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

Miscellaneous

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Religion

 

 

Happiness must be sought within

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHENNAI, DEC. 8. Everyone wants to be happy and peaceful in life and direct all

their actions towards this end. The art which enables man to be at peace with

himself is Yoga. All types of human character from the lowest to the highest are

represented in the Mahabharata and it gives an insight into who a Yogi is. The

epic portraying the human emotions of greed, jealousy and moral decrepitude

which culminated in the fratricidal war at Kurukshetra is not just an account of

the events in the lives of the Pandavas and the Kauravas, but intense situations

in our day-to-day life.

 

When everything is fine it is not possible to know the true nature of a person.

The baser emotions lurk within and come to the surface only when there is a

crisis. It is this truth which is revealed in the different characters portrayed

in the epic. The only person who remained untouched was Lord Krishna and He is

the greatest Yogi of all. Yoga gives the inner freedom, the poise to remain

unaffected by the situations in life. Man today has lost his freedom. This is

because our perception of life is fragmented and related to the five senses

which are not reliable.

 

Human perception of anything is relative and is hence a distortion of reality.

They function like that because nature has opened man's perception in a

particular way which is necessary for his survival in the world. But, man is not

happy only with his survival like other creatures. He seeks fulfilment in myriad

ways. While he learns all knowledge from others no one teaches him to be happy

though he longs to be so and a lifetime passes away seeking this ever-eluding

happiness.

 

In his lecture, Sri Jaggi Vasudev said modern man had engineered the external

world for his comforts skilfully but had failed to fashion his mind to be

joyful. His idea of God is that of a protective hand because of his basic

insecurity. Anything that springs from fear is only a psychological need.

Moreover fear and greed dominate his prayer. Unfortunately today fear, greed and

guilt have become the basis of pursuit of religion instead of harmony.

Ultimately religion should further harmony within and without. What is seen in

the world is only a reflection in a large scale of that which is happening

within human minds. Yoga is the science of settling man's mind. Indian

spirituality uses the lotus as a symbol of flowering of the Spirit as it blooms

where there is slush. It is possible to transform human life in the world which

is full of strife and corruption (slush) into a beautiful fragrant flower of

happiness by Yoga.

 

 

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