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Saturday, October 20, 2007

Q & A-10: If God gives back thousand-fold, what about our evil actions? Should we not surrender them to God?

According to the Bhagavad Gita (18.48). all actions are a mixture of good and evil. But we must not surrender those action which we recognize as evil, not only because God gives back a thousand-fold, but also because one would not like to offer something bad to one's Most Beloved. Let us, like Swami Vivekananda, take the whole responsibility of evil actions on ourselves and give the credit of good actions to God.
Courtesy: The Vedanta Kesari (Details not available)

Q & A-9: Some people serve others to get peace and satisfaction. Should we consider these also as fruits of work and surrender them to God?

Serving others gives peace and satisfaction as nothing else can. It is better to serve others for this peace and joy than for name, fame or remuneration. But service too can lead to egotism. One may have a feeling, 'I have done so much unselfish service.' To get over even this subtle ego, one must surrender the 'peace' and 'satisfaction' also to God.
Courtesy: The Vedanta Kesari ( Details not available)

Q & A-8: I am a Brahmin. As per scriptural injunction my duty is to learn the Vedas. But I have entered the engineering college. Am I committing a sin

The earliest division of castes was done on the basis of the individual's qualities and aptitude (varna). But later the determination of caste started getting done according to birth(jati). Now, of course, things have got extremely complicated and it has become very difficult to determine who is temperamentally a Brahmin and who a Kshatriya. Even in ancient times, Parashurama though born a Brahmin was temperamentally a Kshatriya and Vishwamitra though a Kshatriya by birth became a Brahmin. The best course would be to find out one's aptitude and select a profession accordingly.

So far as the study of Vedas is concerned, Swami Vivekananda wanted every one to study them irrespective of caste. You can also study them. It is no sin to study engineering. But will be if you misuse your profession for selfish ends.

Courtesy: The Vedanta Kesari (Details not available)

Friday, October 12, 2007

Gems from Buddha-2

Do not believe what you have heard.
Do not believe in tradition because it is handed down many generations.
Do not believe in anything that has been spoken of many times.
Do not believe because the written statements come from some old sage.
Do not believe in conjecture.
Do not believe in authority or teachers or elders.

But after careful observation and analysis, when it agrees with reason and it will benefit one and all, then accept it and live by it.

- Gautama Buddha

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Gems from the Bhagavata-2 :

With a truth-oriented understanding, developed through dispassion and spiritual practice, he should live in the world, the expression of the Divine Power, detaching himself from the obsessive body-consciousness with the thought that the body is only a product of Karma - Srimad Bhagavata III.31.38
 

(Gita Darshanam : Published by Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence, Hyderabad-500029)

Gems from Sri Aurobindo-1:

Learn to live within, to act always from within...

Gems from Swami Vivekananda-1:

The more our bliss is within, the more spiritual we are. Let us not depend upon the world for our pleasure.

Gems from the Bhagavad Gita-7: Steady Wisdom

He who is unperturbed in misery and free from desire amidst pleasures, who is devoid of all attachment, fear and anger - that person is said to be of steady wisdom.