👉 Existence of Sorrows is Imaginary

Vairagya (renouncement adopted by saints) means renouncing all ‘rags’. The word ‘rags’ refers to untoward attachments, excessive affection, jealousy, anger, worries, fear, cravings, ambitious-thirst, depression etc. These are the cause of all misery and restlessness in human life.

According to sagacious philosopher Socrates, over three-fourth of the sorrows experienced in the world are imaginary, one creates them for oneself because of his own illusory thinking and imaginations. If you enlighten your attitude and refine your imaginations, most of your worries and anguishes will disappear in no time. This is what leads to the principle of spirituality that - vairagya liberates from all sorrows and sufferings.

No one can ever fulfill all desires. The thirst for worldly pleasures, powers, resources, recognition, etc increases with more and more possession of what you wanted; the thralldom of selfish attachments tightens further with your inclination towards what is nearer and dearer to you… The only way to get rid of these unceasing bonds is to restrain the passions, the ambitions at their very inception by inner will and enlightened thoughts and sentiments. Vairagya generated thereby is perfect solution to elimination of all worries and sufferings.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Nov. 1946

👉 Being Good is Being Wise

Tyrants or wicked people do not hesitate in committing mindless flaws and sinful activities. Wise are those who restrain themselves from such follies. Evil generates more evil; this is why one should keep away from it and protect himself against it, as one would from the hazards of fire. The vicious consequences and God’s penalty for sins follows the sinner like his own shadow and continue the chase with greater intensity life after life till he is ruined completely. Therefore, be vigilant and keep away from all vices.

You accumulate the curse of your own soul whenever you do something that is unethical or wrong. There is nothing more painful and adverse than burning in this fire. Despite knowing this, people are driven towards misconduct, blemishing acts and sins because of their cravings, ego and selfish attachments.

Satisfying these passions for some time appears to give some momentary pleasure but traps one’s mind into its grip forever. This is like eating sugarcoated poison.

Truly intelligent and wise in this world is the one who precludes himself from evil thoughts and mean, cruel, sinful actions, and on the contrary, adopts truthful righteous path. This wisdom proves to be farsighted and opens up the path of glorious achievements…

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Nov. 1946

👉 Freedom of Karma

Among all the life-forms, only human form is the one in which the being is given freedom of actions (karma). The marvelous faculties of conscious and unconscious mind, intellect, and the sense of self-identity are gifted to a human mainly so that he could make best use of these in his actions – intellect is given for reasoning; mind for thinking and pondering over the reasoned thoughts and testing every action whether it is good or bad, weather it is worth one’s dignity as a human. If one does not make sane use of this unique privilege, he shall not only be the loser but also a culprit of defying the preeminent duty assigned by the Supreme Creator.

Freedom of karma is a birth right of every human being. But, no one has the freedom to escape the karmas. The system of Nature is such that every creature has to do its essential karmas for survival. Nature does not allow any other creature to do anything against its nature. Humans, because of the liberty of karmas, can attempt diversified actions. But not doing any karma is impossible for everyone. Nature will automatically pull one towards some karma as per one’s intrinsic tendencies. This is what Lord Krishna reminds Arjuna in the holy Gita.

The Omnipresent Consciousness of God is present in every soul. Those who escape from their karmas and those who try going against the Law of Karma are further entrapped in the illusion of HIS maya.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Oct. 1946

👉 Live with Dignity

What could be more abominable and disdainful than a human life spend like that of bees or dogs buzzing and sticking around the rubbish of sinful tendencies or running madly in greed to lick the dirt of sensual lust. That ascent or ‘success’ of human life is useless and scornful which grows like a tree of dates, offering no shadow or shelter to anyone. What to say of the prosperous life, which is spent like a snake in guarding the possessions, which is all the time occupied in fulfilling selfish ambitions? They are really pitiable who are ignorant and wasters the precious opportunities of being born as humans – which even gods aspire to attain… Their acts are like selling invaluable pearls for mere pieces of colored glass and shining stones. The will have nothing but the sufferings of the sins and flaws and repenting in the end…

So, awaken ‘O’ human being, and recognize the greatness of your life. Live a life worth its dignity; do something that leaves out glorious marks behind you, which others could follow with grace. Do something, which could provide some light to the future generations. Truthfulness, honesty, loving and kind attitude, benevolence, tolerance, firmness, fairness, self-retrain, are the virtues of humanity which every human being could adopt irrespective of his or her intellectual level or social circumstances etc. These are the real treasure, real beauty and real honors of human life.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Aug. 1946

👉 The Perennial Law of Mental Evolution

The quality of our mental inscriptions and hence the nature of our mind depends upon what kinds of thoughts dominate our thinking most often. An empty mind is said to be a devil’s house whereas a mind engaged in creative works and righteous, constructive, deeper thinking is sure to sharpen, brighten and expand its capabilities.

You must ponder over this fact that your mental evolution is in your hands. Short-temperedness enhances the tendencies of anger, harmful excitations. Worries, tensions, gloom, despair and similar kinds of negative instincts weaken your mind further. So step plunging into the untoward memories of the past and do not let your mind roam in vulgar, erotic, revengeful, depressing or arbitrary imaginations.

Positive, optimistic and reasoned thinking educes new joy and energy in your mind and motivates it for constructive actions; this is also the key to sharpening the intellect. In short, our thoughts are the hidden rulers of our life. Concentration of mind upon a focused objective and associated thoughts augment its corresponding skills and potentials. This is how one becomes an expert in specific talent or field of knowledge…

📖  Akhand Jyoti, July 1946

👉 Enthusiasm with a Check of Maturity

You should be a real master and not the slave of your sense organs. You can’t enjoy even the pleasure of the senses for long without observing self-continence. Running after ever-new passions ceases peace from your life and results in varieties of weaknesses and self-invited worries.

Being driven by sensual lust is against the human-nature and human-religion. Sri Bhagvad Gita is regarded as the treatise of ideal life. Its guidance will be accomplished in your life only if you succeed in its prerequisite of self-discipline over your senses. Without the endeavors of self-restrain, you can’t proceed in any yoga-sadhana of spiritual refinement; it is a must for achieving something worth on the worldly fronts as well. The Sitar of life produces melodious music only if its wires are controlled carefully.

Just think of the fate of the horse-rider who can’t hold the bridle of the horse. Appropriate control over the horse is a must if the rider wants to reach somewhere safely. The same is about the agile horse of mind in the journey of life. Prudent vigil and self-restrain are essentials for progress, peace and happiness.

Some audacious youths regard discipline as a barrier against their enthusiasm and energy; they want to break all mental, social and national norms. But this puts them and many others into trouble and harms everyone. Alertness and guidance of matured wisdom are as necessary with zest in life as was Krishna’s support to Arjuna in the Mahabharat war. If humans are intelligent beings, they should note that steadfastness and farsightedness are signs of intelligence.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, May 1946

👉 Accept Your Flaws

Whenever one commits a mistake he instantly feels a shock in the inner self. But the next moment his (extrovert) conscious mind comes into action and advices to ignore and hide it because there will insult, penalty or some other unpleasant experience if others come to know about it… This idea further accrues lame excuses, false arguments and triggers him find ways to somehow protect himself and allege someone else for whatever wrong has been done.

But this is the beginning of a vicious cycle. Hiding a flaw even for once induces a tendency to do so again and again. This gradually becomes a habit and one stops caring for what is wrong and what is not. The mist of falsehood darkens and weakens his inner self and cultivates sinful tendencies.

Confessing for own weakness or misdeeds in fact shows one’s spiritual courage and inner purity. So, if one accepts his own flaws or apologizes for whatever wrong he has committed, he would elevate his dignity. This is a brave act. It enhances one’s inner strength. With same strength, one should vow not to repeat such mistakes. Doing this will gradually refine him and accelerate his progress along the righteous path of progress on the worldly as well as spiritual fronts.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, April 1946

👉 Throw Away All Fears from Your Mind

Getting scared is not a natural tendency of human self. Your soul is absolutely free. It is only our mind, which has created all sorts of fears, worries, sorrows and what not. It is up to you whether to make your inner world ghostly and abominable by such negative tendencies or transform it into a living paradise pervaded with fearlessness, vivid zest, and illumined faith. No one can harm or help you if you awakened yourself. If you want, you can really be strong and free from all worries and fears. Remember again and again that it is your own good or bad thoughts, virtuous or evil tendencies and discerning or confused intellect that ‘create’ your auspicious or ill omen.

Even a slightest instinct of fear or worry disturbs your mental peace. Your thoughts then tend to revolve around its imaginary causes. It expands with greater intensity unless you awaken, firmly decide and uproot and throw it out from your mental field. Better do it now itself and keep away from all such negative feelings. Fight out and eradicate the demons of all fears and worries by the might of inner strength and self-confidence. Think of yourself as the immortal soul, the smog of all weaknesses and apprehensions will disappear with the dawn of self-recognition.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Mar. 1946

👉 The World is a Reflection of Our Minds

The state and activities of the mind affect the body and those of the latter influence the mind in return. This cycle continues throughout the life. For example, if there is an ailment or pain somewhere in the body, mind also will be disturbed and worried. If mind is depressed, the body will also become inactive and so on. According to Vedanta, your mind is the architect of what you are and what the nature of your world is.

Mind is the linkage between successive live. One’s inner desires, convictions, thoughts are constantly inscribed in the inner core of the mind; these influence the intrinsic tendencies of mind and hence the future course of life… Even the kind of life form, the type of body, the circumstances one is born in, are shaped by the intrinsic nature of one’s mind. Thus, the world around us is nothing but a shadow or a reflection of our mind.

The world is neither good nor bad in itself. Little deeper thinking will make it clear to you that you experience the world as per the nature of your own inner self. Good or bad, beauty or ugliness, superiority or inferiority, etc are all creations of your own mind. It is in your hands whether to ruin your life in the poison of evils of jealous, hatred, selfishness or sooth it by the nectar of virtuous
tendencies.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Feb. 1946

👉 Win Yourself

A life driven by cravings or aimed at sensual joys alone is useless; it is a blot on the glory of human life, a burden on the earth. Despite being endowed with superior powers, immense potentials, such a person lives a life not different from beasts. He has chosen disgraceful decline… It is pathetic to see a fellow human remaining dormant and letting his life be ruined without any effort, and suffering the consequent miseries. He also makes others related to him face adversities, insult and pains in different forms.

Sensual passions and luxuries without hard work are worse then ‘death’ whereas self-restrain, awareness and disciplined alacrity are real signs of life. A true winner is the one who transforms the ‘wrought iron’ of ambitions and cravings into the ‘gold’ of enlightened potentials. Such a fellow finds joy in every element of Nature.

The dignity of human life lies in uprooting the beastly tendencies, winning over the passions and rising for higher goals. You should be the master and not a slave of your body and mind. A wise man rules over his sense organs and makes constructive use of them as per the directions of wisdom. It is only such farsighted people who awaken the divine potentials indwelling in the human body and mind. The secret of unalloyed bliss, luminous success lies in chiseled refinement and evolution of the inherited physical and mental abilities.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Dec. 1945

👉 Immeasurable Power of Truth

You should speak truth, think truthfully and make your character, your actions, your behavior shine with the glow of truth. This will endow you with immense power, which will be stronger than any other force or power of the world. Confucius used to say that ‘truth contains the force of thousand elephants’.

Indeed the force of truth is immeasurable. It can’t be compared with any other force of the world. The wisest, strongest, truly dignified, is the one, who is honest to the soul, whose conduct is pure as per the guidance of the inner self, who has discarded falsehood, show-off, artificialness in all respects. He won’t have any fear, any worries.

On the contrary, those who are dishonest, manipulative or cunning, they remain trapped in some hidden fear and suspicion all the time. Power of wealth, might, power of people’s support, power of intellect, many kinds of powers are there in the world, but none stands before the power of truth. A truthful person is so powerful that even the gods of heavens bow before him.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Nov. 1945

👉 Chiseled Refinement of Life

It’s the law of Nature that stress and struggle of particles generate force and motion. Friction and violent movement though appear harsh, but are necessary for sharpened gaze. The yellow metal gets its golden bright glow only after being heated and hammered. An ordinary piece of stone or metal becomes magnificent sculptures or precious idols only after undergoing hard hitting and shrill cutting.

The same is true of human life. Glory of life sparkles only after passing through testing times, bearing the tough disciplines, pains and difficulties on the path of ideals. Those who can rise and march against obstructions and opposition alone can reach high goals. You can hardly find any great life or eminent success that was achieved by any one without unflinching efforts and examinations.

Devout endeavors of penance and adoption of ascetic disciplines for selfpurification and self-transformation are described as tapasya (tapa). Chiseled refinement of life is the essence of tapa. This awakens hidden powers and sublime potentials. Vedic history has witnessed how great tapaswis have been able to conquer heavens by the spiritual force of their tapasya. The best devotion of the life-God is tapa. It is the only means of glorious accomplishments.

Remember, only those gain importance and reverence in this world, who can smile in hardships and who can enjoy the pains of tapaspya for noble aims.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Oct. 1945

👉 Thoughts are Seeds of Deeds

Narrow-mindedness, selfish boundaries, and misery are certainly not the natural components of the Supreme Creation of the Almighty. These kinds of heinous things are the products of our vices, our wrong ambitions and thoughts. Because of our ignorance and unawareness, they have silently invaded our inner self too and eaten much of our inner strength and sublime powers. This is why, our progress or wellbeing largely remains confined to the body and physical resources; there is hardly any sign of mental, intellectual or emotional evolution, spiritual refinement or growth of virtuous prosperity.

There is only one cause of all misery and agony in this world and that is – the misdeeds of humans. And what drives it? Maligned thinking. Thoughts are like seeds which give rise to the trees of karmas (actions); joy, sorrows and sufferings are their fruits.

It is indeed pathetic that despite living in the limitless treasure of joy that Nature is, we shut our inner self in the narrow barriers of prejudiced convictions and selfish passions. As a result, we get entrapped in the smog of abrupt, fallacious, irrelevant thoughts and often remain fearful, jealous, worried and depressed in one way or the other. All our misery is an outcome of our inner bankruptcy. Its time we realize it and improve ourselves right from the root of our thinking rather than attributing our failures and sorrows to – “ill omen”, “lack of resources or support” or “destined life”.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Sept. 1945

👉 Boasting Sounds Raw

The shallowness (triviality, meanness) of ego is expressed in self-praise or bragging. It makes you unbearable and laughable before others. People might like to praise someone, but if he starts praising himself then it would certainly reverse the impression. Even you are honestly analyzing yourself in that effort; no one would respect your self-admiration. Forget about friendship or help, people do not even like to meet arrogant, self-boasting or pompous fellows. They may not always express it on your face because of social etiquettes or fear, etc, but in reality, they would like to avoid you as far as possible if you are egotist.

You should compare your qualities and achievements with those of the great men and women renowned in human history.
A camel regards himself tallest only until it doesn’t stand beneath a mountain. You should meet and know the great persons and eminent talents who are revered by people to know that you are not so high as your arrogance might assume. You will also learn from them that modesty is an essential quality for prestige.

The moment you think yourself as big or have achieved something significant, your natural quest for ascent will decelerate and might block after sometime. Don’t worry and don’t hurry your virtues. Your abilities will certainly be known to people via your deeds. You don’t have to declare them yourself.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Aug. 1945

👉 Accumulate Strength

Life is a sort of a continuum of struggles of varied intensities and types. One has to fight with diverse, unfavorable situations and troubles every moment. The success of life is in proceeding ahead against all odds. This seems to be the case with the life cycle of every living being; despite enormous gifts of Nature, there also appear enemies and hardships all around in one form or the other. “Survival of the fittest” is a bitter truth in this world. The weaker is a prey to the stronger; big fishes eat the tiny ones; Sparrows eat insects; Hawks eat sparrows and so on… Huge trees grab the food of the small plants around; the rich men exploit the poor; the mightier rule over the meek.

What do these live-examples teach us? If we do not want to let ourselves ruined by adversities and want to live with dignity, we must be alert and eliminate our weaknesses. We should at least have that much (inner) strength that no one would ruin us just like that; we should at least have the courage, vigor and mental power to fight for our genuine rights and work for moral rise.

Before entering the worldly life, we must know this secret that only the awakened, aware, strong (independent), confident and wise enjoy esteemed success here.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Aug. 1945

👉 Reality of Love

The roots of real love lie deep within the soul. Linking it with the Supreme Soul (God) makes is an eternal source of unlimited, unalloyed bliss. What we often regard as love is, in one form or the other, an affection or attachment with the people or things which we feel as our own. But this binding, howsoever strong that may be, with the perishable entities, of this ever-changing world can’t be long lasting or consistently blissful. The instances of change like – demise of near and dear ones, separation from the beloved, loss of hard-earned prosperity, or tainting of self-prestige, etc break one’s heart; the same world which used to be so loving, appears an ocean of dole and depression in these tragic moments. This demonstrates that the bounds and strength of ‘worldly love’ are no more stable or stronger than a castle of sand. Love with the mortal beings, with the momentary things of this world is therefore not true love. True love is a perennial source of limitless joy… How can it ever be a cause of sorrow?

True love is a spiritual feeling, which surrenders the individual self in the Divine Supreme Self. The individual self, the soul is immortal, sublime, consciousness force, so its love could only be with the sachchidanand (eternal, omnipresent, everenlightening,
ever-blissful) – Supreme Soul.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, July 1945

👉 Triumph over Vices

The external world, as we find it, is mostly a reflection of our inner world. Moreover, the intrinsic desires and sentiments of the human self are so strong that they attract and accumulate thoughts of similar nature, trigger one’s actions accordingly and thus create corresponding circumstances.

So if you want to clean up the ambience around you, you will have to begin purifying your own sentiments and thoughts first. If you want peace and benevolence around you, you should first conquer your own vices, untoward instincts and wrong thinking. Utter selfishness and egotism are the root causes of all conflicts and clashes, be that at familial, social or communal levels. The narrow tendency of grabbing supremacy at any cost, neglecting even the genuine rights of others and ignoring the ethics of humanity, are behind the religious or political battles and wars the consequences of which are horrifying and devastating.

You may care for self-respect and happy progress of your life, but it is not necessary that you should block someone else’s ascent for this or snatch it from someone. People might acquire wealth and might by such means, but it hardly gives them any joy and eventually proves to be agonizing. The only and the best way to happiness is that of equality, cooperation, mutual respect and goodwill.

This way, we all can contribute to spread happiness collectively and be happier… The evils of self-centeredness are toxic to the ambience of peace. The delight that emanates from and extends the nectar of collective, widespread happiness is the real joy…

📖  Akhand Jyoti, June 1945

👉 Be Your Own Master

You often grasp unnecessary messages from what others say. What others comment about you seem to matter more to you. This way you annoy and worry yourself and complain that people don’t let you live in peace. Your own attitude is the major cause of your worries, so you trouble yourself more. Why should you get carried away by others’ comment – compliments or criticism? A wise and self-confident man does what he determines to do. He is never perturbed by what others say. He is firm and focused to march towards the goal.

Socrates was made to drink poison by the mightiest of his time, but no one could change his faith, his views. Banda Bairagi was forced to wear a wolf-skin and roam around in his town while his face was painted dark. But even this torturous insult could not distract him from his chosen path.

Dying for others’ praise, following the popular trends, getting disturbed by negative comments or criticism of others – are clear signs of mental weaknesses. You must remember that following the crowd can lead you nowhere. You have to be your own master if you want to ascend in life. Learn to think prudently on your own. Sharpen your decision-making powers. Follow the righteous path of your duties honestly; just ignore what others would say. If you don’t have the courage to stand and walk on your own, you don’t deserve to be independent.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, May 1945

👉 Worship True Knowledge

There is nothing more sacred in this world then gyana (pure knowledge). It is also the divine virtue of the soul. God, the Omniscient manifests itself in absolute enlightenment through gyana. Gyana is the source of beatifying success and joy. Its light destroys all the darkness of ignorance and illusions from the mind and liberates the individual self from all thralldoms.

We remain entrapped in sorrows, sufferings, failures and discontent because our knowledge is incomplete, superficial. What we regard and acquire as knowledge, is simply a systematic accumulation of information of the perceivable world and thoughts fixed in a logical framework accepted by contemporary intellectuals.

The joy we hunt in the external things and worldly activities throughout our life is in fact hidden within our own self. We can’t experience it, we can’t discern between what is truly good and what is not because we don’t have true knowledge. The earlier we devote ourselves to attain this gyana the better.

Swadhyaya and Satsang (self-study and analysis in the light of the thoughts and works of elevated souls; and being in the company of such enlightened people) are the best means to accomplish the quest for gyana. The greater the number of individuals illumined by gyana, the faster and brighter will be the ascent of the society and the world they belong to.

📖  Akhand Jyoti, Apr. 1945

👉 Conquering the Mind Wins the World

Restraining or disciplining the mind is the biggest battle of human life. The agile mind is the most dreaded and nearest enemy of the individual self. The peculiarity of this battle is that it continues throughout, every moment of one’s life till the triumph of the self. One needs to recognize the real self and apply its sublime willpower. But the perennial trouble is that most often, the “self” cannot distinguish itself from the mind and what one regards as willpower is also usually a delusion with that of the dominating tendency of the mind.

The best thing to proceed with is – first control the agility of mind by engaging it constantly in some constructive activities and focused thinking that might interest it. Once it is trained in concentration the level of activity and thoughts could be gradually refined. The true nature of mind, which is driven by the inner inspiration, will then begin to manifest. So the most important thing is to refine your intrinsic desires. But again, the complicacy is that you will need the support of mind till this purification comes into effect. Nevertheless, starting with small steps, you should continue your march with firm determination and selfvigilance.

Sensual passions and cravings are most prominent distraction and hindrance in this process of self-disciplining. You should therefore prepare (in your mind) an army of good thoughts and courageous examples to counter these the moment they arise. Just change your position, movement and activity at that time and start recalling the stored treasure of enlightening memories. This simple practice, with strong will, will gradually, though slowly, tune your mind with positive thinking and the inspirations of the real self. Your mind will then become your greatest friend. True! A self-disciplined and illumined mind is like an angel.

📖 Akhand Jyoti, March 1945