Lead a Wise Life

Lead a Wise Life
(Vinod Anand)

What really matters in the end, said Gautama Buddha, is, “How well did you love; how fully did you live and how deeply did you let go?” All the three are golden rules of wise living.

Here, ‘let go’ means renouncing with hill clarity and determination those aspects of life which are a deterrent to a full, wholesome life. Life goes on inexorably and before we can comprehend and appreciate its functioning and profundity, it is time for our exit. In our ignorance and ego, we spend an entire lifetime trapped in negativities and self-defeating behavioural patterns.

Broadly, we remain ensnared in endless desires, undue attachments, coloured visions about others and the past and future. ‘Letting go’ is a slow and arduous process that cannot be achieved overnight. As one traverses life and advances in age, experience and - wisdom, the anomalies of one’s life fl become lucid. Once identified, it is easier to make a conscious effort to surmount them. Myriad desires assail us.

Desire for wealth, power and fame never seem to be satiated, leading to discontent, frustration and inner turmoil. The beauty of life remains untapped and life just passes by in a mindless pursuit of desires. A state of no-desire is verily an impossibility and tantamount to Godhood. But we can certainly work with full understanding on minimizing our desires and gradually relinquishing them.

We have a compelling propensity of dwelling in the past and brooding about the unseen future, thereby neglecting the present. Reveling in past glories or wallowing in self-pity due to past tribulations is futile. Past is a graveyard and the future, inscrutable.

We need to abnegate them fully, only then can we seize the golden opportunities of the present and move on in life. Largely, our behaviour and beliefs are the result of mental conditioning. Our mind gets conditioned by our previous experiences with people and events and accordingly forges opinions which, with time, ossify into convictions. An entire lifetime can be squandered in hatred and hostility towards individuals who do not deserve it.

We are changing, evolving... flexibility in our beliefs and opinions is life- enhancing. We need to sincerely let go our• prejudices, grouses, biases, anger, jealousies via reconditioning of our mind. This will be conducive to a healthy, equanimous life. Our undue attachments to animate and inanimate objects can be painful not only for ourselves but for others as well.

Who is not familiar with the ephemeral nature of these objects? Undoubtedly, wealth in certain measure is required for comfortable living. We do not have to abandon wealth. What we need to give up is our greed and possessiveness for material objects.

We need to relate to them with mental resignation. They should be a means for life, not life itself. Paradoxically, wealth can be a prerequisite for spiritual enrichment. It is only after our material needs have been taken care of and we are still unfulfilled that we choose to turn inwards. Similarly, we should let go of our attachments to the near and dear ones.

Attachment is essentially selfish love. Attached parents may not permit their children to settle abroad, despite their growth prospects, because they need them in old age. Replace attachment with love which is pure and altruistic. Rabindranath Tagore said, “Love• does not claim possession but gives freedom.”