Making Men Enlightened
ASHOK VOHRA
|
According to Swami Vivekananda, all of us are `heirs of immortal bliss', by nature divine.But we forget our divinity and essential goodness and begin to think we are sinners. Swamiji says, understand that “you are not matter, you are not bodies; matter is your servant, not you the servant of matter“. He advocated right education to attain enlightenment.Such education could enable us to respect others: our neighbours, fellow citizens, immediate surroundings and environment. An enlightened person has 10 characteristics. These are: “Contentment, forbearance, gentleness, respect for others' property , purity, self-control, knowledge, philosophic wisdom, veracity and patience.“
The aim of an enlightened being is to live according to his svadharma and learn to control his appetites. He takes from society as little as is essential for his being in the world and gives to it as much as he can.Sacrifice and service are his ideals. He synthesises the opposites: materialism and idealism; sensual and spiritual; abhyudaya and nihsreyas; preya and sreya. He does not live for himself alone; he lives for the welfare of his fellow beings.
In a letter to the Maharaja of Mysore, Vivekananda explaining the notion of enlightenment, “My noble prince, this life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive!“ He wrote this because he believed that not exclusion but inclusion is the right policy . According to him, “all expansion is life, and all contraction is death“.
The aim of an enlightened being is to live according to his svadharma and learn to control his appetites. He takes from society as little as is essential for his being in the world and gives to it as much as he can.Sacrifice and service are his ideals. He synthesises the opposites: materialism and idealism; sensual and spiritual; abhyudaya and nihsreyas; preya and sreya. He does not live for himself alone; he lives for the welfare of his fellow beings.
In a letter to the Maharaja of Mysore, Vivekananda explaining the notion of enlightenment, “My noble prince, this life is short, the vanities of the world are transient, but they live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive!“ He wrote this because he believed that not exclusion but inclusion is the right policy . According to him, “all expansion is life, and all contraction is death“.
