Musings on Higher Living:
Topics for a Better Quality of Life:
12. Fragrance of Right Living:
Our living is right when there is a higher awareness in us. Then there is a holistic beauty. We are pragmatic, sensitive, and mature. We are swift, efficient, and yet humane. Balancing the outer and the inner, the physical and the emotional, and the material and the spiritual make such living a blessing to oneself and to others.
13. Balancing Head and Heart:
Head and heart represent the logical and the emotional aspects of one’s personality. Success in life requires ripening of both. Knowledge of skills, knowledge of morality, and aesthetic appreciation of human strengths and weaknesses combine to make a mature person. IQ (Intelligence Quotient) becomes much more effective when one has good EQ (Emotional Quotient) too.
14. Body, A Precious Gift:
The body is a temple where the soul is the god. Physical wellbeing helps mental and intellectual vigor. The upkeep of the body is the first step towards a lot of other achievements in life. Spirituality does not ignore the body by any means. Instead, it values a healthy body as a good aid to higher exercise. Exercise, diet, and good habits make our life more enjoyable.
15. Changing Negative Emotions to Positive Energy:
The O.P.E.N. formula asks us to observe (O) our thoughts, bring in positive (P) thoughts, do energy (E) management, and say no (N) to weakening influences. Basically, we are an endless source of love and peace. Negative energy builds up as an error, an aberration. We can undo it. We can regain the freshness of a child while keeping the knowledge of the adult in us.
16. Time Management:
Many give us timepieces as gifts on special occasions; nobody gives us ‘time’. Every day our time seems to get drained, leaving behind a sense of lagging behind. How to cope with ‘all that needs to be done? Can we ever do justice to all our duties? When we do not manage our time well, our integrity is at stake. Clarity of vision and persuasive use of our own willpower help us use this resource well. Valmiki Ramayana gives the formula: laghu-moolam mahodayam, an old way of expressing ‘sticking to higher priorities’.
17. Science and Spirituality:
“A little Science takes us away from spirituality; more of it brings us closer.” The striking parallels between the two disciplines make an amazing study. They lead us to the same truth. Physics and Vedanta have a common ground. The former asks, “What is this?” while the latter investigates, “Who am I?” At the dizzy heights of true knowledge, the distinction between ‘this’ and ‘I’ fades. In an unbelievable inter-relatedness of all life and all matter, laws of Physics and those of morality are found to have the same origin.
18. Love – The True Fulfillment of Life:
Love is our true nature. Much adored, but much misunderstood, this great principle is the real driving force in human life. To love and to be loved is the greatest privilege of life. True love is when the self is not. The ego that demands steps aside, the sunshine of love illumines our heart. The way to love is attention. When we notice the ugliness of our own egoism, the end of the tunnel is clearly in sight.