Dear List Members :
It is my pleasure to forward the mail of
Sriman Krishnaswamy , which might be of
interest
to all .Thanks Sriman Krishnaswamy .
V.Sadagopan
----- Original Message -----
From: MK
krishnaswamy
Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2004 3:02 AM
Subject: [t'venkatam] The Life Superior Dear Devotees,
Please permit me to share some thoughts which arose
in my mind when I was re-reading Tennyson's Morte D'Arthur. The following is a
famous quote from that poem:
For what are men better than sheep or goats That nourish a blind life within the brain, If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer Both for themselves and those who call them friend? For so the whole round earth is every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God. Tennyson in "Morte D'Arthur" We human beings have so much in common with animals
-- such as living in groups, caring for our off-spring, building or
choosing a place for residence (nest, lair, house etc), fighting for domain over
a group or area or a mate, eating, drinking, playing, reproducing, health,
illness etc. There is one major difference: in addition to a pre-programmed
brain and the limited intelligence of the animals, we have a mind that has
almost unlimited intelligence, is capable of conceptual, abstract thinking
and communicating our thoughts in words, We
are also endowed with the free will to choose -- to use this mind-power either
to indulge in the needs and pleasures of the senses like the animals or to
fulfil the minimum, essential needs of the body and to seek the higher Self
which resides within us in the deep recesses of the heart.
It is in this context that the Seers of yore --who
saw with a sense of superior perception of the mind -- have prescribed for our
guidance the fundamental way of living our lives. And that is to seek the four
purusharthaas: Dharma, Arthaa, Kama and Moksha. It may be specially noted that
the inner two values Artha and Kama are sub-sets of Dharma and Moksha: they
are circumscribed by the two brackets Dharma and Moksha .
Artha meaning resources (wealth) is to be soughr
through action within the rules of Dharma. Kama or desire/needs should be such
that it is directed towards non-attachment and freedom from bondage (moksha).
Leading one's life in this manner, we become true seekers. Constantly working
within the field of Dharma with the mind's eye firmly fixed on the only true
goal of life, namely, moksha, we shall receive His Grace and be delivered from
bondage. Every other way that we choose with our "free" will results in the
waste of this precious gift of the human mind.
As Lord Yama told Nachiketas in Kathopanishad, we
have two choices:
We can choose preyas or pleasure and live the ordinary life like 'sheep and goats'; or choose shreyas, the highest good and become one with the Gods. Thus stated, the choice in favour of the latter is
so clear. Yet, over centuries, humanity seems to be going the other
way.
May be, it is time for Shri Bhagawan to come as an
Avatara Purusha and save us.
Dasan,
Krishnaswamy M.K
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