
2) World is a mixture of Good & Bad. One who learns the art of contacting
the world properly, as envisaged in scriptures, can derive maximum
happiness even out of worst environment and situation.
3) Emotion is virtue, emotionalism is a weakness.
4) Happiness is a state of mind.
5) Standard of living & Standard of life should be balanced.
6) When philosophical values are lost, culture is lost. Thereafter,
immorality, confusion and disintegration of Society/ Nation sets in.
7) Philosophy is not only a View of Life but complete Way of Life .Vedant
not only clearly indicates complete View of Life but also a complete Way of
Life.
8) World is constantly changing. The Self within is the changeless Reality.
It would be observed from above that Vedant deals with Life theoretical as
well as practical and its teaching is Universal and for all time to come.
These principles and practical solutions enumerated by our ancient
Rishis before thousands of years were practiced in those days and
thereafter from time to time till today. Whenever, these were forgotten,
there was chaos in Society, Nation and World. No scientists, who have been
working sincerely in the fields of economics, politics and natural
resources and who have provided lot of facilities and material objects,
leading to Gene & Stem replacement, Mobile phones, Computers, Internet,
Discovery Van etc have been able to give us peace.
K Rajaram IRS 11025
On Wed, 1 Oct 2025 at 04:17, Jambunathan Iyer <[email protected]> wrote:
> Life is short. So, break your ego, forgive quickly, believe slowly, love
> truly, laugh loudly and never avoid anything that makes you smile.
>
>
>
> *N Jambunathan , Chennai " What you get by achieving your goals is not as
> important as what you become by achieving your goals. If you want to live a
> happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things "*
>
>
>
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