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Source: The Hindu

(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/03/08/stories/2002030801790800.htm)

Miscellaneous

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Religion

 

 

Man must be moderate in his decisions

 

 

 

 

CHENNAI

March 8.

 

Holding extreme views, while in the grip of emotional upheavals, without

realising the consequences is bound to land a person in a quandary. It is wise

to desist from adopting the do-or-die policy, but think well before taking a

harsh decision. It is also unwise to justify such an act after implementing it.

A balanced approach on any issue will surely fetch benefit. Even at the

commencement of the Divine Poem, the Bhagavad Gita, the reader will come across

a warrior who had been preparing to settle scores with his enemies and entering

the battlefield with all resolve to fight them. But suddenly he was overtaken by

the thought of the sin of killing his kith and kin and declined to wield his bow

and arrows. It was then Lord Krishna took the task of removing the confusion in

his mind and impressed on him about his legitimate duty.

 

A story is told about a king who was steeped in worldly pleasures, deciding to

become an ascetic. Buddha admitted him into this order in spite of opposition

from others. The king who turned a Sanyasi, showed greater zeal than other monks

in upholding the rigid rules and practising the austerities. Once Buddha called

him and asked him whether he knew how to play Veena. The king-turned ascetic

replied that if the strings are screwed tight they would snap and if they are

kept loose the sound will be jarring. Buddha advised him that in a like manner

he too should not be rigid but be moderate in his views.

 

Sri Sukhi Sivam, in his lecture, referred to the challenges from opponents,

which Arjuna had accepted and was prepared to rout them, but he was raving with

grief unexpectedly and declared his intention not to wage war. His arguments

were well dovetailed and he quoted even scriptural authority about the damage

that would emerge from the holocaust. Krishna brushed aside his arguments

calling them vain words of wisdom.

 

The Lord said, the soul within is not perishable and will not cease to exist

even when it passed through a cycle of births and deaths. The physical body of

flesh and blood is ephemeral. Grief and infatuation are the properties of this

body, springing up from affinities. "Consider loss and gain, success and failure

as the same and gird up your loins to do your duty as a warrior. No sin will

touch you. Only action must be your concern and not the result. Forget about the

fruit and fight." He exhorted Arjuna to conform to his duty as a true Kshatriya.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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