For living purposefully Avoid six Cs

abracad, March 5, 2015 · Categories: externally authored, purpose, spirituality

By Lt Col R K Langar

Human life is a gift of God and we should live in a purposeful manner to evolve ourselves. We must live righteously by cultivating divine virtues within us and use them in our day to day conduct. At the same time we should avoid certain traits which can cause hindrance to our living righteously. The title of this write up says that we should avoid six Cs. Six Cs which we should avoid in our daily life are corruption criticism, comparison, complaining, copying others and competing with others. I have discussed these traits in this write up to enable readers to understand as to why we should avoid them.

1. Corruption

Corruption simply means dishonest or illegal behavior. When a man is corrupt, he is immoral. Corruption is not only in money matters(which is wide spread in India) but it also means showing casualness in performing our duties. It is hunger for power, fame or richness which make us adopt unfair means, using falsehood to satisfy our greed for possessions. Professional ability and moral uprightness are two separate things. A person may be very capable in his profession by virtue of which he has attained a high post. But this does not ensure that he is also morally upright. Two things we should adopt to make India a corruption free country. Firstly we should have a role model or an ideal whose teachings should guide us at every step in life and secondly we must teach moral values through our education system. If I am asked how to improve our Nation, my answer to every one would be to improve yourself and become morally upright. If the individual is good, family is good, if the family is morally upright, society and country would be exemplary. This is the equation. India is the spiritual capital of the world as spirituality has originated from India. We can teach the whole world what moral values are but this can be done only when we as Indians are honest and realize the usefulness of honest living. So â€œNo corruptionâ€ should be our motto.

2. Criticism

It is said that one act which can put the whole world under your control is when you do not criticize others, when you do not find faults in others and when you do not talk ill of others. Criticism is a negative quality where you find others faulty because they do not agree with your view point. The reason is that you are attached to your view point to that extent that you believe what you say is only right. How can that be true. Two faces can be similar but never two minds. People are giving their view point from their own perspective which may be different than yours but not necessarily incorrect. Have a dialogue with others and not discussions on your view point. This way you would realize that how two different views can coexist. Criticism can lead to talking ill of others and when you talk ill of others you partake bad karmas of the person you talkÂ about. Criticism can also strengthen feelings of separateness with others deviating from the concept of oneness where you see only good in others. The more we grow is love and virtue, the more love and virtue you would see outside.

3. Comparison

Comparing yourself with others means that you have set no goal in life for your own self. When you set a goal in your life, your thought process is ever focused on your goal. Life is a journey which we traverse based on the priorities we set for ourselves which are related to our goal of life. Your goal of life should be achieve perfection in life Â Â other wise you are wasting your time. To achieve the goal of life you should also have an ideal in life whom you follow to live truthfully and righteously. Comparing yourself with others also mean that your own level of confidence is low, you lack imagination and creativity and you look at others for ensuring that you do not go wrong. It at all you have to compare, then compare yourself of today with yourself of yesterday to ensure that your own image in your eyes is becoming better and better with the passage of time.

4. Complaining

Some people have formed a habit of complaining against people, against circumstances or conditions they face in life. We should always remember that the world is a relative place and every situation has some limitation. It shall seldom happen that what ever you need shall be given to you as per your requirement. While interacting with others, if you feel offended or hurt, it shows that you are not complete from within and you have allowed the other person to hurt you. It is not necessary that people will speak to you as per your liking. The other person who speaks to you is influenced by his own Samskars which are differentÂ than yours. We must remember that two things we cannot change- one the people and two the situation you face in life. What is under your control is your own attitude towards people and situations. You have to accept them in totality and face them without allowing yourself to get disturbed or hurt.Â As we are inside, we see the world outside. A good person will never talk about someoneâ€™s fault.

5.Â Copying others

Copying others, be it be their life style or clothes show that you are shallow from inside. It also means that your are lacking in self worth and have no convictions of your own. Each person has something in him which others do not have. Again each person can do something which others cannot. So instead of spending your valuable time in copying others lifestyle or habits, look inside yourself and get aware of the best in you. Then keep on doing what is the best in you for your self development. When you copy others to win appreciation for yourself, it would not last long and such appreciation if at all received shall be a temporary affair. Learning from others is different that copying others. In learning from others you improve your self knowledge whereas in copying others you live a borrowed life style which in the long run will harm you.

6. Competing with others

Life is not a race where you have to beat others to move ahead. Therefore one may ask oneself if competing with others is the right way of living. It is certainly not even if the worldly man believes in the policy of ONE UP MANSHIP. Indian philosophy and culture is rooted in spirituality which stresses on oneness of all. Our culture underscores that world is one family- VASUDHAIVA KUTUMBUKAM and you do not compete but cooperate with your family members. Aim of life should be do put in your best in whatever you do and certainly not to do better than any one else. Competing with others blocks your energy of love and instead you show inclination towards dislike and jealousy with whom you are competing. By all means take part in the race but do not waste your effort in looking at your right or left to see how others are doing. Your life is an individual journey- enjoy every moment of it while moving towards the goal of life you have set for yourself. Human life is based on the principle of complementation and not competition. Where there is ego there is a tendency to compete with others. An egoless person does not compete.

Conclusion

To know good we must know what is bad. In order to adopt virtues in life, we should also know what should we avoid. Our aim of life is to become a virtuous person in order to realize our true self which is Divine. So we must live our life not to win or lose but to learn from every moment from it. Learning the right way of living will evolve us spiritually and we can become a useful member of society by contributing towards its progress.