Monday, March 18, 2013

Relaxation is the key to happiness


If you need to move ahead in your life you need to live at all times with the same state of mind and body that you have when you go to worship god. When you walk around, you can witness a lot of things  — you must know which of these sights are meant for you and which are not. There are some things that are meant exclusively for you and there are others which are not meant for you that you must avoid.
In a drugstore, there are medicines available that are capable of taking life as well as giving life. Which medicine will you choose? Clearly, you will purchase only those medicines that give life!
In the same way, our country is like a medical shop that sells medicines both for giving and taking life. There are medicines to give us energy and strength as well as those that take away energy and strength. If you drink milk you will get energy, but if you have alcohol, it will take away energy.
Drinking milk will help you walk straight whereas alcohol will make you crawl like a snake. You can buy all these goods in the same place. Both the milk store and the liquor shop are close by, but it is for us to use our discrimination and understand that which is good for us and that which is not. We must travel only on the good path; as long as we travel on the good path, we will not encounter difficulties.
Everybody breathes but only when we breathe properly can we live happily. People have other uses for the organs that they  use for breathing, resulting in their airways getting blocked. There are many who smoke and this smoke travels in the same way that we breathe. This can only invite  problems.
There are many who have problems in their chest. Such problems do not come initially, but when they continue on the wrong path for a long time, such problems multiply. So people must avoid these bad habits. If you get into these habits, they are bound to create problems for your health.
Similarly, even non-vegetarian food must be avoided. It must certainly be reduced; children must not be given non vegetarian food.
It will lead to embedding asura guna (demonic attributes) and reduce manushya guna (human attributes). Such children will tend to quarrel with their parents and those who come into contact with them. They will not show respect to others and they will have a very high opinion of themselves.
Why does this happen? Human beings have been prescribed a diet that is restricted to the consumption of vegetarian food. Consumption of non-vegetarian food will engender the production of animal instincts. When animal instincts predominate, people tend to be prone to anger and other negative tendencies.
Have you gone into a forest and noticed how a tiger behaves? It will stare angrily and menacingly at anyone in its proximity. We must avoid the animalistic path and instead tread on the human path in order that we migrate on to the path shown to us by god.
Asuras do not normally offer prayers to god. This is why only Brahmins (a Brahmin is immersed in Brahman) are allowed to conduct worship in temples: only when you are clean (in mind, body and spirit) should you enter a temple.
If you are not clean, you will be asked to go away from the temple. So we must always keep our bodies clean and our minds pure. We can accomplish this state only if we are able to exercise control over the way we live our lives. 

Thanks to Shri Nimishananda Guruji - CHENNAI & The New Indian Express Published on 18th March 2013 07:48 AM





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