A Full Life

BY U. K. SUJAN, Bombay.

Many men are easily influenced by the thoughts generated by a few strong minds, who may or may not be conscious of the good or harm they do to the world by their thoughts. It is only when we know the power of thought and utilise it for the welfare of the world that our minds become aware of the purpose for which we are born on this earth. Most of us drift hither and thither because we have no definite goal. We have imbibed a wrong notion that we can be wise by reading books or hearing lectures etc., but if we examine our minds we will find that they easily believe many things without reasoning or argue too much without understanding the real point of discussion.

It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to know the nature and functions of the mind and to cultivate it if we want to live a full life. To begin with, we must know that we are not the mind but its masters. Each person has a mind and a heart with which he can think and feel. He can make of his heart a perfect instrument to commune with Nature and use his mind to observe all events taking place around him or to allow them to rot in narrow selfish thoughts and feelings.

Our mind perceives only the shadows of things and hence cannot give us a correct interpretation of what it observes. We have to apply own inborn intelligence to understand things and events as they really are. Everything has an exterior as well as an interior being. The exterior is merely a form, an expression, a shadow of the interior. So unless we look into the heart of things we cannot know anything in reality. Our mind stops with the exterior, the surface, but our heart can dive deep into the interior and can illumine the mind with a fuller explanation to have a complete view of things.

"The visible is transient, ever changing,
The hidden is eternal, ever refreshing."

Our mind goes after the transient and is constantly moving from one thing to another without getting a full grasp of anything. It is generally proud and assertive, finding fault with others, never admitting its own mistakes. Being self-centred it gives us a distorted view of things. We must develop affection and sympathy for others before we can understand, properly. The present system of education with all its book-knowledge and cramming does not deal with the true culture of the heart and mind. Hence the so-called educated people generally quarrel over words and carry on aggressive propaganda through the press and platform to emphasise their point of view without any regard for Humanity or Brotherliness taught by all the Great teaches of mankind. Religion has become merely a lip belief and bigotry. Science is misused for the destruction of mankind. What is the remedy? Tennyson had seen clearly the absurdity of mere book-learning and pointed out the right way when he wrote:

"Let Knowledge grow from more to more
But more of Reverence in us dwell"

All knowledge is useful for it gives us mastery over facts but unless knowledge is coupled with reverence for life around us, we will become brainy brutes rather than cultured gentlemen. True education deals with the individual as a whole, the physical, emotional, intellectual and the spiritual Being. It does not merely teach the head, leaving the heart to pine and the hands to wither.

"Head, heart and hands." These are the three principal parts of the individual to be trained and developed to reveal the full glory of inner spiritual being that each person is in essence but has to be in fact, to fulfill the purpose for which we are born in this world. Every individual, how much so ever empty-minded or indifferent he may appear to be, has the potentiality of becoming a fully Conscious Human Being through complete education and training. He will then take keen interest in the well-being the world and become friendly to all living creatures. He will not hate anything even though it may be ugly or hideous in appearance for he knows that everything is a manifestation of the Divine Being. Goodwill towards all will be the guiding principle of his life.