Thought 44: Everyone is saddled with Problems

You are not the only one who has problems in life. Everyone has problems. There is no one in the world, no one at all, who is free from problems. The US president Barack Obama operating in his Oval office, the Pope operating in his Vatican office, the queen of England living in the magnificent Buckingham Palace, the Acharyas (Swamijis) of Maths in India (such as Kanchi Kaama Koti Peetham at Conjeevaram, etc), prime ministers, business tycoons, rich people, poor people and even beggars (homeless people) - everyone has problems.

Just imagine how dull and uninteresting life would be, if there were to be no problems at all. Problems add spice to life. Never run away from problems. If you do, they chase you. If you chase them, they run away.

The successful people are not intimidated by problems. They know that every problem has a solution. They also know of course that every solution has a problem too.! Therefore, they do not look for perfect solutions. They only look for optimal solutions.

A solved problem does not leave a vacuum behind. Another problem takes its place - instantly. Therefore, problems are something, which you would continue to encounter all through your life. So what is the point in getting stressed over problems? On the other hand, it is smart to learn to coexist peacefully with them – until you are able to solve them.

The next thought is about “Clean problems vs dirty problems”

Thought 43: Some invisible forces are stalking you all the time

In this world, every one comes under the influence of a number of strong but invisible forces. You get tossed and rocked by them – in the same way that a small boat gets tossed and rocked by the strong winds operating on stormy seas.

These forces usually operate in your work place, in your neighborhood, in your circle of friends, in your family circle. There are also forces influencing your personal finances, market forces (influencing stock prices etc), economic forces (influencing the general prosperity and job security), government legislation (impinging on every citizen in various ways) etc. You have to skillfully navigate your way through these forces – directing your boat always in the direction of your goals.

There is no escape from these forces for any one – every one, no matter how highly he is placed, comes under their spell. Every CEO is aware of their presence. Only a few successful ones handle them with finesse.

When you accept their power to control you, these invisible forces blow you into all sorts of directions. Ralph Evans, the American consultant, calls it “running” – when one is willing to be driven randomly by these forces. Do not “run” your life – “manage” it. In management of anything, you have to have goals. Set your goals, have faith in yourself and in your god - and do your best to keep the rudder always pointing towards your goals. No matter what you do, do not lose your cool. Fright and flight are not the answer for any problem. When you are calm and relaxed, you can deal with those forces better.

The next thought is about “Everyone is saddled with problems”

Thought 42 : Coping with adversity and prejudice

There will be difficulties and adverse circumstances in every life. Your immediate environment is usually full of currents and undercurrents – opposing your every move. This is the nature of all life in this world of mortals.

Arjuna found himself in a battlefield situation against his will. He never wanted to fight his Gurus and near relatives – because he knew that in any battle, he was going to be victorious; which means that he would be killing all his Gurus and kith and kin. This scenario was quite abhorrent to him. Frequently, we find ourselves placed in such ugly or undesirable situations. When we find ourselves in such situations, we must learn to cope with them – and learn how to come out of them victorious.

Every situation teaches you something – if you have a learning mind. Do not be ashamed to learn – anything at any age. Learning is investing in future. A learning mind is like a superconductor. It has no preconceived notions; it has no resistances. When there is no resistance, electricity keeps flowing freely in a conductor – on and on and on. When there are no prejudices in the mind, knowledge keeps flowing freely - on and on and on. Get rid of your prejudices. Learn to come out of the frame, look at the picture and see, whether you like, what you see. You will then know how you appear to others.

Never let the adverse circumstances make you negative. Do you, for instance, ever plan for failure; never. All the same failures do occur every now and then – especially when we fail to plan. All failures are accounted by the uncertainties of life on this planet. Those who give up when they face failures or setbacks are the losers. Quitters never win. Also, winners never quit.

Always be positive. Always be objective. Always be happy. Always be enthusiastic. Always be cheerful. Let enthusiasm and cheerfulness be your hallmarks and constant companions - like the Sruti of a musician. When you do that, you are no longer overwhelmed by the world and its uncertainties and its adversities.

Lose anything but your enthusiasm and cheerfulness. Sing in the bath room. Say good morning to every one you see – you need not know them. Always pump out an outstretched hand several times enthusiastically. Never miss an opportunity to say “thank you”. If you can say “thank you” to god daily, through a prayer, it is even better.

The next thought is about “Some invisible forces are stalking you all the time”

Thought 41: Good health is your greatest fortune

Good health, for instance, is your original stature. If you take ill, the doctor merely tries to remove your illness – and that is all he can do. He cannot give you good health. You have to strive and gain it yourself. So it is with spirituality too. Vedaanta removes the spiritual disease, which is ignorance - and allows you to regain your original stature, which is the Ultimate Truth; Vedaanta gives you knowledge to come out of your ignorance. Vedaanta teaches you to know the truth about yourself. This truth is that you are not the body-mind complex; you are verily the Aatma, which is Brahman.

As a young person in my twenties and even later, I never realized how important it is to keep in good health. I was healthy and was enjoying life in general – enjoying eating out at every opportunity, smoking - and never bothered about physical exercise. In those days, information on fatty foods, smoking and the need for exercise, was not known to us at all - the media never focused on such topics as it is being done now.

I was hit very hard one day in my late thirties for the first time, when my health suddenly gave me a fright. I will not describe here what went wrong with my health – but it did give me the shock of my life.

I had a very innocent wife and four excellent young kids - and what happens to them if my health fails? For the first time, I began to think how important it is for me to keep in good health. Immediately, I got into healthy eating habits and quit smoking. (I started smoking again a few years later but quit it again finally) I started daily Yoga Asanas - and brisk walking a few years later. In my mid forties, I started practicing meditation also.

One of the important Mantras I gave my children and through them to my grand children is “What you put in your mind, what you put in your mouth and what you do to your body decides your health and happiness”. Everything in life revolves round your health. If your health breaks down, you can achieve nothing. That is why they say in India that “Aarogyam is Mahaa Bhaagyam” (Good health is your greatest fortune)

Read the biographies of modern industrial tycoons – and you will find that all of them, without exception, enjoyed excellent health. They enjoyed excellent health, because they worked hard for it. One of the important management rules is “Always imitate a successful person”.

Therefore, if you do not work hard at maintaining good health, I will not call you a successful person – no matter how successful you are in your profession. The physical exercise has to be a vigorous and it has to be done daily. You can give up a meal but not your daily exercise. They say that wise persons are those who profit by others’ mistakes.

The next thought is about “Coping with adversity and prejudice”

Thought 40: The balanced diet

Your attitude to food and a certain discipline in the choice and frequency of food intake, can determine what kind of person you are. You should certainly enjoy your food. No one should object to that. At the same time, food should not become an obsession with you - leading to all the troubles mentioned earlier.

• A balanced diet should contain
• 50% carbohydrate
• 30% fat
• 20% protein
• High fiber, vitamins, minerals and a lot of water (preferably,3 to 4 litres)

This kind of food gives you all the energy that you need and you would be bubbling with enthusiasm and health.

Fats pack 9 cals/gram, while proteins and carbohydrates, pack only 4cals/gram. You should eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grain foods, lean meats, fish and low fat dairy products.

If you are on diet, you need much less calories.

When on diet men need 1300 to 1600 cals/day (although when not on diet, they need 2200 to 2600 cals/day)

When on diet, women need 1200 to 1400 cals/day (although when not on diet, they need 2000 to 2200 cals/ day)

Seniors, of course, need much less calories.

When you take in more than you need or when, what you take in, is more than you are able to expend through your daily activity, the excess calories appear on your body as fat. You may have heard about the story of a French fried potato – “a few seconds in your mouth, a few hours in your alimentary canal and the rest of your life on your hips”!

If the total number of calories in your diet from fats exceed 30% of the total calorie intake and/or if the saturated fat content exceeds 10% of the total calorie intake, the chances are that you would not be able to get rid of this fat even with a good fitness program.

The mind will be in a harmonious blend, if you eat and drink judiciously. Foods that you eat can affect your feelings, thoughts and “will”. A person with a healthy mind can enjoy a joke, love fun, be positive, enthusiastic and happy. Positive mental states can cause feelings of goodness and happiness.

The next thought is about “Good health is your greatest fortune”

Thought 39: One must be healthy and fit

Vegetarian foods are excellent - especially when cooked at home with spices that add interesting flavors to the food. Such flavors make the vegetables more acceptable and interesting to consume. Vegetarian food can provide all the proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, and vitamins that you need.

In India, the effect of various types of food on the mind has been studied in depth – in Ayurveda (Native medical system). A healthy body always houses a healthy mind. They believe that your happiness or otherwise, is wholly dependent on what you think and on what you eat – and what you do (or not do) to your body. Regular physical exercises (such as walking, work outs on a machine, yoga Aasanas, etc) as well as breathing exercises (such as Praanaayaama) combined by meditation – keeps you healthy, physically as well as mentally.

It is almost universally accepted now, that the food intake should have some reference to the work that you do. Manual workers and those who are engaged in an active form of work, such as constant walking or lifting things etc, for instance, need more calories. Professional sitters like the white-collar employees and the computer guys, etc, who lead a comparatively sedentary life, need less calories. Ladies in general need less calories.

Those who are inactive physically in their work place need some type of fitness program. Those who are on diet need fitness programs much more. Dieting reduces the body metabolic rate and this does not make dieting very effective, unless it is combined by some sort of physical exercise program. As a matter of fact, a regular exercise for any person is a very desirable thing. Exercise is highly recommended for those who are constantly under stress such as policemen, teachers in inner city schools, air traffic controllers, office executives etc.

I always tell my children that your health and happiness depends upon ”what you put in your mind, what you put in your mouth and what you do to your body”.

The next thought is about “The balanced diet”.

Thought 38: Eating out of shape

When you overeat, you become obese - that is for sure. If your metabolic rate is low or if you have sedentary habits, the problem becomes much more accentuated. Obesity is not only ugly, but it poses a big risk for cardiovascular diseases. It slows you down both mentally and physically. It involves a big hassle to find the right size dress, the right size shoes and other outfit items. Therefore, there is little to recommend for overeating and becoming obese.

Obesity develops all sorts of complexes in people. Every one wants to look shapely and attractive. But bad eating habits make people fat, morsel after morsel, without the persons being aware of it. When they notice finally that they have become unseemly, they become desperate and tend to go on crash diet programs. Only a very small percentage of those who go on diet programs succeed and a large majority of those who succeed, soon gain back all the fat that they have lost - and very often, a little more. After a few more such attempts, they throw up their hands and get reconciled to their heaviness. If only they had some discipline and controlled their dietary habits right from the beginning, they could have lived a more healthy and less heavy lives. Now, we recognize that health has become synonymous with overall well being and a high quality of life.

Every person has to strike a balance between enjoyment and health. Health should get the priority, if one has to choose between enjoyment and health. For instance, if you are bothered by gastric trouble and flatulence, you should avoid fried foods and coffee, although you may like them. When your cholesterol level is high, there is no point in wanting to eat butter, eggs, ice-creams, cakes, burgers and steaks, although they are very tasty. If you are already obese, you must follow more rigorous regimen and your staple should be a salad.

You must severely restrict the intake of foods like pizzas, cakes, meats, eggs, burgers and dairy products; they contain saturated fats and unacceptable levels of cholesterol. Cholesterol clogs up arteries and causes severe and often fatal, heart ailments.

The next thought is about “One must be healthy and fit”

Thought 37: You are what you eat

We may or we may not realize that the major cause of our common illnesses is the food that we consume. Food, therefore, constitutes a principal component, which influences our happiness in more ways than we generally realize. Yet, it gets so little attention from us. We always eat without paying any attention, let alone a serious attention, to what is good for us or for our happiness. Satya Saibaba says Bhogam (enjoyment) leads to Rogam (disease). Tyaagam (giving up bad foods) leads to Yogam.

People tend to over-eat for various reasons. Family culture is one important reason. In some families food is an obsession; consequently, they have a tendency to over-eat as a habit. In some others, food is a recreation. In such families, junk food is consumed in great quantities regularly.

Stress is a common reason, which leads to bad eating habits. People under stress eat compulsively. They have no control on their eating. Boredom usually makes people to reach out to food; any food. TV is a major cause for bad food habits. People watching a (foot-ball or cricket) game or a thriller and consume copious quantities of liquor and junk food while watching these TV programs.

The next thought is about “Eating out of shape”

Thought 36: Life unfolds at various levels

There are five levels of human existence – the physical level, the social level, the mental level, the intellectual level and the spiritual level. These levels are also called spheres or planes of operation of the human being. Every human being dwells in all these five levels to varying durations in a day - during his wakeful hours. Most persons, however, spend the least time in the spiritual plane - and a maximum time in the physical plane and social planes.

The physical sphere of operation

Swami Ranaganadhaanada calls the physical level as the plane of organic existence. We spend most of our wakeful hours on mundane matters of day to day living; we spend a lot of our time and energy in eking out a livelihood. We also spend considerable time and energy in managing the family affairs. The remaining time at our disposal is divided between social obligations, entertainment, sports, etc, which are also important in every life. When you are so deeply involved in these mundane matters of day to day living, you have no time to think of the higher levels of your existence or the ultimate truth which lies buried deep within you.

This buried ultimate truth relates to the Aatma, which is what you are; you are not the body-mind complex. This hidden truth that lies deep within us is like a match stick. The child will never accept that there is hidden fire in a match stick – in the same way that an ignorant person will never accept the hidden truth glowing in every person as the Aatma, which is his real self; not knowing the significance and the importance of this hidden truth, the ignorant person thinks that he is the body-mind complex.

The human species has evolved already to a final stage. There is no more scope for further evolution - organically. We are perfect as we are. We do not, for instance, need two heads – one will do the job adequately. Similarly, we only need two hands, two legs, one nose, one mouth, two ears, one heart, two kidneys, etc. We do not need redundancy in any of these areas. Thus, we are fully evolved organically as it is. We have good equipment – and what we have to do now is to develop techniques to use this existing equipment more efficiently. We have to use, for instance, our mind and Buddhi more efficiently. That is our urgent organic development need presently.

Social sphere of operation

Man lives in the society; he is an intimate part of the society. Man and the society around him are totally bound together; they can never be divorced from each other. Our successes take place in the society; so do our failures. Our joys happen in the society; so do our sorrows. All the needs of man are derived from the society; food and clothing, education, health care, sports and entertainment, marriages, etc are some of the important needs of the man, which the society facilitates. Since we depend on the society for everything that we need in life, we are required to abide by its unwritten rules and regulations.

Man is a social creature. He wants company all the time. Man goes for a job, for instance, not only for earning a living, but equally importantly, for social interaction in the work place. That is why people after retirement usually have a difficulty in adjusting to the solitary life at home. Loneliness is extremely boring to most people. Parents who go to visit their children in USA from India, find it extremely lonely over there and are very eager to return back home as quickly as possible.

People, not only want company, but they also want to be recognized for their education and other talents, wealth, etc in their social circles. Social recognition is a great motivator of behavior.

On the flip side of the coin, there are also a few persons who shun company; they are the loners, who like to keep their own company. Such persons are called antisocial. These antisocial traits become known right from the childhood. I have known some kids who seek out lonely corners at party time when the house is full of kids making merry everywhere accompanied by a lot of noise. Some of these antisocial kids are also sadistic – they beat up other kids or insult other kids and derive a great satisfaction in their discomfiture, which they have deliberately caused. It is the responsibility of the parents to ensure that their children do not become antisocial. From the positive point of view, parents should teach their children to learn social skills. They must tell their children that they should learn how to befriend and how to share what they have with other children.

Life in the mental sphere

Mental sphere is the area of operation of the mind. Mind generates all emotions, which are thoughts concerning love, hatred, jealousy, pride and arrogance, selfishness, greed, friendship, enmity, sorrow, etc. And people do experience these emotions all the time. Since we experience these emotions all the time, we do spend a considerable time in the mental sphere also.

Every person constantly encounters pressures from outside – from neighbors, colleagues, relatives, superiors, subordinates, enemies and so on. There are also forces within you, which are caused by the impurities in the mind, such as selfishness, anger, hatred, jealousy, arrogance, ego, etc. These external and internal forces toss you around, some times very violently too. I have seen several adults breaking down on learning about any bad news. I have known a lady getting highly nervous if any of her children arrived home late. If there is even a slight conflict with a street vendor or with a neighbor, she is to feel highly stressed and extremely nervous. On the other hand, a mature person usually maintains his cool even in extremely difficult situations; panic at the time of hard times or difficult or painful situations could be very bad because it makes the already painful situation even more painful.

The child must learn how to handle its emotions. Some children and adults are good at it and some others are not at all good at it. This is a serious problem and therefore, parents have to pay special attention to these aspects in their children. This is a skill, which the parents must teach their children in order that the child is able to handle its emotions properly in a controlled manner, especially in distressing situations.

Life in the intellectual sphere

Intellectual sphere is the area of operation of the Buddhi. Buddhi is the intellect. All intelligence and knowledge in an individual is centered in his Buddhi. Buddhi has the capability to control the mind. All learning takes place in the intellectual plane. All intellectual attainments happen because of excellence displayed in this plane.

Strike a match stick and the fire, which is ever present in it, comes out. The entire “process of education is to strike the power of knowledge ever present in us”. When a rural person in India, whose ancestors had never had any education, gets educated, what a change comes upon him! What supreme confidence begins to manifest in him! As the hidden powers get unfolded through education, he becomes capable of meeting new challenges – naturally and spontaneously with the strength of increasing energy resources that education brings to him. (Swami Ranganaadhaananda)

Many highly intelligent persons, however, who do not possess a strong character and a robust value base, get perverted. Such persons turn criminals. These intelligent criminals are very selfish. The selfish persons are very mean and greedy; they cheat and exploit all gullible persons. These are the Madoffs and Ramaligarajus of the world. Such persons are not at all bothered about the divinity that is present in them. Swami Viveknanada said once, “When we were in a cannibalistic state, we were eating each other. Now in the so called civilized and progressive state, we are cheating each other.”

If a large number of persons, who are extra smart like the present crop of politicians and white collar criminals, gain success using their cerebral power, mistaking such cleverness and crookedness for intelligence, then mankind has a very dismal and bleak future ahead. If a large number of persons, who are extra smart like the present crop of politicians and white collar criminals, gain success using their cerebral power, mistaking such cleverness and crookedness for intelligence, then mankind has a very dismal and bleak future ahead. If such a culture were allowed to continue, then we will only be cheating and destroying each other. This kind of cheating will continue as long as we live at our organic level, as long as we understand that we are merely an organic system seeking organic satisfactions. We are merely using our latest science and technology to give us increasing opportunities for such organic satisfactions. (Swami Ranganaadhaananda)

Through increased and widespread educational programs, we provide a lot of mental food; but we have not yet discovered easy ways of providing ethical, moral and spiritual food, which is also equally as vital to man as the normal food that he eats to survive.

Spiritual plane

You are the spirit (Aatma) inside your body-mind complex – you are not the body-mind complex. Therefore, you also operate in the sphere of the spirit within you, which is called the spiritual sphere or spiritual plane.

The spirit that is present in you is also the same spirit that is present in all other living beings; there is no difference between the spirits present in the bodies of various living beings. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna Paramaatma says (5.18), “Vidyaa-Vinaya-Sampanne Brahmane Gavi Hastini Suni Chaiva Svapaake Cha Panditaah Sama-Darsinah = To the Jnaani (the wise person), the learned and humble Braahmana, the sacred cow, the elephant, the dog and the person, who eats the flesh of a dog, are all merely coverings, that contain the same spirit (Brahman) as their Aatma”. The distinction is only in the containers, but there is none in the supreme truth packaged into each one of these containers. The Jnaani knows that the same Aatma pervades all beings. He sees the same supreme truth that radiates in him - also radiating in all those names and forms.

Present state of spiritual malnutrition in the world

For the match stick to demonstrate the truth of fire in it, it should be dry – and not wet. Similarly, the light and fire of the Aatma within you cannot be ignited unless the heart (mind) is pure. Purity of heart is the foundation for all spirituality.

The fact is that man has many impurities in his mind – such as selfishness, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, arrogance, etc. A spiritually inclined person makes serious and continuous attempts to eradicate them; whether he is able to eradicate them successfully or not, he certainly makes sure that they are under reasonable control. When uncontrolled, these impurities in the mind induce a certain evil behavior in man; they make him mean, immoral and depraved. The main passion of such evil persons is to gain the thing that they covet, no matter by what means. For them end justifies the means. Such persons think themselves, like Madoff or Satyam’s Ramalingaraju, to be very smart. They live purely at the organic level; they are completely divorced from the divinity glowing within them.

While the rituals (such as Puuja at home or in a temple or celebrating Rama Navami, Durgashtami, Krishna Jayanti, Dussera Kaali Puuja and other holy festivals – and all of them with a lot of pomp and pageantry, are considered the body of Hindu religion, spiritual practices are considered the mind or the heart of Hindu religion. Karma Yoga, Dhyaana Yoga (meditation) and Jnaana Yoga (which is also known as Sankhya Yoga) are spiritual practices. Sravana, Manana and Nidhidhyaasana (reading /listening, reflection and highly concentrated meditation are also spiritual practices. In case of a child, daily prayer is a good spiritual practice. If the child learns meditation also, it is even better. These spiritual practices clean up the mind and lead to Self-knowledge.

Have you heard of people dying of thirst even when a perennial source of pure water is nearby? This is exactly what is happening in India right now, figuratively speaking. India is perhaps the only country, which has discovered Vedanta and yet people are dying spiritually because of malnutrition. Is it not tragic?

Presently, we find ourselves inflicted in spite of more wealth (ever increasing GDP), in spite of better health, in spite of better education, in spite of better and revolutionary advances in science and technology, health care and management services. In spite of more comfortable living standards, we are still not happy; on the other hand, we are becoming more and more mean in every department of human endeavor. We consider ourselves as very intelligent and smart – but we burn the young brides for more dowry; we throw acid at those that do not acquiesce to our wishes and incur our displeasure; we behave violently and resort to suicidal bombings, when we do not conform to our standards of political or racial or religious beliefs. Is this progress? Is this civilization? It is too deep a human tragedy to be glossed over as we are all doing presently in our complacent attitudes. We have to seriously review our ideas of behavior and religious philosophy and see if we can stop this rot from spreading any further; we should in fact try to reverse the trend.

Thus, in India, we not only have physical malnutrition, but we also have ethical, moral and spiritual malnutrition right now unfortunately. The poor have physical malnutrition while all others are suffering from ethical, moral and spiritual malnutrition. What is the result of this ethical, moral and spiritual malnutrition? Everyone is cursing everyone else; husband blames the wife; parents blame the children and vice versa. Political parties blame other political parties. Nations blame other nations. We got ourselves into this unfortunate and tragic blame game after a prolonged period of ethical, moral and spiritual starvation.

Life at the spiritual level

There are always a few disturbing currents and undercurrents in every life. The human interactions are many and varied; and all of them cause you a great deal of stress and tend to unsettle you, if you are not careful. These forces can only be handled effectively by the knowledge of Vedaanta. By efficiently handling these diverse interactive processes in the human situations, we have to bring out the best in human beings – when parents will handle children properly, husband will handle the wife correctly and vice versa, governments will handle people with sympathy and human values, etc. This is like striking a dry match stick to produce fire and light.

In all such cases, the success in the human efforts depends upon the Buddhi. Therefore, you appoint your Buddhi, the guide of the chariot of your life – in the same way that Arjuna appointed Krishna to guide his chariot in the battle of Mahaabhaarata.

Spiritual evolution

We have to go well beyond the organic dimension to look for the resolution of the present maladies in our society. When we recognize the real problem and put a dimension on it, we would have achieved half the solution. We have to now look for the other half of the solution.

If you believe in Vedaanta and follow its principles sincerely, you will be rewarded by strength of character; it also leads to a steady spiritual growth and a sense of fulfillment. Vedaanta says that further human evolution should be towards the spiritual growth, which should be reflected in better understanding of human problems, more wisdom and more forgiveness, more sympathy, more love, more helpful nature towards all life and more fulfillment in all fields of human endeavor. Let spiritual fulfillment find expression in all the inter-human transactions. This is the meaning of spiritual evolution beyond the organic dimension; it means more growth in ethical, human and aesthetic dimensions. Consider the following, which will facilitate the spiritual evolution.

- The child should be trained to grow spiritually also along with the physical and mental growth. Then, the child, when it grows into an adult, will not hate, will not exploit and will not destroy. It will give up prejudice and narrow mindedness.

- Tensions, conflicts, sorrow, suffering and frustration, etc, will cease. People will stop exploiting; people will stop hating and destroying.

- Spiritual orientation will make the child give up jealousy, anger, hatred, greed, arrogance, and all such negative traits.

- Rajas and Tamas will decrease and Sattva will increase. With the increasing ethical awareness, the behavior of the child will automatically improve. With increasing Sattva, clarity in thinking, character building, increased love and compassion will take place - and an all-round qualitative enrichment of life would take place.

- We have to rediscover the light and knowledge, imprinted and hidden within us. People will then enjoy the wealth, the health, the beauty, the goodness and the auspiciousness that unfold. Then, no matter what is the current state of our society, whatever may be the dismal social trends around us, they will all soon disappear yielding place to hope and happiness; and the future growth of mankind will then be along the righteous path (Dharma).

Who is going to bring about this Evolution?

Most of the contemporary commercial Gurus are like wet matchsticks; no matter how much you strike, no fire and light comes out of them. Parents are the most effective Gurus in this area. They are the only persons who can effectively bring about this evolution in their children.

Can you ever imagine spiritual persons like Ramkrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Tejomayananda, Swami Ranganaadhananda, Swami Dayanand Saraswati and other similar Mahaanubhavas

- Ever losing their temper in anger no matter what the provocation is

- Ever displaying selfishness and meanness

- Ever succumbing to fear, jealousy, arrogance, hatred, greed and other impurities

You would find them calm and composed at all times – which are the Saattvic qualities referred above. Do you not admire these Mahaanubhaavas for their Saattvic qualities? They are the successful persons of this world in the sense that they do not allow the mundane transactions of life on this planet to affect their temperament or their happiness; they maintain their stoic equanimity under all circumstances.

Would you like to imitate them – especially in this department (spiritual sphere)? In management, they say that you should imitate the successful and never imitate the failures. The successful persons have done at least some things right - and the failures have done most things wrong.

The next thought is about “You are what you eat”