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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com)

 

Faith in God will cure all our ills

 

CHENNAI, AUG. 21. The success of an endeavour by a honest person

depends on two factors - his own efforts and Divine grace which

should accompany them. These elements are usually compared to the

two wheels of a coach. Many will usually say that destiny rules a

man. Certainly, it does play a part but without his own action,

he can never help destiny to do its role. Both are powerful and

potent and hence a combination of the two will ensure a smooth

flow of a scheme conceived by a man. Likewise, anyone who wants

to demonstrate his superiority and his administrative genius

should possess or acquire two very important qualities. He should

have compassion and be ready to listen and try to remove the

distress of others. But his kindness should not be mistaken as

weakness and hence he should not bend too much, lest his easy

accessibility is taken undue advantage of.

 

More than all these virtues, everyone should realise that two

very important factors govern his conduct. They form the basis

for his success and a smooth journey. Desire and anger are the

two evils responsible for making him a sinner. For the sake of

achieving what he wants, man will begin to strive for it and when

he fails in his attempts, he will get frustrated. From desire

will flow the tendency to yield to consuming liquor, resorting to

gambling and surrendering to covetousness. From anger arises

several unfortunate tendencies like confusion in thinking,

hypocrisy, jealousy of others' fame and prosperity and the itch

to resort to violence and perverted judgements. Nearly 18 types

of sins for which the roots are desires, covetousness and anger,

are described in the Mahabharatam where the grandsire Bheeshma,

lying in his death bed, gave a detailed talk on ``Dharma'' to the

Pandavas.

 

In his lecture, Sri K. P. Arivanandam said, though several

instances as to how God has rushed to His devotees' rescue are

mentioned in all our holy texts to make us realise how faith in

God will cure all our ills. One particular incident stands out to

present before us how He is ready to be amidst us in a perilous

situation. When the Kurukshetra war was over, the blind emperor,

whose sons were destroyed, continued to harbour deep hatred

against Bheema and in a bid to embrace him with the intention to

reduce him to rubbles, stretched his arms but Krishna, who could

sense his evil thoughts, pulled away Bheema and in his place,

thrust an iron image of his, which when hugged by the blind king,

was crushed to powder. The Lord advised Dhritarashtra to shed his

hatred against the Pandavas and at least from then onwards show

his affection.

 

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