All ancient Indian philosophies and all religions
that appeared in the Indian soil had three things in common. First, they all
are focused on all the living beings, particularly the human beings. Second,
they incorporate a willing acceptance of all such restrains by the man to avoid
any harm to the universe and to the one who exercises restrains of thought,
conduct and speech. Third, they all recommend willing acceptance by the man to
contribute to the welfare of his surroundings according to the traditional
cycles of the nature.
It
is not my intention to highlight that the concept of willing acceptance was
emphasized by the philosophers belonging to a particular region of the world,
and, not by those from other regions; because I find that human beings, all
over the world desired and endeavored to survive with minimum possible struggle
depending on the physical environment and conditions they were compelled to
live in. Perhaps, people of some specific regions had more opportunities to
experiment with the thoughts of exercising restraint and making contributions
to their surroundings, which others, from some different regions, did not have.
The fact remains that philosophers from different regions evolved different
philosophies of life; and there had been no philosophy that did not have
something special to contribute.
Here,
I want to concentrate on the two key words, ‘the willingness’ and ‘the
acceptance’. The source of willingness is the mind of the person who is
willing; and the acceptance of something has to be about what one has some
knowledge. To clarify; if someone finds that a particular thing is good for him
and gives him pleasure, and therefore, he is inclined to achieve it; it means,
he has willingly accepted it. The two things that are absent in this process
are; ‘lack of knowledge’ and ‘compulsion of any kind’. Knowledge may be gained
by experiencing or learning from others; and willingness comes from a mind
trained to go for things that are beneficial (pleasurable) for one. The latent
knowledge, rather an in built perception, which must exist with the one who
willingly accepts, is that only such things that are beneficial can give
pleasure. For, if one does not possess that kind of a mind the concept of
willing acceptance in the given context falls flat.
The
scriptures relate meaning and purpose of life with the ultimate truth, that is,
the existence of a supreme creator, maintainer and destroyer of all that is
living or not living. Ordinarily, a human mind finds it difficult to derive or
deny existence of any ultimate truth. The human experience is also not of a
happiness that lasts. The man has two options. Either he accepts that the life
is an unpleasant process that may, at the best, grant him some highly temporary
patches of trivial happiness; or he tries to seek some knowledge that he is not
much capable of obtaining about the ultimate truth in order to derive happiness
that lasts, at least, till he is alive. In such circumstances there is a lack
of knowledge as well as the absence of willing acceptance.
The
ancient scriptures suggest that the man must be willing to know the ultimate
truth, and for this he must make all-out efforts. The scriptures say that he
must make all-out efforts. The efforts needed, according to the scriptures,
include the realization of the falsehood and temporariness of the material
aspects of life, lack of many affinities with sensory pleasures, performing
one’s duties as prescribed by the traditional cycles of nature by becoming a
contributor in the existence of the universe without causing any harm to what
is existing in the universe, living or not living, being in the company of
those who have advanced in such conduct and had been deeply contemplating over
the meaning and purpose of life. The scriptures imply that if the man is
willing to act as stated above and makes assiduous and persistent efforts to
know the truth he may realize the ultimate truth. After realization of the
ultimate truth the need for willing acceptance of the truth may be easily
satisfied, rather it would automatically occur.
The
willing acceptance to exercise restraint on selfish and sensory desires, which
may give superficial pleasure for a temporary period, but actually is at the
root of human unhappiness; dedicated efforts to serve one’s immediate
surroundings (for, it is beyond a human being to serve the entire universe
given his limited abilities) and deep contemplation about the meaning and
purpose of life become a source of knowledge that may be willing accepted to
live a contended life.
No
one can say that the man has made no progress in his efforts to make him happy.
But, we can definitely say that first he started moving without properly
learning the science and art of restraining his thoughts and actions, and then,
after moving ahead he miserably failed in reviewing his steps to ascertain and
anticipate in which direction he is going. Intoxicated by his new found
pleasures, he, under-felt his pains thereby failing to notice the disease he
subjected himself to. The cause of the pain that is slowly but steadily
intensifying is the lack of his training in restraining himself, which has made
him much confused about the ultimate truth. The science of restraint in life’s
affairs, perhaps, stipulates that the man has to exercise restraints in his
thoughts, actions and satisfaction of his desires with the intentions of gaining
the right knowledge of the ultimate truth, and then, lead a life by exercising
restraints based on the willing acceptance of the ultimate truth.
PROMOD KUMAR SHARMA
[The writer of this blog is also the author of “Mahatma A
Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious” and “In Search of Our Wonderful Words”.]
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