Towards Mental Purity .

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(Discourse by : Paramacharya Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamy) There are a number of simple rites the performance of which will free you from inner impurities. From generation to generation our Forefathers performed them and earned happiness and contentment . We must follow in their footsteps . We do not have to go in search of any new way of life, any new doctrine or belief . We can learn from the great men of our past who have left us lessons not only in Atmic matters but in the conduct of family and social life . For instance, kinship and friendship in their time were based on high principles . When there was a marriage or obsequial ceremony all friends and relatives came forward to help . It was cultured behaviour at its best and it was not based on any empty outward show . People then were truly and sincerely interested in helping the needy and the poor . At weddings they gave a little cash to the bride's parents, five or ten rupees, and the burden of those who conducted the

marriage was lightened . When everybody pays a little to the needy . The donor does not feel the pinch but the donee has a tidy sum with which to celebrate a marriage or perform an obsequial ceremony . Among relatives in the past there was not much gap between the rich and the poor . And the rich man helped his poor relatives . All this is part of dharma . The man who helps purifies himself more than the man who is helped . Now things have changed . The well-to-do do not help their poor relatives . Annadana (gift of food) was part of the noble tradition of the past . How is it today ?. At present too the well-to-do feed people, but with this difference that those fed are also well-to-do like them . When they give parties, banquets, etc, a great deal of money and material is spent in this manner . Where is the room for dharma or mental purity in all this?. A party is given not with any noble

intention but to promote one's selfish interests . The man who gives it thinks that he is practicing deception on the invitees . But the invitees, however, knew that the host has no true feelings of affection for them . The host and the guest thus deceive one another . Altogether parties and toasts are nothing but part of modern art of deception and have nothing to do with the cleansing of mind . If you help a poor man with food or material, you and he are equally happy: there is affection on both sides . In parties, on the contrary, there is even ill-will . Hatred and resentment are caused in the hearts of have-nots by the parties given by the haves[for the haves] . Among relatives there should be no distinction between the rich and the poor . You must not think that only the affluent can help the poor and earn merit . If you are not well off you may serve others by helping them

physically . All of you in a locality may join together to dig a pond . All this contributes to inner purity . How do you deserve the grace of Isvara?. By constantly serving others, by being compassionate to all creatures . Your mind, your consciousness, will also become clear. In this pure consciousness of yours, in this pure citta, you will see the image of the Lord . Do you see any image in turbid water ?. We have made our minds muddy with impurities . We must make them limpid by being devoted to the Lord and by serving

mankind . Then Isvara will be within our grasp .

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