Fwd: Keeping Peace In the Home

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Keeping Peace In the HomeSantosha is the goal; dharma, good conduct, remains the director of howyou should act and respond to fulfill your karma. This goal isattainableby following the ten Vedic restraints: not harming others by thought,wordor deed, refraining from lying, not entering into debt, being tolerantwith people and circumstance, overcoming changeableness and indecision,not being callous, cruel or insensitive to other people's feelings.Aboveall, never practice deception. Don't eat too much. Maintain a vegetariandiet for purity and clarity of mind. Watch carefully what you think andhow you express it through words. All of these restraints must becapturedand practiced within the lifestyle before the natural contentment, thesantosha, the pure, serene nature, of the soul can shine forth.Therefore,the practice to attain santosha is to fulfill the yamas. Proceed withconfidence; failure is an

impossibility.I was asked by a cyberspace cadet among our Internet congregation,"Where do we let off steam? Mom works, dad works, the kids are inschool, and when everyone comes home, everyone lets off a little steam,and everyone understands." My answer is don't let off steam in thehome. The home is a sanctuary of the entire family. It should have aneven higher standard of propriety than the office, the factory or thecorporate workplace. When we start being too casual at home and lettingoff steam, we say things that perhaps we shouldn't. We may think therest of the family understands, but they don't. Feelings get hurt. Webreak up the vibration of the home. Young people also let off steam inschool, thus inhibiting their own education. They behave in a way in theclassroom that they would not in a corporate office, and who is hurt butthemselves? It's amazing how quickly people shape up their behavior whenthey sign a

contract, when they get a job in a corporate office. Theyread the manual, they obey it and they are nice to everyone. This isthe way it should be within the home. The home should be maintained ata higher standard than the corporate office.The wonderful thing about Hinduism is that we don't let off steam athome; we let our emotions pour out within the Hindu temple. The Hindutemple is the place where we can relate to the Gods and the Goddessesand express ourselves within ourselves. It's just between ourselves andthe Deity. In a Hindu temple there may be, all at the same time, a womanworshiper crying in a corner, not far away a young couple laughing amongthemselves with their children, and nearby someone else arguing withthe Gods. The Hindu temple allows the individual to let off steam butit is a controlled situation, controlled by the pujas, the ceremony,the priesthood.So as to not make more karma in this life

by saying things we don'tmean, having inflections in our voice that are hurtful to others, wemust control the home, control ourselves in the workplace, keep thehome at a higher vibration of culture and protocol than the workplace,and include the temple in our lives as a place to release our emotionsand regain our composure.It is making a lot of really bad karma that will come back in itsstrongerreaction later on in life for someone, the husband or wife or teenager,to upset the vibration of the home because of stress at school or inthe workplace. It is counterproductive to work all day in a nice office,control the emotions and be productive, and then go home and upset thevibration within the home. After all, why is someone working? It's tocreate the home. Why is someone going to school? It's to eventuallycreatea home. It is counterproductive to destroy that which one works all dayto create. That's why I

advise the professional mother, the professionalfather, the professional son and the professional daughter to use inthe home the same good manners that are learned in the workplace, andbuild the vibration of the home even stronger than the vibration of theworkplace, so that there is something inviting to come home to.We have seen so many times, professionals, men and women, behaveexquisitely in the workplace, but not so exquisitely at home, upset thehome vibration, eventually destroying the home, breaking up the home.Andwe have seen, through the years, a very unhappy person in retirement, avery bitter person in retirement. No one wants him around, no one wantsto have him in their home. Therefore, he winds up in some nursing home,and he dies forgotten.The Sanatana Dharma and Saiva Samayam must be alive in the home, must bealive in the office, must be alive in the temple, for us to have a fulllife. Where,

then, do we vent our emotions, where do we let off steam,if not in our own home? The answer is, within the temple.

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