A Good Character is the Jewel of Human Life

One must realise in this body itself, before death takes its toll, the Eternal Truth and the Relationship between Man and that Truth. The Kathopanishad exhorts: "Uththishtatha! Jagratha! Praapyavaraan-nibodhatha!!!" Arise, Awake, Get initiated from the great. Those who are agitated by doubts about what to accept and what to reject; those who are blinded by illusion, and those who cannot distinguish between darkness and light, death and immortality, all such should approach great persons who can show the path to understand the eternal Truth, the Self-illumined Basis of all creation. Then, this world and heaven both will be merged in the same effulgence! For the sake of this realisation, man should have deep yearning and hard disciplined practice. This human birth itself is the consequence of countless good deeds and it should not be cast aside; the chance must be fully exploited. As the Kenopanishad says, "Nachedihaavedin Mahatheevinashtih". The jewel in the hand should not be dropped aside; when there are many chances of saving oneself in this life itself, is it not a big loss if no thought is spent on ways of escape? Therefore, the discriminating individual will endeavour by all means at his disposal to understand the underlying Principles, to master the teachings of the great men who traversed the spiritual path, and to bring all this, as much as possible, into the ken of one's own experience. Without this effort, if one discards the Path and wastes his life, it is an insult to the very name of the species! Instead of getting enslaved to the evanescent and the false and wasting precious time in their pursuit, dedicate every minute to the discovery of Truth, the contemplation of the Everlasting, Ever-true Lord. Such dedication is the real function of the soul. The spending of time in illusory appetites on the other hand is the drag of the world. One should not fall a victim to the poisonous attractions of worldly luxuries or the wiles of seductive beauty. One day, all these fascinating senses will vanish as a story unfolded in a dream!

Whatever happens to man, education and the rest, to make him grow and become big, these are of no use for his spiritual progress; they bring about only his spiritual downfall. That is why this is called Mayaprapancha. Truth, in whatever Maya it is immersed, will only shine more effulgently. For such is the nature of truth. How can we say that the objective world, undergoing modifications every minute, waning and wasting, with the waywardness of appearing and disappearing, is Eternal Truth? So, the characteristic of a Sadhaka is the attainment of Truth, not the search of the Unreal in this evanescent world. In this false world, there can be no Satyachara, true living. There can only be Mithyachara, unreal living. True living consists in the realisation of the Lord. This must be borne in mind by every man, every moment of his life.