Sunday, May 01, 2016

"Excerpt 1.2"


The campaign to save our planet earth we usually see on social media. I am not against the campaign to save our planet rather very intrigue to know how many of us really got the message? By the way, the campaign messages we received on WhatsApp and on Facebook account are without doubts beautifully structured with facts and figures.

I wonder if our solution to the message is just to forward it again to another friend. If that's the goal of the message, then we are just trying to save our planet by words not by deed.

Awareness is good. There are 1.65 billion monthly active users on Facebook and WhatsApp has a user base of 1 billion. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the scale of the figures and to think, can we really make a difference? Is there anything we can do as individuals?

This spring season I have planted few trees. Hopefully by next year, all the trees will grow up another feet and so on. Nelson Mandela said, ‘It's not the kings and the generals who make history but the masses of the people.’

Moving on to the title Excerpt 1.2, “Citizens live through positive contribution”. Excerpts from the prologue by Swami Budhananda.

The first point to remember is the glory of man. That was one that Swami Vivekananda, time and again, taught us: ‘Never forget the glory of man’. When we all live for ourselves, think that the whole universe is accountable to us and we are not accountable to the universe, we are at the wrong end.

Therefore, two things must go hand in hand. They are:

  1. Awareness of the great potential of every human being and that
  2. we have to grow towards attainment of self-fulfilment, not by each of us singly, but together.

We must also believe that all of us can be looked after well. Our sorrows and sufferings can be minimised and there can be ever so much more happiness for all, of all, if only we own all of us our own.

The important point to remember is that to help manifest everyone's great potential is the business of every advanced civilisation. Our ancient teachers taught us to set in motion within oneself a self-chastening process to go together with keen ‘other-regarding’ process. In other words, self-development and the development of everybody else should go on simultaneously. It is not enough if we have a vast land, rich natural resources, mighty rivers, highly talented people and other endowments. What is important is to learn the art and science of turning these things to good account, in the service of man. To learn to do this and to teach to do is the business of enlightened citizenship which is of supreme importance for every nation in this world, particularly, India. As the Buddha says, that which is most needed is a loving heart.

Up next, Excerpt 1.3.

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