बुधवार, 29 सितंबर 2021

Silence is golden!

 

Silence is golden

 

Words are very powerful. A word spoken wrongly may result in violence. It may even kill someone. Similarly, a positive word spoken at the right moment may protect the lives of many. We often see that a man in anger goes on uttering many objectionable things which he would have never done otherwise and in that process causes enormous loss to himself and others. But one does such things in a fit of anger. Thus he hurts others . People regret their actions later on.But it is too late. Words once spoken can never be withdrawn. We have, therefore, to be very careful while speaking.

These days quarrels and infighting among friends, relatives and neighbors have become a routine. Most of the time, we think ourselves   correct and start fighting even for small things. In such a scenario everybody has his own viewpoints. Hardly there is anybody ready to listen to others. Everybody is sticking to his gun. That leads to avoidable confrontation.

The problem with us is that we keep speaking all the time. We are always trying to make others to accept his viewpoint and to follow him. We hardly try to listen to others or to appreciate the difficulties which they may be facing So, our talking to anybody becomes fruitless. It does not develop understanding rather results in greater misunderstanding. It would have been better to listen to others and try to find out reasons behind their present stand. If that happens, and we try to adjust and appreciate others, we can find out peaceful solutions of the problems.

It is often seen that persons just keep talking mindless of the fact whether the other side is interested in him or not. Same is the case with the people on the other side. They too keep on speaking, sometimes shouting also. The result is that both sides often start physical fighting after exchange of some unwanted words. Things happen so rapidly that hardly anybody has time to think. They just keep on reacting. Such situations often lead to unforeseen developments. If both sides had acted wisely, kept their heads cool and exchanged words with caution, things could have been entirely different.

If we remain calm, develop poise and do not react unnecessarily, things can change altogether. Everybody thinks   that he is innocent. He always blames others for anything going wrong . But that hardly solves the problem rather things get out of hand because of the selfish motive of persons involved. Irrespective of the fact whether stand taken by him is right or wrong, he wants others to accept it blindly. That is the root of the problem. If we keep calm and introspect, lot many problems can be solved. In fact, the world would be entirely different than what we see today.

While in silence, we have greater opportunity for self-introspection. We can evaluate ourselves. We can take into account difficulties of others. We can think about possible solutions which could lead to amicable settlement of the disputes. As long as human civilization exists, there is bound to be conflict of interests. There will be people with different likes and dislikes. Wisdom lies in acceptance of the realities and developing abilities to live in harmony despite differences. We can do so in a better way by speaking the least and listening the most. That is why it is stated that silence is golden.

 

शुक्रवार, 17 सितंबर 2021

Let us pray!

 

Let us pray!

 

We are mostly engaged in daily routine. Every day we get up in the morning and sleep in the night. In between, we do many things just out of habit or because of necessity. This goes on repeating for years. In the meantime, we keep on changing. A child become adult, then grows to be an old man. But our mental growth often does not synchronize with our body. Our mind remains the same although our body   grows older and older. Then, one fine morning, we find that the man is dead. His physical identity comes to an end. He leaves his wealth, huge mansion that he had built, bank balance and for that matter every worldly possession here itself. What does it mean?

Most of the time,we pray only when we are in trouble. We expect God to relieve us from the problem that we face. If someone close to us falls ill, we immediately start praying for his early recovery. If we are appearing at some examination, we request God to help us in getting good result. Like that. We can imagine the futility of such prayers. But it happens. Even thieves are reported to go to temple before proceeding on their mission. Such is the mental situation of the people. Naturally, when things get normalized, we forget to remember God. We get engaged in our daily routine as usual. In fact, we utilize God as a facilitator. Once the purpose is served, we put Him behind. That is very unfortunate. We must realize that God is not one of the worldly items that we confront in our day to day life. He is above these things. In fact, our material existence itself is very limited. We live in this world for a limited period. During that period, we do something good or bad and ultimately pass away.

The problem is why do we behave like that? Why do we tend to utilize even God to improve our worldly situations? It is because we are always under fear. We are unable to face the situations which often emerge in our day-to-day life. We want someone to help us. We look at God in such situations. Firstly, we create problems, then complicate it mainly due to  our egocentric attitude and then start praying God for help. Once the problem is over, we forget to remember Him. Thus, for most of us God is only a commercial object. We promise to give him something valuable once we are able to achieve our ambitions. Many rich people donate gold ornaments, cash and such valuables worth crores in the name of God. Thus, assets worth several millions get accumulated in many temples of God. I am not commenting upon merit of such activities, but it is difficult to understand how and why God will show mercy upon anybody just for such persons promise costly gifts as donations after their prayers are heard. That is just because we are used to evaluate everything in terms of commercial transactions.

Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have. Material achievements whatsoever, it may be, cannot give us solace. We should, therefore, pray without any ifs and buts.